על המידות הטובות כ״גOn the Virtues 23
א׳
1[116] In another fresh list of injunctions to kindness, which he pours into docile ears, he commands that if beasts of burden fall under the oppression of the weight they bear, we should not pass them by, even if they belong to our enemies, but help to relieve and raise them. By this he implies a further lesson, that one should not take pleasure in the adversities of those who have shown him hatred. He knew that this malignant joy was a savagely rancorous passion, closely akin, and at the same time, opposite to envy; akin, because each of them comes under the head of passion, and in their action upon us cover the same field, and are almost sure to follow each other; opposites, because grief at our neighbour’s good things is the effect of the one, pleasure at his evil things of the other.
ב׳
2[117] Again, if you see an enemy’s beast straying, leave the points on which you quarrel to serve as incentives for other more vindictive dispositions, and lead the animal away and restore it. You will benefit yourself more than him: he gains an irrational and possibly worthless animal, you the greatest and most precious treasure in the whole world, true goodness.
ג׳
3[118] And this, as surely as the shadow follows the body, will be followed by a termination of the feud. He, the receiver of a benefit which he has not willed, is drawn towards amity by the kindness which holds him in bondage. You, his helper, with a good action to assist your counsels, are predisposed to thoughts of reconciliation.
ד׳
4[119] This is what our most holy prophet through all his regulations especially desires to create, unanimity, neighbourliness, fellowship, reciprocity of feeling, whereby houses and cities and nations and countries and the whole human race may advance to supreme happiness.
ה׳
5[120] Hitherto, indeed, these things live only in our prayers, but they will, I am convinced, become facts beyond all dispute, if God, even as He gives us the yearly fruits, grants that the virtues should bear abundantly. And may some share in them be given to us, who from well-nigh our earliest days have carried with us the yearning to possess them.