Transcriber’s Note: In the original, parts of this book were printed with
the Greek text on one page with critical notes below, and the English
translation on the facing page. This is not practical to reproduce in
an e-text, so the Greek is given first, followed by the critical notes,
followed by the translation.
THE FIRST PHILOSOPHERS OF GREECE
THE
FIRST PHILOSOPHERS
OF GREECE
AN EDITION AND TRANSLATION OF THE
REMAINING FRAGMENTS OF THE PRE-SOKRATIC
PHILOSOPHERS, TOGETHER WITH A TRANSLATION OF THE
MORE IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS OF THEIR OPINIONS
CONTAINED IN THE EARLY EPITOMES
OF THEIR WORKS
BY
ARTHUR FAIRBANKS
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD.
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1898
(_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved_)
PREFACE
The Hegelian School, and in particular Zeller, have shown us the place of
the earlier thinkers in the history of Greek thought, and the importance
of a knowledge of their work for all who wish to understand Plato and
Aristotle. Since Zeller’s monumental work, several writers (e.g. Benn,
_Greek Philosophers_, vol. i. London 1888; Tannery, _Science hellène_,
Paris 1887; Burnet, _Early Greek Philosophy_, London 1892) have traced
for us the history of this development, but the student who desires to go
behind these accounts and examine the evidence for himself still finds
the material difficult of access. This material consists of numerous
short fragments preserved by later writers, and of accounts of the
opinions of these thinkers given mainly by Aristotle and by the Greek
doxographists (i.e. students of early thought who made epitomes of the
opinions of the masters). The Greek text of the doxographists is now
accessible to students in the admirable critical edition of H. Diels
(Berlin 1879). The Greek text of the fragments has been published in
numerous short monographs, most of which are not readily accessible to
the student to-day; it is contained with a vast deal of other matter in
Mullach’s _Fragmenta Graecorum Philosophorum_ (Paris 1883-1888, vol.
i.-iii.), but the text is in many places so carelessly constructed that
it does not serve the purposes of the scholar.
In the present work it has been my plan to prepare for the student a
Greek text of the fragments of these early philosophers which shall
represent as accurately as possible the results of recent scholarship,
and to add such critical notes as may be necessary to enable the scholar
to see on what basis the text rests. From this text I have prepared
a translation of the fragments into English, and along with this a
translation of the important passages bearing on these early thinkers
in Plato and Aristotle, and in the Greek doxographists as collected by
Diels, in order that the student of early Greek thought might have before
him in compact form practically all the materials on which the history
of this thought is to be based. It has been difficult, especially in
the case of Herakleitos and the Pythagoreans, to draw the line between
material to be inserted, and that to be omitted; but, in order to keep
the volume within moderate limits, my principle has been to insert only
the passages from Plato and Aristotle and from the doxographists.
The Greek text of Herakleitos is based on the edition of Bywater; that
of Xenophanes on the edition of the Greek lyric poets by Hiller-Bergk;
that of Parmenides on the edition of Karsten; and that of Empedokles on
the edition of Stein. I have not hesitated, however, to differ from these
authorities in minor details, indicating in the notes the basis for the
text which I have given.
For a brief discussion of the relative value of the sources of these
fragments the student is referred to the Appendix.
My thanks are due to several friends for their kind assistance, in
particular to Professor C. L. Brownson and Professor G. D. Lord, who
have read much of the book in proof, and have given me many valuable
suggestions. Nor can I pass over without mention the debt which all
workers in this field owe to Hermann Diels. It is my great regret that
his edition of Parmenides’ _Lehrgedicht_ failed to reach me until most of
the present work was already printed. Nevertheless there is scarcely a
page of the whole book which is not based on the foundation which he has
laid.
ARTHUR FAIRBANKS.
YALE UNIVERSITY: _November 1897_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. IONIC SCHOOL: THALES 1
II. IONIC SCHOOL: ANAXIMANDROS 10
III. IONIC SCHOOL: ANAXIMENES 20
IV. HERAKLEITOS 28
V. ELEATIC SCHOOL: XENOPHANES 68
VI. ELEATIC SCHOOL: PARMENIDES 91
VII. ELEATIC SCHOOL: ZENO 119
VIII. ELEATIC SCHOOL: MELISSOS 129
IX. PYTHAGORAS AND THE PYTHAGOREANS 142
X. EMPEDOKLES 174
XI. ANAXAGORAS 253
APPENDIX 263
INDEXES 289
_LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS._
Dox. = Diels, _Doxographi Graeci_, Berlin 1879.
Aet. = _Aetii de placitis reliquiae._ }
Hipp. _Phil._ = _Hippolyti philosophumena._ } Included in
Epi. = _Epiphanii varia excerpta._ } Diels, _Dox._
Herm. = _Hermiae irrisio gentilium philosophorum._ }
Simp. _Phys._ = _Simplicii in Aristotelis physicorum libros quattuor
priores_ edidit H. Diels, Berlin 1882.
Simp. _Cael._ = Simplicius, _Commentary on Aristotle’s De caelo_.
For other abbreviations, see list of authors in the Index of sources.
THE FIRST PHILOSOPHERS OF GREECE
I.
_THALES._
According to Aristotle the founder of the Ionic physical philosophy,
and therefore the founder of Greek philosophy, was Thales of Miletos.
According to Diogenes Laertios, Thales was born in the first year of
the thirty-fifth Olympiad (640 B.C.), and his death occurred in the
fifty-eighth Olympiad (548-545 B.C.). He attained note as a scientific
thinker and was regarded as the founder of Greek philosophy because he
discarded mythical explanations of things, and asserted that a physical
element, water, was the first principle of all things. There are various
stories of his travels, and in connection with accounts of his travels
in Egypt he is credited with introducing into Greece the knowledge
of geometry. Tradition also claims that he was a statesman, and as a
practical thinker he is classed as one of the seven wise men. A work
entitled ‘Nautical Astronomy’ was ascribed to him, but it was recognised
as spurious even in antiquity.
Literature: F. Decker, _De Thalete Milesio_, Diss. Halle, 1865;
Krische, _Forsch. auf d. Gebiet d. alt. Phil._ i. pp. 34-42; V.
also _Acta Phil._ iv. Lips. 1875, pp. 328-330; _Revue Philos._
Mar. 1880; _Archiv f. d. Geschichte d. Phil._ ii. 165, 515.
(_a_) PASSAGES RELATING TO THALES IN PLATO AND IN ARISTOTLE.
