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Title$ An Essay on the Beautiful %rom the Greek of Plotinus, Author$ Plotinus, Translator$ Thomas Taylor,&elease 'ate$ (uly )*, )++, -EBook .),*/+0, #anguage$ English, Produced by &uth 1art
AN ESSAY ON THE BEAUTIFUL
by Plotinus
Translated by Thomas Taylor
#ondon " (ohn 2. 3atkins " )/ 4ecil 4ourt, 4haring 4ross &oad
1917
[Text Layout by a!"a Na!#yal $ No%e!be& '((9)
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
INT*O+U,TION
5t may seem wonderful that language, which is the only method of conveying our conce!tions, should, at the same time,
be an hindrance to our advancement in !hiloso!hy6 but the wonder ceases when we consider, that it is seldom studied as
the vehicle of truth, but is too fre7uently esteemed for its own sake, inde!endent of its connection with things. This
observation is remarkably verified in the Greek language6 which, as it is the only re!ository of ancient wisdom, has,
unfortunately for us, been the means of concealing, in shameful obscurity, the most !rofound researches and the
sublimest truths. That words, indeed, are not otherwise valuable than as subservient to things, must surely be
acknowledged by every liberal mind, and will alone be dis!uted by him who has s!ent the !rime of his life, and
consumed the vigour of his understanding, in verbal criticisms and grammatical trifles. And, if this is the case, every
lover of truth will only study a language for the !ur!ose of !rocuring the wisdom it contains6 and will doubtless wish to
make his native language the vehicle of it to others. %or, since all truth is eternal, its nature can never be altered by
trans!osition, though by this means its dress may be varied, and become less elegant and refined. Perha!s even this
inconvenience may be remedied by sedulous cultivation6 at least, the !articular inability of some, ought not to
discourage the well"meant endeavours of others. 3hoever reads the lives of the ancient 1eroes of Philoso!hy, must be
convinced that they studied things more than words, and that Truth alone was the ultimate object of their search6 and he
who wishes to emulate their glory and !artici!ate their wisdom, will study their doctrines more than their language, and
value the de!th of their understandings far beyond the elegance of their com!osition. The native charms of Truth will
ever be sufficient to allure the truly !hiloso!hic mind6 and he who has once discovered her retreats will surely
endeavour to fi8 a mark by which they may be detected by others.
But, though the mischief arising from the study of words is !rodigious, we must not consider it as the only cause of
darkening the s!lendours of Truth, and obstructing the free diffusion of her light. 'ifferent manners and !hiloso!hies
have e7ually contributed to banish the goddess from our realms, and to render our eyes offended with her celestial light.
1ence we must not wonder that, being indignant at the change, and !erceiving the em!ire of ignorance rising to
unbounded dominion, she has retired from the s!reading darkness, and concealed herself in the tran7uil and divinely
lucid regions of mind. %or we need but barely survey modern !ursuits to be convinced how little they are connected
with wisdom. 9ince, to describe the nature of some !articular !lace, the form, situation and magnitude of a certain city6
to trace the windings of a river to its source, or delineate the as!ect of a !leasant mountain6 to calculate the fineness of
the silkworm:s threads, and arrange the gaudy colours of butterflies6 in short, to !ursue matter through its infinite
divisions, and wander in its dark labyrinths, is the em!loyment of the !hiloso!hy in vogue. But surely the energies of
intellect are more worthy our concern than the o!erations of sense6 and the science of universals, !ermanent and fi8ed,
must be su!erior to the knowledge of !articulars, fleeting and frail. 3here is a sensible object to be found, which abides
for a moment the same6 which is not either rising to !erfection, or verging to decay6 which is not mi8ed and confused
with its contrary6 whose flowing nature no resistance can sto!, nor any art confine; 3here is the chemist who, by the
most accurate analy<ation can arrive at the !rinci!les of bodies6 or who, though he might be so lucky in his search as to
detect the atoms of 'emocritus, could by this means give res!ite to mental investigation; %or every atom, since endued
with figure, must consist of !arts, though indissolubly cemented together6 and the immediate cause of this cement must
be something incor!oreal or knowledge can have no stability and en7uiry no end. 3here, says 2r 1arris, is the
microsco!e which can discern what is smallest in nature; 3here the telesco!e which can see at what !oint in the
universe wisdom first began; 9ince, then, there is no !ortion of matter which may not be the subject of e8!eriments
without end, let us betake ourselves to the regions of mind, where all things are bounded in intellectual measure6 where
everything is !ermanent and beautiful, eternal and divine. #et us 7uit the study of !articulars, for that which is general
and com!rehensive, and through this, learn to see and recogni<e whatever e8ists.
3ith a view to this desirable end, 5 have !resented the reader with a s!ecimen of that sublime wisdom which first arose
in the colleges of the Egy!tian !riests, and flourished afterwards in Greece6 which was there cultivated by Pythagoras,
under the mysterious veil of numbers6 by Plato, in the graceful dress of !oetry6 and was systemati<ed by Aristotle, as far
as it could be reduced into scientific order6 which, after becoming in a manner e8tinct, shone again with its !ristine
s!lendour among the !hiloso!hers of the Ale8andrian school6 was learnedly illustrated with Asiatic lu8uriancy of style
by Proclus6 was divinely e8!lained by 5amblichus$ and !rofoundly delivered in the writings of Plotinus. 5ndeed, the
works of this last !hiloso!her are !articularly valuable to all who desire to !enetrate into the de!ths of this divine
wisdom. %rom the e8alted nature of his genius, he was called 5ntellect by his contem!oraries, and is said to have
com!osed his books under the influence of divine illumination. Por!hyry relates, in his life, that he was four times
united by an ineffable energy with the divinity6 which, however such an account may be ridiculed in the !resent age,
will be credited by everyone who has !ro!erly e8!lored the !rofundity of his mind. The facility and vehemence of his
com!osition was such, that when he had once conceived a subject, he wrote as from an internal !attern, without !aying
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
much attention to the orthogra!hy, or reviewing what he had written6 for the celestial vigour of his intellect rendered
him inca!able of trifling concerns, and in this res!ect, inferior to common understandings, as the eagle, which in its
bold flight !ierces the clouds, skims the surface of the earth with less ra!idity than the swallow. 5ndeed a minute
attention to trifles is inconsistent with great genius of every kind, and it is on this account that retirement is so
absolutely necessary to the discovery of truths of the first dignity and im!ortance6 for how is it !ossible to mi8 much
with the world, without imbibing the false and !uerile conce!tions of the multitude6 and without losing that true
elevation of soul which com!aratively des!ises every mortal concern; Plotinus, therefore, conscious of the
incorrectness of his writings arising from the ra!idity, e8uberance and daring sublimity of his thoughts, committed their
revision to his disci!le Por!hyry6 who, though inferior in de!th of thought to his master, was, on account of his
e8traordinary abilities, called by way of eminence the Philoso!her.
