THE TIMÆUS of PLATO
 by CALCIDIUS

CALCIDIVS PLATONIS TIMAEVS

[Introductory Letter]

1. FROM CALCIDIUS to HIS HOSIUS

1. OSIO SVO CALCIDIVS

ISOCRATES, in the course of praising virtue in his Exhortations, and after pointing out that the cause of all good things and of all prosperity depends upon it, added that it alone is capable of bringing impossible conditions back to a state of being possible to manage.

Isocrates in Exhortationibus suis uirtutem laudans, cum omnium bonorum totiusque prosperitatis consistere causam penes eam diceret, addidit solam esse quae res impossibiles redigeret ad possibilem facilitatem.

It is a splendid point, for when it comes to a noble magnanimity, what could either cause it to be annoyed by an undertaking or, once the task is underway, exhaust it to the point of its being virtually overcome by the difficulties and refraining from the effort?

Praeclare.

Quid enim generosam magnanimitatem uel aggredi pigeat uel coeptum fatiget, ut tamquam uicta difficultatibus temperet a labore?

Such, I suppose, is the power of friendship, just so its ability to remove the constraints of nearly impossible conditions, when friends support one another in the performance of an agreed-upon task, one of them by the obligation of commanding and the other by a vow of obeying.

Eadem est, opinor, uis amicitiae parque impossibilium paene rerum extricatio, cum alter ex amicis iubendi religione, alter parendi uoto complaciti operis adminiculentur effectui.

You had conceived the hope—one that was worthy of your mind, which blossoms with all forms of liberal education, and of your extraordinary character—of seeing the emergence of a hitherto unattempted work, and had determined that with it Latium should make borrowed usage from the Greeks.

Conceperas animo florente omnibus studiis humanitatis excellentique ingenio tuo dignam spem prouenturi operis intemptati ad hoc tempus eiusque usum a Graecis Latio statueras mutuandum.

And although capable yourself of completing the work both more easily and to better effect, you preferred instead, no doubt because of your admirable sense of modesty, to enjoin it upon one whom you regarded as your other you.

Et quamquam ipse hoc cum facilius tum commodius facere posses, credo propter admirabilem uerecundiam, ei potius malueris iniungere quem te esse alterum iudicares.

Although the matter was a difficult one, could I, please tell me, have refused the obligation when you made such a display of honor in enjoining it upon me? Could I, who had never refused any duty when it came even to customary or routine wishes, have said no to this desire, one so considerable and honorable, when declining this splendid obligation on a plea of ignorance would have proved a calculated simulation of knowledge?

Possemne, oro te, quamuis res esset ardua, tanto honore habito de quo ita senseras iniunctum excusare munus et, qui numquam ne in sollemnibus quidem et usitatis uoluntatibus ullum officium recusassem, huic tanto tamque honesto desiderio contradicere, in quo declinatio speciosi muneris excusatione ignorationis callida esset scientiae futura simulatio?

And so, feeling certain that it was not without divine instigation that the obligation had been enjoined upon me by you, I complied and consequently not only undertook, with quickened intention and a strengthened sense of hope, to translate the first parts of Plato’s Timaeus but also produced a commentary on the same on the understanding that without an explanatory interpretation the image of a recondite reality would prove even more obscure than the original itself.

Itaque parui certus non sine diuino instinctu id mihi a te munus iniungi proptereaque alacriore mente speque confirmatiore primas partes Timaei Platonis aggressus non solum transtuli sed etiam partis eiusdem commentarium feci putans reconditae rei simulacrum sine interpretationis explanatione aliquanto obscurius ipso exemplo futurum.

As for the rest, the length of the work was my reason for dividing the book into parts, also, because my sending a kind of first sampling, as it were, for your ears and mind to taste seemed the safer course: once the reply came back, indicating that it had not displeased, it would strengthen my resolve to forge ahead.

Causa uero in partes diuidendi libri fuit operis prolixitas, simul quia cautius uidebatur esse si tamquam libamen aliquod ad degustandum auribus atque animo tuo mitterem; quod cum non displicuisse rescriberetur, faceret audendi maiorem fiduciam.

THE TIMAEUS of PLATO
PART ONE

2.PARS PRIMA TIMAEI PLATONIS

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Commentary, First Part

4.COMMENTARII PARS PRIMA

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12. COMMENTARY
SECOND PART

12.COMMENTARII PARS SECVNDA

12.1. ON THE FOUR KINDS OF LIVING BEINGS

12.1. DE QVATTVOR GENERIBVS ANIMALIVM

119. In the text of the previous part of this work we have given a separate treatment of the completion of the entire world as effected by the craftsman god, adhering insofar as our modest capability permitted to Platonic doctrines as concerns the contemplation of nature and the technical modes of reasoning.

119 Mundi totius perfectionem ab opifice absolutam deo praeteriti operis textu secreuimus Platonicis dogmatibus, quoad mediocritas ingenii passa est, inhaerentes iuxta naturae contemplationem artificiosasque rationes.

Next, and prior to all other matters, he discusses the first generation of the celestial spheres that are fixed on the arched surface of constant and immutable revolution, and of the things the world contains, so that the universe might be full and complete and the living being that is the sensible world might attain the strictest likeness to the perfect intelligible world, the pattern for the world generated from it. And in his contemplation of nature he distinguishes four kinds of sentient living beings, celestial as well as terrestrial: of the celestial, the stars; and of the terrestrial, those that fly, live in water, and move on land. The latter are rightly called terrestrial in that they draw nourishment from the earth and take their rest in the bosom of the same earth, and because their bodies, which consist primarily of earth, draw their name from the matter that obtains in them; similarly, the celestial bodies, which, being composed primarily of pure and liquid fire, are referred to as eternal fires.

Deinde ante omnes res primam pertractat caelestium orbium, qui sunt infixi tergo ratae atque inerrabilis conuersionis, generationem, eorum etiam quae mundus complectitur, quo sit plena perfectaque uniuersa res animalque sensilis mundi proximam similitudinem nanciscatur perfecto intellegibilique et exemplari ex se genito mundo; quattuorque sensilium animalium species, tam caelestium quam terrenorum, naturali contemplatione dinumerat: caelestium quidem stellas, terrenorum uero uolatilia et item nantia quaeque per terram feruntur, iure dicta terrena quippe quae terra nutriantur et in eiusdem terrae gremio quiescant, quodque corpora eorum ex maiore parte terrena ex obtinentis materiae uocabulo cognominantur, perinde ut caelestia, quae ex maiore parte ignis puri liquidique concreta aeterni appellantur ignes.

120. Not confining himself to treatment of the aforementioned living beings, he extends his attention to unraveling the question of the angelic nature, the beings he refers to as demons.

120 Nec contentus supra dictorum animalium demonstratione porrigit diligentiam usque ad angelicae naturae, quos daemonas uocat, extricationem.

Of these, the purer type has its abode in the ether, the second in the air, the third in the region named the moist substance, such that the internal parts of the world are filled with living beings endowed with reason and no region of it is deserted.

