Select Works of Porphyry (On Abstinence, Cave of the Nymphs, Auxiliaries)

INTRODUCTION

...? and had? to attend? to? his discussions? ...? and by what means? the best? of it might? occur with the discussions, which had no great difference to the true? nature of the case. These matters had been reduced to, and to some degree involved in, a very obscure manner, and were called by the same name of Platonists by the ancients, though most of them held opinions different from Plato and followed the doctrines of Pythagoras, Aristotle, and other philosophers.

I have therefore judged it fitting to provide a short account of these men and their doctrines, especially of those who lived before the time of Plotinus and who were called the New Platonists, though they were not so much the followers of Plato as of Pythagoras and the other philosophers. I have also added a brief account of the doctrines of Plotinus and his followers, as far as they are agreeable to the doctrines of Plato and the other philosophers. I have taken care to distinguish the doctrines of Plato from those of the other philosophers, as well as from those of the New Platonists. I have further endeavored to distinguish the doctrines of Plotinus from those of his followers, and to provide a clear and distinct account of the teachings of Plato, the philosophers, the New Platonists, and Plotinus. Finally, I have attempted to show how far these doctrines align with the Holy Scriptures and the principles of sound reason.