0. IT being our determination to discourse of Natural Philosophy, we judge it necessary, in the first place and chiefly, to divide the body of philosophy into its proper members, that we may know what is that which is called philosophy, and what part of it is physical, or the explanation of natural things. The Stoics affirm that wisdom is the knowledge of things human and divine; that philosophy is the exercise of that art which is expedient to this knowledge; that virtue is the sole and sovereign art which is thus expedient; and this distributes itself into three general parts, —natural, moral, and logical. By which just reason (they say) philosophy is tripartite; of which one is natural, the other moral, the third logical. The natural is when our enquiries are concerning the world and all things contained in it; the ethical is the employment of our minds in those things which concern the manners of man’s life; the logical (which they also call dialectical) regulates our conversation with others in speaking. Aristotle, Theophrastus, and after them almost all the Peripatetics give the following division of philosophy. It is absolutely requisite that the complete person be contemplator of things which have a being, and the practiser of those things which are decent; and this easily appears by the following instances. If the question be proposed, whether the sun, which is so conspicuous to us, be informed with a soul or inanimate, he that makes this disquisition is the thinking man; for he proceeds no farther than to consider the nature of that thing which is proposed. Likewise, if the question be proposed, whether the world be infinite, or whether beyond the system of this world there is any real being, all these things are the objects about which the understanding of man is conversant. But if these be the questions, —what measures must be taken to compose the well ordered life of man, what are the best methods to govern and educate children, or what are the exact rules whereby sovereigns may command and establish laws,—all these queries are proposed for the sole end of action, and the man conversant therein is the moral and practical man.
0. μέλλοντες τὸν φυσικὸν παραδώσειν λόγον ἀναγκαῖον ἡγούμεθα εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχαῖς διελέσθαι τὴν τῆς φιλοσοφίας πραγματείαν, ἵνʼ εἰδῶμεν τί ἐστι καὶ πόστον μέρος αὐτῆς ἡ φυσικὴ διέξοδος. οἱ μὲν οὖν Στωικοὶ ἔφασαν τὴν μὲν σοφίαν εἶναι θείων τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων ἐπιστήμην, τὴν δὲ φιλοσοφίαν ἄσκησιν ἐπιτηδείου τέχνης, ἐπιτήδειον δʼ εἶναι μίαν καὶ ἀνωτάτω τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀρετὰς δὲ τὰς γενικωτάτας τρεῖς, φυσικὴν ἠθικὴν λογικήν· διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν καὶ τριμερής ἐστιν ἡ φιλοσοφία, ἧς τὸ μὲν φυσικὸν τὸ δʼ ἠθικὸν τὸ δὲ λογικόν· καὶ φυσικὸν μὲν ὅταν περὶ κόσμου ζητῶμεν καὶ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ, ἠθικὸν δὲ τὸ κατησχολημένον περὶ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, λογικὸν δὲ τὸ περὶ τὸν λόγον, ὃ καὶ διαλεκτικὸν καλοῦσιν. Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ καὶ Θεόφραστος καὶ σχεδὸν πάντες οἱ Περιπατητικοὶ διείλοντο τὴν φιλοσοφίαν οὕτως· ἀναγκαῖον τὸν τέλειον ἄνδρα καὶ θεωρητικὸν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων καὶ πρακτικὸν τῶν δεόντων· τοῦτο δʼ ἔξεστι καὶ ἐκ τούτων συνιδεῖν, οἷον ζητεῖται εἰ ζῷον ἢ μὴ ζῷον ὁ ἣλιος, εἴπερ ὁρᾶται· ὁ τοῦτο δὲ ζητῶν θεωρητικός ἐστιν· οὐδὲ γάρ τι πλέον θεωρεῖται ἢ τὸ ὄν. ζητεῖται ὁμοίως εἰ ἄπειρος ὁ κόσμος ἐστὶ καὶ εἰ ἔξω τι τοῦ κόσμου ἔστι· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα θεωρητικά. ζητεῖται πάλιν πῶς βιοτεύειν καὶ πῶς προΐστασθαι τέκνων προσήκει καὶ πῶς ἄρχειν καὶ πῶς νομοθετεῖν· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἕνεκα τοῦ πρᾶξαι ζητεῖται καὶ ἔστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος πρακτικὸς ἀνήρ.
1. SINCE we have undertaken to make a diligent search into Nature, I cannot but conclude it necessary to declare what Nature is. It is very absurd to attempt a discourse of the essence of natural things, and not to understand what is the power and sphere of Nature. If Aristotle be credited, Nature is the principle of motion and rest, in that thing in which it exists principally and not by accident. For all things that are conspicuous to our eyes, which are neither fortuitous nor necessary, nor have a divine original, nor acknowledge any such like cause, are called natural and enjoy their proper nature. Of this sort are earth, fire, water, air, plants, animals; to these may be added all things produced from them, such as showers, hail, thunders, hurricanes, and winds. All these confess they had a beginning, none of these were from eternity, but had something as the origin of them; and likewise animals and plants have a principle whence they are produced. But Nature, which in all these things hath the priority, is the principle not only of motion but of repose; whatsoever enjoys the principle of motion, the same has a possibility to find a dissolution. Therefore on this account it is that Nature is the principle of motion and rest.
1. ἐπειδὴ πρόκειται ἡμῖν τὰ φυσικὰ θεωρῆσαι, ἀναγκαῖον ἡγοῦμαι δηλῶσαι, τί ποτʼ ἐστὶν ἡ φύσις ἄτοπον γὰρ πειρᾶσθαι μὲν φυσιολογεῖν, ἀγνοεῖν δʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, τὴν τῆς φύσεως δύναμιν. ἔστιν οὖν, κατὰ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην, φύσις ἀρχὴ κινήσεως καὶ ἠρεμίας, ἐν ᾧ πρώτως ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ κατὰ συμβεβηκός· πάντα γὰρ τὰ ὁρώμενα, ὅσα μήτε ὑπὸ τύχης μήτε ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης μήτʼ ἐστὶ θεῖα μήτε· τοιαύτην αἰτίαν ἔχει, φυσικὰ λέγεται καὶ φύσιν ἰδίαν ἔχει οἷον γῆ πῦρ ὕδωρ ἀὴρ φυτὰ ζῷα· ἔτι δὲ ταῦτα τὰ γινόμενα, ὄμβροι χάλαζαι κεραυνοὶ πρηστῆρες ἄνεμοι ταῦτα γὰρ ἀρχὴν ἔχει τινα· οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἕκαστον τούτων ἐστὶν ἀλλʼ ἀπό τινος ἀρχῆς γίνεται· καὶ ταῦτα μέντοι, οἷον ζῷα φυτά, ἀρχὴν γενέσεως ἔχει· ἐν δὴ τούτοις ἡ φύσις ἀρχὴ τὸ πρῶτόν ἐστι καὶ οὐ μόνον κινήσεως ἀλλὰ καὶ ἠρεμίας ὅσα γὰρ ἀρχὴν κινήσεως ἔλαβε, ταῦτα δύναται λαβεῖν καὶ τελευτήν. διὰ τοῦτο οὖν ἡ φύσις ἀρχὴ κινήσεώς ἐστι καὶ ἠρεμίας οἱ μὲν·
2. THE followers of Aristotle and Plato conclude that the elements are discriminated from a principle. Thales the Milesian supposeth that a principle and the elements are one and the same thing, but it is evident that they vastly differ one from another. For the elements are things compounded; but we do pronounce that principles admit not of a composition, nor are the effects of any other being. Those which we call elements are earth, water, air, and fire. But we term those principles which have nothing precedent to them out of which they are produced; for otherwise not these themselves, but rather those things whereof they are produced, would be the principles. Now there are some things which have a pre-existence to earth and water, from which they are begotten; to wit, matter, which is without form or shape; then form, which we call ἐντελέχεια (actuality); and lastly, privation. Thales therefore is very peccant, by affirming that water is both an element and a principle.
