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Three Millennia of Greek Literature
 

Plato Bilingual Anthology : MOTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE

from Politicus, * 268.d-274.e, translated by B. Jowett

Greek Fonts / Plato Complete works / Plato Concept


ELPENOR EDITIONS IN PRINT
Page 7

STR. It is evident, Socrates, that there was no such thing in the then order of nature as the procreation of animals from one another; the earth-born race, of which we hear in story, was the one which existed in those days-they rose again from the ground; and of this tradition, which is now-a-days often unduly discredited, our ancestors, who were nearest in point of time to the end of the last period and came into being at the beginning of this, are to us the heralds. And mark how consistent the sequel of the tale is; after the return of age to youth, follows the return of the dead, who are lying in the earth, to life; simultaneously with the reversal of the world the wheel of their generation has been turned back, and they are put together and rise and live in the opposite order, unless God has carried any of them away to some other lot. According to this tradition they of necessity sprang from the earth and have the name of earth-born, and so the above legend clings to them. ΞΕ. Δῆλον͵ ὦ Σώκρατες͵ ὅτι τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀλλήλων οὐκ ἦν ἐν τῇ τότε φύσει γεννώμενον͵ τὸ δὲ γηγενὲς εἶναί ποτε γένος λεχθὲν τοῦτ΄ ἦν τὸ κατ΄ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ἐκ γῆς πάλιν ἀναστρεφόμενον͵ ἀπεμνημονεύετο δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων προγόνων τῶν πρώτων͵ οἳ τελευτώσῃ μὲν τῇ προτέρᾳ περιφορᾷ τὸν ἑξῆς χρόνον ἐγειτόνουν͵ τῆσδε δὲ κατ΄ ἀρχὰς ἐφύοντο· τούτων γὰρ οὗτοι κήρυκες ἐγένονθ΄ ἡμῖν τῶν λόγων͵ οἳ νῦν ὑπὸ πολλῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἀπιστοῦνται. τὸ γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν οἶμαι χρὴ συννοεῖν. ἑπόμενον γάρ ἐστι τῷ τοὺς πρεσβύτας ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἰέναι φύσιν͵ ἐκ τῶν τετελευτηκότων αὖ͵ κειμένων δὲ ἐν γῇ͵ πάλιν ἐκεῖ συνισταμένους καὶ ἀναβιωσκομένους͵ ἕπεσθαι τῇ τροπῇ συνανακυκλουμένης εἰς τἀναντία τῆς γενέσεως͵ καὶ γηγενεῖς δὴ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐξ ἀνάγκης φυομένους͵ οὕτως ἔχειν τοὔνομα καὶ τὸν λόγον͵ ὅσους μὴ θεὸς αὐτῶν εἰς ἄλλην μοῖραν ἐκόμισεν.
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