Read The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life Online
Authors: Bruce J. MacLennan
49. PD 2, Saint-Andre trans.
50. Lucretius,
On the Nature of Things
, Bk. 3, lines 978–979, William Ellery Leonard trans.
51. Lucretius,
On the Nature of Things
, Bk. 3, line 1023, my trans.
52. LM (DL X.126), my trans.
53. LM (DL X.126), trans. from LS 24A6.
54. PD 19, Hicks trans. (DL X.145).
55. The analogy between the perfection of a moment and of a circle was used by Seneca (
Letters to Lucilius
74.27), who wrote, “Whether you draw a larger or a smaller circle, its size affects its area, not its shape.”
56. From Philodemus,
Against the Sophists
, 4.9–14, my trans.
57. PD 21, adapted from Saint-Andre trans.
58. VS 14, trans from http://www.epicurus.net/en/vatican.html (accessed 14 July
2012).
59. Adapted from VS 58, Saint-Andre trans.
60. Plutarch (quoted in Reale,
Sys. Hellen. Age
, p. 177).
61. OF 86, trans. from Reale,
Sys. Hellen. Age
, p. 177.
62. Stevenson (trans.),
Ten Hymns of Synesius
(1865).
63. On Epicurean “evolutionary anthropology” see Lucretius,
On the Nature of Things
, Bk. 5, and Porphyry’s
On Abstinence from Meat
, Bk. 1, in
Select Works
.
64. PD 31, Saint-Andre trans.
65. PD 33, trans. ada
pted from http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/PD.html (accessed 3
July 2012).
66. PD 17, trans
. from http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/PD.html (accessed 3 J
uly 2012); cf. VS 12.
67. OF 81, Saint-Andre trans.
68. Peters, p. 40.
69. Trans. from LS 22S.
endnotes 303
70. Trans. from LS 22P.
71. OF 80, trans. Bailey.
72. Porphyry,
On Abstinence
(trans. from LS 22M1).
73. Plutarch, “That a Philosopher Ought Chiefly to Converse with Great Men” §3 (Vol.
2, p. 374).
74. DL X.120.
75. VS 52.
76. PD 27.
77. VS 78.
78. VS 66, adapted from Saint-Andre trans.
79. OF 50, Saint-Andre trans.
80. DL X.22, Hicks trans. (
Stoic & Epic.
, p. 159).
81. Adapted from DL X.16, my trans.
82. VS 41, Saint-Andre trans.
83. VS 54, adapted from Saint-Andre trans.
84. VS 65, Saint-Andre trans.
85. VS 79, trans. ada
pted from http://www.epicurus.info/etexts/VS.html (accessed 3
July 2012).
86. OF 46, Saint-Andre trans.
87. OF 54, Saint-Andre trans.
88. OF 66, adapted from Saint-Andre trans.
89. OF 74, Saint-Andre trans.
90. LM (DL X.135), adapted from Saint-Andre and Hicks translations.
91. Diogenes Laertius (DL) VII.2–4; he probably wrote in the third century CE and was perhaps an Epicurean.
92. Crates’ 6th Letter, translated in Sayre,
The Greek Cynics
(p. 7). These letters were not actually written by Crates, but reflect Cynic doctrine.
93. Crates’ 21st Letter, trans. adapted from Sayre,
Greek Cynics
(p. 7).
94. Seneca,
Letters to Lucilius
(
Ad Luculium Epistulae Morales
) 74.27, trans. Gummere.
95. DL VII 40.
96. MA II 4.
97. MA XII 26.
98. MA VIII 7.
99. Epictetus’
Handbook
(EH) §5, trans. adapted from Hadot (
Inn. Cit.
), p. 109.
304 endnotes
100. MA VIII 40.
101. MA VIII 49.
102. MA III 11.
103. The “naked” description of eating a steak is based on MA VI 13; the anachronistic references to germs and chemical stimulation of the tongue are mine.
104. MA VI 13. It astonishes me that this passage is censored, without comment, from some modern translations of Marcus’
Meditations
105. MA VII 68.
106. MA VIII 48.
107. MA IX 15.
108. MA XI 11.
109. MA VI 8.
110. MA V 25.
111. MA V 10.
112. MA II 1.
113. MA IV 49.
114. “The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced back to Stoic philosophers, particularly Zeno of Citium (fourth century B.C.), Chysippus, Cicero,
Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius” (Beck 1979, p. 8). See especially Robertson
(2010).
