CHAP. Being is being gradually consumed; so that, at the end of the present course of things, there will be a general conflagration of the world, and all things will return to their original form; then everything which is only part of God in a derivative sense will cease to exist, and pure Deity, or primary fire, will alone remain. In this resolution of the world into fire or ether,2 the same intermediate stages occur, according to the view of the Stoics, as in its generation from the primary fire.3 Cleanthes, In Plut. Sto. Rep. 44, 2, Chrys- 1 Plut. St. Rep. 39, 2: [Χρύσ- urged by the Stoics, in support of their view, that even now large tracts of marsh land are dried, and added to the soil. Simpl. Phys. ii.; De Calo; Schol. in Arist. 487 and 489, Justin. Apol. i. 20; ii. 7; Orig. c. Cels. iii. 75, 497, a; vi. 71. Since at the ἐκπύρωσις everything is resolved into God, Plut. C. Not. 17, 3, says: ὅταν ἐκπυρώσωσι τὸν κόσμον οὗτοι, κακὸν μὲν οὐδ ̓ ὁτιοῦν ἀπολείπεται, τὸ δ ̓ ὅλον φρόνιμόν ἐστι τηνικαῦτα καὶ σοφόν. 2 Numen. in Eus. Pr. Ev. xv. 18, 1: ἀρέσκει δὲ τοῖς πρεσβυτάτοις τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως ταύτης, ἐξαγροῦσθαι πάντα κατὰ περιόδους τινὰς τὰς μεγίστας, εἰς πῦρ αἰθερῶδες ἀναλυομένων πάντων. Accord ing to Philo, Incorrup. Μ. 954, Ε, Cleanthes called this fire padę, Chrysippus αὐγή. 3 This is, at least, the import of the general principle (assigned to Chrysippus by Stob. Ecl. i. 314) expressed by Heraclitus, that, in the resolution of earth and water into fire, the same steps intervene, in a retrograde order, as in their generation. following his peculiar view as to the seat of the governing force, supposed that the destruction of the world would come from the sun.1 CHAP. VII. in the No sooner has everything returned to its original (3) Cycles unity, and the course of the world come to an end, world's than the formation of a new world begins,3 which course. will so exactly correspond with the previous world that every particular thing, every particular person, and every occurrence will recur in it, precisely as 1 Plut. Com. Not. 31, 10: èπαγωνιζόμενος ὁ Κλεάνθης τῇ ἐκπυρώσει λέγει τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἄστρα τὸν ἥλιον ἐξομοιῶσαι πάντα ἑαυτῷ καὶ μεταβαλεῖν εἰς ἑαυτόν. 2 It is expressly asserted that everything, without exception, is liable to this destiny; neither the soul nor the Gods are exempt. Conf. Sen. Cons. ad Marc. 26, 7: Nos quoque felices animæ et æterna sortit, cum Deo visum sit iterum ista moliri, labentibus cunctis et ipsæ parva ruinæ ingentis accessio in antiqua elementa vertemur. Chrysippus says of the Gods, in Plut. Sto. Rep. 38, 5: Some of the Gods have come into being and are perishable, others are eternal: Helios and Selene, and other similar Gods, have come into being; Zeus is eternal. In Philo, Incorrupt. M. 950, A, Orig. c. Cels. iv. 68, Plut. Def. Oræ. 19, Com. Not, 31, 5, it is stated that, at the general conflagration, the Gods will melt away, as though they were made of wax or tin. Aecording to Philodem. περὶ θεῶν Siaywyns, Tab. i. 1, even Zeno restricted the happy life of the Gods to certain lengthy periods of time. 3 Arius, in Eus. Pr. Ev. xv. 19: ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο δὲ προελθὼν ὁ κοινὸς λόγος καὶ κοινὴ φύσις μεί ζων καὶ πλείων γενομένη τέλος ἀναξηράνασα πάντα καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀναλαβοῦσα ἐν τῇ πάσῃ οὐσία γίνεται, ἐπανελθοῦσα εἰς τὸν πρῶτ τον ῥηθέντα λόγον καὶ εἰς ἀνάστασιν ἐκείνην τὴν ποιοῦσαν ἐνιαυτὸν τον μέγιστον, καθ ̓ ὃν ἀπ' αὐτῆς μóvns eis aùtùv náλiv yívetai ǹ ἀποκατάστασις, ἐπανελθοῦσα δὲ διὰ τάξιν ἀφ' οἵας διακοσμεῖν ὡσαύτως ἤρξατο κατὰ λόγον πάλιν τὴν αὐτ Thy diegαywyǹv Toleiтal. According to Nemes. Nat. Hom. c, 38, Censorin. Di. Nat. 18, 11, the Knúрwσis takes place when all the planets have got back to the identical places which they occupied at the beginning of the world, or, in other words, when a periodic year is complete. The length of a periodic