14 PROCLUS ON THE TIMAEUS BOOK III [Tim. 31 BC]

...possess its harmonious communion through the bond, giving this second gift from the Creator to the world. And here I will also decline to listen to those who misunderstand Plato, so that they do not introduce such difficulties into these arguments.

C For those who say that semicircles require no bond for the generation of a circle do not speak correctly. For the circle is not composed of semicircles; on the contrary, since the circle already exists and is not made from them, it is the drawing of the diameter that creates the semicircles. Even the name given to these parts original: "ἡμικύκλια" (semicircles) shows that they derive their existence from the circle, and not the other way around.

Nor are those correct who bring up the monad The number one, representing unity and the dyad The number two, representing duality as being somehow opposites and having nothing in between. For Plato does not say simply that there is something between all things however they are related, but rather between those which are intended to achieve the subsistence of a single composite. For he says that it is impossible for two things alone to be well composed without a third. But the monad and dyad are not opposites, since the dyad is made of monads.

Again, nor are those correct who cite things that are destroyed together, such as wine mixed with honey A common ancient beverage called oenomeli. For these individual things no longer exist once the mixture has occurred, but we are seeking not how things will be destroyed—for that is not wonderful—but how they shall be harmonized with one another while remaining what they are. For this bond is the cause of preservation for the things bound, not of a common destruction and D loss.

Nor are those correct who bear witness to the union of man and woman as needing no third thing for its constitution. For these people have failed to notice that they are overlooking the greatest bond: Eros Love or Desire, which awakens the soul’s life in one way and the physical life in another toward communion.

Nor is it the case with the body and the soul; for in these, the bond through the "animation" original: "ἐμψυχίας" (the state of being ensouled) is the middle term. Nor is it like things that melt together, such as gold and silver; for these have the same essence, as both are "water" Proclus follows the ancient view that metals are a form of "solidified water" or liquefiable substance. All these people, then, fall away from the meaning of Plato.

M P Q These letters refer to the specific medieval manuscripts used to reconstruct this text.
13 inserted by Kroll — 14 "to achieve" in P — "two" in M
17 "again" omitted in P — "just as those who [mix] the" in P — 18 "is not" in P — 22 "those bound" in MQ: "prisoners" in P — "causes" in M — 23 "bearing witness" in P
26 "the" omitted in P — 28-29 see Timaeus 38 E — 29-30 see Aristotle, Meteorology book 4, chapter 10, 389a 7 and following — 31 "of Plato" in Q