434 



PKOCLUS 



PK<M urn s 



upon him. still more of lii.s immediate and direct 

 intercommunication with the gods ; ami lie came 

 to ilistinrtly believe himself one of the few 

 chosen links of the Herinaic chain through which 

 divine revelation reaches mankind. His -.nil had, 

 he thought, once lived in Nicomachns the Pytha- 

 gorean, and, like him, he had tin- |x>\ver to com- 

 mand dm elemente to a certain <>\ti>iit. to produce 

 rain, and to temper the -un 1 * heat. The Or|>hic 

 I'.H'ms, the writings of Hermes, and all the mystical 

 literature cif that occult a;,'' 1 were to him the only 

 Hotirce of true philosophy, and he considcreil them 

 all more or lew in the light of divine re\ Hat ions. 

 That same cosmopolitan Hpirit in religion* matters 

 which pervaded Home towards her end had spread 

 thrtragnoat all the civilised pagan world of those 

 d.ivs. and I'roelus distinctly laid it down a- an 

 axiom that a true philosopher must also lie a 

 hieropliant of the whole world. Ac<|tiaiiited with 

 all the creeds and ribes of the ancient Pantheons 

 of the different nations, he not only philosophised 

 upon them in an allegorising and symbolising 

 spirit, as many of his contem[x>raries d id, but prac- 

 tised all the ceremonies, however hard ami painful. 

 More especially was this the case in the severity 

 of his fasting in honour of Egyptian deities a 

 practice, which, if it fitted him more and more 

 tor his hallucinations and dreams of divine 

 intercourse, ou the other hand more than once 

 endangered his life. Of an impulsive piety, 

 and eager to win disciples from Christianity 

 itself, he made himself oonoxious to the Chris- 

 tian authorities in Athens, who, in accordance 

 with the spirit of religious intolerance and fanati- 

 cism which then began to animate the new and 

 successful religion against which Proclus waged 

 constant war, banished him from this city. Allowed 

 to return, he acted with somewhat more prudence 

 and circumspection, ami only allowed his most 

 approved disciples to take part in the nightly 

 assemblies in which he pro|muiided his doctrines. 

 He died in 485, in bis full vigour, and in the entire 

 possession of all those mental powers, for which he 

 was no less remarkable than for his personal 

 beauty and strength. 



As to bis system, some modern philosophers 

 have exalted it to an extent which his own 

 writings scarcely warrant. Victor Cousin holds 

 that be has concentrated in it all the philosophical 

 ravs which emanated from the heads of the greatest 

 thinkers of Greece, such as I'.vtlmgoraa, Plato, and 

 Aristotle. The predominant law of development 

 is triadic in character. The existence of wnat is 

 produced in that which produces it, ita emergence 

 from it, and its return to it (/awi), rpjojot, eiricrrpo<2>7j ) 

 are the three moments, by the continued repetition 

 of which the totality of things is developed from 

 their origin. The final source of this development 

 is the original essence, elevated above all being 

 and knowledge, between which and the intelligible 

 there intervenes an intermediary member the 

 absolute unities (aiVroreXm (vaScs), together forming 

 the single supernal number. Next to this comes 

 the three spheres of the intelligible, the intellectual 

 intelligible ( roqro* HfM ol rofp'jr), and the intel- 

 lectual. The chief property of the first is hciii;. 1 : 

 of the second, life; of the third, thought. Of 

 these spheres the first two are again divided into 

 three triads each, and the triad again into heb- 

 domads, each separate member regarded as a 

 divinity. The soul is mode of three kinds of pan 

 mul- divine, demonic, and human. Of these the 

 divine fall into three orders: the four triads of 

 hegemonic gods, an etjual nuiulier of gods free from 

 the world (driXvrw), and the gods within the world, 

 who are divided into star-gods and elementary 

 gods. The demons are divided into angels, demons 

 proper, and heroes. The soul enters temporarily 



into the- material Imdy, but it does not create 

 matter, which comes direct Iv from the unlimited 

 with the limited and the mixed, the components 

 of the liist intelligible triads. Space he con . 

 as a body consisting of the finest light, which body 

 penetrates that of the world, lie distinguishes 

 the principle of unity or divinity in the soul from 

 thought or reason. It is capable by divine 

 illumination of mystic union with the Deity. In- 

 deed, faith alone is essential to the attainment of 

 Theurgy, which, comprising maiitic and super 

 natural inspiration, is preferable to all human 

 wisdom ; and in this 1'rochis ehielly differs from 

 Plotinus, with whose system he agrees in most 

 other respects. 



