Marinus, Life of Proclus (1925) Appendix
1 Platonic Theology, 6 bks; Thos Taylor
2 Theological Institutes, Tr by A C Ionides, 34 Porchester Terrace, London W
3 Commentary on Plato's First Alcibiacles
4 Commentary on Plato's Timaeus
5 Notes on Plato's POLITICS -- Taylor
6 Commentary on PARMENIDES, by Chaignet
7 Commentary on Plato's Cratylus
8 Paraphrase of Ptolemy's TETRABIBLIOS
9 Treatise on Motion. (Paraphrase of Aristotle
10 Outline of Astronomical Theories.
11 The Sphere, incorporated by Astronomers
12 Commentary on Euclid's Elements.
13 Commentary on Hesiod's Works and Days
14 Grammatical Chre stomathy
15 Arguments against the Christians, In John Philoponus's World's Eternity
16 On Providence and Fate
17 Ten Doubts Concerning Providence.
18 Of the Existence of Evil
19 On the effect of Eclipses (short).
20 On Poetry,printed by Choeroboscus.
21 Five Hymns
22 Notes on Homer
* * * * * * * * *
1 Commentary on Plato's PHILEBUS
2 Commentary on Plato's PHAEDRUS
3 Defence of Plato's TIMAEUS against Aristotle's Contradictions.
4 Purification of Plato's Dogmas
5 Commentary on Plato's THEAETETUS
6 LAWS, Commentary on Plato's LAWS
7 Notes on PLOTINUS's Enneades
8 On the Mother of the Gods.
9 On Orphic Theology.
10 About the (Chaldean) Oracles.
11 Commentary on Homer.
12 On the Homeric Divinities.
13 HARMONY of Orpheus, Pythagoras & Plato
14 On the three Intelligible Categories
of Truth, Beauty and Symmetry.
15 On The Oracle of Diotimos about the Nature of Evil.
16 About Progress, or Theurgic Discipline
17 Various Hymns and Epigrams.
* # * # * # * # *
Thomas Tailor's translations are yet the only ones of the Timaeus, the Theology of Plato, and on Euclid; they are bulky So is the Parmenides, translated in French by Chaignet. Of the Theological Elements Thomas Taylor's Translation has been antiquated by Thos M Johnson, but his is now out of print, but Ionides's is accessible, and is entitled DIVINE ARITHMETIC, but is not reproduced here as more metaphysical than moral, which is the object of the present work, which collects all that is short and moral; the bulky TIMAEUS and PLATONIC THEOLOGY is too much for us to undertake now; but we could issue it in the same inexpensive manner if some lover of philosophy would supply the small means needed.
In the meanwhile the present work will awaken popular interest in PROCLUS, giving all his poetic and moral works, and above all supply his biography, which till now has not appeared in English.
His METAPHYSICAL ELEMENTS, re-named Liber de Causis, was the origin of all Scholasticism. He inspired Dionysius the Areopagite, and was translated by Wm of Moerbeke & Marsilius Ficinus, and inspired Giordano Bruno and Benedict Spinoza, and Hegel, who wrote about him to Creuzer.
My time is so uncertain, my means are so limited, and my opportunities of promoting distribution so limited, that I can only make a tentative list of what works of Proclus I would like to issue. My object is not to issue the Complete Works, which would be too bulky, nor to duplicate accessible publications, such as the METAPHYSICAL ELEMENTS by Mr Ionides, but to put together all the MINOR and MORAL Works, including the BIOGRAPHY, so that, with the exception of the largest works, the general reader may have a practically complete collection of what he would most care for. Neither can I predict the prices at which the issues may be disposed of.
It would be a fine thing for a moneyed man with the interest of the world at heart to endow practically every larger library in the English-speaking world with a copy of this collection.
For this I fear we must not look to the Theosophists, some of whom care more for form than matter, but to some REAL lover lover of Humanity. ***** Here follows a list
1, Biography of Marinus.
2, Hymns, followed by the Treatise Motion
3, Commentary on the Chaldean Oracles.
4, On Free-Will, Providence & Fate
5, On Providence and Fate
6, On the Nature of Evil.
7, On the Eternity of the World.
8, Too long for me unaided, but most worth while are the seven books on THE THEOLOGY OF PLATO.
9, I could also add the Commentary on THE TIMAEUS of Plato.
10, Commentary on the PARMENIDES
[Rear cover]
This biography of Proclus has till now never been issued in English, although it came out in French, by Chaignet. The importance of this is, that till now PROCLUS has been described only by his enemies, such as KINGSLEY. The importance of giving this biography is not to bolster up paganism, which is irretrievably dead, but to show the inherent goodness of human nature, showing that, even when left to itself, without promised rewards of Heaven and threats of Hell, the soul feels the inner moral obligation to self-control, and self-discipline, and a passionate desire for the Beatific Vision. Such a biography exhorts us to virtue for its own sake, and when we deduct the foolish contemporary names of local divinities, we see the cosmic influence of the Christ ever reaching out to prayer, praise, need for healing, and wisdom.
This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK, 2008. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.
Taken from Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, Proclus' Biography, Hymns and Works. Master Key Edition. New York: Platonist Press (1925). This volume is a collection of typescript texts, including many typing mistakes, with individual page numbers, reproduced by mimeograph copying.
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