Timaeus by Plato
Timaeus

Plato Timaeus

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[1]        
[2]        PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates, Critias, Timaeus, Hermocrates.
[3]        
[4]        
[5]        SOCRATES: One, two, three; but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourth of
[6]        those who were yesterday my guests and are to be my entertainers to-day?
[7]        
[8]        TIMAEUS: He has been taken ill, Socrates; for he would not willingly have
[9]        been absent from this gathering.
[10]       
[11]       SOCRATES: Then, if he is not coming, you and the two others must supply
[12]       his place.
[13]       
[14]       TIMAEUS: Certainly, and we will do all that we can; having been handsomely
[15]       entertained by you yesterday, those of us who remain should be only too
[16]       glad to return your hospitality.
[17]       
[18]       SOCRATES: Do you remember what were the points of which I required you to
[19]       speak?
[20]       
[21]       TIMAEUS: We remember some of them, and you will be here to remind us of
[22]       anything which we have forgotten: or rather, if we are not troubling you,
[23]       will you briefly recapitulate the whole, and then the particulars will be
[24]       more firmly fixed in our memories?
[25]       
[26]       SOCRATES: To be sure I will: the chief theme of my yesterday's discourse
[27]       was the State--how constituted and of what citizens composed it would seem
[28]       likely to be most perfect.
[29]       
[30]       TIMAEUS: Yes, Socrates; and what you said of it was very much to our mind.
[31]       
[32]       SOCRATES: Did we not begin by separating the husbandmen and the artisans
[33]       from the class of defenders of the State?
[34]       
[35]       TIMAEUS: Yes.
[36]       
[37]       SOCRATES: And when we had given to each one that single employment and
[38]       particular art which was suited to his nature, we spoke of those who were
[39]       intended to be our warriors, and said that they were to be guardians of the
[40]       city against attacks from within as well as from without, and to have no
[41]       other employment; they were to be merciful in judging their subjects, of
[42]       whom they were by nature friends, but fierce to their enemies, when they
[43]       came across them in battle.
[44]       
[45]       TIMAEUS: Exactly.
[46]       
[47]       SOCRATES: We said, if I am not mistaken, that the guardians should be
[48]       gifted with a temperament in a high degree both passionate and
[49]       philosophical; and that then they would be as they ought to be, gentle to
[50]       their friends and fierce with their enemies.
[51]       
[52]       TIMAEUS: Certainly.
[53]       
[54]       SOCRATES: And what did we say of their education? Were they not to be
[55]       trained in gymnastic, and music, and all other sorts of knowledge which
[56]       were proper for them?
[57]       
[58]       TIMAEUS: Very true.
[59]       
[60]       SOCRATES: And being thus trained they were not to consider gold or silver
[61]       or anything else to be their own private property; they were to be like
[62]       hired troops, receiving pay for keeping guard from those who were protected
[63]       by them--the pay was to be no more than would suffice for men of simple
[64]       life; and they were to spend in common, and to live together in the
[65]       continual practice of virtue, which was to be their sole pursuit.
[66]       
[67]       TIMAEUS: That was also said.
[68]       
[69]       SOCRATES: Neither did we forget the women; of whom we declared, that their
[70]       natures should be assimilated and brought into harmony with those of the
[71]       men, and that common pursuits should be assigned to them both in time of
[72]       war and in their ordinary life.
[73]       
[74]       TIMAEUS: That, again, was as you say.
[75]       
[76]       SOCRATES: And what about the procreation of children? Or rather was not
[77]       the proposal too singular to be forgotten? for all wives and children were
[78]       to be in common, to the intent that no one should ever know his own child,
[79]       but they were to imagine that they were all one family; those who were
[80]       within a suitable limit of age were to be brothers and sisters, those who
[81]       were of an elder generation parents and grandparents, and those of a
[82]       younger, children and grandchildren.
[83]       
[84]       TIMAEUS: Yes, and the proposal is easy to remember, as you say.
[85]       
[86]       SOCRATES: And do you also remember how, with a view of securing as far as
[87]       we could the best breed, we said that the chief magistrates, male and
[88]       female, should contrive secretly, by the use of certain lots, so to arrange
[89]       the nuptial meeting, that the bad of either sex and the good of either sex
[90]       might pair with their like; and there was to be no quarrelling on this
[91]       account, for they would imagine that the union was a mere accident, and was
[92]       to be attributed to the lot?
[93]       
[94]       TIMAEUS: I remember.
[95]       
[96]       SOCRATES: And you remember how we said that the children of the good
[97]       parents were to be educated, and the children of the bad secretly dispersed
[98]       among the inferior citizens; and while they were all growing up the rulers
[99]       were to be on the look-out, and to bring up from below in their turn those
[100]      who were worthy, and those among themselves who were unworthy were to take
[101]      the places of those who came up?
[102]      
[103]      TIMAEUS: True.
[104]      
[105]      SOCRATES: Then have I now given you all the heads of our yesterday's
[106]      discussion? Or is there anything more, my dear Timaeus, which has been
[107]      omitted?
[108]      
[109]      TIMAEUS: Nothing, Socrates; it was just as you have said.
[110]      
[111]      SOCRATES: I should like, before proceeding further, to tell you how I feel
[112]      about the State which we have described. I might compare myself to a
[113]      person who, on beholding beautiful animals either created by the painter's
[114]      art, or, better still, alive but at rest, is seized with a desire of seeing
[115]      them in motion or engaged in some struggle or conflict to which their forms
[116]      appear suited; this is my feeling about the State which we have been
[117]      describing. There are conflicts which all cities undergo, and I should
[118]      like to hear some one tell of our own city carrying on a struggle against
[119]      her neighbours, and how she went out to war in a becoming manner, and when
[120]      at war showed by the greatness of her actions and the magnanimity of her
[121]      words in dealing with other cities a result worthy of her training and
[122]      education. Now I, Critias and Hermocrates, am conscious that I myself
[123]      should never be able to celebrate the city and her citizens in a befitting
[124]      manner, and I am not surprised at my own incapacity; to me the wonder is
[125]      rather that the poets present as well as past are no better--not that I
[126]      mean to depreciate them; but every one can see that they are a tribe of
[127]      imitators, and will imitate best and most easily the life in which they
[128]      have been brought up; while that which is beyond the range of a man's
[129]      education he finds hard to carry out in action, and still harder adequately
[130]      to represent in language. I am aware that the Sophists have plenty of
[131]      brave words and fair conceits, but I am afraid that being only wanderers
[132]      from one city to another, and having never had habitations of their own,
[133]      they may fail in their conception of philosophers and statesmen, and may
[134]      not know what they do and say in time of war, when they are fighting or
[135]      holding parley with their enemies. And thus people of your class are the
[136]      only ones remaining who are fitted by nature and education to take part at
[137]      once both in politics and philosophy. Here is Timaeus, of Locris in Italy,
[138]      a city which has admirable laws, and who is himself in wealth and rank the
[139]      equal of any of his fellow-citizens; he has held the most important and
[140]      honourable offices in his own state, and, as I believe, has scaled the
[141]      heights of all philosophy; and here is Critias, whom every Athenian knows
[142]      to be no novice in the matters of which we are speaking; and as to
[143]      Hermocrates, I am assured by many witnesses that his genius and education
[144]      qualify him to take part in any speculation of the kind. And therefore
[145]      yesterday when I saw that you wanted me to describe the formation of the
[146]      State, I readily assented, being very well aware, that, if you only would,
[147]      none were better qualified to carry the discussion further, and that when
[148]      you had engaged our city in a suitable war, you of all men living could
[149]      best exhibit her playing a fitting part. When I had completed my task, I
[150]      in return imposed this other task upon you. You conferred together and
[151]      agreed to entertain me to-day, as I had entertained you, with a feast of
[152]      discourse. Here am I in festive array, and no man can be more ready for
[153]      the promised banquet.
[154]      
[155]      HERMOCRATES: And we too, Socrates, as Timaeus says, will not be wanting in
[156]      enthusiasm; and there is no excuse for not complying with your request. As
[157]      soon as we arrived yesterday at the guest-chamber of Critias, with whom we
[158]      are staying, or rather on our way thither, we talked the matter over, and
[159]      he told us an ancient tradition, which I wish, Critias, that you would
[160]      repeat to Socrates, so that he may help us to judge whether it will satisfy
[161]      his requirements or not.
[162]      
[163]      CRITIAS: I will, if Timaeus, who is our other partner, approves.
[164]      
[165]      TIMAEUS: I quite approve.
[166]      
[167]      CRITIAS: Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is
[168]      certainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of the
[169]      seven sages. He was a relative and a dear friend of my great-grandfather,
[170]      Dropides, as he himself says in many passages of his poems; and he told the
[171]      story to Critias, my grandfather, who remembered and repeated it to us.
[172]      There were of old, he said, great and marvellous actions of the Athenian
[173]      city, which have passed into oblivion through lapse of time and the
[174]      destruction of mankind, and one in particular, greater than all the rest.
[175]      This we will now rehearse. It will be a fitting monument of our gratitude
[176]      to you, and a hymn of praise true and worthy of the goddess, on this her
[177]      day of festival.
[178]      
[179]      SOCRATES: Very good. And what is this ancient famous action of the
[180]      Athenians, which Critias declared, on the authority of Solon, to be not a
[181]      mere legend, but an actual fact?
[182]      
[183]      CRITIAS: I will tell an old-world story which I heard from an aged man;
[184]      for Critias, at the time of telling it, was, as he said, nearly ninety
[185]      years of age, and I was about ten. Now the day was that day of the
[186]      Apaturia which is called the Registration of Youth, at which, according to
[187]      custom, our parents gave prizes for recitations, and the poems of several
[188]      poets were recited by us boys, and many of us sang the poems of Solon,
[189]      which at that time had not gone out of fashion. One of our tribe, either
[190]      because he thought so or to please Critias, said that in his judgment Solon
[191]      was not only the wisest of men, but also the noblest of poets. The old
[192]      man, as I very well remember, brightened up at hearing this and said,
[193]      smiling: Yes, Amynander, if Solon had only, like other poets, made poetry
[194]      the business of his life, and had completed the tale which he brought with
[195]      him from Egypt, and had not been compelled, by reason of the factions and
[196]      troubles which he found stirring in his own country when he came home, to
[197]      attend to other matters, in my opinion he would have been as famous as
[198]      Homer or Hesiod, or any poet.
[199]      
[200]      And what was the tale about, Critias? said Amynander.
[201]      
[202]      About the greatest action which the Athenians ever did, and which ought to
[203]      have been the most famous, but, through the lapse of time and the
[204]      destruction of the actors, it has not come down to us.
[205]      
[206]      Tell us, said the other, the whole story, and how and from whom Solon heard
[207]      this veritable tradition.
[208]      
[209]      He replied:--In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river Nile
[210]      divides, there is a certain district which is called the district of Sais,
[211]      and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and is the city
[212]      from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for their
[213]      foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith, and is asserted by
[214]      them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athene; they are great lovers of
[215]      the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them. To this
[216]      city came Solon, and was received there with great honour; he asked the
[217]      priests who were most skilful in such matters, about antiquity, and made
[218]      the discovery that neither he nor any other Hellene knew anything worth
[219]      mentioning about the times of old. On one occasion, wishing to draw them
[220]      on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in
[221]      our part of the world--about Phoroneus, who is called 'the first man,' and
[222]      about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha;
[223]      and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and reckoning up the
[224]      dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events of which he was
[225]      speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests, who was of a very great
[226]      age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children,
[227]      and there is not an old man among you. Solon in return asked him what he
[228]      meant. I mean to say, he replied, that in mind you are all young; there is
[229]      no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science
[230]      which is hoary with age. And I will tell you why. There have been, and
[231]      will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the
[232]      greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and
[233]      other lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story, which
[234]      even you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of Helios,
[235]      having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to
[236]      drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth,
[237]      and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a
[238]      myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the
[239]      heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the
[240]      earth, which recurs after long intervals; at such times those who live upon
[241]      the mountains and in dry and lofty places are more liable to destruction
[242]      than those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore. And from this calamity
[243]      the Nile, who is our never-failing saviour, delivers and preserves us.
