על אברהם ז׳On Abraham 7
א׳
1[36] But Moses makes a good point when, after praising him as possessed of all these virtues, he adds that he was perfect in his generation, thus shewing he was not good absolutely but in comparison with the men of that time.
ב׳
2[37] For we shall shortly find him mentioning other sages whose virtue was unchallenged, who are not contrasted with the bad, who are adjudged worthy of approval and precedence, not because they were better than their contemporaries but because they possessed a happily-gifted nature and kept it unperverted, who did not have to shun evil courses or indeed come into contact with them at all, but attained pre-eminence in practising that excellence of words and deeds with which they adorned their lives.
ג׳
3[38] The highest admiration, then, is due to those in whom the ruling impulses were of free and noble birth, who accepted the excellent and just for their own selves and not in imitation of or in opposition to others. But admiration is also due to him who stood apart from his own generation and conformed himself to none of the aims and aspirations of the many. He will win the second prize, though the first will be awarded by nature to those others.
ד׳
4[39] Yet great also is the second prize in itself, for how could anything fail to be great and worthy of our efforts which God offers and gives?
ה׳
5And the clearest proof of this is the exceeding magnitude of the bounties which Noah obtained.
ו׳
6[40] That time bore its harvest of iniquities, and every country and nation and city and household and every private individual was filled with evil practices; one and all, as though in a race, engaged in rivalry pre-willed and premeditated for the first places in sinfulness, and put all possible zeal into the contention, each one pressing on to exceed his neighbour in magnitude of vice and leaving nothing undone which could lead to a guilty and accursed life.