PROCLUS, THE PLATONIC SUCCESSOR

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concealed it in the utility of good. a " Versio inculta fateor, et tanlum non barbara, sed ex qua Graecae linguae et Philosophias Platonicae peritis pulchras sententias auctoris perspicere, nec difficile ut confido erit, nec injucundum." b Pope also says of man, in the above-mentioned philosophical poem, with no less accuracy than elegance, that he is, " Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise and rudely great."— Epist, II. For man is situated between beings that eternally abide in- the possession of real good, such as divine natures, and those that perpetually participate only of apparent good, such as brutes. Hence, ranking in the last order of rational essences, his wisdom may justly be said to be dark, and his greatness rude. [1] TEN DOUBTS CONCERNING PROVIDENCE, &c. The great Plato, in the tenth book of his Laws, compels us, by adamantine arguments, as it were, to confess that Providence has an existence; and also elsewhere in many places, as in the Timaeus, he shows a that the Demiurgus has elaborated the fabrication of things, by his providential energies, as far as to the last portion of intelligence, and this he likewise clearly asserts. But it is requisite that we should be persuaded by what Plato has demonstrated, and by the most efficacious attestations given by the [Chaldean] oracles to the demonstrations of Plato. For I conceive that this tradition of the oracles to the worthy
auditors of the Gods, is a most manifest demonstration of the existence of Providence, in answer to whatever a In the version of Morbeka ostendes; for which it is necessary to read ostendens. [2] opposes it according to the conceptions of the multitude, and is sufficient to repel the phantasms which prevent them from believing that all things subsist conformably to the will of Providence, and to lead them from base garrulity on this subject, to the truth of things. And we say this, not as if we thought that what has been written on this subject by those prior to us is not worthy of great attention, but because the soul, though these things have been the occasion of doubt, and have been distinctly considered a thousand times, yet desires to hear and speak concerning them, to revolve them, and, as it were, discuss them in herself, and is not willing to receive information alone about them from others a . Let us, therefore, interrogate ourselves, and doubting, in the secret recesses of the soul, endeavour to exercise ourselves in the solution of doubts, considering it as of no consequence whether we discuss, or whether we do not, what has been said by those prior to us; since as long as we deliver what we are persuaded is truth, we shall appear to assert and to write our own conceptions on this subject. To which may be added, that we shall have Hermes for our common leader, who is said to insert anticipations of common conceptions in every soul. 1. And prior to everything else, let us investigate whether Providence extends to all things, to a The latter part of this sentence in the version of Morbeka is, " et non solum de foris recipere de his sermories nolente." But for nolente I read volente.
Page 1 and 2: TWO TREATISES OF PROCLUS, THE PLATO
Page 3 and 4: PREFACE. —♦— NO subjects of d
Page 5: February. His version also of the v
Page 9 and 10: espect perfect, but the other being
Page 11 and 12: to a part, is different from that w
Page 13 and 14: kind, but also every particular thi
Page 15 and 16: which is posterior to itself, but b
Page 17 and 18: and as the salvation of all things;
Page 19 and 20: one; but body, on account of the in
Page 21 and 22: to the form of the incorporeal esse
Page 23 and 24: than in a greater time, as if the i
Page 25 and 26: And if it should be said, that they
Page 27 and 28: divinity; but conformably to his na
Page 29 and 30: participations should not be the sa
Page 31 and 32: must be admitted. For that it is mo
Page 33 and 34: conformably to its energy; and in m
Page 35 and 36: a Semper is wanting in this place i
Page 37 and 38: variation in the energy of the Gods
Page 39 and 40: the guardian care of the former is
Page 41 and 42: preternatural exists in order that
Page 43 and 44: called preter-rational and not pret
Page 45 and 46: y its recipients a . For neither wo
Page 47 and 48: ecause they do not obtain the same
Page 49 and 50: frequently oppose the amatory energ
Page 51 and 52: invented vulgar prosperities as the
Page 53 and 54: espect to those who are dissimilar
Page 55 and 56: who prefer that which is mortal in
Page 57 and 58:
Providence, viz. why punishments do
Page 59 and 60:
about these bodies, is perfectly sm
Page 61 and 62:
a The latter part of this sentence
Page 63 and 64:
celebrated unity, knowing and reduc
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suspended from illuminations which
Page 67 and 68:
should dare to assert, that [73] it
Page 69 and 70:
[76] being; but that which particip
Page 71 and 72:
some things, and produce others [co
Page 73 and 74:
greater good, as neither is what is
Page 75 and 76:
less excellent part of its unity. F
Page 77 and 78:
such natures did not exist. If thes
Page 79 and 80:
For that which is true non-entity,
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oth those who assert that all thing
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to intellect, expanding the winged
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good is not congenial with non-good
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it is requisite that what is first
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that they are susceptive of transmu
Page 91 and 92:
who are not worthy to enter into th
Page 93 and 94:
equisite that evil, as we have freq
Page 95 and 96:
fabrication of things. 3. In the ne
Page 97 and 98:
the soul in generation, and on this
Page 99 and 100:
intellectual perception of itself,
Page 101 and 102:
which the soul is filled with folly
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the image of the rational soul, mus
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aseness of itself, defalcates indee
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aseness of matter. For each organ o
Page 109 and 110:
[123] ceed] ? If, indeed, each of t
Page 111 and 112:
and verges to the earth. For when t
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every nature of the infinite from t
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says,—if this be the case, we mus
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subsistence to itself, and for the
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they are what they are; but when ab
Page 121 and 122:
[137] also, is contrary to virtue,
Page 123 and 124:
survey what evil itself is by itsel
Page 125 and 126:
the fountain from which they are ge
Page 127 and 128:
everything which perpetually exists
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[146] mortal nature, not in consequ
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account of another, and, as it were
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effective causes of evils, therefor
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evil is to be called a parhypostasi
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of this, one part of it is differen
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c The first monad of forms is what
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the energies and the works of evil;
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will, and is debile and inefficacio
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to turpitude, one kind subsists abo
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For this, in the first place, perha
Page 149 and 150:
it is not possible for that which c
Page 151 and 152:
a In Morbeka, in this place, after
Page 153 and 154:
therefore, extends itself about the
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PROCLUS, THE PLATONIC SUCCESSOR

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