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Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1 In Chronological Order,...

XVI. PLOTINOS'S POLEMIC AGAINST THE GNOSTICS.

Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition Plotinus and Guthrie, Kenneth Sylvan
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At that time there were many Christians, among whom were prominent sectarians who had given up the ancient philosophy (of Plato and Pythagoras), such as Adelphius and Aquilinus. They esteemed and possessed the greater part of the works of Alexander of Lybia, of Philocomus, of Demostrates and of Lydus. They advertised the Revelations of Zoroaster, of Zostrian, of Nicotheus, of Allogenes, of Mesus, and of several others. These sectarians deceived a great number of people, and even deceived themselves, insisting that Plato had not exhausted the depths of intelligible "being," or essence. That is why Plotinos refuted them at length in his lectures, and wrote the book that we have named "Against the Gnostics." The rest (of their books) he left me to investigate. Amelius wrote as much as forty books to refute the work of Zostrian; and as to me, I demonstrated by numerous proofs that this alleged Zoroastrian book was apocryphal, and had only recently been written by those of that ilk who wished to make people believe that their doctrines had been taught by Zoroaster.

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Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1 In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods, Project Gutenberg eBook #42930

XV. PORPHYRY EARNED RECOGNITION AT THE SCHOOL OF PLOTINOS. XVII. START OF THE AMELIO-PORPHYRIAN CONTROVERSY, OVER NUMENIUS.