Timaeus — Plato

Various kiftds of earth. 48 1 names.

First, there is wine, which warms the soul as well nmaeus. as the body : secondly, there is the oily nature, which is timaeus. smooth and divides the visual ray, and for this reason is (a) wine, bright and shining and of a glistening appearance, including (b) oil, pitch, the juice of the castor berry, oil itself, and other things of a like kind : thirdly, there is the class of substances which (c) honey, expand the contracted parts ^ of the mouth, until they return to their natural state, and by reason of this property create sweetness; — these are included under the general name of honey : and, lastly, there is a frothy nature, which differs (d) vegetable from all juices, having a burning quality which dissolves *^' " the flesh ; it is called opos (a vegetable acid).

As to the kinds of earth, that which is filtered through Kinds of water passes into stone in the following manner : — The water ?.^'^'*^'~ , ^ ^ (1) rock, of which mixes with the earth and is broken up in the process which there chancres into air, and taking this form mounts into its own ^^^^T'^ o ' o ^ species; place.

But as there is no surrounding vacuum it thrusts away the neighbouring air, and this being rendered heavy, and, when it is displaced, having been poured around the mass of earth, forcibly compresses it and drives it into the vacant space whence the new air had come up ; and the earth when compressed by the air into an indissoluble union with water becomes rock.

The fairer sort is that which is made up of equal and similar parts and is transparent ; that which has the opposite qualities is inferior. But when all the watery (ii) earthenpart is suddenly drawn out by fire, a more brittle substance ^^^^' is formed, to which we give the name of pottery. Sometimes (iii) a ceruin also moisture may remain, and the earth which has been f°"f ° ^ .

' . black colour ; fused by fire becomes, when cool, a certain stone of a black colour.

A like separation of the water which had been copiously mingled with them may occur in two substances composed of finer particles of earth and of a briny nature ; out of either of them a half-solid body is then formed, soluble in water — the one, soda, which is used for purging (iv)soda; away oil and earth, the other, salt, which harmonizes so well (v)sait: in combinations pleasing to the palate, and is, as the law testifies, a substance dear to the gods.

The compounds of (^') '^Q'"- pounds of earth and water are not soluble by water, but by fire only, earth and I Cp. 65 C, 66 C. VOL. III. — 46

p. 482

Compounds of earth and water — their dissohUion.

Timaeus. TiMAEUS. water, including a. glass and fusile stones, and b. wax and incense. — These compounds, like compressed earth or water, are soluble by fire only, which penetrates the water in them. Earth and water, however, in their natural state are soluble, the former by water only, the latter by fire and air.

From objects of sense we pass on to consider flesh, which perceives sensations, and sensations themselves.

and for this reason: — Neither fire nor air melt masses of earth ; for their particles, being smaller than the interstices in its structure, have plenty of room to move without forcing their way, and so they leave the earth unmelted and undissolved ; but particles of water, which are larger, force a passage, and dissolve and melt the earth.

Wherefore 6i earth when not consolidated by force is dissolved by water only ; when consolidated, by nothing but fire ; for this is the only body which can find an entrance. The cohesion of water again, when very strong, is dissolved by fire only — when weaker, then either by air or fire — the former entering the interstices, and the latter penetrating even the triangles.

But nothing can dissolve air, when strongly condensed, which does not reach the elements or triangles ; or if not strongly condensed, then only fire can dissolve it.

As to bodies composed of earth and water, while the water occupies the vacant interstices of the earth in them which are compressed by force, the particles of water which approach them from without, finding no entrance, flow around the entire mass and leave it undissolved ; but the particles of fire, entering into the interstices of the water, do to the water what water does to earth and fire to air^, and are the sole causes of the compound body of earth and water liquefying and becoming fluid.

Now these bodies are of two kinds ; some of them, such as glass and the fusible sort of stones, have less water than they have earth ; on the other hand, substances of the nature of wax and incense have more of water entering into their composition.

I have thus shown the various classes of bodies as they are diversified by their forms and combinations and changes into one another, and now I must endeavour to set forth their affections and the causes of them. In the first place, the bodies which I have been describing are necessarily objects of sense. But we have not yet considered the origin of flesh, or what belongs to flesh, or of that part of the soul which is mortal.

And these things cannot be adequately explained without also explaining the affections which are concerned with sensation, nor the latter without the former :