2. οὖν περὶ Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Πλάτωνα διαφέρειν ἡγοῦνται ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα, Θαλῆς δʼ ὁ Μιλήσιος ταὐτὸν νομίζει ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα. πλεῖστον δʼ ὅσον διαφέρει ἀλλήλων τὰ μὲν γὰρ στοιχεῖά ἐστι σύνθετα, τὰς δʼ ἀρχάς φαμεν εἶναι οὔτε συνθέτους οὔτʼ ἀποτελέσματα οἷον στοιχεῖα μὲν καλοῦμεν γῆν ὕδωρ ἀέρα πῦρ· ἀρχὰς δὲ λὲγομεν διὰ τοῦτο, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει τι πρότερον ἐξ οὗ γεννᾶται, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἀρχὴ τοῦτο, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνο ἐξ οὗ γεγέννηται. τῆς δὲ γῆς καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἔστι τινὰ πρότερα ἐξ ὧν γέγονεν, ἡ ὕλη ἄμορφος οὖσα καὶ ἀειδής, καὶ τὸ εἶδος ὃ καλοῦμεν ἐντελέχειαν, καὶ ἡ στέρησις. ἁμαρτάνει οὖν ὁ Θαλῆς στοιχεῖον καὶ ἀρχὴν λέγων τὸ ὕδωρ, Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀπεφὴνατο τὸ ὕδωρ·
3. THALES the Milesian doth affirm that water is the principle whence all things in the universe spring. This person appears to be the first of philosophers; from him the Ionic sect took its denomination, for there are many families and successions amongst philosophers. After he had professed philosophy in Egypt, when he was very old, he returned to Miletus. He pronounced, that all things had their original from water, and into water all things are resolved. His first reason was, that whatsoever was the prolific seed of all animals was a principle, and that is moist; so that it is probable that all things receive their original from humidity. His second reason was, that all plants are nourished and fructified by that thing which is moist, of which being deprived they wither away. Thirdly, that that fire of which the sun and stars are made is nourished by watery exhalations,—yea, and the world itself; which moved Homer to sing that the generation of it was from water:—The ocean isOf all things the kind genesis.
3. δοκεῖ δʼ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἄρξαι τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ Ἰωνικὴ αἵρεσις προσηγορεύθη· ἐγένοντο γὰρ πλεῖσται διαδοχαὶ φιλοσοφίας. φιλοσοφήσας δʼ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πρεσβύτσρος ἦλθεν εἰς Μίλητον. ἐξ ὕδατος δέ φησι πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι στοχάζεται δʼ ἐκ τούτου πρῶτον, ὅτι πάντων τῶν ζῴων ἡ γονὴ ἀρχή ἐστιν, ὑγρὰ οὖσα· οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ὑγροῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν. δεύτερον, ὅτι πάντα τὰ φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεται καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ ξηραίνεται τρίτον, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τὸ τῶν ἄστρων ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναθυμιάσεσι τρέφεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κόσμος· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ὅμηρος ταύτην τὴν γνώμην ὑποτίθεται περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος Ὠκεανός, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται.
Anaximander, who himself was a Milesian, assigns the principle of all things to the Infinite, from whence all things flow, and into the same are corrupted; hence it is that infinite worlds are framed, and those vanish again into that whence they have their original. And thus he farther proceeds, For what other reason is there of an Infinite but this, that there may be nothing deficient as to the generation or subsistence of what is in nature? There is his error, that he doth not acquaint us what this Infinite is, whether it be air, or water, or earth, or any other such like body. Besides he is peccant, in that, giving us the material cause, he is silent as to the efficient cause of beings; for this thing which he makes his Infinite can be nothing but matter; but operation cannot take place in the sphere of matter, except an efficient cause be annexed.
Ἀναξίμανδρος δʼ ὁ Μιλήσιός φησι τῶν ὄντων τὴν ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὸ ἄπειρον ἐκ γὰρ τούτου πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο πάντα φθείρεσθαι διὸ καὶ γεννᾶσθαι ἀπείρους κόσμους, καὶ πάλιν φθείρεσθαι εἰς τὸ ἐξ οὗ γίνονται. λέγει γοῦν διότι ἄπειρόν ἐστιν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐλλείπῃ ἡ γένεσις ἡ ὑφισταμένη. ἁμαρτάνει δʼ οὗτος, μὴ λέγων τί ἐστι τὸ ἄπειρον, πότερον ἀήρ ἐστιν ἢ ὕδωρ ἢ γῆ ἢ ἄλλα τινὰ σώματα. ἁμαρτάνει οὖν, τὴν μὲν ὕλην ἀποφαινὸ μενος τὸ δὲ ποιοῦν αἴτιον ἀναιρῶν· τὸ γὰρ ἄπειρον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ ὕλη ἐστίν οὐ δύναται δʼ ἡ ὕλη εἶναι ἐνεργείᾳ, ἂν μὴ τὸ ποιοῦν ὑποκέηται. Ἀναξιμένης δʼ ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀέρα ἀπεφήνατο·
Anaximenes his fellow-citizen pronounceth, that air is the principle of all beings; from it all receive their original, and into it all return. He affirms that our soul is nothing but air; it is that which constitutes and preserves; the whole world is invested with spirit and air. For spirit and air are synonymous. This person is in this deficient, that he concludes that of pure air, which is a simple body and is made of one only form, all animals are composed. It is not possible to think that a single principle should be the matter of all things, from whence they receive their subsistence; besides this there must be an operating cause. Silver (for example) is not of itself sufficient to frame a drinking cup; an operator also is required, which is the silversmith. The like may be applied to vessels made of wood, brass, or any other material.
