| Socrates. One,
two, three; but where, my dear Timaeus, is the fourth of those who were
yesterday my guests and are to be my entertainers to-day? Timaeus. He has been taken ill, Socrates; for he would not willingly have been absent from this gathering. Soc. Then, if he is not coming, you and the two others must supply his place. Tim. Certainly, and we will do all that we can; having been handsomely entertained by you yesterday, those of us who remain should be only too glad to return your hospitality. Soc. Do you remember what were the points of which I required you to speak? Tim. We remember some of them, and you will be here to remind us of anything which we have forgotten: or rather, if we are not troubling you, will you briefly recapitulate the whole, and then the particulars will be more firmly fixed in our memories? Soc. To be sure I will: the chief theme of my yesterday's discourse was the State-how constituted and of what citizens composed it would seem likely to be most perfect. Tim. Yes, Socrates; and what you said of it was very much to our mind. Soc. Did we not begin by separating the husbandmen and the artisans from the class of defenders of the State? Tim. Yes. Soc. And when we had given to each one that single employment and particular art which was suited to his nature, we spoke of those who were intended to be our warriors, and said that they were to be guardians of the city against attacks from within as well as from without, and to have no other employment; they were to be merciful in judging their subjects, of whom they were by nature friends, but fierce to their enemies, when they came across them in battle. Tim. Exactly. Soc. We said, if I am not mistaken, that the guardians should be gifted with a temperament in a high degree both passionate and philosophical; and that then they would be as they ought to be, gentle to their friends and fierce with their enemies. Tim. Certainly. Soc. And what did we say of their education? Were they not to be trained in gymnastic, and music, and all other sorts of knowledge which were proper for them? Tim. Very true. Soc. And being thus trained they were not to consider gold or silver or anything else to be their own private property; they were to be like hired troops, receiving pay for keeping guard from those who were protected by them-the pay was to be no more than would suffice for men of simple life; and they were to spend in common, and to live together in the continual practice of virtue, which was to be their sole pursuit. Tim. That was also said. Soc. Neither did we forget the women; of whom we declared, that their natures should be assimilated and brought into harmony with those of the men, and that common pursuits should be assigned to them both in time of war and in their ordinary life. Tim. That, again, was as you say. Soc. And what about the procreation of children? Or rather not the proposal too singular to be forgotten? for all wives and children were to be in common, to the intent that no one should ever know his own child, but they were to imagine that they were all one family; those who were within a suitable limit of age were to be brothers and sisters, those who were of an elder generation parents and grandparents, and those of a younger children and grandchildren. Tim. Yes, and the proposal is easy to remember, as you say. Soc. And do you also remember how, with a view of securing as far as we could the best breed, we said that the chief magistrates, male and female, should contrive secretly, by the use of certain lots, so to arrange the nuptial meeting, that the bad of either sex and the good of either sex might pair with their like; and there was to be no quarrelling on this account, for they would imagine that the union was a mere accident, and was to be attributed to the lot? Tim. I remember. Soc. And you remember how we said that the children of the good parents were to be educated, and the children of the bad secretly dispersed among the inferior citizens; and while they were all growing up the rulers were to be on the look-out, and to bring up from below in their turn those who were worthy, and those among themselves who were unworthy were to take the places of those who came up? Tim. True. Soc. Then have I now given you all the heads of our yesterday's discussion? Or is there anything more, my dear Timaeus, which has been omitted? Tim. Nothing, Socrates; it was just as you have said. Soc. I should like, before proceeding further, to tell you how I feel about the State which we have described. I might compare myself to a person who, on beholding beautiful animals either created by the painter's art, or, better still, alive but at rest, is seized with a desire of seeing them in motion or engaged in some struggle or conflict to which their forms appear suited; this is my feeling about the State which we have been describing. There are conflicts which all cities undergo, and I should like to hear some one tell of our own city carrying on a struggle against her neighbours, and how she went out to war in a becoming manner, and when at war showed by the greatness of her actions and the magnanimity of her words in dealing with other cities a result worthy of her training and education. Now I, Critias and Hermocrates, am conscious that I myself should never be able to celebrate the city and her citizens in a befitting manner, and I am not surprised at my own incapacity; to me the wonder is rather that the poets present as well as past are no better-not that I mean to depreciate them; but every one can see that they are a tribe of imitators, and will imitate best and most easily the life in which they have been brought up; while that which is beyond the range of a man's education he finds hard to carry out in action, and still harder adequately to represent in language. I am aware that the Sophists have plenty of brave words and fair conceits, but I am afraid that being only wanderers from one city to another, and having never had habitations of their own, they may fail in their conception of philosophers and statesmen, and may not know what they do and say in time of war, when they are fighting or holding parley with their enemies. And thus people of your class are the only ones remaining who are fitted by nature and education to take part at once both in politics and philosophy. Here is Timaeus, of Locris in Italy, a city which has admirable laws, and who is himself in wealth and rank the equal of any of his fellow-citizens; he has held the most important and honourable offices in his own state, and, as I believe, has scaled the heights of all philosophy; and here is Critias, whom every Athenian knows to be no novice in the matters of which we are speaking; and as to, Hermocrates, I am assured by many witnesses that his genius and education qualify him to take part in any speculation of the kind. And therefore yesterday when I saw that you wanted me to describe the formation of the State, I readily assented, being very well aware, that, if you only would, none were better qualified to carry the discussion further, and that when you had engaged our city in a suitable war, you of all men living could best exhibit her playing a fitting part. When I had completed my task, I in return imposed this other task upon you. You conferred together and agreed to entertain me to-day, as I had entertained you, with a feast of discourse. Here am I in festive array, and no man can be more ready for the promised banquet. Her. And we too, Socrates, as Timaeus says, will not be wanting in enthusiasm; and there is no excuse for not complying with your request. As soon as we arrived yesterday at the guest-chamber of Critias, with whom we are staying, or rather on our way thither, we talked the matter over, and he told us an ancient tradition, which I wish, Critias, that you would repeat to Socrates, so that he may help us to judge whether it will satisfy his requirements or not. Crit. I will, if Timaeus, who is our other partner, approves. Tim. I quite approve. Crit. Then listen, Socrates, to a tale which, though strange, is certainly true, having been attested by Solon, who was the wisest of the seven sages. He was a relative and a dear friend of my great-grandfather, Dropides, as he himself says in many passages of his poems; and he told the story to Critias, my grandfather, who remembered and repeated it to us. There were of old, he said, great and marvellous actions of the Athenian city, which have passed into oblivion through lapse of time and the destruction of mankind, and one in particular, greater than all the rest. This we will now rehearse. It will be a fitting monument of our gratitude to you, and a hymn of praise true and worthy of the goddess, on this her day of festival. Soc. Very good. And what is this ancient famous action of the Athenians, which Critias declared, on the authority of Solon, to be not a mere legend, but an actual fact? Crit. I will tell an old-world story which I heard from an aged man; for Critias, at the time of telling it, was as he said, nearly ninety years of age, and I was about ten. Now the day was that day of the Apaturia which is called the Registration of Youth, at which, according to custom, our parents gave prizes for recitations, and the poems of several poets were recited by us boys, and many of us sang the poems of Solon, which at that time had not gone out of fashion. One of our tribe, either because he thought so or to please Critias, said that in his judgment Solon was not only the wisest of men, but also the noblest of poets. The old man, as I very well remember, brightened up at hearing this and said, smiling: Yes, Amynander, if Solon had only, like other poets, made poetry the business of his life, and had completed the tale which he brought with him from Egypt, and had not been compelled, by reason of the factions and troubles which he found stirring in his own country when he came home, to attend to other matters, in my opinion he would have been as famous as Homer or Hesiod, or any poet. And what was the tale about, Critias? said Amynander. About the greatest action which the Athenians ever did, and which ought to have been the most famous, but, through the lapse of time and the destruction of the actors, it has not come down to us. Tell us, said the other, the whole story, and how and from whom Solon heard this veritable tradition. He replied:-In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river Nile divides, there is a certain district which is called the district of Sais, and the great city of the district is also called Sais, and is the city from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue Neith, and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athene; they are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them. To this city came Solon, and was received there with great honour; he asked the priests who were most skilful in such matters, about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither he nor any other Hellene knew anything worth mentioning about the times of old. On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the world-about Phoroneus, who is called "the first man," and about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha; and he traced the genealogy of their descendants, and reckoning up the dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events of which he was speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests, who was of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you. Solon in return asked him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied, that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age. And I will tell you why. There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals; at such times those who live upon the mountains and in dry and lofty places are more liable to destruction than those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore. And from this calamity the Nile, who is our never-failing saviour, delivers and preserves us. When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are carried by the rivers into the sea. Whereas in this land, neither then nor at any other time, does the water come down from above on the fields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient. The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost or of summer does not prevent, mankind exist, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers. And whatever happened either in your country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed-if there were any actions noble or great or in any other way remarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples. Whereas just when you and other nations are beginning to be provided with letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education; and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves. As for those genealogies of yours which you just now recounted to us, Solon, they are no better than the tales of children. In the first place you remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land the fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them which survived. And this was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in every way the best governed of all cities, is said to have performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven. Solon marvelled at his words, and earnestly requested the priests to inform him exactly and in order about these former citizens. You are welcome to hear about them, Solon, said the priest, both for your own sake and for that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the goddess who is the common patron and parent and educator of both our cities. She founded your city a thousand years before ours, receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race, and afterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded in our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old. As touching your citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of their laws and of their most famous action; the exact particulars of the whole we will hereafter go through at our leisure in the sacred registers themselves. If you compare these very laws with ours you will find that many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they were in the olden time. In the first place, there is the caste of priests, which is separated from all the others; next, there are the artificers, who ply their several crafts by themselves and do not intermix; and also there is the class of shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of husbandmen; and you will observe, too, that the warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are commanded by the law to devote themselves solely to military pursuits; moreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught of Asiatics first to us, as in your part of the world first to you. Then as to wisdom, do you observe how our law from the very first made a study of the whole order of things, extending even to prophecy and medicine which gives health, out of these divine elements deriving what was needful for human life, and adding every sort of knowledge which was akin to them. All this order and arrangement the goddess first imparted to you when establishing your city; and she chose the spot of earth in which you were born, because she saw that the happy temperament of the seasons in that land would produce the wisest of men. Wherefore the goddess, who was a lover both of war and of wisdom, selected and first of all settled that spot which was the most likely to produce men likest herself. And there you dwelt, having such laws as these and still better ones, and excelled all mankind in all virtue, as became the children and disciples of the gods. Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our histories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power which unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island. I have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged Critias heard from Solon and related to us. And when you were speaking yesterday about your city and citizens, the tale which I have just been repeating to you came into my mind, and I remarked with astonishment how, by some mysterious coincidence, you agreed in almost every particular with the narrative of Solon; but I did not like to speak at the moment. For a long time had elapsed, and I had forgotten too much; I thought that I must first of all run over the narrative in my own mind, and then I would speak. And so I readily assented to your request yesterday, considering that in all such cases the chief difficulty is to find a tale suitable to our purpose, and that with such a tale we should be fairly well provided. And therefore, as Hermocrates has told you, on my way home yesterday I at once communicated the tale to my companions as I remembered it; and after I left them, during the night by thinking I recovered nearly the whole it. Truly, as is often said, the lessons of our childhood make wonderful impression on our memories; for I am not sure that I could remember all the discourse of yesterday, but I should be much surprised if I forgot any of these things which I have heard very long ago. I listened at the time with childlike interest to the old man's narrative; he was very ready to teach me, and I asked him again and again to repeat his words, so that like an indelible picture they were branded into my mind. As soon as the day broke, I rehearsed them as he spoke them to my companions, that they, as well as myself, might have something to say. And now, Socrates, to make an end my preface, I am ready to tell you the whole tale. I will give you not only the general heads, but the particulars, as they were told to me. The city and citizens, which you yesterday described to us in fiction, we will now transfer to the world of reality. It shall be the ancient city of Athens, and we will suppose that the citizens whom you imagined, were our veritable ancestors, of whom the priest spoke; they will perfectly harmonise, and there will be no inconsistency in saying that the citizens of your republic are these ancient Athenians. Let us divide the subject among us, and all endeavour according to our ability gracefully to execute the task which you have imposed upon us. Consider then, Socrates, if this narrative is suited to the purpose, or whether we should seek for some other instead. Soc. And what other, Critias, can we find that will be better than this, which is natural and suitable to the festival of the goddess, and has the very great advantage of being a fact and not a fiction? How or where shall we find another if we abandon this? We cannot, and therefore you must tell the tale, and good luck to you; and I in return for my yesterday's discourse will now rest and be a listener. Crit. Let me proceed to explain to you, Socrates, the order in which we have arranged our entertainment. Our intention is, that Timaeus, who is the most of an astronomer amongst us, and has made the nature of the universe his special study, should speak first, beginning with the generation of the world and going down to the creation of man; next, I am to receive the men whom he has created of whom some will have profited by the excellent education which you have given them; and then, in accordance with the tale of Solon, and equally with his law, we will bring them into court and make them citizens, as if they were those very Athenians whom the sacred Egyptian record has recovered from oblivion, and thenceforward we will speak of them as Athenians and fellow-citizens. Soc. I see that I shall receive in my turn a perfect and splendid feast of reason. And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should speak next, after duly calling upon the Gods. Tim. All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right feeling, at the beginning of every enterprise, whether small or great, always call upon God. And we, too, who are going to discourse of the nature of the universe, how created or how existing without creation, if we be not altogether out of our wits, must invoke the aid of Gods and Goddesses and pray that our words may be acceptable to them and consistent with themselves. Let this, then, be our invocation of the Gods, to which I add an exhortation of myself to speak in such manner as will be most intelligible to you, and will most accord with my own intent. First then, in my judgment, we must make a distinction and ask, What is that which always is and has no becoming; and what is that which is always becoming and never is? That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the same state; but that which is conceived by opinion with the help of sensation and without reason, is always in a process of becoming and perishing and never really is. Now everything that becomes or is created must of necessity be created by some cause, for without a cause nothing can be created. The work of the creator, whenever he looks to the unchangeable and fashions the form and nature of his work after an unchangeable pattern, must necessarily be made fair and perfect; but when he looks to the created only, and uses a created pattern, it is not fair or perfect. Was the heaven then or the world, whether called by this or by any other more appropriate name-assuming the name, I am asking a question which has to be asked at the beginning of an enquiry about anything-was the world, I say, always in existence and without beginning? or created, and had it a beginning? Created, I reply, being visible and tangible and having a body, and therefore sensible; and all sensible things are apprehended by opinion and sense and are in a process of creation and created. Now that which is created must, as we affirm, of necessity be created by a cause. But the father and maker of all this universe is past finding out; and even if we found him, to tell of him to all men would be impossible. And there is still a question to be asked about him: Which of the patterns had the artificer in view when he made the world-the pattern of the unchangeable, or of that which is created? If the world be indeed fair and the artificer good, it is manifest that he must have looked to that which is eternal; but if what cannot be said without blasphemy is true, then to the created pattern. Every one will see that he must have looked to, the eternal; for the world is the fairest of creations and he is the best of causes. And having been created in this way, the world has been framed in the likeness of that which is apprehended by reason and mind and is unchangeable, and must therefore of necessity, if this is admitted, be a copy of something. Now it is all-important that the beginning of everything should be according to nature. And in speaking of the copy and the original we may assume that words are akin to the matter which they describe; when they relate to the lasting and permanent and intelligible, they ought to be lasting and unalterable, and, as far as their nature allows, irrefutable and immovable-nothing less. But when they express only the copy or likeness and not the eternal things themselves, they need only be likely and analogous to the real words. As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief. If then, Socrates, amid the many opinions about the gods and the generation of the universe, we are not able to give notions which are altogether and in every respect exact and consistent with one another, do not be surprised. Enough, if we adduce probabilities as likely as any others; for we must remember that I who am the speaker, and you who are the judges, are only mortal men, and we ought to accept the tale which is probable and enquire no further. Soc. Excellent, Timaeus; and we will do precisely as you bid us. The prelude is charming, and is already accepted by us-may we beg of you to proceed to the strain? Tim. Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of generation. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of anything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things should be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest sense the origin of creation and of the world, as we shall do well in believing on the testimony of wise men: God desired that all things should be good and nothing bad, so far as this was attainable. Wherefore also finding the whole visible sphere not at rest, but moving in an irregular and disorderly fashion, out of disorder he brought order, considering that this was in every way better than the other. Now the deeds of the best could never be or have been other than the fairest; and the creator, reflecting on the things which are by nature visible, found that no unintelligent creature taken as a whole was fairer than the intelligent taken as a whole; and that intelligence could not be present in anything which was devoid of soul. For which reason, when he was framing the universe, he put intelligence in soul, and soul in body, that he might be the creator of a work which was by nature fairest and best. Wherefore, using the language of probability, we may say that the world became a living creature truly endowed with soul and intelligence by the providence of God. This being supposed, let us proceed to the next stage: In the likeness of what animal did the Creator make the world? It would be an unworthy thing to liken it to any nature which exists as a part only; for nothing can be beautiful which is like any imperfect thing; but let us suppose the world to be the very image of that whole of which all other animals both individually and in their tribes are portions. For the original of the universe contains in itself all intelligible beings, just as this world comprehends us and all other visible creatures. For the Deity, intending to make this world like the fairest and most perfect of intelligible beings, framed one visible animal comprehending within itself all other animals of a kindred nature. Are we right in saying that there is one world, or that they are many and infinite? There must be one only, if the created copy is to accord with the original. For that which includes all other intelligible creatures cannot have a second or companion; in that case there would be need of another living being which would include both, and of which they would be parts, and the likeness would be more truly said to resemble not them, but that other which included them. In order then that the world might be solitary, like the perfect animal, the creator made not two worlds or an infinite number of them; but there is and ever will be one only-begotten and created heaven. Now that which is created is of necessity corporeal, and also visible and tangible. And nothing is visible where there is no fire, or tangible which has no solidity, and nothing is solid without earth. Wherefore also God in the beginning of creation made the body of the universe to consist of fire and earth. But two things cannot be rightly put together without a third; there must be some bond of union between them. And the fairest bond is that which makes the most complete fusion of itself and the things which it combines; and proportion is best adapted to effect such a union. For whenever in any three numbers, whether cube or square, there is a mean, which is to the last term what the first term is to it; and again, when the mean is to the first term as the last term is to the mean-then the mean becoming first and last, and the first and last both becoming means, they will all of them of necessity come to be the same, and having become the same with one another will be all one. If the universal frame had been created a surface only and having no depth, a single mean would have sufficed to bind together itself and the other terms; but now, as the world must be solid, and solid bodies are always compacted not by one mean but by two, God placed water and air in the mean between fire and earth, and made them to have the same proportion so far as was possible (as fire is to air so is air to water, and as air is to water so is water to earth); and thus he bound and put together a visible and tangible heaven. And for these reasons, and out of such elements which are in number four, the body of the world was created, and it was harmonised by proportion, and therefore has the spirit of friendship; and having been reconciled to itself, it was indissoluble by the hand of any other than the framer. Now the creation took up the whole of each of the four elements; for the