Plato, _de Legg._ x. 899 B. And as for all the stars and the moon and
the years and the months and all the seasons, can we hold any other
opinion about them than this same one—that inasmuch as soul or souls
appear to be the cause of all these things, and good souls the cause of
every excellence, we are to call them gods, whether they order the whole
heavens as living beings in bodies, or whether they accomplish this in
some other form and manner? Is there any one who acknowledges this, and
yet holds that all things are not full of gods?
Arist. _Met._ i. 3; 983 b 6. Most of the early students of philosophy
thought that first principles in the form of matter, and only these, are
the sources of all things; for that of which all things consist, the
antecedent from which they have sprung, and into which they are finally
resolved (in so far as being underlies them and is changed with their
changes), this they say is the element and first principle of things.
983 b 18. As to the quantity and form of this first principle, there
is a difference of opinion; but Thales, the founder of this sort of
philosophy, says that it is water (accordingly he declares that the earth
rests on water), getting the idea, I suppose, because he saw that the
nourishment of all beings is moist, and that warmth itself is generated
from moisture and persists in it (for that from which all things spring
is the first principle of them); and getting the idea also from the
fact that the germs of all beings are of a moist nature, while water is
the first principle of the nature of what is moist. And there are some
who think that the ancients, and they who lived long before the present
generation, and the first students of the gods, had a similar idea in
regard to nature; for in their poems Okeanos and Tethys were the parents
of generation, and that by which the gods swore was water,—the poets
themselves called it Styx; for that which is most ancient is most highly
esteemed, and that which is most highly esteemed is an object to swear
by. Whether there is any such ancient and early opinion concerning nature
would be an obscure question; but Thales is said to have expressed this
opinion in regard to the first cause.
Arist. _de Coelo_ ii. 13; 294 a 28. Some say that the earth rests on
water. We have ascertained that the oldest statement of this character is
the one accredited to Thales the Milesian, to the effect that it rests on
water, floating like a piece of wood or something else of that sort.[1]
Arist. _de Anima_ i. 2; 405 a 19. And Thales, according to what is
related of him, seems to have regarded the soul as something endowed with
the power of motion, if indeed he said that the loadstone has a soul
because if moves iron. i. 5; 411 a 7. Some say that soul is diffused
throughout the whole universe; and it may have been this which led Thales
to think that all things are full of gods.
Simpl. in Arist. _de Anima_ 8 r 32, 16.[2]—Thales posits water
as the element, but it is the element of bodies, and he thinks
that the soul is not a body at all. 31, 21 D.—And in speaking
thus of Thales he adds with a degree of reproach that he
assigned a soul to the magnetic stone as the power which moves
the iron, that he might prove soul to be a moving power in
it; but he did not assert that this soul was water, although
water had been designated as the element, since he said that
water is the element of substances, but he supposed soul to be
unsubstantial form. 20 r 73, 22. For Thales, also, I suppose,
thought all things to be full of gods, the gods being blended
with them; and this is strange.
(_b_) PASSAGES RELATING TO THALES IN THE DOXOGRAPHISTS.
(Theophrastos, Dox. 475) Simpl. _Phys._ 6 r; 23, 21. Of those who say
that the first principle [ἀρχή] is one and movable, to whom Aristotle
applies the distinctive name of physicists, some say that it is limited;
as, for instance, Thales of Miletos, son of Examyes, and Hippo who
seems also to have lost belief in the gods. These say that the first
principle is water, and they are led to this result by things that appear
to sense; for warmth lives in moisture and dead things wither up and
all germs are moist and all nutriment is moist. Now it is natural that
things should be nourished by that from which each has come; and water
is the first principle of moist nature ...; accordingly they assume
that water is the first principle of all things, and they assert that
the earth rests on water. Thales is the first to have set on foot the
investigation of nature by the Greeks; although so many others preceded
him, in Theophrastos’s opinion he so far surpassed them as to cause them
to be forgotten. It is said that he left nothing in writing except a book
entitled ‘Nautical Astronomy.’
Hipp. i.; _Dox._ 555. It is said that Thales of Miletos, one of the seven
wise men, was the first to undertake the study of physical philosophy. He
said that the beginning (the first principle) and the end of all things
is water. All things acquire firmness as this solidifies, and again as
it is melted their existence is threatened; to this are due earthquakes
and whirlwinds and movements of the stars. And all things are movable and
in a fluid state, the character of the compound being determined by the
nature of the principle from which it springs. This principle is god, and
it has neither beginning nor end. Thales was the first of the Greeks to
devote himself to the study and investigation of the stars, and was the
originator of this branch of science; on one occasion he was looking up
at the heavens, and was just saying he was intent on studying what was
overhead, when he fell into a well; whereupon a maidservant named Thratta
laughed at him and said: In his zeal for things in the sky he does not
see what is at his feet.[3] And he lived in the time of Kroesos.
Plut. _Strom._ 1; _Dox._ 579.[4] He says that Thales was the earliest
thinker to regard water as the first principle of all things. For from
this all things come, and to it they all return.
Aet. _Plac._ i. 2; _Dox._ 275. Thales of Miletos regards the first
principle and the elements as the same thing. But there is a very great
difference between them, for elements are composite, but we claim that
first principles are neither composite nor the result of processes. So we
call earth, water, air, fire, elements; and we call them first principles
for the reason that there is nothing antecedent to them from which they
are sprung, since this would not be a first principle, but rather that
from which it is derived. Now there is something anterior to earth and
water from which they are derived, namely the matter that is formless and
invisible, and the form which we call entelechy, and privation. So Thales
was in error when he called water an element and a first principle.
i. 3; 276. Thales the Milesian declared that the first principle of
things is water. [This man seems to have been the first philosopher, and
the Ionic school derived its name from him; for there were very many
successive leaders in philosophy. And Thales was a student of philosophy
in Egypt, but he came to Miletos in his old age.] For he says that all
things come from water and all are resolved into water. The first basis
for this conclusion is the fact that the seed of all animals is their
first principle and it is moist; thus it is natural to conclude that all
things come from water as their first principle. Secondly, the fact that
all plants are nourished by moisture and bear fruit, and unless they get
moisture they wither away. Thirdly, the fact that the very fire of the
sun and the stars is fed by the exhalations from the waters, and so is
the universe itself. 7; 301. Thales said that the mind in the universe
is god, and the all is endowed with soul and is full of spirits; and
its divine moving power pervades the elementary water. 8; 307. Thales
et al. say that spirits are psychical beings; and that heroes are souls
separated from bodies, good heroes are good souls, bad heroes are bad
souls. 8; 307. The followers of Thales et al. assert that matter is
turned about, varying, changing, and in a fluid state, the whole in every
part of the whole. 12; 310. Thales and his successors declared that the
first cause is immovable. 16; 314. The followers of Thales and Pythagoras
hold that bodies can receive impressions and can be divided even to
infinity; and so can all figures, lines, surfaces, solids, matter, place,
and time. 18; 315. The physicists, followers of Thales, all recognise
that the void is really a void. 21; 321. Thales: Necessity is most
powerful, for it controls everything.
