The numerical composition of the World Soul was given what form and movement? Timaios says that after dividing the mixture by proportion, he split the whole into two bands and overlapped them in an X shape to create two circles.

The outer part is a circle of identity, and the inner part is a circle of otherness. The latter is further divided into seven circles. In this way, the completed soul envelops the body of the world from both inside and outside, becoming the beginning of an eternal, intelligent life.

Dialogue Text

Timaios (Continued) After that, in order to compensate for the intervals between two and three, we cut out further portions from there and placed them in between. In this way, each interval had two intermediate terms. One was exceeded by the same proportion on both ends, and also exceeded by the same proportion. The other was exceeded by an equal amount numerically, and exceeded by an equal amount.

Timaios (Continued): Through such combinations, ratios of two to three, three to four, and nine to eight arose between the intervals. The interval of two to three and the interval of three to four, which resulted from these combinations, were completely filled by the interval of nine to eight; however, a portion remained in each. If this remaining portion is expressed as a ratio of numbers, it is 256 to 243.

Timaios (Continued) Thus, we used up all of the mixture that had been extracted. Next, this entire mass was split lengthwise into two parts, and each part was bent so that its center overlapped with the other, forming a shape like the Greek letter Χ, creating a circle. The two bands were joined at their points of contact, both to themselves and to each other, enclosing them in a rotating motion while remaining in the same position. One band became the outer circle, and the other became the inner circle.

Timaios (Continued) He named the outer movement as belonging to the nature of "identity," and the inner movement as belonging to the nature of "difference." He made the circle of identity rotate horizontally to the right, and the circle of difference rotate diagonally to the left. And he gave priority to the movements of identity and similarity, leaving them as a single, undivided circle. On the other hand, he divided the inner circle into seven circles at six points, with intervals of two and three, making them mutually different. Three were separated by an interval of two, and three were separated by an interval of three. He ordered these circles to move in opposite directions from each other, but regarding their speed, he made three of them move equally, the remaining four moved differently from each other, and also differently from the three, all while following a fixed ratio.

Timaios (Continued): In this way, the entire structure of the soul was completed according to the reason of the one who assembled it. Afterwards, all physical elements were incorporated within the soul, and connected with the center aligned as a central point. The soul expanded in every direction from the center to the outermost part of the heavens, rotating within itself while enveloping the entire body from the outside, thus becoming the beginning of an eternal, intellectual, and uninterrupted life.