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PENGUIN
CLASSICS
J O N A T H AN BARNES
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
P E N G U IN
BOOKS
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CONTENTS
M ap
In troduction
7
9
Synopsis
Note to the R ead er
PART
1
2
3
4
5
6
36
50
P recursors
T h a le s
A n a x im an d er
A n axim en es
Pythagoras
A lcm aeon
55
61
71
77
81
89
7 X en o p h an es
8 H eraclitus
93
100
PART
Parm enides
Melissus
11 Zeno
II
129
143
150
EARLY CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
P A R T III
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
E m pedocles
F ifth-century P ythagoreanism
H ippasus
Philolaus
Ion o f C hios
H ipp o
A n a x a go ras
A rch elau s
L eu cippu s
D em ocritus
D iogenes o f A po llo n ia
161
202
214
216
223
224
226
240
242
A p p en d ix : T h e Sources
F u rth er R ead ing
295
302
Subject In dex
In d ex to Q u o ted T e x t
In d ex to D iels-K ranz B -T exts
35
309
3 *5
244
289
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
10
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
12
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
alliance with the Lydians they turned to luxury, grow ing their hair
long and adorning it with gold ornam ents. X enophanes says the
same:
Learning useless soft habits from the Lydians
when they were free from hateful despotism
they went to the town square in purple robes,
not less than a thousand o f them in all,
haughty, with elegant hair-styles,
drenched in the perfum e o f synthetic ointments.
(Athenaeus, Deipnosopliists 526)
15
INTRODUCTION
II First Philosophy
In w hat d id th eir gen iu s consist? W hat are the characteristics
that d efin e the new discipline? T h r e e things in particu lar m ark
o f f the phusikoi fro m th eir predecessors.
First, and m ost sim ply, the Presocratics invented the very
idea o f science and p h ilosophy. T h e y hit u pon that special way
o f lo o k in g at the w orld w hich is the scientific o r rational way.
T h e y saw the w orld as so m eth in g o rd e re d and intelligible, its
history fo llo w in g an ex p licab le co u rse and its d iffe re n t parts
arra n g ed in som e co m p rehen sib le system . T h e w orld was not
a ran dom collection o f bits, its history was not an arbitrary
series o f events.
Still less was it a series o f events d eterm in ed by the will - o r
the cap rice - o f the gods. T h e Presocratics w ere not, so fa r as
we can tell, atheists: they allow ed the god s into their b rave new
w orld , an d som e o f them attem pted to p ro d u ce an im proved,
ration alized, th eolo gy in place o f the an th ro p o m o rp h ic divini
ties o f the O lym p ian pan th eo n . B u t they rem oved som e o f the
traditional fu n ctio n s fro m the gods. T h u n d e r was exp lain ed
scientifically, in naturalistic term s - it was n o lo n ger a noise
16
INTRODUCTION
m ade by a m inatory Zeus. Iris was the god d ess o f th e rain bow ,
but X en o ph an es insisted that Iris o r the rain bow was in reality
nothing but a m u lticolou red clou d . M ost im portan tly, th e Pre
socratic god s - like the god s o f A ristotle an d even o f that arch
theist Plato - d o not in terfere with the natural w orld .
T h e w orld is o rd erly w ithou t bein g divinely ru n . Its o rd e r
is intrinsic: the internal principles o f n a tu re a re su fficien t to
explain its stru ctu re and its history. F or th e h a p p en in gs that
constitute the w o rld s history a re not m ere b ru te events, to be
record ed and adm ired. T h e y are stru ctu red events w hich fit
togeth er and interconnect. A n d the patterns o f th eir in terco n
nections provid e the tru ly ex p lan a to ry acco u n t o f the w orld .
In the first book o f his Metaphysics A ristotle w rote a sh o rt
account o f th e early history o f G re e k p hilosoph y. H e discussed
the subject exclusively in term s o f exp lan atio n s o r causes. H e
h im self held that th ere w ere fo u r d iffe re n t types o f e x p la n
ation (or fo u r causes) and he th o u g h t that the fo u r had been
slowly d iscovered , o n e by o n e, by his predecessors. T h e history
o f ph ilosophy was thus th e history o f the con ceptu al u n d e r
standing o f ex p lan a to ry schem es. A ristotles a cco u n t o f this
history has been criticized fo r bias and partiality. B u t in essence
A ristotle is right; at any rate, it is in the d evelo p m en t o f the
notion o f explan ation that we m ay see o n e o f the p rim ary
features o f Presocratic philosophy.
Presocratic explan ation s a re m arked by several ch aracter
istics. T h e y are, as I have said, internal: they exp lain the u n i
verse from w ithin, in term s o f its ow n con stitu en t featu res,
and they d o not appeal to arb itrary interven tion fro m w ithout.
T h e y are systematic: they explain the w hole sum o f natural
events in the sam e term s and by the sam e m ethods. T h u s the
general principles in term s o f w hich they seek to accoun t fo r
the origins o f the w orld are also ap p lied to the exp lan atio n s o f
earthquakes o r hailstorm s o r eclipses o r diseases o r m onstrous
births. Finally, Presocratic explan ation s a re economical: they
use few term s, invoke few o p eration s, assum e few u n kn ow n s.
A naxim enes, fo r exam p le, th o u g h t to explain ev e ry th in g in
term s o f a sin gle m aterial elem en t (air) and a p a ir o f co
ordinated o peration s (rarefaction and condensation). T h e
*7
INTRODUCTION
18
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
20
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
English term logic d erives ultim ately from this sense o f the
w ord logos, by way o f the later G reek term logike.)
It cann ot be said that the Presocratics established a single
clear sense fo r the term logos o r that they invented the concept
o f reason o r o f rationality. B u t th eir use o f the term logos consti
tutes the first step tow ards the establishm ent o f a notion which
is central to science and philosophy.
T h e term logos brings m e to th e third o f th e th ree great
achievem ents o f the Presocratics. I m ean their em phasis on
th e use o f reason, on rationality and ratiocination, on a rg u
m ent and evid en ce.
T h e Presocratics w ere not dogm atists. T h a t is to say, they did
not rest con ten t with m ere assertion. D eterm ined to exp lain as
well as d escribe the w orld o f natu re, they w ere acutely aw are
that exp lan atio n s req u ired the giv in g o f reasons. T h is is evi
d e n t even in the earliest o f the Presocratic thinkers and even
w hen th eir claim s seem m ost stran ge and leastju stified . T h a les
is su p posed to have held that all things possess souls o r are
alive. H e d id not m erely assert this bizarre d octrine: he argu ed
fo r it by a p p ea lin g to the case o f the m agnet. H ere is a piece
o f stone - w hat cou ld ap p ea r m ore lifeless? Y et the m agnet
possesses a p o w er to move o th er things: it attracts iron filings,
which m ove tow ards it w ithout the interven tion o f any external
pushes o r pulls. N ow it is a noticeable fea tu re o f living things
that they a re capable o f p ro d u cin g m otion. (A ristotle later took
it as o n e o f the d efin in g characteristics o f things with souls or
living things that they possess such a m otive pow er.) H ence
T h a le s co n clu d ed that the m agn et, d esp ite appearances, has a
soul.
T h e a rg u m e n t m ay not seem very im pressive: certainly we
d o not believe that m agnets a re alive, nor should we regard
the attractive pow ers o f a p iece o f stone as evid en ce o f life. B ut
m y p o in t is not that the Presocratics o ffe r e d good argu m ents
bu t sim ply that th ey o ffe r e d arguments. In the thinkers o f the
secon d Presocratic p hase this love o f a rg u m en t is m ore obvious
and m ore p ro n o u n ced . In them , in d eed , a rg u m en t becom es
the sole m eans to tru th , and p erception is rega rd e d as
22
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
read ers to criticize his views, but his u rg in g s went unansw ered.
C ritical reflection d id not com e into its own until the fo u rth
cen tu ry .
W hat, th en, is the substance o f the claim that the Presocratics
w ere ch am pion s o f reason and rationality? It is this: they
o ffe r e d reasons fo r their opinion s, th ey gave argu m en ts for
th eir views. T h e y did not u tter ex cathedra pron oun cem ents.
P erhaps that seem s an u n rem arkable achievem ent. It is not.
O n the co n trary, it is the m ost rem arkable and the m ost praise
w orth y o f the th ree achievem en ts I have rehearsed . T h o se
w h o d o u b t the fact should reflect on the m axim o f G eo rge
B erkeley, the eigh teen th -cen tu ry Irish p hilosopher: All m en
have opinion s, but few think.
I l l The Evidence
A few Presocratics w rote nothing, but m ost p u t th eir thoughts
to p ap er. Som e w rote in verse and som e in prose. Som e wrote
a sin gle w ork, o thers several - D em ocritus, w hose w orks w ere
a rra n g e d and catalogu ed by a scholar in the first cen tury a d ,
ap p aren tly com posed som e fifty books. A ll told, the collected
w orks o f the Presocratic thin kers w ould have m ad e an im press
ive row on the library shelves.
O f all those w orks not o n e has su rvived intact fo r us to read.
Som e o f them en d u red fo r at least a thousand years, fo r the
sch olar Sim plicius, w ho w orked in A th en s in the sixth century
a d , was able to consult texts o f Parm enides, M elissus, Zeno,
A n a x a go ras, D iogenes o f A p o llo n ia and others. B u t Sim plicius
h im self rem arks that P arm en id es book was a rarity, and it is
not d ifficu lt to im agin e that by his tim e m any o th e r Presocratic
works had actually d isap p eared . T h e Presocratics w ere never
bestsellers. B o oks w ere easily d estroyed .
O u r k n o w led ge o f the Presocratics, then, unlike o u r know
led ge o f Plato o r A ristotle, is not gained directly from the books
th ey w rote. R ather, it d ep en d s u pon ind irect inform ation o f
two d iffe re n t types.
First, th ere a re n u m erou s referen ces to Presocratic th ou gh t
24
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Sim plicius was born in Cilicia in the latter part o f the fifth
cen tu ry a d . H e stu d ied p h ilosop h y first at A lex a n d ria and
then at A th en s, w h ere he becam e o n e o f the lead in g figures o f
the N eop latonist school. A fte r Ju stin ian s ed ict he left A th en s
and w ent, with som e o f his associates, to the royal co u rt in
Persia, but the eastern life p ro ved u nattractive and he
retu rn ed to A th en s about 533. T h e r e he co n tin u ed his
26
INTRODUCTION
27
INTRODUCTION
28
INTRODUCTION
29
INTRODUCTION
30
INTRODUCTION
IV The Texts
T h is book contains E n glish translations o f all th e su rvivin g
philosophical fragm en ts o f th e Presocratic th in kers. In each
31
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INTRODUCTION
33
INTRODUCTION
34
INTRODUCTION
35
SYNOPSI S
t h a l e s
SYNOPSIS
o f the celestial system and o ffe r e d the su ggestion that the earth
rem ains u n su p p orted in m id-universe because it is equ id istan t
from every part o f the o u ter heaven).
a n a x i m e n e s is a pallid reflection o f A n a x im a n d er. H e too
provided a d etailed accoun t o f nature, in w hich he ven tu red
to correct A n a x im a n d er on certain points; and he also p ro
posed a cosm ogony. His arche was infinite, like A n a x im a n d e rs,
but it was not indeterm in ate: rather, it was infinite air. A n d
A naxim enes m aintained that a pair o f op eration s - rarefaction
and condensation - was su fficient to g en era te all the fam iliar
things o f the w orld from the origin al and u n d erly in g air.
A d iffe ren t tradition was initiated by p y t h a g o r a s . H e had
indeed a reputation fo r vast learn in g, but he seem s not to have
concern ed him self particu larly with natu re. His interest was
the soul: he held that the soul was im m ortal, and that it u n d er
goes a sequence o f incarnations in various types o f creatu res
(this was later known as the th eory o f m etem psychosis). M ore
over, this process - and the w hole history o f the w orld - is
endless and u n ch an gin g, the sam e things rep ea tin g them selves
in cycles o f eternal recu rren ce. T h e th eory o f m etem psychosis
suggested that all creatu res w ere fu n d am en tally the sam e in
kind, inasm uch as they a re hosts to the sam e souls: P ythagoras
probably m ade this the g ro u n d fo r certain d ietary reco m
m endations.
P ythagoras was also a political fig u re o f som e im portan ce,
and he attracted a band o f disciples w h o fo llo w ed a P yth ago
rean way o f life and w ho fo rm ed a sort o f secret society. W hat
else he did we d o not know . Scholars are now g en era lly scepti
cal o f the ancien t tradition w hich associates him with various
m athem atical and m usical discoveries.
a l c m a e o n had P ythagorean connections. H e h eld that the
soul was im m ortal, and he advan ced a new a rg u m e n t fo r this
belief. H e was a d o cto r with an interest in n atu re, and
especially in h um an n atu re - h e sp ecu lated , fo r exa m p le, on
the structure and fu n ctio n in g o f the sense-organs. H e seem s
to have held that all things - o r at least all things in hum an
life - are to be exp lain ed in term s o f pairs o f opposites: hot
and cold, light and d ark , w et and d ry , etc.
37
SYNOPSIS
38
SYNOPSIS
II
T h e early philosophers had taken the first totterin g steps d ow n
the road to science. T h e sceptical suggestion s o f X en o p h a n es
perh aps cast a sm all shadow o v e r th eir inquiries, b u t the sun
o f H eraclitus soon b u rn ed it away. In the secon d p h ase o f
39
SYNOPSIS
40
SYNOPSIS
Ill
T h e third phase o f P resocratic p h ilosop h y is best u n d erstoo d
as a reaction against the P arm en id ean position. I f th e Eleatics
w ere right, then science was im possible. T h e post-Eleatics tried
in their d iffe re n t ways to d o ju stic e to the fo rce o f P arm en id es
argu m ents w hile retain in g th e rig h t to fo llo w th e pathw ays o f
science. T h e p eriod p ro d u ced th ree m ajo r figu res (E m p ed o
cles, A n a x a go ras, D em ocritus) an d som e in terestin g m in o r
characters.
e m p e d o c l e s prom ised his read ers kn o w led ge, a n d w ith it
som e stran ge pow ers. H e insisted, against th e Eleatics, th at th e
senses, i f p ro p erly u sed , w e re rou tes to k n o w led ge. H e a g re e d
41
SYNOPSIS
42
SYNOPSIS
43
SYNOPSIS
44
SYNOPSIS
m ents to the e ffe ct that gen eratio n and d estru ctio n w ere
im possible, but m aintained that m otion was non eth eless poss
ible, and hence that ch an ge cou ld take place in the w orld. A g ain
like Em pedocles, he believed that o u r faculties, if p ro p erly used,
w ould yield reliable in form ation about the natural w orld . B u t
in his conception o f the natu re o f things he d iffe r e d fu n d a m e n t
ally from Em pedocles.
A n axago ras believed that every substance o r s t u ff was e te r
nal : he had no th eory o f basic stu ffs, n o elem en ts. A s P arm en
ides had show n, n o th in g can com e from n oth in g. H ence
everyth in g always existed. In the b eg in n in g ev ery th in g was
to g eth er in an infinite gaseous toh u -boh u , w h erein e v e ry th in g
was present and n o th in g was clear. (By e v e ry th in g A n a x a g
oras probably m eant all stu ffs and all qualities - stu ffs such as
earth, gold, flesh, cheese; qualities, them selves con ceived o f as
stu ffs, such as the hot and the cold , the sw eet and th e bitter.)
T h e cosm os form ed w hen stu ffsa n d th in gs g ra d u a lly separated
out from this u n d ifferen tia ted mass. A n d h ere com e A n a x a g o
ras two m ost o rigin al and influential doctrines.
First, he held that the origin al cosm ogonical fo rce was m ind.
M ind, he said, a lth o u g h d iffe re n t fro m all o th er things and
not m ixed with them , nonetheless p erva d ed ev ery th in g and
was responsible fo r everyth in g. L ater th in kers saw this as a
great leap forw ard : A n a x a go ras, they believed, had seen that
the universe was plan n ed by an intelligent d esign er. B u t they
then fo u n d fault with A n a x a g o ra s and co m p lain ed that h e had
not invoked m ind at the level o f p articu lar scientific e x p la n
ations - th ere he had rem ained con ten t with the stand ard
Ionian explan ations in term s o f m aterial forces. It is in any
case uncertain to w hat ex ten t A n a x a g o ra s m ind was th o u g h t
o f as a personal, p lan n in g faculty w hich d eterm in ed th e his
tory o f the w orld in a ben evolent, o r at least an inten tional,
fashion: p erhaps it was an im personal fo rce, co m p arab le to
the love and strife o f E m pedocles.
A n a x a go ras second innovation concern s his co n cep tio n o f
stuffs. A s stu ffs separate out, n on e is e v e r entirely se gre g ated ,
no pure s tu ff ever com es into bein g. In d ee d , ev ery p iece o f
s tu ff always contains a portion o f every o th er stu ff. W hat
45
SYNOPSIS
46
SYNOPSIS
47
SYNOPSIS
48
SYNOPSIS
49
N O T E T O T HE
READER
T h e m ain ch apters o f this bo ok em p loy a variety o f typo
grap h ical devices.
Italics, in add ition to m ark in g stress an d id en tifyin g booktitles, p erfo rm two special fun ctions: (1) all p u rp o rted citations
from the Presocratics and (2) all editorial com m ents are set in
italics. C itations a re typ o grap h ically distin gu ished from com
m ents inasm uch as they are invariably indented.
Roman typ e m arks all quotations from ancien t authors except
p u rp o rte d citations from the Presocratics. T h u s th e contexts
o f citations will be set in rom an, an d so too will allusions to and
p arap h rases o f Presocratic views.
Brackets o f th ree d iffe re n t styles a p p ea r in the quoted
m aterial. (1) O rd in a ry parentheses, (. . .), are used in the nor
mal way as punctu ation signs. (2) S q uare brackets, [. . .],
en close trivial ed itorial alterations to the qu o ted texts. (For
ex a m p le, an u nspecific p ro n o u n , h e, in the origin al is som e
tim es replaced by the a p p ro p riate p ro p e r nam e.) T h e y also
en close ed itorial comments. (For exam p le, they enclose the m od
ern equ ivalen t o f the ancien t system o f d atin g by O lym p ic
years.) (3) P ointed brackets, < . . . > , m ark lacun ae in the
G re e k tex t - i.e. places w h ere th e ancien t scribes have
accidentally om itted som ethin g. W h ere the pointed brackets
en close w ords, these rep resen t w hat we m ay guess to have been
om itted.
Asterisks,
su rro u n d passages w h ere eith er the trans
lation o r the tex t itself is w holly uncertain. W ords betw een the
asterisks a re at best an optim istic guess.
References follow each q u o ted passage. T h e y a re o f two sorts.
50
NOTE TO
THE
READER
PART
I
1
PRECURSORS
Thales, the first o f the canonical line o f Presocratic philosophers, no
doubt had his predecessors, and scholars have speculated on the sources
and influences behind him. Two varieties o f influence have been dis
cerned.
First, there are native Greek antecedents. Homers poems, the earliest
surviving works o f Greek literature, contain occasional references to
what were later to become scientific and philosophical topics. The poems
presuppose a certain vague conception o f the nature and origins o f the
universe (how could they not?), and that conception finds echoes, both
verbal and substantial, in Presocratic thought. More influential,
became more explicit, was the view o f the universe expressed by the
seventh-century poet Hesiod. A short passage from his T h e o g o n y
'The Birth o f the Gods merits quotation.
H ail, ch ildren o f Zeus, g ra n t a sw eet so n g
and celebrate the holy race o f the im m ortals w h o exist fo rever,
those w ho w ere born o f Earth an d o f starry H eaven
and o f d ark N igh t, and those the salt Sea reared .
T ell how first god s and earth cam e into bein g,
and rivers and the bou nd less sea with its seethin g sw ell,
and shining stars and th e b road sky above,
and tell how th ey d ivid ed th eir wealth and shared o u t th eir
honours
and how first th ey gained O ly m p u s with its m an y glades.
T ell m e this, you M uses w ho have y o u r h o m e on O ly m p u s,
from the begin n in g, and tell which o f them first cam e into
being.
First o f all cam e the C hasm ; and then
55
EARLY
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
PRECURSORS
57
EARLY
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
PRECURSORS
case o f influence. (It should be said that where some scholars see striking
parallels between a Greek and an eastern text, others see no more than
superficial coincidence.) Here, fo r what they are worth, are two brief
passages from eastern creation stories, one from Babylonia and the
other from Egypt.
The E num a Elishu, the Babylonian creation epic, was probably
composed early in the second millennium . It begins as follows:
W hen on high the heaven had not been nam ed ,
firm gro u n d below had not been called by nam e,
n au gh t but prim o rdial A p su , th eir b egetter,
and M um m u -T iam at, she w h o b o re them all,
their waters co m m in glin g as in a sin gle body:
no reed hut had b een m atted, no m arsh land had a p p ea re d ,
when no god s w hatever had been b ro u g h t into bein g,
uncalled by nam es, th eir destinies u n d eterm in ed then it was that the god s w ere fo rm ed within them .
L ahm u and L aham u w ere b ro u g h t fo rth , by nam e w ere
they called.
B e fo re they had grow n in a ge an d stature,
A n sh ar and K ishar w ere fo rm ed , su rpassin g the others.
T h e y p rolo n g ed the days, a d d ed on the years.
A n u was their heir, o f his fathers the rival;
yea, A n sh a rs first-born, A n u , was his equal.
A n u bego t in his im age N u d im m u d .
