The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol. 1 of 2) : $b translated from the Greek, to which a seventh book is added, in order to supply the deficiency of another book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since lost, also, a translation from the Greek of Proclus' Elements of theology, to which are added a translation of the treatise of Proclus, On providence and fate, a translation of extracts from his treatise, entitled, Ten doubts concerning — Plato — John Shaqi
The six books of Proclus, the Platonic successor, on the theology of Plato (vol. 1 of 2) : $b translated from the Greek, to which a seventh book is added, in order to supply the deficiency of another book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since lost, also, a translation from the Greek of Proclus' Elements of theology, to which are added a translation of the treatise of Proclus, On providence and fate, a translation of extracts from his treatise, entitled, Ten doubts concerning
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judiciously adopted; but if he found any thing of a spurious nature,
this, he entirely rejected as erroneous. He also strenuously subverted
by a diligent examination such doctrines as were contrary to truth.
In his associations too with others, he employed no less force and
perspicuity. For he was a man laborious beyond measure; as, in one day,
he gave five, and sometimes more lectures, and wrote as many as seven
hundred verses. Besides this, he went to other philosophers, and spent
the evening in conversation with them. And all these employments he
executed in such a manner as not to neglect his nocturnal and vigilant
piety to the Gods, and assiduously supplicating the sun when rising,
when at his meridian altitude, and when he sets.”
Marinus farther observes of this most extraordinary man, “that he did
not seem to be without divine inspiration. For words similar to the
most white and thick-falling snow[60] proceeded from his wise mouth,
his eyes appeared to be filled with a fulgid splendor, and the rest of
his face to participate of divine illumination. Hence Rufinus, a man
illustrious in the Republic, and who was also a man of veracity, and
in other respects venerable, happening to be present with him when he
was lecturing, perceived that his head was surrounded with a light. And
when Proclus had finished his lecture, Rufinus rising, adored him, and
testified by an oath the truth of the divine vision which he had seen.”
Marinus also informs us, “that Proclus being purified in an orderly
manner by the Chaldean purifications, was an inspector of the
lucid Hecatic visions, as he himself somewhere mentions in one of
his writings. By opportunely moving likewise a certain Hecatic
sphærula,[61] he procured showers of rain, and freed Athens from an
unseasonable heat. Besides this, by certain phylacteria or charms,
he stopt an earthquake, and had made trial of the divining energy of
the tripod, having been instructed by certain verses respecting its
failure. For when he was in his fortieth year, he appeared in a dream
to utter the following verses:
High above æther there with radiance bright,
A pure immortal splendor wings its flight;[62]
Whose beams divine with vivid force aspire,
And leap resounding from a fount of fire.
And in the beginning of his forty-second year he appeared to himself to
pronounce with a loud voice these verses:
Lo! on my soul a sacred fire descends,
Whose vivid power the intellect extends;
From whence far beaming thro’ dull body’s night,
It soars to æther deck’d with starry light;
And with soft murmurs thro’ the azure round,
The lucid regions of the Gods resound.
Besides, he clearly perceived that he belonged to the Mercurial
series; and was persuaded from a dream, that he possessed the soul of
Nicomachus the Pythagorean.”[63]