Part 23

Herm. I. G. P. 13; Dox. 654. Perhaps I might yield to the arguments of noble Demokritos and want to laugh with him, unless Herakleitos led me to the opposite view as he said weeping: Fire is the first principle of all things, and it is subject to rarefaction and condensation, the one active, the other passive, the one synthetic, the other analytic. Enough for me, for I am already steeped in such first principles.

Aet. i. 3; Dox. 283. Herakleitos and Hippasos say that the first principle of all things is fire; for they say that all things arise from fire and they all end by becoming fire. As this is quenched all things come into the order of the universe; for first the dense part of it contracting into itself becomes earth, then the earth becoming relaxed by fire is rendered water in its nature, then it is sublimated and becomes air; and again the universe and all bodies are consumed by fire in the conflagration. [Fire then is the first principle because all things arise from this, and the final principle because all things are resolved into this.]

Aet. 1. 5; Dox. 292. Hippasos of Metapontum and Herakleitos the Ephesian say that the all is one, ever moving and limited, and that fire is its first principle.

Aet. i. 7; Dox. 303. Herakleitos says that the periodic fire is eternal, and that destined reason working through opposition is the creator [δημιουργὸν] of things.

Aet. i. 9; Dox. 307. H. et al. declare that matter is subject to change, variation, and transformation, and that it flows the whole through the whole.

Aet. i. 13; Dox. 312. H. introduces certain very small and indivisible particles (or H. seems to some to leave particles, instead of the unity).

Aet. i. 23; Dox. 320. H. denies rest and fixed position to the whole; for this is the attribute of dead bodies; but he assigns eternal motion to what is eternal, perishable motion to what is perishable.

Aet. i. 27; Dox. 322. H. says that all things happen according to fate and that fate itself is necessity. Indeed he writes ‘For it is absolutely destined.’ (Frag. 63.)

Aet. i. 23; Dox. 323. H. declares that reason, pervading the essence of the all, is the essence of fate. And it is itself ethereal matter, seed of the generation of the all, and measure of the allotted period.

Aet. ii. 1; Dox. 327, Herakleitos et al. The universe is one. 4; Dox. 331. The universe is generated not according to time, but according to thought. 11; Dox. 340; H. et al. The heaven is of a fiery nature. 13; Dox. 342. H. and Parmenides. The stars are compressed bits of fire. 17; Dox. 346. H. and Parm. The stars are nurtured by an exhalation from the earth. 20; Dox. 351. H. and Hekataios. The sun is an intelligent burning mass rising out of the sea. (The same words are assigned to Stoics, Plut. 2, 890 A; Dox. 349.) 21; Dox. 351. It is as great ‘as the width of a human foot.’ 22; Dox. 352. It is bowl-shaped, rather gibbous. 24; Dox. 354. An eclipse takes place by the turning of the bowl-shaped body so that the concave side is upward, and the convex side downward toward our vision. [25; Dox. 356. The earth is surrounded with mist.] 27; Dox. 358. (The moon) is bowl-shaped. 28; Dox. 359. Sun and moon are subject to the same influences. For these heavenly bodies being bowl-shaped, receive bright rays from the moist exhalation, and give light in appearance [πρὸς τὴν φαντασίαν]; the sun more brightly, for it moves in purer aether [ἀήρ], and the moon moves in thicker aether and so it shines more dimly. 29; Dox. 359. Eclipses of the moon are occasioned by the turning of the bowl-shaped body. 32; Dox. 364. The great year consists of eighteen thousand sun-years. According to Diogenes and Herakleitos the year consists of three hundred and sixty-five days.

Aet. iii. 3; Dox. 369. Thunder is occasioned by a gathering of winds and clouds, and the impact of gusts of wind on the clouds; and lightning by a kindling of the exhalations; and fiery whirlwinds [πρηστῆρας] by a burning and a quenching of the clouds.

Aet. iv. 3; Dox. 338. Parmenides and Hippasos and Herakleitos call the soul a fiery substance. 7; Dox. 392. H. says that souls set free from the body go into the soul of the all, inasmuch as it is akin to them in nature and essence.

Aet. v. 23; Dox. 434. Herakleitos and the Stoics say that men come to maturity at about fourteen years, with the beginning of sexual life; for trees come to maturity when they begin to bear fruit.... And at about the age of fourteen men gain understanding of good and evil, and of instruction as to these matters.

