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

Since however, vice is multiform, the brutal nature may be survey-

* I or nuirrpw here, It i* necessary to read tcepw rrpw» .

BOOK V.j

TIMAX'S Ol PLATO.

p. 415

in each; and mi account ot this, (ho soul may lie connected with similar animals, ;»s IMato shows in the I'lnrdo. For the hrutal' nature in injustice, renders inf n "Dives , in timidity stags’ and in giuttonv asses. For each of these entirely possesses a certain transcendency, which departs from human depravity.

“ And that it should not be freed from the allotment of labours, till following the revolution of that same and similar nature contained in its essence, it vanquishes those abundantly turbulent passions, tumultuous and irrational, adhering to it externally * afterwards from fire, water, air, and earth, and returns to tiie form of its first, and most excellent habit."

The one salvation of the soul herself, which is extended by the Demiurges, and which liberates her Ironi the circle of generation, from ahnndanl wandering, and an inefficacious life, is her return to the intellectual form, and a flight from every tiling which naturally adheres to us from generation. lair it is necessary that the soul which is hurled like seed into the realms of generation, should lav aside the stuhhle and hark, as it were, which she obtained from being disseminated into these fluctuating realms; ami that purifying herself from every thins circum¬ jacent, she should heroine in intellectual flower and fruit, delighting in an intel¬ lectual lit**, instead of doxastic nutriment, and pursuing the uniform and simple energy of tin* period of sameness, instead of the aliuud mtlv wandering motion of the period which is characterized by dillen nee. For she contains each of these circles, and two-fold powers. And of her horses one is good, hut the other the contrary. And one of these leads her to generation, hut the other from genera¬ tion to true lieing. I lie one also leads her round the genesiurgir, hut the other round the intellectual circle. For the period of the same and the similar, elevates to intellect, and an intelligible nature, and to the first and most excellent habit. But this habit is that according to which the soul lieing winged, governs the whole world, becoming assimilated to the Gods themselves. And this is the universal form of life in the soul, just as that is the partial form, when she tails into the last body, and liecmnes something Ixlonging to an individual, instead of belonging to the universe. The middle of these also, is the partial evident from the Commentary of Prod..*, that it ought to be inserted. Hence, instead of mr woXAve (lege sroXve) e x Xoe, »u. vertpoy rpoa^yra, «. A. we must read, rny no\yy o X Xoy, t^y Kat *«n-cpo, *poâpvyra, «, X,

1 Instead of Orupm here, it is necessary to read

* ,n M ,hc c,li,i,,ns «f ‘lie Tini.-E.is, the word tl»Qry is warning in this place. For it is

p. 416

PitOCLUS ON THE

[book V.

For it is

evident from the Commentary of Prod..*, that it ought to be inserted. Hence, instead of mr woXAve (lege sroXve) e x Xoe, »u. vertpoy rpoa^yra, «. A. we must read, rny no\yy o X Xoy, t^y Kat *«n-cpo, *poâpvyra, «, X,

p. 416

PitOCLUS ON THE

[book V.

universal, when she lives in conjunction with her middle vehicle, as a citizen of generation. Dismissing therefore, her first habit which subsists according to an alliance to the whole of generation, and, laying aside the irrational nature which connects her with generation, likewise governing her irrational part by reason, and extending opinion to intellect, she will Ik* circularly led to a happy life, from the wanderings about the regions of srnw*; which life those that are initiated by Orpbeiis in the mysteries of Bat e lms and Proserpine, pray that tin y may obtain, together with the allotments of the sphere, and a cessation' of evil. But if our soul necessarily bus well, when living according to the circle of sameness, much more must this be the case with divine souls. It is, however, possible lor our soul to live according to tin- c ircle of sameness, win II purified, as Plato savs. Cathartic virtue, therefore, alone must Im- called the salvation of souls; since tins cuts off, ami vehemently obliterates material natures, and the passions which adhere to us from gi in ration; separates tin* soul ami h-ads it to intellect ; and causes it to leave on earth the vehicles with which it is invested. Tor souls in descending, receive from tin elements eliMi-iviit vehicles, aerial, aquatic, and terrestrial; and tlms.it last enter into this gross hulk. For how, without a medium, could they proceed into this body Irom immaterial spirits? llc-nce before they come into this body, they possess the irrational life, and its vehicle, which is prepared from the* simple elements, and Irom tln-se they ln*etime iuve-steel witli tumult, [or the* geiiesiurgic body,] which is so called as being foreign to tin connate* vehicle of souls, and as composed ol all-various vest¬ ments, and causing souls to be come- In-avy.

The word tidhcrnu' likewise, manifests the external circumposition of a vehicle of such a kind as that of which In; is speaking, and the c olligation to the one nature contained in it; after which this last body, consisting of things dissimilar and multiform, is suspeiiih d from souls. 1 ui how is it possible-, that the de-scent should Ik* [immediately 1 from a life; which governs the whole world, to the* most partial form of life; ? For this particular and indivisible outward man cannot he connected with tin* universe, hut a prior descent into a medium between the; two, is entirely necessary ; whic h medium is not a certain animal, hut the supplier of many lives. For tin; desc e nt doe s not directly produce the* life of a certain man, hut prior to this and prior to the generation of an individual, it produces the life of universal* man. And as the lapse* is from that which is incorporeal into hoeiv, and a liie with body, according to which the soul lives in conjunction with its

* For uunrruffui here, it is necessary to read uyaruvaat.

1 It aj>|)urs to me, • hat the wore! yul)o\u.<jv is here wanlin".

BOOK ? 1

TIM I L'.s OI PLATO.

p. 417