(James B. P ritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, third ed ition ,
P rinceton, 1969, p. 61)
(The text is written in Akkadian, and the translation o f the lines is in
many places uncertain - at all events, different scholars have produced
remarkably different versions.) A nu and Nudimmud are the sky and
the earth; Apsu and Mummu-Tiamat are primordial waters, the fresh
waters and the sea. The identities o f the other divinities are uncertain.
The Egyptian creation myth is known in a number o f variant forms.
The following text probably dates from about 2,000 :
I am he w ho cam e into b ein g as K h ep ri. W h en I had com e
into being, bein g cam e into bein g, and all bein gs cam e into
59
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
60
2
THALES
According to Aristotle, Thales o f Miletus was' t h e fo u n d e r o f natural
p h ilosop h y. He is dated by the eclipse o f the sun which he allegedly
predicted and which modem astronomers place on 28 May 585 .
The other known facts about his life suggest that he was bom in about
625 and died in about 545. Simplicius reports that
T h a le s is said to h ave been the first to in tro d u ce th e stu d y o f
nature to the G reeks: a lth o u g h m an y oth ers p reced ed him , as
T h eo p h rastu s h im self adm its, yet he so fa r ex celled th em as
to eclipse all his predecessors. B u t he is said to h ave le ft n o th in g
behind in w ritin g ex cep t the so-called Nautical Astronomy.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 23 .29-3 3 )
Other sources ascribe other writings to him, and there were certainly
books circulating under his name in antiquity. But it seems most prob
able that he wrote nothing or at least nothing which survived even
to the time o f Aristotle. For our knowledge o f his views, then, we depend
entirely on later reports; and those reports must themselves have been
based on oral tradition.
Thales was not simply, or even primarily, a philosopher. H e was a
man o f practical wisdom, one o f the so-called Seven Sages o f early
Greek history, and he was regarded by posterity not only as an original
contributor to science and philosophy, but also as an astute statesman.
Herodotus, the fifth-century historian, tells several stories which illus
trate his political sagacity.
U seful advice had b een given , even b e fo re th e d estru ctio n o f
Ionia, by T h a le s, a M ilesian w hose fam ily o rigin ally cam e fro m
61
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
Phoenicia: h e u rg ed the Ionians to establish a single councilch am ber, saying that it should be located in T e o s, w hich was
the cen tre o f Ionia, and that the o th er cities should continue
to be inhabited but shou ld be treated as th o u g h they w ere
parishes.
(H ero do tus, Histories I 170.3)
W h en C roesu s cam e to the R iver H alys, then - acco rd in g to
m y acco u n t he crossed his arm y by way o f the existing
b ridges; bu t a cco rd in g to m ost o f the G reeks, T h a le s o f M iletus
crossed the arm y fo r him . F or it is said that C roesu s was at a
loss how his arm y sh o u ld cross th e river, since these bridges
d id not yet exist at that tim e, and that T h a le s, w ho was in the
cam p, m ade th e river w hich flow ed o n th e left o f the arm y
flow on the rig h t too, and that h e d id so in the fo llo w in g way.
B e g in n in g upstream o f the cam p, he d u g a d e e p channel
w hich he d rew in the shape o f a crescent so that it ran rou n d
the back o f w h ere the cam p was sited, b ein g d iverted from its
o rigin al cou rse d ow n the ch ann el, and th en , havin g passed the
cam p, d eb o u ch ed again into its origin al course. T h u s as soon
as the river was d ivided it becam e fo rd a b le in both its parts.
(1ibid I 7 5 .4 -5 )
Herodotus also reports the famous eclipse:
T h e w ar [betw een the L yd ian s and the Persians] was equally
b alan ced, until in the sixth yea r an en ga ge m e n t took place in
w hich, a fte r battle had been jo in e d , th e d ay su d d en ly turn ed
to night. T h is ch a n g e in the d ay had been fo reto ld to the Ion
ians by T h a le s o f M iletus, w ho had fixed as its term the very
y ea r in w hich it actually o ccu rred .
(ibid I 74.2)
(Modem scholars conjecture that Thales had learned something o f
Babylonian astronomy; even so, it is generally doubted that he could
actually have p red icted the eclipse.)
O f Thalesphilosophico-scientific doctrines, the most celebrated concern
62
THALES
water. First, he held that the earth rests upon water (a notion which
has some Egyptian antecedents). Here is Aristotles critical report:
Som e say that [the earth] rests on w ater. T h is in fact is the
oldest view that has been transm itted to us, an d they say that
it was advanced by T h a le s o f M iletus w ho th o u g h t th at the
earth rests because it can float like a lo g o r so m eth in g else o f
that sort (fo r n on e o f these things can rest on air, b u t th ey can
rest on water) - as th ou gh the sam e m ust n o t hold o f th e w ater
su p p o rtin g the earth as h old s o f th e earth itself.
(A ristotle, On the Heavens 29482834)
(Note Aristotles non-committal 'some say and 'they say: this cautious
approach to Thales is yet more pronounced in the next few passages.)
In addition, and more strikingly, Thales held that everything was
made from water, or that water, in Aristotles later jargon, was the
'material principle o f the world. Aristotle again is our best source:
M ost o f the first p h ilosoph ers th o u g h t that prin ciples in the
form o f m atter w ere the o n ly principles o f all things. F or th ey
say that the elem en t and first p rin cip le o f the thin gs that exist
is that from w hich they all are and from w hich they first com e
into bein g and into w hich th ey a re finally d estroyed , its su b
stance rem ain in g and its p rop erties ch a n g in g . . . T h e r e m ust
be som e nature - eith er o n e o r m ore than o n e - fro m w hich
the o th er things com e into bein g, it b ein g p reserved . B u t as
to the n u m ber and form o f this sort o f p rin cip le, they d o not
all agree. T h ales, the fo u n d e r o f this kind o f ph ilosop h y, says
that it is w ater (that is w hy he declares that th e earth rests on
water). H e p erh ap s cam e to acqu ire this b e lie f fro m se e in g that
the nou rishm ent o f e v ery th in g is m oist an d that heat itself
com es from this and lives by this (fo r that fro m w hich an y th in g
com es into bein g is its first principle) - h e cam e to his b e lie f
both fo r this reason and because the seeds o f ev ery th in g have
a m oist nature, an d w ater is the n atu ral p rin cip le o f m oist
things.
(A ristotle, Metaphysics 8 - 1 1* 1 7 -2 7 )
63
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
THALES
65
EARLY
GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
THALES
67
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
THALES
he says, and let not w ords estrange you from those w ho have
shared you r trust. E xpect from y o u r ch ildren the sam e
benefits that you gave to y o u r p arents.
H e said that the N ile floods w hen its stream s are ch ecked by
the contrary etesian winds.
A p o llo d o ru s in his Chronicles says that he was born in the
first year o f the thirty-ninth O lym p iad [624 ]. H e d ied at
the age o f seven ty-eight (or, as Sosicrates says, at ninety); fo r
he died in the fifty-eighth O lym p iad [5 4 8 -54 5 ] , h avin g
lived d u rin g the tim e o f C roesu s, w hom he u n d erto o k to trans
port across the H alys w ithou t a b rid g e by d iv ertin g its cou rse.
T h e r e w ere o th er m en called T h a le s - five, a cco rd in g to
D em etrius o f M agnesia in his Homonyms', an o ra to r fro m Callatis, who had a p o o r style; a pain ter from Sicyon, o f g reat
talent; the third is very early, a co n tem p o ra ry o f H esiod,
H om er, and L ycu rgu s; the fo u rth is m ention ed by D uris in
his w ork On Painting-, the fifth, m ore recen t and o bscu re, is
m entioned by D ionysius in his Critical Essays.
T h e Sage d ied o f heat and thirst and weakness w hile w atch
in g a gym nastic contest. H e was by then an old m an. O n his
tom b is inscribed:
His tom b is sm all, his fam e is heaven -high:
behold the g ra ve o f the wise and ingeniou s T h a le s.
In the first book o f m y Epigrams o r Poems in A ll Metres th ere is
an epigram on him:
W hen on ce he was w atching a gym nastic contest,
Zeus o f the Sun,
you stole T h a le s the Sage fro m th e stadium .
I praise you fo r takin g him n ear to you ; fo r th e old
man
could no lo n ger see the stars fro m the earth.
T h e m otto K now T h y s e lf is his, th o u g h AntistH enes in his
69
70
3
ANAXIMANDER
Anaximander, like Thales, came from Miletus. A p o llo d o ru s o f
A th en s says in his Chronicles that h e was sixty-fo u r in the secon d
year o f the fifty-eigh th O lym p ia d [547/546 ] and that he
died shortly afterw ard s (D iogenes L aertius, Lives o f the Philo
sophers II 2). I f Apollodorus is right, Anaximander was bom in 610
and died in about 540 . Unlike Thales, he wrote a book, which was
later in circulation under the title O n N atu re. He also produced a
star-map and a map o f the world:
A n a x im an d er o f M iletus, a pu pil o f T h a le s, was th e first m an
bold en o u g h to d raw the inhabited w orld on a tablet; a fter
him , H ecataeus o f M iletus, a g re a t traveller, m ad e it m ore
accurate so that it was greatly ad m ired .
(A gath em eru s, Geography I i)
The leading ideas o f Anaximanders work O n N atu re are summa
rized by a late doxographer as follows:
A n a x im an d er was a pu pil o f T h a le s - A n a x im a n d er, son o f
Praxiades, a M ilesian. H e said that a certain infin ite n a tu re is
first principle o f the things that exist. From it com e th e h eavens
and the w orlds in them . It is etern al and ageless, and it contains
all the w orlds. H e speaks o f tim e, since gen eratio n an d exist
en ce and destruction a re determ inate.
A n a x im an d er said that th e infinite is prin ciple an d elem en t
o f the things that exist, b e in g the first to call it by th e n am e o f
principle. In add ition, th ere is an eternal m otion in w hich the
heavens com e into being.
7i
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
72
ANAXIMANDER
73
EARLY CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
as fire consum es the m atter fro m w hich it was kindled (its own
m oth er and fath er, as the p o et w h o inserted the m arriage o f
C e y x into H esiod s poem s said), so A n a x im a n d er, having
d eclared that fish a re at o n ce fath ers and m others o f m en,
u rges us not to eat them .
(Plutarch, Table Talk 730DF)
The astronomical theory described by Hippolytus can be given a little
more colour:
A n a x im a n d er holds that th ere is a circle tw enty-eight tim es as
g rea t as the earth . It is like the w heel o f a cart, with a hollow
rim full o f fire, w hich at a certain p o in t reveals the fire th ro u gh
a m ou th p iece, as th ro u g h the tube o f a bellows. T h is is the sun.
([Plutarch], On the Scientific Beliefs o f the Philosophers 889F)
The heavenly bodies are concentric hollow wheel-rims, filled with fire
and perforated. They circle a stationary earth. Aristotle adds to Hippo
lytus account o f the stability o f the earth:
Som e say that [the earth] rests w h ere it is because o f the simi
larity (so, a m o n g the ancients, A n a x im an d er). F or th ere is no
reason w hy w hat is situated in the m idd le and is sim ilarly
related to the ed ges shou ld m ove upw ards rath er than d ow n
w ards o r sideways. B u t it can n ot m ove in o pposite directions
at the sam e tim e. So it necessarily rests w h ere it is.
(A ristotle, On the Heavens 295b! 1-16 )
As for the infinite principle or element o f all things, we have a few
words from Anaximander's book preserved in a passage o f Simplicius.
These are the earliest surviving words o f western philosophy. Un
fortunately, it is uncertain - and a matter o f vigorous scholarly contro
versy - exactly how extensive Simplicius citation is.
O f those w h o hold that the first p rin cip le is o n e, m oving, and
infinite, A n a x im a n d er, son o f P raxiades, a M ilesian, w ho was
a successor and pupil o f Thales, said that the infinite is princ
iple and elem ent o f the things that exist. H e was the first to
74
ANAXIMANDER
75
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
76
4
A N A XI MENE S
Anaximenes was a younger contemporary o f Anaximander, and like
him a Milesian. Our sources offer some precise dates, but their
interpretation is controversial: we may be satisfied with the thought
that Anaximenes was active in the middle o f the sixth century . H e
is said to have been a pupil o f Anaximander. Whether or not that is
literally true, his work certainly followed the same general pattern as
that o f Anaximander. According to Diogenes Laertius, he wrote in a
sim ple and econom ical Ionian style - in contrast, perhaps, to
Anaximanders som ew hat poetical w o rd s.
O f the various doxographical accounts o f his views, the fullest is the
one given by Hippolytus:
A naxim enes, son o f Eurystratus, was also a M ilesian. H e said
that the first principle is infinite air, from w hich w h at is co m in g
into bein g and w hat has com e into b ein g an d w hat will exist
and god s and divinities com e into bein g, w hile ev ery th in g else
com es into bein g from its o ffsp rin g . T h e form o f the air is this:
w hen it is m ost u n ifo rm it is invisible, but it is m ad e a p p a ren t
by the hot and th e cold and the m oist and th e m ovin g. It is
always in m otion; fo r the things that ch a n g e w ould not ch an ge
i f it w ere not in m otion. F or as it is co n d en sed an d rarefied
it ap pears d ifferen t: w hen it dissolves into a m o re rarefied
condition it becom es fire; and w inds, again, a re co n d en sed air,
and clou d is p ro d u ced from air by com pression. A g a in , w hen
it is m ore con d en sed it is w ater, w hen still fu rth e r con d en sed
it is earth, and w hen it is as d en se as possible it is stones. T h u s
the m ost im portan t factors in co m in g into b ein g are opposites hot and cold.
77
EARLY
GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
T h e earth is flat and rides on air; in the sam e way the sun
an d th e m oon and the o th er h eaven ly bodies, which are all
fiery, rid e th e air because o f th eir flatness. T h e h eaven ly bodies
h ave com e into bein g from ea rth , because mist rose from the
earth an d was rarefied an d p ro d u ced fire, and the heavenly
bodies are com posed o f this fire w hen it is aloft. T h e r e are also
som e earth y substances in the region o f the heavenly bodies
which orbit with them . H e says that the heaven ly bodies m ove
not u n d er the earth , as others have su pposed, but rou n d the
earth - ju s t as a felt cap turn s on the head. A n d the sun is
h idd en not because it goes u n d e r the earth but because it is
screen ed by the h ig h er parts o f the earth and because o f its
grea ter distance fro m us. T h e heaven ly bodies d o not heat us
because o f th eir g rea t distance.
W inds a re g en era ted w h en the air is con d en sed and driven
along. A s it collects to g eth er and is fu rth e r thickened , clouds
a re g en era ted and in this way it ch an ges into w ater. H ail com es
ab o u t w h en the w ater fallin g from the clouds solidifies, and
snow w hen these sam e things solidify in a m ore w atery form .
L ig h tn in g o ccu rs w hen the clou d s a re parted by the force o f
winds; fo r w hen they part a b righ t and fiery flash occurs. Rain
bows are gen erated w hen the su n s rays fall on com pacted air;
earth q u akes w h en the earth is considerably altered by heating
an d cooling.
T h e s e a re the views o f A n axim en es. H e flo urish ed in the
first year o f the fifty-eigh th O lym p iad [548/547 ].
(H ippolytu s, Refutation o f A ll Heresies I vii 1-9)
The curious reference to felt caps may go back to Anaximenes himself,
as may the notion o f the stars riding on air. Anaximenes seems to have
liked such similes: he also held that the sun is flat like a l e a f and
(perhaps) that the stars are fixed into the crystalline like nails
([Plutarch], On the Scientific Beliefs o f the Philosophers 890D,
889).
Hippolytus account o f the earths flatness can be supplemented by a
passage from Aristotle:
A n a x im e n es and A n a x a g o ra s and D em ocritus say that the
78
ANAXIMENES
79
In the Plutarch passage the only word that can be ascribed to Anaxi
menes is slack, but the content o f the text may be Anaximenean. The
parenthetical comment at the end o f pseudo-Plutarch shows that he
purports to quote Anaximenes; but the citation can hardly be literal
(and its sense is obscure). The fragment quoted by pseudo-Olympiodorus is regarded as spurious by most scholars.
80
5
PYTHAGORAS
We are told more about Pythagorashis life, his character, his beliefs
than about any other Presocratic philosopher. For the school o f thought
to which he gave his name lasted fo r more than a millennium, and
several works by later Pythagoreans have survived. Yet in many ways
Pythagoras is the most obscure and perplexing o f all the early thinkers.
Pythagoras himself did not set down his notions in writing, nor did
his early followers. (This is the orthodox modem view; but, as we shall
see, there was disagreement among the ancients on the point.) In the
fifth century there occurred a division among the Pythagoreans, each
group claiming to be the genuine heirs o f the Master. Later, in the
fourth century, the histories o f Pythagoreanism and o f Platonism
became closely connected, and as a result accounts o f Pythagorean
philosophy became contaminated with Platonic material. Later still,
various Pythagorean documents were produced and circulated, pro
jecting back on to Pythagoras himself philosophical ideas o f a more
recent age. It is difficult to cut through this jungle and discover the
original Pythagoras.
Legends rapidly collected about his name. I f we attempt to disen
tangle the few threads o f historical truth, we shall conclude that
Pythagoras was bom on the island o f Samos, in about 5 70 . Some
thirty years later he left the island, which was then ruled by the culti
vated autocrat Polycrates, and emigrated to Croton in south Italy. H e
appears to have become a figure o f consequence in the political life o f
Croton, and to have aroused some hostility among the citizens. A t all
events, he was eventually obliged to leave town: he settled in the nearby
city o f Metapontum, where he died.
This chapter sets out the most important o f the early texts which refer
81
EARLY CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
82
PYTHAGORAS
83
84
PYTHAGORAS
85
PYTHAGORAS
87
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
88
6
ALCMAEON
Alcmaeon came from Croton. The township was famous fo r its doctors
and Alcmaeon himself was a medical man, the first o f a distinguished
line o f Greek philosopher-physicians. No dates are recordedfo r his life;
but he is said to have been a younger contemporary o f Pythagoras, and
he was probably active in the early part o f the fifth century .
The short notice on Alcmaeon by Diogenes Laertius is worth quoting
in full:
A lcm aeon o f C ro to n : he too h ea rd P ythagoras. M ost o f w hat
he says concern s m edicin e; nevertheless h e som etim es en gages
in natural science too - w hen he says:
Most human things come in pairs.
H e is th ou g h t to have been the first to co m pose a treatise on
natural science (as F avorinus says in his Universal History), and
to have h eld that the m oon and ev ery th in g a bove it possess an
eternal nature.
H e was the son o f P eirithous, as he h im self says at th e b e g in
nin g o f his treatise:
Alcmaeon o f Croton, son ofPeirithous, said this to Brontinus and
Leo and athyllus: A bout matters invisible the gods possess clarity,
but as fa r as humans may judge etc. [24 i]
H e said that the soul is im m ortal an d that it m oves con tin u ously
like the sun.
(D iogenes L aerd u s, Lives o f the Philosophers V I I I 83)
Brontinus, Leo, and athyllus are elsewhere said to have been
Pythagoreans - Brontinus being a relation by marriage o f Pythagoras
himself.
89
EARLY
GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
ALCMAEON
9l
92
7
XE N OP HA NE S
Xenophanes, who came from Colophon in Ionia, was a man o f many
parts. H e was a peripatetic poet, who travelled about Greece reciting his
own and other mens verses. H e wrote on traditional poetical subjects drink, love, war, games - and also on historical themes. A number o f
his verses are philosophical in content. The later tradition regarded him
as a serious philosopher, the teacher o f Parmenides and the founder o f
the Eleatic school o f thought. Many modem scholars have doubted
whether he was a systematic thinker, and some have denied that he ever
wrote a properly philosophical poem. However that may be, there are
enough surviving fragments to warrant our calling him a philo
sopher and indeed to justify our regarding him as one o f the early
philosophical geniuses o f Greece.
According to Diogenes Laertius,
93
o f our evidence suggests that his life spanned the century from 580 to
480 .
Not all his surviving verses deserve a place here, but I shall translate
all the extant fragments which have philosophical content. (The frag
ment on Pythagoras has already been cited in Chapter Five.) They
divide roughly into three groups: on knowledge, on the gods, on nature.
In the later tradition, Xenophanes acquired a reputation fo r sceptic
ism. It rested primarily on the first o f the following three fragments.
A c c o rd in g to som e, X en o p h a n es takes this sceptical position,
sayin g that e v ery th in g is in ap p reh en sible w hen he writes:
A nd the clear truth no man has seen nor will anyone
know concerning the gods and about all the things o f which I speak;
fo r even i f he should actually manage to say what was indeed the
case,
nevertheless he himselfdoes not know it; but beliefisfound over all.
[ 34]
(Sextus E m piricus, Against the Mathematicians V 11 49)
A m m on iu s p refa ced his rem arks, as h e usually does, with the
line o f X en oph an es:
Let these things be believed as similar to the truth, [ 35]
a n d invited us to state and say w hat we believed.
