Timaeus - Platonic Foundation

Timaeus

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narrator: TIMAEUS from Locri Epizephyrii, South Italy

persons in the dialogue: CRITIAS of Athens

SOCRATES of Alopece, son of Sophroniscus

HERMOCRATES of Syracuse

scene: house of Critias during the Panathenaea

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SOCRATES: One, two, three... But my dear Timaeus, where is the fourth of our banqueters from

yesterday

who will now provide the feast?

TIMAEUS: Some illness has befallen him, Socrates, for he would not have missed this gathering

deliberately.

SOCRATES: Then you and your friends here have the task of supplying the part of the absentee.

TIMAEUS: Entirely so, and indeed we shall do our best not to be found wanting, since it would not

be right if those of us who are left did not repay you lavishly when we were entertained

with such fitting hospitality yesterday.

SOCRATES: Now, do you remember what I assigned you to speak about and what the topics were?

TIMAEUS: We remember some of them, but since you are here you will remind us of the others.

Better still, if it’s not a problem for you, go over them again briefly from the beginning so

that we can be more sure of them.

SOCRATES: So be it. I believe the discussions I was involved in yesterday were mainly concerned

with the political system, what kind seemed best to me and what sort of men constitute it.

TIMAEUS: And what you said, Socrates, seemed very reasonable to us all.

SOCRATES: Didn’t we first separate people engaged in farming or any other skills within the citi-

zen-body from the warrior class?

TIMAEUS: Yes.

SOCRATES: And so, based upon their nature, we assigned each a single occupation appropriate to

themselves, one skill to each. We said that those who must fight on behalf of everyone else

were the only ones who should be guardians of the city. And if anyone from outside, or

even from within, should proceed against it with ill intent, they should judge them gently

if they were our own subjects and natural friends, and harshly if they encounter them in

battle among our enemies.

TIMAEUS: Absolutely.

SOCRATES: Indeed, I think we said that something in the nature of the soul of the guardians must

be both especially spirited but also philosophic at the same time so that it may be appropri-

ately gentle or harsh to either party as required.

TIMAEUS: Yes.

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SOCRATES: What of their education? Aren’t they to be educated in music and gymnastic and in all

subjects proper to guardians?

TIMAEUS: Entirely so.

SOCRATES: Yes , and it was said, I think, that those who have been educated in this way would never

regard gold or silver or anything else as their own private possession, but, like soldiers who

receive their guardians’ pay from the people they protect, in measure appropriate to sound-

minded men, they would spend it communally and live shared lives together, careful to

ensure excellence in all their affairs whilst holding themselves aloof from other pursuits.

TIMAEUS: We said all that too.

SOCRATES: What is more, we also mentioned women, and said that their natures would be formed

like the men’s, and all the responsibilities would be allocated to all the women on a shared

basis, whether they related to war or to everyday life.

TIMAEUS: That too was stated.

SOCRATES: Now, what did we say about the procreation of children? Or is that easy to remember

because what we said was so unusual? We proposed that all wives and children should be

common to everybody, and we contrived that no one would ever recognise their own par-

ticular offspring, but they would all consider everyone else as their relatives, regarding them

as brothers and sisters if they were within the appropriate age range, as parents and grand-

parents if they were older, and as children and grandchildren if they were younger.

TIMAEUS: Yes, and as you say, that is easy to remember.

SOCRATES: But, of course, you also recall how they were to be born with the most excellent natures

possible. We said that the male and female rulers must secretly arrange the marriage unions

so that bad men and good men are assigned, by some lottery, exclusively to women of their

own kind. No controversy would be created by this since they would assume that chance

was responsible for the outcome.

TIMAEUS: We remember.

SOCRATES: What is more, we actually said that the offspring of good people should be reared,

whilst the offspring of bad people should be secretly handed over to another city. However,

as they grow up, the rulers should be ever watchful to take the deserving ones back again,

and let the undeserving ones among their own number take the place of those who have

returned.

TIMAEUS: So we said.

SOCRATES: So, dear Timaeus, now that we have gone over the main points once more, have we

now recounted exactly what was said yesterday or is there anything we still need to say

because it was omitted?

TIMAEUS: Not at all, Socrates, these were the very things that were said.

SOCRATES: After all that we have recounted about the political system we have described, I would

like you to hear the sort of feeling I have about it. Well, the feeling is something like this.

It is as if someone who has seen beautiful animals, either in a picture or actually alive but

remaining at rest, were to develop a desire to see them moving and also competing in a

contest which seemed suited to their nature. I, too, feel just the same about the city we

described. I would gladly listen to someone telling a story of contests the city engages in

as it struggles against other cities, how it enters into war in the proper spirit and, in the con-

duct of the war, exhibits towards the various cities the qualities appropriate to its education

and nurture both in its actions and negotiations, in what it does and in what it says. Now, in

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The gathering ‘yesterday’ was apparently that described in the Republic. There is much speculation as to the identity

of the fourth, missing interlocutor.

all this, Critias and Hermocrates, I have come to realise that I myself am quite unable to

sing the praises of these men and this city adequately. In my own case, this is no wonder,

but I have also come to have the same opinion of the poets, both ancient and modern. It is

not that I disrespect poets as a class, but it is obvious to everyone that the imitative folk

will imitate whatever they have been brought up in most easily and excellently. However,

anything that lies outside their own upbringing is difficult for them to imitate well in action,

and even more difficult in words.

And I believe the sophists as a class, for their part, are very experienced in long

speeches and other fineries. Yet, because they wander from city to city and have no city of

their own, I fear that they may somehow misunderstand men who are at once both philoso-

phers and statesmen, and all that such men would be able to do and say as they engage

actively in war and fight battles or communicate verbally with others. What is left then is

the class with your disposition, which, by nature and upbringing, possesses both character-

istics simultaneously.

Indeed, Timaeus here is from Locri, the best governed city in Italy, and he is superior

to any man there in property and family connections. He has been involved in the highest

offices and honours of that city, and he has also, in my opinion, reached the very pinnacle

in matters of philosophy. And I presume everyone in this city knows that Critias is no ama-

teur in the matters we are discussing. As for Hermocrates, we must believe the many wit-

nesses who say that he is competent in all these matters, both by nature and by his

upbringing.

Now, this is what I had in mind yesterday when you asked me to speak about the

political system in general, so I agreed readily since I knew that no one would present a

better account of the next topic than yourselves, if you were willing. Indeed, you are the

only men today who could engage the city in some suitable war and display all the qualities

appropriate to it. So when I had finished speaking on my assignment, I, in turn, assigned

you the topics I am now describing. So, having considered this together among yourselves,

you have now agreed to pay me back with a feast of words. Here I am then, adorned for the

occasion, and more ready than anyone to receive your gift.

HERMOCRATES: Yes indeed, Socrates, just as Timaeus here says, we shall not be short of enthusiasm,

nor have we any excuse whatsoever for not doing as you ask. Accordingly, we considered

these very issues as soon as we left here yesterday and arrived at Critias’ guest quarters

where we are staying, and even before that, on the road. In fact, he told us a story which he

heard long ago. Tell the story to Socrates now, Critias, so that he can help us decide whether

it is relevant to our assignment or irrelevant.

CRITIAS: That’s what I must do if our third companion, Timaeus, also agrees.

TIMAEUS: I certainly agree.

CRITIAS: Then listen, Socrates, to a story which is strange and yet entirely true, as Solon,

the wisest

of the Seven Sages, once declared. He was a kinsman and close friend of our great-grand-

father Dropides, as he himself also says many times in his poetry. Dropides then told it to

Critias, our grandfather, and the old man, in turn, used to recount it to us. The story recounts

that the ancient deeds of this city of ours were wonderful and great, but they have been

obliterated by time and the destructions of humanity. It would be appropriate for us to recall

one of these deeds now, the greatest of them all, in order to show our gratitude to you and,

at the same time, to praise the goddess rightly and truly on her festival,

as though we were

singing a hymn.

SOCRATES: That is all very well, but what was this ancient deed of this city of ours, a deed no longer

mentioned, which Critias recounted on the authority of Solon as actual fact?

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CRITIAS: I’ll tell you an ancient tale which I heard from a man no longer young. Indeed, Critias was

then, as he said, already close to ninety years old, while I was, at the most, ten. It happened

to be the children’s day of the festival of Apaturia,

and the traditional event of the festival

was also held as usual for the children, at which our fathers arranged a recitation contest for

us. Many poems by many poets were recited, but since Solon’s poems were new at the time,

many of the boys chanted them. One of the clansmen said – either because he believed it or

even to pay a compliment to Critias – that he thought that Solon was the wisest of men in

every respect, but also, in view of his poetry, the noblest of all poets. Then the old man – yes

indeed, I remember it so vividly – was very pleased, and he smiled and said,

“Amynander, if Solon had not treated poetry as a distraction but had worked at it as others

do and completed the story which he brought here from Egypt, and had not been forced to

neglect it due to the conflicts and the other problems he found here when he returned, then

in my opinion neither Hesiod nor Homer nor any other poet would ever have been more

famous than he.”

“What was the story, Critias?” he asked.

“It concerns the greatest deed this city has ever performed,” he replied. “It deserves

to be its most renowned achievement, but through lapse of time and the destruction of those

who were involved, the story has not survived here.”

“Tell it from the beginning,” he said. “What story did Solon tell, and how did he

hear it and who told him it was true?”

“In the Egyptian Delta,” Critias said “near where the stream of the Nile divides at

its estuary, there is a region called the Saïtic, and the largest city of this region is Saïs. King

Amasis came from there. The god who founded the city is called Neith in Egyptian, and

those people say this is Athena in Greek. They are great lovers of Athens and they claim to

be related to us in some way. In fact, Solon said that when he travelled there they held him

in great respect. And what’s more, on one occasion, when he put a question about ancient

times to the priests with most experience of such matters, he discovered that, in a sense,

neither he nor any other Greek whatsoever knows the slightest thing about them. Once,

Solon wanted to draw them into a discussion about antiquity, so he began to relate the most

ancient stories from Athens, about Phoroneus, who is said to be the first man, and about

Niobe. And he went on to tell the story of the flood and how Deucalion and Pyrrha survived

it,

and the family histories of these people, and he tried to estimate the time periods by

recalling the exact number of years since the events he described.

“Then, one of the priests, who was a very old man, said, ‘O Solon, Solon, you Greeks

are ever children! There is no Greek who is an old man.’ When he heard this, Solon asked:

‘How can you say this?’

“‘You are all young in soul,’ the priest said. ‘Your souls do not possess a single doc-

trine heard of old, or any teaching grey with age. The reason is as follows. There have been,

and will be, many destructions of humanity by various means, the most significant being

by fire and water, the lesser kinds by myriad other means. In fact, you Athenians also have

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Solon was the most famous early Athenian lawgiver, whose constitutional reforms in the 6th century brought an end

to the great strife in the city.

The goddess in question is Athena. The reference to her festival is an indication that the discussion is taking place

during the Panathenaea, which was held every year in Athens in honour of the patron goddess.

Apaturia were festivals held annually around the Greek world. In Athens, the Panathenaea was an opportunity for the

Attic clans to meet to discuss various issues.

Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were reputed to have been the only survivors of a cataclysmic flood sent by Zeus.

the story of how Phaethon, the child of the Sun, once harnessed his father’s chariot, but

because he was not able to drive it along the path of the Sun, he brought fire upon the Earth

and was himself killed by a thunderbolt. Now, this is told in the form of a myth, but the

truth is that there is an alteration of the motion of the heavenly bodies travelling around the

Earth, and at regular long intervals destruction is wrought upon the Earth’s surface by an

enormous fire. When this happens, those who live in mountains or high places or dry places

suffer greater destruction than maritime or river-dwelling folk.

“‘The Nile, which is always our saviour, also saves us from this difficulty on such

occasions by its rising. But whenever the gods flood the Earth with water to purify it, the

shepherds and herdsmen in the mountains are saved, while those who dwell in your cities

are swept out to sea by the rivers. However, in this land of ours, water does not pour down

on the fields from above – not then, not ever – but on the contrary, it all comes up naturally

from below. That’s the reason why the records preserved here are said to be most ancient

of all. The truth is that in all places where excess heat or cold do not prevent it, there is

always a human race, sometimes in greater numbers, sometimes in lesser. And whatever

events we hear about in your country or in ours, or anywhere else, that are somehow noble

or significant or special in some other way, have all been written down in the temples here

from ancient times and preserved.

“‘But in the case of yourselves and the other cities, as soon as you have been

equipped with writing and whatever else a city requires, every time, after the usual cycle

of years, the flood from Heaven arrives once more, bearing down upon you like a plague,

leaving only the illiterate and uncultured among you, so that you become like children all

over again, with no knowledge of events of ancient times, either here or among yourselves.

Take the genealogies you have just recounted about your own people, Solon. These are little

better than children’s stories. In the first place, you remember only one flood, though many

occurred before that, and then you do not realise that the noblest and most excellent race in

the history of humanity once lived in your own country. You and your entire city are

descended from this race, from a small remnant of their seed, but you are unaware of this

because, for many generations, those who survived left no written records when they died.

But there was once a time, Solon, before the greatest ever destruction by water, when the

city that is now Athens was better than any in war, and supremely well governed in every

respect. Its deeds were reputed to have been the noblest, and the conduct of its affairs the

fairest of any city we have heard of under Heaven.’

“When he heard this, Solon said he was amazed, and in all earnestness he asked the

priests to recount everything about the ancient citizens of Athens, precisely and in due order.

The priest replied, ‘No one will grudge you this, Solon, so I shall tell you the story for your

sake and for the sake of your city, but especially in gratitude to the goddess who has adopted,

nurtured and educated your city and ours. Your city was first by a thousand years, taking

your seed from earth and Hephaestus, while our city here came later. The civilisation here

is recorded in our sacred writings as being eight thousand years old. So I shall be giving

you a brief overview of your citizens from nine thousand years ago, their laws, and the most

splendid of the deeds they performed. But we shall go over everything in detail and due

order some other time at leisure when we access the actual records.

“‘Now, compare your laws with ours, for you will find many examples of your

ancient laws in operation here today. Firstly, the priestly class is kept apart from the others.

Then, the class of manufacturers works by itself and does not mix with another, and the

same applies to herdsmen, hunters and farmers. What’s more, the warrior class here, I pre-

sume you have noticed, is kept apart from all the other classes, as they are enjoined by law

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to be concerned with nothing except military matters. And even the style of our armour is

based on shields and spears which we were the first people in Asia to adopt, as the goddess

instructed us in this, just as she first instructed you in your region.

“‘Furthermore, I presume you observe the extent to which tradition in Egypt has

been concerned, from the very outset, with wisdom and the Universe, discovering every-

thing right down to prophecy and medicine for health by applying those divine considera-

tions to human concerns, and mastering all other learning that derives from these. Now,

this is, in fact, the overall structure and regulation which the goddess devised at the time

she first founded your city, selecting the place in which you were born because she saw

that the temperate climate there would produce the wisest men. Seeing that the goddess

was a lover of war and a lover of wisdom, she chose the place likely to produce men who

were most akin to herself, and there she first founded a city where you dwelt, adopting such

regulations as these. Indeed, you were even better regulated, having surpassed all other peo-

ples in every kind of excellence, just as you would expect from a people born from and

educated by the gods.

“‘Now, the numerous great deeds of your city that are recorded here are a wonder,

but there is one which surpasses them all in importance and excellence. For our records tell

how great a power it was that once surged forth from the Atlantic Ocean and proceeded

violently against all of Europe and Asia at the same time, a power which your city stopped.

In fact, the ocean in the area was navigable then, and there was an island in front of the

strait which your people tell me they call the Pillars of Heracles.

This island was bigger

than Africa and Asia together, and it was possible in those days for travellers to get from

there to the other islands, and from the islands to the entire adjacent continent which sur-

rounds that real ocean. For these places that are inside the strait we are speaking of resem-

ble a harbour with a narrow entrance, but the ocean outside is a real ocean, and the land

that surrounds it may truly and correctly be termed a continent.

“‘Now on this island of Atlantis, a great and wonderful kingly power was established

which ruled the entire island, many other islands and part of the continent. What’s more,

even within the straits, they ruled Africa as far as Egypt, and Europe as far as Tuscany. This

entire kingdom once constituted itself as one united force, and tried in a single onslaught

to enslave your land and ours, and indeed the entire territory inside the strait. It was then,

Solon, that the power of your city shone forth before all mankind in excellence and strength,

as it stood pre-eminent above all in nobility of spirit, as well as skill in military affairs. For

a time it led the forces of the Greeks, but when the others had given up, it had to stand alone

facing extreme danger, triumphed over the invaders, set up a monument, saved from slavery

those who had not yet been enslaved, and ungrudgingly freed all the others who dwell inside

the Pillars of Heracles.

“‘Sometime later there was a huge earthquake and deluge, and there came a single

grievous day and night in which your entire warrior class was suddenly swallowed by the

Earth, and the island of Atlantis, in like manner, sank beneath the sea and disappeared.

Because of this, the sea in those parts has now become impassable and unnavigable, since

it is blocked, just below the surface, by mud which was left by the island as it sank.’”

Now, Socrates, you have heard a shortened version of the account given by old Critias

based on what Solon had heard. However, yesterday when you were talking about the polit-

ical system and the men you mentioned, I was amazed to be reminded of the very details

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This is a reference to the Straits of Gibraltar.

I have recounted just now, as I realised that, miraculously, by some chance, your account

was in broad agreement with what Solon had recounted. I was reluctant to say anything

immediately, because it was a long time ago and I did not remember the story well enough.

So I decided that I would first need to recollect everything properly for myself, and then

tell the story. Accordingly, I quickly agreed to your assignments yesterday, being of the

view that the biggest task in all such situations is to deliver a speech which fits the purpose,

and that we were well equipped for this. So it was, as Hermocrates said, that as soon as I

left here yesterday, I told these men the story I had remembered, and after I left them I

went back over it during the night and remembered almost everything. Well, I tell you, as

the saying goes, the lessons of childhood have an amazing grip on the memory. In fact, I

do not know if I would be able to recall to memory everything I heard yesterday, and yet I

would be completely surprised if any detail of that story which I heard so long ago has

escaped me. I heard it with so much pleasure and delight at the time, and the old man taught

me so enthusiastically because of my constant questioning, that it has become like burnt-

in impressions of indelible writing abiding within me. And, in fact, I recounted these very

details to our friends here first thing this morning so that they too would be well provided

with stories to tell.

