PROCLUS, (410 or 412–85), Neoplatonist philosopher. He was born in Lydia of wealthy parents. As a young man he went to Athens, where, apart from a brief exile occasioned by his fervent paganism, he spent the rest of his life, at first as a pupil of Syrianus and later as head of the Academy (hence his title ‘Diadochus’). His Life, written by one of his pupils, Marinus, portrays him as a pious, ascetic, and intellectual pagan. Although much of his vast literary output is lost, more of his writings survive than of any other late Neoplatonist; he is thus the principal source of our knowledge of late Athenian Neoplatonism. His philosophy is a systematization of the thought of Plotinus, combined with an appreciation of the effectiveness of the pagan religious cult as a way of establishing contact with the Divine (On the Priestly [hieratic] Art); this last he owed to Iamblichus and ultimately to the Chaldean Oracles.

His main contribution to Neoplatonism, apart from incorporating theurgy, lay in his detailed investigation of the system of causality implicit in Neoplatonic metaphysics; in this he developed the thought of Iamblichus and Syrianus. His influence on medieval and Renaissance thought was considerable, the earliest Christian thinker indebted to him being Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite.

His principal extant works include the Elements of Theology, a concise summary of Neoplatonic metaphysics, his more elaborate Platonic Theology, commentaries on several of Plato’s dialogues, some scientific works, and a number of hymns, which, like those of Synesius, are in the Doric dialect.

No collected edn. of his works exists; there is a useful (though dated) list in L. J. Rosán, op. cit. below, pp. 36–57. Opera inedita, ed. V. Cousin (2nd edn., Paris, 1864; repr. Hildesheim, 1961). Important edn. of the Elements of Theology, with introd., Eng. tr., and comm., by E. R. Dodds (Oxford, 1933; 2nd edn., 1963). Platonic Theology, ed. A. Portus (Hamburg, 1618); also, with Fr. tr., by H. D. Saffrey, OP, and L. G. Westerink (6 vols., Paris, 1968–97). There are edns. of Proclus’ commentaries on the following of Plato’s works: Parmenides ed. V. Cousin, Procli … Opera Inedita (2nd edn., Paris, 1864; repr., Hildesheim, 1961), cols. 603–1244; Lat. tr. by *William of Moerbeke, in which alone the final section survives, ed. by C. Steel (Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, de Wulf-mansion Centre, 1st ser. 3–4; Louvain, 1982–5); final section also ed., with Eng. tr., by R. Klibansky and others, Plato Latinus, 3 (London, 1953), pp. 23–81; Eng. tr. by G. R. Morrow and J. M. Dillon (Princeton, NJ, 1987); on Republic, ed. W. Kroll (2 vols., Teub., 1899–1901; repr., 1965); Fr. tr. by A. J. Festugière (3 vols., Bibliothèque des Textes Philosophiques, 1970); on Timaeus, ed. E. Diehl (3 vols., Teub., 1903–6; repr., 1965); Fr. tr. by A. J. Festugière (5 vols., Bibliothèque des Textes Philosophiques, 1966–8); on Cratylus, ed. G. Pasquali (Teub., 1908); on 1 Alcibiades by L. G. Westerink (Amsterdam, 1954) and, with Fr. tr., by by A. P. Segonds (2 vols., Collection des Universités de France, 1985–6); Eng. tr. and notes by W. O’Neill (The Hague, 1965). Tria Opuscula (de decem dubitationibus, de providentia, de malorum subsistentia), ed. H. Boese (Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie, 1; Berlin, 1960); also, with Fr. tr., by D. Isaac (3 vols., Collection des Universités de France, 1977–82). ‘On the Hieratic Art’, ed., with Fr. tr., by J. Bidez, Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques grecs, 6 (Union Académique Internationale; Brussels, 1928), pp. 148–51. Eclogae de philosophia chaldaica, ed., with Fr. tr., by E. des Places, SJ, Oracles Chaldaïques (Collection des Universités de France, 1971), pp. 202–12. Hymni, ed. E. Vogt (Klassisch-Philosophische Studien, 18; Wiesbaden, 1957). Marinus’ Life of Proclus, ed., with Lat. tr., by J. F. Boissonade (Leipzig, 1814), repr. in V. Cousin, op. cit., cols. 1–66; Eng. tr. by M.[J.] Edwards, Neoplatonic Saints (Translated Texts for Historians, 35; Liverpool, 2000), pp. 58–115. A. Severyns, Recherches sur la Chrestomathie de Proclus (Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liége, 78 f., 132, and 170; 1938–63). L. J. Rosán, The Philosophy of Proclus (New York, 1949). W. Beierwaltes, Proklos: Grundzüge seiner Metaphysik (Philosophische Abhandlungen, 24; Frankfurt am Main, 1965). J. Trouillard, L’Un et l’âme selon Proclos (Collection d’études anciennes, 1972); id., La Mystagogie de Proclos (ibid., 1982). J. Pépin and H. D. Saffrey (eds.), Proclus: Lecteur et Interprète des Anciens. Actes du colloque international du CNRS Paris (2–4 octobre 1985) (1987); E. P. Bos and P. A. Meier (eds.), On Proclus and his Influence in Medieval Philosophy (Philosophia Antiqua, 53; Leiden, etc., 1992). R. M. van den Berg, Proclus’ Hymns: Essays, Translations, Commentary (ibid. 90; 2001). A. E. *Taylor, Philosophical Studies (1934), pp. 151–91.

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