PROCLUS ON THE TIMAEUS III [Preface]

But he Plato fashions no "becoming" Greek: genesis; the process of coming-into-being for the Intellect Greek: Nous; the divine mind in his account. For the Intellect is neither produced according to a Form, nor does it admit the name of "becoming" in any way whatsoever; rather, it is entirely ungenerated and eternal. It shines forth from the Wholes, yet remaining within them without wandering out, it proceeds forth while united to its more universal causes. E Therefore, it also remains impartible indivisible and undivided, being preserved by the "immaculate gods" and the "relentless powers" Proclus refers here to the Chaldean Oracles, describing protective deities that keep the Intellect pure, while the rest of life is partitioned and divided among the portions 1 of the universe. First, then, he has handed down the subsistence Greek: hypostasis; the underlying reality according to the wholeness of the universe derived from the Craftsmanship Greek: demiurgia; the work of the Creator, according to which the universe was completed as ensouled, endowed with intellect, and divine, in accordance with its assimilation to the "Perfect Living Being." 2 Second, he will add the division of the cosmos according to its wholes and the making of the universal parts, both of the Soul existing by itself and of that which is of the nature of body. For the Intellect is entirely ungenerated, just as we were saying [p. 1, 11], because it is both ungenerated and undivided—except that this too proceeds without "becoming" from the providence of the Creator. And the Creator himself calls the nature that receives this Intellect the very manifestation of the Soul; he places within it the circles of the Soul, manifesting it without division as being impartible, and without shape as being perfectly formless. 3 Third, in sequence, is the division that cuts the whole according to parts and completes each of the members. For he will hand down how F fire came to be, and how air, and water, and how the earth itself [31B–32B], finally observing the body-making activity of the Craftsmanship; and even in this, he does not descend into particulars, but remains among the universal elements.

These letters refer to the medieval manuscripts used to reconstruct the text: M (Mediceus), P (Parisinus), and Q (Marcianus).

2 "might come to be" M 7 "gods" perhaps omitted Q | compare Chaldean Oracles fragment 21.
9 "First" (neuter) M P 16 first "that also" Q: "except that also" P: omitted M¹ in a gap, "and" added by M²; "and undivided" omitted by M in a gap of 10 letters.
16 f. "undivided except that also this" Q: "undivided this" P: "this" M 15 ff. I would restore it thus: "For the Intellect is entirely ungenerated, just as we were saying, and undivided, except that this too etc.", unless one deletes "that—undivided" with Kroll. Wilhelm Kroll was a major 19th-century editor of Proclus. 17 f. "of providence he says; and this" M 18 "receiving nature itself the" omitted by M in a gap of 7 letters. "nature itself the" omitted by P | Kroll attempted "nature <... for according to the fir>st [manifestation] of the soul." 19 f. "manifestation; for the Creator himself" Q | compare Timaeus 36 C. 22 "according to the parts" P; compare page 3, lines 10–11.