I. Webb, 1909, I, 112). Mr. Webb namely, sight and hearing," is

(I, xxviii) holds that John of quite misleading, as caps. 40-42
Salisbury "certainly did not have make evident.
Plotinus," and derived some pas- * Ennead II, iii, 6 and 13 (249-
sages from his works through 50).
Macrobius and Augustine; but he ^ Ennead IV, iv, 31. on nev ovv
is unable to state in what inter- 17 opa. voitl . . . a.vaiJi^i
mediate source John could have rd kirLyeta ov fxbvov toIs aco/^acnv dXXd
found the passage now in ques- /cat rats r^s ^vxvs biaOkaeoL, Kal tC:v
tion. It does not seem to reflect ntpdv eKaarov eis to. kTrlyua Kal 6Xwj
Plotinus' doctrine very accurately. rd xdrw woiel, iroWaxv 8rj\ov.
' Eiuicad IV, iv, 6 and 8. ^Idcm. Guthrie heads the pas-
* Ibid.. 30. Guthrie's translation, sage, "Absurdity of Ptolemean
"We have shown that memory is Astrology." See also Ennead, II,
useless to the stars: we have iii, 1-5.
304 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
to a sidereal decision,^ and to speaking of friendships and enmities as existing between the planets according as they are in this or that aspect towards one another.^ If then the admittedly vast influence of the stars cannot be satisfactorily accounted for either as material effects caused by them as bodies or as voluntary action taken by them, how is it to be explained ? Plotinus accounts for it by the relation of sym- pathy which exists between all parts of the universe, that single living animal, and by the fact that the universe ex- presses itself in the figures formed by the movements of the celestial bodies, which "exert what influence they do exert on things here below through contemplation of the intelli- gible world." ^ These figures, or constellations in the astro- logical sense, have other powers than those of the bodies which participate in them, just as many plants and stones *'among us" have marvelous occult powers for which heat and cold will not account.^ They both exert influence effec- tively and are signs of the future through their relation to the universal whole. In many things they are both causes and signs, in others they are signs only.^ Other For Plotinus, however, the universe is not a mechanical
C3.11SCS 3.rid
signs than ^^^ where but one force prevails, namely, that produced by the stars, qj. represented by the constellations. The universe is full of variety with countless different powers, and the whole would not be a living animal unless each living thing in it lived its own life, and unless life were latent even in inanimate objects. It is true that some powers are more effective than others, and that those of the sky are more so than those of earth, and that many things lie under their power. Nevertheless Plotinus sees in the reproduction of life and species in the universe a force independent of the stars. In
^ Ennead II, iii, 6. dXXA yevofieva iroi.6Tr)ai Sia 6pois Kal
^ Ennead II, iii, 4. \6yoLstiboTroLriBkvTaKai4>^(r€(j}s dwaixtws
* Guthrie's translation, Ennead neraXaliovTa, olov Kal XLOcov 4>v
IV, iv, 35. ti df) dpq. TL 6 i]\ios Kal to. ^orapcJiv kfepyeLaidavfiaaTaTroWaTrapt-
&\\a acrrpa ets to. rfiSe, xpi) vonl^ew x'^^'''^'-
aiiTop fj,h avu (iXkirovra tlvai. ^ Ennead IV, iv, 34. Kal Trotvaeis
Idem. Kal kv Tols Trap' 77^111' eicri Kal arjp.aaia's iv iroWols AXXaxoO 5i
iroXXat, &s ob dtpixa rj xj/vxpo. irapkxtTaL, ar]ixaaias iiovov.
XI NEO-PLATONISM 305
the generation of any animal, for example, the stars con- tribute something, but the species must follow that of its forebears.^ And after they have been produced or begot- ten, terrestrial beings add something of their own. Nor are the stars the sole signs of the future. Plotinus holds that "all things are full of signs," and that the sage can not mere- ly predict from stars or birds, but infer one thing from an- other by virtue of the harmony and sympathy existing be- tween all parts of the universe.^
Nor can the gods or stars be said to cause evil on earth. Stars not since their influence is affected by other forces which mingle of evil, with it. Like the earlier Jewish Platonist, Philo, Plotinus denies that the planets are the cause of evil or change their own natures from good to evil as they enter new signs of the zodiac or take up different positions in relation to one an- other. He argues that they are not changeable beings, that they would not willingly injure men, or, if it is contended that they are mere bodies and have no wills, he replies that then they can produce only corporeal effects. He then solves the problem of evil in the usual manner by ascribing it to matter, in which reason and the celestial force are received unevenly, as light is broken and refracted in passing through water.^
Plotinus repeats much the same line of argument in his Against book against the Gnostics, where he protests against "the a^^rology tragedy of terrors which they think exists in the spheres of of the the universe," * and the tyranny they ascribe to the heavenly bodies. His belief is that the celestial spheres are in per- fect harmony both with the universe as a whole and with our globe, completing the whole and constituting a great part of it, supplying beauty and order. And often they are to be re- garded as signs rather than causes of the future. Their natures are constant, but the sequence of events may be varied by chance circumstances, such as different hours of
^ Ennead II, iii (p. 256). * Enncad, II, ix, 13. rrisTpaywblas
Ibid. (pp. 250-1). Toiv oi3€pu:v, COS oiovTai, a> rals rod
"Ibid., II, iii (pp. 243-6, 254-5, Koauov ff aiftai.s. 263-5).
