On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain 12

¹And indeed no one could in power and sovereignty find so lofty a cause for boasting as these can in their office as shepherds. Surely to those who can reason it is a prouder task than kingship to have the strength to rule, as a king in a city or country, over the body and the senses and the belly, and the pleasures whose seat is below the belly, and the other passions and the tongue and in general all our compound being—aye and to rule them with vigour and with a right strong yet ever-gentle hand. For like the charioteer he must sometimes give the rein to his team, sometimes pull them in and draw them back, when they rush too wildly in unreined career towards the world of external things. ²How admirable again is the example of Moses the guardian of the laws, who, judging the business of a shepherd to be a great and glorious task, took it upon himself. For we find him ruling and leading the thoughts and counsels of the worldling Jethro and drawing them away from the absorbing crowd and tumult of the citizen’s life into the lonely land where injustice is not; for he “led his sheep down into the wilderness” (Exod. 3:1). ³It is a natural consequence of what we have said, that “every shepherd of sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians” (Gen. 46:34). For the right reason which is our pilot and guide to things excellent is an abomination to all who love the passions, just as really foolish children hate their teachers and tutors and every form of reason which would warn them and bring them to wisdom. And we find Moses saying that “he will sacrifice to God the abominations of Egypt” (Exod. 8:26), meaning thereby the virtues, these offerings unblemished and most worthy, which are the abominations of every fool. ⁴With good reason then is Abel who refers all that is best to God called a shepherd, while Cain who refers them to himself and his own mind is called a tiller of the soil. But what is meant by a tiller of the soil (Gen. 4:2) I have shown in earlier books.