Apuleius: DE DOGMATE PLATONIS

I. Platoni habitudo corporis cognomentum dedit; namque Aristocles prius est nominatus. Ei Ariston fuisse pater dictus est; ceterum Perictione, Glauci filia, mater fuit: et de utroque nobilitas satis clara; nam Ariston pater per Codrum ab ipso Neptuno originem duxit, a Solone sapientissimo, qui legum Atticarum fundator fuit, maternus derivatus est sanguis. Sunt qui Platonem augustiore conceptu prosatum dicant, cum quidem Apollinis figuratio Perictionae se miscuisset.

I. Plato's habitus of body gave him his cognomen; for Aristocles was his earlier name. His father is said to have been called Ariston; his mother, however, was Perictione, daughter of Glaucus: and of both the nobility is sufficiently clear; for Ariston the father traced his origin through Codrus from Neptune himself, and on the maternal side he was descended from Solon the most wise, who was the founder of the Attic laws. There are those who say that Plato was named from a more august form, since indeed the shaping of Apollo had mingled itself with Perictione.

Mense etiam, qui apud Atticos thargelion dicitur, natus est, die qua apud Delum Latona fertur Apollinem Dianamque peperisse. Pridie Socraten genitum accepimus. Somnium etiam Socratis scitum ferunt: nam vidisse sibi visus est cygni pullum ex altari, quod in Academia Cupidini consecratum est, volasse et in eius gremio residisse et postea olorem illum pinnis caelum petisse, canore musico auditus hominum deorumque mulcentem.

He was also born in the month which among the Attics is called Thargelion, on the day on which at Delos Latona is said to have borne Apollo and Diana. He was born the day before Socrates. They also report the dream of Socrates as famous: for he seemed to himself to have seen a cygnet fly from the altar, which in the Academy is consecrated to Cupid, and to have flown and settled in its bosom, and afterwards that swan with wings sought the sky, soothing men and gods with musical song.

Cum hoc Socrates in conventu amicorum referret, Ariston Platonem puerum oblaturus Socrati magistro commodum prosequebatur. Quem ubi adspexit ille ingeniumque intimum de exteriore conspicatus est facie: "Hic ille erat, amici" inquit, "de Academia Cupidinis cygnus".

When Socrates related this in a gathering of friends, Ariston, about to present the boy Platonem to Socrates the teacher, accompanied him suitably. When he saw him and, from his outward face, perceived his inward genius: "This was he, friends," he said, "the swan of the Academy of Cupid."

II. Talis igitur ac de talibus, Plato non solum heroum virtutibuspraestitit, verum etiam aequiperavit divum potestatibus. Nam Speusippus, domesticis documentis instructus, et pueri eius acre in percipiendo ingenium et admirandae verecundiae indolem laudat, et pubescentis primitias labore atque amore studendi imbutas refert, et in viro harumincrementa virtutum et ceterarum convenisse testatur. Ex isdem genitoribus Glaucus et Adimantus ei fratres fuerunt.

2. Such, then, and concerning such matters, Plato not only surpassed the virtues of heroes, but even equalled the powers of the gods. For Speusippus, instructed by domestic teachings, praises both the boy’s keen genius in perceiving and a disposition of admirable modesty, and relates the first fruits of his adolescence imbued by labor and by a love of study, and testifies that in the man the growth of these virtues and of others met together. From the same parents Glaucus and Adimantus were his brothers.

Doctores habuit in prima litteratura Dionysium, at in palaestra Aristonem Argis oriundum, tantosque progressus exercitatio ei contulit, ut Pythia et Isthmia de lucta[ta] certaverit.Picturae non aspernans artem, tragoediis et dithyrambis se utilem finxit.Iamque carminum confidentia elatus, certatorem se profiteri cupiebat, ni Socrates humilitatem cupidinis ex eius mentibus expulisset et verae laudisgloriam in eius animum inserere curasset. Et antea quidem Heracliti sectafuerat inbutus. Verum cum se Socrati dedisset, non solum ingenio atquedoctrina Socraticos ceteros vicit, verum etiam labore et elegantia inlustravitsapientiam ab eo sibi traditam: labore, quo adserere eam nisus est; elegantia,per quam venustate et maiestate verborum ei plurimum adhibuit dignitatis.

He had teachers in the rudiments of letters — Dionysius — and in the palaestra Ariston, a native of Argos, and exercise conferred such great progress on him that he contended in the Pythian and Isthmian games about wrestling [lucta(ta)]. Not scorning the art of painting, he made himself useful in tragedies and dithyrambs. And now, exalted by confidence in his poems, he desired to put himself forward as a competitor, had not Socrates expelled the humility of desire from his mind and taken care to implant the glory of true praise in his soul. Indeed previously he had been imbued with the school of Heraclitus. But when he gave himself to Socrates, he not only surpassed the other Socratics in natural talent and in Socratic doctrine, but also by industry and elegance he made manifest the wisdom handed down to him by that teacher: by industry, with which he strove to assert it; by elegance, through which he lent to his words the greatest dignity of charm and majesty.

III. Sed posteaquam Socrates homines reliquit, quaesivit unde proficeret etad Pythagorae disciplinam se contulit; quam etsi ratione diligenti et magnifica instructam videbat, rerum tamen continentiam et castitatem magiscupiebat imitari; et, quod Pythagoreorum ingenium adiutum disciplinis aliis sentiebat, ad Theodorum Cyrenas, ut geometriam disceret, est profectus et astrologiam adusque Aegyptum ivit petitum, ut inde prophetarum etiam ritus addisceret. Et ad Italiam iterum venit et Pythagoreos Eury[ta]tum Tarentinumet seniorem Archytam sectatus est. Atque ad Indos et Magos intendisset animum, nisi tunc eum bella vetuissent.

3. But after Socrates left men, he sought where he might make progress and applied himself to the discipline of Pythagoras; which, although he saw it ordered by a diligent and noble reason, yet he more eagerly wished to imitate the continence and chastity of its ways; and, perceiving the Pythagoreans’ genius to be aided by other disciplines, he set out to Theodorus of Cyrene to learn geometry, and even went to Egypt to seek astrology, that from there he might also learn the rites of the prophets. And he returned again to Italy and followed the Pythagoreans Eurytatus of Tarentum and the elder Archytas. And he would have bent his mind toward the Indians and the Magi, if at that time wars had not forbidden him.

