so with air and water. All these elements were formed according to continuous geometrical proportion.
[Then follows a curious but fanciful description of the various phenomena of light, sound, and colour, which, however, the reader may be spared.]
The gods (continues Timæus) gave to man a triple soul: firstly, an immortal soul, dwelling in the head, with the heart acting as its guard-house, and carrying out its commands by means of a fiery network of veins through every part of the body: secondly, a mortal soul, which is again divided—the nobler part dwelling in the breast, and, though itself moved by fear and anger, taking the side of reason against desire; while the lower part, made up of unruly passions and carnal appetites, is chained like a wild beast in the belly, far from the council-chamber of reason, which it would otherwise disturb. Now the gods knew that this lowest soul would never listen to reason, and they therefore ruled it by means of images reflected on the smooth and brilliant surface of the liver—the seat of prophetic inspiration—sometimes fair and sweet, sometimes dark and discoloured by passion.
The marrow, which binds together soul and body, is the seed-plot of mortal life, and, like the world, was originally formed from triangles. These are sharpest and freshest in our childhood, but they grow blunted and gradually wear out in old age, till at last their fastenings are loosened, and "they unfix also the bonds of the soul, and she being released in the order of nature joyfully flies away."
