Among doctrines said to be handed down from the ancient philosophers[599] are the ascents and descents of souls[600] and the migrations of souls into bodies other than human.[601] The soul is a number.[602]
Moreover, Plotinos wrote a book on the Incorruptibility of the soul,[603] as Numenius had done;[604] and both authors discuss the incorporeity of qualities.[605]
Besides these passages where there is a definite expression of dependence on earlier sources, there are two in which the verbal similarity[606] is striking enough to justify their being considered references: "Besides, no body could subsist without the power of the universal Soul." "Because bodies, according to their own nature, are changeable, inconstant, and infinitely divisible, and nothing unchangeable remains in them, there is evidently need of a principle that would lead them, gather them, and bind them fast together; and this we name soul."[607] This similarity is so striking that it had already been observed and noted by Bouillet. Compare "We consider that all things called essences are composite, and that not a single one of them is simple," with "Numenius, who believes that everything is thoroughly mingled together, and that nothing is simple."[608]
5. UNCERTAIN INDEBTEDNESS OF PLOTINOS.
As Plotinos does not give exact quotations and references, it is difficult always to give their undoubted source. As probably Platonic we may mention the passage about the universal Soul taking care of all that is inanimate;[609] and "When one has arrived at individuals, they must be abandoned to infinity."[610] Also other quotations.[611] The line "It might be said that virtues are actualizations,"[612] might be Aristotelian. We also find:[613] "Thus, according to the ancient maxim, 'Courage, temperance, all the virtues, even prudence, are but purifications.'" "That is the reason that it is right to say that the 'soul's welfare and beauty lie in assimilating herself to the divinity.'" This sounds Platonic, but might be Numenian.
In this connection it might not be uninteresting to note passages in Numenius which are attributed to Plato, but which are not to be identified: "O Men, the Mind which you dimly perceive is not the First Mind; but before this Mind is another one, which is older and diviner." "That the Good is One."[614]
We turn now to thoughts found identically in Plotinos and Numenius, although no textual identity is to be noted. We may group these according to the subject, the universe, and the soul.
6. PARTICULAR SIMILARITIES.
God is supreme king.[615] Eternity is now, but neither past nor future.[616] The King in heaven is surrounded by leisure.[617] The Good is above Being;[618] the divinity is the unity above the "Being and Essence;[619] and connected with this is the unitary interpretation of the name A-pollo,[620] following in the footsteps of Plutarch. Nevertheless, the inferior divinity traverses the heavens,[621] in a circular motion.[622] While Numenius does not specify this motion as circular,[623] it is implied, inasmuch as the creator's passing through the heavens must have followed their circular course. With this perfect motion is connected the peculiar Numenian doctrine of inexhaustible giving,[624] which gave a philosophical basis for the old simile of radiation of light,[625] so that irradiation is the method of creation,[626] and this is not far removed from emanationism. This process consists of the descent of the intelligible into the material, or, as Numenius puts it, that both the intelligible and the perceptible participate in the ideas.[627] Thus intelligence is the uniting principle that holds together the bodies whose tendency is to split up, and scatter,[628] making a leakage or waste,[629] which process invades even the divinity.[630] This uniting of scattering elements produces a mixture or mingling,[608] of matter and reason,[631] which, however, is limited to the energies of the existent, not to the existent itself.[632] All things are in a flow,[633] and the whole all is in all.[634] The divinity creates by glancing at the intelligence above,[635] as a pilot.[636] The divinity is split by over-attention to its charges.[637]
This leads us over to consideration of the soul. The chief effort of Numenius is a polemic against the materialism of the Stoics, and to it Plotinos devotes a whole book.[638] All souls, even the lowest, are immortal.[639] Even qualities are incorporeal.[640] The soul, therefore, remains incorporeal.[641] The soul, however, is divisible.[642] This explains the report that Numenius taught not various parts of the soul,[643] but two souls, which would be opposed by Plotinos in his polemic against the Stoics,[644] but taught in another place.[645] Such divisibility is indeed implied in the formation of presentation as a by-product,[646] or a "common part."[647] Moreover, the soul has to choose its own demon, or guardian divinity.[648] Salvation as a goal appears in Numenius,[649] but not in Plotinos, who opposes the Gnostic idea of the "saved souls,"[650] though elsewhere he speaks of the paths of the musician,[651] lover[652] and philosopher[653] in reaching ecstasy.[654] Still both Gnostics and Plotinos insisted on the need of a savior.[655] Memory is actualization of the soul.[656] In the highest ecstasy the soul is alone with the alone.[657]