[11] Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 327.
[12] The vegetative soul, the power that presides over the nutrition and growth of the body; see iv. 3.23.
[13] See i. 8; also Numenius, 16.
[14] i. 2.4.
[15] Cicero, Tusculans. ii. 7.
[16] The animal; see i. 1.10.
[17] See i. 1.8, 10.
[18] See the Theataetus, p. 176. Carv. 84; the Phaedo. p. 69, Cary, 37; the Republic, vi. p. 509; Cary, 19; x. p. 613, Cary, 12; the Laws, iv. p. 716, Cary, 8; also Plotinos i. 2.1.
[19] See i. 9.
[20] A Stoic confutation of Epicurus and the Gnostics. As soon as Porphyry has left him, Plotinos harks back to Amelius, on whose leaving he had written against the Gnostics. He also returns to Numenian thoughts. Bouillet notices that here Plotinos founded himself on Chrysippus, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus, and was followed by Nemesius. This new foundation enabled him to assume a rather independent attitude. Against Plato, he taught that matter derived existence from God, and that the union of the soul and body is not necessarily evil. Against Aristotle, he taught that God is not only the final, but also the efficient cause of the universe. Against the Stoics, he taught that the human soul is free, and is a cause, independent of the World Soul from which she proceeded. Against the Gnostics, he insisted that the creator is good, the world is the best possible, and Providence extends to mundane affairs. Against the Manicheans, he taught that the evil is not positive, but negative, and is no efficient cause, so that there is no dualism.