Tyanæus, it is wholly unnecessary to allow those of Plotinus further notice in the history of philosophy. 5 From the life and writings of this philosopher it clearly appears, that he belonged to the class of fanatics. His natural temper, his education, his system, all inclined him to fanaticism. Suffering himself to be led astray, by a volatile imagination, from the plain path of good sense, he poured forth crude and confused conceptions, in obscure and incoherent language. Sometimes he soared, in extatic flights, into the regions of mysticism. Porphyry relates, that he ascended through all the Platonic steps of Divine contemplation, to the actual vision of the Deity himself, and was admitted to such intercourse with him, as no other philosopher ever enjoyed. They who are well acquainted with human nature will easily perceive, in these flights, unequivocal proofs of a feeble or disordered mind, and will not wonder that the system of Plotinus was mystical, and his writings obscure. The truth seems to be, that this philosopher made it the main scope and end of his life to dazzle his own mind, and the minds of others, with the meteors of enthusiasm, rather than to illuminate them with the clear and steady rays of truth. How much is it to be regretted, that such a man should have become, in a great degree, the preceptor of the world, and should, by means of his disciples, have every where disseminated a species of false philosophy, which was compounded of superstition, enthusiasm, and imposture! The muddy waters, sent forth from this polluted spring, were spread through the most celebrated seats of learning, and were even permitted, as we shall afterwards see, to mingle with the pure stream of Christian doctrine. Not only at Rome, where Plotinus had taught, but first in Alexandria, afterwards in many of the principal cities of Asia Minor, and even at Athens, the ancient seat of wisdom, the system of Ammonius and Plotinus was embraced and propagated by men, who, in learning and abilities, were greatly superior to its founders. We shall trace the progress of the Plotinian, or Eclectic, school through a long series of Pagan professors, reserving to a subsequent part of the work the consideration of its influence upon the opinions of Christian writers. ♦ Vid. Eunap. p. 17. 6 L. c. c. 13. 15. 23. Amelius, a Tuscan, who in his youth had been instructed in philosophy by Lysimachus, a Stoic, and who had, in the course of his studies, acquired a great fondness for the writings of Plato, in the year 246 became a pupil of Plotinus. His master found his talents and taste so similar to his own, that he soon admitted him to his friendship, and employed him in writing solutions of questions proposed to him by his disciples, and refutations of the objections and calumnies of his enemies. He had been eighteen years with Plotinus, when Porphyry entered the school, and probably assisted him in studying the doctrine of their master. Before the death of Plotinus, he retired to Apamea, where he survived his master a few years. 8 Among the most celebrated preceptors of the Plotinian school, and the Alexandrian sect, is Porphyry, a learned and zealous supporter of Pagan theology, and an inveterate enemy to the Christian faith. Porphyry9 was, as we learn from himself, a Tyrian.10 He was born in the year 233.11 His father very early introduced him to the study of literature and philosophy under the Christian preceptor Origen, probably whilst he was teaching at Cæsarea in Palestine.12 His juvenile education was completed at Athens by Longinus, whose high reputa、 tion for learning and genius brought him pupils from many 7 Porph. Vit. Plot. c. 7. &c. Suidas. Fab. Bib. Gr. v. ii. p. 405. Eunap. I. c. Suidas has probably no other ground for saying that Porphyry was a disciple of Amelius. Eunap. Vit. Soph. p. 17. Vita Porph. Rom. 1630. 8vo. Plot. c. viii. 197. Suidas in Porph. t. iii. p. 158. Diss. de 10 Jerom* and Chrysostom + call Porphyry a Batanean: whence some have supposed, ‡ that he was born in the country of Basan, a part of Trachonites, in Palestine. It is more probable || that Batanea was a part of Syria bordering upon Tyre, in which a colony of Tyrians had settled? and if this was the place of Porphyry's birth, he might chuse rather to call himself a Tyrian, than to derive his appellation from an obscure region. + Hom. vi. in 1 Cor. p. 58. Le Moyne ad var. Sac. t. ii. p. 607. * Pref. Epist. ad Galat. Cæs. Baron. ad A. C. 325. ||Stephan. in Ethnicis. Fabric. Bibl. Gr. v. iv. p. 181. VOL. II. I distant countries. Under this excellent instructor he gained an extensive acquaintance with antiquity, improved his taste in literature, and enlarged his knowledge of the Plotinean philosophy. It is, doubtless, in a great measure to be ascribed to Longinus, that we find so many proofs of erudition, and so much elegance of style, in the writings of Porphyry.13 From this time, we have little information concerning this philosopher, till we find him, about the thirtieth year of his age, becoming, at Rome, a disciple of Plotinus, who had before this time acquired great fame as a teacher of philosophy.14 Porphyry was six years a diligent student of the Eclectic system; and became so entirely attached to his master, and so perfectly acquainted with his doctrine, that Plotinus esteemed him one of the greatest ornaments of his school, and frequently employed him in refuting the objections of his opponents, and in explaining to his younger pupils the more difficult parts of his writings: he even entrusted him with the charge of methodizing and correcting