Letter 817: Scripture speaks with precision to those who read carefully.

To Agathos. On why the Law commanded that linen and wool and purple should not be woven together, and why in Leviticus it also takes great care over the leprosy of garments and of stones. Since you have written to ask what Moses intended when he laid down as law that linen and wool should not be woven together, that purple should not be woven into linen garments, and that one should take careful account of the leprosy of garments and of stones, I could indeed have set forth the higher contemplative meanings of these things. For they contain excellent allegories, capable of profiting those whose mind is not untrained for contemplation. But since you know that many people regard those who say such things as men who dissolve the contests by ignorance, while you yourself delight in the plain facts and in the interpretation of the Scriptures alone, I will make my answer straightforward, free of circuitous detours. I think, then, that he [Moses], in leading his subjects toward philosophy, and wishing to bring about something of use, banished all softness: by the prohibition against weaving linen and wool together, he expelled variegated extravagance; by the prohibition against weaving purple into linen garments, he expelled costliness and ornamentation; and by the careful scrutiny of the leprosy of garments and of stones, he forbade the acquisition of more than one needs and the hoarding of it away. For this [leprosy] is wont to befall garments and houses that are kept too long. "Of what is needful," he says, "have nothing superfluous, neither acquiring it nor storing it away, nor even adorning yourself; but transfer all your care and zeal to the cultivation of the soul" [cf. Lev., on the laws of mixed fabrics and the leprosy of garments, houses, and stones]. And if you should wish to be helped also from outside sources [from pagan authors]: for they say that the cultivated fig trees, when their fruit is falling off, are bound fast by means of the wild figs [a horticultural practice of caprification]; I would say that Isocrates too, when he sent his words of exhortation to Demonicus, gave this advice: "Be a lover of beauty in your dress, but not a dandy. For it belongs to a lover of beauty to be magnificent, but to a dandy to be over-fussy." And that this is true is plainly shown by the words Diogenes spoke. For seeing a certain young lad adorned more wantonly than befits a man, he said to him: "If it is for men, you are unfortunate; but if it is for women, you do wrong." If, then, those who are outside [the faith] took care for what is fitting, how was that holy and God-loving man, leading his people toward philosophy, not bound to banish all variegated extravagance and softness and ornamentation from his subjects, and to lay down as law orderliness and gravity, by which the best life is set aright?

Διὰ τί προσέταξεν ὁ νόμος, λῖνον καὶ ἔριον καὶ πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνεσθαι, ἐν δὲ τῷ Λευιτικῷ καὶ λέπραν ἱματίων καὶ λίθων πολυπραγμονεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφας τί βουλόμενος ὁ Μωσῆς ἐνομο- θέτησε, λίνον μὲν καὶ ἔριον μὴ συνυφαίνεσθαι· ἐν δὲ τοῖς λινοῖς ἱματίοις πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνειν, λέ- πραν τε ἱματίων καὶ λίθων πολυπραγμονεῖν, εἶχον μὲν καὶ τὰς θεωρίας αὐτῶν μηνῦσαι. Ἔχουσι γὰρ ἀρίστας ἀλληγορίας ὠφελῆσαι δυναμένας, τοὺς μὴ ἀγύμναστον ἔχοντας πρὸς θεωρίαν τὸν νοῦν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ οἶδας πολλοὺς μὲν νομίζοντας τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγοντας, ἀμαθεῖ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐκλύειν· σὲ δὲ τοῖς πράγμασι, καὶ μόνῃ τῇ ἑρμηνείᾳ τῶν Γραφῶν χαί- ροντα, εὐθεῖαν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ποιήσομαι, κύκλων ἀπηλλαγμένην. Οἶμαι τοίνυν, ὅτι εἰς φιλοσοφίαν τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐπάγων, καὶ τῆς χρείας χάρις γενέσθαι βουλόμενος, πᾶσαν βλακείαν ἐξωστράκισε, διὰ μὲν τοῦ μὴ συνυφαίνειν λίνον καὶ ἔριον, τὴν ποικιλίαν ἐξορίζων· διὰ δὲ τοῦ πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνειν τοῖς λινοῖς ἱματίοις, τὴν πολυτέλειαν καὶ τὸν καλλωπι- σμόν· διὰ δὲ τοῦ λέπραν ἱματίων καὶ λίθων περιερ- γάζεσθαι, τὸ πλέον τῆς χρείας κτήσασθαι, καὶ ἀπο- θέαθαι ἀπαγορεύων. Τοῖ γὰρ χρονίοις ἱματίοις καὶ οἰκίαις τοῦτο συμβαίνειν εἴωθε. Τῆς χρείας γὰρ ἔσο, φησί, μηδὲν περιττόν, μήτε κτώμενος, μήτε ἀπο- τιθέμενος, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ καλλωπιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν φροντίδα καὶ τὴν σπουδήν, εἰς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλειαν μετάστησον (43). Εἰ δὲ βουληθείης, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν ὠφεληθῆναι· φασὶ γὰρ τὰς τῶν καρπῶν ἀποῤῥεούσας ἡμέρους συκᾶς, διὰ τῶν ὀλύν- θων τῶν ἀγρίων συσφίγγεσθαι (44)· φαίην, ὅτι καὶ Ἰσοκράτης, ὅτε Δημονίκῳ τοὺς παραινετικοὺς ἔπεμπε λόγους, παρήνει· «Ἔσο περὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα φιλόκαλος, ἀλλὰ μὴ καλλωπιστής. Φιλοκάλου μὲν γὰρ τὸ μεγαλοπρεπές, καλλωπιστοῦ δὲ τὸ περίεργον»· καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο ἀληθές ἐστι, δι’ ὧν Διογένης εἶπε, σαφῶς δείκνυται. Θεασάμενος γάρ τινα μειρακίσκον ἀσελγέστερον ἢ κατ’ ἄνδρα κεκοσμημένον, ἔφη αὐτῷ· «Εἰ μὲν πρὸς ἄνδρας, ἀτυχής· εἰ δὲ πρὸς γυναῖκας, ἀδικεῖς.» Εἰ τοίνυν οἱ ἔξωθεν τοῦ πρέποντος ἐπεμελήθησαν, πῶς οὐκ ἔμελλεν ὁ ἱερὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ θεοφιλὴς ἀνὴρ εἰς φιλοσοφίαν ἐνάγων, πᾶσαν μὲν ποικιλίαν καὶ βλακείαν, καὶ καλλωπισμὸν ἐκ τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐξορίζειν, κοσμιότητα δὲ καὶ σεμνότητα νομοθετεῖν, δι’ ὧν ὁ ἄριστος κατορθοῦται βίος;