concerning the nature of the divinities, how they live in great numbers
beneath the earth and manage things there. He said that Love and Strife
were the first principle of the all, and that the intelligent fire of
the monad is god, and that all things are formed from fire and are
resolved into fire; and the Stoics agree closely with his teaching, in
that they expect a general conflagration. And he believed most fully in
transmigration, for he said: ‘For in truth I was born a boy and a maiden,
and a plant and a bird, and a fish whose course lies in the sea.’ He said
that all souls went at death into all sorts of animals.
Hipp. _Phil._ 4; _Dox._ 559. See Herakleitos, p. 64.
Plut. _Strom._ 10; _Dox._ 582. Empedokles of Agrigentum: The elements
are four—fire, water, aether, earth. And the cause of these is Love and
Strife. From the first mixture of the elements he says that the air was
separated and poured around in a circle; and after the air the fire ran
off, and not having any other place to go to, it ran up from under the
ice that was around the air. And there are two hemispheres moving in
a circle around the earth, the one of pure fire, the other of air and
a little fire mixed, which he thinks is night. And motion began as a
result of the weight of the fire when it was collected. And the sun is
not fire in its nature, but a reflection of fire, like that which takes
place in water. And he says the moon consists of air that has been shut
up by fire, for this becomes solid like hail; and its light it gets from
the sun. The ruling part is not in the head or in the breast, but in the
blood; wherefore in whatever part of the body the more of this is spread,
in that part men excel.
Epiph. _adv. Haer._ iii. 19; _Dox._ 591. Empedokles of Agrigentum, son
of Meton, regarded fire and earth and water and air as the four first
elements, and he said that enmity is the first of the elements. For, he
says, they were separated at first, but now they are united into one,
becoming loved by each other. So in his view the first principles and
powers are two, Enmity and Love, of which the one tends to bring things
together and the other to separate them.
XI.
_ANAXAGORAS._
Anaxagoras of Klazomenae, son of Hegesiboulos, was born in the seventieth
Olympiad (500-497) and died in the first year of the eighty-eighth
Olympiad (428), according to the chronicles of Apollodoros. It is said
that he neglected his possessions in his pursuit of philosophy; he
began to teach philosophy in the archonship of Kallias at Athens (480).
The fall of a meteoric stone at Aegos Potamoi (467 or 469) influenced
profoundly his views of the heavenly bodies. Perikles brought him to
Athens, and tradition says he remained there thirty years. His exile
(434-432) was brought about by the enemies of Perikles, and he died at
Lampsakos. He wrote but one book, according to Diogenes, and the same
authority says this was written in a pleasing and lofty style.
Literature:—Schaubach, _Anax. Claz. Frag._ Lips. 1827; W.
Schorn, _Anax. Claz. et Diog. Apoll. Frag._ Bonn 1829;
Panzerbieter, _De frag. Anax. ord._ Meining. 1836; Fr. Breier,
_Die Philosophie des Anax. nach Arist._ Berl. 1840. Cf. Diels,
_Hermes_ xiii. 4.
FRAGMENTS OF ANAXAGORAS.
1. ὁμοῦ χρήματα πάντα ἦν ἄπειρα καὶ πλῆθος καὶ σμικρότητα· καὶ γὰρ
τὸ σμικρὸν ἄπειρον ἦν. καὶ πάντων ὁμοῦ ἐόντων οὐδὲν ἔνδηλον ἦν ὑπὸ
σμικρότητος· πάντα γὰρ ἀήρ τε καὶ αἰθὴρ κατεῖχεν ἀμφότερα ἄπειρα ἔοντα·
ταῦτα γὰρ μέγιστα ἔνεστιν ἐν τοῖς σύμπασι καὶ πλήθει καὶ μεγέθει.
2. καὶ γὰρ ἀήρ τε καὶ αἰθὴρ ἀποκρίνονται ἀπὸ τοῦ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιέχοντος.
καὶ τό γε περιέχον ἄπειρόν ἐστι τὸ πλῆθος.
