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ON
THE ETERNITY OF THE WORLD II.
(4) The world, therefore, is spoken of in its primary sense as a single system,
consisting of the heaven and the stars in the circumference of the earth, and
all the animals and plants which are upon it; and in another sense it is spoken
of merely as the heaven. And Anaxagoras, having a regard to this fact, once made
answer to a certain person who asked of him what the reason was why he generally
endeavored to pass the night in the open air, that he did so for the sake of
beholding the world, by which expression he meant the motions and revolutions of
the stars. And in its third meaning, as the Stoics affirm, it is a certain
admirably-arranged essence, extending to the period of conflagration, either
beautifully adorned or unadorned, the periods of the motion of which are called
time. But at present the subject of our consideration is the world, taken in the
first sense of the word, which being one only, consists of the heaven, and of
the earth, and of all that is therein. (5) And the term corruption is used to
signify a change for the worse; it is also used to signify the utter destruction
of that which exists, a destruction so complete as to have no existence at all;
for as nothing is generated out of nothing, so neither can anything which exists
be destroyed so as to become non-Existence.{1}{this is similar to Lucretius's
doctrine--Nil igitur fieri de nihilo posse putandum est.} For it is impossible
that anything should be generated of that which has no existence anywhere, as
equally so that what does exist should be so utterly destroyed as never to be
mentioned or heard of again. And indeed in this spirit the tragedian says:-- "Nought
that e'er has been Completely
dies, but things combined Before
another union find; Quitting
their former company, And
so again in other forms are Seen."{2}{from the Chrysippus of Euripides.} (6)
Nor is it so very silly a thing to doubt whether the world is destroyed so as to
pass into a state of non-existence, but rather whether it is subjected to a
change from a new arrangement, being dissolved as to all the manifold forms of
its elements and combinations so as to assume one and the same appearance, or
whether, like a thing broken and dashed to pieces, it is subjected to a complete
confusion of its different fragments. III.
(7) And there are three different opinions on the subject which we are at
present discussing. Since some persons affirm that the world is eternal, and
uncreated, and not liable to any destruction; while others, on the contrary, say
that it has been created and is destructible. There are also others who take a
portion of each of these two opinions, agreeing with the last-mentioned sect
that it has been created, but with the former class that it is indestructible;
and thus they have left behind them a mixed opinion, thinking that it is at the
same time created and imperishable. (8) However, Democritus and Epicurus, and
the principal number of the Stoic philosophers, affirm both the creation and the
destructibility of the world, though they do not all speak in similar senses;
for some give a sketch of many worlds, the generation of which they attribute to
the concourse and combination of atoms, and their destruction they impute to the
dissolution and breaking up of the combined particles. But the Stoics speak of
one world only, and affirm that God is the cause of its creation, but that the
cause of its corruption is no longer God, but the power of invincible, unwearied
fire, which pervades all existing things, in the long periods of time dissolving
everything into itself, while from it again a regeneration of the world takes
place through the providence of the Creator. (9) And according to these men
there may be one world spoken of as eternal and another as destructible,
destructible in reference to its present arrangement, and eternal as to the
conflagration which takes place, since it is rendered immortal by regenerations
and periodical revolutions which never cease. (10) But Aristotle, with a
knowledge as to which I know not to what degree I may call it holy and pious,
affirmed that the world was uncreated and indestructible, and he accused those
who maintained a contrary opinion of terrible impiety, for thinking that so
great a visible God was in no respect different from things made with hands,
though the contains within himself the sun, and the moon, and all the rest of
the planets and fixed stars, and, in fact, the whole of the divine nature; (11)
and he said in a cavilling and reproachful tone, that formerly he had feared for
his house lest it should be overthrown by violent gales, or extraordinary
storms, or by lapse of time, or through the want of the proper care requisite to
preserve it, but that now he had a much greater fear hanging over him in
consequence of those men who by their reasonings went to destroy the whole
world. (12) But some say that it was not Aristotle who invented this doctrine,
but some of the Pythagoreans; but I have met with a work of Ocellus, a Lucanian
by birth, entitled, "A Treatise on the Nature of the Universe," in
which he has not only asserted that the world is indestructible, but he has even
endeavored to prove it so by demonstrative proofs. IV.
(13) But some say that the world has been proved by Plato in the Timaeus to be
both uncreated and indestructible, in the account of that divine assembly in
which the younger gods are addressed by the eldest and the governor of them all
in the following terms; {3}{timaeus, p. 40.} "O ye gods of gods, those
works of which I am the father and the creator are indissoluble as long as I
choose that they shall be so. Now everything which has been bound together is
capable of being dissolved, but it is the part of an evil ruler to dissolve that
which has been well combined and arranged, and which is in good condition.
Wherefore, since you also have been created, you are not of necessity immortal
or utterly indissoluble; nevertheless you shall not be dissolved, nor shall you
be exposed to the fate of death, inasmuch as you have my will to keep you
united, which is a still greater and more powerful bond than those by which you
were bound together when you were first created." (14) But some persons
interpret Plato's words sophistically, and think that he affirms that the world
was created, not inasmuch as it has had a beginning of creation, but inasmuch as
if it had been created it could not possibly have existed in any other manner
than that in which it actually does exist as has been described, or else because
it is in its creation and change that the parts are seen. (15) But the
forementioned opinion is better and truer, not only because throughout the whole
treatise he affirms that the Creator of the gods is also the father and creator
and maker of everything, and that the world is a most beautiful work of his and
his offspring, being an imitation visible to the outward senses of an archetypal
model appreciable only by the intellect, comprehending in itself as many objects
of the outward senses as the model does objects of the intellect, since it is a
most perfect impression of a most perfect model, and is addressed to the outward
sense as the other is to the Intellect.{4}{there is probably some corruption in
the text here.} (16) But also because Aristotle bears witness to this fact in
the case of Plato, who, from his great reverence for philosophy, would never
have spoken falsely, and also because no one can possibly be more to be credited
in the case of a teacher than his pupil, especially when the pupil is such a man
as this who did not apply himself to instruction lightly with an indifference
easily satisfied, but who even endeavored to surpass all the discoveries of
former men, and did actually devise some novelties and enrich every part of
philosophy with some most important discoveries. V.
(17) But some persons think that the father of the Platonic theory was the poet
Hesiod, as they conceive that the world is spoken of by him as created and
indestructible; as created, when he says, -- "First
did Chaos rule Then
the broad-chested earth was brought to light, Foundation
firm and lasting for whatever Exists
among Mankind;"{5}{hesiod, Theogon, 116.} and
as indestructible, because he has given no hint of its dissolution or
destruction. (18) Now Chaos was conceived by Aristotle to be a place, because it
is absolutely necessary that a place to receive them must be in existence before
bodies. But some of the Stoics think that it is water, imagining that its name
has been derived from Effusion.{6}{chysis, as if chaos were derived from cheoµ,
"to pour."} But however that may be, it is exceedingly plain that the
world is spoken of by Hesiod as having been created: (19) and a very long time
before him Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews, had said in his sacred volumes that
the world was both created and indestructible, and the number of the books is
five. The first of which he entitled Genesis, in which he begins in the
following manner: "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;
and the earth was invisible and without form." Then proceeding onwards he
relates in the following verses, that days and nights, and seasons, and years,
and the sun and moon, which showed the nature of the measurement of time, were
created, which, having received an immortal portion in common with the whole
heaven, continue for ever indestructible. (20) But we must place those arguments
first which make out the world to be uncreated and indestructible, because of
our respect for that which is visible, employing an appropriate commencement. To
all things which are liable to destruction there are two causes of that
destruction, one being internal and the other external; therefore you may find
iron, and brass, and all other substances of that kind destroyed by themselves
when rust, like a creeping disease, overruns and devours them; and by external
causes when, if a house or a city is burnt, they also are consumed in the
conflagration, being melted by the violent impetuosity of the fire. A similar
end also befalls animals, partly when they are sick of diseases arising
internally, and partly when they are destroyed by external causes, being
sacrificed, or stoned, or burnt, or when they endure an unclean death by
hanging. (21) And if the world also is destroyed, then it must of necessity be
so either by some external cause, or else by some one of the powers which exist
within itself; and both these alternatives are impossible, for there is nothing
whatever outside of the world, since all things are brought together in order to
make it complete and full, for it is in this way that it will be one, and whole,
and free from old age; it will be one, because if anything were left outside of
it, then another world might be created resembling that which exists now; and
whole, because the whole of its essence is expended on itself; and exempt from
old age and from all disease, since those bodies which are liable to be
destroyed by disease or old age are violently overthrown by external causes,
such as heat, and cold, and other contrary qualities, no power of which is able
to escape so as to surround and attack the world, all those being entirely
enclosed within, without any part whatever being separated from the rest. But if
indeed there is any external thing it must by all means be a vacuum, or else a
nature absolutely impossible, which it would be impossible should either suffer
or do anything. (22) And again, it will also not be dissolved by any cause
existing within itself; first of all because, if it were, then the part would be
greater and more powerful than the whole, which is the greatest possible
absurdity, for the world, enjoying an unsurpassable power, influences all its
parts, and is not itself influenced or moved by any one of them; in the second
place because, since there are two causes of corruption, the one being internal
and the other external, those things which are competent to admit the one must
also by all means be liable to the other; (23) and a proof of this may be found
in oxen, and horses, and men, and other animals of similar kinds, because it is
their nature to be destroyed by the sword, or to be liable to die by disease;
for it is difficult, or I might rather say impossible, to find anything which,
being by nature at the mercy of some external cause perceptible by the
intellect, will still not be liable to corruption ... by itself when the world
was Not.{7} (24) Since, therefore, the arrangement of the world is such as I
have endeavored to describe it, so that there is no part whatever left out, so
as for any force to be applied, it has now been proved that the world will not
be destroyed by any external thing, because in fact nothing whatever external
has been left at all; nor will it be destroyed by anything in itself on account
of the proof which has already been considered and stated, according to which
that which was obnoxious to the power of one of those causes was also naturally
susceptible of the influence of the other. VI.
