Ὅτι ἡ τῶν ἄστρων φορὰ σημαίνει περὶ ἕκαστον τὰ ἐσόμενα, ἀλλ’ οὐκ αὐτὴ πάντα ποιεῖ, ὡς τοῖς πολλοῖς δοξάζεται, εἴρηται μὲν πρότερον ἐν ἄλλοις, καὶ πίστεις τινὰς παρείχετο ὁ λόγος, λεκτέον δὲ καὶ νῦν ἀκριβέστερον διὰ πλειόνων· οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν τὸ ἢ ὧδε ἢ ὧδε ἔχειν δοξάζειν.
That the movement of the stars indicates what is going to happen in each case, but does not itself make everything happen, as most people believe, has been said before elsewhere, and the argument offered some proofs. But it must be said now too, more precisely and at greater length; for it is no small matter whether one believes it is so or otherwise.
τοὺς δὴ πλανήτας φερομένους ποιεῖν λέγουσιν οὐ μόνον τὰ ἄλλα, πενίας καὶ πλούτους καὶ ὑγιείας καὶ νόσους, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἴσχη καὶ κάλλη αὖ, καὶ δὴ τὸ μέγιστον, καὶ κακίας καὶ ἀρετὰς καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τούτων πράξεις καθ’ ἕκαστα ἐπὶ καιρῶν ἑκάστων, ὥσπερ θυμουμένους εἰς ἀνθρώπους, ἐφ’ οἷς μηδὲν αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀδικοῦσιν οὕτω παρ’ αὐτῶν κατεσκευασμένοι, ὡς ἔχουσι· καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα ἀγαθὰ διδόναι οὐκ ἀγασθέντας τῶν λαμβανόντων, ἀλλ’ αὐτοὺς ἢ κακουμένους κατὰ τοὺς τόπους τῆς φορᾶς ἢ αὖ εὐπαθοῦντας καὶ αὖ ἄλλους αὐτοὺς ταῖς διανοίαις γιγνομένους ὅταν τε ἐπὶ κέντρων ὦσι καὶ ἀποκλίνοντας ἄλλους·
They say that the planets in their courses produce not only other things—poverty and wealth, health and disease—but also ugliness and beauty, and, most important, vices and virtues, and indeed the particular actions that come from these on each occasion, as if they were angry with human beings over things in which human beings themselves do no wrong, having been made by the planets to be as they are. And they say the planets give what are called goods not because they are pleased with those who receive them, but because they themselves are either badly or well affected according to the places in their course, and become different in their minds when they are at the centers, and different again when they decline from them;
τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τοὺς μὲν κακοὺς αὐτῶν λέγοντες, τοὺς δ’ ἀγαθοὺς εἶναι, ὅμως καὶ τοὺς κακοὺς αὐτῶν λεγομένους ἀγαθὰ διδόναι, τοὺς δὲ ἀγαθοὺς φαύλους γίνεσθαι· ἔτι δὲ ἀλλήλους ἰδόντας ποιεῖν ἕτερα, μὴ ἰδόντας δὲ ἄλλα, ὥσπερ οὐχ αὑτῶν ὄντας ἰδόντας μὲν ἄλλους, μὴ ἰδόντας δὲ ἑτέρους· καὶ τόνδε μὲν ἰδόντα ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, εἰ δ’ ἄλλον ἴδοι, ἀλλοιοῦσθαι· καὶ ἄλλως μὲν ὁρᾶν, εἰ κατὰ σχῆμα τόδε ἡ ὄψις, ἄλλως δέ, εἰ κατὰ τόδε· ὁμοῦ τε πάντων τὴν κρᾶσιν ἑτέραν γίγνεσθαι, ὥσπερ ἐξ ὑγρῶν διαφόρων τὸ κρᾶμα ἕτερον παρὰ τὰ μεμιγμένα.
and, most important of all, though they say some of them are bad and others good, still the ones said to be bad give good things, and the good ones turn bad. Further, they say that when the planets see one another they produce some things, and other things when they do not, as if they did not belong to themselves but were one thing when they see and another when they do not; and that this one is good when it sees, but alters if it sees another; and that it looks one way if the aspect is in this configuration, another way if in that; and that all of them together make a different blend, as from different liquids the mixture is different from the things mixed.
ταῦτα οὖν καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα δοξαζόντων περὶ ἑκάστου λέγειν ἐπισκοπουμένους προσήκει. ἀρχὴ δ’ ἂν εἴη προσήκουσα αὕτη·
These, then, and similar things are what they believe, and it is fitting to examine each of them and speak to it. A fitting beginning would be this:
πότερα ἔμψυχα νομιστέον ἢ ἄψυχα ταῦτα τὰ φερόμενα; εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἄψυχα, οὐδὲν ἀλλ’ ἢ θερμὰ καὶ ψυχρὰ παρεχόμενα, εἰ δὴ καὶ ψυχρὰ ἄττα τῶν ἄστρων φήσομεν, ἀλλ’ οὖν ἐν τῇ τῶν σωμάτων ἡμῶν φύσει στήσουσι τὴν δόσιν φορᾶς δηλονότι σωματικῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς γινομένης, ὡς μηδὲ πολλὴν τὴν παραλλαγὴν τῶν σωμάτων γίγνεσθαι τῆς τ’ ἀπορροῆς ἑκάστων τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης καὶ δὴ ὁμοῦ εἰς ἓν ἐπὶ γῆς μιγνυμένων, ὡς μόνον κατὰ τοὺς τόπους τὰς διαφορὰς γίγνεσθαι ἐκ τοῦ ἐγγύθεν καὶ πόρρωθεν πρὸς τὴν φοράν, διδόντος καὶ τοῦ ψυχροῦ ὡσαύτως. σοφοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ γραμματικοὺς ἄλλους, τοὺς δὲ ῥήτορας, τοὺς δὲ κιθαριστὰς καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τέχνας, ἔτι δὲ πλουσίους καὶ πένητας, πῶς; καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα μὴ ἐκ σωμάτων κράσεως τὴν αἰτίαν ἔχει τοῦ γίγνεσθαι;
Are we to think of these moving bodies as ensouled or soulless? If soulless, they supply nothing but heat and cold, if we are even going to say that some of the stars are cold. In that case, at any rate, they will limit what they give to the nature of our bodies, since what reaches us from their motion is obviously bodily. Then the variation among bodies won’t be great either, since the outflow from each of them is the same, and all of it is mixed together into one on earth. So differences arise only according to place, from being near to or far from the moving body, and the cold one gives in the same way. But how do they make some people wise and others ignorant, some grammarians, others orators, others lyre-players or practitioners of the other arts, and again some rich and others poor? And what of everything else whose coming to be is not caused by a blending of bodies?
οἷον καὶ ἀδελφὸν τοιόνδε καὶ πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν γυναῖκά τε καὶ τὸ νῦν εὐτυχῆσαι καὶ στρατηγὸν καὶ βασιλέα γενέσθαι. εἰ δ’ ἔμψυχα ὄντα προαιρέσει ποιεῖ, τί παρ’ ἡμῶν παθόντα κακὰ ἡμᾶς ποιεῖ ἑκόντα, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν θείῳ τόπῳ ἱδρυμένα καὶ αὐτὰ θεῖα ὄντα; οὐδὲ γάρ, δι’ ἃ ἄνθρωποι γίνονται κακοί, ταῦτα ἐκείνοις ὑπάρχει, οὐδέ γε ὅλως γίνεται ἢ ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν αὐτοῖς ἡμῶν ἢ εὐπαθούντων ἢ κακὰ πασχόντων.
For instance, having such-and-such a brother, father, son and wife, enjoying good fortune at this moment, becoming a general or a king. If, on the other hand, they are ensouled and act by choice, what harm have they suffered from us that they willingly do us harm? And this when they are set in a divine place and are themselves divine! For they have none of the things that make human beings bad. Nor does anything at all, good or bad, come to them from our faring well or faring badly.
ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἑκόντες ταῦτα, ἀλλ’ ἠναγκασμένοι τοῖς τόποις καὶ τοῖς σχήμασιν. ἀλλ’ εἰ ἠναγκασμένοι, τὰ αὐτὰ δήπουθεν ἐχρῆν ἅπαντας ποιεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τόπων καὶ σχημάτων γιγνομένους. νῦν δὲ τί διάφορον πέπονθεν ὅδε τόδε τὸ τμῆμα τοῦ τῶν ζῳδίων κύκλου παριὼν καὶ αὖ τόδε; οὐ γὰρ δὴ οὐδ’ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ζῳδίῳ γίγνεται, ἀλλ’ ὑπ’ αὐτὸ πλεῖστον ἀπέχων, καὶ καθ’ ὁποῖον ἂν γίγνηται κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὤν. γελοῖον γὰρ καθ’ ἕκαστον ὧν τις παρέρχεται ἄλλον καὶ ἄλλον γίγνεσθαι καὶ διδόναι ἄλλα καὶ ἄλλα· ἀνατέλλων δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ κέντρου γεγονὼς καὶ ἀποκλίνας [πῶς] ἄλλος; οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοτὲ μὲν ἥδεται ἐπὶ τοῦ κέντρου ὤν, τοτὲ δὲ λυπεῖται ἀποκλίνας ἢ ἀργὸς γίνεται, οὐδ’ αὖ θυμοῦται ἀνατείλας ἄλλος, πραΰνεται δὲ ἀποκλίνας, εἷς δέ τις αὐτῶν καὶ ἀποκλίνας ἀμείνων.
“But they don’t do these things willingly: they are compelled by their positions and configurations.” But if they are compelled, then surely all of them ought to produce the same effects when they are in the same positions and configurations. As it is, what different experience does a planet have when it passes this segment of the zodiac, and then that one? It doesn’t even enter the sign itself. It passes far beneath it, and whatever sign it is under, it is in the heavens. It would be absurd for it to become different with each sign it passes and to give different things each time. And when it is rising, when it has reached a cardinal point, when it is declining, [how] is it different? Surely it isn’t pleased at one time, when it is at the cardinal point, and distressed or sluggish at another, when it declines. Nor does one of them grow angry when it rises and calm down when it declines, while another one of them is actually better when it declines.
