Chapter XI.

Now those who take a superficial and unreflecting view of things observe the outward appearance of anything they meet, e.g. of a man, and then trouble themselves no more about him. The view they have taken of the bulk of his body is enough to make them think that they know all about him. But the penetrating and scientific mind will not trust to the eyes alone the task of taking the measure of reality; it will not stop at appearances, nor count that which is not seen amongst unrealities. It inquires into the qualities of the man’s soul. It takes those of its characteristics which have been developed by his bodily constitution, both in combination and singly; first singly, by analysis, and then in that living combination which makes the personality of the subject. As regards the inquiry into the nature of beauty, we see, again, that the man of half-grown intelligence, when he observes an object which is bathed in the glow of a seeming beauty, thinks that that object is in its essence beautiful, no matter what it is that so prepossesses him with the pleasure of the eye. He will not go deeper into the subject. But the other, whose mind’s eye is clear, and who can inspect such appearances, will neglect those elements which are the material only upon which the Form of Beauty works; to him they will be but the ladder by which he climbs to the prospect of that Intellectual Beauty, in accordance with their share in which all other beauties get their existence and their name. But for the majority, I take it, who live all their lives with such obtuse faculties of thinking, it is a difficult thing to perform this feat of mental analysis and of discriminating the material vehicle from the immanent beauty, and thereby of grasping the actual nature of the Beautiful; and if any one wants to know the exact source of all the false and pernicious conceptions of it, he would find it in nothing else but this, viz. the absence, in the soul’s faculties of feeling, of that exact training which would enable them to distinguish between true Beauty and the reverse. Owing to this men give up all search after the true Beauty. Some slide into mere sensuality. Others incline in their desires to dead metallic coin. Others limit their imagination of the beautiful to worldly honours, fame, and power. There is another class which is enthusiastic about art and science. The most debased make their gluttony the test of what is good. But he who turns from all grosser thoughts and all passionate longings after what is seeming, and explores the nature of the beauty which is simple, immaterial, formless, would never make a mistake like that when he has to choose between all the objects of desire; he would never be so misled by these attractions as not to see the transient character of their pleasures and not to win his way to an utter contempt for every one of them. This, then, is the path to lead us to the discovery of the Beautiful. All other objects that attract men’s love, be they never so fashionable, be they prized never so much and embraced never so eagerly, must be left below us, as too low, too fleeting, to employ the powers of loving which we possess; not indeed that those powers are to be locked up within us unused and motionless; but only that they must first be cleansed from all lower longings; then we must lift them to that height to which sense can never reach. Admiration even of the beauty of the heavens, and of the dazzling sunbeams, and, indeed, of any fair phenomenon, will then cease. The beauty noticed there will be but as the hand to lead us to the love of the supernal Beauty whose glory the heavens and the firmament declare, and whose secret the whole creation sings. The climbing soul, leaving all that she has grasped already as too narrow for her needs, will thus grasp the idea of that magnificence which is exalted far above the heavens. But how can any one reach to this, whose ambitions creep below? How can any one fly up into the heavens, who has not the wings of heaven and is not already buoyant and lofty-minded by reason of a heavenly calling? Few can be such strangers to evangelic mysteries as not to know that there is but one vehicle on which man’s soul can mount into the heavens, viz. the self-made likeness in himself to the descending Dove, whose wings59    Ps. lv. 6. David the Prophet also longed for. This is the allegorical name used in Scripture for the power of the Holy Spirit; whether it be because not a drop of gall60    Cf. Augustine, Tract. 6 in Joann.: “Columba fel non habet. Simon habebat; ideo separatus est a columbæ visceribus.” Aristotle asserts the contrary; but even Galen denies that it possesses a bladder (lib. de atr. bil. sub fin.). is found in that bird, or because it cannot bear any noisome smell, as close observers tell us. He therefore who keeps away from all bitterness and all the noisome effluvia of the flesh, and raises himself on the aforesaid wings above all low earthly ambitions, or, more than that, above the whole universe itself, will be the man to find that which is alone worth loving, and to become himself as beautiful as the Beauty which he has touched and entered, and to be made bright and luminous himself in the communion of the real Light. We are told by those who have studied the subject, that those gleams which follow each other so fast through the air at night and which some call shooting stars61    διᾴττοντας, corrected by Livineius, the transcriber of the Vatican ms., for διατάττοντας. Cf. Arist. Meteor. I. iv: καὶ ὁμοίως κατὰ πλάτος καὶ βάθος οἱ δοκοῦντες ἀστέρες διᾴττειν γίνονται: and, in the same chapter, διαθέοντες ἀστέρες. Cf. Seneca. Nat. Quæst. iii. 14: “Videmus ergo ‘Stellarum longos a tergo albescere tractus.’ Hæc velut stellæ exsiliunt et transvolant.” This and much else, in the preceding and following notes to this treatise, is taken from those of Fronto Ducæus, printed in the Paris Edit. The Paris Editors, Fronto Ducæus and Claude Morell, used Livineius’ edition (1574) of this treatise, which is based on the Vatican Cod. and Bricman’s (of Cologne); and they corrected from the Cod. of F. Morell, Regius Professor of Theology; and from the Cod. Regius., are nothing but the air itself streaming into the upper regions of the sky under stress of some particular blasts. They say that the fiery track is traced along the sky when those blasts ignite in the ether. In like manner, then, as this air round the earth is forced upwards by some blast and changes into the pure splendour of the ether, so the mind of man leaves this murky miry world, and under the stress of the spirit becomes pure and luminous in contact with the true and supernal Purity; in such an atmosphere it even itself emits light, and is so filled with radiance, that it becomes itself a Light, according to the promise of our Lord that “the righteous should shine forth as the sun62    S. Matt. xiii. 43..” We see this even here, in the case of a mirror, or a sheet of water, or any smooth surface that can reflect the light; when they receive the sunbeam they beam themselves; but they would not do this if any stain marred their pure and shining surface. We shall become then as the light, in our nearness to Christ’s true light, if we leave this dark atmosphere of the earth and dwell above; and we shall be light, as our Lord says somewhere to His disciples63    S. John ix. 5; i. 9., if the true Light that shineth in the dark comes down even to us; unless, that is, any foulness of sin spreading over our hearts should dim the brightness of our light. Perhaps these examples have led us gradually on to the discovery that we can be changed into something better than ourselves; and it has been proved as well that this union of the soul with the incorruptible Deity can be accomplished in no other way but by herself attaining by her virgin state to the utmost purity possible,—a state which, being like God, will enable her to grasp that to which it is like, while she places herself like a mirror beneath the purity of God, and moulds her own beauty at the touch and the sight of the Archetype of all beauty. Take a character strong enough to turn from all that is human, from persons, from wealth, from the pursuits of Art and Science, even from whatever in moral practice and in legislation is viewed as right (for still in all of them error in the apprehension of the Beautiful comes in, sense being the criterion); such a character will feel as a passionate lover only towards that Beauty which has no source but Itself, which is not such at one particular time or relatively only, which is Beautiful from, and through, and in itself, not such at one moment and in the next ceasing to be such, above all increase and addition, incapable of change and alteration. I venture to affirm that, to one who has cleansed all the powers of his being from every form of vice, the Beauty which is essential, the source of every beauty and every good, will become visible. The visual eye, purged from its blinding humour, can clearly discern objects even on the distant sky64    τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ τηλαυγῶς καθορᾶται. The same word in S. Mark viii. 25 (“clearly”) evidently refers to the second stage of recovered sight, the power of seeing the perspective. The mss. reading is ἐν τῷ ἁγίω, for which ἀέρι and ἡλί& 251· have been conjectured; οὐρανῷ is due to Galesinius; there is a similar place in Dio Chrys. (de regno et tyrann.): “impaired sight,” he says, “cannot see even what is quite close, ὑγιὲς δὲ οὖσα μέχρις οὐρανοῦ τε καὶ ἀστέρων ἐξικνεῖται, i.e. the distant sky. Just above, ἀποῤ& 191·υψαμένῳ (purged) is a better reading than ἀποῤ& 191·ιψαμένῳ, and supported by F. Morell’s ms.; so to the soul by virtue of her innocence there comes the power of taking in that Light; and the real Virginity, the real zeal for chastity, ends in no other goal than this, viz. the power thereby of seeing God. No one in fact is so mentally blind as not to understand that without telling; viz. that the God of the Universe is the only absolute, and primal, and unrivalled65    μόνως. Beauty and Goodness. All, maybe, know that; but there are those who, as might have been expected, wish besides this to discover, if possible, a process by which we may be actually guided to it. Well, the Divine books are full of such instruction for our guidance; and besides that many of the Saints cast the refulgence of their own lives, like lamps, upon the path for those who are “walking with God66    Gen. v. 24; vi. 9..” But each may gather in abundance for himself suggestions towards this end out of either Covenant in the inspired writings; the Prophets and the Law are full of them; and also the Gospel and the Traditions of the Apostles. What we ourselves have conjectured in following out the thoughts of those inspired utterances is this.