Dialectica quapropter inventia Parmenidae ac Zenonis studiosius exsecutus, ita omnibus quae admirationi sunt singula suos libros explevit, ut primus tripertitam philosophiam copularet, sibique invicem necessarias partes nec pugnare inter se tantummodo, sed etiam mutuis adiuvare auxiliis ostenderet. Nam quamvis de diversis officinis haec ei essent philosophiae membra suscepta, naturalis a Pythagoreis, de Eleaticis rationalis atque moralis ex ipso Socratis fonte, unum tamen ex omnibus et quasi proprii partus corpus effecit; et, cum principes harum familiarum inpolitas sententias et inchoatas auditoribus tradidissent, eas hic, cum ratione limando tum ad orationis augustae honestissimam speciem induendo, perfectas atque etiam admirabiles fecit.

Therefore, having more diligently pursued the dialectic discoveries of Parmenides and Zeno, he filled out with his own books each of those individual subjects that inspire admiration, so that he was the first to join philosophy into threefold parts, and to show that the parts necessary to one another not only do not fight among themselves but even assist one another with mutual aid. For although these members of philosophy were taken from different workshops — the natural from the Pythagoreans, the rational and the moral from the Eleatics and from the very fount of Socrates — he made one body from them all, as it were a product of his own. And while the chiefs of those schools had handed down to their unpolished hearers rough and inchoate opinions, he here, both by honing them with reason and by investing them with the most honorable aspect of august discourse, made them perfected and even admirable.

IV. Multi auditorum eius utriusque sexus in philosophia floruerunt.Patrimonium in hortulo, qui Academiae iunctus fuit, et in duobus ministriset in patera, qua diis supplicabat, reliquit; auri tantum, quantum puer nobilitatis insigne in auricula gestavit. Ceterum tres ad Siciliam adventus mali quidam carpunt, diversis opinionibus disserentes. Sed ille primo historiae gratia, ut naturam Aetnae et incendia concavi montis intellegeret, secundo, petitu Dionysi, ut Syracusanis adsisteret, est profectus, et ut municipales leges eius provinciae disceret; tertius eius adventus fugientem Dionem, inpetrata a Dionysio venia, patriae suaereddidit.

4. Many of his auditors of both sexes flourished in philosophy. He left an estate in the little garden, which was joined to the Academy, and two paterae in which he served — by which he supplicated the gods — he bequeathed; only as much gold as a boy bore as a mark of nobility in his earlobe. But some, discussing diverse opinions, carp at his three arrivals in Sicily as an ill thing. He, however, first set out for the sake of history, that he might understand the nature of Aetna and the fires of the hollow mountain; secondly, at the request of Dionysius, that he might assist the Syracusans and learn the municipal laws of that province; his third arrival restored to his country Dion, then fleeing, his pardon having been obtained from Dionysius.

Quae autem consulta, quae dogmata graece licet dici, ad utilitatem hominum vivendique et intellegendi ac loquendi rationem extulerit, hinc ordiemur. Nam, quoniam tres partes philosophiae congruere inter se primus obtinuit, nos quoque separatim dicemus de singulis, a naturali philosophia facientes exordium.

Which counsels, which dogmata, though they may be said in Greek, have brought forth for the usefulness of men the rule of living and of understanding and speaking, from these we shall begin. For, since he first held that the three parts of philosophy agree with one another, we too will speak separately of each, making a commencement from natural philosophy.

V. Initia rerum esse tria arbitratur Plato: deum et materiam inabsolutam,informem, nulla specie nec qualitatis significatione distinctam, rerumque formas, quas ideas idem vocat.Sed haec de Deo sentit, quod sit incorporeus. Is unus, ait, aperimetros, genitor rerumque omnium exstructor, beatus et beatificus, optimus, nihil indigens, ipse conferens cuncta. Quem quidem caelestem pronuntiat, indictum,innominabilem, ut ait ipse, aoraton, adamaston; cuius naturam inveniredifficile est; si inventa sit, in multos eam enuntiari non posse.

V. Plato holds that there are three beginnings of things: God and matter — matter inabsolute, formless, not distinguished by any species nor by any signification of quality — and the forms of things, which the same calls ideas. But of God he thinks this, that he is incorporeal. He is one, he says, aperimetros (immeasurable), the parent and builder of all things, blessed and beatifying, best, needing nothing, himself bestowing all. Whom indeed he proclaims heavenly, indictum, innominable, as he himself says, aoraton, adamaston; the nature of whom is difficult to find; and if it be found, that it cannot be declared to many.

Platonis haec verba sunt: theon heurein te ergon, heuronta te eis pollous ekpherein adynaton. Materiam vero inprocreabilem incorruptamque commemorat, non ignemneque aquam nec aliud de principiis et absolutis elementis esse, sed ex omnibus primam, figurarum capacem fictionique subiectam, adhuc rudem etfigurationis qualitate viduatam, deus artifex conformat universam. Infinitamvero idcirco, quod ei sit interminata magnitudo; nam quod infinitum estindistinctam magnitudinis habet finem; atque ideo, cum viduata sit fine,infinibilis recte videri potest.

These are Plato's words: "theon heurein te ergon, heuronta te eis pollous ekpherein adynaton." He mentions matter as unprocreable and incorruptible, not fire or water nor any other of the principles and absolute elements, but the first of all, capable of figures and subjected to fiction, still raw and deprived of the quality of figuration; the god-artificer shapes the whole. It is called infinite for this reason, because it has an interminate magnitude; for that which is infinite has an indistinct limit of magnitude; and therefore, since it is bereft of an end, it may rightly be regarded as unmeasurable.

Sed neque corpoream (sed) nec sane incorpoream concedit esse; ideo autem non putat corpus, quod omne corpus specie qualicumque non careat; sine corpore vero esse non potest dicere, quod nihil incorporale corpus exhibeat; sed vi et ratione sibi eam videri corpoream, atque ideo nec tactu solo neque tamen sola opinione cogitationis intellegi. Namque corpora, propter insignem evidentiam sui, simili indicio cognosci; sed quae substantiam non habent corporum, ea cogitationibus videri;unde adulterata opinione ambiguam materiae huius intellegi qualitatem.

