Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe

by Julius Firmicus Maternus; Proclus; Tauros

Plato, in the Timæus, speaking of this greater apocatastasis, says: “At the same time, however, it is no less possible to conceive, that the perfect number of time will then accomplish a perfect year, when the celerities of all the eight periods being terminated with reference to each other, shall have a summit, as they are measured by the circle, of that which subsists according to the same and the similar [i. e. according to the sphere of the fixed stars].”

On this passage, Proclus, in his Commentary, observes as follows: “The whole mundane time measures the one life of the universe, according to which all the celerities are terminated of the celestial and sublunary circles. For in these also there are periods, which have for the summit of their apocatastasis the lation of the circle of the same [i. e. of the sphere of the fixed stars]. For they are referred to this as to their principle, because it is the most simple of all, since the apocatastases are surveyed with reference to the points of it. Thus, for instance, all of them make their apocatastasis about the equinoctial point[47], or about the summer tropic; or though the joint apocatastasis should not be considered to be according to the same point, but with reference to the same, when, for instance, rising or culminating, yet all of them will have with reference to it a figure of such a kind. For now the present order is entirely a certain apocatastasis of all the heavenly bodies, yet the configuration is not seen about the same, but with reference to the same point. Once, however, it was about the same, and according to one certain point, at which if it should again take place, the whole of time will have an end. One certain apocatastasis likewise seems to have been mentioned; hence it is said that Cancer is the horoscope of the world, and this year is called Cynic, or pertaining to the Dog, because, among the constellations, the splendid star of the Dog rises together with Cancer. If therefore the planets should again meet in the same point of Cancer, this concurrence will be one period of the universe. If, however, the apocatastasis takes places in Cancer about the equinoctial point, that also which is from the summer tropic will be directed towards the summer tropic, and the number of the one will be equal to the number of the other, and the time of the one to the time of the other. For each of them is one period, and is defined by quantity, on account of the order of the bodies that are moved. In addition, however, to what has been said, it must be observed, that this perfect number differs from that mentioned in the Republic, which comprehends the period of every divinely generated nature[48], since it is more partial, and is apocatastatic of the eight periods alone. For the other perfect number comprehends the peculiar motions of the fixed stars, and, in short, of all the divine genera that are moved in the heavens, whether visibly or invisibly, and also of the celestial genera posterior to the Gods, and of the longer or shorter periods of sublunary natures, together with the periods of fertility and sterility. Hence, likewise, it is the lord of the period of the human race.”

“The year (says Macrobius) which is called mundane, is truly revolving, because it is effected by a full convolution of the universe, and is evolved in the most extended periods of time, the reason of which is as follows: All the planets and the stars which are seen fixed in the heavens, the peculiar motion of the latter of which though the human sight has never been able to perceive or apprehend, are yet moved, and, besides the revolution of the heavens by which they are always drawn along, have an advancing motion of their own. This motion, however, is completed in such a length of time, that the life of man is not sufficiently extended to discover, by continual observation, their mutation to the place in which they were first seen. The end, therefore, of the mundane year is, when all the planets and all the fixed stars have returned from a certain place to the same place, so that no star in the heavens may be situated in a place different from that in which it was before, since all the other stars, when moved from that place to which they return, give a termination to their year; so that the luminaries [i. e. the sun and moon] also, together with the five wandering stars, may be in the same places and parts in which they were situated when the mundane year began. This, however, according to the decision of physiologists, will take place at the expiration of 15,000 years; hence, as the lunar year is a month, and the solar year consists of twelve months, and the years of the other planets are those which we have before mentioned, so the mundane year consists of 15,000 of such years as we now compute. This year, therefore, is called the truly revolving year, which is not measured by the retrogression of the sun, i. e. of one planet, but is terminated by the return of all the planets to the same place, under the same description of the whole heavens; from whence also it is called mundane, because the world is properly called heaven. Hence, as we not only denominate the progression of the sun from the kalends of January to the same kalends, the solar year, but also its progression from the day after the kalends to the same day, and its return from any day of any month to the same day, a year; thus, also, the beginning of this mundane year may be fixed by any one at any time he pleases. Thus, for instance, Cicero now, from an eclipse of the sun, which happened at the time of the death of Romulus, supposes the beginning of the mundane year to commence. And though frequently afterwards an eclipse of the sun may have happened, yet a repeated eclipse of this luminary is not said to give completion to the mundane year; but then this completion takes place when the sun, during its eclipse, will be in the same places and parts, and likewise all the planets and fixed stars, in which they were at the time of the death of Romulus. Hence, as physiologists assert, 15,000 years after the death of Romulus the sun will again be so eclipsed, that it will be in the same sign, and in the same part of the heavens, as it was at that time; all the stars likewise returning to the same place.”—Macrob. in Somn. Scip. lib. ii.