4. πρὶν δὲ ἀποκριθῆναι ... πάντων ὁμοῦ ἐόντων οὐδὲ χροιὴ ἔνδηλος ἦν
οὐδεμία· ἀπεκώλυε γὰρ ἡ σύμμιξις πάντων χρημάτων τοῦ τε διεροῦ καὶ τοῦ
ξηροῦ καὶ τοῦ θερμοῦ καὶ τοῦ ψυχροῦ καὶ τοῦ λαμπροῦ καὶ τοῦ ζοφεροῦ
καὶ γῆς πολλῆς ἐνεούσης καὶ σπερμάτων ἀπείρων πλήθους οὐδὲν ἐοικότων
ἀλλήλοις. οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων οὐδὲν ἔοικε τὸ ἕτερον τῷ ἑτέρῳ.
3. τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων, χρὴ δοκεῖν ἐνεῖναι πολλά τε καὶ παντοῖα ἐν
πᾶσι τοῖς συγκρινομένοις καὶ σπέρματα πάντων χρημάτων καὶ ἰδέας παντοίας
ἔχοντα καὶ χροιὰς καὶ ἡδονάς.
10. καὶ ἀνθρώπους τε συμπαγῆναι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα ὅσα ψυχὴν ἔχει. καὶ τοῖς
γε ἀνθρώποισιν εἶναι καὶ πόλεις συνῳκημένας καὶ ἔργα κατεσκευασμένα,
ὥσπερ παρ’ ἡμῖν, καὶ ἠέλιόν τε αὐτοῖσιν εἶναι καὶ σελήνην καὶ τὰ ἄλλα,
ὥσπερ παρ’ ἡμῖν, καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτοῖσι φύειν πολλά τε καὶ παντοῖα, ὧν
ἐκεῖνοι τὰ ὀνήιστα συνενεγκάμενοι εἰς τὴν οἴκησιν χρῶνται. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν
μοι λέλεκται περὶ τῆς ἀποκρίσιος, ὅτι οὐκ ἂν παρ’ ἡμῖν μόνον ἀποκριθείη,
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλῃ.
11. οὕτω τούτων περιχωρούντων τε καὶ ἀποκρινομένων ὑπὸ βίης τε καὶ
ταχυτῆτος. βίην δὲ ἡ ταχυτὴς ποιεῖ. ἡ δὲ ταχυτὴς αὐτῶν οὐδενὶ ἔοικε
χρήματι τὴν ταχυτῆτα τῶν νῦν ἐόντων χρημάτων ἐν ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλὰ πάντως
πολλαπλασίως ταχύ ἐστι.
14. τούτων δὲ οὕτω διακεκριμένων γινώσκειν χρὴ, ὅτι πάντα οὐδὲν ἐλάσσω
ἐστὶν οὐδὲ πλείω. οὐ γὰρ ἀνυστὸν πάντων πλείω εἶναι, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἴσα ἀεί.
5. ἐν παντὶ παντὸς μοῖρα ἔνεστιν πλὴν νοῦ, ἔστιν οἷσι δὲ καὶ νοῦς ἔνι.
6. τὰ μὲν ἄλλα παντὸς μοῖραν μετέχει, νοῦς δέ ἐστιν ἄπειρον καὶ
αὐτοκρατὲς καὶ μέμικται οὐδενὶ χρήματι, ἀλλὰ μόνος αὐτὸς ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ
ἐστιν. εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ ἦν, ἀλλά τεῳ ἐμέμικτο ἄλλῳ, μετεῖχεν ἂν
ἁπάντων χρημάτων, εἰ ἐμέμικτό τεῳ. ἐν παντὶ γὰρ παντὸς μοῖρα ἔνεστιν,
ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν μοι λέλεκται, καὶ ἂν ἐκώλυεν αὐτὸν τὰ συμμεμιγμένα,
ὥστε μηδενὸς χρήματος κρατεῖν ὁμοίως ὡς καὶ μόνον ἔοντα ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ. ἔστι
γὰρ λεπτότατόν τε πάντων χρημάτων καὶ καθαρώτατον καὶ γνώμην γε περὶ
παντὸς πᾶσαν ἴσχει καὶ ἰσχύει μέγιστον, καὶ ὅσα γε ψυχὴν ἔχει καὶ μείζω
καὶ ἐλάσσω, πάντων νοῦς κρατεῖ. καὶ τῆς περιχωρήσιος τῆς συμπάσης νοῦς
ἐκράτησεν, ὥστε περιχωρῆσαι τὴν ἀρχήν. καὶ πρῶτον ἀπὸ τοῦ σμικροῦ ἤρξατο
περιχωρεῖν, ἐπεὶ δὲ πλεῖον περιχωρεῖ, καὶ περιχωρήσει ἐπὶ πλέον. καὶ τὰ
συμμισγόμενά τε καὶ ἀποκρινόμενα καὶ διακρινόμενα, πάντα ἔγνω νοῦς. καὶ
ὁποῖα ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι καὶ ὁποῖα ἦν, καὶ ὅσα νῦν ἐστι καὶ ὁποῖα ἔσται,
πάντα διεκόσμησε νοῦς, καὶ τὴν περιχώρησιν ταύτην ἣν νῦν περιχωρέει τά τε
ἄστρα καὶ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ καὶ ὁ αἰθὴρ οἱ ἀποκρινόμενοι.
