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virtue came forth, from the union of both her parents, just as from two rivers, flowing together into one sea; for so much do I grant to her in comparison with the founders of her nature. For their concern was not for a more conspicuous life and a more brilliant way of living; and I speak of conspicuousness and brilliance which the many so name, perhaps also thinking so through error. For the better sort are accustomed to 'transfer the names' to other things, to which the conspicuous and brilliant is not a surface color, nor do these things attach from without, but from below and from themselves the 'fountain of brilliance gushes forth'; therefore, for them, what was praiseworthy was not a matter of name only, but they were adorned and illumined by the opposites of these things; and both knew only one another and through each other, as through the most intimate examples, they were fashioned toward the good, shaping and being shaped together, being both archetypes and imitations for one another; the most wondrous thing, both receiving what they give, and giving again what is received. Being circumscribed by this great-named city as their fatherland, yet uncircumscribed in the entire magnitude of their virtues; equal in the measure of each life, both the present and the one to come, the one imaging the other, the one which advances far into the indefinite and boundless. For in the same way, just as they had come forth into this life here and arisen at a similar age, so too at almost the same point in time they ended the portion of life allotted to them, with the one part running ahead just enough for the other to prepare the fitting 'life above' and, as it were, to receive it in fitting preparation. From such and so great parents my mother came forth, the first to end her mother's birth-pangs, and the first also to inherit the 'paternal prayers,' as was fitting. If, then, I were not a philosopher, an 'admirer and lover' of hidden beauty alone, and not very much appropriating that which is in symmetry and colors, I would have said how great, as they say, was the beauty that flowed through her whole body as soon as she was born. For the beauty in her soul was for a time unseen, as her age did not yet contain its power; for just as some flowers, as soon as they spring from the earth, show the entire hue of their beauty, and what first appears is such as it is also seen at its peak, so too they say that beauty was poured all around my mother, in the symmetry of her limbs, in the bloom of her hair, in the sheen of her complexion, and I would have said more, all that I heard from that mother and father of hers, as they exulted in the appearance of their daughter. But since my pursuit 'fetters my tongue,' I think I will leave this part aside, and turn to the next parts of the discourse. And if I shall be found to be misusing even this somewhere, pardon for the discourse from this point, where it might yield, as it goes through the most necessary parts of the subject; if not, if I have undertaken to narrate and at the same time to praise these things which I no longer know from personal experience, one must not be surprised; for I have heard most things from my mother herself as she related them, and the rest, whatever has something 'elegant' and 'polished,' I have learned from relatives of her family. 3. They said, then, that just as from some great lamp, or a transparent and 'ethereal torch,' or the rising of a translucent star, certain rays and radiances appeared and proclaimed her virtue beforehand, not only with her bodily beauty imaging 'the form of her soul,' nor with her 'piercing eye' signifying the readiness of her character, nor with her white complexion typifying the purity of her mind, nor with her steady tongue echoing the stability of her thoughts, but with her soul itself illuminating its own characteristics upon her incomplete body, so that it was not even possible for the many to discern whether the bloom of her age outran the graces of her soul, or these rose before her bodily grace, or both ran together with their own speed

