brated Neoplatonic philosopher of the 4th century, was born at Chalcis, in Ccele-Sj-ria. What little we know of his life is derived from the works of Eunapius, a Soph- ist, whose love of the marvelous renders his testimony doubtful authority. He seems, however, to have studied under Anatolius and Porphyry, and resided in Sj-ria lui- til his death, which occurred during the reign of Con- stantine the Great, and probably before A.D. 333 (Sui- das, s. V. 'Irt/i/3A(xot' ; Euiiapius, lamhlich.). He w^as deeply versed in the philosophical system of Plato and Pj^thagoras, as well as in the theology and philosophy of the Egyptians and Chakteans, and enjoyed great rep- utation, being by some of his contemporaries considered even the equal of Plato. In his life of Pythagoras he appears as a Syncretist, or compiler of different sj'stems, but without critical talent. So far as can be gathered from fragments in his works in Proclus's commentary on the Vimaeus, he went even further than his teachers in subtlety' of arguments, subdividing Plotinus's trinity, and deriving therefrom a series of triads. " lamblichus distinguishes first three purely intelligible triads, then three intellectual ones, thus forming the i'otjtiiv enneati- cal series, and the votpm>. By the side of the great triad he places inferior ones, veoi ^rif^iiovpyot, whose mis- sion it is to transmit the action of the former. He is also distinguished from Plotinus and Porphyry bj' an al- most superstitious regard for numerical formulas. All the principles of his theology can be represented by numbers : the monad, the supreme unit, principle of aU unity, as well as of all diversity ; two, the intellect, the first manifestation or development of unit}' ; three, the soul, or dr]fiiovpyoi, the principle which brings all pro- gressive beings back to unity ; four, the principle of luii- versal harmony, which comprises the causes of all things ; eight, the source of motion (xdyptjmc), taking all be- ings away from the supreme principle to disperse them through the world ; nine, the principle of all identity and of all perfection ; and finally, ten, the result of all the emanations of the to "Ev. Neither Plotinus nor Por- phyry, whatever their regard for Pythagoras's doctrines, ever went to such an extent in reducing their principles to numerical abstractions" (Vacherot, //ts^ Critique de VEcole d'A lexandrie, vol. ii). Jamblichus did not acqui- esce in the doctrine of the earlier Neoplatonists, but thought that man could be brought into direct commu- nication with the Deity through the medium of thciu-gic rites and ceremonies, and thus attached great importance to mysteries, initiations, etc. He wrote a number of works, the most important of which are : 1. Hf pi YlvQa- yopov aipfffEwf, intended as a preparation for the stuc'y of Plato, and consisting originally of ten books, five of which are now lost. The princijial extant are Ylifn tou HvOayopiKov (Siov (published first by J. Arcerius Theo- doretus, Franeker, 1598, 4to; best ed. L. Kuster, Amst, 1707, 4to ; and Th. Kiessling, Lpz. 1815, 2 vols. 8vo) ; — HporpfTrriKot Xoyoi tig <pi\oao<t)iav (Th. Kiessling, Lpz. 1813, 8vo); — Hfpt KoivriQ yaQrinaTiKTiQ i-7narlji.u]Q (Yilloison, A necdota Grceca, ii, 188 sq. ; J. G. Fries, Copen- hagen, 1790, 40) : — Td S^toXoyov^sva rjyc doiO/.njriKiig (Cli. AVechel, Paris, 1543, 4to; Tr. Ast, Lpz. 1817, 8vo). 2. The Uspl (iv(TTi}pio}v, in one book, in which a priest named Abammon is introduced as replying to a letter of PorphjTius. He endeavors to vindicate the truth, purity, and divine origin of Egjiitian and Chaldee the- ology, and maintains that man, through theurgic rites, may commune with the Deity. There has been some controversy concerning the authenticity of this work, but Tennemann and other eminent critics think there are no good reasons why the authorship should be denied to lamblichus. It was published by Ficinus (A'enice, 1483, 4to, with a Latin transl.); N. Scutellius (Rome, 1556, 4to), and Th. Gale (Oxf. 1678, fol., with a Latin transl.), etc. See Eiuiapius, Vitce Sophist. ; Julian, Orat. iv, 146; Epist. 40 ; Dodwell, Excerdt. de JEtate Pythag. 1704 ; Hebenstreit, Dissertatio de Jamablici Doctrina, Leipz. 1704, 4to ; Brucker, Historia critica Philosophite, ii, 260, 431 ; Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, vi, 246 ; Tenne-
JAMBRES
'753
JAMES
maim, Gesch. der Philosophie,vi,2-iC}; Ritter, Gescfi.der j I'hUosophie, iv, 647; Fabricius, Bibliothvca Grmca, vol. iv, pt. iii, p. 50 ; Tiedmaiui, Geist der Spekidat. I'hUoso- phie, iii, 453 ; Jules Simon, f/istoire de I'Ecole d'Alexan- drie, ii, 187-265. — Smith, JJict. of Greek and Roman Bi- Ofjraph>/,u,5id ; Hoefer, Xouv. Biocj. Geiierule, xxvi, 305 sq. ; Lardner, Works, vol. viii ; Butler, IIv<t. A nc. Philos. i, 70, 77 ; ii, 3-21, 329. See Neoi'latonism.
Jam'bres (lujiflmiq, prob. of E<jyptian etymolo- gy), a person mentioned as one of those who opposed Moses (2 Tim. iii, 8). B.C. 1658. See Jannks.
Jam'bri. Shortly after the death of Judas Macca- J b.T;us (B.C. 161), "the' children of Jambri" are said to have made a predatory attack on a detachment of the j\[accabffian forces, and to have suifered reprisals (1 Mace. ix, 36-4 1 ) . The name does not occur elsewhere, and the variety of readings is considerable : 'Ia^/3pi, 'lafjlSptiv, 'Anl3poi, 'Ajijipi ; Syr. .4 mbrei. Josephus {A nt. xiii, 1, 2) read o'l 'A^iapaiov TzalStq, and it seems almost certain that the true reading is ' Appi (-ti), a form which occurs elsewhere (1 Kings xvi,22; Joseph. .1 »!^ viii, 12,5, 'AjU«- pij/oc ; 1 Chron. xxvii, 18, Heb. i1^r,Yidg. Amri; 1 Chroii. ix, 4, 'AplSpaip, i. e. Amoritcs.