Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 78

22 December 2025

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 78

1.   Usury

“Serapion of Alexandria was with him (Plotinus), too – originally an orator, but afterwards also interested in philosophical argument.  But he (Serapion) did not stay the course.  He found himself unable to renounce his possessions and give up usury.”

(Porphyry, Life of Plotinus, translated by Lloyd P. Gerson et al, Plotinus: The Enneads, Second Edition, 2025, pages 26 and 27, ISBN: 9781009604970)

There is a section in the Life of Plotinus by Porphyry where Porphyry presents a representative sampling of the students of Plotinus.  Porphyry offers brief sketches of a few sentences at most.  But I think they are very interesting because they show the reader the standards that were in effect among these students of Plotinus.  I’m not aware of any written document that lists these standards.  I suspect they were more like commonly understood standards that were broadly used in various philosophical traditions and because of this no written list, or summary, of them was needed.

Porphyry writes that Serapion was ‘originally an orator.’  Orators gave prepared speeches, often at public venues, on various topics.  An example in the Platonic tradition of an Orator is Maximus of Tyre whose works are called ‘Orations.’  An Orator could make a living and become well-known if they were eloquent and spoke on topics of broad interest.  I don’t think we have any Orations of Serapion at this time, but to be an Orator you had to have a good education in writing and literature; and it is likely that an Orator would study rhetoric.  It appears that Serapion had dropped being an Orator because Porphyry uses the word ‘afterwards’ he became interested in philosophy, indicating, I think, after concluding his efforts at being an Orator.

Porphyry assesses Serapion as someone unable to ‘stay the course’ in his studies of Philosophy because he could not renounce his possessions or give up usury.  The inability to give up possessions seems to have been an important disqualifier in the community of Plotinus but it’s not easy to see exactly how that functioned.  I mean were there discussions about this between Plotinus and his students, or between a senior student and a newcomer?  I am thinking about how in Christian monasticism that in some monastic traditions it is required that you give away all your possessions to the poor before becoming a member of the monastic community.  Was something like this going on?  Or was it more a matter of a group consensus that was communicated to newcomers through conversation and the behavior of senior students?

The other disqualifier Porphyry mentions for a student of Philosophy is usury.  Usury can mean charging exorbitant interest or, in some contexts, it can mean charging any interest at all.  Charging exorbitant interest is the more common meaning, but in Plato’s dialogues Plato argues against charging interest full stop.  Usury was considered a serious breach of ethical behavior in Western culture and until fairly recently there were laws against it. 

Porphyry is following Platonic tradition in his judgment against usury.  In Laws, for example, usury is prohibited in the sense of charging any interest:

“. . . no one should give money to someone he can’t trust, and no money should be lent at interest.”

(Plato, Laws, Book V, translated by Thomas L. Pangle, University of Chicago Press, 1980, page 129, 742c, ISBN: 0226671100)

There are additional passages about interest and wealth accumulation that are scattered through dialogues such as The Republic and Theaetetus. 

When Plato writes that ‘no one’ should loan money at interest it appears to be a blanket injunction.  However, later Platonists sometimes interpret these kinds of injunctions as pertaining to those who want to become Philosophers; taking into account this perspective, a gloss on the above quote from The Laws would read “. . . no Philosopher should give money to someone he can’t trust, and no money should be lent at interest.”  Porphyry does this in his book On Abstinence when, early in the work, Porphyry writes that the prohibition against eating or sacrificing animals for ritual purposes applies specifically to Philosophers, but not to people engaged in ordinary activities.  It’s possible that Porphyry unnecessarily narrows that injunction, but that’s how Porphyry seems to been inclined to look at them.

My primary reason for referring to this passage from Life of Plotinus is to give an example of how the works of Platonism are filled with what I refer to as ‘instruction.’  What I mean by ‘instruction’ are passages that inform the reader, and particularly a reader who wants to be a Philosopher, how to incorporate behaviors that are consistent with the overall view of the cosmos that Platonism has.  The most explicit example of this that I can recall is the passage in Phaedo, which I have previously quoted, where Socrates quizzes Simmias on the behavior of Philosophers in everyday contexts such as food, adornments, sex, and so forth. 

It appears that Plotinus and Porphyry followed this way of writing, scattering instructions on how to live a Philosophical life throughout their writings.

2.  The Pleasure of Reading Plotinus

When I first read Plotinus I found it difficult.  I wasn’t used to the vocabulary.  I wasn’t used to the syntax.  And I wasn’t familiar enough with the antecedents of the thought of Plotinus to feel confident about the background out of which these writings emerge; this applied particularly to the Dialogues of Plato which are the fertile ground for the Enneads.  But this also applies to ancillary works such as those of Aristotle that have an impact on the thought of Plotinus.  Over time I slowly became more familiar with this broad context of classical thought and its styles and assumptions that are woven through what Plotinus writes.

At a certain point, after reading the Enneads many times, the difficulties I had at first diminished and some of them vanished altogether.  At that point reading Plotinus became a pleasure, a pleasure that I eagerly look forward to.  I doubt that this process has ended; I suspect that the pleasure of reading Plotinus will only increase over time.

3.  Is Platonism a Religion?

I have often referred to Platonism as a spiritual tradition, and now and then I have even referred to Platonism as a religion.  And I also, as readers here know, like to refer to Platonism as a kind of Dharma, similar to the Dharmas of India such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Yoga. 

But most people do not think of Platonism that way.  Instead they think of Platonism as a philosophy and they find philosophy and religion to be distinct, non-overlapping categories. 

I think the key to accepting that a way of life is a religion is that religions are, at their core, salvific.  I mean that religions have the task of offering their adherents a way of escaping from, or a way of transforming, the difficulties of human life, the difficulties of material existence.  In Buddhist terms, religions offer ‘refuge’ from the struggles that human beings must endure.  I think if you look at it from this perspective, Platonism qualifies as a religion, a spirituality, a salvific path that offers a way out of the pains and sorrows of life in the material realm.

4.  Solstice

The December solstice was on the 21^st of December this year (some years the solstice is on the 22^nd).  I and some friends stepped into the desert and walked a little ways out to greet the solstice sunrise; we’ve doing this for about three years and there is a spot we always use for the solstices and equinoxes.  The valley I live in is surrounded by mountains which add about ten to fifteen minutes to the time of sunrise listed online. 

At sunrise we bowed to express our gratitude for the sun’s light and warmth. 

It’s a very simple ceremony; no chants, no prayers, no robes.  Just a simple acknowledgement of the gifts we receive from the sun year after year.

There is a steady and quiet beauty in the solar cycle, particular the times of sunrise and sunset.  Many have felt how these times are conducive to contemplation.  I think that is because the beauty of those moments can open the gate to the source from which beauty comes and by following beauty we can ascend to that source.