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Indiana University Studies 



necessary of all the senses. And I do not mean physical sight but 

 that of the soul by which the true and the false are recognized. 



But let the Therapeutic sect, being taught beforehand to look 

 steadily at things, aim at the vision of the deity, and soar beyond 

 the visible sun and never abandon this post which leads to perfect 

 happiness. But those who devote themselves to this service neither 

 from force of habit nor from the encouragement or appeal of others, 

 but because they are overmastered by a heavenly love, are carried 

 away just like the Bacchantes and Corybantes until they see what 

 they long to see.^ And then, because of their longing for the immortal 

 and blessed life, considering that they have already finished their 

 mortal existence, they leave their property to their sons and daugh- 

 ters, or even to their other relatives, cheerfully making them their 

 heirs before the regular time. For it necessarily follows that those 

 who have received from a free hand the wealth that sees should 

 surrender the wealth that is blind to those who are still blinded in 

 their minds. 



The Greeks chant the praises of Anaxagoras and Democritus, 

 because, smitten with a desire for philosophic study, they left their 

 estates to be sheep-runs. I, myself, also admire these men who showed 

 themselves thus superior to money. But how much better are those who 

 did not permit their possessions to be devoured by animals, but have 

 supplied the necessities of men, their relatives and friends, making 

 them rich instead of poor? For the former was a heedless act, not to 

 call it a ''crazy" one, committed by men whom Greece delights to 

 honor. But the latter was an act of sobriety, and one planned with 

 extreme thoughtfulness. For what worse acts can enemies do than 

 to ravage the crops and cut down the trees in the territory of their 

 foes, in order that being hard-pressed by the lack of the necessities 

 of life they may be forced to submit? And yet that is what Dem- 

 ocritus and his ilk did to men of their own blood, bringing a fictitious 

 (or artificial) want and poverty upon them, not thru malice afore- 

 thought, it may be, but thru lack of prudence and careful considera- 

 tion of what was advantageous to others. How much better and more 

 admirable are those who subject to no weaker impulse toward 

 philosophy, but, preferring big-hearted generosity to carelessness, 

 give away their property to please others, instead of destroying it, 



8 Compare Matthew 5, 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall 

 see God." Contemplation followed by ecstasy will carry one above all created 

 things to the Creator himself. Plato says that "The highest object of knowledge, 

 the Good or God, is only to be arrived at with difficulty, and only to be beheld 

 at specially favorable moments." Republic vi, 506 E; vii, 517 B; Timaeus, 28 C; 

 Phaedrus 248 A (Zeller, p. 223). 



