a single person, who also must be wise and intelligent by his own knowledge; and even then, we may only point' out the passages to him, and inform him very little of the matter; and he, being intelligent by his own knowledge, may become acquainted with the end and depth of the matter.

XVIII. Now these things are exceedingly profound, and not every intellect is capable of sustaining them, wherefore Solomon in his wisdom

כבשים : says respecting them, by way of parable .The lambs [are] for thy clothing, (Prov.xxvii ללבושך

26). So the sages say as an explanation to this

the things which are the MYSTERY * כבושים :parable

literally : they deliver to him מוסרין לו ראשי הפרקים 1

(furnish him with) the heads of Chapters.

2 The Rabbins, instead of reading it D lambs, read it

the hidden or mysterious things, from the Chaldean כְּבוּשִׁים .to hide, to conceal כבש

אמר ליה רבי יוחנן לרבי אלעזר תא אגמרך מעשה מרכבה אמר ליה אכתי לא קשאי כדקש נח נפשיה דרבי יוחנן אמר ליה רב אסי תא אגמרך מעשה מרכבה אמר ליה אי זכאי גמירנא מרבי יוחנן רבך רב יוסף הוה גמיר מעשה מרכבה וסבי דפומבדיתא הוו תנו מעשה בראשית אמרו ליה ליגמרן מר מעשה מרכבה אמר להו אגמרתינן אתון מעשה בראשית אגמרוהו בתר דאגמרוהו אמרו ליגמרן מר מעשה מרכבה אמר להו תנינא בהו דבש וחלב תחת לשונך דברים שהן מתוקים מדבש וחלב יהיו תחת לשונך רבי אבהו אמר מהכא כבשים ללבושך אלי תקרי כבשים אלא כבושים דברים שהן כבשונו של עולם יהיו תחת לבושך

"Rabbi Jochanan said unto Rabbi Eleazar: Come, I will teach thee the matter of the Chariot; but the other said unto him: I am not old enough yet. When he grew old, the soul

of

of the Universe, let them be as a garment to thee; meaning, [let them be kept] to thyself alone, and do not discuss them before many people. Thus also he (Solomon) says respecting them: Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee, (Prov. v. 17). Again with respect to them he says: Honey and milk [are] under thy tongue, (Song of Songs, iv. 11.); which the sages of old explain in this manner: The things which are like honey and milk ought to be under thy tongue3.

of Rabbi Jochanan went to rest, (i. e. he died); then Rav Assi said unto him (Rabbi Eleazar): Come, I will teach thee the matter of the Chariot; but he said unto him: had I been worthy [of knowing this subject] I would have learned it of Rabbi Jochanan thy teacher. Rabbi Joseph was studying the matter of the Chariot, whilst the elders of Pumbeditha were reading the matter of the Beginning, (i. e. the matter of the Creation), so the latter said unto him: My lord, teach us the matter of the Chariot, but he said unto them: Did you teach us the matter of the Beginning (the matter of the Creation)? So they taught him the same. After they had taught it him, they said unto him: My lord, teach us the matter of the Chariot, but he said unto them: With regard to these [subjects] we are taught thus: Honey and milk [are] under thy tongue, (Song iv. 11.); [meaning that] The things that are sweeter than honey and than milk ought to be under thy tongue, (i. e. thou must not utter them). Rabbi Abuhuh says [we may also derive it] from this [text], was ow The lambs are for thy clothing; do not read it D' lambs, but [read it] D the secret things, (meaning) the things which are the Mystery of the Universe, let them be as a garment to thee.

Bab. Talmud Treatise Chegigah, Section 2.

3 That is: Thou must not utter them. See the preceding Note.

PRECEPTS RELATING TO THE FOUNDATIONS

OF THE LAW.

CHAPTER III.

As to the Orbs, these are called 'ow Heaven, yp the Expansion, the Habitation, and y the Desert (of the Ether). Now these consist of nine1 Orbs; the orb that is nearest to us is the orb of the Moon; the second [orb, immediately] above it, is the orb in which is the planet called Mercury; the third orb [immediately] above this, is the one, in which is a Venus; the fourth orb, is that, in which is on the Sun; the fifth is that, in which is DND Mars; the sixth orb is that, in which is the planet ps Jupiter; the seventh orb is that, in which is 'n Saturn; the eighth orb is that, in which are all the other stars that are seen in the firmament; and the ninth orb is the orb which revolves daily from the East to the West, and which also encompasses and surrounds the whole.

1 Since in paragraph 6. more than nine orbs are admitted, it must be that the orbs enumerated here are mentioned by our Author as being the nine main orbs.

II. The reason why you see all the stars as if they were all of them in the same orb, though some among them are one above the other, is because the orbs are pure and transparent, like crystal and sapphire; therefore, the stars which are in the eighth orb are seen beneath the first orb.

2

III. Every one of the eight orbs, in which are the planets, contains many more orbs, one above the other, like the skins of onions: some of them are orbs which revolve from the West to the East, and some of them, [orbs] which revolve from the East to the West, as is the ninth orb, which revolves from the East to the West. Moreover none of them have any empty space between them.

IV. None of these orbs are either light or heavy; neither have they a red colour, nor a black colour, nor any other colour. But that we see in them a colour like that of purple, is a mere optical illusion, arising from the height of the atmosphere; moreover they have neither flavour nor odour, these being accidents belonging to those bodies only which are beneath them.

V. All these orbs, which encompass the world, are circular, like globes, and the Earth is suspended in the midst [of them]; but some of the planets

literally: this is only to the למראית העין בלבד הוא 3

sight of the eye.

.The air האויר 4

have again smaller orbs, in which they are fixed, and which do not encompass the earth, each of them being a smaller and not-encompassing orb, fixed in a greater and encompassing orb.

VI. The orbs, which encompass the world, are eighteen, and the orbs, which do not encompass [the same], are eight in number; and it is by the course of the stars, by knowing the rate of their daily and hourly revolutions, by their declination from the South to the North, or from the North to the South, and by their height, or proximity to the earth, that the number of all these orbs, the form of their paths, and the direction of their revolutions may be known; which is the Science of the calculation of the revolutions and of the Planets (Astronomy), and on which many books were composed by the sages of Greece.

VII. As to the ninth orb, which encompasses the whole, the sages of old have divided it into twelve parts, and to each part they have given a name, after the name of the figure perceived in it, [made up] by the stars which are directly beneath it, and these are the signs of the Zodiac; the names of which are The Ram, The

Bull,

Twins, 10 The Crab,

The Twins תאומים

The מאזנים,The Virgin בתולה,The Lion אריה

.The Fishes דגים ,The Pail דלי The Kid גדי

Scales, py The Scorpion, nup The Archer,

VIII. However in the ninth orb itself there is neither division nor any of those figures, nor even any star; and it is only by joining together