God

The God to whose temple they are going is the lawgiver of Crete, and this may be supposed to be the very cave at which he gave his oracles to Minos.

Nothing in life seems to be of much importance to them; they are spectators rather than actors, and men in general appear to the Athenian speaker to be the playthings of the Gods and of circumstances.

Chance, and God, and the skill of the legislator, all co-operate in the formation of states.

And the answer is, that we are to fear God, and honour our parents, and to cultivate virtue and justice; these are to be our first principles.

In the first class are placed offences against the Gods, especially sacrilege or robbery of temples: next follow offences against the state,—conspiracy, treason, theft.

The law is preceded by an admonition, in which the offenders are informed that no one ever did an unholy act or said an unlawful word while he retained his belief in the existence of the Gods; but either he denied their existence, or he believed that they took no care of man, or that they might be turned from their course by sacrifices and prayers.

'Let us say, if you please, that man is of some account, but I was speaking of him in comparison with God.'

Yet the comparisons of life to a tragedy, or of the working of mind to the revolution of the self-moved, or of the aged parent to the image of a God dwelling in the house, or the reflection that 'man is made to be the plaything of God, and that this rightly considered is the best of him,' have great beauty.

In several passages the Athenian praises himself in the most unblushing manner, very unlike the irony of the earlier dialogues, as when he declares that 'the laws are a divine work given by some inspiration of the Gods,' and that 'youth should commit them to memory instead of the compositions of the poets.' The prosopopoeia which is adopted by Plato in the Protagoras and other dialogues is repeated until we grow weary of it.

For example, the address to the poets: 'Best of strangers, we also are poets of the best and noblest tragedy; for our whole state is an imitation of the best and noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truth of tragedy.' Or again, the sight of young men and maidens in friendly intercourse with one another, suggesting the dangers to which youth is liable from the violence of passion; or the eloquent denunciation of unnatural lusts in the same passage; or the charming thought that the best legislator 'orders war for the sake of peace and not peace for the sake of war;' or the pleasant allusion, 'O Athenian—inhabitant of Attica, I will not say, for you seem to me worthy to be named after the Goddess Athene because you go back to first principles;' or the pithy saying, 'Many a victory has been and will be suicidal to the victors, but education is never suicidal;' or the fine expression that 'the walls of a city should be allowed to sleep in the earth, and that we should not attempt to disinter them;' or the remark that 'God is the measure of all things in a sense far higher than any man can be;' or that 'a man should be from the first a partaker of the truth, that he may live a true man as long as possible;' or the principle repeatedly laid down, that 'the sins of the fathers are not to be visited on the children;' or the description of the funeral rites of those priestly sages who depart in innocence; or the noble sentiment, that we should do more justice to slaves than to equals; or the curious observation, founded, perhaps, on his own experience, that there are a few 'divine men in every state however corrupt, whose conversation is of inestimable value;' or the acute remark, that public opinion is to be respected, because the judgments of mankind about virtue are better than their practice; or the deep religious and also modern feeling which pervades the tenth book (whatever may be thought of the arguments); the sense of the duty of living as a part of a whole, and in dependence on the will of God, who takes care of the least things as well as the greatest; and the picture of parents praying for their children—not as we may say, slightly altering the words of Plato, as if there were no truth or reality in the Gentile religions, but as if there were the greatest—are very striking to us.

But, on the other hand, the priority of the soul to the body, and of God to the soul, is always insisted upon as the true incentive to virtue; especially with great force and eloquence at the commencement of Book v.

The principle that the balance of power preserves states; the reflection that no one ever passed his whole life in disbelief of the Gods; the remark that the characters of men are best seen in convivial intercourse; the observation that the people must be allowed to share not only in the government, but in the administration of justice; the desire to make laws, not with a view to courage only, but to all virtue; the clear perception that education begins with birth, or even, as he would say, before birth; the attempt to purify religion; the modern reflections, that punishment is not vindictive, and that limits must be set to the power of bequest; the impossibility of undeceiving the victims of quacks and jugglers; the provision for water, and for other requirements of health, and for concealing the bodies of the dead with as little hurt as possible to the living; above all, perhaps, the distinct consciousness that under the actual circumstances of mankind the ideal cannot be carried out, and yet may be a guiding principle—will appear to us, if we remember that we are still in the dawn of politics, to show a great depth of political wisdom.

That men are the possession of the Gods (Laws), is a reflection which likewise occurs in the Phaedo.

The remark, whether serious or ironical (Laws), that 'the sons of the Gods naturally believed in the Gods, because they had the means of knowing about them,' is found in the Timaeus.

The Republic is the ideal, in which no man calls anything his own, which may or may not have existed in some remote clime, under the rule of some God, or son of a God (who can say?), but is, at any rate, the pattern of all other states and the exemplar of human life.

His thoughts recur to a golden age in which the sanctity of oaths was respected and in which men living nearer the Gods were more disposed to believe in them; but we must legislate for the world as it is, now that the old beliefs have passed away.

In some respects the Statesman is even more ideal than the Republic, looking back to a former state of paradisiacal life, in which the Gods ruled over mankind, as the Republic looks forward to a coming kingdom of philosophers.

Strangers, let me ask a question of you—Was a God or a man the author of your laws?

'A God, Stranger.

The lesser goods are health, beauty, strength, and, lastly, wealth; not the blind God, Pluto, but one who has eyes to see and follow wisdom.

And the Cretans are said to have invented the tale of Zeus and Ganymede in order to justify their evil practices by the example of the God who was their lawgiver.

But, first, I must define the nature and power of education, and by this road we will travel on to the God Dionysus.

'We cannot follow you.' Let me put the matter in another way: Every creature is a puppet of the Gods—whether he is a mere plaything or has any serious use we do not know; but this we do know, that he is drawn different ways by cords and strings.

The individual follows reason, and the city law, which is embodied reason, either derived from the Gods or from the legislator.

'That is reasonable enough.' And now, suppose that the Gods had given mankind a drug, of which the effect was to exaggerate every sort of evil and danger, so that the bravest man entirely lost his presence of mind and became a coward for a time:—would such a drug have any value?

'Very true.' Let us return to the lawgiver and say to him, 'Well, lawgiver, no such fear-producing potion has been given by God or invented by man, but there is a potion which will make men fearless.' 'You mean wine.' Yes; has not wine an effect the contrary of that which I was just now describing,—first mellowing and humanizing a man, and then filling him with confidence, making him ready to say or do anything?

