Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 204 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-ar
It must also be observed, that this MS.
of Psellus On Dæmons forms no part of his treatise On the Energy of Dæmons , published by Gaulminus; for it never was published.
94 .
Hence Iamblichus (apud Stob.
Eclog.
Phys.
p.
114), says, Ουχ η αυτη εστι πασων ψυχων κοινωνια προς τα σωματα.
αλλ’ η μεν ολη ωσπερ Πλωτινῳ δοκει, προσιον εαυτῃ το σωμα εχει εν εαυτῃ, αλλ’ ουκ αυτη προσεισι τῳ σωματι, ουδε περιεχεται υπ’ αυτου.
αι δε μερισται προσερχονται τοις σωμασι, και των σωματων γιγνονται.
i.
e.
“There is not the same communion of all souls with bodies; but the soul which ranks as a whole (as it also appeared to Plotinus), approaching to itself, contains body in itself, but does not itself approach to body, nor is comprehended by it.
Partible souls, however, accede to bodies, and give themselves up to them.” Conformably to this Porphyry also, in his Αφορμαι προς τα νοητα , No.
30, says, “No whole and perfect essence is converted to its own progeny; but all perfect natures are led back to the causes by which they were generated, even as far as to the mundane body.
For this body, being perfect, is elevated to the mundane soul which is intellectual, and through this is circularly moved.
But the soul of this body is elevated to intellect, and intellect to that which is first.
All things, therefore, extend themselves to this, beginning from that which is last, according to the peculiar ability of each.
But the reduction to that which is first is either proximate or remote.
Hence these are not only said to aspire after divinity, but also to enjoy him as far as they are able.
But in partial natures, and which are able to verge to many things, a conversion to their progeny belongs.
Hence in these guilt, in these disgraceful perfidy, is found.
Matter, therefore, defiles these, because they decline to it, at the same time that they possess the power of converting themselves to a divine nature.” 95 .
Iamblichus here alludes to the excellent treatise of Porphyry, περι της των εμψυχων αποχης , On Abstinence from Animal Food , from which work the English reader will find several admirable extracts in one of the Introductory Dissertations prefixed to my translation of Proclus on Euclid.
96 .
A celestial body, as is beautifully shown by Proclus in Tim.
lib.
iii.
contains the summits of all the elements, but is characterized by vivific unburning fire; so that, in short, it is vitalized extension.
97 .
The number sixty is no less manifest in the crocodile than in the sun.
For according to Aristotle (in Hist.
Anim.
lib.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The mention of celestial bodies containing summits of all elements suggests a deep connection between cosmic parts.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Porphyry's statement that 'perfect natures are led back to the causes' implies an ordered divine movement governing existence.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The text references Plotinus and Porphyry discussing the movement of souls back to causes and the mundane body, implying a structured hierarchy of being.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Porphyry states that guilt is found in partial natures which decline to matter, aligning with the view that evil is a lack or distortion of the good.