אליגוריות החוקים, ספר ג פ״טAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis, Book III 89
א׳
1[248] “Thorns therefore and burrs shall it cause to spring up for thee” (Gen. 3:18). Nay, what does grow and shoot up in the soul of a foolish man, but the passions which goad and wound it? To these, using figures, he has given the name of thorns. These the irrational impulse like a fire meets first, and ranging herself with them burns up and consumes all the soul’s possessions. For this is what is said: “If a fire break out and find thorns and go on to burn threshing-floor or standing corn or field; he that kindled the fire shall make restitution” (Exod. 22:6).
ב׳
2[249] You see that the fire, the irrational impulse, when it has broken out does not burn the thorns but finds them; for being a searcher after the passions it finds what it wanted to get; and when it has found them it burns up these three things, perfect virtue, gradual progress, goodness of natural disposition. Virtue he likens to the contents of the threshing-floor, for as the grain has been gathered together on it, so in the soul of the wise man have been gathered noble things. To the standing corn he likens gradual advance, since either is incomplete and is earnestly set on its completeness. He likens goodness of natural disposition to the field, because it is receptive of the seeds of virtue.
ג׳
3[250] He calls each of the passions “burrs” or “three-spiked caltrops,” because they are threefold, the passion itself, that which produces it, and the finished result of these. For instance, pleasure, the pleasant, feeling pleasure; desire, the desirable, desiring; sorrow, the sorrowful, feeling sorrow; fear, the fearful, fearing.