PLATO'S COSMOLOGY
Plato's Cosmology : The Timaeus of Plato. Translated with a running commentary by F. M. Cornford. (Kegan Paul. 15s.)
IN his old age Plato planned and began a trilogy in which he intended to show that there must exist in the universe and in human society a harmony similar to that which he had tried to demonstrate in the individual soul when he wrote his Republic. The third part of the trilogy was never written, although its substance may be recognised in the third book of the Laws ; the second part, the Critias, breaks off in the middle of a sentence. But the first part, the Timaeus, is complete and has exerted a vast influence on the theology and cosmology of 2,000 years. By attempting to prove that the universe is what it is because it is best for it to be so Plato followed his master Socrates in dealing a deadly blow to experimental science and in giving a primary place to meta- physics. By making natural science a department of theology he helped to create the transcendentalism of the Neo-Platonists and of St. Augustine, and in the Middle Ages the Timaeus, known in a Latin translation, provided an erroneous but satisfactory view of the universe for men who liked everything to be deduced from first principles. Even today some of its doctrines have a familiar ring for those who were taught old-fashioned philosophy at Oxford. Less paradoxical than the Republic and vastly less penetrating than Plato's work on the theory of knowledge, it has probably had more influence than any of these on the thought of Christian Europe, and although the Timaeus has received considerable attention in recent years, a book like this is entirely justified.
Mr. Cornford here adopts the method which he adopted with conspicuous success in Plato's Theory of Knowledge. He presents us with a complete translation of the text and accompanies it with a running commentary which both explains what Plato means and relates it to what is said in other Platonic dialogues. The Timaeus must be the despair of any translator. It is written in an oracular, hieratic and artificial style, very different from the easy conversational manner of Plato's early work. It is full of mathematics and abstractions, whose precise meaning is hard to seize. It lacks the human and humorous elements which brighten even the Republic. Mr. Cornford has, very rightly, aimed first at getting the sense right and has in consequence missed some of the sombre power of his original. But his version is not merely exact ; it is eminently readable, and it often touches real eloquence. The commentary is a far more serious affair. Concise and clear, it shirks no difficulty and is never irrelevant. One is torn between amazement at Mr. Cornford's easy mastery of a vast literature and admiration for the self-effacing way in which he keeps his knowledge in strict control. He is equally at home in Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, and Greek theology ; he discourses with equal charm on music and disease. He admits his debt to the great learning contained in A. E. Taylor's edition of the Timaeus, but his work surpasses that in clarity, relevance and originality. He does not regard the Timaeus as a repository of truth which must be justified
at every turn. He sees it in its historical setting and explains its doctrines in the light of their time and their author's opinions. Treatment of this kind is far rarer among Platonists than it ought to be, and all who are interested in an important, if repellent, chapter of human error should read this book.
C. M. BOWRA.
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