He does not then use the appellation of children on account of their very limited amount of understanding from their age, as some have thought. Nor, if He says, "Except ye become as these children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God," are His words to be understood as meaning "without learning." We, then, who are infants, no longer roll on the ground, nor creep on the earth like serpents as before, crawling with the whole body about senseless lusts; but, stretching upwards in soul, loosed from the world and our sins, touching the earth on tiptoe so as to appear to be in the world, we pursue holy wisdom, although this seems folly to those whose wits are whetted for wickedness. Rightly, then, are those called children who know Him who is God alone as their Father, who are simple, and infants, and guileless, who are lovers of the horns of the unicorns.

Οὐκ ἄρα κατακέχρηται τῇ τῶν παιδίων προσηγορίᾳ ὡς ἀλογίστων ἡλικίᾳ͵ ᾗ τισιν ἔδοξεν͵ οὐδ΄ ἂν εἴπῃ ἢν μὴ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία ταῦτα͵ οὐκ εἰσελεύσεσθε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ͵ ἀμαθῶς ἐκδεκτέον. Οὐκ ἄρ΄ ἔτι κυλιόμεθα οἱ νήπιοι χαμαὶ οὐδὲ ἕρπομεν ὡς τὸ πρόσθεν ἐπὶ γῆς ὄφεων δίκην͵ ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι περὶ τὰς ἀνοήτους ἐπιθυμίας ἰλυσπώμενοι͵ ἀνατεινόμενοι δὲ ἄνω τῇ ἐννοίᾳ͵ κόσμῳ καὶ ἁμαρτίαις ἀποτεταγμένοι͵ ὀλίγῳ ποδὶ ἐφαπτόμενοι τῆς γῆς͵ ὅσον ἐν κόσμῳ εἶναι δοκεῖν͵ σοφίαν μεταδιώκομεν ἁγίαν· μωρία δὲ αὕτη τοῖς εἰς πανουργίαν ἠκονημένοις δοκεῖ. Παῖδες οὖν εἰκότως οἱ θεὸν μόνον πατέρα ἀφελεῖς καὶ νήπιοι καὶ ἀκέραιοι͵ οἱ κεράτων μονοκερώτων ἐρασταί.