It is now time, leaving every object of sense far behind, to
contemplate, by a certain ascent, a beauty of a much higher order; a
beauty not visible to the corporeal eye, but alone manifest to the
brighter eye of the soul, independent of all corporeal aid.
...
What measures, then, shall we adopt? What machine employ, or what
reason consult by means of which we may contemplate this ineffable
beauty; a beauty abiding in the most divine sanctuary without ever
proceeding from its sacred retreats lest it should be beheld by the
profane and vulgar eye? We must enter deep into ourselves, and, leaving
behind the objects of corporeal sight, no longer look back after any of
the accustomed spectacles of sense.
...
The sensitive eye can never be able to survey, the orb of the sun,
unless strongly endued with solar fire, and participating largely of the
vivid ray. Everyone therefore must become divine, and of godlike
beauty, before he can gaze upon a god and the beautiful itself.
"Essay on the Beautiful" (Thomas Taylor translation)
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