The Commentaries of Proclus.[420] Translated by Thomas Taylor.[421]
London, 1792, 2 vols. 4to.[422]
The reputation of "the Platonist" begins to grow, and will continue to
grow. The most authentic account is in the _Penny Cyclopaedia_, written by
one of the few persons who knew him well, and one of the fewer who possess
all his works. At page lvi of the Introduction is Taylor's notion of the
way to find the circumference. It is not geometrical, for it proceeds on
the motion of a point: the words "on account of the simplicity of the
impulsive motion, such a line must be either straight or circular" will
suffice to show how Platonic it is. Taylor certainly professed a kind of
heathenism. D'lsraeli said, "Mr. T. Taylor, the Platonic philosopher and
the modern Plethon,[423] consonant to that philosophy, professes
polytheism." Taylor printed this in large type, in a page by itself after
the dedication, without any disavowal. I have seen the following, Greek and
translation both, in his handwriting: "[Greek: Pas agathos hei agathos
ethnikos; kai pas christianos hei christianos kakos.] Every good man, so
far as he is a good man, is a heathen; and every Christian, so far as he is
a Christian, is a bad man." Whether Taylor had in his head the Christian of
the New Testament, or whether he drew from those members of the "religious
world" who make manifest the religious flesh and the religious devil, {189}
cannot be decided by us, and perhaps was not known to himself. If a
heathen, he was a virtuous one.