Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras

applicable to all his other works. For he says, "that his diction in that Answer is concise and definite, and that his conceptions are full of efficacy, are elegant, and divine." original: "’Αλλά καί τό της λέξεως κομμάτικον, καί άφοριστικόν, καί τό των έννοιων πραγματικόν, καί γλαφυρόν, καί ένθουν, κ. λ."

Iamblichus shared in an eminent degree the favor of divinity on account of his cultivation of justice; and obtained a numerous multitude of associates and disciples, who came from all parts of the world for the purpose of participating in the streams of wisdom which so plentifully flowed from the sacred fountain of his wonderful mind. Among these was Sopater the Syrian This Sopater succeeded Plotinus in his philosophical school., who was most skillful both in speaking and writing; Eustathius the Cappadocian; and of the Greeks, Theodorus and Euphrasius. All these were excellent for their virtues and attainments, as well as many other of his disciples who were not much inferior to the former in eloquence; so that it seems wonderful how Iamblichus could attend to all of them with such gentleness of manners and benignity of disposition as he continually displayed.

He performed some few particulars relative to the veneration of divinity by himself, without his associates and disciples, but was inseparable from his familiars in most of his operations. He imitated in his diet the frugal simplicity of the most ancient times; and during his repast, exhilarated those who were present by his behavior, and filled them as with nectar by the sweetness of his discourse.

A celebrated philosopher named Alypius, who was deeply skilled in dialectic, was contemporary with Iamblichus, but was of such a diminutive stature that he exhibited the appearance of a pigmy. However, his great abilities amply compensated for this trifling...