על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר א ל״חOn the Special Laws, Book I 38
א׳
1[205] The blood is poured in a circle round the altar because the circle is the most perfect of figures, and in order that no part should be left destitute of the vital oblation. For the blood may truly be called a libation of the life-principle. So, then, he teaches in this symbol that the mind, whole and complete, should, as it moves with measured tread passing circle-wise through every phase of word and intention and deed, shew its willingness to do God’s service.
ב׳
2[206] The direction to wash the belly and the feet is highly symbolical. Under the figure of the belly he signifies the lust which it is well to clean away, saturated as it is with stains and pollutions, with wine-bibbing and sottishness, a mighty force for ill, trained and drilled to work havoc in the life of men.
ג׳
3[207] By the washing of the feet is meant that his steps should be no longer on earth but tread the upper air. For the soul of the lover of God does in truth leap from earth to heaven and wing its way on high, eager to take its place in the ranks and share the ordered march of sun and moon and the all-holy, all-harmonious host of the other stars, marshalled and led by the God Whose kingship none can dispute or usurp, the kingship by which everything is justly governed.
ד׳
4[208] The division of the animal into its limbs indicates either that all things are one or that they come from and return to one, an alternation which is called by some Fullness and Want, by others a General Conflagration and Reconstruction, the Conflagration being the state when the supremacy of heat has prevailed over the rest, the Reconstruction when the four elements, by concession to each other, obtain equilibrium.
ה׳
5[209] My own reflections lead me to think the following a more correct explanation. The soul which honours the Existent having the Existent Himself only in view, ought to honour Him not irrationally nor ignorantly, but with knowledge and reason. And when we reason about Him we recognize in Him partition and division into each of the Divine powers and excellences. For God is good, He is the maker and begetter of the universe and His providence is over what He has begotten; He is a saviour and a benefactor, and has the plenitude of all blessedness and all happiness. Each of these attributes calls for veneration and praise, both separately in itself and when ranked with its congeners.
ו׳
6[210] So, too, it is with the rest. When, my mind, thou wishest to give thanks to God for the creation of the universe, give it both for the sum of things and for its principal parts, thinking of them as the limbs of a living creature of the utmost perfection. Such parts are heaven and sun and moon and the planets and fixed stars; then again earth and the living creatures or plants thereon, then the sea and rivers, whether spring-fed or winter courses, and all they contain: then the air and its phases, for winter and summer, spring and autumn, those seasons which recur annually and are so highly beneficial to our life, are different conditions in the air which changes for the preservation of sublunar things.
ז׳
7[211] And if thou givest thanks for man, do not do so only for the whole genus but for its species and most essential parts, for men and women, for Greeks and barbarians, for dwellers on the mainland and those whose lot is cast in the islands. And if it is for a single person, divide the thanksgiving as reason directs, not into every tiny part of him down to the very last, but into those of primary importance, first of all into body and soul of which he is composed, then into speech and mind and sense. For thanks for each of these will by itself be not unworthy to obtain audience with God.