Commentary on Plato's Alcibiades

by itself alone. The seventh syllogism, from the pure state of not-knowing, leads for the sake of our own advancement in knowledge, by way of removal and the struggle of the return to ourselves, and shows that the result following the fall is that it ignorance is the middle ground of evils. Not knowing ourselves appears as the middle ground, and it possesses its substance in the knowledge of the goods themselves. The eighth syllogism shows that even the arrogance of the passions perhaps contributes to the whole purpose, since we are ignorant of ourselves either regarding the power of the soul, or the body, or the external world. And being entirely ignorant of himself, and knowing not how to distinguish himself from the errant goods, he wanders into the greatest misfortunes. This syllogism is also necessary for the whole intention of the discourse. The ninth syllogism calls the life we live full of passion, being a hindrance; being ignorant in the most authoritative way, he must declare it, and the quiet of the knowledge of God brings us discernment, or the good enjoyment, and the care of the correct judgment is this alone, and this is the defined knowledge. For everything that is self-moved wishes to turn toward itself. And he who knows himself, at the same time, has included his own healing within himself. He who is ignorant of himself is without science and regarding the manner of care. The tenth argument, therefore, is manifest, being in the soul...