23.  Who possessed such a degree of the prudence of old age, even before his hair was gray?  Since it is by this that Solomon defines old age.37    Wisd. iv. 8.  Who was so respectful to both old and young, not only of our contemporaries, but even of those who long preceded him?  Who, owing to his character, was less in need of education?  Yet who, even with his character, was so imbued with learning?  What branch of learning did he not traverse; and that with unexampled success, passing through all, as no one else passed through any one of them:  and attaining such eminence in each, as if it had been his sole study?  The two great sources of power in the arts and sciences, ability and application, were in him equally combined.  For, because of the pains he took, he had but little need of natural quickness, and his natural quickness made it unnecessary for him to take pains; and such was the cooperation and unity of both, that it was hard to see for which of the two he was more remarkable.  Who had such power in Rhetoric, which breathes38    Which breathes, a phrase used Hom. Il. vi. 182 of the Chimæra. with the might of fire, different as his disposition was from that of rhetoricians?  Who in Grammar, which perfects our tongues in Greek and compiles history, and presides over metres and legislates for poems?  Who in Philosophy, that really lofty and high reaching science, whether practical and speculative, or in that part of it whose oppositions and struggles are concerned with logical demonstrations; which is called Dialectic, and in which it was more difficult to elude his verbal toils, if need required, than to escape from the Labyrinths?39    Labyrinths, the mythical mazes of Crete, the home of the Minotaur.  Of Astronomy, Geometry, and numerical proportion he had such a grasp, that he could not be baffled by those who are clever in such sciences:  excessive application to them he despised, as useless to those whose desire is godliness:  so that it is possible to admire what he chose more than what he neglected, or what he neglected more than what he chose.  Medicine, the result of philosophy and laboriousness, was rendered necessary for him by his physical delicacy, and his care of the sick.  From these beginnings he attained to a mastery of the art, not only in its empirical and practical branches, but also in its theory and principles.  But what are these, illustrious though they be, compared with the moral discipline of the man?  To those who have had experience of him, Minos and Rhadamanthus40    Minos and Rhadamanthus, Kings of Crete and Lycia, fabled to have been made judges in the lower world because of their justice when on earth. were mere trifles, whom the Greeks thought worthy of the meadows of Asphodel and the Elysian plains, which are their representations of our Paradise, derived from those books of Moses which are also ours, for though their terms are different, this is what they refer to under other names.

Τίς μὲν οὕτω πολιὸς ἦν τὴν σύνεσιν καὶ πρὸ τῆς πολιᾶς; ἐπειδὴ τούτῳ καὶ Σολομῶν τὸ γῆρας ὁρίζεται. Τίς δὲ οὕτως αἰδέσιμος ἢ παλαιοῖς ἢ νέοις, μὴ ὅτι τῶν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἡμῖν χρόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πλεῖστον προειληφότων; Τίς μὲν ἧττον ἐδεῖτο λόγων διὰ τὸν τρόπον; Τίς δὲ μᾶλλον μετέσχε λόγου καὶ μετὰ τοῦ τρόπου; Ποῖον μὲν εἶδος οὐκ ἐπῆλθε παιδεύσεως; Μᾶλλον δέ, ποῖον οὐ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ὡς μόνον; Οὕτω μὲν ἅπαντα διελθών, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἕν: οὕτω δὲ εἰς ἄκρον ἕκαστον, ὡς τῶν ἄλλων οὐδέν: σπουδὴ γὰρ εὐφυΐᾳ συνέδραμεν, ἐξ ὧν ἐπιστῆμαι καὶ τέχναι τὸ κράτος ἔχουσιν. Ἥκιστα μὲν τάχους φύσεως διὰ τόνον δεόμενος, ἥκιστα δὲ τόνου διὰ τάχος: οὕτω δ' ἀμφότερα συλλαβὼν καὶ εἰς ἓν ἀγαγών, ὥστε ἄδηλον εἶναι ποτέρῳ τούτων ἐκεῖνος θαυμασιώτερος. Τίς μὲν ῥητορικὴν τοσοῦτος, τὴν πυρὸς μένος πνέουσαν, εἰ καὶ τὸ ἦθος αὐτῷ μὴ κατὰ ῥήτορας ἦν; Τίς δὲ γραμματικήν, ἣ γλῶσσαν ἐξελληνίζει καὶ ἱστορίαν συνάγει καὶ μέτροις ἐπιστατεῖ καὶ νομοθετεῖ ποιήμασιν; Τίς δὲ φιλοσοφίαν, τὴν ὄντως ὑψηλήν τε καὶ ἄνω βαίνουσαν, ὅση τε πρακτικὴ καὶ θεωρητική, ὅση τε περὶ τὰς λογικὰς ἀποδείξεις καὶ ἀντιθέσεις ἔχει καὶ τὰ παλαίσματα, ἣν δὴ διαλεκτικὴν ὀνομάζουσιν: ὡς ῥᾷον εἶναι τοὺς λαβυρίνθους διεξελθεῖν, ἢ τὰς ἐκείνου τῶν λόγων ἄρκυς διαφυγεῖν, εἰ τούτου δεήσειεν; Ἀστρονομίας δὲ καὶ γεωμετρίας καὶ ἀριθμῶν ἀναλογίας τοσοῦτον λαβών, ὅσον μὴ κλονεῖσθαι τοῖς περὶ ταῦτα κομψοῖς, τὸ περιττὸν διέπτυσεν ὡς ἄχρηστον τοῖς εὐσεβεῖν ἐθέλουσιν: ὥστε μᾶλλον μὲν τὸ αἱρεθὲν τοῦ παρεθέντος ἐξεῖναι θαυμάζειν, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ αἱρεθέντος τὸ παρεθέν. Ἰατρικὴν μὲν γάρ, καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἀρρωστία καὶ νοσοκομία, φιλοσοφίας καὶ φιλοπονίας οὖσαν καρπόν, ἀναγκαίαν αὐτῷ πεποιήκασιν: ὅθεν ἀρξάμενος, εἰς ἕξιν τῆς τέχνης ἀφίκετο: καὶ ταύτης, οὐχ ὅση περὶ τὸ φαινόμενον ἔχει καὶ κάτω κείμενον, ἀλλ' ὅσον δογματικὸν καὶ φιλόσοφον. Ἀλλὰ τί ταῦτα, καίπερ τηλικαῦτα τυγχάνοντα, πρὸς τὴν ἐν τῷ ἤθει τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παίδευσιν; Λῆρος τοῖς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πεπειραμένοις ὁ Μίνως ἐκεῖνος καὶ ὁ Ῥαδάμανθυς οὓς ἀσφοδελῶν λειμώνων καὶ Ἠλυσίων πεδίων ἠξίωσαν Ἕλληνες, ἐν φαντασίᾳ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς Παραδείσου γενόμενοι, ἐκ τῶν Μωσαϊκῶν οἶμαι βιβλίων καὶ ἡμετέρων, εἰ καὶ περὶ τὴν κλῆσίν τι διηνέχθησαν, ἐν ἄλλοις ὀνόμασι τοῦτο παραδηλώσαντες.