---
type: article
status: Published
slug: "timaeus"
title: "Timaeus"
author: "Plato"
tradition: "greek"
language: "grc"
genre: "philosophical dialogue"
period: "c. 360 BCE"
source_url: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/master/data/tlg0059/tlg031/tlg0059.tlg031.perseus-grc2.xml"
certainty: observed
source: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/master/data/tlg0059/tlg031/tlg0059.tlg031.perseus-grc2.xml"
unknowns: none known
---
# Timaeus

## Original

### Stephanus 17

[17a] ΣΩ. εἷς, δύο, τρεῖς· ὁ δὲ δὴ τέταρτος ἡμῖν, ὦ φίλε Τίμαιε, ποῦ τῶν χθὲς μὲν δαιτυμόνων, τὰ νῦν δὲ ἑστιατόρων;

ΤΙ. ἀσθένειά τις αὐτῷ συνέπεσεν, ὦ Σώκρατες· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἑκὼν τῆσδε ἀπελείπετο τῆς συνουσίας.

ΣΩ. οὐκοῦν σὸν τῶνδέ τε ἔργον καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀπόντος ἀναπληροῦν μέρος;

[17b] ΤΙ. πάνυ μὲν οὖν, καὶ κατὰ δύναμίν γε οὐδὲν ἐλλείψομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν εἴη δίκαιον, χθὲς ὑπὸ σοῦ ξενισθέντας οἷς ἦν πρέπον ξενίοις, μὴ οὐ προθύμως σὲ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἡμῶν ἀνταφεστιᾶν.

ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν μέμνησθε ὅσα ὑμῖν καὶ περὶ ὧν ἐπέταξα εἰπεῖν;

ΤΙ. τὰ μὲν μεμνήμεθα, ὅσα δὲ μή, σὺ παρὼν ὑπομνήσεις· μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ μή τί σοι χαλεπόν, ἐξ ἀρχῆς διὰ βραχέων πάλιν ἐπάνελθε αὐτά, ἵνα βεβαιωθῇ μᾶλλον παρʼ ἡμῖν.

[17c] ΣΩ. ταῦτʼ ἔσται. χθές που τῶν ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ ῥηθέντων λόγων περὶ πολιτείας ἦν τὸ κεφάλαιον οἵα τε καὶ ἐξ οἵων ἀνδρῶν ἀρίστη κατεφαίνετʼ ἄν μοι γενέσθαι.

ΤΙ. καὶ μάλα γε ἡμῖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ῥηθεῖσα πᾶσιν κατὰ νοῦν.

ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ τὸ τῶν γεωργῶν ὅσαι τε ἄλλαι τέχναι πρῶτον ἐν αὐτῇ χωρὶς διειλόμεθα ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους τοῦ τῶν προπολεμησόντων;

ΤΙ. ναί.

ΣΩ. καὶ κατὰ φύσιν δὴ δόντες τὸ καθʼ αὑτὸν ἑκάστῳ [17d] πρόσφορον ἓν μόνον ἐπιτήδευμα, μίαν ἑκάστῳ τέχνην, τούτους οὓς πρὸ πάντων ἔδει πολεμεῖν, εἴπομεν ὡς ἄρʼ αὐτοὺς δέοι φύλακας εἶναι μόνον τῆς πόλεως, εἴτε τις ἔξωθεν ἢ καὶ τῶν ἔνδοθεν ἴοι κακουργήσων, δικάζοντας μὲν πρᾴως τοῖς

### Stephanus 18

[18a] ἀρχομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ φύσει φίλοις οὖσιν, χαλεποὺς δὲ ἐν ταῖς μάχαις τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσιν τῶν ἐχθρῶν γιγνομένους.

ΤΙ. παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.

ΣΩ. φύσιν γὰρ οἶμαί τινα τῶν φυλάκων τῆς ψυχῆς ἐλέγομεν ἅμα μὲν θυμοειδῆ, ἅμα δὲ φιλόσοφον δεῖν εἶναι διαφερόντως, ἵνα πρὸς ἑκατέρους δύναιντο ὀρθῶς πρᾷοι καὶ χαλεποὶ γίγνεσθαι.

ΤΙ. ναί.

ΣΩ. τί δὲ τροφήν; ἆρʼ οὐ γυμναστικῇ καὶ μουσικῇ μαθήμασίν τε ὅσα προσήκει τούτοις, ἐν ἅπασι τεθράφθαι;

[18b] ΤΙ. πάνυ μὲν οὖν.

ΣΩ. τοὺς δέ γε οὕτω τραφέντας ἐλέχθη που μήτε χρυσὸν μήτε ἄργυρον μήτε ἄλλο ποτὲ μηδὲν κτῆμα ἑαυτῶν ἴδιον νομίζειν δεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐπικούρους μισθὸν λαμβάνοντας τῆς φυλακῆς παρὰ τῶν σῳζομένων ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, ὅσος σώφροσιν μέτριος, ἀναλίσκειν τε δὴ κοινῇ καὶ συνδιαιτωμένους μετὰ ἀλλήλων ζῆν, ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχοντας ἀρετῆς διὰ παντός, τῶν ἄλλων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἄγοντας σχολήν.

ΤΙ. ἐλέχθη καὶ ταῦτα ταύτῃ.

[18c] ΣΩ. καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ περὶ γυναικῶν ἐπεμνήσθημεν, ὡς τὰς φύσεις τοῖς ἀνδράσιν παραπλησίας εἴη συναρμοστέον, καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα πάντα κοινὰ κατά τε πόλεμον καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην δίαιταν δοτέον πάσαις.

ΤΙ. ταύτῃ καὶ ταῦτα ἐλέγετο.

ΣΩ. τί δὲ δὴ τὸ περὶ τῆς παιδοποιίας; ἢ τοῦτο μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀήθειαν τῶν λεχθέντων εὐμνημόνευτον, ὅτι κοινὰ τὰ τῶν γάμων καὶ τὰ τῶν παίδων πᾶσιν ἁπάντων ἐτίθεμεν, μηχανωμένους ὅπως μηδείς ποτε τὸ γεγενημένον αὐτῶν ἰδίᾳ γνώσοιτο, [18d] νομιοῦσιν δὲ πάντες πάντας αὐτοὺς ὁμογενεῖς, ἀδελφὰς μὲν καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ὅσοιπερ ἂν τῆς πρεπούσης ἐντὸς ἡλικίας γίγνωνται, τοὺς δʼ ἔμπροσθεν καὶ ἄνωθεν γονέας τε καὶ γονέων προγόνους, τοὺς δʼ εἰς τὸ κάτωθεν ἐκγόνους παῖδάς τε ἐκγόνων;

ΤΙ. ναί, καὶ ταῦτα εὐμνημόνευτα ᾗ λέγεις.

ΣΩ. ὅπως δὲ δὴ κατὰ δύναμιν εὐθὺς γίγνοιντο ὡς ἄριστοι τὰς φύσεις, ἆρʼ οὐ μεμνήμεθα ὡς τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἔφαμεν καὶ τὰς ἀρχούσας δεῖν εἰς τὴν τῶν γάμων σύνερξιν λάθρᾳ [18e] μηχανᾶσθαι κλήροις τισὶν ὅπως οἱ κακοὶ χωρὶς οἵ τʼ ἀγαθοὶ ταῖς ὁμοίαις ἑκάτεροι συλλήξονται, καὶ μή τις αὐτοῖς ἔχθρα διὰ ταῦτα γίγνηται, τύχην ἡγουμένοις αἰτίαν τῆς συλλήξεως;

ΤΙ. μεμνήμεθα.

### Stephanus 19

[19a] ΣΩ. καὶ μὴν ὅτι γε τὰ μὲν τῶν ἀγαθῶν θρεπτέον ἔφαμεν εἶναι, τὰ δὲ τῶν κακῶν εἰς τὴν ἄλλην λάθρᾳ διαδοτέον πόλιν· ἐπαυξανομένων δὲ σκοποῦντας ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀξίους πάλιν ἀνάγειν δεῖν, τοὺς δὲ παρὰ σφίσιν ἀναξίους εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐπανιόντων χώραν μεταλλάττειν;

ΤΙ. οὕτως.

ΣΩ. ἆρʼ οὖν δὴ διεληλύθαμεν ἤδη καθάπερ χθές, ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίοις πάλιν ἐπανελθεῖν, ἢ ποθοῦμεν ἔτι τι τῶν ῥηθέντων, ὦ φίλε Γίμαιε, ὡς ἀπολειπόμενον;

[19b] ΤΙ. οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ αὐτὰ ταῦτʼ ἦν τὰ λεχθέντα, ὦ Σώκρατες.

ΣΩ. ἀκούοιτʼ ἂν ἤδη τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα περὶ τῆς πολιτείας ἣν διήλθομεν, οἷόν τι πρὸς αὐτὴν πεπονθὼς τυγχάνω. προσέοικεν δὲ δή τινί μοι τοιῷδε τὸ πάθος, οἷον εἴ τις ζῷα καλά που θεασάμενος, εἴτε ὑπὸ γραφῆς εἰργασμένα εἴτε καὶ ζῶντα ἀληθινῶς ἡσυχίαν δὲ ἄγοντα, εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἀφίκοιτο θεάσασθαι κινούμενά τε αὐτὰ καί τι τῶν τοῖς σώμασιν δοκούντων [19c] προσήκειν κατὰ τὴν ἀγωνίαν ἀθλοῦντα· ταὐτὸν καὶ ἐγὼ πέπονθα πρὸς τὴν πόλιν ἣν διήλθομεν. ἡδέως γὰρ ἄν του λόγῳ διεξιόντος ἀκούσαιμʼ ἂν ἄθλους οὓς πόλις ἀθλεῖ, τούτους αὐτὴν ἀγωνιζομένην πρὸς πόλεις ἄλλας, πρεπόντως εἴς τε πόλεμον ἀφικομένην καὶ ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν τὰ προσήκοντα ἀποδιδοῦσαν τῇ παιδείᾳ καὶ τροφῇ κατά τε τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις πράξεις καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις διερμηνεύσεις πρὸς ἑκάστας τῶν πόλεων. ταῦτʼ οὖν, ὦ Κριτία καὶ Ἑρμόκρατες, [19d] ἐμαυτοῦ μὲν αὐτὸς κατέγνωκα μή ποτʼ ἂν δυνατὸς γενέσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἱκανῶς ἐγκωμιάσαι. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐμὸν οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν· ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτὴν δόξαν εἴληφα καὶ περὶ τῶν πάλαι γεγονότων καὶ περὶ τῶν νῦν ὄντων ποιητῶν, οὔτι τὸ ποιητικὸν ἀτιμάζων γένος, ἀλλὰ παντὶ δῆλον ὡς τὸ μιμητικὸν ἔθνος, οἷς ἂν ἐντραφῇ, ταῦτα μιμήσεται ῥᾷστα καὶ ἄριστα, τὸ δʼ ἐκτὸς τῆς τροφῆς ἑκάστοις [19e] γιγνόμενον χαλεπὸν μὲν ἔργοις, ἔτι δὲ χαλεπώτερον λόγοις εὖ μιμεῖσθαι. τὸ δὲ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος αὖ πολλῶν μὲν λόγων καὶ καλῶν ἄλλων μάλʼ ἔμπειρον ἥγημαι, φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως, ἅτε πλανητὸν ὂν κατὰ πόλεις οἰκήσεις τε ἰδίας οὐδαμῇ διῳκηκός, ἄστοχον ἅμα φιλοσόφων ἀνδρῶν ᾖ καὶ πολιτικῶν, ὅσʼ ἂν οἷά τε ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ μάχαις πράττοντες ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ προσομιλοῦντες ἑκάστοις πράττοιεν καὶ λέγοιεν.

ΣΩ. καταλέλειπται δὴ τὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἕξεως γένος,

### Stephanus 20

[20a] ἅμα ἀμφοτέρων φύσει καὶ τροφῇ μετέχον. Τίμαιός τε γὰρ ὅδε, εὐνομωτάτης ὢν πόλεως τῆς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ Λοκρίδος, οὐσίᾳ καὶ γένει οὐδενὸς ὕστερος ὢν τῶν ἐκεῖ, τὰς μεγίστας μὲν ἀρχάς τε καὶ τιμὰς τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει μετακεχείρισται, φιλοσοφίας δʼ αὖ κατʼ ἐμὴν δόξαν ἐπʼ ἄκρον ἁπάσης ἐλήλυθεν· Κριτίαν δέ που πάντες οἱ τῇδε ἴσμεν οὐδενὸς ἰδιώτην ὄντα ὧν λέγομεν. τῆς δὲ Ἑρμοκράτους αὖ περὶ φύσεως καὶ τροφῆς, πρὸς ἅπαντα ταῦτʼ εἶναι ἱκανὴν πολλῶν μαρτυρούντων [20b] πιστευτέον. διὸ καὶ χθὲς ἐγὼ διανοούμενος, ὑμῶν δεομένων τὰ περὶ τῆς πολιτείας διελθεῖν, προθύμως ἐχαριζόμην, εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸν ἑξῆς λόγον οὐδένες ἂν ὑμῶν ἐθελόντων ἱκανώτερον ἀποδοῖεν—εἰς γὰρ πόλεμον πρέποντα καταστήσαντες τὴν πόλιν ἅπαντʼ αὐτῇ τὰ προσήκοντα ἀποδοῖτʼ ἂν μόνοι τῶν νῦν—εἰπὼν δὴ τἀπιταχθέντα ἀντεπέταξα ὑμῖν ἃ καὶ νῦν λέγω. συνωμολογήσατʼ οὖν κοινῇ σκεψάμενοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς [20c] αὐτοὺς εἰς νῦν ἀνταποδώσειν μοι τὰ τῶν λόγων ξένια, πάρειμί τε οὖν δὴ κεκοσμημένος ἐπʼ αὐτὰ καὶ πάντων ἑτοιμότατος ὢν δέχεσθαι.

ΕΡ. καὶ μὲν δή, καθάπερ εἶπεν Τίμαιος ὅδε, ὦ Σώκρατες, οὔτε ἐλλείψομεν προθυμίας οὐδὲν οὔτε ἔστιν οὐδεμία πρόφασις ἡμῖν τοῦ μὴ δρᾶν ταῦτα· ὥστε καὶ χθές, εὐθὺς ἐνθένδε ἐπειδὴ παρὰ Κριτίαν πρὸς τὸν ξενῶνα οὗ καὶ καταλύομεν ἀφικόμεθα, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον καθʼ ὁδὸν αὐτὰ ταῦτʼ ἐσκοποῦμεν. [20d] ὅδε οὖν ἡμῖν λόγον εἰσηγήσατο ἐκ παλαιᾶς ἀκοῆς· ὃν καὶ νῦν λέγε, ὦ Κριτία, τῷδε, ἵνα συνδοκιμάσῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐπίταξιν εἴτʼ ἐπιτήδειος εἴτε ἀνεπιτήδειός ἐστι.

ΚΡ. ταῦτα χρὴ δρᾶν, εἰ καὶ τῷ τρίτῳ κοινωνῷ Τιμαίῳ συνδοκεῖ.

ΤΙ. δοκεῖ μήν.

ΚΡ. ἄκουε δή, ὦ Σώκρατες, λόγου μάλα μὲν ἀτόπου, παντάπασί γε μὴν ἀληθοῦς, ὡς ὁ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφώτατος [20e] Σόλων ποτʼ ἔφη. ἦν μὲν οὖν οἰκεῖος καὶ σφόδρα φίλος ἡμῖν Δρωπίδου τοῦ προπάππου, καθάπερ λέγει πολλαχοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ ποιήσει·

ΚΡ. πρὸς δὲ Κριτίαν τὸν ἡμέτερον πάππον εἶπεν, ὡς ἀπεμνημόνευεν αὖ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ γέρων, ὅτι μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ τῆσδʼ εἴη παλαιὰ ἔργα τῆς πόλεως ὑπὸ χρόνου καὶ φθορᾶς ἀνθρώπων ἠφανισμένα, πάντων δὲ ἓν μέγιστον,

### Stephanus 21

[21a] οὗ νῦν ἐπιμνησθεῖσιν πρέπον ἂν ἡμῖν εἴη σοί τε ἀποδοῦναι χάριν καὶ τὴν θεὸν ἅμα ἐν τῇ πανηγύρει δικαίως τε καὶ ἀληθῶς οἷόνπερ ὑμνοῦντας ἐγκωμιάζειν.

ΣΩ. εὖ λέγεις. ἀλλὰ δὴ ποῖον ἔργον τοῦτο Κριτίας οὐ λεγόμενον μέν, ὡς δὲ πραχθὲν ὄντως ὑπὸ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως ἀρχαῖον διηγεῖτο κατὰ τὴν Σόλωνος ἀκοήν;

ΚΡ. ἐγὼ φράσω, παλαιὸν ἀκηκοὼς λόγον οὐ νέου ἀνδρός. ἦν μὲν γὰρ δὴ τότε Κριτίας, ὡς ἔφη, σχεδὸν ἐγγὺς [21b] ἤδη τῶν ἐνενήκοντα ἐτῶν, ἐγὼ δέ πῃ μάλιστα δεκέτης· ἡ δὲ Κουρεῶτις ἡμῖν οὖσα ἐτύγχανεν Ἀπατουρίων. τὸ δὴ τῆς ἑορτῆς σύνηθες ἑκάστοτε καὶ τότε συνέβη τοῖς παισίν· ἆθλα γὰρ ἡμῖν οἱ πατέρες ἔθεσαν ῥαψῳδίας. πολλῶν μὲν οὖν δὴ καὶ πολλὰ ἐλέχθη ποιητῶν ποιήματα, ἅτε δὲ νέα κατʼ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ὄντα τὰ Σόλωνος πολλοὶ τῶν παίδων ᾔσαμεν. εἶπεν οὖν τις τῶν φρατέρων, εἴτε δὴ δοκοῦν αὐτῷ τότε εἴτε καὶ χάριν τινὰ τῷ Κριτίᾳ φέρων, δοκεῖν οἱ τά τε [21c] ἄλλα σοφώτατον γεγονέναι Σόλωνα καὶ κατὰ τὴν ποίησιν αὖ τῶν ποιητῶν πάντων ἐλευθεριώτατον. ὁ δὴ γέρων— σφόδρα γὰρ οὖν μέμνημαι—μάλα τε ἥσθη καὶ διαμειδιάσας εἶπεν· εἴ γε, ὦ Ἀμύνανδρε, μὴ παρέργῳ τῇ ποιήσει κατεχρήσατο, ἀλλʼ ἐσπουδάκει καθάπερ ἄλλοι, τόν τε λόγον ὃν ἀπʼ Αἰγύπτου δεῦρο ἠνέγκατο ἀπετέλεσεν, καὶ μὴ διὰ τὰς στάσεις ὑπὸ κακῶν τε ἄλλων ὅσα ηὗρεν ἐνθάδε ἥκων ἠναγκάσθη [21d] καταμελῆσαι, κατά γε ἐμὴν δόξαν οὔτε Ἡσίοδος οὔτε Ὅμηρος οὔτε ἄλλος οὐδεὶς ποιητὴς εὐδοκιμώτερος ἐγένετο ἄν ποτε αὐτοῦ. τίς δʼ ἦν ὁ λόγος, ἦ δʼ ὅς, ὦ Κριτία; ἦ περὶ μεγίστης, ἔφη, καὶ ὀνομαστοτάτης πασῶν δικαιότατʼ ἂν πράξεως οὔσης, ἣν ἥδε ἡ πόλις ἔπραξε μέν, διὰ δὲ χρόνον καὶ φθορὰν τῶν ἐργασαμένων οὐ διήρκεσε δεῦρο ὁ λόγος. λέγε ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἦ δʼ ὅς, τί τε καὶ πῶς καὶ παρὰ τίνων ὡς ἀληθῆ διακηκοὼς ἔλεγεν ὁ Σόλων. [21e]

ἔστιν τις κατʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἦ δʼ ὅς, ἐν τῷ Δέλτα, περὶ ὃν κατὰ κορυφὴν σχίζεται τὸ τοῦ Νείλου ῥεῦμα Σαϊτικὸς ἐπικαλούμενος νομός, τούτου δὲ τοῦ νομοῦ μεγίστη πόλις Σάις—ὅθεν δὴ καὶ Ἄμασις ἦν ὁ βασιλεύς—οἷς τῆς πόλεως θεὸς ἀρχηγός τίς ἐστιν, Αἰγυπτιστὶ μὲν τοὔνομα Νηίθ, Ἑλληνιστὶ δέ, ὡς ὁ ἐκείνων λόγος, Ἀθηνᾶ· μάλα δὲ φιλαθήναιοι καί τινα τρόπον οἰκεῖοι τῶνδʼ εἶναί φασιν.

ΚΡ. οἷ δὴ Σόλων ἔφη πορευθεὶς σφόδρα τε γενέσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἔντιμος,

### Stephanus 22

[22a] καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ παλαιὰ ἀνερωτῶν ποτε τοὺς μάλιστα περὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἱερέων ἐμπείρους, σχεδὸν οὔτε αὑτὸν οὔτε ἄλλον Ἕλληνα οὐδένα οὐδὲν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν εἰδότα περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀνευρεῖν. καί ποτε προαγαγεῖν βουληθεὶς αὐτοὺς περὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων εἰς λόγους, τῶν τῇδε τὰ ἀρχαιότατα λέγειν ἐπιχειρεῖν, περὶ Φορωνέως τε τοῦ πρώτου λεχθέντος καὶ Νιόβης, καὶ μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν αὖ περὶ Δευκαλίωνος [22b] καὶ Πύρρας ὡς διεγένοντο μυθολογεῖν, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν γενεαλογεῖν, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐτῶν ὅσα ἦν οἷς ἔλεγεν πειρᾶσθαι διαμνημονεύων τοὺς χρόνους ἀριθμεῖν· καί τινα εἰπεῖν τῶν ἱερέων εὖ μάλα παλαιόν· ὦ Σόλων, Σόλων, Ἕλληνες ἀεὶ παῖδές ἐστε, γέρων δὲ Ἕλλην οὐκ ἔστιν. ἀκούσας οὖν, πῶς τί τοῦτο λέγεις; φάναι.νέοι ἐστέ, εἰπεῖν, τὰς ψυχὰς πάντες· οὐδεμίαν γὰρ ἐν αὐταῖς ἔχετε διʼ ἀρχαίαν ἀκοὴν παλαιὰν δόξαν οὐδὲ μάθημα χρόνῳ πολιὸν οὐδέν. τὸ [22c] δὲ τούτων αἴτιον τόδε. πολλαὶ κατὰ πολλὰ φθοραὶ γεγόνασιν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἔσονται, πυρὶ μὲν καὶ ὕδατι μέγισται, μυρίοις δὲ ἄλλοις ἕτεραι βραχύτεραι. τὸ γὰρ οὖν καὶ παρʼ ὑμῖν λεγόμενον, ὥς ποτε Φαέθων Ἡλίου παῖς τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἅρμα ζεύξας διὰ τὸ μὴ δυνατὸς εἶναι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ὁδὸν ἐλαύνειν τά τʼ ἐπὶ γῆς συνέκαυσεν καὶ αὐτὸς κεραυνωθεὶς διεφθάρη, τοῦτο μύθου μὲν σχῆμα ἔχον λέγεται, τὸ δὲ [22d] ἀληθές ἐστι τῶν περὶ γῆν κατʼ οὐρανὸν ἰόντων παράλλαξις καὶ διὰ μακρῶν χρόνων γιγνομένη τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς πυρὶ πολλῷ φθορά. τότε οὖν ὅσοι κατʼ ὄρη καὶ ἐν ὑψηλοῖς τόποις καὶ ἐν ξηροῖς οἰκοῦσιν μᾶλλον διόλλυνται τῶν ποταμοῖς καὶ θαλάττῃ προσοικούντων· ἡμῖν δὲ ὁ Νεῖλος εἴς τε τἆλλα σωτὴρ καὶ τότε ἐκ ταύτης τῆς ἀπορίας σῴζει λυόμενος. ὅταν δʼ αὖ θεοὶ τὴν γῆν ὕδασιν καθαίροντες κατακλύζωσιν, οἱ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν διασῴζονται βουκόλοι νομῆς τε, οἱ δʼ ἐν ταῖς [22e] παρʼ ὑμῖν πόλεσιν εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ὑπὸ τῶν ποταμῶν φέρονται· κατὰ δὲ τήνδε χώραν οὔτε τότε οὔτε ἄλλοτε ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρούρας ὕδωρ ἐπιρρεῖ, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον κάτωθεν πᾶν ἐπανιέναι πέφυκεν.

ΚΡ. ὅθεν καὶ διʼ ἃς αἰτίας τἀνθάδε σῳζόμενα λέγεται παλαιότατα· τὸ δὲ ἀληθές, ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς τόποις ὅπου μὴ χειμὼν ἐξαίσιος ἢ καῦμα ἀπείργει, πλέον,

### Stephanus 23

[23a] τοτὲ δὲ ἔλαττον ἀεὶ γένος ἐστὶν ἀνθρώπων. ὅσα δὲ ἢ παρʼ ὑμῖν ἢ τῇδε ἢ καὶ κατʼ ἄλλον τόπον ὧν ἀκοῇ ἴσμεν, εἴ πού τι καλὸν ἢ μέγα γέγονεν ἢ καί τινα διαφορὰν ἄλλην ἔχον, πάντα γεγραμμένα ἐκ παλαιοῦ τῇδʼ ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ σεσωσμένα· τὰ δὲ παρʼ ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἄρτι κατεσκευασμένα ἑκάστοτε τυγχάνει γράμμασι καὶ ἅπασιν ὁπόσων πόλεις δέονται, καὶ πάλιν διʼ εἰωθότων ἐτῶν ὥσπερ νόσημα ἥκει φερόμενον αὐτοῖς ῥεῦμα οὐράνιον καὶ τοὺς ἀγραμμάτους [23b] τε καὶ ἀμούσους ἔλιπεν ὑμῶν, ὥστε πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς οἷον νέοι γίγνεσθε, οὐδὲν εἰδότες οὔτε τῶν τῇδε οὔτε τῶν παρʼ ὑμῖν, ὅσα ἦν ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς χρόνοις. τὰ γοῦν νυνδὴ γενεαλογηθέντα, ὦ Σόλων, περὶ τῶν παρʼ ὑμῖν ἃ διῆλθες, παίδων βραχύ τι διαφέρει μύθων, οἳ πρῶτον μὲν ἕνα γῆς κατακλυσμὸν μέμνησθε πολλῶν ἔμπροσθεν γεγονότων, ἔτι δὲ τὸ κάλλιστον καὶ ἄριστον γένος ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ παρʼ ὑμῖν οὐκ ἴστε γεγονός, ἐξ ὧν σύ τε καὶ πᾶσα ἡ [23c] πόλις ἔστιν τὰ νῦν ὑμῶν, περιλειφθέντος ποτὲ σπέρματος βραχέος, ἀλλʼ ὑμᾶς λέληθεν διὰ τὸ τοὺς περιγενομένους ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς γράμμασιν τελευτᾶν ἀφώνους. ἦν γὰρ δή ποτε, ὦ Σόλων, ὑπὲρ τὴν μεγίστην φθορὰν ὕδασιν ἡ νῦν Ἀθηναίων οὖσα πόλις ἀρίστη πρός τε τὸν πόλεμον καὶ κατὰ πάντα εὐνομωτάτη διαφερόντως· ᾗ κάλλιστα ἔργα καὶ πολιτεῖαι γενέσθαι λέγονται κάλλισται πασῶν ὁπόσων ὑπὸ [23d] τὸν οὐρανὸν ἡμεῖς ἀκοὴν παρεδεξάμεθα. ἀκούσας οὖν ὁ Σόλων ἔφη θαυμάσαι καὶ πᾶσαν προθυμίαν σχεῖν δεόμενος τῶν ἱερέων πάντα διʼ ἀκριβείας οἱ τὰ περὶ τῶν πάλαι πολιτῶν ἑξῆς διελθεῖν. τὸν οὖν ἱερέα φάναι· φθόνος οὐδείς, ὦ Σόλων, ἀλλὰ σοῦ τε ἕνεκα ἐρῶ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ὑμῶν, μάλιστα δὲ τῆς θεοῦ χάριν, ἣ τήν τε ὑμετέραν καὶ τήνδε ἔλαχεν καὶ ἔθρεψεν καὶ ἐπαίδευσεν, προτέραν μὲν τὴν παρʼ [23e] ὑμῖν ἔτεσιν χιλίοις, ἐκ Γῆς τε καὶ Ἡφαίστου τὸ σπέρμα παραλαβοῦσα ὑμῶν, τήνδε δὲ ὑστέραν. τῆς δὲ ἐνθάδε διακοσμήσεως παρʼ ἡμῖν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασιν ὀκτακισχιλίων ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸς γέγραπται. περὶ δὴ τῶν ἐνακισχίλια γεγονότων ἔτη πολιτῶν σοι δηλώσω διὰ βραχέων νόμους, καὶ τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῖς ὃ κάλλιστον ἐπράχθη·

ΚΡ. τὸ δʼ ἀκριβὲς περὶ

### Stephanus 24

[24a] πάντων ἐφεξῆς εἰς αὖθις κατὰ σχολὴν αὐτὰ τὰ γράμματα λαβόντες διέξιμεν. τοὺς μὲν οὖν νόμους σκόπει πρὸς τοὺς τῇδε· πολλὰ γὰρ παραδείγματα τῶν τότε παρʼ ὑμῖν ὄντων ἐνθάδε νῦν ἀνευρήσεις, πρῶτον μὲν τὸ τῶν ἱερέων γένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων χωρὶς ἀφωρισμένον, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο τὸ τῶν δημιουργῶν, ὅτι καθʼ αὑτὸ ἕκαστον ἄλλῳ δὲ οὐκ ἐπιμειγνύμενον δημιουργεῖ, τό τε τῶν νομέων καὶ τὸ τῶν θηρευτῶν τό τε [24b] τῶν γεωργῶν. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ μάχιμον γένος ᾔσθησαί που τῇδε ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν γενῶν κεχωρισμένον, οἷς οὐδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν τὰ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου προσετάχθη μέλειν· ἔτι δὲ ἡ τῆς ὁπλίσεως αὐτῶν σχέσις ἀσπίδων καὶ δοράτων, οἷς ἡμεῖς πρῶτοι τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὡπλίσμεθα, τῆς θεοῦ καθάπερ ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς τόποις παρʼ ὑμῖν πρώτοις ἐνδειξαμένης. τὸ δʼ αὖ περὶ τῆς φρονήσεως, ὁρᾷς που τὸν νόμον τῇδε ὅσην ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιήσατο εὐθὺς κατʼ ἀρχὰς περί τε [24c] τὸν κόσμον, ἅπαντα μέχρι μαντικῆς καὶ ἰατρικῆς πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐκ τούτων θείων ὄντων εἰς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἀνευρών, ὅσα τε ἄλλα τούτοις ἕπεται μαθήματα πάντα κτησάμενος. ταύτην οὖν δὴ τότε σύμπασαν τὴν διακόσμησιν καὶ σύνταξιν ἡ θεὸς προτέρους ὑμᾶς διακοσμήσασα κατῴκισεν, ἐκλεξαμένη τὸν τόπον ἐν ᾧ γεγένησθε, τὴν εὐκρασίαν τῶν ὡρῶν ἐν αὐτῷ κατιδοῦσα, ὅτι φρονιμωτάτους ἄνδρας οἴσοι· ἅτε οὖν φιλοπόλεμός [24d] τε καὶ φιλόσοφος ἡ θεὸς οὖσα τὸν προσφερεστάτους αὐτῇ μέλλοντα οἴσειν τόπον ἄνδρας, τοῦτον ἐκλεξαμένη πρῶτον κατῴκισεν. ᾠκεῖτε δὴ οὖν νόμοις τε τοιούτοις χρώμενοι καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον εὐνομούμενοι πάσῃ τε παρὰ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπερβεβληκότες ἀρετῇ, καθάπερ εἰκὸς γεννήματα καὶ παιδεύματα θεῶν ὄντας. πολλὰ μὲν οὖν ὑμῶν καὶ μεγάλα ἔργα τῆς πόλεως τῇδε γεγραμμένα θαυμάζεται, πάντων μὴν [24e] ἓν ὑπερέχει μεγέθει καὶ ἀρετῇ· λέγει γὰρ τὰ γεγραμμένα ὅσην ἡ πόλις ὑμῶν ἔπαυσέν ποτε δύναμιν ὕβρει πορευομένην ἅμα ἐπὶ πᾶσαν Εὐρώπην καὶ Ἀσίαν, ἔξωθεν ὁρμηθεῖσαν ἐκ τοῦ Ἀτλαντικοῦ πελάγους.

ΚΡ. τότε γὰρ πορεύσιμον ἦν τὸ ἐκεῖ πέλαγος· νῆσον γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ στόματος εἶχεν ὃ καλεῖτε, ὥς φατε, ὑμεῖς Ἡρακλέους στήλας, ἡ δὲ νῆσος ἅμα Λιβύης ἦν καὶ Ἀσίας μείζων, ἐξ ἧς ἐπιβατὸν ἐπὶ τὰς ἄλλας νήσους τοῖς τότε ἐγίγνετο πορευομένοις, ἐκ δὲ τῶν νήσων

### Stephanus 25

[25a] ἐπὶ τὴν καταντικρὺ πᾶσαν ἤπειρον τὴν περὶ τὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκεῖνον πόντον. τάδε μὲν γάρ, ὅσα ἐντὸς τοῦ στόματος οὗ λέγομεν, φαίνεται λιμὴν στενόν τινα ἔχων εἴσπλουν· ἐκεῖνο δὲ πέλαγος ὄντως ἥ τε περιέχουσα αὐτὸ γῆ παντελῶς ἀληθῶς ὀρθότατʼ ἂν λέγοιτο ἤπειρος. ἐν δὲ δὴ τῇ Ἀτλαντίδι νήσῳ ταύτῃ μεγάλη συνέστη καὶ θαυμαστὴ δύναμις βασιλέων, κρατοῦσα μὲν ἁπάσης τῆς νήσου, πολλῶν δὲ ἄλλων νήσων καὶ μερῶν τῆς ἠπείρου· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔτι τῶν ἐντὸς τῇδε [25b] Λιβύης μὲν ἦρχον μέχρι πρὸς Αἴγυπτον, τῆς δὲ Εὐρώπης μέχρι Τυρρηνίας. αὕτη δὴ πᾶσα συναθροισθεῖσα εἰς ἓν ἡ δύναμις τόν τε παρʼ ὑμῖν καὶ τὸν παρʼ ἡμῖν καὶ τὸν ἐντὸς τοῦ στόματος πάντα τόπον μιᾷ ποτὲ ἐπεχείρησεν ὁρμῇ δουλοῦσθαι. τότε οὖν ὑμῶν, ὦ Σόλων, τῆς πόλεως ἡ δύναμις εἰς ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους διαφανὴς ἀρετῇ τε καὶ ῥώμῃ ἐγένετο· πάντων γὰρ προστᾶσα εὐψυχίᾳ καὶ τέχναις ὅσαι κατὰ πόλεμον, [25c] τὰ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγουμένη, τὰ δʼ αὐτὴ μονωθεῖσα ἐξ ἀνάγκης τῶν ἄλλων ἀποστάντων, ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐσχάτους ἀφικομένη κινδύνους, κρατήσασα μὲν τῶν ἐπιόντων τρόπαιον ἔστησεν, τοὺς δὲ μήπω δεδουλωμένους διεκώλυσεν δουλωθῆναι, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους, ὅσοι κατοικοῦμεν ἐντὸς ὅρων Ἡρακλείων, ἀφθόνως ἅπαντας ἠλευθέρωσεν. ὑστέρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ σεισμῶν ἐξαισίων καὶ κατακλυσμῶν γενομένων, μιᾶς [25d] ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς χαλεπῆς ἐπελθούσης, τό τε παρʼ ὑμῖν μάχιμον πᾶν ἁθρόον ἔδυ κατὰ γῆς, ἥ τε Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος ὡσαύτως κατὰ τῆς θαλάττης δῦσα ἠφανίσθη· διὸ καὶ νῦν ἄπορον καὶ ἀδιερεύνητον γέγονεν τοὐκεῖ πέλαγος, πηλοῦ κάρτα βραχέος ἐμποδὼν ὄντος, ὃν ἡ νῆσος ἱζομένη παρέσχετο.

τὰ μὲν δὴ ῥηθέντα, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὑπὸ τοῦ παλαιοῦ [25e] Κριτίου κατʼ ἀκοὴν τὴν Σόλωνος, ὡς συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ἀκήκοας· λέγοντος δὲ δὴ χθὲς σοῦ περὶ πολιτείας τε καὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὓς ἔλεγες, ἐθαύμαζον ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενος αὐτὰ ἃ νῦν λέγω, κατανοῶν ὡς δαιμονίως ἔκ τινος τύχης οὐκ ἄπο σκοποῦ συνηνέχθης τὰ πολλὰ οἷς Σόλων εἶπεν.

ΚΡ. οὐ μὴν

### Stephanus 26

[26a] ἐβουλήθην παραχρῆμα εἰπεῖν· διὰ χρόνου γὰρ οὐχ ἱκανῶς ἐμεμνήμην. ἐνενόησα οὖν ὅτι χρεὼν εἴη με πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν πρῶτον ἱκανῶς πάντα ἀναλαβόντα λέγειν οὕτως. ὅθεν ταχὺ συνωμολόγησά σοι τὰ ἐπιταχθέντα χθές, ἡγούμενος, ὅπερ ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς τοιοῖσδε μέγιστον ἔργον, λόγον τινὰ πρέποντα τοῖς βουλήμασιν ὑποθέσθαι, τούτου μετρίως ἡμᾶς εὐπορήσειν. οὕτω δή, καθάπερ ὅδʼ εἶπεν, χθές τε εὐθὺς ἐνθένδε ἀπιὼν [26b] πρὸς τούσδε ἀνέφερον αὐτὰ ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενος, ἀπελθών τε σχεδόν τι πάντα ἐπισκοπῶν τῆς νυκτὸς ἀνέλαβον. ὡς δή τοι, τὸ λεγόμενον, τὰ παίδων μαθήματα θαυμαστὸν ἔχει τι μνημεῖον. ἐγὼ γὰρ ἃ μὲν χθὲς ἤκουσα, οὐκ ἂν οἶδʼ εἰ δυναίμην ἅπαντα ἐν μνήμῃ πάλιν λαβεῖν· ταῦτα δὲ ἃ πάμπολυν χρόνον διακήκοα, παντάπασι θαυμάσαιμʼ ἂν εἴ τί με αὐτῶν διαπέφευγεν. ἦν μὲν οὖν μετὰ πολλῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ [26c] παιδιᾶς τότε ἀκουόμενα, καὶ τοῦ πρεσβύτου προθύμως με διδάσκοντος, ἅτʼ ἐμοῦ πολλάκις ἐπανερωτῶντος, ὥστε οἷον ἐγκαύματα ἀνεκπλύτου γραφῆς ἔμμονά μοι γέγονεν· καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖσδε εὐθὺς ἔλεγον ἕωθεν αὐτὰ ταῦτα, ἵνα εὐποροῖεν λόγων μετʼ ἐμοῦ. νῦν οὖν, οὗπερ ἕνεκα πάντα ταῦτα εἴρηται, λέγειν εἰμὶ ἕτοιμος, ὦ Σώκρατες, μὴ μόνον ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἤκουσα καθʼ ἕκαστον· τοὺς δὲ πολίτας καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἣν χθὲς ἡμῖν ὡς ἐν μύθῳ διῄεισθα σύ, νῦν μετενεγκόντες [26d] ἐπὶ τἀληθὲς δεῦρο θήσομεν ὡς ἐκείνην τήνδε οὖσαν, καὶ τοὺς πολίτας οὓς διενοοῦ φήσομεν ἐκείνους τοὺς ἀληθινοὺς εἶναι προγόνους ἡμῶν, οὓς ἔλεγεν ὁ ἱερεύς. πάντως ἁρμόσουσι καὶ οὐκ ἀπᾳσόμεθα λέγοντες αὐτοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐν τῷ τότε ὄντας χρόνῳ. κοινῇ δὲ διαλαμβάνοντες ἅπαντες πειρασόμεθα τὸ πρέπον εἰς δύναμιν οἷς ἐπέταξας ἀποδοῦναι. σκοπεῖν οὖν δὴ χρή, ὦ Σώκρατες, εἰ κατὰ νοῦν ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν [26e] οὗτος, ἤ τινα ἔτʼ ἄλλον ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ ζητητέον.

ΣΩ. καὶ τίνʼ ἄν, ὦ Κριτία, μᾶλλον ἀντὶ τούτου μεταλάβοιμεν, ὃς τῇ τε παρούσῃ τῆς θεοῦ θυσίᾳ διὰ τὴν οἰκειότητʼ ἂν πρέποι μάλιστα, τό τε μὴ πλασθέντα μῦθον ἀλλʼ ἀληθινὸν λόγον εἶναι πάμμεγά που. πῶς γὰρ καὶ πόθεν ἄλλους ἀνευρήσομεν ἀφέμενοι τούτων; οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλʼ ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ χρὴ λέγειν μὲν ὑμᾶς, ἐμὲ δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν χθὲς λόγων νῦν

### Stephanus 27

[27a] ἡσυχίαν ἄγοντα ἀντακούειν.

ΚΡ. σκόπει δὴ τὴν τῶν ξενίων σοι διάθεσιν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ᾗ διέθεμεν. ἔδοξεν γὰρ ἡμῖν Τίμαιον μέν, ἅτε ὄντα ἀστρονομικώτατον ἡμῶν καὶ περὶ φύσεως τοῦ παντὸς εἰδέναι μάλιστα ἔργον πεποιημένον, πρῶτον λέγειν ἀρχόμενον ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως, τελευτᾶν δὲ εἰς ἀνθρώπων φύσιν· ἐμὲ δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον, ὡς παρὰ μὲν τούτου δεδεγμένον ἀνθρώπους τῷ λόγῳ γεγονότας, παρὰ σοῦ δὲ πεπαιδευμένους διαφερόντως [27b] αὐτῶν τινας, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σόλωνος λόγον τε καὶ νόμον εἰσαγαγόντα αὐτοὺς ὡς εἰς δικαστὰς ἡμᾶς ποιῆσαι πολίτας τῆς πόλεως τῆσδε ὡς ὄντας τοὺς τότε Ἀθηναίους, οὓς ἐμήνυσεν ἀφανεῖς ὄντας ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων φήμη, τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ ὡς περὶ πολιτῶν καὶ Ἀθηναίων ὄντων ἤδη ποιεῖσθαι τοὺς λόγους.

ΣΩ. τελέως τε καὶ λαμπρῶς ἔοικα ἀνταπολήψεσθαι τὴν τῶν λόγων ἑστίασιν. σὸν οὖν ἔργον λέγειν ἄν, ὦ Τίμαιε, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο, ὡς ἔοικεν, εἴη καλέσαντα κατὰ νόμον θεούς.

[27c] ΤΙ. ἀλλʼ, ὦ Σώκρατες, τοῦτό γε δὴ πάντες ὅσοι καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ σωφροσύνης μετέχουσιν, ἐπὶ παντὸς ὁρμῇ καὶ σμικροῦ καὶ μεγάλου πράγματος θεὸν ἀεί που καλοῦσιν· ἡμᾶς δὲ τοὺς περὶ τοῦ παντὸς λόγους ποιεῖσθαί πῃ μέλλοντας, ᾗ γέγονεν ἢ καὶ ἀγενές ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ παντάπασι παραλλάττομεν, ἀνάγκη θεούς τε καὶ θεὰς ἐπικαλουμένους εὔχεσθαι πάντα κατὰ νοῦν ἐκείνοις μὲν μάλιστα, ἑπομένως [27d] δὲ ἡμῖν εἰπεῖν. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ θεῶν ταύτῃ παρακεκλήσθω· τὸ δʼ ἡμέτερον παρακλητέον, ᾗ ῥᾷστʼ ἂν ὑμεῖς μὲν μάθοιτε, ἐγὼ δὲ ᾗ διανοοῦμαι μάλιστʼ ἂν περὶ τῶν προκειμένων ἐνδειξαίμην.

ΤΙ. ἔστιν οὖν δὴ κατʼ ἐμὴν δόξαν πρῶτον διαιρετέον τάδε· τί τὸ ὂν ἀεί, γένεσιν δὲ οὐκ ἔχον, καὶ τί τὸ γιγνόμενον μὲν

### Stephanus 28

[28a] ἀεί, ὂν δὲ οὐδέποτε; τὸ μὲν δὴ νοήσει μετὰ λόγου περιληπτόν, ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὄν, τὸ δʼ αὖ δόξῃ μετʼ αἰσθήσεως ἀλόγου δοξαστόν, γιγνόμενον καὶ ἀπολλύμενον, ὄντως δὲ οὐδέποτε ὄν. πᾶν δὲ αὖ τὸ γιγνόμενον ὑπʼ αἰτίου τινὸς ἐξ ἀνάγκης γίγνεσθαι· παντὶ γὰρ ἀδύνατον χωρὶς αἰτίου γένεσιν σχεῖν. ὅτου μὲν οὖν ἂν ὁ δημιουργὸς πρὸς τὸ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχον βλέπων ἀεί, τοιούτῳ τινὶ προσχρώμενος παραδείγματι, τὴν ἰδέαν καὶ δύναμιν αὐτοῦ ἀπεργάζηται, καλὸν ἐξ ἀνάγκης [28b] οὕτως ἀποτελεῖσθαι πᾶν· οὗ δʼ ἂν εἰς γεγονός, γεννητῷ παραδείγματι προσχρώμενος, οὐ καλόν. ὁ δὴ πᾶς οὐρανὸς —ἢ κόσμος ἢ καὶ ἄλλο ὅτι ποτὲ ὀνομαζόμενος μάλιστʼ ἂν δέχοιτο, τοῦθʼ ἡμῖν ὠνομάσθω—σκεπτέον δʼ οὖν περὶ αὐτοῦ πρῶτον, ὅπερ ὑπόκειται περὶ παντὸς ἐν ἀρχῇ δεῖν σκοπεῖν, πότερον ἦν ἀεί, γενέσεως ἀρχὴν ἔχων οὐδεμίαν, ἢ γέγονεν, ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς τινος ἀρξάμενος. γέγονεν· ὁρατὸς γὰρ ἁπτός τέ ἐστιν καὶ σῶμα ἔχων, πάντα δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα αἰσθητά, τὰ [28c] δʼ αἰσθητά, δόξῃ περιληπτὰ μετʼ αἰσθήσεως, γιγνόμενα καὶ γεννητὰ ἐφάνη. τῷ δʼ αὖ γενομένῳ φαμὲν ὑπʼ αἰτίου τινὸς ἀνάγκην εἶναι γενέσθαι.

ΤΙ. τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν· τόδε δʼ οὖν πάλιν ἐπισκεπτέον περὶ αὐτοῦ, πρὸς πότερον τῶν παραδειγμάτων ὁ τεκταινόμενος αὐτὸν

### Stephanus 29

[29a] ἀπηργάζετο, πότερον πρὸς τὸ κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχον ἢ πρὸς τὸ γεγονός. εἰ μὲν δὴ καλός ἐστιν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος ὅ τε δημιουργὸς ἀγαθός, δῆλον ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἀίδιον ἔβλεπεν· εἰ δὲ ὃ μηδʼ εἰπεῖν τινι θέμις, πρὸς γεγονός. παντὶ δὴ σαφὲς ὅτι πρὸς τὸ ἀίδιον· ὁ μὲν γὰρ κάλλιστος τῶν γεγονότων, ὁ δʼ ἄριστος τῶν αἰτίων. οὕτω δὴ γεγενημένος πρὸς τὸ λόγῳ καὶ φρονήσει περιληπτὸν καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχον δεδημιούργηται· [29b] τούτων δὲ ὑπαρχόντων αὖ πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τόνδε τὸν κόσμον εἰκόνα τινὸς εἶναι. μέγιστον δὴ παντὸς ἄρξασθαι κατὰ φύσιν ἀρχήν. ὧδε οὖν περί τε εἰκόνος καὶ περὶ τοῦ παραδείγματος αὐτῆς διοριστέον, ὡς ἄρα τοὺς λόγους, ὧνπέρ εἰσιν ἐξηγηταί, τούτων αὐτῶν καὶ συγγενεῖς ὄντας· τοῦ μὲν οὖν μονίμου καὶ βεβαίου καὶ μετὰ νοῦ καταφανοῦς μονίμους καὶ ἀμεταπτώτους—καθʼ ὅσον οἷόν τε καὶ ἀνελέγκτοις προσήκει λόγοις εἶναι καὶ ἀνικήτοις, τούτου δεῖ [29c] μηδὲν ἐλλείπειν—τοὺς δὲ τοῦ πρὸς μὲν ἐκεῖνο ἀπεικασθέντος, ὄντος δὲ εἰκόνος εἰκότας ἀνὰ λόγον τε ἐκείνων ὄντας· ὅτιπερ πρὸς γένεσιν οὐσία, τοῦτο πρὸς πίστιν ἀλήθεια. ἐὰν οὖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, πολλὰ πολλῶν πέρι, θεῶν καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς γενέσεως, μὴ δυνατοὶ γιγνώμεθα πάντῃ πάντως αὐτοὺς ἑαυτοῖς ὁμολογουμένους λόγους καὶ ἀπηκριβωμένους ἀποδοῦναι, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· ἀλλʼ ἐὰν ἄρα μηδενὸς ἧττον παρεχώμεθα εἰκότας, ἀγαπᾶν χρή, μεμνημένους ὡς ὁ λέγων ἐγὼ [29d] ὑμεῖς τε οἱ κριταὶ φύσιν ἀνθρωπίνην ἔχομεν, ὥστε περὶ τούτων τὸν εἰκότα μῦθον ἀποδεχομένους πρέπει τούτου μηδὲν ἔτι πέρα ζητεῖν.

ΣΩ. ἄριστα, ὦ Τίμαιε, παντάπασί τε ὡς κελεύεις ἀποδεκτέον· τὸ μὲν οὖν προοίμιον θαυμασίως ἀπεδεξάμεθά σου, τὸν δὲ δὴ νόμον ἡμῖν ἐφεξῆς πέραινε.

ΤΙ. λέγωμεν δὴ διʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν γένεσιν καὶ τὸ πᾶν [29e] τόδε ὁ συνιστὰς συνέστησεν. ἀγαθὸς ἦν, ἀγαθῷ δὲ οὐδεὶς περὶ οὐδενὸς οὐδέποτε ἐγγίγνεται φθόνος· τούτου δʼ ἐκτὸς ὢν πάντα ὅτι μάλιστα ἐβουλήθη γενέσθαι παραπλήσια ἑαυτῷ.

ΤΙ. ταύτην δὴ γενέσεως καὶ κόσμου μάλιστʼ ἄν τις ἀρχὴν κυριωτάτην

### Stephanus 30

[30a] παρʼ ἀνδρῶν φρονίμων ἀποδεχόμενος ὀρθότατα ἀποδέχοιτʼ ἄν. βουληθεὶς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἀγαθὰ μὲν πάντα, φλαῦρον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι κατὰ δύναμιν, οὕτω δὴ πᾶν ὅσον ἦν ὁρατὸν παραλαβὼν οὐχ ἡσυχίαν ἄγον ἀλλὰ κινούμενον πλημμελῶς καὶ ἀτάκτως, εἰς τάξιν αὐτὸ ἤγαγεν ἐκ τῆς ἀταξίας, ἡγησάμενος ἐκεῖνο τούτου πάντως ἄμεινον. θέμις δʼ οὔτʼ ἦν οὔτʼ ἔστιν τῷ ἀρίστῳ δρᾶν ἄλλο πλὴν τὸ κάλλιστον· [30b] λογισάμενος οὖν ηὕρισκεν ἐκ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ὁρατῶν οὐδὲν ἀνόητον τοῦ νοῦν ἔχοντος ὅλον ὅλου κάλλιον ἔσεσθαί ποτε ἔργον, νοῦν δʼ αὖ χωρὶς ψυχῆς ἀδύνατον παραγενέσθαι τῳ. διὰ δὴ τὸν λογισμὸν τόνδε νοῦν μὲν ἐν ψυχῇ, ψυχὴν δʼ ἐν σώματι συνιστὰς τὸ πᾶν συνετεκταίνετο, ὅπως ὅτι κάλλιστον εἴη κατὰ φύσιν ἄριστόν τε ἔργον ἀπειργασμένος. οὕτως οὖν δὴ κατὰ λόγον τὸν εἰκότα δεῖ λέγειν τόνδε τὸν κόσμον ζῷον ἔμψυχον ἔννουν τε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ [30c] γενέσθαι πρόνοιαν.

τούτου δʼ ὑπάρχοντος αὖ τὰ τούτοις ἐφεξῆς ἡμῖν λεκτέον, τίνι τῶν ζῴων αὐτὸν εἰς ὁμοιότητα ὁ συνιστὰς συνέστησεν. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἐν μέρους εἴδει πεφυκότων μηδενὶ καταξιώσωμεν —ἀτελεῖ γὰρ ἐοικὸς οὐδέν ποτʼ ἂν γένοιτο καλόν—οὗ δʼ ἔστιν τἆλλα ζῷα καθʼ ἓν καὶ κατὰ γένη μόρια, τούτῳ πάντων ὁμοιότατον αὐτὸν εἶναι τιθῶμεν. τὰ γὰρ δὴ νοητὰ ζῷα πάντα ἐκεῖνο ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιλαβὸν ἔχει, καθάπερ ὅδε ὁ [30d] κόσμος ἡμᾶς ὅσα τε ἄλλα θρέμματα συνέστηκεν ὁρατά.

ΤΙ. τῷ γὰρ τῶν νοουμένων καλλίστῳ καὶ κατὰ πάντα τελέῳ μάλιστα αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς ὁμοιῶσαι βουληθεὶς ζῷον ἓν ὁρατόν, πάνθʼ ὅσα

### Stephanus 31

[31a] αὐτοῦ κατὰ φύσιν συγγενῆ ζῷα ἐντὸς ἔχον ἑαυτοῦ, συνέστησε. πότερον οὖν ὀρθῶς ἕνα οὐρανὸν προσειρήκαμεν, ἢ πολλοὺς καὶ ἀπείρους λέγειν ἦν ὀρθότερον; ἕνα, εἴπερ κατὰ τὸ παράδειγμα δεδημιουργημένος ἔσται. τὸ γὰρ περιέχον πάντα ὁπόσα νοητὰ ζῷα μεθʼ ἑτέρου δεύτερον οὐκ ἄν ποτʼ εἴη· πάλιν γὰρ ἂν ἕτερον εἶναι τὸ περὶ ἐκείνω δέοι ζῷον, οὗ μέρος ἂν εἴτην ἐκείνω, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι ἐκείνοιν ἀλλʼ ἐκείνῳ τῷ περιέχοντι τόδʼ ἂν ἀφωμοιωμένον λέγοιτο ὀρθότερον. ἵνα [31b] οὖν τόδε κατὰ τὴν μόνωσιν ὅμοιον ᾖ τῷ παντελεῖ ζῴῳ, διὰ ταῦτα οὔτε δύο οὔτʼ ἀπείρους ἐποίησεν ὁ ποιῶν κόσμους, ἀλλʼ εἷς ὅδε μονογενὴς οὐρανὸς γεγονὼς ἔστιν καὶ ἔτʼ ἔσται.

σωματοειδὲς δὲ δὴ καὶ ὁρατὸν ἁπτόν τε δεῖ τὸ γενόμενον εἶναι, χωρισθὲν δὲ πυρὸς οὐδὲν ἄν ποτε ὁρατὸν γένοιτο, οὐδὲ ἁπτὸν ἄνευ τινὸς στερεοῦ, στερεὸν δὲ οὐκ ἄνευ γῆς· ὅθεν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ γῆς τὸ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχόμενος συνιστάναι σῶμα ὁ θεὸς ἐποίει. δύο δὲ μόνω καλῶς συνίστασθαι τρίτου χωρὶς [31c] οὐ δυνατόν· δεσμὸν γὰρ ἐν μέσῳ δεῖ τινα ἀμφοῖν συναγωγὸν γίγνεσθαι. δεσμῶν δὲ κάλλιστος ὃς ἂν αὑτὸν καὶ τὰ συνδούμενα ὅτι μάλιστα ἓν ποιῇ, τοῦτο δὲ πέφυκεν ἀναλογία κάλλιστα ἀποτελεῖν.

ΤΙ. ὁπόταν γὰρ ἀριθμῶν τριῶν εἴτε ὄγκων

### Stephanus 32

[32a] εἴτε δυνάμεων ὡντινωνοῦν ᾖ τὸ μέσον, ὅτιπερ τὸ πρῶτον πρὸς αὐτό, τοῦτο αὐτὸ πρὸς τὸ ἔσχατον, καὶ πάλιν αὖθις, ὅτι τὸ ἔσχατον πρὸς τὸ μέσον, τὸ μέσον πρὸς τὸ πρῶτον, τότε τὸ μέσον μὲν πρῶτον καὶ ἔσχατον γιγνόμενον, τὸ δʼ ἔσχατον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον αὖ μέσα ἀμφότερα, πάνθʼ οὕτως ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὰ αὐτὰ εἶναι συμβήσεται, τὰ αὐτὰ δὲ γενόμενα ἀλλήλοις ἓν πάντα ἔσται. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐπίπεδον μέν, βάθος δὲ μηδὲν ἔχον ἔδει γίγνεσθαι τὸ τοῦ παντὸς σῶμα, μία μεσότης ἂν ἐξήρκει [32b] τά τε μεθʼ αὑτῆς συνδεῖν καὶ ἑαυτήν, νῦν δὲ στερεοειδῆ γὰρ αὐτὸν προσῆκεν εἶναι, τὰ δὲ στερεὰ μία μὲν οὐδέποτε, δύο δὲ ἀεὶ μεσότητες συναρμόττουσιν· οὕτω δὴ πυρός τε καὶ γῆς ὕδωρ ἀέρα τε ὁ θεὸς ἐν μέσῳ θείς, καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα καθʼ ὅσον ἦν δυνατὸν ἀνὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ἀπεργασάμενος, ὅτιπερ πῦρ πρὸς ἀέρα, τοῦτο ἀέρα πρὸς ὕδωρ, καὶ ὅτι ἀὴρ πρὸς ὕδωρ, ὕδωρ πρὸς γῆν, συνέδησεν καὶ συνεστήσατο οὐρανὸν ὁρατὸν καὶ ἁπτόν. καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἔκ τε δὴ τούτων τοιούτων [32c] καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τεττάρων τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα ἐγεννήθη διʼ ἀναλογίας ὁμολογῆσαν, φιλίαν τε ἔσχεν ἐκ τούτων, ὥστε εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ συνελθὸν ἄλυτον ὑπό του ἄλλου πλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ συνδήσαντος γενέσθαι.

τῶν δὲ δὴ τεττάρων ἓν ὅλον ἕκαστον εἴληφεν ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις. ἐκ γὰρ πυρὸς παντὸς ὕδατός τε καὶ ἀέρος καὶ γῆς συνέστησεν αὐτὸν ὁ συνιστάς, μέρος οὐδὲν οὐδενὸς οὐδὲ δύναμιν ἔξωθεν ὑπολιπών, τάδε διανοηθείς, [32d] πρῶτον μὲν ἵνα ὅλον ὅτι μάλιστα ζῷον τέλεον ἐκ τελέων

### Stephanus 33

[33a] τῶν μερῶν εἴη,

ΤΙ. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἕν, ἅτε οὐχ ὑπολελειμμένων ἐξ ὧν ἄλλο τοιοῦτον γένοιτʼ ἄν, ἔτι δὲ ἵνʼ ἀγήρων καὶ ἄνοσον ᾖ, κατανοῶν ὡς συστάτῳ σώματι θερμὰ καὶ ψυχρὰ καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα δυνάμεις ἰσχυρὰς ἔχει περιιστάμενα ἔξωθεν καὶ προσπίπτοντα ἀκαίρως λύει καὶ νόσους γῆράς τε ἐπάγοντα φθίνειν ποιεῖ. διὰ δὴ τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν τόνδε ἕνα ὅλον ὅλων ἐξ ἁπάντων τέλεον καὶ ἀγήρων καὶ ἄνοσον [33b] αὐτὸν ἐτεκτήνατο. σχῆμα δὲ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸ πρέπον καὶ τὸ συγγενές. τῷ δὲ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὑτῷ ζῷα περιέχειν μέλλοντι ζῴῳ πρέπον ἂν εἴη σχῆμα τὸ περιειληφὸς ἐν αὑτῷ πάντα ὁπόσα σχήματα· διὸ καὶ σφαιροειδές, ἐκ μέσου πάντῃ πρὸς τὰς τελευτὰς ἴσον ἀπέχον, κυκλοτερὲς αὐτὸ ἐτορνεύσατο, πάντων τελεώτατον ὁμοιότατόν τε αὐτὸ ἑαυτῷ σχημάτων, νομίσας μυρίῳ κάλλιον ὅμοιον ἀνομοίου. λεῖον δὲ δὴ κύκλῳ [33c] πᾶν ἔξωθεν αὐτὸ ἀπηκριβοῦτο πολλῶν χάριν. ὀμμάτων τε γὰρ ἐπεδεῖτο οὐδέν, ὁρατὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν ὑπελείπετο ἔξωθεν, οὐδʼ ἀκοῆς, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀκουστόν· πνεῦμά τε οὐκ ἦν περιεστὸς δεόμενον ἀναπνοῆς, οὐδʼ αὖ τινος ἐπιδεὲς ἦν ὀργάνου σχεῖν ᾧ τὴν μὲν εἰς ἑαυτὸ τροφὴν δέξοιτο, τὴν δὲ πρότερον ἐξικμασμένην ἀποπέμψοι πάλιν. ἀπῄει τε γὰρ οὐδὲν οὐδὲ προσῄειν αὐτῷ ποθεν—οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν—αὐτὸ γὰρ ἑαυτῷ τροφὴν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φθίσιν παρέχον καὶ πάντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ ὑφʼ [33d] ἑαυτοῦ πάσχον καὶ δρῶν ἐκ τέχνης γέγονεν· ἡγήσατο γὰρ αὐτὸ ὁ συνθεὶς αὔταρκες ὂν ἄμεινον ἔσεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ προσδεὲς ἄλλων. χειρῶν δέ, αἷς οὔτε λαβεῖν οὔτε αὖ τινα ἀμύνασθαι χρεία τις ἦν, μάτην οὐκ ᾤετο δεῖν αὐτῷ προσάπτειν, οὐδὲ ποδῶν οὐδὲ ὅλως τῆς περὶ τὴν βάσιν

### Stephanus 34

[34a] ὑπηρεσίας.

ΤΙ. κίνησιν γὰρ ἀπένειμεν αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ σώματος οἰκείαν, τῶν ἑπτὰ τὴν περὶ νοῦν καὶ φρόνησιν μάλιστα οὖσαν· διὸ δὴ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιαγαγὼν αὐτὸ ἐποίησε κύκλῳ κινεῖσθαι στρεφόμενον, τὰς δὲ ἓξ ἁπάσας κινήσεις ἀφεῖλεν καὶ ἀπλανὲς ἀπηργάσατο ἐκείνων. ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν περίοδον ταύτην ἅτʼ οὐδὲν ποδῶν δέον ἀσκελὲς καὶ ἄπουν αὐτὸ ἐγέννησεν.

οὗτος δὴ πᾶς ὄντος ἀεὶ λογισμὸς θεοῦ περὶ τὸν ποτὲ [34b] ἐσόμενον θεὸν λογισθεὶς λεῖον καὶ ὁμαλὸν πανταχῇ τε ἐκ μέσου ἴσον καὶ ὅλον καὶ τέλεον ἐκ τελέων σωμάτων σῶμα ἐποίησεν· ψυχὴν δὲ εἰς τὸ μέσον αὐτοῦ θεὶς διὰ παντός τε ἔτεινεν καὶ ἔτι ἔξωθεν τὸ σῶμα αὐτῇ περιεκάλυψεν, καὶ κύκλῳ δὴ κύκλον στρεφόμενον οὐρανὸν ἕνα μόνον ἔρημον κατέστησεν, διʼ ἀρετὴν δὲ αὐτὸν αὑτῷ δυνάμενον συγγίγνεσθαι καὶ οὐδενὸς ἑτέρου προσδεόμενον, γνώριμον δὲ καὶ φίλον ἱκανῶς αὐτὸν αὑτῷ. διὰ πάντα δὴ ταῦτα εὐδαίμονα θεὸν αὐτὸν ἐγεννήσατο.

τὴν δὲ δὴ ψυχὴν οὐχ ὡς νῦν ὑστέραν ἐπιχειροῦμεν λέγειν, [34c] οὕτως ἐμηχανήσατο καὶ ὁ θεὸς νεωτέραν—οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἄρχεσθαι πρεσβύτερον ὑπὸ νεωτέρου συνέρξας εἴασεν—ἀλλά πως ἡμεῖς πολὺ μετέχοντες τοῦ προστυχόντος τε καὶ εἰκῇ ταύτῃ πῃ καὶ λέγομεν, ὁ δὲ καὶ γενέσει καὶ ἀρετῇ προτέραν καὶ πρεσβυτέραν ψυχὴν σώματος ὡς δεσπότιν καὶ ἄρξουσαν ἀρξομένου

### Stephanus 35

[35a] συνεστήσατο ἐκ τῶνδέ τε καὶ τοιῷδε τρόπῳ.

ΤΙ. τῆς ἀμερίστου καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐχούσης οὐσίας καὶ τῆς αὖ περὶ τὰ σώματα γιγνομένης μεριστῆς τρίτον ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἐν μέσῳ συνεκεράσατο οὐσίας εἶδος, τῆς τε ταὐτοῦ φύσεως [αὖ πέρι] καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἑτέρου, καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ συνέστησεν ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ τε ἀμεροῦς αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὰ σώματα μεριστοῦ· καὶ τρία λαβὼν αὐτὰ ὄντα συνεκεράσατο εἰς μίαν πάντα ἰδέαν, τὴν θατέρου φύσιν δύσμεικτον οὖσαν εἰς ταὐτὸν συναρμόττων βίᾳ. [35b] μειγνὺς δὲ μετὰ τῆς οὐσίας καὶ ἐκ τριῶν ποιησάμενος ἕν, πάλιν ὅλον τοῦτο μοίρας ὅσας προσῆκεν διένειμεν, ἑκάστην δὲ ἔκ τε ταὐτοῦ καὶ θατέρου καὶ τῆς οὐσίας μεμειγμένην. ἤρχετο δὲ διαιρεῖν ὧδε. μίαν ἀφεῖλεν τὸ πρῶτον ἀπὸ παντὸς μοῖραν, μετὰ δὲ ταύτην ἀφῄρει διπλασίαν ταύτης, τὴν δʼ αὖ τρίτην ἡμιολίαν μὲν τῆς δευτέρας, τριπλασίαν δὲ τῆς πρώτης, τετάρτην δὲ τῆς δευτέρας διπλῆν, πέμπτην δὲ τριπλῆν τῆς [35c] τρίτης, τὴν δʼ ἕκτην τῆς πρώτης ὀκταπλασίαν, ἑβδόμην δʼ ἑπτακαιεικοσιπλασίαν τῆς πρώτης·

ΤΙ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα συνεπληροῦτο

### Stephanus 36

[36a] τά τε διπλάσια καὶ τριπλάσια διαστήματα, μοίρας ἔτι ἐκεῖθεν ἀποτέμνων καὶ τιθεὶς εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ τούτων, ὥστε ἐν ἑκάστῳ διαστήματι δύο εἶναι μεσότητας, τὴν μὲν ταὐτῷ μέρει τῶν ἄκρων αὐτῶν ὑπερέχουσαν καὶ ὑπερεχομένην, τὴν δὲ ἴσῳ μὲν κατʼ ἀριθμὸν ὑπερέχουσαν, ἴσῳ δὲ ὑπερεχομένην. ἡμιολίων δὲ διαστάσεων καὶ ἐπιτρίτων καὶ ἐπογδόων γενομένων ἐκ τούτων τῶν δεσμῶν ἐν ταῖς πρόσθεν διαστάσεσιν, [36b] τῷ τοῦ ἐπογδόου διαστήματι τὰ ἐπίτριτα πάντα συνεπληροῦτο, λείπων αὐτῶν ἑκάστου μόριον, τῆς τοῦ μορίου ταύτης διαστάσεως λειφθείσης ἀριθμοῦ πρὸς ἀριθμὸν ἐχούσης τοὺς ὅρους ἓξ καὶ πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίων πρὸς τρία καὶ τετταράκοντα καὶ διακόσια. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ μειχθέν, ἐξ οὗ ταῦτα κατέτεμνεν, οὕτως ἤδη πᾶν κατανηλώκει. ταύτην οὖν τὴν σύστασιν πᾶσαν διπλῆν κατὰ μῆκος σχίσας, μέσην πρὸς μέσην ἑκατέραν ἀλλήλαις οἷον χεῖ προσβαλὼν κατέκαμψεν [36c] εἰς ἓν κύκλῳ, συνάψας αὑταῖς τε καὶ ἀλλήλαις ἐν τῷ καταντικρὺ τῆς προσβολῆς, καὶ τῇ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐν ταὐτῷ περιαγομένῃ κινήσει πέριξ αὐτὰς ἔλαβεν, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἔξω, τὸν δʼ ἐντὸς ἐποιεῖτο τῶν κύκλων. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἔξω φορὰν ἐπεφήμισεν εἶναι τῆς ταὐτοῦ φύσεως, τὴν δʼ ἐντὸς τῆς θατέρου. τὴν μὲν δὴ ταὐτοῦ κατὰ πλευρὰν ἐπὶ δεξιὰ περιήγαγεν, τὴν δὲ θατέρου κατὰ διάμετρον ἐπʼ ἀριστερά, κράτος δʼ ἔδωκεν τῇ [36d] ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίου περιφορᾷ· μίαν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἄσχιστον εἴασεν, τὴν δʼ ἐντὸς σχίσας ἑξαχῇ ἑπτὰ κύκλους ἀνίσους κατὰ τὴν τοῦ διπλασίου καὶ τριπλασίου διάστασιν ἑκάστην, οὐσῶν ἑκατέρων τριῶν, κατὰ τἀναντία μὲν ἀλλήλοις προσέταξεν ἰέναι τοὺς κύκλους, τάχει δὲ τρεῖς μὲν ὁμοίως, τοὺς δὲ τέτταρας ἀλλήλοις καὶ τοῖς τρισὶν ἀνομοίως, ἐν λόγῳ δὲ φερομένους.

ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ νοῦν τῷ συνιστάντι πᾶσα ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς σύστασις ἐγεγένητο, μετὰ τοῦτο πᾶν τὸ σωματοειδὲς ἐντὸς [36e] αὐτῆς ἐτεκταίνετο καὶ μέσον μέσῃ συναγαγὼν προσήρμοττεν· ἡ δʼ ἐκ μέσου πρὸς τὸν ἔσχατον οὐρανὸν πάντῃ διαπλακεῖσα κύκλῳ τε αὐτὸν ἔξωθεν περικαλύψασα, αὐτὴ ἐν αὑτῇ στρεφομένη, θείαν ἀρχὴν ἤρξατο ἀπαύστου καὶ ἔμφρονος βίου πρὸς τὸν σύμπαντα χρόνον.

ΤΙ. καὶ τὸ μὲν δὴ σῶμα ὁρατὸν οὐρανοῦ γέγονεν, αὐτὴ δὲ ἀόρατος μέν, λογισμοῦ δὲ μετέχουσα καὶ

### Stephanus 37

[37a] ἁρμονίας ψυχή, τῶν νοητῶν ἀεί τε ὄντων ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀρίστου ἀρίστη γενομένη τῶν γεννηθέντων. ἅτε οὖν ἐκ τῆς ταὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς θατέρου φύσεως ἔκ τε οὐσίας τριῶν τούτων συγκραθεῖσα μοιρῶν, καὶ ἀνὰ λόγον μερισθεῖσα καὶ συνδεθεῖσα, αὐτή τε ἀνακυκλουμένη πρὸς αὑτήν, ὅταν οὐσίαν σκεδαστὴν ἔχοντός τινος ἐφάπτηται καὶ ὅταν ἀμέριστον, λέγει κινουμένη διὰ πάσης ἑαυτῆς ὅτῳ τʼ ἄν τι ταὐτὸν ᾖ καὶ ὅτου ἂν [37b] ἕτερον, πρὸς ὅτι τε μάλιστα καὶ ὅπῃ καὶ ὅπως καὶ ὁπότε συμβαίνει κατὰ τὰ γιγνόμενά τε πρὸς ἕκαστον ἕκαστα εἶναι καὶ πάσχειν καὶ πρὸς τὰ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχοντα ἀεί. λόγος δὲ ὁ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἀληθὴς γιγνόμενος περί τε θάτερον ὂν καὶ περὶ τὸ ταὐτόν, ἐν τῷ κινουμένῳ ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ φερόμενος ἄνευ φθόγγου καὶ ἠχῆς, ὅταν μὲν περὶ τὸ αἰσθητὸν γίγνηται καὶ ὁ τοῦ θατέρου κύκλος ὀρθὸς ἰὼν εἰς πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν διαγγείλῃ, δόξαι καὶ πίστεις γίγνονται βέβαιοι καὶ ἀληθεῖς, [37c] ὅταν δὲ αὖ περὶ τὸ λογιστικὸν ᾖ καὶ ὁ τοῦ ταὐτοῦ κύκλος εὔτροχος ὢν αὐτὰ μηνύσῃ, νοῦς ἐπιστήμη τε ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀποτελεῖται· τούτω δὲ ἐν ᾧ τῶν ὄντων ἐγγίγνεσθον, ἄν ποτέ τις αὐτὸ ἄλλο πλὴν ψυχὴν εἴπῃ, πᾶν μᾶλλον ἢ τἀληθὲς ἐρεῖ.

ὡς δὲ κινηθὲν αὐτὸ καὶ ζῶν ἐνόησεν τῶν ἀιδίων θεῶν γεγονὸς ἄγαλμα ὁ γεννήσας πατήρ, ἠγάσθη τε καὶ εὐφρανθεὶς ἔτι δὴ μᾶλλον ὅμοιον πρὸς τὸ παράδειγμα ἐπενόησεν ἀπεργάσασθαι. [37d] καθάπερ οὖν αὐτὸ τυγχάνει ζῷον ἀίδιον ὄν, καὶ τόδε τὸ πᾶν οὕτως εἰς δύναμιν ἐπεχείρησε τοιοῦτον ἀποτελεῖν. ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ ζῴου φύσις ἐτύγχανεν οὖσα αἰώνιος, καὶ τοῦτο μὲν δὴ τῷ γεννητῷ παντελῶς προσάπτειν οὐκ ἦν δυνατόν· εἰκὼ δʼ ἐπενόει κινητόν τινα αἰῶνος ποιῆσαι, καὶ διακοσμῶν ἅμα οὐρανὸν ποιεῖ μένοντος αἰῶνος ἐν ἑνὶ κατʼ ἀριθμὸν ἰοῦσαν αἰώνιον εἰκόνα, τοῦτον ὃν δὴ χρόνον ὠνομάκαμεν. [37e] ἡμέρας γὰρ καὶ νύκτας καὶ μῆνας καὶ ἐνιαυτούς, οὐκ ὄντας πρὶν οὐρανὸν γενέσθαι, τότε ἅμα ἐκείνῳ συνισταμένῳ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῶν μηχανᾶται· ταῦτα δὲ πάντα μέρη χρόνου, καὶ τό τʼ ἦν τό τʼ ἔσται χρόνου γεγονότα εἴδη, ἃ δὴ φέροντες λανθάνομεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀίδιον οὐσίαν οὐκ ὀρθῶς.

ΤΙ. λέγομεν γὰρ δὴ ὡς ἦν ἔστιν τε καὶ ἔσται, τῇ δὲ τὸ ἔστιν μόνον κατὰ τὸν

### Stephanus 38

[38a] ἀληθῆ λόγον προσήκει, τὸ δὲ ἦν τό τʼ ἔσται περὶ τὴν ἐν χρόνῳ γένεσιν ἰοῦσαν πρέπει λέγεσθαι—κινήσεις γάρ ἐστον, τὸ δὲ ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχον ἀκινήτως οὔτε πρεσβύτερον οὔτε νεώτερον προσήκει γίγνεσθαι διὰ χρόνου οὐδὲ γενέσθαι ποτὲ οὐδὲ γεγονέναι νῦν οὐδʼ εἰς αὖθις ἔσεσθαι, τὸ παράπαν τε οὐδὲν ὅσα γένεσις τοῖς ἐν αἰσθήσει φερομένοις προσῆψεν, ἀλλὰ χρόνου ταῦτα αἰῶνα μιμουμένου καὶ κατʼ ἀριθμὸν κυκλουμένου γέγονεν εἴδη—καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι τὰ τοιάδε, [38b] τό τε γεγονὸς εἶναι γεγονὸς καὶ τὸ γιγνόμενον εἶναι γιγνόμενον, ἔτι τε τὸ γενησόμενον εἶναι γενησόμενον καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν μὴ ὂν εἶναι, ὧν οὐδὲν ἀκριβὲς λέγομεν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων τάχʼ ἂν οὐκ εἴη καιρὸς πρέπων ἐν τῷ παρόντι διακριβολογεῖσθαι.

χρόνος δʼ οὖν μετʼ οὐρανοῦ γέγονεν, ἵνα ἅμα γεννηθέντες ἅμα καὶ λυθῶσιν, ἄν ποτε λύσις τις αὐτῶν γίγνηται, καὶ κατὰ τὸ παράδειγμα τῆς διαιωνίας φύσεως, ἵνʼ ὡς ὁμοιότατος [38c] αὐτῷ κατὰ δύναμιν ᾖ· τὸ μὲν γὰρ δὴ παράδειγμα πάντα αἰῶνά ἐστιν ὄν, ὁ δʼ αὖ διὰ τέλους τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον γεγονώς τε καὶ ὢν καὶ ἐσόμενος. ἐξ οὖν λόγου καὶ διανοίας θεοῦ τοιαύτης πρὸς χρόνου γένεσιν, ἵνα γεννηθῇ χρόνος, ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ πέντε ἄλλα ἄστρα, ἐπίκλην ἔχοντα πλανητά, εἰς διορισμὸν καὶ φυλακὴν ἀριθμῶν χρόνου γέγονεν· σώματα δὲ αὐτῶν ἑκάστων ποιήσας ὁ θεὸς ἔθηκεν εἰς τὰς περιφορὰς ἃς ἡ θατέρου περίοδος ᾔειν, ἑπτὰ οὔσας ὄντα [38d] ἑπτά, σελήνην μὲν εἰς τὸν περὶ γῆν πρῶτον, ἥλιον δὲ εἰς τὸν δεύτερον ὑπὲρ γῆς, ἑωσφόρον δὲ καὶ τὸν ἱερὸν Ἑρμοῦ λεγόμενον εἰς [τὸν] τάχει μὲν ἰσόδρομον ἡλίῳ κύκλον ἰόντας, τὴν δὲ ἐναντίαν εἰληχότας αὐτῷ δύναμιν· ὅθεν καταλαμβάνουσίν τε καὶ καταλαμβάνονται κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων ἥλιός τε καὶ ὁ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ καὶ ἑωσφόρος. τὰ δʼ ἄλλα οἷ δὴ καὶ διʼ ἃς αἰτίας ἱδρύσατο, εἴ τις ἐπεξίοι πάσας, ὁ λόγος [38e] πάρεργος ὢν πλέον ἂν ἔργον ὧν ἕνεκα λέγεται παράσχοι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἴσως τάχʼ ἂν κατὰ σχολὴν ὕστερον τῆς ἀξίας τύχοι διηγήσεως·

ΤΙ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὖν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῷ πρέπουσαν ἕκαστον ἀφίκετο φορὰν τῶν ὅσα ἔδει συναπεργάζεσθαι χρόνον, δεσμοῖς τε ἐμψύχοις σώματα δεθέντα ζῷα ἐγεννήθη τό τε προσταχθὲν ἔμαθεν, κατὰ δὴ τὴν θατέρου φορὰν

### Stephanus 39

[39a] πλαγίαν οὖσαν, διὰ τῆς ταὐτοῦ φορᾶς ἰούσης τε καὶ κρατουμένης, τὸ μὲν μείζονα αὐτῶν, τὸ δʼ ἐλάττω κύκλον ἰόν, θᾶττον μὲν τὰ τὸν ἐλάττω, τὰ δὲ τὸν μείζω βραδύτερον περιῄειν. τῇ δὴ ταὐτοῦ φορᾷ τὰ τάχιστα περιιόντα ὑπὸ τῶν βραδύτερον ἰόντων ἐφαίνετο καταλαμβάνοντα καταλαμβάνεσθαι· πάντας γὰρ τοὺς κύκλους αὐτῶν στρέφουσα ἕλικα διὰ τὸ διχῇ κατὰ [39b] τὰ ἐναντία ἅμα προϊέναι τὸ βραδύτατα ἀπιὸν ἀφʼ αὑτῆς οὔσης ταχίστης ἐγγύτατα ἀπέφαινεν. ἵνα δʼ εἴη μέτρον ἐναργές τι πρὸς ἄλληλα βραδυτῆτι καὶ τάχει καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ὀκτὼ φορὰς πορεύοιτο, φῶς ὁ θεὸς ἀνῆψεν ἐν τῇ πρὸς γῆν δευτέρᾳ τῶν περιόδων, ὃ δὴ νῦν κεκλήκαμεν ἥλιον, ἵνα ὅτι μάλιστα εἰς ἅπαντα φαίνοι τὸν οὐρανὸν μετάσχοι τε ἀριθμοῦ τὰ ζῷα ὅσοις ἦν προσῆκον, μαθόντα παρὰ τῆς ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίου [39c] περιφορᾶς. νὺξ μὲν οὖν ἡμέρα τε γέγονεν οὕτως καὶ διὰ ταῦτα, ἡ τῆς μιᾶς καὶ φρονιμωτάτης κυκλήσεως περίοδος· μεὶς δὲ ἐπειδὰν σελήνη περιελθοῦσα τὸν ἑαυτῆς κύκλον ἥλιον ἐπικαταλάβῃ, ἐνιαυτὸς δὲ ὁπόταν ἥλιος τὸν ἑαυτοῦ περιέλθῃ κύκλον. τῶν δʼ ἄλλων τὰς περιόδους οὐκ ἐννενοηκότες ἄνθρωποι, πλὴν ὀλίγοι τῶν πολλῶν, οὔτε ὀνομάζουσιν οὔτε πρὸς ἄλληλα συμμετροῦνται σκοποῦντες ἀριθμοῖς, ὥστε ὡς ἔπος [39d] εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἴσασιν χρόνον ὄντα τὰς τούτων πλάνας, πλήθει μὲν ἀμηχάνῳ χρωμένας, πεποικιλμένας δὲ θαυμαστῶς· ἔστιν δʼ ὅμως οὐδὲν ἧττον κατανοῆσαι δυνατὸν ὡς ὅ γε τέλεος ἀριθμὸς χρόνου τὸν τέλεον ἐνιαυτὸν πληροῖ τότε, ὅταν ἁπασῶν τῶν ὀκτὼ περιόδων τὰ πρὸς ἄλληλα συμπερανθέντα τάχη σχῇ κεφαλὴν τῷ τοῦ ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίως ἰόντος ἀναμετρηθέντα κύκλῳ. κατὰ ταῦτα δὴ καὶ τούτων ἕνεκα ἐγεννήθη τῶν ἄστρων ὅσα διʼ οὐρανοῦ πορευόμενα ἔσχεν τροπάς, ἵνα τόδε [39e] ὡς ὁμοιότατον ᾖ τῷ τελέῳ καὶ νοητῷ ζῴῳ πρὸς τὴν τῆς διαιωνίας μίμησιν φύσεως.

καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἤδη μέχρι χρόνου γενέσεως ἀπείργαστο εἰς ὁμοιότητα ᾧπερ ἀπεικάζετο, τὸ δὲ μήπω τὰ πάντα ζῷα ἐντὸς αὑτοῦ γεγενημένα περιειληφέναι, ταύτῃ ἔτι εἶχεν ἀνομοίως. τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κατάλοιπον ἀπηργάζετο αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παραδείγματος ἀποτυπούμενος φύσιν. ᾗπερ οὖν νοῦς ἐνούσας ἰδέας τῷ ὃ ἔστιν ζῷον, οἷαί τε ἔνεισι καὶ ὅσαι, καθορᾷ, τοιαύτας καὶ τοσαύτας διενοήθη δεῖν καὶ τόδε σχεῖν.

ΤΙ. εἰσὶν δὴ τέτταρες, μία μὲν οὐράνιον θεῶν γένος, ἄλλη δὲ

### Stephanus 40

[40a] πτηνὸν καὶ ἀεροπόρον, τρίτη δὲ ἔνυδρον εἶδος, πεζὸν δὲ καὶ χερσαῖον τέταρτον. τοῦ μὲν οὖν θείου τὴν πλείστην ἰδέαν ἐκ πυρὸς ἀπηργάζετο, ὅπως ὅτι λαμπρότατον ἰδεῖν τε κάλλιστον εἴη, τῷ δὲ παντὶ προσεικάζων εὔκυκλον ἐποίει, τίθησίν τε εἰς τὴν τοῦ κρατίστου φρόνησιν ἐκείνῳ συνεπόμενον, νείμας περὶ πάντα κύκλῳ τὸν οὐρανόν, κόσμον ἀληθινὸν αὐτῷ πεποικιλμένον εἶναι καθʼ ὅλον. κινήσεις δὲ δύο προσῆψεν ἑκάστῳ, τὴν μὲν ἐν ταὐτῷ κατὰ ταὐτά, περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀεὶ [40b] τὰ αὐτὰ ἑαυτῷ διανοουμένῳ, τὴν δὲ εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν, ὑπὸ τῆς ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίου περιφορᾶς κρατουμένῳ· τὰς δὲ πέντε κινήσεις ἀκίνητον καὶ ἑστός, ἵνα ὅτι μάλιστα αὐτῶν ἕκαστον γένοιτο ὡς ἄριστον. ἐξ ἧς δὴ τῆς αἰτίας γέγονεν ὅσʼ ἀπλανῆ τῶν ἄστρων ζῷα θεῖα ὄντα καὶ ἀίδια καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐν ταὐτῷ στρεφόμενα ἀεὶ μένει· τὰ δὲ τρεπόμενα καὶ πλάνην τοιαύτην ἴσχοντα, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἐρρήθη, κατʼ ἐκεῖνα γέγονεν. γῆν δὲ τροφὸν μὲν ἡμετέραν, ἰλλομένην δὲ [40c] τὴν περὶ τὸν διὰ παντὸς πόλον τεταμένον, φύλακα καὶ δημιουργὸν νυκτός τε καὶ ἡμέρας ἐμηχανήσατο, πρώτην καὶ πρεσβυτάτην θεῶν ὅσοι ἐντὸς οὐρανοῦ γεγόνασιν. χορείας δὲ τούτων αὐτῶν καὶ παραβολὰς ἀλλήλων, καὶ [περὶ] τὰς τῶν κύκλων πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπανακυκλήσεις καὶ προχωρήσεις, ἔν τε ταῖς συνάψεσιν ὁποῖοι τῶν θεῶν κατʼ ἀλλήλους γιγνόμενοι καὶ ὅσοι καταντικρύ, μεθʼ οὕστινάς τε ἐπίπροσθεν ἀλλήλοις ἡμῖν τε κατὰ χρόνους οὕστινας ἕκαστοι κατακαλύπτονται καὶ πάλιν ἀναφαινόμενοι φόβους καὶ σημεῖα τῶν [40d] μετὰ ταῦτα γενησομένων τοῖς οὐ δυναμένοις λογίζεσθαι πέμπουσιν, τὸ λέγειν ἄνευ διʼ ὄψεως τούτων αὖ τῶν μιμημάτων μάταιος ἂν εἴη πόνος· ἀλλὰ ταῦτά τε ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν ταύτῃ καὶ τὰ περὶ θεῶν ὁρατῶν καὶ γεννητῶν εἰρημένα φύσεως ἐχέτω τέλος.

περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων εἰπεῖν καὶ γνῶναι τὴν γένεσιν μεῖζον ἢ καθʼ ἡμᾶς, πειστέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν ἔμπροσθεν, ἐκγόνοις μὲν θεῶν οὖσιν, ὡς ἔφασαν, σαφῶς δέ που τούς γε αὑτῶν προγόνους εἰδόσιν· ἀδύνατον οὖν θεῶν [40e] παισὶν ἀπιστεῖν, καίπερ ἄνευ τε εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἀποδείξεων λέγουσιν, ἀλλʼ ὡς οἰκεῖα φασκόντων ἀπαγγέλλειν ἑπομένους τῷ νόμῳ πιστευτέον.