[11] Κεφάλαιον ιαʹ Πῶς ἄν τις ἐν περινοίᾳ γένοιτο τοῦ ὄντως καλοῦ; Δεῖ τοίνυν τῆς ἀσθενείας ἕνεκεν ταύτης διὰ τῶν τῇ αἰσθήσει γνωρίμων χειραγωγεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἀόρατον τὴν διάνοιαν. Ἡ δὲ ἐπίνοια γένοιτ' ἂν ἡμῖν τοιαύτη: ὥσπερ τοίνυν οἱ μὲν ἐπιπολαιότερον καὶ δίχα διανοίας τὰ πράγματα βλέποντες, ἐπειδὰν ἴδωσιν ἄνθρωπον ἢ ὅπερ ἂν τύχῃ τῶν φαινομένων, πλέον οὐδὲν τοῦ ὁρωμένου περιεργάζονται_ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτοῖς θεασαμένοις τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ σώματος ὅλον νομίσαι τὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου λόγον κατειληφέναι_, ὁ δὲ διορατικὸς τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ πεπαιδευμένος μὴ μόνοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπιτρέπειν τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἐπίσκεψιν, οὐ μέχρι τῶν φαινομένων στήσεται, οὐδὲ τὸ μὴ βλεπόμενον ἐν τοῖς μὴ οὖσι λογίζεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ φύσιν 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 φαντασία, αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο καλὸν εἶναι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει οἰήσεται, ὅπερ ἂν τὴν αἴσθησιν αὐτοῦ δι' ἡδονῆς ἐπισπάσηται, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦτο πλέον περιεργάζεται: ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρμένος 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.
Δοκεῖ 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 πεπλανημένων 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». Διὰ 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.
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 ὑπερβαίνοντας ὡς ταπεινά τε καὶ πρόσκαιρα, μηδενὶ τούτων προσαναλίσκειν 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».
Ἀλλὰ πῶς ἄν τις τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐφίκοιτο περὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ 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 περιστερᾶς ἑαυτὸν ὁμοιῶσαι, ἧς τὰς πτέρυγας γενέσθαι αὐτῷ καὶ Δαβὶδ ὁ προφήτης ἐπόθησεν; Οὕτω γὰρ ἐν αἰνίγματι τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος δύναμιν τῇ γραφῇ σύνηθες ὀνομάζειν, εἴτε διότι χολῆς ἐστιν ἄμοιρον τοῦτο τὸ ὄρνεον, ἢ καὶ ὅτι δυσωδίας ἐχθρόν, καθώς φασιν οἱ ταῦτα παρατηρήσαντες. Οὐκοῦν ὁ πάσης πικρίας καὶ σαρκικῆς δυσωδίας ἑαυτὸν ἀποστήσας καὶ πάντων τῶν ταπεινῶν τε καὶ χαμαιζήλων ὑπεραρθείς, μᾶλλον δὲ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου γεγονὼς ὑψηλότερος ἐν τῷ προειρημένῳ πτερῷ, ἐκεῖνος εὑρήσει τὸ μόνον ἐπιθυμίας ἄξιον καὶ γενήσεται καὶ αὐτὸς καλὸς τῷ καλῷ προσπελάσας: καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ γεγονὼς λαμπρός τε καὶ φωτοειδὴς ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς καταστήσεται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν νυκτὶ τὰς ἀθρόας τοῦ ἀέρος ἐκλάμψεις, ἅς τινες διᾴττοντας καλοῦσιν ἀστέρας, οὐδὲν ἄλλο φασὶν οἱ ταῦτα φιλοσοφήσαντες ἢ ἀέρα εἶναι ὑπὸ βίας πνευμάτων τινῶν εἰς τὸν αἰθέριον τόπον ὑπερχεόμενον_ λέγουσι γὰρ τὸν πυροειδῆ τοῦτον ὁλκὸν ἐκφλογωθέντος ἐν τῷ αἰθέρι τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἐγχαράσσεσθαι_ ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ περίγειος οὗτος ἀὴρ ἀνωσθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς βίας τοῦ πνεύματος φωτοειδὴς γίνεται τῷ καθαρῷ τοῦ αἰθέρος ἐναλλοιούμενος, οὕτω καὶ ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἀνθρώπινος καταλιπὼν τὸν θολερὸν τοῦτον καὶ αὐχμώδη βίον, ἐπειδὰν καθαρὸς γενόμενος ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος φωτοειδὴς γένηται καὶ ἐμμιχθῇ τῇ ἀληθινῇ καὶ ὑψηλῇ καθαρότητι, διαφαίνεται καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἀκτίνων ἐμπίμπλαται καὶ φῶς γίνεται κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ὑπόσχεσιν, ὃς «τοὺς δικαίους λάμψειν καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἡλίου» κατεπηγγείλατο. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὁρῶμεν γινόμενον ἐπὶ κατόπτρου ἢ ὕδατος ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν ἀποστίλβειν διὰ λειότητα δυναμένων: ὅταν γάρ τι τούτων δέξηται τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνα, καὶ ἄλλην ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ ἀκτῖνα ποιεῖ, οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο ποιῆσαν εἰ ῥύπῳ τινὶ τὸ καθαρόν τε καὶ στίλβον τῆς ἐπιφανείας ἀχρειωθείη. Εἴτε οὖν ἡμεῖς ἄνω γενοίμεθα καταλιπόντες τὸ περίγειον σκότος, ἐκεῖ φωτοειδεῖς γενησόμεθα τῷ ἀληθινῷ φωτὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐμπελάσαντες, εἴτε «τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν», «τὸ καὶ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ» λάμπον, καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν καταβαίη καὶ ἡμεῖς φῶς ἐσόμεθα, καθώς φησι τοῖς μαθηταῖς που ὁ κύριος, εἰ μή τις ἀπὸ κακίας ῥύπος τῇ καρδίᾳ προσπεπλασμένος τὴν χάριν τοῦ ἡμετέρου φωτὸς ἀμαυρώσειε.