ἔστι γὰρ ἀεὶ ἕκαστος καὶ ἐπίκεντρος ἄλλοις ἀποκλίνας ἄλλοις καὶ ἀποκλίνας ἑτέροις ἐπίκεντρος ἄλλοις· καὶ οὐ δήπου κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον χαίρει τε καὶ λυπεῖται καὶ θυμοῦται καὶ πρᾷός ἐστι. τὸ δὲ τοὺς μὲν αὐτῶν χαίρειν λέγειν δύνοντας, τοὺς δὲ ἐν ἀνατολαῖς ὄντας, πῶς οὐκ ἄλογον; καὶ γὰρ οὕτω συμβαίνει ἅμα τε λυπεῖσθαι καὶ χαίρειν. εἶτα διὰ τί ἡ ἐκείνων λύπη ἡμᾶς κακώσει; ὅλως δὲ οὐδὲ λυπεῖσθαι οὐδ’ ἐπὶ καιροῦ χαίρειν αὐτοῖς δοτέον, ἀλλ’ ἀεὶ τὸ ἵλεων ἔχειν χαίροντας ἐφ’ οἷς ἀγαθοῖς ἔχουσι καὶ ἐφ’ οἷς ὁρῶσι. βίος γὰρ ἑκάστου ἐφ’ αὑτοῦ ἑκάστῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τὸ εὖ· τὸ δὲ οὐ πρὸς ἡμᾶς.
For each of them is always at a cardinal point for some and declining for others, and declining for some and at a cardinal point for others. And surely it isn’t glad and distressed, angry and gentle, at one and the same time. And to say that some of them rejoice when they are setting and others when they are rising: how is that not irrational? For then it follows that they are distressed and glad at the same time. Next, why would their distress do us harm? In general we shouldn’t grant that they are ever distressed, or glad at particular moments either. They are always serene, glad of the goods they have and of what they see. For each of them has its own life to itself, and its well-being lies in its activity, and that has nothing to do with us.
καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς οὐ κοινωνοῦσιν ἡμῖν ζῴοις κατὰ συμβεβηκός, οὐ προηγούμενον [δὲ] οὐδὲ ὅλως, τὸ ἔργον πρὸς ἡμᾶς, εἰ ὥσπερ ὄρνισι κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τὸ σημαίνειν.
Above all, for living beings that have nothing in common with us, their effect on us is incidental, not a primary aim, [and] not an effect at all, if their signifying is incidental, as it is with birds.
κἀκεῖνο δὲ ἄλογον, τόνδε μὲν τόνδε ὁρῶντα χαίρειν, τόνδε δὲ τόνδε τοὐναντίον· τίς γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἔχθρα ἢ περὶ τίνων; διὰ τί δὲ τρίγωνος μὲν ὁρῶν ἄλλως, ἐξ ἐναντίας δὲ ἢ τετράγωνος ἄλλως; διὰ τί δὲ ὡδὶ μὲν ἐσχηματισμένος ὁρᾷ, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἑξῆς ζῴδιον ἐγγυτέρω ὢν μᾶλλον οὐχ ὁρᾷ; ὅλως δὲ τίς καὶ ὁ τρόπος ἔσται τοῦ ποιεῖν ἃ λέγονται ποιεῖν; πῶς τε χωρὶς ἕκαστος καὶ ἔτι πῶς ὁμοῦ πάντες ἄλλο ἐκ πάντων; οὐ γὰρ δὴ συνθέμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὕτω ποιοῦσιν εἰς ἡμᾶς τὰ δόξαντα ὑφεὶς ἕκαστός τι τῶν ἀφ’ αὑτοῦ, οὐδ’ αὖ ἄλλος ἐκώλυσε τὴν τοῦ ἑτέρου δόσιν γενέσθαι βιασάμενος, οὐδ’ αὖ ὁ ἕτερος παρεχώρησε τῷ ἑτέρῳ πεισθεὶς αὐτῷ πράττειν.
This too is irrational: that one planet is glad when it sees a particular other one, while another feels the opposite on seeing another. What hostility is there between them, or over what? Why is it one way when it sees at trine, and another way when it is in opposition or at square? Why does it see when it is configured like this, but not see when it is in the next sign and closer? And in general, what will be the manner of their producing what they are said to produce? How does each do it separately, and further, how do all of them together produce something else out of them all? Surely they don’t come to an agreement with one another and then do to us what they have decided, each giving up something of its own. Nor has one forcibly prevented another’s gift from taking effect, nor has one given way to another, persuaded to let it act.
τὸ δὲ τόνδε μὲν χαίρειν ἐν τοῖς τοῦδε γενόμενον, ἀνάπαλιν δὲ τὸν ἕτερον ἐν τοῖς τοῦ ἑτέρου γενόμενον, πῶς οὐχ ὅμοιον, ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις ὑποθέμενος δύο φιλοῦντας ἀλλήλους ἔπειτα λέγοι τὸν μὲν ἕτερον φιλεῖν τὸν ἕτερον, ἀνάπαλιν δὲ θάτερον μισεῖν θάτερον;
And the claim that this one is glad when it is in the other’s houses, while conversely the other is not when it is in the first one’s: how is that not like someone who supposed two people to love each other, and then said that the first loves the second but, conversely, the second hates the first?
λέγοντες δὲ ψυχρόν τινα αὐτῶν εἶναι, ἔτι πόρρω γινόμενον ἀφ’ ἡμῶν μᾶλλον ἡμῖν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, ἐν τῷ ψυχρῷ τὸ κακὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς τιθέμενοι· καίτοι ἔδει ἐν τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις ζῳδίοις ἀγαθὸν ἡμῖν εἶναι· καὶ ἐναντίους γινομένους τὸν ψυχρὸν τῷ θερμῷ δεινοὺς ἀμφοτέρους γίνεσθαι· καίτοι ἔδει κρᾶσιν εἶναι· καὶ τόνδε μὲν χαίρειν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἀγαθὸν γίνεσθαι θερμαινόμενον, τόνδε δὲ τῇ νυκτὶ χαίρειν πυρώδη ὄντα, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀεὶ ἡμέρας αὐτοῖς οὔσης, λέγω δὲ φωτός, ἢ τοῦ ἑτέρου καταλαμβανομένου ὑπὸ νυκτὸς πολὺ ὑπεράνω τῆς σκιᾶς τῆς γῆς ὄντος. τὸ δὲ τὴν σελήνην πλησίφωτον μὲν οὖσαν ἀγαθὴν εἶναι τῷδε συνερχομένην, λείπουσαν δὲ κακήν, ἀνάπαλιν, εἴπερ δοτέον.
They say that one of them is cold and is better for us the farther away from us it gets, locating its harm to us in its coldness. Yet then it ought to be good for us when it is in the opposite signs. They say that when the cold one and the hot one are opposite each other, both become dangerous. Yet there ought to be a blending. And that one rejoices in the day and becomes good when it is warmed, while another, being fiery, rejoices in the night. As if it weren’t always day for them, I mean light! Or as if the other could be overtaken by night when it is far above the earth’s shadow! And that the moon, when full, is good in conjunction with a particular planet, but bad when waning: it would be the reverse, if we are to grant this at all.
πλήρης γὰρ οὖσα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐκείνῳ [τῷ] ὑπεράνω ὄντι ἀφώτιστος ἂν εἴη τῷ ἑτέρῳ ἡμισφαιρίῳ, λείπουσα δὲ ἡμῖν ἐκείνῳ πλησίφωτος· ὥστε τὰ ἐναντία ποιεῖν ἔδει λείπουσαν ἐκεῖνον μετὰ φωτὸς ὁρῶσαν. αὐτῇ μὲν οὖν ὅπως ἐχούσῃ οὐδὲ διαφέροι ἂν τὸ ἥμισυ ἀεὶ φωτιζομένῃ· τῷ δ’ ἴσως διαφέροι ἂν θερμαινομένῳ, ὡς λέγουσιν. ἀλλὰ θερμαίνοιτο ἄν, εἰ ἀφώτιστος πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἡ σελήνη εἴη· πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἕτερον ἀγαθὴ οὖσα ἐν τῷ ἀφωτίστῳ πλήρης ἐστὶ πρὸς αὐτόν.
For when it is full toward us, it would be unlit on its other hemisphere, toward that planet [the one] above it; and when it is waning for us, it would be full for that one. So it ought to produce the opposite effects when it is waning, since then it looks at that planet with its light. To the moon itself, whatever its state, it would make no difference, since half of it is always lit. To the other planet it might perhaps make a difference, by warming it, as they say. But it would be warmed if the moon were unlit toward us; so if it is good for the other planet when it is unlit, that is because it is full toward it.
τὸ δὲ πρὸς ἡμας τῆς σελήνης ἀφώτιστόν ἐστι πρὸς τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, οὐ τὸ ἄνω λυπεῖ. οὐκ ἐπικουροῦντος δὲ ἐκείνου τῷ πόρρω χεῖρον εἶναι δοκεῖ· ὅταν δὲ πλήρης ᾖ, ἀρκεῖ τῷ κάτω, κἂν ἐκεῖνος πόρρωθεν ᾖ. πρὸς δὲ τὸν πυρώδη ἀφώτιστος οὖσα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔδοξεν εἶναι ἀγαθή· αὐταρκεῖ γὰρ τὸ ἐκείνου πυρωδεστέρου ἢ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ὄντος. τὰ δὲ ἰόντα ἐκεῖθεν σώματα ἐμψύχων ἄλλα ἄλλων ἐπὶ τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον θερμά, ψυχρὸν δὲ οὐδέν· μαρτυρεῖ δὲ ὁ τόπος. Δία δὲ ὃν λέγουσιν, εὔκρατος πυρί· καὶ ὁ Ἑῷος οὕτως· διὸ καὶ σύμφωνοι δοκοῦσιν ὁμοιότητι· πρὸς δὲ τὸν Πυρόεντα καλούμενον [σύμφορος] τῇ κράσει, πρὸς δὲ Κρόνον ἀλλότριος τῷ πόρρω· Ἑρμῆς δ’ ἀδιάφορος πρὸς ἅπαντας, ὡς δοκεῖ, ὁμοιούμενος.
