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bears on himself the marks of the divine character and corresponds in all things through resemblance to the archetype, adorning his own soul with incorruptibility and unchangeability and with being unmixed with any evil. 2.319 These things, O man of God, Caesarius, concerning the perfection of the life of virtue, this brief discourse of ours sets before you, sketching for you the life of the great Moses as a kind of prototype in the form of beauty, according to which each of us, through the imitation of his practices, might transcribe in ourselves the character of the beauty shown to us. For that Moses had achieved the attainable perfection, what more trustworthy witness could be found for us than the divine voice which says to him: ‘I have known you above all others,’ and also that he was named friend of God by God Himself, and that, having chosen rather to perish with all of them unless the Godhead should, through benevolence, become propitious to them for the offenses they had committed, he caused God to stay His anger against the Israelites, turning aside His own judgment so that He might not grieve His friend. And all such things are a clear testimony and proof that the life of Moses had ascended to the highest limit of perfection. 2.320 Since, therefore, this was the question sought by us—what is the perfection of the virtuous life?—and the perfect has been found through what has been said, it is time for you, O noble one, to look to the model and to the things contemplated through a higher interpretation concerning the things spoken of historically, transferring them to your own life, so as to be known by God and to become His friend. For this is truly perfection: no longer to be separated from the life of vice in a servile manner out of fear of punishment, nor to do good in the hope of rewards, making a business of the virtuous life with a certain commercial and transactional disposition, but, having disdained all things, even those laid up in promises through hope, to consider it alone fearful to fall from the friendship of God, and to judge for oneself that the only honorable and desirable thing is to become a friend of God, which is, at least in my account, the perfection of life, 2.321 but whatever may be discovered by you toward that which is more magnificent and more divine, as your mind is lifted up (and many things, I know well, will be discovered), the profit will be altogether common in Christ Jesus, Amen.

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τοῦ θείου χαρακτῆ ρος ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ γνωρίσματα φέρει καὶ συμβαίνει διὰ πάντων τῇ ὁμοιώσει πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ τε καὶ ἀναλ λοιώτῳ καὶ πάσης ἀμιγεῖ κακίας τὴν ἰδίαν ψυχὴν καλλωπίζων. 2.319 Ταῦτά σοι, ὦ ἄνθρωπε τοῦ Θεοῦ, περὶ τῆς τοῦ βίου τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν τελειότητος, Καισάριε, ὁ βραχὺς ἡμῶν οὗτος ὑποτίθεται λόγος, οἷόν τι πρωτότυπον ἐν μορφῇ κάλλους τὸν τοῦ μεγάλου Μωϋσέως ὑπογράψας σοι βίον, ἐφ' ᾧ τοὺς καθ' ἕκαστον ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων μιμήσεως ἐν ἑαυτοῖς μεταγράφειν τοῦ προδειχθέντος ἡμῖν κάλλους τὸν χαρακτῆρα. Τοῦ γὰρ κατωρθωκέναι τὸν Μωϋσέα τὴν ἐνδεχομένην τελειότητα τίς ἂν ἡμῖν ἀξιοπιστότερος εὑρεθείη μάρτυς τῆς θείας φωνῆς ἥ φησι πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι· ἔγνων σε παρὰ πάντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ φίλον αὐτὸν ὀνομασθῆναι Θεοῦ παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὸ συναπολέσθαι μᾶλλον ἑλόμενον μετὰ πάντων, εἰ μὴ κἀκείνοις ἐφ' οἷς ἐπλημμέλησαν ἱλεωθείη δι' εὐμενείας τὸ Θεῖον, στῆσαι κατὰ τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν τὴν ὀργήν, τὴν ἰδίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσιν παρατρέψαντος, ἵνα μὴ λυπήσῃ τὸν φίλον. Καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα μαρτυρία σαφής ἐστι καὶ ἀπόδειξις τοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἀκρότατον τῆς τελειότητος ὅρον ἀναβεβηκέναι τοῦ Μωϋσέως τὸν βίον. 2.320 Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοῦτο παρ' ἡμῶν τὸ ζητούμενον ἦν τί τὸ τέλειον τῆς ἐναρέτου πολιτείας ἐστίν, εὑρέθη δὲ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων τὸ τέλειον, ὥρα σοι, ὦ γενναῖε, πρὸς τὸ ὑπόδειγμα βλέπειν καὶ τὰ δι' ὑψηλοτέρας ἀναγωγῆς θεωρηθέντα περὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶς εἰρημένων· ἐπὶ τὸν ἴδιον μεταφέροντα βίον γνωσ θῆναί τε ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ φίλον γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ τελειότης τὸ μηκέτι δουλοπρεπῶς φόβῳ κολάσεως τοῦ κατὰ κακίαν βίου χωρίζεσθαι, μηδὲ τῇ τῶν μισθῶν ἐλπίδι τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐνεργεῖν, πραγματευτικῇ τινι καὶ συναλλαγματικῇ διαθέσει κατεμπορευομένους τῆς ἐναρέτου ζωῆς, ἀλλ' ὑπεριδόντας πάντων καὶ τῶν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις δι' ἐλπίδος ἀποκειμένων, μόνον ἡγεῖσθαι φοβερὸν τὸ τῆς φιλίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκπεσεῖν, καὶ μόνον τίμιόν τε καὶ ἐράσμιον ἑαυτοῖς κρῖναι τὸ φίλον γενέσθαι Θεῷ, ὅπερ ἐστί, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον, ἡ τελειότης τοῦ βίου, 2.321 ὅ τι δ' ἂν παρὰ σοῦ πρὸς τὸ μεγαλοπρεπέστερόν τε καὶ θειότερον ἐπαρθείσης σοι τῆς διανοίας εὑρεθῇ (πολλὰ δέ, εὖ οἶδα, εὑρεθήσεται), κοινὸν πάντως ἔσται τὸ κέρδος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ἀμήν.