Quorum quod est purius in aethere sedes habet, alterum in aere, tertium in ea regione quae humecta essentia nominatur, quo interna mundi congesta sint animalibus ratione utentibus nec sit ulla eius regio deserta.

And this treatment he necessarily postpones, since it is of a higher order and beyond the contemplation of nature, and says that after the generation of the fixed stars, since each and every one of them was a divine living being employing a body blended of the four purest material elements, especially that of limpid fire, god attached each particular radiant living being shaped in the form of a sphere to the nonwandering sphere, with the highest degree of harmony, and adorned the whole of it with celestial lights of this kind.

Quem quidem tractatum, quod sit elatior et ultra naturae contemplationem, necessario differt et ait deum post generationem stellarum ratarum, cum unaquaeque earum diuinum animal esset utens corpore mixto ex sincerissimis materiis quattuor et ex maiore parte ignis sereni, coruscum quoddam animal et formatum in modum sphaerae infixisse summo cum modulamine aplani globo eumque omnem huius modi luminibus exornasse.

And when their employment of the ability to move presented itself as necessary, he assigned the following two from among all the types of motion: one of them incidental, by which the aplanis carries the stars along toward the West, which he now calls movement ahead, and the other primary—which is a form of rotation and revolves back upon itself—, resembling the deliberative motion of the soul. The other five types of motion remain in the background.

Vbi uero mouendi usus est necessarius uisus, ex omnibus motibus duos hos tribuisse praecipuos: unum ex accidenti, quo rapit stellas aplanes ad occidua, quem motum nunc uocat in antecedentia, alterum uero principalem, qui est circumactio circaque semet uertitur, similem deliberatiuo animae motui quinque ceteris cessantibus motibus.

121. For the types of locomotion are, I suppose, seven: two measured in longitude, i.e., forward and backward, likewise two measured in latitude, to the right and left, and two others measured in depth, upward and downward, the final one resembling the rotation mentioned above, movement that wings its way around a fixed axis.

121 Etenim loculares motus septem sunt, opinor: duo quidem iuxta longitudinem, id est ante et post, duo item alii per latitudinem, in dextram et sinistram, duoque alii iuxta profunditatem, sursum et deorsum, et ultimus supra memoratae circumactioni similis, qui fixo circumuolat cardine.

Given, then, that he assigns the use of only two of these seven forms of motion, the primary rotation and the incidental (which moves to the right), to the individual fixed stars, he rightly stated that the five other forms of motion beyond them are absent.

Quia ergo ex his septem motibus duum tantummodo singulis ratis stellis usum tribuit deus, principalem quidem circumactionem, ex accidenti uero qui fertur in dextram, recte dixit quinque praeterea motus alios uacare.

He then concludes by pointing out that he discussed the movements of the errant stars in previous sections.

Deinde concludit commemorans de motibus se stellarum errantium in superioribus disputasse.

And in this way the heaven was adorned with wise and eternal living beings as its inhabitants.

Et caelum quidem ita exornatum est sapientibus et aeternis animalibus inquilinis.

122. And since this evidently entailed treating also of the generation of mortal living beings which are subject to passions, they being the earthly ones, he rightly and with good reason expounds what he thought should be said first about Earth itself.

122 Quod uero consequens uideretur mortalium quoque et obnoxiorum passionibus animalium demonstrari genituram, haec sunt porro terrena, iure meritoque prius quae de terra ipsa dicenda existimabat exponit.

And he says that this too, constrained by the limits of the pole that traverses and contains all things, god established as the guardian of night and day.

Dicit autem quod hanc quoque deus «constrictam limitibus per omnia uadentis et cuncta continentis poli» constituerit «noctis dieique custodem».

But with the pole he refers to the axis thatpassesthrough the entire body of the world.

Sed polum nuncupat eum qui omne mundi corpus peruadit axem.

Constrained, on the other hand, is to be understood in one of two ways: Either, with Pythagoras, as indicating a fire revolving around an axis, for the Pythagoreans maintain that fire, being preeminent among all material realities, occupies the center of the world, and they call it the guardian of Jupiter; furthermore, they hold that the Earth and Counter-Earth move around this fire, driven round in an orbit like the stars.

«Constrictam» uero dupliciter intellegendum, uel iuxta Pythagoram ignem uertentem se circum axem, placet quippe Pythagoreis ignem quidem utpote materiarum omnium principem medietatem mundi obtinere, quem Iouis custodem appellant; per hunc porro moueri circumactas in gyrum tamquam stellas terram et anticthona.

And so it is to be understood either in this way or, with slightly greater probability, as indicating that the Earth is at rest, adhering to the center of the world, and is for that reason called Vesta by both Plato and many others.

Quare uel sic intellegendum uel aliquanto uerisimilius medietati mundi adhaerentem quiescere terram proptereaque et a Platone et a multis aliis Vestam cognominari.

Finally, he says in the Phaedrus, “for Vesta alone remains in the divine domicile.”

Denique in Phaedro idem ait: «Manet enim Vesta in diuino domicilio sola».

123 . But he says that it is the guardian and craftsman of day and night because in its conveyance across the same—i.e., Earth—the Sun produces day by illuminating the parts of it that lie beneath itself.

123 «Custodem» uero et opificem «diei et noctis» propterea dicit esse quia per eandem, id est terram, uectus sol partes eius subiectas sibimet illustrans diem facit.

When, however, it partially blocks the Sun as it moves along the ecliptic, the Earth itself is brought under shadows in one or another region, and because of the shadows the dense darkness of night thus takes over.

Cum uero obiecerit se ex aliqua parte solis anfractibus terra ipsa obumbratur; itaque ex umbris crassa noctis caligo succedit.

At the same time, given that the Earth is immobile, there is significance in his having referred to it as the guardian of night and day,

Simul quia immobilis terra est, significanter eam «custodem noctis et diei» cognominauit.

in the sense that night does not emerge with the perishing of day or day arise with the destruction of night, but one takes over from the other, both of them remaining intact.

Neque enim pereunte die nox nascitur uel noctis amissione dies oritur, sed utraque salua succedit altera.

And since this occurs in relation to the Earth, which for its part always indefatigably remains in its seat, it is, I suppose, the observer and, rightly, guardian of all things conducted, as it were, before its gaze.

Quia uero hoc fit per eam indefesse ipsa manente semper in sua sede, spectatrix est, opinor, eorum quae uelut ante conspectum suum geruntur meritoque «custos».

And he says that it is the most ancient among the gods either, I suppose, because it is a place suitable for living beings—and it is necessary that a region or place should be planned for those things that are in it—or because it is analogous to a point; and by a certain natural mental preconception the latter is known to be more ancient than all magnitude and quantities, just as Hesiod says:

«Antiquissimam» uero deorum dicit, opinor, uel quia locus est animalium capax, regio porro et locus praecogitetur his quae in loco sunt necesse est, uel quia puncti rationem obtinet; hoc porro antiquius esse omni magnitudine atque omnibus quantitatibus naturali quadam mentis conceptione praenoscitur, uelut ait Hesiodus:

Indeed, this darkness was created first, then Earth,

Prima quidem haec caligo, dehinc post terra creata est,

in its vast bosom a seat most firm for creatures that draw breath.

spirantum sedes firmissima pectore uasto.

