[546a]
“How?” “Somewhat in this fashion. Hard in
truth1 it is for a state thus constituted to be shaken and disturbed; but
since for everything that has come into being destruction is appointed,2 not even such a fabric as this will abide
for all time, but it shall surely be dissolved, and this is the manner of
its dissolution. Not only for plants that grow from the earth but also for
animals that live upon it there is a cycle of bearing and barrenness3 for soul and body as often as the revolutions of
their orbs come full circle, in brief courses for the short-lived and
oppositely for the opposite; but the laws of prosperous birth or infertility
for your race,
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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