n the right way, becomes blessed from the
happy vision; and which he who does not obtain is unavoidably
unhappy. For the miserable man is not he who neglects to pursue
fair colours, and beautiful corporeal forms; who is deprived of
power, and falls from dominion and empire but he alone who is
destitute of this divine possession, for which the ample dominion of
the earth and sea and the still more extended empire of the heavens,
must be relinquished and forgot, if, despising and leaving these far
behind, we ever intend to arrive at substantial felicity, by beholding
the beautiful itself.

What measures, then, shall we adopt? What machine employ, or
what reason consult by means of which we may contemplate this
ineffable beauty; a beauty abiding in the most divine sanctuary
without ever proceeding from its sacred retreats lest it should be
beheld by the profane and vulgar eye? We must enter deep into
ourselves, and, leaving behind the objects of corporeal sight, no
longer look back after any of the accustomed spectacles of sense.
For, it is necessary that whoever beholds this beauty, should
withdraw his view from the fairest corporeal forms; and, convinced
that these are nothing more than images, vestiges and shadows of
beauty, should eagerly soar to the fair original from which they are
derived. For he who rushes to these lower beauties, as if grasping
realities, when they are only like beautiful images appearing in
water, will, doubtless, like him in the fable, by stretching after the
shadow, sink into the lake and disappear. For, by thus embracing
and adhering to corporeal forms, he is precipitated, not so much in
his body as in his soul, into profound and horrid darkness; and thus
blind, like those in the infernal regions, converses only with
phantoms, deprived of the perception of what is real and true. It is
here, then, we may more truly exclaim, "Let us depart from hence,
and fly to our father's delightful land".[8] But, by what leading stars
shall we direct our flight, and by what means avoid the magic power
of Circe, and the detaining charms of Calypso?[9] For thus the fable
of Ulysses obscurely signifies, which feigns him abiding an
unwilling exile, though pleasant spectacles were continually
presented to his sight; and everything was promised to invite his stay
which can delight the senses, and captivate the heart. But our true
country, like that of Ulysses, is from whence we came, and where
our father lives.