in one quarter they are coming into existence, whilst in another they are failing; and that they are destroyed by clashing one with another. And that some worlds are destitute of animals and plants, and every species of moisture. And that the earth of our world was created before that of the stars, and that the moon is underneath; next [to it] the sun; then the fixed stars. And that [neither] the planets nor these [fixed stars] possess an equal elevation. And that the world flourishes, until no longer it can receive anything from without. This [philosopher] turned all things into ridicule, as if all the concerns of humanity were deserving of laughter.
Chapter xii.
Xenophanes—his Scepticism—his Notions of God and Nature—believes in a Flood.
But Xenophanes, a native of Colophon, was son of Orthomenes. This man survived to the time of Cyrus. This [philosopher] first asserted that there is no possibility of comprehending anything, expressing himself thus:
"For if for the most part of perfection man may speak,
Yet he knows it not himself, and in all attains surmise."
And he affirms that nothing is generated or perishes, or is moved; and that the universe being one, is beyond change. But he says that the deity is eternal, and one and altogether homogeneous and limited, and of a spherical form, and endued with perception in all parts. And that the sun exists during each day from a conglomeration of small sparks, and that the earth is infinite, and is surrounded neither by an atmosphere nor by the heaven. And that there are infinite suns and moons, and that all things spring from earth. This man affirmed that the sea is salt, on account of the many mixtures that flow into it. Metrodorus, however, from the fact of its being filtered through earth, asserts that it is on account of this that it is made salt. And Xenophanes is of opinion that there had been a mixture of the earth with the sea, and that in process of time it was disengaged from the moisture,