ἡ δὲ περιχώρησις αὕτη ἐποίησεν ἀποκρίνεσθαι. καὶ ἀποκρίνεται ἀπό τε
τοῦ ἀραιοῦ τὸ πυκνὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ζοφεροῦ
τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ διεροῦ τὸ ξηρόν. μοῖραι δὲ πολλαὶ πολλῶν εἰσι.
παντάπασι δὲ οὐδὲν ἀποκρίνεται οὐδὲ διακρίνεται ἕτερον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου
πλὴν νοῦ. νοῦς δὲ πᾶς ὅμοιός ἐστι καὶ ὁ μείζων καὶ ὁ ἐλάττων. ἕτερον
δὲ οὐδέν ἐστιν ὅμοιον οὐδένι, ἀλλ’ ὅτῳ πλεῖστα ἔνι, ταῦτα ἐνδηλότητα ἓν
ἕκαστόν ἐστι καὶ ἦν.
7. καὶ ἐπεὶ ἤρξατο ὁ νοῦς κινεῖν, ἀπὸ τοῦ κινουμένου παντὸς ἀπεκρίνετο,
καὶ ὅσον ἐκίνησεν ὁ νοῦς, πᾶν τοῦτο διεκρίθη. κινουμένων δὲ καὶ
διακρινομένων ἡ περιχώρησις πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐποίει διακρίνεσθαι.
8. τὸ μὲν πυκνὸν καὶ διερὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν καὶ τὸ ζοφερὸν ἐνθάδε συνεχώρησεν
ἔνθα νῦν <ἡ γῆ>· τὸ δὲ ἀραιὸν καὶ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ξηρὸν <καὶ τὸ λαμπρὸν>
ἐξεχώρησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσω τοῦ αἰθέρος.
9. ἀπὸ τουτέων ἀποκρινομένων συμπήγνυται γῆ· ἐκ μὲν γὰρ τῶν νεφελῶν ὕδωρ
ἀποκρίνεται, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος γῆ, ἐκ δὲ τῆς γῆς λίθοι συμπήγνυνται ὑπὸ
τοῦ ψυχροῦ, οὗτοι δὲ ἐκχωρέουσι μᾶλλον τοῦ ὕδατος.
12. ὁ δὲ νοῦς, ὡς ἀεί ποτε, κάρτα καὶ νῦν ἐστιν, ἵνα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα,
ἐν τῷ πολλῷ περιέχοντι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀποκριθεῖσι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀποκρινομένοις.
13. οὐ κεχώρισται ἀλλήλων τὰ ἐν τῷ ἑνὶ κόσμῳ οὐδὲ ἀποκέκοπται πελέκει
οὔτε τὸ θερμὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ οὔτε τὸ ψυχρὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ.
15. οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ σμικροῦ ἐστι τό γε ἐλάχιστον, ἀλλ’ ἔλασσον ἀεί. τὸ γὰρ
ἐὸν οὐκ ἔστι τὸ μὴ οὐκ εἶναι. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ μεγάλου ἀεί ἐστι μεῖζον.
καὶ ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ σμικρῷ πλῆθος, πρὸς ἑαυτὸ δὲ ἕκαστόν ἐστι καὶ μέγα καὶ
σμικρόν.
