Proclus' Elements of Theology (Thomas Taylor Series Vol.1)

Volume I of the Thomas Taylor Series

This is one of the great books of the Platonic Tradition. Its scope is the whole sphere of 'Authentic Reality' which Plato recommends to all who aspire to wisdom, and which Plotinus outlines in his Enneads.

It takes as its starting point The One—the highest and most abstract idea that the human mind can affirm—and follows dialectically the unfolding of this through division, analysis, demonstration, and definition. It shows how The One is perfectly manifest in the Gods, and then how it "descends" while at the same time remaining exempt, at each succeeding level of intellect, soul, and body. A work of unequalled dialectic.

This second Prometheus Trust edition not only has Proclus' 211 theological and metaphysical propositions, but also Taylor’s extensive notes from his 1792 edition added to the main text of his 1816 edition.

Like other neoplatonists before him, the crux of his work was focused on commentaries of Plato. He is reputed to have travelled widely to be initiated into the various mystery cults of his day. His work is considered to be the mature culmination of Neo-Platonism.

Thomas Taylor (1758-1835), was an 18th century translator whose writings influenced the likes of William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Wordsworth, G. R. S. Mead, & Mme. Helena Blavatsky. Manly P. Hall deeply admired Taylor for the Herculean and often thankless task of translating previously untranslated Greek philosophy.