Creator compounded the world out of all the fire and all the water and all the air and all the earth, leaving no part of any of them nor any power of them outside. His intention was, in the first place, that the animal should be as far as possible a perfect whole and of perfect parts: secondly, that it should be one, leaving no remnants out of which another such world might be created: and also that it should be free from old age and unaffected by disease. Considering that if heat and cold and other powerful forces which unite bodies surround and attack them from without when they are unprepared, they decompose them, and by bringing diseases and old age upon them, make them waste away-for this cause and on these grounds he made the world one whole, having every part entire, and being therefore perfect and not liable to old age and disease. And he gave to the world the figure which was suitable and also natural. Now to the animal which was to comprehend all animals, that figure was suitable which comprehends within itself all other figures. Wherefore he made the world in the form of a globe, round as from a lathe, having its extremes in every direction equidistant from the centre, the most perfect and the most like itself of all figures; for he considered that the like is infinitely fairer than the unlike. This he finished off, making the surface smooth all around for many reasons; in the first place, because the living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet. Such was the whole plan of the eternal God about the god that was to be, to whom for this reason he gave a body, smooth and even, having a surface in every direction equidistant from the centre, a body entire and perfect, and formed out of perfect bodies. And in the centre he put the soul, which he diffused throughout the body, making it also to be the exterior environment of it; and he made the universe a circle moving in a circle, one and solitary, yet by reason of its excellence able to converse with itself, and needing no other friendship or acquaintance. Having these purposes in view he created the world a blessed god. Now God did not make the soul after the body, although we are speaking of them in this order; for having brought them together he would never have allowed that the elder should be ruled by the younger; but this is a random manner of speaking which we have, because somehow we ourselves too are very much under the dominion of chance. Whereas he made the soul in origin and excellence prior to and older than the body, to be the ruler and mistress, of whom the body was to be the subject. And he made her out of the following elements and on this wise: Out of the indivisible and unchangeable, and also out of that which is divisible and has to do with material bodies, he compounded a third and intermediate kind of essence, partaking of the nature of the same and of the other, and this compound he placed accordingly in a mean between the indivisible, and the divisible and material. He took the three elements of the same, the other, and the essence, and mingled them into one form, compressing by force the reluctant and unsociable nature of the other into the same. When he had mingled them with the essence and out of three made one, he again divided this whole into as many portions as was fitting, each portion being a compound of the same, the other, and the essence. And he proceeded to divide after this manner:-First of all, he took away one part of the whole [1], and then he separated a second part which was double the first [2], and then he took away a third part which was half as much again as the second and three times as much as the first [3], and then he took a fourth part which was twice as much as the second [4], and a fifth part which was three times the third [9], and a sixth part which was eight times the first [8], and a seventh part which was twenty-seven times the first [27]. After this he filled up the double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8] and the triple [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27] cutting off yet other portions from the mixture and placing them in the intervals, so that in each interval there were two kinds of means, the one exceeding and exceeded by equal parts of its extremes [as for example 1, 4/3, 2, in which the mean 4/3 is one-third of 1 more than 1, and one-third of 2 less than 2], the other being that kind of mean which exceeds and is exceeded by an equal number. Where there were intervals of 3/2 and of 4/3 and of 9/8, made by the connecting terms in the former intervals, he filled up all the intervals of 4/3 with the interval of 9/8, leaving a fraction over; and the interval which this fraction expressed was in the ratio of 256 to 243. And thus the whole mixture out of which he cut these portions was all exhausted by him. This entire compound he divided lengthways into two parts, which he joined to one another at the centre like the letter X, and bent them into a circular form, connecting them with themselves and each other at the point opposite to their original meeting-point; and, comprehending them in a uniform revolution upon the same axis, he made the one the outer and the other the inner circle. Now the motion of the outer circle he called the motion of the same, and the motion of the inner circle the motion of the other or diverse. The motion of the same he carried round by the side to the right, and the motion of the diverse diagonally to the left. And he gave dominion to the motion of the same and like, for that he left single and undivided; but the inner motion he divided in six places and made seven unequal circles having their intervals in ratios of two-and three, three of each, and bade the orbits proceed in a direction opposite to one another; and three [Sun, Mercury, Venus] he made to move with equal swiftness, and the remaining four [Moon, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter] to move with unequal swiftness to the three and to one another, but in due proportion. Now when the Creator had framed the soul according to his will, he formed within her the corporeal universe, and brought the two together, and united them centre to centre. The soul, interfused everywhere from the centre to the circumference of heaven, of which also she is the external envelopment, herself turning in herself, began a divine beginning of never ceasing and rational life enduring throughout all time. The body of heaven is visible, but the soul is invisible, and partakes of reason and harmony, and being made by the best of intellectual and everlasting natures, is the best of things created. And because she is composed of the same and of the other and of the essence, these three, and is divided and united in due proportion, and in her revolutions returns upon herself, the soul, when touching anything which has essence, whether dispersed in parts or undivided, is stirred through all her powers, to declare the sameness or difference of that thing and some other; and to what individuals are related, and by what affected, and in what way and how and when, both in the world of generation and in the world of immutable being. And when reason, which works with equal truth, whether she be in the circle of the diverse or of the same-in voiceless silence holding her onward course in the sphere of the self-moved-when reason, I say, is hovering around the sensible world and when the circle of the diverse also moving truly imparts the intimations of sense to the whole soul, then arise opinions and beliefs sure and certain. But when reason is concerned with the rational, and the circle of the same moving smoothly declares it, then intelligence and knowledge are necessarily perfected. And if any one affirms that in which these two are found to be other than the soul, he will say the very opposite of the truth. When the father creator saw the creature which he had made moving and living, the created image of the eternal gods, he rejoiced, and in his joy determined to make the copy still more like the original; and as this was eternal, he sought to make the universe eternal, so far as might be. Now the nature of the ideal being was everlasting, but to bestow this attribute in its fulness upon a creature was impossible. Wherefore he resolved to have a moving image of eternity, and when he set in order the heaven, he made this image eternal but moving according to number, while eternity itself rests in unity; and this image we call time. For there were no days and nights and months and years before the heaven was created, but when he constructed the heaven he created them also. They are all parts of time, and the past and future are created species of time, which we unconsciously but wrongly transfer to the eternal essence; for we say that he "was," he "is," he "will be," but the truth is that "is" alone is properly attributed to him, and that "was" and "will be" only to be spoken of becoming in time, for they are motions, but that which is immovably the same cannot become older or younger by time, nor ever did or has become, or hereafter will be, older or younger, nor is subject at all to any of those states which affect moving and sensible things and of which generation is the cause. These are the forms of time, which imitates eternity and revolves according to a law of number. Moreover, when we say that what has become is become and what becomes is becoming, and that what will become is about to become and that the non-existent is non-existent-all these are inaccurate modes of expression. But perhaps this whole subject will be more suitably discussed on some other occasion. Time, then, and the heaven came into being at the same instant in order that, having been created together, if ever there was to be a dissolution of them, they might be dissolved together. It was framed after the pattern of the eternal nature, that it might resemble this as far as was possible; for the pattern exists from eternity, and the created heaven has been, and is, and will be, in all time. Such was the mind and thought of God in the creation of time. The sun and moon and five other stars, which are called the planets, were created by him in order to distinguish and preserve the numbers of time; and when he had made-their several bodies, he placed them in the orbits in which the circle of the other was revolving-in seven orbits seven stars. First, there was the moon in the orbit nearest the earth, and next the sun, in the second orbit above the earth; then came the morning star and the star sacred to Hermes, moving in orbits which have an equal swiftness with the sun, but in an opposite direction; and this is the reason why the sun and Hermes and Lucifer overtake and are overtaken by each other. To enumerate the places which he assigned to the other stars, and to give all the reasons why he assigned them, although a secondary matter, would give more trouble than the primary. These things at some future time, when we are at leisure, may have the consideration which they deserve, but not at present. Now, when all the stars which were necessary to the creation of time had attained a motion suitable to them,-and had become living creatures having bodies fastened by vital chains, and learnt their appointed task, moving in the motion of the diverse, which is diagonal, and passes through and is governed by the motion of the same, they revolved, some in a larger and some in a lesser orbit-those which had the lesser orbit revolving faster, and those which had the larger more slowly. Now by reason of the motion of the same, those which revolved fastest appeared to be overtaken by those which moved slower although they really overtook them; for the motion of the same made them all turn in a spiral, and, because some went one way and some another, that which receded most slowly from the sphere of the same, which was the swiftest, appeared to follow it most nearly. That there might be some visible measure of their relative swiftness and slowness as they proceeded in their eight courses, God lighted a fire, which we now call the sun, in the second from the earth of these orbits, that it might give light to the whole of heaven, and that the animals, as many as nature intended, might participate in number, learning arithmetic from the revolution of the same and the like. Thus then, and for this reason the night and the day were created, being the period of the one most intelligent revolution. And the month is accomplished when the moon has completed her orbit and overtaken the sun, and the year when the sun has completed his own orbit. Mankind, with hardly an exception, have not remarked the periods of the other stars, and they have no name for them, and do not measure them against one another by the help of number, and hence they can scarcely be said to know that their wanderings, being infinite in number and admirable for their variety, make up time. And yet there is no difficulty in seeing that the perfect number of time fulfils the perfect year when all the eight revolutions, having their relative degrees of swiftness, are accomplished together and attain their completion at the same time, measured by the rotation of the same and equally moving. After this manner, and for these reasons, came into being such of the stars as in their heavenly progress received reversals of motion, to the end that the created heaven might imitate the eternal nature, and be as like as possible to the perfect and intelligible animal. Thus far and until the birth of time the created universe was made in the likeness of the original, but inasmuch as all animals were not yet comprehended therein, it was still unlike. What remained, the creator then proceeded to fashion after the nature of the pattern. Now as in the ideal animal the mind perceives ideas or species of a certain nature and number, he thought that this created animal ought to have species of a like nature and number. There are four such; one of them is the heavenly race of the gods; another, the race of birds whose way is in the air; the third, the watery species; and the fourth, the pedestrian and land creatures. Of the heavenly and divine, he created the greater part out of fire, that they might be the brightest of all things and fairest to behold, and he fashioned them after the likeness of the universe in the figure of a circle, and made them follow the intelligent motion of the supreme, distributing them over the whole circumference of heaven, which was to be a true cosmos or glorious world spangled with them all over. And he gave to each of them two movements: the first, a movement on the same spot after the same manner, whereby they ever continue to think consistently the same thoughts about the same things; the second, a forward movement, in which they are controlled by the revolution of the same and the like; but by the other five motions they were unaffected, in order that each of them might attain the highest perfection. And for this reason the fixed stars were created, to be divine and eternal animals, ever-abiding and revolving after the same manner and on the same spot; and the other stars which reverse their motion and are subject to deviations of this kind, were created in the manner already described. The earth, which is our nurse, clinging around the pole which is extended through the universe, he framed to be the guardian and artificer of night and day, first and eldest of gods that are in the interior of heaven. Vain would be the attempt to tell all the figures of them circling as in dance, and their juxtapositions, and the return of them in their revolutions upon themselves, and their approximations, and to say which of these deities in their conjunctions meet, and which of them are in opposition, and in what order they get behind and before one another, and when they are severally eclipsed to our sight and again reappear, sending terrors and intimations of the future to those who cannot calculate their movements-to attempt to tell of all this without a visible representation of the heavenly system would be labour in vain. Enough on this head; and now let what we have said about the nature of the created and visible gods have an end. To know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, and we must accept the traditions of the men of old time who affirm themselves to be the offspring of the gods-that is what they say-and they must surely have known their own ancestors. How can we doubt the word of the children of the gods? Although they give no probable or certain proofs, still, as they declare that they are speaking of what took place in their own family, we must conform to custom and believe them. In this manner, then, according to them, the genealogy of these gods is to be received and set forth. Oceanus and Tethys were the children of Earth and Heaven, and from these sprang Phorcys and Cronos and Rhea, and all that generation; and from Cronos and Rhea sprang Zeus and Here, and all those who are said to be their brethren, and others who were the children of these. Now, when all of them, both those who visibly appear in their revolutions as well as those other gods who are of a more retiring nature, had come into being, the creator of the universe addressed them in these words: "Gods, children of gods, who are my works, and of whom I am the artificer and father, my creations are indissoluble, if so I will. All that is bound may be undone, but only an evil being would wish to undo that which is harmonious and happy. Wherefore, since ye are but creatures, ye are not altogether immortal and indissoluble, but ye shall certainly not be dissolved, nor be liable to the fate of death, having in my will a greater and mightier bond than those with which ye were bound at the time of your birth. And now listen to my instructions:-Three tribes of mortal beings remain to be created-without them the universe will be incomplete, for it will not contain every kind of animal which it ought to contain, if it is to be perfect. On the other hand, if they were created by me and received life at my hands, they would be on an equality with the gods. In order then that they may be mortal, and that this universe may be truly universal, do ye, according to your natures, betake yourselves to the formation of animals, imitating the power which was shown by me in creating you. The part of them worthy of the name immortal, which is called divine and is the guiding principle of those who are willing to follow justice and you-of that divine part I will myself sow the seed, and having made a beginning, I will hand the work over to you. And do ye then interweave the mortal with the immortal, and make and beget living creatures, and give them food, and make them to grow, and receive them again in death." Thus he spake, and once more into the cup in which he had previously mingled the soul of the universe he poured the remains of the elements, and mingled them in much the same manner; they were not, however, pure as before, but diluted to the second and third degree. And having made it he divided the whole mixture into souls equal in number to the stars, and assigned each soul to a star; and having there placed them as in a chariot, he showed them the nature of the universe, and declared to them the laws of destiny, according to which their first birth would be one and the same for all,-no one should suffer a disadvantage at his hands; they were to be sown in the instruments of time severally adapted to them, and to come forth the most religious of animals; and as human nature was of two kinds, the superior race would here after be called man. Now, when they should be implanted in bodies by necessity, and be always gaining or losing some part of their bodily substance, then in the first place it would be necessary that they should all have in them one and the same faculty of sensation, arising out of irresistible impressions; in the second place, they must have love, in which pleasure and pain mingle; also fear and anger, and the feelings which are akin or opposite to them; if they conquered these they would live righteously, and if they were conquered by them, unrighteously. He who lived well during his appointed time was to return and dwell in his native star, and there he would have a blessed and congenial existence. But if he failed in attaining this, at the second birth he would pass into a woman, and if, when in that state of being, he did not desist from evil, he would continually be changed into some brute who resembled him in the evil nature which he had acquired, and would not cease from his toils and transformations until he followed the revolution of the same and the like within him, and overcame by the help of reason the turbulent and irrational mob of later accretions, made up of fire and air and water and earth, and returned to the form of his first and better state. Having given all these laws to his creatures, that he might be guiltless of future evil in any of them, the creator sowed some of them in the earth, and some in the moon, and some in the other instruments of time; and when he had sown them he committed to the younger gods the fashioning of their mortal bodies, and desired them to furnish what was still lacking to the human soul, and having made all the suitable additions, to rule over them, and to pilot the mortal animal in the best and wisest manner which they could, and avert from him all but self-inflicted evils. When the creator had made all these ordinances he remained in his own accustomed nature, and his children heard and were obedient to their father's word, and receiving from him the immortal principle of a mortal creature, in imitation of their own creator they borrowed portions of fire, and earth, and water, and air from the world, which were hereafter to be restored-these they took and welded them together, not with the indissoluble chains by which they were themselves bound, but with little pegs too small to be visible, making up out of all the four elements each separate body, and fastening the courses of the immortal soul in a body which was in a state of perpetual influx and efflux. Now these courses, detained as in a vast river, neither overcame nor were overcome; but were hurrying and hurried to and fro, so that the whole animal was moved and progressed, irregularly however and irrationally and anyhow, in all the six directions of motion, wandering backwards and forwards, and right and left, and up and down, and in all the six directions. For great as was the advancing and retiring flood which provided nourishment, the affections produced by external contact caused still greater tumult-when the body of any one met and came into collision with some external fire, or with the solid earth or the gliding waters, or was caught in the tempest borne on the air, and the motions produced by any of these impulses were carried through the body to the soul. All such motions have consequently received the general name of "sensations," which they still retain. And they did in fact at that time create a very great and mighty movement; uniting with the ever flowing stream in stirring up and violently shaking the courses of the soul, they completely stopped the revolution of the same by their opposing current, and hindered it from predominating and advancing; and they so disturbed the nature of the other or diverse, that the three double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8], and the three triple intervals [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27], together with the mean terms and connecting links which are expressed by the ratios of 3 : 2, and 4 : 3, and of 9 : 8-these, although they cannot be wholly undone except by him who united them, were twisted by them in all sorts of ways, and the circles were broken and disordered in every possible manner, so that when they moved they were tumbling to pieces, and moved irrationally, at one time in a reverse direction, and then again obliquely, and then upside down, as you might imagine a person who is upside down and has his head leaning upon the ground and his feet up against something in the air; and when he is in such a position, both he and the spectator fancy that the right of either is his left, and left right. If, when powerfully experiencing these and similar effects, the revolutions of the soul come in contact with some external thing, either of the class of the same or of the other, they speak of the same or of the other in a manner the very opposite of the truth; and they become false and foolish, and there is no course or revolution in them which has a guiding or directing power; and if again any sensations enter in violently from without and drag after them the whole vessel of the soul, then the courses of the soul, though they seem to conquer, are really conquered. And by reason of all these affections, the soul, when encased in a mortal body, now, as in the beginning, is at first without intelligence; but when the flood of growth and nutriment abates, and the courses of the soul, calming down, go their own way and become steadier as time goes on, then the several circles return to their natural form, and their revolutions are corrected, and they call the same and the other by their right names, and make the possessor of them to become a rational being. And if these combine in him with any true nurture or education, he attains the fulness and health of the perfect man, and escapes the worst disease of all; but if he neglects education he walks lame to the end of his life, and returns imperfect and good for nothing to the world below. This, however, is a later stage; at present we must treat more exactly the subject before us, which involves a preliminary enquiry into the generation of the body and its members, and as to how the soul was created-for what reason and by what providence of the gods; and holding fast to probability, we must pursue our way. First, then, the gods, imitating the spherical shape of the universe, enclosed the two divine courses in a spherical body, that, namely, which we now term the head, being the most divine part of us and the lord of all that is in us: to this the gods, when they put together the body, gave all the other members to be servants, considering that it partook of every sort of motion. In order then that it might not tumble about among the high and deep places of the earth, but might be able to get over the one and out of the other, they provided the body to be its vehicle and means of locomotion; which consequently had length and was furnished with four limbs extended and flexible; these God contrived to be instruments of locomotion with which it might take hold and find support, and so be able to pass through all places, carrying on high the dwelling-place of the most sacred and divine part of us. Such was the origin of legs and hands, which for this reason were attached to every man; and the gods, deeming the front part of man to be more honourable and more fit to command than the hinder part, made us to move mostly in a forward direction. Wherefore man must needs have his front part unlike and distinguished from the rest of his body. And so in the vessel of the head, they first of all put a face in which they inserted organs to minister in all things to the providence of the soul, and they appointed this part, which has authority, to be by nature the part which is in front. And of the organs they first contrived the eyes to give light, and the principle according to which they were inserted was as follows: So much of fire as would not burn, but gave a gentle light, they formed into a substance akin to the light of every-day life; and the pure fire which is within us and related thereto they made to flow through the eyes in a stream smooth and dense, compressing the whole eye, and especially the centre part, so that it kept out everything of a coarser nature, and allowed to pass only this pure element. When the light of day surrounds the stream of vision, then like falls upon like, and they coalesce, and one body is formed by natural affinity in the line of vision, wherever the light that falls from within meets with an external object. And the whole stream of vision, being similarly affected in virtue of similarity, diffuses the motions of what it touches or what touches it over the whole body, until they reach the soul, causing that perception which we call sight. But when night comes on and the external and kindred fire departs, then the stream of