(25) And there are testimonies also in the Timaeus to the fact of the world
being exempt from disease and not liable to destruction, such as these:
"Accordingly, of the four elements the constitution of the world receives
each in all its integrity; for he who compounded it made it to consist of the
whole of fire, and the whole of water, and the whole of air, and the whole of
earth, not leaving any portion or any power of any one of them outside, from the
following intentions:--(26) in the first place, in order that the whole might be
as far as possible a perfect animal made up of perfect parts. And besides all
these things, he ordained that it should be one, inasmuch as there is nothing
left out of which another similar world could be composed. Moreover, he willed
that it should be exempt from old age, and free from all disease, considering
that those things which in the body are hot or cold, or which have mighty
powers, if standing all around and falling upon it unseasonably, would be likely
to dissolve it, and, by introducing diseases and old age, cause it to decay and
perish. For this cause, and because of this reason, God made the whole universe
to consist of entire and perfect elements, and exempt from old age and free from
disease." (27) Let this be taken as a testimony delivered by Plato to the
imperishable nature of the world. Its uncreated character follows from the truth
of natural philosophy; for dissolution must of necessity attend everything which
is born, and incorruptibility must inevitably belong to everything which is
unborn; since the poet who wrote the following iambic verse, "All
that is born must surely Die,"{8}{timaeus, p. 32.} appears
to have spoken very correctly when he asserted this connection of
destructibility with birth. (28) The argument may be stated in a different way
as follows. All compound things which are destroyed are dissolved into the
elements of which they were compounded; accordingly, dissolution is nothing else
but a return of everything to its original constituent parts; just as, on the
contrary, composition is that which compels the things combined to come together
in a manner contrary to their nature; and indeed, this appears to be the most
exact truth; (29) for men are composed of the four elements which together make
up the whole of the universe, the heaven, the earth, the air, and fire,
borrowing a few parts of each in a manner at first sight hardly consistent with
nature. But the things which are thus combined together are necessarily deprived
of a motion in accordance with nature; for instance, warmth is deprived of its
upward motion, and coldness of its downward tendency, the earthy and somewhat
weighty substance being lightened and assuming the higher place, which the most
earth-like of our own parts, the head, has obtained in us. (30) But of all
bonds, that is the worst which is forged by violence, and which, being violent,
is also short-lived; for it is speedily broken by those who are bound in it,
since they become restive from their desire for a motion in accordance with
nature, to which they hasten; for as the tragic poet says, -- "And
for things sprung from earth, they must Return
unto their parent dust, While
those from heavenly seed which rise Are
borne uplifted to the skies. Nought
that has once existed dies, Though
often what has been combined Before,
we separated find, Invested
with another Form."{9}{a fragment from the Chryssipus of Euripides.} (31)
And this law and ordinance is established with reference to everything which is
destroyed, that wherever composite things are existing in combination they are
thrown into disorder instead of into the order in accordance with nature, which
they previously enjoyed, and they are removed to situations opposite to those in
which they were previously placed, so that they seem in a manner to be
sojourners; and when they are dissolved again, then they return to the
appropriate parts allotted to them by nature. VII.
(32) But since the world has no participation in that irregularity which exists
in the things which I have just been mentioning, let us stop awhile and consider
this point. If the world were liable to corruption and destruction, it follows
of necessity that all its parts would at present be arranged in a position not
in accordance with nature: but it is impious even to imagine such a thing as
this; for all the parts of the world have received the most excellent position
possible, and an arrangement of the purest symmetry and harmony; so that each
individual part, being content with its place as a native country to it, does
not seek any change for the better. (33) On this account it is that the most
central position of all has been assigned to the earth, to which all things
belonging to it adhere, and to which they descend again even if you throw them
into the air: and this is a proof that their place is in accordance with nature;
for wherever anything is borne without any violence, and where it then remains
firm and stationary, that is clearly its natural place. And then, in the second
place, water was poured over the earth, and air and fire have gone from the
central to the upper part, air having received for its portion the region which
is on the borders between air and fire, and fire having received the highest
place of all: on which account, if you light a torch and press it down towards
the ground, nevertheless the flame will still turn in a contrary direction, and
lightening itself in accordance with the natural motion of fire, will rise
upwards: (34) if, then, motion contrary to nature is the cause of corruptibility
and destruction in the case of other animals, but if in the case of the world
every one of its parts is arranged in complete accordance with nature, having
had appropriate positions allotted to each of them, then surely the world must
most justly be pronounced incorruptible and imperishable. (35) Moreover this
point is manifest to every one, that every nature is desirous to keep and
preserve, and if it were possible to make immortal, everything of which it is
the nature; the nature of trees, for instance, desires to preserve trees, and
the nature of animals desires to preserve each individual animal. (36) But
particular nature is of necessity unable to conduct what it belongs to to
eternity; for want, or heat, or cold, or innumerable other ordinary
circumstances, when they affect particular things, shake them and dissolve the
bond which previously held them together, and at last break them to pieces; but
if nothing resembling any of these things were lying in wait outside, then in
that case nature itself, as far as it is possible, would preserve everything
both great and small free from old age. (37) It follows therefore of necessity,
that the nature of the world must desire the durability of the universe; for it
is not worse than particular natures, so that it should run away and desert its
proper duties, and attempt to produce disease instead of health, and corruption
and destruction instead of complete safety, since, -- "High
over all she lifts her beauteous face, And
towers above her nymphs with heavenly grace, Fair
as they all Appear."{10}{homer, Odyssey 6.107, where the lines quoted are
applied to Latona among her nymphs.} But
if this be true, then the world cannot be capable of destruction. Why so?
Because the nature which holds it together is itself invincible by reason of its
exceeding strength and power, by which it gets the mastery over every thing else
which might be likely to injure it; (38) wherefore Plato has well
Said:{11}{timaeus, p. 33.}--"For nothing ever departed from it, nor did
anything ever come to it from any quarter; for that was not possible; for there
was nothing in existence which could come; for since it supplies itself with
nutriment out of its own consumption, it also does everything and suffers
everything in itself and by itself, and is compounded with the most consummate
art. For he who created it thought that it would be better if wholly
self-sufficient, than if in continual need of accessories from other
quarters." VIII.
(39) However, this argument also is a most demonstrative one, on which I know
that vast numbers of philosophers pride themselves as one most accurately worked
out, and altogether irresistible; for they inquire what reason there is for
God's destroying the world. For if he destroys it at all he must do so either
with the intention of never making a world again, or with the object of creating
a second fresh one; (40) now the former idea is inconsistent with the character
of God; for it is proper to change disorder into order, and not order into
disorder; in the second place, it is so because it would give rise to
repentance, which is an affliction and a disease of the soul. For he ought
either never to have created a world at all, or else, if he judged that it was a
fitting employment for him, he ought to have been pleased with it after it was
made. (41) But the second reason deserves no superficial examination; for if he
were intending to make another world instead of that which exists at present,
then of necessity this second world that would be made, in that case, would be
either worse than, or similar to, or better than the first; everyone of which
ideas is inadmissible; for if the new world is to be worse than the former, then
the maker must be also worse: but all the works of God are without blemish,
beyond all reproach and wholly faultless, inasmuch as they are wrought with the
most consummate skill and knowledge; for as the proverb says; -- "For
e'en a woman's wisdom's not so coarse As
to despise the good and choose the worse." But
it is consistent with the character of, and becoming to God to give form to what
is shapeless, and to invest what is most ugly with admirable beauty. (42) Again,
if the new world is to be exactly like the old one, then the maker is only
wasting his labor, and differs in no respect from infant children who, very
often while playing on the sea shore raise up little mounds of sand, and then
pull them down again with their hands and destroy them; for it would have been
much better than making another world exactly like the former, neither to take
anything from, nor to add anything to, nor to change either for the better or
for the worse, what existed originally, but to let it remain just as it was.
