11. Passing by many other such like things, said I, I will produce only Plato; who says, that there is but one world, but that if this were not alone, so that there were others besides it, they would be in all five and no more. For indeed, though there is but this one only world, as Aristotle is also of opinion, yet this world is in some sort composed and assembled of five, of which one indeed is of earth, another of water, the third of fire, the fourth of air, and the fifth, being heaven, some call light and others the sky; and some also name this same the fifth essence, which alone of all, bodies is naturally carried about in a circle, and not of necessity or otherwise by accident. Wherefore Plato, knowing that, of the figures which are in Nature, there are five most excellent and perfect,—to wit, the pyramid, the cube, the octahedron, the icosahedron, and the dodecahedron,—has fitly accommodated each of them to each of these worlds or bodies.
11. πολλὰ δʼ ἄλλα τοιαῦτʼ ἔφην ἐγὼ παρελθὼν τὸν Πλάτωνα προσάξομαι λέγοντα κόσμον ἕνα, ὡς εἴπερ εἰσὶ παρὰ τοῦτον ἕτεροι καὶ μὴ μόνος οὗτος εἷς, πέντε τοὺς πάντας ὄντας καὶ μὴ πλείονας. μὴν ἀλλὰ κἂν εἷς οὗτος μονογενής, ὡς οἴεται καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης, τρόπον τινὰ καὶ τοῦτον ἐκ πέντε συγκείμενον κόσμων καὶ συνηρμοσμένον εἶναι· ὧν ὁ μὲν ἐστι γῆς ὁ δʼ ὕδατος, τρίτος δὲ πυρὸς καὶ τέταρτος ἀέρος· τὸν δὲ πέμπτον οὐρανὸν οἱ δὲ φῶς οἱ δʼ αἰθέρα καλοῦσιν, οἱ δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πέμπτην οὐσίαν, τὸ κύκλῳ περιφέρεσθαι μόνῃ τῶν σωμάτων κατὰ φύσιν ἐστίν, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης οὔτʼ ἄλλως συμβεβηκὸς δὴ καὶ τὰ πέντε καὶ κάλλιστα καὶ τελεώτατα σχήματα τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει κατανοήσας, πυραμίδα καὶ κύβον καὶ ὀκτάεδρον καὶ εἰκοσάεδρον καὶ δωδεκάεδρον, ἕκαστον οἰκείως ἑκάστῳ προσένειμεν.
12. There are some also who apply the faculties of the senses, being equal in number, to these five first bodies, seeing the touch to be firm and earthly, and the taste to perceive the qualities of savors by moisture. Now the air being struck upon is a voice and sound to the ear; and as for the other two,—the scent, which the smell has obtained for its object, being an exhalation and engendered by heat, is fiery; and the sight, which shines by reason of its affinity to the sky and light, has from them a temperature and complexion equally mingled of both. Now neither has any animal any other sense, nor the world any other nature simple and unmixed; but there has been made, as appears, a certain wonderful distribution and congruity of five to five.
12. εἰσὶ δʼ οἳ καὶ τὰς τῶν αἰσθήσεων δυνάμεις ἰσαρίθμους οὔσας τοῖς πρώτοις ἐκείνοις συνοικειοῦσι, τὴν μὲν ἁφὴν ὁρῶντες ἀντίτυπον οὖσαν καὶ γεώδη, τὴν δὲ γεῦσιν ὑγρότητι τῶν γευστῶν τὰς ποιότητας προσιεμένην. ἀὴρ δὲ πληγεὶς ἐν ἀκοῇ γίγνεται φωνὴ καὶ ψόφος. δυεῖν δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν ὀσμὴ μέν, ἣν ἡ ὄσφρσις εἴληχεν, ἀναθυμίασις οὖσα καὶ γεννωμένη θερμότητι πυρῶδές ἐστιν· αἰθέρι δὲ καὶ φωτὶ διὰ συγγένειαν διαλαμπούσης τῆς ὄψεως γίγνεται κρᾶσις ἀμφοῖν ὁμοιοπαθὴς καὶ σύμπηξις. ἄλλην δʼ οὔτε τὸ ζῷον αἴσθησιν οὔτε ὁ κόσμος ἔχει φύσιν ἁπλῆν καὶ ἄμικτον ἀλλὰ θαυμαστή τις, ὡς ἔοικε, διανομὴ γέγονε τῶν πέντε πρὸς τὰ πέντε καὶ σύλληξις.
13. Having here stopped a little, and made a small pause between, I said: What a fault, O Eustrophus, were we like to have committed, having almost passed by Homer, as if he were not the first that distributed the world into five parts, who assigned the three which are in the midst to three Gods, and left the two extremes, Olympus and the Earth—of which one is the limit of things above, the other of things below—common and undistributed. But we must, as Euripides says, return to our discourse. For those who magnify the quaternary, or number of four, teach not amiss, that every solid body had its generation by reason of this. For since every solid consists in length and breadth, having withal a depth; and since before length there is extant a point, answerable to unity, and length without breadth is called a line and consists of two; and the motion of a line towards breadth exhibits also the procreation of a superficies in the number three; and the argumentation of this, when depth is added to it, goes on to a solid in the number four; it is manifest to every one, that the quaternary, having carried on Nature hitherto, and even to the perfecting of a body and the exhibiting it tangible, massy, and solid, has yet at last left it wanting the greatest accomplishment. For that which is inanimate is, to speak sincerely, orphan-like, imperfect, and fit for nothing at all, unless there is some soul to use it; but the motion or disposition introducing a soul, being a change made by the number five, adds the consummation to Nature, and has a reason so much more excellent than the quaternary, as an animal differs in dignity from that which is inanimate. Moreover, the symmetry and power of this number five, having obtained greater force, has not permitted the animate body to proceed to infinite sorts, but has exhibited five species of all things that have life. For there are Gods, Genii, and heroes, and then after them the fourth sort is men, and the fifth and last the irrational and brutish animal. Furthermore, if you divide the soul itself according to its nature, its first and most obscure part or faculty is the vegetative, the second the sensitive, then the concupiscible, after that the irascible; and having brought on and perfected Nature in the faculty of the rational, it rests in this fifth, as in the top of all.
