XXVI. (103) And we must also inquire, what is the reason why Jacob says, that “the rider will fall Backward,”{31}{#ge 49:17.} and Moses says, that “the horse and his rider have been thrown into the sea.” We must say, therefore, that that which is thrown into the sea is the Egyptian disposition, which indeed flies and escapes under the water, that is to say, under the advance of the passions. But the rider who falls backwards is not one of the persons who loves to yield to the passions; and the proof is, that Moses calls the one the horseman (hippeus), and the other the rider (anabateµs). (104) Now it is the business of the horseman to subdue the horse, and when he resists the rein to make him tractable; but it is the part of the rider to be conveyed wherever the animal carries him, and in the sea it is the office of the pilot to guide the ship, and to keep it straight, and to preserve it in the right course; but it is the part of the sailor to endure all that happens to the ship. And in reference to this the horseman who subdues the passions is not drowned in the sea, but dismounting from them awaits the salvation of the master. (105) Accordingly, the word of God in Leviticus recommends men “to feed on those creeping things which go on four feet, and which have legs above their feet, so that they are able to leap with Them;”{32}{#le 11:22} among which are the locust, and the attacus, and the acris, {33}{these are different kinds of locusts.} and in the fourth place the serpent-fighter; and every properly; for if pleasure, like a serpent, is an unprofitable and pernicious thing, then the nature which contends against pleasure must be a most profitable and saving thing, and this is temperance. (106) Fight thou then, O my mind, against every passion, and especially against pleasure, for “the serpent is the most subtle of all the beasts that are upon the earth, which the Lord God has made.” (107) And of all the passions the most mischievous is pleasure. Why so? Because all things are the slaves of pleasure; and because the life of the wicked is governed by pleasure as by a master. Accordingly, the things which are the efficient causes of pleasure are found to be full of all wickedness: gold and silver, and glory and honours, and powers and the objects of the outward senses, and the mechanical arts, and all other things which cause pleasure, being very various, and all injurious to the soul; and there are no sins without extreme wickedness; (108) therefore do thou array against it the wisdom which contends with serpents; and struggle in this most glorious struggle, and labour to win the crown in the contest against pleasure, which subdues every one else; winning a noble and glorious crown, such as no assembly of men can confer.
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