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«having set her foot» on the better life and having entered upon the divine course and having gone down to the spiritual «stadium» she was troubled in soul when she saw the theater filled with angels and men, which indeed most men still suffer, and some turn back from the very starting-line, while others break from the path and withdraw uncrowned. But having provided for her sister's tomb to be dug there where she herself was about to be, not to go forth—for it still remains and will remain a training-ground for philosophic souls toward virtue—there she confined herself, at once renouncing both house and way of life, and to say also, «blood and flesh», except insofar as she honorably managed her existing property and with these things provisioned herself for the life to which she was being sent. But since she was not yet purely «consecrated to God» nor had the rites of her change of life been completed under a spiritual guide, she again devised something here more prudent than wise: she offers her father to God as a preliminary sacrifice and again «gives» to him «the rights of the firstborn» of the other life as well. And when she had seen the dedication of her family member, she gives her part of the whole burnt offering to the Better One and «the first mystery» of the ascent «is celebrated». 17. But from this point on, I do not know with what words I might praise her. For just as if some well-made body, turned into a circle, were then moved on level ground, it shows even there its speed and ease of rolling by the fitness of its shape, but when it touches sloping or steep ground, it is immediately carried with unrestrained motion toward the «downward slope», so too, it seems to me, did my mother, being from the first docile in soul and quick to turn toward the better and the beautiful because of her natural aptitude, when she had passed over to the spiritual life, which indeed is a downward slope to virtue and easy to travel, she immediately hastened with unimpeded motion toward the end of the descent. for no longer was she divided between body and spirit, matter and the immaterial, clay and holy earth, nor divided between the ruler of the world and God, but having transferred and inclined every desire and every longing along with herself to God, she was borne toward him with all the powers of her soul. for immediately she diminishes the flesh and takes down its bulk and «empties the body», the chain of the soul, and despises every «economy of nature», and she gathers the soul about herself and «draws it away from the senses» and subjects to it every desire, and enslaves everything irrational, she destroys outlandish fantasy and base reasoning and «irrational opinion» and matter-loving sensation and discursive thought, and she lives with the mind alone and uses this as an instrument for «the divine ascent». You ought, then, to have been spectators, not hearers, of her noble deeds; for thus I would have been freed from suspicion and the truth would have been seen by you. But as it is, I have not been able to say everything, and in the little that I have said of her noble deeds I will be suspected by the many. For as if ashamed that she had even descended into a body, a thing which indeed is commonly said about one of the philosophers among the Greeks, she showed only a small part of her face, and a small part of her hands, and no bare part of her was seen; and she philosophized for herself that her hide-garment was not only in immediate contact with her body, but was also added from without; and at night she slept only on this. She wished, then, not to nourish her body at all, but to wear down and slacken it as if it were some fetter of the soul. But since it was not possible to fight against nature completely, she at least resisted the occasion nobly; and she subtracted so much from the proper measure that her immoderation had no measure. And when approaching God, whether she was immediately caught up, I do not really know, but so she seemed to all; for she had not turned, nor had she moved from this spot; not her head, not her hands, not her feet, nor any part of her clothing, but she was like a shadow on a panel, changing only so much as a wearying eye might imagine.

