Unity existed before any numbers, and is in one point of view the cause of all numbers; and in another it is the total of the whole series of numbers. Admitting of no increase or decrease, it is the cause of all addition and subtraction; admitting of no multiplication or division, it is the cause of both. Such a unity is the upper world (of God) in its relation to the inferior worlds; it is incorporeal and is called the appearance of the divine glory. The upper world is subject to no change, whether in substance or relation; and it is limited neither by time nor by place.

God, called the One, is the creator of everything, and he is everything. This name of God signifies the One that is self-existing, requiring no other cause for his existence. And if it be considered that from an arithmetical point of view one is the beginning of all numbers, and that all of them are composed of units, it will be found that this is the One which at the same time is the whole.

Considering it philosophically we know that in Hebrew speech is called "lips" because it apparently comes from the lips; the soul of man is called "heart" although the heart is a body and soul is incorporeal, because the heart is its principal seat. Similarly God is designated "angels " (elohim) because all the work of God is done by the angels.

A man devoting himself to science, which is as a ladder leading to the place of his wishes, finds the work of God displayed in minerals, plants, animals, and in the body of man himself; and he ascertains the natural functions of each member and the reason of its form. Thus he advances at length to study the nature of the spheres, which show the work of God in the stationary world; and from the ways of the Lord the wise man obtains a knowledge of the Lord himself.

The soul of man has been brought hither in order to cause it to see to see the writing of God.

The soul of every man is called "lonely" because it is separated, during its union with the human body, from the universal soul, into which it is again received when it departs from its universal body.

A breath of the same nature is allotted unto man and unto beast, by which the creature lives and perceives in this world; and as the one die, so also dies the other, except the heavenly portion by which man is separated from the beast.

Man has not been created for the mere purpose of acquiring wealth and of building houses, which he is obliged to leave to others while he himself goes to dwell below the surface of the earth.

He who knows the Lord will never destroy, but always build up and establish.

There are

Wisdom of every kind gives life to its owner. many kinds of wisdom, and they are all like the steps of a ladder leading up to true wisdom.

The object and aim of all divine commands is to love God truly, and to cleave to him. This can not be completely attained without a knowledge of the works of the Lord. No one can arrive at a knowledge of the Lord without knowing his own soul, his own mind, and body; for what wisdom can he possess who does not know himself?

Women generally do what they desire, without considering the consequences.

As long as the bodily desires are strong, the soul is weak and powerless against them, because they are supported by the body and all its powers. Hence those who only think of eating and drinking will never be wise. By the alliance of the intellect with the animal spirit (sensitiveness) the desires are subordinated, and the eyes of the soul are opened a little so as to comprehend the lower forms of knowledge. But the soul is not yet prepared for pure knowledge, on account of the animal soul which still seeks dominion and produces all kinds of passion. Therefore after the first victory it is necessary that the soul should devote itself to wisdom.

MAIMONIDES

(TRANSLATION OF AN EPISTLE ADDRESSED BY RABBI MOSES MAIMONIDES TO RABBI SAMUEL IBN TIBBON.)

Our illustrious master sent this epistle to the honored sage, the Chief of Translators, R. Samuel, son of R. Jehuda ibn Tibbon, in reply to the question asked by the latter when he informed Maimonides that he had translated his great work, "Moreh Nebuchim" (Guide of the Perplexed), from Arabic into Hebrew. Maimonides approved of this translation, and wrote to him as follows:

"A man shall be commended according to his wisdom," etc. All the letters of the worthy scholar and excellent sage R. Samuel, son of the learned R. Jehuda ibn Tibbon,1 the Sephardi, have duly reached me, Moses the son of Maimun, the Sephardi. Already many years ago the fame of the honored prince, the wise R. Jehuda, your father, had reached me, I had heard of his great learning and the elegance of his style, both in Arabic and Hebrew, through well-known and learned men of Granada, the sons of Alfachar, and the aged Ibn Mosca. Also one of the learned men of Toledo came here and told us of his reputation. Likewise when the honored R. Meir, a disciple of R. Abraham, the son of R. David, the great Rabbi of Pesquieres, who had also studied under the learned R. Abraham ibn Ezra, came to me, he spoke concerning your honored father, and gave me an account of the works on grammar and other sciences he had translated. I did not, however, know that he had left a son.