(43) If, on the other hand, he is about to make a world better than the former
one, then the maker too must be better than the maker of the former world, so
that when he made the former world he was inferior both in his skill and in his
intellect, which it is impious even to imagine, for God is at all times equal
and similar to himself, being neither capable of any relaxation which can make
him worse, nor of any extension which can make him better. Men, indeed, do admit
of such inequalities in either direction, being naturally liable to alter either
for the better or for the worse, and continually admitting of increase, and
advance, and improvement, and everything contrary to these states; (44) and
besides this, the works of us who are but mortal men may very appropriately be
perishable, but the works of the immortal must in all consistency and reason be
likewise imperishable, for it is natural that what is made should resemble the
nature of the maker. IX.
(45) And, indeed, this I imagine is evident to every one, that if the earth were
to be destroyed, then all land animals of every kind must also perish with it;
and if the water were destroyed, all aquatic animals must perish; and in like
manner if the air and fire were to be destroyed, all the animals which traverse
the air or which are born in the fire must come to an end at the same time. (46)
Therefore, on the same principle, if the heaven is destroyed, the sun and moon
will also be destroyed, and all the other planets likewise will be destroyed,
and all the fixed stars, and all that host of gods visible to the outward senses
which was formerly considered so happy; and to imagine this is nothing else than
to fancy the gods themselves in a process of destruction, for this is equivalent
to considering men immortal. And yet in a comparison between different objects
devoid of honor, if you were to consider the matter, you would find it more
consistent with probability to look on men as immortal than to believe that the
gods are perishable, since it might happen through the grace of God, for it is
not improbable that a mortal might receive immortality, but it is impossible for
gods to lose their immortality even if the sophistries of mankind should run on
to ever such a degree of wicked insanity. (47) And, moreover, those persons who
allege conflagrations and regenerations of the world, think and confess that the
stars are gods, which nevertheless they are not ashamed to destroy as far as
their arguments go; for they are bound to prove them to be either red hot pieces
of iron, as some do affirm, who argue about the whole of the heaven as if it
were a prison, talking utter nonsense, or else to look upon them as divine and
godlike natures, and then to attribute to them that immortality which belongs to
gods. But as it is, they have wandered so far from true doctrine, that without
being aware of it they have attributed corruptibility and perishableness to
providence (and that is the soul of the world) by the inconsistent principles
which they advocate. (48) Therefore Chrysippus, the most celebrated philosopher
of that sect, in his treatise about Increase, utters some such prodigious
assertions as these, and after he has prefaced his doctrines with the assertion
that it is impossible for two makers of a species to exist in the same
substance, he proceeds, "Let it be granted for the sake of argument and
speculation that there is one person entire and sound, and another wanting one
foot from his birth, and that the sound man is called Dion and the cripple Theon,
and afterwards that Dion also loses one of his feet, then if the question were
asked which had been spoiled, it would be more natural to say this of Theon;"
but this is the assertion of one who delights in paradox rather than in truth,
(49) for how could it be said that he who had suffered no mutilation whatever,
namely Theon, was taken off, and that Dion, who had lost a foot, was not
injured? Very appropriately, he will reply, for Dion, who had had his foot cut
off, falls back upon the original imperfection of Theon, and there cannot be two
specific differences in the same subject, therefore it follows of necessity that
Dion must remain, and that Theon must be taken off-- "So
are we slain by arrows winged With
our own Feathers,"{12}{from the Myrmidons of Aeschylus. The passage is
evidently the original of the stanza in Waller's Ode to a Lady
Singing--"That eagle's fate and mine are one, / Who on the shaft that made
him die, / Espied a feather of his own, / Wherewith he wont to soar so
high."} as
the tragic poet says. For any one, copying the form of this argument and
adapting it to the entire world, may prove in the clearest manner that
providence itself is liable to corruption. (50) Consider the matter thus: let
the world be the subject of our argument, as Dion was just now, for it is
perfect, and let the soul of the world take the place of Theon, who was
imperfect, since a part is less than the whole; and as the foot was cut off from
Dion, so also let everything which resembles a body be cut off from the world;
(51) therefore it is necessary to say that the world has not been destroyed
though its body has been taken away, just as Dion was not destroyed by having
his foot cut off, but the soul of the world it is that has perished, like Theon,
who suffered no artificial mutilation, for the world also receded to a lesser
substance when all of it that resembled a body was taken away. And the soul was
destroyed because there could not be two specific differences affecting the same
and since it is imperishable it follows of necessity that the world also must be
imperishable. X.
(52) However, time also affords a very great argument in favor of the eternity
of the world, for if time is uncreated, then it follows of necessity that the
world also must be uncreated. Why so? Because, as the great Plato says, it is
days, and nights, and months, and the periods of years which have shown time,
and it is surely impossible that time can exist without the motion of the sun,
and the rotary progress of the whole heaven. So that it has been defined very
felicitously by those who are in the habit of giving definitions of things, that
time is the interval of the motion of the world, and since this is a sound
definition, then the world must be co-eval with time and also the cause of its
existence. (53) And it is the most absurd of all ideas to fancy that there ever
was a time when the world did not exist, for its nature is without any beginning
and without any end, since these very expressions, "there was,"
"when," "formerly," all indicate time; and keeping to this
view, then, according to the theory of the conflagration [...]{13}{there is
supposed to be a very large hiatus here.} he at a late period of his life
entertained doubts and withheld any positive opinion; for it does not belong to
youth, but to old age, to see clearly things of solemn importance which it is
desirable to understand, and especially as to matters which it is not the outer
sense, which is irrational and deceitful, that determines, but the pure and
unalloyed intellect. For that which has no existence is not put in motion, but
it has been shown already that time is an interval of the motion of the world.
It follows, therefore, of necessity, that each of these things must have
subsisted from all eternity, without receiving any beginning of generation, and
being in consequence not liable to any corruption. (54) Perhaps some quibbling
Stoic will say that time is admitted to be an interval of the motion of the
world, but not of that world only which is arranged and adorned by itself, but
also of that one which is conceived of in connection with the conflagration
which has been spoken of; to whom we must reply, --"My good man, you,
misapplying words, call what is disorderliness and a want of arrangement order (kosmos),
for if this thing which we see is correctly and appropriately called the world (kosmos),
{14}{philo is playing here on the two meanings of the word kosmos, which
signified both "order" and "the world."} being arranged and
adorned (kekosmeµmenos) as we see it by man, by the perfection of his skill,
then any one would be surely correct in calling the change which is wrought in
it by fire a want of order." XI.
(55) But Critolaus, a man who devoted himself very much to literature, and a
lover of the Peripatetic philosophy, agreeing with the doctrine of the eternity
of the world, used the following arguments to prove it: "If the word was
created, then it follows of necessity that the earth was created also; and if
the earth was created, then beyond all question the human race was so too. But
man was not created, since he subsists of an everlasting race, as shall be
proved, therefore the world is eternal." (56) But I must now proceed to
examine the argument which I postponed just now, if indeed things that are so
evident stand in need of any demonstration; but, indeed, proofs are necessary on
account of the inventors of fables who, filling all life with their falsehoods,
have utterly driven truth out of the land, and have not merely banished it from
cities and houses, but have even deprived each separate individual of that most
valuable possession, and, for the purpose of alluring his sight, have invented
metres and rhythm as a bait and a snare, by which they cajole the ears of fools,
just as ugly and shapeless courtesans allure the eyes by necklaces and spurious
ornaments in the absence of all genuine beauty, (57) for they say that the
generation of mankind by means of one another is a more recent work of nature,
but that the more original and ancient mode of their birth is out of the earth,
since she both is and is considered the mother of all men. And they say that
those men who are celebrated among the Greeks as having sprung from seed were
produced and grew up as trees do now, being perfect and completely armed sons of
the earth. (58) But that this is a mere fiction of fable it is easy to see from
many circumstances. For the very moment that the first man was born there was a
necessity for his receiving growth in accordance with the previously defined
measures and numbers of time, for nature has arranged the different ages as
certain steps along which man in a manner ascends and descends; he ascends while
he is growing, and he descends at the period when he is lessening; and the
boundary of the uppermost steps is the prime of life at which when a man has
arrived he no longer makes any further advance; but as runners who run the
diaulos turn back again upon the same path which they have already travelled, so
too does man retrace his steps, giving back in the weakness of old age what he
has received from vigorous youth; (59) but to fancy that any one has ever been
born absolutely perfect is the part of those who are ignorant of the laws of
nature, which are unchangeable ordinances. For our minds, being vitiated by the
contagion of the mortal body which is united to them, are very naturally liable
to changes and alterations, but the works of the nature of the universe are
unalterable, since she has dominion over all things, and by means of the
stability of whatever desires she has once established she preserves the
definitions which have been originally fixed in an unchangeable state. (60) If
then she had originally thought it proper that men should be born perfect, now
also man would still be born in a perfect state, without ever being an infant,
or a boy, or a youth, but he would at once be a man, and perhaps he would be
altogether exempt from all diminution, for up to the prime of a man's life all
his changes tend towards increase, but from that period up to old age and death
they exist with a gradual diminution; and it is natural to suppose that he who
has no share in the former must also be free from the subsequent changes. (61)
And what is there that can hinder men from shooting up now out of the ground
like plants, as they say that they did in former times? For the earth has not
yet grown old so as to appear to have become barren by reason of the lapse of
time, but it remains in the same condition as before, being always young,
because it is a fourth part of the universe, and for the sake of ensuring the
duration of the universe it is bound not to decay, because its kindred elements,
water, air, and fire, all remain for ever exempt from old age. (62) And there is
a visible proof of the uninterrupted and everlasting vigor of the earth in the
plants which spring from it, for being purified, either by the overflowing of
rivers, as they say that Egypt is, or by annual rains, by such irrigation it
refreshes and recruits its exhausted powers, and then, having rested for a
while, it recovers its natural powers to the full extent of its original vigor,
and then it begins again with a repetition of the production of similar things
to those which it produced before to supply abundant food to every description
of animal. XII.
