Philo of Alexandria · 1617 of 1726

Appendix 2 · The words of Philo, from his treatise on Things Improperly Named.

The ordinary production or wickedness enslaves the mind, even if it has not as yet produced any perfect fruit; for it is, as the proverb says, washing a brick, or taking up water in a net, to try and eradicate wickedness out of the soul of man. For "behold," says Moses, "with what designs the minds of all men are Impressed." And he speaks truly, for he does not say, what designs are attached to and adapted to it, but that which has been considered with care and deliberation is also explained with accuracy, and this too not slowly and with difficulty, but from man's earliest youth, or as one may almost say, from his very cradle, as if it were a part of him, kept in continual exercise.