Charles Kingsley

“ At least let me go on to say this, that if God do desire to show His righteousness to men, His only perfect method, according to Plato, will be that of calumny, persecution, the scourge, and the cross, that so He, like Glaucon's righteous man, may remain for ever free from any suspicion of selfish interest, or weakness of endurance . . . . Am I deserting the dialectic method now, Hypatia? . . . . You are still silent? You will not hear me, I see . . . . At some future day, the philosopher may condescend to lend a kinder ear to the words of her greatest debtor . ”

“ Hypatia was silent.
'Now I have always had a sort of fancy that what we wanted, as the first predicate of our Absolute One, was that He was to be not merely an infinite God—whatever that meant, which I suspect we did not always see quite clearly—or an eternal one—or an omnipotent one—or even merely a one God at all; none of which predicates, I fear, did we understand more clearly than the first: but that he must be a righteous God:—or rather, as we used sometimes to say that He was to have no predicate—Righteousness itself. ”

“ Plato defines the philosopher as the man who seeks after the objects of knowledge, while others seek after those of opinion.'
'And most truly. But what if, in our eagerness to assert that wherein the philosopher differed from other men, we had overlooked that in which he resembled other men; and so forgot that, after all, man was a genus whereof the philosopher was only a species?'
Hypatia sighed. ”

“ But hear me once more, beloved Hypatia. You refuse to give up the beautiful, the sublime, the heavenly? What if Raphael Aben-Ezra, at least, had never found them till now? Recollect what I said just now—what if our old Beautiful, and Sublime, and Heavenly, had been the sheerest materialism, notions spun by our own brains out of the impressions of pleasant things, and high things, and low things, and awful things, which we had seen with our bodily eyes? What if I had discovered that the spiritual is not the intellectual, but the moral ”

“ And this was the end of him—of Synesius—of Augustine—of learned and unlearned, Goth and Roman . . . . The great flood would have its way, then . . . . Could she alone fight against it?
She could! Would she submit?—She? Her will should stand firm, her reason free, to the last—to the death if need be . . . . And yet last night!—last night!
At last she spoke, without looking up.
'And what if you have found a man in that crucified one? Have you found in him a God also?'
'Does Hypatia recollect Glaucon's definition of the perfectly righteous man? . . . . ”

“ And as she spoke, Theon ushered into the chamber no other than Raphael Aben-Ezra, and then retired.
He advanced slowly towards her, and falling on one knee, placed in her hand Synesius's letter.
Hypatia trembled from head to foot at the unexpected apparition . . . . Well; at least he could know nothing of last night and its disgrace. But not daring to look him in the face, she took the letter and opened it . . . . If she had hoped for comfort from it, her hope was not realised.
'Synesius to the Philosopher:
'Even if Fortune cannot take from me all things, yet what she can take she will. ”

“ What if I, a Platonist, like John of Galilee, and Paul of Tarsus, yet, like them, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, had confessed to myself—If the creature can love thus, how much more its archetype? If weak woman can endure thus, how much more a Son of God? If for the good of others, man has strength to sacrifice himself in part, God will have strength to sacrifice Himself utterly. ”

“ How, without being guilty of one unrighteous act, he must labour his life long under the imputation of being utterly unrighteous, in order that his disinterestedness may be thoroughly tested, and by proceeding in such a course, arrive inevitably, as Glaucon says, not only in Athens of old, or in Judaea of old, but, as you yourself will agree, in Christian Alexandria at this moment, at—do you remember, Hypatia?—bonds, and the scourge, and lastly, at the cross itself . . . . If Plato's idea of the righteous man be a crucified one, why may not mine also? ”

“ Shall I cease?'
'You mistook the cause of my impatience,' answered she, looking up at him with her great sad eyes. 'Go on.'
'Now—for I am going to be terribly scholastic—is it not the very definition of man, that he is, alone of all known things, a spirit temporarily united to an animal body?'
'Enchanted in it, as in a dungeon, rather,' said she sighing.
'Be it so if you will. But—must we not say that the archetype—the very man—that if he is the archetype, he too will be, or must have been, once at least, temporarily enchanted into an animal body? . . . . You are silent. I will not press you . ”

“ If He has not done it, He will do it: or He will be less beautiful, less sublime, less heavenly, less righteous than my poor conception of Him, ay, than this weak playful girl! Why should I not believe those who tell me that He has done it already? ”

“ My plans are scattered to the winds, my pupils worthless, my fair name tarnished, my conscience heavy with the thought of my own cruelty . . . . If you do not know all, you will know it but too soon . . . . My last hope, Synesius, implores for himself the hope which I need from him. . . .And, over and above it all . . . . You! . . . . Et tu, Brute! Why not fold my mantle round me, like Julius of old, and die!'
Raphael stood looking sadly at her, as her whole face sank into utter prostration. *⁠*⁠*
'Yes—come . . . . The Galilaean . . . . If He conquers strong men, can the weak maid resist Him? ”

“ Certainly it would have been the easier course, for there are more men than philosophers, Hypatia; and every man is a real man, and a fair subject for examination, while every philosopher is not a real philosopher—our friends the Academics, for instance, and even a Neo-Platonist or two whom we know? ”

“ Or, rather, she may condescend to hear, in her own heart, the voice of that Archetypal Man, who has been loving her, guiding her, heaping her with every perfection of body and of mind, inspiring her with all pure and noble longings, and only asks of her to listen to her own reason, her own philosophy, when they proclaim Him as the giver of them, and to impart them freely and humbly, as He has imparted them to her, to the poor, and the brutish, and the sinful, whom He loves as well as He loves her . ”