make the whole rite. The rite, if effectually received, is received devoutly as a Myth, not critically apprehended as an Allegory. In its origin and composition it is an Allegorya mosaic of symbols; but as time goes on this is largely lost sight of; the corporate genius of the religious society to which it belongs transforms it for the devout into a Myth. Plato compares that enthusiastic Philosophy, of which Myth is the vehicle, to the Mysteries. The devout went to Eleusis, not to get doctrine out of allegorical representations, but to have their souls purified by the awe of the "Blessed Sights" presented in the acted Myth. The procession in Purgatorio, xxix., like Ezekiel's visions, to which it is indebted, is an elaborately ordered series of symbolical creatures and objects; in the fresco on the left wall of the Spanish Chapel of S. Maria Novella in Florence, every figure, either in itself, or in the position which it occupies in the group, is a symbol. It is true, of course, that to appreciate the beauty of either composition fully one must have at least a general acquaintance with the meaning of the symbols employed; yet finally it is as a great spectacle that the procession of the twenty-ninth Canto of the Purgatorio or the fresco in the Spanish Chapel appeals to one. because it so appeals that one is anxious to Indeed, it is spell out the symbolical meaning of its separate parts, so that, having spelt this patiently out, one may find one's self all the more under the enchantment of the whole which transcends the sum of its parts so wondrously.2 Similarly, to take a third instance, it is because the Story, in the Second Book of the Fairy Queen, of the Adventures at the Castle of Medina, is very readable as a story, and contains beautiful passages of poetry, that we are pleasurably interested in following its elaborate translation of the dry Aristotelian doctrine of "Mean and Extremes" into pictures. I would add that the effect produced by a great professedly allegorical composition like the procession in Purgatorio, xxix., or the Spanish Chapel fresco, is sometimes produced by a poem-sometimes even by a single line or stanza of poetry-in which the poet's art, instead of definitely 1 See supra, p. 236. 2 The symbolism of the fresco alluded to above is dealt with by Ruskin in his Mornings in Florence, iv. and v. S presenting, distantly suggests a system of symbols. A symbol or system of symbols definitely presented is often enough a mysterious thing; but a symbol or system of symbols distantly suggested "teases us out of thought," and arouses in no ordinary degree that wonder, at we know not what, which enters into the effect produced by Poetry as such. I do not think that a better example of what may be called suppressed symbolism, and of its wonderful poetical effect, could be found than that afforded by Dante's canzone beginning Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute1—— a poem on which Coleridge's record of its effect upon himself is the best commentary. He begins by describing it as "a poem of wild and interesting images, intended as an enigma, and to me an enigma it remains, spite of all my efforts." Then, in an entry dated Ramsgate, Sept. 2, 1819, he writes: I begin to understand the above poem (Tre donne intorno al cuor mi son venute, etc.), after an interval from 1805, during which no year passed in which I did not re-peruse, I might say, construe, parse, and spell it, twelve times at least such a fascination had it, spite of its obscurity! It affords a good instance, by the bye, of that soul of universal significance in a true poet's composition, in addition to the specific meaning." 1 Canzone xx. p. 170, Oxford Dante. 2 Anima Poetae, from the unpublished notebooks of S. T. Coleridge, edited by E. H. Coleridge, 1895, p. 293. THE TIMAEUS CONTEXT THE subject of the Timaeus is the Creation of the Universe (soul and body) and of Man (soul and body). The speaker in whose mouth the whole Discourse, or Myth, treating of this subject is put is Timaeus, the great Pythagorean Philosopher of Locri in Italy. The Discourse, or Myth, is part of the general scheme which is worked out in the Trilogy consisting of the Republic, Timaeus, and Critias. The assumed chronological order of the pieces is Republic, Timaeus, Critias: i.e. the Conversation at the house of Cephalus is repeated next day by Socrates to Timaeus, Critias, Hermocrates, and another this is the Republic; the day after that again, Socrates, Timaeus, Critias, and Hermocrates meet, and the Conversation and Discourse which constitute the Timaeus are held, followed