13. ἅμα δέ πως ἐπιστήσας καὶ διαλιπών οἷον εἶπον ὦ Εὔστροφε, πεπόνθαμεν, ὀλίγου παρελθόντες τὸν Ὅμηρον, ὡς οὐχὶ πρῶτον εἰς πέντε νείμαντα μερίδας τὸν κόσμον, ὃς τὰς μὲν ἐν μέσῳ τρεῖς ἀποδέδωκε τοῖς τρισὶ θεοῖς, δύο δὲ τὰς ἄκρας ὄλυμπον καὶ γῆν, ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστι τῶν κάτω πέρας ἡ δὲ τῶν ἄνω, κοινὰς καὶ ἀνεμήτους ἀφῆκεν. ἀλλʼ ἀνοιστέος ὁ λόγος ὡς Εὐριπίδης φησίν. οἱ γὰρ τὴν τετράδα σεμνύναντες οὐ φαύλως διδάσκουσιν, ὅτι τῷ ταύτης λόγῳ πᾶν σῶμα γένεσιν ἔσχηκεν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐν μήκει καὶ πλάτει βάθος λαβόντι πᾶν τὸ στερεόν ἐστι, καὶ μήκους μὲν προϋφίσταται στιγμὴ κατὰ μονάδα ταττομένη, μῆκος δʼ ἀπλατὲς ἡ γραμμὴ καλεῖται καὶ μῆκος ἐστιν, ἡ δʼ ἐπὶ πλάτος γραμμῆς κίνησις ἐπιφανείας γένεσιν ἐν τριάδι παρέσχε, βάθους δὲ τούτοις προσγενομένου διὰ τεττάρων εἰς στερεὸν ἡ αὔξησις προβαίνει· παντὶ δῆλον, ὅτι μέχρι δεῦρο τὴν φύσιν ἡ τετρὰς προαγαγοῦσα, μέχρι τοῦ σῶμα τελειῶσαι καὶ παρασχεῖν ἁπτὸν ὄγκον καὶ ἀντίτυπον, εἶτʼ ἀπολέλοιπεν ἐνδεᾶ τοῦ μεγίστου. τὸ γὰρ ἄψυχον ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ὀρφανὸν καὶ ἀτελὲς καὶ πρὸς οὐδʼ ὁτιοῦν, μὴ χρωμένης ψυχῆς, ἐπιτήδειον· ἡ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐμποιοῦσα κίνησις ἢ διάθεσις, μεταβολῇ διὰ πέντε γιγνομένη, τῇ φύσει τὸ τέλειον ἀποδίδωσι, καὶ τοσούτῳ κυριώτερον ἔχει τῆς τετράδος λόγον, ὅσῳ τιμῇ διαφέρει τοῦ ἀψύχου τὸ ζῷον. ἔτι δʼ ἰσχύσασα μᾶλλον ἡ τῶν πέντε συμμετρία καὶ δύναμις οὐκ εἴασεν εἰς ἄπειρα γένη προελθεῖν τὸ ἔμψυχον, ἀλλὰ πέντε τῶν ζώντων ἁπάντων ἰδέας παρέσχεν. εἰσὶ γὰρ θεοὶ δήπου καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ἥρωες καὶ μετὰ τούτους τὸ τέταρτον ἄνθρωποι γένος, ἔσχατον δὲ καὶ πέμπτον τὸ ἄλογον καὶ θηριῶδες;. ἔτι δʼ εἰ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν κατὰ φύσιν διαιροῖς, πρῶτον αὐτῆς καὶ ἀμαυρότατόν ἐστι τὸ θρεπτικὸν δεύτερον δὲ τὸ αἰσθητικὸν, εἶτα τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν εἶτʼ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τὸ θυμοειδές· εἰς δὲ τὴν τοῦ λογιστικοῦ δύναμιν ἐξικομένη καὶ τελεώσασα τὴν φύσιν ὥσπερ ἐν ἄκρῳ τῷ πέμπτῳ καταπέπαυται.
14. Now the generation of this number, which has so many and so great faculties, is also beautiful,—not that which we have already discoursed of, from two and three, but that which the first principle joined with the first square has exhibited. For the principle of all number is unity, and the first square is the quaternary; now the quinary is composed of these, as of form and of matter which has attained to perfection. And if it is right, which some hold, that unity is also square, as being the power of itself and terminating in itself; the quinary, being made of the first two squares, could not have a more noble original.