So, Socrates, I am now ready to explain the reason why I have related all this, not

just in summary only, but in detail, just as I heard it. We shall now transpose the citizens

and the city which you described to us yesterday as a myth to a true situation by locating

that city here, as if it were our city, Athens, and those citizens whom you imagined, we shall

declare to be our true ancestors whom the Egyptian priest described. The two stories will

harmonise completely, and we shall strike no discordant note in declaring that your citizens

are the Athenians of ancient times. Working together and with each taking a part, we shall

all endeavour, as best we can, to present an appropriate response to the tasks you assigned

us. Well then, Socrates, you must consider whether this account of ours accords with your

intention, or we should look for another instead.

SOCRATES: Why, Critias, what account would we choose in preference to this one, when it is so

especially appropriate to the festival of the goddess because of its connection to her? And

the fact that it is no invented story, but a true account, is all important, I presume. How and

from where shall we ever find alternatives if we let these go? It’s impossible. So you must

speak, and good luck with it, while I must now remain quiet and take a turn at listening, in

contrast to my speaking role yesterday.

CRITIAS: Behold the order of the feast we have arranged for you, Socrates. It seemed to us that

Timaeus should speak first since he is the best astronomer among us, and has made it his

principal task to understand the nature of the Universe. He will begin with the creation of

the Universe and conclude with the nature of human beings. After this, I shall proceed as if

I have received human beings from Timaeus created in his story, and from you some who

have been specially educated, and bring them before us as if before judges, in accordance

with Solon’s account and his law, and make them citizens of this city of ours, since they

are, in fact, the ancient Athenians whose disappearance was revealed by the record of the

sacred writings. From then on they should be referred to as Athenians, our fellow citizens.

SOCRATES: It seems that I am going to be repaid, fully and magnificently, with a feast of discourse.

Apparently, it is your turn to speak next, Timaeus, once you have invoked the gods in the

customary manner.

TIMAEUS: Well, Socrates, that is just what anyone with even a little sound-mindedness does before

they embark upon any undertaking, great or small. They always, I presume, call upon God.

And we who are somehow going to make speeches about the Universe, how it has been

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generated or whether it is actually ungenerated, if we are not to go entirely astray, must call

upon the gods and goddesses and pray that everything be spoken acceptably to them in par-

ticular, and less importantly, to ourselves. Now, let that be our invocation to the gods, but

we must also invoke that which is ours so that you may learn easily, and I may expound my

thoughts on the subjects before us as best I can.

In my opinion, we must certainly make this distinction first. What is ‘that which

always is’ and has no becoming, and what is ‘that which is always becoming’ but never is?

Now, the former, being ever the same, is comprehended by the activity of nous, together

with an account, the latter by opinion, together with sense perception devoid of an account.

It comes into being and passes away and never actually is. Again, all that comes into being

must come into being from some cause, for it is impossible for anything to be generated

without a cause. Now, whenever a craftsman, looking always to the unchanging, refers to

something like this as his model, he will reproduce its form and character, and all that he

fashions in this way will necessarily be beautiful, but if he looks to something that has come

to be and uses a generated model, the product will not be beautiful.

Now, there is something which must be considered first about the entire Heaven or

Universe. In fact, let’s call it by whatever name it most readily accepts. This is a fundamental

question that must be considered at the outset in relation to anything, whether it always

was, with no beginning in generation, or whether it has come to be, having originated from

some beginning. It has come to be, for it is both visible, tangible, and it has a body, and all

such things are perceptible, and perceptibles are grasped by opinion and the senses, and, as

we saw, come into being and are generated. What’s more, we say that a thing which has

come to be has, of necessity, come to be through some cause. Now, to discover the maker

and father of this Universe is a task indeed, and, having discovered him, it is impossible to

describe him to everyone.

In any case, there is a question we must consider once more in relation to the

Universe. With respect to which of the models did its artificer fashion it? Was it with respect

to that which remains the same and unchanging, or with respect to a generated model? If,

indeed, this Universe is beautiful and the craftsman is good, then clearly he looked towards

the everlasting; otherwise, if that’s not the case, although no one may legitimately say this,

then he looked towards a model which has come to be. It is surely obvious to everyone that

the model was everlasting, since the Universe is the most beautiful of created things, and

the craftsman is the most excellent of causes. So, having come into being in this way, it has

been made to resemble that which is comprehended by reason and intelligence, and remains

the same. Furthermore, since this is the case, it is entirely necessary that this Universe be

an image of something.

Now, on every subject it is most important to begin at the natural beginning. So, there

is a distinction we must make in relation to an image and its model. Accounts are also akin

to the very subjects they expound, so accounts of anything stable and certain and discernible

by nous will be fixed and unchanging, and such accounts must be irrefutable and incontro-

vertible, and insofar as this is possible, appropriate for accounts, they should not fall short

of this. However, accounts of something copied from that model, something which is there-

fore a likeness, are likely accounts, and stand in a relation to the other accounts; as being is

to becoming, so too is truth to belief. Therefore, don’t be surprised, Socrates, if in many

cases on numerous subjects such as the gods or the creation of the Universe, we prove unable

to furnish accounts that are entirely and in every way consistent with themselves and exact.

Indeed, if we can offer an account that is as likely as any other, we should be content,

remembering that I who speak, and you who judge, possess a human nature, and so, accept-

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ing the likely story about these matters, it is appropriate to seek nothing beyond that.

SOCRATES: Excellent, Timaeus. Indeed, as you say, we must accept it unreservedly. We have enthu-

siastically accepted the prelude from you in wonder, so please proceed now to the main

theme.

TIMAEUS: Well, let us state the reason why becoming and the Universe were constructed by the

artificer.

He was good, and in the good no envy ever arises about anything, and being devoid of envy he

desired that all things be as much like himself as possible. We would then be absolutely right to

accept from men of understanding that this is the supreme source of becoming and of the Universe.

For the god desired that all be good and, as far as possible, nothing be imperfect. He therefore

took everything that was visible, which was not at rest but moving discordantly and randomly, and

he led it from disorder to order, regarding order as entirely superior to disorder. But it was not

then, nor is it now, lawful for the supreme to enact anything except the supremely beautiful. So,

on reflection, he discovered that in the realm of whatever is naturally visible, nothing that is made

without nous is, on the whole, ever better than something which possesses nous, and furthermore,

that nous cannot be present in anything in the absence of soul. Based on this reflection, having

placed nous in soul, and soul in body, he constructed the Universe so that, once completed, it would

naturally be as beautiful and excellent a piece of work as was possible. Accordingly, based upon

the likely account, we must state that this Universe is a living creature with soul and nous that has,

in truth, come into being through the providence of God.

This being the case, we should go on to state the next topics. In the likeness of which of the

living creatures did the maker construct the Universe? Let us not degrade it to something which,

by nature, is a part, for that is incomplete, and the likeness of something incomplete would never

be beautiful. Instead, we propose that the Universe resembles, more than anything else, whatever

all other species and classes of living beings, individually or on the basis of kinds, are parts of. In

fact, that Universe contains within itself all living things that can be discerned by nous, just as this

Universe contains us and all creatures which can be discerned by sight. The god wished the

Universe to resemble the most beautiful and entirely perfect of all that nous perceives, so he

constructed a single, visible, living creature containing within it all creatures that are by nature

kindred to it.

Have we been right to speak of one single Universe, or is it more correct to refer to many,

indeed an unlimited number? If, in fact, it is to be crafted in accordance with the model, there will

be one. For that which encompasses all living creatures discernible by nous could not ever be one

of a pair. If it were so, an additional living being would be needed to embrace both of these, and

the two would be parts of this living thing. It would then be more correct to say that the Universe

resembles not the two creatures, but the creature which contains them both. Therefore, so that it

would resemble the all-perfect creature in respect of its uniqueness, the maker, accordingly, did

not make two or infinitely many universes; rather, this only begotten Heaven has come into exis-

tence, and it is one, and one it shall be hereafter.

Now, whatever has come to be must have bodily form and be visible and tangible, but noth-

ing could ever have become visible without fire, or tangible without something solid, nor solid

without earth. Hence, as he began to construct the body of the Universe, God made it from fire

and earth. Now, it is not possible for two things to be combined well on their own without a third,

for some bond is required between the two to draw them together. The very best bond is that which,

as much as possible, makes itself and the conjoined entities one, and it is proportion that, by nature,

best accomplishes this. So, whenever the middle item of three numbers or volumes or power is

such that the first is to the middle as the middle is to the last, and again, that the last is to the middle

29 d

29 e

30 a

30 b

30 c

30 d

31 a

31 b

31 c

32 a

998 | TIMAEUS – 29d–32a

as the middle is to the first, then the middle becomes first and last, and the last and first for their

part both become middles. Accordingly, it follows, of necessity, that they all turn out to be the

same, and since they have all become the same as one another, they will all be one.

So then, if the body of the Universe had to come into being having surface but no depth, a

single mean would have sufficed to bind its constituents together with itself. But now, since it has

a solid structure, and solids are never conjoined by one middle term but by two, God therefore

placed water and air between fire and earth, and insofar as it was possible he arranged that they

have the same proportion to one another, so that as fire is to air, air is to water, and as air is to

water, water is to earth.

These he bound together and constructed a visible and tangible Heaven.

And, for these reasons and from such constituents as these – four in number – the body of the

Universe was generated, having been harmonised by proportion and endowed from these with

affection, so that having come to sameness with itself, it was rendered indissoluble by anyone

except he who conjoined it.

Now, the construction of the Universe actually consumed each one of these four elements

entirely. For the artificer constructed it from all of the fire and water, and also the air and earth,

not one part, or power, of any of them being left outside of it. He decided this for the following

reasons: firstly so that it would be as whole and perfect a living being as possible, made from per-

fect parts; in addition to this, it was to be one, since there would be nothing left over from which

something else of this kind could be generated. It was also to be free from old age and disease, as

he realised that if a composite body is surrounded by heat or cold, or any powerful forces outside

it, they attack it and bring it to an untimely end, and by inducing disease and old age they make it

waste away.

So, for this reason, and based upon this consideration, he fashioned it whole, composed of

all these wholes – one, perfect, ageless and incorruptible – and he gave a shape to it that was appro-

priate and belonged to its nature. The shape, which contains all other shapes within itself, was

appropriate for the living being that is going to embrace all other living beings within itself, so he

turned it to make it circular, a spherical shape having all of its extremities equidistant from its cen-

tre. This is the most perfect of all shapes and the one most uniform with itself, and uniformity he

regarded as infinitely better than non-uniformity. And so, he polished it all smooth and round on

the outside for many reasons.

It had no need of eyes, for there was nothing to be seen outside it, nor hearing, for there

was nothing to be heard. There was no air around about it which it needed to breathe, nor did it

require any organ by which it might receive food into itself, or indeed expel it again once it had

been digested. In fact, nothing went out or came in from anywhere, for there was nothing. Indeed,

it was contrived by design so as to provide its own food from its own waste, and to experience

everything within itself and enact everything by itself, because he who assembled it thought it

would be better for it to be self-sufficient rather than being dependent on others. He did not think

it necessary to attach hands to it when they were not needed to grasp with or to ward off anything,

nor feet neither, nor any support to stand upon, for he assigned it a movement natural to its body,

the most reasonable and intelligent of the seven kinds of motion. Accordingly, he caused it to move

by revolving in a circle, leading it around in the same way, in the same place, within itself, and he

took all the other six motions away and fashioned it without their wanderings.

Seeing that it did

32 b

32 c

32 d

33 a

33 b

33 c

33 d

34 a

TIMAEUS – 32b–34a | 999

–––––

(a) 2:4 :: 4:8 and (b) 8:4 :: 4:2, so (c) 4:8 :: 2:4. In (a) they are first/middle/last. In (b) the last has become first and the

first last. In (c) the middle has become first and last and the last and first both middle. Hence, any of the three can

become first, last or middle and so in that sense they are the same.

F:A :: A:W/A:W :: W:E, so there are now two middle terms, air and water in this example.

The circular motion by revolving on its own axis is assigned to the all. It alone involves no movement away from a

fixed position and is thus termed ‘un-wandering’.

not need feet for this circular motion, he brought it forth without legs or feet.

This was the entire thinking of the god who is always about the god that was soon to be,

and based on this thinking he made it smooth and uniform, everywhere equal from the centre, a

complete perfect body composed of perfect bodies. He placed soul in the middle of it and stretched

it through the entire body, and even covered the outside of the body with it, and established one

single, solitary, round Heaven revolving in a circle. It was able, because of its excellence, to interact

with itself, having no need of any other as it was acquaintance and friend enough to itself. For all

these reasons, what he created was a blessed god.

But although we are now endeavouring to speak of the soul after our description of the

body, the god did not, accordingly, contrive that the soul be younger, for when he combined them

he would not have allowed the elder to be ruled by the younger. But we, with our accustomed

degree of casualness, speak in this somewhat random fashion. In fact, he constructed the soul to

be elder and prior to the body in birth and in excellence, its mistress and ruler.

He made the soul from the following constituents and in this manner. From being that is

undivided and ever the same, and being which, by contrast, comes into existence apportioned to

bodies, he formed a third intermediate form of being from both of them. From the nature of same

and other, in like manner, he made a third intermediate form between their undivided form and

their form as apportioned to bodies. He then took these three mixtures

and mixed them all into

one, and as the nature of other was difficult to mix, he blended it with same by force. Then, having

mixed this, with the help of Being, and made one from the three, he apportioned this whole once

more into as many parts as was fitting, each part being a mixture of same, other and being.

He began to divide it as follows. First, he separated one part from the entire; after this he

separated a part double the first; and next a third, which was one-and-a-half times the second and

three times the first; a fourth part, double the second; a fifth, three times the third; a sixth, eight

times the first; and a seventh, twenty-seven times the first. After this, he filled up the double and

triple intervals, cutting off further sections of the mixture and placing these in between them, so

that in each interval there were two means – one exceeding its extremes and being exceeded by

them by the same portion, the other exceeding one extreme and being exceeded by the other extreme

by an equal number.

These connections gave rise to intervals of 3/2, 4/3 and 9/8 between the pre-

vious intervals. All the 4/3 intervals were filled up by the 9/8 intervals, leaving a portion of each of

them, and the interval associated with this remaining portion had the numerical relation 256/243.

What’s more, the mixture from which these were cut was at that stage entirely used up in the process.

He then cut this entire compound along its length into two, and situated the middles of each

together like the letter χ (chi), bent each into a circle and attached each to itself and to the other

one at the point opposite to where they overlap, included them in that kind of motion which turns

around uniformly in the same place, and made one of the circles inner and the other outer. The

outer movement he designated as the movement of same, the inner as the movement of other. He

set the movement of same revolving sideways and to the right, and that of other diagonally and to

the left, and he granted supremacy to the movement of same and similar, for he left it one and

undivided. However, he divided the inner circle six times, producing seven circles based on the

double and triple intervals, there being three of each. He commanded the circles to go in opposite

directions to one another, three at similar speeds, four at speeds dissimilar to one another and to

the other three, but their movements were proportional.

When the entire construction of the soul had been completed in accordance with the rea-

soning of the one who constructed it, he then fashioned within it all that has bodily form, and

having brought both together, he fastened them centre to centre. And soul, being woven entirely

throughout the Heaven from centre to extremity, enfolding it in a complete circle on the outside

and revolving in itself, initiated a divine beginning of unceasing and intelligent life for all time.

34 b

34 c

35 a

35 b

35 c

36 a

36 b

36 c

36 d

36 e

1,000 | TIMAEUS – 34b–36e

Now, while the body of the Heaven had come into existence and was visible, soul, for its part, was

invisible, partaking of reason and harmony, the best of created things created by the very best of

all that is eternal and known by nous.

Now, since soul is blended from these three components (the natures of same, other and

being), is divided and combined proportionally, and circles back upon itself, then whenever it

touches upon something whose being is scattered, or something whose being is undivided, it is

moved throughout its entire self, proclaims what precisely that is the same as, and what it is dif-

ferent from, and also the sense, manner and occasion that each is so and is characterised as such,

either in relation to things that come to be, or in relation to the unchanging and eternal. And the

account which arises, being equally true, whether it concerns that which is other or same, is borne

along without utterance or sound in that which is moved by itself. Whenever it arises concerning

perceptible things, and the circle of other, running true, announces it through the entire soul, opin-

ions and beliefs arise which are certain and true. But whenever, in contrast, it arises concerning

the things of reason, and the circuit of same, running well, makes these things known, nous and

knowledge are the necessary outcome. If anyone should ever say that these two arise in anything

other than soul, he will be speaking entirely contrary to the truth.

When the father who brought it into being realised it was moving and living, a delight cre-

ated for the everlasting gods, he too was delighted, and in his rejoicing he decided to make it even

more like its model. Now, since the model is an everlasting, living creature, he also undertook,

accordingly, to render this Universe as much like that as possible. Now, in fact, the nature of the

living creature was everlasting, and it was not actually possible to completely impart eternity to

the created entity, so he decided to make a moving image, and as he ordered the Heaven, he made

an everlasting image of eternity abiding in unity, moving according to number, an image we have

called time, for there were no days or nights, months or years, before the Heaven came to be. Then,

at the same time as the Heaven was constructed, he arranged the creation of these. All of these are

but parts of time and ‘was’ and ‘will be’ are forms of time which have been generated, although

we do not notice this and apply these incorrectly to everlasting being. We do indeed say ‘was’, ‘is’

and ‘will be’, when ‘is’ alone is appropriate to it according to the true account, while it is more fit-

ting to say ‘was’ and ‘will be’ of generation which unfolds in time, for both of these are movements.

It does not belong to what is always the same and unmoving to become older or younger in the

course of time, nor to have ever come into being, nor to have come into being now, nor to be about

to exist in future. And, in general, nothing that generation attaches to motions in the sensory realm

belongs to it, for these have come into being, forms of time, time which imitates eternity and

revolves according to number. What’s more, we even say such things as, “what has come to be ‘is’

what has come to be”, and “what is coming to be ‘is’ coming to be”, and again, “what will come

to be ‘is’ what will come to be”, and “what is not ‘is’ what is not”, but none of these statements

are accurate. Perhaps, though, it is not the right time now for a precise discussion of these issues.

In any case, time came into being along with the heavens, so that having been generated

simultaneously they would also be dissolved simultaneously, if they were ever dissolved, and it

was based on the model of the eternal nature so that it would be as much like it as possible. For,

indeed, the model is through all eternity, while the Heaven, for its part, having come into being,

is, and will be, throughout all time.