16. καὶ ὅτε δὲ ἴσαι μοῖραί εἰσι τοῦ τε μεγάλου καὶ τοῦ σμικροῦ πλῆθος,
καὶ οὕτως ἂν εἴη ἐν παντὶ πάντα. οὐδὲ χωρὶς ἔστιν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ πάντα
παντὸς μοῖραν μετέχει. ὅτε τοὐλάχιστον μὴ ἔστιν εἶναι, οὐκ ἂν δύναιτο
χωρισθῆναι, οὐδ’ ἂν ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι· ἀλλ’ ὅπωσπερ ἀρχὴν εἶναι καὶ
νῦν, πάντα ὁμοῦ. ἐν πᾶσι δὲ πολλὰ ἔνεστι, καὶ τῶν ἀποκρινομένων ἴσα
πλῆθος ἐν τοῖς μείζοσί τε καὶ ἐλάσσοσι.
17. τὸ δὲ γίνεσθαι καὶ ἀπόλλυσθαι οὐκ ὀρθῶς νομίζουσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες· οὐδὲν
γὰρ χρῆμα γίνεται οὐδὲ ἀπόλλυται, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ ἐόντων χρημάτων συμμίσγεταί τε
καὶ διακρίνεται. καὶ οὕτως ἂν ὀρθῶς καλοῖεν τό τε γίνεσθαι συμμίσγεσθαι
καὶ τὸ ἀπόλλυσθαι διακρίνεσθαι.
(18.) πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐκ μὴ τριχὸς γίνοιτο θρὶξ καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ μὴ σαρκός;
_Sources and Critical Notes._
1. Simpl. _Phys._ 33 v 155, 26. (First clause 8 r 34, 20, and 37 r 172,
2.)
34, 20 and 172, 2 πάντα χρήματα. 155, 28. a_D_ εὔδηλον, Text
from _DE_.
2. Simpl. _Phys._ 33 v 155, 31.
155, 31. a_D_ ὁ ἀήρ τε καὶ ὁ αἰθὴρ, Text follows _EF_.
4. Simpl. _Phys._ 33 v 156, 4. (8 r 34, 21 substitutes for the last line
a paraphrase of Fr. 3.)
34, 21 inserts ταῦτα after ἀποκριθῆναι. 34, 24 καὶ τῆς, Text
from 156, 7.
3. Simpl. _Phys._ 8 r 34, 29. 33 v 156, 2. 33 v 157, 9. (Cf. p. 34, 25 at
end of Fr. 4.)
10. Simpl. _Phys._ 8 r 35, 3. 33 v 157, 9 (continuing Fr. 3). Simpl. _de
coelo._
157, 12. συνημμένας, Text from 35, 4. 157, 13. ἥλιον ... αὐτοῖς
ἐνεῖναι. 35, 7. _E_ τὰσωνήιστα, a_F_ τὰ ὀνιστὰ, Text from 157,
15. 35, 8. (ταῦτα ... ἄλλῃ) is omitted at 157, 16.
11. Simpl. _Phys._ 8 r 35, 14.
35, 16. _DE_ χρήματα. 17. _DE_ νοῦν.
14. Simpl. _Phys._ 33 v 156, 10.
_DE_ τὰ πάντα, Text from a_F_.
5. Simpl. _Phys._ 35 r 164, 23.
6. Simpl. _Phys._ 35 v 164, 24 τὰ μὲν ... μέμικται οὐδενί, and 33 r 156,
13, beginning νοῦς δέ ἐστιν. _Phys._ 156, 13 cf. 67 v 301, 5, and 38 v
176, 32 (37 r 174, 16). _Phys._ 156, 19 cf. 38 v 176, 34. _Phys._ 156, 24
cf. 35 v 165, 31 and 37 r 174, 7. _Phys._ 157, 2 cf. 37 r 175, 11 and 38
v 176, 24. _Phys._ 157, 3 cf. 35 v 165, 14. _Phys._ 157, 4 cf. 35 v 165,
3.
156, 15. 176, 34 ἐπ’ ἐωυτοῦ: _D_ ἀλλὰ τέω, _E_ ἀλλὰ τέως,
_F_ ἀλλ’, Text from a. 156, 16. _DEF_ μετεῖχε μὲν, Text from
a. 156, 17. Refers to Fr. 5. a_EF_ ἀνεκώλυεν, Text from _D_.
156, 20. ἴσχει. 177, 1 ἔχει. 156, 21. a_DF_ omit καὶ before
ὅσα, Text from _E_ and 177, 2. 177, 2 τὰ μείζω καὶ τὰ ἐλάσσω.
