a Platonic anthology, now lost, from which these excerpts were taken. It does not seem necessary to postulate such a book, but it still remains true that
certain phrases, such as that from Plato's Timaeus 28 b 'To discover the maker and father of the universe is indeed a hard task, and having found him it
would be impossible to tell everyone about him', recur with remarkable frequency in all the writers of the period, whether pagan or Christian.
(b) Alongside the intense traditionalism of the period may be found a strong tendency to amalgamate the central tenets of differing philosophical
schemes, with the result of forming a united philosophical front. All the main schools must have had substantial followings over the period. Mention has
already been made of Platonists and Stoics. But there was also a flowering of Pythagoreanism, again beginning at the opening of the first century B.C.
with the figure of Nigidius Figulus (praetor in 58 B.C.). He was followed by men like the wandering preacher Apollonius of Tyana, whose biography,
written by Philostratus for the Empress Julia Domna at the opening of the third century A.D., came to be thought of as a rival to the Gospels. Another
interesting Pythagorean of a slightly later date and more immediately philosophical interests was Numenius of Apamea, who made the interesting claim
that Plato derived his doctrines from Pythagoras. He is therefore a witness to the belief that not only were Plato's doctrines derived, but also that
underneath certain verbal differences all philosophers were saying the same thing. This mixture of appeal to antiquity, together with a desire to water
down important divergences in favour of a common front, is characteristic of nearly all the writers of the age and is a mark of their learning, sterility, and
general timidity.
(c) Most of the authors with whom we shall be concerned exemplify the revival in classical Greek style, known as the Second Sophistic Movement, of
which Philostratus writes in his Lives of the Sophists. Marcus Aurelius wrote in Greek, and the 'cultured commonplaces' of Maximus were intended to
help young men to develop the power of speaking elegantly in public on general themes. Again the interest of all the writers of the age, with the solitary
exception of Plotinus, was practical. In Plutarch the moral and practical interest predominates, and in one of his Discourses Epictetus asks: 'But what is
philosophy? Does it not mean making preparation to meet the things that come upon us?' It was for their lack of interest in giving practical help to the
state that the Platonist philosopher Celsus was critical of Christians. Such a criticism would have sounded oddly from Plotinus, with his resolute and
consistent exaltation of contemplation over action and his lack of interest in either the theory or the practice of politics. Finally, Plotinus differs from all
his immediate predecessors in the systematic rigour that he brings to philosophy. Neither Plutarch nor Epictetus has any interest in speculation as such;
for them philosophy subserves the life of action.