But if reason be able to purify the passion (ἐὰν δὲ ὁ λόγος ἰσχύσῃ ἀνακαθᾶραι τὸ πάθος), then neither when we drink do we become intoxicated, nor when we eat do we become indolent through satiety, but we feast soberly without indulging in folly. [Allegorical Int. 2.29]
This seems to imitate the state of impassibility referenced in early Christianity. Similarly again:
"And whomsoever the one serpent bites, if he looks upon the brazen serpent shall live:" in which Moses speaks truly, for if the mind that has been bitten by pleasure, that is by the serpent which was sent to Eve, shall have strength to behold the beauty of temperance (σχύσῃ κατιδεῖν ψυχικῶς τὸ σωφροσύνης κάλλος), that is to say, the serpent made by Moses in a manner affecting the soul, and to behold God himself through the medium of the serpent, it shall live. Only let it see and contemplate it intellectually. (82) Do you not see that wisdom when dominant, which is Sarah, says, "For whosoever shall hear it shall rejoice with Me."{24}{#ge 21:6.} But suppose that any were able to hear (ἀλλὰ φέρε τινὰ ἰσχῦσαι ἀκοῦσαι) that virtue has brought forth happiness (, namely, Isaac, immediately he will sing a congratulatory hymn. [ibid 81, 82]
And just consider, if you will, the great energy of the soul, (70) for the most vigorous athlete would not be able to carry about a statue of himself for even a short time (ὁ μὲν ἐρρωμενέστατος ἀθλητὴς οὐκ ἂν ἰσχύσαι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς βραχὺν χρόνον ἀνδριάντα κομίσαι); but the soul, without any exertion and without any fatigue, carries about the statue of a man occasionally even for as long a time as a hundred years; for even at the end of that period it does not kill it, but only gets rid of a body which was dead from the beginning. [Allegorical Int. 3.69, 70]
And he calls it the heave-shoulder for this reason, because reason ought to be set over and to be predominant above the violence of anger, as a charioteer who is driving a hard-mouthed and restiff horse. And then the shoulder is no longer called the heave-shoulder, but the shoulder of removal, on this account, because it is fitting that the soul should not attribute to itself labour in the cause of virtue, but should remove it from itself and attribute it to God, confessing that it is not its own strength or its own power (οὐχ ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτῆς οὐδὲ ἡ δύναμις) which has thus acquired what is good, but He who gave it a love for goodness. [ibid 137]
And the war between these things in manifest. At all events, according to the superiority of the mind when it applies itself to incorporeal objects, which are perceptible only to the intellect, passion is put to flight. And, on the other hand, when this latter gains a shameful victory, the mind yields, being hindered from giving its attention to itself and to all its actions. At all events, he says in another place, "When Moses lifted up his hands Israel prevailed, and when he let them down Amalek Prevailed (κατίσχυεν Ἰσραήλ, ὅταν δὲ καθῆκε, κατίσχυεν Ἀμαλήκ)."{91}{#ex 17:11.} And this statement implies, that when the mind raises itself up from mortal affairs and is elevated on high, it is very vigorous because it beholds God; and the mind here means Israel. But when it relaxes its vigour and becomes powerless, then immediately the passions will prevail (αὐτίκα τὸ πάθος ἰσχύσει), that is to say, Amalek; which name, being interpreted, means, the people licking. For he does, of a verity, devour the whole soul, and licks it up, leaving no seed behind, nor anything which can excite virtue; (187) in reference to which it is said, "Amalek is the beginning of Nations;"{92}{#nu 24:20.} because passion governs, and is the absolute lord of nations, all mingled and confused and jumbled in disorder, without any settled plan; and, through passion, all the war of the soul is fanned and kept alive. For God makes a promise to the same minds to which he grants peace, that he will efface the memorial of Amalek from all the lands beneath the heaven. [ibid 187]
What is interesting is that Philo does allow him to say that when passion is 'strengthened' that is Amalek but he doesn't utter the parallel understanding when God is doing the strengthening 'that's Israel.' Must be a secret.