vision is cut off; for going forth to an unlike element it is changed and extinguished, being no longer of one nature with the surrounding atmosphere which is now deprived of fire: and so the eye no longer sees, and we feel disposed to sleep. For when the eyelids, which the gods invented for the preservation of sight, are closed, they keep in the internal fire; and the power of the fire diffuses and equalises the inward motions; when they are equalised, there is rest, and when the rest is profound, sleep comes over us scarce disturbed by dreams; but where the greater motions still remain, of whatever nature and in whatever locality, they engender corresponding visions in dreams, which are remembered by us when we are awake and in the external world. And now there is no longer any difficulty in understanding the creation of images in mirrors and all smooth and bright surfaces. For from the communion of the internal and external fires, and again from the union of them and their numerous transformations when they meet in the mirror, all these appearances of necessity arise, when the fire from the face coalesces with the fire from the eye on the bright and smooth surface. And right appears left and left right, because the visual rays come into contact with the rays emitted by the object in a manner contrary to the usual mode of meeting; but the right appears right, and the left left, when the position of one of the two concurring lights is reversed; and this happens when the mirror is concave and its smooth surface repels the right stream of vision to the left side, and the left to the right. Or if the mirror be turned vertically, then the concavity makes the countenance appear to be all upside down, and the lower rays are driven upwards and the upper downwards. All these are to be reckoned among the second and co-operative causes which God, carrying into execution the idea of the best as far as possible, uses as his ministers. They are thought by most men not to be the second, but the prime causes of all things, because they freeze and heat, and contract and dilate, and the like. But they are not so, for they are incapable of reason or intellect; the only being which can properly have mind is the invisible soul, whereas fire and water, and earth and air, are all of them visible bodies. The lover of intellect and knowledge ought to explore causes of intelligent nature first of all, and, secondly, of those things which, being moved by others, are compelled to move others. And this is what we too must do. Both kinds of causes should be acknowledged by us, but a distinction should be made between those which are endowed with mind and are the workers of things fair and good, and those which are deprived of intelligence and always produce chance effects without order or design. Of the second or co-operative causes of sight, which help to give to the eyes the power which they now possess, enough has been said. I will therefore now proceed to speak of the higher use and purpose for which God has given them to us. The sight in my opinion is the source of the greatest benefit to us, for had we never seen the stars, and the sun, and the heaven, none of the words which we have spoken about the universe would ever have been uttered. But now the sight of day and night, and the months and the revolutions of the years, have created number, and have given us a conception of time, and the power of enquiring about the nature of the universe; and from this source we have derived philosophy, than which no greater good ever was or will be given by the gods to mortal man. This is the greatest boon of sight: and of the lesser benefits why should I speak? even the ordinary man if he were deprived of them would bewail his loss, but in vain. Thus much let me say however: God invented and gave us sight to the end that we might behold the courses of intelligence in the heaven, and apply them to the courses of our own intelligence which are akin to them, the unperturbed to the perturbed; and that we, learning them and partaking of the natural truth of reason, might imitate the absolutely unerring courses of God and regulate our own vagaries. The same may be affirmed of speech and hearing: they have been given by the gods to the same end and for a like reason. For this is the principal end of speech, whereto it most contributes. Moreover, so much of music as is adapted to the sound of the voice and to the sense of hearing is granted to us for the sake of harmony; and harmony, which has motions akin to the revolutions of our souls, is not regarded by the intelligent votary of the Muses as given by them with a view to irrational pleasure, which is deemed to be the purpose of it in our day, but as meant to correct any discord which may have arisen in the courses of the soul, and to be our ally in bringing her into harmony and agreement with herself; and rhythm too was given by them for the same reason, on account of the irregular and graceless ways which prevail among mankind generally, and to help us against them. Thus far in what we have been saying, with small exception, the works of intelligence have been set forth; and now we must place by the side of them in our discourse the things which come into being through necessity-for the creation is mixed, being made up of necessity and mind. Mind, the ruling power, persuaded necessity to bring the greater part of created things to perfection, and thus and after this manner in the beginning, when the influence of reason got the better of necessity, the universe was created. But if a person will truly tell of the way in which the work was accomplished, he must include the other influence of the variable cause as well. Wherefore, we must return again and find another suitable beginning, as about the former matters, so also about these. To which end we must consider the nature of fire, and water, and air, and earth, such as they were prior to the creation of the heaven, and what was happening to them in this previous state; for no one has as yet explained the manner of their generation, but we speak of fire and the rest of them, whatever they mean, as though men knew their natures, and we maintain them to be the first principles and letters or elements of the whole, when they cannot reasonably be compared by a man of any sense even to syllables or first compounds. And let me say thus much: I will not now speak of the first principle or principles of all things, or by whatever name they are to be called, for this reason-because it is difficult to set forth my opinion according to the method of discussion which we are at present employing. Do not imagine, any more than I can bring myself to imagine, that I should be right in undertaking so great and difficult a task. Remembering what I said at first about probability, I will do my best to give as probable an explanation as any other-or rather, more probable; and I will first go back to the beginning and try to speak of each thing and of all. Once more, then, at the commencement of my discourse, I call upon God, and beg him to be our saviour out of a strange and unwonted enquiry, and to bring us to the haven of probability. So now let us begin again. This new beginning of our discussion of the universe requires a fuller division than the former; for then we made two classes, now a third must be revealed. The two sufficed for the former discussion: one, which we assumed, was a pattern intelligible and always the same; and the second was only the imitation of the pattern, generated and visible. There is also a third kind which we did not distinguish at the time, conceiving that the two would be enough. But now the argument seems to require that we should set forth in words another kind, which is difficult of explanation and dimly seen. What nature are we to attribute to this new kind of being? We reply, that it is the receptacle, and in a manner the nurse, of all generation. I have spoken the truth; but I must express myself in clearer language, and this will be an arduous task for many reasons, and in particular because I must first raise questions concerning fire and the other elements, and determine what each of them is; for to say, with any probability or certitude, which of them should be called water rather than fire, and which should be called any of them rather than all or some one of them, is a difficult matter. How, then, shall we settle this point, and what questions about the elements may be fairly raised? In the first place, we see that what we just now called water, by condensation, I suppose, becomes stone and earth; and this same element, when melted and dispersed, passes into vapour and air. Air, again, when inflamed, becomes fire; and again fire, when condensed and extinguished, passes once more into the form of air; and once more, air, when collected and condensed, produces cloud and mist; and from these, when still more compressed, comes flowing water, and from water comes earth and stones once more; and thus generation appears to be transmitted from one to the other in a circle. Thus, then, as the several elements never present themselves in the same form, how can any one have the assurance to assert positively that any of them, whatever it may be, is one thing rather than another? No one can. But much the safest plan is to speak of them as follows:-Anything which we see to be continually changing, as, for example, fire, we must not call "this" or "that," but rather say that it is "of such a nature"; nor let us speak of water as "this"; but always as "such"; nor must we imply that there is any stability in any of those things which we indicate by the use of the words "this" and "that," supposing ourselves to signify something thereby; for they are too volatile to be detained in any such expressions as "this," or "that," or "relative to this," or any other mode of speaking which represents them as permanent. We ought not to apply "this" to any of them, but rather the word "such"; which expresses the similar principle circulating in each and all of them; for example, that should be called "fire" which is of such a nature always, and so of everything that has generation. That in which the elements severally grow up, and appear, and decay, is alone to be called by the name "this" or "that"; but that which is of a certain nature, hot or white, or anything which admits of opposite equalities, and all things that are compounded of them, ought not to be so denominated. Let me make another attempt to explain my meaning more clearly. Suppose a person to make all kinds of figures of gold and to be always transmuting one form into all the rest-somebody points to one of them and asks what it is. By far the safest and truest answer is, That is gold; and not to call the triangle or any other figures which are formed in the gold "these," as though they had existence, since they are in process of change while he is making the assertion; but if the questioner be willing to take the safe and indefinite expression, "such," we should be satisfied. And the same argument applies to the universal nature which receives all bodies-that must be always called the same; for, while receiving all things, she never departs at all from her own nature, and never in any way, or at any time, assumes a form like that of any of the things which enter into her; she is the natural recipient of all impressions, and is stirred and informed by them, and appears different from time to time by reason of them. But the forms which enter into and go out of her are the likenesses of real existences modelled after their patterns in wonderful and inexplicable manner, which we will hereafter investigate. For the present we have only to conceive of three natures: first, that which is in process of generation; secondly, that in which the generation takes place; and thirdly, that of which the thing generated is a resemblance. And we may liken the receiving principle to a mother, and the source or spring to a father, and the intermediate nature to a child; and may remark further, that if the model is to take every variety of form, then the matter in which the model is fashioned will not be duly prepared, unless it is formless, and free from the impress of any of these shapes which it is hereafter to receive from without. For if the matter were like any of the supervening forms, then whenever any opposite or entirely different nature was stamped upon its surface, it would take the impression badly, because it would intrude its own shape. Wherefore, that which is to receive all forms should have no form; as in making perfumes they first contrive that the liquid substance which is to receive the scent shall be as inodorous as possible; or as those who wish to impress figures on soft substances do not allow any previous impression to remain, but begin by making the surface as even and smooth as possible. In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form. Wherefore, the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any way sensible things, is not to be termed earth, or air, or fire, or water, or any of their compounds or any of the elements from which these are derived, but is an invisible and formless being which receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible, and is most incomprehensible. In saying this we shall not be far wrong ; as far, however, as we can attain to a knowledge of her from the previous considerations, we may truly say that fire is that part of her nature which from time to time is inflamed, and water that which is moistened, and that the mother substance becomes earth and air, in so far as she receives the impressions of them. Let us consider this question more precisely. Is there any self-existent fire ? and do all those things which we call self-existent exist ? or are only those things which we see, or in some way perceive through the bodily organs, truly existent, and nothing whatever besides them ? And is all that which, we call an intelligible essence nothing at all, and only a name ? Here is a question which we must not leave unexamined or undetermined, nor must we affirm too confidently that there can be no decision ; neither must we interpolate in our present long discourse a digression equally long, but if it is possible to set forth a great principle in a few words, that is just what we want. Thus I state my view : — If mind and true opinion are two distinct classes, then I say that there certainly are these self-existent ideas unperceived by sense, and apprehended only by the mind ; if, however, as some say, true opinion differs in no respect from mind, then everything that we perceive through the body is to be regarded as most real and certain. But we must affirm that to be distinct, for they have a distinct origin and are of a different nature ; the one is implanted in us by instruction, the other by persuasion ; the one is always accompanied by true reason, the other is without reason ; the one cannot be overcome by persuasion, but the other can : and lastly, every man may be said to share in true opinion, but mind is the attribute of the gods and of very few men. Wherefore also we must acknowledge that there is one kind of being which is always the same, uncreated and indestructible, never receiving anything into itself from without, nor itself going out to any other, but invisible and imperceptible by any sense, and of which the contemplation is granted to intelligence only. And there is another nature of the same name with it, and like to it, perceived by sense, created, always in motion, becoming in place and again vanishing out of place, which is apprehended by opinion and sense. And there is a third nature, which is space, and is eternal, and admits not of destruction and provides a home for all created things, and is apprehended without the help of sense, by a kind of spurious reason, and is hardly real ; which we beholding as in a dream, say of all existence that it must of necessity be in some place and occupy a space, but that what is neither in heaven nor in earth has no existence. Of these and other things of the same kind, relating to the true and waking reality of nature, we have only this dreamlike sense, and we are unable to cast off sleep and determine the truth about them. For an image, since the reality, after which it is modelled, does not belong to it, and it exists ever as the fleeting shadow of some other, must be inferred to be in another [i.e. in space ], grasping existence in some way or other, or it could not be at all. But true and exact reason, vindicating the nature of true being, maintains that while two things [i.e. the image and space] are different they cannot exist one of them in the other and so be one and also two at the same time. Thus have I concisely given the result of my thoughts ; and my verdict is that being and space and generation, these three, existed in their three ways before the heaven ; and that the nurse of generation, moistened by water and inflamed by fire, and receiving the forms of earth and air, and experiencing all the affections which accompany these, presented a strange variety of appearances ; and being full of powers which were neither similar nor equally balanced, was never in any part in a state of equipoise, but swaying unevenly hither and thither, was shaken by them, and by its motion again shook them ; and the elements when moved were separated and carried continually, some one way, some another ; as, when rain is shaken and winnowed by fans and other instruments used in the threshing of corn, the close and heavy particles are borne away and settle in one direction, and the loose and light particles in another. In this manner, the four kinds or elements were then shaken by the receiving vessel, which, moving like a winnowing machine, scattered far away from one another the elements most unlike, and forced the most similar elements into dose contact. Wherefore also the various elements had different places before they were arranged so as to form the universe. At first, they were all without reason and measure. But when the world began to get into order, fire and water and earth and air had only certain faint traces of themselves, and were altogether such as everything might be expected to be in the absence of God ; this, I say, was their nature at that time, and God fashioned them by form and number. Let it be consistently maintained by us in all that we say that God made them as far as possible the fairest and best, out of things which were not fair and good. And now I will endeavour to show you the disposition and generation of them by an unaccustomed argument, which am compelled to use ; but I believe that you will be able to follow me, for your education has made you familiar with the methods of science. In the first place, then, as is evident to all, fire and earth and water and air are bodies. And every sort of body possesses solidity, and every solid must necessarily be contained in planes ; and every plane rectilinear figure is composed of triangles ; and all triangles are originally of two kinds, both of which are made up of one right and two acute angles ; one of them has at either end of the base the half of a divided right angle, having equal sides, while in the other the right angle is divided into unequal parts, having unequal sides. These, then, proceeding by a combination of probability with demonstration, we assume to be the original elements of fire and the other bodies ; but the principles which are prior to these God only knows, and he of men who is the friend God. And next we have to determine what are the four most beautiful bodies which are unlike one another, and of which some are capable of resolution into one another ; for having discovered thus much, we shall know the true origin of earth and fire and of the proportionate and intermediate elements. And then we shall not be willing to allow that there are any distinct kinds of visible bodies fairer than these. Wherefore we must endeavour to construct the four forms of bodies which excel in beauty, and then we shall be able to say that we have sufficiently apprehended their nature. Now of the two triangles, the isosceles has one form only ; the scalene or unequal-sided has an infinite number. Of the infinite forms we must select the most beautiful, if we are to proceed in due order, and any one who can point out a more beautiful form than ours for the construction of these bodies, shall carry off the palm, not as an enemy, but as a friend. Now, the one which we maintain to be the most beautiful of all the many triangles (and we need not speak of the others) is that of which the double forms a third triangle which is equilateral ; the reason of this would be long to tell ; he who disproves what we are saying, and shows that we are mistaken, may claim a friendly victory. Then let us choose two triangles, out of which fire and the other elements have been constructed, one isosceles, the other having the square of the longer side equal to three times the square of the lesser side. Now is the time to explain what was before obscurely said : there was an error in imagining that all the four elements might be generated by and into one another ; this, I say, was an erroneous supposition, for there are generated from the triangles which we have selected four kinds — three from the one which has the sides unequal ; the fourth alone is framed out of the isosceles triangle. Hence they cannot all be resolved into one another, a great number of small bodies being combined into a few large ones, or the converse. But three of them can be thus resolved and compounded, for they all spring from one, and when the greater bodies are broken up, many small bodies will spring up out of them and take their own proper figures ; or, again, when many small bodies are dissolved into their triangles, if they become one, they will form one large mass of another kind. So much for their passage into one another. I have now to speak of their several kinds, and show out of what combinations of numbers each of them was formed. The first will be the simplest and smallest construction, and its element is that triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side. When two such triangles are joined at the diagonal, and this is repeated three times, and the triangles rest their diagonals and shorter sides on the same point as a centre, a single equilateral triangle is formed out of six triangles ; and four equilateral triangles, if put together, make out of every three plane angles one solid angle, being that which is nearest to the most obtuse of plane angles ; and out of the combination of these four angles arises the first solid form which distributes into equal and similar parts the whole circle in which it is inscribed. The second species of solid is formed out of the same triangles, which unite as eight equilateral triangles and form one solid angle out of four plane angles, and out of six such angles the second body is completed. And the third body is made up of 120 triangular elements, forming twelve solid angles, each of them included in five plane equilateral triangles, having altogether twenty bases, each of which is an equilateral triangle. The one element [that is, the triangle which has its hypotenuse twice the lesser side] having generated these figures, generated no more ; but the isosceles triangle produced the fourth elementary figure, which is compounded of four such triangles, joining their right angles in a centre, and forming one equilateral quadrangle. Six of these united form eight solid angles, each of which is made by the combination of three plane right angles ; the figure of the body thus composed is a cube, having six plane quadrangular equilateral bases. There was yet a fifth combination which God used in the delineation of the universe. Now, he who, duly reflecting on all this, enquires whether the worlds are to be regarded as indefinite or definite in number, will be of opinion that the notion of their indefiniteness is characteristic of a sadly indefinite and ignorant mind. He, however, who raises the question whether they are to be truly regarded as one or five, takes up a more reasonable position. Arguing from probabilities, I am of opinion that they are one ; another, regarding the question from another point of view, will be of another mind. But, leaving this enquiry, let us proceed to distribute the elementary forms, which have now been created in idea, among the four elements. To earth, then, let us assign the cubical form ; for earth is the most immoveable of the four and the most plastic of all bodies, and that which has the most stable bases must of necessity be of such a nature. Now, of the triangles which we assumed at first, that which has two equal sides is by nature more firmly based than that which has unequal sides ; and of the compound figures which are formed out of either, the plane equilateral quadrangle has necessarily, a more stable basis than the equilateral triangle, both in the whole and in the parts. Wherefore, in assigning this figure to earth, we adhere to probability ; and to water we assign that one of the remaining forms which is the least moveable ; and the most moveable of them to fire ; and to air that which is intermediate. Also we assign the smallest body to fire, and the greatest to water, and the intermediate in size to air ; and, again, the acutest body to fire, and the next in acuteness to, air, and the third to water. Of all these elements, that which has the fewest bases must necessarily be the most moveable, for it must be the acutest and most penetrating in every way, and also the lightest as being composed of the smallest number of similar particles : and the second body has similar properties in a second degree, and the third body in the third degree. Let it be agreed, then, both according to strict reason and according to probability, that the pyramid is the solid which is the original element and seed of fire ; and let us assign the element which was next in the order of generation to air, and the third to water. We must imagine all these to be so small that no single particle of any of the four kinds is seen by us on account of their smallness : but when many of them are collected together their aggregates are seen. And the ratios of their numbers, motions, and other properties, everywhere God, as far as necessity allowed or gave consent, has exactly perfected, and harmonised in due proportion. From all that we have just been saying about the elements or kinds, the most probable conclusion is as follows : — earth, when meeting with fire and dissolved by its sharpness, whether the dissolution take place in the fire itself or perhaps in some mass of air or water, is borne hither and thither, until its parts, meeting together and mutually harmonising, again become earth ; for they can never take any other form. But water, when divided by fire or by air, on reforming, may become one part fire and two parts air ; and a single volume of air divided becomes two of fire. Again, when a small body of fire is contained in a larger body of air or water or earth, and both are moving, and the fire struggling is overcome and broken up, then two volumes of fire form one volume of air ; and when air is overcome and cut up into small pieces, two and a half parts of air are condensed into one part of water. Let us consider the matter in another way. When one of the other elements is fastened upon by fire, and is cut by the sharpness of its angles and sides, it coalesces with the fire, and then ceases to be cut by them any longer. For no element which is one and the same with itself can be changed by or change another of the same kind and in the same state. But so long as in the process of transition the weaker is fighting against the stronger, the dissolution continues. Again, when a few small particles, enclosed in many larger ones, are in process of decomposition and extinction, they only cease from their tendency to extinction when they consent to pass into the conquering nature, and fire becomes air and air water. But if bodies of another kind go and attack them [i.e. the small particles], the latter continue to be dissolved until, being completely forced back and dispersed, they make their escape to their own kindred, or else, being overcome and assimilated to the conquering power, they remain where they are and dwell with their victors, and from being many become one. And owing to these affections, all