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of the soul considers the qualities that appear in the body and examines them both in common and by themselves; for it separates each of them individually by reason, and again it contemplates their common concurrence and harmony concerning the constitution of the subject. So, therefore, also in the search for the beautiful, the one who is imperfect in thought, whenever he sees some thing, over which some image of beauty is poured, he will think that very thing to be beautiful by its own nature, whatever draws his sense through pleasure, and he investigates nothing further beyond this; but the one who has purified the eye of his soul and is able to see such things, letting go of the matter which is subjected to the idea of the beautiful, will use the visible thing as a kind of stepping-stone, for the contemplation of intelligible beauty, by participation in which other things become and are called beautiful.

11.2 And it seems to me to be difficult for most who live with such a denseness of thought, by cutting through with reason and separating the matter from the contemplated beauty, to comprehend the nature of the beautiful itself by itself. And if anyone should wish to examine precisely the cause of erroneous and wicked opinions, it seems to me he would find no other than that our "senses have not been accurately trained for the discernment of the beautiful and its opposite." Because of this, men, having abandoned their zeal for that which is truly good, some have slipped into the love of flesh, while others have inclined with their desires toward the inanimate matter of possessions; others have defined the beautiful in honors and glories and powers; and there are some who have been captivated by certain arts and sciences; but the more servile of these make the throat and the stomach the criteria of the good. But if, having departed from material thoughts and from affections for things that appear, they sought the simple and immaterial and unformed nature of the beautiful, they would not have been led astray in the choice of their desires, nor would they have been so deceived by such delusions as not even, by seeing the temporary nature of the pleasure in these things, to be guided to contempt for them.

11.3 Therefore, this would be for us the way leading to the discovery of the beautiful: to pass beyond all other things which draw the desires of men, things considered to be beautiful and for this reason deemed worthy of some zeal and acceptance, as being lowly and temporary, not expending our appetitive power on any of these, nor indeed keeping it shut up within ourselves idle and motionless, but having purified it from attachment to lowly things, to lead it up to where sense does not reach, so as neither to admire the beauty of heaven, nor the light of the stars, nor any other of the beautiful things that appear, but through the beauty contemplated in all these things to be led by the hand to the desire for that beauty, of which "the heavens declare the glory and the firmament and all creation proclaims the knowledge." For thus the soul, ascending and leaving behind everything apprehended as smaller than that which is sought, would come to the contemplation "of that magnificence which is exalted above the heavens."

11.4 But how could one reach the heights who has his zeal for lowly things? How could one fly up to heaven without being winged with the heavenly wing and becoming upward-borne and raised high through the lofty way of life? Who is so outside the evangelical mysteries as to be ignorant that there is one vehicle for the human soul for its journey to the heavens, to make oneself like the form of the dove that flew down, whose wings David the prophet also longed to have for himself? For thus in a riddle the

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ψυχῆς περινοεῖ καὶ τὰς τῷ σώματι ἐμφαινομένας ποιότητας καὶ κοινῇ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰς ἐπισκέπτεται· ἰδίᾳ τε γὰρ αὐτῶν ἑκάστην χωρίζει τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ πάλιν τὴν κοινὴν συνδρομήν τε καὶ σύμπνοιαν περὶ τὴν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου σύστασιν θεωρεῖ. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ ζητήσει ὁ μὲν ἀτελὴς τὴν διάνοιαν, ἐπειδὰν ἴδῃ τι πρᾶγμα, ᾧ κάλλους τινὸς περικέχυται φαν τασία, αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο καλὸν εἶναι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει οἰήσεται, ὅπερ ἂν τὴν αἴσθησιν αὐτοῦ δι' ἡδονῆς ἐπισπάσηται, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦτο πλέον περιεργάζεται· ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρ μένος τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ δυνατὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα βλέπειν, χαίρειν ἐάσας τὴν ὕλην τὴν ὑποβεβλημένην τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ ἰδέᾳ, οἷον ὑποβάθρᾳ τινὶ τῷ ὁρωμένῳ χρήσεται, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ νοητοῦ θεωρίαν κάλλους, οὗ κατὰ μετουσίαν τὰ ἄλλα γίνεται καὶ ὀνομάζεται καλά.

