I have quoted this letter in full to show that, even in the times
of Plotinos himself, it was claimed that Plotinos had borrowed and
advertised as his own teachings of Numenius; also that he was called
a trifler, and in short that he was scorned--which happened chiefly
because he was not understood. Plotinos was far from the display and
vanity of the Sophists. When lecturing, he seemed to be holding a
conversation with his pupils. He did not try to convince you by a
formal argument. This I realized from the first, when attending his
courses. I wished to make him explain himself more clearly by writing
against him a work to prove that the intelligible entities subsist
outside of intelligence.[14] Plotinos had Amelius read it to him; and
after the reading he laughingly said to him, "It would be well for you
to solve these difficulties that Porphyry has advanced against me,
because he does not clearly understand my teachings." Amelius indeed
wrote a rather voluminous work to answer my objections.[15] In turn,
I responded. Amelius wrote again. This third work at last made me
understand, but not without difficulty, the thought of Plotinos; and I
changed my views, reading my retraction at a meeting. Since that time,
I have had complete confidence in the teachings of Plotinos. I begged
him to polish his writings, and to explain his system to me more at
length. I also prevailed upon Amelius to write some works.