But he concedes it to be neither corporeal (sed) nor, truly, incorporeal; and therefore he does not think it a body, since every body is not without some species or sign of quality; yet he cannot say that it exists without a body, because nothing incorporeal exhibits a body; but by force and reason it seems to him corporeal, and therefore it is apprehended neither by touch alone nor by mere opinion of thought. For bodies, on account of the striking evidence of themselves, are recognized by like indication; but those things which do not have the substance of bodies are seen by cogitations; whence, by adulterated opinion, the ambiguous quality of this matter is understood.

VI. Ideas vero, id est formas omnium, simplices et aeternas esse neccorporales tamen; esse autem ex his, quae deus sumpserit, exempla rerum quae sunt eruntue; nec posse amplius quam singularum specierum singulas imagines in exemplaribus inveniri gignentiumque omnium, ad instar cerae, formas et figurationes ex illa exemplorum inpressione signari.Ousias, quas essentias dicimus, duas esse ait, per quas cuncta gignanturmundusque ipse; quarum una cogitatione sola concipitur, altera sensibussubici potest. Sed illa, quae mentis oculis comprehenditur, semper et eodemmodo et sui par ac similis invenitur ut quae vere sit; at enim alteraopinione sensibili et inrationabili aestimanda est, quam nasci etinterire. Et, sicut superior vere esse memoratur, hanc non essevere possumus dicere.

VI. Ideas, then, that is, the forms of all things, are simple and eternal, yet not corporeal; and they are examples of things which are or shall be, derived from those which God has taken; nor can more than the individual images of particular species be found in the exemplars, and the forms and figures of all things that are generated are stamped from that impression of the exemplars, after the likeness of wax. He says that there are two ousiae, which we call essences, through which all things are generated and the world itself; of which one is conceived by thought alone, the other can be subjected to the senses. But that which is comprehended by the eyes of the mind is always and in the same way found equal and like to itself, as that which truly is; the other, however, must be judged by a sensible and irrational opinion, which is born and perishes. And, just as the former is said truly to be, we can say that this is not truly.

Et primae quidem substantiae vel essentiae primum deum esse et mentem formasque rerum et animam; secundae substantiae, omnia quae informantur quaeque gignuntur et quae ab substantiae superioris exemplo originem ducunt, quae mutari et converti possunt, labentia et ad instar fluminum profuga. Adhuc illa, quam dixi, intelligendi substantia quoniam constanti nititur robore, etiam quae de ea disputantur ratione stabili etfide plena sunt. At eius, quae veluti umbra et imago est superioris, rationes quoque et verba, quae de ea disputantur, incostanti suntdisciplina.

And the first substances or essences are first God, and Mind and the forms of things and the Soul; the second substances are all those things which are informed and which are generated and which draw their origin from the exemplar of the higher substance, which can be changed and transformed, sliding and, like rivers, fugitive. Moreover that substance I spoke of for understanding, since it leans on a constant strength, even the things that are argued about it are stable in reason and full of faith. But the reasons and words about that which is, as it were, the shadow and image of the higher one, which are disputed concerning it, are of an inconstant doctrine.

VII. Initium omnium corporum materiam esse memoravit; hanc et signariinpressione formarum. Hinc prima elementa esse progenita, ignem et aquam et terram et aera. Quae si elementa sunt, simplicia esse debent neque ad instar syllabarum nexu mutuo copulari, quod istis evenit, quorum substantia multimoda (multi) potestatum coitione conficitur.

7. He recalled that matter is the beginning of all bodies; and that it is also marked by the impression of forms. Hence the first elements are produced: fire and water and earth and air. If these are elements, they ought to be simple and not be coupled together by mutual bonds like syllables, which happens to those whose substance is made up by the union of many powers.

Quae cum inordinatapermixtaque essent, ab illo aedificatore mundi deo ad ordinem numeris et mensuris in ambitum deducta sunt. Haec e plurimis elementis ad unum redacta esse. Et ignem quidem et aera et aquam habere originem atque principium ex trigono, qui sit anguli recti, imparibus lateribus; terram vero de recti[s] quidem anguli[s] trigonis, sed fastigiis paribus, esse.

When these were disorderly and mingled, they were by that builder of the world, God, brought into order within a circuit by numbers and measures. These were reduced from many elements into one. And fire indeed and the airs and water have their origin and principle from a triangle which is of a right angle, with unequal sides; but the earth is from a triangle of right angles indeed, yet with equal apexes.

Etprioris quidem formae tres species existere; pyramidem, octangulam etvigintiangulam sphaeram. Et pyramidem figuram ignis in se habere, octangulamvero aeris, angulatam vicies sphaeram aquae dicatam esse; aequipedum vero trigonum efficere ex esse quadratum, kython, quae terrae sit propria. Quapropter mobilem pyramidis formam igni dedit, quod eius celeritas agitationihuius videatur esse consimilis, secundae velocitatis octangula sphaera est;hanc aeri detulit, qui levitate et pernicitate post ignem secundus esset.

And of the former form indeed three species exist: the pyramid, the octangular, and the twenty-angled sphere. And the pyramid is said to bear the figure of fire in itself, the octangular that of air, and the twenty-angled sphere to be devoted to water; and that the equi-footed triangle produces the square, chthonic, which is proper to the earth. Wherefore he gave the movable form of the pyramid to fire, because its swiftness seems similar to the agitation of that element; the octangular sphere is of the second velocity, and he assigned this to air, which by lightness and fleetness is second after fire.

Vicen[i]alis sphaera loco tertio est; huius forma fluvida et volubilis aquaesimilior est visa. Restat tesserarum figura, quae cum sit inmobilis terrae constantiam non absurde sortita est. Et alia initia inveniri forsitan posseait, quae deo nota sint vel ei qui sit diis amicus.

The twentieth sphere is in the third place; its form, fluid and revolving, was seen to be more like water. Remains the figure of the tesserae, which, since it is immobile, not unreasonably has been assigned the constancy of earth. And other origins perhaps could be found, which are known to God or to him who is a friend of the gods.

VIII. Sed de primis elementis, igni et aqua ceterisque, et illa constareparticulatim animalium et inanimantium corpora; mundumque omnem ex omni aqua totoque igni et aeris universitate cunctaque terra esse factum, et non solum nullam horum partem extra orbem relinqui, sed ne vim quidem eius (et) extrinsecus inveniri. Haec autem invicem ex se intra se apta et conexa esse; idcircoque in igne atque terra aquae et aeri est situs, et, sicut ignis aeri cognatione coniungitur, ita humor adfinitati terrenae iugatur. Hinc unum esse mundum in eoque omnia nec relictum locum, in quo alius, nec elementa superesse, ex quibus alterius mundi corpus possit esse.