But the finer sense of pleasure and pain is apt to be impaired in the course of life; and therefore the Gods, pitying the toils and sorrows of mortals, have allowed them to have holidays, and given them the Muses and Apollo and Dionysus for leaders and playfellows.

But the particular enactments must be the work of God or of some God-inspired man, as in Egypt their ancient chants are said to be the composition of the goddess Isis.

For he must lead the multitude and not be led by them, and must not weakly yield to the uproar of the theatre, nor give false judgment out of that mouth which has just appealed to the Gods.

And they said'—'The pleasant life,' this is an answer not fit for a God to utter, and therefore I ought rather to put the same question to some legislator.

Is the approval of gods and men to be deemed good and honourable, but unpleasant, and their disapproval the reverse?

First will enter the choir of children, who will lift up their voices on high; and after them the young men, who will pray the God Paean to be gracious to the youth, and to testify to the truth of their words; then will come the chorus of elder men, between thirty and sixty; and, lastly, there will be the old men, and they will tell stories enforcing the same virtues, as with the voice of an oracle.

'Whom do you mean by the third chorus?' You remember how I spoke at first of the restless nature of young creatures, who jumped about and called out in a disorderly manner, and I said that no other animal attained any perception of rhythm; but that to us the Gods gave Apollo and the Muses and Dionysus to be our playfellows.

'Most true.' And there is a seventh kind of rule which the Gods love,—in this the ruler is elected by lot.

In order to guard against this evil, the God who watched over Sparta gave you two kings instead of one, that they might balance one another; and further to lower the pulse of your body politic, some human wisdom, mingled with divine power, tempered the strength and self-sufficiency of youth with the moderation of age in the institution of your senate.

Now that God has instructed us in the arts of legislation, there is no merit in seeing all this, or in learning wisdom after the event.

Their case seemed desperate, for there was no Hellene likely to assist them by land, and at sea they were attacked by more than a thousand vessels;—their only hope, however slender, was in victory; so they relied upon themselves and upon the Gods.

'Most true.' And with this freedom comes disobedience to rulers, parents, elders,—in the latter days to the law also; the end returns to the beginning, and the old Titanic nature reappears—men have no regard for the Gods or for oaths; and the evils of the human race seem as if they would never cease.

'What is it?' That God governs all things, and that chance and opportunity co-operate with Him.

When God has done all this, He has done the best which He can for a state; not so well if He has given them two legislators instead of one, and less and less well if He has given them a great many.

Cronos, then lord of the world, knew that no mortal nature could endure the temptations of power, and therefore he appointed demons or demi-gods, who are of a superior race, to have dominion over man, as man has dominion over the animals.

They took care of us with great ease and pleasure to themselves, and no less to us; and the tradition says that only when God, and not man, is the ruler, can the human race cease from ill.

But those who are obedient to the laws, and who win the victory of obedience, shall be promoted to the service of the Gods according to the degree of their obedience.

Friends, we say to them, God holds in His hand the beginning, middle, and end of all things, and He moves in a straight line towards the accomplishment of His will.

He who would be happy follows humbly in her train; but he who is lifted up with pride, or wealth, or honour, or beauty, is soon deserted by God, and, being deserted, he lives in confusion and disorder.

'Every man ought to follow God.' What life, then, is pleasing to God?

There is an old saying that 'like agrees with like, measure with measure,' and God ought to be our measure in all things.

The temperate man is the friend of God because he is like Him, and the intemperate man is not His friend, because he is not like Him.

And the conclusion is, that the best of all things for a good man is to pray and sacrifice to the Gods; but the bad man has a polluted soul; and therefore his service is wasted upon the Gods, while the good are accepted of them.

In the first place we affirm, that after the Olympian Gods and the Gods of the state, honour should be given to the Gods below, and to them should be offered everything in even numbers and of the second choice; the auspicious odd numbers and everything of the first choice are reserved for the Gods above.

Next demi-gods or spirits must be honoured, and then heroes, and after them family gods, who will be worshipped at their local seats according to law.

Living on this wise, we shall be accepted of the Gods, and shall pass our days in good hope.

'Most true: and now, having a preamble, let us recommence our discourse.' Enough has been said of Gods and parents, and we may proceed to consider what relates to the citizens—their souls, bodies, properties,—their occupations and amusements; and so arrive at the nature of education.

In the words of a great English writer—'Her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world.' Though the particular laws of Sparta and Crete had a narrow and imperfect aim, this is not true of divine laws, which are based upon the principles of human nature, and not framed to meet the exigencies of the moment.

Drunkenness, like madness, had a sacredness and mystery to the Greek; if, on the one hand, as in the case of the Tarentines, it degraded a whole population, it was also a mode of worshipping the god Dionysus, which was to be practised on certain occasions.

Right and wrong, instead of being measured by the will of God, are created by the law of the state.

The strongest assertions are made of the purely spiritual nature of religion—'Without holiness no man is accepted of God'; and of the duty of filial obedience,—'Honour thy parents.' The legislator must teach these precepts as well as command them.

They all go back to mind and God, who holds the beginning, middle, and end of all things in His hand.

But we admit also that God governs all things, and that chance and opportunity co-operate with Him (compare the saying, that chance is the name of the unknown cause).

Lastly, while we acknowledge that God and chance govern mankind and provide the conditions of human action, experience will not allow us to deny a place to art.

Hear now, all ye who heard the laws about Gods and ancestors: Of all human possessions the soul is most divine, and most truly a man's own.

Wherefore I bid every one next after the Gods to honour his own soul, and he can only honour her by making her better.

Wherefore also the soul is second only to the Gods in honour, and in the third place the body is to be esteemed, which often has a false honour.

He who honours his kindred and family may fairly expect that the Gods will give him children.

Engagements with strangers are to be deemed most sacred, because the stranger, having neither kindred nor friends, is immediately under the protection of Zeus, the God of strangers.

A prudent man will not sin against the stranger; and still more carefully will he avoid sinning against the suppliant, which is an offence never passed over by the Gods.

Truth has the first place among the gifts of Gods and men, for truth begets trust; but he is not to be trusted who loves voluntary falsehood, and he who loves involuntary falsehood is a fool.

Let no man either laugh or grieve overmuch; but let him control his feelings in the day of good- or ill-fortune, believing that the Gods will diminish the evils and increase the blessings of the righteous.

So much of divine matters and the relation of man to God.

Every division should have a patron God or hero; to these a portion of the domain should be appropriated, and at their temples the inhabitants of the districts should meet together from time to time, for the sake of mutual help and friendship.

This is the ideal state; than which there never can be a truer or better—a state, whether inhabited by Gods or sons of Gods, which will make the dwellers therein blessed.

