031: Concerning Noah's Work As A Planter (Part 1)

CONCERNING NOAH’S WORK AS A PLANTER - Part 1^*

*Yonge’s title, The Second Part of the Treatise about the Planting of Noah; the mention of "The Second Part" shows that Yonge regarded On Husbandry (De Agricultura) to be closely tied to Concerning Noah’s Work as a Planter (De Plantatione).

I. (1) In the former part of this treatise we have spoken of the art of husbandry as to its genus, dwelling on it at as great a length as the time admitted of; but in this book we will discuss the question of his cultivation of his vineyard with regard to the species as far as it is in our power. For Moses represents the just Noah not only as a husbandman, but also especially as occupied with the cultivation of vines, saying, "Noah began to be a husbandman of the earth; and he planted a Vineyard." ⁽¹⁾ [Gen 9:20] (2) And it is fitting that a man who was about to discuss the whole question of separate plants and manners of cultivation, should first of all acquire an accurate comprehension of the most perfect plants in the universe, and of the great planter and superintendent of them. He then who is the greatest of all planters and the most perfect in art, is the Ruler of the universe; and his plant is not one which comprises within itself only individual plants, but rather infinite numbers of them springing up like suckers from one root, namely, this world. (3) For after the Creator of the world, reducing that substance, which was in its own nature destitute of order and regularity, into a state of order, and bringing it from a condition of confusion into a distinct system, began to fashion and shape it, he placed the earth and the water in the middle, and the plants of air and fire he drew up from their previously central position to a lofty eminence; and the aether he arranged all round, placing it as a boundary to and preservation of the things within, from which also it seems that the Heaven ⁽²⁾ [Ouranos, "heaven;" as if derived from horos or houros, "a boundary."] derives its name, causing the earth to be borne upon the water in such a way that it continues dry, which, however, there was reason to fear might be dissolved by water; and this great worker of marvels, moreover, united the air, which was exceedingly cold by its own nature, to fire which is very hot; a most surprising miracle. (4) For how can it be looked upon as anything but a prodigy, for that which would dissolve another thing, to be held together by that which it would dissolve: that is to say, for water to be held together by earth; and again, for that which is the hottest of all things to be placed upon that which is the coldest without its nature being destroyed, that is to say, for fire to be placed upon air? And these are the elements of this most perfect plant; but the very great and all productive plant is this world, of which the aforesaid branches are the main shoots.

II. (5) We must now therefore consider where God placed its foundations, and in fact, what foundation it has on which it is supported, as a statue is on a pedestal; certainly we cannot imagine that any body is left outside and wandering about, since God has worked up and arranged every imaginable material throughout the whole universe. (6) For it was fitting that the most perfect and greatest of all works should be made by the greatest of all makers; and it would not have been the most perfect of works if it had not been filled up by perfect parts, so that this world consists of all earth, and all water, and all air, and all fire, not a single particle, no not the smallest imaginable atom, being omitted. (7) It follows therefore of necessity, that what is outside must either be a vacuum or nothing at all. If now it is a vacuum, than how can that which is full and solid, and the heaviest of all things, avoid being pressed down by its own weight, since there is no solid thing to hold it up? from which consideration it would appear to be something like a vision, since the mind is always seeking for some corporeal foundation, such as everything which is moved, must of necessity have: and especially the world, inasmuch as it is the greatest of all bodies, and embraces a multitude of other bodies as it sown appropriate parts. (8) If therefore any one wishes to escape from the difficulties of this question which present themselves in the different doubts thus raised, let him speak freely and say that there is nothing in any material of such power as to be able to support this weight of the world. But it is the eternal law of the everlasting God which is the most supporting and firm foundation of the universe. (9) This it is which, being extended from the centre of the borders, and again from the extremities to the centre, runs through the whole unsubdued course of nature, collecting all the parts and binding them firmly together; for the father who created them has made it the indissoluble bond of the universe. (10) Very naturally and appropriately therefore, all earth will not be dissolved by all water, which the bosom of the earth contains, nor will fire be extinguished by air, nor again will air be burnt up by fire, since the divine law establishes itself as a boundary to all these elements, like a vowel among consonants, so that the universe may, as it were, be harmonious in concert with the music expressed by letters; persuasion, by its own authority, putting an end to the threatening conflicts of contrary natures.

