Marinus of Neapolis

Marinus, born at Neapolis in Samaria, came to Athens and became the devoted pupil of Proclus, who chose him as his successor at the head of the Academy. He is the source of nearly all that is known of his master's life.

His Life of Proclus, subtitled On Happiness, portrays Proclus as the ideal philosopher and orders his virtues as a ladder of ascent from the civic to the divine; it remains one of the most vivid biographies the tradition produced. His own bent was mathematical and exegetical rather than boldly metaphysical — a commentary on Euclid's Data survives — and a story tells that he burned his commentary on the Philebus when Isidore judged it wanting.

Frail in health and modest in his claims, Marinus guided the school through difficult years and handed the succession toward Isidore and Damascius, keeping the chain unbroken into its final generation.