always? If to things that are always in motion the spherical shape was given as suitable, how is it that of the things having a spherical shape, one is always in motion like the heaven, while the other is always at rest like the stars? 59. From the same argument. So that, since this is not seen to happen always, none of them would be carried along by an ensouled or a violent motion, as if nature provided for what was to be, because if motion were not of this kind, nothing in the region here below would be in a similar state. How then are things that have received their being as such and their motion as such according to the providence of nature eternal and ungenerated? For things that are according to providence are secondary to providence, and eternal things are secondary to nothing. If what is to be did not exist before it came to be, how is it possible for both things to be true concerning the heaven and the stars and their motion, that they are what is to be and that they are eternal and ungenerated? For what is to be does not yet exist, and what is eternal and ungenerated always exists. If nature provided for the aforesaid manner of motion of the heaven to exist for the sake of things in the region here below being in a similar state as they were, how are these things eternal and ungenerated, which exist as they exist and move as they move for the sake of generated things? 60. From the same argument. For since it has been shown that they are not by nature moved by themselves, and nature does nothing irrationally or in vain, it is clear that it has also assigned to motionless things a shape of such a kind that is least suited for motion. And the sphere is least suited for motion because it has no instrument for motion. So it is clear that their bulk would be spherical. If nature has given to things always in motion the spherical shape, which is suitable for ease of motion, how is it that the stars have not received such a shape in vain, being bound in their circles and not able to complete their motion according to their own nature? If the stars are not by nature moved by themselves, then they do not have eternal motion according to nature. How then are they from the same element as the heaven, which has neither weight nor lightness? If the heaven, because it is from such an element and because it has a spherical shape, is by nature moved always about the center by itself, but the stars, being from the same element and having the same shape, are not by nature moved by themselves, nature has, it seems, given them in vain a substance and shape suitable for eternal motion, if they have a motionless state. How is it that the stars having a substance and shape that is always movable, and a motionless state, is not a sign of an irrational and vain making, which has made the stars rest contrary to nature? If the substances of ungenerated and eternal things are superior to all making, both that which is according to reason and that which is contrary to reason, how, if the heaven and the stars are ungenerated, are they what they are according to the providence of nature, which does nothing irrationally or in vain

