Philo Judaeus, De Opificio Mundi, ed. Leopold Cohn, 139

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[139] μάλιστα, κάλλιστον ὀφθῆναι τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον. 48 ὅτι δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἄριστος ἦν, φανερόν· οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἑτέρῳ παραδείγματι τῶν ἐν γενέσει πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν αὐτῆς ἔοικε χρήσασθαι, μόνῳ δ’ ὡς εἶπον τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λόγῳ. διό φησιν ἀπεικόνισμα καὶ μίμημα γεγενῆσθαι τούτου τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐμπνευσθέντα εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον, ἔνθα τῶν αἰσθήσεων ὁ
τόπος, αἷς τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἐψύχωσεν ὁ δημιουργός, τὸν δὲ βασιλέα λογισμὸν ἐνιδρυσάμενος τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ παρέδωκε δορυφορεῖσθαι πρὸς τὰς χρωμάτων καὶ φωνῶν χυλῶν τε αὖ καὶ ἀτμῶν καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων ἀντιλήψεις, ἃς ἄνευ αἰσθήσεως δι’ αὑτοῦ μόνου καταλαβεῖν οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν. ἀνάγκη ¹ δὲ παγκάλου παραδείγματος πάγκαλον εἶναι τὸ μίμημα. θεοῦ δὲ λόγος καὶ αὐτοῦ κάλλους, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ φύσει κάλλος, ἀμείνων, οὐ κοσμούμενος κάλλει, κόσμος δ’ αὐτός, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, εὐπρεπέστατος ἐκείνου.

De Opificio Mundi. Philo Judaeus. ed. Leopold Cohn. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Opificio Mundi (Greek) (Philo Judaeus. Opera que supersunt, Volume 1. Cohn, Leonard, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1896.)

Translations (1)

On the Creation of the World First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 1. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.) — 139 focus

And that he is superior to all these animals in regard of his soul, is plain. For God does not seem to have availed himself of any other animal existing in creation as his model in the formation of man; but to have been guided, as I have said before, by his own reason alone. On which account, Moses affirms that this man was an image and imitation of God, being breathed into in his face in which is the place of the sensations, by which the Creator endowed the body with a soul. Then, having placed the mind in the dominant part as king, he gave him as a body of satellites, the different powers calculated to perceive colours and sounds, and flavours and odours, and other things of similar kinds, which man could never have distinguished by his own resources without the sensations. And it follows of necessity that an imitation of a perfectly beautiful model must itself be perfectly beautiful, for the word of God surpasses even that beauty which exists in the nature which is perceptible only by the external senses, not being embellished by any adventitious beauty, but being itself, if one must speak the truth, its most exquisite embellishment.

Notes on the current edition

De opificio mundi

1.
1 τὸν μὲν ἀνθρωποειδῆ Μang. τουτονὶ M
3 διϊθημένον M (in marg.: εἶχε διηθημένον παλαιὸν διηνθημένον), διηθημένον corr. ex διηθισμένον F, διηνθισμένον H
4 ἢ νεὼς] ἣν ὡς M ἱερῶ ABP ἐτεκταίνετο om. M
5 ἣν—θεοειδέστατον om. F ἀγαλματοφορεῖν M G δὲ om. FGH
7 τ’ ἄλλα ABP
8 καθ’ αὐτὸ] ν κατὰ Μ
10 εὐσαρκίας Η προσανέπλαττε FGH: προσαναπλάττει M, προσέπλαττε ABP
12 περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν D οὐδενὶ] οὐδὲ F οὐδενὶ γὰρ] ὅθεν οὐχ DM ἑτέρων παραδειγμάτων M, ἑτέρω πράγματι D οὐδενὶ τῶν F τῶν om. M ου
13 αὐτῆς] αὐτοῦ MF, αὐτῆς G δὲ D ὥσπερ DR Μang.)
14 τούτου D (coni. Markland): τοῦτον codd.
16 ἐν αἷς M μὲν om. ABP τὸν δὲ βασιλέα M: τὸν βασιλέα δὲ ceteri
17 ἱδρυσάμενος M παρέδωκε τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν M ante πρὸς add. καὶ M 17.
18 τὰς τῶν χρωμάτων ABP αὖ
18 χιλῶν BF, χυμῶν M τε om. M ἄν G παραπλησίον F
19 ἅς] ὡς M αὑτοῦ Η: αὐτοῦ ceteri τ’ ABP 6—7 DP fol. 376r DM fol. 282r (τοῦ αὑτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς) DR fol. 279v (τοῦ αὐτοῦ): ὁ δημιουργὸς—ἐπιστήμην. 11—16 ibid. ὅτι δὲ—τόπος. 19491 ἀνάγκη—τὸ μίμημα.

Philo Judaeus De Opificio Mundi 139

ed. Leopold Cohn

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