Hence, as the greater mundane apocatastasis consists of 300,000 years, and 15,000 years make a mundane year, the greater apocatastasis will consist of 20,000 mundane years.

This greater apocatastasis is also alluded to by Synesius in his treatise On Providence, and likewise in the Asclepian Dialogue ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus. The extract from Synesius, who informs us that his treatise is an Egyptian narration relative to Osiris and Typhos, is as follows:

“Some time after this, Typhos obtained the kingdom by fraud and force, and Osiris was banished: but during the evils arising from the tyrannical government of Typhos, some God manifestly appeared to a certain philosopher who was a stranger in Egypt, and who had received great benefits from Osiris, and ordered him to endure the present calamities, because they were months only, and not years, in which the Fates had destined that the Egyptian sceptres should raise the nails of the wild beasts[49], and depress the heads of the sacred birds[50]. But this is an arcane symbol. And the philosophic stranger above mentioned knew that a representation of this was engraved in obelisks and in the sacred recesses of the temples. The divinity also unfolded to him the meaning of the sacred sculpture, and gave him a sign of the time in which it would be verified. For when those, said he, who are now in power, shall endeavour to make an innovation in our religion, then in a short time after expect that the giants (meaning by these, men of another nation) shall be entirely expelled, being agitated by their own avenging furies. If, however, some remains of the sedition should still exist, and the whole should not be at once extinguished, but Typhos should still remain in the seat of government, nevertheless do not despair of the Gods. The following also is another symbol for you. When we shall purify the air which surrounds the earth, and which is defiled with the breath of the impious, with fire and water, then the punishment of the rest will also follow, and then immediately expect a better order of things, Typhos being removed. For we expel such-like prodigies by the devastation of fire and thunder. In consequence of this, the stranger considered that to be a felicitous circumstance, which had before appeared to him to be dreadful, and no longer bore with molestation a necessary continuance in life, through which he would be an eye-witness of the advent of the Gods; for it exceeded the power of human sagacity to conjecture, that so powerful a multitude as were then collected together in arms, and who even in time of peace were by law obliged to be armed, should be vanquished without any opposition. He considered with himself, therefore, how these things could be accomplished, for they appeared to surpass the power of reason. But after no great length of time, a certain depraved fragment of religion, and an adulteration of divine worship, like that of money, as it were, prevailed, which the ancient law exterminated from cities, shutting the doors against impiety, and expelling it to a great distance from the walls. Typhos, however, did not himself introduce this impiety, for he feared the Egyptian multitude, but for this purpose called in the assistance of the Barbarians, and erected a temple in the city, having previously subverted the laws of his country. When these things, therefore, came to pass, the stranger began to think that this was the event which divinity had predicted. ‘And perhaps,’ said he, ‘I shall be a spectator of what will follow.’ He likewise then learnt some particulars about Osiris, which would shortly happen, and others which would take place at some greater distance of time, viz. when the boy Horus would choose, as his associate in battle, a wolf instead of a lion. But who the wolf is, is a sacred narration, which it is not holy to divulge, even in the form of a fable.”

Typhos, however, through his tyranny, was at length dethroned, and Osiris recalled from exile; and Synesius, towards the end of this treatise, observes, “that the blessed body which revolves in a circle is the cause of the events in the sublunary world. For both are parts of the universe, and they have a certain relation to each other. If, therefore, the cause of generation[51] in the things which surround us originates in the natures which are above us, it follows that the seeds of things which happen here descend from thence. And if some one should add, since astronomy imparts credibility to this, that there are apocatastatic[52] periods of the stars and spheres, some of which are simple, but others compounded; such a one will partly accord with the Egyptians, and partly with the Grecians, and will be perfectly wise from both, conjoining intellect to science. A man of this kind therefore will not deny, that, in consequence of the same motions returning, effects also will return, together with their causes; and that lives on the earth, generations, educations, dispositions, and fortunes, will be the same with those that formerly existed. We must not wonder, therefore, if we behold a very ancient history verified in life, and should see things which flourished before our times accord with what is unfolded in this narration; and, besides this, perceive that the forms which are inserted in matter are consentaneous to the arcana of a fable.”

