Would that you could fly up and see it all at once — the unmoved moving
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Hermes — εἴθε δυνατόν σοι ἦν πτηνῷ γενομένῳ ἀναπτῆναι εἰς τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ μέσον ἀρθέντα τῆς γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ ἰδεῖν γῆς μὲν τὸ στερεόν, θαλάσσης δὲ τὸ κεχυμένον, ποταμῶν δὲ τὰ ῥεύματα, ἀέρος τὸ ἀνειμένον, πυρὸς τὴν ὀξύτητα, ἄστρων τὸν δρόμον, οὐρανοῦ τὴν ταχύτητα, τὴν περὶ ταὐτὰ περίβασιν. ὦ θέας ἐκείνης, τέκνον, εὐτυχεστάτης, ὑπὸ μίαν ῥοπὴν πάντα ταῦτα θεάσασθαι, τὸν ἀκίνητον διακινούμενον, καὶ τὸν ἀφανῆ φαινόμενον δι' ὧν ποιεῖ· αὕτη ἡ τάξις τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὗτος ὁ κόσμος τῆς τάξεως.
Would that it were possible for you, becoming winged, to fly up into the air, and, lifted to the middle between earth and heaven, to see the solid of earth, the fluid of sea, the streams of rivers, the expanse of air, the sharpness of fire, the course of the stars, the swiftness of heaven, its circuit around the same points. O, of that sight, child, most fortunate — to behold all these at a single instant: the unmoved being moved, and the unseen appearing through the things it makes. This is the order of the cosmos, and this the beauty of the order.
Hermes wishes Tat could become winged and fly up into the air, and, lifted to the middle between earth and heaven, see the solid of earth, the fluid of sea, the streams of rivers, the expanse of air, the sharpness of fire, the course of the stars, the swiftness of heaven, its circuit around the same points. O most fortunate sight, child — to behold all these at a single instant: the unmoved being moved, and the unseen appearing through the things it makes. This is the order of the cosmos, and this the beauty of the order.
Hermes turns the design argument into a soaring imaginative flight — one of the most lyrical passages in the Corpus. 'Would that you could, becoming winged, fly up (πτηνῷ γενομένῳ ἀναπτῆναι)' and hang 'in the middle between earth and heaven,' taking in the whole world at once. What follows is a survey of the four elements and the heavens by their signatures — 'the solid of earth (γῆς τὸ στερεόν), the fluid of sea (θαλάσσης τὸ κεχυμένον),' the rivers' streams, air's expanse, fire's sharpness, the stars' course, heaven's swiftness. The interlinear keeps each element named by an abstract noun of its essential quality, the way the Greek does: not 'the sea' but 'the poured-out-ness of sea.'
The vision's payoff is the paradox CH V exists to state, and it is given in two perfect antitheses: 'to behold, at a single instant (ὑπὸ μίαν ῥοπήν), the unmoved being moved (τὸν ἀκίνητον διακινούμενον), and the unseen appearing through the things it makes (τὸν ἀφανῆ φαινόμενον δι' ὧν ποιεῖ).' Here the two great themes of the treatise fuse — the unmoved Mover of CH II and the unseen-yet-manifest God of CH V — both grasped in one glance from above. And it closes on a piece of untranslatable wordplay that the interlinear is built to expose: 'αὕτη ἡ τάξις τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὗτος ὁ κόσμος τῆς τάξεως.' κόσμος means both 'world' and 'ornament/beauty,' so the line rings as 'this is the order of the world, and this the beauty of the order' — the cosmos is order made beautiful, and beauty is order seen. No English can hold both senses of κόσμος at once; the Greek does, and that is exactly why the book reads word by word.
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