Philonis Judaei Opera Omnia (Vol. 7)

...while descending from the ether the celestial region into the mortal body, enters and is sown in the field of the body, it is truly a stranger in a land not its own: since the earthly nature of the body is utterly alien to the pure intellect, and by subjugating it downward into servitude, it brings every affliction upon it: until the Savior, bringing the race that holds the vices to judgment, condemns it; for thus it is subsequently rendered into liberty. Wherefore he introduces: Nevertheless, the nation to whom they shall serve, I will judge: And after these things they shall go out here with great substance Genesis 15:14. This is the same measure, and even better: because the mind is absolved from its evil companion the body, exiting and being transported not only freely, but also with substance; so that it leaves nothing good or useful among its enemies. For every rational soul is indeed fertile: but he who thinks himself burdened with goods and endowed with virtue in his own counsel cannot preserve his fruit to the end; for it is fitting for a virtuous man to attain things through premeditated effort, just as it is consistent for those with the counsel of wisdom. For just as some trees, even if they are fertile in the first germination of fruits, are not able to nourish them; so that for the slightest reasons the entire fruit is shaken off before maturation: similarly, the souls of the inconstant feel many things aiding fertility, yet they do not know how to preserve them whole before the perfection that befits the student of virtue, so that he may collect them as his own property.

P. A. 184

What is the meaning of: But you shall go to your fathers in peace, nourished in a beautiful old age? Genesis 15:15

§. 11. He clearly indicates the incorruptibility of the soul, which transfers itself from the dwelling of the mortal body and returns as if to the metropolis of its fatherland, from whence it first migrated here. For when saying to the deceased: you shall go to your fathers, what is it other than to propose another life without the body, insofar as it is fitting only for the soul of the wise person to live? By "fathers of Abraham," he does not mean his parents and grandfathers and ancestors, for not all of them were worthy of praise, so that they could be an honor to him who attained the succession of the same order. But it seems to designate the fathers, as is the opinion of many, as the elements of the universe, into which the resolution of the dissolved occurs. To me, however, it seems to designate incorporeal substances, and inhabitants of the divine world, whom he is accustomed to call angels elsewhere. Furthermore, it is not in vain that he says he was nourished in peace and in a beautiful old age. For the wicked and depraved is nourished in conflict, and lives and dies in a most miserable old age; but the virtuous man cultivates peace in both lives, in that which is with the body and in that which is without the body, and he is the only one who is most strong most virtuous, such as no one of the foolish is found to be, even if he should be longer-lived than an elephant. Wherefore he diligently said: you shall go to your fathers, nourished not in prolonged old age, but in beautiful old age: for many of the foolish also extend into a long life, but only he who is a lover of wisdom attains a good and virtuous one.