[1] A Stoic term.
[2] As says Parmenides, verse 80.
[3] Cicero, Tusc. i. 16; Nat. Deor. i. 1; Maxim. Tyr. xvii. 5.
[4] As wastage, see 6.4, 10; as Numenius might have said in 12, 22.
[5] As said Numenius fr. 46.
[6] See Plato's Timaeus 37.
[7] Od. xvii. 486.
[8] See v. 3.5, 6.
[9] See v. 3.10.
[10] See v. 3.8, 9.
[11] See v. 3.12-17.
[12] See v. 5.13.
[13] See ii. 1.2.
[14] ii 1.1.
[15] Aristotle, Met. v. 4.
[16] Aristotle, Met. xii. 2.
[17] Aristotle, Met. vii. 8.
[18] Aristotle, de Anima, ii. 5.
[19] Aristotle, Met. xii. 5.
[20] Aristotle, Met. ix. 8.
[21] Aristotle, Met. ix. 5.
[22] That is, their producing potentiality, and not the potentiality of
becoming these things, as thought Aristotle. Met. ix. 2.
[23] As thought Aristotle, Soul, iii. 7; Met. xii.
[24] By Plato in the Timaeus 52.
[25] See iv. 6. A polemic against Aristotle, de Anima ii. 5, and
the Stoics, Cleanthes, Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. vii. 288, and
Chrysippus, Diog. Laert. vii. 50.
[26] As thought Chrysippus, Diog. Laert. vii. 111.
[27] See iv. 6.
[28] See vi. 6.16.
[29] See ii. 6.2.
[30] Plato, in his Phaedo 127.
[31] See i. 2.1.
[32] See i. 2.1, the Socratic definition.
[33] See i. 1.2.4.
[34] See ii. 5.2.
[35] See i. 2.4.
[36] A term of Stoic psychology.
[37] See i. 2.4.
[38] These are the so-called "passions" of the Stoic Chrysippus, Diog.
Laert. vii. 111.
[39] Of the Stoic contention, Tert. de Anima, 5.
[40] See i. 1.13.
[41] As was taught by Cleanthes, Sext. Empir. adv. Math. vii. 288.
[42] See iii. 6.3.
[43] Or, "affections," as we shall in the future call them, in English.
[44] See i. 8.15.
[45] Or, blindly, see iii. 8.1-3; iv. 4.13, 14.
[46] See iii. 6.3, and i. 1.13.
[47] See iii. 6.6.
[48] See i. 4.8.
[49] Notice this Numenian name for the divinity used at the beginning
of the Escoreal Numenius fragment.
[50] See iii. 8.9.
[51] As Plato asked in his Sophist 246; Cxi. 252.
[52] As thought Philo in Leg. Alleg. i.
[53] See ii. 4.15.
[54] See ii. 5.3-5.
[55] See vi. 2.
[56] See ii. 4.11.
[57] As thought Plato in the Timaeus 49-52.
[58] See ii. 5.5.
[59] de Gen. et Corr. ii. 2, 3.
[60] As objected Aristotle, in de Gen. et Corr. i. 7.
[61] See ii. 7.1.
[62] iii. 6.2.
[63] As asked Aristotle, de Gen. i. 7.
[64] In his Timaeus 50.
[65] See iii 6.12, 13.
[66] In his Timaeus 51.
[67] See ii. 4.11.
[68] In his Timaeus 51.
[69] In his Timaeus 49.
[70] See iii. 6.11.
[71] As said Plato, in his Timaeus 52.
[72] See ii. 8.14.
[73] See iii. 5.9.
[74] The myth of Pandora, see iv. 3.14.
[75] See iii. 6.4.
[76] See iii. 6.5, 6.
[77] By a "bastard" reasoning," see ii. 4.10.
[78] See ii. 4.9-12.
[79] See iii. 6.12.
[80] See ii. 7.2.
[81] See iii. 6.13.
[82] See ii. 4.8.
[83] See ii. 6.3.
[84] See ii. 4.5.
[85] See iii. 4.6.
[86] It would create the magnitude that exists in matter; that is,
apparent magnitude.
[87] ii. 4.11; against Moderatus of Gades.
[88] See ii. 4.11.
[89] See iv. 6.3.
[90] See ii. 4.12.
