על שהרע נוהג לארוב לטוב י״חThat the Worse is wont to Attack the Better 18
א׳
1[61] To Abraham, then, his answer brought praise, acknowledging as he did that even virtue, without God’s directing care, is insufficient of itself to do us good: while to Cain, correspondingly, his answer brought blame, since he said that he did not know where his brother was whom he had treacherously slain: for he imagined that he would deceive Him to whom he gave the answer, as though He did not clearly see all things, and had not anticipated the deception to which he was going to resort: but everyone who thinks that anything escapes the eye of God is an outlaw and an outcast.
ב׳
2[62] Cain has the insolence to say, moreover, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9). ‘Wretched indeed was his life likely to be,’ I should say, ‘had nature constituted thee the guardian and keeper of so great a good.’ Or seest thou not that the lawgiver commits the keeping and guardianship of the holy things not to ordinary persons, but to Levites, men fully consecrated in their minds? For these earth and sea and air, yea, moreover, heaven and all the world, was deemed a portion of too little worth. The Creator alone was deemed meet for them, with Whom they have taken refuge as genuine suppliants and become His attendants, discovering their love for their Master by constant service and untiring guardianship of the sacred things committed to their care.