PROCLUS

On the Existence of Evils

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 PROCLUS
On the Existence of Evils

Translated by
Jan Opsomer & Carlos Steel

LON DON • N E W DE L H I • N E W YOR K • SY DN EY

 Bloomsbury Academic
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First published in 2003 by Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.

Paperback edition first published 2014

© Jan Opsomer & Carlos Steel 2003

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to be identified as Author of this work.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: HB:   978-0-7156-3198-0

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Acknowledgments
The present translations have been made possible by generous and imaginative funding from the
following sources: the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Research Programs,
an independent federal agency of the USA; the Leverhulme Trust; the British Academy;
the Jowett Copyright Trustees; the Royal Society (UK); Centro Internazionale A. Beltrame di Storia dello
Spazio e del Tempo (Padua); Mario Mignucci; Liverpool University; the Leventis Foundation;
the Arts and Humanities Research Board of the British Academy; the Esmée Fairbairn
Charitable Trust; the Henry Brown Trust; Mr and Mrs N. Egon; the Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research (NWO/GW). The editor wishes to thank Kevin Corrigan and Anne Sheppard
for their comments and Eleni Vambouli and Han Baltussen for preparing the volume for press.

Typeset by Ray Davies

Printed and bound in Great Britain
 Contents

Preface vii

Abbreviations and Conventions viii

Introduction 1

Translation 55

Notes 105

Philological Appendix 133

Select Bibliography 147

Index of Passages 154

Subject Index 156

Index of Names 160

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 Preface

This volume is the result of an intense collaboration during the last

three years at the Institute of Philosophy in Leuven. Though we are
now academically separated by the Atlantic, we share with some
nostalgia pleasant memories of our animated discussions on Neopla-
tonic philosophy with Gerd Van Riel, Bert van den Berg and Guy
Guldentops, and other friends at the De Wulf-Mansion Centre for
Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. The translation has profited from
the advice and corrections of many people: David Butorac, Maria
Desmond, John Steffen and Douglas Hadley in Leuven. A provisional
version of the translation was used in a seminar at the Institute of
Classical Studies in London and in a seminar at the Philosophy
Department of Harvard University: we profited from the comments
of Anne Sheppard, Bob Sharples, Richard Sorabji, Harold Tarrant,
and the referees for this series. In the preparation of the manuscript
for the publisher, we are greatly indebted to the collaborators of the
Ancient Commentators Project in London, and in particular to Han
Baltussen.
We are very happy that Richard Sorabji has welcomed this Neopla-
tonic treatise into his monumental series ‘The Ancient Commentators
on Aristotle’. Even if Proclus would not have appreciated being con-
sidered a commentator on Aristotle, he would surely have been
pleased that, thanks to this great international project, his treatise
On the Existence of Evils will find many more readers than ever
before (if we exclude readers of the plagiarist Dionysius the pseudo-
Areopagite).
Looking back at a wonderful collaboration over the years, which
has brought us in contact with many scholars, we have come to
understand that Proclus was right when he argued that from ‘evil’ (in
this case the long and arduous philological preliminaries) divine
providence can create beautiful things.

2002 J.O. & C.S.

 Abbreviations and Conventions

DMS = De malorum subsistentia, On the existence of evils

ET = Elementatio theologica, Elements of theology
OD = De omnifaria doctrina (Michael Psellus)
SVF = Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta (ed. von Arnim)
TP = Theologia Platonica, Platonic theology

The chapter and line number references are to Boese’s edition of the
Tria opuscula.

Brackets are used in the translation as follows:

[…] expanding or clarifying the meaning

<…> addenda (implies an emendation of the text)
 Introduction

1. The fate of a text

1.1. The treatise in the work of Proclus
Among the works of the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus (412-485),
there are three short treatises that are devoted to the problems of
providence, free will and evil.1 As their modern editor, Helmut Boese,
observes, those three ‘opuscula’2 stand apart somehow in the volumi-
nous oeuvre of the Platonic Diadochos, between the great commentar-
ies on Plato and the theological works. Whereas in commenting
Proclus has to stick close to the texts of Plato, in his Elements of
Theology and his Platonic Theology he aims at the composition of a
grandiose synthesis, which sets other constraints on his philosophis-
ing. But here, in the Tria opuscula or monobiblia as he called them,
he seems to enjoy a greater freedom to develop a philosophical prob-
lem in itself and to analyse the different arguments that have been
offered in the tradition. His style of writing is intermediate as well:
not the grand rhetoric of the Platonic Theology, not the almost
mathematical austerity of the Elements of Theology, not the scholas-
tic exposition of the Commentaries. When discussing such fundamen-
tal questions as the nature of evil or the problem of free will, Proclus
seems to address a larger philosophical audience than the privileged
group of students in his school.3 The problems raised are, indeed, of
great philosophical interest and have continued to stir up the debate
ever since the Hellenistic schools brought it to the fore: is there
providence in the world? And how can it be reconciled with the
experience of evil? Is free agency possible in a deterministic universe?
What is the nature of evil?
Proclus probably composed the three treatises in the same order as
they have been transmitted in the manuscripts. Though dealing with
related problems, they each have their own character. The first
treatise is, as its title indicates, a discussion of Ten problems about
providence. That there is providence in this world is undeniable. It is
shown by Plato’s arguments in the Laws and the Timaeus, and by the
Chaldaean Oracles. But what exactly providence is, whether it ex-
tends to all levels of reality or only to the celestial spheres, how it
exercises its activity in this physical world without losing its tran-
2 Introduction
scendence, how it can know contingent events, why it distributes its
goods unequally, and how it can be reconciled with evil: those and
many other problems Proclus wants to examine in this treatise. Of
course, they have already been thoroughly discussed in the philo-
sophical tradition and in the Neoplatonic school in particular. But
‘although those problems have been discussed and examined a thou-
sand times, my soul still wants to talk and hear about them, and
return to herself, and wishes as it were to discuss with herself and not
only receive arguments about them from the outside’.4
The second treatise, On providence and fate and on that which
belongs to us, to the engineer Theodorus, has an entirely different
character. In this philosophical letter, Proclus attempts to refute some
erroneous views on providence and freedom in reply to his friend
Theodorus.5 This Theodorus, a mechanical engineer with a great
interest in philosophy, had sent Proclus a letter wherein he exposed
his ideas on providence, fate and on human responsibility (to eph’
hêmin). In his view, the whole universe is a deterministic system like
a mechanical clockwork: freedom is nothing but a word, a beneficial
illusion for human life. Theodorus also advocated a hedonistic life-
style combined with a sceptical attitude concerning the possibilities
of human knowledge. Before answering his arguments, Proclus first
discusses three basic questions which dominate the whole debate on
providence and freedom: (1) the distinction between divine provi-
dence and fate (the latter being subordinated to the former); (2) the
distinction between the irrational soul, which is connected to the body,
and the rational, which transcends the body; (3) the distinction of the
various modes of knowledge, ranging from sense perception to supra-
rational intuition. Theodorus does not share the Neoplatonist
philosophical assumptions, though he must have frequented the
school, as he is said to remember what ‘Proclus’ master’ (Syrianus)
used to say (66,6-8), and is supposed to understand an indirect
reference to Theodorus of Asine, who is mentioned as ‘your homonym’
(53,13).
Notwithstanding the radical divergence of their philosophical po-
sitions, Proclus’ refutation of Theodorus is friendly and even has a
personal character. One has the impression that both men must have
been rather close friends. Proclus makes some ad hominem argu-
ments with mild irony, for instance when he criticises, in ch. 41, the
engineer for not appreciating the importance of mathematics. How
could somebody like Theodorus, a lover of philosophy and intellectual
speculations, a man of encyclopaedic culture and an expert in geome-
try and mathematics, defend such a materialistic view on knowledge
and the nature of the soul, claiming that there is only a gradual
difference between sensible and scientific knowledge? In ch. 45, Pro-
clus criticises the hedonistic philosophy of his friend who argued that
‘the good is what is pleasant for each individual and that this is
 Introduction 3
different according to the place where one lives’. – ‘I would be
ashamed,’ Proclus says, ‘if, to a man who is my friend, I did not write
clearly what I think, namely that such a view is unworthy of my
choice of life and of my age.’6
If a young man had indeed formulated such a hedonistic view,
Proclus would not have been surprised, for the young usually adhere
to the opinions of the many. But an old man who gives authority to
the intellect should think differently. The fact that Proclus considers
this view as unworthy of his old age is adequate proof that this work
– and probably the two other treatises as well – was written towards
the end of his career. In ch. 22, the reader comes across a highly
personal comment: Proclus alludes to a dramatic event in his life,
whereby his house and its furniture were destroyed by fire. But, as he
confesses, this disaster damaged external goods only and could not
take away the wisdom and calmness of his soul. As L. Westerink has
argued, Proclus is probably alluding to some religious persecution.
Maybe the destruction of the temple of Asclepius, which was adjacent
to the school, caused serious damage to his private residence. Or the
event could have been related to the persecution that drove Proclus
into exile in Asia.7 This may be another indication for putting the
composition of the treatises on providence and evil in the later period
of Proclus’ life.
The third treatise, De malorum subsistentia (On the existence of
evils = DMS), features yet another approach. It is neither a discussion
of ‘problems’, nor a refutation of erroneous views. Proclus here devel-
ops in a systematic manner the Platonic doctrine on evil, as he
understands it. He knows of course that since Plotinus the question
of the nature of evil has often been discussed in the Platonic school.
It is his ambition, however, now that he has some ‘time off ’, to write
down a critical review of the opinions of his predecessors and, above
all, to expound the doctrine of the divine Plato, to whom we should
turn for enlightenment in all our speculations on this matter.
This was not Proclus’ first attempt to articulate his views on evil.
In the preface of the treatise, he explicitly refers to the discussions of
evil in his commentaries (1,17-18). We indeed find substantial discus-
sions of evil in his Commentaries on the Timaeus (1,372,25-381,21, a
summary of his views on evil, occasioned by a discussion of Tim.
30A2-3), on the Republic (1,37,37,2-39,1, a summary of his doctrine of
evil; 1,96,5-100,20; 2,89,6-91,18, on the vices of the soul) and on the
Parmenides (829,23-831,24, on the alleged Forms of evils). Moreover,
we know from a marginal note8 that Proclus also discussed the
problem of evil in his Commentary on the Theaetetus, now lost. In this
dialogue can be found the famous passage on the necessity of evil as
the contrary of the good (176A; cf. below: 2.1, T1) which has been the
starting point for all Neoplatonic speculations on evil. Proclus most
probably also devoted a commentary to Plotinus’ celebrated treatise
4 Introduction
on evil, ‘On what are and whence come evils’ (Ennead 1,8[51]). As we
will see, Proclus is very critical of the views of Plotinus and in
particular rejects his identification of evil with matter.9 Many chap-
ters in the treatise actually contain refutations of the views that
Plotinus expressed in Ennead 1,8. Reading the De malorum subsis-
tentia, we may get some idea of what Proclus may have written in his
no longer extant commentary on Ennead 1,8. The fact that Proclus in
his preface refers to his ‘commentaries’ is again an argument for
dating the composition of the Tria opuscula in his later career. This
will have been after the commentaries on the Theaetetus, Timaeus
and Republic and after the commentary on the Enneads, but probably
before the Commentary on the Parmenides.10 This last commentary
precedes the composition of the Platonic theology, Proclus’ last work.
In the first book of the Theology, Proclus devotes a whole chapter
(1.18) to the problem of evil.11 This chapter may be considered as the
final expression of his views on a problem with which he has been
struggling from his earliest works on.

1.2. The tradition of the text

The treatises on providence and evil must have enjoyed some success
outside the school. They were known to John Philoponus who quotes
some sections from the De decem dubitationibus in his refutation of
Proclus in De aeternitate mundi (written c. 529). In the middle of the
sixth century, John of Lydia quoted a long passage from the last
chapter of De malorum subsistentia (61,5-18) in his De mensibus
(4,35, pp. 93,15-94,3 Wünsch). But the unimaginable and unforesee-
able success of the Tria opuscula was mainly due to the Christian
author who hid his real identity and instead presented himself as
Dionysius the Areopagite. This author was probably active around
500. In his celebrated work, On the divine names, ps.-Dionysius
makes extensive use of Proclus’ treatise, On the existence of evils. The
long digression on evil in 4,18-34 can be considered as an adaptation
and a summary (often a very mediocre one) of Proclus’ arguments in
DMS.12 Whereas in his other works, Dionysius cleverly attempts to
hide his debt to the pagan Proclus, in this section his dependence is
evident to the point of becoming embarrassing (it even made some
scholars suppose the whole digression on evil to be a later interpola-
tion). Dionysius follows Proclus step by step, here and there adding a
critical remark so as to modify his views in a Christian way. One
major divergence from Proclus is to be found in his treatment of
demons.13 Dionysius upholds the view that the demons were created
good (Proclus would have accepted this), but that they fell away from
their creator through their own sin. Evil then starts in the universe
with the fall of the angels, who by falling become demons. For Proclus,
it is impossible that demons or other ‘superior kinds’ would ever lose
 Introduction 5
their initial perfection. Only the particular souls descending in the
bodies can ‘fall’.14 Another important divergence consists in Dionysius’
denial that there is evil in irrational animals and in bodies.15 Al-
though in both these cases he uses the same examples as Proclus, he
has twisted the argument so that it leads to the opposite conclusion.
By doing so, Dionysius has aligned himself with the Christian ortho-
doxy, according to which evil can originate only in beings that can
make free choices. Apart from these doctrinal differences, Dionysius
follows Proclus so closely that his work can even be used for the
reconstruction of parts of the lost Greek text of DMS.
Whatever Dionysius’ intention may have been, the plagiarising
summary and adaptation of Proclus’ doctrine in On the divine names
gave Proclus’ little treatise a publicity and worldwide readership he
could never have dreamed of at the time of writing, the author being
but a marginalised pagan philosopher in Athens. Thanks to
Dionysius, Proclus’ argument of evil as a parupostasis of the good
became known and was studied not only in Byzantium, but also in the
Latin West both through the translations of Hilduin, John Scot
Eriugena, and Saracenus, and through the numerous commentators.
Until the nineteenth century, Proclus’ Neoplatonic doctrine of evil as
a kind of privation or a shortcoming would continue to dominate the
philosophical debates on evil.
However, the esoteric work of Dionysius did not immediately meet
with a favourable readership. When it first began to circulate, some
readers doubted its authenticity and orthodoxy. A first and successful
attempt to defend the apostolic authenticity of Dionysius’ work came
from John of Scythopolis, who sometime between 537 and 543 com-
posed a series of scholia to explain the often difficult arguments of
Dionysius.16 In the scholion dealing with the argument on evil, John
made use of Plotinus’ Ennead 1,8 without, however, mentioning his
source. Actually, he uses Plotinus – of all authors! – to support
Dionysius against the ‘Greeks’ who uphold a dualistic position be-
cause they claim that evil is to be identified with matter. As we will
show later in this introduction, Proclus attacked Plotinus on this very
point – for being too much of a dualist – and, as we have already
pointed out, Dionysius merely copied the arguments of Proclus. It is
mind-boggling to see how John used Plotinus (the objections that
Plotinus first formulates against his own thesis in order to refute
them later) to argue against views entertained by the same Plotinus,
and defend theses upheld by Dionysius (and Proclus). It is even more
remarkable that he did not use Proclus himself to elucidate the points
that Dionysius wanted to make. But of course, he could hardly have
done so without revealing the secret pagan source of the apostolic
Dionysius. It was safer for John to use Plotinus.
Or should we suppose that John of Scythopolis was not acquainted
with these works of Proclus and that his silence about Dionysius’
6 Introduction
dependence upon Proclus was sincere? It may seem unlikely that an
author in the early sixth century knowing Plotinus’ treatise on evil
should not have known Proclus’ more recent treatment of the prob-
lem. Never, however, does the scholiast show any knowledge of
Proclus, and his silence could therefore be sincere.
In this respect, it is remarkable that the name of Proclus appears
in a passage at the end of John’s Prologue to the Dionysian corpus.
The passage in question, however, is an interpolation. The author of
the interpolation defends Dionysius against the accusation of plagia-
rism: it is the other way around – Proclus plagiarised Dionysius! He
states:

One must know that some of the non-Christian philosophers,

especially Proclus, have often employed certain concepts (lexeis)
of the blessed Dionysius. […] It is possible to conjecture from
this that the ancient philosophers in Athens usurped his works
(as he recounts in the present book) and then hid them, so that
they themselves might seem to be the progenitors of his divine
oracles. According to the dispensation of God the present work
is now made known for the refutation of their vanity and reck-
lessness.17

There are good arguments for attributing this scholion to the con-
verted philosopher John Philoponus. Philoponus was familiar with
the Dionysian Corpus and was convinced of its authenticity: three
times he quotes Dionysius in his theological work, De opificio mundi.
Philoponus knew Proclus, too, since he wrote a refutation of the
latter’s views on the eternity of the world and even quotes from the
treatise, On providence. The many parallels between Dionysius’ and
Proclus’ discussions of evil may have struck him. He explains these
similarities, however, by postulating a dependence of Proclus on
Dionysius. This will remain the standard view in the Byzantine
tradition, and it was transmitted to the Western world when the Tria
opuscula were rediscovered thanks to Moerbeke’s translation. The
authority of Dionysius almost eclipsed the fame of Proclus (who was
now considered as the one who plagiarised).
However, scholars continued to read and quote from his works, but
without mentioning his name. Thus in the eleventh century Michael
Psellus inserted large extracts from the Tria opuscula into his compi-
lation, De omnifaria doctrina.18 But the most extensive use of Proclus
came from an unexpected source. At the end of the eleventh century,
a Byzantine prince by the name of Isaak Sebastokrator composed
three treatises on providence and evil.19 Already in the formulation of
the titles, there is such a similarity with the Tria opuscula that one
may expect the prince to have exploited Proclus in the composition of
his own works.20 This suspicion was indeed confirmed by the exami-
 Introduction 7
nation of his treatises. Isaak has used Proclus’ text as the substrate
for his ‘own’ developments. Of course, he could not mention his pagan
source: Proclus had a very bad reputation in Byzantium, and to be
associated with him was almost proof of heresy. Isaak was himself
charged with the trial against Psellus’ disciple, John Italos, who was
accused of propagating the heterodox views of Porphyry, Iamblichus
and Proclus. The author did his utmost to hide the Proclean origin of
the views he exposed. He carefully left out all references to pagan
theology which might disturb his Byzantine contemporaries, substi-
tuting, e.g., the singular ‘god’ for the plural ‘gods’. Moreover, he
cleverly blended Proclus’ text on evil with Dionysius’ version and with
excerpts taken from an early admirer of Dionysius, Maximus Confes-
sor.21 The result is a surprisingly homogeneous Neoplatonic Christian
speculation on evil, providence and free will. Although we may not
value much the originality of the author, we are grateful that through
his compilation we can reconstruct almost two-thirds of the lost Greek
original of Proclus.22
That Greek original was still circulating in the Byzantine world in
the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, as is evident from the insertion
of eight fragments in a florilegium that was copied in Byzantium in
1311.23 But the most important witness of its existence is William of
Moerbeke who happened to discover a manuscript of Proclus’ trea-
tises when he resided in Corinth as archbishop and made a complete
translation in February 1280. After his death, the Greek text was
irrevocably lost.

1.3. Moerbeke’s translation

As can be learned from the colophon, William of Moerbeke completed
his translation of the Tria opuscula in Corinth in February 1280.
When he arrived in Corinth, the Flemish Dominican could look back
on a long career during which he had combined his duties as an
official at the papal administration with his translation work on
Aristotle, Archimedes and the Greek Commentators.24 His appoint-
ment as Latin archbishop of Corinth offered him a ‘sabbatical’, a
wonderful opportunity for discoveries of unknown Greek philosophi-
cal texts and for more translations. After the Tria opuscula, he
embarked on his last project, the translation of Proclus’ commentary
on the Parmenides, which he finished just before he died.25
The translation of the Tria opuscula has been preserved in thirteen
manuscripts dating from the early fourteenth to the seventeenth
century. They can be classified in two groups. On the one hand there
are manuscripts that derive from a Parisian exemplar: Arsenal 473
(A), which once belonged to the Augustinian convent at Pont Neuf. On
the other hand, there are manuscripts deriving from a model in Italy.
The most important manuscript in this second group is Vaticanus
8 Introduction
latinus 4568 (V). Although rather young (c. 1500), it had been copied
from an old exemplar, which was very close to – if not identical with
– Moerbeke’s original copy. The most noteworthy feature of the Vati-
can manuscript is the presence of numerous Greek words in the
margin of the translation. The Greek terms correspond to Latin terms
in the translation and are obviously meant as an aid in those cases
where the equivalencies are not self-evident.26 Who is responsible for
these annotations which are precious traces of the lost Greek origi-
nal? Not the copyist of Vaticanus himself, since he appears to have
some difficulty replicating the Greek characters he read in his model.
Neither do the marginal notes stem from a reader who consulted the
Greek original that was still available to him.27 They show instead the
practice of the translator himself. We know indeed that Moerbeke,
when translating, often left an empty space when he could not imme-
diately find a good equivalent for some Greek term (for example in a
poetical expression) or when the text was corrupted. In the margin,
he jotted down the missing Greek, hoping to return to the passage
later. Such a practice can be witnessed in the autograph manuscript
of his translation of Archimedes and in one manuscript of the Com-
mentary on the Parmenides, Ambrosianus A 167 sup. This last
manuscript, copied in Ferrara in 1508, contains in the margin numer-
ous Greek terms and even some quotations from poetry that had been
passed over by the translator.28 In this case again, the scribe is not
himself responsible for the Greek notes: he copied what he read in his
model. As in the case of Vaticanus (copied at about the same time), we
must postulate that the model of Ambrosianus contained in the
margin the annotations of the translator himself. This lost manu-
script, which probably contained the Tria opuscula as well as the
commentary on the Parmenides, may have been Moerbeke’s personal
copy.
In addition to the Vaticanus, there are two other manuscripts of
Italian origin: Macerata, Bibl. Communale 5.3.D.30 (S), which once
belonged to Colucio Salutati, chancellor of the republic of Florence,
and Oxford Bodleian Digby 236 (O). Both manuscripts date from the
middle of the fourteenth century and have many errors in common,
which proves their dependence on a common model. In comparison
with A and V, the role of the manuscripts OS for the constitution of
the text is only marginal. However, when they confirm V or A, they
usually represent the authentic text. On this point, we have consid-
ered it necessary to correct in some passages the excellent edition of
Helmut Boese, who tends to underestimate the importance of this
branch of the tradition.29 D. Isaac, in his edition for the Collection G.
Budé, even eliminated O and S from the apparatus.
As the subscriptions inform us, Moerbeke made his translation of
the three treatises in just a few weeks. This would not have been
possible if he had not applied a translation method that he had
 Introduction 9
elaborated and perfected in his long experience as translator. His
primary aim was to provide the Latin scholars with a translation
that corresponds exactly – word for word – to the Greek original.
He did not have the ambition to produce literary Latin.30 On the
contrary: he manipulated the Latin, stretching the language to the
extreme so as to produce a perfect ‘calque’ of the original while
using Latin words, conjugations and declinations. Even the small-
est particles are translated. Over the years, this method was ever
more standardised and became an almost mechanical technique. His
last translations are the most literal ones. Thus Moerbeke attempted
to respect, as far as grammar allows, the order of words of the Greek
original. To give a simple example of an easy phrase, this is the
opening sentence of ch. 58: ‘Dubitabit autem utique aliquis qualiter
et unde mala providentia ente.’
One of the major problems a Latin translator is confronted with is
the absence of the article in Latin. In Greek texts, and particularly in
philosophical texts, the article plays an essential role. It is used,
among other things, to substantivise adjectives (e.g. to agathon, to
kalon) and participles (e.g. to on) or even whole phrases. To cope with
that difficulty, Moerbeke expanded the use of the demonstrative or
relative pronoun, writing ipsum bonum, ipsum pulchrum or quod
secundum naturam. But this was not possible in all cases. In his last
translations, he introduced the article le of medieval French as a
standard translation of the Greek article (even sometimes using the
genitive form del), as in le unum, le non bonum, le volatile, le mixtum,
le non eodem modo, le agonum, le otiosum, le speciei factivum, le preter
naturam, le secundum intellectum, le immensuratum, le ornantium
unumquodque, le bene, le credibile, le sursum, le et usque ad hoc
omnia bona et esse et fieri propter eam que in ipso malitiam (58,15-16:
a whole sentence is substantivised). The article in Greek also makes
it possible to determine a substantive by a series of complements
inserted between the article and the substantive. When the article is
not rendered in the translation, the complements float around. In
such cases, the introduction of le was little help. Moerbeke then tried
to connect the complements with their substantive by construing
relative phrases of the type is qui. There are innumerable examples
of this construction in the Latin version of the Tria opuscula. As an
example, we take a closer look at DMS 50:

6 eum qui in esse progressum

22-5 eorum que ex principio in finem progredientium […] eorum
que neque ex principio secundum naturam apparent neque in
determinatum aliud consummantium (the translator has not
been consistent: he should have written either apparentium …
consummantium or apparent … consummant instead of mixing
the personal with the participle construction)
10 Introduction
26 principalem acceperunt eius quod est facere ipsa dictam
causam (note the awkward word order)
27 eius quod preter naturam
28 eorum que preter rationem fiunt

Does it need to be pointed out that all of this results in a Latin that is
nothing short of barbarous?

2. Proclus and the Neoplatonic doctrine of evil

2.1 Platonic pre-texts
As Proclus states in the introduction to his treatise on evil, every
study of any philosophical problem whatsoever should always start
from Plato, ‘for if we fall short of this theory, we will give the
impression that we have achieved nothing’. Moreover, ‘we shall un-
derstand more easily the words of our predecessors and shall always
be closer to an understanding of the problems once we have discov-
ered the thought of Plato and, as it were, kindled a light for our
subsequent inquiries’. Yet, ‘to get a grasp of Plato’s doctrine on evil’
may not be an easy undertaking, the main reason being of course that
we do not posses a fully developed theory of evil from the Master. We
do have some various remarks interspersed throughout the dialogues
and we could speculate on what kind of theory of evil Plato would have
produced in the light of his general approach to philosophical ques-
tions.31 Yet a systematic doctrine of evil such as we find it in the later
Neoplatonists is absent from the works of Plato.
Nonetheless the discussion in the Neoplatonic schools took the
texts of Plato as their starting point and as their ultimate authority.
The doctrine of evil as it is (re-)constructed by them is supposed to be
Plato’s. Both Proclus and Plotinus’ treatments of the problem of evil
abound with citations from the dialogues. Of these pre-texts, we have
selected some that are most crucial for Proclus and for Platonists in
general.
At Theaet. 176A5-8, Socrates makes a casual remark, that, al-
though fairly detached from the main flow of the argument, has
become the locus classicus for Neoplatonic discussions of evil:

T1 It is impossible, Theodorus, that evil things will cease to exist

(out’ apolesthai ta kaka dunaton), for it is necessary (anankê)
that the good always has its (sub)contrary (hupenantion ti tôi
agathôi aei einai); nor have they any place in the divine world,
but by necessity (ex anankês) they revolve about our mortal
nature and this place.

From this passage (extensively used by Plotinus as well) Proclus has

 Introduction 11
garnered the following pieces of doctrine: (1) there will always be evils
in this world; (2) there is a kind of necessity or inevitability32 about
their existence; (3) there are no evils in the divine world; (4) evils
enjoy a relation of subcontrariety – not just of contrariety – with the
good (cf. below: 2.4.5). This passage is immediately followed by the
famous advice to ‘flee this place’ and assimilate oneself to the god
(homoiôsis theôi) as much as possible (176A8-B3).
A little bit further on Socrates speaks of a kind of paradigm of evil,
referring to the different patterns of life that people choose (176E3-5):

T1’ There are two paradigms set up in reality, my friend. One is

divine and supremely happy (tou men theiou eudaimonesta-
tou); the other is ungodly and is the paradigm of the greatest
misery (tou de atheou athliôtatou).

This passage was used in the Neoplatonic debates on whether there

are Forms (Ideas) of evils.
The next key passage comes from the second book of the Republic
(379B-C). Since a god is good, and what is good can only do good things
and no bad things, he is not the cause of (aition, ‘responsible for’) all
things, but merely of the good ones. For the evils he is not responsible
(tôn de kakôn anaition).

T2 Therefore, since a god is good, he is not – as most people claim

– the cause of everything that happens to human beings, but
of only a few things, for good things are fewer than bad ones
in our lives. He alone is responsible (aition) for the good
things, but we must look for some other causes for evils (alla
atta aitia), not a god. (Resp. 379C2-7)

Besides the principle that the god is not responsible for evils, Proclus
gathers from this text that one should not look for one single cause of
evils, but rather for a multiplicity of indeterminate causes, i.e. causes
that do not cause evil for evil’s sake, but rather by accident.
The idea that god is not responsible for evils is confirmed in the
myth of Er (Republic X). The message announced to the (ephemeral)
souls involves that they are responsible for their own choices:

T2’ The responsibility lies with the one who makes the choice; the
god has none (aitia helomenou, theos anaitios, 617E4-5).

Proclus sets great store by the idea that the souls are themselves
responsible for any evil they commit, and condemns the attempts to
put the blame on matter. He wants to save the moral responsibility of
the souls: ‘Where would be their self-motion and ability to choose’
(33,23) if we attribute the cause of their descent to the activity of
12 Introduction
matter? The souls make their own choices, and when they have
chosen badly, they deserve their punishment (33,21-22).33
In the Timaeus, it is emphasised that the demiurge did not want
evil to exist in the universe, but instead that everything be similar to
himself, insofar as this was possible.

T3 He was good, and one who is good can never become jealous
of anything. And so, being free of jealousy, he wanted every-
thing to become as much like himself as was possible (panta
hoti malista eboulêthê genesthai paraplêsia heautôi). (Tim.
29E1-3)

God wanted (boulêtheis) that all things should be good and

nothing bad (agatha men panta, phlauron de mêden), insofar
as this was attainable (kata dunamin). (Tim. 30A2-3)

The god who creates this world wants to make it similar to his own
good nature. Flaws are not part of the divine plan, and the gods can
therefore not be held responsible for them. Indeed, even for the
demiurge it may not be possible completely to preclude shortcomings,
as Timaeus intimates.
Taking these canonical texts as their incontestable starting points,
combining them with some other valuable indications gleaned from
the works of Plato, and applying their own argumentative acumen
and philosophical insights, various Platonists have developed their
views on evil.34 The most extensive and also the most carefully
argumented treatments of the problem are Plotinus’ and Proclus’.
Since Proclus undeniably takes issue with the views expressed by his
famous predecessor, we will first discuss the solution proposed by
Plotinus, and Proclus’ criticism of this doctrine, before turning to the
latter’s own views on the problem.
Perhaps it needs to be pointed out first that it is Proclus’ view, not
Plotinus’,35 that was to become authoritative within the School and is
most representative of the Neoplatonic doctrine of evil.36 On the other
hand, Proclus was certainly not the originator of the views we find in
DMS, nor of the objections to Plotinus. That honour should probably
go to Iamblichus.37

2.2. Plotinus Ennead 1,8[51]

A central text in the Neoplatonic discussions of evil is Ennead 1,8[51],
which Plotinus wrote shortly before he died. Since Porphyry, it has
been known as ‘On what are and whence come evils’. It is a challeng-
ing text, in which Plotinus makes a strong and clear point: matter38
is the origin of all evil; it is evil as such.39
Evils of the body (e.g. disease) and that of the soul (vices) are
 Introduction 13
secondary, so Plotinus argues. Prior to these secondary evils, there
must be a primary evil, which is the cause of the derived evils, and
‘that in which they participate’. How can we know what this primary
and absolute evil is? Since evil is ‘that which is contrary to the good’,
and all being is good, evil will be contrary to being (i.e. the Platonic
Forms) and to the good that is beyond being, i.e. the primary Good or
the One. Evil as such, Plotinus claims, consists in the complete
absence of goodness and form; it will be a kind of non-being. Of course,
it could never be the kind of non-being that is beyond being (the One).
Hence it must be a non-being which is lower than being. Nor is it
absolute non-being, for then it would not exist at all – but evil is a
reality. Neither is it the non-being of motion and rest, which, together
with being, belong to the so-called Greatest Forms40 of the Sophist.
Evil is then that kind of non-being that does exist, but is completely
opposite to the Forms. Therefore it must be identical with matter. For
this is what matter is: absolute indeterminateness, absolute disorder,
absolute darkness, complete absence of goodness.
Plotinus indeed identifies the substrate with privation, thus violat-
ing an Aristotelian thesis. Aristotle had defined the substrate as that
which persists through a process of change, whereas privation is that
which disappears as a result of the change. But according to Plotinus,
the privation does not disappear, but persists. The substrate – matter
– is identical with privation, complete absence of form and light, that
is, and therefore with evil. This is also why Plotinus claims that
matter can never truly receive form. The soul tries to invest matter
with form, but fruitlessly: the privation remains.41
Matter is unlimited in comparison to limit, formless in comparison
to formative principles, in perpetual need, always undefined, no-
where stable, subject to every kind of influence, insatiate, complete
poverty. These characteristics are not incidental, but in a way make
up the nature of matter-evil, insofar as each part of evil will have all
of its characteristics and other things will have any of these charac-
teristics through participation. For these reasons, evil may be
considered a nature of its own, the substance of evil, says Plotinus, if
indeed there can be such a thing as a substance of evil, the first evil,
a per se evil (1,8[51],3). This then becomes the source for evil in other
beings: they can become evil only if they are in contact with matter,
although not everything that is in contact with matter is always evil.
Plotinus’ account of the evil of the soul is rather sophisticated, as
Denis O’Brien has splendidly demonstrated: matter in itself is not a
sufficient cause of evil in the soul. There must also be a certain
weakness of the soul itself. Yet this weakness is in its turn caused by
matter. Matter and weakness are both part causes of evil in the soul,
and together they form a sufficient cause of vice.
However, matter is not like the One, an absolute, self-subsisting
principle. Matter is generated by something else, more specifically by
14 Introduction
a particular soul, which is itself an image of the higher soul and is
said to be ‘sensation’ and ‘the nature which is found in plants’.42 By
descending and generating an image of itself, this lower manifesta-
tion of soul produces the non-being which is matter. Yet the production
of matter is not due to some form of evil that would have pre-existed
in the soul. This constitutes a crucial difference with Gnostic doctrine
on the origin of matter.43 Although there is no evil at all in the soul’s
production of matter, once matter is there (which is to be understood
in an ontological rather than a chronological sense), it is the principle
of all evils. The soul becomes evil only when it descends a second time
and is affected by the presence of matter. It would not have come to
be in matter if matter were not already there. So, ‘matter is evil first
and the first evil’ (1,8[14,50-1]). It is important to notice that Plotinus
is arguing for the subtle position that matter has no independent
existence – it is not ungenerated – but is nonetheless the ultimate
principle of evil.
If evil is entirely due to one source, matter, and the Good cannot be
held responsible for its existence, Plotinus seems to get away with a
paradoxical combination of dualistic and monistic ideas. He wants to
be a monist, yet cannot help sounding as a dualist44 in calling matter
evil itself (autokakon) and the principle (arkhê) of evil.
By this analysis of matter-evil, Plotinus is able to do justice to the
key passage in Plato’s Republic, according to which the god is the
cause of everything, yet is responsible for good things only, not for bad
things (cf. Resp. 2, 379B15-16 = T2’). Indeed, according to Plotinus,
matter is produced by the superior principles. Therefore its existence
does not contradict the axiom that everything is produced by the One
(the Good). Yet, as the lowest product in the hierarchy of beings, it is
also the principle, in the sense of the beginning45 and the cause of all
evils. For as the lowest, it constitutes the degree of least possible
perfection, in other words, of greatest imperfection.46 With matter, the
procession has reached a stage where something is produced that is
of itself incapable of returning to its principle. It cannot even truly
receive the forms that soul tries to impose on it.
It is important to remark that the gradual loss of perfection is itself
not caused by any other principle. Matter is just the end of the
process. It is that which has nothing good in it, and therefore, claims
Plotinus, it is evil.47 Now, if matter is the first evil and that which
causes all other evil, the second part of the famous sentence from the
Republic can be maintained, too: the good is not responsible for evil.
For Plotinus, this is the essential element of his theodicy.
Plotinus also offers an extensive exegesis (chs 6-7) of Theaetetus
176A, another of the key passages (cf. above, T1). Plotinus discusses
the inevitability of the existence of evils, due to the necessity of a
contrary48 of the good. He explains that by ‘this place’ (the region
haunted by evils), Socrates does not mean the earth, but the universe.
 Introduction 15
The sought-after ‘escape’, then, cannot mean that one should fly to the
stars, but rather that one should try to become virtuous and rational
while living on this earth. The words ‘mortal nature’ (about which the
evils ‘revolve’) stand for the vices of the soul, which one should avoid.
Therefore ‘to be among the gods’ means to become intellective to the
extent that this is attainable for humans. The necessity of evils in
particular draws Plotinus’ attention. It is not the case that whenever
one half of a pair of contraries exists, the other too exists by necessity.
So there must be a special reason why for the good this is the case.
Any vice is obviously contrary to some virtue. But human vice is not
contrary to the good, but rather to some good, namely to the good by
which we master matter. Absolute evil is not contrary to some good,
but to being (i.e. substance, ousia) as such or that what is beyond
substance (6,27-8). This, however, raises a serious problem, since
Aristotle49 had explicitly denied the possibility of a contrary of sub-
stance. Faced with this difficulty, Plotinus argues that while it is true
of particular substances that they have no contrary, this has never
been proven for substance as such. So, against Aristotle he maintains
that there is a contrary of the being of the forms, and this is the
non-being that is called matter and that is to be equated with evil as
such.50
The necessity of evils can also be understood in a different way: if
the good is not the only thing that exists, there must be an end to the
procession going out from it. And this level, after which nothing can
come into being, is evil.

2.3. Proclus’ criticism of Plotinus

Plotinus’ discussion of evil unquestionably provides a foil for Proclus’
De malorum subsistentia. In the first lines of the treatise, Proclus
already refers to his predecessors in general, who discussed the
problem of evil in a substantial way. The kind of questions that
Proclus mentions are exactly those of Plotinus: does evil exist or not?
What is the mode of its existence? Is evil always an accident of
something else, or does it also exist on its own? Where does evil come
to be? Where does it originate? Does its existence not contradict that
of Providence? Although Proclus speaks of predecessors in the plural
and nowhere in the treatise mentions any of them by name, there can
be no doubt that he primarily has Plotinus in mind. Of course, Proclus
examines the views of other thinkers, too, gently criticising or correct-
ing them. For instance, he discusses the view of those who think that
evil does not exist at all.51 Or he discusses the theory that makes a
maleficent soul the cause of all evil, a view he elsewhere ascribes to
Plutarch and Atticus.52 Yet on the whole, it is Plotinus who is consid-
ered the main predecessor and also opponent, especially in the chap-
ters on matter (DMS 30-7). When Proclus at the beginning of this
16 Introduction
section presents the view of those who think that matter is evil, he is
almost quoting from Ennead 1, 8 [51], 3, where Plotinus develops the
view that there is an evil that is primary and absolute, and in which
other things participate when they become derivative evils.
The very first words of DMS are clearly reminiscent53 of the title
that Porphyry posthumously assigned to Ennead 1,8 – On what are
and whence come evils – and of the opening phrases of Plotinus’
treatise. Throughout the entire text, Proclus keeps alluding to his
famous predecessor, mostly in order to distance himself from Plotinus’
views and interpretations. Basing his account mainly on the same
Platonic texts, Proclus will nonetheless arrive at conclusions that
differ considerably from those of Plotinus. One example may suffice:
from the myth of the souls in the Phaedrus, Proclus infers that
according to Plato the souls are corrupted before they descend and
come in contact with matter. Hence, matter cannot be the cause of the
evil of which the souls give evidence.54
However, Proclus’ objections to Plotinus are only partly exegetical.
Most arguments are based on his understanding of the ‘Platonic’
metaphysical system.55 It is Proclus’ general interpretation of Plato
that makes him reject Plotinus’ doctrine of evil. For Proclus, it is
excluded that matter would be the principle of evil because there can
be no single principle that causes all evil. Whereas all that is good is
ultimately produced by one cause, with evils it is the opposite: there
can only be a multitude of causes (cf. ch. 47). Moreover, if there were
a single cause for evil, it would have to be evil to a higher degree than
the evils caused, or rather, it would have to be the greatest possible
evil, absolute evil, evil itself. But this would amount to a dualism of
principles, which any decent Platonist should keep clear of, and which
Plotinus definitely wanted to avoid. However, any theory that makes
matter a principle of evil ends up being a dualism of some sort,
irrespective of whether matter is considered an absolutely inde-
pendent principle or as being itself generated by something else.
In ch. 31, Proclus presents the advocates of the thesis that matter
is the ultimate cause of all evil with a dilemma:56 either matter is an
ultimate principle, itself not generated by any other principle, or it
derives its existence from another principle. The first horn of the
dilemma amounts to a coarse, Numenian-styled dualism that was
certainly not shared by Plotinus.57 Proclus dismisses this thesis in a
few lines: there cannot be two independent first principles that eter-
nally oppose one another; if there were two ‘firsts’, another, higher
principle would be needed to give existence and oneness to both of
them. Elsewhere (36,7-12) he adds the objection that if there were an
eternal principle, on equal footing with the Good, the Good would
never enjoy tranquillity: it would always have to fight its opposite.
The second horn of the dilemma corresponds to the Plotinian
position: what if matter, being the source of all evils, is itself gener-
 Introduction 17
ated? Then, says Proclus, the good will inevitably be the cause of evils.
But then it will itself be evil, as the cause is in a greater degree what
its product is. Also, another absurdity follows: since Neoplatonic
causation is not a one-way process, but reversion is an essential
aspect of it, the evils produced by matter will be good, for they will
assimilate themselves to their ultimate cause. A double conclusion
would follow: ‘the good, as the cause of evil, would be evil, and evil, as
being produced from the good, would be good’ (31,20-1). Plotinus had
wanted to hold simultaneously that matter is intrinsically evil and
the principle of evil, on the one hand, and that it is the result of the
emanation, on the other. By claiming that an inferior soul produces
matter innocently, he tried to escape the consequence that the supe-
rior principles, and ultimately the One, are responsible for evil.
Proclus objects that this goes against the Platonist metaphysical
axiom that the cause is like the effect in an eminent way. That which
produces evil must therefore be even more evil than the effect.
Plotinus’ ingenious construction clashes with the laws of causation,
which hold that the effect is implied in the cause and that the product
reverts to its cause. It is indeed questionable whether this position is
tenable if one accepts the standard late Neoplatonic metaphysical
laws. Even if it is granted that the descent of the soul and the
resulting generation of matter is not yet evil itself, from where could
evil get its evil nature if not from its principle?58
Proclus not only refutes the view that matter can be the principle
of evil, he also denies that it could be the principle of evil, as matter
is not even itself evil. The reason is not only that matter is necessary
for the universe (chs 32, 34, 36-7), but more importantly that matter
is produced by the Good, and it is impossible that the Good produces
something evil (ch. 35). That matter is produced by the One can,
according to Proclus, be inferred from the Philebus.59 Proclus more
particularly refers to a casual remark made by Socrates (23C9-10) ‘we
agreed earlier that the god (ton theon) had revealed a division of what
is into the unlimited and the limit’. The Neoplatonists commonly
interpreted ‘to reveal’ (deixai) as meaning ‘to produce’. Moreover
Proclus holds the view, which he develops more fully elsewhere,60 that
matter is simply the lowest manifestation of unlimitedness. Hence it
is produced by the Good, and hence it is not evil.61
One could object that, as the lowest stage in the procession, matter
is not good. But granting this62 is not yet to admit that matter is evil.
Matter cannot be evil, for it has been produced by the good and for the
sake of the good. In a loose way of talking, matter can be called both
good (as contributing to the whole) and bad (as deficient with respect
to the higher levels), but sensu stricto it is neither. Its nature is
intermediary, in that matter is necessary (DMS 36; 37,1-6). Matter
indeed contributes to the generation of the world, and in this sense
may even be called good. For matter desires the good, as it is eager to
18 Introduction
receive form (Plotinus had claimed that matter is not even capable of
truly receiving the forms impressed on it).
Plotinus argued that evil is contrary to all the forms and hence to
the Good. In order to do so, he had to claim that matter-evil is contrary
to the forms as such, thus violating the Aristotelian principle that
there is no contrary of substance. Plotinus claimed that this may hold
for particular substances, but not for substance as such. If the rule
does not apply to substance in general, there may be a contrary of the
supreme, unqualified Good after all. Proclus wants to distinguish
between these two: if one wants to maintain that the absolute evil
exists, one should make the case that it is contrary to the good, not
just to being. Moreover, whereas a contrary of a form exists, it is
impossible for something to be entirely contrary to all the forms – to
the good of the forms – or to the Good. If evil is that which is contrary
to the good that exists in other things, and not to the good on its own,
evil, like its contraries, can only exist in other things, and not on its
own. Hence evil cannot be matter, for matter exists on its own: ‘matter
is a substrate, and not in a substrate’ as Proclus had said earlier, when
he paraphrased the view of his opponents. They indeed concluded
that if matter is evil, it can only be ‘essential evil’ (kat’ ousian kakon)
and not evil as an accident (DMS 30,2-8). Therefore, if Proclus can
prove that evil does not exist on its own, he has refuted the identifi-
cation of matter and evil.
Proclus’ most potent argument is based on the Aristotelian defini-
tion of contrariety: contraries belong to the same genus. So if the first
good had a contrary, both would belong to the same genus. But there
can be no genus prior to the Good, since the Good is the very first
principle. This is clearly directed against Plotinus. The latter had
taken Theaet. 176A to imply that evils must necessarily exist, since
there has to be something contrary to the good (1,8[51],6,16-17). Next
Plotinus contested the absolute validity of the Aristotelian premise
that there is no contrary of substance (1,8[51],6,36-48): while admit-
ting that there are no contraries of particular substances, Plotinus
claimed that substance as such does have a contrary, i.e. non-sub-
stance, matter-evil. The contrary of substance is non-substance and
the contrary of the nature of the Good is the nature and principle of
evil: ‘for they both are principles, the one of good things, and the other
of evils. And all the things which are included in one nature are
contrary to those in the other; so that also the wholes are contrary and
even more so than the other things [i.e. particular goods or evils].’63
For ordinary contraries still have something in common, as they
belong in the same genus or species. They are, as it were, not absolute
contraries. Then how could one not call contraries things that are
furthest removed from each other and that have absolutely nothing
in common? All the characteristics, or rather pseudo-characteristics,
of evil are completely contrary to what is contained in the divine
 Introduction 19
nature, for even its being is false. In order to uphold the claim that
matter-evil as non-substance is the contrary of substance, which is
good, Plotinus had to truncate Aristotle’s definition64 of contraries as
‘things which stand furthest apart in the same genus’ to ‘things which
stand furthest apart’. An extreme contrariety would imply, so he
claimed, that the contraries have nothing at all in common, not even
a genus (1,8[51],6,54-9).
This construction is completely rejected by Proclus: he reaffirms
the Aristotelian axiom that contraries are always in the same genus.
In ch. 45, he also strongly renounces the idea that a substance could
have a contrary: ‘And in general all evil is outside the substance and
is not substance. For nothing is contrary to substance, but good is
contrary to evil’ (DMS 45,15-17).
Proclus firmly re-establishes Peripatetic orthodoxy. This is also the
case when he rejects the Plotinian equation of matter with privation.
Aristotle, in his discussion of change (Phys. 1.9, 192a13-25), had
explained that privation is the contrary of form and in its own nature
is nothing. It differs from the substrate, which desires form and only
accidentally is not, and most importantly, persists through the
change. Privation, as being the complete absence of form, is to be
considered ‘an evil agent’ (kakopoios). Privation is the contrary of
what is divine, good, and desirable, whereas matter desires these very
same things and yearns for it. Plotinus, on the contrary, posited that
matter is complete privation, total absence of form, and hence evil.65
The conflation between matter and privation allowed Plotinus to
claim that privation, which Aristotle said is an evil agent, does not
disappear as a result of any process of change. This is also why
Plotinus said that matter can never truly receive form:66 matter
remains in a state of absolute privation.
Proclus deals with privation in a separate chapter (DMS 38) after
his discussion of matter. In doing so, he implicitly upholds the Aristo-
telian distinction between privation and matter.67 On the other hand,
he does not concede (to Aristotle) that privation is evil. Privation of a
form could never be (the primary) evil, but is merely a privation of
being, for the good transcends being. If evil is to be a privation, it
should not just be a privation of a form, but a privation of the good.
As we will see later, Proclus insists on making this distinction. At any
rate, mere ‘Aristotelian’ privation cannot be kakopoios.
Matter is then not contrary to the good of the forms and a fortiori
not to the supreme Good. In fact, nothing is contrary to the Good.
Absolute evil would be, if it existed. But evil does not exist on its own;
matter does.
20 Introduction

2.4. Proclus’ own views

2.4.1. Does evil exist or not? With this ‘ontological question’ Proclus
opens the discussion.68 He examines two opposite views that are
current among his predecessors.
Some have tried to eliminate evil from the universe and have
reduced the apparent evils in it to an inferior good. Although this
position has had a long tradition – especially the Stoic69 habit to
explain away all physical evils in a desperate attempt to develop a
consistent theodicy comes to mind – it is evident that Proclus is here
engaged in a discussion within the Neoplatonic school. Proclus ex-
plains that evil cannot be a lesser good, because when a lesser good
gets stronger, it comes closer to its principle, whereas evil that
increases is less and less good. Therefore evil has to be regarded as
being somehow contrary70 to the good: in the case of evils there is an
opposition to the good, and not just a lessening of it. The other
contending party insists on the reality of vice, as it can be witnessed
in psychology and politics. The existence of evil cannot be denied, so
they claim. In typical fashion, Proclus will aim at a middle position
between these two extremes.
His own answer to the ontological question is complex: absolute
evil does not exist. It would be even below absolute non-being, and the
latter does not exist at all – for logically absolute non-being is to be
considered the contrary of being, whereas absolute evil is the logical
contrary of the good that is beyond being. So neither absolute non-
being, nor absolute evil exist. But relative evils do exist, i.e. evils that
are contrary to a particular good. Hence it is better to speak about
evils in the plural, since every evil is opposed to a different good. Evils
are real, but there is nothing that is absolutely and intrinsically evil,
let alone an evil principle.
Evils can only exist in natures that are partial, while universal beings
remain free of corruption.71 For if the latter admitted of corruption, their
evil would take on a universal aspect as being opposed to some universal
good – but that is impossible. Universal beings participate unchangingly
and perfectly in the higher orders, always and immutably preserving the
goodness that flows from the latter. The transcendent Forms produce the
lower orders ‘by overflowing’, without losing anything of their intrinsic
character. They produce because of their goodness, for it is better to
produce than not to produce. However, due to the abundance of their
power, they do not only bring forth the beings that eternally participate
in them, but also beings whose participation is only intermittent and
that cannot preserve uncontaminated and unchanged the power that
comes from their source (ch. 7). To sum up, Proclus distinguishes three
levels: the transcendent Forms, the eternal participants, and finally the
intermittent participants, the only ones to be susceptible to corrup-
tion.72 Intermittent participants are always partial beings.
 Introduction 21
A possible objection needs to be dealt with: one could suppose that
the procession could have stopped at the level of the eternal partici-
pants. Then there would have been no evil. Proclus replies that the
superior orders, including the eternal participants (and even the
intermittent participants), have to produce, because of their goodness.
Therefore the very production of lower beings in itself does not imply
evil in any way. To doubt this would be to blame the very principle of
procession (the hierarchy of being). Also it is inconceivable that the
eternal participants would be the last of beings, for then they would
be unproductive. But this would be at variance with their goodness.
As Plato says in the Timaeus (41B), the universe would not be
complete if it did not also include the lower beings. A perfect universe
requires gradations of perfection.73
This explains the necessity of evils, implied by Theaet. 176A (T1).
Because of the existence of the partial and intermittent participants,
occurrences of various evils will be inevitable. This, however, is
different from saying that these evils are caused by the higher prin-
ciples. The latter bring forth beings that are to some extent deprived
of the good. However, privation of the good is not the same as
privation of a form. Whereas the latter is mere absence, privation of
the good is only possible when the good is not completely absent.
What is more, the good gives strength to its own contrary. It is only
by mixing with the good that the contrary of the good has the power
to fight the good (ch. 7).
Evils occur only in particular beings and are relative. This means
that they come about in relation to a particular good. They are
relative in another sense, too: evil is not absolute because it could not
exist by itself. Everything that is evil needs the power of the good and
cannot exist on its own. It is at all times mixed with the good.

