§21ἀλλʼ αὖθις ἄξιον μέν ἐστι διὰ μακροτέρων εἰπεῖν τι καὶ πυθέσθαι περὶ τούτων, τὰ δὲ νῦν ἐν βραχεῖ μαθόντες διαμνημονεύωμεν ὡς σῶμα μὲν ὀργάνοις χρῆται πολλοῖς αὐτῷ δὲ σώματι ψυχὴ καὶ μέρεσι τοῖς σώματος ψυχὴ δʼ ὄργανον θεοῦ γέγονεν ὀργάνου δʼ ἀρετὴ μάλιστα μιμεῖσθαι τὸ χρώμενον ᾗ πέφυκε δυνάμει καὶ παρέχειν τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ τοῦ νοήματος ἐν αὐτῷ δυναμένη, δεικνύναι δʼ οὐχ οἷον ἐν τῷ δημιουργῷ καθαρὸν καὶ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἀναμάρτητον, ἀλλὰ μεμιγμένον πολλῷ τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ· καθʼ ἑαυτὸ γὰρ ἄδηλον ἡμῖν, ἕτερον δὲ καὶ διʼ ἑτέρου φαινόμενον ἀναπίμπλαται τῆς ἐκείνου φύσεως.
But it is indeed worthwhile on another occasion to speak of and inquire into these matters at greater length; for the present, let us learn in brief and keep in mind that, as the body uses many instruments, and the soul uses the body itself and the parts of the body, so the soul has become the instrument of God. And the virtue of an instrument is chiefly to imitate that which uses it, according to the power of its own nature, and being capable of presenting the work of that thought itself within it; yet to show it not pure, impassive, and unerring as it is in the craftsman, but mixed with much that is alien; for in itself it is invisible to us, but when it appears as another thing and through another thing, it becomes filled with the nature of that other.
καὶ κηρὸν μὲν ἐῶ καὶ χρυσὸν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χαλκόν, ὅσα τʼ ἄλλα πλαττομένης οὐσίας εἴδη δέχεται μὲν ἰδέαν μίαν ἐκτυπουμένης ὁμοιότητος, ἄλλο δʼ ἄλλην ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ τῷ μιμήματι διαφορὰν προστίθησι καὶ τὰς ἐν κατόπτροις ἐπιπέδοις τε καὶ κοίλοις καὶ περιηγέσι φασμάτων καὶ εἰδώλων ἀφʼ ἑνὸς εἴδους μυρίας παρατυπώσεις.
And I let pass wax, gold, silver, bronze, and all other kinds of fashioned matter, which receive a single form of stamped resemblance, yet each adds from itself a different variation to the imitation; and likewise the myriad distorted reflections of phantoms and images in flat, concave, and convex mirrors.
καὶ γάρ εἰσι οὐδὲν οὔτε μᾶλλον τὴν ἰδέαν ἔοικεν οὔτε ὡς ὄργανον χρῆσθαι φύσει γέγονεν εὐπειθέστερον σελήνης· λαμβάνουσα δὲ παρʼ ἡλίου τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ πυρωπὸν οὐχ ὅμοιον ἀποπέμπει πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ μιχθὲν αὐτῇ καὶ χρόαν μετέβαλε καὶ δύναμιν ἔσχεν ἑτέραν· ἡ δὲ θερμότης καὶ παντάπασιν ἐξοίχεται καὶ προλέλοιπε τὸ φῶς ὑπʼ ἀσθενείας.
For there is indeed nothing that is more like the form, nor has become by nature more obedient to be used as an instrument, than the moon; yet, receiving from the sun its bright and fiery light, she does not send it back to us the same, but mixed with herself it both changed its color and acquired a different power; and its heat is entirely gone and has left the light owing to its weakness.
