| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
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8.1.25
The principle of all things is the
monad or unit ; arising from this monad the
undefined dyad or two serves as material substratum to the monad,
which is cause ; from the monad and the undefined dyad spring
numbers ; from numbers, points ; from points, lines ; from lines,
plane figures ; from plane figures, solid figures ; from solid
figures, sensible bodies, the elements of which are four, fire,
water, earth and air; these elements interchange and turn into one
another completely, and combine to produce a universe animate,
intelligent, spherical, with the earth at its centre, the earth
itself too being spherical and inhabited round about.
8.1.26
There are also
antipodes, and our "down" is their "up." Light and darkness have
equal part note in the universe, so have hot and cold, and dry
and moist ; and of these, if hot preponderates, we have summer; if
cold, winter; if dry, spring; if moist, late autumn. If all are in
equilibrium, we have the best periods of the year, of which the
freshness of spring constitutes the healthy season, and the decay of
late autumn the unhealthy. So too, in the day, freshness belongs to
the morning, and decay to the evening, which is therefore more
unhealthy. The air about the earth is stagnant and unwholesome, and
all within it is mortal; but the uppermost air is ever-moved and
pure and healthy, and all within it is immortal and consequently
divine.
8.1.27
The sun, the moon, and the other stars are gods; for, in
them, there is a preponderance of heat, and heat is the cause of
life. The moon is illumined by the sun. Gods and men are akin,
inasmuch as man partakes of heat ; therefore God takes thought for
man. Fate is the cause of things being thus ordered both as a whole
and separately. The sun's ray penetrates through the
aether, whether cold or dense - the air they call cold
aether, and the sea and moisture dense aether - and this ray
descends even to the depths and for this reason quickens all things.
8.1.28
All things live which partake of heat - this is why plants are living
things - but all have not soul, which is a detached part of aether,
partly the hot and partly the cold, for it partakes of cold aether
too. Soul is distinct from life; it is immortal, since that from
which it is detached is immortal. Living creatures are reproduced
from one another by germination; there is no such thing as
spontaneous generation from earth. The germ is a clot of brain
containing hot vapour within it; and this, when brought to the womb,
throws out, from the brain, ichor, fluid and blood, whence are
formed flesh, sinews, bones, hairs, and the whole of the body, while
soul and sense come from the vapour within.
8.1.29
First congealing in
about forty days, it receives form and, according to the ratios of
"harmony," in seven, nine, or at the most ten, months, the mature
child is brought forth. It has in it all the relations constituting
life, and these, forming a continuous series, keep it together
according to the ratios of harmony, each appearing at regulated
intervals. Sense generally, and sight in particular, is a certain
unusually hot vapour. This is why it is said to see through air and
water, because the hot aether is resisted by the cold; for, if the
vapour in the eyes had been cold, it would have been dissipated on
meeting the air, its like. As it is, in certain [lines] he calls the
eyes the portals of the sun. His conclusion is
the same with regard to hearing and the other senses.
8.1.30
The soul of man, he says, is divided into three parts, intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals as well, but reason by man alone. The seat of the soul extends from the heart to the brain; the part of it which is in the heart is passion, while the parts located in the brain are reason and intelligence. The senses are distillations from these. Reason is immortal, all else mortal. The soul draws nourishment from the blood; the faculties note of the soul are winds, for they as well as the soul are invisible, just as the aether is invisible.
8.1.31 The veins, arteries, and sinews are the bonds of the soul. But when it is strong and settled down into itself, reasonings and deeds become its bonds. When cast out upon the earth, it wanders in the air like the body. Hermes is the steward of souls, and for that reason is called Hermes the Escorter, Hermes the Keeper of the Gate, and Hermes of the Underworld, since it is he who brings in the souls from their bodies both by land and sea ; and the pure are taken into the uppermost region, but the impure are not permitted to approach the pure or each other, but are bound by the Furies in bonds unbreakable. 8.1.32 The whole air is full of souls which are called genii note or heroes; these are they who send men dreams and signs of future disease and health, and not to men alone, but to sheep also and cattle as well; and it is to them that purifications and lustrations, all divination, omens and the like, have reference. The most momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or to evil. Blest are the men who acquire a good soul; [if it be bad] they can never be at rest, nor ever keep the same course two days together.| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
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