PROCLUS, THE PLATONIC SUCCESSOR

the soul in generation, and on this account we
are accustomed to call them immaculate a ;
because the evils which are here cannot enter
into them, though they are incapable of
preserving in this terrene abode that invariable
and immutable life which they led in the
intellectual realms; but they permit that which
is adapted to disturb them, and is unstable, to
remain in the natures which are suspended
from their essence. These impassive souls, too,
are internally silent, as long as they are situated
in tranquillity; but when they are excited to
vehement energy, then their beauty shines
forth, so as to evince that they are truly the
offspring of the Gods. Hence, whether in
terrene animals, or in other parts of the
universe, there are generations of souls, this is
the mode of descent to all of them, and as far as
to this, oblivion and evil are the result. For we
say, that light is darkened, because the
extraneous nature of that which surrounds it
being gross and nebulous, it cannot illuminate
that which is near to it. But that is perfectly
involved in darkness, which cannot even be the
saviour of itself. The descent, therefore, of
these divine souls, not destroying their internal
life, gives to them a debility of energy.
a See an admirable account of these undefiled souls in
the Scholia of Proclus on the Cratylus, in the notes at
the end of the 5th volume of my Plato; where the reader
will find a translation of nearly the whole of these most
excellent Scholia, which are nothing more than extracts
from a complete Commentary on that Dialogue of
Plato, by some one of the disciples of Proclus, as will
be evident to the intelligent reader from the perusal of
them.
[110] With respect, however, to the souls that
are posterior to these, and which destroy their
internal life, and fall into an oblivion of the
contemplations arising from the energies of it,
—in souls of this kind there is death, an