III. (11) Thus then the plant which bears all things was rooted, and when it was rooted was made strong. But of the particular plants, and those of smaller growth, some were moveable, so as to have their places changed; and some were made so as, without any such change, to stand steadily in the same place. (12) Those then that are affected by motion, inducing change of place, which we call animals, are attached to the most important portions of the universe; the terrestrial animals to the earth, the animals which swim to the water, the winged animals to the air and those which can live in the flame to the fire (which last are said to be most evidently produced in Macedonia), and the stars are attached to the heaven. For those who have studied philosophy pronounce the stars also to be animals, being endowed with intellect and pervading the whole universe; some being planets, and moving by their own intrinsic nature; and others, that is the fixed stars, being borne along with the revolutions of the universe; so that they likewise appear to change their places. (13) But those which are regulated according to a nature devoid of all sensation, which are peculiarly called plants, have no participation in that motion which involves a change of place.

IV. (14) But the Creator made two different races on the earth and in the air. In the air, he made the winged animals capable of being perceived by the external senses, and other powers which can by no means be comprehended in any place by the external senses; and this is the company of incorporeal souls arranged in order, but not in the same classifications. For it is said that some are assigned to mortal bodies, and are again subjected to a change of place according to certain defined periodical revolutions; but that others which have received a more divinely prepared habitation, look down upon the region of the earth, and that in the highest place, near the other itself, the purest souls are placed, which those who have studied philosophy among the Greeks call heroes, but which Moses, by a felicitous appellation, entitles angels; souls which go as ambassadors and messengers of good from the ruler of all things to his subjects, and messengers also to the king respecting those things of which his subjects have heard. To the earth again he assigned two classes, terrestrial animals and plants, wishing that she should be at the same time their mother and their nurse. (15) For, as in the case of woman and every animal of the female sex, fountains of milk spring up in them when they are about to bring forth, in order that they may supply the offspring that is born of them with necessary and suitable food; so in a similar manner God has assigned to the earth, which is the mother of all terrestrial animals, all the different species of plants, in order that the animals produced by the earth may have such food as is akin to them, and not alien from their natures. (16) And, indeed, God has caused plants to grow with their heads downwards, having fixed their heads in the deepest parts of the earth; and having drawn up the heads of the irrational animals from the earth, he has set them up high on long necks, putting their fore feet under their necks as a kind of foundation. (17) But man has received a pre-eminently superior formation. For of all other animals God has bent the eyes downwards, so that they look upon the ground; but on the other hand, he has raised the eyes of man so that he may behold the heaven, being not a terrestrial but a celestial plant as the old proverb Is. ⁽³⁾ [This is similar to what Ovid says, which may be Translated "and while all other creatures from their birth / With downcast eyes gaze on their kindred earth, / He bids man walk erect, and scan the heaven, / From whence he sprung, to which his hopes are given."]

V. (18) But the others who say that our mind is a portion of the ethereal nature, have by this assertion attributed to man a kindred with the air; but the great Moses has not named the species of the rational soul by a title resembling that of any created being, but has pronounced it an image of the divine and invisible being, making it a coin as it were of sterling metal, stamped and impressed with the seal of God, the impression of which is the eternal word. (19) For, says Moses, "God breathed into man’s face the breath of Life," ⁽⁴⁾ [Gen 2:7] so that it follows of necessity, that he that received the breath must be fashioned after the model of him who sent it forth. On which account it is said too, that "Man was made after the image of God," ⁽⁵⁾ [Gen 1:27] and not after the image of any created being. (20) It follows, therefore, since the soul of man has been fashioned in accordance with the archetypal word of the great cause of all things, that his body also, having been raised up to the purest portion of the universe the heaven, must extend its vision, in order that, by a comparison with what is visible, it may attain to an accurate comprehension of what is invisible. (21) Since, therefore, it was impossible for any one to perceive the attraction of the mind to the living God, except for those persons alone who were drawn towards him (for that which each person suffers, he alone particularly knows), God has given us the eyes of the body (as an evident and visible image of the invisible eye), which are able to look up to the heaven; (22) for when the eyes, composed of perishable material, have raised themselves to such a height, as to be able from the region of the earth to mount up to heaven which is removed at so great a distance from the earth, and to reach its utmost heights, how great a course in every direction must we suppose to be within the power of the eyes of the soul? which, being endowed with wings from their excessive desire to see the living God clearly, reach up not only to the highest regions of the air, but even pass over the boundaries of the whole world, and hasten towards the Uncreated.

