ARISTOTLE AND THE EARLIER PERIPATETICS vol.I by Eduard Zeller, B.F.C.Costelloe 1897

PHYSICS 495
his peculiar theory of motion with these views. All
motion depends upon the contact of a mobile with a
motive body, and this law must apply to
the motion of
the spheres, since one movens in the same matter can
only produce one kind of motion, 1 and since every
motion ultimately proceeds from an unmoved cause, and
every motion which has no beginning from an eternal
cause of movement, 2 we must imagine as many eternal
and unmoved substances for the production of the
movement of the spheres as there are spheres required
for the phenomena to be accounted for. 3 The heavenly
bodies are no dead masses, but living beings ; " there
Kal epos TOV KlVOVfltVOV.
2 Cf. p. 388 sq., and on the
way in which motion is produced
by the unmoved mover, p. 404.
3
After showing the necessity
of an eternal incorporeal cause
of motion, Metaph. xii. 7, Ari-
drawal of force (aBwa/iia) is an stotle asks, u. 8 : ir6repov filav
unnatural condition inapplicable Bereov tV roiavrtjv ovtrlav fj
to the heavens, &c. All these reasonsholdequallyof
Tr\elovs, Kal ir6aas ; and answers,
thespheres of 1073, a, 26: iirel 5e rb Kivoifievov
the planets considered individually
av&yKi} vir6 rivos Kiveiff&ai, Kal rb
and apart from ,the influence rrpunov klvovv aKivTjrov eivai Ka&
of their spheres upon one another abrb, Kal tV a'tSiov Kivqaiv inrb alblou
as of the first heaven. Aristotle,
KivetiySai Kal rfyv filar vtp' evbs,
at 288, a, 14 of the passage Spcofiev 5e irapa rijv rov iravrbs r^v
quoted above, confines himself arr\rjv (popup %v KiveTv tpa/ikv rty
to the latter only. The movements
irp&riiv ovtriav Kal aKlvrjrov, &\\as
of the lower spheres are tpopas oijcras ras ray irhavhrav
compounded of those of the aXSlovs . . . avdyKfj Kal rovrav
higher. The true account eKacTTTjv tSjv tpopuv V7r' aKtvfjrou
of the motions of the planets T€ KivziffBui Kaff avrb Kal aiSiov
(attributing to them acceleration oufflas. % re yap ruv dffrpav (pviris
and retardation of velocity) is aiStos ovffia ris oZffa, Kal rb klvovv
declared to be iravre\&s &Koyov did to v Kalirp6repovrov Ktvovfievov, Kal
icol irX&apaTi ijiowv, 283, a, 4. rb Trp6repov oiitrias ovo~iav avayKaiov
Phxjs. viii. 6, 259, a, 18 (v. eivai. tpavepbv roivvv 8ti rotravras
1
above p. 293, n. I): jiia BJ [v re olio-Las avayKaiov eivairi\v re tpvtriv
KivTIffts] el Vtp' €v6s T6 TOV KIVOVVTOS aiSlovs Kal OKLvi\Tovs KajS* auras
Kal avev fieyeSovs. BBENTANO'S
view that these eternal beings
were created by God has already
been discussed at p. 412, supra.
* De Cwlo, ii. 12, 292, a, 18 (cf.
b, 1) : a\V 7] pels (hs irepl o'Wfiiruv
avTwv p.6vov Kal fiovdb'av rdi\tv
496 ARISTOTLE
must be as many ' souls,' to preside over their motions, as
there are spheres. The fabric of the heavens consists,
therefore, of a system of concentric hollow balls 01
spheres, so placed within each other as to leave no
empty interspace. 1
The centre of this system is called
the bottom, the circumference the top ; and so the
outer spheres are uppermost, the inner are nethermost,
and each locality in space is
higher or lower according
as it has a greater or less distance from the centre. 2
is only indirectly, and relatively to the motion of the
fiev ixdvrav atyvxw 8e irapnav
hiavoovutQa ' Sel 8' us fierex&Tuv
inro\apf$