8. But concerning the primary elements, fire and water and the others, and that these constitute, in particles, the bodies of animals and of inanimates; and that the whole world is made from all water and from the whole fire and the universality of air and all the earth, and that not only is no part of these left outside the orb, but not even their force can be found externally. Moreover these are fitted and connected to one another, from themselves within themselves; and therefore in fire and in earth there is a placing of water and of air, and just as fire is joined to air by kinship, so moisture is yoked to terrestrial affinity. Hence there is one world and all things in it, nor is there any place left in which another might be, nor are there elements surviving from which the body of another world could be made.

Ad haec ei adtributa est perpetua iuventas et inviolata valetudo; eoque nihil praeterea extrinsecus est relictum, quod corrumpere posset ingenium eius et, si superesset, non eum laederet, cum ita apud se ex omni parte conpositus atque ordinatus foret, ut adversantia et contraria naturae disciplinaeque eius officere non possent.

To these things was ascribed to him perpetual youth and inviolate health; and therefore nothing further externally remained that could corrupt his ingenium and, if it should remain, not injure him, since he was thus within himself composed and ordered in every part, so that adversities and contraries of nature and of its disciplina could not offend him.

Idcirco autem perfectissimo et pulcherrimo mundo instar pulchrae et perfectae sphaerae a fabricatore deo quaesitum est, ut sit nihil indigens,sed operiens omnia coercensque contineat, pulcher et admirabilis, sui similis sibique respondens. Hinc illud etiam: cum septem locorum motushabeantur, progressus et retrocessus, dexteriores ac sinistri, sursum etiam deorsumque nitentium et quae in gyrum circuitumque torquentur, sex superioribus remotis, haec una mundo relicta est sapientia[e] et prudentia[e]propria, ut rationabiliter volveretur. Et hunc quidem mundum nunc sine initio esse dicit, alias originem habere natumque esse: nullum autem eius exordium atque initium esse ideo quod semper fuerit; nativum vero videri, quod ex his rebus substantia eius et natura constet, quae nascendi sortitae sunt qualitatem.

Therefore the most perfect and most beautiful world was, after the likeness of a fair and perfect sphere, sought by the fabricator God so that it might be in need of nothing, but covering, restraining, and containing all — beautiful and admirable, like unto itself and responding to itself. Hence also this: since seven motions of place are held — advance and retreat, rightward and leftward, likewise striving upward and downward, and those which are turned in a circle and a circuit — six being removed to the higher ones, this one alone was left to the world as its proper sapientia[e] and prudentia[e], so that it might revolve rationally. And he indeed says that this world now is without a beginning, and elsewhere that it has an origin and was born: yet that it has no outset and beginning because it always was; but it appears natal insofar as its substance and nature consist of those things which have been allotted the quality of being born.

Hinc et tangitur et videtur sensibusque corporeis est obvius. Sed quo ei nascendi causam deus praestitit, ideo immortali perseverantia est semper futurus.

Hence it is both touched and seen and is present to the bodily senses. But by the cause of its birth which God provided to it, therefore it will always be destined for immortal perseverance.

IX. Animam vero animantium omnium non esse corpoream nec sane perituram,cum corpore fuerit absoluta, omniumque gignentium esse seniorem; atque ideo et inperitare et regere ea quorum curam fuerit diligentiamque sortita; ipsamque semper et per se moveri, agitatricem aliorum, quae natura sui inmota sunt atque pigra. Sed illam, fontem animarum omnium, caelestem animam, optimam et sapientissimam virtute esse genetricem, subservire etiam fabricatori deo et praesto esse ad omnia inventa eius pronuntiat. Verum substantiam mentis huius numeris et modis confici congeminatis ac multiplicatis augmentis incrementisque per se et extrinsecus partis; et hinc fieri ut musice mundus et canore moveatur.Naturasque rerum binas esse, et earum alteram esse, quam quidem doxasten appellat ille et quae videri oculis et adtingi manu possit; alteram, quaeveniat in mentem, cogitabilem et intellegibilem; detur enim venianovitati verborum, rerum obscuritatibus serventi.

IX. He moreover declares that the soul of all living beings is not corporeal nor truly perishable when the body is dissolved, and that it is senior to all those that give birth; and therefore both to rule and to govern those of which it has care and to which it has allotted diligence; and that it itself always and by itself is moved, the mover of others, which by nature are unmoved and sluggish. But that that soul, the fountain of all souls, the heavenly soul, is the best and most sapient by virtue, a mothering principle, that it also serves the Fabricator God and stands ready for all his inventions he proclaims. Yet that the substance of this mind is made by numbers and modes, compounded and multiplied, by augmentations and increases, parts both from within and from without; and from this it comes to pass that the world is moved by music and by song. And that the natures of things are twofold, and that one of them — which that doxastes calls, and which can be seen by the eyes and touched by the hand — the other which comes into the mind, thinkable and intelligible; for pardon is to be granted to the novelty of the words, serving the obscurities of things.

Et superiorem quidem partem mutabilem esse ac facilem contuenti, hanc autem, quae mentis acie videtur et penetrabili cogitatione percipitur atque concipitur, incorruptam, inmutabilem, constantem eandemque et semper esse. Hinc et duplicem rationem interpretationemque dicit: namque illa visibilis fortuita et non ita perseveranti suspicione colligitur, at haec intellegibilis vera, perenni et constanti ratione probatur esse.

And he says that the upper part is indeed changeable and easy to behold, but that part which is seen by the acuity of the mind and is perceived and conceived by penetrable thought is incorruptible, immutable, constant, the same and ever to be. Hence he gives a twofold reason and interpretation: for that visible part is fortuitous and is inferred by a suspicion not very persevering, whereas this intelligible part is true and is proved by perennial and constant reason.

X. Tempus vero aevi esse imaginem, si quidem tempus movetur, perennitatisfixa et inmota natura est; et ire in eam tempus, et in eius magnitudinem finiri ac dissolvi posse, si quando hoc decreverit fabricator mundi deus. Eiusdem temporis spatiis mensuras mundanae conversionis intellegi. Solis quippe et lunae globum hoc agere, ceterasque stellas, quas nos non recte erroneas et vagas dicimus; nostrae enim super earum cursibus opiniones disputationesque possunt in errorem intellectum inducere.