Based on such reasoning and consideration of the god about the creation of time, in order

37 a

37 b

37 c

37 d

37 e

38 a

38 b

38 c

TIMAEUS – 37a–38c | 1,001

–––––

The three mixtures are intermediate types of being, same and other, each formed by mixing their indivisible kinds with

their divisible kinds.

The first mean is a harmonic mean, e.g. between 6 and 12 it is 8, which is ¹/3 greater than 6 and ¹/3 less than 12. The

second mean is an arithmetic mean, e.g. in the case of 6 and 12 it is 9, which exceeds 6 by 3 and is 3 less than 12.

that time might come into being, the Sun, Moon and five other stars, which are called wanderers,

were generated to define and protect the numbers of time. Having made the bodies of each of

these, the god placed them in the orbits in which the circuit of other was moving – seven bodies

in seven orbits. The Moon he placed in the first orbit around the Earth, the Sun in the second above

the Earth, the Morning Star too,

and the one said to be sacred to Hermes

he set moving in circles

at an equal speed to the Sun, but alloted a power opposite to it so that Sun, Mercury and Venus

alike overtake and are overtaken by one another. As for the other planets, if someone were to

recount everything about them and the reasons he established them, the story, though a subsidiary

one, would prove to be a greater task than our main undertaking. Indeed, all this may perhaps get

proper attention later, at our leisure.

In any case, when each had occupied its own proper course as needed to help in the pro-

duction of time, these bodies were bound with bonds of soul and became living creatures and

learned their assigned duties, each moving in actual accord with the sideways motion of the cir-

cuit of other, which revolves within the circuit of same and is ruled by it, some traversing a

greater circle, some a lesser, those in the lesser circle revolving faster, those in the greater revolv-

ing more slowly. Due to the motion of same, those which went around fastest seemed to be over-

taken by the slowest, though they actually overtook the slowest. For the movement of same,

which is the swiftest of all motions, turned all their circles in a spiral due to their divided, and

also opposite, forward motion, and it made that which moves away from itself most slowly seem

closest to it in speed.

So that there might be some obvious measure of their relative slowness or swiftness, and

so that the eight courses might proceed, the god kindled a light in the second of the orbits from the

Earth, a light we now call the Sun, so that it would shine with all its might through the entire

Heaven, and all deserving creatures would have a share in number, having learned it from the rev-

olutions of same and similar. So this is how and these are the reasons why day and night, the rev-

olution of the single most intelligent circuit, have come into being. However, when the Moon

traverses its own circuit and overtakes the Sun, a month is generated, and whenever the Sun com-

pletes its own circuit, a year is generated. Men, save a few of them, have not understood the periods

of the other planets, nor have they named them, nor have they measured them against one another

through numerical investigation. Consequently, they do not really understand that the numerous,

complex and wonderfully intricate wanderings of these planets actually constitute time. Yet it is

possible, nevertheless, to understand that the perfect number of time fulfils the perfect year, when

the speeds with respect to one another belonging to all eight orbits are concluded simultaneously

and they have attained completion as measured by the circuit of same, and similarly moving. So,

based on these principles and for these reasons, the stars came into being, those which have their

turnings and proceed through Heaven, so that this Universe might be as much like the perfect,

intelligible creature as possible in its imitation of the eternal nature.

Now, in other respects, including the creation of time, the Universe was already fashioned

very like the model it was imitating. However, it was still unlike it in one respect, as it did not yet

contain, generated within itself, all the living creatures. He set about this remaining task by mould-

ing the Universe towards the nature of the model. In the same way that nous beholds how many

and what kind of forms are contained in that actual living being, he decided that this Universe too

should possess such kinds as these, in such numbers. Now, there are four kinds, one the heavenly

race of gods, another winged and airborne, a third type dwelling in water, and a fourth traversing

dry land on foot.

The form of the divine race he made mostly from fire so that it would be the brightest and

most beautiful to behold, and to make it resemble the Universe, he made it well rounded. He placed

it in the intelligence of the dominant circuit to follow that path, and distributed it around the entire

38 d

38 e

39 a

39 b

39 c

39 d

39 e

40 a

1,002 | TIMAEUS – 38d–40a

Heaven in a circle, to be a true adornment to it, embroidered over the whole. He assigned two

movements to each, one an unchanging movement in the same place, always thinking to itself the

same thoughts about the same things, the other a forward motion dominated by the revolutions of

same and similar.

They are devoid of the other five motions and are at rest, so that each of them

may become as excellent as possible.

From this cause, all the un-wandering stars have come into

being – divine, everlasting creatures which abide forever, revolving in the same way in the same

place. But those that turn back and keep wandering in this fashion have come into being in the

manner we described before. And Earth, our nurse, packed about the axis stretching through the

Universe, he devised as guardian and artificer of night and day, the first and eldest of all the gods

that have come into existence within the Heaven.

As for the dances of the gods themselves and their juxtapositions with one another, the

backward revolutions of the circuits upon themselves and their advances which are in line with

each other during conjunctions, and how many are behind and what each is hidden by, both from

themselves and from us so that when they reappear they send terrors and portents of things to come

to men who are not capable of reasoning..., to describe this without a visible model of the move-

ments would be a vain task. Rather, we should be satisfied at that and let our discussions about the

nature of the visible and generated gods come to an end.

To describe and understand the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, so we must believe

those who have already spoken and who claim to be the offspring of the gods, and presumably

know their own ancestors very well. Now, it is impossible to disbelieve the children of gods even

though they speak without any probable or compelling evidence; yet they speak as though they

are describing family matters, so we should follow custom and believe them. Accordingly, let us

accept their version of the generation of those gods and let us describe it. Ocean and Tethys were

born children of Earth and Heaven, and from these were born Phorcys, Cronus and Rhea, and all

their companions. From Cronus and Rhea came Zeus, Hera, and all those we know by report as

their brothers and sisters, and a further generation born from these.

In any case, when all the gods had come into being, both those who wander about conspic-

uously and the ones who appear only as often as they wish, he who had generated this Universe

spoke to them and said, “Gods of gods, works of which I am the maker and father, what I have

brought into being is indissoluble unless I so desire. Now, anything that is bound together can

indeed be dissolved, but only bad would wish to dissolve something which has been beautifully

harmonised and is in good order. Since you have come into being, you are not truly immortal or

entirely indissoluble, and yet there is nothing which will dissolve you, nor will the fate of death

befall you, because in my will you have an even greater and more powerful bond granted you than

those by which you were bound together at birth. Therefore, understand the declaration I am now

making to you. There are three types of mortal creatures yet to be created. If these are not brought

into existence, the Heaven will be incomplete for it will not have within itself all types of creatures,

and it must have these if it is to be complete in an adequate manner. But if they were brought into

being and partook of life through my agency, they would be equal unto gods. Therefore, so that

they may be mortal and this Universe truly universal, betake yourselves, as is natural to you, to

the production of living creatures, imitating the power by which I brought you into being.

40 b

40 c

40 d

40 e

41 a

41 b

41 c

TIMAEUS – 40b–41c | 1,003

–––––

The Greek word for planets means wanderers, and refers to their irregular motion as compared to the ‘fixed’ stars.

This is a reference to the dawn bearer (Venus).

This is Mercury.

Hence, the stars/gods rotate on their own axes and are also carried uniformly across the sky. These are the two assigned

motions, the latter of which can be observed in the night sky.

The seven motions are rotation on an axis, movement to the right, left, up, down, forward and backward. Only the first

two are exhibited by the stars/gods.

“Now, I shall begin by sowing the seed and handing over to you the part of the creatures

which rightly shares the same name as the immortals, the part which is called divine and which

rules supreme in those who desire always to follow justice and yourselves. You must do the rest –

make the living creatures by weaving the immortal with the mortal, give them birth, nourish them

and make them grow, and when they perish, receive them back again.”

The maker of the Universe said this and went again to the mixing bowl in which he had

previously mixed and blended the soul of the Universe. He poured in the remainder of the former

mixture, blending it in somewhat the same manner, but it was no longer pure in the same way as

before, but second or third in degree of purity. When he had compounded the entire, he divided it

into souls equal in number with the stars, allocated each soul to its particular star, and, having

mounted them as though in a chariot, he showed them the nature of the Universe and told them

the laws of destiny: that the first birth would be arranged the same for everyone so that no one

would be disadvantaged at his hands; that they should be dispersed to the instruments of time

appropriate to each to grow as the most god-revering of creatures; and the nature of humanity

being twofold, the stronger would be the kind which should hereafter be called man. Once the

souls were, of necessity, implanted in bodies, and there was a process of addition and removal of

portions of their bodies, in the first place an innate sense perception would necessarily arise in all,

produced from forceful impressions; second would be love mixed with pleasure and pain, and, in

addition to these, fear and desire and all that follows in their train, and whatever stands in natural

opposition to these. If they should conquer these they would live justly, but if conquered by them,

unjustly. Whoever lived well during his assigned period of life would journey again to his native

home, which is his kindred star, to live a happy life in conformity with his nature. But if he should

fall short of this, he would transform into a woman’s nature in his second birth. And if in this form

he still does not desist from wrongdoing, as is the manner of his corruption so also is his transfor-

mation into an animal nature that resembles his evil tendency. He will not cease from these painful

transformations until he draws into the circuit of same and similar that is within himself, the vast

accretion composed of fire and water, earth and air, which has grown about him of late, has con-

quered its turbulence and irrationality by reason, and returns again to the form of his original and

most excellent condition.

When he had prescribed all these laws for humans so that he would be blameless of their

future evil doings, he sowed some of them in the Earth, some in the Moon, and some in the other

instruments of time. But when the sowing was complete, he handed over the making of mortal

bodies to the young gods, and, as well as that, the fashioning of all the parts of human souls that

still had to be added, and all that goes along with them. And they were also to govern this mortal

creature and guide it as beautifully and excellently as they could, unless it should become a source

of evil to itself.

He who had decreed all this remained as usual in his own accustomed state, and as he so

remained, the children understood the direction of their father and obeyed it. They took from him

the immortal beginning of the mortal creature, and imitating their own artificer, they borrowed

portions of fire, earth, water and air from the Universe, intending to return these again. What they

had taken they bonded together into a unity, not with the indissoluble bonds with which they them-

selves had been conjoined, but fusing them together with myriad tiny invisible pegs. Fashioning

each body as a unity from all the elements, they bound the circuits of the immortal soul within the

inflowing and out-flowing body. These orbits, which were bound within an enormous stream, nei-

ther dominated it nor were dominated by it, but they brought about and suffered violent motion.

So the entire creature was moved, and it advanced, randomly and irrationally, in any way at all,

exhibiting all six types of movement at once as it progressed forward and backward, and then right

and left, down and up, as it went wandering in all six directions. The surge which poured in and

41 d

41 e

42 a

42 b

42 c

42 d

42 e

43 a

43 b

1,004 | TIMAEUS – 41d–43b

gushed out and brought nutriment was mighty indeed, but greater yet was the disturbance to each

wrought by all the impinging sensations when the body happened to collide with fire from some-

thing external and alien, or with a hard lump of earth or smooth sliding waters, or was carried

away by a storm of winds borne by the air. And the movements caused by all these, being borne

through the body, fell upon the soul. Indeed, on account of all this, such movements were called

sensations thereafter and are still so called today.

Furthermore, at that particular time these were

the source of the greatest and most varied movement, and along with the constantly flowing stream

they moved and shook the revolutions of the soul violently, completely blocked the revolution of

same by flowing against it, and prevented it from ruling and proceeding. And what’s more, they

threw the revolution of other into confusion, turning each of the three double and triple intervals

and the 3/2, 4/3 and 9/8 middle terms and connections in all directions, and although they could

not be entirely undone save by their maker, they caused all manner of fractures and deformations

of the circles so that they moved along, but barely holding themselves together, borne irrationally,

sometimes in opposite directions, sometimes sideways, sometimes upside down.

Just as whenever someone is propped upside down, his head on the ground, his feet pressed

against something, in that predicament what is right for the person will appear as left to his

observers, and what is left for him will appear right for them. So when the circuits are undergoing

this experience, and others like this, in an intense manner, whenever they happen upon something

external of the class of same or of other, they then declare it to be same as something or other than

something, in direct opposition to the truth, having become false and devoid of intelligence, without

even one orbit ruling and leading among them at that time. Indeed, should some sense impressions,

carried from outside to the orbits of the soul and impinging on them, draw the entire vessel of the

soul along with them, then although the orbits seem to be dominating themselves, they are being

dominated by the senses. And, indeed, because of all these experiences, the soul now, as in the

beginning, becomes devoid of nous at first whenever it is bound within a mortal body. But when-

ever the stream which brings growth and nourishment lessens its influx, and the orbits become

calm again, traverse their own paths and become more stable with the passing of time, then at that

stage the orbits are kept in line with the course of the natural motion of each of the circles, they

proclaim other and same correctly, and cause their possessor to become intelligent. And, indeed,

if some right nurture should also play a role in his education, he becomes completely unblemished

and sound, having escaped the worst possible disease. However, if he neglects this, he limps his

way through life and returns once more to Hades, incomplete and devoid of intelligence.

Of course, this all happens later on. However, we must deal more precisely with the issues

before us now, and issues prior to these concerning the generation of the body part by part, and of

the soul too, and the reasons and intentions of the gods in producing them. This we must recount

in detail, holding to the most likely account and proceeding on that basis.

Now, there are two divine revolutions which imitate the round shape of the Universe, which

is spherical, and they bound these within a spherically shaped body which we now call the head.

It is our most divine part, and it rules over all else within us, and to this the gods granted the entire

body which they had assembled to be its servant, realising that it would be involved in every kind

of motion that would ever be. They gave this chariot and means of transport to the head so that it

would not go rolling about the Earth with its various hills and hollows, unable to get over the one

or out of the other. On account of this, the body is tall and has grown four flexible and extensible

limbs devised by the god for conveyance. Assisted and supported by these, the body is capable of

traversing all terrains, bearing aloft the dwelling place of that most divine and sacred part of us.

So that is how and why legs and feet have been attached to everyone. And regarding the front of

43 c

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43 e

44 a

44 b

44 c

44 d

44 e

45 a

TIMAEUS – 43c–45a | 1,005

–––––

A connection is implied here between the Greek word for ‘sensations’ (aisthêseis) and the word for ‘shaking’ (aïssein).

the body as nobler and more fitted for leadership than the rear, the gods assigned most of our move-

ment to be in that direction. So it was necessary for the front of the human body to be distinct and

different. Therefore, they first put the face in position on that particular side of the vessel of the

head, affixed onto it the organs for complete providence of the soul, and assigned the role of lead-

ership to that natural front.

The first of the organs fabricated were light-bearing eyes which they fixed in place for the

following reason: they contrived to create a body from fire which does not burn but provides a

gentle light, kindred to the light of each day. So they caused the pure fire within us, which is brother

of this light of day, to flow through the eyes, and they compressed the whole eye, but especially

the centre, to be smooth and dense so as to retain all the coarser fire and filter through only this

kind of pure fire by itself. Then, if ever there is daylight surrounding this stream of vision, like

meets with like, joins together and establishes a single kindred body along a straight line from the

eyes to wherever the stream from within is obstructed by the outside objects on which it impinges.

Because the entire body is similar, the effects are similar throughout. So once this body of

light touches something or is touched by something, it transmits motions from these through the

entire body as far as the soul and furnishes perception, and we call this ‘seeing’. But when the kin-

dred fire goes away at night, the stream of vision is cut off, for when it travels out into something

dissimilar it is altered and extinguished, no longer merging with the adjacent air since it contains

no fire. So it stops seeing, and, what’s more, it becomes an inducement to sleep. For the eyelids,

devised by the gods as the natural protector of vision, confine the power of that fire within when-

ever these are closed. This dissolves and equalises the inner movements, and once these are calmed,

peace arises, and when there is great peace there falls an almost dreamless sleep. However, if any

significant movements of any sort remain in any location, they produce images which are like

these movements in type and quantity, images which are copied within and are remembered exter-

nally upon awakening.

Now, there is no particular difficulty in understanding the production of images in mirrors

or anything smooth and reflective. For all such images necessarily make their appearance from

the communion of the inner and outer fire with one another, and then, whenever this in turn unites

on the smooth surface and is transformed in different ways, and the fire from the reflected face

coalesces with the fire of sight on the smooth and bright surface, left then appears to be right

because opposite parts of the beam of sight make contact with the corresponding parts in a manner

contrary to the normal manner of contact. However, right appears as right and left as left whenever

light changes side in the process of merging. This happens when the smooth surface of the mirrors

is raised on each side, and the right part of the beam of sight is repelled to the left and the left to

the right. When the same mirror is turned lengthwise to the face, it makes all appear upside down

by repelling the bottom of the beam to the top, and the top to the bottom.

Now, all these are contributory causes which the god employs as servants in perfecting the

most excellent form that is possible. But they are regarded by most people not as contributory

causes, but as the cause of everything – cooling and heating, solidifying and melting, and all such

processes. Yet these are unable to think or reason to any end. For we must declare that among

things that are, it belongs to soul alone to acquire nous, and this is invisible, while fire, water, earth

and air are all visible bodies. And the lover of nous and knowledge first needs to investigate the

causes which belong to the intelligent nature, and secondly, those causes which are moved by oth-

ers, and of necessity become a source of motion to other objects. We too should act in accordance

with these principles. We must, indeed, describe both types of causes, yet distinguish those which,

in consort with nous, are artificers of beauty and good from those which, being bereft of intelli-

gence, consistently bring about randomness and disorder.

Let that be enough about the ancillary, contributory causes for which the eyes have been

45 b

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45 e

46 a

46 b

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1,006 | TIMAEUS – 45b–46e

assigned the power they now possess. However, along with this we must also state the greatest of

their beneficial effects, the reason the god gave them to us. According to my account, sight is

responsible for the greatest benefit to us, because not one of the accounts we are relating about the

Universe would ever have been spoken without seeing the stars or the Sun or the Heaven. But now

that day and night have been seen, months and the annual cycle too, and equinoxes and solstices,

number has been devised, and the concept of time and the investigation of the nature of the

Universe have been given to us. From this we have acquired philosophy in general, and no greater

good has ever or will ever come to mortal creatures as a gift from the gods than this. So I declare

this to be the greatest good of eyes. As for the other lesser sights, why should we praise benefits

for which someone who is no philosopher, weeping in vain,

might lament if he lost the sight of

them? Rather, let us declare for the following reasons that sight is the cause of this benefit. Sight

was invented and bestowed upon us by the god so that we, beholding the revolutions of nous in

the Heaven, could apply them to the orbits of thinking within ourselves, for these, though troubled,

are kindred to those untroubled revolutions. And, indeed, by learning these thoroughly and properly

in accord with their nature, we could stabilise the wandering motions within ourselves by imitating

the entirely stable orbits of the god. And in the case of sound and of hearing, the account is the

same; they were bestowed by the gods for the same reasons and with the same intentions as they

gave sight. Indeed, speech too was instituted for these very purposes, and it contributes the greatest

portion thereto, and so too does any music which works through sound and hearing, and is given

for the sake of harmony. Harmony, whose movements are kindred to the orbits in our own soul,

has been given by the Muses to those who resort to them intelligently, not for the irrational pleasure

thought to be so useful nowadays, but as an ally against the inharmonious orbit of the soul which

has arisen in us, to bring it to order and concord with itself. Rhythm, too, was given to us for the

same reasons, by the same gods, as an aid, because of the unmeasured condition and lack of grace

which, for the most part, prevails in us.

