[71] The verse continues, “So Sarah the wife of Abraham, ten years after Abraham dwelt in Canaan, took Hagar the Egyptian her handmaid and gave her to Abraham her husband as his wife” (Gen. 16:3). Now vice is malignant and sour and ill-minded by nature, while virtue is gentle and sociable and kindly, willing in every way, either by herself or others, to help those whom nature has gifted. Thus in the case before us,
[72] since as yet we are unable to beget by wisdom, she gives us the hand of her maiden, who is, as I have said, the culture of the schools; and she does not shrink, we may almost say, to carry out the wooing and preside over the bridal rites; for she herself, we are told, took Hagar and gave her as wife to her husband.
[73] Now it is worth considering carefully why in this place Moses again calls Sarah the wife of Abraham, when he has already stated the fact several times; for Moses did not practise the worst form of prolixity, namely tautology. What must we say then? This. When Abraham is about to wed the handmaid of wisdom, the school culture, he does not forget, so the text implies, his faith plighted to her mistress, but knows that the one is his wife by law and deliberate choice, the other only by necessity and the force of occasion. And this is what happens to every lover of learning; personal experience will prove the most infallible of testimonies.
[74] For instance when first I was incited by the goads of philosophy to desire her I consorted in early youth with one of her handmaids, Grammar, and all that I begat by her, writing, reading and study of the writings of the poets, I dedicated to her mistress.
[75] And again I kept company with another, namely Geometry, and was charmed with her beauty, for she shewed symmetry and proportion in every part. Yet I took none of her children for my private use, but brought them as a gift to the lawful wife.
[76] Again my ardour moved me to keep company with a third; rich in rhythm, harmony and melody was she, and her name was Music, and from her I begat diatonics, chromatics and enharmonics, conjunct and disjunct melodies, conforming with the consonance of the fourth, fifth or octave intervals. And again of none of these did I make a secret hoard, wishing to see the lawful wife a lady of wealth with a host of servants ministering to her.
[77] For some have been ensnared by the love lures of the handmaids and spurned the mistress, and have grown old, some doting on poetry, some on geometrical figures, some on the blending of musical “colours,” and a host of other things, and have never been able to soar to the winning of the lawful wife. For each art has its charms, its powers of attraction,
[78] and some beguiled by these stay with them and forget their pledges to Philosophy. But he who abides by the covenants he has made provides from every quarter everything he can to do her service. It is natural, then, that the holy word should say in admiration of his faithfulness that even then was Sarah his wife when he wedded the handmaid to do her service.
[79] And indeed just as the school subjects contribute to the acquirement of philosophy, so does philosophy to the getting of wisdom. For philosophy is the practice or study of wisdom, and wisdom is the knowledge of things divine and human and their causes. And therefore just as the culture of the schools is the bond-servant of philosophy, so must philosophy be the servant of wisdom.
[80] Now philosophy teaches us the control of the belly and the parts below it, and control also of the tongue. Such powers of control are said to be desirable in themselves, but they will assume a grander and loftier aspect if practised for the honour and service of God. So when we are about to woo the handmaids we must remember the sovereign lady, and let us be called their husbands, but let her be not called but be in reality our true wife.