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

For the inilividual which was generated from non being according to a certain pt rioil, ih parts into non hi mg [again], since motion Irom the same to the same, is a |MTiod

Time therefore, measures all things, and defines the periods of all things, as far as to the last ol beings. And the Demiurgus added this to moveable natures, in order that tin \ might unit ite the continued permaiu m y of intellect in i ternity * itsi If, through the periodical progression Irom tin* same to the same, whu h tune i,,:p.tits to all moveable beings. Flic multitude however, Ireipiently confound the nature of things, not distinguishing between what is adapted to truly-existing 1m ui-s, and to such as are gem rat. d. Hut in a partii ular manner, the ignorance concerning eternity and time, produces this din* contusion, and illegality. I lie* similitude of the things likewise, operati s something. 1 or last are not separat. d from liist natures, but are suspended from, and proceed according to them, and become invested with the form of images. It is also a dire thing, for those who

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hook iv.]

TIM,-EUS OF PLATO.

‘211 have not a scientific knowledge of similitudes, to reason falsely, and transfer some things to others, to he persuaded to associate with images as if lliev were para¬ digms, and to think that a primordial essence is nothin}; else than its \ isilile intake. Perceiving therefore, annul; sensihles, the mixture ot being with non I wing, and the domination of being in a certain respect, when we say that a thing i<, hut of non-being in a certain respect, when we assert concerning it, that it was, or tli.it it i dll be, we timister these to the eternal order of real lieiugs, where nothing is past, nor any tiling will he future, nor in short, will Is changed, and where there is no progression of time, nor representation of lwing according to privation; hut where there is true essence, and truly-existing being, an invariahie sameness of subsistence, the all m the now, and the ends subsistin'.; at once, not as ditlerent in dith rent things, hut as the same with their subjects. For in things m which as I may say, the whole ot the liyparxis consists of lieauty and goodness, w< 11 belli:; does not difli-r from existence.

“ Hut tin uns, and the nil/ he, a.c adapted to be asserted of veneration proceedin'; in time, for these arc motions. It ts not however, lit, that the nature w hich always subsists with invariable sameness, innnoveablv, should become through time, either older, or younger, or should formerly' have been generated, or he now generated, or altogether w ill be hereafter; or should receive any such things as generation adapts to the natures that arc borne along in the sensible region. Hut these are generated species of time imitating eternity, and circulating according to number.”

Hut these are generated species of time imitating eternity, and circulating according to number.”

Tin •sc three things, savs l’lato, pertain, on account of time, to generation; one, the tens and the will be ; the second, to bieomc younger and older; and lh<‘ third, to hah bei n g < nerntid Jornn r/i /, or to In now generat'd, or to be hen af ti r. f It t hi m i , the divine lainhlirlms says that time prod i tees the fii -t in the realm'- of gem ration, as proceeding from real heing ; hut the second, a* being impelled from life; and tiie third, as being siopr uded from the mt< llectual ordi r. Hut these things In mg asserted w ith great wisdom, in the first plaee lie impures, it it is nuoe prop* r to survey t!u in as three, and not as two, understanding by the expression in have been genetttfed formerly, the younger or older, and also by the expressions, to be non- generated, and to be "hereaf ter ; ill order that it may not only he erroneous to adapt any thing n| this kind to the finds according to the Ijeing generated, hut also aeeordnig to all the parts of time, and generation. In the next place, recurring to the loginning of the whole of what JL'lalo now says, it must l>e const-

PROCLUS ON TIIH

[noon iv.

* 21‘2

In the next place, recurring to the loginning of the whole of what JL'lalo now says, it must l>e const-

PROCLUS ON TIIH

[noon iv.

* 21‘2

(li-rcil, w lu-thor wr can rightly assert the two alone of veneration, I mean the teas, and the u ill be, or that also, which is as it were tlu middle of them, the is ; which is not now named, because the ctcviuil is pertains to intr lligibles, lest the homonymy should a-aiu produce disturbance in what is said. Moreover, it iseiid. lit to every one, that each linage participates in a c« rtain r» sped ol its paradigm, but that tin* whole world, in an especial manner participates of the intelligible. So that :f truly-» \istimr bein -4 is in the intelligible, bring will al-o after a certain manner, exist in the sensible world. 7/ic is however, is not con-numerated with the tens, and the will be, 1m < ause that which is properly is, is not among sensibles, and 1*. cause it has a secondary subsist, nee from the int< Hi"ibh*, so that it is more adapted to it [than to sensibles], and because the design was to show what tin p- culiarities an- of« h h of the natun s, and not n the one parti. ipat. s of a certain thing lioin tlu other, though tin was, and t/n will k are rather characterized by non-b, in- than by b. mi" ; 1 the former, by the no baiter, but the hitler, by the not pit. Do seiisibles therefore, after a cei tain manner entirely participate of hem- ' Dr may we Hot '.iv that they are not deiiomiliati d according to a dell. ctioii liom it, but through the iloininalion in them of mm Im in- tin y are only adapt, d to generation, but by no means p< rtain to truly-existing beings ! 11. sid, s, the monad, or the is, is more allied to eternity, and intelligible*, but the duad of the was and the will Li, to g, in ration and time. This puhowever, and strength «/ Umporal energy is gnat, that it cu-arrangt s Unit which nu lunger is uith beings, and that a hu h is nut pit :,///; things that are present. I»r all these beeonie continual according to time, and tin punnt through tune is dismissed to the :. as, s» as not even that to be hurried away to t/mi hit h in tn> tisjnvt whatever crisis, but on account of tunc, isaJUt a let tan titamu r co-arranged , ith beings.