על שינוי השמות י׳On the Change of Names 10
א׳
1[69] Such is our definition of the meanings conveyed under the symbol of the name Abram; those conveyed by “Abraham” are such as I proceed to describe. They are three in number—“father,” “elect” and “of sound.” We say that sound stands for the uttered word, for in living creatures the instrument of sound is the vocal power. Its father is the mind, since the stream of speech issues from the understanding as its fount. The elect mind is the mind of the wise, since it contains what is best.
ב׳
2[70] So then the first set of signs delineated the lover of learning, the meteorologist, while those just sketched reveal the wisdom-lover or rather the wise. Cease then to suppose that the Deity’s gift was a change of name, instead of a betterment of character symbolized thereby.
ג׳
3[71] Him who was erstwhile busied in the study of the nature of heaven—the astrologer as some call him—He summoned to a partnership in virtue and both made him and named him wise, giving to the spiritual outlook thus recast the title of Abraham, as the Hebrews would call it, and in our language, Elect Father of Sound.
ד׳
4[72] For what purpose, He asks, do you investigate the rhythmic movements and revolutions of the stars? Why this great leap from earth up to the realm of ether? Is it just to busy yourself in idle labour with what is there? And what good can result from all that idle busying? How will it serve to subdue the urge of pleasure, to overthrow the power of lust, to suppress fear or grief? What surgery has it for passions which agitate and confound the soul?
ה׳
5[73] Just as there is no use for trees, if they are not capable of bearing fruit, so too also with nature-study, if it is not going to bring the acquisition of virtue.
ו׳
6[74] For virtue is its fruit, and therefore some of the ancients, comparing the study of philosophy to a field, likened the physical part to plants, the logical to the walls and fences, and the ethical to the fruit.
ז׳
7[75] They considered that the walls round the field are built by the owners to guard the fruit and the trees grown to produce it, and that in the same way in philosophy physical and logical research should be brought to bear on ethics by which the character is bettered and yearns to acquire and also to make use of virtue.
ח׳
8[76] This is how we have learned to regard the story of Abraham. Literally his name was changed, actually he changed over from nature-study to ethical philosophy and abandoned the study of the world to find a new home in the knowledge of its Maker, and from this he gained piety, the most splendid of possessions.