[244]      When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water,
[245]      the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on the
[246]      mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are carried by the
[247]      rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land, neither then nor at any other
[248]      time, does the water come down from above on the fields, having always a
[249]      tendency to come up from below; for which reason the traditions preserved
[250]      here are the most ancient. The fact is, that wherever the extremity of
[251]      winter frost or of summer sun does not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in
[252]      greater, sometimes in lesser numbers. And whatever happened either in your
[253]      country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed--if
[254]      there were any actions noble or great or in any other way remarkable, they
[255]      have all been written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples.
[256]      Whereas just when you and other nations are beginning to be provided with
[257]      letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual
[258]      interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down,
[259]      and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education;
[260]      and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of
[261]      what happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves. As
[262]      for those genealogies of yours which you just now recounted to us, Solon,
[263]      they are no better than the tales of children. In the first place you
[264]      remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in the
[265]      next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land the
[266]      fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your
[267]      whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them which
[268]      survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the
[269]      survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was
[270]      a time, Solon, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is
[271]      Athens was first in war and in every way the best governed of all cities,
[272]      is said to have performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest
[273]      constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven.
[274]      Solon marvelled at his words, and earnestly requested the priests to inform
[275]      him exactly and in order about these former citizens. You are welcome to
[276]      hear about them, Solon, said the priest, both for your own sake and for
[277]      that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the goddess who is the
[278]      common patron and parent and educator of both our cities. She founded your
[279]      city a thousand years before ours (Observe that Plato gives the same date
[280]      (9000 years ago) for the foundation of Athens and for the repulse of the
[281]      invasion from Atlantis (Crit.).), receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus
[282]      the seed of your race, and afterwards she founded ours, of which the
[283]      constitution is recorded in our sacred registers to be 8000 years old. As
[284]      touching your citizens of 9000 years ago, I will briefly inform you of
[285]      their laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of the
[286]      whole we will hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred registers
[287]      themselves. If you compare these very laws with ours you will find that
[288]      many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they were in the olden time.
[289]      In the first place, there is the caste of priests, which is separated from
[290]      all the others; next, there are the artificers, who ply their several
[291]      crafts by themselves and do not intermix; and also there is the class of
[292]      shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of husbandmen; and you will
[293]      observe, too, that the warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other
[294]      classes, and are commanded by the law to devote themselves solely to
[295]      military pursuits; moreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and
[296]      spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first to
[297]      us, as in your part of the world first to you. Then as to wisdom, do you
[298]      observe how our law from the very first made a study of the whole order of
[299]      things, extending even to prophecy and medicine which gives health, out of
[300]      these divine elements deriving what was needful for human life, and adding
[301]      every sort of knowledge which was akin to them. All this order and
[302]      arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when establishing your city;
[303]      and she chose the spot of earth in which you were born, because she saw
[304]      that the happy temperament of the seasons in that land would produce the
[305]      wisest of men. Wherefore the goddess, who was a lover both of war and of
[306]      wisdom, selected and first of all settled that spot which was the most
[307]      likely to produce men likest herself. And there you dwelt, having such
[308]      laws as these and still better ones, and excelled all mankind in all
[309]      virtue, as became the children and disciples of the gods.
[310]      
[311]      Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our histories.
[312]      But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these
[313]      histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition
[314]      against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end.
[315]      This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the
[316]      Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the
[317]      straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was
[318]      larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands,
[319]      and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which
[320]      surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of
[321]      Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a
[322]      real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless
[323]      continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful
[324]      empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over
[325]      parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected
[326]      the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of
[327]      Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one,
[328]      endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the
[329]      region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in
[330]      the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was
[331]      pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the
[332]      Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand
[333]      alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated
[334]      and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were
[335]      not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell
[336]      within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and
[337]      floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in
[338]      a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner
[339]      disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those
[340]      parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in
[341]      the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.
[342]      
[343]      I have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged Critias heard from Solon
[344]      and related to us. And when you were speaking yesterday about your city
[345]      and citizens, the tale which I have just been repeating to you came into my
[346]      mind, and I remarked with astonishment how, by some mysterious coincidence,
[347]      you agreed in almost every particular with the narrative of Solon; but I
[348]      did not like to speak at the moment. For a long time had elapsed, and I
[349]      had forgotten too much; I thought that I must first of all run over the
[350]      narrative in my own mind, and then I would speak. And so I readily
[351]      assented to your request yesterday, considering that in all such cases the
[352]      chief difficulty is to find a tale suitable to our purpose, and that with
[353]      such a tale we should be fairly well provided.
[354]      
[355]      And therefore, as Hermocrates has told you, on my way home yesterday I at
[356]      once communicated the tale to my companions as I remembered it; and after I
[357]      left them, during the night by thinking I recovered nearly the whole of it.
[358]      Truly, as is often said, the lessons of our childhood make a wonderful
[359]      impression on our memories; for I am not sure that I could remember all the
[360]      discourse of yesterday, but I should be much surprised if I forgot any of
[361]      these things which I have heard very long ago. I listened at the time with
[362]      childlike interest to the old man's narrative; he was very ready to teach
[363]      me, and I asked him again and again to repeat his words, so that like an
[364]      indelible picture they were branded into my mind. As soon as the day
[365]      broke, I rehearsed them as he spoke them to my companions, that they, as
[366]      well as myself, might have something to say. And now, Socrates, to make an
[367]      end of my preface, I am ready to tell you the whole tale. I will give you
[368]      not only the general heads, but the particulars, as they were told to me.
[369]      The city and citizens, which you yesterday described to us in fiction, we
[370]      will now transfer to the world of reality. It shall be the ancient city of
[371]      Athens, and we will suppose that the citizens whom you imagined, were our
[372]      veritable ancestors, of whom the priest spoke; they will perfectly
[373]      harmonize, and there will be no inconsistency in saying that the citizens
[374]      of your republic are these ancient Athenians. Let us divide the subject
[375]      among us, and all endeavour according to our ability gracefully to execute
[376]      the task which you have imposed upon us. Consider then, Socrates, if this
[377]      narrative is suited to the purpose, or whether we should seek for some
[378]      other instead.
[379]      
[380]      SOCRATES: And what other, Critias, can we find that will be better than
[381]      this, which is natural and suitable to the festival of the goddess, and has
[382]      the very great advantage of being a fact and not a fiction? How or where
[383]      shall we find another if we abandon this? We cannot, and therefore you
[384]      must tell the tale, and good luck to you; and I in return for my
[385]      yesterday's discourse will now rest and be a listener.
[386]      
[387]      CRITIAS: Let me proceed to explain to you, Socrates, the order in which we
[388]      have arranged our entertainment. Our intention is, that Timaeus, who is
[389]      the most of an astronomer amongst us, and has made the nature of the
[390]      universe his special study, should speak first, beginning with the
[391]      generation of the world and going down to the creation of man; next, I am
[392]      to receive the men whom he has created, and of whom some will have profited
[393]      by the excellent education which you have given them; and then, in
[394]      accordance with the tale of Solon, and equally with his law, we will bring
[395]      them into court and make them citizens, as if they were those very
[396]      Athenians whom the sacred Egyptian record has recovered from oblivion, and
[397]      thenceforward we will speak of them as Athenians and fellow-citizens.
[398]      
[399]      SOCRATES: I see that I shall receive in my turn a perfect and splendid
[400]      feast of reason. And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should speak next,
[401]      after duly calling upon the Gods.
[402]      
[403]      TIMAEUS: All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right feeling, at the
[404]      beginning of every enterprise, whether small or great, always call upon
[405]      God. And we, too, who are going to discourse of the nature of the
[406]      universe, how created or how existing without creation, if we be not
[407]      altogether out of our wits, must invoke the aid of Gods and Goddesses and
[408]      pray that our words may be acceptable to them and consistent with
[409]      themselves. Let this, then, be our invocation of the Gods, to which I add
[410]      an exhortation of myself to speak in such manner as will be most
[411]      intelligible to you, and will most accord with my own intent.
[412]      
[413]      First then, in my judgment, we must make a distinction and ask, What is
[414]      that which always is and has no becoming; and what is that which is always
[415]      becoming and never is? That which is apprehended by intelligence and
[416]      reason is always in the same state; but that which is conceived by opinion
[417]      with the help of sensation and without reason, is always in a process of
[418]      becoming and perishing and never really is. Now everything that becomes or
[419]      is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause
[420]      nothing can be created. The work of the creator, whenever he looks to the
[421]      unchangeable and fashions the form and nature of his work after an
[422]      unchangeable pattern, must necessarily be made fair and perfect; but when
[423]      he looks to the created only, and uses a created pattern, it is not fair or
[424]      perfect. Was the heaven then or the world, whether called by this or by
[425]      any other more appropriate name--assuming the name, I am asking a question
[426]      which has to be asked at the beginning of an enquiry about anything--was
[427]      the world, I say, always in existence and without beginning? or created,
[428]      and had it a beginning? Created, I reply, being visible and tangible and
[429]      having a body, and therefore sensible; and all sensible things are
[430]      apprehended by opinion and sense and are in a process of creation and
[431]      created. Now that which is created must, as we affirm, of necessity be
[432]      created by a cause. But the father and maker of all this universe is past
[433]      finding out; and even if we found him, to tell of him to all men would be
[434]      impossible. And there is still a question to be asked about him: Which of
[435]      the patterns had the artificer in view when he made the world--the pattern
[436]      of the unchangeable, or of that which is created? If the world be indeed
[437]      fair and the artificer good, it is manifest that he must have looked to
[438]      that which is eternal; but if what cannot be said without blasphemy is
[439]      true, then to the created pattern. Every one will see that he must have
[440]      looked to the eternal; for the world is the fairest of creations and he is
[441]      the best of causes. And having been created in this way, the world has
[442]      been framed in the likeness of that which is apprehended by reason and mind
[443]      and is unchangeable, and must therefore of necessity, if this is admitted,
[444]      be a copy of something. Now it is all-important that the beginning of
[445]      everything should be according to nature. And in speaking of the copy and
[446]      the original we may assume that words are akin to the matter which they
[447]      describe; when they relate to the lasting and permanent and intelligible,
[448]      they ought to be lasting and unalterable, and, as far as their nature
[449]      allows, irrefutable and immovable--nothing less. But when they express
[450]      only the copy or likeness and not the eternal things themselves, they need
[451]      only be likely and analogous to the real words. As being is to becoming,
[452]      so is truth to belief. If then, Socrates, amid the many opinions about the
[453]      gods and the generation of the universe, we are not able to give notions
[454]      which are altogether and in every respect exact and consistent with one
[455]      another, do not be surprised. Enough, if we adduce probabilities as likely
[456]      as any others; for we must remember that I who am the speaker, and you who
[457]      are the judges, are only mortal men, and we ought to accept the tale which
[458]      is probable and enquire no further.
[459]      
[460]      SOCRATES: Excellent, Timaeus; and we will do precisely as you bid us. The
[461]      prelude is charming, and is already accepted by us--may we beg of you to
[462]      proceed to the strain?
[463]      
[464]      TIMAEUS: Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of
[465]      generation. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of
[466]      anything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things should
[467]      be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest sense the
[468]      origin of creation and of the world, as we shall do well in believing on
[469]      the testimony of wise men: God desired that all things should be good and
[470]      nothing bad, so far as this was attainable. Wherefore also finding the
[471]      whole visible sphere not at rest, but moving in an irregular and disorderly
[472]      fashion, out of disorder he brought order, considering that this was in
[473]      every way better than the other. Now the deeds of the best could never be
[474]      or have been other than the fairest; and the creator, reflecting on the
[475]      things which are by nature visible, found that no unintelligent creature
[476]      taken as a whole was fairer than the intelligent taken as a whole; and that
[477]      intelligence could not be present in anything which was devoid of soul.
[478]      For which reason, when he was framing the universe, he put intelligence in
[479]      soul, and soul in body, that he might be the creator of a work which was by
[480]      nature fairest and best. Wherefore, using the language of probability, we
[481]      may say that the world became a living creature truly endowed with soul and
[482]      intelligence by the providence of God.
