Select Works of Porphyry

Regarding the works of Porphyry that are translated in this volume, the first is On Abstinence from Animal Food. This is a treatise not only filled with deep learning original: "replete with great erudition" but is also notable for the pure lifestyle it encourages original: "inculcates" and the sacredness of thought original: "sanctity of conception" that fills it. At the same time, it must be remembered that Porphyry wrote this—as he himself informs us—specifically for the person who wishes, in this present life, to free themselves as much as possible from the chains of physical existence original: "fetters of the corporeal nature". Such a person seeks to raise their mind’s eye to the contemplation of truly-existing being original: το οντως ον (to ontōs on) and to find their home in the divine, as if returning to their true fatherland^d. However, such a person, as—

^d Plotinus places such a man in the category of divine men in the following extract from my translation of his treatise On Intellect, Ideas, and Real Being (Ennead 5.9). This extract, which is exceptionally beautiful in the original Greek, forms the beginning of the treatise: “Since all people, from birth, use their physical senses before their intellect, they are naturally first preoccupied with sensible objects original: "sensibles"; things perceived by the senses rather than the mind. Some people, going no further than this, pass through life considering these physical things to be the beginning and end of everything. They believe that whatever is painful among these is evil, and whatever is pleasant is good, thinking it sufficient to pursue one and avoid the other. Even those among them who claim to have a greater share of reason than others think this is wisdom. They are affected in a way similar to heavy birds: by collecting many things from the earth and being weighed down by that weight, they are unable to fly high,”