Taylor - Theoretic Arithmetic.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

anonymous author, in consequence of comprehending the peculiarities
of all things in itself, ow arteav~ Be xpo~ca
yopcuov aurvv, rov cv Atyox~cl, raypopqov qpoa, ?a ravrov rbtopara
xcp~&~ougav. They also denominated it Jupiter, because what
the one, or the ineffable principle of things is to all the orders
of the Gods, that Jupiter is to all the divine orders posterior
to him, as is beautifully observed by Proclus in Theol. Plat.
lib. 5. They likewise called it Mnemosyne the mother of the
Muses, because as the Muses generate all the variety of reasons
with which the world is replete, and are the causes of the
perfection of the universe, Mnemosyne will be analogous to
the one which is the source of all multitude. It may also be
said that as Mnemosyne is memory, and memory is stability of
knowledge, the monad is thus denominated, as being the image
of the one which is the stable root of all knowledge, and of
all things. But they called it Vesta, or the fire in the centre of
the earth, which as Sirnplicius observes (de Crelo lib. 2.) possesses
a fabricative power, nourishes the whole earth from the
middle, and excites whatever in it is of a frigid nature. So
that as a producing centre it is analogous to the oneox On this
appellation, there is the following remarkable passage in the
before mentioned anonymous author. "In. addition to these
things, also, they say, that a certain fiery cube of the nature of
unity, is situated about the middle of the four elements, the
middle position of which Homer also knew, when he says,
As far beneath the unseen region hurl'd,
As earth is distant from the etherial world.
Empedocles, Parmenides, and nearly most of the ancient wise
men, appear to accord in these things with the Pythagoreans;
* From this passage of Simplicius, it is evident how much they are mistaken,
who suppose that by the fire at the centre, the Pythagoreans meant the sun, and
who in consequence of this ascribe the system of Copernicus to Pythagoras, as the
author. See my Introduction to the Timzus in vol. 11. of my translation of Phto,
and the note on the Hymn to Vesta, in my translation of the 0rphi.c hymns.