[483]      
[484]      This being supposed, let us proceed to the next stage: In the likeness of
[485]      what animal did the Creator make the world? It would be an unworthy thing
[486]      to liken it to any nature which exists as a part only; for nothing can be
[487]      beautiful which is like any imperfect thing; but let us suppose the world
[488]      to be the very image of that whole of which all other animals both
[489]      individually and in their tribes are portions. For the original of the
[490]      universe contains in itself all intelligible beings, just as this world
[491]      comprehends us and all other visible creatures. For the Deity, intending
[492]      to make this world like the fairest and most perfect of intelligible
[493]      beings, framed one visible animal comprehending within itself all other
[494]      animals of a kindred nature. Are we right in saying that there is one
[495]      world, or that they are many and infinite? There must be one only, if the
[496]      created copy is to accord with the original. For that which includes all
[497]      other intelligible creatures cannot have a second or companion; in that
[498]      case there would be need of another living being which would include both,
[499]      and of which they would be parts, and the likeness would be more truly said
[500]      to resemble not them, but that other which included them. In order then
[501]      that the world might be solitary, like the perfect animal, the creator made
[502]      not two worlds or an infinite number of them; but there is and ever will be
[503]      one only-begotten and created heaven.
[504]      
[505]      Now that which is created is of necessity corporeal, and also visible and
[506]      tangible. And nothing is visible where there is no fire, or tangible which
[507]      has no solidity, and nothing is solid without earth. Wherefore also God in
[508]      the beginning of creation made the body of the universe to consist of fire
[509]      and earth. But two things cannot be rightly put together without a third;
[510]      there must be some bond of union between them. And the fairest bond is
[511]      that which makes the most complete fusion of itself and the things which it
[512]      combines; and proportion is best adapted to effect such a union. For
[513]      whenever in any three numbers, whether cube or square, there is a mean,
[514]      which is to the last term what the first term is to it; and again, when the
[515]      mean is to the first term as the last term is to the mean--then the mean
[516]      becoming first and last, and the first and last both becoming means, they
[517]      will all of them of necessity come to be the same, and having become the
[518]      same with one another will be all one. If the universal frame had been
[519]      created a surface only and having no depth, a single mean would have
[520]      sufficed to bind together itself and the other terms; but now, as the world
[521]      must be solid, and solid bodies are always compacted not by one mean but by
[522]      two, God placed water and air in the mean between fire and earth, and made
[523]      them to have the same proportion so far as was possible (as fire is to air
[524]      so is air to water, and as air is to water so is water to earth); and thus
[525]      he bound and put together a visible and tangible heaven. And for these
[526]      reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the
[527]      world was created, and it was harmonized by proportion, and therefore has
[528]      the spirit of friendship; and having been reconciled to itself, it was
[529]      indissoluble by the hand of any other than the framer.
[530]      
[531]      Now the creation took up the whole of each of the four elements; for the
[532]      Creator compounded the world out of all the fire and all the water and all
[533]      the air and all the earth, leaving no part of any of them nor any power of
[534]      them outside. His intention was, in the first place, that the animal
[535]      should be as far as possible a perfect whole and of perfect parts:
[536]      secondly, that it should be one, leaving no remnants out of which another
[537]      such world might be created: and also that it should be free from old age
[538]      and unaffected by disease. Considering that if heat and cold and other
[539]      powerful forces which unite bodies surround and attack them from without
[540]      when they are unprepared, they decompose them, and by bringing diseases and
[541]      old age upon them, make them waste away--for this cause and on these
[542]      grounds he made the world one whole, having every part entire, and being
[543]      therefore perfect and not liable to old age and disease. And he gave to
[544]      the world the figure which was suitable and also natural. Now to the
[545]      animal which was to comprehend all animals, that figure was suitable which
[546]      comprehends within itself all other figures. Wherefore he made the world
[547]      in the form of a globe, round as from a lathe, having its extremes in every
[548]      direction equidistant from the centre, the most perfect and the most like
[549]      itself of all figures; for he considered that the like is infinitely fairer
[550]      than the unlike. This he finished off, making the surface smooth all round
[551]      for many reasons; in the first place, because the living being had no need
[552]      of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of
[553]      ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding
[554]      atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by
[555]      the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had
[556]      already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into
[557]      him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he was created thus, his
[558]      own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking
[559]      place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was
[560]      self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything;
[561]      and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one,
[562]      the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had
[563]      he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the
[564]      movement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of all the
[565]      seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was
[566]      made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits
[567]      revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from him,
[568]      and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular
[569]      movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and
[570]      without feet.
[571]      
[572]      Such was the whole plan of the eternal God about the god that was to be, to
[573]      whom for this reason he gave a body, smooth and even, having a surface in
[574]      every direction equidistant from the centre, a body entire and perfect, and
[575]      formed out of perfect bodies. And in the centre he put the soul, which he
[576]      diffused throughout the body, making it also to be the exterior environment
[577]      of it; and he made the universe a circle moving in a circle, one and
[578]      solitary, yet by reason of its excellence able to converse with itself, and
[579]      needing no other friendship or acquaintance. Having these purposes in view
[580]      he created the world a blessed god.
[581]      
[582]      Now God did not make the soul after the body, although we are speaking of
[583]      them in this order; for having brought them together he would never have
[584]      allowed that the elder should be ruled by the younger; but this is a random
[585]      manner of speaking which we have, because somehow we ourselves too are very
[586]      much under the dominion of chance. Whereas he made the soul in origin and
[587]      excellence prior to and older than the body, to be the ruler and mistress,
[588]      of whom the body was to be the subject. And he made her out of the
[589]      following elements and on this wise: Out of the indivisible and
[590]      unchangeable, and also out of that which is divisible and has to do with
[591]      material bodies, he compounded a third and intermediate kind of essence,
[592]      partaking of the nature of the same and of the other, and this compound he
[593]      placed accordingly in a mean between the indivisible, and the divisible and
[594]      material. He took the three elements of the same, the other, and the
[595]      essence, and mingled them into one form, compressing by force the reluctant
[596]      and unsociable nature of the other into the same. When he had mingled them
[597]      with the essence and out of three made one, he again divided this whole
[598]      into as many portions as was fitting, each portion being a compound of the
[599]      same, the other, and the essence. And he proceeded to divide after this
[600]      manner:--First of all, he took away one part of the whole (1), and then he
[601]      separated a second part which was double the first (2), and then he took
[602]      away a third part which was half as much again as the second and three
[603]      times as much as the first (3), and then he took a fourth part which was
[604]      twice as much as the second (4), and a fifth part which was three times the
[605]      third (9), and a sixth part which was eight times the first (8), and a
[606]      seventh part which was twenty-seven times the first (27). After this he
[607]      filled up the double intervals (i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8) and the triple
[608]      (i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27) cutting off yet other portions from the mixture
[609]      and placing them in the intervals, so that in each interval there were two
[610]      kinds of means, the one exceeding and exceeded by equal parts of its
[611]      extremes (as for example 1, 4/3, 2, in which the mean 4/3 is one-third of 1
[612]      more than 1, and one-third of 2 less than 2), the other being that kind of
[613]      mean which exceeds and is exceeded by an equal number (e.g.
[614]      
[615]      - over 1, 4/3, 3/2, - over 2, 8/3, 3, - over 4, 16/3, 6, - over 8: and
[616]      - over 1, 3/2, 2, - over 3, 9/2, 6, - over 9, 27/2, 18, - over 27.).
[617]      
[618]      Where there were intervals of 3/2 and of 4/3 and of 9/8, made by the
[619]      connecting terms in the former intervals, he filled up all the intervals of
[620]      4/3 with the interval of 9/8, leaving a fraction over; and the interval
[621]      which this fraction expressed was in the ratio of 256 to 243 (e.g.
[622]      
[623]      243:256::81/64:4/3::243/128:2::81/32:8/3::243/64:4::81/16:16/3::242/32:8.).
[624]      
[625]      And thus the whole mixture out of which he cut these portions was all
[626]      exhausted by him. This entire compound he divided lengthways into two
[627]      parts, which he joined to one another at the centre like the letter X, and
[628]      bent them into a circular form, connecting them with themselves and each
[629]      other at the point opposite to their original meeting-point; and,
[630]      comprehending them in a uniform revolution upon the same axis, he made the
[631]      one the outer and the other the inner circle. Now the motion of the outer
[632]      circle he called the motion of the same, and the motion of the inner circle
[633]      the motion of the other or diverse. The motion of the same he carried
[634]      round by the side (i.e. of the rectangular figure supposed to be inscribed
[635]      in the circle of the Same) to the right, and the motion of the diverse
[636]      diagonally (i.e. across the rectangular figure from corner to corner) to
[637]      the left. And he gave dominion to the motion of the same and like, for
[638]      that he left single and undivided; but the inner motion he divided in
[639]      six places and made seven unequal circles having their intervals in
[640]      ratios of two and three, three of each, and bade the orbits proceed in a
[641]      direction opposite to one another; and three (Sun, Mercury, Venus) he made
[642]      to move with equal swiftness, and the remaining four (Moon, Saturn, Mars,
[643]      Jupiter) to move with unequal swiftness to the three and to one another,
[644]      but in due proportion.
[645]      
[646]      Now when the Creator had framed the soul according to his will, he formed
[647]      within her the corporeal universe, and brought the two together, and united
[648]      them centre to centre. The soul, interfused everywhere from the centre to
[649]      the circumference of heaven, of which also she is the external envelopment,
[650]      herself turning in herself, began a divine beginning of never-ceasing and
[651]      rational life enduring throughout all time. The body of heaven is visible,
[652]      but the soul is invisible, and partakes of reason and harmony, and being
[653]      made by the best of intellectual and everlasting natures, is the best of
[654]      things created. And because she is composed of the same and of the other
[655]      and of the essence, these three, and is divided and united in due
[656]      proportion, and in her revolutions returns upon herself, the soul, when
[657]      touching anything which has essence, whether dispersed in parts or
[658]      undivided, is stirred through all her powers, to declare the sameness or
[659]      difference of that thing and some other; and to what individuals are
[660]      related, and by what affected, and in what way and how and when, both in
[661]      the world of generation and in the world of immutable being. And when
[662]      reason, which works with equal truth, whether she be in the circle of the
[663]      diverse or of the same--in voiceless silence holding her onward course in
[664]      the sphere of the self-moved--when reason, I say, is hovering around the
[665]      sensible world and when the circle of the diverse also moving truly imparts
[666]      the intimations of sense to the whole soul, then arise opinions and beliefs
[667]      sure and certain. But when reason is concerned with the rational, and the
[668]      circle of the same moving smoothly declares it, then intelligence and
[669]      knowledge are necessarily perfected. And if any one affirms that in which
[670]      these two are found to be other than the soul, he will say the very
[671]      opposite of the truth.
[672]      
[673]      When the father and creator saw the creature which he had made moving and
[674]      living, the created image of the eternal gods, he rejoiced, and in his joy
[675]      determined to make the copy still more like the original; and as this was
[676]      eternal, he sought to make the universe eternal, so far as might be. Now
[677]      the nature of the ideal being was everlasting, but to bestow this attribute
[678]      in its fulness upon a creature was impossible. Wherefore he resolved to
[679]      have a moving image of eternity, and when he set in order the heaven, he
[680]      made this image eternal but moving according to number, while eternity
[681]      itself rests in unity; and this image we call time. For there were no days
[682]      and nights and months and years before the heaven was created, but when he
[683]      constructed the heaven he created them also. They are all parts of time,
[684]      and the past and future are created species of time, which we unconsciously
[685]      but wrongly transfer to the eternal essence; for we say that he 'was,' he
[686]      'is,' he 'will be,' but the truth is that 'is' alone is properly attributed
[687]      to him, and that 'was' and 'will be' are only to be spoken of becoming in
[688]      time, for they are motions, but that which is immovably the same cannot
[689]      become older or younger by time, nor ever did or has become, or hereafter
[690]      will be, older or younger, nor is subject at all to any of those states
[691]      which affect moving and sensible things and of which generation is the
[692]      cause. These are the forms of time, which imitates eternity and revolves
[693]      according to a law of number. Moreover, when we say that what has become
[694]      IS become and what becomes IS becoming, and that what will become IS about
[695]      to become and that the non-existent IS non-existent--all these are
[696]      inaccurate modes of expression (compare Parmen.). But perhaps this whole
[697]      subject will be more suitably discussed on some other occasion.
