Ath. Yes, very true; the soul then directs all things in heaven, andearth, and sea by her movements, and these are described by theterms-will, consideration, attention, deliberation, opinion true andfalse, joy and sorrow, confidence, fear, hatred, love, and otherprimary motions akin to these; which again receive the secondarymotions of corporeal substances, and guide all things to growth anddecay, to composition and decomposition, and to the qualities whichaccompany them, such as heat and cold, heaviness and lightness,hardness and softness, blackness and whiteness, bitterness andsweetness, and all those other qualities which the soul uses,herself a goddess, when truly receiving the divine mind shedisciplines all things rightly to their happiness; but when she is thecompanion of folly, she does the very contrary of all this. Shall weassume so much, or do we still entertain doubts?
Cle. There is no room at all for doubt.
Ath. Shall we say then that it is the soul which controls heaven andearth, and the whole world?-that it is a principle of wisdom andvirtue, or a principle which has neither wisdom nor virtue? Supposethat we make answer as follows:-Cle. How would you answer?
Ath. If, my friend, we say that the whole path and movement ofheaven, and of all that is therein, is by nature akin to themovement and revolution and calculation of mind, and proceeds bykindred laws, then, as is plain, we must say that the best soultakes care of the world and guides it along the good path.
Cle. True.
Ath. But if the world moves wildly and irregularly, then the evilsoul guides it.
Cle. True again.
Ath. Of what nature is the movement of mind?-To this question itis not easy to give an intelligent answer; and therefore I ought toassist you in framing one.
Cle. Very good.
Ath. Then let us not answer as if we would look straight at the sun,making ourselves darkness at midday-I mean as if we were under theimpression that we could see with mortal eyes, or know adequatelythe nature of mind;-it will be safer to look at the image only.
Cle. What do you mean?
Ath. Let us select of the ten motions the one which mind chieflyresembles; this I will bring to your recollection, and will thenmake the answer on behalf of us all.
Cle. That will be excellent.
Ath. You will surely remember our saying that all things were eitherat rest or in motion?
Cle. I do.
Ath. And that of things in motion some were moving in one place, andothers in more than one?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. Of these two kinds of motion, that which moves in one placemust move about a centre like globes made in a lathe, and is mostentirely akin and similar to the circular movement of mind.
Cle. What do you mean?
Ath. In saying that both mind and the motion which is in one placemove in the same and like manner, in and about the same, and inrelation to the same, and according to one proportion and order, andare like the motion of a globe, we invented a fair image, which doesno discredit to our ingenuity.
Cle. It does us great credit.
Ath. And the motion of the other sort which is not after the samemanner, nor in the same, nor about the same, nor in relation to thesame, nor in one place, nor in order, nor according to any rule orproportion, may be said to be akin to senselessness and folly?
Cle. That is most true.
Ath. Then, after what has been said, there is no difficulty indistinctly stating, that since soul carries all things round, eitherthe best soul or the contrary must of necessity carry round andorder and arrange the revolution of the heaven.
Cle. And judging from what has been said, Stranger, there would beimpiety in asserting that any but the most perfect soul or soulscarries round the heavens.
Ath. You have understood my meaning right well, Cleinias, and nowlet me ask you another question.
Cle. What are you going to ask?
Ath. If the soul carries round the sun and moon, and the otherstars, does she not carry round each individual of them?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. Then of one of them let us speak, and the same argument willapply to all.
Cle. Which will you take?
Ath. Every one sees the body of the sun, but no one sees his soul,nor the soul of any other body living or dead; and yet there isgreat reason to believe that this nature, unperceived by any of oursenses, is circumfused around them all, but is perceived by mind;and therefore by mind and reflection only let us apprehend thefollowing point.
Cle. What is that?
Ath. If the soul carries round the sun, we shall not be far wrong insupposing one of three alternatives.
Cle. What are they?
Ath. Either the soul which moves the sun this way and that,resides within the circular and visible body, like the soul whichcarries us about every way; or the soul provides herself with anexternal body of fire or air, as some affirm, and violently propelsbody by body; or thirdly, she is without such abody, but guides thesun by some extraordinary and wonderful power.
Cle. Yes, certainly; the soul can only order all things in one ofthese three ways.
Ath. And this soul of the sun, which is therefore better than thesun, whether taking the sun about in a chariot to give light to men,or acting from without or in whatever way, ought by every man to bedeemed a God.
Cle. Yes, by every man who has the least particle of sense.
Ath. And of the stars too, and of the moon, and of the years andmonths and seasons, must we not say in like manner, that since asoul or souls having every sort of excellence are the causes of all ofthem, those souls are Gods, whether they are living beings andreside in bodies, and in this way order the whole heaven, orwhatever be the place and mode of their existence;-and will any onewho admits all this venture to deny that all things full of Gods?
Cle. No one, Stranger, would be such a madman.
Ath. And now, Megillus and Cleinias, let us offer terms to him whohas hitherto denied the existence of the Gods, and leave him.
Cle. What terms?
Ath. Either he shall teach us that we were wrong in saying thatthe soul is the original of all things, and arguing accordingly; or,if he be not able to say anything better, then he must yield to us andlive for the remainder of his life in the belief that there areGods.-Let us see, then, whether we have said enough or not enough tothose who deny that there are Gods.
Cle. Certainly-quite enough, Stranger.