[91] That is, intelligible "being."
[92] See iii. 6.8.
[93] See ii. 7.1.
[94] As was suggested by Plato in the Timaeus 49-52.
[95] As was suggested by Herodotus, ii. 51, and Cicero, de Nat. Deor.
iii. 22.
[96] That is, Cybele, see v. 1.7.
[97] The Stoics.
[98] We have here another internal proof of the rightness of our
present chronological order of Plotinos's Enneads. The myth of Pandora
occurs in iv. 3.14, which follows this book.
[99] Against the Manicheans.
[100] See vi. 7.41.
[101] See i. 1.13.
[102] In that port of the Philebus, 29; C ii. 345.
[103] As thought Plato, in the Phaedrus, 246-248.
[104] As was taught by the Manicheans.
[105] As thought Cicero, Tusculans, i. 20; and Aristotle, de Anima,
iii. 1-3.
[106] See ii. 9.18.
[107] 42; 69.
[108] 264; C vi. 48.
[109] Rep. x. C 287.
[110] See iv. 3.7.
[111] See iv. 3.6.
[112] See iv. 3.6.
[113] Generative.
[114] See iii. 2.16.
[115] In the sense that it has no limits.
[116] See iv. 3.15.
[117] As thought Xenocrates and Aristotle, de Coelo, i. 10.
[118] See iv. 3.10.
[119] Philo, de Sommis, M 648, de Monarchia, M 217.
[120] See iii. 6.16, 17.
[121] As said Numenius, fr. 32.
[122] As did Discord, in Homer's Iliad, iv. 443.
[123] See ii. 9.7.
[124] See v. 7.1.
[125] See ii. 3.7.
[126] Plato, Rep. x. C 617; C x. 286.
[127] See iv. 4, 24, 40, 43; iv. 9.3.
[128] As was taught by Himerius; see also Plutarch and Themistius.
[129] As Numenius said, fr. 26.3.
[130] In his Timaeus, 35.
[131] As said Numenius, fr. 32.
[132] See Aristotle, Plato's Critias, Numenius, 32, and Proclus.
[133] As thought Aristotle, de Anima, ii. 1.4.
[134] In his Timaeus, 34; 30.
[135] Plato does just the opposite.
[136] Being the power which directs the animal from above, see i. 1.7.
[137] As thought Plato in the Timaeus, 73.
[138] iv. 3.13.
[139] As thought Plato in the Menexenus, 248.
[140] As Aristotle asked, de Memoria et Remin. 1.
[141] See i. 1.11.
[142] Plato, Philebus, C ii. 359.
[143] As thought Plato, in the Philebus, C ii. 357.
[144] As thought Plato in his Philebus, C ii. 363.
[145] See i. 1.12; iv. 3.32; the irrational soul, which is an image of
the rational soul, is plunged in the darkness of sense-life.
[146] As thought Plato in his Philebus, C ii. 359.
[147] In iv. 3.27.
[148] As thought Aristotle, de Mem. 1.
[149] As thought Aristotle.
[150] As thought Aristotle.
[151] See i. 4.10.
[152] As Numenius said, fr. 32.
[153] Another reading is: "All perceptions belong to forms which can
reduce to all things." But this does not connect with the next sentence.
[154] According to Plato Phaedrus, 246; C vi. 40, and Philebus, 30; C
ii. 347.
[155] Timaeus, 33.
[156] A pun on "schêma" and "schêsis."
[157] As thought Aristotle, de Gen. et Corr. ii. 2-8.
[158] Rep. x. 617; C x. 287; see 2.3.9.
[159] Rep. x.
[160] According to Aristotle.
[161] iv. 4.23.
[162] Aristotle, de Anima, ii. 7.
[163] See section 5.
[164] As thought Aristotle, de Anim. ii. 7.
[165] As Plato pointed out in his Meno, 80.
[166] As Plato teaches.
[167] A mistaken notion of Plato's, then common; see Matth. 6.23.
[168] Diog. Laert. vii. 157.
[169] Section 8.
[170] Section 2.
[171] Section 6.
[172] This Stoic theory is set forth by Diogenes Laertes in vii. 157.
[173] As thought Aristotle, de Anima, ii. 8.
[174] As Aristotle again thought.
[175] As thought Aristotle, de Gener. Anim. v. 1.