The following is the extract from the Asclepian Dialogue, a Latin translation only of which is extant, and is generally believed by the learned to have been made by Apuleius:—

“An ignoras, O Asclepi, quod Ægyptus imago sit cœli, aut, quod est verius, translatio et descensio omnium quæ gubernantur atque exercentur in cœlo? Et, si dicendum est, verius terra nostra totius mundi est templum: et tamen quoniam præscire cuncta prudentes decet, istud vos ignorare fas non est, futurum tempus est, quum appareat Ægyptios incassum pia mente divinitatem et sedula religione servasse, et omnis eorum sancta veneratio in irritum casura frustrabitur. E terris enim ad cœlum est recursura divinitas. Linquatur Ægyptus, terraque, quæ fuit divinitatis sedes, religione viduata, Numinum præsentia destituetur. Alienigenis enim regionem istam terramque complentibus, non solum neglectus religionum, sed (quod est durius) quasi de legibus, a religione, pietate, cultuque divino statuetur præscripta pœna, prohibitio. Tunc terra ista sanctissima, sedes delubrorum et templorum, sepulchrorum erit mortuorumque plenissima. O Ægypte, Ægypte, religionum solæ supererunt fabulæ, eæque incredibiles posteris suis; solaque supererunt verba lapidibus incisa, tua pia facta narrantibus; et inhabitabit Ægyptum Scythos aut Indus aut aliquis talis. Divinitas enim repetet cœlum, deserti homines toti morientur, atque ita Ægyptus Deo et homine viduata deseretur. Te verò appello sanctissimum flumen, tibique futura prædico: torrenti sanguine plenus ad ripas usque erumpes, undæque divinæ non solum polluentur sanguine, sed totæ rumpentur, et vivis multo major erit numerus sepultorum; superstes verò qui erit, lingua sola cognoscetur Ægyptius, actibus verò videbitur alienus. Quid fles, O Asclepi? Et his amplius, multoque deterius ipsa Ægyptus suadebitur, imbueturque pejoribus malis, quæ sancta quondam et divinitatis amantissima deorum in terras religionis suæ merito, sola seductio [lege reductio] sanctitatis et pietatis magistra, erit maximæ crudelitatis exemplum. Et tunc tædio hominum non admirandus videbitur mundus, neque adorandus. Hoc totum bonum, quo melius nec est, nec fuit, nec erit, quod videri possit, periclitabitur. Eritque grave hominibus, ac per hoc contemnetur, nec diligetur totus hic mundus, Dei opus immutabile, gloriosa constructio, bonum multiformi imaginum varietate compositum, machina voluntatis Dei in suo opere sine invidia suffragantis omnium in unum, quæ venerari, laudari, amari denique à videntibus possunt, multiformis adunata congestio. Nam et tenebræ præponentur lumini, et mors vita utiloir judicabitur. Nemo suspiciet cœlum. Religiosus pro insano, irreligiosus putabitur prudens, furiosus fortis, pro bono habebitur pessimus. Anima enim et omnia circum eam quibus aut immortalis nata est, aut immortalitatem se consecuturam esse præsumit, secundum quod vobis exposui, non solum risus, sed etiam putabitur vanitas. Sed mihi credite etiam periculum capitate constituetur in eum, qui se mentis religioni dederit. Nova constituentur jura, lex nova; nihil sanctum, nihil religiosum, nec cœlo, nec cœlestibus dignum audietur, aut mente credetur. Fiet Deorum ab hominibus dolenda secessio; soli nocentes angeli remanebant, qui humanitati commixti ad omnia audaciæ mala miseros manu injecta compellent in bella, in rapinas, in fraudes, et in omnia quæ sunt animarum naturæ contraria. Tunc non terra constabit, nec navigabitur mare, nec cœlum astrorum cursibus, nec siderum cursus constabit in cœlo. Omnis vox divina necessaria taciturnitate mutescet, fructus terræ corrumpentur, nec fœcunda erit tellus, et aër ipse mœsto torpore languescet. Hæc et talis senectus veniet mundi, irreligio, inordinatio, irrationabilitas bonorum omnium. Cùm hæc cuncta contigerint, O Asclepi, tunc ille dominus et pater, Deus primipotens, et unus gubernator mundi, intuens in mores factaque voluntaria voluntate sua, quæ est Dei benignitas, vitiis resistens, et corruptelæ omnium errorem revocans, malignitatem omnem vel alluvione diluens, vel igne consumens, vel morbis pestilentiisque per diversa loca dispersis finiens, ad antiquam faciem mundum revocabit, ut et mundus ipse adorandus videatur et mirandus, et tanti operis effector et restitutor Deus ab omnibus qui tunc erunt frequentibus laudum præconiis benedictionibusque celebretur. Hæc enim mundi genitura cunctarum reformatio rerum bonarum, et naturæ ipsius sanctissima et religiosissima restitutio, peracto temporis cursu, quæ est et fuit sine initio sempiterna. Voluntas enim Dei caret initio, quæ eadem est, et ubique est sempiterna.” i. e.

