It can be difficult to find your way into late antique Platonism. Some texts, like Plotinus' Enneads, Sallust's so-called On the Gods and the World, and the works of emperor Julian are freely accessible online, but without some guidance, they are hard to understand (and easy to misunderstand, as I know from experience). This page is intended as a reading guide to some of the most accessible and most important texts of ancient Platonism, laid out as a curriculum inspired by Late Platonic conventions.
Many of the books I list here are freely available online, but as the curriculum progresses, it becomes unavoidable to read books that have been translated for the first time in recent decades, some of them quite expensive. I hope that this will slowly change in the future, but for now, if you have suggestions or need help accessing these texts, you can comment here or send me a direct message on twitter (@UnhistoryR).
1. Sallustius, On the Gods and the World (ca. 361 CE)
An introduction to late antique Platonism
The translation of this brief work by Thomas Taylor, now over 200 years old, is widely available online. Ideally, it should be read in a more recent translation, and even more ideally, someone should produce a free version in contemporary English (does anyone want to collaborate?).
Sallustius' treatise briefly introduces the following topics (and a few more):
chapter 1: common conceptions
chapter 2: an Iamblichean account of the gods' nature
chapter 3: the divinity of myths
chapter 4: five types of myth
chapter 5: Plotinus' doctrine of the One, the First Cause
chapter 6: an account of the twelve gods, within and beyond the cosmos
chapter 7 (and 17): the eternity of the cosmos
chapter 8: Being, Intellect, Soul
chapter 9: providence, fate, fortune
chapter 10: virtue and vice
chapter 11: the types of government
chapter 12: the origin of evil
chapter 13: eternal creation
chapter 14: what is meant by divine anger
chapter 15: why one should worship gods who need nothing
chapters 16 (and 18): the purpose of sacrifice
chapter 19: why providential punishment is not immediate
chapter 20: reincarnation
chapter 21: the fate of the good after death
Two important have to be taken into account in reading this text:
A) The author followed Plotinus' and Iamblichus' innovative interpretations of Plato, so the work is often not based on specific passages in Plato's dialogues, but on a system extrapolated from them.
B) It was written during the brief rule of emperor Julian, who undid the criminalization of pagan worship, and some of its concerns come out of this climate, rather than the Iamblichean system.
For now, it is not important to get a handle on all of the concepts brought up by Sallustius, or to understand the specificities of Plotinus', Iamblichus' and Julian's lives and ideas. Instead, it is high time that we turn to the philosopher himself.
2-4. Plato's Euthyphro, Meno, and Phaedo
An introduction to Plato himself
To get a sense of where ancient Platonic philosophers were coming from, you naturally have to read Plato. But that doesn't mean you need to have read all of his dialogues before you study the later Platonists. Their interpretations provide a framework for understanding Plato, and close study of Plato allows you to decide between existing interpretations and even to improve upon them. To have one - Plato or interpretations of Plato - without the other is impossible, and you can always improve your understanding by reading more of both.
Following a recommendation by @HoDiadochus, I suggest reading:
2. Euthyphro, also called On Piety in antiquity*, a dialogue on the nature of the holy and the pious. Translation by George Theodoridis (2017).
3. Meno, aka On Virtue, which begins as a discussion of virtue, and then argues that learning is a kind of remembering or recollection (anamnêsis). Translation by Cathal Woods (2012).
4. Phaedo, aka On the Soul, about the immortality of the soul. Translation by George Theodoridis (2016).
The Euthyphro is an aporetic dialogue, which means that it ends without bringing its arguments to a satisfying conclusion - leaving the reader to think through them on their own. The Meno's discussion of virtue is similar, but the dialogue is clearly in favor of the so-called Theory of Recollection. The Phaedo, finally, is intended as an argument for the immortality of the soul throughout.
Of course, if you have already read enough Plato to know that you want to try going through the rest of the curriculum, feel free to skip this part.
(*On these double titles, see R. G. Hoerber, "Thrasylus' Platonic Canon and the Double Titles", in: Phronesis 2.1 [1957]).
🙔
First readings: Sallustius and Plato
1. Sallustius, On the Gods and the World (ca. 361 CE)
An introduction to late antique Platonism
The translation of this brief work by Thomas Taylor, now over 200 years old, is widely available online. Ideally, it should be read in a more recent translation, and even more ideally, someone should produce a free version in contemporary English (does anyone want to collaborate?).
Sallustius' treatise briefly introduces the following topics (and a few more):
chapter 1: common conceptions
chapter 2: an Iamblichean account of the gods' nature
chapter 3: the divinity of myths
chapter 4: five types of myth
chapter 5: Plotinus' doctrine of the One, the First Cause
chapter 6: an account of the twelve gods, within and beyond the cosmos
chapter 7 (and 17): the eternity of the cosmos
chapter 8: Being, Intellect, Soul
chapter 9: providence, fate, fortune
chapter 10: virtue and vice
chapter 11: the types of government
chapter 12: the origin of evil
chapter 13: eternal creation
chapter 14: what is meant by divine anger
chapter 15: why one should worship gods who need nothing
chapters 16 (and 18): the purpose of sacrifice
chapter 19: why providential punishment is not immediate
chapter 20: reincarnation
chapter 21: the fate of the good after death
Two important have to be taken into account in reading this text:
A) The author followed Plotinus' and Iamblichus' innovative interpretations of Plato, so the work is often not based on specific passages in Plato's dialogues, but on a system extrapolated from them.
B) It was written during the brief rule of emperor Julian, who undid the criminalization of pagan worship, and some of its concerns come out of this climate, rather than the Iamblichean system.
For now, it is not important to get a handle on all of the concepts brought up by Sallustius, or to understand the specificities of Plotinus', Iamblichus' and Julian's lives and ideas. Instead, it is high time that we turn to the philosopher himself.
🙔
2-4. Plato's Euthyphro, Meno, and Phaedo
An introduction to Plato himself
To get a sense of where ancient Platonic philosophers were coming from, you naturally have to read Plato. But that doesn't mean you need to have read all of his dialogues before you study the later Platonists. Their interpretations provide a framework for understanding Plato, and close study of Plato allows you to decide between existing interpretations and even to improve upon them. To have one - Plato or interpretations of Plato - without the other is impossible, and you can always improve your understanding by reading more of both.
Following a recommendation by @HoDiadochus, I suggest reading:
2. Euthyphro, also called On Piety in antiquity*, a dialogue on the nature of the holy and the pious. Translation by George Theodoridis (2017).
3. Meno, aka On Virtue, which begins as a discussion of virtue, and then argues that learning is a kind of remembering or recollection (anamnêsis). Translation by Cathal Woods (2012).
4. Phaedo, aka On the Soul, about the immortality of the soul. Translation by George Theodoridis (2016).
The translations I link to are chosen because they are recent and free, but I haven't checked them for accuracy. Many alternative translations exist for all of these, and are easy to find on- and offline.
Of course, if you have already read enough Plato to know that you want to try going through the rest of the curriculum, feel free to skip this part.
(*On these double titles, see R. G. Hoerber, "Thrasylus' Platonic Canon and the Double Titles", in: Phronesis 2.1 [1957]).
🙔
After these readings, you may have already had enough of Plato. Or perhaps you want to read more of Plato's works, but only for their literary qualities. But if you feel like you want to know more about ancient Platonism, the next step will be to prepare yourself for a "proper" study of the dialogues and their philosophy.
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