PREFACE.

to insert the inventions of fables and allegories which were to be referred to popular religions, to poetry, and to the very infancy of nascent science. Yet I, for whom it is certainly not at all pleasing to restore the Alexandrian Gods or Demons to honor, shall not hesitate to affirm that such falsehoods of opinion cling to the outer shell of their philosophy. Just as I think those are to be censured who, either reluctantly or deliberately, adulterated science in this manner, I believe that deeper and sounder doctrines hidden under these wrappings and this veil of mysticism are to be accurately investigated.

But those things in this commentary of Proclus are especially to be attended to which he discussed concerning man, personality, and liberty; concerning our faculties, which pertain to either acting or understanding; and finally, concerning the good and the beautiful. For whatever can be gathered from our most accurate observation of human nature is, if not perfected here, at least initiated. It is not otherwise than in the Parmenides, where one may find