Select Works of Porphyry [Paperback]

Thomas Taylor (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1823. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE 1 SELECT WORKS OF PORPHYRY. ON ABSTINENCE FROM ANIMAL FOOD. BOOK THE FIRST. 1. Hearing from some of our acquaintance, 0 Firmus", that you, having rejected a fleshless diet, have again returned to animal food, at first I did not credit the report, when I considered your temperance, and the reverence which you have been taught to pay to those ancient and pious men from whom we have received the precepts of philosophy. But when others who came after these confirmed this report, it appeared to me that it would be too rustic and remote from the rational method of persuasion to reprehend you, who neither, according to the proverb, flying from evil have found something better, nor according to Empedocles, having lamented your former life, have converted yourself to one that is more excellent. I have therefore thought it worthy of the friendship which subsists between us, and also adapted to those who have arranged their life con 1 Porphyry elsewhere calls this Firmus Castricius his friend and fellow disciple. See more concerning him in Porphyry's Life of Plotinus. B formably to truth, to disclose your errors through a confutation derived from an argumentative discussion. 2, For when I considered with myself what could be the cause of this alteration in your diet, I could by no means suppose that it was for the sake of health and strength, as the vulgar and idiots would say; since, on the contrary, you yourself, when you were with us, confessed that a fleshless diet contributed both to health and to the proper endurance of philosophic labours; and experience testifies, that in saying this you spoke the truth. It appears, therefore, that you have returned to your former illegitimateb conduct, either through deception0, because you think it makes no difference with re...

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Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0766188108
• ISBN-13: 978-0766188105
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,358,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Select Works of Porphyry, by Porphyry of Tyre, Taylor,Thomas, May 22, 2002

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This review is from: Select Works of Porphyry (Thomas Taylor) (Hardcover)

(Now reprinted). This work consists of (1) Abstinence from Animal Food. Far more than a defense of vegetarianism, this work is a significant resource for Pagan religious symbolism. (2) Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible Natures (i.e. the Sententiae) 44 aphoristic formulations, mostly based on Plotinus. (3) Concerning Homer's Cave of the Nymphs is Porphyry's fine allegorical essay upon the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey Book XIII. Thomas Taylor (1758-1835) the `English Platonist,' was the indefatigable translator of Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists into English. His work remains of great value, not only for its marked influence on the Romantics and various mystical writers (e.g. Shelley, Wordsworth, Blake, Emerson), but also for Taylor's profound empathy and understanding of the Pagan religious background of Neoplatonism. The fact that Taylor's translations are, in many cases, still the only ones ensures the continuing relevance of his work.