Inasmuch as our citizens are not fitted either by nature or education to receive the saying, Friends have all things in common, let them retain their houses and private property, but use them in the service of their country, who is their God and parent, and of the Gods and demigods of the land.

This may be secured in the following manner: when the possessor of a lot dies, he shall leave his lot to his best-beloved child, who will become the heir of all duties and interests, and will minister to the Gods and to the family, to the living and to the dead.

If, on the other hand, a war or plague diminishes the number of inhabitants, new citizens must be introduced; and these ought not, if possible, to be men of low birth or inferior training; but even God, it is said, cannot always fight against necessity.

Secondly, respect the original division of the lots, which must not be infringed by buying and selling, for the law says that the land which a man has is sacred and is given to him by God.

The guardians will keep a vigilant watch over the citizens, and they will punish those who disobey God and the law.

He who exceeds the limit must give up the excess to the state; but if he does not, and is informed against, the surplus shall be divided between the informer and the Gods, and he shall pay a sum equal to the surplus out Of his own property.

Twelve lots will be assigned to twelve Gods, and they will give their names to the tribes.

For it is clear that there are great differences in the power of regions to produce good men: heat and cold, and water and food, have great effects both on body and soul; and those spots are peculiarly fortunate in which the air is holy, and the Gods are pleased to dwell.

'Very good.' Yes; and I will be as good as my word, if God be gracious and old age permit.

But justice cannot always be strictly enforced, and then equity and mercy have to be substituted: and for a similar reason, when true justice will not be endured, we must have recourse to the rougher justice of the lot, which God must be entreated to guide.

Those who hold the priestly office by hereditary tenure shall not be disturbed; but as there will probably be few or none such in a new colony, priests and priestesses shall be appointed for the Gods who have no servants.

The appointment of priests should be left to God,—that is, to the lot; but the person elected must prove that he is himself sound in body and of legitimate birth, and that his family has been free from homicide or any other stain of impurity.

These shall be elected in the following manner:—The twelve tribes shall be formed into three bodies of four, each of which shall select four candidates, and this shall be done three times: of each twelve thus selected the three who receive the largest number of votes, nine in all, after undergoing a scrutiny shall go to Delphi, in order that the God may elect one out of each triad.

They will lead the streams to the temples and groves of the Gods; and in such spots the youth shall make gymnasia for themselves, and warm baths for the aged; there the rustic worn with toil will receive a kindly welcome, and be far better treated than at the hands of an unskilful doctor.

Now by service a man learns to rule; and he should pride himself upon serving well the laws and the Gods all his life, and upon having served ancient and honourable men in his youth.

Every divisor is a gift of God, and corresponds to the months of the year and to the revolution of the universe.

And now let us divide the state, assigning to each division some God or demigod, who shall have altars raised to them, and sacrifices offered twice a month; and assemblies shall be held in their honour, twelve for the tribes, and twelve for the city, corresponding to their divisions.

And do not forget our former precept, that every one should seek to attain immortality and raise up a fair posterity to serve God.—Let this be the prelude of the law about the duty of marriage.

The bride and bridegroom, who are taking a great step in life, ought to have all their wits about them; they should be especially careful of the night on which God may give them increase, and which this will be none can say.

Near the temples, which are holy places and the habitations of the Gods, should be buildings for the magistrates, and the courts of law, including those in which capital offences are to be tried.

These three disorders of mankind we must endeavour to restrain by three mighty influences—fear, and law, and reason, which, with the aid of the Muses and the Gods of contests, may extinguish our lusts.

He should embrace the mean, and cultivate that state of calm which mankind, taught by some inspiration, attribute to God; and he who would be like God should neither be too fond of pleasure himself, nor should he permit any other to be thus given; above all, not the infant, whose character is just in the making.

'What is their method?' They make a calendar for the year, arranging on what days the festivals of the various Gods shall be celebrated, and for each festival they consecrate an appropriate hymn and dance.

A fourth musical law will be to the effect that hymns and praises shall be offered to Gods, and to heroes and demigods.

'Very good.' I say then, that God is the object of a man's most serious endeavours.

But man is created to be the plaything of the Gods; and therefore the aim of every one should be to pass through life, not in grim earnest, but playing at the noblest of pastimes, in another spirit from that which now prevails.

They should live sacrificing, singing, and dancing, with the view of propitiating Gods and heroes.

I have already told you the types of song and dance which they should follow: and 'Some things,' as the poet well says, 'you will devise for yourself—others, God will suggest to you.'

They will partly teach themselves, and partly will be taught by God, the art of propitiating Him; for they are His puppets, and have only a small portion in truth.

'You have a poor opinion of man.' No wonder, when I compare him with God; but, if you are offended, I will place him a little higher.

Him we will address as follows: We have spoken to you, O illustrious teacher of youth, of the song, the time, and the dance, and of martial strains; but of the learning of letters and of prose writings, and of music, and of the use of calculation for military and domestic purposes we have not spoken, nor yet of the higher use of numbers in reckoning divine things—such as the revolutions of the stars, or the arrangements of days, months, and years, of which the true calculation is necessary in order that seasons and festivals may proceed in regular course, and arouse and enliven the city, rendering to the Gods their due, and making men know them better.

But most persons must be content with the study of them which is absolutely necessary, and may be said to be a necessity of that nature against which God himself is unable to contend.

'What are these divine necessities of knowledge?' Necessities of a knowledge without which neither gods, nor demigods, can govern mankind.

Men often suppose that it is impious to enquire into the nature of God and the world, whereas the very reverse is the truth.

'How do you mean?' What I am going to say may seem absurd and at variance with the usual language of age, and yet if true and advantageous to the state, and pleasing to God, ought not to be withheld.

And if that is a ridiculous error in speaking of men, how much more in speaking of the Gods?

Moreover there shall be twelve festivals to the twelve Gods after whom the twelve tribes are named: these shall be celebrated every month with appropriate musical and gymnastic contests.

Nor shall the Gods below be forgotten, but they must be separated from the Gods above—Pluto shall have his own in the twelfth month.

But there is another subject of the highest importance, which, if possible, should be determined by the laws, not of man, but of God; or, if a direct revelation is impossible, there is need of some bold man who, alone against the world, will speak plainly of the corruption of human nature, and go to war with the passions of mankind.

'What is it?' The declaration that such things are hateful to the Gods, and most abominable and unholy.

Perhaps this is a dream only, yet it is the best of dreams; and if not the whole, still, by the grace of God, a part of what we desire may be realized.

