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

V id. 1‘liii. Hist.
Nat I. (> c. 8

* In the original, n h iai rus t^i'^i^iipiui riji rwe iViiie^oiiii' vnijseia*, wtiuli is vers corrupt, ihere tieing HO luctl word as ^vytfipiuk. 1 read therelore. Cl fe ioi rai run r\atwfjttuji ktt ijiTfil.

* The precession of ihe equinoxes is however admitted h\ Simplicius, who in the Cud liouk of Ins Commentary on Vristotle’s I realise on the Heavens, observes respi cling the molioii of I he iiicrralic spin re as follow > ;

" If llie inerralic sphere is really inerratie, and the ohservalion of Hipparchus and Ptolemy concern¬ ing il r is not •dimtnd, that II is moved one degree in a hundred years in a contrary direction, il lias In the case, it will be moved witii oue simple ntolioii, but the stars contained in it with two motions, vir. with their own ciicuioiulaiuiy motion, and the motion of the universe. But the placets will he moved

HooK iv.]

TIM .HI'S or PLATO.

p. 277

• liis. are ignorant that it is possible to collect something true from false hypotheses, ami that it is not proper to think, that a conclusion which accords with the ph «•- noinena, is a sufficient proof of the truth of the hypotheses.

“ And from tins cause, such of the stars as are iuerralic were gcnerate*l, bring divine animals ; and on tins account they always remain' revolving in same. Hut the stars which both revolve and have such a wan¬ dering, as wc have before mentioned, were produced conformably to these.”

The cause of the generation of the stars comprehends all the most proper principles of them, viz. the paradigmatic, the d< rniurgic, and the filial. For from all these, the .stars were generated such as they are, and with the motions which they possess. The inerratic sphere however, exhibits a uniform motion, and which always proceeds after the same manner. Hut their being called divine animals, indicates that intellect arid a dome soul are present with them, and prior to these, tlie one unity, according to which each is a God. For because each is an animal, it has a soul hv whit h it is moved ; hut because also, each is a divine animal, it is suspended from a divine intellect. For it i** not intellect which

For because each is an animal, it has a soul hv whit h it is moved ; hut because also, each is a divine animal, it is suspended from a divine intellect. For it i** not intellect which with three motion*, n; with tlinr oh n proper motion, willitii.it nf 1 lit* spherr* wliicll contain them, ami witli tin* mol ion ■>! the iiinvror. Since however, lir add*. mv prrt cptor Ai iinmiiiis pi/ tin cele¬ brated Xmmmiius Hcnn;v.i», who wa* the di-nplr of Proilii',] observing the* stars through an astrolabe while I was present, in Mexamlria, foun-l llial the star Arelnrus, according to the epoch nl Plolcmv, hail been moved >n mm ti, as it was nreess irv it dumbl have lieen moved at Ihe rate ot one degree in a hundred years; it will lie more true to sav, that the sinless sphere wbu li rmiipiehcmls all the sphere*, and which was unknown hi the tune of Aristotle, bring loosed vsilh one simple nJolion Irom the east, convolves at the saini lime all the oilier spheres. Hut that vs hit h is called liv us the iuerr.ilii sphere, is moved with two motions, s 1 /. with the motion of ihe universe Irom the east, ami with its own innlion from I lie w« si ; ami all the stars m it are moved with these two motions, and w ilh their ow n rireumro. tatory motion In like n.aimer also, vsilh respect to the successive spheres, and the start in them, the former are moved with two, hut the latti r with three of the same motions."

I am however decidedly of lilt opinion of Proelus, that t lie records of a few o|i*rrvalioiis, an I views of a juvenile nature, are not to he adduced in opposition to the veiv extended observations of tin Chal¬ deans, wlmh embraced a whole mundane period, t. c a period of .inu.Ot 0 v.ar*. Xml what Prorlu* here asserts uf the Chaldeans, is also rontirmrd hv Cicero hi Ins lust book On Divination, who savs that lliry bad records of the stars tor the space of .>70,000 vears; ami by Diodorus Siculus llilrl. lib II p. I 18 who says that then observations comprehended the space of 17 * 1,000 yrars.

* I he test of I’rochi.s Ins erroneously in this place Linpei, instead of whuh, * apjsc us from the ( omm-ntnrv of rroclus, wc should rcatl tm/itm: though all the prinlcd editions ul"the Tiura-us have instead of this/inci.

p. 270

PROCLUS ON THE

[book IV.

* I he test of I’rochi.s Ins erroneously in this place Linpei, instead of whuh, * apjsc us from the ( omm-ntnrv of rroclus, wc should rcatl tm/itm: though all the prinlcd editions ul"the Tiura-us have instead of this/inci.

p. 270

PROCLUS ON THE

[book IV.

makes it to be divine, since ti.ere are likewise angelical and da*raoniacal intellects ; but the divine intellect of the whole of this, differs from that w hich is not divine in this, that it is susjiended from deity, which causes it to Ik* a divine intellect. But revolution aktiiys remaining in same, exhibits a |K-r|x*tuity in the heavens, according to which the stars always occupy the same place of the heavens, being moved about their own centres, and also the possession of an evolved energy and an unceasing life. Such then fore as make the stars to be inanimate, or fancy that the* souls of the celestial bodies are mutable like ours, or that Re¬ generation of them is m time, wander from the meaning of Plato. For if a cer¬ tain animal is divine, it has a divine soul, and is not alone animated by the soul of the universe. For there is also in the Karth .1 divine animal, since Fartli is the oldest and most venerable* of the (Jods; and there* are likewise certain living things in it, which have entilei luias from the soul of the univ« r>e alone; but these are not animals. And farther still, because the stars always remain ill motion, they neither possessed a soul from a certain time, nor will at a certain time, lose it. For the term uluays, manifests temporal immutability, both according to the past and the future time. And thus 111111 h concerning the fixed stars

\\ ith respect to the planets however, Plato again reminds us, that they have » | various motions, but orderly, and according to measures and boundaries. For the simplicity of them comprehends multitude, order connects tin ir variety, and measure defines their wandering. What tin 11 does Plato now mean by reminding us of this, and what indication docs it afloid us’ Some therefore sav that it manifests this, that though the planets in a certain respect transcend the fixed stars, so far as they are allotted a ruling and cosuiocratoric dignity 1 in the universe, and as theologisls say an a/.onic authority ; for in eat h of the eosmocrutors there is an azonic* order of (iods: yet at the same time, they are inferior to them, through their wandering and the all-various diversity of their motions. And we also say that tin re is 110 absurdity in admitting, that the same thing may surpass and lie surpassed by tin* same things, according to different eouct ptiuns. But we should consider, whether Plato by speaking of the planets prior to the fixed stars, and delivering the order, motion, and powers of them, and also their periods, and [ apocatastases, and again, resuming the mention of them after the fixed stars,

* tor aniar lure, il is reipusite to rc. J a„<ar.