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    "num": 22,
    "slug": "22-timaeus",
    "title": "Timaeus",
    "of": 24,
    "words": 32312,
    "text": "## Timaeus\n\n\n#### 360 BC\n\n#### translated by Benjamin Jowett\n\n##### New York, C. Scribner's Sons, [1871]\n\nPERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; CRITIAS; TIMAEUS; HERMOCRATES\n\nSocrates. One, two, three; but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourth\nof those who were yesterday my guests and are to be my entertainers\nto-day?\n\nTimaeus. He has been taken ill, Socrates; for he would not willingly\nhave been absent from this gathering.\n\nSoc. Then, if he is not coming, you and the two others must supply\nhis place.\n\nTim. Certainly, and we will do all that we can; having been\nhandsomely entertained by you yesterday, those of us who remain should\nbe only too glad to return your hospitality.\n\nSoc. Do you remember what were the points of which I required you to\nspeak?\n\nTim. We remember some of them, and you will be here to remind us\nof anything which we have forgotten: or rather, if we are not\ntroubling you, will you briefly recapitulate the whole, and then the\nparticulars will be more firmly fixed in our memories?\n\nSoc. To be sure I will: the chief theme of my yesterday's\ndiscourse was the State-how constituted and of what citizens\ncomposed it would seem likely to be most perfect.\n\nTim. Yes, Socrates; and what you said of it was very much to our\nmind.\n\nSoc. Did we not begin by separating the husbandmen and the\nartisans from the class of defenders of the State?\n\nTim. Yes.\n\nSoc. And when we had given to each one that single employment and\nparticular art which was suited to his nature, we spoke of those who\nwere intended to be our warriors, and said that they were to be\nguardians of the city against attacks from within as well as from\nwithout, and to have no other employment; they were to be merciful\nin judging their subjects, of whom they were by nature friends, but\nfierce to their enemies, when they came across them in battle.\n\nTim. Exactly.\n\nSoc. We said, if I am not mistaken, that the guardians should be\ngifted with a temperament in a high degree both passionate and\nphilosophical; and that then they would be as they ought to be, gentle\nto their friends and fierce with their enemies.\n\nTim. Certainly.\n\nSoc. And what did we say of their education? Were they not to be\ntrained in gymnastic, and music, and all other sorts of knowledge\nwhich were proper for them?\n\nTim. Very true.\n\nSoc. And being thus trained they were not to consider gold or silver\nor anything else to be their own private property; they were to be\nlike hired troops, receiving pay for keeping guard from those who were\nprotected by them-the pay was to be no more than would suffice for men\nof simple life; and they were to spend in common, and to live together\nin the continual practice of virtue, which was to be their sole\npursuit.\n\nTim. That was also said.\n\nSoc. Neither did we forget the women; of whom we declared, that\ntheir natures should be assimilated and brought into harmony with\nthose of the men, and that common pursuits should be assigned to\nthem both in time of war and in their ordinary life.\n\nTim. That, again, was as you say.\n\nSoc. And what about the procreation of children? Or rather not the\nproposal too singular to be forgotten? for all wives and children were\nto be in common, to the intent that no one should ever know his own\nchild, but they were to imagine that they were all one family; those\nwho were within a suitable limit of age were to be brothers and\nsisters, those who were of an elder generation parents and\ngrandparents, and those of a younger children and grandchildren.\n\nTim. Yes, and the proposal is easy to remember, as you say.\n\nSoc. And do you also remember how, with a view of securing as far as\nwe could the best breed, we said that the chief magistrates, male\nand female, should contrive secretly, by the use of certain lots, so\nto arrange the nuptial meeting, that the bad of either sex and the\ngood of either sex might pair with their like; and there was to be\nno quarrelling on this account, for they would imagine that the\nunion was a mere accident, and was to be attributed to the lot?\n\nTim. I remember.\n\nSoc. And you remember how we said that the children of the good\nparents were to be educated, and the children of the bad secretly\ndispersed among the inferior citizens; and while they were all growing\nup the rulers were to be on the look-out, and to bring up from below\nin their turn those who were worthy, and those among themselves who\nwere unworthy were to take the places of those who came up?\n\nTim. True.\n\nSoc. Then have I now given you all the heads of our yesterday's\ndiscussion? Or is there anything more, my dear Timaeus, which has been\nomitted?\n\nTim. Nothing, Socrates; it was just as you have said.\n\nSoc. I should like, before proceeding further, to tell you how I\nfeel about the State which we have described. I might compare myself\nto a person who, on beholding beautiful animals either created by\nthe painter's art, or, better still, alive but at rest, is seized with\na desire of seeing them in motion or engaged in some struggle or\nconflict to which their forms appear suited; this is my feeling\nabout the State which we have been describing. There are conflicts\nwhich all cities undergo, and I should like to hear some one tell of\nour own city carrying on a struggle against her neighbours, and how\nshe went out to war in a becoming manner, and when at war showed by\nthe greatness of her actions and the magnanimity of her words in\ndealing with other cities a result worthy of her training and\neducation. Now I, Critias and Hermocrates, am conscious that I\nmyself should never be able to celebrate the city and her citizens\nin a befitting manner, and I am not surprised at my own incapacity; to\nme the wonder is rather that the poets present as well as past are\nno better-not that I mean to depreciate them; but every one can see\nthat they are a tribe of imitators, and will imitate best and most\neasily the life in which they have been brought up; while that which\nis beyond the range of a man's education he finds hard to carry out in\naction, and still harder adequately to represent in language. I am\naware that the Sophists have plenty of brave words and fair\nconceits, but I am afraid that being only wanderers from one city to\nanother, and having never had habitations of their own, they may\nfail in their conception of philosophers and statesmen, and may not\nknow what they do and say in time of war, when they are fighting or\nholding parley with their enemies. And thus people of your class are\nthe only ones remaining who are fitted by nature and education to take\npart at once both in politics and philosophy. Here is Timaeus, of\nLocris in Italy, a city which has admirable laws, and who is himself\nin wealth and rank the equal of any of his fellow-citizens; he has\nheld the most important and honourable offices in his own state,\nand, as I believe, has scaled the heights of all philosophy; and\nhere is Critias, whom every Athenian knows to be no novice in the\nmatters of which we are speaking; and as to, Hermocrates, I am assured\nby many witnesses that his genius and education qualify him to take\npart in any speculation of the kind. And therefore yesterday when I\nsaw that you wanted me to describe the formation of the State, I\nreadily assented, being very well aware, that, if you only would, none\nwere better qualified to carry the discussion further, and that when\nyou had engaged our city in a suitable war, you of all men living\ncould best exhibit her playing a fitting part. When I had completed my\ntask, I in return imposed this other task upon you. You conferred\ntogether and agreed to entertain me to-day, as I had entertained\nyou, with a feast of discourse. Here am I in festive array, and no man\ncan be more ready for the promised banquet.\n\nHer. And we too, Socrates, as Timaeus says, will not be wanting in\nenthusiasm; and there is no excuse for not complying with your\nrequest. As soon as we arrived yesterday at the guest-chamber of\nCritias, with whom we are staying, or rather on our way thither, we\ntalked the matter over, and he told us an ancient tradition, which I\nwish, Critias, that you would repeat to Socrates, so that he may\nhelp us to judge whether it will satisfy his requirements or not.\n\nCrit. I will, if Timaeus, who is our other partner, approves.\n\nTim. I quite approve.\n\nCrit. Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is\ncertainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of\nthe seven sages. He was a relative and a dear friend of my\ngreat-grandfather, Dropides, as he himself says in many passages of\nhis poems; and he told the story to Critias, my grandfather, who\nremembered and repeated it to us. There were of old, he said, great\nand marvellous actions of the Athenian city, which have passed into\noblivion through lapse of time and the destruction of mankind, and one\nin particular, greater than all the rest. This we will now rehearse.\nIt will be a fitting monument of our gratitude to you, and a hymn of\npraise true and worthy of the goddess, on this her day of festival.\n\nSoc. Very good. And what is this ancient famous action of the\nAthenians, which Critias declared, on the authority of Solon, to be\nnot a mere legend, but an actual fact?\n\nCrit. I will tell an old-world story which I heard from an aged man;\nfor Critias, at the time of telling it, was as he said, nearly\nninety years of age, and I was about ten. Now the day was that day\nof the Apaturia which is called the Registration of Youth, at which,\naccording to custom, our parents gave prizes for recitations, and\nthe poems of several poets were recited by us boys, and many of us\nsang the poems of Solon, which at that time had not gone out of\nfashion. One of our tribe, either because he thought so or to please\nCritias, said that in his judgment Solon was not only the wisest of\nmen, but also the noblest of poets. The old man, as I very well\nremember, brightened up at hearing this and said, smiling: Yes,\nAmynander, if Solon had only, like other poets, made poetry the\nbusiness of his life, and had completed the tale which he brought with\nhim from Egypt, and had not been compelled, by reason of the\nfactions and troubles which he found stirring in his own country\nwhen he came home, to attend to other matters, in my opinion he\nwould have been as famous as Homer or Hesiod, or any poet.\n\nAnd what was the tale about, Critias? said Amynander.\n\nAbout the greatest action which the Athenians ever did, and which\nought to have been the most famous, but, through the lapse of time and\nthe destruction of the actors, it has not come down to us.\n\nTell us, said the other, the whole story, and how and from whom\nSolon heard this veritable tradition.\n\nHe replied:-In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river\nNile divides, there is a certain district which is called the district\nof Sais, and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and\nis the city from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for\ntheir foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith, and is\nasserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athene; they\nare great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way\nrelated to them. To this city came Solon, and was received there\nwith great honour; he asked the priests who were most skilful in\nsuch matters, about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither\nhe nor any other Hellene knew anything worth mentioning about the\ntimes of old. On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of\nantiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our\npart of the world-about Phoroneus, who is called \"the first man,\"\nand about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion\nand Pyrrha; and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and\nreckoning up the dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events\nof which he was speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests, who\nwas of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are\nnever anything but children, and there is not an old man among you.\nSolon in return asked him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied,\nthat in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down\namong you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with\nage. And I will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many\ndestructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest\nhave been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other\nlesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story, which\neven you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of\nHelios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he\nwas not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all\nthat was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.\nNow this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of\nthe bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great\nconflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long\nintervals; at such times those who live upon the mountains and in\ndry and lofty places are more liable to destruction than those who\ndwell by rivers or on the seashore. And from this calamity the Nile,\nwho is our never-failing saviour, delivers and preserves us. When,\non the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water,\nthe survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell\non the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are\ncarried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land, neither then\nnor at any other time, does the water come down from above on the\nfields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which\nreason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient.\n\nThe fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of\nsummer does not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in greater,\nsometimes in lesser numbers. And whatever happened either in your\ncountry or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed-if\nthere were any actions noble or great or in any other way\nremarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are\npreserved in our temples. Whereas just when you and other nations\nare beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites\nof civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven,\nlike a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you\nwho are destitute of letters and education; and so you have to begin\nall over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in\nancient times, either among us or among yourselves. As for those\ngenealogies of yours which you just now recounted to us, Solon, they\nare no better than the tales of children. In the first place you\nremember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in\nthe next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land\nthe fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and\nyour whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them\nwhich survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many\ngenerations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no\nwritten word. For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge\nof all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in\nevery way the best governed of all cities, is said to have performed\nthe noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of\nwhich tradition tells, under the face of heaven.\n\nSolon marvelled at his words, and earnestly requested the priests to\ninform him exactly and in order about these former citizens. You are\nwelcome to hear about them, Solon, said the priest, both for your\nown sake and for that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the\ngoddess who is the common patron and parent and educator of both our\ncities. She founded your city a thousand years before ours,\nreceiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race, and\nafterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded\nin our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old. As touching\nyour citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of\ntheir laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of\nthe whole we will hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred\nregisters themselves. If you compare these very laws with ours you\nwill find that many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they\nwere in the olden time. In the first place, there is the caste of\npriests, which is separated from all the others; next, there are the\nartificers, who ply their several crafts by themselves and do not\nintermix; and also there is the class of shepherds and of hunters,\nas well as that of husbandmen; and you will observe, too, that the\nwarriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are\ncommanded by the law to devote themselves solely to military pursuits;\nmoreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style\nof equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first to us, as in\nyour part of the world first to you. Then as to wisdom, do you observe\nhow our law from the very first made a study of the whole order of\nthings, extending even to prophecy and medicine which gives health,\nout of these divine elements deriving what was needful for human life,\nand adding every sort of knowledge which was akin to them. All this\norder and arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when\nestablishing your city; and she chose the spot of earth in which you\nwere born, because she saw that the happy temperament of the seasons\nin that land would produce the wisest of men. Wherefore the goddess,\nwho was a lover both of war and of wisdom, selected and first of all\nsettled that spot which was the most likely to produce men likest\nherself. And there you dwelt, having such laws as these and still\nbetter ones, and excelled all mankind in all virtue, as became the\nchildren and disciples of the gods.\n\nMany great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our\nhistories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and\nvalour. For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked\nmade an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to\nwhich your city put an end. This power came forth out of the\nAtlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and\nthere was an island situated in front of the straits which are by\nyou called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya\nand Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from\nthese you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which\nsurrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of\nHeracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other\nis a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a\nboundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a\ngreat and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and\nseveral others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the\nmen of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of\nHeracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast\npower, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our\ncountry and yours and the whole of the region within the straits;\nand then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her\nvirtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage\nand military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the\nrest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having\nundergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed\nover the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet\nsubjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell\nwithin the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent\nearthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune\nall your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island\nof Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For\nwhich reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable,\nbecause there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the\nsubsidence of the island.\n\nI have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged Critias heard\nfrom Solon and related to us. And when you were speaking yesterday\nabout your city and citizens, the tale which I have just been\nrepeating to you came into my mind, and I remarked with astonishment\nhow, by some mysterious coincidence, you agreed in almost every\nparticular with the narrative of Solon; but I did not like to speak at\nthe moment. For a long time had elapsed, and I had forgotten too much;\nI thought that I must first of all run over the narrative in my own\nmind, and then I would speak. And so I readily assented to your\nrequest yesterday, considering that in all such cases the chief\ndifficulty is to find a tale suitable to our purpose, and that with\nsuch a tale we should be fairly well provided.\n\nAnd therefore, as Hermocrates has told you, on my way home yesterday\nI at once communicated the tale to my companions as I remembered it;\nand after I left them, during the night by thinking I recovered nearly\nthe whole it. Truly, as is often said, the lessons of our childhood\nmake wonderful impression on our memories; for I am not sure that I\ncould remember all the discourse of yesterday, but I should be much\nsurprised if I forgot any of these things which I have heard very long\nago. I listened at the time with childlike interest to the old man's\nnarrative; he was very ready to teach me, and I asked him again and\nagain to repeat his words, so that like an indelible picture they were\nbranded into my mind. As soon as the day broke, I rehearsed them as he\nspoke them to my companions, that they, as well as myself, might\nhave something to say. And now, Socrates, to make an end my preface, I\nam ready to tell you the whole tale. I will give you not only the\ngeneral heads, but the particulars, as they were told to me. The\ncity and citizens, which you yesterday described to us in fiction,\nwe will now transfer to the world of reality. It shall be the\nancient city of Athens, and we will suppose that the citizens whom you\nimagined, were our veritable ancestors, of whom the priest spoke; they\nwill perfectly harmonise, and there will be no inconsistency in saying\nthat the citizens of your republic are these ancient Athenians. Let us\ndivide the subject among us, and all endeavour according to our\nability gracefully to execute the task which you have imposed upon us.