The Enneads Plotinus

2018·4.1 MB·english-handwritten

by  Plotinus

PLOTINUS
The Enneads
edited by
LLOYD P. GERSON
UniversityofToronto
translated by
GEORGE BOYS-STONES
DurhamUniversity
JOHN M. DILLON
TrinityCollege,Dublin
LLOYD P. GERSON
UniversityofToronto
R.A.H. KING
UniversityofBerne,Switzerland
ANDREW SMITH
UniversityCollege,Dublin
JAMES WILBERDING
Ruhr Universita¨tBochum
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PLOTINUS
TheEnneads
The Enneads by Plotinus is a work which is central to the history of
philosophyinlateantiquity.Thisvolumeisthefirstcompleteeditionof
the Enneads in English for over seventy-five years, and also includes
Porphyry’s Life of Plotinus. Led by Lloyd P. Gerson, a team of experts
present up-to-date translations which are based on the best available
text, the editio minor of Henry and Schwyzer and its corrections. The
translationsareconsistentintheirvocabulary,makingthevolumeideal
for the study of Plotinus’ philosophical arguments. They also offer
extensiveannotationtoassistthereader,togetherwithcross-references
and citations which willenableusers more easily tonavigate thetexts.
This monumental edition will be invaluable for scholars of Plotinus
with or without ancient Greek, as well as for students of the Platonic
tradition.
Lloyd P. Gerson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Toronto. He is author of Ancient Epistemology (Cambridge, 2009) and
editor of The Cambridge Companion to Plotinus (Cambridge, 1996) and
TheCambridgeHistoryofPhilosophyinLateAntiquity(Cambridge,2015).
Contents
GeneralIntroductiontotheTranslations page1
8
Porphyry’sArrangementoftheEnneads
10
ListofTextualChangestoHenry SchwyzerEditioMinor
17
OntheLifeofPlotinusandtheOrderofhisBooksbyPorphyryofTyre
39
EnneadOne
1.1(53) WhatIstheLivingBeingandWhatIstheHuman
41
Being?
1.2(19) OnVirtues 54
1.3(20) OnDialectic 63
1.4(46) OnHappiness 69
1.5(36) OnWhetherHappinessIncreaseswithTime 86
1.6(1) OnBeauty 91
1.7(54) OnthePrimaryGoodandontheOtherGoods 104
1.8(51) OnWhatEvilsAreandWhereTheyComeFrom 108
1.9(16) OnExitingfromtheBody 124
126
Fragment:PlotinusonVoluntaryDeath,byElias
127
EnneadTwo
2.1(40) OntheCosmos 129
2.2(14) OntheMotionofHeaven 140
2.3(52) OnWhethertheStarsAreCauses 145
2.4(12) OnMatter 164
2.5(25) On‘Potentially’and‘Actually’ 183
2.6(17) OnSubstanceorOnQuality 190
2.7(37) OnCompleteBlending 196
2.8(35) OnSeeing,orOnHowItIsThatDistantThings
202
AppearSmall
2.9(33) AgainsttheGnostics 206
237
EnneadThree
3.1(3) OnFate 239
3.2 3(47
and48) OnProvidence 249
3.4(15) OnOurAllottedDaemon 283
v
Contents
3.5(50) OnLove 291
3.6(26) OntheImpassibilityofThingswithoutBodies 305
3.7(45) OnEternityandTime 332
3.8(30) OnNature,Contemplation,andtheOne 354
3.9(13) VariousConsiderations 369
375
EnneadFour
4.1(21) OntheSubstantialityoftheSoul1 377
4.2(4) OntheSubstantialityoftheSoul2 383
4.3 5(27,
28,and29) OnProblemsoftheSoul1 3 385
4.6(41) OnSense PerceptionandMemory 481
4.7(2) OntheImmortalityoftheSoul 487
4.8(6) OntheDescentofSoulsintoBodies 510
4.9(8) OnWhetherAllSoulsAreOne 523
529
EnneadFive
5.1(10) OntheThreePrimaryHypostases 531
5.2(11) OntheGenerationandOrderoftheThings
