Part IX.

P TT H A G 0 K A S.
fU\T * World is animate, intelligible, fphe-
(e; • rical, enclofing the earth in the midfl of it.
/,)*/Jt.ph,£ (0 The Pythagoreans affirm. That what is
^ ^ V ■ • V ^ /n ^ T aa t t I * 4 1
405
3.4. withoat Heaven is infinite for {k) beyond the
world there is a Vacunm, into which, and out of 9* which, the world refpires. ftspiutrUici (J) right, fide of the World is the Eaft^ ’P • • rnotit>n begins \ the left is the Weft.
aut. carm.
pag.jig.
CHAP. III.
9
Of the Superior or Mtherial parts of the World.
(a) ^tn.rit. (rfjT)Ythagor3S frf called Heaven K'a
1 being perfeU in all kinds of animals^ and adorned with all kinds of pulchritude.
. . (b) In the fixed. Sphere refides the firfl Caufe \
(b) Am, vit. that they affirm to be befi,
and firmly compounded and ordered \ that which is furthefifrom him., the worji. There is a confiant order obferved cu low as the Moon., but all things beneath the Moon are move dpromijcuou fly. For, {c) The air, which is diffufed about the earth, is {c) ert, unmoved and unwholfome, and all things that are in it are mortal but the air which is above is per¬ petually in motion, and pure, and healthful and all that are in it are immortal, and confequently divine. {i)Hierocl.\xk (d) This- they call. The h'ree JEther, (immedi¬ ately above the Moon •) JEther, as being void of matter, and an eternal body Tree, -as not being obnoxious to material dijturbances. Hence it fbl- loweth, that
The Sun, Moon, and the refl of the Stars, ac¬ cording to Pythagoras, are gods.
The Pythagoreans \ic\(li, t\\2X every Star is a world in the intinite iEther, which containeth Earth, Air, and iEther. This opinion was alfo held by the followers of that every ftar
is a world.
if)Plut. (f) Spherical, eclipfed by the
Moons coming under him.
(\pi t Moon is of a fiery nature •
{hj Flut. file receives her light from the Sun. (h) The E- cUpfe of the Moon is a reverberation or obftru- £lion from the Arltichthon.
(i) The Pythagoreans affirm, that the Moon feems earthly, becaufe (he is round-about inhabi ted as our earth
fairer, exceeding us in bignefs fifteen tim^, nei¬ ther have they any excrements and their day is fo much longer.
(k) Some of the Pythagoreans affirm, that a Comet is one of the Planets, but appears not in hea¬ ven but after a long time, and is near the Sun, as it happens alfo toyizvcmy-, for, becaufe it recedes but little from the Sun, often when it fhould appear it is hid, fo as it appears not but after a long time. Or, as (/) Plutarch exprelTcth it, A Comet is one of thofe fiars which are not always apparent, but rife after d certain period, (m) Others hold, that it is the rettedion of our fight on the Sun, like images in glaffes.
(n) The Rain- bow he aflerted to be the fplen- dor of the Sun. *
SECT. IV.
Of the Sublunaiy parts of the World. the inferior Sublunary parts of the World,
the (a) •anonymous Pythagorean placcth (a)Apud rkot, finlthefphere of lire, then that of Air, next that of Water •, lafi, that of Earth. .
■fb) The bodies of all the Elements are round, ri) .u,
except that of Fire, which is conical. iff ^
(c) Below the Moon, all things move difor- derly- evil therefore necelTarily exifis about Region of the Earth ^ tJiat being fettled lowefi as ■ the bafis of the World, the receptacle of the low- eft things.
(d) The Air, which is diffufed about the Earth
IS unmoved and unwholefom, and ail things it arc mortal.
(e) 1 here is generation and corruption
m
(d) LasrU
5v-iiviaLxuu diju LUiiimLion- ior (A Plut niac
thinp are produced by alteration, mutation, and W. cap. 23. * lelolution of the Elements. Motion is a diffe¬ rence, or alterity in matter.
