Declamation of the Philosopher, Physician, and Orator

Aristotle argues that the world is uncreated. Epicurus, Democritus, and Leucippus contend that the world was formed from atoms, that is, indivisible particles. Furthermore, concerning God, the soul, the ends of goods, and meteorology, there is no consensus among philosophers. Some have believed in innumerable gods, some in none at all. The Platonists believe in one who cares for all things, while the Epicureans believe in one who is idle and unexercised. The Stoics have asserted that God turns this mass of the world from the outside like a potter. The Platonists say He is within the world, as in the example of governance, remaining within that which He rules. There are those who place everything in the whims of fortune and believe the world is moved by no ruler, only by the changes of nature, the seasons, and the years. Some contain the care of the gods within the stars. Some limit divine providence to the moon, as if it were laughable for that highest "whatever it is" to take care of human affairs, and as if it were unbecoming for the majesty of God to be polluted by such multiple and sordid ministry. Good gods, what a fight there is among philosophers concerning the soul! Plato says the soul is a substance autokineton self-moving. Xenocrates, a number; Aristotle, an entelecheia actualization/perfection; Pythagoras, Philolaus, and Aristoxenus, a harmony; Posidonius, an idea; Hippocrates, a subtle spirit dispersed throughout the whole body. Origen Adamantius, a sensible and mobile substance; Hipparchus and Zeno, fire; Anaximenes, air; Empedocles, blood suffused around the heart; Democritus, one built of atoms. Dicaearchus, however, says there is no mind, no soul, and that animals and living beings are called so in vain. Others contend that the soul is eternal, others that it is mortal and dissoluble. There is also disagreement among the Ecclesiastical writers on the same matter. Some say souls were created in heaven from the origin of the world; others that they are propagated by transmission; others teach that God creates souls daily, which the Christian dogma also confirms. When I read these things and others of this kind, so varied and so contradictory, where shall I turn myself? Whom shall I follow? Whom shall I believe? That saying of the orators occurs to me: "You are a beast of many heads." For what shall I follow, or whom? Lactantius rightly said that there is not yet agreement among philosophers concerning the soul, and perhaps there never will be. It was also correctly said by Lucretius: "For the nature of the mind is unknown." Almost the same contention exists regarding the ends of goods, since some place the highest good in pleasure, like Aristippus; others in virtue, like Zeno and Varro; some call it the "primordial," like Carneades; others in the absence of pain, like Hieronymus of Rhodes. The Peripatetics measure happiness from a triple genre of goods: of the soul, of the body, and external. Nor are the Academics much different, joining pleasure with honesty. Dinomachus and

World from atoms

Concerning God.

Opinions on the soul

Origen.

Nature of the mind is unknown.

Concerning the ends of goods