οἶμαι δὲ σὲ γιγνώσκειν τὸ παρʼ Ἡρακλείτῳ λεγόμενον ὡς
ὁ ἄναξ, οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει ἀλλὰ σημαίνει. πρόσλαβε δὲ τούτοις εὖ λεγομένοις καὶ νόησον τὸν ἐνταῦθα θεὸν χρώμενον τῇ Πυθίᾳ πρὸς ἀκοήν, καθὼς ἥλιος χρῆται σελήνῃ πρὸς ὄψιν· δείκνυσι μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀναφαίνει τὰς αὑτοῦ νοήσεις, μεμιγμένας δὲ δείκνυσι διὰ σώματος θνητοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν μὴ δυναμένης μηδὲ τῷ κινοῦντι παρέχειν ἑαυτὴν ἀκίνητον ἐξ αὑτῆς καὶ καθεστῶσαν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν σάλῳ ψοφοῦσαν καὶ συμπλεκομένην τοῖς ἐν αὑτῇ κινήμασι καὶ πάθεσιν ἐπιταράττουσιν αὐτήν.
And I think you know what is said in Heraclitus: 'The Lord, whose oracle is at Delphi, neither speaks nor conceals, but indicates.' Add to these well-said words and conceive that the god here uses the Pythia for hearing, even as the sun uses the moon for sight; for he shows and reveals his own thoughts, but he shows them mixed through a mortal body and a soul that is unable to keep quiet, nor to present herself unmoved and settled of herself to the mover, but is tossed as in a swell, making a noise and entangling herself with the movements and passions within her that disturb her.
ὡς γὰρ οἱ δῖνοι τῶν ἅμα κύκλῳ καταφερομένων σωμάτων οὐκ ἐπικρατοῦσι βεβαίως, ἀλλὰ κύκλῳ μὲν ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης φερομένων κάτω δὲ φύσει ῥεπόντων γίγνεταί τις ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ταραχώδης καὶ παράφορος ἑλιγμός, οὕτως ὁ καλούμενος ἐνθουσιασμὸς ἔοικε μῖξις εἶναι κινήσεων δυοῖν, τὴν μὲν ὡς πέπονθε τῆς ψυχῆς ἅμα τὴν δʼ ὡς πέφυκε κινουμένης.
For as the eddies of bodies carried down in a circle together do not master them securely, but, while they are carried in a circle by necessity and tend downward by nature, there arises from both a turbulent and erratic winding motion, so the so-called enthusiasm seems to be a mixture of two motions: one of the soul according as she is affected, and at the same time the other according as she is moved by her own nature.
ὅπου γὰρ ἀψύχοις σώμασι καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ μονίμοις οὐκ ἔστι χρήσασθαι παρʼ ὃ πέφυκε βιαζόμενον, οὐδὲ κινῆσαι σφαιρικῶς κύλινδρον ἢ κυβικῶς ἢ λύραν αὐλητικῶς ἢ σάλπιγγα κιθαριστικῶς· ἀλλʼ οὐχ ἕτερον ὡς ἔοικε τὸ τεχνικῶς ἑκάστῳ χρῆσθαι καὶ ὡς πέφυκεν· ἦπου τὸ ἔμψυχον καὶ αὐτοκίνητον ὁρμῆς τε καὶ λόγου μετέχον ἄλλως ἄν τις ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ προϋπάρχουσαν ἕξιν ἢ δύναμιν ἢ φύσιν μεταχειρίσαιτο, μουσικῶς κινῶν νοῦν ἄμουσον ἢ γραμματικῶς τὸν ἀγράμματον ἢ λογίως τὸν ἐν λόγοις ἀθεώρητον καὶ ἀνάσκητον;
For where even with inanimate and constantly uniform bodies it is impossible to use them contrary to their nature by force, nor to move a cylinder in a cubic way, or a cube in a spherical way, nor to play a lyre like a flute, nor a trumpet like a cithara—nay, it is not different, as it seems, to use each thing technically and as it is by nature—surely, then, a living and self-moving thing, sharing in impulse and reason, how could anyone handle it otherwise than in accordance with the habit, power, or nature already existing in it, moving musically a mind that is unmusical, or grammatically one who is unlettered, or eloquently one who is unversed and untrained in discourse?
οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν.
It is impossible to say so.