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15.30.3 Anaxagoras holds that the surrounding aether is fiery in substance, and that by the force of its rotation it snatches up rocks from the earth and, having set them on fire, makes stars of them. 15.30.4 Diogenes holds that the stars are pumice-like, and considers them to be the breathing-holes of the cosmos. The same man again holds that there are invisible stones, which often fall to the earth and are extinguished, just like the stone star that fell as a fiery mass at Aegospotami. 15.30.5 Empedocles holds that the fixed stars are fastened to the crystalline sphere, but that the planets are free. 15.30.6 Plato holds that they are mostly made of fire, but partake of the other elements as well, like glue. 15.30.7 Xenophanes holds that they are made of ignited clouds, which are extinguished each day and rekindled at night, just like coals; for the risings and settings are ignitions and extinctions. 15.30.8 Heraclides and the Pythagoreans hold that each of the stars is a world, containing aether in the infinite. These doctrines are contained in the Orphic poems, which make each of the stars a world. 15.30.9 Epicurus rejects none of these, adhering to what is possible.

15.31.1 31. CONCERNING THE SHAPE OF THE STARS

The Stoics hold that the stars are spherical, like the cosmos and the sun. 15.31.2 Anaximenes holds that they are fixed like nails in the crystalline substance. Some say that they are fiery plates, like pictures.” Such are the discoveries of the wonderful philosophers concerning what they call the visible gods. And what they have supposed concerning the universe, learn from the same voice of Plutarch:

15.32.1 32. HOW THE COSMOS WAS CONSTITUTED

“The cosmos, then, was formed into a curved shape in this way: since the atomic bodies had an unprovidential and random motion and were moving continuously and very swiftly, many bodies were gathered together into the same place, 15.32.2 and for this reason had a variety of both shapes and sizes. And as these were being gathered together in the same place, all those that were larger and heaviest of all settled down, while those that were small and round and smooth and easily moved, these were squeezed out 15.32.3 at the coming together of the bodies, and were carried up to the heights. When, therefore, the striking force that raised them aloft failed, and the blow no longer drove them upward, and they were prevented from being carried downward, they were forced toward the 15.32.4 places able to receive them. And these were the surrounding regions. And in addition to these, the multitude of bodies was bent around; and being interwoven with one another by the bending, they generated the heaven. And the atoms, being of the same nature, though various, as has been said, being thrust up to the heights, completed the nature of the stars. 15.32.5 And the multitude of bodies being exhaled struck the air and squeezed it out. And this, being turned into wind by the motion and embracing the stars, carried them around with it and kept their revolution aloft. And then from the things that settled down the earth was generated, and from the things 15.32.6 raised aloft, heaven, fire, air. And since much matter was still contained in the earth, and as this was being condensed by the blows from the bodies and the rays from the stars, the entire small-particled formation 15.32.7 of this was pressed together and generated the moist nature. And this, being in a fluid state, was carried down to the hollow places and those able to contain and hold it; or...

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15.30.3 Ἀναξαγόρας τὸν περικείμενον ἀέρα πύρινον μὲν εἶναι κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν, τῇ δ' εὐτονίᾳ τῆς περιδινήσεως ἀναρπάσαντα πέτρους ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ καταφλέξαντα, τούτους ἠστερικέναι. 15.30.4 ∆ιογένης κισσηρώδη τὰ ἄστρα, διαπνοίας δ' αὐτὰ νομίζει τοῦ κόσμου. πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς ἀφανεῖς μὲν λίθους, πίπτοντας δὲ πολλάκις ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν σβέννυσθαι, καθάπερ τὸν ἐν Αἰγὸς Ποταμοῖς πυροειδῶς κατενεχθέντα ἀστέρα πέτρινον. 15.30.5 Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τοὺς μὲν ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας συνδεδέσθαι τῷ κρυστάλλῳ, τοὺς δὲ πλάνους ὄντας ἀνεῖσθαι. 15.30.6 Πλάτων ἐκ μὲν τοῦ πλείστου μέρους πυρίνους, μετέχοντας δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, κόλλης δίκην. 15.30.7 Ξενοφάνης ἐκ νεφῶν μὲν πεπυρωμένων, σβεννυμένους δὲ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἀναζωπυρεῖν νύκτωρ, καθάπερ τοὺς ἄνθρακας· τὰς γὰρ ἀνατολὰς καὶ τὰς δύσεις ἐξάψεις εἶναι καὶ σβέσεις. 15.30.8 Ἡρακλείδης καὶ οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι ἕκαστον τῶν ἀστέρων κόσμον ὑπάρχειν, περιέχοντα αἰθέρα ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ. ταῦτα τὰ δόγματα ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ἐμφέρεται κοσμοποιοῦσιν ἕκαστον τῶν ἀστέρων. 15.30.9 Ἐπίκουρος οὐδὲν ἀπογινώσκει τούτων, ἐχόμενος τοῦ ἐνδεχομένου.

