[148] But in the school of Moses it is not one man only who may boast that he has learnt the first elements of wisdom, but a whole nation, a mighty people. And we have a proof thereof in these words of the envoys. The soul of every one of his disciples has taken heart and courage to say to the king of all that is good in outward appearance, the earthly Edom (for indeed all things whose goodness lies in mere seeming are of earth), “I will now pass by through thy land” (or “earth”).
[149] What a stupendous, what a magnificent promise! Will you indeed be able, tell me, to step, to travel, to speed past and over those things of earth which appear and are reckoned good? And will nothing, then, that opposes your onward march stay or arrest its course?
[150] Will you see all the treasuries of wealth, one after the other, full to the brim, yet turn aside from them and avert your eyes? Will you take no heed of the honours of high ancestry on either side, or the pride of noble birth, which the multitude so extol? Will you leave glory behind you, glory, for which men barter their all, and treat it as though it were a worthless trifle? Will you pass unregarded the health of the body, the keenness of the senses, the coveted gift of beauty, the strength which defies opponents, and whatever else serves to adorn our soul’s house, or tomb, or what other name it may be given, and rank none of them as belonging to the province of the good?
[151] Great ventures such as these betoken a celestial and heavenly soul, which has left the region of the earth, has been drawn upwards, and dwells with divine natures. For when it takes its fill of the vision of good incorruptible and genuine, it bids farewell to the good which is transient and spurious.