THE ELEATIC SCHOOL: XENOPHANES.

Xenophanes of Kolophon, son of Dexias (Apollodoros says of Orthomenes), was the founder of the Eleatic School. After a careful review of the evidence, Zeller (Vorsokr. Phil. pp. 521-522) concludes that he was born about 580 B.C.; it is agreed by all writers that he lived to a great age. The stories of his travels and adventures are very numerous. He speaks of the war between the Ionic colonies and the Persians as beginning in his youth. According to Diogenes he sang the founding of Elea in 2,000 hexameter verses. The reference to him by Herakleitos (Fr. 16) indicates the general respect for his philosophy. He composed poetry of all varieties, and is said to have recited his own poems. His philosophic views were embodied in a poem which was early lost, and to which later ages gave the name ‘περὶ φύσεως.’

Literature: Brandis, Comm. Eleat. 1813; Cousin, Nouv. frag. phil. 1828, pp. 9-45;. Karsten, Phil. Graec. vet. reliq. i. 1, 1830; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii.; F. Kern, Quaestionum Xenophanearum cap. duo, Naumb. 1864; Beiträge, Danzig 1871; Ueber Xenophanes, Stettin 1874; Freudenthal, Die Theologie des Xenophanes, 1886; and Archiv f. d. Gesch. d. Phil. i. 1888, p. 322 sqq.; Thill, Xénophane de Colophon, Luxemb. 1890.

On the book De Xen. Zen. Gorg. Aristotelis, v. Fülleborn, Halle 1789; Bergk, 1843; Mullach, 1845; Ueberweg, Philol. viii. 1853, p. 104 sqq.; xxvi. 1868, p. 709 sqq.; Vermehren, 1861; F. Kern, Symbola crit. ad libellum π. Ξενοφ. etc. Oldenb. 1867; Diels’ Doxogr. pp. 109-113; Zeller, Geschichte d. Phil. d. Griechen, i. 499-521.

(a) FRAGMENTS OF XENOPHANES.

1 εἷς θεὸς ἔν τε θεοῖσι καὶ ἀνθρώποισι μέγιστος, οὔτε δέμας θνητοῖσιν ὁμοίιος οὔτε νόημα.

2 οὖλος ὁρᾷ, οὖλος δὲ νοεῖ, οὖλος δέ τ’ ἀκούει.

3 ἀλλ’ ἀπάνευθε πόνοιο νόου φρενὶ πάντα κραδαίνει.

4 αἰεὶ δ’ ἐν ταὐτῷ μίμνει κινούμενον οὐδέν, οὐδὲ μετέρχεσθαί μιν ἐπιπρέπει ἄλλοτε ἄλλῃ.

5 ἀλλὰ βροτοὶ δοκέουσι γεννᾶσθαι θεοὺς, τὴν σφετέραν δ’ ἐσθῆτά τ’ ἔχειν φωνήν τε δέμας τε.

6 ... ἀλλ’ εἰ χεῖρας ἔχον βόες ἤε λέοντες, <ὡς> γράψαι χείρεσσι καὶ ἔργα τελεῖν ἅπερ ἄνδρες, καί κε θεῶν ἰδέας ἔγραφον καὶ σώματ’ ἐποίουν τοιαῦθ’, οἷόν περ καὶ αὐτοὶ δέμας εἶχον <ἕκαστοι> ἵπποι μέν θ’ ἵπποισι, βόες δέ τε βουσὶν ὁμοῖα.

7 πάντα θεοῖς ἀνέθηκαν Ὅμηρός θ’ Ἡσίοδός τε ὅσσα παρ’ ἀνθρώποισιν ὀνείδεα καὶ ψόγος ἐστί, καὶ πλεῖστ’ ἐφθέγξαντο· θεῶν ἀθεμίστια ἔργα, κλέπτειν, μοιχεύειν τε καὶ ἀλλήλους ἀπατεύειν.

8 ἐκ γαίης γὰρ πάντα, καὶ εἰς γῆν πάντα τελευτᾷ.

9 πάντες γὰρ γαίης τε καὶ ὕδατος ἐκγενόμεσθα.

10 γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ πάντ’ ἐσθ’ ὅσα γίνοντ’ ἠδὲ φύονται.