Exhortation to Philosophy (Protrepticus)

...for it will urge one simply toward philosophy and toward the very act of philosophizing in summary, according to any path whatsoever, with no school being explicitly preferred, but with all being praised according to their kind and being esteemed beyond human pursuits according to some common and popular exhortatory mode. After these things, one must use a middle method, neither entirely popular nor explicitly Pythagorean, but also not altogether detached from either of these modes. In this, we shall arrange the common exhortations of all philosophy, so that they may be separated from the Pythagorean intention in this respect, but we shall most opportunely mix in the most sovereign beliefs of these men, so that [the manner] becomes appropriate.