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Taylor's amazing - I think a lot of the Neoplatonist specialists at least respect the astounding level of knowledge he possessed - not only did he translate almost the entire Neoplatonic corpus, but he also demonstrated a thorough understanding of everything he translated - wow - He was given a fair bit of props by the early TS (although the Theosophical Glossary entry is a rather unfortunate rehash of the gossipy Royal Masonic Encyclopedia entry). His translations are still quite useable, they're pretty accurate, IMO - his original writings are pretty remarkable - from a spiritual perspective, they stand up well, even by today's exacting critical standards - (unfortunately, he comes from a period where the English language style was at its most exotic, he's no Shelley - and don't get him started on Christianity) - but anything he's written is worth paying attention to, an uncommon level of insightful research - his Bacchic and Eleusynian Mysteries, his Pythagorean Mathematics are classics well worth looking into...
During college we were required to read Plato in various classes and most of the translations left me kind of flat and uninspired. I discovered later on that it really requires a great man to deliver a great translation. In other words it takes one to know one. The literal translations of scholarship may be technically accurate but are devoid of the inner spirit and intention of the original. This is where Taylor shines. Given his immense knowledge of theosophical philosophy and its deep undercurrents he was able to do justice to the great Initiate we know as Plato. It is my understanding that the original Greek of Plato is quite lyrical and poetic quite unlike modern translations. So Taylor does not need to be Shelley to translate the great Philosopher, he just needed to have the Shelley ear.
Thanks to Tim for correcting our honest mistakes. We want to do everything we can to celebrate Thomas Taylor's work.
We've added an additional text that includes one of Taylor's translations. The work is titled:
Translations from the Greek, viz. Aristotle's Synopsis of the virtues and vices. The Similitudes of Demophilus. The Golden sentences of Democrates, and the Pythagoric symbols, with the explanations of Iamblichus. By W. Bridgman ... To which are added the Pythagoric sentences of Demophilus by Mr. Thomas Taylor (1804)
Taylor's "Sentences of Demophilus" can also be found in his earlier publication Sallust On the Gods and the World (1793), but the value of adding Bridgman's work to our collection is that it also includes the remainder of the extant "Pythagoric Sentences" and the "Pythagoric Symbols" (which Taylor himself did not translate, but simply quoted directly from Bridgman when needed).
As Taylor points out in his "Life of Pythagoras":
The PDF of Bridgman's work can be found here.
Update on the Universal Theosophy collection of Taylor's works: we've located a pdf scan of the Collectanea (1806) and added it to the collection.
Collectanea; or Collections consisting of Miscellanies inserted in ...
Full collection here: http://www.universaltheosophy.com/writings-taylor/
One other link to add here. This is (I think) the original submission of Taylor's "Chaldean Oracles", to the Monthly Magazine, vol. III, 1797.
Thanks Tim. I was very unsure about A New System of Religion, but hadn't seen your article yet. I've removed it from the collection on our site and from the wikipedia article for Taylor as well.