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I detest amulets, the adamant stone and coral, and I laugh at the "images fallen from heaven," I consider it monstrous to profess to alter the order of the universe, when all things are well-ordered by the providence of God. I revile the propitiations, the purifications, the characters, the names, the so-called divinely-inspired movements, the aetherial bond, the empyrean, the lion-holding spring, the first father, the second, the wrynecks, the world-rulers, Hecate, the Hecatesia, the girdled-one, the nonsense even to the name. But concerning aeon and time and nature and contemplation and the one, and of perception and memory and of the mixture and blending of opposites, and whether thoughts are in the mind, or stand outside, if I were to inquire, I think I would be doing a philosophical thing. 29. I ought, therefore, to be at leisure for God alone, and especially now when the world has become wearisome to me, but the pursuit, but the "unrestrainable love" of the soul for all knowledge, but the necessity from those who converse with me have persuaded me to delight in these things also. Nevertheless, what I wish to say, you indeed would know, O mother, being an "undefiled soul," but my discourse is to others, which I make not only to men, but also to God and angels: that having encountered all Greek books, and I might say barbarian ones also, as many as Orpheus or Zoroaster or Ammoun the Egyptian wrote, and as many as Parmenides and Empedocles composed in verse—for I leave aside Platos and Aristotles and as many as after them or with them toiled at "philosophical discourses"—, they have written about things both spoken and unspoken, and having read all of their theology and their treatises concerning nature and their proofs, I admired the depth of their thought and I marveled at the intricacy of their discussion. But if I have observed anything contrary to our doctrine, even if it is portrayed with precise demonstration, even if it had all wisdom and grace poured around it, I have despised it as utter nonsense or as completely absurd, I who do not even apply my mind to the better of them, but the ambition of my soul is moved only as far as the knowledge of their doctrines. For there are also among us "inexhaustible treasures" of wisdom and depths of doctrines and beauties of thoughts, and if one wished, a "spontaneous flower" of words, but not elaborate. And one might ask what is divine manifestation, what is intelligible and what intellectual, what is it that flows from the whole spring, and what from one of its hypostases, what is the name God and what is signified by it, what is the whole and what the part and which of these we shall apply to God or neither, what are the intelligibles and what the intellectual things, and what sort are the theological symbols and what is each, what is the wheel, what the electrum, what the pure gold, the vapor, the treading on the cloud, the throne, the river, what the "flying sickle," the axe, the tree, the cutting, the frankincense, the oak, what are the names of the angels, what are the rites among us, what is the communion and the myrrh and the lamp and the ladder and the small pillars and the uplifting love and the essence of the good and the beautiful, from which are the other things and to which is their ascent, what is the censed bride, the door, the net, the burning heat, <ὁ> the sun, the vineyard, the prison, the departure from there. And if someone, leaving these things aside as lofty and sublime, should approach our cobblers or tentmakers and those who weave nets, and then wish to investigate precisely each of the things said by them, then he would know that while the others, like the projection of the visible sun, astonished the many, these things are a dim and unlit luminary, which the mind alone sees, but which sense cannot approach; for there is none of these which is not full of mystery and secret rite. For nothing of them is without contemplation, not even the least thing, not the "upper room furnished," not of the "water

