SECTION X.

CHAP. I.
It now remains, in the last place, that we should speak concerning felicity, about which you make various inquiries, first of all propos- ing objections, afterwards doubting, and then interrogating. Adducing, therefore, all that is said by you, we shall answer it appropriately. You inquire, then, ''whether there is not some other latent way to felicity'' But how, in that path which recedes from the Gods, is it proba- ble there can be an ascent to felicity? For if the essence and perfection of all good are com- prehended in the Gods, and the first and an- cient power of them is with us priests, and if by those who similarly adhere to more excel- lent natures, and genuinely obtain a union with them, the beginning and end of all good is earnestly pursued ; if this be the case, here the contemplation of truth, and the possession
328
of intellectual science are to be found.* And a knowledge of the Gods is accompanied with a conversion to, and the knowledge of, our- selves.
CHAP. II.
Hence you in vain doubt, “ that it is not proper to look to human opinions.'^ For what leisure can he have whose intellect is directed to the Gods to look downward to the praises of men ? Nor do you rightly doubt in what follows, viz. “ that the soul devises great things from casual circumstances!^ For w^hat principle of fictions can there be in truly existing beings 1 Is it not the phantastic power in us which is the maker of images X But the phantasy is never excited ivhen the intellectual life energizes perfectly. And is not truth essentially coexistent with the Gods ? Is it not, likewise, concordantly established in intelligibles ? It is in vain, there- fore, that things of this kind are disseminated by you and others. But neither do those
* In the original evravOa 8rj ovv Kai rj rrj^ aX.rjd€ias Trapes L 6ea, Kai rj Ti]s voepa's But instead of r] Tr]
a7n^'i]pr) ] KTr^cris T7]s voepas
329
things for which certain futile and arrogant men calumniate the worshipers of the Gods, the like to which have been asserted by you, at all pertain to true theology and theurgy, xlnd if certain things of this kind germinate in the sciences of divine concerns, as in other arts evil arts blossom forth ; these are doubtless more contrary to such sciences than to any thing else. For evil is more hostile to good than to that which is not good.
CHAP. III.
I WISH, in the next place, to reply to such assertions as calumniate divine prediction. For you compare with it “ certain other methods ivhich are conversant with the prediction of future events!' To me, however, it does not appear to be any thing honourable if a certain natural aptitude is ingenerated in us to the in- dication of the future, just as in animals there is a foreknowledge of earthquakes, or winds, or tempests. For an innate presage of this kind is the consequence of acuteness of sensa- tion, or sympathy, or some other conjoint motion of the physical powers, and is not attended with any thing venerable and super- natural. Nor if some one, by human reasoning,
330
or artificial observation, conjectures from signs those things of which the signs are indicative (as physicians foreknow that a fever will take place from the systole and torpor of the pulse), neither does he appear to me to possess any thing honourable and good. For he conjec- tures after a human manner, and concludes from our reasoning power about things which are acknowledged to be effected naturally, and forms a judgment not very remote from the corporeal-formed order. Hence, if there is in us a certain natural presentiment of the future, in the same manner as in all other animals, this power is clearly seen to energize ; this pre- sentiment does not in reality possess any thing which is most blessed. For what is there among the things which are implanted in us - by nature in the realms of generation that is a genuine, perfect, and eternal good ?
CHAP. IV.
Divine divination, therefore, which is con- joined with the Gods, alone truly imparts to us a divine life ; since it participates of [divine] foreknowledge, and divine intellections, and renders us in reality divine. It likewise causes us to be genuine participants of the good, be-
I
331
cause the most blessed intellectual perception of the Gods is filled with all good. Hence those who possess this divination “ do not” as you conjecture, foresee future events, and are nevertheless unhappy.” For all divine foreknow- ledge is honiform. Nor “ do they foresee, in- deed, what is future, hut do not know how to ^Lse this hnoivledge properly,” For, together with the foreknowledge, they receive the beau- tiful itself, and true and appropriate order : and utility is also present with it. For the Gods, in conjunction with it, deliver a transcendent power of defence against the inconveniences which accede from nature. And when it is necessary to exercise virtue, and the ignorance of future events contributes to this, then the Gods conceal what will be for the sake of ren- dering the soul better. But when the igno- rance of what is future does not at all con- tribute to this, and foreknowledge is advan- tageous to souls, for the sake of their salvation and reascent [to divinity], then the Gods insert the foreknowledge which pertains to divination in the penetralia of the essences of souls.
332
i
CHAP. V.
But why am I prolix about these particulars ? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to 'point out to 'you the way to felicity, and sJioiv you in ivhat the essence of it is placed.''' For from this the truth will be discovered, and at the same time all the doubts may be easily dissolved. I say, therefore, that the more divine * intelligible man, who was formerly united to the Gods by the vision of them, afterwards entered into an- other soul, which is coadapted to the human form, and through this became fettered with the bonds of necessity and fate. Hence it is requi- site to consider how he may be liberated from these bonds. There is, therefore, no other dissolu- tion of them than the knowledge of the Gods. For to know scientifically the good is the idea of felicity ; just as the oblivion of good, and de- ception about evil, happen to be the idea of evil. The former, therefore, is present with divinity;, but the latter, which is an inferior destiny, is inseparable from the mortal nature.
