Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/526



1., called Saccas, or the Sack-carrier, from the occupation at which he originally toiled, gets the credit of being the founder of the Neoplatonic or Alexandrian philosophy. He was born about 160, and died about 240 of the Christian era. He lived and taught at Alexandria. He is said by some to have combined Christianity with his philosophy, and to have continued a Christian to the last; by others he is said to have apostatised from the faith. Very little, however, is known about him; his philosophic position is very obscure and insignificant when placed in comparison with the claims of his pupil and follower, Plotinus, whom we must regard as by far the greatest representative of the Alexandrian philosophy, and of whom I now proceed to speak.

2. Plotinus, the chief of the Alexandrian Platonists, is said to have always refused to divulge the names of his parents, and the time and place of his birth, so little reason did he think he had to congratulate himself on having been born. The secret,