own
country, on his return, the doctrine of the gradual deterioration of the
human race from an original state of virtue and happiness; but if we are
to judge of his theory concerning the destruction and renovation of the
earth from the sketch given by Ovid, we must concede it to have been far
more philosophical than any known version of the cosmogonies of Oriental
or Egyptian sects.

Although Pythagoras is introduced by the poet as delivering his doctrine
in person, some of the illustrations are derived from natural events
which happened after the death of the philosopher. But notwithstanding
these anachronisms, we may regard the account as a true picture of the
tenets of the Pythagorean school in the Augustan age; and although
perhaps partially modified, it must have contained the substance of the
original scheme. Thus considered, it is extremely curious and
instructive; for we here find a comprehensive summary of almost all the
great causes of change now in activity on the globe, and these adduced
in confirmation of a principle of a perpetual and gradual revolution
inherent in the nature of our terrestrial system. These doctrines, it is
true, are not directly applied to the explanation of geological
phenomena; or, in other words, no attempt is made to estimate what may
have been in past ages, or what may hereafter be, the aggregate amount
of change brought about by such never-ending fluctuations. Had this been
the case, we might have been called upon to admire so extraordinary an
anticipation with no less interest than astronomers, when they endeavor
to define by what means the Samian philosopher came to the knowledge of
the Copernican system.

Let us now examine the celebrated passages to which we have been
adverting:[13]

"Nothing perishes in this world; but things merely vary and change their
form. To be born, means simply that a thing begins to be something
different from what it was before; and dying, is ceasing to be the same
thing. Yet, although nothing retains long the same image, the sum of the
whole remains constant." These general propositions are then confirmed
by a series of examples, all derived from natural appearances, except
the first, which refers to the golden age giving place to the age of
iron. The illustrations are thus consecutively adduced.

1. Solid land has been converted into sea.

2. Sea has been changed into land. Marine shells lie far distant from
the deep, and the anchor has been