We have the right to say that the soul becomes ugly by mingling with
the body, confusing herself with it, by inclining herself towards it.
For a soul, ugliness consists in being impure, no longer unmingled,
like gold tarnished by particles of earth. As soon as this dross is
removed, and nothing but gold remains, then again it is beautiful,
because separated from every foreign body, and is restored to its
unique nature. Likewise the soul, released from the passions begotten
by her intercourse with the body when she yields herself too much to
it, delivered from exterior impressions, purified from the blemishes
contracted from her alliance with the body--that is, reduced to
herself, she lays aside that ugliness which is derived from a nature
foreign to her.