Select Works of Plotinus · 207 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 210 (part 1)
Section 4 4.
If man were all of one piece- I mean, if he were nothing more than a made thing, acting and acted upon according to a fixed nature- he could be no more subject to reproach and punishment than the mere animals.
But as the scheme holds, man is singled out for condemnation when he does evil; and this with justice.
For he is no mere thing made to rigid plan; his nature contains a Principle apart and free.
This does not, however, stand outside of Providence or of the Reason of the All; the Over-World cannot be dependent upon the World of Sense.
The higher shines down upon the lower, and this illumination is Providence in its highest aspect: The Reason-Principle has two phases, one which creates the things of process and another which links them with the higher beings: these higher beings constitute the over-providence on which depends that lower providence which is the secondary Reason-Principle inseparably united with its primal: the two- the Major and Minor Providence- acting together produce the universal woof, the one all-comprehensive Providence.
Men possess, then, a distinctive Principle: but not all men turn to account all that is in their Nature; there are men that live by one Principle and men that live by another or, rather, by several others, the least noble.
For all these Principles are present even when not acting upon the man- though we cannot think of them as lying idle; everything performs its function.
"But," it will be said, "what reason can there be for their not acting upon the man once they are present; inaction must mean absence?" We maintain their presence always, nothing void of them.
But surely not where they exercise no action?
If they necessarily reside in all men, surely they must be operative in all- this Principle of free action, especially.
First of all, this free Principle is not an absolute possession of the animal Kinds and is not even an absolute possession to all men.
So this Principle is not the only effective force in all men?
There is no reason why it should not be.
There are men in whom it alone acts, giving its character to the life while all else is but Necessity [and therefore outside of blame].
For [in the case of an evil life] whether it is that the constitution of the man is such as to drive him down the troubled paths or whether [the fault is mental or spiritual in that] the desires have gained control, we are compelled to attribute the guilt to the substratum [something inferior to the highest principle in Man].
We would be naturally inclined to say that this substratum [the responsible source of evil] must be Matter and not, as our argument implies, the Reason-Principle; it would appear that not the Reason-Principle but Matter were the dominant, crude Matter at the extreme and then Matter as shaped in the realized man: but we must remember that to this free Principle in man [which is a phase of the All Soul] the Substratum [the direct inferior to be moulded] is [not Matter but] the Reason-Principle itself with whatever that produces and moulds to its own form, so that neither crude Matter nor Matter organized in our human total is sovereign within us.
The quality now manifested may be probably referred to the conduct of a former life; we may suppose that previous actions have made the Reason-Principle now governing within us inferior in radiance to that which ruled before; the Soul which later will shine out again is for the present at a feebler power.
And any Reason-Principle may be said to include within itself the Reason-Principle of Matter which therefore it is able to elaborate to its own purposes, either finding it consonant with itself or bestowing upon it the quality which makes it so.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
[auto] The text explicitly uses human military metaphors such as 'generalissimo', 'war', and 'enemy's forces' to describe the divine ordering of the universe.
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 Leading-Principle is said to hold all the threads, implying a connectedness where individual agents serve within a unified cosmic scheme.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
Providence is described as ordering practical material needs like food and drink, functioning similarly to a creator deity fashioning the world, though without the malevolent connotation.
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.
[auto] The passage explicitly states that the Universe has been ordered by a Providence compared to a general who lays down plans for success.
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.
[auto] The text outlines a hierarchy where the 'Leading-Principle' holds the threads while 'minor agents' serve according to capacities, moulded by their priors.
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.
By stating circumstances are not sovereign over the good, the passage implies the Good is primary and disorder lacks true sovereignty or being.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
[auto] The passage describes a 'Leading-Principle' and 'Providence' that orders the universe and considers operations, aligning with the definition of divine reason or ordering principle.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The passage asserts that the General's power extends over all that is and nothing can fail to fit into the plan, implying a unified reality under divine order.