The dark side of the moon toward us matters to things on earth; it doesn’t hurt what is above. When that planet gives no help because of its distance, things seem worse; but when the moon is full, it is enough for what is below, even if that planet is far off. And in relation to the fiery planet, the moon seemed to be good when it is dark toward us; for that planet’s own influence is enough by itself, since it is fierier than what is turned toward it. The bodies of the ensouled beings that travel up there are hotter, some more and some less than others, but none of them is cold: their place bears witness to that. The one they call Zeus is a well-tempered blend of fire, and so is the Morning Star; that is why they seem to be in accord, through their likeness. Toward the one called the Fiery, it is [agreeable] in its blend, and toward Kronos alien, because of the distance. Hermes, it seems, is indifferent toward all, since it assimilates itself to all.
πάντες δὲ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον σύμφοροι· ὥστε πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὕτως, ὡς τῷ ὅλῳ συμφέρει, ὡς ἐφ’ ἑνὸς ζῴου ἕκαστα τῶν μερῶν ὁρᾶται. τούτου γὰρ χάριν μάλιστα, οἷον χολὴ καὶ τῷ ὅλῳ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐγγύς· καὶ γὰρ ἔδει καὶ θυμὸν ἐγείρειν καὶ τὸ πᾶν καὶ τὸ πλησίον μὴ ἐᾶν ὑβρίζειν. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐν τῷ παντὶ ἔδει τινὸς τοιούτου καί τινος ἀηδοῦς πρὸς τὸ ἡδὺ ἀνημμένου. τὰ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὺς εἶναι, συμπαθῆ δὲ πάντα τῷ ἀλόγῳ αὐτῶν εἶναι· οὕτω γὰρ ἓν καὶ μία ἁρμονία· ταῦτ’ οὖν πῶς οὐ σημεῖα ἐξ ἀναλογίας εἴη ἄν;
All of them are favorable to the whole, and so they are related to one another in the way that benefits the whole, as each of the parts is seen to be in a single living being. That is above all what they are there for. Bile, for instance, serves both the whole and what is next to it: there had to be something to rouse anger, and to keep both the whole and its neighbors from running riot. In the All, too, there had to be something of this sort, something unpleasant linked to the pleasant. Some parts are eyes, but all are in sympathy through what is irrational in them; for that is how there is one thing and a single harmony. So how could these not be signs, by analogy?
Ἄρεα δὲ τόνδε ἢ Ἀφροδίτην θεμένους μοιχείας ποιεῖν, εἰ ὡδὶ εἶεν, ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρώπων ἀκολασίας αὑτοὺς ἐμπιπλάντας ὧν πρὸς ἀλλήλους δέονται, πῶς οὐ πολλὴν ἀλογίαν ἔχει; καὶ τὴν μὲν θέαν αὐτοῖς τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, εἰ οὑτωσὶ θεῷντο, ἡδεῖαν εἶναι, πέρας δὲ αὐτοῖς μηδὲν εἶναι, πῶς ἄν τις παραδέξαιτο; μυριάδων δὲ ζῴων ἀναριθμήτων γινομένων καὶ οὐσῶν ἑκάστῳ τελεῖν ἀεὶ τό τε δόξαν αὐτοῖς διδόναι, πλουτεῖν ποιεῖν, πένητας, ἀκολάστους, καὶ τὰς ἐνεργείας ἑκάστων αὐτοὺς τελεῖν, τίς αὐτοῖς ἐστιν ὁ βίος; ἢ πῶς δυνατὸν τοσαῦτα ποιεῖν;
And to suppose that Ares here, or Aphrodite, produces adulteries if they are in a certain position, as if they were satisfying through human licentiousness the needs they have for each other: how is that not deeply irrational? And who could accept that their seeing one another, if they see each other in a certain way, gives them pleasure, and that there is no limit to it for them? When countless myriads of living beings are being born and existing, they would always be accomplishing for each one what they have decided to give, making them rich, poor, licentious, and carrying out the activities of each of them themselves. What kind of life do they have, then? Or how is it possible for them to do so much?
τὸ δὲ ἀναφορὰς ζῳδίων ἀναμένειν καὶ τότε τελεῖν, καὶ ὅσαις μοίραις ἀνατέλλει ἕκαστον, ἐνιαυτοὺς εἶναι τοσούτους τῆς ἀναφορᾶς, καὶ οἷον ἐπὶ δακτύλων τίθεσθαι, ὅτε ποιήσουσι, μὴ ἐξεῖναι δ’ αὐτοῖς πρὸ τούτων τῶν χρόνων, ὅλως δὲ μηδενὶ ἑνὶ τὸ κύριον τῆς διοικήσεως διδόναι. τούτοις δὲ τὰ πάντα διδόναι, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐπιστατοῦντος ἑνός, ἀφ’ οὗ διηρτῆσθαι τὸ πᾶν ἑκάστῳ διδόντος κατὰ φύσιν τὸ αὑτοῦ περαίνειν καὶ ἐνεργεῖν τὰ αὑτοῦ συντεταγμένον αὖ μετ’ αὐτοῦ, λύοντός ἐστι καὶ ἀγνοοῦντος κόσμου φύσιν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντος καὶ αἰτίαν πρώτην ἐπὶ πάντα ἰοῦσαν.
Then there is the idea that they wait for the risings of the signs and only then act; that the years of the rising are as many as the degrees in which each sign rises; that they count out on their fingers, as it were, when they will act, and are not allowed to before those times; and in general that sovereign control of the administration is given to no single one, but everything is given to these. As if there were not one in charge, on whom the All depends, who grants to each thing to accomplish its own work according to its nature and to carry out its own activities, each in turn being ordered together with him! This is the view of someone who dissolves the cosmos and fails to understand its nature: it has a principle and a first cause that extends to all things.
The stars as letters
The stars signify what will happen, as parts of one living being signify one another.
ἀλλ’ εἰ σημαίνουσιν οὗτοι τὰ ἐσόμενα, ὥσπερ φαμὲν πολλὰ καὶ ἄλλα σημαντικὰ εἶναι τῶν ἐσομένων, τί ἂν τὸ ποιοῦν εἴη; καὶ ἡ τάξις πῶς; οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἐσημαίνετο τεταγμένως μὴ ἑκάστων γινομένων. ἔστω τοίνυν ὥσπερ γράμματα ἐν οὐρανῷ γραφόμενα ἀεὶ ἢ γεγραμμένα καὶ κινούμενα, ποιοῦντα μέντοι ἔργον καὶ ἄλλο· ἐπακολουθείτω δὲ τῷδε ἡ παρ’ αὐτῶν σημασία, ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς ἀρχῆς ἐν ἑνὶ ζῴῳ παρ’ ἄλλου μέρους ἄλλο ἄν τις μάθοι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἦθος ἄν τις γνοίη εἰς ὀφθαλμούς τινος ἰδὼν ἤ τι ἄλλο μέρος τοῦ σώματος καὶ κινδύνους καὶ σωτηρίας. καὶ οὖν μέρη μὲν ἐκεῖνα, μέρη δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς· ἄλλα οὖν ἄλλοις. μεστὰ δὲ πάντα σημείων καὶ σοφός τις ὁ μαθὼν ἐξ ἄλλου ἄλλο. πολλὰ δὲ ἤδη συνηθείᾳ γιγνόμενα γινώσκεται πᾶσι.
But if the stars signify what will happen, as we say that many other things too are signs of what will happen, what would be doing the producing? And how does the order come about? For things would not be signified in an orderly way unless each of them came about in order. Let us suppose, then, that they are like letters always being written in the heavens, or written once and moving, while they also do another job as well. And let their signifying follow from this, just as in a single living being, from one principle, one could learn one thing from another part. You could tell someone’s character by looking at their eyes or some other part of the body, and also dangers and escapes from danger. So they are parts, and we are parts too; one part tells of another. Everything is full of signs, and the wise person is one who learns one thing from another. Many things are already known to everyone from familiarity.
τίς οὖν ἡ σύνταξις ἡ μία; οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὸ κατὰ τοὺς ὄρνεις εὔλογον καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα, ἀφ’ ὧν σημαινόμεθα ἕκαστα. συνηρτῆσθαι δὴ δεῖ ἀλλήλοις τὰ πάντα, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐν ἑνὶ τῶν καθ’ ἕκαστα τοῦ εὖ εἰρομένου σύμπνοια μία, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον καὶ πρότερον ἐν τῷ παντί· καὶ μίαν ἀρχὴν [δεῖ] ἓν πολύζῳον ποιῆσαι καὶ ἐκ πάντων ἕν, καὶ ὡς ἐν ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ τὰ μέρη ἕν τι ἔργον ἕκαστον εἴληφεν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ παντὶ ἕκαστα ἔργα ἕκαστον ἔχειν καὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ταῦτα, ὅσον μὴ μόνον μέρη, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅλα καὶ μείζω.
What, then, is the single coordination? For this is also what makes sense of reading signs from birds and the other animals from which we receive indications of particular things. All things must be bound up with one another. There is a single breathing-together not only within one well-knit individual thing, but much more, and earlier, in the All. One principle [must] make a single living being of many living beings, one out of all; and just as in each single being the parts have each received one particular job, so too in the All each thing must have its own jobs, and more so than these, inasmuch as they are not only parts but also wholes, and greater ones.
πρόεισι μὲν δὴ ἕκαστον ἀπὸ μιᾶς [ἀρχῆς] τὸ αὑτοῦ πρᾶττον, συμβάλλει δὲ ἄλλο ἄλλῳ· οὐ γὰρ ἀπήλλακται τοῦ ὅλου· καὶ δὴ καὶ ποιεῖ καὶ πάσχει ὑπ’ ἄλλων καὶ ἄλλο αὖ προσῆλθε καὶ ἐλύπησεν ἢ ἧσε. πρόεισι δὲ οὐκ εἰκῇ οὐδὲ κατ’ ἐπιτυχίαν· καὶ γὰρ ἄλλο τι καὶ ἐκ τούτων καὶ ἐφεξῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἄλλο.
