significance. While with Numenius it absorbed his chief controversial efforts,[673] with Plotinos[674] it occupied only one of his many spheres of interest; and indeed, he had borrowed from them many terms, such as "pneuma," the spiritual body, and others, set forth elsewhere. Notable, however, was the term "hexis," habituation, or form of inorganic objects,[675] and the "phantasia," or sense-presentation.[676] Like, them, the name A-pollo is interpreted as a denial of manifoldness.[677] Next in importance, as a landmark, is Numenius's chief secret, the name of the divinity, as "being and essence," which reappears in Plotinos in numberless places.[678] Connected with this is the idea that essence is intelligence.[679] 9. PYTHAGOREAN SIMILARITIES.
It is a common-place that Numenius was a Pythagorean, or at least was known as such, for though he reverenced Pythagoras, he conceived of himself as a restorer of true Platonism. It will, therefore, be all the more interesting to observe what part numbers play in their system, especially in that of Plotinos, who made no special claim to be a Pythagorean disciple. First, we find that numbers and the divine ideas are closely related.[680] Numbers actually split the unity of the divinity.[681] The soul also is considered as a number,[682] and in connection with this we find the Pythagorean sacred "tetraktys."[683] Thus numbers split up the divinity,[684] though it is no more than fair to add that elsewhere Plotinos contradicts this, and states that the multiplicity of the divinity is not attained by division;[685] still, this is not the only case in which we will be forced to array Plotinos against himself.
The first effect of the splitting influence of numbers will be doubleness,[686] which, though present in intelligence,[687] nevertheless chiefly appears in matter,[688] as the Pythagorean "indefinite dyad."[689] Still, even the Supreme is double.[690] So we must not be surprised if He is constituted by a trinity,[691] in connection with which the Supreme appears as grandfather.[692] If then both Numenius and Plotinos are really under the spell of Pythagoras, it is pretty sure they will not be materialist, they will believe in the incorporeality of the divinity,[693] of qualities;[694] and of the soul[695] which will be invisible[696] and possess no extension.[697] A result of this will be that the soul will not be located in the body, or in space, but rather the body in the soul.[698] From this incorporeal existence,[699] there is only a short step to unchangeable existence,[700] or eternity.[701] This, to the soul, means immortality,[702] one theory of which is reincarnation.[703] To the universe, however, this means harmony.[704] There are still other Pythagorean traces in common between Numenius and Plotinos. The cause that the indeterminate dyad split off from the divinity is "tolma," rashness, or boldness.[705] Everything outside of the divinity is in a continual state of flux.[706] Evil is then that which is opposed to good.[707] It also is therefore unavoidable, inasmuch as suppression of its cosmic function would entail cosmic collapse.[708] The world stands thus as an inseparable combination of intelligence and necessity, or chance.[709] 10. PLATONIC TRACES.
Platonic traces, there would naturally be; but it will be noticed that they are far less numerous than the Pythagorean. To begin with, we find the reverent spirit towards the divinities, which prays for their blessing at the inception of all tasks.[710] To us who live in these latter days, such a prayer seems out of place in philosophy; but that is only because we have divorced philosophy from theology; in other words, because our theology has left the realm of living thought, and, being fixed once for all, we are allowed to pursue any theory of existence we please as if it had nothing whatever to do with any reality; in other words, we are deceiving ourselves. On the contrary, in those days, every philosophical speculation was a genuine adventure in the spiritual world, a magical operation that might unexpectedly lead to the threshold of the cosmic sanctuary. Wise, indeed, therefore, was he who began it by prayer.