VI. (23) On this account, those persons who are insatiable in their desire for wisdom and knowledge are said in the sacred oracles to be "called Up." ⁽⁶⁾ [Exo 19:20] (24) For it is legitimate that those persons should be called up to the Deity who have been inspired by him. For it would be a terrible thing if whirlwinds and hurricanes have power to tear trees up by their roots, and to toss them in the air, and to carry off vessels of many tons’ burden, though loaded with cargoes, as if they were the lightest things imaginable, out of the middle of the sea; and if even lakes and rivers are raised on high, when their streams actually leave the bosom of the earth, having been drawn up by the ardent and diversified eddies of the winds: and yet, if the mind, which is intrinsically light, cannot be raised up by the nature of the Divine Spirit, which is able to do everything and to subdue all things below, and cannot be elevated to an exceeding height; and especially the mind of the man who studies philosophy in a genuine manner. (25) For he does not incline downwards to the things dear to the body and to the earth, from which he separates himself, and studies to alienate himself as far as possible but he is borne upwards, being insatiably devoted to sublime, holy, magnificent, and happy natures. (26) Therefore, also, Moses will be summoned upwards, the steward and guardian of the sacred mysteries of the living God. For we read in the book of Leviticus, "He called Moses up to Him." ⁽⁷⁾ [Exo 31:2] is the passage alluded to, and not any verse in Leviticus] Bezeleel also will be summoned up, being thought worthy of the same honours. For him, also, God calls up for the preparation of the sacred furniture and for the care of the sacred works. (27) But he receives only the second honour of this summons, and the all-wise Moses shall have the first place assigned to him. For the former fashions shadows only, like painters do, in which it is not right to form any living thing. For the very name Bezeleel is interpreted to mean, "working in shadows." But Moses does not make shadows, but the task is assigned to him of forming the archetypal natures of things themselves. And in other places, also, the great Cause of all things is accustomed to reveal his secrets to some in a more conspicuous and visible manner, as if in the pure light of the sun, and to others more sparely, as though in the shade.

VII. (28) Having therefore gone through all the larger plants in the universe, let us see in what manner the all-wise God made the trees which exist in the smaller world, that is to say, in man. In the first place, then, taking our body as if it were a field of deep soil, he created the external senses to be in it as so many channels. (29) And after that, he arranged the place of each separate one of them, as if it had been a fruit-bearing and most useful tree, assigning the sense of hearing to the ear, that of sight to the eyes, that of smell to the nostrils, and each of the other senses and faculties to their kindred and appropriate organs. And the divine man bears his testimony to this account of mine, speaking thus in his Psalms, "He that planted the ear, doth he not hear? and he that made the eyes, shall he not See?" ⁽⁸⁾ [Psa 94:9] (30) Moreover, all the different powers which run down as far as the legs and hands, and all the other parts of the body, whether internal or external, are all those of an unimportant kind. (31) But those which are better and more perfect he has rooted in the more central portion; that which is pre-eminently able to bring forth fruit, the dominant portion of the man. These faculties are perception, comprehension, felicity of conjecture, study, memory, habit, disposition, the various species of art, the firmness of knowledge of different things, the apprehension of the speculations of universal virtue in such a way as is never forgotten. Now, no mortal is competent to plant any one of these things himself. But of all of them together there is one architect, the uncreated God, who has not only made them originally, but who also makes them for and implants them in every individual man that is born.

VIII. (32) Now the account of the planting of Paradise is consistent with what has been already said. For it is stated, "God planted a Paradise in Eden, towards the east; and there is placed the man whom he has Made." ⁽⁹⁾ [Gen 2:8] Now, to think that it is here meant that God planted vines, or olive trees, or apple trees, or pomegranates, or any trees of such kinds, is mere incurable folly. (33) For why should he have done so? any one may ask. Was it that he might have a pleasant abode to spend his time in? Even the whole world could not be considered a dwelling sufficient for God, the governor of the universe. Would it not appear to be deficient in innumerable other things, so that it could never be looked upon as a place worthily suited to the reception of the great King? True, indeed, it is impiety to think that the Cause of all things can be contained in that which he has caused, especially as even those trees do not invariably bear their annual fruit. (34) For whose enjoyment and use, then, is it that the Paradise is to produce fruit? For that of no man. For there is absolutely no one at all who is represented as inhabiting the Paradise, since Moses says that God removed the first man who was created out of the earth, by name Adam, from his original place, and placed him here. (35) And, moreover, God has no need of food any more than he has of anything else; for it follows necessarily that he who uses food must first of all stand in need of it. And in the second place, that he must have organs adapted for the reception of it, by means of which he can receive it when it enters him; and then dismiss it from him when he has digested it. But all these things, which are parts of the happiness and blessedness which surround the Great Cause of all things, are inconsistent with the doctrine of those men who represent him as clothed with human form, and influenced by human passions to the utter destruction of all piety and religious feeling both great virtues; such notions being contrary to all law and right.

