Torch-bearer: there are Torches; and so shall there be here. The Words said, the Things done, are the same. Where is the Difference betwixt one and the other?" Most impious Man! is there no Difference? Are these Things of Use out of Place, and out of Time? A man should come with Sacrifices and Prayers, previously purified, and his Mind affected with a Sense, that he is approaching to sacred and ancient Rites. Thus the Mysteries become useful: thus we come to have an Idea, that all these Things were appointed by the Ancients, for the Instruction and Correction of Life. But you divulge and publish them, without Regard to Time and Place; without Sacrifices, without Purity: you have not the Garment that is necessary for a Priest, nor the Hair, or the Girdle[1], that is necessary; nor the Voice, nor the Age: nor have you purified yourself, like him. But, when you have got the Words by Heart, you say, "The Words are sacred of themselves." These Things are to be approached, in another Manner. It is a great, it is a mystical Affair; not given by Chance, or to every one indifferently. Nay, mere Wisdom, perhaps, is not a sufficient Qualification for the Care of Youth There ought to be likewise a certain Readiness and Aptitude for this, and indeed a particular Constitution of Body; and, above all, a Counsel from God to undertake this Office, as he counselled Socrates to undertake the Office of Confutation; Diogenes, that of authoritative Reproof; Zeno, that of dogmatical Instruction. But you set up for a Physician, provided with nothing but Medicines, and without knowing, or having studied, where, or how, they are to be applied. "Why: such a one had Medicines for the Eyes; and I have the same."
Have
- ↑ The Girdle is mentioned among the holy Garments of the Levitical Priests. Exod. xxviii. 4. 39, 40, &c.
