A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

428 PLOTINUS. PLUTARCH US.
~ 19). Essences must flow from it, without its ex- p. 248. 12, Kreuz. iv. 2. ~~ 1,2, iv. 7. ~ 8, p. 857,
periencing any change; it must dwell in all Kr.). Moreover, there is in connection with the
existences so far as they partake of the one essen- last-mentioned passage a completion by Eusebius
tial existence (iv. 3. ~ 17, vi. 9. ~ 1); as absolutely (Pr: Lv. xv. 22).
perfect it must be the end (not the operating The Enneads of Plotinus appeared first in the
cause) of all being (vi. 9. ~~ 8, 9). The immediate Latin Translation of Marsilius Ficinus (Florence,
productive power of the unconditioned one abso- 1492), a translation which was furnished with
lutelyexists; and next to it stands the spirit, which an elaborate introduction to each part, and a
has a certain connection with duality and plurality, full table of contents, and to which the verv
and is the source of all the determinations of being faulty Greek text of Petrus Perna was appended
and knowing (v. 1. ~ 6, v. 6. ~ 1, v. 2. ~ l,vi. 9. ~ 2). (Basel, 1580). The Greek and Latin edition of
This partakes both of uniformity and diversity- Fr. Kreuzer is much more satisfactory, which is
of unity and plurality (v. ]. ~4, \vi. 1). The spirit furnished, moreover, with critical and exegetical
is the basis both of being and thinking, for every annotations: " Plotini opera omnia," &c. Oxonii,
act of thought, directed to the unconditioned, pro- 1 835, 3 vols. 4to. There is an English translation
duces a real existence, an idea; each one of which of Selections from the works of Plotinus by Thomas
is different from the rest by virtue of its form, but Taylor, London, 1834. [Ch. A. B.]
identical in respect of the matter (ii. 4. ~ 4, ii. 5. ~ 6, PLO'TIUS. 1. A. PorIsus, a friend of Ciiii. 8. ~~ 8, 10, v. 1. ~ 7, vi. 7. ~ 16). Out of the cero, was curule aedile with Cn. Plancius, B. c. 54,
spirit is developed the idea that is contained in it- praetor urbanus, B.C. 51i, and subsequently pro(Xo'yos, iii. 2. ~ 2, v. 1. ~~ 3-6), that is, the soul. praetor of Bithynia and Pontus, in which province
As being an immediate production of the spirit, he was at least as late as B. C. 48. (Cic. pro
the soul has a share in all existence or in ideas, Plane. 7, 22, ad Att. v. 15, ad Faren. xiii. 29.)
being itself an idea (iii. 6. ~ 18). By it is pro- 2. M. PLOTIUS, was engaged in the civil war,
duced the transition from eternity to time, from B. c. 48, between Caesar and Pompey. (Caes.
rest to motion (iv. 4. ~ 15, ii. 9. ~1; comp. v. B. C. iii. 19.)
1. ~ 4); to it belongs, in contradistinction from the PLO/TIUS FIRMUS. [FIRMUS.]
spirit, the power of looking out of itself; and as PLO'TIUS GALLUS. [GALLUS.]
the result of this a practical activity (ii. 1. ~ 2, iii. 5. PLO'T1US GRIPHIUS, a partizan of Vespa~3, iii. 6. ~ 4, v. 1. ~~ 6, 10, v. 2. ~ 1, vi. 2. ~ 22). In sian, was raised to the praetorship, A. D. 70 (Tac.
its power of imaging the world, it (the soul) stands Hist. iii. 52, iv. 39, 40.)
midway between the intelligible and the sensuous PLO'TIUS NU'MIDA. [NuMI)A.]
(iv. 8. ~~ 2, 3, iv. 9. ~ 7); the latter is an image of PLO!TIUS TUCCA. [TuccA.]
itself, as itself is an image of the spirit. The boun- PLO'TIUS, whose full name was MARIUS
dary of being, or the lowest principle of all, is PLOTIUS SACERDOS, a Latin grammarian, the
maller; the necessary contrast of the first, or the author of De Metris Liber, dedicated to Maximus
good (i. 8. ~ 1, &c.); and in so far it must also be and Simplicius. All that we know with regard
negative and evil (i. 8, i. 7. ~ 15, iii. 4. ~ 9); never- to the writer is comprised in the brief notice pretheless in consequence of its susceptibility of form, fixed by himself to his work "Marius Plotius
it must have something positive about it (ii. 4. Sacerdos composui Romae docens de metris."
~~ 10-13). Nature also is a soul (iii. 8. ~ 3), From the prooemium which follows we learn that
and perception at once'the ground and aim of this essay formed the third and concluding book
all becoming. But in proportion as the percep- of a treatise upon grammar, the subject of the first
tion becomes more clear and distinct, the cor- book having been De Insti/ltis Artis Grazmmaicae,
responding essence belongs to a higher step in the and of the second De Nonzinumn Verboruanque
scale of being (iii. 8. ~~ 3, 7). Ratione nee non (de Structurarunz Compositionibits.
The further development of Plotinus's three Although we have no direct means of determining
principles, and of the dim idea of matter (see espe- the period when Plotius flourished we are led to
cially ii. 4, &c.), and the attempts he made to infer from his style that he cannot be earlier than
determine the idea of time in opposition to that of the fifth or sixth century. Endlicher published
eternity (iii, 7), to explain the essential constitution in his " Analecta Grammatica" from a MS. which
of man, and his immortal blessedness (i. 4, &c.), to once belonged to the celebrated monastery of
maintain the belief in a divine providence, and the Bobbio a tract, entitled M. Claudii Sacerdotis
freedom of the will, in opposition to the theory of Artiumn Gramma7lsticarunss Libri dao, which he enan evil principle, and the inexorable necessity of deavoured to prove were in reality the two books
predetermination or causal sequence (iii. 1-3, by Marius Plotius Sacerdos described above, beut
comp. ii. 9), together with the first weak begin- there is not sufficient evidence to warrant this
nings of a natural philosophy (ii. 5-8), and the conclusion.
foundations of an ethical science answering to the The " Liber de Metris " was first published by
above principles, and grounded on the separation Putschius in his " Grammaticae Latinae Auctores
of the lower or political from the higher or intel- antiqui," 4to. Hannov. 1605. p. 2623-2663,
ligible virtue,-these points, as also his researches from a MS. or MSS. belonging to Andreas
on the Beautiful, can only just be mentioned in Schottus and Joannes a Wouwer. It will be
passing (i. 2, 3, comp. 4, 5, and ii. 6). found also in the "Scriptores Latini Rei MeBeside Porphyry's recension of the books of Plo- tricae " of Gaisford, 8vo. Oxon. 1837. p. 242tinus there was also another furnished by Eusto- 302. [W. R.]
chius, out of which a more extensive division of the PLUTARCHUS (lxoverapXos), a tyrant of
books on the soul (iv. 4. ~ 30) has been quoted in a Eretria in Euboea. Whether he was the immeGreek Scholion, and the operation of which on the diate successor of Themnison, and also whether he
present text has been traced and pointed out by was in any way connected with him by blood, are
Fr. Kreuzer (see his remarks to i. 9. ~ 1, ii. 3. ~ 5, points which we have no means of ascertaining,