90 /-90 to /-97
something else. The Epicureans, according to Alexander, relied on this
argument above all else when they said that the totality was unlimited,
because everything which is limited by something has outside it something
which is [in turn] limited. And Aristotle mentions this as a quite old ar-
gument.
Aetius 2.4.10 = Dox.Gr. p. 331 (305 U) [1-91]
Epicurus [says that] the cosmos is destroyed in very many ways: for
[it is destroyed] in the manner of an animal and in the manner of a plant
and in lots of [other] ways.
Aetius 1.4.1-4 = Dox.Gr. p. 289-291 (308* U) [1-92]
- So the cosmos was compounded and endowed with its rounded
[lit.: bent] shape in the following manner.
Because the atomic bodies, which move without providence and in a
random manner, were constantly moving at the greatest of speeds, many
bodies were assembled together in the same place for this reason, and
had a variety of shapes and sizes. 2. When they were
assembling in the same place, the larger and heavier bodies, at all events,
moved towards the bottom and settled; but the small, round, smooth,
and slippery ones were pushed out in the concourse of atoms and so
moved into the upper regions. So when the force of the blows [of atomic
collisions] stopped raising them up and the blow[s] no longer carried
them into the upper regions, but they were prevented from moving
downwards, they were squeezed into the places which were able to receive
them. And these were the places around about, and the majority of the
bodies were bent around to these places. By becoming entangled with
each other during the bending they generated the sky. - Retaining the same nature and being varied, as was said, the atoms
which were pushed out to the upper regions produced the nature of the
heavenly bodies. The majority of the bodies which were evaporated
upwards struck the air and expelled it. And [the air], being made wind-
like during its movement and gathering together the heavenly bodies,
drove them around with itself and by this twisting produced their present
circular movement in the upper regions.
And then the earth was produced from the [bodies] which settled [at
the bottom], and from those which were raised upwards the sky, fire,
and air [were produced]. 4. Since a great deal of matter was still contained
in the earth and this was packed densely by the blows of the [atomic]
bodies and by those from the rays of the heavenly bodies, [the earth's]
entire configuration, which was made up of small particles, was squeezed