[698]      
[699]      Time, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in order
[700]      that, having been created together, if ever there was to be a dissolution
[701]      of them, they might be dissolved together. It was framed after the pattern
[702]      of the eternal nature, that it might resemble this as far as was possible;
[703]      for the pattern exists from eternity, and the created heaven has been, and
[704]      is, and will be, in all time. Such was the mind and thought of God in the
[705]      creation of time. The sun and moon and five other stars, which are called
[706]      the planets, were created by him in order to distinguish and preserve the
[707]      numbers of time; and when he had made their several bodies, he placed them
[708]      in the orbits in which the circle of the other was revolving,--in seven
[709]      orbits seven stars. First, there was the moon in the orbit nearest the
[710]      earth, and next the sun, in the second orbit above the earth; then came the
[711]      morning star and the star sacred to Hermes, moving in orbits which have an
[712]      equal swiftness with the sun, but in an opposite direction; and this is the
[713]      reason why the sun and Hermes and Lucifer overtake and are overtaken by
[714]      each other. To enumerate the places which he assigned to the other stars,
[715]      and to give all the reasons why he assigned them, although a secondary
[716]      matter, would give more trouble than the primary. These things at some
[717]      future time, when we are at leisure, may have the consideration which they
[718]      deserve, but not at present.
[719]      
[720]      Now, when all the stars which were necessary to the creation of time had
[721]      attained a motion suitable to them, and had become living creatures having
[722]      bodies fastened by vital chains, and learnt their appointed task, moving in
[723]      the motion of the diverse, which is diagonal, and passes through and is
[724]      governed by the motion of the same, they revolved, some in a larger and
[725]      some in a lesser orbit--those which had the lesser orbit revolving faster,
[726]      and those which had the larger more slowly. Now by reason of the motion of
[727]      the same, those which revolved fastest appeared to be overtaken by those
[728]      which moved slower although they really overtook them; for the motion of
[729]      the same made them all turn in a spiral, and, because some went one way and
[730]      some another, that which receded most slowly from the sphere of the same,
[731]      which was the swiftest, appeared to follow it most nearly. That there
[732]      might be some visible measure of their relative swiftness and slowness as
[733]      they proceeded in their eight courses, God lighted a fire, which we now
[734]      call the sun, in the second from the earth of these orbits, that it might
[735]      give light to the whole of heaven, and that the animals, as many as nature
[736]      intended, might participate in number, learning arithmetic from the
[737]      revolution of the same and the like. Thus then, and for this reason the
[738]      night and the day were created, being the period of the one most
[739]      intelligent revolution. And the month is accomplished when the moon has
[740]      completed her orbit and overtaken the sun, and the year when the sun has
[741]      completed his own orbit. Mankind, with hardly an exception, have not
[742]      remarked the periods of the other stars, and they have no name for them,
[743]      and do not measure them against one another by the help of number, and
[744]      hence they can scarcely be said to know that their wanderings, being
[745]      infinite in number and admirable for their variety, make up time. And yet
[746]      there is no difficulty in seeing that the perfect number of time fulfils
[747]      the perfect year when all the eight revolutions, having their relative
[748]      degrees of swiftness, are accomplished together and attain their completion
[749]      at the same time, measured by the rotation of the same and equally moving.
[750]      After this manner, and for these reasons, came into being such of the stars
[751]      as in their heavenly progress received reversals of motion, to the end that
[752]      the created heaven might imitate the eternal nature, and be as like as
[753]      possible to the perfect and intelligible animal.
[754]      
[755]      Thus far and until the birth of time the created universe was made in the
[756]      likeness of the original, but inasmuch as all animals were not yet
[757]      comprehended therein, it was still unlike. What remained, the creator then
[758]      proceeded to fashion after the nature of the pattern. Now as in the ideal
[759]      animal the mind perceives ideas or species of a certain nature and number,
[760]      he thought that this created animal ought to have species of a like nature
[761]      and number. There are four such; one of them is the heavenly race of the
[762]      gods; another, the race of birds whose way is in the air; the third, the
[763]      watery species; and the fourth, the pedestrian and land creatures. Of the
[764]      heavenly and divine, he created the greater part out of fire, that they
[765]      might be the brightest of all things and fairest to behold, and he
[766]      fashioned them after the likeness of the universe in the figure of a
[767]      circle, and made them follow the intelligent motion of the supreme,
[768]      distributing them over the whole circumference of heaven, which was to be a
[769]      true cosmos or glorious world spangled with them all over. And he gave to
[770]      each of them two movements: the first, a movement on the same spot after
[771]      the same manner, whereby they ever continue to think consistently the same
[772]      thoughts about the same things; the second, a forward movement, in which
[773]      they are controlled by the revolution of the same and the like; but by the
[774]      other five motions they were unaffected, in order that each of them might
[775]      attain the highest perfection. And for this reason the fixed stars were
[776]      created, to be divine and eternal animals, ever-abiding and revolving after
[777]      the same manner and on the same spot; and the other stars which reverse
[778]      their motion and are subject to deviations of this kind, were created in
[779]      the manner already described. The earth, which is our nurse, clinging (or
[780]      'circling') around the pole which is extended through the universe, he
[781]      framed to be the guardian and artificer of night and day, first and eldest
[782]      of gods that are in the interior of heaven. Vain would be the attempt to
[783]      tell all the figures of them circling as in dance, and their
[784]      juxtapositions, and the return of them in their revolutions upon
[785]      themselves, and their approximations, and to say which of these deities in
[786]      their conjunctions meet, and which of them are in opposition, and in what
[787]      order they get behind and before one another, and when they are severally
[788]      eclipsed to our sight and again reappear, sending terrors and intimations
[789]      of the future to those who cannot calculate their movements--to attempt to
[790]      tell of all this without a visible representation of the heavenly system
[791]      would be labour in vain. Enough on this head; and now let what we have
[792]      said about the nature of the created and visible gods have an end.
[793]      
[794]      To know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, and we
[795]      must accept the traditions of the men of old time who affirm themselves to
[796]      be the offspring of the gods--that is what they say--and they must surely
[797]      have known their own ancestors. How can we doubt the word of the children
[798]      of the gods? Although they give no probable or certain proofs, still, as
[799]      they declare that they are speaking of what took place in their own family,
[800]      we must conform to custom and believe them. In this manner, then,
[801]      according to them, the genealogy of these gods is to be received and set
[802]      forth.
[803]      
[804]      Oceanus and Tethys were the children of Earth and Heaven, and from these
[805]      sprang Phorcys and Cronos and Rhea, and all that generation; and from
[806]      Cronos and Rhea sprang Zeus and Here, and all those who are said to be
[807]      their brethren, and others who were the children of these.
[808]      
[809]      Now, when all of them, both those who visibly appear in their revolutions
[810]      as well as those other gods who are of a more retiring nature, had come
[811]      into being, the creator of the universe addressed them in these words:
[812]      'Gods, children of gods, who are my works, and of whom I am the artificer
[813]      and father, my creations are indissoluble, if so I will. All that is bound
[814]      may be undone, but only an evil being would wish to undo that which is
[815]      harmonious and happy. Wherefore, since ye are but creatures, ye are not
[816]      altogether immortal and indissoluble, but ye shall certainly not be
[817]      dissolved, nor be liable to the fate of death, having in my will a greater
[818]      and mightier bond than those with which ye were bound at the time of your
[819]      birth. And now listen to my instructions:--Three tribes of mortal beings
[820]      remain to be created--without them the universe will be incomplete, for it
[821]      will not contain every kind of animal which it ought to contain, if it is
[822]      to be perfect. On the other hand, if they were created by me and received
[823]      life at my hands, they would be on an equality with the gods. In order
[824]      then that they may be mortal, and that this universe may be truly
[825]      universal, do ye, according to your natures, betake yourselves to the
[826]      formation of animals, imitating the power which was shown by me in creating
[827]      you. The part of them worthy of the name immortal, which is called divine
[828]      and is the guiding principle of those who are willing to follow justice and
[829]      you--of that divine part I will myself sow the seed, and having made a
[830]      beginning, I will hand the work over to you. And do ye then interweave the
[831]      mortal with the immortal, and make and beget living creatures, and give
[832]      them food, and make them to grow, and receive them again in death.'
[833]      
[834]      Thus he spake, and once more into the cup in which he had previously
[835]      mingled the soul of the universe he poured the remains of the elements, and
[836]      mingled them in much the same manner; they were not, however, pure as
[837]      before, but diluted to the second and third degree. And having made it he
[838]      divided the whole mixture into souls equal in number to the stars, and
[839]      assigned each soul to a star; and having there placed them as in a chariot,
[840]      he showed them the nature of the universe, and declared to them the laws of
[841]      destiny, according to which their first birth would be one and the same for
[842]      all,--no one should suffer a disadvantage at his hands; they were to be
[843]      sown in the instruments of time severally adapted to them, and to come
[844]      forth the most religious of animals; and as human nature was of two kinds,
[845]      the superior race would hereafter be called man. Now, when they should be
[846]      implanted in bodies by necessity, and be always gaining or losing some part
[847]      of their bodily substance, then in the first place it would be necessary
[848]      that they should all have in them one and the same faculty of sensation,
[849]      arising out of irresistible impressions; in the second place, they must
[850]      have love, in which pleasure and pain mingle; also fear and anger, and the
[851]      feelings which are akin or opposite to them; if they conquered these they
[852]      would live righteously, and if they were conquered by them, unrighteously.
[853]      He who lived well during his appointed time was to return and dwell in his
[854]      native star, and there he would have a blessed and congenial existence.
[855]      But if he failed in attaining this, at the second birth he would pass into
[856]      a woman, and if, when in that state of being, he did not desist from evil,
[857]      he would continually be changed into some brute who resembled him in the
[858]      evil nature which he had acquired, and would not cease from his toils and
[859]      transformations until he followed the revolution of the same and the like
[860]      within him, and overcame by the help of reason the turbulent and irrational
[861]      mob of later accretions, made up of fire and air and water and earth, and
[862]      returned to the form of his first and better state. Having given all these
[863]      laws to his creatures, that he might be guiltless of future evil in any of
[864]      them, the creator sowed some of them in the earth, and some in the moon,
[865]      and some in the other instruments of time; and when he had sown them he
[866]      committed to the younger gods the fashioning of their mortal bodies, and
[867]      desired them to furnish what was still lacking to the human soul, and
[868]      having made all the suitable additions, to rule over them, and to pilot the
[869]      mortal animal in the best and wisest manner which they could, and avert
[870]      from him all but self-inflicted evils.
[871]      
[872]      When the creator had made all these ordinances he remained in his own
[873]      accustomed nature, and his children heard and were obedient to their
[874]      father's word, and receiving from him the immortal principle of a mortal
[875]      creature, in imitation of their own creator they borrowed portions of fire,
[876]      and earth, and water, and air from the world, which were hereafter to be
[877]      restored--these they took and welded them together, not with the
[878]      indissoluble chains by which they were themselves bound, but with little
[879]      pegs too small to be visible, making up out of all the four elements each
[880]      separate body, and fastening the courses of the immortal soul in a body
[881]      which was in a state of perpetual influx and efflux. Now these courses,
[882]      detained as in a vast river, neither overcame nor were overcome; but were
[883]      hurrying and hurried to and fro, so that the whole animal was moved and
[884]      progressed, irregularly however and irrationally and anyhow, in all the six
[885]      directions of motion, wandering backwards and forwards, and right and left,
[886]      and up and down, and in all the six directions. For great as was the
[887]      advancing and retiring flood which provided nourishment, the affections
[888]      produced by external contact caused still greater tumult--when the body of
[889]      any one met and came into collision with some external fire, or with the
[890]      solid earth or the gliding waters, or was caught in the tempest borne on
[891]      the air, and the motions produced by any of these impulses were carried
[892]      through the body to the soul. All such motions have consequently received
[893]      the general name of 'sensations,' which they still retain. And they did in
[894]      fact at that time create a very great and mighty movement; uniting with the
[895]      ever-flowing stream in stirring up and violently shaking the courses of the
[896]      soul, they completely stopped the revolution of the same by their opposing
[897]      current, and hindered it from predominating and advancing; and they so
[898]      disturbed the nature of the other or diverse, that the three double
[899]      intervals (i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8), and the three triple intervals (i.e.
