(or fourth), that of the irascible to the concupiscent (or
nete) making the diapente (or fifth), and that of the rational to the
concupiscent (as hypate to nete) making an octave or diapason. But
should you place the rational in the middle, you would make the
irascible farther from the concupiscent; though some of the philosophers
have taken the irascible and the concupiscent faculty for the selfsame,
by reason of their likeness.

But it may be ridiculous to describe the first, middle, and last by
their place; since we see hypate highest in the harp, lowest in the
pipe; and wheresoever you place the mese in the harp, provided it is
tunable, it sounds more acute than hypate, and more grave than nete. Nor
does the eye possess the same place in all animals; but whereever it is
placed, it is natural for it to see. So a pedagogue, though he goes not
foremost but follows behind, is said to lead ([Greek omitted]), as the
general of the Trojan army,

Now in the front, now in the rear was seen,
And kept command;
("Iliad," xi. 64.)

but wherever he was, he was first and chief in power. So the faculties
of the soul are not to be ranged by mere force in order of place or
name, but according to their power and analogy. For that in the body
of man reason is in the highest place, is accidental. But it holds
the chief and highest power, as mese to hypate, in respect of the
concupiscent; as mese to nete, in respect of the irascible; insomuch as
it depresses and heightens,--and in fine makes a harmony,--by abating
what is too much and by not suffering them to flatten and grow dull. For
what is moderate and symmetrous is defined by mediocrity. Still more is
it the end of the rational faculty to bring the passions to moderation,
which is called sacred, as making a harmony of the extremes with reason,
and through reason with each other. For in chariots the best of the team
is not in the middle; nor is the skill of driving to be placed as an
extreme, but it is a mean between the inequality of the swiftness and
the slowness of the horses. So the force of reason takes up the passions
irrationally moved, and reducing them to measure, constitutes a mean
betwixt too much and too little.

QUESTION X. WHY SAID PLATO, THAT SPEECH WAS COMPOSED OF NOUNS AND VERBS?
(Plato's "Sophist," p. 262 A.)

For he seems to make no other parts of speech but them. But Homer in a
playful humor has comprehended them all in one verse:--

[G