Arrian’s Epictetan discourse: To one ⟨discussing⟩ substance · 1

“What concern is it of mine,” he says, “whether existing things are composed of atoms, of immeasurables, or of fire and earth?⁴⁴ Is it not enough to learn the nature of good and evil, the proper measures of desire and aversion, and also of impulses toward action and away from it, and to use these as standards for managing one’s life? Can we not leave these matters beyond us alone? Perhaps they cannot be comprehended by human understanding; and even if one fully granted that they could be comprehended, what benefit would there be in comprehending them? Must we not say that those who assign these matters a necessary place in philosophical discourse are troubling themselves to no purpose?”⁴⁵

Arrian’s Epictetan discourse · 2

“Then is the injunction at Delphi, ‘Know yourself,’ also superfluous?”

He says it is not.

“What, then, is its force? If someone instructed a dancer in a chorus to know himself, would that not mean, if he attended to the instruction, paying attention | also to his fellow dancers and to his harmony with them? And what if the instruction were given to a sailor? Or to a soldier?⁴⁶

“Do you think, then, that a human being has been made a creature for himself alone, or for community?”

“⟨For community.⟩”

“By whom?”

“By nature.”

“What is nature, and what is it like?”

“It governs the whole.”

“And is it ⟨comprehensible⟩ or not?”

“There is no further need to investigate these matters.”⁴⁷

Porphyry from On the Styx

The poet’s view is not as easy to grasp as one might suppose. All the ancients indicated matters concerning gods and divine spirits through riddles; Homer concealed these matters still more, since he did not discuss them as his principal subject, but used what was said about them to present other things.⁴⁸ Of those who have attempted to unfold what he says through hidden meanings, the Pythagorean Cronius seems to have accomplished this most capably. Nevertheless, in most cases he fits other material to his proposed interpretations, being unable to fit Homer’s words to them. He has been intent on bringing the poet into line with his own ideas, rather than his opinions into line with the poet’s words.⁴⁹

Xenophon

The divine spirits who accomplish the greatest things appear least to human beings. Thus the one who shakes all things and brings them to rest is manifest as a great and powerful being, but invisible as to what his form is like. Even the sun, which seems to be all-radiant—even he, it seems, does not permit himself to be looked upon: if someone gazes at him brazenly, he takes away that person’s sight.⁵⁰