things are changing their place, for by the motion of the receiving vessel the bulk of each class is distributed into its proper place ; but those things which become unlike themselves and like other things, are hurried by the shaking into the place of the things to which they grow like. Now all unmixed and primary bodies are produced by such causes as these. As to the subordinate species which are included in the greater kinds, they are to be attributed to the varieties in the structure of the two original triangles. For either structure did not originally produce the triangle of one size only, but some larger and some smaller, and there are as many sizes as there are species of the four elements. Hence when they are mingled with themselves and with one another there is an endless variety of them, which those who would arrive at the probable truth of nature ought duly to consider. Unless a person comes to an understanding about the nature and conditions of rest and motion, he will meet with many difficulties in the discussion which follows. Something has been said of this matter already, and something more remains to be said, which is, that motion never exists in what is uniform. For to conceive that anything can be moved without a mover is hard or indeed impossible, and equally impossible to conceive that there can be a mover unless there be something which can be moved — motion cannot exist where either of these are wanting, and for these to be uniform is impossible ; wherefore we must assign rest to uniformity and motion to the want of uniformity. Now inequality is the cause of the nature which is wanting in uniformity ; and of this we have already described the origin. But there still remains the further point — why things when divided after their kinds do not cease to pass through one another and to change their place — which we will now proceed to explain. In the revolution of the universe are comprehended all the four elements, and this being circular and having a tendency to come together, compresses everything and will not allow any place to be left void. Wherefore, also, fire above all things penetrates everywhere, and air next, as being next in rarity of the elements ; and the two other elements in like manner penetrate according to their degrees of rarity. For those things which are composed of the largest particles have the largest void left in their compositions, and those which are composed of the smallest particles have the least. And the contraction caused by the compression thrusts the smaller particles into the interstices of the larger. And thus, when the small parts are placed side by side with the larger, and the lesser divide the greater and the greater unite the lesser, all the elements are borne up and down and hither and thither towards their own places ; for the change in the size of each changes its position in space. And these causes generate an inequality which is always maintained, and is continually creating a perpetual motion of the elements in all time. In the next place we have to consider that there are divers kinds of fire. There are, for example, first, flame ; and secondly, those emanations of flame which do not burn but only give light to the eyes ; thirdly, the remains of fire, which are seen in red-hot embers after the flame has been extinguished. There are similar differences in the air ; of which the brightest part is called the aether, and the most turbid sort mist and darkness ; and there are various other nameless kinds which arise from the inequality of the triangles. Water, again, admits in the first place of a division into two kinds ; the one liquid and the other fusile. The liquid kind is composed of the small and unequal particles of water ; and moves itself and is moved by other bodies owing to the want of uniformity and the shape of its particles ; whereas the fusile kind, being formed of large and uniform particles, is more stable than the other, and is heavy and compact by reason of its uniformity. But when fire gets in and dissolves the particles and destroys the uniformity, it has greater mobility, and becoming fluid is thrust forth by the neighbouring air and spreads upon the earth ; and this dissolution of the solid masses is called melting, and their spreading out upon the earth flowing. Again, when the fire goes out of the fusile substance, it does not pass into vacuum, but into the neighbouring air ; and the air which is displaced forces together the liquid and still moveable mass into the place which was occupied by the fire, and unites it with itself. Thus compressed the mass resumes its equability, and is again at unity with itself, because the fire which was the author of the inequality has retreated ; and this departure of the fire is called cooling, and the coming together which follows upon it is termed congealment. Of all the kinds termed fusile, that which is the densest and is formed out of the finest and most uniform parts is that most precious possession called gold, which is hardened by filtration through rock ; this is unique in kind, and has both a glittering and a yellow colour. A shoot of gold, which is so dense as to be very hard, and takes a black colour, is termed adamant. There is also another kind which has parts nearly like gold, and of which there are several species ; it is denser than gold, and it contains a small and fine portion of earth, and is therefore harder, yet also lighter because of the great interstices which it has within itself ; and this substance, which is one of the bright and denser kinds of water, when solidified is called copper. There is an alloy of earth mingled with it, which, when the two parts grow old and are disunited, shows itself separately and is called rust. The remaining phenomena of the same kind there will be no difficulty in reasoning out by the method of probabilities. A man may sometimes set aside meditations about eternal things, and for recreation turn to consider the truths of generation which are probable only ; he will thus gain a pleasure not to be repented of, and secure for himself while he lives a wise and moderate pastime. Let us grant ourselves this indulgence, and go through the probabilities relating to the same subjects which follow next in order. Water which is mingled with fire, so much as is fine and liquid (being so called by reason of its motion and the way in which it rolls along the ground), and soft, because its bases give way are less stable than those of earth, when separated from fire and air and isolated, becomes more uniform, and by their retirement is compressed into itself ; and if the condensation be very great, the water above the earth becomes hail, but on the earth, ice ; and that which is congealed in a less degree and is only half solid, when above the earth is called snow, and when upon the earth, and condensed from dew, hoarfrost. Then, again, there are the numerous kinds of water which have been mingled with one another, and are distilled through plants which grow in the earth ; and this whole class is called by the name of juices or saps. The unequal admixture of these fluids creates a variety of species ; most of them are nameless, but four which are of a fiery nature are clearly distinguished and have names. First there is wine, which warms the soul as well as the body : secondly, there is the oily nature, which is smooth and divides the visual ray, and for this reason is bright and shining and of a glistening appearance, including pitch, the juice of the castor berry, oil itself, and other things of a like kind : thirdly, there is the class of substances which expand the contracted parts of the mouth, until they return to their natural state, and by reason of this property create sweetness ; — these are included under the general name of honey : and, lastly, there is a frothy nature, which differs from all juices, having a burning quality which dissolves the flesh ; it is called opos (a vegetable acid). As to the kinds of earth, that which is filtered through water passes into stone in the following manner : — The water which mixes with the earth and is broken up in the process changes into air, and taking this form mounts into its own place. But as there is no surrounding vacuum it thrusts away the neighbouring air, and this being rendered heavy, and, when it is displaced, having been poured around the mass of earth, forcibly compresses it and drives it into the vacant space whence the new air had come up ; and the earth when compressed by the air into an indissoluble union with water becomes rock. The fairer sort is that which is made up of equal and similar parts and is transparent ; that which has the opposite qualities is inferior. But when all the watery part is suddenly drawn out by fire, a more brittle substance is formed, to which we give the name of pottery. Sometimes also moisture may remain, and the earth which has been fused by fire becomes, when cool, a certain stone of a black colour. A like separation of the water which had been copiously mingled with them may occur in two substances composed of finer particles of earth and of a briny nature ; out of either of them a half solid body is then formed, soluble in water — the one, soda, which is used for purging away oil and earth, and other, salt, which harmonizes so well in combinations pleasing to the palate, and is, as the law testifies, a substance dear to the gods. The compounds of earth and water are not soluble by water, but by fire only, and for this reason : — Neither fire nor air melt masses of earth ; for their particles, being smaller than the interstices in its structure, have plenty of room to move without forcing their way, and so they leave the earth unmelted and undissolved ; but particles of water, which are larger, force a passage, and dissolve and melt the earth. Wherefore earth when not consolidated by force is dissolved by water only ; when consolidated, by nothing but fire ; for this is the only body which can find an entrance. The cohesion of water again, when very strong, is dissolved by fire only — when weaker, then either by air or fire — the former entering the interstices, and the latter penetrating even the triangles. But nothing can dissolve air, when strongly condensed, which does not reach the elements or triangles ; or if not strongly condensed, then only fire can dissolve it. As to bodies composed of earth and water, while the water occupies the vacant interstices of the earth in them which are compressed by force, the particles of water which approach them from without, finding no entrance, flow around the entire mass and leave it undissolved ; but the particles of fire, entering into the interstices of the water, do to the water what water does to earth and fire to air, and are the sole causes of the compound body of earth and water liquefying and becoming fluid. Now these bodies are of two kinds ; some of them, such as glass and the fusible sort of stones, have less water than they have earth ; on the other hand, substances of the nature of wax and incense have more of water entering into their composition. I have thus shown the various classes of bodies as they are diversified by their forms and combinations and changes into one another, and now I must endeavour to set forth their affections and the causes of them. In the first place, the bodies which I have been describing are necessarily objects of sense. But we have not yet considered the origin of flesh, or what belongs to flesh, or of that part of the soul which is mortal. And these things cannot be adequately explained without also explaining the affections which are concerned with sensation, nor the latter without the former : and yet to explain them together is hardly possible ; for which reason we must assume first one or the other and afterwards examine the nature of our hypothesis. In order, then, that the affections may follow regularly after the elements, let us presuppose the existence of body and soul. First, let us enquire what we mean by saying that fire is hot ; and about this we may reason from the dividing or cutting power which it exercises on our bodies. We all of us feel that fire is sharp ; and we may further consider the fineness of the sides, and the sharpness of the angles, and the smallness of the particles, and the swiftness of the motion — all this makes the action of fire violent and sharp, so that it cuts whatever it meets. And we must not forget that the original figure of fire [i.e. the pyramid], more than any other form, has a dividing power which cuts our bodies into small pieces (Kepmatizei), and thus naturally produces that affection which we call heat ; and hence the origin of the name (thepmos, Kepma). Now, the opposite of this is sufficiently manifest ; nevertheless we will not fail to describe it. For the larger particles of moisture which surround the body, entering in and driving out the lesser, but not being able to take their places, compress the moist principle in us ; and this from being unequal and disturbed, is forced by them into a state of rest, which is due to equability and compression. But things which are contracted contrary to nature are by nature at war, and force themselves apart ; and to this war and convulsion the name of shivering and trembling is given ; and the whole affection and the cause of the affection are both termed cold. That is called hard to which our flesh yields, and soft which yields to our flesh ; and things are also termed hard and soft relatively to one another. That which yields has a small base ; but that which rests on quadrangular bases is firmly posed and belongs to the class which offers the greatest resistance ; so too does that which is the most compact and therefore most repellent. The nature of the light and the heavy will be best understood when examined in connexion with our notions of above and below ; for it is quite a mistake to suppose that the universe is parted into two regions, separate from and opposite to each other, the one a lower to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper to which things only ascend against their will. For as the universe is in the form of a sphere, all the extremities, being equidistant from the centre, are equally extremities, and the centre, which is equidistant from them, is equally to be regarded as the opposite of them all. Such being the nature of the world, when a person says that any of these points is above or below, may he not be justly charged with using an improper expression ? For the centre of the world cannot be rightly called either above or below, but is the centre and nothing else ; and the circumference is not the centre, and has in no one part of itself a different relation to the centre from what it has in any of the opposite parts. Indeed, when it is in every direction similar, how can one rightly give to it names which imply opposition ? For if there were any solid body in equipoise at the centre of the universe, there would be nothing to draw it to this extreme rather than to that, for they are all perfectly similar ; and if a person were to go round the world in a circle, he would often, when standing at the antipodes of his former position, speak of the same point as above and below ; for, as I was saying just now, to speak of the whole which is in the form of a globe as having one part above and another below is not like a sensible man. The reason why these names are used, and the circumstances under which they are ordinarily applied by us to the division of the heavens, may be elucidated by the following supposition : — if a person were to stand in that part of the universe which is the appointed place of fire, and where there is the great mass of fire to which fiery bodies gather — if, I say, he were to ascend thither, and, having the power to do this, were to abstract particles of fire and put them in scales and weigh them, and then, raising the balance, were to draw the fire by force towards the uncongenial element of the air, it would be very evident that he could compel the smaller mass more readily than the larger ; for when two things are simultaneously raised by one and the same power, the smaller body must necessarily yield to the superior power with less reluctance than the larger ; and the larger body is called heavy and said to tend downwards, and the smaller body is called light and said to tend upwards. And we may detect ourselves who are upon the earth doing precisely the same thing. For we of separate earthy natures, and sometimes earth itself, and draw them into the uncongenial element of air by force and contrary to nature, both clinging to their kindred elements. But that which is smaller yields to the impulse given by us towards the dissimilar element more easily than the larger ; and so we call the former light, and the place towards which it is impelled we call above, and the contrary state and place we call heavy and below respectively. Now the relations of these must necessarily vary, because the principal masses of the different elements hold opposite positions ; for that which is light, heavy, below or above in one place will be found to be and become contrary and transverse and every way diverse in relation to that which is light, heavy, below or above in an opposite place. And about all of them this has to be considered : — that the tendency of each towards its kindred element makes the body which is moved heavy, and the place towards which the motion tends below, but things which have an opposite tendency we call by an opposite name. Such are the causes which we assign to these phenomena. As to the smooth and the rough, any one who sees them can explain the reason of them to another. For roughness is hardness mingled with irregularity, and smoothness is produced by the joint effect of uniformity and density. The most important of the affections which concern the whole body remains to be considered — that is, the cause of pleasure and pain in the perceptions of which I have been speaking, and in all other things which are perceived by sense through the parts of the body, and have both pains and pleasures attendant on them. Let us imagine the causes of every affection, whether of sense or not, to be of the following nature, remembering that we have already distinguished between the nature which is easy and which is hard to move ; for this is the direction in which we must hunt the prey which we mean to take. A body which is of a nature to be easily moved, on receiving an impression however slight, spreads abroad the motion in a circle, the parts communicating with each other, until at last, reaching the principle of mind, they announce the quality of the agent. But a body of the opposite kind, being immobile, and not extending to the surrounding region, merely receives the impression, and does not stir any of the neighbouring parts ; and since the parts do not distribute the original impression to other parts, it has no effect of motion on the whole animal, and therefore produces no effect on the patient. This is true of the bones and hair and other more earthy parts of the human body ; whereas what was said above relates mainly to sight and hearing, because they have in them the greatest amount of fire and air. Now we must conceive of pleasure and pain in this way. An impression produced in us contrary to nature and violent, if sudden, is painful ; and, again, the sudden return to nature is pleasant ; but a gentle and gradual return is imperceptible and vice versa. On the other hand the impression of sense which is most easily produced is most readily felt, but is not accompanied by Pleasure or pain ; such, for example, are the affections of the sight, which, as we said above, is a body naturally uniting with our body in the day-time ; for cuttings and burnings and other affections which happen to the sight do not give pain, nor is there pleasure when the sight returns to its natural state ; but the sensations are dearest and strongest according to the manner in which the eye is affected by the object, and itself strikes and touches it ; there is no violence either in the contraction or dilation of the eye. But bodies formed of larger particles yield to the agent only with a struggle ; and then they impart their motions to the whole and cause pleasure and pain — pain when alienated from their natural conditions, and pleasure when restored to them. Things which experience gradual withdrawings and emptyings of their nature, and great and sudden replenishments, fail to perceive the emptying, but are sensible of the replenishment ; and so they occasion no pain, but the greatest pleasure, to the mortal part of the soul, as is manifest in the case of perfumes. But things which are changed all of a sudden, and only gradually and with difficulty return to their own nature, have effects in every way opposite to the former, as is evident in the case of burnings and cuttings of the body. Thus have we discussed the general affections of the whole body, and the names of the agents which produce them. And now I will endeavour to speak of the affections of particular parts, and the causes and agents of them, as far as I am able. In the first place let us set forth what was omitted when we were speaking of juices, concerning the affections peculiar to the tongue. These too, like most of the other affections, appear to be caused by certain contractions and dilations, but they have besides more of roughness and smoothness than is found in other affections ; for whenever earthy particles enter into the small veins which are the testing of the tongue, reaching to the heart, and fall upon the moist, delicate portions of flesh — when, as they are dissolved, they contract and dry up the little veins, they are astringent if they are rougher, but if not so rough, then only harsh. Those of them which are of an abstergent nature, and purge the whole surface of the tongue, if they do it in excess, and so encroach as to consume some part of the flesh itself, like potash and soda, are all termed bitter. But the particles which are deficient in the alkaline quality, and which cleanse only moderately, are called salt, and having no bitterness or roughness, are regarded as rather agreeable than otherwise. Bodies which share in and are made smooth by the heat of the mouth, and which are inflamed, and again in turn inflame that which heats them, and which are so light that they are carried upwards to the sensations of the head, and cut all that comes in their way, by reason of these qualities in them, are all termed pungent. But when these same particles, refined by putrefaction, enter into the narrow veins, and are duly proportioned to the particles of earth and air which are there, they set them whirling about one another, and while they are in a whirl cause them to dash against and enter into one another, and so form hollows surrounding the particles that enter — which watery vessels of air (for a film of moisture, sometimes earthy, sometimes pure, is spread around the air) are hollow spheres of water ; and those of them which are pure, are transparent, and are called bubbles, while those composed of the earthy liquid, which is in a state of general agitation and effervescence, are said to boil or ferment — of all these affections the cause is termed acid. And there is the opposite affection arising from an opposite cause, when the mass of entering particles, immersed in the moisture of the mouth, is congenial to the tongue, and smooths and oils over the roughness, and relaxes the parts which are unnaturally contracted, and contracts the parts which are relaxed, and disposes them all according to their nature — that sort of remedy of violent affections is pleasant and agreeable to every man, and has the name sweet. But enough of this. The faculty of smell does not admit of differences of kind ; for all smells are of a half formed nature, and no element is so proportioned as to have any smell. The veins about the nose are too narrow to admit earth and water, and too wide to detain fire and air ; and for this reason no one ever perceives the smell of any of them ; but smells always proceed from bodies that are damp, or putrefying, or liquefying, or evaporating, and are perceptible only in the intermediate state, when water is changing into air and air into water ; and all of them are either vapor or mist. That which is passing out of air into water is mist, and that which is passing from water into air is vapour ; and hence all smells are thinner than water and thicker than air. The proof of this is, that when there is any obstruction to the respiration, and a man draws in his breath by force, then no smell filters through, but the air without the smell alone penetrates. Wherefore the varieties of smell have no name, and they have not many, or definite and simple kinds ; but they are distinguished only painful and pleasant, the one sort irritating and disturbing the whole cavity which is situated between the head and the navel, the other having a soothing influence, and restoring this same region to an agreeable and natural condition. In considering the third kind of sense, hearing, we must speak of the causes in which it originates. We may in general assume sound to be a blow which passes through the ears, and is transmitted by means of the air, the brain, and the blood, to the soul, and that hearing is the vibration of this blow, which begins in the head and ends in the region of the liver. The sound which moves swiftly is acute, and the sound which moves slowly is grave, and that which is regular is equable and smooth, and the reverse is harsh. A great body of sound is loud, and a small body of sound the reverse. Respecting the harmonies of sound I must hereafter speak. There is a fourth class of sensible things, having many intricate varieties, which must now be distinguished. They are called by the general name of colours, and are a flame which emanates from every sort of body, and has particles corresponding to the sense of sight. I have spoken already, in what has preceded, of the causes which generate sight, and in this place it will be natural and suitable to give a rational theory of colours. Of the particles coming from other bodies which fall upon the sight, some are smaller and some are larger, and some are equal to the parts of the sight itself. Those which are equal are imperceptible, and we call them transparent. The larger produce contraction, the smaller dilation, in the sight, exercising a power akin to that of hot and cold bodies on the flesh, or of astringent bodies on the tongue, or of those heating bodies which we termed pungent. White and black are similar effects of contraction and dilation in another sphere, and for this reason have a different appearance. Wherefore, we ought to term white that which dilates the visual ray, and the opposite of this is black. There is also a swifter motion of a different sort of fire which strikes and dilates the ray of sight until it reaches the eyes, forcing a way through their passages and melting them, and eliciting from them a union of fire and water which we call tears, being itself an opposite fire which comes to them from an opposite direction — the inner fire flashes forth like lightning, and the outer finds a way in and is extinguished in the moisture, and all sorts of colours are generated by the mixture. This affection is termed dazzling, and the object which produces it is called bright and flashing. There is another sort of fire which is intermediate, and which reaches and mingles with the moisture of the eye without flashing ; and in this, the fire mingling with the ray of the moisture, produces a colour like blood, to which we give the name of red. A bright hue mingled with red and white gives the colour called auburn. The law of proportion, however, according to which the several colours are formed, even if a man knew he would be foolish in telling, for he could not give any necessary reason, nor indeed any tolerable or probable explanation of them. Again, red, when mingled with black and white, becomes purple, but it becomes umber when the colours are burnt as well as mingled and the black is more thoroughly mixed with them. Flame colour is produced by a union of auburn and dun, and dun by an admixture of black and white ; pale yellow, by an admixture of white and auburn. White and bright meeting, and falling upon a full black, become dark blue, and when dark blue mingles with white, a light blue colour is