Now it is inevitable that the mind must be either bad or good. Now, if it be bad, it would be but a foolish guardian and dispenser of pleasure, for it rejoices in it. But the good man is an enemy to it, expecting that, when he once attacks it, he will be able utterly to destroy it (καραδοκῶν ὅτε ἐπιθέμενος ἰσχύσει καθελεῖν αὐτὴν εἰσάπαν). [ibid 189]
But Joseph, for he is a young man (νέος), and because as such he was unable to struggle with the Egyptian body and to subdue pleasure (οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἀγωνίσασθαι καὶ νικῆσαι τὴν ἡδονήν), runs away. But Phineas the priest, who was zealous with a great zeal for God's service, did not provide for his own safety by flight; but having taken to himself a yoke horse, that is to say, zeal combined with reason, would never desist till he had wounded the Midianitish woman (that is to say the nature which was concealed in the divine company), through her belly, {117}{#nu 25:7.} in order that no plant or seed of wickedness might ever be able to shoot out from it (ἵνα μηδέποτε ἰσχύσῃ φυτὸν ἢ σπέρμα κακίας ἀνατεῖλαι). On which account after folly has been utterly eradicated, the soul receives a twofold prize, and a double inheritance, peace and holiness, two kindred and sister-like virtues. (ibid 242
And Moses reproves the man who looks upon himself as the cause of the good things that have befallen him in this manner, "Say not," says he, "my own might, or the strength of my right hand has acquired me all this power, but remember always the Lord thy God, who giveth thee the might to acquire Power (φησίν ἡ ἰσχύς μου ἢ τὸ κράτος τῆς χειρός μου ἐποίησέ μοι πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν ταύτην· ἀλλὰ μνείᾳ μνησθήσῃ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου τοῦ διδόντος σοι ἰσχὺν ποιῆσαι δύναμιν)." (Deut. 8, 17. 18) [Birth of Abel 56]
"But in the day," says God, "on which I smote the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to myself all the first-born of Israel."{52}{#ex 13:15.} And he says this not to lead us to suppose that at the time when Egypt was stricken with this mighty blow by the destruction of all its first-born, the first-born of Israel all became holy, but because both in former times, and now, and hereafter, and for ever, this naturally happens in the case of the soul, that when the most dominant parts of blind passion are destroyed, then the elder and most honourable offspring of God, who sees everything with a piercing sight, becomes holy; (135) for the departure of wickedness brings about the entrance of virtue, as, on the other hand, when what is good is driven away, then what was bad, having been lying in ambush, comes in to supply the void. Jacob then had scarcely at all gone out, {53}{genesis 27:1.} when Esau entered, not the mind which receives everything, being stamped with the impression of wickedness instead of the figures of virtue, if that is possible; but he would not have been able to effect this (ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἰσχύσαι τοῦτ' ἐργάσασθαι), for he will be supplanted and overthrown by the wise man before he knows it, the wise man being prompt to repel the impending injury before it can affect him. [ibid 134 - 135]
Arguing therefore in this prolix train of reasoning, they thought that they got the better of those who were not accustomed to deal in sophistry. But the cause of their victory was not the strength of those who got the better ( αἰτία δὲ τῆς νίκης οὐχ ἡ τῶν περιγεγενημένων ἰσχύς), but the weakness of their adversaries in these matters. For of those who practise virtue, some treasured up what is good in their soul alone, becoming practisers of praiseworthy actions, and having no knowledge whatever of sophistries of words. But they who were armed in both ways, having their minds furnished with wise counsel and with good deeds, and having also good store of reasons to bring forward according to the arts of the sophists [Worst is Wont to Attack the Better 35]