156, 22. _ED_¹ περιχωρήσεως, Text from a_D_²_F_. 177, 3 omits
ὥστε—ἐπὶ πλέον. 156, 23. _E_ omits τοῦ before σμικροῦ. a_F_
περιχωρῆσαι, Text from _DE_. 156, 26. 165, 33 καὶ ὁπόσα νῦν
ἐστι καὶ ἔσται, 177, 5. ἅσσα νῦν μὴ ἔστι. 157, 3. 165, 15.
After ὅμοιον οὐδενὶ the words ἑτέρῳ ἀπείρων ὄντων should
probably be ascribed to Simpl. 157, 4. _DE_ ἀλλ’ ὅτω, _F_ ἄλλω
τῶ: _F_ τὰ πλεῖστα (also 165, 3), Text from a_DE_.
7. Simpl. _Phys._ 66 r; 300, 31. 33. _DE_ καὶ, a_F_ omit.
8. Simpl. _Phys._ 38 r; 179, 3. Cf. _Dox._ 562, 3.
4. 179, 4 Diels would supply τὸ before διερὸν and ψυχρὸν. 5.
From _Dox._ 562 add ἡ γῆ ... τὸ λαμπρὸν.
9. Simpl. _Phys._ 38 r 179, 8. In part 33 r 155, 21. Cf. 106 v 460,
13-14. 155, 22. λίθοι συμπήγνυνται.
12. Simpl. _Phys._ 33 r 157, 7. Simpl. ὅσα ἐστί τε, corr. Diels: πολλὰ
περιέχοντι, corr. Diels; cf. p. 155, 31: προσκριθεῖσι ... ἀποκρινομένοις,
corr. Diels; cf. 156, 28.
13. Simpl. _Phys._ 37 r 175, 12 beginning with οὐδέ. To πελέκει, 38 v
176, 29.
15. Simpl. _Phys._ 35 v 164, 17. Cf. 35 r 166, 15.
164, 17. MS. τὸ μή, Zeller, _Phil. Gr._ i.⁴, 884 n. 3 τομῇ.
After εἶναι Schorn inserts οὔτε τὸ μέγιστον, comparing previous
line and 166, 16.
16. Simpl. _Phys._ 35 v 164, 24.
17. Simpl. _Phys._ 34 v 163, 20.
18. Schol. in Gregor. Naz. Migne 36, 911. (Cf. _Hermes_ xiii. 4, Diels.)
TRANSLATION.
1. All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness;
for the small also was infinite. And when they were all together, nothing
was clear and distinct because of their smallness; for air and aether
comprehended all things, both being infinite; for these are present in
everything, and are greatest both as to number and as to greatness.
2. For air and aether are separated from the surrounding mass; and the
surrounding (mass) is infinite in quantity.
4. But before these were separated, when all things were together, not
even was any colour clear and distinct; for the mixture of all things
prevented it, the mixture of moist and dry, of the warm and the cold, and
of the bright and the dark (since much earth was present), and of germs
infinite in number, in no way like each other; for none of the other
things at all resembles the one the other.
3. And since these things are so, it is necessary to think that in all
the objects that are compound there existed many things of all sorts, and
germs of all objects, having all sorts of forms and colours and tastes.
10. And men were constituted, and the other animals, as many as have
life. And the men have inhabited cities and works constructed as among
us, and they have sun and moon and other things as among us; and the
earth brings forth for them many things of all sorts, of which they carry
the most serviceable into the house and use them. These things then I
have said concerning the separation, that not only among us would the
separation take place, but elsewhere too.
11. So these things rotate and are separated by force and swiftness. And
the swiftness produces force; and their swiftness is in no way like the
swiftness of the things now existing among men, but it is certainly many
times as swift.
14. When they are thus distinguished, it is necessary to recognise that
they all become no fewer and no more. For it is impossible that more than
all should exist, but all are always equal.
5. In all things there is a portion of everything except mind; and there
are things in which there is mind also.
6. Other things include a portion of everything, but mind is infinite
and self-powerful and mixed with nothing, but it exists alone itself by
itself. For if it were not by itself, but were mixed with anything else,
it would include parts of all things, if it were mixed with anything;
for a portion of everything exists in everything, as has been said by me
before, and things mingled with it would prevent it from having power
over anything in the same way that it does now that it is alone by
itself. For it is the most rarefied of all things and the purest, and it
has all knowledge in regard to everything and the greatest power; over
all that has life, both greater and less, mind rules. And mind ruled the
rotation of the whole, so that it set it in rotation in the beginning.