2.4.2. Before Proclus even tackles the question where evils exist, he
has already eliminated several possibilities: it cannot exist on its own
and cannot be a universal being (this already rules out prime matter
as a candidate), but neither can it be a particular being that enjoys an
unchanging participation in the higher realms. Therefore evil can
only occur in particular beings that sometimes fail to participate in
the good, and only insofar as they fail to do so (beings that always and
completely lack a participation in the good could not even exist).
These intermittent participants are beings that have their existence
in time and are able to change the form of their being.
Proclus devotes a large part of his treatise to the question of where
evils ‘make their entry into being’. One by one, he examines the stages
of the ontological hierarchy, starting from the gods and moving down-
wards. Evil is not to be found in the gods, nor in the three ‘superior
kinds’ – angels, demons, and heroes – nor in the divine souls, nor in
universal bodies, not even in matter or in privation. The only beings
22 Introduction
susceptible to evil are the lower particular souls (both ordinary
human souls and the so-called images of souls, that is irrational souls)
and particular material bodies. Particular souls are capable of both
‘ascending’ and ‘descending’, in other words, of ‘not acting in accord-
ance with their own nature’, and therefore of ‘choosing what is worse’.
However, this should not be called their power, but rather their
weakness and lack of power. Images of souls, i.e. irrational souls such
as they are found in animals, are equally vulnerable, because they
may change to a state that is either better or worse than their own
nature. Particular bodies, too, or more precisely their nature (nature
being the governing principle of body), can become perverted. This
happens either when the rational principles they receive from univer-
sal nature are too weak and become subdued by the contraries that
surround them, or when the internal order of their nature is dissolved
(because individual bodies are particular beings, several equally
partial reason-principles coexist in them and may conflict). Contrary
to the particular souls, that can be affected in their powers and
activities only, particular bodies can be corrupted even in their es-
sence. At the beginning of ch. 55, Proclus recapitulates his survey of
the ontological loci of evil: ‘We have said earlier already that one kind
of evil is in the souls, another in bodies, and that evil in souls is
twofold, one residing in the irrational type of life, the other in reason.
Let us repeat once again: there are three things in which evil exists,
namely, the particular soul, the image of the soul, and the body of
individual beings’ (55,1-4). Here Proclus explains that in the three
cases evil consists in a falling short of the principle that is proxi-
mately better: intellect in the case of the soul, reason in that of the
irrational souls, and nature in the case of body.
In all these types, evil is never due to a deficiency of the superior
principles that bring forth and regulate the existence of these partial
beings: evil is always due to the weakness of the recipients. It is
because these beings are partial and therefore weak that they are
incapable of fully receiving the goodness that flows down towards
them. Never is there anything wrong with the causing principles
themselves. The recipients alone should be blamed.
Basically then there are two levels at which evils occur: that of
particular (human and animal) souls, and that of particular material
bodies. It is important to notice that Proclus never attempts to
connect those two levels causally: neither is matter responsible for the
vices of the souls, nor do the souls produce the evil that inheres in
material bodies. The souls are not susceptible to evil because of their
contact with the body or with matter, as Plotinus and many other
Platonists seem to suggest. No, it is of their own weakness that souls
descend to the body and the material world. And it is wrong, claims
Proclus, to explain the soul’s weakness through the contact with
matter, as Plotinus did. The soul itself is responsible for descending
 Introduction 23
and ascending, and makes its own choices.74 Also the corporeal world
with its inherent corruptibility and decay is not explained as the
result of a fall of the souls or of original sins, as in some Gnostic or
Christian Platonists.75

2.4.3. This brings us to the question of the causes of evil.76 From ch.
40 onwards, Proclus looks at the problem of evil from the perspective
of causation: ‘We should look at the causes for evil and ask ourselves
whether there is one and the same cause for all evils or not. For some
say there is, but others deny this’ (40,2-3). Three major types of
explanation have been offered in the philosophical tradition. First,
there are those who maintain that there is a source or fount from
which all evils spring, just like there is a source of all good things.
Second, some philosophers (like Amelius, the disciple of Plotinus) look
for a paradigm of evil on the level below the One, that of the intelligi-
ble: just like there is a Form of the just, there would be a Form of the
unjust. A third group of philosophers posits a maleficent soul as the
principle of evil.77 These then are the three main options, for ‘if one
should posit a unique cause of evils, then it is cogent to think that this
cause is either divine, or intellectual, or psychical’ (40,18-19). Indeed,
for a Neoplatonist only Gods, Intellects and Souls can be ranked as
proper causes. Proclus argues that none of these can be the cause of
evil. There can be no supreme principle of evil, coeval with and
opposing the good, for to think this would imply adopting a contradic-
tory and self-refuting kind of metaphysical dualism. Neither can
there be some intelligible paradigm of evil, for how could there be
imperfection among the Forms? Equally unacceptable is the hypothe-
sis that a maleficent soul is the ultimate principle of evils, for every
soul is by nature good, deriving its essence, as it does, from the higher
ontological levels, which are all good.
Since Proclus had already ruled out the view that matter or priva-
tion would be the principle of evil, all possibilities seem to be
exhausted: ‘if these are not the causes of evils, what then will we
ourselves claim to be the cause of their coming to be?’ (47,1-2). But
perhaps one should give up looking for one single cause of evil. Since
it has already been established that it is better to speak of evils in the
plural, one should also forsake looking for unity among their causes:78
‘By no means should we posit one cause that is a unique, per se cause
of evils. For if there is one cause of good things, there are many causes
of evils, and not one single cause’ (47,2-4). Proclus rejects the reduc-
tion of plurality to unity in the case of evil.79 Unlike the many good
things, whose goodness can be traced back to a supreme good, evils
constitute an indeterminable multitude and therefore cannot be at-
tributed to a single principle and cause. In this aspect, evils cannot
resemble their opposite, for good things are characterised by unity
and concord, evil things by discord and dissimilarity. Evil only exists
24 Introduction
as a shortcoming, as parasitic upon some kind of being or activity. It
is mixed with some form of good, that is. Therefore one will look in
vain if one tries to find a single cause that is the per se cause of all
forms of evil. Proclus gently points out that this can be learned from
Plato himself, who in the Republic (379C6-7 = T2’) has said that ‘we
must look for some other factors – and not God – as the causes of evil’
(alla atta dei zêtein ta aitia). Commenting upon this passage, Proclus
explains that Plato is here using the plural aitia and that he has
qualified it by adding the indeterminate pronoun atta.80
All attempts to reduce evil to one cause or to some source ulti-
mately amount to hypostasising evil. However, evil is not a principal
hupostasis existing on its own and for its own sake, but a par-huposta-
sis, that is, it can only exist as a side-effect of things existing and
happening in the true hypostases. What the later Neoplatonists81
mean when they use the term parupostasis can only be understood
properly in the context of a causal analysis. This is perfectly obvious
if one keeps in mind that the noun hupostasis itself has always
preserved something of the verbal meaning of huphistêmi / huphis-
tamai, ‘to bring forth’, ‘to produce’.
The notion of a parupostasis is tied to the recognition that a proper
causal analysis of evils qua evils – of failures, misses, shortcomings –
is impossible. In chs 48-9 Proclus looks at the four Aristotelian modes
of causality, only to conclude that they fail to explain evil. First, evil
is not the result of an efficient cause, for every cause on its own
account (per se) only produces what is good, that is, the intended effect
which can be characterised as the good appropriate to the cause (for
each cause produces what is similar to it, fire heat, snow cold).
Therefore, the shortcomings in the effect are not due to the activity
and the powers of the cause as such, but to its lack of power and
weakness and deficiency. It is clear that the verb ‘to produce’ here has
an almost normative sense: it is not just to produce an effect, but to
produce something that is desirable because it is appropriate to the
agent. Its counterpart is destruction: evil is whatever destroys,
harms, hurts, etc. To call particular souls efficient causes of evil is
therefore only partly justified. Properly speaking, they are not ‘real’
efficient causes, since they do not produce evil out of power, but out of
weakness.
It would be equally impossible to envisage a true paradigmatic
cause of evil. For the Forms bestow determination and perfection on
all beings, and are certainly not a cause of imperfection. Socrates’ talk
at Theaetetus 176E (T1’) of ‘a godless paradigm of the deepest unhap-
piness’ only seemingly points to a Form of evil. It cannot be denied
that some souls imitate vice, passion and foulness they see, instead
of assimilating themselves to the ideal paradigms of perfection. How-
ever, Proclus argues that these base models could only be called
 Introduction 25
paradigms in a metaphorical sense, and fall short of the paradigmatic
nature of the Forms.
Proclus does not even mention the possibility of a material cause
for evils, because, as he has explained earlier, matter as such is not
evil and can therefore never be a cause of evil.
So the only possibility left would be that there is some final cause
for evil. However, this too is inconceivable. Someone might object that
there is a sense in which there is a final cause for evil. For is not the
Good the final cause for everything that exists? Since (relative) evils
do exist, one could argue that the Good is their final cause. Proclus
replies to this objection by saying that it is better to avoid talking
about the good as the cause of evil. The good is not the motivating
cause for a failure qua failure. For no one can maintain that it is for
the sake of the good that we fail or transgress. The Good may be the
final cause of all things, including evils, qua existing, but not of evils
qua evils.
Hence, none of the modes of causality gives us a cause of evil, at
least if we take ‘cause’ in its proper sense as a principal factor
(proêgoumenê) from which follows by necessity a certain effect in
accordance with the nature of the cause:

And perhaps it will be better to make neither the efficient cause,

nor the natural paradigm, nor the per se final cause the principal
cause of evils. For the form of evils, their nature, is a kind of
defect, an indeterminateness and a privation; their hupostasis,
is, as it is usually said, more like a kind of parupostasis. (DMS
49,7-11)

The crucial notion of parupostasis is explained in ch. 50, the key

chapter of the entire treatise. It is remarkable that just when Proclus
is introducing his specific treatment of parupostasis, he again sug-
gests that evils may well be uncaused in a way:

We must next consider what the mode of evil is and how it

comes into existence from the above-mentioned causes and
non-causes. Here we must bring in the aforementioned par-
upostasis. (50,1-3)

In order to exist in a proper sense (kuriôs), an effect must result from

a cause which proceeds according to its nature towards a goal that is
intended. In such a case, there is an essential or per se relation
between the cause and its effect. Whenever an effect is produced that
was not intended or is not related by nature or per se to the agent, it
is said to exist besides (para) the intended effect, parasitically upon
it, as it were.
26 Introduction
For there is no other way of existing for that which neither is
produced, in any way whatsoever, from a principal cause, nor
has a relation to a definite goal and a final cause, nor has
received in its own right an entry into being, since anything
whatever that exists properly (kuriôs) must come from a cause
in accordance with nature – indeed, without a cause it is impos-
sible for anything to come about – and must relate the order of
its coming about to some goal. (50,3-9)

Just as a failure qua failure is never intended by an agent, evil qua

evil is never caused by a cause, nor in view of a (final) cause. It only
exists parasitically upon an intended action, as it is never produced
by an agent acting per se and directly intending this very result (when
we say that someone intentionally commits an evil deed, this person’s
action can be explained as aimed at what seemed good to him or
her82). Evils are not the outcome of goal-directed processes, but hap-
pen per accidens, as incidental by-products which fall outside the
intention of the agents. Therefore, its seems that we must rank evils,
failures and shortcomings of all kind among the accidental beings.

In which class of things should we, then, place evil? Perhaps it

belongs to the beings that have their being accidentally and
because of something else, and not from a principle of their own?
(50,9-11)

Therefore, Proclus continues, it is better to call its mode of existence

a parupostasis, rather than a hupostasis, a term that belongs to those
beings ‘that proceed from causes towards a goal’. Parupostasis or
‘parasitic existence’, on the contrary, is the mode of existence of
‘beings that neither appear through causes in accordance with nature
nor result in a definite end’. The basis of Proclus’ argument is cer-
tainly Aristotle’s distinction between a causality per se and a causality
per accidens.83 The accidental is not necessary, but indeterminate
(aoriston); and of such a thing the causes are unordered (atakta) and
indefinite (apeira).84 The examples of the man discovering a treasure
when digging a grave, or meeting a debtor when going to the agora
are fairly well-known. Evil effects then seem to belong to the class of
beings per accidens without principal antecedent (proêgoumenai)
causes. In fact, evil is due to the non-attainment by an agent of its
appropriate goal.

Therefore it is appropriate to call such generation a parasitic

existence (parupostasis), in that it is without end85 and unin-
tended (askopon), uncaused in a way (anaition pôs) and
indefinite (aoriston). (50,29-31)
 Introduction 27
It is remarkable that Proclus flirts with the idea that evils are
somehow uncaused. The notion of an uncaused motion also figures in
a text that is part of the Mantissa (ps.-Alexander).86 Referring to
Aristotle’s analysis of accidental causation, the author of what is
known as ch. 24 of the Mantissa argues that chance events cannot be
explained under the heading of any of the four Aristotelian types of
causation. A chance factor is not really a cause: ‘So what followed on
this cause came about without a cause (anaitiôs), for it did not do so
on account of a proper cause.’87 There is somehow non-being in things
that are contingent and especially those that come about as a result
of chance, and this non-being in a sense stems from the causes
(insofar as these causes are not really their causes). The notion of an
‘uncaused motion’ is highly problematic, as Robert Sharples has
convincingly argued.88 To regard an event as ‘uncaused’ does not imply
that it is completely divorced from preceding causes. There would be
no discovery of a treasure without the preceding digging. However,
the event is uncaused because it cannot be explained as the outcome
of a particular process. Here one may refer to Richard Sorabji’s
interpretation of Arist. Metaph. 6.3. He argues that coincidences are
indeed uncaused, if we understand ‘cause’ in terms of the ability to
give an explanation.89 Qua coincidences, such events are indeed un-
caused. It is not improbable that Proclus had knowledge of Peripatetic
analyses such as we find them in the Mantissa. A passage in Syrianus’
Metaphysics Commentary90 even provides evidence for a link between
an Aristotelian analysis of accidental causation and chance and Neo-
platonic treatments of the same subject.
That Proclus in his explanation of the occurences of evils seems to
accept some sort of ‘uncaused events’ is astonishing and even perplex-
ing. For elsewhere91 Proclus fully endorses the famous axiom
formulated by Plato at the beginning of the cosmology of the Timaeus:
‘Whatever is produced must be produced by a cause; for it is impossi-
ble for something to be produced without a cause’ (Tim. 28A4-6). Why
then does Proclus in his account of evil seem to admit some form of
uncaused in the universe? The reason is, of course, that he wants to
eliminate at all cost any reduction of evil to the divine first cause. In
fact, any explanation of evil in causal terms would integrate evil into
the metaphysical structure of the universe and would inevitably lead
us to the first cause as the ultimate explanation of evil. Whatever
causes evil must itself be produced by principles in the hierarchy of
the good, so that the good could ultimately be held responsible after
all. But this is of course inadmissible (cf. T2). The only possibility to
exculpate god (to make him really anaitios) is to understand evil itself
as an uncaused event that does not have a proper or principal
existence (proêgoumenê hupostasis), but is rather something that just
happens without an antecedent cause (not insofar as it happens or
exists, that is, but insofar as it is evil).92
28 Introduction
Proclus wants to keep the god(s) free from all blame (from all
causal responsibility for evils, that is) and at the same time allow for
a domain in reality where real contingency is given. This is the world
in which we live, populated by particular beings that can only partici-
pate intermittently in the higher orders.

The procession beginning from on high ceases when it has got as

far as those things which can both change and make to subsist
along with themselves some sort of aberration (paruphistanein
tina paratropên93). (in Alc. 117,22-5, p. 97 Segonds)

The consequence of this is that failure, perversion and disorder

become a real and inescapable possibility. Evil is possible because not
all levels of reality can accept the gifts of the superior orders in the
same way.94

For if there is something that, at times, has the capacity of

participating in the good but, at other times, is deprived of this
participation, then there will necessarily be a privation of par-
ticipation of the good. (7,25-7)

2.4.4. The uncausedness of evils qua evils is also the bottom line of
the theodicy that Proclus presents in the final chapters of the DMS
(chs 58-61): only insofar as they are good are evils produced by the
god(s). Qua evils, they remain ‘uncaused somehow’. This also sheds
new light on Proclus’ view that evils can only exist because they are
mixed with the good. Had it been possible that pure and unmixed
evils existed, then there would have been a problem for Providence.
But now that they turn out to be invariably mixed with some good, it
is obvious that Providence and our trust in it need not be endangered:
Providence only produces the good in them.95 ‘After all, saying that
god is the cause of all things is not the same as saying that he is the
only cause of things’ (58,16-17; cf. T2 & T2’). Evils qua evils are not
the result of his productive activity. They rather follow from the
activities of particular bodies and souls. These are the ‘other causes,
which, as we have said, are able to be productive not on account of
power, but on account of weakness’ (61,9-10). But a cause bringing
about an effect through weakness, not through power – that is, not
intending the actual result –, is not really a true cause of that effect.96
And therefore evils remain in a way uncaused, as Proclus said earlier.
At any rate, the gods remain free from all blame. In the same way as
they have a unitary knowledge of plurality, and an undivided knowl-
edge of divisibles, their knowledge of evils is good (61,17-24).97 And
since for the gods knowing and producing coincide, they produce evils
in a good way; in other words, they cause them qua good, not qua evil.
This interpretation resolves the conflict between belief in divine
 Introduction 29
Providence and the experience of evil that has haunted Greek philo-
sophy for ages.98

How can evil belong to being if there is Providence? (De dec. dub.
5,26)

If there is evil, how will it not stand in the way of that which is
providential towards the good? On the other hand, if Providence
fills the universe, how can there be evil in beings? Some thinkers
indeed yield to one of the two lines of reasoning: either they
admit that not everything comes from Providence, and [acknow-
ledge there is evil, or they] deny the existence of evil, and
maintain that everything comes from Providence and the good.
(DMS 58,2-6)

Traditionally Platonists attributed the first view to Epicurus, who

was known for his rejection of Providence99 and to Aristotle, who was
believed to have limited the activity of Providence to the supralunary
realm, whereas the Stoics were generally considered to have played
the reality of evil (and that of contingency) down100 in favour of the
omnipresence of divine Providence. The Stoics actually claimed that
many of the so-called evils are in fact not evil when seen from a
universal perspective. Indeed, there seemed to be no way around
either detracting from Providence or minimising evil. But Proclus –
no doubt following a specific Neoplatonic tradition: the Iamblichus-
Syrianus lineage – has managed to build himself a carefully balanced
middle position, so that at the end of his treatise he can proudly say:

If I am right in stating this, all things will be from Providence

and evil has its own place among beings. (61,16-17)

However, Proclus in his all-encompassing theodicy has also incorpo-

rated the originally Stoic idea that seeming evils no longer appear evil
when seen from a universal perspective. In the case of both particular
souls and particular bodies, many if not all of their sufferings and
difficulties – even the destruction of bodies – are good when seen ‘from
above’. The evils of souls and bodies are never unqualifiedly evil: they
are at the same time good. What is more, they are not just good from
a universal perspective – the destruction of a body, e.g., will give rise
to the birth of a another body out of the components of the first – often
they are even good for these particular beings themselves. A soul that
suffers, for instance, may actually be undergoing a punishment that
it deserves, and thereby become better. Indeed, a soul would not
benefit from unmerited rewards (chs 58-60).

2.4.5. It remains to be explained in what sense evil is a contrary and

30 Introduction
a privation.101 First of all, it is clear that evil has to be understood as
a privation, rather than as a positive essence in its own right. How-
ever, a privation of form (i.e. ‘Aristotelian’ privation) is merely an
absence, and a complete privation would lead a being to non-exist-
ence, which would entail the end of all evils for this being. It is not
this kind of privation that Proclus has in mind. Also evil cannot be
equated with privation as such or absolute privation, as Plotinus
believed. As we have already explained, absolute privation, absence
of every positive qualification, that is, does not exist according to
Proclus. But at any rate, privation conceived as the absence of form
and being could never give us evil. For evils are not just contrary to
being, but contrary to the good102 (or rather contrary to a good, as only
relative evils exist).
An important distinction must be made between a privation of a
form and a privation of a good. Whereas a privation of a form is a mere
absence and in no way evil, the so-called privation of the good actively
opposes the good and is therefore evil. The difference between an
ordinary privation and a privation of a good can be explained by the
example of not-seeing versus blindness. The absence of sight in the
case of a stone, e.g., is not an evil, for to be deprived of a form or
quality is not in itself evil. But the absence of sight where there
should have been sight – in a human being, e.g. – is an evil and is no
longer called not-seeing, but blindness. Blindness is an evil when it is
a defect of a particular power that has the capacity to see, and
‘coexists’ with that power.
Privations of forms, says Proclus, are always total privations:
nothing of the positive disposition remains and, by consequence, there
is nothing left to oppose the corresponding form or disposition. For a
pure lack cannot have any force to oppose the disposition of which it
is the privation.103 It is different with privations of the good. A disease
is more than an absence of order and functioning. It has the power to
attack and undermine a given order in the body.104 This kind of
‘privation’ derives its power from the good, and should therefore be
called not a contrary, but a subcontrary of the good.105
Proclus derives the notion of the subcontrary from Theaetetus 176A
(T1).106 Subcontrariety, as Proclus defines it in chs 52-4, is a special
form of contrariety whereby a particular evil derives its being and
power from the good it is opposed to. It is a privation that somehow
coexists with the good disposition of which it is the negation and
which through this coexistence shares in that disposition’s form and
power. Evil, as has been explained, is never a complete privation:
somehow it always coexists with the good disposition or form or
capacity, of which it is the privation. Therefore, evil not only weakens
this disposition by its presence, but it also derives its power and even
its specific form107 from it.
The notion of the subcontrary allows Proclus to maintain a form of
 Introduction 31
contrariety between particular, i.e. relative, evils and the good, with-
out attributing any independent being to them. Evil can never exist
on its own, in its own right – not insofar as it is evil. It has a kind
of existence only insofar as it is parasitic on true being and on the
good. Because evils always parasitise upon good dispositions, they
can usurp the power of those dispositions and use it against the
good.108
Evil is thus a privation ‘deriving its power from the nature <of
which it is the privation> through its interwovenness with it, and only
thus can it establish itself as something contrary to the good’ (7,30-1).
That is why it can fight the disposition upon which it is parasitic,
something that is not possible for other privations, which ‘do not exist
at all’, as Aristotle says (in other words: the disposition of which they
are the privations has disappeared completely).

3. Structural analysis
A. Overview of chapters
Introduction (ch. 1)

Does evil exist? (chs 2-10)

First point of view: evil does not exist (chs 2-3)
The opposite point of view: evil exists (chs 4-7)
Proclus’ own view (chs 8-10)

Where does evil exist? (chs 11-39)

Is there evil in the gods? (chs 11-13)
Is there evil in the three superior kinds (angels, demons, and
heroes)? (chs 14-19)
Is there evil in the souls? (chs 20-6)
Transition (ch 20)
The immaculate souls (chs 21-2)
The fallen human souls (chs 23-4)
The irrational souls (chs 25-6)
Is there evil in nature? (chs 27-9)
Is matter evil? (chs 30-7)
The view of the opponents (Plotinus) (ch. 30)
Counter-arguments (chs 31-5)
Proclus’ own view (chs 36-7)
Is privation evil? (ch. 38)
Corollary: are evils of bodies greater than evils of souls? (ch. 39)

The causes of evil (chs 40-9)

One or many causes of evil? (ch. 40)
(1) There is no divine principle of evil (chs 41-2)
32 Introduction
(2) There is no intelligible form of evil (chs 43-4)
(3) The maleficent soul is not the source of evil (chs 45-6)
Proclus’ own view concerning the causes of evil (chs 47-9)

The mode of existence and the nature of evil (chs 50-4)

The mode of existence of evil (ch. 50)
The nature and properties of evil (ch. 51)
How can what is contrary to the good act against it? (chs 52-4)

Different types of evils (chs 55-7)

Providence and evil (chs 58-61)

B. Summary of chapters
Introduction

Chapter 1
We shall examine in this treatise the nature and the origin of evil, and
also where it occurs, what are its causes, what is its mode of existence
and what is its relation to providence. Those questions have been
often discussed by our predecessors. But it might be good, now that
we have some free time, to give a critical survey of their views,
starting however with Plato. For whoever wants to understand the
nature of evil, can only do so by understanding Plato’s teachings.

1. Does evil exist? (chs 2-10)

First point of view: evil does not exist

Chapter 2
If the Good is the cause of everything and the Good only causes good
things, evil cannot exist. Everything participating in being also par-
ticipates in the One-Good. The Good is beyond being and every being
strives towards the good. But what is contrary to the good, does not
strive for the good. If therefore evil is completely contrary to the Good,
evil is not one of the beings. So what is said in the Theaetetus (176A)
is wrong, that evil exists because there must be something contrary
to the good.

Chapter 3
If the Good is beyond being, and absolute non-being is the contrary of
being, and evil that of the good, evil must be beneath absolute
non-being. People indeed prefer non-being (death) over evil (a miser-
able life). If the demiurge wants everything to be good, how could
there be evil?
 Introduction 33
The opposite point of view: evil exists

Chapter 4
Vices show the reality of evil. For in society, and, prior to that, in our
own souls, we experience vice and vices to oppose virtue and the
virtues. Vices are not just lesser goods, but truly contrary to the good.

Chapter 5
As it is shown in the Republic, evil is that which corrupts. Now,
without corruption there would be no generation, and without genera-
tion the world would be incomplete. For in the Timaeus, it is said that
the mortal kinds are necessary to complete the universe. There are
different kinds of corruption: that of bodies, and that of souls.

Chapter 6
The relation of evil to good is not that of an increasing of deficiency,
but is a relation of true contrariety. For everything that can be either
more or less comes closer to its principle by leaning towards the
‘more’. Injustice by increasing does not come closer to the good. Hence
injustice is not a lesser good, but a contrary of the good.
In Plato’s Theaetetus (176A), Socrates affirms the existence and
even the necessity of evil, but this also means that it exists because
of the good.

Chapter 7
Why is evil necessary? Because there should not only exist beings that
participate unchangingly in the Forms, but also intermittent partici-
pants. The latter cannot directly participate in the Forms, but only
through the intermediary of the eternal participants. The eternal par-
ticipants could not exist if not also the intermittent participants existed,
for otherwise they would themselves be the lowest of beings and they
would be infertile. The intermittent participants, then, will have a lesser
participation in the good: there will be a privation of the good.
However, compared to other privations, that are mere absences,
privation of the good is a special case, as it cannot exist when the good
is completely absent. It is, on the contrary, the good which lends power
to its own privation, as can be seen in the evils of the soul and in those
of the body.

Proclus’ own view

Chapter 8
Evil is twofold: pure evil, and evil mixed with the good. Likewise, the
good is twofold (the absolute good, and good mixed with non-good),
and so is being (being itself, and being mixed with non-being), and
also non-being (absolute non-being, and non-being mixed with being).
34 Introduction
Chapter 9
Absolute non-being does not exist at all, while relative non-being
does. A fortiori does absolute evil not exist, since it is even beyond
absolute non-being just as the good is beyond being. But evil that is
mixed with the good exists. It is contrary to a particular good, but not
to the good in general, as it owes its existence to the good.

Chapter 10
Plato is right when he says, in the Timaeus, that according to the will
of the demiurge everything is good and nothing bad. But what is said
in the Theaetetus too is correct, namely that evils will always, by
necessity, exist. Insofar things are produced and known by the demi-
urge, they are good. However, not everything is capable of always
completely remaining in the good. Conclusion: all things are good,
since there is no evil that has no share in order and is unmixed; yet,
also evil exists, namely for the particular things that cannot always
remain in the good unmixedly.

2. Where does evil exist? (chs 11-39)

Is there evil in the gods?

Chapter 11
The gods (i.e. the henads) are the highest and produce all reality. The
gods themselves have their existence through the good, and hence
cannot be evil.

Chapter 12
They lack nothing. If even souls can be free from evils, how could
there be evil in the gods?

Chapter 13
For the gods ‘to exist’ and ‘to be good’ are identical. Their goodness is
unchanging.

Is there evil in the three superior kinds (angels, demons, and heroes)?

Chapter 14
It is impossible that angels have any evil in them, as they are
continuous with the gods, know the latters’ intellect and reveal the
gods to the lower beings.

Chapter 15
Since angels occupy the first rank among the three superior kinds,
they are necessarily good, for whatever has the first rank in any order
is good.
 Introduction 35
Chapter 16
Is it in demons that evil exists for the first time? Some believe that
certain demons are evil by nature. Others claim that the demons
responsible for the eschatological punishment of the soul are evil ‘by
choice’.

Chapter 17
Demons are (1) neither evil to themselves, (2) nor evil to others. They
are not evil to themselves because (1a) deriving their existence from
the gods they could not be unchangingly evil, and (1b) if they are only
sometimes evil to themselves, they cannot be demons by nature; true
demons are not even now and then evil to themselves. They are not
evil to others, (2) for in punishing wrongdoers they only perform a
task that serves a good purpose.

Chapter 18
There is no evil in heroes, as their nature always remains the same.
Their so-called passions are for them in accordance with their nature,
and hence not evil.

Chapter 19
In assisting in the punishment of the souls of the deceased, the heroes
do nothing but perform the task assigned to them.

Is there evil in the souls?

Chapter 20: Transition

All classes examined before were not susceptible to a change affecting
their specific order. But those that come next have the potency of
ascending or of moving to generation, which makes the occurrence of
evil a possibility.

Chapters 21-2: The immaculate souls

The better souls (such as the souls of Orpheus or Heracles) remain in
contact with the divine when they descend to the world of becoming.
The larger part of their life is dedicated to contemplation and to
providence over the whole together with the gods. If they come down,
it is for the benefit of the things here. There is no passion or depravity
in their behaviour. Nevertheless even these souls are not immune to
‘oblivion’, which is common to all souls that descend. In their case,
oblivion only means a temporal ceasing or disturbance of their activi-
ties, their internal intellectual disposition remaining untouched.
Since their nature remains untouched, there is only the mere sem-
blance of evil in them.
It is indeed appropriate that there is an intermediate class between
36 Introduction
the (divine) classes that remain completely free from evil, and those
in which evil really exists.

Chapters 23-4: The fallen human souls

Most souls are incapable of imitating their presiding gods in a life of
contemplation and universal providence. They fall from on high, ‘toil
and limp’ (Phaedr. 248B), become weak and suffer all sorts of evil.
These souls form a manifold tribe transmuted continuously by vari-
ous choices and impulses. In the case of these souls, not only the
activities are hampered, but the internal faculties are curtailed. In
their care for their mortal bodies, they become interwoven with
secondary (irrational) forms of life.
This is for the souls indeed a weakness, to fail to participate in the
divine banquet and to precipitate downwards. However, they retain
the power to get up there again, though this will not be easy. This is
confirmed by the myths of the Phaedrus and the Republic that reveal
the ultimate fate of the human souls.
The origin of evil for us is the continuous connection with what is
inferior; it is also oblivion and ignorance.

Chapters 25-6: The irrational souls

Is there evil in the irrational souls, that are but images of a soul, parts
of a worse kind of soul, which the Athenian stranger calls ‘maleficent’?
These irrational souls (the souls of animals) are inferior to the irra-
tional soul that exists in us, and therefore it would be very unlikely if
they did not run the risk of becoming evil as well. Now, if such an
‘image’ belonged to the rational soul of an individual (as is the case of
the irrational soul of human persons), its evil would consist in not
conforming itself to reason. But in the case of animals, who only have
an irrational soul, evil arises when they lack the appropriate virtue,
that is, when they fall short of their own nature. When a being does
not act according to its nature, it is either a change to what is better
or to what is worse than its nature. These irrational souls may then
become better or worse on account of their acquired habits.

Is there evil in nature?

Chapter 27
There is no evil in the nature of the universe as a whole, nor in the
nature of eternal beings. For particular beings, however, one thing
will be in accordance and another not in accordance with nature. For
each particular nature, there will be something else contrary to it.
Corporeal things may undergo what is contrary to their specific
nature, because the latter is distinguished from and opposed to other
partial natures. Thus a particular nature may become impotent
because of the power of contraries surrounding it or because of a
 Introduction 37
defect of its own substantial power (which is possible since it has come
down from universal nature).

Chapter 28
For natural beings evil consists in the fact that they do not act
according to their nature. Thus ugliness occurs when the rational
form does not prevail over its matter and disease when the order of
the body is dissolved. These deficiencies, however, are only possible
in material individual bodies, not in the universal bodies (such as the
elements), nor in the immaterial bodies, as are the celestial bodies,
which remain invariably the same and uniform in their activities. A
special case are the pneumatic vehicles of the souls: though immate-
rial, they follow the vicissitudes of their respective soul in its ascent
and descent.

Chapter 29
To summarise, individual bodies that exist in matter have evil even
in their substance; others are outside matter and have no evil in their
substance, but in their activities they may be hindered by what is
contrary to them. Universal bodies always and invariably preserve
their order (some because there is no disorder in them, some because
the disorder is always overcome).
But how, then, should one interpret what Plato says in Timaeus
30A of ‘that which moves in a irregular and disorderly fashion’? For
this is a substrate for both the material and the eternal bodies.
Proclus answers that ‘disorder’ and ‘irregularity’ have a different
sense when applied to the substrate ‘up there’.

Is matter evil?

Chapter 30: The view of the opponents (Plotinus)

Summary of the main arguments of Ennead 1,8[51],3. If good is
twofold – one being absolute and nothing other than good, the other
being the good in something else – then evil too will be twofold: the
absolute and primary evil, and the evil participating in the former.
Primary evil, which is absolute unmeasuredness and imperfection,
must be identified with matter which is without any form or determi-
nation.

Chapters 31-5: Counter-arguments

Chapter 31
If one admits that in bodies evil occurs when matter prevails and in
souls weakness comes about when they assimilate themselves to the
material, the conclusion that matter is the source of all evil seems
inescapable. This inference, however, is unacceptable. A series of
arguments follows in order to refute the equation of evil with matter.
38 Introduction
(1) If matter is the principle of evil,
(1a) either there are two ultimate principles, which is unaccept-
able, as there cannot be two firsts,
(1b) or matter stems from the good [which happens to be Plotinus’
view], but then the good will be the cause of evil, and hence the good
will be evil (as its cause is to a higher degree what the product is) and
evil will be good (as products always assimilate themselves to their
cause).

Chapter 32
(2) Matter is necessary for the universe.
(3) Matter is called unmeasured not as being the mere absence of
measure [since matter is not identical with privation], nor as some-
thing that actively opposes measure [since matter according to
Plotinus is inert], but as the need for measure – matter desires
measure and therefore cannot be evil.

Chapter 33
(4) Evil existed in the souls prior to their descent to matter: in the
Phaedrus, it is clear that the souls make the wrong choices prior to
their descent; and in the Republic, it is said that they are weakened
before they drink from the cup of oblivion.

Chapter 34
(5) In the Timaeus, matter is called the mother and wet-nurse of
generation; it contributes to the fabrication of the world, and is
therefore good.
(6) The disorderly ‘previous condition of the world’ should not be
equated with precosmic matter as such; it refers to matter in which
partial – and hence conflicting – forms are present.
(7) In the Philebus, it is said that matter is produced by the One
and according to the Republic, god does not cause evil things.
(8) The ‘irregular motion’ of the Timaeus is not matter, nor due to
matter.

Chapter 35
Matter is generated by god: exegesis of Philebus 23C. As the lowest
manifestation of unlimitedness, matter is produced by the Good, and
hence it is not evil.

Chapters 36-7: Proclus’ own view

Matter is neither good, nor evil, but necessary.
Evil does not exist in itself, but only in other things, for it is
contrary to the good in other things, not to the first good. Indeed,
nothing can be contrary to the first good, as (1) contraries are mutu-
ally destructive and (2) contraries must belong to the same genus.
 Introduction 39
Is privation evil?

Chapter 38
If matter is not evil and must be distinguished from privation, per-
haps privation is an ‘evil agent’, as it is contrary to the form and a
cause of destruction? But this view is not correct. Since the Good is
not identical with, but beyond being, evil cannot consist just in the
privation of being. The presence of a privation does not yet entail that
there is evil. Complete privation even amounts to the disappearance
of evil, since it destroys the subject of the evil. What does not yet exist,
or no longer exists, is not evil. Two meanings of ‘disorder and unmeas-
uredness’ must be distinguished: this expression may refer to pure
absence of order and measure or to something contrary to these. If the
evil is contrary to the good, it cannot be a mere privation, since a
privation is without form and power.

Corollary: are evils of bodies greater than evils of souls?

Chapter 39
As evil exists both in souls and in bodies, we must examine the
ranking of evil. Is the evil in the souls greater or lesser than the evil
in bodies?
Evil may either destroy the substance itself of a thing, or handicap
its powers, or merely obstruct its activities. As the soul can never be
corrupted in its substance, but only in its powers and activities (and
the divine souls only in their activities), it seems that the evil that
touches the soul is less radical than the evil that extends to the
substances of bodies. But from another perspective that psychic evil
appears to be worse in that it is contrary to a greater good (moral
virtue) than is corporeal evil. Also, corporeal evil when it intensifies
leads to non-existence, whereas evil of the soul leads to an evil
existence. This again proves that matter is not the primary evil.

3. The causes of evil (chs 40-9)

Chapter 40: One or many causes of evil?

Is there one and the same cause for all evils or are there many?
If one posits a unique cause, it must either be a divine or an
intellective or a psychical principle. (1) Some indeed maintain that
there is an ultimate principle of evil opposed to the Good [the position
of the Manicheans]. (2) Others [like Amelius] admit forms of evil in
the intelligible realm. (3) Others again [like Atticus or Plutarch] posit
a maleficent soul. The last two groups invoke Plato in support of their
views.
40 Introduction
Chapters 41-2: There is no divine principle of evil (1)
It is easy to refute the view that there is a ‘fount of evils’. For as has
been argued (in chs 11-13), all the gods and all the founts only cause
what is good. If evil exists, it cannot have a divine origin, but, as Plato
said, ‘there must be other causes for it’.
However, in exercising their universal providence, the gods also let
some forms of evil exist by ‘measuring their unlimitedness and adorn-
ing their darkness’. In this sense, one may call the divine cause ‘the
fount of evils’, not as the principle of the generation of evils, but as
providing them with limit and integrating them in the whole order.
The gods are not cause of evil qua evil, but cause of the order in evils.
Therefore, not only the barbarian theologians, but also the most
eminent of the Greeks admit that the gods have knowledge of both
good and evil. If there were absolute evil, unmixed with the good, it
could not be known by the gods. For the gods create all beings they
know, as their knowledge is creative. The gods know and produce evil
qua good.

Chapters 43-4: There is no intelligible Form of Evil (2)

How could one explain the incessant existence of evils without there
being a paradigm? If evil is perpetual, it must proceed from an
immutable cause, which points to the nature of the Forms. This
argument, however, is wrong. There can be no intelligible paradigm
of evils, since all Forms are perfect and good. If the evils were images
of an intelligible Form, they would try to assimilate themselves to
what is perfect and blessed.
Further, the demiurge did not want evil to exist in the universe and
wished ‘to generate all things similar to himself ’. The demiurge
creates through the Forms which exist in him in an intellectual
manner. If there existed Forms of evil, he would necessarily produce
evils corresponding to these Forms.
But is the perpetuity of evil not a sufficient argument for the
hypothesis of a Form of evil? We must distinguish between what is
‘eternal’ and what is perpetual and merely recurs.

Chapters 45-6: The maleficent soul is not the source of evil (3)
Some consider the soul that is called ‘maleficent’ (Laws 10) as the
cause of all evils. We must ask them whether this soul is evil by its
very essence or is good by nature, though acting in different ways
(better or worse). If the latter is the case, not only the irrational soul
must be called maleficent, but also the ‘better’ soul from which it
derives its good, since that soul too can change from better to worse
states. If, however, it is evil in nature, from where does it derive its
evil being? It must come from the demiurge and the encosmic gods,
which are all good. But nothing that comes from the good is evil. If the
Athenian Stranger calls this soul ‘maleficent’ because of the evil in its
 Introduction 41
activities and potencies, we must say that even this soul is not always
in the same state, but may act in different ways. Besides, it may even
be made good-like when it adapts its activities to the better soul. It is
no wonder that it can thus improve itself, as it has the capacity to
revert upon itself, which is lacking in all bodies and in the irrational
souls.
It would, however, be absurd and sacrilegious to consider this soul
[which is the source of the irrational life] as the cause of evils. It is
neither the cause of evil for the bodies, nor for the better soul. For the
latter, evil comes from the soul itself when the mortal life-form is
connected with it in its descent. But even before the descent, there
was already weakness in the soul. For souls do not flee from contem-
plation when they are both capable and agreeable to remain in the
intelligible. Therefore, evil was already present in the soul, and is not
the consequence of the secondary (irrational) lives the soul attracts in
its descent.

Chapters 47-9: Proclus’ own view concerning the causes of evil

It is wrong to search for one single cause of evils. Whereas one should
posit one single cause for all good things, the multitude of evils can
only be explained by many particular indeterminate causes, some for
souls, some for bodies, which cannot be reduced to one principle.
Socrates, too, appears to suggest this when he says (Resp. 379BC)
that the divinity cannot be held responsible for evil and that ‘we must
look for some other (alla atta) factors as causes of evil’.
Moreover, those multiple causes of evil are not principal or essen-
tial (per se) causes. Although some particular souls and corporeal
forms could be called efficient causes of evil, they are not really
‘reasons or powers’ but rather lack of power and weakness. Although
one could speak of a paradigm of evil, as does Socrates in the
Theaetetus (176E), this is not an immobile intelligible form, but
rather things external and inferior, which the soul wrongly takes as
a model. And certainly there are no final causes of evil. For souls do
everything for the sake of the good, even when they act badly. How-
ever, those bad acts are not done for the sake of the good, but result
from a failure to reach the good. That is why evil is said to be
involuntary.

4. The mode of existence and the nature of evil (chs 50-4)

Chapter 50: The mode of existence of evil

Since evil is not produced from a principal cause nor related to a final
cause, it has not received existence in its own right. It belongs to the
class of accidental beings that exist because of something else and
have no principle of their own. For we do everything for the sake of
(what we consider to be) good. If, then, the contrary effect occurs, it is
42 Introduction
appropriate to attribute to it only a parasitic existence (parupostasis),
because it is ‘unintended and uncaused’, ‘supervenient and adventi-
tious’. The failure to attain the appropriate goal is due to the weak-
ness of the agent that stems from the contrariety between its diverse
powers.

Chapter 51: The nature and properties of evil

How can we know the nature of evil which is formless? We can know
it indirectly by considering what the good is at the different levels of
reality and denying its attributes. The properties of evils are ex-
plained as privations of the forms of goodness that characterise the
different ontological levels of Proclus’ theological metaphysics.

Chapters 52-4: How can what is contrary to the good act against it?

Chapter 52
Evil is not complete privation, but as parasitising upon the good, it
uses the very power of the latter to combat it. For it coexists with the
disposition of which it is privation and thus not only weakens this
disposition, but also derives power and form from it. Privations of
forms, being complete privations, are mere absences of dispositions
and as such not evil, whereas privations of the good actively oppose
the corresponding dispositions and are contrary to them.
On its own account, evil is neither active, nor powerful. But it
receives power from its contrary, the good. The stronger the power of
the good that inheres in evil, the greater will be the evil actions. When
the good is weakened, evil will be greater as a privation, but as far as
its action is concerned, it will be weaker. The greater the evil, the less
effective it becomes.

Chapter 53
In the admixture with evil, the good becomes weaker, whereas evil
profits from the presence of the good. Thus, in bodies, a disease can
develop thanks to the natural order which strengthens it, and in souls
vice will use the power of reason on behalf of its desires.

Chapter 54
In that it is ineffective, impotent and involuntary, evil is deprived of
the triad of the good: will, power and activity.
Socrates in the Theaetetus (176A) rightly calls evil a ‘subcontrary’
(hupenantion) of the good. It does indeed not have a relation of
complete contrariety, since this would put it on the same level with
the good. Neither is evil a pure privation, because a privation has no
power to produce anything. It is a privation that coexists with its
contrary disposition and through sharing in its power and activity
 Introduction 43
establishes itself as an active contrary. Therefore, it is called a sub-
contrary, and it is clear that parupostasis is really meant.

5. Different types of evils (chs 55-7)

Chapter 55
There are three types of things in which evil exist: particular rational
souls, irrational souls and individual bodies (not in the universal
bodies). For the rational soul, evil consists in being contrary to
intellect, for the irrational soul in being contrary to reason, for the
body in being contrary to nature. The most general division of evil is
that between evil in souls and evil in bodies. From the Sophist
(228E-230E), it can be gathered that among the evils of the soul again
two types should be distinguished: ‘foulness’ (e.g. ignorance), which is a
privation of intellect, and ‘disease’, which amounts to discord in the soul.

Chapter 56
So there are three basic types of evil, and each of these kinds will
in turn be twofold. For the disease of the soul can be a privation of
knowledge or of skill, and its disease may affect either the theoreti-
cal activity (when it is disturbed by sense-images) or the practical
life (when impulses are not according to reason). As for the body, it
can be evil either because it is foul and ugly (deprived of form, that
is) or because it is diseased (because of the dissolution of order and
proportion).

Chapter 57
Since all evil is unmeasuredness, i.e. privation of measure, the three
basic types correspond to the three principles of measure governing
the beings in which evil can exist: nature is a measure for the bodies,
reason for the irrational life, intellect for the rational souls.

6. Providence and evil (chs 58-61)

Chapter 58
Concerning evil and providence, we are confronted with a dilemma.
If providence governs the universe, it looks like we have to deny the
existence of evil. If evil exists, it seems that not everything comes
from providence. But a perspective may be found wherein evil is
integrated with the providential order. For, as has been said already,
there is no absolute evil unmixed with the good. Because of its
participation in the good, evil can be included in the works of Provi-
dence, not as an evil, but insofar as it is good.
To say that god is cause of all things is not equal to saying that he
is the only cause of all things. For intellect, soul and nature, too, are
causes for the things posterior to each of them. That is why some
44 Introduction
forms of evil may come to existence from these causes without affect-
ing the universal providence of the gods.
How, then, is there an admixture of good in the evils stemming
from the soul? The evils of the soul are twofold: some are internal to
the soul, as, for instance, wrong choices that affect the soul alone;
others are exterior, e.g. actions in which the soul manifests its anger
and desire. All those evils may have good effects.

Chapter 59
Thus evil actions may happen for the rightful punishment of others.
This action is good both for the person undergoing it and for the agent,
if s/he performs it not for his/her own motives (revenge), but in
accordance with the universal order. Through the performance of evil
actions, people also make the evil that is concealed in their soul
visible, which may contribute to their healing, as is shown in the case
of remorse. Just as doctors open ulcers and so make evident the
inward cause of the disease, so Providence hands souls over to shame-
ful actions and passions in order that they be freed from their pain
and start a better life.
Even internal passions may have a providential effect. For if the
soul chooses the inferior, it will be dragged down towards baseness: it
always gets what is deserved. Thus even a bad choice has something
good, but it brings the soul to a form of life that is in accordance with
its choice.

