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

For the soul is allotted this power, and also that which is productive of the life in itself, from its father. Since however, the psychical life is tw ofold, the one heiii£ diunoetic, hut the other doxa>lic, two lines present themselves, and are l>ent into two circles.

In short therefore, the essence of the soul, hein*; a whole and consisting of parts, is harmonized nmnher. Hut its life is rectilinear, and is uniform and In¬ formed And ils intellect i> dianoetic and doxa-tic. For tliere are in it Im- intr, life, and inti Heel. Oi rather prior to the gnostic, perceiv iii” that the vital pow ers are m themselves at one and the same tune tian-itive, and self-motive, we must say, that the ri"lit hue aiiuinlirates the transitive, hut the circle, the self-motive nature of these powers. For they are moved from themselves to themselves. 11 t no Timaus delivering to ns in what is here said, the \ ital motion hy its»-lf alone, assumes the rectilinear, and the circular motion, hut in what follows unfolds the gnostic motions of the eiri h-s ; the soul now In ruining sell-motive, in coiiseipienee of the whole of it inov in*; itself. It therefore, we now admit that tin: ri*_;ht lines are lives, and these essential; oil which account aUo, the I)eiiiiui”us made the composition ot the soul itsi li to he rei tiinn ir, as p<isM-ssiii<r hie hy its v» rv exist¬ ence ;—if wc admit this, tin n we mti -t s,»y, that the « in le manifests \\ hat the ipia litv is of tin* form of this life, viz. that it is self-moved, he^inniu^ from, and returning to its* It; and that it is not hk« (lie lit« of irrational natures, tending to externals as it were in a liidit line, as in ver lit 1114 aide to t oiivi i^e to itself, and as having an appetit* dir* ( tt d to otln r things placed externally to itsell 1 or the st If motive nature is moved truin itsell to itsell, sees itself, ami is present with itself, lienee also, such a form of life as this is circular. lor in a circle, the same tiling is the end and the hc^iuniii^, in the same manner as 111 that which is converted to, he”ms from, and ends in itself". I’lie ri^lit line therefore and tin* circle of tin-soul, are without interval; the former heim; I lie linage of life fsimplvl, hut the latter of life couverlive to itsell, and not absolutely of all life. I dr hoth these may he surveyed in souls; the ri^lil line indeed, according to the transi¬ tions of appetites; hut the circle a< coniine to a circumduction from the satin things to the same. And this Socrates knowing, says in the Fhadrus, that souls are carried round lira circle, revolving under iulrllieihh-s as ohjecLs of desire, lieine at different times happily afh i ted hy diflerent things, and n turning' from the same objects to the same. \\ hy therefore, should we any longer fear those skilful IVripateties, who ask us, what kind of line l*!ato here assumes f Is it

IiO O K 111.]

TI.M.TXS or PL \T< >

p. 117

\\ hy therefore, should we any longer fear those skilful IVripateties, who ask us, what kind of line l*!ato here assumes f Is it

IiO O K 111.]

TI.M.TXS or PL \T< >

p. 117

physical line? lint this would lip absurd : for this is the rnd of bodies. Is it tlioii a mathematical line? Hut tliis is not splt-moiivr, and is not essence. Plato how¬ ever says,' that the soul is an essence, and is spparatr from bodies. We say therefore, that they in vain make tin sr inquiries. For long before this, we have not erased asserting that this line is essential. And prior to us Xenoeratrs calls a line of this kind indivisible. I 1 nr it would be ridiculous in anv one to think, that there is an indivisible magnitude. It is evident however, that Xenoerates thought it requisite to rail the essential reason of a line an indivisible* line. Rut Plato, for the sale of concealment, employed mathematical names, as veils of the truth of things, in the same manner as thcnligis/.s employed fables, and the Pythagoreans symbols. For it is possible in images to survey paradigms, and through the former to pass to tin latter. Against sueh men however, as these Peripatetics, who are contentious, no arguments are sufficient. Rut let us return to the words of Plato, and direi t our attention to each of them.

Since therefore, the soul is one, is divided according to its parts, and is both one and many, Plato denominates it tins, as l>< inir one, but all, as b< ing multitude, an i\ composition, as both ; whirl) also show> that the csseitee of it differs both from things dis< ri le, and things continuous, For these are without communion 1 with each otlu r. Rut the soul i* one, and at the same Iim<• multitude, and is discrete, and continued. Since Imwevi r tin- psyehical reasons are Informed ; for the soul is of an ambiguous nature, and has two faces, conformabli/ to its para¬

Rut the soul i* one, and at the same Iim<• multitude, and is discrete, and continued. Since Imwevi r tin- psyehical reasons are Informed ; for the soul is of an ambiguous nature, and has two faces, conformabli/ to its para¬ digm, so that it in teller tually perceives the impartible essence through the circh of tin same, but contains ami connects the partible essence, through the circle of the different ; — lienee Plato rails it double. Rut because it has the same reasons or ratios, above and beneath, and not as some fancy, the duple ratios here, but the triple there, on this account, lie delivers it to us divided according to length. For this div ision alone, pvt serves every when- the same ratios. Rut the scission itself exhibits demiurgic si etion, which is appropriate to the l)i miurgiis. For the dead is seated by him, and is refulgent w ith intellectual sections, as some one of the (iods savs. 4 Moreover, the won Is “ middle to middle" indicate perhaps, that the division and contact of things intangible, are adapted to the psychical middle : for thev subsist in a middle way. For in intellect also there is division, ltccau.se there is difference, but it subsists primarily, and as it were occultly, and indivisible. In sensible* likewise there is division, but according to an ultimate distribution in-

* for fynenv lirrc, I rr.nl ipij/jir.

* Tlir word tiTVftov oiiulted in tlic original.

* For nm >jra here, it is ncccssarv lo read asoirovijra:

* Tim is asserted in ouc of the Cbahlcau oracles.

p. 116

I'KOCLDS ON THE

BOOK lll.j