על צאצאי קין ט״זOn the Posterity of Cain and his Exile 16
א׳
1[54] To such a pitch of impiety have they gone that they think fit not only to raise such cities with their own hands, but they force the virtue-loving host of Israel to do the like, appointing over them taskmasters and instructors in wicked works. For it is said that under the maltreatment of their taskmasters they built for the king of the country three cities, Peitho, Rameses, and On, which is Heliopolis (Exod. 1:11).
ב׳
2[55] These signify, when taken as figures, our properties of mind, sense, and speech. Peitho is our speech, because persuasion is its function, and the word means “harassing mouth,” for the speech of the worthless man makes a study of harassing and overturning all that is good and worthy. Rameses is sense-perception [for it means a “moth’s troubling”],since the mind is eaten out and gnawed through by each of the senses,
ג׳
3[56] just as though the moth were at work loosening and tearing it. For when ideas enter the mind such as cannot give it pleasure they fill our life with pain and toil.
ד׳
4[57] “On” is by name “Heap” but symbolically it is the mind, for to it as to a treasure-heap all men’s words are brought. The lawgiver is evidence of this by calling On “Heliopolis” or “Sun-city.” For as the sun, when it has risen, shows clearly the objects which night hides, so the mind sending forth its proper light causes all forms and conditions to be clearly apprehended.
ה׳
5[58] It would therefore not be amiss to speak of the mind as the sun of our complex system. For if it does not rise and let its peculiar light shine forth in man, the microcosm, it sheds a deep darkness on all things and prevents anything from being visible.