IX. (36) We must therefore have recourse to allegory, which is a favourite with men capable of seeing through it; for the sacred oracles most evidently conduct us towards and instigate us to the pursuit of it. For they say that in the Paradise there were plants in no respect similar to those which exist among us; but they speak of trees of life, trees of immortality, trees of knowledge, of comprehension, of understanding; trees of the knowledge of good and evil. (37) Now these cannot have been trees of the land, but must indisputably have been plants of a rational soil, which was a road to travel along, leading to virtue, and having for its end life and immortality; and another road leading to vice, having for its end the loss of life and immortality, that is to say, death. Therefore, we must suppose that the bounteous God plants in the soul, as it were, a paradise of virtues and of the actions in accordance with them, which lead it to perfect happiness. (38) On this account, also, he has assigned a most appropriate place to the Paradise, called Eden (and the name Eden, being interpreted, means "delight"), an emblem of the soul, which sees right things, and revels amid the virtues, and exults by reason of the abundance and magnitude of its joy; proposing to itself one source of enjoyment in the place of the innumerable things which are accounted pleasant among men, namely the service of the one wise God. (39) He, then, who had drunk of this unmixed source of joy, and was a follower of and fellow rejoicer with Moses, and not one of the least valued of that body, in his Psalms addressed his own mind, saying, "Delight thou in the Lord." ⁽¹⁰⁾ [Psa 37:4] Exciting himself and his mind towards heavenly and divine love by these words, and indignantly turning away from the luxury and effeminacy existing among what are called and believed to be human goods; and being hurried away in his whole heart by divine inspiration and fervour, and finding his joy in God alone.

X. (40) And the statement that "the Paradise was in the east," is a proof of what has been here said. For folly is a thing of darkness and setting, and which brings on the night; but wisdom is a most brilliant thing, radiant all around, and in the truest sense of the word, rising. And, as the sun, when it arises, fills the whole circle of the heaven with its light, so in the same manner, when the beams of virtue shine forth, they made the whole place occupied by the mind full of pure light. (41) Therefore the possessions of man have guards and keepers, very fierce beasts, for the repulse of invading and attacking enemies. But the possessions of God have rational natures for their guards. For "there," says Moses, "God placed the man whom he had made;" that is to say, he placed him among the rational virtues alone; (42) therefore the practices and uses of the virtues have received from God this especial honour beyond the souls of other animals. And therefore, also, it is most expressly and plainly declared that God placed that man which is really man in us, namely, the mind, among the most sacred shoots and plants of excellence and virtue. But among those animals which have no share in mind, no one has ever cultivated any plant worth speaking of, since there is not one of them capable by nature of receiving comprehension.

XI. (43) We cannot therefore raise any question as to why it was ordained that all the different species of animals should be collected in the ark which was made at the time of the great deluge, while more were brought into the Paradise. For the ark was an emblem of the body, which of necessity therefore contained all the most tameable and ferocious evils of the passions and vices; but the Paradise contained only the virtues: and the virtues do not receive anything savage or in short anything destitute of reason. (44) And Moses also speaks very carefully, not representing the man who was made after God’s own image, but the man who was formed of clay, as the one who was placed in the paradise. For the one who was made after the image of God, and stamped with the truth of God, does, as it appears to me, in no respect differ from the tree which bore as its fruit everlasting life. For they are both imperishable, and have both been thought worthy of the most central position in the dominant part of man. For it is said that "the tree of life is in the midst of the Paradise." But the other man, he of the composite and more earthly body, who has no justification in uncreated and simple nature, the cultivator of which is the only person who knows how to dwell in the house and in the courts of the Lord. For Jacob is represented "as a plain man dwelling in a House," ⁽¹¹⁾ [Gen 25:27], where the expression, however, is "dwelling in tents."] having a disposition full of ingenuity, and compounded and made up of all kinds of materials. (45) It was natural therefore to place and firmly root the mind in the middle of the paradise, that is, of the universal world, having in itself faculties which draw it in contrary directions, so that it should be kept in a state of doubt when called upon to discriminate as to what it should choose and what it should avoid, since if it chose the better part it would reap immortality and glory; and if it chose the worse it would meet with reproach and death.