ἐκ γὰρ τούτου τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν πάλιν ἀναλύεσθαι, οἷον ἡ ψυχή φησὶν ἡ ἡμετέρα ἀὴρ οὖσα συγκρατεῖ ἡμᾶς καὶ ὅλον τὸν κόσμον πνεῦμα καὶ ἀὴρ περιέχει· λέγεται δὲ συνωνύμως ἀὴρ καὶ πνεῦμα. ἁμαρτάνει δὲ καὶ οὗτος, ἐξ ἁπλοῦ καὶ μονοειδοῦς ἀέρος καὶ πνεύματος δοκῶν συνεστάναι τὰ ζῷα· ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἀρχὴν μίαν τὴν ὕλην τῶν ὄντων, ἐξ ἧς τὰ πάντα, ὑποστῆναι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ποιοῦν αἴτιον χρὴ ὑποτιθέναι οἷον ἄργυρος οὐκ ἀρκεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἔκπωμα γενέσθαι, ἂν μὴ καὶ τὸ ποιοῦν ᾖ, τουτέστιν ὁ ἀργυροκόπος ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ χαλκοῦ καὶ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ὕλης. Ἀναξαγόρας ὁ Κλαζομένιος ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων τὰς ὁμοιομερείας ἀπεφήνατο·
Anaxagoras the Clazomenian asserted Homoeomeries (or parts similar or homogeneous) to be the original cause of all beings; it seemed to him impossible that any thing could arise of nothing or be resolved into nothing. Let us therefore instance in nourishment, which appears simple and uniform, such as bread which we owe to Ceres, and water which we drink. Of this very nutriment, our hair, our veins, our arteries, nerves, bones, and all our other parts are nourished. These things thus being performed, it must be granted that the nourishment which is received by us contains all those things by which these parts of us are increased. In it there are those particles which are producers of blood, bones, nerves, and all other parts; which particles (as he thought) reason discovers for us. For it is not necessary that we should reduce all things under the objects of sense; for bread and water are fitted to the senses, yet in them there are those particles latent which are discoverable only by reason. It being therefore evident that there are particles in the nourishment similar to what is produced thereby, he terms these homogeneous parts, averring that they are the principles of beings. Matter is according to him these similar parts, and the efficient cause is a Mind, which orders all things that have an existence. Thus he begins his discourse: “All things were confused one among another; but Mind divided and reduced them to order.” In this he is to be commended, that he yokes together matter and an intellectual agent.
ἐδόκει γὰρ αὐτῷ ἀπορώτατον εἶναι, πῶς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος δύναταί γίνεσθαι ἢ φθείρεσθαι εἰς τὸ μὴ ὄν· τροφὴν γοῦν προσφερόμεθα ἁπλῆν καὶ μονοειδῆ, οἷον τὸν Δημήτριον ἄρτον, τὸ ὕδωρ πίνοντες· καὶ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς τροφῆς τρέφεται θρὶξ φλὲψ ἀρτηρία νεῦρα ὀστᾶ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μόρια. τούτων οὖν γινομένων, ὁμολογητέον ἐστὶν ὅτι ἐν τῇ τροφῇ τῇ προσφερομένῃ πάντα ἐστὶ τὰ ὄντα καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὄντων πάντα αὔξεται καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ ἐστὶ τῇ τροφῇ μόρια αἵματος γεννητικὰ καὶ νεύρων καὶ ὀστέων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἃ ἦν λόγῳ θεωρητὰ μόρια. οὐ γὰρ δεῖ πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀνάγειν, ὅτι ἄρτος καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ταῦτα κατασκευάζει, ἀλλʼ ἐν τούτοις ἔστι λόγῳ θεωρητὰ μόρια. ἀπὸ τοῦ οὖν ὅμοια τὰ μέρη εἶναι ἐν τῇ τροφῇ τοῖς γεννωμένοις ὁμοιομερείας αὐτὰ ἐκάλεσε καὶ ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων ἀπεφήνατο καὶ τὰς μὲν ὁμοιομερείας ὕλην, τὸ δὲ ποιοῦν αἴτιον τὸν νοῦν τὸν τὰ πάντα διαταξάμενον. ἄρχεται δʼ οὕτως ὁμοῦ πάντα χρήματα ἦν, νοῦς δʼ αὐτὰ διῄρε καὶ διεκόσμησε χρήματα λέγων τὰ πράγματα. ἀποδεκτέος οὖν ἐστιν, ὅτι τῇ ὕλῃ τὸν τεχνίτην προσέζευξεν. Ἀρχέλαος Ἀπολλοδώρου Ἀθηναῖος ἀέρα ἄπειρον καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν πυκνότητα καὶ μάνωσιν·
Archelaus the son of Apollodorus, the Athenian, pronounceth, that the principles of all things have their original from an infinite air rarefied or condensed. Air rarefied is fire, condensed is water. These philosophers, the followers of Thales, succeeding one another, made up that sect which takes to itself the denomination of the Ionic.
τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν εἶναι πῦρ τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐφεξῆς; ἀλλήλοις ταῖς διαδοχαῖς γενόμενοι τὴν λεχθεῖσαν Ἰωνικὴν συμπληροῦσι φιλοσοφίαν ἀπὸ Θάλητος.
Pythagoras the Samian, the son of Mnesarchus, from another origin deduces the principles of all things; it was he who first gave philosophy its name. He assigns the first principles to be numbers, and those symmetries resulting from them which he styles harmonies; and the result of both combined he terms elements, called geometrical. Again, he enumerates unity and the indefinite binary number amongst the principles. One of these principles tends to an efficient and forming cause, which is Mind, and that is God; the other to the passive and material part, and that is the visible world. Moreover the nature of number (he saith) consists in the ten; for all people, whether Grecians or barbarians, reckon from one to ten, and thence return to one again. Farther he avers the virtue of ten consists in the quaternion; the reason whereof is this,— if any person reckon from one, and by addition place his numbers so as to take in the quaternary, he shall complete the number ten; if he exceed the four, he shall go beyond the ten; for one, two, three, and four being cast up together make up ten. The nature of numbers, therefore, if we regard the units, resteth in the ten; but if we regard its power, in the four. Therefore the Pythagoreans say that their most sacred oath is by that God who delivered to them the quaternary.By th’ founder of the sacred number four,Eternal Nature’s font and root, they swore.
