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This truly is a living man, and fair in beauty, and active and moving.

23.2 Therefore, one who is going to hold to virginity according to the principle he has chosen must resort to this. For just as one who is eager to learn the language of some nation is not a sufficient teacher for himself, but is taught by those who know, and thus becomes able to speak with those of a different tongue, so I think, since this life does not proceed according to the sequence of nature, but is foreign by the novelty of its conduct, that one cannot learn its precision in any other way than by being guided by one who has succeeded in it. And indeed all other things that we pursue in life would be more rightly accomplished by the one pursuing them, if one were to learn the knowledge of each of the desired subjects from teachers than if one were to undertake the matter on one's own; for this pursuit is not so clear as to compel us to entrust to ourselves the judgment of what is profitable, especially when daring to experiment with unknown things is not without danger. And just as with medicine, which was formerly unknown, men discovered it through experience, it being revealed little by little through certain observations, so that both what helps and what harms, having been recognized through the testimony of those with experience, were thus received into the system of the art, and what had been observed by their predecessors came to be a precept for the future. But now one who is devoted to this art has no need to discern by his own experience the power of drugs, whether something is poisonous or an antidote, but having learned from others what is known, he has himself mastered the art. In the same way also, concerning the medicine of souls—I mean philosophy, by which we learn the cure for every passion that afflicts the soul—there is no need to pursue the knowledge with certain conjectures and suspicions, but with full liberty of learning from one who has acquired the skill through long and much experience. For for the most part and in every matter, youth is a perilous counselor, and one would not easily find anything worthy of serious attention accomplished rightly, in which old age was not taken along to share in the deliberation. And by how much greater than other pursuits the goal set before those who pursue it is, by so much the more must we provide for our safety. For in other matters, youth, not being managed according to reason, has surely brought about loss in regard to money, or caused a fall from some worldly distinction or even rank; but in the case of this great and lofty desire, it is not money that is at risk, nor worldly and ephemeral glory, nor anything else of the external things that attend us—of which, whether managed according to our mind or otherwise, the prudent take little account—but poor counsel touches the soul itself, and the danger of this loss is not to lose something else, the recovery of which might perhaps seem possible, but to destroy oneself and lose one's own soul. For one who has squandered his ancestral substance does not perhaps despair of returning by some devices to his former prosperity, as long as he is among the living; but one who has fallen from this life has had taken away from him all hope of a change for the better.

23.3 Therefore, since many undertake virginity while still young and imperfect in understanding, this, before all else, should be their pursuit: to seek a good guide and teacher for this path, lest somewhere through the ignorance that is in them certain pathless ways and wanderings for themselves from

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οὗτος ἀληθῶς ζῶν ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὡραῖος τῷ κάλλει καὶ ἐνεργὸς καὶ κινούμενος.

