Select Works of Plotinus — trans. Thomas Taylor

2.

On Dialectic. I. 3.

How the Soul is said to be a medium between an impart¬ ible and partible Essence. IV. 2.

These one-and-twenty books were finish¬ ed when Porphyry first became acquainted with Plotinus ; and when this great man was fifty-nine years old. During the six years in which Porphyry was his companion as well as disciple, many questions of a very abstruse nature were discussed in their philosophical conversations, which, at the joint request of Porphyry and Amelius^

XXIV

INTRODUCTION.

Plotinus committed to writing, and produ¬ ced from their investigation, two elaborate and admirable books, On true being, demon¬ strating that it is every where one and the same whole. Ennead vi. lib. 4, 5. And afterwards he wrote two others, one of which shows, That the nature which is beyond being is not intellective , and what that is which is primarily , and also that which is secondarily intellective. Ennead v. 6. But the other is, On that which is in capacity , and that which is in energy. Ennead ii. 5. He likewise wrote the following; books :

O

On the impassivity of Incorporeal Natures. 1 Ennead

p. 6

1 It is strange that Fabricius should think this treatise ought to be entitled, ττ epi της ατταΟείας των σωμάτων , On the Impassivity of Bodies. For the man of intellect who reads it, must immediately see that such a title would be ridiculous.

INTRODUCTION.

XXV

On the Soul, two Rooks. IV. 3. 4.

On the Soul, a third Rook, or On the manner in which we see. IV. 5.

On Contemplation. III. 8.

On Intelligible Reautv. V. 8.

That Intelligibles are not external to Intellect ; and con¬ cerning Intellect and the Good. V. 5.

Against the Gnostics. II. 9·

On Numbers. VI. 6.

Why things seen at a distance appear to be small. II. 8.
Whether Felicity consists in an extension of Time. I. 5.
On total Mixture. II. 7·

How the multitude of Ideas subsists, and concerning the
Good, VI. 7-
On the Voluntary. VI. 8.

On the World. II. 1.

On Sense and Memory. IV. 6 .

On the Genera of Reings, three Rooks. VI. 1. 2. 3«

On Eternity and Time. III. 7»

But while Porphyry resided in Sicily, and about the fifteenth year of the Emperor Galienus, Plotinus composed the five following Books, which he sent to Porphyry for his revision.

XXVI

INTRODUCTION.

On Felicity. Ennead I. 4®

On Providence, two Books. III. 2. 3.

On Gnostic Hypostases, and that which is beyond thena.
IV. 3.

' On Love. III. 5.

These books were transmitted to Por¬
phyry in the first year of the Emperor
Claudius1 reign.

XXVI

INTRODUCTION.

On Felicity. Ennead I. 4®

On Providence, two Books. III. 2. 3.

On Gnostic Hypostases, and that which is beyond thena.
IV. 3.

' On Love. III. 5.

These books were transmitted to Por¬ phyry in the first year of the Emperor Claudius1 reign. And about the beginning of the second year, and a little before his death, he sent him the following, and the last :

On what things are Evil, and whence Evils originate.
Ennead I. lib. 8.

Whether the Stars effect any thing. H. 3.

What Man is, and what Animal is? I. 1.

On the first Good, and other Goods. I. f.

The whole amount therefore, of the books written by Plotinus, connecting the preced¬ ing with those just enumerated, is fifty-four,

INTRODUCTION.

χχνη which Porphyry has divided into six enneads, assigning, agreeably to the mean¬ ing of the word, nine books to every entiead. But they bear evident marks, says Porphyry, of the different periods, at which they were composed. For the first one-and-twenty, which were written in the former part of his life, if compared with the next in order, seem to possess an infe¬ rior power, and to be deficient in strength. But those composed in the middle of his life, exhibit the vigour of power, and the acme of perfection. And such with a few exceptions are the four-and-twenty we have already enumerated. The last nine how¬ ever, which were composed in the decline of life, bear the marks of remitted energy, and drooping vigour. And this the four

XXV1U

INTRODUCTION,

last exhibit more evidently than the preced¬ ing five.

Plotinus had many auditors, and likewise a multitude of zealous partizans, and philo¬ sophic familiars. Among the latter of these, Amelins the Tuscan, and Paulinus the Scythopolitan, a physician, held a dis¬ tinguished rank. To which may be added Eustochius of Alexandria, a physician, who enjoyed the familiarity of Plotinus to the last, was present at his death, and giving himself entirely to the doctrines of Plotinus, assumed the habit of a genuine philosopher. Besides these Zothicus, a critic and poet, was conversant with Ploti¬ nus, who amended the works of Anti-machus, and rendered the Atlantic history

INTRODUCTION.

XXIX

very poetically in verse ; but after this he became blind, and died a short time prior to Plotinus. Zethus, too, was very familiar with our philosopher, who derived his orioin from Arabia, and married the wife of one Theodosius, the familiar of Ammonius.

XXIX

very poetically in verse ; but after this he became blind, and died a short time prior to Plotinus. Zethus, too, was very familiar with our philosopher, who derived his orioin from Arabia, and married the wife of one Theodosius, the familiar of Ammonius. This Zethus was deeply skilled in medicine, and very much be¬ loved by Plotinus, who endeavoured to dissuade him from engaging; in the adminiso O O tration of public affairs. Such indeed, was his familiarity with our philosopher that, as we have already observed, Plotinus spent the last hours of his life at his rural retreat. Porphyry likewise informs us, that not a few senators were the sedulous auditors of Plotinus. Phil osophy indeed, as it is the most noble and liberal of all pursuits, ought never to be separated from noble birth and

XXX

INTRODUCTION.

exalted rank. It is naturally allied to every thing great, and is calculated to confer dignity, even on greatness itself. It exalts the majesty of the monarch, stamps nobility with true grandeur, and raises the plebeian to immortality. Among this illustrious body of men, Marcellus Orontius diligently applied himself to philosophy, and made rapid advances in its attainment. This too was the case with Sabinillus, and above all with the senator Rogatianus.1 So deeply

1 This Rogatianus is doubtless the person to whom Por¬ phyry alludes in his treatise On Abstinence, lib. i. p. 106. in the following passage : " There was once an instance, where a negligence of terrene concerns, and a contemplation and intuition of such as are divine, expelled an articular disease, which had infested a certain person for the space of eight years. So that at the very same time, that his soul was divested of a solicitous concern for riches, and corporeal affairs, his body was freed from a troublesome disease." What Porphyry here says is perfectly conformable to the

INTRODUCTION

XXXI

enamoured was this last-mentioned noble¬ man of the charms of wisdom, and the discourses of Plotinus, and so attentive to the care of separating his soul from his corporeal life, that he neglected his wrealth and secular affairs, dismissed his servants, and rejected the dignities of the state. Hence, when he was chosen praetor, and the lictors waited for his appearance, he neither came into public, nor regarded the duties of his office, nor dwelt in the house allotted for his reception ; but he supt and slept with certain of his friends and fami¬ liars, and gave himself to absolute retire¬ ment in the day.