10. Time, however, is the image of eternity, if indeed time is moved; eternity is fixed and unmoved in nature; and that time may go into it, and in its magnitude be finished and dissolved, if ever the maker of the world, God, shall have decreed this. By the spans of the same time the measures of the world’s revolution are understood. For the globe of the sun and of the moon does this, and the other stars, which we wrongly call errant and wandering; for our opinions and disputes about their courses can lead the intellect into error.

Ceterum ille rerum ordinator moras progressusque constituit, ut ne modico quidem errori locus esset. Dies quippe cum noctibus mensium spatia conplete, menses vicissim annorum orbes involvunt, nec prius quam signa haec luce siderea ardere coeperunt, iniri potuerunt temporum numeri, perituramque esse observationem conputationis huius, si hic olim chorus antiquus steterit.Namque ut mensurae et reversiones temporum noscerentur circuitusque mundi videretur, solis incensa sunt lumina, et vicissim, ut quies desiderata proveniret animantibus, opacitas est inventa noctis. Mensesque effici, cum luna, circuli sui conpleto curriculo, ad eundem locum, a quo discesserit, revertatur; anni vero spatia concludi, cum sol quadrinas temporum contigerit vices et ad idem signum fuerit invectus.

Moreover that arranger of things established delays and advances so that there might not be room even for a slight error. For days, together with nights, complete the spans of months, and months in their turn envelop the circles of years; nor could the numbers of time be begun before these signs began to burn with sidereal light, and the observation of this computation would be perishable, if that ancient chorus once stood here. For, that measures and returns of times might be known and the circuit of the world be seen, the lights of the sun were kindled, and conversely, so that the desired rest might come to living beings, the opacity of night was invented. And months are made when the moon, having completed the course of her circle, returns to the same place from which she departed; and the spans of years are closed when the sun has touched the fourfold turns of time and has been carried to the same sign.

Horum enim ratio in se revertentium et a se proficiscentium intellectum cogitationis invenit. Esse autem stellarum nihilominus certos ambitus legitimis curriculis perpetuo servatos, quos vix hominum sollertia conprehendit. Vnde fit ut et magnus ille vocitatus annus facile noscatur, cuius tempus inplebitur, cum vagantium stellarum comitatus ad eundem pervenerit finem novumque sibi exordium et itinera per vias mundi reparaverit.

For the reckoning of these things finds an understanding in the thought of those returning into themselves and of those setting out from themselves. That the courses of the stars are nevertheless certain, kept perpetually by legitimate circuits, which human sagacity scarcely comprehends. Whence it comes about that that great so‑called year may also be easily known, the time of which will be fulfilled when the company of wandering stars shall have come to the same end and shall have restored for themselves a new beginning and journeys along the ways of the world.

XI. Globorum vero caelestium, nexorum inter se per vices mutuas, omniumsupremum esse eum qui inerrabili meatu censetur; eius amplexu ceteros coerceri. Et esse aplanesi primum ordinem, secundum Saturno datum, Iovi tertium, Martem quartum tenere, quintum Mercurio dari, sextum Veneris esse, septimum solis itineribus incendi, octavum metiri lunam.Exinde elementis omnia ac principiis occupari. Ignem ante alia superiorem esse, mox aeris locum, hinc aquae proximum et tunc globum terrae in medio situm, aequalem loco ac figura, inmobilem stare.

11. Of the celestial globes, bound together among themselves by mutual vicissitudes, the supreme of all is that which is reckoned to move with inerrant course; by its embrace the others are restrained. And that the aplanesis holds the first order, the second is given to Saturn, the third to Jupiter, the fourth to Mars, the fifth to Mercury, the sixth to Venus, the seventh to the sun’s itineraries of burning, the eighth to measure the moon. Thence all things and beginnings are occupied by the elements. Fire is superior before the others, next the place of air, then water nearest, and then the globe of the earth is placed in the middle, equal in place and shape, standing immovable.

Hoc astrorum ignes sphaeris adfixos perpetuis atque indefessis cursibus labi, et hoc animalis deos dicit esse; sphaerarum vero ingenium ex igni coalitum et fabricatum.Iam ipsa animantium genera in quattuor species dividuntur, quarum una est ex natura ignis eiusmodi qualem solem ac lunam videmus ceterasque siderum stellas, alterum ex aeria qualitate hanc etiam daemonum dicit, tertium ex aqua terraque coalescere; et mortale genus corporum ex eo dividi terrenum atque terrestre sic enim engeion et epigeion censui<t> nuncupanda terrenumque esse arborum ceterarumque frugum, quae humi fixae vitam trahunt, terrestria vero quae alit ac sustinet tellus.Deorum trinas nuncupat species, quarum est, prima unus et solus summus ille, ultramundanus, incorporeus, quem patrem et architectum huius divini orbis superius ostendimus; aliud genus est quale astra habent ceteraque numina, quos caelicolas nominamus; tertium habent, quos medioximos Romani veteres appellant, quod (est) sui ratione, sed et loco et potestate diis summis sunt minores, natura hominum profecto maiores.

He says that the fires of the stars, fixed in their spheres, glide in perpetual and untiring courses, and that these are the gods of animals; the nature of the spheres, however, is compounded and fashioned from fire. Now the very kinds of living beings are divided into four species, of which one is from the nature of fire, such as the sun and moon and the other stars we see; another, from an aerial quality, he also calls these daemons; a third coalesces from water and earth; and the mortal kind of bodies from it is divided into terrene and terrestrial — thus I judged they should be called engeion and epigeion — terrene are those of trees and other fruits which draw life fixed to the soil, terrestrial those which the earth nourishes and sustains. He names three species of gods: the first is that one and only supreme, the ultramundane, incorporeal one, whom above we showed to be the father and architect of this divine orb; another kind are such as possess the stars and the other divine powers, whom we call caelicolas; a third kind there are, whom the old Romans call the medioximos, because they are intermediate in their nature, yet in place and in power they are less than the highest gods, and by nature certainly greater than men.

XII. Sed omnia quae naturaliter et propterea recte feruntur providentiaecustodia gubernantur nec ullius mali causa deo poterit adscribi. Quare necomnia ad fati sortem arbitratur esse referenda. Ita enim definit: providentiam esse divinam sententiam, conservatricem prosperitatis eius, cuius causa tale suscepit officium; divinam legem esse fatum, per quod inevitabiles cogitationes dei atque incepta conplentur.