[900]      between 1, 3, 9, 27), together with the mean terms and connecting links
[901]      which are expressed by the ratios of 3:2, and 4:3, and of 9:8--these,
[902]      although they cannot be wholly undone except by him who united them, were
[903]      twisted by them in all sorts of ways, and the circles were broken and
[904]      disordered in every possible manner, so that when they moved they were
[905]      tumbling to pieces, and moved irrationally, at one time in a reverse
[906]      direction, and then again obliquely, and then upside down, as you might
[907]      imagine a person who is upside down and has his head leaning upon the
[908]      ground and his feet up against something in the air; and when he is in such
[909]      a position, both he and the spectator fancy that the right of either is his
[910]      left, and the left right. If, when powerfully experiencing these and
[911]      similar effects, the revolutions of the soul come in contact with some
[912]      external thing, either of the class of the same or of the other, they speak
[913]      of the same or of the other in a manner the very opposite of the truth; and
[914]      they become false and foolish, and there is no course or revolution in them
[915]      which has a guiding or directing power; and if again any sensations enter
[916]      in violently from without and drag after them the whole vessel of the soul,
[917]      then the courses of the soul, though they seem to conquer, are really
[918]      conquered.
[919]      
[920]      And by reason of all these affections, the soul, when encased in a mortal
[921]      body, now, as in the beginning, is at first without intelligence; but when
[922]      the flood of growth and nutriment abates, and the courses of the soul,
[923]      calming down, go their own way and become steadier as time goes on, then
[924]      the several circles return to their natural form, and their revolutions are
[925]      corrected, and they call the same and the other by their right names, and
[926]      make the possessor of them to become a rational being. And if these
[927]      combine in him with any true nurture or education, he attains the fulness
[928]      and health of the perfect man, and escapes the worst disease of all; but if
[929]      he neglects education he walks lame to the end of his life, and returns
[930]      imperfect and good for nothing to the world below. This, however, is a
[931]      later stage; at present we must treat more exactly the subject before us,
[932]      which involves a preliminary enquiry into the generation of the body and
[933]      its members, and as to how the soul was created--for what reason and by
[934]      what providence of the gods; and holding fast to probability, we must
[935]      pursue our way.
[936]      
[937]      First, then, the gods, imitating the spherical shape of the universe,
[938]      enclosed the two divine courses in a spherical body, that, namely, which we
[939]      now term the head, being the most divine part of us and the lord of all
[940]      that is in us: to this the gods, when they put together the body, gave all
[941]      the other members to be servants, considering that it partook of every sort
[942]      of motion. In order then that it might not tumble about among the high and
[943]      deep places of the earth, but might be able to get over the one and out of
[944]      the other, they provided the body to be its vehicle and means of
[945]      locomotion; which consequently had length and was furnished with four limbs
[946]      extended and flexible; these God contrived to be instruments of locomotion
[947]      with which it might take hold and find support, and so be able to pass
[948]      through all places, carrying on high the dwelling-place of the most sacred
[949]      and divine part of us. Such was the origin of legs and hands, which for
[950]      this reason were attached to every man; and the gods, deeming the front
[951]      part of man to be more honourable and more fit to command than the hinder
[952]      part, made us to move mostly in a forward direction. Wherefore man must
[953]      needs have his front part unlike and distinguished from the rest of his
[954]      body.
[955]      
[956]      And so in the vessel of the head, they first of all put a face in which
[957]      they inserted organs to minister in all things to the providence of the
[958]      soul, and they appointed this part, which has authority, to be by nature
[959]      the part which is in front. And of the organs they first contrived the
[960]      eyes to give light, and the principle according to which they were inserted
[961]      was as follows: So much of fire as would not burn, but gave a gentle
[962]      light, they formed into a substance akin to the light of every-day life;
[963]      and the pure fire which is within us and related thereto they made to flow
[964]      through the eyes in a stream smooth and dense, compressing the whole eye,
[965]      and especially the centre part, so that it kept out everything of a coarser
[966]      nature, and allowed to pass only this pure element. When the light of day
[967]      surrounds the stream of vision, then like falls upon like, and they
[968]      coalesce, and one body is formed by natural affinity in the line of vision,
[969]      wherever the light that falls from within meets with an external object.
[970]      And the whole stream of vision, being similarly affected in virtue of
[971]      similarity, diffuses the motions of what it touches or what touches it over
[972]      the whole body, until they reach the soul, causing that perception which we
[973]      call sight. But when night comes on and the external and kindred fire
[974]      departs, then the stream of vision is cut off; for going forth to an unlike
[975]      element it is changed and extinguished, being no longer of one nature with
[976]      the surrounding atmosphere which is now deprived of fire: and so the eye
[977]      no longer sees, and we feel disposed to sleep. For when the eyelids, which
[978]      the gods invented for the preservation of sight, are closed, they keep in
[979]      the internal fire; and the power of the fire diffuses and equalizes the
[980]      inward motions; when they are equalized, there is rest, and when the rest
[981]      is profound, sleep comes over us scarce disturbed by dreams; but where the
[982]      greater motions still remain, of whatever nature and in whatever locality,
[983]      they engender corresponding visions in dreams, which are remembered by us
[984]      when we are awake and in the external world. And now there is no longer
[985]      any difficulty in understanding the creation of images in mirrors and all
[986]      smooth and bright surfaces. For from the communion of the internal and
[987]      external fires, and again from the union of them and their numerous
[988]      transformations when they meet in the mirror, all these appearances of
[989]      necessity arise, when the fire from the face coalesces with the fire from
[990]      the eye on the bright and smooth surface. And right appears left and left
[991]      right, because the visual rays come into contact with the rays emitted by
[992]      the object in a manner contrary to the usual mode of meeting; but the right
[993]      appears right, and the left left, when the position of one of the two
[994]      concurring lights is reversed; and this happens when the mirror is concave
[995]      and its smooth surface repels the right stream of vision to the left side,
[996]      and the left to the right (He is speaking of two kinds of mirrors, first
[997]      the plane, secondly the concave; and the latter is supposed to be placed,
[998]      first horizontally, and then vertically.). Or if the mirror be turned
[999]      vertically, then the concavity makes the countenance appear to be all
[1000]     upside down, and the lower rays are driven upwards and the upper downwards.
[1001]     
[1002]     All these are to be reckoned among the second and co-operative causes which
[1003]     God, carrying into execution the idea of the best as far as possible, uses
[1004]     as his ministers. They are thought by most men not to be the second, but
[1005]     the prime causes of all things, because they freeze and heat, and contract
[1006]     and dilate, and the like. But they are not so, for they are incapable of
[1007]     reason or intellect; the only being which can properly have mind is the
[1008]     invisible soul, whereas fire and water, and earth and air, are all of them
[1009]     visible bodies. The lover of intellect and knowledge ought to explore
[1010]     causes of intelligent nature first of all, and, secondly, of those things
[1011]     which, being moved by others, are compelled to move others. And this is
[1012]     what we too must do. Both kinds of causes should be acknowledged by us,
[1013]     but a distinction should be made between those which are endowed with mind
[1014]     and are the workers of things fair and good, and those which are deprived
[1015]     of intelligence and always produce chance effects without order or design.
[1016]     Of the second or co-operative causes of sight, which help to give to the
[1017]     eyes the power which they now possess, enough has been said. I will
[1018]     therefore now proceed to speak of the higher use and purpose for which God
[1019]     has given them to us. The sight in my opinion is the source of the
[1020]     greatest benefit to us, for had we never seen the stars, and the sun, and
[1021]     the heaven, none of the words which we have spoken about the universe would
[1022]     ever have been uttered. But now the sight of day and night, and the months
[1023]     and the revolutions of the years, have created number, and have given us a
[1024]     conception of time, and the power of enquiring about the nature of the
[1025]     universe; and from this source we have derived philosophy, than which no
[1026]     greater good ever was or will be given by the gods to mortal man. This is
[1027]     the greatest boon of sight: and of the lesser benefits why should I speak?
[1028]     even the ordinary man if he were deprived of them would bewail his loss,
[1029]     but in vain. Thus much let me say however: God invented and gave us sight
[1030]     to the end that we might behold the courses of intelligence in the heaven,
[1031]     and apply them to the courses of our own intelligence which are akin to
[1032]     them, the unperturbed to the perturbed; and that we, learning them and
[1033]     partaking of the natural truth of reason, might imitate the absolutely
[1034]     unerring courses of God and regulate our own vagaries. The same may be
[1035]     affirmed of speech and hearing: they have been given by the gods to the
[1036]     same end and for a like reason. For this is the principal end of speech,
[1037]     whereto it most contributes. Moreover, so much of music as is adapted to
[1038]     the sound of the voice and to the sense of hearing is granted to us for the
[1039]     sake of harmony; and harmony, which has motions akin to the revolutions of
[1040]     our souls, is not regarded by the intelligent votary of the Muses as given
[1041]     by them with a view to irrational pleasure, which is deemed to be the
[1042]     purpose of it in our day, but as meant to correct any discord which may
[1043]     have arisen in the courses of the soul, and to be our ally in bringing her
[1044]     into harmony and agreement with herself; and rhythm too was given by them
[1045]     for the same reason, on account of the irregular and graceless ways which
[1046]     prevail among mankind generally, and to help us against them.
[1047]     
[1048]     Thus far in what we have been saying, with small exception, the works of
[1049]     intelligence have been set forth; and now we must place by the side of them
[1050]     in our discourse the things which come into being through necessity--for
[1051]     the creation is mixed, being made up of necessity and mind. Mind, the
[1052]     ruling power, persuaded necessity to bring the greater part of created
[1053]     things to perfection, and thus and after this manner in the beginning, when
[1054]     the influence of reason got the better of necessity, the universe was
[1055]     created. But if a person will truly tell of the way in which the work was
[1056]     accomplished, he must include the other influence of the variable cause as
[1057]     well. Wherefore, we must return again and find another suitable beginning,
[1058]     as about the former matters, so also about these. To which end we must
[1059]     consider the nature of fire, and water, and air, and earth, such as they
[1060]     were prior to the creation of the heaven, and what was happening to them in
[1061]     this previous state; for no one has as yet explained the manner of their
[1062]     generation, but we speak of fire and the rest of them, whatever they mean,
[1063]     as though men knew their natures, and we maintain them to be the first
[1064]     principles and letters or elements of the whole, when they cannot
[1065]     reasonably be compared by a man of any sense even to syllables or first
[1066]     compounds. And let me say thus much: I will not now speak of the first
[1067]     principle or principles of all things, or by whatever name they are to be
[1068]     called, for this reason--because it is difficult to set forth my opinion
[1069]     according to the method of discussion which we are at present employing.
[1070]     Do not imagine, any more than I can bring myself to imagine, that I should
[1071]     be right in undertaking so great and difficult a task. Remembering what I
[1072]     said at first about probability, I will do my best to give as probable an
[1073]     explanation as any other--or rather, more probable; and I will first go
[1074]     back to the beginning and try to speak of each thing and of all. Once
[1075]     more, then, at the commencement of my discourse, I call upon God, and beg
[1076]     him to be our saviour out of a strange and unwonted enquiry, and to bring
[1077]     us to the haven of probability. So now let us begin again.