Chapter 60
How can evil in bodies be good? Two kinds of evil inhere in bodies:
foulness and disease. Foulness is a state contrary to nature, though
not a disease, as when monsters are born from normal animals.
Although in a particular case this is against nature, it nevertheless
happens in accordance with universal nature. For even in a monster,
natural forms and reasons are present, though in unusual mixtures.
Corruption and destruction stemming from diseases are in accord-
ance with nature in a twofold manner. From the perspective of
universal nature, the corruption of one being is a necessity for the
generation of another. But for the particular being, disease seems to
be against its nature, because it destroys the existence that it has in
accordance with its form. However, even for this particular being,
corruption is a natural process, if this being is not considered as a
separate whole, but as a part contributing to the whole universe.

Chapter 61
To conclude, all things that come to be, even if they are evil from a
partial or inferior perspective, are good insofar as they derive ulti-
mately from the good. For it is not possible that evil exists without
being connected with its contrary, the good. All things are because of
 Introduction 45
the good and yet the good is not the cause of evils. For never does evil
qua evil derive from there; it stems from other causes which produce
on account of weakness. As it is said by Plato in his second Letter
(313E), ‘all things (including things that are not good) are around the
King of everything and exist because of him’. But god is not the cause
of all things, but only ‘of all good things’. For he is cause of evil things
only insofar as they are beings and good.
The gods know and produce (activities that in their case coincide)
evils qua good.

4. The principles of the translation

Our translation is primarily based on the Latin translation made by
William of Moerbeke, yet aims at rendering as much as possible the
meaning of the lost Greek original of Proclus. This means that where
Moerbeke has made obvious mistakes of interpretation or transla-
tion, or where he was following a clearly inferior textual tradition, we
try to restore the likely original meaning. This can often be done in a
fairly reliable way through a comparison of the Latin with the Greek
paraphrase of Isaak Sebastokrator. However, for those chapters
where there are no Greek parallels, we are obliged to make a ‘mental’
retroversion of the Latin into Greek before translating it into English.
This is a difficult, though not impossible procedure, because Moer-
beke, as we have explained, made an extremely literal word for word
translation, respecting as much as possible the phrasing of the origi-
nal text. Moreover, we can use indices of the editions of Moerbeke’s
other translations, where the Greek text has been preserved, to
recover the Greek terms behind unusual Latin expressions. With the
help of the Thesaurus linguae graecae, we could find parallel texts in
other works of Proclus. As a matter of fact, Moerbeke’s very mechani-
cal method of translating word for word was a blessing, as it enabled
us to reconstruct the lost Greek with a fairly high degree of plausibil-
ity. There are, however, many passages where the Latin translation
remains unintelligible. Moerbeke may have made mistakes, translat-
ing a Greek genitive by a Latin genitive (where the ablative was
required) or wrongly connecting or splitting words; he may not have
known the meaning of certain terms, not understood the construction
of a phrase or an argument, or – and those are the worst cases –
skipped some words or a whole line misreading a homoioteleuton, as
he was working too fast. Some of those errors can be easily detected
in the chapters where a comparison with the Greek text is possible
thanks to Isaak Sebastokrator.
Other obscurities in the text may be explained by accidents in the
manuscript transmission of the Latin translation. Finally, the Greek
manuscript that Moerbeke used for his translation had already many
errors and omissions. Whatever the reasons may be, when there are
46 Introduction
no Greek parallels of the Latin, we often had to resort to conjectures,
lest we be left with a nonsensical text. Fortunately, we have at our
disposition the excellent edition of the Tria opuscula by Helmut
Boese, which has not been superseded by the more recent edition in
the Collection Budé. Boese not only offers a sound text of Moerbeke’s
Latin translation, based upon a thorough examination of the manu-
script tradition. He also adds, where possible, on the right-hand side,
a Greek parallel text, as it can be reconstructed from Isaak Sebasto-
krator’s paraphrase and from parallels in other Greek sources. The
Greek text given by Boese should not be considered as an edition of
Sebastokrator: it is a rather hybrid reconstruction, intended solely as
a means towards a better understanding of the Latin. For a full
edition of the Byzantine treatises, we made use of D. Isaac’s Budé
edition of the Tria opuscula.
In principle, in our translation we follow the Latin text as given in
Boese’s edition. We take into account, however, the Greek parallels as
well as the editor’s numerous remarks in the apparatus to the Latin
and Greek versions, where he gives valuable suggestions concerning
various mistakes made by Moerbeke and helps us to retrieve the
original meaning or to supply lacunae in the text. In many cases,
however, we had to introduce new conjectures. Whenever we deviate
from Boese’s edition, we offer a justification of our text and transla-
tion in the Philological Appendix at the end of this volume. This
Appendix contains, besides emendations and interpretations of Boese
and some other scholars and editors of the past (Thomas Taylor,
Victor Cousin, Daniel Isaac, and in particular L.G. Westerink), sev-
eral suggestions of our own making. It also explains some of the cases
where, despite there being little doubt that the Latin text is sound,
the meaning of the original Greek is almost lost under the barbarous
Latin phrases. A few striking examples will do more to give an idea of
the state of the text than a long exposé.

* At 21,15-16, Proclus quotes from book ten of the Republic

(621A6-7): ‘it is necessary for every soul to make (facere) a
certain quantity of the cup of oblivion’. It should of course be ‘to
drink a certain quantity’. Moerbeke’s Greek text most probably
read poiein, which is a corruption for piein (pronounced the same
way in later Greek).

* At 23,6 the words quidem entibus make no sense, but should

be translated as if the text read manentibus, since Moerbeke
presumably mistook menousais for men ousais.

We would not like to give the reader the impression that we have
changed the text at random, nor ad libitum, just in order to make it
philosophically meaningful. In general, we have adopted an attitude
 Introduction 47
that was as conservative as possible, sticking to the text of Moerbeke,
yet correcting it where we could explain how a certain confusion in
the translation or transmission of the text had occurred. For obscure
passages, we always tried to find parallel texts in the other works of
Proclus: here we were fortunate to use the Thesaurus linguae graecae
in search of parallels. Finding a successful emendation was often a
time devouring activity. Alas, however great the ingenuity of the
successive editors and translators, the text remains full of cruces. In
those impossible cases, we had to translate ad sensum.
Proclus often quotes and paraphrases Plato. When translating
these passages we allowed ourselves to be inspired by existing trans-
lations. In particular we made a thankful use of the translations
gathered in Hamilton & Cairns (1973 [=1963]) and Cooper &
Hutchinson (1997), and for Aristotle we consulted Barnes (1984).
Finally, we sometimes looked at Taylor’s translation (1980 [=1833]) of
the DMS in search of a fitting English expression
Since we aim at translating the original Greek text of Proclus,
insofar as we can reconstruct it, and not a medieval version of it, we
did not consider it very useful to make Latin-English and English-
Latin Glossaries. Making Greek-English Glossaries would have been
conjectural. Therefore we decided in agreement with the general
editor to drop the Glossaries altogether. We have, however, compiled
a Subject Index, which includes technical philosophical terms (such
as hupostasis, parupostasis, hupenantion).

Notes
1. On the life and work of Proclus, see the introduction of H.D. Saffrey and
L.G. Westerink to their monumental edition of the Platonic Theology (1968,
pp. IX-LX). The best survey of Proclus’ works remains Beutler (1957), col.
190,18-208,34.
2. Thus they are mostly quoted since Helmut Boese’s edition (1960).
3. cf. DMS 11,34-5.
4. De dec. dub. 1,13-16.
5. On Theodorus, see Ziegler (1934).
6. De prov. 45,4-6.
7. See Marinus, Vita Procli 15. On the interpretation of De prov. ch. 22, see
Westerink (1962), pp. 162-3.
8. More precisely a scholion to in Remp. 1,37,23 (2,371,10-18 Kroll).
According to the scholiast, who is obviously well-informed, Proclus discussed
the problem of evil in his monobiblion, ‘On the Existence of Evils’, in his
treatise on the speech of Diotima in the Symposium, in his Commentary on
the Theaetetus and in his a commentary on the third (?) Ennead, ‘Whence
come evils?’. The last three texts are lost. P. Henry (1961 [=1938]), 8 n.,
suggests reading ‘first Ennead’ instead of ‘third Ennead’, yet R. Beutler
considers this emendation unnecessary, pointing out that the reference could
be to Enn. 3,2-3 [47-8], On Providence. See Beutler (1957), 198,4-52. Because
of the title, ‘Whence come evils?’, we are inclined to believe that the scholiast
had Enn. 1,8[51] in mind. Proclus’ comments on the Enneads (not necessarily
48 Introduction
a full-blown commentary on all of them) are further mentioned in a few other
places. Some excerpts are preserved in Psellus: see Westerink (1959). It is at
any rate very likely that this commentary covered Enn. 1,8. It is not difficult
to understand how Theaetetus 176A (cf. below: 2.1) and Enn. 1,8 offered a
splendid opportunity to discuss the problem of evil. This is less evident for
Diotima’s speech. However, Proclus may have attempted to explain the
remark of Diotima that Eros is neither good nor evil (201E-202B). At 205E,
Diotima formulates the well known principle that the good is ‘what belongs
to oneself ’ (oikeion), evil ‘what belongs to another’ (to allotrion).
9. cf. below: 2.3.
10. According to Marinus (Vita Procli 13, l. 330 Masullo), the Timaeus
Commentary is one of the first works of Proclus. This was not however his
first discussion on evil, since Proclus refers in 1,381,14-15 to earlier treat-
ments of the question: this may have been in the commentaries on the
Theaetetus or the Republic which in the Neoplatonic curriculum preceded the
Timaeus. In the De prov. (50,11-12), there is an implicit reference to the
commentary on the Republic for a more extensive discussion of the authen-
ticity of the Epinomis: See in Remp. 2,133,27-134,7. The short discussion in
in Parm. on the question whether there are ideas of evil (829,26) seems to
refer to chs 43-4 of DMS. Of course, in principle it cannot be excluded that
Proclus inserted some of these cross-references into his texts only later.
11. See the excellent ‘notes complémentaires’ (pp. 151-4, referring to pp.
82-8) in the edition by Saffrey and Westerink (1968).
12. The comparison of the digression on evil with DMS has been the
decisive argument that proves ps.-Dionysius’ dependence on Proclus. See
the renowned studies of Stiglmayr (1895) and Koch (1895), and also Steel
(1997).
13. cf. Rordorf (1983), p. 242 (and pp. 242-4 for Isaak Sebastokrator’s
treatment of the same problem).
14. The question of the fall of the angels offers Dionysius the opportunity
to insert the long digression on evil: see De div. nom. IV, 18, p. 162,6-14
Suchla. Dionysius raises the question how the demons could become ‘evil both
for themselves and for the others’. This phrase is taken from Proclus’ discus-
sion of the demons in ch. 17. But Proclus argues there that demons are
neither evil for themselves, nor for others. In his adaptation of ch. 17,
however, Dionysius tries to lessen the differences between him and Proclus
by insisting that even after their fall the demons keep the angelic nature they
received from the creator.
15. De div. nom. 4,25, p. 173,1-9; 4,27, pp. 173,17-174,3 Suchla. In the last
paragraph Dionysius denies that there is ‘evil in bodies’. The cases of illness
or deformity are not considered as ‘evil’ but as ‘less good’ (yet in 174,2 he
seems to admit that there is evil in bodies, too). Proclus, on the contrary,
would never have accepted that ‘evil’ is a ‘lesser good’ (see ch. 6).
16. On the scholia of John of Scythopolis, see the excellent study by P.
Rorem and J.C. Lamoreaux (1998). We summarise some of their results.
17. See scholia De div. nom. PG 4, 21D. We made use of the (partial)
translation by Rorem and Lamoreaux (1998), pp. 106-7.
18. Edited by Westerink (1948).
19. Three Byzantine princes of the name Isaak Komnena Sebastokrator
are known to us: the elder brother of Alexis I, his third son, brother of
Johannes II (1118-43), and the third son of Johannes II (1143-80). The third
of these can be safely ruled out. D. Isaac (1977), pp. 25-7, considers the second
as author of the treatises. We propose (with Boese) to identify the author with
 Introduction 49
the first Isaak, the elder brother of Alexis I, who played a role in the process
against Italos as well (1082). See also Carlos Steel (1982b), pp. 365-73; De
Libera (1995), pp. 35-6.
20. It was L.G. Westerink who first suspected this and informed Boese.
21. See Steel (1982b).
22. Boese did not aim at reproducing Isaak Sebastokrator’s text, only
using it where it could help for the reconstruction of Proclus’ Greek. The
complete text of the three treatises of Sebastokrator has been published by
J. Dornseiff, J. Rizzo and M. Erler in Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie,
Meisenheim am Glan (1966, 1971, 1979). Those editions are now replaced by
the new edition of D. Isaac, which appeared as appendices to his editions of
the Tria Opuscula in the Collection Budé (Paris, 1977, 1979 and 1982).
23. See Steel (1982a), to be complemented by Ihm (2001).
24. On the life and work of William of Moerbeke, see Brams and Vanhamel
(1989).
25. Moerbeke (who was appointed archbishop in 1278) did not stay in
Corinth until his death in 1286. He returned to Italy for a mission as papal
legate in Perugia (1283-84) and probably remained in Italy during the last
years of his life.
26. The list of those Greek glosses may be found in the Appendix of Boese’s
edition, pp. 267-71.
27. Here we disagree with Boese, who attributes the marginal notes to a
reader of the texts: ‘marginalia […], quae, etiamsi argumenta, quibus ea a
Guilelmo profecta esse probari possit, non deficiant, potius tamen a lectore
quodam, posteriore quidem, Graecum autem Procli textum etiam tunc in-
spiciente, addita esse veri simile est’ (p. XVII). Boese considers this
explanation as the more plausible and promises a more extensive essay on
this question (see p. XVII, n.1), which, however, never appeared.
28. On this manuscript and the Greek notes it contains, see Steel, intro-
duction to his edition of the Latin translation of Proclus’ commentary on the
Parmenides (1982), pp. 3*-5*, 49*-53*.
29. We follow OSV against Boese in the following cases: 4,6; 26; 28; 6,20;
9,8; 14,7; 21,21; 27; 27,5; 28,13-14; 36,1; 38,11; 39,34-5; 45,8; 46,1; 5; 14; 19;
50,43; 58,7; 61,4. The most important corrections are discussed in our Philo-
logical Appendix.
30. On Moerbeke’s method of translation, see Steel, introduction to his
edition of Proclus’ commentary on the Parmenides (1982), pp. 43*-54*.
31. For reconstructions of Plato’s views on evil, see Cherniss (1954);
Guthrie (1978), pp. 92-100; Hager (1987), pp. 13-33. Schröder (1916), pp.
10-33 and Greene (1944), pp. 277-316; 420-2 are still useful.
32. Compare Alexander Aphr. ap. Simpl. in De cael. 359,20-6.
33. cf. DMS 20,7-8; 24,32-40; in Tim. 3,313,18-21.
34. For a survey of the Hellenistic and Middle Platonic discussions of evil,
see Opsomer & Steel (1999), pp. 229-44.
35. Simplicius even speaks of the heterodox who claim that matter is the
evil <principle>: in Phys. 9,256,25.
36. Simplicius regularly expresses ideas similar to those found in DMS; cf.
in Ench. xxxv; in Phys. 9, 248,21-250,5; 251,20-7; 256,25-31; 361,1-9 (see also
346,22-3; 357,34). For late Neoplatonic discussions of evil, see also Schröder
(1916), pp. 202-5.
37. cf. Simpl. in Cat. 418,4-6, and below.
38. On matter and evil in the Platonic tradition, see Hager (1962).
50 Introduction
39. For meticulous analyses of Plotinus’ view, see esp. O’Brien (1971;
1999); O’Meara (1997; 1999), pp. 13-30; Sharples (1994).
40. These participate in Difference with respect to Being, i.e. they are
different from being, i.e. they are not being.
41. cf. Rist (1969), 157; O’Brien (1999), pp. 63-6; Opsomer (2001b), pp.
9-10.
42. Enn. V, 2 [11], 1,18-21.
43. O’Brien (1993), pp. 31, 35.
44. cf. Alt (1993), pp. 55-81.
45. cf. Rist (1969), 159.
46. cf. Enn. 1,8[51],7,16-23.
47. To this view Proclus objects that what is not good is not therefore evil.
48. Instead of the more usual enantion, Plato has the variant hupenantion.
Whereas for Plato there is no noticeable difference in meaning, Proclus,
contrary to Plotinus, sets great store by this detail.
49. Cat. 5, 3b24-32; Phys. 1,6, 189a32-3.
50. For a more extensive analysis, see Opsomer (2001b), pp. 27-9.
51. cf. Opsomer & Steel (1999).
52. cf. in Tim. 1,382,2-11; DMS 40,5-7.
53. See our notes ad loc.
54. DMS 33,1-12. For further examples, we refer the reader to the notes
to the translation.
55. For a more extensive discussion of Proclus’ criticism of Plotinus, we
refer the reader to Opsomer (2001b).
56. cf. O’Meara (1997), pp. 42-6; Schäfer (1999); Opsomer (2001b), pp.
17-20.
57. In his treatise on matter, Plotinus himself rejects this coarse dualism.
Cf. 2,4[12],2,9-10. Gnosticism, especially its Iranian variant, Manicheism,
was known for this kind of dualism. Pépin (1964), pp. 54, 56, makes the
observation that to many Christian authors the Platonic doctrine of the
uncreatedness of matter comes down to making it a second god. We would
like to point out, however, that although the uncreatedness of matter seems
to be implied by the Timaeus, most Neoplatonists – and certainly Plotinus
and Proclus – did not regard matter as ungenerated (which is to be under-
stood in an ontological, not in a chronological sense). Eusebius, Praep. ev.
7,18,12; Basilius, Hom. in Hex. 2,2; Ambrosius, Exam. 1,7,25; Tatianus, Or.
ad Graec. 5,3; Tertull., Adv. Marc. 1,15; Titus Bostrenus, Contra Manich. 1.5,
p. 3,38; 1.4, p. 3,24 de Lagarde; Serapion of Thmuis, Adv. Manich. 12,1-8;
26,5-14 Fitschen.
58. cf. O’Brien (1971), p. 146; Narbonne (1994), pp. 129-31; O’Meara (1997;
1999, p. 109; 111); Schaefer (1999; 2000); Opsomer (2001b), sect. VIII. See
Greene (1944), p. 382. Hager (1962), 96-7, on the contrary, reproaches Proclus
his scholastic-mindedness that blinded him to Plotinus’ ‘sublime insight’. See
also Schröder (1916), p. 195, who qualifies Proclus’ criticism of Plotinus and
his incorporation of the entire preceding tradition as ‘scholastische[r] Pen-
danterie und Begriffsspaltung mit Hilfe rein formaler Gesetze’.
59. cf. Van Riel (2001).
60. e.g. TP 3.8; in Tim. 1,385,9-17.
61. cf. DMS 34, with our notes.
62. Proclus seems to grant provisionally or dialectically the idea that, as
the lowest product, matter is not good. Plotinus claims that at this point of
the emanation, nothing of goodness is left. Matter is completely incapable of
returning to its principle. Plotinus believed of course that matter is produced
 Introduction 51
by some lower principle. Proclus, however, maintains that matter is caused
directly by the Good, according to the axiom, commonly accepted from Iam-
blichus onwards, that higher causes are to a higher degree causative of a
given product than its immediate cause, and that their influence extends
further down the ontological scale. Therefore matter is not just not-evil, but
even good in a sense, and it reverts towards its principle, that is, it desires
the good and is able to receive the forms (DMS 36,23-8).
63. 1,8,6,32-6 (transl. A.H. Armstrong). Simplicius (in Cat. 5, 108,21-
110,25 Kalbfleisch) criticises this view of Plotinus using partly the same
argument. These arguments may ultimately go back to Iamblichus: cf.
Chiaradonna (1998), p. 602; Opsomer (2001b), pp. 31-5.
64. Cat. 6, 6a17-18.
65. cf. O’Brien (1999), pp. 55, 64-6.
66. cf. O’Brien (1999), sect. XIV-XV.
67. See also DMS 32,14-16: ‘Nor is it a removal of measure and limit, for
it is not identical with privation, because privation does not exist when
measure and limit are present, whereas matter keeps existing and bearing
their impression’. Cf. Simpl. in Phys. 9,246,17-248,20.
68. See Steel (1999), pp. 84-92.
69. They do, however, expressly affirm the reality of moral evil. Cf. below.
70. ‘subcontrary’, to be more precise: cf. below: 2.4.5. If absolute evil
existed, it would be the true contrary of the good and a nature of its own in
the full sense. But Proclus argues that only relative evils exist without there
being an evil principle in which the relative evils participate in order to be
evil. In Plotinian terms, Proclus’ position comes down to the claim that only
‘secondary’ evils exist without there being a primary evil. Yet Proclus does
want to preserve the idea of an opposition to the good. However, this opposi-
tion can no longer be explained as a relation of complete contrariety.
71. cf. TP 3,94,15-21.
72. See, e.g., ET 63; TP 1,83,21-84,9. Cf. Segonds (1985), I, p. 97 n. 5-6
(notes complémentaires pp. 189-90).
73. cf. De dec. dub. V, 28,4-11; DMS 5,10-16. See Plot. 3,2 [47], 2,8-10.
74. cf. DMS 20,7-8; 24,32-40; 33,21-3, and T2’.
75. One may think of Origen or Augustine, for whom all evil is either a sin
or a consequence of sin.
76. For a more extensive analysis, see Opsomer & Steel (1999), pp. 244-60.
77. Proclus probably has Plutarch of Chaeronea and Atticus in mind. See,
however, Opsomer (2001a), pp. 191-3.
78. See also Iambl. De myst. 4,7; Orig. Contra Cels. IV 64 Vol. I, p. 334,33
Kö., p. 552 Delarue.
79. Contrast Plotinus 1,8[51],3,21-4. See O’Meara (1997), pp. 38-9.
80. DMS 47,11-17; in Tim. 1,375,20-376,1; in Remp. 1,38,3-9.
81. The term was used before Proclus: cf. Syrianus 107,8-9; 185,20-2;
Julian, Eis tên mêtera tôn theôn 11,21; Greg. Nyss. in Eccl. 5,356,9-15; De opif.
hom. 164,6-8; Contra Eun. 3,7,58,2-6 (cf. Basil Hom. 1,7,21; 6,3,60); 3,9,5,1-3.
According to Simplicius (in Cat. 418,4-6), Iamblichus had developed a num-
ber of arguments to show that evil exists en parupostasei and is the result of
some failure. As a philosophical term, it makes its first appearance – as far
as we know – in Porphyry (Sent. 42,14; and also 19,9; 43,23; 44,29; 31; 35; 45;
47), but Iamblichus appears to have been the first to apply it to the existence
of evil. It is not impossible that the term had already been used by the Stoics
to designate the relation of the incorporeal lekton to the corporeality of
language. At any rate, Neoplatonic philosophers use this terminology when
52 Introduction
discussing this Stoic doctrine: cf. Iambl. ap. Simpl. in Cat. 361,10-11; 28;
397,10-11; Syr. in Metaph. 105,25-30; Lloyd 1987, p. 146. It may very well
have been this context that has given rise to the term being used as referring
to a reality that has no existence as a substance or as a quality of a substance,
but is nevertheless not nothing. Cf. Sext. Emp. AM 8,11-12 (SVF II 166);
Iambl. ap. Simpl. in Cat. 8,361,6-11 (SVF II 507); Simpl. in Cat. 8,397,10-12;
Syrianus in Metaph. 105,19-31. See Opsomer & Steel (1999), p. 249; Opsomer
(2001b), p. 35 n. 118.
82. The only agents that are capable of evil are partial beings. Their lack
of understanding follows from their partial nature (their limited perspective).
Universal beings contain in themselves the reasons that are sufficient to
make their activity perfect.
83. cf. Metaph. 6,2-3 (also 5,30; 11,8; Phys. 2,4-6).
84. Metaph. 1065a24-6.
85. imperfectam, which probably is a translation of atelê.
86. For a more extensive treatment of this text, see Opsomer & Steel
(1999), pp. 251-5.
87. Mant. 171,14, trans. Sharples.
88. Sharples (1975), pp. 44-6.
89. Sorabji (1980), pp. 3-5.
90. in Metaph. 194,9-13.
91. See in Tim. 1,262,1-29; in Parm. 835,6-838,3.
92. Other similar problems are examined in Chiaradonna (1998), pp.
601-3; Opsomer (2000b), esp. pp. 129-30; (2001b), p. 26 n. 87.
93. For this term, see Segonds (1985), I, p. 97 n. 4 (notes complémentaires
p. 189).
94. cf. TP 1,86,14-16.
95. cf. DMS 58,7-16.
96. The evil effects are actually side-effects. The weakness of partial
causes can be understood in many ways: these causes fail to adopt a universal
perspective; (hence) may take an apparent good for the real good; they fail to
foresee the interaction with other partial (or also universal) causes; they may
themselves comprise conflicting reason principles, etc.
97. Compare Amm. in De int. 136,1-137,11.
98. See already Plato Leg. 885B; 901DE. Proclus regards this problem as
essential for the entire ‘Platonic theology’: cf. TP 1.15, p. 76,10. For a more
elaborate overview of the history of this problem, see Opsomer & Steel (1999),
pp. 229-43.
99. For his famous argument against providence, see Lactantius Ira
13,20-1 = Usener, Epicurea fr. 374. See also Sext. Emp. PH 3,9-12.
100. This is not completely fair to the Stoics, who did emphasise the reality
of vice. However, it remains open to debate whether by practically denying
evil on a cosmic scale the Stoics can still claim a place for evil at the level of
human action. Is not Plutarch (e.g. De Stoic. rep. 1048D; 1049D, and esp.
1050A-D) right to point out that this amounts to an inconsistency? For the
Stoic view of evil, see Long (1968).
101. For a more extensive discussion of this problem, we refer the reader
to Steel (1999).
102. cf. DMS 38,7-11.
103. As Simplicius remarks, the privations that Aristotle discusses in the
Physics are merely ‘absences’ (apousiai) of forms, not a lacking or missing
(apotukhia) of a form: cf. in Phys. 417,27-418,1; in De cael. 430,8; in Ench.
xxxv, 74,6-24.
 Introduction 53
104. This is also the case for blindness, which hinders a normal function-
ing of the body.
105. DMS 7,39-42; 38,13-25; 52,5-10.
106. cf. DMS 54,12-22; 6,29-7,2.
107. On the specific differences of evils see chs 55-7, and on its charac-
teristics, derived from the forms of goodness to which it is opposed, see ch. 51.
108. See Plato Resp. 352C (referred to at DMS 52,10-15); 344C; 348E.
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 Proclus
On the Existence of Evils

Translation
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 On the Existence of Evils

[Introduction]
1. What is the nature of evil, and where does it originate?1 These
questions have already been examined by some of our predecessors,
who have pursued the theory of evil neither incidentally nor for the
sake of other things, but have considered evil in itself, [examining]
whether it exists or does not exist, and if it exists, how it exists and
from where it has come into being and existence.
It is, however, not a bad thing that we too, especially because we 5
have the time for it, summarise the observations rightly made by each
of them. We will start, however, with the speculations of the divine
Plato on the essence of evil things. For we shall understand more
easily the words of those predecessors and we shall always be closer
to an understanding of the problems once we have discovered the
thought of Plato and, as it were, kindled a light2 for our subsequent 10
inquiries.
First, we must examine whether evil exists or not; and if it does,
whether or not it exists in intelligible things; and if it exists in the
sensible realm, whether it exists through a principal cause3 or not;
and if not, whether we should attribute any substantial being to it or
whether we should posit its being as completely insubstantial; and if
the latter is the case, how it can exist, if its principle is a different 15
one,4 and from where it begins and up to which point it proceeds; and
further, if there is providence, how evil can exist and where it origi-
nates.5 In short, we have to consider all the questions we usually raise
in our commentaries.6
Above all and before all, we must get a grasp of Plato’s doctrine on 20
evil, for if we fall short of this theory, we will give the impression that
we have achieved nothing.

[Does evil exist?]

[First point of view: evil does not exist]
2. The natural starting point for examining these questions should be
whether evil belongs to beings or not.7 Indeed, how is it possible that
something exists which utterly lacks a share in the principle of
beings? For just as darkness cannot participate in light nor vice in
virtue, so is it impossible that evil should participate in the good.
 58 Translation
5 Suppose light were the first cause;8 then there would be no darkness
in the secondary beings – unless it had its origin in chance and came
from somewhere other than the principle. Likewise, since the good is
the cause of everything, evil can have no place among beings. [For
there are two alternatives.] Either evil, too, comes from the good – but
then the question arises: how can that which has produced the nature
10 of evil still be the cause of all good and fine things? Or evil does not
come from the good – but then the good will not be the good of all
things nor the principle of all beings, since the evil established in
beings escapes the procession from the good.
In general, if anything, in whatever way it exists, derives its
existence from being, and if that which participates in being must
necessarily participate in the One as well – for it is at the same time
being and one, and before it is being it is one – and if it neither was
15 nor will be permitted to secondary beings to do what they do without
the beings above them – for Intellect must act with Life, Life with
Being, and everything with the One – then evil again is subject to one
of the following alternatives: either it will absolutely not participate
in being, or it is somehow generated from being and must participate
at the same time in the cause beyond being. And a direct consequence
20 of this argument is the following: either there is no principle, or evil
does not exist and has not been generated. For that which has no
share in being is not being, and that which [proceeds] from the first
cause is not evil. In both cases, however, it is mandatory to say that
evil is nowhere.
If, then, the good is, as we say, beyond being and is the source of
25 beings – since everything, in whatever way it exists and is generated,
strives for the good according to its nature9 – how then could evil be
any one thing among beings, if it is actually excluded from such a
desire? Thus, it is far from true to say that evil exists because ‘there
must be something that is completely contrary10 to the good’.11 For
how could that which is completely contrary [to something] desire the
30 nature that is contrary to it? Now, it is impossible that there is any
being which does not strive for the good, since all beings have been
generated and exist because of that desire and are preserved through
it. Hence, if evil is contrary to the good, evil does not belong to beings.
3. Why should we say more? For if the One and what we call the
nature of the good is beyond being, then evil is beyond non-being itself
– I mean absolute non-being, for the good is better than absolute
being.12 Thus, one of these two implications follows. <Non-being is
either absolutely-not-being or what is beyond being. But it is impos-
sible that evil is beyond superessential non-being, which is the good.>
If, <on the other hand> non-being is absolutely-not-being, then evil
5 even more is not; for evil is even more wraith-like, as the saying
goes,13 than that which absolutely does not exist, since evil is further
removed from the good than non-being. This is what is shown by those
 Translation 59
who give priority to non-being over being evil.14 However, that which
is further removed from the good is more insubstantial than that
which is closer; thus, that which is absolutely not has more being than
the so-called evil; therefore evil is much more deprived of being than 10
that which is absolutely not.
Besides, if – according to Plato’s account15 – the father of this world
not only gives existence to the nature of good things, but also wants
evil not to exist anywhere, then how could evil possibly exist, which
the demiurge does not want to exist? For it is inconceivable that what
he wants is different from what he produces; on the contrary, in divine
substances willing and making always coincide.16 Hence, evil is not 15
only not wanted by him, but it is even without existence, not [only] in
the sense that he does not produce it – for it is not right even to think
this – but in the sense that he even causes it not to exist; for his will
was not that evil would not be produced by him, but rather that it
would not exist at all. What then could still produce its being when
that which brings it to non-being is the father who gives existence to 20
all things? For what would be contrary to him, and from where could
it come? Evil agency, indeed, does not spring from him – for this is not
right for him – and it would be absurd [to think] that it could originate
elsewhere; for everything in the world stems from the father, some
things directly from him, as has been said, other things through the
proper activity of other beings.17

[The opposite point of view: evil exists]

4. The argument that banishes evil from being could go like this,18 and
along these lines it may sound probable. The argument that gives
voice to the opposite viewpoint, however, will require that we first
look at the reality of things and declare, with that reality in mind,
whether or not evil exists; so we must look at licentiousness itself and 5
injustice and all the other things that we usually call vices of the soul
and ask ourselves whether we will accept calling each of them good
or evil. For if we admit that each of these [vices] is good, we must
necessarily affirm one of the two following: either virtue is not con-
trary to vice – that is, virtue on the whole is not contrary to vice on 10
the whole, and particular virtues are not contrary to the correspond-
ing vices – or that which opposes the good is not in every respect evil.
But what could be more implausible than each one of these positions,
or what could be less in accordance with the nature of things?
For the vices oppose the virtues; how they oppose one another
becomes clear if one takes a look at human life, in which the unjust
are opposed to the righteous, and the licentious to the temperate, and 15
also if one looks at what one might call the discord within souls
themselves19 – for instance, when people lacking continence20 are
drawn by reason in one direction, but forced by passion in the other
direction; and in the fight between the two the better is overcome by
 60 Translation
the worse, but sometimes the worse by the better. For what else is
happening in these people than that their souls’ temperance is in
discord with their licentious manners? What is happening in those
20 who are fighting with anger? Is it not something similar? And what
about the other cases of evil in which we perceive our souls to be in
discord? Indeed, in general the manifest oppositions between good
and evil men exist long before in a hidden way within the souls
themselves. And the stupidity and disease21 of the soul are then
extreme when the better part in us and the good rational principles
25 that exist in it are overcome by worldly, vile passions. But to adduce
many more examples would be foolish, would it not?
Now, if vices are contrary to virtues, as we have said, and evil is in
every respect contrary to good – for the nature of the good itself is not
so constituted as to be in discord with itself, but being an offspring of
30 one cause and one henad, it maintains a relation of likeness, unity,
and friendship with itself, and the greater goods preserve the lesser
goods, and the lesser goods are beautifully ordered by the more
perfect – then it is absolutely necessary that the vices be not merely
vices (kakiai) ‘by way of speaking’,22 but each of them must also really
be evil and not just something less good.23 For the lesser good is not
35 contrary to the greater good, just as the less hot is not contrary to the
more hot nor the less cold to the more cold.24 Now if it is agreed that
the vices of the soul belong to the nature of evil, it will have been
demonstrated that evil pertains to beings.
5. And this is not the only reason. Evil is also that which corrupts
everything. Indeed, that this is evil has been shown by Socrates in the
Republic, where he makes the correct observation that the good of
each thing is that which preserves this thing, and that therefore all
things have an appetite for the good. For all things have their being
5 from the good and are preserved by the good, just as, conversely,
non-being and corruption occur on account of the nature of evil.25
Thus, it is necessary either <that evil exists or> that nothing is
corruptive of anything. But in the latter case, ‘generation will collapse
and come to a halt’;26 for if there is nothing corruptive, there can be no
corruption; and if there is no corruption, there can be no generation
either, since generation always comes about through the corruption
10 of something else. And if there is no generation, the whole world will
be ‘incomplete’, ‘as it will not contain in itself the mortal classes of
animals; and they must exist if the world is to be sufficiently perfect’,
says Timaeus.27 Hence, if the world is to be a ‘blessed god’,28 then it
must perfectly preserve a ‘similarity’ with the ‘completely perfect
15 animal’;29 if this is true, even ‘the mortal classes’ must complete the
universe; and if this is true, there must be generation and corruption;
and if this is true, there must be both principles corruptive of beings
and generative principles, and different principles for different
classes of beings. For not all things have their generation or corrup-
 Translation 61
tion from the same principles. If, then, in the classes that have been
allotted generation there are congenital corruptive principles which 20
destroy the powers of those beings, then evil must also exist. For this
is what evil has been said to be, namely, that which is corruptive of
each of the things that are generated in which it exists primarily and
per se.30 Indeed, some things are able to corrupt the soul, others the
body, and what is corrupted is in each case something different.
Neither is the mode of corruption the same, but in the first case it is
a corruption of substance, in the other of life; and in the first case 25
substance is led towards non-being and corruption, while in the other
case life flees from being and, in short, to something else that is not.31
Thus, it will be the same argument that keeps the whole world perfect
and posits evil among beings. And so, evil will not only exist because
of the good, but evil will also be good because of its very being. This,
then, may seem extremely paradoxical, but it will become more clear 30
later.
6. If, however, we should not only be content with the above
arguments, but pursue the inquiry also in another way, let us then
develop the following argument as well. Every good that admits a
difference of more and less is more perfect and is situated closer to its
source when leaning to the more. When, however, it is weakened 5
according to the less and has become less perfect because of its
deficiency, it is removed downwards from its own monad.32 This is also
the case for the equal: that which is ‘most equal’ is most cognate and
as it were continuous with its monad; the ‘more equal’ occupies the
second rank after this level; the ‘less equal’ takes the last rank. And
the same reasoning holds for the hot and the cold, the beautiful and 10
the ugly, the great and the small.
So, do we not speak also of more and less injustice (adikia) and
licentiousness (akolasia)? Or do we call all people licentious and
unjust to the same degree? We shall definitely deny that. Moreover,
as regards injustice that can be more or less, [must we not accept that]
the less it is injustice, the less distant it is from the nature of the good, 15
whereas with injustice of the greater degree, the more it possesses the
passion of injustice, the more it is deprived of the good? Yes, we must
certainly concede this. But, as regards all the good that may be more
or less, we have said that by increase it comes closer to the first good,
and that the perfectly good is the same as the supreme good. But
augmentation of injustice is, as we have said, in every way a defi- 20
ciency of the good; hence, it no longer makes sense to call injustice
good, neither a greater nor a lesser good; no, it should be called
unqualifiedly evil. For when a lesser good increases, it becomes good
to a greater degree. Indeed, what is less hot and what is less cold
becomes [by increase] more what each of them is, while injustice by
increase does not become a greater good. How, then, could that which
stands contrary to the good not belong to evil things?33 25
 62 Translation
That is what this argument will confidently state about the exist-
ence of evil. And one could also adduce a text of Plato for further
corroboration of the above argument, namely, the text in which he
seems to include the nature of evil things among beings, not only
30 asserting but also demonstrating it. For, in the Theaetetus,34 Socrates
vigorously defended the thesis that ‘evils will not cease to exist’, and
that their existence is not superfluous nor as it were incidental; for
their existence is something necessary and good. Evil is ‘necessary’,
he says, and thus evil is good. If, however, evil is good, evil certainly
exists, according to his argument, and it belongs to beings not only
because it has been so produced that it ‘will not cease to exist’ and thus
35 belongs to beings, but also because it has its origin, its entry into
being, on account of the good.35
7. What then shall we say is the reason for the necessity of evil? Is
it its opposition to the good, as Socrates suggests to us?36 As we have
said in other works,37 all the forms, and also that which exists beyond
the forms, cannot produce [immediately] after themselves a being
that participates in them in a [merely] contingent way, nor do they
5 limit their activity38 to those beings that can enjoy them immutably
and always in the same way. But because of the abundance of their
power and the excellence of their goodness they do not only produce
the orders that are continuous with them, participate in them and,
without being mingled with privation, preserve in uniformity every-
10 thing that comes from them. No, they also produce the most remote
realisations (hupostaseis) of their activities, where that which comes
from the causes can no longer remain uncontaminated and unchange-
able. For there must exist not only those beings that sometimes
participate in the forms and sometimes are cut off from the illumina-
tion and power that comes from them. For these intermittent
participants would not be able to participate in the forms39 that are
15 completely separate from all things and transcend all properties that
exist in others and are themselves participated only. Nor must exist
only those beings that are uninterruptedly dominated by the impres-
sions of the forms, unless the inferior things, too, were generated
which enjoy only an intermittent participation. For [otherwise] all
good things would be the lowest [in the hierarchy] of beings, and the
eternal beings would exist at the level of matter; they would be sterile
20 and weak and have all other [attributes] we usually predicate of
things subject to generation and corruption.40 For it would be those
superior beings instead of these below that have these characteristics,
as if the lower beings were non-existent.41 If then these [lower] things
too are necessary because of the all-powerful and all-good activity of
the first causes, then the good will not be present in all things in the
25 same way, and the generation of evil will not be expelled from beings.
For if there is something that, at times, has the capacity of participat-
 Translation 63
ing in the good but, at other times, is deprived of this participation,
then there will necessarily be a privation of participation of the good.42
It is impossible, however, for a privation to exist in its own right,
nor can privation ever be totally detached from the nature of which it
is privation.43 In a way, privation derives its power from this nature 30
through its being interwoven with it, and only thus can it establish
itself as something contrary to the good. Other privations44 are mere
absences of dispositions, deriving no being from the nature to which
they belong. But the good, because of the excellence of its power, gives
power even to the very privation of itself. Just as, in the whole of 35
reality, the good created the first power,45 so, in each being, the good
that is somehow present in it generates its power in it. This way, as
we have said, the privation of the good that is interwoven with it gives
strength to its own shadowy character46 through the power of the
good. It becomes opposed to the good, yet, by mixing with the good,
has the strength to fight against what is close to it. But this privation 40
[of the good] is not in the same situation as other privations. For these
others do exist even in the complete absence of the [corresponding]
disposition, whereas this privation does not exist when the good is
completely absent. Indeed,47 there is no form of life so bad that the
power of reason is completely extinguished. Some reason remains
inside, expressing itself feebly; though surrounded by all kinds of
passions, understanding never leaves the upper [part of the] soul. And 45
in those things that are utterly deprived of the opposite [healthy]
state, not even the shadow of a body remains; nor does the disease
persist, for where there is no order at all, it is also impossible that the
body is preserved. Disease is a lack of order, but not of all order. This
is shown by the cycles of nature, which measure with numbers
whatever is disorderly.48 More on this elsewhere.49 50

[Proclus’ own view]

8. If, as we have said, one should not only adduce the above argu-
ments but also unfold the doctrine on the existence of evils from
Plato’s teaching, what has already been said is sufficient even for
those who are capable only of moderate comprehension. However, as
in a court of justice, we should not only listen to the contending
parties, but also pass some judgement of our own. Let this then be, if 5
you like, our verdict. To begin with, evil is twofold: on the one hand,
pure evil on its own, unmixed with the good; and on the other hand,
evil that is not pure nor unmixed with the nature of the good. For the
good too [is twofold]: on the one hand, that which is primarily good
and as it were the good itself, and nothing else but good – it is neither 10
intellect nor intelligence nor real being; on the other hand, the good
that is mixed with other things. And the latter sometimes is not mixed
with privation, whereas elsewhere it does have such a mixture. For
that which intermittently participates in the primarily good is mani-
 64 Translation
festly entwined with the non-good. Indeed, the same holds for being
15 itself and the nature of being: in the higher realm being is really being
and merely being, but in the last beings, being is somehow mixed with
non-being. For take that which in one respect is, but in another is not,
that which at times is, but is not for countless times, that which is this
but is not all other things: how could one say that it is, rather than
that it is not, when it is completely filled with non-being?
20 And non-being itself, too [, is twofold]:50 on the one hand, that which
absolutely does not exist – it is beyond the lowest nature, whose being
is accidental – as it is unable to exist either in itself or even acciden-
tally, for that which does not exist at all does not in some respect exist,
in another not. On the other hand, [there is] non-being that is
together with being, whether you call it privation of being or ‘other-
ness’.51 The former [i.e. absolute non-being] is in all respects
25 non-being, whereas the latter [i.e. relative non-being] is in the higher
realm ‘not less than being’, as the Eleatic Stranger asserts,52 but when
it is present among the things that sometimes are and sometimes are
not, it is weaker than being, but nonetheless even then it is somehow
dominated by being.
9. Hence, if someone were to ask whether non-being is or is not, our
answer would be that what absolutely does not exist and has no share
whatever in being has absolutely no being; however, we would con-
cede to the questioner that what somehow is not, should be counted
among beings.
The same reasoning, then, holds for evil, since this is twofold too:
5 on the one hand, that which is exclusively evil; on the other hand, that
which is not [exclusively evil], but is mixed with the good. We will
rank the former beyond that which absolutely does not exist, inas-
much as the good is beyond being, and the latter among beings, for,
because of the mediation53 of the good, it can no longer remain
deprived of being and because of its being it cannot remain deprived
10 of the good. Indeed, it is both being and good. And that which is in all
respects evil, being a falling off and as it were a departure from the
first good, is of course also deprived of being: for how could it have an
entrance into beings if it could not participate in the good? But that
which is not in all respects evil, is on the one hand ‘contrary’54 to some
good, though not to the good in general; on the other hand, it is
15 ordered and made good because of the pre-eminence of the wholes
that are good. And it is evil for those things which it opposes, but
depends on other things [i.e. the wholes] as something good.55 For it
is not right that evil oppose the wholes, but all things ought to follow
in accordance with justice56 or not exist at all.
10. Therefore, Plato in the Timaeus is right in saying that in
accordance with the will of the demiurge, ‘all things are good and
nothing is bad’.57 In his discussions with the geometer, however, he
contends that ‘evil things cannot possibly cease to exist’58 and that ‘by
 Translation 65
necessity’59 they have come to exist among beings. For all things are
made good by the will of the Father and, with respect to his productive 5
activity, none of the things that are or come to be are evil. However,
when he distinguishes degrees in nature he does not escape the
consequence that there is evil for particular things, evil which de-
stroys the good [in them].60
It is the same with darkness:61 darkness that is completely un-
mixed with its contrary and [utterly] deprived of light has no being;
but darkness that is produced in light and limited by it from all sides,
belongs to beings. And for the sun nothing is dark, for even to 10
darkness it imparts a weak clarity; for the air, however, darkness is a
privation of the light that exists in it. Thus, all things are good to the
father of all, and there is evil in those things that are not capable of
remaining established in complete accordance with the good; for this
reason evil is ‘necessary’, as we have said earlier.
In what sense evil exists and in what sense it does not is clear from 15
our argument. For both those who assert that all things are good, and
those who deny this, are right in one respect and wrong in another.
Indeed, it is true that all beings are, but non-being, too, is interwoven
with being. Therefore all things are good, since there is no evil that is
unadorned and unmixed. And also evil exists, namely, for the things
for which indeed there is evil: it exists for the things that do not have 20
a nature that is disposed to remain in the good in an unmixed way.

[Where does evil exist?]

[Is there evil in the gods?]
11. After these questions we should examine in which [class] of
beings, and how, and whence evil has come to exist. For, as we have
seen, to being also belongs the nature of evil. So we should start from
the beginning and explore, to the best of our abilities, where there is
evil.
The gods, their reigns, numbers, and orders have the first portion 5
of being, or rather they possess all beings and the intellective essence.
Riding mounted on this essence,62 they produce all things, preside
over all things, proceed to all things, are present in all things without
being mixed with them, and adorn all things in a transcendent
manner; neither is their intelligence hindered by their providential
activities, nor is their parental authority weakened by the purity of 10
their intelligence: for their intellective activity is identical with their
being, and they have providence because of their goodness and be-
cause of their fertile power.63 This power does not want to remain in
itself, but as it were brings forth that which the gods are allowed to
engender, that is to say, all beings, all the classes that are superior to
the souls, the souls themselves, and whatever may be on a lower level
of being than the latter. 15
 66 Translation
In fact, the gods themselves are beyond all beings, and they are the
measures of being, since all being is contained in them as is number
in the monads.64 Beings, then, proceed from the gods, some beings
remaining in the gods, other beings falling away from the unity of the
gods into a secondary or yet lower nature, according to the principle
of degradation. These beings are established in the order of the
20 participating entities, since they depend on the goodness of the real
gods. The gods, however, exist in accordance with the good itself and
the measure of all things; they are nothing else but the henads of
beings, their measure and goodness, their summits, if you like, and
as it were the ‘flowers and supersubstantial lights’,65 and everything
25 like that; they allow participation on the level of true being and the
first substance, and they produce by themselves all good and fine
things, the intermediate things, and whatever kind of beings there
are. Suppose someone asked us about the light which the king of all
that is visible,66 the god who has a rank analogous to the good,67
spreads over the whole world: is this light in itself susceptible of
30 darkness or not? There would be many ways in which we could lead
the questioner through circuitous arguments to reject such ideas, now
celebrating the simplicity of its nature, then its continuity with its
generating principle, then again something else. In the same manner
we must speak about the gods. Perhaps we should not raise questions
while remaining in the divine abodes; however, since we speak to
35 simpler minds as well, we must use many examples from both poetry
and conversations68 that may imbue the souls of a young audience. We
should explain then in which way what is called evil does not exist in
the gods.
12. We have to remember that the gods adorn all things, that they
are lacking in nothing, that they live in complete blessedness, and
that life for them means ‘to live in abundance’.69 For we have these
ideas about the gods in our thoughts that are not deflected [by lower
things] and this is from where we take them. And why speak about
the gods? As a matter of fact, even ‘souls of good fortune’70 that acquire
5 intellect ‘grow wings’71 and, having assimilated themselves to gods,
remain in the good. In them no evil is present nor will it ever come
about. Total mirth,72 an unharmed life, and a choir of virtues,73 these
things lead such a soul to a superior place, ‘to a banquet, a feast’,74 far
away from the evils of this world, not for the purpose of vanquishing
10 these evils, but so as to introduce in them, with the help of the gods,
an order according to justice; these souls remain themselves in the
gods. But when they are filled with the contemplation of the higher
world, they become sated with their food, which is for them the
beginning of excess, worldly pleasures and overboldness, but not yet
pure evil.75 If, then, even in the case of souls that are divine there is
no evil, how could there be evil in the gods themselves? There is no
15 warmth in snow, as they say, nor cold in fire.76 Hence there is no evil
 Translation 67
in the gods either, nor is there anything of a divine nature in evil
things.
13. All this must be said for the benefit of those who need it. But
one should also keep in mind that for the gods ‘to be gods’ means ‘to
exist in accordance with the good’. For just as [particular] souls come
from the universal soul and particular intellects from the entirely
perfect intellect, likewise the very first series of goods, for which being 5
and existence is nothing other than to be one and good, will come from
the first good, or rather – if one may say so – from goodness itself, that
is, from the henad of everything that is good. Similarly, for the
particular intellects to be and to exist is nothing other than to think,
and for the souls it is nothing other than to live.77 For if all things that
proceed from their principle accomplish their procession through
likeness and in continuity,78 then those things that proceed from the 10
first unity are the first henads; and from the one good proceeds the
multitude of goods. Now what could still be ‘evil’ or ‘the nature of evil’
for those beings that have their existence in accordance with the
good? For the good itself does not allow evil. For the good is measure
and light, whereas evil is darkness and absence of measure; the
former is the cause of all foundation and all power, the latter is
without foundation79 and weak;80 the former is that which sustains 15
everything,81 the latter that which corrupts each thing in which it is
present, each according to its own rank; for, as we have explained, not
everything has the same mode of corruption.82
Should we say, then, that it is not true that the gods are good, or
should we say that they are good but change? This is what happens
in particular souls, which always exhibit different types of life.83 But 20
in so saying we would be affirming something unholy with respect to
the very existence of the gods. For that which is congenial with the
non-good, is not good – and what is like this is not a god. Neither is
that which changes similar to the One, which is better than any
activity. For that which, through similarity, is in accordance with the
One and eternal stems from what is before eternity,84 and that which 25
is located in immobile activity derives its existence from that which
is beyond the level of primary activity.85 Hence evil is not in the gods,
neither absolutely nor in time. For both eternity and time are wholly
posterior to the gods. These are substances and about substance; the
gods are prior to substance and being.86 Beings proceed from the gods,
who are not beings themselves. And a god is whatever is good, 30
whereas [substance and being] is what derives from this, namely true
being.

