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neo-platonism 1 , the offspring of the coition of East 

 and West in Alexandria, where all religions and 

 all philosophies met together. The world and the 

 flesh were crucified that by the spirit, man might 

 enter into God 2 . Pure in its ethical mood, neo- 

 platonism, says Harnack, led surely to intellectual 

 bankruptcy; the irruption of the barbarians was 

 not altogether the cause of the eclipse of natural 

 knowledge : to transcendental intuition the wisdom 

 of the world had become foolishness. Yet even 

 then, as again and again, came the genius of Aris- 

 totle to save the human mind. The death of 

 Hypatia was the death of the School of Alexandria, 

 but in Athens neo-platonism survived and grew. 

 Proclus, ascetic as he was, was versed also 

 in Aristotle ; and he compelled the Eastern 

 mysteries into categories : so that on the closure 

 of the School of Athens by Justinian (A.D. 529) 

 a formal philosophy was bequeathed to the Faith ; 

 the first scholastic period was fashioned, and the 



1 It must not be supposed that the idealism of Plato and 

 the mysticism of the East were alike, or even akin. Plato was 

 a Greek ; his mind, as we appreciate such qualities, was sane 

 and lucid : he had no yearning whatever for absorption in the 

 Infinite ; but rather, like Aristotle, for a noble life. 

 " Oftener on her knees than on her feet 

 Died every day she lived." Macbeth iv. 3. 