Of other technical Platonic terms there are quite a few. The lower is always the image of the higher.[711] So the world might be considered the statue of the Divinity.[712] The ideas are in a realm above the world.[713] The soul here below is as in a prison.[714] There is a divinity higher than the one generally known.[715] The divinity is in a stability resultant of firmness and perfect motion.[716] The perfect movement, therefore, is circular.[717] This inter-communion of the universe therefore results in matter appearing in the intelligible world as "intelligible matter."[718] By dialectics, also called "bastard reasoning,"[719] we abstract everything[720] till we reach the thing-in-itself,[721] or, in other words, matter as a substrate of the world.[722] Thus we metaphysically reach ineffable solitude.[723] The same goal is reached psychologically, however, in the ecstasy.[724] This idea occurred in Plato only as a poetic expression of metaphysical attainment; and in the case of Plotinos at least may have been used as a practical experience chiefly to explain his epileptic attacks; and this would be all the more likely as this disease was generally called the "sacred disease." Whether Numenius also was an epileptic, we are not told; it is more likely he took the idea from Philo, or Philo's oriental sources; at least Numenius seems to claim no personal ecstatic experiences such as those of Plotinos.
We have entered the realm of psychology; and this teaches us that that in which Numenius and Plotinos differ from Plato and Philo is chiefly their psychological or experimental application of pure philosophy. No body could subsist without the soul to keep it together.[725] Various attempts are made to describe the nature of the soul; it is the extent or relation of circumference to circle.[726] Or it is like a line and its divergence.[727] In any case, the divinity and the soul move around the heavens,[728] and this may explain the otherwise problematical progress or evolution ("prosodos" or "stolos") of ours.[729] 11. VARIOUS SIMILARITIES.
There are many other unclassifiable Numenian traces in Plotinos. Two of them, however, are comparatively important. First, is a reaffirmation of the ancient Greek connection between generation, fertility of birth of souls and wetness,[730] which is later reaffirmed by Porphyry in his "Cave of the Nymphs." Plotinos, however, later denies this.[731] Then we come to a genuine innovation of Numenius's; his theory of divine or intelligible giving. Plato had, of course, in his genial, casual way, sketched out a whole organic system of divine creation and administration of this world. The conceptions he needed he had cheerfully borrowed from earlier Greek philosophy without any rigid systematization, so that he never noticed that the hinge on which all was supposed to turn was merely the makeshift of an assumption. This capital error was noticed by Numenius, who sought to supply it by a psychological observation, namely, that knowledge may be imparted without diminution. Plotinos, with his winning way of dispensing with quotation-marks, appropriated this,[732] as also the idea that life streams out upon the world in the glance of the divinity, and as quickly leaves it, when the Divinity turns away His glance.[733] Other less important points of contact are: the Egyptian ship of souls;[734] the Philonic distinction between "the" God as supreme, and "god" as subordinate;[735] the hoary equivocation on "kosmos;"[736] and the illustration of the divine Logos as the pilot of the world.[737] VALUE OF PLOTINOS.
IMPORTANCE IN THE PAST.
We must focus our observations on Plotinos as a philosopher. To begin with, we should review his successors, Porphyry, Jamblichus, Sallust, Proclus, Hierocles, Simplicius;[738] Macrobius;[739] Priscus; Olympicdorus and John Philoponus.[740] Among the Arabian philosophers that follow in his steps are Maimonides and Ibn Gebirol.[741] Of the Christian fathers we first have two who paraphrased, rather than quoted him.
St. Augustine by name quotes i. 6; iii. 2; iv. 3, and v. 1; he St. Basil so closely paraphrases parts of Plotinos in his treatise on the Holy Spirit,[743] his letter on the Monastic Life,[744] and his Hexameron,[745] that Bouillet prints the passage in question in deadly parallel.
Other Christian Plotonic students were Gregory of Nyssa, Synesius, Dionysius the Areopagite, Theodorus, Aeneas of Gaza, Gennadius;[746] Thomas Aquinas also was much indebted to Plotinos; and after him came Boethius, Fénélon, Bossnet and Leibnitz (all quoted in Bouillet's work).
We have frequently pointed out that Plotinos' "bastard reasoning" process of reaching the intelligible was practically paraphrased by Kant's dialectical path to the "thing-in-itself." This dialetic, of course, was capitalized by Hegel.
