162 l/-24 to l/-25
too. For it has a bluish colour, which is darker than purple but has a
shining quality. And for this reason it can be observed from such great
distances, because it cuts through so great an expanse of air in virtue of
the intensity of its colour. 5. And it is also beautiful because of its size.
For among things which are of the same type, the one which includes
[or: surrounds] [the others] is beautiful, as in the case of animal or a tree.
- And these phenomena too complete the beauty of the cosmos;
for the ecliptic in the heavens is adorned with a variety of different
constellations:^33
Cancer is there, and so is Leo, and after him Virgo and
Libra, and Scorpio himself and Sagittarius and Capricorn too,
and after Capricorn comes Aquarius; and Pisces with its
shining stars is next, after which come Aries and Taurus and
Gemini.- And [god] has produced thousands of other [constellations] by
similar revolutions of the cosmos. Hence Euripides too says,^34
The starry gleam of heaven
the fair adornment of Time, the wise craftsman.- From this we have acquired the conception of god. For the sun and
the moon and the rest of the heavenly bodies moving around the earth
always rise [displaying] the same colours, the same sizes, and in the
same places at the same times. 9. Therefore, the initiators of religious
observance expounded it for us in three forms. First, that based on
physics, second, that based on myths, and third, that based on the
testimony of customs. The philosophers teach the one which is based
on physics and the poets the one based on myths, while the customary
forms of religious observance are always established by individual cities. - Their entire teaching is divided into seven 'species'. The first is that
based on the phenomena of the heavens; for we acquired our conception of
god from the phenomena of the heavenly bodies, by seeing that they are
the cause of great harmony, and [by seeing] the regularity of day and
night, winter and summer, risings and settings, and of the birth of animals
and plants in the earth. 11. Therefore, they thought that the heaven was
a father, while earth was a mother. Of these, the one is father because
the effusions of water play the role of seeds, while the other is mother - Aratus Phainomena 545-549.
- Actually the poet Critias, fr. 1.33-34 p. 771 Nauck.