על שהרע נוהג לארוב לטוב ט״זThat the Worse is wont to Attack the Better 16
א׳
1[52] Just as the man who injures the man of lofty character has been shown to inflict loss on himself, so correspondingly he who recognizes the dignity of his betters gains something good, nominally for them, actually for himself. Nature and the commandments given in harmony with nature testify to what I say. For we have this plain and direct injunction: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee” (Exod. 20:12): it does not say “with those who are honoured” but “with thee”; for if we hold in honour the mind as father of our complex being, and sense as mother, we ourselves shall receive good treatment at their hands.
ב׳
2[53] Now honour is shown to the mind when it is cared for by the provision not of things that give it pleasure but of things that do it good, and all things that have their source in virtue do it good. To sense honour is shown when it is not left free to be borne with concentrated force towards its objects in the outer world, but is reined in by the mind, which has skill to direct the irrational powers within us like a pilot or a charioteer.
ג׳
3[54] If each, then, sense and mind, obtains such honour as I have described, it must needs be that I to whom they belong derive benefit from it. Let us drop altogether the application to mind and sense. If you accord a father’s honour to Him who created the world, and a mother’s honour to Wisdom, by whose agency the universe was brought to completion, you will yourself be the gainer. For neither God, Who is full, nor supreme and consummate knowledge, need anything. It follows that he, who cares for these, confers benefits not on the objects of his care, since they lack nothing, but on himself chiefly.
ד׳
4[55] Horse-training and dog-fancying, being skill in caring for horses and dogs respectively, provide the animals with the things good for them which they require. Should they fail to provide them they would be held guilty of neglect. But it would be impiety to say that religion, which is a caring for God, is a way of providing what will benefit the Deity; for He gains benefit from nothing, seeing that He is neither in need of anything nor does any exist capable of adding to His superiority in all things. Nay, He constantly and unceasingly benefits the universe.
ה׳
5[56] So that when we say that religion is a caring for God, we mean some such service as slaves render to their masters when they are set on doing promptly what they are told to do. But here again the parallel is not perfect; for the masters are in want of service, but God does not need it. It follows that, while to masters their slaves render services that will benefit them, to God men can bring nothing except a disposition full of love to their Master. For they will find nothing which they can improve, everything that their Master has being perfect to start with; but themselves they will vastly benefit by taking steps to be admitted to intimacy with God.