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Downloaded from Brill.Com10/01/2021 09:01:16AM Via Free Access C.-P The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 156-179 brill.com/jpt Possessed and Inspired: Hermias on Divine Madness* Christina-Panagiota Manolea Hellenic Open University [email protected] Abstract Hermias of Alexandria (5th cent. A.D.) wrote down the lectures given on the Phaedrus by his teacher Syrianus, Head of the Neoplatonic School of Athens. In the preserved text the Platonic distinction of madness is presented in a Neopla- tonic way. In the first section of the article we discuss Hermias’ treatment of possession. The philosopher examines four topics in his effort to present a Neo- platonic doctrine concerning possession. As he holds that divine possession is evident in all parts of the soul, he first argues that it is primarily applied to the one-in-the-soul. Secondly, he explains that possession is also applied to reason, opinion, imagination, thymos and desire, all the above being distinctive parts of the human soul, but not as important as the one-in-the-soul. The third issue he discusses is whether all causes of possession are identical to the divine. Then, Hermias examines the fact that possession is to be traced not only in the human soul but also in the statues. In the second section of the article Hermias’ analysis of the four kinds of Pla- tonic madness is presented. The philosopher first analyzes the interdependence between all four divine kinds of madness and then describes their function on two levels, inside and outside the soul. The function within the soul is richer and is realized in four fields: (a) the restoration of the soul after its fall, (b) the resto- ration of the human being as a whole, (c) the Pythagorean mathematical system and (d) the logic processes. The function outside the soul deals with the manifes- tations of the soul in human society. Under this perspective, Hermias clearly *) Earlier versions of the two main parts of this article were presented as papers at the 2011 Classical Association Conference (Durham, UK, April 2011) and the 9th Annual Conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (Atlanta, USA, June 2011) respectively. I would like to thank the participants of both conferences for their remarks, and especially Prof. Suzanne Stern-Gillet for her constant help and encouragement. © 2013 Christina-Panagiota Manolea DOI: 10.1163/18725473-12341261 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 09:01:16AM via free access C.-P. Manolea / The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 156-179 157 proposes an original classification of the kinds of madness, on the basis of which we encounter poetic madness. After that follow the madness of the seer, the teles- tic madness, and the madness of love. The whole analysis incorporates Platonic, Aristotelian, Pythagorean and theurgic elements that cover the fields of psychol- ogy, logic and metaphysics. Keywords Platonism, Neoplatonism, School of Athens, Hermias, Syrianus, Plato, Phaedrus, metaphysics, theurgy, literary criticism, reception Introduction Μadness is a theme touched by Plato in many dialogues (Ion, Philebus, Meno, Phaedrus, Res Publica, Timaeus) and is discussed in many ways, favorable or not.1 Nevertheless, the best known Platonic distinction is found at Phaedrus 265a-c: there are two types of madness, the one attrib- uted to human disease and the one stemming from the gods (divine mad- ness). The latter is further divided as follows: the madness of the seer caused by Apollo, telestic madness caused by Dionysus, poetic madness sent by the Muses and finally erotic madness attributed to Aphrodite and Eros.2 In this paper we will deal with divine madness, as analyzed by Hermias of Alexandria (5th century A.D.). Hermias was a student of Syrianus, Head of the Neoplatonic School of Athens. After he finished his studies, during which he is said to have been very diligent, he returned to Alexandria, along with his wife Aedesia, who was Syrianus’ niece. His death was premature, but this is not the only reason why his commentary on the Phaedrus is the only work of his that is known to us. In fact, the commentary is in 1) For instance, in books II, IV, VII and IX of the Res Publica madness is considered to be a disease, either of a milder or a more serious sort. On the contrary, in the Ion 533-534 it is faced rather favorably and is connected to the issue of inspiration. For further details on the Ion discussion see P. Murray, Plato on poetry. Ion, Republic 376e-398b, Republic 595-698b. Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, Cambridge 1996, comm. ad loc. 2) Plato, Phaedrus 265a ff.: Μανίας δέ γε εἴδη δύο, τὴν μὲν ὑπὸ νοσημάτων ἀνθρωπίνων, τὴν δὲ ὑπὸ θείας ἐξαλλαγῆς τῶν εἰωθότων νομίμων γιγνομένην. (. .) Τῆς δὲ θείας τεττάρων θεῶν τέτ- ταρα μέρη διελόμενοι, μαντικὴν μὲν ἐπίπνοιαν Ἀπόλλωνος θέντες, Διονύσου δὲ τελεστικήν, Μουσῶν δ’ αὖ ποιητικήν, τετάρτην δὲ Ἀφροδίτης καὶ Ἔρωτος, ἐρωτικὴν μανίαν ἐφήσαμέν τε ἀρίστην εἶναι (. .). Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 09:01:16AM via free access 158 C.-P. Manolea / The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 156-179 all probability a more or less faithful reproduction of Syrianus’ teaching, although the manuscript tradition attributes it to Hermias.3 The paper will be divided in two sections. In the first we will examine Hermias’ dis- cussion of possession while in the second we will proceed to a detailed analysis of the four Platonic types of divine madness. Possession Hermias deals with the four Platonic types of madness that are attributed to the gods at Phaedrus 265b. As any good reader of Plato would have done, Hermias starts his analysis by wondering whether madness is good or bad. After concluding that madness is the cause and mother of every- thing that is good (αἰτία καὶ μήτηρ ὅλων τῶν ἀγαθῶν) the philosopher pro- ceeds to a clearly Neoplatonic analysis of the function of the four Platonic types of madness. But before providing his students with this analysis, he gives a detailed description of divine possession (ἐνθουσιασμός). We 3) Undoubtedly the Phaedrus was included in the syllabus of the School of Athens. The thing is whether and to which extent the text that has come down to us is just a writing down of Syrianus’ lessons or has been reworked by Hermias. In our opinion, the com- mentary that we now have is either a text bearing no intervention by Hermias at all or a text that has been slightly reworked, in a way that it should be considered as preserv- ing a very accurate picture of Syrianus’ views and philosophical ideas. K. Praechter (“Her- meias” in Pauly-Wissova, Real-Encyclopädie d. class. Alterumswissenschaft 8.1, 1912, cols. 732-735) was the first to maintain in a rather convincing way that Hermias’ work should be read a source of Syrianus’ teaching and ideas. An opposite view has been expressed by P.A. Bielmeier (“Die Neuplatonische Phaedrusinterpretation”, Rhetorische Studien, 16, 1930, 4-96). C. Moreschini has also tried to give Hermias originality as a thinker in two articles: “Alcuni aspetti degli Scholia in Phaedrum di Ermia Alessandrino in M.O. Goulet-Gazé, G. Madec, D. O’ Brien (eds.) ΣΟΦΙΗΣ ΜΑΙΗΤΟΡΕΣ—“Chercheurs de sagesse”, Hommage à Jean Pépin, Paris 1992, 451-460 and “Alla scuola di Siriano: Ermia nella storia del neopla- tonismo”, in A. Longo (ed.), Syrianus et la metaphysiqe de l’ antiquité tardive. Actes du Colloque International, Université de Genève 29 Septembre-1er Octobre 2006, Napoli 2009, 516-522. H. Bernard (Hermeias von Alexandrien. Kommentar zu Platons Phaidros, Philoso- phische Untersuchungen, 1, 1997, Tübingen) has also followed the same line. For a discus- sion of the arguments of both sides that actually reaches the conclusion that Hemias text is a reliable source of Syrianus’ teachings and ideas see C.-P Manolea, The Homeric tradi- tion in Syrianus, Thessaloniki 2004, 47-50 and 52-58 and C.-P. Manolea, “The treatment of ancient Greek myth in Syrianus’ philosophical works”, in A. Longo (ed.) (2009), 500-501. Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 09:01:16AM via free access C.-P. Manolea / The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2013) 156-179 159 will stick to this fact, since Hermias treats madness (μανία) as a manifesta- tion of possession. In other words, according to Hermias madness depends exclusively to the susceptibility of the human soul to be possessed by the divine. The texts we are going to discuss in this section have been dealt with by modern scholars only once—it was actually O. Ballériaux who focused on the function and the importance of telestic madness.4 Nevertheless, many of the passages he analyzed are about possession in general, although the author in the conclusion treats them as referring to telestic madness. Moreover, Ballériaux made little reference to the hierarchy the philoso- pher accepts as far as the four Platonic kinds of madness are concerned. We will try to show Hermias’ attitude towards possession in general and not only telestic madness. At 88.15-215 the philosopher examines four topics in his effort to present a distinctive Neoplatonic doctrine concerning possession: which part of the soul is possessed, whether all parts of the soul are possessed, whether all sorts of possession derive from the divine and if there are other entities superior to the soul that are possessed. 1) The discussion of the first issue, i.e. which part of the soul is pos- sessed (ποῖον μόριον ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ ἐνθουσιῶν) is elaborated at 88.21-89.14.6 4) O.
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