 Four overarching principles govern Iamblichus’ exegetical practice. First, the idea that every authoritative work is fully self-consistent and strives to demonstrate a certain thesis which acts as its “goal” or “target” (skopos). This principle is applied rigorously: for instance, since the skopos of the Timaeus is the theory of nature, this means that even the work’s prologue, however autonomous it may seem at first glance, should be interpreted in this way (In Timaeum [D-1973: Fr. 3]). This amounts to considering literary works living organisms, in accordance with what Plato writes in Phaedrus 264C (see Coulter 1976: 73). Guidelines to determining a given work’s skopos are found in a late anonymous composition, the Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy (§§ 21–23).