Timaeus — Plato
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The phenomena of sight, 465 upon like, and they coalesce, and one body is formed by Thnaeus. ' natural affinity in the line of vision, wherever the light that timaeus. 'falls from within meets with an external object.
And the light from an whole stream of vision, beincr similarly affected in virtue of object aii . . three form similarity, diffuses the motions of what it touches or what one body, touches it over the whole body, until they reach the soul, ^^'*^'* . '' _ ■' transmits to causing that perception which we call sight.
But when night the soul the comes on and the external and kindred fire departs, then the stream of vision is cut off ; for going forth to an unlike element it is changed and extinguished, being no longer of one nature with the surrounding atmosphere which is now deprived of fire : and so the eye no longer sees, and we feel disposed to sleep.
For when the eyelids, which the gods invented for the preservation of sight, are closed, they keep in the internal fire ; and the power of the fire diffuses and equalizes the inward motions ; when they are equalized, there is rest, and when the rest is profound, sleep comes over us 46 scarce disturbed by dreams ; but where the greater motions still remain, of whatever nature and in whatever locality, they engender corresponding visions in dreams, which are remembered by us when we are awake and in the external world.
And now there is no longer any difficulty in understanding the creation of images in mirrors and all smooth and bright surfaces.
For from the communion of the internal and ^"'^1^ case of " _ _ . reflections in external fires, and again from the union of them and their plane mirrors, numerous transformations when they meet in the mirror, all f^ietrans- ■' position of these appearances of necessity arise, when the fire from the right and left face coalesces with the fire from the eve on the bright and '^''"e to the " fact that the smooth surface.
And right appears left and left right, be- light from the cause the visual rays come into contact with the rays emitted ^y^. ^'^^ '^^ . -' -' object meet in by the object in a manner contrary to the usual mode of an unusual meeting ; but the right appears right, and the left left, when "|j^"""nj.3,.g the position of one of the two concurring lights is reversed; mirror, if held and this happens when the mirror is concave and its smooth ihe"ris^o^ surface repels the right stream of vision to the left side, and transposition; the left to the right ^ Or if the mirror be turned vertically, heiVvertU then the concavity makes the countenance appear to be all caiiy, * He is speaking of two kinds of mirrors, first the plane, secondly the concave ; and the latter is supposed to be placed, first horizontally, and then vertically. VOL. III. — 45
p. 466
The purpose of sight, speech^ hearing.
Timaeus. TiMAEUS. the image is inverted. Enough of the secondary or irrational causes of sight; the first or intelligent cause is the purpose for which God gave it.
From sight we derive number and philosophy ;
and the observation of the intelligent motions of the heavens upside down, and the lower rays are driven upwards and the upper downwards. All these are to be reckoned among the second and co- i operative causes which God, carrying into execution the idea j of the best as far as possible, uses as his ministers. They j are thought by most men not to be the second, but the prime / causes of all things, because they freeze and heat, and contract ' and dilate, and the like.
But they are not so, for they are incapable of reason or intellect ; the only being which can properly have mind is the invisible soul, whereas fire and water, and earth and air, are all of them visible bodies. The lover of intellect and knowledge ought to explore causes of intelligent nature first of all, and, secondly, of those things which, being moved by others, are compelled to move others. And this is what we too must do.
Both kinds of causes should be acknowledged by us, but a distinction should be made between those which are endowed with mind and are the workers of things fair and good, and those which are deprived of intelligence and always produce chance effects without order or design. Of the second or co-operative causes of sight, which help to give to the eyes the power which they now possess, enough has been said.
I will therefore now proceed to speak of the higher use and purpose for which God has given them to us. The sight in my opinion 47 is the source of the greatest benefit to us, for had we never seen the stars, and the sun, and the heaven, none of the words which we have spoken about the universe would ever have been uttered.
But now the sight of day and night, and the months and the revolutions of the years, have created number, and have given us a conception of time, and the power of enquiring about the nature of the universe ; and from this source we have derived philosophy, than which no ' greater good ever was or will be given by the gods to mortal man.
This is the greatest boon of sight : and of the lesser benefits why should I speak? even the ordinary man if he were deprived of them would bewail his loss, but in vain. Thus much let me say however: God invented and gave us sight to the end that we might behold the courses of intelligence in the heaven, and apply them to the courses of our own intelligence which are akin to them, the unperturbed
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