Aet. ii. 1; _Dox._ 327. Thales and his successors hold that the universe
is one. 12; 340. Thales et al. hold that the sphere of the entire heaven
is divided into five circles which they call zones; and of these the
first is called the arctic zone, and is always visible, the next is
the summer solstice, the next is the equinoctial, the next the winter
solstice, and the next the antarctic, which is invisible. And the
ecliptic in the three middle ones is called the zodiac and is projected
to touch the three middle ones. All these are cut by the meridian at a
right angle from the north to the opposite quarter. 13; 341. The stars
consist of earth, but are on fire. 20; 349. The sun consists of earth.
24; 353. The eclipses of the sun take place when the moon passes across
it in direct line, since the moon is earthy in character; and it seems to
the eye to be laid on the disk of the sun. 28; 358. The moon is lighted
from the sun. 29; 360. Thales et al. agree with the mathematicians that
the monthly phases of the moon show that it travels along with the sun
and is lighted by it, and eclipses show that it comes into the shadow of
the earth, the earth coming between the two heavenly bodies and blocking
the light of the moon.
Aet. iii. 9-10; 376. The earth is one and spherical in form. 11; 377. It
is in the midst of the universe. 15; 379. Thales and Demokritos find in
water the cause of earthquakes.
Aet. iv. 1; 384. Thales thinks that the Etesian winds blowing against
Egypt raise the mass of the Nile, because its outflow is beaten back by
the swelling of the sea which lies over against its mouth. 2; 386. Thales
was the first to declare that the soul is by nature always moving or
self-moving.
Aet. v. 26; 438. Plants are living animals; this is evident from the fact
that they wave their branches and keep them extended, and they yield to
attack and relax them freely again, so that weights also draw them down.
(Philodemos) Cic. _de Nat. Deor._ i. 10; _Dox._ 531. For Thales of
Miletos, who first studied these matters, said that water is the first
principle of things, while god is the mind which formed all things from
water. If gods exist without sense and mind, why should god be connected
with water, if mind itself can exist without a body?
II.
_ANAXIMANDROS._
Anaximandros of Miletos was a companion or pupil of Thales. According to
Apollodoros he was born in the second or third year of the forty-second
Olympiad (611-610 B.C.). Of his life little is known; Zeller infers
from the statement of Aelian (_V. H._ iii. 17) to the effect that he
led the Milesian colony into Apollonia, that he was a man of influence
in Miletos. He was a student of geography and astronomy; and various
inventions, such as the sundial, are attributed to him. His book, which
was referred to as the first philosophical treatise in Greece, may not
have received the title ‘περὶ φύσεως’ until after his death. It soon
became rare, and Simplicius does not seem to have had access to it.
Literature: Schleiermacher, _Abh. d. Berl. Akad._ 1815; _Op.
Phil._ ii. 171; Krische, _Forschungen_, pp. 42-52; Teichmüller,
_Studien_, pp. 1-70, 545-588; Büsgen, _Das_ ἄπειρον _Anax._
Wiesbaden 1867; Lütze, _Das_ ἄπειρον _Anax._ Leipz. 1878; J.
Neuhauser, _De Anax. Miles._ Bonn 1879, and in more complete
form, Bonn 1883; Tannery, _Rev. Phil._ v. (1882); Natorp,
_Phil. Monatshefte_, 1884; Tannery, _Archiv f. d. Gesch. d.
Philos._ viii. 443 ff.; Diels, _ibid._ x. (1897) 228 ff.
(_a_) FRAGMENTS OF ANAXIMANDROS.
1. Arist. _Phys._ iii. 4; 203 b 13 ff. The words ἀθάνατον γὰρ καὶ
ἀνώλεθρον and by some the words περιέχειν ἅπαντα καὶ πάντα κυβερνᾶν are
thought to come from Anaximandros.
2. In Simpl. _Phys._ 6 r (24, 19); _Dox._ 476, it is generally agreed
that the following phrase is from Anaximandros: κατὰ τὸ χρεών· διδόναι
γὰρ αὐτὰ ἀλλήλοις τίσιν καὶ δίκην τῆς ἀδικίας.[5]
_Translation._—1. ‘Immortal and indestructible,’ ‘surrounds all and
directs all.’ 2. ‘(To that they return when they are destroyed) of
necessity; for he says that they suffer punishment and give satisfaction
to one another for injustice.’
(_b_) PASSAGES RELATING TO ANAXIMANDROS IN ARISTOTLE.
Arist. _Phys._ i. 4; 187 a 12. For some who hold that the real, the
underlying substance, is a unity, either one of the three [elements] or
something else that is denser than fire and more rarefied than air, teach
that other things are generated by condensation and rarefaction.... 20.
And others believe that existing opposites are separated from the unity,
as Anaximandros says, and those also who say that unity and multiplicity
exist, as Empedokles and Anaxagoras; for these separate other things from
the mixture [μῖγμα].[6]
_Phys._ iii. 4; 203 b 7. There is no beginning of the infinite, for
in that case it would have an end. But it is without beginning and
indestructible, as being a sort of first principle; for it is necessary
that whatever comes into existence should have an end, and there is a
conclusion of all destruction. Wherefore as we say, there is no first
principle of this [_i.e._ the infinite], but it itself seems to be the
first principle of all other things and to surround all and to direct
all, as they say who think that there are no other causes besides the
infinite (such as mind, or friendship), but that it itself is divine;
for it is immortal and indestructible, as Anaximandros and most of the
physicists say.
Simpl. _Phys._ 32 r; 150, 20. There is another method,
according to which they do not attribute change to matter
itself, nor do they suppose that generation takes place by a
transformation of the underlying substance, but by separation;
for the opposites existing in the substance which is infinite
matter are separated, according to Anaximandros, who was the
earliest thinker to call the underlying substance the first
principle. And the opposites are heat and cold, dry and moist,
and the rest.
