Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/77

 arisen, gifted with the genius to revive their hopes, and to infuse a fresh enthusiasm into their almost moribund philosophy.

One evening in the summer of 431 a youth of nineteen, having made the voyage from Alexandria, disembarked at the Piraeus and was received on the shore by Nicolaus, a countryman of his own, and some other friends who had been apprised of his coming. Proclus belonged to a Lycian family, but was born at Constantinople, and he had already won a reputation as a student of extraordinary powers and promise. This youth was regarded as the last hope of the expiring school, and when the custodian at the entrance of the city exclaimed, "I should already have shut the gates, had I not seen you approaching," the utterance was hailed as an omen symbolical of its resuscitation. Before entering Athens, Proclus complained of thirst and fatigue, and by a fortuitous circumstance rested in a seat and had a drink from a fountain, which were known as those of Socrates. Such auspicious occurrences redoubled the expectations which were kindled by his advent, and even the aged Plutarch issued from his retirement to superintend the initiation of the new pupil.

The general doctrines of Neoplatonism, as a practical religion, had been fixed by Plotinus and his immediate successors, and nothing remained for later devotees but to elaborate the details of the system by analysis and disquisition. The execution of this task fell to the Athenian school, and for more than a century its members busied themselves in spinning a fine web of scholasticism around