In this point at least
they argue correctly who say that as the Sphere is carried round in
a circle no single part remains still, for then either the whole would
necessarily stand still or its continuity be torn asunder; but they
argue less well in supposing that the poles have a certain force,
though conceived as having no magnitude, but as merely termini or
points. For besides the fact that no such things have any
substantial existence it is impossible for a single movement to be
initiated by what is twofold; and yet they make the poles two. From
a review of these difficulties we may conclude that there is something
so related to the whole of Nature, as the earth is to animals and
things moved by them.
And the mythologists with their fable of Atlas setting his feet upon
the earth appear to have based the fable upon intelligent grounds.
They make Atlas a kind of diameter twirling the heavens about the
poles. Now as the earth remains still this would be reasonable enough,
but their theory involves them in the position that the earth is no
part of the universe. And further the force of that which initiates
movement must be made equal to the force of that which remains at
rest.
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