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These practices may strengthen the body, but they are not the causes of long life — for we find many people who follow them with short lives, and others who follow the opposite with long lives.
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And we see bodies of strong constitution collapse rapidly, while others of frail constitution endure for a long time. If it were as they say, kings would be the longest-lived of all people — given their advantage in food, medicines, comfort, and everything described.
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Beyond this, let me note what they overlooked: the longer a person lives, the more his worries, grief, and hardships multiply — as it says: 'The troubles of my heart have widened; bring me out of my distress' (Ps. 25:17).
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And his sins and transgressions accumulate, their account growing long, as if they are renewed every day — as it says: 'They have indeed risen early to corrupt all their deeds' (Zeph. 3:7).
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In childhood he is ignorant and knows nothing — as it says: 'Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child' (Prov. 22:15).
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When he moves into adolescence, he turns to waywardness — as it says: 'A child left to himself brings his mother shame' (Prov. 29:15).
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When he reaches youth, he enters into toil, hardship, and misery — as it says: 'His soul labors for him; indeed his mouth craves and drives him' (Eccl. 6:7).
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When he reaches old age, everything he had hoped for is gone and he lives only of necessity — as it says: 'Before the evil days come and the years arrive when you will say: I have no pleasure in them' (Eccl. 12:1).
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His radiance, luster, beauty, senses, and strength all fail; he becomes like a cloud that has shed its rain and remains only as dry vapor with no benefit — as it says: 'Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain' (Eccl. 12:2), and so on through that passage.
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The righteous servant loves this-worldly life only because it is a step through which he reaches and ascends to the next abode — not for its own sake. And it was made dear to a person only that he not kill himself when he falls
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— into adversity, as it says: 'And surely your blood, even of your own lives, I will require; at the hand of every living thing I will require it' (Gen. 9:5).
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Section XII. Chapter Nine: Leadership.
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Others held that the greatest thing a person can pursue in the abode of this world is pride, self-aggrandizement, and leadership. They said: the soul inclines toward honor; you see that it finds submission and yielding to another person and acknowledging him very difficult.
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And leadership pleases the soul, elevates it, and increases its energy and ease; and command and prohibition delight it. Without leadership the world would not be ordered and its interests not fulfilled.
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Kings conduct wars and defense; judges rule on disputes among people's hidden affairs; commanders maintain their quarters through it.
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And among its praiseworthy aspects: the righteous desired it for others, as it says: 'Peoples shall serve you and nations bow to you; be master over your brothers and your mother's sons shall bow to you' (Gen. 27:29).
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As for what they said about ordering the world through defense, judgment, and governance — this is not deniable; it is in fact what we say and what we intend. They merely borrowed it as a support for their position. For the world's ordering comes through wisdom — yet they transferred wisdom's excellence to leadership itself.
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I must establish what they overlooked — the harms of pride and self-promotion. Among them: when a person is arrogant and his self-estimation is exalted, he trespasses his limits and becomes tyrannical toward near and far alike.
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He views himself as though he alone matters; he dismisses everyone else's opinion and rejects and contradicts every statement — as it says: 'He who pursues his desires separates himself and quarrels against all sound judgment' (Prov. 18:1).
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He rejects what the elders have tested over long years, dismisses their proven path, and refuses their counsel and guidance — as it says: 'The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he who listens to counsel is wise' (Prov. 12:15). And so corrupt