(63) In reference to which fact it appears to me that the poets were very
felicitous in the appellation which they gave to the earth when they called it
Pandora, inasmuch as it gives all things, {15}{panta doµroumeneµn.} both such
as are required for use and such as serve to pleasure and to enjoyment, and that
not to some only but to all animals which enjoy life. Accordingly, if any one,
when the spring was in its prime, should be borne on wings and raised aloft, and
look down from his height upon the mountain and champaign country, and see the
one abounding in rich grass, and verdant, producing herbage, and fodder, and
barley, and wheat, and innumerable other kinds of crops such as are grown from
seed which the husbandmen have strewn, and which the season of the year affords
of its own accord, and the other overshadowed with branches and leaves by which
the trees are adorned, and very full of fruits (not only such as are suitable
for food, but also of such as are able to heal suffering, for the fruit of the
olive relieves the fatigue of the body, and that of the vine, when drunk in
moderation, relaxes the excessive pains of the soul), (64) and rich also in the
fragrant airs which are borne around from flowers, and the indescribable
peculiarities of the various flowers which are diversified by divine skill. And
then, if he turns aside his eyes from those trees which admit of cultivation,
and beholds in their turn poplars, and cedars, and pines, and ashes, and the
lofty oaks, and the dense and unceasing masses of all the other wild trees which
overshadow the most numerous and the greatest of the mountains, and the greater
part of the border country wherever there is any deep soil, he will then know
that the vigor of the earth, which is always young, is unremitting, unsubdued,
and unwearied. (65) So that since it is in no degree deprived of any portion of
its former strength, if it had ever done so before, it would be bringing forth
men now also, for two most forcible reasons, one in order that it might not quit
the classification belonging to it, especially in the sowing and production of
that most excellent of all the creatures which dwell upon the earth, the ruler
of all, man, and secondly for the sake of divine assistance to women, who after
they have conceived are for about ten months weighed down with the most severe
pains, and when they are about to bring forth do very often die in the very
pains of labor. (66) Is it not then altogether a terrible piece of stupidity to
imagine that the earth contains any womb calculated for the production of men?
for the womb is the place which vivifies the animal, being as some one has
called it the workshop of nature, in which it fashions nothing but animals; but
it is not a portion of the earth, but of a female animal, carefully fashioned so
as to be adapted for the production of living creatures, since otherwise it
would be necessary for us to attribute breasts to the earth as to a woman, when
it produces men and they are born, so that when first born they may have
appropriate food. But there is no river nor fountain in the whole habitable
world which is said ever to have produced milk instead of water; (67) and in
addition to this, as it is necessary that a child just born must be fed on milk,
so also must he avail himself of the protection of clothing on account of the
injury which ensues from cold or heat to children while they are being reared,
on which account nurses and mothers, to whom the care of infants when just born
is of necessity committed, wrap them up in swaddling clothes; but if they were
produced out of the earth, how would it be possible that, being left completely
naked, they would not be at once destroyed either by the coldness of the air on
the one hand, or the burning heat of the sun on the other? for when great cold
or great heat gets the mastery, it produces diseases and corruptions. (68) But
after the inventors of fables once began to neglect the truth they then ventured
to add to their monstrous stories the fiction that those men who sprung from
seed were born also to complete armor; for what smith, or what new Vulcan, was
there under the earth so skilful as in a moment to prepare so many suits of
armor? and what experience had creatures just born to enable them to use their
weapons? for man is a very peaceful animal, nature having given to him reason as
his especial honor, by means of which he charms and tames the savage passions.
It would have been much better instead of arms to give him a herald's wand, a
symbol of agreement and peace suitable to a reasonable nature, in order the he
might so proclaim peace instead of war to all men everywhere. XIII.
(69) We have now then discussed at sufficient length the nonsense in opposition
to truth which is uttered by those who build up falsehood and fables. But we
must be well assured that men have from all eternity sprung from other men in
constant succession, the man implanting the seed in the woman as in a field, and
the woman receiving the seed so as to preserve it, and nature by her unseen
operations fashioning everything, and each separate part of the body and of the
soul, and giving to the whole race of mankind that which each individual
separately is unable to receive, namely, the principle of immortality; for
though the individual members are continually perishing, yet the race remains
undying as a truly divine work. But if man, who is but a small portion of the
universe, is eternal, then certainly the world itself must have been uncreated
so as to be imperishable. XIV.
(70) But Critolaus, in arguing in support of his opinion, brought forward an
argument of this kind, --"That which is the cause to man of his being in
health is itself free from disease, and, in like manner, the cause of his
keeping awake must itself be sleepless; and if this is the case, that which is
the cause of his existing for ever must itself also be everlasting." Now
the cause of man's existing for ever is the world, since it is so to all other
things whatever; therefore the world also is immortal. (71) Nevertheless, this
point also is worthy of one consideration: that everything which is born must by
all means at the beginning be imperfect, but as time advances he must increase
till he arrives at complete perfection, so that if the world was born it was at
one time (that I may use the expressions appropriate to the ages of men) a mere
infant, and subsequently increasing in periods of years and lapse of time, it at
last and with great difficulty arrived at perfection, for of necessity the
period at which that which of all things has the longest existence must be late.
(72) But if any one fancies that the world has ever really been subjected to
such changes as these, it is time that he should learn that he has been under
the influence of incurable madness, for it is plain that if that is the case not
only will its bodily appearance be increased, but its mind also will receive
growth, since they who attribute liability to perish to it conceive it to be a
rational creature. (73) Therefore, just like a man, it will be devoid of reason
at the commencement of its existence, but endowed with reason at the age when it
is in its prime, which it is impious not only to say, but even to think, for how
can we imagine the most perfect visible circumference which surrounds us, and
which contains within itself so many individual inhabitants, is not always
perfect both in soul and body, being exempt from all those evils in which
everything which has been born and which is perishable is implicated? XV.
(74) And in addition to this he says, that there are three causes of death to
living animals, besides the external causes which may affect them, namely,
disease, old age, and want, by no one of which is the world liable to be
attacked or subdued, for that it is composed of entire elements, since there is
no part of them which is left out or which remains at liberty, so that any
violence can be offered to it, and it also is superior to those powers from
which diseases arise; and they yielding keep the world free from all disease,
and free from old age, and in a state of the most perfect self-sufficiency as to
all its requirements, and without need of anything, since there is nothing
wanting to it which can possibly contribute to its durability, and wholly exempt
from all successions and alternations of fulness and emptiness, which animals
being subject to by reason of their unregulated insatiability, bring upon
themselves death instead of life, or, to speak more accurately, a life which is
more pitiable than any destruction. (75) Moreover, if we saw that there was no
such thing as any eternal nature to be seen, those who assert the liability of
the world to destruction would not appear to be so guilty of disparaging the
world without any excuse, since they would have no example whatever of anything
being everlasting; but since fate, according to the doctrine of those who have
investigated the principles of natural philosophy most accurately, is a thing
without any beginning and without any end, connecting all the causes of
everything, as to leave no break and no interruption, why may we not in like
manner also affirm of the nature of the world that it subsists for a great
length of time, being, as it were, an arrangement of what is otherwise in no
order, a harmony of what is otherwise wholly destitute of such harmony, an
agreement of what is otherwise without agreement, a union of things previously
separated, a condition of stocks and stones, a nature of things growing from
seed and of trees, a life of all animals, the mind and reason of men, and the
most perfect virtue of virtuous men? But if the nature of the world is uncreated
and indestructible, then it is plain that the world is held together and
powerfully preserved by an everlasting indissoluble chain. (76) But some of
those who used to hold a different opinion, being overpowered by truth, have
changed their doctrine; for beauty has a power which is very attractive, and the
truth is beyond all things beautiful, as falsehood on the contrary is enormously
ugly; therefore Boethus, and Posidonius, and Panaetius, men of great learning in
the Stoic doctrines, as if seized with a sudden inspiration, abandoning all the
stories about conflagrations and regeneration, have come over to the more divine
doctrine of the incorruptibility of the world; (77) and it is said also that
Diogenes, when he was very young, agreed entirely with those authors ... XVI.