For he explains that after chaos, which the Greeks call hylê and we call silva, the Earth, fixed and immobile, came into being as a foundation at the center of the world’s circumference.

Post enim chaos, quam Graeci hylen, nos siluam uocamus, substitisse terram docet in medietate mundani ambitus ut fundamenta fixam et immobilem.

Moreover, we have been naturally endowed with the power of mentally perceiving that which is stationary before perceiving things that are in motion; for every motion takes its start after a stationary state.

Nobis autem natura tributum est id quod stat prius his quae mouentur mente percipere; omnis quippe motus post stationem sumit exordium.

124. The activities of the errant stars, celebrated for the harmonious and constant movement which Plato refers to as a round {4oc}, are clearly evident in the forward and cyclical patterns of movement of the same stars, as when they are seen progressing through the longer courses at some highly accelerated rate of movement, or when they are thought to stand in one and the same place for a period and to move again in reverse; then again, in their conjunctions, in the phases of resplendence and obscurity, in the East or West, also in their conversions, equinoxes, and manifold transfigurations, all the more in their eclipses and phases of restored resplendence—and in short, in all other manifestations of this sort.

124 Stellarum uero errantium opera, quae propter modulatam et consonam celebrantur agitationem, quam idem appellat choream, in progressibus et anfractibus earundem stellarum perspicue uidentur, ut cum apparent nimio quodam incitatoque motu progressae longius uel cum diu stare in uno atque eodem loco et item cum retrorsum ferri putantur, tum in coetibus quoque et effulsionibus et absconsionibus uel in eois uel in occiduis, conuersionibus quoque et aequinoctiis omnibusque transfigurationibus, hoc amplius in defectionibus et reparatis illustrationibus, denique ceteris huius modi.

And as concerns these, he says that it would be an idle waste of effort for one to dispute their assigned activities and so excuses himself on the assumption that a treatment of that type pertains to astronomy rather than natural philosophy.

<De quibus> si quis dedita opera disputet, hunc frustra dicit terere superuacuum laborem proptereaque excusat ratus tractatum istum ad astronomiam potius quam physiologiam pertinere.

For the concomitant movement of stars he refers to as certain juxtapositions, as in the case of Mercury and Lucifer, which are always inseparably in the Sun’s vicinity; what the astronomers refer to as retrogradations he refers to as reciprocal conversions, and forward advancement as progression, also conjunction.

«Parabolas» enim quasdam appellat, qui comitatus sunt siderum, ut iuxta solem indiuidui semper Mercurius et Lucifer; «reciprocos circuitus», quos astrologi regradationes uocant, «progressus» item ad praecedentia profectionem, etiam «coniugationem»:

Conjunction, however, is of two types, one perpendicular, the other diametrical,

duplex uero est coniugatio, altera per cathetum, altera per diametrum.

and that which proves to be perpendicular indicates the mode of conjunction between stars, which kinds they conjoin with and what their conjunction indicates, while by the diametrical is meant the relative position of stars that stand opposite one another, when a straight line forms a connection between the center of a star to the center of a star positioned opposite it and brings the two into continuity.

Atque ea quae per cathetum fit significat cuius modi stellae qualibus coeant quaeue sit earum coetus significatio; per diametrum uero contra distantium a se stellarum positionem uult intellegi, cum ex medietate stellae ad alterius contra positae stellae medietatem directa linea conectit et continuat utramque.

And what the astronomers call eclipses Plato refers to as obstacles in a stricter and slightly more meaningful sense—not that they stand in one another’s way, but that relative to our perspective on Earth the line o f sight leading to the higher star is cut off owing to the lower one’s position below it, so that owing to the interposition of the lower one the higher one is thought to grow dim.

Quos uero defectus mathematici uocant, Plato «obstacula» appellat proprie magis et aliquanto significantius, non quo sibi inuicem obsistant, sed quod nobis a terra spectantibus inferioris subiectu uisus arceatur stellae superioris proptereaque deficere ac laborare propter obiectum inferioris superior existimatur.

125 . He says as well: And those that once again appear after a long interval signify fear and certain portents for either the immediate future or later.

125 Item, inquit, quae longo interuallo rursus apparent metus et quaedam portenta significant uel mox futura uel serius,

And he holds that their signification is relevant to those who are capable of calculating the phenomena,

significationem uero pertinere ad eos qui de his rebus ratiocinari possunt putat.

from which it may be understood that the stars do not cause future events but give advance warning of them

Ex quo intellegi datur non stellas facere quae proueniunt, sed futura praenuntiare.

. Following this line of reasoning the poet Homer too refers to the rising of Canicula [Sirius] as Orion’s Dog—although some call the star Astrocynos [astrokuôn, Dog Star], and the Egyptians, Sothis—and its Year is completed in 1460 . years and referred to as that of the Dog.

Quam rationem secutus etiam uates Homerus ortum Caniculae «Canem Orionis» appellat, cum hanc eandem stellam Astrocynon quidam, Aegyptii uero Sothin uocent, cuius completur annus qui Cynicus uocatur annis mille quadringentis sexaginta.

Here is how Homer speaks of the star:

Dicit autem Homerus de hoc sidere hactenus:

Though shining bright yet it threatens grim fates

Iste quidem clarus, sed tristia fata minatur,

—at the point, I suppose, when it appears within the interval of time. Now, it appears at four-year intervals but in different locations;

tunc, opinor, cum fuerit interuallo temporis uisus; uidetur porro interposito quadriennio, sed non in isdem locis.

the Year of the Dog, however, is completed in 4 x 365 . years, or 365 . four-year cycles.

Quater porro trecentis sexaginta quinque <annis siue trecentis sexaginta quinque> quadrienniis completur Cynicus annus.

The prophets of the Egyptians also fear a certain star called Ach, which appears only every so many years,

126 Aegyptiorum quoque prophetae stellam quandam aliquot annis non uisam uerentur, quam uocant Ach.

and in its rising the star portends disease and death among the people and many of the nobility.

Porro sidus hoc exoriens morbos populorum multorumque optimatium mortes denuntiat.

In the event, Homer, who was Egyptian too according to the tradition of his being from Thebes, the noblest city in Egypt, implicitly rehearses this very point at the beginning of the Iliad, when he says that because of the wrath of Achilles, whose father was Peleus and mother a sea goddess, disease and death appeared not only among the noblemen but even among other living beings, including the beasts required for the war; with that once assumed as his starting point, poetic license contrived the rest.

