Plotinos showed a natural superiority to other men. An Egyptian priest,
visiting Rome, was introduced to him by a mutual friend. Having decided
to show some samples of his mystic attainments, he begged Plotinos to
come and witness the apparition of a familiar spirit who obeyed him on
being evoked. The evocation was to occur in a chapel of Isis, as the
Egyptian claimed that he had not been able to discover any other place
pure enough in Rome. He therefore evoked Plotinos's guardian spirit.
But instead of the spirit appeared a divinity of an order superior to
that of guardians, which event led the Egyptian to say to Plotinos,
"You are indeed fortunate, O Plotinos, that your guardian spirit is
a divinity, instead of a being of a lower order." The divinity that
appeared could not be questioned or seen for as long a period as they
would have liked, as a friend who was watching over the sacrificed
birds choked them, either out of jealousy, or fear.