But Proclus is
so essentially the child of the Alexandrian school that we cannot pass
him over. Indeed, according to M. Cousin, as I am credibly informed, he
is the Greek philosopher; the flower and crown of all its schools; in
whom, says the learned Frenchman, "are combined, and from whom shine
forth, in no irregular or uncertain rays, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato,
Aristotle, Zeno, Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus;" and who "had so
comprehended all religions in his mind, and paid them such equal
reverence, that he was, as it were, the priest of the whole universe!"
I have not the honour of knowing much of M. Cousin's works. I never
came across them but on one small matter of fact, and on that I found
him copying at second hand an anachronism which one would have conceived
palpable to any reader of the original authorities. This is all I know
of him, saving these his raptures over Proclus, of which I have quoted
only a small portion, and of which I can only say, in Mr. Thomas
Carlyle's words, "What things men will worship, in their extreme need!"
Other moderns, however, have expressed their admiration of Proclus; and,
no doubt, many neat sayings may be found in him (for after all he was a
Greek), which will be both pleasing and useful to those who consider
philosophic method to consist in putting forth strings of brilliant
apophthegms, careless about either their consistency or coherence: but
of the method of Plato or Aristotle, any more than of that of Kant or
Mill, you will find nothing in him.
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