up to the University of Alexandria. For eleven years he diligently
attended the lectures of Ammonius. Then he went on the Emperor Gordian's
expedition to the East, hoping to learn the philosophy of the Hindus. The
Upanishads would have puzzled Plotinus, had he reached India; but he
never did. Gordian's army was defeated in Mesopotamia, no "blessed word"
to Gordian, and Plotinus hardly escaped with his life. He must have felt
like Stendhal on the retreat from Moscow.

From Syria his friend and disciple Amelius led him to Rome, and here, as
novelists say, "a curious thing happened." There was in Rome an Egyptian
priest, who offered to raise up the Demon, or Guardian Angel, of Plotinus
in visible form. But there was only one pure spot in all Rome, so said
the priest, and this spot was the Temple of Isis. Here the _seance_ was
held, and no demon appeared, but a regular God of one of the first
circles. So terrified was an onlooker that he crushed to death the
living birds which he held in his hands for some ritual or magical
purpose.

It was a curious scene, a cosmopolitan confusion of Egypt, Rome, Isis,
table-turning, the late Mr. Home, religion, and mummery, while Christian
hymns of the early Church were being sung, perhaps in the garrets around,
outside the Temple of Isis. The discovery that he had a god for his
guardian angel gave Plotinus plenty of confidence in dealing with rival
philosophers. For example, Alexandrinus Olympius, another mystic, tried
magical arts against Plotinus. But Alexandrinus, suddenly doubling up
during lecture with unaffected agony, cried, "Great virtue hath the soul
of Plotinus, for my spells have returned against myself." As for
Plotinus, he remarked among his disciples, "Now the body of Alexandrinus
is collapsing like an empty purse."