Therefore he had learnt, as plainly as any man that ever lived, that God, having fixed the roots and seeds of everything down in the earth, is the cause also of the greatest of all plants, namely this world, shooting up; which world he here seems to speak of enigmatically in the song which I have just quoted, where he calls it the mountain of his inheritance; since that which is made is the most appropriate possession and inheritance, of him who has made it. (49) Therefore he prays that we may be planted in it, not in order that we may become irrational and unmanageable in our natures; but that, in due obedience to the arrangement of the all-perfect governor, imitating his perpetual and undeviating consistency, we may live a temperate and innocent life. For to be able to live in a strict uniformity with nature is what the man of old have defined as the end of happiness τὸ γὰρ ἀκολουθίᾳ φύσεως ἰσχῦσαι ζῆν εὐδαιμονίας τέλος εἶπον οἱ πρῶτοι). [Noah's Works a Planter 49]
For the expression, "It is not the voice of men beginning to exert themselves in battle," is equivalent to the words, "of men who have got the better in war (κατ' ἰσχὺν ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ περιγεγενημένων τῷ πολέμῳ)," for exertion in battle is the cause of victory (ἰσχὺς γὰρ τοῦ κρατεῖν αἴτιον). Thus he represents the wise Abraham, after the destruction of the nine kings, that is, of the four passions and the five powers of the outward senses, which were all set in motion in a manner contrary to nature, preluding with a hymn of gratitude, and saying, "I will stretch forth my hand to the most high God, who made heaven and earth; that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet of any thing that is Thine,"{25}{#ge 14:22.} [On Drunkenness 103]
And Moses indeed, in the same manner, when he saw the king of Egypt, {26}{exodus 14:7.} that arrogant man with his six hundred chariots, that is to say, with the six carefully arranged motions of the organic body, and with the governors who were appointed to manage them, who, while none of all created things are by nature calculated to stand still, think nevertheless that they may look upon everything as solidly settled and admitting of no alteration; when he, I say, saw that this king had met with the punishment due to his impiety, and that the people, who were practisers of virtue, had escaped from the attacks of their enemies, and had been saved by mighty power beyond their expectation, he then sang a hymn to God as a just and true judge, beginning a hymn in a manner most becoming and most exactly suited to the events that had happened, because the horse and his rider he had thrown into the Sea;"{27}{#ex 15:4.} having utterly destroyed that mind which rode upon the irrational impulses of that four-footed and restive animal, passion, and had become an ally, and defender, and protector of the seeing soul, so as to bestow upon it complete safety. (112) And the same prophet begins a song to the well, not only for the destruction of the passions, but also because he has had strength given to him to acquire the most valuable of all possessions, namely incomparable wisdom (ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ τὸ κάλλιστον κτημάτων, σοφίαν, ἀνανταγώνιστον ἰσχῦσαι λαβεῖν), which he compares to a well; for it is deep, and not superficial, giving forth a sweet stream to souls who thirst for goodness and virtue, a drink at once most necessary and most sweet. (113) But it is not entrusted to any person who is not initiated in wisdom to dig this well, but only to kings, on which account it is said, "Kings hewed it out of Stone."{28}{#nu 21:18.} For it is the office of mighty rulers to investigate and to establish wisdom, not meaning those who with their arms have subdued sea and land, but those who with the powers of the soul have fought against and subdued its diversified, and mingled, and confused multitude. [ibid 112]
ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σύμβολα ψυχῆς ἐστι καὶ τοῖς εἴσω πρὸς θεὸν ἁγνευούσης καὶ [ἐν] τοῖς ἔξω πρὸς τὸν αἰσθητὸν κόσμον καὶ βίον καθαρευούσης. εὐστόχως οὖν ἐκεῖνο πρὸς τὸν παλαιστὴν νικηφόρον ἐλέχθη μέλλοντα τοῖς νικητηρίοις ἀναδεῖσθαι στεφάνοις. τὸ γὰρ ἐπ' αὐτῷ κήρυγμα τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· ἴσχυσας μετὰ θεοῦ καὶ μετὰ ἀνθρώπων δυνατός (Gen. [45] 32, 28). τὸ γὰρ καθ' ἑκατέραν τάξιν εὐδοκιμῆσαι, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀγένητον καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γενόμενον, οὐ μικρᾶς ἐστι διανοίας, ἀλλ', εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, κόσμου καὶ θεοῦ μεθορίου· συνόλως τε προσήκει τὸν ἀστεῖον ὀπαδὸν εἶναι θεοῦ· μέλει γὰρ τῷ πάντων ἡγεμόνι καὶ πατρὶ [46] τοῦ γενομένου. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως ἱκανὸς ἦν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ ὁ θεὸς καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου γένεσιν ὁ αὐτὸς ἔμενεν, οὐ μεταβαλών; διὰ τί οὖν ἐποίει τὰ μὴ ὄντα; ἢ ὅτι ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλόδωρος ἦν; εἶτ' οὐχ ἑψόμεθα οἱ δοῦλοι τῷ δεσπότῃ, θαυμάζοντες μὲν τὸν αἴτιον ὑπερφυῶς, τῆς δὲ καθ' αὑτοὺς φύσεως μὴ ὑπερορῶντες