12. But all things which are borne naturally and therefore rightly are governed by the guardianship of Providence, and no cause of any evil can be ascribed to God. Wherefore he does not think that all things should be referred to the lot of fate. Thus he defines: Providence is the divine counsel, the conserver of the prosperity of that for whose sake such an office was undertaken; fate is the divine law, through which the inevitable counsels of God and his undertakings are fulfilled.

Vnde si quid providentia geritur, id agitur et fato, et quod fato terminatur providentia debet susceptum videri. Et primam quidem providentiam esse summi exsuperantissimique deorum omnium, qui non solum deos caelicolas ordinavit, quos ad tutelam et decus per omnia mundi membra dispersit, sed natura etiam mortales eos, qui praestarent sapientia ceteris terrenis animantibus, ad aevitatem temporis edidit fundatisque legibus reliquarumdispositionem ac tutelam rerum, quas cotidie fieri necesse est, diis ceteristradidit. Vnde susceptam provi<de>ntiam dii secundae providentiae ita naviterretinent, ut omnia, etiam quae caelius mortalibus exhibentur, inmutabilem ordinationis paternae statum teneant.

Whence, if anything is wrought by providence, it is wrought also by fate, and that which is bounded by fate providence ought to be seen as having been undertaken. And the first providence is indeed of the highest and most transcendent of all the gods, who not only ordained the caelestial gods, whom he dispersed to guardianship and honor through all the members of the world, but by nature also brought forth those mortals who excelled in wisdom above other earthly animals, and appointed them for an age of time, and, with laws founded, handed over to the other gods the disposition and guardianship of the remaining things which must be done daily. Whence the gods of the second providence so faithfully retain the providence thus suscepta provi<de>ntiam, that all things, even those which from on high are bestowed upon mortals, may hold the immutable condition of paternal ordination.

Daemonas vero, quos Genios et Lares possumus nuncupare, ministros deorum arbitra[n]tur custodesque hominum etinterpretes, si quid a diis velint.Nec sena omnia referenda esse ad vim fati puta[n]t, sed esse aliquid in nobiset in fortuna esse non nihil. Et fortunae quidem inprovidos casus ignorari a nobis fatetur; instabile enim quiddam et incurrens intercedere solere, quae consilio fuerint et meditatione suscepta, quod non patiatur meditata adfinem venire. Et tunc quidem cum inpedimentum istud utiliter provenit, res illa felicitas nominatur; at ubi repugnationes istae nocivae erunt, infelicitas dicitur.

But the daemons, whom we can call Genii and Lares, are regarded as ministers of the gods and as guardians and interpreters of men, if they wish anything from the gods. Nor do they think[n] that all things must be referred to the force of fate, but that there is something in us and that in fortune there is not nothing. And indeed he admits that the unforeseen chances of fortune are unknown to us; for something unstable and intervening is wont to occur, which thwarts counsel and adopted deliberation, so that what has been planned does not come to its end. And then, when that impediment turns out to be beneficial, that thing is called felicity; but where those resistances are harmful, it is called infelicity.

Omnium vero terrenorum nihil homine praestabilius providentia dedit.

Of all earthly things, providence has given nothing more excellent to man.

XIII. Quare idem bene hominis pronuntia[n]t esse animam corporis dominam. Etenim cum tres partes animae ducat esse, rationabilem, id est mentis optumam portionem, hanc ait capitis arcem tenere; irascentiam vero procul a ratione ad domicilium cordis deductam esse obsequique eam in loco respondere sapientiae; cupidinem atque adpetitus, postremam mentis portionem, infernas abdominis sedes tenere ut popinas quasdam et latrinarum latebras, deversoria nequitiae atque luxuriae; relegatam vero idcirco longius a sapientia hanc partem videri, nec inportuna vicinitate rationem consulturam desuper cunctorumsaluti in ipsa cogitationum utilitate turbaret. Totum vero hominem in capite vultuque esse; nam prudentiam sensusque omnis non alias quam illa parte corporis contineri.

13. Therefore they likewise rightly declare the soul to be the mistress of the body. For since they hold that the soul has three parts — the rational, that is the best portion of the mind — they say this occupies the citadel of the head; anger, by contrast, being led far from reason to the dwelling of the heart, and its obedience in that place corresponding to wisdom; desire and appetites, the last portion of the mind, hold the lower seats of the belly, like certain taverns and the recesses of latrines, resorts of vice and luxury; and therefore that part is seen as relegated farther from wisdom, lest by its troublesome nearness it should from above consult with reason and, by delaying the common safety, disturb the very usefulness of thoughts. Moreover the whole man is said to be in the head and face; for all prudence and all the senses are contained nowhere else than in that part of the body.

Cetera enim membra ancillari et subservire capiti, cibos et alia subministrare, vectare etiam sublime po[s]situm ut dominum atque rectoremprovidentiae eius a periculis vindicari. Sed machinamenta, quibus adsentiendas et diiudicandas qualitates sensus instructi sunt, ibidem erga regiam capitis constituta esse in conspectu rationis, ut intellegendi ac persentiscendi veritas adiuvetur.

The other members serve as ancillary and subordinate to the head, supplying foods and other things, even carrying what is placed aloft so that the head, as lord and director of its providence, may be vindicated from dangers. But the contrivances by which the senses are furnished to assent to and to discern qualities are likewise set there toward the royal seat of the head, in the sight of reason, so that the truth of understanding and of clear perception may be aided.

XIV. Sensus vero ipsi ad ea quae sunt sensibilia apte conposita naturaintellegentiam cognatam tenent. Ac primo oculorum acies gemellas perlucidas et quadam luce visionis inlustres noscendi luminis officium tenere. Auditionem vero, aeriae naturae participem, aeris nuntiis percipere sonores.

14. The senses themselves, suitably disposed toward those things which are sensible, retain an intellect cognate to nature. And first the twin, translucent beams of the eyes, made bright by a certain light of vision, hold the office of the light of knowing. Hearing, however, a participant of aerial nature, perceives sounds by the messages of the air.

Iam gustatus solutiores esse sensus ideoque umidioribus et aquosispotius commodatos. Tactum etiam terrarum atque corporeum solidiora quaeque contingi offendique possunt sentire. Eorum etiam quae corrupta mutantur separata intellegentia est; in media namque regione oris nares natura constituit, quarum bifori via odor cum spiritu commeat.