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βδελλύττεταί μοι τὰ φυλακτήρια, ὁ ἀδάμας καὶ τὸ κουράλιον, καὶ καταγελῶ τῶν «διοπετῶν ἀγαλμάτων», τερατῶδες ἥγημαι τὸ τὴν τῶν ὅλων τάξιν μεταποιεῖν ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι, πάντων τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίᾳ τεταγμένων καλῶς. διαλοιδοροῦμαι ταῖς ἐξευμενίσεσι, ταῖς καθάρσεσι, τοῖς χαρακτῆρσι, τοῖς ὀνόμασι, ταῖς λεγομέναις θεοφορήτοις κινήσεσι, τῷ αἰθερίῳ συνοχεῖ, τῷ ἐμπυρίῳ, τῇ λεοντούχῳ πηγῇ, τῷ πρώτῳ πατρί, τῷ δευτέρῳ, ταῖς ἴϋγξι, τοῖς κοσμαγοῖς, τῇ Ἑκάτῃ, τοῖς Ἑκατησίοις, τῷ ὑπεζωκότι, τοῖς λήροις καὶ μέχρις ὀνόματος. αἰῶνος δὲ πέρι καὶ χρόνου καὶ φύσεως καὶ θεωρίας καὶ τοῦ ἑνός, αἰσθήσεώς τε καὶ μνήμης καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων μίξεώς τε καὶ κράσεως, καὶ εἰ ἐν τῷ νῷ τὰ νοήματα, ἢ ἔξωθεν ἕστηκεν, εἴ γε ζητοίην, φιλόσοφον οἶμαι δεῖν πρᾶγμα ποιεῖν. 29. Ἔδει μὲν οὖν μόνῳ σχολάζειν Θεῷ καὶ μάλιστα νῦν ὁπότε μοι ὁ κόσμος ἀπείρηται, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα, ἀλλ' ὁ περὶ πᾶσαν γνῶσιν τῆς ψυχῆς «ἀκάθεκτος ἔρως», ἀλλ' ἡ παρὰ τῶν ὁμιλούντων ἀνάγκη πεπείκασι καὶ τούτοις ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν. πλήν, ὅπερ ἐρεῖν βούλομαι, σὺ μὲν ἂν εἰδείης, ὦ μῆτερ, «ἀκήρατος» οὖσα «ψυχή», πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους ὁ λόγος, ὃν οὐ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς Θεὸν καὶ ἀγγέλους ποιοῦμαι· ὅτι πᾶσιν ἐντυχὼν βιβλίοις Ἑλληνικοῖς, εἰπεῖν δὲ καὶ βαρβαρικοῖς, ὁπόσα Ὀρφεὺς ἢ Ζωροάστρης ἢ Ἀμμοῦς συνέγραψεν ὁ Αἰγύπτιος, ὁπόσα τε Παρμενίδαι καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλεῖς ἐν ἔπεσι συνεγράψαντο-ἐῶ γὰρ Πλάτωνάς τε καὶ Ἀριστοτέλεις καὶ ὅσοι κατ' ἐκείνους ἢ μετ' ἐκείνους «φιλοσόφοις λόγοις» ἐταλαιπώρησαν-, περί τε ῥητῶν καὶ ἀρρήτων ξυγγεγραφήκασι καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τήν τε θεολογίαν καὶ τὰς περὶ τὴν φύσιν πραγματείας καὶ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἀνεγνωκώς, τὸ μὲν βαθὺ τῆς γνώμης ἠγάσθην καὶ τὸ περίεργον ἐθαύμασα τῆς συζητήσεως. εἴ τι δὲ παρὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον τεθεώρηκα λόγον, κἂν μετὰ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς ἐξεικόνισται ἀποδείξεως, κἂν πᾶσαν εἶχε περικεχυμένην σοφίαν καὶ χάριν, ὡς λήρου παντὸς ἢ πάντη ἀτόπου καταπεφρόνηκα, ὅς γε οὐδὲ τοῖς κρείττοσιν αὐτῶν προσέχω τὸν νοῦν, ἀλλά μοι τὸ φιλότιμον τῆς ψυχῆς μέχρι τῆς τῶν δογμάτων αὐτῶν κεκίνηται γνώσεως. Εἰσὶ γὰρ καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν «θησαυροὶ» σοφίας «ἀνέκλειπτοι» καὶ βάθη δογμάτων καὶ νοημάτων κάλλη, εἰ δὲ βούλοιτό τις, καὶ λέξεων «αὐτόματον ἄνθος», ἀλλ' οὐ περίεργον. καὶ ζητήσειεν ἄν τις τί μὲν ἐκφαντορία θεία, τί δὲ νοητὸν καὶ τί νοερόν, τί μὲν τὸ ῥέον ἀπὸ τῆς ὅλης πηγῆς, τί δὲ τὸ ἐξ ἑνὸς τῶν αὐτῆς ὑποστάσεων, τί τὸ Θεὸς ὄνομα καὶ τί τὸ ἐκ τούτου δηλούμενον, τί τε τὸ πᾶν καὶ τί τὸ μέρος καὶ πότερον τούτων προσάψομεν τῷ Θεῷ ἢ οὐδέτερον, τίνα τὰ νοητὰ καὶ ποῖα τὰ νοερά, οἷα δὲ καὶ τὰ θεολογούμενα σύμβολα καὶ τί ἕκαστον, τίς ὁ τροχός, τί τὸ ἤλεκτρον, τί τὸ χρυσίον τὸ καθαρόν, ἡ ἀτμίς, ἡ τοῦ νέφους ἐπίβασις, ὁ θρόνος, ὁ ποταμός, τί τὸ «πετόμενον δρέπανον», ἡ ἀξίνη, τὸ δένδρον, ἡ τομή, ὁ λίβανος, ὁ δρῦς, τίνες αἱ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐπωνυμίαι, τίνες αἱ παρ' ἡμῖν τελεταί, τίς ἡ κοινωνία καὶ τὸ μῦρον καὶ ἡ λαμπὰς καὶ ἡ κλίμαξ καὶ οἱ στυλίσκοι καὶ ὁ ἀναγωγὸς ἔρως καὶ ἡ οὐσία τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ τὸ καλόν, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ τἆλλα καὶ πρὸς ἃ ἐκείνοις ἡ ἄνοδος, τίς ἡ τεθυμιαμένη νύμφη, ἡ θύρα, τὸ δίκτυον, ὁ καύσων, <ὁ> ἥλιος, ὁ ἀμπελών, ἡ φυλακή, ἡ ἐκεῖθεν ἀπόστασις. Κἂν ἀφεὶς ταῦτά τις ὡς ὑψηλὰ καὶ μετέωρα προσέλθοι τοῖς παρ' ἡμῖν σκυτοτόμοις ἢ σκηνορράφοις καὶ τοῖς τὰ δίκτυα πλέκουσιν, εἶτα δὴ ἕκαστον τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις λεγομένων ἐξακριβοῦν ἐθελήσειε, τότ' ἂν γνοίη ὅτι τἆλλα μὲν ὥσπερ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ ἡλίου τὸ προβεβλημένον ἐξέπληττε τοὺς πολλούς, ταῦτα δὲ ὁ ἀχλυώδης ἐστὶ φωστὴρ καὶ ἀφώτιστος, ὃν μόνος ὁρᾷ ὁ νοῦς, οὐ δύναται δὲ προσπελάζειν ἡ αἴσθησις· οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστι τούτων ὁ μὴ μυστηρίου γέμει καὶ τελετῆς ἀπορρήτου. Οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀθεώρητον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ βραχύτατον, οὐ τὸ «ἐστρωμμένον ἀνώγεων», οὐ τοῦ «ὕδατος