Drews has shown that Edouard von Hartmann used Plotinos' semi-devotional ecstasy as a metaphysical basis for his philosophy of the Unconscious.
It is, of course, among mystics that Plotinos has been accorded the greater honor. His practical influence descended through the visions and ecstasies of the saints down to Swedenborg, who attempted to write the theology of the ecstasy; and the relation between these two, Swedenborg and Plotinos should prove a fertile field for investigation.
CULTURAL IMPORTANCE.
Summarizing, he formed a bridge between the pagan world, with its Greco-Roman civilization, and the modern world, in three departments: Christianity, philosophy, and mysticism. So long as the traditional Platonico-Stoical feud persisted there was no hope of progress; because it kept apart two elements that were to fuse into the Christian philosophy. Numenius was the last Platonist, as Posidonius was the last Stoic combatant. However, if reports are to be trusted, Ammonius was an eclecticist, who prided himself on combining Plato with Aristotle. If Plotinos was indeed his disciple, it was the theory eclecticism that he took from his reputed teacher. Practically he was to accomplish it by his dependence on the Numenian Amelius, the Stoic Porphyry, and the negative Eustochius. It will be seen therefore that his chief importance was not in spite of his weakness, but most because of it.
By repeatedly "boxing the compass" he thoroughly assimilated the best of the conflicting schools, and became of interest to a sufficiency of different groups (Christian, philosophical and mystical) to insure preservation, study and quotation. His habit of omitting credit to any but ancient thinkers left his own work, to the uninformed--who constituted all but a minimal number--as a body of original thought.
Thus he remains to us the last light of Greece, speaking a language with which we are familiar, and leaving us quotations that are imperishable.
PERSONAL VALUE.
While therefore providentially Plotinos has ever been of great importance theologically, philosophically and mystically, we cannot leave him without honestly facing the question of his value as an original thinker. It is evident that his success was in inverse ratio to originality; but we can also see that he could not have held together those three spheres of interest without the momentum of a wonderful personality. This will be evident at a glance to any reader of his biography. But after all we are here concerned not so much with his personality as with his value as an original thinker. This question is mooted by, and cannot be laid aside because of its decisive influence on the problem of his dependence of Numenius. The greater part of the latter's works being irretrievably lost, we can judge only from what we have; and as to the rest, we must ask ourselves, was Plotinos the kind of a man who would have depended on some other man's thoughts? Is he likely to have sketched out a great scheme and filled it in; or rather, was he likely to depend on personal suggestion, and embroider on it, so to speak. Elsewhere we have demonstrated a development of his opinions, for instance, about matter. Was this due to progressiveness, or to indefiniteness? The reader must judge for himself.
PERSONAL LIMITATIONS.
His epilepsy naturally created an opportunity for, and need of a doctrine of ecstasy; which for normal people should be no more than a doctrine, or at least be limited to conscious experiences. Even his admirer, Porphyry, acknowledges that he spelled and pronounced incorrectly.[750] He acknowledged that without Porphyry's objections he would have nothing to say. He refrained from quoting his authorities, and Porphyry acknowledged that his writings contained many Stoic and Aristotelian doctrines. It was generally bruited around that his doctrines were borrowed from Numenius,[751] to the extent that his disciples held controversies, and wrote books on the subject. His style is enigmatic, and the difficulty of understanding him was discussed even in his own day. He was dependent on secretaries or editors; first on Amelius, later on Porphyry, who does not scruple to acknowledge he added many explanations.[752] Later, Plotinos sent his books to Porphyry in Sicily to edit. No doubt the defectiveness of his eyesight made both reading and writing difficult, and explains his failure to put titles to his works; though, as in the case of Virgil, such hesitation may have been the result of a secret consciousness of his indebtedness to others.
RELIANCE ON PUNNING.