548
WhichComeaftertheFirst
5.3(49) OntheKnowingHypostasisandonThatWhichIs
552
Transcendent
5.4(7) HowThatWhichIsaftertheFirstComesfrom
576
theFirst,andontheOne
5.5(32) ThattheIntelligiblesAreNotoutsidetheIntellect,
581
andontheGood
5.6(24) OntheFactThatThatWhichTranscends
BeingDoesNotThinkandonWhatthePrimary
598
ThinkingIsandWhatIsSecondary
5.7(18) OnWhetherorNotThereAreIdeasofIndividuals 605
5.8(31) OntheIntelligibleBeauty 609
5.9(5) OnIntellect,Ideas,andBeing 625
639
EnneadSix
6.1 3(42,43,
and44) OntheGeneraofBeing1 3 641
6.4 5(22and23) ThatBeing,OneandIdentical,IsSimultaneously
EverywhereWhole1 2 737
6.6(34) OnNumbers 773
6.7(38) HowtheMultiplicityoftheIdeasCametoExist,
798
andontheGood
vi
Contents
6.8(39) OntheVoluntary,andtheOne’sWishing 851
6.9(9) OntheGoodortheOne 880
899
GreekGlossaryofKeyTerms
905
EnglishGlossaryofKeyTerms
928
BibliographyofPrincipalEditionsofSecondarySources
vii
General Introduction to the Translations
the edition
This volume presents a new annotated translation of the Enneads of
Plotinus(204/5–270ce).WeincludeaswelltheLifeofPlotinuswritten
byPorphyryofTyre(223/4–c.305 ce),whowasalsothefirsteditorof
the Enneads. Most of what we know about the life of Plotinus and the
circumstancessurroundingthecompositionofhistreatisescomesfrom
Porphyry’sbiographyandsothereisnoneedtorepeatthedetailshere.
We follow Porphyry’s idiosyncratic arrangement of these treatises, an
arrangementwhichdoesnotcorrespondtothechronologicalorderof
their composition, as Porphyry himself tells us. A table comparing
Porphyry’s ordering with the chronological ordering follows this
introduction.
the translation
1.
ThistranslationintoEnglishoftheEnneadsofPlotinusisa‘successor’
to two great monuments to scholarship, the translations by Stephen
MacKenna(1917–1930)andA.H.Armstrong(1966–1988).1Itisnota
replacementforthoseworks,whichcanstillbeconsultedwithconsid-
erableprofit.InthecaseofMacKenna,hewasimpededbytheabsence
of a critical edition of the Greek text. That did not appear until the
publication of the editio maior of the Enneads, Plotini Opera by Paul
Henry and Hans-Rudolph Schwyzer (1951–1973). In the case of
Armstrong, the first three volumes of his seven-volume work (Enneads
1–3)appearedpriortothepublicationofthethirdvolumeoftheeditio
minor of the Enneads by Henry and Schwyzer (1964–1982) containing
several hundred corrections to the text of Enneads 1–5 in the first two
1
AnumberofexcellentcompletetranslationsinEuropeanlanguagesnowexist.Special
mentionshouldbemadeoftheSpanishtranslationofIgal(1982 1985),theFrench
translation edited by Brisson and Pradeau (2002 2010), the German translation of
Harder, continued by Beutler and Theiler (1956 1971), the Italian translation by
Faggin(1992),andthemodernGreektranslationbyKalligas(1994 ),withEnnead6
yettoappear.
1
IntroductiontotheTranslations
volumes.AlthoughtextualproblemshamperedMacKennamuchmore
than they did Armstrong, neither work has been rendered obsolete by
theresultsofthecriticalworkofHenryandSchwyzer,which,inciden-
tally,continuestobeadvancedbyanumberofotherscholarsuptothe
present,forexample,thelateJe´susIgalandPaulKalligas.