So each thing proceeds from one [principle], doing its own work, but one contributes to another, since none is cut off from the whole. Each acts on others and is acted on by them, and something else again comes along and hurts or pleases it. But they don’t proceed at random or by chance; for something else results from these, and something else again follows in sequence according to nature.
καὶ δὴ καὶ ψυχὴ τὸ αὑτῆς ἔργον ποιεῖν ὡρμημένη — ψυχὴ γὰρ πάντα ποιεῖ ἀρχῆς ἔχουσα λόγον — κἂν εὐθυποροῖ καὶ ταράττοιτο αὖ, καὶ ἕπεται τοῖς δρωμένοις ἐν τῷ παντὶ δίκη, εἴπερ μὴ λυθήσεται. μένει δ’ ἀεὶ ὀρθουμένου τοῦ ὅλου τάξει καὶ δυνάμει τοῦ κρατοῦντος· συνεργοῦντα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄστρα ὡς ἂν μόρια οὐ σμικρὰ ὄντα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον ἀριπρεπῆ καὶ πρὸς τὸ σημαίνειν ἐστί. σημαίνει μὲν οὖν πάντα, ὅσα ἐν αἰσθητῷ, ποιεῖ δὲ ἄλλα, ὅσα φανερῶς ποιεῖ. ἡμεῖς δὲ ψυχῆς ἔργα κατὰ φύσιν ποιοῦμεν, ἕως μὴ ἐσφάλημεν ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ παντός· σφαλέντες δὲ ἔχομεν δίκην καὶ τὸ σφάλμα αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ ἐν χείρονι μοίρᾳ εἰς ὕστερον. πλοῦτοι μὲν οὖν καὶ πενίαι συντυχίᾳ τῶν ἔξω· ἀρεταὶ δὲ καὶ κακίαι [πῶς];
Soul too sets out to do its own work (for soul makes all things, having the status of a principle), whether it goes straight on or is thrown into confusion; and justice follows on what is done in the All, if the All is not to be dissolved. It always remains, the whole being kept upright by the order and power of what rules it. The stars cooperate too, since they are no small parts of heaven: they are splendid contributors both to the whole and to signifying. They signify, then, everything in the perceptible world, but they produce other things, those they evidently produce. We, for our part, do the works of soul according to nature as long as we have not slipped in the multiplicity of the All; when we slip, our penalty is both the slip itself and a worse lot afterward. Wealth and poverty, then, come from chance conjunctions of external things. But virtues and vices: [how?]
ἀρεταὶ μὲν διὰ τὸ ἀρχαῖον τῆς ψυχῆς, κακίαι δὲ συντυχίᾳ ψυχῆς πρὸς τὰ ἔξω. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν ἄλλοις εἴρηται.
Virtues come from what is original in the soul, vices from the soul’s chance encounter with external things. But these matters have been discussed elsewhere.
νῦν δὲ ἀναμνησθέντες τοῦ ἀτράκτου, ὃν τοῖς μὲν πρόπαλαι αἱ Μοῖραι ἐπικλώθουσι, Πλάτωνι δὲ ὁ ἄτρακτός ἐστι τό τε πλανώμενον καὶ τὸ ἀπλανὲς τῆς περιφορᾶς, καὶ αἱ Μοῖραι δὲ καὶ ἡ Ἀνάγκη μήτηρ οὖσα στρέφουσι καὶ ἐν τῇ γενέσει ἑκάστου ἐπικλώθουσι καὶ δι’ αὐτῆς εἶσιν εἰς γένεσιν τὰ γεννώμενα. ἐν δὲ Τιμαίῳ θεὸς μὲν ὁ ποιήσας τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ψυχῆς δίδωσιν, οἱ δὲ φερόμενοι θεοὶ τὰ δεινὰ καὶ ἀναγκαῖα πάθη, θυμοὺς καὶ ἐπιθυμίας καὶ ἡδονὰς καὶ λύπας αὖ, καὶ ψυχῆς ἄλλο εἶδος, ἀφ’ οὗ τὰ παθήματα ταυτί. οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ λόγοι συνδέουσιν ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἄστροις παρ’ αὐτῶν ψυχὴν κομιζομένους καὶ ὑποτάττουσι τῇ ἀνάγκῃ ἐνταῦθα ἰόντας· καὶ ἤθη τοίνυν παρ’ αὐτῶν καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἤθη πράξεις καὶ πάθη ἀπὸ ἕξεως παθητικῆς οὔσης· ὥστε τί λοιπὸν ἡμεῖς;
Now let us recall the spindle. For the ancients, the Fates spin on it; for Plato, the spindle is the wandering and the fixed parts of the heavens’ revolution, and the Fates and Necessity, their mother, turn it and spin at the birth of each, and through her what is born comes into being. In the Timaeus, the god who made the cosmos gives the principle of the soul, while the gods that move in the heavens give the terrible and necessary affections, angers and desires, pleasures and pains in turn, and another kind of soul, from which these affections come. These statements bind us to the stars, since we get soul from them, and they subject us to necessity when we come here. So our characters come from them, and our actions and affections follow our characters, from a disposition that is open to affection. What, then, is left that is we?
ἢ ὅπερ ἐσμὲν κατ’ ἀλήθειαν ἡμεῖς, οἷς καὶ κρατεῖν τῶν παθῶν ἔδωκεν ἡ φύσις. καὶ γὰρ ὅμως ἐν τούτοις τοῖς κακοῖς διὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος [φύσιν] ἀπειλημμένοις ἀδέσποτον ἀρετὴν θεὸς ἔδωκεν. οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἡσύχῳ οὖσιν ἀρετῆς δεῖ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ’ ὅταν κίνδυνος ἐν κακοῖς εἶναι ἀρετῆς οὐ παρούσης. διὸ καὶ φεύγειν ἐντεῦθεν δεῖ καὶ χωρίζειν αὑτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν προσγεγενημένων καὶ μὴ τὸ σύνθετον εἶναι σῶμα ἐψυχωμένον, ἐν ᾧ κρατεῖ μᾶλλον ἡ σώματος φύσις ψυχῆς τι ἴχνος λαβοῦσα, ὡς τὴν ζωὴν τὴν κοινὴν μᾶλλον τοῦ σώματος εἶναι· πάντα γὰρ σωματικά, ὅσα ταύτης.
Or rather: what we truly are, we to whom nature has given the power to master our affections. For even so, amid these evils hemmed in by the body’s [nature], god has given us “virtue that has no master.” It isn’t when we are at peace that we need virtue, but when there is danger of being among evils if virtue is not present. That is why we must flee from here and separate ourselves from what has been added to us, and not be the compound, an ensouled body, in which the nature of body, having received some trace of soul, has the upper hand, so that the shared life belongs more to the body; for everything that belongs to this life is bodily.
τῆς δὲ ἑτέρας τῆς ἔξω ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἄνω φορὰ καὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ θεῖον, ὧν οὐδεὶς κρατεῖ, ἀλλ’ ἢ προσχρῆται, ἵν’ ᾖ ἐκεῖνο καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ζῇ ἀναχωρήσας· ἢ ἔρημος ταύτης τῆς ψυχῆς γενόμενος ζῇ ἐν εἱμαρμένῃ, καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὰ ἄστρα αὐτῷ οὐ μόνον σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ γίνεται αὐτὸς οἷον μέρος καὶ τῷ ὅλῳ συνέπεται, οὗ μέρος. διττὸς γὰρ ἕκαστος, ὁ μὲν τὸ συναμφότερόν τι, ὁ δὲ αὐτός· καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος δὲ ὁ μὲν τὸ ἐκ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς τινος δεθείσης σώματι, ὁ δὲ ἡ τοῦ παντὸς ψυχὴ ἡ μὴ ἐν σώματι, ἐλλάμπουσα δὲ ἴχνη τῇ ἐν σώματι· καὶ ἥλιος δὴ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα διττὰ οὕτω.
To the other soul, the one outside, belong the movement upward, the beautiful and the divine, over which no one has mastery. Either one makes use of it, so as to be that and to live according to it, withdrawn; or, bereft of this soul, one lives under destiny, and then the stars not only signify for him, but he himself becomes, as it were, a part, and follows along with the whole of which he is a part. For each of us is double: one is the compound of the two, the other is himself. So too the whole cosmos: one is what is made of body and a soul bound to body; the other is the Soul of the All, which is not in body but shines its traces into the soul that is in body. And the sun and the other heavenly bodies are double in the same way.
καὶ τῇ μὲν ἑτέρᾳ ψυχῇ τῇ καθαρᾷ οὐδὲν φαῦλον δίδωσιν, ἃ δὲ γίνεται εἰς τὸ πᾶν παρ’ αὐτῶν, καθ’ ὃ μέρος εἰσὶ τοῦ παντὸς καὶ σῶμα ἐψυχωμένον, τὸ σῶμα μέρος μέρει δίδωσι προαιρέσεως τοῦ ἄστρου καὶ ψυχῆς τῆς ὄντως αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἄριστον βλεπούσης. παρακολουθεῖ δ’ αὐτῷ τὰ ἄλλα, μᾶλλον δ’ οὐκ αὐτῷ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς περὶ αὐτόν, οἷον ἐκ πυρὸς θερμότητος εἰς τὸ ὅλον ἰούσης, καὶ εἴ τι παρὰ ψυχῆς τῆς ἄλλης εἰς ψυχὴν ἄλλην συγγενῆ οὖσαν· τὰ δὲ δυσχερῆ διὰ τὴν μῖξιν. μεμιγμένη γὰρ οὖν δὴ ἡ τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς φύσις, καὶ εἴ τις τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν χωριστὴν αὐτοῦ χωρίσειε, τὸ λοιπὸν οὐ μέγα. θεὸς μὲν οὖν ἐκείνης συναριθμουμένης, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν δαίμων, φησί, μέγας καὶ τὰ πάθη τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ δαιμόνια.
