Lives of the sophists

 to follow, having scattered it like some mist. At once, therefore, the divine Plutarch records his own life, scattered throughout his books, and that

 not one man has written a biography, at least so far as we know but for one collecting from the signs given during the reading, such were the things

 And after these things he deals with many other matters, how one must take care of them. And he says that he also pursued and cast out a certain demon

 ungrudging. Therefore, he did few things by himself, apart from his companions and pupils, revering the divine but for the most part he was with his

 Golden locks gleamed about his back and his breast, and he seemed altogether as one bathing and having been bathed. And when his companions were aston

 of beauty. Thus that man also, choosing to praise him for the sake of the truth, on the one hand reveals the magnitude of the punishments and misfortu

 they neglected the plot. Therefore, just as in the time of the old and great Socrates, no one of all the Athenians (even though they were a democracy)

 But she happened to be skilled also in delivering women in their confinement. <and> as she was setting a cup before the Egyptian and pouring the spice

 his own hand and the things written, he found the oracle written on his hand. 6.4.4 And it is this: Threads are set on the threads of two Fates for yo

 with easy proofs, he orders him to come out, and he came out, having overthrown a tyrant with his speech and he immediately invited him to his table

 is your life as well, a gift as high as heaven and reaching the stars, leave this Sosipatra with us, her truer nurses and fathers, and for five years

 is it, child? And she, pausing for a little, said, But now I understand what was said. For as they, weeping, handed these things to me, they said, '

 he was doing, and revealed the signs that appeared. And as he fell gaping to the ground, and confessed that Sosipatra was openly a goddess, Rise up,

 I have no need to write their names for the account hastens on not to the base but to the good. Except for what one of her children (Antoninus was hi

 human. For collecting the bones and heads of those convicted of many crimes, whom the civil court had punished, they both declared them gods, and they

 he had arrived, and his body was weary and foremost among his school, and holding first place, were Maximus, on whose behalf this is being written, a

 the torches will light up, which the goddess carries in her hands and the light, flaring up on the torches, anticipated the words. We then, for the

 sent him gifts <and> an escort for the care of the temples of Hellas, he immediately summoned 7.3.10 Maximus and Chrysanthius. And the summons was one

 nevertheless unmoved, not lifted up by the imperial power, but bringing down the imperial power and leveling it to a more philosophical state. 7.4.8 B

 he contributed great good will to affairs, exposing his body to the foremost dangers, and being openly at odds with the praetorian prefect, so that no

 for immediately those who had conspired and been numbered and with everyone everywhere being seized and slaughtered, like hens at a festival and symp

 Pergamon, and the more honored of the companions were present 8.1.6 but the teacher, implanting a certain harmony and care for what is human in his s

 in imitation of the public theaters 9.1.6, but smaller and as is fitting for a house. For so great was the strife in Athens of the men and youths of t

 (And Tusciunus, who was present at the trial, and within the group of the accused, related these things to the author) Prohaeresius came forward into

 the sun makes the night longer by becoming more southerly (for it had entered Libra and the nights were about to lengthen) and the ship-captain, bein

 he was handsome, and one marveled at the power of his beauty, that for so great a body 10.3.2 it sufficed throughout for the most excellent form and

 for the sake of wealth, but for Prohaeresius argument alone was enough, just as the Homeric Hermes escorting Priam to the tent of Achilles10.3.17 even

 no one knew the future but when he said I will ask for another, more difficult thing, then, having been ordered 10.5.2 to speak, he says, let not

 being of a most distinguished rank, to grasp, and to draw into sight the phantom conceived from ancient images, 10.6.4 he hurried to Greece. And havin

 transferring their astonishment to his appearance and what they saw, they were amazed at both the beauty and height of his body, as if looking up with

 very quickly leaped into political life. 10.8.1 But when Julian was emperor, being excluded <ἐν> from his position of teaching (for he was thought to

