PLOTINUS. THE LATER PLATONISTS. 295 



Proclus, a favourite disciple of the latter philosopher, holds a con- Procius. 

 spicuous place in the new school. He was born in the year 412 at 

 Constantinople, though, as his parents had inhabited Xanthus in Lycia, 

 where he received the first elements of his knowledge, he is often 

 called a Lycian. After having studied at Alexandria, and having 

 learned from Olympiodorus 1 to blend together the Aristotelian and 

 Platonic doctrines, he visited Athens, where, by the successive instruc- 

 tions of Plutarch, the son of Nestorius, and of Syrianus 2 he was in- 

 troduced into the mysteries of their philosophy. So rapid was the 

 progress which he made in these obscure pursuits, that at the age of 

 twenty-eight he had composed, besides other pieces, his best work, a 

 * Commentary 3 on the Timasus of Plato.' 4 The skill which he acquired 

 in the theurgic art, as well as in the mysterious science of his school, 

 pointed him out as worthy of filling the office of public professor. His 

 lectures, full of dark mysticism, harmonized well with the taste of the 

 age, and won him many followers. His very credulous, or very in- 

 ventive, biographer and successor Marinus, 5 relates that he prepared 

 himself by abstinence from animal food, by long fastings and repeated 

 prayers, for immediate intercourse with the Divine Being, and that he 

 possessed the power of expelling diseases, and of commanding the 

 elements. Proclus died of the gout in the year 485. 



His works, 6 a strange mass of varied fanaticism, discover marks of a 

 rich, but unchecked, fancy, and extensive, but misapplied, learning. 



Marinus chose as his successor Isidorus, who soon after removed to Marinus. 

 Alexandria, and left the Platonic chair at Athens to Zenodotus. The Isido s - 

 succession of the school at Athens ended with Damascius of Syria, 

 who suffered from the persecution of the Emperor Justinian. His 

 ' Lives of Isidorus and others,' and some fragments of his philosophy, 

 still remain. 



1 This is not the Olympiodorus who wrote commentaries on four dialogues of 

 Plato, the First Alcibiades, the Phsedo, the Gorgias, and the Philebus. 



2 The following modest epitaph is a testimony of the affection which Proclus felt 

 for his master Syrianus : 



tos 

 ojucu/S&j/ 7)5 Bptye 



8e 



Mar. Vit. Prod. 36, p. 29, ed. Boisson. 



3 As this Commentary does not extend to the whole of the Timseus, it may be, 

 perhaps, incomplete. It contains the work of Timaeus the Locrian. 



4 See an account of the life of Proclus, and an interesting notice of a manuscript 

 containing some of his unpublished works by M. de Burigny, in Hist, de I'Acade'm. 

 des Inscrip. torn. i. p. 139-153. 



5 The work of Marinus was published by Fabricius (Hamburgh, 1700, 4to), 

 and afterwards subjoined to the Biblioth. Latin. 1703, 8vo. The best edition is 

 that of Boissonade. (Leips. 1814, in 8vo.) 



6 For an account of the editions of the various works of Proclus, see Schoell, Lit. 

 Grecq. torn. vii. M. V. Cousin has published some of his works, hitherto unedited. 

 Some of the works of Proclus have been translated into English by Mr. Thomas 

 Taylor, an enthusiastic Platonist. 