115. Marcus Aurelius describes it in
Med
. XII 3, and Hadot discusses it in
The Inner Citadel
, pp. 112–25; the quote is on p. 120.
116. MA XII 3.
117. Horace’s
Satires
, Bk. II, 7, lines 83–8, translated by John Conington.
118. Epictetus’
Discourses
(ED) III 24.88, trans. Long.
119. Seneca,
Letters to Lucilius
(SL) 98.6.
120. MA VIII 36.
121. Of course some diseases and injuries, those affecting the brain,
do
impair your ability to make moral choices. From a Stoic perspective, there are situations in which
suicide or euthanasia might be justified.
122. ED IV 1.111.
123. ED IV 1.112, trans. P. E. Matheson.
124. ED IV 1.110, trans. P. E. Matheson.
125. MA II 13.
endnotes 305
126. MA II 17.
127. DL VII 88.
128. ED I 14.12, modified from Matheson trans.
129. MA V 27.
130. MA IV 5.
131. MA IX 28.
132. See Schneider (2005) on the role of the second law of thermodynamics on creating order.
133. MA III 16.
134. This analogy is based on MA V 8.
135. SL 107.2.
136. MA V 8. This is also the source of the simile about the stones in a pyramid.
137. MA X 5.
138. MA III 11.
139. MA IV 40.
140. MA VII 9.
141. MA X 21.
142. MA VI 38.
143. This maxim occurs in several different forms, for example MA III 16, X 11, XII 27.
144. MA XII 14.
145. Seneca,
Nat. Quest
. I, preface, 3, quoted in Hadot,
Inn. Cit.
p. 157.
146. EH 8.
147. MA XII 29.
148. MA VII 69.
149. MA VIII 2.
150. MA VII 11.
151. MA X 2.
152. MA VII 55.
153. MA XII 30.
154. MA VII 13.
155. ED II 5.
156. MA VIII 34, ED. II 5.
157. MA IX 42.
158. MA XI 4.
306 endnotes
159. MA V 6.
160. MA IX 42.
161. MA II 1, trans. Long.
162. MA VII 63.
163. Peters, s.v. sôphrosynê, p. 180.
164. MA XI 18.
165. MA IV 7, my trans.
166. MA X 4.
167. MA XI 13.
168. MA XI 18. Meditations XI 18 and II 16 are too long to quote in full, but they each provide organized series of rules for behaving ethically.
169. MA VI 27.
170. MA IX 11.
171. MA VIII 59.
172. MA VII 22.
173. MA XI 18.
174. MA VI 39.
175. Hierocles,
Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses
(henceforth “HC”) VII 9, Rowe trans.
176.
The Pythagorean Golden Verses
, edited by Thom, verses 5–8, adapted from Thomas Stanley trans.
177. HC VII 11, Rowe trans.; a common Greek idea (e.g., Plato,
Lysis
214d5–6).
178. MA VIII 29.
179. MA IX 27.
180. Adapted from Cassius Dio, 72.34.4, Foster trans.
181. MA XI 1.
182. Seneca,
On Benef
., IV.33.2, adapted from Stewart trans.
183. MA X 12.
184. MA VIII 32.
185. MA VI 7.
186. MA VIII 32.
187. MA V 20.
188. MA IV 2.
189. MA VIII 35.
endnotes 307
190. MA VIII 16.
191. ED II 5.
192. Epictetus, fragment 10, quoted by Aulus Gellius XVII.19, trans. Matheson. If you want to learn it in ancient Greek, it is
anékhou kai apékhou
, or in Latin
sustine et ab-stine
.
193. MA IX 1.
194. MA IX 9.
195. Adapted from Haines trans. of MA IX 9.
196. MA IX 9.
197. MA XI 37, paraphrasing ED III 24.
198. The relation between the three Stoic disciplines and the cardinal virtues is discussed at some length in Hadot,
Inn. Cit.
(Ch. 9).
199. MA XII 15.
200. As it turns out, this persistent notion arises from a mistranslation of an idiom in Plato’s
Phaedo
; see Appendix II in Archer-Hind’s edition of the
Phaedo
. Nevertheless, it is an attractive metaphor.
201. As I explained in Ch. 2, so far as we know, Hypatia did not write any philosophical works. Therefore, in this imaginary lecture I am putting words in her mouth, but
the ideas are those of Alexandrian Neoplatonism during her lifetime.