[1078]     
[1079]     This new beginning of our discussion of the universe requires a fuller
[1080]     division than the former; for then we made two classes, now a third must be
[1081]     revealed. The two sufficed for the former discussion: one, which we
[1082]     assumed, was a pattern intelligible and always the same; and the second was
[1083]     only the imitation of the pattern, generated and visible. There is also a
[1084]     third kind which we did not distinguish at the time, conceiving that the
[1085]     two would be enough. But now the argument seems to require that we should
[1086]     set forth in words another kind, which is difficult of explanation and
[1087]     dimly seen. What nature are we to attribute to this new kind of being? We
[1088]     reply, that it is the receptacle, and in a manner the nurse, of all
[1089]     generation. I have spoken the truth; but I must express myself in clearer
[1090]     language, and this will be an arduous task for many reasons, and in
[1091]     particular because I must first raise questions concerning fire and the
[1092]     other elements, and determine what each of them is; for to say, with any
[1093]     probability or certitude, which of them should be called water rather than
[1094]     fire, and which should be called any of them rather than all or some one of
[1095]     them, is a difficult matter. How, then, shall we settle this point, and
[1096]     what questions about the elements may be fairly raised?
[1097]     
[1098]     In the first place, we see that what we just now called water, by
[1099]     condensation, I suppose, becomes stone and earth; and this same element,
[1100]     when melted and dispersed, passes into vapour and air. Air, again, when
[1101]     inflamed, becomes fire; and again fire, when condensed and extinguished,
[1102]     passes once more into the form of air; and once more, air, when collected
[1103]     and condensed, produces cloud and mist; and from these, when still more
[1104]     compressed, comes flowing water, and from water comes earth and stones once
[1105]     more; and thus generation appears to be transmitted from one to the other
[1106]     in a circle. Thus, then, as the several elements never present themselves
[1107]     in the same form, how can any one have the assurance to assert positively
[1108]     that any of them, whatever it may be, is one thing rather than another? No
[1109]     one can. But much the safest plan is to speak of them as follows:--
[1110]     Anything which we see to be continually changing, as, for example, fire, we
[1111]     must not call 'this' or 'that,' but rather say that it is 'of such a
[1112]     nature'; nor let us speak of water as 'this'; but always as 'such'; nor
[1113]     must we imply that there is any stability in any of those things which we
[1114]     indicate by the use of the words 'this' and 'that,' supposing ourselves to
[1115]     signify something thereby; for they are too volatile to be detained in any
[1116]     such expressions as 'this,' or 'that,' or 'relative to this,' or any other
[1117]     mode of speaking which represents them as permanent. We ought not to apply
[1118]     'this' to any of them, but rather the word 'such'; which expresses the
[1119]     similar principle circulating in each and all of them; for example, that
[1120]     should be called 'fire' which is of such a nature always, and so of
[1121]     everything that has generation. That in which the elements severally grow
[1122]     up, and appear, and decay, is alone to be called by the name 'this' or
[1123]     'that'; but that which is of a certain nature, hot or white, or anything
[1124]     which admits of opposite qualities, and all things that are compounded of
[1125]     them, ought not to be so denominated. Let me make another attempt to
[1126]     explain my meaning more clearly. Suppose a person to make all kinds of
[1127]     figures of gold and to be always transmuting one form into all the rest;--
[1128]     somebody points to one of them and asks what it is. By far the safest and
[1129]     truest answer is, That is gold; and not to call the triangle or any other
[1130]     figures which are formed in the gold 'these,' as though they had existence,
[1131]     since they are in process of change while he is making the assertion; but
[1132]     if the questioner be willing to take the safe and indefinite expression,
[1133]     'such,' we should be satisfied. And the same argument applies to the
[1134]     universal nature which receives all bodies--that must be always called the
[1135]     same; for, while receiving all things, she never departs at all from her
[1136]     own nature, and never in any way, or at any time, assumes a form like that
[1137]     of any of the things which enter into her; she is the natural recipient of
[1138]     all impressions, and is stirred and informed by them, and appears different
[1139]     from time to time by reason of them. But the forms which enter into and go
[1140]     out of her are the likenesses of real existences modelled after their
[1141]     patterns in a wonderful and inexplicable manner, which we will hereafter
[1142]     investigate. For the present we have only to conceive of three natures:
[1143]     first, that which is in process of generation; secondly, that in which the
[1144]     generation takes place; and thirdly, that of which the thing generated is a
[1145]     resemblance. And we may liken the receiving principle to a mother, and the
[1146]     source or spring to a father, and the intermediate nature to a child; and
[1147]     may remark further, that if the model is to take every variety of form,
[1148]     then the matter in which the model is fashioned will not be duly prepared,
[1149]     unless it is formless, and free from the impress of any of those shapes
[1150]     which it is hereafter to receive from without. For if the matter were like
[1151]     any of the supervening forms, then whenever any opposite or entirely
[1152]     different nature was stamped upon its surface, it would take the impression
[1153]     badly, because it would intrude its own shape. Wherefore, that which is to
[1154]     receive all forms should have no form; as in making perfumes they first
[1155]     contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be
[1156]     as inodorous as possible; or as those who wish to impress figures on soft
[1157]     substances do not allow any previous impression to remain, but begin by
[1158]     making the surface as even and smooth as possible. In the same way that
[1159]     which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the
[1160]     resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular
[1161]     form. Wherefore, the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and
[1162]     in any way sensible things, is not to be termed earth, or air, or fire, or
[1163]     water, or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these
[1164]     are derived, but is an invisible and formless being which receives all
[1165]     things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible, and is most
[1166]     incomprehensible. In saying this we shall not be far wrong; as far,
[1167]     however, as we can attain to a knowledge of her from the previous
[1168]     considerations, we may truly say that fire is that part of her nature which
[1169]     from time to time is inflamed, and water that which is moistened, and that
[1170]     the mother substance becomes earth and air, in so far as she receives the
[1171]     impressions of them.
[1172]     
[1173]     Let us consider this question more precisely. Is there any self-existent
[1174]     fire? and do all those things which we call self-existent exist? or are
[1175]     only those things which we see, or in some way perceive through the bodily
[1176]     organs, truly existent, and nothing whatever besides them? And is all that
[1177]     which we call an intelligible essence nothing at all, and only a name?
[1178]     Here is a question which we must not leave unexamined or undetermined, nor
[1179]     must we affirm too confidently that there can be no decision; neither must
[1180]     we interpolate in our present long discourse a digression equally long, but
[1181]     if it is possible to set forth a great principle in a few words, that is
[1182]     just what we want.
[1183]     
[1184]     Thus I state my view:--If mind and true opinion are two distinct classes,
[1185]     then I say that there certainly are these self-existent ideas unperceived
[1186]     by sense, and apprehended only by the mind; if, however, as some say, true
[1187]     opinion differs in no respect from mind, then everything that we perceive
[1188]     through the body is to be regarded as most real and certain. But we must
[1189]     affirm them to be distinct, for they have a distinct origin and are of a
[1190]     different nature; the one is implanted in us by instruction, the other by
[1191]     persuasion; the one is always accompanied by true reason, the other is
[1192]     without reason; the one cannot be overcome by persuasion, but the other
[1193]     can: and lastly, every man may be said to share in true opinion, but mind
[1194]     is the attribute of the gods and of very few men. Wherefore also we must
[1195]     acknowledge that there is one kind of being which is always the same,
[1196]     uncreated and indestructible, never receiving anything into itself from
[1197]     without, nor itself going out to any other, but invisible and imperceptible
[1198]     by any sense, and of which the contemplation is granted to intelligence
[1199]     only. And there is another nature of the same name with it, and like to
[1200]     it, perceived by sense, created, always in motion, becoming in place and
[1201]     again vanishing out of place, which is apprehended by opinion and sense.
[1202]     And there is a third nature, which is space, and is eternal, and admits not
[1203]     of destruction and provides a home for all created things, and is
[1204]     apprehended without the help of sense, by a kind of spurious reason, and is
[1205]     hardly real; which we beholding as in a dream, say of all existence that it
[1206]     must of necessity be in some place and occupy a space, but that what is
[1207]     neither in heaven nor in earth has no existence. Of these and other things
[1208]     of the same kind, relating to the true and waking reality of nature, we
[1209]     have only this dreamlike sense, and we are unable to cast off sleep and
[1210]     determine the truth about them. For an image, since the reality, after
[1211]     which it is modelled, does not belong to it, and it exists ever as the
[1212]     fleeting shadow of some other, must be inferred to be in another (i.e. in
[1213]     space), grasping existence in some way or other, or it could not be at all.
[1214]     But true and exact reason, vindicating the nature of true being, maintains
[1215]     that while two things (i.e. the image and space) are different they cannot
[1216]     exist one of them in the other and so be one and also two at the same time.
[1217]     
[1218]     Thus have I concisely given the result of my thoughts; and my verdict is
[1219]     that being and space and generation, these three, existed in their three
[1220]     ways before the heaven; and that the nurse of generation, moistened by
[1221]     water and inflamed by fire, and receiving the forms of earth and air, and
[1222]     experiencing all the affections which accompany these, presented a strange
[1223]     variety of appearances; and being full of powers which were neither similar
[1224]     nor equally balanced, was never in any part in a state of equipoise, but
[1225]     swaying unevenly hither and thither, was shaken by them, and by its motion
[1226]     again shook them; and the elements when moved were separated and carried
[1227]     continually, some one way, some another; as, when grain is shaken and
[1228]     winnowed by fans and other instruments used in the threshing of corn, the
[1229]     close and heavy particles are borne away and settle in one direction, and
[1230]     the loose and light particles in another. In this manner, the four kinds
[1231]     or elements were then shaken by the receiving vessel, which, moving like a
[1232]     winnowing machine, scattered far away from one another the elements most
[1233]     unlike, and forced the most similar elements into close contact. Wherefore
[1234]     also the various elements had different places before they were arranged so
[1235]     as to form the universe. At first, they were all without reason and
[1236]     measure. But when the world began to get into order, fire and water and
[1237]     earth and air had only certain faint traces of themselves, and were
[1238]     altogether such as everything might be expected to be in the absence of
[1239]     God; this, I say, was their nature at that time, and God fashioned them by
[1240]     form and number. Let it be consistently maintained by us in all that we
[1241]     say that God made them as far as possible the fairest and best, out of
[1242]     things which were not fair and good. And now I will endeavour to show you
[1243]     the disposition and generation of them by an unaccustomed argument, which I
[1244]     am compelled to use; but I believe that you will be able to follow me, for
[1245]     your education has made you familiar with the methods of science.
[1246]     
[1247]     In the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and water
[1248]     and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses solidity, and every
[1249]     solid must necessarily be contained in planes; and every plane rectilinear
[1250]     figure is composed of triangles; and all triangles are originally of two
[1251]     kinds, both of which are made up of one right and two acute angles; one of
[1252]     them has at either end of the base the half of a divided right angle,
[1253]     having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into
[1254]     unequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a
[1255]     combination of probability with demonstration, we assume to be the original
[1256]     elements of fire and the other bodies; but the principles which are prior
[1257]     to these God only knows, and he of men who is the friend of God. And next
[1258]     we have to determine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are
[1259]     unlike one another, and of which some are capable of resolution into one
[1260]     another; for having discovered thus much, we shall know the true origin of
[1261]     earth and fire and of the proportionate and intermediate elements. And
[1262]     then we shall not be willing to allow that there are any distinct kinds of
[1263]     visible bodies fairer than these. Wherefore we must endeavour to construct
[1264]     the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty, and then we shall be able
[1265]     to say that we have sufficiently apprehended their nature. Now of the two
[1266]     triangles, the isosceles has one form only; the scalene or unequal-sided
[1267]     has an infinite number. Of the infinite forms we must select the most
[1268]     beautiful, if we are to proceed in due order, and any one who can point out
[1269]     a more beautiful form than ours for the construction of these bodies, shall
[1270]     carry off the palm, not as an enemy, but as a friend. Now, the one which
[1271]     we maintain to be the most beautiful of all the many triangles (and we need
[1272]     not speak of the others) is that of which the double forms a third triangle
[1273]     which is equilateral; the reason of this would be long to tell; he who
[1274]     disproves what we are saying, and shows that we are mistaken, may claim a
[1275]     friendly victory. Then let us choose two triangles, out of which fire and
[1276]     the other elements have been constructed, one isosceles, the other having
[1277]     the square of the longer side equal to three times the square of the lesser
[1278]     side.
