On Fugitives (124-126)

And the leader of this company is the king of the region of the body. "For," says Moses, "Pharaoh turned himself about and went into his house, and did not set his heart to this thing either," [*] which statement is equivalent to, he did not take notice of anything whatever, but allowed himself to become dried up like a plant which has no care taken of it by the farmer, and to lose his fertility and become barren.

Those then who take counsel, and consider matters, and who investigate everything carefully, sharpen and rouse their minds: and the mind being duly exercised bears its appropriate fruit of cleverness and intelligence, by means of which [*] [*] [*]

we must therefore discard the truly senseless and lifeless company of such men as these, and choose those who exert their powers of consideration and discovery. And presently the political disposition is introduced, which, without being at all over ambitious of glory, has a desire for that better generation, which the virtues have received as their inheritance, and which consequently seeks and finds it;