In speaking of what Plato meant by the term “matter” Zeller says: “By Plato’s matter we have to understand not a mass filling space, but space itself. He never mentions it as that out of which, but only as that in which, things arise. According to him, bodies are formed when certain portions of space are thrown into the shapes of the four elements. That it is not a corporeal mass out of which, they arise in this manner is clear from the assertion that when they change into one another they are broken up into their smallest _plane_ dimensions in order to be compounded anew out of these. To carry this theory out strictly was difficult; and in another place (_Tim._ 30A, 52 D, f., 69B) he represents the matter as if the Deity, when engaged in the formation of the elements, had found ‘all that is visible’ already in existence as a chaotic mass moving without rule.”[125] (_e_) _Signs of the influence of Stoic philosophy._[126] Most commentators, from Grimm onwards, hold that the idea of the _Anima Mundi_, or World Soul, of Stoic philosophy is to be discovered in such passages as the following: ... Because the spirit of the Lord filleth the world, And that which holdeth all things together hath knowledge of every voice (i. 7). The all-pervading character of Wisdom, described in vii. 22-24, contains a similar thought: For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy, Alone in kind, manifold, Subtil, freely moving, Clear in utterance, unpolluted, Distinct, that cannot be harmed; Loving what is good, keen, unhindered, Beneficent, loving toward man, Steadfast, sure, free from care, All-powerful, all-surveying, And penetrating through all spirits That are quick of understanding, pure, subtil. For Wisdom is more mobile than any motion; Yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by reason of her pureness (cp. also vii. 27, viii. 1).