15.31.1 λαʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΣΧΗΜΑΤΟΣ ΑΣΤΕΡΩΝ

Οἱ Στωϊκοὶ σφαιρικοὺς τοὺς ἀστέρας, καθάπερ τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἥλιον. 15.31.2 Ἀναξιμένης ἥλων δίκην καταπεπηγμένους τῷ κρυσταλλοειδεῖ. ἔνιοι δὲ πέταλα πύρινα εἶναι, ὥσπερ ζωγραφήματα.» Τοιαῦτα τοῖς θαυμαστοῖς φιλοσόφοις τὰ περὶ ὧν φασι φαινομένων θεῶν ἐξευρέματα. οἷα δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ παντὸς διειλήφασιν, ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς μάνθανε τοῦ Πλουτάρχου φωνῆς·

15.32.1 λβʹ. ΠΩΣ ΣΥΝΕΣΤΗΚΕΝ Ο ΚΟΣΜΟΣ

«Ὁ τοίνυν κόσμος περικεκλασμένῳ σχήματι ἐσχημάτισται τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον· τῶν ἀτόμων σωμάτων ἀπρονόητον καὶ τυχαίαν ἐχόντων τὴν κίνησιν συνεχῶς τε καὶ τάχιστα κινουμένων, εἰς ταὐτὸ πολλὰ σώματα συνηθροίσθη, 15.32.2 καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ποικιλίαν ἔχοντα καὶ σχημάτων καὶ μεγεθῶν. ἀθροιζομένων δὲ ἐν ταὐτῷ τούτων τὰ μὲν ὅσα μείζονα ἦν καὶ βαρύτατα πάντων ὑπεκάθιζεν, ὅσα δὲ μικρὰ καὶ περιφερῆ καὶ λεῖα καὶ εὐολίσθητα, ταῦτα ἐξεθλί15.32.3 βετο κατὰ τὴν σύνοδον τῶν σωμάτων, εἰς δὲ τὸ μετέωρον ἀνεφέρετο. ὡς οὖν ἐξέλιπεν ἡ πληκτικὴ δύναμις μετεωρίζουσα, οὐκέτι δὲ ἦγεν ἡ πληγὴ πρὸς τὸ μετέωρον, ἐκωλύετο δὲ ταῦτα κάτω φέρεσθαι, ἐβιάζετο δὲ πρὸς τοὺς 15.32.4 τόπους τοὺς δυναμένους δέξασθαι. οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ πέριξ. καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὸ πλῆθος τῶν σωμάτων περιεκλᾶτο· περιπλεκόμενα δὲ ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὴν περίκλασιν τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐγέννησε. τῆς δ' αὐτῆς ἐχόμεναι φύσεως αἱ ἄτομοι, ποικίλαι οὖσαι, καθὼς εἴρηται, πρὸς τὸ μετέωρον ἐξωθούμεναι τὴν τῶν ἄστρων 15.32.5 φύσιν ἀπετέλουν. τὸ δὲ πλῆθος τῶν ἀναθυμιωμένων σωμάτων ἔπληττε τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τοῦτον ἐξέθλιβε. πνευματούμενος δὲ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν κίνησιν καὶ περιλαμβάνων τὰ ἄστρα συμπεριῆγεν αὐτὰ καὶ τὴν συμπεριφορὰν αὐτῶν μετέωρον ἐφύλαττε. κἄπειτα ἐκ μὲν τῶν ὑποκαθιζόντων ἐγεννήθη ἡ γῆ, ἐκ δὲ τῶν 15.32.6 μετεωριζομένων οὐρανός, πῦρ, ἀήρ. πολλῆς δὲ ὕλης ἔτι περιειλημμένης ἐν τῇ γῇ, πυκνουμένης δὲ ταύτης κατὰ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων πληγὰς καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων αὐγάς, προσεθλίβετο πᾶς ὁ μικρομερὴς σχηματισμὸς 15.32.7 ταύτης καὶ τὴν ὑγρὰν φύσιν ἐγέννα. ῥευστικῶς δ' αὕτη διακειμένη κατεφέρετο πρὸς τοὺς κοίλους τόπους καὶ δυναμένους χωρῆσαί τε καὶ στέξαι· ἢ καθ'