TIMAEU [9]
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
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