[176] See iv. 4.29.
[177] This book sounds more Numenian or Amelian, than the former three,
which seem to have been written to answer questions of Porphyry's.
[178] See section 1-7.
[179] As thought Aristotle in his Physics, viii.
[180] iv. 3.10.
[181] See ii. 3.13.
[182] iii. 6.6.
[183] Children, whose minds are still weak, and cannot understand the
theories of speculative sciences exhibited by Nic. Eth. x. 7.
[184] This upper part of the universal Soul is the principal power of
the soul; see ii. 3.17.
[185] See ii. 3.18.
[186] In his Phaedrus, 272, Cary, 75.
[187] That is, the essence of the known object, a pun on "reason," as
in ii. 6.2.
[188] see iv. 6.3.
[189] Which is the visible form; see iii. 8.1.
[190] As thought Plato, Banquet, Cary, 31, and Aristotle in Aristotle,
de Anima, ii. 4.
[191] This sounds as if it were a quotation from Numenius, though it
does not appear in the latter's fragments.
[192] See i. 8.2.
[193] See v. 1.4.
[194] See iii. 7.2.
[195] See iii. 7.10.
[196] Notice the connection between this thought and ii. 5, written in
the same period of his life; see vi. 8.18.
[197] See iii. 3.7 and vi. 8.15.
[198] That is, the intelligible matter of ii. 4.3.
[199] As thought Aristotle, in Nic. Eth. i. 7; de Anima, ii. 1.
[200] See vi. 8.16.
[201] vi. 8.15.
[202] A pun on "koros," meaning both fulness and son.
[203] Another proof of the chronological order; see 3.8.9.
[204] Cicero, Orator 2; Seneca, Controversiae v. 36.
[205] ii. 8.1.
[206] See i. 6.8.
[207] i. 6.2.
[208] i. 6.9.
[209] i. 6.8.
[210] i. 6.2.
[211] i. 6.6.
[212] i. 6.5.
[213] iii. 5.6.
[214] As thought Plato, in Phaedrus, Cary, 58.
[215] Phaedrus, Cary, 59, 62; Numenius, 32.
[216] See ii. 2.1.
[217] In Sophocles Oedipus Coloneus, 1375; a pun on "dü" and "dikên."
[218] A pun between "science" and "knowledge."
[219] In his Phaedrus; Cary, 58.
[220] See v. 1.8.
[221] See iv. 4.11, 12.
[222] A pun on the word meaning "forms" and "statues," mentioned above.
[223] Such as Numenius fr. 20.
[224] Pun on "agalmata," which has already done duty for "statues" and
"forms."
[225] Here Plotinos refers to the hieratic writing, which differed from
both the hieroglyphic and demotic.
[226] See iii. 2 and 3.
[227] See ii. 9.12; iii. 2.1.
[228] In his Phaedrus, 246; Cary, 55.
[229] As was taught by Cleomedes, Meteora viii, and Ptolemy, Almagest
i, Geogr. i. 7; vii. 5.
[230] See i. 6.9.
[231] In his Timaeus, 37; Cary, c. 14.
[232] See i. 3.2; i. 6.8.
[233] Referring to the Gnostics; see ii. 9.17; this is another proof of
the chronological order.
[234] As proposed in ii. 9.17.
[235] See i. 8.15.
[236] As thought Plato in his Phaedrus; Cary, 56.
[237] The "infra-celestial vault," of Theodor of Asine.
[238] As said Plato, in his Phaedrus; Cary, 59.
[239] See v. 1.6.
[240] Gnostics.
[241] Pun on "koros," fulness, or son.
[242] Or, being satiated with good things.
[243] See Life of Plotinos, 18. Notice how well the chronological
order works out. The former book (31) and the next (33) treat of the
Gnostics, while this book treats of the philosophical principle of
their practical aspect. Besides, it explains the Amelio-Porphyrian
quarrel. Like all other difficulties of the time, it was about
Gnosticism, and Amelius's dismissal meant that Plotinos rejected
Egyptian Gnosticism, and Numenius's true position as a dualist stands
revealed; but after Porphyry's departure, Plotinos harked back to it.