Τάχα τοίνυν ἡμᾶς ἠρέμα διὰ τῶν ὑποδειγμάτων ὁ λόγος προσήγαγε τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ τῆς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἡμῶν ἀλλοιώσεως, καὶ ἐδείχθη μὴ δυνατὸν ἑτέρως εἶναι συναφθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ θεῷ, μὴ καὶ αὐτὴν ὡς οἷόν τε καθαρὰν γενομένην διὰ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, ὡς ἂν διὰ τοῦ ὁμοίου καταλάβοι τὸ ὅμοιον, οἱονεὶ κάτοπτρον τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ θεοῦ ἑαυτὴν ὑποθεῖσα, ὥστε κατὰ μετοχὴν καὶ ἐμφάνειαν τοῦ πρωτοτύπου κάλλους καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ μορφωθῆναι. Εἰ δή τις τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, οἷος ἤδη πάντα καταλιπεῖν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, εἴτε σώματα εἴτε χρήματα εἴτε τὰ ἐν ἐπιστήμαις ἢ τέχναις ἐπιτηδεύματα ἢ καὶ ὅσα ἐν ἔθεσι καὶ νόμοις δεξιὰ θεωρεῖται_περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἡ πλάνη τῆς τοῦ καλοῦ κατανοήσεως, ἐν οἷς ἡ αἴσθησις κριτήριον γίνεται_, ὁ τοιοῦτος πρὸς ἐκεῖνο μόνον ἐρωτικῶς τε καὶ ἐπιθυμητικῶς ἕξει, ὃ οὐχ ἑτέρωθεν ἔχει τὸ καλὸν εἶναι οὐδὲ ποτὲ ἢ πρός τι τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ καλὸν καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοιοῦτον, ἀεὶ καλὸν ὂν καὶ οὐδέποτε καλὸν γενόμενον ἢ ποτὲ οὐκ ἐσόμενον, ἀλλὰ πάντοτε ὡσαύτως ἔχον προσθήκης τε καὶ αὐξήσεως ὑπεράνω καὶ ἀνεπίδεκτον πάσης τροπῆς τε καὶ ἀλλοιώσεως.
Τῷ τοίνυν πάσας ἑαυτοῦ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις ἐκ «παντὸς εἴδους κακίας» ἀποκαθάραντι τολμῶ καὶ λέγω ὅτι ἐμφανὲς γίνεται τὸ μόνον τῇ φύσει καλόν. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὀφθαλμῷ τὴν λήμην ἀπορρυψαμένῳ τὰ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι τηλαυγῶς καθορᾶται, οὕτω καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας παραγίνεται ἡ δύναμις τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκείνου κατανοήσεως, καὶ ἡ ἀληθινὴ παρθενία καὶ ἡ περὶ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν σπουδὴ εἰς τοῦτον τὸν σκοπὸν καταλήγει, τὸ δι' αὐτῆς δυνηθῆναι τὸν θεὸν ἰδεῖν: ὅτι γὰρ τὸ κυρίως καὶ πρώτως καὶ μόνως καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ καθαρὸν ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἐστὶ θεός, οὐδεὶς οὕτω τυφλὸς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὡς μὴ καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ συνιδεῖν.