14. τοσαύτας δὲ καὶ τηλικαύτας ἔχοντος τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ δυνάμεις, καλὴ καὶ ἡ γένεσίς ἐστιν, οὐχ ἣν ἤδη διήλθομεν, ἐκ δυάδος οὖσα καὶ τριάδος, ἀλλʼ ἣν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῷ πρώτῳ συνελθοῦσα τετραγώνῳ παρέσχεν. ἀρχὴ μὲν γὰρ ἀριθμοῦ παντὸς ἡ μονάς, τετράγωνος δὲ πρῶτος ἡ τετράς ἐκ δὲ τούτων, ὥσπερ ἰδέας καὶ ὕλης πέρας ἐχούσης, ἡ πεμπάς. εἰ δὲ δὴ καὶ τὴν μονάδα τετράγωνον ὀρθῶς ἔνιοι τίθενται, δύναμιν οὖσαν ἑαυτῆς καὶ περαίνουσαν εἰς ἑαυτήν, ἐκ δυεῖν πεφυκυῖα τῶν πρώτων τετραγώνων ἡ πεμπὰς οὐκ ἀπολέλοιπεν ὑπερβολὴν εὐγενείας.
15. But as for its greatest excellency, I fear, lest being spoken it should press our Plato as much as he himself said Anaxagoras was pressed by the name of the moon, when he made a certain opinion concerning her illuminations, which was very ancient, to be an invention of his own. For has he not said this in his dialogue entitled Cratylus? Yes indeed, answered Eustrophus; but I see not any thing that has fallen out like it. And yet you know, that in the Sophister he demonstrates five principal beginnings, to wit, that which is, or Ens (τὸ ὄν), the Same, the Different, adding to these, for a fourth and fifth, Motion, and Rest. Again, in his dialogue called Philebus, using another manner of division, he says, that there is one thing Infinite, and another the End; and that all generation consists of these two mixed together. Then he puts the cause by which they are mixed for the fourth kind; and has left us to conjecture the fifth, by which the things that were mixed have again a division and dissipation. Now I am of opinion that these last are delivered as the images or representations of those before,—to wit, the things engendered of Ens, the Infinite of Motion, the End of Rest, the Mixing Principle of the Same, and the Separating Principle of the Different. But if these are different from those, yet both that way and this way these principles are still distinguished into five kinds and differences. Now some one, said he, being persuaded of these things and seeing them before Plato, consecrated to the God two E E, for a mark and symbol of the number of all things. And having perhaps further understood that good also appears in five kinds, of which the first is the mean, the second the commensurate, the third understanding, the fourth the sciences, arts, and true opinions in the soul, and the fifth a certain pleasure, pure and unmixed with sorrow; he stops there, subjoining that of Orpheus: “In the sixth age stay your desire of singing.”
15. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον ἔφην δέδια μὴ ῥηθὲν πιέζῃ τὸν Πλάτωνα ἡμῶν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγε πιέζεσθαι τῷ τῆς σελήνης ὀνόματι τὸν Ἀναξαγόραν, παμπάλαιον οὖσαν τινα τὴν περὶ τῶν φωτισμῶν δόξαν αὑτοῦ, ἰδίαν ποιούμενον. ἦ γὰρ οὐ ταῦτʼ εἴρηκεν ἐν Κρατύλῳ; πάνυ μὲν οὖν ὁ Εὔστροφος ἔφη, τί δʼ ὅμοιον πέφυκεν οὐ συνορῶ. καὶ μὴν οἶσθα δήπουθεν, ὅτι πέντε μὲν ἐν Σοφιστῇ τὰς κυριωτάτας· ἀποδείκνυσιν ἀρχάς, τὸ ὂν τὸ ταὐτὸν τὸ ἕτερον, τέταρτον δὲ καὶ πέμπτον ἐπὶ τούτοις κίνησιν καὶ στάσιν. ἄλλῳ δʼ αὖ τρόπῳ διαιρέσεως ἐν Φιλήβῳ χρώμενος, ἓν μὲν εἶναί φησι τὸ ἄπειρον ἕτερον δὲ τὸ πέρας· τούτων δὲ μιγνυμένων πᾶσαν συνίστασθαι γένεσιν. αἰτίαν δʼ, ὑφʼ ἧς μίγνυται, τέταρτον γένος τίθεται· καὶ πέμπτον ἡμῖν ὑπονοεῖν ἀπολέλοιπεν, ᾧ τὰ μιχθέντα πάλιν ἴσχει διάκρισιν καὶ διάστασιν. τεκμαίρομαι δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐκείνων ὥσπερ εἰκόνας λέγεσθαι, τοῦ μὲν ὄντος τὸ γιγνόμενον, κινήσεως δὲ τὸ ἄπειρον, τὸ δὲ πέρας τῆς στάσεως, ταὐτοῦ δὲ τὴν μιγνύουσαν ἀρχήν, θατέρου δὲ τὴν διακρίνουσαν. εἰ δʼ ἕτερα ταῦτʼ ἐστί, κἀκείνως ἂν εἴη καὶ οὕτως ἐν πέντε γένεσι καὶ διαφοραῖς. πυθόμενος, φήσει δή τις, ταῦτα πρότερος συνιδὼν Πλάτωνος, δύο Ε καθιέρωσε τῷ θεῷ, δήλωμα καὶ σύμβολον τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν πάντων ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τἀγαθὸν ἐν πέντε γένεσι φανταζόμενον κατανοήσας, ὧν πρῶτόν ἐστι τὸ μέτριον δεύτερον δὲ τὸ σύμμετρον, καὶ τρίτον ὁ νοῦς καὶ τέταρτον αἱ περὶ ψυχὴν ἐπιστῆμαι καὶ τέχναι καὶ δόξαι ἀληθεῖς, πέμπτον εἴ τις ἡδονὴ καθαρὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ λυποῦν ἄκρατος, ἐνταῦθα λήγει τὸ Ὀρφικὸν ὑπειπών ἕκτῃ δʼ ἐν γενεῇ καταπαύσατε θεσμὸν ἀοιδῆς.