\nConsider then, Socrates, if this narrative is suited to the purpose,\nor whether we should seek for some other instead.\n\nSoc. And what other, Critias, can we find that will be better than\nthis, which is natural and suitable to the festival of the goddess,\nand has the very great advantage of being a fact and not a fiction?\nHow or where shall we find another if we abandon this? We cannot,\nand therefore you must tell the tale, and good luck to you; and I in\nreturn for my yesterday's discourse will now rest and be a listener.\n\nCrit. Let me proceed to explain to you, Socrates, the order in which\nwe have arranged our entertainment. Our intention is, that Timaeus,\nwho is the most of an astronomer amongst us, and has made the nature\nof the universe his special study, should speak first, beginning\nwith the generation of the world and going down to the creation of\nman; next, I am to receive the men whom he has created of whom some\nwill have profited by the excellent education which you have given\nthem; and then, in accordance with the tale of Solon, and equally with\nhis law, we will bring them into court and make them citizens, as if\nthey were those very Athenians whom the sacred Egyptian record has\nrecovered from oblivion, and thenceforward we will speak of them as\nAthenians and fellow-citizens.\n\nSoc. I see that I shall receive in my turn a perfect and splendid\nfeast of reason. And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should speak\nnext, after duly calling upon the Gods.\n\nTim. All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right feeling, at the\nbeginning of every enterprise, whether small or great, always call\nupon God. And we, too, who are going to discourse of the nature of the\nuniverse, how created or how existing without creation, if we be not\naltogether out of our wits, must invoke the aid of Gods and\nGoddesses and pray that our words may be acceptable to them and\nconsistent with themselves. Let this, then, be our invocation of the\nGods, to which I add an exhortation of myself to speak in such\nmanner as will be most intelligible to you, and will most accord\nwith my own intent.\n\nFirst then, in my judgment, we must make a distinction and ask, What\nis that which always is and has no becoming; and what is that which is\nalways becoming and never is? That which is apprehended by\nintelligence and reason is always in the same state; but that which is\nconceived by opinion with the help of sensation and without reason, is\nalways in a process of becoming and perishing and never really is. Now\neverything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created\nby some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created. The work of\nthe creator, whenever he looks to the unchangeable and fashions the\nform and nature of his work after an unchangeable pattern, must\nnecessarily be made fair and perfect; but when he looks to the created\nonly, and uses a created pattern, it is not fair or perfect. Was the\nheaven then or the world, whether called by this or by any other\nmore appropriate name-assuming the name, I am asking a question\nwhich has to be asked at the beginning of an enquiry about\nanything-was the world, I say, always in existence and without\nbeginning? or created, and had it a beginning? Created, I reply, being\nvisible and tangible and having a body, and therefore sensible; and\nall sensible things are apprehended by opinion and sense and are in\na process of creation and created. Now that which is created must,\nas we affirm, of necessity be created by a cause. But the father and\nmaker of all this universe is past finding out; and even if we found\nhim, to tell of him to all men would be impossible. And there is still\na question to be asked about him: Which of the patterns had the\nartificer in view when he made the world-the pattern of the\nunchangeable, or of that which is created? If the world be indeed fair\nand the artificer good, it is manifest that he must have looked to\nthat which is eternal; but if what cannot be said without blasphemy is\ntrue, then to the created pattern. Every one will see that he must\nhave looked to, the eternal; for the world is the fairest of creations\nand he is the best of causes. And having been created in this way, the\nworld has been framed in the likeness of that which is apprehended\nby reason and mind and is unchangeable, and must therefore of\nnecessity, if this is admitted, be a copy of something. Now it is\nall-important that the beginning of everything should be according\nto nature. And in speaking of the copy and the original we may\nassume that words are akin to the matter which they describe; when\nthey relate to the lasting and permanent and intelligible, they\nought to be lasting and unalterable, and, as far as their nature\nallows, irrefutable and immovable-nothing less. But when they\nexpress only the copy or likeness and not the eternal things\nthemselves, they need only be likely and analogous to the real\nwords. As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief. If then,\nSocrates, amid the many opinions about the gods and the generation\nof the universe, we are not able to give notions which are\naltogether and in every respect exact and consistent with one another,\ndo not be surprised. Enough, if we adduce probabilities as likely as\nany others; for we must remember that I who am the speaker, and you\nwho are the judges, are only mortal men, and we ought to accept the\ntale which is probable and enquire no further.\n\nSoc. Excellent, Timaeus; and we will do precisely as you bid us. The\nprelude is charming, and is already accepted by us-may we beg of you\nto proceed to the strain?\n\nTim. Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of\ngeneration. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of\nanything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things\nshould be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest\nsense the origin of creation and of the world, as we shall do well\nin believing on the testimony of wise men: God desired that all things\nshould be good and nothing bad, so far as this was attainable.\nWherefore also finding the whole visible sphere not at rest, but\nmoving in an irregular and disorderly fashion, out of disorder he\nbrought order, considering that this was in every way better than\nthe other. Now the deeds of the best could never be or have been other\nthan the fairest; and the creator, reflecting on the things which\nare by nature visible, found that no unintelligent creature taken as a\nwhole was fairer than the intelligent taken as a whole; and that\nintelligence could not be present in anything which was devoid of\nsoul. For which reason, when he was framing the universe, he put\nintelligence in soul, and soul in body, that he might be the creator\nof a work which was by nature fairest and best. Wherefore, using the\nlanguage of probability, we may say that the world became a living\ncreature truly endowed with soul and intelligence by the providence of\nGod.\n\nThis being supposed, let us proceed to the next stage: In the\nlikeness of what animal did the Creator make the world? It would be an\nunworthy thing to liken it to any nature which exists as a part\nonly; for nothing can be beautiful which is like any imperfect\nthing; but let us suppose the world to be the very image of that whole\nof which all other animals both individually and in their tribes are\nportions. For the original of the universe contains in itself all\nintelligible beings, just as this world comprehends us and all other\nvisible creatures. For the Deity, intending to make this world like\nthe fairest and most perfect of intelligible beings, framed one\nvisible animal comprehending within itself all other animals of a\nkindred nature. Are we right in saying that there is one world, or\nthat they are many and infinite? There must be one only, if the\ncreated copy is to accord with the original. For that which includes\nall other intelligible creatures cannot have a second or companion; in\nthat case there would be need of another living being which would\ninclude both, and of which they would be parts, and the likeness would\nbe more truly said to resemble not them, but that other which included\nthem. In order then that the world might be solitary, like the perfect\nanimal, the creator made not two worlds or an infinite number of them;\nbut there is and ever will be one only-begotten and created heaven.\n\nNow that which is created is of necessity corporeal, and also\nvisible and tangible. And nothing is visible where there is no fire,\nor tangible which has no solidity, and nothing is solid without earth.\nWherefore also God in the beginning of creation made the body of the\nuniverse to consist of fire and earth. But two things cannot be\nrightly put together without a third; there must be some bond of union\nbetween them. And the fairest bond is that which makes the most\ncomplete fusion of itself and the things which it combines; and\nproportion is best adapted to effect such a union. For whenever in any\nthree numbers, whether cube or square, there is a mean, which is to\nthe last term what the first term is to it; and again, when the mean\nis to the first term as the last term is to the mean-then the mean\nbecoming first and last, and the first and last both becoming means,\nthey will all of them of necessity come to be the same, and having\nbecome the same with one another will be all one. If the universal\nframe had been created a surface only and having no depth, a single\nmean would have sufficed to bind together itself and the other\nterms; but now, as the world must be solid, and solid bodies are\nalways compacted not by one mean but by two, God placed water and\nair in the mean between fire and earth, and made them to have the same\nproportion so far as was possible (as fire is to air so is air to\nwater, and as air is to water so is water to earth); and thus he bound\nand put together a visible and tangible heaven. And for these reasons,\nand out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the\nworld was created, and it was harmonised by proportion, and\ntherefore has the spirit of friendship; and having been reconciled\nto itself, it was indissoluble by the hand of any other than the\nframer.\n\nNow the creation took up the whole of each of the four elements; for\nthe Creator compounded the world out of all the fire and all the water\nand all the air and all the earth, leaving no part of any of them\nnor any power of them outside. His intention was, in the first\nplace, that the animal should be as far as possible a perfect whole\nand of perfect parts: secondly, that it should be one, leaving no\nremnants out of which another such world might be created: and also\nthat it should be free from old age and unaffected by disease.\nConsidering that if heat and cold and other powerful forces which\nunite bodies surround and attack them from without when they are\nunprepared, they decompose them, and by bringing diseases and old\nage upon them, make them waste away-for this cause and on these\ngrounds he made the world one whole, having every part entire, and\nbeing therefore perfect and not liable to old age and disease. And\nhe gave to the world the figure which was suitable and also natural.\nNow to the animal which was to comprehend all animals, that figure was\nsuitable which comprehends within itself all other figures.\nWherefore he made the world in the form of a globe, round as from a\nlathe, having its extremes in every direction equidistant from the\ncentre, the most perfect and the most like itself of all figures;\nfor he considered that the like is infinitely fairer than the\nunlike. This he finished off, making the surface smooth all around for\nmany reasons; in the first place, because the living being had no need\nof eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor\nof ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no\nsurrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any\nuse of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get\nrid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which\nwent from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of\ndesign he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food,\nand all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For\nthe Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would\nbe far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had\nno need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the\nCreator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had\nhe any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the\nmovement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of\nall the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence;\nand he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot,\nwithin his own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions\nwere taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their\ndeviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the\nuniverse was created without legs and without feet.\n\nSuch was the whole plan of the eternal God about the god that was to\nbe, to whom for this reason he gave a body, smooth and even, having\na surface in every direction equidistant from the centre, a body\nentire and perfect, and formed out of perfect bodies. And in the\ncentre he put the soul, which he diffused throughout the body,\nmaking it also to be the exterior environment of it; and he made the\nuniverse a circle moving in a circle, one and solitary, yet by\nreason of its excellence able to converse with itself, and needing\nno other friendship or acquaintance. Having these purposes in view\nhe created the world a blessed god.\n\nNow God did not make the soul after the body, although we are\nspeaking of them in this order; for having brought them together he\nwould never have allowed that the elder should be ruled by the\nyounger; but this is a random manner of speaking which we have,\nbecause somehow we ourselves too are very much under the dominion of\nchance. Whereas he made the soul in origin and excellence prior to and\nolder than the body, to be the ruler and mistress, of whom the body\nwas to be the subject. And he made her out of the following elements\nand on this wise: Out of the indivisible and unchangeable, and also\nout of that which is divisible and has to do with material bodies,\nhe compounded a third and intermediate kind of essence, partaking of\nthe nature of the same and of the other, and this compound he placed\naccordingly in a mean between the indivisible, and the divisible and\nmaterial. He took the three elements of the same, the other, and the\nessence, and mingled them into one form, compressing by force the\nreluctant and unsociable nature of the other into the same. When he\nhad mingled them with the essence and out of three made one, he\nagain divided this whole into as many portions as was fitting, each\nportion being a compound of the same, the other, and the essence.\nAnd he proceeded to divide after this manner:-First of all, he took\naway one part of the whole [1], and then he separated a second part\nwhich was double the first [2], and then he took away a third part\nwhich was half as much again as the second and three times as much\nas the first [3], and then he took a fourth part which was twice as\nmuch as the second [4], and a fifth part which was three times the\nthird [9], and a sixth part which was eight times the first [8], and a\nseventh part which was twenty-seven times the first [27]. After this\nhe filled up the double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8] and the\ntriple [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27] cutting off yet other portions\nfrom the mixture and placing them in the intervals, so that in each\ninterval there were two kinds of means, the one exceeding and exceeded\nby equal parts of its extremes [as for example 1, 4/3, 2, in which the\nmean 4/3 is one-third of 1 more than 1, and one-third of 2 less than\n2], the other being that kind of mean which exceeds and is exceeded by\nan equal number. Where there were intervals of 3/2 and of 4/3 and of\n9/8, made by the connecting terms in the former intervals, he filled\nup all the intervals of 4/3 with the interval of 9/8, leaving a\nfraction over; and the interval which this fraction expressed was in\nthe ratio of 256 to 243. And thus the whole mixture out of which he\ncut these portions was all exhausted by him. This entire compound he\ndivided lengthways into two parts, which he joined to one another at\nthe centre like the letter X, and bent them into a circular form,\nconnecting them with themselves and each other at the point opposite\nto their original meeting-point; and, comprehending them in a\nuniform revolution upon the same axis, he made the one the outer and\nthe other the inner circle. Now the motion of the outer circle he\ncalled the motion of the same, and the motion of the inner circle\nthe motion of the other or diverse. The motion of the same he\ncarried round by the side to the right, and the motion of the\ndiverse diagonally to the left. And he gave dominion to the motion\nof the same and like, for that he left single and undivided; but the\ninner motion he divided in six places and made seven unequal circles\nhaving their intervals in ratios of two-and three, three of each,\nand bade the orbits proceed in a direction opposite to one another;\nand three [Sun, Mercury, Venus] he made to move with equal\nswiftness, and the remaining four [Moon, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter] to\nmove with unequal swiftness to the three and to one another, but in\ndue proportion.\n\nNow when the Creator had framed the soul according to his will, he\nformed within her the corporeal universe, and brought the two\ntogether, and united them centre to centre. The soul, interfused\neverywhere from the centre to the circumference of heaven, of which\nalso she is the external envelopment, herself turning in herself,\nbegan a divine beginning of never ceasing and rational life enduring\nthroughout all time. The body of heaven is visible, but the soul is\ninvisible, and partakes of reason and harmony, and being made by the\nbest of intellectual and everlasting natures, is the best of things\ncreated. And because she is composed of the same and of the other\nand of the essence, these three, and is divided and united in due\nproportion, and in her revolutions returns upon herself, the soul,\nwhen touching anything which has essence, whether dispersed in parts\nor undivided, is stirred through all her powers, to declare the\nsameness or difference of that thing and some other; and to what\nindividuals are related, and by what affected, and in what way and how\nand when, both in the world of generation and in the world of\nimmutable being. And when reason, which works with equal truth,\nwhether she be in the circle of the diverse or of the same-in\nvoiceless silence holding her onward course in the sphere of the\nself-moved-when reason, I say, is hovering around the sensible world\nand when the circle of the diverse also moving truly imparts the\nintimations of sense to the whole soul, then arise opinions and\nbeliefs sure and certain. But when reason is concerned with the\nrational, and the circle of the same moving smoothly declares it, then\nintelligence and knowledge are necessarily perfected. And if any one\naffirms that in which these two are found to be other than the soul,\nhe will say the very opposite of the truth.\n\nWhen the father creator saw the creature which he had made moving\nand living, the created image of the eternal gods, he rejoiced, and in\nhis joy determined to make the copy still more like the original;\nand as this was eternal, he sought to make the universe eternal, so\nfar as might be. Now the nature of the ideal being was everlasting,\nbut to bestow this attribute in its fulness upon a creature was\nimpossible. Wherefore he resolved to have a moving image of\neternity, and when he set in order the heaven, he made this image\neternal but moving according to number, while eternity itself rests in\nunity; and this image we call time. For there were no days and\nnights and months and years before the heaven was created, but when he\nconstructed the heaven he created them also. They are all parts of\ntime, and the past and future are created species of time, which we\nunconsciously but wrongly transfer to the eternal essence; for we\nsay that he \"was,\" he \"is,\" he \"will be,\" but the truth is that \"is\"\nalone is properly attributed to him, and that \"was\" and \"will be\" only\nto be spoken of becoming in time, for they are motions, but that which\nis immovably the same cannot become older or younger by time, nor ever\ndid or has become, or hereafter will be, older or younger, nor is\nsubject at all to any of those states which affect moving and sensible\nthings and of which generation is the cause. These are the forms of\ntime, which imitates eternity and revolves according to a law of\nnumber. Moreover, when we say that what has become is become and\nwhat becomes is becoming, and that what will become is about to become\nand that the non-existent is non-existent-all these are inaccurate\nmodes of expression. But perhaps this whole subject will be more\nsuitably discussed on some other occasion.\n\nTime, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in\norder that, having been created together, if ever there was to be a\ndissolution of them, they might be dissolved together. It was framed\nafter the pattern of the eternal nature, that it might resemble this\nas far as was possible; for the pattern exists from eternity, and\nthe created heaven has been, and is, and will be, in all time. Such\nwas the mind and thought of God in the creation of time. The sun and\nmoon and five other stars, which are called the planets, were\ncreated by him in order to distinguish and preserve the numbers of\ntime; and when he had made-their several bodies, he placed them in the\norbits in which the circle of the other was revolving-in seven\norbits seven stars. First, there was the moon in the orbit nearest the\nearth, and next the sun, in the second orbit above the earth; then\ncame the morning star and the star sacred to Hermes, moving in\norbits which have an equal swiftness with the sun, but in an\nopposite direction; and this is the reason why the sun and Hermes\nand Lucifer overtake and are overtaken by each other. To enumerate the\nplaces which he assigned to the other stars, and to give all the\nreasons why he assigned them, although a secondary matter, would\ngive more trouble than the primary. These things at some future\ntime, when we are at leisure, may have the consideration which they\ndeserve, but not at present.