Part 26

Haste, let us fly and all our sails expand, To gain our dear, our long-lost native land[220].

But by what leading stars shall we direct our flight, and by what means avoid the magic power of Circe, and the detaining charms of Calypso? For thus the fable of Ulysses obscurely signifies, which feigns him abiding an unwilling exile, though pleasant spectacles were continually presented to his sight; and every thing was proffered to invite his stay, which can delight the senses and captivate the heart. But our true country, like that of Ulysses, is from whence we came, and where our father lives[221].”

FOOTNOTES:

[183] Δια τοι τουτο, και τον Οδυσσεα λεγουσι κατα θαλατταν πλανασθαι βουλῃ του Ποσειδωνος· σημαινουσι γαρ την Οδυσσειον ζωην, οτι ουδε χθονια ην, αλλ’ ουδε μην ετι ουρανια, αλλα μεση· επει ουν ο Ποσειδων του μεταξυ κυριος εστι, δια τουτο και τον Οδυσσεα φασι βουλῃ Ποσειδωνος [supple πλανασθαι·] επειδη τον κληρον του Ποσειδωνος ειχεν· ουτω γουν και τους μεν φασι Διος υιους, τους δε Ποσειδωνος, τους δε Πλουτωνος, προς τους κληρους εκαστου· τον μεν γαρ εχοντα θειαν και ουρανιαν πολιτειαν Διος φαμεν υιον, τον δε χθονιαν, Πλουτωνος, τον δε την μεταξυ Ποσειδωνος.

[184] In Plat. Polit. p. 398.

[185] Instead of αναλογοι ψυχαι, in this place, it is necessary to read αλογοι ψυχαι.

[186] Iliad, V. v. 451.

[187] Conformably to this, Proclus, in Plat. Polit. p. 398, says, “that all the beauty subsisting about generation [or the regions of sense], from the fabrication of things, is signified by Helen; about which there is a perpetual battle of souls, till the more intellectual having vanquished the more irrational forms of life, return to the place from whence they originally came.” For the beauty which is in the realms of generation, is an efflux of intelligible beauty.

[188] This second line is, in Pope’s version, “Lotos the name, divine, nectarious juice!” which I have altered as above, as being more conformable to the original.

[189] Lib. ix. l. 94, &c.

[190] Vid. Censoris, De Die Natali, cap. iii.

[191] This is evident from the following passage in the Commentary of Proclus, on the First Alcibiades of Plato: Ταις μεν ουν αποκαταστατικως ζωσαις ψυχαις ο αυτος εστιν ανω κανταυθα δαιμων· ταις δε ατελεστεραις αλλος μεν ο κατ’ ουσιαν δαιμων, αλλος δε ο κατα τον προβεβλημενον βιον. p. 37, Edit. Creuz. But for a copious account of the essential dæmon, and of the different orders and offices of dæmon, see the notes accompanying my translation of the First Alcibiades, Phædo, and Gorgias of Plato.

[192] See the note (p. 90) accompanying my translation of the Metamorphosis of Apuleius.

[193] For an accurate account of the gradation of the virtues, see Porphyry’s Auxiliaries to Intelligibles, p. 217.

[194] For the shuttle is a symbol of separating power.

[195] And this is the meaning of the Chaldaic oracle,—

Σον αγγειον θηρες χθονος οικησουσιν.

_i.e._ “The wild beasts of the earth shall inhabit thy vessel.” For, as Psellus well observes, by _the vessel_, the composite temperature of the soul is signified, and by the wild beasts of the earth, terrestrial dæmons.

[196] Odyss. lib. v. 82, &c. The translation by Pope.

[197] Ibid. lib. v. 269, &c.

[198] Odyss. lib. vii. 84, &c. The translation by Pope.

[199] In Euclid. Element. lib. i. p. 14.

[200] Odyss. lib. viii. 556, &c.

[201] Odyss. lib. vii. 33.

[202] Odyss. lib. xiii. 93, &c.

[203] _i.e._ Philosophy; for of this Penelope is an image.

[204] Odyss. lib. xiii. 373, &c.

[205] Odyss. lib. xiii. 397, &c. The translation of the above, and likewise of all the following passages from the Odyssey, is by Pope.

[206] Odyss. lib. xvii. 201, &c.

[207] Odyss. lib. xxii. 1, &c.

[208] Odyss. lib. xxiii. 88, &c.

[209] Odyss. lib. xxiii. 131, &c.

[210] Odyss. lib. xxiii. 163, &c.

[211] Odyss. lib. xxiv. 215, &c.

[212] Ibid. lib. xxiv. 225.

[213] These are the concluding words of the last book of his last Ennead.

[214] See vol. i. p. 254, of my translation of that work.

[215] This is in consequence of a union with the Demiurgus being so much superior to scientific perception.

[216] Odyss. lib. xxiv. 225, &c.

[217] τα μεν γαρ εστι θεια και εν τῃ απλοτητι του ενος ιδρυμενα την ακαλλοπιστον ευμορφιαν· (lege αμορφιαν) ως φησι τις των τα οσια σοφων, διαφεροντως αγαπωντα, και προτεινοντα τοις εις αυτα βλεπειν δυναμενοις.—Procl. in Parmenid. lib. i. p. 38. 8vo. Parisiis, 1821.

[218] This impassivity, or perfect subjugation of the passions to reason, which is the _true apathy_ of the Stoics and Platonists, is indicated by Ulysses finding a nation

“Who ne’er knew salt or heard the billows roar.”

[219] Odyss. lib. xxiii. 281, &c. By _the people_, in these lines, the inferior parts or powers of the soul are indicated.

[220] Iliad, lib. ii. 140, and lib. ix. 27.

[221] See my paraphrased translation of this treatise, p. 37, &c.

THE END.

LONDON: PRINTED BY J. MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.