Athens and had great influence there, being the friend of Pericles and
Euripides. He was, however, banished for unorthodoxy and died at
Lampsacus aged 72.
_Leucippus_, the founder of the atomic theory. His exact date and
place of birth are uncertain.
_Democritus_ of Abdera, born about 450 B.C. He developed the atomic
theory of Leucippus.
_Epicurus_, like Democritus and Leucippus, maintained the atomic
theory. Cp. note on chap. 15.
_Epimenides_, a seer and prophet of Crete who purified Athens of the
plague with which she was afflicted in consequence of the crime of
Cylon, circa 596 B.C.
_Ostanes_, or Hostanes, a famous semi-fabulous magician of Persia.
_the 'purifications' of Empedocles._ Empedocles of Agrigentum
(flourished circa 450 B.C.) wrote a poem of 3,000 lines, entitled
'purifications' ([Greek: katharmoi]). In this he recommended good
moral conduct as a means of averting epidemics and other evils. But as
a fragment quoted by Diog. Laert. viii. 59, shows, he claimed also to
have power over the winds.
_the 'demon' of Socrates_, the divine sign or voice [Greek:
daimonion], which is represented by Socrates as having guided his
actions, is never spoken of by him in terms that would lead us to
suppose that he regarded it as a familiar spirit, though it is so
treated by later writers (e.g. Plutarch, de genio Socratis, and
Apuleius, de deo Socratis).
_the 'good' of Plato._ The reference is probably to the identification
of [Greek: to agathon] with the [Greek: demiourgos] the creator spoken
of in the Timaeus.