Timaeus
other, the intractable nature of the other being compressed into
the same. Having made a compound of all the three, he proceeded
to divide the entire mass into portions related to one another in
the ratios of 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8, 27, and proceeded to fill up the
double and triple intervals thus—
- over 1, 4/3, 3/2, - over 2, 8/3, 3, - over 4, 16/3, 6, - over 8:
- over 1, 3/2, 2, - over 3, 9/2, 6, - over 9, 27/2, 18, - over 27;
in which double series of numbers are two kinds of means; the one
exceeds and is exceeded by equal parts of the extremes, e.g. 1,
4/3, 2; the other kind of mean is one which is equidistant from
the extremes—2, 4, 6. In this manner there were formed intervals
of thirds, 3:2, of fourths, 4:3, and of ninths, 9:8. And next he
filled up the intervals of a fourth with ninths, leaving a
remnant which is in the ratio of 256:243. The entire compound was
divided by him lengthways into two parts, which he united at the
centre like the letter X, and bent into an inner and outer circle
or sphere, cutting one another again at a point over against the
point at which they cross. The outer circle or sphere was named
the sphere of the same—the inner, the sphere of the other or
diverse; and the one revolved horizontally to the right, the
other diagonally to the left. To the sphere of the same which was
undivided he gave dominion, but the sphere of the other or
diverse was distributed into seven unequal orbits, having
intervals in ratios of twos and threes, three of either sort, and
he bade the orbits move in opposite directions to one
another—three of them, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, with equal
swiftness, and the remaining four—the Moon, Saturn, Mars,
Jupiter, with unequal swiftness to the three and to one another,
but all in due proportion.
When the Creator had made the soul he made the body within her;
and the soul interfused everywhere from the centre to the
circumference of heaven, herself turning in herself, began a
divine life of rational and everlasting motion. The body of
heaven is visible, but the soul is invisible, and partakes of
reason and harmony, and is the best of creations, being the work
of the best. And being composed of the same, the other, and the
essence, these three, and also divided and bound in harmonical
proportion, and revolving within herself—the soul when touching
anything which has essence, whether divided or undivided, is
stirred to utter the sameness or diversity of that and some other
thing, and to tell how and when and where individuals are
affected or related, whether in the world of change or of
essence. When reason is in the neighbourhood of sense, and the
circle of the other or diverse is moving truly, then arise true
opinions and beliefs; when reason is in the sphere of thought,
and the circle of the same runs smoothly, then intelligence is
perfected.
When the Father who begat the world saw the image which he had
made of the Eternal Gods moving and living, he rejoiced; and in
his joy resolved, since the archetype was eternal, to make the
creature eternal as far as this was possible. Wherefore he made
an image of eternity which is time, having an uniform motion
according to number, parted into months and days and years, and
also having greater divisions of past, present, and future. These
all apply to becoming in time, and have no meaning in relation to
the eternal nature, which ever is and never was or will be; for
the unchangeable is never older or younger, and when we say that
he ‘was’ or ‘will be,’ we are mistaken, for these words are
applicable only to becoming, and not to true being; and equally
wrong are we in saying that what has become IS become and that
what becomes IS becoming, and that the non-existent IS
non-existent...These are the forms of time which imitate eternity
and move in a circle measured by number.
Thus was time made in the image of the eternal nature; and it was
created together with the heavens, in order that if they were
dissolved, it might perish with them. And God made the sun and
moon and five other wanderers, as they are called, seven in all,
and to each of them he gave a body moving in an orbit, being one
of the seven orbits into which the circle of the other was
divided. He put the moon in the orbit which was nearest to the
earth, the sun in that next, the morning star and Mercury in the
orbits which move opposite to the sun but with equal
swiftness—this being the reason why they overtake and are
overtaken by one another. All these bodies became living
creatures, and learnt their appointed tasks, and began to move,
the nearer more swiftly, the remoter more slowly, according to
the diagonal movement of the other. And since this was controlled
by the movement of the same, the seven planets in their courses
appeared to describe spirals; and that appeared fastest which was
slowest, and that which overtook others appeared to be overtaken
by them. And God lighted a fire in the second orbit from the
earth which is called the sun, to give light over the whole
heaven, and to teach intelligent beings that knowledge of number
which is derived from the revolution of the same. Thus arose day
and night, which are the periods of the most intelligent nature;
a month is created by the revolution of the moon, a year by that
of the sun. Other periods of wonderful length and complexity are
not observed by men in general; there is moreover a cycle or
perfect year at the completion of which they all meet and
coincide...To this end the stars came into being, that the
created heaven might imitate the eternal nature.