πάλιν δʼ ἀπʼ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς Πυθαγόρας Μνησάρχου Σάμιος, ὁ πρῶτος φιλοσοφίαν τούτῳ τῷ ῥήματι προσαγορεύσας, ἀρχὰς τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς καὶ τὰς συμμετρίας τὰς ἐν τούτοις, ἃς καὶ ἁρμονίας καλεῖ τὰ δʼ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων σύνθετα στοιχεῖα, καλούμενα δὲ γεωμετρικά· πάλιν δὲ τὴν μονάδα καὶ τὴν ἀόριστον δυάδα ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς. σπεύδει δʼ αὐτῷ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ ποιητικὸν αἴτιον καὶ εἰδικόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ νοῦς,· ὁ θεός, ἡ δʼ ἐπὶ τὸ παθητικὸν τε καὶ ὑλικόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ ὁρατὸς κόσμος·. εἶναι δὲ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ δεκάδα· μέχρι γὰρ τῶν δέκα πάντες Ἕλληνες, πάντες βάρβαροι ἀριθμοῦσιν, ἐφʼ ἃ ἐλθόντες πάλιν ἀναποδοῦσιν ἐπὶ τὴν μονάδα· καὶ τῶν δέκα πάλιν, φησίν, ἡ δύναμίς ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς τέσσαρσι καὶ τῇ τετράδι τὸ δʼ αἴτιον, εἴ τις ἀπὸ τῆς μονάδος ἀναποδῶν κατὰ πρόσθεσιν τιθείη τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς ἄχρι τῶν τεσσάρων προελθὼν ἐκπληρώσει τὸν δέκα ἀριθμόν ἐὰν δὲ ὑπερβάληται τὸν τῆς τετράδος, καὶ τῶν δέκα ὑπερεκπεσεῖται οἷον εἴ τις θείη ἓν καὶ δύο προσθείη καὶ τρία καὶ τούτοις τέσσαρα, τὸν τῶν δέκα πληρώσει ἀριθμόν·
Of this number the soul of man is composed; for mind, knowledge, opinion, and sense are the four that complete the soul, from which all sciences, all arts, all rational faculties derive themselves. For what our mind perceives, it perceives after the manner of a thing that is one, the soul itself being a unity; as for instance, a multitude of persons are not the object of our sense nor are comprehended by us, for they are infinite; our understanding gives the general notion of a man, in which all individuals agree. The number of individuals is infinite; the generic or specific nature of all being is a unit, or to be apprehended as one only thing; from this one conception we give the genuine measures of all existence, and therefore we affirm that a certain class of beings are rational and discoursive beings. But when we come to give the nature of a horse, it is that animal which neighs; and this being common to all horses, it is manifest that the understanding, which hath such like conceptions, is in its nature unity. The number which is called the infinite binary must needs be science; in every demonstration or belief belonging to science, and in every syllogism, we draw that conclusion which is the question doubted of, from those propositions which are by all granted, by which means another proposition is demonstrated. The comprehension of these we call knowledge; for which reason science is the binary number. But opinion is the ternary; for that rationally follows from comprehension. The objects of opinion are many things, and the ternary number denotes a multitude, as “Thrice happy Grecians;” for which reason Pythagoras admits the ternary. This sect of philosophers is called the Italic, by reason Pythagoras opened his school in Italy; his hatred of the tyranny of Polycrates enforced him to leave his native country Samos.
ὥστε ὁ ἀριθμὸς κατὰ μὲν μονάδα ἐν τοῖς δέκα κατὰ δὲ δύναμιν ἐν τοῖς τέσσαρσι διὸ καὶ ἐφθέγγοντο οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι, ὡς μεγίστου ὅρκου ὄντος τῆς τετράδος,οὐ μὰ τὸν ἁμετέρᾳ ψυχᾷ παραδόντα τετρακτύν,παγὰν ἀενάου φύσεος ῥίζωμὰ τʼ ἔχουσαν.καὶ ἡ ἡμετέρα ψυχή φησὶν ἐκ τετράδος σύγκειται εἶναι γὰρ νοῦν ἐπιστήμην δόξαν αἴσθησιν, ἐξ ὧν πᾶσα τέχνη καὶ ἐπιστήμη καὶ αὐτοὶ λογικοὶ ἐσμεν. νοῦς μὲν οὖν ἡ μονάς ἐστιν· ὁ γὰρ νοῦς κατὰ μονάδα θεωρεῖται, οἷον πολλῶν ὄντων ἀνθρώπων οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ μέρους εἰσὶν ἀναίσθητοι ἀπερίληπτοι καὶ ἄπειροι, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἄνθρωπον ἕνα μόνον νοοῦμεν, ᾧ οὐδεὶς ἔτυχεν ὅμοιος· καὶ ἵππον ἕνα μόνον νοοῦμεν, οἱ δʼ ἐπὶ μέρους εἰσὶν ἄπειροι. τὰ γὰρ εἴδη ταῦτα πάντα καὶ γένη κατὰ μονάδας εἰσί· διὸ καὶ ἐπὶ· ἑνὸς ἑκάστου αὐτῶν τοῦτον τὸν ὅρον ἀποδιδόντες λέγουσι ζῷον λογικὸν ἢ ζῷον χρεμετιστικὸν ῥητέον. διὰ τοῦτο οὖν νοῦς ἡ μονάς, ᾧ ταῦτα νοοῦμεν, καὶ ἡ δυὰς δʼ ἡ ἀόριστος ἐπιστήμη, εἰκότως· πᾶσα γὰρ ἀπόδειξις καὶ πᾶσα πίστις ἐπιστήμης, πρὸς δὲ καὶ πᾶς συλλογισμὸς ἔκ τινων ὁμολογουμένων τὸ ἀμφισβητούμενον συνάγει καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀποδείκνυται ἕτερον· ὧν ἡ ἐπιστήμη κατάληψίς ἐστι, διὸ εἴη ἂν δυάς. ἡ δὲ δόξα τριὰς ἐκ καταλήψεώς ἐστιν, εὐλόγως, ὅτι πολλῶν ἐστιν ἡ δόξα ἡ δὲ τριὰς πλῆθος, ὡς τρισμάκαρες Δαναοὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὖν ἐγκρίνει τὴν τριάδα … ἡ δὲ τούτων αἵρεσις Ἰταλικὴ προσηγορεύθη διὰ τὸ τὸν Πυθαγόραν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ σχολάσαι μετέστη γὰρ ἀπὸ Σάμου τῆς πατρίδος, τῇ Πολυκράτους τυραννίδι δυσαρεστήσας.
Heraclitus and Hippasus of Metapontum suppose that fire gives the origination to all beings, that they all flow from fire, and in fire they all conclude; for of fire when first quenched the world was constituted. The first part of the world, being most condensed and contracted within itself, made the earth; but part of that earth being loosened and made thin by fire, water was produced; afterwards this water being exhaled and rarefied into vapors became air; after all this the world itself, and all other corporeal beings, shall be dissolved by fire in the universal conflagration. By them therefore it appears that fire is what gives beginning to all things, and is that in which all things receive their period.
Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὅλων τὸ πῦρ· ἐκ πυρὸς γὰρ τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς πῦρ πάντα τελευτᾶν λέγουσι· τούτου δὲ κατασβεννυμένου, κοσμοποιεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὸ παχυμερέστατον αὐτοῦ εἰς αὑτὸ συστελλόμενον γῆν γίνεσθαι, ἔπειτʼ ἀναχαλωμένην τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς φύσει ὕδωρ ἀποτελεῖσθαι, ἀναθυμιώμενον δʼ ἀέρα γίνεσθαι πάλιν δὲ τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ σώματα ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀναλοῦσθαι ἐν τῇ ἐκπυρώσει.