For this is 'to move the immoveable'; and Zeus, the God of kindred, witnesses to the wrongs of citizens, and Zeus, the God of strangers, to the wrongs of strangers.

The offence of removing a boundary shall receive two punishments—the first will be inflicted by the God himself; the second by the judges.

In autumn God gives us two boons—one the joy of Dionysus not to be laid up—the other to be laid up.

Nothing unnecessary is to be imported from abroad, whether for the service of the Gods or for the use of man—neither purple, nor other dyes, nor frankincense,—and nothing needed in the country is to be exported.

The will of God, the authority of the legislator, and the dignity of the soul, have taken their place in the mind of Plato.

The remark that elder men, if they want to educate others, should begin by educating themselves; the necessity of creating a spirit of obedience in the citizens; the desirableness of limiting property; the importance of parochial districts, each to be placed under the protection of some God or demigod, have almost the tone of a modern writer.

He has now lost faith in the practicability of his scheme—he is speaking to 'men, and not to Gods or sons of Gods' (Laws).

To make the soul as good as possible, and to prepare her for communion with the Gods in another world by communion with divine virtue in this, is the end of life.

As in the Republic, he fixes certain forms in which songs are to be composed: (1) they are to be strains of cheerfulness and good omen; (2) they are to be hymns or prayers addressed to the Gods; (3) they are to sing only of the lawful and good.

Two thoughts seem to be struggling in his mind: first, the reflection, to which he returns at the end of the passage, that men are playthings or puppets, and that God only is the serious aim of human endeavours; this suggests to him the afterthought that, although playthings, they are the playthings of the Gods, and that this is the best of them.

In another passage he says that life is a game of which God, who is the player, shifts the pieces so as to procure the victory of good on the whole.

Again, life is a chorus, as well as a sort of mystery, in which we have the Gods for playmates.

But neither wars nor amusements are the true satisfaction of men, which is to be found only in the society of the Gods, in sacrificing to them and propitiating them.

But unnatural unions of another kind continued to prevail at Crete and Lacedaemon, and were even justified by the example of the Gods.

But seeing that we are legislating for men and not for Gods, there is no uncharitableness in apprehending that some one of our citizens may have a heart, like the seed which has touched the ox's horn, so hard as to be impenetrable to the law.

To the intending robber we will say—O sir, the complaint which troubles you is not human; but some curse has fallen upon you, inherited from the crimes of your ancestors, of which you must purge yourself: go and sacrifice to the Gods, associate with the good, avoid the wicked; and if you are cured of the fatal impulse, well; but if not, acknowledge death to be better than life, and depart.

The manner of his burial and the purification of his crime is a matter for God and the interpreters to decide and for his kinsmen to execute.

But since God has favoured both him and his victim, instead of being put to death, he shall be allowed to go into exile and take his property with him, the damage due to the sufferer having been previously estimated by the court, which shall be the same as would have tried the case if death had ensued.

An injury done by a younger man to an elder is abominable and hateful; but the younger man who is struck by an elder is to bear with him patiently, considering that he who is twenty years older is loco parentis, and remembering the reverence which is due to the Gods who preside over birth.

The uttermost penalty will fall upon those who lay violent hands upon a parent, having no fear of the Gods above, or of the punishments which will pursue them in the world below.

Most of these offences have been already considered; but there remains the question of admonition and punishment of offences against the Gods.

Let the admonition be in the following terms:—No man who ever intentionally did or said anything impious, had a true belief in the existence of the Gods; but either he thought that there were no Gods, or that they did not care about men, or that they were easily appeased by sacrifices and prayers.

'What will they say?' Probably something of this kind:—'Strangers you are right in thinking that some of us do not believe in the existence of the Gods; while others assert that they do not care for us, and others that they are propitiated by prayers and offerings.

But we want you to argue with us before you threaten; you should prove to us by reasonable evidence that there are Gods, and that they are too good to be bribed.

'Well, there is no difficulty in proving the being of the Gods.

The oldest of them relate the origin of the world, and the birth and life of the Gods.

These narratives have a bad influence on family relations; but as they are old we will let them pass, and consider another kind of tales, invented by the wisdom of a younger generation, who, if any one argues for the existence of the Gods and claims that the stars have a divine being, insist that these are mere earth and stones, which can have no care of human things, and that all theology is a cooking up of words.

Shall we suppose some impious man to charge us with assuming the existence of the Gods, and make a defence?

The proof that there are Gods who are good, and the friends of justice, is the best preamble of all our laws.' Come, let us talk with the impious, who have been brought up from their infancy in the belief of religion, and have heard their own fathers and mothers praying for them and talking with the Gods as if they were absolutely convinced of their existence; who have seen mankind prostrate in prayer at the rising and setting of the sun and moon and at every turn of fortune, and have dared to despise and disbelieve all this.

You and your friends are not the first or the only persons who have had these notions about the Gods.

There are always a considerable number who are infected by them: I have known many myself, and can assure you that no one who was an unbeliever in his youth ever persisted till he was old in denying the existence of the Gods.

The two other opinions, first, that the Gods exist and have no care of men, secondly, that they care for men, but may be propitiated by sacrifices and prayers, may indeed last through life in a few instances, but even this is not common.

'How do you mean?' In the first place, they say that the Gods exist neither by nature nor by art, but by the laws of states, which are different in different countries; and that virtue is one thing by nature and another by convention; and that justice is altogether conventional, made by law, and having authority for the moment only.

This is repeated to young men by sages and poets, and leads to impiety, and the pretended life according to nature and in disobedience to law; for nobody believes the Gods to be such as the law affirms.

'Nay, Stranger, the legislator ought never to weary of trying to persuade the world that there are Gods; and he should declare that law and art exist by nature.' Yes, Cleinias; but these are difficult and tedious questions.

'And shall our patience, which was not exhausted in the enquiry about music or drink, fail now that we are discoursing about the Gods?

But first I must pray the Gods to assist at the demonstration of their own existence—if ever we are to call upon them, now is the time.

'Yes, in one of those ways the soul must guide all things.' And this soul of the sun, which is better than the sun, whether driving him in a chariot or employing any other agency, is by every man called a God?

'Yes, by every man who has any sense.' And of the seasons, stars, moon, and year, in like manner, it may be affirmed that the soul or souls from which they derive their excellence are divine; and without insisting on the manner of their working, no one can deny that all things are full of Gods.

'No one.' And now let us offer an alternative to him who denies that there are Gods.

Either he must show that the soul is not the origin of all things, or he must live for the future in the belief that there are Gods.

