Timaeus
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 equalizes the inward motions; when they
are equalized, 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 (He is speaking of two kinds of
mirrors, first the plane, secondly the concave; and the latter is
supposed to be placed, first horizontally, and then vertically.).
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