(Plutarch, Table Talk 746B)
N o com p aratives e n d in g in -on h ave a p en u ltim ate upsilon;
h en ce X en o p h a n es glusson [sw eeter] is rem arkable:
I f god had not made yellow honey, they would say
that the fig was fa r sweeter, [ 38]
(H ero d ian , On Singularities o f Language 946.22-24)
But Xenophanes also spoke in a modestly optimistic way about the pro
gress o f human knowledge:
X en o p h an es:
Not from the start did the gods reveal all things to mortals,
but in time, by inquiring, they make better discoveries, [ 18]
(Stobaeus, Anthology I viii 2)
94
XENOPHANES
95
EARLY
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
T h e G reeks su ppose that the god s have not only hum an shapes
but also h um an feelings: ju s t as each race depicts th eir shapes
as sim ilar to their ow n, as X en o p h a n es o f C o lo p h o n says (the
E thiopians m akin g them d ark and snub-nosed, the T h racian s
red-h aired and blue-eyed), so too they invent souls fo r them
sim ilar to th eir own.
(Clem ent, Miscellanies V I I iv 22.1: c f 16)
Further fragments reveal a positive side to Xenophanes' thought
about the gods, and the doxography suggests (perhaps anachron
istically) that his views were elaborated with some sophistication and
detail.
I f the d ivine exists, it is a living th in g; if it is a living thin g, it
sees fo r
he sees as a whole, he thinks as a whole, he hears as a whole.
[ 24]
I f it sees, it sees both w hite things and black.
(Sextus E m piricus, Against the Mathematicians IX 144)
T h eo p h ra stu s says that X en o p h a n es o f C o lo p h o n , the
teach er o f P arm enides, su pposed that the first prin ciple, o r
the existin g u niverse, was on e and neith er finite n o r infinite,
n eith er ch a n g in g n o r changeless. T h eo p h ra stu s allows that the
accoun t o f his view s belongs to a d iffe r e n t inquiry from the
study o f n atu re; fo r X en o p h an es said that this o n e universe
was go d . H e shows that g o d is o n e fro m the fact that he is most
p o w erfu l o f all things; fo r i f th ere w ere m ore than one, he
says, they w ould all have to possess equ al pow er, bu t w hat is
m ost p o w erfu l and best o f all things is go d . H e show ed that it
was u n g en e ra ted fro m the fact that w hat com es into bein g
m ust d o so eith er from w hat is sim ilar o r fro m w hat is dissim i
lar; but sim ilar things, he says, can n ot be a ffected by one
an o th e r (fo r it is no m ore fitting that w hat is sim ilar should
g en era te than that it sh o u ld be g en era ted by what is sim ilar to
it), and i f it com es into bein g from w hat is dissim ilar, then what
is will com e fro m w hat is not. In this way he show ed it to be
u n g en e ra ted and eternal. It is n eith er infinite n o r finite
96
XENOPHANES
97
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[ 37]
B u t the fo rm speas does not occur.
(H ero d ian , On Singularities o f Language 936.18 -2 0 )
R em em ber that X en o p h a n es describes the rainbow in his
h exam eters thus:
What men call Rainbow, that too is a cloud,
purple and scarlet and yellow to see. [ 32]
(Eustathius, Commentary on the Iliad X I 24)
98
XENOPHANES
99
8
HERACLITUS
Heraclitus came from Ephesus in Asia Minor; he belonged lo an emi
nent family; he flourished about 500 . His thought and his
writings were notorious fo r their difficulty: he was nicknamed 'The
Obscure and 'The Riddler. One anecdote, no doubt apocryphal, is
worth repeating:
T h e y say that E u ripid es g ave [Socrates] a co py o f H eraclitus
bo ok an d asked him w hat he th o u g h t o f it. H e rep lied : W hat
I u n d erstan d is sp len did ; and 1 thin k that w hat I d o n t u n d er
stand is so too - bu t it w ou ld take a Delian d iver to get to the
bottom o f it.
(D iogen es L aertius, Lives o f the Philosophers II 22)
Socrates attitude o f puzzled admiration has been shared by many later
students o f Heraclitus.
It is hard to know how best to present the surviving fragments o f
Heraclitus' work. The Greek texts are uncertain in more cases than
usual; and since Heraclitus wrote in prose it is frequently difficult to
tell which words i f any in a given passage purport to be his.
But the chief problem concerns the arrangement o f the texts; fo r any
arrangement will insinuate some general interpretation o f Heraclitus
thought, and every such interpretation is controversial. (A random
ordering is no solution; for that will suggest that Heraclitus was not a
systematic thinker at all, a suggestion which has itself had several
scholarly advocates.)
It will be uncontroversial to begin with the opening words o f Hera
clitus book. After that, it may prove most helpful to quote two long and
complementary doxographical texts, which incidentally have a number
100
HERACLITUS
101
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PHILOSOPHY
102
HERACLITUS
I honour more those things which are learned, by sight and hear
ing tB 55l
he says - i.e. the visible m o re than the invisible. < T h e sa m e>
is easily learn ed from such w ords o f his as these:
Men have been deceived, he says, as to their knowledge o f what
is apparent in the same way that Homer was - and he was the
wisest o f all the Greeks. For some children who were killing lice
deceived him by saying: 'What we saw and caught we leave
behind, what we neither saw nor caught we take with us, [ 56]
T h u s H eraclitus gives equ al ran k and h o n o u r to th e a p p a ren t
and u n ap p aren t, as th ou gh th e a p p a ren t an d th e u n a p p a re n t
w ere confessedly o n e. For, he says,
unapparent connection is better than apparent; [ 54]
and:
I honour more those things which are learned by sight and hearing
[ 55]
(i.e. the organs) - an d he d oes not h o n o u r the u n a p p a re n t
m ore.
H ence H eraclitus says that d ark an d light, bad an d g o o d ,
are not d iffe re n t but o n e and the sam e. F or ex a m p le, h e re
proaches H esiod fo r not kn o w in g d ay an d n ig h t - fo r d a y and
night, he says, a re o n e, ex p ressin g it thus:
A teacher o f most is Hesiod: they are sure he knows most who did
not recognize day and night - f o r they are one. [ 57]
A n d so are g oo d and bad. F or ex a m p le, d octo rs, H eraclitus
says,*w ho cut and cau terize an d w retch ed ly torm en t the sick
in every way are praised - they d eserve no fee fro m the sick,
fo r they have th e sam e effects as the diseases* [ 58]. A n d
straight and twisted, he says, a re the sam e:
The path o f the carding-combs, he says, is straight and crooked
[ 59]
(the m ovem ent o f th e in stru m en t called the screw -press in a
fu lle rs sh op is straigh t an d cro o k ed , fo r it travels u pw ard s and
in a circle at the sam e tim e) he says it is o n e an d the sam e.
A n d u p and d ow n a re o n e and th e sam e:
The path up and down is one and the same, [ 6o]
A n d he says that th e p o llu ted an d th e p u re a re o n e a n d the
103
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PHILOSOPHY
104
HERACLITUS
105
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
107
HERACLITUS
EARLY CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
110
HERACLITUS
111
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PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
I f you do not expect the unexpected you will not discover it;
for it cannot be tracked down and offers no passage, [ 18]
(Clem ent, Miscellanies II iv 17.8)
H eraclitus says, as th ou gh he had achieved so m eth in g g re a t
and noble,
I inquired into myself, [ 101]
and o f the proverbs at D elph i K now th y s e lf is th o u g h t the
m ost divine.
(Plutarch, Against Colotes 1 118 c )
K n o w led ge and ign oran ce are the bou n d aries o f hap piness
and unhappiness. For
philosophical men must be versed in very many things, [ 35]
accord ing to H eraclitus, and it is in d eed necessary to m ake
m any jo u rn e y s in the search to be goo d .
(Clem ent, Miscellanies V xiv 14 0 .5-6 )
H eraclitus rejects p ercep tio n w hen he says, in these very
words:
Bad witnesses fo r men are the eyes and ears o f those who have
foreign souls [ 107]
- i.e. it is the m ark o f a fo reign soul to trust in non-rational
perceptions.
(Sextus Em piricus, Against the Mathematicians V I I 126)
W e have two n atural instrum ents, as it w ere, by w hich we
learn ev ery th in g and co n d u ct o u r business, nam ely h ea rin g
and sight; and sight, a cco rd in g to H eraclitus, is not a little
tru er - fo r
eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears, [ 101a]
(Polybius, Histories X II x x vii 1)
H ence the apostle ex h o rts us that y o u r faith sh o u ld not
stand in the wisdom o f m en w ho prom ise to p ersu a d e you ,
but in the p o w er o f C o d [I C o rin th ian s 2:5] w hich in itself
and w ithout p ro o fs has the p o w er to save by faith alone.
1*3
HERACLITUS
EARLY
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
116
HERACLITUS
EARLY
GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
that the god h ere uses the priestess with reg a rd to h ea rin g
in the sam e way as the sun uses the m oon with reg a rd to
sight.
(ibid 404 de)
All anim als are born , flourish, and d ie in o b ed ien ce to the
ordinances o f g o d ; fo r
every beast is pastured by blows, [ 11]
as H eraclitus says.
([Aristotle], On the World 4 o i a 8 - i 1)
A m an m ay perh aps escape the attention o f the visible fire,
but the invisible he can n ot - fo r, as H eraclitus says,
how could anyone escape the attention o f that which never sets?
[ 16]
'
T h e n let us not w rap ourselves in darkness; fo r th e ligh t is
within us.
(Clem ent, Pedagogue II x 99.5)
I know that Plato, too, su p p o rts H eraclitus w h en he writes:
One alone is the arise, unwilling and willing to be called by
the name o f Zeus, [ 32]
A n d again:
It is law also to follow the counsel o f one. [ 33]
A n d if you want to b rin g in th e saying H e that hath ears
to hear, let him h ea r [L u ke 14 :3 5 ], you will find it exp ressed
som ew hat as follow s by the Ephesian:
The uncomprehending, when they hear, are like the deaf: the
saying applies to them though present they are absent, [ 34]
(Clem ent, Miscellanies V xiv 1 1 5 .1 - 3 )
In the fifth group come passages bearing upon psychology: most
o f them deal with the linked topics o f sleep and death.
Does not H eraclitus, like P yth agoras and Socrates in the
Gorgias, call birth d eath w hen h e says:
Death is what we see awake, sleep what we see abed? [ 21]
(ibidV xiv 1 1 5 .1 - 3 )
1*9
EARLY
GREEK PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
'
(C lem ent, Miscellanies V I ii 1 7 .1 - 2 )
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
HERACLITUS
*25
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126
PART
II
9
PARMENIDES
Parmenides, son o f Pyres, came from Elea, a Greek foundation in
southern Italy. H e was o f a noble family, and it is reported that he
organ ized his ow n co u n try by the best laws, so that each year
the citizens still g et the officials to sw ear that they will abid e by
Parm enides laws (Plutarch, Against Colotes 1 12 6 a b ). His dates
are uncertain: the Greek chroniclers put his birth in 540 , but a
passage in Plato (which will be quoted in the chapter on Zeno) suggests
that he was bom in about 5 /5.
According to Diogenes Laertius,
The story about Ameinias has led some scholars to look (in vain) for
Pythagorean elements in Parmenides thought.
Parmenides produced one short work written in ungainly hexameter
verse. A substantial proportion o f the poem survives. It opened ivith a
fanciful prologue, after which the main body o f the work divided into
two parts: the first part, the Way o f Truth, gives Parmenides own
views about the true nature o f reality, the second part, the Way o f
Opinion, followed the traditional Ionian pattern o f works O n N atu re.
129
EARLY
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The prologue and most o f the Way o f Truth survive; there are frag
ments o f the Way o f Opinion.
11 should be said at the outset that Parmenides poem is in many ways
a bizarre and puzzling production. He presents an account the second
h a lf o f which, the Way o f Opinion, is confessedly 'deceitful' or false,
and he does not clearly explain why he has written these lies. The Way
o f Truth is not intended to be deceitful, but the views it advocates are
paradoxical in the extreme. Moreover, Parmenides is never an easy
writer. His meaning is rarely plain to the first glance, and some lines
o f the poem are obscure to the point o f unintelligibility. There are
also textual uncertainties. Nonetheless, Parmenides had, through the
medium o f Plato, an unrivalled influence on the course o f western
philosophy.
The prologue is preserved by Sextus Empiricus, who also offers an
allegorical interpretation o f Parmenides' verses which I shall not tran
scribe.
X en o p h a n es frien d P arm enid es co n d em n ed the reason
associated with belief, which has w eak opinion s, an d , since he
also g ave u p trust in the senses, su p p o sed that the reason
associated with kn ow led ge, o r infallible reason, was the crit
erion o f truth. T h u s at the b eg in n in g o f his OnNature he writes
in this way:
The mares that carry me as fa r as my heart may aspire
were my escorts: they had guided me and set me on the celebrated
road
o f the god which carries the man o f knowledge*. . .*
There was I being carried; fo r there the wise mares were carrying
me,
straining at the chariot, and maidens were leading the way.
The axle in the axle-box roared from its socket
as it blazed fo r it was driven on by two whirling
wheels on either side - while the maidens, daughters o f the sun,
hastened to escort it, having left the house o f Night
fo r the light and pushed back with their hands the veils from their
heads.
Here are the gates o f the paths o f Night and Day,
and a lintel and a stone threshold enclose them.
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PARMENIDES
The second passage begins by quoting 2 (except fo r the first line) and
continues thus:
T h a t contrad ictories a re n o t tru e to g eth er he show s in the
verses in w hich he finds fa u lt with those w ho iden tify
opposites. F or havin g said:
fo r it can be,
and nothing can not. This I bid you say.
For from this first road o f inquiry < / restrain> you, [ 6 .1 3]
C h e a d d s:>
and then from the road along which mortals who know nothing
wander, two-headed; for impotence in their
breasts guides their erring mind. And they are borne along
alike deaf and blind, amazed, undisceming crowds,
fo r whom to be and not to be are deemed the same
and not the same; and the path o f all turns back on itself.
[ 6.4 -9 ]
(ibid 117 .2 13)
A continuous passage o f some sixty-six verses, which includes per
haps the whole o f the Way o f Truth, can be put together from three
sources. The first two lines are quoted by Simplicius, and also, much
earlier, by Plato:
W hen we w ere boys, m y boy, the g rea t Parm enides w ould tes
tify against this [nam ely the view that w hat is not is] from b eg in
ning to en d, constantly saying both in prose and in verse that:
Never will this prevail, that what is not is:
restrain your thought from this road o f inquiry, [ 7 .1 2]
(Plato, Sophist 237)
Plato's quotation is continued by Sextus (though Sextus himself quotes
the lines as though they were continuous with 1):
Restrain your thought from this road o f inquiry,
and do not let custom, based on much experience, force you along
this road,
directing unobservant eye and echoing ear
>33
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134
PARMENIDES
Two other short fragments have been thought to come from the Way
o f Truth, though it is hard to see where they should be inserted.
>35
EARLY
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PHILOSOPHY
PARMENIDES
and not the same as the other; and that other in itself
is opposite - unknowing night, dense inform and heavy.
This whole fitting arrangement I tell you
so that a mortal mind may never outstrip you. [ 8 .5 0 -6 1]
Now he calls this acco u n t a m atter o f opin ion an d d eceitfu l not
because it is sim ply false but because he has m oved from the
intelligible w orld o f truth into the p ercep tib le realm o f
ap pearan ce and seem in g. A little later, h avin g discussed the
two elem ents, he continues by m en tion in g the active cause:
The narrower [bands] are fu ll o f unmixed fire,
the next with night (but a portion o f flame is emitted),
and in the middle o f them, a goddess who governs all things.
[ 12 .1-3 ]
H e says that she is actually the cause o f th e god s First o f all the gods she devised Love [ 13]
etc. H e says that she sends souls som etim es from ligh t to d a rk
ness and som etim es in the o th er d irection .
I am com pelled to w rite at length on this po in t because
people now are gen erally ign oran t o f the ancien t w ritings.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 3 8 .2 9 -3 9 .2 1)
Some idea o f the contents o f the Way o f Opinion can be gained from
a passage in Plutarch:
But Parm enides did not abolish fire o r w ater o r precipices
o r - pace C o lotes - the cities o f E u ro p e and Asia. A fte r all, he
com posed a cosm ology, and by m ixin g the b righ t an d th e d ark
as elem ents he prod u ces from them and by them all the
phen om en a. H e has m uch to say ab o u t the earth an d th e sky
and the m oon and the stars, and he has an acco u n t o f the
origins o f men: like an old natural p h ilosop h er, w ho is co m p os
ing a book o f his ow n and not criticizin g a bo ok o f som eone
else, he has left n o th in g o f any im portan ce unsaid.
(Plutarch, Against Colotes 1 1 1 4 c)
Simplicius had earlier quoted a slightly longer version o f fragment
12:
The next with night (but a portion o f flame is emitted),
137
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PHILOSOPHY
PARMENIDES
39
EARLY GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
PARMENIDES
and do not combine into one power in the mixed body, then cruelly
will they trouble .he sex that is being bom from a twin seed, [ 18]
(Caelius A u relia n u s, Chronic Diseases IV 9)
EARLY CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
and then, after this, having matured they will cease to be:
and fo r each o f them men laid down a distinctive name, [ 19]
(Sim plicius, Commentary on On the Heavens 5 5 8 .8 -11)
142
10
MELISSUS
Melissus came from the island o f Samos. In 441 Athens made war
upon Samos and despatched a fleet to the island. At some point during
the protracted operations, Pericles, the Athenian commander, led some
o f his ships away on an expedition.
W hen he had sailed o ff, M elissus, son o f Ithagen es, a ph ilo
sop h er who was then in com m and at Sam os, despisin g the small
n u m ber o f their ships o r the in exp erien ce o f th eir co m
m anders, persu ad ed his fellow -citizens to attack th e A th e n
ians. In the battle that follow ed the Sam ians w ere victorious.
T h e y cap tured m any m en an d d estroyed m an y ships, th ereby
gainin g control o f the sea and a cq u irin g m any su pplies fo r the
prosecution o f the w ar w hich they had not previou sly pos
sessed. A ristotle says that Pericles h im self had ea rlier been
d efeated by M elissus in a sea-battle.
(Plutarch, Pericles i 6 6 c d )
The Samians were eventually defeated. But Melissus had made a mark
on history unusual in a philosopher.
The year o f the battle gives us the only known date in Melissus life:
we may suppose that he flourished in the third quarter o f the fifth
century. In philosophy, he was a follower o f Parmenides. His book
indeed is in effect a modified version, in clear prose, o f Parmenides
poem. Substantial fragments o f Melissus work have survived, all o f
them preserved by Simplicius. In addition, there are two paraphrases
o f his whole argument, one in the essay O n M elissus, X en o p h a n es
and G orgias, falsely ascribed to Aristotle, the other in Simplicius
commentary on Aristotles Physics. It is worth transcribing the latter
as a convenient introduction to the fragments.
43
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
44
MELISSUS
45
EARLY
CREEK
PHILOSOPHY
exist, it lias no beginning and no end. For what does not exist
wholly cannot exist always, [ 2]
. . . Ju st as he asserts that w hat has com e into b ein g is finite in
its bein g, so h e says that w hat always exists is infinite in its
being. H e has m ad e this clear w hen he writes:
But just as it exists always, so in magnitude too it must always be
infinite, [ 3]
By m agn itu d e he does not m ean extension ; fo r he him self
shows that what exists is indivisible:
I f what exists has been divided, he says, it is moving; but i f it is
moving it does not exist, [ b i o ]
R ather, by m agn itu de he m eans the em inen ce o f its reality. For
he has indicated that he m eans w hat exists to be incorporeal in
saying:
Now i f it exists, it must be one; but being one it must fa il to possess
a body, [cf 9]
A n d he co-ordinates infinity in bein g with eternity when he
says:
Nothing which has a beginning and an end is either eternal or
infinite, [ 4]
so that w hat does not have them is infinite.
From infinity he in ferred uniqueness, by way o f the notion
that i f it w ere not on e it w ould be lim ited against som ethin g
else, [ 5]
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 10 9 .19 -110 .6 )
Elsewhere, Simplicius reports the inference to uniqueness in Melissus
own words:
A n d i f M elissus entitled his w ork On Nature or on What Exists,
it is clear that he th o u g h t n atu re to be w hat exists and natural
objects, i.e. percep tible objects, to be the things that exist. Per
haps that is w hy A ristotle said that, in d eclarin g w hat exists to
be one, h e su p p o sed that th ere was n o th in g else ap art from
p ercep tible substances. F or given that w hat is perceptible
plainly seem s to exist, then i f w hat exists is u n iqu e th ere will
not exist an yth in g else ap art fro m w hat is p erceptible. Melissus
says:
146
MELISSUS
47
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PHILOSOPHY
MELISSUS
49
11
ZENO
Zeno came from Elea. He was a friend, and in some sense a disciple, o f
Parmenides. We know nothing about his life and a precise chronology
escapes us. Plato tells a story o f an encounter between Zeno and
Socrates: although the reliability o f the narrative is a matter o f dispute,
the passage is worth quoting at length.
150
ZENO
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>52
ZENO
53
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154
ZENO
155
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PHILOSOPHY
ZENO
EARLY
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158
PART
III
12
EMPEDOCLES
Empedocles came from Acragas in Sicily. His family was rich and
distinguished his grandfather won a victory in the horse-racing at
the Olympic Games o f 496 . His dates are uncertain, since the vari
ous figures cited by our sources do not tally with one another. Aristotle
allegedly said that he died at the age o f sixty: the remainder o f our
evidence suggests that the period from about 495 to about 4 35 may
be roughly right fo r his life-span.
He was apparently a person o f some political importance (the trad
ition makes him a keen democrat), and in addition he may have worked
as a doctor. He wrote several works, all o f them in verse, o f which the
most important were later entitled O n N atu re and Purifications.