The design of the following discourse is to bring us to the !erce!tion of the beautiful itself, even while connected with a
cor!oreal nature, which must be the great end of all true !hiloso!hy and which Plotinus ha!!ily obtained. To a genius,
indeed, truly modern, with whom the crucible and the air"!um! are alone the standards of Truth, such an attem!t must
a!!ear ridiculous in the e8treme. 3ith these, nothing is real but what the hand can gras! or the cor!oreal eye !erceives,
and nothing useful but what !am!ers the a!!etite or fills the !urse6 but unfortunately, their !erce!tions, like 1omer:s
frail dreams, !ass through the ivory gate6 and are conse7uently em!ty and fallacious, and contain nothing belonging to
the vigilant soul. To such as these a treatise on the beautiful cannot be addressed6 since its object is too e8alted to be
a!!roached by those engaged in the im!urities of sense, and too bright to be seen by the eye accustomed to the
obscurity of cor!oreal vision. But it is alone !ro!er to him who is sensible that his soul is strongly marked with ruin by
its union with body6 who considers himself in the language of Em!edocles, as
"Heaven's exile, straying from the or of light"!
and who so ardently longs for a return to his true country, that to him, as to =lysses when fighting for 5thaca,
""lo# seems the fun to move, the hours to roll! His native home $ee%-imag'$ in his soul".-/0
But here it is re7uisite to observe that our ascent to this region of Beauty must be made by gradual advances, for, from
our association with matter, it is im!ossible to !ass directly, and without a medium, to such transcendent !erfection6 but
we must !roceed in a manner similar to those who !ass from darkness to the brightest light, by advancing from !laces
moderately enlightened, to such as are the most luminous of all. 5t is necessary therefore, that we should become very
familiar with the most abstract contem!lations6 and that our intellectual eye should be strongly irradiated with the light
of ideas which !recedes the s!lendours of the beautiful itself, like the brightness which is seen on the summit of
mountains !revious to the rising of the sun. >or ought it to seem strange, if it should be some time before even the
liberal soul can recogni<e the beautiful !rogeny of intellect as its kindred and allies6 for, from its union with body, it has
drunk dee! of the cu! of oblivion, and all its energetic !owers are stu!efied by the into8icating draught6 so that the
intelligible world, on its first a!!earance, is utterly unknown by us, and our recollection of its inhabitants entirely lost6
and we become familiar to =lysses on his first entrance into 5thaca, of whom 1omer says,
"&et ha$ his min$, thro' te$ious asen'e lost (he $ear rememran'e of his native 'oast".-)0
%or,
")o# all the lan$ another %ros%e't ore, Another %ort a%%eare$, another shore, An$ long-'ontinue$ #ays, an$ #in$ing
floo$s An$ un*no#n mountains 'ro#ne$ #ith un*no#n #oo$s"+
until the goddess of wisdom !urges our eyes from the mists of sense and says to each of us, as she did to =lysses,
")o# lift thy longing eyes, #hile , restore (he %leasing %ros%e't of thy native shore-"
%or then will
" - - - - the %ros%e't 'lear, (he mists $is%erse, an$ all the 'oast a%!ear.?
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
#et us then, humbly su!!licate the irradiations of wisdom, and follow Plotinus as our divine guide to the beatific vision
of the Beautiful itself6 for in this alone can we find !erfect re!ose, and re!air those destructive clefts and chinks of the
soul which its de!arture from the light of good, and its la!se into a cor!oreal nature, have introduced.
But before 5 conclude, 5 think it necessary to caution the reader not to mi8 any modern enthusiastic o!inions with the
doctrines contained in the following discourse6 for there is not a greater difference between substance and shade than
between ancient and modern enthusiasm. The object of the former was the highest good and su!reme beauty6 but that of
the latter is nothing more than a !hantom raised by bewildered imaginations, floating on the unstable ocean of o!inion,
the s!ort of the waves of !rejudice and blown about by the breath of factious !arty. #ike substance and shade, indeed
they !ossess a similitude in outward a!!earance, but in reality they are !erfect contraries6 for the one fills the mind with
solid and durable good, but the other with em!ty delusions6 which like the ever"running waters of the 'anaides, glide
away as fast as they enter, and leave nothing behind but the ruinous !assages through which they flowed.
5 only add, that the ensuing treatise is designed as a s!ecimen @if it should meet with encouragementA of my intended
mode of !ublishing all the works of Plotinus. The undertaking is, 5 am sensible, arduous in the e8treme6 and the
disci!les of wisdom are unfortunately few6 but, as 5 desire no other reward of my labour, than to have the e8!ense of
!rinting defrayed, and to see Truth !ro!agated in my native tongue6 5 ho!e those few will enable me to obtain the
com!letion of my desires. %or then, to ado!t the words of =lysses,
"(hat vie# vou'hsaf'$, let instant $eath sur%rise .ith ever-$uring sha$e these ha%%y eyes/"-B0
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
,ON,E*NIN- THE BEAUTIFUL
Beauty-C0 for the most !art, consists in objects of sight6 but it is also received through the ears, by the skilful
com!osition of words, and the consonant !ro!ortion of sounds6 for in every s!ecies of harmony, beauty is to be found.
