Folia Theologica 17. (2006)
László Perendy: A Christian Platonist
186 L. PERENDY As mentioned above, in his opinion the description of the Timaeus should not be taken literally: it only serves didactic purposes.35 Antiochus of Ascalon does not seem to have shown much interest in physical speculations. What he says about the universe is a mixture of Stoic and Platonic elements. In his mind there are no atoms: all forms are received by hyle. Although he introduces several Stoic concepts into his Platonic system, in his mind the world is eternal and indestructible, and there is nothing outside it. He agreed with Zeno that everything is corporeal. Interestingly enough for a Platonist, he cannot accept anything transcendent above the material cosmos. He is regarded as the first Middle Platonist.36 Although Posidonius37 was not a Platonist, but a Stoic philosopher, he influenced the formation of Middle Platonism to a large extent. He taught that God is the active principle in the cosmos, and Matter is the passive one. Matter in itself is without qualities, but it always exists in a particular form. Fire and Air are the active, while Water and Earth are the hylic, i.e. passive, elements. In his opinion there is void outside the cosmos, but not an infinite one. All parts of the cosmos are linked together by sympatheia. Probably he did not regard the rule of heimarmene as universal as the other Stoics did.38 It is hard to tell if Eudorus of Alexandria was under direct Pythagorian influence or he only combined the Pythagorian elements of the Philebus. In his system the One is the cause of Matter. His monism is more extreme than that of later Middle Platonism. We can conjecture that for him the ideas are the thoughts of God.39 The One is the archetype of Form, and the Dyad is probably the ar35 J. C. DILLON, o. c. 24-33. 36 Ibid. 81-84. 37 See also K. GRONAU, Poseidonios und die jüdisch-christliche Gene- sis-exegese, Leipzig-Berlin, 1914. K. REINHARDT, Kosmos und Sympathie, München, 1926. 38 J. DILLON, o. c. 108-1 10. 39 See also: A. H. ARMSTRONG, The Background of the Doctrine "That the Intelligibles are not Outside the Intellect", in Les sources de Plotin (Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique, 5), Genève, 1957, 391-425. R. M. JONES, The Ideas as the Thoughts of God, in Classical Philology 21 (1926) 317-326.