1 Jehuda ben Saul ibn Tibbon (1120-1190) was born in Granada, whence he emigrated to Lunel on account of persecutions. He was a distinguished physician, and a diligent translator from Arabic into Hebrew. He translated "Duties of the Heart," by Bachja, the Cusari of R. Jehuda Halevi, the Hebrew Grammar and Dictionary of Ibn Ganach, and other important philosophical works. For a more detailed account of the two Ibn Tibbons, see Gratz, "Geschichte der Juden," vi., pp. 241-2.

But, when your letters in Hebrew and Arabic reached me, and I learned from them your mode of thought and elegance of composition; when I read your remarks both on those passages in my magnum opus, the "Moreh Nebuchim," concerning the right signification of which you entertain doubt, and on those in which you had discovered errors made by the transcriber, then I said with the ancient poet:

"Had they known his parentage, they would say,
The father's excellence has passed over to his son."

Blessed be he who has granted a recompense to your learned father and granted him such a son; and indeed not to him alone, but to all wise men. For in truth unto us all a child has been born, unto us all a son has been given. This offspring of the righteous is a tree of life," a delight of our eyes and pleasant to look upon. I have already tasted of his fruit, and lo, it was sweet in my mouth even as honey.

All your questions were just, and all your conjectures with respect to the omission of a word, or words, were correct. At the end of this epistle I explain everything in Arabic, and give you all the information you desire, and mention the works you should study or neglect. You are thoroughly fitted for the task of translation, because the Creator has given you an intelligent mind to "understand parables and their interpretation, the words of the wise and their difficult sayings." I recognize from your words that you have entered thoroughly into the depth of the subject, and that its hidden meaning has become clear to you. I shall explain to you in Hebrew how you shall manage with the entire translation. "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; be wise, my son, and my heart also will rejoice."

Be assured that, when I saw the beauty of your style and remarked the depth of your intellect and that your lips utter knowledge clearly, I greatly rejoiced. I was the more surprised that such should be the talents, such the thirst for knowledge, such the acquaintance with Arabic (which I believe to be a partially corrupt dialect of Hebrew) displayed

by one who has been born among stammerers." 2 I also admired your being so well versed in the niceties of that language in abstruse subjects; this is, indeed, like “ a tender plant springing out of a dry ground." May the Lord enlighten your eyes with the light of his law, so that you may be of those that love him, who are even as the sun when he goes forth in his strength. Amen. The letters of your esteemed college, which God grant may ever increase in dignity and learning, have also reached me.

I have carefully examined all the passages concerning the translation of which you entertain any doubt, and have looked into all those passages in which the transcriber has made any mistake, and into the various preliminary propositions and chapters which were not perfectly clear to you, and of which you sought the elucidation.

Let me premise one canon. Whoever wishes to translate, and purposes to render each word literally, and at the same time to adhere slavishly to the order of the words and sentences in the original, will meet with much difficulty; his rendering will be faulty and untrustworthy. This is not the right method. The translator should first try to grasp the sense of the subject thoroughly, and then state the theme with perfect clearness in the other language. This, however, can not be done without changing the order of the words, putting many words for one word, or vice versâ, and adding or taking away words, so that the subject be perfectly intelligible in the language into which he translates. This method was followed by Honein ben Is'hak with the works of Galen, and his son Is'hak with the works of Aristotle. It is for this reason that all their versions are so peculiarly lucid, and therefore we ought to study them to the exclusion of all others. Your distinguished college ought to adopt this rule in all the translations undertaken for those honored men, and the heads of the congregation. And may God grant that the spread of knowledge among other communities of Israel be prompted by such works.

2 The author probably refers to the circumstance that the Jews of Provence spoke and wrote Arabic incorrectly.