_Phys._ iii. 5; 204 b 22. But it is not possible that infinite matter is
one and simple; either, as some say, that it is something different from
the elements, from which they are generated, or that it is absolutely
one. For there are some who make the infinite of this character, but they
do not consider it to be air or water, in order that other things may not
be blotted out by the infinite; for these are mutually antagonistic to
one another, inasmuch as air is cold, water is moist, and fire hot; if
one of these were infinite, the rest would be at once blotted out; but
now they say that the infinite is something different from these things,
namely, that from which they come.
_Phys._ iii. 8; 208 a 8. In order that generation may actually occur, it
is not necessary to prove that the infinite should actually be matter
that sense can perceive; for it is possible that destruction of one thing
is generation of another, provided the all is limited.
_De Coelo_ iii. 5; 303 b 11. For some say that there is only one
underlying substance; and of these some say that it is water, some that
it is air, some that it is fire, and some that it is more rarefied than
water and denser than air; and these last say that being infinite it
surrounds all the heavens.
_Meteor._ 2; 355 a 21. It is natural that this very thing should be
unintelligible to those who say that at first when the earth was moist
and the universe including the earth was warmed by the sun, then air was
formed and the whole heavens were dried, and this produced the winds and
made the heavens revolve.[7]
_Metaph._ xii. 2; 1069 b 18. So not only is it very properly admitted
that all things are generated from not-being, but also that they all come
from being:—potentially from being, actually from not-being; and this is
the unity of Anaxagoras (for this is better than to say that all things
exist together [ὁμοῦ πάντα]), and it is the mixture [μῖγμα] of Empedokles
and Anaximandros.
Plut. _Symp._ viii. 730 E. Wherefore they (the Syrians)
reverence the fish as of the same origin and the same family
as man, holding a more reasonable philosophy than that of
Anaximandros; for he declares, not that fishes and men were
generated at the same time, but that at first men were
generated in the form of fishes, and that growing up as sharks
do till they were able to help themselves, they then came forth
on the dry ground.
(_c_) PASSAGES RELATING TO ANAXIMANDROS IN THE DOXOGRAPHISTS.
(Theophrastos, _Dox._ 477) Simpl. _Phys._ 6 r; 24, 26. Among those
who say that the first principle is one and movable and infinite, is
Anaximandros of Miletos, son of Praxiades, pupil and successor of Thales.
He said that the first principle and element of all things is infinite,
and he was the first to apply this word to the first principle; and he
says that it is neither water nor any other one of the things called
elements, but the infinite is something of a different nature, from which
came all the heavens and the worlds in them; and from what source things
arise, to that they return of necessity when they are destroyed; for he
says that they suffer punishment and give satisfaction[8] to one another
for injustice according to the order of time, putting it in rather
poetical language. Evidently when he sees the four elements changing
into one another, he does not deem it right to make any one of these the
underlying substance, but something else besides them. And he does not
think that things come into being by change in the nature of the element,
but by the separation of the opposites which the eternal motion causes.
On this account Aristotle compares him with Anaxagoras.
Simpl. _Phys._ 6 v; 27, 23; _Dox._ 478. The translation is given under
Anaxagoras, _infra_.
Alex. in _Meteor._ 91 r (vol. i. 268 Id.), _Dox._ 494. Some of the
physicists say that the sea is what is left of the first moisture;[9] for
when the region about the earth was moist, the upper part of the moisture
was evaporated by the sun, and from it came the winds and the revolutions
of the sun and moon, since these made their revolutions by reason of the
vapours and exhalations, and revolved in those regions where they found
an abundance of them. What is left of this moisture in the hollow places
is the sea; so it diminishes in quantity, being evaporated gradually by
the sun, and finally it will be completely dried up. Theophrastos says
that Anaximandros and Diogenes were of this opinion.
Hipp. _Phil._ 6; _Dox._ 559. Anaximandros was a pupil of Thales. He
was a Milesian, son of Praxiades. He said that the first principle of
things is of the nature of the infinite, and from this the heavens and
the worlds in them arise. And this (first principle) is eternal and
does not grow old, and it surrounds all the worlds. He says of time
that in it generation and being and destruction are determined. He said
that the first principle and the element of beings is the infinite, a
word which he was the earliest to apply to the first principle. Besides
this, motion is eternal, and as a result of it the heavens arise. The
earth is a heavenly body, controlled by no other power, and keeping its
position because it is the same distance from all things; the form of it
is curved, cylindrical like a stone column;[10] it has two faces, one
of these is the ground beneath our feet, and the other is opposite to
it. The stars are a circle[11] of fire, separated from the fire about
the world, and surrounded by air. There are certain breathing-holes like
the holes of a flute through which we see the stars; so that when the
holes are stopped up, there are eclipses. The moon is sometimes full and
sometimes in other phases as these holes are stopped up or open. The
circle of the sun is twenty-seven times that of the moon, and the sun is
higher than the moon, but the circles of the fixed stars are lower.[12]
Animals come into being through vapours raised by the sun. Man, however,
came into being from another animal, namely the fish, for at first he was
like a fish. Winds are due to a separation of the lightest vapours and
the motion of the masses of these vapours; and moisture comes from the
vapour raised by the sun[13] from them;[14] and lightning occurs when a
wind falls upon clouds and separates them. Anaximandros was born in the
third year of the forty-second Olympiad.
Plut. _Strom._ 2; _Dox._ 579. Anaximandros, the companion of Thales, says
that the infinite is the sole cause of all generation and destruction,
and from it the heavens were separated, and similarly all the worlds,
which are infinite in number. And he declared that destruction and, far
earlier, generation have taken place since an indefinite time, since all
things are involved in a cycle. He says that the earth is a cylinder in
form, and that its depth is one-third of its breadth. And he says that
at the beginning of this world something [τι Diels] productive of heat
and cold from the eternal being was separated therefrom, and a sort
of sphere of this flame surrounded the air about the earth, as bark
surrounds a tree; then this sphere was broken into parts and defined into
distinct circles, and thus arose the sun and the moon and the stars.
Farther he says that at the beginning man was generated from all sorts
of animals, since all the rest can quickly get food for themselves, but
man alone requires careful feeding for a long time; such a being at the
beginning could not have preserved his existence. Such is the teaching of
Anaximandros.