ΤΙ. οὕτως οὖν κατʼ ἐκείνους ἡμῖν ἡ γένεσις περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν ἐχέτω καὶ λεγέσθω. Γῆς τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ παῖδες Ὠκεανός τε καὶ Τηθὺς ἐγενέσθην, τούτων δὲ Φόρκυς Κρόνος τε καὶ Ῥέα καὶ ὅσοι μετὰ

### Stephanus 41

[41a] τούτων, ἐκ δὲ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας Ζεὺς Ἥρα τε καὶ πάντες ὅσους ἴσμεν ἀδελφοὺς λεγομένους αὐτῶν, ἔτι τε τούτων ἄλλους ἐκγόνους· ἐπεὶ δʼ οὖν πάντες ὅσοι τε περιπολοῦσιν φανερῶς καὶ ὅσοι φαίνονται καθʼ ὅσον ἂν ἐθέλωσιν θεοὶ γένεσιν ἔσχον, λέγει πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ τόδε τὸ πᾶν γεννήσας τάδε—

θεοὶ θεῶν, ὧν ἐγὼ δημιουργὸς πατήρ τε ἔργων, διʼ ἐμοῦ γενόμενα ἄλυτα ἐμοῦ γε μὴ ἐθέλοντος. τὸ μὲν οὖν δὴ [41b] δεθὲν πᾶν λυτόν, τό γε μὴν καλῶς ἁρμοσθὲν καὶ ἔχον εὖ λύειν ἐθέλειν κακοῦ· διʼ ἃ καὶ ἐπείπερ γεγένησθε, ἀθάνατοι μὲν οὐκ ἐστὲ οὐδʼ ἄλυτοι τὸ πάμπαν, οὔτι μὲν δὴ λυθήσεσθέ γε οὐδὲ τεύξεσθε θανάτου μοίρας, τῆς ἐμῆς βουλήσεως μείζονος ἔτι δεσμοῦ καὶ κυριωτέρου λαχόντες ἐκείνων οἷς ὅτʼ ἐγίγνεσθε συνεδεῖσθε. νῦν οὖν ὃ λέγω πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐνδεικνύμενος, μάθετε. θνητὰ ἔτι γένη λοιπὰ τρία ἀγέννητα· τούτων δὲ μὴ γενομένων οὐρανὸς ἀτελὴς ἔσται· τὰ γὰρ ἅπαντʼ ἐν [41c] αὑτῷ γένη ζῴων οὐχ ἕξει, δεῖ δέ, εἰ μέλλει τέλεος ἱκανῶς εἶναι. διʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ ταῦτα γενόμενα καὶ βίου μετασχόντα θεοῖς ἰσάζοιτʼ ἄν· ἵνα οὖν θνητά τε ᾖ τό τε πᾶν τόδε ὄντως ἅπαν ᾖ, τρέπεσθε κατὰ φύσιν ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ζῴων δημιουργίαν, μιμούμενοι τὴν ἐμὴν δύναμιν περὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν γένεσιν. καὶ καθʼ ὅσον μὲν αὐτῶν ἀθανάτοις ὁμώνυμον εἶναι προσήκει, θεῖον λεγόμενον ἡγεμονοῦν τε ἐν αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀεὶ δίκῃ καὶ ὑμῖν ἐθελόντων ἕπεσθαι, σπείρας καὶ ὑπαρξάμενος [41d] ἐγὼ παραδώσω· τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ὑμεῖς, ἀθανάτῳ θνητὸν προσυφαίνοντες, ἀπεργάζεσθε ζῷα καὶ γεννᾶτε τροφήν τε διδόντες αὐξάνετε καὶ φθίνοντα πάλιν δέχεσθε.

ταῦτʼ εἶπε, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν πρότερον κρατῆρα, ἐν ᾧ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ψυχὴν κεραννὺς ἔμισγεν, τὰ τῶν πρόσθεν ὑπόλοιπα κατεχεῖτο μίσγων τρόπον μέν τινα τὸν αὐτόν, ἀκήρατα δὲ οὐκέτι κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὡσαύτως, ἀλλὰ δεύτερα καὶ τρίτα. συστήσας δὲ τὸ πᾶν διεῖλεν ψυχὰς ἰσαρίθμους τοῖς ἄστροις, [41e] ἔνειμέν θʼ ἑκάστην πρὸς ἕκαστον, καὶ ἐμβιβάσας ὡς ἐς ὄχημα τὴν τοῦ παντὸς φύσιν ἔδειξεν, νόμους τε τοὺς εἱμαρμένους εἶπεν αὐταῖς, ὅτι γένεσις πρώτη μὲν ἔσοιτο τεταγμένη μία πᾶσιν, ἵνα μήτις ἐλαττοῖτο ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, δέοι δὲ σπαρείσας αὐτὰς εἰς τὰ προσήκοντα ἑκάσταις ἕκαστα ὄργανα χρόνων

### Stephanus 42

[42a] φῦναι ζῴων τὸ θεοσεβέστατον, διπλῆς δὲ οὔσης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, τὸ κρεῖττον τοιοῦτον εἴη γένος ὃ καὶ ἔπειτα κεκλήσοιτο ἀνήρ.

ΤΙ. ὁπότε δὴ σώμασιν ἐμφυτευθεῖεν ἐξ ἀνάγκης, καὶ τὸ μὲν προσίοι, τὸ δʼ ἀπίοι τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν, πρῶτον μὲν αἴσθησιν ἀναγκαῖον εἴη μίαν πᾶσιν ἐκ βιαίων παθημάτων σύμφυτον γίγνεσθαι, δεύτερον δὲ ἡδονῇ καὶ λύπῃ μεμειγμένον ἔρωτα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις φόβον καὶ θυμὸν ὅσα [42b] τε ἑπόμενα αὐτοῖς καὶ ὁπόσα ἐναντίως πέφυκε διεστηκότα· ὧν εἰ μὲν κρατήσοιεν, δίκῃ βιώσοιντο, κρατηθέντες δὲ ἀδικίᾳ. καὶ ὁ μὲν εὖ τὸν προσήκοντα χρόνον βιούς, πάλιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ συννόμου πορευθεὶς οἴκησιν ἄστρου, βίον εὐδαίμονα καὶ συνήθη ἕξοι, σφαλεὶς δὲ τούτων εἰς γυναικὸς φύσιν ἐν τῇ [42c] δευτέρᾳ γενέσει μεταβαλοῖ· μὴ παυόμενός τε ἐν τούτοις ἔτι κακίας, τρόπον ὃν κακύνοιτο, κατὰ τὴν ὁμοιότητα τῆς τοῦ τρόπου γενέσεως εἴς τινα τοιαύτην ἀεὶ μεταβαλοῖ θήρειον φύσιν, ἀλλάττων τε οὐ πρότερον πόνων λήξοι, πρὶν τῇ ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίου περιόδῳ τῇ ἐν αὑτῷ συνεπισπώμενος τὸν πολὺν ὄχλον καὶ ὕστερον προσφύντα ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος [42d] καὶ γῆς, θορυβώδη καὶ ἄλογον ὄντα, λόγῳ κρατήσας εἰς τὸ τῆς πρώτης καὶ ἀρίστης ἀφίκοιτο εἶδος ἕξεως. διαθεσμοθετήσας δὲ πάντα αὐτοῖς ταῦτα, ἵνα τῆς ἔπειτα εἴη κακίας ἑκάστων ἀναίτιος, ἔσπειρεν τοὺς μὲν εἰς γῆν, τοὺς δʼ εἰς σελήνην, τοὺς δʼ εἰς τἆλλα ὅσα ὄργανα χρόνου· τὸ δὲ μετὰ τὸν σπόρον τοῖς νέοις παρέδωκεν θεοῖς σώματα πλάττειν θνητά, τό τʼ ἐπίλοιπον, ὅσον ἔτι ἦν ψυχῆς ἀνθρωπίνης δέον [42e] προσγενέσθαι, τοῦτο καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα ἀκόλουθα ἐκείνοις ἀπεργασαμένους ἄρχειν, καὶ κατὰ δύναμιν ὅτι κάλλιστα καὶ ἄριστα τὸ θνητὸν διακυβερνᾶν ζῷον, ὅτι μὴ κακῶν αὐτὸ ἑαυτῷ γίγνοιτο αἴτιον.

καὶ ὁ μὲν δὴ ἅπαντα ταῦτα διατάξας ἔμενεν ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ κατὰ τρόπον ἤθει·

ΤΙ. μένοντος δὲ νοήσαντες οἱ παῖδες τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τάξιν ἐπείθοντο αὐτῇ, καὶ λαβόντες ἀθάνατον ἀρχὴν θνητοῦ ζῴου, μιμούμενοι τὸν σφέτερον δημιουργόν, πυρὸς καὶ γῆς ὕδατός τε καὶ ἀέρος ἀπὸ τοῦ κόσμου δανειζόμενοι

### Stephanus 43

[43a] μόρια ὡς ἀποδοθησόμενα πάλιν, εἰς ταὐτὸν τὰ λαμβανόμενα συνεκόλλων, οὐ τοῖς ἀλύτοις οἷς αὐτοὶ συνείχοντο δεσμοῖς, ἀλλὰ διὰ σμικρότητα ἀοράτοις πυκνοῖς γόμφοις συντήκοντες, ἓν ἐξ ἁπάντων ἀπεργαζόμενοι σῶμα ἕκαστον, τὰς τῆς ἀθανάτου ψυχῆς περιόδους ἐνέδουν εἰς ἐπίρρυτον σῶμα καὶ ἀπόρρυτον. αἱ δʼ εἰς ποταμὸν ἐνδεθεῖσαι πολὺν οὔτʼ ἐκράτουν οὔτʼ ἐκρατοῦντο, βίᾳ δὲ ἐφέροντο καὶ ἔφερον, ὥστε τὸ [43b] μὲν ὅλον κινεῖσθαι ζῷον, ἀτάκτως μὴν ὅπῃ τύχοι προϊέναι καὶ ἀλόγως, τὰς ἓξ ἁπάσας κινήσεις ἔχον· εἴς τε γὰρ τὸ πρόσθε καὶ ὄπισθεν καὶ πάλιν εἰς δεξιὰ καὶ ἀριστερὰ κάτω τε καὶ ἄνω καὶ πάντῃ κατὰ τοὺς ἓξ τόπους πλανώμενα προῄειν. πολλοῦ γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ κατακλύζοντος καὶ ἀπορρέοντος κύματος ὃ τὴν τροφὴν παρεῖχεν, ἔτι μείζω θόρυβον ἀπηργάζετο τὰ τῶν προσπιπτόντων παθήματα ἑκάστοις, ὅτε [43c] πυρὶ προσκρούσειε τὸ σῶμά τινος ἔξωθεν ἀλλοτρίῳ περιτυχὸν ἢ καὶ στερεῷ γῆς πάγῳ ὑγροῖς τε ὀλισθήμασιν ὑδάτων, εἴτε ζάλῃ πνευμάτων ὑπὸ ἀέρος φερομένων καταληφθείη, καὶ ὑπὸ πάντων τούτων διὰ τοῦ σώματος αἱ κινήσεις ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν φερόμεναι προσπίπτοιεν· αἳ δὴ καὶ ἔπειτα διὰ ταῦτα ἐκλήθησάν τε καὶ νῦν ἔτι αἰσθήσεις συνάπασαι κέκληνται. καὶ δὴ καὶ τότε ἐν τῷ παρόντι πλείστην καὶ μεγίστην παρεχόμεναι κίνησιν, μετὰ τοῦ ῥέοντος ἐνδελεχῶς [43d] ὀχετοῦ κινοῦσαι καὶ σφοδρῶς σείουσαι τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς περιόδους, τὴν μὲν ταὐτοῦ παντάπασιν ἐπέδησαν ἐναντία αὐτῇ ῥέουσαι καὶ ἐπέσχον ἄρχουσαν καὶ ἰοῦσαν, τὴν δʼ αὖ θατέρου διέσεισαν, ὥστε τὰς τοῦ διπλασίου καὶ τριπλασίου τρεῖς ἑκατέρας ἀποστάσεις καὶ τὰς τῶν ἡμιολίων καὶ ἐπιτρίτων καὶ ἐπογδόων μεσότητας καὶ συνδέσεις, ἐπειδὴ παντελῶς λυταὶ οὐκ ἦσαν πλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ συνδήσαντος, πάσας μὲν [43e] στρέψαι στροφάς, πάσας δὲ κλάσεις καὶ διαφθορὰς τῶν κύκλων ἐμποιεῖν, ὁσαχῇπερ ἦν δυνατόν, ὥστε μετʼ ἀλλήλων μόγις συνεχομένας φέρεσθαι μέν, ἀλόγως δὲ φέρεσθαι, τοτὲ μὲν ἀντίας, ἄλλοτε δὲ πλαγίας, τοτὲ δὲ ὑπτίας· οἷον ὅταν τις ὕπτιος ἐρείσας τὴν κεφαλὴν μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς, τοὺς δὲ πόδας ἄνω προσβαλὼν ἔχῃ πρός τινι, τότε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ πάθει τοῦ τε πάσχοντος καὶ τῶν ὁρώντων τά τε δεξιὰ ἀριστερὰ καὶ τὰ ἀριστερὰ δεξιὰ ἑκατέροις τὰ ἑκατέρων φαντάζεται.

ΤΙ. ταὐτὸν δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τοιαῦτα ἕτερα αἱ περιφοραὶ πάσχουσαι σφοδρῶς,

### Stephanus 44

[44a] ὅταν τέ τῳ τῶν ἔξωθεν τοῦ ταὐτοῦ γένους ἢ τοῦ θατέρου περιτύχωσιν, τότε ταὐτόν τῳ καὶ θάτερόν του τἀναντία τῶν ἀληθῶν προσαγορεύουσαι ψευδεῖς καὶ ἀνόητοι γεγόνασιν, οὐδεμία τε ἐν αὐταῖς τότε περίοδος ἄρχουσα οὐδʼ ἡγεμών ἐστιν· αἷς δʼ ἂν ἔξωθεν αἰσθήσεις τινὲς φερόμεναι καὶ προσπεσοῦσαι συνεπισπάσωνται καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἅπαν κύτος, τόθʼ αὗται κρατούμεναι κρατεῖν δοκοῦσι. καὶ διὰ δὴ ταῦτα πάντα τὰ παθήματα νῦν κατʼ ἀρχάς τε ἄνους ψυχὴ γίγνεται [44b] τὸ πρῶτον, ὅταν εἰς σῶμα ἐνδεθῇ θνητόν. ὅταν δὲ τὸ τῆς αὔξης καὶ τροφῆς ἔλαττον ἐπίῃ ῥεῦμα, πάλιν δὲ αἱ περίοδοι λαμβανόμεναι γαλήνης τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὁδὸν ἴωσι καὶ καθιστῶνται μᾶλλον ἐπιόντος τοῦ χρόνου, τότε ἤδη πρὸς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἰόντων σχῆμα ἑκάστων τῶν κύκλων αἱ περιφοραὶ κατευθυνόμεναι, τό τε θάτερον καὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν προσαγορεύουσαι κατʼ ὀρθόν, ἔμφρονα τὸν ἔχοντα αὐτὰς γιγνόμενον ἀποτελοῦσιν. ἂν μὲν οὖν δὴ καὶ συνεπιλαμβάνηταί τις ὀρθὴ τροφὴ παιδεύσεως, [44c] ὁλόκληρος ὑγιής τε παντελῶς, τὴν μεγίστην ἀποφυγὼν νόσον, γίγνεται· καταμελήσας δέ, χωλὴν τοῦ βίου διαπορευθεὶς ζωήν, ἀτελὴς καὶ ἀνόητος εἰς Ἅιδου πάλιν ἔρχεται. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὕστερά ποτε γίγνεται· περὶ δὲ τῶν νῦν προτεθέντων δεῖ διελθεῖν ἀκριβέστερον, τὰ δὲ πρὸ τούτων, περὶ σωμάτων κατὰ μέρη τῆς γενέσεως καὶ περὶ ψυχῆς, διʼ ἅς τε αἰτίας καὶ προνοίας γέγονε θεῶν, τοῦ μάλιστα [44d] εἰκότος ἀντεχομένοις, οὕτω καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα πορευομένοις διεξιτέον.

τὰς μὲν δὴ θείας περιόδους δύο οὔσας, τὸ τοῦ παντὸς σχῆμα ἀπομιμησάμενοι περιφερὲς ὄν, εἰς σφαιροειδὲς σῶμα ἐνέδησαν, τοῦτο ὃ νῦν κεφαλὴν ἐπονομάζομεν, ὃ θειότατόν τέ ἐστιν καὶ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν πάντων δεσποτοῦν· ᾧ καὶ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα παρέδοσαν ὑπηρεσίαν αὐτῷ συναθροίσαντες θεοί, κατανοήσαντες ὅτι πασῶν ὅσαι κινήσεις ἔσοιντο μετέχοι. ἵνʼ οὖν μὴ κυλινδούμενον ἐπὶ γῆς ὕψη τε καὶ βάθη παντοδαπὰ [44e] ἐχούσης ἀποροῖ τὰ μὲν ὑπερβαίνειν, ἔνθεν δὲ ἐκβαίνειν, ὄχημα αὐτῷ τοῦτο καὶ εὐπορίαν ἔδοσαν·

ΤΙ. ὅθεν δὴ μῆκος τὸ σῶμα ἔσχεν, ἐκτατά τε κῶλα καὶ καμπτὰ ἔφυσεν τέτταρα θεοῦ μηχανησαμένου πορείαν, οἷς ἀντιλαμβανόμενον καὶ ἀπερειδόμενον διὰ πάντων τόπων πορεύεσθαι δυνατὸν γέγονε,

### Stephanus 45

[45a] τὴν τοῦ θειοτάτου καὶ ἱερωτάτου φέρον οἴκησιν ἐπάνωθεν ἡμῶν. σκέλη μὲν οὖν χεῖρές τε ταύτῃ καὶ διὰ ταῦτα προσέφυ πᾶσιν· τοῦ δʼ ὄπισθεν τὸ πρόσθεν τιμιώτερον καὶ ἀρχικώτερον νομίζοντες θεοὶ ταύτῃ τὸ πολὺ τῆς πορείας ἡμῖν ἔδοσαν. ἔδει δὴ διωρισμένον ἔχειν καὶ ἀνόμοιον τοῦ σώματος τὸ πρόσθεν ἄνθρωπον. διὸ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς κύτος, ὑποθέντες αὐτόσε τὸ πρόσωπον, ὄργανα ἐνέδησαν [45b] τούτῳ πάσῃ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς προνοίᾳ, καὶ διέταξαν τὸ μετέχον ἡγεμονίας τοῦτʼ εἶναι, τὸ κατὰ φύσιν πρόσθεν· τῶν δὲ ὀργάνων πρῶτον μὲν φωσφόρα συνετεκτήναντο ὄμματα, τοιᾷδε ἐνδήσαντες αἰτίᾳ. τοῦ πυρὸς ὅσον τὸ μὲν κάειν οὐκ ἔσχε, τὸ δὲ παρέχειν φῶς ἥμερον, οἰκεῖον ἑκάστης ἡμέρας, σῶμα ἐμηχανήσαντο γίγνεσθαι. τὸ γὰρ ἐντὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸν ὂν τούτου πῦρ εἰλικρινὲς ἐποίησαν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων ῥεῖν λεῖον καὶ πυκνὸν ὅλον μέν, μάλιστα δὲ τὸ μέσον συμπιλήσαντες [45c] τῶν ὀμμάτων, ὥστε τὸ μὲν ἄλλο ὅσον παχύτερον στέγειν πᾶν, τὸ τοιοῦτον δὲ μόνον αὐτὸ καθαρὸν διηθεῖν. ὅταν οὖν μεθημερινὸν ᾖ φῶς περὶ τὸ τῆς ὄψεως ῥεῦμα, τότε ἐκπῖπτον ὅμοιον πρὸς ὅμοιον, συμπαγὲς γενόμενον, ἓν σῶμα οἰκειωθὲν συνέστη κατὰ τὴν τῶν ὀμμάτων εὐθυωρίαν, ὅπῃπερ ἂν ἀντερείδῃ τὸ προσπῖπτον ἔνδοθεν πρὸς ὃ τῶν ἔξω συνέπεσεν. ὁμοιοπαθὲς δὴ διʼ ὁμοιότητα πᾶν γενόμενον, ὅτου τε ἂν αὐτό [45d] ποτε ἐφάπτηται καὶ ὃ ἂν ἄλλο ἐκείνου, τούτων τὰς κινήσεις διαδιδὸν εἰς ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα μέχρι τῆς ψυχῆς αἴσθησιν παρέσχετο ταύτην ᾗ δὴ ὁρᾶν φαμεν. ἀπελθόντος δὲ εἰς νύκτα τοῦ συγγενοῦς πυρὸς ἀποτέτμηται· πρὸς γὰρ ἀνόμοιον ἐξιὸν ἀλλοιοῦταί τε αὐτὸ καὶ κατασβέννυται, συμφυὲς οὐκέτι τῷ πλησίον ἀέρι γιγνόμενον, ἅτε πῦρ οὐκ ἔχοντι. παύεταί τε οὖν ὁρῶν, ἔτι τε ἐπαγωγὸν ὕπνου γίγνεται· σωτηρίαν γὰρ ἣν οἱ θεοὶ τῆς ὄψεως ἐμηχανήσαντο, τὴν τῶν βλεφάρων [45e] φύσιν, ὅταν ταῦτα συμμύσῃ, καθείργνυσι τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς ἐντὸς δύναμιν, ἡ δὲ διαχεῖ τε καὶ ὁμαλύνει τὰς ἐντὸς κινήσεις, ὁμαλυνθεισῶν δὲ ἡσυχία γίγνεται, γενομένης δὲ πολλῆς μὲν ἡσυχίας βραχυόνειρος ὕπνος ἐμπίπτει,

ΤΙ. καταλειφθεισῶν δέ τινων κινήσεων μειζόνων, οἷαι καὶ ἐν οἵοις ἂν τόποις λείπωνται,

### Stephanus 46

[46a] τοιαῦτα καὶ τοσαῦτα παρέσχοντο ἀφομοιωθέντα ἐντὸς ἔξω τε ἐγερθεῖσιν ἀπομνημονευόμενα φαντάσματα. τὸ δὲ περὶ τὴν τῶν κατόπτρων εἰδωλοποιίαν καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐμφανῆ καὶ λεῖα, κατιδεῖν οὐδὲν ἔτι χαλεπόν. ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ἐντὸς ἐκτός τε τοῦ πυρὸς ἑκατέρου κοινωνίας ἀλλήλοις, ἑνός τε αὖ περὶ τὴν λειότητα ἑκάστοτε γενομένου καὶ πολλαχῇ μεταρρυθμισθέντος, [46b] πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐμφαίνεται, τοῦ περὶ τὸ πρόσωπον πυρὸς τῷ περὶ τὴν ὄψιν πυρὶ περὶ τὸ λεῖον καὶ λαμπρὸν συμπαγοῦς γιγνομένου. δεξιὰ δὲ φαντάζεται τὰ ἀριστερά, ὅτι τοῖς ἐναντίοις μέρεσιν τῆς ὄψεως περὶ τἀναντία μέρη γίγνεται ἐπαφὴ παρὰ τὸ καθεστὸς ἔθος τῆς προσβολῆς· δεξιὰ δὲ τὰ δεξιὰ καὶ τὰ ἀριστερὰ ἀριστερὰ τοὐναντίον, ὅταν μεταπέσῃ συμπηγνύμενον ᾧ συμπήγνυται φῶς, [46c] τοῦτο δέ, ὅταν ἡ τῶν κατόπτρων λειότης, ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν ὕψη λαβοῦσα, τὸ δεξιὸν εἰς τὸ ἀριστερὸν μέρος ἀπώσῃ τῆς ὄψεως καὶ θάτερον ἐπὶ θάτερον. κατὰ δὲ τὸ μῆκος στραφὲν τοῦ προσώπου ταὐτὸν τοῦτο ὕπτιον ἐποίησεν πᾶν φαίνεσθαι, τὸ κάτω πρὸς τὸ ἄνω τῆς αὐγῆς τό τʼ ἄνω πρὸς τὸ κάτω πάλιν ἀπῶσαν.

ταῦτʼ οὖν πάντα ἔστιν τῶν συναιτίων οἷς θεὸς ὑπηρετοῦσιν χρῆται τὴν τοῦ ἀρίστου κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἰδέαν [46d] ἀποτελῶν· δοξάζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πλείστων οὐ συναίτια ἀλλὰ αἴτια εἶναι τῶν πάντων, ψύχοντα καὶ θερμαίνοντα πηγνύντα τε καὶ διαχέοντα καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα ἀπεργαζόμενα. λόγον δὲ οὐδένα οὐδὲ νοῦν εἰς οὐδὲν δυνατὰ ἔχειν ἐστίν. τῶν γὰρ ὄντων ᾧ νοῦν μόνῳ κτᾶσθαι προσήκει, λεκτέον ψυχήν—τοῦτο δὲ ἀόρατον, πῦρ δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆ καὶ ἀὴρ σώματα πάντα ὁρατὰ γέγονεν—τὸν δὲ νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης ἐραστὴν ἀνάγκη τὰς τῆς ἔμφρονος φύσεως αἰτίας πρώτας [46e] μεταδιώκειν, ὅσαι δὲ ὑπʼ ἄλλων μὲν κινουμένων, ἕτερα δὲ κατὰ ἀνάγκης κινούντων γίγνονται, δευτέρας. ποιητέον δὴ κατὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἡμῖν· λεκτέα μὲν ἀμφότερα τὰ τῶν αἰτιῶν γένη, χωρὶς δὲ ὅσαι μετὰ νοῦ καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν δημιουργοὶ καὶ ὅσαι μονωθεῖσαι φρονήσεως τὸ τυχὸν ἄτακτον ἑκάστοτε ἐξεργάζονται.

ΤΙ. τὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν ὀμμάτων συμμεταίτια πρὸς τὸ σχεῖν τὴν δύναμιν ἣν νῦν εἴληχεν εἰρήσθω· τὸ δὲ μέγιστον αὐτῶν εἰς ὠφελίαν ἔργον, διʼ ὃ θεὸς αὔθʼ ἡμῖν

### Stephanus 47

[47a] δεδώρηται, μετὰ τοῦτο ῥητέον. ὄψις δὴ κατὰ τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον αἰτία τῆς μεγίστης ὠφελίας γέγονεν ἡμῖν, ὅτι τῶν νῦν λόγων περὶ τοῦ παντὸς λεγομένων οὐδεὶς ἄν ποτε ἐρρήθη μήτε ἄστρα μήτε ἥλιον μήτε οὐρανὸν ἰδόντων. νῦν δʼ ἡμέρα τε καὶ νὺξ ὀφθεῖσαι μῆνές τε καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν περίοδοι καὶ ἰσημερίαι καὶ τροπαὶ μεμηχάνηνται μὲν ἀριθμόν, χρόνου δὲ ἔννοιαν περί τε τῆς τοῦ παντὸς φύσεως ζήτησιν ἔδοσαν· ἐξ ὧν [47b] ἐπορισάμεθα φιλοσοφίας γένος, οὗ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν οὔτʼ ἦλθεν οὔτε ἥξει ποτὲ τῷ θνητῷ γένει δωρηθὲν ἐκ θεῶν. λέγω δὴ τοῦτο ὀμμάτων μέγιστον ἀγαθόν· τἆλλα δὲ ὅσα ἐλάττω τί ἂν ὑμνοῖμεν, ὧν ὁ μὴ φιλόσοφος τυφλωθεὶς ὀδυρόμενος ἂν θρηνοῖ μάτην; ἀλλὰ τούτου λεγέσθω παρʼ ἡμῶν αὕτη ἐπὶ ταῦτα αἰτία, θεὸν ἡμῖν ἀνευρεῖν δωρήσασθαί τε ὄψιν, ἵνα τὰς ἐν οὐρανῷ τοῦ νοῦ κατιδόντες περιόδους χρησαίμεθα ἐπὶ τὰς περιφορὰς τὰς τῆς παρʼ ἡμῖν διανοήσεως, συγγενεῖς [47c] ἐκείναις οὔσας, ἀταράκτοις τεταραγμένας, ἐκμαθόντες δὲ καὶ λογισμῶν κατὰ φύσιν ὀρθότητος μετασχόντες, μιμούμενοι τὰς τοῦ θεοῦ πάντως ἀπλανεῖς οὔσας, τὰς ἐν ἡμῖν πεπλανημένας καταστησαίμεθα. φωνῆς τε δὴ καὶ ἀκοῆς πέρι πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος, ἐπὶ ταὐτὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἕνεκα παρὰ θεῶν δεδωρῆσθαι. λόγος τε γὰρ ἐπʼ αὐτὰ ταῦτα τέτακται, τὴν μεγίστην συμβαλλόμενος εἰς αὐτὰ μοῖραν, ὅσον τʼ αὖ μουσικῆς [47d] φωνῇ χρήσιμον πρὸς ἀκοὴν ἕνεκα ἁρμονίας ἐστὶ δοθέν. ἡ δὲ ἁρμονία, συγγενεῖς ἔχουσα φορὰς ταῖς ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς ψυχῆς περιόδοις, τῷ μετὰ νοῦ προσχρωμένῳ Μούσαις οὐκ ἐφʼ ἡδονὴν ἄλογον καθάπερ νῦν εἶναι δοκεῖ χρήσιμος, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τὴν γεγονυῖαν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνάρμοστον ψυχῆς περίοδον εἰς κατακόσμησιν καὶ συμφωνίαν ἑαυτῇ σύμμαχος ὑπὸ Μουσῶν δέδοται· καὶ ῥυθμὸς αὖ διὰ τὴν ἄμετρον ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ χαρίτων [47e] ἐπιδεᾶ γιγνομένην ἐν τοῖς πλείστοις ἕξιν ἐπίκουρος ἐπὶ ταὐτὰ ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐδόθη.

τὰ μὲν οὖν παρεληλυθότα τῶν εἰρημένων πλὴν βραχέων ἐπιδέδεικται τὰ διὰ νοῦ δεδημιουργημένα· δεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ διʼ ἀνάγκης γιγνόμενα τῷ λόγῳ παραθέσθαι.

ΤΙ. μεμειγμένη γὰρ

### Stephanus 48

[48a] οὖν ἡ τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου γένεσις ἐξ ἀνάγκης τε καὶ νοῦ συστάσεως ἐγεννήθη· νοῦ δὲ ἀνάγκης ἄρχοντος τῷ πείθειν αὐτὴν τῶν γιγνομένων τὰ πλεῖστα ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιστον ἄγειν, ταύτῃ κατὰ ταῦτά τε διʼ ἀνάγκης ἡττωμένης ὑπὸ πειθοῦς ἔμφρονος οὕτω κατʼ ἀρχὰς συνίστατο τόδε τὸ πᾶν. εἴ τις οὖν ᾗ γέγονεν κατὰ ταῦτα ὄντως ἐρεῖ, μεικτέον καὶ τὸ τῆς πλανωμένης εἶδος αἰτίας, ᾗ φέρειν πέφυκεν· ὧδε οὖν πάλιν [48b] ἀναχωρητέον, καὶ λαβοῦσιν αὐτῶν τούτων προσήκουσαν ἑτέραν ἀρχὴν αὖθις αὖ, καθάπερ περὶ τῶν τότε νῦν οὕτω περὶ τούτων πάλιν ἀρκτέον ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς. τὴν δὴ πρὸ τῆς οὐρανοῦ γενέσεως πυρὸς ὕδατός τε καὶ ἀέρος καὶ γῆς φύσιν θεατέον αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτου πάθη· νῦν γὰρ οὐδείς πω γένεσιν αὐτῶν μεμήνυκεν, ἀλλʼ ὡς εἰδόσιν πῦρ ὅτι ποτέ ἐστιν καὶ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν λέγομεν ἀρχὰς αὐτὰ τιθέμενοι στοιχεῖα τοῦ παντός, προσῆκον αὐτοῖς οὐδʼ ἂν ὡς ἐν συλλαβῆς [48c] εἴδεσιν μόνον εἰκότως ὑπὸ τοῦ καὶ βραχὺ φρονοῦντος ἀπεικασθῆναι. νῦν δὲ οὖν τό γε παρʼ ἡμῶν ὧδε ἐχέτω· τὴν μὲν περὶ ἁπάντων εἴτε ἀρχὴν εἴτε ἀρχὰς εἴτε ὅπῃ δοκεῖ τούτων πέρι τὸ νῦν οὐ ῥητέον, διʼ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν, διὰ δὲ τὸ χαλεπὸν εἶναι κατὰ τὸν παρόντα τρόπον τῆς διεξόδου δηλῶσαι τὰ δοκοῦντα, μήτʼ οὖν ὑμεῖς οἴεσθε δεῖν ἐμὲ λέγειν, οὔτʼ αὐτὸς αὖ πείθειν ἐμαυτὸν εἴην ἂν δυνατὸς ὡς ὀρθῶς ἐγχειροῖμʼ [48d] ἂν τοσοῦτον ἐπιβαλλόμενος ἔργον· τὸ δὲ κατʼ ἀρχὰς ῥηθὲν διαφυλάττων, τὴν τῶν εἰκότων λόγων δύναμιν, πειράσομαι μηδενὸς ἧττον εἰκότα, μᾶλλον δέ, καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς περὶ ἑκάστων καὶ συμπάντων λέγειν. θεὸν δὴ καὶ νῦν ἐπʼ ἀρχῇ τῶν λεγομένων σωτῆρα ἐξ ἀτόπου καὶ ἀήθους διηγήσεως πρὸς τὸ τῶν εἰκότων δόγμα διασῴζειν ἡμᾶς [48e] ἐπικαλεσάμενοι πάλιν ἀρχώμεθα λέγειν.

ἡ δʼ οὖν αὖθις ἀρχὴ περὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἔστω μειζόνως τῆς πρόσθεν διῃρημένη· τότε μὲν γὰρ δύο εἴδη διειλόμεθα, νῦν δὲ τρίτον ἄλλο γένος ἡμῖν δηλωτέον.

ΤΙ. τὰ μὲν γὰρ δύο ἱκανὰ ἦν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λεχθεῖσιν, ἓν μὲν ὡς παραδείγματος εἶδος ὑποτεθέν, νοητὸν καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὄν, μίμημα δὲ

### Stephanus 49

[49a] παραδείγματος δεύτερον, γένεσιν ἔχον καὶ ὁρατόν. τρίτον δὲ τότε μὲν οὐ διειλόμεθα, νομίσαντες τὰ δύο ἕξειν ἱκανῶς· νῦν δὲ ὁ λόγος ἔοικεν εἰσαναγκάζειν χαλεπὸν καὶ ἀμυδρὸν εἶδος ἐπιχειρεῖν λόγοις ἐμφανίσαι. τίνʼ οὖν ἔχον δύναμιν καὶ φύσιν αὐτὸ ὑποληπτέον; τοιάνδε μάλιστα· πάσης εἶναι γενέσεως ὑποδοχὴν αὐτὴν οἷον τιθήνην. εἴρηται μὲν οὖν τἀληθές, δεῖ δὲ ἐναργέστερον εἰπεῖν περὶ αὐτοῦ, χαλεπὸν [49b] δὲ ἄλλως τε καὶ διότι προαπορηθῆναι περὶ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν μετὰ πυρὸς ἀναγκαῖον τούτου χάριν· τούτων γὰρ εἰπεῖν ἕκαστον ὁποῖον ὄντως ὕδωρ χρὴ λέγειν μᾶλλον ἢ πῦρ, καὶ ὁποῖον ὁτιοῦν μᾶλλον ἢ καὶ ἅπαντα καθʼ ἕκαστόν τε, οὕτως ὥστε τινὶ πιστῷ καὶ βεβαίῳ χρήσασθαι λόγῳ, χαλεπόν. πῶς οὖν δὴ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ καὶ πῇ καὶ τί περὶ αὐτῶν εἰκότως διαπορηθέντες ἂν λέγοιμεν; πρῶτον μέν, ὃ δὴ νῦν ὕδωρ ὠνομάκαμεν, πηγνύμενον ὡς δοκοῦμεν λίθους καὶ γῆν γιγνόμενον [49c] ὁρῶμεν, τηκόμενον δὲ καὶ διακρινόμενον αὖ ταὐτὸν τοῦτο πνεῦμα καὶ ἀέρα, συγκαυθέντα δὲ ἀέρα πῦρ, ἀνάπαλιν δὲ συγκριθὲν καὶ κατασβεσθὲν εἰς ἰδέαν τε ἀπιὸν αὖθις ἀέρος πῦρ, καὶ πάλιν ἀέρα συνιόντα καὶ πυκνούμενον νέφος καὶ ὁμίχλην, ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἔτι μᾶλλον συμπιλουμένων ῥέον ὕδωρ, ἐξ ὕδατος δὲ γῆν καὶ λίθους αὖθις, κύκλον τε οὕτω διαδιδόντα εἰς ἄλληλα, ὡς φαίνεται, τὴν γένεσιν. οὕτω δὴ τούτων οὐδέποτε [49d] τῶν αὐτῶν ἑκάστων φανταζομένων, ποῖον αὐτῶν ὡς ὂν ὁτιοῦν τοῦτο καὶ οὐκ ἄλλο παγίως διισχυριζόμενος οὐκ αἰσχυνεῖταί τις ἑαυτόν; οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλʼ ἀσφαλέστατα μακρῷ περὶ τούτων τιθεμένους ὧδε λέγειν· ἀεὶ ὃ καθορῶμεν ἄλλοτε ἄλλῃ γιγνόμενον, ὡς πῦρ, μὴ τοῦτο ἀλλὰ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἑκάστοτε προσαγορεύειν πῦρ, μηδὲ ὕδωρ τοῦτο ἀλλὰ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀεί, μηδὲ ἄλλο ποτὲ μηδὲν ὥς τινα ἔχον βεβαιότητα, ὅσα [49e] δεικνύντες τῷ ῥήματι τῷ τόδε καὶ τοῦτο προσχρώμενοι δηλοῦν ἡγούμεθά τι· φεύγει γὰρ οὐχ ὑπομένον τὴν τοῦ τόδε καὶ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν τῷδε καὶ πᾶσαν ὅση μόνιμα ὡς ὄντα αὐτὰ ἐνδείκνυται φάσις. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἕκαστα μὴ λέγειν, τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἀεὶ περιφερόμενον ὅμοιον ἑκάστου πέρι καὶ συμπάντων οὕτω καλεῖν, καὶ δὴ καὶ πῦρ τὸ διὰ παντὸς τοιοῦτον, καὶ ἅπαν ὅσονπερ ἂν ἔχῃ γένεσιν·

ΤΙ. ἐν ᾧ δὲ ἐγγιγνόμενα ἀεὶ ἕκαστα αὐτῶν φαντάζεται καὶ πάλιν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπόλλυται,

### Stephanus 50

[50a] μόνον ἐκεῖνο αὖ προσαγορεύειν τῷ τε τοῦτο καὶ τῷ τόδε προσχρωμένους ὀνόματι, τὸ δὲ ὁποιονοῦν τι, θερμὸν ἢ λευκὸν ἢ καὶ ὁτιοῦν τῶν ἐναντίων, καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα ἐκ τούτων, μηδὲν ἐκεῖνο αὖ τούτων καλεῖν. ἔτι δὲ σαφέστερον αὐτοῦ πέρι προθυμητέον αὖθις εἰπεῖν. εἰ γὰρ πάντα τις σχήματα πλάσας ἐκ χρυσοῦ μηδὲν μεταπλάττων παύοιτο ἕκαστα εἰς ἅπαντα, δεικνύντος δή τινος αὐτῶν ἓν καὶ ἐρομένου [50b] τί ποτʼ ἐστί, μακρῷ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἀσφαλέστατον εἰπεῖν ὅτι χρυσός, τὸ δὲ τρίγωνον ὅσα τε ἄλλα σχήματα ἐνεγίγνετο, μηδέποτε λέγειν ταῦτα ὡς ὄντα, ἅ γε μεταξὺ τιθεμένου μεταπίπτει, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν ἄρα καὶ τὸ τοιοῦτον μετʼ ἀσφαλείας ἐθέλῃ δέχεσθαί τινος, ἀγαπᾶν. ὁ αὐτὸς δὴ λόγος καὶ περὶ τῆς τὰ πάντα δεχομένης σώματα φύσεως. ταὐτὸν αὐτὴν ἀεὶ προσρητέον· ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ἑαυτῆς τὸ παράπαν οὐκ ἐξίσταται δυνάμεως—δέχεταί τε γὰρ ἀεὶ τὰ πάντα, καὶ [50c] μορφὴν οὐδεμίαν ποτὲ οὐδενὶ τῶν εἰσιόντων ὁμοίαν εἴληφεν οὐδαμῇ οὐδαμῶς· ἐκμαγεῖον γὰρ φύσει παντὶ κεῖται, κινούμενόν τε καὶ διασχηματιζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν εἰσιόντων, φαίνεται δὲ διʼ ἐκεῖνα ἄλλοτε ἀλλοῖον—τὰ δὲ εἰσιόντα καὶ ἐξιόντα τῶν ὄντων ἀεὶ μιμήματα, τυπωθέντα ἀπʼ αὐτῶν τρόπον τινὰ δύσφραστον καὶ θαυμαστόν, ὃν εἰς αὖθις μέτιμεν. ἐν δʼ οὖν τῷ παρόντι χρὴ γένη διανοηθῆναι τριττά, τὸ μὲν [50d] γιγνόμενον, τὸ δʼ ἐν ᾧ γίγνεται, τὸ δʼ ὅθεν ἀφομοιούμενον φύεται τὸ γιγνόμενον. καὶ δὴ καὶ προσεικάσαι πρέπει τὸ μὲν δεχόμενον μητρί, τὸ δʼ ὅθεν πατρί, τὴν δὲ μεταξὺ τούτων φύσιν ἐκγόνῳ, νοῆσαί τε ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἄλλως, ἐκτυπώματος ἔσεσθαι μέλλοντος ἰδεῖν ποικίλου πάσας ποικιλίας, τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ ἐν ᾧ ἐκτυπούμενον ἐνίσταται γένοιτʼ ἂν παρεσκευασμένον εὖ, πλὴν ἄμορφον ὂν ἐκείνων ἁπασῶν τῶν ἰδεῶν ὅσας [50e] μέλλοι δέχεσθαί ποθεν. ὅμοιον γὰρ ὂν τῶν ἐπεισιόντων τινὶ τὰ τῆς ἐναντίας τά τε τῆς τὸ παράπαν ἄλλης φύσεως ὁπότʼ ἔλθοι δεχόμενον κακῶς ἂν ἀφομοιοῖ, τὴν αὑτοῦ παρεμφαῖνον ὄψιν. διὸ καὶ πάντων ἐκτὸς εἰδῶν εἶναι χρεὼν τὸ τὰ πάντα ἐκδεξόμενον ἐν αὑτῷ γένη, καθάπερ περὶ τὰ ἀλείμματα ὁπόσα εὐώδη τέχνῃ μηχανῶνται πρῶτον τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ ὑπάρχον, ποιοῦσιν ὅτι μάλιστα ἀώδη τὰ δεξόμενα ὑγρὰ τὰς ὀσμάς· ὅσοι τε ἔν τισιν τῶν μαλακῶν σχήματα ἀπομάττειν ἐπιχειροῦσι, τὸ παράπαν σχῆμα οὐδὲν ἔνδηλον ὑπάρχειν ἐῶσι, προομαλύναντες δὲ ὅτι λειότατον ἀπεργάζονται.

### Stephanus 51

[51a] ΤΙ. ταὐτὸν οὖν καὶ τῷ τὰ τῶν πάντων ἀεί τε ὄντων κατὰ πᾶν ἑαυτοῦ πολλάκις ἀφομοιώματα καλῶς μέλλοντι δέχεσθαι πάντων ἐκτὸς αὐτῷ προσήκει πεφυκέναι τῶν εἰδῶν. διὸ δὴ τὴν τοῦ γεγονότος ὁρατοῦ καὶ πάντως αἰσθητοῦ μητέρα καὶ ὑποδοχὴν μήτε γῆν μήτε ἀέρα μήτε πῦρ μήτε ὕδωρ λέγωμεν, μήτε ὅσα ἐκ τούτων μήτε ἐξ ὧν ταῦτα γέγονεν· ἀλλʼ ἀνόρατον εἶδός τι καὶ ἄμορφον, πανδεχές, μεταλαμβάνον [51b] δὲ ἀπορώτατά πῃ τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ δυσαλωτότατον αὐτὸ λέγοντες οὐ ψευσόμεθα. καθʼ ὅσον δʼ ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων δυνατὸν ἐφικνεῖσθαι τῆς φύσεως αὐτοῦ, τῇδʼ ἄν τις ὀρθότατα λέγοι· πῦρ μὲν ἑκάστοτε αὐτοῦ τὸ πεπυρωμένον μέρος φαίνεσθαι, τὸ δὲ ὑγρανθὲν ὕδωρ, γῆν τε καὶ ἀέρα καθʼ ὅσον ἂν μιμήματα τούτων δέχηται. λόγῳ δὲ δὴ μᾶλλον τὸ τοιόνδε διοριζομένους περὶ αὐτῶν διασκεπτέον· ἆρα ἔστιν τι πῦρ αὐτὸ ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ πάντα περὶ ὧν ἀεὶ λέγομεν οὕτως [51c] αὐτὰ καθʼ αὑτὰ ὄντα ἕκαστα, ἢ ταῦτα ἅπερ καὶ βλέπομεν, ὅσα τε ἄλλα διὰ τοῦ σώματος αἰσθανόμεθα, μόνα ἐστὶν τοιαύτην ἔχοντα ἀλήθειαν, ἄλλα δὲ οὐκ ἔστι παρὰ ταῦτα οὐδαμῇ οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ μάτην ἑκάστοτε εἶναί τί φαμεν εἶδος ἑκάστου νοητόν, τὸ δʼ οὐδὲν ἄρʼ ἦν πλὴν λόγος; οὔτε οὖν δὴ τὸ παρὸν ἄκριτον καὶ ἀδίκαστον ἀφέντα ἄξιον φάναι διισχυριζόμενον ἔχειν οὕτως, οὔτʼ ἐπὶ λόγου μήκει πάρεργον [51d] ἄλλο μῆκος ἐπεμβλητέον· εἰ δέ τις ὅρος ὁρισθεὶς μέγας διὰ βραχέων φανείη, τοῦτο μάλιστα ἐγκαιριώτατον γένοιτʼ ἄν. ὧδε οὖν τήν γʼ ἐμὴν αὐτὸς τίθεμαι ψῆφον. εἰ μὲν νοῦς καὶ δόξα ἀληθής ἐστον δύο γένη, παντάπασιν εἶναι καθʼ αὑτὰ ταῦτα, ἀναίσθητα ὑφʼ ἡμῶν εἴδη, νοούμενα μόνον· εἰ δʼ, ὥς τισιν φαίνεται, δόξα ἀληθὴς νοῦ διαφέρει τὸ μηδέν, πάνθʼ ὁπόσʼ αὖ διὰ τοῦ σώματος αἰσθανόμεθα θετέον βεβαιότατα. [51e] δύο δὴ λεκτέον ἐκείνω, διότι χωρὶς γεγόνατον ἀνομοίως τε ἔχετον. τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν διὰ διδαχῆς, τὸ δʼ ὑπὸ πειθοῦς ἡμῖν ἐγγίγνεται· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀεὶ μετʼ ἀληθοῦς λόγου, τὸ δὲ ἄλογον· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀκίνητον πειθοῖ, τὸ δὲ μεταπειστόν· καὶ τοῦ μὲν πάντα ἄνδρα μετέχειν φατέον, νοῦ δὲ θεούς, ἀνθρώπων δὲ γένος βραχύ τι.

ΤΙ. τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων

### Stephanus 52

[52a] ὁμολογητέον ἓν μὲν εἶναι τὸ κατὰ ταὐτὰ εἶδος ἔχον, ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀνώλεθρον, οὔτε εἰς ἑαυτὸ εἰσδεχόμενον ἄλλο ἄλλοθεν οὔτε αὐτὸ εἰς ἄλλο ποι ἰόν, ἀόρατον δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἀναίσθητον, τοῦτο ὃ δὴ νόησις εἴληχεν ἐπισκοπεῖν· τὸ δὲ ὁμώνυμον ὅμοιόν τε ἐκείνῳ δεύτερον, αἰσθητόν, γεννητόν, πεφορημένον ἀεί, γιγνόμενόν τε ἔν τινι τόπῳ καὶ πάλιν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπολλύμενον, δόξῃ μετʼ αἰσθήσεως περιληπτόν· τρίτον δὲ αὖ γένος ὂν τὸ τῆς χώρας ἀεί, φθορὰν οὐ προσδεχόμενον, [52b] ἕδραν δὲ παρέχον ὅσα ἔχει γένεσιν πᾶσιν, αὐτὸ δὲ μετʼ ἀναισθησίας ἁπτὸν λογισμῷ τινι νόθῳ, μόγις πιστόν, πρὸς ὃ δὴ καὶ ὀνειροπολοῦμεν βλέποντες καί φαμεν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναί που τὸ ὂν ἅπαν ἔν τινι τόπῳ καὶ κατέχον χώραν τινά, τὸ δὲ μήτʼ ἐν γῇ μήτε που κατʼ οὐρανὸν οὐδὲν εἶναι. ταῦτα δὴ πάντα καὶ τούτων ἄλλα ἀδελφὰ καὶ περὶ τὴν ἄυπνον καὶ ἀληθῶς φύσιν ὑπάρχουσαν ὑπὸ ταύτης τῆς ὀνειρώξεως [52c] οὐ δυνατοὶ γιγνόμεθα ἐγερθέντες διοριζόμενοι τἀληθὲς λέγειν, ὡς εἰκόνι μέν, ἐπείπερ οὐδʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐφʼ ᾧ γέγονεν ἑαυτῆς ἐστιν, ἑτέρου δέ τινος ἀεὶ φέρεται φάντασμα, διὰ ταῦτα ἐν ἑτέρῳ προσήκει τινὶ γίγνεσθαι, οὐσίας ἁμωσγέπως ἀντεχομένην, ἢ μηδὲν τὸ παράπαν αὐτὴν εἶναι, τῷ δὲ ὄντως ὄντι βοηθὸς ὁ διʼ ἀκριβείας ἀληθὴς λόγος, ὡς ἕως ἄν τι τὸ μὲν ἄλλο ᾖ, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο, οὐδέτερον ἐν οὐδετέρῳ ποτὲ γενόμενον [52d] ἓν ἅμα ταὐτὸν καὶ δύο γενήσεσθον.

οὗτος μὲν οὖν δὴ παρὰ τῆς ἐμῆς ψήφου λογισθεὶς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ δεδόσθω λόγος, ὄν τε καὶ χώραν καὶ γένεσιν εἶναι, τρία τριχῇ, καὶ πρὶν οὐρανὸν γενέσθαι· τὴν δὲ δὴ γενέσεως τιθήνην ὑγραινομένην καὶ πυρουμένην καὶ τὰς γῆς τε καὶ ἀέρος μορφὰς δεχομένην, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τούτοις πάθη συνέπεται [52e] πάσχουσαν, παντοδαπὴν μὲν ἰδεῖν φαίνεσθαι, διὰ δὲ τὸ μήθʼ ὁμοίων δυνάμεων μήτε ἰσορρόπων ἐμπίμπλασθαι κατʼ οὐδὲν αὐτῆς ἰσορροπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἀνωμάλως πάντῃ ταλαντουμένην σείεσθαι μὲν ὑπʼ ἐκείνων αὐτήν, κινουμένην δʼ αὖ πάλιν ἐκεῖνα σείειν·

ΤΙ. τὰ δὲ κινούμενα ἄλλα ἄλλοσε ἀεὶ φέρεσθαι διακρινόμενα, ὥσπερ τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν πλοκάνων τε καὶ ὀργάνων τῶν περὶ τὴν τοῦ σίτου κάθαρσιν σειόμενα καὶ

### Stephanus 53

[53a] ἀνικμώμενα τὰ μὲν πυκνὰ καὶ βαρέα ἄλλῃ, τὰ δὲ μανὰ καὶ κοῦφα εἰς ἑτέραν ἵζει φερόμενα ἕδραν· τότε οὕτω τὰ τέτταρα γένη σειόμενα ὑπὸ τῆς δεξαμενῆς, κινουμένης αὐτῆς οἷον ὀργάνου σεισμὸν παρέχοντος, τὰ μὲν ἀνομοιότατα πλεῖστον αὐτὰ ἀφʼ αὑτῶν ὁρίζειν, τὰ δὲ ὁμοιότατα μάλιστα εἰς ταὐτὸν συνωθεῖν, διὸ δὴ καὶ χώραν ταῦτα ἄλλα ἄλλην ἴσχειν, πρὶν καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἐξ αὐτῶν διακοσμηθὲν γενέσθαι. καὶ τὸ μὲν δὴ πρὸ τούτου πάντα ταῦτʼ εἶχεν ἀλόγως καὶ ἀμέτρως· [53b] ὅτε δʼ ἐπεχειρεῖτο κοσμεῖσθαι τὸ πᾶν, πῦρ πρῶτον καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα, ἴχνη μὲν ἔχοντα αὑτῶν ἄττα, παντάπασί γε μὴν διακείμενα ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἔχειν ἅπαν ὅταν ἀπῇ τινος θεός, οὕτω δὴ τότε πεφυκότα ταῦτα πρῶτον διεσχηματίσατο εἴδεσί τε καὶ ἀριθμοῖς. τὸ δὲ ᾗ δυνατὸν ὡς κάλλιστα ἄριστά τε ἐξ οὐχ οὕτως ἐχόντων τὸν θεὸν αὐτὰ συνιστάναι, παρὰ πάντα ἡμῖν ὡς ἀεὶ τοῦτο λεγόμενον ὑπαρχέτω· νῦν δʼ οὖν τὴν διάταξιν αὐτῶν ἐπιχειρητέον ἑκάστων καὶ γένεσιν [53c] ἀήθει λόγῳ πρὸς ὑμᾶς δηλοῦν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπεὶ μετέχετε τῶν κατὰ παίδευσιν ὁδῶν διʼ ὧν ἐνδείκνυσθαι τὰ λεγόμενα ἀνάγκη, συνέψεσθε.

πρῶτον μὲν δὴ πῦρ καὶ γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ ἀὴρ ὅτι σώματά ἐστι, δῆλόν που καὶ παντί· τὸ δὲ τοῦ σώματος εἶδος πᾶν καὶ βάθος ἔχει. τὸ δὲ βάθος αὖ πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τὴν ἐπίπεδον περιειληφέναι φύσιν· ἡ δὲ ὀρθὴ τῆς ἐπιπέδου βάσεως ἐκ τριγώνων συνέστηκεν. τὰ δὲ τρίγωνα πάντα ἐκ δυοῖν ἄρχεται [53d] τριγώνοιν, μίαν μὲν ὀρθὴν ἔχοντος ἑκατέρου γωνίαν, τὰς δὲ ὀξείας· ὧν τὸ μὲν ἕτερον ἑκατέρωθεν ἔχει μέρος γωνίας ὀρθῆς πλευραῖς ἴσαις διῃρημένης, τὸ δʼ ἕτερον ἀνίσοις ἄνισα μέρη νενεμημένης. ταύτην δὴ πυρὸς ἀρχὴν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σωμάτων ὑποτιθέμεθα κατὰ τὸν μετʼ ἀνάγκης εἰκότα λόγον πορευόμενοι· τὰς δʼ ἔτι τούτων ἀρχὰς ἄνωθεν θεὸς οἶδεν καὶ ἀνδρῶν ὃς ἂν ἐκείνῳ φίλος ᾖ. δεῖ δὴ λέγειν ποῖα [53e] κάλλιστα σώματα γένοιτʼ ἂν τέτταρα, ἀνόμοια μὲν ἑαυτοῖς, δυνατὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀλλήλων αὐτῶν ἄττα διαλυόμενα γίγνεσθαι· τούτου γὰρ τυχόντες ἔχομεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν γενέσεως πέρι γῆς τε καὶ πυρὸς τῶν τε ἀνὰ λόγον ἐν μέσῳ. τόδε γὰρ οὐδενὶ συγχωρησόμεθα, καλλίω τούτων ὁρώμενα σώματα εἶναί που καθʼ ἓν γένος ἕκαστον ὄν. τοῦτʼ οὖν προθυμητέον, τὰ διαφέροντα κάλλει σωμάτων τέτταρα γένη συναρμόσασθαι καὶ φάναι τὴν τούτων ἡμᾶς φύσιν ἱκανῶς εἰληφέναι.

### Stephanus 54

[54a] ΤΙ. τοῖν δὴ δυοῖν τριγώνοιν τὸ μὲν ἰσοσκελὲς μίαν εἴληχεν φύσιν, τὸ δὲ πρόμηκες ἀπεράντους· προαιρετέον οὖν αὖ τῶν ἀπείρων τὸ κάλλιστον, εἰ μέλλομεν ἄρξεσθαι κατὰ τρόπον. ἂν οὖν τις ἔχῃ κάλλιον ἐκλεξάμενος εἰπεῖν εἰς τὴν τούτων σύστασιν, ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἐχθρὸς ὢν ἀλλὰ φίλος κρατεῖ· τιθέμεθα δʼ οὖν τῶν πολλῶν τριγώνων κάλλιστον ἕν, ὑπερβάντες τἆλλα, ἐξ οὗ τὸ ἰσόπλευρον τρίγωνον ἐκ τρίτου συνέστηκεν. [54b] διότι δέ, λόγος πλείων· ἀλλὰ τῷ τοῦτο ἐλέγξαντι καὶ ἀνευρόντι δὴ οὕτως ἔχον κεῖται φίλια τὰ ἆθλα. προῃρήσθω δὴ δύο τρίγωνα ἐξ ὧν τό τε τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων σώματα μεμηχάνηται, τὸ μὲν ἰσοσκελές, τὸ δὲ τριπλῆν κατὰ δύναμιν ἔχον τῆς ἐλάττονος τὴν μείζω πλευρὰν ἀεί. τὸ δὴ πρόσθεν ἀσαφῶς ῥηθὲν νῦν μᾶλλον διοριστέον. τὰ γὰρ τέτταρα γένη διʼ ἀλλήλων εἰς ἄλληλα ἐφαίνετο πάντα γένεσιν ἔχειν, οὐκ ὀρθῶς φανταζόμενα· γίγνεται μὲν γὰρ ἐκ [54c] τῶν τριγώνων ὧν προῃρήμεθα γένη τέτταρα, τρία μὲν ἐξ ἑνὸς τοῦ τὰς πλευρὰς ἀνίσους ἔχοντος, τὸ δὲ τέταρτον ἓν μόνον ἐκ τοῦ ἰσοσκελοῦς τριγώνου συναρμοσθέν. οὔκουν δυνατὰ πάντα εἰς ἄλληλα διαλυόμενα ἐκ πολλῶν σμικρῶν ὀλίγα μεγάλα καὶ τοὐναντίον γίγνεσθαι, τὰ δὲ τρία οἷόν τε· ἐκ γὰρ ἑνὸς ἅπαντα πεφυκότα λυθέντων τε τῶν μειζόνων πολλὰ σμικρὰ ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν συστήσεται, δεχόμενα τὰ προσήκοντα ἑαυτοῖς σχήματα, καὶ σμικρὰ ὅταν αὖ πολλὰ κατὰ [54d] τὰ τρίγωνα διασπαρῇ, γενόμενος εἷς ἀριθμὸς ἑνὸς ὄγκου μέγα ἀποτελέσειεν ἂν ἄλλο εἶδος ἕν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν λελέχθω περὶ τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα γενέσεως· οἷον δὲ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν γέγονεν εἶδος καὶ ἐξ ὅσων συμπεσόντων ἀριθμῶν, λέγειν ἂν ἑπόμενον εἴη. ἄρξει δὴ τό τε πρῶτον εἶδος καὶ σμικρότατον συνιστάμενον, στοιχεῖον δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ τὴν ὑποτείνουσαν τῆς ἐλάττονος πλευρᾶς διπλασίαν ἔχον μήκει· σύνδυο δὲ τοιούτων κατὰ διάμετρον συντιθεμένων καὶ τρὶς τούτου [54e] γενομένου, τὰς διαμέτρους καὶ τὰς βραχείας πλευρὰς εἰς ταὐτὸν ὡς κέντρον ἐρεισάντων, ἓν ἰσόπλευρον τρίγωνον ἐξ ἓξ τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντων γέγονεν.

ΤΙ. τρίγωνα δὲ ἰσόπλευρα συνιστάμενα τέτταρα κατὰ σύντρεις ἐπιπέδους γωνίας μίαν στερεὰν

### Stephanus 55

[55a] γωνίαν ποιεῖ, τῆς ἀμβλυτάτης τῶν ἐπιπέδων γωνιῶν ἐφεξῆς γεγονυῖαν· τοιούτων δὲ ἀποτελεσθεισῶν τεττάρων πρῶτον εἶδος στερεόν, ὅλου περιφεροῦς διανεμητικὸν εἰς ἴσα μέρη καὶ ὅμοια, συνίσταται. δεύτερον δὲ ἐκ μὲν τῶν αὐτῶν τριγώνων, κατὰ δὲ ἰσόπλευρα τρίγωνα ὀκτὼ συστάντων, μίαν ἀπεργασαμένων στερεὰν γωνίαν ἐκ τεττάρων ἐπιπέδων· καὶ γενομένων ἓξ τοιούτων τὸ δεύτερον αὖ σῶμα οὕτως ἔσχεν τέλος. τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἐκ δὶς ἑξήκοντα τῶν στοιχείων συμπαγέντων, [55b] στερεῶν δὲ γωνιῶν δώδεκα, ὑπὸ πέντε ἐπιπέδων τριγώνων ἰσοπλεύρων περιεχομένης ἑκάστης, εἴκοσι βάσεις ἔχον ἰσοπλεύρους τριγώνους γέγονεν. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἕτερον ἀπήλλακτο τῶν στοιχείων ταῦτα γεννῆσαν, τὸ δὲ ἰσοσκελὲς τρίγωνον ἐγέννα τὴν τοῦ τετάρτου φύσιν, κατὰ τέτταρα συνιστάμενον, εἰς τὸ κέντρον τὰς ὀρθὰς γωνίας συνάγον, ἓν ἰσόπλευρον τετράγωνον ἀπεργασάμενον· ἓξ δὲ τοιαῦτα [55c] συμπαγέντα γωνίας ὀκτὼ στερεὰς ἀπετέλεσεν, κατὰ τρεῖς ἐπιπέδους ὀρθὰς συναρμοσθείσης ἑκάστης· τὸ δὲ σχῆμα τοῦ συστάντος σώματος γέγονεν κυβικόν, ἓξ ἐπιπέδους τετραγώνους ἰσοπλεύρους βάσεις ἔχον. ἔτι δὲ οὔσης συστάσεως μιᾶς πέμπτης, ἐπὶ τὸ πᾶν ὁ θεὸς αὐτῇ κατεχρήσατο ἐκεῖνο διαζωγραφῶν.

ἃ δή τις εἰ πάντα λογιζόμενος ἐμμελῶς ἀποροῖ πότερον ἀπείρους χρὴ κόσμους εἶναι λέγειν ἢ πέρας ἔχοντας, τὸ μὲν [55d] ἀπείρους ἡγήσαιτʼ ἂν ὄντως ἀπείρου τινὸς εἶναι δόγμα ὧν ἔμπειρον χρεὼν εἶναι, πότερον δὲ ἕνα ἢ πέντε αὐτοὺς ἀληθείᾳ πεφυκότας λέγειν ποτὲ προσήκει, μᾶλλον ἂν ταύτῃ στὰς εἰκότως διαπορήσαι. τὸ μὲν οὖν δὴ παρʼ ἡμῶν ἕνα αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα λόγον πεφυκότα μηνύει θεόν, ἄλλος δὲ εἰς ἄλλα πῃ βλέψας ἕτερα δοξάσει. καὶ τοῦτον μὲν μεθετέον, τὰ δὲ γεγονότα νῦν τῷ λόγῳ γένη διανείμωμεν εἰς πῦρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ ἀέρα. γῇ μὲν δὴ τὸ κυβικὸν εἶδος δῶμεν· [55e] ἀκινητοτάτη γὰρ τῶν τεττάρων γενῶν γῆ καὶ τῶν σωμάτων πλαστικωτάτη, μάλιστα δὲ ἀνάγκη γεγονέναι τοιοῦτον τὸ τὰς βάσεις ἀσφαλεστάτας ἔχον· βάσις δὲ ἥ τε τῶν κατʼ ἀρχὰς τριγώνων ὑποτεθέντων ἀσφαλεστέρα κατὰ φύσιν ἡ τῶν ἴσων πλευρῶν τῆς τῶν ἀνίσων, τό τε ἐξ ἑκατέρου συντεθὲν ἐπίπεδον ἰσόπλευρον ἰσοπλεύρου τετράγωνον τριγώνου κατά τε μέρη καὶ καθʼ ὅλον στασιμωτέρως ἐξ ἀνάγκης βέβηκεν.

ΤΙ. διὸ

### Stephanus 56

[56a] γῇ μὲν τοῦτο ἀπονέμοντες τὸν εἰκότα λόγον διασῴζομεν, ὕδατι δʼ αὖ τῶν λοιπῶν τὸ δυσκινητότατον εἶδος, τὸ δʼ εὐκινητότατον πυρί, τὸ δὲ μέσον ἀέρι· καὶ τὸ μὲν σμικρότατον σῶμα πυρί, τὸ δʼ αὖ μέγιστον ὕδατι, τὸ δὲ μέσον ἀέρι· καὶ τὸ μὲν ὀξύτατον αὖ πυρί, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ἀέρι, τὸ δὲ τρίτον ὕδατι. ταῦτʼ οὖν δὴ πάντα, τὸ μὲν ἔχον ὀλιγίστας βάσεις εὐκινητότατον ἀνάγκη πεφυκέναι, τμητικώτατόν τε [56b] καὶ ὀξύτατον ὂν πάντῃ πάντων, ἔτι τε ἐλαφρότατον, ἐξ ὀλιγίστων συνεστὸς τῶν αὐτῶν μερῶν· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον δευτέρως τὰ αὐτὰ ταῦτʼ ἔχειν, τρίτως δὲ τὸ τρίτον. ἔστω δὴ κατὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον καὶ κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα τὸ μὲν τῆς πυραμίδος στερεὸν γεγονὸς εἶδος πυρὸς στοιχεῖον καὶ σπέρμα· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον κατὰ γένεσιν εἴπωμεν ἀέρος, τὸ δὲ τρίτον ὕδατος. πάντα οὖν δὴ ταῦτα δεῖ διανοεῖσθαι σμικρὰ οὕτως, ὡς καθʼ [56c] ἓν ἕκαστον μὲν τοῦ γένους ἑκάστου διὰ σμικρότητα οὐδὲν ὁρώμενον ὑφʼ ἡμῶν, συναθροισθέντων δὲ πολλῶν τοὺς ὄγκους αὐτῶν ὁρᾶσθαι· καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀναλογιῶν περί τε τὰ πλήθη καὶ τὰς κινήσεις καὶ τὰς ἄλλας δυνάμεις πανταχῇ τὸν θεόν, ὅπῃπερ ἡ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἑκοῦσα πεισθεῖσά τε φύσις ὑπεῖκεν, ταύτῃ πάντῃ διʼ ἀκριβείας ἀποτελεσθεισῶν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ συνηρμόσθαι ταῦτα ἀνὰ λόγον.

ἐκ δὴ πάντων ὧνπερ τὰ γένη προειρήκαμεν ὧδʼ ἂν κατὰ [56d] τὸ εἰκὸς μάλιστʼ ἂν ἔχοι. γῆ μὲν συντυγχάνουσα πυρὶ διαλυθεῖσά τε ὑπὸ τῆς ὀξύτητος αὐτοῦ φέροιτʼ ἄν, εἴτʼ ἐν αὐτῷ πυρὶ λυθεῖσα εἴτʼ ἐν ἀέρος εἴτʼ ἐν ὕδατος ὄγκῳ τύχοι, μέχριπερ ἂν αὐτῆς πῃ συντυχόντα τὰ μέρη, πάλιν συναρμοσθέντα αὐτὰ αὑτοῖς, γῆ γένοιτο—οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἄλλο γε εἶδος ἔλθοι ποτʼ ἄν—ὕδωρ δὲ ὑπὸ πυρὸς μερισθέν, εἴτε καὶ ὑπʼ ἀέρος, ἐγχωρεῖ γίγνεσθαι συστάντα ἓν μὲν πυρὸς σῶμα, δύο [56e] δὲ ἀέρος· τὰ δὲ ἀέρος τμήματα ἐξ ἑνὸς μέρους διαλυθέντος δύʼ ἂν γενοίσθην σώματα πυρός. καὶ πάλιν, ὅταν ἀέρι πῦρ ὕδασίν τε ἤ τινι γῇ περιλαμβανόμενον ἐν πολλοῖς ὀλίγον, κινούμενον ἐν φερομένοις, μαχόμενον καὶ νικηθὲν καταθραυσθῇ, δύο πυρὸς σώματα εἰς ἓν συνίστασθον εἶδος ἀέρος· καὶ κρατηθέντος ἀέρος κερματισθέντος τε ἐκ δυοῖν ὅλοιν καὶ ἡμίσεος ὕδατος εἶδος ἓν ὅλον ἔσται συμπαγές.

ΤΙ. ὧδε γὰρ δὴ λογισώμεθα αὐτὰ πάλιν, ὡς ὅταν ἐν πυρὶ λαμβανόμενον τῶν

### Stephanus 57

[57a] ἄλλων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ τι γένος τῇ τῶν γωνιῶν καὶ κατὰ τὰς πλευρὰς ὀξύτητι τέμνηται, συστὰν μὲν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου φύσιν πέπαυται τεμνόμενον—τὸ γὰρ ὅμοιον καὶ ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ γένος ἕκαστον οὔτε τινὰ μεταβολὴν ἐμποιῆσαι δυνατὸν οὔτε τι παθεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὁμοίως τε ἔχοντος—ἕως δʼ ἂν εἰς ἄλλο τι γιγνόμενον ἧττον ὂν κρείττονι μάχηται, λυόμενον οὐ παύεται. τά τε αὖ σμικρότερα ὅταν ἐν τοῖς μείζοσιν πολλοῖς περιλαμβανόμενα [57b] ὀλίγα διαθραυόμενα κατασβεννύηται, συνίστασθαι μὲν ἐθέλοντα εἰς τὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἰδέαν πέπαυται κατασβεννύμενα γίγνεταί τε ἐκ πυρὸς ἀήρ, ἐξ ἀέρος ὕδωρ· ἐὰν δʼ εἰς ταὐτὰ ἴῃ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τι συνιὸν γενῶν μάχηται, λυόμενα οὐ παύεται, πρὶν ἢ παντάπασιν ὠθούμενα καὶ διαλυθέντα ἐκφύγῃ πρὸς τὸ συγγενές, ἢ νικηθέντα, ἓν ἐκ πολλῶν ὅμοιον τῷ κρατήσαντι γενόμενον, αὐτοῦ σύνοικον μείνῃ. καὶ [57c] δὴ καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα τὰ παθήματα διαμείβεται τὰς χώρας ἅπαντα· διέστηκεν μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γένους ἑκάστου τὰ πλήθη κατὰ τόπον ἴδιον διὰ τὴν τῆς δεχομένης κίνησιν, τὰ δὲ ἀνομοιούμενα ἑκάστοτε ἑαυτοῖς, ἄλλοις δὲ ὁμοιούμενα, φέρεται διὰ τὸν σεισμὸν πρὸς τὸν ἐκείνων οἷς ἂν ὁμοιωθῇ τόπον.

ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἄκρατα καὶ πρῶτα σώματα διὰ τοιούτων αἰτιῶν γέγονεν· τὸ δʼ ἐν τοῖς εἴδεσιν αὐτῶν ἕτερα ἐμπεφυκέναι γένη τὴν ἑκατέρου τῶν στοιχείων αἰτιατέον σύστασιν, [57d] μὴ μόνον ἓν ἑκατέραν μέγεθος ἔχον τὸ τρίγωνον φυτεῦσαι κατʼ ἀρχάς, ἀλλʼ ἐλάττω τε καὶ μείζω, τὸν ἀριθμὸν δὲ ἔχοντα τοσοῦτον ὅσαπερ ἂν ᾖ τἀν τοῖς εἴδεσι γένη. διὸ δὴ συμμειγνύμενα αὐτά τε πρὸς αὑτὰ καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὴν ποικιλίαν ἐστὶν ἄπειρα· ἧς δὴ δεῖ θεωροὺς γίγνεσθαι τοὺς μέλλοντας περὶ φύσεως εἰκότι λόγῳ χρήσεσθαι.

κινήσεως οὖν στάσεώς τε πέρι, τίνα τρόπον καὶ μεθʼ ὧντινων γίγνεσθον, εἰ μή τις διομολογήσεται, πόλλʼ ἂν εἴη [57e] ἐμποδὼν τῷ κατόπισθεν λογισμῷ. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἤδη περὶ αὐτῶν εἴρηται, πρὸς δʼ ἐκείνοις ἔτι τάδε, ἐν μὲν ὁμαλότητι μηδέποτε ἐθέλειν κίνησιν ἐνεῖναι. τὸ γὰρ κινησόμενον ἄνευ τοῦ κινήσοντος ἢ τὸ κινῆσον ἄνευ τοῦ κινησομένου χαλεπόν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀδύνατον, εἶναι· κίνησις δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν τούτων ἀπόντων, ταῦτα δὲ ὁμαλὰ εἶναί ποτε ἀδύνατον.

ΤΙ. οὕτω δὴ στάσιν μὲν ἐν ὁμαλότητι, κίνησιν δὲ εἰς ἀνωμαλότητα ἀεὶ

### Stephanus 58

[58a] τιθῶμεν· αἰτία δὲ ἀνισότης αὖ τῆς ἀνωμάλου φύσεως. ἀνισότητος δὲ γένεσιν μὲν διεληλύθαμεν· πῶς δέ ποτε οὐ κατὰ γένη διαχωρισθέντα ἕκαστα πέπαυται τῆς διʼ ἀλλήλων κινήσεως καὶ φορᾶς, οὐκ εἴπομεν. ὧδε οὖν πάλιν ἐροῦμεν. ἡ τοῦ παντὸς περίοδος, ἐπειδὴ συμπεριέλαβεν τὰ γένη, κυκλοτερὴς οὖσα καὶ πρὸς αὑτὴν πεφυκυῖα βούλεσθαι συνιέναι, σφίγγει πάντα καὶ κενὴν χώραν οὐδεμίαν ἐᾷ λείπεσθαι. διὸ [58b] δὴ πῦρ μὲν εἰς ἅπαντα διελήλυθε μάλιστα, ἀὴρ δὲ δεύτερον, ὡς λεπτότητι δεύτερον ἔφυ, καὶ τἆλλα ταύτῃ· τὰ γὰρ ἐκ μεγίστων μερῶν γεγονότα μεγίστην κενότητα ἐν τῇ συστάσει παραλέλοιπεν, τὰ δὲ σμικρότατα ἐλαχίστην. ἡ δὴ τῆς πιλήσεως σύνοδος τὰ σμικρὰ εἰς τὰ τῶν μεγάλων διάκενα συνωθεῖ. σμικρῶν οὖν παρὰ μεγάλα τιθεμένων καὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων τὰ μείζονα διακρινόντων, τῶν δὲ μειζόνων ἐκεῖνα συγκρινόντων, πάντʼ ἄνω κάτω μεταφέρεται πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτῶν τόπους· [58c] μεταβάλλον γὰρ τὸ μέγεθος ἕκαστον καὶ τὴν τόπων μεταβάλλει στάσιν. οὕτω δὴ διὰ ταῦτά τε ἡ τῆς ἀνωμαλότητος διασῳζομένη γένεσις ἀεὶ τὴν ἀεὶ κίνησιν τούτων οὖσαν ἐσομένην τε ἐνδελεχῶς παρέχεται.

μετὰ δὴ ταῦτα δεῖ νοεῖν ὅτι πυρός τε γένη πολλὰ γέγονεν, οἷον φλὸξ τό τε ἀπὸ τῆς φλογὸς ἀπιόν, ὃ κάει μὲν οὔ, φῶς δὲ τοῖς ὄμμασιν παρέχει, τό τε φλογὸς ἀποσβεσθείσης ἐν [58d] τοῖς διαπύροις καταλειπόμενον αὐτοῦ· κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ ἀέρος, τὸ μὲν εὐαγέστατον ἐπίκλην αἰθὴρ καλούμενος, ὁ δὲ θολερώτατος ὁμίχλη τε καὶ σκότος, ἕτερά τε ἀνώνυμα εἴδη, γεγονότα διὰ τὴν τῶν τριγώνων ἀνισότητα. τὰ δὲ ὕδατος διχῇ μὲν πρῶτον, τὸ μὲν ὑγρόν, τὸ δὲ χυτὸν γένος αὐτοῦ. τὸ μὲν οὖν ὑγρὸν διὰ τὸ μετέχον εἶναι τῶν γενῶν τῶν ὕδατος ὅσα σμικρά, ἀνίσων ὄντων, κινητικὸν αὐτό τε καθʼ αὑτὸ καὶ ὑπʼ ἄλλου διὰ τὴν ἀνωμαλότητα καὶ τὴν τοῦ σχήματος ἰδέαν γέγονεν· τὸ [58e] δὲ ἐκ μεγάλων καὶ ὁμαλῶν στασιμώτερον μὲν ἐκείνου καὶ βαρὺ πεπηγὸς ὑπὸ ὁμαλότητός ἐστιν, ὑπὸ δὲ πυρὸς εἰσιόντος καὶ διαλύοντος αὐτὸ τὴν ὁμαλότητα ἀποβάλλει, ταύτην δὲ ἀπολέσαν μετίσχει μᾶλλον κινήσεως, γενόμενον δὲ εὐκίνητον, ὑπὸ τοῦ πλησίον ἀέρος ὠθούμενον καὶ κατατεινόμενον ἐπὶ γῆν, τήκεσθαι μὲν τὴν τῶν ὄγκων καθαίρεσιν, ῥοὴν δὲ τὴν κατάτασιν ἐπὶ γῆν ἐπωνυμίαν ἑκατέρου τοῦ πάθους ἔλαβεν.

### Stephanus 59

[59a] ΤΙ. πάλιν δʼ ἐκπίπτοντος αὐτόθεν τοῦ πυρός, ἅτε οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἐξιόντος, ὠθούμενος ὁ πλησίον ἀὴρ εὐκίνητον ὄντα ἔτι τὸν ὑγρὸν ὄγκον εἰς τὰς τοῦ πυρὸς ἕδρας συνωθῶν αὐτὸν αὑτῷ συμμείγνυσιν· ὁ δὲ συνωθούμενος ἀπολαμβάνων τε τὴν ὁμαλότητα πάλιν, ἅτε τοῦ τῆς ἀνωμαλότητος δημιουργοῦ πυρὸς ἀπιόντος, εἰς ταὐτὸν αὑτῷ καθίσταται. καὶ τὴν μὲν τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπαλλαγὴν ψῦξιν, τὴν δὲ σύνοδον ἀπελθόντος ἐκείνου πεπηγὸς εἶναι γένος προσερρήθη. τούτων δὴ πάντων [59b] ὅσα χυτὰ προσείπομεν ὕδατα, τὸ μὲν ἐκ λεπτοτάτων καὶ ὁμαλωτάτων πυκνότατον γιγνόμενον, μονοειδὲς γένος, στίλβοντι καὶ ξανθῷ χρώματι κοινωθέν, τιμαλφέστατον κτῆμα χρυσὸς ἠθημένος διὰ πέτρας ἐπάγη· χρυσοῦ δὲ ὄζος, διὰ πυκνότητα σκληρότατον ὂν καὶ μελανθέν, ἀδάμας ἐκλήθη. τὸ δʼ ἐγγὺς μὲν χρυσοῦ τῶν μερῶν, εἴδη δὲ πλείονα ἑνὸς ἔχον, πυκνότητι δέ, τῇ μὲν χρυσοῦ πυκνότερον ὄν, καὶ γῆς μόριον ὀλίγον καὶ λεπτὸν μετασχόν, ὥστε σκληρότερον εἶναι, τῷ [59c] δὲ μεγάλα ἐντὸς αὑτοῦ διαλείμματα ἔχειν κουφότερον, τῶν λαμπρῶν πηκτῶν τε ἓν γένος ὑδάτων χαλκὸς συσταθεὶς γέγονεν· τὸ δʼ ἐκ γῆς αὐτῷ μειχθέν, ὅταν παλαιουμένω διαχωρίζησθον πάλιν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων, ἐκφανὲς καθʼ αὑτὸ γιγνόμενον ἰὸς λέγεται. τἆλλα δὲ τῶν τοιούτων οὐδὲν ποικίλον ἔτι διαλογίσασθαι τὴν τῶν εἰκότων μύθων μεταδιώκοντα ἰδέαν· ἣν ὅταν τις ἀναπαύσεως ἕνεκα τοὺς περὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀεὶ καταθέμενος λόγους, τοὺς γενέσεως πέρι διαθεώμενος [59d] εἰκότας ἀμεταμέλητον ἡδονὴν κτᾶται, μέτριον ἂν ἐν τῷ βίῳ παιδιὰν καὶ φρόνιμον ποιοῖτο. ταύτῃ δὴ καὶ τὰ νῦν ἐφέντες τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο τῶν αὐτῶν πέρι τὰ ἑξῆς εἰκότα δίιμεν τῇδε. τὸ πυρὶ μεμειγμένον ὕδωρ, ὅσον λεπτὸν ὑγρόν τε διὰ τὴν κίνησιν καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἣν κυλινδούμενον ἐπὶ γῆς ὑγρὸν λέγεται, μαλακόν τε αὖ τῷ τὰς βάσεις ἧττον ἑδραίους οὔσας ἢ τὰς γῆς ὑπείκειν, τοῦτο ὅταν πυρὸς ἀποχωρισθὲν ἀέρος τε μονωθῇ, [59e] γέγονεν μὲν ὁμαλώτερον, συνέωσται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐξιόντων εἰς αὑτό, παγέν τε οὕτως τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς μάλιστα παθὸν ταῦτα χάλαζα, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ γῆς κρύσταλλος, τὸ δὲ ἧττον, ἡμιπαγές τε ὂν ἔτι, τὸ μὲν ὑπὲρ γῆς αὖ χιών, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ γῆς συμπαγὲν ἐκ δρόσου γενόμενον πάχνη λέγεται.

ΤΙ. τὰ δὲ δὴ πλεῖστα ὑδάτων εἴδη μεμειγμένα ἀλλήλοις—σύμπαν μὲν τὸ γένος,

### Stephanus 60

[60a] διὰ τῶν ἐκ γῆς φυτῶν ἠθημένα, χυμοὶ λεγόμενοι—διὰ δὲ τὰς μείξεις ἀνομοιότητα ἕκαστοι σχόντες τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πολλὰ ἀνώνυμα γένη παρέσχοντο, τέτταρα δὲ ὅσα ἔμπυρα εἴδη, διαφανῆ μάλιστα γενόμενα, εἴληφεν ὀνόματα αὐτῶν, τὸ μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς μετὰ τοῦ σώματος θερμαντικὸν οἶνος, τὸ δὲ λεῖον καὶ διακριτικὸν ὄψεως διὰ ταῦτά τε ἰδεῖν λαμπρὸν καὶ στίλβον λιπαρόν τε φανταζόμενον ἐλαιηρὸν εἶδος, πίττα καὶ κίκι καὶ ἔλαιον αὐτὸ ὅσα τʼ ἄλλα τῆς αὐτῆς δυνάμεως· ὅσον δὲ διαχυτικὸν [60b] μέχρι φύσεως τῶν περὶ τὸ στόμα συνόδων, ταύτῃ τῇ δυνάμει γλυκύτητα παρεχόμενον, μέλι τὸ κατὰ πάντων μάλιστα πρόσρημα ἔσχεν, τὸ δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς διαλυτικὸν τῷ κάειν, ἀφρῶδες γένος, ἐκ πάντων ἀφορισθὲν τῶν χυμῶν, ὀπὸς ἐπωνομάσθη.

γῆς δὲ εἴδη, τὸ μὲν ἠθημένον διὰ ὕδατος τοιῷδε τρόπῳ γίγνεται σῶμα λίθινον. τὸ συμμιγὲς ὕδωρ ὅταν ἐν τῇ συμμείξει κοπῇ, μετέβαλεν εἰς ἀέρος ἰδέαν· γενόμενος δὲ [60c] ἀὴρ εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ τόπον ἀναθεῖ. κενὸν δʼ ὑπερεῖχεν αὐτῶν οὐδέν· τὸν οὖν πλησίον ἔωσεν ἀέρα. ὁ δὲ ἅτε ὢν βαρύς, ὠσθεὶς καὶ περιχυθεὶς τῷ τῆς γῆς ὄγκῳ, σφόδρα ἔθλιψεν συνέωσέν τε αὐτὸν εἰς τὰς ἕδρας ὅθεν ἀνῄει ὁ νέος ἀήρ· συνωσθεῖσα δὲ ὑπὸ ἀέρος ἀλύτως ὕδατι γῆ συνίσταται πέτρα, καλλίων μὲν ἡ τῶν ἴσων καὶ ὁμαλῶν διαφανὴς μερῶν, αἰσχίων δὲ ἡ ἐναντία. τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ πυρὸς τάχους τὸ νοτερὸν [60d] πᾶν ἐξαρπασθὲν καὶ κραυρότερον ἐκείνου συστάν, ᾧ γένει κέραμον ἐπωνομάκαμεν, τοῦτο γέγονεν· ἔστιν δὲ ὅτε νοτίδος ὑπολειφθείσης χυτὴ γῆ γενομένη διὰ πυρὸς ὅταν ψυχθῇ, γίγνεται τὸ μέλαν χρῶμα ἔχον λίθος. τὼ δʼ αὖ κατὰ ταὐτὰ μὲν ταῦτα ἐκ συμμείξεως ὕδατος ἀπομονουμένω πολλοῦ, λεπτοτέρων δὲ ἐκ γῆς μερῶν ἁλμυρώ τε ὄντε, ἡμιπαγῆ γενομένω καὶ λυτὼ πάλιν ὑφʼ ὕδατος, τὸ μὲν ἐλαίου καὶ γῆς καθαρτικὸν γένος λίτρον, τὸ δʼ εὐάρμοστον ἐν ταῖς κοινωνίαις [60e] ταῖς περὶ τὴν τοῦ στόματος αἴσθησιν ἁλῶν κατὰ λόγον [νόμου] θεοφιλὲς σῶμα ἐγένετο. τὰ δὲ κοινὰ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ὕδατι μὲν οὐ λυτά, πυρὶ δέ, διὰ τὸ τοιόνδε οὕτω συμπήγνυται. γῆς ὄγκους πῦρ μὲν ἀήρ τε οὐ τήκει· τῆς γὰρ συστάσεως τῶν διακένων αὐτῆς σμικρομερέστερα πεφυκότα, διὰ πολλῆς εὐρυχωρίας ἰόντα, οὐ βιαζόμενα, ἄλυτον αὐτὴν ἐάσαντα ἄτηκτον παρέσχεν· τὰ δὲ ὕδατος ἐπειδὴ μείζω πέφυκεν μέρη, βίαιον ποιούμενα τὴν διέξοδον, λύοντα αὐτὴν τήκει.

ΤΙ. γῆν

### Stephanus 61

[61a] μὲν γὰρ ἀσύστατον ὑπὸ βίας οὕτως ὕδωρ μόνον λύει, συνεστηκυῖαν δὲ πλὴν πυρὸς οὐδέν· εἴσοδος γὰρ οὐδενὶ πλὴν πυρὶ λέλειπται. τὴν δὲ ὕδατος αὖ σύνοδον τὴν μὲν βιαιοτάτην πῦρ μόνον, τὴν δὲ ἀσθενεστέραν ἀμφότερα, πῦρ τε καὶ ἀήρ, διαχεῖτον, ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὰ διάκενα, τὸ δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὰ τρίγωνα· βίᾳ δὲ ἀέρα συστάντα οὐδὲν λύει πλὴν κατὰ τὸ στοιχεῖον, ἀβίαστον δὲ κατατήκει μόνον πῦρ. τὰ δὴ τῶν συμμείκτων ἐκ γῆς τε καὶ ὕδατος σωμάτων, μέχριπερ ἂν [61b] ὕδωρ αὐτοῦ τὰ τῆς γῆς διάκενα καὶ βίᾳ συμπεπιλημένα κατέχῃ, τὰ μὲν ὕδατος ἐπιόντα ἔξωθεν εἴσοδον οὐκ ἔχοντα μέρη περιρρέοντα τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον ἄτηκτον εἴασεν, τὰ δὲ πυρὸς εἰς τὰ τῶν ὑδάτων διάκενα εἰσιόντα, ὅπερ ὕδωρ γῆν, τοῦτο πῦρ [ἀέρα] ἀπεργαζόμενα, τηχθέντι τῷ κοινῷ σώματι ῥεῖν μόνα αἴτια συμβέβηκεν· τυγχάνει δὲ ταῦτα ὄντα, τὰ μὲν ἔλαττον ἔχοντα ὕδατος ἢ γῆς, τό τε περὶ τὴν ὕαλον γένος [61c] ἅπαν ὅσα τε λίθων χυτὰ εἴδη καλεῖται, τὰ δὲ πλέον ὕδατος αὖ, πάντα ὅσα κηροειδῆ καὶ θυμιατικὰ σώματα συμπήγνυται.