And if we rise from sense into the regions of soul, we shall there !erceive studies and offices, actions and habits,
sciences and virtues, invested with a much larger !ortion of beauty. But whether there is above these, a still higher
beauty, will a!!ear as we advance in its investigation. 3hat is it then, which causes bodies to a!!ear fair to the sight,
sounds beautiful to the ear, and science and virtue lovely to the mind; 2ay we not en7uire after what manner they all
!artake of beauty; 3hether beauty is one and the same in all; Dr, whether the beauty of bodies is of one kind, and the
beauty of souls of another; And again, what these are, if they are two; Dr, what beauty is, if !erfectly sim!le, and one;
%or some things, as bodies, are doubtless beautiful, not from the natures of the subjects in which they reside, but rather
by some kind of !artici!ation6 but others again a!!ear to be essentially beautiful, or beauties themselves6 and such is the
nature of virtue. %or, with res!ect, to the same bodies, they a!!ear beautiful to one !erson, and the reverse of beauty to
another6 as if the essence of body were a thing different from the essence of beauty. 5n the first !lace then, what is that,
which, by its !resence, causes the beauty of bodies; #et us reflect, what most !owerfully attracts the eyes of beholders,
and sei<es the s!ectator with ra!turous delight6 for if we can find what this is, we may !erha!s use it as a ladder,
enabling us to ascend into the region of beauty, and survey its immeasurable e8tent.
5t is the general o!inion that a certain commensuration of !arts to each other, and to the whole, with the addition, of
colour, generates that beauty which is the object of sight6 and that in the commensurate and the moderate alone the
beauty of everything consists. But from such an o!inion the com!ound only, and not the sim!le, can be beautiful, the
single !arts will have no !eculiar beauty6 and will only merit that a!!ellation by conferring to the beauty of the whole.
But it is surely necessary that a lovely whole should consist of beautiful !arts, for the fair can never rise out of the
deformed. But from such a definition, it follows, that beautiful colours and the light of the sun, since they are sim!le
and do not receive their beauty from commensuration, must be e8cluded the regions of beauty. Besides, how, from such
an hy!othesis can gold be beautiful; Dr the glittering of night and the glorious s!ectacle of the stars; 5n like manner, the
most sim!le musical sounds will be foreign from beauty, though in a song wholly beautiful every note must be
beautiful, as necessary to the being of the whole. Again, since the same !ro!ortion remaining, the same face is to one
!erson beautiful and to another the reverse, is it not necessary to call the beauty of the commensurate one kind of beauty
and the commensuration another kind, and that the commensurate is fair by means of something else; But if transferring
themselves to beautiful studies and fair discourses, they shall assign as the cause of beauty in these the !ro!ortion of
measure, what is that which in beautiful sciences, laws or disci!lines, is called commensurate !ro!ortion; Dr in what
manner can s!eculations themselves be called mutually commensurate; 5f it be said because of the inherent concord, we
re!ly that there is a certain concord and consent in evil souls, a conformity of sentiment, in believing @as it is saidA that
tem!erance is folly and justice generous ignorance. 5t a!!ears, therefore, that the beauty of the soul is every virtue, and
this s!ecies of the beautiful !ossesses far greater reality than any of the su!erior we have mentioned. But after what
manner in this is commensuration to be found; %or it is neither like the symmetry in magnitude nor in numbers. And
since the !arts of the soul are many, in what !ro!ortion and synthesis, in what tem!erament of !arts or concord of
s!eculations, does beauty consist; #astly, of what kind is the beauty of intellect itself, abstracted from every cor!oreal
concern, and intimately conversing with itself alone;
3e still, therefore, re!eat the 7uestion, 3hat is the beauty of bodies; 5t is something which at first view !resents itself
to sense, and which the soul familiarly a!!rehends and eagerly embraces, as if it were allied to itself. But when it meets
with the deformed, it hastily starts from the view and retires abhorrent from its discordant nature. %or since the soul in
its !ro!er state ranks according to the most e8cellent essence in the order of things, when it !erceives any object related
to itself, or the mere vestige of a relation, it congratulates itself on the !leasing event, and astonished with the striking
resemblance-*0 enters dee! into its essence, and, by rousing its dormant !owers, at length !erfectly recollects its
kindred and allies. 3hat is the similitude then between the beauties of sense and that beauty which is divine; %or if
there be any similitude the res!ective objects must be similar. But after what manner are the two beautiful; %or it is by
!artici!ation of s!ecies that we call every sensible object beautiful. Thus, since everything void of form is by nature
fitted for its rece!tion, as far as it is destitute of reason and form it is base and se!arate from the divine reason, the great
fountain of forms6 and whatever is entirely remote from this immortal source is !erfectly base and deformed.-E0 And
such is matter, which my its nature is ever averse from the su!ervening irradiations of form. 3henever, therefore, form
accedes, it conciliates in amicable unity the !arts which are about to com!ose a whole6 for being itself one it is not
wonderful that the subject of its !ower should tend to unity, as far as the nature of a com!ound will admit. 1ence
beauty is established in multitude when the many is reduced into one, and in this case it communicates itself both to the
!arts and to the whole. But when a !articular one, com!osed from similar !arts, is received it gives itself to the whole,
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
without de!arting from the sameness and integrity of its nature. Thus at one and the same time it communicates itself to
the whole building and its several !arts6 and at another time confines itself to a single stone, and then the first
!artici!ation arises from the o!erations of art, but the second from the formation of nature. And hence body becomes
beautiful through the communion su!ernally !roceeding from divinity.
