ABSTRACT
Few issues interested late ancient philosophers as much as providence and its relation to fate and human freedom. Already in the generations leading up to Plotinus, Alexander of Aphrodisias wrote treatises entitled On Fate and On Providence. In this same period various “Middle” Platonists articulated a distinction between fate and providence that was still used by some of the latest pagan Neoplatonist thinkers. Plotinus wrote treatises that Porphyry saw t to title On Fate (Enn. III.1[3]) and On Providence (Enn. III.2-3[47-8]), not to mention the treatise called On the Voluntary and the Will of the One (Enn. VI.8[39]), one of Plotinus’ greatest works. Comments on the Republic by Porphyry have come down to us with the title On What is Up to Us. His student Iamblichus wrote letters on the subject of fate, preserved only as fragments, and discussed the topic in On Mysteries. Proclus, known above all for his commentaries on Plato and his Euclidean treatment of Neoplatonism, the Elements of eology, also wrote two independent works on providence (three if one counts On Evil, which belongs to the same group). At about the same time, the Alexandrian Neoplatonist Hierocles also wrote a treatise On Providence. is is without even delving into the treatments of providence found in ancient Christian authors, which are of course in uenced by Hellenic philosophical sources.
