Plotinos, his Life, Times and Philosophy
By Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, A. M., Harvard, Ph. D., Tulane.
This is a lucid, scholarly systematization of the views of Plotinos, giving translation of important and useful passages. It is preceded by a careful indication and exposition of his formative influences, and a full biography dealing with his supposed obligations to Christianity. Accurate references are given for every statement and quotation. The exposition of, and references on Hermetic philosophy are by themselves worth the price of the book.
Dr Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education has written about it in the highest terms. Dr. Paul Carus, Editor of the Open Court, devoted half a page of the July 1897 issue to an appreciative and commendatory Review of it. Among the many other strong commendations of the work are the following:
From G. R. S. Mead, Editor The Theosophical Review, London:
It may be stated, on the basis of a fairly wide knowledge of the subject, that the summary of our anonymous author is the CLEAREST and MOST INTELLIGENT which has as yet appeared. The writer bases himself upon the original text, and his happy phrasing of Platonic terms and his deep sympathy with Platonic thought proclaim the presence of a capable translator of Plotinos amongst us....
To make so lucid and capable a compendium of the works of so great a giant of philosophy as Plotinos, the author must have spent much time in analysing the text and satisfying himself as to the meaning of many obscure passages; to test his absolute accuracy would require the verification of every reference among the hundreds given in the tables at the end of the pamphlet, and we have only had time to verify one or two of the more striking. These are as accurate as anything in a digest can rightly be expected to be. In addition to the detailed chapters on the seven realms of the Plotinic philosophy, on reincarnation, ethics, and æsthetics, we have introductory chapters on Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, and Emanationism, and on the relationship of Plotinos to Christianity and Paganism.
Those who desire to enter into the Plotinian precincts of the temple of Greek philosophy by the most expeditious path CANNOT do BETTER than take this little pamphlet for their guide; it is of course not perfect, but it is undeniably THE BEST which has yet appeared. We have recommended the T.P.S. to procure a supply of this pamphlet, for to our Platonic friends and colleagues we say not only YOU SHOULD, but YOU MUST read it.
Human Brotherhood, Nov. 1897, in a very extended and most commendatory review, says: TOO GREAT PRAISE COULD HARDLY BE BESTOWED upon this scholarly contribution to Platonic literature.
Net price, cloth bound, post-paid, $1.31.
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. Inconsistent capitalization has not been changed.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
Infrequent spelling of "Plotinus" changed to the predominant "Plotinos."
Several opening or closing parentheses and quotation marks are unmatched; Transcriber has not attempted to determine where they belong.
Cover created by Transcriber and placed into the Public Domain.
Page 1030: The opening parenthesis in "(Nor would he be troubled if the members" either has no match or shares one with a subordinate phrase. Such "sharing" occurs elsewhere in this four-volume set.
Page 1059: "(the former for their ferocity," has no matching closing parenthesis.
Page 1188, footnote 268 (originally 71): The opening parenthesis in "(the principal power of the soul," has no match, or shares one with a subordinate phrase.
Page 1218: The opening quotation mark just before 'He who possesses the virtues' has no matching closing quotation mark.
Page 1262: The opening quotation mark just before 'The intelligible is of a nature' has no matching closing quotation mark.
Page 1265: The opening quotation mark just before 'be in relation with a place,' has no matching closing quotation mark.
Page 1265: Heading "B." is printed here in the same size as heading "A." on page 1261. In the source, it was printed in the same size as the smaller headings under "A."
Page 1313: Chapter number is "VII." but there is no earlier "VI."
Page 1318: The opening quotation mark just before 'Being and Essence;' has no matching closing quotation mark.
Page 1327: The first few lines were misprinted, with the sub-heading "IMPORTANCE IN THE PAST." in the middle of the first paragraph and part of a word missing from that paragraph. This eBook attempts to correct that.
Concordance Issues
Entries in the Concordance have not been systematically checked for accuracy; some errors have been corrected, but others probably remain. Detected errors are noted below.
Links were added for primary refererences (numbers in parentheses, connected with dashes) and for some entries lacking primary references. Those links have been checked for validity (their targets exist) but not for accuracy (they may refer to the wrong targets). Many of these links refer to pages in the other three volumes at Project Gutenberg. Whether or not those external links will work depends on the device and program used to display this eBook.
Most "see"-type references to other entries in the Concordance have not been linked because their targets could not be reliably determined.
Page ii: "Alone with the alone... 1-550" corrected to 1-50.
Page vi: "Being and actualization... 30-784" corrected to 39-784.
Page viii: "Castration", second reference, "v. 8.13 (31-573)." does not belong here.
Page xvii: "Effusion", last word "reation" could be "reaction" or "reason".
Page xxix: "Incorporeality of soul proved by its penetrating... 2.72" corrected to 2-72.
Page xxxii: "Intelligence's existence proved... 50-104" corrected to 5-104.
Page xxxiv: "Judgment of one part by another... 52-472" corrected to 52-1172.
Page lviii: ""Somewhat," a particle to modify... 31-797" corrected to 39-797.
Page lviii: "Soul and relation with God", reference to "i." was misprinted as "ii."
Page lviii: "Soul conforms destiny to her character... 53-238" corrected to 15-238.
Page lx: "Soul split into three" has no reference.
Page lxii: "Spectator of vision becomes participator... 34-569" corrected to 31-569.
Page lxii: "Stars are they animate?" has no reference.
Page lxii: "Stars are they inanimate?" has no reference.
Page lxiv: "Supreme intelligence, nature of, 51-144" corrected to 51-1144.
Page lxviii: "Unity, contained in sense objects... 24-671" corrected to 34-671.
Page lxxii: "We and ours, psychological names of soul" was missing part of reference; reconstructed by Transcriber based on page reference.
Page lxxxiv: "World's testimony to its creator... 51-104" corrected to 51-1047.
Footnote Issues
In these notes, "anchor" means the reference to a footnote, and "footnote" means the information to which the anchor refers. Anchors occur within the main text, while footnotes are grouped in sequence at the end of this eBook. The structure of the original book required some exceptions to this, as explained below.
The original text used chapter endnotes. In this eBook, they have been combined into a single, ascending sequence based on the sequence in which the footnotes (not the anchors) occurred in the original book, and placed at the end of the main text, just before the Concordance.
Four kinds of irregularities occurred in the footnotes:
- Some footnotes are referenced by more than one anchor, so two or more anchors may refer to the same footnote.
- Some anchors were out of sequence, apparently because they were added afterwards or because they are share a footnote with another anchor. They have been renumbered to match the numbers of the footnotes to which they refer.
- Some footnotes have no anchors. These are noted below.
- One footnote was misprinted beyond repair, and the next three footnotes were missing. These are noted below.
Page 1076: Footnote 61 (originally 42) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be in page range 1062–1064.
Page 1121: Footnote 100 (originally 4) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be in page range 1091–1093.
Page 1121: Footnote 103 (originally 7) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be in page range 1094–1097. Anchor 99 (originally 3) on page 1094 could be the missing anchor, as that number also is used on page 1091.
Page 1188: Footnote 210 (originally 13) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be on page 1171 or 1172.
Page 1189: Footnote 226 (originally 29) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be on page 1174 or 1175.
Page 1253: Footnote 329 (originally 9) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be in page range 1219–1226.
Page 1287: Footnote 469 (originally 98) has no anchor; the missing anchor would be on page 1287.
Page 1333: Footnote 758 (originally 21) appears to be misprinted, and the next three footnotes 759–761 (originally 22–24) are missing.