Subject
Neoplatonism -- Early works to 1800 Books
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Proclus
The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol. 1 of 2) : $b translated from the Greek, to which a seventh book is added, in order to supply the deficiency of another book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since lost, also, a translation from the Greek of Proclus' Elements of theology, to which are added a translation of the treatise of Proclus, On providence and fate, a translation of extracts from his treatise, entitled, Ten doubts concerning providence, and a translation of extracts from his treatise on the subsistence of evil; as preserved in the Bibliotheca Gr. of Fabricus
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Porphyry
Select works of Porphyry : $b Containing his four books on abstinence from animal food; his treatise on the Homeric cave of the nymphs; and his Auxiliaries to the perception of intelligible natures. With an appendix, explaining the allegory of the wandering of Ulysses
"Select works of Porphyry : Containing his four books on abstinence from animal…." by Porphyry is a collection of philosophical treatises written in the 3rd century. It gathers his ethical case for abstaining from animal food, an allegorical interpretation of Homer’s Cave of the Nymphs, and brief auxiliaries for understanding intelligible realities, here presented in English with scholarly framing. The focus is Neoplatonic ethics and metaphysics aimed at a contemplative, purified life, with a translator’s appendix elaborating the Odyssey’s allegory. The opening of the volume presents a translator’s introduction that sketches Porphyry’s life, his role in transmitting and clarifying Platonism, and outlines the contents and aims of the included works. Then Book I of On Abstinence begins as a letter rebuking a friend (Firmus) for returning to meat-eating; Porphyry announces that he will answer the strongest objections—from Stoics, Peripatetics, Epicureans, and a polemicist named Clodius—and he summarizes their claims about justice, utility, law, sacrifice, medicine, population, and transmigration. He then marks off his true audience—those seeking a contemplative life—and argues that happiness is living according to intellect, which requires withdrawing from the senses and passions (especially those inflamed by diet), cultivating solitude and moderation, and choosing light, simple foods so the soul loosens its bond to the body and turns upward to intelligible being.
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