Both
passages deserve quotation, since they mark the fundamental contrast
between Philo and non-Jewish allegorists of the law. In the first
Philo is commenting upon the command "Thou shalt not add to or take
away from the law" (Deut. xix. 14).[166] He shows first how each of
the virtues is marred by excess in either direction; virtue in fact,
according to the Aristotelian formula, is "a mean."
"And in the same way, if we add anything great or small to
piety, the queen of virtues, or take anything away, we mar
it and change its form. Addition will engender superstition,
and diminution impiety, and true piety will disappear, which
above all things we should pray for to enlighten our souls:
for it is the cause of the greatest of goods, inducing in us
a knowledge of our conduct towards God, which is a thing
more royal and kingly than any public office or distinction.
Further, Moses lays down another general command, 'Do not
remove the boundary stone of thy neighbor, which thy
ancestors have set up.' This, methinks, does not refer
merely to inheritances and the boundary of land, but it is
ordained with a view to the preservation of ancient customs.
For customs are unwritten laws, the decrees of men of old,
not carved indeed upon pillars and inscribed upon parchment,
but engraved upon the souls of the generations who through
the ages maintain the chosen community.
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