Greek Texts & Translations

And bone He compounded in this wise. Having sifted earth till it was pure and smooth, He kneaded it and moistened it with marrow; then He placed it in fire, and after that dipped it in water, and from this back to fire, and once again in water; and by thus transferring it many times from the one element to the other He made it so that it was soluble by neither. This, then, He used, and fashioned thereof, by turning, a bony sphere round about the brain; and therein he left a narrow opening; and around the marrow 74aof both neck and back He molded vertebrae of bone, and set them, like pivots, in a vertical row, throughout all the trunk, beginning from the head. And thus for preserving the whole seed He closed it in with a ring-fence of stony substance; and therein He made joints, using as an aid the power of the Other ^note as an intermediary between them, for the sake of movement and bending. 74bAnd inasmuch as He deemed that the texture of the bony substance was too hard and inflexible, and that if it were fired and cooled again it would decay and speedily destroy the seed within it, for these reasons He contrived the species known as sinew and flesh. He designed to bind all the limbs together by means of the former, which tightens and relaxes itself around the pivots, and thus cause the body to bend and stretch itself. And the flesh He designed to be a shield against the heat and a shelter against the cold; and, moreover, that in case of falls it should yield to the body softly and gently, like padded garments ^note; 74cand, inasmuch as it contains within it warm moisture, that it should supply in summer, by its perspiration and dampness, a congenial coolness over the exterior of the whole body, and contrariwise in winter defend the body sufficiently, by means of its fire, from the frost which attacks and surrounds it from without. Wherefore, with this intent, our Modeller mixed and blended together water and fire and earth, and compounding a ferment of acid and salt 74dmixed it in therewith, and thus molded flesh full of sap and soft. And the substance of the sinews He compounded of a mixture of bone and unfermented flesh, forming a single substance blended of both and intermediate in quality, and he used yellow also for its coloring. Hence it is that the sinews have acquired a quality that is firmer and more rigid than flesh, but softer and more elastic than bone. With these, then, God enclosed the bones and marrow, first binding them one to another with the sinews, and then shrouding them all over with flesh.

74eAll the bones, then, that possessed most soul ^note He enclosed in least flesh, but the bones which contained least soul with most and most dense flesh; moreover, at the junctions of the bones, except where reason revealed some necessity for its existence, He made but little flesh to grow, lest by hindering the flexions it should make the bodies unwieldy, because stiff in movement, or else through its size and density, when thickly massed together, it should produce insensitiveness, owing to its rigidity, and thereby cause the intellectual parts to be more forgetful and more obtuse. Wherefore 75athe thighs and the shins and the region of the loins and the bones of the upper and lower arm, and all our other parts which are jointless, and all those bones which are void of intelligence within, owing to the small quantity of soul in the marrow—all these are abundantly supplied with flesh; but those parts which are intelligent are supplied less abundantly—except possibly where He so fashioned the flesh that it can of itself convey sensations, as is the case with the tongue; but most of these parts He made in the way described above. For the substance which is generated by necessity and grows up with us 75bin no wise admits of quick perception coexisting with dense bone and abundant flesh. For if these characteristics were willing to consort together, then the structure of the head would have acquired them most of all, and mankind, crowned with a head that was fleshy and sinewy and strong, would have enjoyed a life that was twice (nay, many times) as long as our present life, and healthier, to boot, and more free from pain. But as it is, when the Constructors of our being were cogitating 75cwhether they should make a kind that was more long-lived and worse or more short-lived and better, they agreed that the shorter and superior life should by all means be chosen by all rather than the longer and inferior. Wherefore they covered the head closely with thin bone, but not with flesh and sinews, since it was also without flexions. For all these reasons, then, the head that was joined to the body in every man was more perceptive and more intelligent but less strong.

It was on these grounds and in this way that God set the sinews at the bottom of the head 75dround about the neck and glued them there symmetrically; and with these He fastened the extremities of the jaws below the substance of the face; and the rest of the sinews He distributed amongst all the limbs, attaching joint to joint.

And those who fashioned the features of our mouth fashioned it with teeth and tongue and lips, even as it is fashioned now, 75efor ends both necessary and most good, contriving it as an entrance with a view to necessary ends, and as an outlet with a view to the ends most good. For all that enters in and supplies food to the body is necessary; while the stream of speech which flows out and ministers to intelligence is of all streams the fairest and most good.

Moreover, it was not possible to leave the head to consist of bare bone only, because of the excessive variations of temperature in either direction, due to the seasons; nor yet was it possible to allow it to be shrouded up, and to become, in consequence, stupid and insensitive owing to its burdensome mass of flesh.