The Enneads

I remained with him until his death, even as his voice became hoarse before the fluid and resonant original: "rhoōdes kai enydron" quality of his speech was finally extinguished. His eyes became clouded and his hands and feet were covered in ulcers. Because of this, his friends avoided meeting him, for he had been accustomed to greeting everyone personally by name. Leaving the city because of the plague, he went to Campania, to the estate of Zethos, an old friend of his who had already passed away. His necessities were brought to him from the property of Zethos and from the estates of his mother's relatives. Our friend Antiochus recounted the details of his end, for Antiochus had settled in Puteoli original: "Pompiolois," likely a corruption of Puteoli, a port city near Naples and arrived slowly to see him.

Those regarding antidotes

He said that he was present when a theriac original: "theriakēn"; a famous ancient "all-cure" ointment or potion made of many ingredients, used against poisons and diseases was being prepared. A divine serpent passed under the bed and disappeared into a hole in the wall. As Antiochus said, he was sixty-six years old at the time of his passing. His death occurred at the end of the second year of the reign of Claudius Claudius Gothicus, who reigned 268–270 AD. I, for my part, happened to be staying in Lilybaeum modern-day Marsala in Sicily at that time. He had been neglected by those in Syria and was confined in Rome. Only Antiochus was present with him. If we calculate back sixty-six years from the second year of King Claudius, the date of his birth falls in the thirteenth year of the reign of Severus Septimius Severus, identifying Plotinus's birth around 204/205 AD. However, he never disclosed to us the month in which he was born, nor his birthday. He did not think it right to offer sacrifices or hold a feast on his own birthday, even though he did sacrifice and feast on the traditional birthdays of Plato and Socrates. On those occasions, he expected his companions to provide a discourse, just as those who gathered with him would do; but in our own meetings, he himself would often lead the discussion. After this, he would attend to the matters of...