\n\nNow, when all the stars which were necessary to the creation of time\nhad attained a motion suitable to them,-and had become living\ncreatures having bodies fastened by vital chains, and learnt their\nappointed task, moving in the motion of the diverse, which is\ndiagonal, and passes through and is governed by the motion of the\nsame, they revolved, some in a larger and some in a lesser orbit-those\nwhich had the lesser orbit revolving faster, and those which had the\nlarger more slowly. Now by reason of the motion of the same, those\nwhich revolved fastest appeared to be overtaken by those which moved\nslower although they really overtook them; for the motion of the\nsame made them all turn in a spiral, and, because some went one way\nand some another, that which receded most slowly from the sphere of\nthe same, which was the swiftest, appeared to follow it most nearly.\nThat there might be some visible measure of their relative swiftness\nand slowness as they proceeded in their eight courses, God lighted a\nfire, which we now call the sun, in the second from the earth of these\norbits, that it might give light to the whole of heaven, and that\nthe animals, as many as nature intended, might participate in\nnumber, learning arithmetic from the revolution of the same and the\nlike. Thus then, and for this reason the night and the day were\ncreated, being the period of the one most intelligent revolution.\nAnd the month is accomplished when the moon has completed her orbit\nand overtaken the sun, and the year when the sun has completed his own\norbit. Mankind, with hardly an exception, have not remarked the\nperiods of the other stars, and they have no name for them, and do not\nmeasure them against one another by the help of number, and hence they\ncan scarcely be said to know that their wanderings, being infinite\nin number and admirable for their variety, make up time. And yet there\nis no difficulty in seeing that the perfect number of time fulfils the\nperfect year when all the eight revolutions, having their relative\ndegrees of swiftness, are accomplished together and attain their\ncompletion at the same time, measured by the rotation of the same\nand equally moving. After this manner, and for these reasons, came\ninto being such of the stars as in their heavenly progress received\nreversals of motion, to the end that the created heaven might\nimitate the eternal nature, and be as like as possible to the\nperfect and intelligible animal.\n\nThus far and until the birth of time the created universe was made\nin the likeness of the original, but inasmuch as all animals were\nnot yet comprehended therein, it was still unlike. What remained,\nthe creator then proceeded to fashion after the nature of the pattern.\nNow as in the ideal animal the mind perceives ideas or species of a\ncertain nature and number, he thought that this created animal ought\nto have species of a like nature and number. There are four such;\none of them is the heavenly race of the gods; another, the race of\nbirds whose way is in the air; the third, the watery species; and\nthe fourth, the pedestrian and land creatures. Of the heavenly and\ndivine, he created the greater part out of fire, that they might be\nthe brightest of all things and fairest to behold, and he fashioned\nthem after the likeness of the universe in the figure of a circle, and\nmade them follow the intelligent motion of the supreme, distributing\nthem over the whole circumference of heaven, which was to be a true\ncosmos or glorious world spangled with them all over. And he gave to\neach of them two movements: the first, a movement on the same spot\nafter the same manner, whereby they ever continue to think\nconsistently the same thoughts about the same things; the second, a\nforward movement, in which they are controlled by the revolution of\nthe same and the like; but by the other five motions they were\nunaffected, in order that each of them might attain the highest\nperfection. And for this reason the fixed stars were created, to be\ndivine and eternal animals, ever-abiding and revolving after the\nsame manner and on the same spot; and the other stars which reverse\ntheir motion and are subject to deviations of this kind, were\ncreated in the manner already described. The earth, which is our\nnurse, clinging around the pole which is extended through the\nuniverse, he framed to be the guardian and artificer of night and day,\nfirst and eldest of gods that are in the interior of heaven. Vain\nwould be the attempt to tell all the figures of them circling as in\ndance, and their juxtapositions, and the return of them in their\nrevolutions upon themselves, and their approximations, and to say\nwhich of these deities in their conjunctions meet, and which of them\nare in opposition, and in what order they get behind and before one\nanother, and when they are severally eclipsed to our sight and again\nreappear, sending terrors and intimations of the future to those who\ncannot calculate their movements-to attempt to tell of all this\nwithout a visible representation of the heavenly system would be\nlabour in vain. Enough on this head; and now let what we have said\nabout the nature of the created and visible gods have an end.\n\nTo know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, and\nwe must accept the traditions of the men of old time who affirm\nthemselves to be the offspring of the gods-that is what they say-and\nthey must surely have known their own ancestors. How can we doubt\nthe word of the children of the gods? Although they give no probable\nor certain proofs, still, as they declare that they are speaking of\nwhat took place in their own family, we must conform to custom and\nbelieve them. In this manner, then, according to them, the genealogy\nof these gods is to be received and set forth.\n\nOceanus and Tethys were the children of Earth and Heaven, and from\nthese sprang Phorcys and Cronos and Rhea, and all that generation; and\nfrom Cronos and Rhea sprang Zeus and Here, and all those who are\nsaid to be their brethren, and others who were the children of these.\n\nNow, when all of them, both those who visibly appear in their\nrevolutions as well as those other gods who are of a more retiring\nnature, had come into being, the creator of the universe addressed\nthem in these words: \"Gods, children of gods, who are my works, and of\nwhom I am the artificer and father, my creations are indissoluble,\nif so I will. All that is bound may be undone, but only an evil\nbeing would wish to undo that which is harmonious and happy.\nWherefore, since ye are but creatures, ye are not altogether\nimmortal and indissoluble, but ye shall certainly not be dissolved,\nnor be liable to the fate of death, having in my will a greater and\nmightier bond than those with which ye were bound at the time of\nyour birth. And now listen to my instructions:-Three tribes of\nmortal beings remain to be created-without them the universe will be\nincomplete, for it will not contain every kind of animal which it\nought to contain, if it is to be perfect. On the other hand, if they\nwere created by me and received life at my hands, they would be on\nan equality with the gods. In order then that they may be mortal,\nand that this universe may be truly universal, do ye, according to\nyour natures, betake yourselves to the formation of animals, imitating\nthe power which was shown by me in creating you. The part of them\nworthy of the name immortal, which is called divine and is the guiding\nprinciple of those who are willing to follow justice and you-of that\ndivine part I will myself sow the seed, and having made a beginning, I\nwill hand the work over to you. And do ye then interweave the mortal\nwith the immortal, and make and beget living creatures, and give\nthem food, and make them to grow, and receive them again in death.\"\n\nThus he spake, and once more into the cup in which he had previously\nmingled the soul of the universe he poured the remains of the\nelements, and mingled them in much the same manner; they were not,\nhowever, pure as before, but diluted to the second and third degree.\nAnd having made it he divided the whole mixture into souls equal in\nnumber to the stars, and assigned each soul to a star; and having\nthere placed them as in a chariot, he showed them the nature of the\nuniverse, and declared to them the laws of destiny, according to which\ntheir first birth would be one and the same for all,-no one should\nsuffer a disadvantage at his hands; they were to be sown in the\ninstruments of time severally adapted to them, and to come forth the\nmost religious of animals; and as human nature was of two kinds, the\nsuperior race would here after be called man. Now, when they should be\nimplanted in bodies by necessity, and be always gaining or losing some\npart of their bodily substance, then in the first place it would be\nnecessary that they should all have in them one and the same faculty\nof sensation, arising out of irresistible impressions; in the second\nplace, they must have love, in which pleasure and pain mingle; also\nfear and anger, and the feelings which are akin or opposite to them;\nif they conquered these they would live righteously, and if they\nwere conquered by them, unrighteously. He who lived well during his\nappointed time was to return and dwell in his native star, and there\nhe would have a blessed and congenial existence. But if he failed in\nattaining this, at the second birth he would pass into a woman, and\nif, when in that state of being, he did not desist from evil, he would\ncontinually be changed into some brute who resembled him in the evil\nnature which he had acquired, and would not cease from his toils and\ntransformations until he followed the revolution of the same and the\nlike within him, and overcame by the help of reason the turbulent\nand irrational mob of later accretions, made up of fire and air and\nwater and earth, and returned to the form of his first and better\nstate. Having given all these laws to his creatures, that he might\nbe guiltless of future evil in any of them, the creator sowed some\nof them in the earth, and some in the moon, and some in the other\ninstruments of time; and when he had sown them he committed to the\nyounger gods the fashioning of their mortal bodies, and desired them\nto furnish what was still lacking to the human soul, and having made\nall the suitable additions, to rule over them, and to pilot the mortal\nanimal in the best and wisest manner which they could, and avert\nfrom him all but self-inflicted evils.\n\nWhen the creator had made all these ordinances he remained in his\nown accustomed nature, and his children heard and were obedient to\ntheir father's word, and receiving from him the immortal principle\nof a mortal creature, in imitation of their own creator they\nborrowed portions of fire, and earth, and water, and air from the\nworld, which were hereafter to be restored-these they took and\nwelded them together, not with the indissoluble chains by which they\nwere themselves bound, but with little pegs too small to be visible,\nmaking up out of all the four elements each separate body, and\nfastening the courses of the immortal soul in a body which was in a\nstate of perpetual influx and efflux. Now these courses, detained as\nin a vast river, neither overcame nor were overcome; but were hurrying\nand hurried to and fro, so that the whole animal was moved and\nprogressed, irregularly however and irrationally and anyhow, in all\nthe six directions of motion, wandering backwards and forwards, and\nright and left, and up and down, and in all the six directions. For\ngreat as was the advancing and retiring flood which provided\nnourishment, the affections produced by external contact caused\nstill greater tumult-when the body of any one met and came into\ncollision with some external fire, or with the solid earth or the\ngliding waters, or was caught in the tempest borne on the air, and the\nmotions produced by any of these impulses were carried through the\nbody to the soul. All such motions have consequently received the\ngeneral name of \"sensations,\" which they still retain. And they did in\nfact at that time create a very great and mighty movement; uniting\nwith the ever flowing stream in stirring up and violently shaking\nthe courses of the soul, they completely stopped the revolution of the\nsame by their opposing current, and hindered it from predominating and\nadvancing; and they so disturbed the nature of the other or diverse,\nthat the three double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8], and the\nthree triple intervals [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27], together with the\nmean terms and connecting links which are expressed by the ratios of 3\n: 2, and 4 : 3, and of 9 : 8-these, although they cannot be wholly\nundone except by him who united them, were twisted by them in all\nsorts of ways, and the circles were broken and disordered in every\npossible manner, so that when they moved they were tumbling to pieces,\nand moved irrationally, at one time in a reverse direction, and then\nagain obliquely, and then upside down, as you might imagine a person\nwho is upside down and has his head leaning upon the ground and his\nfeet up against something in the air; and when he is in such a\nposition, both he and the spectator fancy that the right of either\nis his left, and left right. If, when powerfully experiencing these\nand similar effects, the revolutions of the soul come in contact\nwith some external thing, either of the class of the same or of the\nother, they speak of the same or of the other in a manner the very\nopposite of the truth; and they become false and foolish, and there is\nno course or revolution in them which has a guiding or directing\npower; and if again any sensations enter in violently from without and\ndrag after them the whole vessel of the soul, then the courses of\nthe soul, though they seem to conquer, are really conquered.\n\nAnd by reason of all these affections, the soul, when encased in a\nmortal body, now, as in the beginning, is at first without\nintelligence; but when the flood of growth and nutriment abates, and\nthe courses of the soul, calming down, go their own way and become\nsteadier as time goes on, then the several circles return to their\nnatural form, and their revolutions are corrected, and they call the\nsame and the other by their right names, and make the possessor of\nthem to become a rational being. And if these combine in him with\nany true nurture or education, he attains the fulness and health of\nthe perfect man, and escapes the worst disease of all; but if he\nneglects education he walks lame to the end of his life, and returns\nimperfect and good for nothing to the world below. This, however, is a\nlater stage; at present we must treat more exactly the subject\nbefore us, which involves a preliminary enquiry into the generation of\nthe body and its members, and as to how the soul was created-for\nwhat reason and by what providence of the gods; and holding fast to\nprobability, we must pursue our way.\n\nFirst, then, the gods, imitating the spherical shape of the\nuniverse, enclosed the two divine courses in a spherical body, that,\nnamely, which we now term the head, being the most divine part of us\nand the lord of all that is in us: to this the gods, when they put\ntogether the body, gave all the other members to be servants,\nconsidering that it partook of every sort of motion. In order then\nthat it might not tumble about among the high and deep places of the\nearth, but might be able to get over the one and out of the other,\nthey provided the body to be its vehicle and means of locomotion;\nwhich consequently had length and was furnished with four limbs\nextended and flexible; these God contrived to be instruments of\nlocomotion with which it might take hold and find support, and so be\nable to pass through all places, carrying on high the dwelling-place\nof the most sacred and divine part of us. Such was the origin of\nlegs and hands, which for this reason were attached to every man;\nand the gods, deeming the front part of man to be more honourable\nand more fit to command than the hinder part, made us to move mostly\nin a forward direction. Wherefore man must needs have his front part\nunlike and distinguished from the rest of his body.\n\nAnd so in the vessel of the head, they first of all put a face in\nwhich they inserted organs to minister in all things to the providence\nof the soul, and they appointed this part, which has authority, to\nbe by nature the part which is in front. And of the organs they\nfirst contrived the eyes to give light, and the principle according to\nwhich they were inserted was as follows: So much of fire as would\nnot burn, but gave a gentle light, they formed into a substance akin\nto the light of every-day life; and the pure fire which is within us\nand related thereto they made to flow through the eyes in a stream\nsmooth and dense, compressing the whole eye, and especially the centre\npart, so that it kept out everything of a coarser nature, and\nallowed to pass only this pure element. When the light of day\nsurrounds the stream of vision, then like falls upon like, and they\ncoalesce, and one body is formed by natural affinity in the line of\nvision, wherever the light that falls from within meets with an\nexternal object. And the whole stream of vision, being similarly\naffected in virtue of similarity, diffuses the motions of what it\ntouches or what touches it over the whole body, until they reach the\nsoul, causing that perception which we call sight. But when night\ncomes on and the external and kindred fire departs, then the stream of\nvision is cut off; for going forth to an unlike element it is\nchanged and extinguished, being no longer of one nature with the\nsurrounding atmosphere which is now deprived of fire: and so the eye\nno longer sees, and we feel disposed to sleep. For when the eyelids,\nwhich the gods invented for the preservation of sight, are closed,\nthey keep in the internal fire; and the power of the fire diffuses and\nequalises the inward motions; when they are equalised, there is\nrest, and when the rest is profound, sleep comes over us scarce\ndisturbed by dreams; but where the greater motions still remain, of\nwhatever nature and in whatever locality, they engender\ncorresponding visions in dreams, which are remembered by us when we\nare awake and in the external world. And now there is no longer any\ndifficulty in understanding the creation of images in mirrors and\nall smooth and bright surfaces. For from the communion of the internal\nand external fires, and again from the union of them and their\nnumerous transformations when they meet in the mirror, all these\nappearances of necessity arise, when the fire from the face\ncoalesces with the fire from the eye on the bright and smooth surface.\nAnd right appears left and left right, because the visual rays come\ninto contact with the rays emitted by the object in a manner\ncontrary to the usual mode of meeting; but the right appears right,\nand the left left, when the position of one of the two concurring\nlights is reversed; and this happens when the mirror is concave and\nits smooth surface repels the right stream of vision to the left side,\nand the left to the right. Or if the mirror be turned vertically, then\nthe concavity makes the countenance appear to be all upside down,\nand the lower rays are driven upwards and the upper downwards.\n\nAll these are to be reckoned among the second and co-operative\ncauses which God, carrying into execution the idea of the best as\nfar as possible, uses as his ministers. They are thought by most men\nnot to be the second, but the prime causes of all things, because they\nfreeze and heat, and contract and dilate, and the like. But they are\nnot so, for they are incapable of reason or intellect; the only\nbeing which can properly have mind is the invisible soul, whereas fire\nand water, and earth and air, are all of them visible bodies. The\nlover of intellect and knowledge ought to explore causes of\nintelligent nature first of all, and, secondly, of those things which,\nbeing moved by others, are compelled to move others. And this is\nwhat we too must do. Both kinds of causes should be acknowledged by\nus, but a distinction should be made between those which are endowed\nwith mind and are the workers of things fair and good, and those which\nare deprived of intelligence and always produce chance effects without\norder or design. Of the second or co-operative causes of sight,\nwhich help to give to the eyes the power which they now possess,\nenough has been said. I will therefore now proceed to speak of the\nhigher use and purpose for which God has given them to us. The sight\nin my opinion is the source of the greatest benefit to us, for had\nwe never seen the stars, and the sun, and the heaven, none of the\nwords which we have spoken about the universe would ever have been\nuttered. But now the sight of day and night, and the months and the\nrevolutions of the years, have created number, and have given us a\nconception of time, and the power of enquiring about the nature of the\nuniverse; and from this source we have derived philosophy, than\nwhich no greater good ever was or will be given by the gods to\nmortal man. This is the greatest boon of sight: and of the lesser\nbenefits why should I speak? even the ordinary man if he were deprived\nof them would bewail his loss, but in vain. Thus much let me say\nhowever: God invented and gave us sight to the end that we might\nbehold the courses of intelligence in the heaven, and apply them to\nthe courses of our own intelligence which are akin to them, the\nunperturbed to the perturbed; and that we, learning them and partaking\nof the natural truth of reason, might imitate the absolutely\nunerring courses of God and regulate our own vagaries. The same may be\naffirmed of speech and hearing: they have been given by the gods to\nthe same end and for a like reason. For this is the principal end of\nspeech, whereto it most contributes. Moreover, so much of music as\nis adapted to the sound of the voice and to the sense of hearing is\ngranted to us for the sake of harmony; and harmony, which has\nmotions akin to the revolutions of our souls, is not regarded by the\nintelligent votary of the Muses as given by them with a view to\nirrational pleasure, which is deemed to be the purpose of it in our\nday, but as meant to correct any discord which may have arisen in\nthe courses of the soul, and to be our ally in bringing her into\nharmony and agreement with herself; and rhythm too was given by them\nfor the same reason, on account of the irregular and graceless ways\nwhich prevail among mankind generally, and to help us against them.