על החלומות, ספר א כ״דOn Dreams, Book I 24
א׳
1[153] I must not fail to mention another idea which is present in the vision. The affairs of men are naturally likened to a ladder owing to their uneven course.
ב׳
2[154] For one day, as the poet says, brings one man down from on high, and lifts another up, and nothing relating to man is of a nature to remain as it is, but all such things are liable to changes of every kind.
ג׳
3[155] Are not private citizens continually becoming officials, and officials private citizens, rich men becoming poor men and poor men men of ample means, nobodies becoming celebrated, obscure people becoming distinguished, weak men strong, insignificant men powerful, foolish men men of understanding, witless men sound reasoners?
ד׳
4[156] Such is the road on which human affairs go up and down, a road liable to shifting and unstable happenings, their uneven tenor manifestly laid bare by time’s unerring test.