rationalism. Thus in the history of science Neoplatonism has played
a part and rendered services of which Plotinus or Iamblichus or
Proclus never dreamt. So true is it that sober history is often
stranger and more capricious than all the marvels of legend and
romance.
Authorities.—On the relation of Neoplatonism to Christianity, and the historical importance of Neoplatonism generally, see the leading church histories, and the Histories of Dogma by Baur, Nitzsch, Harnack, &c. Compare also Löffler, Der Platonismus der Kirchenväter (1782); Huber, Die Philosophie der Kirchenväter (1859); Tzchirner, Fall des Heidenthums (1829), pp. 574-618; Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantin’s des Grossen (1853); Chastel, Hist. de la destruction du Paganisme dans l’empire d’Orient (1850); Beugnot, Hist. de la destruction du Paganisme en Occident (1835); E. von Lasaulx, Der Untergang des Hellenismus (1854); Vogt, Neuplatonismus und Christenthum (1836); Ullmann, “Einfluss des Christenthums auf Porphyrius,” in the Stud. u. Kritiken (1832); Jean Réville, La Religion à Rome sous les Sévères (1886); C. Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria (1886) and Neoplatonism (1895); Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (1909), pp. 70 foll. See further, C. Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in Koptischer Sprache (1892); K. P. Hasse, Von Plotin zu Goethe (1909); Thomas Whittaker, The Neo-Platonists (1901); Petrie, Personal Religion in Egypt before Christ (1909); M. Heinze, “Neuplatonismus,” in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyk. vol. xiii. (1903). On the after-effects of Neoplatonism on the church’s dogmatic, see Ritschl, Theologie und Metaphysik (1881). On the relation of Neoplatonism to Monachism, compare Keim, Aus dem Urchristenthum (1878). On the history of Neoplatonism with special reference to the decline of Roman polytheism, see, e.g., Samuel Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire (1898), pp. 82 foll. On Plotinus, Porphyry, &c., see separate articles. (A. Ha.; J. M. M.)
NEOPTOLEMUS (also called Pyrrhus), in Greek legend, the
son of Achilles and Deīdameia. He was brought up by his
grandfather Lycomedes in the island of Scyros, and taken to
Troy in the last year of the war by Odysseus, since Helenus had
declared that the city could not be captured without the aid of a
descendant of Aeacus. Neoptolemus was famed for his beauty,
eloquence and bravery. He was one of the warriors in the
wooden horse and slew Priam at the sack of Troy (Odyssey,
xi. 508-526; Aeneid, ii. 527). Apart from these Trojan tales,
Neoptolemus is a prominent figure in the legends of Epirus and
of Delphi. He was the ancestor of the Molossian kings, who
therefore claimed to be of pure Hellenic stock. He was murdered
at Delphi, where he was buried, and a festival was held in his
honour every eighth year.
NEOPYTHAGOREANISM, a Graeco-Alexandrian school of philosophy, which became prominent in the 1st century A.D. Very little is known about the members of this school, and there has been much discussion as to whether the Pythagorean literature which was widely published at the time in Alexandria was the original work of 1st-century writers or merely reproductions of and commentaries on the older Pythagorean writings. The only well-known members of the school were Apollonius of Tyana and Moderatus of Gades. In the previous century Cicero’s learned friend P. Nigidius Figulus (d. 45 B.C.) had made an attempt to revive Pythagorean doctrines, but he cannot be described as a member of the school. Further, it is necessary to distinguish from the Neopythagoreans a number of Eclectic Platonists, who, during the 1st century of our era, maintained views which had a similar tendency (e.g. Apuleius of Madaura, Plutarch of Chaeronea and, later, Numenius of Apamea).
Neopythagoreanism was the first product of an age in which abstract philosophy had begun to pall, The Stoics discovered that their “perfect man” was not to be found in the luxurious, often morbid society of the Graeco-Roman world; that something more than dialectic ethics was needed to reawaken a sense of responsibility. A degenerate society cared nothing for syllogisms grown threadbare by repetition. Neopythagoreanism was an attempt to introduce a religious element into pagan philosophy in place of what had come to be regarded as an arid formalism. The founders of the school sought to invest their doctrines with the halo of tradition by ascribing them to Pythagoras and Plato, and there is no reason to accuse them of insincerity. They went back to the later period of Plato’s thought, the period when Plato endeavoured to combine his doctrine of Ideas with the Pythagorean number-theory, and identified the Good with the One, the source of the duality of the Infinite and the Measured (τὸ ἄπειρον and πέρας) with the resultant scale of realities from the One down to the objects of the material world. They emphasized the fundamental distinction between the Soul and the Body. God must be worshipped spiritually by prayer and the will to be good, not in outward action. The soul must be freed from its material surrounding, the “muddy vesture of decay,” by an ascetic habit of life. Bodily pleasures and all sensuous impulses must be abandoned as detrimental to the spiritual purity of the soul. God is the principle of good; Matter (ὕλη) the groundwork of Evil. In this system we distinguish not only the asceticism of Pythagoras and the later mysticism of Plato, but also the influence of the Orphic mysteries and of Oriental philosophy. The Ideas of Plato are no longer self-subsistent entities; they are the elements which constitute the content of spiritual activity. The Soul is no longer an appanage of οὐσία, it is οὐσία itself: the non-material universe is regarded as the sphere of mind or spirit.
