Atticus does not survive because he was the son-in-law of Agrippa and
ancestor of Tiberius, but through the epistles of Tully; Drusus, the
ancestor of Caesar, would not be found amongst the number of great names
if Cicero had not inserted it. Many, many years may pass over our heads,
and in all that time not many geniuses will keep their heads raised.
Now to return to the question of this enthusiast, who, seeing a phoenix
set on fire by the sun, calls to mind his own cares, and laments that
like the phoenix he sends, in exchange for the light and heat received,
a sluggish smoke from the holocaust of his melted substance. Wherefore
not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even
think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory
of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that
man, in the presence of other men, should rather praise himself for his
earnestness and courage, than give praise to anything, as complete and
perfected action; seeing that no such thing can be expected where there
is progress towards the infinite, where unity and infinity are the same
thing and cannot be followed by the other number, because there is no
unity from another unity, nor is there number from another number and
unity, because they are not the same absolute and infinite. Therefore
was it well said by a theologian that as the fountain of light far
exceeds not only our intellects, but also the divine, it is decorous
that one should not discourse with words, but that with silence alone it
should be magnified.
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