Now, everything we have said so far, with few exceptions, has expounded the productions

of nous.

However, we must also set alongside it an account of what comes into being through

Necessity. For the generation of this Universe originated indeed in a mixture produced from the

combination of Necessity and nous. Nous ruled over Necessity by persuading it to lead most of

what comes into being towards the very best. And so, this Universe was constructed in this way

and on these principles in the beginning, through the subjugation of Necessity by intelligent per-

suasion. Therefore, if anyone is to state truly how the Universe came into being, based on these

principles, he must include also the form of the wandering cause and how it is naturally involved.

So, we should retrace our steps once more, and, adopting a different and appropriate fresh starting

point from these themselves, we must now begin again from the beginning, based on these factors

just as we did before.

We should look to the nature itself of fire and water, and also air and earth, before the gen-

eration of the Heaven and the condition they were in prior to that. For, to this day, no one has yet

disclosed their origin, but we speak as if we know what precisely fire and each of the others is –

proposing that they are the principles and letters of the Universe – when to a man of even a little

intelligence it is probably not appropriate even to liken them to syllables. So let our statement on

the matter be as follows: we should not speak now of the beginning of all things, or the beginnings,

or the way we think about them, for no other reason than the difficulty of presenting our opinions

based upon the present manner of exposition. Nor should you believe that I need to address this

47 a

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47 d

47 e

48 a

48 b

48 c

TIMAEUS – 47a–48c | 1,007

–––––

This is a very close paraphrase of Euripides’ Phoenician Women, 1762.

This sentence is evidence for equating nous with the Demiurge. The phrase ‘with few exceptions’ probably refers to

the section on the mechanism of vision (45b-c).

topic, nor would I, for my part, be able to persuade myself that I would be right in attempting to

burden myself with such a task. So, paying special heed to our initial statement about the capability

of the likely accounts, I shall endeavour to give an account no less likely than before – indeed,

more so – from the beginning about each and everything.

Clearly we should now begin again, once we have called upon the god, our saviour, at the

very outset of our deliberations, to see us safely out of an unusual and unaccustomed exposition

to the doctrine of things probable. In any case, our fresh start concerning the Universe should be

more elaborate than before, for we distinguished two forms then, but now we must present a third

kind. Two were sufficient for our previous descriptions, one designated as a sort of a model dis-

cernible by nous and ever the same, while the second was a copy of the model, involved in becom-

ing, and visible. We did not distinguish a third kind at the time as we thought it enough to have

these two, but now the argument seems to compel us to try to manifest a difficult and obscure form

in words. What should we understand its power and nature to be? This in particular – it is the

receptacle of all coming into being, like its nurse.

Now, although the truth has been spoken, a clearer statement about it is still required, but

it is difficult to do so, particularly because it is necessary for the sake of this to raise a preliminary

problem about fire and its accompaniments. It is difficult in the case of each of these to state what

sort should actually be called water rather than fire, and what sort should be referred to as anything

in particular rather than as everything individually, in such a manner as to employ language which

is trustworthy and certain. How, then, may we speak about them in a likely manner, and in what

way, and what can we say about them when faced with this problem? First, we see what we now

call water being condensed and becoming stones and earth, or so we think, and when melted or

dispersed, the same substance in turn becomes wind and air, and air when burned becomes fire.

When this is combined once more and the fire is extinguished, it returns again to the form of air,

and air comes together again, becomes dense and forms cloud and mist, and by compacting these

even more we get flowing water, and from water we go on to get earth and stones. And their coming

into being appears to be a cycle where they interchange with one another in this way.

Accordingly, since none of these ever appears the same, which of them can a person firmly

assert to be ‘this something or other’ and not something else, without embarrassing himself? It is

not possible, and by far the most cautious approach when making assertions about these is to speak

as follows: whatever we observe continually becoming in different ways at different times – fire,

for instance – we should consistently refer to

not as ‘this’ but as ‘like this’; and we should not

refer to water as ‘this’ but always as ‘such as this’; nor ever refer to anything else as something

possessing fixity by using the terms ‘this’ and ‘that’ and presume that we are pointing to anything.

For they take flight and do not wait for the ‘this’ and the ‘that’ and the ‘thereby’, and whatever

expressions indicate that they are constant. So we should not use these terms about them, but in

relation to each of them, and all of them together we should describe them as ‘such as this, ever

recurring alike’. And, indeed, we should call fire that which is such as this throughout, and so for

all things that involve coming into being. But we should refer only to that in which each of these

makes its appearance and into which each dissolves again thereafter, by using the terms ‘this’ and

‘that’. However, anything with some sort of quality, be it hot or white, or any of the opposites, or

anything derived from these, should be referred to by none of these terms.

But I must make an effort to explain this anew even more clearly. Indeed, if someone, having

moulded all manner of shapes out of gold, were to keep on remoulding each shape into all the

others without stopping, and someone were to point to one of them and ask what it is in truth, the

safest answer is gold. But the triangle, and all the other shapes arising in it, we should never refer

to as ‘these’ as if they were things that are, for they change even as we make the assertion. Rather,

we should be content if they deign to accept the cautious designation ‘such as this’. Then we must

48 d

48 e

49 a

49 b

49 c

49 d

49 e

50 a

50 b

1,008 | TIMAEUS – 48d–50b

also give the same account of the nature of the recipient of all these bodies; we must assert that it

is always the same, since it never departs at all from its own capacity. For it is always receiving

everything, but it never adopts a shape similar to the things which enter into it in any way at all.

There it lies, the natural recipient of all impressions, moved and shaped by the things that enter it,

seeming to change from time to time because of these. What enters it and leaves it are imitations

of the things that are always, modelled upon them in some manner which is hard to describe and

extraordinary, which we shall deal with on another occasion.

Leaving that aside, we must now conceive of three kinds: that which comes into being; that

in which it comes into being; and the original, in the likeness of which that which comes into being

grows. What’s more, it is appropriate to liken the recipient to a mother, the original to a father, and

the nature arising between these to an offspring. And we must also understand that if the recipient

of impressions is to display all the varieties of embellishment, this entity in which the impressions

will be set would need to be well prepared, and this will not occur unless it is devoid of all of those

characteristics which it is about to receive from elsewhere. For if it were similar to anything that

entered it, then whenever something of an opposite or completely different nature entered and was

received, the receptacle would present a bad likeness as its own feature would intrude. Therefore,

that which receives all forms into itself must also be devoid of all qualities, just as skilled perfumers

contrive firstly to do just this, making the oil which will receive the scents as odourless as possible.

And whoever turns his hand to moulding shapes in some soft material allows no shape at all to be

present beforehand, but they even it out first, and render it as smooth as possible. In the same way,

it is fitting that whatever will continually, throughout its entire self, receive the likenesses of all

that is known by nous, and is always, should also be naturally devoid of all forms. So, then, the

mother and receptacle of what is generated, visible and in every respect perceptible, should not be

called earth or air or fire or water, or anything that they produce or that from which they arise. Yet,

we shall not deceive ourselves if we say it is an invisible and shapeless form, all-receiving, partic-

ipating in a most baffling way in that which can be known by nous, and hard to understand. Insofar

as it is possible to arrive at its nature from our previous deliberations, it would be most correct to

describe it as follows: the part that has become fiery appears at the same time as fire, the moistened

part as water, and as earth and air also, to the extent that it receives imitations of these.

And yet, we must investigate this further through argument by making distinctions about

these. Is there such a thing as fire just by itself, and everything that we constantly refer to in this

way each as things in themselves? Or is it only what we look at, and anything else we perceive

through the body, that possesses this sort of truth, and is there nothing else besides these in any

sense whatsoever? And do we speak idly every time we declare that there is a form of each, dis-

cernible by nous? Is this, in the end, nothing but a word? Now, it would be appropriate neither to

dismiss the present issue by asserting that this is how matters stand without any deliberation or

judgement, nor should we insert another lengthy, secondary topic into an already lengthy discourse.

Yet, if it proved possible to make a significant distinction quite briefly, that would be most appro-

priate to our purpose. So, I cast my own vote as follows: if nous and true opinion indeed represent

two kinds, then, definitively, there are these forms, just by themselves, incapable of being perceived

by our senses, known by nous alone. However, if, as it appears to some, true opinion does not

differ at all from nous, then by contrast, everything that we perceive by means of the body must

be designated as most certain. Well, we must declare that these are two, because they have arisen

independently and have dissimilar characteristics. One of them is engendered through instruction,

the other through persuasion; one always arises along with a true account, while the other is devoid

of an account; and one is unmoved by persuasion, while the other is amenable to persuasion.

50 c

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50 e

51 a

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51 d

51 e

TIMAEUS – 50c–51e | 1,009

–––––

Omitting pur at 49d6, following Cornford.

Indeed, all men may be said to partake of opinion, but only the gods and some small class of

humanity partake of nous.

Since this is how matters stand, we must agree that the form which is always the same is

one, ungenerated, undecaying, neither receiving anything into itself from anywhere else, nor enter-

ing into anything else anywhere, invisible and imperceptible. Nous has been assigned the task of

investigating this. The second bears the same name as that and is similar thereto – perceptible,

generated, constantly being moved, coming into being in some location, then perishing out of that

place once more. It is apprehended by opinion accompanied by sense perception. The third kind

is space, which is always, not accepting destruction, providing a basis for everything that comes

into being, itself apprehended without involving the senses by some spurious reasoning difficult

to believe in. This, indeed, we look towards and we engage in dreams, declaring that whatever is

must presumably be in some location and occupy some space, and whatever is not, somehow either

on Earth or in Heaven, is nothing. On account of this dreaming, we become unable, on awakening,

to make these distinctions and others akin to them, even in relation to the unsleeping and truly

subsisting nature, and to state the truth that in the case of an image, since it does not itself even

possess the very thing it has been fashioned after, but always bears an appearance belonging to

something else, it is appropriate for these reasons that it come into being in something different,

clinging onto being in some way or other lest it be absolutely nothing. However, in support of

what actually is, the precise and true account states that as long as one thing is different from

another, neither can ever come into being in the other so that they simultaneously become one and

the same, and two.

So let this concisely argued account be the one that receives my vote. There is being, space

and becoming, these three, even before the Heaven comes into being. And yet the nurse of becom-

ing, rendered watery and fiery, and receiving the forms of earth and air and adopting whatever

other characteristics are a consequence of these, presents a variegated appearance. And because

of being filled with powers that are neither similar nor equally balanced, no part of it is equally

balanced. Rather, being swayed irregularly in all directions, it is shaken by those powers, and, as

it moves, it in turn shakes them once more. And as they move, borne continually in one direction

or another, they are separated, just like materials shaken and sifted by sieves and instruments for

purifying grain; the dense and heavy components go one way, while the loose and light components

are carried to a different place and settle there. The four kinds were then shaken in this way by the

receptacle, itself moving like an instrument for shaking, separating the most dissimilar as far apart

as possible from one another, while forcing the most similar together into the same place. And so

it was that these different kinds each occupied a distinct space, even before the Universe organised

from them had come into being. Indeed, prior to this they all behaved in an irrational and unmea-

sured manner. However, when the Universe was brought to order, fire, water, earth and air did

possess some traces of themselves, and yet they were entirely in the sort of state that anything is

likely to be in when god is absent from it. Such being their nature at the time, the god first gave

them a structure by means of forms and numbers. Let this, above all, be our constant assertion:

the god constructed them to be as beautiful and excellent as possible, but this was not their previous

condition. But now I must attempt to show you the structure of each of them, and their origin, by

means of an unfamiliar account. And yet, since you have been involved in the courses of education

that I must draw upon to demonstrate my assertion, you will follow me.

Now, in the first place, fire and earth, water and air are bodies, as is obvious to everyone I

presume, and the form of every body also possesses depth. And it is absolutely necessary that

depth, in turn, be contained by a flat surface, and any straight-sided flat surface is constructed from

triangles. All triangles originate from two triangles, each of which possesses a single right angle

while the others are acute. One of them has half a right angle on either side, divided by equal sides,

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52 e

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53 d

1,010 | TIMAEUS – 52a–53d

while in the other case the portions of the right angle are unequal, apportioned by unequal sides.

So, proceeding on the basis of the likely account, accompanied by necessity, we propose this as

the origin of fire and the other bodies, but any origins still higher than these god knows, and so do

any men who are dear to him. So we need to state what the most beautiful bodies would be, four

in number, dissimilar to one another, and yet capable of arising from one another in some cases

when they are broken apart. For once we accomplish this, we are in possession of the truth con-

cerning the generation of earth and fire and whatever lies between them in a proportion. Indeed,

we shall not concede to anyone that there are visible bodies more beautiful than these anywhere,

each based upon a single kind.

So we must be eager to construct the four types of bodies that excel in beauty, and to declare

that we have sufficiently understood their nature. In the case of the pair of triangles, there is only

one type of isosceles triangle but an unlimited number of scalenes. Therefore, we must proceed to

select the most beautiful from this unlimited number if we intend to begin methodically. Yet if

anyone can declare that he has chosen something more beautiful for the construction of these bod-

ies, he will be victorious, not as an enemy but as a friend. And so, passing over the others, we pro-

pose one of the numerous triangles as the most beautiful, the one from which the equilateral triangle

is constructed as a third. The explanation for this is a longer story, but if anyone refutes this and

discovers that it is not the case, the prize is his, as a friend.

So we shall select two triangles from which the bodies of fire and of the others have been

devised. One is the isosceles, while the other has a long side that is always triple the short side

when they are squared. However, something stated earlier in an imprecise manner should now be

made more definite, for when it appeared that the four kinds all underwent generation from one

another and into one another, the appearances were incorrect. The four kinds do indeed arise from

the triangles we selected, and while three are constructed from the one that has unequal sides, the

fourth one alone is constructed from the isosceles. So it is not possible for them all to be generated

from one another when they are broken apart so that a few large kinds are produced from numerous

smaller kinds and vice versa. Only three of them can do this because they arise naturally from a

single triangle, and, by breaking up the larger bodies, numerous smaller bodies can be formed

from the same triangles as the bodies take on the shapes appropriate to themselves. Then again,

the small bodies, when dispersed into their constituent triangles, would give rise to another large

single form once they constitute a single number belonging to a single volume.

Now, that is enough said about their generation from one another. Next, we should explain

what the form of each of them is like and the number that come together to constitute it. Now, we

begin with the construction of the first and smallest form. Its element of composition is the triangle

having its hypotenuse double the shortest side in length. If a pair of such triangles is placed along

a diagonal, and this is done three times, with the diagonals and the short sides fixed to the same

point as though it were a centre, then from these, six in number, a single equilateral triangle is pro-

duced. And when four equilateral triangles are combined based on three flat angles coming

together, a single solid angle is produced, the one that comes next after the most obtuse of flat

angles.

And when four such solid angles have been completed, the first solid form that apportions

the entire surface of a sphere into equal and similar parts is constructed.

The second is composed of the same triangles but arranged into eight equilateral triangles

which produce a single solid angle from four flat angles, and when six solid angles like this have

53 e

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54 b

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54 d

54 e

55 a

TIMAEUS – 53e–55a | 1,011

–––––

The former is the right-angled isosceles triangle. The latter is the right-angled scalene triangle.

This simply means that the three 60º angles that meet at the corner of a tetrahedron add up to 180º, which is not an

obtuse angle but next after the most obtuse angle.

This refers to a tetrahedron inscribed within a sphere.

been generated, the second solid form is, in turn, brought to completion. The third is composed of

one hundred and twenty of the elemental triangles combined together. It has twelve solid angles,

each bounded by five flat equilateral triangles, and twenty faces consisting of equilateral triangles.

Now, this elemental triangle was released from duty once it had produced these three forms, and

the isosceles triangle then produced the fourth kind when it was assembled in groups of four, with

their right angles joining at the centre to form a single equilateral quadrangle.

And six such sur-

faces when brought together produced eight solid angles, each consisting of three flat right angles,

and the shape of the assembled body was the cube with its six flat equilateral quadrangular faces.

One construction still remained, the fifth, and God used this in order to embroider shapes upon

the Universe.

Now, suppose someone considering all this with due measure were to become perplexed

over whether we should say there are an unlimited number of universes or that there is some limit.

He would regard the opinion that the number is unlimited as belonging to someone who is actually

inexperienced on issues about which he should be experienced, but, on the other hand, the question

of whether it is in truth ever appropriate to say that there is naturally one universe or five, if he

were to stop there, would provide more reasonable grounds for perplexity. Now, our approach,

based upon the likely account, reveals that it is by nature a single god, but someone else, in view

of some other considerations, may form different opinions.

Now, we should dismiss this fellow and allocate the four types that have been generated to

fire, earth, water and air. So let’s assign the cubic form to earth, since earth is the most immobile

of the four types and it is the most malleable of bodies, so it is especially necessary that this be the

sort that has the most stable bases. And of the two triangles we proposed at the outset, a base made

from the one with equal sides is naturally more stable than a base made from the one with unequal

sides; and in the case of the equal-sided surfaces constructed from either triangle, the square is

necessarily more resistant to motion than the equilateral triangle, both as a whole and according

to its parts. Therefore, we shall preserve the likely account by assigning this form to earth, and of

those that remain the hardest to move is assigned to water, the easiest to move to fire, and the inter-

mediate kind to air. Again, the smallest body is assigned to fire, the largest to water, and the inter-

mediate to air; and the sharpest again to fire, the second sharpest to air, and the third sharpest to

water. Now, in all these cases, the one that has the fewest bases is necessarily the most mobile by

nature, since it is the most incisive and the sharpest of them all in every respect, and also the lightest

since it is composed of the fewest identical parts. The second lies in second place based on these

same factors, while the third lies in third place.

