INDEX

That there can be no other time than that which is celestial. That the soul of the heavens is redundant and superfluous, or that it is the supreme God. That His own eternity is of greater honor to God than the perennial making of things. That the eternity of the world The philosophical concept that the universe has no beginning or end, a view held by Aristotle. is the fountain of impious opinions. That the eternal condition of the world does not necessarily follow from the eternal power of God. That God was not changed when He created. That the eternity of God was natural, while the world had a beginning. That Plato wrote that the world was not eternal, but made in time.

VI That the ancient Platonists did not say the world was eternal, as Proclus A 5th-century Neoplatonist who argued for the world's eternity. affirms, but that it was made. The arguments of Plutarch, spoken in the person of others, are diluted Refuted or weakened.; that God did not labor in creating the world and providing for human affairs; that God created this world not for the sake of His own pleasure, but for the sake of men, which even the Stoics admit. That the afflictions of the good and the prosperity of the wicked do not prevent the world from having been created.

VII The arguments of the Epicureans and of Cotta in the works of Tully Marcus Tullius Cicero. are diluted. The solution to them is that where Marcus speaks himself, he feels otherwise. And such is the liberty of the Academics Followers of the Academic Skeptic school.. That Plato did not first see the creation with his own eyes, but read of it among the ancients. That Plato says the world is corruptible in the future, but by the power of the Creator it shall not perish. That God was not idle, enjoying His own Divinity before the world. That He did not refrain from the creation of the world. That in creating the world, He wished to benefit both the Wise and the Foolish. And that He attained this, because He made His goodness more clear. That all particular motions are referred back to the first mover.

VIII The arguments of Simplicius A 6th-century commentator on Aristotle. concerning the Eternity of the world are diluted. That Simplicius took it ill that John Philoponus A Christian philosopher who famously refuted Aristotle's arguments for an eternal universe. refuted the arguments of Aristotle concerning the Eternity of motion. That the same man, despising Mosaic Theology, did not understand what the same [Moses] wrote concerning light and the created Sun. That Moses did not receive his Theology from the Egyptians, but on the contrary, the Egyptians received it from him. That the Greeks learned from the Egyptians, so that if the Theology of the Egyptians is fabulous Mythological or legendary., so too is that of the Greeks. How it ought to be understood that light was created first, but the Sun was created on the fourth day. The arguments by which Simplicius proves the eternal world from Plato are resolved.

IX It is shown that the Creation of the world was confessed by the most ancient of all nations. That almost all Philosophers of ancient fame subscribed to the tradition of the fathers. The Theology of Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary Hellenistic figure associated with the Hermetic corpus. concerning the Creation of the world is explained first. That Trismegistus agrees with Moses in describing the Creation. Concerning the creation of light, or the Sun, and the other stars, and the air from the purest refinement of water. Before all things, concerning the creation of earth and water, which were the principles for the others, called chaos by them, or hyle original: "hyle" — Greek for "matter".. Concerning the baring of the earth, the creation of animals, and of man created in the image of God. That Ovid saw this Theology among the Greeks and expressed it in Latin. That their Gods are the stars, made from water. That the ancient Greeks followed this Theology; examples from Plato.

X That Orpheus adored and followed the Theology of Trismegistus concerning the constitution of the world. That the lesser [writers] affirmed what the earlier Orpheus had brought forth. That the first part of Theology in Orpheus consists of praises of the eternal, most wise, and most fruitful Creator. That all things were born from the fruitful wisdom of the divine Word original: "Verbi diuini" — The Logos. according to Orpheus. That the second part of Theology concerns Chaos, namely the creation of earth and water, after which the forms of things were created from them. That it is similar...