TIMAEU [31]
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
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