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Introduction Introduction PROCLUS: HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS PROCLUS was born at Byzantium in the early years of the fifth century, just as the Hellenistic Age was drawing to a close. His parents were natives of Lycia in southern Asia Minor, hence he is known in the ancient catalogues as Proclus Lycius. His early education was acquired at Xanthus, a little city on the southern coast. From there he proceeded to Alexandria with the intention of following the profession of his father, who had earned a considerable reputation as a pleader in the courts of the imperial city. But on a trip to Byzantium that he made during these student days he experienced a divine call, so his biographer Marinus1 tells us, to devote himself to philosophy; and on his return to Alexan- dria he began to attend the lectures of Olympiodorus2 on Aristotle and of Heron3 on mathematics, distinguishing himself among his fellow students and teachers by his capacity for rapid assimilation and by his extraordinary memory. But the teachers at Alexandria failed to satisfy him, and while still under twenty years of age he went to Athens, where the School of Plato had recently experienced a notable revival under Plutarch.4 And it is with Athens and the School of Plato that he was associated during his entire later career. The first philosopher he met at Athens was Syrianus,5 who later became head of the School after the death of Plutarch. Syrianus 1 Marinus was a pupil of Proclus and author of a commentary on the Data of Euclid which is extant (see Heiberg vi). His Vita Prodi is the chief, and almost the only, source of information about his master's life. For a transla- tion of this Life see Rosan, 13-35; and for the Greek text see the supplement in the Didot volume of Diogenes Laertius (Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1829, pp. 151-170). The "divine call" is mentioned in Pars. 6, 9, and 10. 2 This is not the Aristotelian commentator of the same name, who lived in the following century. 3 This is not the famous Heron of Alexandria, who lived two centuries earlier. 4 Plutarch the Athenian, whose commentary on Aristotle's De Anima, no longer extant, was highly esteemed in antiquity. 5 Syrianus' commentary on Books BrMN of Aristotle's Metaphysics is still extant. See CAG vi, Kroll. — xxxix — INTRODUCTION introduced him to the great Plutarch, who was so taken with the zeal and aptitude of the young man that he took him under his personal charge, although his advanced age prevented him from taking many students. He read with Proclus the De Anima of Aristotle and the Phaedo of Plato, encouraging the young Proclus to keep a written record of what was said, with his own comments upon it. Thus Proclus began early the practice of writing commen- taries, a habit to which is due so much of his prodigious literary production, Plutarch died not long afterwards, but under Syrianus during the next two years, so we are told, Proclus read all the writings of Aristotle in logic, ethics, politics, and physics; and then after going through these "lesser mysteries," as Syrianus called them, he was initiated into the greater mysteries of Plato's philos- ophy. Syrianus also introduced him to the Orphic writings and the Chaldaean Oracles. These were the beginnings of a career of study, teaching, and writing that lasted almost without interruption until the death of Proclus at the age of seventy-five.6 In his later years he was himself head of the School, whence comes the title Dia- dochus (Successor) which has become attached to his name. Marinus tells us little about the events of Proclus' mature life but makes obscure references to a "storm" that gathered around him at one time and forced him to retire from Athens for a while.7 It is natural to interpret this episode as connected in some way with Proclus' devotion to the ancient religion. Pagan beliefs were still tolerated in the schools, although (since Christianity was now the official religion of the Empire) the practice of the cults was for- bidden. Proclus, like most of the philosophers at Athens, was still attached to the ancient faiths. Such was his piety that he personally observed all the sacred days of the Egyptians as well as the Greeks and devoted himself assiduously to the study of mythology and religious observances. He declared that it becomes the philosopher not to observe the rites of one city or of a few cities only, but to be the common hierophant of the whole world. Perhaps it was the 6 So Marinus tells us (Pars. 3 and 26). His death occurred, as we can see from other facts recorded by Marinus (Pars. 36, 37), in the year 485. If he was seventy-five years old when he died, he must have been born in 410. But Marinus also describes a horoscope taken at his birth which by astro- nomical calculation indicates February 18, 412, as the date of his birth. 