The Timaeus of Plato

TIMAI02. 303
amber and of the loadstone all these are due to no drawing
power, but to two causes: first there is no void, and the
atoms jostle one upon another ; secondly when they are divided
or contracted they change places and move severally towards
of such conditions
their own region and ; by the complication
all these wonders arise, as will be plain to him who examines
them by the proper method.
XXXVIII. The process of respiration then, whence this
discussion arose, rests on the principles and causes which have
been set forth : fire divides the food, following the air as it
sways up and down within and
; through this oscillation it replenishes
the veins from the belly by pumping into them from
thence the comminuted food. In this way throughout the whole
body of all animals the streams of nourishment are kept conare
constantly changing their form and
their appropriate region in space. The
text can hardly be sound here.
5. TtOavnaTovpyrin^va] Owing to
the endless complexity and intricacy of
the interaction which these two forces
exert upon one another, many of their
effects appear to us marvellous, because
we have not the means of tracing the
conditions which gave rise to them.
Compare Laws 893 D dio Srj TUIV 0avfMcurruv
a.wa.vT