[47] For ισομερικον here, it is obviously necessary to read ισημερινον.
It must also be observed that there are two equinoctial points or signs,
and these are Aries and Libra.
[48] See my explanation of this perfect, which is also called the
geometric number, in p. 150 of my Theoretic Arithmetic.
[49] i. e. material dæmons, or θηρες χθονος, _the wild beasts of the
earth_, as they are called in the Chaldean oracles.
[50] i. e. the whole choir of beneficent natures superior to man. But
by _the depression of the heads of the sacred birds_, the inaptitude of
persons and places to receive divine influence is denoted.
[51] Instead of ει δη γενεσις εν τοις περι ἡμας, αιτια γενεσεως εν τοις
ὑπερ ἡμας, it is necessary to read, conformably to the above translation,
ει δη γενεσεως εν τοις περι ἡμας, αιτια γινεται, κ. τ. λ.
[52] i. e. restitutions to a pristine form or condition.
[53] Proclus, finding that this was partially the case in his time, says
prophetically, in the Introduction to his Commentary on the Parmenides
of Plato, Τουτον εγω φαιην αν τυπον φιλοσοφιας εις ανθρωπους ελθειν επ’
ευεργεσια των τηδε ψυχων, αντι των αγαλματων, αντι των ἱερων, αντι της
ὁλης αγιστειας αυτης, και σωτηριας αρχηγον τοις γε νυν ουσιν ανθρωποις,
και τοις εισαυθις γενησομενοις. i. e. “With respect to this form of
philosophy [viz. of the philosophy of Plato], I should say that it came
to men for the benefit of terrestrial souls; _that it might be instead of
statues, instead of temples, instead of the whole of sacred institutions,
and the leader of salvation both to the men that now are, and to those
that shall exist hereafter_.”
[54] i. e. evil dæmons.
[55] By the _geniture of the world_, the greater _apocatastasis_ is
signified, as is evident from the preceding extract from Julius Firmicus.
[56] i. e. a mundane period being finished.
[57] See the Introduction to my Translation of the Timæus of Plato.
[58] Traité de l’Astronomie Indienne et Orientale, par Monsieur Bailly,
published in 1787.
SELECT THEOREMS IN PROOF OF THE PERPETUITY OF TIME, AND OF THAT WHICH IS
NATURALLY MOVED WITH A CIRCULAR MOTION.