Ennead I.6 [1], On Beauty, chapter 3

porphyrian I.6 · chronological 1 · chapter 3 · volkmann page 87-88

γινώσκει δὲ αὐτὸ ἡ ἐπ’ αὐτὸ δύναμις τεταγμένη, ἧς οὐδὲν κυριώτερον εἰς κρίσιν τῶν ἑαυτῆς, ὅταν καὶ ἡ ἄλλη συνεπικρίνῃ ψυχή. τάχα δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ λέγει συναρμόττουσα τῷ παρ’ αὐτῇ εἴδει κἀκείνῳ πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν χρωμένη ὥσπερ κανόνι τοῦ εὐθέος. πῶς δὲ συμφωνεῖ τὸ περὶ σῶμα τῷ πρὸ σώματος; πῶς δὲ τὴν ἔξω οἰκίαν τῷ ἔνδον οἰκίας εἴδει ὁ οἰκοδομικὸς συναρμόσας καλὴν εἶναι λέγει; ἢ ὅτι ἐστὶν ἡ ἔξω, εἰ χωρίσειας τοὺς λίθους, τὸ ἔνδον εἶδος μερισθὲν τῷ ἔξω ὕλης ὄγκῳ, ἀμερὲς ὂν ἐν πολλοῖς φανταζόμενον. ὅταν οὖν ἡ αἴσθησις τὸ ἐν σώμασιν εἶδος ἴδῃ συνδησάμενον καὶ κρατῆσαν τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἐναντίας ἀμόρφου οὔσης καὶ μορφὴν ἐπὶ ἄλλαις μορφαῖς ἐκπρεπῶς ἐποχουμένην, συνελοῦσα ἀθρόον αὐτὸ τὸ πολλαχῇ ἀνήνεγκέ τε καὶ εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὸ εἴσω ἀμερὲς ἤδη καὶ ἔδωκε τῷ ἔνδον σύμφωνον καὶ συναρμόττον καὶ φίλον: οἷα ἀνδρὶ ἀγαθῷ προσηνὲς ἐπιφαινόμενον ἀρετῆς ἴχνος ἐν νέῳ συμφωνοῦν τῷ ἀληθεῖ τῷ ἔνδον. τὸ δὲ τῆς χρόας κάλλος ἁπλοῦν μορφῇ καὶ κρατήσει τοῦ ἐν ὕλῃ σκοτεινοῦ, παρουσίᾳ φωτὸς ἀσωμάτου καὶ λόγου καὶ εἴδους ὄντος. ὅθεν καὶ τὸ πῦρ αὐτὸ παρὰ τὰ ἄλλα σώματα καλόν, ὅτι τάξιν εἴδους πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα στοιχεῖα ἔχει, ἄνω μὲν τῇ θέσει, λεπτότατον δὲ τῶν ἄλλων σωμάτων, ὡς ἐγγὺς ὂν τοῦ ἀσωμάτου, μόνον δὲ αὐτὸ οὐκ εἰσδεχόμενον τὰ ἄλλα: τὰ δὲ ἄλλα δέχεται αὐτό. θερμαίνεται γὰρ ἐκεῖνα, οὐ ψύχεται δὲ τοῦτο, κέχρωσταί τε πρώτως, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα παρὰ τούτου τὸ εἶδος τῆς χρόας λαμβάνει. λάμπει οὖν καὶ στίλβει, ὡς ἂν εἶδος ὄν. τὸ δὲ μὴ κρατούμενον ἐξίτηλον τῷ φωτὶ γινόμενον οὐκέτι καλόν, ὡς ἂν τοῦ εἴδους τῆς χρόας οὐ μετέχον ὅλου. αἱ δὲ ἁρμονίαι αἱ ἐν ταῖς φωναῖς ἀφανεῖς τὰς φανερὰς ποιήσασαι καὶ ταύτῃ τὴν ψυχὴν σύνεσιν τοῦ καλοῦ λαβεῖν ἐποίησαν, ὡς ἐν ἄλλῳ τὸ αὐτὸ δείξασαι. παρακολουθεῖ δὲ ταῖς αἰσθηταῖς μετρεῖσθαι ἀριθμοῖς ἐν λόγῳ οὐ παντί, ἀλλ’ ὃς ἂν ᾖ δουλεύων εἰς ποίησιν εἴδους εἴς [τε] τὸ κρατεῖν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐν αἰσθήσει καλῶν, ἃ δὴ εἴδωλα καὶ σκιαί, [αἳ] οἷον ἐκδραμοῦσαι εἰς ὕλην ἐλθοῦσαι ἐκόσμησάν τε καὶ διεπτόησαν φανεῖσαι, τοσαῦτα.

And the power ordained for this recognises it — no power has more authority in judging what belongs to it — when the rest of the soul judges along with it. Or perhaps the soul itself speaks, fitting the thing to the form it has with it and using that for the judgement, as a rule is used for what is straight. But how does what is about body agree with what is before body? How does the builder, having fitted the outer house to the form of the house within, say that it is beautiful? Is it that the outer house, if you were to take away the stones, is the inner form divided by the outward mass of matter — partless, but appearing in many? So when sense-perception sees the form in bodies binding together and mastering the nature opposed to it, which is shapeless, and a shape riding conspicuously upon other shapes, it gathers into one what was scattered, and carries it up, and brings it within, now partless, and gives it to what is within as something in concord with it, fitting it, and dear to it: as a trace of virtue appearing in the young is pleasing to a good man, being in concord with the truth within him. The beauty of colour is simple, by shape and by the mastery of the darkness in matter, through the presence of a light that is incorporeal and is rational form and form. That is why fire itself, beyond the other bodies, is beautiful: it has the rank of form toward the other elements, above them in position and the finest of the other bodies, as being near the incorporeal; and it alone does not receive the others, while the others receive it. For they are warmed, but it is not cooled; it is coloured primarily, and the others take the form of colour from it. So it shines and glitters, as being form. What is not mastered, fading in the light, is no longer beautiful, as not participating in the whole form of colour. The harmonies in sounds, the unseen ones that make the audible ones, have in this way too made the soul grasp the beautiful, showing the same thing in another medium. It belongs to perceptible harmonies to be measured by numbers — not in every ratio, but in one that serves the making of form, so that it may master. So much, then, for the beautiful things in sense-perception, which are images and shadows that, as it were, run out and come into matter, and adorn it, and thrill us when they appear.

ἐν λόγῳ in the fourth paragraph is 'ratio', the ordinary sense (glossary). Volkmann brackets τε and αἳ as deletions; the English follows the text with both removed.

Greek collated line by line against the Volkmann plate (vol. 1, pp. 87–88); every departure of the First1KGreek transcription from the printed page is corrected and recorded in the apparatus.