Tim. And whereas the body of the Heaven is visible, the Soul is herself invisible but partakes in reasoning and in harmony, having come into existence by the agency of the best of things intelligible and ever-existing as the best of things generated. Inasmuch, then, as she is a compound, blended of the natures of the Same and the Other and Being, these three portions, and is proportionately divided and bound together, and revolves back upon herself, whenever she touches anything which has its substance dispersed or anything which has its substance undivided she is moved throughout her whole being and announces what the object is identical with and from what it is different, and in what relation, where and how and when, it comes about that each thing exists and is acted upon by others both in the sphere of the Becoming and in that of the ever-uniform. And her announcement, being identically true concerning both the Other and the Same, is borne through the self-moved without speech or sound; and whenever it is concerned with the sensible, and the circle of the Other moving in straight course proclaims it to the whole of its Soul, opinions and beliefs arise which are firm and true; and again, when it is concerned with the rational, and the circle of the Same, spinning truly, declares the facts, reason and knowledge of necessity result. But should anyone assert that the substance in which these two states arise is something other than Soul, his assertion will be anything rather than the truth.

 And when the Father that engendered it perceived it in motion and alive, a thing of joy to the eternal gods, He too rejoiced Note the play on ἄγαλμα thing of joy or statue and ἠγάσθη rejoiced . ; and being well-pleased He designed to make it resemble its Model still more closely. Accordingly, seeing that that Model is an eternal Living Creature, He set about making this Universe, so far as He could, of a like kind. But inasmuch as the nature of the Living Creature was eternal, this quality it was impossible to attach in its entirety to what is generated; wherefore He planned to make a movable image of Eternity, and, as He set in order the Heaven, of that Eternity which abides in unity He made an eternal image, moving according to number, even that which we have named Time. For simultaneously with the construction of the Heaven He contrived the production of days and nights and months and years, which existed not before the Heaven came into being. And these are all portions of Time; even as Was and Shall be are generated forms of Time, although we apply them wrongly, without noticing, to Eternal Being. Tim. For we say that it is or was or will be, whereas, in truth of speech, is alone is the appropriate term; was and will be, on the other hand, are terms properly applicable to the Becoming which proceeds in Time, since both of these are motions; but it belongs not to that which is ever changeless in its uniformity to become either older or younger through time, nor ever to have become so, nor to be so now, nor to be about to be so hereafter, nor in general to be subject to any of the conditions which Becoming has attached to the things which move in the world of Sense, these being generated forms of Time, which imitates Eternity and circles round according to number. And besides these we make use of the following expressions,— that what is become is become, and what is becoming is becoming, and what is about to become is about to become, and what is non-existent is non-existent; but none of these expressions is accurate. i.e.it is incorrect to use the term is ( ἐστί ) both as a mere copula and in the sense of exists. But the present is not, perhaps, a fitting occasion for an exact discussion of these matters.

