PRISCUS  , a

Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, of the school of Iamblichus and Aedesius . He died about the year 398 at the age of ninety . The emperor Julian frequently invited him to court on the strength of his reputation in connexion with theurgy . Eunapius says that he was a man of dignified and austere habit . Unlike Maximus, he used his influence over Julian with great moderation . He died during the Gothic invasion of Greece (A.D . 396–98) . He is important partly as maintaining the best traditions of philosophy during a period when Neoplatonism as a whole was a parasite of imperial power, and partly as being a connecting link between Iamblichus and Plutarch of Athens . See Zeller's Hist. of Greek Phil .