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But, if some relative progress might be admitted, the general view
of Greek philosophers was that they were living in a period of
inevitable degeneration and decay--inevitable because it was
prescribed by the nature of the universe. We have only an imperfect
knowledge of the influential speculations of Heraclitus, Pythagoras,
and Empedocles, but we may take Plato's tentative philosophy of
history to illustrate the trend and the prejudices of Greek thought
on this subject. The world was created and set going by the Deity,
and, as his work, it was perfect; but it was not immortal and had in
it the seeds of decay. The period of its duration is 72,000 solar
years. During the first half of this period the original uniformity
and order, which were impressed upon it by the Creator, are
maintained under his guidance; but then it reaches a point from
which it begins, as it were, to roll back; the Deity has loosened
his grip of the machine, the order is disturbed, and the second
36,000 years are a period of gradual decay and degeneration.


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