 Time, then, came into existence along with the Heaven, to the end that having been generated together they might also be dissolved together, if ever a dissolution of them should take place; and it was made after the pattern of the Eternal Nature, to the end that it might be as like thereto as possible; for whereas the pattern is existent through all eternity, the copy, on the other hand, is through all time, continually having existed, existing, and being about to exist. Wherefore, as a consequence of this reasoning and design on the part of God, with a view to the generation of Time, the sun and moon and five other stars, which bear the appellation of planets, came into existence for the determining and preserving of the numbers of Time. And when God had made the bodies of each of them He placed them in the orbits along which the revolution of the Other was moving, seven orbits for the seven bodies. Cf. 36 D. . The Moon He placed in the first circle around the Earth, the Sun in the second above the Earth; and the Morning Star i.e.a tendency as to direction. and the Star called Sacred to Hermes He placed in those circles which move in an orbit equal to the Sun in velocity, but endowed with a power i.e., a tendency as to direction. contrary thereto; whence it is that the Sun and the Star of Hermes and the Morning Star regularly overtake and are overtaken by one another. As to the rest of the stars, were one to describe in detail the positions in which He set them, and all the reasons therefor, the description, though but subsidiary, would prove a heavier task than the main argument which it subserves. Later on, perhaps, at our leisure these points may receive the attention they merit. Tim. So when each of the bodies whose co-operation was required for the making of Time had arrived in its proper orbit; and when they had been generated as living creatures, having their bodies bound with living bonds, and had learnt their appointed duties; then they kept revolving around the circuit of the Other, which is transverse and passes through the circuit of the Same and is dominated thereby; and part of them moved in a greater, part in a smaller circle, those in the smaller moving more quickly and those in the greater more slowly. And because of the motion of the Same, the stars which revolved most quickly appeared to be overtaken by those which moved most slowly, although in truth they overtook them; for, because of their simultaneous progress in two opposite directions, i.e., a planet moving along the Ecliptic from W. to E. is at the same time drawn from E. to W. (in the plane of the Equator) by the regular motion of the sphere of the fixed stars (the circle of the same which moves at a higher velocity than that of the other ). the motion of the Same, which is the swiftest of all motions, twisted all their circles into spirals and thus caused the body which moves away from it most slowly to appear the nearest. i.e. Saturn appears to be nearest to the sphere of the fixed stars in point of velocity. Cf. Laws 822 A ff. And in order that there might be a clear measure of the relative speeds, slow and quick, with which they travelled round their eight orbits, in that circle which is second from the earth God kindled a light which now we call the Sun, to the end that it might shine, so far as possible, throughout the whole Heaven, and that all the living creatures entitled thereto might participate in number, learning it from the revolution of the Same and Similar. In this wise and for these reasons were generated Night and Day, which are the revolution of the one and most intelligent circuit; and Month, every time that the Moon having completed her own orbit overtakes the Sun; and Year, as often as the Sun has completed his own orbit. Of the other stars the revolutions have not been discovered by men (save for a few out of the many); wherefore they have no names for them, nor do they compute and compare their relative measurements, so that they are not aware, as a rule, that the wanderings An allusion to the name planets, i.e. wanderers ; Cf. 38 c. of these bodies, which are hard to calculate and of wondrous complexity, constitute Time. Nevertheless, it is still quite possible to perceive that the complete number of Time fulfils the Complete Year i.e., the Great World-Year, which is completed when all the planets return simultaneously to their original starting points. Its length was variously computed: Plato seems to have put it at 36,000 years (Cf. Rep . 546 B ff.). when all the eight circuits, with their relative speeds, finish together and come to a head, when measured by the revolution of the Same and Similarly-moving. In this wise and for these reasons were generated all those stars which turn themselves about as they travel through Heaven, to the end that this Universe might be as similar as possible to the perfect and intelligible Living Creature in respect of its imitation of the Eternal Nature thereof.

 Now in all other respects this World had already, with the birth of Time, been wrought in the similitude of that whereunto it was being likened, but inasmuch as it did not as yet contain generated within it the whole range of living creatures, therein it was still dissimilar. So this part of the work which was still undone He completed by molding it after the nature of the Model. According, then, as Reason perceives Forms existing in the Absolute Living Creature, such and so many as exist therein did He deem that this World also should possess. Tim. And these Forms are four,—one the heavenly kind of gods i.e., the stars. ; another the winged kind which traverses the air;
 thirdly, the class which inhabits the waters; and fourthly, that which goes on
 foot on dry land. The form of the divine class i.e., the fixed stars, and their sphere which moves with
 the daily rotation of the spherical Cosmos (the motion proper to intelligence, Cf. 36 C, Cratyl . 411
 D). He wrought for the most part out of fire, that this kind might be
 as bright as possible to behold and as fair; and likening it to the All He made
 it truly spherical; and He placed it in the intelligence i.e., the intelligent 
 outermost sphere of the same (cf. the derivation of
 φρόνησις from φορά in Cratyl . 411 D). 
 of the Supreme to follow therewith, distributing it round about over all the
 Heaven, to be unto it a veritable adornment There is a play here on the word κόσμος , as meaning (1)
 adornment, (2) universe. cunningly
 traced over the whole. And each member of this class He endowed with two
 motions, i.e. (1) the
 rotation of the star on its own axis; (2) the diurnal revolution of the
 sphere of fixed stars. whereof the one is uniform motion in the same
 spot, whereby it conceives always identical thoughts about the same objects,
 and the other is a
 forward motion due to its being dominated by the revolution of the Same and
 Similar; but in respect of the other five motions Cf. 34 A, 43 B. they are at rest and
 move not, so that each of them may attain the greatest possible perfection.
 From this cause, then, came into existence all those unwandering stars which
 are living creatures divine and eternal and abide for ever revolving uniformly
 in the same spot; and those which keep swerving and wandering have been
 generated in the fashion previously described. And Earth, our nurse, which is
 globed around The Word
 εἴλλεσθαι (or ἴλλεσθαι ) is taken by some to imply
 oscillation or rotation (Cf.
 Aristot. De caelo ii. 293 b 30); but it seems best to
 suppose that Plato is here regarding the Earth as stationary. Her potential
 motion (we may assume) is equal and opposite to that of the Universe, of
 which she is the center, and by thus neutralizing it she remains at
 rest. the pole that stretches through all, He framed to be the wardress and fashioner of
 night and day, she being the first and eldest of all the gods which have come
 into existence within the Heaven. But the choric dances of these same stars and
 their crossings one of another, and the relative reversals and progressions of
 their orbits, and which of the gods meet in their conjunctions, and how many
 are in opposition, and behind which and at what times they severally pass
 before one another and are hidden from our view, and again re-appearing
 send upon men unable to
 calculate alarming portents of the things which shall come to pass
 hereafter,—to describe all this without an inspection of models i.e.such instruments as a
 celestial globe or planetarium. of these movements would be labor in
 vain. Wherefore, let this account suffice us, and let our discourse concerning
 the nature of the visible and generated gods have an end. Concerning the other divinities, to discover and declare their
 origin is too great a task for us, and we must trust to those who have declared
 it aforetime, they being, as they affirmed, descendants of gods and knowing
 well, no doubt, their own forefathers. This is, obviously, ironical; Cf. Cratyl .
 402 B, Phileb . 66 C. 
 It is, as I say,
 impossible to disbelieve the children of gods, even though their statements
 lack either probable or necessary demonstration; and inasmuch as they profess
 to speak of family matters, we must follow custom and believe them. Tim. Therefore let the generation of these gods be stated by us, following their account, in this wise: Of Ge and Uranus were born the children Oceanus and Tethys; and of these, Phorkys, Cronos, Rhea, and all that go with them; and of Cronos and Rhea were born Zeus and Hera and all those who are, as we know, called their brethren; and of these again, other descendants.

