264 - A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. Book If. 



be the: moft fimplc, and the leaft varied and compounded -K Further, 

 I. fay, that no propofitlon, repugnant to common fenfe and obferva- 

 tion, can be an axiom. Now, let any man move in a circular or el- 

 liptical line defcribed to him, and he will iiad no tendency in himfelf^ 

 either to the center, or from it, much lefs both. If, indeed, he at- 

 tempt to make the motion with great velocity, or, if he do it care- 



lefsly- 



* Proclus, who was both a geometer, and a mofi: fublime philofopher, in his fecond 

 book upon the Elements of Euclid, p. 23. accounts for Euclid beginning with the 

 recbilineal figures, fuch as triangles and fquares, and not with the circle, in this 



raanner : E< v«4g »«' tp-jo-a xpttrlMv o.Kt»xA«;, ««« « ^4^* xvtov ^^of/uaniec T-fii roiy ivSvy^xfitcuf 

 a-jtriXi tb Ktit yvuTiUif uXtC vfuiv -Tr^iTfiKOVim fAnXXn »? ») ■ti^i rovrav hdxTKoiAix Toif uTiMs-ri^xi^ 

 x*« «5ro TAiv «<«-^i)7»y iTFi Tx, totiTct tiirccyitv T»iv Oixvoixv a-xtvo'ovs-i. Kect "/x^ Ton; fill xi(!-9nroi; 

 eiKeix tx sv6vypx^y~x r^r,uxTX, Tan ^£ >9>ito«j <j Kvy^Xo;' c/ oTi 6r> to y.sv X7r>.ovv x.xt ftovatit; xxt 

 ^VPta-utfoY ■xeotryjxii t>j (pvs-n ruf syrav, to ^i Toiy.i'Xoy y.xi i-coPiTTwg xv^avofiivcv ra T^^/iSit Tuv Ttl^H* 



y^ve-av ■^xtv^ai oixipipu {lege vr^os-r.xii) To«f xic-BnTctg. The paffage is incorredlly printed, a5 

 almoft.all the works of thofe later philofophers are, either fiom the defedl of the raa« 

 iiufcripts, or the inaccuracy of the printer. 1 have already corxeded one word in it > 

 and there is another part of it which needs corredion- It is where the word «t£A=^- 

 Ttfxt occurs, to which fliould be added the words, tav hxtaav ix,ovirh y.xi xtto tu> XK!-B^ru» 

 iTTi Tx vc/jTx ,uirxytiv xvTnv G-TTiveove-i' But, be thelc correttions as they may, the general 

 fenfe of the paffage is clear, which is, * That, tho' the circle be the moft fimple, uncom- 



* pounded, and determinate figure of any, therefore firft in the order of nature, and 

 « mod refembling things intelligible ;.yet it is more proper for thofe ofimperfeaundei> 



* {landings, and who, therefore, mufl. by degrees proceed from things fenfible to things 

 < intelligible,' (for this, as 1 have obfcrved elfewhere, page 4th, was underftood, by 

 antient philofophers, to be the chief ufe of mathematics,) ' to begin with retlilineal" 



* figures, bfcaufe they being compounded, and confiding of more or fewer lines, which 



* may be increafed at pleafure, refemble fenGble things more.' In the fame man- 

 ner, Aridotie proves, in the fecond chapter of his firft book De Coelo^ that the circle, 

 is more fimple and perfe£l than any nclilineal figure, becaufe the ftraight lines, of 

 which any retUlineai figure is compofed, may be increased or diiTDnifhcd at pleafure; 

 fo that th>.y are not compleat in themfeJvcSi whereas, the line which roims the circle,- 

 can admit neither addition nor diminution, and therefore is compleat in irtclf : And,, 

 as the line which forms the circle is perfectly fimple, fo aifo is the motion in that: 

 line. And, in the next ch^ipter, towards the end, he fays, that the circidar motion,^ 

 and the motion in a ftraight line, are the only fimple motions. 



