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

* 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

to parts. Hence also the union in these is obscure am! evanescent. Ilut in the soul both have a iniilille subsistence, in away adapted to it. And if indeed Plato had spoken concerning intellect and soul, he would have said, that the Dt-miurgus ap¬ plied the first to the middle, and if about body and soul, that he applied the middle to the last. But since he teaches us concerning the psychical duad, he say > that the Deniiurgus applied middle to middle. I 'el liajis loo, lit* says tins, be« a Use t lie con¬ tact of the soul is properly of a middle nature. 1'or the last part of the dianoetie. and the summit of the doxa-fie power, form the media of all the ps\ < bit al com¬ position. But tlu m 1 are conjoined to t leb oilier, and conformably to tin >e, one union is produced ot lbe>e two lives. lor in evt ry order t»l beings, the bases of first are united to the summits of >ei olid try n itiui '. The figure X however, pro¬ duced hv this applic atioii, lias a uit at allinity to the universe, and also to tin* soul. And a* I , orf>hi/n/ rclati s a character of this Lind, viz. X, surrounded by a arch,' is tilth the Ift/fitians a symbol of' tin mundane soul. I’m per'haps it signifies, through the riirlit lines indeed, tin* hilnriucd promes-mm of tin* sold, but through tin* cir¬ cle it-. mu I* »i in life, and regression according to an iutt-lh i tual « iri'le ^ e must not however conceive, that Plato thought a div me essence eolibl be iliseov'♦■red through these tiling'. I or tin* truth ot real beings • iniiot, as some lain y. be known from characters, positions, and vocal emissions. But these are alter all¬ ot her man ii« r symbols ot div iin* nalon - l or as a a i tain motwu, so tiheu ise a 11 riant figure and colour, are symbols of this laud, as the initiators into mysteries say. I or ditlerent characters and also diHeivnl signatures arc adapted to dithrent (mils; just as the present character is adapti d to tin soul. For the complication of the right biu*s indicates tlu* union «• I i hiloinu d lib* l or a ri"ht bin* itsi !t nUn, a symbol ot a life which (lows from on lii"li. In mdt r however, that we may not, omitting the tilings l!n*iiisi Ives, be loo busily employed about tin* theory ot the character, Plato adds “ as it were,' indicating that tills is assumed as a veil, and fur the sake of concealment, thus endeavouring to invest with figure the mitigured nature of the sutil.

“ Afterwards lie bent them into a circle, connecting them botli with themselves, and with each other, in such a manner that their extremities might be combined in one, directly opposite to the point ol their mutual intersection. ’

That what is said hv Plato manifests through right lines the progression ot

’

That what is said hv Plato manifests through right lines the progression ot

* lustinJ of m/.Xoi m lias plate, il is requisite to read i;Oj nook III.]

TIM AX'S or PLATO

I IfI

the soul, ami its providential attention to alter-motive natures, is I think evident tromvvh.it has heen already observed. And I also think it is proper to deliver the inlleetion into a eirrie analogous to these tilings. For since regressions an* in omit i in lit v with progressions, recalling fto the principle] things which have proceeded from it, lienee Plato says, that the light lines were Is nt into circles. Ami since also, the vital nature of the soul is intellectual, and npncataslutir, and evolves inti Iligihli- multitude, hence it is restored to the .same tiling again. Iieeaiise likewise, it moves alter-nintive natures, the soul being converted to, and moving it sell’. a*» uding to all these particulars, circulation pertains to it. For the progression of it e> in continuity with its regression ; since it is not imperfect. And the motion of alter-inotive natures is suspended tmin the self-uiotive life. As the one of these also, is not siibv* rte*d, hut perfected by the other, after the sanu in.inner the composition ot .he right lilies is nut destroyed through the in¬ flection into < irclcs. hut the former remaining, the circles are generated. For all things subsist at on* e in the soul, so that as the continuous is simultaneous with til*' discrete, thus also me circular with tin* rectilinear. For it is necessary that the right and the circular should remain, just as the impartible and the partible sul>- sU( i _”ih<T in tin* s*itil. For the Demiiirgus makes eternally, so that the things vvhieii ;nv generated l»y him, an* entirely perpetual. Hence the right and the circular line are simultaneous in the soul, whatever each of them may he.

For the Demiiirgus makes eternally, so that the things vvhieii ;nv generated l»y him, an* entirely perpetual. Hence the right and the circular line are simultaneous in the soul, whatever each of them may he.

What therefore are tin* twofold circles, and how arc they in the highest degree adapt* <1 to the soul l If tin n the essence of the soul proceeding from intellect, was such as to l><‘ * ntirelv diilcrcnt from tin* intell* dual pccnli irity, the circular form would not he adapted to it. But since it is intellectual according to par¬ ticipation, and ail evolved and Informed int* llecl, oil account of its intellectual nature, it is a circle unligured, without magnitude, and self-motive ; hut on ac¬ count of its dyadic 1 nature, it is a twofold circle. For its progression also, in the same maun* r as its regression, is twofold, and its reason is twofold ; so that its int*-ll< dual participation is twofold according to its lives. .Since however, these hv« s are conjoined according to their fust progression, hut in proceeding are divided from each other, hut after the progression are again converted to their principles, hence they are again conjoined according to the peculiarity its*-|f of regr* ssion ; the first adaptation of the lines manifesting permanency ; hut their separation from eaeli other by division, their progression ; and their inflection/ their regression again to the same thing. For tin* more divine life which subsists

1 for (inttihkov Ii*t*\ il i* olmoutly nrrcnary to r*a*t ivufu>ov.

* \flrr rt)»tt nw' oAAijXwr t^iww in the original, the word* rqy wpvcfer, r»j« tt garanaftyrm arc c»idcntlv wauling.

p. 120

IMtOCLUS ON T11E

[BOOK Ilf*