Dear Rabbi Kornfeld,
It occurred to me during the krias haTorah this week that when the Gemara learned out that a person who learns Torah rises to greatness, etc, from "umimatana nachaliel uminachaliel bamos", the Gemara ends that if he becomes haughty HKB"H reduces him as it says "umibamos hagai". And if he does teshuva, he is uplifted again, and the Gemara goes all the way to Yeshaiah to prove this. Why could the Gemara not have continued to the end of the same posuk, which says "asher al rosh hapisga" to prove that he is finally uplifted again?
Gershon
The words "Asher Al Rosh ha'Pisga" imply that he was at the top (as the Gemara in Sotah 46b says, that "Asher" implies the past tense), and even so Hash-m reduces him and brings him down if he becomes haughty. The verse in Yeshayahu, though, is clearly saying that even when Hash-m lowers a person because of his haughtiness, Hash-m later raises him again if he changes his ways.
Be well,
-Mordecai