16. After what I have spoken to you, I said, Yet one short word to those about Nicander, “I’ll sing to men of skill.” For on the sixth day of the new moon, when you introduce the Pythia into the Prytaneum, the first of the three lots tends with you towards five, casting neither three, nor two, one to another. For is not this so? It is so, said Nicander; but the cause is not to be told to others. Well then, said I smiling, till such time as the God admits us, being consecrated, to know the truth, this also shall be added to those things that have been spoken concerning the quinary. This end, as I remember, had the discourse of the arithmetical and mathematical encomiums of E.
16. ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔφην εἰρημένοις πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἓν βραχύ τοῖς περὶ Νίκανδρον ἀείσω ξυνετοῖσι τῇ γὰρ ἕκτῃ τοῦ νέου μηνὸς ὅταν κατάγῃ εἷς τὴν Πυθίαν εἰς τὸ πρυτανεῖον, ὁ πρῶτος ὑμῖν γίγνεται τῶν τριῶν κλήρων εἰς, τὰ πέντε, πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐκείνης τὰ τρία τοῦ δὲ τὰ δύο βάλλοντες. ἦ γὰρ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει; καὶ ὁ Νίκανδρος οὕτως εἶπεν ἡ δʼ αἰτία πρὸς ἑτέρους ἄρρητός ἐστι. οὐκοῦν ἔφην ἐγὼ μειδιάσας ἄχρι οὗ τἀληθὲς; ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἱεροῖς γενομένοις γνῶναι παράσχῃ, προσκείσεται καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πεμπάδος λεγομένοις. τοιοῦτο μὲν καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀριθμητικῶν καὶ ὁ τῶν μαθηματικῶν ἐγκωμίων τοῦ Ε λόγος, ὡς ἐγὼ μέμνημαι, πέρας ἔσχεν.
17. But Ammonius, who had himself also bestowed not the worst part of his time in mathematical philosophy, was delighted with what had been spoken, and said: It is not meet too eagerly to oppose these young men about these things, except by saying that every one of the numbers will afford you, if you desire to praise it, no small subject of commendations. And what need is there to speak of others? For the septener, sacred to Apollo, will take up a day’s time, before one can in words run through all its powers. We shall therefore pronounce, that the Sages do at once contest both against common law and a long series of time, if, throwing the septenary out of its seat, they consecrate the quinary to the God, as being more suitable to him. I am therefore of opinion, that this syllable signifies neither number, order, nor connection, nor any other of the deficient parts, but is a self-perfect appellation and salutation of the God, which brings the speaker to the conception of the power of the God at the very moment of uttering it. For the God in a manner calls upon every one of us who comes hither, with this salutation, Know thyself, which is nothing inferior to All hail. And we again, answering the God, say to him Εἶ, thou art; attributing to him the true, unfeigned, and sole appellation of being, as agreeing to him alone.
17. ὁ δʼ Ἀμμώνιος, ἅτε δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐ τὸ φαυλότατον ἐν μαθηματικῇ φιλοσοφίας τιθέμενος, ἥσθη τε τοῖς λεγομένοις καὶ εἶπεν οὐκ ἄξιον πρὸς ταῦτα λίαν ἀκριβῶς ἀντιλέγειν τοῖς νέοις, πλὴν ὅτι τῶν ἀριθμῶν ἕκαστος οὐκ ὀλίγα βουλομένοις ἐπαινεῖν καὶ ὑμνεῖν παρέξει. καὶ τί δεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων λέγειν; ἡ γὰρ ἱερὰ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἑβδομὰς ἀναλώσει τὴν ἡμέραν πρότερον ἢ λόγῳ τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτῆς ἁπάσας ἐπεξελθεῖν. εἶτα τῷ κοινῷ νόμῳ πολεμοῦντας ἅμα καὶ τῷ πολλῷ χρόνῳ τοὺς σοφοὺς ἀποφανοῦμεν ἄνδρας, εἰ τὴν ἑβδομάδα τῆς προεδρίας παρώσαντες τῷ θεῷ τὴν πεμπάδα καθιέρωσαν ὡς μᾶλλόν τι προσήκουσαν. οὔτʼ οὖν ἀριθμὸν οὔτε τάξιν οὔτε σύνδεσμον οὔτʼ ἄλλο τῶν ἐλλιπῶν μορίων οὐδὲν οἶμαι τὸ γράμμα σημαίνειν· ἀλλʼ ἔστιν αὐτοτελὴς τοῦ θεοῦ προσαγόρευσις καὶ προσφώνησις, ἅμα τῷ ῥήματι τὸν φθεγγόμενον εἰς ἔννοιαν καθιστᾶσα τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμεως. ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεὸς ἕκαστον ἡμῶν ἐνταῦθα προσιόντα οἷον ἀσπαζόμενος προσαγορεύει τὸ γνῶθι σαυτόν, ὃ δὴ τοῦ χαῖρε οὐδὲν μεῖόν ἐστιν. ἡμεῖς δὲ πάλιν ἀμειβόμενοι τὸν θεὸν εἶ φαμέν, ὡς ἀληθῆ καὶ ἀψευδῆ καὶ μόνην μόνῳ προσήκουσαν τὴν τοῦ εἶναι προσαγόρευσιν ἀποδιδόντες.
