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AN UNNOTICED REFERENCE TO THE CRITO IN PLOTINUS?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 April 2020
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εἰ δ' ἑκοῦσαι, τί μέμφεσθε εἰς ὃν ἑκόντες ἤλθετε διδόντος καὶ ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, εἴ τις μὴ ἀρέσκοιτο; εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τόδε τὸ πᾶν, ὡς ἐξεῖναι ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ σοφίαν ἔχειν καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὄντας βιοῦν κατ' ἐκεῖνα, πῶς οὐ μαρτυρεῖ ἐξηρτῆσθαι τῶν ἐκεῖ;
And if they descend willingly, why do you blame the cosmos that you willingly entered and that allows anyone who is not satisfied to escape from it? But if this universe is actually such that we can be in it and have wisdom and while being here live according to those intelligible principles, why wouldn't this bear witness to its dependence on those intelligible principles?
καὶ οὐδεὶς ἡμῶν τῶν νόμων ἐμποδών ἐστιν οὐδ' ἀπαγορεύει, ἐάντε τις βούληται ὑμῶν εἰς ἀποικίαν ἰέναι, εἰ μὴ ἀρέσκοιμεν ἡμεῖς τε καὶ ἡ πόλις, ἐάντε μετοικεῖν ἄλλοσέ ποι ἐλθών, ἰέναι ἐκεῖσε ὅποι ἂν βούληται, ἔχοντα τὰ αὑτοῦ. ὃς δ' ἂν ὑμῶν παραμείνῃ, ὁρῶν ὃν τρόπον ἡμεῖς τάς τε δίκας δικάζομεν καὶ τἆλλα τὴν πόλιν διοικοῦμεν, ἤδη φαμὲν τοῦτον ὡμολογηκέναι ἔργῳ ἡμῖν ἃ ἂν ἡμεῖς κελεύωμεν ποιήσειν ταῦτα.
Not one of our laws raises any obstacle or forbids him, if he is not satisfied with us or the city, if one of you wants to go and live in a colony or wants to go anywhere else, and keep his property. We say, however, that whoever of you remains, when he sees how we conduct our trials and manage the city in other ways, has in fact come to an agreement with us to obey our instructions.
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References
1 Plotinus, Enn. 2.9 [33].8.42–6, transl. Gerson, L.P. et al. , Plotinus: The Enneads (Cambridge, 2018)Google Scholar.
2 Pl. Cri. 51d5–e4, transl. Grube, G.M.A., Plato: Five Dialogues (Indianapolis, 1981)Google Scholar.
3 Including Gerson et al. (n. 1), 219.
4 The closest parallels are εἰ οὐκ ἀρέσκοιντο in Plutarch (Tim. 11.1.3) and οἷς μὴ ἀρέσκοιτο in Josephus (AJ 19.179.1).
5 For the adversaries targeted in this text, see Kalligas, P., ‘Plotinus against the Gnostics’, Hermathena 169 (2000), 115–28Google Scholar.
6 Plotinus, Enn. 2.9 [33].8.1–8.
7 Plotinus, Enn. 2.9 [33].8.8–30.
8 Plotinus, Enn. 2.9 [33].8.30–9.
9 Plotinus, Enn. 2.9 [33].8.39–41.
10 An important consequence of this widening of the scope is that it solves one of the main problems of the Crito, namely that the implicit acceptance of the law only concerns that of one's own city or community (see e.g. Kahn, C.H., ‘Problems in the argument of Plato's Crito’, Apeiron 22 [1989], 29–43, at 35CrossRefGoogle Scholar).
11 Plotinus, Enn. 1.4 [46].7.31–2; see also 1.7 [54].3.18–22.
12 As is made clear in 1.4 [46].16.13–20; see Dillon, J., ‘Singing without an instrument: Plotinus on suicide’, ICS 19 (1994), 231–8Google Scholar.