* Similar to this, one of the Chaldasan Oracles, speaking of human souls* says,
Ev Se 6e<p Keivrat, πυρσόν s ελκονσαι ακμαίου: ,
E κ πατροθ€ν κατιοντα s, αψ ’ ων ψνχη κατιοντων
i. e. “ But they lie in God, drawing vigorous torches [i. e> unities, images of the erne], descending from the father ; and from these descending, the soul plucks of empyrean fruits, the soul-nourishing flower.” See my Collection of these Oracles, in the Old Monthly Magazine.
as in its progression it has soul for its saviour. The
magnitude of the shadow, likewise, is as great as
the reason .[or productive principle] which is sus¬
pended from soul. But the reason was of such a
kind as to be able to produce as great a magnitude
as the form of it wished might be produced.
X. Thus conceiving, therefore, it is requisite
that again betaking ourselves to that which always
subsists invariably the same, we should assume all
things existing at once, such as the air, light, the
sun, and the moon. And, likewise, that we should
again consider light and the sun as at once all
things, but having the order of things first, second,
and third. Here, also, we must consider soul as
being always established ; and in the next place,
we must assume the natures which are first, and
those that are in a consequent order, as the extre¬
mity of fire in that which is posterior ; from the
shadow of that fire which subsists at the extremity
of things, forming a conception of the fire which
ranks as the first. In the next place, we must
conceive this ultimate fire to be at the same time
illuminated, so as to resemble form running into
that nature which is hurled towards it, which was
first generated, and is entirely obscure. It is, how»
ever, adorned according to reason by the power of
soul, which possesses in itself wholly a power of
adorning by reasons [or productive principles] ;
just as the reasons in seeds fashioir and give form
to animals, as if they were certain little worlds.
For whatever comes into contact with soul, is made
to be such as the essence of soul is naturally
adapted to make it. Soul, however, makes, not
by an adventitious decision, nor by waiting for
counsel and consideration ; for thus it would make
not according to nature, but according to adscititious
art. For art is posterior to, and imitates soul ;
producing obscure and imbecile imitations, which
are things of a ludicrous nature, and not of much
worth, and employing many machines in the form¬
ation of images. But soul by the power of essence
has dominion over bodies in such a way, that they
are generated and subsist, just as she leads them,
since they are unable from the first to oppose her
will. For in things of a posterior nature which
impede each other, matter 1 is frequently deprived
of the attainment of the appropriate form which
1 From the version of Ficinus, it is necessary here to supply the word η ν\η.
the productive principle [latent] in the seed wished
it to haver There, however, [i. e. in the universe],
the whole form being generated by soul, and the
generated natures having at the same time an
arrangement, that which is produced becomes
beautiful without labour, and without impediment.
But in the universe are fabricated, some things in¬
deed which are statues of the Gods, others which
are the habitations of men, and others which are
adapted to other things. For what else ought to
b£ generated about soul, except those things which
it possesses the power of producing? For the pro¬
perty of fire is to produce heat, and of another
thing [cold] to refrigerate. But the peculiarity of
soul is, partly to produce something from itself into
another thing, and partly to produce something in
itself. For in inanimate natures, indeed, that which
is from themselves, lies in them as it were in a dor¬
mant state ; but that which tends to another thing,
endeavours to assimilate to itself that which is able
to be passive to it. And this is common to each
of them, to lead other things to a similitude to
itself. That which energizes, however, in soul is
something of a vigilant nature, and this is also the
case with that which tends from it to another thing.
Hence, it causes other things to live which do not
live from themselves, and confers on them such a
life as it lives itself. The life of soul, therefore,
being essentialized in reason, imparts reason to
body, as an image of that which it possesses itself.
For that which it imparts to body is an image of
life. Body, also, receives from soul corporeal
morphcz , of which soul contains the productive
principles. Soul, likewise, comprehends in itself
the productive principles of Gods/ and of all
things. Hence, the world also contains all things
in itself.
XI. Those ancient wise men, likewise, who
wishing that the Gods should be present with them,
fabricated temples and statues, appear to me to
have directed their attention to the nature of the
universe, and to have intellectually perceived, that
the nature of soul is every where tractable ; and
that it may be received the most easily of all things,
if any thing is fashioned so as to be passive to it,
and is able to receive a certain portion of it. But
i. e. Of divine souls, each of which is a God according to participation. See the first book of my translation of Pro cl us On the Theology of Plato.
every thing is disposed to be passive which is in
any way imitative, so as to be able like a mirror to
seize a certain form. For the nature of the uni¬
verse has fashioned all things most artificially in
imitation of those forms the participations of which
it contains in itself. And since every thing is thus
generated, the reason [or productive principle] in
matter, which was fashioned according to a reason
prior to matter, is conjoined to that God, con¬
formably to whom it was generated, and which the
soul looks to, and possesses while it fabricates.
Hence it was not possible for any thing to be gene¬
rated destitute of this God ; nor again , is it possi¬
ble for him t& descend hither; since this God is
intellect, the sun of the intellectual world. Let
this, therefore, be assumed by us as the paradigm
of reason. But next to this soul follows, suspended
from permanently abiding intellect, and being also
itself permanent. Soul, therefore, imparts the ter¬
minations of itself which are prior to this visible
sun, to this sun ; and causes it through itself as a
medium to be conjoined to intellect, becoming as it
were an interpreter of the things derived from in¬
tellect to the sun, and also of those which revert
from the sun to intellect, so far as the former recurs
through soul to the latter. For no one thing is
very remote from another ; and yet again, it is re^
mote through difference and mixture. But every
thing [in the intellectual region] is in itself, not
locally, and each is united to each, and is at the
same time separate from each. These, however,
[i. e. the mundane spheres] are Gods, because they
are never deserted by intellect and soul ; and are
suspended from the primordial soul, which is as it
were departing [from mundane natures]. These,
therefore, so far as they are what they are, and so
far as they are said to look to intellect [are divine] ;
the vision of soul itself being directed no where
else than to intellect.1
XII. The souls of men, however, beholding
the images of themselves, like that of Bacchus in a
mirror,* were from thence impelled to descend i
1 The latter part of this sentence in the original is as fol¬ lows ; ovhafiov ψυχής αυτής η σώματος €Κ€ΐ βΧεπονσης ; but both the sense and the version of Ficinus require that the word σώματος should be expunged.