Numerous fragments o f these works survive, some o f them quite leng
thy; but the sources rarely ascribe them to one poem rather than the
other and rarely indicate the order in which they appeared within their
original poem. Questions o f ascription and arrangement have greatly
exercised scholars, but little progress has been achieved.
I shall translate first the passages which certainly or probably or
perhaps come from O n N atu re, and then the passages which certainly
or probably or perhaps come from the Purifications. I should stress
that many o f the ascriptions implicit in the following pages are highly
uncertain.
On Nature
The dedication and perhaps thefirst line o/O n N a tu re are preserved:
Pausanias, a cco rd in g to A ristip p u s an d Satyrus, was [E m p ed o
cles] lover, to w hom he ad d ressed On Nature, thus:
161
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EMPEDOCLES
EA RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
EMPEDOCLES
EMPEDOCLES
EMPEDOCLES
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EMPEDOCLES
and they decline into one another and increase in their allotted
turn.
For these themselves exist, and passing through one another
they become men and the other kinds o f animals,
now by Love coming together into one arrangement,
now again each carried apart by the hatred o f Strife,
until, having grown together as one, they are completely subdued.
Thus insofar as they have learned to become one from many
and again become many as the one grows apart,
to that extent they come into being and have no lasting life;
but insofar as they never cease their continual change,
to that extent they exist forever, unmoving in a circle, [ 26]
T h u s both the o n e-from -m an y (which com es ab o u t because
o f Love) and the m an y-fro m -o n e (which o ccu rs w hen S trife
predom inates) a re located by him in this su blu n ary w orld too
in w hich m ortal things a re fo u n d , it bein g clear that at d iffe r
en t tim es and fo r d iffe r e n t p eriod s now S trife and now L ove
dom inates.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 3 1 .3 1 34.8)
The remaining fragments can best be read as supplements to and
expansions upon the texts quoted by Simplicius in these two passages.
Certain lines in the passages show that Empedocles was aware o f the
Parmenidean objections against generation and change, and that he
hoped to have evaded them. Some further fragments have a Parmen
idean background.
T h e n Colotes, as th ou gh he w ere talking to an u n lettered king,
fastens n ext on E m pedocles:
Another thing I will tell you: there is no birth fo r any
mortal thing, nor any cursed end in death.
But there is only mixing and interchange o f what is mixed but men name these things birth, [ 8]
(Plutarch, Against Colotes 1 1 1 1 f )
[Em pedocles] was so fa r from u psettin g w hat exists and
figh tin g against the ap pearan ces that h e d id not even banish
the expressions fro m o rd in a ry lan gu age: rath er, h e rem oved
171
E A RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
EMPEDOCLES
thinks that both those w ho have not yet been born and those
who have alread y d ied exist.
(Plutarch, Against Colotes 1 1 1 3 a d ]
A gain , even if it is quite im possible both fo r w hat d oes not exist
to com e into bein g and fo r w hat exists to perish , w hy sh ou ld
not som e things nevertheless be gen erated and o th ers eternal,
as E m pedocles says? For he too, havin g adm itted all this nam ely that
from what does not exist nothing can come into being,
and fo r what exists to be destroyed is impossible and
unaccomplishable
for it will always remain wherever anyone may fix it [ 12]
- nevertheless he says that som e things a re etern al (fire, w ater,
earth, air) while o th ers com e and have com e into b ein g from
them .
([Aristotle], On Melissus, Xenophanes, Gorgias 975336b6)
Sim ilarly, E m pedocles says that all the things that exist a re
always continuously m ovin g as they associate, and n o th in g is
em pty - he says:
No part o f the universe is empty: whence, then, might anything
come? [ 13]
A n d when they have been associated to g eth er into a single
form , so as to be o n e, he says that
in no respect is it empty, nor yet overfull, [ 14]
For what prevents them from bein g carried into o n e an o th e rs
places and fro m m ovin g rou n d sim ultaneously, o n e into the
place o f an o th er, the o th er into that o f an o th er, and so m eth in g
else always ch a n g in g into that o f the first?
(ibid 9 7 - )
The four 'roots or elements are described more than once.
E m pedocles [derives everyth in g] fro m fo u r elem ents:
Hear first the fou r roots o f all things:
bright Zeus, life-bringing Hera, Aidoneus,
173
and Nestis, who waters with her tears the mortal fountains, [ 6]
(Sextus Em piricus, Against the Mathematicians X 315)
T h e r e will be no such th in g as grow th a cco rd in g to E m p ed o
c l e s - ex cep t by way o f addition; fo r fire increases by fire
and earth increases her own form, ether ether, [ 37]
B u t these are additions, and w hat grow s is not th ou gh t to grow
in this way.
(A ristotle, On Generation and Corruption 333335)
It is better to think o f the e th er as co n tain in g and binding
everyth in g , as E m pedocles says:
Come and I will tell you *. . .*
from which all the things we now see came to be:
earth and the billowy sea and the damp air
and the Titan ether, binding everything in a circle, [ 38]
(Clem ent, Miscellanies V viii 48.3)
Som e think that [the w ord anopaia] is used instead o f u p w ard .
T h e y r e fe r to E m pedocles, w h o says o f fire
swiftly upward [ 51].
(Eustathius, Commentary on the Odyssey I 321)
Love and Strife are generally presented as the twin causal powers
in the universe:
T h e crea to r and m aker o f the gen eratio n o f all generated
things is d ead ly Strife, while the ch a n g e and d ep a rtu re o f g en
erated things from the w orld and the establishm ent o f the O n e
is the w ork o f Love. E m ped ocles says o f both that they are
im m ortal and u n gen erated and never had a b egin n in g o f g en
eration he writes as follows:
For they are as they were before and as they will be, nor ever, /
think,
will boundless eternity be emptied o f these two. [ 16]
A n d w ho are these two? - L ove and Strife.
(H ippolytus, Refutation o f A ll Heresies V II x xix 9 -10 )
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EMPEDOCLES
175
F or E m p ed ocles says that h ere too [i.e. in the su blu nary world]
L ove and S trife p red om in ate by turn s o ver m en and fish and
beasts an d birds. H e writes as follows:
This is plain in the bulk o f mortal members:
somtimes by Love they all come together into one,
limbs which the body acquires when life is thriving at its peak;
sometimes again, divided by evil Conflicts,
each wanders apart along the shore o f life.
So too is it with plants and fish o f the watery halls
and beasts o f the mountain lairs and flying gulls, [ 20]
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 1 124.918)
But, as the ancient scholars noted, Empedocles sometimes ascribes
causal powers to the elements themselves, he sometimes invokes theforce
o f necessity and he sometimes appears to allow room in the universe for
chance events.
In gen eral, fire divides and separates, w ater is adhesive and
retentive, h o ld in g and g lu in g by its m oisture. Em pedocles
alluded to this every tim e he refe rre d to fire as cursed Strife [cf
17.19 ] anc* to w ater as tenacious Love [ 19].
(Plutarch, The Primary Cold 952)
[Friendship] collects and com pacts and conserves, b rin gin g
m en to g eth er by conversation and g oo d will
as when rennet pegs and ties white milk, [ 33]
as E m ped ocles says.
(Plutarch, On Having Many Friends 95A)
T h e m oist causes the d ry to be b o u n d ed , and each is a sort o f
g lu e fo r the o th er, as E m ped ocles said in his Physics,
gluing barley with water [ 34]
- an d fo r this reason th e b o u n d ed b o d y is m ad e o f both.
(A ristotle, Meteorology 3 8 ^ 3 1 -3 8 2 3 3 )
E u dem u s takes it that the p erio d o f m otionlessness occurs
u n d e r the d om in an ce o f L ove d u rin g the S p h e re, w hen e very
th in g has been collected togeth er,
where neither the swift limbs o f the sun are discerned, [ 27.1]
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EMPEDOCLES
but, as he says,
in this way it is held fast in the close covering o f Harmony,
a rounded Sphere, rejoicing in its pleasant rest, [ 27.34]
W hen Strife has again b egu n to p red om in ate, then again
m otion occurs in the S p h ere:
For all the limbs o f the god shook, one after another, [ 3 1 ]
W hat is the d iffe re n c e betw een sayin g 'becau se th at is its
nature and saying by necessity, without a d d in g any explan
ation? T h a t is what Em pedocles appears to say in the line:
In turn they come to power as time revolves, [ 17.29]
and again w h ere he m akes necessity th e cause o f w h at com es
into being:
There is an oracle o f necessity, an ancient seal o f the gods,
eternal, sealed by broad oaths, [ 1 1 5 . 1 - 2 ]
For he says that each pred om in ates in turn because o f necessity
and these oaths. E m ped ocles says this too o f the p red o m in a n ce
o f Strife:
But when Strife had grown great in the limbs
and rose to office as the time was completed,
which was laid down fo r them in turn by the broad oath . . .
[ 3]
N ow [Aristotle] says that to say this w ithout any ex p lan a tio n is
sim ply to say that that was its n a tu re.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 118 3 .2 8 -1 18 4 .18 )
Necessity is unm usical, Persuasion m usical - she loves the
M uses fa r m ore, I sh ou ld say, than E m p ed ocles G ra ce an d
hates intolerable necessity, [ 1 16]
(Plutarch, Table Talk 7 4 5 D )
E m pedocles says that air does not alw ays sep arate o f f to the
highest point, but as ch an ce has it. A t all events, h e says in his
cosm ogony that
Then it happened to be running in this way, but often otherwise.
[ 53]
A n d he says that the parts o f anim als are m ostly fo rm ed by
chance.
(Aristotle, PA^jtcs 196320-24)
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EA RLY GREEK PH IL O SO P H Y
[ 53]
and elsew here:
. . . as each happened, [ 59.2]
A n d he says that m ost o f the parts o f anim als com e about by
chance, as w hen he writes:
Earth, roughly equal to them, happened together . . ., [ 98. l]
an d again:
Gentle flame chanced on a little earth, [ 85]
and elsew here:
Chancing upon such a fluidity in the hands o f Cypris. [ 75.2]
Y o u co u ld p ro d u ce m an y o th e r exam p les o f this sort from
E m ped ocles Physics, such as:
Thus by the will o f chance all things think, [ 103]
an d a little later:
And insofar as the most flne-textured things happened to fa ll
together, [ 104]
B u t E m ped ocles, w ho seem s to use ch an ce only in sm all m at
ters, does not m erit m uch atten tion, not h avin g exp lain ed what
ch an ce is.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 3 3 0 .3 1-3 3 1.16 )
The divine and homogeneous Sphere is described in several frag
ments.
178
EMPEDOCLES
EARLY GREEK PH IL O SO P H Y
[ 59]
T h u s E m ped ocles said that the fo rm e r p h en om en a occu r in
the reign o f L o v e not in the sense that L ove was alread y p re
d om in an t bu t in the sense that she was about to p red om inate
an d was still sh ow in g u n m ixed an d single-lim bed things.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on On the Heavens 5 8 6 .6 -7 , 1 0 -1 2 ,
29 587-4. 12-26)
In the secon d book o f his Physics, b efo re discussing the
articulation o f m ale and fem ale bodies, Em pedocles has these
lines:
Come now, hear how the shoots o f men and pitiable women
were raised at night by fire, as it separated,
thus fo r my story does not miss the mark, nor is it ill-informed.
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EMPEDOCLES
EA RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
Astronomy
E m p ed ocles expresses th eir d iffe re n c e charm ingly:
sharp-arrowed sun and gentle moon, [ 40]
(Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon 920c)
A p o llo is called Eleleus because he turns [elittesthai] rou n d the
earth . . . o r because he orbits in a collected mass o f fire, as
E m ped ocles says:
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EMPEDOCLES
EA R L Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
The Earth
Som e say that the region below the earth is infinite (e.g. X eno
p hanes o f C o lo p h o n ), so that th ey n eed not take the trouble
to look fo r an exp lan atio n [o f w hy the earth is at rest]. T h a t is
w hy E m ped ocles criticized them , saying:
I f the depths o f the earth are boundless and the ether immense,
as the tongues o f many mouths have vainly
poured forth, seeing little o f the whole . . . [ 39]
(A ristotle, On the Heavens 294321-28)
EMPEDOCLES
Botany
I f the air continu ously fa vo u re d the trees, then p erh a p s even
what the poets say w ould not seem u n r e s s o n a b le -a s E m p ed o
cles says that, everg reen an d ev er-fru itin g [ 77], they flourish
throughout the year with abundant fruit, thanks to the air. [ 78]
(H e supposes that a certain b len d in g o f the s ir - the sp rin g
blending - is com m on to all seasons.)
(T h eo p h ra stu s, Causes o f Plants I xiii 2)
[Plants] rep ro d u ce fro m them selves, 3nd th e so-called seeds
which they p ro d u ce a re not sem en but em bryos E m pedocles
puts this well w hen he says
Thus tall trees first lay olives, [ 79]
For what is laid is an em bryo.
(A ristotle, Generation o f Animals 73 18 1-6 )
E m pedocles says that
This is why pomegranates are late-fruiting and apples exception
ally sweet, [ 80]
(Plutarch, Table Talk 683D)
185
Zoology
I am aw are that E m ped ocles the natural scientist used the word
kamasenes to co ver all fish in gen eral:
How the tall trees and fish [kam asenes] o f the sea . . . [ 7 2 ]
(A th en aeu s, Deipnosophists 3 3 4 B )
A s fo r anim als them selves, you cou ld not find any crea tu re o f
land o r air as prolific as all the creatu res o f the sea are. W ith
that in m ind, E m ped ocles w rote:
Leading the unmusical tribe o f fertile fish . . . [ 7 4 ]
(Plutarch, Table Talk 685F)
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EMPEDOCLES
Biology
E m pedocles, by placin g S trife an d L o v e a m o n g th e principles
as causes o f fo rm , . . . d efines fo rm , I su ppose, by the ratio in
which each is m ade; fo r h e m akes flesh and bo n e and the rest
by a certain ratio. In the first book o f th e Physics h e says:
Kindly earth in her well-made hollows
received o f the eight parts two o f bright Nestis
and four o f Hephaestus. And they became white bones,
wonderfully fitted together by the glue o f Harmony, [ 96]
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 3 0 0 .16 -2 4 )
I am talking o f bones and hair and e v ery th in g else o f that sort.
T h e y have not got a nam e in com m on, b u t non eth eless they
are all the sam e by an alogy, as E m ped ocles says:
The same are hair and leaves and the thick feathers o f birds
and scales on strong limbs, [ 82]
(A ristotle, Meteorology 387b 1-6 )
T h e body o f the sem en can n ot be separated, p art in the fem ale
and part in the m ale, as E m ped ocles says But the nature o f the members is separated, part in a mans . . .
[ 63]
(A ristotle, Generation o f Animals 764b 1 5 -18 )
I f m ale and fem ale a re d ifferen tia ted d u rin g gestation, as
E m pedocles says poured into pure places, some grow as women,
i f they meet with cold . . . [ 65]
(ibid 723 3 2 3 -2 5 )
O th ers o f the o ld er g en eratio n have also said that th e m ale is
conceived in the righ t p s rt o f th e w om b. P arm enid es p u t it like
this:
In the right boys, in the left girls, [28 17]
3nd E m pedocles ssys this:
For in the warmer part was the male portion [ 67]
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EMPEDOCLES
Perception
E m pedocles [says that the soul] is co m posed o f all th e elem ents
and that each o f them actually is a soul. H e says:
For by earth we see earth, by water water,
by ether bright ether, and by fire flaming fire,
love by love and strife by mournful strife, [ 109]
(A ristotle, On the Soul 40 4b ! 115)
Em pedocles seem s to thin k, as I said b e fo re , that som etim es
we see w h en ligh t leaves th e eyes. A t any rate, h e says this:
As when someone, intending a journey, prepares a light,
a flame o f flashing fire through the winter night,
fitting a lantern as protection against all the winds,
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EA RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
EMPEDOCLES
Thought
E m pedocles seem s to treat th e blood as th e o rg a n o f u n d e r
standing:
Nourished in a sea o f churning blood
where what men call thought is especially found
for the blood about the heart is thought fo r men. [ 105]
(P o rp h yry, in Stobaeus, Anthology I x lix 53)
In gen eral, th ey su p p o sed that th o u g h t was p ercep tio n and
perception an alteration . . . T h u s E m ped ocles says th at o u r
th ou gh ts ch a n g e as o u r con d ition changes:
For men's wisdom grows in relation to what is present, [ 106]
A n d elsew here he says that:
Insofar as they become different, to that extent always
does their thought too present different objects, [ 108]
(A ristotle, Metaphysics 1009b 1 2 - 1 3 , 17- 2 1 )
T h o u g h t d ep en d s on sim ilars, ign o ra n ce on dissim ilars, as
th ou gh th in kin g w ere the sam e as o r sim ilar to p erceivin g. F or
h aving en u m erated the ways in w hich we reco gn ize each th in g
by its like, at the en d h e ad d s that fro m these
all things are fitted together and constructed,
and by these they think and feel pleasure and pain, [ 107]
T h a t is why w e think especially with o u r blood; fo r in this the
elem ents o f the parts are best blen d ed .
(T h eo p h ra stu s, On the Senses 1 o)
Purifications
The Purifications were addressed to the citizens o f Acragas, Empedo
cles own city. His candid greeting to them survives:
H eraclides says that th e w om an w ho d id not b rea th e was
in such a state that h er body rem ained w ithou t b reath and
w ithout a pulse fo r thirty days. T h a t is w hy H eraclides calls
EARLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
EMPEDOCLES
193
194
EMPEDOCLES
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*97
198
EMPEDOCLES
But with the fo u l slaughter o f bulls their altars were not washed,
but this was the greatest defilement among men:
to bereave o f life and eat the noble limbs, [ x 2 8 .8 -10 ]
(ibid II 27)
E m pedocles bears witness to this w hen he says o f [Pythagoras]:
Among them was a man o f immense knowledge
who had obtained the greatest wealth o f mind,
an exceptional master o f every kind o f wise work.
For when he stretched out with all his mind
he easily saw each and every thing
in ten or twenty human generations, [ 129]
(P o rp h yry, Life o f Pythagoras 30)
For reason, which leads to virtu e by way o f ph ilosop h y, always
m akes a m an consistent with h im self and u nblam ed by h im self
and full o f peace and g oo d will tow ards h im self there is no faction and no fateful conflict in his members, [ 27a]
(Plutarch, Philosophers and Princes 7 7 7 c )
E m pedocles uses the w ord [ktilos] o f tam e an d g en tle things:
A ll were gentle and amenable to men,
both beasts and birds; and kindness glowed, [ 130]
(Scholiast to N ican d er, Theriaca 452)
In the second bo ok o f E m p ed ocles Purifications o n e can find
the alpha lon g, as is clear fro m a critical com parison - fo r he
uses manoteros as th ou gh it w ere tranoteros:
O f those which, with closer set roots beneath
and fewer [m anoterois] branches, thrive . . .
(H ero d ian , On Accentuation in General fragm en t)
The story o f the fa ll and the doctrine o f metempsychosis had impli
cations for practical ethics.
A s everyon e som ehow surm ises, th ere is by n atu re a com m on
ju stice and injustice, even in the absence o f com m u n ity and
com pacts . . . T h is is w hat E m pedocles says ab o u t not killing
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13
FIFTH-CENTURY
PYTHAGOREANISM
Pythagoras followers in south Italy appear to have organized them
selves into secret societies - a sort o f freemasonry. They practised some
communal way o f life; for
FIFTH-CENTURY PYTHAGOREANISM
EARLY GREEK PH IL O SO P H Y
FIFTH-CENTURY PYTHAGOREANISM
exam p le, in the case ju s t m ention ed (why you m ust not break
bread), som e say that you shou ld not d ivide w hat b rin gs p eo p le
togeth er (in the old days, a fter the fo reig n fashion, all frien d s
cam e tog eth er o v e r a sin gle lo a f o f bread), o th ers that o n e
must not m ake such an om en at th e b eg in n in g by b rea k in g
and cru m b lin g it.
N ow all the aphorism s w hich deal with w hat to d o and w hat
not to d o focus on the divine, and that is th eir sou rce. T h e
whole o f their way o f life is o rd e re d with a view to fo llo w in g
god. T h is is th e rationale o f their philosoph y. F or th ey th in k
it absurd fo r m en to look fo r the g o o d fro m any so u rce o th e r
than the gods: it is as i f you w ere living in a m on arch y and paid
service to som e su bordin ate a m o n g the citizens, ig n o rin g the
ruler o f all - that, they think, is ju s t w hat m en actually do. F or
since god exists and is sovereign o ver everyth in g , it is clear that
on<?must ask fo r the g oo d from the so vereign ; fo r ev ery o n e
gives good things to those w hom they love an d in w hom they
delight, and the opposite to those to w hom they a re disposed
in the opposite way.
(lam blichus, On the Pythagorean Way o f Life 8 1-8 7 )
There are numerous other accounts o f the Pythagorean aphorisms, and
o f the modes o f behaviour which they accompanied. One o f the earliest
is in Herodotus:
[T h e Egyptians] d o not take w oollen th in gs into th eir tem ples
o r bury them with them : that is not holy. In this th ey a re in
agreem en t with those w ho a re called O rp h ics and P yth ago r
eans. F or it is not holy fo r o n e w ho partakes in these rites to
be buried in w oollen clothes. T h e r e is a sacred story told about
this.
