Platonismo

Plotinus was by birth an Egyptian, and was a native of Lycopolis, as we are informed by Eunapius ; for Porphyry is wholly silent as to this particular. Indeed, this is not wonderful, if we consider what Porphyry asserts of him in the beginning of his life, viz. that he was ashamed that his soul was in body. Hence, says he, he would neither tell the race, nor the parents from whom he originated, nor would he patiently relate in what country he was born. This I know will be considered by a genuine modern, as either rank enthusiasm, or gross affectation; but he who has fathomed the depth of his writings will immediately subscribe to its truth. The same vehement love for intellectual pursuits, and contempt for body, made him disdain to sit for his picture; so that when Amelius, one of his disciples, begged that he would permit his likeness to be taken, his answer expressed the true greatness of his mind: “ As if (says he) it was not sufficient to bear this image, with which nature has surrounded us, you think that a .more lasting image of this image should be left as a work worthy to be inspected.” However, the wish of Amelius was at length accomplished, by the ingenious contrivance of one Carterius a painter, who by frequenting the school of Plotinus, and viewing his countenance with fixed attention, produced at length from his memory a happy likeness of the philosopher. Though he was often afflicted with the colic, he always refused the assistance of clysters, asserting that remedies of this kind were not fit for a man advanced in years. Nor would he ever receive the assistance of theriacal antidotes, since he said his nourishment was not derived from the bodies of even tame animals. He likewise abstained from baths ; but daily used frictions at home. But when a grievous pestilence raged at Borne , and the servants who were accustomed to rub him, fell victims to the disease ; from neglecting remedies of this kind, he gradually became a prey to the pestilence. So great was the violence of this distemper, and its effects so dreadful on Plotinus, as Eustochius informed Porphyry who was then absent, that through a very great hoarseness, all the clear and sonorous vigour of his musical voice was lost; and what was still worse, his eyes were darkened, and his hands and feet were covered with ulcers. Hence, becoming incapable of receiving the salutations of his friends, he left the city, and went to Campania, to the estate of one Zethus, an ancient departed friend. Necessaries were here administered to him from the hereditary possessions of Zethus, and were likewise brought from Minturnus, from the fields of Castricius . But when this divine man drew near to his dissolution, that period which is no less the dread of the vulgar than the transport of the philosopher, and which to Plotinus must have been the moment of extatic rapture, Eustochius, who dwelt at Puteolus, was not very hasty in his approaches ; doubtless not imagining that Plotinus was on the point of making his triumphant exit from a corporeal life. However, when he came into the presence of this departing hero, he was just in time to receive his dying words, and to preserve the sacred sentence to posterity. As yet (says he) I have expected you, and now I endeavour that my divine part may return to that divine nature which flourishes throughout the universe. Such were the last words of this mighty man, which like those contained in his writings, are great and uncommon, admirable and sublime. He died at the conclusion of the second year of the reign of M. Aurelius Flavius Claudius; and was at the time of his death in the sixty-sixth year of his age, according to the information given to Porphyry by Eustochius. Porphyry afterwards informs us, in perfect agreement with the genius of Plotinus, that he would never tell to any one, the month, or day in which he was born ; because he by no means thought it proper that his nativity should be celebrated with sacrifices and banquets. Indeed we cannot suppose that he who had such a vehement contempt for a corporeal life, would be anxious that his entrance into mortality should be solemnized with festivity; but rather, considering himself with Empedocles, as Heaven's exile straying from the orb of light, he would be disposed to lament his captivity, and mourn the degradation of his nature. However, he was not averse to celebrate the nativities of Socrates and Plato; for he assisted at the sacred rites, and invited his friends to a philosophic banquet, where it was required that every guest should recite a written oration, adapted to the occasion of their amicable association.

The few particulars which this great man condescended to relate of himself in familiar discourse, are the following: when he was eight years of age, and was even under the tuition of a literary preceptor, he used to frequent his nurse, and uncover her breasts, through an avidity of sucking her milk. And this custom he continued, till being accused of troublesomeness, and covered with shame through the reproof, he abandoned this extraordinary custom. This story, however trifling it may appear, indicates in my opinion, the native innocence, and genuine simplicity of manners which so eminently marked the character of Plotinus. When he was in the twenty-eighth year of his age, being vehemently inflamed with the love of philosophy, he was recommended to the most excellent masters of Alexandria; but he left their schools with sorrow and disappointment. By a fortunate event however, he told a certain friend, who was well acquainted with the disposition of his mind, the cause of his affliction, and he brought him to the celebrated Ammonius, whose school Plotinus had probably overlooked, among the great multitude with which that illustrious city abounded. But when he entered the school of Ammonius, and heard him philosophize, he exclaimed in transport to his friend, this is the man I have been seeking. From that day he gave himself up to Ammonius with sedulous attention for eleven years; and made such rapid advances in his philosophy, that he determined to study also the philosophy of the Persians, and the wisdom particularly cultivated by the Indian sages. For this purposes, when the Emperor Gordian marched into Persia, in order to war upon that nation, Plotinus joined himself to the army, being at that time in the nine and thirtieth year of his age. But after Gordian was destroyed about Mesopotamia, Plotinus fled to Antioch, where he received a fortunate shelter from the dangers and devastations of war; and in the reign of the Emperor Philip came to Rome, in the fortieth year of his age.