Homerus denique, qui idem fuerit Aegyptius, siquidem Thebanus fertur, quae ciuitas est apud Aegyptum nobilissima, id ipsum latenter exequitur in Iliadis exordio, cum dicit propter iram Achillis, cuius pater Peleus, mater uero maritima fuerit dea, morbum atque interitum non modo clarorum uirorum sed aliorum quoque animalium et pecorum bello necessariorum extitisse; quo quidem sumpto exordio cetera poetica licentia finxit.

There is also another recorded tale, one more holy and venerable, according to which with the rising of a certain star there was portended, not disease and death, but the descent of a venerable God to bestow the grace of salvation upon mankind and mortal beings.

Est quoque alia sanctior et uenerabilior historia, quae perhibet ortu stellae cuiusdam non morbos mortesque denuntiatas sed descensum dei uenerabilis ad humanae conseruationis rerumque mortalium gratiam.

Men from among the Chaldaeans who were undoubtedly wise and skilled in the observation of celestial phenomena are said, on having observed the star during a night journey, to have gone in search of the new birth of God and, on discovering the child in that state of majesty, to have venerated Him and offered prayers befitting a God of such greatness.

Quam stellam cum nocturno itinere suspexissent Chaldaeorum profecto sapientes uiri et in consideratione rerum caelestium satis exercitati, quaesisse dicuntur recentem ortum dei repertaque illa maiestate puerili ueneratos esse et uota tanto deo conuenientia nuncupasse.

These matters are much better known to you than to others.

Quae tibi multo melius sunt comperta quam ceteris.

127. At the same time, he says that to give an account of the nature of demons is a task greater than our human ability is naturally capable of sustaining not in the sense that a disputation of this type is alien to philosophers (for to whom else would it be better suited?),

127 At uero naturae daemonum «praestare rationem maius esse opus» dicit «quam ferre ualeat hominis ingenium», non quo disputatio haec a philosophis aliena sit — quibus enim aliis magis competat? —,

but because inquiry into this matter is the concern of the first and highest order of contemplation, which is called the epoptic.• somewhat higher than natural philosophy, and for that reason appearing quite unsuited to our task now, which is to engage in disputation about the nature of things.

sed quod inquisitio istius rei primariae superuectaeque contemplationis sit, quae appellatur epoptica, altior aliquanto quam physica, proptereaque nobis, qui de rerum natura nunc disputamus, nequaquam conueniens esse uideatur.

Yet he spoke briefly and pointedly about these powers which are thought to be gods, and, I believe, for the following reason: in order to avoid the world’s formation being left somehow incomplete because of silence about such matters, in proceeding on trust rather than by persuasion or probability he showed that it is necessary for trust to take precedence over all teaching—especially given that an assertion pertains, not to any men whatsoever, but to the great and nearly divine—and in effect showed that the tradition of Pythagoras’s “having pronounced” and thereby removed the need for further inquiry was not pointless.

Idem tamen breuiter et strictim de his potestatibus quae dii putantur locutus, credo propterea ne mundi constitutio imperfecta relinqueretur ex quotacumque parte, si sileret de huius modi rebus, credule mage quam persuadenter et probabiliter ostendit oportere «credulitatem» omnes doctrinas praecedere, maxime cum non quorumlibet sed magnorum et prope «diuinorum» uirorum sit assertio — denique non frustra de Pythagora dictum «ipsum dicere» proptereaque ultra quaeri non oportere.

Now, he says, neither proofs nor persuasive assertion need always to be offered for the sayings of the men of old who were endowed with a certain divine wisdom.

Ergo, inquit, neque probationes semper adhibendae nec persuadens assertio his quae dicuntur a priscis diuina quadam sapientia praeditis.

He expounds at the same time Orpheus’s, Linus’s, and Musaeus’s divine pronouncements concerning the divine powers, not for the sake of his own pleasure or trust but because the authority of those who made the pronouncements was such that it would have been wrong for them to be trusted with any degree of restriction.

Simul exponit ea quae Orpheus et Linus et Musaeus de diuinis potestatibus uaticinati sunt, non quo delectaretur aut crederet, sed quod tanta esset auctoritas uaticinantium ut his asseuerantibus parcius credi non oporteret.

128. But in the book entitled The Philosopher he pursues with the greatest diligence and special care all points of the following sort: that all of the things that flow down from divine counsel and providence for the benefit of men, and for their capacity to conduct life with the aid and cooperation of the powers and of reason, that these very sources of aid were considered by the race of men past to be gods, the reason being that knowledge of the true god had not yet taken root in their crude minds.

128 At uero in eo libro qui Philosophus inscribitur summa diligentia praecipuaque cura omnes exequitur huius modi quaestiones: priscorum hominum genus omnia quae ad usum hominum uitaeque agendae facultatem diuino consilio prouidentiaque demanant auxiliantibus atque operantibus tam potentiis quam rationibus, haec ipsa quae auxiliantur deos existimasse, propterea quod rudibus animis nondum insedisset ueri dei sciscitatio.

For they were shepherds, woodsmen, and others of the same sort, all deprived of the higher pursuits that define humanity, whose advantageous habitat had enabled them to survive the general destruction wrought by the misfortunes of storm and flood.

Erant enim pastores et siluicaedi ceterique huius modi sine studiis humanitatis, quos cladis publicae superstites fecerat opportuna habitatio ex tempestatum atque illuuionis incommodo.

And poets, who play on human emotions out of a desire for profit, later dressed these matters up, shaping them in their verses and through long, recondite names creating effigies limb by limb, to the point that they even passed the vicious allurements and the most lurid human acts off as those of gods in the grip of passion.

Quae poetae postea blandientes humanis passionibus propter cupiditatem lucri uersibus suis formata membratimque effigiata amplis et reconditis nominibus exornauerunt, usque adeo ut etiam uitiosas hominum illecebras turpissimosque actus deos cognominarent obnoxios passioni.

And so it came to pass that sacrilege rather than the thanks owed by men to divine providence found its point of origin, its birth; and belief in this error grew, thanks to the vain arrogance of foolish men.

Itaque factum ut pro gratia, quae ab hominibus debetur diuinae prouidentiae, origo et ortus sacrilegio panderetur; cuius erroris opinio creuit inconsultorum hominum uanitate.

129. These, for the moment, are the points laid out by Plato concerning the race of demons; our task, however, is briefly to furnish a true account of them, although not down to the level of every detail. It is as follows.

129 Haec ad praesens Plato quidem de daemonum genere disseruit, nos tamen oportet, etsi non usque quaque, ueram eorum breuiter explicare rationem, quae est huius modi.

Plato says that there are in the world five regions or places suitable for living beings, and that they exhibit mutual differences in position owing to the difference in the bodies that inhabit those same places.

Quinque regiones uel locos idem Plato esse dicit in mundo capaces animalium, habentes aliquam inter se differentiam positionum ob differentiam corporum quae inhabitent eosdem locos.

