אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג פ״חAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 88
א׳
1[246] The words “and thou didst eat of the tree of which alone I commanded thee not to eat” are equivalent to “thou didst consent to wickedness, which it is thy duty to keep off with all thy might”: because of this “cursed”—not “art thou” but “is the earth in thy works” (Gen. 3:17). What then was the reason of this? The serpent, we saw, was pleasure, an irrational elation of soul. She is accursed on her own account, but mark well that she attaches herself only to the worthless man, not to any good man. Adam is the neutral mind, which now proves better, now worse.
ב׳
2[247] For in so far as he is mind, his nature is neither bad nor good, but under the influence of virtue and vice it is his wont to shift towards good and bad. It is then just as we should expect, that he is not accursed on his own account, inasmuch as he is neither wickedness nor conduct with wickedness for its rule, but the earth is accursed in his works; for the doings of which the whole soul, to which is here given the name of “earth,” is the means and occasion, are blameworthy and faulty when he allows wickedness to regulate them in each case. Accordingly he goes on “in sorrow shalt thou eat of it.” This is tantamount to “thou shalt sorrowfully get the benefit of being alive.” For in pain does the bad man all his life long avail himself of his own vitality. He has no motive for joy. Such a motive is in the nature of things supplied by righteousness and good sense and the virtues that share her throne.