Next, as to the man who believes in the Gods, but refuses to acknowledge that they take care of human things—let him too have a word of admonition.

'Best of men,' we will say to him, 'some affinity to the Gods leads you to honour them and to believe in them.

Or you have seen the wicked growing old in prosperity, and leaving great offices to their children; or you have watched the tyrant succeeding in his career of crime; and considering all these things you have been led to believe in an irrational way that the Gods take no care of human affairs.

'Very good.' He will easily be convinced that the Gods care for the small as well as the great; for he heard what was said of their goodness and of their having all things under their care.

'He certainly heard.' Then now let us enquire what is meant by the virtue of the Gods.

'Certainly.' And to the Gods we ascribe virtues; but idleness and indolence are not virtues.

'Of course not.' And is God to be conceived of as a careless, indolent fellow, such as the poet would compare to a stingless drone?

Whether God or man, he who does so, must either think the neglect of such matters to be of no consequence, or he is indolent and careless.

And now we will examine the two classes of offenders who admit that there are Gods, but say,—the one that they may be appeased, the other that they take no care of small matters: do they not acknowledge that the Gods are omnipotent and omniscient, and also good and perfect?

'Certainly.' Then they cannot be indolent, for indolence is the offspring of idleness, and idleness of cowardice, and there is no cowardice in God.

'True.' If the Gods neglect small matters, they must either know or not know that such things are not to be regarded.

'Impossible.' And do not all human things share in soul, and is not man the most religious of animals and the possession of the Gods?

And the Gods, who are the best of owners, will surely take care of their property, small or great.

And God is not inferior to mortal craftsmen, who in proportion to their skill are careful in the details of their work; we must not imagine the best and wisest to be a lazy good-for-nothing, who wearies of his work and hurries over small and easy matters.

'Never, never!' He who charges the Gods with neglect has been forced to admit his error; but I should like further to persuade him that the author of all has made every part for the sake of the whole, and that the smallest part has an appointed state of action or passion, and that the least action or passion of any part has a presiding minister.

'What do you mean?' I mean that God acts in the way which is simplest and easiest.

This,—as we declare to the youth who fancies that he is neglected of the Gods,—is the law of divine justice—the worse to the worse, the better to the better, like to like, in life and in death.

This is also the explanation of the seeming prosperity of the wicked, in whose actions as in a mirror you imagined that you saw the neglect of the Gods, not considering that they make all things contribute to the whole.

And how then could you form any idea of true happiness?—If Cleinias and Megillus and I have succeeded in persuading you that you know not what you say about the Gods, God will help you; but if there is still any deficiency of proof, hear our answer to the third opponent.

Enough has been said to prove that the Gods exist and care for us; that they can be propitiated, or that they receive gifts, is not to be allowed or admitted for an instant.

'Let us proceed with the argument.' Tell me, by the Gods, I say, how the Gods are to be propitiated by us?

There is an immortal conflict going on, in which Gods and demigods are our allies, and we their property; for injustice and folly and wickedness make war in our souls upon justice and temperance and wisdom.

There is little virtue to be found on earth; and evil natures fawn upon the Gods, like wild beasts upon their keepers, and believe that they can win them over by flattery and prayers.

'Quite so.' And they who maintain that the Gods can be appeased must say that they forgive the sins of men, if they are allowed to share in their spoils; as you might suppose wolves to mollify the dogs by throwing them a portion of the prey.

'That is the argument.' But let us apply our images to the Gods—are they the pilots who are won by gifts to wreck their own ships—or the charioteers who are bribed to lose the race—or the generals, or doctors, or husbandmen, who are perverted from their duty—or the dogs who are silenced by wolves?

'God forbid.' Are they not rather our best guardians; and shall we suppose them to fall short even of a moderate degree of human or even canine virtue, which will not betray justice for reward?

And now our three points are proven; and we are agreed (1) that there are Gods, (2) that they care for men, (3) that they cannot be bribed to do injustice.

First, there is the impiety of those who deny the existence of the Gods; these may be honest men, haters of evil, who are only dangerous because they talk loosely about the Gods and make others like themselves; but there is also a more vicious class, who are full of craft and licentiousness.

The two other sorts of impiety, first of those who deny the care of the Gods, and secondly, of those who affirm that they may be propitiated, have similar subdivisions, varying in degree of guilt.

As to that class of monstrous natures who not only believe that the Gods are negligent, or may be propitiated, but pretend to practise on the souls of quick and dead, and promise to charm the Gods, and to effect the ruin of houses and states—he, I say, who is guilty of these things, shall be bound in the central prison, and shall have no intercourse with any freeman, receiving only his daily rations of food from the public slaves; and when he dies, let him be cast beyond the border; and if any freeman assist to bury him, he shall be liable to a suit for impiety.

The law is designed to prevent this, and also to deter men from attempting to propitiate the Gods by secret sacrifices, which only multiply their sins.

To him who is careless of such consequences, and, despising the word of the wise, takes up a treasure which is not his—what will be done by the hand of the Gods, God only knows,—but I would have the first person who sees the offender, inform the wardens of the city or the country; and they shall send to Delphi for a decision, and whatever the oracle orders, they shall carry out.

But the legislator will tell them, that no man should invoke the Gods when he is practising deceit or fraud, in word or deed.

For he is the enemy of heaven, first, who swears falsely, not thinking of the Gods by whom he swears, and secondly, he who lies to his superiors.

(Now the superiors are the betters of inferiors,—the elder of the younger, parents of children, men of women, and rulers of subjects.) The trader who cheats in the agora is a liar and is perjured—he respects neither the name of God nor the regulations of the magistrates.

If he sell adulterated goods, the slave or metic who informs against him shall have the goods; the citizen who brings such a charge, if he prove it, shall offer up the goods in question to the Gods of the agora; or if he fail to prove it, shall be dishonoured.

The class of artisans is consecrated to Hephaestus and Athene; the makers of weapons to Ares and Athene: all of whom, remembering that the Gods are their ancestors, should be ashamed to deceive in the practice of their craft.

If any man is lazy in the fulfilment of his work, and fancies, foolish fellow, that his patron God will not deal hardly with him, he will be punished by the God; and let the law follow:—He who fails in his undertaking shall pay the value, and do the work gratis in a specified time.

Let men fear, in the first place, the Gods above; secondly, the souls of the departed, who naturally care for their own descendants; thirdly, the aged living, who are quick to hear of any neglect of family duties, especially in the case of orphans.

Concerning duty to parents, let the preamble be as follows:—We honour the Gods in their lifeless images, and believe that we thus propitiate them.

