On the Nature of the Universe

Ocellus Lucanus · Thomas Taylor

Ocellus Lucanus, a Pythagorean of Lucania, here argues that the universe is ungenerated and indestructible — without beginning or end, eternally self-identical — then turns to the four elements and their mutual transformations, and finally to the generation of mankind and the ordering of marriage, family, and city. A cornerstone of Pythagorean cosmology, translated by Thomas Taylor (1831). Ocellus Lucanus has written what follows concerning the Nature of the Universe; having learnt some things through clear arguments from Nature herself, but others from opinion, in conjunction with reason, it being his intention [in this work] to derive what is probable from intellectual perception. It appears, therefore, to me, that the Universe is indestructible and unbegotten, since it always was, and always will be; for if it had a temporal beginning, it would not have always existed: thus, …

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