על שינוי השמות כ״זOn the Change of Names 27
א׳
1[148] “I will bless her,” He continues, “and she shall be for nations.” He shews hereby that not only is generic virtue divided into its proximate species and their subdivisions, as into nations, but also that actions and ideas have nations in a sense, just as living creatures have, and that to these nations the addition of virtue is most beneficial.
ב׳
2[149] For everything that lacks or has lost prudence is a source of mischief, just as all must be in darkness on which the sun does not shine. By virtue the husbandman takes better care of his plants; by virtue the charioteer guides his chariot in the horse-race without a fall; by virtue the helmsman steers his vessel safe through the voyage. Virtue again produces better conditions in households, city and country, by producing men who are good household managers, statesmanlike and neighbourly.
ג׳
3[150] Virtue, too, introduces the best laws, and sows everywhere seeds of peace. And in proof of this we see that where the opposite condition prevails the natural result is the opposite of these blessings, namely war, lawlessness, misgovernment, confusion, disasters at sea, revolutions, and in the realm of the sciences that most painful disease knavery, which causes them to be called perversions of art, rather than arts. Virtue then will necessarily extend to nations, that is, large and comprehensive combinations both of living creatures and of actions and ideas, and will thus benefit those who receive her.