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The most wise among us
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what one ought not to do. There are symbols such as these: that one must beget children, for it is necessary to leave behind successors original: ἀντικαταστῆναι (antikatastēnai); to establish replacements or successors to worship God. Likewise, that one ought to put on the right shoe first. Hyppomedes and the "barbarian" philosophers i.e., non-Greek thinkers, followers of the Pythagorean sect, refer all things they teach regarding what should and should not be done to the divine. According to them, this is the first principle: the whole of life is ordered toward following God. This is the right reasoning of philosophy.

For men would become ridiculous if they sought the good from anywhere other than God. It is as if someone in a province ruled by citizens were to attend to some minor official while neglecting the one who governs everything. He thinks men do such a thing; for God is everything, and He is the Lord of all. It must be granted that the good is given by the Lord. For to all those whom they love and in whom they delight, they give good things. But they give the opposite to those toward whom they are disposed in the opposite way.

Pythagoras, before he would accept anyone, tested original: "expiabatur"; while literally "to be purified," Ficino uses it here to describe the probationary testing or "sifting" of candidates how serious they were in retaining what they heard without repeating it, and how well they could remain silent; for he held the discipline of silence in much higher regard than that of speaking. Afterward, he tested how they were drawn toward the passions of ambition, greed, and pleasure. Then, he tested the strength of their intellect and memory. However, he rejected those who...