23.2 Οὐκοῦν τούτῳ προσφοιτητέον ἐστὶ τῷ μέλλοντι κατὰ τὸν αἱροῦντα λόγον τῆς παρθενίας ἀνθέξεσθαι. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ φωνὴν ἔθνους τινὸς ἐκμαθεῖν προθυμούμενος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτάρκης ἑαυτῷ διδάσκαλος, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐπισταμένων παιδεύεται καὶ οὕτω γίνεται τοῖς ἀλλογλώσσοις ὁμόφωνος, οὕτως οἶμαι καὶ τοῦ βίου τούτου μὴ κατὰ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν προϊόντος τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλὰ ἀπεξενωμένου τῇ καινότητι τῆς διαγωγῆς, μὴ ἄλλως τινὰ μαθεῖν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἢ παρὰ τοῦ κατωρθωκότος χειραγωγούμενον. Καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ πάντα, ὅσα κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐπιτηδεύομεν, μᾶλλον ἂν κατ ορθωθείη τῷ μετιόντι, εἰ παρὰ διδασκάλοις τις ἑκάστου τῶν σπουδαζομένων ἐκμάθοι τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἢ εἰ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ κατεπιχειροίη τοῦ πράγματος· οὐ γὰρ ἐναργές ἐστι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα τοῦτο, ὥστε κατ' ἀνάγκην ἑαυτοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν τῶν λυσιτελούντων τὴν κρίσιν, ὅτε καὶ τὸ κατατολμᾶν τῆς τῶν ἀγνοουμένων πείρας οὐκ ἔξω κινδύνου καθίσταται. Καθάπερ δὲ τὴν ἰατρικὴν πρότερον ἀγνοουμένην διὰ τῆς πείρας ἐξεῦρον οἱ ἄνθρωποι παρατηρήμασί τισι κατ' ὀλίγον ἐκκαλυφθεῖσαν, ὥστε καὶ τὸ ὠφελοῦν καὶ τὸ βλάπτον διὰ τῆς τῶν πεπειραμένων μαρτυρίας ἐπιγνωσθὲν οὕτως εἰς τὸν τῆς τέχνης λόγον παραληφθῆναι καὶ παράγ γελμα πρὸς τὸ μέλλον τὸ παρατηρηθὲν τοῖς προλαβοῦσι γίνεσθαι, νῦν δὲ ὁ πρὸς τὴν τέχνην ταύτην ἐσπουδακὼς οὐκ ἔχει ἀνάγκην τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν πείρᾳ διαγινώσκειν τῶν φαρμάκων τὴν δύναμιν, εἴτε δηλητήριον εἴτε ἀλεξητήριόν τί ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐγνωσμένα παρ' ἑτέρων μαθὼν αὐτὸς τὴν τέχνην κατώρθωσε· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῆς τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρικῆς, τῆς φιλοσοφίας λέγω, δι' ἧς παντὸς πάθους τοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἁπτομένου τὴν θεραπείαν μανθάνομεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνάγκη στοχασμοῖς τισι καὶ ὑπονοίαις μετιέναι τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ἀλλ' ἐξουσίᾳ πολλῇ τῆς μαθήσεως παρὰ τοῦ διὰ μακρᾶς τε καὶ πολλῆς τῆς πείρας κτησαμένου τὴν ἕξιν. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ καὶ ἐπὶ παντὸς πράγματος ἐπισφαλὴς σύμβουλος ἡ νεότης, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὕροι ῥᾳδίως κατορθωθέν τι τῶν σπουδῆς ἀξίων, ᾧ μὴ πολιὰ συμπαρελή φθη πρὸς κοινωνίαν τοῦ σκέμματος· ὅσῳ δὲ μείζων τῶν λοιπῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ὁ προκείμενος τοῖς μετιοῦσίν ἐστι σκοπός, τοσούτῳ καὶ μᾶλλον προνοητέον ἡμῖν τῆς ἀσφαλείας ἐστίν. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν λοιπῶν ἡ νεότης οὐ κατὰ λόγον διοικουμένη εἰς χρήματα πάντως τὴν ζημίαν ἤνεγκεν, ἤ τινος κοσμικῆς περιφανείας ἢ καὶ ἀξιώματος ἐκπεσεῖν παρεσκεύασεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς μεγάλης τε καὶ ὑψηλῆς ταύτης ἐπιθυμίας οὐ χρήματα τὸ κινδυνευόμενόν ἐστιν, οὐδὲ δόξα κοσμικὴ καὶ ἐφήμερος, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἔξωθεν ἡμῖν παρεπομένων-τῶν καὶ κατὰ γνώμην καὶ ὡς ἑτέρως διοικουμένων ὀλίγος τοῖς σωφρονοῦσιν ὁ λόγος-, ἀλλ' αὐτῆς ἅπτεται τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ ἀβουλία, καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος τῆς ζημίας ταύτης ἐστὶν οὐ τὸ ἄλλο τι ζημιωθῆναι, οὗ τυχὸν καὶ δυνατὴ φαίνεται ἡ ἐπανάληψις, ἀλλὰ τὸ αὐτὸν ἀπολέσθαι καὶ ζημιωθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἰδίαν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὴν πατρῴαν καταναλώσας οὐσίαν οὐκ ἀπελπίζει τυχὸν ἐπινοίαις τισὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπανελθεῖν εὐπορίαν, ἕως ἂν ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν ᾖ· ὁ δὲ τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης ἐκπεσὼν πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα τῆς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολῆς συναφῄρηται.

23.3 Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ νέοι ἔτι καὶ ἀτελεῖς τὴν διάνοιαν οἱ πολλοὶ τῆς παρθενίας ἀντιλαμβάνονται, τοῦτο πρὸ πάντων αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδευτέον ἂν εἴη, τὸ ζητῆσαι τῆς ὁδοῦ ταύτης ἀγαθὸν καθηγεμόνα τε καὶ διδάσκαλον, μή που διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνοδίας τινὰς καὶ πλάνας ἑαυτοῖς ἀπὸ