At the beginning of the "Life of Moses" he
declares that he has based it upon "many traditions which I have
received from the elders of my nation,"[51] and in several places he
speaks of the "ancestral philosophy," which must mean the Midrash
which embodied tradition. Eusebius also, the early Christian
authority, bears witness to his knowledge of the traditional
interpretations of the law.[52]
It is fairly certain, moreover, that Philo sojourned some time in
Jerusalem. He was there probably during the reign of Agrippa (_c._ 30
C.E.), who was an intimate friend of his family, and had found a
refuge at Alexandria when an exile from Palestine and Rome. In the
first book on the Mosaic laws[53] Philo speaks with enthusiasm of the
great temple, to which "vast assemblies of men from a countless
variety of cities, some by land, some by sea, from East, West, North,
and South, come at every festival as if to some common refuge and
harbor from the troubles of this harassed and anxious life, seeking to
find there tranquillity and gain a new hope in life by its joyous
festivities." These gatherings, at which, according to Josephus,[54]
over two million people assembled, must, indeed, have been a striking
symbol of the unity of the Jewish race, which was at once national and
international; magnificent embassies from Babylon and Persia, from
Egypt and Cyrene, from Rome and Greece, even from distant Spain and
Gaul, went in procession together through the gate of Xistus up the
temple-mount, which was crowned by the golden sanctuary, shining in
the full Eastern sun like a sea of light above the town.
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