This proves that the Gods hear the curses of parents who are wronged; and shall we doubt that they hear and fulfil their blessings too?' 'Surely not.' And, as we were saying, no image is more honoured by the Gods than an aged father and mother, to whom when honour is done, the God who hears their prayers is rejoiced, and their influence is greater than that of the lifeless statue; for they pray that good or evil may come to us in proportion as they are honoured or dishonoured, but the statue is silent.

Let no man deceive himself by the supposed example of the Gods, for no God or son of a God ever really practised either force or fraud.

The prize is to be a crown of olive, which the victor shall offer up at the temple of his favourite war God...In any suit which a man brings, let the indictment be scrupulously true, for justice is an honourable maiden, to whom falsehood is naturally hateful.

The three shall be crowned with an olive wreath, and proclamation made, that the city of the Magnetes, once more preserved by the Gods, presents her three best men to Apollo and the Sun, to whom she dedicates them as long as their lives answer to the judgment formed of them.

While they hold office, they shall dwell within the precinct of the God.

He knew that his contemporaries believed in the Gods, for many of them were the sons of Gods; and he thought that the easiest and surest method of ending litigation was to commit the decision to Heaven.

In our own day, men either deny the existence of Gods or their care of men, or maintain that they may be bribed by attentions and gifts; and the procedure of Rhadamanthus would therefore be out of date.

Let Zeus, the God of hospitality, be honoured; and let not the stranger be excluded, as in Egypt, from meals and sacrifices, or, (as at Sparta,) driven away by savage proclamations.

The good man will offer moderate gifts to the Gods; his land or hearth cannot be offered, because they are already consecrated to all Gods.

White is a colour which is acceptable to the Gods; figures of birds and similar offerings are the best of gifts, but they must be such as the painter can execute in a day.

The rites which are to be celebrated after death in honour of the Gods above and below shall be determined by the Interpreters.

The legislator will instruct the people that the body is a mere shadow or image, and that the soul, which is our true being, is gone to give an account of herself before the Gods below.

'He should.' And is there any higher knowledge than the knowledge of the existence and power of the Gods?

No man can now truly worship the Gods who does not believe that the soul is eternal, and prior to the body, and the ruler of all bodies, and does not perceive also that there is mind in the stars; or who has not heard the connexion of these things with music, and has not harmonized them with manners and laws, giving a reason of things which are matters of reason.

'Let us proceed along the road in which God seems to guide us.' We cannot, Megillus and Cleinias, anticipate the details which will hereafter be needed; they must be supplied by experience.

The subject of religion in Book X is introduced as a prelude to offences against the Gods, and this portion of the work appears to be executed in Plato's best manner.

In the last four books, several questions occur for consideration: among them are (I) the detection and punishment of offences; (II) the nature of the voluntary and involuntary; (III) the arguments against atheism, and against the opinion that the Gods have no care of human affairs; (IV) the remarks upon retail trade; (V) the institution of the Nocturnal Council.

The arguments which Plato uses for the being of a God, have an extremely modern character: first, the consensus gentium; secondly, the argument which has already been adduced in the Phaedrus, of the priority of the self-moved.

The answer to those who say that God 'cares not,' is, that He governs by general laws; and that he who takes care of the great will assuredly take care of the small.

Plato did not feel, and has not attempted to consider, the difficulty of reconciling the special with the general providence of God.

And the answer is substantially the same which the modern theologian would offer:—that the ways of God in this world cannot be justified unless there be a future state of rewards and punishments.

This passage is also remarkable for being at variance with the general optimism of the Tenth Book—not 'all things are ordered by God for the best,' but some things by a good, others by an evil spirit.

Secondly, he remarks the self-conceit of a newly-fledged generation of philosophers, who declare that the sun, moon, and stars, are earth and stones only; and who also maintain that the Gods are made by the laws of the state.

So in modern times there are some whose infidelity has arisen from doubts about the inspiration of ancient writings; others who have been made unbelievers by physical science, or again by the seemingly political character of religion; while there is a third class to whose minds the difficulty of 'justifying the ways of God to man' has been the chief stumblingblock.

We too have our popular Epicureanism, which would allow the world to go on as if there were no God.

They do not like expressly to deny God when it is more convenient to forget Him; and so the theory of the Epicurean becomes the practice of mankind in general.

For the larger half of Christians continue to assert that the justice of God may be turned aside by gifts, and, if not by the 'odour of fat, and the sacrifice steaming to heaven,' still by another kind of sacrifice placed upon the altar—by masses for the quick and dead, by dispensations, by building churches, by rites and ceremonies—by the same means which the heathen used, taking other names and shapes.

He gives no encouragement to individual enthusiasm; 'the establishment of religion could only be the work of a mighty intellect.' Like the Hebrews, he prohibits private rites; for the avoidance of superstition, he would transfer all worship of the Gods to the public temples.

Yet in the Timaeus he had himself allowed that God made the world out of pre-existing materials: in the Statesman he says that there were seeds of evil in the world arising out of the remains of a former chaos which could not be got rid of; and even in the Tenth Book of the Laws he has admitted that there are two souls, a good and evil.

And the members of the Nocturnal Council are to continue students of the 'one in many' and of the nature of God.

And from the whole of this drawing down and this great illumination, Hashem (God) shone and drew from it its offspring, like it, and its branches, which are offspring and a drawing down of the light from the letters, and these very ones are exchanges of letters and their substitutions, and with them He created particular creatures in every world.

For although they are not like the letters of our thought, God spare us, even so they are a matter that indicates the coming into being of the light from nothing to something.

And when they are in the aspect of revelation, so as to give life to worlds that are revealed, they are called by the name of utterances, and the word of Hashem (God), and the breath of His mouth, like the letters of speech in a person, by way of a parable, which reveal to those who hear what was hidden and sealed in his heart.

Their coming into being, and their life force, and their conduct, in that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings them into being and gives them life and conducts them, is by His will and His wisdom and His understanding and His knowledge that clothe themselves in His holy attributes, as it is stated in the Midrash (Chagigah 12a): By ten things the world was created, by wisdom, by understanding, and by knowledge, and so on, as it is written (Proverbs 3:19), "Hashem (God) with wisdom founded the earth, He made the heavens firm with understanding, with His knowledge the deeps were split open," and so on, and as the saying of Elijah, "You brought forth ten arrangements, and we call them ten sefirot, to conduct with them hidden worlds that are not revealed and worlds that are revealed, and with them You are concealed," and so on.

