Note 42 — MUNDI THEMA, OR THE GENITURE OF THE WORLD. TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD BOOK OF THE MATHESIS OF JULIUS FIRMICUS MATERNUS.
Thomas Taylor translation
Firmicus calls the geniture of the world a fabulous device, because it supposes the mundane periods to have had a temporal beginning, though they are in reality eternal. For in a fable, the inward is different from the outward meaning.