[Is there evil in the three ‘superior kinds’, angels, demons, and
heroes?]
14. Next, after the gods, let us direct our attention, if you like, to the
order of angels, and consider whether this order, too, is to be regarded
 68 Translation
as completely good, or whether this is where evil [appears] for the first
time. But how could we still call the angels messengers of the gods, if
5 evil were present in them in whatever way? For everything that is evil
is far distant from the gods and strange to them and like darkness in
comparison to the light which is there. And evil is not only in igno-
rance about itself – it does not know that it is such87 – but it is also
ignorant about everything else and particularly about everything
that is good. For it will probably flee and lose itself, incapable as it is
of knowing either itself or the nature of the good. But the class that
is the interpreter of the gods stands in continuity with the gods,
10 knows the intellect of the gods, and reveals the divine will. Moreover,
it is itself a divine light, [proceeding] from the light that resides in the
sanctuary, that is, it is the light that [goes] outside, that appears, and
is nothing other than the good proceeding and shining forth first from
the beings which remain inside the One.
Indeed, it is necessary to make the procession of all things a
continuous one. One thing is by nature consequent to the other
15 because of its similarity.88 Continuous with the source of all good,
then, are the manifold good things, that is the number of henads,
which remain hidden in the ineffability of the source. In continuity
with them is the first number of beings emerging [from them], stand-
ing as it were in the portals89 of the gods and revealing their silence.90
But how can there be evil in those things for which ‘to be’ precisely
20 means to reveal the good? For where there is evil, good is absent and
is not revealed; it is hidden, rather, by the presence of the contrary
nature.
That which reveals the One, however, has the character of unity.
And in general, the revealer of something is in a secondary degree
what the revealed was before its activity extended towards other
things. Hence the angelic tribe eminently resembles the gods on
25 which it depends,91 so that, by its revelatory similarity, it may convey
their property to the lower beings.
15. If you want to show not only in this way but also from another
perspective the beneficent character of the order of angels, look, then,
at all the kinds of beings and all their series; [you will see that] what
occupies the first and principal rank in each order possesses also the
5 truly good that cannot become evil, and rightly so. For, in each order,
that which is first must bear the image of the prime cause,92 since
everywhere first natures are analogous to this first cause, and they
are all preserved by participation in it. Whether you divide all beings
into intelligibles and sensibles, or likewise the sensible again into
heaven and generation, or likewise the intellective into soul and
10 intellect, everywhere that which is the very first and most divine is
not susceptible to evil. Therefore, not only in the aforementioned
divisions but also in the threefold empire of the superior classes,93 the
first level must be immaculate, intellective, unmixed with evil, and
 Translation 69
somehow correspond to the good. Indeed, the procession of the first
class is accomplished because of goodness, just as the race of demons 15
is constituted in accordance with the power and fertility of the gods;
this explains why they have received the middle position among the
three classes. For power pertains to the middle, just as intellect and
the circular reversion to the principle pertain to the third class.94 Now,
what corresponds to reversion belongs to the heroes. But it is good-
ness that is active in angels, determining their existence by its own 20
unity. Hence it would be impossible to explain how this goodness
could still allow evil to enter surreptitiously into the nature of angels.
Thus only that which has a good nature shall obtain the rank of
angels, and evil shall not – definitely not. For the angels are the
interpreters of the gods, they are situated at the summits of the
superior classes, and their being is characterised by the good. 25
16. But is it in demons, then, that evil exists for the first time? For
the demons are next in line to the choir of angels. Well, there are
people who claim that demons even have passions. Some argue that
demons have passions by nature even, and depict in tragic style their
deaths and consecutive generations.95 Others claim that demons have 5
passions only as a result of choice, and say that some demons are base
and evil – namely those demons who defile the souls, lead them to
matter and the subterranean place, and draw them away from their
journey to heaven.96 Those who say this even believe that Plato was
the patron of this doctrine, as he posited two paradigms in the
universe, one ‘divine’, luminous, and of good form (boniformis), the
other ‘ungodly’, dark and mischievous.97 Moreover, they say, some 10
souls are carried in one direction, some in the other; and those who
have moved downwards suffer punishment. Likewise some of the
souls in the underworld rise to the other side of ‘the mouth’ [of the
cave]98 and escape from that place, while others are drawn by ‘fiery
and savage ghosts’ towards ‘the thorns’ and ‘Tartarus’.99 Thus, accord- 15
ing to their argument, it is this whole race of demons, as it has been
described – I mean that deceptive, malicious race that destroys the
souls – which is the first to admit of evil. And they have it that even
the nature of these demons is differentiated by good and evil.100
17. One should ask these philosophers at least the following ques-
tion – for the fathers of these arguments are divine, too:101 the demons
that you hold to be evil, are they evil in themselves, or are they not
evil in themselves but only for others? For if they were evil in
themselves, a dilemma would arise: either they remain in evil per- 5
petually, or they are susceptible to change. And if they are always evil,
[we will ask:] how can that which receives its existence from the
gods102 be always evil? For not to be at all is better than always to be
evil. On the other hand, if they change, they do not belong to the
beings that are demons in essence, but to beings that are such by
relation:103 for the latter may be both better or worse, and [that is] 10
 70 Translation
another kind of life.104 Demons, however, without exception, always
fulfil the function of demons, and every single one of them always
[remains] in its own rank.
To say they are good in themselves but evil for others in that they
lead them to something worse would be just as if one called some
schoolmasters and pedagogues mischievous because, having been
appointed to chastise wrongdoings, they do not allow those who make
15 mistakes to have a better position than they deserve. Or it would be
as if one called evil those who stand in front of temples and stop every
defiled person outside the precinct because they will not allow them
to participate in the rites taking place inside. For it would not be evil
that those who deserve it remain outside, but rather to deserve such
a place and such prohibitions. Therefore, if some of the demons that
20 exist in the world lead souls upward while other demons keep souls
that are not yet able to ascend in their own habits of life, none of those
demons can rightly be called evil, neither those who detach the soul
from this realm nor those who detain them here. For there must also
exist demons to detain in the earthly realm the defiled person who is
25 unworthy of travelling to heaven. Thus, neither in these demons does
reason seem to find evil; for each of them does what it does according
to its own nature, always in the same manner. And that is not evil.
18. What, then, about the class of the heroes? Well, in the first
place, does not their being, their essence, and their existence consist
in a conversion towards the better? And, further, does not each of
them, by its very being, always perform its own task, each having
been ordered by their father to take providential care of different
5 things? If, then, they always do this in the same way, there is no evil
[in them], for all evil is by nature unsteady and unstable;105 by
contrast, that which always is, is exactly the opposite. For ‘<not>
always’ means potentiality. And this ‘potentially’ characterises those
things for which there is also evil. But in general, the changing of
their type of life in whatever way makes them heroes by relation and
10 no longer heroes in essence.106 For an angel as well as a demon or a
hero who is essentially what it is, will by nature always preserve its
own rank. They do not act now this way, now that way, but always
according to the nature that each of them has received. Moreover, if
in heroes as well anger, impulsiveness, and other so-called evils107
15 stemmed from a perversion of their natural condition, there would
indeed be evil in them also – a disorder of their power and a deviation
in every direction from the perfection that is appropriate to them. For
evil is powerless, imperfect, and of a nature too weak to preserve
itself.108 However, if each hero in performing these things preserves
itself and its own nature and its part in the whole allotted to it from
20 eternity, how then could it still be contrary to their nature to do these
things? Insofar as [something] is in accordance with nature, it is not
really evil, if indeed evil is for each thing [something] contrary to its
 Translation 71
nature. In the case of lions and leopards one would not consider rage
to be something evil, but one would do so in the case of human beings,
for whom reason is the best. However, acting in accordance with
[mere] reason is not good for other [beings], namely for those whose
being is intellective.109 For, as we have said many times already, evil 25
must not be that which is in accordance with nature nor that which
is the best in each thing – for what is such is good. No, evil must
belong to that which pursues what is inferior to its nature.
19. Hence also for all heroes that are led by rash imagination,
[passions] such as rage, irascibility, impetuosity, and obstinacy are
not unnatural; for their being does not consist in reason. Then how
could evil for them be due to these passions? Even if those passions
are hindrances for the souls, where do their [so-called] chain[s] come
from and their downward inclination?110 For it is not the souls that 5
have not yet fallen which the heroes escort to their place. Surely this
would not be possible. Rather, in conformity with the design of the
universe, the heroes inflict a just punishment on the souls that have
descended and actually need to be punished. And the heroes them-
selves act in accordance with their nature, whereas the universe uses
them as instruments of healing, just as it uses beasts to devour
human beings111 and as it uses for other purposes inanimate things 10
that act in accordance with their nature. Indeed, a stone, being moved
downward by nature, strikes that which it meets – after all, collisions
are actions of bodies. And by using the nature of the stone to this
effect, [the universe] in a suitable way meets the need of that which
needs to be hit.112 Thus, for bodies it is not evil to strike, and in general
it is not evil if things act in accordance with their nature. Every thing 15
acts according to its nature when there is no better action available.
What other life, then, might be better for those heroes that are
allegedly evil than the life they actually lead? Nobody can tell. For
this is their order, this form of activity is determined by the organisa-
tion of the universe for the sake of guarding the dead. As their guards
they must, within fixed periods, honour with their surveillance the 20
deeds that happened within the limits of the souls’ past. The duration
of the period, however, is fixed by the power of the sufferers. When
the purification is finished, the mouth [of the cave] remains quiet113
and all other things are removed from the souls that are ascending;
but when the punishment is still unfinished, some souls through 25
ignorance of themselves desire to proceed upwards, whereas others
are led to their appropriate place by the universe. And as guards of
these souls the heroes serve the will of the universe, directing the
souls to different kinds of punishments, restraining some souls for a
long time, others for a short time, and releasing each soul in conform-
ity with the ordinance of the universe and its law.
The gods and the superior kinds have received a fine treatment 30
from us, we may say: there neither is nor ever will be evil in them.
 72 Translation
Indeed, one has to keep the following in mind: all things act in
accordance with their rank, the rank in which each of them has been
placed, and when they ‘abide by their accustomed manner’,114 they
preserve invariably that boundary which they have received from the
demiurgic principle.

[Is there evil in the souls?]

[Transition]
20. Now we must look at those beings that come next after these
[superior kinds].115 Here, if anywhere, evil might appear to those who
are looking for it. If this is not the case, then we would have to say
that it is nowhere among beings, neither there [i.e. above], nor in ‘this
place’.116 All of the aforementioned classes were indeed not susceptible
5 to a change in kind, that is to a change affecting their own order. For
each class is always constituted so as to preserve the same order that
it has received. But the beings that come next after them117 have the
potency of sometimes ascending and at other times tending to genera-
tion and ‘the mortal nature’. And among those beings, some are better
and more divine, and in their contact with mortal nature they do not
10 renounce kinship with the divine; others, by contrast, ‘have their
circles in every way broken and disturbed’118 and are completely filled
with ‘oblivion’,119 ‘affinity’ [with inferior things], and evils.

[a. The immaculate souls]

21. Let us therefore first consider the better [souls]. That they are
indeed better, and that they do not allow in themselves any passion
belonging to human depravity, is clearly indicated by Socrates in the
Republic, when he complains that poetry represents the children of
the gods on a par with humans as lovers of money,120 and does not
5 hesitate to call them the offspring of divine parents, while depicting
them as replete with evils, such as we see occurring in human nature.
However, as is said about them,121 the larger part of their cycle is
dedicated to contemplation, a life free from harm, and a secure
providence exerted over the whole together with the gods,122 and when
they descend to [the world of] becoming, it is for the benefit of the
10 places down here123 – some [souls] making their appearance for the
sake of noble offspring,124 some for the sake of purity, some for the
sake of virtue, some for the sake of divine intellect. [In their descent]
they are perfected in the procession together with the gods,125 by the
inspiration of good demons,126 and by the consent of the universe.
What evil, then, could there be at all for those [souls], unless you wish
to call generation itself evil?127
15 To be sure, ‘it is necessary’ for every soul ‘to drink a certain quantity
of the cup of oblivion’, as Socrates says in the Republic.128 This
oblivion, however, is different in different souls: in some cases it
involves the loss of a certain disposition, while in others it is only the
 Translation 73
burying of activity. Thus, if you like, you may call this ceasing of
activity ‘oblivion’ when the disposition remains inside like a light that
is unable to proceed externally because of the surrounding darkness;
or you may, if you prefer, call it the ‘evil’ of these souls. These souls, 20
then, are not subject to the disturbance129 in generation that occurs
within the living body; for this reason we are accustomed to calling
them ‘immaculate’,130 since the evils here below cannot enter into
them. Yet these souls, too, are incapable of preserving in this [earthly]
realm that invariable and immutable life of the intellective realm,
and so they permit that which disturbs them and is unstable to 25
remain in the dependent natures [i.e. their bodies]. Silently these
souls stay inside, until their living body has calmed down; at that
point their beauty shines forth, making it appropriate to call them
‘children of the gods’.131
22. Whether the generations of souls occur in living beings on
earth,132 or in other parts of the universe,133 this is the mode of descent
for all of them,134 and oblivion and evil go this far. Thus we say of a
light that it becomes darkened,135 when, on account of the extraneous
nature of its surrounding, which is thick and nebulous, it is incapable
of illuminating that which is near. But to be completely darkened is 5
the state of that which is incapable of preserving even itself. The
descent of these divine souls, therefore, is not the loss of their internal
life; it gives them, however, a weakness as regards action.
The souls, however, that are posterior to these [immaculate souls]
and have lost their internal life, come [down] in oblivion of the 10
heavenly sights.136 In these there is true death, insatiety, shedding of
the wings,137 and all the other things we are accustomed to assert
about them. For what else should we posit as an intermediary be-
tween the beings that are not susceptible to evil138 and those that are
altogether perverted,139 if not a slight and, so to speak, apparent evil?
This is what should be asserted of these souls.

[b. The fallen human souls]

23. Immediately next to these souls comes a truly variegated and
manifold tribe, subject to change by various choices and impulses.
Here even the powers inside the soul itself are curtailed. They ‘toil’
and ‘limp’;140 they are weak and suffer all the evils141 that souls are 5
said to partake in because they have fallen from on high, where there
is a life of beatitude, free of sorrow for those that stay there. For each
soul, when it remains on high, ‘journeys through the sky and governs
the whole world’,142 contemplating essences143 and, together with the
presiding gods,144 ascending to the blessed and most perfect ‘ban-
quet’145 of being, and filling those beings that gaze on [this soul] with 10
nectar146 from there. For the primary good is not contemplation,
intellective life, and knowledge, as someone has said somewhere.147
No, it is life in accordance with the divine intellect which consists, on
 74 Translation
the one hand,148 in comprehending the intelligibles through its own
intellect, and, on the other, in encompassing the sensibles with the
powers of [the circle of] difference149 and in giving even to these
15 sensibles a portion of the goods from above. For that which is perfectly
good possesses plenitude, not by the mere preservation of itself, but
because it also desires, by its gift to150 others and through the un-
grudging151 abundance of its activity, to benefit all things and make
them similar to itself.152
But when a soul is incapable of imitating, according to both kinds
of life, its presiding gods, it is deprived of the contemplation of true
20 being and is attracted by other, secondary powers which revolve about
the world. For these souls this is ‘the beginning’ of their generation
and ‘of another cycle’.153 Although it means impotence, privation of
speculation, and thus, for them, evil, from the perspective of the whole
it is not even for them evil,154 but a kind of life different from their
primary kind of life, inferior on account of its lack of power: for the
25 primary self-sufficient exists where that which is primarily good
resides and power is strongest where self-sufficiency exists.155
24. Thus, for the soul this is indeed a weakness, namely, to fail to
participate in the banquet,156 and to precipitate downwards; it is its
power, on the other hand, to get up there before sinking into the
depths.157 Indeed, all things do not have the same mode of weakness.
For neither do all bodies suffer total decay when they are separated
5 from the power that regulates and preserves them.158
Now, as Plato says,159 ‘it happens’ that a soul becomes associated
with ‘the mortal, death-bringing kind’, ‘becomes heavy and replete
with oblivion and falls down.’ Such a soul will be led by the universe
to the appropriate rank, but will vary the form of its life again and
again, until, as it is said in the Timaeus,160 it changes course and
10 moves upward: ‘shedding the turbulent mob and its own accretions’
and leaving them where they are, it is led ‘to being itself, and indeed
to the most splendid being’.161 The soul, therefore, descending from
there, will arrive at the meadow and contemplate the souls that are
there.162 But it will also arrive below the throne163 of necessity and
contemplate the plain of oblivion,164 and no longer contemplate the
things that it did when it had a primordial nature.165 Indeed, for the
15 souls that resided above, the ‘plain of truth’ and the ‘upper meadow’
were there to be contemplated.166
The ‘nutriment from up there’ is, however, ‘a proper pasturage for
the noblest part of the soul’,167 says Plato, whereas the nutriment
down here is of a doxastic nature,168 since the river of oblivion169 is
near. And all of this is not yet terrible, provided that one does not take
too much. But when the soul is filled with it, it is led by the universe
20 towards what is similar, folly: as he says,170 and darkness and what is
most bereft of light, the pit171 of the universe, if one may say so, where
an insurmountable multitude of evils surrounds mortal nature and
 Translation 75
grows upon it all around.172 For the fractures and distortions of their
circles,173 the ‘bonds’, and whatever else there is that introduces death
into souls, the periods of a thousand years,174 the punishments,175 and, 25
so to speak, the most tragic of experiences that the law of the universe
brings them, all these are found here. And we shall certainly not be
able to flee from these experiences nor rest from our labours, if we do
not withdraw from external things and separate our proper good,
which is the contemplation of real being, from mortal triviality.
Therefore we must strip ourselves of the garments with which, in 30
descending, we became invested, and must proceed naked from here
to there,176 completely purifying the eye of our soul by which we
contemplate true being,177 and instead of sense make intellect the
principal ruler of our internal lives.
What then is the origin of evil for us? It is the continuous commun-
ion and cohabitation with what is inferior to us. It is also oblivion and
ignorance, which come about by looking at that which is dark and not
intellectual.178 But the origin of the good is flight and assimilation to 35
the divine.179 For up there total good exists, the source of all good
things, and, for the souls which arrive there, a truly pure and felici-
tous life.180 This is what we had to explain about the soul that is
capable of both ascending to that place and descending to this place:
how evil, weakness, falling, and everything else we have mentioned 40
are present in it.

[c. The irrational souls]

25. What, then, about the other souls, not those that are parts of [real]
beings, but certain images,181 parts of an inferior soul, which the
Athenian stranger calls maleficent?182 Indeed, these too we have to
examine asking the question: are they immune to vice or is there
actually evil in them? If those souls are inferior to the human soul –
I mean, to the image [of soul] that exists in us – evil in them will 5
consist in not acting according to [their] nature. For if our own souls
change continuously with respect to good and bad, it is not possible
that in those inferior souls the good [state] or the bad [state] would be
invariably present. On the other hand, if they were related to another
soul that is prior to them, as is the case with our [irrational] souls, it
would obviously be necessary that, when this higher soul is faring
better or worse, the image follows and at times is carried upwards, 10
while at other times it is drawn [down] to generation and the realm
of matter. For when irrationality is dependent on reason, the worse
condition consists in dissidence from reason, in not receiving light
from there and [not] correcting one’s own lack of measure using the
measure that derives from there. For this behaviour reveals not the
power of these183 souls, but their weakness and lack of power.184 And 15
indeed, for each thing <the good consists in> being led towards that
 76 Translation
which is better and towards participation in the good that it is born
to receive.
But <when the irrationality subsists> by itself, evil <does not
consist in acting according to its own nature>, but in lacking the
appropriate virtue. After all, for some souls, pleasures and pains occur
moderately and do not exceed what is necessary, while for others, who
20 follow their own lack of boundary, pleasures and pains are without
measure. And as for virtue, it does not exist in the same way in all
beings; in one case it is by possessing the virtue of a horse that one
has the good corresponding to one’s nature, in another case by pos-
sessing the virtue of a lion, or that of another animal. And all species
reside in the good, though some more, some less. But if an animal
becomes a fox instead of a lion, slackening its virile and haughty
25 nature, or if it becomes cowardly instead of bellicose, or if another
assumes any other type of life, abandoning the virtue that is naturally
fitting to it, they give evidence that in these [beings], too, there is evil.
26. When a being has the capacity of not acting in accordance with
its nature, the change is necessarily either to what is better than its
nature, or to what is worse. Thus for these [irrational] souls, too, there
is an ascent to that which is better, namely when some activity taking
the form of reason manifests itself in them – this kind of power being
inspired, as it were, by a leading demon allotted to such a soul.
5 Descent to what is worse, on the other hand, occurs when, because of
bodily disfunctioning or inappropriate nutriment, the natural activity
of the soul is obstructed by a unnatural state, showing the soul to be
replete with those things.
In general, everything that progresses through generation is born
in an imperfect state and accomplishes its perfection in time. It is
10 perfected by the addition of something.185 For each thing’s end is [its]
good.186 But an imperfection may always be twofold: it may consist
either in the halting of activity <or in> the lack of a disposition.187
That which is deficient only in its activity is better on account of its
natural virtue, and in that it has, prior to its activity, a perfect
disposition. But that which is naturally disposed to receive perfection
15 from its natural virtues lacks both the perfection of its nature and this
disposition.188 This, then, is [its] evil: the privation of a virtuous
disposition. In the case of such a privation, the underlying nature may
be perverted, and possibly even becomes the complete opposite of its
own virtue. But if some things may become either better or worse on
account of their habits, too, should one be surprised, then, to see an
20 evil nature arise out of these very habits? Take the following exam-
ples: one may turn natural haughtiness by means of training into
modesty; another may be provoked into a harsher savagery, yet
another may in various ways be turned away from its natural virtue.
Indeed, all beings have their own virtue, but for some habit advances
their virtue, whereas for others habit becomes an obstruction to their
 Translation 77
natural path. In some cases nature prevails and softens the damage 25
resulting from [bad] habit, whereas in other cases nature remains
passive and becomes, as it were, alienated from itself, drawn along on
the road of habituation.

[Is there evil in nature and bodies?]

27. Next we have to consider nature itself, as well as all those things
which have their complete being and existence imparted to them by
nature. We must examine whether evil is situated in nature or not,
and for what reason. As regards the nature of the universe, then, or
any other nature of an eternal being that there is, we must not say
nor think that it at any time departs from its own disposition; nature 5
rather remains, that is, governs a body according to nature.189 For
what else is the function of nature than to preserve and sustain that
in which it exists? And this is common to all causes. As to the
particular nature that pertains to individual things, however, [the
situation is different]: when it completely dominates the substrate
matter, it ‘conducts all things rightly and wisely’;190 but when it lets
itself be dominated, insofar as it is partial and uses reasons that are 10
partial as well, it does the complete opposite of what it is disposed to
do. For nature as a whole nothing is contrary to nature, since all
reasons derive from it. But for particularised nature, one thing will
be in accordance and another not in accordance with nature. Indeed,
for each [particular] nature something else will be contrary to its
nature. Thus for the nature of man this particular form of a lion
originates contrary to its nature, since neither the rational principle 15
of this form nor that of other species is intrinsic to it, but only the
rational principle of man. To this nature the rational principles of
others are strange, and likewise in the case of all other things whose
rational principles are specifically different. It is characteristic of this
[i.e. a particular] nature that it may be dominated and act contrary to
nature, but not of nature as a whole nor of any eternal nature.191
Indeed, matter that is the substrate of non-eternal natures is often
dominated by the bonds proceeding from nature. Then matter adorns 20
and as it were illuminates its own darkness and deformity, and
invests itself with a foreign ornament.192 And indeed, in the wholes its
ugliness is thus concealed.193 Hence, though matter stems from the
principle, not everyone gets to know it, not even those who have
elucidated many of the secrets of nature.194 But it happens that a
particular nature becomes impotent on account of a defect of substan- 25
tial power; for a particular nature is as it were a ray195 and impression
of universal nature,196 a rational principle that is detached from it,
that has flowed downwards into body and is incapable of remaining
pure. Alternatively, [a particular nature can become impotent] on
account of the power of the contraries surrounding it on all sides, for
many are the forces that are external and hostile to mortal nature.
 78 Translation
Thus, as we have said, when it is affected by this weakness and allows
30 its own ugliness to prevail, it curtails its own activities and by its own
deformity causes the light that proceeds from it to be darkened.
Indeed, when the reason of nature does not prevail, ugliness is
revealed as passion, and when the order is impotent, as lack of order.
And reason is overcome by the inferior when it becomes irrational
itself.
28. If, then, nature in its activity manifests that it is without
hindrance, we will find that all things are according to nature and
that nowhere in them is there evil. But if the goal of a thing and its
natural course are to be distinguished from what is contrary and an
impediment to nature, and if the rational principle [of a thing] is one,
5 but the things that are contrary to it are infinite in number: would we
not say that there, and nowhere else, is the badness of nature? Indeed,
to a being for whom contemplation is good, the privation of contem-
plation is evil. But to a being for whom the good consists in producing
and acting in accordance with reason, evil consists in the fact that
reason does not prevail and that its productivity, having been over-
come by the inferior, does not attain its goal. One should posit a
10 badness of bodies, then, if the form that is imposed on them can be
overcome by what is inferior. For corporeal foulness arises from
rational form being subdued, and disease of the body from order being
dissolved.197 Beauty, accordingly, indeed [exists] when the form pre-
vails – it is like a flower draping itself over the forms198 – and what
there is of health [exists], when the natural order is stably preserved.
And all that has been said, thus far, about things in nature, must
15 be understood as referring to material bodies and individual things,
but not to beings that rank as wholes nor to what lies outside
matter.199 For where could ugliness be outside matter, which we are
accustomed to call ugliness itself and the last nature, as it is without
measure and beauty and does not even possess the weakest form of
splendour?200 And where would disorder and contrariety to nature be
20 found in those beings that always exist in accordance with nature and
– since nature always prevails – preserve their well-being invariably?
Individual bodies, which in matter undergo all sorts of transmuta-
tions, at times indeed possess order and good; but at other times their
natures are dominated by the contraries of these. But the bodies that
are not individual and that, being wholes, must always remain and
25 complete the world,201 always possess an order that vanquishes disor-
der. And of the things that are outside matter, some indeed are always
numerically202 the same and are uniform in their activities and free
from all mortal toiling. But others, while remaining the same in their
very being and nature, in their activities are led to the better and the
30 worse. That is the case with the instruments203 of the human soul,
which indeed possess an essence that is in accordance with nature,
but have a kind of life that is always different. And at times, indeed,
 Translation 79
they remain in their own beauty, adhering to their natural activity
and natural place, but at other times they are dispersed into a foreign
region and are drawn into a condition contrary to nature, and then 35
they introduce into themselves the baseness of matter. For each
instrument[al body] of a soul, being capable of looking in both direc-
tions, follows the soul and its impulses, and, being led in all
directions, undergoes all sorts of motions and is assimilated to the
appetites of the soul.
29. We have spoken about corporeal nature, said that there is evil
in it, and explained how it is different in different things. Of the
individual bodies those that exist in matter have evil even in their
substance, and they are infinite in number; but others are outside
matter, and are indeed finite in number; there is no evil in their
substance, but in their activities and transmutations of life they are 5
filled with the contrary. But of the beings that rank as wholes, some
possess order exclusively, since there is no disorder in them, whereas
others possess order because the disorder is always overcome.204 For
each totality has the character of an order that always prevails, and
uniformity exists because of order. Hence, when it is said that every-
thing ‘that moves in an irregular and disorderly fashion’, whatever it 10
may be, is the substrate not only for material but also for eternal
bodies,205 we must say that ‘disorder’ and ‘non-uniformity’ apply to
them in a different sense. Down here, indeed, disorder is due to
matter and to the mixture of form with the formless, but up there
disorder does not consist in the deprivation of form, but in the
deprivation of life: up there the substrate is reason and form.206 Hence,
in that realm even that which is disorderly, as it were, is order, yet it 15
is an order that is disorderly with respect to the adornment that
comes from above. In the realm of generation, however, disorder is
situated in matter, because of the irrational, obscure, and indetermi-
nate character of its nature.207 For the disorderly character is not
accidental to matter nor is matter said to be disorderly with respect
to something else, for what is disorderly with respect to something
else is not yet the last. No, absolute absence of measure, absolute 20
indeterminateness, absolute darkness:208 that is the disorder of mat-
ter.

[Is matter evil?]209

30. But fortunately, even before we have been led to examine matter
itself, the argument has already brought us to consider the question
whether matter is evil, or whether even this is not evil. For it is by no
means possible that evil belongs to matter as an accident, because, by
itself, matter is without quality and formless; matter is a substrate,210 5
and not in a substrate; it is simple, and not some thing in another. If
matter is entirely evil – and some say it is211 – it must be evil in
essence, as they also say, making matter the primary evil and ‘that
 80 Translation
which the gods abhor’.212 For213 what is evil other than unmeasured-
ness and indeterminateness and all kinds of privations of the good?
10 Indeed, good is the measure of all things, their boundary, limit and
perfection. That is why evil is unmeasuredness, absolute unlimited-
ness, imperfection and indeterminateness. Now all these things,
[they say,] are primarily in matter; they are not other beings besides
matter, but matter itself and what it is to be matter. Hence matter is
the primary evil, the nature of evil, and the last of all things. If good
15 is twofold – one being the absolute good and nothing other than good,
the other being the good in something else, a particular good, that is,
and not the primary good – then evil as well will be twofold, the one
being as it were absolute evil and the primary evil and nothing else
but evil, the other being evil in something else and some evil, i.e. that
which is evil because of that [first] evil, by participation in or assimi-
20 lation to it. And just as the good is the first, the absolute evil214 will be
the last of beings. For it is not possible for anything to be better than
good nor worse than evil, since we say that all other things are better
or worse by virtue of these. But matter is the last of beings: for all
other things are disposed to act or to undergo, whereas matter does
neither, as it is deprived of both these potencies. Hence the absolute
and primary evil is matter.
31. If, as we have said,215 in bodies the unnatural arises when
matter prevails, and in souls evil and weakness216 come about when
they fall into matter, get drunk217 with the indeterminateness sur-
rounding it and assimilate themselves to it, why should we dismiss
this [explanation] and seek for another cause of evils as a principle of
5 and source for their existence?218
But if matter is evil – for we should now move to the other point of
view – we must choose between two alternatives: either to make the
good the cause of evil, or to posit two principles of beings. For, indeed,
everything that exists in any way whatever, must either be a principle
of complete beings or stem from a principle. Now, if matter stems from
10 a principle, then matter itself receives its procession into being from
the good. If, on the other hand, matter is a principle, then we must
posit two principles of beings which oppose each other, viz. the
primary good and the primary evil.219 But that is impossible. For there
can be no two firsts. From where would these two come at all, if there
were no monad? For if each of the two is one, prior to both there must
exist a single principle, the One, through which both are one. Nor does
15 evil stem from the good. For just as the cause of good things is good
in a greater degree, likewise that which generates evil will be evil to
a greater degree.220 Neither would the good maintain its own nature,
if it produced the principle of evil. If, on the other hand, it is a general
rule that what is generated likes to assimilate itself to its generating
principle, even evil itself will be good, having been made good by
20 participating in its cause. Hence [in this case], the good, as the cause
 Translation 81
of evil, would be evil, and evil, as being produced from the good, would
be good.
32. If, however, matter is necessary to the universe,221 and the
world, this absolutely great and ‘blessed god’,222 would not exist in the
absence of matter, how can one still refer the nature of evil to matter?
For evil is one thing, but the necessary is something else; the neces-
sary is that without which it is impossible to be, whereas evil is the
privation of being itself.223 If, then, matter offers itself to be used in 5
the fabrication of the whole world, and has been produced primarily
for the sake of being ‘the receptacle of generation, and as it were as a
wet-nurse’224 and ‘mother’225, how can it still be said to be evil, and
even the primary evil? Again, we speak in many senses of ‘unmeas-
ured’ and ‘unlimited’ and all those things. For we may call
‘unmeasured’ (1) that which opposes measure, or (2) its absence and 10
removal, or (3) the substrate of measure and indeed the need for
measure and limit. Now matter is not disposed to (1) oppose nor, in
general, to effectuate anything, since it is neither capable by nature
of undergoing an effect because of the lack of the potency to un-
dergo.226 Nor is it (2) a removal of measure and limit, for it is not
identical with privation, because privation does not exist when meas- 15
ure and limit are present, whereas matter keeps existing and bearing
their impression. Hence the unlimitedness and measurelessness of
matter must consist in (3) the need227 for measure and limit.
But how could the need for limit and measure be the contrary of
limit and measure? How can that which is in need of the good still be
evil? For evil flies from the nature of the good, as in general every
contrary flies the contrary disposition. If then, matter desires and 20
conceives generation, and, as Plato says, nourishes it, no evil will
come from it, since matter is the mother of the beings that proceed
from her, or rather, the beings that are born in her.
33. If, then, the souls suffer weakness and fall, this is not because
of matter, since these [deficiencies] existed already before the bodies
and matter, and somehow a cause of evil existed in the souls them-
selves prior to [their descent into] matter.228 What else could be the
explanation for the fact that among the souls that follow Zeus some
raise the head of the charioteer into the outer region, whereas <oth-
ers> are incapable and sink down, and are as it were blunted by that 5
spectacle and turn away their eyes?229 Indeed, how can ‘oblivion’ of
being and ‘mischance’ and ‘heaviness’230 occur in those souls? For ‘the
horse that participates in evil becomes heavy and verges to the
earth’,231 without there being matter [involved]. Indeed, only after the
soul has fallen to earth does it enter into communion with matter and
the darkness here below. Up there, however, and prior to matter and
darkness, there is [already] weakness and oblivion and evil; for we 10
would not have departed if not out of weakness, since even at a
distance we still cling to the contemplation of being.
 82 Translation
Hence, if souls are weakened before [they drink from] the cup232 [of
oblivion], and if they come to be in matter and descend into matter
after the flight from up there, [it can] no longer [be held that]
15 weakness and evils in general occur in souls because of matter. For
what could something do to other things that is itself incapable of
doing anything? And also, how could that which on its own is without
qualities233 have the capacity to do something?
Does matter draw souls to itself or are they drawn by themselves
and become separated through their own power, or [rather] their own
powerlessness? If souls are drawn by themselves, evil for them will
20 consist in an impulse towards the inferior and the desire for it, and
not in matter. Indeed, for each thing evil is the flight from the better,
and even more is it the flight towards the worse. And because of their
weakness such souls suffer what they ought to suffer when they have
chosen badly. If, on the other hand, souls are drawn by matter – that
is, if we attribute the cause of their generation to the attraction
matter exercises upon souls, as something that draws them – where
25 is their self-motion and ability to choose?234 Or how can one explain
why among the souls that are generated in matter, some gaze at
intellect and the good, whereas others gaze at generation and matter,
if matter draws all of them alike to itself, troubling them and doing
violence to them even when they are in the upper regions? These will
be the conclusions of the argument: it will compel us to demonstrate
not just that matter is not evil, but even, trying to prove what is
contrary to the first thesis,235 that matter is good.236
34. It may seem that Plato himself, too, is drawn, as it were, to both
argumentations. For when, in the Timaeus, he calls matter the
‘mother’237 and ‘wet-nurse’238 of generation and a ‘co-cause’239 of the
fabrication of the world, it is clear to everyone that he takes matter
5 to be good, since he calls the entire world a ‘blessed god’,240 and matter
a portion of the world. But in the argument of the Eleatic Stranger241
he refers the cause of ‘the disorder of the universe’ to its substrate,
when he says that ‘the world possesses all things good from its
composer’, but that the contrary of the good originates in the world
‘from the previous condition’ of the world. In the Philebus,242 however,
10 he produces matter itself and the whole nature of the unlimited from
the One, and, in general, places the divine cause before the distinction
between limit and the unlimited. Thus he will admit that matter is
something divine and good because of its participation in and origin
from god, and that is never evil. For he asserts that ‘one must look for
some other causes of evil and not consider god as its cause’,243 as is
said elsewhere.
15 Perhaps then disorder and evil happen not because of matter, but
because of ‘that which moves in an irregular and disorderly fash-
ion’.244 For this is ‘the corporeal nature’ that, as the Eleatic Stranger245
affirms, is ‘the cause of disorder’ for the lowest things of the universe;
 Translation 83
it cannot be matter, as there is motion in it, whereas matter is by itself
immobile. Nor is this first composite a body without qualities (for ‘it
is visible’, as Timaeus says,246 whereas that which is without qualities 20
is not visible), but rather with some impression of all the forms, a
brew of all forms so to speak. That is why this first composite by its
movement produces disorder. For the traces247 of the different forms
leading to different local motions show the irregularity of the motion
[of the first composite] in its totality. This then is the ‘previous
condition’.248 For as this ‘previous condition’ is incapable of being
dominated by the forms, it shows itself as being unadorned and 25
without beauty. And in wholes reason prevails, but in partial things
reason, because of its weakness, is vanquished by a nature contrary
to itself; there, reason is led to evil and, as it were, made irrational,
dominated as it is by the inferior.
35. How, then, the unnatural enters into bodies will be made clear
in a while. But that evil does not stem from matter, not even in the
case of bodies, is evident from these arguments. For matter is not
identical with ‘that which moves in an irregular fashion’.249 Moreover,
that it is wrong to posit matter as the primary evil, is, I think,
sufficiently demonstrated by Socrates in the Philebus, where he 5
argues that unlimitedness is generated from god.250 Also if one must
straightaway identify the unlimited with matter, matter is from god,
since we must say that the primary unlimited and all unlimitedness
belonging to being and deriving from a unique cause are generated
from god, and especially the unlimitedness that together with limit
cannot produce the mixture. For god is the cause both of the existence
of limit and the unlimited and of their mixture. This [unlimited], 10
therefore, and the nature of body, qua body, must be referred to one
cause, namely god, for it is he who produced the mixture. Hence,
neither body nor matter is evil, for they are the progeny of god, the
one as a mixture, the other as unlimitedness.251 That the unlimited is
to be placed beyond matter, Plato himself elsewhere clearly indicates,
using the following words: ‘Did not the three kinds give us all things 15
that come to be, and the constituents from which they come to be?’252
Hence body – and this too is a unity of all [these], since it is mixed,
and constituted by limit and reason, on the one hand, and unlimited-
ness, on the other– derives from the divine in two ways: as a whole
and on account of its parts. For what else is the unlimited in body but
matter? And what else is limit in it but form?253 What else but the
whole is that which consists of both of these? If then ‘the things 20
themselves that are generated and their constituents’,254 are (1) the
mixed, (2) limit, and (3) the unlimited, and if ‘that which produces
these three kinds’ is something else, ‘a fourth kind’, as he calls it
himself,255 then we will not say that either matter, or form, or the
mixed are produced as a mixture from anywhere else than from god. 25
And what could be evil that stems from there? Just as warmth cannot
 84 Translation
refrigerate, good cannot produce evil.256 Hence neither matter nor
body may be called evil.
36. Perhaps, then, someone may ask us what our opinion is con-
cerning matter, whether we consider it to be good or evil, and in what
respect [we may admit] either of these options. Let this, then, be our
decision: that matter is neither good nor evil. For if it is good, it will
5 be a goal, instead of the last of things, and it will be ‘that for the sake
of which’257 and desirable. For all good is like this, since the primary
good is the goal, that for the sake of which everything [exists], and the
object of desire for all beings.
If, on the other hand, matter is evil, it will be a god and an
alternative principle of beings, dissident from the cause of good
things, and there will be ‘two sources releasing their flow in opposite
directions’, one the source of good things, the other of evil things.258
10 Even for the gods themselves there will not be an unharmed life, nor
a life free from mortal toiling,259 since something for them will be
difficult to bear, foreign and troubling as it were.
If, then, matter is neither good nor evil, what will it be in its own
right? We should repeat what has been often said about matter, that
it is a necessity. Indeed, the nature of good is one thing, that of evil
15 another, and they are contrary to each other. But there is another, a
third nature, that is neither simply good nor evil, but necessary.
Indeed, evil leads away from the good and flees from its nature; but
the necessary is everything it is for the sake of the good, and it has a
relation to the good. And any generation that befalls the necessary,
happens because of the good. If then matter exists for the sake of
20 generation, and if no other nature exists for the sake of matter in such
a way that we could call it the goal or the good,260 then we must say
that matter is necessary to generation, that it is not evil and that it
is produced by divinity as necessary,261 and that it is necessary for the
forms that are incapable of being established in themselves.262
For the cause of all good things had to produce not only beings that
25 are good and that are good by themselves, but also the nature that is
not absolutely and intrinsically good, but that desires the good and
through its desire – and, as it were, by itself – gives other things the
possibility of coming into being. Indeed, through its need for good
things this nature [i.e. matter] contributes to the creation of the
sensibles. For being, too, imparts existence not only to beings, but also
to things that desire a participation in Being itself. For those things,
30 being consists in the desire for being.263 Hence, that which is primarily
desirable is one thing; another thing is that which desires this and
possesses good through this; yet another thing is everything that is
intermediate, which is desirable to some things, but itself desires
other things, namely the things that are prior to it and for the sake of
which it exists.
37. If we consider matter itself from this perspective, we will see
 Translation 85
that it is neither good nor evil, but only necessary; in having been
produced for the sake of good it is good, but taken on its own it is not
good; and as the lowest of beings it is evil264 – if indeed what is most
remote from the good is evil265 – but taken on its own it is not evil, but 5
necessary, as we have explained.
And in general, it is not true that evil exists on its own anywhere,
for there is no unmixed evil, no primary evil. For if evil were contrary
to the good in all respects, then, given the fact that the good that is
on its own and primary precedes the good in other things, evil, too,
has to be twofold: evil itself, and evil in something else.266 10
But if evil is [only] contrary to those goods that have their being in
something else, then a fortiori evil is in something else and does not
exist on its own;267 neither does the good of which evil is the contrary
exist on its own, but it exists only in something else and not sepa-
rately. Indeed, what would be contrary to the primary good? I do not
mean evil, but what else among beings [would be contrary to the
primary good]? For all beings exist because of the good and for the 15
sake of the good. But that the contrary exists because of the nature of
its contrary, that is impossible; it is rather the case that [because of
the latter] the contrary does not exist. For contraries are destroyed by
each other. And in general all contraries proceed from a single sum-
mit268 and genus.269 But what would be the genus of the first good?
Indeed, what could be beyond the nature of the good? What among 20
beings could become homogeneous270 to it? For in that case it would
be necessary that there be something else prior to both of them, of
which either one of them would be a part. And the good would no
longer be the principle of beings. No, the principle of beings would be
the principle that is common to both these.271
Hence, nothing is contrary to the primary good, and neither to all
things that participate in it, but there is only contrariety to things
whose participation is not immutable. Of these, however, we have 25
spoken before.

[Is privation evil?]

38. Here we have to dismiss the discussion of matter, and proceed
again272 to the question of privation, since [there are] also some [who]
say that this is evil and completely contrary to the good.273 For matter
remains as a substrate when the form is present, whereas privation
has no being at all, as it is always an evil agent and contrary to the 5
forms. And matter desires the good, strives for it and partakes in it,
whereas privation flees the good, is the cause of destruction and is
completely evil.274
But [this is not correct]: if the primary good were identical with
being, and were at the same time good and being, and were one
nature, then indeed privation would have to be primary evil, for
privation is as such non-being and contrary to being.275 But if, on the
 86 Translation
10 contrary, the good is different from being, and both are not identical,
then evil, too, must be different from privation. And just as the good
is not being but beyond being, and being itself is not as such <good>
but a descent from the good and its first illumination and as it were
its splendour, so it is with privation: as such [it is not evil]. For the
presence of privation does not yet entail that there is evil, whereas
total privation implies that the evil nature has disappeared. What I
15 mean is this: the body is diseased, when there is disorder, yet not total
disorder. For the total privation of order at once destroys the subject
and the evil present in it.276
And that which is not yet generated is a privation, but not evil.
Fire, for instance, and water and other elements are on their own
[privations] of that which may be constituted out of them but is not
20 yet; but none of these are as yet evil. In general, disorder and
unmeasuredness, as we have said earlier,277 can be taken in two
different ways: either as an absence of these – I mean, of measure and
order – or as a nature contrary to these qualities. For the latter
opposes order and measure, while the former is merely the depriva-
tion of these and nothing but their negation; or rather, when these
[properties] are present they are what they are, but, when absent,
25 they just leave behind privations of themselves.278 Therefore, if evil is
contrary to the good and discordant with it, but privation neither
opposes the disposition of which it is the privation, nor is disposed to
do anything, as its being is so weak and wraith-like279 – as they say –
how could we still attribute the evil agency to privation, of which all
30 activity is denied? For activity is a form and a power, whereas
privation is formless and weak, and not power but rather absence of
power.280
Hence, from what has been said, it is evident what the beings are
in which evil exists, and what those are in which it does not exist.

[Corollary: are evils of bodies greater than evils of souls?]

39. Because, however, evil exists in souls in one way and in bodies in
another, what ranking of evils is to be assumed, where does evil start,
and how far does the decline extend? Indeed, is the evil in souls
greater than that in bodies, or is the evil in bodies the ultimate evil
5 and the evil in souls a weaker evil? With respect to the evil in the soul,
one kind extends to the activity alone, but another dominates the soul
altogether, introducing various ‘fractures’ to some of its powers and
paralysing others, as Plato281 says.282
If, indeed, mere obstruction of activity is one thing, and the kind
[of obstruction] that extends to the very power another, and yet
10 another the kind that destroys the substance, and if the first kind is
a passion of divine souls that are in contact with the realm of
generation, the second the evil of souls who bring with them a weaker
brightness of intellect, the third already the evil of bodies them-
 Translation 87
selves,283 then the first will be only an apparent evil, the third will be
a true evil that curtails being and the nature in which it is present,
and the second will be intermediate between these, being evil to the
powers but unable to affect substance. 15
In general, that which can damage greater things is a greater evil.
Substance is above power and power is above activity. And that which
destroys substance at the same time destroys power and activity; that
which destroys power [also destroys] activity. Hence the destruction
of these [i.e. power and activity] cannot entail that of substance, nor
can power be abolished as a consequence of the cessation of activity. 20
Or perhaps, evil that extends to activity is privation and not
contrariety, whereas <that which is destructive of either power or
substance> is the contrary of <either power or> substance.284 But the
contrary of a greater good is a greater evil. Therefore, the evil in souls
is a greater evil than that in bodies. This is not the case for all souls,
but only for those whose power can be affected. For those souls whose 25
activity alone can be affected, the evil is lesser and is only the absence
of complete perfection and [a certain] decline. One kind of evil [sc. that
of souls] is indeed contrary to virtue, the other [sc. that of bodies] to
the goods of the body; the first is contrary to what is according to
intellect, the second to what is according to nature.285 To the extent
therefore that intellect is better than nature and that what is accord-
ing to intellect is better than what is according to nature, to that
extent what is a deviation from intellect will be a greater evil than 30
what is a deviation from nature. Is it a surprise then, that the latter
[sc. the evil of body, which goes against nature] destroys substance,
the former [sc. the evil of soul, which goes against intellect] only
power? Indeed, when one particular evil destroys the substance and
another the power of the same thing, then that which destroys the
substance is evil in a greater degree. But when destruction affects
different [aspects] of different things, then there is no absurdity in 35
admitting that what destroys the power, being more remote from the
nature of the good, exceeds in evil. For instance, the power of one
thing may be better than the substance [of another], as in the case of
the powers of the soul which are said to generate and preserve the
substance of the body. Hence, it is this evil of the soul that Socrates
in the Republic calls ‘an altogether terrible evil’, adding that it would
not have been such had it been ‘lethal’. For then it would swiftly 40
reduce the souls affected by it to non-existence.286 However, it is better
to be non-existent than to have an evil existence, as the first case is a
privation of being, and the second a privation of the good. This also
shows that corporeal evil is not more troublesome than malice is in
souls. For corporeal evil when it intensifies leads to non-existence,
whereas evil of the soul leads to an evil existence.287
If what we say is correct, we have just given an additional argu- 45
ment for [our claim] that matter is not the primary evil: indeed, body,
 88 Translation
which is nearer to matter than souls are, is replete with a lesser evil.
But one [would expect] that what is more remote from the good is
worse, and that what participates more in evil a greater evil. But in
50 souls the evil is greater and in bodies less, because the order of the
souls is different from that of the bodies. Indeed, among the souls
those that dwell on high are completely pure, others admit <badness
in their activity, and for these evil consists in the privation of>
activity, and in yet others the reception of evil extends as far as their
powers. And among bodies some always remain in order, whereas
there are others whose activity and power vary at different times, and
55 yet others whose substance may receive evil. This much about the
order [of evils].

