波菲利Porphyry

波菲利的父亲叫Malkhos或波菲利，意思是“国王”。波菲利的父母都是叙利亚人，而他要到晚年才会得到波菲利这个绰号，我们将在下面解释。波菲利随他父亲命名，所以许多年里他被称为波菲利。

年轻时，波菲利试图通过学习多种语言和宗教来获得尽可能广泛的知识。当时雅典是主要的学习中心，所以像波菲利这样渴求知识的人自然会前往那里继续学业。在雅典，波菲利成为Longinus的学生，后者[8]：

……是一位“活图书馆和行走的博物馆”，这位学者对细节的批判性关注、风格的清晰和博学给这位敏锐的学生留下了永久的印记。

正是Longinus给了波菲利那个绰号。事实上这是一个巧妙的双关语，因为'波菲利'在希腊语中意为'紫色'，他得到这个名字是因为他来自以生产皇家紫色染料而闻名的提尔，而他的名字'波菲利'意为'国王'='皇家'='紫色'。

大约在263年，波菲利离开雅典前往罗马，在那里他与普罗提诺共事，后者是Neoplatonism的创始人。普罗提诺教导说，存在一种超越思想和语言所能触及的终极实在。生活的目标就是追求这种永远无法被精确描述的终极实在。普罗提诺强调，人们没有足够的心智能力去充分理解终极实在本身或其存在的后果。

波菲利听到普罗提诺的学说时心情复杂。一方面，他逐渐领会了普罗提诺所提出的观点，尽管这与朗吉努斯的观点有些不同。然而，波菲利对普罗提诺表达自己的方式非常失望，他发现普罗提诺的讲座结构松散，论证相当含糊。

波菲利在罗马与Plotinus共度了五年，在此期间他[2]：-

...试图在导师心中激起组织其学说的雄心。

尚不完全清楚波菲利为何离开罗马，但组成Plotinus圈子的哲学家之间似乎确实存在学说上的争论。波菲利前往西西里，在那里他写了一部将亚里士多德和柏拉图的哲学结合起来的著作。波菲利对亚里士多德的观点怀有强烈的敬意，而波菲利此时的进一步工作导致了对亚里士多德著作研究的复兴。特别是他对亚里士多德的Categories的注释导致了后来逻辑学的发展。看来波菲利关于亚里士多德的观点与Plotinus学派中导致分裂的争论有关。

此外，当波菲利在西西里时，他写了一部关于素食主义的著作和一部批判基督教教义的著作。然而，波菲利并未断绝与普罗提诺的联系，他继续与普罗提诺通信，以最连贯的方式阐述自己的观点。

根据托马斯·利特尔·希思 [5]，波菲利是：-

Plotinus的弟子及其著作的修订者和编辑者。

尽管波菲利的观点与普罗提诺并不完全一致，但托马斯·利特尔·希思的这一描述是公允的。波菲利确实后来编辑了普罗提诺的著作，因为他在约282年（即普罗提诺去世约12年后）回到了罗马。在那里，他继续撰写对柏拉图及其他哲学家的注释，但主要是继续他一生的重要工作，即编辑并出版Enneads，内容是关于普罗提诺的学说，他大约在301年完成了这项工作。

此外，在罗马期间，波菲利教授了扬布利科斯，后者是新柏拉图主义的另一位重要发展者。然而，扬布利科斯发展了自己的观点，偏离了普罗提诺的观点，并很快发现自己与波菲利意见不合。

我们应该对波菲利在数学史上的重要性作一些评论。他写了一部对欧几里得的Elements的注释，帕普斯在撰写自己的注释时使用了这部注释。普罗克洛在撰写自己的注释时，似乎手头有波菲利的原始评论。这是一个无法确定的问题，因为有一种微小的可能性，即普罗克洛所知道的关于波菲利注释的一切，都是帕普斯所写的。

波菲利的另一项重要贡献是撰写了Life of Pythagoras。其他数学家著作的一些重要片段也保存在波菲利的著作中，包括尼各马科和罗德岛的欧德摩斯。

Porphyry's father was called Malkhos or Malchus, which means 'king'. Both Porphyry's parents were Syrian and he would only get the nickname Porphyry later in his life as we shall explain below. Porphyry was named after his father so for many years he was known as Malchus.

As a young man Porphyry tried to gain as broad a knowledge as he possibly could by studying many languages and religions. At that time Athens was the main centre for learning, so it was natural that someone with a thirst for knowledge as Porphyry had should travel there to continue his studies. In Athens Porphyry became a student of Longinus who [8]:-

... was a 'living library and walking museum' and the academic's critical attention to detail, clarity of style and erudition left their permanent mark on the keen student.

It was Longinus who gave Porphyry that nickname. In fact it was a clever pun since 'Porphyry' means 'purple' in Greek and he was given this name since he came from Tyre which was famous for the production of the royal purple dye and his name 'Malchus' meant 'king' = 'royal' = 'purple'.

In about 263 Porphyry left Athens and went to Rome where he worked with Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism. Plotinus taught that there is an ultimate reality which is beyond the reach of thought or language. The object of life was to aim at this ultimate reality which could never be precisely described. Plotinus stressed that people did not have the mental capacity to fully understand both the ultimate reality itself or the consequences of its existence.

Porphyry had mixed feelings when he heard the teachings of Plotinus. On the one hand he came to appreciate the point of view that Plotinus was putting forward, although it was somewhat different from the views of Longinus. However Porphyry was very disappointed in the way that Plotinus expressed himself and he found Plotinus's lectures poorly structured and his arguments rather woolly.

Porphyry spent five years in Rome with Plotinus and during this time he [2]:-

... tried to rouse in the master the ambition to organise his doctrines.

It is not entirely clear why Porphyry left Rome but there does seem to have been disputes over doctrine between the philosophers who formed Plotinus's circle. Porphyry went to Sicily where he wrote a text bringing the philosophies of Aristotle and Plato together. Porphyry had a strong respect for the views of Aristotle and further work by Porphyry at this time led to a revival in studies of the works of Aristotle. In particular his commentary on Aristotle's Categories led to the later developments of logic. It would appear that Porphyry's views on Aristotle had something to do with the disputes in Plotinus's school which had led to the break-up.

Also while Porphyry was in Sicily, he wrote a work on vegetarianism and a critical work against Christian doctrines. Porphyry did not break his links with Plotinus, however, and he continued to correspond with him on presenting his views in the most coherent fashion.

According to Heath [5] Porphyry was:-

The disciple of Plotinus and the reviser and editor of his works.

Despite the fact that Porphyry's views were not completely at one with those of Plotinus, this description by Heath is a fair one. Porphyry certainly did go on to edit the works of Plotinus, for he returned to Rome in about 282 (which was about 12 years after Plotinus died). There he continued to write commentaries on Plato and other philosophers but mainly he continued the major work of his life which was to edit and publish Enneads on the teachings of Plotinus which he had completed about 301.

Also while in Rome Porphyry taught Iamblichus who was another important developer of Neoplatonism. However, Iamblichus developed his views away from those of Plotinus and soon found himself disagreeing with Porphyry.

We should make some comments as to the importance of Porphyry in the history of mathematics. He wrote a commentary on Euclid's Elements which was used by Pappus when he wrote his own commentary. Proclus appears to have Porphyry's original comments to hand when he wrote his own commentary. This is a point on which it is impossible to be certain for there is a slight possibility that all Proclus knew about Porphyry's commentary was what Pappus had written.

Another important contribution made by Porphyry was in writing his Life of Pythagoras. Certain important fragments of other mathematician's writings have also been preserved in the works of Porphyry including Nicomachus and Eudemus.