(H ero do tus, Histories II 8 1)
lamblichus' main source is likely to have been Aristotle. We know that
Aristotle also wrote on Pythagorean dietary practices. There was an
ancient controversy over this issue. Here is one text on the subject:
A false opinion o f lo n g stan d in g has gain ed g ro u n d and
205
FIFTH-CENTURY PYTHACOREANISM
the testicles: they w ere called beans, covertly and sym bolically in
the P ythagorean style, because they are the cause o f p reg n a n cy
[the Greek, kuein, to be p reg n a n t, is fa n cifu lly co n n ected with
kuamos] and p ro v id e th e im petus to h u m an rep ro d u ctio n .
H ence in this verse E m ped ocles w anted to restrain p eo p le not
from eatin g beans bu t fro m sexual in d u lgen ce.
Plutarch, too, w ho has considerable au th o rity in scholarly
m atters, says in the first bo ok o f his On Homer th at A ristotle
w rote the very sam e about the P yth ago rean s nam ely, that
they d id not abstain fro m eatin g anim als (excep t fo r a few
sorts o f flesh). Since the point is su rp risin g I have w ritten o u t
P lutarchs ow n words:
A ristotle says that the P ythagorean s abstain fro m wom b,
heart, sea-nettle, and certain o th er things o f that sort, but
eat the rest.
(T h e sea-nettle is a sea crea tu re w hich w e call a sea-urchin.)
B ut in his Table Talk Plutarch says that th e P yth ago rean s also
abstain from m ullet.
(A u lu s G ellius, Attic Nights I V xi 1 - 1 3 )
Such practices were easily mocked. Several fourth-century comedies
like Alexis T h e P yth agorean W om an - ridiculed the Pythagorean
way o f life. Here are two samples.
A lexis in The Men from Tarentum:
- T h e P ythagorean s, o r so w e h ear,
eat no fish n o r an y th in g else
alive; and th eyre the o n ly ones w ho d o n t d rin k w ine.
- B ut E pich arides eats dogs,
and h es a P yth agorean . - A h , b u t h e kills them first
and then th eyre n o lo n g er alive.
A little fu rth e r on h e says:
Pythagorism s and fine
argu m ents an d close-ch op ped thou ghts
feed them . T h e ir d aily bread is this:
o n e plain lo a f each, and a cu p
o f water. T h a ts all. A prison
diet! D o all the wise m en
207
E A R L Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
FIFTH-CENTURY PYTHAGOREANISM
FIFTH-CENTURY
PYTHAGOREANISM
with such speed. W h en the sun and the m oon, and th e stars o f
such n u m b er and such size, m ove at sp eed , it is im possible
that they shou ld not p ro d u ce a sound o f im m en se m agnitu de.
Positing this, an d su p p o sin g that th eir speeds, ju d g in g by th eir
distances, have the ratios o f the concords, they say that as the
heavenly bodies m ove in a circle they p ro d u ce a co n co rd an t
sound. Since it seem s unreasonable that we d o not h ea r this
sound, they say that the cause lies in the fact that the noise is
with us from the m om en t o f o u r birth so that it can n ot be
distinguished by re feren ce to a co n trary silence (fo r so u n d and
silence a re d iscrim in ated by referen ce to one another). T h u s
m en are in the sam e case as blacksm iths w hom habit m akes
im pervious to the sound.
(A ristotle, On the Heavens 290b 12 -2 9 )
It is worth adding four further passages from Aristotle here, three
on cosmogony and one on the soul.
A ll those w ho a re th o u g h t to have m ad e a significant co n tri
bution to [natural ph ilosophy] h ave given som e acco u n t o f the
infinite, and all posit it as a sort o f first p rin cip le o f the things
that exist. Som e, like the P yth ago rean s and Plato, m ake it a
p rinciple in its ow n right, su p p o sin g that the infinite exists in
itself as a substance and not as an attribute o f so m eth in g else.
T h e P ythagoreans locate it am o n g p ercep tible objects (fo r they
d o not m ake num bers separate), and say that the sp ace outsid e
the heavens is infinite.
(A ristotle, Physics 203a 18)
T h e P ythagoreans too said that void exists, and that it en ters
the heavens fro m th e infinite breath, as th o u g h th e h eavens
actually inhale the void w hich d istin guishes n atural things and
is a sort o f separation an d distinction o f con tigu o u s things.
T h e y hold that this o ccu rs first a m o n g num bers; fo r the void
separates their natures.
{ibid 21 2227)
A ristotle in the fo u rth bo ok o f the Physics writes;
211
F I F T H - C E N T U R Y P Y T H A G O R E A N ISM
213
14
HIPPASUS
Hippasus was a Pythagorean. His birthplace is variously reported,
and our sources record no dates fo r him. It seems likely that he was
active in the middle o f the fifth century. H e was an unorthodox
Pythagorean, perhaps a rebel, and he is said to have been the first o f
the Pythagorean m athem atici or Scientists. Simplicius treats him as
a conventional Presocratic cosmogonist:
H ippasus o f M etapontu m and H eraclitus o f Ephesus also said
that [the universe] is u niqu e, in m otion, and finite; but they
m ad e the first prin ciple fire, an d they p ro d u ce the things that
exist from fire by cond en sation and rarefaction , and resolve
them into fire again, this b ein g the sin gle u n d erly in g nature.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 23.33-24.4)
We are ill-informed about the more distinctively Pythagorean aspects
o f Hippasus' thought. Two stories are worth setting down, though
neither o f them deserves fu ll credence. First, Hippasus name is associ
ated with musical theory:
A certain H ippasus constructed fo u r bron ze discs in such a
way that they all had equal d iam eters but the thickness o f the
first was o n e and a th ird tim es that o f the secon d, o n e and a
h a lf tim es that o f the third, and twice that o f the fo u rth ; and
w hen they w ere struck they m ad e a concord.
(Scholium to Plato, Phaedo i o 8 d )
The story plainly means to ascribe to Hippasus the discovery o f the
fundamental musical ratios, 4:3, 3:2, and 2:1.
214
HIPPASUS
2*5
15
P HI L O L A U S
Philolaus was probably bom in Croton in the 4 70s. He was a Pythago
rean. When the Pythagorean school in Croton was destroyed and its
members dispersed, he retired to mainland Greece, spending some time
in Thebes. These events cannot be dated with any precision, but it is
clear that Philolaus flourished in the latter part o f the fifth century .
We possess several passages purporting to come from Philolaus'
writings. Many scholars have regarded all o f them as spurious: numer
ous Pythagorean forgeries were put together in the ancient world, o f
which many survive. Recently, however, there has been a swing in
scholarly opinion, and some at least o f the passages are widely thought
to be genuine. In this chapter I shall omit the texts which are uncontroversially spurious and include only those which the new consensus is
inclined to accept.
One o f Philolaus works was later called O n N atu re. The opening
sentence is preserved:
P H 1L O L A U S
EARLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
octave i :2. Thus the scale is five tones and two semi-tones, a fifth
is three tones and a semi-tone, a fourth is two tones and a semi
tone. [ 6b]
The first thing to have been connected, the one, in the middle
o f the sphere is called the hearth, [ 7]
(Stobaeus, Anthology I xxi 7-8 )
The arithmetical remarks in 4 and 5 fin d echoes in the following
reports:
Plato teaches us m any rem arkab le d octrin es about the gods
by m eans o f m athem atical form s, and th e ph ilosoph y o f the
P yth ago rean s uses these h an gin gs to conceal the m ysteries o f
its d ivin e dbctrines. F or that is the case th ro u g h o u t the Sacred
Discourse, in Philolaus Bacchae, and in the w hole o f Pythagoras
tea ch in g a b o u t the gods.
(Proclus, Commentary on Euclid 2 2 .9 -16 )
A ll th e so-called m athem atical sciences a re like sm ooth flat
m irrors in w hich traces and im ages o f intelligible truth are
reflected . B u t it is above all g eo m etry w hich, a cco rd in g to
Philolaus, bein g the o rig in and native city o f the others, turns
an d elevates the m ind w hich is p u rifie d and gen tly released
fro m p erception .
(Plutarch, Table Talk 718E)
T h e P yth ago rean s say that reason [is the stand ard o f truth] not reason in g en era l, bu t m athem atical reason, as Philolaus
too used to say, w hich, inasm uch as it considers the n atu re o f
th e universe, has a certain a ffin ity to it (fo r like is naturally
a p p re h e n d e d by like).
(Sextus E m piricus, Against the Mathematicians V I I 92)
E lsew h ere th ere will be occasion to in qu ire fu rth e r how , when
n u m bers a re serially sq u ared , no less plausible results follow by n a tu re and not by con ven tion , as Philolaus says.
(Iam blichus, Commentary on Nicomachus Introduction to
Arithmetic 19 .2 1-2 5 )
218
P H 1L O L A U S
219
is below. For to those below the lowest part is like the highest, and
so on; fo r each has the same relation to the middle, except that
they are reversed, [ i 7]
(Stobaeus, Anthology I x v 7)
P hilolaus the P yth ago rean says that fire is cen tral (fo r this is
the h earth o f th e universe), the co u n ter-earth second, and
th ird the earth we inhabit, w hich is located and orbits opposite
the co u n ter-earth (that is w hy the p eo p le on that earth are not
seen by those o n this one).
([Plutarch], On the Scientific Beliefs o f the Philosophers 895E)
PHILOLAUS
EARLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
The old theologians and prophets testify that the soul has been
yoked to the body as a punishment and that it is buried in it as
though in a tomb, [ 14]
(C lem ent, Miscellanies III iii 17.1)
C ertain th o u g h ts and feelin gs - o r else th e actions based on
such th ou gh ts and feelin gs - a re not in o u r po w er, but, as
Philolaus said, som e reasons a re too stron g fo r us.
(A ristotle , Eudemian Ethics 1225330-33)
222
16
ION OF CHI OS
Ion, son o f Orchomenes, came from the Aegean island o f Chios, but he
spent much o f his life in Athens where he was a friend o f many leading
political and literary figures. H e was bom in about 485 and died
in about 425. In his lifetime he was celebrated as a poet and a drama
tist, his first tragedy being produced at Athens in about 450.
Ion has already been quoted in connection with Pythagoras, but he
deserves a brief chapter o f his own.
H e com posed m an y poem s an d traged ies an d also a ph ilo
sophical treatise en titled Triad. C allim achu s says th at its
auth orsh ip is d ispu ted, and in som e copies it is en titled Triads,
in the plu ral (accord ing to D em etrius o f Scepsis an d A p o llo n ides o f Nicaea). In it h e w rites thus:
This is the beginning o f my account: all things are three, and
there is nothing more or less than these three things. O f each
one thing the excellence is threefold: intelligence and power and
fortune. [36 l]
(H arp ocratio n , Lexicon s.v. Ion)
We have at most one other piece o f information about Ions philosophi
cal thought. Plutarch may well be referring to the T r ia d when he
reports that
Ion the poet, in the w ork he w ro te w ithout m etre and in prose,
says that fo rtu n e, alth o u gh a th in g m ost dissim ilar to wisdom ,
p rod u ces very sim ilar results.
(Plutarch, On the Fortune o f the Romans 3 1 6 D )
223
17
HIPPO
Hippos dates are unknown; hut he was lampooned by the comic poet
Cratinus in the 42 os and was therefore presumably active in the latter
part o f the fifth century. Cratinus attacked him fo r impiety, and at
same point he won the epithet atheist. Aristotle regarded him as a
tawdry thinker: O n e w ould not p rop ose to place H ip p o am ong
these m en because o f the p o verty o f his th o u g h t (Metaphysics
98433). But a fragment o f his work survives, and he deserves a page
or two.
Simplicius gives a brief report o f Hippos view on the under
lying nature o f things:
O f those w ho say that the first p rin cip le is o n e and in m otion
([Aristotle] calls them n atural scientists in the n arrow sense),
som e assert that it is finite. T h u s T h a le s, son o f Exam yes, a
M ilesian, and H ip p o, w ho is actuslly th o u g h t to have been an
atheist, said that the first p rin cip le is w ater. T h e y w ere led
to this view by the evid en ce o f p ercep tio n . F or heat lives by
m oisture, d y in g things d ry up, th e seeds o f all things are moist,
and all fo o d is ju ic y (each th in g is n aturally nou rish ed by that
fro m w hich it is constituted). B u t w ster is the first principle o f
nstu rai m oisture sn d conserves all m oist things. T h a t is why
th ey su p posed th st w ater was the first p rin cip le o f everyth in g
and d eclared that the earth rests on water.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 23.2 1-2 9 )
Hippo seems to have written at some length on biological matters, and
his biological speculations had some connection with his view o f the
first principle o f things. Here is one extract:
224
HIPPO
225
18
ANAXAGORAS
Anaxagoras was bom in Clazomenae on the coast o f Asia Minor in
about 500 . H e spent much o f his life in Athens, where he was
associated with Pericles, the leading statesman o f the age, and with
Euripides, the writer o f tragedies. The dates o f his stay in Athens are
disputed: it is perhaps most probable that he came to the city in 480
and remained there until about 430 when he was tried on trumped up
charges and condemned. H e fled Athens and settled in Lampsacus in
the Troad where he died, an honoured guest, in 428.
Anaxagoras is said to have written only one book, which appears to
have offered a complete account o f the natural world on the old Mile
sian model. H e was called a follower o f Anaximenes, and there can be
little doubt that he was attempting to revive, in the post-Parmenidean
period, the enterprise which the Milesians had carried out in the age
o f intellectual innocence.
The surviving fragments o f Anaxagoras book deal almost exclus
ively with the most general and abstract part o f his thought. Anaxago
ras universe began as an undifferentiated mass o f stuff. M ind then
worked on the mass, and the articulated world developed. Anaxagoras'
stuffs are continuous, not particulate. The cosmic development does
not, and cannot, produce any pure stuffs - every stu ff always contains
a portion or share, however small, o f every other stuff. Such is the
general conception o f things which the fragments convey. They can be
supplemented from the doxography, which gives cursory information
about Anaxagoras more particular scientific theories.
Simplicius is again our chief source. Most o f what currently pass as
fragments o f Anaxagoras are modem reconstructions based on distinct
passages in Simplicius. Here the fragments are presented in the
226
ANAXAGORAS
ANAXAGORAS
for them, the most useful o f which they gather into their houses
and use. [ 4a]
T h e p hrase as with us, w hich h e uses m ore th an o n ce, shows
that he is hinting at a n o th e r w orld ap art fro m o urs. H e does
not think that it is p ercep tib le and ea rlier than o u rs in tim e, as
is shown by the sen ten ce the m ost u seful o f w hich th ey g ath er
into their houses an d use fo r he said use, n o t u se d . N o r is
he re ferrin g to a presen t state o f affa irs sim ilar to o u rs with
o th er houses, fo r h e said n ot the sun and th e m oon are p resen t
to them as th ey a re to us, bu t a sun and a m oon, as with us,
as th ou gh h e m eant a d iffe re n t su n an d m oon. B u t w h eth er
that is so o r not d em an ds fu rth e r en qu iry.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 1 5 5 .2 1 -1 5 7 .2 4 )
A t the very beg in n in g o f his bo ok [A n axagoras] says that things
w ere infinite:
Together were all things, infinite both in quantity and in small
ness. [c f l]
A m o n g the principles th ere is n eith er a sm allest n o r a largest:
For o f the small, he says, there is no smallest, but there is always
a smaller. For what is cannot not be. And again o f the large there
is always a larger, and it is equal to the small in quantity. B ut in
relation to itself each thing is both large and small, [ 3]
For i f everyth in g is in e v ery th in g an d e v ery th in g separates o f f
from everyth in g, then fro m w hat is taken to be th e sm allest
thin g som ethin g sm aller will be separated o ff, an d w h at is
taken to be the largest has been separated o f f fro m so m eth in g
larger than itself. H e says clearly that:
In everything there is present a share o f everything except m ind
and in some things mind too is present, [ 11 ]
A n d again:
Other things possess a share o f everything, but mind is something
infinite and self-controlling, and it has been mixed with no thing.
[cf 12]
Elsew here he puts it like this:
Now since there are equal shares o f the great and o f the small in
quantity, for this reason too all things will be in everything; nor
can they be separate, but all things possess a share o f everything.
229
ANAXAGORAS
EA RLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
ANAXAGORAS
and stones are compacted from the earth by the cold. And these
move out further than the water, [c f 16]
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 15 5 .13 -2 3 )
Some scholars have found a further fragment in the following text:
A n a x a g o ra s hit u pon the old d octrin e that n o th in g com es into
b ein g fro m w hat is not, an d d id aw ay with gen eratio n , intro
d u c in g d issociation in its place. F or he said that all things have
been m ixed with o n e a n o th e r and that as they g ro w they dis
sociate. F o r in the sam e seed th ere a re hairs and nails an d veins
an d arteries an d ten d on s and bones, an d they a re invisible
because o f the sm allness o f th eir parts; but as they gro w they
gra d u a lly dissociate. F or how , h e says, cou ld h air com e into
bein g fro m w hat is not hair, o r flesh fro m w hat is not flesh?
[ 10] A n d he says this not o n ly o f bodies but also o f colours;
fo r black is p resen t in w hite and w hite in black. A n d he posited
the sam e fo r w eights, b elievin g that the ligh t was com m ingled
with th e heavy an d vice versa. A ll this is false - fo r how can
op posites co-exist?
(Scholiast to G re g o ry o f N azianzus [Patrologia Graeca
X X X V I 9 11 BC])
In fact, the only author apart from Simplicius who preserves any o f
Anaxagoras words is Sextus Empiricus.
T h e d istin gu ish ed natural scientist A n a x a g o ras, attacking the
senses fo r th eir w eakness, says:
We are not capable o f discerning the truth by reason o f their
feebleness, [ 21]
an d h e o ffe r s as a p r o o f o f th eir u ntrustw orthiness the gradual
ch a n g e o f colours. F or i f we take tw o colours, black an d white,
an d then p o u r fro m o n e to the o th e r d ro p by d ro p , o u r sight
will not be able to d iscrim in ate th e g ra d u a l chan ges even
th o u g h th ey exist in nature.
(Sextus E m piricus, Against the Mathematicians V I I 90)
D iotim us said that [D em ocritus] su pposed th ree standards: fo r
234
ANAXAGORAS
235
are, first, two short samples, and then the bulk o f Diogenes Laertius
life o f Anaxagoras.
In all o th e r respects w e are m ore u n fo rtu n ate than the beasts.
B u t by e x p erien ce and m em ory an d w isdom and skill, acco rd
in g to A n a x a go ras, w e use them , takin g their h on ey and their
m ilk, h e rd in g them to g eth er and d o in g what we will with them ,
so that h ere n o th in g d ep en d s on fo rtu n e but ev ery th in g on
p lan n in g and fo resigh t, [ 21b]
(Plutarch, On Fortune 98F)
A n a x a g o ra s in his Physics says that w hat is called b ird s m ilk is
th e w hite o f the e g g . [ 22]
(A th en aeu s, Deipnosophists 57D)
A n a x a go ras, son o f H egesibu lu s (or o f E ubulus), o f Clazom enae. H e was a fo llo w er o f A n a x im en es, and was the first to
p u t m ind in ch a rg e o f m atter. His treatise, which is written in
a pleasant and lofty style, begins as follows:
A ll things were together. Then mind came and arranged them.
[cf l]
H en ce h e was n icknam ed M in d , an d T im o n in his Silli says
this about him :
A n d th ere, they say, is A n a x a g o ras, a stout hero,
T h e M ind (fo r he had a m ind), w h o su d d en ly rose u p
and tied to g eth er all that had b e fo re been in disarray.
H e was rem arkab le fo r his g o o d birth an d his wealth - and
also fo r his gen ero sity inasm uch as he ced ed his inheritan ce to
his frien d s. F or w h en they accused him o f n eglectin g it h e said:
T h e n w h y d o n t you look a fter it? In th e en d he went into
retirem en t and spent his tim e in scientific study, giv in g no
th o u g h t to politics. W h en som eone asked him i f he had no
care fo r his co u n try, h e rep lied : B e q u iet - 1 have the greatest
care fo r m y co u n try , p o in tin g to the heavens.
H e is said to have been tw enty w hen X erxe s invad ed G reece
[480 ], and to have lived to be seventy-tw o. A p o llo d o ru s
in his Chronicles says that he was born in the seventieth O lym
piad [500-497] an d that he d ied in th e first year, o f the eighty236
ANAXAGORAS
ANAXAGORAS
239
19
ARCHELAUS
Archelaus was a minor figure in the history o f Greek philosophy, and
no fragment o f his works has survived. Yet he deserves a brief mention:
he was the first native-born Athenian philosopher; he was a pupil o f
Anaxagoras and a teacher o f Socrates; and he made at least one strik
ing, and apparently original, remark (on the subject o f ethics). Here,
then, are the two fullest ancient accounts o f his thought.
ARCHELAUS
an oth er o f the hot and the cold: the hot is in m otion, the cold
at rest.
A s w ater liquefies it flows into the m idd le w h ere it bu rn s and
becom es air and earth , the fo rm e r o f w hich travels u pw ard s
w hile the latter rem ains below. T h u s the earth is at rest and
com es into existen ce fo r these reasons, and it lies at the m iddle,
being the m erest fraction o f the u niverse. < T h e a ir > g iven o f f
by the co n flagratio n < su p p o rts the e a rth > ; fro m it as it is first
burned o f f com es the substance o f the h eaven ly bodies, o f
which the greatest is the sun and the second the m oon ( o f the
rest som e are greater, som e sm aller).
H e says that the heavens are tilted, and that in this way the
sun sheds light on the earth and m akes the air tra n sp a ren t and
the earth dry. F or at first the earth was a m arsh, h igh at the
circu m feren ce and hollow in the m iddle. H e o ffe r s as evid en ce
fo r its hollow ness the fact that the sun does not rise an d set at
the sam e tim e fo r everyo n e - so m eth in g w hich w ou ld be bo u n d
to occu r w ere the earth level.