[The causes of evil]

40. Next we would like to examine evil itself: what it is and what its
nature is. But first we should look at the causes of evil and ask
ourselves whether there is one and the same cause for all evils or not.
For some say there is, but others deny this.
5 Some indeed say that there is a fount of evils, and from this fount
is produced every evil of whatever kind;288 others posit a maleficent
soul as the principle of the nature of evil and say that the evils are
generated from there.289 Others again take a middle position290 and
leave forms of evils in the intellective nature, from which, they claim,
evils have their procession just like all other things.
10 Philosophers come to those conclusions from different supposi-
tions; some of them even make Plato the father of their doctrines.291
Those, indeed, who place the ideas of all things in the intellective
realm adduce what is said by Socrates in the Theaetetus as corrobo-
ration of their doctrine, namely, that there are two kinds of
‘paradigms, the one divine and the other godless’.292 Others cite the
15 Athenian stranger, who introduces two kinds of soul, ‘the one benefi-
cent, the other the opposite of beneficent’, and asserts that the
universe is governed by the first of these alone, but the mortal realm
by both.293 In general, if one must posit a unique cause of evils, then
it is cogent to think that this cause is either divine or intellective or
20 psychical. For gods, intellects and souls have received the rank of
causes.294 Of the other things, some are their instruments, others are
their simulacra and images produced in something else.
41. In answer to those who contend that there is a fount of evils,
what has been said before is sufficient. For all the gods and all the
founts are causes of good. They neither are nor ever will be causes of
any evil. As we have said before,295 and as Socrates in the Phaedrus
asserts, if ‘everything divine is good, beautiful and wise’,296 either it
5 [i.e. this alleged fount of evil] will act contrary to its nature when
contriving the generation of evil things, or everything that takes its
 Translation 89
existence from there will have the character of the good and will be
the offspring of the goodness that remains in itself.297 But, as they say,
it does not pertain to fire to refrigerate, nor to good to produce evil
from itself.298 Hence, one of two things must follow: either evil must
not be said to be evil, if it is of divine origin, or evil exists and has no
divine origin. But we have shown299 above that it exists. Therefore, 10
‘there must be other causes of evil, not god’ – as Plato himself
somewhere teaches,300 establishing that for all good things the proces-
sion is from one cause, and referring the generation of evil things to
other causes, not to the divine cause. For everything that takes its
existence from there is good. Hence the whole is good. And the light
of goodness, which is as it were the light of the heart,301 is in the gods,
whereas all other light and brightness is from this light, and also all 15
power and every single part of its power.
But blessed and truly happy are those who say that evil things, too,
are adorned by the gods, and that the unlimitedness of evil things is
measured and their darkness bounded by them, insofar as evils, too,
receive a portion of the good and are allotted the power to exist. These
people have called this cause by which evils, too, are adorned and
ordered the fount of evils, not in that it were the mother that gives 20
birth to them – for it is inconceivable that the first causes of beings
would be the principle[s] of the generation of evils – but as providing
them with limit and end, and as illuminating their darkness by its
own light. Indeed, for evils, too, the unlimited is due to partial causes,
and limit to universal causes. Therefore, for particular things evil is
real evil, but for wholes it is not evil.302 For the unlimited exists in 25
them [i.e. in the particular things] not according to power (so that
their unlimitedness would enable them to participate in the nature of
the good), but because of a lack of power, whereas they are corrobo-
rated, in a sense, by the good through the participation of limit.
42. The people who are of such an opinion believe that not even the
generation of evils is without order and make god also the cause of
the order of evils. It seems to me, however, that not only the barbari-
ans303 but also the most eminent of the Greeks304 acknowledge in the
gods knowledge305 of all things, both good and evil, but they let the
good things come directly from the gods, evil things only insofar as 5
they, too, have received a portion of good and a power to be and a limit.
Evil is not unmixed evil, as we have said repeatedly, but it is evil in
one respect and good in another. And insofar as it is good, it is from
the gods; but insofar as it is evil, it is from another, impotent, cause.306
For all evil comes about through impotence and lack, just as the good 10
gets its existence from and in power, for the power is of and in the
good.307 Indeed, if evil were exclusively evil without an admixture, it
would be unknown to the gods, who are good and have the power to
make all things good that derive their being from them, that is all
things of which they have knowledge, since their cognitions are active 15
 90 Translation
powers, and creative of all beings of which they are said to be
cognitions. Given, however, that evil is simultaneously evil and, in
another respect, good, and not partly good, partly evil, and that
everything which it is is good and rather good [than evil], because it
is such for the whole308 – [given all this,] neither the knowledge that
is in the gods nor the generation that stems from them is to be
20 abolished. No, the gods know and produce evil qua good.309 Hence, in
the same way as they know it, they have it, and with them the causes
of evils are the powers that impart good to the nature of those evils,
just as one might say of the forms that they are intellective powers
formative of formless nature.310
43. It is a good thing, however, that our discussion has led us to
speak of forms and the order of forms. Could evils and the generation
of evils pertain perhaps to them, as well?311 If not, from where do evils,
too, obtain the property of being incessant? For everything that exists
perpetually, proceeds from some immobile and definite cause.312 If,
therefore, evil perpetually ‘revolves about our mortal region’,313 what
5 is this perpetuity and from where does it come? For we cannot say
that it proceeds from any other cause than that which always exists
in the same manner, that is, from an immutable nature. But this is
precisely the nature of the forms, and that which always exists, is
good. And what, indeed, will come about in intellect that is not good?
If then a being residing in intellect is good, whatever comes about in
accordance with the forms is good – for that which is assimilated to
10 the good is good, whereas evil, insofar as it is evil, is not disposed to
be assimilated to good. We call the person who assimilates himself to
the intellective forms perfect and happy. But it is the complete oppo-
site for the evil person: him we call miserable and unhappy. For the
evil person, insofar as he is evil, does not assimilate himself to the
intellect.314 This being the case, it is clear that there will be no
15 paradigms of evils in intellect. For every image is an image of a
paradigm. If, however, Plato calls the forms the most divine of beings
– for the Eleatic Stranger says that a ‘perpetual sameness of existence
pertains only to the most divine of all things’315 – and if, as we have
said,316 the paradigm of evil is ‘godless and dark’,317 how could we
maintain that such a nature is present in the forms, and derive evil
20 from there? Moreover,318 if the demiurge of the universe with whom
all the forms and the series of forms are to be found, did not want evil
to exist in the universe, and ‘wished to generate all things similar to
himself ’,319 and did not wish to generate evil, how then would he still
contain a paradigm of evils, he who makes ‘all things good and does
not allow anything to be bad’?320 For it is not the case that he creates
25 and generates using some forms only, while being sterile and ineffec-
tual with respect to others. No, by his very being he produces all
things, and he acts in an undivided manner.321 And a form of evil [i.e.
if it existed in the demiurge] would generate evil, so that the demi-
 Translation 91
urge would not exclusively do what he wanted, and his will would not
be in accordance with his nature. It would be as if fire that warms but
also dries wanted to do the one but not the other. Hence, one of two 30
things is necessary: either the divine intellect wishes evil things to
exist and to be generated, if the demiurge according to his own
essence is the father of evils, too; or, not willing them, he will neither
generate nor produce them nor possess their forms (the forms by
which he brings all encosmic beings into existence).
44. However, this argument is not sufficient even to persuade itself
of its truth, as it often shifts towards contrary conclusions. But if we
assert that evil is perpetual and, admitting that the causes of perpet-
ual beings are immobile, refuse to accept such a cause to be evil, there
should be no reason for surprise. For we call ‘eternal’ that which has
a progression towards being according to nature, but not what comes 5
to be in any way whatever. Hence this ‘revolving about’322 must apply
to evils, not insofar as each is evil, but in that these evils too are
adorned by the order of the universe and especially by the heaven: it
gives a share of eternity to things generated, of circular periodicity to
rectilinear motions,323 of order to disorderly things, of boundary to 10
indeterminate things, of goodness to evil things. Everything, there-
fore, that exists according to nature and exists always, is generated
from a definite cause, but evil is not according to nature. For there is
no rational principle of limping in nature, just as there is no principle
of artlessness in art.324
Why then should we look for an immobile principle in their case?
And what could be a rational principle of evils in the forms, if all 15
things that come about in accordance with them are forms and limits,
whereas the nature of evil things is unlimited and indeterminate in
itself?
45. In the third place, therefore, we have to consider the soul, and
ask ourselves if that soul, which we call maleficent,325 is to be blamed
as the cause of all evils. Is it either the essence of this soul to generate
evil and to infect with malice all things to which it comes close, just
like it is the essence of fire to warm and not to refrigerate anything –
and just as other things each have their own function? Or does this
soul, though invariably good by nature, nevertheless in its activities 5
behave now in this way, then in another way, projecting now this, then
that kind of life? If the latter should be the reason it is called
maleficent, not <only> the irrational soul must be called maleficent,
but also the soul that is superior to it and from which it derives its
good, for this soul, too, can change to better and worse states. If, on 10
the other hand, it is maleficent in its essence and by its very being, as
some maintain, from where shall we say that it derives this being?
From any other source than from the demiurgic cause and the encos-
mic gods? And how is it possible that it should not proceed from these
causes,326 from which the species of mortal life originates? But if it
 92 Translation
proceeds from these, how can it be evil in substance? Indeed, these
15 causes and their offspring are good. And in general all evil is outside
the substance and is not substance. For nothing is contrary to sub-
stance,327 but good is contrary to evil. Substance is an image of being;
being, on the other hand, is situated in the good and generates all
things according to the good; and nothing that comes from there is
evil.
If however the Athenian stranger328 calls ‘maleficent’ such a soul on
20 account of the evil in its powers and activities, [we must say that] even
that soul does not always remain, [but is now in this, then in that
state. If the irrational soul persists,] whereas this soul can somehow
also be made good and can adapt its own activities to a superior soul,
why wonder? There is indeed a kind of soul that is disposed to
preserve itself, whereas another is incapable of reverting to itself. And
25 the soul that has made itself evil but then takes on a good aspect
possesses measure and reason [in itself], whereas the other has them
from elsewhere,329 because body, too, and all things that receive
movement from something else, have being and goodness of being
because of something else and as something from the outside.
46. But it would be absurd and sacrilegious,330 so to speak, to make
such a soul the cause of evils, since it is neither for the body the cause
of all evils that are in it, nor for a superior soul. Indeed for the latter,
evil and weakness come from the soul itself, as the mortal life-form is
5 woven onto the soul when it descends; but weakness is already there
before the soul has been allotted generation, as the downward fall of
the soul is not to be imputed to anything else than to its weakness and
incapacity for contemplation.331 We do not flee from the contemplation
of being nor does disorder affect our contemplation when we are both
capable of and agreeable to being established in the intellective
realm. Nor is it in any way possible for those who are capable [of
seeing] not to see what is in the superior realm merely because they
10 do not want to see. Indeed, even at a distance ‘all souls aspire to what
is above’; ‘but,’ Plato says, ‘when they are impotent they are carried
around in a submerged condition’.332
Hence, weakness alone remains as an explanation. For ‘the eyes of
the soul cannot bear to look’ at truth itself and at ‘the brightness’ of
the higher world.333 Therefore, evil is present in the soul, not as a
consequence of its ‘secondary life’334 but from much earlier on.335
15 But the way in which evil is present in this soul and why Plato has
called this soul maleficent has been explained sufficiently for the
present. For its unmeasuredness and indeterminateness are contrary
to measure and the limits that proceed from reason. And not only is
this soul deprived of these; it does not even desire to attain them. If
one looks at all of this, then, one will call that soul maleficent and
20 contrary to reason, not because it would be something which has been
allotted this kind of nature, but rather something that has this
 Translation 93
inclination,336 although it is capable of being drawn away from itself
towards better things.
47. But if these are not the causes of evils, what then will we
ourselves claim to be the cause of their coming to be?337 By no means
should we posit one cause that is a unique, per se cause of evils. For
if there is one cause of good things, there are many causes of evils,
and not one single cause.338 If all good things are commensurate with,
similar to, and friendly with one another, with evils it is the complete 5
opposite: neither among themselves nor in relation to good beings do
they have a common measure. Indeed, if things that are similar to one
another must have one antecedent cause, but things that are dissimi-
lar a multitude of causes – for all things that stem from one cause are
friendly and sympathetic to each other and ‘affable’,339 some to a
greater, others to a lesser degree – we have to posit not one cause of
evils, but a multitude of causes, some for souls, others for bodies, and 10
examine evil from these causes and in these causes.340
And it seems to me that Socrates in the Republic intimates this,
when he says that the divinity is not to be held responsible: ‘we must
look for some other causes of evils.’341 For by these words he signifies
that these causes are many and indefinite, and that they are particu-
lar. For what monad or what boundary or what eternal principle could 15
there be for evils, the very being of which, down to the level of
individual beings, is naturally defined by dissimilitude and indefi-
niteness? The whole, on the contrary, is everywhere without badness.
48. These, then, are the efficient causes of evil, and such are certain
souls and the forms that exist in matter. For the former [i.e. the souls]
throw themselves into evil, whereas the latter [i.e. the forms in
matter], being adverse to each other, create room for the coming to be
of the unnatural, since that which is according to nature for one thing
is unnatural for another. If you wish to have a paradigm of evils as 5
well, you might refer to ‘that godless and dark thing’, revealed by
Socrates in the Theaetetus,342 a form of badness ‘revolving with neces-
sity around the mortal nature’. Indeed, souls assimilate themselves
to evil beings and exchange the assimilation to what is better for the
life of these evil beings. For the soul does behold the paradigms of 10
good things when it is converted to itself and to beings superior to
itself; there the primarily good things and the summits of beings
‘seated on their holy seat’343 exist, in separation. But when it beholds
paradigms of evil things it looks at things external to and inferior to
itself, things that are particular and external to themselves, disor-
derly and indefinite and irregular by their own nature. These things
are deprived of the good things and the things by which ‘the eye of the 15
soul’344 is ‘nourished’ and ‘watered’345 so that it can lead its own life.
Hence, the efficient causes of evils are not reasons and powers, but
lack of power, weakness, and a discordant communion and mixture of
dissimilar things. Nor are they some immobile paradigms that always
 94 Translation
remain the same, but rather such as are unlimited and indeterminate
20 and are borne along in other things – unlimited things, that is.
49. Certainly one must not put the final cause of all among the
causes of evil. Indeed, it would not be suitable that the good were the
goal of evils. But since souls pursue what is in every way good and do
everything, including evil things, for its sake, someone might perhaps
think that for evils, too, the good is the final cause. For all things are
5 for the sake of this good, all the good and all the contrary things alike.
Indeed, when we act badly, we do so out of ignorance as to the nature
of these deeds, despite our desire for the good. And perhaps it will be
better to make neither the efficient cause, nor the natural paradigm,
nor the per se final cause the principal cause of evils. For the form of
10 evils, their nature, is a kind of defect, an indeterminateness and a
privation; their [mode of existence, or] hupostasis, is, as it is usually
said, more like a kind of [parasitic existence, or] parupostasis.346
Therefore, evil is often said to be involuntary.347 Indeed, how could
it be voluntary if it is done for the sake of the good, whereas according
to what it actually is, it is that which is neither desirable to nor willed
by any being? We shall, however, discuss these things elsewhere.
15 But from what has been said it is evident that the evil in souls
arises from weakness and from the pull of the inferior – for, as Plato
says, the horse that participates in evil becomes heavy, and verges to
the earth348 – and that evil in bodies arises from the mixture of
dissimilar things, I mean form and the formless, or from the mixture
of contrary rational principles.349

[The mode of existence and the nature of evil]

50. We must next consider what the mode of evil is and how it comes
into existence from the above-mentioned causes and non-causes. Here
we have to bring in the aforementioned parupostasis [i.e. parasitic
existence]. For there is no other way of existing for that which neither
is produced, in any way whatever, from a principal cause, nor has a
5 relation to a definite goal and a final cause, nor has received in its own
right an entry into being, since anything whatever that exists prop-
erly must come from a cause in accordance with nature – indeed,
without a cause it is impossible for anything to come about350 – and
must relate the order of its coming about to some goal.351
In which class of things should we, then, place evil? It would belong
10 to the beings that have their being accidentally and on account of
something else, and not from a principle of their own, would it not?
For we do everything and we act in our own right for the sake of
participation in the good, gazing on it, and, as it were, being in labour
for it and always desiring it. The resulting [action] is in some respect
right, and in another not right: insofar as we consider what is not good
15 as good, it is not right; but insofar as we endeavour to obtain the good
 Translation 95
through our action, it is right.352 We are also right insofar as we
envisage the good in its universality, but as considering the good in
particular, we are wrong. What is desirable to us is thus something
other than that which happens and which is attained, the first being
the nature of the good, the latter the contrary.
Therefore, if generation of the contrary takes place, in whichever
way this comes about, because of the weakness of the agent or because
of the incommensurability with that which actually happens, would 20
we be right in saying that it exists rather than that it exists parasiti-
cally upon what happens? Or is it not rather the case that existence
belongs to those beings that proceed from causes towards a goal, but
parasitic existence to beings that neither appear through causes in
accordance with nature nor result in a definite end? 25
Evils, then, do not have a principal cause for their generation, a
so-called efficient cause – for neither is nature the cause of what
happens contrary to nature, nor is reason the cause of what happens
contrary to reason – nor do evils attain the final goal, for the sake of
which everything that comes about exists. Therefore it is appropriate
to call such generation a parasitic existence [parupostasis], in that it
is without end and unintended, uncaused in a way and indefinite. For 30
neither is there one cause for it, nor does that which is a cause in its
own right and a principal cause produce effects for the sake of evil
itself and the nature of evil, nor [is this the case for] anything which
is not a principal cause nor a cause in its own right. No, it is the exact
opposite: everything that is produced, is produced for the sake of the 35
good; but evil, coming from outside and being adventitious,353 consists
in the non-attainment of that which is the appropriate goal of each
thing.
The non-attainment is due to the weakness of the agent, since the
agent has received a nature of such a kind that a part of it is better,
a part worse, each part being separate from the other. For where the
One is, there at the same time is the good. But evil is – and the One
is not – present in a split nature. For incommensurability, dishar- 40
mony and contrariety are in multitude; and from these weakness and
indigence proceed. Indeed, in the gods, too, are to be found the ‘winged
nature’ and ‘both horses’;354 but there ‘these are all good, consist of
good things’ and not ‘of contrary things’.355 But in other beings these
are mixed; in them there is multitude and diversity of powers, and
each [of these powers] pulls towards different things. In the superior 45
realm multitude looks at the One and is determined according to one
kind of life. But where multitude and diversity appear because of a
decrease in union, there lack of power appears – for all power is what
it is by the One and from the One –, as well as disharmony and
dissidence of one thing from the other, each being drawn by its own
desires.
 96 Translation
50 So we have explained the way in which evils are produced, what
the so-called parupostasis is, and where it comes from.
51. Now we have to say what the nature of evil itself is.356 It will
appear, however, to be the most difficult of all things to know the
nature of evil in itself, since all knowledge is contact with form and is
a form,357 whereas evil is formless and like a kind of privation. But
5 perhaps even this will become clear, if we look at the good itself and
at the number of good things and thus consider what evil is.358 For just
as the primary good surpasses all things, so evil itself is destitute of
all good things – I mean insofar as it is evil – and is a lack and
privation of these.
Regarding the good, we have remarked elsewhere359 on its exten-
sion, on the manner in which it exists, and on the orders it possesses.
With respect to evil, on the other hand, we should say the following.
10 From the fact that qua evil it is a complete privation of goodness, it
follows that:

(1) as evil it is deprived of the fount of good things;

(2.1.1) as unlimited [it is deprived] of the first limit;360
(2.1.2) as weakness [it is deprived] of the power that resides there;361
(2.1.3) as incommensurate and false and ugly [it is deprived] of
‘beauty’, ‘truth’ and ‘measure’362 – by which the mixed is
produced, and in which the henads of beings reside;363
15 (2.2) as being unfounded in its own nature, and unstable, it is
deprived of ‘eternity which remains in one’364 – and of the
power of eternity; for ‘not in the same way’ is typically said of
impotence;
(2.3) as privation365 and lifelessness it is deprived of the first
monad of forms and of the life that is there.

And if evil is destructive, and the cause of division for any being to
which it is present,366 and imperfect, it is deprived of (3) the goodness
that perfects complete beings. For the destructive leads from (3.1)
20 being to non-being; the divisive destroys (3.2) the continuity and
union of being; and the imperfect prevents each thing from obtaining
(3.3) its perfection and natural order.
Moreover, the indefiniteness of the nature of evil is a failure and a
deprivation of the (4.1) unitary summit; its barrenness is deprivation
of (4.2) the summit of fertility; and its inactivity is deprivation of (4.3)
25 the summit of demiurgy. Withdrawal, and weakness, and indetermi-
nateness, then, consist in the privation of these goods, privation, that
is, of the monadic cause, of generative power, and of efficient creation.
But if evil is also the cause of dissimilitude, division, and disorder,
it is clearly necessary that it is deprived of (5) assimilative goods, and
of (5.1) the indivisible providence of divisible beings, and of the order
30 that exists in the divided beings. Since, however, the good is not
 Translation 97
limited to this level, but there is also (6) the immaculate class, and
the effective and the splendid in its accomplishments, evil then will
be ineffectual, dark and material. Or from where will it obtain each
of these and similar properties, if not from privations of these good
things? For in the higher realm the good things exist primarily; and
it is of these higher goods that also the good in us is a part and an
image; and the privation of the good in us is evil. As a consequence it 35
is also a privation of those goods, to which, as we claim, the good bears
a resemblance.
And why say more, since it is obvious that evil in bodies is not only
privation of the good that resides in them, but also of the good that
prior to them resides in souls? For the good in bodies consists in being
the image of the good in souls. Destruction, therefore, and the priva-
tion of form will be nothing other than the falling from intellective 40
power, for form, too, is the offspring of Intellect, and that which
produces forms is intellective in substance.
Now, about that which is in every sense evil this much has been
said: it is a privation of goods and a deficiency.
52. From where does evil, its nature being such as we have ex-
plained, derive its opposition to the good? Let us explain this now.367
Evil is indeed privation, though not complete privation.368 For being
coexistent with the very disposition of which it is privation, it not only
weakens this disposition by its presence, but also derives power and 5
form from it. Hence, whereas privations of forms, being complete
privations, are mere absences of dispositions, and do not actively
oppose them, privations of goods actively oppose the corresponding
dispositions and are somehow contrary to them. For they are not
altogether impotent and inefficacious; no, they are both coexistent
with the powers of their dispositions, and, as it were, led by them to 10
form and activity.
Plato, too, acknowledged this when he said that on its own injustice
is weak and inactive,369 but that through the presence of justice it
acquires power and is led towards activity, not abiding in its own
nature nor in mere lifelessness, because that which brings forth
injustice, being vital, imparts even to evil a participation in life. All
life, however, is essentially power. And once evil has established itself 15
in a power that belongs to something else, evil is contrary to the good,
and it uses the power proper to the latter in order to combat it. And
the stronger the power is that inheres in evil, the greater will be the
actions and works of evil; and the weaker its power, the more meagre
its actions and works.
In fact, even in bodies the activity contrary to nature ceases
proportionally to their physical powers, although when order is en- 20
tirely dissolved the unnatural exists in greater degree.370 Therefore,
in souls, too, greater effects are produced from lesser vices, and lesser
from greater.371 For when a vice becomes isolated from its contrary, it
 98 Translation
increases in ugliness and deformity, but diminishes in strength and
activity, becoming weak and ineffectual. For a vice does not have
25 power from itself, – such that an increase in power would be a
transition to more – but derives power from the presence of its
contrary. This would be as if, for instance, coldness could use the
power of warmth for its own purposes, vanquishing and subduing the
power of warmth. Hence, when the nature that is the contrary [of
some vice]372 is deficient, as far as privation is concerned the vice will
be greater as the deficiency increases; but as far as action is con-
30 cerned, it will be weaker as the power diminishes. It will be a greater
evil, but less effective.
53. If, then, we are right in our claims, we must assert that evil is
neither active nor powerful, but that it gets its capacity for acting and
its power from its contrary. Indeed, the good grows weak and ineffec-
tual through its admixture with evil, and evil participates in power
and activity because of the presence of the good. Both indeed are
together in one [subject].
5 In bodies the contrary becomes matter for its contrary, and the
natural strengthens the unnatural – or from where come its measure,
cycles, and the order of its cycles, if not from natural numbers and
from its natural disposition?373 – but the unnatural weakens the
natural, whereby [the body’s] natural [capacity] to act disappears and
10 the order in which the well-being of nature consists is dissolved.
Likewise in souls, evil, when it vanquishes good, uses the power of the
latter on behalf of itself. That is, it uses the power of reason and its
inventions on behalf of the desires. And they communicate to each
other a part of their nature, the one giving a share of its power, the
other of its weakness, since evil in itself is not able to act or to have
15 power. For all power is something good, and all activity is the exten-
sion of some power. And how could evil still be a power, being evil to
those who [allegedly] possess this power, if it is the function of all
power to preserve the being that possesses it and in which it resides,
whereas evil dissolves everything of which it is the evil?374
54. Hence evil is ineffectual and impotent on its own. But if it is
also involuntary, as Plato says,375 and unwilled,376 it will also for this
reason be a privation of the foremost triad of the good: will, power and
activity.377 For the good is willed, and powerful and efficacious on
5 account of its own nature, whereas evil is unwilled, weak and ineffi-
cacious. For no thing would desire that which may destroy it, nor does
it belong to a power to destroy what possesses it, nor does it belong to
an activity to have an existence that would not correspond to its
power.
But just as people desire evils which to them appear to be good, and
the evil appears to them as willed – for we call it thus on account of
10 its admixture with the good – likewise both power and productivity
exist only apparently in evil, because evil does not exist in its own
 Translation 99
right nor qua evil, but is external to that upon which it is parasitic
and in relation to which it is said to be evil. It seems to me that this
is also shown by Socrates in the Theaetetus, to those who are capable
of following him more or less, when he calls evil neither a privation
nor contrary to the good. For privation is not capable of producing 15
anything, and has indeed no capacity at all. Nor does the contrary of
itself possess a power or activity. But Socrates calls evil a ‘subcon-
trary’ (hupenantion) somehow, since in itself it is a privation indeed,
though not an absolutely complete privation, but a privation that,
together with a disposition and participating in the power and activ- 20
ity of this disposition, assumes ‘the part of the contrary’.378 And it is
neither a complete privation, nor contrary to the good, but subcon-
trary to it. And to those who are accustomed to listen attentively to
what he says it is clear that parupostasis [i.e. a parasitic existence]379
is what is really meant. From what we have said it is clear what evil
is, which nature it has, how and whence it exists.

[Different types of evils]

55. Let us speak next of the [specific] differences in evil and determine
how many they are and what they are. We have said earlier already
that one kind of evil is in the souls, another in bodies, and that evil in
souls is twofold, one residing in the irrational type of life, the other in
reason. Let us repeat once again: there are three things in which evil 5
exists, namely, the particular soul, the image of the soul, and the body
of individual beings.380 Now for the soul that is above, the good
consists in being according to intellect – because intellect is prior to
it. For the irrational soul it consists in being according to reason –
because for each thing being good comes from the thing immediately
superior to it. And for the body again it is being in accordance with
nature, because nature is the principle of motion and rest for it.381 If 10
this is the case, it is necessary that evil for the first is being contrary
to intellect, as being subcontrary to what is according to intellect; for
the second it is being contrary to reason, as in its case being good
means being according to reason; and for the third it is being contrary
to nature. These three species of evil inhere in the three natures that
are liable to weaken because of the decline into partial being. For 15
wholes, as we have often asserted, are in permanent possession of
their own good, whereas evil resides down here, I mean in particular
and individual beings; in these latter beings lack of power occurs
because of the decline in their very being, as well as an increase of
division, when their union is weakened.382
56. In general there is one [type of] evil in souls and another in
bodies; of these evils, that in souls is again twofold, with ‘disease’ on
the one hand, and ‘foulness’ on the other,383 as the Eleatic Stranger
somewhere says.384 Foulness is ‘ignorance’ and privation of intellect; 5
 100 Translation
disease, on the other hand, is ‘discord’ inside the soul and deficiency
in the life according to reason. In this respect, too, evil will be
threefold,385 and each of these kinds will in its turn be twofold.
Foulness indeed differs according to whether it concerns discursive
thinking or opinion386 – as in these cases also the [mode of] cognition
is different – and may be either lack of knowledge or lack of skill.387
10 And also disease differs according to whether it affects cognitions or
impulses388 (appetites are not according to reason, just like many of
the sense-perceptions and precipitate sense-images389). For those
whose life consists in practical activity, [disturbance comes about]
because of opposing appetites; for those whose life consists in contem-
plation, the intervention of sense-images destroys the purity and
15 immaterial character of their contemplations. That which is contrary
to nature,390 too, may be twofold: foulness in the body is contrary to
nature, as it, too, is a weakness and a deficiency with respect to form;
in the case of disease, the order and proportion inherent in the body
are dissolved.
57. In so many ways, therefore, is evil to be divided. Since the
measures of beings are also to be found in the same three principles
– nature, soul, and intellect – likewise unmeasuredness is privation
either of the reasons inherent in nature, or of those inherent in soul,
5 or of those inherent in and generated from intellect. For that which
imparts order to each thing is better than what is ordered by it
primarily – I mean what primarily imparts order to each [of them].
Such is nature in bodies, reason in the irrational kinds of life, and in
the rational souls the good that is prior to them391 And for images [of
souls] [the good] exists because of the superior soul, insofar as all
10 these images also depend on such a soul, or because of that which is
an external principle, providing good for the beings over which it
exercises its providence. Finally, the good for bodies comes from a
particular for some; for others, from a universal nature.

[Providence and evil]

58. Perhaps someone may raise the question of how evils can exist
and where they come from, given the existence of providence. [For
there seem to be only two possibilities:] if there is evil, how will it not
stand in the way of that which is providential towards the good? On
the other hand, if providence fills the universe, how can there be evil
in beings? Some thinkers indeed yield to one of the two lines of
reasoning: either they admit that not everything comes from provi-
5 dence, and <acknowledge there is evil, or they> deny the existence of
evil, and maintain that everything comes from providence and the
good. And this indeed is a troubling problem. But perhaps one may
find a perspective from which both points of view do not conflict.392
Let us consider first this evil in souls in itself: if it were unmixed
 Translation 101
with its contrary and totally deprived of it, if it were utter darkness
and nothing but darkness, then perhaps it would be an obstruction to 10
the works of providence, from which come ‘all the good things and
nothing bad’.393 But if, as we have already repeatedly stated, this evil
is also good, if it is not an unmixed and absolute evil, but evil in a
certain sense and not unqualifiedly evil,394 then we must not, because
of its participation in the good, deny that it exists, nor because of the
wickedness that resides in it, deny that all things, including this [evil] 15
itself, are good and become good.
After all, saying that god is the cause of all things is not the same
as saying that he is the only cause of all things. The former statement
is correct, the latter is not. For intellect, too, is the cause of all things
that are posterior to it, and soul of the things that follow it, and nature
of bodies and all things pertaining to bodies. Each of these produces 20
in a different way, the one primordially and unitarily, the other
eternally, the next by self-movement and the last through necessity.395
And neither is that which produces intellectively the same as that
which is prior to it, nor as that which is posterior qua posterior. If then
all things come from providence and no thing is evil insofar as it is
through providence that it exists and comes to be, why would it be 25
absurd to admit that evil may have a place among beings insofar as
it gets its existence from soul? And the same thing will be evil to
particular things, but good for the whole. Or rather, is it not the case
that even for particular things it will only be evil insofar as it stems
from those things themselves, but not evil insofar as it stems from the
whole?396 For not only activity has its goodness from providence, but
also the agent.
How then is there good in them, I mean in the evils inherent in 30
souls? For only thus does providence keep its credibility and does not
leave any of these evils in the soul deprived of itself. Now, these evils,
too, must be held to be twofold: some internal, belonging to and
affecting the soul itself, for instance in the case of inappropriate
impressions or wrong assents or choices that are base in some way;
others exterior and manifesting themselves in various actions that 35
are done out of anger or desire.397
59. Now, all such things have in many ways good effects. For they
happen for the punishment of other beings, and the action performs
what is deserved.398 Moreover, acting badly towards a being that
needs suffering is not the same thing as acting badly towards any
being whatever. These actions are totally good as well to the one who
suffers them as to the one who performs them, insofar as the latter
follows the designs of the whole. But insofar as he does not follow 5
these, but performs such an action for his own motives, he does evil,
and he gives in to the woes of his soul that are not appropriate to him
nor grand. For the sufferer, it is nevertheless the beginning of salva-
tion.399 For many people conceal the evil which they contrive and
 102 Translation
which stays inside the soul, and make it [appear] good, as it [really]
is shameful and inappropriate, but when the evil is performed its
10 nature becomes evident. This is shown by the repentance and remorse
of the soul that reproaches itself, as it were, for the evil deed. In
medicine, too, doctors open ulcers and thus make evident the ailment
and the inwardly concealed cause of the disease. [In so doing,] they
display an image of the workings of providence, that hands [souls]
over to shameful doings and passions in order that they may be freed
15 from their pain,400 as well as this festering condition, swollen up with
evils, and then begin a better cycle and a better [type of] life.401
And all the internal passions of a soul that make the soul evil
possess goodness, in the sense that they always lead the soul towards
what is appropriate to it. For it is not possible for the soul to choose
the inferior and still remain among superior things. No, the soul will
soon be dragged towards darkness and baseness. And not only the
20 actions of the soul, but also its choices, even without action, are
punished. For every choice leads the soul towards a state similar [to
what has been chosen]. If then anything that is depraved, base and
godless in the soul will bring it to a like condition, the soul will soon
have what is good for it, namely that which it deserves according to
providence.402 Such is the law [implanted] in the souls,403 which guides
each soul to what is appropriate to it, one soul projecting [some type
25 of] life, while another attaches itself to things similar to it;404 this is
tantamount to the soul getting either what it deserves, or what is just,
[in other words], either what is according to providence, or what is
good.
If it were the fortune of the souls that act unjustly to remain above
– what an awful thing to say! – their choice would in no way exhibit
30 well-being. For their choice, being nothing but evil, would be utterly
godless and unjust. But if the choice removes the soul immediately
from the superior realities, then it possesses the good from there,
mixed with evil: for every soul by nature strives for that which is
superior. Hence, when souls fall, the shamefulness of their life be-
comes manifest to them. But every soul that does not operate
35 according to intellect necessarily falls, and for some the fall is steeper,
for others less, since the choices that they make are different too.
60. But how is the evil inherent in bodies at the same time good?
Is it because it is according to nature for the whole, but contrary to
nature for the part? Or rather, is it even for the part according to
nature insofar as it operates for the benefit of the whole, and contrary
to nature when cut from the whole?405
5 The evil inherent in bodies, as well, is twofold, one kind existing as
foulness, the other as disease406 – I call foul all things contrary to
nature that are not diseases, for monsters, too, are foulnesses of
nature. Of these two kinds, [let us first consider] foulness. Foulness
is in accordance with universal nature, as reason and form are to be
 Translation 103
found in it, <yet not in accordance with particular nature.> Indeed, in
a particular nature there is one rational principle, and what is 10
contrary to it is for this thing against nature, but in universal nature
all the rational principles and forms exist naturally. And (1) some-
times one thing only is generated out of one form – for ‘man is
begotten by man’, properly speaking;407 (2) sometimes many things
are generated out of one thing – for of a [certain] figure [there is only]
one formula, but [there are] many figures [that exist] in accordance
with this formula;408 (3) sometimes one thing is generated out of many, 15
as in the case of mixtures of matter-related forms – these mixtures
seem to be monsters with respect to the individual nature, which
desires to be dominated by and exist according to a single form; (4)
sometimes many things are generated from many things – equality
and inequality indeed are in many things. All the forms then, both
unmixed and mixed, are according to nature, and depend on the 20
rational principles in nature, that are all from the higher realm.
As to diseases, they are according to nature in another way, for each
of those evils is generated, as we say, in a twofold manner, according
to both the universal and the particular nature. What is perishable is
in accordance with the universal but contrary to the particular na-
ture. For the species into which that which perishes is transformed
possesses a rational principle from universal nature, a rational prin-
ciple that is contrary to the nature of the former thing [i.e. the thing
that perishes], and it has this rational principle not from the former 25
thing but from the whole. Insofar as transmutation is from above, it
is according to nature. It destroys some things and gives generation
to others. Insofar as there is a single rational principle in the thing
that changes, it is unnatural – indeed, when it concerns [the thing] as
a whole, the change is unnatural, for every being is a whole according 30
to the rational principle inherent in it; however, when it concerns [the
thing as] a portion of a whole, it is in accordance with nature, because
for the whole it is produced from another thing that is destroyed, and
its destruction again leads to the generation of another thing.409
61. Hence the evil in bodies is not evil without admixture. But in a
sense it is evil, insofar as it does not stem from the higher realm,
whereas in another sense it is good, insofar as it stems from natural
providence. And in general, how could one say that things that come
to be because of the good are completely divested of the good and 5
remain deprived of the nature of the good? For it is not possible that
evil exists without taking the appearance of its contrary, the good,
since everything is for the sake of the good,410 even evil itself. But then
all things are for the sake of the good, and divinity is not the cause of
evils.411 For never is evil qua evil derived from there; it stems from
other causes, which, as we have said, are able to be productive not on
account of power but on account of weakness. That is the reason, I 10
think, why Plato arranges everything there is around the king of
 104 Translation
everything, and asserts that everything is because of him, including
the things that are not good, for they appear as good and are part of
the beings. In the same spirit he names this the cause of all good
things; he does not just say ‘all things’, for it is not the cause of evil
15 things.412 But while it is not the cause of evils, nonetheless it is the
cause of all being. Indeed it is a cause of evils only in that they are
beings and insofar as each of them is good.
Now, if we are right in stating this, all things will be from Provi-
dence and evil has its place among beings. Therefore the gods also
produce evil, but qua good. The gods know413 evil, since they possess
a unitary knowledge of everything, an undivided knowledge of divis-
20 ibles, a good knowledge of evils, a unitary knowledge of plurality. For
the knowledge of the soul differs from that of intellect, which again
differs from that of the gods themselves. For the knowledge of the soul
is self-moving, that of intellect is eternal, and that of the gods is
ineffable and unitary, knowing and producing everything by the One
itself.
 Notes

