Complete Works

by Plato, Cooper, John M. , Hutchinson, D. S.

  CLINIAS: How right you were, my friend, to say that you were setting out to say important things on important subjects!

  ATHENIAN: Indeed, they are not trivial, Clinias. But—and this is even [e] more difficult—I am attempting to say things that are wholly and universally true.

  CLINIAS: I agree completely. But even so, please don’t get weary of telling me your ideas.

  ATHENIAN: Of course, but don’t you two get tired of listening, either.

  CLINIAS: Don’t worry—and I am speaking on behalf of the two of us.

  ATHENIAN: Very well. We must begin from the beginning. In the first [980] place, it appears that above all we must find a single name, if we can, for this thing we hold to be wisdom. If we simply cannot do this, our second objective will be to determine what and how many kinds of wisdom a person must know in order to be wise according to our account.

  CLINIAS: Please go on.

  ATHENIAN: The next point is that no one can blame the lawgiver for fashioning an account of the gods that is finer and better than those given up to now, engaging, so to speak, in noble play and honoring the gods, and [b] for him to pass his whole life celebrating them with hymns of happiness.

  CLINIAS: Well said, my friend! I hope that this is the goal of your laws, that people will sing hymns to the gods and live purer lives, and then meet with the end that is at once best and finest.

  ATHENIAN: What are we saying, then, Clinias? Does it seem that by singing hymns to the gods we are honoring them greatly, praying that we will be led to say the finest and best things about them? Is this what you mean, or something else?

  CLINIAS: Precisely that. But pray to the gods with confidence and state [c] the account that it occurs to you to offer about the fine things that concern the gods and goddesses.

  ATHENIAN: This will happen if God himself guides me. Only please join in my prayer.

  CLINIAS: Please go on to the next point.

  ATHENIAN: Since people in the past have failed badly in describing the generation of gods and living things, it appears that I must begin by constructing an account based on my previous one, taking up again my attack on impious accounts,2 and declaring that there are gods who care [d] for all things, great and small, who are inexorable in matters of justice. I suppose you remember, Clinias, since you have even received a written record. What we said then was quite true. The most important point was that as a whole, soul is older than any body. Do you recall? You surely must remember. For what is superior, older and more godlike is obviously [e] so in relation to what is inferior, younger and less honorable, and what rules or leads is in every way older than what is ruled or led. Let us accept [981] this point, then, that soul is older than body. But if this is so, the first step in our first account of generation will be more plausible. Let us take it, then, that the beginning of our beginning is more seemly and that we are taking exactly the right steps in approaching the most important part of wisdom, the generation of gods.

  CLINIAS: Anyone must grant that we are stating these matters the best we can.

  ATHENIAN: Next, when a soul and a body come together to form a single structure and produce a single form, do we assert that this is most truly said to be a living thing, in virtue of its nature?

  CLINIAS: Yes.

  [b] ATHENIAN: So this kind of thing is most correctly called a living being?

  CLINIAS: Indeed.

  ATHENIAN: We must identify solid bodies, five in number on the most plausible account, from which the things that are finest and best can be fashioned. The remaining kind of entity, all of it, has but a single form, for soul, the truly most divine type of entity, is the only thing that could possibly have no body or be without any color at all. This is the only entity [c] naturally suited for fashioning and creating, while body, we maintain, is suited for being fashioned, for becoming, and being seen. The former type (let us say it again, since it should not be stated just once) is naturally suited to be invisible, and intelligent and intelligible as well, sharing in memory and calculation that involves the vicissitudes of odd and even. There being five bodies, then, we declare that they are fire, water, air, earth, and ether, and that each of the many and varied kinds of living things is brought to perfection with one of these playing the chief role.

  But we need to learn this for each kind individually, as follows. As the [d] first kind we discuss, let us take up the earthy one. This includes all humans, and in addition all living things with many legs and those with none, and all that move and the ones that are stationary, held fast by roots. What makes this a single kind, we should believe, is the fact that although all kinds of living beings are composed of all the five bodies, the greatest part of this kind is made of earth with its solid nature.

  We ought further to suppose there is a second, different kind of living thing that comes to be and moreover is visible. Its largest portion is fire, [e] but it has portions of earth and air along with small amounts of all the rest. This is why we should declare that from these bodies arise visible living things of all kinds. We must further suppose that the kinds of living things in the heavens—which is what we should claim the divine stars to be—have come to be, endowed with the finest body and the best and happiest soul. But as to their destiny, which might be either of two sorts, we must allow opinion a role. Either they are all entirely and of absolute [982] necessity indestructible, immortal and divine, or else each of them is content to possess such a vast length of life that they could never possibly demand more.