O n the subject o f anim als, he says that, as th e ea rth grew
w arm , it was first in the low er part, w h ere the hot an d th e cold
w ere m ixin g, that m an y anim als in clu d in g m en a p p ea re d , all
o f them h avin g the sam e way o f life inasm uch as th ey w ere
nourished by the m ud. T h e y w ere short-lived. L a te r th ey cam e
to rep rod u ce from o n e an o th er. M en w ere sep arated fro m the
o th er anim als and established leaders an d laws and skills and
cities and the rest. H e says th at m ind is inn ate in all anim als
alike; fo r each o f th e anim als uses its m ind, som e m ore slowly
and others m ore quickly.
(H ippolytu s, Refutation o f all Heresies I ix 1-6 )
241
20
LEUCIPPUS
Leucippus is a shadowy figure: his dates are not recorded, and even
his birthplace is uncertain. H e was the first to develop the theory o f
atomism, which was elaborated in fa r greater detail by his pupil and
successor, Democritus o f Abdera. Democritus overshadowed his master
in the later tradition. The Greek historians o f philosophy rarely dis
tinguish between the views o f the two men: they often refer, conjunc
tively, to 'Leucippus and Democritus. We are rarely in a position to
separate the contributions o f Democritus from those o f Leucippus.
The atomist philosophy, then, will be presented more fully in the next
chapter under the name o f Democritus. Here it is enough to cite one o f
the few doxographical passages which speak specifically o f Leucippus,
and to transcribe the one short fragment which is all that survives o f
Leucippus writings.
L eu cip p u s o f Elea o r o f M iletus (both places are m entioned in
conn ection with him ) shared P arm en id es philosophy but did
not take th e sam e path as P arm enid es an d X en o p h an es about
the things that exist but rath er, as it seem s, the opposite one.
For w h ereas they m ade the u n iverse o n e and m otionless and
u n g en e ra ted an d lim ited, and d id not allow an yon e even to
in q u ire into w hat does not exist, he posited infinite and eter
nally m ovin g elem ents, the atom s, an d an infinite quantity o f
shapes a m o n g them (because th ere is no m ore reason fo r them
to be thus than thus) su p p o sin g that gen eratio n and ch an ge
are u n failin g a m o n g the things that exist. A g ain , he held that
b ein g no m ore exists than non -bein g, and both are equally
causes o f the things that com e into being. F or su p p o sin g that
the substance o f the atom s is solid and fu ll, he said that it was
242
LEUCIPPUS
bein g and that it was carried about in the void, w hich he called
non-being and w hich he says exists no less than being.
(Sim plicius, Commentary on the Physics 2 8 .4 -15 )
Leucippus: e v ery th in g h appens in acco rd an ce with necessity,
and necessity is the sam e as fate.
L eucippus: he says in On Mind:
No thing happens in vain, but everything fo r a reason and by
necessity. [67 2]
(Stobaeus, Anthology I iv 7c)
243
21
DE MOC R I T US
Democritus was bom in Abdera in the north o f Greece. He was the
most prolific, and ultimately the most influential, o f the Presocratic
philosophers: his atomic theory may be regarded from a certain point
o f view as the culmination o f early Greek thought. Although Plato
fails, remarkably, to mention his name, he was highly regarded by
Aristotle, and his fundamental ideas were taken up and developed by
Epicurus in the fourth century . None o f Democritus' writings has
survived intact, and there are, moreover, very few fragments bearing
on what we now think o f as the central and most important part o f his
thought. M uch o f Epicurus work, however, was preserved, so that by
way o f Epicureanism Democritus has had a lasting effect on western
science and philosophy.
Little is known o f his life. He is said to have travelled to Egypt, to
Persia, and to the Red Sea. H e is supposed to have learned from
Leucippus and from Anaxagoras and from Philolaus. In a fragment
o f uncertain authenticity he allegedly writes:
I came to Athens and no-one knew me.
(D iogenes Laertius, Lives o f the Philosophers IX 36
= 68 1 1 6)
H e hirnself offered a little chronological information:
A s to his dates, he was, as he hirnself says in The Little Worldordering, a y o u n g m an w hen A n a x a go ras was o ld , bein g forty
years y o u n g e r than him . A n d he says that The Little Worldordering was com posed 730 years a fte r the ca p tu re o f T ro y . So
he was b o rn , a cco rd in g to A p o llo d o ru s in his Chronicles, in the
244
DEMOCRITUS
45
EA RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
Sounds, Causes Concerned with Seeds and Plants and Fruits, Causes
Concerned with Animals (three books), Miscellaneous Causes, On
Magnets. T h ese are the non-integrated works.)
T h e mathematical works are these:
On Different Angles o r On Contact o f Circles and Spheres, On
Geometry, Geometry, Numbers, On Irrational Lines and Solids (two
books), Planispheres, On the Great Year o r Astronomy (a calendar),
Contest o f the Waterclock, Description o f the Heavens, Geography,
Description o f the Poles, Description o f Rays o f Light.
T h e s e a re the m athem atical w orks; th e literary w orks are
the follow ing:
On Rhythms and Harmony, On Poetry, On the Beauty o f Verses,
On Euphonious and Harsh-sounding Letters, On Homer o r Correct
Language and Glosses, On Song, On Verbs, Names.
Such a re his literary w orks; his technical w orks a re these:
Prognosis, On Diet o r Dietetics, MedicalJudgement, Causes Concern
ing Appropriate and Inappropriate Occasions, On Farming o r Farm
ing, On Painting, Tactics and Fighting in Armour.
Such are these. Som e o rd e r separately the fo llo w in g works
fro m the Commentaries:
On the Sacred Writings in Babylon, On Those in Meroe, Circumnavi
gation o f the Ocean, On History, Chaldaean Account, Phrygian
Account, On Fever and Coughing Sicknesses, Legal Causes, Artefacts
o r Problems.
T h e o th er books w hich som e ascribe to him a re eith er com
pilations o f his w orks o r else a greed to be by others.
(D iogen es L aertius, Lives o f the Philosophers IX 4 5 -4 9 )
DEMOCRITUS
I Atomism
For Democritus most celebrated doctrine, his atomism, we are obliged
to rely on second-hand reports.
248
DEMOCRITUS
249
EA RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
DEMOCRITUS
II Knowledge
Democritus atomism was the framework within which he tried to
understand the nature o f the world. At the same time it was a theory
which appeared to have strongly sceptical implications. It is best to
approach this topic by setting down the passages in which Plutarch
records and criticizes two objections made against Democritus by Epi
curus pupil Colotes.
[Colotes] first accuses [D em ocritus] o f saying that each o bject
is no m ore such-and-such than so-and-so, an d th ereb y th ro w
in g life into confusion . B u t D em ocritu s is so fa r fro m th in kin g
that each subject is n o m o re such-and-such than so-and-so that
251
E ARL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
DEMOCRITUS
[ 7]
and again:
Yet it will be clear that to know how each thing is in reality is a
puzzle, [ 8]
Now in these passages h e does aw ay in e ffe ct w ith all know l
ed ge, even if it is o n ly the senses which he explicitly attacks.
But in the Rules he says that th ere a re two form s o f kn o w led ge ,
one by way o f the senses and the o th er by way o f th e u n d e r
standing. T h e o n e by way o f the u n d erstan d in g he calls g e n u
ine, ascribing reliability to it with reg a rd to the d iscrim ination
o f truth; the o n e by way o f the senses he nam es d ark , d e n y in g
that it is u n errin g with rega rd to the d iscern m en t o f w hat is
true. T h e s e a re his words:
There are two forms o f knowledge, one genuine and the other
dark. To the dark belong all these: sight, hearing, smell, taste,
touch. The dark, separated from this < . . .> . [ 11a]
T h e n , setting the g en u in e above th e d ark , he con tin u es thus:
253
When the dark can no longer see more finely or hear or smell or
taste or perceive by touch, *but somethingfiner* < . . .> . [ l lb]
So a cco rd in g to D em ocritus, reason, w hich he calls gen u in e
kn o w led ge, is the stand ard o f truth.
B u t D iodm us said that he su pposed th ree standards: fo r the
ap p reh en sion o f w hat is u n clear the stan d ard is the ap p aren t
(fo r w hat a p p ears is the sight o f w hat is u n clear, as A n a x a go ras
says [59 B 21a] - and D em ocritus praised him fo r this); fo r
investigation, it is the co n cep t (fo r in every case, my frien d ,
on e p rin cip le is to know w hat the investigation is abo u t [Plato,
Phaedrus 273B]); o f choice and avoidance, it is the p a s s io n s - fo r
that w hich we find congenial is to be chosen and that w hich we
find alien is to be avoided .
(Sextus Em piricus, Against the Mathematicians V I I 13 5 -14 0 )
Diogenes Laertius expresses the same sequence o f thoughts more briefly:
A cco rd in g to som e, X en o p h an es an d Z en o o f E lea and
D em ocritus w ere sceptics . . . D em ocritus, w ho does away with
qualities w h ere he says:
By convention hot, by convention cold: in reality atoms and void.
[c f 125]
A n d again:
In reality we know nothing fo r truth is in the depths, [ 117]
(D iogen es L aertius, Lives o f the Philosophers IX 72)
Several other texts refer to Democritus celebrated claim that 'by conven
tion colour' etc.
E veryo n e knows that the greatest ch a rg e against any argu m e n t
is that it conflicts w ith what is evid en t. F or argu m en ts cannot
even start w ithout self-eviden ce: how then can they be credible
if th ey attack that fro m w hich they took th eir beginnings?
D em ocritus too was aw are o f this; fo r w hen he had b rou gh t
ch arges against the senses, saying:
By convention colour, by convention sweet, by convention bitter:
in reality atoms and void,
he had the senses rep ly to th e intellect as follows:
254
DEMOCRITUS
Poor mind, do you lake your evidence from us and then try to
overthrow us? Our overthrow is your fall, [ 125]
So one should co n d em n the unreliability of an a rg u m e n t
which is so bad that its m ost persuasive p art conflicts with the
eviden t propositions fro m which it took its start.
(G alen, On Medical Experience X V 7 -8 )
255
EARLY GREEK PH IL O SO P H Y
256
DEMOCRITUS
257
E A RL Y GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
258
DEMOCRITUS
The next few pages contain one or two passages which testify to
Democritus other scientific and literary interests. These included math
ematics, geography, and biology:
259
260
DEMOCRITUS
262
DEMOCRITUS
I V M oral Philosophy
Numerous purported fragments o f Democritus' moral and political
philosophy survive. They are puzzling on two counts. First, it is in
many cases uncertain whether or not the ascription to Democritus is
trustworthy. Secondly, it is not clear to what extent the fragments rep
resent the remains o f a system atic moral theory, or to what extent
that theory (i f it existed) was connected to Democritus atomism.
Most o f the fragments are preserved in two collections. I shall first
set doxvn the remaining scattered fragments and then transcribe the
collected items.
T h e A bd erites too say that th ere is a goal o f action. D em ocritus,
in his w ork On the Goal, says th at it is con ten tm en t, w hich he
also calls w ell-being; and he o ften rem arks:
For joy and absence o f joy is the boundary < o f advantage and
disadvantage, [ 4; c f i 88]
T h is, he says, is the goal in life fo r m en both y o u n g > an d old.
H ecataeus holds that the goal is self-sufficiency, A p o llo d o tu s
263
EARLY GREEK PH IL O S O P H Y
264
DEMOCRITUS
D em ocritus:
Do not be eager to know everything lest you become ignorant o f
everything.
( H i 12 = 169)
Dem ocritus:
Reason is a powerful persuader.
(II iv 12: c f 51)
'
265
( vii 3i)
D em ocritus:
M en fashioned the image o f chance as an excuse fo r their own
thoughtlessness; fa r chance rarely fights with wisdom, and a man
o f intelligence will, byforesight, set straight most things in his life.
(II viii 16 = 1 19)
D em ocritus:
From the same sources from which good things come to us we may
also draw bad; but we may avoid the bad. For example, deep water
is useful fo r many purposes, and then again it is bad for there
is danger o f drowning. So a device has been discovered: teaching
people to swim, [ 172]
idem :
For men bad things spring from good, when one does not know
how to manage the good or to keep it resourcefully. It is not just
to count such things bad: they are good, but it is possible, for
anyone who wishes, to use good things fo r bad ends too. [ 173]
A contented man who is led to deeds which are just and lawful
rejoices night and day and is strengthened and free o f care; but
the man who pays no heed to justice and does not do what he
ought, finds all his deeds joyless when he remembers any o f them,
and he is afraid and he reproaches himself, [ 174]
The gods, both in the past and now, give men all things except
those which are bad and harmful and useless. Neither in the past
nor now do the gods bestow these on men, but they come upon
them themselves because o f the blindness and folly o f their minds.
[ 175]
Fortune offers many gifts, but is unstable: nature is self-sufficient:
that is why, being smaller but stable, she conquers the greater
forces o f hope, [ 176]
(II ix 1 -5 )
D em ocritus:
Many men perform the foulest deeds and practise the fairest
words.
(II X V 33 = 53a)
266
DEMOCRITUS
Dem ocritus:
One must emulate the deeds and actions o f virtue, not the words.
(II x v 36 = 55)
D em ocritus:
Fine words do not hide fo u l actions nor is a good action spoiled
by slanderous words.
(II xv 40 = 177)
D em ocrates:
Indulgence is the worst o f all things with regard to the education
ofyouth; fo r it is this which gives birth to the pleasures from which
badness originates, [ 178]
idem :
< . . .> children who are given free rein will learn neither letters
nor music nor gymnastics nor yet what most sustains virtue - a
sense o f shame; for it is precisely from this that shame usually
originates, [ 179]
idem :
Education is an ornament fo r the fortunate, a refuge fo r the
unfortunate, [ 180]
idem :
The use o f exhortation and the persuasion o f reason will appear
a stronger inducement to virtue than law and necessity. For one
who has been kept from injustice by law is likely to do wrong in
secret, while one who has been led to duty by persuasion is unlikely
to do anything improper either in secret or in public. That is why
a man who acts uprightly from wisdom and knowledge is at the
same time both courageous and right-thinking, [ 181]
(II x x x i 5 6 -5 9 )
Dem oc:
Learning produces fine things by labour: fo u l things come tofruit
spontaneously without labour. For even one who is unwilling is
often prevented < . . .>
(II x x x i 66 = 182)
Democ:
Neither skill nor wisdom is attainable unless you learn, [ 59]
267
idem :
There is surely intelligence among the young and lack o f intelli
gence among the old; fo r it is not time that teaches good sense but
timely upbringing and nature, [ 183]
idem :
Those who contradict and babble on are ill-equipped fo r learning.
[ 85]
'
(II x x xi 7 1 - 7 3 )
D em oc:
Frequent association with the wicked increases a disposition to
vice.
(II x x x i 90 = 184)
Dem oc:
The hopes o f the educated are better than the wealth o f the ignor
ant.
(II x x x i 94 = 185)
D em ocritus:
Similarity o f mind makes friendship.
(II xxxiii 9 = 186)
D em ocritus:
It is fitting fo r men to set more store by their souls than by their
bodies; fo r perfection o f soul rights wickedness o f body, but
strength o f body without reasoning makes the soul no better at all.
( I l l i 27 = 187 = 36)
D em ocritus:
It is fitting to yield to the law, the rulers, the wiser, [ 47]
D em ocritus:
The boundary o f advantage and disadvantage is joy and absence
o f joy. [ 188]
It is best fo r a man to live his life with as much contentment and
as little grief as possible; this will come about i f he does not take
his pleasures in mortal things, [ 189]
(III i 45-47)
268
DEMOCRITUS
D em ocritus:
One should avoid even speaking o f evil deeds.
( I l l i 91 = 190)
D em ocrates:
One should refrain from wrong-doing not because o f fear but
because o f duty.
( I l l i 95 = 4 1)
D em ocritus:
For men gain contentment from moderation in joy and a meas
ured life: deficiencies and excesses tend to change and to produce
large movements in the soul, and souls which move across large
intervals are neither stable nor content. Thus you must set your
judgement on the possible and be satisfied with what you have,
giving little thought to things that are envied and admired, and
not dwelling on them in your mind; and you must observe the
lives o f those who are badly off, considering what they suffer, so
that what you have and what belongs to you may seem great and
enviable and, by no longer desiring more, you may not suffer in
your soul. For one who admires those who possess much and are
deemed blessed by other men and who dwells on them every hour
in his memory is compelled always to plan something new and,
because o f his desire, to set himself to do some pernicious deed that
the laws forbid. That is why you must not seek certain things and
must be content with others, comparing your own life with that o f
those who do worse and deeming yourself blessed, when you reflect
on what they undergo, in faring and living so much better than
they do. For i f you hold fast to this judgement you will live in
greater contentment and will drive away those not inconsiderable
plagues o f life, jealousy and envy and ill-will.
( I l l i 210 = 191)
Dem ocritus:
To praise and to blame what one should not are both easy, but
each is a mark o f a wicked character.
( I ll ii 36 = 192)
269
EARLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
Dem ocritus:
It is the mark o f good sense to guard against future injustice, and
o f insensibility not to defend oneself when it has occurred.
( I l l iii 43 = 193)
D em ocritus:
Great joys come from contemplating noble works.
( I l l iii 46 = 194)
D em ocritus:
Images are by their dress and adornment magnificent to observe,
but they are empty o f heart, [ 195]
Forgetting ones own misfortunes generates boldness, [ 196]
Fools are shaped by the gifts o f fortune, those who understand
such things by the gifts o f wisdom, [ 197]
*That which is in need knows how much it needs: he who needs
does not recognize the fa c t* [ 198]
Fools, though they hate life, wish to live from fear o f Hades.
[ 199]
Fools live without enjoying life, [ 200]
Fools desire longevity but do not enjoy longevity, [ 201]
Fools desire what is absent: what is present, although it is more
beneficial than what is past, they squander, [ 202]
In fleeing death men pursue it. [ 203]
Fools give no pleasure in the whole o f their lives, [ 204]
Fools, fearing death, desire life, [ 205]
Fools, fearing death, want to grow old. [ 206]
Many who have learned much possess no sense, [ 64]
Without intelligence, reputation and wealth are not safe pos
sessions. [ 77]
(III iv 69-82)
D em ocritus:
One should choose not every pleasure but that concerned with the
noble, [ 207]
Rightful love is longing xvithout violence fo r the noble, [ 73]
270
DEMOCRITUS
EARLY GREEK PH IL O SO P H Y
D em ocritus:
Only those who hate injustice are loved by the gods, [ 2 17]
(III ix 29-30)
D em ocritus:
When wealth comes from bad activity it makes the disgrace more
conspicuous.
( I l l x 36 = 218)
D em ocritus:
It is a waste o f labour to offer advice to those who think they possess
sense, [ 52]
idem :
Desire fo r money, i f it is not limited by satiety, is fa r heavier than
extreme poverty; fo r greater desires create greater needs, [ 219]
D em ocritus:
E v il gains bring loss o f virtue, [ 220]
(III x 42-44)
D em ocritus:
Hope o f evil gain is the beginning o f loss.
( I l l x 58 = 221)
D em ocritus:
The excessive accumulation o f money fo r ones children is an
excuse fo r avarice which displays its peculiar character, [ 222]
idem :
Whatever the body needs can readily befound by everyone without
trouble or misery: the things which need trouble and misery and
make life painful are craved not by the body but by misapprehen
sion o f judgement, [ 223]
(III x 64 -65)
Dem ocritus:
The desire fo r more destroys what is present - like Aesops dog.
( I ll x 68 = 224)
272
DEMOCRITUS
Demotfritus:
One should tell the truth, not speak at length.
( I l l xii 13 = 44 = 225)
Dem ocritus:
It is better to examine your own mistakes than those o f others.
[ 60]
D em ocritus:
Frankness is a mark o f liberty, but discerning the right occasion
is hazardous, [ 226]
(III xiii 4 6 -4 7 )
Dem ocritus:
To praise someone for noble deeds is noble; fo r to praise for bad
deeds is the mark o f a cheat and a deceiver.
( I l l xiv 8 = 63)
D em ocritus:
The thrifty behave like bees, working as though they are to live for
ever, [ 227]
idem :
The children o f the thrifty who are ignorant are like those dancers
who leap over knives they are killed i f they fa il to land on the
one place where they should rest their feet (and it is difficult to
land on the one place, fo r there is only room fo r their feet there).
In the same way they too, i f they fa il to acquire their fathers
careful and thrifty character, are likely to be destroyed, [ 228]
idem:
Thrift and fasting are good: so too is extravagance on occasion:
it is the mark o f a good man to recognize the occasion, [ 229]
(III xvi 16 -19 )
D em ocritus:
A life without feasts is a long road without inns.
( I l l xvi 22 = 230)
Dem ocritus:
A man o f sound judgement is not grieved by what he does not
possess but rejoices in what he does possess.
( I l l xvii 25 = 231)
273
D em ocritus:
O f pleasant things those that occur most rarely give most joy.
[ 232]
idem :
I f you exceed the measure, what is most enjoyable becomes least
enjoyable, [ 233]
(III xvii 3 7-38 )
D em ocritus:
Men ask fo r health in their prayers to the gods: they do not realize
that the power to achieve it lies in themselves: lacking self-control,
they perform contrary actions and betray health to their desires.