Thus Neopythagoreanism is a link in the chain between the old and the new in pagan philosophy. It connects the teaching of Plato with the doctrines of Neoplatonism and brings it into line with the later Stoicism and with the ascetic system of the Essenes. A comparison between the Essenes and the Neopythagoreans shows a parallel so striking as to warrant the theory that the Essenes were profoundly influenced by Neopythagoreanism. Lastly Neopythagoreanism furnished Neoplatonism with the weapons with which pagan philosophy made its last stand against Christianity.
See Pythagoras, Neoplatonism, Essenes; and Zeller’s Philosophie d. Griechen. For members of the school see Apollonius of Tyana and Moderatus of Gades.
NEPAL, Nepaul or Nipal, an independent state, situated on
the north-eastern frontier of India, lying between 80° 15′ and
88° 10′ E., and 26° 20′ and 30° 10′ N.; area, 54,000 sq. m., Its
extreme length is about 525 m., and its breadth varies from 90
to 140 m. It is bounded on the N. by Tibet; on the E. by
Sikkim; on the S. by Bengal and the United Provinces; and
on the W. by Kumaon, from which it is separated by the Kali
river. Its population is estimated by the natives at about
5,200,000, the common phrase used by the rulers in speaking
of popular opinion being, “but what will the Bāwan (i.e. fifty-two)
Lākh say to this.”
Nepal consists physically of two distinct territories: (1) the tarai, or strip of level, cultivated and forest land lying along the southern border; and (2) the great mountainous tract stretching northwards to Tibet. Along the northern frontier stand many of the highest peaks of the Himalayan range, such as Dhaulagiri (26,837 ft.), Mutsiputra, Gaurishankar and Yasa (24,000), Gosaīn Than (26,315) Mount Everest (29,002 according to the survey value), Kinchinjunga (28,146), and numerous peaks varying from 20,000 to 24,000 ft. In clear weather this magnificent snowy range may be seen in an almost continuous line from the top of some of the lower ranges near Katmandu. South of these are numerous parallel lower ranges, varying from 16,000 to 6000 ft. in height, which are broken up at intervals by cross ranges, thus forming a series of glens with a few hill-girt valleys interspersed.
These mountain ranges determine the course of the rivers, which are divided by the cross ranges into four groups. The first of these extends from Kumaon eastward as far as Dhaulagiri, and consists of the affluents of the Kali (Sarda), Sarju, Kurnali, Eastern Sarju, and Rapti, all of which ultimately form the Gogra or Gogari, and flow into the Ganges. The second group, known to the Nepalese as the Sapt Gandaki, rises from the peaks between Dhaulagiri and Gosaīn Than, and unite at Trebeni Ghat to form the Gandak. The third is a group of smaller rivers draining the great valley of Nepal, the valleys of Chitlong, Benepa, and Panouti, and portions of the tarai around the Churiaghati range of hills. These are the various branches of the Bara Gandak, the lesser Rapti, the Bagmati and Kumla. East of this again is the fourth group, known to the Nepalese as the Sapt Kosi, rising from the peaks between Gosaīn Than and Kinchinjunga, and uniting to form the Soon Kosi, which falls into the Ganges.
There is thus a natural division of the country into four portions. The most western is the country of the Baisi (or twenty-two) rajas, and contains the towns of Jumla, Doti and Sulliana. The second is the country of the Chaubisi (or twenty-four) rajas, and contains the towns of Malebum, Palpa, Gurkha and Noakote. The third is the district containing Nepal proper, with the capital and many large towns to be mentioned afterwards. The fourth is the eastern portion of Nepal, comprising the country of the Kiratis, and many small towns, such as Dhankota, Ilam and Bijapur.
