THEIR MYSTICISM. 213 



works, winch, still remain to us, and by the enthusiasm which his char- 

 acter and manners inspired among- his followers. He lived a life of 

 meditation, gentleness, and self-denial, and died in the second year of 

 the reign of Claudius (A. D. 2*0). His disciple, Porphyry, has giv.-n 

 us a Life of him, from which we may sec how well his habitual manners 

 were suited to make his doctrines impressive. " Plotinus, the philoso- 

 pher of our time," Porphyry thus begins his biography, " appeared like 

 a person ashamed that he was in the body. In consequence of tin* 

 disposition, he could not bear to talk concerning his family, or his 

 parents, or his country. He would not allow himself to be represented 

 by a painter or statuary ; and once, when Aurelius entreated him to 

 permit a likeness of him to be taken, he said, ' Is it not enough for 

 us to carry this image in which nature has inclosed us, but we must 

 also try to leave a more durable image of this image, as if it were so 

 great a sight ?' And he retained the same temper to the last. "When 

 he was dying, he said, ' I am trying to bring the divinity which is in us 

 to the divinity which is in the universe.' '' He was looked upon by his 

 successors with extraordinary admiration and reverence ; and his disci- 

 ple Porphyry collected from his lips, or from fragmental notes, the six 

 Enneads of his doctrines (that is, parts each consisting of nine Books), 

 which he arranged and annotated. 



We have no difficulty in finding in this remarkable work examples 

 of mystical speculation. The Intelligible World of realities or essences 

 corresponds to the world of sense 1 in the classes of things which it in- 

 cludes. To the Intelligible World, man's mind ascends, by a triple 

 road which Plotinus figuratively calls that of the Musician, the Lover, 

 the Philosopher. 2 The activity of the human soul is identified by 

 analogy with the motion of the heavens. " This activity is about a 

 middle point, and thus it is circular; but a middle point is not the 

 same in body and in the soul : in that, the middle point is local ; in 

 this, it is that on which the rest depends. There is, however, an 

 analogy ; for as in one case, so in the other, there must be a middle 

 point, and as the sphere revolves about its centre, the soul revolves 

 about God through its affections." 



The conclusion of the work is, 3 as might be supposed, upon the ap- 

 proach to, union with, and fruition of God. The author refers again 

 to the analogy between the movements of the soul and those of the 

 heavens. "We move round him like a choral dance ; even when we 



1 vi. Euneatl, iii. 1. - ii. E. ii. 2. 3 vi. Enn. ix. 3. 