ἀεί; Eἰ τοῖς ἀεὶ κινουμένοις ὡς ἁρμόδιον ἐδόθη τὸ σφαιρι κὸν σχῆμα, πῶς τῶν ἐχόντων τὸ σφαιρικὸν σχῆμα τὸ μὲν κινεῖται ἀεὶ ὡς ὁ οὐρανός, τὸ δὲ ἀεὶ ἠρεμεῖ ὡς τὰ ἄστρα; νθ. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Ὥστε, ἐπείπερ οὐ φαίνεται τοῦτο ἀεὶ συμβαῖνον, οὔτε ἂν ἔμψυχον οὔτε βίαιον φέροιτο φορὰν οὐθὲν αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι προνοούσης τῆς φύσεως, ὅτι μὴ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐχούσης τῆς κινήσεως οὐθὲν ἂν ἦν τῶν περὶ τὸν δεῦρο τόπον ὁμοίως ἔχον. Πῶς οὖν ἀΐδια καὶ ἀγένητα τὰ κατὰ τὴν πρόνοιαν τῆς φύσεως τὸ εἶναι τοιάδε καὶ τὸ κινεῖσθαι τοιῶσδε εἰληφότα; Τὰ γὰρ κατὰ πρόνοιαν δεύτερα τῆς προνοίας, καὶ τὰ ἀΐδια οὐδενός ἐστι δεύτερα. Eἰ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι πρὸ τοῦ εἶναι οὐκ ἦν, πῶς ἐνδέχεται περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄστρων καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν κινήσεως ἀμφότερα εἶναι ἀληθῆ, τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι καὶ τὸ ἀΐδια καὶ ἀγένητα αὐτὰ εἶναι; Τὸ γὰρ μέλλον οὔπω ἐστί, καὶ τὸ ἀΐδιόν τε καὶ ἀγένητον πάντοτε ἔνεστιν. Eἰ ἕνεκα τοῦ τὰ περὶ τὸν δεῦρο τόπον ὡς ἔσχεν ὁμοίως ἔχειν τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον τῆς κινήσεως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἡ φύσις προενόη σεν εἶναι, πῶς ἀΐδιά τε καὶ ἀγένητα ταῦτα, ἃ ἕνεκεν τῶν γε νητῶν ἐστιν ὡς ἔστι καὶ κινεῖται ὡς κινεῖται; ξ. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ δέδεικται ὅτι οὐ πεφύκασι κινεῖσθαι δι' αὑτῶν, ἡ δὲ φύσις οὐδὲν ἀλόγως οὐδὲ μάτην ποιεῖ, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ σχῆμα τοιοῦτον ἀποδέδωκε τοῖς ἀκινήτοις ὃ ἥκιστά ἐστι κινητικόν. Ἥκιστα δὲ κινητικὸν ἡ σφαῖρα διὰ τὸ μηδὲν ἔχειν ὄργανον πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν. Ὥστε δῆλον ὅτι σφαιροειδῆ ἂν εἴη τὸν ὄγκον. Eἰ ἡ φύσις δέδωκε τοῖς ἀεὶ κινητοῖς τὸ σφαιρικὸν σχῆμα ἐπιτήδειον πρὸς τὴν εὐκινησίαν, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τὰ ἄστρα μάτην εἰληφότα σχῆμα τοιοῦτον, ἐνδεδεμένα τοῖς κύκλοις καὶ τὴν κατὰ φύσιν αὑτῶν μὴ δυνάμενα ἐκτελεῖν κίνησιν; Eἰ οὐ πεφύκασι τὰ ἄστρα δι' αὑτῶν κινεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἄρα ἔχουσι κατὰ φύσιν τὴν ἀΐδιον κίνησιν. Πῶς οὖν εἰσιν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ στοιχείου ἐξ οὗ καὶ ὁ οὐρανός, τοῦ μήτε βαρύτητα ἔχοντος μήτε κουφότητα; Eἰ ὁ μὲν οὐρανὸς διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐκ τοιούτου στοιχείου καὶ διὰ τὸ σφαιρικὸν ἔχειν τὸ σχῆμα πέφυκε περὶ τὸ μέσον κινεῖσθαι ἀεὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ, τὰ δὲ ἄστρα ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὄντα στοιχείου καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἔχοντα σχῆμα οὐ πεφύκασι κινεῖσθαι δι' ἑαυτῶν, μάτην ὡς ἔοικε δέδωκεν αὐ τοῖς ἡ φύσις οὐσίαν τε καὶ σχῆμα πρὸς τὴν ἀεὶ κίνησιν ἐπιτήδειον, εἰ στάσιν ἔχουσιν ἀκίνητον. Τὸ οὐσίαν ἔχειν καὶ σχῆμα ἀεὶ κινητὸν τὰ ἄστρα καὶ στάσιν ἀκίνητον πῶς οὐκ ἔστι δεῖγμα τῆς ἀλόγου τε καὶ ματαίας ποιήσεως τῆς παρὰ τὴν φύσιν πεποιηκυίας ἠρεμεῖν τὰ ἄστρα; Eἰ τῶν ἀγενήτων τε καὶ ἀϊδίων αἱ οὐσίαι πάσης ποιήσεως τῆς τε κατὰ τὸν λόγον καὶ τῆς παρὰ τὸν λόγον ἀνώτεραί εἰσι, πῶς, εἰ ἀγένητος ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ τὰ ἄστρα, κατὰ πρόνοιαν τῆς φύ σεως τῆς μηθὲν ἀλόγως μήτε ματαίως ποιούσης εἰσὶν ὅ εἰσι