Plotini Opera Omnia cum Ficini commentariis

regarding the text we have provided readings from the codices instead of ἀπελθὼν having departed. The subsequent χωρὶς δὲ ζῶν but living apart pertains to these lower things, into which the soul of the Lover has fallen, and consequently to the Body, in which it is enclosed.

— 9. πεσόντα ἐπτοῆσθαι having fallen, to be agitated/excited] What we have rewritten by the authority of the books is Plato's own. See Symposium 206, below p. 436 (Bekker), Cratylus p. 464 A, Phaedo p. 82, which passages Plotinus also had before his eyes elsewhere, for example, p. 78 B, D; p. 714, ch. 22 A. From the same places it is evident that περὶ concerning depends upon ἐπτοῆσθαι. Therefore πεσόντα having fallen is to be taken by itself, so that it may be what προστετηκότα having become attached is, which Gregory of Nazianzus himself uses for the word πτοεῖσθαι to be agitated in Oratio Stelitica in Iulianum I, p. 7.

— 12. ἐν ἀσωμάτοις—τοῦ ἐρασμίου ἤδη in incorporeal things—of the lovely already] For in incorporeal things there is already its habituation to that which is lovable; that is, the Lover is already becoming accustomed to the lovable in incorporeal things. Our philosopher also has the term ἐράσμιον lovely/lovable from his Plato. See Phaedrus p. 250 D; Republic III, p. 620 B. He defines it more accurately below on page 724 and following.

— 14. εἶτα ἐν ποιητέον then what must be done in the one] Lest anyone perhaps confuse this ἐν in with περὶ ἓν σῶμα concerning one body, they must be warned by the word that in this place τὸ ἓν the one is the same as the τὸ ἐν πᾶσι ταὐτὸν that which is the same in all mentioned above; that is, it must be demonstrated that even the beautiful things which exist in incorporeal realities are in fact one certain beauty.

p. 42, 3. τὰ μαθήματα δοτέον the mathematical studies must be given] In this place, μαθήματα are not, as elsewhere in Plato and Plotinus, the disciplines of letters in general, but mathematical ones: arithmetic, geometry, and the rest. This is understood even from the passage of Plato which Plotinus here follows, namely Republic VII, 523 sqq., p. 341 sqq. (Bekker). διδόναι to give for to deliver is likewise Platonic. See Republic II, 364, and compare Ast's Commentary p. 406, and where it is joined with διδάσκειν to teach, p. 196, 197, p. 416 (Bekker). Whence perhaps one might also conjecture, looking especially at the traces of the codices, δεικτέον οὖν καὶ διδακτέον therefore it must be shown and taught instead of λυτέον must be solved.

— 4. πρὸς συνεθισμὸν—καὶ πίστεως ἀσωμάτου toward habituation—and of incorporeal faith] A passage memorable for the history of the Plotinian text. For although none of our codices, nor Ficino, has it otherwise, it is nevertheless cited in a completely different way by several writers. For this sentiment of our Plotinus, like many others of his, has acquired the force of a proverb in a certain way. And first, the Scholiast of Plato in book VI of the Republic (p. 172 Ruhnk.) writes: καὶ ὁ Πλωτῖνος τοιοῦτο λέγει, τὸ and Plotinus says something similar, the

παραδοτέον τοῖς νέοις τὰ μαθήματα πρὸς συνεθισμὸν τῆς ἀσωμάτου φύσεως. mathematical studies must be delivered to the young for the habituation of the incorporeal nature. Nor does John Philoponus cite this passage otherwise in Aristotle on the Soul, fol. 1 A, p. 2. Clearly, in this way also, Gerhard Vossius in On Mathematics III, 2, 7, p. 61, has set down these words, taken from I know not where. Likewise, David the Armenian, a philosopher, in his Commentary on the Five Voices of Porphyry in Paris Codex no. 1939. But Iamblichus, in his work περὶ κοινῆς μαθηματικῆς ἐπιστήμης on the common mathematical science (in Villoison's Anecdota Graeca II, p. 207), speaks thus of mathematical science: original: "—τῇ τε γὰρ θεολογίᾳ παρασκευὴν προυτρεπίζει καὶ ἐπιτηδειότητα, ὁμοιότητά τε πρὸς αὐτὴν παρέχει, καὶ ἀναγωγὴν, καὶ ἀποκάθαρσιν τὰ μὲν νοερὰ ὄργανα ἀπολύουσαν τῶν δεσμῶν καὶ ἀποκαθαίρουσαν, συνάπτουσάν τε πρὸς τὸ ὂν, τῷ τε κάλλει καὶ τῇ εὐταξίᾳ τῶν θεωρουμένων ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασι πλησιάζουσαν πως τοῖς νοητοῖς, διὰ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀμεταπτώτων καὶ ἀκινήτων θεωρίας πρὸς τὰ ἑστῶτα καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως νοητὰ καὶ ὡρισμένα ἀφομοιουμένην, ἐθίζουσαν καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν, ἠρέμα πρὸς τὸ φανὸν τοῦ ὄντος ἐπιβάλλειν, τῶν τε σωμάτων ἀπάγουσαν, καὶ πίστιν περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀσωμάτων οὐσίας ἐντιθεῖσαν, βεβαιότητά τε ἐπιστημονικὴν καὶ ἀκρίβειαν παρέχουσαν." translation: "For it encourages and provides a preparation and aptitude for theology, and it provides a likeness to it, and a leading up, and a purification, releasing the intellectual organs from bonds and purifying them; it connects them to Being, and by the beauty and good order of the things contemplated in mathematical studies, it approaches in a certain way the intelligible things; and through the contemplation of the unchangeable and immovable, it assimilates the mind to that which is established, the same, and in the same way intelligible and defined; and it accustoms the intellect to apply itself quietly to the light of Being, leading it away from bodies, and instilling faith concerning the essence of incorporeal things, and providing scientific certainty and precision." I have written down more from the primary passage, which is the one that best suits our own. As for the reading, it is certain that Iamblichus found the common version in his own copy. Whence it would not be absurd to suspect that the discrepancy flowed from a double recension. We ought to have attempted this less common reading, and it is recommended by Platonic usage, which similarly used πίστιν faith/trust; for example, in Phaedo p. 70 B, and κατανόησις understanding, or the thought of intelligible things, is prepared by faith, or confidence, that incorporeal things exist, which if anyone does not believe to exist, he must necessarily be sluggish in setting out to contemplate them. Regarding the power of mathematics toward the knowledge of intelligible things, Vossius has lauded more from the ancients in the place cited, as has Bullialdus in his notes on Theon of Smyrna's On Mathematics for Platonic Reading (p. 194), who also used the words of Plotinus. To these add Proclus's On Providence and Fate chapter 12, the same in Plato's Cratylus p. 1, Boissonade in Alcibiades p. 194 sqq., and our own in Parmenides I, p. 49 sqq. (Cousin). Soon after: καὶ φύσει ἐνάρετον τὸ πρὸς τελείωσιν ἀρετῶν ἀκτέον and that which is by nature virtuous must be led to the perfection of virtues, or one must transpose καὶ τὸ φύσει ἐνάρ. and that which is by nature virtuous, or delete the τὸ the after ἐνάρ. virtuous. The word ἐνάρετος virtuous, however, is more recent, introduced and frequented by the Stoics; others wish for σπου- earnest/excellent to be used in its place.