According to Plutarch (περὶ τῶν ἀρέσκ: etc. iii. 10) Thales and the Stoics affirmed the earth to be spherical, Thales (id. 11) placing it “in the middle.” Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 4, says that the earth “universi cardine stare pendentem librantem per quæ pendeat; ita solam immobilem circa eam volubili universitate, eandem ex omnibus necti, eidemque omnia inniti.”