So, in accordance with the correct and likely account, let the solid form that constitutes a

pyramid be the element and seed of fire, and we may say that the second in order of generation

belongs to air, and the third to water. Now, we need to realise that these are all so small that an

individual particular of each kind is invisible to us due to its extreme smallness, and yet, when a

large number are aggregated together, their bulks are visible. As for the proportions associated

with their multiplicity, movements, and their other capacities, insofar as the nature of Necessity

allowed under willing persuasion, we must realise that God fitted them together entirely in due

proportion once he had precisely perfected them in this comprehensive manner.

Now, from all that we have said earlier about the kinds, they would be most likely to behave

as follows. Earth, on encountering fire and being broken apart by its sharpness – regardless of

whether it is in fire itself when it gets broken up, or in a mass of air or water – would travel along

until such time as it somehow meets up with its own parts, which, once fitted together with them-

selves, become earth again, for they could never have adopted any other form. Water, when broken

apart either by fire or air, is capable of combining to constitute one body of fire and two of air,

while the components of air, when a single portion is broken up, would become two bodies of fire.

55 b

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55 d

55 e

56 a

56 b

56 c

56 d

56 e

1,012 | TIMAEUS – 55b–56e

And again, when a little fire is surrounded by a lot of air or water, or even by some earth, and is

in motion within them, does battle, gets defeated and is shattered, two bodies of fire combine into

a single figure of air. And if air is defeated and broken in pieces, one whole figure of water will be

compounded from two and a half of air.

In fact, we may consider them again as follows. Whenever one of the other types is sur-

rounded by fire and is cut by its sharp corners and edges, it stops being cut once it recombines

into the nature of fire. For in each case, a kind that is the same and similar is unable to effect any

change in or be affected by anything that is the same as itself and has similar characteristics.

However, as long as it transforms into something else, as a lesser contesting against a stronger, its

dissolution is unceasing. And furthermore, whenever a few smaller units, being surrounded by

many that are larger, are broken apart and quenched, then, if they recombine and adopt the form

of the dominant units, their quenching ceases and air arises from fire, or water from air. But if, as

they are going in this direction, one of the other kinds comes upon them and attacks them, there is

no end to their dissolution until they are either completely broken up by the pressure and take

flight towards their kindred, or they are overcome, and out of the multiplicity constitute a unit like

unto their conqueror and abide thereafter as its neighbour. And, indeed, during these processes

they all exchange their locations, for although the vast bulk of each kind is set apart in its own

place because of the motion of the receptacle, those that are in the process of becoming unlike

themselves, but like others, are borne by the shaking towards the place belonging to the kinds they

are becoming like.

Now, it is through such causes as these that the unmixed and primary bodies have arisen,

and yet the different types that exist within the forms of these four must be attributed to the con-

struction of the two elementals. This initially produced a triangle in each case that was not of one

size only; rather, some were smaller, some larger, and the number of different sizes corresponded

to the number of different types among the four kinds. And so, as they combine with themselves

and one another, their diversity is unlimited, a diversity that must be contemplated by anyone who

intends to have recourse to the likely account in relation to natural phenomena.

Now, if there is not some agreement on the origin of motion and rest and the manner in

which they arise, our subsequent reasoning would be much impeded. And although something has

been said about them already, the following should still be added. Where there is uniformity, motion

is never inclined to arise. For it is difficult, impossible really, that there be something moved with-

out that which moves it, or for something to be a mover without something that is moved. In the

absence of these there is no movement, yet it is impossible for them ever to be uniform. So, acc -

ordingly, we should always propose that there is rest in uniformity, and motion in non-uniformity.

And, furthermore, the cause of the non-uniform nature is inequality.

We have, indeed, described the origin of inequality, but we have not said precisely why

there is not a cessation of their motion and mutual interchange once each of the four have been

separated according to their kinds. We shall resume our account of this topic now. Since the circuit

of the Universe encompasses these four kinds, and, being circular, is also inclined by nature to

revert towards itself, it compresses them all and tends to allow no empty space to remain.

Therefore, fire has indeed penetrated everything else to the greatest extent, air to the second great-

est extent since it is by nature second in degree of fineness, and so on for all the others. For those

formed from the largest components leave the most empty space in their structure, while the

smallest leave the least. So the coming together, or compression, forces the smaller into the spaces

in the larger. Now, when the smaller are placed alongside the larger and the lesser split the greater

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–––––

That is, a square.

This refers to the dodecahedron, which is the closest of all the solids to the spherical shape of the universe.

apart, or the larger force the lesser to combine, they are all borne in one direction or another

towards their own locations, for as each changes in size, it also changes the position of the location

that belongs to it. In this way, and on account of all this, the generation of non-uniformity is

always preserved, and it continually produces the unceasing alteration of these bodies, now and

in the future.

As well as this, we need to realise also that numerous types of fire exist, flame for instance,

and also that which is emitted by flame which does not burn and yet provides light to the eyes,

and also that which remains in the glowing embers when the flame is extinguished. The same goes

for air, the brightest is referred to as ether, the murkiest as mist and darkness, and there are other

forms without names, generated through the inequality of the triangles. The forms of water are

first divided in two, one form of it is liquid, the other liquefiable. Now, the liquid form, because it

partakes of the kinds of water that are small and unequal, is readily moved, either just by itself or

by something else, due to the non-uniformity and the characteristic associated with its shape.

However, the one composed of large and uniform kinds is more immobile than the liquid, and

since it is rendered solid by its uniformity, it is heavy. Yet if it is penetrated and broken apart by

fire, it loses its uniformity, and once this is undone it is more inclined towards motion, and once it

becomes mobile it is extended out upon the earth under the pressure of the surrounding air. Each

of these processes has acquired a name. ‘Melting’ is the disintegration of the bulk, and ‘flowing’

is the spreading upon the earth. But when the fire is expelled from there again, it does not emerge

into a void; the surrounding air is pressurised, and it compresses the still mobile liquid mass into

the positions that belonged to fire, thus mixing it together with itself. And once this is compressed

it acquires its uniformity again, and since fire, the artificer of its non-uniformity, has withdrawn,

it reverts to sameness with itself. Being quit of fire is termed ‘cooling’, while the contraction that

follows its departure is termed ‘being in a solid state’.

Now, of all these liquefiable kinds of water, as we have called them, the most dense arises

from the finest and most uniform components. It is of one form only, glistening and yellow in

colour, a most revered possession – gold, filtered through rock and solidified, while the offspring

of gold, which is very hard and black due to its density, is called adamant. The kind whose parts

bear the closest resemblance to gold has more forms than one. In density, it is in a way more dense

than gold and it contains a small, fine portion of earth, and so it is harder, yet in another way it is

lighter since it contains larger interstices within itself. This compound is copper, one form of the

bright and solid types of water. But as the two components of the mixture age, they separate from

one another again, and the earth that is in the mixture appears on the surface and is called rust.

It should no longer be a complex matter to work out the features of the other substances of

this kind whilst adhering to the structure of likely stories. In this regard, whenever someone, for

the sake of relaxation, laying aside discussions concerning things that always are, gives consider-

ation to likely accounts concerned with becoming, and derives a pleasure he will not later regret,

he would be introducing a measured and sensible pastime into his life. So, having indulged in this

just now, dealing with the same issues, we shall proceed with the likely accounts that follow this

in due order in the following way. Water that is mixed with fire and is fine and liquid is called

liquid due to its motion and the course it takes as it rolls along the ground. Now, it is also soft

because its bases are yielding, being less stable than those of earth, and whenever it separates off

from fire and air, and is on its own, it becomes more uniform and is compressed into itself by the

emerging substances, and it is solidified in this way. When this happens to it well above the earth

it is hail, when on the earth it is ice, and when it happens to a lesser extent and it is still half-solid-

ified, it is snow when above the earth, and when it is compacted from dew upon the earth it is

called frost.

Now, most types of water are mixed with one another, and because this category in general

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is filtered through the plants of the earth, they are called juices. Although each involves dissimi-

larity on account of the intermixtures, and while the differences give rise to numerous kinds that

are nameless, four types containing fire are particularly evident and these have received names:

wine, that can heat the soul as well as the body; an oily sort that is smooth and splits the beam of

sight and so appears glittering and bright to behold – resin, castor oil, oil itself and any others with

the same capacity. There is one that can relax the passageways of the mouth back to their natural

condition, and by this capacity furnishes sweetness; it is generally referred to as honey. The last

kind corrodes the flesh by burning; it is a foamy sort secreted from all other juices and it is called

sour-juice.

As for the forms of earth, that which is filtered through water becomes a strong material in

the following manner. Whenever the water that is mixed in with it is broken up in the commingling

process, it transforms into the figure of air, and once it has become air it rises up to its own region,

but there isn’t a void above them, so the air in the vicinity is pressurised. And since it is heavy, it

presses down and pours around the mass of earth, squeezes it intensely and compresses it into the

positions from which the newly formed air had arisen. And earth, when compressed by air, con-

stitutes stone that is indissoluble in water. The superior kind composed of equal and uniform parts

is transparent, while the opposite applies to the inferior kind. The one from which all the moisture

has been forced out by the rapid action of fire, and is a more brittle compound than the other, is

the kind to which we have given the name ‘potters’ clay’. And on occasion, when some moisture

is left behind and the earth has been melted by fire and then cooled down, the black-coloured sub-

stance constitutes [lava] stone. Similarly, there are two more that are extracted from the mixture

containing a great deal of water. They are composed of finer particles of earth and are salty, and

being semi-solid they are soluble once more in water. One is soda, which can cleanse us of oil and

earth, while the other is salt, which blends well in the interactions associated with sense perception

of the mouth, and, according to tradition, is beloved of the gods. The compounds of both earth

and water that can be dissolved by fire but not by water are compacted in that way for the following

reason. A mass of earth is not broken up by fire or air, since their particles are naturally smaller

than the structure of its interstices. So they pass through the considerable open spaces without

exertion, leaving the earth undissolved and rendering it indissoluble. However, since the particles

of water are naturally larger, they make their way through by force, loosening the earth and break-

ing it apart. So earth that is not forcibly solidified in this way is dissolved only by water, yet when

it has been so solidified, it is dissolved by nothing but fire, for no way is left for anything to enter

it except fire.

Water, for its part, when compressed with extreme force, is dispersed by fire alone, but if

the force of compression is weaker, it is dispersed by both fire and air. Air acts upon the interstices,

fire upon the elemental triangles. And when air is forcibly solidified, nothing dissolves it except

by acting upon its elemental triangles, and when the solidification is not forceful, only fire can

break it apart.

In the case of the mixed bodies composed of earth and water, as long as water occupies its

interstices and these are forcibly pressed together, the particles of water arriving from outside,

having no way of entering, flow around it leaving the entire mass intact. Yet the particles of fire

entering the interstices of the water and acting upon it – fire acting on water as water acted upon

earth – constitute the sole causes whereby the compound body is broken apart and flows. Some of

these, the entire category associated with glass and any stones that we call liquefiable, happen to

have less water than earth. Others – all materials that are wax-like or useful as incense – have, for

their part, more water.

Although the variegated forms originating from the commonalities in the shapes and their

transformations into one another have been presented quite well at this stage, we should neverthe-

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less attempt to indicate the causes by which the characteristics they possess have arisen. Firstly,

the characteristics we are discussing throughout must be perceptible, even though the origin of

flesh and its accompaniments, and of the mortal part of soul, have not yet been described. In fact,

it is not possible for these to be adequately discussed without reference to those characteristics

that are amenable to sense perception, or to discuss the characteristics without reference to the

senses, while it is nigh impossible to treat of both at the same time. So, we should first make

assumptions about one or the other of them, and then return to those assumptions hereafter. So, let

us initially make an assumption about whatever is relevant to body and soul so that having

described the various kinds we may next speak of their qualities.

Now, let’s first look at why we refer to fire as hot by considering the splitting and cutting

we notice it bringing about in our bodies. Indeed, we all perceive that the effect is a piercing one,

yet we must deduce the fineness of the edges, the sharpness of the angles, the smallness of the

particles and the rapidity of its motion, all of which render it intense and incisive, always cutting

acutely into whatever it encounters. We deduce this by remembering the origin of its shape,

whereby this substance and no other, by splitting our bodies and cutting them up minutely, is likely

to provide the characteristic we now call heat and its name too.

Although what is opposite to

these is obvious, it deserves to be described anyway. Now, when the liquids consisting of larger

particles surrounding the body make their way in, they force the smaller particles out, but are

unable to settle into the positions thus vacated. They compress the moisture within us, rendering

it immobile and solid due to the uniformity and the pressure, whereas it had previously been non-

uniform and mobile. But anything that is unnaturally contracted naturally resists the process by

pushing back in the opposite direction. This resistance and shaking is called shuddering or shiv-

ering, while the entire effect as a whole, and that which brings it about, has the name ‘cold’. ‘Hard’

designates anything to which our flesh yields, while ‘soft’ designates anything which yields to the

flesh, and they are also designated in this way with respect to one another. Whatever rests upon a

small base tends to yield, and whatever is constituted of square bases is the most rigid form since

it is established firmly, and anything compressed to an extreme density would also be especially

resistant.

The nature of heavy and light may be presented most clearly by considering them along

with the expressions ‘up’ and ‘down’. Indeed, it is not at all correct to regard the Universe as nat-

urally divided into two distinct opposite regions; ‘down’ being the one towards which anything

with any bodily bulk is borne; ‘up’ being the direction in which everything moves against its will.

For since the entire Heaven has a spherical form, any extremities are situated at an equal distance

from the centre, and these by nature must be extremities in the same way, while the centre, being

situated at an equal distance from all the extremities, must be regarded as being in the opposite

position to all of them. Now, since the world is naturally like this, which of the locations we have

described may be designated as ‘up’ or ‘down’ without being regarded, quite rightly, as using a

name that is not appropriate? For the central location within it is not rightly described as either

‘up’ or ‘down’. No, it is just in the centre, while the periphery is obviously not the centre, nor does

any part thereof differ in its relationship to the centre, nor to any of the points on the opposite side.

But what sort of opposing names may be applied to something that is similar in every respect, and

in what way might it be properly described? Indeed, even if a solid body were equipoised at the

centre of the Universe, it would never be borne towards any particular extremity since they are all

similar in every respect. No, even if someone were to proceed around it in a circle, repeatedly

standing with his feet in opposite situations, he would refer to the same point on it as both ‘up’

and ‘down’. Indeed, as we said just now, the whole is spherical in form, so it is not sensible to

describe one location as ‘up’ and another as ‘down’. As for the origin of these names and the actual

circumstances to which they apply, by reason of which we are accustomed to refer to the entire

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Universe by dividing it in this way, these issues we must agree upon by making the following sup-

position. Suppose someone in the region of the Universe that is assigned predominantly to fire,

where most of it gathers and towards which it is borne, were to stand up there and had the ability

to take portions of fire, place them on a scale and weigh them, raising the beam and dragging the

fire forcibly into the dissimilar region of air, a lesser quantity of fire obviously would be forced

more easily than a greater. For if two things are raised aloft by a single effort, the lesser must pre-

sumably go along with the force to a greater extent, and the greater to a lesser extent as it resists

the process. So, the large volume is said to be heavy and to be borne downwards, while the small

one is said to be light and borne upwards.

Well, we need to discover ourselves doing the very same thing in our own region. Indeed,

when we stand upon the earth, weighing earthy substances and sometimes earth itself, we are drag-

ging them forcibly and contrary to nature into the dissimilar region of air. In both cases they cling

to their own kindred, but the smaller bulk co-operates with the compulsion more easily and is first

to follow it into the dissimilar region. Accordingly, we refer to it as ‘light’, and the region into

which we compel it as ‘up’, and the characteristics opposite to these as ‘heavy’ and ‘down’.

Consequently, these must behave differently relative to one another because the vast bulk of the

four types occupy a region opposite to one another. Indeed, on comparing what is light in one

region with light in the opposite region, heavy with heavy, down with down, and up with up, all

sorts of direct or indirect oppositions and differences relative to one another will be discovered,

some present, some coming into being. However, there is one factor to be kept in mind in all of

these cases. The course towards what is kindred to each renders whatever transverses it, heavy,

and the region into which something like this is borne, down. The other terms are applied to those

that take the other course. So, let’s declare that these are the explanations of those characteristics.

As for roughness and smoothness, I presume that anyone would be able to discern their causes

and relate them to someone else, for one is produced by hardness combined with non-uniformity,

and the other by uniformity combined with density.

The most significant remaining issue concerning the experiences shared by the entire body

is the cause of the pleasures and the pains in those processes we have already described, and in

any cases where sense perceptions acquired through our body parts are also accompanied by pains

and pleasures in the parts themselves. Now, we should come to an understanding of the causes of

any effect, perceptible or imperceptible, by recollecting the distinction we made earlier between

the mobile and the immobile nature. Yes, anything we intend to discover must be pursued in this

way. Whenever an impression, even a slight one, is made upon anything that is mobile by nature,

it is transmitted around, one part bringing about the same effect upon the next until it reaches the

thinking and proclaims the characteristics of whatever made that impression. While in the opposite

case, where the object is unmoving, there is no outward motion, and the object alone is affected

without moving anything else in its vicinity so that the initial impression is not transmitted from

one part to another, does not move into the living creature in its entirety, and renders the impression

imperceptible. These considerations apply to bone and hair and any other predominantly earthy

parts of our bodies, while the previous considerations apply mainly to parts concerned with sight

and hearing because of the significant function of fire and air within them.

Now, we should think about pleasure and pain as follows. When a sudden, forceful impres-

sion contrary to our nature is made upon us, it is painful, while the sudden return once more to the

natural condition is pleasant. Any impression that is gentle and gradual is imperceptible, but the

opposite goes for the opposite impressions. Anything that happens easily is undoubtedly perceptible,

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–––––

The reference here seems to be to a supposed connection between the Greek words for ‘heat’ and for ‘cutting into

pieces’.

and yet it does not involve pain or pleasure – experiences associated with the beam of sight itself,

for instance, which, as we said previously, constitutes a body that coalesces with our own in the

daytime. For cuts and burns, and whatever else the beam of light undergoes, do not produce pain

or pleasure either when it returns once more to the same configuration. Yet there are significant

and detailed sense impressions corresponding to whatever affects it, and to anything that it

impinges upon or comes into contact with, for there is no force whatsoever involved in its dispersal

or reconstitution. However, bodies composed of larger particles yield with difficulty to whatever

acts upon them, transmit the effects throughout their entirety, and involve pleasures and pains;

pains when they are being altered from their normal state, pleasures when they are being established

once more in their original condition. In cases where they undergo gradual depletion and emptying

but the refilling is sudden and extensive, the emptying process is imperceptible and the filling

process is perceptible, and this induces no pains in the mortal part of the soul, only enormous

pleasures. An obvious example is our experience of pleasant odours. But cases in which they are

suddenly altered from their usual condition, and re-established only gradually and with difficulty

in their own original state, bring about outcomes completely opposite to the previous cases. This

is evident in circumstances in which the body is cut or burned.

