Proclus’ Propositions 97 and 99, The Cause of All

Mr. D. E. Wagenhals, of Nashville, Illinois, ingeniously and admirably illustrated the Propositions of the Metaphysical Elements by geometrical diagrams. These diagrams will much facilitate the student's apprehension of the Elements.

  The diagram points to causes giving subsistence to natures in a two-fold manner, viz: the causes according to an order in the progression of causes, and the causes according to an order subsisting in each series or causal chain.
  In the four interlacing triangles, each containing three circles, the circle at the apex of the triangle represents a leading cause; the circle at the base, to the right, representing a secondary cause in the order of progression; and the circle to the left represents a secondary order of natures subsisting according to the series. For instance, the upper circle in the upper triangle represents Being. Being is the cause of Life. In the circle to the right, life is represented as in the order of progression. And to the left the circle represents beings. The series of beings proceed from Being, for Being is the leader in the cause of beings; Life, of lives: Intellect, of intellects: Soul, of souls: Body, of bodies.
  The circles at the apex of each triangle represent, (1) causes according to imparticipable natures, (2) causes according to self-subsistent natures, (3) causes according to hyparxis. Natures proceeding from imparticipable causes subsist according to wholes consisting of parts. Natures proceeding in the order of progression subsist according to self-subsistent causes. And natures proceeding according to hyparxis subsist in the series.

  Primary causes subsist imparticipably. The One is the primary cause of all things, hence The One is the first imparticipable. The One is truly unbegotten, for there is no other prior, nor beyond. The One is truly the principle of all things, for the multitude subsists secondary to that which primarily subsists in The One.
  Of the multitude, some things are first, and with reference to the First of things; others subsist secondary; and, again, others, the last of things. Hence there subsists in the multitude an order of progression. But the principle of this progression subsists primarily in The One. For, as The One is to the multitude, or as the primary is to the secondary, so is that which is first in things, or primary in things, to that which is secondary in the multitude of things. The principle of ratio subsists in a cause which is the same in all ratios, that is, imparticipably. But if the first imparticipable, The One, is unbegotten, then, by reason of one principle, all imparticipables are unbegotten.

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