1. Proclus’ opening question is clearly reminiscent of the title and opening

phrases of Plotinus Ennead 1,8[51]: ‘On what are and whence come evils. Those
who enquire whence evils come […] would make an appropriate beginning of
their inquiry if they proposed the question first, what evil is and what is its
nature. In this way one would know whence it came and where it is founded and
to what it belongs as an accident, and one would be able to decide the general
question whether it belongs to beings’ (1,8, title; 1,1-6, transl. after A.H. Arm-
strong). Of the last question (ei estin en tois ousin), Proclus at 2,1-2 says it should
be the very first. Plotinus’ question as to what it is that evil belongs to as an
accident (hotôi sumbebêke) will be taken up by Proclus at 30,3. On the similarity
between the opening words of DMS and the ancient title(s) of Enn. 1,8, see also
Henry (1961 [=1938]), p. 8.
2. Perhaps a reminiscence of the Seventh Letter (341D12).
3. kat’ aitian proêgoumenên. See chs 40-9 for a causal analysis of evil. Proclus
will argue that there are only accidental causes and no principal cause of evil(s).
4. i.e. different from the principle of being. Plotinus claims that there is a
principle for evil, namely at 1,8[51],6,33-4: ‘there are two principles (arkhai),
one of good things, the other of evils.’ Plotinus does not want to say that matter
is a selfsubsisting principle – he actually holds the view that matter is generated
by something else, a lower soul –, but rather a principle in the sense that it is
the absolute starting-point for all evils: there are no evils prior to matter. See
Opsomer (2001b), pp. 4-8.
5. In this paragraph the structure of the whole treatise is set out. The
question whether evils exist or not will be dealt with in chs 2-9; in chs 10-39
Proclus looks at the different ontological levels (in much more detail than
suggested by the dichotomy intelligible-sensible) in order to see where evil first
occurs; chs 40-9 contain a causal analysis of evil; its mode of existence and the
question ‘how it can exist if its being is insubstantial’ is dealt with in chs 50-4
[its characteristics are discussed in ch. 51; chs 52-4 deal with the question how
evil can be opposed to the good]; the question ‘where it begins and up to which
point it proceeds’ is explicitly mentioned in ch. 39 and also discussed in chs 55-7,
where the different forms of evils are explained (those of bodies and those of
souls); the traditional problem of providence and evil is discussed in chs 58-61.
See our Introduction, 3. Analysis.
6. In the extant commentaries, Proclus discusses evil at in Tim. 1,372,25-
381,21; in Remp. 1,37,37,2-39,1; 1,96,1-100,20; 2,89,6-91,18; in Parm.
829,23-831,24. See also the other opuscula. Also TP, written after DMS, con-
tains a discussion of evil (1.18, pp. 83,12-88,10). Cf. our Introduction, 1.1.
7. Plotinus deals with this question only at the end of Ennead 1,8: cf.
1,8[51],15,5, but see also 1,8[51],3,2. Proclus at in Tim. 1,227,18-22 explicitly
106 Notes to pages 58-60
states that methodology requires that the question ‘if it is’ precede the question
‘what it is’. Cf. Arist. An. Post. 2.1, 33b34.
8. The examples and metaphors of darkness and light throughout the trea-
tise are reminiscent of the Platonic analogy between the the sun and the good
(Resp. 6, 508A-509C).
9. cf. Aristotle Metaph. 12.7, 1072b14; EN 1.1, 1094a3; Plot. 1,8[51],2,1-3,
Procl. ET prop. 8. In metaphysical terms, this ‘striving for’ and ‘desire for’ the
good is called the ‘reversion’ (epistrophê), that is the ‘return’ of everything
towards its principle.
10. Literally ‘subcontrary’ (hupenantion), as at Theaet. 176A6. In the present
chapter, where Proclus only presents the view of others, ‘subcontrary’ is not
being used in the technical sense that it will receive in ch. 54.
11. Theaet. 176A6. Those philosophers who deny the existence of evil – whose
view Proclus here presents – are forced to reject what Socrates says in the
Theaetetus, namely that there must be something contrary to the good.
12. The argument actually is Syrianus’: cf. Procl. in Tim. 1,374,15-18; TP
1.18, p. 86,20-1. Plotinus, on the contrary, does not appear to distinguish
between what is contrary to the forms and what is contrary to what is beyond
the forms: cf. 1,8[51],6,27-8.
13. amenênoteron, from amenênos, a poetic word (e.g. Iliad 5,887; Odyssey
10,521; 536; 19,562), used in prose texts: Tim. Locr. 100C; Arist. HA 628b4;
Probl. 899a31; Plot. 3,6[26],7,30; 6,6[34],8,11; Procl. in Parm. 823,8; 834,23;
1098,34; in Tim. 3,95,11 (‘amenênon and closest to non-being’). ‘As the saying
goes’ (ut pronuntiavit sermo) could be a reference to the Chaldean Oracles (as in
De prov. 42,15-16 qui a deo traditi sermones); see also 38,28.
14. Proclus is thinking of people committing suicide to escape from a miser-
able life; in doing so they prefer non-being to something that is worse (the
argument seems to require that death indeed is the end of everything, at least
in the mind of the people who argue along these lines). Cf. in Alc. 144,4-7;
337,12-14; in Remp. 89,24-8; 90,25-6. Steel (1997), pp. 98-9.
15. Tim. 30A2-3 (see Introduction, 2.1, T3): ‘God wanted (boulêtheis) that all
things should be good and nothing bad (agatha men panta, phlauron de mêden),
so far as this was attainable (kata dunamin).’ The restriction at the end has
conveniently been left out from the argument as presented by Proclus. Cf. in
Tim. 1,372,19-373,21. The demiurge is called ‘maker and father’ at Tim. 28C3
(cf. 41A7; Polit. 273B2-3) and ‘father’ at 37C7. On the title ‘father’ according to
Proclus, see in Tim. 1,311,25-313,2 and TP 5.16, and Opsomer (2000b).
16. The demiurge of the Timaeus creates ‘by his very being’ (autôi to einai).
Cf. Opsomer Les jeunes dieux (forthcoming).
17. This is a standard phrase to denote the activity of the subordinate
creators, i.e. the lower levels of production. See Tim. 41A7-D3. The universal
demiurge creates everything directly and ‘by his very being’, but uses the lower
creators as intermediaries. Cf. TP 5,69,20-1. The latter produce in a quasi-inde-
pendent way (hoion autourgountôn). The lower creatures are then created
directly by the universal demiurge qua beings, and by the subordinate demi-
urges qua lower. Cf. Opsomer (2000b).
18. A reference to the argument of chs 2-3.
19. For the idea of the fighting (the discord or ‘civil war’) that goes on between
the different parts of the soul, see bk 4 of the Republic and the Phaedrus myth
(246A-256E).
20. Proclus is referring to akrasia or incontinence.
21. On the disease of the soul see below, ch. 56 and Plato Soph. 227C10-
228E5.
 Notes to pages 60-61 107
22. The word for vice (kakia, ‘badness’) is derived from kakos, ‘evil’, ‘bad’.
23. Plotinus (1,8[51],5,6-8) seems to be in agreement with Proclus on this
point. See however also 2,9[33],13,27-9.
24. cf. 6,11-35.
25. Resp. 10, 608E3-4: ‘that which destroys and corrupts in every case is the
evil; that which preserves and benefits is the good’ (to men apolluon kai dia-
phtheiron pan to kakon einai, to de sôizon kai ôpheloun to agathon). As he is
developing his argument, Socrates indeed also says that the soul yearns (ephie-
tai) for what is truly good for it (611E1-3).
26. Phaedr. 245E1 (pasan te genesin sumpesousan stênai). Cf. in Parm.
998,29.
27. Tim. 41B7-C2 (the speech to the young gods): ‘Three classes of mortal
beings (thnêta genê) remain to be created. Without them the universe will be
incomplete (atelês), for it will not contain all the classes of living beings which
it ought to contain, if it is to be sufficiently perfect (teleos hikanôs).’
28. Tim. 34B8-9: ‘he created the world a blessed god (eudaimona theon).’
29. Tim. 31B1 (homoion tôi pantelei zôiôi).
30. The words ‘in which it exists primarily and per se’ (en hoî prôtôs esti kath’
hauto) are strongly reminiscent of Aristotle’s definition of nature as a thing’s
internal principle of motion and rest. ‘Nature,’ Aristotle says (Phys. 2.1, 292b21-
3), ‘is a principle or cause of being moved and of being at rest in that to which it
belongs primarily, in virtue of itself and not accidentally’ (en hôi huparkhei
prôtos kath’ hauto kai mê kata sumbebêkos). Proclus obviously alludes to the
view of Plotinus, who posited a nature of evil (e.g. 1,8[51] 1,4; 2,1; 6,33). Proclus
himself will insist that evil is always accidental, denying that it can be some-
thing natural. For the notion of an evil inhering in a thing, compare already
Plato Resp. 609A9 (to sumphuton kakon hekastou). Commenting on this text (in
Remp. 2,89,18-24), Proclus explains that a thing can only be destroyed by its
own evil, that is a corruptive principle proper to it. ‘Corruptive’ is then to be
taken as ‘not accidentally corruptive’ (dei mê kata sumbebêkos lambanein to
phthartikon). If injustice were per se (kath’hauto) corruptive, it would invariably
destroy all things in which it is present (pantakhou kai en pasin).
31. On the evils of bodies and those of souls see chs 39 and 55-6. It is not
immediately clear what Proclus means here, and the text is probably corrupt
(compare, however, 51,19-20). Some light may be shed on this obscure passage
by looking at the tenth book of the Republic. There, following on the passage
referred to at the beginning of this chapter, Socrates explains why the soul can
never be destroyed. In doing so, he argues that whereas the evil of the body
destroys the body (apollumi), ‘leads it to no longer being a body’ (agei eis to mêde
sôma einai, 609C7) and ‘to non-being’ (eis to mê einai, D2), the soul is not
destroyed by the evils proper to it (and neither by the evils alien to itself). The
evils of the soul – Plato sums them up: injustice, licentiousness, cowardice, and
ignorance (adikia, akolasia, deilia, amathia, 609B11-C1) – are not lethal, which
makes them even worse (610D5-7): if injustice were fatal to its possessor, that
would be a release from all evils (an idea Proclus will take up at 39,38-40). But
it is quite the contrary: injustice could perhaps kill others, but renders its
possessor very lively indeed (mala zôtikon) and wakeful (agrupnon), and makes
him or her dwell far away from deadliness (610D5-E4). Commenting on this text
(in Remp. 2,91,6-18), Proclus remarks that in the case of the soul, too, something
is destroyed, viz. the activities of the rational soul. Now, the vices of the soul are
actually only contrary to the rational soul; for the irrational soul they are
perfectly natural. That is why the vices create a kind of separation of the
irrational and the rational soul. A complete separation (pantelês khôrismos)
108 Notes to pages 61-62
extinguishes (aposbennusin) the life (zôên) of the rational soul. Probably this is
what Proclus at DMS 5,24-6 means by ‘vital corruption’.
32. i.e. from the highest principle of the order to which it belongs. The highest
principle in any series is always monadic. The monad of the equal, e.g., is
absolute equality.
33. In other words, from bad to good there is no continuum; injustice does not
belong somewhere on a scale between good and bad, but is merely a gradation
on the scale of the evil. Likewise, contrary to modern intuitions, hot and cold,
being contraries, are here thought of as separate principles, each with their
proper activity: decrease of warmth does not make something cold, only the
principle of cold has that power. Cold, then, is a positive force in its own right.
Cf. Plutarch of Chaeronea, De primo frigido (transl. W.C. Helmbold), e.g. 945F:
‘Is there […] an active principle or substance of cold (as fire is of heat) through
the presence of which and through participation in which everything else
becomes cold? Or is coldness rather a negation of warmth, as they say darkness
is of light and rest of motion?’ 946B-D: ‘It is the nature of coldness, however, to
produce affects and alterations in bodies that it enters no less than those caused
by heat. […] Moreover, the property whereby coldness promotes rest and resists
motion is not inert, but acts by pressure and resistance […]; since there are
many other effects which may be seen to be produced through the agency of cold,
we are not justified in regarding it as a negation. Besides, a negation does not
permit degrees of less or more.’
34. i.e. the locus classicus, Theaet. 176A5-8: ‘It is impossible, Theodorus, that
evil things will cease to exist (out’ apolesthai ta kaka dunaton), for it is necessary
(anankê) that the good always has its contrary (hupenantion ti tôi agathôi aei
einai); nor have they any place in the divine world, but by necessity (ex anankês)
they revolve about our mortal nature and this place.’ See Introduction, 2.1, T1.
35. On the necessity of corruption in order to have generation, see below ch.
60.
36. Theaet. 176A5-8. See n. 34; Introduction 2.1, T1.
37. e.g. ET 63; in Alc. 117,22-118,25, pp. 97-8.
38. i.e. their productive activity.
39. i.e. the so-called unparticipated Forms (ET 23), which are called unpar-
ticipated in order to emphasise their transcendence; they ‘transcend all
properties in others’ (in this they differ from ‘forms in matter’, enula eidê). By
‘overflowing’ they nonetheless produce orders which ‘in a sense’ participate in
them, and which are themselves ‘participated in’ by the lower orders. But the
transcendent forms are not ‘participated in’ in the sense that this would dimin-
ish their power (‘unparticipated’, then, does not imply that nothing participates
in them; it really means ‘transcendent’ or ‘prior’; cf. Festugière (1967), tome II,
pp. 51-2 n. 1). The ‘unparticipated’ forms of ET 23 are here called ‘participated
only’ to differentiate them from the intermittent participants, which participate
in the eternal participants, and the eternal participants, which participate and
are participated. In short, Proclus distinguishes three levels: transcendent
Forms, eternal participants, intermittent participants.
40. cf. De dec. dub. V, 28,5-6: in order for the universe to be perfect, as Plato
says in the Timaeus (41B7-8), the first things should not also be the last. In De
dec. dub. III, 10,12-14, Proclus explains that matter is inefficacious and sterile
because there is nothing lower than it, whereas providence is most efficacious
and fertile because everything is lower than it. See Procl., in Alc. 117,22-118,25,
with Segonds’s excellent notes complémentaires (1985, t. 1, p. 97 n. 5 and 6, pp.
189-190).
41. cf. in Tim. 1,372,19-373,21.
 Notes to pages 63-64 109
42. The problem with this reasoning is that a lesser participation in the good
does not imply the existence of evil, since ‘less good’ is not yet evil, as has been
pointed out in the previous chapter. Or, to look at it from a different angle, the
argument does not explain why the mere existence of something that is not the
good itself (being itself, the eternal participants) is not already evil (a view that
is also strongly rejected by Plotinus). However, Proclus’ own argument will be
more subtle: the existence of intermittent participants (i.e. partial beings, which
sometimes fail to participate in the good) is indeed necessary, but is in itself not
yet evil; it is, however, a necessary condition and the ultimate metaphysical
reason for the existence of evils. See Introduction, 2.4.1.
43. In the remainder of this chapter, Proclus anticipates his account of the
special kind of privation that evil is. See chs 52-4.
44. i.e. privations of forms, not of the good.
45. Even before ‘being’, the One or the Good created the first limit and the
first unlimitedness (i.e. the first power). Cf. ET 92, 82,31-5; TP 3.8, p. 32,2-5;
3.14, p. 51,6-7.
46. amenênon. See n. 13.
47. Proclus gives some examples, first of evils of the soul, then of bodily evils
(the same distinction as in 5,23-6), which show that they cannot be complete
privations of the good. Instead they are empowered by the good (in other words,
they are parasitical upon the good).
48. The world of change is measured by days, seasons, years – cycles deter-
mined by number. Cf. 53,6-8.
49. chs 52-4. Also 38,13-31.
50. This discussion of non-being is ultimately dependent on the Sophist.
Proclus refers to the interpretation of Plotinus (1,8[51],3), who wants to use the
Sophist in order to argue that evil does not belong to beings, but somehow to
non-beings. Cf. O’Brien 1999, pp. 56-66, esp. 62 n. 49. Non-being, then, is not to
be taken in the sense of absolute non-being (pantelôs mê on), claims Plotinus,
but as something merely different from being (heteron monon tou ontos). It is
not the non-being of rest and motion (two of the ‘greatest forms’), but as it were
an image of being or even more non-being, a ‘form which is of what is not’ (eidos
ti tou mê ontos on). It has to do with the sensible and is as it were its accident or
one of its constituents (6-12).Yet prior to evil as an accident, there must be evil
itself, as it were an essence or nature of evil. Proclus rejects this very notion of
‘evil itself ’: it would have even less being than absolute non-being. Or in other
words (cf. 8,19-22), there is no ‘nature’ lower than the lowest nature, ‘whose
being is accidental’.
51. Parm. 160D8.
52. Soph. 258B1-2. Difference (from being) is itself one of the ‘greatest forms’.
53. mesiteian. This is a hapax legomenon in the extant works of Proclus.
Moreover, in this context the word does not occur anywhere else in pagan
Neoplatonic literature. Christian authors use this term for the mediation of
angels and saints in the process of salvation. We suspect that mesiteian is a
corruption for metousian. The phrase should then be translated as ‘because of
the participation in the good.’
54. hupenantion. Theaet. 176A6. See n. 34.
55. Evil never affects wholes (universal beings), but only particular beings.
Cf. Introduction, 2.4.1; TP 1.18, p. 86,10-14.
56. An allusion to a popular quotation from Euripides, Troad. 887-8 (address-
ing Zeus): panta … kata dikên … ageis (‘you guide everything in accordance with
justice’).
57. Tim. 30A2-3: ‘God wanted (boulêtheis) that all things should be good and
110 Notes to pages 64-66
nothing bad (agatha men panta, phlauron de mêden), so far as this was attain-
able (kata dunamin).’ Cf. n. 15.
58. Theaet. 176A5: ‘it is not possible that evil things would cease to exist,
Theodorus’ (all’ out’ apolesthai ta kaka dunaton, ô Theodôre). The ‘geometer’
mentioned by Proclus is Theodorus, the interlocutor of Socrates.
59. Theaet. 176A8 (cf. 176A6).
60. All things are good from the perspective of the gods / the demiurge – qua
created by the demiurge, things are good. See also ch. 61. Evil is never due to a
deficiency of power in the cause, but always to the weakness of the participants.
Cf. TP 1.18, pp. 83,24-84,15.
61. See n. 8. What Proclus here says about darkness may be regarded as his
reply to the way in which Plotinus uses the metaphor of evil as darkness.
62. In speaking of the intellective essence over which the gods preside,
Proclus refers to the demiurgic function of the gods, as can be inferred from the
ensuing description of their providential activities.
63. cf. ET 122; Steel 1996.
64. Proclus is speaking about the henads, the direct manifestations of the
One that completely transcend being.
65. A quotation from the Chaldean Oracles, as appears from ps.-Dion., De div.
nom. 2,7, p. 132,3 Suchla. This fragment is not included in the collection by Des
Places.
66. i.e. ipsius visibilis, sc. autou tou horatou, literally, ‘the visible itself ’. It is
the sun that in our world bestows visibility on things. For the expression, cf. in
Tim. 1,430,13.
67. The analogy between the sun and the good has an old pedigree in Greek
philosophy, and figures prominently in Plato’s Republic. Proclus dwells on it in
his commentary: in Remp. 1,276,23-287,18.
68. A similar distinction is made in ps.-Plato, Epist. 2, 310E8. The term
‘conversations’ (sunousiai) refers to philosophical dialogues, that is, conversa-
tions as reported in ‘the’ dialogues (cf. in Parm. 1,624,29-625,36), or even
‘unwritten teachings’ (TP 1,10, p. 42,13). Here Proclus obviously has in mind
Plato’s dialogues. In ch. 12 Proclus will adduce a number of examples from
Homer and Plato.
69. A reference to the Homeric expression theoi rheia zôontes (Il. 6,138; Od.
4,805).
70. The ‘souls of good fortune’ are those that have chosen a better life; cf. in
Tim. 1,201,1-2; in Remp. 2,172,15; 2,254,13-22. The reading of the manuscripts,
‘ephemeral souls’, cannot be correct, as the ‘ephemeral souls’ are those souls that
long for mortal and ephemeral things, and not for things divine. Cf. in Remp.
2,270,14-6; Resp. 617D7.
71. Plato Phaedr. 251C and 255D. See our Philological Appendix.
72. cf. TP 1.24, p. 107,4 (tês theias euphrosunês); 108,11-12 (met’ euphrosunês
kai tês theias rhâistônês).
73. cf. TP 4.4, p. 18,18-19; Plot. 6,9 [9], 11,17.
74. Phaedr. 247A8: pros daita kai epi thoinên.
75. This passage echoes Platonist polemics against Gnosticism. The Corpus
Hermeticum mentions boldness (tolma, fr. 23, 24,2), excess (hubris, 10,21, p.
123,23) and satiation (koros, 10,21, p. 123,26) in relation to the soul’s descent.
In its overproudness, resulting from its heavenly condition, the soul desires to
become a creator itself (1,13, p. 10,20-1). Perhaps even the occurrence of ‘to
vanquish’ (kratein) in our text may be related to the same context, where man
envies the Demiurge’s power (kratos, ibid., p. 11,4-5). Boldness (tolma) is also
mentioned by Plotinus as a cause for the fall of the soul (cf. Armstrong [1967],
 Notes to pages 66-69 111
pp. 242-5). Excess (hubris) is linked by Proclus to procession (proödos) and
declension (huphesis): in Tim. 1,175,2-18.
76. cf. Phaedo 103C-D; Procl. in Tim. 1,375,22-5; Plot. 5,4[7],1,31.
77. cf., e.g., ET 174 and 189.
78. This is a fundamental metaphysical law. Cf. ET 29.
79. cf. 51,15 (anidruton). Plot. 1,8[51],1,5.
80. For the sake of clarity, we have reversed the order of the clauses in the
Latin text.
81. cf. 5,1-4, citing the Republic (10, 608E3-4).
82. cf. 5,21-6.
83. The souls are literally said to ‘project’ different kind of lives during their
different reincarnations.
84. Proclus may be referring to Timaeus, esp. 37D6-7 (where eternity is said
to ‘remain in / according to one’) and 38C1-2. From these and some other
passages Proclus manages to derive the three intelligible triads: that which ‘is
eternal’ depends from ‘eternity itself ’, which in its turn depends from ‘the
one-being’ (the third, second and first intelligible triads, respectively). Cf. Op-
somer (2000a), pp. 360-8. See also ET 53 (Dodds, p. 52,5-7). However, the
expression ‘what is before eternity’ in our text refers to the One itself (the
transcendent One, not the one-being), and the expressions ‘in accordance with
the one’ and ‘eternal’ probably refer to the entire intelligible realm.
85. The activity of intellective and intelligible gods is immobile, and therefore
prior to the activity in our world, which is not immobile. But prior to immobile
activity is the One, which transcends being and activity.
86. Eternity is the second intelligible triad, and everything which partici-
pates in it is posterior to it. Time is an image of eternity and comes much lower
in the divine hierarchy. The intelligible triads still belong to being, whereas the
gods themselves – the henads, that is – transcend being.
87. cf. in Parm. 833,9-10: ‘For ignorance is something evil, not the knowledge
of ignorance’.
88. Cf. ET 29.
89. ‘The portals of the good’ is a famous expression from the Philebus (64C1:
epi tois tou agathou prothurois). See, e.g., TP 3.18, p. 64,6-12. For the image of
beings emerging from a sanctuary (prokuptô), see TP 1.24, 108,17; 3,52,9; 5.11,
36,4; in Crat. 107,12.
90. cf. Psellus, OD 98,5-8: ‘The more wise among the Greeks believe that the
angels stand in the portals of God […]. For they reveal the divine silence.’
91. Cf. De dec. dub. 65,23-8.
92. This can also be inferred from ET 22.
93. i.e. angels, demons, heroes. These ‘superior kinds’ receive an extensive
treatment in Iamblichus’ De mysteriis. However, Iamblichus uses the term
‘superior kinds’ also for other higher beings, such as gods, archangels, and divine
souls. See also Stob., Ecl. 1,455,3-4; Steel (1978), p. 27.
94. One of the many examples of the triad being-power/potency-activity
(ousia-dunamis-energeia), where goodness can be substituted for being, life
(fertility) for power, and intellect for activity. The third position in a triad is
always that of reversion (the fundamental triadic structure remaining-proces-
sion-reversion maps onto the triad being-power-activity).
95. Evil and mortal demons were part of the popular tradition, and were also
incorporated in philosophical systems, such as the Stoics’. Porphyry (cf. De abst.
2,38-40) and Iamblichus (De myst. 2,7; 3,31; 4,7; 9,7), too, believed in evil
demons.
96. Demons are responsible for the punishment of souls after death in a
112 Notes to pages 69-72
subterranean place. The punishment of souls in a place under the earth is well
attested in the Platonic myths, e.g. in the story of Er the Pamphylian (Resp. 10,
614B-621D) or in the Phaedrus myth (249A6-7).
97. Theaet. 176E3-5: ‘There are two paradigms set up in reality, my friend.
One is divine and supremely happy (tou men theiou eudaimonestatou); the other
is ungodly and is the paradigm of the greatest misery (tou de atheou athliôta-
tou).’ Cf. Introduction, 2.1, T1’. See also below, 40,13-14; 48,5-7.
98. cf. Resp. 10, 615D-E. The mouth of the cave constitutes the border
between the earth and the subterranean place of punishment. Cf. in Remp.
2,94,5-7; 2,179,28-180,8; 2,181,15-27.
99. Cf. Resp. 10, 615E4-616A4. Proclus considers the ‘bellowing mouth’ and
the ‘fiery and savage men’ as belonging to the demonic realm. Cf. in Remp.
2,94,5-8; 2,180,20-2.
100. However, initially (16,4-7) these ‘Platonic’ demons were presented as
allegedly evil by choice only (as opposed to the demons of popular belief, who are
supposed to be evil by nature).
101. Presumably, Proclus has Iamblichus in mind (see n. 95), and possibly
even the Theurgists (cf. in Tim. 3,157,27-8; the Theurgists are a father and a
son, both called Julian, the latter being the author of the Chaldean oracles).
Proclus does not usually call Porphyry divine.
102. On the creation of the demons, see in Tim. 3,157,27-158,11.
103. Proclus here distinguishes beings who are by nature (phusei) demons
from those who are only dispositionally (skhesei) demons. The latter are souls
that have succeeded in ascending to a demonic pattern of life. Whereas some-
one’s nature is unalterable, one’s acquired behaviour may very well change. Cf.
in Tim. 3,158,22-159,7; in Crat. 117, p. 68,13-19 Pasq.; 74, pp. 35,27-36,6; in
Remp. 1,41,11-25. Theodorus of Asine is said to have made the same distinction
at in Tim. 3,154,19-24. At in Alc. 73,21-3 Proclus adds yet another category to
the distinction ‘by nature’ and ‘by relation’, to wit ‘by analogy’.
104. i.e., they take on various kinds of life. Cf. 18,8.
105. cf. 51,15-16.
106. See n. 103.
107. Or ‘and other so-called vices’ (cf. the Philological Appendix). See n. 22.
108. cf. 51,12; 53,16-18.
109. Intellective beings should act according to intellect (nous), which sur-
passes discursive reason (logos).
110. cf. in Remp. 2,125,8-9 (tên neusin kai tên pros ton desmon sumpatheian).
The ‘bonds of the body’ are mentioned at Phaedo 67D2; see also Resp. 7, 514A6.
For the downward inclination, see Phaedr. 246C; 247B; 248A.
111. An alternative interpretation would be: ‘as food for human beings’. In
order to support the ‘active’ interpretation one may refer to De dec. dub. VII (esp.
43,11; 15); Plot. 3,2[47],15,17-33; SVF II 1173 (Orig. Contra Celsum 4,75; 78).
112. cf. in Parm. 735,17-19.
113. cf. Resp. 10, 615D-616A; above, 16,13.
114. cf. Tim. 42E5-8.
115. Or: ‘after the heroes’.
116. The words ‘this place’, just like ‘the mortal nature’ a few lines below,
refer to the famous Theaetetus passage (176A7-8) and are also discussed by
Plotinus, 1,8 [51],6,4-9. See Introduction, 2.1, T1.
117. i.e. after the gods and the angels, demons and heroes. Proclus will now
be speaking about the souls, although he does not use the word until 21,16. It is
important to notice that Proclus in DMS 21-4 only discusses particular souls,
not universal divine souls (who are, just as the gods, unaffected by evil, and who
 Notes to page 72 113
are superior to the two classes discussed in these chapters; cf. Phaedr. 247D-
248A). His description of the different classes of souls is mainly based on the
Phaedrus myth: after the gods who enjoy an easy contemplation, Socrates tells
the story of ‘the other souls’ (248A1), distinguishing three categories: those that
follow a god most closely and are able – with some difficulty – to raise ‘the head
of the charioteer’ up to the place outside , where it can contemplate the higher
world; those that rise at one time and fall at another; the remaining souls that
are all eagerly straining to keep up, but are unable to rise (248AB). Then
Socrates announces the law of destiny (the law of Adrasteia) that determines
the fate of the souls: any soul that becomes a companion of a god will be
unharmed until the next cycle (248C2-5); a soul that is unable to keep up will
lose its wings and fall to earth, where it enters the cycle of reincarnations
(248C5-249C4). The two classes that Proclus distinguishes in the present text
correspond to the two basic conditions determined by the law of destiny. Proclus,
however, maintains that both classes descend, and that they all, to some extent,
suffer oblivion (the immaculate souls, however, will never lose their internal
disposition). See 21,14-16 and 22,2-3, with our nn. 128 and 137.
118. Tim. 43E1 (klaseis kai diaphoras tôn kuklôn). See also 90D. According
to Plato’s account of the generation of the world-soul in the Timaeus, the soul is
made to consist of circles (the circle of Sameness and the circle of Difference).
Since the other souls resemble the world-soul, this account holds for them, too.
A soul does well when its circles turn smoothly, but is diseased when its circles
are shattered and irregular. See also 39,5-7, with our n. 281.
119. lêthê. Cf. 21,15-16; 22,10, with our nn. 128 and 137.
120. Socrates polemicises against the tragic poets and Pindar who had told
the story that Asclepius, the son of Apollo, was bribed by a rich man, and had
thus represented a child of god as greedy (Republic 3, 408BC). Cf. also in Remp.
1,143,18-46,5, on the Homeric heroes’ love of money. Tim. 40D-41A was consid-
ered to contain information on the ‘children of the gods’, for there Timaeus
mentions ‘those figures of the past who claim to be the offspring of the gods’ and
who inform us about the divine genealogies. Proclus explains (in Tim. 3,159,13-
160,12) that all souls are in fact children of the gods, but not all recognise the
god from which they depend; only those who do and accordingly make their
choice of life are called children of the gods. ‘Those we ought to trust’ (Tim.
40D7-E2) are, according to Proclus, the souls which unfailingly follow their
presiding gods (contrary to most humans, who forget their divine provenance)
and whose information is therefore trustworthy. Proclus has in mind special
human beings like Orpheus, Pythagoras, the Sibyls, but also Heracles, Hermes,
Asclepius, Dionysos (sc., the human beings who have kept the names of the gods
at the top of the ‘chain’ to which they belong – not to be confused with the gods
themselves). They come here to fulfil a special task, such as prophecy or
medicine, depending on the series to which they belong. Cf. in Crat. 81, p.
38,5-18; Hermias in Phaedr. p. 94,18-28.
121. Phaedr. 248C2-5 (transl. A. Nehamas and P. Woodruff): ‘Besides, the law
of Destiny is this: If any soul becomes a companion to a god and catches sight of
any true thing, it will be unharmed until the next circuit (mekhri tês heteras
periodou apêmona); and if it is able to do this every time, it will always be safe
(ablabê).’ See also 248D. Hermias in his commentary (in Phaedr. pp. 162,30-
163,19) equates immunity from harm with not descending to generation,
whereas Proclus (21,14) maintains that these fortunate souls, too, descend.
122. These souls closely follow their leader gods and assist them, carrying out
specialised tasks.
123. cf. in Crat. 81, p. 38,13 (ep’ euergesiâi tôn têide topôn).
114 Notes to pages 72-73
124. cf. in Parm. 719,22.
125. sun theôn pompêi. Cf. in Crat. 81, p. 38,14 Pasq.; in Tim. 1,134,33. Cf.
Festugière (1953), pp. 69-96, esp. p. 77, on Iamblichus ap. Stob. 1,379,1-6.
126. cf. in Alc. 60,15; 80,15-16; Hermias, in Phaedr. pp. 162,30-163,19 (de-
mons and heroes assist in keeping these souls free from harm).
127. Plotinus, too, denies that generation is in itself evil. Cf. O’Brien (1971),
pp. 130-1; (1993), p. 48.
128. to poma tês lêthes, Plato Resp. 10, 621A6-7 (all had to drink, with the
exception of Er; some drink more, others less). The word poma is not used by
Plato; cf., however, in Tim. 3,323,20; in Alc. 189,7. According to Eustathius the
expression poma tês lêthês was coined or at least used by the Homeric poets
(Comm. ad Hom. Odyss. 1,399,13). Oblivion is also mentioned in the Phaedrus
(248C7; 250A4), but there it is used only for the souls that do not remain
unharmed. Proclus needs the quotation from the Republic to prove that every
soul, including the class mentioned in DMS 21 and Phaedr. 248C3-5, suffers
from oblivion. The difference for the divine souls is that they do not forget their
true nature; it is just their functioning that is, as it were, put to sleep. Cf. Van
den Berg (1997), p. 160.
129. cf. Phaedr. 248B1; Phaedo 66D6 (the body intrudes in our investigations
by causing disturbance, thorubon); Tim. 43B6. The closest parallel is Plot.
3,4[15],6,6: dia ton thorubon ton ek tês geneseôs.
130. cf. in Tim. 1,52,25-7 (ta ourania psukhôn genê kai akhranta); 2,112,23-5;
in Crat. 117, p. 68,25-30.
131. At in Tim. 1,111,14-28 Proclus distinguishes three kinds of souls: the
first remain immaculate and are rightly called ‘children of the gods’; the second
descend without being perverted; they are children of the gods, but also become
children of humans; the third descend and are filled with all sorts of evil; they
are bastard children of the gods. However, besides the fact that Proclus here
posits an intermediate kind, this description does not seem to be exactly the
same as the one we find in DMS. In our text the best souls also come down to
this world. However, at in Tim. 2,112,12-13 Proclus implies that they, too,
descend. See also Van den Berg (1997), pp. 159-60. The threefold division may
be inspired by Phaedr. 248AB. At in Tim. 3,259,1-27 Proclus distinguishes four
classes: the first two do not figure in DMS: they are those who are truly divine
and those that always follow the gods (presumably the truly divine souls whose
fate is described at Phaedr. 247D1-248A1 before that of the ‘other souls’; some
of the latter are called divine, e.g. in DMS 21, but they are actually children of
the gods; cf. Herm. in Phaedr. 152,27-8; 157,5-19); the third corresponds to the
first class of DMS (the souls that descend but remain unharmed), the fourth to
the last class of our text (those that descend and become perverted).
132. In the Phaedrus the souls that come down to earth are mentioned after
the divine souls that Proclus has discussed in the previous chapter. The souls
that descend to earth have lost their wings and are replete with oblivion and
evil (248C5-8). Proclus will discuss their fate in chs 23-4 (see also 22,9-12). At
Polit. 272E1-3 Plato speaks about the souls that are sown in the earth (cf. in
Tim. 3,233,9-10).
133. e.g. the souls that abide in the heavenly bodies; cf. Tim. 42D4-5 (the
demiurge sows souls in the heavenly bodies); in Tim. 3,233,4-22; in Parm.
817,4-819,29.
134. Proclus maintains that all souls descend, even the divine souls, and that
there is no part of them that always remains in the intelligible world. Cf. in
Parm. 948,18-24 (against Plotinus).
135. cf. in Remp. 2,350,9-10 (skotos – lêthê). For the imagery of darkness in
 Notes to pages 73-74 115
the soul, see Resp. 518AB; Leg. 875C2. For the image of light that remains
unaffected by the surrounding darkness see Plot. 3.6[21],5,21-2.
136. Phaedr. 248C7.
137. pterorruêsis, Phaedr. 246C2; (D4); 248C8. Cf. in Tim. 3,325,15: ‘oblivion
(lêthên) and shedding of wings (pterorruêsin) and what follows from these’. Also
3,43,7.
138. The gods and the superior kinds.
139. The souls of chs 23-4.
140. Phaedr. 248B3-4: khôleuontai – polun ekhousai ponon.
141. cf. in Tim. 3,349,14-15: ‘lameness (khôleia) and shedding of wings
(pterorruêsis) and oblivion (lêthê) and mischance (suntukhia) and heaviness
(barutês)’; 3,334,25.
142. Phaedr. 246C1-2: meteôroporei te kai panta ton kosmon dioikei.
143. cf. Phaedr. 247D5-E2.
144. cf. Phaedr. 248A3 (sumperiênekhthê) and 8 (sumperipherontai), with
Herm. in Phaedr. 158,1-2; 158,21.
145. Phaedr. 247A8 (pros daita kai epi thoinên). Cf. in Parm. 629,2-5; in Tim.
1,18,8-10; 1,52,26-7.
146. Phaedr. 247E6: the charioteer feeding ambrosia and nectar to the horses
– said with respect to (the souls of) the gods. Nectar is nutriment for the souls
(cf. TP 4.6, p. 24,3-12) and it strengthens them in their providential activity (ib.
4,15, pp. 46,14-47,6). Cf. Hermias in Phaedr. 156,17-157,3.
147. cf. Arist. EE 1.1, 1214a32-3. Proclus argues that a perfect life for the soul
cannot be restricted to self-centered contemplation, but has to go outwards and
benefit other things (i.e. bodily nature). Cf. De dec. dub. 65.
148. cf. Or. Chald. 8 (transl. R. Majercik): ‘besides this one sits a dyad. […]
For it has a double function: it both possesses the intelligibles in its mind and
brings sense-perception to the worlds.’
149. cf. Tim. 36BC.
150. cf. in Parm. 660,22; 668,25; 718,31-3; 954,9; 1022,9; 1028,20; 1118,22; in
Tim. 1,84,19; 1,332,26; 3,7,25; 3,26,3; 3,27,29; 3,71,22 etc. At in Parm. 719,20-3
Proclus gives examples of opportune gifts from the gods: good offspring, medical
art, divine prophecy, mystical initiation.
151. cf. Phaedr. 247A7; Tim. 29E1-2.
152. cf. Tim. 29E3.
153. Resp. 10, 617D7: arkhê allês periodou.
154. TP 1.18, p. 84,16-24.
155. cf. in Tim. 1,44,8-12, 2,90,2-3; 2,109,3.
156. The banquet mentioned at Phaedr. 247A8.
157. cf. Psellus, OD 197,6-7.
158. The power that regulates bodies is called nature. Cf. below, ch. 27.
159. Proclus combines two passages: Phaedr. 248C6-7 (transl. A. Nehamas &
P. Woodruff): ‘if […] by some accident (tini suntukhiâi khrêsamenê) [the soul]
takes on a burden of forgetfulness and wrongdoing (lêthês te kai kakias plêsthei-
sa), then it is weighed down (baruntheisa), sheds its wings and falls to earth (epi
tên gên pesêi)’ and Resp. 10, 617D7: ‘the mortal, death-bringing kind’ (thnêtou
genous thanatêphorou). The phrase that Proclus here quotes from the Phaedrus
introduces the description of the fate of the fallen souls that enter the cycle of
generation.
160. Tim. 42C4-D2 (part of a description of successive reincarnations; transl.
D.J. Zeyl): ‘And he would have no rest from these toilsome transformations (alla
tôn te ou proteron ponôn lêxoi) until he had dragged that massive accretion (ton
polun okhlon kai husteron prosphunta) of fire-water-air-earth into conformity
116 Notes to pages 74-75
with the revolution of the Same and uniform within him, and so subdued that
turbulent, irrational mass (thorubôdê kai alogon onta) by means of reason. This
would return him to his original condition of excellence.’ Cf. in Tim. 3,296,1-
300,20; in Alc. 57,11-15. See also Resp. 10, 611D2-7.
161. Resp. 7, 518C9: eis to on kai tou ontos to phanotaton.
162. Proclus refers to the ‘demonic region’, the ethereal region ‘between
heaven and earth’. ‘Meadow’ (leimôn) is one of its names, taken from Gorgias
524A2 and Resp. 614E2-3. Cf. in Remp. 2,128,3-136,16; esp. 2,128,17-19; 132,26-
133,2. It must be distinguished from the higher meadow mentioned at line 16,
which is that of Phaedr. 248B5-C1 (transl. P. Woodruff, slightly adapted): ‘The
reason there is so much eagerness to see the plain where truth stands (to
alêtheias pedion hou estin) is that this upper meadow (tou ekei leimônos) has the
grass that is the right food for the best part of the soul.’ The upper meadow is
part of the supracelestial region and forms a triad together with the ‘plain of
truth’ and the ‘nutriment of the gods’. Cf. TP 4.15, pp. 45,17-46,6; 4.16, pp.
48,24-49,21.
163. Resp. 10, 620E6-621A1: ‘it passed beneath the Throne of Necessity’
(hupo ton tês Anankês iënai thronon).
164. Resp. 10, 621A2-3: ‘the plain of oblivion’ (to tês lêthês pedion). This place
is of course the complete opposite of the ‘plain of truth’ from the Phaedrus
(248B5); cf. in Remp. 2,346,19-25.
165. cf. Psellus OD 197,8-10.
166. cf. Phaedr. 248B5-C1.
167. Phaedr. 248B7.
168. Phaedr. 248B5: trophêi doxastêi khrôntai (i.e. they use their opinions for
food).
169. cf. Resp. 10, 621C1-2: ton tês lêthês potamon.
170. e.g. Theaet. 177A1; Phaedo 81A6; 93B9; Resp. 2, 382C9; Leg. 10, 897B3.
171. puthmên; cf. Phaedo 109C5: we are like someone who lives deep down
in the middle of the ocean – ‘the pit of the ocean’ (tôi puthmêni tou pelagous) –
but thinks he is living on its surface, for we dwell in the hollows of the earth but
are unaware of this and think we live above. The ‘pit of the universe’ became a
metaphorical expression designating the deepest point of the world: cf. in Tim.
1,189,11; 1,445,11. It also stands for ‘the place where we live’ (in Tim. 1,353,6-7).
As in the Phaedo, its smallness is often contrasted with the greatness of the
whole (in Tim. 2,268,11). On the darkness in the pit of the universe, see in Remp.
2,347,20-348,2. The term ‘pit’ also figures in an Orphic fragment, where Zeus is
called puthmên of the earth and the starry sky (ps.-Arist. De mundo 401b1;
Orph. fr. 21A3, and also 168). Proclus interprets the Orphic fragment in the
same way: Zeus encompasses everything, including the pit of the world (in Tim.
1,313,17-314,2).
172. cf. Resp. 611D4-7; see also Tim. 42C4-D2 (quoted at 24,9-11).
173. cf. Tim. 43E1-4; DMS 20,11 (with n. 118); in Tim. 3,322,31-323,5; 338,11;
343,1-3.
174. cf. Phaedr. 249A3.
175. e.g. Phaedrus 249A6-7; Resp. 10, 614B-621D.
176. cf. Plato Gorg. 524D5; Plot. 1,6[1],7,5-7; Or. Chald. 116 (= Procl. in Crat.
155, p. 88,4-5); ET 209. Proclus usually refers to the oracles when using this
image: cf. in Alc. 138,18; 180,2; TP 1.3, p. 16,5-6 (with Saffrey & Westerink
[1968], p. 16 n. 3). See also Porph. De abst. 1,31,3 (without reference to the
oracles), with Bouffartigue & Patillon (1977), pp. 37-41. Psellus OD 197,10-13;
Plot. 1,6[1],7,5-7.
177. cf. Plot. 1,6[1],9.
 Notes to pages 75-76 117
178. cf. Plot. 1,8[51],4,17-32.
179. cf. Theaet. 176A8-B3 (following on the idea that evil will always haunt
‘this place’; transl. M.J. Levett & M.F. Burnyeat): ‘That is why a man should
make all haste to escape from earth to heaven; and escape means becoming as
like God as possible (phugê de homoiôsis theôi kata to dunaton); and a man
becomes like God when he becomes just and pure, with understanding’. Cf.
Introduction, 2.1, T1.
180. cf. Phaedr. 250C1-6.
181. The ‘images of souls’ are the irrational souls. According to Proclus,
among souls there are those that are rational and free-standing, which are with
some right called ‘souls’; and there are the images of souls, the irrational souls,
that is, which are the correlates of that which is ensouled (the soul as entelekheia
of the body). Cf. De dec. dub. 63,29-34; TP 3.6, p. 23,21-3; ET 64; in Tim.
3,330,9-24. See Blumenthal (1996), ch. 7.
182. kakergetis. Cf. Leg. 10, 896E5-6: (we must assume two souls,) one
beneficent and the other capable of the contrary effect’ (tês te euergetidos kai tês
tanantia dunamenês exergazesthai); and 897D1: ‘the evil (soul)’ (tên kakên).
Plato does not use the word kakergetis, but Proclus ascribes the doctrine of a
maleficent soul to Plutarch of Chaeronea and Atticus and their adherents (in
Tim. 1,382,2-11). This so-called maleficent soul is the precosmic soul that
receives order in the cosmogonic process. See also 1,391,10; TP 1.18, p. 87,24
(with Saffrey & Westerink [1968], p. 87 n. 3). DMS 40,15-17 provides some more
details about the doctrine of the two souls: see n. 293, and Opsomer (2001a), pp.
191-3. In ch. 45 Proclus will examine the possibility that the maleficent soul is
the cause of evil. But here, in ch. 25, he deals with the irrational souls, which
appear to be parts of this maleficent soul.
183. Proclus is here speaking of irrational souls as they can be found in
animals. They are themselves images of the so-called irrational soul discussed
in ch. 45. These irrational souls are inferior to the irrational soul that exists in
us (‘the mortal life-form’ that is ‘woven onto the descending soul’, 46,4-5, and
that is not really discussed here, but merely used as a point of reference), and
therefore it would be very unlikely that they would not run the risk of becoming
evil as well. Now, if such an ‘image’ belonged to the rational soul of an individual
(as is the case with the irrational soul of human persons), its evil would consist
in not conforming itself to reason. But in the case of animals, who have only an
irrational soul, evil arises when they lack the appropriate virtue, that is, when
they are not true to their kind. Animals do not need to be rational, they should
just be what they are. Cf. 18,22-3. Proclus rejects the view that the souls of
animals are reincarnated human souls, yet admits that human souls can enter
animals. What Plato means by the reincarnation of human souls in animals,
Proclus claims, is not that human souls enter into the bodies of animals, but
rather that they enter into the life of an animal, i.e. into the body of an animal
that already has an (irrational) soul. By making this distinction, Proclus can
claim that the rational soul is fundamentally different from the images of soul,
and always remains what it is: cf. in Tim. 3,294,22-295,14; in Remp. 2,310,29-
311,22; see also Iamblichus ap. Nemes. p. 35,8-11 Morani.
184. Cf. TP 1.18, p. 85,6-10.
185. cf. ET 45, p. 46,15-17; in Tim. 3,322,5-8.
186. cf. Arist. Metaph. 5.2, 1013b25-7; Phys. 2.3, 195a23-5.
187. cf. 21,17-18.
188. Proclus argues that the things that are not by nature virtuous, but
become virtuous by their behaviour, become perverted when their behaviour is
118 Notes to pages 77-79
bad (when they lack a virtuous ‘disposition’). Through a process of habituation
this badness may attain their nature so that it becomes itself evil.
189. Nature is the principle that governs body. Universal nature does so in
an invariable way.