formed, as flame-colour with black makes leek green. There will be no difficulty in seeing how and by what mixtures the colours derived from these are made according to the rules of probability. He, however, who should attempt to verify all this by experiment, would forget the difference of the human and divine nature. For God only has the knowledge and also the power which are able to combine many things into one and again resolve the one into many. But no man either is or ever will be able to accomplish either the one or the other operation. These are the elements, thus of necessity then subsisting, which the creator of the fairest and best of created things associated with himself, when he made the self-sufficing and most perfect God, using the necessary causes as his ministers in the accomplishment of his work, but himself contriving the good in all his creations. Wherefore we may distinguish two sorts of causes, the one divine and the other necessary, and may seek for the divine in all things, as far as our nature admits, with a view to the blessed life ; but the necessary kind only for the sake of the divine, considering that without them and when isolated from them, these higher things for which we look cannot be apprehended or received or in any way shared by us. Seeing, then, that we have now prepared for our use the various classes of causes which are the material out of which the remainder of our discourse must be woven, just as wood is the material of the carpenter, let us revert in a few words to the point at which we began, and then endeavour to add on a suitable ending to the beginning of our tale. As I said at first, when all things were in disorder God created in each thing in relation to itself, and in all things in relation to each other, all the measures and harmonies which they could possibly receive. For in those days nothing had any proportion except by accident ; nor did any of the things which now have names deserve to be named at all — as, for example, fire, water, and the rest of the elements. All these the creator first set in order, and out of them he constructed the universe, which was a single animal comprehending in itself all other animals, mortal and immortal. Now of the divine, he himself was the creator, but the creation of the mortal he committed to his offspring. And they, imitating him, received from him the immortal principle of the soul ; and around this they proceeded to fashion a mortal body, and. made it to be the vehicle of the so and constructed within the body a soul of another nature which was mortal, subject to terrible and irresistible affections — first of all, pleasure, the greatest incitement to evil ; then, pain, which deters from good ; also rashness and fear, two foolish counsellors, anger hard to be appeased, and hope easily led astray — these they mingled with irrational sense and with all-daring love according to necessary laws, and so framed man. Wherefore, fearing to pollute the divine any more than was absolutely unavoidable, they gave to the mortal nature a separate habitation in another part of the body, placing the neck between them to be the isthmus and boundary, which they constructed between the head and breast, to keep them apart. And in the breast, and in what is termed the thorax, they encased the mortal soul ; and as the one part of this was superior and the other inferior they divided the cavity of the thorax into two parts, as the women’s and men’s apartments are divided in houses, and placed the midriff to be a wall of partition between them. That part of the inferior soul which is endowed with courage and passion and loves contention they settled nearer the head, midway between the midriff and the neck, in order that it might be under the rule of reason and might join with it in controlling and restraining the desires when they are no longer willing of their own accord to obey the word of command issuing from the citadel. The heart, the knot of the veins and the fountain of the blood which races through all the limbs was set in the place of guard, that when the might of passion was roused by reason making proclamation of any wrong assailing them from without or being perpetrated by the desires within, quickly the whole power of feeling in the body, perceiving these commands and threats, might obey and follow through every turn and alley, and thus allow the principle of the best to have the command in all of them. But the gods, foreknowing that the palpitation of the heart in the expectation of danger and the swelling and excitement of passion was caused by fire, formed and implanted as a supporter to the heart the lung, which was, in the first place, soft and bloodless, and also had within hollows like the pores of a sponge, in order that by receiving the breath and the drink, it might give coolness and the power of respiration and alleviate the heat. Wherefore they cut the air-channels leading to the lung, and placed the lung about the heart as a soft spring, that, when passion was rife within, the heart, beating against a yielding body, might be cooled and suffer less, and might thus become more ready to join with passion in the service of reason. The part of the soul which desires meats and drinks and the other things of which it has need by reason of the bodily nature, they placed between the midriff and the boundary of the navel, contriving in all this region a sort of manger for the food of the body ; and there they bound it down like a wild animal which was chained up with man, and must be nourished if man was to exist. They appointed this lower creation his place here in order that he might be always feeding at the manger, and have his dwelling as far as might be from the council-chamber, making as little noise and disturbance as possible, and permitting the best part to advise quietly for the good of the whole. And knowing that this lower principle in man would not comprehend reason, and even if attaining to some degree of perception would never naturally care for rational notions, but that it would be led away by phantoms and visions night and day — to be a remedy for this, God combined with it the liver, and placed it in the house of the lower nature, contriving that it should be solid and smooth, and bright and sweet, and should also have a bitter quality, in order that the power of thought, which proceeds from the mind, might be reflected as in a mirror which receives likenesses of objects and gives back images of them to the sight ; and so might strike terror into the desires, when, making use of the bitter part of the liver, to which it is akin, it comes threatening and invading, and diffusing this bitter element swiftly through the whole liver produces colours like bile, and contracting every part makes it wrinkled and rough ; and twisting out of its right place and contorting the lobe and closing and shutting up the vessels and gates, causes pain and loathing. And the converse happens when some gentle inspiration of the understanding pictures images of an opposite character, and allays the bile and bitterness by refusing to stir or touch the nature opposed to itself, but by making use of the natural sweetness of the liver, corrects all things and makes them to be right and smooth and free, and renders the portion of the soul which resides about the liver happy and joyful, enabling it to pass the night in peace, and to practise divination in sleep, inasmuch as it has no share in mind and reason. For the authors of our being, remembering the command of their father when he bade them create the human race as good as they could, that they might correct our inferior parts and make them to attain a measure of truth, placed in the liver the seat of divination. And herein is a proof that God has given the art of divination not to the wisdom, but to the foolishness of man. No man, when in his wits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration ; but when he receives the inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in sleep, or he is demented by some distemper or possession. And he who would understand what he remembers to have been said, whether in a dream or when he was awake, by the prophetic and inspired nature, or would determine by reason the meaning of the apparitions which he has seen, and what indications they afford to this man or that, of past, present or future good and evil, must first recover his wits. But, while he continues demented, he cannot judge of the visions which he sees or the words which he utters ; the ancient saying is very true, that “only a man who has his wits can act or judge about himself and his own affairs.†And for this reason it is customary to appoint interpreters to be judges of the true inspiration. Some persons call them prophets ; they are quite unaware that they are only the expositors of dark sayings and visions, and are not to be called prophets at all, but only interpreters of prophecy. Such is the nature of the liver, which is placed as we have described in order that it may give prophetic intimations. During the life of each individual these intimations are plainer, but after his death the liver becomes blind, and delivers oracles too obscure to be intelligible. The neighbouring organ [the spleen] is situated on the left-hand side, and is constructed with a view of keeping the liver bright and pure — like a napkin, always ready prepared and at hand to clean the mirror. And hence, when any impurities arise in the region of the liver by reason of disorders of the body, the loose nature of the spleen, which is composed of a hollow and bloodless tissue, receives them all and dears them away, and when filled with the unclean matter, swells and festers, but, again, when the body is purged, settles down into the same place as before, and is humbled. Concerning the soul, as to which part is mortal and which divine, and how and why they are separated, and where located, if God acknowledges that we have spoken the truth, then, and then only, can we be confident ; still, we may venture to assert that what has been said by us is probable, and will be rendered more probable by investigation. Let us assume thus much. The creation of the rest of follows next in order, and this we may investigate in a similar manner. And it appears to be very meet that the body should be framed on the following principles : — The authors of our race were aware that we should be intemperate in eating and drinking, and take a good deal more than was necessary or proper, by reason of gluttony. In order then that disease might not quickly destroy us, and lest our mortal race should perish without fulfilling its end — intending to provide against this, the gods made what is called the lower belly, to be a receptacle for the superfluous meat and drink, and formed the convolution of the bowels, so that the food might be prevented from passing quickly through and compelling the body to require more food, thus producing insatiable gluttony, and making the whole race an enemy to philosophy and music, and rebellious against the divinest element within us. The bones and flesh, and other similar parts of us, were made as follows. The first principle of all of them was the generation of the marrow. For the bonds of life which unite the soul with the body are made fast there, and they are the root and foundation of the human race. The marrow itself is created out of other materials : God took such of the primary triangles as were straight and smooth, and were adapted by their perfection to produce fire and water, and air and earth — these, I say, he separated from their kinds, and mingling them in due proportions with one another, made the marrow out of them to be a universal seed of the whole race of mankind ; and in this seed he then planted and enclosed the souls, and in the original distribution gave to the marrow as many and various forms as the different kinds of souls were hereafter to receive. That which, like a field, was to receive the divine seed, he made round every way, and called that portion of the marrow, brain, intending that, when an animal was perfected, the vessel containing this substance should be the head ; but that which was intended to contain the remaining and mortal part of the soul he distributed into figures at once around and elongated, and he called them all by the name “marrow†; and to these, as to anchors, fastening the bonds of the whole soul, he proceeded to fashion around them the entire framework of our body, constructing for the marrow, first of all a complete covering of bone. Bone was composed by him in the following manner. Having sifted pure and smooth earth he kneaded it and wetted it with marrow, and after that he put it into fire and then into water, and once more into fire and again into water — in this way by frequent transfers from one to the other he made it insoluble by either. Out of this he fashioned, as in a lathe, a globe made of bone, which he placed around the brain, and in this he left a narrow opening ; and around the marrow of the neck and back he formed vertebrae which he placed under one another like pivots, beginning at the head and extending through the whole of the trunk. Thus wishing to preserve the entire seed, he enclosed it in a stone-like casing, inserting joints, and using in the formation of them the power of the other or diverse as an intermediate nature, that they might have motion and flexure. Then again, considering that the bone would be too brittle and inflexible, and when heated and again cooled would soon mortify and destroy the seed within — having this in view, he contrived the sinews and the flesh, that so binding all the members together by the sinews, which admitted of being stretched and relaxed about the vertebrae, he might thus make the body capable of flexion and extension, while the flesh would serve as a protection against the summer heat and against the winter cold, and also against falls, softly and easily yielding to external bodies, like articles made of felt ; and containing in itself a warm moisture which in summer exudes and makes the surface damp, would impart a nature coolness to the whole body ; and again in winter by the help of this internal warmth would form a very tolerable defence against the frost which surrounds it and attacks it from without. He who modelled us, considering these things, mixed earth with fire and water and blended them ; and making a ferment of acid and salt, he mingled it with them and formed soft and succulent flesh. As for the sinews, he made them of a mixture of bone and unfermented flesh, attempered so as to be in a mean, and gave them a yellow colour ; wherefore the sinews have a firmer and more glutinous nature than flesh, but a softer and moister nature than the bones. With these God covered the bones and marrow, binding them together by sinews, and then enshrouded them all in an upper covering of flesh. The more living and sensitive of the bones he enclosed in the thinnest film of flesh, and those which had the least life within them in the thickest and most solid flesh. So again on the joints of the bones, where reason indicated that no more was required, he placed only a thin covering of flesh, that it might not interfere with the flexion of our bodies and make them unwieldy because difficult to move ; and also that it might not, by being crowded and pressed and matted together, destroy sensation by reason of its hardness, and impair the memory and dull the edge of intelligence. Wherefore also the thighs and the shanks and the hips, and the bones of the arms and the forearms, and other parts which have no joints, and the inner bones, which on account of the rarity of the soul in the marrow are destitute of reason — all these are abundantly provided with flesh ; but such as have mind in them are in general less fleshy, except where the creator has made some part solely of flesh in order to give sensation — as, for example, the tongue. But commonly this is not the case. For the nature which comes into being and grows up in us by a law of necessity, does not admit of the combination of solid bone and much flesh with acute perceptions. More than any other part the framework of the head would have had them, if they could have co-existed, and the human race, having a strong and fleshy and sinewy head, would have had a life twice or many times as long as it now has, and also more healthy and free from pain. But our creators, considering whether they should make a longer-lived race which was worse, or a shorter-lived race which was better, came to the conclusion that every one ought to prefer a shorter span of life, which was better, to a longer one, which was worse ; and therefore they covered the head with thin bone, but not with flesh and sinews, since it had no joints ; and thus the head was added, having more wisdom and sensation than the rest of the body, but also being in every man far weaker. For these reasons and after this manner God placed the sinews at the extremity of the head, in a circle round the neck, and glued them together by the principle of likeness and fastened the extremities of the jawbones to them below the face, and the other sinews he dispersed throughout the body, fastening limb to limb. The framers of us framed the mouth, as now arranged, having teeth and tongue and lips, with a view to the necessary and the good, contriving the way in for necessary purposes, the way out for the best purposes ; for that is necessary which enters in and gives food to the body ; but the river of speech, which flows out of a man and ministers to the intelligence, is the fairest and noblest of all streams. Still the head could neither be left a bare frame of bones, on account of the extremes of heat and cold in the different seasons, nor yet be allowed to be wholly covered, and so become dull and senseless by reason of an overgrowth of flesh. The fleshy nature was not therefore wholly dried up, but a large sort of peel was parted off and remained over, which is now called the skin. This met and grew by the help of the cerebral moisture, and became the circular envelopment of the head. And the moisture, rising up under the sutures, watered and closed in the skin upon the crown, forming a sort of knot. The diversity of the sutures was caused by the power of the courses of the soul and of the food, and the more these struggled against one another the more numerous they became, and fewer if the struggle were less violent. This skin the divine power pierced all round with fire, and out of the punctures which were thus made the moisture issued forth, and the liquid and heat which was pure came away, and a mixed part which was composed of the same material as the skin, and had a fineness equal to the punctures, was borne up by its own impulse and extended far outside the head, but being too slow to escape, was thrust back by the external air, and rolled up underneath the skin, where it took root. Thus the hair sprang up in the skin, being akin to it because it is like threads of leather, but rendered harder and closer through the pressure of the cold, by which each hair, while in process of separation from the skin, is compressed and cooled. Wherefore the creator formed the head hairy, making use of the causes which I have mentioned, and reflecting also that instead of flesh the brain needed the hair to be a light covering or guard, which would give shade in summer and shelter in winter, and at the same time would not impede our quickness of perception. From the combination of sinew, skin, and bone, in the structure of the finger, there arises a triple compound, which, when dried up, takes the form of one hard skin partaking of all three natures, and was fabricated by these second causes, but designed by mind which is the principal cause with an eye to the future. For our creators well knew that women and other animals would some day be framed out of men, and they further knew that many animals would require the use of nails for many purposes ; wherefore they fashioned in men at their first creation the rudiments of nails. For this purpose and for these reasons they caused skin, hair, and nails to grow at the extremities of the limbs. And now that all the parts and members of the mortal animal had come together, since its life of necessity consisted of fire and breath, and it therefore wasted away by dissolution and depletion, the gods contrived the following remedy : They mingled a nature akin to that of man with other forms and perceptions, and thus created another kind of animals would some day be framed out of men, and they further knew that many animals would require the use of nails for many purposes ; wherefore they fashioned in men at their first creation the rudiments of nails. For this purpose and for these reasons they caused skin, hair, and nails to grow at the extremities of the limbs. And now that all the parts and members of the mortal animal had come together, since its life of necessity consisted of fire and breath, and it therefore wasted away by dissolution and depletion, the gods contrived the following remedy : They mingled a nature akin to that of man with other forms and perceptions, and thus created another kind of animal. These are the trees and plants and seeds which have been improved by cultivation and are now domesticated among us ; anciently there were only the will kinds, which are older than the cultivated. For everything that partakes of life may be truly called a living being, and the animal of which we are now speaking partakes of the third kind of soul, which is said to be seated between the midriff and the navel, having no part in opinion or reason or mind, but only in feelings of pleasure and pain and the desires which accompany them. For this nature is always in a passive state, revolving in and about itself, repelling the motion from without and using its own, and accordingly is not endowed by nature with the power of observing or reflecting on its own concerns. Wherefore it lives and does not differ from a living being, but is fixed and rooted in the same spot, having no power of self-motion. Now after the superior powers had created all these natures to be food for us who are of the inferior nature, they cut various channels through the body as through a garden, that it might be watered as from a running stream. In the first place, they cut two hidden channels or veins down the back where the skin and the flesh join, which answered severally to the right and left side of the body. These they let down along the backbone, so as to have the marrow of generation between them, where it was most likely to flourish, and in order that the stream coming down from above might flow freely to the other parts, and equalise the irrigation. In the next place, they divided the veins about the head, and interlacing them, they sent them in opposite directions ; those coming from the right side they sent to the left of the body, and those from the left they diverted towards the right, so that they and the skin might together form a bond which should fasten the head to the body, since the crown of the head was not encircled by sinews ; and also in order that the sensations from both sides might be distributed over the whole body. And next, they ordered the water-courses of the body in a manner which I will describe, and which will be more easily understood if we begin by admitting that all things which have lesser parts retain the greater, but the greater cannot retain the lesser. Now of all natures fire has the smallest parts, and therefore penetrates through earth and water and air and their compounds, nor can anything hold it. And a similar principle applies to the human belly ; for when meats and drinks enter it, it holds them, but it cannot hold air and fire, because the particles of which they consist are smaller than its own structure. These elements, therefore, God employed for the sake of distributing moisture from the belly into the veins, weaving together network of fire and air like a weel, having at the entrance two lesser weels ; further he constructed one of these with two openings, and from the lesser weels he extended cords reaching all round to the extremities of the network. All the interior of the net he made of fire, but the lesser weels and their cavity, of air. The network he took and spread over the newly-formed animal in the following manner : — He let the lesser weels pass into the mouth ; there were two of them, and one he let down by the air-pipes into the lungs, the other by the side of the air-pipes into the belly. The former he divided into two branches, both of which he made to meet at the channels of the nose, so that when the way through the mouth did not act, the streams of the mouth as well were replenished through the nose. With the other cavity (i.e. of the greater weel) he enveloped the hollow parts of the body, and at one time he made all this to flow into the lesser weels, quite gently, for they are composed of air, and at another time he caused the lesser weels to flow back again ; and the net he made to find a way in and out through the pores of the body, and the rays of fire which are bound fast within followed the passage of the air either way, never at any time ceasing so long as the mortal being holds together. This process, as we affirm, the name-giver named inspiration and expiration. And all this movement, active as well as passive, takes place in order that the body, being watered and cooled, may receive nourishment and life ; for when the respiration is going in and out, and the fire, which is fast bound within, follows it, and ever and anon moving to and fro, enters through the belly and reaches the meat and drink, it dissolves them, and dividing them into small portions and guiding them through the passages where it goes, pumps them as from a fountain into the channels of the veins, and makes the stream of the veins flow through the body as through a conduit. Let us once more consider the phenomena of respiration, and enquire into the causes which have made it what it is. They are as follows : — Seeing that there is no such thing as a vacuum into which any of those things which are moved can enter, and the breath is carried from us into the external air, the next point is, as will be dear to every one, that it does not go into a vacant space, but pushes its neighbour out of its place, and that which is thrust out in turn drives out its neighbour ; and in this everything of necessity at last comes round to that place from whence the breath came forth, and enters in there, and following the breath, fills up the vacant space ; and this goes on like the rotation of a wheel, because there can be no such thing as a vacuum. Wherefore also the breast and the lungs, when they emit the breath, are replenished by the air which surrounds the body and which enters in through the pores of the flesh and is driven round in a circle ; and again, the air which is sent away and passes out through the body forces the breath inwards through the passage of the mouth and the nostrils. Now the origin of this movement may be supposed to be as follows. In the interior of every animal the hottest part is that which is around the blood and veins ; it is in a manner on internal fountain of fire, which we compare to the network of a creel, being woven all of fire and extended through the centre of the body, while the outer parts are composed of air. Now we must admit that heat naturally proceeds outward to its own place and to its kindred element ; and as there are two exits for the heat, the out through the body, and the other through the mouth and nostrils, when it moves towards the one, it drives round the air at the other, and that which is driven round falls into the fire and becomes warm, and that which goes forth is cooled. But when the heat changes its place, and the particles at the other exit grow warmer, the hotter air inclining in that direction and carried towards its native element, fire, pushes round the air at the other ; and this being affected in the same way and communicating the same impulse, a circular motion swaying to and from is produced by the double process, which we call inspiration and expiration. The phenomena of medical cupping-glasses and of the swallowing of drink and of the projection of bodies, whether discharged in the air or bowled along the ground, are to be investigated on a similar principle ; and swift and slow sounds, which appear to be high