[244] We see here an assertion of the standpoint later asserted by
Berkeley, Kant and Hegel that the mind cannot go outside itself,
and that consequently it is the measure of all things. Kant's
"thing-in-itself," a deduction from this, was already discovered by
Plotinos in the result of the "bastard reasoning" process, which Hegel
called "dialectic."
[245] See iii. 6.1.
[246] The Kantian "thing-in-itself." See Porphyry, Principles of
Intelligibles, 33.
[247] See iii. 6.1.
[248] Here is a pun based on "doxa."
[249] "Paradechomenê."
[250] "Doxa," which is derived from "dechesthai," to receive.
[251] We would, in other words, become pessimists.
[252] This is Philo's secondary divinity, p. 27, Guthrie's "Message of
Philo Judaeus."
[253] That is, of the Intelligence and of the intelligible entities.
[254] Who is the Unity; a Numenian conception, fr. 36.
[255] A term reminiscent of the famous Christian Nicene formulation.
[256] That is we will form a "pair." Numenius, 14, also taught the
Pythagorean "pair or doubleness."
[257] See vi. 6.16.
[258] Pun between essences, "einai," and one, or "henos."
[259] "Ousia."
[260] Notice the two words for "essence." Plato Cratylus, 424; Cary, 87.
[261] As Plato in his Cratylus suggests.
[262] Or, essence.
[263] Or, essence, to be.
[264] Being.
[265] The goddess Hestia in Greek, or Vesta in Latin; but "hestia" also
meant a "stand." P. 401, Cratylus, Cary, 40.
[266] See Numenius, 67, 42.
[267] See ii. 9.1; iii. 9.9.
[268] Such as Numenius, 42, and Plutarch, de Isis et Osiris, Fr. Tr.
381.
[269] From "a-polus."
[270] See i. 6.4; iii. 5.1.
[271] See v. 5.1.
[272] See i. 6, end.
[273] Pun between "on" and "hen."
[274] See Plato, Rep. vi., Cary, 13.
[275] Mentioned in Biography of Plotinos, 16.
[276] See vi. 9. Another proof of the chronological arrangement.
[277] See v. 6.
[278] See v. 1, 2, 3, 6; vi. 7, 9.
[279] Of Bythos.
[280] Ennoia and Thelesis.
[281] By distinguishing within each of them potentiality and
actualization, Numenius, 25, multiplied them.
[282] Nous, and Logos or Achamoth; see ii. 9.6.
[283] The prophoric logos, see i. 2.3; and Philo. de Mosis Vita 3.
[284] See v. 3.4.
[285] See i. 1.7.
[286] This is a mingling of Platonic and Aristotelic thought, see
Ravaisson, Essay on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, ii. 407.
[287] Which would be nonsense; the Gnostics (Valentinus) had gone as
far as 33 aeons.
[288] See ii. 9.11.
[289] Between the sense-world, and the intelligible world, see iv.
3.5-8; v. 2.3. Plotinos is followed by Jamblichus and Damascius, but
Proclus and Hermias denied that the soul did not entirely enter into
the body, Stobaeus, Ecl. i. 52.
[290] See iv. 3.18; iv. 4.3.
[291] The intelligible world.
[292] See iv. 3.1-8; iv. 9.
[293] Thus Plotinos opposes the Gnostic belief that the world was
created, and will perish.
[294] See ii. 9, 9, 16.
[295] The Gnostic Horos.
[296] As Plato said Phaedrus, 246; Cary, 55.
[297] The Gnostic theory of creation by the fall of Sophia and Achamoth.
[298] See ii. 9.11. Valentinus however said only that Achamoth had
created all things in honor of the aeons; only the later theologians
held this view mentioned by Plotinos.
[299] See i. 2.1, 2.
[300] See I. Tim. vi. 20, 21; and ii. 9.9.
[301] See ii. 3.9.
[302] See ii. 1.4.
[303] This, however, is a mistake of Plotinos's, as the Gnostics held
not this, but that the pneumatic or spiritual humans dwell on earth,
and the psychic in heaven, as Bouillet remarks.
[304] So that they should remain in the model instead of descending
here below?
[305] By remaining in the model, instead of descending here below.
[306] That is, the spiritual germs emanating from the "plerôma."
[307] Plotinos here treats as synonymous "new earth," "reason of the
world," "model of the world," and "form of the world;" but Bouillet
shows that there is reason to believe he was in error in the matter.