\n\nThus far in what we have been saying, with small exception, the\nworks of intelligence have been set forth; and now we must place by\nthe side of them in our discourse the things which come into being\nthrough necessity-for the creation is mixed, being made up of\nnecessity and mind. Mind, the ruling power, persuaded necessity to\nbring the greater part of created things to perfection, and thus and\nafter this manner in the beginning, when the influence of reason got\nthe better of necessity, the universe was created. But if a person\nwill truly tell of the way in which the work was accomplished, he must\ninclude the other influence of the variable cause as well.\nWherefore, we must return again and find another suitable beginning,\nas about the former matters, so also about these. To which end we must\nconsider the nature of fire, and water, and air, and earth, such as\nthey were prior to the creation of the heaven, and what was\nhappening to them in this previous state; for no one has as yet\nexplained the manner of their generation, but we speak of fire and the\nrest of them, whatever they mean, as though men knew their natures,\nand we maintain them to be the first principles and letters or\nelements of the whole, when they cannot reasonably be compared by a\nman of any sense even to syllables or first compounds. And let me\nsay thus much: I will not now speak of the first principle or\nprinciples of all things, or by whatever name they are to be called,\nfor this reason-because it is difficult to set forth my opinion\naccording to the method of discussion which we are at present\nemploying. Do not imagine, any more than I can bring myself to\nimagine, that I should be right in undertaking so great and\ndifficult a task. Remembering what I said at first about\nprobability, I will do my best to give as probable an explanation as\nany other-or rather, more probable; and I will first go back to the\nbeginning and try to speak of each thing and of all. Once more,\nthen, at the commencement of my discourse, I call upon God, and beg\nhim to be our saviour out of a strange and unwonted enquiry, and to\nbring us to the haven of probability. So now let us begin again.\n\nThis new beginning of our discussion of the universe requires a\nfuller division than the former; for then we made two classes, now a\nthird must be revealed. The two sufficed for the former discussion:\none, which we assumed, was a pattern intelligible and always the same;\nand the second was only the imitation of the pattern, generated and\nvisible. There is also a third kind which we did not distinguish at\nthe time, conceiving that the two would be enough. But now the\nargument seems to require that we should set forth in words another\nkind, which is difficult of explanation and dimly seen. What nature\nare we to attribute to this new kind of being? We reply, that it is\nthe receptacle, and in a manner the nurse, of all generation. I have\nspoken the truth; but I must express myself in clearer language, and\nthis will be an arduous task for many reasons, and in particular\nbecause I must first raise questions concerning fire and the other\nelements, and determine what each of them is; for to say, with any\nprobability or certitude, which of them should be called water\nrather than fire, and which should be called any of them rather than\nall or some one of them, is a difficult matter. How, then, shall we\nsettle this point, and what questions about the elements may be fairly\nraised?\n\nIn the first place, we see that what we just now called water, by\ncondensation, I suppose, becomes stone and earth; and this same\nelement, when melted and dispersed, passes into vapour and air. Air,\nagain, when inflamed, becomes fire; and again fire, when condensed and\nextinguished, passes once more into the form of air; and once more,\nair, when collected and condensed, produces cloud and mist; and from\nthese, when still more compressed, comes flowing water, and from water\ncomes earth and stones once more; and thus generation appears to be\ntransmitted from one to the other in a circle. Thus, then, as the\nseveral elements never present themselves in the same form, how can\nany one have the assurance to assert positively that any of them,\nwhatever it may be, is one thing rather than another? No one can.\nBut much the safest plan is to speak of them as follows:-Anything\nwhich we see to be continually changing, as, for example, fire, we\nmust not call \"this\" or \"that,\" but rather say that it is \"of such a\nnature\"; nor let us speak of water as \"this\"; but always as \"such\";\nnor must we imply that there is any stability in any of those things\nwhich we indicate by the use of the words \"this\" and \"that,\" supposing\nourselves to signify something thereby; for they are too volatile to\nbe detained in any such expressions as \"this,\" or \"that,\" or \"relative\nto this,\" or any other mode of speaking which represents them as\npermanent. We ought not to apply \"this\" to any of them, but rather the\nword \"such\"; which expresses the similar principle circulating in each\nand all of them; for example, that should be called \"fire\" which is of\nsuch a nature always, and so of everything that has generation. That\nin which the elements severally grow up, and appear, and decay, is\nalone to be called by the name \"this\" or \"that\"; but that which is\nof a certain nature, hot or white, or anything which admits of\nopposite equalities, and all things that are compounded of them, ought\nnot to be so denominated. Let me make another attempt to explain my\nmeaning more clearly. Suppose a person to make all kinds of figures of\ngold and to be always transmuting one form into all the\nrest-somebody points to one of them and asks what it is. By far the\nsafest and truest answer is, That is gold; and not to call the\ntriangle or any other figures which are formed in the gold \"these,\" as\nthough they had existence, since they are in process of change while\nhe is making the assertion; but if the questioner be willing to take\nthe safe and indefinite expression, \"such,\" we should be satisfied.\nAnd the same argument applies to the universal nature which receives\nall bodies-that must be always called the same; for, while receiving\nall things, she never departs at all from her own nature, and never in\nany way, or at any time, assumes a form like that of any of the things\nwhich enter into her; she is the natural recipient of all impressions,\nand is stirred and informed by them, and appears different from time\nto time by reason of them. But the forms which enter into and go out\nof her are the likenesses of real existences modelled after their\npatterns in wonderful and inexplicable manner, which we will hereafter\ninvestigate. For the present we have only to conceive of three\nnatures: first, that which is in process of generation; secondly, that\nin which the generation takes place; and thirdly, that of which the\nthing generated is a resemblance. And we may liken the receiving\nprinciple to a mother, and the source or spring to a father, and the\nintermediate nature to a child; and may remark further, that if the\nmodel is to take every variety of form, then the matter in which the\nmodel is fashioned will not be duly prepared, unless it is formless,\nand free from the impress of any of these shapes which it is hereafter\nto receive from without. For if the matter were like any of the\nsupervening forms, then whenever any opposite or entirely different\nnature was stamped upon its surface, it would take the impression\nbadly, because it would intrude its own shape. Wherefore, that which\nis to receive all forms should have no form; as in making perfumes\nthey first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive\nthe scent shall be as inodorous as possible; or as those who wish to\nimpress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous\nimpression to remain, but begin by making the surface as even and\nsmooth as possible. In the same way that which is to receive\nperpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all\neternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form. Wherefore,\nthe mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way\nsensible things, is not to be termed earth, or air, or fire, or water,\nor any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these\nare derived, but is an invisible and formless being which receives all\nthings and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible, and is\nmost incomprehensible. In saying this we shall not be far wrong; as\nfar, however, as we can attain to a knowledge of her from the previous\nconsiderations, we may truly say that fire is that part of her\nnature which from time to time is inflamed, and water that which is\nmoistened, and that the mother substance becomes earth and air, in\nso far as she receives the impressions of them.\n\nLet us consider this question more precisely. Is there any\nself-existent fire? and do all those things which we call\nself-existent exist? or are only those things which we see, or in some\nway perceive through the bodily organs, truly existent, and nothing\nwhatever besides them? And is all that which, we call an\nintelligible essence nothing at all, and only a name? Here is a\nquestion which we must not leave unexamined or undetermined, nor\nmust we affirm too confidently that there can be no decision;\nneither must we interpolate in our present long discourse a digression\nequally long, but if it is possible to set forth a great principle\nin a few words, that is just what we want.\n\nThus I state my view:-If mind and true opinion are two distinct\nclasses, then I say that there certainly are these self-existent ideas\nunperceived by sense, and apprehended only by the mind; if, however,\nas some say, true opinion differs in no respect from mind, then\neverything that we perceive through the body is to be regarded as most\nreal and certain. But we must affirm that to be distinct, for they\nhave a distinct origin and are of a different nature; the one is\nimplanted in us by instruction, the other by persuasion; the one is\nalways accompanied by true reason, the other is without reason; the\none cannot be overcome by persuasion, but the other can: and lastly,\nevery man may be said to share in true opinion, but mind is the\nattribute of the gods and of very few men. Wherefore also we must\nacknowledge that there is one kind of being which is always the\nsame, uncreated and indestructible, never receiving anything into\nitself from without, nor itself going out to any other, but\ninvisible and imperceptible by any sense, and of which the\ncontemplation is granted to intelligence only. And there is another\nnature of the same name with it, and like to it, perceived by sense,\ncreated, always in motion, becoming in place and again vanishing out\nof place, which is apprehended by opinion and sense. And there is a\nthird nature, which is space, and is eternal, and admits not of\ndestruction and provides a home for all created things, and is\napprehended without the help of sense, by a kind of spurious reason,\nand is hardly real; which we beholding as in a dream, say of all\nexistence that it must of necessity be in some place and occupy a\nspace, but that what is neither in heaven nor in earth has no\nexistence. Of these and other things of the same kind, relating to the\ntrue and waking reality of nature, we have only this dreamlike\nsense, and we are unable to cast off sleep and determine the truth\nabout them. For an image, since the reality, after which it is\nmodelled, does not belong to it, and it exists ever as the fleeting\nshadow of some other, must be inferred to be in another [i.e. in space\n], grasping existence in some way or other, or it could not be at all.\nBut true and exact reason, vindicating the nature of true being,\nmaintains that while two things [i.e. the image and space] are\ndifferent they cannot exist one of them in the other and so be one and\nalso two at the same time.\n\nThus have I concisely given the result of my thoughts; and my\nverdict is that being and space and generation, these three, existed\nin their three ways before the heaven; and that the nurse of\ngeneration, moistened by water and inflamed by fire, and receiving the\nforms of earth and air, and experiencing all the affections which\naccompany these, presented a strange variety of appearances; and being\nfull of powers which were neither similar nor equally balanced, was\nnever in any part in a state of equipoise, but swaying unevenly hither\nand thither, was shaken by them, and by its motion again shook them;\nand the elements when moved were separated and carried continually,\nsome one way, some another; as, when rain is shaken and winnowed by\nfans and other instruments used in the threshing of corn, the close\nand heavy particles are borne away and settle in one direction, and\nthe loose and light particles in another. In this manner, the four\nkinds or elements were then shaken by the receiving vessel, which,\nmoving like a winnowing machine, scattered far away from one another\nthe elements most unlike, and forced the most similar elements into\ndose contact. Wherefore also the various elements had different places\nbefore they were arranged so as to form the universe. At first, they\nwere all without reason and measure. But when the world began to get\ninto order, fire and water and earth and air had only certain faint\ntraces of themselves, and were altogether such as everything might\nbe expected to be in the absence of God; this, I say, was their nature\nat that time, and God fashioned them by form and number. Let it be\nconsistently maintained by us in all that we say that God made them as\nfar as possible the fairest and best, out of things which were not\nfair and good. And now I will endeavour to show you the disposition\nand generation of them by an unaccustomed argument, which am compelled\nto use; but I believe that you will be able to follow me, for your\neducation has made you familiar with the methods of science.\n\nIn the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and\nwater and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses solidity,\nand every solid must necessarily be contained in planes; and every\nplane rectilinear figure is composed of triangles; and all triangles\nare originally of two kinds, both of which are made up of one right\nand two acute angles; one of them has at either end of the base the\nhalf of a divided right angle, having equal sides, while in the\nother the right angle is divided into unequal parts, having unequal\nsides. These, then, proceeding by a combination of probability with\ndemonstration, we assume to be the original elements of fire and the\nother bodies; but the principles which are prior to these God only\nknows, and he of men who is the friend God. And next we have to\ndetermine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are unlike one\nanother, and of which some are capable of resolution into one another;\nfor having discovered thus much, we shall know the true origin of\nearth and fire and of the proportionate and intermediate elements. And\nthen we shall not be willing to allow that there are any distinct\nkinds of visible bodies fairer than these. Wherefore we must endeavour\nto construct the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty, and\nthen we shall be able to say that we have sufficiently apprehended\ntheir nature. Now of the two triangles, the isosceles has one form\nonly; the scalene or unequal-sided has an infinite number. Of the\ninfinite forms we must select the most beautiful, if we are to proceed\nin due order, and any one who can point out a more beautiful form than\nours for the construction of these bodies, shall carry off the palm,\nnot as an enemy, but as a friend. Now, the one which we maintain to be\nthe most beautiful of all the many triangles (and we need not speak of\nthe others) is that of which the double forms a third triangle which\nis equilateral; the reason of this would be long to tell; he who\ndisproves what we are saying, and shows that we are mistaken, may\nclaim a friendly victory. Then let us choose two triangles, out of\nwhich fire and the other elements have been constructed, one\nisosceles, the other having the square of the longer side equal to\nthree times the square of the lesser side.\n\nNow is the time to explain what was before obscurely said: there was\nan error in imagining that all the four elements might be generated by\nand into one another; this, I say, was an erroneous supposition, for\nthere are generated from the triangles which we have selected four\nkinds-three from the one which has the sides unequal; the fourth alone\nis framed out of the isosceles triangle. Hence they cannot all be\nresolved into one another, a great number of small bodies being\ncombined into a few large ones, or the converse. But three of them can\nbe thus resolved and compounded, for they all spring from one, and\nwhen the greater bodies are broken up, many small bodies will spring\nup out of them and take their own proper figures; or, again, when many\nsmall bodies are dissolved into their triangles, if they become one,\nthey will form one large mass of another kind. So much for their\npassage into one another. I have now to speak of their several\nkinds, and show out of what combinations of numbers each of them was\nformed. The first will be the simplest and smallest construction,\nand its element is that triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the\nlesser side. When two such triangles are joined at the diagonal, and\nthis is repeated three times, and the triangles rest their diagonals\nand shorter sides on the same point as a centre, a single\nequilateral triangle is formed out of six triangles; and four\nequilateral triangles, if put together, make out of every three\nplane angles one solid angle, being that which is nearest to the\nmost obtuse of plane angles; and out of the combination of these\nfour angles arises the first solid form which distributes into equal\nand similar parts the whole circle in which it is inscribed. The\nsecond species of solid is formed out of the same triangles, which\nunite as eight equilateral triangles and form one solid angle out of\nfour plane angles, and out of six such angles the second body is\ncompleted. And the third body is made up of 120 triangular elements,\nforming twelve solid angles, each of them included in five plane\nequilateral triangles, having altogether twenty bases, each of which\nis an equilateral triangle. The one element [that is, the triangle\nwhich has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side] having generated these\nfigures, generated no more; but the isosceles triangle produced the\nfourth elementary figure, which is compounded of four such\ntriangles, joining their right angles in a centre, and forming one\nequilateral quadrangle. Six of these united form eight solid angles,\neach of which is made by the combination of three plane right\nangles; the figure of the body thus composed is a cube, having six\nplane quadrangular equilateral bases. There was yet a fifth\ncombination which God used in the delineation of the universe.\n\nNow, he who, duly reflecting on all this, enquires whether the\nworlds are to be regarded as indefinite or definite in number, will be\nof opinion that the notion of their indefiniteness is characteristic\nof a sadly indefinite and ignorant mind. He, however, who raises the\nquestion whether they are to be truly regarded as one or five, takes\nup a more reasonable position. Arguing from probabilities, I am of\nopinion that they are one; another, regarding the question from\nanother point of view, will be of another mind. But, leaving this\nenquiry, let us proceed to distribute the elementary forms, which have\nnow been created in idea, among the four elements.\n\nTo earth, then, let us assign the cubical form; for earth is the\nmost immoveable of the four and the most plastic of all bodies, and\nthat which has the most stable bases must of necessity be of such a\nnature. Now, of the triangles which we assumed at first, that which\nhas two equal sides is by nature more firmly based than that which has\nunequal sides; and of the compound figures which are formed out of\neither, the plane equilateral quadrangle has necessarily, a more\nstable basis than the equilateral triangle, both in the whole and in\nthe parts. Wherefore, in assigning this figure to earth, we adhere\nto probability; and to water we assign that one of the remaining forms\nwhich is the least moveable; and the most moveable of them to fire;\nand to air that which is intermediate. Also we assign the smallest\nbody to fire, and the greatest to water, and the intermediate in\nsize to air; and, again, the acutest body to fire, and the next in\nacuteness to, air, and the third to water. Of all these elements, that\nwhich has the fewest bases must necessarily be the most moveable,\nfor it must be the acutest and most penetrating in every way, and also\nthe lightest as being composed of the smallest number of similar\nparticles: and the second body has similar properties in a second\ndegree, and the third body in the third degree. Let it be agreed,\nthen, both according to strict reason and according to probability,\nthat the pyramid is the solid which is the original element and seed\nof fire; and let us assign the element which was next in the order\nof generation to air, and the third to water. We must imagine all\nthese to be so small that no single particle of any of the four\nkinds is seen by us on account of their smallness: but when many of\nthem are collected together their aggregates are seen. And the\nratios of their numbers, motions, and other properties, everywhere\nGod, as far as necessity allowed or gave consent, has exactly\nperfected, and harmonised in due proportion.