Plato Timaeus 40

Robert Gregg Bury (Translator)

Timaeus. Plato. Robert Gregg Bury (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1929.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Timaeus (English) (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9. Bury, R. G., translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)
Τίμαιος Perseus (Platonis Opera Tomus IV: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 40 focus

Notes on the current edition

Timaeus

1. i.e., the stars.
2. i.e., the fixed stars, and their sphere which moves with the daily rotation of the spherical Cosmos (the motion proper to intelligence, Cf. 36 C, Cratyl. 411 D).
3. i.e., the intelligent outermost sphere of the same (cf. the derivation of φρόνησιςfrom φοράin Cratyl. 411 D).
4. There is a play here on the word κόσμος, as meaning (1) adornment, (2) universe.
5. i.e. (1) the rotation of the star on its own axis; (2) the diurnal revolution of the sphere of fixed stars.
6. Cf. 34 A, 43 B.
7. The Word εἴλλεσθαι (or ἴλλεσθαι) is taken by some to imply oscillation or rotation (Cf. Aristot. De caeloii. 293 b 30); but it seems best to suppose that Plato is here regarding the Earth as stationary. Her potential motion (we may assume) is equal and opposite to that of the Universe, of which she is the center, and by thus neutralizing it she remains at rest.
8. i.e.such instruments as a celestial globe or planetarium.
9. This is, obviously, ironical; Cf. Cratyl. 402 B, Phileb. 66 C.