190. This is a quotation from Leg. 10, 897B2-3. However, whereas our Plato
manuscripts read ortha kai eudaimona paidagôgei, Proclus here and at in Tim.
1,382,6 cites this phrase slighly differently as ortha kai emphrona paidagôgei.
191. cf. TP 3,94,15-21.
192. cf. Plot. 1,8[51],3,35-6.
193. Isaac (1982), 64 n. 2 (pp. 118-19) argues against the interpretation of
etiam in totis as referring to wholes, since wholes are said to be outside the
realm of matter (§27) and do not have evil (§47). But kai mên en tois holois
cannot mean ‘même aux yeux de tous’. In our view, Proclus is probably thinking
of wholes which may be of a material nature, such as the four elements. Cf.
28,24-6. See also Tim. 33A7.
194. Proclus may be thinking of the Presocratics, who failed to offer an
analysis of matter, though some of them did posit material, or rather bodily
principles. The first philosophical discussion of matter according to Proclus, will
have been the Timaeus or its supposed model, Timaeus Locrus.
195. cf. Or. Chald. 34 = in Tim. 1,451,19-22.
196. cf. Plot. 4,4 [28], 13,3-4 and 19-20.
197. For this distinction, see also 56,15-18; 60,4-6; Plot. 1,8[51],5,21-4.
198. cf. in Parm. 855,10-11.
199. So far Proclus has discussed ordinary, individual and material bodies,
which are liable to become evil. Now he turns to universal bodies (e.g. the four
elements), which cannot become evil, and immaterial bodies, whose nature
cannot become evil. Among the immaterial bodies he distinguishes those that
enjoy an invariable activity, and hence remain entirely free from evil, and those
that have a varying activity, such as pneumatic vehicles following the vicissi-
tudes of their soul, and can therefore be affected in their activities. For the
concept of ‘immaterial bodies’ (e.g. light, the celestial bodies) or bodies that are
‘halfway between the material and the immaterial’ (e.g. ‘pneumatic vehicles’),
see in Remp. 2,162,24-163,8; In Tim. 2,10,4-9; Siorvanes (1996), pp. 250-2.
200. cf. Plot. 1,8[51],3; 1,8[51],8,38-40 et passim.
201. cf. 5,10-13, with n. 27.
202. For the expression, see Arist. Metaph. 5.7, 1016b31-5.
203. i.e. the instrumental body or pneumatic vehicle. See in Tim. 3,236,31-
237,9, ET 209 and Dodds (1963), p. 320.
204. Proclus summarises the distinctions made in the previous chapter
between ordinary material bodies and immaterial bodies. When he says that the
latter can get corrupted in their activities, he is speaking only of partial
immaterial bodies (the instruments of the soul, i.e. pneumatic vehicles). Then
he mentions universal bodies (without specifying whether they are material or
immaterial) and seemingly introduces a new distinction, that between those
possessing order unproblematically and those whose order is due to a perpetual,
yet always victorious, struggle against disorder. Yet from what follows one may
infer that Proclus takes this distinction to correspond to that between material
(sensible) and immaterial bodies, whose ‘matter’ is sensible or intelligible
respectively (in the intelligible realm, it is however preferable to speak of
‘power’, rather than matter; cf. the assessment of Plotinus’ view in TP 3.9, pp.
39,24-40,8). Of course, in principle it can not be excluded that Proclus only later
inserted some of these cross-references into his texts.
205. cf. Tim. 30A3-5: pan … kinoumenon plêmmelôs kai ataktôs. The demi-
 Notes to pages 79-81 119
urge takes over ‘that which moves in an irregular and disorderly fashion’,
introducing order into it. Proclus here takes this expression as referring to
matter in the broad sense as that which serves as a substrate.
206. Disorder consists in the deprivation of the quality that is the essence of
the next higher level. In earthly bodies the substrate is matter, and order comes
from the imposition of form, form being bestowed by nature, the governing
principle of (material) body. In heavenly bodies, form is the substrate, and order
comes from the higher principle, Life. Note that Nature as a principle is not to
be confused with ‘the nature’ – the essence, that is – of matter, mentioned some
lines below.
207. cf. in Tim. 1,39,4.
208. Three hapax legomena: autoäoristia, autoämetria, autoskotos. See how-
ever Plotinus’ description of matter at 3,4[15],1,11-12 (aoristian pantelê);
3,9[13],3,12-13 (to aoriston pantê skoteinon); 1,8[51],3,27; 6,41-4.
209. For Proclus’ criticism of Plotinus’ conception of matter-evil see Introduc-
tion, 2.3, and Opsomer (2001b).
210. Accidents are predicated not of substrates, but of individuals and of
species. Cf. Porph. Isag. 13,10-21. One of the questions that Plotinus posits at
the outset of his treatise on the origin of evil is: ‘to what does it belong as an
accident?’ (hotôi sumbebêke, 1,8[51],1,5). See also 1,8[51],3,16-24.
211. The opinion of Plotinus, but also of Numenius, who made it a positively
evil force (ap. Calc. c. 294), and also Cronius and Celsus (Orig. Cels. 4,65; 8,55)
and Moderatus (Simpl. in Phys. 231,21). Harpocration is said to have derived
evil rather ‘from the bodies’. For Numenius, Cronius and Harpocration see
Iamblichus, De anima, ap. Stob. 1, p. 37,12-16 Wachsmuth-Hense.
212. Hom. Iliad 20,65. See also Plotinus 5,1[10],2,27.
213. Proclus closely follows the argument of Ennead 1,8[51],3: ll. 12-16: evil
is all kinds of privations of the good (cf. DMS 30,9-12); ll. 16-22: these do not
belong to evil as accidents, they are evil itself (cf. DMS 30,12-14); ll. 21-4: the
difference between evils that participate, and the absolute evil in which evils
participate (cf. DMS 30,14-22); ll. 35-40: the description of this first evil as that
which underlies all forms and measures, but is incapable of receiving them (cf.
DMS 30,22-4). Only later, in §4, does Plotinus explicitly identify this nature as
matter.
214. autokakon (see also 30,24 and 58,13), the word used by Plotinus
1,8[51],8,42.
215. 28,9-10; 29,12-21.
216. cf. Plot. 1,8[51],14,49-51: ‘matter, then, is the cause of weakness for the
soul, and the cause of [its] vice. So matter is evil first, and is the first evil.’
Proclus ignores the subtle distinctions between the soul’s weakness and its
vices. Cf. 33,1-3.
217. cf. Phaedo 79C7-8.
218. This is exactly what Plotinus does in 1,8[51],14,17-24: he argues that
the fact that weakness only occurs in souls that are near matter is an indication
that matter is the cause of this weakness.
219. In his treatise on matter Plotinus rejects this coarse, Numenian-styled,
dualism: 2,4[12],2,9-10.
220. sc. than the evils generated by it.
221. cf. Philop. De aet. mundi 445,28-446,2.
222. Tim. 34B8-9.
223. In ch. 52, however, Proclus will explain that privation of being/form
differs from privation of the good. But here he just wants to highlight the
contrast with the necessary as a condition of existence.
120 Notes to pages 81-82
224. Tim. 49A6; cf. also 51A4; 52D4-5.
225. Tim. 50D3 and 51A4.
226. Proclus is using Plotinus’ own conception in a dialectical way against
him. Cf. Plot. 1,8[51],3,35-40; 3,6[26],11,29-36; 3,6[26],11,43-5. See also Porph.
Sent. 21 (p. 12,8-9).
227. to endeës. Plotinus included measurelessness (ametria) and need among
the characteristics of evil: 1,8[51],3,12-15. He even gives a vivid description of
matter begging the soul, making a nuisance of itself and trying to worm its way
inside (1,8[51],14,35-6; cf. 3,6[26],14,5-15 where the metaphor of begging is
explicitly related to Plato Symp. 203B4).
228. This idea is entertained, as a mere hypothesis, by Plotinus: 1,8[51],5,4.
He deals with the objection that refers to the weakness of the soul in 1,8[51],14,
maintaining that matter is the cause both of the weakness of the soul (which is
not yet evil) and of its evil.
229. cf. Phaedr. 248A1-B1. See n. 117.
230. See our nn. 141 and 159 for ‘mischance’ (suntukhia) and ‘oblivion’ (lêthê).
For ‘oblivion’ see also 20,11-12; 21,15-16; 22,10, with our notes.
231. Phaedr. 247B3-4, also cited below: 49,16-17.
232. cf. Plato Resp. 10, 621A6-7. See n. 128.
233. a-poion, ‘without quality’, with the familiar pun on poiein, ‘to do’. See
Plot. 1,8[51],10.
234. The souls are themselves responsible for their vices. Cf. in Tim.
3,313,18-21; 3,302,24-303,12.
235. i.e. the mode kat’enantiôsin, that moves from the negation of a predicate
to the affirmation of its contrary. Cf. Anon. in Parm. V,26.
236. see, however, 37,1-6.
237. Tim. 50D3 and 51A4.
238. Tim. 49A6; 52D4-5.
239. Tim. 46C7; 76D6; cf. also Phaedo 99B; Polit. 281DE.
240. Tim. 34B8-9.
241. Polit. 273B4-C2 (transl. C.J. Rowe): ‘the cause of this was the bodily
element in its mixture (to sômatoeides tês sunkraseôs aition), its companion
since its origins long in the past (to tês palai pote phuseôs suntrophon), because
this element was marked by a great disorder (pollês metekhon ataxias) before it
entered into the present world-order. For from the one who put it together the
world possesses all fine things (para tou sunthentos panta kala kektêtai); from
its previous condition (para tês emprosthen hexeôs), on the other hand, it both
has for itself from that source everything that is bad and unjust in the heavens,
and produces it in its turn in living things.’
242. Phil. 26C4-27C1. Socrates here first distinguishes three elements: the
limit, the unlimited, the product resulting from their mixture (i.e. ‘coming-into-
being’, genesis eis ousian). Then he adds a fourth, which he calls the cause (aitia,
aition) of the generation, that which makes (to poioun) or fabricates (to dêmiour-
goun) the mixture. He even says that ‘that which makes’ and ‘the cause’ are ‘one’,
which Proclus may have taken as a reference to the One. At 27A5-6 Socrates
affirms the priority of the ‘fourth’ principle. That the cause produces limit and
the unlimited is derived from 23C9-10: ‘we agreed earlier that the god (ton
theon) had revealed a division of what is into the unlimited and the limit’, where
‘to reveal’ (deixai) is interpreted as ‘to produce’. Cf. De Haas (1997), p. 8 n. 30.
Proclus’ wrote a commentary on the Philebus, which is unfortunately no longer
extant.
243. Resp. 2, 379C6-7: tôn kakôn all’atta khrênai zêtein ta aitia, kai ou theon.
 Notes to pages 82-83 121
Cf. Introduction, 2.1, T2; DMS 41,10-11; 47,13-14; TP 3.7-9, esp. pp. 30,19-21;
32,2-7; 36,10-24; in Tim. 1,375,25-376,1; in Remp 1,38,3-9.
244. Tim. 30A4-5: to plêmmelôs kai ataktôs kinoumenon, one of the phrases
to indicate the precosmic disorderly motion (i.e. that which is in motion). The
demiurge takes over this ‘mass’, that is ‘visible’ and contains already some
‘traces’ (ikhnê, 53B2) of the forms. The traces of the forms refer to the causal
influence of the principles that are ontologically prior to the demiurge, and
therefore already exert their influence ‘before’ the demiurge (not to be under-
stood in a chronological sense). These forms are partial – for that is how they
are received in the realm of the sensible – and hence conflicting. Proclus then
does not equate the ‘disorderly moving mass’ of the Timaeus or ‘the bodily
nature’ of the Politicus with matter. Cf. in Tim. 1,387,8-30; in Parm. 844,24-6.
Plotinus, on the contrary, glosses ‘the world’s ancient nature’ from the Politicus
as ‘the underlying matter, not yet set in order by some god’ (1,8[51],7,6-7).
245. Polit. 273B4: to sômatoeides. See n. 241.
246. Tim. 30A3.
247. Tim. 53B2 (ikhnê).
248. Polit. 273B8. See n. 241.
249. See n. 244.
250. See n. 242. Proclus holds that matter is the lowest manifestation of
unlimitedness, which itself as a principle is the immediate manifestation of the
One (ET prop. 92), as being the infinite power of the One (TP 3.8, p. 32,15-23; in
Tim. 1,384,30-385,17). Matter is in a sense directly produced by the One, which
is an application of the general rules that higher causes are to a higher degree
causative of a given product than its immediate cause, and that their influence
extends further down the ontological scale. Cf. ET props. 56-7; 70-2; Siorvanes
(1996), p. 183; De Haas (1997), p. 15.
251. Proclus’ argument in the present text can then be rephrased and
explained as follows: if one simply calls all unlimitedness matter, as Plotinus
does (cf. Procl. TP 3.9, pp. 39,24-40,8), then matter is from god, for in the
Philebus it is said that god produces the unlimited. The One, according to
Proclus, indeed produces the first unlimited, that is the henad of the unlimited
which is prior to being. But there are many forms of unlimitedness: the first
unlimited is followed by substantial unlimitedness (the unlimited ‘belonging to
being’; cf. ibid., p. 38,22-7), and the unlimited extends over all levels of reality,
down to sensible matter, the lowest manifestation of unlimitedness (TP 3.12, p.
45,3-6; the unlimited in the realm of generation should according to Proclus no
longer be called ‘power’, but ‘matter’, because it needs to receive from elsewhere
the power to become limited; conversely, one should not call substantial unlimit-
edness matter, but rather power: TP 3.10, pp. 10-20). Even this lowest form of
unlimitedness, that according to Plotinus is evil itself, is produced by god, for all
the forms of unlimitedness derive from one single cause. Especially in the case
of sensible matter, god’s power is necessary, as matter can not out of itself,
taking the initiative, engage in any mixture. Especially then, even more than at
the higher levels, god is needed a second time, since he is the cause of both the
existence of limit and the unlimited, and their mixture (TP 3.9, p. 36,20-4). This
means that both matter and material bodies are produced by god: matter as the
expression of his unlimitedness, body as a mixture, produced by god, of constitu-
ents (viz. matter/unlimited, and form/limit) equally produced by him. Hence
neither of them can be evil.
252. Phil. 27A11-12. See n. 242.
253. cf. TP 3.8, p. 34,1-3.
254. Phil. 27A11.
122 Notes to pages 83-85
255. Phil. 27B1-2; cf. also 27B6-C1.
256. cf. Resp. 335D.
257. to hou heneka, an expression that already in Gorg. 467D-468C is related
to the notion of the good and is contrasted with to heneka tou, ‘that which is for
the sake of [something else]’.
258. cf. Leg. 1, 636D7-E1. See also Hom. Iliad 24,527-8, quoted by Plato,
Resp. 2, 379D3-4.
259. cf. 28,28.
260. We would almost call matter good, were it not that it is the last in the
hierarchy: there is no being lower than it for which matter would be the goal.
Matter is then neither good nor bad, but, as something necessary, intermediate.
261. cf. in Remp. 1,37,30-38,3. See Philoponus’ criticism: Contra Procl. 9,
403,22-404,1; De Haas (1997), p. 2.
262. Matter is necessary for the immanent (‘enmattered’) forms, not for the
transcendent, freestanding forms.
263. cf. ET prop. 8.
264. Plot. 1,8[51],7,19-20: ‘and this last, after which nothing else could come
into being, is evil.’
265. Again Plotinus’ view: 1,8[51],6,36-59.
266. cf. chs 8-9.
267. If evil does not exist on its own, it cannot be identified with matter, since
matter exists on its own, and not in something else, as also Plotinus affirms
(1,8[51],10,8-9). But of course Plotinus does not concede that evil has no sepa-
rate existence.
268. cf. Phaedo 60B8-C1; In Parm. 741,3.
269. See Aristotle’s definition of ‘contrary’: Cat. 6, 6a17-18. In order to make
the claim that a contrary of substance is possible and indeed exists (namely,
matter-evil), Plotinus had to truncate Aristotle’s definition of contraries as
‘things which stand furthest apart in the same genus’ to ‘things which stand
furthest apart’. An extreme contrariety would imply, so he claims, that the
contraries have nothing at all in common, not even their genus (1,8[51],6,54-9).
This construction is here rejected by Proclus. See also 45,15-17, with n. 327.
270. In the etymological sense of ‘belonging to the same genus’.
271. i.e. common to both the good and the principle allegedly homogeneous
to it.
272. cf. 7,28-50.
273. According to Calcidius in Tim. 288, this is Aristotle’s view. Compare Plot.
1,8[51],11,1.
274. This passage is reminiscent of Aristotle Phys. 1.9, 192a13-25, who
criticises ‘certain thinkers’ (Platonists unfortunately) for not distinguishing
matter and privation. Privation, which is the contrary of the form and in its own
nature does not exist, is different from the substrate, which desires form and
only accidentally does not exist. Aristotle says that if one considers privation
(‘the other part of the contrariety’, i.e. ‘that which is contrary’ and hence the
destruction of the form) as an evil agent (kakopoios, the same word is used by
Proclus – malificam in Moerbeke’s translation: 38,4; also 38,29), it may almost
seem not to exist at all. He explains that privation is contrary to what is divine,
good, and desirable, whereas matter desires this and yearns for it. Now, if one
conflates matter and privation, the consequence is that the contrary desires its
own extinction, ‘as contraries are mutually destructive’ (cf. DMS 37,17). Next
Aristotle compares matter’s desire of form to the female desiring the male, an
example that does not fit his account (the female does not disappear as a result
of the fulfilment of its desire) but which Plotinus uses for his own theory of
 Notes to pages 85-88 123
matter (2,4[12],16,14-17) in order to show that change does not necessarily
entail the disappearance of privation. From there Plotinus argues – against
Aristotle – that in the case of both change and desire, the privation, i.e.
non-being, does not disappear, but persists. Hence the substrate – matter – can
be identified with privation, complete absence of form and light, and therefore
evil. This also is why he claims that matter can never truly receive form (cf.
DMS 32,13-14, with n. 226): the privation remains. Cf. O’Brien (1999), sect.
XIV-XV. In upholding the distinction between privation and matter (see also
32,15-16), Proclus again sides with Aristotle against Plotinus. On the other
hand, he does not concede that privation is evil. Cf. Introduction, 2.3.
275. cf. Arist. Phys. 1.9, 192a4-6.
276. cf. above 7,47-8; ch. 52.
277. cf. 32,10-12.
278. In other words, Proclus distinguishes between privation of form (i.e.
‘Aristotelian’ privation), which is a mere absence and in no way evil, and the
so-called privation of the good, i.e. that which actively opposes the good and is
therefore evil. The latter kind of ‘privation’ derives its power from the good, and
should therefore be called not a contrary, but a subcontrary of the good, as he
will argue later (chs 52-3). Here he claims that opposition to the good should not
be called privation. See however also 39,42. Cf. Introduction, 2.4.5.
279. amenênon, cf. 3,5-6, with n. 13.
280. TP 1.18, p. 85,6-10.
281. cf. Tim. 43E1 (klaseis); Procl. in Tim. 3,348,29-349,19; DMS 20,11. For
quietatio we have found no direct parallel; galêne (Tim. 44B3), suggested by
Boese, is a positive concept; paula at Phaedr. 245C6-7 (suggested by D. Isaac)
is not applicable to the soul itself (yet perhaps to some of its powers). Doubt-
lessly, the difference between ‘fractures’ and quietatio is to be traced back to the
two circles of the soul (see n. 118): when the soul fares badly, the circle of the
Same is merely shackled or hindered in its motion (pedasthai), while that of
Difference is fractured. In other words, the former is never distorted (diastre-
phesthai), but only paralysed; the latter can be distorted. Cf. in Tim. 2,314,26-7;
3,333,2-9; Dam. in Parm. 2,254,12-19; Herm. in Phaedr. 122,13-14; Steel (1978),
p. 38; 54, n. 2. Perhaps quietatio corresponds to pedê or pedêsis.
282. Against Boese, Erler, and Isaac, we believe Proclus’ text here to be sane,
as Proclus rejects the possibility that the substance of a soul gets corrupted.
Hence there is no need to speak of substantial (ousiôdês) corruption, as a third
kind of corruption next to the corruptions of activity (energeia) and of potency/
power (dunamis).
283. cf. chs 20-2, 23-4, and 27-9, respectively.
284. Although Proclus denies the possibility of a contrary of substance, here
he probably entertains the idea – in a dialectical context – that what destroys a
particular substance is the contrary of that substance.
285. Intellect and nature are the principles governing – i.e. immediately
superior to – soul and body respectively.
286. Resp. 10, 610D5-7: ‘By god, if injustice were actually fatal (thanasimon)
to those who contracted it, it wouldn’t seem so terrible (pandeinon), for it would
be an escape from their troubles.’ See also n. 31.
287. cf. in Remp. 15, 2,89,25-90,1.
288. Possibly the Manicheans. Cf. Simpl. in Ench. 70,28-71,5; Ascl. in
Metaph. 292,26-9, and Erler (1978), p. 144, n. 1; I. Hadot, pp. 117-18; see also
Introduction, p. 50 n. 57. However, there must also have been Platonists who
endorsed the view that there is a fount of evils, as is suggested by 41,16-24, and
especially 42,3-4 (with n. 304). See also Maximus of Tyre Or. 41,58-60 Trapp: in
124 Notes to pages 88-89
a rhetorical comparison, Maximus argues that instead of searching the sources
of the Nile, one would do better to look for the sources, or founts (pêgai), of good
and evils. Eusebius speaks of ‘the much discussed source of vice’ (kakias pêgê),
which he situates in human freedom (Praep. ev. 6,6,47). See also Calcidius in
Tim. 297, p. 299,14.
289. Plutarch of Chaeronea, Atticus and their adherents: see in Tim. 1,382,2-
11 and our nn. 182 and 329.
290. Intermediate in that their principle of evil, the intellective forms, is
situated between the level of the first principle(s) and that of the soul. The view
that there are forms of evils was presumably Amelius’: cf. Ascl. in Nic. arithm.
1,44; Saffrey & Westerink (1968), p. 87 n. 2 (at p. 153). See ch. 43 with our notes.
291. In TP 1.18, pp. 87,22-88,10 Proclus claims that these three doctrines –
evil as being caused by gods, by a soul, or by forms – are in complete disagree-
ment with Plato’s thought. In the next chapters of DMS he will make the same
claim.
292. Theaet. 176E4. See also above,16,8-10, with n. 97; Introduction, 2.1, T1’.
293. Leg. 10, 896E5-897D1. See n. 182. Proclus may be thinking of Plutarch
of Chaeronea and Atticus. Whatever the view of Atticus was, Plutarch for one
did not hold that there are two different souls governing the sublunary realm,
neither at the precosmic nor at the cosmic stage. See Opsomer (2001a), pp.
191-7.
294. These are the three main hypostases that function as principles. Proclus
uses this simple scheme (most notably in the Elements of Theology) next to the
more complex hierarchy that figures in the Platonic Theology (see also ch. 51),
and is thus prepared to operate at different levels of complexity depending on
the occasion.
295. chs 11-13.
296. Phaedr. 246D8-E1: to de theion kalon, sophon, agathon.
297. Goodness does not produce by means of an external activity. That is why
it remains in itself. Often the image of overflowing is used. Also is reversion a
crucial feature of the causal process: beings become good by turning towards
goodness.
298. Resp. 335D; cf. above 35,26-7.
299. chs 4-7; 11,2-3.
300. Resp. 2, 379C6-7: tôn kakôn all’atta khrênai zêtein ta aitia, kai ou theon;
cf. 34,13-14 with n. 243; 47,13-14; Introduction, 2.1, T2.
301. cf. Erler (1978), p. 149 n. 1, with references to Or. Chald. fr. 53 Des
Places = Procl. in Remp. 2,220,14; Hymn. 1,5; in Remp. 2,104,18.
302. cf. in Tim. 1,374,8-12.
303. Presumably the Chaldaeans.
304. This could be an allusion to Aristotle, who in DA 3.6 claims that the
intellect knows evil, namely by means of its contrary (430b22-3; compare Plato
Phaed. 97D; Leg. 7, 816D; Arist. Metaph. 4.2, 1004a10). See also n. 357; Philop.
On Aristotle on Intellect 82,27-31 (transl. Charlton, p. 97): ‘It is not when we are
asleep or mad, because it is not functioning, that it knows lacks of forms, but
because the knowledge of contraries or opposites is the same. Plainly when it
knows light it also knows the lack of this; similarly with good and rest.’ See also
Themistius in DA 111,26-112,1, who denies knowledge of evil to the divine
intellect.
305. Knowledge and production coincide for the gods. See 42,14-16, and also
61,17-24, Proclus’ final words on this matter.
306. At TP 1.18, p. 88,1-7 Proclus refers to authors of esoteric writings who
seem to suggest that the gods cause evil qua evil. This view amounts to positing
 Notes to pages 89-92 125
a maleficent cause (kakopoion aitian) among the gods and is condemned by
Proclus as bordering on the absurdities of the barbarians and the fictional tales
of the war of the Giants. Cf. Saffrey & Westerink (1968), p. 88 n. 1 (at p. 154):
‘Ce sont évidemment les Gnostiques en général et les Manichéens en particulier
qui supposent un dieu mauvais, qui n’est autre que la matière.’ See also ibid., p.
88 n. 2.
307. TP 1.18, p. 85,6-10.
308. Evils are necessary for the whole; see chs 7 and 60. For the whole there
is only good: cf. TP 1.18, p. 84,20-4; 27.
309. Proclus manages to uphold the view expressed in Resp. 2, 379B15-16,
according to which the good is the cause of everything (is ‘responsible for’, aition,
everything) yet is responsible for good things only, not for bad things (tôn de
kakôn anaition).
310. The forms are causes for the sensible, yet of form. The forms transcend
the sensible and are not themselves formless. Likewise the gods are causes for
the evils, but of good.
311. The same question is treated, with similar arguments, at in Parm.
829,23-831,24. See also Syrianus in Metaph. 107,8-9.
312. Compare ET prop. 76 (and the more general propositions 28-30).
313. Theaet. 176A7-8. See Introduction, 2.1, T1.
314. This passage is loosely inspired by Theaet. 176A-177A.
315. Pol. 269D5-6.
316. cf. 40,13-14.
317. Theaet. 176E3-4.
318. From the Neoplatonic doctrine of demiurgy Proclus derives an addi-
tional argument against the view that the forms are causes of evil. When it is
said in the Timaeus that the demiurge looks at the intelligible model (Tim. 28A6,
29A3), Proclus takes this to mean that the demiurge interiorises the forms: they
are contained in him in an intellective way (and display a greater diversity than
at the purely intelligible level). By these forms the demiurge creates. And his
creatures assimilate themselves to the demiurge, that is to the forms contained
in and constituting his being. Now, if the forms – or at least some forms – caused
evil, the demiurge would produce evil effects. Quod non.
319. Tim. 29E3.
320. Tim. 30A2-3. See n. 16.
321. The demiurge in the Timaeus acts ‘by his very being’ (by consequence,
in an unchanging and atemporal way) and in a universal way, by which features
he is to be distinguished from the lower demiurges (such as the young gods). See
nn. 16 and 17.
322. This whole passage refers to Theaet. 176A1-4.
323. cf. in Eucl. 144,16-17: the circular stems from limit, the rectilinear from
the unlimited.
324. cf. Plot. 5,9[5],10,2-5; ps.-Dion. De div. nom. 4,30, pp. 175,16-176,1
Suchla.
325. See 25,2-3 with n. 182; 40,6; and 40,15-17, with n. 293.
326. i.e. from the demiurge and the young gods (the encosmic gods).
327. Plotinus had claimed, against Aristotle (Cat. 3b24-25; Phys. 1.6, 189a32-
3), that there is a contrary to substance as such, namely matter, and that the
contrary of substance is evil, since substance is good (1,8 [51], 6). Simplicius in
Cat. 5, pp. 109,5-110,25 gives a refutation of Plotinus – partly with the same
arguments as those found in Proclus’ section on matter (esp. DMS 37,6-25) –
followed by a summary of the Proclean doctrine of evil. Cf. Opsomer (2001b), pp.
31-5.
126 Notes to pages 92-93
328. Leg. 10, 896E5-6; see nn. 182 and 293.
329. ‘The soul that is disposed to preserve itself ’ is the soul that can correct
itself, because it has within itself measure and reason; it is this soul that can
‘adapt its activities to a superior soul.’ The other kind of soul cannot correct
itself, because it lacks an internal measure; it must receive this from elsewhere.
In this it resembles bodies (cf. ET 44). It always remains what it is. The latter
kind of soul must probably be equated with the ‘images of souls’, i.e. the
irrational souls of ch. 25 (the irrational souls of animals, but also the irrational
soul that gets attached to the human soul when the latter descends; see 46,4-5).
The former soul is the soul that the Athenian Stranger calls maleficent (see n.
182), the meaning of which Proclus tries to minimize by saying that it can
merely be hindered in its activities and powers; in itself it remains good. Indeed,
Proclus maintains that no soul can be affected in its substance. The so-called
irrational soul can, but only because it is not really a soul: it is an ‘image of a
soul’, ‘the mortal life’ (ET 64, p. 62,11-12; 209, p. 182,19-20). Proclus nowhere
explains what the maleficent soul according to him is. In his extant works he
merely rejects the view of Plutarch of Chaeronea and Atticus, who equate the
maleficent soul of the Laws with the precosmic soul, say that the irrational
precedes the rational and make the irrational soul a principle of evil (cf. in Tim.
1,381,26-384,1; 1,391,6-17). Proclus himself probably considered the maleficent
soul a cosmic soul, yet one that is clearly inferior to the rational soul of the Laws
and, moreover, can adapt itself to that superior soul. It apparently also is the
principle from which the irrational life is derived, as in 25,2 Proclus calls the
irrational souls part of this maleficent soul. See also TP 1.14, pp. 63,21-64,13.
330. cf. Leg. 10, 898C6.
331. cf. ch. 33, with our n. 228, referring to the view of Plotinus.
332. Phaedr. 248A6-8: glikhomenai men hapasai tou anô […], adunatousai
de hupobrukhiai sumperipherontai.
333. Soph. 254A9-B1: ‘[The form Being] isn’t at all easy to see because that
area is so bright (dia to lampron tês khôras) and the eyes of most people’s souls
(ta tês tôn pollôn psukhês ommata) can’t bear to look at what’s divine (karterein
pros to theion aphorônta adunata).’
334. i.e. the mortal life forms that it acquires on its descent (see 46,4-5), and
which stem from the principle of irrational life (the so-called maleficent soul).
Cf. 25,2; 45,19-27, with our notes.
335. Phaedr. 248C5-8.
336. The term inclination, rhopê, is derived from Phaedr. 247B, cited at
33,7-8 and 49,16-17.
337. A summary of Proclus’ causal analysis of evil can be found at in Remp.
1,37,23-39,1.
338. cf. Iambl. De myst. 4,7; Orig. Contra Cels. IV 64 vol. I, p. 334,33 Kö., p.
552 Delarue.
339. The expression is taken from Theaet. 146A8. See also Porphyry De abst.
2,53,1.
340. Cf. Iambl. De myst. 4,7,1-5.
341. Resp. 2, 379C6-7 (alla atta aitia), quoted at 34,14 (see n. 243; Introduc-
tion, 2.1, T2) and 41,10-11. Proclus insists on the fact that Plato here uses the
plural and an indefinite pronoun (atta).
342. A combination of Theaet. 176A en 176E; see nn. 97 and 34; Introd. 2.1,
T1 & 1’; see also 40,13-14.
343. Phaedr. 254B7: en hagnôi bathrôi.
344. Resp. 7, 533D2; Soph. 254A10.
 Notes to pages 93-96 127
345. Phaedr. 246E2; 251B3; C8; 255D1, Resp. 8, 550B2. Cf. Erler (1978), p.
170, n. 1.
346. See ch. 50.
347. Leg. 9, 860D (Socrates); Tim. 86DE; Meno 77A-78B. See also Procl. De
prov. 57,12-13: ‘We claim that evil is unwilled by all. And it will seem good to
those who choose it.’ Cf. in Parm. 1024,28-33 (and compare Arist. EN 3.1,
1111a22-4), in Remp. 2,355,11-352,2.
348. Phaedr. 247B3-4. Cf. above, 33,7-8.
349. cf. 60,9-21; TP 1.18, p. 85,24.
350. cf. Tim. 28C2-3 (transl. D.J. Zeyl): ‘Further we maintain that, necessar-
ily, that which comes to be (tôi genomenôi) must come to be by the agency of some
cause (hup’ aitiou tinos anagkên einai genesthai).’
351. i.e., everything that exists is produced by an efficient cause, but must
also revert to this cause, which then simultaneously functions as its final cause.
Anything that is not caused by a cause operating per se, but merely by a cause
producing it accidentally, does not have a true existence (hupostasis), but merely
a parasitical existence (parupostasis), as a side-effect. The origin of this idea can
be traced back to Plato’s Sophist, 288C1-5: ‘when things that participate in
motion, putting forth some goal (skopon) and trying to achieve it, at each
attempt are deflected (paraphora) from it and fail to achieve it (apotunkhanei),
shall we say that this is the effect of symmetry among them, or of the want of
symmetry?’ For a more extensive explanation see the Introduction, 2.4.3, and
Opsomer & Steel (1999), pp. 244-60.
352. cf. Arist. EN 3.4, 1113a15-22; EE 4.13, 1127a21-2.
353. epeisodiôdes. See also in Remp. 1,38,26-9; in Tim. 3,303,22; Simpl. in
Cat. 109,29-110,5; De dec. dub. 15,2; 20,3; De prov. 34,11. Already Plutarch of
Chaeronea used the term in a similar context: De an. procr. 1015BC; Quaest.
conv. 734C (where it is linked to causes operating ‘from outside’, just as in the
present text). The metaphor derives from Aristotle: Poet. 1451b33-5. See Op-
somer & Steel (1999), p. 256 n. 145.
354. cf. Phaedr. 246A6-B1 (transl. A. Nehamas & P. Woodruff, slightly
adapted): ‘Let us then liken the soul to the natural union of a team of winged
horses and their charioteer. The gods have horses and charioteers that are
themselves all good and consist of good things, while everyone else has a
mixture’. Ordinary souls, Plato continues, have one good and one bad horse.
(Proclus mentions the bad horse at 33,7-8 and 49,16-17). For the different
meaning of the ‘horses’ with respect to gods, on the one, and humans, on the
other hand, see Hermias in Phaedr. 127,8-13 and esp. 121,35-122,24, where
Hermias explains that the human soul differs from the divine in that the former
can become evil in its powers, the latter not. No soul, however, can be affected
in its substance (compare DMS 21,15-28; 39,16-26). All souls are ‘winged’, but
only non-divine souls shed their wings (Phaedr. 246B7-C8).
355. Phaedr. 246A8 (autoi te agathoi kai ex agathôn) and B3 (ho d’ ex enantiôn
kai enantios). Plato probably means that the horses are good or bad, respec-
tively, and come from (ex) a good or bad stock. But for Proclus, ex refers not to
their bloodline, but to the powers of which they consist and which are either
good or ‘contrary’ (not only to the good, but to one another). Cf. in Alc. 227,12-15
Segonds; Steel (1978), p. 69 n. 68.
356. In this chapter Proclus explains the ‘properties’ of evil as privations of
the good at different levels of reality. What we get here then is a summary of his
metaphysical hierarchy, with all of its attributes negated. For the reader’s
convenience, we briefly explain the levels to which Proclus makes allusion.
(1) the highest good.
128 Notes to pages 96-97
(2.1) the first intelligible triad, consisting of (2.1.1) limit, (2.1.2) unlimited,
and (2.1.3) the first mixture. Proclus also refers to an internal triadic organisa-
tion of (2.1.3) : beauty – truth – measure. The first intelligible triad (2.1) is the
level of One-Being. Since being shines forth for the first time in the third term
of this triad (2.1.3), Proclus can say that it contains the monads of beings. (Since
Proclus speaks of the first limit, he could also be referring to limit and the
unlimited as henads, that is above the level of being; more probably he does not
want to distinguish here between limit and unlimited as henads, and limit and
the unlimited as the constituents of the first being).
(2.2) the second intelligible triad, ‘eternity’, ‘life’ or ‘power’. Power holds the
middle position of the intelligible triads (2.1-2.2-2.3), just as it did at a higher
level, within the triad (2.1.1-2.1.2-2.1.3). Borrowing a phrase from the Timaeus
(37D), level 2.2 is designated as ‘eternity remaining in one’, that is, it ‘remains
in’ and is dependent upon the One-Being (2.1). Note that Plato does not say that
it remains in the one (which would be the highest one), but in one. Cf. Opsomer
(2000a), p. 367.
(2.3) the third intelligible triad, or the autozôon or the very first living being
(participating immediately in life [2.2]). As the universal paradigm it contains
all the forms, but still in a hidden and undivided way.
(3) the three intelligible-intellective triads, consisting of (3.1.) the triad of
being, (3.2) the triad of power (the continuity and power of being), and (3.3) the
perfecting (telesiourgos) triad. This reflects the structure remaining-procession-
reversion.
(4) the intellective realm, of which only the first triad – that of the ‘parents’
– is mentioned here : (4.1) the ‘unitary summit’, ‘monadic cause’ or Kronos, (4.2)
the ‘summit of fertility’ or ‘generative power’ or Rhea, and (4.3) the summit of
demiurgy or efficient creation, or Zeus (the universal demiurge, creating univer-
sal things in a universal way, tôn holôn holikôs).
(5) the hypercosmic or ‘assimilative’ gods. Among these is a demiurgic triad
(5.1) that orders and exercises providence over divisible beings, yet in a univer-
sal way (tôn merôn holikôs).
(6) the hypercosmic-encosmic or ‘immaculate’ gods.
357. cf. Plot. 1,8[51],1,9; Arist. DA 3.8, 431b29-432a3.
358. This introduction echoes Plot. 1,8[51],1,7-15. See also1,8[51],9. The idea
may well go back to Phaed. 97D. Cf. Leg. 7, 816D; Arist. DA 430b22-3.
359. In the (lost) commentary on the Philebus, according to Westerink (1962),
pp. 167-8. But one can also think of the extant commentary on the Parmenides,
or, with Boese, of ET prop. 8ff., or in Remp. 1,269ff.
360. cf. 35,5-8, with our notes.
361. Westerink (1962 p. 168) points out that Isaak Sebastokrator has chris-
tianised the text: ‘the power that resides in Him’.
362. cf. Phil. 64A6-65A7.
363. cf. TP 3.9, p. 38,5-7; 3.11, pp. 43,19-44,20. This triad is operative in the
production of any mixture, and stands ‘in the portal of the good’ (cf. Phil. 64C1),
which for Proclus means that it consists of pre-essential henads.
364. Tim. 37D6: menontos aiônos en heni.
365. What is meant is privation of form. See ch. 38, and esp. ch. 52.
366. cf. Resp. 10, 608E3-4; DMS 5,1-4.
367. See also ch. 7.
368. Compare Plot. 1,8[51],5,12-14.
369. cf. Resp. 352C (the discussion with Thrasymachus). See Proclus’ com-
mentary: in Remp. 1,20,27-21,7.
370. cf. 38,13-14.
 Notes to pages 97-99 129
371. A remark apparently first made by Amelius: cf. Procl. in Remp. 1,24,7-9.
372. i.e. the corresponding virtue.
373. cf. 7,48-50.
374. i.e. evil destroys everything to which it inheres (e.g. the disease dwelling
in a body).
375. Leg. 9, 860D; Tim. 86DE.
376. cf. 49,11-14, with n. 347.
377. There is no exact parallel for the triad will-power-activity (boulêsis-
dunamis-energeia). At in Tim. 1,171,10-25, Proclus explains that the hyperes-
sential triad is goodness-will-providence (agathotês-boulêsis-pronoia), and its
intelligible counterpart being-power-activity (ousia-dunamis-energeia). The
triad in the present passage corresponds to the latter threesome, with its first
term being replaced by the middle term of the highest triad (which is above
being). In a number of texts, power is treated as being posterior to will, e.g. TP
1,103,3-5. In the Timaeus (29E1-30A6) Proclus discerns the triad will-power-
providence (boulêsis-dunamis-pronoia), while the triad will-power-knowledge
(boulêsis-dunamis-gnôsis) is found in the Laws (901D1-902A5); cf. TP 1,72,21-
74,6. Providence and gnôsis could easily both be seen as forms of activity, which
would give us the same triad as that of the present text. This structure is
actually underlying Proclus’ account in TP 1,72.21-74,6. See also in Alc. 125,8-
12; Olymp. in Gorg. 59, pp. 65,20-66,2 (the triad good [i.e. good
will]-power-activity, and the ‘Proclean’ idea that evil is due not to power, but to
weakness).
378. Arist. Phys. 1.9, 192a14 (hê hetera moira tês enantiôseôs). In this passage
Aristotle distinguishes privation from the substrate (192a14-16, transl. R.P.
Hardie & R.K. Gaye, ed. J. Barnes): ‘For the one which persists [i.e. the
substrate] is a joint cause, with the form, of what comes to be – a mother as it
were. But the other part of the contrariety may often seem, if you concentrate
your attention on it as an evil agent (kakopoios), not to exist at all.’ In privation,
according to Aristotle, one part of the contrariety destroys the other, as contrar-
ies are mutually destructive. Proclus sides with Aristotle against Plotinus in
upholding the difference between privation and the substrate, yet refuses to
admit that privation would be evil (cf. ch. 38,1-9, and also 32,14-16).
379. cf. ch. 50.
380. These beings have in common that they are partial natures capable of
change with respect to their rank, by letting themselves be guided or ruled
either by what is superior or by the inferior. See also TP 3.27, p. 94,15-21; in
Tim. 1,380,24-381,6; in Alc. 117,22-5. Cf. Segonds (1985), t. 1, notes complémen-
taires 5 and 6 for p. 97 (pp. 189-90).
381. cf., e.g., in Parm. 1045,30-1. For the readers’ convenience we present this
in the form of a table:
beings in which evil exists their governing principle
(particular) souls intellect
irrational souls (the images of the soul) reason
(particular) bodies nature
382. See TP 1.18, p. 86,14-16: the gods are not responsible for evil, but the
weakness of the receiving natures.
383. nosos and aiskhos, respectively.
384. This whole section is based on Soph. 227C10-228E5. Disease of the soul
is defined as ‘sedition among things naturally akin’, such as opinions at variance
with desires, courage with pleasures, reason with pain. Under this heading are
ranked vices such as cowardice, intemperance and injustice. Foulness, on the
other hand, is due to lack of proportion causing a failure to ‘hit the mark’. In the
130 Notes to pages 100-102
soul this consists in ignorance. Cf. Cornford (1935), p. 179: ‘Ignorance (agnoia)
is the swerving aside of the soul’s impulse towards truth, and (as Socrates has
taught) is always ‘involuntary’ – against the true wish for the right end.’
385. Namely, evil of the body, disease of the soul, foulness of the soul. At
56,15-18, however, Proclus also divides the evil of the body into disease and
foulness. The same distinction is applied in the section on providence, where it
is moreover paralleled with the division of the evils of the soul (cf. 60,4-6). See
also 28,10-11. Cf. Plotinus 1,8[51],5,21-4.
386. dianoia and doxa, respectively.
387. epistême and doxa, respectively. Cf. Soph. 228E6-230E4: the Stranger
explains that ignorance may be subdivided in two categories: (1) ‘one large and
grievous kind of ignorance’ or complete stupidity, in which case one thinks one
knows a thing when one does not know it; and (2) forms of partial ignorance. To
these apply different remedies, ‘education’ for the former kind of ignorance,
‘instruction in handicraft’ for the latter (229D1-3). Education is later subdivided
into admonition (nouthetêsis) and refutation through cross-questioning
(elenkhos).
388. gnôseis and hormai.
389. orexeis, aisthêseis and phantasiai are all non-rational. See, e.g., in Parm.
893,6-7.
390. i.e. the bodily evil.
391. The text is sound: nature governs body, the principle of life (soul)
governs irrational soul, and what is prior to rational soul (i.e. intellect) governs
the rational soul.
392. On this dilemma , its history and Proclus’ solution, see Opsomer & Steel
(1999), esp. pp. 229-31 and 259-60.
393. Tim. 30A2-3. See n. 15; Introduction, 2.1, T3.
394. cf. 8,6-9, 9,5-6, 37,6-8, 42,7-20 et passim.
395. god, intellect, soul, and nature, respectively.
396. cf. in Tim. 1,377,22-4. See already Max. Tyr. Or. 41,125-131 Trapp.
397. The transition is somewhat abrupt, yet the parallel text in Tim.
1,377,7-378,29 shows that this idea belongs in the same context. Proclus has
argued that the necessary existence of a realm where evils occur is reconcilable
with the existence of providence. Vices of the soul are partial and only from a
partial perspective evil: they are not evil to the whole, but only to the partial
soul. A further distinction consists in the difference between evils that affect
only the choices of the soul (impression, consent and choice, but not yet impulse),
and those that are also expressed in deeds. Proclus makes his point in the next
chapter (59): providence is concerned with both choices and deeds, and punishes
the soul for both in case they are bad.
398. cf. Simpl. in Phys. 9,361,4.
399. Proclus is thinking of the case of a person who is prepared to harm
another for the sake of his own interest, but unknowingly contributes to the
well-being of the other, thus promoting the good from a universal perspective.
400. ôdis, as in 59,6 (‘woes’).
401. cf. in Tim. 1,380,8-20.
402. It is a good thing for a soul to be punished when it needs to be: cf. Gorg.
477A.
403. A more elaborate account can be found at in Tim. 3,302,4-31. The laws
of the souls are implanted in the souls themselves, so that they have the full
responsibility for the kind of life they lead and the punishments they incur.
404. i.e. the soul is either incarnated (it ‘projects’ a specific life) or it clings to
 Notes to pages 102-103 131
the heavenly sights and is carried around, as is described in the Phaedrus. See
n. 117.
405. cf. De dec. dub. 29, where Proclus is arguing that both generation and
corruption are necessary. Generation is according to nature, but the thing
destroyed seems to suffer corruption contrary to its nature; one could however
say that even destruction is for that thing according to its nature, and therefore
in a sense good. See also in Tim. 1,376,28-377,7.
406. Soph. 228A1-2; 228E6-229A1.
407. A stock phrase since Aristotle (Phys. 2.1, 193b8; 2.2, 194b13; 2.7, 198a27;
Metaph. 7.7, 1032a25; 12.3, 1070a8). Cf. Procl. in Parm. 884,1.
408. Proclus is probably thinking of the many different geometrical figures
which can be derived from the same formula: many triangles (right-angled,
equilateral, different scalenes, etc.) share the same definition of ‘the triangle’.
409. Proclus considers a thing in which a change occurs from two different
perspectives: the thing taken as being itself a whole, and then a change is
unnatural, as it entails the alteration of the rational principle inherent in the
thing; or the thing taken as part of another whole, and then the change is
natural from the perspective of the encompassing whole.
410. cf. 36,5-7.
411. Resp. 2, 379B16. See also in Remp. 1,36,25-9.
412. Epist. 2, 312E1-3: ‘all things are around the king of all, and they all exist
for his sake, and that is the cause of all things beautiful.’ This passage is also
cited by Plotinus: 1,8 [51], 2,28-30. For the history of the interpretation of the
second Letter see Saffrey & Westerink (1974), pp. XX-LIX.
413. In the gods knowledge and production coincide: see 42,14-20, with our
notes ad loc. For knowledge of evil, see 51,1-6, with n. 357, and n. 304.
This page intentionally left blank
 Philological Appendix 133

