FRAGMENTS OF TAURUS, 



A PLATONIC PHILOSOPHER, 



ON THE ETERNITY OF THE WORLD. 



EXTRACTED FROM PHILOPONUS AGAINST PROCLUS. 



TAURUS, in his Commentaries on the Timaeus of 

 Plato, says : " In the investigation, whether ac- 

 cording to Plato the world is unbegotten, philo- 

 sophers differ in their opinions. For Aristotle 

 asserts that Timseus says the world was gene- 

 rated *. And Theophrastus also, in his treatise 

 On Physical Opinions, says that, according to 

 Plato, the world was generated, and therefore 

 writes in opposition to him. At the same time, 

 however, he asserts that Timaeus perhaps sup- 

 posed the world to be generated, for the sake of 

 perspicuity. Certain other persons also infer, that, 



* Timaeus, in the Dialogue which bears his name, is represented 

 by Plato as saying this ; for, speaking of the world, he says 

 ytyovtvat, it was generated. 