  To repeat, let us first suppose that these are two kinds of living things, that both are visible, the one made entirely, as it might seem, of fire, the other of earth, and that the earthy kind moves in disorder, while the one of fire moves in perfect order. Now what moves in disorder (which is exactly how the kind of living things around us behaves for the most part) we ought to consider unintelligent. But if something has an orderly path [b] in the heavens we should treat that as powerful evidence of its intelligence. For if it always proceeds in its course uniformly and without variation, and always acts and is affected in the same way, it gives ample evidence of intelligent life. The necessity of the soul that possesses intelligence is far the most powerful of all necessities. For it is a ruler, not a subject, and so ordains its decrees. When a soul reaches the best decision in accordance [c] with the best intelligence, the result, which is truly to its mind, is perfectly unalterable. Not even adamant could ever be mightier or more unalterable. Truly, three Fates hold fast whatever has been decided through the best counsel by each and all of the gods, and guarantee that it is brought to pass. Humans should admit as evidence of the intelligence of the stars and this entire movement of theirs, the fact that they always do the same things, because they are doing what was decided an astonishingly long time ago and do not change their decision back and forth, sometimes doing [d] one thing and at others doing something else, wandering and changing their orbits. This opinion of ours is the exact opposite of what most people believe—that because they do the same things uniformly they do not possess soul. The crowd has followed the fools in supposing that the human race is intelligent and alive because it undergoes change, whereas the divine is unintelligent because it remains in the same orbits. But in fact anyone could have adopted views that are finer, better and acceptable, [e] and could have understood that whatever always operates uniformly, without variation, and through the same causes is for that very reason to be regarded as intelligent. Such a person could also understand that this is the nature of the stars, the finest of all things to behold, and further that moving through their march and dance, the finest and most magnificent dance there is, they bring to pass what all living things need.

  In fact, we are right to say they possess soul. First, consider their size. [983] They are not as small as they appear; the mass of each is inconceivably large. This point should be accepted with confidence since it is based on adequate proofs. For we can correctly reason that the sun is larger than the earth, and indeed, all the mov
ing stars have an amazing size. How can any being cause so vast a mass to revolve always in the same period? I declare that God is the cause and that it could never be otherwise. For [b] nothing could ever come to be alive except through God, as we have shown. And since God is capable of this, it is perfectly easy for him first to make any body and any mass of material into a living being and then make it move however he thinks best. I hope the single account I am now stating may hold true for them all. Unless a soul is attached to each of them or even in each, earth, heaven and all the stars and all the masses made [c] of these things cannot move with such precision in their annual, monthly and daily courses, making all that takes place turn out good for us all.

  Since man is so sorry a thing, it is important to avoid speaking nonsense and to be clear in what we say. If anyone is going to identify as causes certain bodies in rushing movement, or kinds of matter or anything of the sort, he will not succeed in saying anything clear. As for the account we [d] have given, we really must take it up again, to see whether it is reasonable or wholly deficient. We hold first that there are two kinds of entities, soul and body, and many individuals of each kind, each one different from others of its kind and from those of the other kind, and there is no third kind of entity found in anything. Second, that soul is superior to body: we shall hold that the former is intelligent, the latter not, the one rules, the other is ruled, the one is the cause of everything, the other the cause of nothing that takes place. And so it is the height of folly and absurdity [e] to say that the things in the heavens have arisen through the agency of anything else and are not the products of both soul and body, as we hold. If our theories about all the celestial beings are to win out, and if it is to appear convincing that they are all divine, we must suppose them to be one of two things. Either they are themselves gods and it is perfectly correct to celebrate them in hymns, or we must suppose them to be likenesses of [984] gods, something like images of them, made by the gods themselves, for their creators were not unintelligent or of little worth. As we have declared, we must suppose them to be one of these two things, and once we do this, we must honor them above all images. Assuredly no other image will ever appear more beautiful or more widely shared by all humans than these, let alone established in better locations or surpassing them in [b] purity, awe, and their whole manner of life, since they have been made superior in all these ways.

  Concerning the gods let us go no further. Now that we have identified the two kinds of living things that are visible to us, of which we declare that one is immortal, while all the other, the earthy kind, is mortal, let us try with the greatest accuracy that plausible opinion permits to describe the three intermediate kinds which fall in between the two already discussed. After fire let us take up ether. We may suppose that soul fashions [c] living things out of it which (like the other kinds of living things) are for the most part characterized by that substance, but which also possess smaller amounts of the other kinds in order to bond them together. After ether, soul fashions a different kind of living things out of air, and a third out of water. After creating them all, it is plausible that soul filled the entire heaven with living things, employing each according to its character, since all share in life. These are the second, third, fourth and fifth kinds [d] of living things, beginning from the visible gods and ending up with us humans.

  As to the gods—Zeus, Hera and all the rest—we may legislate as we like, the same law holding for each, and we must treat this principle as firmly established. But as to the first gods, those that are visible, greatest, most honored, and most sharply seeing everywhere, we must declare that these are the stars together with all the celestial phenomena we perceive. After them and next in order beneath them are daimons. The kind made of [e] air, which occupies the third, middle, position, is responsible for mediation between gods and humans, and should be highly honored in our prayers for bringing words of good tiding. Both these kinds of living beings—the one made of ether and the next in order, the one made of air—are wholly imperceptible. Even when they are close by we cannot see them. They have a wonderful intelligence, being of kinds that learn quickly and have [985] good memories, and we should say that they know all our thoughts and both love those of us who are noble and good and hate those who are extremely evil, since already with these kinds we are discussing beings that experience pain. (By contrast, God, who enjoys the perfection of divine nature, is removed from pain and pleasure, and is entirely occupied in thinking and knowing.) Since the heaven is completely filled with living [b] beings, we should say that they communicate with one another and with the highest gods about all humans and all other things. They do so through the movements of the middle ranks of living beings, which are wafted lightly towards the earth and also towards the whole heaven. It would be correct to represent the fifth kind of living thing, that made of water, as a demigod made of that substance, sometimes seen, sometimes hidden and invisible, provoking wonder through its dim appearance. [c]