\n\nFrom all that we have just been saying about the elements or\nkinds, the most probable conclusion is as follows:-earth, when meeting\nwith fire and dissolved by its sharpness, whether the dissolution take\nplace in the fire itself or perhaps in some mass of air or water, is\nborne hither and thither, until its parts, meeting together and\nmutually harmonising, again become earth; for they can never take\nany other form. But water, when divided by fire or by air, on\nreforming, may become one part fire and two parts air; and a single\nvolume of air divided becomes two of fire. Again, when a small body of\nfire is contained in a larger body of air or water or earth, and\nboth are moving, and the fire struggling is overcome and broken up,\nthen two volumes of fire form one volume of air; and when air is\novercome and cut up into small pieces, two and a half parts of air are\ncondensed into one part of water. Let us consider the matter in\nanother way. When one of the other elements is fastened upon by\nfire, and is cut by the sharpness of its angles and sides, it\ncoalesces with the fire, and then ceases to be cut by them any longer.\nFor no element which is one and the same with itself can be changed by\nor change another of the same kind and in the same state. But so\nlong as in the process of transition the weaker is fighting against\nthe stronger, the dissolution continues. Again, when a few small\nparticles, enclosed in many larger ones, are in process of\ndecomposition and extinction, they only cease from their tendency to\nextinction when they consent to pass into the conquering nature, and\nfire becomes air and air water. But if bodies of another kind go and\nattack them [i.e. the small particles], the latter continue to be\ndissolved until, being completely forced back and dispersed, they make\ntheir escape to their own kindred, or else, being overcome and\nassimilated to the conquering power, they remain where they are and\ndwell with their victors, and from being many become one. And owing to\nthese affections, all things are changing their place, for by the\nmotion of the receiving vessel the bulk of each class is distributed\ninto its proper place; but those things which become unlike themselves\nand like other things, are hurried by the shaking into the place of\nthe things to which they grow like.\n\nNow all unmixed and primary bodies are produced by such causes as\nthese. As to the subordinate species which are included in the greater\nkinds, they are to be attributed to the varieties in the structure\nof the two original triangles. For either structure did not originally\nproduce the triangle of one size only, but some larger and some\nsmaller, and there are as many sizes as there are species of the\nfour elements. Hence when they are mingled with themselves and with\none another there is an endless variety of them, which those who would\narrive at the probable truth of nature ought duly to consider.\n\nUnless a person comes to an understanding about the nature and\nconditions of rest and motion, he will meet with many difficulties\nin the discussion which follows. Something has been said of this\nmatter already, and something more remains to be said, which is,\nthat motion never exists in what is uniform. For to conceive that\nanything can be moved without a mover is hard or indeed impossible,\nand equally impossible to conceive that there can be a mover unless\nthere be something which can be moved-motion cannot exist where either\nof these are wanting, and for these to be uniform is impossible;\nwherefore we must assign rest to uniformity and motion to the want\nof uniformity. Now inequality is the cause of the nature which is\nwanting in uniformity; and of this we have already described the\norigin. But there still remains the further point-why things when\ndivided after their kinds do not cease to pass through one another and\nto change their place-which we will now proceed to explain. In the\nrevolution of the universe are comprehended all the four elements, and\nthis being circular and having a tendency to come together, compresses\neverything and will not allow any place to be left void. Wherefore,\nalso, fire above all things penetrates everywhere, and air next, as\nbeing next in rarity of the elements; and the two other elements in\nlike manner penetrate according to their degrees of rarity. For\nthose things which are composed of the largest particles have the\nlargest void left in their compositions, and those which are\ncomposed of the smallest particles have the least. And the contraction\ncaused by the compression thrusts the smaller particles into the\ninterstices of the larger. And thus, when the small parts are placed\nside by side with the larger, and the lesser divide the greater and\nthe greater unite the lesser, all the elements are borne up and down\nand hither and thither towards their own places; for the change in the\nsize of each changes its position in space. And these causes\ngenerate an inequality which is always maintained, and is\ncontinually creating a perpetual motion of the elements in all time.\n\nIn the next place we have to consider that there are divers kinds of\nfire. There are, for example, first, flame; and secondly, those\nemanations of flame which do not burn but only give light to the eyes;\nthirdly, the remains of fire, which are seen in red-hot embers after\nthe flame has been extinguished. There are similar differences in\nthe air; of which the brightest part is called the aether, and the\nmost turbid sort mist and darkness; and there are various other\nnameless kinds which arise from the inequality of the triangles.\nWater, again, admits in the first place of a division into two\nkinds; the one liquid and the other fusile. The liquid kind is\ncomposed of the small and unequal particles of water; and moves itself\nand is moved by other bodies owing to the want of uniformity and the\nshape of its particles; whereas the fusile kind, being formed of large\nand uniform particles, is more stable than the other, and is heavy and\ncompact by reason of its uniformity. But when fire gets in and\ndissolves the particles and destroys the uniformity, it has greater\nmobility, and becoming fluid is thrust forth by the neighbouring air\nand spreads upon the earth; and this dissolution of the solid masses\nis called melting, and their spreading out upon the earth flowing.\nAgain, when the fire goes out of the fusile substance, it does not\npass into vacuum, but into the neighbouring air; and the air which\nis displaced forces together the liquid and still moveable mass into\nthe place which was occupied by the fire, and unites it with itself.\nThus compressed the mass resumes its equability, and is again at unity\nwith itself, because the fire which was the author of the inequality\nhas retreated; and this departure of the fire is called cooling, and\nthe coming together which follows upon it is termed congealment. Of\nall the kinds termed fusile, that which is the densest and is formed\nout of the finest and most uniform parts is that most precious\npossession called gold, which is hardened by filtration through\nrock; this is unique in kind, and has both a glittering and a yellow\ncolour. A shoot of gold, which is so dense as to be very hard, and\ntakes a black colour, is termed adamant. There is also another kind\nwhich has parts nearly like gold, and of which there are several\nspecies; it is denser than gold, and it contains a small and fine\nportion of earth, and is therefore harder, yet also lighter because of\nthe great interstices which it has within itself; and this\nsubstance, which is one of the bright and denser kinds of water,\nwhen solidified is called copper. There is an alloy of earth mingled\nwith it, which, when the two parts grow old and are disunited, shows\nitself separately and is called rust. The remaining phenomena of the\nsame kind there will be no difficulty in reasoning out by the method\nof probabilities. A man may sometimes set aside meditations about\neternal things, and for recreation turn to consider the truths of\ngeneration which are probable only; he will thus gain a pleasure not\nto be repented of, and secure for himself while he lives a wise and\nmoderate pastime. Let us grant ourselves this indulgence, and go\nthrough the probabilities relating to the same subjects which follow\nnext in order.\n\nWater which is mingled with fire, so much as is fine and liquid\n(being so called by reason of its motion and the way in which it rolls\nalong the ground), and soft, because its bases give way are less\nstable than those of earth, when separated from fire and air and\nisolated, becomes more uniform, and by their retirement is\ncompressed into itself; and if the condensation be very great, the\nwater above the earth becomes hail, but on the earth, ice; and that\nwhich is congealed in a less degree and is only half solid, when above\nthe earth is called snow, and when upon the earth, and condensed\nfrom dew, hoarfrost. Then, again, there are the numerous kinds of\nwater which have been mingled with one another, and are distilled\nthrough plants which grow in the earth; and this whole class is called\nby the name of juices or saps. The unequal admixture of these fluids\ncreates a variety of species; most of them are nameless, but four\nwhich are of a fiery nature are clearly distinguished and have\nnames. First there is wine, which warms the soul as well as the\nbody: secondly, there is the oily nature, which is smooth and\ndivides the visual ray, and for this reason is bright and shining\nand of a glistening appearance, including pitch, the juice of the\ncastor berry, oil itself, and other things of a like kind: thirdly,\nthere is the class of substances which expand the contracted parts\nof the mouth, until they return to their natural state, and by\nreason of this property create sweetness;-these are included under the\ngeneral name of honey: and, lastly, there is a frothy nature, which\ndiffers from all juices, having a burning quality which dissolves\nthe flesh; it is called opos (a vegetable acid).\n\nAs to the kinds of earth, that which is filtered through water\npasses into stone in the following manner:-The water which mixes\nwith the earth and is broken up in the process changes into air, and\ntaking this form mounts into its own place. But as there is no\nsurrounding vacuum it thrusts away the neighbouring air, and this\nbeing rendered heavy, and, when it is displaced, having been poured\naround the mass of earth, forcibly compresses it and drives it into\nthe vacant space whence the new air had come up; and the earth when\ncompressed by the air into an indissoluble union with water becomes\nrock. The fairer sort is that which is made up of equal and similar\nparts and is transparent; that which has the opposite qualities is\ninferior. But when all the watery part is suddenly drawn out by\nfire, a more brittle substance is formed, to which we give the name of\npottery. Sometimes also moisture may remain, and the earth which has\nbeen fused by fire becomes, when cool, a certain stone of a black\ncolour. A like separation of the water which had been copiously\nmingled with them may occur in two substances composed of finer\nparticles of earth and of a briny nature; out of either of them a half\nsolid body is then formed, soluble in water-the one, soda, which is\nused for purging away oil and earth, and other, salt, which harmonizes\nso well in combinations pleasing to the palate, and is, as the law\ntestifies, a substance dear to the gods. The compounds of earth and\nwater are not soluble by water, but by fire only, and for this\nreason:-Neither fire nor air melt masses of earth; for their\nparticles, being smaller than the interstices in its structure, have\nplenty of room to move without forcing their way, and so they leave\nthe earth unmelted and undissolved; but particles of water, which\nare larger, force a passage, and dissolve and melt the earth.\nWherefore earth when not consolidated by force is dissolved by water\nonly; when consolidated, by nothing but fire; for this is the only\nbody which can find an entrance. The cohesion of water again, when\nvery strong, is dissolved by fire only-when weaker, then either by air\nor fire-the former entering the interstices, and the latter\npenetrating even the triangles. But nothing can dissolve air, when\nstrongly condensed, which does not reach the elements or triangles; or\nif not strongly condensed, then only fire can dissolve it. As to\nbodies composed of earth and water, while the water occupies the\nvacant interstices of the earth in them which are compressed by force,\nthe particles of water which approach them from without, finding no\nentrance, flow around the entire mass and leave it undissolved; but\nthe particles of fire, entering into the interstices of the water,\ndo to the water what water does to earth and fire to air, and are\nthe sole causes of the compound body of earth and water liquefying and\nbecoming fluid. Now these bodies are of two kinds; some of them,\nsuch as glass and the fusible sort of stones, have less water than\nthey have earth; on the other hand, substances of the nature of wax\nand incense have more of water entering into their composition.\n\nI have thus shown the various classes of bodies as they are\ndiversified by their forms and combinations and changes into one\nanother, and now I must endeavour to set forth their affections and\nthe causes of them. In the first place, the bodies which I have been\ndescribing are necessarily objects of sense. But we have not yet\nconsidered the origin of flesh, or what belongs to flesh, or of that\npart of the soul which is mortal. And these things cannot be\nadequately explained without also explaining the affections which\nare concerned with sensation, nor the latter without the former: and\nyet to explain them together is hardly possible; for which reason we\nmust assume first one or the other and afterwards examine the nature\nof our hypothesis. In order, then, that the affections may follow\nregularly after the elements, let us presuppose the existence of\nbody and soul.\n\nFirst, let us enquire what we mean by saying that fire is hot; and\nabout this we may reason from the dividing or cutting power which it\nexercises on our bodies. We all of us feel that fire is sharp; and\nwe may further consider the fineness of the sides, and the sharpness\nof the angles, and the smallness of the particles, and the swiftness\nof the motion-all this makes the action of fire violent and sharp,\nso that it cuts whatever it meets. And we must not forget that the\noriginal figure of fire [i.e. the pyramid], more than any other\nform, has a dividing power which cuts our bodies into small pieces\n(Kepmatizei), and thus naturally produces that affection which we call\nheat; and hence the origin of the name (thepmos, Kepma). Now, the\nopposite of this is sufficiently manifest; nevertheless we will not\nfail to describe it. For the larger particles of moisture which\nsurround the body, entering in and driving out the lesser, but not\nbeing able to take their places, compress the moist principle in us;\nand this from being unequal and disturbed, is forced by them into a\nstate of rest, which is due to equability and compression. But\nthings which are contracted contrary to nature are by nature at war,\nand force themselves apart; and to this war and convulsion the name of\nshivering and trembling is given; and the whole affection and the\ncause of the affection are both termed cold. That is called hard to\nwhich our flesh yields, and soft which yields to our flesh; and things\nare also termed hard and soft relatively to one another. That which\nyields has a small base; but that which rests on quadrangular bases is\nfirmly posed and belongs to the class which offers the greatest\nresistance; so too does that which is the most compact and therefore\nmost repellent. The nature of the light and the heavy will be best\nunderstood when examined in connexion with our notions of above and\nbelow; for it is quite a mistake to suppose that the universe is\nparted into two regions, separate from and opposite to each other, the\none a lower to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper\nto which things only ascend against their will. For as the universe is\nin the form of a sphere, all the extremities, being equidistant from\nthe centre, are equally extremities, and the centre, which is\nequidistant from them, is equally to be regarded as the opposite of\nthem all. Such being the nature of the world, when a person says\nthat any of these points is above or below, may he not be justly\ncharged with using an improper expression? For the centre of the world\ncannot be rightly called either above or below, but is the centre\nand nothing else; and the circumference is not the centre, and has\nin no one part of itself a different relation to the centre from\nwhat it has in any of the opposite parts. Indeed, when it is in\nevery direction similar, how can one rightly give to it names which\nimply opposition? For if there were any solid body in equipoise at the\ncentre of the universe, there would be nothing to draw it to this\nextreme rather than to that, for they are all perfectly similar; and\nif a person were to go round the world in a circle, he would often,\nwhen standing at the antipodes of his former position, speak of the\nsame point as above and below; for, as I was saying just now, to speak\nof the whole which is in the form of a globe as having one part\nabove and another below is not like a sensible man.\n\nThe reason why these names are used, and the circumstances under\nwhich they are ordinarily applied by us to the division of the\nheavens, may be elucidated by the following supposition:-if a person\nwere to stand in that part of the universe which is the appointed\nplace of fire, and where there is the great mass of fire to which\nfiery bodies gather-if, I say, he were to ascend thither, and,\nhaving the power to do this, were to abstract particles of fire and\nput them in scales and weigh them, and then, raising the balance, were\nto draw the fire by force towards the uncongenial element of the\nair, it would be very evident that he could compel the smaller mass\nmore readily than the larger; for when two things are simultaneously\nraised by one and the same power, the smaller body must necessarily\nyield to the superior power with less reluctance than the larger;\nand the larger body is called heavy and said to tend downwards, and\nthe smaller body is called light and said to tend upwards. And we\nmay detect ourselves who are upon the earth doing precisely the same\nthing. For we of separate earthy natures, and sometimes earth\nitself, and draw them into the uncongenial element of air by force and\ncontrary to nature, both clinging to their kindred elements. But\nthat which is smaller yields to the impulse given by us towards the\ndissimilar element more easily than the larger; and so we call the\nformer light, and the place towards which it is impelled we call\nabove, and the contrary state and place we call heavy and below\nrespectively. Now the relations of these must necessarily vary,\nbecause the principal masses of the different elements hold opposite\npositions; for that which is light, heavy, below or above in one place\nwill be found to be and become contrary and transverse and every way\ndiverse in relation to that which is light, heavy, below or above in\nan opposite place. And about all of them this has to be\nconsidered:-that the tendency of each towards its kindred element\nmakes the body which is moved heavy, and the place towards which the\nmotion tends below, but things which have an opposite tendency we call\nby an opposite name. Such are the causes which we assign to these\nphenomena. As to the smooth and the rough, any one who sees them can\nexplain the reason of them to another. For roughness is hardness\nmingled with irregularity, and smoothness is produced by the joint\neffect of uniformity and density.\n\nThe most important of the affections which concern the whole body\nremains to be considered-that is, the cause of pleasure and pain in\nthe perceptions of which I have been speaking, and in all other things\nwhich are perceived by sense through the parts of the body, and have\nboth pains and pleasures attendant on them. Let us imagine the\ncauses of every affection, whether of sense or not, to be of the\nfollowing nature, remembering that we have already distinguished\nbetween the nature which is easy and which is hard to move; for this\nis the direction in which we must hunt the prey which we mean to take.\nA body which is of a nature to be easily moved, on receiving an\nimpression however slight, spreads abroad the motion in a circle,\nthe parts communicating with each other, until at last, reaching the\nprinciple of mind, they announce the quality of the agent. But a\nbody of the opposite kind, being immobile, and not extending to the\nsurrounding region, merely receives the impression, and does not\nstir any of the neighbouring parts; and since the parts do not\ndistribute the original impression to other parts, it has no effect of\nmotion on the whole animal, and therefore produces no effect on the\npatient. This is true of the bones and hair and other more earthy\nparts of the human body; whereas what was said above relates mainly to\nsight and hearing, because they have in them the greatest amount of\nfire and air. Now we must conceive of pleasure and pain in this way.\nAn impression produced in us contrary to nature and violent, if\nsudden, is painful; and, again, the sudden return to nature is\npleasant; but a gentle and gradual return is imperceptible and vice\nversa. On the other hand the impression of sense which is most\neasily produced is most readily felt, but is not accompanied by\nPleasure or pain; such, for example, are the affections of the\nsight, which, as we said above, is a body naturally uniting with our\nbody in the day-time; for cuttings and burnings and other\naffections which happen to the sight do not give pain, nor is there\npleasure when the sight returns to its natural state; but the\nsensations are dearest and strongest according to the manner in\nwhich the eye is affected by the object, and itself strikes and\ntouches it; there is no violence either in the contraction or dilation\nof the eye. But bodies formed of larger particles yield to the agent\nonly with a struggle; and then they impart their motions to the\nwhole and cause pleasure and pain-pain when alienated from their\nnatural conditions, and pleasure when restored to them. Things which\nexperience gradual withdrawings and emptyings of their nature, and\ngreat and sudden replenishments, fail to perceive the emptying, but\nare sensible of the replenishment; and so they occasion no pain, but\nthe greatest pleasure, to the mortal part of the soul, as is\nmanifest in the case of perfumes. But things which are changed all of\na sudden, and only gradually and with difficulty return to their own\nnature, have effects in every way opposite to the former, as is\nevident in the case of burnings and cuttings of the body.