ASTRONOMY 
315 
In confirmation of this Burnet cites the ‘ unimpeachable 
testimony ’ of Theophrastus, who said that 
‘ Plato in his old age repented of having given the earth 
the central place in the universe, to which it had no right ’ 1 ; 
and he concludes that, according to Plato in the Timaeus, 
the earth is not the centre of the universe. But the sentences 
in which Aristotle paraphrases the i\\o[xevr]v in the Timaeus 
by the words iWeadcu ko.1 KiveTaOcu both make it clear that 
the persons who held the view in question also declared 
that the earth lies or is 'placed at the centre (Kei/xeurju ini 
rov Kevrpov), or ‘placed the earth at the centre’ (ini rod pecrov 
6ivre?)• Burnet’s explanation is therefore in contradiction to 
part of Aristotle’s statement, if not to the rest; so that he 
does not appear to have brought the question much nearer 
to a solution. Perhaps some one will suggest that the rotation 
or oscillation about the axis of the universe is small, 4 so small 
as to be fairly consistent with the statement that the earth 
remains at the centre. Better, I think, admit that, on our 
present information, the puzzle is insoluble. 
The dictum of Theophrastus that Plato in his old age 
repented of having placed the earth in the centre is incon 
sistent with the theory of the Timaeus, as we have said. 
Boeckh explained it as a misapprehension. There appear 
to have been among Plato’s immediate successors some who 
altered Plato’s system in a Pythagorean sense and who may 
be_ alluded to in another passage of the Be caelo 2 ; Boeckh 
suggested, therefore, that the views of these Pythagorizing 
Platonists may have been put down to Plato himself. But 
the tendency now seems to be to accept the testimony of 
Theophrastus literally. Heiberg does so, and so does Burnet, 
who thinks it probable that Theophrastus heard the statement 
which he attributes to Plato from Plato himself. But I would 
point out that, if the Timaeus, as Burnet contends, contained 
Plato’s explicit recantation of his former view that the earth 
was at the centre, there was no need to supplement it by an 
oral communication to Theophrastus. In any case the question 
has no particular importance in comparison with the develop 
ments which have next to be described. 
1 Plutarch, Quaest, Plat. 8. 1, 1006 c ; cf. Life of Numa, c. 11. 
2 Arjst. De caelo, ii. 18, 293 a 27-b 1.