על שהרע נוהג לארוב לטוב כ״טThat the Worse is wont to Attack the Better 29
א׳
1[109] The worthless man never ceases spending unskilled labour on his earthly body and the senses akin to it and all external objects of sense, and he goes on doing harm to his utterly miserable soul, doing harm also to that which he imagines he is chiefly benefiting, his own body. But in the case of the worthy man, since he is expert in the skilled work of agriculture, everything that comes under his hands is managed with skill and as reason requires. Whenever the senses run riot and are borne forth with irresistible rush towards their outward objects, they are easily checked by one of the contrivances of science.
ב׳
2[110] Whenever throbbing passion in the soul rages savagely, producing there itchings and ticklings arising from lust and indulgence, or again gnawing pains and scared flutterings, the result of fear and grief, it is assuaged by a curative medicine prepared beforehand. Once again, if some vice is spreading itself more and more widely, sister to that bodily disease which creeps and runs over the skin, it is lanced by reason’s knife under the guidance of science.
ג׳
3[111] After this manner, then, the growths of the wild wood are subdued, but all plants of the cultivated and fruit-bearing virtues have men’s endeavours for sprouts, and for fruit their noble actions. Each of these the skilled husbanding of the soul fosters, and, so far as in it lies, brings to immortality by the care bestowed upon them.