by the Myth related by Critias in the unfinished piece which bears his name. Thus we have first an account of Man's education; then an account of his creation; and lastly the story of the Great War for which his education fits him. But, of course, the logical order is Timaeus, Republic, Critias-God, because he is good, makes, in his own image, the Universe of which Man is part—not, however, a mere part, but a part which, after a fashion, is equivalent to the whole, in so far as it adequately represents the whole-a microcosm in the macrocosm. Man, as microcosm, is an image of God as adequate as the great Cosmos itself is; and, like God whose image he is, is a creator-makes in turn a Cosmos, the State. We have thus the analogy :-God Cosmos: Man: State. Upon God's creation of the Cosmos, in the Timaeus, there follows, in order, Man's creation of the State, in the Republic; while the Critias comes last with the representation of the State performing the work for which it was created. 29 D Timaeus 29 D-92 c Λέγωμεν δή, δι' ἥντινα αἰτίαν γένεσιν καὶ τὸ πᾶν τόδε Ε ὁ ξυνιστὰς ξυνέστησεν. ἀγαθὸς ἦν, ἀγαθῷ δὲ οὐδεὶς περὶ οὐδενὸς οὐδέποτε ἐγγίγνεται φθόνος· τούτου δ ̓ ἐκτὸς ὢν πάντα ὅ τι μάλιστα γενέσθαι ἐβουλήθη παραπλήσια ἑαυτῷ. 30 βουληθεὶς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἀγαθὰ μὲν πάντα, φλαῦρον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι κατὰ δύναμιν, οὕτω δὴ πᾶν, ὅσον ἦν ὁρατόν, παραλαβὼν οὐχ ἡσυχίαν ἄγον, ἀλλὰ κινούμενον πλημμελῶς καὶ ἀτάκτως, εἰς τάξιν αὐτὸ ἤγαγεν ἐκ τῆς ἀταξίας, ἡγησάμενος ἐκεῖνο τούτου πάντως ἄμεινον. θέμις δὲ οὔτ' ἦν οὔτ ̓ ἔστι τῷ ἀρίστῳ δρᾶν ἄλλο πλὴν τὸ κάλλιστον. Β λογισάμενος οὖν εὕρισκεν ἐκ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ὁρατῶν οὐδὲν ἀνόητον τοῦ νοῦν ἔχοντος ὅλον ὅλου κάλλιον ἔσεσθαί ποτε ἔργον, νοῦν δ ̓ αὖ χωρὶς ψυχῆς ἀδύνατον παραγενέσθαι τῳ. διὰ δὴ τὸν λογισμὸν τόνδε νοῦν μὲν ἐν ψυχῇ, ψυχὴν δὲ ἐν σώματι ξυνιστὰς τὸ πᾶν ξυνετεκταίνετο, ὅπως ὅ τι κάλλιστον εἴη κατὰ φύσιν ἄριστόν τε ἔργον ἀπειργασμένος. οὕτως οὖν δὴ κατὰ λόγον τὸν εἰκότα δεῖ λέγειν τόνδε τὸν κόσμον ζῶον ἔμψυχον ἔννουν τε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ Ο γενέσθαι πρόνοιαν. Τούτου δ ̓ ὑπάρχοντος αὖ τὰ τούτοις ἐφεξῆς ἡμῖν λεκτέον, τίνι τῶν ζώων αὐτὸν εἰς ὁμοιότητα ὁ ξυνιστὰς ξυνέστησε. τῶν μὲν οὖν ἐν μέρους εἴδει πεφυκότων μηδενὶ καταξιώσωμεν· ἀτελεῖ γὰρ ἐοικὸς οὐδέν ποτ' ἂν γένοιτο καλόν· οὗ δ ̓ ἔστι τἆλλα ζῶα καθ' ἓν καὶ κατὰ γένη μόρια, τούτῳ πάντων ὁμοιότατον αὐτὸν εἶναι τιθῶμεν. τὰ γὰρ δὴ νοητὰ ζῶα πάντα ἐκεῖνο ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιλαβὼν ἔχει, καθάπερ ὅδε ὁ κόσμος ἡμᾶς ὅσα τε ἄλλα θρέμματα Ο ξυνέστηκεν ὁρατά. τῷ γὰρ τῶν νοουμένων καλλίστῳ καὶ TRANSLATION Let the cause of the creation of this Universe be declared, to wit, that the Maker thereof was Good; with the Good there is no grudging of aught at any time: wherefore, being altogether without grudging, God wished all things to be made as like unto Himself as might be. Now God, wishing that all things should be good so far as might be, and nothing evil, having received all that was Visible into His hands, and perceiving that it was not at rest but moved without measure and without order, took and brought it out of that disorder into order, thinking that this state was altogether better than that. For He Who is Best might not then-nor may He now-do aught save that which is most excellent. Wherefore He took thought and found out that, amongst those things which are by nature Visible, no work which is without Reason would ever, in the comparison, be fairer than that which hath Reason; and again, that Reason could not, without Soul, come and abide with anything. For this cause He put Reason in the Soul, and Soul in Body, when he fashioned the Universe; to the end that the creature of his workmanship might be the fairest by nature and the most excellent. Our discourse, then, following alway the way of likelihood, hath brought us thus far-that this Universe is a Living Creature, which hath in truth gotten Soul and Reason through the Providence of God. Next must we tell in the likeness of what Living Creature the Maker made it. Unto none of those creatures which are by nature Parts of the Whole let us compare it; for naught fair could ever come forth in the likeness of that which is imperfect; but unto That whereof the living creatures, severally and according to their kinds, are parts must we deem it most like. Now That containeth in itself all Intelligible Creatures, even as this Universe containeth us and all his other nurslings which were created to be Visible: for unto That which is the |