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DILLON, J., The Golden Chain. Studies in the Development of Platonism and Christianity. Variorum, Aldershot, 1991. XI,262,3,4p. Original blue gilt titled cloth. Upper edge a little bit foxed. Spine a little bit warped. Signature from J. Mansfeld on free endpaper. Notae doctae in pencil by JM. ‘The volume contains an unusually high number of studies, viz. twenty-eight. D. Indeed is a master of the short, crisp, thoughtful paper from which one does not only learn something but which (rare thing!) it is also fun to read. (…) Levels of technicality vary; some papers can be safely read by freshmen in philosophy, others are nicely learned. (…) Studies I-III deal with the history of the Academy and that of professional Platonism in general in Antiquity; they are required reading (…). Study VIII is a good discussion of the differences and similarities of Stoic and Peripatetic ethics by means of a study of metriopatheia vs apatheia; it is also illuminating on Stoic philosophy of mind. (…) Study XII rewardingly distinguishes the various motives and causes involved in the plurality of explanations (positive as well as negative) of the descent of the soul to be found in Middle Platonist and Gnostic authors. (…) Studies XVIII-XIX are about Origen and the (Neo-)Platonists; they are of special interest, because Origen (just as Philo of Alexandria) may be our earliest authority for a doctrine that is only attested in later pagan writers. (…) Study XXIII deals with name magic, or magic names, in Origen and later Platonic writers. Study XXIV, on transcendental imagination (fantasia) in Plotinus), is a sort of companion piece to Study XIX. (…) Study XXVIII, instructively attempts to distinguish image (eikoon), symbol (sumbolon) and analogy (analogy) as actually used in Neoplatonist interpretation.’ (J. MANSFELD in Vigiliae Christianae, 1993, pp.305-312). € 80.00 (Antiquarian) ISBN: 9780860782865