We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Philo of Alexandria, On the Eternity of the World 55–7 (part = Critolaus, fr. 13 Wehrli 1969b)
Critolaus, one of those who cultivate the Muses, a follower of the Peripatetic philosophy, supporting the doctrine of the eternity of the world used arguments like these: ‘if the world has come to be, it is necessary that the earth too has come to be; if the earth is subject to coming-to-be, certainly the human race [will be so too]; but man is not subject to coming-to-be, since the race has existed from eternity, as will be shown. So the world too is eternal.’ (2) What has been passed over must now be established, if indeed demonstration is needed for things that are so clear; but it is necessary, as it seems, because of the contrivers of fables, who have filled life with lies and banished truth beyond its boundaries, forcing not only cities and households but each individual also to be bereft of the best of possessions, and who have contrived enticing style, metres and rhythms as a bait to trap people; with these they cast spells on the ears of fools, as ugly and loathsome courtesans bewitch the eyes by attached and spurious adornment for want of the genuine. For they say that the coming-to-be of human beings from one another is a recent work of nature, and that coming-to-be from the earth was more original and older, since she both is and is thought to be the mother of all; the Sown Men of whom the Greeks sing grew as trees do now, the complete and fully-armed sons of Earth. That this is a contrived fable is easy to see from many things . . .
Philo of Alexandria, On the Eternity of the World 70 (Critolaus, fr. 12 Wehrli 1969b)
Continuing his contention Critolaus also used an argument like the following: ‘what is the cause of its own health does not suffer disease. What is the cause of its own wakefulness, too, does not sleep. But if this is so, what is the cause of its own existence is eternal. But the world is the cause of its own existence, if it is the cause [of the existence] of all other things. So the world is eternal.’
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