To the other, pure soul they give nothing bad. What comes from them to the All, insofar as they are parts of the All and an ensouled body, the body gives, as part to part, while the choice of the star, and of its true soul, looks toward the best. Other things follow on it, or rather not on it but on what surrounds it, as heat comes from fire into the whole, and as something may pass from one soul into another soul akin to it. The troublesome things come from the mixture. For the nature of this All is indeed mixed, and if you were to separate from it its separate soul, what remains is not great. With that soul counted in, it is a god; the rest, he says, is “a great spirit,” and the affections in it are the affections of spirits.
εἰ δ’ οὕτω, τὰς σημασίας καὶ νῦν δοτέον τὰς δὲ ποιήσεις οὐ πάντως οὐδὲ τοῖς ὅλοις αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα τοῦ παντὸς πάθη, καὶ ὅσον τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτῶν. καὶ ψυχῇ μὲν καὶ πρὶν ἐλθεῖν εἰς γένεσιν δοτέον ἥκειν τι φερούσῃ παρ’ αὑτῆς· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἔλθοι εἰς σῶμα μὴ μέγα τι παθητικὸν ἔχουσα. δοτέον δὲ καὶ τύχας εἰσιούσῃ τῷ κατ’ αὐτὴν τὴν φορὰν εἰσιέναι. δοτέον δὲ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν φορὰν ποιεῖσθαι συνεργοῦσαν καὶ ἀποπληροῦσαν παρ’ αὑτῆς, ἃ δεῖ τελεῖν τὸ πᾶν, ἑκάστου τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τάξιν μερῶν λαβόντος.
If this is so, we must now grant the signifying. As for producing, we must not grant it altogether, nor to the stars as wholes, but only what are affections of the All, and as much as belongs to the rest of them. We must grant that soul, even before it comes into birth, arrives bringing something of its own; for it would not come into a body unless it had a considerable capacity for being affected. We must also grant that it meets with its fortunes as it enters, because it enters in accordance with the revolution itself. And we must grant that the revolution itself produces, cooperating and filling out, on its own part, what the All must accomplish, each of the parts within it having taken up its position.
χρὴ δὲ κἀκεῖνο ἐνθυμεῖσθαι, ὡς τὸ ἀπ’ ἐκείνων ἰὸν οὐ τοιοῦτον εἶσιν εἰς τοὺς λαβόντας, οἷον παρ’ ἐκείνων ἔρχεται· οἷον εἰ πῦρ, ἀμυδρὸν τοῦτο, καὶ εἰ φιλιακὴ διάθεσις ἀσθενὴς γενομένη ἐν τῷ λαβόντι οὐ μάλα καλὴν τὴν φίλησιν εἰργάσατο, καὶ θυμὸς δὴ οὐκ ἐν μέτρῳ τυχόντος, ὡς ἀνδρεῖον γενέσθαι, ἢ ἀκροχολίαν ἢ ἀθυμίαν εἰργάσατο, καὶ τὸ τιμῆς ἐν ἔρωτι ὂν ⟨…⟩ καὶ περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἔχον τῶν δοκούντων καλῶν ἔφεσιν εἰργάσατο, καὶ νοῦ ἀπόρροια πανουργίαν· καὶ γὰρ ἡ πανουργία ἐθέλει νοῦς εἶναι τυχεῖν οὗ ἐφίεται οὐ δυνάμενος. γίνεται οὖν κακὰ ἕκαστα τούτων ἐν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖ οὐ τούτων ὄντων· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἐλθόντα, καίτοι οὐκ ἐκεῖνα ὄντα, οὐ μένει οὐδὲ ταῦτα οἷα ἦλθε σώμασι μιγνύμενα καὶ ὕλῃ καὶ ἀλλήλοις.
We must also keep this in mind: what comes from them does not arrive in its recipients in the state in which it left them. If it is fire, it is faint here. If it was a disposition toward affection, it became weak in the recipient and produced a not very fine kind of loving. Spiritedness, when it was not received in the right measure to become courage, produced irascibility or lack of spirit. What belongs to honor in love ⟨…⟩ and is concerned with the beautiful produced a craving for things that seem beautiful. And an emanation of intellect produced cunning; for cunning wants to be intellect, but cannot get what it is after. So each of these becomes bad in us, though up there they are not such. For what comes, though it is not those things themselves, does not remain as it came either, since it is mixed with bodies, with matter and with one another.
καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ ἰόντα εἰς ἓν συμπίπτει καὶ κομίζεται ἕκαστον τῶν γιγνομένων τι ἐκ τούτου τοῦ κράματος, ὥστε ὃ ἔστι καὶ ποῖόν τι γενέσθαι. οὐ γὰρ τὸ ἵππον ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἵππῳ τι δίδωσιν· ὁ γὰρ ἵππος ἐξ ἵππου καὶ ἐξ ἀνθρώπου ἄνθρωπος· συνεργὸς δὲ ἥλιος τῇ πλάσει· ὁ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γίνεται. ἀλλ’ ἔβλαψέ ποτε ἢ ὠφέλησε τὰ ἔξω· ὁμοίως γὰρ τῷ πατρί, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον πολλάκις, ἔστι δ’ ὅτε πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον συνέπεσεν. ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκβιβάζει τοῦ ὑποκειμένου· ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ ἡ ὕλη κρατεῖ, οὐχ ἡ φύσις, ὡς μὴ τέλειον γενέσθαι ἡττωμένου τοῦ εἴδους.
Moreover, what comes from them falls together into one, and each thing that comes into being receives something from this blend, so that, being what it is, it also becomes of a certain quality. For it doesn’t make the horse; it gives something to the horse. Horse comes from horse, and human being from human being. The sun cooperates in the shaping, but the human being comes from the rational principle of the human being. Still, external things sometimes harm or help. The child is like its father, but often it turns out better, and sometimes worse. Yet they don’t make it depart from what underlies it; though sometimes matter prevails rather than nature, so that the product is not complete, because the form has been defeated.
What the heavens do and do not cause
Soul governs the All by rational principle, and the stars contribute only to some things.
δεῖ τοίνυν τὸ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ μὲν παρὰ τῆς φορᾶς γίνεται, τὰ δὲ οὔ, διαλαβεῖν καὶ διακρῖναι καὶ εἰπεῖν, πόθεν ἕκαστα ὅλως. ἀρχὴ δὲ ἥδε· ψυχῆς δὴ τὸ πᾶν τόδε διοικούσης κατὰ λόγον, οἷα δὴ καὶ ἐφ’ ἑκάστου ζῴου ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ ἀρχή, ἀφ’ ἧς ἕκαστα τὰ τοῦ ζῴου μέρη καὶ πλάττεται καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον συντέτακται, οὗ μέρη ἐστίν, ἐν μὲν τῷ ὅλῳ ἐστὶ τὰ πάντα, ἐν δὲ τοῖς μέρεσι τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅσον ἐστὶν ἕκαστον. τὰ δὲ ἔξωθεν προσιόντα, τὰ μὲν καὶ ἐναντία τῇ βουλήσει τῆς φύσεως, τὰ δὲ καὶ πρόσφορα· τῷ δὲ ὅλῳ πάντη ἅτε μέρη ὄντα αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα συντέτακται φύσιν μὲν λαβόντα ἣν ἔχει καὶ συμπληροῦντα τῇ οἰκείᾳ ὅμως ὁρμῇ πρὸς τὸν ὅλον τοῦ παντὸς βίον.
From here on, then, since some things come from the revolution and others do not, we must distinguish and separate them, and say where each comes from in general. The starting point is this. Soul administers this All according to rational principle, just as, in each living being, there is the principle within it from which each of the living being’s parts is shaped and coordinated with the whole of which they are parts. In the whole, all things are present; in the parts, only as much as each part is. What comes to them from outside is in some cases contrary to what nature wants, in others suited to it. But in relation to the whole, all things are entirely coordinated, since they are its parts: they have received the nature they have, and yet by their own impulse they help to complete the whole life of the All.
τὰ μὲν οὖν ἄψυχα τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ πάντη ὄργανα καὶ οἷον ἐξωθούμενα ἔξω εἰς τὸ ποιεῖν· τὰ δὲ ἔμψυχα, τὰ μὲν τὸ κινεῖσθαι ἀορίστως ἔχει, ὡς ὑφ’ ἅρμασιν ἵπποι πρὶν τὸν ἡνίοχον ἀφορίσαι αὐτοῖς τὸν δρόμον, ἅτε δὴ πληγῇ νεμόμενα· λογικοῦ δὲ ζῴου φύσις ἔχει παρ’ ἑαυτῆς τὸν ἡνίοχον· καὶ ἐπιστήμονα μὲν ἔχουσα κατ’ ἰθὺ φέρεται μηδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε πολλάκις.
The soulless things in it, then, are entirely instruments, pushed from outside, as it were, into acting. Of the ensouled things, some have indeterminate motion, like horses under a chariot before the driver has marked out their course, since they are steered by the whip. The nature of a rational living being has its driver within itself; and when it has a knowledgeable one, it goes straight ahead and not, as so often, at random.
ἄμφω δὲ εἴσω τοῦ παντὸς καὶ συντελοῦντα πρὸς τὸ ὅλον· καὶ τὰ μὲν μείζω αὐτῶν καὶ ἐν πλείονι τῇ ἀξίᾳ πολλὰ ποιεῖ καὶ μεγάλα καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ὅλου ζωὴν συντελεῖ τάξιν ποιητικὴν μᾶλλον ἢ παθητικὴν ἔχοντα, τὰ δὲ πάσχοντα διατελεῖ μικρὰν δύναμιν πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖν ἔχοντα· τὰ δὲ μεταξὺ τούτων, πάσχοντα μὲν παρ’ ἄλλων, ποιοῦντα δὲ πολλὰ καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς ἀρχὴν παρ’ αὑτῶν εἰς πράξεις καὶ ποιήσεις ἔχοντα.
