APULEIUS

ON

THE DOCTRINES' OF PLATO.

BOOK I.

ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

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[1.]2 3 THE conformation of his body gave to Plato his name; for he was previously called Aristocles. His father was said to have been Ariston; while his mother was Perictioné, the daughter of Glaucus ; and on both sides the nobility of his birth was sufficiently remarkable. For his father Ariston derived through Codrus his origin from Neptune; while the blood on his mother's side flowed from Solon, the very wise, who was the founder of the laws of Athens. There are however those, who assert that Plato sprang from a more exalted origin, at the time when a certain vision in the form of Apollo had a connexion with Perictioné. He was born in the month called Thargelion 5 at Athens, on the day 6 in which Latona is reported to have brought forth Apollo and Diana at Delos, (and) on the day before that, in which we have heard that Socrates was born. Mention is likewise made of the pretty dream that

The more correct title would perhaps be that found in some MSS. and Ald., "Vita, Instituta, Dogmata Platonis per Apuleium."

2 The sections are adopted from Hildebrand's edition.

3_3 For the word Πλατ-ων was formed from πλατ-υς, as shown in the Life of Plato by Hesychius, p. 229, n. 1.

Diogenes, more correctly, Glaucon, as remarked by Casaubon.

This month marks a period from the middle of May to the middle of June.

This was the 7th.

Socrates had; for he thought he saw a cygnet flying from an altar, which was in the Academia, sacred to Cupid, and settling on his lap; and that afterwards, a full-fledged swan, it directed its flight to heaven, entrancing the ears of men and gods with the music of its song. And after Socrates had mentioned the dream to some persons when they had come together, Ariston very opportunely attended upon Socrates, with the view of offering Plato to him as (the youth's) instructor; on whom when Socrates had cast his eyes and 2 saw from his external appearance his internal disposition,' he said, "This, friends, is the swan (from the altar) of Cupid in the Academy.”

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[2.] Such and (sprung) from such did Plato not only excel heroes in virtue, but he equalled likewise the gods in power. For Speusippus, 3 who was furnished with family documents,3 praises the acuteness of the boy's talent in perception, and his disposition as regards his wonderful modesty; and he makes mention of the first-fruits of his youth as being imbued with the proofs of labour and his love of study; and testifies that in the man there met together the growth of these and of other virtues.

From the same parents were his brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus. For his instructors he had in 4the rudiments of education, Dionysius; and in the palæstra, Ariston, a native of Argos; and such a progress did practice bring with it, that he contended for the wrestler's prize at the Pythian and Isthmian games. Nor did he disdain the painter's art. For Tragic and Dithyrambic compositions likewise he fitted himself; and, carried away by a confidence in his poetical powers, he was already desirous of professing himself a competitor, had not Socrates driven from his mind the lowness of the desire, and taken care to implant in his soul the glory that arises from true praise. And even previously5 he had

Such seems to be the meaning of "commodum;" for which two MSS. read "commodo-"

22 Compare Shakspeare's-" To read the mind's construction in the face"-which answers almost literally to the words of Apuleius," ingenium internum de exteriore conspicatus facie."

3_3 For he was the nephew of Plato.

Such is the correct translation of "prima literatura-" For "literæ "in Latin, like ypáμμara in Greek, meant something more extensive than "letters" do in English. See at Diogenes' Life of Plato, § 4, n. '—'.

According to Diogenes, § 6, Plato attached himself to the sect of

been imbued with the (doctrines of the) sect of Heracleitus. But when he had given himself up to Socrates, he was superior to the rest of the disciples of Socrates not only in genius and learning; but by labour likewise and elegance he shed a lustre on the wisdom imparted to him by Socrates; by the labour, through which he endeavoured to make that wisdom his own; and by the elegance, through which he contributed to it a considerable dignity from the beauty and majesty of his language.

[3.] But after Socrates had left the world,' he sought out from whence he might make a further progress; and he betook himself to the discipline of Pythagoras; and though he saw it possessed a method of diligence and splendour combined, he was still more desirous of imitating its continence and chastity. And, as he perceived that the talents of the Pythagoreans were aided by other kinds of learning, he went to Cyrené to learn Geometry under Theodorus, and travelled even to Egypt to obtain a knowledge of astrology, and that he might learn from thence the rites of the prophets there. And 2 a second time he went2 to Italy, and became a follower of the Pythagoreans, Eurytus of Tarentum, and Archytas, who was rather advanced in years; and he would have directed his thoughts to the Indians and Magi, had not the wars in Asia3 at that time prevented him (from proceeding thither).4 5 On which account,5 by following out with more than usual study the discoveries of Parmenides and Zeno, he so filled his treatises with things, taken unitedly, which singly 6 had been an ob

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Heracleitus after the death of Socrates. But Aristotle, in Metaphys. i. 6, agrees with Apuleius.

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1 Literally men

22 For the first time is alluded to in the expression "ad Pythagoræ disciplinam se contulit-" Perhaps, however, in lieu of " iterum venit," Apuleius wrote "iter convertit," i. e. "he turned his road-"

3 So the earlier edd. But as all the MSS. read "caletica," Oudendorp has suggested "Chaldaica;" Hildebrand, "Halytica," i. e. Lydian, in allusion to the war carried on by the younger Cyrus against his brother Artaxerxes, that forms the subject of the early part of Xenophon's "Anabasis."

