252 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



we differ, that thofe philofophers maintain, that the motion, being 

 once begun, is continued and carried cm without mind, at leafl: in the 

 celeftial regions ; r.nd that by far the greater part of the vifible world 

 is no more than a great machine : Whereas, on tiie other hand, I 

 maintain, that, as the motion was begun, ^o it is carried on by mind, 

 fupreme or fubordinate, in the celellial regions, as well as here on 

 earth. This was undoubtedly the opinion ot Plato and Ariftotle *, 



and, 



* As to Plato, he, in a paflage above quoted, page 207. relates three fcveral opi- 

 nions concerning the motions of the celeftial bodies, but all agreeing that mind was 

 the moving principle. Of thefe three, it appears, from a paflage in the Epinomisy 

 (p. lO'^o. edit. Ficini,) that the opinion Avhich fuopofed them to be moved by mind 

 internal, in the fame manner as our bodies are, and by a mind intelligent, and of the 

 bcft kind, was his opinion j for he fays there, that the univcrle is peopled with five 

 different kinds of animals, vvhofe bodies are compofcd of the five different elements, 

 earth fire, water, air, and aether, each predominating in each kind of animal, more or 

 lefs. One of thefe five kinds of animals he makes the celeftial bodies to be, confift:- 

 ing, as he fuppofes, chiefly of fire, their bodies of the imeft kind, and animated by 

 the hapoieft and bed minds, yvu^Ks-it h J» hi tx^tti. th x.ut ev^ave)! th-jx^ uvici t,6>m 

 yc.y„, (meaning the animals whofe bodies arc compofcd chiefly oi fire,) I h ttch ^i'/i 



0civxi (c-iev y-vo; ccyTpaiy yiyeyivxi, fuuxTo; ftEV 7v)(,ov nxX\ic-rcv, ilfjx.y,i o tvoxiucvis-TiiT/ig T£ 



x«* xfts-T/,;. Then he proceeds to argue againff thofe who, becauie their motions 

 •were fo conftant and regular, fuppofed them to proceed from mattei and mechanifm ; 

 whereas, fays he, they ought to have concluded quite contrary wife ; for, bow abfurd is 

 it to admit that our m.otions, fo much lefs conftant and regular, are guided by an 

 intelligent mind, and to deny that the movements or the celeftial bodies, fo much 

 more conftant and regular, are guided in the fame manner? And he concludes with 



thefe remarkable words, hi h, 'oc-m !px:>.ort^»v ztt* ^n'^^rs,- yy.) ri X:-^avyrx yt, e-*s?>»5 Vt ri 

 MyovTx (pxiVicrfiii. ^p-jUx? y,tv ow ii t,? xtTicci ■nyx^i.^a (r^fixrar, n (pv^n;, r. t< tcjo-jtov, oi/cjk 



vK^iir, i^u. The rcea^ilng of which is, * Thrt we po( r mortals ought not to imagine 



* that we have n.ind and intelligence, but that thofe glorious beings are mere bodies 



* earned about by certain fluids, or moved by fome km. of nature that nobody can ex- 

 * pt;\ir..' Ire m whenc- it oppe.irs, ihnc the way 01 accounting iur the celeftial motions 

 by fluids and vortices, is not a modern invention, but was a notion of the material 

 and mechanical philofophers in the days of Tlato. 