Although the experiences common to the body as a whole and any names bestowed upon

whatever produces them have been described fairly well, we should still attempt to explain, if we

can somehow do so, what happens in various parts of our bodies, the associated effects, and fur-

thermore the causes involved in their production. First, we should clarify as best we can whatever

we omitted from our earlier discussion about tastes – namely, the particular experiences that involve

the tongue. These experiences appear to originate, as indeed do most others, from certain constric-

tions and expansions, and, additionally, they rely more than the others upon roughness and smooth-

ness. For any earth particles that enter in around the veins that act like probes for the tongue,

extending as far as the heart, fall upon the moist, soft flesh, get dissolved, constrict the veins and

dry them up. These appear harsh to us if they are particularly rough, dry if they are less rough. But

anything that cleanses these veins, and anything that rinses the region of the tongue, is referred to

as bitter when it exceeds the measure of its activity so that it attacks and melts away the substance

of the tongue itself. Soda has this sort of effect, while those that are milder than soda and exercise

their cleansing effect in due measure appear salty to us and more agreeable in the absence of that

bitter roughness. Those which combine with the heat of the mouth and are rendered smooth become

inflamed along with it, and in turn burn the very thing that warmed them up. Then, being carried

upwards by their lightness towards the sense organs in the head, they cut apart whatever they

impinge upon, and because they possess these powers, all such substances are called pungent.

Those particles that have become thin through decay sink down into the narrow veins and are duly

proportioned to particles of earth and air that are in there already, so that they set them moving

around one another and stir them up. Being stirred up, they form an enclosure, and as one kind of

particle sinks into another they produce hollows stretched around the particles that enter. So when

a hollow of moisture, earthy or pure, is stretched about air, it forms watery vessels of air. Those

enveloped by pure water are transparent and are called bubbles, while in cases where the moisture

is earthy so that it moves and rises in a mass, we use the terms foaming and fermentation, and that

which causes these experiences is called acid.

An effect opposite to all those we have been describing is produced by an opposite cause.

Whenever the configuration of the particles entering into liquids has a natural affinity with the

normal condition of the tongue, smoothes it out and covers over its roughness, contracts the parts

that have been unnaturally dilated, relaxes those that have been unnaturally constricted and settles

them all as much as possible into their natural condition, anything of this sort constitutes a pleasant

and agreeable remedy for those violent experiences, and is called sweet.

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1,018 | TIMAEUS – 64e–66c

Well, that is enough on this topic. Now, in the case of the power that belongs to the nostrils

there are no distinct forms, for all of the smells are half-breeds and no single form proves to possess

symmetry corresponding to any smell. Rather, the veins within us that are involved in these

processes are more narrowly constructed than the kinds of particle belonging to earth and water,

and are wider than those of fire and air, so no one has ever perceived a scent from any of these

four. No, odour arises from the moistening, decaying, liquefaction or evaporation of substances.

Indeed, odours arise at the intermediate stage when water is being transformed into air or air into

water, and they are all smoke or mist. The one proceeding from air to water is mist, while the one

proceeding from water to air is smoke. Therefore, all odours are less dense than water and yet

more dense than air. This is most evident when someone impedes the inward breath and then draws

his breath forcibly, for when he does this no accompanying odour whatsoever is filtered through,

and the breath alone enters in, devoid of odours. Now, the varieties of scents fall into two categories

which are without names, and consist neither of numerous forms nor of a simple few. Rather, we

should speak only of an immediate, distinct, twofold division into the pleasant and the painful:

one roughens and does violence to the entire vessel that lies between our navel and the top of our

head, while the other soothes this same region and lovingly restores it once more to its natural

condition.

The third part of sense perception within us, the one concerned with hearing, should be

investigated, and the causes of the experiences associated therewith should be stated. Now, we

may propose, in general, that sound is an impact transmitted by the air through the ears, brain and

blood as far as the soul, and that hearing is the motion produced by this, a motion beginning in the

head and ending in the region around the liver. If the motion is rapid the sound is high-pitched, if

slow it is low-pitched, if it is uniform the sound is even and smooth, and in the opposite case it is

harsh. If the motion is extensive, the sound is loud, and in the opposite case it is faint. However,

the factors involved in the concord of sound must be dealt with in later deliberations.

Well, there remains a fourth kind of sense perception, and it is necessary to subdivide this

since enormous variations are included within it, which we refer to collectively as colour, a flame

emanating from bodies, having particles proportionate to the beam of sight so as to bring about

perception. And in the earlier accounts the causes that generated the visual beam were simply

stated. Therefore, it would be most reasonable and appropriate to present a suitable account dealing

with colours as follows. Particles borne from the various objects and impinging upon the beam of

sight may be smaller, larger, or indeed equal in size to the particles belonging to the visual beam

itself. Now, those that are equal in size are imperceptible, and, indeed, we say they are transparent.

The larger and the smaller constrict the beam in one case, and disperse it in the other, and these

are related to the particles that warm and cool the flesh, the astringent ones associated with the

tongue, and those we referred to as pungent due to their warming effect. White and black constitute

identical experiences to these, but in a different medium, and for these reasons the phenomena

appear different. Therefore, they should be referred to accordingly – that which disperses the beam

of sight is white, and its opposite is black. And when the more rapid motion belonging to a different

kind of fire impinges upon the beam of sight and disperses it right up to the eyes, forcibly com-

pressing and cutting the very passageways of the eyes themselves, it causes a volume of fire and

water, which we call a tear, to pour out of them. This more acute motion, being itself fire, encoun-

ters fire coming from the opposite direction which leaps out as if coming from a flash of lightning,

while the incoming fire is being extinguished in the moisture, and in this turmoil a whole variety

of colours is generated. We refer to the effect as dazzling, and we call whatever brings this about

bright and glistening.

The kind of fire that is intermediate between these other two is not glistening, despite reach-

ing the moisture of the eyes and mixing with it, and the beam of fire shining through the moisture

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TIMAEUS – 66d–68b | 1,019

with which it is mixed produces a blood colour that we call red. Bright mixed with red and white

becomes orange, but it would not be sensible to state the extent of the measure involved in these,

even if we knew it, since we would not be even moderately capable of proposing any necessity or

any likely account thereof. And yet, red mixed with black and white is purple, or it is violet when-

ever these components are burned and more black is mixed in with them. Orange arises from a

mixture of yellow and grey, while grey comes from white and black, and ochre from white mixed

with yellow. White mixed with bright and steeped in an intense black produces a dark blue colour,

and dark blue mixed with white is light blue, while orange mixed with black is green. As for the

other colours, it is fairly obvious from these examples what mixtures they should be attributed to

if we are to preserve our likely account. Yet if someone were to put these matters to the test through

practical investigation, he would be acting in ignorance of the distinction between human and

divine nature. God has sufficient knowledge and power to combine the many into one, and then

again, to separate the one into many, but no human being is now, or ever shall be, adequate to

either of these undertakings.

So, at this stage, all these have developed in this way out of necessity. The artificer of the

most beautiful and best of whatever comes into being took these over when he was bringing the

self-sufficient and perfect god to birth, employing the causes associated with these as subservient,

while he himself fashioned the good in whatever comes into being. Therefore, we should distin-

guish two kinds of cause, one necessary, the other divine, and we should seek the divine in all

things for the sake of attaining a life that is as happy as our nature will admit. And we should seek

the necessary for the sake of the divine, reckoning that without these necessities, those divine

objects, our serious concern, are incapable of being discerned on their own, nor can they be appre-

hended or shared in at all.

Now that the two kinds of cause have been duly separated and lie before us like materials

for a carpenter, we must weave the remaining account together from these two. Let’s briefly go

back again to the beginning, proceed quickly from there to the stage we have just arrived at, and

attempt to give a conclusion to our story at that stage, a crown befitting all that has gone before.

Indeed, just as we said at the outset, these were all in a disorderly state when the god engendered

symmetry in each of them, each in relation to itself and all in relation to one another, to the extent

that, and in the manner that, it was possible for them to be proportionate and symmetrical. For at

that time nothing had a share in these proportions save by chance, and there was nothing at all

worthy of being called by the names we now use, such as fire or water or any of the others. Rather,

he first set all of these in order, then constructed this Universe from them, a single living being

containing within itself all living beings, both mortal and immortal. He himself became the artificer

of the divine beings and he commanded his own offspring to undertake the creation of the mortals.

And they, imitating their father, received the immortal beginning of soul, then fashioned a mortal

body in a globe around it and bestowed the entire body as its vehicle, and also built another form

of soul in the body – the mortal form. This contains fearsome, necessary experiences within itself;

first, there are pleasures, the greatest lure to evil; then, there are pains, taking flight from the good;

there is also rashness, and fear, two unintelligent advisers; anger that is so hard to appease; and

hope, so easily led astray. Mixing these together with irrational sense perception, and a love that

will turn its hand to anything, they compounded the mortal kind of soul in a necessary manner.

And fearing that these might pollute the divine part, unless this was absolutely unavoidable, they

housed the mortal part of soul separately from that in a different dwelling place in the body, by

constructing an isthmus and a boundary between the head and the chest, the neck, which they put

in place so as to keep them separated.

Then they fastened the mortal kind of soul within the chest, or thorax as we call it, and

since one part of this is naturally better and another part worse, they built the vessel of the thorax,

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making a division therein as if they were separating the men’s quarters from the women’s by plac-

ing the midriff as a barrier between the two. Then they housed the part of the soul that partakes of

courage and spirit, the part that is fond of victory, closer to the head between the midriff and the

neck, so that it could hearken to reason, and share with it the task of forcibly restraining the tribe

of desires on occasions when they would not willingly consent in any way to obey the injunction

of reason issuing from the Acropolis. So, in the sentry house they situated the heart, a knot of veins

and a fountain for the blood that is borne relentlessly through all the limbs. Consequently, whenever

the force of spirit boils up because reason proclaims that some unjust action is affecting them from

the outside, or even from the internal desires, every sensible part of the body rapidly becomes

aware of the exhortations and threats communicated through all the narrow veins, heeds them and

follows them unreservedly, and, accordingly, the very best part is allowed to rule among them all.

Considering the pounding of the heart, due to expectation of terrors or the awakening of

spirit, and anticipating that this sort of swelling of the spirited parts was going to arise through

fire, they devised a protection for the heart by implanting the structure of the lung. First and fore-

most this is soft and bloodless, and it also has cavities bored through it like a sponge so that it may

receive air and liquid, have a cooling effect, and provide respite and ease amid the burning heat.

Accordingly, they cut the channels of the windpipe as far as the lungs, and wrapped the lungs

around the heart like a buffer so that when spirit bursts forth within the heart, it would pound

against something yielding and be relieved, and being less troubled it would be more able to join

with spirit in the service of reason.

As for the part of the soul that is desirous of food and drink, and whatever else is held to be

lacking on account of the nature of the body, that part they housed in between the midriff and the

boundary near the navel, occupying the entire region, building there a sort of feeding trough for

the nourishment of the body. And there they tethered this part, like a conjoined wild beast that

needed to be nourished if there was ever going to be a mortal race. So they allocated this location

to it so that, grazing constantly at the feeding trough, housed as far away as possible from the part

that deliberates, producing the least possible commotion and noise, it would allow the supreme

part to deliberate in peace about what best serves the individual and the entire community. And

they realised that it was not going to understand reason, and even if it were somehow to attain

some appreciation thereof, it would not be in its nature to be concerned about any words, but would

be utterly enchanted night and day by images and phantoms. God, seeking to exploit this particular

weakness, assembled the structure of the liver and placed it in that very dwelling place, arranging

that it be dense, smooth and bright, possessing both sweetness and bitterness. It was intended that

the power belonging to the concepts emanating from nous, moving in the liver as if in a mirror

that receives impressions and produces visible images, would strike fear into the appetitive part.

So, whenever this power makes use of a kindred portion of the liver’s bitterness, bears down upon

it strongly and threateningly, and rapidly spreads the bitterness over the entire liver, it projects bil-

ious colours, contracts it and makes it all shrivelled and rough. What’s more, it also bends the lobe

of the liver from its proper state, constricts it, blocks and closes its ducts and apertures, and brings

about pain and nausea. And yet, when some breath of gentleness emanating from mind paints pic-

tures of an opposite sort, it provides respite from the bitterness by refusing to set in motion or even

to touch the nature that is opposite to itself. Then, making use of the very sweetness that is natural

to the liver, it restores all its parts to their proper, smooth and free condition, and renders the part

of the soul housed in the region of the liver kind and gentle, spending the hours of night in due

measure by having recourse to prophecy whilst sleeping, since it does not have a share in reason

or intelligence.

Indeed, those who fashioned us, remembering the injunction of their father when he directed

them to make the mortal race as excellent as possible, even corrected the degenerate part of us in

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this way by establishing the prophetic power in the liver so that it would have some contact with

truth. And there is sufficient indication that God has bestowed prophecy upon unintelligent human-

ity from the fact that no one in possession of nous attains to God-inspired true prophecy, but only

someone whose power of intelligence is fettered in sleep or who is disturbed by disease or some

frenzy. Rather, it is the role of the intelligent person to recollect and reflect upon the utterances

from the prophetic or frenzied state, waking or dreaming, and upon any visions that were seen,

and to decide by reasoning how and for whom these all indicate some present, past or future good

or evil. However, it is not a task for the person who still remains in the prophetic state to judge the

visions and utterances originating from himself. No, it has been well stated of old that it belongs

only to the sound-minded person to know himself and do what is his own. Hence, it is the custom

to set a group of interpreters as judges over the God-inspired prophecies, interpreters whom some

refer to as prophets in their own right, being totally unaware that these people are interpreters of

the enigmatic utterances or visions, and may not rightly be called prophets, but interpreters of

those who engage in prophecy.

So then, it is for the sake of prophecy that the liver has a nature of this sort and is located

in the place we have described, and, while each creature is still alive, such an organ as this retains

more vivid indications, but when deprived of life it becomes blind and its prophecies are too

obscure to indicate anything definite. Furthermore, it is for the sake of the liver, in order to keep

it always bright and clean, that the organ next to it has the composition it has and is positioned to

the left, like a cloth supplied for a mirror, always lying ready by its side. So, whenever any impu-

rities arise in the region of the liver due to bodily diseases, they are all purified and absorbed by

the loose texture of the spleen, since its fabric is porous and devoid of blood. Accordingly, as it

fills up with impurities, it waxes large and it festers, but then again, once the body has been purified,

it reduces in size and subsides to its former condition.

As for the soul, the extent to which it is mortal and the extent to which it is divine, and how,

in what company, and for what reasons these two parts are housed separately, we could only ever

insist that what we have asserted is true if God were to confirm it. But we should dare to assert,

even at this stage, that what has been said is likely, and will prove more so on further investigation,

so let that be our statement. Well, the topic that follows from these should be pursued on the same

basis. This concerns the manner in which the rest of the body came into being. It would be most

appropriate to attribute its construction to reasoning of the following sort. The race of gods who

framed us knew that we would show a lack of restraint with regard to food and drink, and would

consume them greedily beyond due measure or necessity. So, to prevent our rapid destruction

through diseases, and avoid the immediate demise of the still immature race of mortals, they antic-

ipated these problems and put in place the receptacle we call the abdomen to retain the excess food

and drink. They twisted the structure of the entrails around inside this so that food would not pass

through so rapidly that it would immediately compel the body to need food once again, thus pro-

ducing insatiable desire and rendering our entire race unphilosophic and uncultured due to gluttony,

heedless of our most divine part.

In relation to bones, flesh and any substances of this sort, the following account applies.

The origin of all these is the production of marrow, for whilst the soul is conjoined with the body,

the bonds of life, bound fast in marrow, are the secure roots of the mortal race. And yet the marrow

itself has come into being from other materials. For the god separated out those primary triangles

that were unwarped and smooth and best able to produce fire, water, air and earth in a precise man-

ner, and set each of these apart from their own kinds. Having mixed these with one another in due

proportion, he devised a universal seed-mixture for the entire mortal race by fashioning marrow

from them, and after that he planted therein the various kinds of soul and bound them fast. In his

initial allocation, he divided the marrow immediately into shapes corresponding in number and

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type to the shapes that were to belong to the particular forms of soul. He moulded into a complete

sphere the portion of marrow that was about to receive the divine seed into itself, as if it were

ploughed land, and this he called the brain, implying that the head

was going to become the con-

tainer for the brain once the construction of each living creature had been completed. Furthermore,

he divided the portion of marrow that was to retain the remaining part of soul, the mortal part, into

shapes that were both round and elongated at the same time, and yet he referred to them all as

marrow. He also cast out fetters of the entire soul from these as if they were being thrown from

anchors, and then fashioned all of this body of ours around the marrow after he had constructed a

complete covering of bone to surround it.

He constructed bone as follows. He sifted out earth that was pure and smooth, kneaded it,

soaked it in marrow, then placed it in fire, and after that he plunged it into water, again into fire,

and then into water once more. So, by constantly transferring it in this way from one medium to

the other, it was rendered indissoluble by either of them. Making use of this, he turned a sphere of

bone around the brain of the creature and he left a narrow opening in the sphere. He also moulded

vertebrae out of bone to surround the marrow that runs through the neck and down the spine,

arranging them vertically like pivots beginning from the head and running down the whole trunk.

And so they preserved the entire seed by fencing it about with a stone-like enclosure, creating

joints and making use of the quality of difference within these as an intermediate power, introduced

for the sake of motion and flexibility.