But the soul, by her innate !ower, than which nothing more !owerful, in judging its !ro!er concerns, when another soul
concurs in the decision, acknowledges the beauty of forms. And, !erha!s, its knowledge in this case arises from its
accommodating its internal ray of beauty to form, and trusting to this in its judgment6 in the same manner as a rule is
em!loyed in the decision of what is straight. But how can that which is inherent in body, accord with that which is
above body; #et us re!ly by asking how the architect !ronounces the building beautiful by accommodating the e8ternal
structure the fabric of his soul; Perha!s, because the outward building, when entirely de!rived of the stones, is no other
than the intrinsic form, divided by the e8ternal mass of matter, but indivisibly e8isting, though a!!earing in the many.
3hen, therefore, sense beholds the form in bodies, at strife with matter, binding and van7uishing its contrary nature,
and sees form gracefully shining forth in other forms, it collects together the scattered whole, and introduces it to itself,
and to the indivisible form within6 and renders it consonant, congruous and friendly to its own intimate form. Thus, to
the good man, virtue shining forth in youth is lovely because consonant to the true virtue which lies dee! in the soul.
But the sim!le beauty of colour arises, when light, which is something incor!oreal, and reason and form entering the
obscure involutions of matter, irradiates and forms its dark and formless nature. 5t is on this account that fire sur!asses
other bodies in beauty, because, com!ared with the other elements, it obtains the order of form6 for it is more eminent
than the rest, and is the most subtle of all, bordering, as it were, on an incor!oreal nature. And too, that though
im!ervious itself it is intimately received by others, for it im!arts heat, but admits no cold. 1ence it is the first nature
which is ornamented with colour, and is the source of it to others6 and on this account it beams forth e8alted like some
immaterial form. But when it cannot van7uish its subject, as !artici!ating but a slender light, it is no longer beautiful,
because it does not receive the whole form of colour. Again, the music of the voice rouses the harmony latent in the
soul, and o!ens her eye to the !erce!tion of beauty, e8isting in many the same. But it is the !ro!erty of the harmony
!erceived by sense, to be measured by numbers, yet not in every !ro!ortion of number or voice6 but in that alone which
is obedient to the !roduction, and con7uest of its s!ecies. And this much for the beauties of sense, which, like images
and shadows flowing into matter, adorn with s!ectacles of beauty its formless being, and strike the res!ective senses
with wonder and delight.
But it is now time, leaving every object of sense far behind, to contem!late, by a certain ascent, a beauty of a much
higher order6 a beauty not visible to the cor!oreal eye, but alone manifest to the brighter eye of the soul, inde!endent of
all cor!oreal aid. 1owever, since, without some !revious !erce!tion of beauty it is im!ossible to e8!ress by words the
beauties of sense, but we must remain in the state of the blind, so neither can we ever s!eak of the beauty of offices and
sciences, and whatever is allied to these, if de!rived of their intimate !ossession. Thus we shall never be able to tell of
virtue:s brightness, unless by looking inward we !erceive the fair countenance of justice and tem!erance, and are
convinced that neither the evening nor morning star are half so beautiful and bright. But it is re7uisite to !erceive
objects of this kind by that eye by which the soul beholds such real beauties. Besides it is necessary that whoever
!erceives this s!ecies of beauty, should be sei<ed with much greater delight, and more vehement admiration, than any
cor!oreal beauty can e8cite6 as now embracing beauty real and substantial. 9uch affections, 5 say, ought to be e8cited
about true beauty, as admiration and sweet astonishment6 desire also and love and a !leasant tre!idation. %or all souls,
as 5 may say, are affected in this manner about invisible objects, but those the most who have the strongest !ro!ensity to
their love6 as it likewise ha!!ens about cor!oreal beauty6 for all e7ually !erceive beautiful cor!oreal forms, yet all are
not e7ually e8cited, but lovers in the greatest degree.
But it may be allowable to interrogate those, who rise above sense, concerning the effects of love in this manner6 of
such we en7uire, what do you suffer res!ecting fair studies, and beautiful manners, virtuous works, affections, and
habits, and the beauty of souls; 3hat do you e8!erience on !erceiving yourselves lovely within; After what manner are
you roused as it were to a Bacchalian fury6 striving to converse with yourselves, and collecting yourselves se!arate
from the im!ediments of body; %or thus are true lovers enra!tured. But what is the cause of these wonderful effects. 5t
is neither figure, nor colour, nor magnitude6 but soul herself, fair through tem!erance, and not with the false gloss of
colour, and bright with the s!lendours of virtue herself. And this you e8!erience as often as you turn your eye inwards6
or contem!late the am!litude of another soul6 the just manners, the !ure tem!erance6 fortitude venerable by her noble
countenance6 and modesty and honesty walking with an intre!id ste!, and a tran7uil and steady as!ect6 and what crowns
the beauty of them all, constantly receiving the irradiations of a divine intellect.
5n what res!ect then, shall we call these beautiful; %or they are such as they a!!ear, nor did ever anyone behold them,
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
and not !ronounce them realities. But as yet reason desires to know how they cause the loveliness of the soul6 and what
that grace is in every virtue which beams forth to view like light; Are you then willing we should assume the contrary
!art, and consider what in the soul a!!ears deformed; for !erha!s it will facilitate our search, if we can thus find what is
base in the soul, and from whence it derives its original.
#et us su!!ose a soul deformed, to be one intem!erate and unjust, filled with a multitude of desires, a !rey to foolish
ho!es and ve8ed with idle fears6 through its diminutive and avaricious nature the subject of envy6 em!loyed solely in
thought of what is immoral and low, bound in the fetters of im!ure delights, living the life, whatever it may be, !eculiar
to the !assion of body6 and so totally merged in sensuality as to esteem the base !leasant, and the deformed beautiful
and fair. But may we not say, that this baseness a!!roaches the soul as an adventitious evil, under the !rete8t of
adventitious beauty6 which, with great detriment, renders it im!ure, and !ollutes it with much de!ravity6 so that it
neither !ossesses true life, nor true sense, but is endued with a slender life through its mi8ture of evil, and this worn out
by the continual de!redations of death6 no longer !erceiving the objects of mental vision, nor !ermitted any more to
dwell with itself, because ever hurried away to things obscure, e8ternal and low; 1ence, becoming im!ure, and being
on all sides snatched in the unceasing whirl of sensible forms, it is covered with cor!oreal stains, and wholly given to
matter, contracts dee!ly its nature, loses all its original s!lendour, and almost changes its own s!ecies into that of
another6 just as the !ristine beauty of the most lovely form would be destroyed by its total immersion in mire and clay.