 Now when all the gods, both those who revolve manifestly i.e.the Stars; the others are the deities of popular belief (such as Homer depicts). and those who manifest themselves so far as they choose, had come to birth, He that generated this All addressed them thus:

 Gods of gods, An intensive form of expression, like the Biblical King of kings and Lord of lords. those works whereof I am framer and father are indissoluble save by my will. For though all that is bound may be dissolved, yet to will to dissolve that which is fairly joined together and in good case were the deed of a wicked one. Wherefore ye also, seeing that ye were generated, are not wholly immortal or indissoluble, yet in no wise shall ye be dissolved nor incur the doom of death, seeing that in my will ye possess a bond greater and more sovereign than the bonds wherewith, at your birth, ye were bound together. Now, therefore, what I manifest and declare unto you do ye learn. Three mortal kinds Viz. the inhabitants of air, of water, and of earth. still remain ungenerated; but if these come not into being the Heaven will be imperfect; for it will not contain within itself the whole sum of the hinds of living creatures, yet contain them it must if it is to be fully perfect. But if by my doing these creatures came into existence and partook of life, they would be made equal unto gods; in order, therefore, that they may be mortal and that this World-all may be truly All, do ye turn yourselves, as Nature directs, to the work of fashioning these living creatures, imitating the power showed by me in my generating of you. Now so much of them as it is proper to designate ’immortal,’ the part we call divine which rules supreme in those who are fain to follow justice always and yourselves, that part I will deliver unto you when I have sown it and given it origin. For the rest, do ye weave together the mortal with the immortal, and thereby fashion and generate living creatures, and give them food that they may grow, and when they waste away receive them to yourselves again. 

 Thus He spake, and once more into the former bowl, wherein He had blended and mixed the Soul of the Universe, He poured the residue of the previous material, mixing it in somewhat the same manner, yet no longer with a uniform and invariable purity, but second and third in degree of purity. And when He had compounded the whole He divided it into souls equal in number to the stars, and each several soul He assigned to one star, and setting them each as it were in a chariot Cf. Laws 899 A. He showed them the nature of the Universe, and declared unto them the laws of destiny,—namely, how that the first birth should be one and the same ordained for all, in order that none might be slighted by Him; and how it was needful that they, when sown each into his own proper organ of time, i.e. star. should grow into the most god-fearing of living creatures; and that, since human nature is two-fold, the superior sex is that which hereafter should be designated man.