אליגוריות החוקים, ספר א י״זAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book I 17
א׳
1[56] “And God caused to spring out of the ground every tree fair to behold and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9). Moses now indicates what trees of virtue God plants in the soul.
ב׳
2[57] These are the several particular virtues, and the corresponding activities, and the complete moral victories, and what philosophers call καθήκοντα or common duties. These are the plants of the garden. These very plants he characterizes, showing that what is good is also most fair to be seen and enjoyed. For some of the arts and sciences are theoretical indeed but not practical, such as geometry and astronomy, and some are practical, but not theoretical, as the arts of the carpenter and coppersmith, and all that are called mechanical; but virtue is both theoretical and practical; for clearly it involves theory, since philosophy, the road that leads to it, involves it through its three parts, logic, ethics, physics; and it involves conduct, for virtue is the art of the whole of life, and life includes all kinds of conduct.
ג׳
3[58] But while virtue involves theory and practice, it is furthermore of surpassing excellence in each respect; for indeed the theory of virtue is perfect in beauty, and the practice and exercise of it a prize to be striven for. Wherefore he says that it is both “beautiful to look upon,” an expression signifying its aspect as theory, and “good to eat,” words which point to its excellence in exercise and practice.