(78) But Boethus adduces the most convincing arguments, which we shall proceed
to mention immediately; for if, says he, the world was created and is liable to
destruction, then something will be made out of nothing, which appears to be
most absurd even to the Stoics. Why so? Because it is not possible to discover
any cause of destruction either within or without, which will destroy the world.
For on the outside there is nothing except perhaps a vacuum, inasmuch as all the
elements in their integrity are collected and contained within it, and within
there is no imperfection so great as to be the cause of dissolution to so great
a thing. Again, if it is destroyed without any cause, then it is plain that from
something which has no existence will arise the engendering of destruction,
which is an idea quite inadmissible by reason; (79) and, indeed, they say that
there are altogether three generic manners of corruption, one which arises from
division, another which proceeds from a destruction of the distinctive quality
which holds the thing together, and the third from confusion; therefore the
things which consist of a union of separate members, such as flocks of goats,
herds of oxen, choruses, armies; or, again, bodies which are compounded of limbs
joined together, are dissolved by disjunction and separation. But wax, when
stamped with a new impression, or softened before being remodelled so as to
present a new and different appearance, is corrupted by a destruction of the
distinctive quality which previously held it together. Other things are
corrupted by confusion, as the medicine which the physicians call tetrapharmacon,
for the powers of the drugs brought together and combined were destroyed in such
a manner as to produce one perfect medicine of especial virtue. (80) By which,
then, of these modes of corruption is it becoming to say that the world is
destroyed? By that which is caused by separation? No, for it is not compounded
of separate members so that its different parts can be dispersed, nor of
portions joined together so that they can be dissolved; nor is it united
together in a similar manner to our own bodies, for they have the seeds of decay
in themselves, and they are subject to influence of a great variety of things by
which they are at times injured; but the power of the world is invincible, since
by its great superiority to other things it has dominion over everything. (81)
Is it then destroyed by a complete destruction of its distinctive qualities?
This again is impossible, for there remains, as the adversaries affirm, a
quality of arrangement which by the process of conflagration is only diminished
to a lesser substance ... Is it destroyed then by confusion? Away with such an
idea, (82) for in that case it would be necessary to confess that the corruption
of a body can be reduced to a state of non-existence. Why so? Because if each of
the particular elements were destroyed separately, it would be possible for it
to become changed into another; but if they are altogether destroyed at one and
the same moment by confusion, then it would be necessary to imagine what is
absolutely impossible. (83) Again, besides these arguments, if all things, say
they, were destroyed by fire, then what will God have to do during all that
time, except absolutely nothing? And is it not reasonable to say so? For at
present, the overlooks and presides over everything, and regulates everything
like a genuine father, and if one is to say the truth, he guides and directs
everything, sitting as it were by the side of the sun, and moon, and the other
planets, and fixed stars, and also by the air, and the other parts of the world,
and he co-operates with them in everything which can conduce to the durability
of the universe and to its blameless management, in accordance with right
reason. (84) But if everything is destroyed, then he will have an existence
which will be rendered absolutely miserable, by inactivity and irremediable want
of employment; than which what idea can be more absurd? I hesitate to add, what
it would be impious to say, that death will ensue to God if absolute inactivity
falls to his lot; for if you take away the perpetual motion of the soul, then
you will beyond all question also destroy the soul itself. And the soul of the
world, in the opinion of those who maintain the opposite doctrine, is God. XVII.
(85) Is it not however worth while to examine this question, in what manner
there can be a regeneration of all those things which have been destroyed by
fire, and resolved into fire? for when their substance has been wholly destroyed
by the fire, it follows of necessity that the fire itself must also be
extinguished as no longer having any nourishment. Therefore, as long as it
remained the seminal principle of arrangement was likewise preserved, but when
it is destroyed that principle is destroyed with it. But it would be impious,
and an impiety of double dye, not only to attribute destruction to the world,
but also to take away the possibility of its regeneration; as if God delighted
in disorder, and irregularity, and all kinds of evil things. (86) But we must
examine this question more accurately, in the following manner. There are three
species in fire; the coal, and the flame, and the light. Now coal is the fire in
its earthy substance, which, like a sort of spiritual habit, couches and lies
hid in a sort of cavern, pervading it all to its very extremities. And the flame
is that part which, being raised on high, is lifted up from its fuel. And the
light is that which is emitted from the flame, so as to co-operate with the
eyes, in order to enable them to comprehend what is seen. And the flame occupies
the middle position between the coal and the light; for when it is extinguished
it ends in coal, and when it is kindled it excites the light, which, being
deprived of its burning power, blazes. (87) If therefore, we affirm that the
world is dissolved by conflagration, it would not be coal, because, in that case
there will be a great deal of the earthy substance left behind, in which also
fire must necessarily be contained. But we must agree, that none of the other
bodies subsist any longer, but that earth, and water, and air, are all dissolved
into unmixed fire. (88) Nor, again, would it become flame; for that can only
exist in connection with nourishment; and, if nothing is left behind, being
deprived of all nourishment it will immediately be extinguished. It follows from
all this, that it cannot become light either; for light by itself has no
substance at all, but flows from the things before mentioned, coal and flame,
not in a great degree from the coal, but very much from the flame; for it is
diffused over a very great space indeed. But if, as has been already proved,
those things had no existence from the conflagration of all things, then there
could not be any light either. For the abundant, and vast, and extensive
brilliancy of mid-day, when the sun proceeds under the earth, is at once caused
to disappear by night, especially if it be a moonless night. Therefore the world
is not destroyed by fire, but is indestructible. And if it should be destroyed
by fire, there could not be another created. XVIII.
(89) On which account some of the Stoics also, being gifted with a more acute
discernment, and perceiving that they would infallibly be convicted, thought it
well to be beforehand in preparing assistance as it were for a defunct
proposition. But what they prepared was of no use; for, since fire is the cause
of all motion, and since motion is the beginning of generation, for it is
impossible that anything whatever should be generated without motion, they said
that before the new world began to be formed, when it was beginning to be
fashioned, the whole fire would not be extinguished in that conflagration; that
they affirmed that some would still remain, but yet only a small portion. For
they were exceedingly cautious, lest if it should be wholly extinguished, the
consequence would be that everything would remain motionless and devoid of
ornament, inasmuch as the cause of motion would no longer be in any existence.
(90) But all these ideas are the invention of quibblers, who employ all their
artifices in opposition to the truth. Why so? Because it is impossible, as has
been proved already, that the world, after it has been destroyed by
conflagration, should become similar to coal, inasmuch as there is a vast
quantity of earthy substance left in which the fire must of necessity lie in
ambush. And perhaps too the conflagration could not prevail in every quarter, if
the heaviest and most invincible of the elements, namely the earth, still
remains, without being dissolved; but it must of necessity change, either into
flame or into light: into flame, as Cleanthes thought; into light, as Chryssipus
conceived. (91) But if it becomes flame, then, when it approaches extinction, it
will be extinguished all at once, and not partially or gradually. For the
nutriment exists along with it; on which account, while there is a great deal of
it, it increases and is diffused; but when it is stunted it becomes less. And
any one might conjecture the truth of what takes place from what he sees happen
among us. A lamp, when any one pours oil upon it, gives forth a most brilliant
flame; but when any one ceases to supply it with that nutriment, and leaves only
a small portion in the lamp, then the lamp is at once extinguished, and does not
give out the smallest portion of flame. (92) If again this is not the case, but
if the world becomes light, then again it changes altogether. Why so? Because it
has no substance or character of its own, but is generated from flame, and when
this is wholly and completely extinguished in all its parts, it follows of
necessity that the light also must be extinguished, and that not partially, but
altogether. For what flame is to nourishment, that also is light to flame. (93)
As therefore the flame is extinguished concurrently with the want of
nourishment, so also is the light simultaneously with the flame, so that it is
actually impossible for the world to be capable of regeneration, if there is no
seminal principle lurking and kindled within it, but if all things are expended
and destroyed, some by fire, and some by want. From all which arguments it is
plain that the world is for ever uncreated and imperishable. XIX.
(94) Nevertheless, as Chryssipus says, some suppose that fire resolves all the
arrangement of the universe when the elements are separated into itself, so that
it becomes the seed of the world which is about to be made; and suppose in
consequence that, of all the ideas which he and his sect have entertained on the
subject, none are falsified. Granting, in the first place, that generation
proceeds from seed, and that all dissolution is a resolving back into seed; in
the second place, because it is argued by natural philosophers that the world is
a rational nature, inasmuch as it is not only possessed of life, but is also
endowed with intellect, and moreover even with wisdom; by these arguments he
establishes that contrary proposition to that which he intends, namely, that it
will never be destroyed. (95) But the proofs are ready at hand to those who do
not fear to join in the investigation. Therefore the world resembles either a
plant or an animal. But whether it is a plant or whether it is an animal, still,
if it be destroyed by conflagration, it will never be itself its own seed. And
the circumstances which take place among ourselves bear witness that nothing,
whether great or less, when destroyed, has ever been separated in such a manner
as to engender seed. (96) Do you not see how many materials of plants
susceptible of cultivation there are, and how many kinds of wild plants too are
diffused over every portion of the earth? Every one of these trees, as long as
the trunk is in good health, together with its fruit, produces also a seed to
propagate its species; but becoming destroyed after a lapse of time, and being
wholly withered, roots and all, it never becomes resolved into a ripened seed.