For the soul flourishes for the pursuit of knowledge when the prime vigour of the body is withering away from the lapse of time; therefore, before one has arrived at one's prime and vigour by reason of a more accurate comprehension of things, it is not difficult to be tripped up. But this accident is common to all people who are fond of learning, to whom new subjects of contemplation are continually rising up and striving after old ones, the soul itself producing many such subjects when it is not barren and unproductive. And nature, also, unexpectedly and spontaneously displaying a great number to those who are gifted with acute and penetrating intellects. Therefore the well of knowledge is shown to be of this kind, having no boundary and no end. [On Dreams 11]
For God, not condescending to come down to the external senses, sends his own words or angels for the sake of giving assistance to those who love virtue. But they attend like physicians to the disease of the soul, and apply themselves to heal them, offering sacred recommendations like sacred laws, and inviting men to practice the duties inculcated by them, and, like the trainers of wrestlers, implanting in their pupils strength, and power, and irresistible vigour (καὶ τρόπον ἀλειπτῶν ἰσχὺν καὶ δύναμιν). (1.70) Very properly, therefore, when he has arrived at the external sense, he is represented no longer as meeting God, but only the divine word, just as his grandfather Abraham, the model of wisdom, did; for the scripture tells us, "The Lord departed when he had finished conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his Place."{13}{#ge 18:33.} From which expression it is inferred, that he also met with the sacred words from which God, the father of the universe, had previously departed, no longer displaying visions from himself but only those which proceed from his subordinate powers. [On Dreams 1.70]
But do not fancy that that stone was anointed with oil, but understand rather that that opinion, that God is the only being who stands firmly, was thoroughly hardened by exercise, and established in the soul by the science of wrestling, not that science by which bodies are made fat, but that by which the mind acquires strength and irresistible vigour (ἀλλ' ὑφ' ἧς διάνοια ἰσχὺν κτᾶται καὶ ῥώμην ἀνανταγώνιστον) (1.251) for the man who is eager in the pursuit of good studies and virtuous objects is fond of labours, and fond of exercises; so that very naturally, having worked out the science of training which is the sister of the art of medicine, he anoints and brings to perfection all the reasonings of virtue and piety, and dedicates them, as a most beautiful and lasting offering to God. [ibid 1.150]
Those then who have called only what is honourable good, have preserved this nature free from alloy, and have attributed it only to what is most excellent, namely to the reason that is in us; but those who have mixed it have combined it with three things, the soul, the body, and external circumstances. And they who act thus are persons of a somewhat effeminate and luxurious way of life, being bred up the greater part of their time, from their earliest infancy, in the women's apartments and among the effeminate race which is found in the women's apartments. But those who argue differently are men inclined to a harder regimen, being bred up from their boyhood among men, and being themselves men in their minds, embracing what is right in preference to what is pleasant, and devoting themselves to nourishment fit for athletes for the sake of strength and vigour (καὶ τροφαῖς ἀθλητικαῖς πρὸς ἰσχὺν καὶ ῥώμην), not of pleasure. [ibid 2.9]
On which account it is even now proper to praise those persons who do not yield to the president of vain opinion but who withstand him and say, "Shall you be a king and rule over Us?"{80}{#ge 37:8.} For they do not see him actually in possession of kingly power (οὔπω γὰρ ἰσχυκότα ὁρῶσιν αὐτόν), they do not see him as yet kindled like a flame, and shining and blazing in the unlimited fuel, but only smouldering like a spark, dreaming of glory, and not visibly having attained to it [ibid 2.93]