καὶ τὰ μὲν δὴ σχήμασι κοινωνίαις τε καὶ μεταλλαγαῖς εἰς ἄλληλα πεποικιλμένα εἴδη σχεδὸν ἐπιδέδεικται· τὰ δὲ παθήματα αὐτῶν διʼ ἃς αἰτίας γέγονεν πειρατέον ἐμφανίζειν. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὑπάρχειν αἴσθησιν δεῖ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἀεί, σαρκὸς δὲ καὶ τῶν περὶ σάρκα γένεσιν, ψυχῆς τε ὅσον θνητόν, οὔπω διεληλύθαμεν· τυγχάνει δὲ οὔτε ταῦτα χωρὶς [61d] τῶν περὶ τὰ παθήματα ὅσα αἰσθητικὰ οὔτʼ ἐκεῖνα ἄνευ τούτων δυνατὰ ἱκανῶς λεχθῆναι, τὸ δὲ ἅμα σχεδὸν οὐ δυνατόν. ὑποθετέον δὴ πρότερον θάτερα, τὰ δʼ ὑποτεθέντα ἐπάνιμεν αὖθις. ἵνα οὖν ἑξῆς τὰ παθήματα λέγηται τοῖς γένεσιν, ἔστω πρότερα ἡμῖν τὰ περὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ὄντα. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ᾗ πῦρ θερμὸν λέγομεν, ἴδωμεν ὧδε σκοποῦντες, τὴν διάκρισιν καὶ τομὴν αὐτοῦ περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἡμῶν γιγνομένην [61e] ἐννοηθέντες. ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ὀξύ τι τὸ πάθος, πάντες σχεδὸν αἰσθανόμεθα·

ΤΙ. τὴν δὲ λεπτότητα τῶν πλευρῶν καὶ γωνιῶν ὀξύτητα τῶν τε μορίων σμικρότητα καὶ τῆς φορᾶς τὸ τάχος, οἷς πᾶσι σφοδρὸν ὂν καὶ τομὸν ὀξέως τὸ προστυχὸν ἀεὶ

### Stephanus 62

[62a] τέμνει, λογιστέον ἀναμιμνῃσκομένοις τὴν τοῦ σχήματος αὐτοῦ γένεσιν, ὅτι μάλιστα ἐκείνη καὶ οὐκ ἄλλη φύσις διακρίνουσα ἡμῶν κατὰ σμικρά τε τὰ σώματα κερματίζουσα τοῦτο ὃ νῦν θερμὸν λέγομεν εἰκότως τὸ πάθημα καὶ τοὔνομα παρέσχεν. τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον τούτων κατάδηλον μέν, ὅμως δὲ μηδὲν ἐπιδεὲς ἔστω λόγου. τὰ γὰρ δὴ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα ὑγρῶν μεγαλομερέστερα εἰσιόντα, τὰ σμικρότερα ἐξωθοῦντα, εἰς τὰς ἐκείνων οὐ δυνάμενα ἕδρας ἐνδῦναι, συνωθοῦντα ἡμῶν [62b] τὸ νοτερόν, ἐξ ἀνωμάλου κεκινημένου τε ἀκίνητον διʼ ὁμαλότητα καὶ τὴν σύνωσιν ἀπεργαζόμενα πήγνυσιν· τὸ δὲ παρὰ φύσιν συναγόμενον μάχεται κατὰ φύσιν αὐτὸ ἑαυτὸ εἰς τοὐναντίον ἀπωθοῦν. τῇ δὴ μάχῃ καὶ τῷ σεισμῷ τούτῳ τρόμος καὶ ῥῖγος ἐτέθη, ψυχρόν τε τὸ πάθος ἅπαν τοῦτο καὶ τὸ δρῶν αὐτὸ ἔσχεν ὄνομα. σκληρὸν δέ, ὅσοις ἂν ἡμῶν ἡ σὰρξ ὑπείκῃ, μαλακὸν δέ, ὅσα ἂν τῇ σαρκί· πρὸς ἄλληλά τε οὕτως. ὑπείκει δὲ ὅσον ἐπὶ σμικροῦ βαίνει· τὸ δὲ ἐκ [62c] τετραγώνων ὂν βάσεων, ἅτε βεβηκὸς σφόδρα, ἀντιτυπώτατον εἶδος, ὅτι τε ἂν εἰς πυκνότητα συνιὸν πλείστην ἀντίτονον ᾖ μάλιστα. βαρὺ δὲ καὶ κοῦφον μετὰ τῆς τοῦ κάτω φύσεως ἄνω τε λεγομένης ἐξεταζόμενον ἂν δηλωθείη σαφέστατα. φύσει γὰρ δή τινας τόπους δύο εἶναι διειληφότας διχῇ τὸ πᾶν ἐναντίους, τὸν μὲν κάτω, πρὸς ὃν φέρεται πάνθʼ ὅσα τινὰ ὄγκον σώματος ἔχει, τὸν δὲ ἄνω, πρὸς ὃν ἀκουσίως ἔρχεται πᾶν, οὐκ ὀρθὸν οὐδαμῇ νομίζειν· τοῦ γὰρ παντὸς [62d] οὐρανοῦ σφαιροειδοῦς ὄντος, ὅσα μὲν ἀφεστῶτα ἴσον τοῦ μέσου γέγονεν ἔσχατα, ὁμοίως αὐτὰ χρὴ ἔσχατα πεφυκέναι, τὸ δὲ μέσον τὰ αὐτὰ μέτρα τῶν ἐσχάτων ἀφεστηκὸς ἐν τῷ καταντικρὺ νομίζειν δεῖ πάντων εἶναι. τοῦ δὴ κόσμου ταύτῃ πεφυκότος, τί τῶν εἰρημένων ἄνω τις ἢ κάτω τιθέμενος οὐκ ἐν δίκῃ δόξει τὸ μηδὲν προσῆκον ὄνομα λέγειν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ μέσος ἐν αὐτῷ τόπος οὔτε κάτω πεφυκὼς οὔτε ἄνω λέγεσθαι δίκαιος, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ· ὁ δὲ πέριξ οὔτε δὴ μέσος οὔτʼ ἔχων διάφορον αὑτοῦ μέρος ἕτερον θατέρου μᾶλλον πρὸς τὸ μέσον ἤ τι τῶν καταντικρύ. τοῦ δὲ ὁμοίως πάντῃ πεφυκότος ποῖά τις ἐπιφέρων ὀνόματα αὐτῷ ἐναντία καὶ πῇ καλῶς ἂν ἡγοῖτο λέγειν;

ΤΙ. εἰ γάρ τι καὶ στερεὸν εἴη κατὰ μέσον τοῦ

### Stephanus 63

[63a] παντὸς ἰσοπαλές, εἰς οὐδὲν ἄν ποτε τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐνεχθείη διὰ τὴν πάντῃ ὁμοιότητα αὐτῶν· ἀλλʼ εἰ καὶ περὶ αὐτὸ πορεύοιτό τις ἐν κύκλῳ, πολλάκις ἂν στὰς ἀντίπους ταὐτὸν αὐτοῦ κάτω καὶ ἄνω προσείποι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ὅλον, καθάπερ εἴρηται νυνδή, σφαιροειδὲς ὄν, τόπον τινὰ κάτω, τὸν δὲ ἄνω λέγειν ἔχειν οὐκ ἔμφρονος· ὅθεν δὲ ὠνομάσθη ταῦτα καὶ ἐν οἷς ὄντα εἰθίσμεθα διʼ ἐκεῖνα καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὅλον οὕτω διαιρούμενοι [63b] λέγειν, ταῦτα διομολογητέον ὑποθεμένοις τάδε ἡμῖν. εἴ τις ἐν τῷ τοῦ παντὸς τόπῳ καθʼ ὃν ἡ τοῦ πυρὸς εἴληχε μάλιστα φύσις, οὗ καὶ πλεῖστον ἂν ἠθροισμένον εἴη πρὸς ὃ φέρεται, ἐπεμβὰς ἐπʼ ἐκεῖνο καὶ δύναμιν εἰς τοῦτο ἔχων, μέρη τοῦ πυρὸς ἀφαιρῶν ἱσταίη τιθεὶς εἰς πλάστιγγας, αἴρων τὸν ζυγὸν καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἕλκων εἰς ἀνόμοιον ἀέρα βιαζόμενος [63c] δῆλον ὡς τοὔλαττόν που τοῦ μείζονος ῥᾷον βιᾶται· ῥώμῃ γὰρ μιᾷ δυοῖν ἅμα μετεωριζομένοιν τὸ μὲν ἔλαττον μᾶλλον, τὸ δὲ πλέον ἧττον ἀνάγκη που κατατεινόμενον συνέπεσθαι τῇ βίᾳ, καὶ τὸ μὲν πολὺ βαρὺ καὶ κάτω φερόμενον κληθῆναι, τὸ δὲ σμικρὸν ἐλαφρὸν καὶ ἄνω. ταὐτὸν δὴ τοῦτο δεῖ φωρᾶσαι δρῶντας ἡμᾶς περὶ τόνδε τὸν τόπον. ἐπὶ γὰρ γῆς βεβῶτες γεώδη γένη διιστάμενοι, καὶ γῆν ἐνίοτε αὐτήν, ἕλκομεν εἰς ἀνόμοιον ἀέρα βίᾳ καὶ παρὰ φύσιν, ἀμφότερα τοῦ [63d] συγγενοῦς ἀντεχόμενα, τὸ δὲ σμικρότερον ῥᾷον τοῦ μείζονος βιαζομένοις εἰς τὸ ἀνόμοιον πρότερον συνέπεται· κοῦφον οὖν αὐτὸ προσειρήκαμεν, καὶ τὸν τόπον εἰς ὃν βιαζόμεθα, ἄνω, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον τούτοις πάθος βαρὺ καὶ κάτω. ταῦτʼ οὖν δὴ διαφόρως ἔχειν αὐτὰ πρὸς αὑτὰ ἀνάγκη διὰ τὸ τὰ πλήθη τῶν γενῶν τόπον ἐναντίον ἄλλα ἄλλοις κατέχειν—τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἑτέρῳ κοῦφον ὂν τόπῳ τῷ κατὰ τὸν ἐναντίον τόπον ἐλαφρῷ [63e] καὶ τῷ βαρεῖ τὸ βαρὺ τῷ τε κάτω τὸ κάτω καὶ τὸ ἄνω τῷ ἄνω πάντʼ ἐναντία καὶ πλάγια καὶ πάντως διάφορα πρὸς ἄλληλα ἀνευρεθήσεται γιγνόμενα καὶ ὄντα—τόδε γε μὴν ἕν τι διανοητέον περὶ πάντων αὐτῶν, ὡς ἡ μὲν πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ὁδὸς ἑκάστοις οὖσα βαρὺ μὲν τὸ φερόμενον ποιεῖ, τὸν δὲ τόπον εἰς ὃν τὸ τοιοῦτον φέρεται, κάτω, τὰ δὲ τούτοις ἔχοντα ὡς ἑτέρως θάτερα. περὶ δὴ τούτων αὖ τῶν παθημάτων ταῦτα αἴτια εἰρήσθω.

ΤΙ. λείου δʼ αὖ καὶ τραχέος παθήματος αἰτίαν πᾶς που κατιδὼν καὶ ἑτέρῳ δυνατὸς ἂν εἴη λέγειν· σκληρότης γὰρ ἀνωμαλότητι μειχθεῖσα, τὸ δʼ

### Stephanus 64

[64a] ὁμαλότης πυκνότητι παρέχεται.

μέγιστον δὲ καὶ λοιπὸν τῶν κοινῶν περὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα παθημάτων τὸ τῶν ἡδέων καὶ τῶν ἀλγεινῶν αἴτιον ἐν οἷς διεληλύθαμεν, καὶ ὅσα διὰ τῶν τοῦ σώματος μορίων αἰσθήσεις κεκτημένα καὶ λύπας ἐν αὑτοῖς ἡδονάς θʼ ἅμα ἑπομένας ἔχει. ὧδʼ οὖν κατὰ παντὸς αἰσθητοῦ καὶ ἀναισθήτου παθήματος τὰς αἰτίας λαμβάνωμεν, ἀναμιμνῃσκόμενοι τὸ τῆς [64b] εὐκινήτου τε καὶ δυσκινήτου φύσεως ὅτι διειλόμεθα ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν· ταύτῃ γὰρ δὴ μεταδιωκτέον πάντα ὅσα ἐπινοοῦμεν ἑλεῖν. τὸ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ φύσιν εὐκίνητον, ὅταν καὶ βραχὺ πάθος εἰς αὐτὸ ἐμπίπτῃ, διαδίδωσιν κύκλῳ μόρια ἕτερα ἑτέροις ταὐτὸν ἀπεργαζόμενα, μέχριπερ ἂν ἐπὶ τὸ φρόνιμον ἐλθόντα ἐξαγγείλῃ τοῦ ποιήσαντος τὴν δύναμιν· τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον ἑδραῖον ὂν κατʼ οὐδένα τε κύκλον ἰὸν πάσχει μόνον, [64c] ἄλλο δὲ οὐ κινεῖ τῶν πλησίον, ὥστε οὐ διαδιδόντων μορίων μορίοις ἄλλων ἄλλοις τὸ πρῶτον πάθος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀκίνητον εἰς τὸ πᾶν ζῷον γενόμενον ἀναίσθητον παρέσχεν τὸ παθόν. ταῦτα δὲ περί τε ὀστᾶ καὶ τὰς τρίχας ἐστὶν καὶ ὅσʼ ἄλλα γήϊνα τὸ πλεῖστον ἔχομεν ἐν ἡμῖν μόρια· τὰ δὲ ἔμπροσθεν περὶ τὰ τῆς ὄψεως καὶ ἀκοῆς μάλιστα, διὰ τὸ πυρὸς ἀέρος τε ἐν αὐτοῖς δύναμιν ἐνεῖναι μεγίστην. τὸ δὴ τῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ λύπης ὧδε δεῖ διανοεῖσθαι· τὸ μὲν παρὰ φύσιν καὶ [64d] βίαιον γιγνόμενον ἁθρόον παρʼ ἡμῖν πάθος ἀλγεινόν, τὸ δʼ εἰς φύσιν ἀπιὸν πάλιν ἁθρόον ἡδύ, τὸ δὲ ἡρέμα καὶ κατὰ σμικρὸν ἀναίσθητον, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον τούτοις ἐναντίως. τὸ δὲ μετʼ εὐπετείας γιγνόμενον ἅπαν αἰσθητὸν μὲν ὅτι μάλιστα, λύπης δὲ καὶ ἡδονῆς οὐ μετέχον, οἷον τὰ περὶ τὴν ὄψιν αὐτὴν παθήματα, ἣ δὴ σῶμα ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἐρρήθη καθʼ ἡμέραν συμφυὲς ἡμῶν γίγνεσθαι. ταύτῃ γὰρ τομαὶ μὲν καὶ καύσεις καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα πάσχει λύπας οὐκ ἐμποιοῦσιν, οὐδὲ [64e] ἡδονὰς πάλιν ἐπὶ ταὐτὸν ἀπιούσης εἶδος, μέγισται δὲ αἰσθήσεις καὶ σαφέσταται καθʼ ὅτι τʼ ἂν πάθῃ καὶ ὅσων ἂν αὐτή πῃ προσβαλοῦσα ἐφάπτηται· βία γὰρ τὸ πάμπαν οὐκ ἔνι τῇ διακρίσει τε αὐτῆς καὶ συγκρίσει.

ΤΙ. τὰ δʼ ἐκ μειζόνων μερῶν σώματα μόγις εἴκοντα τῷ δρῶντι, διαδιδόντα δὲ εἰς ὅλον τὰς κινήσεις, ἡδονὰς ἴσχει καὶ λύπας, ἀλλοτριούμενα

### Stephanus 65

[65a] μὲν λύπας, καθιστάμενα δὲ εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν ἡδονάς. ὅσα δὲ κατὰ σμικρὸν τὰς ἀποχωρήσεις ἑαυτῶν καὶ κενώσεις εἴληφεν, τὰς δὲ πληρώσεις ἁθρόας καὶ κατὰ μεγάλα, κενώσεως μὲν ἀναίσθητα, πληρώσεως δὲ αἰσθητικὰ γιγνόμενα, λύπας μὲν οὐ παρέχει τῷ θνητῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, μεγίστας δὲ ἡδονάς· ἔστιν δὲ ἔνδηλα περὶ τὰς εὐωδίας. ὅσα δὲ ἀπαλλοτριοῦται μὲν ἁθρόα, κατὰ σμικρὰ δὲ μόγις τε εἰς ταὐτὸν [65b] πάλιν ἑαυτοῖς καθίσταται, τοὐναντίον τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν πάντα ἀποδίδωσιν· ταῦτα δʼ αὖ περὶ τὰς καύσεις καὶ τομὰς τοῦ σώματος γιγνόμενά ἐστιν κατάδηλα.

καὶ τὰ μὲν δὴ κοινὰ τοῦ σώματος παντὸς παθήματα, τῶν τʼ ἐπωνυμιῶν ὅσαι τοῖς δρῶσιν αὐτὰ γεγόνασι, σχεδὸν εἴρηται· τὰ δʼ ἐν ἰδίοις μέρεσιν ἡμῶν γιγνόμενα, τά τε πάθη καὶ τὰς αἰτίας αὖ τῶν δρώντων, πειρατέον εἰπεῖν, ἄν πῃ [65c] δυνώμεθα. πρῶτον οὖν ὅσα τῶν χυμῶν πέρι λέγοντες ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἀπελίπομεν, ἴδια ὄντα παθήματα περὶ τὴν γλῶτταν, ἐμφανιστέον ᾗ δυνατόν. φαίνεται δὲ καὶ ταῦτα, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὰ πολλά, διὰ συγκρίσεών τέ τινων καὶ διακρίσεων γίγνεσθαι, πρὸς δὲ αὐταῖς κεχρῆσθαι μᾶλλόν τι τῶν ἄλλων τραχύτησί τε καὶ λειότησιν. ὅσα μὲν γὰρ εἰσιόντα περὶ τὰ φλέβια, οἷόνπερ δοκίμια τῆς γλώττης [65d] τεταμένα ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν, εἰς τὰ νοτερὰ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἁπαλὰ ἐμπίπτοντα γήϊνα μέρη κατατηκόμενα συνάγει τὰ φλέβια καὶ ἀποξηραίνει, τραχύτερα μὲν ὄντα στρυφνά, ἧττον δὲ τραχύνοντα αὐστηρὰ φαίνεται· τὰ δὲ τούτων τε ῥυπτικὰ καὶ πᾶν τὸ περὶ τὴν γλῶτταν ἀποπλύνοντα, πέρα μὲν τοῦ μετρίου τοῦτο δρῶντα καὶ προσεπιλαμβανόμενα ὥστε ἀποτήκειν αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως, οἷον ἡ τῶν λίτρων [65e] δύναμις, πικρὰ πάνθʼ οὕτως ὠνόμασται, τὰ δὲ ὑποδεέστερα τῆς λιτρώδους ἕξεως ἐπὶ τὸ μέτριόν τε τῇ ῥύψει χρώμενα ἁλυκὰ ἄνευ πικρότητος τραχείας καὶ φίλα μᾶλλον ἡμῖν φαντάζεται.

ΤΙ. τὰ δὲ τῇ τοῦ στόματος θερμότητι κοινωνήσαντα καὶ λεαινόμενα ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, συνεκπυρούμενα καὶ πάλιν αὐτὰ ἀντικάοντα τὸ διαθερμῆναν, φερόμενά τε ὑπὸ κουφότητος ἄνω πρὸς τὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς αἰσθήσεις, τέμνοντά τε

### Stephanus 66

[66a] πάνθʼ ὁπόσοις ἂν προσπίπτῃ, διὰ ταύτας τὰς δυνάμεις δριμέα πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐλέχθη. τὸ δὲ αὖ τῶν προλελεπτυσμένων μὲν ὑπὸ σηπεδόνος, εἰς δὲ τὰς στενὰς φλέβας ἐνδυομένων, καὶ τοῖς ἐνοῦσιν αὐτόθι μέρεσιν γεώδεσιν καὶ ὅσα ἀέρος συμμετρίαν ἔχοντα, ὥστε κινήσαντα περὶ ἄλληλα ποιεῖν κυκᾶσθαι, κυκώμενα δὲ περιπίπτειν τε καὶ εἰς ἕτερα ἐνδυόμενα ἕτερα κοῖλα ἀπεργάζεσθαι περιτεινόμενα τοῖς εἰσιοῦσιν— [66b] ἃ δὴ νοτίδος περὶ ἀέρα κοίλης περιταθείσης, τοτὲ μὲν γεώδους, τοτὲ δὲ καὶ καθαρᾶς, νοτερὰ ἀγγεῖα ἀέρος, ὕδατα κοῖλα περιφερῆ τε γενέσθαι, καὶ τὰ μὲν τῆς καθαρᾶς διαφανεῖς περιστῆναι κληθείσας ὄνομα πομφόλυγας, τὰ δὲ τῆς γεώδους ὁμοῦ κινουμένης τε καὶ αἰρομένης ζέσιν τε καὶ ζύμωσιν ἐπίκλην λεχθῆναι—τὸ δὲ τούτων αἴτιον τῶν παθημάτων ὀξὺ προσρηθῆναι. σύμπασιν δὲ τοῖς περὶ ταῦτα εἰρημένοις [66c] πάθος ἐναντίον ἀπʼ ἐναντίας ἐστὶ προφάσεως· ὁπόταν ἡ τῶν εἰσιόντων σύστασις ἐν ὑγροῖς, οἰκεία τῇ τῆς γλώττης ἕξει πεφυκυῖα, λεαίνῃ μὲν ἐπαλείφουσα τὰ τραχυνθέντα, τὰ δὲ παρὰ φύσιν συνεστῶτα ἢ κεχυμένα τὰ μὲν συνάγῃ, τὰ δὲ χαλᾷ, καὶ πάνθʼ ὅτι μάλιστα ἱδρύῃ κατὰ φύσιν, ἡδὺ καὶ προσφιλὲς παντὶ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἴαμα τῶν βιαίων παθημάτων γιγνόμενον κέκληται γλυκύ. [66d]

καὶ τὰ μὲν ταύτῃ ταῦτα· περὶ δὲ δὴ τὴν τῶν μυκτήρων δύναμιν, εἴδη μὲν οὐκ ἔνι. τὸ γὰρ τῶν ὀσμῶν πᾶν ἡμιγενές, εἴδει δὲ οὐδενὶ συμβέβηκεν συμμετρία πρὸς τό τινα σχεῖν ὀσμήν· ἀλλʼ ἡμῶν αἱ περὶ ταῦτα φλέβες πρὸς μὲν τὰ γῆς ὕδατός τε γένη στενότεραι συνέστησαν, πρὸς δὲ τὰ πυρὸς ἀέρος τε εὐρύτεραι, διὸ τούτων οὐδεὶς οὐδενὸς ὀσμῆς πώποτε ᾔσθετό τινος, ἀλλὰ ἢ βρεχομένων ἢ σηπομένων ἢ τηκομένων ἢ θυμιωμένων γίγνονταί τινων. μεταβάλλοντος γὰρ [66e] ὕδατος εἰς ἀέρα ἀέρος τε εἰς ὕδωρ ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ τούτων γεγόνασιν, εἰσίν τε ὀσμαὶ σύμπασαι καπνὸς ἢ ὁμίχλη, τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀέρος εἰς ὕδωρ ἰὸν ὁμίχλη, τὸ δὲ ἐξ ὕδατος εἰς ἀέρα καπνός· ὅθεν λεπτότεραι μὲν ὕδατος, παχύτεραι δὲ ὀσμαὶ σύμπασαι γεγόνασιν ἀέρος.

ΤΙ. δηλοῦνται δὲ ὁπόταν τινὸς ἀντιφραχθέντος περὶ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν ἄγῃ τις βίᾳ τὸ πνεῦμα εἰς αὑτόν· τότε γὰρ ὀσμὴ μὲν οὐδεμία συνδιηθεῖται, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῶν ὀσμῶν ἐρημωθὲν αὐτὸ μόνον

### Stephanus 67

[67a] ἕπεται. δύʼ οὖν ταῦτα ἀνώνυμα τὰ τούτων ποικίλματα γέγονεν, οὐκ ἐκ πολλῶν οὐδὲ ἁπλῶν εἰδῶν ὄντα, ἀλλὰ διχῇ τό θʼ ἡδὺ καὶ τὸ λυπηρὸν αὐτόθι μόνω διαφανῆ λέγεσθον, τὸ μὲν τραχῦνόν τε καὶ βιαζόμενον τὸ κύτος ἅπαν, ὅσον ἡμῶν μεταξὺ κορυφῆς τοῦ τε ὀμφαλοῦ κεῖται, τὸ δὲ ταὐτὸν τοῦτο καταπραῧνον καὶ πάλιν ᾗ πέφυκεν ἀγαπητῶς ἀποδιδόν.

τρίτον δὲ αἰσθητικὸν ἐν ἡμῖν μέρος ἐπισκοποῦσιν τὸ περὶ [67b] τὴν ἀκοήν, διʼ ἃς αἰτίας τὰ περὶ αὐτὸ συμβαίνει παθήματα, λεκτέον. ὅλως μὲν οὖν φωνὴν θῶμεν τὴν διʼ ὤτων ὑπʼ ἀέρος ἐγκεφάλου τε καὶ αἵματος μέχρι ψυχῆς πληγὴν διαδιδομένην, τὴν δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτῆς κίνησιν, ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς μὲν ἀρχομένην, τελευτῶσαν δὲ περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἥπατος ἕδραν, ἀκοήν· ὅση δʼ αὐτῆς ταχεῖα, ὀξεῖαν, ὅση δὲ βραδυτέρα, βαρυτέραν· τὴν δὲ ὁμοίαν ὁμαλήν τε καὶ λείαν, τὴν δὲ ἐναντίαν τραχεῖαν· [67c] μεγάλην δὲ τὴν πολλήν, ὅση δὲ ἐναντία, σμικράν. τὰ δὲ περὶ συμφωνίας αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ὕστερον λεχθησομένοις ἀνάγκη ῥηθῆναι.

τέταρτον δὴ λοιπὸν ἔτι γένος ἡμῖν αἰσθητικόν, ὃ διελέσθαι δεῖ συχνὰ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ποικίλματα κεκτημένον, ἃ σύμπαντα μὲν χρόας ἐκαλέσαμεν, φλόγα τῶν σωμάτων ἑκάστων ἀπορρέουσαν, ὄψει σύμμετρα μόρια ἔχουσαν πρὸς αἴσθησιν· ὄψεως δʼ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν αὐτὸ περὶ τῶν αἰτίων τῆς γενέσεως [67d] ἐρρήθη. τῇδʼ οὖν τῶν χρωμάτων πέρι μάλιστα εἰκὸς πρέποι τʼ ἂν ἐπιεικεῖ λόγῳ διεξελθεῖν· τὰ φερόμενα ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων μόρια ἐμπίπτοντά τε εἰς τὴν ὄψιν τὰ μὲν ἐλάττω, τὰ δὲ μείζω, τὰ δʼ ἴσα τοῖς αὐτῆς τῆς ὄψεως μέρεσιν εἶναι· τὰ μὲν οὖν ἴσα ἀναίσθητα, ἃ δὴ καὶ διαφανῆ λέγομεν, τὰ δὲ μείζω καὶ ἐλάττω, τὰ μὲν συγκρίνοντα, τὰ δὲ διακρίνοντα αὐτήν, τοῖς περὶ τὴν σάρκα θερμοῖς καὶ ψυχροῖς καὶ τοῖς [67e] περὶ τὴν γλῶτταν στρυφνοῖς, καὶ ὅσα θερμαντικὰ ὄντα δριμέα ἐκαλέσαμεν, ἀδελφὰ εἶναι, τά τε λευκὰ καὶ τὰ μέλανα, ἐκείνων παθήματα γεγονότα ἐν ἄλλῳ γένει τὰ αὐτά, φανταζόμενα δὲ ἄλλα διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας.

ΤΙ. οὕτως οὖν αὐτὰ προσρητέον· τὸ μὲν διακριτικὸν τῆς ὄψεως λευκόν, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ μέλαν, τὴν δὲ ὀξυτέραν φορὰν καὶ γένους πυρὸς ἑτέρου προσπίπτουσαν καὶ διακρίνουσαν τὴν ὄψιν μέχρι τῶν ὀμμάτων, αὐτάς τε τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὰς διεξόδους

### Stephanus 68

[68a] βίᾳ διωθοῦσαν καὶ τήκουσαν, πῦρ μὲν ἁθρόον καὶ ὕδωρ, ὃ δάκρυον καλοῦμεν, ἐκεῖθεν ἐκχέουσαν, αὐτὴν δὲ οὖσαν πῦρ ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀπαντῶσαν, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἐκπηδῶντος πυρὸς οἷον ἀπʼ ἀστραπῆς, τοῦ δʼ εἰσιόντος καὶ περὶ τὸ νοτερὸν κατασβεννυμένου, παντοδαπῶν ἐν τῇ κυκήσει ταύτῃ γιγνομένων χρωμάτων, μαρμαρυγὰς μὲν τὸ πάθος προσείπομεν, τὸ δὲ τοῦτο ἀπεργαζόμενον λαμπρόν τε καὶ στίλβον ἐπωνομάσαμεν. [68b] τὸ δὲ τούτων αὖ μεταξὺ πυρὸς γένος, πρὸς μὲν τὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων ὑγρὸν ἀφικνούμενον καὶ κεραννύμενον αὐτῷ, στίλβον δὲ οὔ· τῇ δὲ διὰ τῆς νοτίδος αὐγῇ τοῦ πυρὸς μειγνυμένου χρῶμα ἔναιμον παρασχομένῃ, τοὔνομα ἐρυθρὸν λέγομεν. λαμπρόν τε ἐρυθρῷ λευκῷ τε μειγνύμενον ξανθὸν γέγονεν· τὸ δὲ ὅσον μέτρον ὅσοις, οὐδʼ εἴ τις εἰδείη, νοῦν ἔχει τὸ λέγειν, ὧν μήτε τινὰ ἀνάγκην μήτε τὸν εἰκότα λόγον καὶ μετρίως ἄν τις εἰπεῖν εἴη δυνατός. ἐρυθρὸν δὲ δὴ [68c] μέλανι λευκῷ τε κραθὲν ἁλουργόν· ὄρφνινον δέ, ὅταν τούτοις μεμειγμένοις καυθεῖσίν τε μᾶλλον συγκραθῇ μέλαν. πυρρὸν δὲ ξανθοῦ τε καὶ φαιοῦ κράσει γίγνεται, φαιὸν δὲ λευκοῦ τε καὶ μέλανος, τὸ δὲ ὠχρὸν λευκοῦ ξανθῷ μειγνυμένου. λαμπρῷ δὲ λευκὸν συνελθὸν καὶ εἰς μέλαν κατακορὲς ἐμπεσὸν κυανοῦν χρῶμα ἀποτελεῖται, κυανοῦ δὲ λευκῷ κεραννυμένου γλαυκόν, πυρροῦ δὲ μέλανι πράσιον. τὰ δὲ [68d] ἄλλα ἀπὸ τούτων σχεδὸν δῆλα αἷς ἂν ἀφομοιούμενα μείξεσιν διασῴζοι τὸν εἰκότα μῦθον. εἰ δέ τις τούτων ἔργῳ σκοπούμενος βάσανον λαμβάνοι, τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ θείας φύσεως ἠγνοηκὼς ἂν εἴη διάφορον, ὅτι θεὸς μὲν τὰ πολλὰ εἰς ἓν συγκεραννύναι καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἑνὸς εἰς πολλὰ διαλύειν ἱκανῶς ἐπιστάμενος ἅμα καὶ δυνατός, ἀνθρώπων δὲ οὐδεὶς οὐδέτερα τούτων ἱκανὸς οὔτε ἔστι νῦν οὔτε εἰς αὖθίς ποτε ἔσται. [68e]

ταῦτα δὴ πάντα τότε ταύτῃ πεφυκότα ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁ τοῦ καλλίστου τε καὶ ἀρίστου δημιουργὸς ἐν τοῖς γιγνομένοις παρελάμβανεν, ἡνίκα τὸν αὐτάρκη τε καὶ τὸν τελεώτατον θεὸν ἐγέννα, χρώμενος μὲν ταῖς περὶ ταῦτα αἰτίαις ὑπηρετούσαις, τὸ δὲ εὖ τεκταινόμενος ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς γιγνομένοις αὐτός.

ΤΙ. διὸ δὴ χρὴ δύʼ αἰτίας εἴδη διορίζεσθαι, τὸ μὲν ἀναγκαῖον, τὸ δὲ θεῖον, καὶ τὸ μὲν θεῖον ἐν ἅπασιν ζητεῖν

### Stephanus 69

[69a] κτήσεως ἕνεκα εὐδαίμονος βίου, καθʼ ὅσον ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις ἐνδέχεται, τὸ δὲ ἀναγκαῖον ἐκείνων χάριν, λογιζόμενον ὡς ἄνευ τούτων οὐ δυνατὰ αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα ἐφʼ οἷς σπουδάζομεν μόνα κατανοεῖν οὐδʼ αὖ λαβεῖν οὐδʼ ἄλλως πως μετασχεῖν.

ὅτʼ οὖν δὴ τὰ νῦν οἷα τέκτοσιν ἡμῖν ὕλη παράκειται τὰ τῶν αἰτίων γένη διυλισμένα, ἐξ ὧν τὸν ἐπίλοιπον λόγον δεῖ συνυφανθῆναι, πάλιν ἐπʼ ἀρχὴν ἐπανέλθωμεν διὰ βραχέων, ταχύ τε εἰς ταὐτὸν πορευθῶμεν ὅθεν δεῦρο ἀφικόμεθα, [69b] καὶ τελευτὴν ἤδη κεφαλήν τε τῷ μύθῳ πειρώμεθα ἁρμόττουσαν ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς πρόσθεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ οὖν καὶ κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐλέχθη, ταῦτα ἀτάκτως ἔχοντα ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἑκάστῳ τε αὐτῷ πρὸς αὑτὸ καὶ πρὸς ἄλληλα συμμετρίας ἐνεποίησεν, ὅσας τε καὶ ὅπῃ δυνατὸν ἦν ἀνάλογα καὶ σύμμετρα εἶναι. τότε γὰρ οὔτε τούτων, ὅσον μὴ τύχῃ, τι μετεῖχεν, οὔτε τὸ παράπαν ὀνομάσαι τῶν νῦν ὀνομαζομένων ἀξιόλογον ἦν οὐδέν, οἷον πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ εἴ τι τῶν ἄλλων· ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα [69c] πρῶτον διεκόσμησεν, ἔπειτʼ ἐκ τούτων πᾶν τόδε συνεστήσατο, ζῷον ἓν ζῷα ἔχον τὰ πάντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ θνητὰ ἀθάνατά τε. καὶ τῶν μὲν θείων αὐτὸς γίγνεται δημιουργός, τῶν δὲ θνητῶν τὴν γένεσιν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ γεννήμασιν δημιουργεῖν προσέταξεν. οἱ δὲ μιμούμενοι, παραλαβόντες ἀρχὴν ψυχῆς ἀθάνατον, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο θνητὸν σῶμα αὐτῇ περιετόρνευσαν ὄχημά τε πᾶν τὸ σῶμα ἔδοσαν ἄλλο τε εἶδος ἐν αὐτῷ ψυχῆς προσῳκοδόμουν τὸ θνητόν, δεινὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖα ἐν ἑαυτῷ [69d] παθήματα ἔχον, πρῶτον μὲν ἡδονήν, μέγιστον κακοῦ δέλεαρ, ἔπειτα λύπας, ἀγαθῶν φυγάς, ἔτι δʼ αὖ θάρρος καὶ φόβον, ἄφρονε συμβούλω, θυμὸν δὲ δυσπαραμύθητον, ἐλπίδα δʼ εὐπαράγωγον· αἰσθήσει δὲ ἀλόγῳ καὶ ἐπιχειρητῇ παντὸς ἔρωτι συγκερασάμενοι ταῦτα, ἀναγκαίως τὸ θνητὸν γένος συνέθεσαν. καὶ διὰ ταῦτα δὴ σεβόμενοι μιαίνειν τὸ θεῖον, ὅτι μὴ πᾶσα ἦν ἀνάγκη, χωρὶς ἐκείνου κατοικίζουσιν εἰς [69e] ἄλλην τοῦ σώματος οἴκησιν τὸ θνητόν, ἰσθμὸν καὶ ὅρον διοικοδομήσαντες τῆς τε κεφαλῆς καὶ τοῦ στήθους, αὐχένα μεταξὺ τιθέντες, ἵνʼ εἴη χωρίς. ἐν δὴ τοῖς στήθεσιν καὶ τῷ καλουμένῳ θώρακι τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς θνητὸν γένος ἐνέδουν.

ΤΙ. καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ μὲν ἄμεινον αὐτῆς, τὸ δὲ χεῖρον ἐπεφύκει, διοικοδομοῦσι τοῦ θώρακος αὖ τὸ κύτος, διορίζοντες οἷον

### Stephanus 70

[70a] γυναικῶν, τὴν δὲ ἀνδρῶν χωρὶς οἴκησιν, τὰς φρένας διάφραγμα εἰς τὸ μέσον αὐτῶν τιθέντες. τὸ μετέχον οὖν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνδρείας καὶ θυμοῦ, φιλόνικον ὄν, κατῴκισαν ἐγγυτέρω τῆς κεφαλῆς μεταξὺ τῶν φρενῶν τε καὶ αὐχένος, ἵνα τοῦ λόγου κατήκοον ὂν κοινῇ μετʼ ἐκείνου βίᾳ τὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν κατέχοι γένος, ὁπότʼ ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως τῷ τʼ ἐπιτάγματι καὶ λόγῳ μηδαμῇ πείθεσθαι ἑκὸν ἐθέλοι· τὴν δὲ δὴ καρδίαν [70b] ἅμμα τῶν φλεβῶν καὶ πηγὴν τοῦ περιφερομένου κατὰ πάντα τὰ μέλη σφοδρῶς αἵματος εἰς τὴν δορυφορικὴν οἴκησιν κατέστησαν, ἵνα, ὅτε ζέσειεν τὸ τοῦ θυμοῦ μένος, τοῦ λόγου παραγγείλαντος ὥς τις ἄδικος περὶ αὐτὰ γίγνεται πρᾶξις ἔξωθεν ἢ καί τις ἀπὸ τῶν ἔνδοθεν ἐπιθυμιῶν, ὀξέως διὰ πάντων τῶν στενωπῶν πᾶν ὅσον αἰσθητικὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι, τῶν τε παρακελεύσεων καὶ ἀπειλῶν αἰσθανόμενον, γίγνοιτο ἐπήκοον καὶ ἕποιτο πάντῃ, καὶ τὸ βέλτιστον οὕτως ἐν αὐτοῖς [70c] πᾶσιν ἡγεμονεῖν ἐῷ. τῇ δὲ δὴ πηδήσει τῆς καρδίας ἐν τῇ τῶν δεινῶν προσδοκίᾳ καὶ τῇ τοῦ θυμοῦ ἐγέρσει, προγιγνώσκοντες ὅτι διὰ πυρὸς ἡ τοιαύτη πᾶσα ἔμελλεν οἴδησις γίγνεσθαι τῶν θυμουμένων, ἐπικουρίαν αὐτῇ μηχανώμενοι τὴν τοῦ πλεύμονος ἰδέαν ἐνεφύτευσαν, πρῶτον μὲν μαλακὴν καὶ ἄναιμον, εἶτα σήραγγας ἐντὸς ἔχουσαν οἷον σπόγγου κατατετρημένας, ἵνα τό τε πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ πῶμα δεχομένη, [70d] ψύχουσα, ἀναπνοὴν καὶ ῥᾳστώνην ἐν τῷ καύματι παρέχοι· διὸ δὴ τῆς ἀρτηρίας ὀχετοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν πλεύμονα ἔτεμον, καὶ περὶ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτὸν περιέστησαν οἷον μάλαγμα, ἵνʼ ὁ θυμὸς ἡνίκα ἐν αὐτῇ ἀκμάζοι, πηδῶσα εἰς ὑπεῖκον καὶ ἀναψυχομένη, πονοῦσα ἧττον, μᾶλλον τῷ λόγῳ μετὰ θυμοῦ δύναιτο ὑπηρετεῖν.

τὸ δὲ δὴ σίτων τε καὶ ποτῶν ἐπιθυμητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ὅσων ἔνδειαν διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἴσχει φύσιν, τοῦτο [70e] εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ τῶν τε φρενῶν καὶ τοῦ πρὸς τὸν ὀμφαλὸν ὅρου κατῴκισαν, οἷον φάτνην ἐν ἅπαντι τούτῳ τῷ τόπῳ τῇ τοῦ σώματος τροφῇ τεκτηνάμενοι· καὶ κατέδησαν δὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐνταῦθα ὡς θρέμμα ἄγριον, τρέφειν δὲ συνημμένον ἀναγκαῖον, εἴπερ τι μέλλοι ποτὲ θνητὸν ἔσεσθαι γένος.

ΤΙ. ἵνʼ οὖν ἀεὶ νεμόμενον πρὸς φάτνῃ καὶ ὅτι πορρωτάτω τοῦ βουλευομένου κατοικοῦν, θόρυβον καὶ βοὴν ὡς ἐλαχίστην παρέχον,

### Stephanus 71

[71a] τὸ κράτιστον καθʼ ἡσυχίαν περὶ τοῦ πᾶσι κοινῇ καὶ ἰδίᾳ συμφέροντος ἐῷ βουλεύεσθαι, διὰ ταῦτα ἐνταῦθʼ ἔδοσαν αὐτῷ τὴν τάξιν. εἰδότες δὲ αὐτὸ ὡς λόγου μὲν οὔτε συνήσειν ἔμελλεν, εἴ τέ πῃ καὶ μεταλαμβάνοι τινὸς αὐτῶν αἰσθήσεως, οὐκ ἔμφυτον αὐτῷ τὸ μέλειν τινῶν ἔσοιτο λόγων, ὑπὸ δὲ εἰδώλων καὶ φαντασμάτων νυκτός τε καὶ μεθʼ ἡμέραν μάλιστα ψυχαγωγήσοιτο, τούτῳ δὴ θεὸς ἐπιβουλεύσας αὐτῷ τὴν ἥπατος [71b] ἰδέαν συνέστησε καὶ ἔθηκεν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου κατοίκησιν, πυκνὸν καὶ λεῖον καὶ λαμπρὸν καὶ γλυκὺ καὶ πικρότητα ἔχον μηχανησάμενος, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν διανοημάτων ἡ ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ φερομένη δύναμις, οἷον ἐν κατόπτρῳ δεχομένῳ τύπους καὶ κατιδεῖν εἴδωλα παρέχοντι, φοβοῖ μὲν αὐτό, ὁπότε μέρει τῆς πικρότητος χρωμένη συγγενεῖ, χαλεπὴ προσενεχθεῖσα ἀπειλῇ, κατὰ πᾶν ὑπομειγνῦσα ὀξέως τὸ ἧπαρ, χολώδη χρώματα ἐμφαίνοι, συνάγουσά τε πᾶν ῥυσὸν καὶ τραχὺ ποιοῖ, [71c] λοβὸν δὲ καὶ δοχὰς πύλας τε τὸ μὲν ἐξ ὀρθοῦ κατακάμπτουσα καὶ συσπῶσα, τὰ δὲ ἐμφράττουσα συγκλείουσά τε, λύπας καὶ ἄσας παρέχοι, καὶ ὅτʼ αὖ τἀναντία φαντάσματα ἀποζωγραφοῖ πρᾳότητός τις ἐκ διανοίας ἐπίπνοια, τῆς μὲν πικρότητος ἡσυχίαν παρέχουσα τῷ μήτε κινεῖν μήτε προσάπτεσθαι τῆς ἐναντίας ἑαυτῇ φύσεως ἐθέλειν, γλυκύτητι δὲ τῇ κατʼ ἐκεῖνο συμφύτῳ πρὸς αὐτὸ χρωμένη καὶ πάντα [71d] ὀρθὰ καὶ λεῖα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλεύθερα ἀπευθύνουσα, ἵλεών τε καὶ εὐήμερον ποιοῖ τὴν περὶ τὸ ἧπαρ ψυχῆς μοῖραν κατῳκισμένην, ἔν τε τῇ νυκτὶ διαγωγὴν ἔχουσαν μετρίαν, μαντείᾳ χρωμένην καθʼ ὕπνον, ἐπειδὴ λόγου καὶ φρονήσεως οὐ μετεῖχε. μεμνημένοι γὰρ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιστολῆς οἱ συστήσαντες ἡμᾶς, ὅτε τὸ θνητὸν ἐπέστελλεν γένος ὡς ἄριστον εἰς δύναμιν ποιεῖν, οὕτω δὴ κατορθοῦντες καὶ τὸ φαῦλον [71e] ἡμῶν, ἵνα ἀληθείας πῃ προσάπτοιτο, κατέστησαν ἐν τούτῳ τὸ μαντεῖον. ἱκανὸν δὲ σημεῖον ὡς μαντικὴν ἀφροσύνῃ θεὸς ἀνθρωπίνῃ δέδωκεν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔννους ἐφάπτεται μαντικῆς ἐνθέου καὶ ἀληθοῦς, ἀλλʼ ἢ καθʼ ὕπνον τὴν τῆς φρονήσεως πεδηθεὶς δύναμιν ἢ διὰ νόσον, ἢ διά τινα ἐνθουσιασμὸν παραλλάξας.

ΤΙ. ἀλλὰ συννοῆσαι μὲν ἔμφρονος τά τε ῥηθέντα ἀναμνησθέντα ὄναρ ἢ ὕπαρ ὑπὸ τῆς μαντικῆς τε καὶ ἐνθουσιαστικῆς φύσεως, καὶ ὅσα ἂν φαντάσματα

### Stephanus 72

[72a] ὀφθῇ, πάντα λογισμῷ διελέσθαι ὅπῃ τι σημαίνει καὶ ὅτῳ μέλλοντος ἢ παρελθόντος ἢ παρόντος κακοῦ ἢ ἀγαθοῦ· τοῦ δὲ μανέντος ἔτι τε ἐν τούτῳ μένοντος οὐκ ἔργον τὰ φανέντα καὶ φωνηθέντα ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κρίνειν, ἀλλʼ εὖ καὶ πάλαι λέγεται τὸ πράττειν καὶ γνῶναι τά τε αὑτοῦ καὶ ἑαυτὸν σώφρονι μόνῳ προσήκειν. ὅθεν δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν προφητῶν γένος ἐπὶ [72b] ταῖς ἐνθέοις μαντείαις κριτὰς ἐπικαθιστάναι νόμος· οὓς μάντεις αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζουσίν τινες, τὸ πᾶν ἠγνοηκότες ὅτι τῆς διʼ αἰνιγμῶν οὗτοι φήμης καὶ φαντάσεως ὑποκριταί, καὶ οὔτι μάντεις, προφῆται δὲ μαντευομένων δικαιότατα ὀνομάζοιντʼ ἄν.

ἡ μὲν οὖν φύσις ἥπατος διὰ ταῦτα τοιαύτη τε καὶ ἐν τόπῳ ᾧ λέγομεν πέφυκε, χάριν μαντικῆς· καὶ ἔτι μὲν δὴ ζῶντος ἑκάστου τὸ τοιοῦτον σημεῖα ἐναργέστερα ἔχει, στερηθὲν δὲ τοῦ ζῆν γέγονε τυφλὸν καὶ τὰ μαντεῖα ἀμυδρότερα [72c] ἔσχεν τοῦ τι σαφὲς σημαίνειν. ἡ δʼ αὖ τοῦ γείτονος αὐτῷ σύστασις καὶ ἕδρα σπλάγχνου γέγονεν ἐξ ἀριστερᾶς χάριν ἐκείνου, τοῦ παρέχειν αὐτὸ λαμπρὸν ἀεὶ καὶ καθαρόν, οἷον κατόπτρῳ παρεσκευασμένον καὶ ἕτοιμον ἀεὶ παρακείμενον ἐκμαγεῖον. διὸ δὴ καὶ ὅταν τινὲς ἀκαθαρσίαι γίγνωνται διὰ νόσους σώματος περὶ τὸ ἧπαρ, πάντα ἡ σπληνὸς καθαίρουσα αὐτὰ δέχεται μανότης, ἅτε κοίλου καὶ ἀναίμου ὑφανθέντος· [72d] ὅθεν πληρούμενος τῶν ἀποκαθαιρομένων μέγας καὶ ὕπουλος αὐξάνεται, καὶ πάλιν, ὅταν καθαρθῇ τὸ σῶμα, ταπεινούμενος εἰς ταὐτὸν συνίζει.

τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ ψυχῆς, ὅσον θνητὸν ἔχει καὶ ὅσον θεῖον, καὶ ὅπῃ καὶ μεθʼ ὧν καὶ διʼ ἃ χωρὶς ᾠκίσθη, τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς ὡς εἴρηται, θεοῦ συμφήσαντος τότʼ ἂν οὕτως μόνως διισχυριζοίμεθα· τό γε μὴν εἰκὸς ἡμῖν εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ νῦν καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἀνασκοποῦσι διακινδυνευτέον τὸ φάναι καὶ πεφάσθω. [72e] τὸ δʼ ἑξῆς δὴ τούτοισιν κατὰ ταὐτὰ μεταδιωκτέον· ἦν δὲ τὸ τοῦ σώματος ἐπίλοιπον ᾗ γέγονεν. ἐκ δὴ λογισμοῦ τοιοῦδε συνίστασθαι μάλιστʼ ἂν αὐτὸ πάντων πρέποι.

ΤΙ. τὴν ἐσομένην ἐν ἡμῖν ποτῶν καὶ ἐδεστῶν ἀκολασίαν ᾔδεσαν οἱ συντιθέντες ἡμῶν τὸ γένος, καὶ ὅτι τοῦ μετρίου καὶ ἀναγκαίου διὰ μαργότητα πολλῷ χρησοίμεθα πλέονι· ἵνʼ οὖν μὴ φθορὰ διὰ νόσους ὀξεῖα γίγνοιτο καὶ ἀτελὲς τὸ γένος εὐθὺς

### Stephanus 73

[73a] τὸ θνητὸν τελευτῷ, ταῦτα προορώμενοι τῇ τοῦ περιγενησομένου πώματος ἐδέσματός τε ἕξει τὴν ὀνομαζομένην κάτω κοιλίαν ὑποδοχὴν ἔθεσαν, εἵλιξάν τε πέριξ τὴν τῶν ἐντέρων γένεσιν, ὅπως μὴ ταχὺ διεκπερῶσα ἡ τροφὴ ταχὺ πάλιν τροφῆς ἑτέρας δεῖσθαι τὸ σῶμα ἀναγκάζοι, καὶ παρέχουσα ἀπληστίαν, διὰ γαστριμαργίαν ἀφιλόσοφον καὶ ἄμουσον πᾶν ἀποτελοῖ τὸ γένος, ἀνυπήκοον τοῦ θειοτάτου τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν. [73b]

τὸ δὲ ὀστῶν καὶ σαρκῶν καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης φύσεως πέρι πάσης ὧδε ἔσχεν. τούτοις σύμπασιν ἀρχὴ μὲν ἡ τοῦ μυελοῦ γένεσις· οἱ γὰρ τοῦ βίου δεσμοί, τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ σώματι συνδουμένης, ἐν τούτῳ διαδούμενοι κατερρίζουν τὸ θνητὸν γένος· αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ μυελὸς γέγονεν ἐξ ἄλλων. τῶν γὰρ τριγώνων ὅσα πρῶτα ἀστραβῆ καὶ λεῖα ὄντα πῦρ τε καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ ἀέρα καὶ γῆν διʼ ἀκριβείας μάλιστα ἦν παρασχεῖν δυνατά, ταῦτα ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστα γενῶν χωρὶς [73c] ἀποκρίνων, μειγνὺς δὲ ἀλλήλοις σύμμετρα, πανσπερμίαν παντὶ θνητῷ γένει μηχανώμενος, τὸν μυελὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπηργάσατο, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα δὴ φυτεύων ἐν αὐτῷ κατέδει τὰ τῶν ψυχῶν γένη, σχημάτων τε ὅσα ἔμελλεν αὖ σχήσειν οἷά τε καθʼ ἕκαστα εἴδη, τὸν μυελὸν αὐτὸν τοσαῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα διῃρεῖτο σχήματα εὐθὺς ἐν τῇ διανομῇ τῇ κατʼ ἀρχάς. καὶ τὴν μὲν τὸ θεῖον σπέρμα οἷον ἄρουραν μέλλουσαν ἕξειν ἐν αὑτῇ περιφερῆ πανταχῇ πλάσας ἐπωνόμασεν τοῦ μυελοῦ [73d] ταύτην τὴν μοῖραν ἐγκέφαλον, ὡς ἀποτελεσθέντος ἑκάστου ζῴου τὸ περὶ τοῦτʼ ἀγγεῖον κεφαλὴν γενησόμενον· ὃ δʼ αὖ τὸ λοιπὸν καὶ θνητὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔμελλε καθέξειν, ἅμα στρογγύλα καὶ προμήκη διῃρεῖτο σχήματα, μυελὸν δὲ πάντα ἐπεφήμισεν, καὶ καθάπερ ἐξ ἀγκυρῶν βαλλόμενος ἐκ τούτων πάσης ψυχῆς δεσμοὺς περὶ τοῦτο σύμπαν ἤδη τὸ σῶμα ἡμῶν ἀπηργάζετο, στέγασμα μὲν αὐτῷ πρῶτον συμπηγνὺς περὶ [73e] ὅλον ὀστέινον. τὸ δὲ ὀστοῦν συνίστησιν ὧδε. γῆν διαττήσας καθαρὰν καὶ λείαν ἐφύρασε καὶ ἔδευσεν μυελῷ, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο εἰς πῦρ αὐτὸ ἐντίθησιν, μετʼ ἐκεῖνο δὲ εἰς ὕδωρ βάπτει, πάλιν δὲ εἰς πῦρ, αὖθίς τε εἰς ὕδωρ· μεταφέρων δʼ οὕτω πολλάκις εἰς ἑκάτερον ὑπʼ ἀμφοῖν ἄτηκτον ἀπηργάσατο.

ΤΙ. καταχρώμενος δὴ τούτῳ περὶ μὲν τὸν ἐγκέφαλον αὐτοῦ σφαῖραν περιετόρνευσεν ὀστεΐνην, ταύτῃ δὲ στενὴν διέξοδον

### Stephanus 74

[74a] κατελείπετο· καὶ περὶ τὸν διαυχένιον ἅμα καὶ νωτιαῖον μυελὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ σφονδύλους πλάσας ὑπέτεινεν οἷον στρόφιγγας, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς, διὰ παντὸς τοῦ κύτους. καὶ τὸ πᾶν δὴ σπέρμα διασῴζων οὕτως λιθοειδεῖ περιβόλῳ συνέφραξεν, ἐμποιῶν ἄρθρα, τῇ θατέρου προσχρώμενος ἐν αὐτοῖς ὡς μέσῃ ἐνισταμένῃ δυνάμει, κινήσεως καὶ κάμψεως ἕνεκα. τὴν δʼ αὖ τῆς ὀστεΐνης φύσεως ἕξιν ἡγησάμενος [74b] τοῦ δέοντος κραυροτέραν εἶναι καὶ ἀκαμπτοτέραν, διάπυρόν τʼ αὖ γιγνομένην καὶ πάλιν ψυχομένην σφακελίσασαν ταχὺ διαφθερεῖν τὸ σπέρμα ἐντὸς αὑτῆς, διὰ ταῦτα οὕτω τὸ τῶν νεύρων καὶ τὸ τῆς σαρκὸς γένος ἐμηχανᾶτο, ἵνα τῷ μὲν πάντα τὰ μέλη συνδήσας ἐπιτεινομένῳ καὶ ἀνιεμένῳ περὶ τοὺς στρόφιγγας καμπτόμενον τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἐκτεινόμενον παρέχοι, τὴν δὲ σάρκα προβολὴν μὲν καυμάτων, πρόβλημα δὲ χειμώνων, ἔτι δὲ πτωμάτων οἷον τὰ πιλητὰ ἔσεσθαι κτήματα, [74c] σώμασιν μαλακῶς καὶ πρᾴως ὑπείκουσαν, θερμὴν δὲ νοτίδα ἐντὸς ἑαυτῆς ἔχουσαν θέρους μὲν ἀνιδίουσαν καὶ νοτιζομένην ἔξωθεν ψῦχος κατὰ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα παρέξειν οἰκεῖον, διὰ χειμῶνος δὲ πάλιν αὖ τούτῳ τῷ πυρὶ τὸν προσφερόμενον ἔξωθεν καὶ περιιστάμενον πάγον ἀμυνεῖσθαι μετρίως. ταῦτα ἡμῶν διανοηθεὶς ὁ κηροπλάστης, ὕδατι μὲν καὶ πυρὶ καὶ γῇ συμμείξας καὶ συναρμόσας, ἐξ ὀξέος καὶ ἁλμυροῦ συνθεὶς [74d] ζύμωμα ὑπομείξας αὐτοῖς, σάρκα ἔγχυμον καὶ μαλακὴν συνέστησεν· τὴν δὲ τῶν νεύρων φύσιν ἐξ ὀστοῦ καὶ σαρκὸς ἀζύμου κράσεως μίαν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν μέσην δυνάμει συνεκεράσατο, ξανθῷ χρώματι προσχρώμενος. ὅθεν συντονωτέραν μὲν καὶ γλισχροτέραν σαρκῶν, μαλακωτέραν δὲ ὀστῶν ὑγροτέραν τε ἐκτήσατο δύναμιν νεῦρα· οἷς συμπεριλαβὼν ὁ θεὸς ὀστᾶ καὶ μυελόν, δήσας πρὸς ἄλληλα νεύροις, μετὰ ταῦτα σαρξὶν [74e] πάντα αὐτὰ κατεσκίασεν ἄνωθεν. ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἐμψυχότατα τῶν ὀστῶν ἦν, ὀλιγίσταις συνέφραττε σαρξίν, ἃ δʼ ἀψυχότατα ἐντός, πλείσταις καὶ πυκνοτάταις, καὶ δὴ κατὰ τὰς συμβολὰς τῶν ὀστῶν, ὅπῃ μήτινα ἀνάγκην ὁ λόγος ἀπέφαινεν δεῖν αὐτὰς εἶναι, βραχεῖαν σάρκα ἔφυσεν, ἵνα μήτε ἐμποδὼν ταῖς καμπαῖσιν οὖσαι δύσφορα τὰ σώματα ἀπεργάζοιντο, ἅτε δυσκίνητα γιγνόμενα, μήτʼ αὖ πολλαὶ καὶ πυκναὶ σφόδρα τε ἐν ἀλλήλαις ἐμπεπιλημέναι, διὰ στερεότητα ἀναισθησίαν ἐμποιοῦσαι, δυσμνημονευτότερα καὶ κωφότερα τὰ περὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ποιοῖεν.

ΤΙ. διὸ δὴ τό τε τῶν μηρῶν καὶ κνημῶν καὶ

### Stephanus 75

[75a] τὸ περὶ τὴν τῶν ἰσχίων φύσιν τά τε περὶ τὰ τῶν βραχιόνων ὀστᾶ καὶ τὰ τῶν πήχεων, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἡμῶν ἄναρθρα, ὅσα τε ἐντὸς ὀστᾶ διʼ ὀλιγότητα ψυχῆς ἐν μυελῷ κενά ἐστιν φρονήσεως, ταῦτα πάντα συμπεπλήρωται σαρξίν· ὅσα δὲ ἔμφρονα, ἧττον—εἰ μή πού τινα αὐτὴν καθʼ αὑτὴν αἰσθήσεων ἕνεκα σάρκα οὕτω συνέστησεν, οἷον τὸ τῆς γλώττης εἶδος— τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα ἐκείνως· ἡ γὰρ ἐξ ἀνάγκης γιγνομένη καὶ [75b] συντρεφομένη φύσις οὐδαμῇ προσδέχεται πυκνὸν ὀστοῦν καὶ σάρκα πολλὴν ἅμα τε αὐτοῖς ὀξυήκοον αἴσθησιν. μάλιστα γὰρ ἂν αὐτὰ πάντων ἔσχεν ἡ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν σύστασις, εἴπερ ἅμα συμπίπτειν ἠθελησάτην, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος σαρκώδη ἔχον ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ καὶ νευρώδη κρατεράν τε κεφαλὴν βίον ἂν διπλοῦν καὶ πολλαπλοῦν καὶ ὑγιεινότερον καὶ ἀλυπότερον τοῦ νῦν κατεκτήσατο. νῦν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν γένεσιν δημιουργοῖς, ἀναλογιζομένοις πότερον πολυχρονιώτερον [75c] χεῖρον ἢ βραχυχρονιώτερον βέλτιον ἀπεργάσαιντο γένος, συνέδοξεν τοῦ πλείονος βίου, φαυλοτέρου δέ, τὸν ἐλάττονα ἀμείνονα ὄντα παντὶ πάντως αἱρετέον· ὅθεν δὴ μανῷ μὲν ὀστῷ, σαρξὶν δὲ καὶ νεύροις κεφαλήν, ἅτε οὐδὲ καμπὰς ἔχουσαν, οὐ συνεστέγασαν. κατὰ πάντα οὖν ταῦτα εὐαισθητοτέρα μὲν καὶ φρονιμωτέρα, πολὺ δὲ ἀσθενεστέρα παντὸς ἀνδρὸς προσετέθη κεφαλὴ σώματι. τὰ δὲ νεῦρα διὰ [75d] ταῦτα καὶ οὕτως ὁ θεὸς ἐπʼ ἐσχάτην τὴν κεφαλὴν περιστήσας κύκλῳ περὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἐκόλλησεν ὁμοιότητι, καὶ τὰς σιαγόνας ἄκρας αὐτοῖς συνέδησεν ὑπὸ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ προσώπου· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα εἰς ἅπαντα τὰ μέλη διέσπειρε, συνάπτων ἄρθρον ἄρθρῳ. τὴν δὲ δὴ τοῦ στόματος ἡμῶν δύναμιν ὀδοῦσιν καὶ γλώττῃ καὶ χείλεσιν ἕνεκα τῶν ἀναγκαίων καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων διεκόσμησαν οἱ διακοσμοῦντες ᾗ νῦν [75e] διατέτακται, τὴν μὲν εἴσοδον τῶν ἀναγκαίων μηχανώμενοι χάριν, τὴν δʼ ἔξοδον τῶν ἀρίστων· ἀναγκαῖον μὲν γὰρ πᾶν ὅσον εἰσέρχεται τροφὴν διδὸν τῷ σώματι, τὸ δὲ λόγων νᾶμα ἔξω ῥέον καὶ ὑπηρετοῦν φρονήσει κάλλιστον καὶ ἄριστον πάντων ναμάτων.

ΤΙ. τὴν δʼ αὖ κεφαλὴν οὔτε μόνον ὀστεΐνην ψιλὴν δυνατὸν ἐᾶν ἦν διὰ τὴν ἐν ταῖς ὥραις ἐφʼ ἑκάτερον ὑπερβολήν, οὔτʼ αὖ συσκιασθεῖσαν κωφὴν καὶ ἀναίσθητον διὰ τὸν τῶν σαρκῶν ὄχλον περιιδεῖν γιγνομένην· τῆς δὴ

### Stephanus 76

[76a] σαρκοειδοῦς φύσεως οὐ καταξηραινομένης λέμμα μεῖζον περιγιγνόμενον ἐχωρίζετο, δέρμα τὸ νῦν λεγόμενον. τοῦτο δὲ διὰ τὴν περὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον νοτίδα συνιὸν αὐτὸ πρὸς αὑτὸ καὶ βλαστάνον κύκλῳ περιημφιέννυεν τὴν κεφαλήν· ἡ δὲ νοτὶς ὑπὸ τὰς ῥαφὰς ἀνιοῦσα ἦρδε καὶ συνέκλεισεν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφήν, οἷον ἅμμα συναγαγοῦσα, τὸ δὲ τῶν ῥαφῶν παντοδαπὸν εἶδος γέγονε διὰ τὴν τῶν περιόδων δύναμιν καὶ τῆς τροφῆς, μᾶλλον μὲν ἀλλήλοις μαχομένων τούτων πλείους, [76b] ἧττον δὲ ἐλάττους. τοῦτο δὴ πᾶν τὸ δέρμα κύκλῳ κατεκέντει πυρὶ τὸ θεῖον, τρηθέντος δὲ καὶ τῆς ἰκμάδος ἔξω διʼ αὐτοῦ φερομένης τὸ μὲν ὑγρὸν καὶ θερμὸν ὅσον εἰλικρινὲς ἀπῄειν, τὸ δὲ μεικτὸν ἐξ ὧν καὶ τὸ δέρμα ἦν, αἰρόμενον μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς φορᾶς ἔξω μακρὸν ἐτείνετο, λεπτότητα ἴσην ἔχον τῷ κατακεντήματι, διὰ δὲ βραδυτῆτα ἀπωθούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ περιεστῶτος ἔξωθεν πνεύματος πάλιν ἐντὸς ὑπὸ τὸ δέρμα [76c] εἱλλόμενον κατερριζοῦτο· καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα δὴ τὰ πάθη τὸ τριχῶν γένος ἐν τῷ δέρματι πέφυκεν, συγγενὲς μὲν ἱμαντῶδες ὂν αὐτοῦ, σκληρότερον δὲ καὶ πυκνότερον τῇ πιλήσει τῆς ψύξεως, ἣν ἀποχωριζομένη δέρματος ἑκάστη θρὶξ ψυχθεῖσα συνεπιλήθη. τούτῳ δὴ λασίαν ἡμῶν ἀπηργάσατο τὴν κεφαλὴν ὁ ποιῶν, χρώμενος μὲν αἰτίοις τοῖς εἰρημένοις, διανοούμενος δὲ ἀντὶ σαρκὸς αὐτὸ δεῖν εἶναι στέγασμα τῆς [76d] περὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἕνεκα ἀσφαλείας κοῦφον καὶ θέρους χειμῶνός τε ἱκανὸν σκιὰν καὶ σκέπην παρέχειν, εὐαισθησίας δὲ οὐδὲν διακώλυμα ἐμποδὼν γενησόμενον. τὸ δʼ ἐν τῇ περὶ τοὺς δακτύλους καταπλοκῇ τοῦ νεύρου καὶ τοῦ δέρματος ὀστοῦ τε, συμμειχθὲν ἐκ τριῶν, ἀποξηρανθὲν ἓν κοινὸν συμπάντων σκληρὸν γέγονεν δέρμα, τοῖς μὲν συναιτίοις τούτοις δημιουργηθέν, τῇ δὲ αἰτιωτάτῃ διανοίᾳ τῶν ἔπειτα ἐσομένων ἕνεκα εἰργασμένον. ὡς γάρ ποτε ἐξ ἀνδρῶν γυναῖκες καὶ τἆλλα [76e] θηρία γενήσοιντο, ἠπίσταντο οἱ συνιστάντες ἡμᾶς, καὶ δὴ καὶ τῆς τῶν ὀνύχων χρείας ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν θρεμμάτων καὶ ἐπὶ πολλὰ δεήσοιτο ᾔδεσαν, ὅθεν ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐθὺς γιγνομένοις ὑπετυπώσαντο τὴν τῶν ὀνύχων γένεσιν. τούτῳ δὴ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ταῖς προφάσεσιν ταύταις δέρμα τρίχας ὄνυχάς τε ἐπʼ ἄκροις τοῖς κώλοις ἔφυσαν.

ΤΙ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάντʼ ἦν τὰ τοῦ θνητοῦ ζῴου συμπεφυκότα

### Stephanus 77

[77a] μέρη καὶ μέλη, τὴν δὲ ζωὴν ἐν πυρὶ καὶ πνεύματι συνέβαινεν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἔχειν αὐτῷ, καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ὑπὸ τούτων τηκόμενον κενούμενόν τʼ ἔφθινεν, βοήθειαν αὐτῷ θεοὶ μηχανῶνται. τῆς γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνης συγγενῆ φύσεως φύσιν ἄλλαις ἰδέαις καὶ αἰσθήσεσιν κεραννύντες, ὥσθʼ ἕτερον ζῷον εἶναι, φυτεύουσιν· ἃ δὴ νῦν ἥμερα δένδρα καὶ φυτὰ καὶ σπέρματα παιδευθέντα ὑπὸ γεωργίας τιθασῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔσχεν, πρὶν δὲ ἦν μόνα τὰ [77b] τῶν ἀγρίων γένη, πρεσβύτερα τῶν ἡμέρων ὄντα. πᾶν γὰρ οὖν ὅτιπερ ἂν μετάσχῃ τοῦ ζῆν, ζῷον μὲν ἂν ἐν δίκῃ λέγοιτο ὀρθότατα· μετέχει γε μὴν τοῦτο ὃ νῦν λέγομεν τοῦ τρίτου ψυχῆς εἴδους, ὃ μεταξὺ φρενῶν ὀμφαλοῦ τε ἱδρῦσθαι λόγος, ᾧ δόξης μὲν λογισμοῦ τε καὶ νοῦ μέτεστιν τὸ μηδέν, αἰσθήσεως δὲ ἡδείας καὶ ἀλγεινῆς μετὰ ἐπιθυμιῶν. πάσχον γὰρ διατελεῖ πάντα, στραφέντι δʼ αὐτῷ ἐν ἑαυτῷ περὶ ἑαυτό, τὴν [77c] μὲν ἔξωθεν ἀπωσαμένῳ κίνησιν, τῇ δʼ οἰκείᾳ χρησαμένῳ, τῶν αὑτοῦ τι λογίσασθαι κατιδόντι φύσει οὐ παραδέδωκεν ἡ γένεσις. διὸ δὴ ζῇ μὲν ἔστιν τε οὐχ ἕτερον ζῴου, μόνιμον δὲ καὶ κατερριζωμένον πέπηγεν διὰ τὸ τῆς ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κινήσεως ἐστερῆσθαι.

ταῦτα δὴ τὰ γένη πάντα φυτεύσαντες οἱ κρείττους τοῖς ἥττοσιν ἡμῖν τροφήν, τὸ σῶμα αὐτὸ ἡμῶν διωχέτευσαν τέμνοντες οἷον ἐν κήποις ὀχετούς, ἵνα ὥσπερ ἐκ νάματος ἐπιόντος ἄρδοιτο. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ὀχετοὺς κρυφαίους ὑπὸ [77d] τὴν σύμφυσιν τοῦ δέρματος καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς δύο φλέβας ἔτεμον νωτιαίας, δίδυμον ὡς τὸ σῶμα ἐτύγχανεν δεξιοῖς τε καὶ ἀριστεροῖς ὄν· ταύτας δὲ καθῆκαν παρὰ τὴν ῥάχιν, καὶ τὸν γόνιμον μεταξὺ λαβόντες μυελόν, ἵνα οὗτός τε ὅτι μάλιστα θάλλοι, καὶ ἐπὶ τἆλλα εὔρους ἐντεῦθεν ἅτε ἐπὶ κάταντες ἡ ἐπίχυσις γιγνομένη παρέχοι τὴν ὑδρείαν ὁμαλήν. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα σχίσαντες περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τὰς φλέβας καὶ διʼ [77e] ἀλλήλων ἐναντίας πλέξαντες διεῖσαν, τὰς μὲν ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν ἐπὶ τἀριστερὰ τοῦ σώματος, τὰς δʼ ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιὰ κλίναντες, ὅπως δεσμὸς ἅμα τῇ κεφαλῇ πρὸς τὸ σῶμα εἴη μετὰ τοῦ δέρματος, ἐπειδὴ νεύροις οὐκ ἦν κύκλῳ κατὰ κορυφὴν περιειλημμένη, καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ τῶν αἰσθήσεων πάθος ἵνʼ ἀφʼ ἑκατέρων τῶν μερῶν εἰς ἅπαν τὸ σῶμα εἴη διάδηλον.

ΤΙ. τὸ δʼ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τὴν ὑδραγωγίαν παρεσκεύασαν τρόπῳ τινὶ

### Stephanus 78

[78a] τοιῷδε, ὃν κατοψόμεθα ῥᾷον προδιομολογησάμενοι τὸ τοιόνδε, ὅτι πάντα ὅσα ἐξ ἐλαττόνων συνίσταται στέγει τὰ μείζω, τὰ δὲ ἐκ μειζόνων τὰ σμικρότερα οὐ δύναται, πῦρ δὲ πάντων γενῶν σμικρομερέστατον, ὅθεν διʼ ὕδατος καὶ γῆς ἀέρος τε καὶ ὅσα ἐκ τούτων συνίσταται διαχωρεῖ καὶ στέγειν οὐδὲν αὐτὸ δύναται. ταὐτὸν δὴ καὶ περὶ τῆς παρʼ ἡμῖν κοιλίας διανοητέον, ὅτι σιτία μὲν καὶ ποτὰ ὅταν εἰς αὐτὴν ἐμπέσῃ, [78b] στέγει, πνεῦμα δὲ καὶ πῦρ σμικρομερέστερα ὄντα τῆς αὑτῆς συστάσεως οὐ δύναται. τούτοις οὖν κατεχρήσατο ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὴν ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας ἐπὶ τὰς φλέβας ὑδρείαν, πλέγμα ἐξ ἀέρος καὶ πυρὸς οἷον οἱ κύρτοι συνυφηνάμενος, διπλᾶ κατὰ τὴν εἴσοδον ἐγκύρτια ἔχον, ὧν θάτερον αὖ πάλιν διέπλεξεν δίκρουν· καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐγκυρτίων δὴ διετείνατο οἷον σχοίνους κύκλῳ διὰ παντὸς πρὸς τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ πλέγματος. τὰ μὲν [78c] οὖν ἔνδον ἐκ πυρὸς συνεστήσατο τοῦ πλοκάνου ἅπαντα, τὰ δʼ ἐγκύρτια καὶ τὸ κύτος ἀεροειδῆ, καὶ λαβὼν αὐτὸ περιέστησεν τῷ πλασθέντι ζῴῳ τρόπον τοιόνδε. τὸ μὲν τῶν ἐγκυρτίων εἰς τὸ στόμα μεθῆκεν· διπλοῦ δὲ ὄντος αὐτοῦ κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἀρτηρίας εἰς τὸν πλεύμονα καθῆκεν θάτερον, τὸ δʼ εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν παρὰ τὰς ἀρτηρίας· τὸ δʼ ἕτερον σχίσας τὸ μέρος ἑκάτερον κατὰ τοὺς ὀχετοὺς τῆς ῥινὸς ἀφῆκεν κοινόν, ὥσθʼ ὅτε μὴ κατὰ στόμα ἴοι θάτερον, ἐκ τούτου πάντα καὶ τὰ [78d] ἐκείνου ῥεύματα ἀναπληροῦσθαι. τὸ δὲ ἄλλο κύτος τοῦ κύρτου περὶ τὸ σῶμα ὅσον κοῖλον ἡμῶν περιέφυσεν, καὶ πᾶν δὴ τοῦτο τοτὲ μὲν εἰς τὰ ἐγκύρτια συρρεῖν μαλακῶς, ἅτε ἀέρα ὄντα, ἐποίησεν, τοτὲ δὲ ἀναρρεῖν μὲν τὰ ἐγκύρτια, τὸ δὲ πλέγμα, ὡς ὄντος τοῦ σώματος μανοῦ, δύεσθαι εἴσω διʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάλιν ἔξω, τὰς δὲ ἐντὸς τοῦ πυρὸς ἀκτῖνας διαδεδεμένας ἀκολουθεῖν ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα ἰόντος τοῦ ἀέρος, καὶ τοῦτο, [78e] ἕωσπερ ἂν τὸ θνητὸν συνεστήκῃ ζῷον, μὴ διαπαύεσθαι γιγνόμενον· τούτῳ δὲ δὴ τῷ γένει τὸν τὰς ἐπωνυμίας θέμενον ἀναπνοὴν καὶ ἐκπνοὴν λέγομεν θέσθαι τοὔνομα. πᾶν δὲ δὴ τό τʼ ἔργον καὶ τὸ πάθος τοῦθʼ ἡμῶν τῷ σώματι γέγονεν ἀρδομένῳ καὶ ἀναψυχομένῳ τρέφεσθαι καὶ ζῆν·

ΤΙ. ὁπόταν γὰρ εἴσω καὶ ἔξω τῆς ἀναπνοῆς ἰούσης τὸ πῦρ ἐντὸς συνημμένον ἕπηται, διαιωρούμενον δὲ ἀεὶ διὰ τῆς κοιλίας εἰσελθὸν τὰ

### Stephanus 79

[79a] σιτία καὶ ποτὰ λάβῃ, τήκει δή, καὶ κατὰ σμικρὰ διαιροῦν, διὰ τῶν ἐξόδων ᾗπερ πορεύεται διάγον, οἷον ἐκ κρήνης ἐπʼ ὀχετοὺς ἐπὶ τὰς φλέβας ἀντλοῦν αὐτά, ῥεῖν ὥσπερ αὐλῶνος διὰ τοῦ σώματος τὰ τῶν φλεβῶν ποιεῖ ῥεύματα.

πάλιν δὲ τὸ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς ἴδωμεν πάθος, αἷς χρώμενον αἰτίαις τοιοῦτον γέγονεν οἷόνπερ τὰ νῦν ἐστιν. ὧδʼ οὖν. [79b] ἐπειδὴ κενὸν οὐδέν ἐστιν εἰς ὃ τῶν φερομένων δύναιτʼ ἂν εἰσελθεῖν τι, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα φέρεται παρʼ ἡμῶν ἔξω, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἤδη παντὶ δῆλον ὡς οὐκ εἰς κενόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πλησίον ἐκ τῆς ἕδρας ὠθεῖ· τὸ δʼ ὠθούμενον ἐξελαύνει τὸ πλησίον ἀεί, καὶ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀνάγκην πᾶν περιελαυνόμενον εἰς τὴν ἕδραν ὅθεν ἐξῆλθεν τὸ πνεῦμα, εἰσιὸν ἐκεῖσε καὶ ἀναπληροῦν αὐτὴν συνέπεται τῷ πνεύματι, καὶ τοῦτο ἅμα πᾶν [79c] οἷον τροχοῦ περιαγομένου γίγνεται διὰ τὸ κενὸν μηδὲν εἶναι. διὸ δὴ τὸ τῶν στηθῶν καὶ τὸ τοῦ πλεύμονος ἔξω μεθιὲν τὸ πνεῦμα πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀέρος, εἴσω διὰ μανῶν τῶν σαρκῶν δυομένου καὶ περιελαυνομένου, γίγνεται πλῆρες· αὖθις δὲ ἀποτρεπόμενος ὁ ἀὴρ καὶ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔξω ἰὼν εἴσω τὴν ἀναπνοὴν περιωθεῖ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ στόματος καὶ τὴν τῶν μυκτήρων δίοδον. τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτῶν θετέον [79d] τήνδε. πᾶν ζῷον αὑτοῦ τἀντὸς περὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ τὰς φλέβας θερμότατα ἔχει, οἷον ἐν ἑαυτῷ πηγήν τινα ἐνοῦσαν πυρός· ὃ δὴ καὶ προσῃκάζομεν τῷ τοῦ κύρτου πλέγματι, κατὰ μέσον διατεταμένον ἐκ πυρὸς πεπλέχθαι πᾶν, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ὅσα ἔξωθεν, ἀέρος. τὸ θερμὸν δὴ κατὰ φύσιν εἰς τὴν αὑτοῦ χώραν ἔξω πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς ὁμολογητέον ἰέναι· δυοῖν δὲ τοῖν διεξόδοιν οὔσαιν, τῆς μὲν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἔξω, τῆς δὲ αὖ [79e] κατὰ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὰς ῥῖνας, ὅταν μὲν ἐπὶ θάτερα ὁρμήσῃ, θάτερα περιωθεῖ, τὸ δὲ περιωσθὲν εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἐμπῖπτον θερμαίνεται, τὸ δʼ ἐξιὸν ψύχεται. μεταβαλλούσης δὲ τῆς θερμότητος καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν ἔξοδον θερμοτέρων γιγνομένων πάλιν ἐκείνῃ ῥέπον αὖ τὸ θερμότερον μᾶλλον, πρὸς τὴν αὑτοῦ φύσιν φερόμενον, περιωθεῖ τὸ κατὰ θάτερα· τὸ δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ πάσχον καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀνταποδιδὸν ἀεί, κύκλον οὕτω σαλευόμενον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα ἀπειργασμένον ὑπʼ ἀμφοτέρων τὴν ἀναπνοὴν καὶ ἐκπνοὴν γίγνεσθαι παρέχεται.

ΤΙ. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ τῶν περὶ τὰς ἰατρικὰς σικύας παθημάτων

### Stephanus 80

[80a] αἴτια καὶ τὰ τῆς καταπόσεως τά τε τῶν ῥιπτουμένων, ὅσα ἀφεθέντα μετέωρα καὶ ὅσα ἐπὶ γῆς φέρεται, ταύτῃ διωκτέον, καὶ ὅσοι φθόγγοι ταχεῖς τε καὶ βραδεῖς ὀξεῖς τε καὶ βαρεῖς φαίνονται, τοτὲ μὲν ἀνάρμοστοι φερόμενοι διʼ ἀνομοιότητα τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν κινήσεως, τοτὲ δὲ σύμφωνοι διʼ ὁμοιότητα. τὰς γὰρ τῶν προτέρων καὶ θαττόνων οἱ βραδύτεροι κινήσεις ἀποπαυομένας ἤδη τε εἰς ὅμοιον ἐληλυθυίας, [80b] αἷς ὕστερον αὐτοὶ προσφερόμενοι κινοῦσιν ἐκείνας, καταλαμβάνουσιν, καταλαμβάνοντες δὲ οὐκ ἄλλην ἐπεμβάλλοντες ἀνετάραξαν κίνησιν, ἀλλʼ ἀρχὴν βραδυτέρας φορᾶς κατὰ τὴν τῆς θάττονος, ἀποληγούσης δέ, ὁμοιότητα προσάψαντες, μίαν ἐξ ὀξείας καὶ βαρείας συνεκεράσαντο πάθην· ὅθεν ἡδονὴν μὲν τοῖς ἄφροσιν, εὐφροσύνην δὲ τοῖς ἔμφροσιν διὰ τὴν τῆς θείας ἁρμονίας μίμησιν ἐν θνηταῖς γενομένην φοραῖς παρέσχον. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ τῶν ὑδάτων πάντα ῥεύματα, ἔτι δὲ [80c] τὰ τῶν κεραυνῶν πτώματα καὶ τὰ θαυμαζόμενα ἠλέκτρων περὶ τῆς ἕλξεως καὶ τῶν Ἡρακλείων λίθων, πάντων τούτων ὁλκὴ μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδενί ποτε, τὸ δὲ κενὸν εἶναι μηδὲν περιωθεῖν τε αὑτὰ ταῦτα εἰς ἄλληλα, τό τε διακρινόμενα καὶ συγκρινόμενα πρὸς τὴν αὑτῶν διαμειβόμενα ἕδραν ἕκαστα ἰέναι πάντα, τούτοις τοῖς παθήμασιν πρὸς ἄλληλα συμπλεχθεῖσιν τεθαυματουργημένα τῷ κατὰ τρόπον ζητοῦντι φανήσεται. [80d]

καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς, ὅθεν ὁ λόγος ὥρμησεν, κατὰ ταῦτα καὶ διὰ τούτων γέγονεν, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν εἴρηται, τέμνοντος μὲν τὰ σιτία τοῦ πυρός, αἰωρουμένου δὲ ἐντὸς τῷ πνεύματι συνεπομένου, τὰς φλέβας τε ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας τῇ συναιωρήσει πληροῦντος τῷ τὰ τετμημένα αὐτόθεν ἐπαντλεῖν· καὶ διὰ ταῦτα δὴ καθʼ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα πᾶσιν τοῖς ζῴοις τὰ τῆς τροφῆς νάματα οὕτως ἐπίρρυτα γέγονεν. νεότμητα δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ συγγενῶν ὄντα, τὰ μὲν καρπῶν, τὰ δὲ χλόης, [80e] ἃ θεὸς ἐπʼ αὐτὸ τοῦθʼ ἡμῖν ἐφύτευσεν, εἶναι τροφήν, παντοδαπὰ μὲν χρώματα ἴσχει διὰ τὴν σύμμειξιν, ἡ δʼ ἐρυθρὰ πλείστη περὶ αὐτὰ χρόα διαθεῖ, τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς τομῆς τε καὶ ἐξομόρξεως ἐν ὑγρῷ δεδημιουργημένη φύσις.

ΤΙ. ὅθεν τοῦ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ῥέοντος τὸ χρῶμα ἔσχεν οἵαν ὄψιν διεληλύθαμεν ὃ καλοῦμεν αἷμα, νομὴν σαρκῶν καὶ σύμπαντος τοῦ σώματος,

### Stephanus 81

[81a] ὅθεν ὑδρευόμενα ἕκαστα πληροῖ τὴν τοῦ κενουμένου βάσιν· ὁ δὲ τρόπος τῆς πληρώσεως ἀποχωρήσεώς τε γίγνεται καθάπερ ἐν τῷ παντὶ παντὸς ἡ φορὰ γέγονεν, ἣν τὸ συγγενὲς πᾶν φέρεται πρὸς ἑαυτό. τὰ μὲν γὰρ δὴ περιεστῶτα ἐκτὸς ἡμᾶς τήκει τε ἀεὶ καὶ διανέμει πρὸς ἕκαστον εἶδος τὸ ὁμόφυλον ἀποπέμποντα, τὰ δὲ ἔναιμα αὖ, κερματισθέντα ἐντὸς παρʼ ἡμῖν καὶ περιειλημμένα ὥσπερ ὑπʼ [81b] οὐρανοῦ συνεστῶτος ἑκάστου τοῦ ζῴου, τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἀναγκάζεται μιμεῖσθαι φοράν· πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς οὖν φερόμενον ἕκαστον τῶν ἐντὸς μερισθέντων τὸ κενωθὲν τότε πάλιν ἀνεπλήρωσεν. ὅταν μὲν δὴ πλέον τοῦ ἐπιρρέοντος ἀπίῃ, φθίνει πᾶν, ὅταν δὲ ἔλαττον, αὐξάνεται. νέα μὲν οὖν σύστασις τοῦ παντὸς ζῴου, καινὰ τὰ τρίγωνα οἷον ἐκ δρυόχων ἔτι ἔχουσα τῶν γενῶν, ἰσχυρὰν μὲν τὴν σύγκλεισιν αὐτῶν πρὸς ἄλληλα κέκτηται, συμπέπηγεν δὲ ὁ πᾶς ὄγκος αὐτῆς [81c] ἁπαλός, ἅτʼ ἐκ μυελοῦ μὲν νεωστὶ γεγονυίας, τεθραμμένης δὲ ἐν γάλακτι· τὰ δὴ περιλαμβανόμενα ἐν αὐτῇ τρίγωνα ἔξωθεν ἐπεισελθόντα, ἐξ ὧν ἂν ᾖ τά τε σιτία καὶ ποτά, τῶν ἑαυτῆς τριγώνων παλαιότερα ὄντα καὶ ἀσθενέστερα καινοῖς ἐπικρατεῖ τέμνουσα, καὶ μέγα ἀπεργάζεται τὸ ζῷον τρέφουσα ἐκ πολλῶν ὁμοίων. ὅταν δʼ ἡ ῥίζα τῶν τριγώνων χαλᾷ διὰ τὸ πολλοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ πρὸς πολλὰ [81d] ἠγωνίσθαι, τὰ μὲν τῆς τροφῆς εἰσιόντα οὐκέτι δύναται τέμνειν εἰς ὁμοιότητα ἑαυτοῖς, αὐτὰ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπεισιόντων εὐπετῶς διαιρεῖται· φθίνει δὴ πᾶν ζῷον ἐν τούτῳ κρατούμενον, γῆράς τε ὀνομάζεται τὸ πάθος. τέλος δέ, ἐπειδὰν τῶν περὶ τὸν μυελὸν τριγώνων οἱ συναρμοσθέντες μηκέτι ἀντέχωσιν δεσμοὶ τῷ πόνῳ διιστάμενοι, μεθιᾶσιν τοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς αὖ δεσμούς, ἡ δὲ λυθεῖσα κατὰ φύσιν μεθʼ ἡδονῆς [81e] ἐξέπτατο· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ μὲν παρὰ φύσιν ἀλγεινόν, τὸ δʼ ᾗ πέφυκεν γιγνόμενον ἡδύ. καὶ θάνατος δὴ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὁ μὲν κατὰ νόσους καὶ ὑπὸ τραυμάτων γιγνόμενος ἀλγεινὸς καὶ βίαιος, ὁ δὲ μετὰ γήρως ἰὼν ἐπὶ τέλος κατὰ φύσιν ἀπονώτατος τῶν θανάτων καὶ μᾶλλον μεθʼ ἡδονῆς γιγνόμενος ἢ λύπης.

ΤΙ. τὸ δὲ τῶν νόσων ὅθεν συνίσταται, δῆλόν που καὶ παντί.

### Stephanus 82

[82a] τεττάρων γὰρ ὄντων γενῶν ἐξ ὧν συμπέπηγεν τὸ σῶμα, γῆς πυρὸς ὕδατός τε καὶ ἀέρος, τούτων ἡ παρὰ φύσιν πλεονεξία καὶ ἔνδεια καὶ τῆς χώρας μετάστασις ἐξ οἰκείας ἐπʼ ἀλλοτρίαν γιγνομένη, πυρός τε αὖ καὶ τῶν ἑτέρων ἐπειδὴ γένη πλείονα ἑνὸς ὄντα τυγχάνει, τὸ μὴ προσῆκον ἕκαστον ἑαυτῷ προσλαμβάνειν, καὶ πάνθʼ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, στάσεις καὶ νόσους παρέχει· παρὰ φύσιν γὰρ ἑκάστου γιγνομένου καὶ μεθισταμένου θερμαίνεται μὲν ὅσα ἂν πρότερον ψύχηται, [82b] ξηρὰ δὲ ὄντα εἰς ὕστερον γίγνεται νοτερά, καὶ κοῦφα δὴ καὶ βαρέα, καὶ πάσας πάντῃ μεταβολὰς δέχεται. μόνως γὰρ δή, φαμέν, ταὐτὸν ταὐτῷ κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ ἀνὰ λόγον προσγιγνόμενον καὶ ἀπογιγνόμενον ἐάσει ταὐτὸν ὂν αὑτῷ σῶν καὶ ὑγιὲς μένειν· ὃ δʼ ἂν πλημμελήσῃ τι τούτων ἐκτὸς ἀπιὸν ἢ προσιόν, ἀλλοιότητας παμποικίλας καὶ νόσους φθοράς τε ἀπείρους παρέξεται.