(97) And so too in the same manner the different kinds of animals, which it is
not easy even to enumerate by reason of their multitude, as long as they survive
and flourish vigorously, produce a seed, which is calculated to propagate their
species; but when they are dead there is no longer any seed. For it would be
absurd for a man when he is alive to employ only the eighth part of his soul,
which is called the generative power, for the propagation of a being like
himself, but after he is dead to exert the whole of himself for the same
purpose; for death can never be more energetic or efficacious than life. (98)
And besides, there is no single existing thing which is brought to perfection by
seed alone without its appropriate nourishment. For seed resembles the
beginning, and the beginning by itself does not make perfect; for beware of
imagining that the ear of corn blossoms and ripens solely from the seed, which
is cast by the husbandman on the ploughed field; for in truth, dryness and
moisture, the twofold moisture which is derived from the earth, co-operate in
the greatest degree towards its growth. And so the creature which is fashioned
in the womb is not permitted by nature to be brought to life and perfection by
the seed alone, but also by the nourishment shed upon it from without, which the
woman who has conceived supplies. (99) Why then do I say this? Because in the
case of such a conflagration as that of which I have been speaking, the seed
alone will be left, there being no nutriment remaining, since everything which
was to have supplied nutriment will have been resolved into fire; so that the
world, which would be to be formed, according to the principle of regeneration,
will have a lame and imperfect form and character, since that which is chiefly
required to co-operate towards its perfection, on which, as on a staff, the
seminal origin ought to, and naturally does, lean, is destroyed; but this would
be absurd, as is shown, and made manifest from the clearest evidence. (100)
Again, all those things which derive their origin from seed are of a greater
magnitude than the seed which gives them their existence, and are seen to fill a
more extended space; for very often trees, whose tops reach to heaven itself,
shoot up out of a very small grain of seed; and the fattest and tallest animals
grow from a very small quantity of moisture, which is laid as their foundation;
but there happens that which was mentioned a little while ago, that these, at
the time nearest to their birth are very little, but that subsequently they keep
on increasing in size till they arrive at complete perfection. (101) But in the
case of the universe the exact contrary will take place, for here the seed will
both be greater and will also fill a larger space; and the ultimate perfection
at which the thing formed arrives will be smaller, and will appear in a smaller
space; and the world, originally derived from a seed, will not progress from a
very small thing towards increase, but, on the other hand, will be diminished
from a greater magnitude to a smaller; (102) and it is easy to see the truth of
what is here said. Every body, when it is resolved into fire, is dissolved, and
melted, and diffused; and when the flame which is in it is extinguished, it is
then contracted and shrunk up to nothing; but there is no need of arguments to
prove a thing which is so clear, as if it were obscure; and, indeed, the world,
if consumed by fire, will become greater, inasmuch as all its essence will then
be dissolved into the thinnest air; and it appears to me that the Stoics have
foreseen this, and on that account have, in their arguments, assumed that a
vacuum of infinite extent will be left abandoned on the outside of the world;
that so, since it is fated to be subjected to a certain diffusion of boundless
extent, it may not be in want of a place which may be capable of receiving that
diffusion. (103) When therefore it has been extended and increased to such a
degree, as to be very nearly equal to the infinite extent of the vacuum by the
boundless and illimitable extension of its own diffusion, it then, according to
them, is itself the principle of seed to itself; but when, according to a
perfect regeneration of the parts, its entire substance [...]{16}{there seems a
line or two lost here.} being contracted in the extinction of the fire into
dense air; but when the air again is contracted, and when it settles down into
water, then again the water is still further condensed, so as to be changed into
earth, which is the best of all the elements. But all these arguments are beyond
the ordinary ideas of those who are able to consider and argue upon the
consequences of these things. XX.
(104) However, besides what has been here said, any one may use this argument
also in corroboration of his opinion, which will certainly convince all those
who are not determined to be obstinate beyond all bounds; of those things which
in pairs are exactly contrary to one another it is impossible that one thing
should be, and that the other should not be; for since there is white it follows
as a matter of absolute necessity that there must also be black, and since there
is a great there must likewise be a little; since there is an odd there must
inevitably be an even; since there is a sweet there must be a bitter; since
there is day there must be night; and so on in an infinite number of similar
cases; but if a conflagration should take place, then something would ensue
which is impossible; for then, of things in a pair, the one will happen and the
other will not. (105) Come, now, let us consider the matter thus: if everything
is resolved into fire, there is then something light, and rare, and warm; for
all these are the especial properties of fire; but there can be nothing heavy,
or cold, or thick, which are the opposites of the qualities which I have just
enumerated. How then can any one more completely overturn the idea of the
universal disorder which would be involved in such a conflagration than by
showing that those things which by a law of nature must exist together, are by
this process separated from their natural conjunction? And the separation has
extended to such a degree, that those who maintain this doctrine attribute
eternal durability to the one and deny any existence at all to the other. (106)
Again, there is this assertion made by some of those who diligently employ
themselves in investigating truth which appears to me to be a sufficiently
felicitous one; if the world is destroyed it will either be destroyed by some
other efficient cause, or by God; now there is certainly nothing else whatever
from which it can receive its destruction, for there is nothing whatever which
it does not surround and contain; but that which is surrounded and confined
within something else is manifestly inferior in power to that which surrounds
and confines it, by which it is therefore mastered; on the other hand, to say
that it is destroyed by God is the most impious of all possible assertions; for
God is the cause not of disorder, and irregularity, and destruction, but of
order, and beautiful regularity, and life, and of every good thing, as is
confessed by all those whose opinions are based on truth. XXI.
(107) But a person may very likely wonder at those who talk about conflagrations
and regenerations, not only on account of the arguments which I have just been
adducing, by which they are convicted of maintaining erroneous opinions, but
also above all other reasons for this one; for since there are four elements of
which the world consists, namely, earth, water, air, and fire, why is it that
they are to separate fire from all the others, and to affirm that all the others
are dissolved into that one? For some one may say, if it is necessary that they
should all be resolved into one, why should they not be resolved into air, or
water, or earth? For these elements also contain powers of great magnitude; but
yet no one has ever said that the world was to pass away into air, or into
water, or into earth; so that it would be equally natural to deny that it is
resolved into fire. (108) Moreover, it would have become them, perceiving the
beautiful equality which exists in the world, to fear and to feel too great awe
to venture to condemn so divine a thing to death; for there is a most admirable
system of compensation existing in the four elements which arrange and dispense
their vicissitudes by the rulers of equality, and the definitions of justice;
(109) for as the seasons of the year, in their proper alternations of
revolutions, go through their regular cycle, completing their periodical changes
without any cessation; in the same manner suppose that the elements of the world
in the course of their continual interchanges with one another (though it is a
most paradoxical assertion), when they appear to be perishing are in reality
being made immortal, passing over the same course again and again, so as to have
their existence infinitely protracted. (110) Therefore the steep road begins
with the earth; for when it is wasted away it endures a change to water, and the
water when it has evaporated is changed into air, and the air when rarefied is
changed into fire; but the downward road descends from the head, when the fire
in consequence of the conflagration which ensues settles down into air, and
again when the air being closely pressed settles down into water, and when the
water by its copious effusion is condensed so as to be changed into earth. (111)
Heraclitus therefore spoke very correctly when he said that, "Water was the
death of the soul, and earth the death of water." For thinking that the
breath was the soul, he indicates, by this figurative and enigmatical
expression, that the end of air is the production of water, and again that the
end of water is the production of earth; and when he speaks of death he does not
mean utter destruction, but a change into some other element; (112) that
equalized proportion of the elements which is attempered by itself being thus
preserved eternal and uninjured, as is not only probable but absolutely
inevitable; since what is unequal is essentially unjust, and injustice is the
offspring of wickedness, and wickedness is banished from the abode of
immortality. But the world is of a divine magnitude, and has been shown to be
the abode of those gods which are visible to the outward senses; and to affirm
that this world is destroyed is the part of those who do not see the connection
of nature and the united consequence and coherence of things. XXII.
