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

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

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—