  These five kinds of beings really are living things, and some of them have had various types of encounters with humans, whether through dreams in sleep or in audible communications through divine voices or prophecies to certain people whether healthy or ill or even at the point of death. The resulting beliefs affect both individuals and communities and have been the origin of many religious rites for many people and will be in the future as well. Anyone who legislates on all these matters and has even the least intelligence will never dare to make innovations and turn his own city towards a piety which lacks any clear foundation. On the [d] other hand, in his complete lack of knowledge he will not forbid what ancestral law has declared about sacrifices, since it is impossible for mortals to have knowledge about such things.

  On the same reasoning, the worst people are those that do not dare to declare to us the gods that really do appear to us, or to reveal them as being other gods, ones who do not receive worship or the honors they are due. But in fact, this is exactly what is taking place. It is as if at some point [e] one of us had seen a sun or a moon coming into existence and looking down at us all, and through some inability failed to report it, and further was not eager to do his part to bring them from their dishonored state into a place of honor and make them conspicuous, and also to institute festivals and sacrifices for them and to determine their periods of longer or, in several cases, shorter years, setting apart a time for each of them. [986] Wouldn’t such a person himself, as well as anyone else who was aware of the situation, agree that it would be right to call him evil?

  CLINIAS: Absolutely so, my friend, most evil.

  ATHENIAN: But, my dear Clinias, I want you to know that this is precisely my situation now.

  CLINIAS: What do you mean?

  ATHENIAN: There are eight powers [i.e., orbits] of the celestial beings, that are brothers of one another. I myself have observed them. This is no [b] special accomplishment; others can do it easily too. Three of them are the ones we mentioned a little while ago:3 those belonging to the sun, to the moon, and to all the stars. But there are five more. Now regarding all these orbits and the beings which move in them (whether they move of their own accord or proceed in their courses borne on chariots), none of us must ever rashly suppose that some of them are gods and others are not or that some are legitimate while others are what it is wrong for any of us even [c] to utter. Instead, we must declare and assert that they are all brothers and have brothers’ shares. We must not attribute the year to one of them and the month to another, while refusing to assign to the rest any share or any time in which it completes its own orbit, contributing to the perfection of the visible cosmos established by the most divine law of all.

  Anyone who is happy began by being struck with awe at this cosmos, and then conceived a passion for learning all that a mortal can, believing [d] that this is how to live the best and most fortunate life and that when he dies he will go to places where virtue is at home. Further, once he is really and truly initiated and has achieved perfect unity
and a share of the one true wisdom, he continues for the rest of his days as an observer of the fairest things that sight can see.

  [e] The next thing is to say how many and who these gods are. For we must make it clear that we never go back on our word. In fact, I insist with certainty on just the following. I repeat that they are eight, and of the eight, three have been discussed and five still remain. The fourth orbit and period of revolution and the fifth as well are nearly equal in speed to the sun, neither faster nor slower overall. Of these three, the one with sufficient intelligence must be the leader. These three orbits belong to the sun, the morning star, and a third body which I cannot call by name since its name is not known. The reason is that the first person to observe them [987] was a foreigner. Egypt and Syria have a marvelously beautiful summer season. In consequence it was an ancient practice there that led people to reflect on these matters for the first time. They were always observing the entire totality of the visible stars, as it were, since their part of the world has no clouds or rain. From there, after being closely examined for thousands of years, in fact an infinite time, this knowledge spread everywhere including Greece. Therefore we must be bold and enact this into law. It is clearly not for people of intelligence to hold some divine things in dishonor and others in honor. As to why they have not got names, this is the reason [b] that should be given. Instead, they have taken as their appellations the names of [the traditional] gods. The morning star, which is also the evening star, is accounted as Aphrodite’s star [i.e., Venus], a name highly appropriate for a Syrian law-giver to choose. The star that more or less accompanies both the sun and Aphrodite’s is Hermes’ [Mercury]. We have yet to speak of three more orbits that move to the right4 like the moon and the sun. But we should mention one, the eighth, which above all should be called the cosmos. It moves in the opposite direction to all the others and carries them, as should be obvious even to humans who know a little about these things. But all that we know well we must tell, and we are [c] telling it. For to anyone with even a small amount of understanding that is correct and divine, what is genuinely wisdom appears to be somewhat along these lines. Of the remaining three stars, one is particularly slow, and some call it by the name “Cronus’ ” [Saturn]. The next slowest we should call Zeus’ [Jupiter], and the next one Ares’ [Mars]; this one has the reddest color of them all. None of this is hard to comprehend if someone [d] explains it, but once a person learns it, we say, he must believe it.