Select Works of Plotinus — trans. Thomas Taylor

; for he conceived erudition to be the fountain of virtue. Piety, likewise, then flourished among the Egyp¬ tians more than at any other time. And these in¬ deed were the goods of the soul, in which the Egyptians abounded during the reign of Osiris, so riot . <2 Mp. 546 that the whole region then resembled a school of virtue, youth looking to one leader only, perform¬ ing that one thing which they saw, and speaking that one thing which they heard*

With respect to wealth, also, Osiris himself in¬ deed neglected it, but was anxious in the extreme that others might obtain it, himself refusing all gifts, but being most munificent to others. He likewise liberated cities from the payment of tri¬ bute, supplied them [from his own treasury] when they were in want, raised that which was fallen, and applied a remedy to that which wras in a ruin¬ ous condition. And one city, indeed, he rendered more ample, but another he beautified ; this he built, and that which was deserted by its inhabitants he repeopled. It is necessary, therefore, that an individual should be a partaker of common goods ; but Osiris did not desist from paying attention to this or that man, and from endeavouring that while he reigned no one might be seen lamenting and weeping. Nor was Osiris ignorant of the wants of any one, or of what prevented any one from being blessed. Hence, one man requested Osiris to confer on him the honor which was justly hisp. 547 due, and it was accordingly conferred on him ; but another who applied himself to books, and had not sufficient leisure to procure the necessaries of life, was supplied by Osiris with food in the Prytanasum. Another who neglected human honours, and who was sufficiently affluent, but perhaps was ashamed of his subserviency to the public, did not escape the notice of Osiris, who liberated him from his employment, not being importuned by him for this purpose, but preventing his solicitation, conceiving through his reverence for wisdom, that such a one should be a law to himself, and should be free, as a sacred thing dedicated to divinity. In short, no one was defrauded of his desert, unless he deserved some evil ; for in this case, he did not reward him. For Osiris was ambitious to vanquish the most impudent men, by gentleness of manners and bene¬ ficent works. And through these means he thought he should be able to subdue his brother and his faction, by changing their natural disposition through the abundance of virtue ; in which opinion howrever he was deceived.

men, by gentleness of manners and bene¬ ficent works. And through these means he thought he should be able to subdue his brother and his faction, by changing their natural disposition through the abundance of virtue ; in which opinion howrever he was deceived. For envy is not re¬ pressed by virtue , but is in a greater degree in¬ flamed by it . For if it naturally adheres to good,p. 548 the greater the good is, the more the pain of envy is increased .

Some time after this, Typhos obtained the king¬ dom by fraud and force, and Osiris was banished. But during the evils arising from the tyrannical government of Typhos, some God manifestly ap¬ peared to a certain philosopher, who was a stranger in Egypt, and who had received great benefits from Osiris, and ordered him to endure the present cala¬ mities, because they were months only and not years in which the fates had destined that the Egyptian sceptres should raise the nails of the wild beasts,1 and depress the heads of the sacred birds.4 Jut this is an arcane symbol. And the philosophic stranger above-mentioned, knew that a representa¬ tion of this was engraved in obelisks, and in the sacred recesses of the temples. The divinity also unfolded to him the meaning of the sacred sculp-

1 i. e. Material daemons, or Οηρεε χθονοε, the wild beasts of the earthy as they are called in the Chaldean Oracles.

% i. e. Hie whole choir of beneficent natures superior to man. But by the depression of the heads of the sacred birds, the inaptitude of persons and places to receive divine influence, is denoted.

p. 549

ture, and gave him a sign of the time in which it would be verified. For when those, said he , who are now in power , shall endeavour to make an inno¬ vation in our religion , then in a short time after expect that the Giants, meaning by these , men of another nation , shall be entirely expelled , being agitated by their own avenging furies . If, how¬ ever, some remains of the sedition should still exist, and the whole should not be at once extinguished, but Typhos should still remain in the seat of go¬ vernment, nevertheless do not despair of the Gods. The following, also, is another symbol for you. When we shall purify the air which surrounds the earth , and which is defied with the breath of the impious , with fire and water , then the punishment of the rest will also folloxo , and then immediately expect a better order of things , Typhos being re¬ moved. For we expel such like prodigies by the devastation of fire and thunder.

d with the breath of the impious , with fire and water , then the punishment of the rest will also folloxo , and then immediately expect a better order of things , Typhos being re¬ moved. For we expel such like prodigies by the devastation of fire and thunder. In consequence of this, the stranger considered that to be a feli¬ citous circumstance which had before appeared to him to be dreadful, and no longer bore with molestation a necessary continuance in life, through which he would be an eye-witness of the advent of the Gods. For it exceeded the power of humanp. 550 sagacity to conjecture, that so powerful a multitude as were then collected together in arms, and who even in time of peace were by law obliged to be armed, should be vanquished without any opposi¬ tion. He consideied with himself, therefore, how these things could be accomplished ; for they ap¬ peared to surpass the power of reason. But after no great length of time , a certain depraved frag¬ ment of religion , and an adulteration of divine worship , like that of money as it were , prevailed , which the ancient law exterminated Jrom cities, shutting the doors against impiety , and expelling it to a great distance from the walls,1 Typhos,

3 What is here said by Synesius, reminds me of the follow** ing extraordinary prophecy in the Asclepian dialogue, ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, a Latin translation only of which is extant, and is generally believed by the learned to have been made by Apuleius. The passage I allude to is the following:

An ignoras, O Asclepi, quod iEgyptus imago sit cceli, aut, quod c.st venus, translatio, et descensio omnium, quae gubernantur, atque exercentur in coelo ? Et si dicendum est verius, terra nostra totius mundi est tern pi urn : et tamen quoniam praescire cuncta prudentes decet, istud vos ignorare fas non est, futuram tempos est, quum appareat iEgyptios incassum pia mente divinitatem et sedula religione servasse, et omnis eorum sancta veneratio in irritum casura frustrabitur. E terris enim ad coelum est recursura divinitas. Linquetur JEgypius, terraque , qucs fuit divinitatis sedes , religione viduata, numinum prcesentia destituetur . Alienigenis enim regionem istam , ter-

p. 551

¥ however, did not himself introduce this impiety, for he feared the Egyptian multitude, but for this ramque complentibus, non solum neglectus religionum , sed ( quod est durius) quasi de legibus , a religione, pietate , cul tuque divino statuetur prcescripta pcena, prohibition Tunc terra ista , sane ~ tissima sedes delubrorum et iemplorum , sepulchrorum erit mor - tuorumque plenissima.