 they say. HIMERIUS: Bithynia bore this man, but the one writing these things did not know him and yet he was living in those times. But having crosse

 to Libanius 16.1.10 and of those thought worthy of his company he departed unstung but his character was immediately recognized for what it was, and

 blaming the greatness of that man's nature, but himself testifying to his own 17.1.3 hyperattention and precision regarding petty words as if unaware

 he was a distinguished child, having partaken of all education which both contributes to and perfects virtue. 21.1.2 And advancing in age, he became a

 precision, and to confess openly that when they met with Ionicus, they learned in practice the things said by the ancients, and brought them out for u

 having something contentious and stubborn in his nature, resisting the signs that had appeared from the gods, he would ask for and demand 23.2.2 other

 of those present, a stir arose, and it seemed good to him to contribute something to what was being said, everything was full of silence, as if no peo

 All were present, and he who is writing these things was present but Justus, standing over it, and fixing the gaze of his eyes (for the victim lay in

 shook souls into fear, he alone remained unshaken, so that 23.6.2 one might have conjectured * that the man was not even on earth. At those times inde

And after these things he deals with many other matters, how one must take care of them. And he says that he also pursued and cast out a certain demonic nature from a certain bath; the locals called this one Kausathas. 4.2.1 So his fellow students, as he himself records, were certain most excellent men, Origen and Amerius and Aquilinus, and indeed their writings survive, but not a single speech of theirs; for their style is very ungraceful, even if their doctrines are sound, 4.2.2 and it runs hastily through their arguments. But Porphyry at least praises the men for their ability, though he himself recurs to every grace, and alone reveals and proclaims the teacher, having omitted no form of education. One may indeed be at a loss and marvel, which of his studies is greater: whether those tending to rhetorical material, or those leading to grammatical precision, or all that is connected to numbers, or all that inclines toward geometry, or all that leans toward music. 4.2.3 But as for philosophy, not even the part concerning logic is comprehensible, nor is ethics attainable by reason; but let the physical and theurgic be left to rites and mysteries; thus the man himself has become a sort of composite being for 4.2.4 every virtue. And the beauty of his words, if one were to look more at them than *the doctrines 4.2.5 or the power of the reasoning. and he appears to have married, and a book is addressed to Marcella who became his wife, whom he says he married even though she was a mother of five children, not so that he might have children by her, but so that her existing children might receive an education; for the children the wife already had were from a friend of his. 4.2.6 And he appears to have reached a deep old age; indeed he left many theories contrary to those in his previously composed books, concerning which it is not possible to think anything else, than that as he advanced he held different opinions. and he is said to have †ended† his life in Rome. 4.3.1 At this time there were also the leading rhetoricians in Athens, Paul and Andromachus from Syria. and it happened that the times were reckoned to Gallienus and Claudius, Tacitus and Aurelian and Probus, in whose time also lived Dexippus, who wrote the chronological history, a man full of all learning and rational power. IAMBLICHUS. After these, the most famous philosopher to arise is Iamblichus, who was indeed distinguished by birth and one of the refined and wealthy; his native city was Chalcis; the city is in what is called Coele-Syria. 5.1.2 This man, having associated with Anatolius, who held second place after Porphyry, made great progress indeed and flourished in the height of philosophy; then after Anatolius attaching himself to Porphyry, he differed in no way from Porphyry, except 5.1.3 in the composition and power of his prose. For his words are neither steeped in beauty and grace, nor do they have a certain clarity and are not adorned with purity; however, they are not entirely obscure, nor faulty in diction, but just as Plato said of Xenocrates, 5.1.4 he has not sacrificed to the Hermetic Graces. Therefore he does not captivate the listener and charm him to read, but seems to turn away and weary the ear. But having practiced justice, he obtained such a hearing from the gods, that his associates were a multitude, and those desiring instruction flocked from all sides; and among them the best was hard to distinguish. 5.1.5 For there was Sopater from Syria, a man most skilled in speaking and writing, and Aedesius and Eustathius from Cappadocia, and from Greece, Theodorus and Euphrasius, who were preeminent in virtue, and a multitude of others, not much inferior in the power of their words, so that it was wonderful that he sufficed for them all; 5.1.6 for he was indeed toward all

καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἄλλα πραγ ματεύεται πολλά, ὅπως χρὴ τούτων ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν. φησὶ δὲ καὶ δαιμόνιόν τινα φύσιν ἀπὸ λουτροῦ τινος διῶξαι καὶ ἐκβαλεῖν· Καυσάθαν τοῦτον ἔλεγον οἱ ἐπιχώριοι. 4.2.1 Συμφοιτηταὶ μὲν οὖν, ὡς αὐτὸς ἀναγράφει, κράτιστοί τινες ὑπῆρχον, Ὠριγένης τε καὶ Ἀμέριος καὶ Ἀκυλῖνος, καὶσυγγράμματά γε αὐτῶν περισώζεται, λόγος δὲ αὐτῶν οὐδὲ εἷς· πολὺ γὰρ τὸ ἀκύθηρον, εἰ καὶ τὰ δόγματα ἔχει καλῶς, 4.2.2 καὶ ἐπιτρέχει τοῖς λόγοις. ἀλλ' ὅ γε Πορφύριος ἐπαινεῖ τοὺς ἄνδρας τῆς δεινότητος, πᾶσαν μὲν αὐτὸς ἀνατρέχων χάριν, μόνος δὲ ἀναδεικνὺς καὶ ἀνακηρύττων τὸν διδάσκαλον, οὐδὲν δὲ παιδείας εἶδος παραλελοιπώς. ἔστι γοῦν ἀπορῆσαι καθ' ἑαυτὸν καὶ θαυμάσαι, τί πλεῖόν ἐστι τῶν ἐσπουδασμένων· πότερον τὰ εἰς ὕλην ῥητορικὴν τείνοντα, ἢ τὰ εἰς γραμματικὴν ἀκρίβειαν φέροντα, ἢ ὅσα τῶν ἀριθμῶν ἤρτηται, ἢ ὅσα νεύει πρὸς γεωμετρίαν, ἢ ὅσα πρὸς μουσικὴν ῥέπει. 4.2.3 τὰ δὲ εἰς φιλοσοφίαν, οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ λόγους καταληπτόν, οὔτε τὸ ἠθικὸν ἐφικτὸν λόγῳ· τὸ δὲ φυσικὸν καὶ θεουργὸν τελεταῖς ἀφείσθω καὶ μυστηρίοις· οὕτω παντομιγές τι πρὸς 4.2.4 ἅπασαν ἀρετὴν ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτὸς χρῆμά τι γέγονεν. καὶ τὸ κάλλος αὐτοῦ τῶν λόγων, ἄν τις μᾶλλον ἢ *τὰ δόγματα 4.2.5 πλέον εἰς αὐτὰ ἀπιδὼν ἢ τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ λόγου. γάμοις τε ὁμιλήσας φαίνεται, καὶ πρὸς Μάρκελλάν γε αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα γενομένην βιβλίον φέρεται, ἥν φησιν ἀγαγέσθαι καὶ ταῦτα οὖσαν πέντε μητέρα τέκνων, οὐχ ἵνα παῖδας ἐξ αὐτῆς ποιήσηται, ἀλλ' ἵνα οἱ γεγονότες παιδείας τύχωσιν· ἐκ φίλου 4.2.6 γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῦ τῇ γυναικὶ τὰ τέκνα προϋπάρξαντα. φαίνεται δὲ ἀφικόμενος εἰς γῆρας βαθύ· πολλὰς γοῦν τοῖς ἤδη προπεπραγματευμένοις βιβλίοις θεωρίας ἐναντίας κατέλιπεν, περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἕτερόν τι δοξάζειν, ἢ ὅτι προϊὼν ἕτερα ἐδόξασεν. ἐν Ῥώμῃ δὲ λέγεται †μεταλαχεῖν† τὸν βίον. 4.3.1 Κατὰ τούτους ἦσαν τοὺς χρόνους καὶ τῶν ῥητορικῶν οἱ ἐπ' Ἀθήνησι προεστῶτες Παῦλός τε καὶ Ἀνδρόμαχος ἐκ Συρίας. τούς τε χρόνους ἐς Γαλλίηνόν τε καὶ Κλαύδιον εἰκάζειν συνέβαινεν, Τάκιτόν τε καὶ Αὐρηλιανὸν καὶ Πρόβον, καθ' οὓς ἦν καὶ ∆έξιππος ὁ τὴν χρονικὴν ἱστορίαν συγγράψας, ἀνὴρ ἁπάσης παιδείας τε καὶ δυνάμεως λογικῆς ἀνάπλεως. ἸΑΜΒΛΙΧΟΣ. Μετὰ τούτους ὀνομαστότατος ἐπιγίνεται φιλόσοφος Ἰάμβλιχος, ὃς ἦν καὶ κατὰ γένος μὲν ἐπιφανὴς καὶ τῶν ἁβρῶν καὶ τῶν εὐδαιμόνων· πατρὶς δὲ ἦν αὐτῷ Χαλκίς· κατὰ τὴν Κοίλην προσαγορευομένην ἐστὶν ἡ πόλις. 5.1.2 οὗτος Ἀνατολίῳ τῶν κατὰ Πορφύριον τὰ δεύτερα φερομένῳ συγγενόμενος, πολύ γε ἐπέδωκε καὶ εἰς ἄκρον φιλοσοφίας ἤκμασεν· εἶτα μετ' Ἀνατόλιον Πορφυρίῳ προσθεὶς ἑαυτόν, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅ τι καὶ Πορφυρίου διήνεγκεν, πλὴν 5.1.3 ὅσον κατὰ τὴν συνθήκην καὶ δύναμιν τοῦ λόγου. οὔτε γὰρ εἰς ἀφροδίτην αὐτοῦ καὶ χάριν τὰ λεγόμενα βέβαπται, οὔτε ἔχει λευκότητά τινα καὶ τῷ καθαρῷ καλλωπίζεται· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἀσαφῆ παντελῶς τυγχάνει, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν ἡμαρτημένα, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἔλεγεν περὶ Ξενοκράτους ὁ Πλάτων, 5.1.4 ταῖς Ἑρμαϊκαῖς οὐ τέθυται Χάρισιν. οὔκουν κατέχει τὸν ἀκροατὴν καὶ γοητεύει πρὸς τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν, ἀλλ' ἀποστρέφειν καὶ ἀποκναίειν τὴν ἀκοὴν ἔοικεν. δικαιοσύνην δὲ ἀσκήσας, εὐηκοΐας ἔτυχε θεῶν τοσαύτης, ὥστε πλῆθος μὲν ἦσαν οἱ ὁμιλοῦντες, πανταχόθεν δὲ ἐφοίτων οἱ παιδείας ἐπιθυμοῦντες· ἦν δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ κάλλιστον δύσκριτον. 5.1.5 Σώπατρος γὰρ ἦν ὁ ἐκ Συρίας, ἀνὴρ εἰπεῖν τε καὶ γράψαι δεινότατος, Αἰδέσιός τε καὶ Εὐστάθιος ἐκ Καππαδοκίας, ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος Θεόδωρός τε καὶ Εὐφράσιος, οἱ κατ' ἀρετὴν ὑπερέχοντες, ἄλλοι τε πλῆθος, οὐ πολὺ λειπόμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἐν λόγοις δύναμιν, ὥστε θαυμαστὸν ἦν ὅτι πᾶσιν ἐπήρκει· 5.1.6 καὶ γὰρ ἦν πρὸς ἅπαντας