year was estimated by Diogenes (Plut. Pl. i. 32, 2; Stob. Ecl. i. 264) as 365 periods, or 365 x 18,000 ordinary years. Plut. De Ei. Ap. D, 9, mentions the opinion, Tep Tpíα πρὸς ἕν, τοῦτο τὴν διακόσμησιν χρόνῳ πρὸς τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν εἶναι. The belief in changing cycles is a common one in the older Greek philosophy. In particular, the Stoics found it in Heraclitus. CHAP. they occurred in the world preceding. Hence the history of God and the world-as, indeed, with the eternity of matter and acting force, must necessarily be the case-revolves in an endless cycle through exactly the same stages. The belief, however, that each new world exactly represents the preceding one is first encountered among the Pythagoreans, and is closely connected with the theory of the migration of souls and a periodic year. Eudemus had taught (in Simpl. Phys. 173): ei δέ τις πιστεύσειε τοῖς Πυθαγορείοις, ὡς πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ ἀριθμῷ, κἀγὼ μυθολογήσω τὸ ῥαβδίον ἔχων ὑμῖν καθημένοις οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὁμοίως ἕξει, καὶ τὸν χρόνον εὔλογόν ἐστι τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι. The Stoics appear to have borrowed this view from the Pythagoreans, and it commended itself to them as being in harmony with their theory of necessity. Hence they taught: μετὰ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν πάλιν πάντα ταὐτὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ γενέσθαι κατ' ἀριθμὸν, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἰδίως ποιὸν πάλιν τὸν αὐτὸν τῷ πρόσθεν εἶναί τε καὶ γίνεσθαι ἐκείνῳ τῷ Róou (Alex. Anal. Pr. 58, b). τούτου δὲ οὕτως ἔχοντος, δῆλον, ὡς οὐδὲν ἀδύνατον, καὶ ἡμᾶς μετὰ τὸ τελευτῆσαι πάλιν περιόδων τινῶν εἰλημμένων χρόνου εἰς ὃν νῦν ἐσμεν καταστήσεσθαι σχῆμα (Chrysippus, Tep Пpovolas, in Lactant. Inst. vii. 23). This is to apply to every fact and to every occurrence in the new world, at the παλιγγενεσία οι ἀποκατάστασις thus there will be another Socrates, who will marry another Xanthippe, and be accused by another Anytus and Meletes. Hence M. Aurel. vii. Still there were not want 19, xi. 1, deduces his adage, that nothing new happens under the sun. Simpl. Phys. 207; Philop. Gen. et Corr. B. ii. Schly. p. 70; Tatian. c. Græc. c, 3; Clemens, Strom. v. 549, D; Orig. c. Cels. iv. 68; v. 20 and 23; Nemes.; Plut. Def. Or. 29. Amongst other things, the question was raised, Whether the Socrates who would appear in the future world would be numerically identical (εἷς ἀριθμῷ) with the present Socrates? to which the answer was given, that they could not be numerically identical, since this would involve. uninterrupted existence, but that they were distinct without a difference (arаpáλλaкToi). Others, however, chiefly among the younger Stoics, appear to have held that they were different (Orig. v. 20). From such questions was derived the false notion (Hippolyt. Hær. i. 21; Epiphan. Hær. v.) that the Stoics believed in the transmigration of souls. The remark made by Nemes., that the Gods know the whole course of the present world, from having survived the end of the former one, can only apply to one highest God. Ar. Didym. continues: Tŵv τοιούτων περιόδων ἐξ ἀϊδίου γινομένων ἀκαταπαύστως. οὔτε γὰρ τῆς ἀρχῆς αἰτίαν καὶ πᾶσιν οἷόν τε γινέσθαι, οὔτε τοῦ διοικοῦντος αὐτά. οὐσίαν τε γὰρ τοῖς γινομένοις ὑφεστάναι δεῖ πεφυκυῖαν ing, even in comparatively early times, members of the Stoic School who entertained doubts on this point; and among the number of the doubters some of the most distinguished of the later Stoics are to be found.' Besides owing its destruction to fire, it ἀναδέχεσθαι τὰς μεταβολὰς πάσας καὶ τὸ δημιουργῆσον ἐξ αὐτῆς, K.T.A. Conf. Philop.: àπophoeie δ ̓ ἄν τις, ὥς φησιν ̓Αλέξανδρος, πρὸς ̓Αριστοτέλη. εἰ γὰρ ἡ ὕλη ἡ αὐτὴ ἀεὶ διαμένει, ἔστι δὲ καὶ τὸ ποιητικὸν αἴτιον τὸ αὐτὸ ἀεὶ, διὰ ποίαν αἰτίαν οὐχὶ κατὰ περίοδόν τινα πλείονος χρόνου ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὕλης τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν κατ' ἀριθμὸν ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ἔσται; ὅπερ τινές φασι κατὰ τὴν παλιγγενέσιαν καὶ τὸν μέγαν ἐνιαυτὸν συμβαίνειν, ἐν ᾧ πάντων τῶν αὐτῶν ἀποκατάστα ois ViveTal. See M. Aurel. v. 32. According to Philo (Incorrup. M. 947, c), Boëthus, as well as Posidonius and Panætius, the pupil of Posidonius (Diog. vii. 142; Stob. Ecl. i. 414), declared, in opposition to the ordinary Stoic teaching, for the eternity of the world. Philo adds that this was also the view of Diogenes of Seleucia, in his later years. Moreover, Zeno of Tarsus, on the authority of Numenius (in Euseb. Præp. Ev. xv. 19, 2), considered that the destruction of the world by fire could not be proved. But these statements are elsewhere contradicted. Diogenes mentions Posidonius as one who held the destruction of the world by fire. The testimony of Diogenes is confirmed by Plut. Pl. Phil. ii. 9, 3 (Stob. Ecl. i. 380; Eus. Pr. Ev. xv. 40. See Achill. Tatian, Isag. 131, c), who says that Posidonius only allowed so much empty space outside the world as was necessary for the world to be dissolved in at the ἐκπύρωσις. Antipater, according to Diogenes, also believed in a future conflagration. Little importance can be attached to the fact that Cic. N. D. ii. 46, 118, says of Panæetius, addubitare dicebant; whereas the words of Stob. are: πιθανωτέραν νομίζει τὴν ἀϊδιότητα τοῦ κόσμου; and those of Diog.: ἄφθαρτον ἀπεφήνατο τὸν κόσμον. Boëthus denied the destruction of the world with vigour, his chief reasons being the following:-(1) If the world were destroyed, it would be a destruction without a cause, for there is no cause, either within or without, which could produce such an effect. (2) Of the three modes of destruction, those катà diαíрeσιν, κατὰ ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἐπεχούσης TоLÓTηTOS, KAтà σúyxvow, not one can apply to the world. (3) If the world ceased to exist, the action of God on the world would also cease; in fact, His activity would altogether cease. (4) If everything is consumed by fire, the fire must go out for want of fuel. With that, the possibility of a new world is at an end. The resolution of the world into indefinite vacuum, attributed by Plut. Plac. ii. 9, 2, to the Stoics in general, is no doubt the same as the condensation and expansion CHAP. VII. CHAP. B. Government of the world. 1 was further supposed that the world was periodically destroyed by floods; but there was a difference of opinion on this point, some holding the whole universe subject to these floods, others restricting them to the earth and to its inhabitants 2 One point established as a matter of fact by the generation and destruction of the world is, the un(1) Nature certainty of all particular things, and the uncono' destiny. (a) Destiny ditional dependence of everything on a universal law and the course of the universe. This point is a leading one throughout the Stoic enquiries into as Pro vidence. of matter. Ritter, iii. 599 and The flood and its causes are generis humani exstructisque pariter feris . . . antiquus ordo revocabitur. Omne ex integro animal generabitur dabiturque terris, homo inscius scelerum : but this state of innocence will not last long. Seneca appeals to Berosus, according to whom the destruction of the world by fire will take place when all the planets are in the sign of the Crab, its destruction by water when they are in the sign of the Capricorn. Since these signs correspond with the summer and winter turns of the sun, the language of Seneca agrees with that of Censorin. Di. Nat. 18, 11: Cujus anni hiems summa est cataclysmus . . . æstas autem ecpyrasis. Heraclit. Alleg. Hom. c, 25: When one element gains the supremacy over the others, the course of the world will come to an end, by Kúpwois, if the element is fire; εἰ δ ̓ ἄθρουν ὕδωρ ἐκραγείη, κατα κλυσμῷ τὸν κόσμον ἀπολεῖσθαι. The former view is held by Heraclitus and Censorinus, the latter by Seneca. |