Chapter XXVI.—Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus.

Whence the law was rightly said to have been given by Moses, being a rule of right and wrong; and we may call it with accuracy the divine ordinance (θεσμός314    From the ancient derivation of this word from θεος.), inasmuch as it was given by God through Moses. It accordingly conducts to the divine. Paul says: “The law was instituted because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made.” Then, as if in explanation of his meaning, he adds: “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up,” manifestly through fear, in consequence of sins, “unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed; so that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we should be justified by faith.”315    Gal. iii. 19, 23, 24. The true legislator is he who assigns to each department of the soul what is suitable to it and to its operations. Now Moses, to speak comprehensively, was a living law, governed by the benign Word. Accordingly, he furnished a good polity, which is the right discipline of men in social life. He also handled the administration of justice, which is that branch of knowledge which deals with the correction of transgressors in the interests of justice. Co-ordinate with it is the faculty of dealing with punishments, which is a knowledge of the due measure to be observed in punishments. And punishment, in virtue of its being so, is the correction of the soul. In a word, the whole system of Moses is suited for the training of such as are capable of becoming good and noble men, and for hunting out men like them; and this is the art of command. And that wisdom, which is capable of treating rightly those who have been caught by the Word, is legislative wisdom. For it is the property of this wisdom, being most kingly, to possess and use,

It is the wise man, therefore, alone whom the philosophers proclaim king, legislator, general, just, holy, God-beloved. And if we discover these qualities in Moses, as shown from the Scriptures themselves, we may, with the most assured persuasion, pronounce Moses to be truly wise. As then we say that it belongs to the shepherd’s art to care for the sheep; for so “the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;”316    John x. 11. so also we shall say that legislation, inasmuch as it presides over and cares for the flock of men, establishes the virtue of men, by fanning into flame, as far as it can, what good there is in humanity.

And if the flock figuratively spoken of as belonging to the Lord is nothing but a flock of men, then He Himself is the good Shepherd and Lawgiver of the one flock, “of the sheep who hear Him,” the one who cares for them, “seeking,” and finding by the law and the word, “that which was lost;” since, in truth, the law is spiritual and leads to felicity. For that which has arisen through the Holy Spirit is spiritual. And he is truly a legislator, who not only announces what is good and noble, but understands it. The law of this man who possesses knowledge is the saving precept; or rather, the law is the precept of knowledge. For the Word is “the power and the wisdom of God.”317    1 Cor. i. 24. Again, the expounder of the laws is the same one by whom the law was given; the first expounder of the divine commands, who unveiled the bosom of the Father, the only-begotten Son.

Then those who obey the law, since they have some knowledge of Him, cannot disbelieve or be ignorant of the truth. But those who disbelieve, and have shown a repugnance to engage in the works of the law, whoever else may, certainly confess their ignorance of the truth.

What, then, is the unbelief of the Greeks? Is it not their unwillingness to believe the truth which declares that the law was divinely given by Moses, whilst they honour Moses in their own writers? They relate that Minos received the laws from Zeus in nine years, by frequenting the cave of Zeus; and Plato, and Aristotle, and Ephorus write that Lycurgus was trained in legislation by going constantly to Apollo at Delphi. Chamæleo of Heraclea, in his book On Drunkenness, and Aristotle in The Polity of Locrians, mention that Zaleucus the Locrian received the laws from Athene.

But those who exalt the credit of Greek legislation as far as in them lies, by referring it to a divine source, after the model of Mosaic prophecy, are senseless in not owning the truth, and the archetype of what is related among them.

