timaeus   

cannot calculate their movements-to attempt to tell of all this
without a visible representation of the heavenly system would be
labour in vain. Enough on this head; and now let what we have said
about the nature of the created and visible gods have an end.
To know or tell the origin of the other divinities is beyond us, and
we must accept the traditions of the men of old time who affirm
themselves to be the offspring of the gods-that is what they say-and
they must surely have known their own ancestors. How can we doubt
the word of the children of the gods? Although they give no probable
or certain proofs, still, as they declare that they are speaking of
what took place in their own family, we must conform to custom and
believe them. In this manner, then, according to them, the genealogy
of these gods is to be received and set forth.
Oceanus and Tethys were the children of Earth and Heaven, and from
these sprang Phorcys and Cronos and Rhea, and all that generation; and
from Cronos and Rhea sprang Zeus and Here, and all those who are
said to be their brethren, and others who were the children of these.
Now, when all of them, both those who visibly appear in their
revolutions as well as those other gods who are of a more retiring
nature, had come into being, the creator of the universe addressed
them in these words: "Gods, children of gods, who are my works, and of
whom I am the artificer and father, my creations are indissoluble,
if so I will. All that is bound may be undone, but only an evil
being would wish to undo that which is harmonious and happy.
Wherefore, since ye are but creatures, ye are not altogether
immortal and indissoluble, but ye shall certainly not be dissolved,
nor be liable to the fate of death, having in my will a greater and
mightier bond than those with which ye were bound at the time of
your birth. And now listen to my instructions:-Three tribes of
mortal beings remain to be created-without them the universe will be
incomplete, for it will not contain every kind of animal which it
ought to contain, if it is to be perfect. On the other hand, if they
were created by me and received life at my hands, they would be on
an equality with the gods. In order then that they may be mortal,
and that this universe may be truly universal, do ye, according to
your natures, betake yourselves to the formation of animals, imitating
the power which was shown by me in creating you. The part of them
worthy of the name immortal, which is called divine and is the guiding
principle of those who are willing to follow justice and you-of that
divine part I will myself sow the seed, and having made a beginning, I
will hand the work over to you. And do ye then interweave the mortal
with the immortal, and make and beget living creatures, and give
them food, and make them to grow, and receive them again in death."
Thus he spake, and once more into the cup in which he had previously
mingled the soul of the universe he poured the remains of the
elements, and mingled them in much the same manner; they were not,
however, pure as before, but diluted to the second and third degree.
And having made it he divided the whole mixture into souls equal in
number to the stars, and assigned each soul to a star; and having
there placed them as in a chariot, he showed them the nature of the
universe, and declared to them the laws of destiny, according to which
their first birth would be one and the same for all,-no one should
suffer a disadvantage at his hands; they were to be sown in the
instruments of time severally adapted to them, and to come forth the
most religious of animals; and as human nature was of two kinds, the
superior race would here after be called man. Now, when they should be
implanted in bodies by necessity, and be always gaining or losing some
part of their bodily substance, then in the first place it would be
necessary that they should all have in them one and the same faculty
of sensation, arising out of irresistible impressions; in the second
place, they must have love, in which pleasure and pain mingle; also
fear and anger, and the feelings which are akin or opposite to them;
if they conquered these they would live righteously, and if they
were conquered by them, unrighteously. He who lived well during his