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WHETHER THE WORLD IS ETERNAL AND INCORRUPTIBLE.
Pythagoras [and Plato], agreeing with the Stoics, affirm that the world was framed by God, and being corporeal is obvious to the senses, and in its own nature is obnoxious to destruction; but it shall never perish, it being preserved by the providence of God.

Epicurus, that the world had a beginning, and so shall have an end, as plants and animals have.

Xenophanes, that the world never had a beginning, is eternal and incorruptible.

Aristotle, that the part of the world which is sublunary is subject to change, and there terrestrial beings find a decay..