Physics 139
They say that there are eight parts of the soul, the five senses, the
spermatic principles in us, the vocal part and the reasoning part. We see
when the light which is the medium between the [power of] vision and
the external object is tensed in a conical fashion, as Chrysippus, in book
two of his Physics, and Apollodorus say. The conical part of the [tensed]
air meets our visual organ, and its base meets the object seen. So the
observed object is 'announced' [to us] by the tensed air, just as [the
ground is revealed to a blind man] by his walking stick. 158. We hear
when the air which is the medium between the speaker and the hearer
is struck in spherical fashion, and then forms waves and strikes our
auditory organs, just as the water in a cistern forms circular waves when
a stone is thrown into it. Sleep occurs when the perceptual tension is
relaxed in the region of the leading part of the soul. They say that
alterations of the pneuma are the causes of the passions. They say that a
seed is that which is able to generate other things which are of the same
sort as that from which it itself [the seed] was separated. Human seed,
which a human emits together with a moist [carrier], is blended with the
parts of the soul in a mixture of the [spermatic or rational] principles of
his ancestors. 159. In book two of his Physics Chrysippus says that it is
pneuma in its substance, as is clear from seeds which are sown in the
earth: when they get old they no longer germinate, obviously because
their potency has evaporated. And the followers of Sphaerus say that the
seed is derived from the whole body; at any rate, [the seed] is able to
generate all the parts of the body. But they claim that the [seed] of the
female is sterile; for it lacks tension, is limited in quantity, and is watery,
as Sphaerus says. And the leading part is the most authoritative [or:
dominant] part in the soul; in it occur the presentations and impulses,
and from it rational discourse is emitted. It is in the heart.
- These are their physical doctrines, as far as seems sufficient for
us [to relate], keeping in view [the need for] due symmetry in [the plan
of] my work ....
The Hymn to Zeus by Cleanthes (Stobaeus
Anthology 1.1.12 p. 25.3-27.4; SVF 1.537)
[11-21]Most glorious of the immortals, called by many names, ever
all-mighty
Zeus, leader of nature, guiding everything with law,
Hail! For it is right that all mortals should address you,
since all are descended from you and imitate your voice,
alone of all the mortals which live and creep upon the earth.
So I will sing your praises and hymn your might always.