על אברהם ט׳On Abraham 9
א׳
1[47] Such was he who was best of his contemporaries, and such were the prizes awarded to him, the nature of which is made clear in holy writ. Now the three mentioned above, whether we think of them as men or types of soul, form a series of regular gradation: the perfect man is complete from the first; the transferred stands half-way, since he devoted the earlier part of his life to vice but the latter to virtue to which he passed over and migrated; the hoper, as his very name shews, is defective inasmuch as though he always desired the excellent he has not yet been able to attain to it, but resembles sailors eager to put into port, who yet remain at sea unable to reach their haven.