אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ב כ״גAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book II 23
א׳
1[90] Good, therefore is the reply of Moses beloved of God; for in truth the conduct of the virtuous man leans on discipline as on a rod, settling and allaying the tumult and tossing of the soul. This rod when cast away becomes a serpent; naturally; for if the soul casts away discipline, it at once becomes a lover of pleasure in place of a lover of virtue. And so Moses flies from it; for the lover of virtue runs away from passion and pleasure.
ב׳
2[91] But, mark you, God does not applaud his flight. For while it well befits thee, O my mind, who art not yet made perfect, to get practice by flying and running away from the passions, it befits Moses, the perfect one, not to desist from the warfare against them, but to resist them and fight it out. Otherwise, finding nothing to alarm or to stop them, they will make their way up to the very citadel of the soul, and storm and plunder the whole soul after the fashion of a lawless ruler.
ג׳
3[92] Wherefore also God bids him “lay hold of the tail.” This means, “Let not pleasure’s opposition and her savagery daunt thee. That is the very part to make for. Grip it fast and quell it; for then there shall be once more a rod instead of a serpent; that is to say, instead of pleasure there shall be in thy hand discipline.”
ד׳
4[93] But it is “in the hand” in the doing of the wise man, that this shall come to pass. This is quite true. It would be impossible to lay hold of pleasure and get the mastery of it if the hand were not first stretched out, that is to say, if the soul were not first to acknowledge that all its achievements and successes are due to God’s impelling force and to refer nothing to itself. The man whose eyes are open determines to run away from this serpent, and he fashions another, the principle of self-mastery, that serpent of brass, in order that the man who has been bitten by pleasure may, on seeing self-mastery, live the real life.