Epicurus the son of Neocles, the Athenian, his philosophical sentiments being the same with those of Democritus, affirms that the principles of all being are bodies which are perceptible only by reason; they admit not of a vacuity, nor of any original, but being of a self-existence are eternal and incorruptible; they are not liable to any diminution, they are indestructible, nor is it possible for them to receive any transformation of parts, or admit of any alterations; of these reason only is the discoverer; they are in a perpetual motion in vacuity, and by means of the empty space; for the vacuum itself is infinite, and the bodies that move in it are infinite. Those bodies acknowledge these three accidents, figure, magnitude, and gravity. Democritus acknowledged but two, magnitude and figure. Epicurus added the third, to wit, gravity; for he pronounced that it is necessary that bodies receive their motion from that impression which springs from gravity, otherwise they could not be moved. The figures of atoms cannot be apprehended by our senses, but they are not infinite. These figures are neither hooked nor trident-shaped nor ring-shaped, such figures as these being easily broken; but the atoms are impassible, impenetrable; they have indeed figures proper to themselves, which are discovered only by reason. It is called an atom, by reason not of its smallness but of its indivisibility; in it no vacuity, no passible affection is to be found. And that there is an atom is perfectly clear; for there are elements which have a perpetual duration, and there are animals which admit of a vacuity, and there is a unity.
ἀρχὴ οὖν τὸ πῦρ, ὅτι ἐκ τούτου τὰ πάντα· τέλος δέ, ὅτι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλύεται τὰ πάντα. Ἐπίκουρος Νεοκλέους Ἀθηναῖος κατὰ Δημόκριτον φιλοσοφήσας ἔφη τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων σώματα λόγῳ θεωρητά, ἀμέτοχα κενοῦ, ἀγένητα, ἀίδια, ἄφθαρτα, οὔτε θραυσθῆναι δυνάμενα οὔτε διάπλασιν ἐκ τῶν μερῶν λαβεῖν οὔτʼ ἀλλοιωθῆναι εἶναι δʼ αὐτὰ λόγῳ θεωρητά ταῦτα μέντοι κινεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ κενῷ καὶ διὰ τοῦ κενοῦ· εἶναι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ κενὸν ἄπειρον καὶ τὰ σώματα ἄπειρα. συμβεβηκέναι δὲ τοῖς σώμασι τρία ταῦτα, σχῆμα μέγεθος βάρος. Δημόκριτος μὲν γὰρ ἔλεγε δύο, μέγεθὸς τε καὶ σχῆμα, ὁ δʼ Ἐπίκουρος τούτοις καὶ τρίτον, τὸ βάρος, προσέθηκεν· ἀνάγκη γάρ φησὶ κινεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα τῇ τοῦ βάρους πληγῇ·, ἐπεὶ οὐ κινηθήσεται εἶναι δὲ τὰ σχήματα τῶν ἀτόμων ἀπερίληπτα οὐκ ἄπειρα μὴ γὰρ εἶναι μήτʼ ἀγκιστροειδεῖς μήτε τριαινοειδεῖς μήτε κρικοειδεῖς· ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ σχήματα εὔθραυστά ἐστιν· αἱ δʼ ἄτομοι ἀπαθεῖς ἄθραυστοι, ἴδια δʼ ἔχειν σχήματα λόγῳ θεωρητά. καὶ εἴρηται ἄτομος, οὐχ ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐλαχίστη ἀλλʼ ὅτι οὐ δύναται τμηθῆναι, ἀπαθὴς οὖσα καὶ ἀμέτοχος κενοῦ· ὥστε, ἐὰν εἴπῃ ἄτομον, ἄθραυστον λέγει καὶ ἀπαθῆ, ἀμέτοχον κενοῦ. ὅτι δὲ ἔστιν ἄτομος, σαφές·
Empedocles the Agrigentine, the son of Meton, affirms that there are four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, and two powers which bear the greatest command in nature, concord and discord, of which one is the union, the other the division of beings. Thus he sings,Mark the four roots of all created things:—Bright shining Jove, Juno that giveth life,Pluto beneath the earth, and Nestis whoDoth with her tears supply the mortal fount.
καὶ γὰρ ἔστι στοιχεῖα ἀεὶ ὄντα καὶ ζῷα κενὰ καὶ ἡ μονάς. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς Μέτωνος Ἀκραγαντῖνος τέτταρα μὲν λέγει στοιχεῖα, πῦρ ἀέρα ὕδωρ γῆν· δύο δʼ ἀρχικὰς δυνάμεις, φιλίαν τε καὶ νεῖκος· ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστιν ἑνωτικὴ τὸ δὲ διαιρετικόν. φησὶ δʼ οὕτωςτέσσαρα τῶν πάντων ῥιζώματα πρῶτον ἄκουε.Ζεὺς ἀργὴς Ἥρη·
By Jupiter he means fire and aether, by Juno that gives life he means the air, by Pluto the earth, by Nestis and the fountain of all mortals (as it were) seed and water.
τε φερέσβιος ἠδʼ Ἀιδωνεύς,νῆστὶς θʼ, ἣ δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα βρότειον.
Socrates the son of Sophroniscus, and Plato son of Ariston, both natives of Athens, entertain the same opinion concerning the universe; for they suppose three principles, God, matter, and the idea. God is the universal understanding; matter is that which is the first substratum, accommodated for the generation and corruption of beings; the idea is an incorporeal essence, existing in the cogitations and apprehensions of God; for God is the soul and mind of the world.
Δία μὲν γὰρ λέγει τὴν ζέσιν καὶ τὸν αἰθέρα, Ἥρην δὲ φερέσβιον τὸν ἀέρα, τὴν δὲ γῆν τὸν Ἀιδωνέα, Νῆστιν δὲ καὶ κρούνωμα βρότειον οἱονεὶ τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ. Σωκράτης Σωφρονίσκου Ἀθηναῖος καὶ Πλάτων Ἀρίστωνος Ἀθηναῖος ʽαἱ γὰρ αὐταὶ περὶ παντὸς ἑκατέρου δόξαἰ τρεῖς ἀρχάς, τὸν θεὸν τὴν ὕλην τὴν ἰδέαν. ὁ δὲ θεὸς νοῦς ἐστι τοῦ κόσμου, ὕλη δὲ τὸ ὑποκείμενον πρῶτον γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ, ἰδέα δʼ οὐσία ἀσώματος ἐν τοῖς νοήμασι καὶ ταῖς φαντασίαις τοῦ θεοῦ.
Aristotle the son of Nichomachus, the Stagirite, constitutes three principles; Entelecheia (which is the same with form), matter, and privation. He acknowledges four elements, and adds a certain fifth body, which is ethereal and not obnoxious to mutation.
Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ Νικομάχου Σταγειρίτης ἀρχὰς μὲν ἐντελέχειαν, ἤτοι εἶδος ὕλην στέρησιν· στοιχεῖα δὲ τέτταρα, πέμπτον δέ τι σῶμα αἰθέριον ἀμετάβλητον.