Both are inside the All and contribute to the whole. The greater among them and those of higher worth do many great things and contribute to the life of the whole, having a role that is more active than passive. Others are continually acted upon, having little power to act. And those in between are acted upon by others, but do many things, and in many cases have in themselves a principle of actions and makings.
καὶ γίνεται τὸ πᾶν ζωὴ παντελὴς τῶν μὲν ἀρίστων ἐνεργούντων τὰ ἄριστα, καθ’ ὅσον τὸ ἄριστον ἐν ἑκάστῳ· ὃ δὴ καὶ τῷ ἡγεμονοῦντι συντακτέον, ὥσπερ στρατιώτας στρατηγῷ, οἳ δὴ λέγονται καὶ ἕπεσθαι Διὶ ἐπὶ φύσιν τὴν νοητὴν ἱεμένῳ. τὰ δὲ ἥττονι τῇ φύσει κεχρημένα δεύτερα τοῦ παντός, οἷα καὶ τὰ ἐν ἡμῖν ψυχῆς δεύτερα· τὰ δ’ ἄλλα ἀνὰ λόγον τοῖς ἐν ἡμῖν μέρεσιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐφ’ ἡμῶν πάντα ἴσα.
And the All becomes a complete life, with the best doing the best things, insofar as the best is in each. This must be coordinated with what leads, like soldiers with their general: these are the ones said to “follow Zeus” as he sets out for the intelligible nature. Those that make use of a lesser nature are the secondary parts of the All, like the secondary parts of soul in us; and the others are in proportion to the parts in us. For in us too, not everything is equal.
ζῷα μὲν οὖν πάντα κατὰ λόγον τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ὅλον, τά τε ἐν οὐρανῷ πάντα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα εἰς τὸ ὅλον μεμέρισται, καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν μερῶν, οὐδ’ εἰ μέγα, δύναμιν ἔχει τοῦ ἐξαλλαγὴν ἐργάσασθαι τῶν λόγων οὐδὲ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς λόγους γενομένων· ἀλλοίωσιν δὲ ἐπ’ ἀμφότερα, χείρονός τε καὶ βελτίονος, ἐργάσασθαι, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκστῆσαί γε τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως δύναται. χεῖρον δὲ ἐργάζεται ἢ κατὰ σῶμα ἀσθένειαν διδὸν ἢ τῇ ψυχῇ τῇ συμπαθεῖ καὶ παρ’ αὐτοῦ δοθείσῃ εἰς τὸ κάτω κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς φαυλότητος αἴτιον γιγνόμενον ἢ σώματος κακῶς συντεθέντος ἐμπόδιον τὴν εἰς αὐτὸ ἐνέργειαν δι’ αὐτὸ ποιῆσαι· οἷον οὐχ οὕτως ἁρμοσθείσης λύρας, ὡς δέξασθαι τὸ ἀκριβὲς [τῆς] ἁρμονίας εἰς τὸ μουσικοὺς ἀποτελεῖν τοὺς φθόγγους.
All, then, are living beings according to the rational principle of the All as a whole, both all those in the heavens and the others that have been divided off within the whole. And none of the parts, however great, has the power to alter the rational principles or what comes to be according to them. It can produce change in either direction, for worse or for better; but it cannot make a thing depart from its own nature. It makes things worse either by giving weakness to the body; or by becoming, incidentally, a cause of badness to the soul that is in sympathy with it and has been given by it to what is below; or by making a badly composed body hinder the activity directed into it, by reason of the body itself. It is like a lyre not tuned well enough to take the precision [of] harmony needed to make its notes musical.
περὶ δὲ πενίας καὶ πλούτους καὶ δόξας καὶ ἀρχὰς πῶς; ἤ, εἰ μὲν παρὰ πατέρων οἱ πλοῦτοι, ἐσήμηναν τὸν πλούσιον, ὥσπερ καὶ εὐγενῆ τὸν ἐκ τοιούτων διὰ τὸ γένος τὸ ἔνδοξον ἔχοντα ἐδήλωσαν μόνον· εἰ δ’ ἐξ ἀνδραγαθίας, εἰ σῶμα συνεργὸν γεγένηται, συμβάλλοιντο ἂν οἱ τὴν σώματος ἰσχὺν ἐργασάμενοι, γονεῖς μὲν πρῶτον, εἶτα, εἴ τις ἄρα τῶν τόπων παρέσχε [τι], τὰ οὐράνια καὶ ἡ γῆ· εἰ δὲ ἄνευ σώματος ἡ ἀρετή, αὐτῇ μόνῃ δοτέον τὸ πλεῖστον καὶ ὅσα θεῖα παρὰ τῶν ἀμειψαμένων συνεβάλλετο. οἱ δὲ δόντες εἰ μὲν ἀγαθοί, εἰς ἀρετὴν ἀνακτέον καὶ οὕτω τὴν αἰτίαν· εἰ δὲ φαῦλοι, δικαίως δὲ δόντες, τῷ ἐν αὐτοῖς βελτίστῳ ἐνεργήσαντι τοῦτο γεγονέναι.
What about poverty and wealth, reputation and office? Or rather: if the wealth comes from one’s fathers, the stars signified the rich man, just as they merely indicated that the person born of such parents is well-born, because of his distinguished lineage. If it comes from prowess, and the body has cooperated, then those who produced the body’s strength would contribute: first the parents, and then, if place supplied [something], the heavens and the earth. If the virtue is without body, then most must be credited to it alone, together with whatever divine contributions came from those who rewarded it. If those who gave were good, the cause must in this way too be traced back to virtue; if they were bad but gave justly, this has happened because the best part of them was active.
εἰ δὲ πονηρὸς ὁ πλουτήσας, τὴν μὲν πονηρίαν προηγουμένην καί τι τὸ αἴτιον τῆς πονηρίας, προσληπτέον δὲ καὶ τοὺς δόντας συναιτίους ὡσαύτως γενομένους. εἰ δ’ ἐκ πόνων, οἷον ἐκ γεωργίας, ἐπὶ τὸν γεωργόν, συνεργὸν [δὲ] τὸ περιέχον γεγενημένον. εἰ δὲ θησαυρὸν εὗρε, συμπεσεῖν τι τῶν ἐκ τοῦ παντός· εἰ δέ, σημαίνεται· πάντως γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖ ἀλλήλοις πάντα· διὸ καὶ πάντως [σημαίνεται]. εἰ δ’ ἀπέβαλέ τις πλοῦτον, εἰ ἀφαιρεθείς, ἐπὶ τὸν ἀφελόμενον, κἀκεῖνον ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρχήν· εἰ δ’ ἐν θαλάττῃ, [ἐπὶ] τὰ συμπεσόντα. τὸ δ’ ἔνδοξον ἢ δικαίως ἢ οὔ. εἰ οὖν δικαίως, [ἐπὶ] τὰ ἔργα καὶ τὸ παρὰ τοῖς δοξάζουσι βέλτιον· εἰ δ’ οὐ δικαίως, ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν τιμώντων ἀδικίαν.
If the man who got rich is wicked, his wickedness comes first, along with whatever caused it; and those who gave to him must be counted in as having likewise become joint causes. If it comes from labor, for example from farming, it goes back to the farmer, [but] with the environment as a cooperating factor. If he found treasure, something from the All coincided; and if so, it is signified, since all things certainly follow on one another; that is why it is certainly [signified]. If someone has lost his wealth: if it was taken from him, it goes back to the one who took it, and him to his own principle; if it was lost at sea, [to] the accidents. Distinction is either just or not. If just, [to] his deeds and to the better part in those who think well of him; if not just, to the injustice of those who honor him.
καὶ ἀρχῆς δὲ πέρι ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος· ἢ γὰρ προσηκόντως ἢ οὔ· καὶ θάτερον μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον τῶν ἑλομένων, ἢ ἐπ’ αὐτὸν διαπραξάμενον ἑταίρων συστάσει καὶ ὁπωσοῦν ἄλλως. περὶ δὲ γάμων ἢ προαίρεσις ἢ συντυχία καὶ σύμπτωσις ἐκ τῶν ὅλων. παίδων δὲ γενέσεις ἀκόλουθοι τούτοις, καὶ ἢ πέπλασται κατὰ λόγον ἐμποδίσαντος οὐδενός, ἢ χεῖρον ἔσχε γενομένου ἔνδον κωλύματός τινος, ἢ παρ’ αὐτὴν τὴν κύουσαν, ἢ τοῦ περιέχοντος οὕτω διατεθέντος, ὡς ἀσυμμέτρως πρὸς τήνδε τὴν κύησιν ἐσχηκέναι
The same account holds for office: it is held either fittingly or not. The first case goes back to the better element in those who chose him; the other to the man himself, who brought it off by organizing his associates or in some other way. As for marriages, it is either choice or chance and coincidence arising from things as a whole. The births of children follow from these. Either the child has been shaped according to its rational principle, with nothing hindering, or it has turned out worse because some obstacle arose within: either due to the mother herself, or because the environment was so disposed as to be ill-suited to this pregnancy.
ὁ δὲ Πλάτων πρὸ τῆς περιφορᾶς τοῦ ἀτράκτου δοὺς κλήρους καὶ προαιρέσεις συνεργοὺς ὕστερον δίδωσι τοὺς ἐν τῷ ἀτράκτῳ, ὡς πάντως τὰ αἱρεθέντα συναποτελοῦντας· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ δαίμων συνεργὸς εἰς πλήρωσιν αὐτῶν. ἀλλ’ οἱ κλῆροι τίνες; ἢ [τὸ] τοῦ παντὸς ἔχοντος οὕτως, ὡς τότε εἶχεν, ὅτε εἰσῄεσαν εἰς τὸ σῶμα, γενέσθαι καὶ τὸ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τόδε τὸ σῶμα καὶ τῶνδε γονέων καὶ ἐν τοιούτοις τόποις γίνεσθαι καὶ ὅλως, ὡς εἴπομεν, τὰ ἔξω. πάντα δὲ ὁμοῦ γενόμενα καὶ οἷον συγκλωσθέντα διὰ τῆς μιᾶς τῶν λεγομένων Μοιρῶν δεδήλωται ἐπί τε ἑκάστων ἐπί τε τῶν ὅλων· ἡ δὲ Λάχεσις τοὺς κλήρους· καὶ τὰ συμπεσόντα τάδε πάντως ἀναγκαῖον τὴν Ἄτροπον ἐπάγειν.