\n\nThus have we discussed the general affections of the whole body, and\nthe names of the agents which produce them. And now I will endeavour\nto speak of the affections of particular parts, and the causes and\nagents of them, as far as I am able. In the first place let us set\nforth what was omitted when we were speaking of juices, concerning the\naffections peculiar to the tongue. These too, like most of the other\naffections, appear to be caused by certain contractions and dilations,\nbut they have besides more of roughness and smoothness than is found\nin other affections; for whenever earthy particles enter into the\nsmall veins which are the testing of the tongue, reaching to the\nheart, and fall upon the moist, delicate portions of flesh-when, as\nthey are dissolved, they contract and dry up the little veins, they\nare astringent if they are rougher, but if not so rough, then only\nharsh. Those of them which are of an abstergent nature, and purge\nthe whole surface of the tongue, if they do it in excess, and so\nencroach as to consume some part of the flesh itself, like potash\nand soda, are all termed bitter. But the particles which are deficient\nin the alkaline quality, and which cleanse only moderately, are called\nsalt, and having no bitterness or roughness, are regarded as rather\nagreeable than otherwise. Bodies which share in and are made smooth by\nthe heat of the mouth, and which are inflamed, and again in turn\ninflame that which heats them, and which are so light that they are\ncarried upwards to the sensations of the head, and cut all that\ncomes in their way, by reason of these qualities in them, are all\ntermed pungent. But when these same particles, refined by\nputrefaction, enter into the narrow veins, and are duly proportioned\nto the particles of earth and air which are there, they set them\nwhirling about one another, and while they are in a whirl cause them\nto dash against and enter into one another, and so form hollows\nsurrounding the particles that enter-which watery vessels of air\n(for a film of moisture, sometimes earthy, sometimes pure, is spread\naround the air) are hollow spheres of water; and those of them which\nare pure, are transparent, and are called bubbles, while those\ncomposed of the earthy liquid, which is in a state of general\nagitation and effervescence, are said to boil or ferment-of all\nthese affections the cause is termed acid. And there is the opposite\naffection arising from an opposite cause, when the mass of entering\nparticles, immersed in the moisture of the mouth, is congenial to\nthe tongue, and smooths and oils over the roughness, and relaxes the\nparts which are unnaturally contracted, and contracts the parts\nwhich are relaxed, and disposes them all according to their\nnature-that sort of remedy of violent affections is pleasant and\nagreeable to every man, and has the name sweet. But enough of this.\n\nThe faculty of smell does not admit of differences of kind; for\nall smells are of a half formed nature, and no element is so\nproportioned as to have any smell. The veins about the nose are too\nnarrow to admit earth and water, and too wide to detain fire and\nair; and for this reason no one ever perceives the smell of any of\nthem; but smells always proceed from bodies that are damp, or\nputrefying, or liquefying, or evaporating, and are perceptible only in\nthe intermediate state, when water is changing into air and air into\nwater; and all of them are either vapor or mist. That which is passing\nout of air into water is mist, and that which is passing from water\ninto air is vapour; and hence all smells are thinner than water and\nthicker than air. The proof of this is, that when there is any\nobstruction to the respiration, and a man draws in his breath by\nforce, then no smell filters through, but the air without the smell\nalone penetrates. Wherefore the varieties of smell have no name, and\nthey have not many, or definite and simple kinds; but they are\ndistinguished only painful and pleasant, the one sort irritating and\ndisturbing the whole cavity which is situated between the head and the\nnavel, the other having a soothing influence, and restoring this\nsame region to an agreeable and natural condition.\n\nIn considering the third kind of sense, hearing, we must speak of\nthe causes in which it originates. We may in general assume sound to\nbe a blow which passes through the ears, and is transmitted by means\nof the air, the brain, and the blood, to the soul, and that hearing is\nthe vibration of this blow, which begins in the head and ends in the\nregion of the liver. The sound which moves swiftly is acute, and the\nsound which moves slowly is grave, and that which is regular is\nequable and smooth, and the reverse is harsh. A great body of sound is\nloud, and a small body of sound the reverse. Respecting the\nharmonies of sound I must hereafter speak.\n\nThere is a fourth class of sensible things, having many intricate\nvarieties, which must now be distinguished. They are called by the\ngeneral name of colours, and are a flame which emanates from every\nsort of body, and has particles corresponding to the sense of sight. I\nhave spoken already, in what has preceded, of the causes which\ngenerate sight, and in this place it will be natural and suitable to\ngive a rational theory of colours.\n\nOf the particles coming from other bodies which fall upon the sight,\nsome are smaller and some are larger, and some are equal to the\nparts of the sight itself. Those which are equal are imperceptible,\nand we call them transparent. The larger produce contraction, the\nsmaller dilation, in the sight, exercising a power akin to that of hot\nand cold bodies on the flesh, or of astringent bodies on the tongue,\nor of those heating bodies which we termed pungent. White and black\nare similar effects of contraction and dilation in another sphere, and\nfor this reason have a different appearance. Wherefore, we ought to\nterm white that which dilates the visual ray, and the opposite of this\nis black. There is also a swifter motion of a different sort of fire\nwhich strikes and dilates the ray of sight until it reaches the\neyes, forcing a way through their passages and melting them, and\neliciting from them a union of fire and water which we call tears,\nbeing itself an opposite fire which comes to them from an opposite\ndirection-the inner fire flashes forth like lightning, and the outer\nfinds a way in and is extinguished in the moisture, and all sorts of\ncolours are generated by the mixture. This affection is termed\ndazzling, and the object which produces it is called bright and\nflashing. There is another sort of fire which is intermediate, and\nwhich reaches and mingles with the moisture of the eye without\nflashing; and in this, the fire mingling with the ray of the moisture,\nproduces a colour like blood, to which we give the name of red. A\nbright hue mingled with red and white gives the colour called\nauburn. The law of proportion, however, according to which the several\ncolours are formed, even if a man knew he would be foolish in telling,\nfor he could not give any necessary reason, nor indeed any tolerable\nor probable explanation of them. Again, red, when mingled with black\nand white, becomes purple, but it becomes umber when the colours are\nburnt as well as mingled and the black is more thoroughly mixed with\nthem. Flame colour is produced by a union of auburn and dun, and dun\nby an admixture of black and white; pale yellow, by an admixture of\nwhite and auburn. White and bright meeting, and falling upon a full\nblack, become dark blue, and when dark blue mingles with white, a\nlight blue colour is formed, as flame-colour with black makes leek\ngreen. There will be no difficulty in seeing how and by what\nmixtures the colours derived from these are made according to the\nrules of probability. He, however, who should attempt to verify all\nthis by experiment, would forget the difference of the human and\ndivine nature. For God only has the knowledge and also the power which\nare able to combine many things into one and again resolve the one\ninto many. But no man either is or ever will be able to accomplish\neither the one or the other operation.\n\nThese are the elements, thus of necessity then subsisting, which the\ncreator of the fairest and best of created things associated with\nhimself, when he made the self-sufficing and most perfect God, using\nthe necessary causes as his ministers in the accomplishment of his\nwork, but himself contriving the good in all his creations.\nWherefore we may distinguish two sorts of causes, the one divine and\nthe other necessary, and may seek for the divine in all things, as far\nas our nature admits, with a view to the blessed life; but the\nnecessary kind only for the sake of the divine, considering that\nwithout them and when isolated from them, these higher things for\nwhich we look cannot be apprehended or received or in any way shared\nby us.\n\nSeeing, then, that we have now prepared for our use the various\nclasses of causes which are the material out of which the remainder of\nour discourse must be woven, just as wood is the material of the\ncarpenter, let us revert in a few words to the point at which we\nbegan, and then endeavour to add on a suitable ending to the beginning\nof our tale.\n\nAs I said at first, when all things were in disorder God created\nin each thing in relation to itself, and in all things in relation\nto each other, all the measures and harmonies which they could\npossibly receive. For in those days nothing had any proportion\nexcept by accident; nor did any of the things which now have names\ndeserve to be named at all-as, for example, fire, water, and the\nrest of the elements. All these the creator first set in order, and\nout of them he constructed the universe, which was a single animal\ncomprehending in itself all other animals, mortal and immortal. Now of\nthe divine, he himself was the creator, but the creation of the mortal\nhe committed to his offspring. And they, imitating him, received\nfrom him the immortal principle of the soul; and around this they\nproceeded to fashion a mortal body, and. made it to be the vehicle\nof the so and constructed within the body a soul of another nature\nwhich was mortal, subject to terrible and irresistible\naffections-first of all, pleasure, the greatest incitement to evil;\nthen, pain, which deters from good; also rashness and fear, two\nfoolish counsellors, anger hard to be appeased, and hope easily led\nastray-these they mingled with irrational sense and with all-daring\nlove according to necessary laws, and so framed man. Wherefore,\nfearing to pollute the divine any more than was absolutely\nunavoidable, they gave to the mortal nature a separate habitation in\nanother part of the body, placing the neck between them to be the\nisthmus and boundary, which they constructed between the head and\nbreast, to keep them apart. And in the breast, and in what is termed\nthe thorax, they encased the mortal soul; and as the one part of\nthis was superior and the other inferior they divided the cavity of\nthe thorax into two parts, as the women's and men's apartments are\ndivided in houses, and placed the midriff to be a wall of partition\nbetween them. That part of the inferior soul which is endowed with\ncourage and passion and loves contention they settled nearer the head,\nmidway between the midriff and the neck, in order that it might be\nunder the rule of reason and might join with it in controlling and\nrestraining the desires when they are no longer willing of their own\naccord to obey the word of command issuing from the citadel.\n\nThe heart, the knot of the veins and the fountain of the blood which\nraces through all the limbs was set in the place of guard, that when\nthe might of passion was roused by reason making proclamation of any\nwrong assailing them from without or being perpetrated by the\ndesires within, quickly the whole power of feeling in the body,\nperceiving these commands and threats, might obey and follow through\nevery turn and alley, and thus allow the principle of the best to have\nthe command in all of them. But the gods, foreknowing that the\npalpitation of the heart in the expectation of danger and the swelling\nand excitement of passion was caused by fire, formed and implanted\nas a supporter to the heart the lung, which was, in the first place,\nsoft and bloodless, and also had within hollows like the pores of a\nsponge, in order that by receiving the breath and the drink, it\nmight give coolness and the power of respiration and alleviate the\nheat. Wherefore they cut the air-channels leading to the lung, and\nplaced the lung about the heart as a soft spring, that, when passion\nwas rife within, the heart, beating against a yielding body, might\nbe cooled and suffer less, and might thus become more ready to join\nwith passion in the service of reason.\n\nThe part of the soul which desires meats and drinks and the other\nthings of which it has need by reason of the bodily nature, they\nplaced between the midriff and the boundary of the navel, contriving\nin all this region a sort of manger for the food of the body; and\nthere they bound it down like a wild animal which was chained up\nwith man, and must be nourished if man was to exist. They appointed\nthis lower creation his place here in order that he might be always\nfeeding at the manger, and have his dwelling as far as might be from\nthe council-chamber, making as little noise and disturbance as\npossible, and permitting the best part to advise quietly for the\ngood of the whole. And knowing that this lower principle in man\nwould not comprehend reason, and even if attaining to some degree of\nperception would never naturally care for rational notions, but that\nit would be led away by phantoms and visions night and day-to be a\nremedy for this, God combined with it the liver, and placed it in\nthe house of the lower nature, contriving that it should be solid\nand smooth, and bright and sweet, and should also have a bitter\nquality, in order that the power of thought, which proceeds from the\nmind, might be reflected as in a mirror which receives likenesses of\nobjects and gives back images of them to the sight; and so might\nstrike terror into the desires, when, making use of the bitter part of\nthe liver, to which it is akin, it comes threatening and invading, and\ndiffusing this bitter element swiftly through the whole liver produces\ncolours like bile, and contracting every part makes it wrinkled and\nrough; and twisting out of its right place and contorting the lobe and\nclosing and shutting up the vessels and gates, causes pain and\nloathing. And the converse happens when some gentle inspiration of the\nunderstanding pictures images of an opposite character, and allays the\nbile and bitterness by refusing to stir or touch the nature opposed to\nitself, but by making use of the natural sweetness of the liver,\ncorrects all things and makes them to be right and smooth and free,\nand renders the portion of the soul which resides about the liver\nhappy and joyful, enabling it to pass the night in peace, and to\npractise divination in sleep, inasmuch as it has no share in mind\nand reason. For the authors of our being, remembering the command of\ntheir father when he bade them create the human race as good as they\ncould, that they might correct our inferior parts and make them to\nattain a measure of truth, placed in the liver the seat of divination.\nAnd herein is a proof that God has given the art of divination not\nto the wisdom, but to the foolishness of man. No man, when in his\nwits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration; but when he receives\nthe inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in sleep,\nor he is demented by some distemper or possession. And he who would\nunderstand what he remembers to have been said, whether in a dream\nor when he was awake, by the prophetic and inspired nature, or would\ndetermine by reason the meaning of the apparitions which he has\nseen, and what indications they afford to this man or that, of past,\npresent or future good and evil, must first recover his wits. But,\nwhile he continues demented, he cannot judge of the visions which he\nsees or the words which he utters; the ancient saying is very true,\nthat \"only a man who has his wits can act or judge about himself and\nhis own affairs.\" And for this reason it is customary to appoint\ninterpreters to be judges of the true inspiration. Some persons call\nthem prophets; they are quite unaware that they are only the\nexpositors of dark sayings and visions, and are not to be called\nprophets at all, but only interpreters of prophecy.\n\nSuch is the nature of the liver, which is placed as we have\ndescribed in order that it may give prophetic intimations. During\nthe life of each individual these intimations are plainer, but after\nhis death the liver becomes blind, and delivers oracles too obscure to\nbe intelligible. The neighbouring organ [the spleen] is situated on\nthe left-hand side, and is constructed with a view of keeping the\nliver bright and pure-like a napkin, always ready prepared and at hand\nto clean the mirror. And hence, when any impurities arise in the\nregion of the liver by reason of disorders of the body, the loose\nnature of the spleen, which is composed of a hollow and bloodless\ntissue, receives them all and dears them away, and when filled with\nthe unclean matter, swells and festers, but, again, when the body is\npurged, settles down into the same place as before, and is humbled.\n\nConcerning the soul, as to which part is mortal and which divine,\nand how and why they are separated, and where located, if God\nacknowledges that we have spoken the truth, then, and then only, can\nwe be confident; still, we may venture to assert that what has been\nsaid by us is probable, and will be rendered more probable by\ninvestigation. Let us assume thus much.\n\nThe creation of the rest of follows next in order, and this we may\ninvestigate in a similar manner. And it appears to be very meet that\nthe body should be framed on the following principles:-\n\nThe authors of our race were aware that we should be intemperate\nin eating and drinking, and take a good deal more than was necessary\nor proper, by reason of gluttony. In order then that disease might not\nquickly destroy us, and lest our mortal race should perish without\nfulfilling its end-intending to provide against this, the gods made\nwhat is called the lower belly, to be a receptacle for the superfluous\nmeat and drink, and formed the convolution of the bowels, so that\nthe food might be prevented from passing quickly through and\ncompelling the body to require more food, thus producing insatiable\ngluttony, and making the whole race an enemy to philosophy and\nmusic, and rebellious against the divinest element within us.\n\nThe bones and flesh, and other similar parts of us, were made as\nfollows. The first principle of all of them was the generation of\nthe marrow. For the bonds of life which unite the soul with the body\nare made fast there, and they are the root and foundation of the human\nrace. The marrow itself is created out of other materials: God took\nsuch of the primary triangles as were straight and smooth, and were\nadapted by their perfection to produce fire and water, and air and\nearth-these, I say, he separated from their kinds, and mingling them\nin due proportions with one another, made the marrow out of them to be\na universal seed of the whole race of mankind; and in this seed he\nthen planted and enclosed the souls, and in the original\ndistribution gave to the marrow as many and various forms as the\ndifferent kinds of souls were hereafter to receive. That which, like a\nfield, was to receive the divine seed, he made round every way, and\ncalled that portion of the marrow, brain, intending that, when an\nanimal was perfected, the vessel containing this substance should be\nthe head; but that which was intended to contain the remaining and\nmortal part of the soul he distributed into figures at once around and\nelongated, and he called them all by the name \"marrow\"; and to\nthese, as to anchors, fastening the bonds of the whole soul, he\nproceeded to fashion around them the entire framework of our body,\nconstructing for the marrow, first of all a complete covering of bone.\n\nBone was composed by him in the following manner. Having sifted pure\nand smooth earth he kneaded it and wetted it with marrow, and after\nthat he put it into fire and then into water, and once more into\nfire and again into water-in this way by frequent transfers from one\nto the other he made it insoluble by either. Out of this he fashioned,\nas in a lathe, a globe made of bone, which he placed around the brain,\nand in this he left a narrow opening; and around the marrow of the\nneck and back he formed vertebrae which he placed under one another\nlike pivots, beginning at the head and extending through the whole\nof the trunk. Thus wishing to preserve the entire seed, he enclosed it\nin a stone-like casing, inserting joints, and using in the formation\nof them the power of the other or diverse as an intermediate nature,\nthat they might have motion and flexure. Then again, considering\nthat the bone would be too brittle and inflexible, and when heated and\nagain cooled would soon mortify and destroy the seed within-having\nthis in view, he contrived the sinews and the flesh, that so binding\nall the members together by the sinews, which admitted of being\nstretched and relaxed about the vertebrae, he might thus make the body\ncapable of flexion and extension, while the flesh would serve as a\nprotection against the summer heat and against the winter cold, and\nalso against falls, softly and easily yielding to external bodies,\nlike articles made of felt; and containing in itself a warm moisture\nwhich in summer exudes and makes the surface damp, would impart a\nnature coolness to the whole body; and again in winter by the help\nof this internal warmth would form a very tolerable defence against\nthe frost which surrounds it and attacks it from without. He who\nmodelled us, considering these things, mixed earth with fire and water\nand blended them; and making a ferment of acid and salt, he mingled it\nwith them and formed soft and succulent flesh. As for the sinews, he\nmade them of a mixture of bone and unfermented flesh, attempered so as\nto be in a mean, and gave them a yellow colour; wherefore the sinews\nhave a firmer and more glutinous nature than flesh, but a softer and\nmoister nature than the bones. With these God covered the bones and\nmarrow, binding them together by sinews, and then enshrouded them\nall in an upper covering of flesh. The more living and sensitive of\nthe bones he enclosed in the thinnest film of flesh, and those which\nhad the least life within them in the thickest and most solid flesh.