δευτέρων δὴ συστάσεων αὖ κατὰ φύσιν συνεστηκυιῶν, [82c] δευτέρα κατανόησις νοσημάτων τῷ βουλομένῳ γίγνεται συννοῆσαι. μυελοῦ γὰρ ἐξ ἐκείνων ὀστοῦ τε καὶ σαρκὸς καὶ νεύρου συμπαγέντος, ἔτι τε αἵματος ἄλλον μὲν τρόπον, ἐκ δὲ τῶν αὐτῶν γεγονότος, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων τὰ πλεῖστα ᾗπερ τὰ πρόσθεν, τὰ δὲ μέγιστα τῶν νοσημάτων τῇδε χαλεπὰ συμπέπτωκεν· ὅταν ἀνάπαλιν ἡ γένεσις τούτων πορεύηται, τότε ταῦτα διαφθείρεται. κατὰ φύσιν γὰρ σάρκες μὲν καὶ νεῦρα ἐξ αἵματος γίγνεται, νεῦρον μὲν ἐξ ἰνῶν διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν, [82d] σάρκες δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ παγέντος ὃ πήγνυται χωριζόμενον ἰνῶν· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν νεύρων καὶ σαρκῶν ἀπιὸν αὖ γλίσχρον καὶ λιπαρὸν ἅμα μὲν τὴν σάρκα κολλᾷ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὀστῶν φύσιν αὐτό τε τὸ περὶ τὸν μυελὸν ὀστοῦν τρέφον αὔξει, τὸ δʼ αὖ διὰ τὴν πυκνότητα τῶν ὀστῶν διηθούμενον καθαρώτατον γένος τῶν τριγώνων λειότατόν τε καὶ λιπαρώτατον, λειβόμενον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀστῶν καὶ στάζον, ἄρδει τὸν [82e] μυελόν. καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα μὲν γιγνομένων ἑκάστων ὑγίεια συμβαίνει τὰ πολλά· νόσοι δέ, ὅταν ἐναντίως. ὅταν γὰρ τηκομένη σὰρξ ἀνάπαλιν εἰς τὰς φλέβας τὴν τηκεδόνα ἐξιῇ, τότε μετὰ πνεύματος αἷμα πολύ τε καὶ παντοδαπὸν ἐν ταῖς φλεψὶ χρώμασι καὶ πικρότησι ποικιλλόμενον, ἔτι δὲ ὀξείαις καὶ ἁλμυραῖς δυνάμεσι, χολὰς καὶ ἰχῶρας καὶ φλέγματα παντοῖα ἴσχει·

ΤΙ. παλιναίρετα γὰρ πάντα γεγονότα καὶ διεφθαρμένα τό τε αἷμα αὐτὸ πρῶτον διόλλυσι, καὶ αὐτὰ οὐδεμίαν

### Stephanus 83

[83a] τροφὴν ἔτι τῷ σώματι παρέχοντα φέρεται πάντῃ διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν, τάξιν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν οὐκέτʼ ἴσχοντα περιόδων, ἐχθρὰ μὲν αὐτὰ αὑτοῖς διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν ἀπόλαυσιν ἑαυτῶν ἔχειν, τῷ συνεστῶτι δὲ τοῦ σώματος καὶ μένοντι κατὰ χώραν πολέμια, διολλύντα καὶ τήκοντα. ὅσον μὲν οὖν ἂν παλαιότατον ὂν τῆς σαρκὸς τακῇ, δύσπεπτον γιγνόμενον μελαίνει μὲν ὑπὸ παλαιᾶς συγκαύσεως, διὰ δὲ τὸ πάντῃ διαβεβρῶσθαι [83b] πικρὸν ὂν παντὶ χαλεπὸν προσπίπτει τοῦ σώματος ὅσον ἂν μήπω διεφθαρμένον ᾖ, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν ἀντὶ τῆς πικρότητος ὀξύτητα ἔσχεν τὸ μέλαν χρῶμα, ἀπολεπτυνθέντος μᾶλλον τοῦ πικροῦ, τοτὲ δὲ ἡ πικρότης αὖ βαφεῖσα αἵματι χρῶμα ἔσχεν ἐρυθρώτερον, τοῦ δὲ μέλανος τούτῳ συγκεραννυμένου χλοῶδες· ἔτι δὲ συμμείγνυται ξανθὸν χρῶμα μετὰ τῆς πικρότητος, ὅταν νέα συντακῇ σὰρξ ὑπὸ τοῦ περὶ τὴν φλόγα πυρός. καὶ τὸ μὲν κοινὸν ὄνομα πᾶσιν τούτοις ἤ τινες [83c] ἰατρῶν που χολὴν ἐπωνόμασαν, ἢ καί τις ὢν δυνατὸς εἰς πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἀνόμοια βλέπειν, ὁρᾶν δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἓν γένος ἐνὸν ἄξιον ἐπωνυμίας πᾶσιν· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ὅσα χολῆς εἴδη λέγεται, κατὰ τὴν χρόαν ἔσχεν λόγον αὐτῶν ἕκαστον ἴδιον. ἰχὼρ δέ, ὁ μὲν αἵματος ὀρὸς πρᾷος, ὁ δὲ μελαίνης χολῆς ὀξείας τε ἄγριος, ὅταν συμμειγνύηται διὰ θερμότητα ἁλμυρᾷ δυνάμει· καλεῖται δὲ ὀξὺ φλέγμα τὸ τοιοῦτον. τὸ δʼ αὖ μετʼ ἀέρος τηκόμενον ἐκ νέας καὶ ἁπαλῆς σαρκός, τούτου δὲ [83d] ἀνεμωθέντος καὶ συμπεριληφθέντος ὑπὸ ὑγρότητος, καὶ πομφολύγων συστασῶν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους τούτου καθʼ ἑκάστην μὲν ἀοράτων διὰ σμικρότητα, συναπασῶν δὲ τὸν ὄγκον παρεχομένων ὁρατόν, χρῶμα ἐχουσῶν διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀφροῦ γένεσιν ἰδεῖν λευκόν, ταύτην πᾶσαν τηκεδόνα ἁπαλῆς σαρκὸς μετὰ πνεύματος συμπλακεῖσαν λευκὸν εἶναι φλέγμα φαμέν. φλέγματος δὲ αὖ νέου συνισταμένου ὀρὸς ἱδρὼς καὶ δάκρυον, [83e] ὅσα τε ἄλλα τοιαῦτα σώματα τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν χεῖται καθαιρόμενα· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ πάντα νόσων ὄργανα γέγονεν, ὅταν αἷμα μὴ ἐκ τῶν σιτίων καὶ ποτῶν πληθύσῃ κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἐναντίων τὸν ὄγκον παρὰ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως λαμβάνῃ νόμους.

ΤΙ. διακρινομένης μὲν οὖν ὑπὸ νόσων τῆς σαρκὸς ἑκάστης, μενόντων δὲ τῶν πυθμένων αὐταῖς ἡμίσεια τῆς συμφορᾶς ἡ δύναμις—ἀνάληψιν γὰρ ἔτι μετʼ εὐπετείας ἴσχει—

### Stephanus 84

[84a] τὸ δὲ δὴ σάρκας ὀστοῖς συνδοῦν ὁπότʼ ἂν νοσήσῃ, καὶ μηκέτι αὐτὸ ἐξ ἰνῶν αἷμα καὶ νεύρων ἀποχωριζόμενον ὀστῷ μὲν τροφή, σαρκὶ δὲ πρὸς ὀστοῦν γίγνηται δεσμός, ἀλλʼ ἐκ λιπαροῦ καὶ λείου καὶ γλίσχρου τραχὺ καὶ ἁλμυρὸν αὐχμῆσαν ὑπὸ κακῆς διαίτης γένηται, τότε ταῦτα πάσχον πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον καταψήχεται μὲν αὐτὸ πάλιν ὑπὸ τὰς σάρκας καὶ τὰ νεῦρα, ἀφιστάμενον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀστῶν, αἱ δʼ ἐκ τῶν [84b] ῥιζῶν συνεκπίπτουσαι τά τε νεῦρα γυμνὰ καταλείπουσι καὶ μεστὰ ἅλμης· αὐταὶ δὲ πάλιν εἰς τὴν αἵματος φορὰν ἐμπεσοῦσαι τὰ πρόσθεν ῥηθέντα νοσήματα πλείω ποιοῦσιν. χαλεπῶν δὲ τούτων περὶ τὰ σώματα παθημάτων γιγνομένων μείζω ἔτι γίγνεται τὰ πρὸ τούτων, ὅταν ὀστοῦν διὰ πυκνότητα σαρκὸς ἀναπνοὴν μὴ λαμβάνον ἱκανήν, ὑπʼ εὐρῶτος θερμαινόμενον, σφακελίσαν μήτε τὴν τροφὴν καταδέχηται [84c] πάλιν τε αὐτὸ εἰς ἐκείνην ἐναντίως ἴῃ ψηχόμενον, ἡ δʼ εἰς σάρκας, σὰρξ δὲ εἰς αἷμα ἐμπίπτουσα τραχύτερα πάντα τῶν πρόσθεν τὰ νοσήματα ἀπεργάζηται· τὸ δʼ ἔσχατον πάντων, ὅταν ἡ τοῦ μυελοῦ φύσις ἀπʼ ἐνδείας ἤ τινος ὑπερβολῆς νοσήσῃ, τὰ μέγιστα καὶ κυριώτατα πρὸς θάνατον τῶν νοσημάτων ἀποτελεῖ, πάσης ἀνάπαλιν τῆς τοῦ σώματος φύσεως ἐξ ἀνάγκης ῥυείσης.

τρίτον δʼ αὖ νοσημάτων εἶδος τριχῇ δεῖ διανοεῖσθαι [84d] γιγνόμενον, τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ φλέγματος, τὸ δὲ χολῆς. ὅταν μὲν γὰρ ὁ τῶν πνευμάτων τῷ σώματι ταμίας πλεύμων μὴ καθαρὰς παρέχῃ τὰς διεξόδους ὑπὸ ῥευμάτων φραχθείς, ἔνθα μὲν οὐκ ἰόν, ἔνθα δὲ πλεῖον ἢ τὸ προσῆκον πνεῦμα εἰσιὸν τὰ μὲν οὐ τυγχάνοντα ἀναψυχῆς σήπει, τὰ δὲ τῶν φλεβῶν διαβιαζόμενον καὶ συνεπιστρέφον αὐτὰ τῆκόν τε τὸ σῶμα εἰς τὸ μέσον αὐτοῦ διάφραγμά τʼ ἴσχον [84e] ἐναπολαμβάνεται, καὶ μυρία δὴ νοσήματα ἐκ τούτων ἀλγεινὰ μετὰ πλήθους ἱδρῶτος πολλάκις ἀπείργασται. πολλάκις δʼ ἐν τῷ σώματι διακριθείσης σαρκὸς πνεῦμα ἐγγενόμενον καὶ ἀδυνατοῦν ἔξω πορευθῆναι τὰς αὐτὰς τοῖς ἐπεισεληλυθόσιν ὠδῖνας παρέσχεν, μεγίστας δέ, ὅταν περὶ τὰ νεῦρα καὶ τὰ ταύτῃ φλέβια περιστὰν καὶ ἀνοιδῆσαν τούς τε ἐπιτόνους καὶ τὰ συνεχῆ νεῦρα οὕτως εἰς τὸ ἐξόπισθεν κατατείνῃ τούτοις· ἃ δὴ καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τῆς συντονίας τοῦ παθήματος τὰ νοσήματα τέτανοί τε καὶ ὀπισθότονοι προσερρήθησαν.

ΤΙ. ὧν καὶ τὸ φάρμακον χαλεπόν· πυρετοὶ γὰρ οὖν δὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπιγιγνόμενοι

### Stephanus 85

[85a] μάλιστα λύουσιν. τὸ δὲ λευκὸν φλέγμα διὰ τὸ τῶν πομφολύγων πνεῦμα χαλεπὸν ἀποληφθέν, ἔξω δὲ τοῦ σώματος ἀναπνοὰς ἴσχον ἠπιώτερον μέν, καταποικίλλει δὲ τὸ σῶμα λεύκας ἀλφούς τε καὶ τὰ τούτων συγγενῆ νοσήματα ἀποτίκτον. μετὰ χολῆς δὲ μελαίνης κερασθὲν ἐπὶ τὰς περιόδους τε τὰς ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ θειοτάτας οὔσας ἐπισκεδαννύμενον καὶ συνταράττον αὐτάς, καθʼ ὕπνον μὲν ἰὸν πρᾳΰτερον, [85b] ἐγρηγορόσιν δὲ ἐπιτιθέμενον δυσαπαλλακτότερον· νόσημα δὲ ἱερᾶς ὂν φύσεως ἐνδικώτατα ἱερὸν λέγεται. φλέγμα δʼ ὀξὺ καὶ ἁλμυρὸν πηγὴ πάντων νοσημάτων ὅσα γίγνεται καταρροϊκά· διὰ δὲ τοὺς τόπους εἰς οὓς ῥεῖ παντοδαποὺς ὄντας παντοῖα ὀνόματα εἴληφεν. ὅσα δὲ φλεγμαίνειν λέγεται τοῦ σώματος, ἀπὸ τοῦ κάεσθαί τε καὶ φλέγεσθαι, διὰ χολὴν γέγονε πάντα. λαμβάνουσα μὲν οὖν ἀναπνοὴν ἔξω παντοῖα [85c] ἀναπέμπει φύματα ζέουσα, καθειργνυμένη δʼ ἐντὸς πυρίκαυτα νοσήματα πολλὰ ἐμποιεῖ, μέγιστον δέ, ὅταν αἵματι καθαρῷ συγκερασθεῖσα τὸ τῶν ἰνῶν γένος ἐκ τῆς ἑαυτῶν διαφορῇ τάξεως, αἳ διεσπάρησαν μὲν εἰς αἷμα, ἵνα συμμέτρως λεπτότητος ἴσχοι καὶ πάχους καὶ μήτε διὰ θερμότητα ὡς ὑγρὸν ἐκ μανοῦ τοῦ σώματος ἐκρέοι, μήτʼ αὖ πυκνότερον δυσκίνητον [85d] ὂν μόλις ἀναστρέφοιτο ἐν ταῖς φλεψίν. καιρὸν δὴ τούτων ἶνες τῇ τῆς φύσεως γενέσει φυλάττουσιν· ἃς ὅταν τις καὶ τεθνεῶτος αἵματος ἐν ψύξει τε ὄντος πρὸς ἀλλήλας συναγάγῃ, διαχεῖται πᾶν τὸ λοιπὸν αἷμα, ἐαθεῖσαι δὲ ταχὺ μετὰ τοῦ περιεστῶτος αὐτὸ ψύχους συμπηγνύασιν. ταύτην δὴ τὴν δύναμιν ἐχουσῶν ἰνῶν ἐν αἵματι χολὴ φύσει παλαιὸν αἷμα γεγονυῖα καὶ πάλιν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν εἰς τοῦτο τετηκυῖα, θερμὴ καὶ ὑγρὰ κατʼ ὀλίγον τὸ πρῶτον ἐμπίπτουσα πήγνυται [85e] διὰ τὴν τῶν ἰνῶν δύναμιν, πηγνυμένη δὲ καὶ βίᾳ κατασβεννυμένη χειμῶνα καὶ τρόμον ἐντὸς παρέχει.

ΤΙ. πλείων δʼ ἐπιρρέουσα, τῇ παρʼ αὐτῆς θερμότητι κρατήσασα τὰς ἶνας εἰς ἀταξίαν ζέσασα διέσεισεν· καὶ ἐὰν μὲν ἱκανὴ διὰ τέλους κρατῆσαι γένηται, πρὸς τὸ τοῦ μυελοῦ διαπεράσασα γένος κάουσα ἔλυσεν τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτόθεν οἷον νεὼς πείσματα μεθῆκέν τε ἐλευθέραν, ὅταν δʼ ἐλάττων ᾖ τό τε σῶμα ἀντίσχῃ τηκόμενον, αὐτὴ κρατηθεῖσα ἢ κατὰ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα ἐξέπεσεν, ἢ διὰ τῶν φλεβῶν εἰς τὴν κάτω συνωσθεῖσα ἢ τὴν ἄνω κοιλίαν, οἷον φυγὰς ἐκ πόλεως στασιασάσης ἐκ

### Stephanus 86

[86a] τοῦ σώματος ἐκπίπτουσα, διαρροίας καὶ δυσεντερίας καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα νοσήματα πάντα παρέσχετο. τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐκ πυρὸς ὑπερβολῆς μάλιστα νοσῆσαν σῶμα συνεχῆ καύματα καὶ πυρετοὺς ἀπεργάζεται, τὸ δʼ ἐξ ἀέρος ἀμφημερινούς, τριταίους δʼ ὕδατος διὰ τὸ νωθέστερον ἀέρος καὶ πυρὸς αὐτὸ εἶναι· τὸ δὲ γῆς, τετάρτως ὂν νωθέστατον τούτων, ἐν τετραπλασίαις περιόδοις χρόνου καθαιρόμενον, τεταρταίους πυρετοὺς ποιῆσαν ἀπαλλάττεται μόλις. [86b]

καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τὸ σῶμα νοσήματα ταύτῃ συμβαίνει γιγνόμενα, τὰ δὲ περὶ ψυχὴν διὰ σώματος ἕξιν τῇδε. νόσον μὲν δὴ ψυχῆς ἄνοιαν συγχωρητέον, δύο δʼ ἀνοίας γένη, τὸ μὲν μανίαν, τὸ δὲ ἀμαθίαν. πᾶν οὖν ὅτι πάσχων τις πάθος ὁπότερον αὐτῶν ἴσχει, νόσον προσρητέον, ἡδονὰς δὲ καὶ λύπας ὑπερβαλλούσας τῶν νόσων μεγίστας θετέον τῇ ψυχῇ· περιχαρὴς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ἢ καὶ τἀναντία ὑπὸ [86c] λύπης πάσχων, σπεύδων τὸ μὲν ἑλεῖν ἀκαίρως, τὸ δὲ φυγεῖν, οὔθʼ ὁρᾶν οὔτε ἀκούειν ὀρθὸν οὐδὲν δύναται, λυττᾷ δὲ καὶ λογισμοῦ μετασχεῖν ἥκιστα τότε δὴ δυνατός. τὸ δὲ σπέρμα ὅτῳ πολὺ καὶ ῥυῶδες περὶ τὸν μυελὸν γίγνεται καὶ καθαπερεὶ δένδρον πολυκαρπότερον τοῦ συμμέτρου πεφυκὸς ᾖ, πολλὰς μὲν καθʼ ἕκαστον ὠδῖνας, πολλὰς δʼ ἡδονὰς κτώμενος ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα τόκοις, ἐμμανὴς τὸ πλεῖστον γιγνόμενος τοῦ βίου διὰ τὰς μεγίστας ἡδονὰς [86d] καὶ λύπας, νοσοῦσαν καὶ ἄφρονα ἴσχων ὑπὸ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχήν, οὐχ ὡς νοσῶν ἀλλʼ ὡς ἑκὼν κακὸς δοξάζεται· τὸ δὲ ἀληθὲς ἡ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἀκολασία κατὰ τὸ πολὺ μέρος διὰ τὴν ἑνὸς γένους ἕξιν ὑπὸ μανότητος ὀστῶν ἐν σώματι ῥυώδη καὶ ὑγραίνουσαν νόσος ψυχῆς γέγονεν. καὶ σχεδὸν δὴ πάντα ὁπόσα ἡδονῶν ἀκράτεια καὶ ὄνειδος ὡς ἑκόντων λέγεται τῶν κακῶν, οὐκ ὀρθῶς ὀνειδίζεται· κακὸς [86e] μὲν γὰρ ἑκὼν οὐδείς, διὰ δὲ πονηρὰν ἕξιν τινὰ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἀπαίδευτον τροφὴν ὁ κακὸς γίγνεται κακός, παντὶ δὲ ταῦτα ἐχθρὰ καὶ ἄκοντι προσγίγνεται. καὶ πάλιν δὴ τὸ περὶ τὰς λύπας ἡ ψυχὴ κατὰ ταὐτὰ διὰ σῶμα πολλὴν ἴσχει κακίαν.

ΤΙ. ὅτου γὰρ ἂν ἢ τῶν ὀξέων καὶ τῶν ἁλυκῶν φλεγμάτων καὶ ὅσοι πικροὶ καὶ χολώδεις χυμοὶ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα πλανηθέντες ἔξω μὲν μὴ λάβωσιν ἀναπνοήν, ἐντὸς δὲ εἱλλόμενοι

### Stephanus 87

[87a] τὴν ἀφʼ αὑτῶν ἀτμίδα τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς φορᾷ συμμείξαντες ἀνακερασθῶσι, παντοδαπὰ νοσήματα ψυχῆς ἐμποιοῦσι μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον καὶ ἐλάττω καὶ πλείω, πρός τε τοὺς τρεῖς τόπους ἐνεχθέντα τῆς ψυχῆς, πρὸς ὃν ἂν ἕκαστʼ αὐτῶν προσπίπτῃ, ποικίλλει μὲν εἴδη δυσκολίας καὶ δυσθυμίας παντοδαπά, ποικίλλει δὲ θρασύτητός τε καὶ δειλίας, ἔτι δὲ λήθης ἅμα καὶ δυσμαθίας. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, ὅταν οὕτως [87b] κακῶς παγέντων πολιτεῖαι κακαὶ καὶ λόγοι κατὰ πόλεις ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ λεχθῶσιν, ἔτι δὲ μαθήματα μηδαμῇ τούτων ἰατικὰ ἐκ νέων μανθάνηται, ταύτῃ κακοὶ πάντες οἱ κακοὶ διὰ δύο ἀκουσιώτατα γιγνόμεθα· ὧν αἰτιατέον μὲν τοὺς φυτεύοντας ἀεὶ τῶν φυτευομένων μᾶλλον καὶ τοὺς τρέφοντας τῶν τρεφομένων, προθυμητέον μήν, ὅπῃ τις δύναται, καὶ διὰ τροφῆς καὶ διʼ ἐπιτηδευμάτων μαθημάτων τε φυγεῖν μὲν κακίαν, τοὐναντίον δὲ ἑλεῖν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν δὴ τρόπος ἄλλος λόγων. [87c]

τὸ δὲ τούτων ἀντίστροφον αὖ, τὸ περὶ τὰς τῶν σωμάτων καὶ διανοήσεων θεραπείας αἷς αἰτίαις σῴζεται, πάλιν εἰκὸς καὶ πρέπον ἀνταποδοῦναι· δικαιότερον γὰρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πέρι μᾶλλον ἢ τῶν κακῶν ἴσχειν λόγον. πᾶν δὴ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καλόν, τὸ δὲ καλὸν οὐκ ἄμετρον· καὶ ζῷον οὖν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐσόμενον σύμμετρον θετέον. συμμετριῶν δὲ τὰ μὲν σμικρὰ διαισθανόμενοι συλλογιζόμεθα, τὰ δὲ κυριώτατα καὶ μέγιστα [87d] ἀλογίστως ἔχομεν. πρὸς γὰρ ὑγιείας καὶ νόσους ἀρετάς τε καὶ κακίας οὐδεμία συμμετρία καὶ ἀμετρία μείζων ἢ ψυχῆς αὐτῆς πρὸς σῶμα αὐτό· ὧν οὐδὲν σκοποῦμεν οὐδʼ ἐννοοῦμεν, ὅτι ψυχὴν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ πάντῃ μεγάλην ἀσθενέστερον καὶ ἔλαττον εἶδος ὅταν ὀχῇ, καὶ ὅταν αὖ τοὐναντίον συμπαγῆτον τούτω, οὐ καλὸν ὅλον τὸ ζῷον—ἀσύμμετρον γὰρ ταῖς μεγίσταις συμμετρίαις—τὸ δὲ ἐναντίως ἔχον πάντων θεαμάτων τῷ δυναμένῳ καθορᾶν κάλλιστον καὶ ἐρασμιώτατον. [87e] οἷον οὖν ὑπερσκελὲς ἢ καί τινα ἑτέραν ὑπέρεξιν ἄμετρον ἑαυτῷ τι σῶμα ὂν ἅμα μὲν αἰσχρόν, ἅμα δʼ ἐν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν πόνων πολλοὺς μὲν κόπους, πολλὰ δὲ σπάσματα καὶ διὰ τὴν παραφορότητα πτώματα παρέχον μυρίων κακῶν αἴτιον ἑαυτῷ,

ΤΙ. ταὐτὸν δὴ διανοητέον καὶ περὶ τοῦ συναμφοτέρου, ζῷον ὃ καλοῦμεν, ὡς ὅταν τε ἐν αὐτῷ ψυχὴ κρείττων

### Stephanus 88

[88a] οὖσα σώματος περιθύμως ἴσχῃ, διασείουσα πᾶν αὐτὸ ἔνδοθεν νόσων ἐμπίμπλησι, καὶ ὅταν εἴς τινας μαθήσεις καὶ ζητήσεις συντόνως ἴῃ, κατατήκει, διδαχάς τʼ αὖ καὶ μάχας ἐν λόγοις ποιουμένη δημοσίᾳ καὶ ἰδίᾳ διʼ ἐρίδων καὶ φιλονικίας γιγνομένων διάπυρον αὐτὸ ποιοῦσα σαλεύει, καὶ ῥεύματα ἐπάγουσα, τῶν λεγομένων ἰατρῶν ἀπατῶσα τοὺς πλείστους, τἀναίται αἰτιᾶσθαι ποιεῖ· σῶμά τε ὅταν αὖ μέγα καὶ ὑπέρψυχον σμικρᾷ συμφυὲς ἀσθενεῖ τε διανοίᾳ γένηται, διττῶν [88b] ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐσῶν φύσει κατʼ ἀνθρώπους, διὰ σῶμα μὲν τροφῆς, διὰ δὲ τὸ θειότατον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν φρονήσεως, αἱ τοῦ κρείττονος κινήσεις κρατοῦσαι καὶ τὸ μὲν σφέτερον αὔξουσαι, τὸ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς κωφὸν καὶ δυσμαθὲς ἀμνῆμόν τε ποιοῦσαι, τὴν μεγίστην νόσον ἀμαθίαν ἐναπεργάζονται. μία δὴ σωτηρία πρὸς ἄμφω, μήτε τὴν ψυχὴν ἄνευ σώματος κινεῖν μήτε σῶμα ἄνευ ψυχῆς, ἵνα ἀμυνομένω γίγνησθον ἰσορρόπω καὶ [88c] ὑγιῆ. τὸν δὴ μαθηματικὸν ἤ τινα ἄλλην σφόδρα μελέτην διανοίᾳ κατεργαζόμενον καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀποδοτέον κίνησιν, γυμναστικῇ προσομιλοῦντα, τόν τε αὖ σῶμα ἐπιμελῶς πλάττοντα τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνταποδοτέον κινήσεις, μουσικῇ καὶ πάσῃ φιλοσοφίᾳ προσχρώμενον, εἰ μέλλει δικαίως τις ἅμα μὲν καλός, ἅμα δὲ ἀγαθὸς ὀρθῶς κεκλῆσθαι. κατὰ δὲ ταὐτὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ μέρη θεραπευτέον, τὸ τοῦ παντὸς [88d] ἀπομιμούμενον εἶδος. τοῦ γὰρ σώματος ὑπὸ τῶν εἰσιόντων καομένου τε ἐντὸς καὶ ψυχομένου, καὶ πάλιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ξηραινομένου καὶ ὑγραινομένου καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα πάσχοντος ὑπʼ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν κινήσεων, ὅταν μέν τις ἡσυχίαν ἄγον τὸ σῶμα παραδιδῷ ταῖς κινήσεσι, κρατηθὲν διώλετο, ἐὰν δὲ ἥν τε τροφὸν καὶ τιθήνην τοῦ παντὸς προσείπομεν μιμῆταί τις, καὶ τὸ σῶμα μάλιστα μὲν μηδέποτε ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν ἐᾷ, κινῇ δὲ καὶ σεισμοὺς ἀεί τινας ἐμποιῶν αὐτῷ διὰ [88e] παντὸς τὰς ἐντὸς καὶ ἐκτὸς ἀμύνηται κατὰ φύσιν κινήσεις, καὶ μετρίως σείων τά τε περὶ τὸ σῶμα πλανώμενα παθήματα καὶ μέρη κατὰ συγγενείας εἰς τάξιν κατακοσμῇ πρὸς ἄλληλα, κατὰ τὸν πρόσθεν λόγον ὃν περὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἐλέγομεν, οὐκ ἐχθρὸν παρʼ ἐχθρὸν τιθέμενον ἐάσει πολέμους ἐντίκτειν τῷ σώματι καὶ νόσους, ἀλλὰ φίλον παρὰ φίλον τεθὲν ὑγίειαν

### Stephanus 89

[89a] ἀπεργαζόμενον παρέξει.

ΤΙ. τῶν δʼ αὖ κινήσεων ἡ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ ἀρίστη κίνησις—μάλιστα γὰρ τῇ διανοητικῇ καὶ τῇ τοῦ παντὸς κινήσει συγγενής—ἡ δὲ ὑπʼ ἄλλου χείρων· χειρίστη δὲ ἡ κειμένου τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἄγοντος ἡσυχίαν διʼ ἑτέρων αὐτὸ κατὰ μέρη κινοῦσα. διὸ δὴ τῶν καθάρσεων καὶ συστάσεων τοῦ σώματος ἡ μὲν διὰ τῶν γυμνασίων ἀρίστη, δευτέρα δὲ ἡ διὰ τῶν αἰωρήσεων κατά τε τοὺς πλοῦς καὶ ὅπῃπερ ἂν ὀχήσεις ἄκοποι γίγνωνται· τρίτον δὲ εἶδος κινήσεως [89b] σφόδρα ποτὲ ἀναγκαζομένῳ χρήσιμον, ἄλλως δὲ οὐδαμῶς τῷ νοῦν ἔχοντι προσδεκτέον, τὸ τῆς φαρμακευτικῆς καθάρσεως γιγνόμενον ἰατρικόν. τὰ γὰρ νοσήματα, ὅσα μὴ μεγάλους ἔχει κινδύνους, οὐκ ἐρεθιστέον φαρμακείαις. πᾶσα γὰρ σύστασις νόσων τρόπον τινὰ τῇ τῶν ζῴων φύσει προσέοικε. καὶ γὰρ ἡ τούτων σύνοδος ἔχουσα τεταγμένους τοῦ βίου γίγνεται χρόνους τοῦ τε γένους σύμπαντος, καὶ καθʼ αὑτὸ τὸ ζῷον εἱμαρμένον ἕκαστον ἔχον τὸν βίον φύεται, [89c] χωρὶς τῶν ἐξ ἀνάγκης παθημάτων· τὰ γὰρ τρίγωνα εὐθὺς κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἑκάστου δύναμιν ἔχοντα συνίσταται μέχρι τινὸς χρόνου δυνατὰ ἐξαρκεῖν, οὗ βίον οὐκ ἄν ποτέ τις εἰς τὸ πέραν ἔτι βιῴη. τρόπος οὖν ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ νοσήματα συστάσεως· ἣν ὅταν τις παρὰ τὴν εἱμαρμένην τοῦ χρόνου φθείρῃ φαρμακείαις, ἅμα ἐκ σμικρῶν μεγάλα καὶ πολλὰ ἐξ ὀλίγων νοσήματα φιλεῖ γίγνεσθαι. διὸ παιδαγωγεῖν δεῖ διαίταις πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, καθʼ ὅσον ἂν ᾖ τῳ σχολή, [89d] ἀλλʼ οὐ φαρμακεύοντα κακὸν δύσκολον ἐρεθιστέον.

καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ κοινοῦ ζῴου καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ μέρους, ᾗ τις ἂν καὶ διαπαιδαγωγῶν καὶ διαπαιδαγωγούμενος ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ μάλιστʼ ἂν κατὰ λόγον ζῴη, ταύτῃ λελέχθω· τὸ δὲ δὴ παιδαγωγῆσον αὐτὸ μᾶλλόν που καὶ πρότερον παρασκευαστέον εἰς δύναμιν ὅτι κάλλιστον καὶ ἄριστον εἰς τὴν παιδαγωγίαν εἶναι. διʼ ἀκριβείας μὲν οὖν περὶ τούτων [89e] διελθεῖν ἱκανὸν ἂν γένοιτο αὐτὸ καθʼ αὑτὸ μόνον ἔργον· τὸ δʼ ἐν παρέργῳ κατὰ τὰ πρόσθεν ἑπόμενος ἄν τις οὐκ ἄπο τρόπου τῇδε σκοπῶν ὧδε τῷ λόγῳ διαπεράναιτʼ ἄν.

ΤΙ. καθάπερ εἴπομεν πολλάκις, ὅτι τρία τριχῇ ψυχῆς ἐν ἡμῖν εἴδη κατῴκισται, τυγχάνει δὲ ἕκαστον κινήσεις ἔχον, οὕτω κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ νῦν ὡς διὰ βραχυτάτων ῥητέον ὅτι τὸ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐν ἀργίᾳ διάγον καὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ κινήσεων ἡσυχίαν ἄγον ἀσθενέστατον ἀνάγκη γίγνεσθαι, τὸ δʼ ἐν γυμνασίοις ἐρρωμενέστατον·

### Stephanus 90

[90a] διὸ φυλακτέον ὅπως ἂν ἔχωσιν τὰς κινήσεις πρὸς ἄλληλα συμμέτρους. τὸ δὲ δὴ περὶ τοῦ κυριωτάτου παρʼ ἡμῖν ψυχῆς εἴδους διανοεῖσθαι δεῖ τῇδε, ὡς ἄρα αὐτὸ δαίμονα θεὸς ἑκάστῳ δέδωκεν, τοῦτο ὃ δή φαμεν οἰκεῖν μὲν ἡμῶν ἐπʼ ἄκρῳ τῷ σώματι, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ συγγένειαν ἀπὸ γῆς ἡμᾶς αἴρειν ὡς ὄντας φυτὸν οὐκ ἔγγειον ἀλλὰ οὐράνιον, ὀρθότατα λέγοντες· ἐκεῖθεν γάρ, ὅθεν ἡ πρώτη τῆς ψυχῆς γένεσις ἔφυ, τὸ θεῖον τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ ῥίζαν ἡμῶν [90b] ἀνακρεμαννὺν ὀρθοῖ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα. τῷ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἢ περὶ φιλονικίας τετευτακότι καὶ ταῦτα διαπονοῦντι σφόδρα πάντα τὰ δόγματα ἀνάγκη θνητὰ ἐγγεγονέναι, καὶ παντάπασιν καθʼ ὅσον μάλιστα δυνατὸν θνητῷ γίγνεσθαι, τούτου μηδὲ σμικρὸν ἐλλείπειν, ἅτε τὸ τοιοῦτον ηὐξηκότι· τῷ δὲ περὶ φιλομαθίαν καὶ περὶ τὰς ἀληθεῖς φρονήσεις ἐσπουδακότι καὶ ταῦτα μάλιστα τῶν αὑτοῦ γεγυμνασμένῳ [90c] φρονεῖν μὲν ἀθάνατα καὶ θεῖα, ἄνπερ ἀληθείας ἐφάπτηται, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη που, καθʼ ὅσον δʼ αὖ μετασχεῖν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ἀθανασίας ἐνδέχεται, τούτου μηδὲν μέρος ἀπολείπειν, ἅτε δὲ ἀεὶ θεραπεύοντα τὸ θεῖον ἔχοντά τε αὐτὸν εὖ κεκοσμημένον τὸν δαίμονα σύνοικον ἑαυτῷ, διαφερόντως εὐδαίμονα εἶναι. θεραπεία δὲ δὴ παντὶ παντὸς μία, τὰς οἰκείας ἑκάστῳ τροφὰς καὶ κινήσεις ἀποδιδόναι. τῷ δʼ ἐν ἡμῖν θείῳ συγγενεῖς εἰσιν κινήσεις αἱ τοῦ παντὸς διανοήσεις [90d] καὶ περιφοραί· ταύταις δὴ συνεπόμενον ἕκαστον δεῖ, τὰς περὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ διεφθαρμένας ἡμῶν περιόδους ἐξορθοῦντα διὰ τὸ καταμανθάνειν τὰς τοῦ παντὸς ἁρμονίας τε καὶ περιφοράς, τῷ κατανοουμένῳ τὸ κατανοοῦν ἐξομοιῶσαι κατὰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν φύσιν, ὁμοιώσαντα δὲ τέλος ἔχειν τοῦ προτεθέντος ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ θεῶν ἀρίστου βίου πρός τε τὸν παρόντα καὶ τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον. [90e]

καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ νῦν ἡμῖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς παραγγελθέντα διεξελθεῖν περὶ τοῦ παντὸς μέχρι γενέσεως ἀνθρωπίνης σχεδὸν ἔοικε τέλος ἔχειν. τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα ζῷα ᾗ γέγονεν αὖ, διὰ βραχέων ἐπιμνηστέον, ὃ μή τις ἀνάγκη μηκύνειν· οὕτω γὰρ ἐμμετρότερός τις ἂν αὑτῷ δόξειεν περὶ τοὺς τούτων λόγους εἶναι. τῇδʼ οὖν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔστω λεγόμενον.

ΤΙ. τῶν γενομένων ἀνδρῶν ὅσοι δειλοὶ καὶ τὸν βίον ἀδίκως διῆλθον, κατὰ λόγον τὸν εἰκότα γυναῖκες μετεφύοντο ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ

### Stephanus 91

[91a] γενέσει· καὶ κατʼ ἐκεῖνον δὴ τὸν χρόνον διὰ ταῦτα θεοὶ τὸν τῆς συνουσίας ἔρωτα ἐτεκτήναντο, ζῷον τὸ μὲν ἐν ἡμῖν, τὸ δʼ ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶν συστήσαντες ἔμψυχον, τοιῷδε τρόπῳ ποιήσαντες ἑκάτερον. τὴν τοῦ ποτοῦ διέξοδον, ᾗ διὰ τοῦ πλεύμονος τὸ πῶμα ὑπὸ τοὺς νεφροὺς εἰς τὴν κύστιν ἐλθὸν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι θλιφθὲν συνεκπέμπει δεχομένη, συνέτρησαν εἰς τὸν ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς κατὰ τὸν αὐχένα καὶ διὰ τῆς ῥάχεως [91b] μυελὸν συμπεπηγότα, ὃν δὴ σπέρμα ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν λόγοις εἴπομεν· ὁ δέ, ἅτʼ ἔμψυχος ὢν καὶ λαβὼν ἀναπνοήν, τοῦθʼ ᾗπερ ἀνέπνευσεν, τῆς ἐκροῆς ζωτικὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμποιήσας αὐτῷ, τοῦ γεννᾶν ἔρωτα ἀπετέλεσεν. διὸ δὴ τῶν μὲν ἀνδρῶν τὸ περὶ τὴν τῶν αἰδοίων φύσιν ἀπειθές τε καὶ αὐτοκρατὲς γεγονός, οἷον ζῷον ἀνυπήκοον τοῦ λόγου, πάντων διʼ ἐπιθυμίας οἰστρώδεις ἐπιχειρεῖ κρατεῖν· αἱ δʼ ἐν [91c] ταῖς γυναιξὶν αὖ μῆτραί τε καὶ ὑστέραι λεγόμεναι διὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ταῦτα, ζῷον ἐπιθυμητικὸν ἐνὸν τῆς παιδοποιίας, ὅταν ἄκαρπον παρὰ τὴν ὥραν χρόνον πολὺν γίγνηται, χαλεπῶς ἀγανακτοῦν φέρει, καὶ πλανώμενον πάντῃ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα, τὰς τοῦ πνεύματος διεξόδους ἀποφράττον, ἀναπνεῖν οὐκ ἐῶν εἰς ἀπορίας τὰς ἐσχάτας ἐμβάλλει καὶ νόσους παντοδαπὰς ἄλλας παρέχει, μέχριπερ ἂν ἑκατέρων ἡ ἐπιθυμία καὶ ὁ [91d] ἔρως συναγαγόντες, οἷον ἀπὸ δένδρων καρπὸν καταδρέψαντες, ὡς εἰς ἄρουραν τὴν μήτραν ἀόρατα ὑπὸ σμικρότητος καὶ ἀδιάπλαστα ζῷα κατασπείραντες καὶ πάλιν διακρίναντες μεγάλα ἐντὸς ἐκθρέψωνται καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο εἰς φῶς ἀγαγόντες ζῴων ἀποτελέσωσι γένεσιν. γυναῖκες μὲν οὖν καὶ τὸ θῆλυ πᾶν οὕτω γέγονεν· τὸ δὲ τῶν ὀρνέων φῦλον μετερρυθμίζετο, ἀντὶ τριχῶν πτερὰ φύον, ἐκ τῶν ἀκάκων ἀνδρῶν, κούφων δέ, καὶ μετεωρολογικῶν μέν, ἡγουμένων δὲ διʼ ὄψεως [91e] τὰς περὶ τούτων ἀποδείξεις βεβαιοτάτας εἶναι διʼ εὐήθειαν. τὸ δʼ αὖ πεζὸν καὶ θηριῶδες γέγονεν ἐκ τῶν μηδὲν προσχρωμένων φιλοσοφίᾳ μηδὲ ἀθρούντων τῆς περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν φύσεως πέρι μηδέν, διὰ τὸ μηκέτι ταῖς ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ χρῆσθαι περιόδοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς περὶ τὰ στήθη τῆς ψυχῆς ἡγεμόσιν ἕπεσθαι μέρεσιν.

ΤΙ. ἐκ τούτων οὖν τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τά τʼ ἐμπρόσθια κῶλα καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς εἰς γῆν ἑλκόμενα ὑπὸ συγγενείας ἤρεισαν, προμήκεις τε καὶ παντοίας ἔσχον τὰς

### Stephanus 92

[92a] κορυφάς, ὅπῃ συνεθλίφθησαν ὑπὸ ἀργίας ἑκάστων αἱ περιφοραί· τετράπουν τε τὸ γένος αὐτῶν ἐκ ταύτης ἐφύετο καὶ πολύπουν τῆς προφάσεως, θεοῦ βάσεις ὑποτιθέντος πλείους τοῖς μᾶλλον ἄφροσιν, ὡς μᾶλλον ἐπὶ γῆν ἕλκοιντο. τοῖς δʼ ἀφρονεστάτοις αὐτῶν τούτων καὶ παντάπασιν πρὸς γῆν πᾶν τὸ σῶμα κατατεινομένοις ὡς οὐδὲν ἔτι ποδῶν χρείας οὔσης, ἄποδα αὐτὰ καὶ ἰλυσπώμενα ἐπὶ γῆς ἐγέννησαν. τὸ δὲ [92b] τέταρτον γένος ἔνυδρον γέγονεν ἐκ τῶν μάλιστα ἀνοητοτάτων καὶ ἀμαθεστάτων, οὓς οὐδʼ ἀναπνοῆς καθαρᾶς ἔτι ἠξίωσαν οἱ μεταπλάττοντες, ὡς τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπὸ πλημμελείας πάσης ἀκαθάρτως ἐχόντων, ἀλλʼ ἀντὶ λεπτῆς καὶ καθαρᾶς ἀναπνοῆς ἀέρος εἰς ὕδατος θολερὰν καὶ βαθεῖαν ἔωσαν ἀνάπνευσιν· ὅθεν ἰχθύων ἔθνος καὶ τὸ τῶν ὀστρέων συναπάντων τε ὅσα ἔνυδρα γέγονεν, δίκην ἀμαθίας ἐσχάτης ἐσχάτας οἰκήσεις [92c] εἰληχότων. καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα δὴ πάντα τότε καὶ νῦν διαμείβεται τὰ ζῷα εἰς ἄλληλα, νοῦ καὶ ἀνοίας ἀποβολῇ καὶ κτήσει μεταβαλλόμενα.

καὶ δὴ καὶ τέλος περὶ τοῦ παντὸς νῦν ἤδη τὸν λόγον ἡμῖν φῶμεν ἔχειν· θνητὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀθάνατα ζῷα λαβὼν καὶ συμπληρωθεὶς ὅδε ὁ κόσμος οὕτω, ζῷον ὁρατὸν τὰ ὁρατὰ περιέχον, εἰκὼν τοῦ νοητοῦ θεὸς αἰσθητός, μέγιστος καὶ ἄριστος κάλλιστός τε καὶ τελεώτατος γέγονεν εἷς οὐρανὸς ὅδε μονογενὴς ὤν.

## Translation — Mouseia

> Mouseia's complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the complete Greek text (John Burnet's Oxford edition, Perseus Digital Library) across all 76 Stephanus pages and 364 sections, including the Atlantis prologue (20d–26e), for fidelity, philosophical precision, dialogue, and structure.

### Stephanus 17

[17a] Socrates: One, two, three—but where is our fourth, my dear Timaeus? He was of yesterday's guests; today he was to be among our hosts.

Timaeus: Some illness befell him, Socrates; he would never have left this company of his own will.

Socrates: Then the work is his no longer but yours, together with the part of standing in for the absent man.

[17b] Timaeus: Assuredly, and we shall leave nothing undone that lies within our power; for it would not be just, after being entertained by you yesterday with gifts so fitting, that we the rest should fail to feast you in return with all eagerness.

Socrates: Do you remember, then, the tasks I laid upon you, and what they were about?

Timaeus: Some we remember; what we do not, you will remind us, being present. Better still, if nothing in it is hard for you, go back over them again in brief from the beginning, so that they may be made to stand more firmly with us.

[17c] Socrates: So it shall be. The chief point of the speeches I made yesterday about the constitution was this: what kind of city it showed itself to be, and built of what kind of men, as likely in my view to become the best.

Timaeus: And to us too, Socrates, when it was spoken, it seemed wholly to our minds.

Socrates: Did we not first distinguish within it the class of farmers and all the other crafts, setting them apart from the class of those who were to do its fighting?

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And when we had given each, according to its nature, what was fitting to it [17d] alone—a single pursuit for each, a single craft—did we not say of the very men who had above all to fight for it, that they alone ought to be the city's guardians, whether trouble came from without, or even from within, to work mischief, gently judging those

### Stephanus 18

[18a] who were ruled by them and were by nature friends, but turning harsh in battle upon the enemies they met?

Timaeus: Exactly so, in every respect.

Socrates: For we said, I take it, that the guardian's nature in the soul had to be at once high-spirited and philosophical in a marked degree, so that toward the two kinds he could become rightly both gentle and severe.

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And what of nurture? Were they not to be reared throughout in gymnastic and music, and in all the learning that belongs to these?

[18b] Timaeus: Quite so.

Socrates: And of those so reared it was said, I believe, that they must reckon neither gold nor silver nor any other possession as their own, but that, like auxiliaries in hire, they should take from those they keep safe a wage for their watchkeeping—so much only as a temperate man calls moderate—spend it in common, and live, boarding together with one another, keeping their care on virtue at all times, and leaving every other trade to others.

Timaeus: That too was said in just this way.

[18c] Socrates: And we made mention of the women as well: that their natures, being akin to the men's, were to be fitted to the same pursuits, and that all employments were to be given to all of them in common, in war and in the whole manner of their life.

Timaeus: So it was said, and this too.

Socrates: What of the begetting of children? Is it not easy to remember because of the strangeness of what was said—that we made marriages and children common to all among all, contriving that no one should ever come to know his own child as his in private, [18d] while all counted all the children kin of their own blood: brothers and sisters every one who came within the proper age, and those before and above them parents and parents' parents, and those in the line below children and children's children?

Timaeus: Yes, and as you tell it, easy to remember.

Socrates: And do we remember how, that the natures might from the first turn out as good as possible, we said the rulers, men and women alike, must contrive the joining of marriages in secret [18e] by means of certain lots, so that the bad should be matched with the bad and the good with the good, each with their like, and that no hatred arise among them on this account, they being led to believe that chance was the cause of each pairing?

Timaeus: We remember.

### Stephanus 19

[19a] Socrates: And how we said that the children of the good must be reared, and those of the bad handed over in secret to the other rank of the city; and that those who watched the children as they grew must always be bringing the worthy back up, and transferring the unworthy among their own charges to the place of those who had gone back?

Timaeus: So it was.

Socrates: Have we passed through it all, then, as yesterday when we went back over the main points—or do we still long for anything that was said, my dear Timaeus, as left out?

[19b] Timaeus: Not at all; that was exactly what was said, Socrates.

Socrates: You may hear, then, what comes next about the city we went through, and what state I find myself in toward it. My feeling is something like this: as if one who had seen beautiful creatures, whether wrought by a painter's art or truly alive and at rest, should come to long to see them in motion, and contending in some struggle of those things that seem to belong [19c] to their bodies—just so have I fared toward the city we went through. Gladly would I hear someone unfold in speech the contests this city contends in, as she matches herself against other cities—coming to war as is fitting, and in the waging of it rendering what befits her upbringing and nurture, both in her deeds of action and in her addresses to each city in words. This much, then, Critias and Hermocrates, [19d] I have determined about myself: that I could never become capable of praising adequately those men and that city. Mine is nothing to wonder at; but I have formed the same judgment about the poets of things long past and of things present—not that I dishonor the poetic tribe, but it is plain to all that the mimetic kind will imitate best and most easily whatever stock it has been reared among, while what lies outside each man's nurture [19e] is hard for him to imitate well in deeds, and harder still in words. The tribe of sophists, again, I take to be very practiced in many fine speeches of other kinds; yet I fear that, wanderers as they are from city to city, never having managed a dwelling of their own anywhere, they may miss the mark alike with philosophers and with men of politics, as to all that such men, dealing with each in deed and word amid war and its battles, would do and say.

Socrates: So there has been left over the stock of your own formation,

### Stephanus 20

[20a] sharing as it does in the nature and nurture of both. This Timaeus here, being of Locris in Italy, the best-ordered of cities, second to none there in wealth and birth, has held the greatest offices and honors of his city, and philosophy, in my judgment, he has brought to the very summit of them all. And Critias, everyone here knows, is no amateur in any of the things we speak of. As for Hermocrates' nature and nurture, [20b] the many who can testify make it right to believe him equal to all this. That is why yesterday, when you asked me to go through the constitution, I consented gladly, knowing that the next speech none of you, even willing, could deliver more adequately—for you alone of men today, having set the city forth as equipped for war, could render her all that befits her—and so, when I had said what was laid upon me, I charged you in turn with what I say now. You agreed, then, after taking common counsel with one another, [20c] to repay me today the guest-gifts of my speeches; and here I stand, adorned for the feast, of all men most ready to receive.

Hermocrates: And indeed, Socrates, as this Timaeus has said, we shall fall short in no eagerness, and there is no sort of excuse before us for not doing this; so much so that yesterday, as soon as we left here and came back with Critias to the guest-house where we lodge, and even before that, on the way, we were considering just these things. [20d] This tale, then, he set before us, from an account handed down from of old: tell it now, Critias, to our friend here, so that he may join in judging whether it fits the charge laid on us or does not.

Critias: That we must do, if the third partner, Timaeus, agrees too.

Timaeus: He does, of course.

Critias: Listen, then, Socrates, to a tale that is very strange, yet altogether true, as the wisest of the Seven, [20e] Solon, once said. He was, in fact, a kinsman and very great friend of our great-grandfather Dropides, as he himself says in many places in his poems;

Critias: and to Critias, our grandfather, he told it—as the old man in turn reported to us—that there had been great and marvelous deeds of this city long ago, blotted out by time and the destruction of men, and that one of them, the greatest of all,

### Stephanus 21

[21a] and the memory of it, brought to mind now, would make it fitting for us to render thanks both to you and, at the same time, in this festival, to praise the goddess justly and in truth, as it were singing her in hymn.

Socrates: Well said. But what deed is this, Critias—not told, indeed, as a story, but as actually done of old by this city, as the account of Solon ran?

Critias: I will tell it: I heard the tale from a man who was not young. For Critias at that time, he said, was already near [21b] ninety years of age, and I was in my tenth year; and it happened to be for us the Cureotis day of the Apaturia. The custom of the festival, kept each time, fell to us boys then as well: our fathers set contests of recitation for us. And since the poets were then many and their poems many, and the poems of Solon were new at that time, many of us boys sang them. Then one of our clansmen said—whether he truly thought so then, or meant it as a courtesy to Critias—that Solon seemed to have been [21c] the wisest of men in all else, and in poetry the freest of all the poets. And the old man—I remember it very well—was delighted, and smiled gently, and said: "If only, Amynander, he had not used poetry as a side-work, but had labored at it as the others did, and had completed the tale he brought here from Egypt, and had not been forced by the factions and by the other evils he found here on his return [21d] to let it lie neglected—then in my judgment neither Hesiod nor Homer nor any other poet would ever have won greater fame than he." "And what was the story, Critias?" said he. "Of the greatest deed," said he, "and the most renowned of all, and most justly so, that this city ever performed; but through time and the destruction of those who did it, the story did not live on to reach us." "Tell it from the beginning," said he, "what it was and how, and from whom Solon heard it as true." [21e]

"There is in Egypt," said he, "at the place where the Nile's stream divides at the crest of the Delta, a district called the Saite; and the greatest city of this district is Sais, birthplace too of King Amasis. Its founder deity is a goddess whose name in Egyptian is Neith, and in Greek, as their own account goes, Athena; and they profess to be very great lovers of the Athenians and in a way their kin.

Critias: To these people, Solon said, he journeyed, and was received with great honor among them,

### Stephanus 22

[22a] and questioning once, about ancient things, the priests most experienced in such matters, he found that neither he himself nor any other Greek, so to speak, knew a single thing about them that could be brought to light. And once, wishing to lead them on into talk of ancient times, he undertook to tell the most ancient things among us—about Phoroneus, said to be the first man, and Niobe, and after the flood again about Deucalion [22b] and Pyrrha, how they survived, and to trace the line of their descendants; and as he told it he tried, keeping careful memory of the years, to count up the times that had passed. Then one of the priests, a man well stricken in age, said: "O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children; there is no old Greek." And when he heard this and asked how he meant it—"You are all young," he said, "in your souls; for you hold in them no old belief handed down by ancient report, and no learning grown gray with time. And the cause is this: [22c] there have been many destructions of mankind and there will be—the greatest by fire and water, and lesser ones by countless other means. That story told among you, how once Phaethon, the child of Helios, yoked his father's chariot, and because he could not drive it along his father's path burned up all that was on the earth, and was himself struck by the thunderbolt and perished—that is told in the shape of a myth; [22d] the truth of it is a swerving of the bodies that move around the earth in the heavens, and after long intervals a destruction of things on earth by violent fire. Then those who dwell in the mountains and in high places and in the dry perish more abundantly than those who live by rivers and the sea; and as for us, the Nile is our savior in other ways too, and at such times delivers us from this distress. But when again the gods cleanse the earth with waters and drown it, the herdsmen and shepherds in the mountains are saved, while those in the cities of your land are swept into the sea by the rivers; [22e] and here in this land, neither then nor at any other time, does water flow down upon the fields from above; the contrary is its nature—to rise up from below."

Critias: This is why the things preserved here are said to be the most ancient; whereas the truth is that in every place where extraordinary winter or extraordinary sun does not hold them back, the stock of men is sometimes more,

### Stephanus 23

[23a] sometimes less, but always there is a race of men. And whatever deeds of yours or of ours, or of any other people of whom we have report, were noble or great or otherwise extraordinary, all have been written down from of old and are preserved here in our temples; whereas with you and the others, writing and all that cities need have only lately been devised each time they are founded, [23b] and then, after the appointed years, like a sickness, the heavenly flood comes sweeping down upon them and leaves only the unlettered and the unmusical among you, so that once more you become as it were young, knowing nothing of what was here or with you in the ancient days. At least the genealogies just now rehearsed, Solon, about your people—the ones you ran through—differ little from children's tales: first, you remember one flood of the earth only, though many had come before it; and further, you do not know that the fairest and best race of men once lived in your land, [23c] from whom you yourself and your whole city as it is today are sprung, a little remnant of seed having then survived; and it escaped you because the survivors for many generations died without leaving a word in writing. For once, Solon, before the greatest destruction by waters, the city that is now the city of Athens was the best in war and by far the most nobly ordered in everything; and its deeds are said to have been the noblest, and its constitutions the finest of all [23d] under heaven, so far as we have received report. When Solon heard this, he marveled, they say, and seized on it with all eagerness, beseeching the priests to tell him in exact order everything about the citizens of long ago. Then the priest said: No one grudges you this, Solon; I will tell it for your sake and your city's sake, and above all for the goddess', who chose and reared and trained both your land and this one, yours first [23e] by a thousand years, receiving your seed from Earth and Hephaestus, and this one after. And the number of years since the ordering of this land of ours is written among us in our sacred records: eight thousand. Of the citizens of the nine thousand years past, then, I will set before you in brief their laws, and the finest deed they accomplished;

Critias: the exact account of

### Stephanus 24

[24a] everything, in its turn, we will go through later, at leisure, taking up the records themselves. Consider their laws, then, against those of this place—for you will find here now many examples of what existed among you then: first, the class of the priests, set apart from all the rest; next, that of the craftsmen, each plying his craft by itself and mixing with no other; then the class of herdsmen and of hunters and that of farmers. And you noticed too, I suppose, the warrior class among us, separate from all the other classes, charged by the law to care for nothing else but war; [24b] and further, the fashion of their armor, shields and spears, with which we of the lands about Asia were the first to arm ourselves—the goddess having first shown it forth, as in those places of yours she did before all. And as for wisdom, you see how much care our law took from the very beginning, about [24c] the ordering of heaven, drawing everything for the sake of health down to divination and medicine, since these are divine, into the things of men, and acquiring all the other learning that follows upon these. This whole ordering and constitution, then, the goddess first established when she settled your city before ours, choosing the place in which you were born, and seeing the temperateness of its seasons, that it would bear the wisest of men; and since the goddess was a lover of war [24d] and a lover of wisdom, she chose first and settled the place that was to bear men most like herself. And so you dwelt there, using such laws and governed even better still, surpassing all mankind in virtue, as is fitting for the offspring and pupils of the gods. Many deeds of your city are written here, great and admired; but one of all surpasses in greatness and in virtue. [24e] For the records tell how great a power your city once stayed, as it went in its insolence upon all Europe and all Asia together, setting forth from the Atlantic sea beyond.

Critias: For the sea there was then navigable: for there lay an island in front of the mouth which you call, as you say, the Pillars of Heracles, and the island was larger than Libya and Asia together; and from it the voyagers of that time could pass to the other islands, and from the islands

### Stephanus 25

[25a] to the whole of the opposite continent that encircles that true sea. For all that we call a sea here, this whole region within the mouth we speak of, seems but a harbor having a narrow entrance; that other is the open deep in truth, and the land that surrounds it may most rightly be called, in the full sense, a continent. In this island of Atlantis, then, there had arisen a great and marvelous power of kings, ruling the whole island and many other islands and parts of the mainland; and besides these, of the lands within the straits [25b] they ruled Libya as far as Egypt, and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This power, then, all gathered into one, undertook with a single onrush to enslave your country and ours and every place within the mouth. Then it was, Solon, that the power of your city stood manifest before all mankind in virtue and in strength; for, placed at the head of all in courage of soul and in every art of war, [25c] she led the Greeks at first, then, left alone of necessity when the others fell away, came to the uttermost of peril: prevailing over the invaders she set up her trophy, kept those not yet enslaved from being enslaved, and freed with unstinting hand all the rest of us who dwell within the bounds of Heracles. But in after times there came earthquakes of unexampled violence and floods, and one terrible day and night [25d] descended: the whole warrior host of your city sank at once into the earth, and the island Atlantis in like manner sank beneath the sea and vanished; which is why even now that sea is hard to sail and hard to search, a very shallow mud lying in the way—the settling the island left behind as it went down.

So much, then, Socrates, is what you have heard in brief—told from the old [25e] Critias, as the tale of Solon ran. And yesterday, as you were speaking of the constitution and of the men you described, I marveled as the things I now tell came back to me, seeing how, through some providential stroke of chance and not without design, your account met with most of what Solon said.

Critias: Still I was not minded

### Stephanus 26

[26a] to say it at once; for after the interval I did not remember it well enough. I saw then that I must first take it all up sufficiently against myself, and so speak. That is why I quickly agreed yesterday to the task you laid on me, thinking that the greatest work in all such undertakings is to have some account fit for the purposes laid down as a base, and that this would furnish us to a moderate degree. So then, [26b] as this man said, I left here yesterday and at once told them to these men as I recalled them; and going away I went over almost everything in the night and recovered it. How true, then, is what is said, that children's lessons hold a marvelous memorial. What I heard yesterday I could not say I could hold in memory again; but what I have heard over a very long time, I should greatly wonder if any of it had slipped away from me. They were heard then, [26c] amid much delight and play, the old man teaching me eagerly and questioning me again in my turn so often that they became fixed in me like the burnt-in colors of an unwashable painting; and indeed I told these same things to these men here at daybreak, so that they might have matter for speech along with me. Now, then—for the sake of which all this has been said—I am ready to speak, Socrates, not in summaries only, but as I heard it, point by point; and the citizens and the city you yesterday set before us as in a tale, these we will now, carrying them over [26d] into truth, set here, holding that this city is that one, and saying that the citizens you meant are those true ancestors of ours whom the priest told of. They will fit in every way, and we shall not stray from the mark in saying they were the men of that time. And all of us together, taking the task in common, will try to render, to the best of our power, what you appointed. So it must now be considered, Socrates, whether this account of ours [26e] is to your mind, or some other must be sought in its place.

Socrates: And what better could we take in its place, Critias, when it would befit the moment best of all, both through the sacrifice now at hand to the goddess, being so near of kin to her, and because it is of the greatest moment that the tale be not a fable but a true account? For how, and from whom else, should we discover others if we let these go? It cannot be; so it is for you to speak with good fortune attending, and for me, in place of yesterday's speeches, now

### Stephanus 27

[27a] keeping silence, to listen in return.

Critias: Look, then, at the arrangement of the feast of strangers we have devised for you, Socrates. It seemed to us that Timaeus, being the best astronomer among us and having most knowledge of the nature of the whole, should speak first, beginning from the birth of the cosmos and ending with the nature of man; [27b] and that I should follow him, having received from him, in his speech, men as they came to be, and from you, their education to a marked degree in some of them—and that, according to the word and law of Solon, I should introduce them, setting us up as their judges, and make them citizens of this city, as though they were the Athenians of that day whom the report of the sacred writings showed to be hidden from view; and that for the rest we should carry on the discourse as of citizens and Athenians indeed.

Socrates: It seems I am to be repaid for my feast of speeches most perfectly and most splendidly. So the task after this falls to you, Timaeus, as it appears: you are to speak, having invoked the gods according to law.

[27c] Timaeus: Yet all who share even to a small degree in soundness of mind, Socrates, call upon a god always, at the outset of every undertaking, small or great; and we, who are about to make speeches about the whole—how it came to be, or whether it is unbegotten—must, unless we are to miss the mark altogether, call on gods and goddesses and pray that everything we say be said first to their mind, and in consequence [27d] to ours. So much, then, for our invoking of the gods; our own must follow, in whatever way you would most easily learn, and I most clearly set forth what I have in mind about the matters before us.

Timaeus: So then, in my judgment, we must first make this division: what is that which always is and has no becoming, and what is that which is always

### Stephanus 28

[28a] coming to be and never is. The one is grasped by thought, with the aid of reason, being always in the same state; the other is a thing of opinion, with the aid of unreasoning sense, coming to be and perishing, but never truly being. And everything that comes to be must come to be by the agency of some cause; for nothing can find a coming-to-be apart from a cause. Now whenever the craftsman looks, always, toward that which holds to the same state, and uses some such thing as his model, working out the form and the power of his work from it, everything must of necessity [28b] turn out beautiful in this way; but whenever he looks toward what has come to be, using a begotten model, it is not beautiful. And the whole heaven—or cosmos, or whatever other name would be most welcome, let that be its name for us—about this we must first inquire, as one must at the outset inquire of anything: was it always, having no beginning of coming-to-be, or did it come to be, setting out from some beginning? It came to be: for it is visible and tangible and has body; and all such things are sensible, [28c] and things sensible are grasped by opinion together with sensation, and they showed themselves to be things that come to be and are begotten. And what has come to be, we say, must of necessity have come to be by the agency of some cause.

Timaeus: To discover the maker and father of this whole is a work; and having discovered him, to declare him to all men is impossible. And so we must go back and inquire about him this: after which of the models did he who fashioned it

### Stephanus 29

[29a] work it out—after the thing that holds to the same state and is ever such as it was, or after that which has come to be? If this cosmos is beautiful and its craftsman good, then plainly he looked to the everlasting; but if—and it is not lawful even to say it—to what has come to be. But it is plain to all that he looked to the everlasting: for the cosmos is the most beautiful of things that have come to be, and he the best of causes. And so, having been begotten with an eye to that which is grasped by reason and thought and holds to the same state, [29b] all this being so, the cosmos must of necessity be an image of something. Now in everything it is greatest to begin at the natural beginning. Here, then, we must distinguish, concerning the image and its model, that the accounts are akin to the very things of which they are the interpreters: [29c] the accounts of what is lasting and firm and discernible by thought are lasting and unshifting—and, so far as it is possible and it belongs to accounts to be unrefuted and unconquered, nothing must be lacking in them—while the accounts of what was modeled on that other, being an image, are such as befit likelihood: [29d] as being is to becoming, so is truth to belief. If then, Socrates, on many subjects and about many things—about the gods and the birth of the whole—we are unable to give accounts that in every way agree with themselves and are exact, you must not be surprised; rather we must be content if we fall short of none in what is likely, remembering that I who speak, and you who judge, have a human nature; so that we should accept the likely tale about these things and seek nothing further beyond it.

Socrates: Most excellently, Timaeus, and we must accept it altogether as you direct. Your prelude we have received with wonder; now bring to its end for us the law that comes next.

Timaeus: Let us say, then, for what cause the composer composed becoming and this whole. [29e] He was good; and in the good, envy about anything never arises. Being thus without envy, he wished all things to become as far as possible like himself.

Timaeus: This, then, one would most rightly receive as the most sovereign principle of becoming and of the cosmos,

### Stephanus 30

[30a] accepting it from men of wisdom. For the god, wishing that all things be good and, so far as was possible, nothing base, took over all that was visible—not in quiet, but moving in discord and disorder—and brought it from disorder into order, holding the latter in every way better than the former. For it was not lawful then, nor is it now, for the best to do anything but the most beautiful. [30b] Taking thought, then, he found that, of the things visible by nature, nothing without intelligence would ever be, as a whole, more beautiful than the work of one that has intelligence; and that intelligence cannot come to be present in anything apart from soul. For this reason, setting intelligence in soul and soul in body, he wove the whole together, that his work might be the most beautiful and best by nature. So then, according to the likely account, we must say that this cosmos came to be a living creature endowed with soul and mind, through the providence [30c] of the god.

This being so, we must say next, in its turn, after what living thing its composer composed it in likeness. Let us not think any of the partial kinds worthy of the comparison—for nothing incomplete could ever turn out beautiful, being what it is like—but let us lay it down that it is most like that of which the other living things are parts, each in itself and by kind. For the intelligible living creature embraces within itself all intelligible things, just as this [30d] cosmos here embraces us and all the other visible creatures that have been composed.

Timaeus: For the god, wishing to make it most like the most beautiful of intelligible things and in all ways most complete, composed one visible living creature, holding within itself all

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[31a] the living things akin to it by nature. Did we speak rightly, then, in calling the heaven one, or would it have been more correct to speak of many, and without end? One—if, that is, it was made in accordance with its model. For that which embraces all intelligible living things could never be, with a second beside it; for then there would have to be another living creature embracing those two, of which they would be parts, and no longer would those two embrace—rather, this here would more rightly be said to be made like that embracing one. [31b] So that this one might be like the all-complete living creature in its singleness, for these reasons he who made worlds made neither two nor an endless number, but this one heaven, alone begotten, having come to be, is and ever shall be.

That which comes to be must be body-like, visible, and tangible; yet nothing apart from fire would ever become visible, nor anything tangible without some solidity, nor anything solid without earth. So the god, at the beginning of the whole, set about composing its body out of fire and earth. But two things alone cannot be well joined without a third; [31c] for there must be some bond in the middle drawing the two together. And the most beautiful of bonds is that which makes of itself and the things bound as much one as possible; and proportion is by nature the thing that best accomplishes this.

Timaeus: For whenever, of three numbers or masses

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[32a] or powers, whatever they may be, the middle is such that, as the first is to the middle, so is the middle to the last, and again, as the last is to the middle, so the middle to the first—then, the middle becoming first and last, and the last and the first both becoming middle, all will of necessity come to be the same; and when they have become the same, all will be one. Now if the body of the whole had had to come to be a plane surface with no depth, one mean would have been enough [32b] to bind its companions to itself and itself to them; but as it is, the world was to be solid in form, and solids are never joined by one mean but always by two. So the god, setting water and air between fire and earth, and working them, so far as was possible, into one ratio—as fire is to air, so air to water, and as air is to water, so water to earth—bound them together and thus composed a heaven visible and tangible. [32c] And for these reasons, and from such elements, and in this number of four, the body of the cosmos was begotten, coming into accord through proportion; and from these it won friendship, so that, come together into one with itself, it could be dissolved by no other than him who bound it.

And of the four, the composition of the cosmos took each one entire. For out of all fire and water and air and earth its composer composed it, leaving out no part or power of any, having this in mind, [32d] first: that the whole should be, as far as might be, a living creature complete, made of complete

### Stephanus 33

[33a] parts.

Timaeus: And one thing more: no part of these elements was left over, out of which anything else of the kind could come to be; and further, he meant it to be ageless and free of sickness, seeing how things that assail a body from without—hot and cold and all that have strong powers—fall upon it out of season, break it up, and bring disease and age, and so make it waste away. For this cause and on this reckoning he fashioned it one whole of wholes, complete out of all, [33b] ageless and free of sickness. And he gave it the shape that befitted it, the shape akin to it: for the living creature meant to embrace within itself all living things, the fitting shape would be that which embraces within itself all shapes there are; and so he turned it round, spherical, from its center keeping an equal distance everywhere to its edges, a circle, the most complete of shapes and most like itself of all shapes—judging the like ten thousand times more beautiful than the unlike. And he made its outer face everywhere smooth, all around, for many reasons. [33c] It had no need of eyes, for nothing visible was left outside it; none of hearing, for there was nothing to hear; and no surrounding air stood about it, needing breath; nor had it need of any organ to receive food into itself and send away again what had been spent and drained. For nothing went out of it, nor did anything come into it from anywhere—there was nowhere such a place—since it provided for itself its own food as its own decay, and all within it it felt and did by its own power, a thing made by art; [33d] for its maker judged it better to be self-sufficient than in want of others. And hands, which had no use for taking hold or for defense against another, he thought it needless to attach, and feet as well, and in general the whole apparatus that belongs to a base

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[34a] for going on foot.

Timaeus: For motion he allotted it the one proper to its body—of the seven, the motion that has most to do with mind and understanding. And so, turning it round into one and the same place, within itself, he made it move in a circle, revolving; the other six motions he took away, and made it free of their wanderings. And for the sake of this circuit, having no need of feet, he brought it to birth without legs and without feet.

This one, then—the reasoning of the god being ever about the god who was one day to be, and being reckoned out—[34b] he made its body smooth and even, everywhere from the center equal, whole and complete, of complete bodies; and setting soul in its middle, he stretched it through the whole and further wrapped the body about it from outside; and he made the heaven a single circle, turning in a circle, alone and solitary, yet by its virtue able to keep itself company, needing no other, and knowing itself and, in due measure, its friend. For all these reasons he brought it to birth as a blessed god.

And the soul—not as we now attempt to say, that the god made it younger [34c] than the body—for he would not have allowed the elder to be ruled by the younger, when he joined them—but it is somehow in our fashion, partaking greatly of the haphazard, that we speak of things this way; whereas he made the soul older in birth and in virtue, prior to the body, to be its mistress and to rule what was to be ruled.

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[35a] was put together from these things and after this fashion.

Timaeus: From the being that is indivisible and always keeps to the same, and from the being that becomes divisible around bodies, he blended a third form of being midway between, drawn from both—from the nature of the same and from the nature of the other—and he composed it, on the same terms, between the part of them that is indivisible and the part divisible around bodies. And taking the three, he blended them all into a single form, forcing by compulsion the nature of the other, which was hard to mingle, into concord with the same. [35b] And when he had mingled them with being, and made one out of three, he divided this whole again into as many portions as were fitting, each one mingled of the same, of the other, and of being. And he began to divide it thus: first he took one portion from the whole; then he took a second, double that one; then a third, half again the second and triple the first; a fourth, double the second; a fifth, triple the [35c] third; a sixth, eightfold the first; and a seventh, twenty-sevenfold the first;

Timaeus: After this he set about filling in

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[36a] the double and the triple intervals, cutting off yet further portions from what remained and setting them in between, so that within each interval there were two means: one exceeding and exceeded by the same fraction of the extremes, the other exceeding by an equal number and exceeded by an equal number. And when intervals of half again, of a third again, and of an eighth again had arisen out of these bonds within the earlier intervals, [36b] he went on to fill every third-again interval with the eighth-again kind, leaving over a portion of each—the portion left over of each being an interval whose terms stood, number against number, as 256 to 243. And by now the mingled stuff from which he had been cutting these portions was entirely used up. Then he split this whole fabric down its length in two, brought the halves together middle to middle, like a man's two hands clasped, and bent them [36c] into a single circle, joining them to themselves and to one another at the point directly opposite the clasp, and he carried them around in the motion that keeps them always in the same way within the same place; and he made one of them the outer circle and the other the inner. The outer motion he decreed to be that of the nature of the same, the inner that of the other. The circle of the same he caused to move round to the right along its side, the circle of the other to the left along the diagonal, and he gave the mastery to the [36d] revolution of the same and like: this one he left single and undivided, but the inner one he split six times, into seven unequal circles, each keeping the ratio of the double and of the triple—three of each sort—and he appointed the circles to go in opposite directions to one another; in speed, three went at one pace, and the other four at paces unequal both to one another and to the three, yet borne along in due measure.

And when the whole fabric of the soul had come to be according to the mind of its maker, he then went on to weave all the bodily frame within [36e] it, and bringing center to center he fitted them together; and the soul, woven through from the center out to the farthest reach of heaven, wrapping the heaven round about on the outside, and turning within herself, began a divine beginning of unceasing and intelligent life for all time to come.

Timaeus: And so the body of the heaven came to be visible; the soul herself is invisible, partaking of reasoning and

### Stephanus 37

[37a] harmony, the best of things begotten, born of the best of things that forever are and are intelligible. And because she was compounded of the nature of the same, of the other, and of being—these three portions blended together, then divided in due proportion and bound—and because she circles round upon herself, whenever she touches anything whose being is scattered abroad, or anything that is indivisible, she, moved throughout herself, tells what any given thing is the same as and what it is [37b] other than, and in what relation, where, how, and when it happens, both for the things that come to be, each toward each in being and in being affected, and for the things that keep forever to the same state. And reason, true reason, arising within her as she moves and is carried along by herself, without voice or sound, concerning what is other and concerning what is the same—when it arises concerning the things of sense, and the circle of the other, going straight, announces it through the whole soul, then opinions and convictions arise, firm and true; [37c] but when it arises concerning the rational, and the circle of the same, running smooth and true, reveals it, then intelligence and knowledge are of necessity the result. And if anyone says that that in which these two arise is anything other than soul, he will say anything rather than the truth.

And when the father who had begotten it saw it move and live, a crafted image of the everlasting gods come to birth, he rejoiced, and in his delight he thought to make it still more like its model. [37d] And since that model is an everlasting living thing, he set out to make this all, too, such a thing, so far as might be. Now the nature of that living thing is eternal, and to attach this fully to it was not possible; so he thought to make a moving image of eternity: and, as he ordered the heaven, he made of eternity that abides in oneness an eternal image moving according to number—and this image we have named time. [37e] For days and nights and months and years were not before the heaven came to be; but he contrived the birth of these along with it, as it was being framed. And all of these are parts of time, and "was" and "will be" are forms of time that have come to be; and we unthinkingly carry them along and apply them, and so miss the mark, when we speak of the everlasting being.

Timaeus: For we say that it was and is and shall be, though only "is" befits it, according to the

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[38a] true account, and "was" and "will be" should be said of the becoming that moves along in time—for these two are motions; but what keeps forever to the same state cannot rightly become older or younger with time, nor ever came to be, nor has now come to be, nor will hereafter be; and in general nothing of what becoming attaches to the things carried in the realm of the senses belongs to it—rather these are forms time has brought to birth, as time imitates eternity and turns in its circle by number. And there is this further point besides: [38b] to say that what has become has become, and what is becoming is becoming, and what will come to be will come to be, and that what is not is not—of none of these do we speak with exactness. But perhaps this is not the moment to pursue such niceties now.

Time, then, came to be together with the heaven, so that, born together, they might, if ever a dissolution should come upon them, be dissolved together; and it was made on the pattern of the everlasting nature, that it might be as like [38c] to that pattern as might be. For the model is a being that lasts through all eternity, while the heaven has been, is, and shall be, through all time. Such being the god's purpose and thought for the birth of time—that time might be born—the sun and the moon and five other stars, the ones called wanderers, came to be, to mark off and to guard the numbers of time. And when the god had made a body for each of them, he set them in the circuits in which the revolution of the other was traveling, seven bodies in seven [38d] circuits: the moon in the circle first about the earth, the sun in the second above the earth, and the morning star and the one called sacred to Hermes in the circle that runs with the sun in equal speed, though they hold within it a power contrary to his—which is why the sun, the star of Hermes, and the morning star overtake and are overtaken by one another in their turn. As for the others, and the reasons for which he set them where he did, if one were to go through them all, the account, [38e] being only incidental, would give a greater labor than the purpose for which it is spoken. Perhaps these things, taken at leisure later, would deserve a telling worthy of them.

Timaeus: And when each of the beings that had a part in bringing time to completion had come to the motion proper to it, and their bodies, bound with living bonds, had been born as living creatures, and had learned the task commanded them, in the motion of the other

### Stephanus 39

[39a] which runs aslant, passing beneath the motion of the same, which both governs it and leads it, they went round now in a greater circle and now in a lesser—those in the lesser circle more swiftly, those in the greater more slowly. And by the motion of the same, those that circled most quickly appeared to be overtaken by the slower ones and to overtake them in their turn; for the motion of the same twisted all their circles into spirals, because each went forward at once in two [39b] opposite directions: so the one that left its own place most slowly seemed to keep nearest to it, though it was in truth the swiftest. And that there might be a clear measure of their slowness and speed in relation to one another, and that they might run their courses, eight in all, the god kindled a light in the second circuit from the earth—the one we now call the sun—so that it might shine through the whole heaven as far as might be, and that living things might share in number, so far as was fitting for each, learning it from the revolution of the same and [39c] like. Night and day, then, came to be thus and for these reasons—the period of the one and wisest circuit; and the month, whenever the moon, having run round her own circle, overtakes the sun; and the year, whenever the sun runs round his own circle. But the periods of the others, human beings have not thought about—few, indeed, of the many have—and they neither name them nor measure them one against another by numbers; so that, [39d] so to speak, they do not know that these wanderings of theirs are time—wanderings that wear away a measureless plenty and are marvelously adorned. And yet it is none the less possible to perceive that the perfect number of time completes the perfect year at that moment when the relative speeds of all the eight circuits, having run their courses together, come round once more to their head, measured by the circle of the same that goes uniformly. And for reasons such as these, then, were begotten those stars that make their journey through the heaven and have their turnings, so that this world [39e] might be as like as possible to the perfect and intelligible living thing, in its imitation of the everlasting nature.

By that point he had finished everything else, down to the birth of time, into the likeness of the model after which he shaped it; but it still fell short in this one way: it did not yet contain all the living things born within itself. This, then, this remaining lack, he set out to remedy, stamping the world after the nature of the model. And just as intelligence beholds the ideas present in the true living thing—of what kinds they are, and how many—of just such kinds and just so many he resolved that this world too must hold.

Timaeus: Now there are four kinds: one, the heavenly race of gods; a second,

### Stephanus 40

[40a] the winged kind that haunts the air; a third, the kind that dwells in water; and the fourth, the kind that goes on foot and lives on dry land. The divine kind he fashioned for the most part out of fire, that it might be as radiant as possible and most beautiful to behold; and, likening it to the whole, he gave it a rounded shape, and set it in the intelligence of the supreme, to follow after it, distributing it round about in a circle over the whole heaven, to be a true adornment wrought upon it throughout. To each he allotted two motions: one fixed in the same place, turning always about the same things and [40b] thinking the same thoughts about the same things within itself; and one that goes forward, governed by the revolution of the same and like; but the five other motions he left still and standing, that each god might become as excellent as possible. And for this cause the fixed stars, divine and everlasting living things, forever turning in the same place about the same things, always abide where they stand; while those that turn and hold the wandering course such as was described before were born under those other conditions. And Earth, our nurse, winding about [40c] the axis stretched from pole to pole through all, he contrived as guardian and maker of night and day, the first and eldest of the gods born within the heaven. But the dances of these same gods, and their encounters with one another, and the circuits' turnings back round upon themselves and their advances; at their conjunctions which gods come into one another and how many stand in opposition; which pass before which, and at what times each of them is hidden from us and again comes to light—fears and signs they send to those who cannot reckon, of the things [40d] that will come to be after these—to tell of all this without seeing these very workings of the images would be a labor spent in vain. But let what has been said of these things suffice, and of the visible and begotten gods; let the account find here its natural end.

But to tell of the other daimons and to know their birth is greater than our powers; we must believe those who spoke of them before, children of gods, as they said, and plainly knowing their own forebears. And so, though they speak without proofs that are likely or necessary, it is impossible not to believe the children [40e] of gods, who claim to report what is their own; following the law, we must believe them.

Timaeus: Let the birth of these gods stand with us, then, as those men told it, and be told so. Of Earth and Heaven were born Oceanus and Tethys; and of these, Phorcys and Cronos and Rhea, and all who came

### Stephanus 41

[41a] after them; and of Cronos and Rhea, Zeus and Hera, and all their brothers and sisters whom we know, and yet other children of these. And when all the gods had received their birth—those who patrol the heavens openly, and those who show themselves only as far as they wish—he who begat this all spoke to them as follows:

"Gods of gods, whose maker and father I am of the works that came to be through me—indissoluble, unless I am willing. For everything bound [41b] may be loosed; yet only evil would wish to loosen what has been harmoniously joined and stands in good condition. And so, though you have come to be, you are not immortal, nor wholly indissoluble—yet you shall never be loosed, nor shall death's lot come upon you: for you have won a bond greater than those with which you were bound when you came to be, and more sovereign still—my will. Now learn what I declare to you. Three races of mortals remain unbegotten; and unless these are begotten, the heaven will be incomplete, for it will not have within [41c] itself all the kinds of living things, as it must if it is to be complete enough. But let them be begotten through me and share in life, and they will be made equal to the gods. Turn therefore, as is natural for you, to the fashioning of living things, imitating my power in your own begetting. And inasmuch as a part of them should rightly bear the same name as the immortals—the part called divine, and ruling within those who are willing ever to follow justice and to follow you—that part, when I have sown it and given it its beginning, [41d] I will hand over to you. The rest is yours: weaving the mortal onto the immortal, fashion living creatures and beget them; give them food, make them grow, and receive them back again as they wane."

He spoke, and turned again to the former mixing bowl, the one in which he had poured and blended the soul of the whole; into it he decanted what remained of the former ingredients, mixing them in a way much the same, though they were no longer in the same way unadulterated, but of second and third degree. And when he had compounded the whole, he divided off souls equal in number to the stars, [41e] and assigned each soul to each star; then, setting them as into a chariot, he showed them the nature of the all and declared to them the laws of destiny: that the first birth would be one and the same for all, ordained so that none might be brought low by him; and that, sown each into the instrument of time proper to each, it was needful for them

### Stephanus 42

[42a] to grow into the most god-fearing of living creatures; and since human nature is twofold, the better kind was to be that which would hereafter be called man.

Timaeus: And when they were implanted of necessity in bodies, and things kept coming into their bodies and going out of them, first of all there would be born in every one a sensation, one and the same for all, innate, forced upon them by violent affections; second, love, mingled of pleasure and pain; and besides these, fear and spirit, and all [42b] that attend upon them, and all that grow and stand opposed to them by nature. If they mastered these, they would live in justice; mastered by them, in injustice. And whoever lived well through his appointed time would journey back to the dwelling place of his kindred star and have a blessed life lived in its companionship; but whoever failed of this would pass, in the [42c] second birth, into the nature of a woman. And if the wickedness in him did not cease even then, he would keep changing, according to the likeness of the character his way of living had bred in him, into one bestial nature after another of that kind, and he would not be done with changing and his toils until he had drawn into the revolution of the same and like within himself that great mob of things grown up later in him from fire and water and air [42d] and earth, turbulent and irrational, and had mastered them by reason, coming back to the form of the first and best condition. And when he had laid down all these laws for them, that he might be blameless of whatever wickedness should afterward be in each, he sowed some into the earth, some into the moon, and some into the other instruments of time; and after the sowing he handed over to the younger gods the work of molding mortal bodies, and of fashioning what was left over of human soul, as much as still had [42e] to be added, and all that follows from it—and he charged them to rule over it, and to steer the mortal creature as beautifully and as well as their power allowed, save that it must not itself become the cause of evils to itself.

And he, having ordered all these things, abode in his own accustomed character.

Timaeus: And while he abode, his children took note of his ordinance and obeyed it; and receiving the immortal principle of a mortal creature, in imitation of their own maker, they borrowed from the cosmos fire and earth and water and air,

### Stephanus 43

[43a] portions that were to be paid back again; and they fused what they received into one, not with the indissoluble bonds by which they themselves were held, but with pegs so fine and close for their smallness as to be unseen, making out of all one body for each creature; and into this body, such as it was—open to inflow and outflow—they embedded the circuits of the immortal soul. Bound as they were within a great river, the circuits neither mastered nor were mastered, but were borne along and bore things along by force, so that the [43b] whole creature moved indeed, but moved at random, advancing as chance took it and without reason, holding all six motions: forward and backward, again to right and to left, and up and down—wandering in all six directions it went on its way. For the wave that engulfed it and flowed away again, the wave that gave it its food, was great; and the impacts that beset each one stirred up still greater tumult, whenever [43c] a body fell in with some alien fire striking from outside, or with the hard crust of earth, or with the slippery gliding of wet water, or was caught in the tossing of winds driven through the air; and under all these the motions, carried through the body, fell upon the soul—motions which for this reason were afterward named, and are called even now, sensations, all of them together. And at that time, then, producing the greatest and mightiest motion, they, together with the stream that flowed on without end, [43d] shook and violently convulsed the circuits of the soul: against the circle of the same, flowing clean counter to it, they blocked it wholly, and stopped both its ruling and its going; and the circle of the other they shook into turmoil, so that the three distances of the double and of the triple in each, and the means and bonds of the half-again, the third-again, and the eighth-again intervals, being dissoluble in no way save by him who bound them, were twisted into every kind of [43e] turning, and brought every kind of bending and ruin upon the circles, so far as was possible, so that, barely holding to one another, they were borne along indeed, but borne without reason—now in opposition, now aslant, now turned belly up—as when a man lies face up, his head propped on the ground and his feet thrown up against some support: in that state, both to the sufferer and to those who look on, right seems left and left right, each to each.

Timaeus: And when the circuits suffered this and other such things violently,

### Stephanus 44

[44a] whenever they chanced upon something outside belonging to the kind of the same or to the kind of the other, then, calling it the same or the other of something, quite contrary to the truth, they became false and foolish, with no circuit in them then ruling or leading; and when certain sensations, arriving from outside and falling in, dragged after them the whole vessel of the soul, then those circuits, themselves mastered, seemed to be mastering. And because of all these affections the soul becomes, as things now are, [44b] at first without intelligence, whenever it is bound into a mortal body. But when the stream of growth and nourishment runs less, and the circuits, recovering their calm, go upon their own courses and are restored more and more as time advances, then the revolutions, guided toward the shape natural to each of the circles, and calling the other and the same by their right names, make the one who has them become intelligent. If, then, a right nurture of learning also comes to his aid, [44c] he becomes whole and wholly sound, having fled the greatest of diseases; but if he neglects it, he makes his way through life lame, and comes again to Hades unfinished and unintelligent. All this, then, comes to pass later; but the things now set before us must be gone through with more exactness, and those before them—the birth of the body part by part, and of the soul, and by what causes and providences of the gods each came to be—must be traveled through by those holding [44d] to what is most likely, pursuing these things in this same way.

