This is the purport of that rule of our Mysteries: Nothing Divulged to the Uninitiate: the Supreme is not to be made a common story, the holy things may not be uncovered to the stranger, to any that has not himself attained to see. There were not two; beholder was one with beheld; it was not a vision compassed but a unity apprehended. The man formed by this mingling with the Supreme must- if he only remember- carry its image impressed upon him: he is become the Unity, nothing within him or without inducing any diversity; no movement now, no passion, no outlooking desire, once this ascent is achieved; reasoning is in abeyance and all Intellection and even, to dare the word, the very self; caught away, filled with God, he has in perfect stillness attained isolation; all the being calmed, he turns neither to this side nor to that, not even inwards to himself; utterly resting he has become very rest. He belongs no longer to the order of the beautiful; he has risen beyond beauty; he has overpassed even the choir of the virtues; he is like one who, having penetrated the inner sanctuary, leaves the temple images behind him- though these become once more first objects of regard when he leaves the holies; for There his converse was not with image, not with trace, but with the very Truth in the view of which all the rest is but of secondary concern.

Τοῦτο δὴ ἐθέλον δηλοῦν τὸ τῶν μυστηρίων τῶνδε ἐπίταγμα͵ τὸ μὴ ἐκφέρειν εἰς μὴ μεμυημένους͵ ὡς οὐκ ἔκφορον ἐκεῖνο ὄν͵ ἀπεῖπε δηλοῦν πρὸς ἄλλον τὸ θεῖον͵ ὅτῳ μὴ καὶ αὐτῷ ἰδεῖν εὐτύχηται. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν δύο οὐκ ἦν͵ ἀλλ΄ ἓν ἦν αὐτὸς ὁ ἰδὼν πρὸς τὸ ἑωραμένον͵ ὡς ἂν μὴ ἑωραμένον͵ ἀλλ΄ ἡνωμένον͵ ὃς ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐκείνῳ ἐμίγνυτο εἰ μεμνῷτο͵ ἔχοι ἂν παρ΄ ἑαυτῷ ἐκείνου εἰκόνα· ῏Ην δὲ ἓν καὶ αὐτὸς διαφορὰν ἐν αὑτῷ οὐδεμίαν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἔχων οὔτε κατὰ ἄλλα - οὐ γάρ τι ἐκινεῖτο παρ΄ αὐτῷ͵ οὐ θυμός͵ οὐκ ἐπιθυμία ἄλλου παρῆν αὐτῷ ἀναβεβηκότι - ἀλλ΄ οὐδὲ λόγος οὐδέ τις νόησις οὐδ΄ ὅλως αὐτός͵ εἰ δεῖ καὶ τοῦτο λέγειν. Ἀλλ΄ ὥσπερ ἁρπασθεὶς ἢ ἐνθουσιάσας ἡσυχῇ ἐν ἐρήμῳ καὶ καταστάσει γεγένηται ἀτρεμεῖ͵ τῇ αὑτοῦ οὐσίᾳ οὐδαμῇ ἀποκλίνων οὐδὲ περὶ αὑτὸν στρεφόμενος͵ ἑστὼς πάντη καὶ οἷον στάσις γενόμενος. Οὐδὲ τῶν καλῶν͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἤδη ὑπερθέων͵ ὑπερβὰς ἤδη καὶ τὸν τῶν ἀρετῶν χορόν͵ ὥσπερ τις εἰς τὸ εἴσω τοῦ ἀδύτου εἰσδὺς εἰς τοὐπίσω καταλιπὼν τὰ ἐν τῷ νεῷ ἀγάλματα͵ ἃ ἐξελθόντι τοῦ ἀδύτου πάλιν γίνεται πρῶτα μετὰ τὸ ἔνδον θέαμα καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖ συνουσίαν πρὸς οὐκ ἄγαλμα οὐδὲ εἰκόνα͵ ἀλλὰ αὐτό· ἃ δὴ γίγνεται δεύτερα θεάματα.