Philo Judaeus, De Aeternitate Mundi, ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn, 58

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[58] καθάπερ νῦν τὰ δένδρα, τελείους καὶ ἐνόπλους γῆς παῖδας. ὅτι δὲ
μύθου πλάσμα τοῦτ’ ἐστί, συνιδεῖν ἐκ πολλῶν ῥᾴδιον. αὐτίκα τῷ πρώτῳ ¹²³ γενομένῳ ἔδει καθ’ ὡρισμένα μέτρα καὶ ἀριθμοὺς χρόνων αὐξήσεως· βαθμοὺς γάρ τινας ἡ φύσις τὰς ἡλικίας ἐγέννησε, δι’ ὧν τρόπον τινὰ ἀναβαίνει καὶ κάτεισιν ἄνθρωπος, ἀναβαίνει μὲν αὐξόμενος, κατέρχεται δ’ ἐν ταῖς μειώσεσιν· ὅρος δ’ ὁ τῶν ἀνωτάτω βαθμῶν ἀκμή, πρὸς ὃν φθάσας
τις οὐκέτι πρόεισιν, ἀλλ’, ὥσπερ οἱ διαυλοδρομοῦντες ἀνακάμπτουσι τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδόν, ὅσα παρ’ ἰσχυούσης νεότητος ἔλαβεν, ἀποδίδωσιν ἀσθενεῖ γήρᾳ.

De Aeternitate Mundi. Philo Judaeus. ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Aeternitate Mundi (Greek) (Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 6. Cohn, Leonard; Reiter, Siegfried, editors. Berlin: Reimer, 1915.)

Translations (1)

On the Incorruptibility of the World First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 4. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.) — 58 focus

[58] But that this is a mere fiction of fable it is easy to see from many circumstances. For the very moment that the first man was born there was a necessity for his receiving growth in accordance with the previously defined measures and numbers of time, for nature has arranged the different ages as certain steps along which man in a manner ascends and descends; he ascends while he is growing, and he descends at the period when he is lessening; and the boundary of the uppermost steps is the prime of life at which when a man has arrived he no longer makes any further advance; but as runners who run the diaulos turn back again upon the same path which they have already travelled, so too does man retrace his steps, giving back in the weakness of old age what he has received from vigorous youth;

Notes on the current edition

De aeternitate mundi

1.
1 ἐτύμωνς] ἑτοίμως ΗΡ ἅτε διατεταγμένος Bernays
2 ἀνεπανορθώτου Buecheler (cf. 85, 16): ἅτ’ ἐπ’ ἀνθρώπου codd. (ἅτ᾿ ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπου v) πρός τὸ πῦρ M: πρὸς πῦρ HP (Turn.), πῦρ (om. πρὸς τὸ) U
4 τις addidi; εἷς add. Mang., post Μούσαις intercidisse κορυφαῖος vel aliquid huiusmodi putavit Buecheler κεχορευκότων] συγκεχορευκότων coui. Mang.: sed cf. qoud omn. prob. lib. § 62 4.
5 περιπατητικῆς etiam M (non περιπατητικῶ)
5 τῶ περὶ U: τῶν περὶ M, τῶ παρὰ HP
6 πίστεσι M, πίστευσιν H εἰ om. M
7 ἡ δὲ ἡ γῆ Η γεννητὴ UH
8 ἀγέννητον UHP τοῦ γένους MHP: τὸ γένος U ὑφεστῶτος Cumont: ὑφεστώς UHP, ὑποστάς M 9.
10 ἀίδιος—κατασκευαστέον om. ΗΡ (Turn.)
10 καὶ ἀποδείξεως codd.: καὶ om. Cumont δέ MU: δ’ HP
11 ἕνεκα] ἕνα M
12 πεφυγανεύκασιν Η
13 ἀρίστου add. Wendl. κτήματα M πρός τό Mang.: πρὸς τὸν codd.
14 φράσεως Bernays: ὁράσεως codd.: ῥήσεως coni. Mang.
17 γένεσιν M 17.
18 ἀρχεγονότερον M
18 ἐστί τε M: τε om. UHP (v)
19 post ἐκφῦναι add. λέγουσι U (λέγουσιν ρ α ἐκφῦναι Mang.)
20 νῦν] αὖ U
21 ἐκ πολλῶν ῥᾴδιον M

2.
18 sqq. Sext. Emp. adv. Mathem. IX
28 τῶν δὲ νεωτέρων Στωικῶν φασί τινες τοὺς πρώτους καὶ γηγενεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατὰ πολὺ τῶν νῦν συνέσει διαφέροντας γεγονέναι.

3.
19 Σπαρτούς: cf. Schol. Pind. Isthm. VII 13. Schoi. Eur. Phoen. 670. Apollnd. Bihl. III 23.

Philo Judaeus De Aeternitate Mundi 58

ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn

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