\nSo again on the joints of the bones, where reason indicated that no\nmore was required, he placed only a thin covering of flesh, that it\nmight not interfere with the flexion of our bodies and make them\nunwieldy because difficult to move; and also that it might not, by\nbeing crowded and pressed and matted together, destroy sensation by\nreason of its hardness, and impair the memory and dull the edge of\nintelligence. Wherefore also the thighs and the shanks and the hips,\nand the bones of the arms and the forearms, and other parts which have\nno joints, and the inner bones, which on account of the rarity of\nthe soul in the marrow are destitute of reason-all these are\nabundantly provided with flesh; but such as have mind in them are in\ngeneral less fleshy, except where the creator has made some part\nsolely of flesh in order to give sensation-as, for example, the\ntongue. But commonly this is not the case. For the nature which\ncomes into being and grows up in us by a law of necessity, does not\nadmit of the combination of solid bone and much flesh with acute\nperceptions. More than any other part the framework of the head\nwould have had them, if they could have co-existed, and the human\nrace, having a strong and fleshy and sinewy head, would have had a\nlife twice or many times as long as it now has, and also more\nhealthy and free from pain.\n\nBut our creators, considering whether they should make a\nlonger-lived race which was worse, or a shorter-lived race which was\nbetter, came to the conclusion that every one ought to prefer a\nshorter span of life, which was better, to a longer one, which was\nworse; and therefore they covered the head with thin bone, but not\nwith flesh and sinews, since it had no joints; and thus the head was\nadded, having more wisdom and sensation than the rest of the body, but\nalso being in every man far weaker. For these reasons and after this\nmanner God placed the sinews at the extremity of the head, in a circle\nround the neck, and glued them together by the principle of likeness\nand fastened the extremities of the jawbones to them below the face,\nand the other sinews he dispersed throughout the body, fastening\nlimb to limb. The framers of us framed the mouth, as now arranged,\nhaving teeth and tongue and lips, with a view to the necessary and the\ngood, contriving the way in for necessary purposes, the way out for\nthe best purposes; for that is necessary which enters in and gives\nfood to the body; but the river of speech, which flows out of a man\nand ministers to the intelligence, is the fairest and noblest of all\nstreams. Still the head could neither be left a bare frame of bones,\non account of the extremes of heat and cold in the different\nseasons, nor yet be allowed to be wholly covered, and so become dull\nand senseless by reason of an overgrowth of flesh. The fleshy nature\nwas not therefore wholly dried up, but a large sort of peel was parted\noff and remained over, which is now called the skin. This met and grew\nby the help of the cerebral moisture, and became the circular\nenvelopment of the head. And the moisture, rising up under the\nsutures, watered and closed in the skin upon the crown, forming a sort\nof knot. The diversity of the sutures was caused by the power of the\ncourses of the soul and of the food, and the more these struggled\nagainst one another the more numerous they became, and fewer if the\nstruggle were less violent. This skin the divine power pierced all\nround with fire, and out of the punctures which were thus made the\nmoisture issued forth, and the liquid and heat which was pure came\naway, and a mixed part which was composed of the same material as\nthe skin, and had a fineness equal to the punctures, was borne up by\nits own impulse and extended far outside the head, but being too\nslow to escape, was thrust back by the external air, and rolled up\nunderneath the skin, where it took root. Thus the hair sprang up in\nthe skin, being akin to it because it is like threads of leather,\nbut rendered harder and closer through the pressure of the cold, by\nwhich each hair, while in process of separation from the skin, is\ncompressed and cooled. Wherefore the creator formed the head hairy,\nmaking use of the causes which I have mentioned, and reflecting also\nthat instead of flesh the brain needed the hair to be a light covering\nor guard, which would give shade in summer and shelter in winter,\nand at the same time would not impede our quickness of perception.\nFrom the combination of sinew, skin, and bone, in the structure of the\nfinger, there arises a triple compound, which, when dried up, takes\nthe form of one hard skin partaking of all three natures, and was\nfabricated by these second causes, but designed by mind which is the\nprincipal cause with an eye to the future. For our creators well\nknew that women and other animals would some day be framed out of men,\nand they further knew that many animals would require the use of nails\nfor many purposes; wherefore they fashioned in men at their first\ncreation the rudiments of nails. For this purpose and for these\nreasons they caused skin, hair, and nails to grow at the extremities\nof the limbs. And now that all the parts and members of the mortal\nanimal had come together, since its life of necessity consisted of\nfire and breath, and it therefore wasted away by dissolution and\ndepletion, the gods contrived the following remedy: They mingled a\nnature akin to that of man with other forms and perceptions, and\nthus created another kind of animal. These are the trees and plants\nand seeds which have been improved by cultivation and are now\ndomesticated among us; anciently there were only the will kinds, which\nare older than the cultivated. For everything that partakes of life\nmay be truly called a living being, and the animal of which we are now\nspeaking partakes of the third kind of soul, which is said to be\nseated between the midriff and the navel, having no part in opinion or\nreason or mind, but only in feelings of pleasure and pain and the\ndesires which accompany them. For this nature is always in a passive\nstate, revolving in and about itself, repelling the motion from\nwithout and using its own, and accordingly is not endowed by nature\nwith the power of observing or reflecting on its own concerns.\nWherefore it lives and does not differ from a living being, but is\nfixed and rooted in the same spot, having no power of self-motion.\n\nNow after the superior powers had created all these natures to be\nfood for us who are of the inferior nature, they cut various\nchannels through the body as through a garden, that it might be\nwatered as from a running stream. In the first place, they cut two\nhidden channels or veins down the back where the skin and the flesh\njoin, which answered severally to the right and left side of the body.\nThese they let down along the backbone, so as to have the marrow of\ngeneration between them, where it was most likely to flourish, and\nin order that the stream coming down from above might flow freely to\nthe other parts, and equalise the irrigation. In the next place,\nthey divided the veins about the head, and interlacing them, they sent\nthem in opposite directions; those coming from the right side they\nsent to the left of the body, and those from the left they diverted\ntowards the right, so that they and the skin might together form a\nbond which should fasten the head to the body, since the crown of\nthe head was not encircled by sinews; and also in order that the\nsensations from both sides might be distributed over the whole body.\nAnd next, they ordered the water-courses of the body in a manner which\nI will describe, and which will be more easily understood if we\nbegin by admitting that all things which have lesser parts retain\nthe greater, but the greater cannot retain the lesser. Now of all\nnatures fire has the smallest parts, and therefore penetrates\nthrough earth and water and air and their compounds, nor can\nanything hold it. And a similar principle applies to the human\nbelly; for when meats and drinks enter it, it holds them, but it\ncannot hold air and fire, because the particles of which they\nconsist are smaller than its own structure.\n\nThese elements, therefore, God employed for the sake of distributing\nmoisture from the belly into the veins, weaving together network of\nfire and air like a weel, having at the entrance two lesser weels;\nfurther he constructed one of these with two openings, and from the\nlesser weels he extended cords reaching all round to the extremities\nof the network. All the interior of the net he made of fire, but the\nlesser weels and their cavity, of air. The network he took and\nspread over the newly-formed animal in the following manner:-He let\nthe lesser weels pass into the mouth; there were two of them, and\none he let down by the air-pipes into the lungs, the other by the side\nof the air-pipes into the belly. The former he divided into two\nbranches, both of which he made to meet at the channels of the nose,\nso that when the way through the mouth did not act, the streams of the\nmouth as well were replenished through the nose. With the other cavity\n(i.e. of the greater weel) he enveloped the hollow parts of the\nbody, and at one time he made all this to flow into the lesser\nweels, quite gently, for they are composed of air, and at another time\nhe caused the lesser weels to flow back again; and the net he made\nto find a way in and out through the pores of the body, and the rays\nof fire which are bound fast within followed the passage of the air\neither way, never at any time ceasing so long as the mortal being\nholds together. This process, as we affirm, the name-giver named\ninspiration and expiration. And all this movement, active as well as\npassive, takes place in order that the body, being watered and cooled,\nmay receive nourishment and life; for when the respiration is going in\nand out, and the fire, which is fast bound within, follows it, and\never and anon moving to and fro, enters through the belly and\nreaches the meat and drink, it dissolves them, and dividing them\ninto small portions and guiding them through the passages where it\ngoes, pumps them as from a fountain into the channels of the veins,\nand makes the stream of the veins flow through the body as through a\nconduit.\n\nLet us once more consider the phenomena of respiration, and\nenquire into the causes which have made it what it is. They are as\nfollows:-Seeing that there is no such thing as a vacuum into which any\nof those things which are moved can enter, and the breath is carried\nfrom us into the external air, the next point is, as will be dear to\nevery one, that it does not go into a vacant space, but pushes its\nneighbour out of its place, and that which is thrust out in turn\ndrives out its neighbour; and in this everything of necessity at\nlast comes round to that place from whence the breath came forth,\nand enters in there, and following the breath, fills up the vacant\nspace; and this goes on like the rotation of a wheel, because there\ncan be no such thing as a vacuum. Wherefore also the breast and the\nlungs, when they emit the breath, are replenished by the air which\nsurrounds the body and which enters in through the pores of the\nflesh and is driven round in a circle; and again, the air which is\nsent away and passes out through the body forces the breath inwards\nthrough the passage of the mouth and the nostrils. Now the origin of\nthis movement may be supposed to be as follows. In the interior of\nevery animal the hottest part is that which is around the blood and\nveins; it is in a manner on internal fountain of fire, which we\ncompare to the network of a creel, being woven all of fire and\nextended through the centre of the body, while the-outer parts are\ncomposed of air. Now we must admit that heat naturally proceeds\noutward to its own place and to its kindred element; and as there\nare two exits for the heat, the out through the body, and the other\nthrough the mouth and nostrils, when it moves towards the one, it\ndrives round the air at the other, and that which is driven round\nfalls into the fire and becomes warm, and that which goes forth is\ncooled. But when the heat changes its place, and the particles at\nthe other exit grow warmer, the hotter air inclining in that direction\nand carried towards its native element, fire, pushes round the air\nat the other; and this being affected in the same way and\ncommunicating the same impulse, a circular motion swaying to and\nfrom is produced by the double process, which we call inspiration\nand expiration.\n\nThe phenomena of medical cupping-glasses and of the swallowing of\ndrink and of the projection of bodies, whether discharged in the air\nor bowled along the ground, are to be investigated on a similar\nprinciple; and swift and slow sounds, which appear to be high and low,\nand are sometimes discordant on account of their inequality, and\nthen again harmonical on account of the equality of the motion which\nthey excite in us. For when the motions of the antecedent swifter\nsounds begin to pause and the two are equalised, the slower sounds\novertake the swifter and then propel them. When they overtake them\nthey do not intrude a new and discordant motion, but introduce the\nbeginnings of a slower, which answers to the swifter as it dies\naway, thus producing a single mixed expression out of high and low,\nwhence arises a pleasure which even the unwise feel, and which to\nthe wise becomes a higher sort of delight, being an imitation of\ndivine harmony in mortal motions. Moreover, as to the flowing of\nwater, the fall of the thunderbolt, and the marvels that are\nobserved about the attraction of amber and the Heraclean stones,-in\nnone of these cases is there any attraction; but he who investigates\nrightly, will find that such wonderful phenomena are attributable to\nthe combination of certain conditions-the non-existence of a vacuum,\nthe fact that objects push one another round, and that they change\nplaces, passing severally into their proper positions as they are\ndivided or combined\n\nSuch as we have seen, is the nature and such are the causes of\nrespiration-the subject in which this discussion originated. For the\nfire cuts the food and following the breath surges up within, fire and\nbreath rising together and filling the veins by drawing up out of\nthe belly and pouring into them the cut portions of the food; and so\nthe streams of food are kept flowing through the whole body in all\nanimals. And fresh cuttings from kindred substances, whether the\nfruits of the earth or herb of the field, which God planted to be\nour daily food, acquire all sorts of colours by their inter-mixture;\nbut red is the most pervading of them, being created by the cutting\naction of fire and by the impression which it makes on a moist\nsubstance; and hence the liquid which circulates in the body has a\ncolour such as we have described. The liquid itself we call blood,\nwhich nourishes the flesh and the whole body, whence all parts are\nwatered and empty places filled.\n\nNow the process of repletion and evacuation is effected after the\nmanner of the universal motion by which all kindred substances are\ndrawn towards one another. For the external elements which surround us\nare always causing us to consume away, and distributing and sending\noff like to like; the particles of blood, too, which are divided and\ncontained within the frame of the animal as in a sort of heaven, are\ncompelled to imitate the motion of the universe. Each, therefore, of\nthe divided parts within us, being carried to its kindred nature,\nreplenishes the void. When more is taken away than flows in, then we\ndecay, and when less, we grow and increase.\n\nThe frame of the entire creature when young has the triangles of\neach kind new, and may be compared to the keel of a vessel which is\njust off the stocks; they are locked firmly together and yet the whole\nmass is soft and delicate, being freshly formed of marrow and nurtured\non milk. Now when the triangles out of which meats and drinks are\ncomposed come in from without, and are comprehended in the body, being\nolder and weaker than the triangles already there, the frame of the\nbody gets the better of them and its newer triangles cut them up,\nand so the animal grows great, being nourished by a multitude of\nsimilar particles. But when the roots of the triangles are loosened by\nhaving undergone many conflicts with many things in the course of\ntime, they are no longer able to cut or assimilate the food which\nenters, but are themselves easily divided by the bodies which come\nin from without. In this way every animal is overcome and decays,\nand this affection is called old age. And at last, when the bonds by\nwhich the triangles of the marrow are united no longer hold, and are\nparted by the strain of existence, they in turn loosen the bonds of\nthe soul, and she, obtaining a natural release, flies away with joy.\nFor that which takes place according to nature is pleasant, but that\nwhich is contrary to nature is painful. And thus death, if caused by\ndisease or produced by wounds, is painful and violent; but that sort\nof death which comes with old age and fulfils the debt of nature is\nthe easiest of deaths, and is accompanied with pleasure rather than\nwith pain.\n\nNow every one can see whence diseases arise. There are four\nnatures out of which the body is compacted, earth and fire and water\nand air, and the unnatural excess or defect of these, or the change of\nany of them from its own natural place into another, or-since there\nare more kinds than one of fire and of the other elements-the\nassumption by any of these of a wrong kind, or any similar\nirregularity, produces disorders and diseases; for when any of them is\nproduced or changed in a manner contrary to nature, the parts which\nwere previously cool grow warm, and those which were dry become moist,\nand the light become heavy, and the heavy light; all sorts of\nchanges occur. For, as we affirm, a thing can only remain the same\nwith itself, whole and sound, when the same is added to it, or\nsubtracted from it, in the same respect and in the same manner and\nin due proportion; and whatever comes or goes away in violation of\nthese laws causes all manner of changes and infinite diseases and\ncorruptions. Now there is a second class of structures which are\nalso natural, and this affords a second opportunity of observing\ndiseases to him who would understand them. For whereas marrow and bone\nand flesh and sinews are composed of the four elements, and the blood,\nthough after another manner, is likewise formed out of them, most\ndiseases originate in the way which I have described; but the worst of\nall owe their severity to the fact that the generation of these\nsubstances stances in a wrong order; they are then destroyed. For\nthe natural order is that the flesh and sinews should be made of\nblood, the sinews out of the fibres to which they are akin, and the\nflesh out of the dots which are formed when the fibres are\nseparated. And the glutinous and rich matter which comes away from the\nsinews and the flesh, not only glues the flesh to the bones, but\nnourishes and imparts growth to the bone which surrounds the marrow;\nand by reason of the solidity of the bones, that which filters through\nconsists of the purest and smoothest and oiliest sort of triangles,\ndropping like dew from the bones and watering the marrow.\n\nNow when each process takes place in this order, health commonly\nresults; when in the opposite order, disease. For when the flesh\nbecomes decomposed and sends back the wasting substance into the\nveins, then an over-supply of blood of diverse kinds, mingling with\nair in the veins, having variegated colours and bitter properties,\nas well as acid and saline qualities, contains all sorts of bile and\nserum and phlegm. For all things go the wrong way, and having become\ncorrupted, first they taint the blood itself, and then ceasing to give\nnourishment the body they are carried along the veins in all\ndirections, no longer preserving the order of their natural courses,\nbut at war with themselves, because they receive no good from one\nanother, and are hostile to the abiding constitution of the body,\nwhich they corrupt and dissolve. The oldest part of the flesh which is\ncorrupted, being hard to decompose, from long burning grows black, and\nfrom being everywhere corroded becomes bitter, and is injurious to\nevery part of the body which is still uncorrupted. Sometimes, when the\nbitter element is refined away, the black part assumes an acidity\nwhich takes the place of the bitterness; at other times the bitterness\nbeing tinged with blood has a redder colour; and this, when mixed with\nblack, takes the hue of grass; and again, an auburn colour mingles\nwith the bitter matter when new flesh is decomposed by the fire\nwhich surrounds the internal flame-to all which symptoms some\nphysician perhaps, or rather some philosopher, who had the power of\nseeing in many dissimilar things one nature deserving of a name, has\nassigned the common name of bile. But the other kinds of bile are\nvariously distinguished by their colours. As for serum, that sort\nwhich is the watery part of blood is innocent, but that which is a\nsecretion of black and acid bile is malignant when mingled by the\npower of heat with any salt substance, and is then called acid phlegm.