(f) In the world there is equally probor- /a r tioned, light and darknefs, and heat and cold,^'' and ficcity and humidity ^ which when they are exubci ant, the excefs of heat cauleth Summer • of cold, Winter: when they are equal, then are the beftfeafons of the year^ whereof that which is growing up is the Spring, healthful ; that . which IS decaying is Autumn, Unhealthfuk Even of the day, the morning is growing up, the ■ evening decaying, and therefore more unwhoie- fome.
CO Pint,
CHAP. V.
Of Living and Animate Creatures.
fkj Arifloi,
M«cor. 1. 6,
THere penetrates a beam from the Sun,^. \ t , through the jEther, which is cold and dry ; '
(they call the Air cold JEiher, and the Sun and hu¬ midity grofs jEther) this beam penetrates to the Abyfs, and thereby all things vivificate-, all things live in as much as they participate of heat ■, (where¬ fore even plants are living Creatures) but all things have not foul ■, the foul is a portion of JE- but the creatures arc larger and j ther of heat and cold, for it participates of cold
JEther -, the foul differeih from life. She is im¬ mortal, becaufe that from which fl:e is taken is im¬ mortal. T\\\\'i, Alexander 'm out of
the Commentaries of the Pythagoreans.
(1) Plac. CnJ Pint,
C O
W. 4. 27.
chap. VI.
of the Generation of Animate Creatures.
(a) A UimateCreatures are generated of one ano- JjX. ther by feed, (hut of earth nothing can be generated.) Seed is a di f iliation from the Brain, fof the foam of the molt ufcful part of the blood, the ruperfiiiity of the Aliment, as blood and mar¬ row] which being injeiled purulent mat¬
ter, and moi filer e, and blood, ijfuefrom the Brain., whereof Tlefh, Nerves, and Bones, and Hair, and the whole Body confifts : f the power of Seed is in¬ corporeal as the motive mind ^ but the effufed matter corporeal.] Prom the vapour comes the Soul
and
4o6 P TT H J
and fenfe\ it is Jirfl compaUed and coagulated in\ 40 days : and being perfellcd according to harmoni¬ ca/ proportions in 7, or \ 0 months (at thefartheji) the Infant is brought forth^ having all proportions oj life \ of which {aptly connebled according to the pro¬ portions of harmony) it conffis yall things happen¬ ing to it at certain tunes. Thus Aleoiande)\o\\i o\ the PyEh3g,oriqk commentaries ^ the proportions Cb) Dedk n^- themfelves are ■ more exadly deliver’d by {b ) Cap. u. Cenforinus thys.
Pythagoras laid, that generally there are two kinds of births, one lelTer, of 7 months^ which a - - ’comes into the world the 207 day after the con¬
ception ; the other greater, of 10 months ; which is- brought forth in the 274 day. The firft and . lelTer is chieiiy contained in the number 6 : For that which is conceived of the Seed, (as he faith) the 6 firftj-lays^, is a Milky fublbancei the' next 8 days. Bloody-, which 8 with the 6 make the firll concord, Diateiiaron : The third degree is of 9 days-, in which time it is made flefh; thefe to the firll 6 are in fefquialtera proportion, and make the fecond concord, Diapente : then fol¬ low r 2 days more in which the body is fully form- ' ' ed ; thefe to the fame 6 conllll in duple propor¬ tion, and make the DiatelTaron concord : Thefe four numbers, 6, 8, 9, 12. added together make 2 5 days; nor without reafdn is the number 6 the foundation of generation, for the Greeks call it TiKtidy, we perjebl • becaufe its three parts, 7 and -|-and i- (that is, i, 2, and 3.) perfect it-, now as the beginnings of the Seed, and that Milky foundation of conception, is firll complcated by I this number^ fo this beginning of the Man now formed, and as it were another foundation of maturity, which is of 35 days, being multiplied by 6, makes 220 days, in which this maturity is fulfilled.
The other ( greater ) birth, is contained in the greater mimber 7. And as the beginning of the former is in 6 days, after which the feed is con¬ verted into blood ^ fo that of this is in 7. And as there the members of the Infant are formed ; fo here in ( about) 40. Thefe 40 days being multiplied by the firll 7, make 280 days, that is, 40 weeks ; but forafmuch as the birth happens on the firll day of the lall week, 6 days are fub- flra filed, and the 274th .obferved.
