Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

"Furthermore, one must not believe that worlds of necessity have one single shape * * [but he himself says in the twelfth book of On Nature that they are also diverse; for some are spherical, others egg-shaped, and others of different shapes; yet they do not have every shape. Nor are they living beings segregated from the infinite.] For no one could prove that in a world of such a kind such seeds from which animals and plants and all the rest of observed things are constituted could not have been included, whereas in a world of such a kind they could have been. [And likewise that they could be nurtured. And in the same way one must consider it regarding the earth.]

"Indeed, one must also suppose that human nature was taught and compelled to do many diverse things by the facts themselves, and that reason later made precise and further discovered what was handed over by nature, in some things more quickly, in others more slowly, and in some cycles and periods of time 〈making greater advances〉, and in others smaller. "Hence, words too did not arise originally by convention, but the natures of human beings themselves in each nation, experiencing their own peculiar feelings and receiving their own peculiar impressions, emitted air in a peculiar way shaped by each of the feelings and impressions, according to whatever difference there might also be among the locations of the nations;

​and later, in each nation, expressions were established in common so that designations might become less ambiguous to one another and more concisely conveyed; and those who were aware of certain unobserved things introduced them and transmitted certain sounds, having been compelled to utter them, while others, choosing them by reasoning, interpreted them accordingly based on the most prevalent reason. "Furthermore, with regard to celestial phenomena, one must not believe that motion and solstice, eclipse, rising, setting, and things coordinate with these take place because someone is ministering and arranging or about to arrange them, while simultaneously possessing all blessedness together with incorruptibility

(for business, worries, anger, and gratitude do not harmonize with blessedness, but these arise in weakness, fear, and need of one's neighbors); nor again must one believe that masses of condensed fire, having acquired blessedness, assume these motions according to their own will. Rather, one must preserve all reverence in every expression applied to such conceptions, so that no opinions contrary to that reverence 〈may arise〉 from them; otherwise, this contradiction itself will produce the greatest disturbance in souls. Hence, one must believe that both this necessity and period are fulfilled in accordance with the original inclusions of these conglomerations during the generation of the world.

"Moreover, one must also believe that to investigate precisely the cause concerning the most sovereign things is the task of natural philosophy, and that our blessedness lies in this and in knowing what natures are observed in these celestial phenomena, and in all that contributes to precision regarding this. "Furthermore, [what matters] is not that things in such matters happen in multiple ways and admit of being otherwise, but simply that nothing that suggests conflict or disturbance exists in an incorruptible and blessed nature; and to comprehend this with the mind is simply to be in blessedness.

"However, that which belongs to astronomical inquiry—concerning setting, rising, solstice, eclipse, and whatever is related to these—no longer contributes at all to blessedness, but those who know these things while remaining ignorant of what the natures are and what the most sovereign causes are possess fears just the same as if they had not known them beforehand; and perhaps even more fears, whenever the astonishment resulting from the additional observation of these phenomena cannot find resolution and a systematic account concerning the most sovereign things. "Wherefore, even if we discover multiple causes for solstices, settings, risings, eclipses, and things of that sort, just as was the case with particular occurrences,