PREFACE, txlit 



But it does not appear that Science and Philofophy, after their 

 revival, lafted long in Greece ; but, by a flrange revolution in hu- 

 man affairs, they came back again to their original native country, 

 Egypt ; for, about the beginning of the third century, there was a 

 School of Philofophy eftablifhed at Alexandria, which I have fre- 

 quently mentioned in this work, under the name of the Alexandrian 

 School : And there Philofophy was attended, as it fhould be, by the 

 other Sciences and Arts, fuch as Geometry, Aftronomy, Grammar, 

 and Rhetoric ; for there continued to be profeflbrs of thofe Arts in 

 Alexandria, and fome of them moft eminent men, down even to 

 the taking of the town by the Saracens, and the fecond defirudion 

 of its famous library ; while in Italy, and all over the weft of Eu- 

 rope, learning had been long before extinguifhed by the Goths and 

 Vandals. 



The founder of this famous School of Philofophy in Alexandria 

 was Ammonius, furnamed Saccas, by birth an Alexandrian : He, 

 like Pythagoras, wrote nothing himfelf, but only taught. His moft 

 famous fcholar was Plotinus, who tranfgrefled his Mafter's command 

 to keep his Philofophy a fecret, and wrote a book of Philofophy, 

 of the moft fublime and myfterious kind, and of which we may 

 fay, what Ariftotle fays of his Metaphyfics, that it was publifhed and 

 not publiflied *. His fcholar was Porphyrins, a moft eminent man 

 in his time, who was dignified with the name of Philofopher, by way 

 of eminence. He was not only a great Philofopher, but a man of 

 very extenfive learning, and was reputed, I think juftly, the beft 

 writer of his age ; for his ftyle has more of the art and elegance of 

 the Attic compofition, than any ftyle of that age ; and this, I 

 believe, is the reafon why moft of his Works have come down to us 

 fo incorrect, particularly one moft learned work of his De Abjl't' 



ncntia^ 



* See what I have faid of this Philofopher, p. 331, of this volume. 



