Abstract
To the end that this World may be like the complete Living Creature in respect of its uniqueness, for that reason its Maker did not make two Worlds nor an indefinite number, but this Heaven has come to be, and is and shall be hereafter one and unique.
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Notes
- 1.
Laertius s.d., II, 341–3. These basic teachings are given within a typical Laertius hodgepodge, right after the far more famous precept: “abstain from beans because they are flatulent and partake most of the breath of life.”
- 2.
- 3.
Laertius (s.d.) II, 333. One of the Pythagoreans, Hiketos of Syracuse transferred the central fire to the center of the Earth. That operation had several advantages: it not only explained why this fire was so well hidden, but also the cause of volcanic eruptions as a bonus. Since Earth then rotated around an internal axis, still in 24 hours, the system became identical with that of Heracleides. Invisibility of both central-fire and counter-earth became hard to believe after Alexander reached India in the east, and the Hanno voyage in the west, and this part of the doctrine was sensibly dropped.
- 4.
Aristotle (s.d.), Metaphysics A 5, 986 a1; Heath (1932) 34. The Pythagorean obsession with Number Ten is expressed in a preserved Philolaos fragment: “… The Decad (Ten-ness) is great, complete, all achieving, and the origin of divine and human life and its Leader… Without this, all things are unlimited, obscure and indiscernible.” (Freeman 1983a, 75).
- 5.
Plato, The Republic, quoted in Toolmin (1961), 86. Plato has to account for eight motions: Sun, Moon, five planets, and the star vault. Happily for him, the figure eight also fits the musical scale.
- 6.
- 7.
Timaeus, cited by Munitz (1957), 77–78; see Lovejoy (1976), 51. The Genesis inconsistency about these sunless First Days was deeply felt by Augustine: “We cannot understand what happened as it is presented to us; and yet we must believe it without hesitation.” (Augustine 414, XI, 7, p. 436). The voluminous subsequent hermeneutics does not seem to have solved the puzzle.
- 8.
Some help from Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy (Russell 1946): Aristotle is “…Plato diluted by common sense. He is difficult because Plato and common sense do not mix easily” (p. 175); “…common sense prejudice pedantically expressed” (p. 176); “Plato was mathematical, Aristotle biological; this accounts for the differences in their religions” (p. 182).
- 9.
Through most of history, fire has not been considered as incompatible with life; see 17th Century discussions, and in the last chapter Herschel’s and Arago’s view of an inhabited Sun.
- 10.
De Caelo, II, XIV, p. 255; Note a of the translator, W.K.C. Guthrie, compares the Aristotle, Archimedes, Erastothenes and Hipparchus figures; all are distinctly too small and were to influence Columbus, and even Magellan.
- 11.
De Caelo, II, XIV, p. 247–9. A summary of the ancient views about the shape of the Earth is given by Copernicus in his first chapter, found e.g. in Munitz (1957), 156.
- 12.
Johannes Stobaeus, Eclogarum Physicorum, chapter 24, as quoted by Crombie (1959), II, 46. Not mentioned by Heath (1932) in his Greek Astronomy, but in his Aristarchus (Heath 1913, 254). Thus, the only trace left of this remarkable anticipation comes through a very-late doxographer (5th C. AD). Dreyer (1905), 123, believes that Heracleides may have been referring to planets, not to stars.
- 13.
We also leave aside a purely fancied motion, trepidatio (periodic modulation of the precession rate) since it does not seem to have interfered with the Great Year scheme.
- 14.
For our few remarks on Stoics, we are indebted to the G.P. Goold Preface and Introduction in Manilius (ca 10). About Stoic astronomy, see Dreyer (1905), 157–161.
- 15.
Duhem (1959), II, 297. For Stoics and the Great Year, see (I, 275–284), and for astrology (II, 270–390).
- 16.
As recalled in the Notes, many texts in various languages are now available in fac-simile and a large number in world-processor form) from Gallica.bnf.fr, and other WEB sites. They are indicated by ∗ for Gallica, ° for Google Books and + for others.
Bibliography
As recalled in the Notes, many texts in various languages are now available in fac-simile and a large number in world-processor form) from Gallica.bnf.fr, and other WEB sites. They are indicated by ∗ for Gallica, ° for Google Books and + for others.
Historians and Modern Authors
Crombie, A.C. (1959) Medieval and Early Modern Science, Doubleday.
°Dreyer, J.L.E. (1905) History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler, Cambridge University Press; reprint by Dover (1953).
∗Duhem, P. (1959) Le Système du Monde, Histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic (10 vol.), Hermann, Paris.
Freeman, K. (1983a) Ancilla – To the Pre-Socratic Philosophers – A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Harvard University Press; extracts available on http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/app/app18.htm (Xenophanes), http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/app/app54.htm (Anaxagoras), etc.
Freeman, K. (1983b), The Presocratic Philosophers, a companion to DIELS Fragmente, Blackwell, London.
Heath, T. (1913) Aristarchus of Samos, The Ancient Copernicus, Clarendon Press, and Dover (1981).
Heath, T. (1932) Greek Astronomy, Dent, London; Dover (1991).
Lovejoy, A. O. (1976) The Great Chain of Being, Harvard University Press.
Mac Colley, G. (1936) The Seventeenth-Century Doctrine of a Plurality of Worlds, Annals of Science, I, 4, 385–430.
Munitz, M. K. (1957) Theories of the Universe, Macmillan, New York.
Russell, B. (1946) A History of Western Philosophy, Unwin Paperbacks.
Santillana, G. de (1970) The Origins of Scientific Thought, New American Library.
°Van Helden, A. (1985) Measuring the Universe, University of Chicago Press.
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Connes, P., Lequeux, J. (2020). Pythagoras, Plato and Ptolemy: Unicity by Design. In: Lequeux, J. (eds) History of the Plurality of Worlds. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41448-1_2
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