But the deformity of the first arises from inward filth, of its own contracting6 of the second, from the accession of some
foreign nature. 5f such a one then desires to recover his former beauty, it is necessary to cleanse the infected !arts, and
thus by a thorough !urgation to resume his original form. 1ence, then if we assert that the soul, by her mi8ture,
confusion and commerce with body and matter, becomes thus base, our assertion will, 5 think, be right. %or the baseness
of the soul consists in not being !ure and sincere. And as the gold is deformed by the adherence of earthly clods, which
are no sooner removed than on a sudden the gold shines forth with its native !urity6 and then becomes beautiful when
se!arated from natures foreign from its own, and when it is content with its own !urity for the !ossession of beauty6 so
the soul, when se!arated from the sordid desires engendered by its too great immersion in body, and liberated from the
dominion of every !erturbation, can thus and thus only, blot out the base stains imbibed from its union with body6 and
thus becoming alone, will doubtless e8!el all the tur!itude contracted from a nature so o!!osite to its own.
5ndeed, as the ancient oracle declares, tem!erance and fortitude, !rudence and every virtue, are certain !urgatives of the
soul6 and hence the sacred mysteries !ro!hesy obscurely, yet with truth, that the soul not !urified lies in Tartarus,
immersed in filth. 9ince the im!ure is, from his de!ravity, the friend of filth, as swine, from their sordid body, delight in
mire alone.
%or what else is true tem!erance than not to indulge in cor!oreal delights, but to fly from their connection, as things
which are neither !ure, nor the offs!ring of !urity; And true fortitude is not to fear death6 for death is nothing more than
a certain se!aration of soul from body, and this he will not fear, who desires to be alone. Again, magnanimity is the
contem!t of every mortal concern6 it is the wing by which we fly into the regions of intellect. And lastly, !rudence is no
other than intelligence, declining subordinate objects6 and directing the eye of the soul to that which is immortal and
divine. The soul, thus defined, becomes form and reason, is altogether incor!oreal and intellectual, and wholly
!artici!ates of that divine nature, which is the fountain of loveliness, and of whatever is allied to the beautiful and fair.
1ence the soul reduced to intellect becomes astonishingly beautiful6 for as the lambent flame which a!!ears detached
from the burning wood, enlightens its dark and smoky !arts, so intellect irradiates and adorns the inferior !owers of the
soul, which, without its aid, would be buried in the gloom of formless matter. But intellect, and whatever emanates from
intellect, is not the foreign, but the !ro!er ornament of the soul, for the being of the soul, when absorbed in intellect, is
then alone real and true. 5t is, therefore, rightly said, that the beauty and good of the soul consists in her similitude to the
'eity! for from hence flows all her beauty, and her allotment of a better being. But the beautiful itself is that which is
called beings6 and tur!itude is of a different nature and !artici!ates more of non"entity than being.
But, !erha!s, the good and the beautiful are the same, and must be investigated by one and the same !rocess6 and in like
manner the base and the evil. And in the first rank we must !lace the beautiful, and consider it as the same with the
good6 from which immediately emanates intellect as beautiful. >e8t to this, we must consider the soul receiving its
beauty from intellect, and every inferior beauty deriving its origin from the forming !ower of the soul, whether
conversant in fair actions and offices, or sciences and arts. #astly, bodies themselves !artici!ate of beauty from the soul,
which, as something divine, and a !ortion of the beautiful itself, renders whatever it su!ervenes and subdues, beautiful
as far as its natural ca!acity will admit.
#et us, therefore, re"ascend to the good itself, which every soul desires6 and in which it can alone find !erfect re!ose.
3 / 13
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
%or if anyone shall become ac7uainted with this source of beauty he will then know what 5 say, and after what manner
he is beautiful. 5ndeed, whatever is desirable is a kind of good, since to this desire tends. But they alone !ursue true
good, who rise to intelligible beauty, and so far only tend to good itself6 as far as they lay aside the deformed vestments
of matter, with which they become connected in their descent. (ust as those who !enetrate into the holy retreats of
sacred mysteries, are first !urified and then divest themselves of their garments, until someone by such a !rocess,
having dismissed everything foreign from the God, by himself alone, beholds the solitary !rinci!le of the universe,
sincere, sim!le and !ure, from which all things de!end, and to whose transcendent !erfections the eyes of all intelligent
natures are directed, as the !ro!er cause of being, life and intelligence. 3ith what ardent love, with what strong desire
will he who enjoys this trans!orting vision be inflamed while vehemently affecting to become one with this su!reme
beautyF %or this it is ordained, that he who does not yet !erceive him, yet desires him as good, but he who enjoys the
vision is enra!tured with his beauty, and is e7ually filled with admiration and delight. 1ence, such a one is agitated with
a salutary astonishment6 is affected with the highest and truest love6 derides vehement affections and inferior loves, and
des!ises the beauty which he once a!!roved. 9uch, too, is the condition of those who, on !erceiving the forms of gods
or daemons, no longer esteem the fairest of cor!oreal forms. 3hat, then, must be the condition of that being, who
beholds the beautiful itself;
5n itself !erfectly !ure-G0, not confined by any cor!oreal bond, neither e8isting in the heavens, nor in the earth, nor to be
imaged by the most lovely form imagination can conceive6 since these are all adventitious and mi8ed, and mere
secondary beauties, !roceeding from the beautiful itself. 5f, then, anyone should ever behold that which is the source of
munificence to others, remaining in itself, while it communicates to all, and receiving nothing, because !ossessing an
ine8haustible fulness6 and should so abide in the intuition, as to become similar to his nature, what more of beauty can
such a one desire; %or such beauty, since it is su!reme in dignity and e8cellence, cannot fail of rendering its votaries
lovely and fair. Add too, that since the object of contest to souls is the highest beauty, we should strive for its
ac7uisition with unabated ardour, lest we should be deserted of that blissful contem!lation, which, whoever !ursues in
the right way, becomes blessed from the ha!!y vision6 and which he who does not obtain is unavoidably unha!!y. %or
the miserable man is not he who neglects to !ursue fair colours, and beautiful cor!oreal forms6 who is de!rived of
!ower, and falls from dominion and em!ire but he alone who is destitute of this divine !ossession, for which the am!le
dominion of the earth and sea and the still more e8tended em!ire of the heavens, must be relin7uished and forgot, if,
des!ising and leaving these far behind, we ever intend to arrive at substantial felicity, by beholding the beautiful itself.