Therationaleforthepresenttranslationistwofold.First,therewas
thedesiretoproduceatranslationthatwouldtakeaccountnotonlyof
thetextualworkthathasbeendonesinceArmstrong,butalsoofthe
enormous proliferation of scholarship on Plotinus generally, many
facets of which have had an inevitably anonymous influence on the
presentwork.Second,itwasthoughtbeneficialtoprovideatransla-
tioninonevolumetofacilitatethestudyofPlotinus,somethingwhich
necessarily requires the comparison of many disparate texts. There
are very few of the so-called treatises in the Enneads that exhaust
Plotinus’ treatment of a particular question or topic. Consequently,
oneusuallyhastoreadseveralpassagesindifferenttreatisestogether
inordertogetamoreorlessclearpictureofPlotinus’position.Itis
hoped that with one volume, and numerous cross-references, this
will at least be made easier to do for the reader. In this regard, the
English glossary of key terms, containing many references, should
alsoprovideassistance.
The default text used in this translation is that of the editio minor
22
of Henry and Schwyzer, conventionally designated as HS . Unless
otherwise noted, this is the text that the authors of this work have
translated. We notealldeviations from that text in the notes,citing,
4 2
for example, the reading of HS over that of HS . In a separate
table, we list all the changes to the text we have followed, although
space precludes a discussion of the reasons for the changes. Those
who can benefit from the side-by-side Greek text of Armstrong’s
Loeb edition, can do the same with the editio minor (OCT) and our
translation.
The work of translating the Enneads (along with Porphyry’s Life of
Plotinus, here included) has been an intensely collaborative effort.
Although the work of translating individual Enneads was originally
apportioned out to the individual members of the ‘team’, each draft
wasreadandcriticallydiscussedwithatleasttwoothermembers.The
finalproductisgenuinelycollaborative,withtheinevitableprovisothat
2 1 2 1
TheeditiomaiorisusuallylabelledHS ;theeditiominorHS ;addendatoHS labelled
HS3; textual addenda to HS2 labelled HS4 and the article by H. R. Schwyzer,
‘CorrigiendaadPlotinitextum’,MuseumHelveticum44,1(1987),191 210,islabelled
HS5.EventhoughHenry’snamedoesnotappearonthearticle(hediedin1984),heno
doubtparticipatedintheworkthatleduptothisarticleandbycommonagreementheis
listedasoneoftheauthors.
2
IntroductiontotheTranslations
each member of the team would like to reserve a minority dissenting
position on this or that issue. Compromise was the price paid for
achieving the desired result of publication. Strenuous efforts were
madetoattainauniformityofvocabularywhereappropriate,although
theauthorscouldonlyreflectwithaweontheSeptuagintasanunattain-
ableidealofperfectunanimitythat,aslegendhasit,wasattainedbythe
70translatorsoftheTorahintoGreek.
2.
Thepresentwork,givenitssizelimitation,couldinnosenseprovidea
commentary on the often desperately difficult thought of Plotinus, to
say nothing of his inelegant, allusive, and sometimes even apparently
ungrammaticalGreek.Thereaderwillcertainlywanttohaverecourse
to what is now an abundance of basic exegetical commentary in many
languages.FortheEnglishreader,thecommentaryofKalligas(Enneads
1–3,Englishtranslation,2014;translationsof4–5,and6forthcoming)
setsahighstandardofconciseness,erudition,andphilosophicalinsight.
Many individual treatises have by now had the benefit of book-length
3
commentaries.
