Thus a worthy man, perceiving in a youth the character of virtue, is
agreeably impressed, because he observes that the youth harmonizes
with the true type of virtue which he bears within himself. Thus also
the beauty of color, though simple in form, reduces under its sway
that obscurity of matter, by the presence of the light, which is
something incorporeal, a reason, and a form. Likewise, fire surpasses
all other bodies in beauty, because it stands to all other elements
in the relation of a form; it occupies the highest regions;[29] it is
the subtlest of bodies because it most approaches the incorporeal
beings; without permitting itself to be penetrated by other bodies, it
penetrates them all; without itself cooling, it communicates to them
its heat; by its own essence it possesses color, and communicates it
to others; it shines and coruscates, because it is a form. The body
in which it does not dominate, shows but a discolored hue, and ceases
being beautiful, merely because it does not participate in the whole
form of color. Once more, thus do the hidden harmonies of sound produce
audible harmonies, and also yield to the soul the idea of beauty,
though showing it in another order of things. Audible harmonies can be
expressed in numbers; not indeed in any kind of numbers, but only in
such as can serve to produce form, and to make it dominate.