03_Wilson_201_221_201_221 10/07/15 12:41 Pagina 207 207 MATTHEW, PHILO, AND MERCY FOR ANIMALS (MATT 12,9-14) 207 two subjects, with the means of inference involving both the as- signment of categories to the two subjects as well as the ranking of the categories in a graded dimension of comparison. In the case of Matt 12,11, the two categories for comparison are animals and peo- ple, the ranking of which is stated in 12,12a. The argument as such entails transferring something that is known about the subject of lower rank to the subject of higher rank, with the claim that the va- lidity of the inferred proposition is greater for the subject of higher rank than for the subject from which the proposition is inferred. While Doering is correct that this type of reasoning was applied by the rabbis to cases concerning Sabbath observance (e.g., t. Shab. 15.16), like other interpreters he fails to note that the use of a minori ad maius comparisons was fairly widespread in the ancient world 28. In fact, moral arguments involving a minori ad maius comparisons between human and non-human subjects were used by various authors in antiquity, including non-rabbinic as well as rabbinic authors 29. For various illustrations of the former, we can turn to the work of one such author, Philo of Alexandria. II. Philo and the Humane Treatment of Animals Many of Philo’s observations about animals are located in a set of compositions known as the Exposition of the Law, an apologetic reconfiguration of Jewish law and history (evidently written for non-Jews as well as Jews) meant to establish the excellence of Ju- daism with reference to an array of moral, legal, and cultural values esteemed by the Greco-Roman host culture 30. One place where we find a concentration of such observations is in De humanitate (= Virt. 51-174), a sub-treatise belonging to a larger unit of the Expo- sition that endeavors to show how, contrary to its critics, the Mosaic 28 For examples, see D. DAUBE, “Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric”, HUCA 22 (1949) 251-257. 29 For examples of the latter, see m. Hull. 12.5; b. B. Mes. 88b. 30 P. BORGEN, Philo of Alexandria. An Exegete for His Time (NovTSup 86; Leiden 1997) 63-79; J. MORRIS, “The Jewish Philosopher Philo”, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, vol. 3, part 2 (eds. E. SCHÜRER – G. VERMES et al.) (Edinburgh 1987) 840-856; W.T. WILSON, Philo of Alexandria. On Virtues (PACS 3; Leiden 2011) 1-10.