18. For we indeed do not at all essentially partake of being; but every mortal nature, being in the midst between generation and corruption, exhibits an appearance, and an obscure and weak opinion of itself. And if you fix your thought, desiring to comprehend it,—as the hard grasping of water, by the pressing and squeezing together that which is fluid, loses that which is held,—so when reason pursues too evident a perception of any one of the things subject to passion and change, it is deceived and led away, partly towards its generation and partly towards its corruption, being able to apprehend nothing either remaining or really subsisting. For we cannot, as Heraclitus says, step twice into the same river, or twice find any perishable substance in the same state; but by the suddenness and swiftness of the change, it disperses and again gathers together, comes and goes. Whence what is generated of it reaches not to the perfection of being, because the generation never ceases nor is at an end; but always changing, of seed it makes an embryo, next an infant, then a child, then a stripling, after that a young man, then a full-grown man, an elderly man, and lastly, a decrepit old man, corrupting the former generations and statues by the latter. But we ridiculously fear one death, having already so often died and still dying. For not only, as Heraclitus said, is the death of fire the generation of air, and the death of air the generation of water; but you may see this more plainly in men themselves; for the full-grown man perishes when the old man comes, as the youth terminated in the full-grown man, the child in the youth, the infant in the child. So yesterday died in to-day, and to-day dies in to-morrow; so that none remains nor is one, but we are generated many, according as matter glides and turns about one phantasm and common mould. For how do we, if we remain the same, delight now in other things than we delighted in before? How do we love, hate, admire, and contemn things contrary to the former? How do we use other words and other passions, not having the same form, figure, or understanding? For neither is it probable we should be thus differently affected without change, neither is he who changes the same. And if he is not the same, neither is he at all; but changing from the same, he changes also his being, being made one from another. But the sense is deceived through the ignorance of being, supposing that to be which appears.
18. Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ ὄντως τοῦ εἶναι μέτεστιν οὐδέν, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα θνητὴ φύσις ἐν μέσῳ γενέσεως καὶ φθορᾶς γενομένη φάσμα παρέχει καὶ δόκησιν ἀμυδρὰν καὶ ἀβέβαιον αὑτῆς· ἂν δὲ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπερείσῃς λαβέσθαι βουλόμενος, ὥσπερ ἡ σφοδρὰ περίδραξις ὕδατος τῷ πιέζειν εἰς ταὐτὸ καὶ συνάγειν διαρρέον ἀπόλλυσι τὸ περιλαμβανόμενον, οὕτω τῶν παθητῶν καὶ μεταβλητῶν ἑκάστου τὴν ἄγαν ἐνάργειαν ὁ λόγος διώκων ἀποσφάλλεται τῇ μὲν εἰς τὸ γιγνόμενον αὐτοῦ τῇ δʼ εἰς τὸ φθειρόμενον, οὐδενὸς λαβέσθαι μένοντος οὐδʼ ὄντος ὄντως δυνάμενος. ποταμῷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμβῆναι δὶς τῷ αὐτῷ καθʼ Ἡράκλειτον οὐδὲ θνητῆς οὐσίας δὶς ἅψασθαι κατὰ ἕξιν ἀλλʼ ὀξύτητι καὶ τάχει μεταβολῆς σκίδνησι καὶ πάλιν συνάγει, μᾶλλον δʼ οὐδὲ πάλιν οὐδʼ ὕστερον ἀλλʼ ἅμα συνίσταται καὶ ἀπολείπει καὶ πρόσεισι καὶ ἄπεισι, ὅθεν οὐδʼ εἰς τὸ εἶναι περαίνει τὸ γιγνόμενον αὐτῆς τῷ μηδέποτε λήγειν μηδʼ ἵστασθαι τὴν γένεσιν, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ σπέρματος ἀεὶ μεταβάλλουσαν ἔμβρυον ποιεῖν εἶτα βρέφος εἶτα παῖδα, μειράκιον ἐφεξῆς, νεανίσκον, εἶτʼ ἄνδρα, πρεσβύτην, γέροντα, τὰς πρώτας φθείρουσαν γενέσεις καὶ ἡλικίας; ταῖς ἐπιγιγνομέναις. ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς ἕνα φοβούμεθα γελοίως θάνατον, ἢδη τοσούτους τεθνηκότες καὶ θνήσκοντες. οὐ γὰρ μόνον, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος ἔλεγε, πυρὸς θάνατος ἀέρι γένεσις, καὶ ἀέρος θάνατος; ὕδατι γένεσις, ἀλλʼ ἔτι σαφέστερον ἐπʼ αὐτῶν ἡμῶν· φθείρεται μὲν μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἀκμάζων γενομένου γέροντος, ἐφθάρη δʼ ὁ νέος εἰς τὸν ἀκμάζοντα, καὶ ὁ παῖς; εἰς τὸν νέον, εἰς δὲ τὸν παῖδα τὸ νήπιον ὃ τʼ ἐχθὲς εἰς τὸν σήμερον τέθνηκεν, ὁ δὲ σήμερον εἰς τὸν αὔριον ἀποθνήσκει; μένει δʼ οὐδεὶς οὐδʼ ἔστιν εἷς, ἀλλὰ γιγνόμεθα πολλοὶ, περὶ ἕν τι φάντασμα καὶ κοινὸν ἐκμαγεῖον ὕλης περιελαυνομένης καὶ ὀλισθανούσης ἐπεὶ πῶς οἱ αὐτοὶ μένοντες ἑτέροις χαίρομεν νῦν, ἑτέροις πρότερον, τἀναντία φιλοῦμεν ἢ μισοῦμεν καὶ θαυμάζομεν καὶ ψέγομεν; ἄλλοις δὲ χρώμεθα λόγοις ἄλλοις πάθεσιν, οὐκ εἶδος οὐ μορφὴν οὐ διάνοιαν ἔτι τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχοντες; οὔτε γὰρ ἄνευ μεταβολῆς ἕτερα πάσχειν. εἰκός, οὔτε μεταβάλλων ὁ αὐτός ἐστιν· εἰ δʼ ὁ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδʼ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ μεταβάλλει γιγνόμενοσἕτερος ἐξ ἑτέρου. ψεύδεται δʼ ἡ αἴσθησις ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ὄντος εἶναι τὸ φαινόμενον.
