Abstract

In this paper, I argue for a revised account of two organizing principles in late antique Platonism: the scale of virtues (βαθμοί τῶν ἀρετῶν) and of inspired maniai (βαθμοί τῶν μανίων). Both structures are invoked frequently by Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonists between the 5th-6th centuries CE, and serve to organize their discussions of ethics and epistemology, metaphysics, hagiography, and philosophical reading curricula. I focus here on apparently contradictory evidence for the highest tiers of these scales, drawing on Hermias (c. 410-450 CE), Damascius (c. 462–after 538 CE), and Olympiodorus (c. 500–after 565 CE). While many interpreters have reasonably found their testimonies irreconcilable, I argue that all three witnesses share a consistent view with one another and with Proclus. Both scales derive from a common model of ethical and perceptual transformation. In the first, 'painterly' model, we alternate between a vision of the paradigmatic model and its expression in the media of place and time; in the second, 'dancerly' model, we contemplate in action all at once, like a dancer moving to the music.