THE

COMMENTARY

OF

HIEROCLES,

ON THE

GOLDEN VERSES

OF

PYTHAGORAS.

A decorative drop cap 'P' begins the first paragraph.

PHILOSOPHY is the purification and perfection of human nature. The purification, as it weans our affections from too keen a pursuit of the objects of matter, and the low appetites of the mortal body: the perfection, in that it recovers the soul to its original happiness, by restoring it to a resemblance of the Divinity. Now, virtue and truth alone can operate these two things; virtue, by calming the unruly disorders of the passions; and truth, by dispelling the darkness of error, and introducing the divine form to such as are disposed to receive it.