The divine circuits being two, and the shape of the all a sphere, the gods, imitating that round shape, bound them into a spherical body—the thing we now name the head, divinest of all that is in us and master of all the rest; and the gods, gathering all the body together, handed it over to be the head's servant, perceiving that it would share in all the motions there were to be. And that it might not, rolling along the ground with its heights and depths of every kind, be at a [44e] loss now to climb over, now to come down from, they gave it this body as a chariot, and with it a ready means of passage;

Timaeus: And this is why the body came to have length, and why it grew four limbs, stretching out and bending, the god contriving a way of travel; laying hold on these and pushing off against them, it became possible for it to journey through all places,

### Stephanus 45

[45a] carrying the dwelling of the divinest and holiest thing in us high above us. Legs and arms, then, grew attached to all creatures for this reason; and because the gods judged the front more precious and more fit to lead than the back, it was in that direction they granted us the greater part of our going. Man's front, too, had to be set apart and unlike the rest of his body. And so first, about the hollow of the head, setting the face forward there, they embedded instruments [45b] for all the soul's foresight, and ordained that this should be the ruling part, as being by nature in front. And first among the instruments they forged together the light-bearing eyes, binding into them a cause of this kind: of fire, so much of it as does not burn but gives a mild light, kindred to each day, they contrived a body to come to be. For they made the fire within us, being brother to that fire, stream pure through the eyes, smooth and close through the whole, and packed densest [45c] in the middle of the eyes, so that all the coarser part was held back within, and only such fire as this strained through, pure. And whenever the light of day is about the stream of sight, then it falls forth, like to like, and, coming together into one compact body, kindred, it settles along the straightness of the eyes, wherever the thing falling from within braces against what has chanced from without. And everything, being made of like affections through likeness, whenever it touches [45d] this, or anything else touched by it, hands on the motions of these things through the whole body clear to the soul, and so gives rise to that sensation by which, as we say, we see. But when the kindred fire has gone away into night, the stream is cut off; for going out toward the unlike, it is altered and quenched, being no longer akin to the neighboring air, since that air has no fire. And so it ceases to see, and becomes a bringer of sleep instead; for the safeguard the gods contrived for sight, the nature of the [45e] eyelids—when these close together, it shuts in the power of the fire within; and this power spreads and smooths the motions within, and when they are smoothed, quiet comes; and when quiet has grown great, a sleep falls lightly touched with dreams,

Timaeus: And when certain of the greater motions were left behind, of whatever sort, and in whatever places they chanced to remain,

### Stephanus 46

[46a] such and so many images presented themselves, likenesses of the motions formed within, made into remembrances for those who had waked. And about the making of images in mirrors, and in all that is manifest and smooth, there is nothing left hard to make out. For out of the partnership with one another of the fire within and the fire without, and of the smoothness, which each moment takes one form and is refashioned in many ways, [46b] all such things of necessity come to view, the fire about the face growing compact, upon the smooth and bright, with the fire about the sight. And so the left appears as right, because the contact comes about with opposite parts of the sight upon opposite parts, contrary to the established habit of impact; while right appears as right and left as left, the reverse of before, when the light that is joining shifts to what it joins with—[46c] and this happens when the smoothness of the mirror, taking on heights on this side and on that, pushes the right part of the sight toward the left and each toward the other. And when the face is turned along its length, this same thing makes everything appear upside down, thrusting the lower part of the beam toward the upper, and the upper in turn toward the lower.

All these, then, are co-causes which the god uses as serving instruments, working out, so far as is possible, the form of the [46d] best; though most people suppose them not co-causes but causes of all things—cooling, heating, compacting, melting, and producing all such effects—things that in no way can have reason or intelligence. For of the things that are, to soul alone—so it must be said—does it belong to win intelligence; and soul is invisible, while fire and water and earth and air have all come to be visible bodies. And the lover of intelligence and knowledge must of necessity pursue as first [46e] the causes of the intelligent nature, and as second those that come to be when things moved by others move others by necessity. And so must we do likewise: both kinds of causes must be spoken of, and apart from one another—the kinds that with intelligence fashion what is beautiful and good, and those that, bereft of intelligence, at every turn produce what is random and without order.

Timaeus: Let it stand as said, then, that the eyes are co-causes of the power sight has come to hold; but the greatest of their works for our benefit, that for which the god bestowed

### Stephanus 47

[47a] them on us—that must next be told. Sight, then, has become, by my account, the cause of the greatest benefit to us: for none of the accounts now spoken about the whole would ever have been uttered, had we never seen the stars, nor the sun, nor the heaven. But as it is, day and night having been seen, and the months and the circuits of the years, and the equinoxes and the solstices, these have brought forth number, and given us the notion of time, and the inquiry into the nature of the whole; [47b] and from these we have won the harvest of philosophy—and no greater good has come, or will ever come, to the mortal race as a gift from the gods. This, then, I say, is the greatest good the eyes give us; and for the lesser goods, why should any man sing their praises?—the goods whose loss the man who is no philosopher would bewail in vain laments. But let this stand as our account of the cause here: the god devised and gave us sight, that we might behold the circuits of intelligence in the heaven and use them for the revolutions of our own thought within us, which are akin [47c] to those—ours troubled, though theirs stand untroubled—and that, having learned them and come to share in the natural rightness of reckonings, we might imitate the god's utterly unwandering circuits and set our own wanderings within us in order. And of voice and hearing there is again the same account: they were given by the gods for the same ends and the same reasons. For speech is ordained for this purpose above all, contributing the greatest share toward it; and as much again of music [47d] as is given to serve hearing by way of the voice was given for the sake of harmony. And harmony, whose motions are akin to the circuits of the soul within us, was given by the Muses as an ally to the one who uses the Muses with intelligence—not for irrational pleasure, as it now seems to be, but to serve as an ally in setting to order and bringing into concord with itself the circuit of the soul that has come to be discordant in us. And rhythm again, as a helper to the same ends, was given by the same powers, because of the unmeasured condition and want of [47e] grace that comes to be in most of us.

The things said so far, then—except for a few—have shown what was wrought through intelligence; and what comes to be through necessity must also be brought into the account.

Timaeus: For mingled,

### Stephanus 48

[48a] then, was the birth of this world, begotten of necessity joined with the ordering of intelligence. And intelligence ruling over necessity—persuading her to lead most of the things that come to be toward what is best—in this way, and by necessity thus conquered under wise persuasion, this all was put together at the beginning. If, then, anyone is to tell how it truly came to be on these terms, he must mix in also the kind of the wandering cause, and how it is its nature to carry things along. So here again we must [48b] turn back, and, taking up another beginning suited to these things, begin once more from the start, as we did before with the things of that time, so now with these. We must look, then, upon the nature of fire and water and air and earth as it was before the birth of the heaven, and its affections before that time; for no one has yet shown their birth, but we speak as if we knew what fire is and what each of the others is, laying them down as beginnings, the elements, of the whole—a likeness that not even one who has but a little understanding would rightly draw, not even so far as the forms [48c] within a syllable. Let it stand thus with us now, then: of the first principle of all things—whether one calls it one or many, or in whatever way one thinks of them—the present account must not speak; not for any other reason, but because it is hard, in the manner of the present account, to set forth what seems true to me. So do not think I ought to speak of it; nor could I persuade myself that I was setting my hand rightly [48d] to so great a task. But keeping to what was said at the outset—the power of likely accounts—I shall try to speak of each thing and of all no less likely than before, and indeed more likely, from the beginning. And now, at the start of what is to be said, calling upon the god to be our savior and keep us [48e] true to the doctrine of the likely through an account strange and out of the common way, let us once more begin to speak.

And let the beginning again about the whole be divided more greatly than the one before: then we distinguished two kinds; now a third, another kind, must be made plain to us.

Timaeus: Those two were enough for what was said before: one, laid down as the form of the model, intelligible and ever the same; and the copy

### Stephanus 49

[49a] of the model, a second, subject to becoming and visible. A third kind we did not then distinguish, thinking the two would be enough; but now the account, it seems, compels us to attempt to set forth with words a kind that is hard and dim. What, then, having what power and what nature, must we take it to be? Chiefly this: that it is the receptacle of all becoming, as it were its nurse. That much is true as said; but it must be said more clearly—a hard thing [49b], and hard too for this reason, that questions about fire and the things that follow fire must first be raised for its sake. For it is hard to say of each of these what it really is—that this is water rather than fire, or this one rather than any other of them, or all together rather than each in turn—in such a way as to rest upon some trusty and firm account. How, then, and where, and what may we say about them, having raised the questions in the right way? First, then: what we now call water, when it condenses—as we suppose—we see becoming [49c] stone and earth; and when it melts and disperses, this same becomes wind and air; and air, when it is heated along, becomes fire; and fire, on the other hand, when it is drawn together and quenched, passing back again into the form of air, becomes air; and air, coming together and thickening, becomes cloud and mist; and from these, as they are packed together yet more, flowing water; and from water, earth and stones again—and so, as it appears, becoming is handed on in a circle from one to the other. In this way, then, since [49d] none of them ever presents itself as the same, who would not be ashamed of himself, insisting with fixed assurance that any one of them is this, and this something or other, and nothing else? There is none such; but by far the safest course, in laying these down, is to speak thus: whatever we always behold becoming other at other times—as fire—we should address, not this, but in each case the such, as fire; nor this as water, but the such, always; nor any other thing whatever as having some fixedness, of all [49e] that we point to and make known by using the words "this" and "that," supposing we are saying something; for it runs away, not enduring the words "this" and "that," nor "here," nor any phrase that points them out as fixed in being. But of these one should not speak, one by one; rather one should call the such—the ever-turning, like to each thing and to all things—by such names: and so fire, the such that runs through all; and the all, whatever it be that has becoming.

Timaeus: And that in which each of them, ever coming to be, makes its appearance, and from which it again passes away,

### Stephanus 50

[50a] only that thing, in turn, is to be addressed by way of the names 'this' and 'that', while whatever qualified thing it may chance to be—the hot, the white, any of the opposites, and everything made from these—none of these is ever to be used as its name. But here again we must press for still greater clarity about it. If someone were to mold every manner of shape out of gold and, without recasting it, kept remaking each into every other, and someone pointed to one of them and asked [50b] what in truth it was, the safest answer by far, with truth in view, would be to say that it is gold—and never to speak of the triangle, or whatever other shapes had been forming, as things that are, since they shift even while the gold is being posed; and if anyone were willing to accept even such a statement with assurance, we should be content with that. The same account holds for the nature that receives all bodies: it must always be called by the same name, for it never altogether departs from its own power—it always receives all things, and [50c] it has never in any way taken on any form resembling any of the things that enter it. For it is laid beneath all nature like a block ready for the stamp, moved and reshaped by the things that enter it, and through them it appears different at different times. And the things that enter and leave are always copies of the things that are, stamped from them in a manner hard to express and marvelous—a manner to which we will return later. For the present, then, we must conceive three kinds: [50d] that which comes to be, that in which it comes to be, and that from which the coming thing, being copied, grows. And it is right to liken the receiver to a mother, the source to a father, and the nature between these two to their offspring. We must also grasp that it could not be otherwise: if an imprint is going to show all the variety of a variegated form, that very thing in which the imprinting settles must be well prepared for it—except that it be formless, empty of all those forms [50e] it is someday to receive from somewhere. For if it were like any of the things entering it, then whenever it had to receive something of the opposite kind, of an altogether different nature, it would copy it badly, showing its own appearance alongside. And so the thing that is to receive into itself all kinds must of necessity stand outside all forms. Just as in the case of the unguents—all those that men contrive by art to be fragrant, they first make the liquids that are to receive the scents as odorless as they can; and those who undertake to stamp shapes into soft materials let no shape at all be evident in them, but smooth them and make them as smooth as they can be made.

### Stephanus 51

[51a] Timaeus: The same, then, holds also for that which is to receive well, again and again across its whole self, the likenesses of all the things that are forever: it is right that it stand by nature outside all the forms. That is why we should not call the mother and receptacle of the thing that has come to be, the visible and in every way sensible, earth or air or fire or water, nor any of the things that come from these, nor those from which these came to be; but let us say it is a kind invisible and formless, all-receiving, and partaking [51b] in some most perplexing way of the intelligible, the hardest of all things to capture—and we shall not be speaking falsely. And insofar as it is possible, from what has been said, to reach its nature, this is the most correct way to speak of it: that the part of it ablaze at any moment appears as fire, the part moistened as water, and as earth and air insofar as it receives likenesses of these. But we must examine these matters by distinguishing the question more sharply, in an argument of the following kind: is there such a thing as fire itself, existing on its own, and all the things we are forever speaking of in this way, [51c] each of them being in itself—or are the things we see, and all that we perceive through the body, the only things that possess truth of this kind, with nothing else anywhere in any way beside them, so that what we say each time—that there is an intelligible form of each—was said in vain, and that there was nothing there after all but an account? It is not right, then, to leave the question now before us unexamined and unjudged and to insist, as if by force, that we already hold the answer; nor should another stretch of argument [51d] be tacked on midway, as a detour in a long argument; but if some great defining principle could be set out briefly and made plain, that would be the most timely thing of all. This, then, is how I myself cast my vote. If intelligence and true belief are two kinds, then these things exist in themselves absolutely—forms imperceptible to us, grasped by intelligence alone; but if, as it seems to some, true belief differs in nothing from intelligence, then everything we perceive through the body must be set down as most certain. [51e] Of those two, then, we must say why they came to be apart and are unlike. For the one arises in us through teaching, the other through persuasion; the one is always attended by a true account, the other is without account; the one cannot be moved by persuasion, the other can be talked out of; and while we must say that every man partakes of the former, of intelligence the gods partake, and of the race of men but a little.

Timaeus: these things being so,

### Stephanus 52

[52a] we must agree that one kind is that which has the character of the selfsame—unbegotten and indestructible, neither admitting anything into itself from anywhere else nor itself passing anywhere else into anything, invisible and otherwise imperceptible; this is what intelligence has been granted to survey. A second, of like name and like that one, is sensible, begotten, always borne along, coming to be in some place and again perishing out of it, grasped by belief together with perception; and a third, again, is the kind that belongs to place—always being, not admitting destruction, [52b] but providing a seat for all things that have coming-to-be, itself apprehended, without perception, by a kind of bastard reasoning, hardly to be trusted—at the sight of which we play the dreamer and say that everything that is must needs be somewhere, in some place and holding some room, and that what is neither on earth nor anywhere in heaven is nothing at all. And amid all this, and the other things akin to them, about the waking and truly existing nature we are, because of this dreaming, [52c] unable, once awake and distinguishing, to speak the truth: that for an image—since not even that on which it is wrought belongs to the image itself, but it is always the fleeting phantom of something else—for this reason it is proper for the image to come to be in something other, somehow clinging to being; or else it is nothing at all. And for that which really is, the helper is the exactly true account: as long as the one is something other and the other something other, neither ever coming to be [52d] in the other, the two will never at the same time become one and the same and two.

This, then, being the verdict cast by my vote, let the account be handed down in summary: that being and place and coming-to-be existed—three, distinct three ways—before the heaven came to be. And the nurse of coming-to-be, made watery and fiery and receiving the forms of earth and air, and suffering all the affections that attend these, [52e] appeared to sight in every sort of shape; but because it was filled with powers neither alike nor in balance, it had no balance in any part of itself, but swayed unevenly in every direction, itself shaken by them, and in its turn, as it moved, shook them in return.

Timaeus: and the other moving things were ever carried each in a different direction as they were sorted apart, like the things shaken and

### Stephanus 53

[53a] winnowed by the winnowing fans and the implements used for cleansing grain—the dense and heavy settling in one place, the rare and light coming to rest in another as they were carried; at that time, then, the four kinds, shaken by the receiver as it moved like an implement giving the shake, drew off: the most unlike marking their bounds farthest from one another, the most like driven most into the same place; and for this reason each kind held a different region even before the whole came to be ordered out of them. Before this, all these things had existed without reason and without measure. [53b] But when the whole set out to be ordered, fire first and water and earth and air—possessing, to be sure, some traces of themselves, yet altogether in the state in which everything naturally is when a god is absent—in that state, then, he first marked them out, as they were by nature, with forms and numbers. That the god joined them together, as best and most beautifully was possible, out of things in such a state—let this stand as the premise always granted among us; but now we must attempt to set forth the ordering of each kind and its coming-to-be [53c] by an account unfamiliar to you; yet since you share in the courses of education through which one must make what is said plain, you will follow along.

First, that fire and earth and water and air are bodies is evident to everyone; but the form of body has depth in every case. And depth, in turn, must of necessity be everywhere enclosed by the plane surface; and the plane's true base is put together from triangles. All triangles, in turn, begin from [53d] two triangles, each having one right angle and the rest of its angles acute: of these, one has on either side an equal part of a right angle divided by equal sides; the other has unequal parts of a right angle divided by unequal sides. This, then, we posit as the principle of fire and of the other bodies, proceeding along the likely account joined to necessity; but the principles still prior to these the god knows, and the men who are his friends. We must next say what kinds of most beautiful bodies [53e] would come to be, four in number, unlike one another, yet such that some can come to be out of others by their dissolution—for once we have this, we hold the truth about the coming-to-be of earth and fire and the proportionate kinds between them. For this much we will concede to no one: that visible bodies finer than these could exist, each kind being what it is. This, then, is what we must strive for: to fit together the four kinds of bodies that differ in beauty, and to say that we have adequately grasped their nature.

### Stephanus 54

[54a] Timaeus: Of the two triangles, the isosceles has taken one nature; the oblong one, kinds without limit. So we must choose, in turn, the most beautiful of the unlimited ones, if we are to make a beginning in the right way. If anyone has a finer choice to name for their construction, he—as a friend, not an enemy—wins the day; but we take as the most beautiful of the many triangles one alone, passing over the rest: the one out of which the equilateral triangle was put together in thirds. [54b] Why this is so would take a longer account; but for whoever tests it and finds it to be indeed so, friendly prizes lie laid up. Let it then be settled that two triangles were chosen, out of which the body of fire and the bodies of the rest were devised: the one isosceles, the other always having the greater of its sides triple in square of the lesser. What was said before obscurely must now be marked off more precisely. The four kinds, then, seemed all to have their coming-to-be through one another—an appearance not correct: for the four kinds come to be from [54c] the triangles we chose, three of them from the one that has unequal sides, while the fourth alone was fitted together from the isosceles triangle. So it is not possible for all of them, dissolving into one another, to become few and large from many and small, and the reverse; but the three can. For since all of them are by nature from one triangle, when the larger are dissolved, many small ones will be formed out of those same triangles, taking on the shapes proper to them; and when small ones, again, are many and scattered into [54d] the triangles, they become one number of one mass and can complete one other large kind. Let this much, then, have been said about their generation into one another; but of what sort each came to be in shape, and out of how many numbers falling together, it would be next in order to say. The beginning will be the first and smallest form constructed; its element is the triangle that has its hypotenuse double the shorter side in length. And when two such are joined along the diagonal, and this is done [54e] three times, the diagonals and the short sides being brought to rest on the same point as center, one equilateral triangle has come to be out of six in number.

Timaeus: and equilateral triangles, when four come together with every three plane angles, make one solid

### Stephanus 55

[55a] angle, one that arises next in succession to the bluntest of the plane angles. When four such have been completed, the first solid kind is constructed—one that distributes the whole circumference into equal and like parts. The second comes from the same triangles, put together as eight equilateral triangles, each set of four planes producing one solid angle; and when six such had come to be, the second body in its turn thus found its end. The third came to be from twice sixty of the elements compacted together, [55b] with twelve solid angles, each enclosed by five equilateral triangular planes, and twenty bases of equilateral triangles. And the other of the two elements was dismissed, having begotten these; but the isosceles triangle begat the nature of the fourth, constructed in fours, gathering its right angles to the center and making one equilateral square; and six such, [55c] compacted together, produced eight solid angles, each fitted together from three right plane angles; and the shape of the body constructed came out cubic, having six square plane bases with equal sides. There being still one fifth construction, the god used it for the whole, working it over with figures.

Someone reckoning all this in due measure might here be at a loss whether one must say there are unlimited worlds or a limited number: the [55d] unlimited ones he would judge, in truth, to be the doctrine of some science of the unlimited, in which one must be expert; but whether it is ever right to say that they are in truth by nature one or five—standing at that question he would more fittingly be in perplexity. Our account, then, declares it to be by nature one—a god—in accordance with the likely account; another man, having looked elsewhere toward other things, will judge otherwise. But let this be set aside, and let us now distribute in the account the kinds that have come to be into fire and earth and water and air. To earth, then, let us give the cubic kind: [55e] for earth is the most immobile of the four kinds and the most plastic of bodies, and the thing that has the safest bases must of all things have come to be such; and the base that is safer by nature, of the triangles posited at the start, is that of the equal-sided over that of the unequal-sided, and the plane composed from each—the equilateral from the equilateral triangle, the square from the right-angled one—stands more firmly of necessity, both in its parts and as a whole.

Timaeus: for this reason

### Stephanus 56

[56a] in assigning this to earth we preserve the likely account; to water, in turn, of the remaining kinds the hardest to move; the easiest to move, to fire; the middle, to air. And the smallest body to fire, the largest again to water, and the middle to air; and the sharpest again to fire, the second to air, the third to water. All these, then—the one with the fewest bases must be by nature the easiest to move, [56b] the most cuttable and the sharpest of all in every way, and further the lightest, composed of the fewest of the same parts; the second, second in these same qualities; and the third, third. So let it be, by the correct account and the likely one, that the solid kind of the pyramid, having come to be, is the element and seed of fire; the second kind, in order of generation, let us say is air's, and the third water's. All these, then, must be conceived as so small that [56c] no single one of each kind is ever seen by us because of its smallness, but when many are massed together their bulk is seen; and that the proportions in their numbers, their movements, and all their other powers were everywhere fitted by the god—wherever the willing nature of necessity, persuaded, gave way, there throughout, completed with exactness by him, they were joined together in proportion.

Of all the kinds we named at the outset, then, this is how things would stand [56d] most according to the likely account. Earth, meeting with fire and dissolved by its sharpness, would drift along—whether dissolved in the fire itself or chancing to fall into a mass of air or of water—until its parts, meeting somewhere and again fitted to themselves, became earth once more, for it could never pass into any other kind. But water, divided by fire, or even by air, could come to be, as it was formed, one body of fire and two [56e] of air; and the portions of air, when one part is dissolved, would become two bodies of fire. And again, when fire is hemmed in by air, or by waters, or by some earth—a little amid much, moving amid what is carried along, and fighting and being overpowered and broken to pieces—two bodies of fire combine into one kind of air; and when air is overpowered and cut into pieces, from two wholes and a half there will be one whole, compacted kind of water.

Timaeus: for let us now reckon these again in this way—how, when taken in fire, of the

### Stephanus 57

[57a] when a kind of the others is cut by it through the sharpness of its angles and its sides, it ceases being cut once it has settled into that one's nature — for each kind, like and the same as itself, can neither implant any change in another nor suffer any from a thing that remains the same in the same way — while so long as, becoming something else and being the weaker, it battles with the stronger, it does not stop being broken apart. And again, when the smaller kinds, enclosed [57b] by many larger ones and few in number, are shattered and quenched, they cease being quenched, willing as they are to compose themselves into the form of what prevails over them; and as they are quenched, fire becomes air, and air water. But if it moves against them and battles with some of the other kinds as they gather, it does not cease being broken apart until either, driven hard and utterly dissolved, it escapes to its kindred, or, defeated, it becomes one out of many, resembling the victor, and remains as that one's settled dweller. And by such affections as these all of them change their regions; [57c] for the multitudes of each kind stand apart in a place of their own, because of the motion of the receiving thing, while the things that are unlike themselves at each moment and like others are carried, by the shaking, toward the place of those to which they have become like.

So much, then, for the bodies that are unmixed and primary, and the causes of such a kind through which they came to be. But the other kinds that have grown into their forms must be credited to the structure of each of the elements — [57d] in that it planted at the beginning not one size of each triangle only, but smaller and larger ones as well, and in a number just as great as the kinds there are in the forms. That is why, as they mix both with themselves and with one another, their variety is beyond counting; and those who mean to reason about nature with a likely account must become observers of it.

About motion and rest, then — in what manner and through what they come to be — unless someone settles the matter by agreement, many things will stand in the way [57e] of the reasoning that comes after. What has been said about them already, and in addition to that this further point: that motion is never willing to reside in uniformity. For the thing moved to be without the mover, or the mover without the thing moved, is hard — rather, impossible; and there is no motion when these are absent, while it is impossible for these ever to be uniform.

Timaeus: In this way, then, let us set rest in uniformity and motion, always, into

### Stephanus 58

[58a] irregularity. The cause, in turn, is the unevenness of the irregular nature. We have gone through how inequality comes to be; but how each kind, once separated out by kind, ever ceases from its motion and carrying through one another — that we have not said. Here, then, is how we shall put it. The revolution of the whole, once it had taken in the kinds, being rounded like a circle and inclined by its own nature to draw in upon itself, squeezes everything and allows no empty region to be left behind. That is why [58b] fire has spread through everything most of all, air second, as being second in fineness by nature, and the rest in that same ratio; for the things made of the largest parts have left the greatest emptiness in their structure, and the smallest the least. The coming together of the packing, then, drives the small into the gaps of the great. And so, with the small set in among the great, the lesser sorting out the larger and the larger compacting the lesser together, all things are carried up and down toward their own places; [58c] for as each thing changes its size, it changes its station among places too. In this way, through these causes, the coming-to-be of unevenness, preserved forever, provides that the motion of these things has been, is, and will be unending.

After this we must understand that many kinds of fire have come to be — for instance flame, and that which goes out from the flame, which does not burn but gives light to the eyes, and that which is left of it [58d] among the embers when the flame is put out; and in the same way with air: the clearest has taken the special name ether, the murkiest is mist and darkness, and there are other forms without names, all begotten by the inequality of the triangles. The kinds of water were divided first in two: the liquid, and the fusible kind of it. The liquid, because it partakes of the small and unequal kinds of water, has come to be mobile, both of itself and under something else, through its unevenness and the look of its shape; while that [58e] made of large and uniform parts is more stationary than it, and heavy, congealed by its very uniformity. But when fire enters and dissolves it, it loses that uniformity, and, having lost it, takes on more motion; and grown easy to move, pushed and stretched out over the earth by the air beside it, it took for the stripping away of its masses the name melting, and for its flowing down upon the earth the name stream — each affection so named for what it suffered.

### Stephanus 59

[59a] Timaeus: Again, when the fire falls out of it at once — since it does not go into an empty void — the air next at hand, being pushed, drives the liquid mass, still easy to move, into the places the fire has left, shoving it there and mixing itself with it; and the mass, pushed together, takes back its uniformity again — the fire, that maker of unevenness, having gone its way — and returns to the same state as before. And the departure of the fire was named cooling, and the coming together, once that has gone, congealing. Of all these [59b] waters we have called fusible, the kind that becomes densest out of the finest and most uniform particles, single in form, tinged with a gleaming yellow color — filtered through rock — settled as gold, the most precious of possessions; and the branch of gold, hardest through its density and grown dark, was called adamant. But the kind near to gold in its parts, holding several forms in one, and in density — being denser than gold — also taking a small and fine portion of earth, so as to be harder, yet lighter [59c] because it has great gaps within itself — one kind of the bright and congealed waters, when it compacted, became copper; and the earth mingled with it, whenever the two grow old and part from one another again, becoming conspicuous by itself, is called rust. As for the rest of such things, one who pursues the form of the likely stories should not trouble to reason out any more of their variations — the form that, when someone for refreshment's sake sets aside the accounts about what is, which are always the same, and contemplates instead the likely ones [59d] about becoming, wins a pleasure that can never be regretted, if he makes it a pastime of his life at once measured and wise. In this spirit, then, let us set down what we have now and go on to what is next and likely concerning these same things, in this way. The water mixed with fire, insofar as it is fine and liquid through its motion and the path it takes rolling over the earth, is called liquid; and soft, again, in that its bases yield while being less firmly seated than those of earth. When this, having parted from the fire, is isolated from the air, [59e] it has grown more uniform, and is pressed in upon itself by what departs from it; and so congealed, the part that suffered this most above the earth became hail, and the part upon the earth, crystal; while the part affected more gently, still half-congealed, became above the earth snow, and upon the earth, compacted out of dew, is called hoarfrost.

Timaeus: The most numerous kinds of water, mixed with one another — the kind as a whole,

### Stephanus 60

[60a] strained through the plants of the earth and called juices — each kind, taking on an unlikeness through its mixtures — most of the rest have provided many nameless kinds; but as many as were four fiery kinds, becoming the most translucent, have taken names: that which warms the soul along with the body, wine; that which is smooth and sorts out sight, and therefore shows bright and gleaming and richly oily to behold — the oily kind: pitch, and castor, and oil itself, and whatever else has the same power; [60b] and insofar as its diffusion reaches all the way into the nature of the gatherings about the mouth, providing sweetness by that power, honey took the name most universal of all; while the kind that dissolves flesh by burning, the frothy kind, separated off from all the juices, was named opos.

The kinds of earth: that which is filtered through water becomes a stony body in this way. When the water mingled with it is cut away in the mingling, it has changed into the form of air; and becoming [60c] air, it streams up to its own place. Now none of it left a void behind; so it pushed the air beside it. And that air, heavy as it is, pressed and poured around the mass of earth, squeezed it hard and packed it together into the seats from which the new air had risen; and earth, squeezed by the air together with the water into an unbreakable union, comes to be rock — the finer when its parts are equal, uniform, and translucent, the meaner when the opposite. And when all the moisture has been snatched out by the speed of fire [60d] and it has compacted more crumbly than that, the kind arose to which we have given the name earthenware. But sometimes, when some moisture is left behind, the earth becomes fusible, and when it is cooled after passing through the fire it turns into a stone of black color. Two others, again, formed alike in these ways — out of a mingling in which much water was set apart, and out of the finer parts of earth, both briny — when they had become half-congealed and were loosened again by water: the one, the kind that cleanses oil and earth, became natron; the other, well fitted in the unions [60e] that belong to the sense of taste about the mouth, became the body of salt, dear to the gods, in due measure [by law]. The common compounds made from both are not dissolved by water, but by fire; in such a way do they compact. Fire and air do not melt the masses of earth: for the parts of these are by nature smaller than the gaps of its structure, and passing through its wide open spaces without forcing, they leave it undissolved and so present it unmelted; but the parts of water, since they are by nature larger, force their passage through, and dissolving it, melt it.

Timaeus: Earth

### Stephanus 61

[61a] when compact and unyielding, only water dissolves by force in this way, and of what has compacted together nothing dissolves it but fire; for an entrance has been left open to none but fire. Of water, again, in its compacted form, the most violently compacted only fire disperses, and the more weakly compacted both — fire and air — disperse, fire through the gaps, air even through the triangles; and of air compacted by force nothing dissolves it except at its element, while without force only fire melts it. Of the mixed bodies made of earth and water: so long as [61b] the water in them holds the earth's gaps, packed in there by force, the parts of water coming at them from outside, having no way in, flow around the whole mass and leave it unmelted; but the parts of fire, entering into the gaps of the waters, doing to [the air] what water does to earth, have turned out to be the only causes of the common body's flowing once it has been melted through. And these, it turns out, are of two sorts: those having less water than earth — the whole genus about glass [61c] and all the kinds called fusible stones; and those having more water, again — all the waxlike and combustible bodies that compact together.

And so the kinds, diversified by their shapes and by their combinations and changes into one another, have been all but fully displayed; but we must attempt to bring to light the affections they undergo and the causes through which these have come to be. First, then, sensation must always attend the things we have been naming; but the coming-to-be of flesh and of the things about the flesh, and of the soul in its mortal part, we have not yet gone through. And it happens that these cannot adequately be treated apart [61d] from the affections that are objects of sensation, nor can those be treated without these — while to do both at once is almost impossible. So we must lay down one side first, and come back around again to what has been laid down. That the affections, then, may be told next after the coming-to-be, let what concerns body and soul be first for us. First, then, as to why we call fire hot, let us look at it here, considering the separation and cutting of it about our body, [61e] once we have conceived what it does. For that the affection is something keen, we almost all perceive;

Timaeus: but the fineness of the sides and the sharpness of the angles, the smallness of the parts and the swiftness of the motion — with all of which it is violent and cutting, ever cutting sharply whatever it

### Stephanus 62

[62a] meets, must be reckoned out by calling to mind the coming-to-be of its shape: that it is this nature above all, and no other, which, dividing us and cutting our bodies into small pieces, has rightly given both the affection and the name to what we now call hot. The opposite of these things is plain enough, yet let it lack nothing of an account. For the parts of the fluids about the body that enter with larger parts, pushing out the smaller and unable to slip into their seats, crowd together the moisture in us [62b] — which, from uneven and moving, becomes still through uniformity — and working a packing together, they congeal it; and what is being gathered against nature fights with what is natural in itself, thrusting itself toward the opposite. From this battle and this quaking were named trembling and shivering, and the whole affection, and the agent of it, took the name cold. And hard is whatever our flesh yields to, and soft whatever yields to our flesh; and so also with one another. A thing yields only as far as what steps upon it is small; while the one built [62c] of square bases, since it is planted very deep, is the most resisting of forms, and whatever comes together into the greatest density is strongest in opposition. But heavy and light, examined together with the nature of what is called down and of what is called up, would be shown most clearly. For it is nowhere right to suppose that there are by nature two places, taking in the whole divided in two and opposite to one another — one, down, toward which everything that has any bulk of body is carried, the other, up, toward which everything comes against its will; for since the whole heaven [62d] is spherical, the things that have come to be at equal distances from the center are all extremities, and they must all alike have the nature of extremities, while the center, standing the same measure from the extremities, must be thought to be opposite to all of them. Since the cosmos has this nature, would not anyone who sets up or down for the things we have mentioned seem, with justice, to be using a name that fits nothing? For the middle region of it, having by nature neither down nor up, has a right to be called neither — only the middle; and the region about it is neither the middle, nor does it hold one part of itself more directly opposite the center than another — than any of the parts across from it. And for what is by nature alike in every direction, what contrary names could anyone apply, and where, and think he spoke well?

Timaeus: For if some solid thing were at the center of the

### Stephanus 63

[63a] whole, evenly balanced, it would never be carried toward any of the extremities, because of their perfect likeness in every direction; and even if someone walked about it in a circle, he would often stand at its antipodes and call the same part of it now down, now up. For the whole, being spherical — as was just now said — for a man of sense to speak of one region of it as down and another as up is not the act of a sound mind. But from what these things were named, and in what circumstances we are accustomed, because of them, to divide the whole heaven in this way [63b] and speak so — this must be settled by agreement among those who accept these premises of ours. If someone were to step into that region of the whole in which the nature of fire had its lot, where the greatest part of it would be gathered and toward which it is carried, and, standing upon it with power over it, were to lift out portions of the fire, setting them in scales, raising the beam and dragging the fire into the alien air by force — it is clear [63c] that the lesser would be forced more easily than the greater; for when two things are raised at once by a single strength, the smaller follows the force more, the larger less, as it is necessarily stretched and pulled along; and the much was to be called heavy and borne downward, the small light and borne up. This very thing, then, we ourselves must be caught doing in this region. For standing on the earth, we pry apart the earthy kinds — sometimes the very earth itself — and drag them by force into the alien air, against nature, both of them held fast by their [63d] kindred; and when we force them into the unlike, the smaller follows sooner than the larger; so we have called it light, and the place into which we force it, up; and the affection opposite to these, heavy and down. These things, then, must of necessity stand in this varied relation to one another, because the multitudes of the kinds occupy places opposite to one another — for what is heavy in one place will be found light [63e] in the opposite place, and heavy against the heavy, down against the down, and up against the up — all of them opposed and oblique and in every way different from one another, both in coming to be and in being — but this one thing must be conceived about all of them: that the road toward the kindred, being the road each thing takes, makes what is carried heavy, and the place toward which such a thing is carried, down; while the things standing otherwise than these stand each as the other of the two. About these affections, then, let these be the causes that have been spoken.

Timaeus: And the cause of the affection of smooth and rough anyone at all could discern and be able to tell to another; for hardness mixed with unevenness, and the

### Stephanus 64

[64a] evenness is provided by density.

And the greatest of the affections common to the whole body that still remains is the cause of pleasant and painful things, which we covered when we drew those distinctions, together with those affections which through the body's parts have acquired the senses, and hold within themselves pains and, at the same time, pleasures that follow upon them. Let us take the causes on these lines for every affection, sensible or insensible, recalling that earlier we distinguished the nature [64b] easily moved and the nature hard to move; for along this road we must pursue everything we intend to take. What is by nature easy to move, whenever even a slight affection falls into it, passes it around in a circle, each part working the same effect on the next, until, arriving at the seat of intelligence, it reports the power of the thing that caused it; while the opposite kind, being settled, travels through no circle but suffers alone, [64c] and moves none of its neighbors, so that, because the parts hand nothing on from one to another, the first affection stays unmoved within them and, spreading through the whole creature, leaves what suffered it without any feeling. Such are the bones and the hair, and whatever other parts in us are mostly earth; the opposite holds above all in what lies forward, about sight and hearing, because the power of fire and air in them is greatest. Pleasure and pain, then, must be conceived on this pattern: the affection that comes to be against nature and [64d] by force, all at once, is painful; the return into nature, again all at once, is pleasant; what comes gently and by little degrees passes unfelt, and the opposite case is the opposite of these. Whatever happens with ease is perceptible in the highest degree, yet partakes of neither pain nor pleasure—like the affections of sight itself, that body which, we said earlier, comes to be conjoined with us day by day. Through it, cuttings and burnings and whatever else it suffers produce no pains, nor [64e] pleasures when it returns again to the same state; yet its perceptions are the greatest and the clearest, both in whatever it undergoes and in whatever it touches, reaching out toward anything at all—for there is no violence at all in its dividing and its combining.

Timaeus: Bodies built of larger parts, though, give way reluctantly to what acts on them, and while they carry the motions through their whole extent they meet pleasures and pains, estranged

### Stephanus 65

[65a] in their pains, and, restored once more to the same state, in their pleasures. Whatever has received its withdrawals and emptyings in small degrees, but its refillings all at once and in large measure—becoming insensible to the emptying while perceptive of the filling—gives the mortal part of the soul no pain, but the greatest pleasures; the case of sweet smells shows this plainly. And whatever is estranged all at once, and returns to its own state [65b] again with difficulty and by little and little, gives back the opposite in everything; these are the plain cases of burnings and cuttings of the body.

So much, then, is nearly said of the affections common to the whole body, and of as many of the names as have arisen for those who undergo them. The affections that arise in our own particular parts, and the causes in the things that act, we must now try to describe as far as [65c] we can. First, then, what we left unsaid earlier in speaking of the juices—affections proper to the tongue—must be brought to light as best we can. These too, like most things, appear to come about through certain combinations and separations, and to make rather more use than the rest of roughness and smoothness. Whatever enters the little veins—the tongue's testing vessels, as it were, [65d] stretched toward the heart—and falling into the moist, tender earthen parts of the flesh dissolves them, draws the veins together and dries them: being rougher, these appear as astringent; those that roughen less, as harsh. And those that cleanse these and rinse the whole tongue—doing this beyond due measure, and laying on until they melt away its very nature, like the power of lye [65e]—have all been named bitter; while the weaker kinds, below the lye-like state, which cleanse up to the moderate degree, are salty, without rough bitterness, and show themselves the more welcome to us.

Timaeus: And whatever shares the heat of the mouth and is ground down by it, heated with it and in turn heating back what warms it, then carried by its lightness up to the seat of sensation in the head, and cutting

### Stephanus 66

[66a] whatever it falls upon—by these powers everything of the kind has been called pungent. But what has first been thinned by decay, and then slips into the narrow veins, meeting the earthen parts lodged there and whatever hold a measure of air, so that, set moving about one another, they churn, and churning tumble about, and entering into one another carve out hollows, stretched taut by what enters—[66b] which, when a moist shell has been wrapped round hollow air, now earthy, now pure, become moist vessels of air, hollow and round; and those of the pure kind, coming round transparent, were given the name of bubbles, while those of the earthy kind, moved and lifted up all together, took the byname of seething and leavening—the cause of these affections has been called acid. To everything said on this subject, [66c] the opposite affection comes from an opposite cause: whenever what enters in the moist things, being by nature akin to the tongue's own state, anoints what has been roughened and smooths it, gathers what has been unnaturally packed together, releases what has been scattered, and above all settles everything into its nature by sweat—such a remedy of violent affections, grown pleasant and welcome to all, is called sweet. [66d]

So much for these. About the power of the nostrils, there are no kinds in it. For the whole tribe of smells is half-born, and no simple kind has chanced upon a symmetry with anything such that it could take up a smell; but the veins about these organs of ours were framed narrower toward the kinds of earth and water, wider toward those of fire and air, and so none of them has ever perceived any smell of any of these: smells arise only from things being moistened, or decaying, or melting, or given off as vapor. For as [66e] water changes into air and air into water, smells come to be in the interval between them; all smells together are smoke or mist—mist is what goes from air into water, smoke what goes from water into air. Hence all smells together have come to be finer than water, denser than air.

Timaeus: They make themselves felt, too, when someone stops his breath the other way and drags the air forcibly into himself; for then no smell filters in with it, and the breath, robbed of smells, alone

### Stephanus 67

[67a] follows. Hence these variations of theirs have come to be nameless—not arising from many kinds, nor from simple ones—and here only the pleasant and the painful show themselves plainly, spoken of in two ways: the one roughening and doing violence to the whole cavity within us, as much of us as lies between the crown of the head and the navel; the other soothing this same region and giving it back, gratefully, to its natural state.

Examining the third sensitive region in us, about [67b] hearing, we must say by what causes its affections occur. Let us define voice, in general, as the blow passed through the ears by air, brain and blood, clear to the soul; and hearing as the motion this blow sets up, beginning at the head and ending at the seat of the liver: so much of it as is swift makes the sound high, so much as slower makes it deep; the uniform is smooth and level, its opposite rough; [67c] what is much is loud, its opposite small. Of their consonance with one another we must speak in what comes later.

A fourth sensitive kind still remains for us, which we must divide—it holds many varieties within itself. All of them we called colors: a flame streaming off each of the bodies, its particles matched in scale to sight for perception; and of sight's coming to be, the causes were told earlier. [67d] Here then, about colors, above all, a fair account ought to make its way through in order: the particles traveling from other bodies and falling upon sight are some smaller, some larger, some equal to the parts of sight itself. The equal are imperceptible—these are what we call transparent; the larger and the smaller, the one combining sight, the other dividing it, are brothers to [67e] the hot and the cold about our flesh, the astringent about the tongue, and the kinds we named pungent for their heating: white and black are these same affections come to be in another kind, yet appearing different through these causes.

Timaeus: So they should be named: what divides sight is white; its opposite, black; and the swifter current of another kind of fire, which falls upon and divides sight clear to the eyes, and the very outflows of the eyes

### Stephanus 68

[68a] thrusting them out violently and melting them, pouring from there a mass of fire and of water—which we call tears—while itself being fire meeting them from the opposite side: of the fire leaping out, as it were from a lightning flash, and of the kind entering and being quenched about the moisture, colors of every sort arise in this churning—the affection we named a flash, and what it brings about we called bright and gleaming. [68b] The kind of fire between these two, again, that reaches the moisture of the eyes and mingles with it, without gleaming, while the radiance of fire mingles with it through the moisture and gives it a blood-warm color—this we call red. Bright mixed with red and with white has become yellow; and in what measure, and with what—even if one knew, it makes no sense to say—since of these one could give neither any necessity nor the likely account, even in moderation. Red, though, [68c] mixed with black and white makes purple; and dusky-dark when, with these mingled and burned as well, more black is blended in. Flame-red comes from the mixture of yellow and gray; gray from white and black; pale yellow from white mingled with yellow. White meeting bright, and then falling headlong into dark, makes a deep blue; blue mixed with white, sea-green; flame-red with black, leek-green. As for the rest, [68d] they would be nearly clear from these, for anyone who likened them to the mixtures by which they would keep the likely story. But if anyone, probing these things in deed, took such a touchstone, he would be blind to how far human nature stands from divine: god is at once wise enough and strong enough to blend the many into one and again to dissolve the one into the many, while no man is capable of either, now or ever after. [68e]

All these things, then, so constituted by necessity, the craftsman of the fairest and the best took up as they were in the things coming to be, when he begot the self-sufficient and most perfect god: using those causes as serving instruments, while he himself crafted the good in everything that comes to be.

Timaeus: For this reason we must distinguish two kinds of cause, the necessary and the divine, and seek the divine in all things

### Stephanus 69

[69a] for the sake of gaining a blessed life, so far as our nature admits; the necessary for the sake of those others, reckoning that without them those very things—the only ones our striving is set on—can neither be discerned, nor gained, nor shared in any other way.

Now that the kinds of cause have been sifted clean and lie beside us builders like timber, out of which the remaining part of our account must be woven, let us go back for a moment to the starting point and travel quickly to the same spot we came here from, [69b] and try to set upon what came before an ending that fits—a head for the story. For as was said at the beginning, these things, then in disorder, god brought into order: in each of them, toward itself and toward the others, he wrought all the symmetries that were possible, and wherever it was possible, proportionate and measured. At that time they had no share in any of this except by chance, nor was anything of what is now named worth naming at all—fire, water, or any of the rest; but all these [69c] he first set in order, and then out of them framed this whole: one living creature holding within it all living things, mortal and immortal. Of the divine he himself became the maker; the birth of the mortal kind he charged his own offspring to fashion. And they, imitating him, received from him the deathless beginning of a soul, and then molded around it a mortal body, gave it the whole body for a vehicle, and built within it another kind of soul, the mortal kind, holding within it dreadful and necessary [69d] affections: first pleasure, the greatest lure of evil; then pains, that chase the good away; and again boldness and fear, two counselors without sense; spirit, hard to console; and hope, easy to lead astray. Mixing these with irrational sensation and with desire that dares anything, they made up the mortal kind of necessity. And on this account, in awe of staining the divine—since necessity did not lie wholly with them—they housed the mortal apart from it, in [69e] another dwelling of the body, building an isthmus and a boundary between head and breast, setting the neck between, that they might be separate; and in the breast, and what is called the chest, they lodged the mortal kind of soul.

Timaeus: And since in that soul the better part and the worse had grown up together, they built the cavity of the chest in two, dividing it, as it were

### Stephanus 70

[70a] into a dwelling for women, and one for men apart, and setting the midriff between them as a partition wall. The part of soul that shares in courage and spirit, being fond of victory, they settled nearer the head, between midriff and neck, so that, hearing the word of reason, it might with it hold down by force the tribe of appetites, whenever these would in no way willingly obey the command and the word from the citadel. And the heart, [70b] as the knot of the veins and the spring of the blood that courses violently through all the limbs, they established in that escort's quarters, so that when the fury of spirit boiled up, and reason sent round word that some wrong was being done from without, or that some desire from within was at work, all that is sensitive in the body, perceiving the encouragements and the threats swiftly through all the narrow channels, might become obedient and follow everywhere, and so let what is best rule [70c] over them all. Foreseeing, too, from the heart's leap in expectation of fears and the upsurge of spirit, that all such swelling was to come about through fire in the heated, and contriving its relief, they planted the form of the lung: soft and bloodless first, then riddled within with passages like the holes of a sponge, so that, taking in breath and damp, [70d] and cooling, it might give breath and relief amid the heat. For this reason they cut channels from the windpipe to the lung, and set the lung about the heart like a poultice, so that when spirit burns at its height in the heart, it may leap into this yielding, be soothed and cooled, strain less, and serve reason the better with its spirit.

And the part of soul that desires food and drink, and whatever else it feels the want of through the body's nature, this they [70e] settled in the region between the midriff and the boundary toward the navel, building in all that place, as it were, a manger for the food of the body; and there they tethered such a creature—wild, yet of necessity fastened and fed there, if ever the mortal kind was to exist at all.

Timaeus: So that it might feed forever at its manger and dwell as far as might be from the place of counsel, making the least tumult and outcry,

### Stephanus 71

[71a] so that it might deliberate there best, in quiet, about what is good for all in common and for each in particular—for this reason they gave it that station. Knowing, though, that it would never follow reason, and that even if it somehow took in some share of sensation, no care for reason would ever be born in it, while night and day it would be most of all beguiled by images and phantoms, god for its sake contrived the form of the liver [71b] and set it in that creature's dwelling: he made it dense and smooth and bright and sweet, with a share of bitterness contrived within it, so that the power that travels from the mind through the thoughts, in this organ as in a mirror that receives impressions and lets it see the images, might frighten it—whenever, using its kindred part of bitterness, a grim threat sweeps in, steeping the whole liver sharply through with choleric colors, crumpling and roughening all of it, [71c] bending down the lobe and coiling shut its channels and gates, blocking some and closing others, and so deal out pains and sicknesses; while when again gentler images are painted there by a breath of mildness from the thoughts, quieting the bitterness by refusing to move against or lay hold of the nature opposed to it, and using the sweetness native to it there, and setting everything in it [71d] straight and smooth and free, it might make the soul's portion housed about the liver gracious and of good cheer, keeping in the night a moderate diversion, practicing divination in sleep, since it had no share in reason or understanding. For the framers of us, remembering the father's letter, when he sent forth the mortal kind with the charge to make it as excellent as they were able, so far succeeded that in this place they set the oracle even of our worse part, [71e] that it might touch truth in some fashion. And here is proof enough that god gave prophecy to human folly: no one in his right senses touches inspired and true divination—but only when the power of understanding is fettered in sleep, or wasted by sickness, or thrown off key by some possession.

Timaeus: But it belongs to the sound-minded to see the meaning of what has been said, calling to mind the dream or the waking vision handed over by the prophetic and inspired nature, and whatever apparitions

### Stephanus 72

[72a] appear: to divide everything by reason—what it signifies, and for whom, of evil or good still to come, already past, or now present. For the seer, while he remains in that state, to pass judgment on the things seen and spoken through himself is no part of his work; but the good old saying holds, that to do one's own, and to know one's own and oneself, belongs to the sound-minded alone. Hence too the law sets judges over [72b] the inspired oracles. Some, wholly in the dark, call these judges seers themselves, not grasping that they are proclaimers of a riddling voice and vision, and no seers at all: prophets of the things divined is the name they would bear most rightly.

Such, then, is the nature of the liver, and such the place where, as we say, it grew—for the sake of divination; and while each creature still lives, it yields its signs more plainly, but robbed of life it has gone blind, and its oracles too faint [72c] to show anything clearly. And the frame and seat of its neighbor, the spleen, came to be on the left for the liver's sake, to keep it always bright and clean—a tablet, as it were, made ready like a mirror and lying forever beside it. Hence, too, whenever impurities gather about the liver through bodily diseases, the spleen, cleansing them all away, takes them into its own frenzy, being woven hollow and bloodless; [72d] and so, filled with what is purged off, it swells great and humped, and then, when the body is cleansed, sinks low and settles back into its place.

Of the soul, then—what in it is mortal, what divine, and where, and with what, and for what reasons it was housed apart—as to the truth of what has been said, we could insist on it alone and absolutely then, if god himself gave his nod; but the likely account is what we have, and we must run the risk of saying so now, and say it all the more boldly as we look at it again, and let it be said and stand. [72e] What follows next must be pursued on the same plan: what remained over of the body, and the way it came to be. Out of reasoning of this kind, it would best become it to have been put together.

Timaeus: The framers of our kind knew the unmeasured appetite there would be in us for drink and food, and that through greed we would spend ourselves on far more than the moderate and the necessary; so that ruin should not come swiftly by diseases, and the race die off at once unfinished,

### Stephanus 73

[73a] they took this counsel: foreseeing it, they set the so-called lower belly lower down as a receiving vessel for the surplus drink, and for the food that would come along with it; and they coiled the growth of the intestines round about it, so that the food should not hurry through and compel the body, all too soon, to need more food again, breeding insatiability, and make the whole kind through gluttony unphilosophical and unmusical, disobedient to what is most divine in us. [73b]

About bone and flesh, and all such nature, this is how it fell out. The beginning of them all was the generation of marrow; for the bonds of life, the soul being yoked to the body, are fastened out in this, and rooted the mortal kind; and marrow itself came to be out of others. Whatever of the first triangles were from the start without warp and smooth, such as could offer fire, water, air and earth with the most exactness—each kind by itself [73c] the god drew off from its own kind, and mingled them with one another in due measure, making, as it were, a store of seed for every mortal kind; out of these he wrought the marrow. And after this, planting within it, he lodged there the kinds of souls, dividing the marrow itself, straight away in the first apportionment, into as many shapes, and such, as each kind was in turn to take shape in. And the part that was to hold within itself the divine seed, molding it round about on every side like a tilled field, he named that portion of marrow [73d] the brain, meaning that when each creature was finished, the vessel about this would become its head; and the part that was to receive what remained of soul, the mortal part, he divided into shapes both round and oblong—all of it he called marrow—and then, as when a man casts anchors, he worked out of these the bonds of all soul round about this whole body of ours, first riveting to it a covering over [73e] the whole: bone. Bone comes to be on this wise: he sifted earth clean and smooth, kneaded it and steeped it in marrow, and after this set it into fire, then dipped it into water, and again into fire, and again into water; and so passing it back and forth many times between the two, he made it insoluble by both.

Timaeus: Working with this, then, he wound about the brain a sphere of bone, and left for it a narrow passage out

### Stephanus 74

[74a] remaining below; and about the marrow of neck and spine together he shaped the vertebrae out of it and strung them like spools, beginning from the head, through the whole cavity. And so, to keep all this seed safe, he walled it round with a stony enclosure, making joints, and using in them the one part against the other as a power standing in between, for the sake of movement and bending. But judging the condition of the bony nature [74b] harder and less bending than was due—and that when it grew hot and then cooled again it would putrefy quickly and spoil the seed shut up within it—for these reasons he contrived the kind of sinew and of flesh: with the sinew, binding all the limbs as it tightened and slackened about the spools, to let the body bend and stretch; and flesh he made to be a screen against summer's heats, a wrap against winter's, and besides, like padded wares, a possession against falls, [74c] yielding softly and gently to hard bodies, holding within itself a warm moisture that in summer would keep free of sour sweat and, moistened, furnish a natural coolness through the whole body from outside; and in winter, again, with this same inner fire, would beat off in good measure the frost that assails from without and closes round. Our fashioner, planning all this, mingling water and fire and earth and fitting them together, kneading in a leaven of sharp and salt, [74d] made flesh moist and soft; and the nature of sinew he blended from bone and unmixed flesh, tempering the two into one mean power, and giving it a yellow color. So sinew got its force—tenser and more glutinous than flesh, softer and wetter than bone; and wrapping bones and marrow about with these, binding them to one another with sinews, the god then overshadowed them all from above with flesh. [74e] The bones that had most soul in them he walled in with the least flesh; those that had least, within, with the most and the densest flesh; and at the meeting-places of the bones, wherever reason showed no necessity for flesh to be there, he grew it thin, so that, standing in the way of the bends, they might not make the body hard to live in, being slow to move—nor yet, when many and dense and rammed hard against one another, breed numbness by their solidity, making the thoughts harder to remember and duller of hearing.

Timaeus: And so the flesh upon the thighs and shins and

### Stephanus 75

[75a] about the hips, and the bones of the upper arms and the forearms, and whatever other bones we have without joints—and the inner bones, empty of understanding in their marrow through the scantiness of soul—all these he packed full of flesh; while the wiser ones, less so—unless somewhere he framed flesh for their own sake, for the sake of sensation, in just that way, like the form of the tongue—the most part otherwise. For the nature that comes to be of necessity and [75b] is nourished together with them admits nowhere dense bone and much flesh at once, together with sharpness of hearing besides. Above all others the constitution about the head would have had these, had the two been willing to fall together; and our race, wearing flesh and sinew upon it, with a solid head, would have won a life double and many times multiplied, healthier and freer of pain than the one it has now. But the makers of our generation, reckoning whether they should work the kind longer-lived [75c] and worse, or shorter-lived and better, came to this judgment: that a longer life but a meaner one must yield in every case to a shorter one that is better. And so, the head's bone being thin and its flesh and sinews scanty—since it has no bends—they left it without a covering of flesh. By all this, then, the head was joined to the body the more perceptive and the wiser, but far weaker than the whole man. And the sinews, for these reasons, [75d] the god, binding them round the head's far end, glued in a circle about the neck, and tied to them the ends of the jaws beneath the face's nature; the rest he scattered through all the limbs, joining joint to joint. And the power of our mouth, with teeth and tongue and lips, the fashioners ordered, for the sake of the necessary things and the best, in the arrangement it keeps now: [75e] the entrance contrived for the necessary, the exit for the best; for whatever enters in gives food to the body, which is necessary, while the spring of speech that flows outward, ministering to intelligence, is the fairest and the best of all springs.

Timaeus: But the head, again, it was not possible to leave as bare bone alone, because of the seasons' excess in either direction—nor yet, again, to see it cloaked over and grown dull and numb under the crowd of flesh. Now of the

### Stephanus 76

[76a] fleshlike nature, since it would not dry away entirely, a larger peel kept coming apart and separated off—the skin, as it is now called. And this, because of the moisture about the brain, met and grew together with itself, and wound the head round in a circle; while the moisture, rising beneath the seams, lifted it and closed it at the crown, gathering it, as it were, into a knot; and the manifold look of the seams came from the power of the revolutions and of the nourishment, warring against one another the more of them, [76b] the fewer of them the less. This whole skin the divine pierced round with fire; and when it was pierced, and the moisture was carried out through it, what was moist and hot, so far as it was pure, went away; but what was mixed, of the same stuff as the skin, borne outward by the rush, stretched out far, its thinness equal to the bore of the puncture, and then, thrust back by the surrounding air without in its slowness, curled in again beneath the skin [76c] and rooted there. And from these affections the race of hair grew in the skin, kindred to it, strap-like in its being, but harder and denser by the felting of the cooling which each hair, parting from the skin, chilled and felted along with it. On this pattern, then, our maker made the head hairy, working from the causes told, and judging that instead of flesh it should be a covering [76d] for what lies about the brain—light, for safety's sake, and in summer and in winter equal to giving shade and shelter, while in nothing it would stand in the way of quick perception. And the interweaving about the fingers of sinew and skin and bone—the three mixed, drying into one common hard skin—was wrought by those causes working together, but for the sake of the chiefest thought of what was afterward to be. For [76e] that some day from men there would spring women and the other wild kinds, those who framed us knew; and they knew, too, the need of nails—that the creatures would want them for many things and many uses; and so, in men come to be at once, they stamped the generation of nails. On this account, then, and by these reasons, they made the skin grow hair, and nails upon the ends of the limbs.

Timaeus: But when all that belonged to the mortal creature had grown together—

### Stephanus 77

[77a] members and limbs every one—and its life had of necessity to abide in fire and breath, while because of these it wasted away, melted and emptied by them, the gods contrived for it a help. Blending with the kindred nature of the human kind other forms and other senses, so as to make another living thing, they planted it: what are now the tamed trees and plants and seeds, schooled by husbandry to gentleness toward us, were once only the [77b] wild kinds, older than the tame. For everything that has any share in life may, in full justice, be called a living creature; and this creature we speak of now partakes of the third kind of soul, which the account seats between midriff and navel, having no share at all of opinion and reason and mind, but of sensation, pleasant and painful, together with desires. For it undergoes everything without pause; but when it is turned about within itself and upon itself, having thrust away [77c] the motion from outside and used its own, its birth-giving nature has not granted it, even seeing, to reason out anything of its own. And so it lives and is a living creature still, but it stands fixed and rooted fast, because it has been cut off from motion of its own.

Having planted all these kinds, then, the betters made them food for the worse—to us—cutting channels through our very body, as one cuts irrigation ditches in gardens, that it might be watered as from a stream flowing upon it. And first they cut hidden channels beneath [77d] the joining of skin and flesh—the two spinal veins, twin, as the body chanced to be, right and left; these they let down along the backbone, taking the fruitful marrow between, that it might flourish as much as possible, and that thence there might be abundance for the rest, the overflow coming as if down a slope, to furnish a level watering. And after this, splitting the veins about the head and weaving them [77e] through one another in opposite ways, they let them down, bending those from the right toward the left of the body and those from the left toward the right, so that there might be, along with the head, a bond to the body through the skin—since it could not be wound round with sinews in a circle over the crown—and so, too, that the affection of the sensations might be plain through the whole body from either side.

Timaeus: And from here on, then, they made ready the waterways in some such manner

### Stephanus 78

[78a] A thing of this kind, which we shall see the more easily if we first settle an admission of this sort: that everything composed of smaller parts holds in what is larger, while what is composed of larger parts cannot hold the smaller, and that fire, of all the kinds, has the finest parts; hence it passes through water and earth and air and everything composed of these, and nothing has the power to hold it in. The same must be understood, then, of the belly within us: food and drink, when they fall into it, [78b] it holds; but breath and fire, having finer parts than its own fabric, it cannot hold. With these, then, God contrived the irrigation that goes from the belly into the veins: a netting woven of air and fire, like the meshes of a fowler's net, having at its entrance double pouches, each of which he plaited again with two channels; and from the pouches he stretched, as it were, cords running in a circle throughout, clear to the farthest ends of the netting. The inner part of the plaited work he fashioned all of fire, [78c] while the pouches and the membrane he made of airy substance; and taking this he wrapped it about the creature that had been molded, in the following way. The part of the pouches he let down toward the mouth; and since it was double, he let one branch down by the windpipes into the lung, and the other into the belly alongside the windpipes; the remaining part he split, letting each half run out through the channels of the nose as a shared passage, so that whenever one of the two did not go by way of the mouth, all its streams might be replenished by way of the other. The other membrane of the net he made grow around our body wherever it is hollow, and this whole thing he made now to flow softly in toward the pouches, being air, [78d] and now to flow back, the pouches receding while the mesh, the body being porous, sinks in through it and out again, and the rays of the fire within, being woven into it, follow along as the air moves either way; and this, [78e] so long as the mortal creature holds together, never ceases from going on; and to this kind of process, we say, the giver of names gave the name of inhalation and exhalation. And this whole work and experience of ours came to be for the body's sake, that, watered and cooled, it might feed and live.

Timaeus: for whenever, as the breath moves in and out, the fire within follows after it, held fast to it, and always coursing in its passage through the belly it enters and takes the

### Stephanus 79

[79a] food and drink it has caught up, it melts them, dividing them into small bits, and conducting them along through the outlets by which it makes its way, it draws them, like water from a spring into channels, up into the veins, and makes the streams of the veins flow through the body as through a watercourse.

Let us look again at the phenomenon of breathing, and at the causes by whose help it has come to be such as it now is. It was in this way, then: [79b] since there is no void into which any of the things that move could enter, and the breath moves out from us, what follows is plain to everyone—it goes not into a void but pushes the air next to it from its seat; and what is pushed always drives on its own neighbor, and under this necessity everything, driven round in a circle, comes back to the seat from which the breath went out, entering there and filling it up; and it falls in with the breath, and all of it together [79c] swings round like a wheel, because void is nothing at all. This is why the breath let go from the chest and the lung becomes full again by the air about the body, which sinks in through the porous flesh and is driven round; and again, when the air is turned back and goes out through the body, it pushes the breath inward by the passage of the mouth and nostrils. The cause of the thing's first arising must be set down [79d] as this: every living creature has that part of itself which lies about the blood and the veins warmest of all, like a spring of fire dwelling within it; and this we likened just now to the mesh of the net, stretched through the middle, woven all of fire, while everything else outside it is of air. The hot, then, must be granted to go out by nature to its own place, toward its kindred; and there being two ways out, one outward through the body, the other again [79e] by the mouth and the nostrils, whenever it rushes toward the one it drives what is there round to the other; and what is pushed, falling in upon the fire, grows hot, and what passes out grows cold. And when the heat shifts over, and those at the other outlet become the warmer, again the warmer inclines that way the more, borne toward its own nature, and pushes the part at the other round; and this, forever suffering the same and returning the same, keeps a circle thus shaken this way and that, and from the two together affords that inhalation and exhalation come to be.

Timaeus: and also of the affections connected with the physicians' cupping instruments

### Stephanus 80

[80a] and of the swallowing of drink, and of things hurled, both those let fly into the air and those that travel over the ground, the causes must be pursued by this same road; as too all sounds that appear swift and slow, high and low, now jarring as they move, through the unlikeness of the motion they stir within us, now consonant through its likeness. For the slower motions catch the motions of the earlier and faster ones just when they are dying down and have arrived at the like, [80b] which the slower then come up to and set moving; and in seizing them they do not throw in a different motion and throw them into disorder, but set up the beginning of a slower movement in accord with the faster; and as it dies away, attaching likeness to it, they blend one single affection out of high and low; and from this they have given pleasure to the witless, and gladness to the wise, through the imitation of the divine harmony become present in mortal movements. And all the flowings of waters too, and further [80c] the falls of the thunderbolts, and the wonder worked by amber in its drawing and by the Heraclean stones—of none of these is there ever any drawing at all, nor does any void exist; but they thrust one another round, and as they are sundered and brought together, each changes places toward its own seat, all of them moving so; and when these affections are entwined with one another, they will be seen to have worked their wonders for one who inquires by the right method. [80d]

And so breathing too, from which our account set out, has come about in accordance with these things and by their means, as was said before: the fire cutting the foods, and the breath following along and carrying them up within, filling the veins from the belly by this joint carrying, as it pumps up from there the pieces that have been cut; and through these things the streams of nourishment have thus come to flow over the whole body in all living creatures. And these, freshly cut and from kindred things—some from fruits, some from green herbage, [80e] which God planted in us for this very purpose, that they might be our food—take on every manner of color through their mingling, while the red hue, the most abundant of all, spreads round about them, being the nature wrought in the moist from the cutting and wearing away of fire.

Timaeus: hence the thing that flows through the body has taken the color of that appearance we went through just now, which we call blood, the pasture of the flesh and of the whole body,

### Stephanus 81

[81a] whereby each part, watered by it, fills the place of what has gone empty; and the manner of the filling and of the withdrawal comes about just as the movement of each thing in the whole has come to be, by which everything kindred is borne toward itself. For the things that stand around us outside are always melting and distributing, sending off to each kind what belongs to its own stock; and the particles in the blood again, cut small within us and wrapped round, as it were, by [81b] a heaven standing fast about each living creature, are compelled to imitate the movement of the whole; and so each of the parts divided within, borne toward its kindred, refills what was then emptied. When more goes out of what flows in, everything wastes away; when less, it grows. When the structure of the whole creature is new, then, and its triangles still fresh, as though just out of the vat, it possesses a strong clasping of them to one another, and the whole mass of it has set [81c] soft, having been newly made from marrow and nurtured in milk; and the triangles embraced within it, when the triangles of which foods and drinks are made come in from outside, being older and weaker than its own, it overpowers, cutting them, and accomplishes a great thing, nourishing the animal out of many like things. But when the root of its triangles gives way, because they have contended in many contests against many things over a long time, [81d] they can no longer cut the incoming food into their own likeness, while they themselves are easily divided by the newcomers from outside; and so every living thing wastes away, being worsted in this, and the affection is given the name of old age. And in the end, when the bonds fitted about the triangles of the marrow can no longer hold out against the strain as they are pulled apart, they let go in their turn the bonds of the soul, and she, loosed, flies out [81e] according to nature with pleasure; for everything contrary to nature is painful, while what comes to be as it is naturally born to be is pleasant. And death, on the same principles, when it comes through diseases or under blows, is painful and violent; but the death that comes with old age, arriving at its end in the course of nature, is of all deaths the least grievous, and comes more with pleasure than with pain.

Timaeus: But from what disease is composed—that is surely plain to everyone.

### Stephanus 82

[82a] For since the body has set firm out of four kinds—earth, fire, water, and air—when these suffer an unnatural excess and defect, and a shifting of place from what is their own to what is another's, and since fire and the others again, being many kinds instead of one, each takes in what does not belong to it, and everything else of this sort—all these bring on disorders and diseases. For when each of them comes to be unnaturally and changes its ground, what was cool before grows hot, [82b] what was dry becomes wet afterward, and the light and the heavy in their turn, and it undergoes changes of every sort on every side. For only, we say, when the same is added to the same in the same part, in the same way and in due measure, and departs again, does it let the thing remain the same as itself, safe and healthy; but whatever of these transgresses, going out or coming in, will bring alterations of every kind, and diseases, and corruptions past counting.

So when secondary structures have set firm in the course of nature, [82c] a second understanding of diseases comes to one who is willing to consider it. For when marrow had been compacted out of those elements, and bone and flesh and sinew, and blood as well, formed in another manner yet from the same elements—most of the rest proceeding as before—the greatest of the diseases have fallen in together here in all their severity: when the coming-to-be of these things runs the reverse way, then it is that they are destroyed. For by nature flesh and sinew come from blood, sinew from the fibers by reason of their kinship, [82d] and flesh from the clot, what clots separating from the fibers; and what leaves the sinews and flesh again, sticky and oily, both glues the flesh to the nature of the bones and nourishes and increases the bone itself about the marrow, while the part that filters through the dense bones, the purest kind of triangles, smoothest and most oily of all, trickling and dripping from the bones, waters the [82e] marrow. When each of these things comes about in this way, health is the result for the most part; disease, when the opposite. For when flesh dissolving sends its melt backward into the veins, then blood, along with breath, abundant and of every sort, shifting in the veins through colors and bitternesses, and further through sharp and salt powers, takes on biles and ichors and phlegms of every kind;

Timaeus: for all these, having become things that turn back upon themselves and are corrupted, destroy first the blood itself, while they themselves afford no

### Stephanus 83

[83a] nourishment any longer to the body, but are carried every way through the veins, keeping no longer the ordered circuits that are according to nature; and they are hostile to themselves, because they can take no enjoyment of themselves, and at war with the body that stands firm and keeps its place, destroying and melting it. Now as much of the flesh as is oldest and is melted, becoming hard to digest, blackens under its long burning; and because it has been eaten through on every side, [83b] it falls, bitter as it is, harshly upon every part of the body not yet corrupted; and at one time the black color has taken sharpness in place of bitterness, the bitter part having been thinned the more; at another time the bitterness again, dyed with blood, has taken a redder color, and when the black is mingled with this, a greenish tinge; and a yellow color too mingles with the bitterness, whenever fresh flesh is melted by the fire about the flame. And the common name for all these things—bile—was imposed by some [83c] physician or other, or perhaps by someone who had power to see into many and unlike things, and yet to discern in them one kind present in all, worthy of one name for them all; while the other things said to be kinds of bile each took its own name from its color. Of ichor, one kind is the gentle serum of blood, the other the sharp and savage serum of black bile, whenever it mingles through heat with a salt power; and such a thing is called sharp phlegm. And the matter melted with air out of young and tender flesh, [83d] when this has been beaten into air and wrapped about with moisture, and bubbles have formed from this affection, each invisible through smallness, but all together presenting a mass that can be seen, and of a color white to look at because of the birth of foam—this whole dissolution of tender flesh entangled with breath, we say, is white phlegm. And when new phlegm is forming, its serum is sweat and tears, [83e] and all the other such bodies that are shed day by day as purgings; and all these have become instruments of disease, whenever blood is not filled up in the natural way from foods and drinks, but takes its mass from opposites against the laws of nature.

Timaeus: so when each kind of flesh is dissolved by diseases while its foundations hold, the calamity is only half its strength—for it is still easy to recover—

### Stephanus 84

[84a] but when flesh actually falls ill together with the bones, and the blood no longer separates from the fibers and the sinews to become food for bone and a bond joining flesh to bone, but instead, out of what was oily and smooth and sticky, has grown rough and salt, parched by bad living—when all this happens, every such thing cools itself back again beneath the flesh and the sinews, withdrawing from the bones; and the flesh, dropping out from the [84b] roots along with them, leaves the sinews bare and full of salt, while they themselves, falling again into the stream of the blood, make the ailments spoken of before more numerous. And when these grievous conditions come upon the body, those before them grow greater still—whenever bone, denied sufficient respiration through the density of the flesh and warmed by the southeast wind, has mortified, neither taking in its food again [84c] nor passing back in the way of nature into the flesh, cooling, while that passes into flesh, and flesh falling into blood, so that all the diseases turn out rougher than those before; and the last of all, when the nature of the marrow sickens from deficiency or from some excess, brings about the greatest and most sovereign of the diseases toward death, the whole nature of the body of necessity flowing away in reverse.

There is a third kind of diseases, again, which must be understood as arising in three ways: [84d] one from breath, one from phlegm, one from bile. For when the lung, the steward of breath for the body, blocked by flows does not offer clear passages—here no air passing, there more entering than is due—the part that gets no cooling rots away, while the part forcing its way through the veins and swinging them round with it melts the body toward the partition at its middle and is shut up within, [84e] and from these there have often been wrought myriads of painful diseases, with a great flood of sweat. And often, when flesh has been dissolved within the body and breath has arisen there, unable to make its way out, it has brought the same birth-pangs as the things that come pressing in—the greatest of all when, gathered round the sinews and the small veins there and swollen, it strains the tendons and the sinews joined to them backward in this way against them; and from the tautness of the affection itself these diseases have been named tetanus and opisthotonus.

Timaeus: and the cure of these too is hard; for fevers, when they come on after such conditions as these

### Stephanus 85

[85a] —are what loosen them most of all. The white phlegm, because the breath in its bubbles is caught and grows harsh, though it keeps its milder vents for breathing outside the body, mottles the body with white patches and freckles, and breeds the diseases akin to these. When it is blended with black bile and flung over the courses in the head, the most divine of all, and thrown into confusion with them, it deals out in sleep a gentler poison, [85b] but one harder to shake off when it falls upon the waking; and being a disease of a sacred nature, it is most justly called sacred. Sharp, salty phlegm is the source of all the diseases that are catarrhal; and because the places it flows into are of every kind, it has taken every kind of name. As for what is called inflammation of the body, the word comes from burning and blazing—and in every case bile is the cause. When it wins a vent to the outside, seething, it throws up growths of every sort; [85c] imprisoned within, it engenders many burning-hot diseases; and the worst of all comes when, blended with pure blood, it tears the race of fibers out of their own well-ordered array—fibers that had been strewn through the blood precisely so that it would keep a due balance of thinness and thickness, and so that, grown hot, it would not run out of the body like a mere liquid thinned away, nor yet, being denser and hard to move, labor its way around the veins. [85d] The fibers, formed by nature, keep watch over the due season of all this: when someone gathers them together, even out of blood that is dead and cooling, the whole of the remaining blood breaks into flux; but left to themselves they quickly make it clot along with the cold surrounding it. Black bile—which is by nature blood grown old, and has melted down again out of the flesh into this—falls into the blood at first little by little, hot and moist; but through the power of the fibers [85e] it clots; and as it clots and is forcibly quenched, it brings chills and shivering from within.

Timaeus: When still more of it streams in, it masters the fibers with its own heat, boils them into disorder, and shakes them apart; and if it proves strong enough to carry the struggle through to the end, it burns its way through to the race of marrow and melts apart the soul's fastenings there, like a ship's mooring lines, and lets the soul go free; but when it is the weaker, and the body, even as it melts, holds out against it, then the bile is defeated in its turn and either falls away through the whole body or is crowded down through the veins into the lower belly or up into the upper—like a fugitive from a city in civil strife, bursting out of

### Stephanus 86

[86a] the body in its flight, it brings on diarrhea, dysentery, and all such diseases. Now the body that is sickest from excess of fire produces continual burnings and fevers; the one from air, fevers every other day; the one from water, third-day fevers—water being slower than either air or fire; while the one from earth, slowest of the four, cleansed only over periods four times as long, hardly rids itself even after bringing on quartan fevers. [86b]

So the diseases of the body come about in this way; those about the soul arise from a bodily condition, as follows. We must grant that a disease of the soul is folly, and that folly has two kinds, madness and ignorance. Whatever affliction a person suffers that partakes of either of these must be called a disease; and pleasures and pains beyond all measure must be set down as the soul's greatest diseases. For a man transported with joy, or the reverse, suffering under [86c] grief, who hurries to grasp the one untimely and to flee the other, can neither see nor hear anything aright, but raves, and at that moment is least capable of sharing in reasoning. Whoever has seed about the marrow in great abundance and flux, and has grown, like a tree, more fruitful than is fitting, wins many birth-pangs in each season and many pleasures in his appetites and the offspring that come of them; frantic for the better part of his life with the greatest pleasures [86d] and pains, and holding a soul made sick and witless by the body, he is thought bad not as one diseased but as one willing it. Yet in truth the intemperance in matters of sex is for the most part a disease of the soul, born in a fluid and moistening body from the condition of one single kind: the sponginess of the bones. And nearly all the reproaches for incontinence of pleasures, and the disgrace laid on faults as if they were willing, are not justly made; for no one is [86e] bad willingly; the bad man becomes bad through some corrupt condition of the body and an uneducated nurture—things hateful to every man and arriving against his will. And once more, in the matter of pains, the soul likewise owes much of its wickedness to the body.

Timaeus: For whenever any of the sharp and salty phlegms, and any of the bitter and bilious humors, wanders through the body, wins no vent for breath outside, and coils about within,

### Stephanus 87

[87a] mingling the vapor rising from them with the motion of the soul, and so blended into it, they engender diseases of the soul of every kind, now more intense and now milder, now fewer and now more; and as they are carried to the three regions of the soul and strike now this one, now that, they diversify the forms of peevishness and despondency beyond count, and of rashness and of cowardice, and with them of forgetfulness and slow learning. And further, when [87b] constitutions have been set up so badly, and evil discourses, private and public, have been spoken in the cities, and besides this the things learned from youth up hold in no way any healing for these ills, that is how all of us who are bad become bad, through two causes wholly involuntary. Of these, the planters must be called to account rather than the planted, and the rearers rather than the reared; still, one must strive in whatever way one can—through nurture, through pursuits, and through studies—to flee wickedness and to lay hold of its opposite. This, however, is another manner of discourse. [87c]

But the converse of this—the care of bodies and of minds, and the causes by which they are preserved—it is fitting and proper in turn to render again; for it is more just to hold discourse about goods than about evils. All that is good is beautiful, and the beautiful is never without measure; so the living thing that is to be of such a kind must be set down as proportioned. Of the proportionings, we take in the small ones and reason about them, but of the greatest and most sovereign we are [87d] without any reckoning. For nothing of health and disease, of virtue and vice, has a proportion or disproportion greater than that of the soul itself to the body itself; and of this we take no thought at all: that when a form weaker and smaller bears a soul strong and great in every way, and when again the contrary of these two is joined together, the whole living creature is not beautiful—for it is out of proportion in its greatest measures—while the fitting arrangement is the most beautiful and most lovable of all sights to one able to see it whole. [87e] So too a body over-long in the legs, or with any other unmeasured excess over itself, is at once ugly, and in the partnership of toil it causes many wearinesses, many strains and, through its lopsidedness, many falls, the cause to itself of ten thousand ills,

Timaeus: The same must then be thought of the whole compound, the living creature we speak of: that when the soul in it, being stronger

### Stephanus 88

[88a] than the body, clings to it with overmuch eagerness, it shakes the whole thing from within and fills it with diseases; and when it presses hard into studies and inquiries, it melts away; while teachings, and battles in argument, public and private, born of wrangling and rivalry, set it ablaze and unsteady it, and bringing on fluxes they deceive most of the so-called physicians and make them blame the innocent causes. And when, again, a body grows great and out beyond its soul, joined to a small and weak intelligence—since there are by nature two cravings among humankind, [88b] for food by way of the body, and for understanding by way of the divinest thing in us—then the motions of the stronger prevail, swelling their own and making the soul's dull, slow to learn, and forgetful, and so fasten upon us the greatest disease, ignorance. One salvation there is for both: to move the soul apart from the body never, nor the body apart from the soul, so that each, guarding against the other, may grow proportioned and [88c] sound. The one who works mathematics, or any other intense study, upon the mind owes the body its counter-motion, by taking up gymnastic; and the one who molds the body with care owes the soul its counter-motions, by using music and all philosophy, if anyone is to deserve to be called, rightly, both beautiful and good. And on the same principle the parts too must be tended, each imitating [88d] the form of the whole. For the body is burned and chilled within by what enters it, and dried and moistened again from outside, and undergoes all that follows upon these, under both kinds of motion; if one keeps quiet and hands the body over to those motions, it is overpowered and destroyed; but if one imitates what we named the nurse and foster-mother of the universe, and lets the body never keep still, but moves it and sets some trembling always working in it, he wards off, by motions according to nature, [88e] both those from within and those from without; and shaking it in due measure, he brings the wandering affections and parts of the body into order with one another by their kinship—as in the earlier account we gave of the universe—and, setting friend beside friend instead of enemy against enemy, he will not let the body breed wars and diseases, but health

### Stephanus 89

[89a] as the working result.

Timaeus: Of the movements, again, the best is that which a thing makes in itself by itself—for it is most akin to the movement of thought and of the universe—while the movement under another is worse; worst of all is that which moves a body lying at rest and keeping still, through others, part by part. And so of the purgings and restorations of the body, the best is that through exercise, the second that through rocking—on shipboard, and wherever rides can be had without weariness; a third kind of movement, the medical one that comes of drug-purging, [89b] is useful to one under great compulsion, but otherwise is not at all to be accepted by anyone in his right mind. For diseases that do not hold great dangers must not be stirred up with drugs. Every constitution of disease is, in a way, like the nature of living things: for the race of living things, too, comes into being with appointed spans of life for the kind as a whole, and each animal, having the life allotted to it, grows [89c] apart from the sufferings of necessity; for the triangles have their power from the very beginnings of each creature and hold together, strong enough to last until a certain time, beyond which no one could ever live out life. So too with the constitution of diseases: when someone destroys it with drugs before the appointed term, the result tends to be that great diseases come from small, and many from few. That is why all such things must be schooled with regimens, so far as a person has leisure, [89d] and not, by drugging, provoke a stubborn evil.

And so much, then, for the common living creature and for the part of it that is the body—how one might live most according to reason, both training it and being trained by it, on one's own; but what is to do the educating must itself, earlier and before all, be prepared as far as possible to be most beautiful and best for the work of educating. To go through all this with exactness [89e] would itself alone be a work sufficient for the task; but following it in passing, as with what came before, one might carry the account through fittingly enough, viewing it in this way, with an account like this.

Timaeus: As we have said many times—that the soul's forms are settled in us threefold, each in its place, and each of them has its motions—so now too, as briefly as may be, it must be said: that the one which passes its time in idleness, keeping its own motions still, is bound to become the weakest, and the one exercised the strongest;

### Stephanus 90

[90a] and therefore we must take care that they keep their motions proportionate to one another. As for the most sovereign kind of soul in us, we must think this about it: that a god has given it to each one as a daimon—that which we say dwells at the crown of the body, and, because of its kinship with what is in heaven, lifts us from the earth, our nature being a plant not of earth but of heaven; and this is said most truly: for from that place, where the soul's first growth took root, the divine, hanging our head and root [90b] above, keeps the whole body upright. Now whoever has given himself to the appetites, or to rivalry, and toiled hard at all such beliefs, is bound to have his convictions mortal bred into him, and to become mortal through and through, so far as it is at all possible, falling short of it by not even a little, because he has nurtured that part; while whoever has labored at the love of learning and at true understanding, and exercised that part of himself above all, [90c] must, if he touches truth, of necessity think immortal and divine thoughts, and, so far as human nature can partake of immortality, fall short in no part of it; and because he constantly tends the divine within him and keeps the daimon that dwells with him well ordered, he is happy above all men. And the tending of anything whatsoever is one and the same: to give each the nourishments and the motions proper to it. To the divine in us the kindred motions are the thinkings [90d] and revolutions of the universe; these, then, everyone must follow, setting right the revolutions in our heads that were twisted awry at our birth, by learning the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, and so making the one who understands like the thing understood, according to its ancient nature; and having made it like, he will have reached the end of the best life set before humans by the gods, both for the time now and for the time to come. [90e]

And now, indeed, the task laid upon us at the beginning—to go through the universe, down to the birth of humankind—seems very nearly to have its end. For the other living things, how they came to be, we must recall in few words, unless some necessity forces the account longer; that way one would seem to keep better measure with oneself in these discourses. So let what follows be the telling of it.

Timaeus: Of the men that came to be, all who were cowards and lived lives of injustice were, by the likely account, changed and planted as women in the second

### Stephanus 91

[91a] birth. And at that time, because of these things, the gods contrived the passion of union: they shaped a living creature in us and another in women, giving each a soul, and made each in this way. Into the passage for drink—by which the liquid, passing through the lungs under the kidneys into the bladder and pressed by the breath, is sent out with it—they bored, opening it into the marrow that stands fixed from the head down through the neck along the spine, [91b] which in the earlier account we called seed. And this, being ensouled and taking in breath—by the very channel through which it breathed—implanted in it a living desire for flowing forth, and brought the passion for begetting to completion. That is why in men the nature about the genitals has become disobedient and self-willed, like a creature that will not be ruled by reason, and under frenzied appetites strives to master all; while in [91c] women again the so-called matrix and womb, for the same reasons, being a desiring creature lodged within for the making of children, when it remains unfruitful beyond the due season for a long while, bears its indignation angrily, and wandering everywhere through the body, blocking the out-paths of breath and suffering nothing to breathe, it casts one into the utmost straits and brings on all manner of other diseases, until the desire and the [91d] passion of both, gathering them together—as one plucks fruit from trees—sow upon the womb as upon a plowed field living creatures invisible through their smallness and not yet formed, and then, separating them again and rearing them great within, bring them after that into the light and accomplish the birth of living creatures. Thus women came to be, and the whole female kind. But the tribe of birds was being reshaped, growing feathers instead of hair, from the harmless men, the light ones, who had their heads in the heavens yet believed, in their simplicity, [91e] that the proofs about such things were most secure through sight. And the land-going and wild kind came to be from those who made no use of philosophy and gazed not at all on the nature of the heavens, because they no longer used the revolutions in the head, but followed the ruling parts of the soul about the chest.

Timaeus: From these ways of life, then, their forelimbs and heads, dragged toward the ground by kinship, were braced upon the earth, and they took on elongated and manifold

### Stephanus 92

[92a] crowns, wherever the revolutions in each had been crushed together by their idleness. And from this came their race four-footed and many-footed, the god laying down more supports for the more witless, so that they might be drawn the more toward the ground. And from the most witless of these, whose whole body was stretched altogether toward the ground, since there was no more need of feet, the footless ones were begotten, creeping along the earth. And [92b] the fourth kind, the water kind, came from the most senseless and most unteachable of all, whom the remolders judged unworthy even of pure breathing any longer, since their souls held every kind of transgression unclean; and instead of a fine and pure breath of air they thrust them into breathing water, murky and deep. From this came the tribe of fish, and that of shellfish, and together with them all that have come to be water-dwellers, who, as the penalty of their uttermost ignorance, won by lot [92c] the uttermost of dwellings. And by these rules, then, all living things, then and now, pass into one another, transformed by the losing and the gaining of intelligence and folly.

And now at last let us declare our account about the universe to have its end. For having taken in mortal and immortal living things, and been completed in this way, this world has become a visible living creature embracing all that is visible, an image of the intelligible, a god perceivable to sense, greatest and best and most beautiful and most perfect—one heaven, this one, the only one of its kind.

## Translation — Mouseia

> Mouseia's complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 76 Stephanus pages of the Greek.

### Stephanus 17

[17a] Socrates: One, two, three. Where is the fourth of our party, my dear Timaeus? Yesterday he was one of the guests, and now he is one of our hosts.

Timaeus: Some sickness has come upon him, Socrates. He would not have missed this meeting on purpose.

Socrates: Then it is your job to do your own share and to fill in for the one who is absent.

[17b] Timaeus: Of course, and we will fall short in nothing as far as we are able. It would not be right, after you entertained us yesterday with the welcome proper for guests, if we, the rest of us, did not gladly return you the favor with a meal.

Socrates: Do you remember how much I asked you to say, and on what subjects?

Timaeus: We remember some of it, and whatever we have forgotten you can remind us of, since you are here. But rather, if it is not too much trouble for you, go over it again for us from the beginning in a few words, so that it is fixed in our minds more firmly.

[17c] Socrates: So it shall be. Yesterday, in what I said about the state, the main point was this: what the state should be like and what kind of men it should be made of for it to become, as it seemed to me, the best possible.

Timaeus: And you said it just as we all wanted it, Socrates. It was entirely to our mind.

Socrates: Did we not first set apart within it the class of farmers and all the other crafts, apart from the class of those who would do the fighting?

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And then, giving each person the single pursuit that suits him by nature, [17d] one craft for each, we said that those who had to fight before all others must be the city's guards and nothing else, whether the one who came to do harm came from outside or from among the people inside, and that they should be gentle in judging

### Stephanus 18

[18a] the people they rule, who are their friends by nature, but harsh in battle toward the enemies they run into.

Timaeus: Entirely so.

Socrates: For we said, I believe, that the guardians need a certain kind of character in their soul: at once spirited and also fond of learning and wisdom, to an unusual degree, so that they can be rightly gentle with one group and harsh with the other.

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And what about their upbringing? Were they not raised on physical training and on music, and on the studies that go with these?

[18b] Timaeus: Certainly.

Socrates: And it was said, I think, that people raised this way must never think of gold or silver or any other possession as their own private property, but must take pay for their guarding from the people they keep safe, like hired soldiers, as much as is reasonable for sensible people, spend it together, live with one another, keep their care on excellence of character at all times, and have no leisure for the other pursuits.

Timaeus: That is exactly how those things were said too.

[18c] Socrates: And we also mentioned the women, saying that the women whose natures match the men's are the ones to be paired with them, and that all the pursuits must be given in common to all of them, both in war and in the rest of life.

Timaeus: That is how that was said as well.

Socrates: And what about having children? Or is this one easy to remember because it was so unusual: that we made marriages and children common to everyone, and arranged things so that no one would ever learn privately which child was his own, [18d] while all would believe that all of them were of one stock, brothers and sisters to one another for everyone within the right age, parents and grandparents for those born before and above them, and children and children's children for those below them?

Timaeus: Yes, those are easy to remember too, just as you say.

Socrates: And do we remember how we said that the men and women in charge must arrange the coming together of the marriages secretly, [18e] by means of certain lots, so that the bad are grouped apart and the good are each grouped with their own kind, and so that no one bears a grudge against them for it, since they think chance is the cause of the pairing?

Timaeus: We remember.

### Stephanus 19

[19a] Socrates: And also that we said the children of the good ones must be raised, while the children of the bad ones must be handed out secretly to the rest of the city; and as the children grow up, the rulers must always keep watch and bring the worthy ones up again, while moving their own unworthy ones into the place of those who return?

Timaeus: That is so.

Socrates: So have we now gone through everything, by taking it again in outline just as yesterday, or are we still missing something from what was said, my dear Timaeus?

[19b] Timaeus: Not at all. Those were exactly the things that were said, Socrates.

Socrates: Then hear what I want to say next about the state we described, and what my own feeling about it is. My feeling is something like this. Suppose someone saw beautiful animals, whether made by a painter or really alive but keeping still, and longed to see them in motion and competing in the contests that suit [19c] their bodies. I have that very same feeling about the state we described. I would gladly hear someone telling in words about the contests that a state takes part in, and see this state competing against other states: going to war in a fitting way, and in the fighting living up to its education and upbringing, in what it does in action and in what it says in words, with each of the other states. So, Critias and Hermocrates, [19d] I have passed judgment on myself that I could never be able to praise these men and this city well enough. And there is nothing surprising about that in my case; but I have formed the same opinion about the poets of long ago and the poets of today—not that I look down on the poet's craft, but everyone can plainly see that the class of imitators imitates most easily and best whatever they were raised on, while whatever lies outside each one's upbringing [19e] is hard to imitate well in deeds and even harder in words. As for the class of sophists, I consider them very practiced in many other fine speeches, but I am afraid that, since they roam from city to city and never keep a home of their own, they may miss the mark of what philosophical men and statesmen would do and say in deed and in word in their dealings with each group of people, when they act in war and in battles.

