Timaeus

​Timaeus: Now when each of those which were necessary to work together for the creation of time had arrived at its proper motion, and having their bodies bound with living bonds they became living beings and learned their appointed task, then, according to the motion of the Other which is oblique, running through and being dominated by the motion of the Same, some of them going in a larger circle and some in a smaller, those going the smaller circled faster, and those going the larger circled more slowly. And by reason of the motion of the Same, those which circled most rapidly appeared to be overtaken, though they were actually overtaking, by those which went more slowly; for as it turns all their circles into a spiral because of their proceeding at the same time in two opposite directions, it showed that which departed most slowly from itself, which is the swiftest, to be nearest to it. And in order that there might be some clear measure of their relative slowness and swiftness, and that the things concerning the eight motions might proceed, god kindled a light in the second of the orbits relative to the earth, which we have now named the sun, so that it might shine as much as possible throughout the whole heaven, and that such living beings as was fitting might participate in number, learning it from the revolution of the Same and similar. Night and day, then, came to be in this manner and for these reasons, being the period of the single and most intelligent rotation; and a month, when the moon having run round her own circle overtakes the sun, and a year, when the sun has run round his own circle. But as for the periods of the others, men, except for a few among many, have not noticed them, and they neither name them nor measure them against one another by observing them with numbers, so that, so to speak, they do not know that the wanderings of these, which are of infinite number and wonderfully variegated, are time. Nevertheless, it is no less possible to perceive that the perfect number of time fulfills the perfect year at that moment when the relative swiftnesses of all the eight revolutions, having completed their courses together, reach their head as measured by the circle of the Same and similarly moving. In this way, then, and for these reasons, were generated all those of the stars which, journeying through the heaven, have turnings, so that this universe might be as like as possible to the perfect and intelligible living being, in imitation of the everlasting nature. And while the other things had already been wrought in likeness to that which it resembled up to the generation of time, yet in respect of not yet having all living beings generated within itself, in this way it was still unlike. This remaining part, then, he went on to work out, copying it after the nature of the model. Just as, therefore, intellect beholds the ideas existing in the real living being, of what kind and how many they are, so he thought that this universe also ought to have such and so many.

​Timaeus: Now there are four of them: one, the heavenly race of gods; another, the winged and air-traveling; a third, the water-dwelling form; and the fourth, the pedestrian and land-dwelling. Of the divine, then, he wrought the greatest part of the form out of fire, so that it might be brightest to see and most beautiful, and likening it to the universe he made it well-rounded, and placed it in the intelligence of the supreme, following that, distributing it all around the heaven, to be a true cosmos adorned with it throughout. And he attached two motions to each: one, in the same place according to the same things, always thinking the same things about the same things within itself; and the other, forward, being dominated by the revolution of the Same and similar; but as to the other five motions, he made them motionless and still, so that each of them might be as excellent as possible. From this cause, indeed, have arisen all the stars that do not wander, being divine and eternal living beings, which turn always in the same way and in the same place and remain; but those that turn and have such a wandering, as was said before, were generated according to those. And the Earth, our nourisher, winding around the pole stretched through the universe, he devised as the guardian and creator of night and day, the first and oldest of the gods that have been generated within the heaven. But as for the dances of these very stars and their juxtapositions with one another, and the turnings-back of their circles upon themselves and their advances, and which of the gods in their conjunctions meet one another and how many are in opposition, and behind which ones they are hidden from us and at what times they reappear, sending fears and signs of future events to those who are unable to calculate, to speak of these things without a visual model of these imitations would be a vain labor. Therefore, let this suffice on these matters, and let our account of the nature of the visible and generated gods have its end. But concerning the other daemons, to speak and to know their generation is beyond our power, and we must believe those who have spoken before, being, as they said, descendants of the gods, and who must surely have known their own ancestors. It is impossible, then, to disbelieve the children of the gods, even though they speak without probable or necessary proofs, but as they claim to be reporting their own family matters, we must believe them in obedience to the law.