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Having said this, I paused. And Philippus immediately cried out: Whether this be certain or not, I will
not be too positive; but if we carry God beyond one world,
it would more gratify me to know why we should make
him the Creator only of five worlds and no more, and what
proportion this number bears to that of the worlds, than to
know why the word E I was inscribed upon this temple.
For this is neither a triangular, a quadrate, a perfect, nor
a cubic number, neither does it yield any elegancy to such
as are delighted in this kind of sciences. As to what concerns the argument dawn from the number of elements,
which Plato seems to have touched upon, it is obscure and
improbable, and will not afford this consequence,—that,
as there are formed from matter five sorts of regular bodies,
which have equal angles and equal sides, and are environed
with equal superficies, so there were from the beginning
five worlds, made and formed of these five bodies.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 4.
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