19. What then is it that has really a being? That which is eternal, unbegotten, and incorruptible, to which no time brings a change. For time is a certain movable thing appearing in connection with fleeting matter, always flowing and unstable, like a leaky vessel full of corruption and generation; of which the sayings “after” and “before,” “it has been” and “it shall be,” are of themselves a confession that it has no being. For to say that what not yet is or what has already ceased to be is in being, how foolish and absurd is it. And as for that on which we chiefly ground the under standing of time,—saying, the instant, present, and now,— this again reason wholly rejects and overthrows; for it is lost between the future and the past, like a flash of light, and is separated into two when we will behold it. Now if the same thing befalls Nature, which is measured by time, as does the time which measures it, there is nothing in it permanent or subsistent, but all things are either breeding or dying, according to their commixture with time. Whence also it is not lawful to say of any thing which is, that it was or shall be; for these are inclinations and departures and changes of that whose nature is not to continue in being.
19. τί οὖν ὄντως ὄν ἐστι; τὸ ἀίδιον καὶ ἀγένητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον, ᾧ χρόνος μεταβολὴν οὐδὲ εἷς, ἐπάγει. κινητὸν γάρ τι καὶ κινουμένῃ συμφανταζόμενον ὕλῃ καὶ ῥέον ἀεὶ καὶ μὴ στέγον, ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον φθορᾶς καὶ γενέσεως, ὁ χρόνος· οὗ γε δὴ τὸ μὲν ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ πρότερον καὶ τὸ ἔσται λεγόμενον καὶ τὸ γέγονεν, αὐτόθεν ἐξομολόγησίς ἐστι τοῦ μὴ ὄντος· τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῷ εἶναι τὸ μηδέπω γεγονὸς ἢ πεπαυμένον ἤδη τοῦ εἶναι λέγειν ὡς ἔστιν, εὔηθες καὶ ἄτοπον. ᾧ δὲ μάλιστα τὴν νόησιν ἐπερείδοντες τοῦ χρόνου, τὸ ἐνέστηκε καὶ τὸ πάρεστι καὶ τὸ νῦν φθεγγόμεθα, τοῦτʼ αὖ πάλιν ἅπαν ἐκλυόμενος ὁ λόγος ἀπόλλυσιν. ἐκθλίβεται γὰρ εἰς τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ παρῳχημένον ὥσπερ ἀκμὴ βουλομένοις ἰδεῖν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης διιστάμενον. εἰ δὲ ταὐτὰ τῷ μετροῦντι πέπονθεν ἡ μετρουμένη φύσις, οὐδὲν αὐτῆς μένον οὐδʼ ὄν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ γιγνόμενα πάντα καὶ φθειρόμενα κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν χρόνον συννέμησιν. ὅθεν οὐδʼ ὅσιόν ἐστιν οὐδʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄντος λέγειν, ὡς ἦν ἢ ἔσται· ταῦτα γὰρ ἐγκλίσεις τινές εἰσι καὶ μεταβάσεις καὶ παραλλάξεις τοῦ μένειν ἐν τῷ εἶναι μὴ πεφυκότος.
20. But God, we must say, is, and he is not in any time, but in eternity, which is immovable without time, and free from inclination, in which there is nothing first, or last, or newer; but being one, it has filled its eternal duration with one only “now”; and that only is which is really according to this, of which it cannot be said, that it either was or shall be, or that it begins or shall end. Thus ought those who worship to salute and invocate this Eternal Being, or else indeed, as some of the ancients have done, with this expression Εἶ ἴν, Thou art one. For the Divinity is not many, as every one of us is made of ten thousand differences in affections, being a confused heap, filled with all diversities. But that which is must be one, as one must have a being. But diversity, which is esteemed to be different from being, goes forth to the generation of that which is not. Whence both the first of his names agrees rightly with this God, as do also the second and third. For he is called Apollo, as denying plurality and rejecting multitude; and Ieïos, as being only one; and Phoebus was the name given by the ancients to every thing that is pure and chaste; as the Thessalians even to this day, if I am not mistaken, say of their priests, when on vacant days they abstain from the temples and keep themselves retired, that they purify themselves (φοιβονομεῖσθαι). Now that which is one is sincere and pure. For pollution is by the mixture of one thing with another; as Homer, speaking of a piece of ivory dyed red, said it was “polluted” by the dye, and dyers say of mixed colors that they are corrupted, and call the mixture itself corruption. It is therefore always requisite for that which is incorruptible and pure to be one and unmixed.
20. ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς, χρὴ φάναι, καὶ ἔστι κατʼ οὐδένα χρόνον ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν ἀκίνητον καὶ ἄχρονον καὶ ἀνέγκλιτον καὶ οὗ πρότερον οὐδέν ἐστιν οὐδʼ ὕστερον οὐδὲ μέλλον οὐδὲ παρῳχημένον οὐδὲ πρεσβύτερον οὐδὲ νεώτερον ἀλλʼ εἷς ὢν ἑνὶ τῷ νῦν τὸ ἀεὶ πεπλήρωκε, καὶ μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ κατὰ τοῦτον ὄντως ὄντως ὄν, οὐ γεγονὸς οὐδʼ ἐσόμενον οὐδʼ ἀρξάμενον οὐδὲ παυσόμενον. οὕτως οὖν αὐτὸν δεῖ σεβομένους ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ προσαγορεύειν, ἢ καὶ νὴ Δία, ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν παλαιῶν, εἶἕν. οὐ γὰρ πολλὰ τὸ θεῖόν ἐστιν, ὡς ἡμῶν ἕκαστος ἐκ μυρίων διαφορῶν ἐν πάθεσι γιγνομένων, ἄθροισμα παντοδαπὸν καὶ πανηγυρικῶς μεμιγμένον· ἀλλʼ ἓν εἶναι δεῖ τὸ ὄν, ὥσπερ ὂν τὸ ἕν. ἡ δʼ ἑτερότης, διαφορᾷ τοῦ ὄντος, εἰς γένεσιν ἐξίσταται τοῦ μὴ ὄντος. ὅθεν εὖ καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἔχει τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ τὸ δεύτερον καὶ τὸ τρίτον. Ἀπόλλων μὲν γὰρ οἷον ἀρνούμενος τὰ πολλὰ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἀποφάσκων ἐστίν, Ἰήιος δʼ ὡς εἷς καὶ μόνος· Φοῖβον δὲ δήπου τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ ἁγνὸν οἱ παλαιοὶ πᾶν ὠνόμαζον, ὡς ἔτι Θεσσαλοὶ τοὺς ἱερέας ἐν ταῖς ἀποφράσιν ἡμέραις αὐτοὺς ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν ἔξω διατρίβοντας, οἶμαι, φοιβονομεῖσθαι λέγουσι. τὸ δʼ ἓν εἰλικρινὲς καὶ καθαρόν· ἑτέρου γὰρ μίξει πρὸς ἕτερον ὁ μιασμός, ὥς που καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐλέφαντα τινὰ φοινισσόμενον βαφῇ μιαίνεσθαι φησί· καὶ τὰ μιγνύμενα τῶν χρωμάτων οἱ βαφεῖς φθείρεσθαι καί φθοράν τὴν μῖξιν ὀνομάζουσιν. οὐκοῦν ἕν τʼ εἶναι καὶ ἄκρατον ἀεὶ τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ καὶ καθαρῷ προσήκει.
21. Now, as for those who think Apollo and the Sun to be the same, they are to be caressed and loved for their ingenuity, as placing the notion of God in that which they most reverence, of all things that they know and desire. And now, as if they were dreaming of God the most glorious dream, let us stir up and exhort them to ascend higher, and to contemplate his reality and his essence; but to honor also this his image (the Sun), and to venerate that generative faculty he has placed in it, since it exhibits in some sort by its brightness—as far as it is possible for a sensible thing to represent an intellectual, and a movable thing that which is permanent—certain manifestations and resemblances of his benignity and blessedness. But as for those his sallyings out and changes, when he casts forth fire, … and when he again draws himself in, afterwards extending himself into the earth, sea, winds, animals, and strange accidents both of animals and plants, they cannot so much as be hearkened to without impiety; or else God will be worse than the child in the poet,—who made himself sport with a heap of sand, first raised and then again scattered abroad by himself,—if he shall do the same in respect of the universe, first framing the world when it was not, and then destroying it when made. On the contrary, whatsoever of him is in any sort infused into the world, that binds together its substance, and restrains the corporeal weakness which tends to corruption. And it seems to me that this word is chiefly opposed to that doctrine, and that Εἶ, Thou art, is spoken to this God, as testifying that there is never in him any going forth or change. But to do and suffer this agrees to one of the other Gods, or rather Daemons, ordained to take care about Nature in generation and corruption; as is immediately manifest from their names, being wholly contrary and of different significations. For the one is called Apollo (or not many), the other Pluto (or many); the one Delius (from clearness), the other Aidoneus (from obscurity); the one Phoebus (or shining), the other Scotius (or dark); with the one are the Muses and Mnemosyne (or song and memory) with the other Lethe and Siope (or forgetfulness and silence). The one is (from contemplating and showing) named Theorius and Phanaeus; the other isPrince of dark night and sluggish sleep, whose fateIs that men him most of all Gods do hate.Of Apollo also Pindar not unpleasantly sung, that he “The gentlest of all Gods to mortals is declared.” And therefore Euripides rightly also said:These mournful songs suit well with men deceased,With which gold-haired Apollo’s no way pleased.And before him Stesichorus:Apollo joys in sports and pleasant tones;But Pluto takes delight in griefs and moans.Sophocles also evidently attributes to either of them his proper instruments, in these words:Neither the lute nor psaltery is fitFor mournful matters.For it is but very lately, and in a manner of yesterday, that the pipe has dared to introduce itself into delightful matters; having in former times drawn men to mourning, and possessing about these things no very honorable or splendid employment. But afterwards all was brought into confusion, which was due especially to those who confounded the affairs of the Gods with those of the Genii. But the sentence, Know thyself, seems in one respect to contradict this word EI, and in another to agree with it. For the one is pronounced with admiration and veneration to God, as being eternal; and the other is a remembrance to mortal men of their nature and infirmity.
