as one may say, turned accurately in a lathe,
and having its notches extant above it, which, as I said, grow like a
pomegranate, only that they are sharp, and end in nothing but prickles.
Now the fruit is preserved by this coat of the calyx, which fruit is
like the seed of the herb Sideritis: it sends out a flower that may seem
to resemble that of poppy. Of this was a crown made, as far from the
hinder part of the head to each of the temples; but this Ephielis, for
so this calyx may be called, did not cover the forehead, but it was
covered with a golden plate, [14] which had inscribed upon it the name
of God in sacred characters. And such were the ornaments of the high
priest.

7. Now here one may wonder at the ill-will which men bear to us, and
which they profess to bear on account of our despising that Deity which
they pretend to honor; for if any one do but consider the fabric of the
tabernacle, and take a view of the garments of the high priest, and of
those vessels which we make use of in our sacred ministration, he will
find that our legislator was a divine man, and that we are unjustly
reproached by others; for if any one do without prejudice, and with
judgment, look upon these things, he will find they were every one
made in way of imitation and representation of the universe. When Moses
distinguished the tabernacle into three parts, [15] and allowed two of
them to the priests, as a place accessible and common, he denoted the
land and the sea, these being of general access to all; but he set apart
the third division for God, because heaven is inaccessible to men. And
when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on the table, he denoted
the year, as distinguished into so many months. By branching out the
candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly intimated the Decani, or
seventy divisions of the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon the
candlesticks, they referred to the course of the planets, of which that
is the number. The veils, too, which were composed of four things, they
declared the four elements; for the fine linen was proper to signify the
earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the
sea, because that color is dyed by the blood of a sea shell-fish; the
blue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an
indication of fire. Now the vestment of the high priest being made
of linen, signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, being like
lightning in its pomegran