and low, and are sometimes discordant on account of their inequality, and then again harmonical on account of the equality of the motion which they excite in us. For when the motions of the antecedent swifter sounds begin to pause and the two are equalised, the slower sounds overtake the swifter and then propel them. When they overtake them they do not intrude a new and discordant motion, but introduce the beginnings of a slower, which answers to the swifter as it dies away, thus producing a single mixed expression out of high and low, whence arises a pleasure which even the unwise feel, and which to the wise becomes a higher sort of delight, being an imitation of divine harmony in mortal motions. Moreover, as to the flowing of water, the fall of the thunderbolt, and the marvels that are observed about the attraction of amber and the Heraclean stones, — in none of these cases is there any attraction ; but he who investigates rightly, will find that such wonderful phenomena are attributable to the combination of certain conditions — the non-existence of a vacuum, the fact that objects push one another round, and that they change places, passing severally into their proper positions as they are divided or combined Such as we have seen, is the nature and such are the causes of respiration — the subject in which this discussion originated. For the fire cuts the food and following the breath surges up within, fire and breath rising together and filling the veins by drawing up out of the belly and pouring into them the cut portions of the food ; and so the streams of food are kept flowing through the whole body in all animals. And fresh cuttings from kindred substances, whether the fruits of the earth or herb of the field, which God planted to be our daily food, acquire all sorts of colours by their inter-mixture ; but red is the most pervading of them, being created by the cutting action of fire and by the impression which it makes on a moist substance ; and hence the liquid which circulates in the body has a colour such as we have described. The liquid itself we call blood, which nourishes the flesh and the whole body, whence all parts are watered and empty places filled. Now the process of repletion and evacuation is effected after the manner of the universal motion by which all kindred substances are drawn towards one another. For the external elements which surround us are always causing us to consume away, and distributing and sending off like to like ; the particles of blood, too, which are divided and contained within the frame of the animal as in a sort of heaven, are compelled to imitate the motion of the universe. Each, therefore, of the divided parts within us, being carried to its kindred nature, replenishes the void. When more is taken away than flows in, then we decay, and when less, we grow and increase. The frame of the entire creature when young has the triangles of each kind new, and may be compared to the keel of a vessel which is just off the stocks ; they are locked firmly together and yet the whole mass is soft and delicate, being freshly formed of marrow and nurtured on milk. Now when the triangles out of which meats and drinks are composed come in from without, and are comprehended in the body, being older and weaker than the triangles already there, the frame of the body gets the better of them and its newer triangles cut them up, and so the animal grows great, being nourished by a multitude of similar particles. But when the roots of the triangles are loosened by having undergone many conflicts with many things in the course of time, they are no longer able to cut or assimilate the food which enters, but are themselves easily divided by the bodies which come in from without. In this way every animal is overcome and decays, and this affection is called old age. And at last, when the bonds by which the triangles of the marrow are united no longer hold, and are parted by the strain of existence, they in turn loosen the bonds of the soul, and she, obtaining a natural release, flies away with joy. For that which takes place according to nature is pleasant, but that which is contrary to nature is painful. And thus death, if caused by disease or produced by wounds, is painful and violent ; but that sort of death which comes with old age and fulfils the debt of nature is the easiest of deaths, and is accompanied with pleasure rather than with pain. Now every one can see whence diseases arise. There are four natures out of which the body is compacted, earth and fire and water and air, and the unnatural excess or defect of these, or the change of any of them from its own natural place into another, or — since there are more kinds than one of fire and of the other elements — the assumption by any of these of a wrong kind, or any similar irregularity, produces disorders and diseases ; for when any of them is produced or changed in a manner contrary to nature, the parts which were previously cool grow warm, and those which were dry become moist, and the light become heavy, and the heavy light ; all sorts of changes occur. For, as we affirm, a thing can only remain the same with itself, whole and sound, when the same is added to it, or subtracted from it, in the same respect and in the same manner and in due proportion ; and whatever comes or goes away in violation of these laws causes all manner of changes and infinite diseases and corruptions. Now there is a second class of structures which are also natural, and this affords a second opportunity of observing diseases to him who would understand them. For whereas marrow and bone and flesh and sinews are composed of the four elements, and the blood, though after another manner, is likewise formed out of them, most diseases originate in the way which I have described ; but the worst of all owe their severity to the fact that the generation of these substances stances in a wrong order ; they are then destroyed. For the natural order is that the flesh and sinews should be made of blood, the sinews out of the fibres to which they are akin, and the flesh out of the dots which are formed when the fibres are separated. And the glutinous and rich matter which comes away from the sinews and the flesh, not only glues the flesh to the bones, but nourishes and imparts growth to the bone which surrounds the marrow ; and by reason of the solidity of the bones, that which filters through consists of the purest and smoothest and oiliest sort of triangles, dropping like dew from the bones and watering the marrow. Now when each process takes place in this order, health commonly results ; when in the opposite order, disease. For when the flesh becomes decomposed and sends back the wasting substance into the veins, then an over-supply of blood of diverse kinds, mingling with air in the veins, having variegated colours and bitter properties, as well as acid and saline qualities, contains all sorts of bile and serum and phlegm. For all things go the wrong way, and having become corrupted, first they taint the blood itself, and then ceasing to give nourishment the body they are carried along the veins in all directions, no longer preserving the order of their natural courses, but at war with themselves, because they receive no good from one another, and are hostile to the abiding constitution of the body, which they corrupt and dissolve. The oldest part of the flesh which is corrupted, being hard to decompose, from long burning grows black, and from being everywhere corroded becomes bitter, and is injurious to every part of the body which is still uncorrupted. Sometimes, when the bitter element is refined away, the black part assumes an acidity which takes the place of the bitterness ; at other times the bitterness being tinged with blood has a redder colour ; and this, when mixed with black, takes the hue of grass ; and again, an auburn colour mingles with the bitter matter when new flesh is decomposed by the fire which surrounds the internal flame — to all which symptoms some physician perhaps, or rather some philosopher, who had the power of seeing in many dissimilar things one nature deserving of a name, has assigned the common name of bile. But the other kinds of bile are variously distinguished by their colours. As for serum, that sort which is the watery part of blood is innocent, but that which is a secretion of black and acid bile is malignant when mingled by the power of heat with any salt substance, and is then called acid phlegm. Again, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and tender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so as to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their small size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and have a white colour arising out of the generation of foam — all this decomposition of tender flesh when inter-mingled with air is termed by us white phlegm. And the whey or sediment of newly-formed phlegm is sweat and tears, and includes the various daily discharges by which the body is purified. Now all these become causes of disease when the blood is not replenished in a natural manner by food and drink but gains bulk from opposite sources in violation of the laws of nature. When the several parts of the flesh are separated by disease, if the foundation remains, the power of the disorder is only half as great, and there is still a prospect of an easy recovery ; but when that which binds the flesh to the bones is diseased, and no longer being separated from the muscles and sinews, ceases to give nourishment to the bone and to unite flesh and bone, and from being oily and smooth and glutinous becomes rough and salt and dry, owing to bad regimen, then all the substance thus corrupted crumbles away under the flesh and the sinews, and separates from the bone, and the fleshy parts fall away from their foundation and leave the sinews bare and full of brine, and the flesh again gets into the circulation of the blood and makes the previously-mentioned disorders still greater. And if these bodily affections be severe, still worse are the prior disorders ; as when the bone itself, by reason of the density of the flesh, does not obtain sufficient air, but becomes mouldy and hot and gangrened and receives no nutriment, and the natural process is inverted, and the bone crumbling passes into the food, and the food into the flesh, and the flesh again falling into the blood makes all maladies that may occur more virulent than those already mentioned. But the worst case of all is when the marrow is diseased, either from excess or defect ; and this is the cause of the very greatest and most fatal disorders, in which the whole course of the body is reversed. There is a third class of diseases which may be conceived of as arising in three ways ; for they are produced sometimes by wind, and sometimes by phlegm, and sometimes by bile. When the lung, which is the dispenser of the air to the body, is obstructed by rheums and its passages are not free, some of them not acting, while through others too much air enters, then the parts which are unrefreshed by air corrode, while in other parts the excess of air forcing its way through the veins distorts them and decomposing the body is enclosed in the midst of it and occupies the midriff thus numberless painful diseases are produced, accompanied by copious sweats. And oftentimes when the flesh is dissolved in the body, wind, generated within and unable to escape, is the source of quite as much pain as the air coming in from without ; but the greatest pain is felt when the wind gets about the sinews and the veins of the shoulders, and swells them up, so twists back the great tendons and the sinews which are connected with them. These disorders are called tetanus and opisthotonus, by reason of the tension which accompanies them. The cure of them is difficult ; relief is in most cases given by fever supervening. The white phlegm, though dangerous when detained within by reason of the air-bubbles, yet if it can communicate with the outside air, is less severe, and only discolours the body, generating leprous eruptions and similar diseases. When it is mingled with black bile and dispersed about the courses of the head, which are the divinest part of us, the attack if coming on in sleep, is not so severe ; but when assailing those who are awake it is hard to be got rid of, and being an affection of a sacred part, is most justly called sacred. An acid and salt phlegm, again, is the source of all those diseases which take the form of catarrh, but they have many names because the places into which they flow are manifold. Inflammations of the body come from burnings and inflamings, and all of them originate in bile. When bile finds a means of discharge, it boils up and sends forth all sorts of tumours ; but when imprisoned within, it generates many inflammatory diseases, above all when mingled with pure blood ; since it then displaces the fibres which are scattered about in the blood and are designed to maintain the balance of rare and dense, in order that the blood may not be so liquefied by heat as to exude from the pores of the body, nor again become too dense and thus find a difficulty in circulating through the veins. The fibres are so constituted as to maintain this balance ; and if any one brings them all together when the blood is dead and in process of cooling, then the blood which remains becomes fluid, but if they are left alone, they soon congeal by reason of the surrounding cold. The fibres having this power over the blood, bile, which is only stale blood, and which from being flesh is dissolved again into blood, at the first influx coming in little by little, hot and liquid, is congealed by the power of the fibres ; and so congealing and made to cool, it produces internal cold and shuddering. When it enters with more of a flood and overcomes the fibres by its heat, and boiling up throws them into disorder, if it have power enough to maintain its supremacy, it penetrates the marrow and burns up what may be termed the cables of the soul, and sets her free ; but when there is not so much of it, and the body though wasted still holds out, the bile is itself mastered, and is either utterly banished, or is thrust through the veins into the lower or upper-belly, and is driven out of the body like an exile from a state in which there has been civil war ; whence arise diarrhoeas and dysenteries, and all such disorders. When the constitution is disordered by excess of fire, continuous heat and fever are the result ; when excess of air is the cause, then the fever is quotidian ; when of water, which is a more sluggish element than either fire or air, then the fever is a tertian ; when of earth, which is the most sluggish of the four, and is only purged away in a four-fold period, the result is a quartan fever, which can with difficulty be shaken off. Such is the manner in which diseases of the body arise ; the disorders of the soul, which depend upon the body, originate as follows. We must acknowledge disease of the mind to be a want of intelligence ; and of this there are two kinds ; to wit, madness and ignorance. In whatever state a man experiences either of them, that state may be called disease ; and excessive pains and pleasures are justly to be regarded as the greatest diseases to which the soul is liable. For a man who is in great joy or in great pain, in his unseasonable eagerness to attain the one and to avoid the other, is not able to see or to hear anything rightly ; but he is mad, and is at the time utterly incapable of any participation in reason. He who has the seed about the spinal marrow too plentiful and overflowing, like a tree overladen with fruit, has many throes, and also obtains many pleasures in his desires and their offspring, and is for the most part of his life deranged, because his pleasures and pains are so very great ; his soul is rendered foolish and disordered by his body ; yet he is regarded not as one diseased, but as one who is voluntarily bad, which is a mistake. The truth is that the intemperance of love is a disease of the soul due chiefly to the moisture and fluidity which is produced in one of the elements by the loose consistency of the bones. And in general, all that which is termed the incontinence of pleasure and is deemed a reproach under the idea that the wicked voluntarily do wrong is not justly a matter for reproach. For no man is voluntarily bad ; but the bad become bad by reason of an ill disposition of the body and bad education, things which are hateful to every man and happen to him against his will. And in the case of pain too in like manner the soul suffers much evil from the body. For where the acid and briny phlegm and other bitter and bilious humours wander about in the body, and find no exit or escape, but are pent up within and mingle their own vapours with the motions of the soul, and are blended, with them, they produce all sorts of diseases, more or fewer, and in every degree of intensity ; and being carried to the three places of the soul, whichever they may severally assail, they create infinite varieties of ill-temper and melancholy, of rashness and cowardice, and also of forgetfulness and stupidity. Further, when to this evil constitution of body evil forms of government are added and evil discourses are uttered in private as well as in public, and no sort of instruction is given in youth to cure these evils, then all of us who are bad become bad from two causes which are entirely beyond our control. In such cases the planters are to blame rather than the plants, the educators rather than the educated. But however that may be, we should endeavour as far as we can by education, and studies, and learning, to avoid vice and attain virtue ; this, however, is part of another subject. There is a corresponding enquiry concerning the mode of treatment by which the mind and the body are to be preserved, about which it is meet and right that I should say a word in turn ; for it is more our duty to speak of the good than of the evil. Everything that is good is fair, and the animal fair is not without proportion, and the animal which is to be fair must have due proportion. Now we perceive lesser symmetries or proportions and reason about them, but of the highest and greatest we take no heed ; for there is no proportion or disproportion more productive of health and disease, and virtue and vice, than that between soul and body. This however we do not perceive, nor do we reflect that when a weak or small frame is the vehicle of a great and mighty soul, or conversely, when a little soul is encased in a large body, then the whole animal is not fair, for it lacks the most important of all symmetries ; but the due proportion of mind and body is the fairest and loveliest of all sights to him who has the seeing eye. Just as a body which has a leg too long, or which is unsymmetrical in some other respect, is an unpleasant sight, and also, when doing its share of work, is much distressed and makes convulsive efforts, and often stumbles through awkwardness, and is the cause of infinite evil to its own self — in like manner we should conceive of the double nature which we call the living being ; and when in this compound there is an impassioned soul more powerful than the body, that soul, I say, convulses and fills with disorders the whole inner nature of man ; and when eager in the pursuit of some sort of learning or study, causes wasting ; or again, when teaching or disputing in private or in public, and strifes and controversies arise, inflames and dissolves the composite frame of man and introduces rheums ; and the nature of this phenomenon is not understood by most professors of medicine, who ascribe it to the opposite of the real cause. And once more, when body large and too strong for the soul is united to a small and weak intelligence, then inasmuch as there are two desires natural to man, — one of food for the sake of the body, and one of wisdom for the sake of the diviner part of us — then, I say, the motions of the stronger, getting the better and increasing their own power, but making the soul dull, and stupid, and forgetful, engender ignorance, which is the greatest of diseases. There is one protection against both kinds of disproportion : — that we should not move the body without the soul or the soul without the body, and thus they will be on their guard against each other, and be healthy and well balanced. And therefore the mathematician or any one else whose thoughts are much absorbed in some intellectual pursuit, must allow his body also to have due exercise, and practise gymnastic ; and he who is careful to fashion the body, should in turn impart to the soul its proper motions, and should cultivate music and all philosophy, if he would deserve to be called truly fair and truly good. And the separate parts should be treated in the same manner, in imitation of the pattern of the universe ; for as the body is heated and also cooled within by the elements which enter into it, and is again dried up and moistened by external things, and experiences these and the like affections from both kinds of motions, the result is that the body if given up to motion when in a state of quiescence is overmastered and perishes ; but if any one, in imitation of that which we call the foster-mother and nurse of the universe, will not allow the body ever to be inactive, but is always producing motions and agitations through its whole extent, which form the natural defence against other motions both internal and external, and by moderate exercise reduces to order according to their affinities the particles and affections which are wandering about the body, as we have already said when speaking of the universe, he will not allow enemy placed by the side of enemy to stir up wars and disorders in the body, but he will place friend by the side of friend, so as to create health. Now of all motions that is the best which is produced in a thing by itself, for it is most akin to the motion of thought and of the universe ; but that motion which is caused by others is not so good, and worst of all is that which moves the body, when at rest, in parts only and by some external agency. Wherefore of all modes of purifying and reuniting the body the best is gymnastic ; the next best is a surging motion, as in sailing or any other mode of conveyance which is not fatiguing ; the third sort of motion may be of use in a case of extreme necessity, but in any other will be adopted by no man of sense : I mean the purgative treatment of physicians ; for diseases unless they are very dangerous should not be irritated by medicines, since every form of disease is in a manner akin to the living being, whose complex frame has an appointed term of life. For not the whole race only, but each individual — barring inevitable accidents — comes into the world having a fixed span, and the triangles in us are originally framed with power to last for a certain time, beyond which no man prolong his life. And this holds also of the constitution of diseases ; if any one regardless of the appointed time tries to subdue them by medicine, he only aggravates and multiplies them. Wherefore we ought always to manage them by regimen, as far as a man can spare the time, and not provoke a disagreeable enemy by medicines. Enough of the composite animal, and of the body which is a part of him, and of the manner in which a man may train and be trained by himself so as to live most according to reason : and we must above and before all provide that the element which is to train him shall be the fairest and best adapted to that purpose. A minute discussion of this subject would be a serious task ; but if, as before, I am to give only an outline, the subject may not unfitly be summed up as follows. I have often remarked that there are three kinds of soul located within us, having each of them motions, and I must now repeat in the fewest words possible, that one part, if remaining inactive and ceasing from its natural motion, must necessarily become very weak, but that which is trained and exercised, very strong. Wherefore we should take care that the movements of the different parts of the soul should be in due proportion. And we should consider that God gave the sovereign part of the human soul to be the divinity of each one, being that part which, as we say, dwells at the top of the body, inasmuch as we are a plant not of an earthly but of a heavenly growth, raises us from earth to our kindred who are in heaven. And in this we say truly ; for the divine power suspended the head and root of us from that place where the generation of the soul first began, and thus made the whole body upright. When a man is always occupied with the cravings of desire and ambition, and is eagerly striving to satisfy them, all his thoughts must be mortal, and, as far as it is possible altogether to become such, he must be mortal every whit, because he has cherished his mortal part. But he who has been earnest in the love of knowledge and of true wisdom, and has exercised his intellect more than any other part of him, must have thoughts immortal and divine, if he attain truth, and in so far as human nature is capable of sharing in immortality, he must altogether be immortal ; and since he is ever cherishing the divine power, and has the divinity within him in perfect order, he will be perfectly happy. Now there is only one way of taking care of things, and this is to give to each the food and motion which are natural to it. And the motions which are naturally akin to the divine principle within us are the thoughts and revolutions of the universe. These each man should follow, and correct the courses of the head which were corrupted at our birth, and by learning the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, should assimilate the thinking being to the thought, renewing his original nature, and having assimilated them should attain to that perfect life which the gods have set before mankind, both for the present and the future. Thus our original design of discoursing about the universe down to the creation of man is nearly completed. A brief mention may be made of the generation of other animals, so far as the subject admits of brevity ; in this manner our argument will best attain a due proportion. On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may be offered. Of the men who came into the world, those who were cowards or led unrighteous lives may with reason be supposed to have changed into the nature of women in the second generation. And this was the reason why at that time the gods created in us the desire of sexual intercourse, contriving in man one animated substance, and in woman another, which they formed respectively in the following manner. The outlet for drink by which liquids pass through the lung under the kidneys and into the bladder, which receives then by the pressure of the air emits them, was so fashioned by them as to penetrate also into the body of the marrow, which passes from the head along the neck and through the back, and which in the preceding discourse we have named the seed. And the seed having life, and becoming endowed with respiration, produces in that part in which it respires a lively desire of emission, and thus creates in us the love of procreation. Wherefore also in men the organ of generation becoming rebellious and masterful, like an animal disobedient to reason, and maddened with the sting of lust, seeks to gain absolute sway ; and the same is the case with the so-called womb or matrix of women ; the animal within them is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining unfruitful long beyond its proper time, gets discontented and angry, and wandering in every direction through the body, closes up the passages of the breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives them to extremity, causing all varieties of disease, until at length the desire and love of the man and the woman, bringing them together and as it were plucking the fruit from the tree, sow in the womb, as in a field, animals unseen by reason of their smallness and without form ; these again are separated and matured within ; they are then finally brought out into the light, and thus the generation of animals is completed. Thus were created women and the female sex in general. But the race of birds was created out of innocent light-minded men, who, although their minds were directed toward heaven, imagined, in their simplicity, that the clearest demonstration of the things above was to be obtained by sight ; these were remodelled and transformed into birds, and they grew feathers instead of hair. The race of wild pedestrian animals, again, came from those who had no philosophy in any of their thoughts, and never considered at all about the nature of the heavens, because they had ceased to use the courses of the head, but followed the guidance of those parts of the soul which are in the breast. In consequence of these habits of theirs they had their front-legs and their heads resting upon the earth to which they were drawn by natural affinity ; and the crowns of their heads were elongated and of all sorts of shapes, into which the courses of the soul were crushed by reason of disuse. And this was the reason why they were created quadrupeds and polypods : God gave the more senseless of them the more support that they might be more attracted to the earth. And the most foolish of them, who trail their bodies entirely upon the ground and have no longer any need of feet, he made without feet to crawl upon the earth. The fourth class were the inhabitants of the water : these were made out of the most entirely senseless and ignorant of all, whom the transformers did not think any longer worthy of pure respiration, because they possessed a soul which was made impure by all sorts of transgression ; and instead of the subtle and pure medium of air, they gave them the deep and muddy sea to be their element of respiration ; and hence arose the race of fishes and oysters, and other aquatic animals, which have received the most remote habitations as a punishment of their outlandish ignorance. These are the laws by which animals pass into one another, now, as ever, changing as they lose or gain wisdom and folly. We may now say that our discourse about the nature of the universe has an end. The world has received animals, mortal and immortal, and is fulfilled with them, and has become a visible animal containing the visible — the sensible God who is the image of the intellectual, the greatest, best, fairest, most perfect — the one only begotten heaven. |