First it began the rotation from a small beginning, then more and more
was included in the motion, and yet more will be included. Both the
mixed and the separated and distinct, all things mind recognised. And
whatever things were to be, and whatever things were, as many as are now,
and whatever things shall be, all these mind arranged in order; and it
arranged that rotation, according to which now rotate stars and sun and
moon and air and aether, now that they are separated. Rotation itself
caused the separation, and the dense is separated from the rare, the warm
from the cold, the bright from the dark, the dry from the moist. And
there are many portions of many things. Nothing is absolutely separated
nor distinct, one thing from another, except mind. All mind is of like
character, both the greater and the smaller. But nothing different is
like anything else, but in whatever object there are the most, each
single object is and was most distinctly these things.[87]
7. And when mind began to set things in motion, there was separation from
everything that was in motion, and however much mind set in motion, all
this was made distinct. The rotation of the things that were moved and
made distinct caused them to be yet more distinct.
8. The dense, the moist, the cold, the dark, collected there where now is
the earth; the rare, the warm, the dry, the bright, departed toward the
farther part of the aether.
9. Earth is condensed out of these things that are separated. For water
is separated from the clouds, and earth from the water; and from the
earth stones are condensed by cold; and these are separated farther from
water.[88]
12. But mind, as it always has been, especially now also is where all
other things are, in the surrounding mass, and in the things that were
separated, and in the things that are being separated.
13. Things in the one universe are not divided from each other, nor yet
are they cut off with an axe, neither hot from cold, nor cold from hot.
15. For neither is there a least of what is small, but there is always
a less. For being is not non-being. But there is always a greater than
what is great. And it is equal to the small in number; but with reference
to itself each thing is both small and great.
16. And since the portions of the great and the small are equal in
number, thus also all things would be in everything. Nor yet is it
possible for them to exist apart, but all things include a portion of
everything. Since it is not possible for the least to exist, nothing
could be separated, nor yet could it come into being of itself, but as
they were in the beginning so they are now, all things together. And
there are many things in all things, and of those that are separated
there are things equal in number in the greater and the lesser.
17. The Greeks do not rightly use the terms ‘coming into being’ and
‘perishing.’ For nothing comes into being nor yet does anything perish,
but there is mixture and separation of things that are. So they would
do right in calling the coming into being ‘mixture,’ and the perishing
‘separation.’
(18.) For how could hair come from what is not hair? Or flesh from what
is not flesh?
PASSAGES FROM PLATO REFERRING TO ANAXAGORAS.
_Apol._ 26 D. He asserts that I say the sun is a stone and the moon is
earth. Do you think of accusing Anaxagoras, Meletos, and have you so low
an opinion of these men and think them so unskilled in letters as not
to know that the books of Anaxagoras of Klazomenae are full of these
doctrines? And forsooth the young men are learning these matters from
me, which sometimes they can buy from the orchestra for a drachma at the
most, and laugh at Sokrates if he pretends that they are his—particularly
seeing they are so strange.
_Phaedo_ 72 C. And if all things were composite and were not separated,
speedily the statement of Anaxagoras would become true, ‘All things were
together.’
97 C. I heard a man reading from a book of one Anaxagoras (he said), to
the effect that it is mind which arranges all things and is the cause of
all things.
98 B. Reading the book, I see that the man does not make any use of mind,
nor does he assign any causes for the arrangement of things, but he
treats air and aether and water as causes, and many other strange things.
_Lysis_ 214 B. The writings of the wisest men say ... that it is
necessary for the like always to be loved by the unlike.
_Hipp. Mai._ 283 A. They say you had an experience opposite to that of
Anaxagoras; for though he inherited much property he lost it all by his
carelessness; so he practised a senseless wisdom.
_Kratyl._ 400 A. And do you not believe Anaxagoras that the nature of all
other things is mind, and that it is soul which arranges and controls
them? (cf. _Phaedo_ 72 C).
409 A. It looks as though the opinion Anaxagoras recently expressed was a
more ancient matter, that the moon has its light from the sun.
413 C. Anaxagoras is right in saying that this is mind, for he says that
mind exercising absolute power and mingled with nothing disposes all
things, running through all.
_Rival._ 132 A. But the youths seemed to be quarrelling about Anaxagoras
or Oenopedos, for they were evidently drawing circles and imitating
certain inclinations by the slope of their hands with great earnestness.
