על השכר והעונש ב׳On Rewards and Punishments 2
א׳
1We must first examine what is said of honours, as both more profitable and more pleasant to listen to, and we will begin with the honour paid to each single and particular individual.
ב׳
2[8] The Greeks say that the primeval hero Triptolemus borne aloft on winged dragons sowed the corn-seed over the whole earth, in order that in place of the acorns which had been their food the human race might have a kindly, wholesome and exceedingly palatable means of nourishment. Now this story like many others is a mythical fable and may be left to those whose way is to deal in marvels and cultivate sophistry rather than wisdom, and imposture rather than truth.
ג׳
3[9] For from the beginning at the first creation of all things God provided beforehand, raised from the earth, what was necessary for all living animals and particularly for the human race to which he granted sovereignty over all earthborn creatures. For none of the works of God is of later birth, but all that seems to be accomplished by human skill and industry in later time was there by the foresight of nature lying ready half made, thus justifying the saying that learning is recollection.
ד׳
4[10] But this is not a point for our present discussion. What we have to consider is that most vital form of seed which the Creator sowed in the rich soil of the rational soul.
ה׳
5[11] And the first thing thus sown is hope, the fountain head of the lives which we lead. In hope of gain the tradesman arms himself for the manifold forms of money getting. In hope of a successful voyage the skipper crosses the wide open seas. In hope of glory the ambitious man chooses political life and the charge of public affairs. The hope of prizes and crowns moves the training athlete to endure the contests of the arena. The hope of happiness incites also the devotees of virtue to study wisdom, believing that thus they will be able to discern the nature of all that exists and to act in accordance with nature and so bring to their fullness the best types of life, the contemplative and the practical, which necessarily make their possessor a happy man.
ו׳
6[12] Now some have acted like enemies in war to the germs of hope, and consumed them in the fire of the vices which they have kindled in the soul or like careless husbandmen have through their laziness allowed them to perish. There are others who seem to have guarded them well but have clung to self-assertion rather than piety and regarded themselves as the source of their achievements.
ז׳
7[13] All these are to be condemned. He alone is worthy of approval who sets his hope on God both as the source to which his coming into existence itself is due and as the sole power which can keep him free from harm and destruction. What reward then is offered to the winner of the Crown in this contest? It is that living being whose nature is a mixture of the mortal and immortal, even man, not the same man nor yet another than the winner.
ח׳
8[14] The Hebrew name for him is Enos, and Enos translated into Greek is ἄνθρωπος or man. He takes the name which is common to the whole race as his personal name, a reward of special distinction implying that no one should be thought a man at all who does not set his hope on God.
