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

For there, it was solely his intention to speak of the extremes, neither mentioning the aerial, nor the terrestrial fortunate allotments. Hence,

3H

Tim. Plot.

' Yi>x*r it omitted in U»e original,

VOL. II.

4 20

PHOCU S ON THE

[hook w.

when he mentions those that are last, he does not simplv say that fhev nre terres¬ trial, hut iiiaintesls vv !:at they are from tin tribunals uml-*r the eartli; tin divine allolim tils in tin- earth, so tar as the earth is a divinity, Item:* different from those of a punishing characteristic. As we hate said however, the iiisiribution must lie distinguish* i tiom the semination. 1-or semination e-pecinllv pertains to eertam ror|naeal natures ; hut distribution, being a se|iaratioii uecordiug to fo;m, (and not like semination, the placing 1 of some things in otliers,) trau*eeiideiillv per¬ tains to iiu‘or|sireal natures. lhit smee the ;isK«-itioii that the Deiiiiiirgus disseminated some souls into the earth, hut others into the moon, has a reference, .is we have said, to men, it may he assumed from the Politicos, that Plato knew man that is an immortal send, using an immortal vehicle. Fur he time sa\>, that souls w» re men in tin .Saturnian pi riod, ureordiug to which the immortal part alone nt us lives. 1 liat lie al-u knew another man, v i/ the soul, which Uses the middle vehicle, is evident tiom the Pliaalo, w here he sa vs, that men d well on the miiiiiiuI ol the earth, vv ho live for a niiieli longer time than the men that are here. .Moreover, lie likewise knew the last man, who iives in con¬ junction with this outward body. And every where man according to him is soul Using a body; hut ettliei an immortal, or the second, or a composite bodv. Hence, hy adding the dilleivnce of body, and of that which uses it, we shall he able to rh line man.

“ 13 ut then alter tins semination, lie delivered to the junior Gods."

'V hat the semination is, w hence it accedes to souls, that it is ddlereril from the distribution, and that it is the peculiarity of partible fabrication, has been fre¬ quently mentioned hy us, in what has been In-loro said, lint it must now !*» shown who the junior Gods are. For it is evident that the mundane are called junior Gods. 7 hey appear however, to be thus denominated bv Plato, either through comparing them with the anennt ami venerable nature of the invisible fabrication, and the transcendency ot power, amt perfection of intelligence con¬ tained in it. For that which is more intellectual m the (bids is more ancient:

Hut Jove was born llie fust, anil more lie know*,

For that which is more intellectual m the (bids is more ancient:

Hut Jove was born llie fust, anil more lie know*, says Homer. Or tin y are thus denominated, hecau.se they always make generation to be new ; and when it become* old and imlieeile through it* subjec t nature, again recall it to a subsistence according to n dure hy their motions, sending into it effluxions of all-various productive principles and powers, and thus render it jM-rpetually new. Or, they are thus called, because having intellectual essences

* For 0 toit tirrs, it is n*c«»'ary to rfsfl 0 «*i».

HOOK V.]

TIM 1 ( S OF PLATO.

p. 127

suspendi (] from thrill, tin y eternally energize with the acme of intellectual v 'K°r. 1 or, as the po. ts say, II. hr pours out (In ir Mine, ami they <lunk nectar, an<l survey ihe whole sensible world. Fmph.ving therefnre imniiitahln and ondeviating intellections, they fill all tliiu-s with their demiurgic providence. Or they have this appellation, because C’uretic deity is present with them, [or deity belon-in- to ‘he «»rcl«*r of the Cnretes,] illuminating their intellectual conceptions mth purity, their motion with mil. xibilily, and supplvin- the whole of them with ri-id power, through whit h they govern all things without departing from the cha¬ racteristics of their nature. Or, which is the truest reason of all the precedin'', they are thus denominated, because the monad of them is called recent God. For theolo-ists give this appellation to 11 archils, who is the n of all the second lubrication, l or Jupiter established him the king ot all mundane Oods, ami distributed to him the first honours,

1 lio* joiiiiv- I lie Ciod, mill but an infant pirst. 1

On this ai coimt also, theolo^ists me nreustouied to call the sun a recent God, > and Heraclitus says that the sun is .1 diurnal youth, as participating of Dionysiacal • powrr. Or, fora reason most appropriate to Plutonic principles, they are thus denominated, because bodies which have generation are suspended from them ; and the essence of these is not allotted a sul»isti nee in eternity, hut in the whole ot lime. I hey are junior therefore, not as once lieginning to exist, but as being always generated, and, as we have before observed, subsisting in becoming to In-, or perpetually risin- into existence. For every tbii.fr which is generated lias not the whole of what it possesses present at once, nor a simultaneous infinity, but an infinity which is perpetually supply in- Thus therefore they are called junior, as bavin- a subsistence co-extemled with time, and always advancing into existence, and as possessing a renovated immortality.

J

I lie province ot fashioning mortal bodies, and besides this to rule over \ ^ whatever else remained necessary to the human soul, and over every tiling consequent to their fabrications/’

J

I lie province ot fashioning mortal bodies, and besides this to rule over \ ^ whatever else remained necessary to the human soul, and over every tiling consequent to their fabrications/’

Jho delivery of the first fabrication is a communication and generation of demi¬ urgic powers, exempt from every thing which the second fabrication produces proximately, a progression of production from the uuapparent into the apparent, and a envision os uniform power into the multiplied government of the world. But the

* lo the original, and doubtless from Orpheus,

Harrtp wm rfjr, rai rijei y ttXawirawrp.

VROCLUS ON THE

[rook t.

4*28 formation of bodies assimilates the junior Gods to the unapparent fabrication. For that was the cause of bodies that rank as wholes, just as they are the causes of partial bodies, at the same time exhibiting a diminution of power. For of the liody, of which they are the makers and formers, the Demiurgus also is the cause; but they are the formers of partial bodies, which are bodies endued with certain qualities. II* nee body indeed is simply uidiegotten as from time, and incorruptible, as w as also the opinion of Aristotle. For, says he, there would be a vacuum if body could bo generated external' »o the body of the uni¬ verse. But this particular hotly is corruptible, as fwing of a partial nature; for the u hulc.t of the elements derived their subsistence from total fabrication. The accession however of the human soul w hich remained 1 to l»e generated, assimilates the mundane Gods to the paternal power. For it is the province of a father to venerate life; since the tir^t father, and every father is the cause of life; the intelligible father indeed, of intelligible, but the intellectual of inte llectual, and the supermundane of siqiorimtiidane life. And lienee, the mundane Gods who gene¬ rate corporeal life are fathers. The fabrication however, adapted to these Gods, produces the nature of partial animals. For this partial animal, which is sus¬ pended from the immortal soul, consists of soul and body. I he fabrication also of other things regards this : for parts are generated for the sake of the whole. But the iluminihil w hich the Demmrgus gave the junior Gods, excites their provi¬ dential inspection, their connective power, and their guardian comprehensions. For without these, the bodies that are fashioned, and the mortal form of life, would rapidly vanish into non-entity. Prior therefore, to the generation of these, the Deiniiirgus made their ruling Gods to be the guardians and saviours of them. In the junior Gods therefore, there are demiurgic powers, according to which they invest generated natures with forms; vivilie powers, according to which they give subsistence to a secondary life ; and perfective powers, through which they give completion to what is deficient in generation. There are also many other powers in tin m besides these, which are inexplicable by our conceptions.