3hat measures, then, shall we ado!t; 3hat machine em!loy, or what reason consult by means of which we may
contem!late this ineffable beauty6 a beauty abiding in the most divine sanctuary without ever !roceeding from its sacred
retreats lest it should be beheld by the !rofane and vulgar eye; 3e must enter dee! into ourselves, and, leaving behind
the objects of cor!oreal sight, no longer look back after any of the accustomed s!ectacles of sense. %or, it is necessary
that whoever beholds this beauty, should withdraw his view from the fairest cor!oreal forms6 and, convinced that these
are nothing more than images, vestiges and shadows of beauty, should eagerly soar to the fair original from which they
are derived. %or he who rushes to these lower beauties, as if gras!ing realities, when they are only like beautiful images
a!!earing in water, will, doubtless, like him in the fable, by stretching after the shadow, sink into the lake and
disa!!ear. %or, by thus embracing and adhering to cor!oreal forms, he is !reci!itated, not so much in his body as in his
soul, into !rofound and horrid darkness6 and thus blind, like those in the infernal regions, converses only with
!hantoms, de!rived of the !erce!tion of what is real and true. 5t is here, then, we may more truly e8claim, ?#et us
de!art from hence, and fly to our father:s delightful land?.-H0 But, by what leading stars shall we direct our flight, and
by what means avoid the magic !ower of 4irce, and the detaining charms of 4aly!so;-,0 %or thus the fable of =lysses
obscurely signifies, which feigns him abiding an unwilling e8ile, though !leasant s!ectacles were continually !resented
to his sight6 and everything was !romised to invite his stay which can delight the senses, and ca!tivate the heart. But our
true country, like that of =lysses, is from whence we came, and where our father lives. But where is the shi! to be
found by which we can accom!lish our flight; %or our feet are une7ual to the task since they only take us from one !art
of the earth to another. 2ay we not each of us say,
".hat shi%s have ,, #hat sailors to 'onvey, .hat oars to 'ut the long laorious #ay"--/+0
But it is in vain that we !re!are horses to draw our shi!s to trans!ort us to our native land. Dn the contrary, neglecting
all these, as une7ual to the task, and e8cluding them entirely from our view, having now closed the cor!oreal eye,-//0
we must stir u! and assume a !urer eye within, which all men !ossess, but which is alone used by a few. 3hat is it,
then, this inward eye beholds; 5ndeed, suddenly raised to intellectual vision, it cannot !erceive an object e8ceeding
bright. The soul must therefore be first accustomed to contem!late fair studies and then beautiful works, not such as
arise from the o!erations of art, but such as are the offs!ring of worthy men6 and ne8t to this it is necessary to view the
4 / 13
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
soul, which is the !arent of this lovely race. But you will ask, after what manner is this beauty of a worthy soul to be
!erceived; 5t is thus. &ecall your thoughts inward, and if while contem!lating yourself, you do not !erceive yourself
beautiful, imitate the statuary6 who when he desires a beautiful statue cuts away what is su!erfluous, smooths and
!olishes what is rough, and never desists until he has given it all the beauty his art is able to effect. 5n this manner must
you !roceed, by lo!!ing what is lu8uriant, directing what is obli7ue, and, by !urgation, illustrating what is obscure, and
thus continue to !olish and beautify your statue until the divine s!lendour of Iirtue shines u!on you, and Tem!erance
seated in !ure and holy majesty rises to your view. 5f you become thus !urified residing in yourself, and having nothing
any longer to im!ede this unity of mind, and no farther mi8ture to be found within, but !erceiving your whole self to be
a true light, and light alone6 a light which though immense is not measured by any magnitude, nor limited by any
circumscribing figure, but is everywhere immeasurable, as being greater than every measure, and more e8cellent than
every 7uantity6 if, !erceiving yourself thus im!roved, and trusting solely to yourself, as no longer re7uiring a guide, fi8
now steadfastly your mental view, for with the intellectual eye alone can such immense beauty be !erceived. But if your
eye is yet infected with any sordid concern, and not thoroughly refined, while it is on the stretch to behold this most
shining s!ectacle, it will be immediately darkened and inca!able of intuition, though someone should declare the
s!ectacle !resent, which it might be otherwise able to discern. %or, it is here necessary that the !erceiver and the thing
!erceived should be similar to each other before true vision can e8ist. Thus the sensitive eye can never be able to
survey, the orb of the sun, unless strongly endued with solar fire, and !artici!ating largely off the vivid ray. Everyone
therefore must become divine, and of godlike beauty, before he can ga<e u!on a god and the beautiful itself. Thus
!roceeding in the right way of beauty he will first ascend into the region of intellect, contem!lating every fair s!ecies,
the beauty of which he will !erceive to be no other than ideas themselves6 for all things are beautiful by the su!ervening
irradiations of these, because they are the offs!ring and essence of intellect. But that which is su!erior to these is no
other than the fountain of good, everywhere widely diffusing around the streams of beauty, and hence in discourse
called the beautiful itself because beauty is its immediate offs!ring. But if you accurately distinguish the intelligible
objects you will call the beautiful the rece!tacle of ideas6 but the good itself, which is su!erior, the fountain and
!rinci!le of the beautiful6 or, you may !lace the first beautiful and the good in the same !rinci!le, inde!endent of the
beauty which there subsists.-/)0
5 / 13
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
NOTES
/ Po!e:s 1omer:s 6$yssey, Book 8iii., ver. BG.