Herm. _I. G. P._ 10; _Dox._ 653. His compatriot Anaximandros says that
the first principle is older than water and is eternal motion; in this
all things come into being, and all things perish.
Aet. _Plac._ i. 3; _Dox._ 277. Anaximandros of Miletos, son of Praxiades,
says that the first principle of things is the infinite; for from
this all things come, and all things perish and return to this.[15]
Accordingly, an infinite number of worlds have been generated and have
perished again and returned to their source. So he calls it infinite, in
order that the generation which takes place may not lessen it. But he
fails to say what the infinite is, whether it is air or water or earth
or some other thing. He fails to show what matter is, and simply calls
it the active cause. For the infinite is nothing else but matter; and
matter cannot be energy, unless an active agent is its substance. 7; 302.
Anaximandros declared that the infinite heavens are gods.
Aet. ii. 1; _Dox._ 327. Anaximandros (et al.): Infinite worlds exist in
the infinite in every cycle; _Dox._ 329, and these worlds are equally
distant from each other. 4; 331. The world is perishable. 11; 340.
Anaximandros: The heavens arise from a mixture of heat and cold. 13;
342. The stars are wheel-shaped masses of air, full of fire, breathing
out flames from pores in different parts. 15; 345. Anaximandros et al.:
The sun has the highest position of all, the moon is next in order, and
beneath it are the fixed stars and the planets. 16; 345. The stars are
carried on by the circles and the spheres in which each one moves. 20;
348. The circle of the sun is twenty-eight times as large as the earth,
like a chariot wheel, having a hollow centre and this full of fire,
shining in every part, and sending out fire through a narrow opening like
the air from a flute. 21; 351. The sun is equal in size to the earth, but
the circle from which it sends forth its exhalations, and by which it is
borne through the heavens, is twenty-seven times as large as the earth.
24; 354. An eclipse takes place when the outlet for the fiery exhalations
is closed. 25; 355. The circle of the moon is nineteen times as large as
the earth, and like the circle of the sun is full of fire; and eclipses
are due to the revolutions of the wheel; for it is like a chariot wheel,
hollow inside, and the centre of it is full of fire, but there is only
one exit for the fire. 28; 358. The moon shines by its own light. 29;
359. The moon is eclipsed when the hole in the wheel is stopped.
Aet. iii. 3; _Dox._ 367. Anaximandros said that lightning is due to wind;
for when it is surrounded and pressed together by a thick cloud and so
driven out by reason of its lightness and rarefaction, then the breaking
makes a noise, while the separation makes a rift of brightness in the
darkness of the cloud.
Aet. iv. 3; _Dox._ 387. Anaximandros et al.: The soul is like air in its
nature.
Aet. v. 19; _Dox._ 430. Anaximandros said that the first animals were
generated in the moisture, and were covered with a prickly skin; and as
they grew older, they became drier, and after the skin broke off from
them, they lived for a little while.
Cic. _de Nat. Deor._ i. 10; _Dox._ 531. It was the opinion of
Anaximandros that gods have a beginning, at long intervals rising and
setting, and that they are the innumerable worlds. But who of us can
think of god except as immortal?
III.
_ANAXIMENES._
Anaximenes of Miletos, son of Eurystratos, was the pupil or companion of
Anaximandros. According to Apollodoros, quoted by Diogenes, he was born
in the sixty-third Olympiad (528-524 B.C.). Diels[16] has, however, made
it seem probable that this date refers to his prime of life, rather than
to his birth. Of his life nothing is known.
Literature: Krische, _Forschungen_, i. 52-57; Teichmüller,
_Studien_, 71-104; _Revue Phil._ 1883, p. 6 ff.; _Archiv f. d.
Geschichte d. Phil._ i. pp. 315 ff. and pp. 582 ff.
(_a_) FRAGMENT ACCREDITED TO ANAXIMENES.
_Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs_, Livre i., Paris 1887, p. 83,
ll. 7-10, Olympiodoros. μίαν δὲ κινουμένην ἄπειρον ἀρχὴν πάντων τῶν ὄντων
ἐδόξαζεν Ἀναξιμένης τὸν ἀέρα. λέγει γὰρ οὕτως· ἐγγύς ἐστιν ὁ ἀὴρ τοῦ
ἀσωμάτου· καὶ ὅτι κατ’ ἔκροιαν τούτου γινόμεθα, ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν καὶ ἄπειρον
εἶναι καὶ πλούσιον διὰ τὸ μηδέποτε ἐκλείπειν.
_Translation_—Anaximenes arrived at the conclusion that air is the one,
movable, infinite, first principle of all things. For he speaks as
follows: Air is the nearest to an immaterial thing; for since we are
generated in the flow of air, it is necessary that it should be infinite
and abundant, because it is never exhausted.[17]
(_b_) PASSAGES RELATING TO ANAXIMENES IN ARISTOTLE, &c.
Arist. _Meteor._ ii. 1; 354 a 28. Most of the earlier students of the
heavenly bodies believed that the sun did not go underneath the earth,
but rather around the earth and this region, and that it disappeared from
view and produced night, because the earth was so high toward the north.
Simpl. _de Coelo_ 273 b 45; Schol. Arist. 514 a 33. He regarded
the first principle as unlimited, but not as undefined, for he
called it air, thinking that air had a sufficient adaptability
to change.
Simpl. _Phys._ 32 r 149, 32. Of this one writer alone,
Theophrastos, in his account of the Physicists, uses the words
μάνωσις and πύκνωσις of texture. The rest, of course, spoke of
μανότης and πυκνότης.
Simpl. _Phys._ 257 v. Some say that the universe always existed,
not that it has always been the same, but rather that it
successively changes its character in certain periods of time;
as, for instance, Anaximenes and Herakleitos and Diogenes.
Arist. _de Coelo_ ii. 13; 294 b 13. Anaximenes and Anaxagoras and
Demokritos say that the breadth of the earth is the reason why it remains
where it is.
Arist. _Meteor._ ii. 7; 365 (a 17), b 6. Anaximenes says that the earth
was wet, and when it dried it broke apart, and that earthquakes are due
to the breaking and falling of hills; accordingly earthquakes occur in
droughts, and in rainy seasons also; they occur in drought, as has been
said, because the earth dries and breaks apart, and it also crumbles when
it is wet through with waters.
Arist. _Metaph._ i. 3; 984 a 5. Anaximenes regarded air as the first
principle.