(113) But some of those persons who have fancied that the world is everlasting,
inventing a variety of new arguments, employ also such a system of reasoning as
this to establish their point: they affirm that there are four principal manners
in which corruption is brought about, addition, taking away, transposition, and
alteration; accordingly, the number two is by the addition of the unit corrupted
so as to become the number three, and no longer remains the number two; and the
number four by the taking away of the unit is corrupted so as to become the
number three; again, by transposition the letter Z becomes the letter H when the
parallel lines which were previously horizontal (3/43/4) are placed
perpendicularly (1/2 1/2), and when the line which did before pass upwards, so
as to connect the two is now made horizontal, and still extended between them so
as to join them. And by alteration the word oinos, wine, becomes oxos, vinegar.
(114) But of the manner of corruption thus mentioned there is not one which is
in the least degree whatever applicable to the world, since otherwise what could
we say? Could we affirm that anything is added to the world so as to cause its
destruction? But there is nothing whatever outside of the world which is not a
portion of it as the whole, for everything is surrounded, and contained, and
mastered by it. Again, can we say that anything is taken from the world so as to
have that effect? In the first place that which would be taken away would again
be a world of smaller dimensions than the existing one, and in the second place
it is impossible that any body could be separated from the composite fabric of
the whole world so as to be completely dispersed. (115) Again, are we to say
that the constituent parts of the world are transposed? But at all events they
remain in their original positions without any change of place, for never at any
time shall the whole earth be raised up above the water, nor the water above the
air, nor the air above the fire. But those things which are by nature heavy,
namely the earth and the water, will have the middle place, the earth supporting
everything like a solid foundation, and the water being above it; and the air
and the fire, which are by nature light, will have the higher position, but not
equally, for the air is the vehicle of the fire; and that which is carried by
anything is of necessity above that which carries it. (116) Once more: we must
not imagine that the world is destroyed by alteration, for the change of any
elements is equipollent, and that which is equipollent is the cause of unvarying
steadiness, and of untroubled durability, inasmuch as it neither seeks any
advantage itself, and is not subject to the inroads of other things which seek
advantages at its expense; so that this retribution and compensation of these
powers is equalized by the rules of proportion, being the produce of health and
endless preservation, by all which considerations the world is demonstrated to
be eternal. XXIII.
(117) Theophrastus, moreover, says that those men who attribute a beginning and
destructibility to the world are deceived by four particulars of the greatest
importance, the inequalities of the earth, the retreat of the sea, and
dissolution of each of the parts of the universe, and the destruction of
different terrestrial animals in their kinds; (118) and he proceeds to establish
the first point thus: if the earth had never had any beginning of its creation,
then there would have been no portion of it rising above the rest so as to be
conspicuous, but all the mountains would have been level, and all the pieces of
rising ground would have been even with the plain. For as there are such vast
showers falling from heaven throughout all ages, it would be natural that of any
places which were originally raised on high some would be broken down and washed
away by torrents, and others would subside of their own accord and so become
lowered, and that every place everywhere would be smoothed; (119) but now, as
things are, the constant inequalities which exist, and the vast heights of many
mountains, reaching up even to the sky, are so many proofs that the earth is not
eternal. For otherwise, as I have said before, all the earth would long since
have been rendered level from one extremity to the other by the vast rains which
would have fallen from the eternal commencement of time; for it is the character
of the nature of water, and especially of such as descends in a heavy fall from
lofty places, to push some things away by force, and to cut out and hollow other
places by its continual dropping, and in this manner to operate on the hard,
rugged, stony ground not less than men digging. (120) And again, the sea, as
they affirm, is already somewhat diminished, and for proof of this fact we can
appeal to the most celebrated islands, Rhodes and Delos, for these were in
ancient times invisible, being overwhelmed by and sunk under the sea, but by
lapse of time, as the sea gradually diminished, they by slow degrees rose above
it and came into sight, as the histories which are written concerning them
record. (121) And they used to call Delos Anaphe, confirming the account here
given by both names, since when it appeared above the Waters{17}{the Greek word
is anaphaneisa, from which Anapheµ is derived.} it became evident, {18}{deµleµ,
from which Deµlos is derived.} having been formerly invisible and Unseen.{19} On
which account Pindar says respecting Delos-- "Hail,
island raised by God, Of
fair Latona's son with golden hair. Hail,
ocean's youngest child, The
last immoveable domain That
o'er his bosom smiled. Upraised
from beneath the billowy main Mortals
may call you That
dwells upon Their
chosen bards inspire To
praise thee as earth's brightest, holiest Light."{20}{this is part of an
ode now lost.} For
Pindar has here called Delos the daughter of the ocean, intending by this
enigmatical expression to convey the idea which I have mentioned. (122) And in
addition to these arguments they adduce the facts that many great and deep bays
and gulfs of vast seas have been dried up, and have become land, and have so
turned out no insignificant addition to the adjacent country when sown and
planted, and on that soil there is still left plenty of proof of such spots
having formerly been sea, in the pebbles, and shells, and other things which are
commonly washed up on the sea-shore being found in them. (123) But if the sea is
gradually being diminished then the earth also will be diminished; and in long
revolutions of years every one of the elements will be entirely consumed and
destroyed; and the whole air will be consumed, being diminished by little and
little; and all things will be absorbed and dissolved into the one substance of
fire. XXIV.
(124) And for the purpose of establishing the third alternative of this question
they use the following argument: beyond all question that thing is destroyed all
the parts of which are liable to destruction; but all the parts of the world are
liable to destruction, therefore the world also is liable to destruction. (125)
But we must now proceed to consider the question which we postponed till the
present time. What sort of a part of the earth is that, that we may begin from
this, whether it is greater or less, that is not dissolved by time? Do not the
very hardest and strongest stones become hard and decayed through the weakness
of their conformation (and this conformation is a sort of course of a highly
strained spirit, a bond not indissoluble, but only very difficult to unloose),
in consequence of which they are broken up and made fluid, so that they are
dissolved first of all into a thin dust, and afterwards are wholly wasted away
and destroyed? Again, if the water were never agitated by the winds, but were
left immoveable for ever, would it not from inaction and tranquility become
dead? at all events it is changed by such stagnation, and becomes very foetid
and foul-smelling, like an animal deprived of life. (126) And so also the
corruptions of the air are plain to everyone, for it is the nature of the
atmosphere to become sick and to decay, and, as one may say, in a manner to die;
since what else is it which a man, who is not aiming at selecting plausible
language, but only at truth, would call a plague except a death of the
atmosphere, which diffuses its own disease and suffering to the destruction of
everything which is endowed with life? (127) And why need I speak at great
length concerning fire? for if it is deprived of nourishment it is immediately
extinguished, becoming, as the poets say, tame by its own natural qualities, on
which account it depends upon, and is raised up by the duration of the fuel
which is supplied and kindled, but when that is expended the fire also
disappears. (128) And they say that the dragons in India are exposed to the same
kind of fate, for that they crawl upon the greatest of all beasts, namely
elephants, and creep over their backs and the whole of their bellies, and then,
if they can find a vein, they divide that and drink the blood, sucking it
insatiably, with a strong breath and a vigorous noise. Meantime the elephants,
though greatly drained, and though becoming gradually exhausted, hold out for
some time, leaping about in their perplexity, and lashing their sides with their
trunks in the hope of being able to shake off the dragons. After a time, as the
vital principle is continually becoming more and more exhausted, they are no
longer able to leap about, but stand trembling and quivering, and after a little
more time their legs become too weak to support them, and they are thrown down
and die for want of blood. And when they are fallen down those animals which
were the causes of their death die with them in the following manner: (129)
since the dragons have no longer any nourishment, they attempt to loosen the
bonds with which they twined themselves round the elephants, wishing now to get
released from them, but they are pressed down by the weight of the elephants and
crushed, and much more so when the animal has become a lifeless, hard, and
stone-like substance; for though they wriggle about and try every expedient in
order to effect their release from the power of the animal which weighs them
down, and by which they are entangled, though they have long
practiced themselves in every variety of wile, amid all kinds of
difficulties and distresses, they at last become too weak to resist, like men
who have been starved to death, or who have been caught by a wall which has
suddenly fallen down upon them, and not being able even to lift up their heads
they die of suffocation. If then, each of the separate parts of the world awaits
utter destruction, it is plain that the world which is compounded of these can
not be itself exempt from destruction. (130) We must now consider with accuracy
the fourth and remaining argument. Thus they argue: if the world were eternal
then the animals also would be eternal, and much more the human race, in
proportion as that is more excellent than the other animals; but, on the
contrary, those who take delight in investigating the mysteries of nature
consider that man has only been created in the late ages of the world; for it is
likely, or I should rather say it is inevitably true, that the arts co-exist
with man, so as to be exactly co-eval with him, not only because methodical
proceedings are appropriate to a rational nature, but also because it is not
possible to live without them; (131) let us therefore examine the dates of each
of these, disregarding the fables invented by the tragedians about the gods; but
if man is not eternal then neither is any other animal, so that then neither are
the places which receive them, the earth, or the water, or the air; from all
which considerations it is plain that this world is liable to destruction. XXV.
