Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

" For whereas things that have qualities, have with their nature received both birth and dissolution, the [archetypal] potencies which mould them have obtained a lot transcending dissolution.

1 Jer. iv. 3 — where A.V. translates : " Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth ?"

" Wherefore is it not fitting that God, who is beyond all generation and all change, should sow [in us] the ideal seeds of the immortal virgin Virtues, and not those of the woman who changes the form of her virginity ? " l

But, indeed, as Conybeare says :

" The words, virgin, virginity, ever-virginal, occur on every other page of Philo. It is indeed Philo who first 2 formulated the idea of the Word or ideal ordering principle of the Cosmos being born of an ever-virgin soul, which conceives, because God the Father sows into her His intelligible rays and divine seed, so begetting His only well-beloved son, the Cosmos." 3

Thus, speaking of the impure soul, Philo writes :

" For when she is a multitude of passions and filled with vices, her children swarming over her — pleasures, appetites, folly, intemperance, unrighteousness, injustice — she is weak and sick, and lies at death's door, dying ; but when she becomes sterile, and ceases to bring them forth or even casts them from her, forthwith, from the change, she becometh a chaste virgin, and, receiving the Divine Seed, she fashions and engenders marvellous excellencies that nature prizeth highly — prudence, courage, temperance, justice, holiness, piety, and the rest of the virtues and good dispositions." 4

So also, speaking of the Therapeutrides, he writes :

" Their longing is not for mortal children, but for a deathless progeny, which the soul that is in love with God can alone bring forth, when the Father hath sown into it the spiritual light-beams, by means of which it

1 De Cherub., § 14, 15 ; M. i. 148, P. 116, 117 (Ri. i. 210, 211).

2 In this, however, I venture to think that Conybeare is mistaken ; it was a common dogma of the Hellenistic theology of the time.

3 Op. sup. cit., pp. 302, 303.

4 De Execrat., § 7 ; M. ii. 435, P. 936 (Ri. v. 254). See " Myth of Man in the Mysteries," S. § 25 J.

shall be able to contemplate (Oewpeiv) the laws of wisdom." !

And as to the progeny of such virgin-mothers, Philo elsewhere instances the birth of " Isaac " — " which could not refer to any man," but is " a synonym of Joy, the best of the blessed states of the soul — Laughter, the spiritually conceived (wStdOeros) 2 Son of God, Who bestoweth him as a comfort and means of good cheer on souls of perfect peace." 3

And a little later on he adds :

" And Wisdom, who, after the fashion of a mother, brings forth the self-taught Eace, declares that God is the sower of it."*

And yet, again, elsewhere, speaking of this spiritual progeny, Philo writes :

" But all the Servants of God (Therapeuts), who are lawfully begotten, shall fulfill the law of [their] nature, which commands them to be parents. For the men shall be fathers of many sons, and the women mothers of numerous children." 5

So also, in the case of the birth of Joseph, when his mother, Eachael, says to Jacob : " Give me children ! " — " the Supplanter, disclosing his proper nature, will reply : ' Thou hast wandered into deep error. For I am not in God's place, who alone is able to open the wombs of souls, and sow in them virtues, and make them pregnant and mothers of good things.'"6

So too, again, in connection with the birth of Isaac, referring to the exultant cry of Sarah : " The Lord hath

1 D. V. C., § 8 ; M. ii. 482, P. 899 (Ri. v. 318, C. 108).

2 Elsewhere an epithet of the Logos.

3 De Mut. Norn., § 23 ; M. i. 598, P. 1065 (Ri. iii. 183).

4 Ibid., § 24 ; M. i. 599, P. 1065 (Ri. iii. 184).