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| Pythagoras' Cosmogony; Similar to that of Empedocles.
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Chapter
XX.—Pythagoras’ Cosmogony; Similar to that of
Empedocles.
The Pythagoreans therefore declare their opinion
concerning the continuance of the world in some such manner as
this:—
“For heretofore it was and will be; never, I
ween,
Of both of these will void the age eternal
be.”
“Of these;” but what are they? Discord and
Love. Now, in their system, Love forms the world incorruptible
(and) eternal, as they suppose. For substance and the world are
one. Discord, however, separates and puts asunder, and evinces
numerous attempts by subdividing to form the world. It is just as
if one severs into small parts, and divides arithmetically, the myriad
into thousands, and hundreds, and tens; and drachmæ into oboli and
small farthings. In this manner, he says, Discord severs the
substance of the world into animals, plants, metals and things similar
to these. And the fabricator of the generation of all things
produced is, according to them, Discord; whereas Love, on the other
hand, manages and provides for the universe in such a manner that it
enjoys permanence. And conducting together657
| 657 Or,
συνάγει, leads
together. | into unity the divided and scattered parts
of the universe, and leading them forth from their (separate) mode of
existence, (Love) unites and adds to the universe, in order that it may
enjoy permanence; and it thus constitutes one system. They will
not therefore cease,—neither Discord dividing the world, nor Love
attaching to the world the divided parts. Of some such
description as this, so it appears, is the distribution of the world
according to Pythagoras. But Pythagoras says that the stars are
fragments from the sun, and that the souls658
| 658
The Abbe Cruice considers that the writer of The
Refutation did not agree with Pythagoras’ opinion regarding
the soul,—a fact that negatives the authorship of Origen, who
assented to the Pythagorean psychology. The question concerning
the pre-existence of the soul is stated in a passage often quoted,
viz., St. Jerome’s Letter to Marcellina (Ep.
82). | of animals are conveyed from the stars;
and that these are mortal when they are in the body, just as if buried,
as it were, in a tomb: whereas that they rise (out of this world)
and become immortal, when we are separated from our bodies.
Whence Plato, being asked by some one, “What is
philosophy?” replied, “It is a separation of soul from
body.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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