[308] From the plerôma, whose "seeds of election" they were, and which
now become to them a foreign country.
[309] Of the aeons, from whom souls, as intelligible beings, had
emanated.
[310] As in the famous drama of Sophia and Achamoth.
[311] The unseen place; the transmigrations of Basilides, Valentinus,
Carpocrates, and the others.
[312] P. 39. Cary, 15.
[313] Added to Plato by Plotinos.
[314] Plotinos had done so himself (Intelligence, and the intelligible
world); Numenius (25) also did so.
[315] See iv. 3.8, 15.
[316] Such as Pythagoras and Plato, Life of Plot. 23.
[317] See ii. 9.17.
[318] The doctrine of the Gnostics.
[319] Or, generations, the "syzygies" of the aeons, see Titus iii. 9.
[320] ii. 9.17.
[321] As in the drama of the fall of Sophia and Achamoth.
[322] See ii. 1.1; iii. 2.1; iv. 3.9.
[323] See i. 2.
[324] iv. 3.
[325] For the descending souls enter bodies already organized by the
universal Soul, see iv. 3.6; ii. 1.5; ii. 3.9; ii. 9.18.
[326] Lower part, see ii. 1.5; ii. 3.5, 18.
[327] See ii. 1, 3, 4, 5.
[328] The first "bond" is nature, the second is the human soul.
[329] See ii. 1.3.
[330] That is, the stars, ii. 3.7-13.
[331] See ii. 9.5.
[332] With Plato's Timaeus, 29, Cary, 9.
[333] In the universal Soul, ii. 3.16, 17.
[334] By existing and creating, see ii. 5.2.
[335] See i. 8.7, for matter.
[336] See ii. 9.3.
[337] See Philo, de Gigant. i.
[338] See ii. 2.1.
[339] See ii. 3.9-13.
[340] See iv. 8.
[341] See ii. 3.9.
[342] See i. 4.8.
[343] See i. 2.
[344] See i. 4.7.
[345] See ii. 3.13.
[346] See i. 4.8.
[347] See i. 4.14-16.
[348] See ii. 3.8, 16.
[349] See ii. 3.9.
[350] See below.
[351] The stars, see ii. 3.9.
[352] That is, Intelligence, see i. 8.2.
[353] The stars prognosticate events, see ii. 3.9.
[354] See i. 2.
[355] To the perfect Father, Bythos, Irenaeus, ii. 18.
[356] See Irenaeus, iii. 15.
[357] See ii. 9.16.
[358] See Irenaeus. i. 21.
[359] See Irenaeus, iii. 15.
[360] See i. 1.12.
[361] Thus identifying the "reasonable soul" with Sophia, and "the soul
of growth and generation" with Achamoth.
[362] See ii. 9.4.
[363] ii. 3.16.
[364] Or "seminal reasons," ii. 3.13.
[365] See iii. 4.1.
[366] As wrote Plato in his second Letter, 2, 312, Cary, 482.
[367] Jeremiah x. 2.
[368] Pindar, Olymp. i. 43.
[369] See ii. 3.9.
[370] See ii. 3.7.
[371] See ii. 3.7.
[372] As thought Plato, Laws, x, p. 897, Cviii. 265; Cary, C8, that
evil is only negative.
[373] See Irenaeus, i. 25.
[374] See Origen, c. Cels. i. 24.
[375] See i. 2.
[376] This is, however, extreme, as Clement of Alexandria hands down
helpful extracts from Valentinus, Strom. iv.; etc.
[377] See ii. 9.9
[378] See i. 6.7.
[379] In his Phaedo, pp. 66, 67; Cary, 29-32.
[380] That is, according to its receptivity.
[381] As thought Plato in the Timaeus, p. 29; C xi. 110, Cary, 10.
[382] By the soul that gives it form, see i. 6.2.
[383] See iii. 4.6; v. 1.2-6.
[384] See i.4.8-14.
[385] This was evidently a rebuke to Amelius, for his faithfulness to
Numenius; and it is at this time that Amelius left Plotinos.
[386] This may refer to Numenius's views, see fr. 27 b. 10.
[387] Compare Numenius, fr. 61, 62a.
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this four-volume set; otherwise they were not
changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.