The Commentaries on the Timaeus of Plato — trans. Thomas Taylor

And thus much concerning the whole design of the words.

1 Instead of tcv /,ij 0»t)~ r-,/, it is iii-rr.-s.irv to read r<v Otr/Tvv. ’ For fun here, it i* ne< msrx to read /jij.

riu original has erroneousL , ..i. m wa l of /icioe.

p. 352

PROCLUS ON THE

[rook W.

Let us however, if you are willing, concisely recur to particulars. After what manner therefore, generation is adapted to the mundane Gods, I have frequently shown, and have observed, that it manifests composition, a life in conjunction with time, and a progression from another cause, and which is rn-extcnded with the whole of time, hut not always [01 lias not an eternal subsistence]. But the words, “ ye arc not immortal, urn- tiitlisnduhUf mauilest that they are generated im¬ mortal and indissoluble. For to be raeh ol these, is present with eternal natures alone; hut to he ; alaJ each ol them, is adapted to those generated natures, whose Jil'e is e\li 11 d< d with the whole ol liuu And hot to be entirely immortal , nor entirely indissoluble, delivers to us many species ot immortality. 1 *1 ito there¬ fore, shortly after calls die me souls immortal, ami partial souls hoiuon vtnoitsly immortal. lint the words, “you shall never oe dissidad nor Income subject to the fatality of death, take away from the Gods all the mortal-toi med nature, and .i perpetually convertible and miilahle life. For mortality is an allotment of life, which is now mingled witli non-being. And 11 tin fatality ij thtilh again occultly exhibits to iis many diflerences of deaths. I’or the death pertaining to those who are called da-mous according to habitude is of one kind ; that of partial souls is of another kind ; that of animals, of another ; anti that of animated bodies, is differ* nt from all these. For the first of these imitates as it were, the casting off a garment; the second is accompanied with sympathy towards the mortal nature, l»eiiig the lapse of the soul into it; the third is the dissolution of the hotly and soul from each other; and the fourth, is the privation of the life which ts in the subject body, lint from these the mundane Gods, and essential daonons, the attendants of the Gods, are p. rfcctly ext mpt. For even the first kind of death ib not adapted to these, as the divine Iambliclius also asserts, who preserves the chcmoniacal genus, truly so called, immutable. Why therefore, is there a bond of these. 1 Is it not because goodness, according to whit h the demiurgic w ill is defined, unites, and measures all things, and leads them to one conspiration 7 And it seems that according to this especially, the mundane God.-, are consum¬ mately produced. For it is a bond of bonds, being superior * to the thing , that are bound. But the word allotted exhibits the allotment of beneficent providence by the many Gods, from the one Demiurgus. For being div ided according to the allotments of Justice, they distribute the one and total providence of the father, and the one

But the word allotted exhibits the allotment of beneficent providence by the many Gods, from the one Demiurgus. For being div ided according to the allotments of Justice, they distribute the one and total providence of the father, and the one

1 Instead of rairrm fiTV coy tort t read rooruiy fity coy fta ri esn htofjoy ;

' For toy tooy here, it ujipearv to inc to he rtquisitf lo read tripruii t,

HOOK V .]

TIM. TIL'S OF PLATO.

:i5.i bond which proceeds from tin? demiurgic monad. The celestial therefore, ami m short, all the mundane Gods are neither indissoluble nor dissoluble, hut are simply both. It is inferred however, that they are neither immortal nor indisso¬ luble, from their being generated. l ; or this is manifested by the words, “ became you arc g« ucraluf." l or every tiling geneiated has a renovated immortality, and a bond imparted to it by something different from itself, in consequence of not being able to connect or vivify itself, Hut again, it is inferred, that they are nei¬ ther dissoluble nor mortal, from the bonds which they essentially participate, and which they receive from the demiurgic will. The latter however is manifested through union, but the former through multitude; since the paternal union is a bond of bonds, and is the monad of the union of the participated Gods.

“ Learn now therefore, what I say to you* indicating my desire.”

The latter however is manifested through union, but the former through multitude; since the paternal union is a bond of bonds, and is the monad of the union of the participated Gods.

“ Learn now therefore, what I say to you* indicating my desire.”

The first address to the mundane Gods was deilic of, or deified the auditors; for it evinced all of them to be Gods, and to be participated by the bodies m which they ride. For these very bodies also are Gods, as being the statues of Gods; sinee Plato likewise calls the earth the first and most ancient of the Gods w itlnn the heav ens. Hut these deified bodies are partieip ints of the < lods truly so called, from winch they are suspended, and which are prior to generation. For these bodies have, as he says, generation. Hut the second address to the mun¬ dane Gods, inserted in them an eternal power, through the participation of an indissoluble connexion. And tin present words till them with divine and demi¬ urgic conceptions, proceeding supernally from intelligible animal [the paradigm of the universe.] For the being instructed in the fabrication of animals, so far as it is mathesis or learning, is adapted to soul. Hut these words fill the multitude of < lods w ith the demiurgic intelligence of all the forms that are contained in int< liigible animal. And through the word tunc indeed, the eternal is after a manner indicated; through the word vital the united and convolved; through I say, that which proceeds into multitude, and is disseminated about the many Gods; and through indication a plenitude 1 derived from intelligible and unapparent causes is signified. For we only indicate in things unapparent to the multitude. But through all the words together, it is evident that the Demiurgns establishes him¬ self analogous to intelligible intellect, and tills the mundane munlicr of Gods with intellectual conceptrons. Farther still, these words convert this multitude to the

In the test of I’roclus, is erroneously printed for v/m».

Tim. Plat.

VOL. II.

2 Y

•*W4

PROCF.l'S ON THE

[hook V.

one demiurgic intelligence, and prior to a providential attention to secondary na¬ tures, illuminate it with uimiingled purity and stable intellection. For as the Oeuiiurgus makes by energizing intellectually, and generates from iuwnrd, exter¬ nally proceeding energy, thus also In* wishes the mundane Gods first to learn and understand the w ill of their father, and thus afterw ards to imitate his power.

I hrec genera of mortals yet remain to lie produced. Without the generation of these therefore, the universe will he imperfect ; for it will not contain in itself all the genera of animals. Jlut it ought to contain flam, that it may he sufficiently p< rfect. \ et it these aie generated anti pai licipate of life through me, they will become eipiah/ed to the (<oils.”