Eclogae de philosophia Chaldaica

From Proclus, from the same Chaldaean philosophy 1 The eternal orders are the courts and dwellings of the divine. And the "all-receptive court" of the Father is the paternal order, which receives and contains all the souls that have been led up; but how does the portion of the angels lead up a soul? By illuminating, it says, the soul with fire, that is, by shining around it from all sides, and making it full of the pure fire which bestows upon it an unswerving order and a power through which it is not swept away into material disorder but is united to the light of the divine; and it contains it in its own place, and makes it unmixed with matter, lightening it with the warm breath and making it ascend through the uplifting life; for the warm breath is a participation of life. And everything that hastens to the place above is lightened, just as that which is borne towards matter is weighed down. And the end of the ascents is the participation of the divine fruits and the self-shining fulfillment of fire, which is the vision of God, as it places it under the eyes of the Father. And the soul of the divine is perfected by a hymn-giver, according to the oracle, putting forth the ineffable tokens of the Father and offering them to the Father, which the Father placed in it in the first passage of its substance. For such are the intellectual and invisible hymns of the ascending soul, stirring up the memory of the harmonic principles which bear the ineffable images of the divine powers within it. 2 From Proclus, from the same philosophy. "Depth of soul" means its three cognitive powers: intellectual, dianoetic, and doxastic; and "all eyes", their three cognitive activities. For the eye is a symbol of knowledge; and life, of appetite; and each is threefold. And earth, from which one must lighten the heart, is all material things and the various things borne in generation, and every corporeal form; upon which follow the vision of the paternal monad, an unstained gladness for it, and stability from this intellectual vantage point; from which it is clear that our good is mixed, both from motion and from connate gladness. For every life, having its own activity unhindered, has received pleasure as its yokefellow. But a hymn of the Father is not composite words, nor the construction of works; for being alone incorruptible, he does not accept a corruptible hymn; therefore let us not hope to persuade the master of true words with an empty tempest of words, nor with a fantasy of works embellished with art; God loves unadorned beauty. Let us then offer this hymn to God; let us leave behind flowing substance; let us come to the true goal, the assimilation to him; let us know the master, let us love the Father; let us obey his call; let us run to the warm, fleeing the cold; let us become fire, let us travel through fire. We have an easy road to ascent; the Father guides, having unfolded the paths of fire let us not flow as a lowly stream from forgetfulness. 3 From Proclus. The root of evil is the body, just as of virtue is the mind. For the one springs forth for souls from above, while the other enters reveling from inferior things and from below; and to cast it into the earth, is to cut it off from ourselves; but to let it be, to be carried wherever it has been arranged; and it has been arranged in all of generation. But since evils are here and "by necessity haunt this place," and our body is also part of generation, it is possible, then, to make a part free from evil, but all of generation, impossible, unless we were to take away its very being; into which both zeal and envy must be cast down, from whence it gathered them; for being material, they have matter as their nurse; and "not to extinguish in the mind" is said with respect to exclusion, not to annihilation, just as things that are extinguished in something are wholly contained in it and fill it with their own heat; but instead of extinguishing, cast it down, not having it shut up within;

