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

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

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,