על שהרע נוהג לארוב לטוב ח׳That the Worse is wont to Attack the Better 8
א׳
1[22] Some say that the proper name of the man who found him wandering on the plain has not been mentioned (Gen. 37:15). Those who say so are themselves, too, in some sort astray, owing to their inability to see clearly the right way in matters generally. For had they not been smitten with partial blindness of the soul’s eye, they would have recognized that the name which most correctly describes the real man and most thoroughly belongs to him is simply “man,” the most proper title of a mind endowed with reason and articulate utterance.
ב׳
2[23] This “man,” dwelling in the soul of each of us, is discovered at one time as king and governor, at another as judge and umpire of life’s contests. Sometimes he assumes the part of witness or accuser, and, all unseen, convicts us from within, not allowing us so much as to open our mouth, but, holding in and curbing the tongue with the reins of conscience, checks its wilful and rebellious course.
ג׳
3[24] This challenger inquired of the soul when he saw it wandering, “What seekest thou?” (Gen. 37:15). ‘Is it sound sense thou art seeking? Why then dost thou walk upon the path of cunning? Is it self-mastery? But this road leads to stinginess. Is it courage? Rashness meets thee by this way. Is it piety thou art in quest of? This road is that of superstition.’
ד׳
4[25] But if it says that it is seeking the principles of science and longs after them as its brethren nearest of kin, let us not believe it at all; for its inquiry would not have been “where do they feed” (ibid. v. 16), but “where do they tend” their flocks? For those who feed us supply nourishment in the shape of all objects of sense to the irrational and insatiable flock of the senses, nourishment which robs us of self-control and plunges us in misery; whereas those who tend, having the power of rulers and governors, tame what has become wild by repressing the vehemence of the desires.
ה׳
5[26] Had the soul, then, been seeking the real devotees of virtue, it would have looked for them among kings, not among cup-bearers or confectioners or cooks; for whereas these prepare the things that minister to pleasures, those rule over pleasures.