All these the creator first
set in order, and out of them he constructed the universe, which
was a single animal comprehending in itself all other animals,
mortal and immortal. Now of the divine, he himself was the
creator, but the creation of the mortal he committed to his
offspring. And they, imitating him, received from him the
immortal principle of the soul; and around this they proceeded to
fashion a mortal body, and. made it to be the vehicle of the so
and constructed within the body a soul of another nature which
was mortal, subject to terrible and irresistible affections-first
of all, pleasure, the greatest incitement to evil; then, pain,
which deters from good; also rashness and fear, two foolish
counsellors, anger hard to be appeased, and hope easily led
astray-these they mingled with irrational sense and with all-daring
love according to necessary laws, and so framed man. Wherefore,
fearing to pollute the divine any more than was absolutely
unavoidable, they gave to the mortal nature a separate habitation
in another part of the body, placing the neck between them to be
the isthmus and boundary, which they constructed between the head
and breast, to keep them apart. And in the breast, and in what is
termed the thorax, they encased the mortal soul; and as the one
part of this was superior and the other inferior they divided the
cavity of the thorax into two parts, as the women's and men's
apartments are divided in houses, and placed the midriff to be a
wall of partition between them. That part of the inferior soul
which is endowed with courage and passion and loves contention
they settled nearer the head, midway between the midriff and the
neck, in order that it might be under the rule of reason and
might join with it in controlling and restraining the desires
when they are no longer willing of their own accord to obey the
word of command issuing from the citadel.
The heart, the knot of the veins and the fountain of the blood
which races through all the limbs was set in the place of guard,
that when the might of passion was roused by reason making
proclamation of any wrong assailing them from without or being
perpetrated by the desires within, quickly the whole power of
feeling in the body, perceiving these commands and threats, might
obey and follow through every turn and alley, and thus allow the
principle of the best to have the command in all of them. But the
gods, foreknowing that the palpitation of the heart in the
expectation of danger and the swelling and excitement of passion
was caused by fire, formed and implanted as a supporter to the
heart the lung, which was, in the first place, soft and
bloodless, and also had within hollows like the pores of a
sponge, in order that by receiving the breath and the drink, it
might give coolness and the power of respiration and alleviate
the heat. Wherefore they cut the air-channels leading to the
lung, and placed the lung about the heart as a soft spring, that,
when passion was rife within, the heart, beating against a
yielding body, might be cooled and suffer less, and might thus
become more ready to join with passion in the service of reason.
The part of the soul which desires meats and drinks and the
other things of which it has need by reason of the bodily nature,
they placed between the midriff and the boundary of the navel,
contriving in all this region a sort of manger for the food of
the body; and there they bound it down like a wild animal which
was chained up with man, and must be nourished if man was to
exist. They appointed this lower creation his place here in order
that he might be always feeding at the manger, and have his
dwelling as far as might be from the council-chamber, making as
little noise and disturbance as possible, and permitting the best
part to advise quietly for the good of the whole. And knowing
that this lower principle in man would not comprehend reason, and
even if attaining to some degree of perception would never
naturally care for rational notions, but that it would be led
away by phantoms and visions night and day-to be a remedy for
this, God combined with it the liver, and placed it in the house
of the lower nature, contriving that it should be solid and
smooth, and bright and sweet, and should also have a bitter
quality, in order that the power of thought, which proceeds from
the mind, might be reflected as in a mirror which receives
likenesses of objects and gives back images of them to the sight;
and so might strike terror into the desires, when, making use of
the bitter part of the liver, to which it is akin, it comes
threatening and invading, and diffusing this bitter element
swiftly through the whole liver produces colours like bile, and
contracting every part makes it wrinkled and rough; and twisting
out of its right place and contorting the lobe and closing and
shutting up the vessels and gates, causes pain and loathing.
