Proclus. Commentary on Plato’s “Timaeus”. Book II (Translation and Commentary)

Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, written around 440 A.D., is our only source of information regarding the Neoplatonic doctrine of nature. In this extensive and complex work, Proclus not only analyzes the text of the dialogue line by line, but attempts to reconstruct Plato’s “universal doctrine of nature” (hole physiologia), which considers the visible cosmos as a rational living being produced by supernatural divine hypostases – the Soul, the Intellect and the One. In this respect, Neoplatonic natural philosophy proves to be a form of theology, as it examines the nature of the universe in terms of its procession from the Demiurge, and considers the material cosmos as dependent on divine causes. This publication offers the first commented Russian translation of the Book II of Proclus’ Commentary on “Timaeus”. The translated section includes a comprehensive introductory excursus on the essence and ultimate purpose of prayer, as well as a commentary on Tim. 27c1-d5 in which Pythagorean Timaeus explains why people of a good sense should pray to gods at the outset of every undertaking, and starts his cosmological discourse by introducing the division into being and becoming.