object of the whole of these speculations being to show the existence of design and the adaptation of means to ends throughout the work of creation. Now the regular, unimpeded, action of all these organs and component parts constitutes bodily health; whereas the disorders and decay of the component elements of life are either productive of disease or else slowly bring on old age and bodily decay (ch. Ixii.). Then follow some curious details respecting the diseases of the body, which are ascribed to many various causes, mostly fanciful,-some few only real, formed on a knowledge of the human frame (ch. lxiii.—lxviii.). Far more important, however, and far more severe, are the diseases of the soul; and these are assigned to two causes,-first, bodily infirmity, and secondly, improper training, it being a vulgar error to suppose that any one is willingly evil. The great, and indeed only disease of the soul, is madness, which assumes two forms,-madness (pavía), and folly or idiocy (aμalía), both caused by the unhealthy predominance of the animal passions over the reason and conscience. Great care must therefore be observed constantly to maintain the mens sana in corpore sano, to attend diligently to both, without neglecting either, to form the body by constant and suitable exercise as well as strict temperance, and to cultivate the soul by engaging the intellect in the contemplation of divine things and eternal truth, including those heavenly revolutions with which the human soul also has a close relation and harmony (ch. lxix. -lxxi.).

The concluding chapters of the dialogue comprise some observations on the origin of the lower animals, from which it appears that Plato entertained the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls; for he thinks it probable that those who have lived unrighteously and effeminately will, at their second birth, be changed into women,-those of both sexes who have lived innocently but frivolously, foolishly be lieving that heavenly things could be seen by mortal eye, being changed into birds of the air; those, thirdly, who have been totally estranged from philosophy, into beasts of the earth; and those, fourthly, who are to the last degree foolish and ignorant, becoming mere fishes, creatures of the water, to whom the gods that formed them have denied even the privilege of breathing a thin and pure atmosphere (ch. lxxii., lxxiii., compared with ch. xvii., where he touches, though more briefly, on the same philosophic dogma). Lastly, the whole dialogue concludes with a brief, but elegant summary of the great doctrine, of which the philosopher has exhibited throughout it so many satisfactory proofs, that "this world, which comprises and is filled with all kinds of living beings, both mortal and immortal, thus becomes a visible animal embracing visible natures,—an image

of the great Intelligence, a sensible god,-the greatest and best, the fairest and most perfect,-this the one and only begotten Universe."

Such is a succinct account of the leading arguments of the Timæus, which, both as respects language and deep philosophic matter, is by far the most difficult of any of Plato's dialogues,-there being many passages in it, which still in fact puzzle even the most ingenious of its commentators. The reader who would seek further information than can be afforded within the limits of a translation, is referred to Tiedemann's Introductions to the Platonic Dialogues, to Stallbaum's Prolegomena and notes to his edition of the Timæus, to Ritter's remarks on the physical doctrines of Plato (vol. ii. pp. 338—384), and, above all, to the valuable notes and dissertations in Martin's Etudes sur le Timée de Platon, 2 vols. 8vo. 1842.

THE TIMEUS.

SOCRATES, TIMÆUS, CRITIAS, HERMOCRATES.

I. Soc. One, two, three :-but where, dear Timæus, is that fourth of us who yesterday were your guests, but are entertainers now?

TIM. Some illness has befallen him, Socrates; for he would not willingly have missed such a meeting as the present.

Soc. It is your business, then, of yourself, and [that of] these present, to fill up the place of the absent guest.

TIM. Quite so, Socrates; and, as far as we can, we will not fail to do so for it would be unjust for the rest of us, whom you yesterday so handsomely entertained, not to treat you with readiness in return.

Soc. Do you recollect, then, the magnitude and nature of the things on which I charged you to speak?

TIM. Some, indeed, we do recollect; but what we do not, you, who were present, can recal to our memory: or rather, if it be not too much trouble, once more briefly run over the whole from the beginning, that it may be the more firmly established in our minds.

Soc. Be it so. The sum of yesterday's discussion re specting a republic was, what form I thought the best, and of what sort of men it should be composed.

TIM. And indeed, Socrates, all that you said was quite according to our mind.

Soc. Did we not in the first place separate the class of husbandmen, and ever so many other artificers, from that of those who fight in defence of the state?

TIM. Yes.

Soc. And when we had assigned to every one that single employment which was suited to his own nature, and had prescribed to each his particular art, we bade the military caste confine themselves to the simple duty of protecting the state from the hostile incursions both of internal and external foes;-mildly to administer justice to their subjects, as being naturally friends, but fiercely to combat with such foes as might fall in their way.

TIM. Quite so, of course.

Soc. We asserted, I think, that the souls of the guardians should be naturally high-spirited, and at the same time remarkably philosophic, so as to enable them towards either friends or foes respectively to be gentle or severe.

TIM. You did so.

Soc. But what about their training? Did we not say that they ought to be instructed in gymnastic exercises, music, and other suitable branches of science?

TIM. Yes.

Soc. With respect at least to those thus trained, it was somehow said, that they should regard neither gold nor silver nor any such property, as their own private possession, but rather, like subordinates, should receive the wages of their guardianship from those whom they defend and preserve, their recompense being no more than sufficient for temperate men, and that they should spend their income in common, with a view only to mutual subsistence, bestowing their attention wholly on virtue, in preference to every other pursuit.

TIM. This too was so stated.

II. Soc. Respecting women, too, we asserted that their nature should be aptly conformed to resemble that of men, and that they should all engage in common with them, both in the duties of war and the other employments of life.

TIM. This too you alleged.

Soc. But what about the procreation of children? This perhaps you easily remember, on account of the novelty of the proposal; for we ordered that marriage-unions and children should be in common to all persons whatsoever, special care being taken also that no one should be able to distinguish his own children individually, but all consider all as their kindred; regarding those of an equal age, and in the prime of life, as their brothers and sisters,-those prior to them,

and yet further back, as parents and grandsires,-and those below them, as their children and grandchildren.*

TIM. Aye, these things too, in the way you describe them, are easily remembered.

Soc. That they might at once acquire then the best possible natural disposition, I recollect that we decreed that the rulers, male and female, whom we placed over the marriage contract, should secretly contrive, through certain lots, that the worthy should assort only with the worthy, the base with the base, and that no discord might arise from this connexion, we should refer all the blame of the union to fortune alone.

TIM. This, too, we remember.

Soc. We ordered, moreover, that the children of the good should be properly trained, but those of the bad secretly sent to the other part of the state, while of those who are constantly arriving at manhood, such as are found to be of a good disposition, should be recalled from exile; those, among them, on the contrary, who have proved themselves unworthy, being in their turn banished to the place occupied by those just promoted.

TIM. Just so.

Soc. Have we, then, sufficiently summed up yesterday s discussion; or do we need anything further, friend Timæus, that has been omitted?

TIM. By no means, Socrates; for these were the very things discussed.

III. Soc. You shall now hear some further details respecting the republic that we have described, and how I feel towards it. The feeling, then, seems to me somewhat similar to this,- -as if some one, on beholding beautiful animals, either wrought by the graver's art, or really alive, but in a state of perfect rest, were to entertain a desire to behold them in motion, struggling, as it were, in those exercises which seem best suited to their bodies. Just the same do I feel towards that form of state which we have described; for I should gladly listen to any one who recited the story of the contests that one state engages in with others, when it ventures becomingly on war, and exhibits in the course of

*This subject is considered at some length in the third, fourth, and fifth books of the Republic, as well as in the Laws, v. 739, b.