The words between the lunes are due to Joann. Sarisbur. in Nug. Curial. vii. 5, who has "procedere vetuissent-" not "vetuissent" simply. 55 The introduction of " quapropter" here seems very strange. 6_6 So we must translate "omnibus, quæ-singula," to preserve the antithesis.

ject of admiration, that he was the first to unite philosophy, previously tripartite, and to show that its parts, each necessary in its turn, were not only not at variance with each other, but that they afforded a mutual aid. For although the members of philosophy had been obtained from different factories, (such as) natural philosophy from the Heracleiteans, mental from the Pythagoreans, and moral from the very fountain of Socrates, yet from them all he formed one body, and, as it were, of his own begetting. But as the chiefs of these families (of Philosophy) had delivered to their auditors their sentiments in unpolished (language) and a rudimental (form), Plato rendered them perfect and even to be admired by polishing them up with reasonings, and investing them with the honourable dress of lofty diction. [4.] Many of his hearers, belonging to either sex, flourished as philosophers. He left behind him his patrimony, consisting of a small garden, adjoining the Academy, and two slaves, and a goblet,' with which he made supplications to the gods; and of gold so much, as he had worn, when a boy, in his ear,2 to mark his (noble birth). Some evil-disposed persons carp indeed at his three journeys to Sicily, and discuss them with opinions at variance with each other. But he went thither3 the first time for the sake of information, that he might understand the nature of Etna, and the burning of the hollow mountain;4 the second, at the request of Dionysius, to assist the people of Syracuse, and to learn the municipal laws of that province. His third arrival took place 5 in the wish to restore3 Dion, then an exile, to his country, after Plato had obtained a pardon for him from Dionysius.

Of his tenets, that might be called by the Greek word dóyματα, which he promulgated for the beneficial use of man, and

On Diogen. L. § 44, n. 2, Stanley has remarked the discrepancy in the statements of the two writers.

2 This was the right ear, as we learn from Isidorus, in Origin. xix. 31, "In aures-in Græcia puellæ utraque aure, pueri tantum dextra gerebant." 3 I have translated, as if the Latin word were "illic," not "ille—” 44 Unless I am greatly mistaken the words "concavi montis" explanation of "crateris-" which was the technical expression applied to that natural phænomenon. See at Diogenes' Life of Plato, § 18, p. 185, n. 2.

are an

55 So Oudendorp renders "reddidit—” for Plato, he says, failed in the attempt; although he confesses that Ælian, in V. H. iii. 17, asserts he did not fail.

for a rational method of living, and understanding, and speaking, we will commence from hence. For since he first held that the three parts of philosophy have an agreement with each other, we too will speak of each separately, beginning with Natural Philosophy.

[5.] Plato considers the principles of (all) things to be threeGod, Matter, and the Forms of Things, which he calls 'Ideas, (Ideas,) that are incomplete, shapeless, (and) distinguished by no mark of species and quality. But of God his sentiments are that he is incorporeal. He alone, says (Plato), is 2ȧrepíμETPOS, (without a circumference,)2 the father and adorner3 of all things, blessed (himself) and the cause of blessings (to others), the very best, in want of nothing himself, (and) conferring all things (upon all); whom he calls the heavenly, the ineffable, the not-to-be-named, or, as he says himself, 4 ἄρρητον ἀκατωνόμαστον ; 4 whose nature it is difficult to discover; and, if discovered, it cannot be proclaimed to the many. [The words of Plato are these, Oɛòv ɛvρet̃v тe ëρyov, εὑρόντα δὲ εἰς πολλοὺς ἐκφέρειν ἀδύνατον.] 5 But of Matter he makes mention as unable to create, and to be destroyed, and that it is neither Fire, nor Water, nor any other of the principles and positive elements; but that of all things it is the first recipient of forms, and subjective to the act of making; (and) being as yet shapeless and devoid of the quality of configuration, God, as the artificer, gives to it a form Uni

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1 Compare Alcinous, § 10, and Diogen. L. iii. 77.

2_2 The word ȧæɛpíμɛrρos is not found, I believe, in Plato. The idea however may be compared with the well-known representation of God, who has been considered as a circle, whose centre is every where, and circumference no where.

So Oudendorp adopts "exornator," the conjecture of Lennep, in lieu of " extortor;" from which, as he could extort no meaning, he would elicit "exstructor," i. e. "the builder up-" remembering the expression τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς in Tim. p. 28, C. Hildebrand suggests "exorsor," "the beginner;" for though, as he confesses, the word is not found elsewhere in Latin, yet it might have been coined by Apuleius, like many others from his mint.

4 Neither of these words are applied, if I rightly remember, to God by Plato.

55 The words between the numerals Scaliger was the first to reject, as being evidently introduced by some person, who had an incorrect recollection of the passage in Tim. p. 28, C., εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν.

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Compare Alcinous, 8, p. 260.