) 6$yssey, Book 8iii., ver. ))B.
B 6$yssey, Book vii., ver. B+B.
C 5t is necessary to inform the Platonical reader, that the Beautiful, in the !resent discourse, is considered according to
its most general acce!tation, as the same with the Good$ though, according to a more accurate distinction, as Plotinus
himself informs us, the Good is considered as the fountain and !rinci!le of the Beautiful. 5 think it likewise !ro!er to
observe, that as 5 have endeavoured, by my !ara!hrase, to render as much as !ossible the obscure !arts evident, and to
e8!and those sentences which are so very much contracted in the original, 5 shall be s!aring of notes6 for my design is
not to accommodate the sublimest truths to the meanest understandings @as this would be a contem!tible and useless
!rostitutionA, but to render them !ers!icuous to truly liberal and !hiloso!hic minds. 2y reasons for ado!ting this mode
of !ara!hrase, may be seen in the !reface to my translation of 6r%heus's Hymns-
* ?Enters dee! into its essence,? etc. The Platonic Philoso!hy insists much on the necessity of retiring into ourselves in
order to the discovery of truth6 and on this account 9ocrates, in the first Al'iia$es, says that the soul entering into
herself will contem!late whatever e8ists and the divinity himself. =!on which Proclus thus comments, with his usual
elegance and de!th @in (heol- Plat, !. GA$ ?%or the soul,? says he, ?contracting herself wholly into a union with herself,
and into the centre of universal life, and removing the multitude and variety of all"various !owers, ascends into the
highest !lace of s!eculation, from whence she will survey the nature of beings. %or if she looks back u!on things
!osterior to her essence, she will !erceive nothing but the shadows and resemblances of beings6 but if she returns into
herself she will evolve her own essence, and the reasons she contains. And at first indeed she will, as it were, only
behold herself6 but when by her knowledge she !enetrates more !rofoundly in her investigations she will find intellect
seated in her essence and the universal orders of beings6 but when she advances into the more interior recesses of
herself, and as it were into the sanctuary of the soul, she will be enabled to contem!late, with her eyes closed to
cor!oreal vision, the genus of the gods and the unities of beings. %or all things reside in us, after a manner
corres!ondent to the nature of the soul6 and on this account we are naturally enabled to know all things, by e8citing our
inherent !owers and images of whatever e8ists.?
E ?And such is matter,? etc. There is nothing affords more wonderful s!eculation than matter, which ranks as the last
among the universality of things, and has the same relation to being as shade to substance. %or, as in an ascending series
of causes it is necessary to arrive at something, which is the first cause of all, and to which no !erfection is wanting6 so
in a descending series of subjects, it is e7ually necessary we should sto! at some general subject, the lowest in the order
of things, and to which every !erfection of being is denied. But let us hear the !rofound and admirable descri!tion
which Plotinus gives us of matter @lib. vi., Ennead BA, and of which the following is a !ara!hrase$ ?9ince matter,? says
he, ?is neither soul, nor intellect, nor life, nor form, nor reason, nor bound, but a certain indefiniteness6 nor yet ca!acity,
for what can it !roduce; 9ince it is foreign from all these, it cannot merit the a!!ellation of being, but is deservedly
called non"entity. >or yet is it non"entity in the manner as motion or station6 but it is true non"entity, the mere shadow
and imagination of bulk and the desire of subsistence6 abiding without station, of itself invisible, and avoiding the desire
of him who wishes to !erceive its nature. 1ence, when no one !erceives it, it is then in a manner !resent, but cannot be
viewed by him who strives intently to behold it. Again, in itself contraries always a!!ear, the small and the great, the
less and the more, deficience and e8cess. 9o that it is a !hantom, neither abiding nor yet able to fly away6 ca!able of no
one denomination and !ossessing no !ower from intellect, but constituted in the defect and shade, as it were, of all real
being. 1ence, too, in each of its vanishing a!!ellations it eludes our search6 for if we think of it as something great, it is
in the meantime small6 if as something more, it becomes less6 and the a!!arent being which we meet with in its image is
non"being, and as it were a flying mockery. 9o that the forms which a!!ear in matter are merely ludicrous, shadows
falling u!on shadow, as in a mirror, where the !osition of a thing is different from its real situation6 and which, though
a!!arently full of forms, !ossesses nothing real and true""but imitations of being and semblances flowing about a
formless semblance. They a!!ear, indeed, to affect something in the subject matter, but in reality !roduce nothing6 from
their debile and flowing nature being endued with no solidity and no rebounding !ower. And since matter, likewise, has
no solidity they !enetrate it without division, like images in water, or as if anyone should fill a vacuum with forms.?
G ?5n itself !erfectly !ure.? This is analogous to the descri!tion of the beautiful in the latter !art of 'iotima:s 9!eech in
17 / 13
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
the Ban8uet6 a s!eech which is surely une7ualled, both for elegance of com!osition and sublimity of sentiment. 5ndeed,
all the disci!les of Plato are remarkable for nothing so much as their !rofound and e8alted conce!tions of the 'eity6 and
he who can read the works of Plotinus and Proclus in !articular, and afterwards !ity the weakness and erroneousness of
their o!inions on this subject, may be fairly !resumed to be himself e7ually an object of !ity and contem!t.
H ?#et us de!art,? etc., vi$e 1om., ,lia$, lib. ii., /C+, et lib. i8., )G.