For he says that the highest region is that of pure fire, that next to it is the ethereal region, the corporeal aspect of which is also fire only somewhat denser than that higher celestial fire is, that next is the region of air, that after it is the region of the moist substance the Greeks call hygran ousia, which moist substance is air in its denser state, giving us the air that men breathe; and the lowest and final region is that of earth.

Summum enim esse locum ait ignis sereni, huic proximum aethereum, cuius corpus esse ignem aeque, sed aliquanto crassiorem quam est altior ille caelestis, dehinc aeris, post humectae substantiae, quam Graeci hygran usian appellant, quae humecta substantia aer est crassior, ut sit aer iste quem homines spirant, imus uero atque ultimus locus terrae.

The difference obtaining between regions is found to be the same as between magnitudes as well: the heavenly region is the largest, bringing all things within its embrace, the smallest is that of earth, surrounded by all other bodies, and the rest are intermediate, according to the ratio of a continuous proportion.

Quae porro in locis differentia est, eadem etiam in magnitudinibus inuenitur: caelestis maximus, quippe qui omnia intra complexum suum redigat, breuissimus terrae, quia ceteris omnibus corporibus ambitur, iuxtaque rationem continui competentis ceteri medii.

130. Given, then, that the extreme limits are filled with living beings befitting their nature, the celestial region with stars and the terrestrial one with human beings, it follows that the other places and regions should be considered to be full of rational living beings as well, to prevent any place in the world being left deserted.

130 Cum igitur extimi limites, id est summus atque imus, celebrentur conuenientibus animalibus naturae suae, scilicet ratione utentibus — caelestis quidem stellis, terrestris autem hominibus —, consequens est etiam ceteros locos regionesque interiectas plenas esse rationabilibus animalibus existimari, ne quis mundi locus desertus relinquatur.

For it is absurd to suppose both at once: that human beings—who are fragile o f body in virtue of their inhabiting the lowest region of the world, and whose minds are foolish, impure, and full of regret owing to the emotional inconstancy entailed by their ever-shifting desires—are rational ensouled (living) beings; but that the stars—which are by nature wise and owing to the eternal constancy of their actions subject to no regret, and which are pure and indissoluble of body in virtue of their inhabiting the outermost regions of the all-embracing fire—lack soul and even life.

Etenim est absurdum homines quidem imam mundi regionem inhabitantes fragili corpore, animo cum amentia et sine sinceritate pleno paenitudinis ob inconstantiam commotionum suarum, alias aliis atque aliis placentibus, rationabiles animantes putari; stellas uero prudentis naturae ob aeternam actuum suorum constantiam nulli paenitudini obnoxias, puro minimeque dissolubili corpore, utpote quae extimas ignis cuncta ambientis regiones incolant, sine anima fore, carere etiam uita putare.

The view held by the Hebrews is in accord with this as well, for they claim that the God who conferred order upon the world bade that the Sun’s province should be to rule over the day, and the Moon’s to keep watch over the night, and that he also disposed the other stars as the limits, as it were, between temporal periods and as the signs of years, as indications also of future events.

Cui quidem rei Hebraeorum quoque sententia concinit, qui perhibent exornatorem mundi deum mandasse prouinciam «soli quidem, ut diem regeret, lunae uero, ut noctem tueretur», ceteras quoque stellas disposuisse tamquam limites temporum annorumque signa, indicia quoque futurorum prouentuum.

At the very least, in the absence of a rational and indeed supremely wise ruler none of these things would be able to be accomplished with such order, wisdom, and enduring continuity.

Quae cuncta tam moderate, tam prudenter, tam iugiter continueque agi sine rationabili, quin potius sine sapientissimo rectore non possent.

131. Given, then, that the divine and immortal race of living beings is celestial, associated with the stars, while the temporary, perishable one subject to passion is associated with earth, it is necessary that there should be between these two some intermediate to connect the extreme limits, just as we see in the cases of musical harmony and the world itself.

131 Quare cum sit diuinum quidem et immortale genus animalium caeleste sidereum, temporarium uero et occiduum passionique obnoxium terrenum, necesse est esse inter haec duo medietatem aliquam conectentem extimos limites, sicut in harmonia uidemus et in ipso mundo.

For as among the material elements themselves there are intermediates which by their interposition give binding continuity to the body of the entire world; and as between fire and earth there are air and water as two intermediates which by their mediating contact connect the extreme limits: so it is necessary, given the existence of a living being which is immortal, impassible, and rational (that which is called the celestial) and another which is mortal and subject to passions (our race), that there should be some intermediate race to participate in the celestial as well as terrestrial nature, and that it should be both immortal and subject to passion.

Vt enim sunt in ipsis materiis medietates, quae interpositae totius mundi corpus continuant iugiter, suntque inter ignem et terram duae medietates aeris et aquae, quae mediae tangunt conectuntque extimos limites, sic, cum sit immortale animal et impatibile idemque rationabile, quod caeleste dicitur, existente item alio mortali passionibusque obnoxio, genere nostro, necesse est aliquod genus medium fore, quod tam caelestis quam terrenae naturae sit particeps, idque et immortale esse et obnoxium passioni.

And such, I suppose, is the nature of demons, having a close connection with divinity by virtue of its immortality, and having a close relation with perishable beings in that it is passible, not immune to passions, and whose sense of empathy even looks after us.

Talis porro natura daemonum est, opinor, habens cum diuinitate consortium propter immortalitatem, habens etiam cum occiduis cognationem, quia est patibile nec immune a passionibus, cuius affectus nobis quoque consulit.

132. And to this class belongs that ethereal one which we mentioned as being placed at the second level. The Hebrews call them holy “angels” and say that they stand in the presence of the venerable God’s contemplation, with the highest degree of prudence and acute intelligence, also a wondrous tenacity of memory, devoting themselves with the highest degree of wisdom in their service to divine concerns while prudently aiding human ones — at once observers and executors, and called “demons” {daimons}, I suppose, as though it were daêmones {knowers}: the Greeks refer to those who are all-knowing as daêmones

132 Huius porro generis est illud aethereum, quod in secundo loco commemorauimus positum, quos Hebraei uocant sanctos angelos stareque eos dicunt ante dei uenerabilis contemplationem, summa <prudentia> atque acri intellegentia, mira etiam memoriae tenacitate, rebus quidem diuinis obsequium nauantes summa sapientia, humanis uero prudenter opitulantes idemque speculatores et executores, daemones, opinor, tamquam daëmones dicti; daëmonas porro Graeci scios rerum omnium nuncupant.

. And we should hold, first, that these beings who have been given responsibility for the sensible world imitate in a sense the one whose place they hold (for as god is to an angel, so the angel is to a human being), and second, that they perform for us the service of interpreting and reporting our prayers to god and likewise of interpreting and reporting god’s will to humans, revealing to him our needs and bringing divine aid down to us, the assiduous task of reporting being the reason for their being called “angels.”

