109. In fact, however, not only the Mosaic and Christian mysteries,¹ but also the theology of the ancients² show us the dignity and value of the liberal arts which I am about to discuss.

110. For at what else was the observance of the different degrees of initiation in Greek mysteries aimed? Only after having been purified through the arts which we might call expiatory, moral philosophy and dialectic,³ the initiates could gain entrance to the mysteries.⁴

111. And what else can such admission possibly signify if not an interpretation by means of philosophy of the most hidden nature?

112. At this point they were finally prepared for the coming of ,⁵ that is the intimate vision of divine things by the light of theology.

113. Who would not long to be initiated into such sacred rites?

114. Who would not desire, putting aside all human concerns, despising the goods of fortune and neglecting the body, to become a guest at the table of the gods while still living on earth, and, soaked in the nectar of eternity, to receive, though still a mortal animal, the gift of immortality?

115. Who would not wish to be so inspired by the Socratic frenzies that Plato celebrates in the Phaedrus, that he is transferred after a quick course, fleeing readily with oarlike strokes of wings and feet, from here (that is, from this world set on evil) to the heavenly Jerusalem?

116. We shall be led away, Fathers, we shall be led away by the Socratic frenzies,⁶ which will so lift us out of our mind as to put our mind and ourselves in God.

117. We shall be led away by them, however, only if we ourselves first complete that which is ours to do; for, if through moral philosophy the forces of our passions have been correctly attuned, in the correct proportions, based on harmonic measure, so as to be tuned one to the other in lasting consonance; and if, through dialectic, our reason has progressed by measured advance, only then, stirred by the frenzy of the Muses, we shall drink the heavenly harmony with our inmost hearing.

118. Then Bacchus, the leader of the Muses,⁷ through his mysteries (that is, through the visible signs of nature) will show us, who philosophize, the invisible things of God, and will make us drunk with the abundance of God's house, in which, if we prove entirely faithful, like Moses, most sacred theology shall draw close to us, animating us with redoubled frenzy.

119. For we, raised to her most eminent height, thence comparing to indivisible eternity all things that are and shall be and have been and admiring their primeval beauty, shall be the Phoebean seers; of this beauty we shall become the winged lovers. And at last, roused by ineffable love as if by a sting, and borne outside ourselves like burning Seraphim, filled with the godhead, we shall be no longer ourselves, but He Himself Who made us.

§ 21.

120. The sacred names of Apollo, if anyone investigates their meanings and hidden mysteries, sufficiently show that that God is, no less than a seer, a philosopher.

121. But since Ammonius⁸ has amply examined this matter, there is no reason for me to treat it further; but, Fathers, let us recall the three Delphic precepts,⁹ which are absolutely necessary to those who are to enter the most holy and august temple, not of the false, but of the true Apollo who lighteth every soul that cometh into this world; you will realize that they exhort us to nothing else but to embrace with all our strength the tripartite philosophy that we now discuss.

122. For the famous maxim,  (that is: «Nothing too much»), rightly prescribes as rule and norm for every virtue the criterion of the "mean", of which moral philosophy speaks.

123. Then the maxim,  (that is: «Know thyself»), urges and exhorts us to the knowledge of all nature, of which the nature of man is the intermediate and, so to speak, the mixture.

124. For he who knows himself, in himself knows all things, as first Zoroaster wrote, and later Plato in the Alcibiades.

125. Finally, once natural philosophy has enlightened us with this knowledge, and we, being very close to God and saying  (that is: «You are»), we shall address by a theological salutation the true Apollo on intimate and likewise blissful terms.

§ 22.

126. But let us also consult Pythagoras,¹⁰ the wisest of men, and wise precisely because he never deemed himself worthy of that name.¹¹

127. He will firstly advise us «not to sit on a bushel», that is, not to lose, abandoning it to sloth and inaction, that rational part by which the soul measures, judges and considers all things; but rather, by the exercise and the rule of dialectic, to direct and to stimulate it unremittingly.

128. Then he will point out to us two things to be avoided above all: that is, making water facing the sun and cutting our nails while offering sacrifice.

129. But after we have evacuated the lax appetites of our too-abundant pleasures through moral philosophy, and pared away, like nails, the sharp points of wrath and the claws of animosity, only then shall we finally begin to take part in the sacred rites, that is, in the above mentioned mysteries of Bacchus, and to dedicate ourselves to that contemplation of which the sun is rightly named the father and the guide.

130. Finally Pythagoras will exhort us «to feed the cock», that is, to nourish the divine part of the soul with the knowledge of divine things, as if with substantial food and heavenly ambrosia.

131. This is the cock whose glance the lion, that is, all earthly power, holds in fear and awe.

132. This the cock to whom, we read in Job, intelligence was given.

133. When this cock crows, erring man comes to his senses.

134. This cock in the morning twilight joins his voice every day to the lauds that morning stars raise to God.

135. This is the cock which Socrates, at the hour of his death, when he hoped to join the divine of his soul to the divinity of a greater world, said that he owed to Aesculapius, that is, to the physician of souls, now that he was beyond danger of any bodily illness.

§ 23.

136. But let us review also the records of the Chaldeans,¹² and we shall see (if they are to be trusted) that the arts that open for mortals the road to happiness are the same.

137. The Chaldean interpreters write that it was a saying of Zoroaster's that the soul is winged and that, when the wings fall from her, she is plunged into the body; but she flies back to heaven when the wings grow again.

138. When his disciples asked him in what manner they could obtain souls with well-plumed wings and able to fly, he replied: «Wet them well in the waters of life».

139. And when they asked him again where they might obtain these waters, he answered them by a parable (as was his custom): «God's paradise is purified and watered by four rivers.

140. From these you may draw the waters that will save you.

141. The name of the river which flows from the north is [q-s-t], which means the right; that which flows from the west is named [k-?-r-n], which means expiation; that which comes from the east is named [n-h-r] , that is light, while that from the south is [r-h-m-n-t], which may be translated as piety».

142. Now consider carefully and with full attention, Fathers, what these doctrines of Zoroaster aim at: surely at nothing else than inducing us to wash away, by moral science, as by Iberian ways, the uncleanness from our eyes; and to rectify our gaze by dialectic, as if by the northern line.

143. Then we should become accustomed, in the contemplation of nature, to endure the still feeble light of truth, as if it were the first rays of the rising sun, so that through theological piety and the most holy worship of God, we become able finally to endure, like the eagles of heaven, the dazzling splendor of the meridian sun.

144. These are, perhaps, those celebrated morning, midday and evening thoughts first sung by David and then given a larger explanation by Augustine.

145. This is the noonday light that directly inflames the Seraphim and equally illuminates the Cherubim.

146. This is the country towards which our ancient father Abraham was ever advancing.

147. This is the region where, according to the doctrines of the Cabalists and the Arabs, there is no place for unclean spirits.

148. And, if it may be permitted, even in the form of a riddle, to bring anything at all of the most hidden mysteries into the open,¹³ since the sudden fall from heaven has condemned the head of man to dizziness and, according to Jeremiah, death has come in through the windows to smite our livers and breasts, let us call upon Raphael,¹⁴ the heavenly physician, that he may release us by moral philosophy and dialectic, as though by healing drugs.

149. Then, when we are restored to health, Gabriel, the strength of God, will abide in us and, leading us through the marvels of nature and showing us the merit and the power of God everywhere, he will finally deliver us to the high priest Michael, who in turn will adorn us, who have completed our service to philosophy, with the insignia of theological priesthood, as with a crown of precious stones.