Now of all motions that is the best which is produced in a thing by itself, for it is most akin to the motion of thought
and of the universe; but that motion which is caused by others is not so good, and worst of all is that which moves
the body, when at rest, in parts only and by some external agency. Wherefore of all modes of purifying and
reuniting the body the best is gymnastic; the next best is a surging motion, as in sailing or any other mode of
conveyance which is not fatiguing; the third sort of motion may be of use in a case of extreme necessity, but in any
other will be adopted by no man of sense: I mean the purgative treatment of physicians; for diseases unless they
are very dangerous should not be irritated by medicines, since every form of disease is in a manner akin to the
living being, whose complex frame has an appointed term of life. For not the whole race only, but each
individual-barring inevitable accidents-comes into the world having a fixed span, and the triangles in us are
originally framed with power to last for a certain time, beyond which no man prolong his life.
And this holds also of the constitution of diseases; if any one regardless of the appointed time tries to subdue them
by medicine, he only aggravates and multiplies them. Wherefore we ought always to manage them by regimen, as
far as a man can spare the time, and not provoke a disagreeable enemy by medicines. Enough of the composite
animal, and of the body which is a part of him, and of the manner in which a man may train and be trained by
himself so as to live most according to reason: and we must above and before all provide that the element which is
to train him shall be the fairest and best adapted to that purpose. A minute discussion of this subject would be a
serious task; but if, as before, I am to give only an outline, the subject may not unfitly be summed up as follows. I
have often remarked that there are three kinds of soul located within us, having each of them motions, and I must
now repeat in the fewest words possible, that one part, if remaining inactive and ceasing from its natural motion,
must necessarily become very weak, but that which is trained and exercised, very strong. Wherefore we should
take care that the movements of the different parts of the soul should be in due proportion.
And we should consider that God gave the sovereign part of the human soul to be the divinity of each one, being
that part which, as we say, dwells at the top of the body, inasmuch as we are a plant not of an earthly but of a
heavenly growth, raises us from earth to our kindred who are in heaven. And in this we say truly; for the divine
power suspended the head and root of us from that place where the generation of the soul first began, and thus
made the whole body upright. When a man is always occupied with the cravings of desire and ambition, and is
eagerly striving to satisfy them, all his thoughts must be mortal, and, as far as it is possible altogether to become
such, he must be mortal every whit, because he has cherished his mortal part. But he who has been earnest in the
love of knowledge and of true wisdom, and has exercised his intellect more than any other part of him, must have
thoughts immortal and divine, if he attain truth, and in so far as human nature is capable of sharing in immortality,
he must altogether be immortal; and since he is ever cherishing the divine power, and has the divinity within him in
perfect order, he will be perfectly happy.
Now there is only one way of taking care of things, and this is to give to each the food and motion which are
natural to it. And the motions which are naturally akin to the divine principle within us are the thoughts and
revolutions of the universe. These each man should follow, and correct the courses of the head which were
corrupted at our birth, and by learning the harmonies and revolutions of the universe, should assimilate the thinking
being to the thought, renewing his original nature, and having assimilated them should attain to that perfect life
which the gods have set before mankind, both for the present and the future. Thus our original design of
discoursing about the universe down to the creation of man is nearly completed. A brief mention may be made of
the generation of other animals, so far as the subject admits of brevity; in this manner our argument will best attain
a due proportion. On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may be offered. Of the men who came
into the world, those who were cowards or led unrighteous lives may with reason be supposed to have changed
into the nature of women in the second generation. And this was the reason why at that time the gods created in us
the desire of sexual intercourse, contriving in man one animated substance, and in woman another, which they
formed respectively in the following manner.
The outlet for drink by which liquids pass through the lung under the kidneys and into the bladder, which receives
then by the pressure of the air emits them, was so fashioned by them as to penetrate also into the body of the
marrow, which passes from the head along the neck and through the back, and which in the preceding discourse
we have named the seed. And the seed having life, and becoming endowed with respiration, produces in that part
in which it respires a lively desire of emission, and thus creates in us the love of procreation. Wherefore also in
men the organ of generation becoming rebellious and masterful, like an animal disobedient to reason, and
maddened with the sting of , seeks to gain absolute sway; and the same is the case with the so-called womb or
matrix of women; the animal within them is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining unfruitful long
beyond its proper time, gets discontented and angry, and wandering in every direction through the body, closes up
the passages of the breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives them to extremity, causing all varieties of
disease, until at length the desire and love of the man and the woman, bringing them together and as it were
plucking the fruit from the tree, sow in the womb, as in a field, animals unseen by reason of their smallness and
without form; these again are separated and matured within; they are then finally brought out into the light, and thus
the generation of animals is completed. Thus were created women and the female sex in general.
But the race of birds was created out of innocent light-minded men, who, although their minds were directed
toward heaven, imagined, in their simplicity, that the clearest demonstration of the things above was to be obtained
by sight; these were remodelled and transformed into birds, and they grew feathers instead of hair. The race of
wild pedestrian animals, again, came from those who had no philosophy in any of their thoughts, and never
considered at all about the nature of the heavens, because they had ceased to use the courses of the head, but
followed the guidance of those parts of the soul which are in the breast. In consequence of these habits of theirs
they had their front-legs and their heads resting upon the earth to which they were drawn by natural affinity; and
the crowns of their heads were elongated and of all sorts of shapes, into which the courses of the soul were
crushed by reason of disuse. And this was the reason why they were created quadrupeds and polypods: God
gave the more senseless of them the more support that they might be more attracted to the earth. And the most
foolish of them, who trail their bodies entirely upon the ground and have no longer any need of feet, he made
without feet to crawl upon the earth.
The fourth class were the inhabitants of the water: these were made out of the most entirely senseless and ignorant
of all, whom the transformers did not think any longer worthy of pure respiration, because they possessed a soul
which was made impure by all sorts of transgression; and instead of the subtle and pure medium of air, they gave
them the deep and muddy sea to be their element of respiration; and hence arose the race of fishes and oysters,
and other aquatic animals, which have received the most remote habitations as a punishment of their outlandish
ignorance. These are the laws by which animals pass into one another, now, as ever, changing as they lose or gain
wisdom and folly. We may now say that our discourse about the nature of the universe has an end. The world has
received animals, mortal and immortal, and is fulfilled with them, and has become a visible animal containing the
visible-the sensible God who is the image of the intellectual, the greatest, best, fairest, most perfect-the one only
begotten heaven.
