tlnre had been entire constancy ami consistency in the development of his speculation; but in his earlier ca- reer Plotinus was much influenced by the tenets of Numenius; in his maturerlife he acquired greater in- dependence of thought, hut inclined most closely to the anl tendencies of Plato; and in his later y.at- he gave evidence ol diminished power of intel- lect. What could he done to correct or compensate for the confusion of the text was supplied by the Sen- tences of porphyry, which gave an abstract of the doc- nine, but these have conic down to us only in a sadly mangled form.
In the arrangement of Porphyry [sec Neo-Plato- hism the logical order is disturbed, and in a great measure inverted. The last two Enneads are the most
Characteristic, and in some respects the most important lor the estimation of the philosophy ol' Plotinus. 'the tirst Ennead is noted by Porphyry as pre-eminently ethical (being occupied with rd i/'ziKwrtpa, or tolq rftueuiripac vttoSeouc; i. The recension of Porphyry was not the onl\ promulgation of the lectures of Plotinus, Three other publications have been specified, and other copies of special pans of his philosophy may have been circulated. As soon as he commenced reducing his
views I., writing, demands for copies were made a\
him by his followers, and these exemplars would nat- urally he multiplied ami disseminated to some extent. We know that some of his productions were sent in his lifetime from Rome to Syria, lo the rhetorician Longi- nus. These loose and flying sheets would soon he lust
after the more complete body of his doctrine became . This, however, is acknoM [edged to ha\ e ex- isted in two forms thai issued with authority by Por- phyry, and another presentation by Eustochius, a pupil «ho attended the death-bed of his teacher. These two versions are alone recognised by Creuzer, the accepted authority for all matters connected with the text and
Lnterpretati i Pi us. These recensions did nol
agree < ii h.r in the distribution of the matter or in all the details of doctrine. The Eustochian edition was still in existence in the Byzantine period, but has .since perished, anil has hit the Porphyrian text as the sole representative of Plotinus. I his exemplar is. however, believed by Creuzer to have received additions and al- terations from the ,• :urrenl copv of the Eustochian
rolls.
We would remark, before proci eding to the consider- ation oi i he peculiar philosophy of Plotinus. that neither
lie. n..r the -e.i ..I which he na, the expositor, c ■m-
platcd the institution of a distinct, original type of speculation. I be Neo-Platonists were rhe continuators of the Platonic Academj drifted far. ii may i.e. from the ancient shores. Cheir distinctive purpose was to
conciliate Aristotle with Plat... and to harmonize with both the teachings of Pythagoras, and the asceticism which had flowed to Alexandria from Oriental sources. The energies of the teachers of the new ami modified doctrine would thus he not equally expended over all pan- of any complete Bystem, but concentrated on the Subjects of conciliation, the exposition of iho-e leading principles which furnished the means of reconcilement, and their development in accordance with the -.heme
ol agreement, A spa- ins, Alexander, and Adrastus « ere
read in the school and commented upon by Plotinus to
the last, in company with & verus, Numenius, and other Platoui-ts or Neo-Platonists. Thus i- given a further explanation of both the incompleteness ..file- Neo-Pla- tonic doctrine in Plotinus. ami also of the inevitable difficulty of affording a dear, compact, and methodical
exposition of that doctrine.
Philosophy. The definition of metaphysics by the schoolmen as the branch of knowledge treating of ab- stract being and its modifications | /'. Ente, Entibus et Entium affectibus") is more applicable to the daring rev- eries of Plotinus than to any other scheme of specula- tion. For, whether we regard the term as having been originally invented by Theophrastus to designate in- quiries outside of physics and subsequent to them, or beyond physics and transcending them, il i- almost ex- clusively in this dim and unbounded region that the reflections and imaginations of Plotinus disport them- selves. With the ordinary topics of English-speaking philosophy he scarcely concerns himself. He rises from the earth like the skylark, and rarely poms forth his sou-- till he is lost from sight in the cloud-, and com- mingles his notes with the mysterious voices ol the upper air. The account given of his writings would preclude any expectation of a complete or detailed body of doctrine. His work was fragmentary and without order. Death seized the reaper in the midst of his harvest. His instruction must at all times have been broken and unsystematic, because it was merely the supplement and modification of opinions already cur- rent. He deals only with those sublimities of specula- tion— apices cogitaMles -which .aid him in harmonizing the teachings of Plato. Aristotle Parmenides. and Py- thagoras, in developing their conclusions into a still higher range of thought, and in applying this develop- ment to the purification of the intellect and to the pur- gation of the heart. It is extremely difficult to breathe in this rarefied atmosphere. The pilgrim of the Alpine Club is oppressed and dizzied by the tenuity of the air on the heights of Mont Blanc or of Ararat ; and the brain whirls in those extreme altitudes of speculation, where words become too hard and narrow for their content.-, and language is only the symbolism of unutterable thoughts.