Page:The Origin of Christian Science.djvu/32

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
24
The Origin of Christian Science.

andria, who flourished in the first part of the third century after Christ. Almost nothing is known of him; and he probably would have been entirely forgotten had it not been for his brilliant pupil, Plotinus, the real founder of Neoplatonism. He was born in Alexandria about the year 205 A. D. He came to Rome in the year 244, where his lectures were received with great enthusiasm. He died in 270. Plato and Aristotle have had no follower whose thought is more penetrating or more sublime.

The next greatest name among the Neoplatonists, the one after whose death the school rapidly declined, is Proclus, who lectured at Athens. He died in 485. For breadth of learning, for productiveness, for brilliancy of imagination, for analytical ability, for gifts for systematizing his thoughts, for finished, scholarly productions, we shall hardly find his equal. He was a literary genius.

There are two other great names second only to Plotinus and Proclus, namely, Porphyry, the pupil and great admirer of Plotinus, and Iamblichus, the pupil of Porphyry. The former was a popular expounder of the views of Plotinus; the latter was a fluent orator and religious enthusiast.

After these five great names, the founders and builders of the structure, there come a host of others who have worked upon it and given it the touch of their genius. I mention Julian the Emperor of Rome, called the Apostate, Syrianus, the predecessor and teacher of Proclus, Olympiodorius