3o6
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Fate and free-will.
Summary of the atti- tude of Plotinus to astrology.
nativities, place of residence, and the dispositions of indi- vidual souls. Amid all this diversity one must also expect both good and evil, but not on that account call nature or the stars either evil themselves or the cause of evil.
As the allusion just made in the preceding paragraph to "the dispositions of individual souls" shows, Plotinus made a distinction between the extent of the control exercised by the stars over inanimate, animate, and rational beings. The stars signify all things in the sensible world but the soul is free unless it slips and is stained by the body and so comes under their control. Fate or the force of the stars is like a wind which shakes and tosses the ship of the body in which the soul makes its passage. Man as a part of the world does some things and suffers many things in accord- ance with destiny. Some men become slaves to this world and to external influences, as if they were bewitched. Others look to their inner souls and strive to free themselves from the sensible world and to rise above demonic nature and all fate of nativities and all necessity of this world, and to live in the intelligible world above. ^
Thus Plotinus arrives at practically what was to be the usual Christian position in the middle ages regarding the influence of the stars, maintaining the freedom of the human will and yet allowing a large field to astrological prediction. He is evidently more concerned to combat the notion that the stars cause evil or are to be feared as evil powers than he is to combat the belief in their influence and significations. His speaking of the stars both as signs and causes in a way doubles the possibility of prediction from them. If he at- tacked the language used by astrologers of the planets, and perhaps to a certain extent the technique of their art, he supported astrology by reconciling the existence of evil and of human freedom with a great influence of the stars and by his emphasis upon the importance of the figures made by the
^The references for the state- III, iv (p. 521); IV, iv (p. 813);
ments in this paragraph are in II, iii (p. 260) ; III, iv (p. 520) ;
the order of their occurrence: IV, 3 (p. 71 0 : in these cases the
Enncad, II, iii (pp. 257, 251-2) ; higher page-numbering is used.
XI NEO-PLATONISM 307
movements of the heavenly bodies above any purely physical effects of their bodies as such. Thus he reinforced the con- ception of occult virtue, always one of the chief pillars, if not the chief support, of occult science and magic. On the other hand, men were not likely to reform a language and technique sanctioned by as great an astronomer as Ptolemy merely because a Neo-Platonist questioned its propriety.
Although Plotinus denied that diseases were due to de- Porphyry's mons, vve once heard him speak of "demonic nature," and J^H^^^ ^^ one of the Enneads discusses Each man's own demon. Here, however, the discussion is limited to the power presiding in each human soul, and nothing is said of magic. For the con- nection of demons with magic and for the art of theurgy we must turn to the writings of Porphyry and lamblichus, and especially to The Letter to Aneho of Porphyry, who lived from about 233 to 305, and the reply thereto of the master Abammon, a work which is otherwise known as Liber de mysteriis} The attribution of the latter work to lamblichus, who died about 330, is based upon an anonymous assertion prefixed to an ancient manuscript of Proclus and upon the fact that Proclus himself quotes a passage from the De mys- teriis as the words of lamblichus. This attribution has been questioned, but if not by lamblichus, the work seems to be at least by some disciple of his with similar views." Other works of lamblichus are largely philosophical and mathe- matical; among the chief works of Porphyry, apart from his literary work in connection with Plotinus, were his com- mentaries on Aristotle and fifteen books against the Chris- tians.
The Letter to Anebo inquires concerning the nature of Its main the gods, the demons, and the stars; asks for an explana- ^^§""^^t- tion of divination and astrology, of the power of names and incantations; and questions the employment of invocations
^ Edited Venice, Aldine Press, lor's English translation, London,
1497 and 15 16; Oxford, 1678; by 1821.
G. Partliey, Berlin, 1857. In_ the * Carl Rasche, De lamblicho
following quotations from it I libri qui inscribitur de mysteriis
have usually adhered to T. Ta}^- auctore, Aschendorff, 191 1, 82 pp.
3o8
MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
Questions concerning divine natures.
and sacrifice. Other topics brought up are the rule of spirits over the world of nature, partitioned out among them for this purpose ; the divine inspiration or demoniacal possession of human beings ; and the occult sympathy between different things in the material universe. In especial the art of the- urgy, a word said to be used now for the first time by Por- phyry,^ is discussed. It may be roughly defined for the moment as a sort of pious necromancy or magical cult of the gods. Porphyry raises various objections to the procedure and logic of the theurgists, diviners, enchanters, and astrolo- gers, which lamblichus, as we shall henceforth call the au- thor of the De mysteriis as a matter of convenience if not of certainty, endeavors to answer, and to justify the art of theurgy.
