Ennead I.6 [1], On Beauty, chapter 4

porphyrian I.6 · chronological 1 · chapter 4 · volkmann page 88-89

περὶ δὲ τῶν προσωτέρω καλῶν, ἃ οὐκέτι αἴσθησις ὁρᾶν εἴληχε, ψυχὴ δὲ ἄνευ ὀργάνων ὁρᾷ καὶ λέγει, ἀναβαίνοντας δεῖ θεάσασθαι καταλιπόντας τὴν αἴσθησιν κάτω περιμένειν. ὥσπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν τῆς αἰσθήσεως καλῶν οὐκ ἦν περὶ αὐτῶν λέγειν τοῖς μήτε ἑωρακόσι μήθ̓ ὡς καλῶν ἀντειλημμένοις, οἷον εἴ τινες ἐξ ἀρχῆς τυφλοὶ γεγονότες, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον οὐδὲ περὶ κάλλους ἐπιτηδευμάτων τοῖς μὴ ἀποδεξαμένοις τὸ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων καὶ ἐπιστημῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων κάλλος, οὐδὲ περὶ ἀρετῆς φέγγους τοῖς μηδὲ φαντασθεῖσιν, ὡς καλὸν τὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης καὶ σωφροσύνης πρόσωπον, καὶ οὔτε ἕσπερος οὔτε ἑῷος οὕτω καλά. ἀλλὰ δεῖ ἰδόντας μὲν εἶναι, ὧν ψυχὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα βλέπει, ἰδόντας δὲ ἡσθῆναι καὶ ἔκπληξιν λαβεῖν καὶ πτοηθῆναι πολλῷ μᾶλλον, ἢ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν, ἅτε ἀληθινῶν ἤδη ἐφαπτομένους. ταῦτα γὰρ δεῖ τὰ πάθη γενέσθαι περὶ τὸ ὅ τι ἂν ᾖ καλόν, θάμβος καὶ ἔκπληξιν ἡδεῖαν καὶ πόθον καὶ ἔρωτα καὶ πτόησιν μεθ̓ ἡδονῆς. ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα παθεῖν καὶ πάσχουσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ καὶ περὶ τὰ μὴ ὁρώμενα πᾶσαι μέν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον μέντοι αἱ τούτων ἐρωτικώτεραι, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων πάντες μὲν ἐρῶσι, κεντοῦνται δὲ οὐκ ἴσα, ἀλλ’ εἰσὶν οἳ μάλιστα, οἳ καὶ λέγονται ἐρᾶν.

But as for the beauties further on, which sense-perception is not allotted to see, but soul sees and speaks of without instruments: we must go up and behold them, leaving sense-perception to wait below. As with the beauties of sense-perception it was impossible to speak of them to those who had neither seen them nor grasped them as beautiful — those born blind, for instance — in the same way no one can speak of the beauty of pursuits to those who have not welcomed the beauty of pursuits and branches of knowledge and the other things of that kind; nor of the splendour of virtue to those who have never so much as imagined how beautiful is the face of justice and self-control, and that neither the evening star nor the morning star is so beautiful. There must be people, then, who see with that by which the soul sees such things, and who, having seen them, are delighted and struck with wonder and thrilled far more than in the former cases, since now they are laying hold of true beauties. For these are the experiences that must arise about whatever is beautiful: wonder, and a sweet astonishment, and longing, and love, and a thrill that is mixed with pleasure. Souls can have these experiences, and do have them, even about what is not seen — all souls, one might say, but more those among them that are more given to love; just as with bodies all feel love, but not all are stung alike: there are some who are stung most, and these are the ones who are said to be in love.

Greek collated line by line against the Volkmann plate (vol. 1, pp. 88–89); every departure of the First1KGreek transcription from the printed page is corrected and recorded in the apparatus.