THE LIFE OF PORPHYRY

FROM EUNAPIUS.

A decorative historiated initial 'P' featuring a seated scholar or saint holding an open book.

Porphyry was a Tyrian Tyre was a major city-state in ancient Phoenicia, located in present-day Lebanon by birth; Tyre itself was the leading city of the ancient Phoenicians. He was born to parents of no small reputation. Once he had obtained a liberal education, he made such progress that, having become a student of Longinus Cassius Longinus (c. 213–273 AD), a renowned rhetorician and Neoplatonist philosopher known as a "living library", he soon brought honor to his teacher. Indeed, Longinus, living at that time, was considered a kind of "living library" and a "walking museum." He had devoted his mind to the critical study of ancient writings, just as many others had before him, and especially Dionysius of Caria Likely referring to a celebrated Greek rhetorician or critic from the region of Caria, who was the most famous of them all.

Now, while Porphyry was originally called Malchus original: "Malchus"; a Latinized version of a Semitic name (like the Hebrew Melek or Arabic Malik) meaning "king" in the native language of the Syrians—which signifies a "king" in the idiom of that people—his name was later changed to Porphyry original: "Porphyrius"; derived from the Greek porphura, referring to the imperial purple dye by Longinus, a title referencing the distinctive color of royal garments. Under Longinus’s discipline, he applied himself most excellently to the study of literature. He reached the highest peak of grammar—no less than his teacher—and of rhetoric, although he was not quite so naturally inclined toward the latter. He was also highly cultivated in every branch of philosophy philosophia: here referring to the broad Neoplatonic curriculum including logic, ethics, and metaphysics. For Longinus was of all...