Plato gives lots and choices before the turning of the spindle, and afterward gives those in the spindle as cooperators, since they help in every way to bring about what was chosen; the guardian spirit too cooperates in fulfilling the choices. But what are the lots? Or rather: [the fact of] being born when the All was in the state it was in when they entered the body; entering this particular body, of these parents; being born in such-and-such places; in short, as we said, the external circumstances. That all these happen together and are, as it were, spun together is shown, for each individual and for the whole, through one of the so-called Fates; Lachesis brings the lots; and Atropos must necessarily bring on what has thus coincided.
τῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων οἱ μὲν γίνονται τῶν ἐκ τοῦ ὅλου καὶ τῶν ἔξω ὥσπερ γοητευθέντες καὶ ὀλίγα ἢ οὐδὲν αὐτοί· οἱ δὲ κρατοῦντες τούτων καὶ ὑπεραίροντες οἷον τῇ κεφαλῇ πρὸς τὸ ἄνω καὶ ἐκτὸς ψυχῆς ἀποσώζουσι τὸ ἄριστον καὶ [τὸ] ἀρχαῖον τῆς ψυχικῆς οὐσίας. οὐ γὰρ δὴ νομιστέον τοιοῦτον εἶναι ψυχήν, οἷον, ὅ τι ἂν ἔξωθεν πάθῃ, ταύτην φύσιν ἴσχειν μόνην τῶν πάντων οἰκείαν φύσιν οὐκ ἔχουσαν· ἀλλὰ χρὴ πολὺ πρότερον αὐτὴν ἢ τὰ ἄλλα, ἅτε ἀρχῆς λόγον ἔχουσαν, πολλὰς οἰκείας δυνάμεις πρὸς ἐνεργείας τὰς κατὰ φύσιν ἔχειν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ οἷόν τε οὐσίαν οὖσαν μὴ μετὰ τοῦ εἶναι καὶ ὀρέξεις καὶ πράξεις καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὸ εὖ κεκτῆσθαι.
Of human beings, some are, as it were, bewitched by what comes from the whole and from external things, and are little or nothing themselves. Others master these and rise above them, with their head, so to speak, toward the region above and outside, and preserve the best of the soul and [the] original part of the soul’s being. For we must not think that soul is the kind of thing whose nature is whatever it is affected by from outside, so that it alone of all things has no nature of its own. Rather, far more than other things, since it has the status of a principle, it must have many powers of its own for its natural activities. For it is not possible for something that is a being not to possess, together with its being, desires and actions and a bent toward the good.
τὸ μὲν οὖν συναμφότερον ἐκ τοῦ συναμφοτέρου τῆς φύσεως καὶ τοιόνδε καὶ ἔργα ἔχει τοιάδε· ψυχὴ δὲ εἴ τις χωρίζεται, χωριστὰ καὶ ἴδια ἐνεργεῖ τὰ τοῦ σώματος πάθη οὐχ αὑτῆς τιθεμένη, ἅτε ἤδη ὁρῶσα, ὡς τὸ μὲν ἄλλο, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο.
The compound, then, takes its character from its compound nature and has works of a corresponding kind. But if a soul separates itself, its activities are separate and its own, and it doesn’t count the body’s affections as its own, since it now sees that one thing is one thing and the other is another.
ἀλλὰ τί τὸ μικτὸν καὶ τί τὸ μὴ καὶ τί τὸ χωριστὸν καὶ ἀχώριστον, ὅταν ἐν σώματι ᾖ, καὶ ὅλως τί τὸ ζῷον ἀρχὴν ἑτέραν ὕστερον λαβοῦσι ζητητέον· οὐ γὰρ ἅπαντες τὴν αὐτὴν δόξαν ἔσχον περὶ τούτου. νῦν δὲ ἔτι λέγωμεν πῶς τὸ κατὰ λόγον ψυχῆς διοικούσης τὸ πᾶν εἴπομεν. πότερον γὰρ ἕκαστα οἷον ἐπ’ εὐθείας ποιοῦσα, ἄνθρωπον, εἶτα ἵππον καὶ ἄλλο ζῷον καὶ δὴ καὶ θηρία, πῦρ δὲ καὶ γῆν πρότερον, εἶτα συμπεσόντα ταῦτα ἰδοῦσα καὶ φθείροντα ἄλληλα ἢ καὶ ὠφελοῦντα τὴν συμπλοκὴν τὴν ἐκ τούτων ἰδοῦσα μόνον καὶ τὰ ὕστερον συμβαίνοντα ἀεὶ γίγνεσθαι οὐδὲν ἔτι συμβαλλομένη πρὸς τὰ ἐφεξῆς, ἀλλ’ ἢ μόνον ζῴων γενέσεις τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς πάλιν ποιοῦσα καὶ τοῖς πάθεσι τοῖς δι’ ἀλλήλων αὐτὰ συγχωροῦσα;
But what is mixed and what is not, what is separable and what inseparable when soul is in body, and in general what the living being is: we must investigate this later, from another starting point, for not everyone has held the same opinion about it. For now, let us say further in what sense we said that Soul administers the All according to rational principle. Does it make each thing as if in a straight line, a human being, then a horse and another animal, and wild beasts too, but fire and earth first; and then, seeing these collide and destroy or else benefit one another, does it merely see the interweaving that results from them and the consequences that keep coming about, contributing nothing further to what follows, except to produce once more, from the beginning, the births of animals and leave them to what they suffer from one another?
ἢ αἰτίαν λέγοντες καὶ τῶν οὕτω γινομένων, ὅτι παρ’ αὐτῆς γενόμενα τὰ ἐφεξῆς ἐργάζεται; ἢ καὶ τὸ τόδε τι παθεῖν ἤ τι ποιῆσαι ἔχει ὁ λόγος οὐκ εἰκῇ οὐδὲ κατ’ ἐπιτυχίαν οὐδὲ τῶνδε γιγνομένων, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ἀνάγκης οὕτως. ἆρ’ οὖν τῶν λόγων αὐτὰ ποιούντων; ἢ ὄντων μὲν τῶν λόγων, οὐχ ὡς ποιούντων δέ, ἀλλ’ ὡς εἰδότων, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς τοὺς λόγους τοὺς γεννητικοὺς ἐχούσης εἰδυίας τὰ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων συμβαίνοντα αὐτῆς ἁπάντων· τῶν γὰρ αὐτῶν συμπιπτόντων καὶ περιεστηκότων τὰ αὐτὰ πάντως προσήκει ἀποτελεῖσθαι· ἃ δὴ παραλαβοῦσα ἢ προιδοῦσα ἡ ψυχὴ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὰ ἐφεξῆς περαίνει καὶ συνείρει.
Or do we say it is the cause of what happens in this way too, because what came from it produces what follows? Or rather: the rational principle includes this thing’s suffering or doing something, not at random or by chance, nor just because these things happen, but necessarily so. Is it, then, that the rational principles make these things? Or rather: the rational principles exist, not as making but as knowing; or better, the soul that has the generative rational principles knows what results from all its works. For when the same things coincide and the same circumstances surround them, the same results must certainly be brought about; and soul, taking these over or foreseeing them, then completes and links together what follows upon them.
προηγούμενα οὖν καὶ ἐπακολουθοῦντα πάντως καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τούτοις τὰ ἐφεξῆς προηγούμενα, ὡς ἐκ τῶν παρόντων· ὅθεν ἴσως ἀεὶ χείρω τὰ ἐφεξῆς· οἷον ἄνδρες ἄλλοι πάλαι, νῦν δ’ ἄλλοι, τῷ μεταξὺ καὶ ἀεὶ ἀναγκαίῳ τῶν λόγων εἰκόντων τοῖς τῆς ὕλης παθήμασι.
So there are antecedents and consequents in every case, and in turn what follows on these becomes antecedent, as coming from what is present. Hence, perhaps, what follows is always worse. Men, for instance, were different long ago and are different now, since through the distance between and what is always necessary, the rational principles give way to the affections of matter.
συνορῶσα οὖν ἀεὶ ἄλλα, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα, καὶ παρακολουθοῦσα τοῖς τῶν αὐτῆς ἔργων παθήμασι τὸν βίον τοιοῦτον ἔχει καὶ οὐκ ἀπήλλακται τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ ἔργῳ φροντίδος τέλος ἐπιθεῖσα τῷ ποιήματι καὶ ὅπως ἕξει καλῶς καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ ἅπαξ μηχανησαμένη, οἷα δέ τις γεωργὸς σπείρας ἢ καὶ φυτεύσας ἀεὶ διορθοῦται, ὅσα χειμῶνες ἔβλαψαν ὑέτιοι ἢ κρυμῶν συνέχεια ἢ ἀνέμων ζάλαι. ἀλλ’ εἰ ταῦτα ἄτοπα, ἐκεῖνο δεῖ λέγειν, ὅτι ἤδη ἔγνωσται ἢ καὶ κεῖται ἐν τοῖς λόγοις καὶ ἡ φθορὰ καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ κακίας ἔργα. ἀλλ’ εἰ τοῦτο, καὶ τὰς κακίας τοὺς λόγους ποιεῖν φήσομεν, καίτοι ἐν ταῖς τέχναις καὶ τοῖς λόγοις αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔνι ἁμαρτία οὐδὲ [τὸ] παρὰ τὴν τέχνην οὐδ’ ἡ φθορὰ τοῦ κατὰ τέχνην.
