In her, as an Alexandrian, license represented a strange form of self-denial, a distorted version of true freedom. Her behavior reflected a misguided attempt to express independence, but ultimately it was an act that restrained rather than liberated her. This idea reveals the complexity of freedom in the context of Alexandria's cultural environment, where apparent liberties often masked underlying self-imposed limitations.

"In her, as an Alexandrian, licence was in a curious way a form of self-abnegation, a travesty of freedom; and if I saw her as an exemplar of the city it was not of Alexandria, or Plotinus that I was forced to think, but of the sad thirtieth child of Valentinus who fell, 'not like Lucifer by rebelling against God, but by desiring too ardently to be united to him'." This quote suggests that the pursuit of ultimate union or understanding can paradoxically lead to downfall, reflecting the complex spiritual and philosophical undertones of the setting.