Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence, Cave of the Nymphs, Auxiliaries)

INTRODUCTION.

He beautifully observes, a person must divest himself of everything of a mortal nature he has assumed. He must withdraw himself from sense and imagination, and the irrationality that accompanies them, as well as from any lingering affection or passion toward them. He must enter the stadium naked and unclothed, striving for the most glorious of all prizes, the "Olympia of the soul" e. Hence, he says, “My discourse is not directed to those occupied in sordid mechanical arts, nor to those engaged in athletic exercises; neither to soldiers nor sailors, nor rhetoricians, nor to those who lead an active life, though they have received wings for this purpose from nature. Other people are only in a small degree elevated from subordinate things, as the more excellent part of the soul recalls them from pleasure to a more worthy pursuit. However, as they are unable to look on high, and possess nothing else that can afford them rest, they betake themselves—along with the mere name of virtue—to actions and the choice of inferior things, from which they at first tried, though in vain, to raise themselves. In the third class is the race of divine men, who, through a more excellent power and with piercing eyes, acutely perceive the supernal light. They raise themselves to the vision of this light, above the clouds and darkness of this lower world, and, abiding there, they despise everything in these regions of sense. They are no less delighted with that place—which is truly and properly their own—than a man who, after many wanderings, is at length restored to his lawful country.”

e Page 23.