Inthelightofthechallengesthrownupforthereaderbyatranslation
oftheEnneadsunadornedwithanyexegeticalcommentary,theauthors
have adopted a number of expedients. First, the notes contain brief
explanations for words or passages otherwise quite unintelligible on
their own. Second are the above-mentioned cross-references, which
allowPlotinustocommentonhimself,asitwere.Third,istheextensive
listing of fontes in the notes. These require a bit of explaining. The
starting point for these is the appendix to the editio minor of Henry
andSchwyzer,whichincludeshundredsofthese.HenryandSchwyzer
had no illusion that their table of fontes was complete. Inevitably,
everyone who works intently on one or another treatise discovers
additional ‘sources’. We have tried to be capacious in our listing of
these sources because there is hardly a sentence of the Enneads that
doesnotreflectPlotinus’immersionintheancientGreekphilosophical
tradition,includingtheongoinginvolvementinthatbyhiscontempor-
aries.Often,thesefontesprovidejustbythemselvesahelpfulcommen-
tary on what Plotinus is arguing since they enable us to understand
exactly what he is arguing against. Nevertheless, the term fontes has a
broad meaning, including everything from direct quotations from
3 See Richard Dufour (ed.), Plotinus: A Bibliography 1950 2000 (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
2002),continuedonlineuptothepresentathttp://rdufour.free.fr/BibPlotin/anglais/
Biblio.html.
3
IntroductiontotheTranslations
Plato’sdialogues,tophrasesorevenillustrativeexamplesofprinciples
from, say, Aristotle or Alexander of Aphrodisias, to Stoic texts that
maywellnothavebeenevenknowntoPlotinusbutwhichnevertheless
areourbestsourceforanexpressionoftheStoicdoctrinethatPlotinus
is addressing. Some of the fontes provided are, of course, disputable
giventheparametersforselection.Inadditiontothosetakenfromthe
editiominor,manyaregratefullyminedfromprevioustranslationsand
commentaries.Inthenatureofthecase,andgiventheunavailabilityto
us of scores of texts Plotinus had at his disposal, any index fontium is
bound to be incomplete. Finally, the cross-references should not be
understood by the reader as indicating that the translators always
believe that the passages cited express the identical doctrine. Indeed,
thereareoccasionswhenthepassages,atleastonthesurface,seemto
sayconflictingthings.Thesereferencesaremeantonlytoassistinthe
interpretativeprocess.
In the translations themselves, the authors have adopted many
orthographic,grammatical,andstylisticdevicesintendedtofacilitate
comprehension. Paragraphs have been introduced to divide the text
intomoreorlesslogicalunits.Lengthyperiodicsentenceshavebeen
shortenedforthesakeofclarityalongwiththeliberaluseofpunctua-
tion.Whenthereferenceofapronounisgrammaticallyandsemanti-
cally certain, the proper name has been introduced. For example,
Plotinus often says ‘he says’ followed by a direct quotation from a
Platonicdialogue.Thisappearsas‘Platosays’.Whenthereferenceis
not certain but probable, the identification is made in a footnote.
Plotinus has a number of grammatical idiosyncracies that indicate
that he is introducing a new point or a new argument or making a
determinatio after a dialectical discussion. For example, he uses the
Greek word ἤ which is normally translated as ‘or’ to introduce his
answer to a question he himself raises or in reply to an argument of
oneofhisopponentsthathehasjustsketched.Asortofglossonthis
featureofthetextwouldbetorenderitas‘orisitnotthecasethat...’
But apart from the facts that Plotinus is not expressing a rhetorical
question, and that translating one Greek letter with seven words
seems a bit much, there is a consistent pattern of use by Plotinus of
thiswordtoindicatethatwhatfollowsishisownposition.Werender
the word ‘in fact’ and set it off in a new paragraph to make the
philosophical elements of the text as clear as possible. There are
otherterms,includingτοίνυν(‘so’),οὖν(‘then’),γάρ(‘for’),thatserve
asimilardemarcationalpurpose.
A much more delicate issue is the use of capitalizations.
Conventionally, the three primary hypostases of Plotinus’ system are
referredtoinEnglishas‘One’(or‘Good’),‘Intellect’,and‘Soul’.When
4