Zeno son of Mnaseas, the native of Citium, avers these principles to be God and matter, the first of which is the efficient cause, the other the passible and receptive. Four elements he likewise confesses.
Ζήνων Μνασέου Κιτιεὺς ἀρχὰς μὲν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὴν ὕλην, ὧν ὁ μέν ἐστι τοῦ ποιεῖν αἴτιος ἡ δὲ τοῦ πάσχειν, στοιχεῖα δὲ τέτταρα.
4. THE world being broken and confused, after this manner it was reduced into figure and composure as now it is. The insectible bodies or atoms, by a wild and fortuitous motion, without any governing power, incessantly and swiftly were hurried one amongst another, many bodies being jumbled together; upon this account they have a diversity in the figures and magnitude. These therefore being so jumbled together, those bodies which were the greatest and heaviest sank into the lowest place; they that were of a lesser magnitude, being round, smooth, and slippery, meeting with those heavier bodies were easily broken into pieces, and were carried into higher places. But when that force whereby these variously figured particles fought with and struck one another, and forced the lighter upwards, did cease, and there was no farther power left to drive them into superior regions, yet they were wholly hindered from descending downwards, and were compelled to reside in those places capable to receive them; and these were the heavenly spaces, unto which a multitude of these little bodies were whirled, and these being thus shivered fell into coherence and mutual embraces, and by this means the heaven was produced. Then a various and great multitude of atoms enjoying the same nature, as it is before asserted, being hurried aloft, did form the stars. The multitude of these exhaled bodies, having struck and broke the air in shivers, forced a passage through it; this being converted into wind invested the stars, as it moved, and whirled them about, by which means to this present time that circulary motion which these stars have in the heavens is maintained. Much after the same manner the earth was made; for by those little particles whose gravity made them to reside in the lower places the earth was formed. The heaven, fire, and air were constituted of those particles which were carried aloft. But a great deal of matter remaining in the earth, this being condensed by the forcible driving of the winds and the breathings from the stars, every little part and form of it was broken in pieces, which produced the element of water; but this being fluidly disposed did run into those places which were hollow, and these places were those that were capable to receive and protect it; or else the water, subsisting by itself, did make the lower places hollow. After this manner the principal parts of the world were constituted.
4. ὁ τοίνυν κόσμος συνέστη περικεκλασμένῳ σχήματι ἐσχηματισμένος τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον. τῶν ἀτόμων σωμάτων ἀπρονόητον καὶ τυχαίαν ἐχόντων τὴν κίνησιν συνεχῶς τε καὶ τάχιστα κινουμένων εἰς τὸ αὐτό, πολλὰ σώματα συνηθροίσθη, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ποικιλίαν ἔχοντα καὶ σχημάτων καὶ μεγεθῶν. ἀθροιζομένων δʼ ἐν ταὐτῷ τούτων, τὰ μέν, ὅσα μείζονα ἦν καὶ βαρύτερα, πάντως ὑπεκάθιζεν ὅσα δὲ μικρὰ καὶ περιφερῆ καὶ λεῖα καὶ εὐόλισθα, ταῦτα καὶ ἐξεθλίβετο κατὰ τὴν σύνοδον τῶν σωμάτων εἴς τε τὸ μετέωρον ἀνεφέρετο. ὡς δ’ οὖν ἐξέλιπε μὲν ἡ πληκτικὴ δύναμις μετεωρίζουσα, οὐκέτι δʼ ἦγεν ἡ πληγὴ πρὸς τὸ μετέωρον, ἐκωλύετο δὲ ταῦτα κάτω φέρεσθαι, ἐπιέζετο πρὸς τοὺς τόπους τοὺς δυναμένους δέξασθαι· οὗτοι δʼ ἦσαν οἱ πέριξ, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὸ πλῆθος τῶν σωμάτων περιεκλᾶτο, περιπλεκόμενα δʼ ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὴν περίκλασιν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐγέννησεν· τῆς δʼ αὐτῆς ἐχόμεναι φύσεως αἱ ἄτομοι, ποικίλαι οὖσαι, καθὼς εἴρηται, πρὸς τὸ μετέωρον ἐξωθούμεναι, τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων φύσιν ἀπετέλουν· τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἀναθυμιωμένων σωμάτων ἐπέπληττε τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τοῦτον ἐξέθλιβε· πνευματούμενος δʼ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν κίνησιν καὶ συμπεριλαμβάνων τὰ ἄστρα συμπεριῆγε ταῦτα καὶ τὴν νῦν περιφορὰν αὐτῶν μετέωρον ἐφύλαττε. κἄπειτα ἐκ μὲν τῶν ὑποκαθιζόντων ἐγεννήθη ἡ γῆ, ἐκ δὲ τῶν μετεωριζομένων οὐρανὸς πῦρ ἀήρ. πολλῆς δʼ ὕλης ἔτι περιειλημμένης ἐν τῇ γῇ πυκνουμένης τε ταύτης κατὰ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πνευμάτων πληγὰς καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων αὔρας, προσεθλίβετο πᾶς ὁ μικρομερὴς σχηματισμὸς ταύτης; καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν φύσιν ἐγέννα· ῥευστικῶς δʼ αὕτη διακειμένη κατεφέρετο πρὸς τοὺς κοίλους τόπους καὶ δυναμένους χωρῆσαὶ τε καὶ στέξαι, ἢ καθʼ αὑτὸ τὸ ὕδωρ ὑποστὰν ἐκοίλαινε τοὺς ὑποκειμένους τόπους. τὰ μὲν οὖν κυριώτατα μέρη τοῦ κόσμου τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον ἐγενήθη.
5. THE Stoics pronounce that the world is one thing, and this they say is the universe and is corporeal. Empedocles’s opinion is, that the world is one; yet by no means the system of this world must be styled the universe, but that it is a small part of it, and the remainder is idle matter. What to Plato seems the truest he thus declares, that there is one world, and that world is the universe; and this he endeavors to evince by three arguments. First, that the world could not be complete and perfect, if it did not within itself include all beings. Secondly, nor could it give the true resemblance of its original and exemplar, if it were not the one only begotten thing. Thirdly, it could not be incorruptible, if there were any being out of its compass to whose power it might be obnoxious. But to Plato it may be thus returned. First, that the world is not complete and perfect, nor doth it contain all things within itself. And if man is a perfect being, yet he doth not encompass all things. Secondly, that there are many exemplars and originals of statues, houses, and pictures. Thirdly, how is the world perfect, if any thing beyond it is possible to be moved about it? But the world is not incorruptible, nor can it be so conceived, because it had an original. To Metrodorus it seems absurd, that in a large field one only stalk should grow, and in an infinite space one only world exist; and that this universe is infinite is manifest by this, that there are causes infinite. Now if this world were finite and the causes which produced it infinite, it is necessary that the worlds likewise be infinite; for where all causes do concur, there the effects also must appear, let the causes be what they will, either atoms or elements.
5. οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς ἕνα κόσμον ἀπεφήναντο, ὃν δὴ καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἔφασαν εἶναι καὶ τὸ σωματικόν. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ κόσμον μὲν ἕνα, οὐ μέντοι τὸ πᾶν εἶναι τὸν κόσμον ἀλλʼ ὀλίγον τι τοῦ παντὸς μέρος, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἀργὴν ὕλην. Πλάτων δὲ τεκμαίρεται τὸ δοκοῦν, ὅτι εἷς ὁ κόσμος καὶ ἓν τὸ πᾶν, ἐκ τριῶν· ἐκ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι τέλειον, ἐὰν μὴ πάντα περιέχῃ· ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ἔσεσθαι ὅμοιον τῷ παραδείγματι, ἐὰν μὴ μονογενὴς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ἔσεσθαι αὐτὸν ἄφθαρτον, ἐὰν ᾖ τι ἐξωτέρω αὐτοῦ. πρὸς δὴ τὸν Πλάτωνα ῥητέον, ὅτι οὐ τέλειος ὁ κόσμος· οὐδὲ γὰρ πάντα περιέχει … καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστι τέλειος, ἀλλʼ οὐ πάντα περιέχει καὶ πολλὰ παραδείγματα ἔστιν, ὥσπερ ἐπʼ ἀνδριάντων καὶ οἰκιῶν καὶ ζῳγραφιῶν. πῶς δὲ τέλειος, εἴπερ ἔξωθέν τι αὐτοῦ περιδινεῖσθαι δύναται; ἄφθαρτος δʼ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ δύναται εἶναι, γενητὸς ὤν. Μητρόδωρος δέ φησιν ἄτοπον εἶναι ἐν μεγάλῳ πεδίῳ ἕνα στάχυν γενηθῆναι καὶ ἕνα κόσμον ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ. ὅτι δʼ ἄπειρος κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἄπειρα τὰ αἴτια εἶναι· εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν κόσμος πεπερασμένος, ὅτι δʼ αἴτια πάντα ἄπειρα, ἐξ ὧν ὅδε ὁ κόσμος γέγονεν, ἀνάγκη ἀπείρους εἶναι. ὅπου γὰρ τὰ πάντα αἴτια, ἐκεῖ καὶ τὰ ἀποτελέσματα αἴτια δʼ ἤτοι αἱ ἄτομοι ἢ τὰ στοιχεῖα.
6. THE Stoics thus define the essence of a God. It is a spirit intellectual and fiery, which acknowledges no shape, but is continually changed into what it pleases, and assimilates itself to all things. The knowledge of this Deity they first received from the pulchritude of those things which so visibly appeared to us; for they concluded that nothing beauteous could casually or fortuitously be formed, but that it was framed from the art of a great understanding that produced the world. That the world is very resplendent is made perspicuous from the figure, the color, the magnitude of it, and likewise from the wonderful variety of those stars which adorn this world. The world is spherical; the orbicular hath the pre-eminence above all other figures, for being round itself it hath its parts likewise round. (On this account, according to Plato, the understanding, which is the most sacred part of man, is in the head.) The color of it is most beauteous; for it is painted with blue; which, though little blacker than purple, yet hath such a shining quality, that by reason of the vehement efficacy of its color it cuts through such an interval of air; whence it is that at so great a distance the heavens are to be contemplated. And in this very greatness of the world the beauty of it appears. View all things: that which contains the rest carries a beauty with it, as an animal or a tree. Also all things which are visible to us accomplish the beauty of the world. The oblique circle called the Zodiac in the heaven is with different images painted and distinguished:There’s Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and the Claws;Scorpio, Arcitenens, and Capricorn;Amphora, Pisces, then the Ram, and Bull;The lovely pair of Brothers next succeed. There are a thousand others that give us the suitable reflections of the beauty of the world. Thus Euripides:The starry splendor of the skies,The wondrous work of that most wiseCreator, Time. From this the knowledge of a God is conveyed to man; that the sun, the moon, and the rest of the stars, being carried under the earth, rise again in their proper color, magnitude, place, and times. Therefore they who by tradition delivered to us the knowledge and veneration of the Gods did it by these three manner of ways:—first, from Nature; secondly, from fables; thirdly, from the testimony given by the laws of commonwealths. Philosophers taught the natural way; poets, the fabulous; and the political way is received from the constitutions of each commonwealth. All sorts of this learning are distinguished into these seven parts. The first is from things that are conspicuous, and the observation of those bodies which are in places superior to us. To men the heavenly bodies that are so visible did give the knowledge of the Deity; when they contemplated that they are the causes of so great an harmony, that they regulate day and night, winter and summer, by their rising and setting, and likewise considered those things which by their influences in the earth do receive a being and do likewise fructify. It was manifest to men that the Heaven was the father of those things, and the Earth the mother; that the Heaven was the father is clear, since from the heavens there is the pouring down of waters, which have their spermatic faculty; the Earth the mother, because she receives them and brings forth. Likewise men considering that the stars are running (θέοντες) in a perpetual motion, that the sun and moon give us the power to view and contemplate (θεωρεῖν), they call them all Gods (θεούς). In the second and third place, they thus distinguished the Deities into those which are beneficial and those that are injurious to mankind. Those which are beneficial they call Jupiter, Juno, Mercury, Ceres; those who are mischievous the Dirae, Furies, and Mars. These, which threaten dangers and violence, men endeavor to appease and conciliate by sacred rites. The fourth and the fifth order of Gods they assign to things and passions; to passions, Love, Venus, and Desire; the Deities that preside over things, Hope, Justice, and Eunomia. The sixth order of deities are those made by the poets; Hesiod, willing to find out a father for those Gods that acknowledge an original, invented their progenitors,Hyperion, Coeus, and Iapetus,With Creius; upon which account this is called the fabulous. The seventh rank of the deities added to the rest are those which, by their beneficence to mankind, were honored with a divine worship, though they were born of mortal race; of this sort were Hercules, Castor and Pollux, and Bacchus. These are reputed to be of a human species; for of all beings that which is divine is most excellent, and man amongst all animals is adorned with the greatest beauty, and is also the best, being distinguished by virtue above the rest because of his intellect: therefore it was thought that those who were admirable for goodness should resemble that which is the best and most beautiful.