There i no edition of the complete works of Procliu, 

 but that of Victor Cousin (6 vols. 8vo. Paris, 18*20) con- 

 tains the Commrntariet on the f'irtt Alciliiadtt and the 

 I'tn-uirnidft, and the treatises DtlMertnti. I'roi-i'linlm, 

 et ifalo (in a Latin translation ); his second edition 

 ( 1 vol. 4to, 1K04 ) contains in addition to these the Hiimru. 

 Thomas Taylor, 'the Platonist,' published in 1788-89 

 translations of the Commentary on Kurliil, with the 

 Life by Marinus ; the Six Books on the Tkt<ilt*iy of 

 Plato in ISlli ; the Commentariti on the Ttimi tt* in 

 1820 ; the Fraiiment* on the Lost Writings in 18i5 ; On 

 Providence, and tin Kril, in 1S3I1. The Comment a> itu in 

 f/atonu Timamm (ed. )>y Schneider, Breslau, 1847) waa 

 the one among his treatises that Proclus esteemed must 

 highly. See Zeller's Philo*. drr (iritrhcn (3d ed., 1881, 

 iii. 2), and other books named under NKOPLATONISM. 



I'roconslil, a Uoinan magistrate not holding 

 the consulship, who was invesUnl with powers 

 nearly approaching those of a consul, not, however, 

 extending over the city and its vicinity. The pro- 

 consul was, at tnsi. one who had held the office of 

 consul, whose i</irriniti wits prolonged to enable 

 him to bring an unfinished campaign to a close. 

 The duration of the oflice was a year. During the 

 later period of the republic, when the consuls were 

 expected to spend the year of their consulate at 

 Koine, they were generally apiiointed at its close to 

 undertake, as proconsuls, either the conduct of a 

 war in some province, or its peaceful administration. 

 Occasionally the oflice of proconsul, with the 

 government of a province, was eon ferred on a person 

 who bod never field the consulship. Under Con- 

 stantine parts of certain dioceses came to be 

 governed by proconsuls. 



I'rocop, ANDREW, the Hussite leader, was 

 liorn in 1380. Originally a monk, he served under 

 Ziska, and on Ziska's death became commander of 

 the Taborites. It was under his command that the 

 fearful raids into Silesia, Saxony, and Kranconia 

 were carried out (see 1 1 i ssi i i.s ), and he re|>eatedly 

 defeated (iermaii armies. He and his colleague, 

 Procop the Younger, headed the internal ciinlli. 

 the Talxirites with the more moderate Calixtines; 

 and in the battle with the Bohemian nobles at 

 l.ipan. near Bohniischhrod, on the 30th May 1434, 

 the TalHirite commanders fell. 



I'rorupiiis. the most eminent of the Byzantine 



historians, was born at Cn'sarea. in Palestine, to- 

 wards the close of the 5th century, and, having 

 studied law, was taken by Belisarius in his train 

 when he led the Konian armies against [lie Persians 

 (626 H.C.), the Vandals in Africa (.133), and the 

 'goths in Italy (53(i). He appears to have 

 displayed remarkable practical as well as literary 

 talent, for he wits on two occasions placed at the 

 head of the commissariat. Returning to Constant 

 inople shortly before 548, he was highly honoured 

 b\ .Justinian, and appointed prefect (if it was this 

 1'rocopins) of the metropolis in 562. His death 

 occurred, it is thought, about three years later. 

 Procopius's principal works are his tlMorive in 

 eight 1 looks (two on the Persian war, from 408 to 

 550 ; two on the war with the Vandals, from .132 to 