Socrates: What is left is the kind of people you are,

### Stephanus 20

[20a] who have a share in both, in nature and in upbringing. For Timaeus here comes from Locri in Italy, a city with excellent laws, and in wealth and family he is second to no one there; he has held the highest offices and honors in his city, and he has, in my judgment, reached the top of the whole of philosophy. And all of us here know that Critias is no layman in any of the things we talk about. As for Hermocrates, many people bear witness [20b] that he is up to all of this in nature and upbringing, and so we should trust it. That is why yesterday, when you asked me to go through the subject of the state, I gladly did you the favor, with this in mind: I knew that no one could give a better account of what comes next than you, if you were willing. For you alone of the people of today could set the state up for a fitting war and give back to it everything that belongs with that. So after I said what I was told to say, I set you the task that I am setting you now. You agreed together, after considering it among yourselves, [20c] to pay me back now with the guest-gift of speeches. So here I am, all decked out for them and readier than anyone to receive them.

Hermocrates: Indeed, just as Timaeus here said, Socrates, we will lack nothing in eagerness, and we have no excuse for not doing this. In fact, yesterday, as soon as we left here and came to Critias's guest quarters where we are staying—and even earlier, on the road—we were considering this very thing. [20d] So he brought us a story from an old report. Tell it to him now, Critias, so that he can judge along with us whether it is suitable for the task or not.

Critias: That is what must be done, if our third partner Timaeus agrees too.

Timaeus: He does agree.

Critias: Listen, then, Socrates, to a story that is very strange but absolutely true, as Solon, the wisest of the seven, [20e] once said. He was a relative and a close friend of our great-grandfather Dropides, as he himself says in many places in his poetry:

Critias: And he spoke to our grandfather Critias, as the old man in turn used to recall to us, of how this city in ancient times had done great and wonderful deeds that had been lost through time and through the death of the people who did them, and that one of them was the greatest of all,

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[21a] and now that we have remembered it, it would be right for us to return you a favor and at the same time, at the festival, to praise the goddess justly and truly, as if singing a hymn.

Socrates: Well said. But what is this deed that Critias spoke of—not as a story, but as something this city really did long ago, according to what he heard from Solon?

Critias: I will tell you, since I heard an old story from a man who was no youngster. For at that time Critias—so he said—was already close to [21b] ninety years old, while I was about ten; and it happened to be the festival of the Apatouria in our tribe, the Cureotis. What usually happens at the festival happened then with us children too: our fathers set up prizes for reciting poetry. Many poems by many poets were performed, and since Solon's poems were new at that time, many of us boys sang them. Then one of our clan brothers—whether he really thought so at the time or wanted to do Critias a favor—said that he thought Solon [21c] had been the wisest of men in everything else and also, in poetry, the most high-minded of all the poets. The old man—this I remember very well—was very pleased and said with a smile: "If only, Amynander, he had not used poetry as a side task but had worked at it seriously like other men, and had completed the account he brought back from Egypt, and had not been forced by the civil strife and the other troubles he found here when he came [21d] to neglect it—then in my judgment neither Hesiod nor Homer nor any other poet would ever have won more fame than him." "And what was the account, Critias?" he said. "It was about the greatest and most famous of all deeds," he said, "and one that would most justly be called the finest: the deed that this city did perform, but of which the story has not survived to this day, because of time and the death of the people who performed it. Tell us from the beginning," he said, "what it was, and how, and from whom Solon heard it and reported it as true." [21e]

"There is a district in Egypt," he said, "in the Delta, where at its top the stream of the Nile splits, a district called Saite. The greatest city in that district is Sais, the place King Amasis came from. The people of that city have a founding goddess: her name in Egyptian is Neith, and in Greek, by their account, Athena. And they say they are very fond of Athens and in some way related to the Athenians."

Critias: Solon said he went there and was held in very high honor among them,

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[22a] and also that once, when he was asking the priests who were the most learned about such matters about the times of long ago, he found that neither he himself nor any other Greek knew practically anything about such things. And once, wanting to draw them out into talk about the ancient past, he tried to tell them the oldest stories of our own land: about Phoroneus, who is said to have been the first man, and about Niobe, and after the flood about Deucalion [22b] and Pyrrha and how they survived, and to trace the family trees of their descendants, and to work out the number of years and try to reckon the dates for the things he spoke about. Then one of the priests, a very old man, said: "O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children, and there is no Greek who is old." When Solon heard this he said: "What do you mean by that?" "You are all young in your minds," he said. "You have no old belief in them that comes from ancient tradition, and no knowledge grown gray with time. The reason for this [22c] is this: there have been many destructions of mankind in many ways, and there will be more, the greatest ones by fire and water, and others, lesser ones, in countless other ways. For the story that is told among you too, how once Phaethon, the son of Helios, yoked his father's chariot but was not able to drive it along his father's path, and so burned what was on the earth and was himself struck by a thunderbolt and killed—this story has the form of a myth, but the truth [22d] is that there is a shift of the things that travel around the earth in the heavens, and after long stretches of time a destruction of the things on the earth by a great fire. At those times, those who live in the mountains and in high and dry places are destroyed more than those who live near rivers and the sea. But for us the Nile is a savior in other ways and at those times too: it saves us out of that trouble by overflowing. And when the gods flood the earth and cleanse it with waters, those in the mountains survive, the herdsmen together with their flocks, while those in the cities [22e] near you are carried down to the sea by the rivers. But in this land neither then nor at any other time does water flow down onto the fields from above; on the contrary, everything by nature rises up from below."

Critias: That is why, and for these reasons, the things preserved here are said to be the oldest. But in truth, in every place where extreme cold or heat does not keep people away, there is always a race of human beings, sometimes more,

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[23a] and sometimes fewer. Whatever fine or great or otherwise notable thing has been done anywhere—among you, or here, or anywhere else we know by report—it has all been written down from of old and preserved here in the temples. But among you and the others the writing has only just been set up again each time, and then, after the usual number of years, a stream from the sky comes upon them like a disease and leaves your people [23b] without letters and without learning, so that you become like new again from the beginning, knowing nothing of what happened here or among you in the ancient times. At any rate, the family trees you went through just now, Solon, of the people on your side, are barely different from children's stories. In the first place you remember only one flood of the earth, though many have happened before, and you do not know that the finest and best race of human beings once lived in your land [23c], the race from which you and the whole city that exists there now come, after a small seed of them was once left over; but this has escaped your notice, because for many generations the survivors died out without letters or speech. For there was a time, Solon, before the greatest destruction by water, when the city that is now Athens was the best in war and in every way the best governed, surpassing all others; and it is said to have produced the finest deeds and the finest constitution of all those [23d] under the heaven of which we have ever heard. When Solon heard this, he said he was amazed and was full of eagerness, begging the priests to tell him everything about the ancient citizens exactly and in order. The priest said: "There is no grudge against you, Solon; I will speak for your sake and for the sake of your city, but most of all to please the goddess, who received and raised and educated both your city and this one—your city [23e] first by a thousand years, taking the seed of your people from Earth and Hephaestus, and this one later. Of the founding of the city here, our temple records give the number of eight thousand years. And of the citizens who lived nine thousand years ago I will tell you in short their laws, and the finest of the deeds done by them:"

Critias: But the exact account of

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[24a] everything in order we will go through again later at our leisure, when we take the written records themselves in hand. Compare your laws with the ones here. For you will find here now many examples of the customs that existed among you then: first the class of priests, set apart from the others; then the class of craftsmen, each practicing its own craft and not mixing with any other; and also the class of herdsmen, the class of hunters, [24b] and the class of farmers. And you have certainly noticed that here too the class of fighters is separated from all the other classes, and the law has ordered them to care for nothing except matters of war. There is also the way they are armed, with shields and spears, with which we in Asia were the first to arm ourselves, after the goddess showed the pattern to your people first in that part of the world. And again, about practical wisdom: you see how much care the law took here right at the beginning about [24c] the ordering of the world, working out everything, down to divination and medicine for health, from divine matters to human ones, and gaining all the other kinds of learning that go with these. So the goddess arranged and ordered all of this for you first, and settled you in the place where you were born, when she saw the good balance of the seasons there, because it would produce the most intelligent men. And so, since the goddess [24d] is both fond of war and fond of wisdom, she chose and settled first the place that would produce men most like herself. You lived there, then, under such laws and were governed even better, and in every way you surpassed all other human beings in excellence, as is natural for people who are the offspring and the pupils of gods. Many are the great deeds of your city that are recorded here and admired, but one of them [24e] stands above all the rest in size and excellence. For the records tell how great a power your city once stopped, which in its arrogance was marching against all of Europe and Asia at once, having set out from outside, out of the Atlantic Ocean."

Critias: For at that time that ocean could be crossed. For in front of the strait that you call, as you say, the Pillars of Heracles there lay an island, and this island was larger than Libya and Asia together. From it travelers in those days could reach the other islands, and from the islands

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[25a] toward the whole mainland opposite, around that true sea. For this region here, everything inside the mouth we speak of, has the look of only a harbor with a narrow way in. But that open sea out there, and the land that surrounds it, could most rightly be called, in the full truth, a continent. In this island of Atlantis there had grown up a great and marvelous power of kings. It ruled the whole island, and many other islands too, and parts of the continent. And beyond this, it ruled the lands inside here as well: [25b] all of Libya as far as Egypt, and all of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This whole power gathered itself into one. It then made a single rush to enslave your land and our land and every place inside the mouth, all of them at once. Then, Solon, the power of your city showed itself to all mankind in its courage and in its strength. Taking the lead of all men in bravery and in the skills of war, [25c] it led the Greeks at first, and then, when the others had fallen away, it was left alone by necessity. It came to the very last dangers. It defeated the attackers and set up a trophy. It kept those who were not yet slaves from being enslaved. And it set free, without stint, all the rest of us who live inside the Pillars of Heracles. But at a later time there came extraordinary earthquakes and floods. One [25d] terrible day and night fell. All your fighting men sank into the earth at once. And the island of Atlantis likewise sank into the sea and vanished. That is why even now the sea out there is hard to pass and impossible to explore. A very thin layer of mud lies in the way. The island left it as it settled down into the deep.

That, Socrates, is what old [25e] Critias told you in brief, as he had it by hearing from Solon. Yesterday, while you were speaking about the city and about the men you described, I marveled as I called to mind the things I am telling now. I saw how, by some divine stroke of luck and not at random, most of what you said fell in with what Solon said.

Critias: But I did not

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[26a] want to tell it right away; for after so long a time I did not remember it well enough. So I saw that I first had to go over everything for myself with care, and only then speak. That is why I quickly agreed yesterday to what you asked. I thought that in all work of this kind the greatest task is to lay down a speech that fits the plan, and that there we would find enough help. So, as this man said, yesterday I left here at once [26b] and told them the story as I recalled it. Then I went away, and during the night I went over almost all of it and took it back into memory. How true is the saying that what is learned in childhood has a marvelous way of staying fixed in the mind! What I heard yesterday, I do not know whether I could take all of it back into memory. But these things, which I have known through a very long time, I would be utterly amazed if any of them had slipped away from me. I heard them then with much pleasure [26c] and play. The old man taught me eagerly, and he often asked me questions. So they stuck in my mind like marks burned into a picture that cannot be washed off. And so at daybreak I told these very things to these men at once, so that they would have plenty of speech to share with me. Now, then, for the very purpose for which all this has been said, I am ready to speak, Socrates, not only in summary, but in detail, just as I heard each part. And the citizens and the city that you described to us yesterday as in a story, we will now carry [26d] over into truth and set here. We will say that this city is that one. We will say that the citizens you had in mind are those real ancestors of ours whom the priest spoke of. They will fit in every way. We will not miss the mark when we say that they are the men who lived at that time. And all of us, taking the work in common, will try to give, as well as we can, what is fitting, as you ordered. So, Socrates, we must now consider whether this plan of ours is to your mind, [26e] or whether we must look for some other plan in its place.

Socrates: And what could we take up in its place, Critias, better than this one? It suits the sacrifice to the goddess that we are now holding better than any other, because of its kinship with her. And it is a very great thing that this is not a story made up, but a true account. For how, and from where, could we find others if we give these up? There is no way. So it is by good luck that you must speak, and that I must now, instead of yesterday's speeches,

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[27a] keep quiet and listen to you in return.

Critias: Look, then, Socrates, at how we have set up the feast for you. It seemed right to us that Timaeus should speak first. He is the best astronomer among us, and he has made it his work to know most about the nature of the whole. He will begin from the birth of the world, and he will end with the nature of man. I am to speak after him. From his speech I will receive men as already come to be, and from you as trained with special care—[27b] some of them, at least. Then, following the account and the law of Solon, I will bring them in as citizens of this city, as if into a court with us as judges, on the ground that they are the Athenians of that time. The report of the sacred writings showed them to us, though they were hidden. The speeches after that we will make as about citizens and Athenians who already exist.

Socrates: It looks as if I am to be repaid in full measure and in splendor for my feast of speeches. Your task, then, Timaeus, it seems, will be to speak next, after you have called on the gods according to law.

[27c] Timaeus: Well, Socrates, all who have even a small share of good sense always call on a god at the start of every undertaking, small or great. And we, who are about to make speeches about the whole—how it came to be, or whether it had no birth at all—must call on gods and goddesses and pray, if we are not to miss the truth completely. We pray that everything we say be above all according to their mind, [27d] and then in keeping with ours. Let that be our prayer about the gods. And now we must call on our own powers, so that you may learn most easily, and so that I may show my own thought as clearly as I can about the matters before us.

Timaeus: In my judgment, then, we must first make this division: what is that which always is and has no coming-to-be, and what is that which is coming to be

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[28a] always, but never is? The first is grasped by thought together with reason, and it is always in the same state. The other is grasped by opinion together with sense that is without reason. It comes to be and passes away, but it never truly is. And again, everything that comes to be must come to be by some cause. For nothing can get a birth without a cause. Whenever the craftsman looks toward what is always in the same state, and uses a model of that kind as he works out the form and the power of his work, everything made this way must of necessity [28b] turn out beautiful. But whenever he works toward what has come to be, using a model that was born, the work is not beautiful. Now the whole heaven—or cosmos, or whatever other name anyone would most accept for it—let that be our name for it. About it we must first ask the question that must be asked at the start about everything: Was it always, having no beginning of coming to be? Or did it come to be, starting from some beginning? It came to be. For it is visible and touchable, and it has a body. All such things are objects of sense. And [28c] things of sense, grasped by opinion together with sense, have been shown to be things that come to be and were born. And we say again that what has come to be must have come to be by some cause.

Timaeus: To find the maker and father of this whole is a task. And having found him, it is impossible to tell of him to all men. And we must ask about it again, toward which of the two models the builder made

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[29a] it, toward that which is always in the same state and unchanging, or toward that which has come to be? If this cosmos is beautiful, and its craftsman good, then clearly he looked to the eternal. If not—and that no one may say—then to that which has come to be. But it is plain to everyone that he looked to the eternal. For the cosmos is the most beautiful of the things that have come to be, and he is the best of the causes. So this cosmos, having come to be, was made in likeness of that which is grasped by reason and intelligence and stays always in the same state. [29b] Since these things are so, it must by every necessity be an image of something. And it is most important of all to begin from the natural beginning. So we must draw the line here, for the image and for the model it is copied from: the accounts must belong to the same kind as the things they explain. About that which is lasting and firm and seen clearly by intelligence, the accounts must be lasting and unchangeable. So far as accounts can be, they must stand beyond refutation and defeat, and [29c] nothing may be lacking in them. But the accounts of the thing made in likeness of that other, which is itself an image, must be likely ones, in the same measure as those others. As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief. So, Socrates, if we find we cannot, in the many things about the gods and about the birth of the whole, give accounts that agree with themselves in every point and are exact to the full, do not be surprised. Rather, we must be content if we fall short of the likely in nothing. We must remember that I who speak [29d] and you who judge have human nature. So we must accept the likely story about these things, and we must look for nothing beyond it.

Socrates: It is best, Timaeus. We must accept it fully, just as you say. We have received your opening speech with great wonder. Now finish for us, in your turn, the task you laid down.

Timaeus: Let us say, then, for what cause the maker put together becoming and [29e] this whole. He was good. And no jealousy about anything ever arises in one who is good. Being free of it, he wanted everything to become as much as possible like himself.

Timaeus: This, then, is the most sovereign beginning of becoming and of the world, the one that

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[30a] one would most rightly accept, taking it from wise men. God wanted all things to be good, and nothing bad, so far as was possible. So he took all that was visible. It was not still. It was moving without measure and without order. He brought it from disorder into order, for he judged that this was in every way better than that. It was not right then, and it is not right now, for the best to do anything but the most beautiful. [30b] So he reasoned, and he found that of the things visible by nature, nothing without intelligence could ever be, as a whole more beautiful than a whole, than that which has intelligence. And again, intelligence could never come to anything apart from soul. Because of this reasoning, he put intelligence in soul, and soul in body, and so he wove the whole together. He did it so that the work might be, by its nature, as beautiful and as good as possible. So, by the likely account, we must say that this world became, through the providence of God, [30c] a living thing with soul and with intelligence, in truth.

This being so, we must say next what living thing the maker made it like. Let us not stoop to compare it with any living thing whose nature is that of a part. Nothing like an unfinished thing could ever become beautiful. The other living things are parts, each after its kind, of one. Let us say that the world is most like that one. For all the intelligible living things are held within that one, just as this [30d] world holds us and all the other visible creatures it has put together.

Timaeus: For God, wanting to make it most like the best of the intelligible things, the one complete in every way, made it one visible living thing, holding within it all

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[31a] the living things whose nature is akin to its own. Did we speak rightly, then, when we said it is one heaven? Or would it be more right to say there are many, endless heavens? It is one, if it was made in the likeness of the model. That which holds all the intelligible living things could never be a second one beside another. There would have to be another living thing around those two, of which those two would be parts. And then this world would no longer be said to be like those two. It would more rightly be said to be like that other one, the one that holds them. So that this world may be like the complete living thing in its oneness, [31b] the maker of worlds made neither two nor endless worlds. This heaven alone has come to be, only-begotten. It still is, and it will still be.

Now what has come to be must have a bodily form, and it must be visible and touchable. Without fire nothing could ever become visible. Without something solid nothing could become touchable. And nothing is solid without earth. So God, beginning to build the body of the whole, made it from fire and earth. But two things alone cannot be well joined without a third. [31c] There must be some bond in the middle, to bring the two together. The best bond is the one that makes itself and the things it joins as much as possible one. And proportion is by nature the best at doing that.

Timaeus: For whenever among three numbers, or masses,

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[32a] or powers of any kind, the middle is such that what the first is to the middle, the middle is to the last. And again, what the last is to the middle, the middle is to the first. Then the middle becomes first and last, and the last and the first both become middles in turn. So all of them must come to be the same, of necessity. And things that become the same as one another will all be one. Now if the body of the whole had had to come to be a flat surface with no depth, one middle term would have been enough. [32b] It would have joined the things to itself and itself to the things. But the world had to be solid, as its nature required. And one middle term never joins solids; two middles always fit them together. So God set water and air in the middle, between fire and earth. He worked them toward one another, as far as it was possible, by the same ratio: as fire is to air, so air is to water. And as air is to water, so water is to earth. He joined them together and built a heaven visible and touchable. And for these reasons, from these things, [32c] and from the number four, the body of the world was born, brought into one by proportion. From them it gained friendship, so that it came into unity with itself. No other can undo it, except the one who joined it.

The building of the world took each one of the four as a whole. The maker built it from all the fire, all the water, all the air, and all the earth. He left outside it no part, and no power, of any of them. He thought this: [32d] first, that it should be, as far as possible, a complete living thing made of complete

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[33a] parts.

Timaeus: And there is one thing more. Nothing was left over from which another thing like it could have been made. And it was to be without old age and without sickness. He saw that a body put together has hot and cold, and all the things with strong powers, standing around it outside. They fall on it at the wrong time. They break it apart, bring disease and old age, and make it waste away. Because of this cause and this reasoning, he made it one, complete out of all wholes, without age and without sickness. [33b] And he gave it the shape that was fitting and akin to it. The living thing was to hold all living things within itself. For such a thing the fitting shape would be the one that takes in within itself all the shapes there are. So he made it round, shaped like a sphere, and turned it smooth, as on a lathe. From its center to its edges it stands at equal distance in every direction. Of all shapes it is the most complete, and the most like itself. He judged that like is ten thousand times more beautiful than unlike. And for many reasons he made its whole outside, all around, perfectly smooth. [33c] It had no need of eyes. Nothing visible was left outside it. It had no need of hearing. Nothing audible was left. There was no air around it that needed to breathe. Nor did it need any organ to take food into itself, or to send out again what had before been dried up. Nothing went out of it, and nothing came to it from anywhere, for there was nothing else. It fed itself on its own decay. All things were felt and done within it and by it. By craft it came to be. [33d] The one who put it together judged that it would be better self-sufficient than in need of anything else. And he did not think it needful to attach hands, for no use. It had no use for taking hold, nor for striking back at anyone. Nor did he attach feet. Nor, in general, the service that goes with

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[34a] walking.

Timaeus: For he gave it the motion proper to its body. Of the seven motions, he gave it the one that has most to do with intelligence and thought. So he turned it in a circle, in the same place and within itself, and made it move by turning round. All the other six motions he took away, and he made it free of their wandering. For this circular motion it had no need of feet. So he brought it to birth without legs and without feet.

Now this world, being the whole and eternal thought of God about the god that was [34b] one day to be—when it had been thought out, he made its body smooth and even everywhere, equal in every direction from its center, whole and complete out of complete bodies. He set soul in the middle of it. He stretched the soul through the whole, and then he wrapped the body around it from outside. And he made it a heaven turning round in a circle, one and alone. By its excellence he made it able to be its own companion, needing nothing else, and knowing itself and befriending itself well. For all these reasons, he brought it to birth a blessed god.

And the soul, too, he did not make as we now try to say, as if it were later and younger than the body. [34c] God would not have joined them so as to let the older be ruled by the younger. It is because we share so much in chance and guesswork that we speak this way. He made the soul earlier and older than the body, in birth and in excellence, as its mistress and its ruler, to rule the thing that was to be ruled,

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[35a] He built it out of these things, and in this way.

Timaeus: From the indivisible being, which always stays the same, and from the divided being that comes to be around bodies, he blended a third kind of being in between the two. It was made from both—from the nature of the same, in turn, and from the nature of the other—and he built it up in between their indivisible part and the part of them that is divided around bodies. He took these three things that existed and blended them all into one single form, forcing the nature of the other, which is hard to blend, into the same thing. [35b] Then he mixed it together with being, and when he had made one thing out of three, he divided this whole again into as many portions as it needed, and each portion was a mixture of the same, of the other, and of being. He began dividing in this way. First he took one portion from the whole. Next he took a second portion, twice that size. He took a third portion, half again as much as the second and three times the first. He took a fourth portion, twice the second. He took a fifth portion, three times the [35c] third. He took a sixth portion, eight times the first, and a seventh portion, twenty-seven times the first.

Timaeus: After these things he began to fill in

### Stephanus 36

[36a] the double and the triple intervals. He was still cutting portions off from it and setting them between these intervals, so that in each interval there were two means. One of the two exceeded the outer terms by the same fraction of each, and was exceeded by them by the same fraction. The other exceeded by an equal number and was exceeded by an equal number. When the bonds had formed in the earlier intervals—distances of one and a half, of one and a third, and of one and an eighth—[36b] he filled every interval of one and a third with the interval of one and an eighth, leaving a small part of each one over. When that leftover fraction was set as a number against a number, its terms were 256 to 243. And at that point the mixture, from which he had cut all these pieces, was completely used up. So he split this whole structure lengthwise into two halves. Then he bent each one, middle onto middle, like a cross, and made them into one circle. He fastened them to themselves and to each other at the point directly opposite the crossing, and he kept them turning around by the motion that carries them in a circle, always in the same place. [36c] He made one circle outer and the other inner. The outer motion he marked out as that of the nature of the same; the inner motion, that of the other. He turned the circle of the same around the side, toward the right, and the circle of the other along the diameter, toward the left. And he gave the mastery to the [36d] rotation of the same and the like; for he left that one circle undivided. The inner circle he cut six times into seven unequal circles, each keeping the ratio of double and triple—three of each kind. He ordered those inner circles to move in opposite directions to one another. Three of them moved at the same speed, and four at speeds unlike one another and unlike the three, though each still moved in a fixed ratio.

And when the whole structure of the soul had come out as its builder intended, he then built all the body-like stuff inside [36e] it, and joined middle to middle. The soul spread out from the middle to the far edge of heaven all around, wrapped heaven on the outside, and turned within itself. So it began a divine start of unceasing and intelligent life, for all time to come.

Timaeus: So the body of heaven came to be visible, while the soul itself is invisible, though it shares in reasoning and

### Stephanus 37

[37a] harmony. It is a soul. It was made by the best of the intelligible things that always are, and it is the best of the things that have been born. It was blended from the nature of the same, from the nature of the other, and from being—three portions—divided in due proportion and bound together. It turns upon itself, and whenever it touches something whose being is scattered, or something indivisible, it is stirred through all of itself, and it says what each given thing is the same as and what it is [37b] other than: what it is most of all, and where, and how, and when it happens—both about the things that come to be, what each thing is and what it undergoes in relation to each thing, and about the things that always hold the same state. And the account—the true statement that comes to be about the other and about the same—is carried along in the soul as it moves under its own motion, without voice or sound. When it arises about what the senses take in, and the circle of the other, going straight, announces it through the whole soul, then sure and true beliefs come to be. [37c] But when it arises about what reasons, and the circle of the same, running smooth and true, reveals it, then intelligence and knowledge necessarily come to be. And if anyone says that what these two arise in is anything other than soul, he will say anything rather than the truth.

And when the father who had made it saw it move and live—an image of the everlasting gods—he delighted in it and rejoiced, and he planned to make it still more like its model. [37d] Now the model itself is an everlasting living thing. So he tried to make this universe too like it, to the limit of its capacity. The nature of that living thing was eternal. It was impossible to attach that fully to anything born. So he planned to make a moving image of eternity. While he put the heavens in order, he made an image of eternity that stays one, an everlasting image going by number—and that is what we have called time. [37e] Days, nights, months, and years did not exist before the heavens came to be. He planned their birth together with the heavens' construction. All of these are parts of time, and "was" and "will be" are forms of time that have come to be. We turn them onto everlasting being without noticing, and that is not correct.

Timaeus: For we say that it was, and is, and will be; but only "is" fits it by the true

### Stephanus 38

[38a] true account. "Was" and "will be" are rightly said of the becoming that moves in time. For those two are motions. But what always holds the same state cannot move at all. It is not right to say that it becomes older or younger through time, or that it ever came to be, or has just now come to be, or will be again. In general, none of the things that becoming attached to what moves in our senses belongs to it. Those forms came to be when time, imitating eternity, circled by number. And besides these, there are still points like these: [38b] that what has come to be "is" what has come to be, and what is becoming "is" what is becoming, and that what will come to be "is" what will come to be, and that what is not "is" not-being. We speak none of these accurately. Perhaps now is not the right moment to sort out such things exactly.

Time came to be along with the heavens, so that, born together, they may also come apart together, if ever they do come apart. It was made on the pattern of the everlasting nature, so that it would be as like it as possible. [38c] For the model is a living thing that is for all eternity, while the heavens have come to be and are and will be through all time. So, by this reasoning and this plan of the god for the birth of time—so that time might be born—he made the sun and the moon and five other stars, called "wanderers," to set apart and guard the numbers of time. He made the body of each one and set them in the circles that the circle of the other traveled, seven in number—[38d] seven bodies in seven circles. The moon went into the circle closest to the earth, the sun into the second above the earth, and the morning star and the star called sacred to Hermes into the circle that runs at the same speed as the sun. But those two hold a power opposite to his. That is why the sun and the star of Hermes and the morning star overtake one another and are overtaken, each in turn. Why the god set up the rest where he did, and for what reasons—if someone went through all of it, the account, being a side matter, would cause more trouble than the purpose it is told for. [38e] These things, perhaps, might get the full telling they deserve later, at leisure.

Timaeus: And when each of these bodies had come to the motion proper to it, so that time was completed together with all the things that had to be worked along with it—then, since their bodies were bound fast with bonds of soul, they became living creatures, and they learned the order given to them, moving in the motion of the other

### Stephanus 39

[39a] which is slanted. Since the motion of the same was going on and ruling through it, some of the stars ran around the larger circle and some around the smaller. The ones on the smaller circle went around faster, and the ones on the larger circle more slowly. Under the motion of the same, the fastest ones seemed to be overtaken by the slower ones. That motion bent all their circles into a spiral, because their motion went two ways at once, in opposite directions. [39b] And since that motion was itself the fastest, it showed the star that drew away from it most slowly as the nearest. And so that there might be some clear measure of slowness and speed among them for the eight circuits, the god lit a light in the second circle from the earth—the one we now call the sun—so that it might shine through all the heaven as much as possible, and so that living things might share in number, as many as it was right for, learning it from the [39c] rotation of the same and the like. Night and day came to be in this way, then, and for this reason: they are the period of the one and wisest turning. The month comes whenever the moon, having gone around her own circle, overtakes the sun; the year, whenever the sun has gone around his own circle. But people have not grasped the circuits of the others; only a few out of the many have. They do not name them, and they do not measure them against one another by numbers. The result is that, so to speak, [39d] they do not know that these wanderings are time—wanderings countless in number and wonderfully varied. And yet it can still be understood well enough that the perfect number of time fulfills the perfect year at that moment when the relative speeds of all eight circuits, completed together, come to a head, measured against the circle of the same, which moves in like manner. It was for these reasons, then, that the stars were begotten which travel through the heavens and have their turnings—so that this universe might be as like as possible [39e] to the perfect and intelligible living thing, in its imitation of the everlasting nature.

And by then he had finished everything else, down to the birth of time, in the likeness of the thing he modeled it on. But it was still unlike its model in one way: it did not yet hold all the living things inside itself. This remaining part he now worked out, stamping it from the nature of the model. The forms that intelligence sees within the living thing that truly is—what kinds they are, and how many—of just those kinds and that number he decided this universe too must have.

Timaeus: There are four kinds. One is the heavenly race of gods; another

### Stephanus 40

[40a] the winged kind that travels the air; the third is the kind that lives in water; and the fourth, the kind that walks on dry land. He made most of the divine kind out of fire, so that it would be as bright as possible to see and the most beautiful. And as it was to be like the whole universe, he made it round, like a wheel. He set its intelligence in the wisdom of the highest, to follow after it, and assigned it a place all around the heavens in a circle—a true ornament, worked over the whole of it. He gave each one two motions: one that stays in the same place, always [40b] thinking the same thoughts about the same things; and one that moves forward, ruled by the rotation of the same and the like. The other five motions he left unmoving and standing still, so that each might become as good as possible. For that reason, then, all the fixed stars came to be—divine living things, everlasting, turning in the same place at the same rate, staying put forever. But the stars that turn aside and have the kind of wandering described earlier came to be for those reasons. And the earth, our nurse, winding about [40c] the axis stretched through it from pole to pole, he devised as guardian and maker of night and day—the first and oldest of the gods that have come to be inside the heaven. Now, their dances, and their standings against one another, and the circlings-back of their circles upon themselves and their advances—and in their meetings, which gods come into line with which, and which stand face to face, and through which they pass ahead of one another, and at what times each is hidden from us and then shows itself again, sending fears and signs of the things [40d] that will happen afterward to people who cannot work out the reckoning—to say all this without seeing those models would be wasted effort. But enough has been said here. Let the account of the visible and begotten gods end here, at its natural close.

As for the birth of the other kinds of spirits, to tell it and to know it is more than our powers allow. But we must believe those who spoke before. They are children of gods, as they said, and clearly they know their own ancestors. [40e] It is impossible to disbelieve the children of gods, even when they speak without likely proofs and without proofs of necessity. Following the law, we must trust them, since they claim to be reporting about their own family.

Timaeus: So let the birth of these gods be settled among us as those people told it, and let it be said like this. The children of Earth and Heaven were Ocean and Tethys; and their children were Phorcys and Cronus and Rhea and all who came after

### Stephanus 41

[41a] them. From Cronus and Rhea came Zeus and Hera and all the brothers we know of, and then the children of these as well. So when every one of the gods had come to be—both those who circle about in the open and all those who appear as much as they choose—the maker of this universe spoke to them like this:

Gods of gods—those works whose maker and father I am—what came to be through me cannot be undone unless I will it. [41b] Everything that is bound can be undone, true. But it is an evil for what is beautifully fitted together and in good condition to want to come undone. So, since you have come to be, you are not immortal, and not fully beyond being undone. Still, you will never be undone, and you will never meet a share in death. You have won a bond of my will, which is greater and more sovereign than the bonds you were tied with when you came to be. Now learn what I show you and say to you. Three mortal kinds are still unborn. If they are not born, the heaven will be incomplete, for it will not have all the kinds of living things within [41c] itself. And it must have them, if it is to be complete enough. But if they are born through me and share in life, they will be made equal to the gods. So, so that mortal things may exist and this whole universe may truly be all-complete, turn, as your nature leads, to the making of living things, and imitate my power in your own births. And so far as it is right for them to share the immortal name, I will sow the divine part in them that rules—the part that follows justice always and follows you willingly—and having sown it and given it its start, [41d] I will hand it over to you. The rest is your work: weaving the mortal onto the immortal, make living creatures. Beget them, feed them, make them grow, and take them in again as they waste away.

He said this, and turned back to the first mixing bowl, the one in which he had mixed and blended the soul of the universe. He poured in what was left of the earlier material, mixing it in much the same way, but no longer unmixed and pure in the same way as before—only second grade and third. When he had put the whole thing together, he divided out souls, as many as the stars, [41e] and assigned one to each star. Then he set them each in place, as if into a chariot, and showed them the nature of the universe. And he told them the laws of destiny: their first birth would be one and the same for all, so that none should be lessened by him; and they were to be sown into the instruments of time that suited each

### Stephanus 42

[42a] there to grow into the most god-fearing kind of living thing. Human nature is double. The better part should be the kind that would later be called "man."

Timaeus: And whenever they were necessarily planted in bodies—one thing of their body coming on, and another going—first, sensation necessarily grew up in all of them, one kind, born in them, out of the violent impacts. Second, love, mixed with pleasure and pain. Besides these, fear and anger, and whatever follows those two, and whatever is by nature set against them. [42b] If they mastered these, they would live with justice; if they were mastered by them, with injustice. Whoever lived well for the time given to him went back again to the home of the star he was born with, and he lived a blessed life in his familiar ways. But whoever failed in this changed at his second birth into a woman's nature. [42c] And if he still did not stop doing evil there, he changed again, in keeping with the likeness of his own bad habit, into some beast-like nature, and kept changing. He did not rest from his toils until he had mastered with reason the great crowd within him—the later growth, fastened on from fire and water and air and earth, noisy and without reason—and, drawing it along by the circle of the same and the like within him, he had come to the form of the first and best state. [42d] And when he had laid down all these laws for them, so that he would be without blame for any evil of theirs afterward, he sowed some of them into the earth, some into the moon, and some into the other instruments of time. After the sowing he handed the rest over to the younger gods: to mold mortal bodies; to shape what was left over of the human soul that still had to be added, [42e] and all the things that follow from that; and to rule over these; and to steer the mortal creature as beautifully and as well as they could—so long as it did not itself become the cause of evils to itself.

And having set all these things in order, he stayed in his own usual state.

Timaeus: And while he stayed so, his children took note of their father's order and obeyed it. Taking the immortal beginning of a mortal creature, and imitating their maker, they borrowed fire and earth and water and air from the universe

### Stephanus 43

[43a] The portions were to be given back again later. They glued the parts they took to what was like them, not with the unbreakable bonds by which they themselves were held; instead they fused them with pegs so tiny that no one could see them, packed close together, and they made each body one thing out of all of them. Then they put the circles of the immortal soul into a body that things flow into and flow out of. When the circles were tied into this great river, they could neither master it nor be mastered by it. The river swept them along, and they swept it along. So the [43b] whole animal was in motion, but it went in disorder and without reason, wherever it happened to go, with all six motions at once. It moved forward and backward, then to the right and the left, down and up, wandering through all six places. [43c] The wave that flooded in and drained away, the wave that gave it food, was large. And everything that struck the circuits upset them even more. This happened when someone's body met fire from outside that belonged to something else, or hit the hard, solid earth, or the slippery streams of water, or when winds rushing through the air caught it. Through all these things, the motions passed through the body and fell upon the soul. Because of this, they were given their name then, and all of them together are still called sensations today. [43d] And at that time these motions, supplying the greatest and most violent movement, moved along with the channel that flowed without stopping, and shook the circles of the soul hard. They completely blocked the circle of the Same, running against it, and stopped it from ruling and from going its own way. And they shook the circle of the Other apart. The three intervals of each kind, of the double and the triple, and the joining means and couplings of three-to-two, four-to-three, and nine-to-eight, were not completely undone, except by the one who had bound them. Yet they now made every kind of twisting [43e] of all the circles, and every kind of bending and ruin of the circles, in every way that was possible, so that the circles were barely held to one another. They moved, but they moved without reason—now in opposite directions, now sideways, now upside down. It is like this: when a man lies on his back, with his head resting on the ground and his feet thrown up against something, then in that state, both for the man it happens to and for the people watching him, his right seems left and his left seems right, each for each of them.

Timaeus: So the rotations suffered this, and other things like it, violently,

### Stephanus 44

[44a] whenever they met with something outside from the kind of the Same or from the kind of the Other. Then, calling the Same "other" and the Other "same," against the truth, they became false and foolish; and no circle in them was then ruling or leading. When certain sensations, moving in from outside, fell upon them and dragged the whole vessel of the soul along with them, then those sensations, though mastered themselves, seemed to rule. [44b] Because of all these experiences, the soul is at first, when it is newly tied into a mortal body, without intelligence. But when the flow of growth and food grows less, and the circles, coming back to calm, go their own road again and settle more as time goes on, then the turnings are guided back to the natural course of each circle. They name the Other and the Same correctly, and they make the person who has them become intelligent. And if someone adds to them right nurture and education, [44c] he becomes whole and perfectly healthy, and he escapes the greatest disease. But if he neglects them, he travels through life lame, and he comes back to Hades unfinished and without intelligence. These things happen later, though. What is set before us now must be gone through more exactly. The things before this—the birth of the body part by part, and the soul, and through what causes and what care of the gods it came to be—must be set out by those who hold to what is most likely, [44d] going this same road as they do it.

The two divine circles: the gods imitated the round shape of the whole and tied them into a ball-shaped body, the thing we now name the head. This part is the most divine, and it rules over everything in us. The gods gathered the whole body together to serve it, since they understood that it was to share in every kind of motion there would be. [44e] And so that the head, rolling along the ground—a ground with heights and depths of every kind—would not be stuck, unable to climb over some places and get down from others, they gave it the body as a carriage and an easy way to travel.

Timaeus: That is why the body got its length, and why it grew four limbs that stretch out and bend; the god planned this way of travel. By gripping these limbs and bracing on them, the body became able to move through every kind of place,

### Stephanus 45

[45a] It carries the home of what is most divine and most holy above the rest of us. For that reason, legs and hands grew onto it. [45b] The gods judged the front more honorable and more commanding than the back, and so they gave us most of our movement in that direction. A person's front had to be set apart and unlike the rest of his body. That is why, first, around the hollow of the head, they set the face onto the front of it and tied to it the tools of all the soul's planning. They ordered that the part that is by nature in front should be the part that shares in rule. [45c] Of these tools, they first built the eyes, which carry light. They bound them in for this reason. Out of the part of fire that cannot burn, but gives a mild light, a light kin to every day, they made a body come to be. For the pure fire inside us, brother to that fire, they made to flow through the eyes, smooth and thick throughout, and they packed the middle of the eyes most full of it, so that only that pure kind strained through clean, and everything thicker was held back. [45d] So when the light about the stream of sight is of the day's own kind, it flows out like to like, joins into one solid thing, and forms one body of kindred stuff along the straight line of the eyes, wherever the stream falling from inside meets something outside. This whole thing, made to feel alike through its likeness, passes on the motions of whatever it touches, and of whatever touches that, into the whole body, all the way to the soul. And so it gives the sense by which we say we see. But when the kindred fire goes away into night, the stream is cut off. Going out toward what is unlike, it changes and is put out like a flame, no longer joining with the air next to it, since that air holds no fire. So the person stops seeing, and this is what brings sleep on. For the gods made a device to keep sight safe—the eyelids' [45e] nature: when these close, they shut in the power of the fire inside. That power then spreads out and evens the motions inside; when they are evened, quiet comes; and when much quiet has come, a sleep with few dreams falls.

Timaeus: But if some greater motions are left behind—the kind that stay, in whatever places they stay—

### Stephanus 46

[46a] such and so many images do they supply, made alike inside and outside; and when a person wakes, these are remembered. The making of images in mirrors, and in everything smooth and bright, is no longer hard to make out. For out of the meeting of the two fires, the fire inside and the fire outside, and out of one surface always forming on the smooth part and being reshaped in many ways, [46b] all such things appear by necessity, when the fire about the face is packed together with the fire about the sight on the smooth, bright surface. Left things show as right, because the meeting happens with opposite parts of the sight on opposite sides, against the settled habit of meeting. But right things show as right and left things as left, the other way around, when the light, as it joins with what it joins with, falls to the other side; and this happens when the smooth face of a mirror takes on a rise on this side or that and pushes the right part of the sight to the left, and each part to its opposite. [46c] Turned along the length of the face, the same thing makes the whole image show upside down, pushing the lower part of the light to the top and the upper part back to the bottom.

All these things are among the joint causes that the god uses as servants, [46d] as he completes the form of the best as far as he can. But most people take them to be not joint causes but the causes of everything, as they cool and heat, pack together and break apart, and produce all such things. Yet it is not possible for them to have any reason or intelligence in anything. For of the things that are, one must say that the soul alone is the thing that can gain intelligence; the soul is unseen, while fire, water, earth, and air have all come to be as bodies that can be seen. The lover of intelligence and knowledge must hunt for the causes of intelligent nature first, and for the things that come to be because other things move them and move yet others by necessity second. [46e] This is what we must do too: both kinds of causes must be spoken of, but apart—the ones that with intelligence are makers of things fine and good, and the ones that, cut off from intelligence, always turn out whatever falls to them, without order.

Timaeus: So let it be said that the eyes are joint causes of the power sight now holds; but their greatest useful work, the thing for which the god

### Stephanus 47

[47a] gave them to us, must be said next. Sight, then, by my account, has become the cause of the greatest help to us: none of the words now spoken about the whole would ever have been spoken if we had not seen the stars, the sun, and the sky. But now, from seeing day and night, the months and the turns of the years, and the equinoxes and the solstices, number has been worked out for us, and we have been given the idea of time and the search into the nature of the whole. [47b] From these we got philosophy, and no greater good has come or will ever come to the mortal race as a gift from the gods. So I say this is the greatest good of the eyes. As for the other, smaller goods, what could we sing praise for? A man without philosophy, if he went blind, would grieve and mourn over them for nothing. But let this be the cause we give for these things: the god found out sight and gave it to us, so that, seeing the circuits of intelligence in the sky, we might use them for the turnings of our own thought, [47c] which are akin to those circuits, ours disturbed while those are calm; and, learning them and taking part in the natural correctness of reason, and copying the god's circuits, which never wander, we might set straight the wanderings within us. About voice and hearing, again the same account holds: they were given by the gods for these same ends. For speech has been set up for these very ends, and it brings the greatest share to them; and all that part of music [47d] useful to the voice for hearing was given for the sake of harmony. Harmony has motions akin to the circuits of the soul in us. It is useful to anyone who uses the Muses with intelligence, not for senseless pleasure, as it now seems to be, but it was given by the Muses as an ally, to set in order and bring into agreement with itself the circuit of the soul in us that has come to be out of tune. And rhythm too was given for these same ends by the same gods, a helper against the lack of measure and the want [47e] of grace that comes to be in most of us.

So almost everything that has been said, except a little, has shown the things made through intelligence. But we must also set beside the account the things that come to be through necessity.

Timaeus: For the birth of this world

### Stephanus 48

[48a] came to be as a blend, from necessity and the ordering of intelligence together. Intelligence ruled over necessity by persuading it to lead most of the things that come to be toward what is best. In this way, with necessity beaten by wise persuasion, this whole was put together at the beginning. So if anyone is to tell how it truly came to be, he must mix in as well the kind of cause that wanders, the kind by which things are naturally carried along. [48b] So here we must turn back again, and, taking for these very things another beginning that fits them, we must again begin from the start about them, as we did back then about the things of that time. We must look at the nature of fire, water, air, and earth before the birth of the sky, and at their states before that time. For no one has yet shown their birth; but we speak of fire and of each of the others as if we knew what fire is, setting them down as the beginnings of the whole, its elements; yet even to compare them to the shapes within a syllable [48c] would not be fitting for anyone with even a little sense. But now let our position be this: what we think about the beginning or beginnings of all things, or in whatever way seems right about them, must not be said now—not for any other reason, but because it is hard, in the present way of going through the subject, to make clear what we think. So do not think that I must speak of it; and I could not persuade myself that I would be setting my hand rightly [48d] on so great a work. But keeping what was said at the start—the power of likely accounts—I will try to speak in likely terms no less than before about each thing and about all; indeed, from the start onward, more than before. So now again, at the start of what we say, we call on the god to save us from a strange and unaccustomed story and to carry us through to the belief in likely things, and [48e] let us begin again to speak.

This new beginning about the whole must be divided more finely than the last one. For then we divided two kinds; now a third other kind must be shown.

Timaeus: The two kinds were enough for what was said before: one was the form taken as the model, intelligible and always the same; and the copy

### Stephanus 49

[49a] of the model was the second, having birth and being visible. The third kind we did not divide off then, since we thought the two were enough. But now the account seems to force us to try to show, in words, a form that is hard and dim. What power and nature must we take it to have? This above all: that it is the receiver of all birth, like a nurse. What is true has been said; but it must be said more clearly, and that is hard, [49b] partly because we must first raise difficulties about fire and the things that follow fire. For it is hard to say of each of these what it truly is—what must be called water rather than fire, and what any one of them is rather than all of them, each one—in such a way as to use some sure and fixed account. So how, and in what way, and what should we say about them, if we raise the questions as we should? First, what we now call water: when it hardens, we [49c] see it become, as we think, stones and earth; and when it melts and breaks apart, this same thing becomes breath and air; and when air burns, it becomes fire; and fire, when it comes back together and is put out, goes again into the form of air; and air, coming together and growing thick, becomes cloud and mist; and from these, packed still more, comes flowing water; and from water come earth and stones again. And so, as it seems, they hand on the cycle of birth to one another in a ring. [49d] So since none of these things ever shows itself as the same, would anyone not be ashamed of himself if he insisted firmly that any one of them is this certain thing and not something else? It cannot be done. By far the safest way to speak about them is this: what we always see becoming now this, now that—fire, for instance—we should not call "this fire" but always "the such," each time; not "this water" but always "the such"; and never call anything else by a name as if it had any fixedness, in all the cases where we think we are pointing at something [49e] when we use the words "this" and "that" to show it. For it runs away and will not stand for "this" or "that" or "here," or any way of speaking that shows these things as fixed and standing things. So we should not call each thing "this," but should call it "the such," always turning about, the same way for each thing and for all alike; and so fire is "the such" through all time, and everything whatever that has birth.

Timaeus: But as for that into which each of these always comes when it shows itself, and from which it again passes away—

### Stephanus 50

[50a] We should call only that one 'this' or 'that', applying both names to it; but no quality—hot or white or anything among the opposites, and nothing that comes from them—should ever be called 'this' or 'that'. We must try once more to speak about it more clearly. If someone made all kinds of shape out of gold and went on reshaping each one into all the others without ever stopping, and someone pointed to one of them and asked [50b] what it is, by far the safest answer and the truest is to say 'gold'. We should never say that the triangle, or any of the other shapes that come and go in it, are real, since they change even as we name them. If someone is willing to accept even a name like that with some confidence, we should be satisfied. The same account applies to the nature that receives all bodies. We must always call it by the same name, since it never departs at all from its own power. It always receives everything, and [50c] it never takes on any shape like the shape of any of the things that enter it, in any way at all. By nature it lies there like a mold for everything, and it is moved and given shape by the things that enter it; because of them it looks different at different times. The things that enter and leave it are always copies of what is, stamped from them in a way that is hard to describe and wonderful, and this we will take up again later. For now we must think of three kinds: [50d] what comes to be, that in which it comes to be, and that from which what comes to be is copied and grows. And we may fairly compare the thing that receives to a mother, the source to a father, and the nature in between them to their child. And we must understand that when a stamp carrying every kind of variety is going to appear, the thing in which the stamping is set could not be well prepared in any other way than by being free of all the shapes it is going to receive from somewhere. [50e] If it were like any of the things that come into it, then when it received something of the opposite kind, or of a wholly different nature, it would copy it badly, and show its own appearance along with it. That is why the thing that is to receive all kinds in itself must be free of every form. It is the same with scented oils: the makers first make sure of this very thing, and make the liquids that are to hold the smells as free of smell as possible. And those who try to press shapes into soft materials leave no shape showing in them at all beforehand; they smooth them out first and make them as even as possible.

### Stephanus 51

[51a] Timaeus: Then the same must hold for the thing that is going to receive, well and all over itself, repeated copies of everything that always is: it must by nature be free of all forms. So we should not call the mother and receptacle of everything that has come to be, everything visible and in every way perceivable, earth or air or fire or water, or anything made out of these, or anything out of which these are made. Rather, we will not be wrong if we say that it is an invisible and shapeless kind of thing that receives everything, [51b] and that it partakes of what is intelligible in the hardest-to-pin-down way, and is itself the hardest thing to catch. As far as we can reach its nature from what has been said, one would be most right to put it like this: at any given time the part of it that has been set on fire appears as fire, the part made wet as water, and earth and air insofar as it receives copies of these. But we should look into these matters more by reasoning, and draw the line like this: is there a fire itself, all on its own, and are all the things we always talk about [51c] real in that way, each one by itself? Or are these things we see, and all the rest that we perceive through the body, the only ones with that kind of truth, with no others besides them anywhere at all, so that every time we say there is some intelligible form of each thing we say it in vain, and it turns out to be nothing but words? So it is not right to leave the question untested and undecided and still insist strongly that this is how things are; nor should we pile onto a long account, as a side matter, [51d] another long stretch of argument. But if some great limit could be marked out in a few words, that would be the most timely thing of all. So this is how I cast my own vote: if intelligence and true opinion are two kinds, then these things exist all on their own, forms we cannot perceive, grasped only by thought. But if, as it seems to some, true opinion does not differ from intelligence at all, then everything we perceive through the body must be taken as most firmly real. [51e] Those two must be called two, because they have come to be apart and are not alike. One of them comes to us through teaching, the other through persuasion. The one always comes with a true account, the other has no account. The one cannot be moved by persuasion, the other can be persuaded to change. And we must say that every man shares in true opinion, while gods share in intelligence, and of mankind only a small part.

Timaeus: Since this is how things stand,

### Stephanus 52

[52a] we must agree that there is one kind that keeps the same form, ungenerated and indestructible, that neither receives anything else into itself from anywhere nor itself goes off into anything else; it is invisible and in every way beyond perception, and this is the thing that thought has been assigned to study. Second is what shares its name and is like it: what is perceived, generated, always carried about, coming to be in some place and again destroyed from there, grasped by opinion together with perception. Third is the kind of the receptacle, always there, not admitting destruction, [52b] providing a seat for everything that comes to be; it is grasped without perception by a kind of bastard reasoning, and it is hardly believable. Yet we dream about it as we look at things, and we say that everything that is must surely be somewhere, in some place, and must occupy some space, and that what is not on earth or anywhere in heaven is nothing at all. Because of this half-asleep state of ours, all these claims and others like them make it impossible [52c] for us, when we wake up and draw distinctions, to tell the truth about the nature that is free of sleep and truly real: that an image, since even the thing it is made for does not belong to itself but is always the appearance of something else being carried along, must for that reason come to be in something else, holding on to being in some way, or else it would be nothing at all; and the true and precise account stands as a helper to what really is, showing that as long as one thing is one thing and another is another, neither of them, ever coming to be in the other, [52d] will become one and the same and two at once.

So let this be the account given in summary, as my own vote counts it: that there are being, and the receptacle, and coming-to-be, three things in three ways, even before the heaven came to be. And the nurse of coming-to-be is made wet and set on fire and takes on the shapes of earth and air, and suffers whatever other states go along with these, [52e] and it appears all kinds of different ways. But because it is filled with powers that are neither alike nor evenly balanced, no part of it stays in balance; it is rocked unevenly in every direction, it is shaken by those things, and then as it moves it shakes them in turn.

Timaeus: And as they move, they are always carried different ways as they separate out, like the things shaken by winnowing baskets and the machines used to clean grain, and

### Stephanus 53

[53a] as they are dried out, the dense and heavy ones settle one way, and the rare and light ones are carried off and settle into a different seat. This is how the four kinds were shaken by the receptacle, as it moved and gave a shaking like an instrument: it pushed the most unlike ones furthest apart from each other, and drove the most alike ones together into the same place. That is why they took different places, one here and one there, even before the whole universe was put in order and came to be from them. Before that, all these things were in a state without reason and without measure. [53b] But when an attempt was made to put the universe in order—fire, water, earth, and air first, still showing some traces of their own nature, but disposed exactly as anything is likely to be when a god is absent from it—these things, in that state, were the first he shaped, with forms and numbers. And let this stand for us as a rule to be repeated at every point: that the god set them together to be as beautiful and as good as possible, out of things that were not in that state. For now, though, we must try to explain to you the arrangement of each of them and their coming-to-be, [53c] in an account unlike the one we are used to. But since you share in the paths of education along which what is said has to be shown, you will follow.

First, that fire, earth, water, and air are bodies is clear to everyone. Every form of body also has depth. And depth of necessity includes within it a flat surface. And the straight-edged base of the flat surface is made up of triangles. All triangles begin from [53d] two triangles, each of which has one right angle and the others acute. Of these, one has, on both of its sides, parts of a right angle divided by equal sides, and the other has unequal parts divided by unequal sides. These we lay down as the starting point of fire and the other bodies, since we follow the likely account that goes along with necessity. As for the principles above these, god knows them, and any man who is a friend of his. We must say what the [53e] four most beautiful bodies would be: unlike each other, and yet able, when they break apart, to come to be from one another in some cases. If we get this, we have the truth about the coming-to-be of earth and fire and of the ones in between that follow proportion. For we will agree with no one that there are visible bodies more beautiful than these, each of them being a single kind. So we must try to fit together the four kinds of bodies that differ in beauty, and say that we have grasped their nature well enough.

### Stephanus 54

[54a] Timaeus: Of the two triangles, the isosceles has one nature, while the unequal-sided one has infinitely many. So we must pick out the most beautiful of the infinite set, if we are to make a proper start. If someone can pick out a more beautiful one and name it for their construction, he wins—he being not an enemy but a friend. We, then, pick one as the most beautiful of the many triangles and pass over the rest: the one from which the equilateral triangle is put together out of three. [54b] The reason for this would take a longer account. But for anyone who tests this and finds that it is so, the prizes are laid out in friendship. So let two triangles be picked out, the ones from which fire and the other bodies have been constructed: the isosceles, and the one whose longer side always has three times the power of the shorter side. What was said unclearly before must now be marked out more clearly. For it seemed that all four kinds came to be from one another and into one another, but that was an incorrect impression. Four kinds do come to be from [54c] the triangles we have picked: three of them from the single one that has unequal sides, and the fourth fitted together from the isosceles triangle alone. So not all of them can break apart into one another, so that a few large ones come to be out of many small ones, or the other way around; but the three can. Since all of them grow from one, when the larger ones are broken up, many small ones will form out of the same parts, taking on the shapes that belong to them. And when many small ones are scattered apart along their triangles, [54d] one number of them, forming a single mass, would produce one other single form, a large one. Let this much be said about their coming to be from one another. Now, in order, we should tell what sort of form each of them has come to be, and out of what numbers of parts put together. The first and smallest form to be put together will lead off, and its element is the triangle whose hypotenuse is twice the length of its shorter side. When two of these are put together along their diagonals, and this is done three times, [54e] with the diagonals and the short sides all brought to meet at a single center, one equilateral triangle is formed out of six of them.

Timaeus: And when four equilateral triangles are put together, joining three plane angles into one solid

### Stephanus 55

[55a] angle, it makes one that comes right after the most obtuse of the plane angles. When four of these are completed, the first solid form is put together, one that divides a whole sphere into equal and similar parts. The second comes from the same triangles, but from eight equilateral triangles put together, which make one solid angle out of four plane angles. And when six of these are produced, the second body is completed in this way. The third is formed from twice sixty of the elements fitted together, [55b] with twelve solid angles, each of them enclosed by five equilateral plane triangles, and it has twenty bases, which are equilateral triangles. So one of the two triangles was done with generating these, and the isosceles triangle went on to generate the nature of the fourth: it is put together in groups of four, bringing the right angles together at the center and producing one equilateral square. Six of these [55c] fitted together produced eight solid angles, each made of three right plane angles joined together. The shape of the body that was formed is a cube, with six square equilateral faces as its bases. There was still one fifth kind of construction left, and the god used it up on the whole, filling in the picture of the universe.

So if someone, thinking all this through properly, were at a loss over whether we should say that there are infinitely many worlds or a limited number, on the 'infinitely many' side [55d] he would think it the view of someone truly without limit, in a matter where one needs to be experienced. But whether it is right ever to say that in truth they are one or five, on this ground he would reasonably be at a loss. So the god reveals to us that the universe is naturally one, in line with the likely account; but someone else, looking at other things, will hold a different opinion. Let us set this question aside, and let us now distribute the kinds our account has produced among fire and earth and water and air. Let us give the cube shape to earth. [55e] Of the four kinds, earth is the least able to move, and of bodies it is the most easily molded. And the body with the most stable bases must of necessity have come to be like this. Of the two triangles we laid down at the start, the one with equal sides is by nature a more stable base than the one with unequal sides. And of the flat figures put together out of each of them, the equilateral square necessarily stands more firmly than the equilateral triangle, both in its parts and as a whole.

Timaeus: So

### Stephanus 56

[56a] by assigning this to earth we preserve the likely account. Of the remaining forms we give to water the one that is hardest to move, to fire the one easiest to move, and the middle one to air. And we give the smallest body to fire, the largest to water, and the middle one to air. And the sharpest again to fire, the second to air, and the third to water. All of this follows: the one with the fewest bases must by nature be easiest to move, and it is the most cutting [56b] and the sharpest of all in every way, and the lightest as well, since it is made of the fewest identical parts. The second has these same properties in the second degree, and the third in the third degree. So let it be settled, in line with the true account and with the likely one, that the solid form of the pyramid that has been produced is the element and seed of fire. Let us say that the second in order of coming-to-be is the element of air, and the third the element of water. We must think of all of these as small in this way: each single one of each kind is invisible to us because of its smallness, [56c] but when many are gathered together their masses are seen. And we must also think that the god has fitted these together in proportion, in their numbers and their motions and their other powers, everywhere with precision, wherever the nature of necessity willingly gave way after being persuaded.

From all the kinds we have described, then, this is how [56d] things would most likely go. When earth meets fire and is broken up by its sharpness, it is carried along—whether it is broken up in fire itself, or happens to be in a mass of air or of water—until its parts happen to meet again and, fitted together with one another, become earth; for it would never come to be any other kind. But when water is divided by fire, or by air as well, it can happen that one body of fire is formed, and two [56e] of air. And when one part of air is broken up, two bodies of fire can come to be. And again, when fire is surrounded by air or by water or by some earth, a little amount among a lot, and is moved along with what is being carried, it fights and, when it is beaten, is smashed apart; two bodies of fire then combine into one form of air. And when air is overpowered and broken up, from two whole bodies of it and a half, one whole compact form of water comes to be.

Timaeus: Let us reason these things out again like this: when something is caught in fire and one of the

### Stephanus 57

[57a] another kind is cut by it, by the sharpness of its angles and its sides; and once it has settled into the nature of that thing, it stops being cut—for each kind, being alike and the same as itself, can neither cause any change in anything nor suffer any from what stays the same and like itself—but as long as it keeps coming to be as something else, and being the weaker fights the stronger, it does not stop being broken up. And again, when smaller things are surrounded by many larger ones and are smashed to pieces while they are few and put out, [57b] they stop being put out when they have formed themselves into the shape of the thing that overpowers them; and so air comes to be from fire, and water from air. But if it moves toward the same kind and some other kind joins in and fights it, it does not stop being broken up, until either it is pushed and broken apart completely and escapes to what is related to it, or, being beaten, it becomes one out of many, like the thing that won, and stays there living beside it. And [57c] in fact all things change their places through these experiences. For the masses of each kind have been separated off in their own place, because of the motion of the thing that receives them; and things that keep becoming unlike themselves but like others are carried by the shaking toward the place of those they have come to be like.

This is how the pure and first bodies have come to be, through causes of this kind. But the fact that other kinds grow within their shapes we must blame on the way each of the elements was put together: [57d] at the beginning, each of them did not plant only one size of triangle, but smaller and larger ones as well, and in number as many as there are kinds within each shape. So when they mix with themselves and with one another, their variety is endless. Anyone who is going to use a likely account about nature must become a student of this variety.

So about motion and rest—how they come about, and with what things—unless someone comes to an agreement about them, many things will stand in the way [57e] of the reasoning that follows. Some things have already been said about them; to those we now add these further points: there can never be motion in a state of uniformity. For it is hard, or rather impossible, for a thing that is going to be moved to be there without something to move it, or for something that is going to move to be there without something to be moved. But there is no motion when these are absent, and it is impossible for them ever to be uniform.

Timaeus: So let us take it that rest goes with uniformity, and motion always goes with

### Stephanus 58

[58a] lack of uniformity; and inequality is in turn the cause of that lack of uniformity. We have already gone through how inequality comes to be. But we have not said how, once things have been separated off by kinds, each of them stops its motion and carrying through one another. So we will now speak again, as follows. The revolution of the whole, once it gathered the kinds in with it, being round and by nature tending to come together on itself, squeezes everything and leaves no empty space remaining. That is why [58b] fire has spread through everything the most, and air second, since it is second in fineness by nature, and the rest in the same way. For the things made of the largest parts leave the greatest amount of empty space in their structure, and the smallest ones leave the least. The coming together of compression pushes the small ones into the gaps of the large ones. So when small ones are set beside large ones, and the smaller separate the larger while the larger press the smaller together, everything is shifted up and down toward its own place. [58c] For each thing, as it changes in size, also changes its position. So for these reasons, as long as the state of lack of uniformity is preserved, it keeps providing these things with motion without a break, motion that is now and will always be.

After this we must understand that there are many kinds of fire: for example, flame; and what goes off from the flame, which does not burn but gives light to the eyes; and what is left behind in [58d] glowing-hot things when the flame has gone out. The same with air: the clearest kind is called aether, the murkiest is mist and darkness, and there are other kinds without names, which came to be because of the inequality of the triangles. Water divides into two kinds first: the liquid kind, and the kind that melts and runs. The liquid kind, because it partakes of the small kinds of water, which are unequal to each other, has become able to move both by itself and under the push of something else, because of its lack of uniformity and the shape of its form. But the kind [58e] that is made of large and even parts is steadier than that one and heavy, being solid because of its uniformity. But when fire enters and breaks it up, it loses its uniformity. Having lost it, it shares more in motion; and once it moves easily, being pushed by the air next to it and stretched down toward the earth, it took the name 'melting' for the clearing away of its masses, and 'flowing' for the stretching down toward the earth, each name taken from what it undergoes.

### Stephanus 59

[59a] Timaeus: And when the fire falls out from there again, since it does not leave into an empty space, the air next to it is pushed and, while the wet mass is still easy to move, shoves it into the seats of the fire and mixes it with itself. As it is pushed together and gets back its uniformity, now that fire, the maker of the lack of uniformity, has gone away, it settles back into the same state as itself. And the getting rid of the fire was named 'cooling', and the coming together after it left was named the kind of state that is 'solid'. Of all of these, [59b] the waters we have called fluid: the one that becomes densest, made of the finest and most even parts, a kind of a single form, joined with a gleaming yellow color, set and strained through rock, hardened into gold, the most prized possession there is. A branch of gold, the hardest thing there is because of its density and turned black, was called adamant. The kind that is close to gold in its parts, but has more forms than one; in density, on the one hand, denser than gold, since it has taken in a small and fine portion of earth and so is harder, but on the other hand lighter, because it has [59c] large gaps within it—this, one of the bright and solid kinds of water, came to be as bronze. And what is mixed into it from earth, when the two separate from each other again as it ages, becomes visible on its own and is called rust. There is no point in going through the rest of such things in detail, when one is chasing the form of likely stories. When someone sets aside the accounts of what always is, for the sake of rest, and studies the likely accounts about coming-to-be, [59d] and gains a pleasure he will never regret, he is having a moderate and sensible amusement in his life. With that in mind, leaving these matters here, let us go through the next likely points about the same things, like this. Water mixed with fire, insofar as it is fine and liquid because of its motion and the path along which it rolls over the earth (and so it is called liquid), and also soft, because its bases are less firmly set than those of earth and give way—when this is separated from fire and left alone without air, [59e] it becomes more uniform, and it is packed together by the things leaving into it; and once it is frozen in this way, the part of it above the earth that has undergone this most is hail, and the part on the earth is ice; the part that has undergone it less, and is still only half-frozen, is snow above the earth, and on the earth it is called frost when it hardens out of dew.

Timaeus: And most kinds of water, mixed with one another—the whole class of them,

### Stephanus 60

[60a] strained through the plants that grow out of the earth, and called juices—because of the mixtures each of them has its own unlikeness; they have produced many other kinds without names, but four of them, the kinds with fire in them, being the most distinct, have taken names. The one that warms the soul along with the body is wine. The one that is smooth and divides up the sight, and so looks bright and gleaming and oily, is the oily kind: pitch, castor oil, and olive oil itself, and everything else with the same power. Whatever spreads out [60b] as far as the natural unions around the mouth, and by this power provides sweetness, has the name 'honey' above all the rest. And the kind that breaks down flesh by burning, a foamy kind, set apart from all the juices, was named 'sap'.

Of the kinds of earth, the kind that is strained through water becomes a stony body in the following way. When the mixed water is beaten in the mixing, it changes into the form of air; and becoming [60c] air, it runs up to its own place. But no empty space lay above them. So it pushed the air next to it. And this air, being heavy, was pushed and poured around the mass of earth; it squeezed it hard and packed it into the seats from which the new air had risen. And earth, packed together by air and bound fast with water, becomes rock; the kind with equal and even parts is more beautiful and translucent, the opposite kind is uglier. But when all the moisture is snatched away by the speed of fire and what forms is drier than that, [60d] the kind we have named 'pottery', that is how it comes to be. And sometimes, when a little moisture is left behind and earth that has become fluid through fire is cooled, it becomes a stone with a black color. Two more kinds, formed in the same way as these, but out of a mixture with much water, and of finer parts of earth and salty: they half-solidify, and are dissolved again by water. The one that cleans oil and earth is 'lye'. The other, which fits well into the mixtures [60e] around the sense of the mouth, became salt, a body loved by the gods by the reckoning of [law]. The things common to both, which water cannot dissolve but fire can, solidify in the following way. Fire and air do not melt masses of earth. For being made of smaller parts than the gaps in its structure, they pass through plenty of room without forcing it; they leave it undissolved and so keep it from melting. But since the parts of water are larger by nature, they make their way through by force, dissolving it and melting it.

Timaeus: Earth,

### Stephanus 61

[61a] for only water dissolves it by force while it is still unformed, and once it is formed nothing but fire does; for no way in is left for anything but fire. And of the ways water is packed together, the tightest packing is dissolved by fire alone, and the weaker packing by both fire and air—air through the gaps, fire through the triangles as well. And nothing dissolves air that has been packed together by force, except at the level of the element; only fire melts it without force. As for bodies mixed out of earth and water, as long as [61b] the water in them holds the gaps of the earth, packed together by force, the parts of water that come at them from outside have no way in; they flow around the whole mass and leave it unmelted. But the parts of fire that go into the gaps of the water, doing to the water what water does to earth—making it into [air]—are the only ones that make the shared body melt and run. And these happen to be the things that have less water than earth: the whole class of things around glass, [61c] and everything that is called a kind of molten stone. And the things that have more water are all the bodies that solidify as wax-like and incense-like substances.

So the kinds that are varied among one another by their shapes, their combinations, and their transformations have now been pretty well shown. Next we must try to make clear the experiences they undergo, and the causes that produce them. First of all, perception must always be present in the things we keep talking about; but we have not yet gone through the coming-to-be of flesh and what goes with flesh, or of the mortal part of the soul. As it turns out, neither of these can be adequately explained without the other: not these without [61d] the experiences that involve perception, nor those without these; and doing both at once is almost impossible. So we must lay down one of them first, and come back later to what we have laid down. So that the experiences may be told in order after the kinds, let what concerns body and soul come first for us. First, then, in what way we call fire hot—let us look at it like this, by considering the division and the cutting that it makes in our body. [61e] For we all more or less perceive that the feeling is a sharp one.

Timaeus: The fineness of its sides, the sharpness of its angles, the smallness of its parts, and the speed of its motion—all of which make it violent and cutting, so that it sharply cuts whatever it meets,

### Stephanus 62

[62a] we must reckon, as we remember how its shape came to be, that it is above all that nature and no other which, by dividing our bodies and cutting them into small pieces, reasonably gave both the feeling and the name to what we now call 'hot'. The opposite of this is obvious, but still let nothing go without an account. For when the larger parts of the fluids around our body enter, pushing out the smaller ones and not being able to get into their seats, they pack together [62b] our moisture, which has been moved out of its uneven state, and make it motionless through uniformity and compression, and so they freeze it. And what is gathered together against its nature fights, pushing itself by its own nature in the opposite direction. This struggle and this shaking were given the names 'trembling' and 'shivering'; and the whole experience, and the thing that causes it, got the name 'cold'. And 'hard' is the name for whatever our flesh gives way to, and 'soft' for whatever gives way to our flesh; and the same between things themselves. What gives way is whatever rests on a small base. And what is made of [62c] square bases, since it stands very firmly, is the most resistant kind; whatever comes together into the greatest density is the most resistant of all. Heavy and light, along with what is called the nature of 'down' and 'up', would be made clearest by an examination. For it is not right to suppose that there are two places by nature, dividing the whole in two and opposite to each other: a 'down' place, toward which everything that has any bulk of body travels, and an 'up' place, toward which everything goes unwillingly. For since the whole [62d] heaven is spherical, the things that stand at an equal distance from the middle are the extremes, and they must all be extremes in the same way; and the middle, standing the same distance from the extremes, must be thought to be directly opposite all of them. Since the universe is by nature like this, would anyone who calls any of the things we have mentioned 'up' or 'down' not seem to be using a name that does not fit at all? For the middle place in it is by nature neither down nor up, and it is right to call it neither, but just 'in the middle'. And the region around it is neither middle, nor does it have one part of itself different from another, any more toward the middle than toward what is directly opposite. And for something that is by nature the same all over, what kind of opposite names could anyone put on it, and how could he think he was speaking correctly?

Timaeus: For even if there were some solid body at the middle of the

### Stephanus 63

[63a] whole, evenly balanced, it would never be carried to any of the extremes, because they are alike all around. But if someone walked around it in a circle, he could often stand with his feet opposite it and call the same part of it both 'down' and 'up'. For the whole, as has just been said, being spherical, it would not be the mark of a sensible person to say that it has some place 'down' and another 'up'. But the places these names come from, and the things among which we are used to having them, are the reason we divide up the whole heaven in this way [63b] and speak of 'up' and 'down'; this we must agree on, starting from the following assumptions. If someone stood in the place of the universe where the nature of fire has its lot, where most of it would have gathered, since that is where it travels, and had the power to do so, and took away parts of the fire and put them on a scale, lifting the beam and dragging the fire by force into air that is unlike it, [63c] clearly the smaller amount is moved by force more easily than the larger. For with one force lifting two things at once, the lesser must follow the force more, and the greater, being stretched down, must follow it less. And the large amount was called 'heavy' and 'carried down', and the small amount 'light' and 'up'. We must notice that we do this very same thing around this place of ours. For standing on the earth, we lift earthy kinds, and sometimes earth itself, and drag them by force and against their nature into air that is unlike them, while both [63d] hold on to what is related to them; and as we force them into what is unlike them, the smaller follows more easily than the larger. So we have called that 'light', and the place we force it to, 'up'; and the opposite experience is 'heavy' and 'down'. These things must therefore stand in different relations to one another, because the masses of the different kinds occupy places opposite to one another. For what is light in one place will turn out to be opposite to what is light [63e] in the opposite place, and heavy to heavy, down to down, and up to up; everything will be found to be opposite and sideways and different in every way, both in coming to be and in being. But one thing we must understand about all of them: the path each takes toward what is related to it is what makes the thing being carried 'heavy', and makes the place such a thing travels to 'down'; and the opposite names belong to things related in the opposite way. So let these be given as the causes of these experiences.

Timaeus: As for the experience of smooth and rough, anyone who sees the cause could no doubt tell it to another person; for hardness mixed with unevenness, while the

### Stephanus 64

[64a] Density produces evenness.

The greatest of the common conditions left to cover—the ones that affect the whole body—is the cause of pleasure and pain, which we have already sorted into kinds. There are also the conditions that come through parts of the body: those parts have gained sensation, and they hold in themselves pleasures, with pains following along at the same time. So let us take the causes this way for every condition, of things that can sense and things that cannot. Let us remember that earlier we divided nature into [64b] things easy to move and things hard to move. That is the road we must follow for everything we hope to catch and understand. What is easy to move by nature spreads even a small affection in a circle, part after part, each part doing the same work on the next, until the affection reaches the thinking part and announces the power of the thing that made it. The opposite kind stays fixed. It travels in no circle; it only takes the blow, [64c] and it moves nothing near it. So its parts do not pass the affection from one to another. The first affection stays where it fell, and even when it spreads through the whole animal, the thing affected feels nothing. This is what happens in bones and hair and every other part of us that holds the most earth. The parts at the front are the opposite—most of all around sight and hearing—because the power of fire and of air is strongest in them. Think of pleasure and pain this way. A condition that goes against nature and comes [64d] on us by force, all at once, is painful. One that goes back toward nature, all at once, is pleasant. One that comes quietly, little by little, is not noticed. The opposite conditions are felt in the opposite way. Anything that happens with ease is felt very strongly, yet shares in no pain or pleasure. The affections of sight itself are like that. We said earlier that sight is a body that becomes joined to us naturally day after day. Cuts, burns, and anything else it suffers do not cause it pain, nor does it feel [64e] pleasure when it returns to its own state again. But its sensations are the strongest and the clearest, both in whatever it suffers and in whatever it reaches out and touches in any direction. For there is no force at all in its separating and combining.

Timaeus: Bodies made of larger parts give way slowly to whatever works on them and spread the movements through the whole body. So they have pleasures and pains, casting off

### Stephanus 65

[65a] pains, and gaining pleasures when they settle back into their former state. Some things let go of what is in them and empty out little by little, while their fillings come all at once and in large amounts. The emptying is not noticed; the filling is felt. These give the mortal part of the soul no pain, but the greatest pleasures. This is clear in sweet smells. Other things are stripped all at once, but return [65b] to their former state only little by little and with difficulty. They do the opposite in every way. That is plain in the burns and cuts of the body.

So much, then, for the common conditions of the body as a whole, and for the names those conditions have won among the people who feel them. Next we must try to describe the things that happen in our own parts—the conditions themselves and the causes of what does them—as far as [65c] we can. First, we should make clear, as far as we can, what we left out earlier when we spoke of the juices: the conditions special to the tongue. These too, like most things, appear to come about through certain combinations and separations. But they make more use of roughness and smoothness than the other senses do. Whatever enters the small veins—such as the tongue's test veins [65d] stretched toward the heart—falls into the moist, tender, earthy parts of the flesh and melts them, drawing the veins together and drying them. The rougher ones come across as harsh; the ones that roughen less come across as astringent. The things that cleanse these parts and wash the whole tongue, doing this past the right measure and taking hold so far as to dissolve the tongue's very nature—like the power [65e] of lye—are all called bitter. Those that fall short of the lye-like state, and cleanse in the right measure, come across as brackish, without a rough bitterness, and they seem friendlier to us.

Timaeus: The things that share the heat of the mouth and are ground down by it catch fire along with it and pay the heating back in turn. Their lightness carries them up toward the sensations in the head, and they cut

### Stephanus 66

[66a] through everything they strike. Because of these powers, all such things were named pungent. The sharp taste works the other way. Particles thinned out first by decay slip into the narrow veins. There they act on the earthy parts lodged in them and on whatever holds a measure of air, so that, moving around these things, they are churned up. Churned, they tumble about and pass into one another, hollowing out other parts, stretched tight by what enters. [66b] This means air shut in by a coat of moisture around it—sometimes earthy, sometimes pure—so that hollow, rounded vessels of water are formed. The ones from the pure moisture stay transparent, and were given the name bubbles. The ones from the earthy kind, which move and rise up together with it, were given the names fermentation and bubbling. And the cause of these conditions was given the name sharp. All that has been said about these has [66c] an opposite condition from an opposite cause. When the makeup of what enters the moist parts is by nature suited to the tongue's own state, it smooths over what has been roughened, as if with a salve; it draws together what stands packed or has been scattered against nature; and above all it makes the body sweat in the natural way. Every such cure of violent conditions becomes pleasant and dear to everyone, and it is called sweet. [66d]

That covers those senses. Next, the power of the nostrils: it has no distinct kinds. Every smell is only half-formed, and no single kind of thing has ever been fitted in the right proportion to give a smell. Our veins in that region were made narrower than the kinds of earth and water, and wider than those of fire and air. That is why none of these was ever sensed by smell on its own—only when some of them were damp, or rotting, or melting, or burned as incense. For smells come to be when [66e] water changes into air, or air into water, in the space between the two. All smells together are smoke or mist. Mist is what passes from air into water; smoke is what passes from water into air. That is why all smells are finer than water and thicker than air.

Timaeus: This becomes clear whenever someone holds the nose shut and forces breath into himself. Then no smell passes through with it. The breath, emptied of smells, alone

### Stephanus 67

[67a] follows. That is why the many varieties of these two have come to be nameless. They are not made of many simple kinds. In that place only two show plainly: the pleasant and the painful. The painful kind is rough and forces the whole cavity, the part of us that lies between the crown of the head and the navel. The pleasant kind is the same thing in reverse: it soothes, and gives back again graciously, as its nature is.

A third perceptive part in us to examine is [67b] hearing, and we must say what causes its conditions. Let us say in general that sound is a blow carried through the ears by air, brain, and blood, all the way to the soul. Hearing is the movement that blow sets up: it begins at the head and ends at the seat of the liver. The faster it moves, the higher the sound; the slower it is, the lower. The movement that is even is smooth and level; the opposite is rough. [67c] A great movement is loud; the opposite is soft. The harmony of these sounds must be treated in what will be said later.

One sense kind is still left, the fourth. It has many varieties within it, and we must divide them. We called all of them together colors: a flame that streams off each body, made of particles matched in size to sight for perception. The causes of the birth of sight were told [67d] earlier. About colors, then, a fair and fitting account should go through them. Particles travel from other bodies and fall on sight. Some are smaller than the parts of sight, some larger, some the same size. The ones of the same size are not felt at all; we call these transparent. The larger and the smaller ones act on sight: the larger combine it, the smaller divide it. White and black are brother and sister to the hot and cold in the flesh, to the harsh [67e] things of the tongue, and to the heating things we called pungent. They are those same conditions born again in a different kind, but they appear as something else for these reasons.

Timaeus: So we should name them this way. White is what divides sight. Black is its opposite. The swifter motion of another kind of fire strikes and splits sight all the way out to the eyes, and it forces the passages of the eyes themselves

### Stephanus 68

[68a] outward and melts them, pouring out from there fire and water all at once—the water we call tears. That incoming current is itself fire, meeting the outflow from the other side. The fire leaping out is like a flash of lightning; the fire coming in is quenched in the moisture. All sorts of colors come to be in this mixing. We named the condition gleaming, and what it produces bright and shining. [68b] But there is a kind of fire between these two. It reaches the moisture of the eyes and mixes with it, but does not shine. When the fire's gleam spreads through that moisture and gives it a blood-red color, we give it the name red. Bright, mixed with red and with white, has become yellow. How much goes into which mixture—even if someone knew, it would make no sense to say. About such things no one could state any necessity, or even the likely account, in any measured way. Red, mixed with black and white, makes [68c] purple. It turns dark when black is blended in with these after they are mixed and heated further. Ginger comes from a blend of yellow and gray. Gray comes from white and black. Sallow comes from white mixed with yellow. When white joins with bright and falls too deeply into black, it makes a deep blue. Blue mixed with white makes gray-blue. Ginger mixed with black makes leek-green. Most of the other colors are clear enough from these [68d], in whatever mixtures they keep to the likely story. But if anyone took these things as a test and examined them in practice, he would show he does not know how different human nature is from divine: God both knows how and is able to blend the many into one and to dissolve the one back into the many. No human is capable of either—not now, and none ever will be. [68e]

All these things, then, having that nature by necessity at that time, the craftsman of the fairest and best took up as he made things come to be. It was when he fathered the self-sufficient and most perfect god. He used those causes as serving helpers, but the good design in everything that came to be was his own work.

Timaeus: That is why we must divide the kinds of cause in two: the necessary and the divine. In everything we must seek out the divine

### Stephanus 69

[69a] for the sake of gaining a blessed life, as far as our nature allows. The necessary kind is there for the sake of those divine things. We must reckon that without them we could not perceive, take hold of, or in any other way share in the things we strive for by themselves.

So now that the material is laid out before us like timber for builders—the kinds of causes sifted and sorted, out of which the rest of the account must be woven—let us go back to the start for a moment. Let us travel quickly to the point we came here from, [69b] and now try to set on the story a fitting head, an ending, to match all that came before. As was said at the beginning, these things lay without order. The god brought proportion into each of them, toward itself and toward the others, as many and in whatever ways it was possible for them to be in measure and in proportion. Before that, they shared in none of this except by chance, and none of what we now name—fire, water, and any of the rest—deserved the name at all. He first set all these in order, [69c] and then out of them he put together this whole universe: one living creature holding all living things within it, mortal and immortal. He himself is the craftsman of the divine things. But he ordered his own offspring to craft the birth of the mortal kind. They imitated him. They took over the immortal beginning of the soul, and around it they later molded the mortal body. They gave the whole body to the soul as its vehicle. And in it they built another kind of soul, the mortal kind, with terrible and necessary [69d] conditions inside it. First was pleasure, the strongest lure toward evil. Then pains, which chase good things away. Then boldness and fear again—two foolish counselors. Then spirit, hard to calm. And hope, easy to lead astray. Blending these with sensation that lacks reason and with desire that runs at everything, they built the mortal kind, as necessity required. And for this reason, holding reverence for the divine—unwilling to pollute it unless sheer necessity forced them—they housed the mortal part in [69e] a separate dwelling of the body. They built a barrier and boundary between the head and the chest, placing the neck in between, so the two would be apart. In the chest, and in what is called the breast, they settled the mortal kind of soul.

Timaeus: And since one part of this soul was born better and one worse, they built the cavity of the chest up in two, dividing it, so to speak, into

### Stephanus 70

[70a] a women's dwelling, and one for men, kept apart, with the midriff set between them as a dividing wall. The part of the soul that shares in courage and spirit—the part that loves to win—they housed nearer the head, between the midriff and the neck. There it could listen to reason and, together with reason, hold down the desiring kind by force whenever that part would not in any way willingly obey the command and the word coming down from the citadel. The heart [70b] they stationed at the knot of the veins, as the spring of the blood that surges hard through every limb, in the quarters where it keeps guard—so that, when the force of spirit boils up, reason having given word that some unjust act is being done by someone outside or by some desire within, the heart would then sense quickly, through all the narrow passages, everything in the body that can be sensed, hear the encouragements and the threats, obey, and follow reason everywhere. In this way the best part is allowed to rule over [70c] all the rest. They also knew in advance that the heart's pounding, when fearful things are expected and spirit rises, would be a swelling caused by fire. So they contrived a helper for it: they planted the lung there—soft and without blood at first, then with hollow channels inside, pierced through like a sponge. Taking in breath and drink, [70d] cooling them, the lung provides breathing and relief in the heat. That is why they cut channels from the windpipe to the lung and wrapped the lung around the heart like a soothing poultice. Then, when spirit blazes at its height inside the heart, the heart leaps against something that gives way, is cooled, strains less, and can serve reason with its spirit all the better.

The part of the soul that desires food and drink, and whatever else the body's nature leaves it lacking, they housed [70e] in the space between the midriff and the boundary at the navel. Through that whole region they built a kind of manger for the body's food. And there they chained up that part like a wild beast. Tethered, it had to be fed, if any mortal race was ever going to exist at all.

Timaeus: The point was that it should feed at its manger always and dwell as far away as possible from the part that plans, making as little disturbance and outcry as possible,

### Stephanus 71

[71a] The strongest part, so that it might be allowed to take counsel in quiet about what benefits all the parts together and each one apart—for these reasons they gave it its position here. But they knew it would never take part in reasoning. And they knew that even if it somehow got some share of the senses, it would not be born with any care for words and argument. Night and day, what would charm it most was images and phantoms. So the god made a plan for it. He built the form of the liver [71b] and set it in that part's home. He made it dense and smooth and bright and sweet, and he gave it a share of bitterness too. His plan was this: the power that comes from the mind in its thoughts was to act on the liver like a mirror that takes impressions and shows figures for the mind to see, and so to frighten it. Whenever that power comes down hard with a stern threat, and uses the bitterness that is kin to it, it steeps its sharp taste through the whole liver at once. Sour, bile-like colors then show on it. The power draws the liver all into folds and makes it rough. [71c] It bends the lobe, the chambers, and the gates out of their straight shape and cramps them; it stops some and shuts them, and this brings pains and sicknesses. But when in turn the mind breathes out some gentle thought and paints the opposite figures, the liver grows calm. The bitterness rests, because the mind neither moves it nor touches the nature that works against it. Instead the mind uses the sweetness that grows there beside it, and it sets all the parts of the liver right and smooth and free. [71d] In this way it makes the share of the soul that lives around the liver mild and even in temper. At night that share has a moderate way of life, and it uses prophecy in sleep, since it has no share in reason and understanding. For the beings who put us together remembered the father's order. When he sent out the mortal kind, he told them to make it as good as they were able. They carried out that order so well that they set up in this part the seat of prophecy for the worse part of us, [71e] so that it might in some way touch the truth. And there is sign enough that the god gave prophecy to human folly. No one in his right mind touches divine and true prophecy. He touches it only in sleep, with the power of his understanding chained, or when sickness has changed it, or when some divine possession has thrown it off course.

Timaeus: But for a person of sound mind to take in, and hold in memory, what was said—both in dreams and in waking sights—through the prophetic and inspired nature in us, and to take note of whatever images

### Stephanus 72

[72a] appear, and to sort them all out by reasoning: what each one means, and to whom it points—evil or good, yet to come, past, or present. And while the person is still in that inspired state, it is not his task to judge the visions and the words that came from him. Rather, it is well said, and was said long ago, that to do one's own work, and to know what belongs to oneself and to know oneself, belongs to the sane person alone. That is why the law sets judges over the [72b] divine prophecies. Some people call those judges "seers," and they are wholly mistaken. Those men are only spokesmen for a riddling message and a vision; they are not seers at all. It is most correct to call them prophets of the things that are being divined.

The liver, then, has this nature, and it grew in the place we named, for the sake of prophecy. While each creature is still alive, such a sign gives much clearer signs. But when the liver is robbed of life, it has become blind, and its prophecies grow too faint [72c] to show anything plainly. The frame and seat of its neighbor, the spleen, was set on the left side for its sake. The spleen keeps the liver bright and clean at all times, like a mirror kept in readiness, and like a smooth wax tablet that always lies beside it. That is why, when unclean matter gathers around the liver because of diseases of the body, the spleen washes it all away and takes it into its own hollowness, for it is hollow and woven without blood. [72d] Filled with what is washed away, it swells and grows big and bloated. And when the body is cleansed again, it sinks down and settles back to its usual size.

So much, then, about the soul: how much of it is mortal and how much divine, and in what place, with what companions, and for what reasons it was settled apart. We could press the claim that this account is true only if the god agreed to it at the time. But we do claim this much: it is a likely account, both now and still more when you look into it again. Let us run the risk of saying it, and let it stand as said. [72e] What comes next after these things we must hunt down in the same way. What was left over was the body, as it came to be. And of all things, it would best fit the body to be put together by reasoning of this kind.

