Tilden: Philo Judaeus 



9 



which are round about on every side afford it safety; and the con- 

 stant breezes from the lake which opens into the sea, and from the sea 

 itself which is close by, account for the mildness of the climate. 

 The breezes from the sea are light, while those from the lake are 

 heavy, and the mixture of the two produces a most healthful 

 condition. 



The houses of those who have gathered here are very cheap affairs, 

 affording protection against the two most necessary things, against 

 the heat of the sun and the chill of the air. Xor are the houses close 

 together as they are in cities, for close proximity would be troublesome 

 to those who seek solitude. Nor yet are they far apart because of the 

 fellowship which they covet, and also in order that they may help 

 one another should there be an attack of robbers. 



In each house there is a sacred chapel which is called the sanc- 

 tuary, and a private room where one may be alone. ^" To this they 

 retire, and there alone they perform the mysteries of the holy life. 

 Into this room they take nothing, no drink nor food, nor an}i;hing 

 else that is necessary for the needs of the body, but having with them 

 the law^s and oracles that have come down thru the prophets, along 

 with psalms and other books by which knowledge and piety are 

 increased and perfected. Hence they ever keep the memory of God 

 unceasingly before them, so that even in their dreams nothing ever 

 presents itself to their minds other than the beauty of the divine 

 virtues and powers. Consequently many even talk in their dreams 

 interpreting the glorious doctrines of their sacred philosophy. 



hills behind Nicopolis. Strabo says it was a good-sized place on the seashore 

 about 30 stades from Alexandria. Lake Mareotis has been filled with sea- 

 water ever since British troops let in the water from Lake Aboukir in 180L 

 Strabo (c. 806) gives an accoimt of the settlement of priests in the town of 

 Heliopolis, which suggests the colony of the Therapeutae. Heliopolis was 

 the On of the Old Testament and here is the oldest obelisk in the world. 



In the convent at Heliopolis once lived Chaeremon, the traveling com- 

 panion in Egypt of Aulius Gallus, and there were shown both the houses of 

 the priests and the schools ((harpiSal) of Plato and Eudoxus. 



The word "sanctuary" is cciivnor, which with ko/vov in 476, 2.3 means 

 the public place for the Sabbath-day meeting. In Alatthew 6, 6 it refers to 

 private closet for prayer in a Jewish house. "The private room where one 

 may be alone" is the word fiovaaryaior, which later means a building or 

 establishment for a single monk or hermit, or for a nimiber of them, hence = 

 monastery. 



1* Inspiration by dreams seems to be as old as mankind. In the Iliad 

 and Odyssey we read often ''Even a dream is from Zeus." B}' divine powers 

 are meant the angels to whom God delegated the task of creating and 

 governing the world. In Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (Part II, p. 229, 

 Harvard Classics), Christiana, after ciuoting Job 33, 14-15, says: "'We need 



