Ocellus Lucanus: On the Nature of the Universe

...had mentioned very often, namely in Adversaria Book 1, chapters 8 and 15; Book 7, chapter 2; Book 19, chapter 16; Book 23, chapter 10; and Book 56, chapter 1. He recorded in Book 20, last chapter, a passage of Ocellus from the last chapter, text 9; and in Book 42, chapter 1, when he had cited a passage from the last chapter, texts 3 and 4, of this work On the Nature of the Universe, he added: Some doubt the authenticity of his little book, not quite considerately enough, as I am persuaded. For both its brevity and gravity correspond to that age, to say nothing now of the subject matter and style. Even the very first words argue for that man who retains something of more devoted virtue: τάδε συνέγραψεν Ὤκελλος ὁ Λευκανὸς περὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς φύσεως [These things Ocellus the Lucanian wrote concerning the nature of the universe], just as in the little book of Timaeus of the same inscription. Johannes Meursius, in his notes on the epistle of Cardinal Bessarion to the tutor of the sons
Meursius of Thomas Palaeologus, says:

Behold, reader, how much that ancient Greece has changed, and into what barbarism it has fallen. Here there comes to my mind that oracle of Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe, chapter 3: πολλάκις γὰρ [For often], etc., as in chapter 3, text 4.

Sennert Daniel Sennert likewise, in the Epitome of Natural Science Book 2, chapter 1, cited a passage from this work as a legitimate offspring of Ocellus; for he said: Ocellus inscribed his book on natural things περὶ τῶ πανθὸς [On the Universe], and concerning these names he writes τὸ δι’ ἑθλον [that which is through itself], etc., as in chapter 1, text 6.

Furthermore, however, the doctrines contained in it sufficiently show Ocellus the Lucanian to be the author: for the eternity of the universe, expressed in the first chapter and confirmed in the third chapter—difficulties having been in a way excluded—claims Ocellus as the author of the book On the Nature of the Universe. Philo Judaeus in his book On the World testifies thus:

Philo Judaeus. Ἔνιοι δ’ οὐκ Ἀριςοτέλη τῆς δόξης εὑρετὴν λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν Πυθαγορείων τινάς. ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ Ὠκέλλου συγγράμματι Λευκανοῦ γένοι ἐπιγραμμένῳ περὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς φύσεως ἐνέτυχον, ἐν ᾧ ἀγέννητόν τε καὶ ἄφθαρτον, οὐκ α’πεφαίνετο μόνον, α’λλὰ καὶ δι’ α’ποδείξεως κατεσκεύαζεν. [But some say that Aristotle was not the discoverer of this opinion, but also some of the Pythagoreans. And I myself have encountered a treatise by Ocellus, a Lucanian by birth, entitled On the Nature of the Universe, in which he did not only declare that it is unbegotten and incorruptible, but also established it through demonstration.] But there are those who