But without the tzimtzum and the clothing mentioned above, it is not applicable at all to say, "He is the knower and He is the knowledge," and so on, for He is not in the aspect and the definition of knowing and knowledge at all, God spare us.

And likewise His will, for Hashem (God) desires those who fear Him, and He is desirous of kindness, and He desires the repentance of the wicked, and He does not desire their death and their wickedness, and He is pure of eyes from seeing evil.

His will and His wisdom and His attribute of kindness and His compassion and the rest of His attributes do not add in Him plurality and composition, God spare us, in His essence and His very self.

For if this attribute and this Name were to withdraw, God spare us, the world would return to its source in the word of Hashem (God) and the breath of His mouth, blessed be He, and it would be nullified there in actual existence, and the name "world" would not apply to it at all.

They blundered and they erred in their study of the writings of the Ari, of blessed memory, and they understood the matter of the tzimtzum mentioned there in its plain sense: that the Holy One, blessed be He, removed Himself and His essence, God spare us, from this world, and only watches from above with particular providence over all the creatures, those in the heavens above and on the earth below.

And this is what is written (Deuteronomy 4:39): "And you shall set it back upon your heart, that Hashem (God) is Elohim." The meaning is that these two names are actually one.

But before the Holy One, blessed be He, all are counted before Him as actually nothing, like the light of the sun in the sun, and the attribute of might does not conceal, God spare us, before Him, blessed be He, for it is not a thing in its own right, but Hashem, He is Elohim.

For behold, it is written (Psalms 84:12): "For a sun and a shield are Hashem (God) Elohim." The meaning of "shield" is a sheath for the sun, to give protection, so that the creatures will be able to bear it.

And that every creature and thing acted upon appears to us as something, and as substance, is because we do not grasp, and do not see with eyes of flesh, the power of Hashem (God) and the breath of His mouth that is in the creature.

For they err in their false imagining, since they liken the work of Hashem (God), Maker of heaven and earth, to the work of a mortal and his schemes.

And all the more, and from a lighter matter to a heavier one, in the creation of something from nothing, which is above nature, and a wonder, and a further wonder, beyond the splitting of the Sea of Reeds: how much more and more, if the power of the Creator withdrew from the creature, God spare us, the creature would return to nothing and naught, actually.

"And you shall know today, and you shall set it back upon your heart, that Hashem (God) is Elohim, in the heaven from above and upon the earth from below.

For if the letters were to withdraw for a moment, God spare us, and return to their source, all the heavens would be nothing and naught, actually, and they would be as if they had never been at all, and exactly as before the utterance "Let an expanse be," and so on, actually.

If the letters of the ten utterances, by which the earth was created in the six days of creation, were to withdraw from it for a moment, God spare us, it would return to nothing and naught, actually, exactly as before the six days of creation, actually.

But this is known: the roots of the service of Hashem (God), and its foundations, are fear and love.

And in a particular way, it is that when he understands and discerns the greatness of the King of kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, in detail, as much as his mind can bear, and what is above his mind, and afterward contemplates the great and wondrous love of Hashem toward us, that He went down to Egypt, the nakedness of the land, to bring our souls out of the iron furnace, which is the sitra achra (the other side), God spare us, to bring us near to Him and to join us to His very name, and He and His name are one.

But "when he falls, he is not hurled down" is what is written (Psalms 37:24), and it is called a fall only by comparison with his first level, and not by comparison with all other people, God spare us, for even so he is above every person in his service, because an aspect of a trace from his first level remains in it.

And "Hashem (God) by wisdom founded the earth." This is the Oral Torah, which comes forth from the supernal wisdom, as it is written in the Zohar (Zohar, part 3, 258a), that the Father founded the daughter.

For just as in a physical lamp the light shines by the wasting and the burning of the wick, which turns into fire, so the light of the Shekhinah rests upon the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) by the wasting of the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body) and its turning from darkness to light and from bitter to sweet, in the tzaddikim (a tzaddik is a righteous person), or at least by the wasting of its garments, which are thought, speech, and deed, and their turning from the darkness of the kelipot (a kelipah is a husk that hides holiness) to the light of Hashem, Ein Sof, blessed be He, clothed and united in the thought, speech, and deed of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, in the beinonim (a beinoni is the in-between person).

And as it is written in the Zohar and in the Tree of Life, the Shekhinah, which is malchut (kingship) of Atzilut, [which is the aspect of the revelation of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, and of the life that shines to the worlds, and therefore it is called the word of Hashem (God) and the breath of His mouth, as it were, by way of analogy, as with a person, whose speech reveals his sealed and hidden thought to those who hear], is clothed in the palace of the Holy of Holies of Beriah, which is the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of Beriah.

But the matter is as it is written (Job 19:26): "And from my flesh I behold God." For just as the soul of a person fills all 248 limbs of the body, from his head to his foot, still the chief place of its dwelling and its resting is in his brain, and from the brain it spreads to all the limbs, and each limb receives from it the life and the power that fit it, according to its temperament and its nature: the eye to see, the ear to hear, the mouth to speak, and the feet to walk.

For according to that, its being and its essence would be found shaped in a physical shape, and a likeness and a figure like the figure of the body, God spare us.

And this comes about through the growing strong of the element of divine fire that is in the nefesh elokit (the soul from God).

Only every wise hearted and discerning man, who looks into a matter and goes deep, to bind his mind and his understanding to Hashem (God), will find good, and the light hidden in his understanding soul, each one according to his measure, [there is one who is moved, and so on, and there is one who is moved, and so on], after fear of sin has come first, so that he turn from evil to the utmost, so that "your iniquities" not "separate," and so on (Isaiah 59:2), God spare us.

And in order to create the world of Beriah, which is souls and upper angels, whose service of Hashem (God) is in the manner of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that clothe themselves in them, and they grasp these and receive from them, there was first a mighty contraction, as above.

And the aim of all the contractions is to create the material body of man, and to subdue the sitra achra (the other side), and that there be an advantage of the light over the darkness, when man raises his nefesh elokit (the soul from God) and his vital soul, and its garments, and all the powers of the body, all of them, to Hashem alone, as above at length, for this is the aim of the downward chain of the worlds.

And therefore there is a limit to their enjoyment, for they enjoy the radiance of the Shekhinah (the divine presence) and take delight in the light of Hashem (God).

And the meaning is not that it surrounds and encompasses from above in a manner of place, God spare us, for the manner of place does not apply at all in the spiritual.

