Chapter LI

What Plato says in the Timæus about the name of the World,--with
the elucidations of Proclus.

_An explanation of certain terms which are unusual, or have
a meaning different from their common acceptation, and which
there was a necessity of introducing in the translation of this
work._

COMPOSITE, συνθετος. I have used the word composite instead of _compounded_, because the latter rather denotes the mingling than the contiguous union of one thing with another, which the former, through its derivation from the Latin word _compositus_, solely denotes.

DEMIURGUS OF WHOLES, δημιουργος των ολων. The artificer of the universe is thus denominated, because he produces the universe so far as it is a _whole_, and likewise all the wholes it contains, by his own immediate energy; other subordinate powers co-operating with him in the production of parts. Hence he produces the universe _totally_ and _at once_.

DESIRE, επιθυμια. Is an irrational appetite solely directed to external objects, and to the gratification arising from the possession of them.

DIANOIA, διανοια, from whence _dianoetic_, is the discursive energy of reason; (διεξοδικη του λογου ενεργεια) or according to its most accurate signification, it is that power of the soul which reasons scientifically, deriving the principles of its reasoning from intellect, or the power which sees truth intuitively.

DOXASTIC, formed from δοξα, _opinion_, is the last of the gnostic powers of the rational soul; and knows _that_ a thing is, but is ignorant of the cause of it, or _why_ it is. The knowledge of the διοτι, or _why_ a thing is, being the province of dianoia.

GUEST, ξενος. This word, in its more ample signification in the Greek, denotes a _stranger_, but properly implies one who receives another, or is himself received at an entertainment. In the dialogues of Plato therefore, (and consequently in this work of Proclus when he cites the dialogues in which this word occurs) wherever one of the speakers is introduced as a ξενος, I have translated this word _guest_, as being more conformable to the genius of Plato’s dialogues, which may be justly called rich mental banquets, and consequently the speakers in them may be considered as so many guests. Hence in the Timæus, the persons of that dialogue are expressly spoken of as guests from having been feasted with discourse.

HYPARXIS, υπαρξις. The first principle, or foundation as it were, of the essence of a thing. Hence, also, it is the summit of essence.

IMPARTICIPABLE, αμεθεκτος. One thing is said to be imparticipable with respect to another, to which it is superior, when it is not consubsistent with it.

INTELLECTUAL PROJECTION. The immediate energy of intellect is thus denominated, because it is an intuitive perception, or an immediate darting forth, as it were, to its proper object, the intelligible.

MONAD, μονας, in divine natures is that which contains _distinct_, but at the same time _profoundly-united_ multitude, and which produces a multitude exquisitely allied to itself. But in the sensible universe, the first monad is the world itself, which comprehends in itself all the multitude of which it is the cause (in conjunction with the cause of all). The second monad is the inerratic sphere. In the third place, the spheres of the planets succeed, each of which is also a monad, comprehending an appropriate multitude. And in the fourth and last place are the spheres of the elements, which are in a similar manner monads. All these monads likewise are denominated ολοτητες, _wholenesses_, and have a perpetual subsistence.

PERMANENCY, στασις. The proper word for rest, in Greek, is ηρεμια. And Simplicius justly observes, that not every στασις is ηρεμια, but that only which is after motion. This word is employed by Plato in the Sophista, to express one of the five genera of being, viz. _essence_, _permanency_, (στασις), _motion_, _sameness_, and _difference_; in which place it evidently does not signify rest.

PHANTASY, or _Imagination_, φαντασια, is, μορφωτικη νοησις, i.e. _a figured intelligence_, because all the perceptions of this power are _inward_, and not external, like those of sense, and are accompanied with _figure_.

PSYCHICAL, ψυχικος, i.e. _pertaining to soul_, in the same manner as φυσικος, _physical_, is _something pertaining to nature_.

REASON, λογος. This word in Platonic writers signifies either that inward discursive energy called reasoning; or a certain productive and seminal principle; or that which is indicative and definitive of a thing. Hence λογοι or _reasons_ in the soul, are, gnostically producing principles.

UNICAL, ενιαιος, that which is characterized by unity.

UNIFORM, ενοειδης. This word when it occurs in Proclus, and other Platonic writers, signifies that which has the form of _the one_, and not as in Johnson, that which keeps its tenour, or is similar to itself.

PROCLUS,

THE PLATONIC SUCCESSOR,

ON

The Theology of Plato.