Categoria: Porfírio

XIX. HOW THE WORKS OF PLOTINOS WERE PUT INTO SHAPE. You may judge of the high opinion of Plotinos held by Longinus, from a part of a letter he addressed to me. I was in Sicily; he wished me to visit him in Phoenicia, and desired me to bring him a copy of the works…

XVIII. POLEMIC BETWEEN AMELIUS AND POR PHYRY; AMELIUS TEACHES PORPHYRY. I have quoted this letter in full to show that, even in the times of Plotinos himself, it was claimed that Plotinos had borrowed and advertised as his own teach ings of Numenius; also that he was called a trifler, and in short that he…

XVII. START OF THE AMELIO-PORPHYRIAN CON TROVERSY, OVER NUMENIUS. The Greeks insisted that Plotinos had appropriated the teachings of Numenius. Trypho, who was both a Stoic and a Platonist, insisted on this to Amelius, who wrote a book that we have entitled, “On the Differ ence Between the Teachings of Plotinos and Numen ius. ”…

XVI. PLOTINOS S POLEMIC AGAINST THE GNOSTICS. At that time there were many Christians, among whom were prominent sectarians who had given up the ancient philosophy (of Plato and Pythagoras), such as Adelphius and Aquilinus. They esteemed and possessed the greater part of the works of Alexander of Lybia, of Philocomus, of Demostrates and of…

XV. PORPHYRY EARNED RECOGNITION AT THE SCHOOL OF PLOTINOS. At a celebration of Plato s birthday I was reading a poem about the “Mystic Marriage” (of the Soul) when somebody doubted my sanity, because it con tained both enthusiasm and mysticism. Plotinos spoke up, and said to me, loud enough to be heard by every…

XIV. PHILOSOPHICAL RELATIONS OF PLOTINOS. The style of Plotinos is vigorous and substantial, containing more thoughts than words, and is often full of enthusiasm and emotion. He follows his own in spirations rather than ideas transmitted by tradition. The teachings of the Stoics and Peripatetics are secretly mingled among his works; the whole of Aristotle…

XIII. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLOTINOS S DELIVERY. In his lectures his delivery was very good; he knew how to make immediate apposite replies. Nevertheless, his language was not correct. For instance, he used to say “anamnemisketai” for “anamimnesketai”; and he made similar blunders in writing. But when he would speak, his intelligence seemed to shine…

XII. THE PROJECT OF A PLATONOPOLIS COMES TO NAUGHT. The emperor Gallienus and the empress Salonina, his wife, held Plotinos in high regard. Counting on their good will, he besought them to have a ruined town in Campania rebuilt, to give it with all its territory to him, that its inhabitants might be ruled by…

XI PLOTINOS AS DETECTIVE AND AS PROPHET; PORPHYRY SAVED FROM SUICIDE. So perfectly did he understand the character of men, and their methods of thought, that he could discover stolen objects, and foresaw what those who resided with him should some day become. A magnificent necklace had been stolen from Chione, an estimable widow, who…

X. HOW PLOTINOS TREATED HIS ADVERSARY, OLYMPIUS. Among those who pretended to be philosophers, there was a certain man named Olympius. He lived in Alexandria, and for some time had been a disciple of Ammonius. As he desired to succeed better than Plotinos, he treated Plotinos with scorn, and developed sufficient personal animosity against Plotinos…