Punning has of course a hoary antiquity, and even the revered Plato was an adept at it--as we see in his Cratylos. Moreover, not till a man's work is translated can we uncover all the unconscious cases of "undistributed middle." Nevertheless, in an inquiry as to the permanent objective validity of a train of reasoning, we are compelled to note extent and scope of his tendency. So he puns on aeons;[753] on science and knowledge;[754] on "agalmata";[755] on Aphrodite, as "delicate";[756] on Being;[757] on "koros," as creation or adornment";[758] on difference in others;[759] on idea;[760] on heaven, world, universe, animal and all;[761] on Vesta, and standing;[762] on Hexis;[763] on inclination;[764] on doxa;[765] on love and vision;[766] on "einai" and "henos;"[767] on "mous," "noêsis," and to "noêfon";[768] on paschein;[769] on Poros;[770] on Prometheus and Providence;[771] on reason and characteristic;[772] on "schesis" and "schema";[773] and "soma" and "sozesthai";"[774] on suffering;[775] on thinking, thinkable, and intellection;[776] on "timely" and "sovereign."[777] It will be noted that these puns refer to some of the most important conceptions, and are found in all periods of his life. We must therefore conclude that his was not a clear thinking ability; that he depended on accidental circumstances, and may not always have been fully conscious how far he was following others. This popular judgment that he was revamping Numenius's work may then not have been entirely unfounded, as we indeed have shown.
Nevertheless, he achieved some permanent work, that will never be forgotten; for instance: 1. His description of the ecstatic state.
2. His polemic against the Aristotelian and Stoic categories.
3. His establishment of his own categories.
4. His allegoric treatment of the birth of love, the several Eroses, Poros and Penia, and other myths.
5. His building of a Trinitarian philosophy.
6. His threefold spheres of existence, underlying Swedenborgian interpretation.
7. His aesthetic theories.
8. His ethical studies of virtues and happiness.
9. His restatement of Numenius's arguments for the immateriality of the soul.
SELECTED MAXIMS The reader may be interested in a few maxims selected from Plotinos' works which may be of general interest.
1. We develop toward ecstasy by simplification of Soul.
2. We rise by the flight of the Single to the Single, face to face.
3. We contain something of the Supreme.
4. The Soul becomes what she remembers and sees.
5. Everything has a secret power.
6. The best men are those who have most intimacy with themselves.
7. The touch of the good man is the greatest thing in the world.
8. Every being is its best, not when great or numerous, but when it belongs to itself.
9. There are two men in us, the better and the worse.
10. The secret of life is to live simultaneously with others and yourself.
11. God is the author of liberty.
12. Concerning what would it be most worth while to speak, except the Soul? Let us therefore know ourselves.
13. Without virtue, God is but a name.
14. The object of virtue is to separate the soul from the body.
15. We can never become perfect, because he who thinks himself so has already forgotten the supreme divinity towards which he must hasten.
16. The world was created by a concurrence of intelligence and necessity.
17. The Soul is the image, word, and interpreter of the One.
18. The divinities though present to many human beings often reveal themselves only to some one person, because he alone is able to contemplate them.
19. To act without suffering is the sign of a great power.
20. Only virtue is independent.
21. We are beautiful when we know ourselves.
22. The Soul is the child of the universal Father.
23. True happiness is being wise, and exercising this within oneself.
24. To become again what one was originally is to live in the Superior world.
25. The desired goal is not to cease failing, but to grow divine.
26. Virtue demands preliminary purification.
27. Our effort at assimilation should be directed not at mere respectability, but at the gods themselves.
28. One should study mathematics in order to accustom oneself to think of incorporeal things, and to believe in their existence.
29. Soul is not in body, but body in Soul.
30. The Soul's higher part remains in heaven.
31. We should not leave the earth, but not be of it.
32. The object of life is not to avoid evil, or copy the good, but to become good.
33. Dying, to Eustochius: "I am awaiting you, in order to draw the divine in me to the divine in all."