Exhortation to Philosophy (Protrepticus)

...simultaneously demonstrating through comparison how much such an activity surpasses other lives that seem to be reputable.

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IE The exhortation from education and lack of education, whether the former is the greatest of goods and the latter the greatest of evils, whether they are themselves such things and resemble other such things, and that philosophy is the leader of education, while its opposite initiates lack of education.

IϚ Other approaches from the end of education, exhorting toward the philosophy that is akin to being educated, simultaneously demonstrating the task of philosophy and its entire concern for the best activities of the faculties of the soul.

IZ Reminders from ancient discourses and sacred myths, both others and those of the Pythagoreans, for exhortation toward a temperate, moderate, and ordered life; these same things change our understanding away from the life of intemperance and the life according to pleasure.

IH From the arrangements clearly appearing in the body and from the order around it, through the proportional transition of the intellect to the soul, we make the exhortation in a way familiar to the listeners and persuasive because it proceeds from things that are evident.

IΘ An approach to exhortation from the goods in the soul as being the most sovereign for happiness, and a similar calling from the virtues as being self-sufficient for a blessed life.