THE GOAL OF PURIFICATION IS SECOND DIVINITY, INTELLIGENCE.

6. A man who has achieved such a state no longer commits such faults;

for he has become corrected. But his desired goal is not to cease

failing, but to be divine. In case he still allows within himself

the occurrence of some of the above-mentioned unreflecting impulses,

he will be simultaneously divinity and guardian, a double being; or

rather, he will contain a principle of another nature (Intelligence),

whose virtue will likewise differ from his. If, however, he be not

troubled by any of those motions, he will be wholly divine; he will be

one of those divinities "who (as Plato said)[342] form the attending

escort of the First." It is a divinity of such a nature that has

come down from above to dwell in us. To become again what one was

originally, is to live in this superior world. He who has achieved that

height dwells with pure Intelligence, and assimilates himself thereto

as far as possible. Consequently, he feels none of those emotions, nor

does he any more commit any actions, which would be disapproved of by

the superior principle who henceforth is his only master.

Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1 In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods · 第 439 / 467 题