Miscellanies 1.11.51

But the Stoics too, whom he also mentions, say, not rightly, that God, being body, pervades the most dishonorable matter. And by “human tradition” he means logical hair-splitting. That is why he also writes: “Flee youthful questions”; for such contentions are childish. “And virtue is not a lover of boys,” says the philosopher Plato; and our contest, according to Gorgias of Leontini, “needs two virtues, daring and wisdom: daring to endure the danger, wisdom to know the riddle.” For the word, like the proclamation at Olympia, calls whoever wishes, but crowns whoever is able. The Word does not wish the believer to be unmoved toward truth and truly idle; for it says, “Seek and you will find”; but it brings seeking to the goal of finding, driving out empty babble and approving the contemplation that fortifies our faith. “This I say, so that no one may deceive you with persuasive speech,” says the apostle, meaning for those who have learned to distinguish what these people say and have been taught to meet what they put forward.