Timaeus: The beings who put our kind together knew of the uncontrolled greed for drink and food that would grow up in us, and they knew that in our greed we would use far more than the moderate amount, more than we need. So that ruin might not come from sharp diseases, and so that our mortal kind might not right away

### Stephanus 73

[73a] come to its end while still unfinished, they saw all this ahead of time. They set up the so-called lower belly as a place to receive the leftover of the drink and the food. They coiled the guts around it. They did this so that food rushing through too fast would not force the body to want more food again at once, and so that its endless hunger would not, through gluttony, make the whole race without love of wisdom and without the Muses, and disobedient to the most divine thing in us. [73b]

Now about the bones and the flesh and all that kind of nature, this is how it went. For all of them together, the beginning was the birth of the marrow. The bonds of life were anchored in it, for the soul was made to serve with the body there, and so they rooted the mortal kind. But the marrow itself was made from other things. Of the triangles, the god took all those that were by nature at the first the least crooked and the smoothest, and could most exactly furnish fire, water, air, and earth. Each sort he sifted out from its own [73c] kind, and he mixed them with one another in due measure. In this way he made a seed-mixture for every mortal kind, and out of them he worked the marrow. After that he planted it, and in it he sowed the kinds of souls. And as he made the first division, he split the marrow itself into as many shapes, and such shapes, as each kind of soul would later have. The part that was to hold the divine seed, like a field, he shaped round on every side. He named that share of the marrow [73d] the brain, because when each living thing was finished, the vessel around this part would become the head. The part that was to hold the rest of the soul, the mortal part, he split at the same time into shapes both round and long. He named all of it marrow. Then, as if dropping anchor from it, he worked out of these the bonds of the whole soul, and bound them around this whole body of ours. He first fastened a covering of bone over [73e] all of it. And bone comes together like this. He sifted out earth that was clean and smooth. He kneaded it and wet it with marrow. Then he dipped it into fire, and after that into water, then again into fire, and again into water. He carried it back and forth this way many times between the two, and he made it so that neither of the two could dissolve it.

Timaeus: Using this bone, then, he first turned a round shell of bone about the brain, and for it he left

### Stephanus 74

[74a] a narrow opening. And he molded vertebrae from it for the marrow of the neck and of the back at once, and spread them under it like fastenings, starting from the head and running through the whole body-trunk. In this way he kept the whole seed safe and walled it in with a stone-like fence. He set joints in it, using each one against the next, with a middle power placed between them, for the sake of movement and bending. But he judged that the bony nature [74b] was too hard and too unbending, and that when it took fire and then cooled it would fester and quickly ruin the seed shut up inside it. So he contrived the race of sinews and the race of flesh in this way. With the sinews he tied all the limbs together, and as they tighten and slacken around the fastenings, the body can bend and stretch. The flesh he made to be a screen against summer heats, a shelter against winter cold, and a quilted pad against falls, like padded goods; it gives way gently and softly to bodies, and it holds warm moisture inside itself. In summer that moisture makes it sweat, and watered from outside, it spreads its own coolness over the whole body. In winter, this same warmth [74c] fights back in due measure against the frost that comes at it from outside and closes around it. Our wax-modeler thought all this out. He mixed water and fire and earth together and fitted them as one. Out of sharp and salty stuff he made a [74d] leavened lump and kneaded it in with them, and so he built flesh that was juicy and soft. And the nature of sinew he blended out of bone and flesh without leaven, mixing the two into one middle power, and he gave it a yellow color. So sinews won a power tighter and more gluey than flesh, but softer and wetter than bone. With these the god wrapped bones and marrow together, tied them to one another with sinews, and after that he shaded them all with flesh [74e] on top. The bones that held the most soul he fenced in with the least flesh. The ones that held the least soul within he covered with the most flesh and the thickest. And at the joints of the bones, wherever reason showed there had to be a joint, he grew only a little flesh. He did this so that the flesh would not stand in the way of the bendings and make the bodies hard to live with, as they grew stiff and slow to move. Nor did he want many thick layers pressed very hard into one another, which by their hardness bring numbness, to make the mind slower to remember and duller in its thinking.

Timaeus: That is why the bone of the thighs and of the shins, and

### Stephanus 75

[75a] the part around the hips, and the bones of the upper arms and of the forearms, and all our other bones that have no joints, and the bones inside us that are empty of understanding in their marrow because they hold so little soul—all these he filled up with flesh. But the bones with sense in them he filled less. In one place only did he build flesh up by itself for the sake of the senses, as with the shape of the tongue; most parts he left the other way. For the nature that comes to be by necessity and is [75b] fed and nourished with them cannot anywhere take in thick bone and much flesh along with hearing that is sharp as can be. The frame around the head would have had all of these better than anything else, if the two had been willing to come together at the same time. Then our human kind, wearing flesh and sinews on its head and a head that was hard and strong, would have won a life twice as long, and many times longer, healthier and with less pain than the one it has now. But as things were, the makers of our race weighed the question: would they make the kind longer-lived [75c] and worse, or shorter-lived and better? They decided that of a longer life, lived worse, and a shorter one, lived better, everyone must without fail choose the shorter. So they did not roof the head over with thin bone, flesh, and sinews, since it has no joints either. And so, for all these reasons, the head joined to the body was made quicker to feel and wiser, but far weaker than the whole man. For these reasons [75d] too, and in this way, the god wrapped the sinews around the far end of the head, and glued them in a circle about the neck by likeness, and he bound the ends of the jaws to them under the face's natural line. The rest he scattered through all the limbs, joining joint to joint. And the power of our mouth they ordered with teeth and tongue and lips, for the sake of the necessary things and the best things, as it now stands arranged [75e]. The entrance they made for the necessary things, and the exit for the best. For everything that goes in and gives food to the body is necessary. But the stream of words that flows out and serves intelligence is the fairest and best of all streams.

Timaeus: But the head, again, it was not possible to leave as bare bone alone, because of the excess of the seasons toward either extreme. Nor could one watch it being covered over with the mass of flesh and so growing deaf and without feeling. So then, since the

### Stephanus 76

[76a] fleshlike nature did not dry up all the way through, a larger rind, forming around it, came off on its own: the skin, as it is now called. This skin, because of the moisture around the brain, met itself and sprouted, and it wrapped the head round in a circle. The moisture, rising up under the seams, lifted the skin and closed it at the crown, gathering it like a knot. And the seams took their many different shapes from the power of the circular movements and of the nourishment: where these fought with each other more, there were more seams; [76b] where there were fewer, fewer. Then the divine pierced all this skin round about with fire. When it was pierced, and the moisture went out through the piercings, the part that was pure liquid and heat passed away. But the mixed part, made of the very stuffs of the skin, was carried out by the rush and stretched far, as thin as the pierce was deep. And because it moved slowly, the breath standing around outside pushed it back, and it coiled in again under the skin and took root. [76c] Through these events, then, the race of hair grew in the skin. Hair is skin's own kindred, cord-like in nature, but harder and denser through the packing of the cooling that each hair took on as it was chilled and pressed together with the skin separating from it. Working from these causes, the maker made our heads shaggy. He used the causes stated, and he also saw that the hair should stand in place of flesh as a light roof for the part around the brain [76d], for the sake of safety, good enough to give shade in summer and cover in winter, and no hindrance at all to quick feeling. But the bone in the plaiting of sinew and skin around the fingers, mixed out of the three and dried, became one hard skin common to all of them. It was made by those joint causes, and it was shaped for the sake of the chief thought about what would come later. For the beings who put us together knew that some day women and the other [76e] living things would come to be out of men, and they knew too that nails would be needed, that many of the creatures would stand in need of them for many uses. So they stamped the growth of nails into human beings right from the start. On this account, and for these reasons, they made skin grow, and hair, and nails at the ends of the limbs.

Timaeus: And when all the parts of the mortal living thing had grown together

### Stephanus 77

[77a] as parts and limbs, its life had of necessity to lie in fire and breath; and because of these, as it melted away and was emptied, it wasted. So the gods contrived a help for it. They took the nature of a race kindred to the human race, and, blending it with other forms and senses, so as to make it another living thing, they planted it. What are now our cultivated trees, plants, and seeds, tamed by farming to be gentle toward us, came from this planting. Before that there were only the [77b] wild kinds, older than the tame ones. Whatever shares in life may, with all justice, be called a living thing. And this kind shares in the third form of soul, the one our account says is seated between the midriff and the navel. That soul has no share at all in belief or reasoning or mind, but it has feeling of pleasure and pain, together with desires. For it is acted on the whole time. And though it is turned in itself and around itself, and has pushed away the [77c] motion from outside and used its own motion, becoming has not granted it, by nature, to reason out anything of its own and see it. So it lives, and it is a living thing and no other; but it stands fixed and rooted and planted fast, because it is cut off from motion of its own.

The beings greater than us, then, planted all these kinds as food for us, the weaker. They cut channels through our very body, as one cuts channels in gardens, so that it might be watered as if by a stream flowing over it. First, under the joining of skin and flesh [77d], they cut hidden channels, two veins along the back, a twin pair, since the body happened to be made of right and left. These they let down beside the spine, and they took the fruitful marrow that lay between. They did this so that the marrow might flourish as much as might be, and so that, with an easy run from there to the rest, the pouring-in of moisture might give an even watering. After this they split the veins about the head, and, weaving them across one another [77e] in opposite directions, they let them through: those from the right side leaning toward the left of the body, and those from the left toward the right. They did this so that the head, together with the skin, might have a bond to the body, since the head was not wrapped round with sinews in a circle over the crown; and so that the feeling of the senses, coming from either side, might be clear through the whole body.

Timaeus: And next from here they made the watering ready in a certain way

### Stephanus 78

[78a] of such a kind—which we will understand more easily if we first agree to this: everything that is put together from smaller parts holds back larger things, but things made of larger parts cannot hold back smaller ones; and fire has the smallest parts of all the kinds, which is why it passes right through water and earth and air and everything made out of these, and nothing can hold it back. We must think the same way about our belly: when food and drink fall into it, [78b] it holds them, but breath and fire, being made of smaller parts than its own structure, it cannot hold. The god used these for carrying water from the belly to the veins. He wove a net of air and fire like the woven fish traps, with two basket-shaped openings at the entrance, and one of these he wove again into two prongs; and from the openings he stretched what one might call cords all around to the outer edges of the net. All the inner [78c] part of the weaving he made of fire, while the basket openings and the shell were like air; and he took it and set it around the animal he had formed in the following way. He let the openings into the mouth; and since they were double, he led one down along the windpipe into the lung, and the other to the belly beside the windpipe. The other one he split and let each part open out through the channels of the nose as a shared passage, so that whenever one of them did not come in through the mouth, everything—the streams of that one and of [78d] the other alike—would be filled from there. The rest of the shell of the trap he grew around whatever part of our body is hollow, and he made all of this at one time flow softly into the basket openings, since it is air, and at another time flow back out through the openings; and since the body is porous, the net sinks in through it and out again, while the rays of fire bound inside follow along wherever the air goes, and this does not stop happening [78e] as long as the mortal animal holds together. This is the process, we say, that the man who gave things their names named breathing in and breathing out. The whole function and effect of this in our body has come about so that, with its watering and cooling, the body may be fed and live;

Timaeus: For when the breath goes in and out and the fire linked inside follows it, and always floating through the belly it comes in and takes the

### Stephanus 79

[79a] food and drink, it melts them; and cutting them into small pieces it carries them out along the passages it travels through, as if pumping from a spring through channels into the veins, and makes the streams of the veins flow through the body like water in a pipe.

Let us look again at the experience of breathing, and at the causes that have made it what it now is. Here is how it works. [79b] Since there is no empty space into which anything in motion could enter, and our breath is carried outward, the next step is clear to everyone: it does not go into a void, but pushes what is next to it out of its place; and what is pushed always drives on what is next to it, and by this necessity everything is driven round to the place where the breath left, and entering there and filling it up, it follows along with the breath, and all of this happens at once [79c] like a wheel turning round, because there is no void. That is why, when the chest and the lung let the breath out, they become full again as the air around the body slips in through the porous flesh and is driven round; and when the air turns back and goes out through the body, it pushes the breath back inward through the passage of the mouth and the nostrils. The cause of the start of all this we must set down [79d] as follows. Every animal has the hottest part of itself inside, around the blood and the veins, as if it had a kind of spring of fire within it; and we compared this to the net of the fish trap, all woven of fire and stretched through the middle, while everything outside it is of air. We must agree that the hot, by its own nature, goes outward to its own place, to what is kin to it; and since there are two ways out, one outward through the body, the other [79e] through the mouth and the nose, when it rushes out the one way it pushes the other way around, and what is pushed falls in with the fire and grows hot, while what goes out grows cool. As the heat changes over and the stuff along the other exit grows hotter, the hotter part leans back that way again, carried toward its own nature, and pushes what is on the other side around; and what always suffers the same and gives back the same, being shaken back and forth in a circle like this, is what produces breathing in and breathing out.

Timaeus: And so too with the effects around the medical cupping glasses,

### Stephanus 80

[80a] their causes, and the causes of swallowing, and of things that are thrown, whether they travel through the air or along the ground—all these must be traced the same way. And the same is true of all the sounds that seem fast and slow, high and low: sometimes as they travel they clash, because of the unlikeness of the motion they set up in us, and sometimes they harmonize, because of the likeness. For the slower motions catch up with the motions of the earlier, faster ones when these have already stopped and settled into a like state; [80b] coming on later and setting those going, they move them, and in catching up they did not throw in a different motion and cause confusion, but attached the start of a slower movement to the likeness of the faster one as it was ending, and so blended a single experience out of high and low. From this they give pleasure to the foolish and joy to the thoughtful, through the imitation of the divine harmony that has come to be in mortal motions. And so too with all the streams of water, and also [80c] the falls of thunderbolts, and the wonders of the attraction of amber and of the Heracles stones: none of these things ever involves any pulling. There is no empty space; these things push one another round, and as things separate and come together each goes by turns to its own place. When these effects are woven together, they will appear marvelous to anyone who studies them the right way. [80d]

And so breathing too, where our account began, has come about in this way and through these causes, as was said before: the fire cuts up the food, floats inside and follows the breath, and fills the veins from the belly as it rises along, by pumping the pieces up from there. For this reason the streams of nourishment flow so through the whole body in every animal. Being freshly cut and coming from things related to us—some from fruits, some from the green plants [80e] that God planted for this very purpose, to be food—it takes on all kinds of colors from the mixing, but the red color spreads mostly through it, since it is a stuff fashioned by the cutting and smearing of fire in liquid.

Timaeus: That is why what flows through the body has the look we have described, which we call blood, the nourishment of the flesh and of the whole body,

### Stephanus 81

[81a] from which each part draws water and fills the base of whatever has been emptied; and the way filling and emptying happen is just as in the universe the motion of everything has happened, in which everything that is kin moves toward itself. For the things that stand around outside us always melt us and deal us out, sending what is like each kind off to its own kind; while the things with blood inside us, cut into pieces and enclosed as if under a heaven [81b] belonging to each animal, are forced to copy the motion of the whole. So each of the inner parts, carried toward what is kin to it, filled up again whatever had been emptied at that time. When more flows away than flows in, the whole thing wastes; when less, it grows. Now in a young creature the whole body is newly put together, with its triangles still fresh, as if on the building frame of its kind; it has a strong locking of them to one another, and its whole bulk is set together [81c] soft, since it has lately come from marrow and been fed on milk. Then the triangles that get enclosed in it when things come in from outside—whatever the food and drink are made of—being older and weaker than its own triangles, it masters them by cutting them with its new ones, and by feeding the creature from many like things it makes it large. But when the root of the triangles loosens, because over a long time it has fought many struggles against many [81d] things, the food that comes in it can no longer cut so as to match itself, and it is itself easily broken up by what comes in from outside. Every creature then wastes as this overcomes it, and this experience is called old age. At the end, when the bonds fitted together around the marrow can no longer hold out and are pulled apart by the strain, they in turn release the bonds of the soul; and the soul, freed, flies away [81e] with pleasure, as is natural. For everything that goes against nature is painful, and whatever happens in the way nature meant it to is pleasant. Death too works the same way: the kind that comes with diseases and wounds is painful and violent, but the kind that reaches its end with old age goes naturally, is the easiest of all deaths, and comes with more pleasure than pain.

Timaeus: Where diseases come from is plain enough to everyone.

### Stephanus 82

[82a] Since there are four kinds from which the body is put together—earth, fire, water, and air—when any of these gains too much or too little, contrary to nature, or shifts from its own place to a foreign one, and since fire and the others happen to have more kinds than one, when each takes on what does not suit it, and in all such cases, this creates upsets and diseases. For when each thing goes against nature and changes its place, whatever was cold before grows hot, [82b] whatever was dry later becomes wet, and light things become heavy, and it takes on every kind of change in every way. For only, we say, when the same is added to and taken from the same thing in the same way and in due proportion will it allow that same thing to stay whole and healthy; but whatever goes wrong in any of these respects, in leaving or in coming, will bring all kinds of change and disease and endless decay.

When second formations have again been put together naturally, [82c] a second understanding of diseases comes to anyone who wants to think it through. For when marrow has been put together out of those things, along with bone, flesh, and sinew, and blood too has come to be in a different way but out of the same things, most of the other diseases come about as before, but the greatest of the diseases turn out hard to deal with in this way: when the coming-to-be of these runs in reverse, then they are destroyed. For by nature flesh and sinew come from blood—sinew from the fibers, because they are kin, [82d] and flesh from what sets and separates out of the fibers when it congeals. What goes off from the sinew and flesh, sticky and greasy, at once glues the flesh to the nature of the bones, and by feeding the bone around the marrow itself makes it grow; while what is filtered through the density of the bones, the purest kind of triangles, the smoothest and the greasiest, dripping and trickling down from the bones, waters the [82e] marrow. When each of these things happens this way, health generally results; disease results when it goes the opposite way. For when melting flesh sends its melt back in reverse into the veins, then along with the breath there is much blood of every kind in the veins, varied in colors and bitterness and in sharp and salty powers, and it holds biles, ichors, and every kind of phlegm;

Timaeus: For all of it has turned into spoiled, corrupted stuff; it destroys the blood itself first, and itself provides no

### Stephanus 83

[83a] nourishment to the body any longer; it travels everywhere through the veins, no longer keeping the order of the natural cycles. It is at war with itself, because it has no enjoyment of itself, and it is an enemy to the body's settled structure that stays in its place, destroying and melting it. So whatever oldest flesh melts, becoming hard to digest, darkens from old burning, and because it has been gnawed through everywhere, [83b] being bitter it attacks harshly every part of the body that is not yet destroyed. Sometimes, as the bitter part thins out more, the dark color turns sharp instead of bitter; and sometimes the bitterness, dyed with blood, takes on a redder color, and when the dark is mixed with it, a greenish color. A yellow color also mixes in with the bitterness when fresh flesh is melted by the fire in the flame. The common name for all these—some doctors named it bile, [83c] or someone able to look at many different things and see in them one kind that deserves one name for them all; the other things said to be kinds of bile each got its own account from its color. As for ichor: one kind is the mild whey of blood, the other is the wild kind, from black bile and sharp stuff, when it mixes through heat with a salty power; this kind is called sharp phlegm. Then again, what melts along with air out of new and soft flesh, when this [83d] is blown about and caught up in moisture, and bubbles form out of this experience—each one invisible because it is so small, but together making a mass you can see, and having a white color to look at because of the foam that forms—all this melting of soft flesh, mixed with breath, we say is white phlegm. When new phlegm forms, its whey is sweat and tears, [83e] and whatever other such fluids flow out of the body each day as it is cleansed. All these have become instruments of disease, whenever the blood does not fill up naturally from food and drink, but takes on its bulk from the opposite things, against the laws of nature.

Timaeus: When diseases break down each piece of flesh but its roots stay in place, the trouble is only half as bad—there is still an easy recovery—

### Stephanus 84

[84a] but when the bond that ties flesh to bone falls sick, and no longer separates off from fibers, blood, and sinew to become food for the bone and a fastening of flesh to bone, but turns from greasy, smooth, and sticky into rough, salty, and dried out through bad diet, then when this happens, all such stuff crumbles away again under the flesh and the sinews, breaking off from the bones, and the parts that fall away from the [84b] roots leave the sinews bare and full of brine. When these fall back into the flow of blood, they make the diseases mentioned before more numerous. When these painful troubles happen in the body, the ones before them become even greater: when a bone, too dense to get enough breath and heated by decay, starts to rot, and neither takes in nourishment [84c] nor goes back into it in reverse as it crumbles—the rot going on into the flesh, and the flesh falling into the blood—then every disease it makes is harsher than those before. Last of all, when the nature of the marrow sickens from lack or from excess, it produces the greatest and most deadly of diseases, since the whole nature of the body is then forced to flow in reverse.

A third kind of disease must be understood [84d] as arising in three ways: one from breath, one from phlegm, and one from bile. For when the lung, the steward of the body's airs, does not keep clear passages, being blocked by fluids, the breath does not go some places and enters other places in greater amount than it should; what does not get any cooling rots, and where it forces its way through the veins and twists them and melts the body, and finding a partition in the middle [84e] it is trapped there, and countless painful diseases have come from these, often with heavy sweating. Often, when flesh in the body breaks apart and air gets in and cannot get out, it causes the same pains as the things that get in; and the greatest pains, when it gathers around the sinews and the little veins there and swells up, and so pulls the tendons and the connected sinews backward with these. From the sheer tightness of this condition these diseases have been called tetanus and opisthotonos.

Timaeus: And the remedy for these is hard; for fevers that come on in such cases

### Stephanus 85

[85a] dissolve them most of all. White phlegm, when the air in its bubbles is trapped and causes trouble, but when it finds breath outside the body, is gentler; even so it makes the body spotted, producing white patches, rough scales, and related diseases. When it is mixed with black bile and spreads over the circuits in the head, which are the most divine, and disturbs them, it acts more gently when it comes during sleep, [85b] but when it attacks people who are awake, it is harder to shake off; and since it is a disease of a divine part, it is most rightly called sacred. Sharp and salty phlegm is the source of all the diseases that come as runnings-down; and because the places it flows into are of all kinds, it has taken all kinds of names. Everything in the body said to be inflamed—named from burning and blazing—comes about entirely through bile. So when it finds breath outside, it boils and sends out all kinds of [85c] swellings; when it is shut up inside, it causes many burnlike diseases; and the greatest harm comes when it mixes with pure blood and scatters the family of fibers out of their own order. These were spread through the blood so that it would have a balanced thinness and thickness, and would neither flow out as liquid through the porous body because of heat, nor again be too thick and hard to move, [85d] so that it could barely circulate in the veins. The fibers keep this balance in the way nature forms things; when someone gathers them together even in dead blood that has gone cold, all the rest of the blood runs liquid; but if they are left alone, they quickly set along with the cold that surrounds the blood. Since the fibers have this power in the blood, bile—which by nature is old blood that has melted out of the flesh into the blood again—hot and wet, when it first seeps in little by little, sets [85e] through the power of the fibers; and as it sets and is put out by force, it causes a chill and trembling inside.

Timaeus: When more of it flows in, it overpowers the fibers with its own heat, boils them up, and shakes them into disorder; and if it is strong enough to hold out to the end, it breaks through to the stuff of the marrow and burns it, and so loosens the soul's cables there like a ship's moorings, and sets it free. But when it is weaker and the body holds out as it is worn down, then it is overpowered and either breaks out all over the body, or is pushed down through the veins into the lower or the upper cavity, like a fugitive from a city in faction, out of

### Stephanus 86

[86a] the body it falls out, and causes diarrhea, dysentery, and all such diseases. So a body that has fallen sick mainly from an excess of fire produces continual burnings and fevers; one from air, fevers every other day; one from water, tertian fevers, because water is slower than air and fire; and one from earth, which is four times as slow as these and is cleansed in periods four times as long, produces quartan fevers and is barely rid of them. [86b]

That is how the diseases of the body come about; those of the soul come about through the state of the body in this way. Folly must be agreed to be a disease of the soul, and there are two kinds of folly: madness and ignorance. So whatever experience gives someone either of these must be called a disease, and excessive pleasures and pains we must count as the greatest diseases of the soul. For a person who is overcome with joy, or in the opposite case tormented by [86c] grief, rushing to grab the one at the wrong time or to run away from the other, can see or hear nothing straight, and rages, and at that time is least able to take part in reasoning. A person whose seed is abundant and runny around the marrow, and who is by nature like a tree that bears more fruit than is right—having many birth pangs at each act and many pleasures in his desires and in the births that come of them—becomes mad for most of his life because of the greatest pleasures [86d] and pains; and since his soul is sick and foolish because of the body, he is thought to be not sick but willingly bad. But in truth, sexual excess for the most part, through the condition of one kind of thing in the body—the looseness of the bones that makes things runny and wet—has become a disease of the soul. And almost everything said in blame of lack of self-control with pleasures—and the reproach that such bad acts are done on purpose—is not rightly blamed; for no one is bad [86e] willingly. The bad person becomes bad through some bad condition of the body and an upbringing without teaching, and these things come to everyone unwanted and against their will. And again, in the same way, the soul gets much of its badness in relation to pains through the body.

Timaeus: Whenever any of the sharp and salty phlegms, or any bitter and bilious humors, wander through the body, get no breath outside, and are coiled up inside,

### Stephanus 87

[87a] they mix their vapor with the flow of the soul and blend with it, and they cause all kinds of diseases of the soul, in greater or less degree, few or many; and being carried to the three places of the soul, whichever of them each falls upon, they produce all kinds of bad temper and gloom, they produce rashness and cowardice, and also forgetfulness and difficulty in learning. On top of these, when people are so badly [87b] put together that bad policies and bad arguments are spoken in the cities, in private and in public, and when from youth no studies that can cure these are learned, in this way we all become bad—the bad among us—through two things that are entirely against our will. Of these we must blame the ones who plant more than what is planted, and the ones who feed more than what is fed; but everyone must strive in whatever way he can, through upbringing, practices, and studies, to run from badness and to win its opposite. This much, then, is one branch of our account. [87c]

The counterpart of this, again—the care of bodies and minds, and the causes by which they are kept well—it is right and proper to give in return; for it is more just to give an account of good things than of bad ones. Everything good is fine, and what is fine is not without measure; so a living thing of this sort we must count well proportioned. Of proportions, we notice the small ones and reason about them, but the most important and the greatest ones [87d] we take no account of. For with regard to health and disease, virtue and badness, no proportion or disproportion is greater than that of the soul itself to the body itself; and none of this do we consider or take thought of: that when a strong and in every way great soul carries a weaker and smaller body, or again when the two are put together the other way round, the whole living thing is not fine—for it is out of proportion in the greatest proportions—while the one arranged the opposite way is, for anyone able to see it, the most beautiful and the most lovable of all sights. [87e] Just as a body with legs too long, or some other excess out of measure with itself, is at once ugly, and in sharing the work causes many strains, many cramps, and, because it is unbalanced, many falls, making countless troubles for itself,

Timaeus: We must think the same about the two together, the living thing we speak of: when in it the soul is stronger

### Stephanus 88

[88a] than the body and holds it in a passion, it shakes the whole thing and fills it with diseases from inside; and when it goes intensely into some kinds of learning and inquiry, it wears the body down; and when it gives lessons and argues in words, in public and in private, in disputes and rivalries, it sets the body on fire and shakes it; and bringing on flows of fluid, it deceives most of the so-called doctors and makes them blame the innocent things. And again, when a body that is big and overgrown with soul is joined with a small and weak mind—for by nature humans have two [88b] sets of desires, through the body a desire for food, through the most divine part in us a desire for understanding—the motions of the stronger element take over, increasing their own side and making the soul's part dull, slow to learn, and forgetful, and so they produce the greatest disease, ignorance. There is one safeguard for both: do not exercise the soul without the body, nor the body without the soul, so that the two may defend each other, keep their balance, and be [88c] healthy. So the person who works at mathematics or at some other very demanding study of the mind must also give the body its movement, by taking exercise; and the person who carefully shapes the body must in turn give the soul its movements, making use of music and of all philosophy, if someone is to be rightly called both fine and good at once. In the same way the parts too must be cared for, copying the form of the whole [88d]. For the body is burned and cooled inside by what comes in, and again dried and wetted from outside, and suffers what follows from these under both motions; and when a person keeps the body idle and hands it over to these motions, it is overpowered and ruined. But if someone imitates what we called the nurse and caretaker of the universe, and never lets the body stay idle but keeps it moving, always giving it some kind of shaking, then through [88e] all of it he wards off the motions inside and outside according to nature; and shaking it in due measure he sets in order toward one another the experiences that wander around the body and its parts, according to their kinship, following the account we gave earlier about the universe. He will not set enemy next to enemy and let them breed wars and diseases in the body, but setting friend next to friend he will produce health

### Stephanus 89

[89a] and will so provide it.

Timaeus: Of motions, then, the best is the motion a thing produces in itself by itself—for it is most akin to the motion of thought and to the motion of the universe. The motion produced by another is worse, and the worst is the one that moves the body part by part through other things while the body itself lies still and keeps quiet. That is why, of the cleansings and buildups of the body, the best is the one through exercise; second is the one through being carried along, on voyages and wherever rides are easy. A third kind of motion [89b] is useful sometimes when one is forced to it, but otherwise a person with sense should by no means accept it: the cleansing by drugs that comes from medicine. For diseases that do not carry great dangers must not be provoked with drugs. For every formation of diseases is in some way like the nature of living things. The coming together of these happens with set times of life for the whole kind, and each living thing grows with its own life span already allotted to it, [89c] apart from the troubles that come by necessity. For the triangles come together right at the start of each thing with a power that can hold out for a certain length of time, beyond which no one could ever live out a life. The same rule holds for the formation of diseases: when someone destroys it before its allotted time with drugs, small diseases tend to become great, and few to become many. That is why all such conditions must be managed with diets, as far as one has leisure for it, [89d] and one must not use drugs and provoke a trouble that is hard to handle.

Let this be said about the living thing in common, and about the part of it that is the body—how someone may best live by reason, training it and being trained by it himself. But what is to guide it must rather, and before all this, be prepared, as far as possible, to be the finest and the best guide there is. To go through these matters with precision [89e] would be a task big enough on its own; but as a side task, following on from what has been said before, one could look at it this way and finish the account like this, not without reason.

Timaeus: As we have said many times, three kinds of soul are housed in three different ways in us, and each of them happens to have its own motions. So in the same way, now too, we must say as briefly as possible that the one of them that lives in idleness and keeps quiet about its own motions must necessarily become the weakest, while the one that is exercised in training becomes the strongest;

### Stephanus 90

[90a] so we must see to it that they keep their motions in balance with one another. We must think about the ruling kind of soul in us in this way: God has given each of us a guiding spirit; this is what we say lives at the top of our body and lifts us up from the earth toward our kinship with the heaven, since we are a plant not of the earth but of the heaven, and we are quite right to say so. For from there, where the first coming-to-be of the soul sprang, the divine part, hanging our head and root [90b] from above, keeps the whole body upright. So the person who has given himself over to desires or to love of winning, and works hard at these, must have all his convictions mortal; and since he has grown that part of himself, he must in no way fall short of becoming as fully mortal as it is possible for a mortal to be. But the person who is eager for the love of learning and for true understanding, and has trained this part of himself most of all, [90c] must surely, if he lays hold of truth, think immortal and divine thoughts—every necessity brings this about—and as far as human nature can share in immortality, he must leave no part of that undone; and since he always cares for the divine part and has the spirit within him well ordered and living with him, he must be exceptionally happy. There is one care for everything and for everyone: to give to each the nourishments and the motions that belong to it. To the divine part in us, the thoughts and revolutions of the universe [90d] are kin; and each of us must follow these, setting right the revolutions in our head that were thrown off course at our birth, by learning the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, and making the thinking part like the thing thought about, in accord with its ancient nature. Once it has been made like, it reaches the end of the best life set before humans by the gods, both for the present time and for the time to come. [90e]

And so what we were told from the beginning to go through—the account of the whole up to the coming-to-be of humans—now seems almost to have reached its end. The other living things, and how they came to be in turn, we must touch on briefly, since there is no need to draw it out; that way one will seem to keep better measure in the accounts of these things. Let this sort of thing, then, be told in this way.

Timaeus: Of the men who were born, those who were cowards and lived unjust lives were changed, by the likely account, into women in the second

### Stephanus 91

[91a] birth; and at that time, for these reasons, the gods crafted the desire for sex, forming a living creature with a soul—one in us and one in women—making each of them in this way. They bored a channel from the passage of drink—where what we drink passes through the lung, down past the kidneys into the bladder, and is squeezed out again by the breath—through to the marrow that is set together from the head down the neck and along the spine, [91b] which we called seed in our earlier accounts. This marrow, being alive and having taken breath, put into the place where it breathed a living desire for outlet, and so brought to completion the desire to beget. That is why in men the part around the genitals has become disobedient and self-willed, like a creature that will not listen to reason, and it tries to rule everything through mad desires. And in [91c] women, for these same reasons, the womb—the so-called matrix—being a creature with a desire for childbearing, when it stays fruitless past its season for a long time, grows angry and takes it hard; and wandering all over the body, blocking the channels of the breath and not letting them breathe, it drives them into the worst difficulties and causes all kinds of other diseases. This lasts until the desire and the [91d] passion of the two bring them together and, like picking fruit from trees, they sow into the womb as into a field living things too small to see and unformed; then they separate them out and grow them large inside, and after that bring them to the light and complete the coming-to-be of living creatures. Women, then, and the whole female sex came to be in this way. The race of birds was reshaped, growing feathers instead of hair, from men who were harmless but light-minded, and given to studying the sky, who in their simple-mindedness believed that the surest proofs about these things come through sight [91e]. The land-going and beastly kind came to be from those who made no use of philosophy and paid no attention at all to the nature of the heaven, because they no longer used the revolutions in the head, but followed the leading parts of the soul that are around the chest.

Timaeus: From these ways of life their front limbs and their heads were pulled down to the earth by kinship and pressed into it, and they got long and varied

### Stephanus 92

[92a] tops of the head, since in each of them the revolutions were crushed together by idleness. From this cause there grew the four-footed kind and the many-footed kind, God setting more supports under the more foolish, so that they would be pulled down more to the earth. To the most foolish of these, whose whole body is stretched down against the ground so that they no longer have any need of feet, he gave birth to them without feet, crawling on the ground. The fourth kind, [92b] the water-living one, came to be from the most mindless and unlearned of all, whom the reshapers no longer deemed worthy even of pure breath, because their souls were wholly unclean from every kind of wrong; but instead of the thin, pure breath of air they pushed them into the murky, deep breathing of water. From these came the tribe of fish and of shellfish and everything that lives in water, as the penalty for the deepest ignorance, receiving the lowest homes [92c].

And so now let us say that our account of the whole has reached its end. For this cosmos, taking in mortal and immortal living things and being filled up in this way, has come to be a visible living thing containing all that is visible, an image of the intelligible, a perceptible god, greatest and best, most beautiful and most complete: this one heaven, unique of its kind.

## Translation — R. G. Bury (1929)

> Public-domain Loeb translation from the Greek (Plato in Twelve Volumes, vol. 9, Harvard University Press, 1929), in the Perseus Digital Library's digital text, with the same Stephanus pages and sections as the Greek.

### Stephanus 17

[17a] Socrates: One, two, three,—but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourth of our guests of yesterday, our hosts of today?

Timaeus: Some sickness has befallen him, Socrates; for he would never have stayed away from our gathering of his own free will.

Socrates: Then the task of filling the place of the absent one falls upon you and our friends here, does it not?

Timaeus: Undoubtedly, and we shall do our best not to come short; [17b] for indeed it would not be at all right, after the splendid hospitality we received from you yesterday, if we—that is, those who are left of us—failed to entertain you cordially in return.

Socrates: Well, then, do you remember the extent and character of the subjects which I proposed for your discussion?

Timaeus: In part we do remember them; and of what we have forgotten you are present to remind us. Or rather, if it is not a trouble, recount them again briefly from the beginning, so as to fix them more firmly in our minds.

[17c] Socrates: It shall be done. The main part of the discourse I delivered yesterday was concerned with the kind of constitution which seemed to me likely to prove the best, and the character of its citizens.

Timaeus: And in truth, Socrates, the polity you described was highly approved by us all.

Socrates: Did we not begin by dividing off the class of land-workers in it, and all other crafts, from the class of its defenders?

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And when, in accordance with Nature, we had assigned to each citizen [17d] his one proper and peculiar occupation, we declared that those whose duty it is to fight in defence of all must act solely as guardians of the State, in case anyone from without or any of those within should go about to molest it; and that they should judge leniently such as are under their authority and their natural friends,

### Stephanus 18

[18a] but show themselves stern in battle towards all the enemies they encounter.

Timaeus: Very true.

Socrates: For we said, as I think, that the soul of the Guardians ought to be of a nature at once spirited and philosophic in a superlative degree, so that they might be able to treat their friends rightly with leniency and their foes with sternness.

Timaeus: Yes.

Socrates: And what of their training? Did we not say that they were trained in gymnastic, in music, and in all the studies proper for such men?

Timaeus: Certainly.

[18b] Socrates: And it was said, I believe, that the men thus trained should never regard silver or gold or anything else as their own private property; but as auxiliaries, who in return for their guard-work receive from those whom they protect such a moderate wage as suffices temperate men, they should spend their wage in common and live together in fellowship one with another, devoting themselves unceasingly to virtue, but keeping free from all other pursuits.

Timaeus: That too was stated as you say.

[18c] Socrates: Moreover, we went on to say about women that their natures must be attuned into accord with the men, and that the occupations assigned to them, both in war and in all other activities of life, should in every case be the same for all alike.

Timaeus: This matter also was stated exactly so.

Socrates: And what about the matter of child-production? Or was this a thing easy to recollect because of the strangeness of our proposals? For we ordained that as regards marriages and children all should have all in common, so that no one should ever recognize his own particular offspring, but all should regard all [18d] as their actual kinsmen—as brothers and sisters, if of a suitable age; as parents and grandparents, if more advanced in age; and as children and children’s children, if junior in age.

Timaeus: Yes, this also, as you say, is easy to recollect.

Socrates: And in order that, to the best of our power, they might at once become as good as possible in their natural characters, do we not recollect how we said that the rulers, male and female, in dealing with marriage-unions must contrive to secure, by some secret method of allotment, [18e] that the two classes of bad men and good shall each be mated by lot with women of a like nature, and that no enmity shall occur amongst them because of this, seeing that they will ascribe the allotment to chance?

Timaeus: We recollect.

### Stephanus 19

[19a] Socrates: And do you recollect further how we said that the offspring of the good were to be reared, but those of the bad were to be sent privily to various other parts of the State; and as these grew up the rulers should keep constantly on the watch for the deserving amongst them and bring them back again, and into the place of those thus restored transplant the undeserving among themselves?

Timaeus: So we said.

Socrates: May we say then that we have now gone through our discourse of yesterday, so far as is requisite in a summary review; or is there any point omitted, my dear, which we should like to see added?

[19b] Timaeus: Certainly not: this is precisely what was said, Socrates.

Socrates: And now, in the next place, listen to what my feeling is with regard to the polity we have described. I may compare my feeling to something of this kind: suppose, for instance, that on seeing beautiful creatures, whether works of art or actually alive but in repose, a man should be moved with desire to behold them in motion and vigorously engaged in some such exercise as seemed suitable to their physique; [19c] well, that is the very feeling I have regarding the State we have described. Gladly would I listen to anyone who should depict in words our State contending against others in those struggles which States wage; in how proper a spirit it enters upon war, and how in its warring it exhibits qualities such as befit its education and training in its dealings with each several State whether in respect of military actions or in respect of verbal negotiations. And herein, Critias and Hermocrates, [19d] I am conscious of my own inability ever to magnify sufficiently our citizens and our State. Now in this inability of mine there is nothing surprising; but I have formed the same opinion about the poets also, those of the present as well as those of the past; not that I disparage in any way the poetic clan, but it is plain to all that the imitative tribe will imitate with most ease and success the things amidst which it has been reared, whereas it is hard for any man to imitate well in action what lies outside the range of his rearing, [19e] and still harder in speech. Again, as to the class of Sophists, although I esteem them highly versed in many fine discourses of other kinds, yet I fear lest haply, seeing they are a class which roams from city to city and has no settled habitations of its own, they may go wide of the mark in regard to men who are at once philosophers and statesmen, and what they would be likely to do and say, in their several dealings with foemen in war and battle, both by word and deed.

Thus there remains only that class which is of your complexion—

### Stephanus 20

[20a] a class which, alike by nature and nurture, shares the qualities of both the others. For our friend is a native of a most well-governed State, Italian Locris, and inferior to none of its citizens either in property or in rank; and not only has he occupied the highest offices and posts of honor in his State, but he has also attained, in my opinion, the very summit of eminence in all branches of philosophy. As to Critias, all of us here know that he is no novice in any of the subjects we are discussing. As regards Hermocrates, we must believe the many witnesses who assert that both by nature and by nurture [20b] he is competent for all these inquiries. So, with this in my mind, when you requested me yesterday to expound my views of the polity I gratified you most willingly, since I knew that none could deal more adequately than you (if you were willing) with the next subject of discourse; for you alone, of men now living, could show our State engaged in a suitable war and exhibiting all the qualities which belong to it. Accordingly, when I had spoken upon my prescribed theme, I in turn prescribed for you this theme which I am now explaining. And you, after consulting together among yourselves, [20c] agreed to pay me back today with a feast of words; so here I am, ready for that feast in festal garb, and eager above all men to begin.

Hermocrates: Of a truth, Socrates, as our friend has said, we will show no lack of zeal, nor have we any excuse for refusing to do as you say. Yesterday, in fact, immediately after our return from you to the guest-chamber at Critias where we are lodging—aye, and earlier still, on our way there—we were considering these very subjects. [20d] Critias here mentioned to us a story derived from ancient tradition; and now, Critias, pray tell it again to our friend here, so that he may help us to decide whether or not it is pertinent to our prescribed theme.

Critias: That I must certainly do, if our third partner, also approves.

Timaeus: Assuredly I approve.

Critias: Listen then, Socrates, to a tale which, though passing strange, is yet wholly true, as Solon, [20e] the wisest of the Seven, once upon a time declared. Now Solon—as indeed he often says himself in his poems—was a relative and very dear friend of our great-grandfather Dropides;

and Dropides told our grandfather Critias as the old man himself, in turn, related to us—that the exploits of this city in olden days, the record of which had perished through time and the destruction of its inhabitants, were great and marvellous, the greatest of all being one which it would be proper

### Stephanus 21

[21a] for us now to relate both as a payment of our debt of thanks to you and also as a tribute of praise, chanted as it were duly and truly, in honor of the Goddess on this her day of Festival.

Socrates: Excellent! But come now, what was this exploit described by Critias, following Solons report, as a thing not verbally recorded, although actually performed by this city long ago?

Critias: I will tell you: it is an old tale, and I heard it from a man not young. For indeed at that time, as he said himself, [21b] Critias was already close upon ninety years of age, while I was somewhere about ten; and it chanced to be that day of the Apaturia which is called Cureotis. The ceremony for boys which was always customary at the feast was held also on that occasion, our fathers arranging contests in recitation. So while many poems of many poets were declaimed, since the poems of Solon were at that time new, many of us children chanted them. And one of our fellow tribesmen—whether he really thought so at the time or whether he was paying a compliment [21c] to Critias—declared that in his opinion Solon was not only the wisest of men in all else, but in poetry also he was of all poets the noblest. Whereat the old man (I remember the scene well) was highly pleased and said with a smile, If only, Amynander, he had not taken up poetry as a by-play but had worked hard at it like others, and if he had completed the story he brought here from Egypt, instead of being forced to lay it aside owing to the seditions and all the other evils he found here on his return,— [21d] why then, I say, neither Hesiod nor Homer nor any other poet would ever have proved more famous than he. And what was the story, Critias? said the other. Its subject, replied Critias, was a very great exploit, worthy indeed to be accounted the most notable of all exploits, which was performed by this city, although the record of it has not endured until now owing to lapse of time and the destruction of those who wrought it. Tell us from the beginning, said Amynander, what Solon related and how, and who were the informants who vouched for its truth. [21e]

In the Delta of Egypt, said Critias, where, at its head, the stream of the Nile parts in two, there is a certain district called the Saitic. The chief city in this district is Sais—the home of King Amasis,—the founder of which, they say, is a goddess whose Egyptian name is Neith, and in Greek, as they assert, Athena. These people profess to be great lovers of Athens and in a measure akin to our people here.

And Solon said that when he travelled there he was held in great esteem amongst them; moreover, when he was questioning such of their priests

### Stephanus 22

[22a] as were most versed in ancient lore about their early history, he discovered that neither he himself nor any other Greek knew anything at all, one might say, about such matters. And on one occasion, when he wished to draw them on to discourse on ancient history, he attempted to tell them the most ancient of our traditions, concerning Phoroneus, who was said to be the first man, and Niobe; and he went on to tell the legend about Deucalion and Pyrrha after the Flood, and how they survived it, and to give the geneology of their descendants; [22b] and by recounting the number of years occupied by the events mentioned he tried to calculate the periods of time. Whereupon one of the priests, a prodigiously old man, said, O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children: there is not such a thing as an old Greek. And on hearing this he asked, What mean you by this saying? And the priest replied, You are young in soul, every one of you. For therein you possess not a single belief that is ancient and derived from old tradition, nor yet one science that is hoary with age. [22c] And this is the cause thereof: There have been and there will be many and divers destructions of mankind, of which the greatest are by fire and water, and lesser ones by countless other means. For in truth the story that is told in your country as well as ours, how once upon a time Phaethon, son of Helios, yoked his father’s chariot, and, because he was unable to drive it along the course taken by his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth and himself perished by a thunderbolt,—that story, as it is told, has the fashion of a legend, but the truth of it lies in [22d] the occurrence of a shifting of the bodies in the heavens which move round the earth, and a destruction of the things on the earth by fierce fire, which recurs at long intervals. At such times all they that dwell on the mountains and in high and dry places suffer destruction more than those who dwell near to rivers or the sea; and in our case the Nile, our Saviour in other ways, saves us also at such times from this calamity by rising high. And when, on the other hand, the Gods purge the earth with a flood of waters, all the herdsmen and shepherds that are in the mountains are saved, [22e] but those in the cities of your land are swept into the sea by the streams; whereas In our country neither then nor at any other time does the water pour down over our fields from above, on the contrary it all tends naturally to well up from below.

Critias: Hence it is, for these reasons, that what is here preserved is reckoned to be most ancient; the truth being that in every place where there is no excessive heat or cold to prevent it there always exists some human stock, now more, now less in number.

### Stephanus 23

[23a] And if any event has occurred that is noble or great or in any way conspicuous, whether it be in your country or in ours or in some other place of which we know by report, all such events are recorded from of old and preserved here in our temples; whereas your people and the others are but newly equipped, every time, with letters and all such arts as civilized States require and when, after the usual interval of years, like a plague, the flood from heaven comes sweeping down afresh upon your people, [23b] it leaves none of you but the unlettered and uncultured, so that you become young as ever, with no knowledge of all that happened in old times in this land or in your own. Certainly the genealogies which you related just now, Solon, concerning the people of your country, are little better than children’s tales; for, in the first place, you remember but one deluge, though many had occurred previously; and next, you are ignorant of the fact that the noblest and most perfect race amongst men were born in the land where you now dwell, and from them both you yourself are sprung and the whole [23c] of your existing city, out of some little seed that chanced to be left over; but this has escaped your notice because for many generations the survivors died with no power to express themselves in writing. For verily at one time, Solon, before the greatest destruction by water, what is now the Athenian State was the bravest in war and supremely well organized also in all other respects. It is said that it possessed the most splendid works of art and the noblest polity of any nation under heaven of which we have heard tell. [23d]

Upon hearing this, Solon said that he marvelled, and with the utmost eagerness requested the priest to recount for him in order and exactly all the facts about those citizens of old. The priest then said: I begrudge you not the story, Solon; nay, I will tell it, both for your own sake and that of your city, and most of all for the sake of the Goddess who has adopted for her own both your land and this of ours, and has nurtured and trained them,—yours first by the space of a thousand years, when she had received the seed of you from Ge [23e] and Hephaestus, and after that ours. And the duration of our civilization as set down in our sacred writings is 8000 years. Of the citizens, then, who lived 9000 years ago, I will declare to you briefly certain of their laws and the noblest of the deeds they performed:

Critias:

### Stephanus 24

[24a] the full account in precise order and detail we shall go through later at our leisure, taking the actual writings. To get a view of their laws, look at the laws here; for you will find existing here at the present time many examples of the laws which then existed in your city. You see, first, how the priestly class is separated off from the rest; next, the class of craftsmen, of which each sort works by itself without mixing with any other; then the classes of shepherds, hunters, and farmers, each distinct and separate. Moreover, the military class here, [24b] as no doubt you have noticed, is kept apart from all the other classes, being enjoined by the law to devote itself solely to the work of training for war. A further feature is the character of their equipment with shields and spears; for we were the first of the peoples of Asia to adopt these weapons, it being the Goddess who instructed us, even as she instructed you first of all the dwellers in yonder lands. Again, with regard to wisdom, you perceive, no doubt, the law here—how much attention [24c] it has devoted from the very beginning to the Cosmic Order, by discovering all the effects which the divine causes produce upon human life, down to divination and the art of medicine which aims at health, and by its mastery also of all the other subsidiary studies. So when, at that time, the Goddess had furnished you, before all others, with all this orderly and regular system, she established your State, choosing the spot wherein you were born since she perceived therein a climate duly blended, and how that it would bring forth men of supreme wisdom. [24d] So it was that the Goddess, being herself both a lover of war and a lover of wisdom, chose the spot which was likely to bring forth men most like unto herself, and this first she established. Wherefore you lived under the rule of such laws as these,—yea, and laws still better,—and you surpassed all men in every virtue, as became those who were the offspring and nurslings of gods. Many, in truth, and great are the achievements of your State, which are a marvel to men as they are here recorded; but there is one which stands out above all [24e] both for magnitude and for nobleness. For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot.

Critias: For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, ’the pillars of Heracles,’ there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travellers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent

### Stephanus 25

[25a] over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvellous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent; and, moreover, [25b] of the lands here within the Straits they ruled over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tuscany. So this host, being all gathered together, made an attempt one time to enslave by one single onslaught both your country and ours and the whole of the territory within the Straits. And then it was, Solon, that the manhood of your State showed itself conspicuous for valor and might in the sight of all the world. For it stood pre-eminent above all [25c] in gallantry and all warlike arts, and acting partly as leader of the Greeks, and partly standing alone by itself when deserted by all others, after encountering the deadliest perils, it defeated the invaders and reared a trophy; whereby it saved from slavery such as were not as yet enslaved, and all the rest of us who dwell within the bounds of Heracles it ungrudgingly set free. But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, [25d] and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down.

You have now heard, Socrates, in brief outline, the account given by the elder Critias of what he heard from Solon; [25e] and when you were speaking yesterday about the State and the citizens you were describing, I marvelled as I called to mind the facts I am now relating, reflecting what a strange piece of fortune it was that your description coincided so exactly for the most part with Solon’s account.

Critias: I was loth, however,

### Stephanus 26

[26a] to speak on the instant; for owing to lapse of time my recollection of his account was not sufficiently clear. So I decided that I ought not to relate it until I had first gone over it all carefully in my own mind. Consequently, I readily consented to the theme you proposed yesterday, since I thought that we should be reasonably well provided for the task of furnishing a satisfactory discourse—which in all such cases is the greatest task. So it was that, as Hermocrates has said, the moment I left your place yesterday I began to relate to them the story as I recollected it, [26b] and after I parted from them I pondered it over during the night and recovered, as I may say, the whole story. Marvellous, indeed, is the way in which the lessons of one’s childhood grip the mind, as the saying is. For myself, I know not whether I could recall to mind all that I heard yesterday; but as to the account I heard such a great time ago, I should be immensely surprised if a single detail of it has escaped me. I had then the greatest pleasure and amusement in hearing it, [26c] and the old man was eager to tell me, since I kept questioning him repeatedly, so that the story is stamped firmly on my mind like the encaustic designs of an indelible painting. Moreover, immediately after daybreak I related this same story to our friends here, so that they might share in my rich provision of discourse.

Now, therefore,—and this is the purpose of all that I have been saying,—I am ready to tell my tale, not in summary outline only but in full detail just as I heard it. And the city with its citizens which you described to us yesterday, as it were in a fable, [26d] we will now transport hither into the realm of fact; for we will assume that the city is that ancient city of ours, and declare that the citizens you conceived are in truth those actual progenitors of ours, of whom the priest told. In all ways they will correspond, nor shall we be out of tune if we affirm that those citizens of yours are the very men who lived in that age. Thus, with united effort, each taking his part, we will endeavor to the best of our powers to do justice to the theme you have prescribed. Wherefore, Socrates, we must consider whether this story is to our mind, or [26e] we have still to look for some other to take its place.

Socrates: What story should we adopt, Critias, in preference to this? For this story will be admirably suited to the festival of the Goddess which is now being held, because of its connection with her; and the fact that it is no invented fable but genuine history is all-important. How, indeed, and where shall we discover other stories if we let these slip? Nay, it is impossible. You, therefore, must now deliver your discourse (and may Good Fortune attend you!), while I, in requital for my speech of yesterday, must now

### Stephanus 27

[27a] keep silence in my turn and hearken.

Critias: Consider now, Socrates, the order of the feast as we have arranged it. Seeing that Timaeus is our best astronomer and has made it his special task to learn about the nature of the Universe, it seemed good to us that he should speak first, beginning with the origin of the Cosmos and ending with the generation of mankind. After him I am to follow, taking over from him mankind, already as it were created by his speech, and taking over from you [27b] a select number of men superlatively well trained. Then, in accordance with the word and law of Solon, I am to bring these before ourselves, as before a court of judges, and make them citizens of this State of ours, regarding them as Athenians of that bygone age whose existence, so long forgotten, has been revealed to us by the record of the sacred writings; and thenceforward I am to proceed with my discourse as if I were speaking of men who already are citizens and men of Athens.

Socrates: Bounteous and magnificent, methinks, is the feast of speech with which I am to be requited. So then, it will be your task, it seems, to speak next, when you have duly invoked the gods.

[27c] Timaeus: Nay, as to that, Socrates, all men who possess even a small share of good sense call upon God always at the outset of every undertaking, be it small or great; we therefore who are purposing to deliver a discourse concerning the Universe, how it was created or haply is uncreate, must needs invoke Gods and Goddesses (if so be that we are not utterly demented), praying that all we say may be approved by them in the first place, and secondly by ourselves. Grant, then, that we have thus duly invoked the deities; [27d] >ourselves we must also invoke so to proceed, that you may most easily learn and I may most clearly expound my views regarding the subject before us.

Now first of all we must, in my judgement, make the following distinction. What is that which is Existent always

### Stephanus 28

[28a] and has no Becoming? And what is that which is Becoming always and never is Existent? Now the one of these is apprehensible by thought with the aid of reasoning, since it is ever uniformly existent; whereas the other is an object of opinion with the aid of unreasoning sensation, since it becomes and perishes and is never really existent. Again, everything which becomes must of necessity become owing to some Cause; for without a cause it is impossible for anything to attain becoming. But when the artificer of any object, in forming its shape and quality, keeps his gaze fixed on that which is uniform, using a model of this kind, that object, executed in this way, must of necessity [28b] be beautiful; but whenever he gazes at that which has come into existence and uses a created model, the object thus executed is not beautiful. Now the whole Heaven, or Cosmos, or if there is any other name which it specially prefers, by that let us call it,—so, be its name what it may, we must first investigate concerning it that primary question which has to be investigated at the outset in every case,—namely, whether it has existed always, having no beginning of generation, or whether it has come into existence, having begun from some beginning. It has come into existence; for it is visible and tangible and possessed of a body; and all such things are sensible [28c] and things sensible, being apprehensible by opinion with the aid of sensation, come into existence, as we saw, and are generated. And that which has come into existence must necessarily, as we say, have come into existence by reason of some Cause.

Timaeus: Now to discover the Maker and Father of this Universe were a task indeed; and having discovered Him, to declare Him unto all men were a thing impossible. However, let us return and inquire further concerning the Cosmos,—after which of the Models did its Architect construct it?

### Stephanus 29

[29a] Was it after that which is self-identical and uniform, or after that which has come into existence; Now if so be that this Cosmos is beautiful and its Constructor good, it is plain that he fixed his gaze on the Eternal; but if otherwise (which is an impious supposition), his gaze was on that which has come into existence. But it is clear to everyone that his gaze was on the Eternal; for the Cosmos is the fairest of all that has come into existence, and He the best of all the Causes. So having in this wise come into existence, it has been constructed after the pattern of that which is apprehensible by reason and thought and is self-identical. [29b]

Again, if these premisses be granted, it is wholly necessary that this Cosmos should be a Copy of something. Now in regard to every matter it is most important to begin at the natural beginning. Accordingly, in dealing with a copy and its model, we must affirm that the accounts given will themselves be akin to the diverse objects which they serve to explain; those which deal with what is abiding and firm and discernible by the aid of thought will be abiding and unshakable; and in so far as it is possible and fitting for statements to be irrefutable and invincible, [29c] they must in no wise fall short thereof; whereas the accounts of that which is copied after the likeness of that Model, and is itself a likeness, will be analogous thereto and possess likelihood; for I as Being is to Becoming, so is Truth to Belief. Wherefore, Socrates, if in our treatment of a great host of matters regarding the Gods and the generation of the Universe we prove unable to give accounts that are always in all respects self-consistent and perfectly exact, be not thou surprised; rather we should be content if we can furnish accounts that are inferior to none in likelihood, remembering that both I who speak [29d] and you who judge are but human creatures, so that it becomes us to accept the likely account of these matters and forbear to search beyond it.

Socrates: Excellent, Timaeus! We must by all means accept it, as you suggest; and certainly we have most cordially accepted your prelude; so now, we beg of you, proceed straight on with the main theme.

Timaeus: Let us now state the Cause wherefore He that constructed it [29e] constructed Becoming and the All. He was good, and in him that is good no envy ariseth ever concerning anything; and being devoid of envy He desired that all should be, so far as possible, like unto Himself.

This principle, then, we shall be wholly right in accepting from men of wisdom as being above all the supreme originating principle of Becoming and the Cosmos.

### Stephanus 30

[30a] For God desired that, so far as possible, all things should be good and nothing evil; wherefore, when He took over all that was visible, seeing that it was not in a state of rest but in a state of discordant and disorderly motion, He brought it into order out of disorder, deeming that the former state is in all ways better than the latter. For Him who is most good it neither was nor is permissible to perform any action save what is most fair. As He reflected, therefore, He perceived that of such creatures as are by nature visible, [30b] none that is irrational will be fairer, comparing wholes with wholes, than the rational; and further, that reason cannot possibly belong to any apart from Soul. So because of this reflection He constructed reason within soul and soul within body as He fashioned the All, that so the work He was executing might be of its nature most fair and most good. Thus, then, in accordance with the likely account, we must declare that this Cosmos has verily come into existence as a Living Creature endowed with soul and reason owing to the providence of God. [30c]

This being established, we must declare that which comes next in order. In the semblance of which of the living Creatures did the Constructor of the cosmos construct it? We shall not deign to accept any of those which belong by nature to the category of parts; for nothing that resembles the imperfect would ever become fair. But we shall affirm that the Cosmos, more than aught else, resembles most closely that Living Creature of which all other living creatures, severally and generically, are portions. For that Living Creature embraces and contains within itself all the intelligible Living Creatures, just as this Universe contains us and all the other visible living creatures [30d] that have been fashioned.

Timaeus: For since God desired to make it resemble most closely that intelligible Creature which is fairest of all and in all ways most perfect, He constructed it as a Living Creature, one and visible, containing within itself all the living creatures which are by nature akin to itself.

### Stephanus 31

[31a] Are we right, then, in describing the Heaven as one, or would it be more correct to speak of heavens as many or infinite in number? One it must be termed, if it is to be framed after its Pattern. For that which embraces all intelligible Living Creatures could never be second, with another beside it; for if so, there must needs exist yet another Living Creature, which should embrace them both, and of which they two would each be a part; in which case this Universe could no longer be rightly described as modelled on these two, but rather on that third Creature which contains them both. [31b] Wherefore, in order that this Creature might resemble the all perfect Living Creature in respect of its uniqueness, for this reason its Maker made neither two Universes nor an infinite number, but there is and will continue to be this one generated Heaven, unique of its kind.

Now that which has come into existence must needs be of bodily form, visible and tangible; yet without fire nothing could ever become visible, nor tangible without some solidity, nor solid without earth. Hence, in beginning to construct the body of the All, God was making it of fire and earth. But it is not possible that two things alone should be conjoined without a third; [31c] for there must needs be some intermediary bond to connect the two. And the fairest of bonds is that which most perfectly unites into one both itself and the things which it binds together; and to effect this in the fairest manner is the natural property of proportion.

Timaeus: For whenever the middle term of any three numbers, cubic or square,

### Stephanus 32

[32a] is such that as the first term is to it, so is it to the last term, and again, conversely, as the last term is to the middle, so is the middle to the first,—then the middle term becomes in turn the first and the last, while the first and last become in turn middle terms, and the necessary consequence will be that all the terms are interchangeable, and being interchangeable they all form a unity. Now if the body of the All [32b] had had to come into existence as a plane surface, having no depth, one middle term would have sufficed to bind together both itself and its fellow-terms; but now it is otherwise: for it behoved it to be solid of shape, and what brings solids into unison is never one middle term alone but always two. Thus it was that in the midst between fire and earth God set water and air, and having bestowed upon them so far as possible a like ratio one towards another—air being to water as fire to air, and water being to earth as air to water, —he joined together and constructed a Heaven visible and tangible. For these reasons [32c] and out of these materials, such in kind and four in number, the body of the Cosmos was harmonized by proportion and brought into existence. These conditions secured for it Amity, so that being united in identity with itself it became indissoluble by any agent other than Him who had bound it together.

Now of the four elements the construction of the Cosmos had taken up the whole of every one. For its Constructor had constructed it of all the fire and water and air and earth that existed, leaving over, outside it, no single particle or potency of any one of these elements. And these were his intentions: [32d] first, that it might be, so far as possible, a Living Creature, perfect and whole, with all its parts perfect;

Timaeus: and next, that it might be One,

### Stephanus 33

[33a] inasmuch as there was nothing left over out of which another like Creature might come into existence; and further, that it might be secure from age and ailment, since He perceived that when heat and cold, and all things which have violent potencies, surround a composite body from without and collide with it they dissolve it unduly and make it to waste away by bringing upon it ailments and age. Wherefore, because of this reasoning, He fashioned it to be One single Whole, compounded of all wholes, perfect and ageless and unailing. [33b] And he bestowed on it the shape which was befitting and akin. Now for that Living Creature which is designed to embrace within itself all living creatures the fitting shape will be that which comprises within itself all the shapes there are; wherefore He wrought it into a round, in the shape of a sphere, equidistant in all directions from the center to the extremities, which of all shapes is the most perfect and the most self-similar, since He deemed that the similar is infinitely fairer than the dissimilar. And on the outside round about, it was all made smooth with great exactness, and that for many reasons. [33c] For of eyes it had no need, since outside of it there was nothing visible left over; nor yet of hearing, since neither was there anything audible; nor was there any air surrounding it which called for respiration; nor, again, did it need any organ whereby it might receive the food that entered and evacuate what remained undigested. For nothing went out from it or came into it from any side, since nothing existed; for it was so designed as to supply its own wastage as food for itself, [33d] and to experience by its own agency and within itself all actions and passions, since He that had constructed it deemed that it would be better if it were self-sufficing rather than in need of other things. Hands, too, He thought He ought not to attach unto it uselessly, seeing they were not required either for grasping or for repelling anyone; nor yet feet, nor any instruments of locomotion whatsoever.

### Stephanus 34

[34a] Timaeus: For movement He assigned unto it that which is proper to its body, namely, that one of the seven motions which specially belongs to reason and intelligence; wherefore He spun it round uniformly in the same spot and within itself and made it move revolving in a circle; and all the other six motions He took away and fashioned it free from their aberrations. And seeing that for this revolving motion it had no need of feet, He begat it legless and footless.

Such, then, was the sum of the reasoning of the ever-existing God concerning the god [34b] which was one day to be existent, whereby He made it smooth and even and equal on all sides from the center, a whole and perfect body compounded of perfect bodies, And in the midst thereof He set Soul, which He stretched throughout the whole of it, and therewith He enveloped also the exterior of its body; and as a Circle revolving in a circle He established one sole and solitary Heaven, able of itself because of its excellence to company with itself and needing none other beside, sufficing unto itself as acquaintance and friend. And because of all this He generated it to be a blessed God.

Now as regards the Soul, although we are essaying to describe it after the body, [34c] God did not likewise plan it to be younger than the body; for, when uniting them, He would not have permitted the elder to be ruled by the younger; but as for us men, even as we ourselves partake largely of the accidental and casual, so also do our words. God, however, constructed Soul to be older than Body and prior in birth and excellence, since she was to be the mistress and ruler and it the ruled; and, He made her of the materials

### Stephanus 35

[35a] and in the fashion which I shall now describe.

Timaeus: Midway between the Being which is indivisible

and remains always the same and the Being which is transient and divisible in

bodies, He blended a third form of Being compounded out of the twain, that is

to say, out of the Same and the Other; and in like manner He compounded it

midway between that one of them which is indivisible and that one which is

divisible in bodies. And He took the three of them, and blent them all together

into one form, by forcing the Other into union with the Same, in spite of its

being naturally difficult to mix. [35b] And when with the aid of Being He had mixed them, and had made of

them one out of three, straightway He began to distribute the whole thereof

into so many portions as was meet; and each portion was a mixture of the Same,

of the Other, and of Being. And He began

making the division thus: First He took one portion from the whole; then He

took a portion double of this; then a third portion, half as much again as the

second portion, that is, three times as much as the first; he fourth portion He

took was twice as much as the second; the fifth three times as much as the

third; [35c] the sixth eight

times as much as the first; and the seventh twenty-seven times as much as the

first.

### Stephanus 36

[36a] Timaeus: After that He went on to fill up the intervals in the series of the powers of 2 and the intervals in the series of powers of 3 in the following manner: He cut off yet further portions from the original mixture, and set them in between the portions above rehearsed, so as to place two Means in each interval, —one a Mean which exceeded its Extremes and was by them exceeded by the same proportional part or fraction of each of the Extremes respectively; the other a Mean which exceeded one Extreme by the same number or integer as it was exceeded by its other Extreme. And whereas the insertion of these links formed fresh intervals in the former intervals, that is to say, intervals of 3:2 and 4:3 and 9:8, He went on to fill up the 4:3 intervals with 9:8 intervals. [36b] This still left over in each case a fraction, which is represented by the terms of the numerical ratio 256:243. And thus the mixture, from which He had been cutting these portions off, was now all spent.

Next, He split all this that He had put together into two parts lengthwise; and then He laid the twain one against the other, the middle of one to the middle of the other, like a great cross; [36c] and bent either of them into a circle, and join them, each to itself and also to the other, at a point opposite to where they had first been laid together. And He compassed them about with the motion that revolves in the same spot continually, and He made the one circle outer and the other inner. And the outer motion He ordained to be the Motion of the Same, and the inner motion the Motion of the Other. And He made the Motion of the Same to be toward the right along the side, and the Motion of the Other to be toward the left along the diagonal; and He gave the sovranty [36d] to the Revolution of the Same and of the Uniform. For this alone He suffered to remain uncloven, whereas He split the inner Revolution in six places into seven unequal circles, according to each of the intervals of the double and triple intervals, three double and three triple. These two circles then He appointed to go in contrary directions; and of the seven circles into which He split the inner circle, He appointed three to revolve at an equal speed, the other four to go at speeds equal neither with each other nor with the speed of the aforesaid three, yet moving at speeds the ratios of which one to another are those of natural integers.

And when the construction of the Soul had all been completed to the satisfaction of its Constructor, then He fabricated within it all the Corporeal, [36e] and uniting them center to center He made them fit together. And the Soul, being woven throughout the Heaven every way from the center to the extremity, and enveloping it in a circle from without, and herself revolving within herself, began a divine beginning of unceasing and intelligent life lasting throughout all time.

And whereas the body of the Heaven is visible, the Soul is herself invisible but partakes in reasoning and in harmony,

### Stephanus 37

[37a] having come into existence by the agency of the best of things intelligible and ever-existing as the best of things generated. Inasmuch, then, as she is a compound, blended of the natures of the Same and the Other and Being, these three portions, and is proportionately divided and bound together, and revolves back upon herself, whenever she touches anything which has its substance dispersed or anything which has its substance undivided she is moved throughout her whole being and announces what the object is identical with [37b] and from what it is different, and in what relation, where and how and when, it comes about that each thing exists and is acted upon by others both in the sphere of the Becoming and in that of the ever-uniform. And her announcement, being identically true concerning both the Other and the Same, is borne through the self-moved without speech or sound; and whenever it is concerned with the sensible, and the circle of the Other moving in straight course proclaims it to the whole of its Soul, opinions and beliefs arise which are firm and true; and again, when it is concerned with the rational, [37c] and the circle of the Same, spinning truly, declares the facts, reason and knowledge of necessity result. But should anyone assert that the substance in which these two states arise is something other than Soul, his assertion will be anything rather than the truth.

And when the Father that engendered it perceived it in motion and alive, a thing of joy to the eternal gods, He too rejoiced; and being well-pleased He designed to make it resemble its Model [37d] still more closely. Accordingly, seeing that that Model is an eternal Living Creature, He set about making this Universe, so far as He could, of a like kind. But inasmuch as the nature of the Living Creature was eternal, this quality it was impossible to attach in its entirety to what is generated; wherefore He planned to make a movable image of Eternity, and, as He set in order the Heaven, of that Eternity which abides in unity He made an eternal image, moving according to number, even that which we have named Time. [37e] For simultaneously with the construction of the Heaven He contrived the production of days and nights and months and years, which existed not before the Heaven came into being. And these are all portions of Time; even as Was and Shall be are generated forms of Time, although we apply them wrongly, without noticing, to Eternal Being.

Timaeus: For we say that it is or was or will be, whereas, in truth of speech, is alone

### Stephanus 38

[38a] is the appropriate term; was and will be, on the other hand, are terms properly applicable to the Becoming which proceeds in Time, since both of these are motions; but it belongs not to that which is ever changeless in its uniformity to become either older or younger through time, nor ever to have become so, nor to be so now, nor to be about to be so hereafter, nor in general to be subject to any of the conditions which Becoming has attached to the things which move in the world of Sense, these being generated forms of Time, which imitates Eternity and circles round according to number. And besides these we make use of the following expressions,— [38b] that what is become is become, and what is becoming is becoming, and what is about to become is about to become, and what is non-existent is non-existent; but none of these expressions is accurate. But the present is not, perhaps, a fitting occasion for an exact discussion of these matters.

Time, then, came into existence along with the Heaven, to the end that having been generated together they might also be dissolved together, if ever a dissolution of them should take place; and it was made after the pattern of the Eternal Nature, to the end that it might be as like thereto as possible; for whereas the pattern is existent through all eternity, [38c] the copy, on the other hand, is through all time, continually having existed, existing, and being about to exist. Wherefore, as a consequence of this reasoning and design on the part of God, with a view to the generation of Time, the sun and moon and five other stars, which bear the appellation of planets, came into existence for the determining and preserving of the numbers of Time. And when God had made the bodies of each of them He placed them in the orbits along which the revolution of the Other was moving, seven orbits for the seven bodies.. [38d] The Moon He placed in the first circle around the Earth, the Sun in the second above the Earth; and the Morning Star and the Star called Sacred to Hermes He placed in those circles which move in an orbit equal to the Sun in velocity, but endowed with a power contrary thereto; whence it is that the Sun and the Star of Hermes and the Morning Star regularly overtake and are overtaken by one another. As to the rest of the stars, were one to describe in detail the positions in which He set them, and all the reasons therefor, [38e] the description, though but subsidiary, would prove a heavier task than the main argument which it subserves. Later on, perhaps, at our leisure these points may receive the attention they merit.

Timaeus: So when each of the bodies whose co-operation was required for the making of Time had arrived in its proper orbit; and when they had been generated as living creatures, having their bodies bound with living bonds,

### Stephanus 39

[39a] and had learnt their appointed duties; then they kept revolving around the circuit of the Other, which is transverse and passes through the circuit of the Same and is dominated thereby; and part of them moved in a greater, part in a smaller circle, those in the smaller moving more quickly and those in the greater more slowly. And because of the motion of the Same, the stars which revolved most quickly appeared to be overtaken by those which moved most slowly, although in truth they overtook them; [39b] for, because of their simultaneous progress in two opposite directions, the motion of the Same, which is the swiftest of all motions, twisted all their circles into spirals and thus caused the body which moves away from it most slowly to appear the nearest. And in order that there might be a clear measure of the relative speeds, slow and quick, with which they travelled round their eight orbits, in that circle which is second from the earth God kindled a light which now we call the Sun, to the end that it might shine, so far as possible, throughout the whole Heaven, and that all the living creatures entitled thereto might participate in number, learning it from the revolution of the Same and Similar. [39c] In this wise and for these reasons were generated Night and Day, which are the revolution of the one and most intelligent circuit; and Month, every time that the Moon having completed her own orbit overtakes the Sun; and Year, as often as the Sun has completed his own orbit. Of the other stars the revolutions have not been discovered by men (save for a few out of the many); wherefore they have no names for them, nor do they compute and compare their relative measurements, so that they are not aware, as a rule, [39d] that the wanderings of these bodies, which are hard to calculate and of wondrous complexity, constitute Time. Nevertheless, it is still quite possible to perceive that the complete number of Time fulfils the Complete Year when all the eight circuits, with their relative speeds, finish together and come to a head, when measured by the revolution of the Same and Similarly-moving. In this wise and for these reasons were generated all those stars which turn themselves about as they travel through Heaven, to the end that this Universe might be as similar as possible to the perfect and intelligible Living Creature in respect of its imitation of the Eternal [39e] Nature thereof.

Now in all other respects this World had already, with the birth of Time, been wrought in the similitude of that whereunto it was being likened, but inasmuch as it did not as yet contain generated within it the whole range of living creatures, therein it was still dissimilar. So this part of the work which was still undone He completed by molding it after the nature of the Model. According, then, as Reason perceives Forms existing in the Absolute Living Creature, such and so many as exist therein did He deem that this World also should possess.

Timaeus: And these Forms are four,—one the heavenly kind of gods;

### Stephanus 40

[40a] another the winged kind which traverses the air;

thirdly, the class which inhabits the waters; and fourthly, that which goes on

foot on dry land. The form of the divine class He wrought for the most part out of fire, that this kind might be

as bright as possible to behold and as fair; and likening it to the All He made

it truly spherical; and He placed it in the intelligence

of the Supreme to follow therewith, distributing it round about over all the

Heaven, to be unto it a veritable adornment cunningly

traced over the whole. And each member of this class He endowed with two

motions, whereof the one is uniform motion in the same

spot, whereby it conceives always identical thoughts about the same objects, [40b] and the other is a

forward motion due to its being dominated by the revolution of the Same and

Similar; but in respect of the other five motions they are at rest and

move not, so that each of them may attain the greatest possible perfection.

From this cause, then, came into existence all those unwandering stars which

are living creatures divine and eternal and abide for ever revolving uniformly

in the same spot; and those which keep swerving and wandering have been

generated in the fashion previously described. And Earth, our nurse, which is

globed around the pole that stretches through all, [40c] He framed to be the wardress and fashioner of

night and day, she being the first and eldest of all the gods which have come

into existence within the Heaven. But the choric dances of these same stars and

their crossings one of another, and the relative reversals and progressions of

their orbits, and which of the gods meet in their conjunctions, and how many

are in opposition, and behind which and at what times they severally pass

before one another and are hidden from our view, and again re-appearing [40d] send upon men unable to

calculate alarming portents of the things which shall come to pass

hereafter,—to describe all this without an inspection of models of these movements would be labor in

vain. Wherefore, let this account suffice us, and let our discourse concerning

the nature of the visible and generated gods have an end. Concerning the other divinities, to discover and declare their

origin is too great a task for us, and we must trust to those who have declared

it aforetime, they being, as they affirmed, descendants of gods and knowing

well, no doubt, their own forefathers.

[40e] It is, as I say,

impossible to disbelieve the children of gods, even though their statements

lack either probable or necessary demonstration; and inasmuch as they profess

to speak of family matters, we must follow custom and believe them.

Timaeus: Therefore let the generation of these gods be stated by us, following their account, in this wise: Of Ge and Uranus were born the children Oceanus and Tethys; and of these, Phorkys, Cronos, Rhea, and all that go with them;

### Stephanus 41

[41a] and of Cronos and Rhea were born Zeus and Hera and all those who are, as we know, called their brethren; and of these again, other descendants.

Now when all the gods, both those who revolve manifestly and those who manifest themselves so far as they choose, had come to birth, He that generated this All addressed them thus:

Gods of gods, those works whereof I am framer and father are indissoluble save by my will. For though all that is bound may be dissolved, [41b] yet to will to dissolve that which is fairly joined together and in good case were the deed of a wicked one. Wherefore ye also, seeing that ye were generated, are not wholly immortal or indissoluble, yet in no wise shall ye be dissolved nor incur the doom of death, seeing that in my will ye possess a bond greater and more sovereign than the bonds wherewith, at your birth, ye were bound together. Now, therefore, what I manifest and declare unto you do ye learn. Three mortal kinds still remain ungenerated; but if these come not into being the Heaven will be imperfect; for it will not contain within itself the whole sum of the hinds of living creatures, yet contain them it must if [41c] it is to be fully perfect. But if by my doing these creatures came into existence and partook of life, they would be made equal unto gods; in order, therefore, that they may be mortal and that this World-all may be truly All, do ye turn yourselves, as Nature directs, to the work of fashioning these living creatures, imitating the power showed by me in my generating of you. Now so much of them as it is proper to designate ’immortal,’ the part we call divine which rules supreme in those who are fain to follow justice always and yourselves, that part I will deliver unto you when I have sown it and given it origin. [41d] For the rest, do ye weave together the mortal with the immortal, and thereby fashion and generate living creatures, and give them food that they may grow, and when they waste away receive them to yourselves again.

Thus He spake, and once more into the former bowl, wherein He had blended and mixed the Soul of the Universe, He poured the residue of the previous material, mixing it in somewhat the same manner, yet no longer with a uniform and invariable purity, but second and third in degree of purity. And when He had compounded the whole He divided it into souls equal in number to the stars, and each several soul He assigned to one star, [41e] and setting them each as it were in a chariot He showed them the nature of the Universe, and declared unto them the laws of destiny,—namely, how that the first birth should be one and the same ordained for all, in order that none might be slighted by Him; and how it was needful that they, when sown each into his own proper organ of time, should grow into the most god-fearing of living creatures;

### Stephanus 42

[42a] and that, since human nature is two-fold, the superior sex is that which hereafter should be designated man.

Timaeus: And when, by virtue of Necessity, they should be implanted in bodies, and their bodies are subject to influx and efflux, these results would necessarily follow,—firstly, sensation that is innate and common to all proceeding from violent affections; secondly, desire mingled with pleasure and pain; and besides these, fear and anger [42b] and all such emotions as are naturally allied thereto, and all such as are of a different and opposite character. And if they shall master these they will live justly, but if they are mastered, unjustly. And he that has lived his appointed time well shall return again to his abode in his native star, and shall gain a life that is blessed and congenial but whoso has failed therein shall be changed into woman’s nature at the second birth; and if, in that shape, he still refraineth not from wickedness [42c] he shall be changed every time, according to the nature of his wickedness, into some bestial form after the similitude of his own nature; nor in his changings shall he cease from woes until he yields himself to the revolution of the Same and Similar that is within him, and dominating by force of reason that burdensome mass which afterwards adhered to him of fire and water [42d] and earth and air, a mass tumultuous and irrational, returns again to the semblance of his first and best state.

When He had fully declared unto them all these ordinances, to the end that He might be blameless in respect of the future wickedness of any one of them, He proceeded to sow them, some in the Earth, some in the Moon, others in the rest of the organs of Time. Following upon this sowing, He delivered over to the young gods the task of molding mortal bodies, and of framing and controlling all the rest of the human soul which it was still necessary to add, together with all that belonged thereto, [42e] and of governing this mortal creature in the fairest and best way possible, to the utmost of their power, except in so far as it might itself become the cause of its own evils.

So He, then, having given all these commands, was abiding in His own proper and wonted state.

And as He thus abode, His children gave heed to their Father’s command and obeyed it. They took the immortal principle of the mortal living creature, and imitating their own Maker, they borrowed from the Cosmos portions of fire and earth and water and air,

### Stephanus 43

[43a] as if meaning to pay them back, and the portions so taken they cemented together; but it was not with those indissoluble bonds wherewith they themselves were joined that they fastened together the portions but with numerous pegs, invisible for smallness; and thus they constructed out of them all each several body, and within bodies subject to inflow and outflow they bound the revolutions of the immortal Soul. The souls, then, being thus bound within a mighty river neither mastered it nor were mastered, but with violence they rolled along and were rolled along themselves, [43b] so that the whole of the living creature was moved, but in such a random way that its progress was disorderly and irrational, since it partook of all the six motions: for it progressed forwards and backwards, and again to right and to left, and upwards and downwards, wandering every way in all the six directions. For while the flood which foamed in and streamed out, as it supplied the food, was immense, still greater was the tumult produced [43c] within each creature as a result of the colliding bodies, when the body of a creature happened to meet and collide with alien fire from without, or with a solid lump of earth or liquid glidings of waters, or when it was overtaken by a tempest of winds driven by air, and when the motions due to all these causes rushing through the body impinged upon the Soul. And for these reasons all such motions were then termed Sensations, and are still so termed today. Moreover, since at that time they were causing, for the moment, constant and widespread motion, joining with the perpetually flowing stream [43d] in moving and violently shaking the revolutions of the Soul, they totally blocked the course of the Same by flowing contrary thereto, and hindered it thereby in its ruling and its going; while, on the other hand, they so shook up the course of the Other that in the three several intervals of the double and the triple, and in the mean terms and binding links of the 3/2, 4/3 and 9/8,—these being not wholly dissoluble save by Him who had bound them together,—they produced all manner of twistings, and caused [43e] in their circles fractures and disruptions of every possible kind, with the result that, as they barely held together one with another, they moved indeed but moved irrationally, being at one time reversed, at another oblique, and again upside down. Suppose, for example, that a man is in an upside down position, with his head resting on the earth and his feet touching something above, then, in this position of the man relative to that of the onlookers, his right will appear left to them, and his left right, and so will theirs to him.

Timaeus: This, and such like, are just what the revolutions of the Soul experience with intensity;

### Stephanus 44

[44a] and every time they happen upon any external object, whether it be of the class of the Same or of the Other, they proclaim it to be the same as something or other than something contrary to the truth, and thereby prove themselves false and foolish, and devoid, at such times, of any revolution that rules and guides. And whenever external sensations in their movement collide with these revolutions and sweep along with them also the whole vessel of the Soul, then the revolutions, though actually mastered, appear to have the mastery. Hence it comes about that, because of all these affections, now as in the beginning, [44b] so often as the Soul is bound within a mortal body it becomes at the first irrational. But as soon as the stream of increase and nutriment enters in less volume, and the revolutions calm down and pursue their own path, becoming more stable as time proceeds, then at length, as the several circles move each according to its natural track, their revolutions are straightened out and they announce the Same and the Other aright, and thereby they render their possessor intelligent. And if so be [44c] that this state of his soul be reinforced by right educational training, the man becomes wholly sound and faultless, having escaped the worst of maladies; but if he has been wholly negligent therein, after passing a lame existence in life he returns again unperfected and unreasoning to Hades. These results, however, come about at a later time. Regarding the subjects now before us, we must give a more exact exposition; and also regarding the subjects anterior to these, namely, the generation of bodies in their several parts, and the causes and divine counsels whereby the Soul has come into existence, we must hold fast to the most probable account, [44d] and proceed accordingly, in the exposition now to be given.

The divine revolutions, which are two, they bound within a sphere-shaped body, in imitation of the spherical form of the All, which body we now call the head, it being the most divine part and reigning over all the parts within us. To it the gods delivered over the whole of the body they had assembled to be its servant, having formed the notion that it should partake in all the motions which were to be. [44e] In order, then, that it should not go rolling upon the earth, which has all manner of heights and hollows, and be at a loss how to climb over the one and climb out of the other, they bestowed upon it the body as a vehicle and means of transport.

Timaeus: And for this reason the body acquired length, and, by God’s contriving, shot forth four limbs, extensible and flexible,

### Stephanus 45

[45a] to serve as instruments of transport, so that grasping with these and’ supported thereon it was enabled to travel through all places, bearing aloft the chamber of our most divine and holy part. In this wise and for these reasons were legs and hands attached to all men; and inasmuch as they demand the forepart superior to the hinder part in honor and dignity, the Gods gave us the most part of our going in this direction. Thus it was necessary that man should have the forepart of his body distinct and dissimilar. Wherefore, dealing first with the vessel of the head, they set the face in the front thereof [45b] and bound within it organs for all the forethought of the Soul; and they ordained that this, which is the natural front, should be the leading part. And of the organs they constructed first light-bearing eyes, and these they fixed in the face for the reason following. They contrived that all such fire as had the property not of burning but of giving a mild light should form a body akin to the light of every day. For they caused the pure fire within us, which is akin to that of day, to flow through the eyes in a smooth and dense stream; [45c] and they compressed the whole substance, and especially the center, of the eyes, so that they occluded all other fire that was coarser and allowed only this pure kind of fire to filter through. So whenever the stream of vision is surrounded by midday light, it flows out like unto like, and coalescing therewith it forms one kindred substance along the path of the eyes’ vision, wheresoever the fire which streams from within collides with an obstructing object without. And this substance, having all become similar in its properties because of its similar nature, [45d] distributes the motions of every object it touches, or whereby it is touched, throughout all the body even unto the Soul, and brings about that sensation which we now term seeing. But when the kindred fire vanishes into night, the inner fire is cut off; for when it issues forth into what is dissimilar it becomes altered in itself and is quenched, seeing that it is no longer of like nature with the adjoining air, since that air is devoid of fire. Wherefore it leaves off seeing, and becomes also an inducement to sleep. For the eyelids —whose structure the Gods devised [45e] as a safeguard for the vision,—when they are shut close, curb the power of the inner fire; which power dissipates and allays the inward motions, and upon their allaying quiet ensues; and when this quiet has become intense there falls upon us a sleep that is well-nigh dreamless;

Timaeus: but when some greater motions are still left behind, according to their nature and the positions they occupy

### Stephanus 46

[46a] such and so great are the images they produce, which images are copied within and are remembered by the sleepers when they awake out of the dream. And it is no longer difficult to perceive the truth about the formation of images in mirrors and in bright and smooth surfaces of every kind. It is from the combination with each other of the inner and the outer fires, every time that they unite on the smooth surface and are variously deflected, [46b] that all such reflections necessarily result, owing to the fire of the reflected face coalescing with the fire of the vision on the smooth and bright surface. And left appears as right, because contact takes place between opposite portions of the visual stream and opposite portions of the object, contrary to the regular mode of collision. Contrariwise, right appears as right and left as left whenever the fire changes sides on coalescing with the object [46c] wherewith it coalesces; and this occurs whenever the smooth surface of the mirrors, being elevated on this side and on that, repels the right portion of the visual stream to the left and the left to the right. And when this same mirror is turned lengthwise to the face it makes the whole face appear upside down, since it repels the bottom of the ray to the top, and conversely the top to the bottom.

Now all these are among the auxiliary Causes which God employs as his ministers in perfecting, so far as possible, [46d] the Form of the Most Good; but by the most of men they are supposed to be not auxiliary but primary causes of all things—cooling and heating, solidifying and dissolving, and producing all such effects. Yet they are incapable of possessing reason and thought for any purpose. For, as we must affirm, the one and only existing thing which has the property of acquiring thought is Soul; and Soul is invisible, whereas fire and water and earth and air are all visible bodies; and the lover of thought and knowledge must needs pursue first [46e] the causes which belong to the Intelligent Nature, and put second all such as are of the class of things which are moved by others, and themselves, in turn, move others because they cannot help it. And we also must act likewise. We must declare both kinds of Causes, but keep distinct those which, with the aid of thought, are artificers of things fair and good, and all those which are devoid of intelligence and produce always accidental and irregular effects.

Timaeus: Now regarding the auxiliary causes which have helped the eyes to acquire the power which they now possess, let this statement suffice. Next we must declare the most important

### Stephanus 47

[47a] benefit effected by them, for the sake of which God bestowed them upon us. Vision, in my view, is the cause of the greatest benefit to us, inasmuch as none of the accounts now given concerning the Universe would ever have been given if men had not seen the stars or the sun or the heaven. But as it is, the vision of day and night and of months and circling years has created the art of number and has given us not only the notion of Time but also means of research into the nature of the Universe. From these we have procured Philosophy in all its range, [47b] than which no greater boon ever has come or will come, by divine bestowal, unto the race of mortals. This I affirm to be the greatest good of eyesight. As for all the lesser goods, why should we celebrate them? He that is no philosopher when deprived of the sight thereof may utter vain lamentations! But the cause and purpose of that best good, as we must maintain, is this,—that God devised and bestowed upon us vision to the end that we might behold the revolutions of Reason in the Heaven and use them for the revolvings of the reasoning that is within us, these being akin to those, [47c] the perturbable to the imperturbable; and that, through learning and sharing in calculations which are correct by their nature, by imitation of the absolutely unvarying revolutions of the God we might stabilize the variable revolutions within ourselves.

Concerning sound also and hearing, once more we make the same declaration, that they were bestowed by the Gods with the same object and for the same reasons; for it was for these same purposes that speech was ordained, and it makes the greatest contribution thereto; music too, in so far as it uses audible sound, [47d] was bestowed for the sake of harmony. And harmony, which has motions akin to the revolutions of the Soul within us, was given by the Muses to him who makes intelligent use of the Muses, not as an aid to irrational pleasure, as is now supposed, but as an auxiliary to the inner revolution of the Soul, when it has lost its harmony, to assist in restoring it to order and concord with itself. And because of the unmodulated condition, [47e] deficient in grace, which exists in most of us, Rhythm also was bestowed upon us to be our helper by the same deities and for the same ends.

The foregoing part of our discourse, save for a small portion, has been an exposition of the operations of Reason; but we must also furnish an account of what comes into existence through Necessity.

