Philo Judaeus, De Virtutibus, ed. Leopold Cohn, 85

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[85] ἀπορώτατος μὲν οὖν καὶ ὁ μέγας βασιλεὺς ἀναφανεῖται κατὰ σύγκρισιν μιᾶς ἀρετῆς· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ὁ πλοῦτος
ἄψυχος ἐν ταμείοις καὶ μυχοῖς γῆς κατορωρυγμένος, ἀρετῆς δ’ ἐν ψυχῆς τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ· μεταποιεῖται δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ καθαρώτατον τῆς οὐσίας, οὐρανός, καὶ ὁ γεννητὴς τῶν συμπάντων θεός. ἔτι τοίνυν τὴν ὀβολοστατῶν καὶ τοκογλύφων εὔπορον ἀπορίαν ἐν λόγῳ θετέον τῶν πολυχρύσων δοκούντων εἶναι βασιλέων οὐδ’ ὄναρ ἑωρακότων τὸν βλέποντα πλοῦτον;

De Virtutibus. Philo Judaeus. ed. Leopold Cohn. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

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

Translations (1)

On Three Virtues, that is to say, on Courage, Humanity, and Repentance First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 3. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.) — 85 focus

[85] for indeed the mightiest monarch appears poor and helpless if he is put in comparison with one single virtue, for he has only inanimate riches buried in his treasuries or in the recesses of the earth, but the wealth of virtue is stored up in the dominant part of the soul; and that purest of all essences, heaven, claims itself a share in that, as likewise does the Creator and Father of the universe, God. Therefore we must look upon and denominate the opulence of money-changers and usurers as poverty, though they appear to themselves to be mighty kings, while they have never beheld that wealth which is really endowed with sight, no not even in their dreams.

Philo Judaeus De Virtutibus 85

ed. Leopold Cohn

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Current edition First1KGreek

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