The theme of this paper is, what I believe to be, the inconsistency in the life
lived by Plotinus and the ethical teaching of the Enneads. This paper will
do little more than set out the problem. We know quite a bit about the life
Plotinus lived because of a biography written by his most famous pupil,
Porphyry. We have some fragments from another biogra~hy by Eunapius
and other bits and pieces. But Porphyry is the chief source. We are lucky to
have anything at all when we consider the opening lines of Porphyry's
biography:
Plotinus, the philosopher of our times, seemed ashamed of being
in the body. As a result of this state of mind he could never bear
to talk about his race or his parents or his native country (Vita
Plotini 1.1-2)
