390 



ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book V. 



of thefe ways, or whether i'l any of them, the Motion of the Pla- 

 nets is combined; always remembering that the Motion muft neceffa- 

 rily be produced and earned on by the immediate agency either of 

 Mind, or of fome Body diHercnt from the Body in Motion. 



In the firft of thefe ways, no one has ever maintained that the 

 Celeftial Motions are compounded ; for it is certain that they are not 

 divided into parts, but go on conftantly without interruption. Nei- 

 ther do I know that it is maintained, or ever was maintained by 

 any philofopher, that they are actually compounded in the fecond 

 way, by their Motions being in ftraight lines, and the figure they 

 defcribe, by confequence, angular ; though it may be maintained that 

 their curvilineal Motion may be produced by forces adting in ftraight 

 lines, or that their elliptical orbit may, for the fake of teaching or 

 demonftration, be analyfed into a polygon of an infinite number of 

 fides. If, therefore, their Motions be compounded, it muft be in 

 the third way above mentioned, when the Body in Motion is aded 

 upon by two or more powers moving the Body in different direc- 

 tions. 



This can be only in one or other of the three following ways. 

 Fitjly When two or more Bodies are the ading powers ; for it is im- 

 poffible that the fame Body fhould, at the fame time, move the Body 

 in different direflions : And, if it were at different times, the Mo- 

 tion would not be one, but compounded either in the firft or fecond 

 • way above mentioned ; for the Motion would be diftinguifhed by 

 intervals of time, or it would be in different lines, and not in the 

 fame lines. Secondly^ When Body moves the Planet one way, and 

 Mind another. Or, lajily, When two Minds* move the Planet diffe- 

 rent ways ; for it is equally impoflible that the fame Mind fhould, 

 at the fame time, move the Body in different diredions, as that the 

 fame Body fhould do it. 



That 



