As Plotinos does not give exact quotations and references, it is
difficult always to give their undoubted source. As probably Platonic
we may mention the passage about the universal Soul taking care of all
that is inanimate;[609] and "When one has arrived at individuals, they
must be abandoned to infinity."[610] Also other quotations.[611] The
line "It might be said that virtues are actualizations,"[612] might
be Aristotelian. We also find:[613] "Thus, according to the ancient
maxim, 'Courage, temperance, all the virtues, even prudence, are but
purifications.'" "That is the reason that it is right to say that
the 'soul's welfare and beauty lie in assimilating herself to the
divinity.'" This sounds Platonic, but might be Numenian.
In this connection it might not be uninteresting to note passages
in Numenius which are attributed to Plato, but which are not to be
identified: "O Men, the Mind which you dimly perceive is not the
First Mind; but before this Mind is another one, which is older and
diviner." "That the Good is One."[614]
We turn now to thoughts found identically in Plotinos and Numenius,
although no textual identity is to be noted. We may group these
according to the subject, the universe, and the soul.