And this is the going out of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) from the prison of the body, the skin of the serpent, to be included in the union of the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, by occupation in the Torah and the mitzvot, a mitzvah (a commanded deed), in general, and in particular in the acceptance of the kingship of heaven at the reading of the Shema, in which he accepts and draws upon himself His union, blessed be He, in plain words, when he says, "Hashem (God) our Elohim, Hashem is one." And as was explained above, "our Elohim" is like "the Elohim of Abraham," and so on, because he was null and included in the union of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He.

And for this, nothing holds us back from the cleaving of the nefesh (the lowest level of the soul) to His union and His light, blessed be He, except the will: if the man does not wish at all, God spare us, to cleave to Him, and so on.

And there is a straight path before a man, the same for every nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), and the thing is very, very near: to arouse and to make shine the light of the love fixed and hidden in his heart, so that it shine with the force of its light like a burning fire, in the revelation of his heart and his mind, to surrender his nefesh to Hashem (God), and his body and his might, with all the heart and with all the nefesh and might, from the depth of the heart, in truth of its very truth, and especially at the time of the reading of the Shema and its blessings, as will be explained.

And this is what we say, "who has made us holy with His mitzvot," like a man who betroths a woman, that she be joined with him in a complete union, as it is written (Genesis 2:24): "And he shall cling to his wife, and they shall be one flesh." Exactly so, and beyond this without end, is the union of the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) that occupies itself in the Torah and the mitzvot, and of the vital soul and their garments mentioned above, with the light of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He.

The meaning is that by fulfillment of the mitzvot I am your God, as in "the Elohim of Abraham," "the Elohim of Isaac," and so on, for He is called so because the fathers were the aspect of a chariot for Him, blessed be He, and they are null and included in His light.

There is yet a straight path before a man, to occupy himself in the Torah and the mitzvot, a mitzvah (a commanded deed), for their own sake, by the trait of Jacob our father, peace be upon him, which is the trait of mercy: to arouse in his thought, first, great mercies before Hashem (God) upon the spark of divinity that gives life to his nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), which came down from its source, the life of all life, Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, who fills all worlds and surrounds all worlds, and all is counted as nothing before Him, and it clothed itself in the skin of the serpent, distant from the light of the King's face to the utmost distance.

Therefore fear and love are called "the hidden things belong to Hashem (God) our Elohim" (Deuteronomy 29:28), and the Torah and the mitzvot, a mitzvah (a commanded deed), are the revealed things for us and for our children to do, and so on.

Now these two aspects of love, though they are an inheritance to us from our fathers and like a nature in our souls, and so too the fear included in them, which is to fear being separated, God spare us, from the source of our life and our true Father, blessed be He, even so they are called natural fear and love only when they are in his mind and his thought alone, and in the hidden places of his heart.

That is, when this aspect of fear is drawn from contemplation of the greatness of Hashem (God), that He fills all worlds, and from the earth to the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and so on, and between firmament and firmament, and so on, and the feet of the living beings are over against all of them, and so on (Chagigah 13a), and likewise the downward chain of all the worlds, higher and higher, up to the height of the levels.

And without the fear coming first, it is impossible to reach this great love, for this love is from the aspect of Atzilut (emanation), for there, there is no cutting and no separation, God spare us.

That is, it will not clothe itself in any thing of enjoyment and delight, bodily or spiritual, so as to love it, and it will not desire any thing in the world at all, except Hashem alone, the source of the life of all the delights, for all of them are nullified in existence and are counted as actually nothing before Him, and there is no comparison and no likeness at all between them, God spare us, as absolute nothing and zero has no comparison with eternal life.

And nevertheless the fear too is included in it of itself, only it is in an aspect of smallness and concealment, that is, the fear of sin, of rebelling against Him, God spare us.

But the order of the fixed service, which depends on the choice of the person, needs one to put first the fulfillment of the Torah and the commandments by means of the lower fear, in an aspect of smallness at least, in turning from evil and doing good, so as to light up his nefesh elokit (the soul from God) with the light of the Torah and its commandments, and after that the light of love will shine upon it.

And behold, from what we wrote above concerning the lower fear, what they wrote in the Gemara (Berakhot 33b) on the verse (Deuteronomy 10:12), "And now, Israel, what does Hashem (God) your Elohim ask of you, but to fear Hashem your Elohim", will be well understood.

For the soul of a person, even the intellectual one and the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), is affected by the events of the body and its pain, because it is actually clothed in the vital soul, which is actually clothed in the body.

But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not affected, God spare us, by the events of the world and its changes, and not by the world itself, for none of them works any change in Him, God spare us.

When he returns and contemplates this, even with a light contemplation, at every time and every hour, he will turn from evil and do good, in thought, speech, and deed, so as not to rebel, God spare us, against the eyes of His glory, which fills the whole earth, and as the saying of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai to his disciples, as above.

And behold, Hashem (God) stands over him, and the whole earth is full of His glory, and He looks upon him and examines kidneys and heart, if he serves Him as is fitting.

And in particular, with the tefillin: to nullify and to include the aspect of his wisdom and his understanding in his nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), in the aspect of the wisdom and the understanding of Ein Sof, blessed is He, which are clothed in a particular way in the passages "Sanctify" and "And it shall be, when He brings you".

But the union of his soul, and its inclusion in the light of Hashem so as to become one: this, every person of Israel desires in its full truth, completely, with all the heart and with all the soul, from the natural love hidden in the heart of every Israelite, to cleave to Hashem, and not to be separated, and not to be cut off and divided, God spare us, from His union and His oneness, blessed be He, in any way, even by an actual giving over of the soul.

And without fear and love it cannot rise and stand before Hashem (God), as it is written in the Tikkunim.

For even though there is no place empty of Him, even so He is the hidden of all hidden ones, and He is called (Isaiah 45:15) "a God who hides Himself." And also the illumination and the spreading of the life from Him, blessed be He, is hidden in many and mighty garments and screens, until it has clothed itself and been hidden in the garment of nogah.

And therefore it is the dwelling of the souls of the tzaddikim, who serve Hashem (God) with fear and love drawn from the understanding and the knowledge of the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He, for this love is called the will of the heart, as mentioned above.

And they were masters of choice, to choose the bad, God spare us, and they chose the good, to subdue the sitra achra, so that the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises, and so on, as the advantage of the light, and so on, as mentioned above.

And that is so even if he does not occupy himself actually not for its own sake, for the sake of some side aim, God spare us, but as it is written (Isaiah 29:13): "and their fear of Me has become a command of men learned by rote." The meaning is, because of a habit to which he was habituated from his childhood, that his father and his teacher habituated him and taught him to fear Hashem and to serve Him, and he does not occupy himself actually for its own sake.