[235] See i. 8.15.
[236] As thought Plato in his Phaedrus; Cary, 56.
[237] The "infra-celestial vault," of Theodor of Asine.
[238] As said Plato, in his Phaedrus; Cary, 59.
[239] See v. 1.6.
[240] Gnostics.
[241] Pun on "koros," fulness, or son.
[242] Or, being satiated with good things.
[243] See Life of Plotinos, 18. Notice how well the chronological order works out. The former book (31) and the next (33) treat of the Gnostics, while this book treats of the philosophical principle of their practical aspect. Besides, it explains the Amelio-Porphyrian quarrel. Like all other difficulties of the time, it was about Gnosticism, and Amelius's dismissal meant that Plotinos rejected Egyptian Gnosticism, and Numenius's true position as a dualist stands revealed; but after Porphyry's departure, Plotinos harked back to it.
[244] We see here an assertion of the standpoint later asserted by Berkeley, Kant and Hegel that the mind cannot go outside itself, and that consequently it is the measure of all things. Kant's "thing-in-itself," a deduction from this, was already discovered by Plotinos in the result of the "bastard reasoning" process, which Hegel called "dialectic."