Quos quidem praefectos sensili mundo primo quidem uicem imitari aliquam putandum — ut enim deus iuxta angelum, sic angelus iuxta hominem —, dehinc quod usui nobis sint interpretantes et nuntiantes deo nostras preces et item hominibus dei uoluntatem intimantes, illi nostram indigentiam, porro ad nos diuinam opem deferentes; quam ob causam appellati angeli ob assiduum officium nuntiandi.

The whole of Greece, all of Latium, all of the barbarian world, and the expressions of thanks offered up by peoples in the books preserved to perpetuate their memory are testimony to this benefit.

Testis est huius beneficii cuncta Graecia omne Latium omnisque Barbaria gratulationesque populorum libris conditis ad memoriam perpetuitatis.

For the nature of the human race, being exceedingly fragile, is in need of support from a better and superior nature,

Indiget quippe natura generis humani nimium imbecilla suffragio melioris praestantiorisque naturae.

which is why god, the creator and preserver of all things, in willing that there should be a race of men gave the “angels,” or “demons,” responsibility for them, so that through them the men might be rightly guided.

Quam ob causam creator omnium et conseruator deus uolens esse hominum genus praefecit his per quos recte regerentur, angelos siue daemonas.

Nor should the name by virtue of its being imposed indifferently upon good and evil beings be for us a cause for concern, for the name “angels” occasions no concern even though some angels are God’s servants (and those who are, are called holy) but others minions of the adverse power, as you know perfectly well;

133 Nec nos terreat nomen promisce bonis et improbis positum, quoniam nec angelorum quidem terret, cum angeli partim dei sint ministri (qui ita sunt sancti uocantur), partim aduersae potestatis satellites, ut optime nosti.

hence according to the custom of speaking adopted by the Greeks “demons” are as likely to be holy as polluted or tainted.

Igitur iuxta usurpatam penes Graecos loquendi consuetudinem tam sancti sunt daemones quam polluti et infecti.

Concerning the latter there will presently be a more suitable opportunity to explain, but for the moment our discussion should concern the class which Plato describes as characterized by a certain wondrous wisdom and a felicitous memory and docility, in that it is all-knowing, sees into the thoughts of men, and while taking special pleasure in good ones is repelled by those who are wicked, being affected by a pain that arises from a repulsion to that which causes displeasure; for god alone, being of full and perfect divinity, is unaffected by either pain or pleasure.

De quibus mox erit aptior disputandi locus; nunc de eo genere sit sermo quod ait Plato admirabili quadam esse prudentia memoriaque et docilitate felici, quod omnia sciat cogitationesque hominum introspiciat et bonis quidem eximie delectetur, improbos oderit contingente se tristitia quae nascitur ex odio displicentis — solus quippe deus, utpote plenae perfectaeque diuinitatis, neque tristitia neque uoluptate contingitur.

Now, in that all regions of the heaven have been allotted demons as their inhabitants and the powers that inhabit the world’s intermediate abode provide obedient service to the heaven while also looking after the interests of terrestrial beings, communications are said to be conducted back and forth;

134 Cunctis ergo caeli regionibus sortitis daemonas inquilinos agi mutuos commeatus mediam mundi sedem incolentibus potestatibus obsequium caelo praebentibus, etiam terrena curantibus.

and the powers that are ethereal or aerial demons are removed from our vision and other senses, since their bodies have neither fire sufficient to make them visible nor earth sufficient to make their solidity resistant to touch, and the whole of their structure, compounded as it is of pure ether and limpid air, has given cohesion to an indissoluble surface. In consideration of this, some suppose that this region of ours is for good reason named “Hades” because it is aidês, i.e., obscure.

Quae potestates aetherei aereique sunt daemones, remoti a uisu nostro et ceteris sensibus, quia corpora eorum neque tantum ignis habent ut sint perspicua, neque tantum terrae ut soliditas eorum tactui renitatur; totaque eorum compago ex aetheris serenitate et aeris liquore conexa indissolubilem coagmentauit superficiem; ex quo non nulli regionem hanc nostram merito, quod sit aides, hoc est obscura, cognominatam putant.

And Hesiod too is of the opinion that demons are numerous,

Multos porro esse daemonas etiam Hesiodo placet.

for he says that there are 3 x 10,000 . of them and that they are engaged in both obedient service to god and caring for mortals; he was not contriving a fixed sum for their numbers but multiplying 10,000 . by the power of the whole number 3

Ait enim ter esse eorum decem milia eosque esse tam in obsequio dei quam in tutela mortalium, non certam summam conficiens numeri eorum, sed iuxta uim pleni numeri trium multiplicans decem milia.

135. The definition of a demon, then, will be as follows: “A demon is a rational, immortal, passible, ethereal living being engaged in the care of human beings.”

135 Erit ergo definitio daemonis talis: «Daemon est animal rationabile, immortale, patibile, aethereum, diligentiam hominibus impertiens».

 “Living being,” because it is a soul using a body; “rational,” because wise; “immortal,” because it does not shift from one body to another but always uses the same one; “passible,” because of the fact that it deliberates, for a choice cannot be made without experiencing a passion; and called “ethereal” owing to its location and type of body; “engaged in the care of human beings,” on account of the will of god, who provided them as guardians.

«Anima» quidem quia est anima corpore utens; «rationabile» uero quia prudens; «immortale» porro quia non mutat corpus aliud ex alio, sed eodem semper utitur; «patibile» uero propterea quia consulit, neque enim dilectus haberi potest sine affectus perpessione; «aethereum» item ex loco uel ex qualitate corporis cognominatum; «diligentiam» uero «hominibus impertiens» propter dei uoluntatem qui custodes dedit.

This same definition will apply also to an aerial demon, except that the latter type frequents the air and is the more disposed to experiencing passion the closer it comes to Earth.

Eadem haec erit definitio aerei quoque daemonis, nisi quod hic in aere mansitat et, quanto est terrae propinquior, eo passioni affectus accomodatior.

The other types are by comparison neither praiseworthy nor beneficial, nor are they always invisible but can sometimes be seen, shifting from shape to shape.

Reliqui daemones neque ita probabiles neque ita commodi nec inuisibiles semper, sed interdum contemplabiles, cum in diuersas conuertuntur figuras.

They also don the shadowy forms of bloodless images, taking on the filth of corporeal density, often serving even as avengers o f crimes and impiety by sanction o f divine justice.

Exsanguium quoque simulacrorum umbraticas formas induuntur obesi corporis illuuiem trahentes, saepe etiam scelerum et impietatis ultores iuxta iustitiae diuinae sanctionem.

They are also the cause of gratuitous and frequent suffering, for owing to their proximity to the Earth they are affected by earthly lust and have an excessively high level of communion with matter, which the ancients referred to as the malign soul.

Vltro etiam plerumque laedunt; tanguntur enim ex uicinia terrae terrena libidine habentque nimiam cum silua communionem, quam malignam animam ueteres uocabant.

Some refer to these demons or demons of this type as, strictly speaking, “deserter angels,” and we should bring no case against them over the expression.

