Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe : $b Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus. — Plato — John Shaqi
Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe : $b Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus.
Plato · en
was the event which divinity had predicted. ‘And perhaps,’ said he,
‘I shall be a spectator of what will follow.’ He likewise then learnt
some particulars about Osiris, which would shortly happen, and others
which would take place at some greater distance of time, viz. when the
boy Horus would choose, as his associate in battle, a wolf instead of a
lion. But who the wolf is, is a sacred narration, which it is not holy to
divulge, even in the form of a fable.”
Typhos, however, through his tyranny, was at length dethroned, and Osiris
recalled from exile; and Synesius, towards the end of this treatise,
observes, “that the blessed body which revolves in a circle is the
cause of the events in the sublunary world. For both are parts of the
universe, and they have a certain relation to each other. If, therefore,
the cause of generation[51] in the things which surround us originates
in the natures which are above us, it follows that the seeds of things
which happen here descend from thence. And if some one should add, since
astronomy imparts credibility to this, that there are _apocatastatic_[52]
periods of the stars and spheres, some of which are simple, but others
compounded; such a one will partly accord with the Egyptians, and partly
with the Grecians, and will be perfectly wise from both, conjoining
intellect to science. A man of this kind therefore will not deny, that,
in consequence of the same motions returning, effects also will return,
together with their causes; and that lives on the earth, generations,
educations, dispositions, and fortunes, will be the same with those that
formerly existed. We must not wonder, therefore, if we behold a very
ancient history verified in life, and should see things which flourished
before our times accord with what is unfolded in this narration; and,
besides this, perceive that the forms which are inserted in matter are
consentaneous to the arcana of a fable.”
The following is the extract from the Asclepian Dialogue, a Latin
translation only of which is extant, and is generally believed by the
learned to have been made by Apuleius:—