Sallust: “On the Gods & the World” and Other Works (e-Book) PDF-410-0
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This PRS Edition features an Introductory Preface by Manly P. Hall, and the text appears in the original 17th century typeface, with spelling indicative of the period.
This book is a photographic facsimile of a rare 1795 edition and includes translations of "The Pythagoric Sentences of Demophilus" and "Proclus’ Five Hymns". Five Hymns in the style of Proclus, written by Thomas Taylor, conclude this collection.
Sallust was a Neoplatonist philosopher who is said to have written this work for the Emperor Julian in the 4th century AD.
Most of Thomas Taylor’s translations have an archaic elegance which preserves the spirit of the older authors in a manner not evident in more recent translations. Taylor added notes and commentary giving valuable insights into the text’s essential meaning. The present volume helps us all to experience the nobility of those early teachers of mankind who labored so diligently to bring treasures of wisdom to their own disciples and later generations.
"On the Gods and the World" is a concise treatise, generally free of the lengthy metaphysical theorizing of the more detailed Neoplatonic texts. Its aim was in part “to parry the usual onslaughts of Christian polemic” in the face of Christianity’s growing preeminence, to “meet theology with theology.”
About the Translator |
Thomas Taylor (1758-1835) was a scholar without honor in his own time. Most of his books have long been out of print, but in recent years there has been a strong revival of interest in his writings. In 1969 a definitive work, Thomas Taylor the Platonist, appeared as Vol. LXXXVIII of the Bollingen series (Princeton University Press).
Admirers of Taylor have said that other scholars may had had more Greek but less understanding of those sublime doctrines which he both translated and interpreted.
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