Philological Appendix
We follow some of the conventions set out in Charlton - Bossier 1991, p. 27:
‘read’ introduces readings found in one or more Latin MSS but not accepted by
Boese; ‘conjecture’ introduces readings not found in the MSS which, it is sug-
gested, restore Moerbeke’s original Latin; ‘understand’ introduces words cor-
responding, it is suggested, to words in Proclus’ original Greek which were
either not in Moerbeke’s manuscript or which he misread or misinterpreted;
‘sc.’ signals the presumable Greek equivalent for a Latin term.

1,5-6 Nichil autem deterius ... scribere: Proclus must have written
οδν δ χε ρον κα µς ... ναγρψαι (Westerink 1962, p. 165).
2,6 The text is sound: ut non stands for να µ, ‘because otherwise’
(Westerink 1962, p. 165), ‘unless’.
2,19 Perhaps delete the first et (lacking in Isaak Seb.). Yet et ... et (κα
... κα) is also possible.
2,21 Do not delete malum aut in aut neque esse malum aut neque fac-
tum esse malum, contrary to what Boese suggests. Cf. 2,30-1,
omnia enim entia et facta sunt et sunt.
2,24 For fontem ‘beyond the source’ understand fons (Westerink 1962,
p. 166). The good is indeed equated with, and not beyond the
source of beings. E.g. DMS 14,15-16.
2,27 multo ergo opus est, sc. πολλο ον δε .
3,4 It is clear that something is missing after alterum. The lacuna
has been completed by C. Steel, based on the parallel passage in
ps.-Dionysius: <aut non ens est nullatenus ens aut quod superes-
sentiale; sed impossibile le malum esse ultra non esse superes-
sentiale, quod bonum est;>. Cf. Steel 1997, p. 98 n. 17.
3,6-8 The text is sound (Westerink 1962, p. 166). There is no lacuna in
line 8.
3,20 ypostato stands for ποσττου, from the noun ποσττης.
3,21 For operantibus understand or conjecture ex se operantibus
ατουργο%ντων, as in Isaak Seb. (Pépin 2000, p. 9 n. 33). Cf.
Theol Plat. 5,69,20-1 and 5,62,17.
4,11 For semper understand πντως (Isaak Seb.).
4,18 After vincitur quidem (µν) melius a deteriori a clause is miss-
ing. It is preserved, however, in Isaak Sebastokrator’s para-
phrase: ποτ δ τ' χε ρον π' το κρεττονος.
4,30 For ad ipsam (πρ'ς ατ(ν) understand ad se ipsam (πρ'ς α τν).
134 Philological Appendix
5,6 To supply the lacuna after aut, we suggest with Boese adding
malum esse aut.
5,10-11 simul omnis, sc. σ%µπας.
5,19-20 For generibus (γ)νεσιν, from γ)νος) understand generationem
(γ)νεσιν, from γ)νεσις) (Boese).
5,21 Before esse add oportet (Boese).
5,25 ducente. One would rather expect ducta. Probably Moerbeke
interpreted the passive form γοµ)νης as a medium.
5,25 For ut esse conjecture or understand ad non esse (ε*ς τ' µ( ε+ναι).
Boese suggests that Moerbeke may have read ,ς for ε*ς and left
out the negation.
5,26 The text is corrupt: ab ente fits better in the previous line, before
esse (cf. 51,19-20), but probably much more is lacking after
fugiente. For non ens (µ( -ν) perhaps understand non vivens (µ(
ζ/ν or µ( ζ0/ον), or maybe µε ον, or perhaps even for ad aliud
non ens (1π’ 2λλο µ( -ν) understand ad amenenon (1π’ µενην3ν,
cf. 3,5; 7,37; in Parm. 834,22-3: 2ζωον κα µενην3ν).
5,29 For ipsi esse understand ipso esse (ατ0/ τ0/ ε+ναι).
6,6 Punctuate imperfectius factum propter defectum, distat. Cf. the
Greek of Isaak Sebastokrator (τελ)στερον δι4 τ(ν 5λλειψιν
γιν3µενον).
6,7 For sue unitatis understand sua unitate. Moerbeke failed to see
that the genitive in the Greek should be interpreted as a com-
parative genitive, the Latin equivalent of which is an ablative.
6,10 After et pulcrum add et turpe (Cousin).
6,14 Conjecture or understand eius que magis et minus <iniustitia,
que quidem minus> quanto minus est iniustitia.
6,28 enuntiative probably stands for ποφαντικ/ς or even
φηγητικ/ς. Cf. Theol. Plat. 1,9,20-10,5; in Tim 1,21,18-26.
6,36 transitum, sc. προδον.
7,6 For potentibus understand potentia (neuter plural). Boese sus-
pects that Moerbeke has misinterpreted the genitive δυναµ)νων
as being congruent with ατ/ν (7,5, ipsis), whereas it is presum-
ably governed by µ)χρι (7,5, usque ad).
7,7 virtutis most probably stands for δυνµεως.
7,9 monoydaliter, sc. µονοειδ/ς.
7,11 For ex causis (1ξ α*τι/ν) understand ex ipsis (1ξ ατ/ν) (Thillet,
cited by D. Isaac).
7,11-12 nata sunt, sc. π)φυκεν.
7,21 ante, sc. ντ.
7,22 For autem que (δ’8) understand propter (δι) (Boese).
 Philological Appendix 135
7,22-3 omnis potentie et omnis bonitatis, sc. παντοδ%ναµον κα
πανγα9ον.
7,26-7 illius coexistentiam negligens, sc. τ:ς 1κενου µετουσας
στερο%µενον.
7,27 transumptionis, sc. µεταλψεως.
7,32-3 autem ergo stands for δ’2ρα. Cf., e.g., in Crat. 71, p. 31,8; 88, p.
43,12 Pasquali.
7,37 The syntactic value of le impermanens is unclear. Our transla-
tion corresponds to Isaak Sebastokrator’s version: τ' ;αυτ:ς
µενην'ν τ0: 1κενου <=σασα δυνµει. For Moerbeke’s translation
of µενην3ν, compare 3,5-6: amenenoteron (id est immansivius).
7,40 For idem ... passio understand eandem ... passionem (Moerbeke
mistook τ' ατ' ... π9ος for a nominative) (Boese).
7,41 For abscendentis habitus understand abscendente habitu (corre-
sponding to a Greek genetivus absolutus) (D. Isaac).
7,41-2 Punctuate abscendente bono penitus, non est etc.
8,2 ex Platonis narratione, sc. π' τ:ς Πλτωνος φηγσεως.
8,14 insinuat coimplicationem non boni, sc. ναπµπλαται τ:ς
παρεµπλοκ:ς το µ( γα9ο.
8,28 obtentum, sc. κρατο%µενον.
9,4 For amanti (1ρωµ)ν0ω) understand qu(a)erenti (1ροµ)ν0ω, Isaak
Seb.).
9,8 For mesiteiam perhaps understand µετουσαν. See our note ad
loc.
10,6 non diffugit, sc. ο διαφε%γει + inf. (cf. in Tim. 3,254,25).
10,10-12 For sole, aere, and patre understand soli, aeri, and patri, respec-
tively. The ablatives translate Greek datives, which should pre-
sumably be interpreted as expressing the perspective from
which something is the case.
10,13 For quod autem (τ' δ)) understand hoc (τ3δε).
10,19 For scire (ε*δ)ναι) understand esse (ε+ναι, as in Isaak Seb.). Moer-
beke, or a scribe in the textual tradition preceding Moerbeke,
presumably misread ε+ναι as ε*δ)ναι. If one does not accept the
correction, one has to translate: ‘as we do not know evil that ...’
11,7 For incidentes read insidentes (with V, Westerink 1962, p. 166), a
translation of 1ποχο%µενοι, literally ‘riding on’ (cf. Prov. 17,2).
11,20 enter deorum. For the expression -ντως 9εο see in Tim. 3,73,2;
3,225,25; in Parm. 1070,28; Theol. Plat. 1,2,27.
11,36 Sustinentium, sc. ποδεχοµ)νων (cf. Alex. in Meteor. 90,65) in the
sense of ‘to give ear to’.
11,36-7 Punctuate imbuunt, dicentes igitur (taking up dicentes of line
34).
136 Philological Appendix
12,3 indeflexis. D. Isaac suggests to conjecture indeflexa (τρεµ:): ‘we
possess these ideas about the gods fixed in our minds.’ This
could be a reference to the τρεµ: φσµατα of Phaedr. 250C3,
also cited, in the context of intellective knowledge, at in Tim.
1,302,7-8.
12,4 For anime efimere (ψυχα 1φµεροι, as in Plato Resp. 10, 617D6-
7) understand anime eumoire (ψυχα ε?µοιραι, Taylor, but better
ψυχα ε?µοιροι), which refers to the undefiled souls. Cf. in Tim.
1,201,1-2, in Remp. 2,172,15; 2,254,13-22, and see Erler 1978, p.
45 n. 4 and Baltes 1982, col. 171.
12,5 alatum inflantes. Cf. Plato Phaedr. 251C5, φ%ουσα τ4 πτερ,
251C4 and 255D2, πτεροφυε ν. As Boese cleverly points out,
Moerbeke probably mistook φ%σασαι (‘having grown wings’) for
a form of φυσω, ‘to inflate’.
12,7 innocua vita, sc. πµων βος. Cf. 36,10 (vita innocua = βος
πµων); Theol. Plat. 1,74,23.
12,12 iniuriationis, sc. Aβρεως.
13,7 For neque (οδ)) understand neque aliud (as in 13,6) or nihil
(οδ)ν) (Boese).
13,12 For ad hec read adhuc (with O).
13,21 For et (κα ) understand secundum (κατ).
13,24 nam quod similitudinis secundum unum et eternaliter ens, sc. τ'
γ4ρ Bµοι3τητος κατ4 τ' Cν κα α*ωνως -ν, which cannot be cor-
rect. Our translation is ad sensum. One could conjecture τ' γ4ρ
<δι’> Bµοι3τητος κατ4 τ' Cν κα α*ωνως -ν (the expression
δι’Bµοι3τητος is standardly used to emphasise the continuity of
the procession; cf. ET 29). Another possibility is to conjecture τ'
γ4ρ Dµοιον το%τ0ω (‘that which is similar to this’ [sc. to the One]).
14,17 procedentium et procidentium is a double translation of
προκυψντων, as appears from the marginal note in MS Vat. lat.
4568.
14,20 For sed conjecture or understand et (cf. Isaak Seb.).
14,24 differenter, sc. διαφερ3ντως.
17,15 fluctuose, sc. πληµµελ/ς.
17,17 For male (κακ/ς) understand malos (κακο%ς) (Cousin, Boese).
18,2-4 Punctuate existentia, deinde et and aliorum providentiis? (Bal-
tes 1982, col. 171).
18,7 Conjecture or understand potentia enim le <non> semper. Cf. De
decem dub. 23,11.
18,10 For deus understand heros (Taylor).
18,14 For dictis malis understand dictorum malorum. Moerbeke has
probably mistaken a Greek genitivus partitivus for a genitivus
 Philological Appendix 137
absolutus. Plausibly one should even understand dictarum
malitiarum (κακ/ν for κακι/ν).
18,18 For ipsam (ατν) understand se ipsam (α τν) (Boese).
18,19 desinentiam, sc. λ:ξιν.
19,9 hominum devorationem, sc. ν9ρ=πων 1δωδν.
19,18 consummantium, sc. τελευτ=ντων or τελευτησντων.
19,19 For cuius understand quorum (Eν – i.e. consummantium). Cf.
19,26: talium custodes.
19,20 Very corrupt. We suggest to understand preterite vite
(παρελ9ο%σης ζω:ς) for preter ipsarum vitam (παρ4 ;αυτ/ν
ζω(ν).
19,29-31 Que quidem igitur de diis et de melioribus generibus misericord-
iter aliqualiter nobis facta esse dicimus. According to a marginal
note in MS Vat. lat. 4568, misericorditer stands for λεω. The
prototype of the sentence is Phaedo 95A4-5. Westerink (1962, p.
166) has reconstructed the Greek as follows: τ4 µν δ( παρ4
9ε/ν κα παρ4 τ/ν κρειττ3νων γεν/ν λε πως µ ν γεγον)ναι
φαµ)ν, with παρ for περ and λεα for λεω.
20,1 After autem add hic (τ4 δ τ0:δε) (Westerink, 1962, p. 166).
20,2 For si autem conjecture or understand si autem <non> (Wester-
ink 1962, p. 166).
21,10 hee ... hee ... hee ... hee: a sudden transition from the neuter plu-
ral (cf. 21,1-2: ‘superior beings’) to the feminine plural (‘divine
souls’). D. Isaac’s suggestion to conjecture hec for hee is, how-
ever, unnecessary, as the shift to souls is made anyway, at the
latest by 21,20 (illarum animarum, prepared by 21,16 animam
– in a reference to Plato).
21,12 cum diis gloriatione stands for the standard expression σFν
9ε/ν ποµπ0:. Cf. in Crat. 81,19.
21,16 For facere (ποιε ν) understand bibere (πιε ν), as in the text cited
by Proclus (Plato, Resp. 10, 621A6-7) (Boese).
21,20 Westerink (1962, p. 167), remarking that a finite verb is miss-
ing, suggests to add <dic>.
21,21-6 The syntax is difficult. Hee autem in 26 takes up hee autem of
20-1. The reading of OSV may contain a trace of the original.
21,26 in dependentibus, sc. 1ν το ς 1ξηρτηµ)νοις (σ=µασι). Cf. in Tim.
3,135,19; 3,268,1-3.
21,27 For animal, effulget read animal, facto autem (γενοµ)νου δ [i.e.
1ν Gρεµ0α το ζ0=ου]) effulget (with OSV, Westerink, 1962, p.
167). Perhaps also conjecture silent for silentes.
22,6 For ipsum (ατ3) understand se ipsum (;αυτ3) (Boese). Other-
wise translate ‘that which is even incapable of preserving the
light’.
138 Philological Appendix
22,11 insatiabilitas et alarum defluentia. Cf. the marginal gloss in MS
Vat. lat. 4568,  2τη κα  πτερορρ%ησις. It is doubtful whether
the original indeed read 2τη. Yet 2τη is mentioned by Proclus a
few times in a quotation from Empedocles: ‘the meadow of Ate’ is
the realm of sublunary generation and is called ‘replete with
evils’ at in Remp. 2,257,25-8.
23,1 habitum, sc. 1χ3µενον (Boese).
23,6 For quidem entibus (µν ο?σαις) ipsis understand manentibus
(µενο%σαις) ipsis.
23,21 For aliter (2λλως) understand alterius (2λλης). Cf. Resp. 10,
617D7: ρχ( 2λλης περι3δου. Punctuate principium hic et peri-
odi animabus alterius, et impotentia etc.
24,1 intuitione stands for ;στισεως (P. Thillet, see the app. crit. of D.
Isaac). See the marginal note ;στιασ in MS Vat. lat. 4568, and
Psellus OD 197,3-5. Moerbeke always has difficulties translat-
ing ;στα and cognate forms, as can be gathered from the index
in Proclus. Commentaire sur la Parménide de Platon. Traduc-
tion de Guillaume de Moerbeke, edited by C. Steel, tome II, Leu-
ven, 1985, p. 727.
24,10 suborientia, sc. ποφ%οντα. Presumably one should understand
προσφ%(ο)ντα as in Tim. 42C6 (cf. Boese’s app. fontium).
24,12 For ad continens vel portum understand ad pratum (ε*ς τ'ν
λειµ/να). The marginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568 reads λειµ/να.
Moerbeke presumably did not know the meaning of λειµ/να,
which he will have found in his Greek text, so he put continens
vel portum. The second guess, portum, is based on his confusing
λειµ/ν with λιµν. At l. 16 he translates B 1κε λειµ=ν (cf. Phaedr.
248B7-C1) as qui ibi continens. The emendation is confirmed by
the parallel in Psellus OD 197,8-10: κατιοσα δ π' τ:ς πρ=της
το 9εο 9εωρας Jξει δηλαδ( ε*ς τ'ν λειµ/να, περ οK Πλτων
πολFν ποιε ται λ3γον (Resp. 10, 614E), κα 9εσεται τ4ς 1κε
ψυχ4ς. Jξει δ κα π' τ/ν τ:ς LAνγκης Dρων.
24,13-14 For sub necessitatis terminum understand sub necessitatis
thronum (Cousin, Boese). Moerbeke may indeed have found π'
τ'ν τ:ς νγκης Dρον (‘beneath the limit of Necessity’) in his
manuscript. Psellus’ paraphrasis (OD 197,10: Jξει δ κα π'
τ/ν τ:ς LAνγκης Dρων) stands in the same tradition. But Pro-
clus himself most probably wrote 9ρ3νον, as in the passage in
the State to which he is alluding (620E6-621A1: π' τ'ν τ:ς
LAνγκης *)ναι 9ρ3νον, ‘it passed beneath the Throne of Neces-
sity’) and which he quotes correctly at in Remp. 2,341,12;
2,344,6; 2,344,20-6; 2,346,1; 2,346,15; in Tim. 3,277,30; in Parm.
692,22.
24,16 For et enim conjecture etenim.
 Philological Appendix 139
24,16 For qui ibi continens understand quod ibi pratum. See our note
on 24,12.
24,20 For anime conjecture omne. Punctuate ducit ad simile omne,
anoian etc. (D. Isaac).
24,30 For nudi perhaps understand or conjecture nudis (Boese, cf.
Isaak Seb.).
24,35 For bonos conjecture or understand boni (Boese).
25,4 For aliter (2λλως) one should probably understand totaliter
(Dλως, with the value of ‘actually’, ‘really’).
25,17 The text is corrupt. We suggest for unumquodque to understand
unicuique, and to supply <bonum>. Another lacuna is to be
assumed after eius autem que secundum ipsam, which is proba-
bly the pendant of 25,12 irrationalitate quidem enim ad ratio-
nem dependente. Because of the lacuna Moerbeke failed to
understand eius etc. as another genitivus absolutus. Therefore
we suggest to understand ;κστ0ω <γα93ν>N τ:ς δ κα9’ α τ(ν
< φεστ=σης οκ 1ν τ0/ 1νεργε ν κα9’ α τ(ν> κακ'ν, λλ4 κτλ. Cf.
26,1, omni enim cui le secundum naturam agere non est.
25,24 elatum et virile, το τε γαρον κα αδρ'ν (marginal gloss in MS
Vat. lat. 4568). See also in Tim. 1,62,9.
25,25 laxans, sc. µ%σσων.
26,4 For anima tali presente sortiente demone understand anima tali
presentem sortiente demonem, sc. ψυχ:ς τοια%της γουµ)νου
λαχο%σης δαµονος. Moerbeke presumably failed to recognise
the construction λαγχνω + genitive.
26,11 After operari, read aut in (with O).
26,13 For ante naturam conjecture or understand ante operationem.
26,20 superbum, sc. γαρον (marginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568).
27,5 After manentem read autem with OSV, and punctuate ali-
quando, manentem autem, quod equidem est ducere corpus
secundum naturam.
27,7 hoc autem in causis omnibus: possibly a gloss added by Moer-
beke.
27,25-6 Punctuate et impressio, et ratio partita inde et in corpus defluxa
neque pura manere potens – et rursum etc.
27,32 Punctuate quod turpe, nature ratione non obtinente, passio est
(Westerink, 1962, p. 167).
28,15-16 For sed non2 read neque (with O).
28,17 For ex ipsa (5ξω τ:ς) materia understand extra (1ξ ατ:ς) mate-
riam (Boese).
28,28 difficultate, sc. δυσχερεας. Cf. 36.10: neque extra mortalem diffi-
cultatem = οδ 5ξω τ:ς 9νητ:ς δυσχερεας (Isaak Seb.).
140 Philological Appendix
29,6 For apparet understand repleta sunt. See the marginal gloss in
MS Vat. lat. 4568: αναπιπλαται. Apparet (ναφανεται?) makes
no sense; repleta sunt gives the required meaning and syntax.
29,7 victa: the perfect participle probably renders a Greek present
participle.
29,19-20 For ipsum immensuratio (ατ' µετρα) understand autoimmen-
suratio (ατοαµετρα) (Baltes 1982, col. 171).
30,8 odiunt, sc. στυγ)ουσιν, as specified in a marginal gloss in MS
Vat. lat. 4568 and as in Hom. Ilias 20,65.
33,2-3 preerat...materia (ablative): ‘was prior to matter’ (Boese).
33,4-5 For tollere quidem ad eum qui extra locum aurige caput le impo-
tentes occumbere conjecture and punctuate has quidem tollere
ad eum qui extra locum aurige caput, has de impotentes occum-
bere. Cf. Phaedr. 248A1-B1.
33,7 exorbitatio and exorbitat, sc. τ' 1µβρι9)ς and βρ9ει (Phaedr.
247B3). Cf. the marginal glosses in MS Vat. lat. 4568.
33,12 affectamus, presumably a translation for γλιχ3µεθα (as in
Phaedr. 248A6). Cf. in Parm. 135,39 (Steel): ‘hoc addiscere affec-
tantibus’ = 785,3-4, το ς τοτο µα9ε ν γλιχοµ)νοις.
33,14 For nullam (οδ)ν) understand non deum (ο 9ε3ν) (Boese), as
in the passage quoted (Resp. 379C6-7).
34,20-1 Punctuate compositum – visibile enim est, ut ait Timeus; quod
autem apoion non visibile – sed cum emfasi etc. (Baltes 1982,
col. 171).
35,6 ex se, sc. ατ39εν.
35,7 For sive (εPτε) understand siquidem (εP γε, as in Isaak Seb.)
(Boese).
35,7 After infinitum add et (cf. Theol. Plat. 3,45,3-6).
35,11 For ducere understand ducit, as in Isaak Seb. 2γει.
36,8-9 For fabulati understand µε9ειµ)ναι (see Isaak Seb., as well as
the marginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568, and Plato Leg. 636D7),
which may have been misread at some point as µυ9ο%µεναι.
Delete in, with OV.
36,12 For ipsam (ατν) understand seipsam (α τν) (Boese).
36,13 Punctuate dicendum. (full stop instead of question mark). 36,13
aut (Q) introduces the answer (Baltes 1982, col. 171).
36,19 Si itaque generatio gratia huius † aliud autem. The text is cor-
rupted. On the basis of the Greek and the sense we conjecture,
e.g.: si itaque generationis gratia illa, aliud autem. τα%της
(huius) could be a corruption of αAτη, or perhaps even of Aλη.
Compare H. Boese and D. Isaac, app. crit.
36,27 ab ipsa. The Greek tradition has 1π’ ατ:ς.
 Philological Appendix 141
37,7 For facere (ποιε ν) understand esse or alicubi esse (που ε+ναι)
(Boese).
37,9 For ens understand ente. Moerbeke wrongly made -ντος depend
on πρ3 (ante), whereas it formed an absolute genitive with
γα9ο (bono, 37,8) (Boese).
37,21 For circa (περ) understand ante (πρ3) (Boese).
37,21-2 For erit aliquod illorum understand erunt illa (Boese). Cf. Isaak
Seb. Rν πρχοι 1κε να.
38,12 After secundum se add bonum. At 38,11 OSV have bonum
bonum, a duplication which makes no sense. We suspect that
the second bonum may have been transposed.
38,13 Perhaps emend privatio simpliciter <non malum>.
38,14 For facta conjecture or understand tota facta. Cf. Isaak Seb.
παντελος δ γενοµ)νης.
38,17 For nondum genitum non privatio quidem est understand or
conjecture nondum genitum privatio quidem est (Isaac).
38,24 For magis que perhaps understand magisque or magis autem
(Boese).
39,7-8 Read and punctuate ut qui illius sermo. Against Boese and
Isaac, we believe Proclus’ text is sound, with the possible excep-
tion of quas instead of 39,6 has (cf. Westerink, 1962, p. 167).
39,21-2 For quod autem potentie substantie contrarium conjecture quod
autem potentie <aut substantie corruptivum potentie aut> sub-
stantie contrarium.
39,32 Before mirabile add quid (Boese).
39,34-5 Delete et alterius with OSV.
39,46-7 For propinquius enim corpus quam materia animarum under-
stand propinquius enim corpus materiae quam animae. The
Greek can be plausibly reconstructed as: 1γγ%τερον γ4ρ τ' σ/µα
τ:ς Aλης (genit. ruled by 1γγ%τερον) τ/ν ψυχ/ν (genit. compara-
tionis).
39,51-2 Conjecture hee autem ad <operationem [sc. suscipientes mali-
tiam], quibus> malum operationis privatio (Baltes 1982, col.
171).
41,10 For alia ... causa understand alie ... cause, as in Isaak Seb., Plat.
Resp. 2, 379C6-7, and DMS 34,13-14; 47,13-14. Moreover, the
context requires the plural.
43,9 For illa understand illas (sc. species, corresponding to the Greek
neuter εPδη).
43,29 For alia et (2λλα κα) understand sed et (λλ4 κα).
44,8 For maximum read maxime (with V, Erler).
45,8 For non quod Boese suggests to understand non solum. The
source of the corruption is unclear. Boese thinks that Moerbeke
142 Philological Appendix
may have written non quidem, misreading ο µ)ν for ο µ3νον.
Westerink, on the contrary (1962, p. 167), claims that nothing is
wrong with the text: non quod ... sed et stands for οχ Dτι ... λλ4
κα, as in 33,28.
45,20-3 The text is corrupt and probably has a large lacuna. In lines 23-
7 two souls are compared, one having, the other lacking, the
capacity of self-reflection and self-improvement. The first must
be the maleficent soul, that is capable of improving itself (huic
malignate a se ipsa boniformi facte); the second must be the
irrational soul tied to the body (the so-called image of the soul;
cf. ch. 25; in Remp. 2,70,7; ET 42,10-11; 44,7-8). The last type of
soul, however, has not been introduced in the previous lines, as
we have them. Also from the parallel in ps-Dion. De div. nom.
4.30, 176,1-8 Suchla (not in Boese), it is obvious that something
is missing. A lacuna should be assumed before 21-2 hac boni-
formi. There is also a problem with 21 sed quod aliquando dic-
tum est a me, as Proclus almost always uses the first person
plural to refer to his own work and person, and never the
expression π’ 1µο. Moreover, the expression neque hanc (l. 20),
sc. οδ τα%την, often introduces an apodosis qualifying the con-
ditional clause (e.g. in Parm. 877,23). Sed quod aliquando dic-
tum est a me could correspond to a corrupted version of λλ’
2λλοτε 2λλως γενοµ)νην (for λεγοµ)νην) λεκτ)ον. This could have
been followed by something as <ε* δ  2λογος ψυχ( διαµ)νει>,
τα%της γα9οειδος πως γενοµ)νης κτλ.
46,1 intutum, sc. ν3σιον. We think that the reading in totum, found
in two families of manuscripts (OSV), is closer to the original,
although it makes no sense in Latin. It probably renders ανολον,
itself a corruption of ν3σιον. Proclus is probably alluding to
Leg. 10, 898C6: οδ’ Dσιον 2λλως λ)γειν (i.e. one should say about
the soul governing the heavens that it is virtuous).
46,4 For ipsam (ατν) understand se ipsam (α τν) (Boese).
46,4 cooritur, probably προσυφανεται (προυφανεται according to the
marginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568). See Tim. 41D1-2 and, e.g.,
Procl. in Tim. 1,236,6-8.
46,19 For hanc read hec with OSV.
47,4 For multa (πολλ4, sc. αPτια) and unum (Cν, sc. αPτιον) understand
multe (sc. cause) and una (sc. causa) (Boese).
47,6-7 For si itaque (ε* δ δ) understand si oportet (ε* δ δε ) (Wester-
ink, 1962, p. 167).
47,12-13 For quoniam divinum non causas negavit horum dicere probably
understand τ' 9ε ον µ( αPτιον (causas for causans) π)φηνε
(Moerbeke probably read or misunderstood π)φησε) το%των
λ)γειν, combining suggestions made by Westerink 1962, p. 167
and Baltes 1982, col. 171. The text as printed by Boese is diffi-
 Philological Appendix 143
cult to translate: ‘since he denied that a divine nature is not <?>
the cause[s] of evils’ or perhaps ‘since the divinity did not refuse
to admit that there are causes for these things.’
48,3 For ipsas (ατ4ς) understand se ipsas (α τς).
48,6 atheon illud et tenebrosum is sound. Boese wants to understand
atheos illa et tenebrosa (sc. species). Boese argues that the origi-
nal had indeed τ' 29εον κα σκοτειν'ν, but that this was congru-
ent with ε+δος, and not with παρδειγµα. When Moerbeke
translated ε+δος by species, he should have put the quoted
expression in the feminine. However, Baltes (1982, col. 171) has
pointed out that Moerbeke probably understood τ' 29εον κα
σκοτειν3ν as a phrase on its own: ‘this godless and dark thing’,
whereas τ:ς κακας ε+δος is a mere apposition.
48,6-7 Punctuate ostendit, malitie species etc. (Baltes 1982, col. 171).
48,18-19 For similium <in>commensurata communio conjecture dissimil-
ium incommensurata communio et mixtio (τ/ν νοµοων
σ%µµετρος κοινωνα κα µξις). Compare Steel 1997, p. 103.
49,16 For victoriam, sc. την Sλκην (marginal gloss in v) understand
tractum, sc. τ(ν Bλκν (Westerink, D. Isaac).
50,6-9 Punctuate, with Westerink, D. Isaac and in accordance with the
Greek of Isaak Seb.: oportune ipsum principaliter substans et
quodcumque ex causa fieri secundum naturam – omni enim
impossibile sine causa generationem habere – et ad aliquem
finem ordinem generationis ipsius referre.
50,9 For utrum igitur malum ponendum, aut understand ποτ)ρων
(instead of π3τερον) ον τ' κακ'ν 9ετ)ον; Q (Q dubitativum). For
the expression see Theaet. 186A2; Hipp. Maj. 303B1; B2
(ποτ)ρων δ( τι9ε ς τ' καλ3ν).
50,12 For parientes (τκτοντες) conjecture parturientes (Tδνοντες)
(Taylor).
50,18 For Igitur (οκον) understand Nonne ...? (ο?κουν;).
50,22 Punctuate utique?
50,38 For qua understand cuius. Isaak Seb. has Uς, a genitivus partiti-
vus, mistaken by Moerbeke for a genitivus comparationis.
50,43 After non add ex (with OSV).
52,4 For ipsius (ατ:ς) understand sui ipsius (α τ:ς) (Boese).
52,13 For azoia privatione conjecture azoia <id est, vitae> privatione
(‘in mere lifeless<ness, that is> in privation <of life>’): a translit-
eration followed by a gloss from the translator (Cousin). Com-
pare 51,16-17: privatio et azoia (id est invitalitas).
52,16 For sui ipsius (α το) understand ipsius (ατο) (Boese).
52,19 et hoc, sc. κατοι (Isaak Seb.).
53,4 transortitur, sc. µεταλαγχνει.
144 Philological Appendix
53,9 latitante, sc. ο*χοµ)νης. Cf. in Parm. 171,24 (Steel): ‘fugiens
latito’ = 833,29-30, φε%γων οPχοµαι.
53,17 After salvare add, with Isaac and Boese, le habens. Cf. Isaak
Seb. and De prov. 23,20.
54,4 For ipsius (ατο) understand sui ipsius (α το) (Boese).
54,22 For parypostasi aut veritate significante understand παρυ-
π3στασι<ν> τY: λη9εYα σηµανειν depending on δοκε B Σωκρτης
(13). The final -ν- became η (aut).
55,11 For le (τ3) understand τ0/.
55,13 The text is sound. It is not necessary to assume a lacuna.
56,10 For turpe (α+σχος) understand adhuc (πρ3ς, as in Isaak Seb.)
(Boese).
56,11-12 Punctuate impetibus – et enim appetitus non secundum ratio-
nem, et sensuum autem multi et fantasie precipites – quibus etc.
57,6 le ornantium unumquodque: probably understand τ' κοσµητικ'ν
;κστων. ornantium may be an error for ornativum; unum-
quodque stands for [καστον, which may be a corruption for
;κστων.
57,8 The text is sound. It is not necessary to assume a lacuna.
58,5 There is a lacuna after malum, for which Cousin suggests huic
autem quod malum.
58,6 inquietat, sc. σανει (marginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568).
58,7 For adversabitur read adversantur (with OSV). For the formula
compare Plot.1,1 [53] 12,6: τχα δ’ 2ν τις 1ξε%ροι κα Dπ0η µ(
µαχονται.
58,8 For et (κα) understand si (ε*) (Boese).
59,6 conceptum, sc. Tδ να. For the expression see in Tim. 3,255,1: τ4ς
;αυτ/ν Tδ νας ποπιµπλντες.
59,14 For admittentis understand or conjecture animas admittentis.
Cf. Isaak Seb.
59,25 For ipsam (ατν) understand seipsam (α τν, as in Isaak Seb.).
59,26 Delete esse (with OSV and Isaak Seb.).
59,27 iniuriantibus, sc. 1ξυβριζο%σαις (1ξυβριζου according to the mar-
ginal gloss in MS Vat. lat. 4568).
59,27 competeret, sc. 1π)βαλλε, ‘fall to the lot of’ (hence indicating that
which ought to be).
60,9 After est a counterpart to the first member is missing: preter
naturam autem particularem (Boese). Cf. Isaak Seb. and 60,23-
4.
60,14 For second multa (indefinite neuter) understand mult(a)e (sc.
figur(a)e, Gr. σχµατα, neuter plural).
 Philological Appendix 145
60,14 For et idem (κα τατ3ν) understand secundam ipsam, sc. ratio-
nem (κατ’ ατ3ν, sc. τ'ν λ3γον) (Boese).
60,21 For alii (2λλ0ω) understand alio modo (2λλως).
60,31 For sic (οAτω) understand huic (το%τ0ω, sc. toti) (Boese).
This page intentionally left blank
 Select Bibliography

1. Editions and translations of the Tria opuscula

and related texts
1.1. Proclus
Procli philosophi Platonici opera inedita quae primus olim e codd. mss. Parisinis
Italicisque vulgaverat nunc secundis curis emendavit et auxit Victor Cousin,
Parisiis, 1864 [= Frankfurt am Main, 1962].
Procli Diadochi Tria Opuscula (De providentia, libertate, malo). Latine
Guilelmo de Moerbeka vertente et Graece ex Isaacii Sebastocratoris
aliorumque scriptis collecta, ed. H. Boese (Quellen und Studien zur
Geschichte der Philosophie, 1), Berolini, 1960.
Proclus. Trois Études sur la Providence, III, De l’existence du mal. Texte établi
et traduit par Daniel Isaac, avec une note additionnelle par Carlos Steel
(Collection des Universités de France), Paris, 1982.
Proklos Diadochos. Über die Existenz des Bösen. Übersetzt und erläutert von
Michael Erler (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 102), Meisenheim am
Glan, 1978.
Two Treatises of Proclus, the Platonic Successor; The Former Consisting of Ten
Doubts Concerning Providence, and a Solution of those Doubts; And the
Latter Containing a Development of the Nature of Evil. Translated from the
Edition of these Works by Victor Cousin by Thomas Taylor, London, 1833
[Reprinted as: Proclus the Neoplatonic Philosopher: Ten Doubts Concerning
Providence and a Solution of those Doubts and On the Subsistence of Evil.
Translated into English from their Latin Version by William of Moerbeke,
Chicago, 1980].
Proclus. Trois études sur la Providence, I, Dix problèmes concernant la Provi-
dence. Texte établi et traduit par Daniel Isaac (Collection des Universités de
France), Paris, 1977.
Proclus. Trois études sur la Providence, II, Providence, Fatalité, Liberté. Texte
établi et traduit par Daniel Isaac (Collection des Universités de France),
Paris, 1979.
Proklos Diadochos. Zehn Aporien über die Vorsehung. Frage 6-10 (§§ 32-66),
übersetzt und erklärt von Ingeborg Böhme, Inaugural-Dissertation Köln,
1975.
Proklos Diadochos über die Vorsehung, das Schicksal und den freien Willen an
Theodoros, den Ingenieur (Mechaniker) (§§ 1-32) ), übersetzt und erklärt von
Theo Borger, Inaugural-Dissertation Köln, 1971.
Procli Diadochi in primum Euclidis Elementorum librum commentarii, ex
recognitione Godofredi Friedlein (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Ro-
manorum Teubneriana), Lipsiae, 1873.
Procli Diadochi in Platonis Rem Publicam commentarii. Edidit Guilelmus Kroll,
148 Select Bibliography
(Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana), Lipsiae,
vol. I, 1899; vol. II, 1901.
Procli Diadochi in Platonis Timaeum commentaria, edidit Ernestus Diehl (Bib-
liotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana), Lipsiae, I,
1903, II, 1904; III, 1906.
Procli Diadochi in Platonis Cratylum commentaria, edidit Georgius Pasquali
(Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana), Lipsiae,
1908.
PROKLOU DIADOKHOU STOIKHEIÔSIS THEOLOGIKÊ. Proclus. The Elements of Theol-
ogy. A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction and Commentary by E.R.
Dodds, Second Edition, Oxford, 1963.
Proclus. Théologie platonicienne. Texte établi et traduit par H.D. Saffrey et L.G.
Westerink (Collection des Universités de France), Paris, Livre I, 1968; Livre
II, 1974; Livre III, 1978; Livre IV, 1981; Livre V, 1987; Livre VI. Index général,
1997.
Proclus. Sur le Premier Alcibiade de Platon. Texte établi et traduit par A.Ph.
Segonds (Collection des Universités de France), Paris, tome I, 1985; tome II,
1986.
Proclus. Commentaire sur le Parménide de Platon. Traduction de Guillaume de
Moerbeke. Édition critique par Carlos Steel (Ancient and Medieval Philoso-
phy, De Wulf-Mansion Centre, Series 1, 3; 4), Leuven, tome I, Livres I-IV,
1982; tome II, Livres V-VII, 1985.
Proclus. Commentaire sur le Timée, traduction et notes par A.J. Festugière,
tomes I-V, Paris, 1966-68.
Proclus. Commentaire sur la République, traduction et notes par A.J. Fes-
tugière, tomes I-III, Paris, 1970.
Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides. Translated by Glenn R. Morrow
and John M. Dillon with Introduction and Notes by John M. Dillon, Prince-
ton, 1987.

1.2. Aristotle
Barnes, J. (ed.) 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle. The Revised Oxford
Translation, 2 vols (Bollingen Series, 71,2), Princeton.
Ross, W.D. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. A revised text with introduction and com-
mentary by W.D. Ross, 2 vols, Oxford, 1924.
Aristotle’s Physics. A revised text with introduction and commentary by W.D.
Ross, Oxford, 1936.
Aristotelis categoriae et liber de interpretatione, recognoverunt brevique adnota-
tione critica instruxerunt L. Minio-Paluello (Scriptorum classicorum
bibliotheca Oxoniensis), Oxonii, 1949.

1.3. Chaldean oracles

Oracles Chaldaïques, avec un choix de commentaires anciens. Texte établi et
traduit par Édouard des Places (Collection des Universités de France), Paris,
1971.
The Chaldean Oracles. Text Translation, and Commentary by Ruth Majercik,
Leiden-New York-København, 1989.
 Select Bibliography 149

1.4. ps-Dionysius Areopagita

Corpus Dionysiacum. I, Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita, De divinis nominibus
herausgegeben von Beate Regina Suchla (Patristische Texte und Studien,
33), Berlin-New York, 1990.

1.5. Isaak Sebastokrator

Rizzo, J.J. (ed.) 1971. Isaak Sebastokrator’s ‘Peri tês tôn Kakôn Hypostaseôs’ (De
malorum subsistentia), Meisenheim am Glan (Beiträge zur klassischen Phi-
lologie, 42).
Erler, M. (ed.) 1979. I. Sebastokrator. PERI PRONOIAS KAI PHUSIKÊS ANANKÊS,
Meisenheim am Glan (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 111).
Dornseiff, J., 1966. Isaak Sebastokrator. Zehn Aporien über die Vorsehung,
Meisenheim am Glan (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 19).

1.6. Philoponus
Philoponus. On Aristotle on the Intellect (de Anima 3.4-8). Translated by Wil-
liam Charlton with the assistance of Fernand Bossier (Ancient
Commentators on Aristotle), London-Ithaca NY, 1991.

1.7. Plato
Platonis opera recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit Ioannes Burnet
(Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis), Oxonii, 5 vols, 1900-7.
Hamilton, E. & Cairns, H. (eds), 1973 [=1963]. The Collected Dialogues of Plato,
including the Letters (Bollingen Series, 71), Princeton.
Cooper, J.M. & Hutchinson, D.S. (eds), 1997. Plato. Complete Works. Indiana-
polis / Cambridge.

1.8. Plotinus
Plotins Schriften. Übersetzt von Richard Harder. Neubearbeitung mit griechis-
chem Lesetext und Anmerkungen fortgeführt von Rudolf Beutler und Willy
Theiler, Hamburg, 1956-71, 6 Bände (Band Vc, Anhang: Porphyrios, Über
Plotins Leben und die Ordnung seiner Schriften, zum Druck besorgt von
Walter Marg).
Plotini opera, ediderunt Paul Henry et Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer (Museum Les-
sianum, Series philosophica), tomus I, Porphyrii Vita Plotini. Enneades I-III;
tomus II, Enneades IV-V. Plotiniana arabica, Paris-Bruxelles, 1951; 1959;
tomus III, Enneas VI, Paris-Leiden, 1973 [= ‘editio maior’, H-S1].
Plotini opera ediderunt Paul Henry et Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer, tomus I, Por-
phyrii Vita Plotini. Enneades I-III; tomus II, Enneades IV-V; tomus III,
Enneas VI (Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis), Oxonii, 1964;
1977; 1982 [= ‘editio minor’, H-S2].
Plotinus, with an English translation by A.H. Armstrong (Loeb Classical Lib-
rary), in seven volumes, London-Cambridge, MA, 1966-1988.
O’Meara, D. 1999. Plotin. Traité 51. I, 8 (Les Écrits de Plotin), Paris.
150 Select Bibliography

1.9. Porphyrius
Porphyre. De l’abstinence, tome I, Introduction par Jean Bouffartigue et Michel
Patillon. Livre I. Texte établi et traduit par Jean Bouffartigue (Collection des
Universités de France), Paris, 1977.

1.10. Michael Psellus

Michael Psellus, De omnifaria doctrina. Critical Text and Introduction.
Proefschrift […] door Leendert Gerrit Westerink, Nijmegen, 1948.

1.11. Simplicius
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 Index of Passages

Texts cited by Proclus. References are to chapter and line of the Boese edition.

ARISTOTLE 24,20; 99B: 34,3; 103C-D:

Categories 6a17-18: 37,18 12,14-15; 109C5: 24,21
Eudemian Ethics 1214a32-3: Phaedrus 245B7: 48,11-12; 245E1:
23,11-12 5,7; 246A6-B1: 50,42; 246A8:
Nicomachean Ethics 1113a15-22: 50,43; 246C1-2: 23,7-8; 246C2:
50,14-15; 1094a3: 2,24 22,11; 246D8-E1: 41,4-5; 246E2:
Metaphysics 1072b14: 2,24; 48,15-16; 247A7: 23,17; 247A8:
1032a25: 60,12-13; 1070a8: 12,8-9; 23,9; 24,1; 247B3-4:
60,12-13 49,16-17; 247B3: 33,7-8; 49,16-17;
Physics 192a14: 54,20: 193b8: 46,21; 247D5-E2: 23,8; 247E6:
60,12-13; 194b13: 60,12-13; 23,10; 248A1-B1: 33,3-6; 248A3:
198a27: 60,12-13 23,8-9; 248A6-8: 46,10-11; 248A8:
23,8-9; 248B1: 20,21-2; 248B3-4:
CHALDEAN ORACLES 23,4; 248B5-C1: 24,15-16; 248B5:
s.n. 11,23-24; 8: 23,12-14; 34: 27,25 24,18; 248B7: 24,16-17; 248C2-5:
21,7-8; 248C5-8: 22,1-3; 46,14;
EURIPIDES 248C6-7: 24,5-7; 33,6-7; 248C7:
Troades 887-8: 9,17-18 22,10; 248C8: 22,11; 249A4:
24,25; 249A6-7: 24,25; 250C1-6:
HOMER 24,36-7; 251B3: 48,15-16; 251C8:
Iliad 6,138: 12,2-3; 20,65: 30,8; 48,15-16; 251C: 12,5; 255D: 12,5;
24,527-8: 36,8-9 255D1: 48,15-16
Odyssey 4,805: 12,2-3 Philebus 26C4-27C1: 34,9-11; 35,5-6;
27A11: 35,22; 27A11-12:
PLATO 35,15-17; 27B1-2: 35,23-24;
Letters 2, 310E8: 11,35-6; 312E1-3: 64A6-65A7: 51,13-14; 64C1:
61,11-14; 7, 341D12: 1,10 14,17-18
Gorgias 524A2: 24,12; 524D5: Politicus 269D5-6: 43,16-18;
24,30-1 273B4-C2: 34,5-9; 273B4:
Laws: 636D7-E1: 36,8-9; 860D: 34,16-17; 273B8: 34,24; 281D-E:
49,12; 54,2; 896E5-897D1: 34,3
40,15-16; 896E5-6: 25,2-3; 45,19; Respublica 335D: 35,26-7; 41,7-8;
897B2-3: 27,9; 897B3: 24,20; 352C: 52,10-12; 379B16: 61,7-8;
898C6: 46,1 379C6-7: [Introduction, p. 11, T2]
Meno 77A-78B: 49,12 34,13-14; 41,10-11; 47,13-14;
Parmenides 160D8: 8,24 382C9: 24,20; 408B-C: 21,3-6;
Phaedo 60B8-C1: 37,18; 66D6: 518C9: 24,11; 533D2: 48,15-16;
20,21-2; 79C7-8: 31,3; 81A6: 550B2: 48,15-16; 608E3-4: 5,1-6;
51,18; 610D5-7: 39,38-40;
 Index of Passages 155
611D4-7: 24,23; 614E2-3: 24,12; Timaeus 28C2-3: 50,17-18; 29E1-2:
615D-616A: 19,22-3; 615D-E: [Introduction, p. 12, T3] 23,17;
16,6-7; 16,13; 615E4-616A4: 29E3: [Introduction, p. 12, T3]
16,14-15; 617D7: 23,20-1; 24,5-7; 23,17-18; 43,22; 30A2-3:
620E6-621A1: 24,13-14; 621A2-3: [Introduction, p. 12, T3] 3,11-13;
24,14; 621A6-7: 20,11-12; 10,1-3; 43,23-4; 58,11; 30A3:
21,15-16; 33,13; 621C1-2: 24,18-19 34,20; 30A3-5: 29,9-10; 30A4-5:
Sophist 227C10-228E5: 56,2-4; 34,15-16; 35,3-4; 31B1: 5,14;
228A1-2: 60,5-6; 228E6-230E4: 34B8-9: 5,13; 32,2; 34,4-5; 36B-C:
56,9-10; 60,5-6; 254A9-B1: 23,14; 37D6: 13,24-5 (?); 51,15;
46,12-13; 254A10: 48,15-16; 38C1-2: 13,24-5 (?); 41B7-C2:
258B1-2: 8,25-6 5,11-12; 5,15; 42C4-D2: 24,9-10;
Theaetetus 146A8: 47,8; 176A-177A: 24,23; 42D4-5: 22,1-2; 42E5-8:
43,11-14; 176A1-4: 44,4-8; 19,34-5; 43E1-4: 24,223-24; 43E1:
176A5-8: [Introduction, p. 10, T1] 39,7; 43B6: 12,14-15; 43E1:
6,29-35; 7,2; 10,3-4; 48,7-8; 20,10-11; 46C7: 34,3; 49A6: 32,7;
176A6: 2,27-8; 9,14; 176A7-8: 34,2; 50D3: 32,8; 34,2; 51A4:
20,3-8; 43,4-5; 176A8-B3: 24,35-6; 32,7-8; 34,2; 52D4-5: 32,7; 34,2;
176E3-5: [Introduction, p. 11, 53B2: 34,21; 76D2: 34,3; 86D-E:
T1’] 16,7-11; 40,13-14; 48,5-7; 49,12; 54,2
176E3-4: 43,18-19; 177A1: 24,20
 Subject Index

Numbers in italic refer to the notes to the translation.

absence (apousia), 13, 19, 21, 30, 52, chance, 27, 58

63, 67, 79, 81, 86, 97, 274, 278 Christianity, 4, 23, 50-1
accident(al), 15, 18, 62, 64, 79, 94, commensurate, see measure,
30, 50, 210; see also cause possession of a common
activity (triad substance, contemplation, 66, 72-5, 78, 81, 92,
disposition/power, activity), 73, 100
76, 78-9, 86-8, 92, 94, 199, 204, contingency, 2, 28-9, 62
282, 329, 377 contrary, contrariety (enantion,
angels, 4, 21, 48, 67-9, 70, 53, 90, 93, enantiotês), 10, 13-15, 19-20,
117 29-30, 58-61, 63, 70, 77-8, 81,
animals (irrational), 5, 76, 183 84-5, 92, 95, 97-8, 103, 12, 33-4,
assimilation, 66, 75, 79-80, 90, 93, 269; see also subcontrary
96, 318, 356 of substance, 15, 18, 92, 284, 327
to god (homoiôsis theôi), 11, 66, 75, corruption, 16, 20-1, 60-2, 67, 77, 25,
179 30, 35, 282, 405
beauty, 60-1, 73, 78-9, 83, 88, 96, darkness, 13, 57, 65-8, 73-5, 78, 81,
356, 412 89-90, 93, 97, 100, 102, 8, 33, 61,
being (as hupostasis), 13, 58-9, 63-7, 135, 171, 304
73-5, 81, 84-7, 92, 94, 351; see death, 69, 73-5, 86-7, 14
also existence demiurge, 12, 59, 64-5, 72, 90-1, 96,
body, 2, 5, 21-2, 29, 63, 72-3, 77-9, 15-17, 27, 60, 62, 133, 205, 242,
81-3, 92, 97-8, 199, 204, 241, 381 244, 318, 321, 326, 356
boldness (tolma), 66, 75 demons, 4-5, 21, 48, 69-70, 93, 95-6,
cause(s), 11, 17, 22-8, 51-2, 57-9, 68, 99-103, 117, 126, 162
80-2, 88-94, 101, 103-4, 3, 242, choices of , 69, 100
250-1, 297, 306, 337, 351 desire, 57, 82, 84, 85, 94, 98, 101, 9
of evil, 23-8, 88-94, 341, 351 destruction, 24, 29, 65, 86-7, 96-8,
first, 17, 58, 68, 80, 84, 250-1 25, 30-1, 284, 374
formal, 24-5, 310, 318 determinism, 1-2
material, 23 discord, 59-60, 100, 19
efficient, 24, 93-5, 351 disease (of the body), 30, 48, 63, 78,
final, 25-6, 78, 84, 89, 94-5, 103, 86, 100, 102-3, 374
257, 351 disease (of the soul), 60, 99-100, 21,
per se (principal), 23-7, 57, 91, 384-5
93-4, 351 disorder, 13, 28, 63, 70, 78-9, 82-3,
accidental, 11, 27-8, 57, 94-6, 351 86, 89, 91-3, 96-7, 100, 204, 206
plurality, 11, 16, 23, 93, 341 disposition, see power
indeterminate, 11, 94, 341 dualism, 14, 16, 50, 219
co-cause, 82
 Subject Index 157
elements (earth, water, air, fire), 78, necessity of, 10-11, 14, 62, 65, 34,
86, 193, 199 308
emanation, 17 as involuntary, 94, 98, 347, 384
end, see cause, final power of, 97-9; see also power
escape (withdrawal, flight), 11, 75, as side-effect, 24, 52, 351
179 see also causes
essence, 57, 65, 69-70, 73, 78-9, 91, 7, excess (hubris), 66, 75
50, 206 existence (hupostasis), 24-6, 30, 57,
eternity, eternal, 62, 67, 70, 77, 79, 62, 85, 89, 104, 351
91, 93, 96, 101, 104, 84, 86, 356 failure, 21, 24-6, 28, 74, 78, 96, 384
evil(s), passim form(s), 20, 62, 83, 85-6, 90-1, 93-4,
questions about, 15, 20, 57, 1, 5 96, 97, 102-3, 12, 39, 206, 244,
Plato’s doctrine, 10, 49, 57, 59, 262, 290-1, 356; see also traces;
62-4, 69, 74, 81-3, 86, 88, 97, of evil, see evil
103-4, 291 foulness (aiskhos), 78, 100, 102, 384-5
views of predecessors, 3, 10, 12, generation, 17, 60, 62, 68, 72-4, 76,
15-16, 20, 57, 69 81, 86, 90, 35, 127, 405
existence of, 57-65, 89, 100-1, 104, Gnosticism, 14, 23, 50, 75, 306; see
11, 267 also Manicheans
mode of existence, 15, 18, 20-1, god(s), 11, 21, 28, 59, 65-7, 68, 73-4,
94-6, 99, 351 83-4, 88-90, 95, 101, 104, 15, 86,
absolute (pure, primary), 13-14, 291, 306, 310, 382, 395, 413
16, 18, 20, 51, 63, 79-81, 83, 85, children of the, 72-3, 120, 131
87 good, 10, 14, 27, 51-2, 57-8, 60, 62-3,
relative (mixed with good), 13, 65, 67, 68, 73, 75, 80, 88-9, 92,
20-1, 25, 51, 63-4, 80, 85, 101 95-7, 100-4 et passim, 89, 257,
secondary, 13, 16, 51, 80 297
types of, 21-2, 86-8, 99-100 absolute, 16, 18, 23, 25, 58, 61, 63,
characteristics, 13, 53, 96-8, 356 67, 80, 85, 94, 96, 8, 45, 67, 271,
nature of, 60-1, 65, 67, 70, 80-1, 88, 356; see also One; cause, first
96-8, 50 relative, (particular) 30, 80, 85
opposing the good, 59-60, 62-4, lesser, 20, 48, 60-1, 42
80-1, 86, 97, 100 henad(s), 60, 66, 68, 64, 86, 363
of souls, 12, 22, 48, 61, 80, 86-8, heroes, 21, 70-1, 93, 115, 117, 120,
93-4, 97-8, 99-101, 31, 47, 218, 126
282 ignorance, 68, 71, 75, 94, 99, 87, 384,
of bodies, 12, 21-2, 48, 61, 80, 86-8, 387
92-4, 97-8, 99-100, 102, 31, 47, illumination, see light
385, 390 imperfection, 14, 70, 76, 80, 96
affecting substance, 79, 86-8, 282, incommensurable, see measure, lack
377 of a common
affecting disposition (power), 73, incontinence (akrasia), 59, 20
76, 86-8, 92, 117, 188, 282, 329, indeterminateness, 80, 91-6
377 infinite, see unlimited
affecting activity, 73, 76, 78-9, injustice, 59, 61, 97, 30-1, 384
86-8, 92, 199, 204, 282, 329, 377 intellect(ive), 22, 58, 63, 66-9, 71-5,
principle of, 14, 17, 57, 80, 88-93, 4 82, 86-8, 90, 92, 97, 99, 101, 104,
fount of, 23, 88-90, 93, 288 62, 85, 94, 109, 285, 290, 304,
Forms/Ideas/paradigms of, 3, 318, 356, 381, 391, 395
11-12, 23, 48, 88, 90-91, 93, 290-1 intelligible (realm/beings), 23, 57, 68,
knowledge of, 28, 89-90, 96, 104, 74, 5, 84-6, 134, 148, 204, 318,
304-5, 413 356, 377
158 Subject Index
intelligible-intellective One, the, 13, 17, 58, 67-8, 80, 82, 95,
(realm/beings), 356 104, 45, 84, 242, 250-1
irrational, 22, 75-9, 83, 95, 99-100, order, 59, 63-4, 66-7, 70, 78-9, 86, 89,
160, 183, 329, 334; see also 91, 95-6, 98, 100, 204; see also
animal; soul; reason rank, and 62, 65-8, 71-2, 88, 90,
justice, 64, 66, 97 94
life, 11, 58, 61, 63, 66-7, 70-6, 78-9, lack of, see disorder
91-3, 95-7, 99-100, 102, 83, 206, Orphism, 120, 171
391 parasitical existence, see parupostasis
light, 58, 62, 65-8, 73-5, 77-8, 86, 89, parupostasis, 5, 24-6, 30, 51, 94-6,
8, 33, 135, 199, 274, 304 99, 351
limit, 13, 17, 65, 80-3, 89, 91-3, 96, partial (beings, perspective), see
45, 242, 356 particular
Manicheans, 288, 306; see also participation, 20-1, 28, 57, 62-4, 66,
Gnostics 68, 70, 74, 76, 80-2, 84-5, 88-9,
matter, 11-14, 16-19, 21-2, 25, 49-51, 94, 97-9, 101, 39, 42
77-9, 79-85, 87, 40, 194, 205, particular (beings, partial
208-9, 216, 218, 227, 244, 250-1, perspective), 14, 20-1, 29, 52, 59,
274, 327 65, 67, 77, 80, 83, 87, 89, 93, 95,
generation of, 16-17, 250-1 97, 99, 100-3, 55, 244, 284,
as necessary, 17, 81, 84-5, 260, 262 380-1, 397
meadow, 74, 138, 162 passions, 24, 59-61, 63, 69, 71-2, 78,
measure, 63, 66-7, 75, 80-1, 89, 92-3, 86, 102
96, 98, 100 pit of the universe, 74, 171
lack of, 67, 75-6, 78-81, 86, 92, 96, potency, 70, 72, 80-1, 94; see also
100, 227 power
possession of a common, 93 power, 20, 24, 28, 30, 62-3, 69-70,
lack of a common, 95-6 74-5, 77, 86, 89, 92-3, 96-9, 103,
measurelessness, see measure 45, 94, 251, 356
mixture, 21, 24, 28, 63-5, 79, 83, 85, lack of, see weakness
89, 93-6, 98, 100-3, 241-2, 251, triad substance, power, activity,
354, 356, 363 73, 76, 86-8, 92, 94, 117, 188,
monad, 61, 66, 80, 93, 96, 31; see also 282, 329, 377
unity principle of beings, see cause, first
monsters, 102-3 privation (sterêsis), 5, 13, 19, 21, 30,
nature 51-2, 62-5, 74, 76, 78-9, 81, 85-7,
according to, natural, 22, 58-9, 63, 94, 96-9, 43, 223, 274, 278, 356,
65-6, 68-72, 74-7, 87, 91, 93-4, 365, 378
96, 99, 103, 30, 409 of the good, 19, 21, 30, 63, 80, 87,
against, contrary to, 75-80, 96-9, 47, 213, 223, 278, 356
83-4,86, 88, 91, 93, 97-100, 103, procession, 15, 17, 20, 28, 58, 67-9,
409 80, 88-9, 75
as principle of body, 22, 77-79, 87, providence, 1-2, 15, 29, 52, 57, 65, 70,
99-101, 158, 206, 285, 381, 391, 72, 100-4, 5, 40, 62, 356, 377,
395 385, 397
necessity, throne of, 74, 138-9, 163 punishment, 12, 29, 69, 71, 75, 101,
of evil; of matter, see ad loc. 96, 98, 402-3
non-being, 13-15, 30, 58, 64, 85, 87, rank, 61, 64, 66-70, 72, 74, 78-9, 86,
96, 14, 50 88, 84, 86, 94, 162, 356; see also
absolute, 59-60, 64, 50 order
relative, 64 rational principle (logos), 22, 52, 60,
oblivion, 72-5, 81-2, 117, 128, 132, 77-8, 91, 93-4, 100, 103, 409
137, 141, 159, 164, 230
 Subject Index 159
reason (logos), 22, 63, 71, 75, 83, substance (triad substance/ousia,
92-3, 99-100, 102, 109, 329, 381 disposition/power, activity), 79,
remorse, repentance, 102 86-8, 91-2, 94, 282, 377
reversion, 17, 69, 92, 9, 94, 297 suffering, 29, 69, 71, 73-4, 81-2, 101-2
sensible (realm/beings), 57, 68, 74, suicide, 59, 14
84, 5, 48, 50, 204, 310; see also superior kinds, 4, 21, 67-72, 93; see
universe also angels; demons; heroes
soul(s), 22, 29, 63, 65-7, 71, 72-7, 88, theodicy, 14, 20, 27-8, 100-4, 243
92-3, 97, 101, 104, 70, 83, 103, theurgists, 101
117, 122, 216, 282, 291, 329, time, 67, 76, 48, 86
351, 381, 395, 403-4 traces (of the forms), 83, 244
classes, 117, 120, 131-2, 181, 183 ugliness, 61, 77-8, 96-7
divine, 21, 86, 117 uncaused, 25-8, 94-5, 350
immaculate, 72-3, 117 unity, 23; see also monad
human, 73-5, 78, 99, 381 universal (beings/perspective), 20-1,
rational, 2, 63, 31 29, 52, 64, 67, 77-9, 89, 91, 95,
irrational (image of soul), 2, 75-7, 99-103, 55, 189, 204, 399, 409
91, 99, 181-3, 329 universe, 1, 10-12, 14, 17, 21, 27,
maleficent, 15, 23, 75, 88, 91-3, 60-1, 70-1, 74-5, 78, 81, 88, 90-1,
182, 291, 329, 334 27, 40, 28, 48, 66, 85, 131, 171,
ascent, 75-6, 117 241, 308
descent, 11, 14, 16-17, 22, 71-3, unlimited(ness), 13, 17, 78-9, 81-3,
75-6, 81-2, 92, 75, 171, 131-2, 134 89, 94, 96, 45, 242, 250-1, 356
fall, (66), 71, 73-5, 80-1, 92, 102, unmeasured(ness), see measure
75, 117, 159 unnatural, see nature
choices of, 11, 23, 82, 101-102, 234, vice (kakia), 3, 12, 15, 20, 22, 24, 51,
397 59-60, 70-1, 97-8, 22, 31, 216,
circles of, 72, 74-5, 118, 281 234, 384, 397
wings, 66, 73, 95, 117, 132, 137, virtue (aretê), 15, 59-60, 66, 76, 87,
141, 159, 354 183, 188, 372
instruments (pneumatic vehicles) weakness, 13, 28, 62, 70, 73-5, 77-8,
of, 78, 199, 203-4 80-2, 89, 92-7, 99-100, 103, 60,
faculties, (cognitive) powers of, 216, 218, 228, 377, 382
100, 386-9 whole(s), see universe; universal
evils of, see evil world, see universe; generation
Stoics, 29, 51-2, 95, 111
subcontrary (hupenantion), 10-11,
30, 50-1, 98-9, 10, 34, 54, 278
 Index of Names

Numbers in italic refer to the notes to the translation.

Alexander of Aphrodisias, 49; Moerbeke, William of, 7-10, 45-7, 49

ps.-Alex., Mantissa, 27 Numenius, 16, 211, 219
Amelius, 23, 290, 371 Olympiodorus, 377
Aristotle, 29, 52, 7, 9, 13, 30, 147, Origenes, 338
171, 186, 202, 269, 273, 274, 275, Orpheus, 120
304, 327, 347, 352, 353, 357, 358, Philoponus, John, 4-6, 221, 261, 304
378, 407 Pindar, 120
Atticus, 15, 51, 182, 289, 293, 329 Plotinus, 5, 12-19, 22, 47-8, 50-1, 1,
Calcidius, 211, 273, 288 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 23, 30, 42, 50, 61,
Celsus, 211 73, 75-6, 79, 111, 116, 127, 129,
Chaldean Oracles, 13, 65, 148, 176, 134-5, 176, 177, 178, 192, 196,
301, 303 197, 200, 204, 208-14, 216,
Cronius, 211 218-19, 226-8, 233, 244, 251,
Dionysius, the Areopagite (ps.), 4-7, 264-5, 267, 269, 273-4, 324, 327,
48, 65, 324 331, 357-8, 368, 378, 385, 412
Epicurus, 29, 52 Plutarch of Chaeronea, 15, 51-2, 33,
Eusebius, 288 182, 289, 293, 329, 353
Harpocration, 211 Porphyry, 7, 12, 16, 51, 95, 101, 176,
Hermias, 120-1, 126, 131, 144, 146, 210, 226, 339
281, 354 Proclus (life and works), 3, 47-8
Homer, 13, 68-9, 120, 128, 212, 258 Psellus, Michael, 6, 48, 90, 157, 165,
Iamblichus, 12, 29, 51-2, 93, 95, 101, 176
125, 183, 211, 338, 340 Pythagoras, 120
Isaak Sebastokrator, 6-7, 45, 48-9, Simplicius, 49, 51-2, 211, 288, 327,
361 353, 398
John of Lydia, 4 Syrianus, 29, 51-2, 12, 311
Maximus of Tyre, 288, 396 Themistius, 304
Moderatus, 211 Theodorus of Asine, 103