The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol.
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~200,000 words · 959 passages
Cite this work
- APAProclus. (n.d.). The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol.. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/proclus/the-six-books-of-proclus-the-platonic-successor-on-the-theology-of-plato-vol
- MLAProclus. The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol.. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/proclus/the-six-books-of-proclus-the-platonic-successor-on-the-theology-of-plato-vol.
- ChicagoProclus. The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol.. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/proclus/the-six-books-of-proclus-the-platonic-successor-on-the-theology-of-plato-vol.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Proclus's Platonic Theology in Thomas Taylor's English translation: six books that read Plato's dialogues as a system of gods and hypostases.
Context and history
It is worth knowing who the translator is. Thomas Taylor was a convinced Neoplatonist translating in the early nineteenth century, when almost nobody in England could check him, and his versions are at once an enormous service and a problem: he interprets as he translates, and the vocabulary is his own. Thanks to him Blake, Coleridge and the English Romantics read Neoplatonism; for philological work, however, he cannot be trusted without checking.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
the last; and this is no other than the Platonic bishop Synesius. This father of the church therefore, in his third hymn, sings as follows: Σε, πατερ κοσμων, πατερ αιωνων, αυτουργε θεων, ευαγες αινειν. σε μεν οι νοεροι μελπουσιν, αναξ, σε δε κοσμαγοι, ομματολαμπεις, νοες αστεριοι, υμνουσι μακαρ, ους περι κλεινον σωμα χορευει. πασα σε μελπει γενεα μακαρων. οι περι κοσμον, οι κατα κοσμον, οι ζωναιοι, οι τ’ αζωνοι κοσμου μοιρας εφεπουσι, σοφοι αμφιβατηρες, οι παρα κλεινους οιηκοφορους. ους αγγελικα προχεει σειρα το, τε χυδηεν γενορ ηρωων, εργα τα θνητων χρυφιαισιν οδοις διανισσομενον, εργα βροτεια. ψυχα τ’ ακλινης, και κλινομενα ες μελαναυγεις χθονιους ογκους. viz. “Thee, father of the worlds, father of the æones,[8] artificer of the _Gods_, it is holy to praise. Thee, O king, the intellectual Gods sing, thee, O blessed God, the _Cosmagi_, those fulgid eyes, and starry intellects, celebrate, round which the illustrious body [of the world] dances. All the race of the blessed sing thy praise, those that are about, and those that are in the world, the zonic Gods, and also the azonic,[9] who govern the parts of the world, wise itinerants, stationed about the illustrious pilots [of the universe,] and which the angelic series pours forth. Thee too, the renowned genus of heroes celebrates, which by occult paths pervades the works of mortals, and likewise the soul which does not incline to the regions of mortality, and the soul which descends into dark terrestrial masses.” In another part also of the same hymn, he informs us that he adored the powers that preside over Thrace and Chalcedon. Ικετευσα Θεους, δρηστηρας οσοι γονιμον θρῃκης κατεχουσι πεδον, οι τ’ αντιπεραν χαλκηδονιας εφεπουσι γυιας. i.e.…