ソクラテス
一人、二人、三人......しかし、親愛なるティマイオスよ、昨日まで私の客であり、今日私の接待者となる四人目はどこにいるのだ？ ティマイオス。ソクラテスよ、彼は病気にかかったのだ。 ソクラテス：では、彼が来ないのなら、あなたと他の二人が彼の代わりをしなければならない。 ティム （ティマイオスのこと、以下同様）昨日、あなたがたに手厚いもてなしを受けたのだから、残っている私たちも、あなたがたのもてなしに報いることができれ ば、こんなに嬉しいことはない。 もちろんです。私があなたに話してほしかったことは何だったか、覚えていますか。 ティム いや、むしろ、ご迷惑でなければ、全体を手短に再述していただけませんか。 もちろんそうします。私の昨日の講演の主要なテーマは、国家がどのように構成され、どのような市民によって構成されているかということでした。 ティム そうです、ソクラテス。あなたのおっしゃったことは、私たちの心にとても響きました。 ソクラテス。私たちはまず、国家の擁護者階級から、農夫と職人を切り離すことから始めたではないか。 ティム そうだ。 社会。そして、各人に、その性質に適した単一の仕事と特定の技術を与えたとき、われわれは、戦士となるべき者について語り、彼らは、内からの攻撃に対して も外からの攻撃に対しても都市の守護者となるべきであり、他の仕事はしてはならないと言った。 ティム。その通りである。 その通りです。わたしたちが間違っていなければ、後見人には、情熱的でありながら哲学的な気質が備わっていなければならないと申し上げました。 ティム 確かに。 そうですね。教育については何と言ったか。かれらには，体操や音楽，その他あらゆる知識が，ふさわしく訓練されているではないか。 ティム。そのとおりです。 それで こうして訓練された彼らは、金銀その他のものを自分の私有財産とみなしてはならなかった。彼らは雇われた軍隊のようなもので、彼らによって守られている人 々から警備の報酬を受けるのである。 ティム ということも言われた。 ソク 女たちについても、その性質を男たちと同化させ、調和させること、また、戦時中も普段の生活においても、共通の務めを課すことを宣言した。 ティム やはり、おっしゃるとおりでした。 社会。子作りについてはどうですか。というより、この提案はあまりに特異で、忘れてはならないものではなかったか。すべての妻子は共有され、誰も自分の子 を知ってはならない。 ティム そう、そしてその提案は、あなたが言うように覚えやすい。 そうですね。また、最良の品種をできる限り確保するために、男女の主席司祭が、あるくじを利用して、婚礼の会合を密かに計画し、男女のどちらかの悪い者と 良い者がペアになるようにし、この理由で喧嘩をしてはならないと言ったことを覚えていますか。 ティム 覚えています。 社会。そして、善良な両親の子どもは教育され、悪しき両親の子どもはひそかに劣等市民の間に散らされることになり、彼らが成長する間、支配者たちは目を光 らせ、ふさわしい者を下から順番に引き上げ、自分たちの中のふさわしくない者が、引き上げてきた者の代わりを務めることになると言ったのを覚えているか。 ティム。その通りです。 では、昨日の話はこれで終わりですか？それとも、ティマイオスよ、まだ何か漏れていることがあるのですか。 ティム 何もありませんよ、ソクラテス。 ソクラテス、これ以上話を進める前に、私たちが説明した国家について、私がどう感じているかを話しておきたい。私は自分を、画家の芸術によって創り出され た美しい動物や、生きてはいるが静止している美しい動物を見て、それらが動いているのを見たり、その姿にふさわしい闘争や紛争に従事しているのを見たいと 思う人に例えることができるかもしれない。すべての都市が経験する闘争がある。私たちの都市が隣国と闘争を繰り広げ、どのような態度で戦争に出かけたか、 戦争中、他の都市に対処する際、その行動の偉大さと言葉の大らかさによって、その訓練と教育にふさわしい結果を示したかについて、誰かが語るのを聞いてみ たい。さて、私クリティアスとヘルモクラテスは、私自身、この都市とその市民をふさわしい方法で称えることができないはずだと自覚している； しかし、彼らが模倣の種族であり、自分が育ってきた生活を最もよく、最も簡単に模倣することは誰にでもわかる。ソフィストたちが勇敢な言葉や立派なうぬぼ れをたくさん持っていることは承知しているが、都市から都市へと放浪し、自分の住まいを持ったことがないだけに、哲学者や政治家に対する観念が乏しく、戦 時に敵と戦ったり協商したりするときに、彼らが何をし、何を言うのかを知らないのではないかと私は心配している。こうして、あなたがたのような階級の人々 だけが、生まれつき、また教育によって、政治と哲学の両方に一度に参加するのに適した、残された唯一の人々なのである。ティマイオスは、イタリアのロクリ スという立派な法律を持つ都市の出身で、富と地位において、どの市民にもひけをとらない； そしてここにいるクリティアスは、アテナイ人なら誰でも知っていることだが、われわれが話しているようなことについては、初心者ではない。ヘルモクラテス については、多くの目撃者が、彼の才能と教養は、この種のあらゆる思索に参加する資格があると断言している。したがって、昨日、あなたが私に国家の形成に ついて説明するよう望んだのを見たとき、私は快諾した。あなたさえその気になれば、議論をさらに進めるのにこれほど適任な人物はいないこと、そして、あな たがわが都市を適切な戦争に巻き込んだとき、現存するあらゆる人物の中で、あなたが最もよく、わが都市が適切な役割を果たしていることを示すことができる ことを、私はよく知っていたからである。私の任務が完了したとき、お返しにもう一つの任務をあなた方に課した。あなたがたは共に協議し、私があなたがたを もてなしたように、今日も私を談話の宴でもてなすことに同意した。私は今、祝祭の装束に身を包んでいます。約束の宴のために、これ以上準備の整った者はい ないでしょう」。 彼女 ソクラテス、ティマイオスも言っているように、私たちも熱意に欠けることはないでしょう。昨日、私たちが滞在しているクリティアスの客間に着くやいなや、 あるいはその途中で、私たちはこの問題について話し合った。 クリティアス もう一人のパートナーであるティマイオスが認めるなら、そうしよう。 ティム。私はかなり承認します。 批評家。ではソクラテス、聞け。奇妙な話だが、七賢人の中で最も賢かったソロンの証言によれば、確かに真実である。彼は私の曽祖父であるドロピデスの親戚 であり、親愛なる友人であった。祖父はクリティアス（私の祖父）にこの話をしたのだが、クリティアスはこの話を覚えていて、私たちに繰り返し聞かせてくれ た。祖父によれば、アテナイの都市には古くから偉大で驚異的な行為があったが、時の経過と人類の滅亡によって忘却の彼方へと消えてしまった。そのひとつ は、他のどれよりも偉大なものである。それは、あなたへの感謝の記念碑となり、女神の祭りの日にふさわしい、真の賛美の讃歌となるであろう。 Soc. よろしい。クリティアスがソロンの権威に基づいて、単なる伝説ではなく、実際の事実であると宣言した、アテナイ人の古代の有名な行動は何ですか？ クリティアス 私が年老いた男から聞いた昔話をしよう。クリティアスがこの話をしたとき、彼は言ったように90歳近くであり、私は10歳ほどであった。さて、その日は青 年の登録と呼ばれるアパトゥーリアの日で、慣習に従って、両親は朗読に賞を与え、私たち少年は何人かの詩人の詩を朗読した。私たちの部族の一人が、そう 思ったからか、それともクリティアスを喜ばせるためか、自分の判断ではソロンは最も賢いだけでなく、最も高貴な詩人だと言った。私がよく覚えているよう に、老人はこれを聞いて明るくなり、微笑みながら言った： そうだよ、アミナンダー、もしソロンが他の詩人たちと同じように、詩を生涯の仕事とし、エジプトから持ち帰った物語を完成させ、帰国後、自分の国で起こっ ていた派閥や争いのために、他のことに目を向けざるを得なかったのでなければ、彼はホメロスやヘシオドス、あるいはどんな詩人たちにも負けないほど有名に なっていただろう。 クリティアス、その話はどんな話だったのですか」アミナンダーが言った。 アテネ人が行った最も偉大な行為で、最も有名であったはずのものですが、時間の経過と行為者の滅亡によって、私たちの手元には伝わっていません」。 もう一人が言った。「その話の一部始終を話してください。ソロンは誰から、どのようにして、この真実の伝承を聞いたのですか」。 ナイル川が分かれるエジプトのデルタ地帯に、サイス地区と呼ばれるある地区があり、その地区の大都市もまたサイスと呼ばれ、アマシス王の出身地である。市 民は自分たちの祖神をエジプト語でネイスと呼び、ヘレネス人がアテネと呼ぶ神と同じであると主張している。この都市にソロンがやってきて、大変な栄誉を もって迎えられた。彼は、そのようなことに最も精通している神官たちに古代について尋ねたが、自分も他のヘレネー人も、昔の時代について語るに値するよう なことは何も知らなかったという発見をした。ある時、司祭たちは古代の話をするように促したかったので、司祭はこの世界の最も古い時代のことを話し始め た。「最初の人間」と呼ばれるフォロネウスやニオベのこと、そして大洪水の後、デウカリオンとピュラの生存について。すると、祭司の一人で、非常に高齢の 者が言った： ソロンよ、ソロンよ、ヘレネス人は子供ばかりで、年寄りは一人もいませんよ」。ソロンよ、ソロンよ、あなた方ヘレンの民は子供ばかりで、あなた方の中に老 人は一人もいない。あなた方の中には、古くからの伝統によって受け継がれてきた古い意見もなければ、年老いた科学もありません。その理由をお話ししましょ う。最も大きなものは火と水の作用によってもたらされ、それ以下のものは無数の他の原因によってもたらされた。昔々、ヘリオスの息子パエトンが、父の戦車 で馬を走らせることができず、地上のすべてのものを焼き尽くし、自身も雷によって滅ぼされたという話がある。これは神話のような形をしているが、実際に は、天を移動する天体が地球の周囲で降下し、地上のものが大火災に見舞われることを意味し、それは長い間隔の後に繰り返される。このような時には、山の上 や乾燥した高い場所に住む者は、川辺や海辺に住む者よりも破壊されやすい。このような災難から、ナイル川は私たちを救い、守ってくれる。一方、神々が大洪 水で大地を粛清するとき、あなたがたの国で生き残ったのは、山に住む牧畜民や羊飼いであり、あなたがたのように都市に住む者は、川によって海に流される。 一方、この土地では、当時も今も、水が上から田畑に降り注ぐことはなく、常に下から湧き上がる傾向がある。 事実、冬の霜や夏の極端な寒さが妨げないところならどこでも、人類は存在する。そして、あなた方の国や私たちの国、あるいは私たちが知っている他の地域で どんなことが起こったとしても、高貴な行為や偉大な行為、あるいはその他の点で注目に値する行為があったとしても、それらはすべて私たちによって古くから 書き留められ、私たちの寺院に保存されている。ところが、あなたたちや他の国々が、文字や文明生活に必要なその他のものを備え始めたとき、通常の間隔をお いて、天からの流れが疫病のように降り注ぎ、文字や教育のない者たちだけを残して去っていく。ソロンよ、今あなたが私たちに語った系図は、子供の物語にす ぎない。第一に、あなたは一度の大洪水しか覚えていないが、それ以前にも多くの大洪水があったのだ。第二に、あなたは、かつてあなたの土地に、これまで生 きてきた人間の中で最も美しく気高い種族が住んでいたこと、そしてあなたとあなたの都市全体が、生き残った彼らのわずかな種や残党の子孫であることを知ら ない。何世代にもわたって、その滅亡の生き残りは、文字を残さずに死んでいったからだ。ソロンよ、大洪水が起こる前、今のアテネのような都市が、戦争で第 一位を占め、あらゆる面で、あらゆる都市の中で最もよく統治され、最も高貴な行いを行い、天下に伝わるあらゆるものの中で最も美しい体質を持っていたと言 われる時代があったのだ」。 ソロンはその言葉に驚き、神官たちに、これらの旧市民について正確に、順序よく教えてくれるよう懇願した。あなた自身のためにも、あなたの都市のために も、そして何よりも、私たち両都市の共通の守護者であり、親であり、教育者である女神のためにも。女神はわれわれの都市より千年も前に、大地とヘファイス トスからあなた方の種族を受け継ぎ、あなた方の都市を築き、その後、われわれの都市を築いた。9000年前のあなた方の市民については、その法律と最も有 名な行動を簡単にお知らせしよう。これらの法律とわれわれの法律を比較すれば、われわれの法律の多くが、昔のあなた方の法律と同じであることがわかるだろ う。まず第一に、祭司というカーストがあり、これは他のすべてのカーストから分離されている。次に、職人というカーストがあり、彼らはそれぞれの職を営 み、混じり合うことはない； また、エジプトの戦士は他のすべての階級とは区別され、もっぱら軍事活動に専念するよう法によって命じられている。さらに、彼らが携行する武器は盾と槍で あり、これは女神がアジア人に最初に教えた装備の様式である。そして知恵に関しては、我々の法則がいかに最初から物事の全秩序を研究し、予言や健康を与え る医学にまで及んでいたか、これらの神の要素から人間の生活に必要なものを導き出し、それらに類似したあらゆる種類の知識を加えていたかを観察してほし い。この秩序と配置はすべて、女神があなたたちの都市を建設する際に最初にあなたたちに授けたものである。女神があなたたちの生まれた大地の場所を選んだ のは、その土地の季節の幸福な気質が最も賢い人間を生み出すと見たからである。それゆえ、戦争と知恵の両方を愛する女神は、自分自身に似た人間を生み出す 可能性が最も高い場所を選び、まず最初に定住した。そしてあなたたちはそこに住み、これらのような掟を持ち、さらに優れた掟を持ち、神々の子や弟子のよう に、すべての徳において全人類を凌駕した。 我々の歴史には、あなた方の国について多くの偉大で素晴らしい行いが記録されている。しかし、そのうちのひとつが、偉大さと武勇において他のすべてを凌駕 している。というのも、これらの歴史には、ある強大な勢力が、何の前触れもなくヨーロッパとアジア全域に対して遠征を行い、貴国がこれに終止符を打ったこ とが記されているからである。この勢力は大西洋から出てきた。当時、大西洋は航行可能であったからだ。そして、あなた方がヘラクレスの柱と呼ぶ海峡の手前 に島があった。この島はリビアとアジアを合わせたよりも大きく、他の島々への道であり、これらの島から真の海を囲む対岸の大陸全体へ行くことができた。ヘ ラクレスの海峡の内側にあるこの海は、狭い入り口を持つ港に過ぎないが、他の海は本当の海であり、周囲の陸地は最も真に無限の大陸と呼ぶことができる。さ て、このアトランティス島には、島全体と他のいくつかの島、そして大陸の一部を支配する偉大で素晴らしい帝国があり、さらにアトランティスの人々は、ヘラ クレスの柱の内側にあるリビアの一部をエジプトまで、そしてヨーロッパのティレニアまで服従させていた。この巨大な力が一つに集まり、わが国とあなたの 国、そして海峡の内側の地域全体を一撃で制圧しようとした。彼女は勇気と武勇に優れ、ヘレネス人の指導者であった。そして、他の者たちが彼女から離れ、ま さに危険の極みにあった後、一人で立つことを余儀なくされたとき、彼女は侵略者を打ち破り、勝利し、まだ服従していなかった者たちを奴隷から守り、柱の中 に住む残りの者たちすべてを寛大にも解放した。しかしその後、激しい地震と洪水が発生し、一昼夜の不幸のうちに、あなた方の戦士のような男たちは皆、大地 に沈み、アトランティス島も同じように海の底に消えてしまった。そのため、その地域の海は、泥の浅瀬があるため、通り抜けることができず、侵入することも できない。 ソクラテスよ、年老いたクリティアスがソロンから聞き、私たちに話したことを簡単に話した。そして、あなたが昨日、あなたの都市と市民について話していた とき、私が今あなたに繰り返した物語が頭に浮かび、不思議な偶然の一致によって、あなたがソロンの物語とほとんどすべての点で一致していることに驚きを隠 せなかった。しかし、私はその場では話したくなかった。長い時間が経ち、私はあまりにも多くのことを忘れていた。そして、このような場合の最大の難関は、 目的に適した物語を見つけることであり、そのような物語があれば、十分に用意ができると考え、昨日、あなたの依頼を快諾した。 したがって、ヘルモクラテスがあなたに話したように、昨日の帰り道、私はすぐに仲間に覚えている物語を伝えた。本当に、よく言われるように、子供の頃の教 訓は私たちの記憶に素晴らしい印象を与えるものだ。昨日の話をすべて覚えているかどうかはわからないが、ずっと昔に聞いたこのようなことを忘れていたとし たら、私は大いに驚くだろう。私はその時、子供のように興味深く老人の話に耳を傾けていた。老人はとても熱心に教えてくれたので、私は何度も何度も老人に 言葉を繰り返してもらった。夜が明けるとすぐに、私は彼が話した言葉を仲間に聞かせた。そして今、ソクラテス、私の序文を終了するには、全体の物語を伝え る準備が整いました。私はあなたに一般的な見出しだけでなく、彼らが私に言われたように、特定の部分を与えるでしょう。昨日、あなたがフィクションの中で 私たちに語ってくれた都市と市民を、今度は現実の世界に移そう。それはアテネの古代都市とし、あなたが想像した市民は、司祭が語った私たちの真の祖先であ ると仮定する。両者は完全に調和し、あなた方の共和国の市民はこの古代アテネ人であると言っても矛盾はないだろう。われわれの間でこの問題を分割し、各自 が自分の能力に応じて、あなたがわれわれに課した任務を優雅に遂行するよう努めよう。ソクラテスよ、この物語が目的に適うものか、それとも他のものを探す べきか、考えてみよ。 ソクラテス クリティアスよ、女神の祭りにふさわしく、自然であり、作り話でなく事実であるという大きな利点があるこの物語より、もっとよい他の物語があるだろうか。 これを捨てて、どうやって、どこで別のものを見つけようというのか。だから、あなたはこの物語を語らなければならないのだ。 批評家よ。ソクラテスよ、われわれがどのような順序で余興を用意したかを説明しよう。われわれの意図は、われわれの中で最も天文学に精通し、宇宙の自然を 特別な研究対象としているティマイオスが、まず世界の生成から始まり、人間の創造に至るまで語ることである； そして、ソロンの物語に従い、またソロンの法と同様に、彼らを法廷に引き入れ、あたかも神聖なエジプトの記録が忘却の彼方から取り戻したアテナイ人である かのように、彼らを市民とする。 ソケイ：なるほど、私は完璧で見事な理性の饗宴を受けることになる。さて、ティマイオスよ、次は君が話す番だろう、神々に正式に呼びかけた後で。 ティム ソクラテスよ、少しでも正しい感覚を持つ者は、小さなことであれ大きなことであれ、あらゆる事業の始まりには必ず神を呼ぶものだ。そしてわれわれも、宇宙 の本質について、いかに創造されたか、あるいはいかに創造されずに存在したかについて語ろうとするとき、もしわれわれが完全に知恵を失っていないならば、 神々と女神の助けを呼び、われわれの言葉が神々に受け入れられ、神々と一致するように祈らなければならない。では、これを神々への私たちの呼びかけとしよ う。それに加えて、あなた方に最も理解しやすく、私自身の意図に最も合致するような方法で話すよう、私自身への呼びかけを加えよう。 まず、私の判断では、私たちは区別して、「常に存在し、存在しないものは何か？知性と理性によって理解されるものは、つねに同じ状態にある。しかし、理性 なしに感覚の助けを借りて意見によって思いつくものは、つねに変化と滅亡の過程にあり、ほんとうに存在することはない。なぜなら、原因なしには何も創造で きないからである。しかし、創造されたものだけに目を向け、創造されたパターンを使用するとき、それは公正でも完璧でもない。天とは、世界とは、この呼び 名で呼ばれるのか、それとも他のもっと適切な呼び名で呼ばれるのか--仮にこの呼び名で呼ばれるとして、私は何事についての探求の最初に尋ねなければなら ない質問をしているのだ--、世界は常に存在し、始まりはなかったのだろうか、それとも創造され、始まりがあったのだろうか、と。創造された、と私は答え る。目に見え、形があり、身体を持っている、つまり感覚的なものである。感覚的なものはすべて、意見や感覚によって理解され、創造の過程にあり、創造され たものである。さて、創造されたものは、私たちが断言するように、必然的に原因によって創造されなければならない。しかし、この宇宙すべての父であり創造 主である人物を探し出すことは不可能である。たとえ見つけたとしても、そのことをすべての人に伝えることは不可能だろう： 世界を造ったとき、造物主は、不変のものの型と、創造されたものの型のどちらを考えていたのだろうか？もし世界が本当に公正であり、造物主が善良であった なら、彼が永遠であるものに目を向けたに違いないことは明らかである。なぜなら、世界は創造物の中で最も美しく、彼は原因の中で最も優れているからであ る。このように創造された世界は、理性と心によって理解され、不変であるものに似せて作られた。したがって、このことが認められるならば、必然的に何かの 写しでなければならない。さて、すべてのものの始まりが自然に従うものであることは、きわめて重要である。言葉が永続的で永続的で理解可能なものに関係す るとき、言葉は永続的で不変であるべきであり、その性質が許す限り、反論の余地のない不動のものでなければならない。しかし、永遠のものそのものではな く、その写しや似姿を表現するのであれば、本物の言葉に似ている、類似しているというだけでよい。存在（being）が存在（becoming）にあるよ うに、真理（truth）は信念（belief）にある。ソクラテスよ、神々と宇宙の生成に関する多くの意見がある中で、完全に、あらゆる点で正確で、互 いに矛盾のない観念を与えることができないとしても、驚いてはならない。なぜなら、発言者である私も、判断者であるあなたがたも、死すべき人間にすぎない ことを忘れてはならない。 社会 素晴らしい、ティマイオス。おっしゃるとおりにしよう。前奏曲は魅力的で、すでに私たちに受け入れられている。 ティム。では、創造主がなぜこの生成の世界を造られたのかを教えよう。彼は善であり、善は何に対しても嫉妬することはない。そして、嫉妬から自由である彼 は、万物ができる限り自分自身に似ていることを望んだ。これこそ、真の意味での創造と世界の起源である： 神は、実現可能な限り、すべてのものが善であり、悪いものがないことを望まれた。それゆえまた、目に見える球体全体が静止しているのではなく、不規則で無 秩序に動いているのを見いだし、無秩序から秩序を生み出した。そして、創造主は、本来目に見えるものを考察して、全体として見たとき、知性のない被造物 は、全体として見たとき、知性のある被造物よりも美しくないことを発見した。そのため、彼は宇宙を創造するとき、魂に知性を、肉体に魂を宿らせた。した がって、確率の言葉を使えば、神の摂理によって、世界は真に魂と知性を与えられた被造物になったということになる。 では、創造主はどのような動物に似せて世界を造られたのだろうか？というのも、不完全なものに似ていて美しいものなどありえないからである。しかし、この 世界は、他のすべての動物が個体としても部族としてもその一部である全体像そのものであると仮定してみよう。というのも、宇宙の原初は、それ自体にすべて の知性ある存在を包含しており、ちょうどこの世界が私たちや他のすべての目に見える生き物を包含しているのと同じだからである。というのも、神性は、この 世界を最も美しく完全な知性的存在と同じようにしようと考え、一つの目に見える動物を枠にはめ、その中に同種の性質を持つ他のすべての動物を包含させたか らである。世界は一つなのか、それとも無限に存在するのか。創造された複製がオリジナルと一致するためには、世界は一つでなければならない。というのも、 他のすべての知性ある被造物を包含するものには、第二のものや伴侶を持つことはできないからである。その場合、両者を包含し、両者が部分となるような別の 生命体が必要となり、その似姿は、両者ではなく、両者を包含する別のものに似ていると、より真実に言われることになる。世界が完全な動物のように孤独であ るために、創造主は二つの世界や無限の世界を造ったのではない。 創造されたものは、必然的に肉体的であり、目に見え、形あるものである。火のないところに見えるものはなく、固体のないところに固体のあるものはない。そ れゆえ、神は天地創造の初めに、宇宙の本体を火と土から成るものとされたのである。しかし、2つのものを第3のものなしに正しく組み合わせることはできな い。そして、最も公正な結合とは、それ自身と結合するものとを最も完全に融合させるものである。立方体であれ正方形であれ、3つの数には必ず平均が存在 し、その平均は最終項にとって初項と同じであり、また平均が初項にとって最終項と同じであるとき、平均は初項と最終項となり、初項と最終項はともに平均と なる。しかし今、世界は堅固でなければならず、堅固な物体は常に1つの手段ではなく、2つの手段によって圧縮されるため、神は火と土の間の手段に水と空気 を配置し、可能な限り同じ比率を持たせた（火が空気に対してそうであるように、空気も水に対してそうであり、空気が水に対してそうであるように、水も土に 対してそうである）。このような理由から、また4つの要素から、世界の本体が創造され、それは比例によって調和され、それゆえ友愛の精神を持つ。 創造主は、火と水と空気と土のすべてから世界を作り出し、それらのいかなる部分も、いかなる力も外に残さなかった。創造主の意図は、第一に、動物が可能な 限り完全な全体であり、完全な部分であること、第二に、動物が一つであり、そこから別の世界を創造するような残骸を残さないこと、さらに、動物が老いるこ となく、病気に冒されないことであった。熱や寒さなど、肉体を統合する強力な力が、準備の整っていないときに肉体を取り囲んで外から攻撃すると、肉体を腐 敗させ、病気や老衰をもたらすことによって、肉体を衰えさせることを考慮して、このような理由と根拠に基づいて、彼は世界を一つの全体とし、すべての部分 が完全であり、したがって完全で、老衰や病気に罹りにくいものとされた。そして、世界にふさわしい、また自然な姿を与えた。すべての動物を包含する動物に は、他のすべての形を包含する形がふさわしい。そこで彼は、旋盤のように丸く、その両端が中心から等距離にあり、あらゆる図形の中で最も完全で、最もそれ 自身に似ている、地球儀の形をした世界を造った。まず第一に、彼の外には見るべきものが何も残っていなかったので、生き物は目を必要としなかったし、聞く べきものが何もなかったので、耳も必要なかったし、呼吸すべき大気も周囲には存在しなかった。彼はこのように創造され、彼自身の排泄物が彼自身の食物を提 供し、彼が行うこと、または苦しむことはすべて彼自身の中で、彼自身によって行われた。創造主は、自給自足できる存在は、何もない存在よりもはるかに優れ ていると考えたからである。彼は何も取る必要がなく、誰かから身を守る必要もなかったので、創造主は彼に手を与える必要はないと考えた： しかし、その球形の形態に適した運動が彼に与えられた。他の6つの運動はすべて彼から取り去られ、その逸脱に加担しないようにされた。この円運動には足が 必要なかったため、宇宙は足も脚もなく創造された。 このようなことが、永遠なる神の、あるべき神についての全計画であった。このために神は、滑らかで均整のとれた、中心から等距離のあらゆる方向に表面を持 つ体、完全で完全な体、完全な体から形成された体を与えた。そして、その中心に魂を置き、それを身体全体に拡散させ、その外的環境ともされた。また、宇宙 を円の中を動く円とされ、一つで孤独でありながら、その卓越性のゆえに、それ自身と対話することができ、他の友情や知己を必要としないものとされた。この ような目的を持って、神は世界を祝福された神として創造された。 というのも、両者を結びつけた神は、年長者が年少者に支配されることを決して許さなかったからである。魂は、その起源と卓越性において肉体に先行し、肉体 よりも古く、支配者であり愛人であり、肉体はその従属者であるべきである。そして、次の要素から、このように彼女を造られた： 不可分で不変のものから、また可分であり物質的な身体と関係するものから、同じものと他のものの性質に属する、第三の中間的な種類の本質を合成し、この合 成物を、不可分なものと、可分であり物質的なものとの中間に、それに応じて配置した。彼は同じもの、他のもの、本質の3つの要素を取り、それらを1つの形 に混ぜ合わせ、他のものの消極的で無愛想な性質を力ずくで同じものの中に圧縮した。彼はそれらを本質と混ぜ合わせ、3つから1つを作ると、再びこの全体を 適当な数の部分に分け、それぞれの部分は同じもの、他のもの、本質の化合物であった。彼はこのように分割した： -まず、全体の一部分[1]を取り去り、次に、第一の二倍である第二の部分[2]を分け、さらに、第二の半分で第一の三倍である第三の部分[3]を取り去 り、次に、第二の二倍である第四の部分[4]、第三の三倍である第五の部分[9]、第一の八倍である第六の部分[8]、第一の二十七倍である第七の部分 [27]を取り去った。この後、彼は二重音程［すなわち1、2、4、8の間］と三重音程［すなわち1、3、9、27の間］を埋めた。各区間には2種類の平 均があり、一方はその極値の等しい部分を超え、また超えている［例えば1, 4/3, 2のように、平均4/3は1の3分の1が1より多く、2の3分の1が2より少ない］。3/2の区間と4/3の区間と9/8の区間があり、前者の区間におけ る接続項によって作られたところ、彼は4/3の区間をすべて9/8の区間で埋め、端数を残した。この端数が表す区間は256と243の比率であった。こう して、彼がこれらの部分を切り取った混合物全体は、すべて彼によって使い尽くされた。この混合物全体を縦に2つの部分に分け、それをXの字のように中心で 互いに結びつけ、それらを円形に曲げて、元の会合点とは反対側の点で互いに結びつけ、それらを同じ軸の上で一様に回転させて、一方を外側の円、他方を内側 の円とした。そして、外側の円の運動を同じものの運動と呼び、内側の円の運動を他方または多様なものの運動と呼んだ。同じものの運動は右へ、多様なものの 運動は左へ斜めに回した。そして、同じ運動と同じような運動に支配権を与え、その運動は単一で、分割されずに残した。しかし、内側の運動は6か所に分割 し、その間隔が2と3の比率である7つの不均等な円を作り、それぞれ3つずつ作り、軌道を互いに反対の方向に進ませた。3つ［太陽、水星、金星］は等しい 速さで動くようにし、残りの4つ［月、土星、火星、木星］は3つと互いに不均等な速さで動くようにしたが、適切な割合で動いた。 さて、創造主はその意志に従って魂を形づくったとき、彼女の中に肉体の宇宙を形成し、この2つを一緒にして、中心と中心を結びつけた。魂は天の中心から円 周に至るまであらゆるところに干渉し、その外的な包囲体でもある魂は、自らの中で回転し、永遠に絶えることのない、理性的な生命の神聖な始まりが始まっ た。天の肉体は目に見えるが、魂は目に見えず、理性と調和に属し、最高の知性と永遠の性質によって造られ、創造されたものの中で最高のものである。そして 魂は、同じものと他のものと本質、これら3つから構成され、適切な割合で分割され、結合され、その回転において自らの上に戻るので、魂は、本質を持つもの に触れるとき、部分に分散していようが分割されていなかろうが、そのすべての力によってかき立てられ、そのものと他のものとの同一性または差異を宣言し、 生成の世界と不変の存在の世界の両方において、どのような個体が、どのような影響を受けて、どのような方法で、どのように、いつ、関連しているかを宣言す る。そして、理性が、多様なものの輪の中であろうと、同じものの輪の中であろうと、等しく真理をもって働くとき、声なき沈黙の中で、自己が動かされるもの の圏内を前進する道を保持するとき、つまり、理性が感覚的な世界のまわりをうろついているとき、そして、多様なものの輪もまた真に動いているとき、全霊魂 に感覚の暗示を与えるとき、確かで確実な意見と信念が生じる。しかし、理性が理性的なものに関わり、同じように動いている円環がそれを滑らかに宣言すると き、知性と知識は必然的に完成される。もしこの二つが魂以外のものであると断言する者がいれば、その者は真理とは正反対のことを言うことになる。 父なる創造主は、自分が造った被造物が動き、生きているのを見て、永遠の神々の創造された像であることを喜び、その喜びのうちに、複製をさらに元の像に似 たものにしようと決意した。理想的な存在の性質は永遠であったが、この性質を完全に被造物に与えることは不可能であった。そこで彼は永遠の動く像を持つこ とを決意し、天を整えたとき、この像を永遠でありながら数に従って動くものとした。天が創造される前には、昼も夜も月も年もなかった。それらはすべて時間 の一部であり、過去と未来は創造された時間の種である； 私たちは、彼は "あった"、彼は "ある"、彼は "なる "と言うが、真実は、"ある "だけが彼に適切に帰属し、"あった "と "なる "は、時間の中でなることについて語られるだけである。これらは、永遠を模倣し、数の法則に従って回転する時間の形態である。さらに、私たちが「なったも のはなった」「なるものはなる」「これからなるものはなる」「存在しないものは存在しない」と言うとき、これらはすべて不正確な表現方法である。しかし、 おそらくこのテーマ全体については、別の機会にもっと適切に論じることができるだろう。 時間と天が同じ瞬間に誕生したのは、ともに創造されたのだから、もし両者が解消されることがあれば、ともに解消されるようにするためである。なぜなら、そ の型は永遠から存在し、創造された天は、すべての時間において存在し、存在し、存在し続けるからである。時間の創造における神の心と考えはこのようなもの であった。太陽と月、そして惑星と呼ばれる他の5つの星は、時間の数を区別し保存するために神が創造した。まず、地球に最も近い軌道に月があり、次に地球 より上の2番目の軌道に太陽があった。次に、朝星とヘルメスに神聖な星が来て、太陽と同じ速さを持つ軌道を移動するが、方向は反対である。彼が他の星に割 り当てた場所を列挙し、それを割り当てた理由をすべて述べることは、二次的な事柄ではあるが、一次的な事柄よりも多くの問題を引き起こすだろう。このよう なことは、私たちに余裕がある将来のある時期に、それに値する考察をすることができるだろう。 さて、時間の創造に必要であったすべての星々が、それらに適した運動を獲得し、生命力の鎖によって固定された体を持つ生き物となり、対角線上にあり、同じ 運動を通過し、その運動に支配される多様な運動で移動する、その定められた仕事を学んだとき、それらは、あるものはより大きな軌道で、あるものはより小さ な軌道で自転し、より小さな軌道を持つものはより速く自転し、より大きな軌道を持つものはよりゆっくりと自転した。同じものの運動のせいで、最も速く回転 するものは、本当は追い越したにもかかわらず、より遅く回転するものに追い越されたように見えた。同じものの運動は、それらをすべて螺旋状に回転させ、あ るものは一方向に進み、あるものは別の方向に進んだので、同じものの球から最もゆっくり後退し、最も速かったものは、それに最も近く従っているように見え た。8つの軌道を進むにつれて、その速さと遅さの相対的な尺度を目に見える形で示すために、神はこれらの軌道のうち地球から2番目の軌道に、現在我々が太 陽と呼ぶ火を灯した。こうして、そしてこの理由のために、夜と昼が創造された。月が公転を終えて太陽を追い越したとき、月は完成し、太陽が自らの公転を終 えたとき、年は完成する。人類は、ほとんど例外を除いて、他の星々の周期に注目せず、その名前も持たず、数の助けを借りてそれらを互いに測定することもな い。それゆえ、無限の数で、その多様性のために称賛に値する彼らの放浪が、時間を構成していることを知るとは到底言えない。しかし、8つの回転が、その速 さの相対的な度合いを持ちながら、すべて一緒に達成され、同じように動くものの回転によって測定される同じ時に完成に達するとき、完全な時間の数が完全な 1年を満たすことを見ることに何の困難もない。このようにして、またこのような理由から、天の進行において運動の反転を受けるような星々が誕生した。それ は、創造された天が永遠の本性を模倣し、完全で知性的な動物にできるだけ似るようにするためである。 このように、時が生まれるまで、創造された宇宙は原初に似せて作られたが、すべての動物がまだそこに包括されていなかった以上、それはまだ似ていなかっ た。残されたものを、創造主はその模様の性質に似せて作り上げた。理想的な動物には、一定の性質と数を持つイデアや種が存在することから、創造主は、この 創造された動物にも同様の性質と数を持つ種が存在するはずだと考えた。そのうちのひとつは神々の天の種族、もうひとつは空を行く鳥の種族、第三は水の種 族、第四は歩行者と陸の生物である。天の神々のうち、大いなるものを火から創造し、万物の中で最も輝き、見る者に最も美しく見えるようにし、宇宙の似姿に 似せて円形に造形し、至高の知性的な動きに従わせ、天の全周に分布させた。1つ目は、同じ場所で同じように動くことで、同じ物事について一貫して同じ考え を持ち続けること、2つ目は、前進することで、同じものの回転などに支配されること、しかし、他の5つの運動には影響されないことである。このような理由 から、恒星は創造され、神的で永遠の動物であり、常に同じ方法で同じ場所を回転する。我々の看護婦である地球は、宇宙を貫いて伸びている極の周りにくっつ いているが、彼は夜と昼の守護者であり、設計者であり、天の内部にいる神々の最初であり、長老であるように仕立てた。舞踊のように旋回する神々の姿や、並 置された神々の姿、自転する神々の帰還や、近似する神々の姿をすべて語ろうとしても無駄であろう、 また、これらの神々がどのような順序で互いの背後や前方に回り込み、いつ我々の視界から消え去り、再び姿を現すのか、その動きを計算できない人々に恐怖と 未来の暗示を送るのか......天のシステムを目に見える形で表現することなく、これらすべてを語ろうとするのは無駄な労力である。この点についてはも ういいだろう。さて、創造された神々と目に見える神々の性質について述べてきたことに終止符を打とう。 他の神々の起源を知ったり語ったりすることは、われわれには無理なことであり、自らを神々の子孫だと断言する昔の人々の言い伝えを受け入れるしかない。神 々の子孫の言葉をどうして疑うことができようか。彼らは確証も確実な証拠も示さないが、それでも自分たちの家族に起こったことを話していると宣言している のだから、習慣に従って彼らを信じるしかない。では、彼らによれば、これらの神々の系図はこのように受け取られ、記されている。 オセアヌスとテティスは地と天の子であり、これらからフォルシス、クロノス、レア、およびそのすべての世代が生まれ、クロノスとレアからゼウスとヘレ、お よびその兄弟と言われるすべての者、およびこれらの子である他の者が生まれた。 さて、目に見える形でその回転に現れる神々も、より控えめな性質を持つ他の神々も、それらすべてが誕生したとき、宇宙の創造主は次のような言葉で彼らに語 りかけた： 「神々よ、神々の子らよ、私の作品であり、私が造物主であり、父である者たちよ、私の創造物は、私が望むならば、解け合うことはない。束縛されたものはす べて解くことができるが、調和のとれた幸福なものを解こうとするのは邪悪な存在だけである。それゆえ、あなたがたは被造物に過ぎないのだから、完全に不滅 で不溶性というわけではないが、あなたがたは、私の意志において、あなたがたの誕生時に結ばれていた絆よりも偉大で強大な絆を持っているのだから、決して 解かれることはなく、死の運命にさらされることもないだろう。彼らがいなければ、宇宙は不完全なものとなってしまう。もし宇宙が完全であるべきならば、宇 宙が含むべきあらゆる種類の動物を含むことができないからだ。一方、もし彼らが私の手によって創造され、私の手によって生命を得たなら、彼らは神々と同等 になるであろう。ならば、彼らが死すべき存在となり、この宇宙が真に普遍的なものとなるために、汝らはその本性に従い、動物の形成に身を投じ、私が汝らを 創造する際に示した力を模倣せよ。不滅の名に値する部分、それは神と呼ばれ、正義と汝らに従うことを望む者たちの指針である。そして、死すべきものと不滅 のものとを織り交ぜ、生き物を作り、産み、食べ物を与え、成長させ、死後に再び迎え入れるのだ」。 こうして彼は語り、以前に宇宙の魂を混ぜた杯の中にもう一度、元素の残骸を注ぎ、同じように混ぜた。しかし、それらは以前のように純粋ではなく、第二、第 三の程度に希釈されたものであった。それを作った後、彼は混合物全体を星と同じ数の魂に分け、それぞれの魂を星に割り当てた。彼らを戦車に乗せるようにそ こに置くと、彼は彼らに宇宙の性質を示し、運命の法則を宣言した。それによれば、彼らの最初の誕生は皆同じであり、彼の手によって不利益を被る者は一人も いないはずである。さて、彼らが必然的に肉体に植え付けられ、常にその肉体の一部を得たり失ったりしているとき、第一に、彼らは皆、抗しがたい印象から生 じる一つの同じ感覚能力を持つことが必要であろう。第二に、彼らは喜びと苦痛が混じり合う愛を持たねばならず、また恐怖と怒り、そしてそれらに類似する、 あるいは対立する感情も持たねばならない。もし彼らがこれらに打ち勝つならば、彼らは正しく生きるであろうし、もし彼らがこれらに打ち勝つならば、不当に 生きるであろう。もしこれらに打ち勝つことができれば、正しく生きることができ、もしこれらに打ち勝つことができれば、不義に生きることができる。しか し、これを達成できなかった場合、2回目の出産で女になり、その状態で悪をやめなかった場合、身につけた悪の性質が彼に似ている獣に変わり続ける、 そして、自分の中の同じようなものの回転に従って、理性の助けによって、火と空気と水と土で構成された、後から付け加えられた乱暴で非合理的な群衆に打ち 勝ち、最初の、より良い状態の姿に戻るまで、その苦行と変容を止めることはなかった。これらの法則をすべて被造物に与え、そのいずれにおいても将来悪を犯 すことがないようにした上で、創造主はその一部を大地に、一部を月に、一部を他の時の道具に蒔かれた； そして、それらを蒔いた後、若い神々にその死すべき肉体の造形を委ね、人間の魂にまだ欠けているものを補うよう求め、すべての適切な付加を行った後、それ らを支配し、できる限り最善かつ賢明な方法で死すべき動物を操縦し、自業自得以外のすべての災いを彼から避けるよう求めた。 創造主がこれらすべての命令を下した時、彼は自身の慣れた自然の中に留まり、彼の子供たちは父の言葉を聞き、従順であった。そして、彼から死すべき被造物 の不滅の原理を受け取り、彼ら自身の創造主を真似て、火、土、水、空気の一部を世界から借用した、 これらは、彼ら自身が結ばれていた不溶性の鎖ではなく、目に見えないほど小さな釘で結ばれ、4つの要素すべてからそれぞれの別々の体を作り上げ、不滅の魂 の道を、絶え間ない流入と流出の状態にある体に固定した。これらのコースは大河のように留まり、克服することも克服されることもなく、急ぎ足で行ったり来 たりしていた。そのため、動物全体は、不規則に、不合理に、ともかくも、前後左右上下の六つの運動のあらゆる方向にさまよいながら移動し、進行していた。 栄養を供給する洪水が前進したり後退したりするのと同様に、外部との接触によって生じる情動は、さらに大きな動揺を引き起こした。すなわち、ある者の身体 が外部の火に出会い、衝突したとき、固い大地や滑る水に出会ったとき、あるいは空中を漂う大嵐に巻き込まれたとき、これらの衝動のいずれかによって生じる 運動が、身体を通じて魂に伝えられたのである。このような運動はすべて、結果的に「感覚」という一般的な名称を持つようになり、それは今でも保持されてい る。そして、それらは実際、その時、非常に偉大で強大な運動を生み出した。絶えず流れる小川と一体となって、魂の流れをかき乱し、激しく揺さぶり、対立す る流れによって、同じものの回転を完全に止め、それが優勢になり前進するのを妨げた。3：2、4：3、9：8の比率で表現される平均項と接続リンクととも に： これらは、それらを統合した者以外には完全に元に戻すことはできないが、それらによってあらゆる方法でねじれ、円はあらゆる可能な方法で壊れ、無秩序にな り、動くと粉々になり、不合理に動き、ある時は逆方向に、また斜めに、そして逆さまに、まるで逆さまになり、頭を地面にもたせかけ、足を空中の何かに立て かけている人を想像するかもしれない； そのような状態にあるとき、彼も観客も、どちらかの右が自分の左であり、左が自分の右であると錯覚する。これらや類似の効果を強力に経験するとき、魂の回 転が、同じクラスか他のクラスの、何らかの外的なものに接触するなら、彼らは同じか他のものについて、真理とは正反対のやり方で語る。 しかし、成長と栄養の洪水が衰え、魂の軌道が落ち着き、自らの道を歩み、時が経つにつれて安定するようになると、いくつかの円は自然な形に戻り、その回転 は修正され、同じものと他のものを正しい名前で呼び、その所有者を理性的な存在にする。そして、これらが彼の中で真の養育や教育と結びついたならば、彼は 完全な人間の充実と健康を獲得し、最悪の病から逃れることができる。しかし、これは後の段階である。現在、我々は目の前の主題をより正確に扱わなければな らない。この主題は、身体とその構成要素の生成について、そして魂がどのように創造されたのかについて、神々のどのような理由と摂理によるのかについての 予備的な探究を伴う。 まず、神々は宇宙の球形を模倣して、2つの神聖なコースを球体の胴体に封じ込めた。その結果、体は長さを持ち、四肢が伸びて柔軟であった。これらの四肢 は、神が考案した運動器具であり、それによって体を支え、あらゆる場所を通り抜け、私たちの最も神聖で神聖な部分の住処を高く運ぶことができる。そして神 々は、人間の前部は後部に比べてより尊く、より指揮にふさわしいと考え、人間を主に前方に動かすようにした。それゆえ、人間は、その前部を他の部分と区別 し、区別されなければならない。 そこで、彼らはまず頭の器に、魂の摂理にあらゆることを奉仕する器官を挿入した面を置き、権威を持つこの部分を、生まれながらにして前方にある部分と定め た。そして器官のうち、彼らはまず光を与えるために目を造った。器官が挿入された原理は次のようであった： 私たちの内側にあり、それに関係する純粋な火を、滑らかで濃密な流れにして目の中を流れるようにし、目全体、特に中心部分を圧縮して、粗い性質のものをす べて排除し、この純粋な要素だけを通過させるようにした。日の光が視覚の流れを取り囲むと、同じようなものが同じようなものの上に降り注ぎ、それらは合体 し、内側から降り注ぐ光が外側の対象と出会うところならどこでも、視覚の流れの中で自然な親和性によって一つの体が形成される。そして視覚の流れ全体が、 類似性によって同じような影響を受け、それが触れるもの、あるいは触れるものの運動を全身に拡散し、それが魂に到達するまで、われわれが視覚と呼ぶ知覚を 引き起こす。しかし夜が訪れ、外的で同種の火が去ると、視覚の流れは断ち切られる。なぜなら、異質な要素へと向かうそれは変化し、消滅し、火を奪われた周 囲の大気とはもはや同じ性質を持たないからである。神々が視力維持のために発明した瞼が閉じられると、瞼は内部の炎を保つ。炎の力は内部の運動を拡散し、 均等化する。そして今、鏡やあらゆる滑らかで明るい表面に映像が生まれることを理解するのは、もはや難しいことではない。内的な火と外的な火の交わりか ら、そしてまた、鏡の中でそれらが出会うとき、それらの結合とその数々の変容から、顔からの火が明るく滑らかな表面の上で目からの火と合体するとき、必然 的にこれらのすべての外観が生じるからである。右は左に、左は右に見えるのは、視覚の光線が、通常の出会い方とは逆に、対象から発せられる光線と接触する からである。また、鏡が垂直に回転している場合は、凹みによって表情がすべて逆さまに見え、下の光線は上へ、上の光線は下へと追いやられる。 これらはすべて、神が最善という考えを可能な限り実行に移し、神の代理人として用いる第二の、そして協力的な原因のひとつに数えられる。それらは凍ったり 熱を帯びたり、収縮したり膨張したりするので、多くの人は第二の原因ではなく、万物の主要な原因だと考えている。なぜなら、それらは理性や知性を持ち得な いからである。正当に心を持ち得る唯一の存在は目に見えない魂であり、火や水、土や空気はすべて目に見える体である。知性と知識を愛する者は、まず第一 に、知性ある自然の原因を探求し、第二に、他者によって動かされ、他者を動かさざるを得ないものの原因を探求すべきである。そしてこれこそ、私たちがなす べきことなのだ。どちらの種類の原因もわれわれは認めるべきであるが、知性に恵まれ、公正で善良な物事の働き手である原因と、知性を奪われ、秩序も設計も なく、常に偶然の結果を生み出す原因とは区別すべきである。眼に現在のような力を与えるのに役立つ、視力の第二の原因または協力的な原因については、すで に十分に述べた。そこで次に、神が私たちに与えた、より崇高な用途と目的について話を進めたい。なぜなら、もし私たちが星や太陽や天を見ることがなかった ら、私たちが宇宙について語った言葉は何も語られなかっただろうから。しかし今、昼と夜、月と年の回転を見ることで、数が生まれ、時間の観念が生まれ、宇 宙の本質を探究する力が生まれた。この源から我々は哲学を得たが、これ以上に大きな恩恵は、かつてなかったし、これからも神々が人間に与えることはないだ ろう。これこそ視覚の最大の恩恵であり、それ以下の恩恵については、なぜ私が語らねばならないのだろうか。しかし、これだけは言っておきたい： 神がわれわれに視覚を発明し与えたのは、われわれが天における知性の道筋を見、それと類似したわれわれ自身の知性の道筋にそれを当てはめるためであり、動 揺しない知性は動揺する知性の道筋に当てはめるためであり、われわれがそれらを学び、理性の自然な真理にあずかることによって、神の絶対的に正確な道筋を 模倣し、われわれ自身の迷いを調整するためである。言語と聴覚についても同じことが言える。それらは同じ目的のために、同じような理由のために神々によっ て与えられた。なぜなら、これが音声の主要な目的であり、音声が最も貢献するところだからである。さらに、声の響きや聴覚に適合する音楽の多くは、調和の ために私たちに与えられたものである。調和は、私たちの魂の回転に似た動きを持つものであるが、理知的な神々の信奉者は、現代においてその目的と考えられ ている非合理的な快楽のために神々が与えたとは考えていない； リズムもまた同じ理由で、人類一般に蔓延している不規則で品のないやり方を理由にして、それらに対抗して私たちを助けるために与えられたものである。 そして今、われわれはその傍らに、必然によって生まれたものを置かなければならない。支配力である心は、被造物の大部分を完全なものにするよう必然を説得 し、こうして、そしてこのようにして、理性の影響が必然に勝ったとき、初めに宇宙が創造されたのである。しかし、もし人がその仕事が成し遂げられた方法を 真に語ろうとするならば、可変的な原因の他の影響も含まなければならない。従って、私たちは再び戻って、別の適切な始まりを見つけなければならない。その ためには、火、水、空気、土の天地創造以前の性質と、その以前の状態でそれらに何が起こっていたかを考えなければならない。そして、これだけは言っておこ う： 私が今、万物の最初の原理や原則について語ろうとしないのは、それがどのような名称で呼ばれるものであれ、その理由がここにあるからである。私が想像する 以上に、このような偉大で困難な仕事を引き受けることが正しいとは思わないでほしい。最初に確率について述べたことを思い出しながら、他のどの説明と同じ ように、いや、むしろより確率の高い説明をするために、私は最善を尽くそうと思う。そして、まず最初に戻って、ひとつひとつのこと、そしてすべてのことを 話してみようと思う。もう一度、私の講話の冒頭で、私は神に呼びかけ、奇妙で得体の知れない探究から私たちを救い出し、確率の楽園へと導いてくださるよ う、神に懇願する。それでは、もう一度始めよう。 この宇宙についての新たな議論の始まりには、以前よりも完全な区分が必要だ。以前は2つの分類を行ったが、今度は3つ目の分類を明らかにしなければならな い。ひとつは、われわれが仮定した、理解可能で常に同じパターンであり、もうひとつは、生成され目に見えるパターンの模倣にすぎない。この2つで十分だと 考えていたため、当時は区別していなかった。しかし今、この議論では、説明が難しくおぼろげにしか見えないもう一つの種類を、言葉で示すことが求められて いるようだ。この新しい種類の存在にはどのような性質があるのだろうか。私たちはこう答える。それは、あらゆる世代の受け皿であり、ある意味では育ての親 である、と。というのも、どの元素を火ではなく水と呼ぶべきか、またどの元素をすべて、あるいはどれか一つではなく、どれかと呼ぶべきか、確率や確証を もって言うのは難しいことだからだ。では、この点にどのように決着をつけ、元素についてどのような疑問を呈するのが妥当なのだろうか。 まず第一に、いま水と呼んだものは、凝縮すると石や土になる。空気は再び、燃え上がると火になり、火は凝縮して消滅すると、再び空気の形になる。空気は再 び、集まって凝縮すると、雲と霧を発生させ、これらからさらに圧縮されると、流れる水が生まれ、水から再び土と石が生まれる。このように、いくつかの元素 は決して同じ形では存在しないのだから、それが何であれ、そのどれかが他のものでなく一つのものであると断言する保証は誰にもないだろう。誰にもできな い。しかし、最も安全な方法は、次のように語ることである： -たとえば火のように、絶え間なく変化しているように見えるものは、「これ」とか「あれ」と呼んではならない； また、「これ」や「あれ」という言葉を使うことによって、私たち自身が何かを意味していると思いながら、そのような物事の中に安定性があることを暗示して はならない。私たちは、それらのどれにも「これ」を適用すべきではなく、むしろ「そのような」という言葉を適用すべきである。これは、それらのそれぞれと すべてに循環している同様の原理を表現するものである。しかし、ある性質を持つもの、熱いもの、白いもの、あるいは反対の等質性を認めるもの、そしてそれ らの複合体であるすべてのものは、そう呼ばれるべきではない。私の意味をより明確に説明するために、別の試みをしてみよう。ある人があらゆる種類の金の形 を作り、常に一つの形を他のすべての形に変えているとする。最も安全で真実な答えは、「それは金です」である。そして、その金で形作られる三角形やその他 の図形を、あたかもそれらが存在するかのように「これら」と呼んではならない。というのも、あらゆるものを受け入れている間、彼女は彼女自身の性質から まったく離れることはなく、どのような形であれ、またどのような時であれ、彼女の中に入ってくるもののような形をとることはないからである。しかし、彼女 に出入りする形は、現実の存在の似姿であり、その模様に似せて、すばらしく不可解な方法でモデル化されたものである。第一に、生成の過程にあるもの、第二 に、生成が行われるもの、第三に、生成されるものが類似であるものである。さらに、もし模型が様々な形をとるのであれば、模型が作られる物質は、形がな く、これから外から受けることになるこれらの形の印象がないものでなければ、適切に準備されたことにはならない。というのも、もしその物質が、上に現れる 形状のどれかに似ていたとしたら、その表面に反対の、あるいはまったく異なる性質が刻印されるたびに、それ自身の形状が入り込んでしまうため、その印象は 悪く受け止められることになるからである。香水を作るとき、まず、香りを受けようとする液体の物質ができるだけ無臭であるように、あるいは、柔らかい物質 に図形を刻印しようとする人が、前の印象を残さず、表面をできるだけ平滑にすることから始めるように。これと同じように、すべての永遠なる存在の類似を永 続的に、その全領域にわたって受け入れるべきものは、いかなる特別な形も欠いていなければならない。それゆえ、すべての創造されたもの、目に見えるもの、 いかなる形であれ感覚的なものの母体であり容れ物であるものは、土、空気、火、水、あるいはそれらの化合物、あるいはそれらが由来する元素のどれとも呼ば れるべきものではなく、目に見えず形もない存在であり、あらゆるものを受け入れ、何らかの神秘的な方法で理解可能なものに分け入り、最も理解しがたいもの である。しかし、これまでの考察から彼女についての知識を得ることができる限りにおいて、火は彼女の本性の中で時折燃え上がる部分であり、水は湿らせる部 分であり、彼女がそれらの印象を受ける限りにおいて、母なる物質は土と空気になると言うことができる。 この問いをより正確に考えてみよう。自存する火は存在するのか？ また、我々が自存すると呼ぶものはすべて存在するのか？ それとも、我々が見るもの、あるいは身体器官を通して何らかの方法で知覚するものだけが真に存在し、それ以外のものは何も存在しないのか？また、われわれ が知性的本質と呼ぶものはすべて無であり、名前にすぎないのか？これは、未調査のまま、あるいは未決定のままにしてはならない問題である。また、決定など あり得ないと自信過剰に断言してもならない。 もし心と真の意見とが別個のものであるならば、感覚によって知覚されることのない、心によってのみ理解される自己存在的な観念が確かに存在することにな る。一方は教えによって、他方は説得によって、一方は常に真の理性を伴うが、他方は理性なしである。それゆえ、我々はまた、常に同じであり、創造されるこ ともなく、破壊されることもなく、何ものをも外部から受け入れることもなく、また何ものをも他へ送り出すこともなく、目に見えず、いかなる感覚によっても 感知されることのない、ある種の存在があることを認めなければならない。そして、これと同名で、これと似ていて、感覚によって知覚され、創造され、つねに 運動し、その場にあり、またその場から消え去る、もうひとつの性質があり、これは意見と感覚によって理解される。そして第三の性質があり、それは空間であ り、永遠であり、破壊を許さず、すべての創造されたものに住処を提供する。これらと同じようなもの、自然の真の現実と目覚めた現実とに関連するものに対し て、私たちはこのような夢のような感覚しか持たず、眠りを脱してそれらについての真実を決定することができない。というのも、イメージというものは、それ を模した現実はそのイメージには属さず、他の何らかのもののつかの間の影として常に存在しているのだから、他のもの［すなわち空間］の中にあり、何らかの 方法で存在を把握していると推測しなければならない。しかし、真の存在の本質を証明する真の正確な理性は、二つのもの［すなわち像と空間］が異なるもので ありながら、その一方が他方の中に存在することはあり得ず、同時に一つであると同時に二つでもあり得ないと主張する。 このように、私は自分の思考の結果を簡潔に述べた。そして、私の結論は、存在と空間と生成、これら3つが天の前に3つの方法で存在していたこと、そして、 生成の看護師は、水で湿らせ、火で燃え上がらせ、大地と空気の形を受け、これらに付随するすべての感情を経験し、奇妙な様々な外観を呈したことである； そして、似ているわけでもなく、均等にバランスが取れているわけでもない力に満ちており、どの部分も決して均等な状態ではなく、あちこちに不規則に揺れ動 き、それらによって揺さぶられ、その運動によってまた揺さぶられる。そして、動かされた要素は分離し、絶えず運ばれ、あるものは一方に、あるものは別のも のになる。トウモロコシの脱穀に使われる扇風機やその他の器具によって雨が揺さぶられ、箕で挽かれるとき、密着した重い粒子は一方向に運ばれて落ち着き、 緩く軽い粒子は別の方向に運ばれるように。このようにして、4種類の元素が受け容器によって振られ、受け容器は唐箕のように動きながら、最も似ていない元 素を互いに遠くへ飛ばし、最も似ている元素を強制的に接触させた。それゆえ、さまざまな元素も、宇宙を形成するように配置される前は、それぞれ異なる場所 を持っていた。最初は、それらはすべて理由も尺度もなかった。しかし、世界が秩序を持ち始めたとき、火と水と土と空気は、それ自身のかすかな痕跡を持つだ けで、神の不在のもとではすべてがそうであると予想されるようなものであった。神は、公正で善良でなかったものから、可能な限り公正で最良のものを造られ たのである。そして今、私は、使わざるを得ない不慣れな論法によって、それらの性質と生成について示そうと努める。 まず第一に、誰の目にも明らかなように、火も土も水も空気も身体である。