his works :15 the fanatical spirit of philosophy, to which Porphyry addicted himself, concurred with his natural propensity towards melancholy to produce a resolution, which he formed about the thirty-sixth year of his age, of putting an end to his life; purposing hereby, according to the Platonic doctrine, to release his soul from her wretched prison, the body. From this mad design he was, however, dissuaded by his master, who advised him to divert his melancholy by taking a journey to Sicily, to visit his friend Probus, an accomplished and excellent man, who lived near Lilybæum. Porphyry followed the advice of Plotinus, and recovered the vigour and tranquillity of his mind.16 After the death of Plotinus, Porphyry, still remaining in Sicily, appeared as an open and implacable adversary to the Christian religion.17 Some have maintained, that in his youth he had been a Christian; but of this there is no sufficient proof. It is not improbable that, whilst he was a boy, under the care of Origen, he gained some acquaint15 C. vii. 13. 20. 13 Vit. Plot. c. 21. 14 Vit. Plot. c. 4, 5. Eunap. p. 14. Conf. Lactant. 1. v. c. 2. ance with the Jewish and Christian scriptures. He wrote fifteen distinct treatises against Christianity, which the emperor Theodosius ordered to be destroyed: an injudicious act of zeal, which the real friends of Christianity, no less than its enemies, will always regret; for truth can never suffer by a fair and full discussion; and falsehood and calumny must always, in the issue, serve the cause they are designed to injure. The spirit of those writings of Porphyry, which are lost, may be, in some measure, apprehended from the fragments which are preserved by ecclesiastical historians. Many able advocates for Christianity appeared upon this occasion, the principal of whom were Methodius, Apollinaris, and Eusebius.18 So vehement and lasting was the indignation which was excited against the memory of Porphyry, that Constantine, in order to cast the severest possible censure upon the Arian sect, published an edict,19 ranking them among the professed enemies of Christianity, and requiring that they should, from that time, be branded with the name of Porphyrians. Porphyry, after remaining many years in Sicily, returned to Rome, and taught the doctrines of Plotinus; pretending to be not only a philosopher, endued with superior wisdom, but a Divine person, favoured with supernatural communications from heaven. He himself relates, 20 that in the sixty-eighth year of his age, he was in a sacred extacy, in which he saw the Supreme Intelligence, the God who is superior to all gods, without an image. This vision Augustine supposes to have an illusion of some evil spirit: we are rather inclined to believe it to have been the natural effect of a heated imagination; unless, indeed, it be added to the long list of fictions, with which the writings of Porphyry abound. He died about the year 304. Of his numerous works, the only pieces which have escaped the depredations of time (except sundry fragments, dispersed through various authors), are his "Life of Pythagoras;" a book "On the Cave of the Nymphs in Homer;" "Homeric Questions ;""A Fragment on the Stygian Lake;" "An 18 Fabr. Bib. Gr. v. iv. p. 197. et Syllab. Script. de Ver. Ch. Rel. c. 3. 19 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. I. i. c. 9. 20 Vit. Plot. c. 23. 21 De Civ. Dei. l. x. c. 10. Epistle to Anebo, an Egyptian Priest;" "A Treatise on the Five Predicables," commonly prefixed to the logical works of Aristotle; "Thoughts on Intelligibles;" "A Treatise on Abstinence from Animal Food;" and "The Life of Plotinus," which contains also memoirs of Porphyry himself. 22 Porphyry was, it must be owned, a writer of deep erudition; and, had his judgment and integrity been equal to his learning, he would have deserved a distinguished place among the ancients. But neither the splendour of his diction, nor the variety of his reading, can atone for the credulity, or the dishonesty, which filled the narrative parts of his works with so many extravagant tales, or interest the judicious reader in the abstruse subtleties, and mystical flights, in his philosophical writings. The Alexandrian philosophy had, after Porphyry, many learned and able defenders. Among these, one of the most celebrated was his immediate successor, Jamblichus,23 a native of Chalcis in Cælo-Syria. He flourished, as may be inferred from the age of his preceptor, Porphyry, about the beginning of the fourth century. His first instructor was Anatolius, who presided in a Peripatetic school in Alexandria; but he soon left this school, and became a disciple of Porphyry. He became perfect master of all the mysteries of the Plotinian system, and taught it with such credit and success, that disciples crowded to his school from various quarters. Though he fell short of Porphyry in eloquence, he won the affections of his followers by the freedom with which he conversed with them upon philosophy, and was, at the same time, careful to excite admiration, and command their reverence, by high pretensions to theurgical powers. He astonished them with wonders, which he professed to perform by means of an intercourse with invisible beings. Hence he was called, The Most Divine and Wonderful Teacher. The writings of Jamblichus discover extensive reading; but his style is so deficient in accuracy and elegance, that even his encomiast, Eunapius, acknowledges it more likely to disgust than to allure the reader. He borrows freely 22 Fabric. Bib. Gr. v. iv. p. 180. 23 Eunap. Vit. Soph. Fabr. ib. p. 282. |