Page:Works of Plato his first fifty-five dialogues (Taylor 1804) (Vol 2 of 5) (IA Vol2worksofplato00plat).pdf/437

 INTRODUCTION TO THE

T I M M U S,

427

tenuity and ſubtility of their nature, while, on the contrary, the fire of the planets which are carried in them is viſible through the ſolidity which it poſſeſſes.

So that earth is more predominant in the planets than in the

fpheres ; though each fubfifb, for the mold part, according to the characleriftic of fire.

But let it be carefully remembered, that the peculiarity of all

fire is the being vifible, but that neither heat nor fluidity belongs to every fpecies of fire : and that the property of all earth is the being tangible, but that gravity and fubfiding downwards do not belong to all. But, in confequence of each of thefe fpheres being a

cAor^,

or part with

a totalfubfjlence, as we have already explained, it follows that every planet

has a number of fatellites furrounding it, analogous to the choir of the fixed ftars ? and that every fphere is full of Gods, angels, and daemons, fubfifting according to the properties of the fpheres in which they refide.

This theory

indeed is the grand key to the theology of the antients, as it fhows us at one view why the fame God is fo often celebrated with the names of other Gods ; which led Macrobius formerly to think that all the Gods were nothing more than the different powers of the fun ; and has induced certain fuperficial moderns, to frame hypothefes concerning the antient theology fo ridi¬ culous, that they deferve to be confidered in no other light than the ravings of a madman, or the undifciplined conceptions of a child.

But that the

reader may be fully convinced of this, let him attend to the following ex¬ traordinary paflages from the divine commentaries of Proclus on the Timasus. And, in the firft place, that every planet is attended with a great number of fatellites, is evident from the following citation ;—“ There are other divine animals attending upon the circulations of the planets, the leaders of which are the feven planets ; and thefe revolve and return in their circulations in ■conjunction with their leaders, juft as the fixed ftars are governed by the circulation of the inerratic fphere.”—ULihvxi

kcu aXAa

.9not urj ovpavix <rvwro-

jj-cVsc Tocig tmv ttXoivu^.svcajv 7rspi(popocigy cov Yj'yc[AOVSg cicriv bi Ifa.—K ca (TvunrigiTroXsi, kou troy.a7roxa9nrrc(Tca Tcag sxvrwv apy^cag, uxr7r£p kcu to. aTrAanj xpxTinou vtto trtg oXrig 7i:-pt(popag z.

And in the fame place he informs us, that the revolution of thele fatellites is fimilar to that of the planets which they attend ; and this, he acquaints us a little before, is according to Plato a fpiral revolution. tps7roy.sva earn,

nai irKur/jV pgpma toiocvtyiv, oiav sipr/KSV

7rsju

tuv ixoi

Kai yap tccvta Trporepov.

1 Vid, Prod, in Tim. p. 279.

3

1 3

Again,