וַיִּקַּ֞ח אֶת־הָעֵ֨גֶל אֲשֶׁ֤ר עָשׂוּ֙ וַיִּשְׂרֹ֣ף בָּאֵ֔שׁ וַיִּטְחַ֖ן עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר־דָּ֑ק וַיִּ֙זֶר֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י הַמַּ֔יִם וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
On the Posterity of Cain and his Exile
[159] (Exod. 32:20). For the lover of virtue, set on fire by the brilliant appearance of the beautiful, burns up the pleasures of the body, and then chops and grinds them up, employing the principle of classification, and by this means teaches that health, or beauty, or precision of the senses, or complete soundness, including strength and muscular force, are among the bodily “good things,” and yet all these are shared with others by men abominable and accursed; whereas, had they been good things, no bad man would have had part in any of them.