Philo Judaeus, De Virtutibus, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 172

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[172] Why so, because in the first place, haughty arrogance is a vice of the soul; but the soul is invisible to any one but God. And anyone who punishes, if he does so blindly, is blameable, as ignorance is his accuser: but if he does so with his eyes open, he is to be praised as doing everything with knowledge; and secondly, because every haughty arrogant man is full of vain groundless pride, looks upon himself as neither man nor demigod, but rather as an actual deity, as Pindar says, ¹²³ thinking himself worthy to overstep all the boundaries of human nature.

De Virtutibus. Philo Judaeus. Charles Duke Yonge (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023.

Current edition First1KGreek

On Three Virtues, that is to say, on Courage, Humanity, and Repentance (English) (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 3. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.)

Editions (1)

De Virtutibus First1KGreek (Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 5. Cohn, Leonard, editor. Berlin: Reimer, 1906.) — 172 focus

[172] ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ἀλαζονεία ψυχῆς ἐστι κακία, ψυχὴ δὲ ἀόρατος ὅτι μὴ θεῷ, κολαστὴς δὲ ὁ μὲν τυφλὸς ἐπίμεμπτος,
ἄγνοιαν κατήγορον ἔχων, ὁ δὲ βλέπων ἐπαινετός, ἐπιστήμῃ πάντα δρῶν· ἔπειτα δὲ ὅτι φρονήματος ὑπόπλεως ἀλόγου γενόμενος πᾶς ἀλαζὼν „οὔτε ἄνδρα οὔτε ἡμίθεον ἀλλ’ ὅλον δαίμονα“ κατὰ τὸν Πίνδαρον ὑπολαμβάνει ἑαυτόν, ὑπὲρ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως βαίνειν ἀξιῶν.

Notes on the current edition

On Three Virtues, that is to say, on Courage, Humanity, and Repentance

1. Pindar says nothing of the sort. The passage which Philo appears to allude to is the beginning of the second Olympic Ode:

ἀναξίφόρμιγγες ὕμνοι

τίνα θεὸν τιν᾽ ἡρῶα

τίνα δ᾽ ἄνδρα κελαδήσομεν,

which Horace has translated, Od. I. xii. 1 .

Quem virum, aut heroa, lyra, vel acri

Tibia sumes celebrare, Clio?

Quem Deum?! Cujus recinet jocosa

Nomen imago.

2. Numbers xv. 30.

3. Pindar says nothing of the sort. The passage which Philo appears to allude to is the beginning of the second Olympic Ode: