De mundo

Many;i time, Alexander, has Philosophy seemed to ine a thing truly divine and supernatural, especially when in solitude she soars to the contcniplation of things universal and strives to recognize the truth tiiat is in theni, and while all others abstain from the })ursuit of this truth owing to its sublimity and vastness, she has not shrunk from the task nor thought herself unworthy of the fairest pursuits, but has deemed the knowledge of such things at once most natural to herself and most fitting. I’or seeing that it was not possible (as once the foolish Aloadae attempted) by means of the body to reach the heavenly region and leaving the earth behind to spy out that heavenly country, the soul by means of philosophy, taking the intellect as her guide, finding an cas}’ path has traversed the intervening space and fared forth on its pilgrimage, and by intelligence comprehended things very far removed in space from one another, easil)-, methinks, recognizing those things which ha\e kinship with one another, and by the divine eye of the soul apprehending things divine and interpreting them to mankind. This she felt, being desirous, as far as in her hi}-, freely to give to all men a share of her treasures. And so men who have laboriously described to us either the nature of a single region or the plan of a single city or the dimensions of a river or the scenery of a mountain, as some ere now have done, — telling of Ossa or \)’sa or the Corycian cave or giving us some other limited description, — such men one should pity for their small-mindedness in admiring ordinary things and making much of some quite insignificant spectacle. They arc thus afifected because they have never contempl.ited what is nobler — the Universe and the greatest things of the Universe; for if they had really given attention to these things, they would never marvel at anything else, but all else would appear insignificant and, compared to the surpassing excellence of those other things, of no account. Let us therefore treat of all these matters and, as far as possible, inquire into their divine nature, and discuss the nature and position and movement of each of them. And I think that it is but fitting that even you, who are the noblest of rulers, should pursue the inquiry into the greatest of all subjects and in philosophy entertain no trivial thoughts, and make the noblest among men welcome to these only of her gifts.