Plut. _Prim. Frig._ vii. 3, p. 947. According to Anaximenes,
the early philosopher, we should not neglect either cold or
heat in _being_ but should regard them as common experiences
of matter which are incident to its changes. He says that the
compressed and the condensed state of matter is cold, while
the rarefied and relaxed (a word he himself uses) state of it
is heat. Whence he says it is not strange that men breathe hot
and cold out of the mouth; for the breath is cooled as it is
compressed and condensed by the lips, but when the mouth is
relaxed, it comes out warm by reason of its rarefaction.
(_c_) PASSAGES RELATING TO ANAXIMENES IN THE DOXOGRAPHISTS.
Theophrastos; Simpl. _Phys._ 6 r 24, 26; _Dox._ 476. Anaximenes of
Miletos, son of Eurystratos, a companion of Anaximandros, agrees with him
that the essential nature of things is one and infinite, but he regards
it as not indeterminate but rather determinate, and calls it air; the air
differs in rarity and in density as the nature of things is different;
when very attenuated it becomes fire, when more condensed wind, and then
cloud, and when still more condensed water and earth and stone, and all
other things are composed of these; and he regards motion as eternal, and
by this changes are produced.[18]
Hipp. _Philos._ 7; _Dox._ 560. Anaximenes, himself a Milesian, son of
Eurystratos, said that infinite air is the first principle,[19] from
which arise the things that have come and are coming into existence,
and the things that will be, and gods and divine beings, while other
things are produced from these. And the form of air is as follows:—When
it is of a very even consistency, it is imperceptible to vision, but it
becomes evident as the result of cold or heat or moisture, or when it
is moved. It is always in motion; for things would not change as they
do unless it were in motion. It has a different appearance when it is
made more dense or thinner; when it is expanded into a thinner state it
becomes fire, and again winds are condensed air, and air becomes cloud
by compression, and water when it is compressed farther, and earth and
finally stones as it is more condensed. So that generation is controlled
by the opposites, heat and cold. And the broad earth is supported on
air;[20] similarly the sun and the moon and all the rest of the stars,
being fiery bodies,[21] are supported on the air by their breadth.[22]
And stars are made of earth, since exhalations arise from this, and these
being attenuated become fire, and of this fire when it is raised to the
heaven the stars are constituted. There are also bodies of an earthy
nature[23] in the place occupied by the stars, and carried along with
them in their motion. He says that the stars do not move under the earth,
as others have supposed, but around the earth,[24] just as a cap is moved
about the head. And the sun is hidden not by going underneath the earth,
but because it is covered by some of the higher parts of the earth, and
because of its greater distance from us. The stars do not give forth heat
because they are so far away. Winds are produced when the air that has
been attenuated is set in motion; and when it comes together and is yet
farther condensed, clouds are produced, and so it changes into water. And
hail is formed when the water descending from the clouds is frozen; and
snow, when these being yet more filled with moisture become frozen;[25]
and lightning, when clouds are separated by violence of the winds; for
when they are separated, the flash is bright and like fire.[26] And a
rainbow is produced when the sun’s rays fall on compressed air;[27] and
earthquakes are produced when the earth is changed yet more by heating
and cooling.[28] Such are the opinions of Anaximenes. And he flourished
about the first year of the fifty-eighth Olympiad.
Plut. _Strom._ 3; _Dox._ 579. Anaximenes says that air is the first
principle of all things, and that it is infinite in quantity but is
defined by its qualities; and all things are generated by a certain
condensation or rarefaction of it. Motion also exists from eternity. And
by compression of the air the earth was formed, and it is very broad;
accordingly he says that this rests on air; and the sun and the moon and
the rest of the stars were formed from earth. He declared that the sun is
earth because of its swift motion, and it has the proper amount of heat.
Cic. _de Nat. Deor._ i. 10; _Dox._ 531. Afterwards Anaximenes said that
air is god,[29] [and that it arose] and that it is boundless and infinite
and always in motion; just as though air without any form could be god,
when it is very necessary that god should be not only of some form, but
of the most beautiful form; or as though everything which comes into
being were not thereby subject to death.
Aet. i. 3; _Dox._ 278. Anaximenes of Miletos, son of Eurystratos,
declared that air is the first principle of things, for from this all
things arise and into this they are all resolved again. As our soul
which is air, he says, holds us together, so wind [i.e. breath, πνεῦμα]
and air encompass the whole world. He uses these words ‘air’ and ‘wind’
synonymously. He is mistaken in thinking that animals are composed of
simple homogeneous air and wind; for it is impossible that one first
principle should constitute the substance of things, but an active cause
is also necessary; just as silver alone is not enough to become coin, but
there is need of an active cause, _i.e._ a coin-maker; [so there is need
of copper and wood and other substances].
Aet. ii. 1; 327. Anaximenes et al.: Infinite worlds exist in the infinite
in every cycle. 4; 331. The world is perishable. 11; 339. The sky is the
revolving vault most distant from the earth. 14; 344. The stars are fixed
like nailheads in the crystalline (vault). 19; 347. The stars shine for
none of these reasons, but solely by the light of the sun. 22; 352. The
sun is broad [like a leaf]. 23; 352. The stars revolve, being pushed by
condensed resisting air.
Aet. iii. 10; 377. The form of the earth is like a table. 15; 379. The
dryness of the air, due to drought, and its wetness, due to rainstorms,
are the causes of earthquakes.
Aet. iv. 3; 387. Anaximenes et al.: The soul is like air in its nature.
IV.
_HERAKLEITOS._
According to Apollodoros, Herakleitos son of
Blyson flourished in the sixty-ninth
Olympiad (504-501 B.C.). An attempt to fix the date from his reference
to the expulsion from Ephesos of his friend Hermodoros (Frag. 114) has
resulted in a somewhat later date, though it is by no means impossible
that Hermodoros was expelled during Persian rule in the city. Beyond the
fact that Herakleitos lived in Ephesos we know nothing of his life; of
the many stories related about him most can be proved false, and there is
no reason for crediting the remainder. His philosophic position is clear,
however, since he refers to Pythagoras and Xenophanes (Fr. 16-17), and
Parmenides (Vss. 46 sqq.) seems to refer to him. His book is said to have
been divided into three parts:—(1) Concerning the All; (2) Political;
(3) Theological. Even in antiquity he was surnamed the ‘dark’ or the
‘obscure.’
