time to time drinks forgets everything.-And, after they were laid asleep, and midnight was approaching, there was thunder, and an earthquake, and they were thence on a sudden carried upwards, some one way, and some another, approaching to generation like stars. And he himself was forbidden to drink of the water. Where, however, and in what manner, he came into his body, he was entirely ignorant; but, suddenly looking up in the morning, he saw himself already laid on the funeral pile. And this fable, Glaucon, has been preserved, and is not lost, and it will preserve us, too, if we be persuaded thereby, for thus we shall happily pass over the river Lethe, and shall not pollute our souls.

But if the company will be persuaded by me; considering the soul to be immortal, and able to bear all evil and good, we shall always persevere in the road which leads upwards, and shall by all means pursue justice in unison with prudence, that so we may be friends both to ourselves and the gods, both whilst we remain here, and when we afterwards receive its rewards, like victors assembled together; and so, both here, and in that journey of a thousand years, which we have described, we shall be happy.

THE END OF THE TENTH AND LAST BOOK OF THE REPUBLIC.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TIMEUS.

THE following Dialogue, which comprises the detailed evolution of the physical or cosmological doctrines of Plato, is supposed to have taken place on the day following that on which Socrates had been discussing with the same party the nature of an ideal or pattern Republic; and there is so far an internal connexion between the two dialogues, that both will be found to contain the same doctrines of the Ideas (on or idéal) and the Summum bonum (viz. Tò v in contradistinction to rò ytyvóμevov. Comp. Tim. ch. ix.),, though presented under different aspects, the former treating them in their relation to moral and political perfection, the latter physically and cosmologically, displaying the beauty, perfection, and benevolence of the Divine work in the formation of the Universe and the organization of Man. The dialogue opens with a lively conversation on the political notions set forth by Socrates (or rather elicited by him from the rest) on the preceding day, more especially with reference to their practicability in real life (ch. i.-iii.):—and Critias, to gratify Socrates, introduces the narrative of a long interview between Solon and some Egyptian priests, about the relative antiquity of the Grecian and Egyptian annals, the object of which is to prove, that the state of Athens, in very remote times, corresponded mainly with the picture of a perfect republic, as exhibited by Socrates (ch. iv.—vii.). The subject, however, is deemed worthy of still further investigation by the different parties present; and the first turn is unanimously conceded to Timæus, the Pythagorean, on account of his profound knowledge of physics and astronomy, who accordingly entertains them with a long and learned discourse on the origin of the Universe and the formation of Man,-Critias following him in the succeeding dialogue called by his name, wherein he tries to show that the men here ideally created (τῷ λόγῳ γεγονότας) by Timæus, and brought into civil training by Socrates in the Republic, actually corresponded in character with the citizens of primitive Athens (ch. vii., viii.).

It is necessary to premise, however, before we enter into any analysis of Timæus's discourse, that Plato, regarded as a physical theorist, was not so much the propounder of new and

original views, as a critic and eclecticist, reviewing the various systems that had preceded him, opposing what he deemed false or vicious, and adopting what he thought good and solid in each. Now all the earlier philosophers, whether of Ionia or Magna Græcia, had made it their first business to start different theories, more or less visionary, on the origin of the Universe. Thales held the primary element to be water, Anaximenes and Diogenes air, Anaximander a vast chaos, and Heraclitus fire,—to whom at length succeeded Anaxagoras, the first to recognise a Supreme Intelligence (vous) as the principle of life and arranger of the primitive chaotic atoms (and from whom Plato undoubtedly took some of his leading notions). Widely differing from the above, Xenophanes maintained unity (rò ev)—the Universe, to be God, a notion, which elicited from Parmenides the atheistic dogma, that, as existence is conceivable, and non-existence is not so, creation is impossible, as it pre-supposes non-existence; and in this view he was followed by Empedocles, who regarded all things as alike uncreated and indestructible. When such notions were current, it can scarcely be matter for surprise that Heraclitus should have put forth the doctrine (equally atheistical) of a perpetual flux, and been followed by the sophist Protagoras, who stated that all knowledge is sensation, and that man is the measure of all existing things whatever. And lastly, it was the notion of Pythagoras (with whose views Plato was beyond all doubt deeply imbued), that numbers and music are the principles of the entire universe, and that the world is regulated by numerical harmony.* With all these conflicting views before him, and having at the same time a strong internal conviction of one grand, comprehensive, and intelligent Unity,—in other words, God, Plato at once boldly impugned the doctrine of the Eleatics, that the world around was an eternal, immutable essence;-maintaining, on the other hand, that, as it was sensible, it must have been produced, and was in fact the necessary result of an effective cause,-the work of a rational, intelligent, and benevolent Architect.

