The Commentaries on the Timaeus of Plato — trans. Thomas Taylor

relic* in the media. Anti tin mixture of the media, defined according to the prevalence ol one thing, evidently « hanges the whole.

“ Co-aclapting by force the nature ot ditlcient which it was difficult to mingle, to the nature ot same.”

I It) w is the nature of dilft rent difficult to Ik* mingled * lueause it has a sepa¬ rating and dividing power, ami is the cause of progressions and multiplications. 13 ut every divine heing begins his energy from himself. Hence also th«* nature of different separates itself from other things and from itself. For it generates multitude in itself. On this account, it is said in the Sophisla, that it makes Imth other tilings and itself to he non-heings, separating them from other beings, lienee’ll is ditheult to he mingled, possessing this dilheulty, not troin .u * ideiit or any deviation, hut having an essence which is the cause ot ot lit mess, oft u* 1111- confused hypostasis of forms, and of uniningled simplicity. Possessing likewise Midi a power as this, it is a certain contrary hotli to sameness and to essence . 1 And it is contrary indeed to sameiu because sameness is the cause of union, communion and connexion ; hut dilleiviicc, of separation, of an inability to he mingled, and ofotherness, lint it is a certain contrary to essence because essence is being, but difference is non being, as is d< moiistraled in flic Sophisla. l'or the nature of different b< mg divided into minute parts, lwcomes the principal of non-lacing. That we may not, therefore, be involved in ambiguity by perceiving an at-once-cullected mixture of tin- genera, lie in the fu>t place mingles same with different* and sa\s that divinity <o-adapted the nature of difh-reiirr to that of sameness, as harmonically conjoining it with middle sameness. Afterwards, he

1 l'or r r o> tiiv uirmi litre, it i» necessary lo reait *710, ri|e iraor.

* Insle.nl of ro Mii’-( r ro Our<(ny ^171 uva 111 tins jilace, il b oliviomly reijimile to rcail ro ravToy ry Curifiy /o>* roiy.

HOOK III ]

TIM.EUS OF PLATO.

4<> mingled both with essence. For Plato having said, that divinity co-adapted tin; natim* of dillerence to that of sameness adds, “ that he mingled them with f«( nee, and made nn thing from the three." For because osence is c« nnective of the two genera same and different, but thesi; an; co-ordinate to each other, it is necessary that tliese should m the first place be mingled with each other, and in the second place, that both should be mingled with essence. And thus much con¬ cerning the order in the mixture. The farce , however, employed in the mixture, i^ not adventitious, nor such as the force which is preternatural, but indicates a transcendency and abundance of power; for such is demiurgic power. .So that it is able to unite difference, to divide sameness, and to p oduce one harmony from both.

The farce , however, employed in the mixture, i^ not adventitious, nor such as the force which is preternatural, but indicates a transcendency and abundance of power; for such is demiurgic power. .So that it is able to unite difference, to divide sameness, and to p oduce one harmony from both.

“ But having mingled these two with essence, and made one thing from the three, he again divided this whole, into appropriate parts.”

As the equal and the unequal are conjoined with quantity;' and as all quan¬ tity is either equal or unequal, or rather is equal ami at the same time unequal, for every quantity at once participates of both ; and as the .similar and the dissimilar are conjoined with quality, and every quality is both similar and dissimilar; thus, also, same and different are co-existent with essence ; and all essence participates of sameness and difference. For these are essentially, or according to existence itself, inherent in things, and not according to quantity or quality. Hence they are essential, being the media between the divine genera, and those things which are inherent in quantities and qualities. For sameness, indeed, is suspended from bound, but difference from infinity ; just as similitude and equality, are suspended from sameness, but dissimilitude and inequality from difference. Hence, also, Plato in the Philebus, produces bound and infinity from [the highest] Hod: for the) are divine genera. But in the Sophista, he denominates same and different the genera 1 of being. And the former subsist about the one, but the latter about essence. Again, also, you see how much more venerable Plato is than all other physiologists, and even than Aristotle himself. J’or they making their principles to be contraries, introduce organic, material, and partible contrarieties. And even the most venerable of them, refer contraries to excess and defect; badly assuming the privation of measure in the principles of things. For measure is more divine than the privation of measure. But Plato refers contraries to

Tim. l*lnl.

1 l or u/errp rornv try here, read utntp ry rnny.
* For you roi> hitci lu re, read yo-i; tov orr-ji.
VOL. II.

G

p. 50

PROCl-L’S ON THE

p. 111

For measure is more divine than the privation of measure. But Plato refers contraries to

Tim. l*lnl.

1 l or u/errp rornv try here, read utntp ry rnny.
* For you roi> hitci lu re, read yo-i; tov orr-ji.
VOL. II.

G

p. 50

PROCl-L’S ON THE

p. 111

sameness and difference, through which he comprehends all the contrarieties in soul, in nature, and in body ; and he places these in the Demiurgus, in order that he inav trite to them generative, cosmurgie,* immaterial, and exempt powers. Having likewise placed them there, lie constitutes the soul from them, producing from these, that w hich is as it were the subject of it, and the being of it, s,> far as being, and not so fir as ,t is a being with a certain quality, in order that it may imitate primary being. 1 'or he afterwards assigns to the soul harmony, torm, powers, and energies, thus rciid» ring the discussion ol it peilect. l’or we shall be able to sum \ its dignity, ai d its order in the world, which is of i ruling nature, if we perceive how by all the gi nera that are in it, it contains mundane essences ; how 1 1\ its ow n harmony, it co-hannom/es the whole world ; how !»y its own figure, it comprehends all mundane forms and ligun alter what manner, by the powers that are in it, it is able to perl- < t all physical, and all rational, or artificial powers; % and bow In its ow n proper • nf rgies, it excites mundane productions.