kayeofswords's review
5.0
I'm reading Proclus' essays on the Republic concurrently with the Republic, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, especially the wealth of information in Essay 6 about the interpretation of myths with surface-value unjust acts in them. It was very useful and has really assisted with reading the Republic proper.
The detailed introductions gave me — a non-specialist (librarian, BG in astronomy and English lit) — a good feel for the context in which Proclus was writing. However, some of their comments seemed a bit biased. They are very dismissive of polytheism/paganism in the way they're writing (possibly due to Christian cultural bias even if they're secular?), and I don't think that Proclus is saying what they think he's saying (in their Intro to Essay 4 comments) because they bring up henotheism. Nothing Proclus says in the actual passage is henotheistic or getting uneasily close to monotheism. It looks like Proclus is talking about the Gods, stability-in-power, and a multiplicity of nodes/stable points/potential wells in a given system — admittedly difficult to visualize, but elegant and solid. Things like this didn't happen often in their intros, but it happened enough to be frustrating. I'm not docking any stars because the actual translation is very engaging, and I'm definitely not in their intended audience.
It was sweet of them to wish that reader reach one's telos, though.
The detailed introductions gave me — a non-specialist (librarian, BG in astronomy and English lit) — a good feel for the context in which Proclus was writing. However, some of their comments seemed a bit biased. They are very dismissive of polytheism/paganism in the way they're writing (possibly due to Christian cultural bias even if they're secular?), and I don't think that Proclus is saying what they think he's saying (in their Intro to Essay 4 comments) because they bring up henotheism. Nothing Proclus says in the actual passage is henotheistic or getting uneasily close to monotheism. It looks like Proclus is talking about the Gods, stability-in-power, and a multiplicity of nodes/stable points/potential wells in a given system — admittedly difficult to visualize, but elegant and solid. Things like this didn't happen often in their intros, but it happened enough to be frustrating. I'm not docking any stars because the actual translation is very engaging, and I'm definitely not in their intended audience.
It was sweet of them to wish that reader reach one's telos, though.
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