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 INTRODUCTION TO TI-IE TIMtEUS.

I

of divine numbers.

445

Hence we muſt not fay that fhe alone poffcffes an arith¬

metical effence, for fhe would not be continuous ; nor alone a geometrical effence, for fhe would not be divided : fhe is therefore both at once, and muft be called both arithmetical and geometrical.

But fo far as fhe is

arithmetical, fhe has at the fame time harmony conjoined with her effence ; for the multitude which fhe contains is elegant and compofite, and receives in the fame and at once both that which is effential quantity and that which is related.

But fo far as fie is geometrical, fhe has that which is fpherical

connedted with her effence.

For the circles which fhe contains are both

immovable and moved ; immovable indeed according to effence, but moved according to a vital energy ; or, to fpeak more properly, they may be faid to poffefs both of thefe at once, for they are felf-motive : and that which is felf-motive is both moved and is at the fame time immovable, fince a motive power feems to belong to an immovable nature.

Soul, therefore, effentiallv

pre-affumes all difeiplines; the geometrical, according to her totality, her forms, and her lines; the arithmetical, according to her multitude and effential unities; the harmonica!, according to the ratios of numbers ; and the fpherical, according to her double circulations.

And, in fhort, file is

the effential, felf-motive, intellectual, and united bond of all difeiplines, purely comprehending all things; figures in an unfigured manner; unitedly fuch thinos as are divided ; and without diftance luch as are diftant from o each other. We are likewife informed by Proclus, that, according to Porphyry, a charadter like the letter X comprehended in a circle was a fymbol with the Egyptians of the mundane foul; by the right lines, perhaps (fays he), fignifying its biformed progreffion, but by the circle its uniform life and intel¬ lective progrefs, which is of a circular nature.

But of thefe circles the

exterior, or the circle of famenefs, reprefents the dianoetic power of the foul; but the interior, or the circle of difference, the power which energizes according to opinion : and the motion which is perpetually revolved in fame¬ nefs, and which comprehends the foul, is intellect. Again, we have before obferved that, according to the Platonic philofophy, the planets revolve with a kind of fpiral motion ; while varioufiy wandering under the oblique zodiac, they at one time verge to the fouth, and at another to the north, fometimes advance, and fometimes retreat, and being at one time