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προῆλθεν ἡ ἀρετή, ἐκ τῆς ἀμφοῖν τῶν γεννησαμένων συζυγίας, ὥσπερ ἐκ δυοῖν ποταμῶν, εἰς μίαν συρρεύσασα θάλασσαν· τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἐκείνῃ δίδωμι πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχηγέτας τῆς φύσεως. φροντὶς γὰρ ἐκείνοις οὐ περιφανεστέρας ζωῆς καὶ λαμπροτέρας διαγωγῆς· λέγω δὲ περιφάνειαν καὶ λαμπρότητα ἅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ οὕτω κατονομάζουσι, τάχα καὶ διὰ τὴν πλάνην οἰόμενοι. οἱ γὰρ κρείττους ἐφ' ἕτερα «μεταφέρειν» εἰώθασι «τὰ ὀνόματα», οἷς οὐκ ἐπικέχρωσται τὸ περιφανὲς καὶ λαμπρόν, οὐδ' ἔξωθεν ταῦτα ἐφάπτεται, ἀλλὰ κάτωθεν καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν ἡ τῆς λαμπρότητος «ἀναβλύζει πηγή»· οὔκουν ἐκείνοις λόγος τῶν ἐπαινετῶν μέχρις ὀνόματος, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν ἀντιθέτων τούτοις ἐκοσμοῦντο καὶ κατελάμποντο· ᾔδεισαν δὲ μόνον ἀλλήλους ἀμφότεροι καὶ δι' ἑκατέρων ὡς οἰκειοτάτων παραδειγμάτων πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐρρυθμίζοντο, μορφοῦντες ὁμοῦ καὶ μορφούμενοι, πρωτότυπά τε ὄντες ἀλλήλοις καὶ μιμήματα· τὸ θαυμασιώτατον καὶ λαμβάνοντες μὲν ὃ διδόασι, διδόντες δὲ αὖθις τὸ λαμβανόμενον. Τῇ μὲν μεγαλωνύμῳ ταύτῃ πόλει ὡς πατρίδι περιγραφόμενοι, ἀπερίγραφοι δὲ τῷ παντὶ τῷ μεγέθει πεφυκότες τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἶσοι τὸ μέτρον ἑκατέρας ζωῆς, τῆς τε ἱσταμένης καὶ λυομένης, τῆς ἑτέρας τὴν ἑτέραν εἰκονιζούσης, τῆς ἄχρι πολλοῦ προϊούσης τὴν ἀόριστον καὶ ἀπέραντον. καταταὐτὸ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐς τὴν τῇδε προεληλυθότες ζωὴν καὶ δι' ὁμοίας τῆς ἡλικία ἐπανατείλαντες, ἐν ταὐτῷ δὴ σχεδὸν χρόνου μέρει καὶ τὸ λαχὸν αὐτοῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος μέρος καταλελύκασι, τοσοῦτον θατέρου προδραμόντος μέρους ὅσον θατέρῳ τὴν προσήκουσαν «ἄνω ζωὴν» ἑτοιμάσασθαι καὶ ὥσπερ ὑποδέξασθαι ἐν προσηκούσῃ παρασκευῇ. Ἐκ τοιούτων καὶ τηλικούτων γεννητόρων ἡ ἐμὴ προελήλυθε μήτηρ, πρώτη μὲν τὰς μητρικὰς ὠδῖνας λύσασα, πρώτη δὲ καὶ τῶν «πατρικῶν εὐχῶν» κληρονομήσασα ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν. εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ φιλόσοφος ἦν, τοῦ κεκρυμμένου μόνου κάλλους «ἐπαινέτης καὶ ἐραστής», τὸ δὲ ἐν συμμετρίᾳ καὶ χρώμασιν οὐ πάνυ προσοικειούμενος, εἴρηκα ἄν, ὁπόσον φασί, τὸ κάλλος εὐθὺς γεννωμένῃ διὰ παντὸς διέρρει τοῦ σώματος. τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τέως ἀθέατον ἦν, οὔπω τῆς ἡλικίας χωρούσης τὴν δύναμιν· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἔνια τῶν ἀνθέων εὐθὺς τῆς γῆς ἀνατέλλοντα τὴν βαφὴν ὅλην τοῦ κάλλους δείκνυσι, καὶ ἔστι τὸ πρώτως φανὲν τοιοῦτον οἷον δὴ καὶ ἀκμᾶσαν ὁρᾶται, οὕτω δή μοι καὶ τῇ μητρὶ λέγουσι περικεχύσθαι τὸ κάλλος, ἐν συμμετρίᾳ μελῶν ἐν ἄνθῃ τριχῶν, ἐν στίλψει χρωτός, καὶ εἴρηκα δ' ἂν πλείονα ὁπόσα τῆς μητρὸς ἐκείνης καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἤκουσα, ἐπισκιρτώντων τῷ εἴδει τῆς θυγατρός. Ἐπεὶ δέ μοι «πεδᾷ τὴν γλῶτταν» τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα, τοῦτο μὲν ἀφήσειν μοι τὸ μέρος δοκῶ, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰ ἐξῆς τοῦ λόγου τρέψομαι. εἰ δέ που καὶ τούτῳ φανήσομαι παραχρώμενος, συγγνώμη τῷ λόγῳ ἐντεῦθεν, ὅπῃ παρείκοι, τὰ ἀναγκαιότατα διϊόντι τῆς ὑποθέσεως· εἰ δὲ μή, ἃ μηκέτι σύνοιδα ταῦτα ἐπικεχείρηκα διηγεῖσθαι ἅμα καὶ ἐπαινεῖν, θαυμάζειν οὐ χρή· τὰ μὲν γὰρ πλείω παρ' αὐτῆς τῆς μητρὸς διηγουμένης ἀκήκοα, τὰ δ' ἄλλα, ὅσα «κομψόν» τι ἔχει καὶ «γλαφυρόν», παρὰ τῶν προσηκόντων τῷ γένει μεμάθηκα. 3. Ἔφασαν οὖν ὅτι, ὥσπέρ τινος μεγάλου λαμπτῆρος, ἢ διαφανοῦς καὶ «ἀερίου πυρσοῦ», ἢ διαφεγγοῦς φωστῆρος ἀνατολῆς, ἀκτῖνές τινες καὶ διαύγειαι προεφαίνοντό τε καὶ τὴν ἐκείνης προκατήγγελλον ἀρετήν, οὐ τοῦ σωματικοῦ μόνον κάλλους «τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εἶδος» ἐξεικονίζοντος, οὐδὲ τοῦ «γοργοῦ ὄμματος» τὸ ἕτοιμον τοῦ ἤθους διασημαίνοντος, οὐδὲ τοῦ λευκοῦ χρώματος τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς γνώμης διατυποῦντος, οὐδὲ τῆς εὐσταθοῦς γλώττης τὸ στάσιμον ἠχούσης τῶν λογισμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς τοὺς οἰκείους χαρακτῆρας ἐν ἀτελεῖ ἐπιλαμπούσης τῷ σώματι, ὥστε μηδὲ ἐξεῖναι τοὺς πολλοὺς διαγινώσκειν πότερον ἡ τῆς ἡλικίας ὥρα τῶν ψυχῆς προτρέχει χαρίτων, ἢ αὗται τῆς σωματικῆς προανατέλλουσι χάριτος, ἢ σύνδρομα τἄμφω καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον τάχος