(132) But it is necessary to encounter such quibbling arguments as these, lest
some persons of too little experience should yield to and be led away by them;
and we must begin our refutation of them from the same point from which the
Sophists begin their deceit. They say, "There could no longer be any
inequalities existing on the earth, if the world were eternal." Why not, my
most excellent friends? For other persons will come up and say that the natures
of trees are in no respect different from mountains; but just as they at certain
seasons lose their leaves, and again at certain seasons recover their verdure
again; (on which account there is admirable truth in those lines of the poet:-- "Like
leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now
green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another
race the following spring supplies; They
fall successive and successive Rise."{21}{homer, Il. 6.147.} And
so in like manner some portions of the mountains are broken off, and others grow
in their stead: (133) but after a long lapse of time the additional growth
becomes conspicuous because the trees having a more rapid nature, display their
increase with great rapidity; but mountains have a slower character, on which
account it happens that the additions which take place in their case are not
perceptible by the outward senses except after a long time. (134) And these men
appear to be ignorant of the manner in which they are produced, since if they
had not been, perhaps they would have been silent out of shame; but still there
is no reason why we should not teach them; but there is nothing new in what is
now said, neither are they our words but the ancient sayings of wise men, by
whom nothing which was necessary for knowledge has been left uninvestigated;
(135) when the fiery principle which is contained beneath, in the earth, is
thrust upwards by the natural power of fire, it proceeds to its own appropriate
place; and if it meets with any respite or relaxation, though ever so slight, it
draws up with it a large portion of the earthy substance, as much as it can; and
when it has emerged from the earth it proceeds more slowly; but the earthy
substance being compelled to follow it for a long time, being at last raised to
an immense height, is contracted at the top, and at last comes to end on a sharp
point imitating the general appearance of the flame of fire; (136) for there
arises then a most violent contention between two things which are natural
adversaries, the lightest and the heaviest of things, each of them pressing
onwards to reach its own place, and each striving against the violent efforts of
the other; accordingly the fire, which is drawing up the earth with it, is
compelled to sink down by its descending power; and the earth naturally
inclining to the lowest point is nevertheless to a certain degree made light,
and lifted up by the upward tendencies of fire, and so is raised on high, and
being at last overpowered by the more influential power which lightens it is
thrust upwards towards the natural seat of fire, and established on high. (137)
Why then need we wonder if the mountains are not entirely washed away by the
impetuosity of the rains, when so great a power, which keeps them together, and
by which they are raised up, is very firmly and steadfastly connected with them?
For if they were released from the bond which holds them together, it would be
natural for them to be entirely dissolved and to be dispersed by the water; but
since they are bound together by this power of fire, they resist the impetuosity
of the rains more surely. XXVI.
These things, then, may be said by us with respect to the argument that the
inequalities of the surface of the earth are no proof of the world having been
created and being liable to destruction; (138) but with respect to that argument
which was endeavored to be established by the diminution of the sea, we may
reasonably adduce this statement in opposition to it: "Do not look only at
the islands which have risen up out of the sea, nor at any portions of land
which, having been formerly buried by the waters, have in subsequent times
become dry land; for obstinate contention is very unfavorable to the
consideration of natural philosophy, which considers the search after truth to
be the chief object of rational desire; but look rather at the contrary effects:
consider how many districts on the main-land, not only such as were near the
coast, but even such as were completely in-land, have been swallowed up by the
waters; and consider how great a portion of land has become sea and is now
sailed over by innumerable ships." (139) Are you ignorant of the celebrated
account which is given of that most sacred Sicilian strait, which in old times
joined Sicily to the continent of Italy?{22}{this is alluded to by Virgil, Aen.
3.419 (as it is translated by Dryden)--"The Italian shore / And fair
Sicilia's coast were one before / An earthquake caused the flaw; the roaring
tides / The passage broke that land from land divides, / And where the lands
retired the rushing ocean rides / Distinguished by the straits on either hand /
Now rising cities in long order stand, / And fruitful fields; so much can time
invade / The mouldering work that beauteous nature made."} and where vast
seas on each side being excited by violent storms met together, coming from
opposite directions, the land between them was overwhelmed and broken away; from
which circumstance the city built in the neighborhood was called Rhegium,
{23}{rheµgion, from rheµgnymi, "to break."} and the result was quite
different from what any one would have expected; for the seas which had formerly
been separated now flowed together and were united in one expanse; and the land
which had previously united was now separated into two portions by the strait
which intersected it, in consequence of which Sicily, which had previously
formed a part of the mainland, was now compelled to be an island. (140) And it
is said that many other cities also have disappeared, having been swallowed up
by the sea which overwhelmed them; since they speak of three in Peloponnesus-- "Aegira
and fair Bura's walls, And
Helica's lofty halls, And
many a once renowned town, With
wreck and seaweed overgrown," as
having been formerly prosperous, but now overwhelmed by the violent influx of
the sea. (141) And the island of Atalantes which was greater than Africa and
Asia, as Plato says in the Timaeus, in one day and night was overwhelmed beneath
the sea in consequence of an extraordinary earthquake and inundation and
suddenly disappeared, becoming sea, not indeed navigable, but full of gulfs and
eddies. (142) Therefore that imaginary and fictitious diminution of the sea has
no connection with the destruction or durability of the world; for in fact it
appears to recede indeed from some parts, but to rise higher in others; and it
would have been proper rather not to look at only one of these results but at
both together, and so to form one's opinion, since in all the disputed questions
which arise in human life, a wise and honest judge will not deliver his opinion
before he has heard the arguments of the advocates on both sides. XVII.
(143) And as for the third argument, it is convicted by itself, as being derived
only from an unsound system of questioning proceeding from the assertions
originally made; for in truth it does not necessarily follow that a thing, all
the parts of which are liable to corruption, is likewise perishable itself; but
this is only inevitably true of that thing of which all the parts are perishable
when taken collectively and together in the same place and at the same time,
since in the case of a person who has the tip of his finger cut off, he is not
disabled from living, but if he had the whole collection of all his parts and
limbs cut off at once, he would die immediately. (144) Therefore in the same
manner, if all the elements of the world together were all to disappear at one
and the same moment, then it would be necessary to admit that the world was
liable to corruption and destruction; but if each of these elements separately
only changes its nature so as to assimilate to that of its nature, it is then
rendered immortal rather than destroyed, according to the philosophical
statement of the tragic poet-- "Nought
that has once existed dies, Though
often what has been combined Before,
we separated find, Invested
with another form." (145)
For it is the greatest folly imaginable to estimate the antiquity of the human
race from the state of art; for if any one were to follow the absurdity of such
a system of reasoning as this, he will prove the world to be very young indeed,
and to have been made scarcely a thousand years, since all those men whom we
have heard of traditionally as the discoverers in different branches of science
do not to back to a greater number of years than that which I have mentioned.
(146) But if we must speak of the arts as coeval with the race of mankind, then
we must speak, drawing our arguments from natural history, and not
inconsiderately or carelessly. And what is this history? The destruction of the
things on the earth, not all together, but of the greatest number of them, is
attributed to two principal causes, the indescribable violence and power of fire
and water. And they say that each of these elements attacks them in its turn,
after very long periods of revolving years. (147) When, therefore, a
conflagration seizes upon things, a stream of ethereal fire being poured down
from above is frequently diffused over them, overrunning many districts of the
habitable world; and when a deluge draws down the whole of the rainy nature of
water, the regular rivers and torrents overflowing, and not only that, but even
far exceeding the ordinary measure of a common flood, and breaking down their
banks with their violence, or else overleaping them, and rising to an enormous
height, from which they swell and are diffused over all the adjacent champaign
country, and the land is in the first instance divided into huge lakes, as the
water is continually settling down into the more hollow parts, and afterwards
flows still higher, and inundates the isthmuses which separate the lakes, till
at last everything presents the appearing of one vast sea from the union of so
many waters. (148) And then it happens that, through the violence of these
powers contending against one another in turn, the inhabitants of the places
exposed to it are destroyed; those who dwell on the mountains and higher ground,
and in ill-watered districts, being destroyed by fire, as not having a
sufficiency of water, which is the natural weapon with which to repel fire, and
those, on the other hand, being destroyed by water who live on the banks of
rivers or lakes, or on the shores of the sea, for evils like to attack those who
are nearest first, or indeed solely. (149) Accordingly, when the greater part of
mankind is destroyed in the manners above mentioned, besides an infinity of
other ways of less power and importance, it follows of necessity that the arts
also must fail, for it cannot be possible to discuss science by itself without
some one to reduce it to method and practice. But when those common pestilences
relax their fury, and when the human race begins again to recover vigor and to
flourish, descending from those who have not been previously destroyed by the
evils which pressed upon them, then the arts also begin again to exist, not
indeed as they were at fist, but in thinner numbers from the diminution of the
numbers of those who practice them.
(150) I have now then set forth to the best of my ability what I have been able
to learn or to understand concerning the indestructibility of the world, and in
the subsequent treatises I shall proceed to show what may be said against each
of the arguments here stated. |
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