Timaeus:

### Stephanus 48

[48a] For, in truth, this Cosmos in its origin was generated as a compound, from the combination of Necessity and Reason. And inasmuch as Reason was controlling Necessity by persuading her to conduct to the best end the most part of the things coming into existence, thus and thereby it came about, through Necessity yielding to intelligent persuasion, that this Universe of ours was being in this wise constructed at the beginning. Wherefore if one is to declare how it actually came into being on this wise, he must include also the form of the Errant Cause, in the way that it really acts. To this point, therefore, we must return, [48b] and taking once again a fresh starting point suitable to the matter we must make a fresh start in dealing therewith, just as we did with our previous subjects. We must gain a view of the real nature of fire and water, air and earth, as it was before the birth of Heaven, and the properties they had before that time; for at present no one has as yet declared their generation, but we assume that men know what fire is, and each of these things, and we call them principles and presume that they are elements of the Universe, although in truth they do not so much as deserve to be likened with any likelihood, [48c] by the man who has even a grain of sense, to the class of syllables. For the present, however, let our procedure be as follows. We shall not now expound the principle of all things—or their principles, or whatever term we use concerning them; and that solely for this reason, that it is difficult for us to explain our views while keeping to our present method of exposition. You, therefore, ought not to suppose that I should expound them, while as for me—I should never be able to convince myself that I should be right in attempting to undertake so great a task. Strictly adhering, then, [48d] to what we previously affirmed, the import of the likely account, I will essay (as I did before) to give as likely an exposition as any other (nay, more so), regarding both particular things and the totality of things from the very beginning. And as before, so now, at the commencement of our account, we must call upon God the Saviour to bring us safe through a novel and unwonted exposition [48e] to a conclusion based on likelihood, and thus begin our account once more.

We must, however, in beginning our fresh account of the Universe make more distinctions than we did before; for whereas then we distinguished two Forms, we must now declare another third kind.

Timaeus: For our former exposition those two were sufficient, one of them being assumed as a Model Form, intelligible and ever uniformly existent,

### Stephanus 49

[49a] and the second as the model’s Copy, subject to becoming and visible. A third kind we did not at that time distinguish, considering that those two were sufficient; but now the argument seems to compel us to try to reveal by words a Form that is baffling and obscure. What essential property, then, are we to conceive it to possess? This in particular,—that it should be the receptacle, and as it were the nurse, of all Becoming. Yet true though this statement is, we must needs describe it more plainly. [49b] That, however, is a difficult task, especially because it is necessary, for its sake, to discuss first the problem of fire and its fellow elements. For in regard to these it is hard to say which particular element we ought really to term water rather than fire, and which we ought to term any one element rather than each and all of them, while still employing a terminology that is reliable and stable. How, then, shall we handle this problem, and what likely solution can we offer? First of all, we see that which we now call water becoming by condensation, [49c] as we believe, stones and earth; and again, this same substance, by dissolving and dilating, becoming breath and air; and air through combustion becoming fire; and conversely, fire when contracted and quenched returning back to the form of air and air once more uniting and condensing into cloud and mist; and issuing from these, when still further compressed, flowing water; and from water earth and stones again: thus we see the elements passing on to one another, as it would seem, [49d] in an unbroken circle the gift of birth. Accordingly, since no one of these ever remains identical in appearance, which of them shall a man definitely affirm to be any one particular element and no other without incurring ridicule? None such exists. On the contrary, by far the safest plan in treating of these elements is to proceed thus: Whatsoever object we perceive to be constantly changing from one state to another, like fire, that object, be it fire, we must never describe as this but as suchlike, nor should we ever call water this but suchlike nor should we describe any other element, as though it possessed stability, [49e] of all those which we indicate by using the terms this and that and suppose ourselves to refer to a definite object. For such an object shuns and eludes the names this and that and every name which indicates that they are stable. Thus we must not call the several elements these, but in regard to each of them and all together we must apply the term suchlike to represent what is always circling round: thus we shall call that which is constantly suchlike by the name of fire, and so with everything else that is generated.

Timaeus: But that wherein they are always, in appearance,

### Stephanus 50

[50a] coming severally into existence, and wherefrom in turn they perish, in describing that and that alone should we employ the terms this and that; whereas, in describing what is suchlike—hot, for instance, or white, or any of the opposite qualities, or any compounds thereof—we ought never to apply to it any of these terms.

But we must bestir ourselves to explain this matter again yet more clearly. Now imagine that a man were to model all possible figures out of gold, and were then to proceed without cessation to remodel each of these into every other, then, if someone were to point to one of the figures and ask what it is, [50b] by far the safest reply, in point of truth, would be that it is gold; but as for the triangle and all the other figures which were formed in it, one should never describe them as being seeing that they change even while one is mentioning them; rather one should be content if the figure admits of even the title suchlike being applied to it with any safety. And of the substance which receives all bodies [50c] the same account must be given. It must be called always by the same name; for from its own proper quality it never departs at all for while it is always receiving all things, nowhere and in no wise does it assume any shape similar to any of the things that enter into it. For it is laid down by nature as a molding-stuff for everything, being moved and marked by the entering figures, and because of them it appears different at different times. And the figures that enter and depart are copies of those that are always existent, being stamped from them in a fashion marvellous and hard to describe, which we shall investigate hereafter.

For the present, then, we must conceive of three kinds,—the Becoming, that Wherein it becomes, and the source Wherefrom the Becoming [50d] is copied and produced. Moreover, it is proper to liken the Recipient to the Mother, the Source to the Father, and what is engendered between these two to the Offspring; and also to perceive that, if the stamped copy is to assume diverse appearances of all sorts, that substance wherein it is set and stamped could not possibly be suited to its purpose unless it were itself devoid of all those forms which it is about to receive from any quarter. [50e] For were it similar to any of the entering forms, on receiving forms of an opposite or wholly different kind, as they arrived, it would copy them badly, through obtruding its own visible shape. Wherefore it is right that the substance which is to receive within itself all the kinds should be void of all forms; just as with all fragrant ointments, men bring about this condition by artistic contrivance and make the liquids which are to receive the odors as odorless as possible; and all who essay to mold figures in any soft material utterly refuse to allow any previous figure to remain visible therein, and begin by making it even and as smooth as possible before they execute the work.

### Stephanus 51

[51a] Timaeus: So likewise it is right that the substance which is to be fitted to receive frequently over its whole extent the copies of all things intelligible and eternal should itself, of its own nature, be void of all the forms. Wherefore, let us not speak of her that is the Mother and Receptacle of this generated world, which is perceptible by sight and all the senses, by the name of earth or air or fire or water, or any aggregates or constituents thereof: rather, if we describe her as a Kind invisible and unshaped, all-receptive, and in some most perplexing and most baffling way partaking of the intelligible, [51b] we shall describe her truly.

In so far as it is possible to arrive at the nature of this kind from the foregoing account, one may state it most correctly in this way. That part of it which is made fiery appears each time as fire, that which has been liquefied as water; and it appears as earth and air in so far as it receives copies of these. But let us investigate the matter by more exact reasoning, and consider this question. Does there exist any self-subsisting fire [51c] or any of those other objects which we likewise term self-subsisting realities? Or is it only these things which we see, or otherwise perceive by means of bodily senses, that exist, possessed of sensible reality; beside which no other things exist anywhere or anyhow, and it is merely an idle assertion of ours that there always exists an intelligible Form of every object, whereas it is really nothing more than a verbal phrase? Now, on the one hand, it would be improper to dismiss the question before us without a trial and a verdict, and simply to asseverate that the fact is so; while, on the other hand, we ought not to burden a lengthy discourse with another subsidiary argument. [51d] If, however, it were possible to disclose briefly some main determining principle, that would best serve our purpose.

This, then, is the view for which I, for my part, cast my vote. If Reason and True Opinion are two distinct Kinds, most certainly these self-subsisting Forms do exist, imperceptible by our senses, and objects of Reason only; whereas if, as appears to some, True Opinion differs in naught from Reason, then, on the contrary, all the things which we perceive by our bodily senses must be judged to be most stable. [51e] Now these two Kinds must be declared to be two, because they have come into existence separately and are unlike in condition. For the one of them arises in us by teaching, the other by persuasion; and the one is always in company with true reasoning, whereas the other is irrational; and the one is immovable by persuasion, whereas the other is alterable by persuasion; and of the one we must assert that every man partakes, but of Reason only the gods and but a small class of men.

This being so, we must agree that One Kind

### Stephanus 52

[52a] is the self-identical Form, ungenerated and indestructible, neither receiving into itself any other from any quarter nor itself passing anywhither into another, invisible and in all ways imperceptible by sense, it being the object which it is the province of Reason to contemplate; and a second Kind is that which is named after the former and similar thereto, an object perceptible by sense, generated, ever carried about, becoming in a place and out of it again perishing, apprehensible by Opinion with the aid of Sensation; and a third Kind is ever-existing Place, [52b] which admits not of destruction, and provides room for all things that have birth, itself being apprehensible by a kind of bastard reasoning by the aid of non-sensation, barely an object of belief; for when we regard this we dimly dream and affirm that it is somehow necessary that all that exists should exist in some spot and occupying some place, and that that which is neither on earth nor anywhere in the Heaven is nothing. So because of all these and other kindred notions, we are unable also on waking up to distinguish clearly the unsleeping and truly subsisting substance, owing to our dreamy condition, [52c] or to state the truth—how that it belongs to a copy—seeing that it has not for its own even that substance for which it came into being, but fleets ever as a phantom of something else—to come into existence in some other thing, clinging to existence as best it may, on pain of being nothing at all; whereas to the aid of the really existent there comes the accurately true argument, that so long as one thing is one thing, and another something different, neither of the two will ever come to exist in the other so that the same thing becomes simultaneously [52d] both one and two.

Let this, then, be, according to my verdict, a reasoned account of the matter summarily stated,—that Being and Place and Becoming were existing, three distinct things, even before the Heaven came into existence; and that the Nurse of Becoming, being liquefied and ignified and receiving also the forms of earth and of air, and submitting to all the other affections which accompany these, [52e] exhibits every variety of appearance; but owing to being filled with potencies that are neither similar nor balanced, in no part of herself is she equally balanced, but sways unevenly in every part, and is herself shaken by these forms and shakes them in turn as she is moved.

Timaeus: And the forms, as they are moved, fly continually in various directions and are dissipated; just as the particles that are shaken and winnowed by the sieves and other instruments used for the cleansing of corn fall in one place if they are solid and heavy,

### Stephanus 53

[53a] but fly off and settle elsewhere if they are spongy and light. So it was also with the Four Kinds when shaken by the Recipient: her motion, like an instrument which causes shaking, was separating farthest from one another the dissimilar, and pushing most closely together the similar; wherefore also these Kinds occupied different places even before that the Universe was organized and generated out of them.

Before that time, in truth, all these things were in a state devoid of reason or measure, but when the work of setting in order this Universe was being undertaken, [53b] fire and water and earth and air, although possessing some traces of their own nature, were yet so disposed as everything is likely to be in the absence of God; and inasmuch as this was then their natural condition, God began by first marking them out into shapes by means of forms and numbers. And that God constructed them, so far as He could, to be as fair and good as possible, whereas they had been otherwise,—this above all else must always be postulated in our account. Now, however, it is the disposition and origin [53c] of each of these Kinds which I must endeavor to explain to you in an exposition of an unusual type; yet, inasmuch as you have some acquaintance with the technical method which I must necessarily employ in my exposition, you will follow me.

In the first place, then, it is plain I presume to everyone that fire and earth and water and air are solid bodies; and the form of a body, in every case, possesses depth also. Further, it is absolutely necessary that depth should be bounded by a plane surface; and the rectilinear plane is composed of triangles. [53d] Now all triangles derive their origin from two triangles, each having one angle right and the others acute; and the one of these triangles has on each side half a right angle marked off by equal sides, while the other has the right angle divided into unequal parts by unequal sides. These we lay down as the principles of fire and all the other bodies, proceeding according to a method in which the probable is combined with the necessary; but the principles which are still higher than these are known only to God and the man who is dear to God. [53e] We must now declare what will be the four fairest bodies, dissimilar to one another, but capable in part of being produced out of one another by means of dissolution; for if we succeed herein we shall grasp the truth concerning the generation of earth and fire and the mean proportionals. For to no one will we concede that fairer bodies than these, each distinct of its kind, are anywhere to be seen. Wherefore we must earnestly endeavor to frame together these four kinds of bodies which excel in beauty, and to maintain that we have apprehended

### Stephanus 54

[54a] their nature adequately.

Timaeus: Now of the two triangles, the isosceles possesses one single nature, but the scalene an infinite number; and of these infinite natures we must select the fairest, if we mean to make a suitable beginning. If, then, anyone can claim that he has chosen one that is fairer for the construction of these bodies, he, as friend rather than foe, is the victor. We, however, shall pass over all the rest and postulate as the fairest of the triangles that triangle out of which, when two are conjoined, [54b] the equilateral triangle is constructed as a third. The reason why is a longer story; but should anyone refute us and discover that it is not so, we begrudge him not the prize. Accordingly, let these two triangles be selected as those wherefrom are contrived the bodies of fire and of the other elements,— one being the isosceles, and the other that which always has the square on its greater side three times the square on the lesser side.

Moreover, a point about which our previous statement was obscure must now be defined more clearly. It appeared as if the four Kinds, [54c] in being generated, all passed through one another into one another, but this appearance was deceptive. For out of the triangles which we have selected four Kinds are generated, three of them out of that one triangle which has its sides unequal, and the fourth Kind alone composed of the isosceles triangle. Consequently, they are not all capable of being dissolved into one another so as to form a few large bodies composed of many small ones, or the converse; but three of them do admit of this process. For these three are all naturally compounded of one triangle, so that when the larger bodies are dissolved many small ones will form themselves from these same bodies, receiving the shapes that befit them; [54d] and conversely, when many small bodies are resolved into their triangles they will produce, when unified, one single large mass of another Kind. So let thus much be declared concerning their generation into one another.

In the next place we have to explain the form in which each Kind has come to exist and the numbers from which it is compounded. First will come that form which is primary and has the smallest components, and the element thereof is that triangle which has its hypotenuse twice as long as its lesser side. And when a pair of such triangles are joined along the line of the hypotenuse, and this is done thrice, by drawing the hypotenuses [54e] and the short sides together as to a center, there is produced from those triangles, six in number, one equilateral triangle.

And when four equilateral triangles are combined so that three plane angles

### Stephanus 55

[55a] meet in a point, they form one solid angle, which comes next in order to the most obtuse of the plane angles. And when four such angles are produced, the first solid figure is constructed, which divides the whole of the circumscribed sphere into equal and similar parts. And the second solid is formed from the same triangles, but constructed out of eight equilateral triangles, which produce one solid angle out of four planes; and when six such solid angles have been formed, the second body in turn is completed. [55b] And the third solid is composed of twice sixty of the elemental triangles conjoined, and of twelve solid angles, each contained by five plane equilateral triangles, and it has, by its production, twenty equilateral triangular bases.

Now the first of the elemental triangles ceased acting when it had generated these three solids, the substance of the fourth Kind being generated by the isosceles triangle. Four of these combined, with their right angles drawn together to the center, produced one equilateral quadrangle; and six such quadrangles, [55c] when joined together, formed eight solid angles, each composed of three plane right angles; and the shape of the body thus constructed was cubic, having six plane equilateral quadrangular bases. And seeing that there still remained one other compound figure, the fifth, God used it up for the Universe in his decoration thereof.

Now in reasoning about all these things, a man might question whether he ought to affirm the existence of an infinite diversity of Universes or a limited number; and if he questioned aright he would conclude that the doctrine of an infinite diversity is that of a man unversed [55d] in matters wherein he ought to be versed; but the question whether they ought really to be described as one Universe or five is one which might with more reason give us pause. Now our view declares the Universe to be essentially one, in accordance with the probable account; but another man, considering other facts, will hold a different opinion. Him, however, we must let pass. But as for the Kinds which have now been generated by our argument, let us assign them severally to fire and earth and water and air. To earth let us give the cubic form; for of the four Kinds earth is the most immobile [55e] and the most plastic body, and of necessity the body which has the most stable bases must be pre-eminently of this character. Now of the triangles we originally assumed, the basis formed by equal sides is of its nature more stable than that formed by unequal sides; and of the plane surfaces which are compounded of these several triangles, the equilateral quadrangle, both in its parts and as a whole, has a more stable base than the equilateral triangle.

### Stephanus 56

[56a] Timaeus: Wherefore, we are preserving the probable account when we assign this figure to earth, and of the remaining figures the least mobile to water, and the most mobile to fire, and the intermediate figure to air; and, further, when we assign the smallest body to fire, and the greatest to water, and the intermediate to air; and again, the first in point of sharpness to fire, the second to air, and the third to water. As regards all these forms, that which has the fewest bases must necessarily be the most mobile, [56b] since it is in all ways the sharpest and most acute of all; and it must also be the lightest, since it is composed of the fewest identical parts; and the second comes second in point of these same qualities, and the third third.

Thus, in accordance with the right account and the probable, that solid which has taken the form of a pyramid shall be the element and seed of fire; the second in order of generation we shall affirm to be air, and the third water. Now one must conceive all these to be so small that none of them, [56c] when taken singly each in its several kind, is seen by us, but when many are collected together their masses are seen. And, moreover, as regards the numerical proportions which govern their masses and motions and their other qualities, we must conceive that God realized these everywhere with exactness, in so far as the nature of Necessity submitted voluntarily or under persuasion, and thus ordered all in harmonious proportion.

From all that we have hitherto said about these Kinds, [56d] they will, in all likelihood, behave themselves as follows. Earth will keep moving when it happens to meet with fire and has been dissolved by its acuteness, whether this dissolution takes place in pure fire or in a mass of air or of water; and this motion will continue until the particles of earth happen to meet together somewhere and reunite one with another, when they become earth again; for assuredly earth will never change into another form. But water, when broken up by fire or even by air, is capable of becoming a compound of one corpuscle of fire with two of air; [56e] and the fractions of air which come from the dissolving of one particle will form two corpuscles of fire. And again, when a small quantity of fire is enclosed by a large quantity of air and water, or of earth, and moves within them as they rush along, and is defeated in its struggle and broken up, then two corpuscles of fire unite to make one form of air. And when air is defeated and disintegrated, from two whole forms of air and a half, one whole form of water will be compounded.

### Stephanus 57

[57a] Timaeus: Once again let us reason out their character in this way. Whenever any of the other Kinds is caught within fire it is cut up thereby, owing to the acuteness of its angles and of the line of its sides, but when it has been re-composed into the substance of fire it ceases to be cut; for the Kind that is similar and uniform is in no case able either to cause any change in, or to suffer any affection from, a Kind which is in a uniform and similar state; but so long as, in the course of its passage into another form, it is a weaker body fighting against a stronger, it is continually being dissolved. And again, [57b] whenever a few of the smaller corpuscles, being caught within a great number of larger corpuscles, are broken up and quenched, then, if they consent to be re-compounded into the shape of the victorious Kind, they cease to be quenched, and air is produced out of fire, and out of air water; but if they fight against combining with these or with any of the other Kinds, they do not cease from dissolution until either they are driven out to their own kindred, by means of this impact and dissolution, or else they are defeated and, instead of many forms, assume one form similar to the victorious Kind, and continue dwelling therewith as a united family. Moreover, it is owing to these affections [57c] that they all interchange their places; for while the bulk of each Kind keeps apart in a region of its own because of the motion of the Recipient, yet those corpuscles which from time to time become dissimilar to themselves and similar to others are carried, because of the shaking, towards the region which belongs to those corpuscles whereto they have been assimilated.

Such are the causes which account for the generation of all the unmixed and primary bodies. But within these four Kinds other classes exist, whereof the cause must be sought in the construction of each of the two elemental triangles, each such construction having originally produced [57d] not merely a triangle of one definite size, but larger and smaller triangles of sizes as numerous as are the classes within the Kinds. Consequently, when these are combined amongst themselves and with one another they are infinite in their variety; and this variety must be kept in view by those who purpose to employ probable reasoning concerning Nature.

Now, unless we can arrive at some agreed conclusion concerning Motion and Rest, as to how and under what conditions they come about, [57e] our subsequent argument will be greatly hampered. The facts about them have already been stated in part; but in addition thereto we must state further that motion never consents to exist within uniformity. For it is difficult, or rather impossible, for that which is to be moved to exist without that which is to move, or that which is to move without that which is to be moved; but in the absence of these there is no motion, and that these should ever be uniform is a thing impossible.

Accordingly, we must always place rest in uniformity,

### Stephanus 58

[58a] and motion in non-uniformity; and the cause of the non-uniform nature lies in inequality. Now we have explained the origin of inequality; but we have not declared how it is that these bodies are not separated according to their several Kinds, and cease not from their motion and passage one through another. Wherefore, we shall once more expound the matter as follows. The revolution of the All, since it comprehends the Kinds, compresses them all, seeing that it is circular and tends naturally to come together to itself; and thus it suffers no void place to be left. [58b] Wherefore, fire most of all has permeated all things, and in a second degree air, as it is by nature second in fineness; and so with the rest; for those that have the largest constituent parts have the largest void left in their construction, and those that have the smallest the least. Thus the tightening of the compression forces together the small bodies into the void intervals of the large. Therefore, when small bodies are placed beside large, and the smaller disintegrate the larger while the larger unite the smaller, they all shift up and down [58c] towards their own proper regions; for the change in their several sizes causes their position in space also to change. And since in this way and for these reasons the production of non-uniformity is perpetually maintained, it brings about unceasingly, both now and for the future, the perpetual motion of these bodies.

In the next place, we must observe that there are many kinds of fire: for example, there is flame; and the kind issuing from flame, which does not burn but supplies light to the eyes; and the kind which, when the flame is quenched, is left behind among the embers. [58d] So likewise of air, there is the most translucent kind which is called by the name of aether, and the most opaque which is mist and darkness, and other species without a name, which are produced by reason of the inequality of the triangles. The kinds of water are, primarily, two, the one being the liquid, the other the fusible kind. Now the liquid kind, inasmuch as it partakes of those small particles of water which are unequal, is mobile both in itself and by external force owing to its non-uniformity and the shape of its figure. But the other kind, which is composed of large [58e] and uniform particles, is more stable than the first and is heavy, being solidified by its uniformity; but when fire enters and dissolves it, this causes it to abandon its uniformity, and this being lost it partakes more largely in motion; and when it has become mobile it is pushed by the adjacent air and extended upon the earth; and for each of these modifications it has received a descriptive name—melting for the disintegration of its masses, and for its extension over the earth fluidity.

Timaeus: Again, since the fire on issuing from the water

### Stephanus 59

[59a] does not pass into a void but presses on the adjacent air, this in turn compresses the liquid mass which is still mobile into the abodes of the fire and combines it with itself; and the mass, being this, is compressed and recovering again its uniformity, because of the departure of the fire, the author of its non-uniformity, returns to its state of self-identity. And this cessation of the fire is termed cooling, and the combination which follows on its departure solidification. [59b]

Of all the kinds of water which we have termed fusible, the densest is produced from the finest and most uniform particles: this is a kind of unique form, tinged with a glittering and yellow hue, even that most precious of possessions, gold, which has been strained through stones and solidified. And the off-shoot of gold, which is very hard because of its density and black in color, is called adamant. And the kind which closely resembles gold in its particles but has more forms than one, and in density is more dense than gold, and partakes of small and fine portions of earth so that it is harder, while it is also lighter [59c] owing to its having large interstices within it,—this particular kind of the bright and solid waters, being compounded thus, is termed bronze. And the portion of earth that is mixed therewith becomes distinct by itself, when both grow old and separate again-each from the other; and then it is named rust.

And the rest of such phenomena it is no longer difficult to explain in full, if one aims at framing a description that is probable. For as regards this, whenever for the sake of recreation a man lays aside arguments concerning eternal Realities and considers probable accounts of Becoming, [59d] gaining thereby a pleasure not to be repented of, he provides for his life a pastime that is both moderate and sensible. To this pastime let us now give free play, and proceed to expound in order the subsequent probabilities concerning these same phenomena in the following way.

The water that is mixed with fire, which is fine and fluid, is termed fluid, owing to its motion and the way it rolls over the earth. Also it is soft owing to the fact that its bases, being less stable than those of earth, give way. When this kind is separated off from fire and air and isolated it becomes more uniform, [59e] but because of their outflow it is compressed upon itself; and when it is thus solidified, the part of it above the earth which is most affected by this process is termed hail, and the part upon the earth ice and the part which is less affected and is still only half-solid is called snow when it is above the earth, but when it is upon the earth and solidified out of dew it is called hoar-frost.

Timaeus: Now as regards most forms of water that are intermingled one with another, the kind as a whole, consisting of water that has been strained through earth-grown plants,

### Stephanus 60

[60a] is called sap; but inasmuch as the several sorts have become dissimilar owing to intermixture, most of the kinds thus produced are unnamed. Four of these kinds, however, being fiery and specially conspicuous, have received names. Of these, that which is heating to the soul as well as the body is called wine; that which is smooth and divisive of the vision, and therefore bright to look upon and gleaming and glistening in appearance, is the species oil, including pitch and castor oil and olive oil itself and all the others that are of the same character; [60b] and all that kind which tends to expand the contracted parts of the mouth, so far as their nature allows, and by this property produces sweetness, has received as a general designation the name of honey; and the foamy kind, which tends to dissolve the flesh by burning, and is secreted from all the saps, is named verjuice.

Of the species of earth, that which is strained through water becomes a stony substance in the following way. When the water commingled therewith is divided in the process of mingling, it changes into the form of air; and when it has become air it rushes up to its own region; [60c] but because there was no void space above them, therefore it pressed against the adjacent air; and it, being heavy, when pressed and poured round the mass of earth, crushed it forcibly and compressed it into the spaces from which the new air was ascending. But when earth is thus compressed by the air so as to be indissoluble by water it forms stone; of which the fairer sort is that composed of equal and uniform parts and transparent, and the coarser sort the opposite. That kind from which all the moisture has been carried off by the rapidity of fire, and which is more brittle [60d] in its composition than the first kind, is the kind to which we have given the name of earthenware. But sometimes, when moisture is still left in the earth and it has been fused by fire and has cooled again, it forms the species which is black in hue. On the other hand there are two kinds, which, in exactly the same manner, are isolated after the mixture from much of their water, but are composed of finer parts of earth, and are saline: when these have become semi-solid and soluble again by water, one of them is purgative of oil and earth and forms the species called lye; and the other, which blends well with the combinations which affect the sensation of the mouth, [60e] is that substance which is customarily termed beloved of the gods, namely salt.

As regards the kinds which are a blend of these two, and are dissoluble by fire and not by water, their composition is due to the following cause. Fire and air do not melt masses of earth; for, inasmuch as their particles are smaller then the interstices of its structure, they have room to pass through without forcible effort and leave the earth undissolved, with the result that it remains unmelted; whereas the particles of water, being larger, must use force to make their way out, and consequently dissolve and melt the earth.

### Stephanus 61

[61a] Timaeus: Thus earth when it is not forcibly condensed is dissolved only by water; and when it is condensed it is dissolved by fire only, since no entrance is left for anything save fire. Water, again, when most forcibly massed together is dissolved by fire only, but when massed less forcibly both by fire and air, the latter acting by way of the interstices, and the former by way of the triangles; but air when forcibly condensed is dissolved by nothing save by way of its elemental triangles, and when unforced it is melted down by fire only.

As regards the classes of bodies which are compounds of earth and water, [61b] so long as the water occupies the interspaces of earth which are forcibly contracted, the portions of water which approach from without find no entrance, but flow round the whole mass and leave it undissolved. But when portions of fire enter into the interspaces of the water they produce the same effects on water as water does on earth; consequently, they are the sole causes why the compound substance is dissolved and flows. And of these substances those which contain less water than earth form the whole kind known as glass, [61c] and all the species of stone called fusible; while those which contain more water include all the solidified substances of the type of wax and frankincense.

And now we have explained with some fullness the Four Kinds, which are thus variegated in their shapes and combinations and permutations; but we have still to try to elucidate the Causes which account for their affective qualities. Now, first of all, the quality of sense-perceptibility must always belong to the objects under discussion; but we have not as yet described the generation of flesh and the appurtenances of flesh, nor of that portion of Soul which is mortal. But, in truth, these last cannot be adequately explained [61d] apart from the subject of the sensible affections, nor the latter without the former; while to explain both simultaneously is hardly possible. Therefore, we must assume one of the two, to begin with, and return later to discuss our assumptions. In order, then, that the affective properties may be treated next after the kinds, let us presuppose the facts about body and soul.

Firstly, then, let us consider how it is that we call fire hot by noticing the way it acts [61e] upon our bodies by dividing and cutting. That its property is one of sharpness we all, I suppose, perceive;

but as regards the thinness of its sides and the acuteness of its angles and the smallness of its particles and the rapidity of its motion—owing to all which properties fire is intense and keen and sharply cuts whatever it encounters,—these properties we must explain by recalling

### Stephanus 62

[62a] the origin of its form, how that it above all others is the one substance which so divides our bodies and minces them up as to produce naturally both that affection which we call heat and its very name.

The opposite affection is evident, but none the less it must not lack description. When liquids with larger particles, which surround the body, enter into it they drive out the smaller particles; but as they cannot pass into their room they compress the moisture within us, so that in place of non-uniformity and motion they produce immobility and density, [62b] as a result of the uniformity and compression. But that which is being contracted contrary to nature fights, and, in accordance with its nature, thrusts itself away in the contrary direction. And to this fighting and shaking we give the names of trembling and shivering; while this affection as a whole, as well as the cause thereof, is termed cold.

By the term hard we indicate all the things to which our flesh gives way; and by the term soft all those which give way to our flesh; and these terms are similarly used relatively to each other. Now a substance gives way when it has its base small; but when it is constructed [62c] of quadrangular bases, being very firmly based, it is a most inelastic form; and so too is everything which is of very dense composition and most rigid.

The nature of heavy and light would be shown most clearly if, along with them, we examined also the nature of above and below, as they are called. That there really exist two distinct and totally opposite regions, each of which occupies one-half of the Universe—the one termed below, towards which move all things possessing any bodily mass, and the other above, towards which everything goes against its will,— [62d] this is a wholly erroneous supposition For inasmuch as the whole Heaven is spherical, all its outermost parts, being equally distant from the center, must really be outermost in a similar degree; and one must conceive of the center, which is distant from all the outermost parts by the same measures, as being opposite to them all. Seeing, then, that the Cosmos is actually of this nature, which of the bodies mentioned can one set above or below without incurring justly the charge of applying a wholly unsuitable name? For its central region cannot rightly be termed either above or below, but just central; while its circumference neither is central nor has it any one part more divergent than another from the center or any of its opposite parts. But to that which is in all ways uniform, what opposite names can we suppose are rightly applicable, or in what sense?

Timaeus: For suppose there were a solid body evenly-balanced at the center of the universe,

### Stephanus 63

[63a] it would never be carried away to the extremities because of their uniformity in all respects; nay, even were a man to travel round it in a circle he would often call the same part of it both above and below, according as he stood now at one pole, now at the opposite. For seeing that the Whole is, as we said just now, spherical, the assertion that it has one region above and one below does not become a man of sense.

Now the origin of these names and their true meaning which accounts for our habit of making these verbal distinctions even about the whole Heaven, [63b] we must determine on the basis of the following principles. Suppose that a man were to take his stand in that region of the Universe in which the substance of fire has its special abode, and where also that substance to which it flies is collected in largest bulk; and suppose that, having the power to do so, he were to separate portions of the fire and weigh them, putting them on scales and lifting the balance and pulling the fire by force into the dissimilar air, it is obvious that he will force the smaller mass more easily than the larger. [63c] For if two masses are lifted up simultaneously by a single effort, the smaller will necessarily yield more and the larger less, owing to its resistance, to the force exerted; and the large mass will be said to be heavy and moving down, the small light and moving up. Now this is just what we ought to detect ourselves doing in our region here. Standing on the earth and detaching various earthy substances, and sometimes pure earth, we pull them into the dissimilar air by force and against nature, since both these kinds cleave to their own kindred; [63d] and the smaller mass yields more easily, and follows first, as we force it into the dissimilar kind; wherefore we name it light, and the region to which we force it above; and the conditions opposite thereto we name heavy and below. Thus, these must necessarily differ in their mutual relations, because the main masses of the Kinds occupy regions opposite to one another; for when we compare what is light in one region with what is light in the opposite region, and the heavy with the heavy, the below with the below, [63e] and the” above with the above, we shall discover that these all become and are opposite and oblique and in every way different in their mutual relations. There is, however, this one fact to be noticed about them all, that it is the passage of each kind to its kindred mass which makes the moving body heavy, and the region to which such a body moves below; while the opposite conditions produce the contrary results. Let this, then, stand as our account of the causes of these conditions.

Timaeus: Of smoothness and roughness anyone might be able to discern the causes and explain them also to others. For the cause of the latter is hardness combined with irregularity, and of the former

### Stephanus 64

[64a] regularity combined with density.

In respect of the affections common to the whole body a very important point, which still remains, is the cause of the pleasures and pains attaching to the sense-affections we have been discussing; and the cause also of those affections which have become perceptible by means of the bodily parts and involve in themselves concomitant pains and pleasures. Let us, then, try to grasp the causes in connection with every perceptible and imperceptible affection in the following way, [64b] bearing in mind the distinction we previously drew between mobile and immobile substances; for it is in this way that we must track down all those facts that we intend to grasp. Whenever what is naturally mobile is impressed by even a small affection, it transmits it in a circle, the particles passing on to one another this identical impression until they reach the organ of intelligence and announce the quality of the agent. But a substance of the opposite kind, being stable and having no circular movement, is only affected in itself and does not move any other adjacent particle; consequently, [64c] since the particles do not transmit to one another the original affection, it fails to act upon the living creature as a whole, and the result is that the affected body is non-percipient. This is the case with the bones and the hair and all our other parts that are mainly earthy whereas the former character belongs especially to the organs of sight and of hearing, owing to the fact that they contain a very large quantity of fire and air.

Now the nature of pleasure and pain we must conceive of in this way. [64d] When an affection which is against nature and violent occurs within us with intensity it is painful, whereas the return back to the natural condition, when intense, is pleasant; and an affection which is mild and gradual is imperceptible, while the converse is of a contrary character. And the affection which, in its entirety, takes place with ease is eminently perceptible, but it does not involve pain or pleasure; such, for example, are the affections of the visual stream itself, which, as we said before, becomes in the daylight a body substantially one with our own. For no pains are produced therein by cuttings or burnings [64e] or any other affections, nor does its reversion to its original form produce pleasures; but it has most intense and clear perceptions concerning every object that affects it, and every object also which it strikes against or touches; for force is wholly absent both from its dilation and from its contraction.

Timaeus: But those bodies which are composed of larger particles, since they yield with difficulty to the agent and transmit their motions to the whole, feel pleasures and pains—

### Stephanus 65

[65a] pains when they suffer alteration, and pleasures when they are restored to their original state. And all those bodies which undergo losses of substance and emptyings that are gradual, but replenishings that are intense and abundant, become insensitive to the emptyings but sensitive to the replenishings; consequently, they furnish no pains to the mortal part of the soul, but the greatest pleasures—a result which is obvious in the case of perfumes. But all those parts which undergo violent alterations, and are restored gradually and with difficulty [65b] to their original condition, produce results the opposite of those last mentioned; and it is evident that this is what occurs in the case of burnings and cuttings of the body.

And now we have given a fairly complete statement of the affections which are common to the body as a whole, and of all the names which belong to the agents which produce them. Next we must try, if haply we are able, to describe what takes place in the several parts of our bodies, both the affections themselves and the agents to which they are ascribed. [65c]

Firstly, then, we must endeavor to elucidate so far as possible those affections which we omitted in our previous account of the flavors, they being affections peculiar to the tongue. It is evident that these also, like most others, are brought about by means of certain contractions and dilations; and, more than other affections, they involve also conditions of roughness and smoothness. For all the earthy particles which enter in by the small veins—which, extending as far as to the heart, serve as it were [65d] for testing-instruments of the tongue,—when they strike upon the moist and soft parts of the flesh and are melted down, contract the small veins and dry them up; and these particles when more rough appear to be astringent, when less rough harsh. And such as act on these veins as detergents and wash out all the surface of the tongue, when they do this excessively and lay such hold on the tongue as to dissolve part of its substance—and such, for example, is the property of alkalies,— [65e] are all termed bitter; while those which have a property less strong than the alkaline, being detergent in a moderate degree, seem to us to be saline, and more agreeable, as being devoid of the rough bitterness.

Timaeus: And those which share in the heat of the mouth and are made smooth thereby, when they are fully inflamed and are themselves in turn burning the part which heated them, fly upwards because of their lightness towards the senses of the head and cut all the parts on which they impinge;

### Stephanus 66

[66a] and because of these properties all such are called pungent. Again, when particles already refined by putrefaction, entering into the narrow veins, are symmetrical with the particles of earth and air contained therein, so that they cause them to circulate round one another and ferment, then, in thus fermenting they change round and pass into fresh places, and thereby create fresh hollows which envelop the entering particles. By this means, the air being veiled in a moist film, [66b] sometimes of earth, sometimes of pure moisture, moist and hollow and globular vessels of air are formed; and those formed of pure moisture are the transparent globules called by the name of bubbles, while those of the earthy formation which moves throughout its mass and seethes are designated boiling and fermenting; and the cause of these processes is termed acid.

An affection which is the opposite of all those last described [66c] results from an opposite condition. Whenever the composition of the particles which enter into the moist parts is naturally akin to the state of the tongue, they oil its roughened parts and smooth it, contracting the parts that are unnaturally dilated or dilating those that are contracted, and thus settling them all, so far as possible, in their natural condition; and every such remedy of the forcible affections, being pleasant and welcome to everyone, is called sweet. [66d]

For this subject, then, let this account suffice. Next, as regards the property of the nostrils, it does not contain fixed kinds. For the whole range of smells is a half-formed class, and no kind possesses the symmetry requisite for containing any smell; for our veins in these organs are of too narrow a construction for the kinds of earth and of water and too wide for those of fire and air, so that no one has ever yet perceived any smell from any of these, but only from substances which are in process of being moistened or putrefied or melted or vaporized. [66e] For smells arise in the intermediate state, when water is changing into air or air into water, and they are all smoke or mist; and of these, the passage from air to water is mist, and the passage from water to air is smoke whence it is that all the smells are thinner than water and thicker than air.

Timaeus: Their nature is made clear whenever there is some block in the respiration and a man draws in his breath forcibly; for then no accompanying smell is strained through, but the breath passes in alone by itself isolated from the smells. So for these reasons the varieties of these smells have no name,

### Stephanus 67

[67a] not being derived either from many or from simple forms, but are indicated by two distinctive terms only, pleasant and painful of which the one kind roughens and violently affects the whole of our bodily cavity which lies between the head and the navel, whereas the other mollifies this same region and restores it agreeably to its natural condition.

The third organ of perception within us which we have to describe in our survey is that of hearing, [67b] and the causes whereby its affections are produced. In general, then, let us lay it down that sound is a stroke transmitted through the ears, by the action of the air upon the brain and the blood, and reaching to the soul; and that the motion caused thereby, which begins in the head and ends about the seat of the liver, is hearing; and that every rapid motion produces a shrill sound, and every slower motion a more deep sound; and that uniform motion produces an even and smooth sound and the opposite kind of motion a harsh sound; [67c] and that large motion produces loud sound, and motion of the opposite kind soft sound. The subject of concords of sounds must necessarily be treated in a later part of our exposition.

We have still remaining a fourth kind of sensation, which we must divide up seeing that it embraces numerous varieties, which, as a whole, we call colors. This consists of a flame which issues from the several bodies, and possesses particles so proportioned to the visual stream as to produce sensation; and as regards the visual stream, we have already stated merely the causes which produced it. [67d] Concerning colors, then, the following explanation will be the most probable and worthy of a judicious account. Of the particles which fly off from the rest and strike into the visual stream some are smaller, some larger, and some equal to the particles of the stream itself; those, then, that are equal are imperceptible, and we term them transparent; while the larger and smaller particles—of which the one kind contracts, the other dilates the visual stream—are akin to the particles of heat and cold which affect the flesh, [67e] and to the astringent particles which affect the tongue, and to all the heating particles which we call bitter with these white and black are really identical affections, occurring in a separate class of sensation, although they appear different for the causes stated.

Timaeus: These, therefore, are the names we must assign to them: that which dilates the visual stream is white and the opposite thereof black; and the more rapid motion, being that of a different species of fire, which strikes upon the visual stream and dilates it as far as to the eyes, and penetrating

### Stephanus 68

[68a] and dissolving the very passages of the eyes causes a volume of fire and water to pour from them, which we call tears. And this moving body, being itself fire, meets fire from the opposite direction; and as the one firestream is leaping out like a flash, and the other passing in and being quenched in the moisture, in the resultant mixture colors of all kinds are produced. This sensation we term dazzling and the object which causes it bright or brilliant. Again, when the kind of fire [68b] which is midway between these reaches to the liquid of the eyes and is mingled therewith, it is not brilliant but, owing to the blending of the fire’s ray through the moisture, it gives off a sanguine color, and we give it the name of red. And bright color when blended with red and white becomes yellow. But in what proportions the colors are blended it were foolish to declare, even if one knew, seeing that in such matters one could not properly adduce any necessary ground or probable reason. Red blended with black and white makes purple; [68c] but when these colors are mixed and more completely burned, and black is blended therewith, the result is violet. Chestnut comes from the blending of yellow and grey; and grey from white and black; and ochre from white mixed with yellow. And when white is combined with bright and is steeped in deep black it turns into a dark blue color; and dark blue mixed with white becomes light blue; and chestnut with black becomes green. As to the rest, it is fairly clear from these examples [68d] what are the mixtures with which we ought to identify them if we would preserve probability in our account. But should any inquirer make an experimental test of these facts, he would evince his ignorance of the difference between man’s nature and Gods—how that, whereas God is sufficiently wise and powerful to blend the many into one and to dissolve again the one into many, there exists not now, nor ever will exist hereafter, a child of man sufficient for either of these tasks. [68e]

Such, then, being the necessary nature of all these things, the Artificer of the most fair and good took them over at that time amongst things generated when He was engendering the self-sufficing and most perfect God; and their inherent properties he used as subservient causes, but Himself designed the Good in all that was being generated.

Timaeus: Wherefore one ought to distinguish two kinds of causes, the necessary and the divine, and in all things to seek after the divine for the sake of gaining a life of blessedness, so far as our nature admits thereof,

### Stephanus 69

[69a] and to seek the necessary for the sake of the divine, reckoning that without the former it is impossible to discern by themselves alone the divine objects after which we strive, or to apprehend them or in any way partake thereof.

Seeing, then, that we have now lying before us and thoroughly sifted—like wood ready for the joiner, —the various kinds of causes, out of which the rest of our account must be woven together, let us once more for a moment revert to our starting-point, and thence proceed rapidly to the point [69b] from which we arrived hither. In this way we shall endeavor now to supplement our story with a conclusion and a crown in harmony with what has gone before.

As we stated at the commencement, all these things were in a state of disorder, when God implanted in them proportions both severally in relation to themselves and in their relations to one another, so far as it was in any way possible for them to be in harmony and proportion. For at that time nothing partook thereof, save by accident, nor was it possible to name anything worth mentioning which bore the names we now give them, such as fire and water, [69c] or any of the other elements; but He, in the first place, set all these in order, and then out of these He constructed this present Universe, one single Living Creature containing within itself all living creatures both mortal and immortal. And He Himself acts as the Constructor of things divine, but the structure of the mortal things He commanded His own engendered sons to execute. And they, imitating Him, on receiving the immortal principle of soul, framed around it a mortal body, and gave it all the body to be its vehicle, and housed therein besides another form of soul, even the mortal form, [69d] which has within it passions both fearful and unavoidable—firstly, pleasure, a most mighty lure to evil; next, pains, which put good to rout; and besides these, rashness and fear, foolish counsellors both and anger, hard to dissuade; and hope, ready to seduce. And blending these with irrational sensation and with all-daring lust, they thus compounded in necessary fashion the mortal kind of soul. Wherefore, since they scrupled to pollute the divine, unless through absolute necessity, [69e] they planted the mortal kind apart therefrom in another chamber of the body, building an isthmus and boundary for the head and chest by setting between them the neck, to the end that they might remain apart. And within the chest—or thorax, as it is called—they fastened the mortal kind of soul.

Timaeus: And inasmuch as one part thereof is better, and one worse, they built a division within the cavity of the thorax—

### Stephanus 70

[70a] as if to fence off two separate chambers, for men and for women—by placing the midriff between them as a screen. That part of the soul, then, which partakes of courage and spirit, since it is a lover of victory, they planted more near to the head, between the midriff and the neck, in order that it might hearken to the reason, and, in conjunction therewith, might forcibly subdue the tribe of the desires whensoever they should utterly refuse to yield willing obedience to the word of command from the citadel of reason. And the heart, [70b] which is the junction of the veins and the fount of the blood which circulates vigorously through all the limbs, they appointed to be the chamber of the bodyguard, to the end that when the heat of the passion boils up, as soon as reason passes the word round that some unjust action is being done which affects them, either from without or possibly even from the interior desires, every organ of sense in the body might quickly perceive through all the channels both the injunctions and the threats and in all ways obey and follow them, thus allowing their best part [70c] to be the leader of them all. And as a means of relief for the leaping of the heart, in times when dangers are expected and passion is excited—since they knew that all such swelling of the passionate parts would arise from the action of fire,—they contrived and implanted the form of the lungs. This is, in the first place, soft and bloodless; and, moreover, it contains within it perforated cavities like those of a sponge, so that, when it receives the breath and the drink, it might have a cooling effect and furnish relief and comfort [70d] in the burning heat. To this end they drew the channels of the windpipe to the lungs, and placed the lungs as a kind of padding round the heart, in order that, when the passion therein should be at its height, by leaping upon a yielding substance and becoming cool, the heart might suffer less and thereby be enabled the more to be subservient to the reason in time of passion.

And all that part of the Soul which is subject to appetites for foods and drinks, and all the other wants that are due to the nature of the body, they planted in the parts midway between the midriff and the boundary [70e] at the navel, fashioning as it were a manger in all this region for the feeding of the body; and there they tied up this part of the Soul, as though it were a creature which, though savage, they must necessarily keep joined to the rest and feed, if the mortal stock were to exist at all.

Timaeus: In order, then, that this part, feeding thus at its manger and housed as far away as possible from the counselling part, and creating the least possible turmoil and din, should allow the Supreme part to take counsel in peace

### Stephanus 71

[71a] concerning what benefits all, both individually and in the mass,—for these reasons they stationed it in that position. And inasmuch as they knew that it would not understand reason, and that, even if it did have some share in the perception of reasons, it would have no natural instinct to pay heed to any of them but would be bewitched for the most part both day and night by images and phantasms,—to guard against this God devised and constructed the form of the liver and placed it in that part’s abode; [71b] and He fashioned it dense and smooth and bright and sweet, yet containing bitterness, that the power of thoughts which proceed from the mind, moving in the liver as in a mirror which receives impressions and provides visible images, should frighten this part of the soul; for when the mental power bears down upon it with stern threats, it uses a kindred portion of the liver’s bitterness and makes it swiftly suffuse the whole liver, so that it exhibits bilious colors, and by contraction makes it [71c] all wrinkled and rough; moreover, as regards the lobe and passages and gates of the liver, the first of these it bends back from the straight and compresses, while it blocks the others and closes them up, and thus it produces pains and nausea. On the other hand, when a breath of mildless from the intellect paints on the liver appearances of the opposite kind, and calms down its bitterness by refusing to move or touch the nature opposite to itself, and using upon the liver the sweetness inherent therein [71d] rectifies all its parts so as to make them straight and smooth and free, it causes the part of the soul planted round the liver to be cheerful and serene, so that in the night it passes its time sensibly, being occupied in its slumbers with divination, seeing that in reason and intelligence it has no share.

For they who constructed us, remembering the injunction of their Father, when He enjoined upon them to make the mortal kind [71e] as good as they possibly could, rectified the vile part of us by thus establishing therein the organ of divination, that it might in some degree lay hold on truth. And that God gave unto man’s foolishness the gift of divination a sufficient token is this: no man achieves true and inspired divination when in his rational mind, but only when the power of his intelligence is fettered in sleep or when it is distraught by disease or by reason of some divine inspiration.

Timaeus: But it belongs to a man when in his right mind to recollect and ponder both the things spoken in dream or waking vision by the divining and inspired nature, and all the visionary forms that were seen, and by means of reasoning to discern about them all

### Stephanus 72

[72a] wherein they are significant and for whom they portend evil or good in the future, the past, or the present. But it is not the task of him who has been in a state of frenzy, and still continues therein, to judge the apparitions and voices seen or uttered by himself; for it was well said of old that to do and to know one’s own and oneself belongs only to him who is sound of mind. Wherefore also it is customary to set the tribe of prophets to pass judgement [72b] upon these inspired divinations; and they, indeed, themselves are named diviners by certain who are wholly ignorant of the truth that they are not diviners but interpreters of the mysterious voice and apparition, for whom the most fitting name would be prophets of things divined.

For these reasons, then, the nature of the liver is such as we have stated and situated in the region we have described, for the sake of divination. Moreover, when the individual creature is alive this organ affords signs that are fairly manifest, but when deprived of life it becomes blind and the divinations it presents are too much obscured to have any [72c] clear significance.

The structure of the organ which adjoins it, with its seat on the left, is for the sake of the liver, to keep it always bright and clean, as a wiper that is laid beside a mirror always prepared and ready to hand. Wherefore also, whenever any impurities due to ailments of the body occur round about the liver, the loose texture of the spleen cleanses and absorbs them all, seeing that it is woven of a stuff that is porous and bloodless: hence, when it is filled with the offscourings, the spleen grows to be large and festered; [72d] and conversely, when the body is cleansed, it is reduced and shrinks back to its primal state.

Concerning the soul, then, what part of it is mortal, what part immortal, and where and with what companions and for what reasons these have been housed apart, only if God concurred could we dare to affirm that our account is true; but that our account is probable we must dare to affirm now, and to affirm still more positively as our inquiry proceeds: affirmed, therefore, let it be. [72e]

The subject which comes next to this we must investigate on the same lines; and that subject is the way in which the remainder of the body has been generated. Its construction would most fittingly be ascribed to reasoning such as this.

Timaeus: Those who were constructing our kind were aware of the incontinence that would reside in us in respect of drinks and meats, and how that because of our greed we would consume far more than what was moderate and necessary; wherefore, lest owing to maladies swift destruction should overtake them,

### Stephanus 73

[73a] and the mortal kind, while still incomplete, come straightway to a complete end,—foreseeing this, the Gods set the abdomen, as it is called, to serve as a receptacle for the holding of the superfluous meat and drink; and round about therein they coiled the structure of the entrails, to prevent the food from passing through quickly and thereby compelling the body to require more food quickly, and causing insatiate appetite, whereby the whole kind by reason of its gluttony would be rendered devoid of philosophy and of culture, and disobedient to the most divine part we possess.

As regards the bones and the flesh and all such substances [73b] the position was this. All these had their origin in the generation of the marrow. For it was in this that the bonds of life by which the Soul is bound to the body were fastened, and implanted the roots of the mortal kind; but the marrow itself was generated out of other elements. Taking all these primary triangles which, being unwarped and smooth, were best able to produce with exactness fire and water and air and earth, God separated them, each apart from his own kind, [73c] and mixing them one with another in due proportion, He fashioned therefrom the marrow, devising it as a universal seed-stuff for every mortal kind. Next, He engendered therein the various kinds of Soul and bound them down; and He straightway divided the marrow itself, in His original division, into shapes corresponding in their number and their nature to the number and the nature of the shapes which should belong to the several kinds of Soul. And that portion of the marrow which was intended to receive within itself, as it were into a field, the divine seed He molded [73d] in the shape of a perfect globe and bestowed on it the name of brain, purposing that, when each living creature should be completed, the vessel surrounding this should be called the head. But that portion which was to contain the other and mortal part of the Soul He divided into shapes that were at once rounded and elongated, and all these He designated marrow; and from these, as from anchors, He cast out bands of the Whole Soul, and around this He finally wrought the whole of this body of ours, when He had first built round about it for a shelter a framework [73e] all of bone.

And bone He compounded in this wise. Having sifted earth till it was pure and smooth, He kneaded it and moistened it with marrow; then He placed it in fire, and after that dipped it in water, and from this back to fire, and once again in water; and by thus transferring it many times from the one element to the other He made it so that it was soluble by neither.

Timaeus: This, then, He used, and fashioned thereof, by turning, a bony sphere round about the brain; and therein he left a narrow opening; and around the marrow

### Stephanus 74

[74a] of both neck and back He molded vertebrae of bone, and set them, like pivots, in a vertical row, throughout all the trunk, beginning from the head. And thus for preserving the whole seed He closed it in with a ring-fence of stony substance; and therein He made joints, using as an aid the power of the Other as an intermediary between them, for the sake of movement and bending. [74b] And inasmuch as He deemed that the texture of the bony substance was too hard and inflexible, and that if it were fired and cooled again it would decay and speedily destroy the seed within it, for these reasons He contrived the species known as sinew and flesh. He designed to bind all the limbs together by means of the former, which tightens and relaxes itself around the pivots, and thus cause the body to bend and stretch itself. And the flesh He designed to be a shield against the heat and a shelter against the cold; and, moreover, that in case of falls it should yield to the body softly and gently, like padded garments; [74c] and, inasmuch as it contains within it warm moisture, that it should supply in summer, by its perspiration and dampness, a congenial coolness over the exterior of the whole body, and contrariwise in winter defend the body sufficiently, by means of its fire, from the frost which attacks and surrounds it from without. Wherefore, with this intent, our Modeller mixed and blended together water and fire and earth, and compounding a ferment of acid and salt [74d] mixed it in therewith, and thus molded flesh full of sap and soft. And the substance of the sinews He compounded of a mixture of bone and unfermented flesh, forming a single substance blended of both and intermediate in quality, and he used yellow also for its coloring. Hence it is that the sinews have acquired a quality that is firmer and more rigid than flesh, but softer and more elastic than bone. With these, then, God enclosed the bones and marrow, first binding them one to another with the sinews, and then shrouding them all over with flesh. [74e]

All the bones, then, that possessed most soul He enclosed in least flesh, but the bones which contained least soul with most and most dense flesh; moreover, at the junctions of the bones, except where reason revealed some necessity for its existence, He made but little flesh to grow, lest by hindering the flexions it should make the bodies unwieldy, because stiff in movement, or else through its size and density, when thickly massed together, it should produce insensitiveness, owing to its rigidity, and thereby cause the intellectual parts to be more forgetful and more obtuse.

Timaeus: Wherefore

### Stephanus 75

[75a] the thighs and the shins and the region of the loins and the bones of the upper and lower arm, and all our other parts which are jointless, and all those bones which are void of intelligence within, owing to the small quantity of soul in the marrow—all these are abundantly supplied with flesh; but those parts which are intelligent are supplied less abundantly—except possibly where He so fashioned the flesh that it can of itself convey sensations, as is the case with the tongue; but most of these parts He made in the way described above. For the substance which is generated by necessity and grows up with us [75b] in no wise admits of quick perception coexisting with dense bone and abundant flesh. For if these characteristics were willing to consort together, then the structure of the head would have acquired them most of all, and mankind, crowned with a head that was fleshy and sinewy and strong, would have enjoyed a life that was twice (nay, many times) as long as our present life, and healthier, to boot, and more free from pain. But as it is, when the Constructors of our being were cogitating [75c] whether they should make a kind that was more long-lived and worse or more short-lived and better, they agreed that the shorter and superior life should by all means be chosen by all rather than the longer and inferior. Wherefore they covered the head closely with thin bone, but not with flesh and sinews, since it was also without flexions. For all these reasons, then, the head that was joined to the body in every man was more perceptive and more intelligent but less strong.

It was on these grounds and in this way that God set the sinews at the bottom of the head [75d] round about the neck and glued them there symmetrically; and with these He fastened the extremities of the jaws below the substance of the face; and the rest of the sinews He distributed amongst all the limbs, attaching joint to joint.

And those who fashioned the features of our mouth fashioned it with teeth and tongue and lips, even as it is fashioned now, [75e] for ends both necessary and most good, contriving it as an entrance with a view to necessary ends, and as an outlet with a view to the ends most good. For all that enters in and supplies food to the body is necessary; while the stream of speech which flows out and ministers to intelligence is of all streams the fairest and most good.

Timaeus: Moreover, it was not possible to leave the head to consist of bare bone only, because of the excessive variations of temperature in either direction, due to the seasons; nor yet was it possible to allow it to be shrouded up, and to become, in consequence, stupid and insensitive owing to its burdensome mass of flesh.

### Stephanus 76

[76a] Accordingly, of the fleshy substance which was not being fully dried up a larger enveloping film was separated off, forming what is now called skin. And this, having united with itself because of the moisture round the brain and spreading, formed a vesture round about the head; and this was damped by the moisture ascending under the seams and closed down over the crown, being drawn together as it were in a knot; and the seams had all kinds of shapes owing to the force of the soul’s revolutions and of her food, being more in number when these are more in conflict with one another, and less when they are less in conflict. [76b] And the Deity kept puncturing all this skin round about with fire; and when the skin was pierced and the moisture flew out through it, all the liquid and heat that was pure went away, but such as was mixed with the substance whereof the skin also was composed was lifted up by the motion and extended far beyond the skin, being of a fineness to match the puncture; but since it was thrust back, because of its slowness, by the external air that surrounded it, it coiled itself round inside and rooted itself under the skin. [76c] Such, then, were the processes by which hair grew in the skin, it being a cord-like species akin to the skin but harder and denser owing to the constriction of the cold, whereby each hair as it separated off from the skin was chilled and constricted. Making use, then, of the causes mentioned our Maker fashioned the head shaggy with hair, purposing that, in place of flesh, the hair should serve as a light roofing for the part about the brain for safety’s sake, [76d] providing a sufficient shade and screen alike in summer and in winter, while proving no obstacle in the way of easy perception.

And at the place in the fingers where sinew and skin and bone were interlaced there was formed a material blended of these three; and this when it was dried off became a single hard skin compounded of them all and whereas these were the auxiliary causes whereby it was fashioned, it was wrought by the greatest of causes, divine Purpose, for the sake of what should come to pass hereafter. For those who were constructing us knew that out of men women should one day spring [76e] and all other animals; and they understood, moreover, that many of these creatures would need for many purposes the help of nails; wherefore they impressed upon men at their very birth the rudimentary structure of finger-nails. Upon this account and with these designs they caused skin to grow into hair and nails upon the extremities of the limbs.

Timaeus: And when all the limbs and parts of the mortal living creature had been naturally joined together,

### Stephanus 77

[77a] it was so that of necessity its life consisted in fire and air; and because of this it wasted away when dissolved by these elements or left empty thereby; wherefore the Gods contrived succour for the creature. Blending it with other shapes and senses they engendered a substance akin to that of man, so as to form another living creature: such are the cultivated trees and plants and seeds which have been trained by husbandry and are now domesticated amongst us; but formerly the wild kinds only existed, [77b] these being older than the cultivated kinds. For everything, in fact, which partakes of life may justly and with perfect truth be termed a living creature. Certainly that creature which we are now describing partakes of the third kind of soul, which is seated, as we affirm, between the midriff and the navel, and which shares not at all in opinion and reasoning and mind but in sensation, pleasant and painful, together with desires. For inasmuch as it continues wholly passive and does not turn within itself around itself, repelling motion from without [77c] and using its own native motion, it is not endowed by its original constitution with a natural capacity for discerning or reflecting upon any of its own experiences. Wherefore it lives indeed and is not other than a living creature, but it remains stationary and rooted down owing to its being deprived of the power of self-movement.

And when our Superiors had generated all these kinds as nutriment for us inferior beings, they channelled out our body itself, like as if they were cutting channels in gardens, to the end that it might be irrigated as it were by an inflowing stream. And firstly, beneath the junction [77d] of the skin and flesh they cut for hidden channels two veins along the back, seeing that the body was in fact double, with right side and left; and these they drew down along by the spine, keeping between them the spermatic marrow, in order that this might thrive as much as possible, and that the stream of moisture from there, being in a downward course, might flow easily to the other parts and cause the irrigation to be uniform. After this [77e] they clave the veins round the head and interlaced them, and drew them opposite ways, bending those from the right of the head to the left and those from the left to the right, in order that they, together with the skin, might serve as a bond between the head and the body, seeing that the head was not encircled by sinews at the crown; and in order, also, that the sense-impressions derived from the parts on either side might be manifest to the whole body.

### Stephanus 78

[78a] Timaeus: Thereupon they arranged the irrigation on some such plan as this—a plan which we shall perceive more easily when we have first agreed upon the following postulates. All bodies composed of smaller particles shut in the larger, but those composed of larger particles cannot shut in the smaller; and fire, because of all the elements it has the smallest particles, passes through water and earth and air and all things composed thereof, and nothing can shut it in. We must conceive that the same law holds good of the action of our belly. Whenever foods and drinks flow into it [78b] it shuts them in, but air and fire, being of smaller particles than its own structure, it cannot shut in. These elements, therefore, God employed to provide irrigation from the belly to the veins, weaving out of air and fire a veil of mesh-work like unto a fish-weel, having two innerweels at its entrance; and one of these inner-weels He wove over again so as to make it bifurcated; and from the inner-weels He stretched as it were ropes all over it in a circle up to the extremities of the veil. Now the inward parts of the veil [78c] He constructed wholly of fire, but the inner-weels and the envelope of air; and taking this He placed it round about the living creature that was molded in the following manner. The part consisting of the inner-weels He let down into the mouth; and since this part was twofold, He let down one inner-weel by way of the windpipe into the lungs, and the other into the belly alongside the windpipe. And cleaving the former of these weels in two He gave to both sections a common outlet by way of the channels of the nose, so that when the first conduit by way of the mouth failed to act, [78d] its streams as well should be plenished from this. The rest of the enveloping mesh-work He made to grow round all the hollow part of our body; and He caused all this at one time to flow gently into the inner-weels, seeing they were of air, and at another time the weels to flow back into it. And inasmuch as the body was porous, He caused the veil to pass in through it and out again; and the inner rays of fire that were enclosed within it He made to follow the air as it moved in either direction; whence it comes that, so long as the mortal living creature preserves its structure, this process goes on unceasingly. [78e] And to this kind of process the Giver of Titles gave, as we say, the names of inspiration and expiration. And the whole of this mechanism and its effects have been created in order to secure nourishment and life for our body, by means of moistening and cooling.

For as the respiration goes in and out the inward fire attached thereto follows it; and whenever in its constant oscillations this fire enters in through the belly

### Stephanus 79

[79a] and lays hold on the meats and drinks, it dissolves them, and dividing them into small particles it disperses them through the outlets by which it passes and draws them off to the veins, like water drawn into channels from a spring; and thus it causes the streams of the veins to flow through the body as through a pipe.

Once again let us consider the process of respiration, and the causes in virtue of which it has come to be such as it now is. [79b] This, then, is the way of it. Inasmuch as no void exists into which any of the moving bodies could enter, while the breath from us moves outwards, what follows is plain to everyone— namely, that the breath does not enter a void but pushes the adjacent body from its seat; and the body thus displaced drives out in turn the next; and by this law of necessity every such body is driven round towards the seat from which the breath went out and enters therein, filling it up and following the breath; and all this takes place as one simultaneous process, like a revolving wheel, because that no void exists. [79c] Wherefore the region of the chest and that of the lungs when they let out the breath become filled again by the air surrounding the body, which filters in through the porous flesh and circulates round. And again, when the air is repelled and passes out through the body it pushes the inspired air round and in by way of the passages of the mouth and of the nostrils. The originating cause [79d] of these processes we must assume to be this. Every living creature has its inward parts round the blood and the veins extremely hot, as it were a fount of fire residing within it; and this region we have, in fact, likened to the envelope of the fish-weel, saying that all that was extended at its middle was woven of fire, whereas all the other and outward parts were of air. Now we must agree that heat, by Nature’s law, goes out into its own region to its kindred substance; and inasmuch as there are two outlets, the one out by way of the body, [79e] the other by way of the mouth and the nose, whenever the fire rushes in one direction it propels the air round to the other, and the air which is thus propelled round becomes heated by streaming into the fire, whereas the air which passes out becomes cooled. And as the heat changes its situation and the particles about the other outlet become hotter, the hotter body in its turn tends in that direction, and moving towards its own substance propels round the air which is at the former outlet; and thus the air, by continually undergoing and transmitting the same affections, causes inspiration and expiration to come about as a result of this double process, as it were a wheel that oscillates backwards and forwards.

Timaeus: Moreover, we must trace out in this way the causes of the phenomena connected with medical cupping-glasses,

### Stephanus 80

[80a] and the causes of deglutition, and of projectiles, whether discharged aloft or flying over the surface of the earth; and the causes also of all the sounds which because of their quickness or slowness seem shrill or deep, and the movement of which is at one time discordant because of the irregularity of the motion they cause within us, and at another time concordant because of its regularity. For the slower sounds overtake the motions of the earlier and quicker sounds when the latter begin to stop [80b] and have already fallen to a speed similar to that with which the slower sounds collide with them afterwards and move them; and when the slower overtake the quicker sounds they do not perturb them by imposing upon them a different motion, but they attach to them the beginning of a slower motion in accord with that which was quicker but is tending to cease; and thus from shrill and deep they blend one single sensation, furnishing pleasure thereby to the unintelligent, and to the intelligent that intellectual delight which is caused by the imitation of the divine harmony manifested in mortal motions.

Furthermore, as regards all flowings of waters, and fallings [80c] of thunderbolts, and the marvels concerning the attraction of electron and of the Heraclean stone—not one of all these ever possesses any real power of attraction; but the fact that there is no void, and that these bodies propel themselves round one into another, and that according as they separate or unite they all exchange places and proceed severally each to its own region,—it is by means of these complex and reciprocal processes that such marvels are wrought, as will be evident to him who investigates them properly. [80d]

Moreover, the process of respiration—with which our account commenced—came about, as we previously stated, in this manner and by these means. The fire divides the foods, and rises through the body following after the breath; and as it rises, with the breath it fills the veins from the belly by drawing into them from thence the divided particles. And it is owing to this that in all living creatures the streams of nutriment course in this way through the whole body. And inasmuch as these nutritive particles are freshly divided [80e] and derived from kindred substances,—some from fruits, and some from cereals, which God planted for us for the express purpose of serving as food,—they get all varieties of colors because of their commingling, but red is the color that runs through them most of all, it being a natural product of the action of the fire in dividing the liquid food and imprinting itself thereon.

Timaeus: Wherefore the color of the stream which flows through the body acquired an appearance such as we have described; and this stream we call blood, which is the nutriment of the flesh

### Stephanus 81

[81a] and of the whole body, each part drawing therefrom supplies of fluid and filling up the room of the evacuated matter. And the processes of filling and evacuating take place just as the motion of everything in the Universe takes place, namely, according to the law that every kindred substance moves towards its kind. For the bodies which surround us without are always dissolving us and sending off and distributing to each species of substance what is akin thereto; while the blood-particles, again, being minced up within us and surrounded by the structure of each creature as by a Heaven, are compelled to copy the motion of the whole; [81b] hence, when each of the particles that are divided up inside moves towards its kin, it fills up again the emptied place. And when what passes out is more than the inflow every creature decays, but when less, it increases. Now when the structure of the whole creature is new, inasmuch as the triangles which form its elements are still fresh, and as it were straight from the stocks, it keeps them firmly interlocked one with another, and the whole mass of it is of a soft composition, [81c] seeing that it is newly produced from marrow and nourished on milk; and as the triangles contained therein, which have invaded it from without and go to form the meats and drinks, are older and weaker than its own, it divides and overcomes them with its own new triangles, and thus renders the creature large by feeding it on many similar substances. But when the root of the triangles grows slack owing to their having fought many fights during long periods, [81d] they are no longer able to divide the entering triangles of the food and assimilate them to themselves, but are themselves easily divided by those which enter from without; and in this condition every animal is overpowered and decays; and this process is named old age. And finally, when the bonds of the triangles in the marrow which have been fitly framed together no longer resist the strain but fall asunder, they let slip in turn the bonds of the soul, and it, when thus naturally set loose, flies out gladly; [81e] for whereas every process which is contrary to nature is painful, that which takes place naturally is pleasurable. So too, in like manner, the death which occurs in consequence of disease or by wounds is painful and violent, but that which follows on old age and constitutes a natural end is the least grievous of deaths and is accompanied by more of pleasure than of pain.

Timaeus: The origin of disease is plain, of course, to everybody.

### Stephanus 82

[82a] For seeing that there are four elements of which the body is compacted,—earth, fire, water and air,—when, contrary to nature, there occurs either an excess or a deficiency of these elements, or a transference thereof from their native region to an alien region; or again, seeing that fire and the rest have each more than one variety, every time that the body admits an inappropriate variety, then these and all similar occurrences bring about internal disorders and disease. For when any one element suffers a change of condition that is contrary to nature, all its particles that formerly were being cooled [82b] become heated, and the dry presently become moist, and the light heavy, and they undergo every variety of change in every respect. For, as we maintain, it is only the addition or subtraction of the same substance from the same substance in the same order and in the same manner and in due proportion which will allow the latter to remain safe and sound in its sameness with itself. But whatsoever oversteps any of these conditions in its going out or its coming in will produce alterations of every variety and countless diseases and corruptions. [82c]

Again, in the structures which are naturally secondary in order of construction, there is a second class of diseases to be noted by him who has a mind to take cognizance of them. For inasmuch as marrow and bone and flesh and sinew are compacted from the elements,—and blood also is formed from the same constituents, although in a different way,— most of the other maladies come about like those previously described, but the most severe of them have dangerous results for the reason following: whenever the production of these secondary substances proceeds in the reverse direction, then they are corrupted. For in the order of nature flesh and sinews arise from blood, [82d] the sinew from the fibrine because of its kindred quality, and flesh from the coagulated substance which coagulates on its separation from the fibrine; and further, the substance which is derived from the sinews and flesh, being viscid and oily, not only glues the flesh to the substance of the bones but also feeds and increases the bone itself which encloses the marrow, while that which is formed of the purest kind of triangles, very smooth and very oily, filters through [82e] the density of the bones, and, as it oozes and drips from the bones, moistens the marrow. Now when each of these substances is produced in this order, health as a rule results; but if in the reverse order, disease. For whenever the flesh is decomposed and sends its decomposed matter back again into the veins, then, uniting with the air, the blood in the veins, which is large in volume and of every variety, is diversified by colors and bitter flavors, as well as by sharp and saline properties, and contains bile and serum and phlegm of every sort.

Timaeus: For when all the substances become reversed and corrupted, they begin by destroying the blood itself, and then they themselves cease to supply

### Stephanus 83

[83a] any nourishment to the body; for they move through the veins in all directions and no longer preserve the order of their natural revolutions, being at enmity with themselves because they have no enjoyment of themselves, and being at war also with the established and regular constitution of the body, which they corrupt and dissolve. Therefore all the oldest part of the flesh that is decomposed becomes tough and is blackened by the continued combustion; and because it is eaten away on every side it is bitter, and therefore dangerous [83b] in its attack on any part of the body that is not as yet corrupted. And at one time the black matter acquires a sharpness in place of its bitterness, when the bitter substance becomes more diluted; and at another time the bitter substance acquires a redder color through being dipped in blood, while if the black matter is blended with this it turns greenish; and again, whenever new flesh also is decomposed by the fire of the inflammation, a yellow matter is commingled with the bitter substance. [83c]

To all these humors the general designation bile has been given, either by certain physicians or by someone who was capable of surveying a number of dissimilar cases and discerning amongst them one single type worthy to give its name to them all. All the rest that are counted as species of bile have gained their special descriptions in each case from their colors.

Serum is of two kinds: one is the mild whey of the blood; the other, being derived from black and acid bile, is malignant whenever it is imbued with a saline quality through the action of heat; and this kind is termed acid phlegm. Another kind involves air and is produced by dissolution from new and tender flesh. And when this is inflated [83d] and enclosed by a fluid, and when as a result of this process bubbles are formed which individually are invisible because of their small size but in the aggregate form a mass which is visible, and which possess a color which appears white owing to the foam created,—then we describe all this decomposition of tender flesh intermixed with air as white phlegm.

And the whey of phlegm that is newly formed is sweat and tears, [83e] and all other such humors as pour forth in the daily purgings of the body. And all these are factors in disease, whenever the blood is not replenished naturally from meats and drinks but receives its mass from opposite substances contrary to Nature’s laws.

Timaeus: Now, when the flesh in any part is being decomposed by disease, but the bases thereof still remain firm, the force of the attack is reduced by half, for it still admits of easy recovery;

### Stephanus 84

[84a] but whenever the substance which binds the flesh to the bones becomes diseased and no longer separates itself at once from them and from the sinews, so as to provide food for the bone and to serve as a bond between flesh and bone, but becomes rough and saline instead of being oily and smooth and viscid, owing to its being starved by a bad regimen,—then, every such substance, as it undergoes these affections, molders away beneath the flesh and the sinews [84b] and withdraws from the bones; while the flesh falls away with it from the roots and leaves the sinews bare and full of saline matter, and by falling back itself into the stream of the blood it augments the maladies previously described.

But although these bodily ailments are severe, still more grave are those which precede them, whenever the bone by reason of the density of the flesh fails to receive sufficient inspiration, and becoming heated because of its moldiness decays and does not admit its nutriment, but, on the contrary, falls back itself, [84c] as it crumbles, into its nutriment which then passes into flesh, and this flesh falling into, the blood causes all such maladies to be more violent than those previously described. And the most extreme case of all occurs whenever the substance of the marrow becomes diseased either from deficiency or from excess; for this results in the gravest of diseases and the most potent in causing death, inasmuch as the whole substance of the body, by the force of necessity, streams in the reverse direction.

A third class of diseases takes place, as we must conceive, in three ways, [84d] being due partly to air, partly to phlegm, and partly to bile. Whenever the lungs, which are the dispensers of air to the body, fail to keep their outlets clean through being blocked up with rheums, then the air, being unable to pass one way while entering by another way in more than its proper volume, causes the parts deprived of respiration to rot, but forces and distorts the vessels of the veins, and as it thus dissolves the body it is itself shut off within the center thereof which contains the midriff; and as a result of this [84e] countless diseases of a painful kind are produced, accompanied by much sweating. And often, when the flesh is disintegrated, air which is enclosed in the body and is unable to pass out brings about the same pangs as those caused by the air that enters from without; and these pangs are most severe when the air surrounds the sinews and the adjacent veins and by its swelling up strains backwards the tendons and the sinews attached to them; hence it is actually from this process of intense strain that these maladies have derived their names of tetanus and opisthotonus.

Timaeus: Of these maladies the cure also is severe for what does most to relieve them is, in fact, an attack of fever.

### Stephanus 85

[85a] White phlegm, also, is dangerous when it is blocked inside because of the air in its bubbles; but when it has air-vents outside the body it is milder, although it marks the body with spots by breeding white scabs and tetters and the maladies akin thereto. And when this phlegm is blended with black bile and spreads over the revolutions of the head, which are the most divine, and perturbs them, [85b] its action is more gentle during sleep, but when it attacks persons who are awake it is harder to shake off; and because it is a disease of the sacred substance it is most justly termed the sacred disease. Phlegm that is sharp and saline is the fount of all the maladies which are of the nature of catarrhs; and these have received all kinds of names because the regions into which they flow are of all varieties.

All those diseases which are called inflammations, owing to the burning and inflaming of the body which they involve, are caused by bile. This, when it gains an external outlet, [85c] boils and sends up all kinds of eruptions; but when it is confined inside it produces many burning diseases; and of these the gravest occurs when the bile, being mixed with pure blood, displaces the matter of the fibrine from its proper position. For this fibrine is dispersed through the blood in order that the blood may have a due proportion of both rarity and density, and may neither flow out from the porous body through being liquefied by heat, nor yet prove immobile [85d] through its density and circulate with difficulty in the veins. Of these qualities the fibrine preserves the due amount owing to the nature of its formation. Even when anyone collects together the fibrine of blood that is dead and in process of cooling, all the rest of the blood turns liquid; but if the fibrine is left alone as it is, it acts in combination with the surrounding cold and rapidly congeals the blood. As the fibrine, then, has this property, bile, which is naturally formed of old blood and dissolved again into blood from flesh, penetrates the blood gradually at first, while it is hot and moist, [85e] and is congealed by this property of the fibrine; and as it becomes congealed and forcibly chilled it causes internal cold and shivering.

Timaeus: But when the bile flows in with more volume, it overpowers the fibrine by the heat it contains, and shakes it into disorder by its boiling up; and should it be capable of thus overpowering the fibrine continuously, it penetrates to the substance of the marrow and loosens from thence, by burning, the mooring-ropes of the soul, as it were of a ship, and sets it free. But when the bile is in smaller quantity and the body resists dissolution, then the bile itself is overpowered, and either it is ejected over the whole surface of the body, or else it is forced through the veins into the lower or the upper belly, being ejected from the body like fugitives from a city in revolt;

### Stephanus 86

[86a] and it produces diarrhoea and dysentery and all suchlike maladies.

When a body has become diseased mainly from an excess of fire, it produces constant inflammations and fevers; when from air, quotidian fevers; when from water, tertian fevers, because that element is more sluggish than air or fire; and when from earth, which is the fourth and most sluggish of the elements and is purged in four-fold periods of time, it causes quartan fevers and is cured with difficulty. [86b]

Such is the manner in which diseases of the body come about; and those of the soul which are due to the condition of the body arise in the following way. We must agree that folly is a disease of the soul; and of folly there are two kinds, the one of which is madness, the other ignorance. Whatever affection a man suffers from, if it involves either of these conditions it must be termed disease; and we must maintain that pleasures and pains in excess are the greatest of the soul’s diseases. For when a man is overjoyed or contrariwise suffering excessively [86c] from pain, being in haste to seize on the one and avoid the other beyond measure, he is unable either to see or to hear anything correctly, and he is at such a time distraught and wholly incapable of exercising reason. And whenever a man’s seed grows to abundant volume in his marrow, as it were a tree that is overladen beyond measure with fruit, he brings on himself time after time many pangs and many pleasures owing to his desires and the issue thereof, and comes to be in a state of madness [86d] for the most part of his life because of those greatest of pleasures and pains, and keeps his soul diseased and senseless by reason of the action of his body. Yet such a man is reputed to be voluntarily wicked and not diseased; although, in truth, this sexual incontinence, which is due for the most part to the abundance and fluidity of one substance because of the porosity of the bones, constitutes a disease of the soul. And indeed almost all those affections which are called by way of reproach incontinence in pleasure, as though the wicked acted voluntarily, are wrongly so reproached; for no one is voluntarily wicked, [86e] but the wicked man becomes wicked by reason of some evil condition of body and unskilled nurture, and these are experiences which are hateful to everyone and involuntary. And again, in respect of pains likewise the soul acquires much evil because of the body.

Timaeus: For whenever the humors which arise from acid and saline phlegms, and all humors that are bitter and bilious wander through the body and find no external vent

### Stephanus 87

[87a] but are confined within, and mingle their vapor with the movement of the soul and are blended therewith, they implant diseases of the soul of all kinds, varying in intensity and in extent; and as these humors penetrate to the three regions of the Soul, according to the region which they severally attack, they give rise to all varieties of bad temper and bad spirits, and they give rise to all manner of rashness and cowardice, and of forgetfulness also, as well as of stupidity. Furthermore, when, with men in such an evil condition, [87b] the political administration also is evil, and the speech in the cities, both public and private, is evil; and when, moreover, no lessons that would cure these evils are anywhere learnt from childhood,—thus it comes to pass that all of us who are wicked become wicked owing to two quite involuntary causes. And for these we must always blame the begetters more than the begotten, and the nurses more than the nurslings; yet each man must endeavor, as best he can, by means of nurture and by his pursuits and studies to flee the evil and to pursue the good. This, however, forms a separate subject of discussion. [87c]

Again, it is reasonable and proper to set forth in turn the subject complementary to the foregoing, namely the remedial treatment of body and mind, and the causes which conserve this. For what is good merits description more than what is evil. All that is good is fair, and the fair is not void of due measure; wherefore also the living creature that is to be fair must be symmetrical. Of symmetries we distinguish and reason about such as are small, but of the most important and the greatest we have no rational comprehension. For with respect to health and disease, [87d] virtue and vice, there is no symmetry or want of symmetry greater than that which exists between the soul itself and the body itself. But as regards these, we wholly fail to perceive or reflect that, whenever a weaker and inferior type of body is the vehicle of a soul that is strong and in all ways great,—or conversely, when each of these two is of the opposite kind,—then the creature as a whole is not fair, seeing that it is unsymmetrical in respect of the greatest of symmetries; whereas a creature in the opposite condition is of all sights, for him who has eyes to see, [87e] the fairest and most admirable. A body, for example, which is too long in the legs, or otherwise disproportioned owing to some excess, is not only ugly, but, when joint effort is required, it is also the source of much fatigue and many sprains and falls by reason of its clumsy motion, whereby it causes itself countless evils.

Timaeus: So likewise we must conceive of that compound of soul and body which we call the living creature. Whenever the soul within it is stronger than the body

### Stephanus 88

[88a] and is in a very passionate state, it shakes up the whole body from within and fills it with maladies; and whenever the soul ardently pursues some study or investigation, it wastes the body; and again, when the soul engages, in public or in private, in teachings and battles of words carried on with controversy and contention, it makes the body inflamed and shakes it to pieces, and induces catarrhs; and thereby it deceives the majority of so-called physicians and makes them ascribe the malady to the wrong cause.

And, on the other hand, when a large and overbearing body is united to a small [88b] and weak intellect, inasmuch as two desires naturally exist amongst men, —the desire of food for the body’s sake, and the desire of wisdom for the sake of the most divine part we have,—the motions of the stronger part prevail and augment their own power, but they make that of the soul obtuse and dull of wit and forgetful, and thereby they produce within it that greatest of diseases, ignorance.

From both these evils the one means of salvation is this—neither to exercise the soul without the body nor the body without the soul, so that they may be evenly matched and sound of health. Thus the student of mathematics, [88c] or of any other subject, who works very hard with his intellect must also provide his body with exercise by practising gymnastics; while he who is diligent in molding his body must, in turn, provide his soul with motion by cultivating music and philosophy in general, if either is to deserve to be called truly both fair and good.

The various parts, likewise, must be treated in the same manner, in imitation of the form of the Universe. For as the body [88d] is inflamed or chilled within by the particles that enter it, and again is dried or moistened by those without, and suffers the affections consequent on both these motions, whenever a man delivers his body, in a state of rest, to these motions, it is overpowered and utterly perishes; whereas if a man imitates that which we have called the nurturer and nurse of the Universe, and never, if possible, allows the body to be at rest but keeps it moving, and by continually producing internal vibrations defends it in nature’s way against the inward and outward motions, and by means of moderate vibrations [88e] arranges the affections and particles which stray about in the body in their due reciprocal order, according to their affinities,—as described in the previous account which we have given of the Universe—then he will not suffer foe set beside foe to breed war in the body and disease, but he will cause friend to be set beside friend so as to produce sound health.

### Stephanus 89

[89a] Timaeus: Further, as concerns the motions, the best motion of a body is that caused by itself in itself; for this is most nearly akin to the motion of intelligence and the motion of the Universe. Motion due to the agency of another is less good; and the least good motion is that which is imparted to a body lying in a state of rest and which moves it piecemeal and by means of others. Wherefore the motion that is best for purgings and renovations of the body consists in gymnastic exercises; and second-best is the motion provided by swaying vehicles, such as boats or any conveyances that produce no fatigue; while the third kind of motion, although useful for one who is absolutely driven to it, [89b] is by no means acceptable, under any other conditions, to a man of sense, it being the medical kind of purging by means of drugs. For no diseases which do not involve great danger ought to be irritated by drugging. For in its structure every disease resembles in some sort the nature of the living creature. For, in truth, the constitution of these creatures has prescribed periods of life for the species as a whole, and each individual creature likewise has a naturally predestined term of life, [89c] apart from the accidents due to necessity. For from the very beginning the triangles of each creature are constructed with a capacity for lasting until a certain time, beyond which no one could ever continue to live. With respect to the structure of diseases also the same rule holds good: whenever anyone does violence thereto by drugging, in despite of the predestined period of time, diseases many and grave, in place of few and slight, are wont to occur. Wherefore one ought to control all such diseases, so far as [89d] one has the time to spare, by means of dieting rather than irritate a fractious evil by drugging.

Concerning both the composite living creature and the bodily part of it, how a man should both guide and be guided by himself so as to live a most rational life, let our statement stand thus. But first and with special care we must make ready the part which is to be the guide to the best of our power, so that it may be as fair and good as possible for the work of guidance. Now to expound this subject alone in accurate detail would in itself be [89e] a sufficient task. But treating it merely as a side-issue, if we follow on the lines of our previous exposition, we may consider the matter and state our conclusions not inaptly in the following terms.

We have frequently asserted that there are housed within us in three regions three kinds of soul, and that each of these has its own motions; so now likewise we must repeat, as briefly as possible, that the kind which remains in idleness and stays with its own motions; in repose necessarily becomes weakest, whereas the kind which exercises itself becomes strongest;

### Stephanus 90

[90a] wherefore care must be taken that they have their motions relatively to one another in due proportion. And as regards the most lordly kind of our soul, we must conceive of it in this wise: we declare that God has given to each of us, as his daemon, that kind of soul which is housed in the top of our body and which raises us—seeing that we are not an earthly but a heavenly plant up from earth towards our kindred in the heaven. And herein we speak most truly; for it is by suspending our head and root from that region whence the substance of our soul first came that the Divine Power [90b] keeps upright our whole body.

Whoso, then, indulges in lusts or in contentions and devotes himself overmuch thereto must of necessity be filled with opinions that are wholly mortal, and altogether, so far as it is possible to become mortal, fall not short of this in even a small degree, inasmuch as he has made great his mortal part. But he who has seriously devoted himself to learning and to true thoughts, and has exercised these qualities above all his others, [90c] must necessarily and inevitably think thoughts that are immortal and divine, if so be that he lays hold on truth, and in so far as it is possible for human nature to partake of immortality, he must fall short thereof in no degree; and inasmuch as he is for ever tending his divine part and duly magnifying that daemon who dwells along with him, he must be supremely blessed. And the way of tendance of every part by every man is one—namely, to supply each with its own congenial food and motion; and for the divine part within us the congenial motions [90d] are the intellections and revolutions of the Universe. These each one of us should follow, rectifying the revolutions within our head, which were distorted at our birth, by learning the harmonies and revolutions of the Universe, and thereby making the part that thinks like unto the object of its thought, in accordance with its original nature, and having achieved this likeness attain finally to that goal of life which is set before men by the gods as the most good both for the present and for the time to come. [90e]

And now the task prescribed for us at the beginning to give a description of the Universe up to the production of mankind, would appear to be wellnigh completed. For as regards the mode in which the rest of living creatures have been produced we must make but a brief statement, seeing that there is no need to speak at length; for by such brevity we will feel ourselves to be preserving a right proportion in our handling of these subjects. Wherefore let this matter be treated as follows.

Timaeus: According to the probable account, all those creatures generated as men who proved themselves cowardly and spent their lives in wrong-doing were transformed,

### Stephanus 91

[91a] at their second incarnation, into women. And it was for this reason that the gods at that time contrived the love of sexual intercourse by constructing an animate creature of one kind in us men, and of another kind in women; and they made these severally in the following fashion. From the passage of egress for the drink, where it receives and joins in discharging the fluid which has come through the lungs beneath the kidneys into the bladder and has been compressed by the air, they bored a hole into the condensed marrow which comes from the head down by the neck and along the spine [91b] which marrow, in our previous account, we termed seed. And the marrow, inasmuch as it is animate and has been granted an outlet, has endowed the part where its outlet lies with a love for generating by implanting therein a lively desire for emission. Wherefore in men the nature of the genital organs is disobedient and self-willed, like a creature that is deaf to reason, and it attempts to dominate all because of its frenzied lusts. [91c] And in women again, owing to the same causes, whenever the matrix or womb, as it is called,—which is an indwelling creature desirous of child-bearing,—remains without fruit long beyond the due season, it is vexed and takes it ill; and by straying all ways through the body and blocking up the passages of the breath and preventing respiration it casts the body into the uttermost distress, and causes, moreover, all kinds of maladies; until the desire and love of the two sexes unite them. Then, culling as it were the fruit from trees, [91d] they sow upon the womb, as upon ploughed soil, animalcules that are invisible for smallness and unshapen; and these, again, they mold into shape and nourish to a great size within the body; after which they bring them forth into the light and thus complete the generation of the living creature.

In this fashion, then, women and the whole female sex have come into existence.

And the tribe of birds are derived by transformation, growing feathers in place of hair, from men who are harmless but light-minded—men, too, who, being students of the worlds above, suppose in their simplicity that the most solid proofs about such matters are obtained by the sense of sight. [91e] And the wild species of animal that goes on foot is derived from those men who have paid no attention at all to philosophy nor studied at all the nature of the heavens, because they ceased to make use of the revolutions within the head and followed the lead of those parts of the soul which are in the breast.

Timaeus: Owing to these practices they have dragged their front limbs and their head down to the earth, and there planted them, because of their kinship therewith; and they have acquired elongated heads of every shape, according as their several revolutions have been distorted by disuse.

### Stephanus 92

[92a] On this account also their race was made four-footed and many-footed, since God set more supports under the more foolish ones, so that they might be dragged down still more to the earth. And inasmuch as there was no longer any need of feet for the most foolish of these same creatures, which stretched with their whole body along the earth, the gods generated these footless and wriggling upon the earth. [92b] And the fourth kind, which lives in the water, came from the most utterly thoughtless and stupid of men, whom those that remolded them deemed no longer worthy even of pure respiration, seeing that they were unclean of soul through utter wickedness; wherefore in place of air, for refined and pure respiring, they thrust them into water, there to respire its turbid depths. Thence have come into being the tribe of fishes and of shellfish and all creatures of the waters, which have for their portion the extremest of all abodes in requital for the extremity of their witlessness. Thus, both then and now, living creatures keep passing [92c] into one another in all these ways, as they undergo transformation by the loss or by the gain of reason and unreason.

And now at length we may say that our discourse concerning the Universe has reached its termination. For this our Cosmos has received the living creatures both mortal and immortal and been thereby fulfilled; it being itself a visible Living Creature embracing the visible creatures, a perceptible God made in the image of the Intelligible, most great and good and fair and perfect in its generation—even this one Heaven sole of its kind.