Select Works of Porphyry

...he beautifully observes, a person must strip away everything of a mortal nature that they have taken on. They must withdraw from the senses and imagination, along with the irrationality that accompanies them, and from any clinging affection or passion toward those things. They must enter the arena original: "stadium" naked and unburdened, striving for the most glorious of all prizes: the Olympia of the soule. Because of this, he says, “My discourse is not aimed at those occupied in menial trades original: "sordid mechanical arts", nor those engaged in athletic exercises. It is not for soldiers, sailors, public speakers original: "rhetoricians", nor those who lead a purely active [life]...

     ...even though they have naturally received wings for this purpose. But others are raised slightly above lower things, as the better part of their soul calls them away from pleasure toward a more worthy pursuit. However, because they are unable to look upward and find nothing else to give them rest, they turn back toward worldly actions and the choice of inferior things, though they still use the name of 'virtue.' Thus, they return to the very things they first tried to escape, though their efforts were in vain. In the third class is the race of divine men. Through a superior power and with piercing eyes, they clearly perceive heavenly original: "supernal" light. They raise themselves to this vision, rising above the clouds and darkness of this lower world. Staying there, they look down on everything in these realms of the senses. They take no delight in any place other than the one that is truly and properly their own—like a person who, after many wanderings, is finally restored to his rightful country.”