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

1 or lie ('alls tin* celestial, and also the winged, genus , hut the aquatic, and also the pedestrious, species, as having an order inferior to the former, just is sjiecios is subordinate to genus.

Moreover, it is likewise necessary to survey this, that he omits the idea of fire in what he now s 'js, because the divine genus compie bonds the summit of fire, according to its own nature. l 7 or of the .sublunary bodies fire alone, has not an appropriate place, but alone subsists in mutation, and is alvvavs in want of nourishment from air, and water. For the upper region is the place adapted to tire. But it is not there. For it would he seen it it was there, since it is naturally visible. Nor does it arrive thither, since it is extinguished by the surrounding air, which is dissimilar to it. It therefore, it is necessary, that tli< re should he a wholeness of fire, and that lire having a form should exist somevv here, and should not alone subsist in becoming to be; hut sublunar} fire is not a tiling of this kind , if this l>e the case, lire will alone exist in the heavens, and will there remain sue li as it is, and always posse*ss its prope*r place. l - or the motion to the upper region, is not the natural motion eif fire*, hut ot fire having a preternatural subsistence*. Thus also the* Sacred Discourse of the ChahUcans, conjoins the* aerial bosoms with the lunar rattlings, and attributes to lire the celestial region, according to the distribution of the* elements into the world. For the* fire which is in generation, is a certain eflluxion of the celestial fire, and is in the cavities ot the* oi ier

• Instead of oro ra aOaeara wnpaym 111 this It l|ipMI8 to me idararwe 6n/ra wuftaywy.

lh.it we should read nto ru>y

BOOK M .]

TIM.El'S OF PLATO.

2f>5

For the* fire which is in generation, is a certain eflluxion of the celestial fire, and is in the cavities ot the* oi ier

• Instead of oro ra aOaeara wnpaym 111 this It l|ipMI8 to me idararwe 6n/ra wuftaywy.

lh.it we should read nto ru>y

BOOK M .]

TIM.El'S OF PLATO.

2f>5 olcmenls; Ihore not bring a sphere of fire by itself; but the summits of air imitate the purity of the upper tire. We say therefore, that these summits are sublunary lire, ami that the place of lire is under the heavens. For this place is most similar to the celestial profundity, just as the lowest extremity of air is most similar to water, in consequence of being thick and nebu¬ lous. This also, as it would seem, appears to have been the conception of Aristotle; for he thought lit thus to denominate the (ire which is lu re. Hut he calls the lire which is immediately under the heavens, and which he says, revolves in conjunction with the heavens, fiery-formed. If however, this be the case, it h perfectly requisite to ask him, where that which is truly tire, and ranks as a whole, exists } For it cannot lie the tire which is here, since it is not a whole, nor truly-existing tire ; since the tire which is truly so, is not licry-formed. He must therefore he compelled to admit, that fire which is truly so, and which is pure light, exists in the heavens. You must not however wonder, if most atte¬ nuated, and most pure tire, is in the summits of the air, just as the most gross and turhid tire, is in the bosom of the earth ; not ns making this fire to he another whole¬ ness different from that of air, but as admitting, from its being the most atte¬ nuated, that it is carried m the pores of the air, which are most narrow. Hence it is not visible, through two causes ; one, from not being distinctly formed, ami the other, from not resisting our sight, in consequence of consisting of the smallest parts. And this also is the case with the light of the eyes. Truly-existing tire therefore, is in the heavens. Hut the purest of sublunary fire, is in the air prox¬ imate to the heavenly bodies, which Plato farther on, calls a'tlier. And fire of the grossest nature is contained in the bosom of the earth. Since therefore Plato has spoken concerning the four genera in common, let us survey how he consti¬ tutes each of them, in what follows.

“The idea therefore, of that which is divine, lie for the most part pro¬ duced from lire, in order that it might be most splendid and beautiful to the view. [ Hut assimilating it to the universe, he made it to be round .” 1 J

The sphere of the fixed stars is the first of partial animals, which also the l)e-

[ Hut assimilating it to the universe, he made it to be round .” 1 J

The sphere of the fixed stars is the first of partial animals, which also the l)e-

* In the original, immediately after the text the following words occur, ax a title to the* comment, and which were inserted, I suppose, by some Scholiast, ra irfrovfuva rrpi rov otVoiovi cwt'. »'»i r>ji ovoiai avrov. wept rov tr^rjparot. wept rt]t Bevewt. wept tjj% nrrjirciv,. i. c. " lii'pnrics concerning the merratic anim.il [i. e. the sphere of the fixed stars]. Concerning the essence of if, its figure, position, and motion.” That part of the text also withio the brackets, is omitted in Proclut, though lie coin* inentsupon it.

Tim. Plat. Vol. II. 2 \.

Vol. IF

p. 260

PROCLUS ON THE

[book iv.