202. The
levels or planes of reality
are technically termed
hypostases
, so The One is the first hypostasis, the World Mind is the second hypostasis, etc. As much as possible I have tried to avoid the technical terminology of Neoplatonism. From Plato’s time
on to Hypatia’s and beyond there have differing analyses of the non-material realm,
generally subdividing the levels into sublevels in one way or another. For the most
part we do not need to worry about these differences, and you will be learning tech-
niques that will allow you to do your own exploration of the non-material realms.
203. Many mathematicians have defended a Platonic philosophy of mathematics.
Balaguer (1998) argues convincingly that there are two equally defensible philoso-
phies of mathematics, one of which is “full-blooded Platonism,” in which any logi-
cally consistent mathematical object exists.
204. The meaning of
idea
is in Liddell, Scott & Jones’
Greek Lexicon
, and its philosophical usage is discussed in Peters’
Greek Philosophical Terms
under
eidos.
205. We do not know the names of Hypatia’s female students, and so I have made up
Aedesia. In fifth century Alexandria, there were married Neoplatonic philosophers
308 endnotes
named Aedesia and Hermias, but they would have been a little young to attend
Hypatia’s lectures.
206. Plato’s
Sophist
, 246a–b, translation after Jowett & Cornford.
207. Plato’s
Sophist
, 246b–c, translation after Jowett & Cornford.
208. Plotinus,
Enneads
(hence forth “PE”) 4.8.3.
209. PE 4.8.5.
210. PE 4.4.13.
211. Plato,
Timaeus
, 37d.
212. My paraphrase of an Epicurean fragment quoted by Porphyry (
Letter to Marcella
, 31).
213. From Synesius’
Third Hymn
, translated by Alan Stevenson, which Synesius probably wrote in 402, shortly after returning from Constantinople (Bregman,
Synesius
, pp.
78–9).
214. From Synesius’
Fourth Hymn
, trans. Alan Stevenson. Synesius wrote this hymn in the period 404–406 CE while residing in Alexandria and before he was appointed bishop
(Bregman,
Synesius
, p. 61).
215. PE 6.7.22.
216. Plato describes this ascent in his
Symposium
; you will learn it in ch. 10.
217. From Synesius’
Fourth Hymn
, trans. Alan Stevenson.
218. Maximus Tyrius,
Dissertation I,
trans. Thomas Taylor, pp. 5–6.
219. Verses 45–48 of the
Pythagorean Golden Verses
, adapted from the translation by Thomas Stanley.
220. Hierocles,
Comm. Pyth. Gold. Vers
. XXI.7, adapted from Rowe trans.
221. Homer,
Iliad
, bk. 8, lines 17–27, translated by Alexander Pope.
222. PE 3.4.3, line 22, my trans.
223. On the Trinity and subordinationism see Bregman’s
Synesius
(pp. 79–80) and the citations therein.
224. From Synesius’
Third Hymn
, trans. Alan Stevenson.
225. The Epicurean Paradox is attributed to Epicurus by Lactantius,
De ira dei
13, 20-21.
226. There are many biographies of Jung, some of which are prejudiced and subjective.
One that is unbiased and objective is Dierdre Bair’s
Jung: A Biography
. Jung’s autobi-ography,
Memories, Dreams, Reflections
, is valuable for giving his own perspective on his development.
endnotes 309
227. In my papers listed in the bibliography I explore in more detail the connections, on the one hand, between Jungian psychology and Neoplatonism, and on the other,
between Jungian psychology and evolutionary psychology. Much of my work on
evolutionary Jungian psychology is based on that of Meredith Sabini and especially
Anthony Stevens.
228. The human genome has about 3.2 billion bases.
229. Since there are ten digits but only four DNA bases (A, C, G, T), it takes only about 3.85 billion digits to number the possible 6.4 billion-long strings of the bases.
230. I am referring to the
Baldwin effect
, which is one kind of
niche construction
by species.
231. Trans. Edwin Hamilton Gifford.
http://classics.mit.edu/Porphyry/images.html
(accessed Sept. 25, 2012).
232. General information on the three paths of ascent can be found in Rosán’s
Phil. of
Proclus
, pp. 205–13, and Siorvanes’
Proclus
, pp. 189–99. See also PE 1.3.
233. Proclus,
Plat. Theol.
, trans. in Rosán,
Phil. Procl
., p. 213.
234. Information on the troubadours and Cathars can be found in Anderson’s
Dante the
Maker
and in de Rougemont’s
Love in the Western World
.
235. Rumi,
Mathnavi
I.109, trans. Raficq Abdulla,
Words of Paradise: Selected Poems of
Rumi
(London: Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2000), pp 46–7, used with permission.