* For dmTos here, I read ^ewre/aos.
333
And the former, indeed, measures the essences of intelligibles* by sacred ways ; hut the latter, abandoning principles, gives itself up to the measurement of the idea of body. The former is a knowledge of the father ; but the latter is a departure from him, and an oblivion of the God who is a superessential father, and suffi- cient to himself. The former, likewise, pre- serves the true life of the soul, and leads it back to its father; but the latter draws down the generation-rulingt man, as far as to that which is never permanent, but is always flow- ing. You must understand, therefore, that this is the flrst path to felicity, affording to souls an intellectual plenitude of divine union. But the sacerdotal and theurgic gift of felicity is called, indeed, the gate to the Demiurgus of wholes, or the seat, or palace, of the good. In the first place, likewise, it possesses a power of purifying the soul, much more perfect than the power which purifies the body ; after- wards it causes a coaptation of the reasoning power to the participation and vision of the
* In the original, by a strange mistake, twv dv'qTiav is in- serted here instead of tcov vorjTwv, which is obviously the true reading. The version of Gale also has intelligibilium.
t i. e. Man, considered as a rational soul, connected with the irrational life ; for this man has dominion in the realms of generation.
334
good, and a liberation from every thing of a contrary nature ; and, in the last place, pro- duces a union with the Gods, who are the givers of every good.
CHAP. YI.
Moreovee, after it has conjoined the soul to the several parts of the universe, and to the total divine powers which pass through it ; then it leads the soul to, and deposits it in, the whole Demiurgus, and causes it to be in- dependent of all matter, and to be counited with the eternal reason alone. But my mean- ing is, that it peculiarly connects the soul with the self-begotten and self-moved God, and with the all-sustaining, intellectual, and all-adorning powers of the God, and likewise with that power of him which elevates to truth, and with his self-perfect, effective, and other demiui'gic powers ; so that the theurgic soul becomes per- fectly established in the energies and demiurgic intellections of these powers. Then, also, it inserts the soul in the whole demiurgic God. And this is the end with the Egyptians of the sacerdotal elevation of the soul to divinity.
335
CHAP. VII.
With respect to the good, likewise, they con- ceive that one kind is divine, and this is the God who is prior to the intelligible; but that the other is human, and is a union with the former. And these two kinds of good Bitys has unfolded from the Hermaic books. This part, therefore, is not, as you suspect, omitted by the Egyptians, but is divinely delivered by them. Nor do “ theur gists disturb the divine intellect about trifling concerns ; ” but they con- sult it about things which pertain to the purifi- cation, liberation, and salvation of the soul. Neither do they studiously employ themselves in things which are indeed difficult, yet useless to mankind ; hut, on the contraiy, they direct their attention to things which are of all others most beneficial to the soul. Nor, in the last place, are “ they deceived by a certain fraudu- lent dcemon,’' who, having vanquished a falla- cious and dsemoniacal nature, ascend to an in- telligible and divine essence.
336
CHAP. YIII.
And thus we have answered, to the utmost of our ability, your inquiries concerning divination and theurgy. It remains, therefore, at the end of this discussion, that I should beseech the Gods to afford me an immutable guard of true conceptions, to insert in me truth eternally, and to supply me abundantly with the participation of more perfect conceptions of the Gods, in which the most blessed end of our good is posited, and the confirmation of our concordant friendship with each other.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Page 9- Aneho. Porphyry in his Life of Plotinus, and also in the second book of his Treatise on Abstinence from Animals, informs us that he was familiar with a certain Egyptian priest, who, as Gale conjectures, is probably the priest to whom Porphyry now writes. The diction, indeed, as Gale observes, denotes that the person to whom this Epistle is addressed was a very great prophet, who, never- theless, is afterwards said to be a priest. This, however, is not any thing novel or incongruous. For by Apuleius in Metamorph. lib. xi. the Egyptian Zaclas is said to be pro- pheta priiyiarius et sacerdos, a chief prophet and priest.
Page 9- Hennes the God who presides over language. The Egyptians celebrated two Hermes, the former of which is here signified by lamblichus. This deity is the source of invention, and hence he is said to be the son of Maia ; be- cause search, which is implied by Maia, leads inveyition into light. He bestows too mathesis on souls, by unfolding the will of his father Jupiter ; and this he accomplishes as the angel or messenger of Jupiter. Proclus in MS. Comment, in Alcibiad. observes, “ that this deity is the inspective guardian of gymnastic exercises ; and hence hermoe, or carved statues of Mercury, were placed in the Palaestrae ; of music, and hence he is honoured as the lyrist kvpaios among the celestial constellations ; and of disciplines, because the invention of geometry, reasoning, and discourse is referred to this God. He presides, therefore, over every species of erudition, leading us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls, and dispersing the sleep and oblivion with which they are oppressed. He is likewise the supplier of recollection, the end of which is a genuine intellectual apprehension of divine natures.”
P. 10. The ancient pillars of Hermes. These pillars, according to Amm. Marcellinus, lib. xxii. were concealed prior to the deluge in certain caverns, which were called
Z
338
a-vpiyyes, s^ringex, not far from the Egyptian Thebes. The second Hermes interpreted these pillars^ and his interpreta- tion formed many volumes, as lamblichus informs us in