Eclogae de philosophia Chaldaica

Πρόκλου ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς χαλδαϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας 1 Αὐλαὶ τῶν θείων καὶ οἰκήσεις αἱ ἀΐδιαι τάξεις. Καὶ ἡ "πανδεκτικὴ αὐλὴ" τοῦ Πατρὸς ἡ πατρικὴ τάξις ἐστίν, ἡ πάσας ὑποδεχομένη καὶ συνέχουσα τὰς ἀναχθείσας ψυχάς· ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀγγέλων μερὶς πῶς ἀνάγει ψυχήν; φέγγουσα, φησί, πυρὶ τὴν ψυχήν, τοῦτ' ἔστι περιλάμ πουσα αὐτὴν πανταχόθεν, καὶ πλήρη ποιοῦσα τοῦ ἀχράν του πυρὸς ὃ ἐνδίδωσιν αὐτῇ τάξιν ἄκλιτον καὶ δύναμιν δι' ἣν οὐκ ἐκροιζεῖται εἰς τὴν ὑλικὴν ἀταξίαν ἀλλὰ συν άπτεται τῷ φωτὶ τῶν θείων· καὶ συνέχει δὲ αὐτὴν ἐν οἰκείῳ τόπῳ, καὶ ἀμιγῆ ποιεῖ πρὸς τὴν ὕλην, τῷ θερμῷ πνεύματι κουφίζουσα καὶ ποιοῦσα μετέωρον διὰ τῆς ἀναγωγοῦ ζωῆς· τὸ γὰρ πνεῦμα τὸ θερμὸν ζωῆς ἐστι μετάδοσις. Κουφίζεται δὲ ἅπαν τὸ σπεῦδον εἰς τὸν ἄνω τόπον, ὥσπερ βρίθει τὸ εἰς τὴν ὕλην φερόμενον. Τέλος δὲ τῶν ἀνόδων ἡ μετουσία τῶν θείων καρπῶν καὶ ἡ αὐτοφαὴς τοῦ πυρὸς ἀποπλήρωσις, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ θεοῦ ὄψις, ὡς ὑπ' ὄμμασιν αὐτὴν τιθεῖσα τοῦ Πατρός. Ὑμνῳ δὸς δὲ ἀποτελεῖται τῶν θείων ἡ ψυχή, κατὰ τὸ λόγιον, τὰ συνθήματα τοῦ Πατρὸς τὰ ἄρρητα προβαλλομένη καὶ προσφέρουσα αὐτὰ τῷ Πατρί, ἃ ἐνέθετο ὁ Πατὴρ εἰς αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ παρόδῳ τῆς οὐσίας. Τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οἱ νοεροὶ καὶ ἀφανεῖς ὕμνοι τῆς ἀναγομένης ψυχῆς, ἀνακινοῦντες τὴν μνήμην τῶν ἁρμονικῶν λόγων οἳ φέ ρουσιν ἀπορρήτους εἰκόνας τῶν θείων ἐν αὐτῇ δυνάμεων. 2 Πρόκλου ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς φιλοσοφίας. "Ψυχῆς βάθος" τὰς τριπλᾶς αὐτῆς γνωστικὰς δυνά μεις φησί, νοεράς, διανοητικάς, δοξαστικάς· "ὄμματα" δὲ "πάντα", τὰς τριπλᾶς αὐτῶν γνωστικὰς ἐνεργείας. Τὸ γὰρ ὄμμα, γνώσεως σύμβολον· ἡ δὲ ζωή, ὀρέξεως· τριπλᾶ δὲ ἑκατέρα. Γῆ δὲ ἀφ' ἧς δεῖ κουφίζειν τὴν καρ δίαν, τὰ ὑλικὰ πάντα καὶ τὰ ποικίλα τῶν ἐν γενέσει φερομένων, καὶ πᾶς τύπος σωματικός· οἷς ἕπεται θέα μὲν τῆς πατρικῆς μονάδος, εὐφροσύνη δὲ ἄχραντος ἐπ' αὐτήν, εὐστάθειά τε ἀπὸ τῆς νοερᾶς ταύτης περιωπῆς· ἀφ' ὧν δῆλον ὡς μικτὸν ἡμῶν τὸ ἀγαθόν, ἔκ τε κινήσεως καὶ τῆς συμφυοῦς εὐφροσύνης. Πᾶσα γὰρ ζωή, τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐνέργειαν εὔλυτον ἔχουσα, ἡδονὴν ἔλαχεν αὐτῇ σύζυγον. Ὕμνος δὲ τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐ λόγοι σύνθετοι, οὐκ ἔργων κατασκευή· μόνος γὰρ ἄφθαρτος ὤν, φθαρτὸν ὕμνον οὐ δέχεται· μὴ οὖν κενῇ ῥημάτων καταιγίδι πείσειν ἐλπίζωμεν τὸν λόγων ἀληθῶν δεσπότην μηδὲ ἔργων φαντασίᾳ μετὰ τέχνης κεκαλλωπισμένων· ἀκαλλώ πιστον εὐμορφίαν θεὸς φιλεῖ. Ὕμνον οὖν τῷ θεῷ τοῦτον ἀναθῶμεν· καταλίπωμεν τὴν ῥέουσαν οὐσίαν· ἔλθωμεν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀληθῆ σκοπόν, τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐξομοίωσιν· γνωρίσωμεν τὸν δεσπότην, ἀγαπήσωμεν τὸν Πατέρα· κα λοῦντι πεισθῶμεν· τῷ θερμῷ προσδράμωμεν, τὸ ψυχρὸν ἐκφυγόντες· πῦρ γενώμεθα, διὰ πυρὸς ὁδεύσωμεν. Ἔχομεν εὔλυτον ὁδὸν εἰς ἀνέλευσιν· Πατὴρ ὁδηγεῖ, πυρὸς ὁδοὺς ἀναπτύξας μὴ ταπεινὸν ἐκ λήθης ῥεύσω μεν χεῦμα. 3 Πρόκλου. Ῥίζα τῆς κακίας τὸ σῶμα, ὥσπερ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁ νοῦς. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἄνωθεν ἐκβλυστάνει ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπεισκωμάζει καὶ κάτωθεν· τὸ δὲ καταβα λεῖν εἰς γῆν, τὸ ἀφ' ἡμῶν ἐκκόψαι· ἐᾶσαι δὲ αὐτήν, ὅποι παρετάχθη φέρεσθαι· τέτακται δὲ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ γενέσει. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ κακὰ ἐνθάδε καὶ "τόνδε τὸν τό πον ἐξ ἀνάγκης περιπολεῖ", μέρος δὲ καὶ τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα τῆς γενέσεως, μέρος μὲν οὖν ἀκάκυντον ποιεῖν, δυνατόν, ὅλην δὲ τὴν γένεσιν, ἀδύνατον, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὸ εἶναι αὐτῆς ἀνέλοιμεν· εἰς ἣν καὶ ζῆλον καὶ φθόνον καταβλητέον ὅθενπερ αὐτὰ κατελέξατο· ὑλικὰ γὰρ ὄντα τὴν ὕλην ἔχει τιθήνην· τὸ δὲ "μὴ σβέσαι φρενὶ" πρὸς τὴν ἀπόκλεισιν, οὐ πρὸς τὸν ἀφανισμὸν εἴρηται, καθά περ τὰ ἐναποσβεννύμενά τινι περιέχεται ὅλα ἐν ἐκείνῳ καὶ ἀναπίμπλησιν αὐτὸ τῆς οἰκείας θέρμης· ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ σβέσαι κατάβαλε, μὴ ἔχων αὐτὸν ἔνδον καθειργμένον·