Thus far the universal animal was made in the divine image, but
the other animals were not as yet included in him. And God
created them according to the patterns or species of them which
existed in the divine original. There are four of them: one of
gods, another of birds, a third of fishes, and a fourth of
animals. The gods were made in the form of a circle, which is the
most perfect figure and the figure of the universe. They were
created chiefly of fire, that they might be bright, and were made
to know and follow the best, and to be scattered over the
heavens, of which they were to be the glory. Two kinds of motion
were assigned to them—first, the revolution in the same and
around the same, in peaceful unchanging thought of the same; and
to this was added a forward motion which was under the control of
the same. Thus then the fixed stars were created, being divine
and eternal animals, revolving on the same spot, and the
wandering stars, in their courses, were created in the manner
already described. The earth, which is our nurse, clinging around
the pole extended through the universe, he made 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 labour of
telling all the figures of them, moving as in dance, and their
juxta-positions and approximations, and when and where and behind
what other stars they appear to disappear—to tell of all this
without looking at a plan of them would be labour in vain.
The knowledge of the other gods is beyond us, and we can only
accept the traditions of the ancients, who were the children of
the gods, as they said; for surely they must have known their own
ancestors. Although they give no proof, we must believe them as
is customary. They tell us that Oceanus and Tethys were the
children of Earth and Heaven; that Phoreys, Cronos, and Rhea came
in the next generation, and were followed by Zeus and Here, whose
brothers and children are known to everybody.
When all of them, both those who show themselves in the sky, and
those who retire from view, had come into being, the Creator
addressed them thus:—‘Gods, sons of gods, my works, if I will,
are indissoluble. That which is bound may be dissolved, but only
an evil being would dissolve that which is harmonious and happy.
And although you are not immortal you shall not die, for I will
hold you together. Hear me, then:—Three tribes of mortal beings
have still to be created, but if created by me they would be like
gods. Do ye therefore make them; I will implant in them the seed
of immortality, and you shall weave together the mortal and
immortal, and provide food for them, and receive them again in
death.’ Thus he spake, and poured the remains of the elements
into the cup in which he had mingled the soul of the universe.
They were no longer pure as before, but diluted; and the mixture
he distributed into souls equal in number to the stars, and
assigned each to a star—then having mounted them, as in a
chariot, he showed them the nature of the universe, and told them
of their future birth and human lot. They were to be sown in the
planets, and out of them was to come forth the most religious of
animals, which would hereafter be called man. The souls were to
be implanted in bodies, which were in a perpetual flux, whence,
he said, would arise, first, sensation; secondly, love, which is
a mixture of pleasure and pain; thirdly, fear and anger, and the
opposite affections: and if they conquered these, they would live
righteously, but if they were conquered by them, unrighteously.
He who lived well would return to his native star, and would
there have a blessed existence; but, if he lived ill, he would
pass into the nature of a woman, and if he did not then alter his
evil ways, into the likeness of some animal, until the reason
which was in him reasserted her sway over the elements of fire,
air, earth, water, which had engrossed her, and he regained his
first and better nature. Having given this law to his creatures,
that he might be guiltless of their future evil, he sowed them,
some in the earth, some in the moon, and some in the other
planets; and he ordered the younger gods to frame human bodies
for them and to make the necessary additions to them, and to
avert from them all but self-inflicted evil.
Having given these commands, the Creator remained in his own
nature. And his children, receiving from him the immortal
principle, borrowed from the world portions of earth, air, fire,
water, hereafter to be returned, which they fastened together,
not with the adamantine bonds which bound themselves, but by
little invisible pegs, making each separate body out of all the
elements, subject to influx and efflux, and containing the
courses of the soul. These swelling and surging as in a river
moved irregularly and irrationally in all the six possible ways,
forwards, backwards, right, left, up and down. But violent as
were the internal and alimentary fluids, the tide became still
more violent when the body came into contact with flaming fire,
or the solid earth, or gliding waters, or the stormy wind; the
motions produced by these impulses pass through the body to the