We may first note the theory of demons which is elicited from lamblichus in response to Porphyry's trenchant and searching questions. The latter, declaring that ignorance and disingenuousness concerning divine natures are no less rep- rehensible than impiety and impurity, demands a scientific discussion of the gods as a holy and beneficial act. He asks why, if the divine power is infinite, indivisible, and incom- prehensible, different places and different parts of the body are allotted to different gods. Why, if the gods are pure in- tellects, they are represented as having passions, are wor- shiped with phallic ritual, and are tempted with invocations and sacred offerings? Why boastful speech and fantastic action are taken as indications of the divine presence; and why, if the gods dwell in the heavens, theurgists invoke only terrestrial and subterranean deities? How superior beings can be invoked with commands by their inferiors, why the Sun and Moon are threatened, why the man must be just and chaste who invokes spirits in order to secure unjust ends or gratify lust, and why the worshiper must abstain from animal food and not touch a corpse when sacrifices to the gods consist of the bodies of dead victims? Porphyry
' Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie grecque (1898), p. 599, citing Kroll, De oraculis Chaldaicis.
XI NEO-PLATONISM 309
wishes further an explanation of the various genera of gods, visible and invisible, corporeal and incorporeal, beneficent and malicious, aquatic and aerial. He wants to know whether the stars are not gods, how gods differ from demons, and what the distinction is between souls and heroes.
lamblichus in reply states that as heroes are elevated Orders of above souls, so demons are inferior and subservient to the belngg,^ gods and translate the infinite, ineffable, and invisible divine transcendent goodness into terms of visible forms, energy, and reason.^ He further distinguishes "the etherial, empy- rean, and celestial gods," and angels, archangels, and ar- chons.^ As for corporeal, visible, aerial, and aquatic gods, he affirms that the gods have no bodies and no particular allotments of space, but that natural objects participate in or are related to the gods etherially or aerially or aquatically, each according to its nature.^ "The celestial divinities," for example, "are not comprehended by bodies but contain bodies in their divine lives and energies. They are not themselves converted to body, but they have a body which is converted to its divine cause, and that body does not impede their intellectual and incorporeal perfection." ^ lamblichus denies that there are any maleficent gods, saying that "it is much better to acknowledge our inability to explain the occurrence of evil than to admit anything impossible and false concern- ings the gods." ^ But he admits the existence of both good and evil demons and makes of the latter a convenient scape- goat upon whom to saddle any inconsistencies or impurities in religious rites and magical ceremony.
lamblichus does not, however, hold the view of Apuleius Nature of that demons are subject to passions. They are impassive ^"^°"s. and incapable of suffering.^ He scorns the notion that even the worst demons can be allured by the vapors of animal sacrifice or that petty mortals can supply such beings with anything;'^ it is rather in the consumption of foul matter
* De mysieriis, I, 5. ° IV, 6.
*VIII, 2. n, 10.
'I, 9. ''V, 10-12. *I, 17 (Taylor's translation).
310 MAGIC AND EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE chap.
by pure fire in the act of sacrifice that they take delight. Demons are not, however, like the gods entirely separated from bodies. The world is divided up into prefectures among them and they are more or less inseparable from and identified with the natural objects which they govern.^ Thus they may serve to enmesh the soul in the bonds of matter and of fate, and to afflict the body with disease.^ Also the evil demons "are surrounded by certain noxious, blood- devouring, and fierce wild beasts," probably of the type of vampires and empousas.^ lamblichus further holds that there is a class of demons who are without judgment and reason, each of whom has some one function to perform and is not adapted to do anything else,* Such demons or forces in nature men may well address as superiors in invoking them, since they are superior to men in their one special function ; but when they have once been invoked, man as a rational being may also well issue commands to them as his irra- tional inferiors.^
The art of lamblichus also undertakes the defense of theurgy and theurgy. .
carefully distinguishes it from magic, as we shall soon see.
It is also different from science, since it does not merely em- ploy the physical forces of the natural universe,^ and from philosophy, since its ineffable works are beyond the reach of mere intelligence, and those who merely philosophize theoretically cannot hope for a theurgic union or communion with the gods."^ Even theurgists cannot as a rule endure the light of spiritual beings higher than heroes, demons, and angels,* and it is an exceedingly rare occurrence for one of them to be united with the supramundane gods.^ This theurgy, or "the art of divine works," operates by means of "arcane signatures" and "the power of inexplicable sym- bols." ^^ It is thus that lamblichus explains away most of the details in sacred rites and sacrifices to which Porphyry
' I, 20. ' IV, 10.
MI, 6. 'II, II.
"11,7. '11,3.
MV, I. 'V, 20.