Book III IX

"O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernasTerrarum caelique sator qui tempus ab aeuoIre iubes stabilisque manens das cuncta moueri.Quem non externae pepulerunt fingere causaeMateriae fluitantis opus, uerum insita summiForma boni liuore carens, tu cuncta supernoDucis ab exemplo, pulchrum pulcherrimus ipseMundum mente gerens similique in imagine formansPerfectasque iubens perfectum absoluere partes.Tu numeris elementa ligas ut frigora flammisArida conueniant liquidis, ne purior ignisEuolet aut mersas deducant pondera terras.Tu triplicis mediam naturae cuncta mouentemConectens animam per consona membra resoluis.Quae cum secta duos motum glomerauit in orbes,In semet reditura meat mentemque profundamCircuit et simili conuertit imagine caelum.Tu causis animas paribus uitasque minoresProuehis et leuibus sublimes curribus aptansIn caelum terramque seris quas lege benignaAd te conuersas reduci facis igne reuerti.Da pater augustam menti conscendere sedem,Da fontem lustrare boni, da luce repertaIn te conspicuos animi defigere uisus.Dissice terrenae nebulas et pondera molisAtque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum,Tu requies tranquilla piis, te cernere finis,Principium, uector, dux, semita, terminus idem.

"O Thou, that dost the world in lasting order guide,Father of heaven and earth, Who makest time swiftly slide,And, standing still Thyself, yet fram'st all moving laws,Who to Thy work wert moved by no external cause:But by a sweet desire, where envy hath no place,Thy goodness moving Thee to give each thing his grace,Thou dost all creatures' forms from highest patterns take,From Thy fair mind the world fair like Thyself doth make.Thus Thou perfect the whole perfect each part dost frame.Thou temp'rest elements, making cold mixed with flameAnd dry things join with moist, lest fire away should fly,Or earth, opprest with weight, buried too low should lie.Thou in consenting parts fitly disposed hastTh'all-moving soul in midst of threefold nature placed,Which, cut in several parts that run a different race,Into itself returns, and circling doth embraceThe highest mind, and heaven with like proportion drives.Thou with like cause dost make the souls and lesser lives,Fix them in chariots swift, and widely scatterestO'er heaven and earth; then at Thy fatherly behestThey stream, like fire returning, back to Thee, their God.Dear Father, let my mind Thy hallowed seat ascend,Let me behold the spring of grace and find Thy light,That I on Thee may fix my soul's well clearéd sight.Cast off the earthly weight wherewith I am opprest,Shine as Thou art most bright, Thou only calm and restTo pious men whose end is to behold Thy ray,Who their beginning art, their guide, their bound, and way.

This poem is a masterly abridgment of the first part of theTimaeus, and was eagerly fastened on by commentators of the earlyMiddle Ages whose direct knowledge of Plato was confined to thetranslation of that dialogue by Chalcidius.