§90τὴν προσδοχὴν δύναται ποιεῖσθαι.
can support the expectation of its duration.
οὐ γὰρ ἀθροισμὸν δεῖ μόνον γενέσθαι οὐδὲ δῖνον ἐν ᾧ ἐνδέχεται κόσμον γίνεσθαι κενῷ κατὰ τὸ δοξαζόμενον ἐξ ἀνάγκης, αὔξεσθαί τε, ἕως ἂν ἑτέρῳ προσκρούσῃ, καθάπερ τῶν φυσικῶν καλουμένων φησί τις.
For one must not think that there must only arise an accumulation or a vortex in a void in which a world can come into being, by necessity as is supposed, and that it grows until it collides with another, as one of those called physicists says.
τοῦτο γὰρ μαχόμενόν ἐστι τοῖς φαινομένοις.
For this is in conflict with the phenomena.
Ἥλιός τε καὶ σελήνη καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἄστρα 〈οὐ〉 καθ’ ἑαυτὰ γενόμενα ὕστερον ἐμπεριελαμβάνετο ὑπὸ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ ὅσα γε δὴ σῴζει, ἀλλ’ εὐθὺς διεπλάττετο καὶ αὔξησιν ἐλάμβανεν (ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ γῆ καὶ θάλαττα) κατὰ προσκρίσεις καὶ δινήσεις λεπτομερῶν τινων φύσεων, ἤτοι πνευματικῶν ἢ πυροειδῶν ἢ τὸ συναμφότερον· καὶ γὰρ ταῦτα οὕτως ἡ αἴσθησις ὑπο βάλλει.
The sun and moon and the other stars were not formed independently and later taken in by the world, along with all the things that it preserves, but they were immediately shaped and received growth (similarly also the earth and sea) by additions and whirlings of certain fine-particled substances, either wind-like or fire-like or both; for sensory perception also suggests this.
§91Τὸ δὲ μέγεθος ἡλίου τε 〈καὶ σελήνης〉 καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἄστρων κατὰ μὲν τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τηλικοῦτόν ἐστιν ἡλίκον φαίνεται. (τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ ιᾱ Περὶ φύσεως· εἰ γάρ
, φησί,
τὸ μέγεθος διὰ τὸ διάστημα ἀποβεβλήκει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἂν τὴν χρόαν
. ) ἄλλο γὰρ τούτῳ συμμετρότερον διάστημα οὐθέν ἐστι· κατὰ δὲ τὸ καθ’ αὑτὸ ἤτοι μεῖζον τοῦ ὁρωμένου ἢ μικρῷ ἔλαττον ἢ τηλικοῦτον (οὐχ ἅμα).
The size of the sun (and moon) and the other stars is, in relation to us, just as large as it appears. (This is also in the eleventh book of "On Nature"; "for if," he says, "it had lost its size because of the distance, it would have lost its color much more.") For there is no other distance more proportionate to this; but in itself, it is either larger than what is seen, or slightly smaller, or of the same size (not all at once).
οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὰ παρ’ ἡμῖν πυρὰ ἐξ ἀποστήματος θεωρούμενα κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν θεωρεῖται.
For in this way too, the fires in our experience, when viewed from a distance, are viewed by sensation.
καὶ πᾶν δὲ τὸ εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἔνστημα ῥᾳδίως διαλυθήσεται, ἐάν τις τοῖς ἐναργήμασι προσέχῃ, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς περὶ φύσεως βιβλίοις δείκνυμεν.
And every objection on this point will be easily dissolved if one pays attention to clear facts, as we show in the books on nature.
§92Ἀνατολὰς καὶ δύσεις ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἄστρων καὶ κατὰ ἄναψιν γίνεσθαι δυνατὸν καὶ κατὰ σβέσιν, τοιαύτης οὔσης περιστάσεως (καὶ καθ’ ἑκατέρους τοὺς τρόπους), ὥστε τὰ προειρημένα ἀποτελεῖσθαι· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν φαινομένων ἀντιμαρτυρεῖ.
The risings and settings of the sun, moon, and other stars can occur both by kindling and by quenching, such a situation being present (in both ways) so that the aforementioned results are accomplished; for none of the phenomena contradicts this.
