In this theory of the contraction of the universe out of an ethereal
state and ultimate return to the same condition one sees a
resemblance to the modern scientific hypothesis of the origin of our
planetary system out of the solar nebula, and its predestined end in
the same. Especially is this the case with the form in which the
theory was held by Cleanthes, who pictured the heavenly bodies as
hastening to their own destruction by dashing themselves, like so
many gigantic moths, into the sun. Cleanthes however did not conceive
mere mechanical force to be at work in this matter. The grand
apotheosis of suicide which he foresaw was a voluntary act; for the
heavenly bodies were Gods and were willing to lose their own in a
larger life.
Thus all the deities except Zeus were mortal, or at all events,
perishable. Gods, like men, were destined to have an end some day.
They would melt in the great furnace of being as though they were
made of wax or tin. Zeus then would be left alone with his own
thoughts, or as the Stoics sometimes put it, Zeus would fall back
upon Providence.
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