21. τοὺς δʼ Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ ἥλιον ἡγουμένους τὸν αὐτὸν ἀσπάζεσθαι μὲν ἄξιόν ἐστι καὶ φιλεῖν διʼ εὐφημίαν, ὃ μάλιστα τιμῶσιν ὧν ἴσασι καὶ ποθοῦσιν, εἰς τοῦτο τιθέντας τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν. ὡς δὲ νῦν ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ τῶν ἐνυπνίων τὸν θεὸν ὀνειροπολοῦντας ἐγείρωμεν καὶ παρακαλῶμεν ἀνωτέρω προάγειν καὶ θεάσασθαι τὸ ὕπαρ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν· τιμᾶν δὲ καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τήνδε καὶ σέβεσθαι τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν γόνιμον, ὡς ἀνυστόν ἐστιν αἰσθητῷ νοητοῦ καὶ φερομένῳ μένοντος, ἐμφάσεις τινὰς καὶ εἴδωλα διαλάμπουσαν ἁμωσγέπως τῆς περὶ ἐκεῖνον εὐμενείας καὶ μακαριότητος. ἐκστάσεις δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ μεταβολὰς πῦρ ἀφιέντος, αἳ αὐτὸν ἀνασπῶσιν ὡς λέγουσιν, αὖθις τε καταθλίβοντος ἐνταῦθα καὶ κατατείνοντος εἰς γῆν καὶ θάλασσαν καὶ ἀνέμους καὶ ζῷα, καὶ τὰ δεινὰ παθήματα καὶ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν, οὐδʼ ἀκούειν ὅσιον ἢ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ παιδὸς ἔσται φαυλότερος, ἣν ἐκεῖνος ἔν τινι ψαμάθῳ συντιθεμένῃ καὶ διαχεομένῃ πάλιν ὑφʼ αὑτοῦ παίζει παιδιάν, ταύτῃ περὶ τὰ ὅλα χρώμενος ἀεί, καὶ τὸν κόσμον οὐκ ὄντα πλάττων εἶτʼ ἀπολλύων γενόμενον. τοὐναντίον γὰρ ὅσου ἁμωσγέπως ἐγγέγονε τῷ κόσμῳ, τοῦτο συνδεῖ τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ κρατεῖ τῆς περὶ τὸ σωματικὸν ἀσθενείας ἐπὶ φθορὰν φερομένης. καί μοι δοκεῖ μάλιστα πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἀντιταττόμενον τὸ ῥῆμα καὶ μαρτυρόμενον εἶ φάναι πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ὡς οὐδέποτε γιγνομένης περὶ αὐτὸν ἐκστάσεως καὶ μεταβολῆς, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρῳ τινὶ θεῷ, μᾶλλον δὲ δαίμονι τεταγμένῳ περὶ τὴν ἐν φθορᾷ καὶ γενέσει φύσιν, τοῦτο ποιεῖν καὶ πάσχειν προσῆκον· ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνομάτων εὐθὺς οἷον ἐναντίων ὄντων καὶ ἀντιφώνων. λέγεται γὰρ ὁ μὲν Ἀπόλλων ὁ δὲ Πλούτων, καὶ ὁ μὲν Δήλιος ὁ δʼ Ἀιδωνεύς, καὶ ὁ μὲν Φοῖβος ὁ δὲ Σκότιος· καὶ παρʼ ᾧ μὲν αἱ Μοῦσαι καὶ ἡ Μνημοσύνη, παρʼ ᾧ δʼ ἡ Λήθη καὶ ἡ Σιωπή· καὶ ὁ μὲν Θεώριος καὶ Φαναῖος, ὁ δὲ νυκτὸς ἀιδνᾶς ἀεργηλοῖὸ θʼ Ὕπνου κοίρανος· καὶ ὁ μὲν βροτοῖσι θεῶν ἔχθιστος ἁπάντων πρὸς ὃν δὲ Πίνδαρος εἴρηκεν οὐκ ἀηδῶς κατεκρίθη δὲ θνατοῖς ἀγανώτατος ἔμμεν. εἰκότως οὖν ὁ Εὐριπίδης, εἶπελοιβαὶ νεκύων φθιμένωνἀοιδαί, τὰς χρυσοκόμαἈπόλλων οὐκ ἐνδέχεται.καὶ πρότερος ἔτι τούτου ὁ Στησίχορος,μάλα τοι μάλισταπαιγμοσύνας τε φιλεῖ μολπὰς τʼ Ἀπόλλων,κάδεα δὲ στοναχάς τʼ Ἀίδας ἔλαχε.Σοφοκλῆς δὲ καὶ τῶν ὀργάνων ἑκατέρῳ προσνέμων ἑκάτερον δῆλός ἐστι διὰ τούτων, οὐ νάβλα κωκυτοῖσιν οὐ λύρα φίλα καὶ γὰρ ὁ αὐλὸς ὀψὲ καὶ πρῴην ἐτόλμησε φωνὴν ἐφʼ ἱμερτοῖσιν ἀφιέναι· τὸν δὲ πρῶτον χρόνον εἵλκετο πρὸς τὰ πένθη, καὶ τὴν περὶ ταῦτα λειτουργίαν οὐ μάλʼ ἔντιμον οὐδὲ φαιδρὰν εἶχεν, εἶτʼ ἐμίχθη πάντα πᾶσι. μάλιστα δὲ τὰ θεῖα πρὸς τὰ δαιμόνια συγχέοντες εἰς ταραχὴν αὑτοὺς κατέστησαν. ἀλλά γε τῷ Ε τὸ γνῶθι σαυτόν ἔοικέ πως ἀντικεῖσθαι καὶ τρόπον τινὰ πάλιν συνᾴδειν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐκπλήξει καὶ σεβασμῷ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὡς ὄντα διὰ παντὸς ἀναπεφώνηται, τὸ δʼ ὑπόμνησίς ἐστι τῷ θνητῷ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν φύσεως καὶ ἀσθενείας.