Now taste is the more lax of the senses and therefore more fitted to moister and rather watery things. Touch too can perceive the firmer things of earth and body which may be touched and struck. There is also a separate understanding of those things which, when corrupted, are changed; for nature has placed the nostrils in the middle region of the mouth, through whose twofold passage odor mingles with the breath.

Conversiones autem multationesque odoratus causas dare easque de corruptis vel adustis vel mitescentibus aut madefactis sentiri, cum quidem ea, quae feruntur vapore velfumo exhalantur, odorum viis iudicium sensusque succedunt; nam res[istent]integrae et aer purus numquam eiusmodi auris inficiunt eos.Sensus quidem ipsi communes nobis sunt cum ceteris animantibus; at enim hominis sollertia eiusmodi divino beneficio instructior auctiorque, quod auditus illi est visusque praestantior. Oculis namque metitus est caelum siderumque circuitus et astrorum obitus atque ortus eorumque cum significatibus spatia comprehendit, ex quo pulcherrimus et uberrimus fons ille philosophiae profluxit. Auditu vero quid homini magnificentius potuit evenire, per quem prudentiam sapientiamque condisceret numerosque orationis metiretur ac modos faceret fieretque ipse totus modulatus ac musicus?

Conversions and alterations of the sense of smell, and the causes of them, arise from things corrupted, either burned or made mild or moistened, being perceived; since those things that are borne off in vapor or fume are exhaled, and the judgments and sensations of odor follow the paths of those exhalations; for intact, resistant things and pure air never taint such senses. The senses themselves are common to us with other living creatures; but the human wit, by divine benefaction, is instructed and augmented in such matters, so that hearing and sight are superior to it. For by the eyes the vault of heaven and the circuits of the stars and their setting and rising and the intervals signified by them are measured and grasped, whence that most fair and most abundant fount of philosophy flowed forth. And by hearing what could be more magnificent for man, by which he would learn prudence and wisdom, measure the rhythms of speech and fashion its modes, and himself become altogether modulated and musical?

Lingua et dentium vallum et ipsius osculi venustas accessit. Quod quidem aliis animantibus ad explendam victus necessitatem inferendasque ventri copias conparatum est, sed homini promptuarium potius rectae rationis et suavissimae orationis hoc datum est, ut, quae prudentia corde conceperit, ea sensa promat oratio.

The tongue, the rampart of the teeth, and the very charm of the kiss were added. Which indeed for other animals has been prepared to fulfill the necessity of sustenance and to bring supplies to the belly; but to man rather it has been given as a storehouse of right reason and of most sweet speech, so that speech may bring forth into senses those things which prudence has conceived in the heart.

XV. Sed totius corporis habitus et figura membrorum alia condicione suntoptuma, alia longe peiora: inferiora reguntur optimatium praestantia et ipsa ministerium suggerunt victuale. Pedes ceteraque umerorum tenus capiti oboediunt. At superciliorum saepes praemuniunt oculis, ne desuper proruat, quod teneras visiones mollesque perturbet.

15. But the habit of the whole body and the form of the limbs are of different condition: some most excellent, others far worse; the lower parts are governed by the preeminence of the higher and themselves furnish the ministering victual. The feet and the rest up to the shoulders obey the head. Yet the brow’s hedge defends the eyes beforehand, lest from above anything strike through them and disturb their tender and soft visions.

Pulmones loco ac sui genere cordi plurimum consulunt, cum exardescit ira trepidansque celerioribus motibus vertex cordis ipsius, madens sanguine, pulmonum excipitur mollitia, siti, frigore. Lienem vero iocineri non frustra esse finitimum, ut eius redundantiam participatis haustibus relevet abstergeatque ea quae sordium fuerint purumque ac sincerum praestet, quod maxime fibris est commodum. Ventrem hiris intestinorum circumplexum et nexibus inpeditum esse, ne esculenta et potulenta sese penetrarent, sed ut retenta paulisperutilitatem sui ac censum animantibus exhiberent; nam [ne] exhaustis etlabentibus usque quae inferuntur, momentis omnibus adpetendi cibi necessitas inmineret et ad hoc unum occupari nobis dies noctesque esset necesse.

The lungs, by their place and their kind, serve the heart most of all, for when anger kindles and the apex of the heart trembles with swifter motions, wet with blood, it is received by the softness of the lungs, by thirst, by cold. The spleen, moreover, is not without reason called neighbouring to the liver, so that by shared draughts it relieves its redundancy and wipes away those things that have been of filth and renders pure and sincere what is most serviceable to the fibres. The belly is girded about with the folds of the intestines and hindered by bonds, that alimentary and potable things may not penetrate themselves, but, being retained for a little, may exhibit their usefulness and value to the animals; for if those things which are introduced were exhausted and slid away, at every moment the necessity of seeking food would press upon us, and for this one thing it would be necessary that we be occupied day and night.

XVI. Visceribus ossa sunt tecta; eadem revincta sunt nervis. Et tamen eaquae sunt internuntia sentiendi sic sunt operta visceribus, ne crassitudine sensus hebetentur. Illa etiam, quae iuncturis et copulis nexa sunt, adceleritatem facilius se movendi, haud multis sunt inpedita visceribus.

16. Bones are coverings for the viscera; the same are rebound by nerves. And yet those things which are internuntia of sensing are so covered by the viscera, lest by thickness the senses be dulled. Those also which are joined by iunctures and couplings, to facilitate the acceleration of their moving, are not much impeded by the viscera.

Denique ipsius capitis verticem specta: contectum tenui cute capillisque hirsutum videbis adversum vim frigoris et caloris. At enim illae op[t]imaesunt partes quas labor subigit, ut femina ipsaque sessitandi regio est. Quid de cibatu ipso loquar, quem itinera ex utero manantia, fibris iecoris adiuncta, dispertiunt in cruoris habitudinem versum, ut eum ex eo loco per omnes artus natura sollers derivari faciat?

Finally, behold the vertex of the very head: you will see it covered with thin skin and hirsute with hairs, against the force of cold and of heat. But those indeed are the best parts which toil drives down, so that the woman herself is the very region of sitting. What shall I say about the nourishment itself, which journeys flowing from the womb, joined to the fibers of the liver, are distributed into the condition of blood, so that nature, skilled, causes it to be derived from that place through all the limbs?

