A Dissertation on the Philosophy of Aristotle

What depth of thought, what energy is yours!
What rays of intellect in every line!
The more we fathom your exalted mind,
A stronger light, a greater depth we find.
You too, blessed Porphyry, my muse shall sing,
Since you spring from the great school of Plotinus;
What holy thoughts your sacred books contain!
What stores of wisdom from your works we gain!
Urged on by you, we learn to rise from sense,
To break its fetters and despise its charms.
Nor shall my muse decline the just applause
Due to Iamblichus, surnamed "the divine,"
Who pierced the veil that hid in dark disguise
Wisdom's deep mysteries from mortal eyes.
Whose godlike soul an ample mirror seems,
Strongly reflecting mind's unclouded beams:
Or like some capacious sphere, polished bright,
Throughout transparent and full of light.
Great Syrianus next, O muse, resound,
Renowned for depth and subtlety of thought.
Acute genius! The exalted task was yours
To display the concord of divine men.
And what was concealed in fable by them,
Your piercing mind revealed clearly.
But, greatly eminent above the rest,
Proclus, the Coryphaeus, stands confessed.
Hail, mighty genius of the human race,
Alike the guide, the glory, and the grace:
Whose volumes, full of genuine science, shine
With magnificent thoughts and divine truths.
Whose sentences, too, roll along redundantly,
Like some clear stream, majestically strong.
While genius lives, your numerous works shall last,
Alike the future wonder as the past.