“Are you ignorant, O Asclepius, that Egypt is the image of heaven, or, which is more true, a translation and descent of everything which is governed and exercised in heaven? And, if it may be said, our land is truly the temple of the whole world. Nevertheless, because it becomes wise men to foreknow all things, it is not lawful that you should be ignorant that the time will come when it may seem that the Egyptians have in vain, with a pious mind and sedulous religion, paid attention to divinity, and all their holy veneration shall become void and of no effect. For divinity shall return back from earth to heaven. Egypt shall be forsaken, and the land which was the seat of divinity shall be destitute of religion, and deprived of the presence of the Gods. For when strangers shall possess and fill this region and land, there shall not only be a neglect of religion, but (which is more miserable) there shall be laws enacted against religion, piety, and divine worship; they shall be prohibited, and punishments shall be inflicted on their votaries. Then this most holy land, the seat of places consecrated to divinity, and of temples, shall be full of sepulchres and dead bodies. O Egypt, Egypt, fables alone shall remain of thy religion, and these such as will be incredible to posterity; and words alone shall be left engraved in stones, narrating thy pious deeds. The Scythian also, or Indian, or some other similar nation, shall inhabit Egypt. For divinity shall return to heaven, all its inhabitants shall die, and thus Egypt, bereft both of God and man, shall be deserted. I call on thee, O most holy river, and predict to thee future events. Thou shalt burst forth with a torrent of blood, full even to thy banks, and thy divine waters shall not only be polluted with blood, but the land shall be inundated with it, and the number of the dead shall exceed that of the living. He, likewise, who survives, shall only, by his language, be known to be an Egyptian, but by his deeds he will appear to be a stranger. Why do you weep, O Asclepius? Egypt shall experience more ample and much worse evils than these, though she was once holy, and the greatest lover of the Gods on the earth, by the desert of her religion. And she who was alone the reductor of sanctity and the mistress of piety will be an example of the greatest cruelty. Then also, through the weariness of men, the world will not appear to be an admirable and adorable thing. This whole good, a better than which, as an object of perception, there neither is, nor was, nor will be, will be in danger, and will be grievous to men. Hence this whole world will be despised, and will not be beloved, though it is the immutable work of God, a glorious fabric, a good compounded with a multiform variety of images, a machine of the will of God, who, in his work, gave his suffrage without envy, that all things should be one. It is also a multiform collected heap, capable of being venerated, praised and loved by those that behold it. For darkness shall be preferred to light, and death shall be judged to be more useful than life. No one shall look up to heaven. The religious man shall be accounted insane, the irreligious shall be thought wise, the furious brave, and the worst of men shall be considered a good man. For the soul, and all things about it, by which it is either naturally immortal, or conceives that it shall attain to immortality, conformably to what I have explained to you, shall not only be the subject of laughter, but shall be considered as vanity. Believe me, likewise, that a capital punishment shall be appointed for him who applies himself to the religion of intellect. New statutes and new laws shall be established, and nothing religious, or which is worthy of heaven or celestial concerns, shall be heard, or believed by the mind. There will be a lamentable departure of the Gods from men[53]; noxious angels[54] will alone remain, who, being mingled with human nature, will violently impel the miserable men [of that time] to war, to rapine, to fraud, and to every thing contrary to the nature of the soul. Then the earth shall be in a preternatural state; the sea shall not be sailed in, nor shall the heavens accord with the course of the stars, nor the course of the stars continue in the heavens. Every divine voice shall be dumb by a necessary silence, the fruits of the earth shall be corrupted, nor shall the earth be prolific, and the air itself shall languish with a sorrowful torpor. These events and such an old age of the world as this shall take place, such irreligion, inordination, and unreasonableness of all good. When all these things shall happen, O Asclepius, then that lord and father, the God who is first in power, and the one governor of the world, looking into the manners and voluntary deeds [of men], and by his will, which is the benignity of God, resisting vices, and recalling the error arising from the corruption of all things; washing away likewise all malignity by a deluge, or consuming it by fire, or bringing it to an end by disease and pestilence dispersed in different places, will recall the world to its ancient form, in order that the world itself may appear to be an adorable and admirable production, and God, the fabricator and restorer of so great a work, may be celebrated, by all that shall then exist, with frequent solemn praises and benedictions. For this geniture[55] of the world is the reformation of all good things, and the most holy and religious restitution of the nature of it, the course of time being accomplished[56]; since time is perpetual, and always was without a beginning. For the will of God is without beginning, is always the same, and is everywhere eternal.”