Hos quidam et huius modi daemonas proprie uocant desertores angelos; quibus nulla quaestio referenda est super nomine.

136. Many followers of Plato’ teaching think, however, that demons are souls that have been set free from corporeal service, the ethereal demons being those precisely of praiseworthy men and the malicious ones those of the wicked, and that the same souls take on a new earthly body only in the thousandth year; and Empedocles similarly thinks that these souls become demons that survive for very long periods, so too Pythagoras, in his Golden Verses:

136 Plerique tamen ex Platonis magisterio daemonas putant animas corporeo munere liberatas, laudabilium quoque uirorum aethereos daemonas, improborum uero nocentes, easdemque animas anno demum millesimo terrenum corpus resumere, Empedoclesque non aliter longaeuos daemonas fieri has animas putat, Pythagoras etiam in suis Aureis uersibus:

When you set out for ether, free, with your body laid aside,

Corpore deposito cum liber ad aethera perges,

you will escape being human by being made a god of gracious ether.

euades hominem factus deus aetheris almi.

Plato is evidently in disagreement with these words when in the Republic he has the tyrant’s soul tormented by avengers after death, from which it is apparent that a soul is one thing and a demon another (for that which is tormented and that which torments are necessarily different things), that the craftsman god established the demons prior to creating our souls, and that his intention was that the latter should require the aid of demons while the former should watch over the latter.

Quibus Plato consentire minime uidetur, cum in Politia tyranni animam facit excruciari post mortem ab ultoribus, ex quo apparet aliam esse animam, alium daemonem, siquidem quod cruciatur et item quod cruciat diuersa esse necesse sit, quodque opifex deus ante daemonas instituit quam nostras animas creauit quodque has indigere auxilio daemonum, illos his uoluerit praebere tutelam.

At the same time, he thinks that certain souls which have conducted their life exceptionally through the third incarnation are by merit of their virtue raised to the aerial or even ethereal zones, protected from the necessity of incarnation.

Quasdam tamen animas quae uitam eximie per trinam incorporationem egerint uirtutis merito aereis uel etiam aethereis plagis consecrari putat a necessitate incorporationis immunes.

137. So much for the nature of demons.

137 Hactenus de natura daemonum.

He treats next the race of mortals, and first human beings; and of those the male sex, explaining that the rational part of the soul is endowed with a double capacity: one that contemplates the nature that is the Same and forever immutable, the state of mental concentration from which wisdom gathers its strength; and the other, that which forms opinions about mutable and generated things, which the term “prudence” fits.

Deinde de mortalium genere disserit, ac primo de hominibus eorumque ipsorum sexu uirili, rationabilem partem animae duplici uirtute praeditam docens: alteram quae contemplatur eandem semper immutabilemque naturam, ex qua intentione mentis conualescit sapientia, alteram item quae mutabilium generatorumque opinatrix est, cui prudentiae uocabulum congruit.

He says, furthermore, that each of the two powers of soul was bestowed by the highest, intelligible god upon the soul of the corporeal universe, namely, of the sensible world, and that in lacking reason and being subject to corruption the other parts of soul—i.e., the appetitive one associated with the senses, spatial movement, that by which bodies derive nourishment, and the body as a whole—were assigned to mortals on the command and order of the architect god through the agency of the powers generated by him.

Vtramque porro hanc animae potentiam a summo et intellegibili deo dicit uniuersi corporis, mundi sensilis uidelicet, animae datam, ceteras ratione carentes et occiduas animae portiones, id est appetitum sensuum, locularem motum, quaque corpora nutriuntur totumque corpus, iussu et ordinatione architecti dei a generatis ab ipso potestatibus assignata esse mortalibus propterea ne,

The purpose of this was to prevent everything from sharing in a single lot by virtue of common descent from an intelligible craftsman god, and to prevent the perfection of the universe from being rendered defective by having all that exists be immortal—by the nonexistence of any mortal seeds, for the seeds of a lower nature exist within the exemplar, i.e., within the intelligible world.

si haec etiam ab opifice et intellegibili deo forent, unius essent fortunae omnia immortalibusque existentibus cunctis nullo existente mortali semine claudicaret uniuersitatis perfectio, cum in exemplari, hoc est intellegibili mundo, inferioris naturae semina intellegibiliter extent.

138 . Let us look now at the language of the text:

138 Videamus nunc sermonis textum.

O gods, you gods of whom I am at once the craftsman and father

«Di deorum, quorum opifex idem paterque ego».

The conceit of the dialogue is that of a drama, which addresses the question of its literary form, but its language is of a more august variety.

Dramatica est dialogi, quod ad dispositionem pertinet, adumbratio, sermo uero speciei augustioris.

With this kind of speech the mythic interpretation of hidden mysteries is unquestionably suitable.

Decet denique hoc in genere orationis arcanorum interpretatio fabulosa.

For several reasons, then, the author is in no way acting inappropriately in introducing the craftsman god as speaking before an assembly and sanctioning the tasks he wished to be observed by those who had been begotten by him. For one thing, it allows readers to relax, for difficult subject matter is the more readily admitted to the mind’s inner recesses if it is seasoned with agreeable language. Again, once their minds have been drawn into imagining his speaking before an assembly, the shift to an unanticipated style of address combined with a religious sensibility prevents the present difficulty from being perceived.

Nihil ergo inconuenienter facit auctor, quod opificem deum inducit contionantem sancientemque a se genitis quae obseruari uellet, multis rationibus: primo recreationis legentium causa, quippe res difficilis lepido sermone condita facilius ad intima mentis admittitur; deinde inopinatae allocutionis uarietas mixta religioni raptis animis ad imaginem contionantis praesentem laborem sentiri non sinit;

Then too, as a work establishes a new start a change in the mode of instruction stirs up renewed strength in the listener, for every listener fades when confronted with the annoyance of a uniform style of speech and becomes more attentive once hopes for a new literary form are raised.

tum immutatio magisterii nouo instituto operis exordio nouas uires excitat audientis, siquidem et deficit omnis auditor aduersum molestiam uniformis eloquii, porro attentior fit, cum nouae spes dispositionis ostenditur.

In this passage he studiously asserts doctrines that are indeed his own but in such a way that they have the appearance, not of having been invented by him, but of having been proclaimed by the god— not proclaimed, however, in speech which owing to the concealments of the human mind employs vocal sound in order to declare the inner processes (for god is incapable of being prevented by any obstacle from understanding and knowing all things), but by the divine law which Plato refers to as an “inevitable decree.”

Hoc in loco dogmata etiam sua studiose asserit, ut non tam a se inuenta quam a deo praedicta uideantur, praedicta autem non illo sermone qui est positus in sono uocis ad declarandos motus intimos propter humanae mentis inuolucra (deus enim nullo obstaculo prohiberi potest ab intellectu scientiaque omnium rerum), <sed> lege diuina quam Plato «ineuitabilem» appellat «promulgationem».

