CHAPTER V. WHENCE DOES THE WORLD RECEIVE ITS NUTRIMENT?

Aristotle says that, if the world be nourished, it will likewise be

dissolved; but it requires no aliment, and will therefore be eternal.

Plato, that this very world prepares for itself a nutriment, by the

alteration of those things which are corruptible in it. Philolaus

affirms that a destruction happens to the world in two ways; either by

fire failing from heaven, or by the sublunary water being poured down

through the whirling of the air; and the exhalations proceeding from

thence are aliment of the world.

Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3: Essays and Miscellanies · 第 5 / 43 章