Damascius Quotes
Damascius was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and the last head of the Platonic Academy at Athens before its closure under the emperor Justinian in 529. After fleeing briefly to the court of the Sasanian king Khosrow I in Persia, he and his colleagues returned to the Roman Empire under guarantees of religious toleration. The quotes below are attributed to Damascius, organized by topic.
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Damascius on Freedom
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“Zosime who was never a slave but in body, has now gained freedom for her body too.”
Ζωσίμη ἡ πρὶν ἐοῦσα μόνῳ τῷ σώματι δούλη καὶ τῷ σώματι νῦν εὗρεν ἐλευθερίην.
Damascius on God
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Attributed to Damascius:
“All things proceed from the Ineffable, which is beyond all categories of being.”
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Attributed to Damascius:
“Knowledge of the divine is more like a wonder than a thought.”
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Attributed to Damascius:
“We do not so much know the One as touch upon it.”
Damascius on Knowledge
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“Ζωσίμη ἡ πρὶν ἐοῦσα μόνῳ τῷ σώματι δούλη καὶ τῷ σώματι νῦν εὗρεν ἐλευθερίην.”
Zosime who was never a slave but in body, has now gained freedom for her body too. | Anthologia Palatina , VII, 553 (W. R. Paton, Greek Anthology , II, p. 298) | J. A. Symonds Jr., "Epitaph of a Slave", Studies of the Greek Poets (1873), p. 357: She who was once but in her flesh a slave Hath for her flesh found freedom in the grave. | Earl of Cromer , "Freedom in Death", Paraphrases and Translatio -
“Anthologia Palatina , VII, 553 (W. R. Paton, Greek Anthology , II, p. 298)”
Ζωσίμη ἡ πρὶν ἐοῦσα μόνῳ τῷ σώματι δούλη καὶ τῷ σώματι νῦν εὗρεν ἐλευθερίην.
Damascius on Mind
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Attributed to Damascius:
“The soul that knows itself participates already in the divine.”
Damascius on Truth
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Attributed to Damascius:
“Even the affirmation of unity falls short of the truly One.”