( I l l xviii 30 = 234)
D em ocritus:
For those who get their pleasures from their bellies, exceeding the
measure in food and drink and sex, the pleasures are brief and
short-lived, lasting as long as they are eating or drinking; but the
pains are many. For they always have the same desire for the same
things; and when they obtain what they desire, the pleasure swiftly
departs, there is nothing good in them but a briefjoy, and they
need the same things again.
( I l l xviii 35 = 235)
D em ocritus:
It is hard to fight against anger: to master it is the mark o f a
rational man.
( I l l x x 56 = 236)
D em ocritus:
Ambition is always foolish: with its eye on what harms its enemy
it does not see its own advantage.
( I l l x x 62 = 237)
D em ocritus:
For one who compares himself to his betters ends with a bad
reputation.
DEMOCRITUS
D em ocritus:
Oaths made under compulsion are not kept by bad men once they
have escaped.
( I l l xxviii 13 = 239)
D em ocritus:
Voluntary labours make it easier to sustain involuntary labours.
[ 240]
idem:
Continuous labour becomes lighter by custom, [ 2 4 1 ]
(III x x ix 6 3 -6 4 )
Dem ocritus:
More men are good by practice than by nature, [ 242]
idem :
Actions always planned are never completed, [ 81 ]
(III x x ix 6 6 -6 7 )
D em ocritus:
A ll labours are more pleasant than rest when men achieve what
they labour fo r or know that they will achieve it. *But ifyou shun
them and fail, everything* is both painful and miserable.
( I l l x x ix 88 = 243)
D em ocritus:
Even when you are alone, neither say nor do anything bad: learn
to feel shame before yourself rather than before others.
( I l l x x x i 7 = 244)
D em ocritus:
It is greedy to say everythine: and to want to listen to nothing.
...............................
( I l l x x x v i 24 = 86)
Dem ocritus:
One should either be or imitate a good man.
( I l l xx x v ii 22 = 39)
275
Dem ocritus:
I f your character is orderly, your life too will be well-ordered.
( I l l xxxv ii 25 = 61)
D em ocritus:
A good man pays no heed to the censures o f the bad. [ 48]
idem :
Envious men pain themselves as though they were their own
enemies, [ 88]
(III xxxviii 4 6 -4 7)
D em ocritus:
The laws would not forbid each o f us to live at his own pleasure
i f one man did not harm another; fo r envy makes the beginning
o f strife.
( I l l xxxviii 53 = 245)
D em ocritus:
Mercenary service leaches self-sufficiency in life; fo r bread and a
straw mattress are the sweetest cures foi hunger and exhaustion.
[ 246]
idem :
To a wise man the whole earth is accessible; fo r the home country
o f a good soul is the whole world, [ 247]
(III xl 6 -7 )
D em ocritus:
The law means to benefit the life o f men: it can do so when they
themselves mean to fare well - for to those who obey, it indicates
their own virtue, [ 248]
idem :
Internecine strife is bad fo r both parties; fo r victor and van
quished suffer the same destruction, [ 249]
(IV i 33-34)
D em ocritus:
From concord come great deeds, and from concord states can fight
wars - and in no other way.
(IV i 40 = 250)
276
DEMOCRITUS
D em ocritus:
Poverty in a democracy is preferable to what is called prosperity
among tyrants by as much as liberty is preferable to slavery.
[ 251]
One should think it o f greater moment than anything else that the
affairs o f the state are conducted well, neither being contentious
beyond what is proper nor allotting strength to oneself beyond the
common good. For a state which is conducted well is the best means
to success: everything depends on this, and i f this is preserved
everything is preserved and i f this is destroyed everything is
destroyed, [ 252]
It is not advantageous fo r good men to neglect themselves and
look to other things; for their own affairs will go badly. But i f
anyone neglects public affairs he comes to have a bad reputation,
even i f he steals nothing and commits no injustice. For even i f he
takes care and does no wrong, there is still a danger that he will
get a bad reputation and indeed fare badly: wrong-doing is
inevitable and forgiveness is not easy fo r men. [ 253]
When bad men gain office, the more unworthy they are the more
heedless they become and the more they are filled with folly and
rashness, [ 254]
When those in power take it upon themselves to lend to the poor
and to aid them and to favour them, then is there pity and no
isolation but companionship and mutual defence and concord
among the citizens and other good things too many to catalogue.
[ 255]
(IV i 4 2 -4 6 )
Dem ocritus:
It is better for fools to be ruled than to rule, [ 75]
idem:
Justice is doing what should be done, injustice not doing what
should be done but turning away from it. [ 256]
idem:
In the case o f certain animals, it stands thus with killing and not
killing: one who kills those who do or wish injustice suffers no
penalty, and to do so conduces more to well-being than not to do
so. [ 257]
277
One should kill at any cost anything that offends against justice;
and anyone who does this *will in every society have a greater
share o f contentment and justice and boldness and property.*
[ 258]
As I have -written about dangerous beasts and animals, so I think
one should act in the case o f humans too: one should kill an enemy
in accordance with the traditional laws in every society, in which
law does not prohibit it: it is prohibited by the sacred customs o f
different countries, by treaties, by oaths, [ 259]
Anyone who kills a highwayman or a pirate should be free from
penalty, whether he does it by his own hand, by issuing an order,
or by casting a vote, [ 260]
"
(IV ii 13 -18 )
D em ocritus:
It is hard to be ruled by an inferior.
(IV iv 27 = 49)
D em ocritus:
One should avenge injustices to the best o f ones ability and not
pass them by; fo r to do so is just and good, not to do so is unjust
and bad. [ 261]
D em ocritus:
.
Those who do deeds worthy o f exile or imprisonment or who are
worthy o f punishment should be condemned and not acquitted;
anyone who acquits them contrary to the law, judging by gain or
by pleasure, acts unjustly and this must lie heavy on his heart.
[ 262]
idem :
Those who *worthily fu lfil the greatest offices* have the greatest
share o f justice and virtue, [ 263]
idem :
Feel shame before others no more than before yourself: do wrong
no more i f no-one is to know about it than i f all men are: feel
shame above all before yourself and set this up as a law in your
soul so that you may do nothing unsuitable, [ 264]
idem :
M en remember wrongs better than benefits. And that is just; for
278
DEMOCRITUS
as those who repay their debts should not be praised whereas those
who do not should be blamed and suffer, so too is it with rulers.
For they were elected not to do wrong but to do right, [ 265]
There is no means, as things are now constituted, whereby rulers
may be protected from injustice, even i f they are very good men.
< . . .> These things too, I think, should be so arranged that one
who commits no injustice, even i f he severely examines doers o f
injustice, should not come under their power: rather, a statute, or
something else, should protect those who do what is just, [ 266]
(IV v 4 3 -4 8 )
D em ocritus:
Ruling is by nature appropriate to the superior.
(IV vi 19 = 267)
Dem ocritus:
Fear produces flattery: it does not gain good-will.
(IV vii 13 = 268)
D em ocritus:
Boldness is the beginning o f action: fortune controls the end.
(IV x 28 = 269)
Dem ocritus:
Use servants like parts ofyour body, one fo r one task and another
fo r another.
(IV x ix 45 = 270)
D em ocritus:
I f a woman is loved she is not blamed fo r lust.
(IV x x 33 = 271)
D em ocritus: D em ocritus said that o n e w ho is lucky in his sonin-law gains a son, o n e w ho is u nlu cky loses a d au g h ter.
(IV xxii 108 = 272)
279
EARLY GREEK P H IL O S O P H Y
D em ocritus:
A woman is fa r sharper than a man when it comes to foolish
counsels.
(IV x x ii 199 = 273)
D em ocritus:
To speak little is an adornment in a woman - and it is best to be
sparing with adornments, [ 274]
D em ocritus:
To be ruled by a woman is the fin al insult fo r a man. [ 1 11]
(IV xxiii 38-39)
D em ocritus:
H aving children is dangerous: success is fu ll o f trouble and care,
failure is unsurpassed by any other pain.
(IV xx iv 29 = 275)
D em ocritus:
I think one should not have children; fo r in the having o f children
I see many great dangers, many pains, few advantages and
those thin and weak, [ 276]
idem :
Anyone who has a need fo r children would do better, I think, to
get them from his friends. He will then have a child o f the sort he
wishes - f o r he can choose the sort he wants, and one that seems
suitable to him will by its nature best follow him. There is this
great difference: here you may choose among many as you will
and take a child o f the sort you need; but i f you produce a child
yourself there are many dangers fo r you must make do with the
one you get. [ 277]
idem :
M en think that, by nature and some ancient constitution, it is a
matter o f necessity to get children. A nd so, it is plain, do other
animals too; fo r they all acquire offspring by nature and not with
any useful end in view when they are bom, the parents suffer
and rear each as best they can, and they fear fo r them as long as
they are small, and i f they are hurt they grieve. Such is the nature
o f all living creatures; but for men it has been made a custom that
some gain actually comes from offspring, [ 278]
(IV xxiv 3 1 -3 3 )
280
DEMOCRITUS
D em ocritus:
You should share your goods with your children so fa r as possible,
and at the same time care for them lest they do any mischief with
what they have in their hands. For then they become at the same
time fa r more thrifty with their money and keener to acquire it,
and they compete with one another. For common expenditure does
not grieve us as much as private, nor common acquisition content
us - but far less, [ 279]
idem:
It is possible, without spending much money, to educate your child
ren and to build a wall and a protection about their goods and
their persons, [ 280]
(IV x x v i 2 5 -2 6 )
D em ocritus:
For beasts, good breeding consists in bodily strength: fo r men, in
grace o f character.
(IV x x ix 18 = 57)
Dem ocritus:
Just as among injuries cancer is the worst disease, so in goods
<. . >
(IV x x x i 49 = 281)
D em ocritus:
Money when used with sense promotes generosity and charity:
when used with folly it is *a common expense*, [ 282]
idem :
It is not useless to make money, but to do so as a result o f wrong
*doing is the worst o f all things, [ 78]
(IV x x x i 12 0 -1 2 1 )
Dem ocritus:
Poverty and wealth are names fo r lack and satiety; so one who
bcks is not wealthy and one who does not lack is not poor, [ 283]
281
EARLY GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
D em ocritus:
I f you do not desire much, a little will seem much to you; for a
small appetite makes poverty as powerful as wealth, [ 284]
(IV xxxiii 23-24)
D em ocritus:
Those who seek good things fin d them with difficulty: bad things
come even to those who do not seek them.
(IV x x xiv 58 = 108)
D em ocritus:
A ll men, aware o f the wretchedness o f life, suffer for their whole
lives in troubles and fears, telling false stories about fear after
death.
(IV x xxiv 62: c f 297)
D em ocritus:
You must recognize that human life is fra il and brief and con
founded by many plagues and incapacities: then you will care
fo r moderate possessions and your misery will be measured by
necessity.
(IV x x xiv 65 = 285)
D em ocritus:
Fortune is being content with moderate goods, misfortune being
discontent with many.
(IV x x x ix 17 = 286)
D em ocritus:
I f you are to be content you must not undertake many activities,
whether as an individual or in concert with others, nor choose
activities beyond your own power and nature; but you must be on
your guard so that even when fortune strikes you and leads you
to excess by your beliefs, you put it aside and do not attempt more
than you can. For a modest cargo is safer than a great.
(IV x x x ix 25 = 3)
282
DEMOCRITUS
Dem ocritus:
Shared poverty is harder than private poverty; fo r no hope o f
relief remains, [ 287]
Your house and your life, no less than your body, may suffer
disease, [ 288]
(IV xl 2 0 -2 1)
Dem ocritus:
It is irrational not to accommodate yourself to the necessities o f
life.
(IV xliv 64 = 289)
D em ocritus:
Drive out by reasoning the unmastered pain o f a numbed soul.
[ 290]
idem:
It is important to think as you should in times o f misfortune.
[ 42]
idem:
Magnanimity is bearing wrongs lightly, [ 46]
idem:
It is a mark o f the temperate to bear poverty well, [ 201]
(IV xliv 6 7 -7 0 )
D em ocritus:
The hopes o f those who think aright are attainable: the hopes o f
the unintelligent are impossible, [ 58]
D em ocritus:
The hopes o f the unintelligent are irrational, [ 292]
(IV xlvi 18 -19 )
D em ocritus:
Those who take pleasure in the disasters o f their neighbours do
not understand how the affairs o f fortune are common to all
and they lack any joy o f their own.
283
D em ocritus:
Strength and shapeliness are the good things o f youth: temperance
is the flower o f age.
(IV 1 20 = 294)
D em ocritus:
Old men were once young, but it is uncertain i f young men will
reach old age. Now a completed good is better than one which is
still to come and is uncertain.
(IV 1 22 = 295)
D em ocritus:
Age is a general mutilation: it retains everything but everything
is defective.
(IV I 76 = 296)
Dem ocritus:
Some men who do not know how mortal nature dissolves but are
aware o f the wretchedness o f life spend their whole lives in troubles
and fears, fashioning false stories about the time after death.
(IV Iii 40 = 297)
We also possess a long list o f maxims ascribed in the manuscripts to
'Democrates'. Some o f these are certainly Democritean and many others
may derive ultimately from Democritus. Although some are certainly
not by Democritus, it seems best to translate the list as a whole and to
let it stand as an Appendix to the fragments o f Democritus.
I f anyone listens to these maxims o f mine with intelligence, he
will do many deeds worthy o f a good man and he will leave undone
many bad deeds, [ 35]
It is fitting for men to set more store by their souls than by
their bodies; fo r perfection o f soul rights wickedness o f body, but
strength o f body without reasoning makes the soul no better at all.
[ 36 = 187]
H e who chooses the goods o f the soul chooses the more divine:
he who chooses the goods o f the body, the human, [ 37]
It is noble to prevent a wrong-doer; or i f not, not to do wrong
with him. [ 38]
284
DEMOCRITUS
285
EARLY GREEK P H I L O S O P H Y
286
DEMOCRITUS
One should be on guard against bad men lest they lake their
opportunity, [ 87]
Envious men pain themselves as though they were their own
enemies, [ 88]
Your enemy is not he who wrongs you but he who wishes to.
[ 89]
'
Enmity among kin is fa r worse than enmity among strangers.
[ 90]
Do not suspect everyone - but be prudent and safe, [ 91 ]
You should accept favours only i f you expect to give greater
favours in return, [ 92]
When doing a favour keep watch on the receiver lest he prove
a cheat and return evil for good, [ 93]
Small favours at the right lime are very great for those who
receive them, [ 94]
Honours count much with the wise who understand that they
are being honoured, [ 95]
A generous man is not one who looks to a return but one who
has chosen to confer a benefit, [ 96]
Many who seem to be friends are not: many who do not seem
to be are. [ 97]
The friendship o f one intelligent man is better than that o f all
the unintelligent, [ 98]
A man who has not a single good friend does not deserve to
live, [ 99]
A man whose well-tried friends do not long stand by him has a
graceless character, [ ]
Many avoid theirfriends when theyfa ll from wealth to poverty.
[ 101]
Equality is everywhere noble: excess and deficiency do not to
me seem so. [ 102]
A man who loves no-one seems to me to be loved by no-one.
[ 103]
Old men are charming i f they are wily and earnest, [ 104]
287
288
22
DIOGENES OF
APOLLONIA
The Presocratic Diogenes, the first o f several ancient philosophers to
bear that name, came from a town called Apollonia either Apollonia
in Crete or Apollonia on the Black Sea. H e is said to have been the last
o f the Presocratic natural philosophers: that remark, together with the
various parodies o f his views found in the comic playwrights, suggests
that he was active in the 430s and 420s. (There is no evidence fo r a
more precise chronology.)
Theophrastus wrote a monograph on Diogenes. His general line o f
interpretation emerges from the following short passage:
290
D IO G E N E S OF A P O L L O N I A
291
292
D IO G E N E S OF A P O L L O N I A
and from them fine, many-branched vessels pass into the rest o f
the hand and the fingers. Other finer ones extend from the first
vessels, from the right vessel into the liver and from the left into
the spleen and the kidneys. Those which extend into the legs divide
at the junction and extend throughout the thighs. The largest o f
them extends down the back o f the thigh and is seen to be thick;
another passes inside the thigh, a little less thick than the former.
Then they extend past the knee into the shin and the foot (just like
those which extend into the hands), descending in the direction o f
the sole o f the foot and thence extending into the toes. Many fine
vessels divide from them in the direction o f the belly and theflanks.
Those which extend into the head through the throat appear large
in the neck. From each o f them, where it ends, many vessels divide
o ff into the head, those from the right towards the left and those
from the left towards the right. Each ends at the ear. There is
another vessel in the neck, next to the large vessel on each side
and a little smaller than it, with which most o f the vesselsfrom the
head itself connect. These extend through the throat inside. From
each o f them, vessels extend under the shoulder-blades and into
the hands, and they are seen alongside the spleen-vessel and the
liver-vessel, a little smaller in size. These are the vessels which are
lanced when anything causes pain beneath the skin it is the
liver-vessel and the spleen-vessel which are lanced when anything
causes pain in the belly. Others extend from these under the
breasts. Other vessels extend from each o f these through the spinal
marrow into the testicles; these are fine. Others extend under the
skin and through the flesh into the kidneys, and end in the case o f
males in the testicles and in the case o f females in the womb. These
are called the spermatic vessels. The vessels are broader as they
first leave the belly, and then become finer until they change from
the right to the left and vice versa. The thickest part o f the blood
is absorbed by thefleshy parts; that which overflows into the regions
just mentioned becomes fine and hot and frothy, [ 6]
(A ristotle, History o f Animals 51 ^ 3 0 - 5 1 2b 11)
Finally, the way in which air affects our mental lives may be illus
trated by a passage from Theophrastus account o f Diogenes psycho
logical views:
293
294
Appendix
THE SOURCES
T h e follow in g telegra p h ic notes are d esign ed to co n vey som e
m inim al idea o f each o f the authorities w ho a re q u oted in the
course o f this book. T h e list also includes the m ost im portan t o f
the sources w ho are now available to us only indirectly th ro u gh
quotation in later authors. T h e notes gen erally give, first, the
dates o f the source; then his place o f birth (p reced ed by the
letter b .) and the location o f his m ain activities (preced ed by
an arrow); thirdly, a hint o f his intellectual allegiances;
fou rth ly, an indication - w here apposite - o f those o f his works
which are m ost pertin en t to the study o f the Presocratics. T h e
letter Q in square brackets indicates that the sou rce is h im self
known to us only indirectly; the letter L in square brackets
indicates that the sou rce w rote in Latin (all sources not so stig
m atized w rote in G reek).
T h e most im portan t sources a re in trod u ced by bold type.
T h e length o f a note is not p rop ortio n al to the im p ortan ce o f
its subject.
T h e sources are listed in alphabetical o rd e r, an o n ym ou s and
pseudonym ous works bein g collected at the end.
Achilles: third century a d (?); astronom er
Aelian: second h alf o f second century a d ; b. Praeneste; > Rome;
wrote The Nature of Animals and Miscellaneous Inquiries
Agathemerus: first century a d (?); geograph er
Albert the Great: a d 1200-1280; theologian and scholar; teacher o f
Thom as Aquinas
295
appen d ix
the sources
296
a ppen d ix
the sources
Dio o f Prusa:
297
appen d ix
the sources
Hierocles: flourished early fifth century a d ; - A lexandria; Neoplatonist philosopher, author o f com m entary on the so-called Golden
Verses o f Pythagoras
Hippolylus: a d c. 18 0 -2 3 5;Rome; Christian, fierce controversialist,
chosen as anti-Pope, exiled to Sardinia. His Refutation of All
Heresies, in ten books, contains much inform ation about pagan philo
sophy
Hisdosus: flourished a d c . 1100; wrote on Platos psychology
Lucian:
298
appen d ix
the sources
appen d ix
the sources
300
a ppen d ix
the sources
a d
Scholiasts
Scholia are notes. Many manuscripts o f ancient authors have scholia
in their margins. T h ese notes vary greatly in value and in date. T h is
book has cited scholia to:
Euripides, Phoenician Women [tragedy, c. 410 ]
G regory o f Nazianzus [Bishop, a d 330-390]
Hom er
Nicander [didactic poet, second century (?)]
Plato
301
FU RTHER READING
302
FURTHER
READING
303
SUBJECT INDEX
Air. 7 7 . 79 - 289-92
Botany, 185-86
Causation, 1 7 -18 , 137, 235,
246-47, 257 (see also Love,
Necessity, Strife)
C hance, 177 -7 8 , 266, 282
C han ge, 7 5 ,7 7 , 1 1 6 - 1 7 , 135,
143, 147, 166, 169, 170, 223,
290
(see also G eneration, Motion)
C hrysippus, 259-60
Colotes, 132, 1717 2 ,2 5 1 -5 2
Colours, 227, 252-53, 254-55
Cosm os, 1819
Croesus, 62, 66
C roton, 11, 81, 86, 89, 216, 225
Death, 86, 9 0 - 9 1 ,1 1 9 - 2 1 , 125,
172 (see also Immortality)
Dem ocritus, 11, 24, 46-48, 66,
78, 112, 234-35, 238-39, 242,
24488
Diogenes o f Apollonia, 48-49,
28&-94
D oxography, 25
Earth, 9 7-98 , 232-33
Earth, T h e , 63, 72, 74, 77, 78,
7 9 ,9 8 , 140, 184-85
Eclipse, 62, 66, 72
Effluences, 181-82
3 5
SUBJECT
Egypt, 1 1 , 1 5 , 5 9 - 6 - 6 3 - 6 7 - 69.