\n\nAgain, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and\ntender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so\nas to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their\nsmall size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and\nhave a white colour arising out of the generation of foam-all this\ndecomposition of tender flesh when inter-mingled with air is termed by\nus white phlegm. And the whey or sediment of newly-formed phlegm is\nsweat and tears, and includes the various daily discharges by which\nthe body is purified. Now all these become causes of disease when\nthe blood is not replenished in a natural manner by food and drink but\ngains bulk from opposite sources in violation of the laws of nature.\nWhen the several parts of the flesh are separated by disease, if the\nfoundation remains, the power of the disorder is only half as great,\nand there is still a prospect of an easy recovery; but when that which\nbinds the flesh to the bones is diseased, and no longer being\nseparated from the muscles and sinews, ceases to give nourishment to\nthe bone and to unite flesh and bone, and from being oily and smooth\nand glutinous becomes rough and salt and dry, owing to bad regimen,\nthen all the substance thus corrupted crumbles away under the flesh\nand the sinews, and separates from the bone, and the fleshy parts fall\naway from their foundation and leave the sinews bare and full of\nbrine, and the flesh again gets into the circulation of the blood\nand makes the previously-mentioned disorders still greater. And if\nthese bodily affections be severe, still worse are the prior\ndisorders; as when the bone itself, by reason of the density of the\nflesh, does not obtain sufficient air, but becomes mouldy and hot\nand gangrened and receives no nutriment, and the natural process is\ninverted, and the bone crumbling passes into the food, and the food\ninto the flesh, and the flesh again falling into the blood makes all\nmaladies that may occur more virulent than those already mentioned.\nBut the worst case of all is when the marrow is diseased, either\nfrom excess or defect; and this is the cause of the very greatest\nand most fatal disorders, in which the whole course of the body is\nreversed.\n\nThere is a third class of diseases which may be conceived of as\narising in three ways; for they are produced sometimes by wind, and\nsometimes by phlegm, and sometimes by bile. When the lung, which is\nthe dispenser of the air to the body, is obstructed by rheums and\nits passages are not free, some of them not acting, while through\nothers too much air enters, then the parts which are unrefreshed by\nair corrode, while in other parts the excess of air forcing its way\nthrough the veins distorts them and decomposing the body is enclosed\nin the midst of it and occupies the midriff thus numberless painful\ndiseases are produced, accompanied by copious sweats. And oftentimes\nwhen the flesh is dissolved in the body, wind, generated within and\nunable to escape, is the source of quite as much pain as the air\ncoming in from without; but the greatest pain is felt when the wind\ngets about the sinews and the veins of the shoulders, and swells\nthem up, so twists back the great tendons and the sinews which are\nconnected with them. These disorders are called tetanus and\nopisthotonus, by reason of the tension which accompanies them. The\ncure of them is difficult; relief is in most cases given by fever\nsupervening. The white phlegm, though dangerous when detained within\nby reason of the air-bubbles, yet if it can communicate with the\noutside air, is less severe, and only discolours the body,\ngenerating leprous eruptions and similar diseases. When it is\nmingled with black bile and dispersed about the courses of the head,\nwhich are the divinest part of us, the attack if coming on in sleep,\nis not so severe; but when assailing those who are awake it is hard to\nbe got rid of, and being an affection of a sacred part, is most justly\ncalled sacred. An acid and salt phlegm, again, is the source of all\nthose diseases which take the form of catarrh, but they have many\nnames because the places into which they flow are manifold.\n\nInflammations of the body come from burnings and inflamings, and all\nof them originate in bile. When bile finds a means of discharge, it\nboils up and sends forth all sorts of tumours; but when imprisoned\nwithin, it generates many inflammatory diseases, above all when\nmingled with pure blood; since it then displaces the fibres which\nare scattered about in the blood and are designed to maintain the\nbalance of rare and dense, in order that the blood may not be so\nliquefied by heat as to exude from the pores of the body, nor again\nbecome too dense and thus find a difficulty in circulating through the\nveins. The fibres are so constituted as to maintain this balance;\nand if any one brings them all together when the blood is dead and\nin process of cooling, then the blood which remains becomes fluid, but\nif they are left alone, they soon congeal by reason of the surrounding\ncold. The fibres having this power over the blood, bile, which is only\nstale blood, and which from being flesh is dissolved again into blood,\nat the first influx coming in little by little, hot and liquid, is\ncongealed by the power of the fibres; and so congealing and made to\ncool, it produces internal cold and shuddering. When it enters with\nmore of a flood and overcomes the fibres by its heat, and boiling up\nthrows them into disorder, if it have power enough to maintain its\nsupremacy, it penetrates the marrow and burns up what may be termed\nthe cables of the soul, and sets her free; but when there is not so\nmuch of it, and the body though wasted still holds out, the bile is\nitself mastered, and is either utterly banished, or is thrust\nthrough the veins into the lower or upper-belly, and is driven out\nof the body like an exile from a state in which there has been civil\nwar; whence arise diarrhoeas and dysenteries, and all such\ndisorders. When the constitution is disordered by excess of fire,\ncontinuous heat and fever are the result; when excess of air is the\ncause, then the fever is quotidian; when of water, which is a more\nsluggish element than either fire or air, then the fever is a tertian;\nwhen of earth, which is the most sluggish of the four, and is only\npurged away in a four-fold period, the result is a quartan fever,\nwhich can with difficulty be shaken off.\n\nSuch is the manner in which diseases of the body arise; the\ndisorders of the soul, which depend upon the body, originate as\nfollows. We must acknowledge disease of the mind to be a want of\nintelligence; and of this there are two kinds; to wit, madness and\nignorance. In whatever state a man experiences either of them, that\nstate may be called disease; and excessive pains and pleasures are\njustly to be regarded as the greatest diseases to which the soul is\nliable. For a man who is in great joy or in great pain, in his\nunseasonable eagerness to attain the one and to avoid the other, is\nnot able to see or to hear anything rightly; but he is mad, and is\nat the time utterly incapable of any participation in reason. He who\nhas the seed about the spinal marrow too plentiful and overflowing,\nlike a tree overladen with fruit, has many throes, and also obtains\nmany pleasures in his desires and their offspring, and is for the most\npart of his life deranged, because his pleasures and pains are so very\ngreat; his soul is rendered foolish and disordered by his body; yet he\nis regarded not as one diseased, but as one who is voluntarily bad,\nwhich is a mistake. The truth is that the intemperance of love is a\ndisease of the soul due chiefly to the moisture and fluidity which\nis produced in one of the elements by the loose consistency of the\nbones. And in general, all that which is termed the incontinence of\npleasure and is deemed a reproach under the idea that the wicked\nvoluntarily do wrong is not justly a matter for reproach. For no man\nis voluntarily bad; but the bad become bad by reason of an ill\ndisposition of the body and bad education, things which are hateful to\nevery man and happen to him against his will. And in the case of\npain too in like manner the soul suffers much evil from the body.\nFor where the acid and briny phlegm and other bitter and bilious\nhumours wander about in the body, and find no exit or escape, but\nare pent up within and mingle their own vapours with the motions of\nthe soul, and are blended, with them, they produce all sorts of\ndiseases, more or fewer, and in every degree of intensity; and being\ncarried to the three places of the soul, whichever they may\nseverally assail, they create infinite varieties of ill-temper and\nmelancholy, of rashness and cowardice, and also of forgetfulness and\nstupidity. Further, when to this evil constitution of body evil\nforms of government are added and evil discourses are uttered in\nprivate as well as in public, and no sort of instruction is given in\nyouth to cure these evils, then all of us who are bad become bad\nfrom two causes which are entirely beyond our control. In such cases\nthe planters are to blame rather than the plants, the educators rather\nthan the educated. But however that may be, we should endeavour as far\nas we can by education, and studies, and learning, to avoid vice and\nattain virtue; this, however, is part of another subject.\n\nThere is a corresponding enquiry concerning the mode of treatment by\nwhich the mind and the body are to be preserved, about which it is\nmeet and right that I should say a word in turn; for it is more our\nduty to speak of the good than of the evil. Everything that is good is\nfair, and the animal fair is not without proportion, and the animal\nwhich is to be fair must have due proportion. Now we perceive lesser\nsymmetries or proportions and reason about them, but of the highest\nand greatest we take no heed; for there is no proportion or\ndisproportion more productive of health and disease, and virtue and\nvice, than that between soul and body. This however we do not\nperceive, nor do we reflect that when a weak or small frame is the\nvehicle of a great and mighty soul, or conversely, when a little\nsoul is encased in a large body, then the whole animal is not fair,\nfor it lacks the most important of all symmetries; but the due\nproportion of mind and body is the fairest and loveliest of all sights\nto him who has the seeing eye. Just as a body which has a leg too\nlong, or which is unsymmetrical in some other respect, is an\nunpleasant sight, and also, when doing its share of work, is much\ndistressed and makes convulsive efforts, and often stumbles through\nawkwardness, and is the cause of infinite evil to its own self-in like\nmanner we should conceive of the double nature which we call the\nliving being; and when in this compound there is an impassioned soul\nmore powerful than the body, that soul, I say, convulses and fills\nwith disorders the whole inner nature of man; and when eager in the\npursuit of some sort of learning or study, causes wasting; or again,\nwhen teaching or disputing in private or in public, and strifes and\ncontroversies arise, inflames and dissolves the composite frame of man\nand introduces rheums; and the nature of this phenomenon is not\nunderstood by most professors of medicine, who ascribe it to the\nopposite of the real cause. And once more, when body large and too\nstrong for the soul is united to a small and weak intelligence, then\ninasmuch as there are two desires natural to man,-one of food for\nthe sake of the body, and one of wisdom for the sake of the diviner\npart of us-then, I say, the motions of the stronger, getting the\nbetter and increasing their own power, but making the soul dull, and\nstupid, and forgetful, engender ignorance, which is the greatest of\ndiseases. There is one protection against both kinds of\ndisproportion:-that we should not move the body without the soul or\nthe soul without the body, and thus they will be on their guard\nagainst each other, and be healthy and well balanced. And therefore\nthe mathematician or any one else whose thoughts are much absorbed\nin some intellectual pursuit, must allow his body also to have due\nexercise, and practise gymnastic; and he who is careful to fashion the\nbody, should in turn impart to the soul its proper motions, and should\ncultivate music and all philosophy, if he would deserve to be called\ntruly fair and truly good. And the separate parts should be treated in\nthe same manner, in imitation of the pattern of the universe; for as\nthe body is heated and also cooled within by the elements which\nenter into it, and is again dried up and moistened by external things,\nand experiences these and the like affections from both kinds of\nmotions, the result is that the body if given up to motion when in a\nstate of quiescence is overmastered and perishes; but if any one, in\nimitation of that which we call the foster-mother and nurse of the\nuniverse, will not allow the body ever to be inactive, but is always\nproducing motions and agitations through its whole extent, which\nform the natural defence against other motions both internal and\nexternal, and by moderate exercise reduces to order according to their\naffinities the particles and affections which are wandering about\nthe body, as we have already said when speaking of the universe, he\nwill not allow enemy placed by the side of enemy to stir up wars and\ndisorders in the body, but he will place friend by the side of friend,\nso as to create health.\n\nNow of all motions that is the best which is produced in a thing\nby itself, for it is most akin to the motion of thought and of the\nuniverse; but that motion which is caused by others is not so good,\nand worst of all is that which moves the body, when at rest, in\nparts only and by some external agency. Wherefore of all modes of\npurifying and reuniting the body the best is gymnastic; the next\nbest is a surging motion, as in sailing or any other mode of\nconveyance which is not fatiguing; the third sort of motion may be\nof use in a case of extreme necessity, but in any other will be\nadopted by no man of sense: I mean the purgative treatment of\nphysicians; for diseases unless they are very dangerous should not\nbe irritated by medicines, since every form of disease is in a\nmanner akin to the living being, whose complex frame has an\nappointed term of life. For not the whole race only, but each\nindividual-barring inevitable accidents-comes into the world having\na fixed span, and the triangles in us are originally framed with power\nto last for a certain time, beyond which no man prolong his life.\nAnd this holds also of the constitution of diseases; if any one\nregardless of the appointed time tries to subdue them by medicine,\nhe only aggravates and multiplies them. Wherefore we ought always to\nmanage them by regimen, as far as a man can spare the time, and not\nprovoke a disagreeable enemy by medicines.\n\nEnough of the composite animal, and of the body which is a part of\nhim, and of the manner in which a man may train and be trained by\nhimself so as to live most according to reason: and we must above\nand before all provide that the element which is to train him shall be\nthe fairest and best adapted to that purpose. A minute discussion of\nthis subject would be a serious task; but if, as before, I am to\ngive only an outline, the subject may not unfitly be summed up as\nfollows.\n\nI have often remarked that there are three kinds of soul located\nwithin us, having each of them motions, and I must now repeat in the\nfewest words possible, that one part, if remaining inactive and\nceasing from its natural motion, must necessarily become very weak,\nbut that which is trained and exercised, very strong. Wherefore we\nshould take care that the movements of the different parts of the soul\nshould be in due proportion.\n\nAnd we should consider that God gave the sovereign part of the human\nsoul to be the divinity of each one, being that part which, as we say,\ndwells at the top of the body, inasmuch as we are a plant not of an\nearthly but of a heavenly growth, raises us from earth to our\nkindred who are in heaven. And in this we say truly; for the divine\npower suspended the head and root of us from that place where the\ngeneration of the soul first began, and thus made the whole body\nupright. When a man is always occupied with the cravings of desire and\nambition, and is eagerly striving to satisfy them, all his thoughts\nmust be mortal, and, as far as it is possible altogether to become\nsuch, he must be mortal every whit, because he has cherished his\nmortal part. But he who has been earnest in the love of knowledge\nand of true wisdom, and has exercised his intellect more than any\nother part of him, must have thoughts immortal and divine, if he\nattain truth, and in so far as human nature is capable of sharing in\nimmortality, he must altogether be immortal; and since he is ever\ncherishing the divine power, and has the divinity within him in\nperfect order, he will be perfectly happy. Now there is only one way\nof taking care of things, and this is to give to each the food and\nmotion which are natural to it. And the motions which are naturally\nakin to the divine principle within us are the thoughts and\nrevolutions of the universe. These each man should follow, and correct\nthe courses of the head which were corrupted at our birth, and by\nlearning the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, should\nassimilate the thinking being to the thought, renewing his original\nnature, and having assimilated them should attain to that perfect life\nwhich the gods have set before mankind, both for the present and the\nfuture.\n\nThus our original design of discoursing about the universe down to\nthe creation of man is nearly completed. A brief mention may be made\nof the generation of other animals, so far as the subject admits of\nbrevity; in this manner our argument will best attain a due\nproportion. On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may\nbe offered. Of the men who came into the world, those who were cowards\nor led unrighteous lives may with reason be supposed to have changed\ninto the nature of women in the second generation. And this was the\nreason why at that time the gods created in us the desire of sexual\nintercourse, contriving in man one animated substance, and in woman\nanother, which they formed respectively in the following manner. The\noutlet for drink by which liquids pass through the lung under the\nkidneys and into the bladder, which receives then by the pressure of\nthe air emits them, was so fashioned by them as to penetrate also into\nthe body of the marrow, which passes from the head along the neck\nand through the back, and which in the preceding discourse we have\nnamed the seed. And the seed having life, and becoming endowed with\nrespiration, produces in that part in which it respires a lively\ndesire of emission, and thus creates in us the love of procreation.\nWherefore also in men the organ of generation becoming rebellious\nand masterful, like an animal disobedient to reason, and maddened with\nthe sting of lust, seeks to gain absolute sway; and the same is the\ncase with the so-called womb or matrix of women; the animal within\nthem is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining\nunfruitful long beyond its proper time, gets discontented and angry,\nand wandering in every direction through the body, closes up the\npassages of the breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives them\nto extremity, causing all varieties of disease, until at length the\ndesire and love of the man and the woman, bringing them together and\nas it were plucking the fruit from the tree, sow in the womb, as in\na field, animals unseen by reason of their smallness and without form;\nthese again are separated and matured within; they are then finally\nbrought out into the light, and thus the generation of animals is\ncompleted.\n\nThus were created women and the female sex in general. But the\nrace of birds was created out of innocent light-minded men, who,\nalthough their minds were directed toward heaven, imagined, in their\nsimplicity, that the clearest demonstration of the things above was to\nbe obtained by sight; these were remodelled and transformed into\nbirds, and they grew feathers instead of hair. The race of wild\npedestrian animals, again, came from those who had no philosophy in\nany of their thoughts, and never considered at all about the nature of\nthe heavens, because they had ceased to use the courses of the head,\nbut followed the guidance of those parts of the soul which are in\nthe breast. In consequence of these habits of theirs they had their\nfront-legs and their heads resting upon the earth to which they were\ndrawn by natural affinity; and the crowns of their heads were\nelongated and of all sorts of shapes, into which the courses of the\nsoul were crushed by reason of disuse. And this was the reason why\nthey were created quadrupeds and polypods: God gave the more senseless\nof them the more support that they might be more attracted to the\nearth. And the most foolish of them, who trail their bodies entirely\nupon the ground and have no longer any need of feet, he made without\nfeet to crawl upon the earth. The fourth class were the inhabitants of\nthe water: these were made out of the most entirely senseless and\nignorant of all, whom the transformers did not think any longer worthy\nof pure respiration, because they possessed a soul which was made\nimpure by all sorts of transgression; and instead of the subtle and\npure medium of air, they gave them the deep and muddy sea to be\ntheir element of respiration; and hence arose the race of fishes and\noysters, and other aquatic animals, which have received the most\nremote habitations as a punishment of their outlandish ignorance.\nThese are the laws by which animals pass into one another, now, as\never, changing as they lose or gain wisdom and folly.\n\nWe may now say that our discourse about the nature of the universe\nhas an end. The world has received animals, mortal and immortal, and\nis fulfilled with them, and has become a visible animal containing the\nvisible-the sensible God who is the image of the intellectual, the\ngreatest, best, fairest, most perfect-the one only begotten heaven.\n\n-THE END-",
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