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

INTRODUCTION.

...the last place, Porphyry says, Ἀλλὰ κρηπὶς εὐσεβείας σοι νομιζέσθω ἡ φιλανθρωπία, (p. 58,) i.e., “Philanthropy should be considered by you as the foundation of piety.” And Sextus says, “Fundamentum et initium est cultûs Dei, amare Dei homines” (The foundation and beginning of the worship of God is to love the men of God) (p. 654). Rufinus, however, in this version, fraudulently translates φιλανθρωπία (philanthropy) as amare Dei homines (to love the men of God), in order that this sentence, as well as the others, might appear to be written by Sixtus the bishop!

4. The learned reader will find the following passages in the Epistle of Porphyry to be sentences of Demophilus, viz.: Λόγον γὰρ θεοῦ τοῖς ὑπὸ δόξης διεφθαρμένοις λέγειν, κ.τ.λ. usque ad ἶσον φέρει, (p. 29). Οὐχ ἡ γλῶττα τοῦ σοφοῦ τίμιον παρὰ θεῷ, κ.τ.λ. usque ad μόνος εἰδὼς εὔξασθαι, (p. 32). Οὐ χολωθέντες οὖν οἱ θεοὶ βλάπτουσι, κ.τ.λ. usque ad θεῷ δὲ οὐδὲν ἀβούλητον, (p. 35). Οὔτε δακρυα καὶ ἱκετειαι θεον επιστρεφουσι, ουτε θυηπολια θεον τιμωσιν, ουτε αναθηματων πληθος κοσμουσι θεον, κ.τ.λ. usque ad ἱεροσύλοις χορηγία, (p. 36). In which passage, however, there is a remarkable difference, as the learned reader will find, between the text of Porphyry and that of Demophilus. Ἐὰν οὖν ἀεὶ μνημονεύῃς, ὅτι ὅπου ἂν ἡ ψυχὴ σου περιπατῃ, καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐνεργὸν (lege ἔργον,) ἀποτελῃ, κ.τ.λ. usque ad τὸν θεὸν σύνοικον, (p. 37). Ὁ συνετὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ θεοφιλής, κ.τ.λ. usque ad σπουδάζεται πονήσας, (p. 54). Γυμνὸς δὲ ἀποσταλεὶς [σοφὸς] κ.τ.λ. usque ad ἐπήκοος ὁ θεός, (p. 54). Χαλεπώτερον δουλεύειν πάθεσιν ἢ τυράννοις. And ὅσα γὰρ πάθη ψυχῆς, τοσοῦτοι καὶ ὠμοὶ δεσπόται, (p. 57). And lastly, πολλῷ γὰρ κρεῖττον τεθνάναι ἢ δι᾿ ἀκρασίαν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀμαυρῶσαι, (p. 58). In all these passages, it will be found, by comparing them with Porphyry, that they occasionally differ from the text of Demophilus, yet not so as to alter the sense.