[1279]     
[1280]     Now is the time to explain what was before obscurely said: there was an
[1281]     error in imagining that all the four elements might be generated by and
[1282]     into one another; this, I say, was an erroneous supposition, for there are
[1283]     generated from the triangles which we have selected four kinds--three from
[1284]     the one which has the sides unequal; the fourth alone is framed out of the
[1285]     isosceles triangle. Hence they cannot all be resolved into one another, a
[1286]     great number of small bodies being combined into a few large ones, or the
[1287]     converse. But three of them can be thus resolved and compounded, for they
[1288]     all spring from one, and when the greater bodies are broken up, many small
[1289]     bodies will spring up out of them and take their own proper figures; or,
[1290]     again, when many small bodies are dissolved into their triangles, if they
[1291]     become one, they will form one large mass of another kind. So much for
[1292]     their passage into one another. I have now to speak of their several
[1293]     kinds, and show out of what combinations of numbers each of them was
[1294]     formed. The first will be the simplest and smallest construction, and its
[1295]     element is that triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side.
[1296]     When two such triangles are joined at the diagonal, and this is repeated
[1297]     three times, and the triangles rest their diagonals and shorter sides on
[1298]     the same point as a centre, a single equilateral triangle is formed out of
[1299]     six triangles; and four equilateral triangles, if put together, make out of
[1300]     every three plane angles one solid angle, being that which is nearest to
[1301]     the most obtuse of plane angles; and out of the combination of these four
[1302]     angles arises the first solid form which distributes into equal and similar
[1303]     parts the whole circle in which it is inscribed. The second species of
[1304]     solid is formed out of the same triangles, which unite as eight equilateral
[1305]     triangles and form one solid angle out of four plane angles, and out of six
[1306]     such angles the second body is completed. And the third body is made up of
[1307]     120 triangular elements, forming twelve solid angles, each of them included
[1308]     in five plane equilateral triangles, having altogether twenty bases, each
[1309]     of which is an equilateral triangle. The one element (that is, the
[1310]     triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side) having generated
[1311]     these figures, generated no more; but the isosceles triangle produced the
[1312]     fourth elementary figure, which is compounded of four such triangles,
[1313]     joining their right angles in a centre, and forming one equilateral
[1314]     quadrangle. Six of these united form eight solid angles, each of which is
[1315]     made by the combination of three plane right angles; the figure of the body
[1316]     thus composed is a cube, having six plane quadrangular equilateral bases.
[1317]     There was yet a fifth combination which God used in the delineation of the
[1318]     universe.
[1319]     
[1320]     Now, he who, duly reflecting on all this, enquires whether the worlds are
[1321]     to be regarded as indefinite or definite in number, will be of opinion that
[1322]     the notion of their indefiniteness is characteristic of a sadly indefinite
[1323]     and ignorant mind. He, however, who raises the question whether they are
[1324]     to be truly regarded as one or five, takes up a more reasonable position.
[1325]     Arguing from probabilities, I am of opinion that they are one; another,
[1326]     regarding the question from another point of view, will be of another mind.
[1327]     But, leaving this enquiry, let us proceed to distribute the elementary
[1328]     forms, which have now been created in idea, among the four elements.
[1329]     
[1330]     To earth, then, let us assign the cubical form; for earth is the most
[1331]     immoveable of the four and the most plastic of all bodies, and that which
[1332]     has the most stable bases must of necessity be of such a nature. Now, of
[1333]     the triangles which we assumed at first, that which has two equal sides is
[1334]     by nature more firmly based than that which has unequal sides; and of the
[1335]     compound figures which are formed out of either, the plane equilateral
[1336]     quadrangle has necessarily a more stable basis than the equilateral
[1337]     triangle, both in the whole and in the parts. Wherefore, in assigning this
[1338]     figure to earth, we adhere to probability; and to water we assign that one
[1339]     of the remaining forms which is the least moveable; and the most moveable
[1340]     of them to fire; and to air that which is intermediate. Also we assign the
[1341]     smallest body to fire, and the greatest to water, and the intermediate in
[1342]     size to air; and, again, the acutest body to fire, and the next in
[1343]     acuteness to air, and the third to water. Of all these elements, that
[1344]     which has the fewest bases must necessarily be the most moveable, for it
[1345]     must be the acutest and most penetrating in every way, and also the
[1346]     lightest as being composed of the smallest number of similar particles:
[1347]     and the second body has similar properties in a second degree, and the
[1348]     third body in the third degree. Let it be agreed, then, both according to
[1349]     strict reason and according to probability, that the pyramid is the solid
[1350]     which is the original element and seed of fire; and let us assign the
[1351]     element which was next in the order of generation to air, and the third to
[1352]     water. We must imagine all these to be so small that no single particle of
[1353]     any of the four kinds is seen by us on account of their smallness: but
[1354]     when many of them are collected together their aggregates are seen. And
[1355]     the ratios of their numbers, motions, and other properties, everywhere God,
[1356]     as far as necessity allowed or gave consent, has exactly perfected, and
[1357]     harmonized in due proportion.
[1358]     
[1359]     >From all that we have just been saying about the elements or kinds, the
[1360]     most probable conclusion is as follows:--earth, when meeting with fire and
[1361]     dissolved by its sharpness, whether the dissolution take place in the fire
[1362]     itself or perhaps in some mass of air or water, is borne hither and
[1363]     thither, until its parts, meeting together and mutually harmonising, again
[1364]     become earth; for they can never take any other form. But water, when
[1365]     divided by fire or by air, on re-forming, may become one part fire and two
[1366]     parts air; and a single volume of air divided becomes two of fire. Again,
[1367]     when a small body of fire is contained in a larger body of air or water or
[1368]     earth, and both are moving, and the fire struggling is overcome and broken
[1369]     up, then two volumes of fire form one volume of air; and when air is
[1370]     overcome and cut up into small pieces, two and a half parts of air are
[1371]     condensed into one part of water. Let us consider the matter in another
[1372]     way. When one of the other elements is fastened upon by fire, and is cut
[1373]     by the sharpness of its angles and sides, it coalesces with the fire, and
[1374]     then ceases to be cut by them any longer. For no element which is one and
[1375]     the same with itself can be changed by or change another of the same kind
[1376]     and in the same state. But so long as in the process of transition the
[1377]     weaker is fighting against the stronger, the dissolution continues. Again,
[1378]     when a few small particles, enclosed in many larger ones, are in process of
[1379]     decomposition and extinction, they only cease from their tendency to
[1380]     extinction when they consent to pass into the conquering nature, and fire
[1381]     becomes air and air water. But if bodies of another kind go and attack
[1382]     them (i.e. the small particles), the latter continue to be dissolved until,
[1383]     being completely forced back and dispersed, they make their escape to their
[1384]     own kindred, or else, being overcome and assimilated to the conquering
[1385]     power, they remain where they are and dwell with their victors, and from
[1386]     being many become one. And owing to these affections, all things are
[1387]     changing their place, for by the motion of the receiving vessel the bulk of
[1388]     each class is distributed into its proper place; but those things which
[1389]     become unlike themselves and like other things, are hurried by the shaking
[1390]     into the place of the things to which they grow like.
[1391]     
[1392]     Now all unmixed and primary bodies are produced by such causes as these.
[1393]     As to the subordinate species which are included in the greater kinds, they
[1394]     are to be attributed to the varieties in the structure of the two original
[1395]     triangles. For either structure did not originally produce the triangle of
[1396]     one size only, but some larger and some smaller, and there are as many
[1397]     sizes as there are species of the four elements. Hence when they are
[1398]     mingled with themselves and with one another there is an endless variety of
[1399]     them, which those who would arrive at the probable truth of nature ought
[1400]     duly to consider.
[1401]     
[1402]     Unless a person comes to an understanding about the nature and conditions
[1403]     of rest and motion, he will meet with many difficulties in the discussion
[1404]     which follows. Something has been said of this matter already, and
[1405]     something more remains to be said, which is, that motion never exists in
[1406]     what is uniform. For to conceive that anything can be moved without a
[1407]     mover is hard or indeed impossible, and equally impossible to conceive that
[1408]     there can be a mover unless there be something which can be moved--motion
[1409]     cannot exist where either of these are wanting, and for these to be uniform
[1410]     is impossible; wherefore we must assign rest to uniformity and motion to
[1411]     the want of uniformity. Now inequality is the cause of the nature which is
[1412]     wanting in uniformity; and of this we have already described the origin.
[1413]     But there still remains the further point--why things when divided after
[1414]     their kinds do not cease to pass through one another and to change their
[1415]     place--which we will now proceed to explain. In the revolution of the
[1416]     universe are comprehended all the four elements, and this being circular
[1417]     and having a tendency to come together, compresses everything and will not
[1418]     allow any place to be left void. Wherefore, also, fire above all things
[1419]     penetrates everywhere, and air next, as being next in rarity of the
[1420]     elements; and the two other elements in like manner penetrate according to
[1421]     their degrees of rarity. For those things which are composed of the
[1422]     largest particles have the largest void left in their compositions, and
[1423]     those which are composed of the smallest particles have the least. And the
[1424]     contraction caused by the compression thrusts the smaller particles into
[1425]     the interstices of the larger. And thus, when the small parts are placed
[1426]     side by side with the larger, and the lesser divide the greater and the
[1427]     greater unite the lesser, all the elements are borne up and down and hither
[1428]     and thither towards their own places; for the change in the size of each
[1429]     changes its position in space. And these causes generate an inequality
[1430]     which is always maintained, and is continually creating a perpetual motion
[1431]     of the elements in all time.
[1432]     
[1433]     In the next place we have to consider that there are divers kinds of fire.
[1434]     There are, for example, first, flame; and secondly, those emanations of
[1435]     flame which do not burn but only give light to the eyes; thirdly, the
[1436]     remains of fire, which are seen in red-hot embers after the flame has been
[1437]     extinguished. There are similar differences in the air; of which the
[1438]     brightest part is called the aether, and the most turbid sort mist and
[1439]     darkness; and there are various other nameless kinds which arise from the
[1440]     inequality of the triangles. Water, again, admits in the first place of a
[1441]     division into two kinds; the one liquid and the other fusile. The liquid
[1442]     kind is composed of the small and unequal particles of water; and moves
[1443]     itself and is moved by other bodies owing to the want of uniformity and the
[1444]     shape of its particles; whereas the fusile kind, being formed of large and
[1445]     uniform particles, is more stable than the other, and is heavy and compact
[1446]     by reason of its uniformity. But when fire gets in and dissolves the
[1447]     particles and destroys the uniformity, it has greater mobility, and
[1448]     becoming fluid is thrust forth by the neighbouring air and spreads upon the
[1449]     earth; and this dissolution of the solid masses is called melting, and
[1450]     their spreading out upon the earth flowing. Again, when the fire goes out
[1451]     of the fusile substance, it does not pass into a vacuum, but into the
[1452]     neighbouring air; and the air which is displaced forces together the liquid
[1453]     and still moveable mass into the place which was occupied by the fire, and
[1454]     unites it with itself. Thus compressed the mass resumes its equability,
[1455]     and is again at unity with itself, because the fire which was the author of
[1456]     the inequality has retreated; and this departure of the fire is called
[1457]     cooling, and the coming together which follows upon it is termed
[1458]     congealment. Of all the kinds termed fusile, that which is the densest and
[1459]     is formed out of the finest and most uniform parts is that most precious
[1460]     possession called gold, which is hardened by filtration through rock; this
[1461]     is unique in kind, and has both a glittering and a yellow colour. A shoot
[1462]     of gold, which is so dense as to be very hard, and takes a black colour, is
[1463]     termed adamant. There is also another kind which has parts nearly like
[1464]     gold, and of which there are several species; it is denser than gold, and
[1465]     it contains a small and fine portion of earth, and is therefore harder, yet
[1466]     also lighter because of the great interstices which it has within itself;
[1467]     and this substance, which is one of the bright and denser kinds of water,
[1468]     when solidified is called copper. There is an alloy of earth mingled with
[1469]     it, which, when the two parts grow old and are disunited, shows itself
[1470]     separately and is called rust. The remaining phenomena of the same kind
[1471]     there will be no difficulty in reasoning out by the method of
[1472]     probabilities. A man may sometimes set aside meditations about eternal
[1473]     things, and for recreation turn to consider the truths of generation which
[1474]     are probable only; he will thus gain a pleasure not to be repented of, and
[1475]     secure for himself while he lives a wise and moderate pastime. Let us
[1476]     grant ourselves this indulgence, and go through the probabilities relating
[1477]     to the same subjects which follow next in order.
