This in the Protreptics is the 3rd Symbol; but is thus enunciated by
Iamblichus, “Sacrifice and adore unshod.” On which Iamblichus observes:
“This Symbol signifies that we ought to worship the Gods, and acquire a
knowledge of them in an orderly and modest manner, and in a way not
surpassing our condition on the earth. It also signifies that, in
worshipping them, and acquiring this knowledge, we should be free from
bonds, and properly liberated. But the Symbol exhorts that sacrifice and
adoration should be performed not only in the body, but also in the
energies of the soul; so that these energies may neither be detained by
passions, nor by the imbecility of the body, nor by generation, with
which we are externally surrounded. But every thing pertaining to us
should be properly liberated, and prepared, for the participation of the
Gods.”
P. 77. _Enter not into a temple negligently, nor, in short, adore
carelessly, not even though you should stand at the very doors
themselves._
This in the Protreptics is the 2nd Symbol, and is explained by
Iamblichus as follows: “If the similar is friendly and allied to the
similar, it is evident that since the Gods have a most principal essence
among wholes, we ought to make the worship of them a principal object.
But he who does this for the sake of any thing else, gives a secondary
rank to that which takes the precedency of all things, and subverts the
whole order of religious worship and knowledge. Besides, it is not
proper to rank illustrious goods in the subordinate condition of human
utility, nor to place our concerns in the order of an end, but things
more excellent, whether they be works or conceptions, in the condition
of an appendage.”