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«τὸ ἴχνος ἐρείσασα» τῷ κρείττονι βίῳ καὶ πρὸς τὸν δρόμον εἰσβᾶσα τὸν θεῖον καὶ πρὸς τὸ πνευματικὸν «καταβᾶσα στάδιον» συνεχύθη τὴν ψυχὴν ἰδοῦσα τὸ θέατρον ἐξ ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων πληρούμενον, ὃ δὴ πάσχουσιν ἔτι καὶ τῶν ἀρρένων οἱ πλείους, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπ' αὐτῆς ὑποστρέφουσι τῆς ἀφέσεως, οἱ δὲ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἀναλύουσι καὶ ἀπαλλάττονται ἀστεφάνωτοι. ἀλλὰ προμηθευσαμένη καὶ τὸν τάφον τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἐκεῖσε διορυγῆναι οὗ ἐκείνη ἔμελλεν εἶναι ἀπρόϊτος-μένει γὰρ ἔτι καὶ μενεῖ φιλοσόφοις ψυχαῖς πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀσκητήριον-, ἐκεῖσε καθείργνυσιν ἑαυτήν, εὐθὺς ἀποταξαμένη καὶ οἴκῳ καὶ βίῳ, εἰπεῖν δὲ καὶ «αἵματι καὶ σαρκί», πλὴν ὅσον ἐν καλῷ τὰ προσόντα ἐπιτροπεύσασα καὶ τούτοις ἑαυτὴν πρὸς ὃν ἐστέλλετο βίον ἐφοδιάσασα. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὔπω καθαρῶς «καθωσίωτο τῷ Θεῷ» οὐδὲ ὑπὸ καθηγεμόνι πνευματικῷ τὰ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐτετέλεστο, βουλεύεταί τι πάλιν ἐνταῦθα συνετώτερον ἢ σοφώτερον· προθύει τὸν πατέρα Θεῷ καὶ «δίδωσιν» αὐτῷ πάλιν «τὰ πρεσβεῖα» καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας ζωῆς. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὴν τοῦ μέλους ἀφιέρωσιν ἐθεάσατο, ἀποδίδωσι τῆς ὁλοκαυτώσεως τὸ μέρος τῷ Κρείττονι καὶ τὸ πρῶτον τῆς ἀναγωγῆς «τελεῖται μυστήριον». 17. Τὰ δ' ἐντεῦθεν οὐκ ἔχω τίσι λόγοις ἐκείνην ἐγκωμιάσω. ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τι σῶμα γενναῖον εἰς κύκλον ἀποτορευθέν, εἶτα δὴ ἐφ' ὁμαλοῦ κινοῖτο χωρίου, δείκνυσι μὲν κἀνταῦθα τὸ εὔδρομον καὶ εὐκύλιστον τῷ ἐπιτηδείῳ τοῦ σχήματος, ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἐπικλινοῦς ἐδάφους ἢ πρανοῦς ἅψηται, ὅλον εὐθὺς ἀκατασχέτῳ φορᾷ φέρεται πρὸς τὸ «κάταντες», οὕτω δή μοι καὶ ἡ μήτηρ, εὐάγωγος καὶ πρῶτον οὖσα τὴν ψυχὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν εὔτροχος διὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν μετεληλύθει ζωήν, ἥτις δὴ κατάντης ἐστὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ εὐάγωγος, εὐθὺς ἀκωλύτῳ φορᾷ πρὸς τὸ τῆς καθόδου τέλος ἠπείγετο. μὴ γὰρ ἔτι μεριζομένη σώματι ἅμα καὶ πνεύματι, ὕλῃ καὶ ἀϋλίᾳ, πηλῷ καὶ ἁγίᾳ γῇ, μηδὲ διαιρουμένη κοσμοκράτορι καὶ Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν μὲν ἐπιθυμίαν, πᾶσαν δὲ ἔφεσιν συμμεταγαγοῦσα Θεῷ καὶ συναποκλίνασα, ὅλαις πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐφέρετο ταῖς δυνάμεσι τῆς ψυχῆς. εὐθὺς γὰρ ὑφαιρεῖ τὴν σάρκα καὶ καθαιρεῖ τὸν ὄγκον καὶ τὸ «σῶμα κενοῖ», τὸν δεσμὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ καταφρονεῖ πάσης «οἰκονομίας τῆς φύσεως», συνάγει δὲ περὶ ἑαυτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ «συστέλλει ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθήσεων» καὶ πᾶσαν μὲν αὐτῇ ὑποτάττει ἐπιθυμίαν, δουλοῖ δὲ ἅπαν τὸ ἄλογον, ἀναιρεῖ φαντασίαν ἔκτοπον καὶ λογισμὸν ἔκφυλον καὶ «δόξαν ἄλογον» καὶ φιλόϋλον αἴσθησιν καὶ διάνοιαν διαρρέουσαν, νῷ δὲ συζῇ μόνῳ καὶ τούτῳ ὀργάνῳ χρῆται πρὸς «τὴν θείαν ἀναγωγήν». Ἔδει μὲν οὖν θεατὰς ὑμᾶς εἶναι, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀκροατὰς τῶν ἐκείνης καλῶν· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἐγώ τε ἀπηλλάγην ὑποψίας καὶ ὑμῖν ὦπτο τὸ ἀληθές. νῦν δὲ οὔτε τὸ πᾶν ἐρεῖν δεδύνημαι, κἀν τῷ βραχεῖ, τῶν ἐκείνης καλῶν <καὶ> ὑποπτευθήσομαι τοῖς πολλοῖς. ὥσπερ γὰρ αἰδουμένη ὅτι καὶ εἰς σῶμα καταβεβήκει, ὃ δὴ περί τινος τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλοσοφησάντων τεθρύλληται, βραχύ τι μὲν τοῦ προσώπου μέρος, βραχύ τι δὲ παρενέφαινε τῶν χειρῶν καὶ ἑωρᾶτο γυμνὸν αὐτῆς μέρος οὐδέν, ἐφιλοσοφεῖτο δὲ ἑαυτῇ τὸ δέρας οὐκ ἀμέσως μόνον προσομιλοῦν τῷ σώματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔξωθεν προστιθέμενον· νυκτὸς δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου μόνου κατέδαρθεν. Ἐβούλετο μὲν οὖν μηδὲ τρέφειν ὅλως τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τινὰ πέδην τῆς ψυχῆς παραξαίνειν τε καὶ χαυνοῦν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἦν πρὸς τὴν φύσιν παντελῶς ἀπομάχεσθαι, πρὸς γοῦν τὸν καιρὸν γενναίως ἀνθίστατο καὶ τοῦ μέτρου δὲ τοσοῦτον ὑφῄρει ὅσον μηδὲ μέτρον ἔχειν τὸ ἄμετρον. Θεῷ δὲ προσιοῦσα, εἰ μὲν εὐθὺς ἀνήρπαστο οὐ μάλα οἶδα, οὕτω δὲ πᾶσιν ἐῴκει· οὐ μετέστραπτο γάρ, οὐδ' ἐκεκίνητο ταύτης, οὐ κεφαλή, οὐ χεῖρες, οὐ πόδες, οὐδέ τι τῶν τῆς περιβολῆς μέρος, ἀλλ' ἦν ὥσπερ ἡ ἐν σανίσι σκιά, τοσοῦτον μόνον μεταβαλλομένη ὁπόσον ἀποκάμνων ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς ᾤετο.