TLOTINUS. THE LATEK PLATONISTS. 299 



Matter is considered merely as the receptacle of forms, the basis of Matter, &c. 

 qualities ; itself has neither figure, quality, magnitude, nor place, and 

 must, therefore, be defined negatively. 



The intelligible world unchangeable and eternal alone embraces 

 true essences, of which this visible world merely presents the appear- 

 ance. The intelligible world, or plenitude of ideas, rales over and 

 penetrates into all parts of the sensible world by the excellence and 

 energy of its power. 



Among celestial natures are different orders, possessing different 

 gradations of excellence, gods, demons, genii, heroes. 



The human soul, derived from the suprarnundane soul, is in this 

 respect sister, as it were, to the soul of the world. Pre-existing before 

 its union with the body, from which all its vices arise, it returns, after 

 its separation, to the Divine source whence it emanated. Here below, 

 the soul is not in the body, as in its place or receptacle, nor as a part 

 of a whole, nor as form is united with matter, but it is present to the 

 body as its animating principle. The human soul may unite itself 

 with the Divine soul, and by this with the Divinity, whence it derives 

 all its knowledge ; for the most pure and exalted source of knowledge 

 is in the contemplation of Divine forms. 1 The soul perceives by 



cipium omnium non esse omnia, sed super omnia et potestatem omnium, nempe 

 super-ens ; illud intellectual! s vitae causam esse, et infinitum modo singulari optimum 

 sibi sufficientissimum, pulcherrimum, liberrimum, unum, ipsam essentiam ; nee hoc 

 in alia principia deducendum, sed hoc proposito intellectum deinde, quodve primo 

 intelJigit, mox animam post eum collocanda, et ita tria tantum in divinis principia 

 ponenda esse. Hujus trinitatis centrum esse lucidissimum, lucem ex se scaturiens, 

 atque divino modo generans ; hinc maximum post illud, mentem esse, a Deo geni- 

 tam, illi vero cohaarentem, quse sit imago Dei, ut lux solis ; intellectum hunc gene- 

 rare animam. Intellectum istum multa (nempe objective) in se habere, et hinc esse 

 multum et unum ; ejus actionem esse intelligentiam, ipsum suo modo multiplicem 

 esse, et compositum, nempe complecti res revera existentes, id est, intelligibilia et 

 ideas pro conditione rationum seminalium in mundo : ideas autem istas ab intellectu 

 non differre, sed actum tantum accedere, ut multa fiant in entibus. Mentem 

 divinam per ideas in materiam agere intrinsece, non tamen eas esse, ut rerum irra- 

 tionalium, sed praestantiori gradu. In ccelo incorporeo esse Deos duplices intelli- 

 gibiles et intellectuals ; illos ideas esse, hos intellectus omnes aeterna idearum 

 contemplatione beatos. Animam mundi non mundanam tantum esse, sed et supra- 

 muudanam. Veneremque duplicem, terrestrem et ccelestem. Hanc supramundanam 

 esse essentiam ex essentist emanantem et existentem simul at minorem generante : ab 

 eo generari animas reliquas, licet unum totum sit ubique. Nunquam fuisse tempus, 

 quo universum non animatum fuerit ; neque materiam unquam informem potuisse 

 existere. Nisi enim corpus sit, animam non fuisse progressuram ex lumine, earn 

 cum umbram inveniret in extremis mundum fecisse, tanquam aedificium speciosum, 

 non separatum ab effectore, at nee illi tamen commixtum. Quicquid attingat ani- 

 mam, sic inde perfici, prout essentia animae naturaliter se habeat ; ornatum vero 

 esse ex animae potestate ; eum in rebus inanimatis non consopitam jacere, sed tendere 

 in aliud ; earn rotare omnia & summis ad una per circulum. Haec de principiorum 

 trinitate Plotinus tradidit, quae cum Christianorum trinitate confundenda haud sunt." 

 (Inst. Hist. Phil. p. 335.) 



1 In this system the human mind may also act, and receive knowledge in two 

 ordinary ways ; one by participating in intelligence, the other by forms : in the 

 first, being in a manner filled and illuminated by intelligence, it feels and sees it 