11.2 ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι χαλεπὸν εἶναι τῶν πλείστων τῇ τοιαύτῃ παχύτητι τῆς διανοίας συζώντων τὸ διατεμόντας τῷ λόγῳ καὶ χωρίσαντας τὴν ὕλην ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐπιθεωρουμένου κάλλους αὐτὴν ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς τοῦ καλοῦ τὴν φύσιν κατανοῆσαι. Καὶ εἴ τις ἀκριβῶς ἐθέλοι τὴν αἰτίαν σκοπεῖν τῶν πεπλανη μένων καὶ μοχθηρῶν ὑπολήψεων, οὐκ ἄν μοι δοκεῖ ἄλλην εὑρεῖν ἢ τὸ μὴ ἀκριβῶς ἡμῶν «γεγυμνάσθαι τὰ αἰσθητήρια πρὸς τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ μὴ τοιούτου διάκρισιν». ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀποστάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι τῆς περὶ τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν σπουδῆς, οἱ μὲν εἰς ἔρωτα σαρκῶν κατωλίσθησαν, οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄψυχον τῶν χρημάτων ὕλην ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ἔρρεψαν· ἄλλοι ἐν τιμαῖς καὶ δόξαις καὶ δυναστείαις τὸ καλὸν ὡρίσαντο· εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ περὶ τέχνας καὶ ἐπιστήμας τινὰς ἐπτοήθησαν· οἱ δὲ ἀνδραποδωδέστεροι τούτων λαιμὸν καὶ γαστέρα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ποιοῦνται κριτήρια. Εἰ δὲ ἀποστάντες τῶν ὑλικῶν νοημάτων καὶ τῶν περὶ τὰ φαινόμενα προσπαθειῶν ἀνεζήτουν τὴν ἁπλῆν τε καὶ ἄϋλον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον τοῦ καλοῦ φύσιν, οὐκ ἂν περὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἐπλανήθησαν οὐδ' ἂν τοσοῦτον ὑπὸ ταῖς τοιαύταις ἀπάταις παρελογίσθησαν, ὡς μηδὲ τὸ πρόσκαιρον τῆς ἐν τούτοις ἡδονῆς βλέποντας πρὸς τὴν ὑπεροψίαν τούτων ὁδηγηθῆναι.

11.3 Οὐκοῦν αὕτη ἂν γένοιτο ἡμῖν ὁδὸς εἰς τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ εὕρεσιν ἄγουσα· τὸ πάντα τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφέλκεται, καλὰ εἶναι νομιζόμενα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σπουδῆς τινος καὶ ἀποδοχῆς ἀξιούμενα, ταῦτα ὑπερβαίνον τας ὡς ταπεινά τε καὶ πρόσκαιρα, μηδενὶ τούτων προσανα λίσκειν τὴν ἐπιθυμητικὴν ἡμῶν δύναμιν, μήτε μὴν ἀργὴν καὶ ἀκίνητον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατακλείσαντας ἔχειν, ἀλλ' ἐκκαθάραντας αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ταπεινῶν προσπαθείας ἐκεῖ ἀνάγειν, ὅπου οὐκ ἐφικνεῖται ἡ αἴσθησις, ὡς μήτε οὐρανοῦ κάλλος θαυμάσαι μήτε φωστήρων αὐγὰς μήτε ἄλλο τι τῶν φαινομένων καλῶν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦ πᾶσι τούτοις ἐπιθεωρουμένου κάλλους χειραγωγεῖσθαι πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου τοῦ κάλλους ἐπιθυμίαν, οὗ καὶ «οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν καὶ στερέωμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις ἀναγγέλλει τὴν γνῶσιν». Οὕτω γὰρ ἀνιοῦσα ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ πᾶν τὸ καταλαμβανόμενον ὡς μικρότερον τοῦ ζητουμένου καταλιμπάνουσα γένοιτο ἂν ἐν περινοίᾳ «τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας ἐκείνης τῆς ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπηρμένης».

11.4 Ἀλλὰ πῶς ἄν τις τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐφίκοιτο περὶ τὰ τα πεινὰ τὴν σπουδὴν ἔχων; Πῶς δ' ἄν τις πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναπταίη μὴ πτερωθεὶς τῷ οὐρανίῳ πτερῷ καὶ ἀνωφερὴς καὶ μετέωρος διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς πολιτείας γενόμενος; Τίς οὕτως ἔξω τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν μυστηρίων ἐστίν, ὡς ἀγνοεῖν ὅτι ἓν ὄχημα τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς πορείας ἐστί, τὸ τῷ εἴδει τῆς καταπτάσης περι στερᾶς ἑαυτὸν ὁμοιῶσαι, ἧς τὰς πτέρυγας γενέσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ ∆αβὶδ ὁ προφήτης ἐπόθησεν; Οὕτω γὰρ ἐν αἰνίγματι τὴν τοῦ