Philo of Alexandria · 1565 of 1726

Appendix 2 · From the Questions arising in Genesis.

Page 748. A. What is the meaning of the expression, "Until" thou return to the dust from which thou wast taken? For man was not formed of the dust alone, but also of the divine Spirit; but since he did not continue in an unchanged condition, he neglected the divine command, and cutting off that constitution which imitated the heaven from his better part, he made himself over wholly to the earth; for if he had been a lover of virtue, which is immortal, he would beyond all question have received heaven for his inheritance, but since what he sought was pleasure, by means of which the death of the soul is brought upon mankind, he became appropriated to the earth.