Crambe Repetita

This is part 2 of 3. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰς ἀκοὰς ἦλθε τὰς ἡμετέρας, ἀρχαιολογούμενα παρὰ θεσπεσίοις ἀνδράσιν, οἳ τὰ Μωυσέως οὐ παρέργως διηρεύνησαν. ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ σύμβολον ἡγοῦμαι τὴν περιτομὴν δυοῖν εἶναι τοῖν ἀναγκαιοτάτοιν· ἑνὸς μὲν ἡδονῶν ἐκτομῆς, αἳ καταγοητεύουσι διάνοιαν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ νικητήρια φέρεται τῶν ἐν ἡδοναῖς φίλτρων ἡ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς γυναῖκα συνουσία, τὸ ὑπηρετοῦν ταῖς τοιαύταις ὁμιλίαις ὄργανον ἀκρωτηριάζειν ἔδοξε τοῖς νομοθέταις, αἰνιττομένοις περιτομὴν περιττῆς ἐκτομὴν καὶ πλεοναζούσης ἡδονῆς, οὐ μιᾶς, ἀλλὰ διὰ μιᾶς τῆς βιαστικωτάτης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν· ἑτέρου δὲ τοῦ γνῶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὴν βαρεῖαν νόσον, οἴησιν, ψυχῆς ἀπώσασθαι· ἔνιοι γὰρ ὡς ἀγαθοὶ ζῳοπλάσται ζῴων τὸ κάλλιστον, ἄνθρωπον, ηὔχησαν δύνασθαι δημιουργεῖν καὶ φυσηθέντες ὑπ’ ἀλαζονείας ἑαυτοὺς ἐξεθείωσαν, τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς αἴτιον γενέσεως ὄντα θεὸν παρακαλυψάμενοι, καίτοι γε ἐκ τῶν συνήθων ἐπανορθώσασθαι τὴν ἀπάτην δυνάμενοι· πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἰσιν ἄνδρες ἄγονοι, πολλαὶ δὲ στεῖραι γυναῖκες, ὧν ἀτελεῖς αἱ ὁμιλίαι καταγηρασάντων ἐν ἀπαιδίᾳ. πονηρὰν οὖν δόξαν ἐκτμητέον τῆς διανοίας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ὅσαι μὴ φιλόθεοι.
(Philo, Peri tōn en merei diatagmatōn 1.8-12)

These are the explanations handed down to us from the old-time studies of divinely gifted men who made deep research into the writings of Moses. To these I would add that I consider circumcision to be a symbol of two things most necessary to our well-being. One is the excision of pleasures which bewitch the mind. For since among the love-lures of pleasure the palm is held by the mating of man and woman, the legislators thought good to dock the organ which ministers to such intercourse, thus making circumcision the figure of the excision of excessive and superfluous pleasure, not only of one pleasure but of all the other pleasures signified by one, and that the most imperious. The other reason is that a man should know himself and banish from the soul the grievous malady of conceit. For there are some who have prided themselves on their power of fashioning as witha sculptor’s cunning the fairest of creatures, man, and in their braggart pride assumed godship, closing their eyes to the Cause of all that comes into being, though they might find in their familiars a corrective for their delusion. For in their mindst are many men incapable of begetting and many women barren, whose matings are ineffective and who grow old childless. The evil belief, therefore, needs to be excised from the mind with any others that are not loyal to God. (tr. Francis Henry Colson)

This is part 2 of 3. Part 1 is here. Part 3 is here.

Ἓν μὲν χαλεπῆς νόσου καὶ δυσιάτου, ποσθένης, ἀπαλλαγήν, ἣν ἄνθρακα καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ καίειν ἐντυφόμενον, ὡς οἶμαι, ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυχόντα, ὅπερ εὐκολώτερον τοῖς ἀκροποσθίας ἔχουσιν ἐγγίνεται· δεύτερον δὲ τὴν δι’ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος καθαριότητα πρὸς τὸ ἁρμόττον τάξει ἱερωμένῃ, παρὸ καὶ ξυρῶνται τὰ σώματα προσυπερβάλλοντες οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν ἱερέων· ὑποσυλλέγεται γὰρ καὶ ὑποστέλλει καὶ θριξὶ καὶ ποσθίαις ἔνια τῶν ὀφειλόντων καθαίρεσθαι· τρίτον δὲ τὴν πρὸς καρδίαν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ περιτμηθέντος μέρους· πρὸς γὰρ γένεσιν ἄμφω παρεσκεύασται, τὸ μὲν ἐγκάρδιον πνεῦμα νοημάτων, τὸ δὲ γόνιμον ὄργανον ζῴων· ἐδικαίωσαν γὰρ οἱ πρῶτοι τῷ ἀφανεῖ καὶ κρείττονι, δι’ οὗ τὰ νοητὰ συνίσταται, τὸ ἐμφανὲς καὶ ὁρατόν, ᾧ τὰ αἰσθητὰ γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκεν, ἐξομοιῶσαι· τέταρτον δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαιότατον τὴν πρὸς πολυγονίαν παρασκευήν· λέγεται γὰρ ὡς εὐοδεῖ τὸ σπέρμα μήτε σκιδνάμενον μήτε περιρρέον εἰς τοὺς τῆς ποσθίας κόλπους· ὅθεν καὶ τὰ περιτεμνόμενα τῶν ἐθνῶν πολυγονώτατα καὶ πολυανθρωπότατα εἶναι δοκεῖ.
(Philo, Peri tōn en merei diatagmatōn 1.4-7)

One is that it secures exemption from the severe and almost incurable malady of the prepuce called anthrax or carbuncle, so named, I believe from the slow fire which it sets up and to which those who retain the foreskin are more susceptible. Secondly, it promotes the cleanliness of the whole body as befits the consecrated order, and therefore the Egyptians carry the practice to a further extreme and have the bodies of their priests shaved. For some substances which need to be cleared away collect and secrete themselves both in the hair and the foreskin. Thirdly, it assimilates the circumcised member to the heart. For as both are framed to serve for generation, thought being generated by the spirit force in the heart, living creatures by the reproductive organ, the earliest men held that the unseen and superior element to which the concepts of the mind owe their existence should have assimilated to it the visible and apparent, the natural parent of the things perceived by sense. The fourth and most vital reason is its adaptation to give fertility of offspring, for we are told that its causes semen to travel aright without being scattered or dropped into the folds of the foreskin, and therefore the circumcised nations appear the most prolific and populous. (tr. Francis Henry Colson)