(c) Varro de C^) Ii^ld that Mankind had ever been j and re ruft. lib. 2. never had beginning. cap. I. Cen-
for di dit naf. - — — — - - - -
The Soul^ itsparts^ and Jirfl of the irrational part.
(d) Nemcf. de E po^er of number being greatell in
nat. horn. X Nature, Pythagoras defined the Soul,
(b) P/«r. felf-moving Nutnber.
(^) Pythagoreans fome affirm that
the Soul IS the motes in the Air ; others, that it is that which moves thofe motes.
(/) r/«t.plac. generally divided into
4. 4. * parts, rational, and irrational, but more e-
fpecially into three *, for the irrational they di- ^ Laert. vide into irafcible and .deliderafive. * Thefe are termed )£V, and are in
other living Creatures, only in man, [Tet{\
(e) Pint. plac. ^ (
tioaal, even of thofe which we term irrational,
G O K A S. Part IX. .
but they afil not according to reafon, becaufe of
the ill Temperament of the body, and want of - '
fpeech, as in Ai:>es and Dogs, /jt/scr/
B j%y They talk.^ but cannot /peak.- - ■ i ,
1 he beginning of the foul, is from the heat of the brain, that part which is in the heart is - . .
but (fgivif and yS{ are in the Brain. The fen- ■ fes are dilliilations from thefe, the rational part . i is immortal, the reft mortal. The foul is nou- rifhed by blood, and the faculties of tl>e- foul are fpirits. Both the foul and her faculties are inviiible, for /Ether is invifible : The fetters of the foul are Veins, Arteries, and Nerves *, but Vifhen file is llrong, and compofed within her felf, her fetters are Reafons and Afilions.
(■£) Every lerfe is dermd from its proper Ele- ( . ^0 '
ment ; light from A.ther, hearing from Air, i. pag. 150. fmelling from Fire, talle from Water, touch from Earth. .
. Senfe in general, and particularly Sight, is a vapour very hot ; and for this reafon we are faid to fee through air, and through water, for the heat pierceth the cold •, for if that which is in the eyes were a cold vapour, it would fight with the Air, which is like it, (hot.) In fome places he callcth the eyes the gates of the Sun ; the fame he determined concerning Hearing, and the reft of the Senfes.
(i) Sightis the judge of Colours (^; Co- ^ lour they call the fuperficies of a body. The (;^) kinds of Colour are Black, White, Red, Pale •, i- 15.^. * ^
or, as the anonymous writer delivers the Opini- on of Ten, Black, White, and
reft between them, Yellow, Tawney, Pale, Red,
Blew, Green, Bright, Grey. (*/) The diffe-^vop^^ rences of Colours are derived from mixtions of ^ the Elements, and in living Creatures from - variety of place, and of Air.
(m) The image in a rairrour is made by re- flefition of the fight, which being extended to
* brafs, and meeting with a thick finooth body, is reper cuffed, and returns into it felf; as when the Andeno the hand is ftretch’d forth, and again brought their . back to the Ihoulder.
(n) Hearing, is the pidge of Voice, fharp
and fiat. (0) Voice is incorporeal ; for not air, («Unon.phor,, but the figure and fuperficies of air, by a ftroke becomes voice ; but no fuperficies is a body. And 4* 20. tho’ it followeth the motion of the body, yet it felf hath no body ; as when a rod is bent, the fuperficies liiffers nothing, the matter only is bent.
(p) Smelling judgeth of Odors, good and ill, Anon, vi*; and the fix between them,, putrid, humid, liquid,^'^ vaporate^
Tafte judgeth of favors. Sweet, Bitter, and the five between them, for they are in all leven,
Sweet, Bitter, Sharp, Acid, Frefh, Salt, Hot.
Touching judgeth many things, Heavy, Light, and thofe that are between them ; Hot, Cold, and thofe that are between them j Hard, Soft, and thofe that are between them; Dry, Moift, and thofe that are between them. The other four Senfes ar j; feated in the head only, and con¬ fined to their proper Organs ; but Touching is diffufed tflrough the head, and the whole body, and ,is common to every fenfc but exhibits its judgment moft manifeftly by the hands.
CHAP.