7 Marinus, Vita Prodi, Par. 15. — Xl — PROCLUS: HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS private practice of unauthorized rites that stirred up the storm against him. Whatever the explanation, we are told that he spent the year of his exile in Lydia investigating the ancient religious customs of that region and interpreting to their worshippers the deeper meaning of their practices. When the year was over, he returned to Athens and resumed his study and teaching. The School was financially independent, for although the munificent salaries provided by Marcus Aurelius for professors at Athens had long been discontinued, the Academy was supported—and amply, we may assume—from the endowments that had accumulated during the eight centuries since Plato's death.8 Proclus was handsome in appearance, even more so, says Marinus, than his numerous portraits show him to have been (evidently Proclus did not share Plotinus' scruples against having his portrait painted), of vigorous health, with abounding yet disci- plined energy. He had a pleasing voice and a command of language and thought that captivated his hearers, so that when he was speak- ing a radiance seemed to flow from him. And according to his eulogist he exhibited all the virtues—physical, moral, political, as- cetic, intellectual, and "theurgic"9—in a preeminent degree. But of all the traits mentioned in this eulogy the most important for the student of the history of thought was Proclus' "unbounded love of work."10 Besides conducting five or six classes, holding other con- ferences, delivering lectures, and discharging his religious obliga- tions, he customarily wrote seven hundred or more lines a day, Marinus tells us. This assertion, incredible as it may seem, is borne out by the volume of the writings attributed to him. And their scope, as well as their volume, is enormous, extending from philosophy and theology through mathematics, astronomy, and physics to literary criticism and poetry. They constitute a priceless resource for the student of this latest period of ancient philosophy. We must be content to mention only a part of the items in this treasury.11 8 Damascius records that the annual revenue from its property amounted to a thousand (gold?) pieces at this time, as compared with three in Plato's day. See the Vita lsidori, Par. 158, in the Didot volume cited in note 1 above. 9 The term comes from Iamblichus, says Marinus {Vita Prodi, Par. 26). 10 Ibid., Par. 22: d/nerpos <f>i\oirovia. 11 See Rosan for a full list, with a bibliography of the various editions and translations of individual works during the modern period to 1940. — xli — INTRODUCTION Proclus' most systematic philosophical works are his Elements of Theology and a later treatise on Platonic Theology. The texts of both have survived.12 The former, like the much later Ethics of Spinoza, presents the "elements" in geometrical fashion, in a series of propositions each supported by its proof. The Platonic Theology likewise, despite its title, is an exposition of Proclus' own system, which of course he regarded as Platonic. Much better known to the student of Plato is his impressive series of commentaries on the dialogues: a commentary on the Parmenides, one on the Timaeus (which, Marinus reports, was Proclus' favorite among his com- mentaries), another on the First Alcibiades, and another on the Republic. The texts of all these have been preserved.13 His com- mentary on the Cratylus survives only in excerpts, and the com- mentaries that he wrote on the Philebus, the Theaetetus, the Sophist, and the Phaedo have all been lost. We possess only a fragment of his commentary on the Enneads of Plotinus, and we know of his Eighteen Arguments for the Eternity of the World (a tract against the Christians) because it is extensively quoted in Philoponus' book written to refute it.14 His treatises on Providence, on Fate, and on the Subsistence of Evil were long known to us only through the Latin translation of William of Moerbeke; but large portions of the Greek text have recently been recovered and edited by Helmut Boese.15 His scientific works include the commentary on Euclid here trans- lated, a short elementary treatise on astronomy entitled Sphaera, his Hypotyposes (or Outlines) of the Hypotheses of the Astrono- mers, a paraphrase of and perhaps also a commentary on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblus, and a book on Eclipses surviving only in a Latin trans- lation. We also know of an essay on the parallel postulate in 12 The Elements of Theology has been elegantly edited and translated into English by E.
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