Transcriber's Notes
This is part of a four-volume set. It contains many references to passages in this volume, othervolumes of this set, and other books by various authors.
In Volume I, links to all four volumes, including the other three at Project Gutenberg, have beenprovided in the cross-reference lists in the first 39 pages.The Concordance in Volume IV also contains linksto all four volumes. No other external links have been provided.
External links are underlined like this; support for them depends on the device and program used to displaythis eBook.
Each volume of this set contains irregularities that are summarized in theTranscriber's Notes at the end of that volume.
VOLUME IV.
WORKS OF PLOTINOS.
PLOTINOS
Complete Works
In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods;
With
BIOGRAPHY by Porphyry, Eunapius, & Suidas,
COMMENTARY by Porphyry,
ILLUSTRATIONS by Jamblichus & Ammonius,
STUDIES in Sources, Development, Influence;
INDEX of Subjects, Thoughts and Words.
by
Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie,
Professor in Extension, University of the South, Sewanee;
A.M., Sewanee, and Harvard; Ph.D., Tulane, and Columbia.
M.D., Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia.
Vol. IV
Eustochian Books, 46–54; Comment.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE PRESS
P. O. Box 42, ALPINE, N.J., U.S.A.
Copyright, 1918, by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie.
All Rights, including that of Translation, Reserved.
Entered at Stationers' Hall, by
George Bell and Sons, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn, London.
FIRST ENNEAD, BOOK FOUR.
Whether Animals May Be Termed Happy.1
DEFINITIONS OF HAPPINESS.
1. The (Aristotelian) ideal of living well and happinessare (practically) identical. Should we, on thataccount, grant even to animals the privilege of achievinghappiness? Why might we not say that they livewell, if it be granted them, in their lives, to follow thecourse of nature, without obstacles? For if to livewell consist either in pleasure (pleasant passions, as theEpicureans taught), or in realizing one's own individualaim (the Stoic ideal), then this living well is, in eithercase, possible for animals, who can both enjoy pleasure,and accomplish their peculiar aim. Thus singing birdslive a life desirable for them, if they enjoy pleasure,and sing conformably to their nature. If further weshould define happiness as achieving the supreme purposetowards which nature aspires (the Stoic ideal),we should, even in this case, admit that animals sharein happiness when they accomplish this supreme purpose.Then nature arouses in them no further desires,because their whole career is completed, and their lifeis filled from beginning to end.
WHETHER PLANTS MAY BE TERMED HAPPY.
There are no doubt some who may object to ou