"Everything that is destroyed is either destroyed by itself or by something else. If the world is destroyed by itself, fire must needs burn of itself and water dry itself. If by something else, it must be either by a body or by something incorporeal. By something incorporeal is impossible; for incorporeal things preserve bodies — nature, for instance, and soul — and nothing is destroyed by a cause whose nature is to preserve it. If it is destroyed by some body, it must be either by those which exist or by others. … But if the world is to be destroyed by other bodies than these it is impossible to say where such bodies are or whence they are to arise."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
XVII. That the World is by nature Eternal.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sallustius
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Sallustius
Sallustius or Sallust (Σαλούστιος) was a 4th-century Latin writer, a friend of the Roman Emperor Julian. He wrote the treatise On the Gods and the Cosmos, which owes much to the work of Iamblichus of Chalcis, who synthesized Platonism with Pythagoreanism and theurgy, as well as to Julian's own philosophical writings. Though uncertainty remains, and some have identified him with the praetorian prefect of Gaul, Flavius Sallustius, he is widely thought to have been Saturninius Secundus Salutius, pr
50 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Sallustius →
Related Quotes
"It is strong evidence of this that noble souls despise being for the sake of the good, when they face death for their…"
"There is this first benefit from myths, that we have to search and do not have our minds idle. That the myths are div…"
"The mixed kind of myth may be seen in many instances: for example they say that in a banquet of the Gods Discord thre…"
"One may call the world a myth, in which bodies and things are visible, but souls and minds hidden. Besides, to wish t…"
"Is not that perhaps a thing worthy of admiration… that by means of the visible absurdity the soul may immediately fee…"
"Of myths some are theological, some physical, some psychic, and again some material, and some mixed from these last t…"
"Now the myths represent the Gods themselves and the goodness of the Gods — subject always to the distinction of the s…"
"Theological myths suit philosophers, physical and psychic suit poets, mixed suit religious initiations, since every i…"
"Now these things never happened, but always are. And mind sees all things at once, but reason (or speech) expresses s…"
"The essences of the Gods never came into existence (for that which always is never comes into existence; and that exi…"