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our argument was proved false, saying it is impossible for virtue to have a comprehension of perfection; for it was shown that what is defined by limits is not virtue. But since I also said that for those pursuing the life of virtue it is impossible to attain perfection, the argument will thus be clarified also concerning this. 1.7 The primarily and properly good, whose nature is goodness, the Divine itself, whatever it is conceived to be by nature, this it both is and is called. Since, then, no limit of virtue was shown except vice, and the Divine is unreceptive of the contrary, therefore the divine nature is understood to be unlimited and boundless. But indeed the one who pursues true virtue partakes of nothing other than God, because He Himself is perfect virtue; since, therefore, that which is by nature beautiful is in every way desirable for participation by those who know it, and this has no limit, necessarily also the desire of the one partaking, extending along with the limitless, has no stopping point.

1.8 It is therefore altogether impossible to attain the perfect, because perfection, as has been said, is not defined by limits, and the one limit of virtue is its limitlessness. How then could one reach the sought-after end, without finding the end?

1.9 Yet not because the argument has shown that what is sought is altogether unattainable, should the commandment of the Lord be neglected, which says: be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. For in the case of things that are beautiful by nature, even if it is not possible to attain the whole, to not fail even of a part would be a great gain, at least for those who have sense.

1.10 Therefore all zeal must be shown not to fall away completely from the attainable perfection, but to acquire so much of it as we might advance within what is sought; for perhaps to be so disposed as to always wish to have more in what is good, is the perfection of human nature.

1.11 And it seems good to me to use Scripture as a counselor concerning this; for somewhere through the prophecy of Isaiah the divine voice says: Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. For the word commands these things in every way to those wandering outside of virtue, so that, just as those at sea carried past the straight course to the harbor bring themselves back from their wandering according to an appearing sign, either seeing a torch raised from on high or the peak of some promontory having appeared, in the same way it might again direct those who wander on the sea of life with an unsteered mind by the example of Sarah and Abraham to the harbor of the divine will.

1.12 For since human nature is divided into female and male and for both equally the choice for virtue and vice lies in their power, for this reason the appropriate example of virtue was set forth by the divine voice for each part, so that each, looking to what is akin, the men to Abraham, and the other part to Sarah, both might be guided by their proper examples toward the life of virtue.

1.13 Perhaps, then, the memory of one of those renowned in life would suffice for us also to fulfill the function of the torch and to show how it is possible to moor the soul in the calm harbor of virtue, nowhere buffeted by the squalls of life nor wrecked in the depths of vice by the successive billows of the passions. For perhaps for this reason also the lives of those exalted ones have been recorded with exactness, so that through the imitation of those who have succeeded before, the subsequent life might be directed toward the good.

1.14 What then, someone will say, if I am neither a Chaldean, as Abraham is remembered, nor raised by the daughter of the Egyptian, as the account holds concerning Moses, and I have in my life absolutely nothing in such matters corresponding to any of the ancients, how shall I place myself in the same rank as one of these, not having the means to imitate through my practices one so far removed? To whom we will say, that we judge being a Chaldean to be neither vice nor virtue, nor by the life in Egypt nor by the sojourn of life in Babylon

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διεψεύσθη ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν, ἀμήχανον ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς εἶναι τὴν τῆς τελειότητος περίληψιν λέγων· ἐδείχθη γὰρ ὅτι τὸ διαλαμβανόμενον πέρασιν ἀρετὴ οὐκ ἔστιν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς μετιοῦσι τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον ἀδύνατον εἶπον εἶναι τὸ ἐπιβῆναι τῆς τελειότητος, οὕτως ὁ λόγος καὶ περὶ τούτου σαφηνισθήσεται. 1.7 Τὸ πρώτως καὶ κυρίως ἀγαθόν, οὗ ἡ φύσις ἀγαθότης ἐστίν, αὐτὸ τὸ Θεῖον, ὅ τί ποτε τῇ φύσει νοεῖται, τοῦτο καὶ ἔστι καὶ ὀνομάζεται. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐδεὶς ἀρετῆς ὅρος πλὴν κακίας ἐδείχθη, ἀπαρά δεκτον δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου τὸ Θεῖον, ἀόριστος ἄρα καὶ ἀπερά τωτος ἡ θεία φύσις καταλαμβάνεται· ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ τὴν ἀληθῆ μετιὼν ἀρετὴν οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ Θεοῦ μετέχει, διότι αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ παντελὴς ἀρετή· ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ τῇ φύσει καλὸν εἰς μετουσίαν ἐπιθυμητὸν πάντως ἐστὶ τοῖς γινώσκουσι, τοῦτο δὲ ὅρον οὐκ ἔχει, ἀναγκαίως καὶ ἡ τοῦ μετέχοντος ἐπιθυμία τῷ ἀορίστῳ συμπαρατείνουσα στάσιν οὐκ ἔχει. 1.8 Οὐκοῦν ἄπορόν ἐστι παντάπασι τοῦ τελείου τυχεῖν, διότι ἡ τελειότης, καθὼς εἴρηται, ὅροις οὐ διαλαμβάνεται, τῆς δὲ ἀρετῆς εἷς ὅρος ἐστὶ τὸ ἀόριστον· πῶς οὖν ἄν τις ἐπὶ τὸ ζητούμενον φθάσειε πέρας, οὐχ εὑρίσκων τὸ πέρας; 1.9 Οὐ μὴν ἐπειδὴ καθόλου τὸ ζητούμενον ἄληπτον ὁ λόγος ὑπέδειξεν, ἀμελητέον ἂν εἴη τῆς ἐντολῆς τοῦ Κυρίου, ἥ φησι· γίνεσθε τέλειοι, ὡς Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν. Ἐπὶ γὰρ τῶν τῇ φύσει καλῶν, κἂν μὴ τοῦ παντὸς τυχεῖν δυνατὸν ᾖ, τὸ καὶ μὴ τοῦ μέρους ἀποτυχεῖν κέρδος ἂν εἴη μέγα, τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι. 1.10 Πᾶσαν τοίνυν ἐπιδεικτέον σπουδὴν μὴ παντελῶς ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ἐνδεχομένης τελειότη τος, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον ἀπ' αὐτῆς κτήσασθαι, ὅσον ἂν ἔνδον τοῦ ζητουμένου χωρήσωμεν· τάχα γὰρ τὸ οὕτως ἔχειν, ὡς ἀεὶ ἐθέλειν ἐν τῷ καλῷ τὸ πλέον ἔχειν, ἡ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τελειότης ἐστί.

