On the Giants

​For it is necessary that things which are compared be directed by a sound rule. For this reason, it seems to me that even that superfluous pride, called Jethro, being struck with amazement at the unbending, most equal, and constant disposition of the wise man, which is always in the same state and in the same manner, complained and inquired in this way: “Why do you sit alone?” (Exod. 18:14);

​For if anyone sees the continuous war of men in time of peace, which is established not only among nations, countries, and cities, but also in every household, and even within each individual man, and the unspeakable and heavy storm in their souls, which is stirred up by the most violent impulse of the affairs of life, he would naturally wonder whether anyone in a storm is able to enjoy fair weather, or to keep calm in the surging waves of a tempestuous sea.

​Do you see that not even the high-priestly Word, though able to abide always and devote leisure to holy doctrines, has obtained freedom to approach them at all times, but scarcely once a year (Lev. 16:2, 34)? For that which is accompanied by the spoken word is not secure, because it is a dyad, whereas to contemplate Being with the soul alone without voice is most secure, because it stands according to the ​indivisible monad. Therefore, indeed, in the multitude—that is, in those who have set before themselves many ends of life—the divine spirit does not remain, even if it should visit for a short time, but it comes to only one kind of men, which, having stripped off all things in generation and the innermost veil and covering of glory, will arrive before God with a relaxed and naked intellect.

​Thus Moses also, having pitched his tabernacle outside the camp and all the bodily army (Exod. 33:7)—that is, having established his mind so as to be unbending—begins to worship God, and entering into the darkness, the invisible place, abides there, being initiated into the most sacred rites. And he becomes not only an initiate, but also a hierophant of the mysteries and a teacher of divine things, which he will impart to those whose ears have been purified.

​To him, therefore, the divine spirit is always present, guiding him in every right way; but from others, as I said, it very quickly departs, and He has filled their life with the number of one hundred and twenty years; for He says: “Their days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Gen. 6:3).

​But Moses also, having reached the same number of years, departed from this mortal life (Deut. 34:7). How then is it reasonable for those who are guilty to have the same lifespan as the all-wise prophet? For the present, it will suffice to say this: that homonymous things are not entirely similar, and often they are separated even by a whole genus, and that the base man can have the same numbers and times as the virtuous man—since twins are also introduced, yet they have powers that are disconnected and widely separated from one another.

​But we shall postpone the precise explanation of the one hundred and twenty years to the examination of the entire prophetic life, when we become capable of being initiated into it, and for now let us speak of what follows.

”And the giants were upon the earth in those days” (Gen. 6:4). Perhaps someone thinks that the lawgiver is hinting at the myths told by the poets about the giants, but he is as far as possible from myth-making, and he deems it worthy to tread upon the footprints of truth itself.

​Therefore he also banished the famous and refined arts, painting and sculpture, from his commonwealth, p. 271 M. because they falsify the nature of the true reality and contrive deceptions and sophistries through the eyes for easily-led souls.