XII. (46) Such then are the trees which the only wise God has planted in rational souls. But Moses, pitying those who were exiled and compelled to quit the paradise of the virtues, addresses a prayer to the absolute authority of God and to his merciful and propitious powers, entreating that in the place from which the earthly mind, Adam, was banished, there a people capable of seeing the truth might be planted. (47) For he says, "Bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance which thou dost give them; thou hast made them to sit in thy seat, O Lord; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which they hands have made. The Lord shall be king of ages, for ever and Ever." ⁽¹²⁾ [Exo 15:17] (48) Therefore he had learnt, as plainly as any man that ever lived, that God, having fixed the roots and seeds of everything down in the earth, is the cause also of the greatest of all plants, namely this world, shooting up; which world he here seems to speak of enigmatically in the song which I have just quoted, where he calls it the mountain of his inheritance; since that which is made is the most appropriate possession and inheritance, of him who has made it. (49) Therefore he prays that we may be planted in it, not in order that we may become irrational and unmanageable in our natures; but that, in due obedience to the arrangement of the all-perfect governor, imitating his perpetual and undeviating consistency, we may live a temperate and innocent life. For to be able to live in a strict uniformity with nature, is what the man of old have defined as the end of happiness. (50) And accordingly what is said afterwards is in strict agreement with what is said before, namely, that the world is the beautiful and properly prepared house of God, appreciable by the external senses; and that he himself made it and that it is not uncreated, as some persons have thought. And he uses the word "sanctuary," as meaning a splendour emitted from holy objects, an imitation of the archetypal model; since those things which are beautiful to the external senses are to the intellectual senses models of what is beautiful. The expression that "it was prepared by the hands of God," means that it was made by his worldcreating powers. (51) But in order that no one may suppose that the Creator had need of any one of the things which he created, he adds the most necessary assertion, "Being King of ages for ever and ever." But a king is in need of nothing, but everything which is subject to him is inevitably in need of the king. (52) And some persons have said that God is and is properly called the inheritance of God, the use and enjoyment of which Moses has now prayed may be afforded to us. For, says he, representing us as children just beginning to learn by means of the doctrines and speculations of wisdom, and not leaving us destitute of the elements of knowledge, plant them in sublime and heavenly reason. (53) For this is the most thoroughly prepared inheritance; the house most completely ready, the abode most entirely suitable, which "thou hast made holy." For, O master, thou art the maker of all good and holy things, as, on the other hand, corruptible creation is of what is evil and profane. Reign thou throughout infinite eternity over the suppliant soul; not leaving it for a single moment without a governor. For an uninterrupted service under them is not only better than freedom, but even than the most extensive dominion.

XIII. (54) In many people perhaps an inquiry may suggest itself as to what is the meaning of the expression, "In the mountain of thy inheritance." It is plain that God bestows inheritance, but perhaps it is not reasonable to think that he receives inheritances, since everything in the world belongs to him. (55) But perhaps this is said of those who are subject to him as their master, according to some special computation of connection; just as kings govern indeed all their subjects, but rule their own servants in a different and peculiar manner, whom they are accustomed to employ as ministers for the care of their bodies and the rest of their manner of life. (56) And again, though they are lords of all the possessions in their whole country, even of those which appear to belong to private individuals, they nevertheless are accounted owners only of those portions which they can entrust to superintendents and overseers, from whom they receive yearly revenues, which properties they often visit for the sake of relaxation and amusement, when they lay aside for a while the heaviest portion of the burden of the cares which arise to them in the administration of public affairs and in the government of their kingdoms; and these possessions are called especially the royal properties. (57) Moreover all the silver and gold, and other treasures which are stored up in the coffers of their subjects, do all in reality belong more to the rulers than to those who possess them. But nevertheless there are some which are peculiarly called the royal treasures, in which those who are appointed collectors of the produce lay up the revenues which are derived from the country. (58) Do not wonder, therefore, if the company of wise souls is pronounced to be the especial inheritance of the all-powerful God who has authority and dominion over everything, since he sees most acutely of all beings, exercising the irreproachable and unadulterated eye of the mind, which is never shut, but is always wide open and looking intensely into every thing.