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and that according to each part, being mixed differently, it would be another soul, so that there would be many; and the greatest point, that it is necessary for another soul to exist before this soul, the one that makes this harmony, just as in the case of instruments, the musician who imposes the harmony on the strings, 15.22.67 having a principle within himself, according to which he will create the harmony. For neither there can the strings by themselves, nor here can bodies, bring themselves into harmony. And in general these people also make animate things from inanimate things, and things ordered by chance from disordered things, and that order does not come from the soul, but that the soul itself has received its substance from automatic order. But this is not possible either in particular cases or in others. Therefore, the soul is not a harmony.” 15.22.68 These things are from the works of Plotinus against the Stoics' opinion about the soul, who say that it is corporeal. But since I have set forth sufficiently, as in an epitome, the arguments against Aristotle and the Peripatos, and those against the Stoic sect, it is time to return again and examine the wonderful physical doctrines of all the noble philosophers together, especially when all the Greeks in common both considered and worshipped as visible gods the sun and moon and the other stars and the other parts of the cosmos, and transferred their mythical and nonsensical narratives about the polytheistic error to the elements and parts of the whole cosmos 15.22.69 with more solemn and physical interpretations. Therefore it seems necessary to me to bring together the opinions about these things, and to survey their disagreements and the vanity of their conceit. And I will set these things down from the writing of Plutarch, in which, having collected the opinions on all these matters of both the older and the younger philosophers, he writes in this way: 15.23.1 κγʹ. CONCERNING THE SUN “Anaximander says it is a circle twenty-eight times the size of the earth, having its rim like a chariot wheel, hollow, full of fire, revealing the fire at a certain part through an aperture, as through the nozzle of a bellows; and that this is the sun. 15.23.2 Xenophanes says it is from fiery particles which are gathered together from the moist exhalation, and that they assemble the sun from ignited clouds. 15.23.3 The Stoics, an intellectual fire kindled from the sea. 15.23.4 Plato, of very much fire. 15.23.5 Anaxagoras, Democritus, Metrodorus, a mass of red-hot iron or a fiery stone. 15.23.6 Aristotle, a sphere of the fifth element. 15.23.7 Philolaus the Pythagorean, a glass-like disk, which receives the reflection of the fire in the cosmos, and filters the light through to us; so that the fiery element in the heaven is like the brightness scattered towards us from a mirror by reflection; for we also call this the sun, as it were an image of an image. 15.23.8 Empedocles, two suns, the one archetypal, a fire in the other hemisphere of the cosmos, which has filled that hemisphere, always opposite its own reflection; the other, the apparent one, is a reflection in the other hemisphere, which is filled with air of a fiery nature, becoming the sun by its appearance from the spherical earth. But, to speak concisely and in summary, that the sun is fire. 15.23.9 Epicurus, an earthy condensation like pumice-stone and sponge-like in its perforations, kindled by fire.

15.24.1 κδʹ. CONCERNING THE SIZE OF THE SUN Anaximander says that the sun is equal to the earth, but the circle from which it has its exhalation and by which it is carried is twenty-seven times the size of the earth. 15.24.2 Anaxagoras, many times larger than the Peloponnese. 15.24.3 Heraclitus, the width of a human foot. 15.24.4 Epicurus, just as large and of such a kind as it appears, or a little larger or smaller.

