על עבודת האדמה י״דOn Husbandry 14
א׳
1[60] Aye indeed! Does it not seem as though they were more proud of being shepherds than is the king, who is talking to them, of all his sovereign power? They proclaim that not they only but their fathers also deliberately chose this course of life as worthy of entire and enthusiastic devotion.
ב׳
2[61] And yet, if the care of literal goats or sheep was what was meant, they would perhaps, in their shrinking from disgrace, have been actually ashamed to own what they were; for such pursuits are held mean and inglorious in the eyes of those who have compassed that importance, wholly devoid of wisdom, that comes with prosperity, and most of all in the eyes of monarchs.
ג׳
3[62] The spirit of the Egyptians too is by nature arrogant even beyond that of other men, whenever a feeble breath only of good fortune has blown over it, and this arrogance makes them treat the aims in life and the ambitions of more common people as matter for rude jesting and loud ridicule.
ד׳
4[63] But seeing that the subject propounded for consideration is that of the rational and irrational faculties in the soul, those will have ground for boasting who are convinced that they are able by employing the rational faculties as their allies to get the better of those which are irrational.
ה׳
5[64] If, however, some malignant and contentious person find fault with them and say, “How is it, then, that, devoting your labour to the science of shepherding, and professing to bestow the care of leaders on the flock that lives and grows with your life and growth, you conceived the idea of coming to anchor in Egypt, the land of the body and the passions, instead of voyaging to some different port?”—we may confidently say to him “We came to sojourn (Gen. 47:4)—not to settle there”;
ו׳
6[65] for in reality a wise man’s soul ever finds heaven to be his fatherland and earth a foreign country, and regards as his own the dwelling-place of wisdom, and that of the body as outlandish, and looks on himself as a stranger and sojourner in it.
ז׳
7[66] Accordingly when Mind, the ruler of the flock, taking the flock of the soul in hand with the law of Nature as his instructor shews it the way with vigorous leadership, he renders it well worthy of praise and approval, even as he subjects it to blame if he disregard Nature’s law and behave slackly and carelessly. With good reason, then, will the one take on him the name of king and be hailed “shepherd ‚” but the other that of a sort of cook or baker and be entitled “cattle-feeder,” serving up rich fare as a feast for beasts who make a habit of gluttony.