Timæus, therefore, in this dialogue, after stating in limine that there are two classes of things, the one eternal, constant (Tabróv), and not subject to change; the other mutable (0árεpov), generated, and liable to decay: the former of which is comprehended by the intellect, the latter by the senses,-broadly sets forth the grand doctrine of Theism, that whatever is generated must proceed from some cause, namely God, who formed the sensible universe, the most perfect of things generated, according

*The reader is referred for further information on the pre-Socratic theories of nature, to Stallbaum's Prolegomena to the Timæus, pp. 48-54; as well as to Introductions to the Protagoras and Theœtetus, in vol. i. of this translation.

to an eternal pattern existing in the Divine Mind (ch. ix.). The whole, indeed, was the work of the Creator's goodness; and the universe itself likewise was very good, as it were, an ensouled, rational, living being,-perfect in unity, and composed of four elements indissolubly united,-earth and fire, air and water,—its shape being that of a perfect sphere moving in a circular orbit, and its soul emanating from its abode in the centre to all the other parts, including even the external surface, in fine, it came forth from its Maker deficient in no single respect, blessed God" (ch. x.—xii.).

66 a

He next proceeds to unfold the nature and structure of the Universe in its several parts. And first, he assumes it to consist of two parts,-one eternal and fixed, because related to the world of intellect; the other corporeal, mutable, and capable of division,-both of which are so united on the principles of number and music, as to produce a happy and well-settled harmony both in structure and motion. This universal soul, moreover, pervades even the distant orbits of the fixed stars and planets, all of which depend for their life and circular motion on the eternal and constant principles of number and harmony, the fixed stars moving westward on the eternal principle of sameness, the planets eastward on that of mutability and difference (ch. xii.). But in connexion with this soul, the universe possesses also a material body, whereby it becomes cognizant of material things, -the subjects of opinion and persuasion, as well as of the abstract truths that form the groundwork of reasoning and science (ch. xiii.).* Next came the creation of time, which was effected by the formation of the sun, moon, and five planets, whose motion, particularly that of the first, creates, determines, and watches over, the several divisions of days and nights, months and perfect years (ch. xiv.). The form and motions of the world thus once arranged, the Creator proceeds to people it with living beings,—first, the heavenly gods (i. e. the stars and other

*Plato, in ch. xxiii. designates matter as the receptacle, and, as it were, the nurse (vodoxýv, olov tíðývnv) of all production; while God, on the other hand, -the sum of all ideas,-is the Father and fashioner of the Universe. In ch. xxvi. also, it is described as one and the same with space, which furnishes a place for all generated things. This principle of nature, therefore, is without form,-without an idea; and it is only in the productions of the creative energy and the all-susceptible nature, that is, in the son of the father and mother, -that there is form and determinate idea. This is clearly laid down in ch. xxiv. ; and Ritter accordingly very rightly observes:-"Matter is nothing more than the condition of all human existence, which, however, is a necessary condition, and so causes the natural itself to appear as necessary; whereas the shape received from the good is that which under this condition comes into being and has its actual existence in nature."-(Ritter, ii. p. 341, compared with ch. xliii. of this Dialogue.)

celestial podies); secondly, airy and winged creatures; thirdly, those living in the water; and lastly, those moving on the earth. The stars, indeed, are termed a race of heavenly gods, yet generated and visible, endowed with fiery, spherical bodies, and called immortal, as not being subject to dissolution or decay (ch. xv.); but whether the earth itself is, like the other bodies, to be considered an ensouled, generated god, and whether at rest or in motion, is not exactly certain.

Next follows a narrative, almost purely mythical, of the formation of the mortal races of animals (ch. xvi.-xviii.), which the Supreme himself does not deign personally to create, but commits that task to the lower gods, reserving only the office of imparting to these new creatures whatever was to be immortal in their constitution. A like number of these perishable animals is assigned to each of the stars; and the first birth being the same in all, that of the human male; nor was it till after a fixed period, that the female and all other animals, beasts, fishes, and birds,-issued from this mortal form. Of this being, Man, consisting, like the universe, of body and soul mysteriously conjoined, Timæus next gives a detailed description, beginning with the head, which contains the leading organs of sense (ch. xix., xx.); and he then diverges into a long investigation of the elements of earthly bodies, particularly as respects their geometric forms, as well also, as of their various affections, viz. motion or rest, heat or cold, heaviness or lightness, smell, colour, &c., the discussion of which must necessarily precede any satisfactory account of the intellectual and physical man (ch. xxi.-xlii.). Man, he proceeds to observe, is composed of a corruptible body enshrining an immortal soul; but besides this, he possesses an inferior sort of soul, whereby he becomes cognizant of the various passions and emotions, viz., pleasure and pain, hope, fear, anger, desire, &c.; and all the parts of his body are composed with wonderful skill, and yet kept in constant subjection to the dominance of reason and intellect :—and he now parenthetically intimates the existence of two sets of causes, the divine and necessary,-as constantly operating together; of the former of which we can gain only a very imperfect knowledge (though for our happiness' sake we should ever aspire thereto), while the latter we should investigate for the sake of getting at the former (ch. xliii.).

Next succeed separate and particular (though somewhat fanciful) descriptions of the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, spleen, intestines, spinal marrow and brain, skull and bones, ligaments and tendons, muscles and flesh, the nerves round the head, teeth, tongue, lips, hair, skin, pores, &c. &c., all of which are kept in healthy action by the united operation of the alimentary and respiratory systems (ch. xliv.-xii.),-the