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καὶ ὅτι καθ' ἕκαστον μέρος ἄλλως κραθὲν εἴη ἂν ψυχὴ ἑτέρα, ὥστε πολλὰς εἶναι· καὶ τὸ δὴ μέγιστον, ὡς ἀνάγκη πρὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ταύτης ἄλλην ψυχὴν εἶναι τὴν ποιοῦσαν τὴν ἁρμονίαν ταύτην, οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ὀργάνων τὸν μουσικὸν τὸν ἐντιθέντα ταῖς χορδαῖς τὴν ἁρμονίαν, λόγον 15.22.67 ἔχοντα παρ' αὑτῷ, καθ' ὃν ἁρμόσει. οὔτε γὰρ ἐκεῖ αἱ χορδαὶ παρ' αὑτῶν οὔτ' ἐνταῦθα τὰ σώματα ἑαυτὰ εἰς ἁρμονίαν ἄγειν δυνήσεται. ὅλως δὲ καὶ οὗτοι ἐξ ἀψύχου ἔμψυχα ποιοῦσι καὶ τὰ ἐξ ἀτάκτων κατὰ συντυχίαν τεταγμένα καὶ τὴν τάξιν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν ἐκ τῆς αὐτομάτου τάξεως τὴν ὑπόστασιν εἰληφέναι. τοῦτο δὲ οὔτε ἐν τοῖς κατὰ μέρος οὔτε ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις δυνατὸν γενέσθαι. οὐκ ἄρα ἡ ψυχὴ ἁρμονία.» 15.22.68 Ταῦτα μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν Πλωτίνου πρὸς τὴν τῶν Στωϊκῶν περὶ ψυχῆς δόξαν, σωματικὴν φασκόντων αὐτὴν εἶναι. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ αὐτάρκως τά τε πρὸς Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ τὸν Περίπατον τά τε πρὸς τὴν τῶν Στωϊκῶν αἵρεσιν, ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ, παρατέθειμαι, ὥρα πάλιν ἐπανελθόντα τῶν γενναίων φιλοσόφων ὁμοῦ πάντων τὰς θαυμαστὰς ἐπισκέψασθαι φυσιολογίας, ὅτε μάλιστα κοινῶς πάντες Ἕλληνες θεοὺς ὁρατοὺς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀστέρας τά τε ἄλλα μέρη τοῦ κόσμου ἡγήσαντό τε καὶ ἐσέφθησαν, καὶ τάς γε μυθικὰς καὶ ληρώδεις αὐτῶν περὶ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης διηγήσεις σεμνοτέραις δὴ καὶ φυσικαῖς ἀποδόσεσιν ἐπὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα καὶ τὰ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου 15.22.69 μόρια μετενηνόχασι. διό μοι ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ τὰς περὶ τῶνδε δόξας ὁμοῦ συναγαγεῖν τάς τε διαστάσεις αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ τύφου τὸ μάταιον ἐπιθεωρῆσαι. θήσω δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῆς Πλουτάρχου γραφῆς, ἐν ᾗ τὰς περὶ τούτων ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν τε πρεσβυτέρων καὶ νέων δόξας συναγαγὼν τοῦτον γράφει τὸν τρόπον· 15.23.1 κγʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΗΛΙΟΥ «Ἀναξίμανδρος κύκλον εἶναι ὀκτωκαιεικοσαπλασίονα τῆς γῆς, ἁρματείῳ τροχῷ τὴν ἁψῖδα παραπλήσιον ἔχοντα, κοῖλον, πλήρη πυρός, κατά τι μέρος ἐκφαίνοντα διὰ στομίου τὸ πῦρ, ὥσπερ διὰ πρηστῆρος αὐλοῦ· καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον. 15.23.2 Ξενοφάνης ἐκ πυριδίων τῶν φαινομένων συναθροιζομένων μὲν ἐκ τῆς ὑγρᾶς ἀναθυμιάσεως, συναθροιζόντων δὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἐκ νεφῶν πεπυρωμένων. 15.23.3 Οἱ Στωϊκοὶ ἄναμμα νοερὸν ἐκ θαλάσσης. 15.23.4 Πλάτων πλείστου πυρός. 15.23.5 Ἀναξαγόρας, ∆ημόκριτος, Μητρόδωρος μύδρον ἢ πέτρον διάπυρον. 15.23.6 Ἀριστοτέλης σφαῖραν ἐκ τοῦ πέμπτου σώματος. 15.23.7 Φιλόλαος ὁ Πυθαγόρειος δίσκον ὑαλοειδῆ, δεχόμενον μὲν τοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πυρὸς τὴν ἀνταύγειαν, διηθοῦντα δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς· ὥστε προσεοικέναι ἡλίου τὸ ἐν οὐρανῷ πυρῶδες τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνόπτρου κατὰ ἀνάκλασιν διασπειρομένῃ πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐγῇ· καὶ γὰρ ταύτην προσονομάζομεν ἥλιον, οἱονεὶ εἴδωλον εἰδώλου. 15.23.8 Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δύο ἡλίους, τὸν μὲν ἀρχέτυπον πῦρ ἐν τῷ ἑτέρῳ ἡμισφαιρίῳ τοῦ κόσμου πεπληρωκὸς τὸ ἡμισφαίριον ἀεὶ καταντικρὺ τῆς ἀνταυγείας ἑαυτοῦ, τὸν δὲ φαινόμενον ἀνταύγειαν εἶναι ἐν τῷ ἑτέρῳ ἡμισφαιρίῳ τῷ τοῦ ἀέρος τοῦ θερμοειδοῦς πεπληρωμένῳ, ἀπὸ κυκλοτεροῦς τῆς γῆς κατ' ἔμφασιν γιγνόμενον ἥλιον. ὡς δὲ διὰ βραχέος εἰρῆσθαι συντεμόντα, πῦρ εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον. 15.23.9 Ἐπίκουρος γήινον πύκνωμα κισσηροειδὲς καὶ σπογγοειδὲς ταῖς κατατρήσεσιν, ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς ἀνημμένον.

15.24.1 κδʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΜΕΓΕΘΟΥΣ ΗΛΙΟΥ Ἀναξίμανδρος τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἴσον εἶναι τῇ γῇ, τὸν δὲ κύκλον ἀφ' οὗ τὴν ἐκπνοὴν ἔχει καὶ ὑφ' οὗ φέρεται, ἑπτακαιεικοσαπλασίω τῆς γῆς. 15.24.2 Ἀναξαγόρας πολλαπλάσιον Πελοποννήσου. 15.24.3 Ἡράκλειτος εὖρος ποδὸς ἀνθρωπείου. 15.24.4 Ἐπίκουρος τηλικοῦτον ἡλίκος καὶ ὁποῖος φαίνεται, ἢ μικρῷ τι μείζω ἢ ἐλάττω.