Sed e regione cordis venarum meatus oriuntur, per pulmonum spiracula vivacitatem transferentes, quam de corde susceperint, et rursus ex illo loco divisae per membra totum hominem iuvant spiritu[m]. Hinc illae anhelandi vices haustae redditaequealterno modo, ne mutuis inpediantur occursibus. Venarum diversae suntqualitates, quas ad procreandum e regione cervicum per medullas renum commeare et suspici inguinum loco certum est et pulsu venarum genitale seminium humanitatis exire.

But from the region of the heart the courses of the veins originate, transferring vivacity through the spiracles of the lungs which they have received from the heart, and again from that place, divided through the members, they aid the whole man with spirit. Hence those alternations of inhaling are drawn and returned in alternate fashion, so that they are not impeded by mutual collisions. The veins are of diverse qualities, by which, for procreation, it is certain that from the region of the neck they traverse through the marrows of the kidneys and are raised to the place of the groins, and by the pulse of the veins the genital seed of humanity issues forth.

XVII. At cum totius corporis tres dicat esse substantias, primam vultvideri ex igni et aqua et ceteris elementis, aliam ex consimilibus partibus viscerum, ossiculorum, cruoris et ceterorum, tertiam de discrepantibus diversisque membris, id est capite, utero et articulis disparibus. Vnde et substantia, quae de simplicibus constat elementis, si id quod necessitate victus extrinsecus adrogatur commodo congruit et generi singulorum, qualitatem corporis temperiemque custodit, et illis quae de consimilibus, robur auget et iis, quae inter se disparia supra diximus, pulchritudinem nutrit; et simul[abo] aequalitas ista sicci atque umidi,ferventis ac frigidi sanitatem, vires speciemque largitur, sicuti illa intemperans atque inmoderata permixtio singulis universisque vitatis animalceleri exitio corrumpit.

17. But when he says that the whole body has three substances, he means the first to appear from fire and water and the other elements, another from like parts of the viscera, small bones, blood and the rest, the third from the differing and diverse members, that is the head, the womb and the various joints. Whence the substance which consists of the simple elements, if that which is added from outside by the necessity of sustenance is suitable for use and fits the nature of each, preserves the quality and temperament of the body; and that which is from the like parts increases robustness, and that which, as we above called, is unlike among themselves, nourishes beauty; and I will suppose [abo] that this equality of dry and moist, of hot and cold, bestows health, strength and appearance, just as that intemperate and immoderate mingling, harmful to individuals and to the whole of life, corrupts the living being with swift destruction.

XVIII. Tripertitam animam idem dicit: primam eius rationabilem esse partem,aliam excandescentiam vel inritabilitatem, tertiam adpetitus; eadem cupiditatem possumus nuncupare. Sed tunc animanti sanitatem adesse, vires, pulchritudinem, cum ratio totam regit parentesque ei inferiores duae partesconcordantesque inter se iracundia et voluptas nihil adpetunt, nihilcommovent, quod inutile esse duxeri[n]t ratio. Eiusmodi ad aequabilitatempartibus animae temperatis, corpus nulla turbatione frangitur.

18. He says the soul is threefold: its first part is the rational part, another is ardor or irritability, the third appetites; we may call that same one cupidity. But then health, strength, and beauty attend him who has a soul, when reason rules the whole and the two lower parts are subject to it and, agreeing with one another — anger and pleasure — seek nothing, move nothing, which reason will have judged to be useless. With the parts of the soul thus tempered to equilibrium, the body is broken by no disturbance.

Alioquin invehit aegritudinem atque invalentiam et foeditatem, cum incompositae etinaequales inter se erunt, cum irascentiam et consilium subegerit sibique subiecerit cupiditas aut cum dominam illa reginamque rationem, obsequente licet et pacata cupidine, ira flagrantior vicerit. Sed aegritudinem mentis stultitiam esse dicit eamque in partes duas dividit; harum unam inperitiam nominat, aliam insaniam vocat; et inperitae morbum ex gloriosa iactatione contingere, cum eorum, quorum ignarus est, doctrinam aliquis scientiamque mentitur; furorem vero pessima consuetudine et libidinosa vita solere evenire hancque insaniam nominari, quam vitiosa qualitas corporis prodit, cum ea quae rationi sunt parata in ipso vertice inportunis angustiis coartantur. At enim hominem tunc esse perfectum, cum anima et corpus aequaliter copulantur et inter se conveniunt sibique respondent, ut firmitas mentis praevalentibus corporis viribus non sit inferior; corporis vero tunc nativis incrementis augetur, cum valitudinis ratio procurata salubriter modum necessarii victus nescit excedere nec valitudo obteritur magnitudine externorum laborum nec pabuli sarcina inmoderatius invecti vel non, ut oportet, digesti distributique per corpus.

Otherwise there supervenes sickness and weakness and foulness, when they are uncomposed and unequal among themselves, when anger subdues counsel and desire subjects it to itself, or when that mistress and queen Reason, though served and pacified by desire, is nevertheless overcome by the more blazing anger. But he says the sickness of the mind is folly and divides it into two parts; he names one of these ignorance, the other calls madness; and he says a disease of the ignorant arises from boastful vaunting, when one, ignorant of them, falsifies the doctrine and science of others; but fury is wont to arise from the worst habit and a licentious life, and this madness is called forth, which a corrupt bodily quality betrays, when those things prepared for reason at the very crown are cramped by unsuitable narrownesses. Now a man is then perfect when soul and body are joined and balanced equally and agree with one another and respond to one another, so that the firmness of the mind is not inferior to the prevailing strengths of the body; and the body is then increased by its native increments, when the regimen of health, having been provided, prudently does not exceed the measure of necessary sustenance nor is health overthrown by the magnitude of external labors nor is the burden of food conveyed inordinately or not, as it ought, ordered and distributed through the body.

Tunc enim artus ac membra vigoris debiti modum et vires retinent, cum id quod infertur ad totius corporis conservationem veluti singillatim exaequatum cunctis partibus dividitur. Verum enimvero tunc exitium copo<r>...

For then the limbs and members retain the due measure and the strengths of vigor, when that which is brought for the conservation of the whole body is, as it were, equally distributed, singly, to all the parts. But truly then the destruction of the copo<r>...