NEW PLATONISTS. 



205 



R great portion of its inhabitants are of French and 

 Spanish descent, and the French language is used 

 more than the English. During the season of most 

 active business, the manners, dress, customs, and 

 languages of the world at large seem to be here 

 exhibited. Those who desire to witness a display of 

 the commodities of all climates, and all countries, 

 with the costumes and languages of civilized and 

 uncivilized men and women, may do well to visk 

 the market of New Orleans, especially on a Sunday 

 morning in February or March. We have not room, 

 without too much extending this article, to describe 

 the public buildings of this city. In general, they 

 are commodious, elegant, and very expensive. 

 There are few churches, and Sunday is spent more 

 after the custom of Catholic countries than in any of 

 the Atlantic cities. The Catholic cathedral is a 

 noble edifice, ninety feet by 120, with four towers. 

 The' roof is covered with hollow tiles, as are most 

 of the French and Spanish houses. The charitable 

 institutions of the city are highly creditable ; they 

 are very efficient in alleviating the wants, miseries, 

 and vices of the native and the stranger. The 

 means of education in New Orleans are very limited, 

 compared with those of the other large cities in the 

 United States ; but there have been great improve- 

 ments within the last three years. The police of the 

 city has become very efficient, and scenes of riot and 

 disorder are rarely known. Considering that one 

 half of the people are slaves, and that so great a 

 variety of strangers habitually throng this city, there 

 is more order and good morals than could be expected. 

 The following table will present a view of the com- 

 merce of New Orleans. 



Imports into New Orleans from the Interior during Six Yean. 



The amount of cotton exported in the year ending 

 September 30, 1830, was 354,024 bales. Many hun- 

 dreds of flat boats are seen, at the levee, in the busy 

 season, laden with all the productions of the Valley. 

 Steam-boats are coming and departing every hour, 

 and fifty or sixty are often seen in the harbour at one 

 time. A forest of masts is continually seen along the 

 levee, except during the sultry months. Nothing 

 seems adverse to the growth of New Orleans, except 

 the unhealthiness of its climate. The surface of the 

 city is several feet below the level of the river at 

 high water, and the adjacent country is all low and 

 marshy. This is, doubtless, the principal cause of 

 the frequent occurrence of the yellow fever. The 

 legislature have taken active measures to have the 

 country well explored, and are commencing a great 

 variety of works for draining, raising, and otherwise 

 improving it. The streets of the city are now paved, 

 and places of stagnant water are drained, or filled. 

 U'ater from the river is now made to wash the gutters 

 of the streets. These and other means are expected 

 to improve the healthiness of the place. If it should 

 be made healthy, it will probably become the largest 

 city of America. For further statistical information, 

 see Louisiana. 

 NEW PLATONISTS; a philosophical sect. The 



sect of Platonists (see Plato) was, of all the sects 

 belonging to the Socratic school, the most numerous; 

 but their zeal relaxed, whilst others, particularly the 

 sceptics, began to excite greater interest. In the third 

 century of the vulgar era, however, the Platonists 

 rose anew, and formed a distinct sect that of New 

 Platonists, also called the Alexandrian Platonists, 

 because their chief seat was at first in Alexandria. 

 Their doctrines had a tendency to unite Platonism 

 with Orientalism. The new impulse which the Pla- 

 tonic philosophy, in a new form, suddenly received, 

 is to be explained by the peculiar genius of the first 

 New Platonists ; their opposition to scepticism ; the 

 inclination of the Greeks, enervated by luxury, to 

 mysticism and Oriental fanaticism ; and a desire to 

 oppose to the victorious progress of Christianity a 

 philosophical system of paganism. The New Pla- 

 tonists aimed at the highest knowledge, the know- 

 ledge of the absolute, and an intimate union with it, 

 in order to fulfil the destiny of man, to attain a per- 

 fect acquaintance with the universe, holiness, and 

 happiness, to which, as they maintained, the know- 

 ledge of the absolute (huya.) would alone lead. Am- 

 monius Saccas of Alexandria (a man of extraordinary 

 genius, who was obliged to earn his bread by carry- 

 ing loads, and who, according to the common opinion, 

 was the founder of this school) inspired his pupils, 

 among whom were the famous critic Longinus (q. v.), 

 Plotinus, Origen, and Herennius, with his own 

 poetico-philosophical zeal. Plotinus (born at Lyco- 

 polis, in Egypt, A. D. 205, and died 270) contributed 

 chiefly to settle the doctrines of New Platonism, in 

 his writings. Philosophy, according to him, should 

 know the One which is the cause and essence of all 

 things, the original light from which every thing 

 emanates, not by thought and reflection, but, in a 

 perfect manner, by intuition, which precedes thought. 

 The philosophy of Plotinus, therefore, rests upon 

 the proposition that the absolute, that which is above 

 the senses, is the foundation of the world ; and that it 

 is knowable by intuition, which precedes thought. In- 

 telligence, the product and image of the One, pene- 

 trates all things ; and the soul proceeds from it, as 

 the forming thought ; the soul again seeks the One, 

 the Good, the original cause of the universe. This 

 is done by immediate intuition and enjoyment ; and 

 thus, according to him, the conceiving and the con- 

 ceiver become one; the conceiving soul becomes 

 what it conceives ; it returns to the One. The 

 whole spiritual world is therefore to be considered as 

 one spiritual being. All is only an intuition. The 

 sensible world is but the image of the intelligible 

 world ; time is an image of eternity, and emanates 

 from it. Evil is either only apparent, or necessary; 

 but if necessary, it ceases to be evil. Among the 

 pupils of Plotinus, Porphyry (Malchus),and Amelius 

 are distinguished. Jamblichus, a pupil of Porphyry, 

 had a large number of disciples, among whom Eustn- 

 thius, ^Edesius, and the emperor Julian, were the 

 most celebrated. At a later period, Athens became 

 the seat of New Platonism. Among the later New 

 Platonists, Proclus of Constantinople (from 412 to 

 485) is distinguished. Two circumstances chiefiy 

 render the New Platonists interesting: first, that 

 poetical elevation of the soul which is most welcome 

 when the student has passed through all the dogmatic 

 systems and scepticism, without finding satisfaction ; 

 and, secondly, the reconciliation which their system 

 attempts between the Greek philosophy, on one side, 

 and the most ancient symbolical system of the East, 

 paganism in general, on the other. Hence, also, the 

 union of Platonism and the Pythagorean philosophy, 

 and the desire of uniting the contending views of 

 former sects. This attempt, however, to conceive 

 the popular religion, or paganism in its original 



