nd he interpreted the Mosaic code, which "no war, tyrant,
persecution, or visitation, human or Divine, can destroy: for it is
eternal."[151] In the arrangement of the Torah, Philo finds a proof of
its universality. It begins with the account of the creation, to teach
us that the same Being that is the Creator and Father of the universe
is also its Legislator, and, again, that he who follows the law will
choose to live in harmony with nature, and will exhibit consistency of
action with words and of words with action. Other philosophers,
notably the Stoics, claimed to lay down a plan of life that followed
the law of nature; but their practice notoriously fell below their
unrealizable professions. In Judaism alone spirit and practice were at
one, so that each inspired the other and secured human excellence.
"Not theory but practice is the root of the matter" ([Hebrew: l' hmdrsh
'kr 'l' hm'sha]), according to the rabbis:[152] and Philo, who,
contemplative philosopher as he was, yet recognized the all-importance of
conduct, writes in the same spirit:[153] "We must first study and then act,
for we learn, not for learning's sake, but in order to action."

Philo seeks to arrange the law under general moral heads, and he finds
in the Decalogue the holy text upon which the rest of the code is but
a commentary. He may be following a tradition common among all the
Jews, for in the Midrash to Numbers (xiii) it is said that the six
hundred and thirteen precepts are all contained in the Ten
Commandments: [Hebrew: shtrig mtsvt klilit bhn]. We do not know, however,
in what way the early rabbis carried out this idea, whereas we possess
Philo's arrangement; and some of its features are very suggestive.[154]
To the first two commandments he attaches the ritual laws relating to
priests and sacrifices, to the fourth the laws of all the festivals, to
the seventh the criminal and civil law, to the tenth the dietary laws.
The Decalogue he conceives as falling into two divisions, between which
the fifth commandment is a link. For the first four commandments are
ordinances that determine man's relation to God, and the last five
those which determine his relation to his fellows. Honor of the
parents is the link between the Divine and the human virtues, even as
parents themselves are a link between immortal God and mortal man.
Corresponding to the two divisions of the Decalogue are the two
generic virtues which the Mosaic legislation has set as its