Ὅθεν ὁ νόμος εἰκότως εἴρηται διὰ Μωυσέως δεδόσθαι, κανὼν τυγχάνων δικαίων τε καὶ ἀδίκων. καὶ τοῦτον κυρίως θεσμὸν ἂν εἴποιμεν τὸν ὑπὸ θεοῦ διὰ Μωυσέως παραδεδομένον. ἔχει γοῦν τὴν ἀγωγὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον. λέγει δὲ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· ὁ νόμος τῶν παραβάσεων χάριν ἐτέθη, ἄχρις ἂν ἔλθῃ τὸ σπέρμα ᾧ ἐπήγγελται. εἶτα οἱονεὶ ἐπεξηγούμενος τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπιφέρει· πρὸ τοῦ δὲ ἐλθεῖν τὴν πίστιν ὑπὸ νόμον ἐφρουρούμεθα συγκεκλεισμένοι, φόβῳ δηλαδὴ ἀπὸ ἁμαρτιῶν, εἰς τὴν μέλλουσαν πίστιν ἀποκαλυφθήσεσθαι. ὥστε ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν ἐγένετο εἰς Χριστόν, ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν. ὁ νομοθετικὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ τὸ προσῆκον ἑκάστῳ μέρει τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῖς τούτων ἔργοις ἀπονέμων, Μωυσῆς δὲ συνελόντι εἰπεῖν νόμος ἔμψυχος ἦν τῷ χρηστῷ λόγῳ κυβερνώμενος. πολιτείαν γοῦν διηκόνησεν ἀγαθήν· ἣ δέ ἐστι τροφὴ ἀνθρώπων καλὴ κατὰ κοινωνίαν. αὐτίκα τὴν δικαστικὴν μετεχειρίζετο, ἐπιστήμην οὖσαν διορθωτικὴν τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων ἕνεκεν τοῦ δικαίου. σύστοιχος δὲ αὐτῇ ἡ κολαστική, τοῦ κατὰ τὰς κολάσεις μέτρου ἐπιστημονική τις οὖσα. κόλασις δὲ [δικαία] οὖσα διόρθωσίς ἐστι ψυχῆς. ἔστι δὲ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῷ Μωυσεῖ ἡ πᾶσα ἀγωγὴ παιδευτικὴ μὲν τῶν οἵων τε γενέσθαι καλῶν κἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν, θηρευτικὴ δὲ τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις, ἥτις ἂν εἴη στρατηγική· ἡ δὲ χρηστικὴ τοῖς θηρευθεῖσι λόγῳ κατὰ τρόπον σοφία εἴη ἂν νομοθετική· κτᾶσθαί τε γὰρ καὶ χρῆσθαι ταύτης ἴδιον βασιλικωτάτης οὔσης. μόνον γοῦν τὸν σοφὸν οἱ φιλόσοφοι βασιλέα, νομοθέτην, στρατηγόν, δίκαιον, ὅσιον, θεοφιλῆ κηρύττουσιν. εἰ δὲ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν Μωυσέα εὕροιμεν, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῶν δείκνυται τῶν γραφῶν, εὖ μάλα πεπεισμένως ἂν ἀγορεύοιμεν σοφὸν τῷ ὄντι τὸν Μωυσέα. καθάπερ οὖν τὴν ποιμενικὴν τὸ τῶν προβάτων προνοεῖν φαμεν, οὕτω γὰρ ὁ ἀγαθὸς ποιμὴν τὴν ψυχὴν τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, οὕτω γε καὶ τὴν νομοθετικὴν τὴν ἀνθρώπων ἀρετὴν κατασκευάζειν ἐροῦμεν, τὸ ἀνθρώπινον κατὰ δύναμιν ἀγαθὸν ἀναζωπυροῦσαν, ἐπιστατικὴν οὖσαν καὶ κηδεμονικὴν τῆς ἀνθρώπων ἀγέλης. εἰ δὲ ἡ ποίμνη ἡ ἀλληγορουμένη πρὸς τοῦ κυρίου οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ ἀγέλη τις ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν, ὁ αὐτὸς ἔσται ποιμήν τε καὶ νομοθέτης ἀγαθὸς μιᾶς τῆς ἀγέλης τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπαϊόντων προβάτων, ὁ εἷς κηδεμών, ὁ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς ἐπιζητῶν τε καὶ εὑρίσκων νόμῳ καὶ λόγῳ, εἶ γε ὁ νόμος πνευματικός, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ἄγων· ὁ γὰρ πνεύματι ἁγίῳ γενόμενος πνευματικός. οὗτος δὲ ὁ τῷ ὄντι νομοθέτης, ὃς οὐ μόνον ἐπαγγέλλεται τὰ ἀγαθά τε καὶ καλά, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπίσταται. τούτου καὶ ὁ νόμος τοῦ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἔχοντος τὸ σωτήριον πρόσταγμα, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπιστήμης πρόσταγμα ὁ νόμος, δύναμις γὰρ καὶ σοφία ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ. νόμων τε αὖ ἐξηγητὴς οὗτος αὐτός, δι' οὗ ὁ νόμος ἐδόθη, ὁ πρῶτος ἐξηγητὴς τῶν θείων προσταγμάτων, ὁ τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξηγούμενος υἱὸς μονογενής. ἔπειτα οἱ μὲν πειθόμενοι τῷ νόμῳ τῷ τε γνῶσιν ἔχειν τινὰ αὐτοῦ οὔτ' ἀπιστεῖν οὔτ' ἀγνοεῖν δύνανται τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οἱ δὲ ἀπιστοῦντες ἥκιστά τε ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις εἶναι βεβουλημένοι, εἴπερ τινὲς ἄλλοι καὶ οὗτοι ἀγνοεῖν ὁμολογοῦνται τὴν ἀλήθειαν. τίς τοίνυν ἡ ἀπιστία τῶν Ἑλλήνων; μή πῃ βούλεσθαι πείθεσθαι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ φασκούσῃ θεόθεν διὰ Μωυσέως δεδόσθαι τὸν νόμον, ὁπότε γε καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐκ τῶν παρὰ σφίσι τιμῶσι Μωυσῆ. τόν τε Μίνω παρὰ ∆ιὸς δι' ἐνάτου ἔτους λαμβάνειν τοὺς νόμους ἱστοροῦσι φοιτῶντα εἰς τὸ τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἄντρον, τόν τε αὖ Λυκοῦργον τὰ νομοθετικὰ εἰς ∆ελφοὺς πρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα συνεχὲς ἀπιόντα παιδεύεσθαι γράφουσι Πλάτων τε καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Ἔφορος, Χαμαιλέων τε ὁ Ἡρακλεώτης ἐν τῷ Περὶ μέθης καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῇ Λοκρῶν πολιτείᾳ Ζάλευκον τὸν Λοκρὸν παρὰ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τοὺς νόμους λαμβάνειν ἀπομνημονεύουσιν. οἳ δὲ τὸ ἀξιόπιστον τῆς παρ' Ἕλλησι νομοθεσίας, ὡς οἷόν τε αὐτοῖς, ἐπαίροντες εἰς τὸ θεῖον κατ' εἰκόνα τῆς κατὰ τὸν Μωυσέα προφητείας ἀγνώμονες, οὐκ αὐτόθεν ὁμολογοῦντες τήν τε ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον τῶν παρὰ σφίσιν ἱστορουμένων.