84, 86, 205, 244
Elements, 63, 7 1 , 7 4 -7 5 , 122,
137, 167, 169, 170, 173-74 ,
188-89, 29 (see also Air,
Earth, Fire, Principles, Water)
Empedocles, 11, 1 2 ,4 1 - 4 3 ,8 2
83,
9 1, 161201, 247
Epicharm us, 5 6 -57
Epicurus, 57, 252
Eternal recurrence, 88, 166-67,
170 -71 (see also Immortality)
Ethics, 68-69, lo 5 >24 > 263-88
(see also Aphorism s, J ustice,
Vegetarianism )
Eudem us, 64, 152 -53, 158, 210,
INDEX
235
Euripides, 14, 100, 108, 114,
226, 237
Eurytus, 211
Evolution, 72, 73, 241, 260-61
(see also Monsters)
Existence, 132-33, 143, 145,
153, 248, 254
Fate, see Necessity
Fire, 104, 106-107, 12 2 -2 3 ,2 14
Flavours, 258-59
Fossils, 99
G eneration, 134, 143, 145-46,
165-66, 17 1, 1 7 3 ,2 3 2 -3 3 (5 ^
also Change, Existence)
G eography, 7 1 , 260
G eom etry, 6 4-65 , 66, 85, 210,
2 1 8 -1 9 ,2 59-60 (see also
Mathematics)
Gods, 1 6 -1 7 , 5 5 - 5 7 . 6 4 , 9 5 - 9 7 .
104, 119, 179, 193, 196, 218,
261, 266 (see also Myth,
Ritual)
SUBJECT
4 3 -4 9
Metempsychosis, 82-83, 86-87,
194-96 (see also Eternal
recurrence)
M eteorology, 72, 77, 78
Miletus, 11, 65, 67, 7 1 , 77, 226
Mind, 227-28, 23 0 -31, 235,
236, 240 (see also Soul)
Miracles, 85, 162
Monism, see Unity
Monsters, 180-81
Moon, 66, 139-40, 183
Motion, 135, 145, 147-48, 155
57 (see also C hange, Void)
Music, 214, 2 1 7 -1 8
Music o f the spheres, 2 10 -11
Myth, 1516, 55-60 (see also
Ritual)
Nature, 19-20
Necessity, 75, 107, 114, 177,
INDEX
277
Porphyry, 153-54, 290
Principles, 20 -2 1, 63, 7 1 , 74 7 5
77, 9 6-97, 209, 224, 290 (see
also Elements)
Protagoras, 14, 158, 245, 252,
256
Psychology, see Perception, Soul,
Thought
Pythagoras, 11, 12, 28, 37, 81
88, 89, 93, 1 1 1 ,1 1 9 , 201, 202,
210, 215
Pythagoreans, 4344, 81, 88,
129, 163, 197, 202-203, 214
15, 216-22
- ,
93- 243
Numbers, 208-209, 217
Opposites, 72 -73 , 79, 90, 104, 107, 1 1 4 -1 5 , 136, 138
39, 209, 227
O rpheus, 121, 205
Parmenides, 11, 1 2 ,2 1 ,2 2 ,4 0 ,
93,96, 129-42, 150-52, 153
54- 87. 23. 242, 245
Perception, 9 1-9 2 , 113, 133-34,
141, 148-49, 163-64, 189-90,
Rainbow, 98
Rationality, 22-24
Relativity, 11516
Reproduction, 14 0 -4 1, 187-88,
220, 260
Respiration, 188-89
Ritual, 8 4 ,118 ,120 ,20 0 ,20 3-20 5
Rivers, 1 1 6 -1 7
Scepticism, 89, 9495, 112, 217,
233-34. 2 5 1 -5 7 (see also
Knowledge)
Simplicius, 25, 2629
307
SUBJECT
245
Solidity, 145, 148, 155, 247
Soul, 64, 66, 67, 79, 89, 106,
109, 116, 12 1-2 2 , 212, 220,
222, 264, 284, 290 (see also
Death, Immortality,
Metempsychosis, Mind,
Perception, T h ough t)
Strife, 166, 16 8 -71, , 7 4 - 7 7 (see
also War)
Sun, 66, 72, 98, 123-24, 183
T hales, 9, 11, 13, 15, 21, 22, 36,
6 1 - 7 0 ,7 1 ,7 2 ,7 4 ,9 3 ,2 2 4
T h eo lo gy, see Gods
T h o u g h t, 132, 136, 141, 191,
290 (see also Mind)
T hrasyllus, 245
INDEX
INDEX T O
QUOTED TEXTS
Achilles, Introduction to Aralus 4,
98; 16, 183
Aelian, The Nature o f Animals
X II 7, 196; X V I ag, 181
Agathemerus, Geography 1 1, 71;
1 1 -2 , 260
Albert the Great, On Vegetables
VI
ii 14, 116
. 189-90;
INDEX TO QUOTED T E X T S
1*9
Arius Didym us, fragm ent 39,
116
Athenaeus, Deipnosophisls 57D ,
236; 16 1B C , 207-208;
238CD, 208; 334B, 186;
526A , 15
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations IV
46, 125-26; V I 42, 120
*2 4 . 5 8
Democrates, Maxims 186, 284
88
Dio o f Prusa, On Homer
[Discourses liii] 1, 262
Diodorus, Universal History I v iii
1 - 7 , 260-61; X v i 1 -3 , 87;
X I I I lx x x iii 2, 192
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the
Philosophers I 21-28 , 6 5-67; I
3 3 -4 0 ,6 7 - 7 0 :1 8 8 , 1 1 1; I
119 , 58; I 120, 83; I I 6 -14 ,
236-39; I I 16, 240; II 22,
100; II I 10 ,5 7 ; V III 45 , 86
87; V I I I 6, 82, 1 1 1 ; V III 8,
82; V I I I 10, 202; V III 36, 82;
V III 59, 162; V I I I 6 0 ,1 6 1
62; V I I I 6 i, 19 1-9 2 ; V I I I 83,
89; V III 85, 216; IX 1,8 2 ; IX
1 -3 . 105; I X 5 - 1 2 , 106-108;
IX 15, 108; IX 18, 93; IX 21,
129, 140; I X 3 6 , 244; I X 4 1 ,
310
2 4 4 -4 5 ;IX 4 5 - 4 9 * 2 4 5 - 4 6 ;
IX 57, ago; IX 7a, 157, 254;
IX 73, 112
Diogenes o f O enoanda,
fragm ent 6 II, 255-56
Hippocrates Epidemics X V I I A
, 140, 187-88. The
Elements according to
Hippocrates I 4 1 7 418 K , 255.
On Medical Experience X V 78,
254-55
Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights I V x i
1 - 1 3 , 205-207; IV x i 9, 201
Nicomachus Introduction to
Arithmetic 7.8-25, 219; 19.21
25, 218. On the Pythagorean
Way of Life 8187, 203205;
88, 215; 162, 213; 247, 215
[lamblichus], Theological
Arithmetic 2 5 .17-2 6 .3 , 220
Isocrates, Busiris 28-29, 84
Singularities of Language
9 36.18 -20,98; 946.22-24, 94
Herodotus, Histories I 74.2, 62; I
7 5 -4 5 >62; 1 170.3, 62; II 81,
Philodemus, On Music IV
x x x v i, 262. Rhetoric I 3 5 S,
111
Philoponus, Commentary on the
Physics 125.87-30, 97
[Philoponus], Commentary on the
Generation of Animals 123.13
s i , 18182
Plato, Hippias Major 89AB , 1 15
16. Parmenides 187A ia8 D ,
150-52. Phaedo 9 7B C , 235;
98BC, 235. Republic 600AB,
84
Plotinus, Enneads IV viii 1, 117;
V i 8, 132
Plutarch, On Afflictions of Mind
and Body 500DE, 264. Camillus
138A, 124. Against Colotes
110 8 F -110 9 A , 252; m o F
1 1 1 1 A , 252; 1 1 1 1 F , 171;
11 13 A D , 1 7 1 -7 3 ; 1 1 14 B C ,
1 3 7 ; 1 1 1 6 A , 139-40; 1 118 C ,
113; 1123B , 181; 112 6 A , 264.
On Common Notions 1079E,
259-60. The Control of Anger
457D , 125; 464B, 201,
Coriolanus 232D, 112 .O n the
Decline of Oracles 418 C , 165;
433B, 182. On the E at Delphi
388DE, 123; 392B, 117. On
Educating Children gF, 262. On
Exile 604A, 123; 607CE, 193.
On the Face in the Moon 920C,
182; 925, 183; 986E, 179;
989AB, 140; 989C, 183;
929E, 183; 943E, 121. On
Fortune 98D, 186; 98F, 236.
X IV
200, 115
Proclus, Commentary on the
Cratylus 6.20-7.6, 262-63.
Commentary on Euclid 2 2 .9 -16 ,
218; 130.8 -14, 219; 16 7 .114,
219; 1 5 7 .1 0 - 1 1 ,6 4 ; 250.20
25 1.2,6 4 ; 2 9 9 .1-4 ,6 4 ;
3 5 2 .14 -18 ,6 5 ; 3 7 9 .1 -1 6 , 210;
42 6.1-9 , 210. Commentary on
the First Alcibiades 2 5 6 .1-6 ,
110. Commentary on the
Parmenides 70 8.7-22, 136.
Commentary on the Timaeus I
3 4 5 .11-2 7 , 13 1-3 2 ; II 8.2fr28, 184
Scholiasts, to Euripides,
Phoenician Women 18, 188.
to G regory o f Nazianzus,
X X X V I 91 iB C , 234. to
Hom er; Iliad X V I II 251,
111; Iliad X X I 195, 225. to
Nicander, Theriaca 452, 199.
to Plato, Gorgias 498E, 165;
Phaedo 108D, 214.
Sextus Empiricus, Against the
Mathematicians I 289, 95; I
302-303. 192; V I I 49, 94; V II
90, 234; V II 92, 218; V II
1 1 1 , 1 3 0 - 3 1 ,133 - 34 ; V I I
1 1 6 -1 1 8 , 249; V I I 12 2 -12 5 ,
163-64; V I I 126, 113; V II
13 2 -13 3 , 101; V I I 13 5 -14 0 ,
25254; V I I 140, 234-35; V II
265, 261; V I I 389-390, 256
57; IX 12 7 -12 9 , 200; IX 144,
96; IX 19 3 ,9 5 ; X 18 -1 9 , 57;
X 3 3 - 3 4 . 97-98; X 315,
>73774
Simplicius, Commentary on On the
33
48; 5 2 9 .2 1 -5 3 0 .1 1 ,1 7 5 ;
5 5 7 -1 0 - 1 7 * >4 6 - 4 7 ; 5 5 7 -*4 -
558.2, 131; 5 5 8 .8 - 1 1 ,1 4 1 - 4 2 ;
5 5 8 .17 -5 5 9 .13 ,14 8 -4 9 ;
5 5 9 .18 -2 7 .13 9 ;
5 8 6 .6 -7,18 0
5 8 6 .10 -12 , 180; 586.29
587-4. 180; 587*1226, 180;
608.2128, 230. Commentary
on the Physics 22.26-23.20, 97;
2 3 .21-29 , 224; 2 3 .2 9 -3 3 ,6 1;
* 3 -3 3 * 4 -4 - 214: * 4 -1 3 *5.
* 5 -1 - 9 . 289; 28 .4-15,
242-43; 2 8 .15 -2 7 , 248-49;
3 1 .3 -7 , 1 3 8 :3 1 .1 3 -1 7 , 137
3 8 :3 1.3 4 -3 4 .8 , 16 9 -7 1;
3 4 .18 -3 5 .2 1,
2 3 1-3 2 ; 38.29
39.21, 13 6 -3 7:8 6 .2 5 -3 0 , 132;
874-^7, 148; 10 3 .13 -10 4 .15 ,
144-45; 1 0 9 .1 9 - 1 1 0 .6 ,145
46; 1 1 1 .1 5 - 1 1 2 .1 5 , 147-48;
1 1 7 .2 - 1 3 , 133; 138.3-6, 152;
13 8 .2 9 -14 0 .6 ,15 2 -5 4 ;
1 4 0 .1 8 -1 4 1 .1 1 ,1 5 4 - 5 5 ;
1 4 4 .2 5 -14 6 .2 7 ,13 4 -3 5 ;
15 1.2 0 -15 3 .2 2 ,8 9 0 -9 2 ;
74- 75:
* 5 5 -* 3 - * 3 . * 3 3 - 3 4 ; * 5 5 -**
157.24, 227-29; 155 .2 3 -2 7,
26; 15 7 .2 5 -16 1.2 0 , 165-69;
16 2 .2 3 -2 6 ,14 5 ; 16 3 .18 -2 6 ,
2 3 2- 3 3 ; i 4 *4 - 6 5 *5 >229
30; 1 7 5 .1 1 - 1 5 , 232; 178.33
179.10, 233; 18 0 .8 -12 , 139;
300.16-24, 187; 300.27
301.10, 23 0 -31; 327.23-26,
248; 3 3 0 .3 1 -3 3 1 .1 6 ,17 8 ;
3 8 1.2 9 -3 8 2 .3 ,18 0 -8 1; 562.3
6. 5 7 - 5 8 ; 5 6 3 -l 7 - * o . >5 8:
7 3 * * 3 -3 3 - 88; 110 8 .14 -2 8
158; 1 12 4 .9 -18 , 176;
1 1 8 3 .2 8 -1 18 4 .1 8 ,17 6 -7 7
34
INDEX T O DIELSKRANZ B- T E X T S
Alcm aeon 24 B, 1, 89
Anaxagoras 59 B, i , 2 6 -3 1, 227,
229, 230, 231, 236; a, 227; 3,
229; 4, 227, 228-29, 230, 231,
2 3 '-3 2 ; 5> 227; 6 ,2 2 9 -3 0 ; 7,
230; 8, 232; 9, 232; 10, 234;
lk , 229; 1a, 227-28, 229, 230,
231, 232, 233; 13, 230-31; 14,
228; 15, 233; 16, 233, 233
34; 17, 232-33; s i , 234; 21a,
235, 254; s ib , 236; s s , 236
Anaxim ander 12 B, 1, 75
Anaxim enes 13 B, 1, 79; s , 79;
3
. 79
INDEX TO DIE LS -K RA NZ B- T E X TS
266
267
267
268
268
268
269
270
270
270
270
270
271
271
271
272
272
176, 266
267
182, 267
185, 268
284; 188
9 - 269
9 3 - 270
196, 270
*9 9 - 270
202, 270
205, 270
208, 271
2 11, 271
214. 271
217, 272
220, 272
223. 272
226,
273
273
273 229, 2 7 3
273 23*. 2 7 4
274 * 3 5 . 2 7 4
274 238, 2 7 4
275
275
276
276
277
277
278
278
278
267
270
*73
276
*79
282
*85
288
291
179.
177, 267
180, 267
183, 268
186, 268
264,268
1 9 1 , 269
19 4 ,2 70
197, 270
200, 270
203, 270
206, 270
209, 271
212, 271
215, 271
218, 272
221, 272
224, 272
227, 273
230, 273
178,
181,
184,
187,
189,
*9 2 .
9 5 .
198,
201,
204,
207,
210,
213216,
219.
222,
225,
228,
*3 1.
2 3 3 . 274 2 3 4 .
236, 274 * 3 7 .
* 3 9 . 275 240,
242, 275 * 4 3 .
245, 276 246,
248, 276 * 4 9 .
251, 277 * 5 *.
* 4 *. 2 7 5
*4 4 - 2 7 5
* 4 7 . 276
*50, 276
* 5 3 . 277 * 5 4 . 277 * 5 5 *56. 277 2 5 7 . 277 *58.
* 5 9 - 278 260, 278 261,
262, 278 263, 278 264,
265, 27879; 266, 279;
279; 268 279; 269 2 7 9 ;
2 7 9 ; 271 2 79 ;2 72 2 7 9 ;
280; 274 280; 275 280;
280; 277 280; 278 280;
281; 280 281; 281 281;
281; 283 281; 284 282;
282; 286 282; 287 283;
283; 289 283;290 283;
283; 292 283; 293 283;
9 5 - *9 7 ;
9 5 ! * 7 - ' 9 6 ; *8, 9 8 - 9 9
139, 83, 199; 130, 199; 131,
165; 133, 164; 133, 164; 134,
179; 135, 200; 136, 200; 137,
200; 138, 201; 139, 200; 140,
200; 14 1, 201, 206; 142, 201;
14 3 ,2 0 1; 144, 201; 145, 198;
146, 196; 147, 196
Heraclitus 22 B, 1, 101, 102; 2,
101; 3, 106, 123; 4, 116; 5,
118; 6, 123; 7, 124; 8, 115; 9,
116; 10, 114; 11, 119; 12,
107, 116; 14, 120; 15, 118;
16, 119; 17, 110; 18, 113; 19,
1 10; 2 0 , 121; 21, 1 19; 3 3 ,
112; 23, 124; 24, 125; 35,
125; , 120; 27, 120; 28,
114; 39, 110; 30, 107, 122;
31, 122; 32, 119; 33, 119; 34,
ng: 35116; 39,
105:42,
105; 45,
112 :4 8 ,
117; 50,
102: 53,
: 3 6- 121; 3 7
1 1 1 :4 0 ,8 2 , 1 0 5 :4 1 ,
10 5:4 3, 10 5:4 4,
106; 46, 106; 47,
1 1 5 :4 9 , 125:49 a,
102: 5 1, 102: 52,
102: 54, 102, 103:
1 2 5 :7 2 , 1 2 5 :7 3 , 12 5 :7 4 ,
125; 75, 120; 77 , 121; 78,
112; 79, 112; 80, 107, 114,
115; 81, 1 11; 82, 115; 83,
1 16 :8 4 , 117; 85, 12 5 :8 6 ,
112; 87, 1 1 1; 88, 120; 89.
120; 90, 107, 123; 9 1, 117;
92, 118; 93, 118; 94, 123; 96,
121; 97, 125; 98, 121; 99,
123; 100, 123; 101, 106, 113,
1 17; lO ia , 1 13; 102, I 15;
103, I 15; 104, 1 IO; 105, 1 1 1;
I06, 124; 107, 1 13; 108, log;
109, 109; 110 , 109; 1 1 1 , lo g ;
112 , 109; 113 , 109; 11 4 , 109;
115 , 109; 116 , 109; 1 1 7 , 109;
118, 109; 119 , 124; 120, 124;
131,
105; 133, 112; 134, 123;
125, 117; 126, 115; 127, 1 18;
129, 82, 111
H ippo 38 B, 1 , 225
Ion o f Chios 36 B, 1, 223; 4, 83
Leucippus 67 B, 2, 243
Melissus 30 , l , 145; 2, 145
46; 3, 146; 4, 146; 5, 146; 6,
' 47; 7- 4 7 - 48; 8, 1 4 8 -4 9 :9 ,
146, 148; 10, 146
Parm enides 28 B, 1 ,1 3 0 - 3 1 ,
1 3 2 ,2 , 13 2 :3 , 13 2 :4 , 1 3 6 ,5 ,
136; 6, 132, 133; 7, 133-34;
55-
3*7
3 ,2 1 9 ; 4 , 2 1 7 : 5 , 2 1 7 : 6 , 2 1 7
18; 7, 2 l8 ; 13, 220; 14, 222;
17, 219 -20
Xenophanes 21 B, 3, 15; 7, 82;
8 ,9 3 ; 10, 95; 1 1 ,9 5 ; * 95;
1 4 .9 5 ; *5 *9 5 ;
9 6;
* 3 . 9 5 ; * 4 - 9 6 ; * 5 . 9 7 ; * 6 . 9 7 .
28, 98; *9, 97; 30, 98; 31, 98;
32, 98; 33, 98; 34, 94; 35, 94;
36. 9 5 ; 3 7 . 9 8; 3 8 . 9 4
Zeno 29 B, l , 155; a, 153; 3,
154; 4 . 157
l8 >9 4 ;
318
P E N G U I N
(Q j C L A S S I C S
Ea r l y G r e e k
P h il o s o p h y
T R A N S L A T E D A N D E D IT E D W I T H A N
IN T R O D U C T IO N B Y J O N A T H A N B AR N ES
In p a vin g the w a y fo r P la to and A risto tle , the preS ocratics w ere the true creato rs o f W estern p h ilo so p h y .
Z e n o s e x tra o rd in a ry and d istu rbing p a ra d o x es, the
a to m ic th eo ries o f D em o critu s th a t so strikingly
an ticip ate co n tem p o ra ry physics, the en ig m atic and
h au ntin g epigram s o f H eraclitu s these are ju st som e
o f the riches to be found in this co lle ctio n o f the w ritings
o f the early G reek p h ilo sop h ers. Jo n a th a n B a rn e ss
m asterly In tro d u ctio n show s h ow the m o st skilled
d etective w ork is often needed to re co n stru ct th e ideas o f
these th in kers fro m the surviving fragm ents o f their
w o rk . B u t the e ffo rt is alw ays w o rth w h ile. In forging
the first tru ly scien tific v o cabu lary and offerin g
ratio n al argu m en ts fo r th eir view s, the p re-S o cra tics
w ere d oing som eth in g new and p ro fou n d ly im p o rta n t;
they also posed the q u estions th a t have rem ained a t the
cen tre o f p h ilo sop hy to this day.
T h e c o v e r sh o w s a d eta il o f a m o s a ic c o n ta in in g a fig u re th o u g h t to represent
A n a x im a n d e r h o ld in g a sun dial in th e R h ein isch es L a n d esm u se u m , Trier.
Philosophy
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