, Por!hyry informs us in his e8cellent treatise, 9e Antro )ym%h, that it was the o!inion of >umenius, the Pythagorean
@to which he also assentsA, that the !erson of =lysses in the 6$yssey, re!resents to us a man, who !asses in a regular
manner, over the dark and stormy sea of generation6 and thus, at length, arrives at that region where tem!ests and seas
are unknown, and finds a nation who
")e'er *ne# salt, or hear$ the illo#s roar-"
5ndeed, he who is conscious of the delusions of the !resent life and the enchantments of this material house, in which
his soul is detained like =lysses in the irriguous cavern of 4aly!so, will like him continually bewail his ca!tivity, and
inly !ine for a return to his native country. Df such a one it may be said as of =lysses @in the e8cellent and !athetic
translation of 2r Po!eA$
?But sad =lysses by himself a!art Pour:d the big sorrows of his swelling heart, All on the lonely shore he sate to wee!
And roll:d his eyes around the restless dee! Tow:rd the lov:d coast he roll:d his eyes in vain Till, dimmed with rising
grief, they stream:d again.? 6$yssey, book v., /+B.
9uch a one too, like =lysses, will not always wish in vain for a !assage over the dark ocean of a cor!oreal life, but by
the assistance of 2ercury, who may be considered as the emblem of reason, he will at length be enabled to 7uit the
magic embraces of 4aly!so, the Goddess of 5magination, and to return again into the arms of Penelo!e, or Philoso!hy,
the long lost and !ro!er object of his love.
/+ 9ee Po!e:s 1omer:s 6$yssey, book v., /H).
// ?3e must stir u! and assume a !urer eye within.? This inward eye is no other than intellect, which contains in its
most inward recesses a certain ray of light, !artici!ated from the sun of Beauty and Good, by which the soul is enabled
to behold and become united with her divinely solitary original. This divine ray, or, as Proclus calls it, mark or
im!ression, is thus beautifully described by that !hiloso!her :(heol- Plat, !. /+*A$ ?The Author of the =niverse,? says
he, ?has !lanted in all beings im!ressions of his own !erfect e8cellence, and through these he has !laced all beings
about himself, and is !resent with them in an ineffable manner, e8em!t from the universality of things. 1ence, every
being entering into the ineffable sanctuary of its own nature finds there a symbol of the %ather of all. And by this
mystical im!ression which corres!onds to his nature they become united with their original, divesting themselves of
their own essence and hastening to become his im!ression alone6 and, through a desire of his unknown nature and of the
fountain of good, to !artici!ate in him alone. And when they have ascended as far as to this cause they enjoy !erfect
tran7uillity and are conversant in the !erce!tion of his divine !rogeny and of the love which all things naturally !ossess,
and goodness, unknown, ineffable, without !artici!ation and transcendently full.?
/) But before 5 take my leave of Plotinus, 5 cannot refrain from addressing a few words to the Platonical !art of my
readers. 5f such then is the wisdom contained in the works of this !hiloso!her, as we may conclude from the !resent
s!ecimen, is it fit so divine a treasure should be concealed in shameful oblivion; 3ith res!ect to true !hiloso!hy you
must be sensible that all modern sects are in a state of barbarous ignorance6 for 2aterialism and its attendant 9ensuality
have darkened the eyes of the many with the mists of error, and are continually strengthening their cor!oreal tie. And
can anything more effectually dissi!ate this increasing gloom than discourses com!osed by so sublime a genius,
!regnant with the most !rofound conce!tions, and everywhere full of intellectual light; 4an anything so thoroughly
destroy the !hantom of false enthusiasm as establishing the real object of the true; #et us then boldly enlist ourselves
under the banners of Plotinus, and, by his assistance, vigorously re!el the encroachments of error, !lunge her dominions
into the abyss of forgetfulness, and dis!erse the darkness of her baneful night. %or indeed there never was a !eriod
which re7uired so much !hiloso!hic e8ertion, or such vehement contention from the lovers of Truth. Dn all sides
nothing of !hiloso!hy remains but the name, and this is become the subject of the vilest !rostitution6 since it is not only
engrossed by the naturalist, chemist, and anatomist, but is usur!ed by the mechanic in every trifling invention, and
11 / 13
Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
made subservient to the lucre of traffic and merchandise. There cannot surely be a greater !roof of the degeneracy of the
times than so un!aralleled a degradation and so barbarous a !erversion of terms. %or the word !hiloso!hy, which
im!lies the love of wisdom, is now become the ornament of folly. 5n the times of its inventor, and for many succeeding
ages, it was e8!ressive of modesty and worth6 in our days it is the badge of im!udence and vain !retensions. 5t was
formerly the symbol of the !rofound contem!lative genius, it is now the mark of the su!erficial and unthinking
!ractitioner. 5t was once reverenced by kings and clothed in the robes of nobility6 it is now @according to its true
acce!tationA abandoned and des!ised and ridiculed by the vilest !lebeian. Permit me, then, my friends, to address you in
the words of Achilles to 1ector$
";ouse, then, your for'es this im%ortant hour, <olle't your strength an$ 'all forth all your %o#'r-"
9ince, to ado!t the animated language of >e!tune to the Greeks,
" - - - 6n $astar$s, $ea$ to fame, , #aste no anger, for they feel no shame, But you, the %ri$e, the flo#er of all our host,
=y heart #ee%s loo$, to see your glory lost-"
>or deem the e8hortation im!ertinent, and the danger groundless$
">or lo/ the fate$ time, th' a%%ointe$ shore, Har*, the gates urst, the ra?en arriers roar-"
5m!etuous ignorance is thundering at the bulwarks of !hiloso!hy and her sacred retreats are in danger of being
demolished, through our feeble resistance. &ise then, my friends, and the victory will be ours. The foe is indeed
numerous, but at the same time feeble6 and the wea!ons of truth in the hands of vigorous union, descend with
irresistible force, and are fatal wherever they fall.
@(rans'rier's notes+ , have ma$e minor 'hanges to the %un'tuation an$ the format of the notes- , have also ma$e the
follo#ing s%elling 'hanges+ "%o#erfully atta'ts" to "%o#erfully attra'ts" - "'onverses only #ith %lantoms" to
"'onverses only #ith %hantoms"A
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Plotinus - An Essay on the Beautiful
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