The Platonic Sources of Berthold of Moosburg’s Science of the Soul: Proclus, Nemesius, and Macrobius

Nemesius’ DNH and Macrobius’ CSS feature as two prominent sources in Berthold of Moosburg’s “Platonic library”. As such, they are heavily quoted in EET, especially in the context of what Bert- hold defines as the «scientia de anima», with specific regard for is- sues such as the soul’s incorporeality and self-subsistence, the soul- body union, the double condition of the soul (in Being and in the realm of becoming), as well as metempsychosis. In DNH 2-3, Berthold finds not only detailed doxographies concerning ancient philosophical debates on the nature and the proper- ties of the soul, but also two long passages relating the doctrine ascribed to Ammonius Saccas, master of Plotinus. These quotations, which, in all likelihood, are taken from Porphyry’s lost Miscella- neous Investigations, condense fundamental concepts of the theory of the soul of early Neoplatonism, such as the soul’s self-sub- sistence, the so-called sunektikon-argument, and the “unconfused union” between soul and body. Berthold integrates these notions into the sophisticated system of his commentary on the Elementatio theologica. This means they are combined with Proclean concepts of separation and self-return to explain not only the nature of the rational soul («anima partialis»), but also that of the celestial soul («anima totalis») and, to a limited extent, the lower types of soul (even the vegetative soul is believed to be, as a soul, incorporeal).