_Phil._ 28 C. All the wise men agree that mind is king of heaven and
earth for us.
30 D. Some long ago declared that always mind rules the all.
_Legg._ 967 B. And some had the daring to conjecture this very thing,
saying that it is mind which disposes all things in the heavens. And
the same men again, being in error as to the nature of soul, in that
it is older than bodies, while they regarded it as younger, to put
it in a word, turned all things upside down, and themselves most of
all. For indeed all things before their eyes—the things moving in the
heavens—appeared to them to be full of stones and earth and many other
soulless bodies, which dispose the causes of all the universe.
_Phaedr._ 270 A. All the arts that are great require subtlety and the
higher kind of philosophy of nature; so such loftiness and complete
effectiveness seem to come from this source. This Perikles acquired
in addition to being a man of genius; for as the result, I think, of
his acquaintance with such a man as Anaxagoras he became imbued with
high philosophy, and arrived at the nature of intelligence [νοῦς] and
its opposite, concerning which Anaxagoras often discoursed, so that he
brought to the art of speaking what was advantageous to him.
PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE REFERRING TO ANAXAGORAS.
_Phys._ i. 4; 187 a 20. And others say that the opposites existing in the
one are separated out of it, as Anaximandros says, and as many as say
that things are one and many, as Empedokles and Anaxagoras; for these
separate other things out of the mixture.... And Anaxagoras seems to have
thought (the elements) infinite because he assumed the common opinion
of the physicists to be true, that nothing arises out of non-being; for
this is why they say, as they do, that all things were together, and he
established the fact that such ‘arising’ was change of form.
_Phys._ i. 4; 187 a 36. They thought that (what arose) arose necessarily
out of things that are and their attributes, and, because the masses
were so small, out of what we cannot perceive. Wherefore they say that
everything was mixed in everything because they saw everything arising
out of everything; and different things appeared and were called
different from each other according to what is present in greater number
in the mixture of the infinites; for the whole is not purely white or
black or sweet or flesh or bone, but the nature of the thing seems to be
that of which it has the most.
_Phys._ iii. 4; 203 a 19. And as many as make the elements infinite, as
Anaxagoras and Demokritos, the former out of homoeomeries....
_Phys._ iii. 5; 205 b 1. Anaxagoras speaks strangely about the permanence
of the infinite; for he says that the infinite itself establishes
itself—that is, it is in itself; for nothing else surrounds it, so that
wherever anything may be, it is there in virtue of its origin.
_Phys._ iv. 6; 213 a 22. Some who try to show that the void does not
exist, do not prove this of what men are wont to call a void, but they
make the mistake Anaxagoras did and those who attempted to prove it after
this manner. For they show that air is something, blowing skins up tight,
and showing how strong air is, and shutting it up in clepsydrae.
_Phys._ viii. 1; 250 b 24. For Anaxagoras says that when all things were
together and had been at rest for an infinite time, mind introduced
motion and caused separation.[89]
_Phys._ viii. 5; 256 b 24. So Anaxagoras is right in saying that mind is
not affected by other things and is unmixed, since he makes it the first
principle of motion. For thus only, being unmoved, it might move, and
being unmixed, it might rule.[90]
_De caelo_ i. 3; 270 b 24. Anaxagoras does not use this word [αἰθήρ]
rightly, for he uses the word aether instead of fire.
_De caelo_ iii. 2; 301 a 12. Anaxagoras starts to construct the universe
out of non-moving bodies.
_De caelo_ iii. 3; 302 a 31. Anaxagoras says the opposite to Empedokles,
for he calls the homoeomeries elements (I mean such as flesh and bone and
each of those things), and air and fire he calls mixtures of these and of
all the other ‘seeds;’ for each of these things is made of the invisible
homoeomeries all heaped together. Wherefore all things arise out of these
things; for he calls fire and aether the same. And since there is a
peculiar motion of every material body, and some motions are simple and
some complex, and the complex motions are those of complex bodies and the
simple motions of simple bodies, it is evident that there will be simple
bodies. For there are also simple motions. So it is evident what elements
are, and why they are.
_De caelo_ iv. 2; 309 a 20. Some of those who deny that there is a void
say nothing definite concerning lightness and weight, for instance
Anaxagoras and Empedokles.