9. There was, then, a time like no time, when the pregnant sun carried in his womb the gigantic brood of his own universe, and when, being delivered, he emitted them into the regions of air; for if they were derived from the sun, as a parent, it is manifest that they must have burst forth from his fruitful womb.
(Concerning the great egg of the universe, or chaos, when the pregnant sun gave birth to the world with its planets.)
Nevertheless, it was impossible that he could carry in his burning focus, and afterwards bring forth, such heavy and inert productions, and therefore such burdens must have been the ultimate effects of his exhalation, and of the forces thence flowing and efficient. Hence it follows, that the sun was primitively overspread with effluvia excited and hatched by his real irradiation, and flowing together in abundance and from every direction to him, as to an asylum and only harbor of rest; and that from those fluids, condensed in process of time, there existed a surrounding nebulous expanse, or a mass like the white of an egg, which, with the sun included in it, would resemble the GREAT EGG OF THE UNIVERSE; also that the surface of this egg could at length derive a crust, or a kind of shell, in consequence of the rays being intercepted, and the apertures shut up; and this crust, the sun, when the time of parturition was at hand, by his inward heat and agitation would burst and thereby hatch a numerous offspring, equal in number to the globes visible in his universe, which still look up to him as a parent. 1
[2] Something similar to this appears to take place both in the great and smaller subjects within the sphere of his world and of its three kingdoms on the earth, whether they be produced from a womb, from seed, or from an egg, for they are all only types effigied according to the idea of the greatest, and in themselves, although in a small effigy, resemble and emulate a kind of universe. 1
(Confirmation of the chaos existing around the sun.)
for occasionally new stars have been seen, shining exceedingly with a ruddy (rutile) effulgence, and presently by degrees growing obscure, yet afterwards either returning to their former splendor, or altogether vanishing; which is a sure proof that those stars, in consequence of a conflux of parts excited by their exhalation, have been covered over with a similar crust, which would either be dissipated, or would altogether hide them, so as to withdraw them from our view. Besides, if we compare the immense magnitude of the sun with the planetary bodies which revolve around him, we may easily be instructed, by a slight calculation, that such a surrounding crust would have sufficed for the production of so many and such large bodies. This egg was the chaos so famous in old time and at this day, consisting, as is supposed, of the accumulated elements of all things, which afterwards being arranged into the most beautiful order, produced our world.
სქოლიოები:
1. It is manifest that similar incrustations have also not unfrequently appeared in the starry heavens;
