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The second is the number of generations or births, and presides

over them in the same mysterious manner in which the stars

preside over them, or in which, according to the Pythagoreans,

opportunity, justice, marriage, are represented by some number or

figure. This is probably the number 216.

The explanation given in the text supposes the two harmonies to

make up the number 8000. This explanation derives a certain

plausibility from the circumstance that 8000 is the ancient

number of the Spartan citizens (Herod.), and would be what Plato

might have called 'a number which nearly concerns the population

of a city'; the mysterious disappearance of the Spartan

population may possibly have suggested to him the first cause of

his decline of States. The lesser or square 'harmony,' of 400,

might be a symbol of the guardians,-the larger or oblong

'harmony,' of the people, and the numbers 3, 4, 5 might refer

respectively to the three orders in the State or parts of the

soul, the four virtues, the five forms of government. The harmony

of the musical scale, which is elsewhere used as a symbol of the

harmony of the state, is also indicated. For the numbers 3, 4, 5,

which represent the sides of the Pythagorean triangle, also

denote the intervals of the scale.