Neoplatonism
Besides Stoicism and Epicureanism, a renewed interest in Plato’s philosophy appeared early on in Rome. Such Neoplatonism, however, stressed the most mystical aspects of Plato’s philosophy over its rational aspects. One brand of Neoplatonism com- bined Platonic philosophy with Judaism and, in so doing, created two things lacking in the prevailing religions and philosophies of the day—a concern with individual immortality and human passion.
In spite of the lofty aspirations of Plato and the equally lofty resignation of the Stoic, the literature of the West lacked something [and] no Greek could have named the deficiency. … It required a temper of a different make; it required a people whose God was jealous and whose faith was a flaming fire; in a word, the Greek had thought about himself until he was indifferent to all things and desperately skeptical; the Hebrew had still the fire of passion and the impetuosity of faith; with these he made life interesting and fused in one molten mass the attrac- tive elements of every known doctrine. The result was preeminently unintelli- gible, but it was inspired. The strength of the new influence lay exactly in that strange fervour which must have seemed to the Greek a form of madness.
