Ocellus Lucanus, Firmicus Maternus, Select Theorems of Proclus (Thomas Taylor)

as subjects; but the cause of generation exists where the underlying matter remains the same. Since this is the case, it is evident that the cause of generation possesses both an effective and motive power, while that which receives generation is adapted to passivity and to being moved.

But the Fates themselves distinguish and separate the impassive part of the world from that which is perpetually moved [or mutable]*. The course of the moon is the isthmus between immortality and generation. The region above the moon, as well as the space the moon itself occupies, contains the genus of the gods; but the place beneath the moon is the abode of strife and nature, for in this place there is a mutation of things that are generated, and a regeneration of things that have perished.

In that part of the world, however, in which nature and generation predominate, it is necessary...

• In the original text, the author uses the Greek terms for "the impassive part of the world and the immovable," which is clearly an error. Nogarola, in his note on this passage, says, "I think it better if we read 'the always-passive part and the always-mobile part,' so that the sense is that they distinguish and separate the part that is always subject to passion and always mobile." But though he is right to read αεικινητον (always-mobile) instead of ακίνητον (immovable), he is wrong to substitute αειπαθες (always-passive) for απαθες (impassive); for Ocellus is here speaking of the distinction between the celestial and sublunary regions. The former is impassive because it is not subject to generation and corruption, but the latter, being subject to both, is perpetually mutable.