Proclus, a Neoplatonist, was an influence on
Amos Bronson Alcott,
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Margaret Fuller, as well as other New England Transcendentalists. As the last major Greek philosopher, and elaborated upon by
Damascius, Proclus codified later Platonism, offering not only a coherent metaphysical system but a complete pagan theology. By combining his own views with those of his teachers—
Plutarch, Syrianus,
Porphyry, and
Iamblichus—he succeeded in delivering such inspiration that he led Emerson to declare in 1843 that, in reading Proclus, “I am filled with hilarity & spring, my heart dances, my sight is quickened, I behold shining relations between all beings, and am impelled to write and almost to sing.”