Stephanus 32

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

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

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,