No doubt, under certain circumstances, the virtuous man, in his
actions, will make use of some of the lower, or homely virtues;
but even so he will supplement them by standards or ideas derived
from higher virtues. For instance, he will not be satisfied with
a temperance which would consist in mere moderation, but he will
gradually seek to separate himself more and more from matter. Again, he
will supplement the life of a respectable man, exacted by common-sense
homely virtues; he will be continually aspiring higher, to the life of
the divinities; for our effort at assimilation should be directed not
at mere respectability, but to the gods themselves. To seek no more
than to become assimilated to respectable individuals would be like
trying to make an image by limiting oneself to copying another image,
itself modelled after another image (but not copying the original).
The assimilation here recommended results from taking as model a
superior being.