Porphyry direct knowledge of texts in the relevant languages. For instance, Augus-
tine records that in hisOn the Return of the SoulPorphyry had spoken of the
customs and doctrine (mores et disciplina)oftheIndiansandoftheinitiation
(inductio) of the Chaldaeans.^31 In hisOntheDerivationofPhilosophyfromOracles,
as quoted by Eusebius in thePraeparatio Evangelica,hewentinforevenmore
sweeping representations of non-Greek doctrines: ‘‘For the road to the gods
is bound with brass, and both steep and rough; the barbarians discovered
many paths thereof, but the Greeks went astray and those who already held
it even perverted it. The discovery was ascribed by the god to Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Chaldeans (for these are the Assyrians), Lydians and Hebrews.’’^32
Such a statement of course embodies a view of the limits of Greek philoso-
phy. But it is not a claim to have read original texts in any of the non-Greek
languages listed. Moreover, we know that, at least on occasion, when Por-
phyry attributes doctrines to ‘‘the Chaldaeans,’’^33 he is speaking of a well-
known collection of texts in Greek hexameter verse, theChaldaean Oracles,
apparently written in the second century..^34 It cannot be clear whether
he also depends on this text, itself preserved only in fragments, when in the
prefacetotheLetter to Anebohe speaks of the teaching of the Chaldaean wise
men (sophoi)andtheprophets(prophetai) among the Egyptians. As elsewhere,
his sweeping and inclusive view of ‘‘oriental’’ sources of doctrine is signifi-
cant for contemporary culture; but such references cannot possibly serve as
evidence for actual reading of texts in the languages concerned.^35
A fortiori, while it is again significant that hisLife of Pythagorasrepresents
its subject as learning from Egyptians, Chaldaeans, Phoenicians, Arabs, and
‘‘Zaratos’’ (Zoroaster),^36 this has no implications for actual cultural transfer-
ence in the third century..In all these cases we are clearly dealing with the
representation, or manipulation, within Greek culture of the image of non-
Greek cultures. It does not follow, of course, that we are never witnessing the
real acquisition of doctrines of patterns of thought. But where we have the
best evidence for that, in the fourth book of Porphyry’sOn Abstinence, what
we actually see is Porphyry’s use either of specific works which had already
. Augustine,Civ. Dei, ; see also , .
. Eusebius,Praep. Ev. , , –, trans. Gifford ( Stern,Greek and Latin AuthorsII,
no. ).
. See Stern,Greek and Latin AuthorsII, no. .
. E. des Places, ed.,OraclesChaldaïques(); R. Majercik,TheChaldaeanOracles:Text,
Translation and Commentary(). See D. Potter,Prophets and Emperors: Human and Divine
Authority from Augustus to Theodosius(), esp. ff.
.Letter to Anebo, ed. A. R. Sodano (),praef.
.Vita Pythagorae, ed. E. des Places (), , –.