〈καὶ〉 κατ’ ἐκφάνειάν τε ὑπὲρ γῆς καὶ πάλιν ἐπιπρόσθησιν τὸ προειρημένον δύναιτ’ ἂν συντελεῖσθαι· οὐδὲ γάρ τι τῶν φαινομένων ἀντιμαρτυρεῖ.
And by appearance above the earth and again by obstruction, the aforementioned could be accomplished; for indeed none of the phenomena contradicts this.
Τάς τε κινήσεις αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀδύνατον μὲν γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὅλου οὐρανοῦ δίνην, ἢ τούτου μὲν στάσιν, §93αὐτῶν δὲ δίνην κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐν τῇ γενέσει τοῦ κόσμου ἀνάγκην ἀπογεννηθεῖσαν (ἐπ’ ἀνατολῇ τὰ τῇ θερμασίᾳ. . . ) 〈ἢ καὶ〉 κατά τινα ἐπινέμησιν τοῦ πυρὸς ἀεὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἑξῆς τόπους ἰόντος.
And their movements are not impossible to occur according to the vortex of the whole heaven, or while this is at rest, their own vortex being produced according to the necessity generated at the beginning in the origin of the world (at the rising, those things by heat...), or also according to a certain spreading of fire which always goes to the succeeding places.
Τροπὰς ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης ἐνδέχεται μὲν γίνεσθαι κατὰ λόξωσιν οὐρανοῦ οὕτω τοῖς χρόνοις κατηναγκασμένου· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ κατὰ ἀέρος ἀντέξωσιν ἢ καὶ ὕλης ἀεὶ ἐπιτηδείας ἐχομένης ἐμπιπραμένης, τῆς δὲ καταλειπομένης· ἢ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοιαύτην δίνην κατειληθῆναι τοῖς ἄστροις τούτοις, ὥσθ’ οἷόν τιν’ ἕλικα κινεῖσθαι.
The turnings of the sun and moon can occur by the obliquity of the heaven, forced in this way by the seasons; and similarly by the resistance of air, or also by suitable matter always being caught and set on fire, while the other is left; or also by such a vortex having from the beginning enveloped these stars so that they move like a spiral.
πάντα γὰρ τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις συγγενῆ οὐθενὶ τῶν ἐναργημάτων διαφωνεῖ, ἐάν τις ἀεὶ ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων μερῶν ἐχόμενος τοῦ δυνατοῦ εἰς τὸ σύμφωνον τοῖς φαινομένοις ἕκαστον τούτων δύνηται ἐπανάγειν, μὴ φοβούμενος τὰς ἀνδραποδώδεις ἀστρολόγων τεχνιτείας.
For all such things and those akin to them disagree with none of the clear facts, if one, always holding to what is possible in such matters, is able to refer each of these to what is in agreement with the phenomena, not fearing the slavish crafts of astronomers.
§94Κένωσίς τε σελήνης καὶ πάλιν πλήρωσις καὶ κατὰ στροφὴν τοῦ σώματος τούτου δύναιτ’ ἂν γίνεσθαι καὶ κατὰ σχηματισμοὺς ἀέρος ὁμοίως, ἔτι τε καὶ κατ’ ἐπιπροσθήσεις καὶ κατὰ πάντας τρόπους, καθ’ οὓς καὶ τὰ παρ’ ἡμῖν φαινόμενα ἐκκαλεῖται εἰς τὰς τούτου τοῦ εἴδους ἀποδόσεις, ἐὰν μή τις τὸν μοναχῇ τρόπον κατηγαπηκὼς τοὺς ἄλλους κενῶς ἀποδοκιμάζῃ, οὐ τεθεωρηκὼς τί δυνατὸν ἀνθρώπῳ θεωρῆσαι καὶ τί ἀδύνατον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀδύνατα θεωρεῖν ἐπιθυμῶν.
The waning of the moon and its filling again could occur both by the rotation of this body, and similarly by the configurations of the air, and also by obstructions, and by all the ways in which the phenomena in our experience call for explanations of this kind, unless someone, having fallen in love with a single way, vainly rejects the others, not having observed what is possible for a human to observe and what is impossible, and therefore desiring to observe what is impossible.
Ἔτι τε ἐνδέχεται 〈μὲν〉 τὴν σελήνην ἐξ ἑαυτῆς ἔχειν τὸ φῶς, ἐνδέχεται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου.
Furthermore, it is possible for the moon to have its light from itself, and it is possible to have it from the sun.