139. What, then, does god say?

139 Quid ergo dicit deus?

O gods, you gods of whom I am at once the craftsman and father

«Di deorum, quorum idem opifex paterque ego».

This is done with perfect clarity; for he produces a king sanctioning for his nobles that the law given them should make its way down to the other powers and souls as well.

Praeclare; facit enim regem optimatibus sancientem, ut lex illis data etiam ad ceteras potestates atque animas commearet.

He mentions that he is their craftsman and parent: craftsman, meaning the one by whom they were made, and father, as the one who assumes providential care over their being eternal and blessed.

«Opificem se et parentem» eorum esse commemorat, opificem quidem utpote a quo facti sint, patrem uero ut qui consulat prouide quatenus aeterni ac beati sint.

Insofar as you are my works, because he is the father and craftsman, not of their being, but of their coming to be; for those nobles, i.e., stars, are not intelligible but sensible, whereas their maker is supremely intelligible.

«Opera siquidem uos mea», quia pater est et opifex non substantiae sed generationis; illi enim optimates, id est stellae, non sunt intellegibiles sed sensiles, at uero fabricator eorum intellegibilis apprime.

Then he explains to them of what nature they are and that they subsist by virtue of composition;

Deinde docet eos cuius naturae sint quodque ex compositione subsistant.

and things that subsist by virtue of composition are subject to dissolution for the same reasons as those that explain their subsistence; nevertheless they themselves are immune to dissolution; rightly so, in that they do not exist by virtue of any process of birth in time but because of the wish of the highest god, which traverses the whole of time from its origins.

Porro quae ex compositione subsistunt dissolubilia sunt isdem rationibus quibus subsisterent; ipsi tamen indissolubiles; merito, non enim sunt ex ullo ortu temporario sed ex uoluntate summi dei emensa omnem temporum antiquitatem.

But he who grants that they are immune to dissolution must concede that they are also without any process of birth; but what has no beginning is surely without an end, and what has no end is without a process of birth.

Qui uero indissolubiles eos esse confitetur sine ullo quoque ortu concedat necesse est; quod uero initium non habet, sine fine certe est, et quod finem non habet sine ortu est.

Divine, moreover, and immortal are the names by which he says the rational power, i.e., reason, is called, whereas mortal and conjoined—rather, woven together, as he himself says—are the things which, I suppose, exist defectively, namely, irascibility and pleasure

«Diuinum» autem et «immortale» cognomentum uocat «rationis potentiam», id est rationem, mortalia porro et associata, immo, ut ipse ait, «attexta», quae sunt, opinor, in uitiis, iram uidelicet et uoluptatem.

140. He turns next to the generation of human souls, to make its nature clearly understood, and he persists with the myth which he inserted, his purpose being to clarify the words spoken.

140 Deinde genituram humanarum prosequitur animarum, ut natura eius liquido comprehendatur, et perseuerat in fabula quam interposuit, propterea ut quae dicuntur manifesta sint.

For once again he introduces mixing bowls and the mixture and formation of the powers from which the world soul had been formed, and from what remains of these he devises our souls, namely, from the twofold nature of the Same and Other ^[37a] and o f indivisible and divisible Being, which were not of the same unalloyed purity ^[41d] as before. For soul, which was forged out of the purest materials, was incapable of descending to union with the enormous defects of matter or of conforming with the fragility of the mortal body.

Rursus enim cratera proponit et mixturam concretionemque earum potentiarum ex quibus mundi anima concreuerat exque reliquiis earum nostras machinatur, uidelicet ex illa duplici natura eiusdem et item diuersi <necnon indiuiduae> diuiduaeque substantiae, quae non ut antea sincerae puritatis erant; neque enim anima, quae ex sincerissimis excuderetur, in tanta siluae uitia posset incidere nec congruere cum mortalis corporis fragilitate.

But he set about blending it, he says , in more or less the same way,

«Miscebat» autem, inquit, «eodem propemodum genere ...

although there did not emerge the same purity and clarity of results.

nec tamen eadem exoriebatur puritas serenitasque prouentuum».

Rightly so, for in the souls that give life to the kinds of living beings which are subject to death there is found, not pure reason and unalloyed intellect, but some measure of irascibility as well as desire.

Merito quoniam in his animis quae uiuificant morti obnoxia genera animalium, non pura ratio intellectusue sincerus sed aliquantum tam iracundiae quam libidinis inuenitur.

Thus the blended soul itself, he says, is also cut lengthwise ^[36b], and one part of it is left whole to account for the circumlation of the nature called the Same, from which all divine beings understand, and those who understand become wise, but the part that is of the nature of the Other he cuts six ways ^[36d], by harmonic, arithmetic, and geometrical means, to account for the rationally proportioned movement of the planets, as demonstrated earlier. This is the power of the soul called opinion ^[37b], under whose guidance we gain knowledge of the things that come to be and pass away.

Mixta igitur, inquit, anima ipsa etiam in longum secatur eiusque una pars integra relinquitur iuxta naturae, quae uocatur «eadem», circumactionem — ex quo intellegunt diuina omnia sapientesque fiunt qui intellegunt —, «diuersae» uero «naturae» partem secat sexies iuxta motum rationabilem planetum harmonicis et arithmeticis et geometricis medietatibus, ut supra demonstratum est; haec est animae uirtus quae «opinio» dicitur, qua duce quae nascuntur et occidunt noscimus.

And the reason why this constitution of the soul was effected was, I suppose, so that the same soul might be capable of knowing both the intelligibles and sensible being, in other words, so that it might have within itself the rational capacities corresponding to both natures.

Quae constitutio animae propterea facta est ut esset, opinor, eadem anima scia tam intellegibilium quam substantiae sensilis, utpote quae rationes utriusque naturae habeat in semet ipsa.

This is the establishment of the rational soul as effected by the venerable god and fixed ^[44d] within the countenance of man, when within the providentially established limits of the eternal law it perceives the opportunities for vice.

Haec est animae rationabilis institutio a uenerabili deo facta in hominis «innexa» uultum, cum occasiones uitiorum percipit aeternae legis prouida moderatione.

141. Next he says ^[41c-e] that he selected souls equal in number with the stars and coupled them one to one, and after mounting them in the appropriate vehicles he bade them gaze upon the nature of the universe.

141 Deinde ait «delegisse animas stellarum numero pares singulasque singulis comparasse easdemque uehiculis competentibus superimpositas uniuersae rei naturam spectare iussisse».

Before producing the seed for the sowing of souls he mounted souls on stars, one to one, so that by employing the same stars as vehicles they might contemplate the entire nature of the world in the course of the stellar orbit, the point of his explanation being that without the aid of divinity the soul on its own is incapable of gazing upon and understanding anything divine.

Antequam sementem faceret animarum, superimposuit stellis singulis singulas animas, quo isdem uehiculis usae in circuitu stellarum cunctam mundi naturam considerarent, illud docens quod sine diuinitatis adminiculo ipsa per se anima nihil ualeat spectare atque intellegere diuinum.