そして、あらゆる種類の身体は固体を持ち、あらゆる固体は必然的に平面に含まれな ければならない；そして、あらゆる平面直方体は三角形で構成される；そして、すべての三角形はもともと2種類あり、どちらも1つの直角と2つの鋭角で構成 される；そのうちの1つは底辺の両端に、等しい辺を持つ分割された直角の半分を持ち、もう1つは直角が等しくない辺を持つ不等分に分割されている。しか し、これらに先立つ原理は、神のみが知っており、神の友である人間だけが知っている。そして次に、私たちは、互いに異なり、そのうちのいくつかは互いに分 解することが可能である、最も美しい4つの天体が何であるかを決定しなければならない。そして、これらよりももっと美しい、はっきりとした種類の目に見え る天体が存在することを認めようとは思わないだろう。それゆえ、われわれは美しさに秀でた天体の四つの形を構成するよう努めなければならない。さて、二つ の三角形のうち、二等辺三角形は一つの形しか持たないが、斜辺三角形や不等辺三角形は無限の形を持っている。これらの体の構造について、われわれのものよ り美しい形を指摘できる者は、敵としてではなく、友として掌を持ち去らなければならない。さて、数ある三角形の中で我々が最も美しいと主張する三角形は （他の三角形については語る必要はない）、二重が正三角形を形成するものである。次に、火と他の元素から作られた2つの三角形を選んでみよう。1つは二等 辺三角形で、もう1つは長い方の辺の2乗が小さい方の辺の2乗の3倍に等しい。 なぜなら、我々が選んだ三角形からは4種類の元素が生成されるからである。したがって、これらの三角形をすべて互いに分解することはできない。しかし、そ れらのうちの3つは、このように分解し、複合化することができる。なぜなら、それらはすべて1つから生じており、より大きな体が分解されると、多くの小さ な体がそこから生じて、それぞれの適切な形をとるからである。あるいはまた、多くの小さな体がそれらの三角形に分解されたとき、それらが1つになれば、別 の種類の1つの大きな塊を形成する。互いが互いの中に入り込むことについては、これくらいにしておこう。次に、それらのいくつかの種類について話し、それ ぞれがどのような数の組み合わせから形成されたかを示さなければならない。その要素は、斜辺が小さい方の辺の2倍ある三角形である。このような2つの三角 形を対角線で結び、これを3回繰り返すと、三角形は対角線と短辺を同じ点を中心として、6つの三角形から1つの正三角形が形成される。4つの正三角形を組 み合わせると、3つの平面角から1つの立体角ができ、それは平面角の中で最も鈍角に近い角である。第二の立体は、同じ三角形から形成され、それらは8つの 正三角形として結合し、4つの平面角から1つの立体角を形成し、そのような6つの角度から第二の立体が完成する。第3の本体は120の三角形の要素からな り、12の立体角を形成し、それぞれが5つの平面正三角形に含まれ、全部で20の底辺を持ち、それぞれが正三角形である。しかし、二等辺三角形は第4の素 図形を生み出した。この図形は、このような三角形を4つ組み合わせたもので、それらの直角を中心で結んで1つの正四角形を形成する。そのうちの6つが組み 合わさって8つの立体角を形成し、それぞれの立体角は3つの平面直角の組み合わせによって作られる。このようにして構成された体の図形は立方体であり、6 つの平面四角形の正三角形の底辺を持つ。神が宇宙を描く際に用いた5つ目の組み合わせがある。 さて、このようなことをよく考えて、諸世界の数を不定なものと考えるか、それとも明確なものと考えるかを問う者は、諸世界の数を不定なものと考えるのは、 悲しいほど不定で無知な心の特徴であると考えるであろう。しかし、それらを本当に1つと見なすか5つと見なすかという問題を提起する人は、より合理的な立 場をとる。確率から論じれば、私は1つであると考えるが、別の視点からこの問題を考えれば、別の考え方になるだろう。しかし、この疑問はさておき、今、観 念の中で創造された初等的な形態を4つの元素に分配することを進めよう。 地球は四元素の中で最も動かず、あらゆる体の中で最も可塑的であり、最も安定した基盤を持つものは必然的にそのような性質でなければならないからである。 さて、われわれが最初に想定した三角形のうち、2つの等しい辺を持つものは、不等辺を持つものよりも、もともとより強固な基礎を持つ。そして、どちらか一 方から形成される複合図形のうち、平面正四角形は、全体においても部分においても、正三角形よりも、必然的に、より安定した基礎を持つ。したがって、この 図形を地球に割り当てるにあたっては、確率に忠実である。そして、残りの形のうち、最も動きにくいものを水に、最も動きやすいものを火に、中間のものを空 気に割り当てる。また、最も小さい体を火に、最も大きい体を水に、中間の大きさのものを空気に割り当て、さらに、最も鋭敏な体を火に、次に鋭敏なものを空 気に、3番目のものを水に割り当てる。これらすべての元素のうち、最も基部が少ないものは、必然的に最も動きやすくなければならない。なぜなら、それは最 も鋭敏で、あらゆる面で最も浸透性があり、また、最も少ない数の類似した粒子から構成されているため、最も軽いからである。では、厳密な理性に従って、ま た確率に従って、ピラミッドが火の原初の要素であり種である固体であることに合意しよう。そして、生成の順序で次の要素であったものを空気とし、3番目の ものを水としよう。これらはすべて非常に小さく、その小ささのために4種類のどの粒子も私たちには見えないが、多くの粒子が集まるとその集合体が見えると 想像しなければならない。そして、それらの数、運動、その他の性質の比率は、必要性が許す限り、あるいは同意を与える限り、あらゆるところで神が正確に完 成させ、適切な比率で調和させた。 元素や種類に関して述べてきたことから、最もありそうな結論は以下の通りである： 土は、火と出会い、その鋭さによって溶かされるとき、その溶かされる場所が火そのものであろうと、空気や水の塊であろうと、あちこちに運ばれ、その部分が 集まって互いに調和し、再び土になる。しかし水は、火や空気によって分割されると、改質される際に、1つの部分が火になり、2つの部分が空気になることが ある。また、小さな火の本体が、より大きな空気や水や土の本体に含まれ、両者が動いているとき、苦闘している火が打ち勝ち、分解されると、2つの体積の火 は1つの体積の空気になる；そして、空気が打ち勝ち、小さく切り刻まれると、2.5つの体積の空気が1つの体積の水に凝縮される。この問題を別の方法で考 えてみよう。他の元素のひとつが火によって固定され、その角と辺の鋭さによって切断されるとき、それは火と合体し、もはや火によって切断されることはな い。というのも、それ自身と同一であるいかなる元素も、同じ種類で同じ状態にある他の元素によって変化させられたり、変化させられたりすることはできない からである。しかし、移行の過程で弱いものが強いものと戦っている限り、溶解は続く。また、多くの大きな粒子に包まれた数個の小さな粒子が分解と消滅の過 程にあるとき、それらが征服する性質に移行することを承諾したときにのみ、消滅への傾向から止まり、火は空気になり、空気は水になる。しかし、別の種類の 身体が彼ら［＝小粒子］を攻撃しに行くと、後者は完全に押し戻されて分散し、自分たちの同族に逃げ込むまで分解され続けるか、さもなければ、征服する力に 打ち勝ち同化して、その場に留まり、勝利者とともに住み、多数であることから一つになる。このような感情のおかげで、万物はその居場所を変えている。受け 容器の運動によって、各階級の大部分はその適切な居場所に分配されるが、自分自身とは違って他のものに似てくるものは、揺れによって、似てくるものの居場 所へと急かされる。 さて、すべての混じりけのない一次的な物体は、このような原因によって生み出される。大いなる種類に含まれる下位の種については、元の2つの三角形の構造 における多様性に起因する。というのも、どちらの構造も、もともとは一つの大きさの三角形しか生み出さなかったわけではなく、より大きいものとより小さい ものがあり、四元素の種の数だけ大きさがあるからである。それゆえ、四大元素が互いに混ざり合うと、無限の多様性が生まれるのである。 静止と運動の性質と条件について理解しない限り、この後の議論で多くの困難にぶつかるだろう。この問題についてはすでに何かが語られたが、さらに何か語ら れるべきことが残っている。なぜなら、動くものなしに何かが動かされると考えることは困難であり、実際不可能である。また、動かされるものが存在しない限 り、動くものが存在し得ると考えることも同様に不可能である。不等式は、均一性を欠く性質の原因であり、これについてはすでに起源を述べた。しかし、まだ 更なる論点が残っている。「なぜ物事は、その種類の後に分割されても、互いの間を通り抜け、その場所を変えることを止めないのか」という点である。宇宙の 回転には4つの元素がすべて含まれており、この元素は円形で集まる性質があるため、すべてを圧縮し、どの場所も空白にすることを許さない。それゆえ、火は あらゆるものを貫き、空気は元素の次に希少であるため次に貫き、他の2つの元素も同様に、その希少性の度合いに応じて貫く。最も大きな粒子からなるもの は、その組成に最も大きな空隙を残し、最も小さな粒子からなるものは、最も小さな空隙を残すからである。そして、圧縮による収縮は、小さな粒子を大きな粒 子の間隙に押し込む。こうして、小さい部分が大きい部分と並んで置かれ、小さい部分が大きい部分を分割し、大きい部分が小さい部分を統合すると、すべての 要素は、それぞれの場所に向かって上下左右に運ばれる。そして、これらの原因は、常に維持される不等式を生み出し、あらゆる時間において元素の永久運動を 絶えず生み出している。 次に、火にはさまざまな種類があることを考えなければならない。たとえば、第一に炎、第二に、燃えずに目に光を与えるだけの炎の発露、第三に、炎が消えた 後に赤々と燃えさかる炎の残骸である。空気にも同様の違いがあり、最も明るい部分はエーテルと呼ばれ、最も濁った部分は霧と闇と呼ばれる。水もまた、まず 第一に、液体と液体の2種類に分けられる。液体状のものは、水の小さくて不揃いな粒子で構成され、粒子の形が均一でないために、それ自体が動いたり、他の 物体に動かされたりする。一方、融解性のものは、大きくて均一な粒子で形成されるため、他のものよりも安定し、均一であるために重くコンパクトである。し かし、火が入り込んで粒子を溶かし、均一性を破壊すると、より大きな流動性を持ち、流動体となって隣接する空気によって押し出され、大地に広がる。この固 体の塊の溶解は融解と呼ばれ、大地に広がることは流動と呼ばれる。また、可燃性物質から火が消えるとき、それは真空の中ではなく、隣接する空気の中に消え る。こうして圧縮された塊は均整を取り戻し、再びそれ自身と一体化する。なぜなら、不平等の原因であった火が退いたからである。この火の退去は冷却と呼ば れ、それに続いて起こる結合は凝固と呼ばれる。フュージルと呼ばれるすべての種類の中で、最も密度が高く、最も微細で均一な部分から形成されるのは、金と 呼ばれる最も貴重な財産である。非常に硬く、黒い色をした金の芽は、アダマントと呼ばれる。金よりも密度が高く、土の細かい部分を含み、そのため硬いが、 内部に大きな間隙があるため軽くもある。これには土の合金が混じっており、2つの部分が古くなってばらばらになると、別々に姿を現し、錆と呼ばれる。同じ 種類の残りの現象は、確率の方法によって推論することに何の困難もないだろう。人は時に、永遠のものについての思索を脇に置き、レクリエーションのため に、確率的なものでしかない生成の真理を考察することができる。この寛容を認め、次に続く同じ主題に関する確率を順に見ていこう。 火と混ざっている水は、微細で液体であり（その動きと地面に沿って転がる様子からそう呼ばれる）、軟らかく、その根元は土のものよりも安定していないた め、火と空気から分離され孤立すると、より均一になり、それらの退去によってそれ自体に圧縮される； 結露が非常に大きい場合、地上の水はあられになるが、地上にある水は氷になる。また、地上にある場合、固化の程度が低く、半分しか固まらないものは雪と呼 ばれ、地上にある場合、露から結露したものは霜と呼ばれる。そしてまた、互いに混ざり合い、大地に生える植物を通して蒸留された多くの種類の水があり、こ れら全体をジュースまたは樹液と呼ぶ。これらの液体が不均等に混ざり合うことで、さまざまな種類が生まれる。そのほとんどは名前を持たないが、火のような 性質を持つ4種類ははっきりと区別され、名前がついている。第一に、ワインがあり、これは肉体だけでなく魂をも温める。第二に、油性のものがあり、これは 滑らかで視覚光線を分割し、そのために明るく輝き、きらびやかな外観を持つ： 第三に、口の中の収縮した部分を、自然な状態に戻るまで膨張させ、その性質によって甘味を作り出す物質がある。 土の種類については、水で濾過されたものは次のようにして石になる。しかし、周囲に真空がないため、隣接する空気を押し流し、重くなった空気が土の塊の周 囲に注がれると、それを強制的に圧縮し、新しい空気が上がってきた空いたスペースに押し込む。均等で類似した部分から構成され、透明であるものがより美し いものであり、反対の性質を持つものは劣っている。しかし、水分が突然火によって取り除かれると、よりもろい物質が形成され、陶器と呼ばれるようになる。 また、水分が残ることもあり、火で溶かされた土は冷えると黒っぽい石になる。土と混ざり合っていた水分が同じように分離し、より細かい土の粒子と塩辛い性 質の物質からなる2つの物質ができる。土と水の化合物は水には溶けず、火にのみ溶ける。それゆえ、地球は、力によって凝集していないときは水によってのみ 溶解し、凝集しているときは火以外には溶解しない。水の凝集力は、非常に強いときには、火によってのみ溶かされる。弱いときには、空気か火によって溶かさ れる。しかし、強く凝縮された空気は、元素や三角形に到達しない限り、何も溶かすことはできない。土と水からなる体については、水がその中の土の空いた間 隙を占め、力によって圧縮されている間、外から近づく水の粒子は、入り口を見つけることなく、塊全体の周りを流れ、溶解しないままにする。一方、蝋や線香 のような物質は、その組成に含まれる水の量が多い。 こうして、さまざまな種類の物体が、その形や組み合わせや変化によって、互いに多様化していることを示した。まず第一に、私が説明してきた物体は、必然的 に感覚の対象である。しかし、肉の起源、肉に属するもの、死すべき魂の部分についてはまだ考えていない。これらのことは、感覚に関係する情動を説明するこ となしに、また後者を説明することなしに、十分に説明することはできない。では、情緒が要素の後に規則的に続くようにするために、肉体と魂の存在を前提に しよう。 まず、「火は熱い」というのはどういう意味なのかを考えてみよう。火は私たちの身体を分断したり、切断したりする力がある。私たちは皆、火は鋭いと感じて いる。さらに、火の側面の細かさ、角度の鋭さ、粒子の小ささ、動きの速さについて考えてみよう。そして忘れてはならないのは、火の原形［すなわちピラミッ ド］は、他のどんな形よりも、私たちの身体を小さく切り刻む（ケプマティゼイ）分割力を持ち、その結果、私たちが熱と呼ぶ情緒を自然に生み出す。さて、こ れと反対のことは十分に明らかである。身体を取り囲む水分の大きい粒子は、小さい粒子に入り込んで追い出すが、その場所を奪うことはできず、我々の中の水 分の原理を圧縮する。しかし、自然に反して契約されたものは、もともと戦争状態にあり、自らを強制的に引き離す。この戦争と痙攣には、震えと震えという名 が与えられ、愛情全体と愛情の原因は共に冷たいと呼ばれる。私たちの肉が屈服するものを硬いといい、私たちの肉が屈服するものを軟らかいという。屈するも のは小さな土台を持つが、四角形の土台の上にあるものはしっかりと固定され、最大の抵抗を提供するクラスに属する。軽いものと重いものの性質は、上と下と いう概念と結びつけて考察すると、最もよく理解できるだろう。宇宙が、互いに分離し、対向する2つの領域に分かれていると考えるのはまったくの間違いであ る。宇宙が球体の形をしているように、中心から等距離にあるすべての極端は等しく極端であり、それらから等距離にある中心は等しくそれらすべての反対と見 なされる。世界の本質がこのようなものである以上、人がこれらの点のどれかが上であるとか下であるとか言うとき、その人は不適切な表現を使ったと正当に問 われないだろうか。世界の中心は、上とも下とも正しく呼ぶことができず、中心であってそれ以外の何ものでもないからである。円周は中心ではなく、それ自体 のどの部分においても、中心に対して、反対側のどの部分においても持っているものとは異なる関係を持たない。実際、円周があらゆる方向で類似していると き、反対を暗示するような名前をどうして正しくつけることができようか。というのも、もし宇宙の中心に等しい固体があったとしても、その固体をその極端に 引き寄せるものは何もない。 このような名称が使われる理由と、われわれが天の分割に通常適用する状況は、次のような仮定によって解明できるかもしれない： 宇宙の、火の定位置であり、火の天体が集まる大きな火の塊がある場所に、ある人が立っていたとする； というのも、2つのものが同時に1つの同じ力によって持ち上げられるとき、必然的に小さいほうの体は大きいほうの体よりも少ない抵抗で、より優れた力に屈 服しなければならないからである。大きいほうの体は重いと呼ばれ、下に向かうと言われ、小さいほうの体は軽いと呼ばれ、上に向かうと言われる。そして私た ちは、地上にいる自分たちがまったく同じことをしていることに気づくかもしれない。われわれは土の性質を分離させ、時には土そのものを分離させ、自然に反 して力ずくで空気という不快な要素に引き込み、両者は同族の要素にしがみつく。しかし、より小さいものは、より大きいものよりも、異質な要素に向かってわ れわれから与えられる衝動に容易に屈する。そこでわれわれは、前者を軽いと呼び、それが衝動される場所を上と呼び、反対の状態と場所をそれぞれ重いと呼 び、下と呼ぶ。異なる要素の主要な質量が正反対の位置にあるため、これらの関係は必然的に変化しなければならない。ある場所で軽いもの、重いもの、下また は上にあるものは、反対の場所で軽いもの、重いもの、下または上にあるものとの関係において、逆であり、横であり、あらゆる方法で多様であることがわかる だろう。そして、それらすべてについて、こう考えなければならない："それぞれの同族要素に向かう傾向は、動かされる本体を重くし、運動が向かう場所を下 にする。我々がこれらの現象に与える原因はこのようなものである。滑らかなものと粗いものに関しては、それらを見る者は誰でも、その理由を他の者に説明す ることができる。なぜなら、粗さは不規則性と混ざり合った硬さであり、滑らかさは均一性と密度の共同効果によって生み出されるからである。 身体全体に関わる情動のうち、最も重要なものを考察する必要がある。それは、これまで述べてきた知覚における快楽と苦痛の原因であり、身体の各部分を通し て感覚によって知覚され、苦痛と快楽の両方が付随している他のすべてのものである。感覚の有無にかかわらず、あらゆる情動の原因は次のような性質であると 想像しよう。すでに、動かしやすい性質と動かしにくい性質を区別したことを思い出してほしい。動かしやすい性質の身体は、たとえわずかであっても、ある印 象を受けると、その運動を円形に広げ、各部分は互いに連絡を取り合い、ついには心の原理に到達して、その作用者の性質を告げる。しかし、反対の種類の身体 は、不動であり、周囲に広がらないので、単に印象を受けるだけで、隣接する部位をかき乱すことはない。各部位は元の印象を他の部位に分配しないので、動物 全体に運動の影響を及ぼすことはなく、したがって患者に影響を及ぼすこともない。このことは、骨や毛髪など、人体の土に近い部分にも当てはまる。一方、先 に述べたことは、主に視覚と聴覚に関係する。さて、快楽と苦痛をこのように考えなければならない。自然に反する激しい印象は、突然であれば苦痛であり、突 然自然に戻れば快感である。一方、最も容易に作り出される感覚の印象は、最も容易に感じられるが、快楽や苦痛を伴わない。例えば、上述したように、昼間に 我々の身体と自然に一体化する視覚の印象がそうである； しかし、その感覚は、眼球が対象物から受ける影響や、対象物にぶつかったり触れたりするときの態様によって、最も強く、最も親密なものとなる。しかし、よ り大きな粒子で形成された物体は、闘争を伴ってのみ作用因子に屈服する。そして、その運動を全体に与え、快楽と苦痛を引き起こす。徐々に引き抜かれ、本性 が空っぽになり、突然に大きく補充されるものは、空っぽになったことを知覚できないが、補充されたことは知覚できる。しかし、突然に変化し、徐々に、そし て困難にもかかわらず、元の性質に戻るものには、あらゆる面で前者とは反対の作用がある。 以上、全身に起こる一般的な影響と、それを引き起こす作用物質の名称について述べてきた。次に、特定の部位の情動と、その原因および作用物質について、で きる限り説明することにしよう。まず第一に、舌に特有な感情について、ジュースについて述べたときに省略したことを述べよう。なぜなら、土の粒子が舌の試 練である小さな静脈に入り込み、心臓に達する、湿ったデリケートな肉の部分に落ちるたびに......それらが溶けて、小さな静脈を収縮させ、乾燥させる とき、荒ければ渋くなるが、それほど荒くなければ、荒いだけである。これらのうち、過剰になると舌の表面全体を浄化し、カリやソーダのように肉そのものを 侵食するようなものは、すべて苦味と呼ばれる。しかし、アルカリ性に欠け、適度にしか浄化作用のない粒子は塩と呼ばれ、苦味やざらつきがなく、むしろ好ま しいとされる。口の中の熱を共有し、その熱によってなめらかにされ、炎症を起こし、その熱によってまた炎症を起こし、非常に軽く、頭の感覚に上方へ運ば れ、邪魔になるものをすべて切り裂くようなものは、それらの中にあるこれらの性質のために、すべて辛味と呼ばれる。しかし、腐敗によって精製されたこれら の同じ粒子が細い静脈に入り、そこにある土や空気の粒子と適切な比率になると、それらは互いに渦を巻き、渦の中にいる間に、互いにぶつかり合って入り込 み、入り込んだ粒子を囲む空洞を形成する； 純粋なものは透明で気泡と呼ばれ、土のような液体で構成され、全体的に攪拌され、発泡状態にあるものは沸騰または発酵と呼ばれる。口の中の水分に浸された 粒子の塊が舌になじみ、ざらつきを滑らかにし、油分を与え、不自然に収縮している部分を緩め、弛緩している部分を収縮させ、それらすべてをその性質に従っ て配置する。だが、この話はもういい。 嗅覚は種類による違いを認めない。なぜなら、すべての匂いは半成形のものであり、どの要素も匂いを持つほどには比例していないからである。鼻の静脈は、土 や水を通すには狭すぎ、火や空気を留めるには広すぎる。このため、誰もそれらの臭いを感じることはない。しかし、臭いは常に、湿った体、腐敗している体、 液化している体、蒸発している体から発生し、水が空気に、空気が水に変化する中間状態でのみ感じられる。空気から水へと変化するものは霧であり、水から空 気へと変化するものは蒸気である。したがって、すべての匂いは水よりも薄く、空気よりも濃い。その証拠に、呼吸に何らかの障害があり、人が力ずくで息を吸 い込むと、臭いは透過せず、臭いのない空気だけが透過する。それゆえ、匂いの種類には名前がなく、多くの種類があるわけでもなく、明確で単純な種類がある わけでもない。ただ、痛覚と快覚だけが区別され、一方は頭と臍の間にある空洞全体を刺激して乱し、もう一方はなだめるような影響を与え、この同じ部位を快 適で自然な状態に戻す。 第三の感覚である聴覚について考えるには、聴覚がどのような原因で生じるかを説明しなけれ ばならない。一般的に、音は耳を通過し、空気、脳、血液を介して魂に伝わる打撃であり、聴覚はこの打撃の振動であると考えることができる。素早く動く音は 鋭く、ゆっくりと動く音は重々しく、規則正しい音は平穏で滑らかで、その逆は厳しい。大きな音は大きく、小さな音はその逆である。音のハーモニーについて は、これから述べなければならない。 感覚的なものには第4の分類があり、これには多くの複雑な種類がある。それらは色という一般名で呼ばれ、あらゆる種類の身体から発せられる炎であり、視覚 に対応する粒子を持つ。先に述べたように、私はすでに視覚を生み出す原因について語ったが、この場では色彩について合理的な理論を述べるのが自然であり、 適切であろう。 他の物体から視覚に降り注ぐ粒子のうち、あるものはより小さく、あるものはより大きく、あるものは視覚そのものの部分と等しい。等しいものは知覚できず、 透明と呼ぶ。大きいものは収縮を、小さいものは拡張を視覚にもたらし、肉に熱いものや冷たいもの、舌に渋いもの、あるいは辛味と呼ばれる熱を持つものに似 た力を行使する。白と黒は、別の球体における収縮と拡張の似たような作用であり、そのために異なる外観を持つ。したがって、視覚線を拡張するものを白と呼 ぶべきであり、その反対を黒と呼ぶ。また、別の種類の火のより速い運動があり、それが目に到達するまで、視覚の光線を打ち、拡張させ、その通路を強引に通 り抜け、目を溶かし、目から火と水の結合を引き出すが、これは我々が涙と呼ぶもので、それ自体が反対方向から目に来る反対の火である。このような情感を 「眩しい」と呼び、それを生み出すものを「明るい」「閃光」と呼ぶ。別の種類の火は中間的なもので、閃光を放つことなく目の水分に到達し、混ざり合う。こ の場合、火は水分の光線と混ざり合い、血のような色を生じ、我々はこれに赤という名前をつける。赤と白が混ざった明るい色合いは、赤褐色と呼ばれる色を生 み出す。しかし、これらの色がどのような法則に従って形成されるかは、たとえ知っていたとしても、それを語るのは愚かなことである。また、赤は黒と白と混 ざると紫になるが、色が混ざるだけでなく燃やされ、黒がより完全に混ざるとアンバーになる。炎色は赤褐色と赤褐色の混色によって、赤褐色は黒と白の混色に よって、淡黄色は白と赤褐色の混色によって生じる。白と明るい色が混ざり合い、完全な黒の上に落ちると紺色になり、紺色と白が混ざると水色になる。炎色と 黒が混ざるとネギ色になるように。確率の法則に従って、これらから派生した色がどのように、またどのような混合によって作られるかを見るのは難しいことで はないだろう。しかし、これらすべてを実験によって検証しようとする者は、人間性と神性の違いを忘れてしまうだろう。神は、多くのものをひとつにまとめ、 またひとつを多くのものに分解することのできる知識と力をもっておられるだけだからである。しかし、人間は今も昔も、そのどちらをも成し遂げることはでき ない。 これらは、創造されたものの中で最も美しく最良のものを創造した創造主が、自己充足的で最も完全な神を創造したときに、自らに関連させた必然的に存在する 要素である。それゆえ、私たちは2種類の原因を区別することができる。1つは神的なもの、もう1つは必要なものであり、私たちの性質が許す限り、祝福され た人生を目指して、あらゆるものの中に神的なものを求めることができる。 それでは、大工の材料が木材であるのと同じように、われわれの説話の残りの部分を編む材料となるさまざまな種類の原因を、われわれが使用するために用意し たことを確認した上で、われわれはいくつかの言葉で、われわれが始めた時点に戻り、それから、われわれの物語の始まりに適切な結末を付け加えようと努めよ う。 最初に述べたように、万物が無秩序であったとき、神はそれぞれの事物に、それ自身との関係において、また万物相互の関係において、それらが受け取りうるす べての尺度と調和を創造された。当時は、偶然のほかには、何一つ比例するものはなかった。また、今、名前が付いているもので、名前に値するものは何一つな かった。創造主はこれらすべてを最初に秩序づけ、それらから宇宙を構築した。宇宙は、それ自体で他のすべての動物、死すべきもの、不滅のものを包含する単 一の動物であった。神の創造は彼自身が行ったが、死すべきものの創造は彼の子孫に委ねた。そして彼らは彼を真似て、彼から魂の不滅の原理を受け継ぎ、その 周囲に死すべき肉体を作り、それを神の乗り物とした。まず第一に、悪への最大の誘因である快楽、次に、善から遠ざかる苦痛、さらに、2つの愚かな助言者で ある軽率と恐怖、なだめがたい怒りと迷わせやすい希望、これらを非合理的な感覚と必要な法則に従った大胆な愛と混ぜ合わせ、人間を作り上げた。そこで彼ら は、神性を絶対に避けられない以上に汚すことを恐れ、死すべき本性に体の別の部分に別の住処を与え、両者の間に首を置いて地峡と境界とし、頭部と乳房の間 に構築して両者を隔てた。そして乳房と、胸郭と呼ばれる部分に、死すべき魂を封じ込めた。この魂は一方が上であり、他方が下であったので、彼らは胸郭の空 洞を、家屋で女性と男性の居室が分かれているように二つに分け、その間を仕切る壁として中肋を置いた。勇気と情熱に恵まれ、争いを愛する劣等な魂の部分 は、理性の支配下に置かれ、城塞から発せられる命令の言葉にもはや自発的に従おうとしなくなったときに、理性とともに欲望を制御し、抑制することができる ようにするために、頭部に近い、みぞおちと首の中間に置かれた。 静脈の結び目であり、四肢を駆け巡る血液の泉である心臓は、理性が外から襲いかかる、あるいは内なる欲望によって犯されるあらゆる悪事を宣言することに よって情熱の力が奮い起こされたとき、これらの命令や脅威を察知した身体の全感覚の力が、あらゆる曲がり角や路地に従順に従い、その結果、最良の原理がそ のすべてにおいて指揮を執ることができるように、見張りの場所に置かれた。しかし神々は、危険を予感する心臓の動悸と、情熱の膨張と興奮が火によって引き 起こされることを予見し、心臓を支えるものとして肺を形成し、移植した。肺はそもそも柔らかく、血もなく、またスポンジの気孔のような空洞を内側に持ち、 呼吸と飲料を受けることによって、涼しさと呼吸の力を与え、熱を和らげるためであった。そのため、彼らは肺に通じる空気の通り道を切断し、肺を柔らかい泉 のように心臓の周囲に配置した。それは、情熱が内に昂ぶっているとき、屈服した身体に対して鼓動する心臓が冷やされ、苦痛が少なくなるようにするためであ り、その結果、理性への奉仕において情熱に加わる準備がより整うようにするためである。 肉や飲み物など、肉体の性質のために必要とするものを欲する魂の部分を、彼らはみぞおちとへその境界の間に置き、このすべての領域に肉体の食物のための飼 い葉桶のようなものを作り、そこに、人間と鎖でつながれ、人間が存在するためには栄養を与えなければならない野生動物のように縛り付けた。彼らはこの低次 の創造物をここに定め、飼い葉桶で常に餌を与え、その住まいを議場からできる限り遠くし、できる限り騒音や妨害を少なくし、全体の利益のために最も良い部 分が静かに助言できるようにした。そして、人間の中にあるこの低次の原理は理性を理解せず、ある程度の知覚に達したとしても、理性的な観念を自然に気にか けることはなく、幻影や幻視に日夜導かれてしまうことを知っていた、 そして、それを低次の性質の家に置き、堅固で滑らかで、明るく甘く、また苦味を持つようにした； この苦い成分が肝臓全体に素早く拡散することで、胆汁のような色を作り出し、あらゆる部分を収縮させることで、しわくちゃでざらざらになり、正しい位置か らねじれ、葉を歪ませ、血管や門を閉じたり閉ざしたりすることで、痛みと嫌悪を引き起こす。理解力の穏やかな霊感が、正反対の性格のイメージを描き、胆汁 と苦味を和らげ、自分自身と対立する性質をかき混ぜたり触れたりすることを拒否し、肝臓の自然な甘さを利用することで、すべての物事を修正し、それらを正 しく滑らかで自由にし、肝臓の周囲に存在する魂の部分を幸福で楽しいものにし、心や理性に分け隔てがない分、安らかに夜を過ごし、眠りながら占いを実践で きるようにする。というのも、われわれの存在の創造者たちは、父なる神が人類をできる限り善良に創造するよう命じたときの命令を思い出し、われわれの劣っ た部分を矯正し、真理の尺度に到達させるために、肝臓に占いの座を置いたからである。ここに、神が占いの術を知恵にではなく、愚かな人間に授けられたこと の証がある。しかし、霊感を受けた言葉を受け取るとき、彼の知性は眠りの中に魅了されているか、あるいは、何らかの病気や憑依によって頭が混乱しているか のどちらかである。夢であれ、目覚めているときであれ、予言的な霊感によって、自分が言われたと記憶していることを理解しようとする者、あるいは、自分が 見た幻影の意味や、過去、現在、あるいは未来の善悪について、それがこの人あるいはあの人にどのような示唆を与えるかを理性によって判断しようとする者 は、まず自分の知性を回復させなければならない。このため、真の霊感を判断する通訳者を任命するのが通例である。ある者は彼らを預言者と呼ぶが、彼らは暗 い言葉や幻の解説者にすぎず、預言者とは呼ばれず、預言の解釈者にすぎないことにまったく気づいていない。 肝臓の性質はこのようなもので、予言的な暗示を与えるために、これまで述べてきたように配置されている。各個人が生きている間は、これらの予言はより明瞭 であるが、死後、肝臓は盲目となり、あまりに不明瞭なお告げを伝えるため、理解できなくなる。隣の臓器［脾臓］は左側に位置し、肝臓を明るく純粋な状態に 保つために作られている。それゆえ、身体の不調のために肝臓の領域に不純物が生じると、空洞で血のない組織からなる脾臓の緩い性質が、それらをすべて受け 入れて奪い去り、不浄な物質で満たされると膨張して化膿し、身体が浄化されると、再び前と同じ場所に落ち着き、謙虚になる。 魂について、どの部分が死すべきもので、どの部分が神的なのか、また、それらがどのように、なぜ分離され、どこに位置するのかについて、もし神がわれわれ が真理を語ったと認めるなら、そのときこそ、われわれは確信を持つことができる。このように仮定してみよう。 次の順序として、残りのものの創造が続くが、これについても同様の方法で調査することができる。そして、本体が以下の原則に基づいて構成されることは、非 常に妥当であるように思われる： â€" われわれの種族の作者たちは、われわれが飲食において不摂生をし、大食のために必要または適切な量よりもかなり多く摂取することを認識していた。そこで神 々は、病気がわれわれをすぐに滅ぼさないように、またわれわれの死すべき種族がその目的を果たすことなく滅びないようにするために、下腹と呼ばれるものを 作り、余分な肉や飲み物の受け皿とし、腸の弯曲を形成して、食物が素早く通過するのを妨げ、身体にさらに食物を必要とさせるようにした。 私たちの骨と肉、その他同様の部分は、次のように作られた。それらすべての最初の原理は、骨髄の生成であった。魂と肉体を結びつける生命の絆はそこで固く 結ばれ、人類の根源であり基礎となるからである。骨髄そのものは、他の素材から創造された。神は、一次三角形のうち、まっすぐで滑らかで、その完全さに よって火と水と空気と土を生み出すのに適合したものを取り出された。畑のように神の種を受け入れるべきものは、あらゆる方向に丸くし、骨髄のその部分を脳 と呼んだ。動物が完成したとき、この物質を含む容器が頭となることを意図していた； しかし、魂の残りの死すべき部分を含むことを意図していた部分は、一度に周囲と細長い形に分配され、それらをすべて「骨髄」という名で呼んだ。これらに は、魂全体の絆を固定する錨のように、彼は骨髄のために、まず第一に、骨で完全に覆われたものを構築し、その周りに私たちの体の骨組み全体を作ることを進 めた。 骨は次のようにして作られた。純粋で滑らかな土をふるいにかけ、それを練って骨髄で濡らし、火に入れ、水に入れ、また火に入れ、水に入れる。そして、首と 背中の骨髄の周りには椎骨を作り、それを互いの下に挟み込むようにして、頭部から始まり体幹全体へと伸ばした。このように、種全体を保存することを望んだ 彼は、それを石のようなケーシングで囲み、関節を挿入し、その形成に他のもの、あるいは多様なものの力を中間的な性質として利用し、運動と屈曲ができるよ うにした。また、骨はもろくて柔軟性に欠け、熱したり冷やしたりすると、すぐに内部の種子を死滅させ、破壊してしまうと考えた、 その一方で、肉は夏の暑さや冬の寒さから身を守り、また転倒から身を守る役割を果たす； そして、夏には滲み出て表面を湿らせる温かい水分をそれ自体に含み、体全体に自然の涼しさを与えるだろう。また冬には、この内部の暖かさの助けによって、 体を取り囲み、外から襲いかかる霜に対して、非常に耐えうる防御を形成するだろう。われわれを造形した者は、これらのことを考慮し、土と火と水を混ぜ合わ せ、酸や塩の発酵物を作り、それらと混ぜ合わせ、柔らかくジューシーな肉を形成した。筋については、骨と未発酵の肉との混合物を、平均になるように練り合 わせ、黄色に着色された。したがって、筋は肉よりも硬く、もちもちした性質を持つが、骨よりも柔らかく、しっとりとした性質を持つ。神はこれらで骨と髄を 覆い、それらを筋で束ね、さらにそれらを肉で覆った。骨のうち、より生きていて繊細なものは最も薄い肉の膜で覆い、最も生命力の弱いものは最も厚く堅い肉 で覆った。それは、私たちの身体の屈伸を妨げ、動かしにくくて扱いにくくならないようにするためであり、また、密集し、押しつけられ、寄せ集められること によって、その硬さのために感覚が破壊され、記憶力が損なわれ、知性が鈍くならないようにするためである。したがって、大腿部、脛骨、腰骨、腕や前腕の骨 など、関節のない部分や、骨髄にある魂の希薄さのために理性を失っている内部の骨も、すべて肉で満たされている。しかし、一般的にはそうではない。という のも、必然的な法則によって私たちの中に生まれ、成長していく性質は、堅固な骨と多くの肉とが組み合わさって鋭い感覚を持つことを認めないからである。他 のどの部分よりも、頭の骨格は、もしそれらが共存できたなら、それらを備えていただろう。そして人類は、丈夫で肉付きがよく、筋の通った頭を持っていたな ら、現在の2倍から何倍もの寿命を持ち、さらに健康で痛みからも解放されていただろう。 しかし、創造者たちは、より悪い長寿の種族を作るべきか、より良い短命の種族を作るべきかを考えた結果、誰もがより悪い長寿よりも、より良い短命の種族を 選ぶべきであるという結論に達した。このような理由とこのような方法で、神は筋を頭の先端に置き、首の周りを一周させ、類似の原理によってそれらを接着 し、顎骨の先端を顔の下でそれらに固定し、他の筋は体全体に分散させ、四肢と四肢を固定した。われわれの創造者たちは、歯と舌と唇を持つ口を、必要なもの と善いものを考えて、必要な目的のために入る道を作り、最良の目的のために出る道を作った。しかし、季節によって暑さと寒さが極端であるため、頭を骨だけ の骨組みにしておくことはできない。そのため、肉質が完全に干からびることはなかったが、大きな皮のようなものが切り離されて残った。これが大脳の水分の 助けを借りて成長し、頭部の円形の被膜となった。そして、縫合部の下から上がってきた水分は、頭頂部の皮膚に水分を与えて閉じ、一種の結び目を形成した。 縫合部の多様性は、魂と食物のコースの力によるもので、これらが互いに争えば争うほど、その数は多くなり、争いが少なければ少なくなる。この皮膚は神の力 によって火で全周に貫かれ、こうしてできた穴から水分が出て、純粋な液体と熱が離れ、皮膚と同じ物質で構成され、穴と同じ細かさを持つ混合部分が、自らの 衝動によって跳ね上げられ、頭の外側に遠くまで伸びたが、逃げるのが遅すぎたため、外気によって押し戻され、皮膚の下に巻き上げられ、そこで根を張った。 毛は皮の糸のようなもので、皮と似ているが、寒冷の圧力によってより硬く、より緊密になり、毛は皮から分離する過程で圧縮され、冷やされる。そこで創造主 は、先に述べたような原因を利用して、頭部に毛を生やしたのである。また、肉の代わりに、夏には日陰を作り、冬には隠れ家となり、同時に知覚の素早さを妨 げないような、軽いカバーやガードとなる毛が脳に必要であることも考慮した。指の構造では、筋、皮膚、骨の組み合わせから、三重の複合体が生まれる。この 複合体は、乾燥させると、3つの性質を併せ持つ1枚の硬い皮の形になる。私たちの創造主は、いつの日か男性から女性や他の動物が作り出されることをよく 知っており、さらに、多くの動物がさまざまな目的のために爪を使う必要があることを知っていた。そのため、またそのような理由から、四肢の末端に皮膚、毛 髪、爪を生やされた。そして今、死すべき動物のすべての部分と部材が一緒になったが、その生命は必然的に火と呼吸からなり、それゆえ溶解と枯渇によって衰 えたので、神々は次のような救済策を考案した：人間に似た性質と他の形態と知覚を混ぜ合わせ、こうして別の種類の動物を創造し、いつか人間から作り出され るであろう。そのため、またそのような理由から、四肢の末端に皮膚、毛髪、爪を生やされた。そして今、死すべき動物のすべての部分と部材が一緒になった が、その生命は必然的に火と呼吸から成っており、それゆえ溶解と枯渇によって衰えたので、神々は次のような救済策を考案した：人間に似た性質を他の形態と 知覚と混ぜ合わせ、こうして別の種類の動物を創造した。これらは栽培によって改良され、現在私たちの間で家畜化されている樹木や植物や種子である。生命に あずかるものはすべて、真に生きものと呼ぶことができる。今われわれが話している動物は、第三の魂にあずかるものである。この性質は常に受動的な状態にあ り、自分自身の中とその周りを回転し、外からの運動をはね返し、自分自身の運動を利用する。それゆえ、それは生きているが、生きている存在と変わることな く、同じ場所に固定され、根を下ろしており、自己運動する力を持たない。 さて、上位の権能者たちは、これらすべての本性を、劣位の本性であるわれわれの糧となるように創造した後、流れる小川から水が与えられるように、庭を貫く ように、肉体にさまざまな水路を切り開いた。まず第一に、彼らは背中の皮膚と肉が結合する部分に、体の右側と左側にそれぞれ対応する2本の隠れた水路や静 脈を切った。背骨に沿わせ、その間に世代の骨髄があるようにし、最も栄えやすい場所にし、上から流れてくる小川が他の部分に自由に流れ、灌漑を均等にする ようにした。頭頂部は筋に囲まれていないため、皮膚と一体となって頭部を胴体に固定する結合を形成するためであり、また両側からの感覚が全身に行き渡るよ うにするためである。次に、彼らは身体の水路を、これから述べるような方法で整えたが、これは、小さい部分を持つすべてのものは大きい部分を保持するが、 大きい部分は小さい部分を保持することができないということを認めることから始めると、より容易に理解できるであろう。あらゆる自然の中で、火は最も小さ い部分を持ち、それゆえ土や水や空気やそれらの化合物を貫通し、何ものもそれを保持することはできない。同じような原理が人間の腹にも当てはまる。肉や飲 み物が腹に入ると、腹はそれらを保持するが、空気や火は保持できない。 そこで神は、腹から静脈に水分を分配するために、火と空気の網を網の目のように編み、入り口に2つの小さい網を設け、さらにそのうちの1つに2つの開口部 を設け、小さい網から紐を網の両端まで伸ばした。網の内側はすべて火で覆い、小網とその空洞は空気で覆った。網を手に取り、新しく形成された動物の上に次 のように広げた：「小さいほうのウイールを口の中に通した；2つあり、1つは空気管のそばから肺に、もう1つは空気管のそばから腹に通した。前者は2つの 枝に分かれ、その両方が鼻の水路で合流するようにし、口からの水路が機能しないときは、口からの水路も鼻から補充されるようにした。もう片方の空洞（すな わち、大いなる鰻の空洞）で身体の空洞部分を包み、ある時には、これら全てを小いなる鰻の中に流れ込ませた、小いなる鰻は空気で構成されているため、極め て穏やかに。この過程を、私たちが断言するように、命名者は霊感と呼気と名づけた。能動的な動きも受動的な動きもすべて、水を与えられ冷やされた身体が栄 養と生命を得るために行われる； 呼吸が出たり入ったりしているとき、その内側に固く結びつけられている炎がそれに追随し、絶えず行ったり来たりしながら腹の中に入って肉や飲み物に到達 し、それらを溶かして小分けにし、炎が通る通路に導いて、泉から静脈の水路に送り込むようにし、静脈の流れを導管を通るように体内を流れるようにするので ある。 もう一度、呼吸の現象について考え、呼吸をそのようなものにした原因を探ってみよう。それは次のようなものである： 動かされるものが入り込むことのできる真空のようなものは存在せず、呼吸は私たちから外部の空気に運ばれる； このようにして、必然的にすべてのものは、息が出たその場所に回り込み、そこに入り込み、息に続いて、空いた空間を埋めるのである。それゆえ、乳房と肺も また、呼吸を発するとき、肉体の周囲を取り囲み、肉体の気孔から侵入して円を描くように回転する空気によって補充される。この運動の起源は次のように考え られる。あらゆる動物の内部で最も熱い部分は、血液と静脈の周囲にある部分である。それはいわば、内部の火の泉のようなものであり、私たちはそれを葦の網 に例えている。そして、熱の出口は2つあり、1つは体を通り抜け、もう1つは口と鼻孔から出る。熱は一方に向かうと、他方の空気を押し流し、押し流された ものは火の中に落ちて暖かくなり、出て行ったものは冷やされる。しかし、熱の場所が変わり、もう一方の出口の粒子が暖かくなると、その方向に傾き、本来の 要素である火に向かって運ばれる高温の空気が、もう一方の空気を押し、これが同じように影響され、同じ衝動を伝えると、私たちが吸気と呼気と呼ぶ二重のプ ロセスによって、行ったり来たりする円運動が生じる。 また、速い音と遅い音は、高い音と低い音に見え、その不一致のために不調和になることもあれば、私たちに興奮を与える運動の平等さのために調和的になるこ ともある。先行する速い音の運動が一時停止し始め、両者の運動が等しくなると、遅い音は速い音を追い越し、そして推進する。その音は、より速い音と呼応し ながら消えていく。こうして、高い音と低い音とが混ざり合った一つの表現が生まれるのである。さらに、水の流れ、雷鳴の落下、琥珀やヘラクレス石の引力に ついて観察される驚異については、「これらの場合、引力は存在しない。しかし、正しく調査する者は、このような素晴らしい現象は、特定の条件の組み合わせ に起因することを発見するだろう。 これまで見てきたように、これが呼吸の本質であり、原因である。火は食物を切断し、それに続いて呼吸が内部で急上昇し、火と呼吸は一緒に上昇し、腹から食 物を吸い上げて静脈を満たし、その中に切断された食物の一部を注ぎ込む。同種の物質から切り取られた新鮮な切り口は、大地の果実であれ野の草であれ、神が 私たちの日々の食物として植えられたものであり、それらが混ざり合うことによって様々な色を獲得する。この液体そのものを我々は血液と呼んでいる。血液は 肉体と全身に栄養を与え、あらゆる部分に水を与え、空いた場所を満たす。 この補充と排出のプロセスは、あらゆる同種の物質が互いに引き寄せられる普遍的な運動と同じように行われる。われわれを取り囲む外的要素は、常にわれわれ を消耗させ、同種のものを同種のものへと分配し、送り出している。血液の粒子もまた、一種の天国のように分割されて動物の骨格の中に収められているが、宇 宙の運動を模倣せざるを得ない。それゆえ、私たちの中で分割された各部分は、その同族の性質へと運ばれ、空虚を補充する。流れ込む量よりも奪われる量の方 が多ければ、私たちは衰え、少なければ成長し、増大する。 若いときの生物全体の骨格は、それぞれの種類の三角形が新しくなっており、船台から離れたばかりの船のキールに例えることができる。さて、肉や飲み物を構 成する三角形が外から入ってきて、すでにそこにある三角形よりも古くて弱い状態で体内に取り込まれると、肉体の骨格がそれに勝り、新しい三角形がそれらを 切り刻む。しかし、三角形の根が、時間の経過とともに多くのものとの衝突を経てゆるむと、もはや入ってくる食物を切ったり同化したりすることはできず、外 から入ってくる体によって簡単に分断されてしまう。こうしてあらゆる動物は克服され、衰え、この情愛を老いと呼ぶ。そしてついに、骨髄の三角形が結合して いた絆がもはや保たれなくなり、存在の緊張によって分断されると、今度は魂の絆が緩み、彼女は自然な解放を得て、喜びとともに飛び去る。自然に従って起こ ることは楽しいが、自然に反することは苦しいからである。しかし、老いとともに訪れ、自然の負債を果たす死は、最も容易な死であり、苦痛よりもむしろ喜び を伴うものである。 さて、病気がどこから発生するかは誰でもわかる。肉体を構成する4つの性質、土と火と水と空気があり、これらの不自然な過剰や欠陥、あるいはそれらのどれ かが本来の場所から別の場所に変わること、あるいは「火や他の元素には1つ以上の種類があるため」、これらのどれかが誤った種類を引き受けること、あるい は同様の不規則性が、障害や病気を生み出すのである； なぜなら、これらのどれかが自然に反して生成されたり変化したりすると、それまで冷たかった部分が温かくなり、乾いていた部分が湿っぽくなり、軽いものが 重くなり、重いものが軽くなる。われわれが断言するように、ものは、同じものが同じ点で、同じ方法で、同じ割合で、それに加えられたり、そこから引かれた りしたときにのみ、それ自身と同じ、完全で健全な状態を保つことができる。第二の構造もまた自然なものであり、それを理解しようとする者に、病気を観察す る第二の機会を与えてくれる。骨髄、骨、肉、筋が4つの要素から構成され、血液もまた、別の方法ではあるが、それらから形成されるのに対して、ほとんどの 病気は、私が説明したような方法で発生する。自然の摂理は、肉と筋は血液から、筋は繊維から、そして肉は繊維が分離したときにできる点から作られるべきで ある。そして、筋と肉から流れ出るもち米のような豊富な物質は、肉を骨に接着させるだけでなく、骨髄を取り囲む骨に栄養を与え、成長させる。骨が堅固であ るため、骨の中を通り抜けるものは、最も純粋で滑らかな、油のような三角形で構成され、骨から露のように滴り落ち、骨髄に水を与える。 各過程がこのような順序で行われると、一般的に健康がもたらされ、逆の順序で行われると、病気になる。肉が腐敗し、消耗物質を静脈に送り返すと、静脈の中 で空気と混じり合い、多彩な色と苦い性質、酸や塩分の性質を持つ、さまざまな種類の血液が過剰に供給され、あらゆる種類の胆汁や血清や痰を含むからであ る。あらゆるものが間違った方向に進み、腐敗して、まず血液そのものを汚し、体に栄養を与えるのをやめて、静脈に沿って四方八方に運ばれ、もはや自然の流 れの秩序を保てず、互いに争っている。腐敗した肉の最も古い部分は分解しにくく、長い間焼かれて黒くなり、いたるところで腐食して苦くなり、まだ腐敗して いない身体のあらゆる部分を傷つける。時には、苦い成分が精製されると、黒い部分は酸味を帯び、それが苦味の代わりとなる； また、新しい肉が体内の炎に包まれて分解されると、赤褐色の色が苦味と混じり合う。」これらの症状すべてに、おそらくは医師が、いや、むしろ、多くの異質 なものに一つの名前を付けるに値する性質を見出す力を持った哲学者が、胆汁という共通の名前を付けたのだろう。しかし、他の種類の胆汁は、その色によって さまざまに区別される。血清については、血液の水の部分は無害であるが、黒色で酸性の胆汁の分泌物は、熱の力によって塩類と混ざると悪性になり、酸性の痰 と呼ばれる。また、空気が存在するときに、新しい柔らかい肉が液化してできる物質は、膨張して気泡を形成するように液体に包まれると、単独ではその小ささ のために目に見えないが、集まると目に見える大きさになり、泡の生成から生じる白い色をしている。そして、新しく形成された痰の乳清や沈殿物は、汗や涙で あり、身体を浄化するために日々排出されるさまざまなものを含む。これらすべては、血液が飲食物によって自然な形で補充されるのではなく、自然の法則に反 して正反対の源から嵩を増すとき、病気の原因となる。肉体のいくつかの部分が病気によって分離されたとき、土台が残っていれば、障害の力は半分に過ぎず、 まだ容易に回復する見込みがある； しかし、肉と骨とを結びつけているものが病気になり、筋肉や筋から切り離されなくなると、骨に栄養を与えなくなり、肉と骨とを結びつけることができなくな る、 こうして腐敗した物質はすべて、肉と筋の下で崩れ去り、骨から離れ、肉質の部分は土台から剥がれ落ち、筋はむき出しのまま塩水でいっぱいになり、肉は再び 血液の循環に入り込み、前述の障害をさらに大きくする。骨そのものが、肉の密度のために十分な空気を得られず、カビだらけで熱く壊疽し、栄養を受け取らな くなる。自然のプロセスが逆転し、崩れた骨が食物に、食物が肉に入り込み、肉が再び血液に落ちることで、起こりうるすべての病気が、すでに述べたものより もさらに悪性になる。骨髄が過剰または欠陥のために病気になるのは最悪のケースであり、これは非常に大きく致命的な障害の原因である。 第3の疾患は、3つの方法で生じると考えることができる。それらは、あるときは風によって、あるときは痰によって、あるときは胆汁によって生じるからであ る。身体に空気を送る肺が、リューマにより閉塞され、その通路が自由でなく、あるものは作用せず、またあるものは空気が入りすぎるとき、空気でリフレッ シュされない部分は腐敗し、他の部分では、静脈を通過する過剰な空気がそれらを歪ませ、身体を腐敗させるため、身体はその中に包まれ、みぞおちを占め、こ うして無数の痛みを伴う病気が生じ、大量の汗を伴う。肉が体内で分解されるとき、内部で発生し、逃げ出すことができない風は、外部から入ってくる空気と同 じくらい大きな痛みの原因となることがよくある。これらの障害は、緊張を伴うことから破傷風やオピストホトヌスと呼ばれる。これらの疾患の治療は困難であ り、ほとんどの場合、発熱によって緩和される。白い痰は、気泡のために体内に留まると危険であるが、外気と通じることができれば、それほど重篤ではなく、 身体を変色させ、らい腫や同様の疾患を引き起こすだけである。痰が黒い胆汁と混じり合い、最も神聖な部分である頭部に分散している場合、睡眠中に起こる攻 撃はそれほど深刻ではないが、起きている人を襲う場合、取り除くのは困難であり、神聖な部分の愛情であるため、最も正しく神聖と呼ばれる。酸や塩の痰は、 カタルという形をとるすべての病気の源であるが、流れ込む場所が多様であるため、多くの名前がある。 身体の炎症は火傷や炎症から起こるが、それらはすべて胆汁に由来する。胆汁が排出手段を見つけると、沸騰してあらゆる種類の腫瘍を発生させるが、胆汁が体 内に留まると多くの炎症性疾患を発生させる。繊維は、このバランスを保つように構成されている。血液が死んで冷める過程で、誰かが繊維をすべて一緒にする と、残った血液は流動性を帯びるが、そのままにしておくと、周囲の寒さのためにすぐに凝固してしまう。繊維が血液に対してこのような力を持つことで、胆汁 は古くなった血液に過ぎず、肉であることから再び血液に溶け込むが、最初の流入時には少しずつ入ってきて熱く液状になり、繊維の力によって凝固する。こう して凝固して冷やされると、内臓の冷えと震えが生じる。それがもっと大量に入ってきて、その熱によって繊維に打ち勝ち、沸騰して繊維を無秩序にするとき、 もしその優位を維持するのに十分な力があれば、それは骨髄に浸透し、魂のケーブルとでも呼ぶべきものを焼き尽くし、彼女を自由にする； しかし、胆汁の量がそれほど多くなく、肉体が衰弱しているにもかかわらず、まだ持ちこたえている場合には、胆汁自体が支配され、完全に追放されるか、静脈 を通って下腹部または上腹部へと突き進み、内戦があった状態からの亡命者のように体外へと追い出される。火の過剰によって体質が乱れると、連続的な熱と発 熱が生じる。空気の過剰が原因の場合、発熱は四分熱となり、火や空気よりも緩慢な要素である水の場合、発熱は四分熱となり、四つの要素の中で最も緩慢で、 四分周期でしか浄化されない土の場合、発熱は四分熱となり、振り払うのは困難である。 肉体に依存する魂の障害は、次のように発生する。心の病は知性の欠如であり、これには2種類ある；すなわち、狂気と無知である。そして、過度の苦痛と快楽 は、魂がかかりやすい最大の病気とみなすのが当然である。大いなる喜びや大いなる苦痛の中にいる人は、一方を達成し他方を避けようとする季節外れの熱心さ のために、何も正しく見たり聞いたりすることができない。脊髄骨髄の種があまりにも豊富で溢れかえっている者は、果実で溢れかえっている木のように、多く の苦悩を持ち、また欲望とその子孫において多くの快楽を得る。愛の不節制は魂の病気であり、その主な原因は、骨のゆるやかな粘性によって要素のひとつに生 じる湿気と流動性である。そして一般的に、快楽の不節制と呼ばれ、邪悪な者が自発的に悪いことをするという考えのもとで非難とみなされるものは、すべて正 当な非難事項ではない。なぜなら、人は誰であれ、自ら進んで悪いことをする者はいないからである。しかし、悪い人は、身体の悪い体質や悪い教育によって悪 い人になるのであり、それはすべての人にとって憎むべきことであり、本人の意思に反して起こることなのである。痛みの場合も同様に、魂は肉体から多くの災 いを受ける。酸や塩辛い痰や苦い胆汁が体内をさまよい、出口も逃げ場も見つけられず、体内に溜まって魂の運動と自らの蒸気を混ぜ合わせ、それらと混ざり 合っているところでは、多かれ少なかれ、またあらゆる強度のあらゆる種類の病気を生み出すからである； そして、魂の3つの場所に運ばれ、そのどれもが、それぞれ個別に襲いかかり、無限の種類の不機嫌と憂鬱、軽率と臆病、さらに忘却と愚鈍を生み出す。さら に、この邪悪な体質に邪悪な政治形態が加わり、邪悪な言説が私的にも公の場でも発せられ、これらの悪を治すための何らかの指導が青少年期に行われない場 合、悪人である私たちすべてが、完全に私たちの手に負えない2つの原因によって悪人になってしまう。このような場合、責められるべきは植木屋ではなく植木 職人であり、教育者ではなく教育者である。しかし、それがどうであれ、私たちは教育や学問や学習によって、できる限り悪を避け、徳を得るよう努力すべきで ある。 心と体をどのような方法で維持するかということについては、それに対応する探究がある。善であるものはすべて公正であり、公正な動物には比例がないわけで はない。われわれは、より小さい対称性や比率を知覚し、それについて理性を働かせるが、最も高く偉大なものには注意を払わない。しかし、私たちはこのこと に気づかない。また、弱く小さな骨格が偉大で強大な魂の乗り物であったり、逆に小さな魂が大きな肉体に包まれていたりする場合、その動物全体が公正である とは言えない。足が長すぎたり、他の点で非対称な身体は、不快な光景であり、また、自分の分担する仕事をするとき、大いに悩み、痙攣するような努力をし、 しばしばぎこちなさによってつまずき、自分自身にとって無限の悪の原因であるように、」同様に、私たちが生物と呼ぶ二重の性質を考えるべきである； この複合体の中に、肉体よりも強力な激情的な魂があるとき、その魂は人間の内面全体を痙攣させ、障害で満たすと私は言う。そしてもう一つ、魂にとって大き すぎて強すぎる肉体が、小さくて弱い知性と結びついたとき、人間には二つの欲望がある。一つは肉体のための食物欲、もう一つは人間の神聖な部分のための知 恵欲である。この2つの不釣り合いから身を守る方法が1つある。魂なしに身体を動かしたり、身体なしに魂を動かしたりしてはならない。それゆえ、数学者で あれ、知的な探求に没頭している者であれ、自分の身体にも適切な運動をさせ、体操の練習をさせなければならない。また、身体の形成に気を配っている者は、 今度は魂にも適切な運動を与えなければならない。なぜなら、肉体はその中に入る要素によって熱され、また冷やされ、また外的なものによって乾かされ、また 湿らされ、両方の運動からこれらと同様の影響を受けるからである； しかし、宇宙の育ての母、育ての親と呼ばれる存在に倣い、肉体が不活発であることを許さず、常にその全領域で運動と興奮を生み出し、他の内的・外的運動に 対する自然な防御を形成する者がいる、 そして適度な運動によって、身体をさまよう粒子や情動を、その親和性に応じて秩序あるものにする。宇宙について語るときにすでに述べたように、敵の側に置 かれた敵が身体の中で戦争や乱れを引き起こすのを許さず、友の側に置かれた友が健康を生み出すようにする。 しかし、他者によって引き起こされる運動はそれほど良いものではなく、最も悪いのは、静止している身体を部分的にしか動かせず、何らかの外的要因によって 動かすものである。したがって、肉体を浄化し再統合するあらゆる方法のうち、最良なのは体操であり、次に最良なのは、船旅やその他の輸送手段のように、疲 労しない波打つような運動である。第三の運動は、極度に必要な場合には役立つかもしれないが、それ以外の場合には、分別のある人間には採用されないだろ う。というのも、全人類だけでなく、避けられない事故を除けば、一人ひとりが一定の寿命をもってこの世に生を受けるからである。そしてこのことは、病気の 体質にも当てはまる。決められた時間に関係なく、薬によって病気を抑えようとする者がいれば、病気を悪化させ、増殖させるだけである。従って、我々は常 に、時間の許す限り、養生によって病気を管理すべきであり、薬によって不快な敵を刺激すべきではない。 複合的な動物、その一部である身体、そして人間が最も理性にかなった生き方をするために、自分自身で訓練し、訓練される方法については十分である。この問 題を詳細に論じるのは大変な作業であるが、前回と同様、概略を述べるにとどめるとすれば、この問題を次のように要約するのが適切であろう。 私たちの内には3種類の魂があり、それぞれに運動があることはよく述べた。したがって、魂のさまざまな部分の運動が適切な比率になるように注意すべきであ る。 そして、神は人間の魂の主権的な部分を、各人の神性となるようにお与えになったのであり、それは、私たちが地上の植物ではなく天上の植物であるように、肉 体の頂点に宿る部分であり、私たちを地上から天にいる私たちの親族へと引き上げてくださるのだと考えるべきである。なぜなら、神の力は、魂の生成が最初に 始まったその場所から、私たちの頭と根を吊り上げ、こうして体全体を直立させたからである。人が常に欲望と野心の渇望に心を奪われ、それを満足させようと 躍起になっているとき、その思いはすべて死すべきものであるに違いなく、そうなることが完全に可能である限り、死すべき部分を大事にしているのだから、そ の人はどこまでも死すべきものであるに違いない。しかし、知識と真の知恵を熱心に愛し、自分の知性を他のどの部分よりも発揮してきた者は、真理に到達すれ ば、不滅で神聖な思考を持つに違いなく、人間の本性が不滅を共有できる限りにおいて、彼は完全に不滅であるに違いない。さて、物事を大切にする方法はただ 一つ、それぞれに自然な食物と運動を与えることである。そして、私たちの内にある神の原理に自然に近い運動とは、宇宙の思考と回転である。各人はこれらに 従い、誕生時に堕落した頭のコースを修正し、宇宙の調和と回転を学ぶことによって、思考する存在を思考に同化させ、本来の性質を更新し、それらを同化させ た上で、神々が現在と未来の両方について人類の前に定めた完全な生活に到達すべきである。 こうして、人間の創造に至るまで宇宙について語るという当初の目的はほぼ達成された。他の動物の生成については、このテーマが簡潔であることを許す限り、 簡単に触れてもよい。こうすることで、我々の議論は適切な割合に達するだろう。動物については、次のように述べることができる。この世に生を受けた人間の うち、臆病者であったり、不義な生活を送っていた者は、第二世代で女性の性質に変わったと考えるのが妥当であろう。神々がその時、私たちに性交の欲望を創 造したのはこのためであり、男には一つの生気物質を、女にはもう一つの生気物質を作り、それぞれ次のように形成した。液体が肺を通って腎臓の下を通り、膀 胱に入り、空気の圧力によって膀胱が液体を排出する飲み口は、神々によって、頭から首を通って背中を通る骨髄の体にも貫通するように作られた。そして、種 子は生命を持ち、呼吸を持つようになり、呼吸している部分に活発な放出欲求を生じさせ、こうして私たちに子孫繁栄の愛を生み出す。それゆえ、人間において も、生成の器官は反抗的かつ支配的になり、理性に従わず、欲望の刺に狂わされた動物のように、絶対的な支配権を得ようとする； 子宮の中にいる動物は子孫を残すことを望み、その適切な時期を過ぎても長い間実を結ばずにいると、不満と怒りを募らせ、体中をあらゆる方向にさまよい、呼 吸の通り道を塞ぎ、呼吸を妨害することによって極限状態に追い込み、あらゆる種類の病気を引き起こす； こうして動物の生成は完成する。 こうして女性と女性一般が創造された。しかし、鳥の種族は、無邪気な心の軽い男たちから創造された。彼らは、心は天に向けられていたものの、その単純さゆ えに、天上のものの最も明確な実証は視覚によって得られると想像していた。野生の歩行動物の種族は、また、彼らの思考の中に哲学を持たず、天の性質につい て全く考えたことがなかった人々から来た。このような習慣の結果、彼らは前足と頭を、自然の親和力によって引き寄せられた大地の上に置き、彼らの頭頂は細 長く、さまざまな形をしていた。そしてこれが、彼らが四足獣や多足獣を造られた理由であった。神は彼らのうち、より分別のない者により多くの支えを与え、 彼らがより大地に引き付けられるようにされたのである。そして、最も愚かな者たちは、体を完全に地面につけて、もはや足を必要としないので、神は大地を這 うように足のない者を造られた。第四の種族は水の住人であった： 彼らはあらゆる種類の罪によって不純になった魂を持っていたため、変質者たちはもはや純粋な呼吸に値しないと考えた。そして、繊細で純粋な媒体である空気 の代わりに、深くて濁った海を彼らの呼吸の要素とした。これらは、動物が知恵を失ったり、愚かさを得たりするにつれて、今も昔も変化しながら、互いに移り 変わっていく法則である。 さて、宇宙の本質についての話はこれで終わりである。世界は、死すべき動物、不滅の動物を受け入れ、彼らとともに満たされ、目に見えるものを含む目に見え る動物となった。 |
| https://www.deepl.com/ja/translator |