6. ὁρίζονται δὲ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐσίαν οἱ Στωικοὶ οὕτω· πνεῦμα νοερὸν καὶ πυρῶδες οὐκ ἔχον μὲν μορφήν, μεταβάλλον δʼ εἰς ὃ βούλεται καὶ συνεξομοιούμενον πᾶσιν. ἔσχον δʼ ἔννοιαν τούτου πρῶτον μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κάλλους τῶν ἐμφαινομένων προσλαμβάνοντες· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν καλῶν εἰκῆ καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε γίνεται, ἀλλὰ μετά τινος τέχνης δημιουργούσης. καλὸς δʼ ὁ κόσμος· δῆλον δʼ ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος καὶ τοῦ χρώματος καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸν κόσμον τῶν ἀστέρων ποικιλίας. σφαιροειδὴς δʼ ὁ κόσμος ὃ πάντων τῶν σχημάτων πρωτεύει· μόνον γὰρ τοῦτο τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μέρεσιν ὁμοιοῦται· περιφερὴς δʼ ὢν ἔχει τὰ μέρη περιφερῆ διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ κατὰ τὸν Πλάτωνα ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ τὸ ἱερώτατον συνέστηκε νοῦς. καὶ τὸ χρῶμα δὲ καλόν· κυανώσει γὰρ κέχρωσται, ὃ πορφύρας μέν ἐστι μελάντερον στίλβουσαν δʼ ἔχει τὴν ποιότητα· καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν τῷ τῆς χροιᾶς συντόνῳ διακόπτων τηλικαύτην ἀέρος ἀκόστασιν ἐκ τοσούτων διαστημάτων θεωρεῖται. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μεγέθους καλός· πάντων γὰρ τῶν ὁμογενῶν τὸ περιέχον καλὸν ὡς ζῷον καὶ δένδρον. ἐπιτελεῖ τὸ κάλλος τοῦ κόσμου καὶ ταῦτα τὰ φαινόμενα· ὁ μὲν γὰρ λοξὸς κύκλος ἐν οὐρανῷ διαφόροις εἰδώλοις πεποίκιλται·τῷ δ’ ἔνι καρκίνος ἐστί, λέων δ’ ἐπὶ τῷ, μετὰ δʼ αὐτὸνπαρθένος, ἠδʼ ἐπί οἱ χηλαὶ καὶ σκορπίος αὐτὸςτοξευτής τε καὶ αἰγόκερως, ἐπὶ δʼ αἰγοκέρωτιὑδροχόος· δύο δʼ αὐτὸν ἐπʼ ἰχθύες ἀστερόεντες·τοὺς δὲ μέτα κριός, ταῦρος δʼ ἐπὶ τῷ δίδυμοί τε.μυρία δʼ ἄλλα καθʼ ὁμοίας τοῦ κόσμου περικλάσεις πεποίηκεν· ὅθεν καὶ Εὐριπίδης φησὶτὸ τʼ ἀστερωπὸν οὐρανοῦ σέλας,χρόνου καλὸν ποίκιλμα, τέκτονος σοφοῦ.ἐλάβομεν δʼ ἐκ τούτου ἔννοιαν θεοῦ· ἀεί τε γὰρ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἄστρων τὴν ὑπόγειον φορὰν ἐνεχθέντα ὅμοια μὲν ἀνατέλλει τοῖς χρώμασιν, ἴσα δὲ τοῖς μεγέθεσι καὶ κατὰ τόπους καὶ κατὰ χρόνους τοὺς αὐτούς. διόπερ οἱ τὸν περὶ τῶν θεῶν παραδόντες σεβασμὸν διὰ τριῶν ἐξέθηκαν ἡμῖν εἰδῶν, πρῶτον μὲν τοῦ φυσικοῦ, δεύτερον δὲ τοῦ μυθικοῦ, τρίτον δὲ τοῦ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐκ τῶν νόμων εἰληφότος, διοικεῖσθαι διδάσκεται δὲ τὸ μὲν φυσικὸν ὑπὸ τῶν φιλοσόφων, τὸ δὲ μυθικὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν, τὸ δὲ νομικὸν ὑφʼ ἑκάστης ἀεὶ πόλεως συνίσταται. διαιρεῖται δʼ ἡ πᾶσα διδαχὴ εἰς εἴδη ἑπτά· καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὸ ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων καὶ μετεώρων· θεοῦ γὰρ ἔννοιαν ἔσχον ἀπὸ τῶν φαινομένων ἀστέρων, ὁρῶντες τούτους μεγάλης συμφωνίας ὄντας αἰτίους καὶ τεταγμένας ἀνατολάς τε καὶ δυσμάς, ἡμέρας τε καὶ νύκτας χειμῶνά τε καὶ θέρος, καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τῆς γῆς ζῳογονούμενα καὶ καρπογονούμενα. διὸ· πατὴρ μὲν ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς οὐρανὸς ὑπάρχειν, μήτηρ δὲ γῆ· τούτων δʼ ὁ μὲν πατὴρ διὰ τὸ τὰς τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκχύσεις σπερμάτων ἔχειν τάξιν· ἡ δὲ γῆ μήτηρ διὰ τὸ δέχεσθαι ταῦτα καὶ τίκτειν· βλέποντες δὲ τοὺς ἀστέρας ἀεὶ θέοντας αἰτίους τε τοῦ θεωρεῖν ἡμᾶς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, θεοὺς προσηγόρευσαν. εἰς δεύτερον δὲ καὶ τρίτον τόπον τοὺς θεοὺς διεῖλον, εἴς τε τὸ βλάπτον καὶ τὸ ὠφελοῦν· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ὠφελοῦντας Δία Ἥραν Ἑρμῆν Δήμητραν τοὺς δὲ βλάπτοντας Ποινὰς Ἐρινύας Ἄρην, τούτους ἀφοσιούμενοι χαλεποὺς ὄντας καὶ βιαίους. τέταρτον καὶ πέμπτον προστεθείκασι τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ τοῖς πάθεσι, καθάπερ ἔρωτα Ἀφροδίτην Πόθον· πραγμάτων δʼ Ἐλπίδα Δίκην Εὐνομίαν. ἕκτον δὲ τόπον προσέλαβε τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ποιητῶν πεπλασμένον· Ἡσίοδος γὰρ βουλόμενος τοῖς γενητοῖς θεοὺς πατέρας συστῆσαι εἰσήγαγε τοιούτους αὐτοῖς γεννήτορας κοῖόν τε Κρεῖὸν θʼ Ὑπερίονά τʼ Ἰαπετόν τε· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μυθικὸν κέκληται. ἕβδομον δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸ διὰ τὰς εἰς τὸν κοινὸν βίον εὐεργεσίας ἐκτετιμημένον ἀνθρώπινον δὲ γεννηθέν, ὡς Ἡρακλέα ὡς Διοσκόρους ὡς Διόνυσον. ἀνθρωποειδεῖς δʼ αὐτοὺς ἔφασαν εἶναι, διότι τῶν μὲν ἁπάντων τὸ θεῖον κυριώτατον, τῶν δὲ ζῴων ἄνθρωπος κάλλιστον καί, κεκοσμημένον ἀρετῇ διαφόρως κατὰ τὴν τοῦ νοῦ σύστασιν, τὸ κράτιστον. τοῖς οὖν ἀριστεύουσι τὸ κράτιστον ὁμοίως καὶ καλῶς ἔχειν διενοήθησαν.