The sect of Stoics adopted most fully the system of catastrophes destined at certain intervals to destroy the world. These they taught were of two kinds-the Cataclysm, or destruction by deluge, which sweeps away the whole human race, and annihilates all the animal and vegetable productions of nature; and the Ekpyrosis, or conflagration, which dissolves the globe itself. From the Egyptians also they derived the doctrine of the gradual debasement of man from a state of innocence. Towards the termination of each era the gods could no longer bear with the wickedness of men, and a shock of the elements or a deluge overwhelmed them; after which calamity, Astrea again descended on the earth, to renew the golden age.


Chpt.2, p. 11 - Principles of geology (1832) Vol.1


The sect of Stoics adopted most fully the system of catastrophes destined at certain intervals to destroy the world. These they taught were of two...

The sect of Stoics adopted most fully the system of catastrophes destined at certain intervals to destroy the world. These they taught were of two...

The sect of Stoics adopted most fully the system of catastrophes destined at certain intervals to destroy the world. These they taught were of two...

The sect of Stoics adopted most fully the system of catastrophes destined at certain intervals to destroy the world. These they taught were of two...