Didascalicon, Book I (chapters 2-13): the origin of the arts and the division of philosophy
Chapter III. That the study of wisdom is philosophy
Pythagoras was the first of all to call “the study of wisdom” philosophy, and preferred to be called a philosopher rather than a sage. For before him the wise were called sages. Beautifully, indeed, he calls the seekers of truth not wise men but lovers of wisdom; for all truth lies so hidden that, however much the mind burns and however much it rises in inquiry, it can hardly comprehend the truth. He established philosophy as the discipline of those things which have an unchangeable substance. “Philosophy,” moreover, “is the love and study and in a certain way the friendship of wisdom”; of wisdom, however, not that which is concerned with certain iron implements and some craftsman’s knowledge and acquaintance, but of that wisdom which, needing nothing, is the living mind and the sole principle of things. This love of wisdom is the illumination of the understanding mind by that pure wisdom, and its drawing back to itself, so that the study of wisdom appears to be the divine friendship of that pure mind. This wisdom, then, imposes on every kind of souls the merit of its divinity, and leads them back to the proper power and purity of their nature. From this is born the truth of speculations and thoughts, and the holy and pure chastity of actions. Since, however, this most excellent good has been prepared for human souls by the philosophers, so that discourse may proceed by a certain continuous thread, we must begin from the operations of the soul itself.