Furthermore, he recognised the tendency of the bony material to be more brittle and inflex-

ible than it should be, prone to become inflamed and then cool down again, thus developing gan-

grene and bringing rapid destruction to the seed within. On account of these tendencies, he devised

the sinews and the flesh so that sinews would bind all the limbs together and would enable the

body to bend and stretch by contracting and relaxing about the pivots, while the flesh was to be a

barrier against heat and a protection against cold, and against falls too, because it would yield

softly and gently to objects, just like garments of felt. It also contains warm moisture within itself

that breaks out in sweat, providing a coolness of its own to the entire body by moistening it on the

outside in the summer. Then again, in winter it uses this same fire to provide a measure of defence

against the onslaught of the prevailing frost that surrounds it. Bearing this in mind, he who shaped

us mixed water, fire and earth together, harmonised them, and compounded a ferment from acid

and brine which he added to the mix, thus producing soft, succulent flesh. And he compounded

the sinews from a blend of bone and unfermented flesh, a single substance with qualities interme-

diate between the two, to which he added a yellow colour. Hence, the sinews acquired the quality

of being tighter and tougher than flesh but softer and more moist than bone. The god enclosed the

bones and the marrow within these sinews, used them to bind the bones together, and then placed

a covering of flesh over them all.

Now, whatever bones were most possessed of soul he fenced about with the least amount

of flesh, while those that had least soul received most flesh, and that was extremely dense. And,

indeed, he caused very little flesh to grow at the joining of the bones unless reason indicated some

necessity that it be there. This was to prevent flesh from acting as an impediment to the bending

of the joints, thus making the body stiff and hard to move. Furthermore, lots of dense and extremely

compressed flesh would be so hard that it would make perception difficult and render the mental

faculties unretentive and dull. Because of this, the thighs and shins are fully endowed with flesh,

and so is the area around the hips and the region of the upper arms and forearms, any other

unjointed parts of our bodies, and any internal bones that are deficient in intelligence due to the

paucity of soul in their marrow. The parts possessing intelligence are less endowed, except when

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TIMAEUS – 73d–75a | 1,023

–––––

The Greek word for brain translates literally as ‘in the head’.

he somehow fashioned flesh just for the sake of perception itself, like the structure of the tongue,

but in most cases it is as I have said. Indeed, the nature that arises from necessity and develops

along with it does not in any way allow dense bone and lots of flesh to be simultaneous with keen

sense perception. For if these two qualities were actually willing to occur simultaneously, it would

be best of all for the structure of the head to possess them, so that the human race, bearing upon

itself a fleshy, sinewy and strong head, could attain a life twice or many times as long as the present

one, healthier too, and more free from pain.

But it so happened that the artificers responsible for bringing us into existence, deliberating

on whether they should produce a long-lived inferior race or a short-lived superior race, decided

that the shorter, better life should be chosen unreservedly for everyone, in preference to the longer

and inferior life. Accordingly, they covered the head completely with thin bones, but not with flesh

or with sinews either since it does not possess any joints. So, based on all these considerations, a

more perceptive, more intelligent, but much weaker head was placed upon the body of every per-

son. For these reasons, the god situated the sinews at the base of the head in a circle around the

neck and glued them on by means of uniformity, and to these he attached the extremities of the

jaws under the structure of the face. The rest of the sinews he distributed among all of the limbs,

connecting them together joint by joint. And indeed, those who brought order to the features of

our mouth arranged it as it now is, fitting it with teeth, a tongue and lips for the sake of all that is

necessary and all that is most exalted, thus devising an inward passage with a view to the necessary,

and outward passage with a view to the most exalted. Indeed, all that passes in bringing nourish-

ment to the body is necessary, while the stream of words flowing outwards in the service of under-

standing is the most beautiful and exalted of all streams.

Furthermore, due to the excesses of the various seasons, it was not possible to leave the

head only as bare bone, or, on the other hand, to let it become dull and unperceptive because it

was overborne by a mass of flesh. So, from the fleshy material that was not dried up, an excessively

loose film was separated out which we now refer to as skin. Because of the moisture around the

brain, this skin combined with itself, grew in a circle and completely enveloped the head. Then

the moisture emerging from the sutures watered it and closed it in at the crown, drawing it all

together into a kind of knot, and the structure of these sutures became variegated due to the effect

of the inner orbits and of the nutriment; the greater the conflict between the two orbits, the more

sutures there were, the lesser the conflict, the fewer the sutures.

Now, the divine part

pierced this skin all around, and once it had been perforated, any pure

moisture and pure heat in the liquid that emerged from it evaporated, while the mixed substance

that the skin was also made from rose up on account of the movement, and stretched out at some

length. It was as fine as the tiny piercings, yet because it was slow moving it was pushed back under

the skin again by the external air that surrounded it, coiled around itself, and took root. So the hair

grew on the skin due to these effects, kindred thereto because it was fibrous, yet harder and more

dense due to the solidification that derived from the cooling process which cooled and compressed

each hair as it separated from the skin. With this, our maker made the head woolly by making use

of the factors we have described, intending that hair, rather than flesh, should be the cover for the

area around the brain to ensure its safety, still providing sufficient shade in summer and shelter in

winter without becoming an impediment that would prevent proper perception.

From the combination of sinew, skin and bone, dried out to form a single substance from

all three, a hard skin developed, twined around the end of the fingers. Although it was produced

by these three subsidiary causes, it was wrought nevertheless by an ultimate intentional cause with

a view to subsequent generations, for those who framed us knew that at some stage women and

the beasts would arise from men, and they also understood that many of the animals would require

the use of claws or talons for numerous purposes. Therefore, as soon as humans came into exis-

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tence, they gave them traces of the structure of claws. So, based on this reasoning, and with these

motives, they caused skin, hair and nails to grow at the extremities of the limbs.

Once all the parts and limbs of the mortal creature had developed into a natural unity, and

it proved necessary for such creatures to spend their lives exposed to wind and fire, be wasted and

depleted by these and perish as a result, the gods devised a means of helping them. By mixing var-

ious characteristics and kinds of perception, they brought about the development of a nature akin

to human nature, a living being of a different sort. These are the domesticated trees, plants and

seeds that have been trained by husbandry into the cultivated forms that we possess. Before that,

there were only the uncultivated forms which are older than our cultivated varieties. Indeed, any-

thing that partakes of life may justifiably and correctly be described as a living being,

yet that

which we are speaking of now partakes of the third form of soul, the form that our account situated

between the midriff and the navel, the form that has no involvement with opinion, reasoning or

nous, but only with pleasant and painful sensations and their accompanying desires. For it is always

completely passive, and its origin has not given it the natural ability to reflect upon and discern

any aspects of itself by turning inwards, being concerned with itself, shunning external motion

and having recourse to its own motion. So it is alive, and although it is a living creature it is sta-

tionary, rooted to the spot, stuck because it is bereft of motion of its own.

Now, once the superior beings had caused everything of this sort to grow as nutriment for

us lesser creatures, they made conduits through the body itself, as if they were cutting channels in

gardens, so that it would be watered by a sort of incoming stream. In the first place, seeing that

the body has a twofold structure with a left side and right side, they cut two veins along the back

to act as channels hidden beneath the conjunction of the skin with the flesh. They also brought

these down along the spine, enclosing the reproductive marrow between them so that this would

flourish to the greatest extent possible, and so that the influx of liquid that flowed so easily from

there because of the downward course would provide uniform irrigation to the other regions. Then,

having split apart the veins around the head, they intertwined them and sent them in opposite direc-

tions, so that those on the left were bent to the right side of the body, those on the right, to the left.

This, along with the skin, was to act as a bond between the head and the body since there were no

sinews all around the crown of the head. What’s more, it would also enable the experience of the

sense impressions coming from either of the two sides to be fully revealed to the entire body.

At that stage they facilitated the transport of liquid in the manner we shall now describe,

but it will be easier to see this once we have first come to an agreement on the following point.

Anything composed of smaller particles repels the larger particles, while those composed of larger

particles are unable to repel the smaller particles. Fire consists of the smallest particles of them

all, so it passes through water, earth, air, and anything composed of these, and nothing is able to

repel it. Well, we should bear the same principle in mind in relation to our own abdomen; it retains

any food or drink that falls into it, yet it is unable to retain air or fire because these consist of par-

ticles that are smaller than its own structure. Therefore, the god made use of air and fire for the

distribution of moisture from the abdomen to the veins by weaving a mesh, like a fish trap, having

two ducts at its entrance, one of which he proceeded to weave once more into a forked structure.

Then he extended cords of some sort from the ducts in a circle throughout the entire mesh as far

as its extremities. He constructed everything within the mesh from fire; the ducts and the vessel

he constructed from air.

He then took this structure and positioned it around the creature he had fashioned, in some

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TIMAEUS – 77a–78c | 1,025

–––––

This is the brain itself.

The Greek word for living things, zoa, is often applied to animals. The point here is that plants, given that they are

living things, have just as much right as animals to be called zoa.

such manner as follows. He let the part consisting of funnels down into the mouth, and since it

had a twofold structure, he lowered one part into the lungs by way of the windpipe, and the other

alongside the windpipe into the abdomen. He divided the first of these in two and gave each part

alike an entrance through the channels of the nose, so that when the other channel through the

mouth was not working, all of its streams would be filled up from this one. He caused the rest of

the vessel that constitutes the fish trap to grow around the hollow part of the body and made it all

flow together gently into the ducts, since these were made of air. And then he made the ducts flow

back out again. Because the body is porous, the mesh sinks into it and emerges once more, while

the rays of fire bound fast within it follow both movements of the air, and this does not cease as

long as the mortal creature holds together. And we say that the name-giver has called it inhalation

and exhalation. And indeed, the overall process and its effect acts as a source of nourishment and

life to our bodies by irrigating and cooling them. For whenever the breath passes in or out, the

inner fire connected to it follows along, and as it continually moves back and forth it passes into

the abdomen, seizes upon the food and drink, dissolves them, divides them into tiny particles,

draws them through the passages in the same direction it is proceeding, pours them into the veins

like water going from a spring into channels, and sets the currents of the veins flowing through

the body as if they were flowing through a pipe.

But we should look again at the process of respiration and the reason why this occurs as it

now does. It is as follows. Since there is no void into which any moving body would be able to

enter, yet the breath does come out of our body, one consequence is surely evident to everyone. It

does not emerge into a void but displaces whatever is adjacent from its position. But whatever is

displaced continually drives out whatever is adjacent to itself, and on the basis of this cycle of

necessity, everything is driven around again to the position from which the breath emerged, enters

in, and fills it. Because there is no void, this all happens at the same time, like the revolving of a

wheel. Therefore, once the chest and lungs exhale the breath, they are filled up once more by the

air surrounding the body which is driven around and sinks in because the flesh is so soft. Then

again, when the air is turned in the other direction and is coming out through the body, it pushes

the breath around and inwards by way of the passage of the mouth and the nostrils.

We should presume that what is responsible for initiating these processes is this. In every

living creature, the warmest of its internal parts are situated close to the blood and the veins which

are like a fountain of fire residing within. This, of course, we likened to the mesh of the fish-trap,

extending through the middle thereof and woven entirely from fire, while everything outside of

that was made of air. Now we must accept that heat naturally proceeds outwards to its own region

and towards its kindred. But there are two ways out, one emerging by way of the body, the other

by way of the mouth and nostrils, so whenever it rushes one way it pushes the air around the other

way, and when this is pushed around and falls into the fire it is warmed, but when it travels out-

wards it is cooled. Now, when the heat is changing its location and the air currents proceeding by

one of the exits become warmer, the warmer air tends to go back by way of that exit once more

and travels towards its own kind, pushing the air using the other exit and driving it around. The

same effect and the same response keep recurring, thus setting up a cycle that oscillates back and

forth and brings about inhalation and exhalation.

What’s more, this is how we should also go about explaining the effects of medical cupping

instruments, the causes of swallowing, and the behaviour of projectiles that are discharged into

the air and those that travel along the ground, also any sounds that are rapid or slow, and therefore

appear sharp or dull, sometimes discordant in their movement due to the lack of uniformity of the

motion they produce in us, sometimes concordant due to its uniformity. Indeed, the slower motions

overtake the more rapid motions that precede them, as the rapid motions are coming to a halt and

have already attained uniformity with those which the slower motions impart to them when they

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arrive later. As the slower overtake the quicker, they do not impose another motion and cause dis-

turbance. Rather, they initiate a slower motion based upon the faster motion which is dying away,

introducing uniformity and blending together a single experience consisting of sharpness and dull-

ness. Consequently, while these provide some pleasure to the dimwitted, they delight the enlight-

ened folk because they provide an imitation of divine harmony arising amidst the movements of

mortal beings. And consider, in particular, all the flowings of water, the descent of thunderbolts

and the wondrous drawing power of amber and lodestones. In none of these cases is there any

attractive force. Rather, it will be evident to anyone who investigates them methodically that there

is no void, that these entities push themselves around into one another, and while they are all being

divided up and combined together, each changes its position and moves towards its own region,

and by interweaving these processes with one another we get those wonderful phenomena.

As for the effect of respiration from which our account digressed, this has arisen on the

basis of these principles and through those processes. As the fire cuts up the food by rising up

inside us, following along with the breath, it fills up the veins from the abdomen by the rising

process which floods them with the minute particles from there. And so it is that the streams of

nutriment have been set flowing throughout the whole body of every creature. The newly formed

particles come from kindred substances, from fruits and vegetables, which the god caused to grow

for our particular benefit to nourish us. These have taken on a variety of colours due to the com-

mingling, yet the colour red is predominant throughout, a quality brought about by the cutting

effect of fire and the impression it makes on liquid. Hence, the stream flowing through the body,

the one we call blood, has the colour we have described. It is pasture for flesh and for the entire

body, and each part draws liquid from there and replenishes any place that has been depleted. The

process of replenishment and depletion takes place in the same way that the motion of everything

in the Universe takes place, a motion that draws everything towards its own kindred. Of course,

our external surroundings continually cut us up and break us apart, dispatching each form towards

its own kind, while the contents of the blood, for their part, having been cut up inside us into small

pieces and being surrounded by the structure of each creature as though by an enveloping Heaven,

are compelled to imitate the universal motion. So each of the particles within the blood, being

borne towards its kindred, replenishes once more the space that has been left empty.

Now, whenever more is going out than is coming in, all things decay, but when less is

going out they grow. So when the entire structure is young and the elemental triangles of its con-

stituents are still new, like fresh wood, the bond holding them together is strong, and yet the over-

all construction is soft since it has been newly formed from marrow and nourished with milk. So

when the surrounding triangles come into it from outside, the ones that the food and drink are

made from, these are older and weaker than its own triangles, so it overpowers these older trian-

gles with the new ones, cuts them up, and makes the creature grow large by nourishing it with an

abundance of substances similar to its own. However, when the root of the triangles is slackened

because of numerous such contests fought against many opponents over a long period of time,

they are no longer able to cut the entering triangles and assimilate them to themselves. On the

other hand, they themselves are easily split apart by those triangles that are coming in from out-

side. Every creature in this situation is overpowered and decays and the condition is called old

age. And in the end, once the conjoining bonds of the triangles around the marrow endure no

longer under the strain and are split apart, they in turn release the bonds of the soul, and once it

is set free in accordance with nature, it flies away with pleasure. Indeed, everything contrary to

nature is painful, while anything that arises naturally is pleasant. The same goes for death. When

it happens as a result of disease or injury it is painful and violent, but when it comes with old

age, an ending that accords with nature, it is the least painful of deaths, attended more by pleasure

than by pain.

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TIMAEUS – 80c–81e | 1,027

The origin of diseases is presumably obvious to everyone. For since the body has been

constructed from four constituents – earth, fire, water and air – any unnatural excess or deficiency

or any removal from their own place to somewhere alien causes disorder and disease.

Furthermore, since there is more than one kind of fire and of the other constituents, the acquisition

by the body of an inappropriate variety, and all phenomena of this sort, have the same effect. For

when any of these arises or changes its location unnaturally, anything that was previously being

cooled is warmed, what was dry becomes moist, the same goes for light and heavy, and everything

changes in all sorts of ways. In fact, I maintain that only the addition or removal of same from

same, on the same basis and in due proportion, will allow something to remain the same as itself,

sound and healthy, while anything entering or leaving that strikes a discordant note by transgress-

ing any of these requirements will engender a whole variety of alterations and countless diseases

and corruptions.

Furthermore, since secondary structures have been established in the course of nature, a

second means of considering diseases arises for someone who wishes to contemplate them. For

marrow, bone, flesh and sinew have been compounded from those four constituents, and blood

has arisen from them too but in a different way, and the majority of diseases arise from the same

causes we just mentioned. However, the most grievous diseases come about when the generation

of these substances proceeds in reverse and they then undergo decay. For in the course of nature,

flesh and sinew arise from blood, sinew from its fibres because it is akin to these, and flesh from

the solidified material that forms when fibre is removed from blood. What’s more, the sticky oily

material that emerges from the sinews and flesh glues the flesh to the structure of the bones and

also nourishes the very bone that surrounds the marrow and makes it grow.

What’s more, because of the density of bone, whatever is filtered through it consists of the

purest kind of triangles, and being extremely smooth and oily, it pours drop by drop from the bones

and waters the marrow. And when each of these substances comes into being based on these

processes, the consequence for the most part is health, but when they are reversed, the result is

disease. For whenever flesh is decomposed and releases decomposed matter back into the veins

once more, then a lot of variegated blood, mixed with air, adopts multifarious colours and bitter-

ness, as well as acidic and saline properties, and retains all sorts of bile, serum and phlegm. Once

these substances have become perverted and corrupted, they first destroy the blood itself, and

although they themselves do not provide any nourishment at all to the body, they are borne in all

directions through the veins, no longer holding to the natural arrangement of the cycles, at enmity

towards themselves because they afford no advantage to themselves, and hostile to any part of the

body that stands firm and holds its position. This they destroy and corrupt.

Now, when any extremely old flesh is corrupted, it is difficult to assimilate, is blackened

by the prolonged burning process, and being bitter due to the overall corrosion, it most grievously

assaults any part of the body that has not yet been corrupted. Yet, on occasion, once the bitter sub-

stance has been diluted to some extent, the black coloured substance takes on acidity rather than

bitterness. At other times, when the bitterness has for its part been immersed in blood, it adopts a

redder colour, and when the black colour is mixed with this, it goes yellow. And the yellow colour,

in turn, mixes with the bitterness whenever the flesh that is decomposed by the flame around the

fire is new flesh.

The shared name, bile, has been assigned to all these, presumably by some physicians or

even by someone capable of looking at numerous dissimilar entities and discerning among them

a single internal category that deserves to be given a name, while any other forms of bile we men-

tion have a description of their own, based in each case upon their colour. Serum is mild when it

is a whey-like product of blood, but aggressive when it comes from black acid bile that is combined

with a saline quality by the action of heat, a type called acid phlegm. There is also the decompo-

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sition product formed from young tender flesh in the presence of air. This can be filled up with air

and enveloped in moisture, producing bubbles in the process. These are not visible individually

since they are too small, but they combine together to produce a mass that is visible and has a

white colour due to the generation of foam. This entire decomposition process by which soft flesh

is compounded with air, we refer to as white phlegm. Of newly formed phlegm there is, in turn, a

whey-like part – sweat, tears and any other substances of this sort that flow from the body every

day to purify it. And yet these actually become instruments of disease whenever blood is not replen-

ished from food and drink in accordance with nature, but contrary to the natural order, acquires its

mass from opposites instead.