[1478]     
[1479]     Water which is mingled with fire, so much as is fine and liquid (being so
[1480]     called by reason of its motion and the way in which it rolls along the
[1481]     ground), and soft, because its bases give way and are less stable than
[1482]     those of earth, when separated from fire and air and isolated, becomes more
[1483]     uniform, and by their retirement is compressed into itself; and if the
[1484]     condensation be very great, the water above the earth becomes hail, but on
[1485]     the earth, ice; and that which is congealed in a less degree and is only
[1486]     half solid, when above the earth is called snow, and when upon the earth,
[1487]     and condensed from dew, hoar-frost. Then, again, there are the numerous
[1488]     kinds of water which have been mingled with one another, and are distilled
[1489]     through plants which grow in the earth; and this whole class is called by
[1490]     the name of juices or saps. The unequal admixture of these fluids creates
[1491]     a variety of species; most of them are nameless, but four which are of a
[1492]     fiery nature are clearly distinguished and have names. First, there is
[1493]     wine, which warms the soul as well as the body: secondly, there is the
[1494]     oily nature, which is smooth and divides the visual ray, and for this
[1495]     reason is bright and shining and of a glistening appearance, including
[1496]     pitch, the juice of the castor berry, oil itself, and other things of a
[1497]     like kind: thirdly, there is the class of substances which expand the
[1498]     contracted parts of the mouth, until they return to their natural state,
[1499]     and by reason of this property create sweetness;--these are included under
[1500]     the general name of honey: and, lastly, there is a frothy nature, which
[1501]     differs from all juices, having a burning quality which dissolves the
[1502]     flesh; it is called opos (a vegetable acid).
[1503]     
[1504]     As to the kinds of earth, that which is filtered through water passes into
[1505]     stone in the following manner:--The water which mixes with the earth and is
[1506]     broken up in the process changes into air, and taking this form mounts into
[1507]     its own place. But as there is no surrounding vacuum it thrusts away the
[1508]     neighbouring air, and this being rendered heavy, and, when it is displaced,
[1509]     having been poured around the mass of earth, forcibly compresses it and
[1510]     drives it into the vacant space whence the new air had come up; and the
[1511]     earth when compressed by the air into an indissoluble union with water
[1512]     becomes rock. The fairer sort is that which is made up of equal and
[1513]     similar parts and is transparent; that which has the opposite qualities is
[1514]     inferior. But when all the watery part is suddenly drawn out by fire, a
[1515]     more brittle substance is formed, to which we give the name of pottery.
[1516]     Sometimes also moisture may remain, and the earth which has been fused by
[1517]     fire becomes, when cool, a certain stone of a black colour. A like
[1518]     separation of the water which had been copiously mingled with them may
[1519]     occur in two substances composed of finer particles of earth and of a briny
[1520]     nature; out of either of them a half-solid-body is then formed, soluble in
[1521]     water--the one, soda, which is used for purging away oil and earth, the
[1522]     other, salt, which harmonizes so well in combinations pleasing to the
[1523]     palate, and is, as the law testifies, a substance dear to the gods. The
[1524]     compounds of earth and water are not soluble by water, but by fire only,
[1525]     and for this reason:--Neither fire nor air melt masses of earth; for their
[1526]     particles, being smaller than the interstices in its structure, have plenty
[1527]     of room to move without forcing their way, and so they leave the earth
[1528]     unmelted and undissolved; but particles of water, which are larger, force a
[1529]     passage, and dissolve and melt the earth. Wherefore earth when not
[1530]     consolidated by force is dissolved by water only; when consolidated, by
[1531]     nothing but fire; for this is the only body which can find an entrance.
[1532]     The cohesion of water again, when very strong, is dissolved by fire
[1533]     only--when weaker, then either by air or fire--the former entering the
[1534]     interstices, and the latter penetrating even the triangles. But nothing
[1535]     can dissolve air, when strongly condensed, which does not reach the
[1536]     elements or triangles; or if not strongly condensed, then only fire can
[1537]     dissolve it. As to bodies composed of earth and water, while the water
[1538]     occupies the vacant interstices of the earth in them which are compressed
[1539]     by force, the particles of water which approach them from without, finding
[1540]     no entrance, flow around the entire mass and leave it undissolved; but the
[1541]     particles of fire, entering into the interstices of the water, do to the
[1542]     water what water does to earth and fire to air (The text seems to be
[1543]     corrupt.), and are the sole causes of the compound body of earth and water
[1544]     liquefying and becoming fluid. Now these bodies are of two kinds; some of
[1545]     them, such as glass and the fusible sort of stones, have less water than
[1546]     they have earth; on the other hand, substances of the nature of wax and
[1547]     incense have more of water entering into their composition.
[1548]     
[1549]     I have thus shown the various classes of bodies as they are diversified by
[1550]     their forms and combinations and changes into one another, and now I must
[1551]     endeavour to set forth their affections and the causes of them. In the
[1552]     first place, the bodies which I have been describing are necessarily
[1553]     objects of sense. But we have not yet considered the origin of flesh, or
[1554]     what belongs to flesh, or of that part of the soul which is mortal. And
[1555]     these things cannot be adequately explained without also explaining the
[1556]     affections which are concerned with sensation, nor the latter without the
[1557]     former: and yet to explain them together is hardly possible; for which
[1558]     reason we must assume first one or the other and afterwards examine the
[1559]     nature of our hypothesis. In order, then, that the affections may follow
[1560]     regularly after the elements, let us presuppose the existence of body and
[1561]     soul.
[1562]     
[1563]     First, let us enquire what we mean by saying that fire is hot; and about
[1564]     this we may reason from the dividing or cutting power which it exercises on
[1565]     our bodies. We all of us feel that fire is sharp; and we may further
[1566]     consider the fineness of the sides, and the sharpness of the angles, and
[1567]     the smallness of the particles, and the swiftness of the motion--all this
[1568]     makes the action of fire violent and sharp, so that it cuts whatever it
[1569]     meets. And we must not forget that the original figure of fire (i.e. the
[1570]     pyramid), more than any other form, has a dividing power which cuts our
[1571]     bodies into small pieces (Kepmatizei), and thus naturally produces that
[1572]     affection which we call heat; and hence the origin of the name (thepmos,
[1573]     Kepma). Now, the opposite of this is sufficiently manifest; nevertheless
[1574]     we will not fail to describe it. For the larger particles of moisture
[1575]     which surround the body, entering in and driving out the lesser, but not
[1576]     being able to take their places, compress the moist principle in us; and
[1577]     this from being unequal and disturbed, is forced by them into a state of
[1578]     rest, which is due to equability and compression. But things which are
[1579]     contracted contrary to nature are by nature at war, and force themselves
[1580]     apart; and to this war and convulsion the name of shivering and trembling
[1581]     is given; and the whole affection and the cause of the affection are both
[1582]     termed cold. That is called hard to which our flesh yields, and soft which
[1583]     yields to our flesh; and things are also termed hard and soft relatively to
[1584]     one another. That which yields has a small base; but that which rests on
[1585]     quadrangular bases is firmly posed and belongs to the class which offers
[1586]     the greatest resistance; so too does that which is the most compact and
[1587]     therefore most repellent. The nature of the light and the heavy will be
[1588]     best understood when examined in connexion with our notions of above and
[1589]     below; for it is quite a mistake to suppose that the universe is parted
[1590]     into two regions, separate from and opposite to each other, the one a lower
[1591]     to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper to which things
[1592]     only ascend against their will. For as the universe is in the form of a
[1593]     sphere, all the extremities, being equidistant from the centre, are equally
[1594]     extremities, and the centre, which is equidistant from them, is equally to
[1595]     be regarded as the opposite of them all. Such being the nature of the
[1596]     world, when a person says that any of these points is above or below, may
[1597]     he not be justly charged with using an improper expression? For the centre
[1598]     of the world cannot be rightly called either above or below, but is the
[1599]     centre and nothing else; and the circumference is not the centre, and has
[1600]     in no one part of itself a different relation to the centre from what it
[1601]     has in any of the opposite parts. Indeed, when it is in every direction
[1602]     similar, how can one rightly give to it names which imply opposition? For
[1603]     if there were any solid body in equipoise at the centre of the universe,
[1604]     there would be nothing to draw it to this extreme rather than to that, for
[1605]     they are all perfectly similar; and if a person were to go round the world
[1606]     in a circle, he would often, when standing at the antipodes of his former
[1607]     position, speak of the same point as above and below; for, as I was saying
[1608]     just now, to speak of the whole which is in the form of a globe as having
[1609]     one part above and another below is not like a sensible man. The reason
[1610]     why these names are used, and the circumstances under which they are
[1611]     ordinarily applied by us to the division of the heavens, may be elucidated
[1612]     by the following supposition:--if a person were to stand in that part of
[1613]     the universe which is the appointed place of fire, and where there is the
[1614]     great mass of fire to which fiery bodies gather--if, I say, he were to
[1615]     ascend thither, and, having the power to do this, were to abstract
[1616]     particles of fire and put them in scales and weigh them, and then, raising
[1617]     the balance, were to draw the fire by force towards the uncongenial element
[1618]     of the air, it would be very evident that he could compel the smaller mass
[1619]     more readily than the larger; for when two things are simultaneously raised
[1620]     by one and the same power, the smaller body must necessarily yield to the
[1621]     superior power with less reluctance than the larger; and the larger body is
[1622]     called heavy and said to tend downwards, and the smaller body is called
[1623]     light and said to tend upwards. And we may detect ourselves who are upon
[1624]     the earth doing precisely the same thing. For we often separate earthy
[1625]     natures, and sometimes earth itself, and draw them into the uncongenial
[1626]     element of air by force and contrary to nature, both clinging to their
[1627]     kindred elements. But that which is smaller yields to the impulse given by
[1628]     us towards the dissimilar element more easily than the larger; and so we
[1629]     call the former light, and the place towards which it is impelled we call
[1630]     above, and the contrary state and place we call heavy and below
[1631]     respectively. Now the relations of these must necessarily vary, because
[1632]     the principal masses of the different elements hold opposite positions; for
[1633]     that which is light, heavy, below or above in one place will be found to be
[1634]     and become contrary and transverse and every way diverse in relation to
[1635]     that which is light, heavy, below or above in an opposite place. And about
[1636]     all of them this has to be considered:--that the tendency of each towards
[1637]     its kindred element makes the body which is moved heavy, and the place
[1638]     towards which the motion tends below, but things which have an opposite
[1639]     tendency we call by an opposite name. Such are the causes which we assign
[1640]     to these phenomena. As to the smooth and the rough, any one who sees them
[1641]     can explain the reason of them to another. For roughness is hardness
[1642]     mingled with irregularity, and smoothness is produced by the joint effect
[1643]     of uniformity and density.
[1644]     
[1645]     The most important of the affections which concern the whole body remains
[1646]     to be considered--that is, the cause of pleasure and pain in the
[1647]     perceptions of which I have been speaking, and in all other things which
[1648]     are perceived by sense through the parts of the body, and have both pains
[1649]     and pleasures attendant on them. Let us imagine the causes of every
[1650]     affection, whether of sense or not, to be of the following nature,
[1651]     remembering that we have already distinguished between the nature which is
[1652]     easy and which is hard to move; for this is the direction in which we must
[1653]     hunt the prey which we mean to take. A body which is of a nature to be
[1654]     easily moved, on receiving an impression however slight, spreads abroad the
[1655]     motion in a circle, the parts communicating with each other, until at last,
[1656]     reaching the principle of mind, they announce the quality of the agent.
[1657]     But a body of the