thirst, it is, on the contrary, intensifed. He who is ignorant of his illness is spoken of in many places by Solomon, who says, “The way of the fool is straight in his own eyes, but he who hearkeneth unto counsel is wise”.[1] This means that he who listens to the counsel of the sage is wise, for the sage teaches him the way that is actually right, and not the one that he (the morally ill) erroneously considers to be such. Solomon also says, “There is many a way which seemeth even before a man; but its ends are ways unto death”.[2] Again, in regard to these who are morally ill, in that they do not know what is injurious from that which is beneficial, he says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know against what they stumble.”[3]
The art of healing the diseases of the soul will, however, form the subject-matter of the fourth chapter.
- ↑ Prov. XII, 15.
- ↑ Ibid., XIV, 12.
- ↑ Ibid., IV, 19. Cf. H. Deot, II, 1, “What is the remedy for those whose souls are diseased? Let them consult the sages who are the physicians of the soul, who will cure their disease by teaching them those characteristics by which they may return to the moral path, and recognize their evil traits. Concerning those who do not seek the sages in order to be cured, Solomon says, ‘wisdom and instruction fools despise’ (Prov. I, 7)”. The conception of a spiritual healing originated neither with Aristotle nor with M. There are many biblical passages based on such a comparison with the healing art, as Jer. III, 22: ארפה משובותיכם; Hos. XIV, 5: ארפא משובתם Ps. XLI, 5: ארפאה נפשי כי חטאתי לך, etc. Rosin, Ethik, p. 78, n. 4, refers to similar passages in Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic literature.
