Parmenides, Zeno and Socrates as a Noetic Triad

SOME REFLECTIONS ON PROCLUS’ USE OF THE ORACLES IN HIS COMMENTARY ON THE PARMENIDES

“For Proclus, in harmony with the teaching of his master, Syrianus, the Chaldaean Oracles (like the Orphic poems), constitute a sort of culmination of the study of the works of Plato, and may be utilised constantly to shed light upon their true meaning. To illustrate this principle, I would like to look briefly at his allegorical exegesis of the three figures of Parmenides, Zeno and Socrates, at the beginning of his commentary on the Parmenides, as representing the three ‘moments’ of the Chaldaean intelligible triad, Being, Life and Intellect.”

– Regius Prof. Emeriti John M. Dillon