Literature: Schleiermacher, _Op. Phil._ ii. 1-146; Bernays,
_Ges. Abhandl._ i.; Lassalle, _Die Philosophie Herakleitos des
dunklen_, Berl. 1858; P. Schuster, ‘Heraklit von Ephesos,’
in _Act. soc. phil. Lips._ 1873, 111; Teichmüller, _Neue
Studien zur Gesch. d. Begriffe_, Gotha 1876-1878; Bywater,
_Heracl. Eph. Reliquiae_, Oxford 1877; Gomperz, ‘Zu Herakl.
Lehre,’ _Sitz. d. Wien. Ak._ 1886, p. 977 ff.; Patin, _Herakl.
Einheitslehre_, Leipzig 1886, ‘Quellenstudien zu Heraklit,’ in
_Festschrift f. L. Urlichs_, 1880, _Herakleitische Beispiele_,
Progr. Neuburg, 1892-1893; E. Pfleiderer, _Die Philosophie
des Heraklits im Lichte der Mysterienidee_, Berlin 1886; also
_Rhein. Mus._ xlii. 153 ff.; _JBB. f. protest. Theol._ xiv. 177
ff.; E. Wambier, _Studia Heraclitea_, Diss. Berlin 1891.
(_a_) FRAGMENTS OF HERAKLEITOS.
1. οὐκ ἐμεῦ ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούσαντας ὁμολογέειν σοφόν ἐστι, ἓν πάντα
εἶναι.
2. τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦδ’ ἐόντος αἰεὶ ἀξύνετοι γίνονται ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρόσθεν
ἢ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον. γινομένων γὰρ πάντων κατὰ τὸν λόγον
τόνδε ἀπείροισι ἐοίκασι πειρώμενοι καὶ ἐπέων καὶ ἔργων τοιουτέων ὁκοίων
ἐγὼ διηγεῦμαι, διαιρέων ἕκαστον κατὰ φύσιν καὶ φράζων ὅκως ἔχει. τοὺς
δὲ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους λανθάνει ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ποιέουσι, ὅκωσπερ ὁκόσα
εὕδοντες ἐπιλανθάνονται.
3. ἀξύνετοι ἀκούσαντες κωφοῖσι ἐοίκασι· φάτις αὐτοῖσι μαρτυρέει παρεόντας
ἀπεῖναι.
4. κακοὶ μάρτυρες ἀνθρώποισι ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ὦτα, βαρβάρους ψυχὰς ἐχόντων.
5. οὐ φρονέουσι τοιαῦτα πολλοὶ ὁκόσοισι ἐγκυρέουσι οὐδὲ μαθόντες
γινώσκουσι, ἑωυτοῖσι δὲ δοκέουσι.
6. ἀκοῦσαι οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι οὐδ’ εἰπεῖν.
7. ἐὰν μὴ ἔλπηαι, ἀνέλπιστον οὐκ ἐξευρήσει, ἀνεξερεύνητον ἐὸν καὶ ἄπορον.
8. χρυσὸν οἱ διζήμενοι γῆν πολλὴν ὀρύσσουσι καὶ εὑρίσκουσι ὀλίγον.
9. ἀγχιβασίην.
10. φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ.
11. ὁ ἄναξ [οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ] ἐν Δελφοῖς οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει,
ἀλλὰ σημαίνει.
12. σίβυλλα δὲ μαινομένῳ στόματι ἀγέλαστα καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ ἀμύριστα
φθεγγομένη χιλίων ἐτέων ἐξικνέεται τῇ φωνῇ διὰ τὸν θεὸν.
13. ὅσων ὄψις ἀκοὴ μάθησις, ταῦτα ἐγὼ προτιμέω.
14. ἀπίστους ἀμφισβητουμένων παρεχόμενοι βεβαιωτάς.
15. ὀφθαλμοὶ τῶν ὤτων ἀκριβέστεροι μάρτυρες.
16. πολυμαθίη νόον ἔχειν οὐ διδάσκει· Ἡσίοδον γὰρ ἂν ἐδίδαξε καὶ
Πυθαγόρην αὖτίς τε Ξενοφάνεα καὶ Ἑκαταῖον.
17. Πυθαγόρης Μνησάρχου ἱστορίην ἤσκησε ἀνθρώπων μάλιστα πάντων· καὶ
[ἐκλεξάμενος ταύτας τὰς συγγραφὰς] ἐποίησε ἑωυτοῦ σοφίην, πολυμαθίην,
κακοτεχνίην.
18. ὁκόσων λόγους ἤκουσα οὐδεὶς ἀφικνέεται ἐς τοῦτο, ὥστε γινώσκειν ὅτι
σοφόν ἐστι πάντων κεχωρισμένον.
19. ἓν τὸ σοφόν, [ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην ᾗ κυβερνᾶται πάντα διὰ πάντων]. (65)
λέγεσθαι οὐκ ἐθέλει καὶ ἐθέλει Ζηνὸς οὔνομα.
20. κόσμον <τόνδε> τὸν αὐτὸν ἁπάντων οὔτε τις θεῶν οὔτε ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησε,
ἀλλ’ ἦν αἰεὶ καὶ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται πῦρ ἀείζωον, ἁπτόμενον μέτρα καὶ
ἀποσβεννύμενον μέτρα.
21. πυρὸς τροπαὶ πρῶτον θάλασσα· θαλάσσης δὲ τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ γῆ, τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ
πρηστήρ.
22. πυρὸς ἀνταμείβεται πάντα καὶ πῦρ ἁπάντων, ὥσπερ χρυσοῦ χρήματα καὶ
χρημάτων χρυσός.
23. θάλασσα διαχέεται καὶ μετρέεται ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ὁκοῖος πρόσθεν ἦν
ἢ γενέσθαι †γῆ†.
24. χρησμοσύνη ... κόρος.
25. ζῇ πῦρ τὸν γῆς θάνατον, καὶ ἀὴρ ζῇ τὸν πυρὸς θάνατον· ὕδωρ ζῇ τὸν
ἀέρος θάνατον, γῆ τὸν ὕδατος.
26. πάντα τὸ πῦρ ἐπελθὸν κρινέει καὶ καταλήψεται.
27. τὸ μὴ δῦνόν ποτε πῶς ἄν τις λάθοι;
28. τὰ δὲ πάντα οἰακίζει κεραυνός.
29. ἥλιος οὐχ ὑπερβήσεται μέτρα· εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐρινύες μιν δίκης ἐπίκουροι
ἐξευρήσουσι.
