על יוסף כ״וOn Joseph 26
א׳
1[151] I have heard, however, some scholars give an allegorical exposition of this part of the story in a different form. It was as follows. The king of Egypt, they said, was our mind, the ruler of the land of the body in each of us over which he is invested with kingly power.
ב׳
2[152] When this mind becomes enamoured of the body, its efforts are expended on three things which it deems most worthy of its care and trouble, bread, meat and drink; and, therefore, it provides three offices to provide for these, a chief baker, a chief butler and a chief cook, for the first presides over the food, the second over the drink, the third over the seasoning which adds relish to the actual meat.
ג׳
3[153] All are eunuchs, since the lover of pleasure is barren of all the chief necessities, temperance, modesty, self-restraint, justice and every virtue; for no two things can be more hostile to each other than virtue is to pleasure, which makes the many disregard what alone deserves their care, satisfy their unbridled lusts and submit to whatever those lusts command.
ד׳
4[154] So, then, the chief cook is not haled to prison and meets with no maltreatment, because the extra seasonings he prepares are not of the most indispensable kind and are not pleasure, but incitements to pleasure, which kindle only to be quenched. Not so with the other two whose business lies with the miserable belly, namely the chief baker and the chief butler. For the most essential of the needs of life are food and drink, and those who take charge of them are naturally held to deserve praise if they treat the charge as worthy of their care, but anger and punishment if they neglect it.
ה׳
5[155] The punishment also differs in the two cases because the usefulness of the two differs, being absolutely vital in regard to bread-food, less so in regard to wine, for men can live without strong liquor by drinking fresh water,
ו׳
6[156] and therefore it is possible to make terms of reconciliation with the chief butler as an offender in a less important matter. Not so with the chief baker who, being guilty in what is all-important, is the object of an anger which demands his life. For death is the consequence of lack of bread-food, and therefore the offender in this is properly put to death by hanging, suffering what he has made others to suffer, for indeed he has hanged and racked the starving man with hunger.