% The meaning of what is here said by Plotinus, will be illustrated by the following remarkable passage from the MS* Commentary of Olympiodorus On the Phaedo. “ In order, ’* (says he) “ to the soul's descent, it is necessary that she should
yet were not cut off from their principle and from
intellect. For they did not descend in conjunction
with intellect, but proceeded as far as to the earth,
their heads being at the same time established
above the heavens. It happened, however* that
their descent was more extended, because that
which subsists in them as a medium, is compelled
to exercise a guardian care, in consequence of the
first establish an image of herself in the body ; and in the second place, that she should sympathize with the image according to a similitude of form. For every form hastens into a sameness with itself, through an innate convergency to itself. In the third place, becoming situated in a divisible nature, it is necessary that she should be lacerated and scat¬ tered together with such a nature, and that she should fall into an ultimate distribution, till through a cathartic life, she raises herself from the extreme dispersion, loosens the bond of sym¬ pathy through which she is united to the body, and energizing without the image, becomes established according to her pri¬ mary life. And we may behold a resemblance of all this, in the fable respecting Bacchus the paradigm of our intellect. For it is said that Dionysius, establishing his image in a mirror, pursued it, and thus became distributed into the universe. But Apollo excited and elevated Bacchus, this God being a cathartic deity, and the true saviour of Dionysius. And on this account he is celebrated as Dionysoter. (διοννσωτηρ, for so it is requisite to read, and not δίονυσοπ?*.)” See more on this subject in the second edition of my treatise, On the Eleu- sinian and Bacchic Mysteries, in Number l6 of the Pam¬ phleteer, for Nov. 1816.
nature into which it arrives requiring solicitous
attention. But the father Jupiter, commiserating
laborious souls, made the bonds about which they
labour mortal, causing them to have periodical ces¬
sations of their toil, and a liberation from body,
that they also may become situated there where the
soul of the universe always resides, without any
conversion to these inferior realms. For what the
world now possesses is sufficient to it, and will be
perpetually through all the following revolutions
and periodic restitutions of time, and this esta¬
blished in measures of definite lives, in which these
are led to an harmonious agreement with those.
At the same time, likewise, all things are arranged
by one reason, with reference to die ascent and
descent of souls, and every other particular. The
symphony , however , of souls with the order of the
universe , which nevertheless are not suspended from
the universe , hut co-adapt themselves in their de¬
scent, and make one concord with the mundane cir¬
culation , is testified by this , that their fortunes ,
lives, and deliberate elections , are signified by the
figures of the stars . That the universe, likewise,
utters as it were one voice harmonically and aptly,
is asserted by the ancients more than any thing
else, though obscurely. But this would not be the
case, unless the universe was both active and pas¬
sive through its participation of intellectual forms,
in the measures of its periods, orders, and lives ;
souls evolving themselves according to the genera
of discursive progressions, at one time in the intel¬
ligible world, at another in the heavens, and at
another being converted to these inferior realms.
Every intellect, however, is always in the intelligb
ble world, and never departing from its own proper
habitation, but established on high, sends through
soul these objects of sensible inspection. But soul
from its proximity to intellect, is in a greater de¬
gree disposed according to the form which flourishes
there, and to some of the natures posterior to itself
imparts a sameness of subsistence, but. to others a
subsistence which is different at different times,
and a wandering which proceeds in an orderly
course. Souls, however, do not always equally
descend, but sometimes more, and at other times
less, though they may belong to the same genus.
But each soul descends to that which is prepared
for its reception, according to similitude of disposi-
lion. For it tends to that to which it has become
similar ; one soul indeed to iman, but another to some other animal.
XIII. For justice, which is said to be inevita¬
ble, subsists in such a manner in a ruling nature,
that every thing proceeds in that order with refer*
ence to which it was generated an image of arche¬
typal pre-election and disposition. And that whole
form of the soul, is similar to that to which it has
in itself a disposition, and which then sends and
introduces it where it is proper for it to be situated ;
not that it may then descend into body, or into this
particular body ; but that when the prescribed
period arrives, souls may as it were spontaneously
descend, and enter into that receptacle in which it
is necessary for them to reside. A different souh
also, has a different time of descent; which when
it arrives, souls descend, as if called by a cryer#
enter into an appropriate body, and are similarly
affected with those who are moved and borne along
by the powers and strong attractions of magicians.
resemble the administration which
takes place in one animal, which moves each in a
certain time, and generates hair, the beard, and the
Plot. Z
nature of horns, and now impels them to, and causes
them to be efflorescent in things of this kind, which
they did not possess before. They are also similar
to the administration in the growth of trees which
vegetate in orderly pre-established periods of time.
Souls, however, proceed neither voluntarily, nor
from compulsion. For that which is voluntary in
them [when they descend] is not as if it were deli¬
berate choice, but resembles a physical leaping, or
the natural tendencies to wedlock, or the impulses
to certain beautiful actions, to which we are not
excited by a reasoning process. A certain parti¬
cular thing, however, is always accompanied with
a certain destiny. And to this thing the present