30. ἠοῦς καὶ ἑσπέρης τέρματα ἡ ἄρκτος, καὶ ἀντίοι τῆς ἄρκτου οὖρος
αἰθρίου Διός.
31. εἰ μὴ ἥλιος ἦν, εὐφρόνη ἂν ἦν.
32. νέος ἐφ’ ἡμέρῃ ἥλιος.
34.[30] ὧραι πάντα φέρουσι.
35. διδάσκαλος δὲ πλείστων Ἡσίοδος· τοῦτον ἐπίστανται πλεῖστα εἰδέναι,
ὅστις ἡμέρην καὶ εὐφρόνην οὐκ ἐγίνωσκε· ἔστι γὰρ ἕν.
36. ὁ θεὸς ἡμέρη εὐφρόνη, χειμὼν θέρος, πόλεμος εἰρήνη, κόρος λιμός·
ἀλλοιοῦται δὲ ὅκωσπερ ὁκόταν συμμιγῇ <θύωμα> θυώμασι· ὀνομάζεται καθ’
ἡδονὴν ἑκάστου.
37. εἰ πάντα τὰ ὄντα καπνὸς γένοιτο, ῥῖνες ἂν διαγνοῖεν.
38. †αἱ ψυχαὶ ὀσμῶνται καθ’ Ἅιδην.†
39. τὰ ψυχρὰ θέρεται, θερμὸν ψύχεται, ὑγρὸν αὐαίνεται, καρφαλέον
νοτίζεται.
40. σκίδνησι καὶ συνάγει, πρόσεισι καὶ ἄπεισι.
41-42. ποταμοῖσι δὶς τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης· ἕτερα γὰρ (καὶ ἕτερα)
ἐπιρρέει ὕδατα.
43. μέμφεται τῷ Ὁμήρῳ Ἡράκλειτος εἰπόντι· ὡς ἔρις ἔκ τε θεῶν ἔκ τ’
ἀνθρώπων ἀπόλοιτο· οἰχήσεσθαι γάρ φησι πάντα.
44. πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς
ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους.
45. οὐ ξυνίασι ὅκως διαφερόμενον ἑωυτῷ ὁμολογέει· παλίντροπος ἁρμονίη
ὅκωσπερ τόξου καὶ λύρης.
46. τὸ ἀντίξουν συμφέρον. ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν. πάντα
κατ’ ἔριν γίνεσθαι.
47. ἁρμονίη ἀφανὴς φανερῆς κρείσσων.
48. μὴ εἰκῆ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων συμβαλώμεθα.
49. χρὴ εὖ μάλα πολλῶν ἵστορας φιλοσόφους ἄνδρας εἶναι.
50. γναφέων ὁδὸς εὐθεῖα καὶ σκολιὴ μία ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ αὐτή.
51. ὄνοι σύρματ’ ἂν ἕλοιντο μᾶλλον ἢ χρυσόν.
52. θάλασσα ὕδωρ καθαρώτατον καὶ μιαρώτατον, ἰχθύσι μὲν πότιμον καὶ
σωτήριον, ἀνθρώποις δὲ ἄτοπον καὶ ὀλέθριον.
53. Sues coeno, cohortales aves pulvere (vel cinere) lavari. 54. βορβόρῳ
χαίρειν.
55. πᾶν ἑρπετὸν πληγῇ νέμεται.
56 = 45.
57. ἀγαθὸν καὶ κακὸν ταὐτόν.
58. οἱ ἰατροὶ τέμνοντες καίοντες πάντη βασανίζοντες κακῶς τοὺς
ἀρρωστοῦντας ἐπαιτιῶνται μηδέν’ ἄξιον μισθὸν λαμβάνειν παρὰ τῶν
ἀρρωστούντων.
59. συνάψειας οὖλα καὶ οὐχὶ οὖλα, συμφερόμενον διαφερόμενον, συνᾷδον
διᾷδον· ἐκ πάντων ἓν καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντα.
60. δίκης οὔνομα οὐκ ἂν ᾔδεσαν, εἰ ταῦτα μὴ ἦν.
61. †τῷ μὲν θεῷ καλὰ πάντα καὶ ἀγαθὰ καὶ δίκαια, ἄνθρωποι δὲ ἃ μὲν ἄδικα
ὑπειλήφασιν, ἃ δὲ δίκαια.†
62. εἰδέναι χρὴ τὸν πόλεμον ἐόντα ξυνόν, καὶ δίκην ἔριν· καὶ γινόμενα
πάντα κατ’ ἔριν καὶ †χρεώμενα†.
63. ἔστι γὰρ εἱμαρμένα πάντως....
64. θάνατός ἐστι ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ὁρεόμεν, ὁκόσα δὲ εὕδοντες ὕπνος.
65. v. 19.
66. τοῦ βιοῦ οὔνομα βίος, ἔργον δὲ θάνατος.
67. θεοὶ θνητοί, ἄνθρωποι ἀθάνατοι, ζῶντες τὸν ἐκείνων θάνατον τὸν δὲ
ἐκείνων βίον τεθνεῶτες.
68. ψυχῇσι γὰρ θάνατος ὕδωρ γενέσθαι, ὕδατι δὲ θάνατος γῆν γενέσθαι· ἐκ
γῆς δὲ ὕδωρ γίνεται, ἐξ ὕδατος δὲ ψυχή.
69. ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή.
70. ξυνὸν ἀρχὴ καὶ πέρας.
71. ψυχῆς πείρατα οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν.
72. ψυχῇσι τέρψις ὑγρῇσι γενέσθαι.
73. ἀνὴρ ὁκότ’ ἂν μεθύσθῃ, ἄγεται ὑπὸ παιδὸς ἀνήβου σφαλλόμενος, οὐκ
ἐπαίων ὅκη βαίνει, ὑγρὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχων.
74-76. αὔη ψυχὴ σοφωτάτη καὶ ἀρίστη.
77. ἄνθρωπος, ὅκως ἐν εὐφρόνῃ φάος, ἅπτεται ἀποσβέννυται.
78. ταὔτ’ εἶναι ζῶν καὶ τεθνηκός, καὶ τὸ ἐγρηγορὸς καὶ τὸ καθεῦδον,
καὶ νέον καὶ γηραιόν· τάδε γὰρ μεταπεσόντα ἐκεῖνά ἐστι κἀκεῖνα πάλιν
μεταπεσόντα ταῦτα.
79. αἰὼν παῖς ἐστι παίζων πεσσεύων· παιδὸς ἡ βασιληίη.