Page:Eight chapters of Maimonides on ethics.djvu/24

4 (1158), in Spain, and was completed at the age of thirty-three (1168), after he had taken up his residence in Egypt. In this Talmudic work of his early manhood, Maimonides scarcely had a predecessor. Though one of his earliest works, and in spite of the difficulties in writing it during years of wandering and seeking a secure home, with no books accessible, the Commentary is a marvel of lucidity, masterful knowledge, and comprehensiveness. Grätz attributes its existence to the author’s striving for “clearness, method, and symmetry.” The fact that it is so often referred to in his later writings testifies that at a very early date Maimonides had outlined for himself a thorough philosophical system and a literary scheme from which he subsequently deviated only slightly. Most of the theories and principles established in the Commentary were retained in the Mishneh Torah.