So soul, observing things that are always different, some one way and some another, and following the affections of its own works, has a life of that kind. It is never free of concern for its work, never able to put a finishing touch on what it has made and contrive once and for all how it will be in good shape forever. Rather, like a farmer who has sown or planted, it is always setting right whatever rainy winters or long frosts or squalls of wind have damaged. But if this is absurd, then we must say that destruction and the works of vice are already known, or even contained, in the rational principles. But if so, we shall be saying that the rational principles make vices too; and yet in the arts and their principles there is no error, nor [what is] contrary to the art, nor the destruction of what accords with the art.
ἀλλ’ ἐνταῦθά τις ἐρεῖ μὴ εἶναι μηδὲν παρὰ φύσιν μηδὲ κακὸν τῷ ὅλῳ· ἀλλ’ ὅμως τὸ χεῖρον καὶ τὸ βέλτιον συγχωρήσεται. τί οὖν, εἰ τῷ ὅλῳ καὶ τὸ χεῖρον συνεργόν, καὶ οὐ δεῖ πάντα καλὰ εἶναι; ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία συντελεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἄνευ τούτων κόσμος· καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν καθ’ ἕκαστα ζῴων οὕτως· καὶ τὰ μὲν βελτίω ἀναγκάζει καὶ πλάττει ὁ λόγος, ὅσα δὲ μὴ τοιαῦτα, δυνάμει κεῖται ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ἐνεργείᾳ δὲ ἐν τοῖς γενομένοις, οὐδὲν ἔτι δυναμένης ἐκείνης ποιεῖν οὐδ’ ἀνακινεῖν τοὺς λόγους ἤδη τῆς ὕλης τῷ σεισμῷ τῷ ἐκ τῶν προηγουμένων λόγων καὶ τὰ παρ’ αὐτῆς ποιούσης χείρω, κρατουμένης δ’ αὖ οὐδὲν ἧττον πρὸς τὰ βελτίω· ὥστε ἓν ἐκ πάντων ἄλλως ἑκατέρως γινομένων καὶ ἄλλως αὖ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις.
But here someone will say that there is nothing contrary to nature and nothing bad for the whole. Still, he will grant that there is a worse and a better. What, then, if the worse too cooperates with the whole, and not everything ought to be fine? For opposites also contribute, and there is no cosmos without them; and it is the same with individual living beings. The better things the rational principle compels and shapes; those that are not such lie potentially in the rational principles and actually in what has come to be. Soul is no longer able to make anything or to stir the principles, since matter, through the shaking that comes from the antecedent principles, now makes its own contribution, the worse things, though it is mastered no less toward the better. So there is one thing out of all, as things come to be differently in each of the two ways, and differently again in the rational principles.
πότερα δὲ οἱ λόγοι οὗτοι οἱ ἐν ψυχῇ νοήματα; ἀλλὰ πῶς κατὰ τὰ νοήματα ποιήσει; ὁ γὰρ λόγος ἐν ὕλῃ [φυσικῶς] ποιεῖ καὶ τὸ ποιοῦν φυσικῶς οὐ νόησις οὐδὲ ὅρασις, ἀλλὰ δύναμις τρεπτικὴ τῆς ὕλης, οὐκ εἰδυῖα ἀλλὰ δρῶσα μόνον, οἷον τύπον καὶ σχῆμα ἐν ὕδατι, ὥσπερ κύκλος, ἄλλου ἐνδόντος εἰς τοῦτο τὸ ποιεῖν. εἰ τοῦτο, ποιήσει τὸ ἡγούμενον τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ τρέπειν τὴν ἔνυλον καὶ γεννητικὴν ψυχήν. τρέψει οὖν λογισαμένη αὕτη; ἀλλ’ εἰ λογισαμένη, ἀναφορὰν ἕξει. πότερον εἰς ἄλλο ἢ εἰς τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ; ἀλλ’ [εἰ] εἰς τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, οὐδὲν δεῖ λογισμοῦ. οὐ γὰρ οὗτος τρέψει, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ ἔχον τοὺς λόγους· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ δυνατώτερον καὶ ποιεῖν ἐν ψυχῇ δυνάμενον. κατ’ εἴδη ἄρα ποιεῖ.
Are these rational principles in soul thoughts? But then how will it make things according to thoughts? For the rational principle makes in matter [naturally], and what makes naturally is not thinking or seeing but a power that changes matter, not knowing but only acting, like an imprint and a shape in water, a circle for instance, when something else has given the impulse for this making. If so, the ruling part of soul will make by changing the soul that is in matter and generative. Will it change it, then, by reasoning? But if by reasoning, it will refer to something. To something else, or to what is in itself? But [if] to what is in itself, there is no need of reasoning. For it isn’t reasoning that will do the changing, but what in it holds the rational principles; this is more powerful and able to make within soul. So it makes according to Forms.
δεῖ τοίνυν καὶ αὐτὴν παρὰ νοῦ ἔχουσαν διδόναι. νοῦς δὴ ψυχῇ δίδωσι τῇ τοῦ παντός, ψυχὴ δὲ παρ’ αὑτῆς ἡ μετὰ νοῦν τῇ μετ’ αὐτὴν ἐλλάμπουσα καὶ τυποῦσα, ἡ δὲ ὡσπερεὶ ἐπιταχθεῖσα ἤδη ποιεῖ· ποιεῖ δὲ τὰ μὲν ἀνεμποδίστως, τὰ δὲ ἐμποδισθεῖσα. ἅτε δὴ δύναμιν εἰς τὸ ποιεῖν λαβοῦσα καὶ λόγων οὐ τῶν πρώτων πληρωθεῖσα οὐ μόνον καθ’ ἃ ἔλαβε ποιήσει, ἀλλὰ γένοιτο ἄν τι καὶ παρ’ αὐτῆς καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ὅτι χεῖρον· καὶ ζῷον μέν, ζῷον δὲ ἀτελέστερον καὶ δυσχεραῖνον τὴν αὑτοῦ ζωήν, ἅτε χείριστον καὶ δύσκολον δὴ καὶ ἄγριον καὶ ἐξ ὕλης χείρονος οἷον ὑποστάθμης τῶν προηγουμένων πικρᾶς καὶ πικρὰ ποιούσης· καὶ ταῦτα παρέξει καὶ αὐτὴ τῷ ὅλῳ.
It must, then, give them having itself received them from Intellect. Intellect gives to the Soul of the All, and Soul, the one after Intellect, gives from itself to the one after it, illuminating and imprinting it; and that one, as if under orders, now makes. It makes some things without hindrance, others hindered. Since it has received a power to make and has been filled with rational principles that are not the first ones, it will not only make according to what it received, but something might also come from itself, and this is plainly worse. A living being, yes, but a more imperfect one, discontented with its own life, as being the worst, ill-tempered and savage, made from a worse matter, a sort of sediment of what came before, bitter and making things bitter. And these too it will contribute, on its own part, to the whole.
ἆρ’ οὖν τὰ κακὰ τὰ ἐν τῷ παντὶ ἀναγκαῖα, ὅτι ἕπεται τοῖς προηγουμένοις; ἢ ὅτι, καὶ εἰ μὴ ταῦτα ἦν, ἀτελὲς ἂν ἦν τὸ πᾶν. καὶ γὰρ χρείαν τὰ πολλὰ αὐτῶν ἢ καὶ πάντα παρέχεται τῷ ὅλῳ, οἷον τὰ τῶν ἰοβόλων, λανθάνει δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα διὰ τί· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν κακίαν αὐτὴν ἔχειν πολλὰ χρήσιμα καὶ πολλῶν ποιητικὴν [εἶναι] καλῶν, οἷον κάλλους τεχνητοῦ παντός, καὶ κινεῖν εἰς φρόνησιν μὴ ἐῶσαν ἐπ’ ἀδείας εὕδειν. εἰ δὴ ταῦτα ὀρθῶς εἴρηται, δεῖ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ψυχὴν θεωρεῖν μὲν τὰ ἄριστα ἀεὶ ἱεμένην πρὸς τὴν νοητὴν φύσιν καὶ τὸν θεόν, πληρουμένης δὲ αὐτῆς καὶ πεπληρωμένης οἷον ἀπομεστουμένης αὐτῆς τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἴνδαλμα καὶ τὸ ἔσχατον αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸ κάτω τὸ ποιοῦν τοῦτο εἶναι.
Are the evils in the All necessary, then, because they follow on what comes before? Or rather because, if they did not exist, the All would be incomplete. For many of them, or even all, provide some use to the whole, venomous creatures for instance, though in most cases we fail to see why. Even vice itself has many uses and produces many fine things, all artistic beauty for example, and it rouses us to understanding and does not let us sleep in security. If this is rightly said, then the Soul of the All must contemplate the best, always striving toward the intelligible nature and god; and as it is being filled and has been filled, brimming over, so to speak, its image that comes from it, its last part toward what is below, is what does the making.
ποιητὴς οὖν ἔσχατος οὗτος· ἐπὶ δ’ αὐτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ πρώτως πληρούμενον παρὰ νοῦ· ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ νοῦς δημιουργός, ὃς καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ τῇ μετ’ αὐτὸν δίδωσιν ὧν ἴχνη ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ. εἰκότως οὖν λέγεται οὗτος ὁ κόσμος εἰκὼν ἀεὶ εἰκονιζόμενος, ἑστηκότων μὲν τοῦ πρώτου καὶ δευτέρου, τοῦ δὲ τρίτου ἑστηκότος μὲν καὶ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἐν τῇ ὕλῃ καὶ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς κινουμένου. ἕως γὰρ ἂν ᾖ νοῦς καὶ ψυχή, ῥεύσονται οἱ λόγοι εἰς τοῦτο τὸ εἶδος τῆς ψυχῆς, ὥσπερ, ἕως ἂν ᾖ ἥλιος, πάντα τὰ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ φῶτα.
This, then, is the last maker. Above it is the part of soul that is first filled from Intellect; and over all is Intellect the craftsman, who gives to the soul after him what has its traces in the third. So this cosmos is rightly called an image always being imaged: the first and the second stand still, and the third stands still too, but is moved in matter and incidentally. For as long as Intellect and Soul exist, the rational principles will flow into this kind of soul, just as, as long as the sun exists, all the light that comes from it will flow.