1.11 ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι καλῶς ἔχειν τῇ Γραφῇ περὶ τούτου συμβούλῳ χρήσασθαι· φησὶ γάρ που διὰ τῆς Ἠσαΐου προφητείας ἡ θεία φωνή· ἐμβλέψατε εἰς Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν καὶ εἰς Σάρραν τὴν ὠδίνουσαν ὑμᾶς. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντως ὁ λόγος τοῖς ἔξω τῆς ἀρετῆς πλανωμένοις διακελεύεται, ἵνα, καθάπερ οἱ ἐν πελάγει τῆς εὐθείας τοῦ λιμένος παρε νεχθέντες κατὰ τὸ φανὲν σημεῖον τῆς πλάνης ἑαυτοὺς ἐπανάγουσιν ἢ πυρσὸν ἰδόντες ἀπὸ ὕψους αἰρόμενον ἢ κορυ φήν τινος ἀκρωρείας ἀναφανεῖσαν, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοὺς ἀκυβερνήτῳ τῇ διανοίᾳ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου θάλασσαν πλανω μένους τῷ κατὰ τὴν Σάρραν καὶ Ἀβραὰμ ὑποδείγματι πάλιν κατευθύνῃ πρὸς τὸν λιμένα τοῦ θείου θελήματος. 1.12 Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πρὸς τὸ θῆλύ τε καὶ ἄρρεν ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη μεμέρισται φύσις καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἐπίσης κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἡ πρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν αἵρεσις πρόκειται, διὰ τοῦτο ἑκατέρῳ τμήματι τὸ κατάλληλον τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑπόδειγμα παρὰ τῆς θείας προεδείχθη φωνῆς, ἵνα πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ἑκάτεροι βλέποντες, πρὸς μὲν τὸν Ἀβραὰμ οἱ ἄνδρες, πρὸς δὲ τὴν Σάρραν τὸ ἕτερον μέρος, ἀμφότεροι διὰ τῶν οἰκείων ὑπο δειγμάτων πρὸς τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον διευθύνοιντο. 1.13 Ἴσως δ' ἂν τοίνυν ἐξαρκέσειε καὶ ἡμῖν ἑνός τινος τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον εὐδοκίμων ἡ μνήμη τὴν τοῦ πυρσοῦ χρείαν πληρῶσαι καὶ ὑποδεῖξαι πῶς ἐστι δυνατὸν τῷ ἀκλύστῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς λιμένι τὴν ψυχὴν καθορμίσαι, μηδαμοῦ ταῖς τοῦ βίου ζάλαις ἐγχειμασθεῖσαν μηδὲ κατὰ τὰς ἐπαλλήλους τῶν παθῶν τρικυμίας τῷ βυθῷ τῆς κακίας ἐνναυαγήσασαν. Τάχα γὰρ καὶ τούτου χάριν ἡ τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐκείνων πολιτεία δι' ἀκριβείας ἱστόρηται, ὡς ἂν διὰ τῆς τῶν προκατορθωκότων μιμήσεως ὁ ἐφεξῆς βίος πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀπευθύνοιτο. 1.14 Τί οὖν, ἐρεῖ τις, εἰ μήτε Χαλδαῖος ἐγώ, ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ μνημονεύεται, μήτε τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου τρόφιμος, ὡς περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ὁ λόγος κατέχει, μηδ' ὅλως ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις πρός τινα τῶν ἀρχαίων ἔχω τι κατὰ τὸν βίον κατάλληλον, πῶς εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν τάξιν ἑνὶ τούτων ἐμαυτὸν καταστήσω, μὴ ἔχων ὅπως τὸν τοσοῦτον ἀφεστῶτα διὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων μιμήσομαι; Πρὸς ὃν ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι οὔτε τὸ Χαλδαῖον εἶναι κακίαν ἢ ἀρετὴν κρίνομεν, οὔτε τῇ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ζωῇ οὔτε τῇ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι διατριβῇ τοῦ βίου