Editing Lemmas in the Second Book of Proclus’ in Timaeum

It is well-known that the five extant books of Proclus’ commentary on the Timaeus are among the most important indirect sources for the constitution of the critical text of Plato’s dialogue. The lemmas in the second book of Proclus’ commentary, which focuses on cosmological and cosmogonic issues, cover only a small part of the original Greek text (Timaeus 27C1 to 31B2); still, the discrepancies between the readings attested by Plato manuscripts, and those witnessed by Proclus are often striking. Since the textual tradition of the Timaeus has been thoroughly examined by G. Jonkers (in a book recently published by Brill), and since the manuscripts of Proclus’ extensive commentary are newly collated in preparation of a new critical edition by Gerd Van Riel, we now have solid philological ground to compare the text of the Timaeus (as attested by the direct tradition) with Proclus’ lemmas. In this contribution, we examine the text as transmitted in the Proclus manuscripts and assess its value as an indirect witness. We also discuss the editorial issues to be tackled by editors of Proclus and of Plato alike.