Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe. Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi; in which the positions of the stars at the commencement of the several mundane periods is given. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus / Translated from the originals by Thomas Taylor.

Thomas Taylor

Date:: 1831

Credit: Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe. Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi; in which the positions of the stars at the commencement of the several mundane periods is given. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus / Translated from the originals by Thomas Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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the obtuse; those of air are, the soft, the smooth, the light, and the attenuated; and those of earth are, the hard and the rough, the heavy and the thick. Of these four bodies, however, fire and earth are the transcendencies and summits [ or extremities] of contraries. Fire, therefore, is the transcendency of heat, in the same manner as ice is of cold: hence, if ice is a concretion of moisture and frigi- dity, fire will be the fervour of dryness and heat. On which account, nothing is generated from ice, nor from fire *. Fire and earth, therefore, are the extremities of the elements, but water and air are the media, for they have a mixed corporeal nature. Nor is it possible that there could be only one of the ex- tremes, but it is necessary that there should be a contrary to it. Nor could there be two only, for it is necessary that there should be a medium, since media are opposite to the extremes. Fire, therefore, is hot and dry, but air is hot and moist ; water is moist and cold, but earth is cold and dry. Hence, heat is common to air and fire ; cold is common to water and earth; dryness to earth and fire; and moisture to water and air. * The substance of nearly the whole of what Ocellus here says, and also of the two following paragraphs, is given by Aristotle, in his, Treatise on Generation and Corruption.

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