Now, when the flesh in the various regions is being assailed by diseases, yet the foundations

still remain in place, their affliction is only half as strong for an easy recovery can still be achieved.

However, when the material that binds flesh to bone gets diseased and no longer nourishes the

bone, nor acts as a bond between flesh and bone because it is separating off from both of these

and from the sinews too,

and instead of being oily and smooth and sticky it becomes rough and

saline, parched by a degenerate lifestyle, then any kind of material that suffers these effects crum-

bles away beneath the flesh and the sinews, separates from the bones along with the flesh which

falls away at its roots, and leaves the sinews exposed and full of brine. The flesh then falls back

into the blood-stream making the diseases we mentioned earlier more intense.

Although these are grievous afflictions of the body, those affecting the more basic parts are

even worse. These occur when bone does not breathe in properly because of the density of the

flesh, heats up on account of the mouldiness, decays, does not assimilate nutriment but proceeds

instead in the opposite direction, and is disintegrated into that nutriment once more. That passes

into flesh, and the flesh, falling into the bloodstream, renders all the diseases more severe than

those described previously. And the most extreme case of all occurs when the substance of the

marrow becomes diseased on account of some deficiency or excess. This brings about the most

powerful and formidably fatal diseases, in which the entire nature of the body flows of necessity

in the opposite direction.

There is also a third form of these diseases which should be regarded as arising in three

ways – from breath, from phlegm or from bile. For whenever the lungs, the dispensers of breaths

to the body, are fenced in by some flux or other, the breath, being unable to go in one direction,

goes in another direction in greater volume than appropriate. Then the parts that do not receive

breath’s cooling effect become corrupted, while it proceeds to force itself into the veins, contorts

them and dissolves the body, stopping at the barrier at its centre where it gets closed in. These

processes cause a huge number of painful diseases, often accompanied by copious sweating. And

on occasion, when flesh breaks down within the body, breath is produced but is unable to make its

way out, and therefore causes the same travails as the breath that comes from outside. These are

at their worst when the breath surrounding the sinews and small veins there swells up, and in the

process stretches backwards the tendons and the sinews attached to them. Indeed, it is from the

tense condition arising from there that the diseases have come to be referred to as tetanus and

opisthotonos.

These are difficult to cure. In fact, when such diseases arise, fever offers the most

relief. The white phlegm is troublesome when confined within because of the air in its bubbles,

but it is milder when it finds passage to the outer part of the body, where it produces a variety of

colours and white markings and engenders the diseases related thereto. When combined with black

bile, it can spread over the orbits that are in the head and throw them into confusion. Now, if this

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TIMAEUS – 83d–85a | 1,029

–––––

The text is corrupt here. This translation follows Waterfield and Zeyl.

Opisthotonos is a spasm of the muscles around the neck and back often caused by severe tetanus, a bacterial disease

that causes muscle rigidity.

comes to us in sleep it is quite mild. However, if it visits us whilst awake it is harder to get rid of,

and being a disease of a sacred substance, it is quite rightly referred to as ‘the sacred disease’.

Phlegm that is acidic and salty is the wellspring of all diseases that produce catarrh, and because

the flow takes place from a variety of locations, they have acquired all sorts of names.

Whatever parts of the body are said to be inflamed due to burning and inflammation have

all become so on account of bile. Now, if the bile finds an external vent, it boils and sends forth

all sorts of growths. However, if it is confined within, it engenders numerous inflammatory dis-

eases. The worst of these occurs when bile is mixed together with pure blood and prevents the

blood fibres from exercising their assigned role. For these have been dispersed in the bloodstream

so that it may retain a balanced measure of thickness and thinness, and neither flow out through

the pores of the body because it is liquefied by the heat, nor on the other hand, have difficulty in

circulating through the veins because it is dense and immobile. The fibres by their natural structure

preserve a balance of these qualities, but when someone dies and their blood is cooling down, the

rest of the blood is liquefied once the fibres coagulate together. However, if the fibres are left as

they are, they act in consort with the cool surroundings and quickly congeal the blood. Now, since

fibres have this capacity in relation to blood, when bile, which is a natural product of old blood,

dissolves from the flesh back into the blood once more, the warm, moist bile gradually solidifies

when it first falls into the blood because of the capacity of the fibres, and as it congeals and is

forcibly extinguished it produces cold and shivering within. But when it flows in more volumi-

nously, it boils up, and the heat it possesses overpowers the fibres and shakes them into disorder.

And if there is so much bile that it becomes completely dominant, it passes through to the substance

of the marrow, immediately undoes the ‘ship’s cables’ of the soul by burning them, and sets it free.

If there is less of it and the body resists the process of dissolution, the bile itself is overpowered

and is expelled over the entire body surface, or compressed through the veins into the lower or

upper abdomen, and is expelled from the body like fugitive elements from a city beset by faction.

This produces diarrhoea, dysentery, and a whole range of similar diseases.

When the body is diseased, mainly due to excess fire, continuous high-temperatures and

fever are induced; when it is due to excess air, the fevers are quotidian; when due to water they

are tertian because water is more sluggish than air or fire; when it is due to earth, the fourth most

sluggish of these four, it takes four times as long to purge away and produces quartan fevers that

are hard to shake off.

So, the diseases of the body come about in this way, while diseases of the soul, due to the

condition of the body, come about in the following way. We must agree that mindlessness is a dis-

ease of the soul. However, there are two kinds of mindlessness – madness and stupidity. Therefore,

any experience that a person undergoes in which either of these two qualities is involved should

be referred to as a disease, and excessive pleasure or pain should be ranked as the most powerful

diseases of the soul. For when a person is elated, or indeed is experiencing the opposite condition

because he is in pain, he hastens in an untimely manner to grasp the one and flee from the other,

and is unable either to see or to hear aright. He is raving, and in that moment he is least capable of

exercising reason. And when the seed associated with the marrow becomes plentiful and free-

flowing, and is just like a tree that is fruitful beyond its natural measure, numerous recurrent pangs

and just as many pleasures are his lot, born of desires and the consequences thereof. For most of

his life he is driven mad by the greatest pleasures and pains; his soul is kept diseased and senseless

by the body, yet he gets a reputation for being deliberately degenerate rather than being a sick

man. But in truth, lack of sexual restraint is, for the most part, a disease of the soul arising from

an abundant and fluid condition of a single substance in the body due to porosity in the bones.

And, indeed, almost all those who are unrestrained with respect to pleasure, and are said to be

blameworthy because they are willingly bad, are censured unjustly. For no one is willingly bad,

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rather the bad become bad because of some degenerate condition of the body and the lack of an

educated upbringing, both of which are afflictions that come to any person against his will.

Then again, in the case of pain, and based upon the same factors, the soul derives a great

deal of its degeneracy from the body. For when acidic or saline phlegm, or any bitter and bilious

humours that go wandering about the body, are unable to find a vent to the outside and are trapped

inside, they blend their own vapour together with the motion of the soul and get them both mixed

up. These engender a whole variety of diseases in the soul, some more intense, some less so, some

more extensive, some less so, which are then borne towards the three regions of the soul.

Depending upon the region they assail, they produce multifarious forms of ill-temper and despon-

dency in one case, rashness and cowardice in another, and sometimes a combination of forgetful-

ness and dullness.

What’s more, when men set in such bad ways dwell in cities with bad forms of government,

and public and private discourse accords therewith, and yet from childhood upwards they learn

nothing to cure these ills, that’s how the bad among us become bad, due to these two involuntary

factors. For these we should blame the begetters rather than the begotten, and the nurturers rather

than those who are nurtured. However, we should be eager in any way we can, through nurture,

through activity, and through learning, to flee from badness and embrace its opposite, although

these topics obviously belong to discussions of a different sort.

However, it is reasonable and appropriate to present an exposition, the counterpart of these,

setting out, in turn, the treatment that will preserve our bodies and our thinking processes in good

health. Indeed, it is preferable that our discussion holds to the theme of what is good rather than

what is bad. Now, all that is good is beautiful, and beauty is not devoid of measure, so a living

being that is to exhibit such qualities must be well proportioned. But when it comes to proportions,

we notice the minor ones and take them into account, while the most significant and important

never enter our reckoning. Indeed, in the case of health and disease, virtue and vice, no single pro-

portion or disproportion is more important than the relation of soul itself to body itself. In the case

of these two, we neither observe nor recognise that whenever a weaker, lesser frame supports a

soul that is strong and great in every respect, or, indeed, when the two are conjoined as opposites,

the living being, as a whole, is not beautiful because the proportion it lacks is the most important

proportion, while the alternative arrangement is the most beautiful and beloved sight of all to those

who are able to behold it.

For instance, a body whose legs are too long, or is out of proportion with itself because of

some other excessive tendency, is also inclined to be ugly, prone to much fatigue when it partakes

in any exertions, and to a lot of awkwardness and falls, causing a whole range of difficulties to

itself because of its abnormal movements. Well, we should also think about the twofold combina-

tion that we refer to as a living being in the same way. Indeed, whenever the soul within it is more

powerful than the body and becomes passionate, it shakes up the entire body and fills it up with

diseases from within, and when it embarks upon some intense study or enquiry it wears out the

body. And again, when engaging in teaching and verbal disputation, both in public and in private,

it makes the body feverish and troubled due to the strife that is generated and the associated thirst

for victory, bringing on rheums and deceiving most so-called physicians into attributing the blame

to the wrong cause.

In contrast, whenever a large body that is too strong for the soul is conjoined with a small

weak mind, the activities of the stronger dominate and strengthen their own desire. Now, there are

two desires naturally associated with human beings – nutriment for our body, and understanding

for our most divine part. So, activities of the body make the soul dull, slow to learn and unretentive,

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–––––

Epilepsy was referred to as the sacred disease.

and engender within its the worst possible disease, stupidity. Now, there is a single safeguard

against these two tendencies – neither to set the soul moving without moving the body, nor body

without soul – so that both are protected and become balanced and healthy. Accordingly, a person

who engages in mathematics or some other intense study involving the mind should also give the

body its due measure of activity through recourse to gymnastics, while the person who is careful

about shaping his body should, in turn, impart a corresponding level of activity to the soul through

recourse to music and philosophy in general, if he really intends to be referred to as noble and

good in the proper sense.

The parts of the body and soul should also be cared for on the same basis, in imitation of

the frame of the Universe. For the body is warmed and cooled internally by whatever enters into

it, and, again, is dried out and moistened by whatever is outside it, and suffers any consequences

derived from both processes. So whenever someone remains at rest and submits his body to these

processes, it is overpowered and destroyed. But if, on the other hand, someone imitates the nurturer

and nurse of the Universe, as we call it, he would never allow his body to remain completely still

but would move it, and by continually creating certain vibrations in it, maintain a constant, natural

balance between the internal and external movements. By this measured shaking, he would order

the affections and particles that wander about the body in accordance with their mutual affinity,

into a mutual arrangement that reflects the description of the Universe we gave earlier, not allowing

enemies to be placed side by side to engender strife and disease in the body, but ensuring the pro-

duction of health by placing friend alongside friend.

Now, when it comes to movements, the best movement is in oneself, by oneself, for this

has most kinship with the movement of thought and of the Universe. Being moved by another is

an inferior form of movement, but the worst form involves moving the body, part by part, by means

of various agents, while it is lying still. Accordingly, the best way of purging or restoring the body

is through gymnastic exercises, second is through the swaying motion of ships and any other means

of carriage that do not induce tiredness. There is a third form of motion, useful in cases of extreme

necessity, which should not be accepted under any other circumstances by anyone possessed of

intelligence – the use of purgative drugs for medical purposes. For diseases that do not pose a huge

threat should not be incited with drugs. Indeed, in a way, the structure of any disease resembles

the nature of a living being. In fact, the constitution of these beings involves an assigned span of

life applicable to the species as a whole, and each particular creature is born with its own allotted

life span, in the absence of the intervention of necessity. For the triangles belonging to each indi-

vidual are constructed, from the very outset, with the capacity to endure for a certain period of

time, and no creature could ever live beyond that limit. Now, the same tendency applies to the

constitution of diseases. Whenever someone ignores their allotted time span and destroys them

with drugs, minor diseases are inclined to become major, few to become many. Therefore, we

should manage everything of this sort through our lifestyle insofar as leisure allows, and not irritate

a troublesome malady through the use of drugs.

That’s enough said about the living creature as a whole and its bodily parts, and how a per-

son may live in accord with reason, guiding and being guided by himself. But first and most impor-

tantly, we must somehow arrange for the part that will guide us to be as beautiful and excellent as

possible for its guiding role. Now, to elaborate upon these matters in detail would constitute a task

in its own right, yet we would not go much astray if we were to conclude our account by adding

a secondary topic in accord with what has gone before, by considering the issue as follows. As we

have stated on numerous occasions, there are three forms of soul dwelling in three regions within

us, each possessing movements of its own. Accordingly, we should now declare as briefly as pos-

sible, and on the same basis as before, that any form which continues in idleness and keeps quiet

its own movements necessarily becomes weaker, while any that are exercised become stronger.

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Therefore, we should be careful that these movements retain a due proportion with respect to

one another.

As for the most lordly form of our soul, we should think of it in this way. It is as a daimon

given to each of us by God, and it is said to dwell at the very pinnacle of our bodies to raise us up

from Earth to our kindred in Heaven, we who are, properly speaking, a plant not of the Earth but

of Heaven. Indeed, it is from there, the place from which soul first had her birth, that the divine

agency suspends our head and root, making straight the entire body.

Now, it is inevitable that in someone who is busy with desires and ambitions, and who

labours intensely at these, all the opinions he forms are mortal, and insofar as it is possible for a

person to become mortal, he takes on its full measure since he has swollen that part of himself. On

the other hand, it is completely inevitable, I presume, that someone who has taken seriously to the

love of learning and to true understanding, and has exercised these faculties within himself most

of all, will think immortal and divine thoughts if he should actually attain truth. Furthermore, inso-

far as human nature is allowed to partake of immortality, he will obtain its full measure, and since

he is constantly caring for the divine, and preserving the particular daimon associated with himself

in good order, he will be especially blessed. But, of course, the one and only way of caring for

everything is to bestow the nutriment and movement appropriate to each, and in the case of our

divine part, the kindred movements are the thoughts and revolutions of the Universe. So, by adher-

ing closely to these, setting aright the orbits in our head which were corrupted around the time we

were born, by coming to an understanding of the harmonies and revolutions of the Universe, each

of us should bring our observing part into the likeness of what is observed in accord with the

ancient nature, and in that likeness, finally attain the very best life prescribed by the gods for

humanity with a view to time present and time future.

And so today’s initial assignment, to give a detailed account of the Universe as far as the

birth of humanity, almost seems to have reached a conclusion. Of course, we must make brief

mention of the manner in which the other living beings, for their part, came into existence, but it

is not necessary to lengthen this. For in this way we may think ourselves to be more measured in

our discussion of these matters. So let’s discuss this as follows. According to the likely account,

those who had been born as men and proved cowards, or lived their lives in an unjust manner,

were changed in nature to women at their second birth. That’s why the god framed the passion of

intercourse at that time, fashioning one ensouled living being in us, another in women. Each of

the two was made in the following way. They extended the exit passage of drink at the place where

it receives the liquid that arrives by the lungs, through the kidneys into the bladder, and expels it

along with the air that exerts the pressure. They carried this passage through into the marrow that

has been fashioned to run from the head, down the neck and through the spine. Indeed, we said in

our previous discussions that this is seed. And since this is ensouled and has a way of getting out

at the place we mentioned, it engenders therein a lively desire to flow outwards, and produces the

passion of procreation. So, it is that the sexual organ in men has become disobedient and self-

willed, like a living creature with no regard for reason who attempts to dominate everything because

of its raging desires.

In women, for their part, the so-called matrix or womb is a living being within them,

desirous of begetting children. Whenever this has become barren for a long time beyond its due

season, it becomes troublesome and discontented. It wanders about the body in all directions,

blocks up the exit passages of the breath, and by preventing respiration inflicts extreme distress

and brings on a whole variety of other diseases until her desire and the male passion brings them

together, and, as if stripping fruit from trees, sows the ploughed land of the womb with living

beings, as yet unformed and so small that they are invisible, gives them distinctness once more,

nurtures them within to a great size, and thereafter leads them into the light and completes the

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process of generating living creatures. So this is how women and all that is female came into being.

Birds, as a class, were formed in a different way. Growing feathers rather than hair, they

came from men who were harmless but unsubstantial, who studied the upper regions, but believed,

due to their simple-mindedness, that the most definitive evidence concerning them comes from

sight. The wild land animals, for their part, arose from those who had no recourse to philosophy

or any awareness at all of the nature of the Heaven, because they did not make use of the revolu-

tions in the head but followed the lead of the parts of the soul in the region of the chest. So, as a

result of living in this way, they extended their forward limbs and their heads to the earth due to

their kinship therewith, and settled there, having acquired elongated heads of all varieties, corre-

sponding to the way in which their own revolutions had been pressed together on account of idle-

ness. So that is the reason why this type of creature developed as four-footed or many footed; God

placed more supports under those who were more mindless so that they would be more drawn to

the earth. The most mindless among them, in whom the entire body is stretched out upon the earth,

no longer needed feet, so the gods made them without feet, to crawl in the dust of the earth. The

fourth type arose in water from the completely unintelligent and unlearned. Those who fashioned

them, deeming them no longer worthy to breathe pure air because they had an impure soul due to

all-pervasive error, forced them to breathe the murky depths of water rather than fine, pure air.

Hence, the race of fishes, of shellfish, and all the creatures that have come into being in water,

have been assigned an extreme dwelling place as a penalty for their extreme stupidity.

And it is on the basis of these principles that all living creatures, then and now, are trans-

formed into one another; they are changed through the acquisition or loss of nous or stupidity. So,

we may now declare that our discourse concerning the Universe has at last come to an end. This

Universe has received mortal and immortal living beings and has been filled with them, and,

accordingly, has become a visible, living being encompassing all that is visible, an image of what-

ever is known by nous, a perceptible god, supreme, excellent, sublime and perfect, this Heaven,

only begotten and one.

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