---
title: "Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις"
author: "Pseudo-Plutarch"
translator: "John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 2 of 6
url: https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/2/
cite: "Pseudo-Plutarch, tr. John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin, Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/2/"
---

# Opinions of the Philosophers · Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις

*Pseudo-Plutarch, tr. John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin*

A summary of what the Greek philosophers thought about first principles, the gods, the heavens, the earth, the soul and the senses.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0094.tlg003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: John Dowell, rev. William W. Goodwin, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0094.tlg003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Book I · chapters 7–30

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/pseudo-plutarch-opinions-of-the-philosophers/2/#p-N

[¶0] 7. SOME of the philosophers, such as Diagoras the Melian, Theodorus the Cyrenean, and Euemerus the Tegeatan, did unanimously deny there were any Gods; and Callimachus the Cyrenean discovered his mind touching Euemerus in these Iambic verses, thus writing:
To th’ ante-mural temple flock apace,
Where he that long ago composed of brass
Great Jupiter, Thrasonic old bald pate,
Now writes his impious books,—a boastful ass! meaning books which denote there are no Gods. Euripides the tragedian durst not openly declare his sentiment; the court of Areopagus terrified him. Yet he sufficiently manifested his thoughts by this method. He presented in his tragedy Sisyphus, the first and great patron of this opinion, and introduced himself as one agreeing with him:
Disorder in those days did domineer,
And brutal power kept the world in fear. Afterwards by the sanction of laws wickedness was suppressed; but by reason that laws could prohibit only public villanies, yet could not hinder many persons from acting secret impieties, some wise persons gave this advice, that we ought to blind truth with lying disguises, and to persuade men that there is a God:
There’s an eternal God does hear and see
And understand every impiety;
Though it in dark recess or thought committed be. But this poetical fable ought to be rejected, he thought, together with Callimachus, who thus saith:
If you believe a God, it must be meant
That you conceive this God omnipotent. But God cannot do every thing; for, if it were so, then God could make snow black, and the fire cold, and him that is in a posture of sitting to be upright, and so on the contrary. The brave-speaking Plato pronounceth that God formed the world after his own image; but this smells rank of the old dotages, old comic poets would say; for how did God, casting his eye upon himself, frame this universe? Or how can God be spherical, and not be inferior to man? Anaxagoras avers that bodies did consist from all eternity, but the divine intellect did reduce them into their proper orders, and effected the origination of all beings. Plato did not suppose that the primary bodies had their consistence and repose, but that they were moved confusedly and in disorder; but God, knowing that order was better than confusion, did digest them into the best methods. Both these were equally peccant; for both suppose God to be the great moderator of human affairs, and for that cause to have formed this present world; when it is apparent that an immortal and blessed being, replenished with all his glorious excellencies, and not at all obnoxious to any sort of evil, but being wholly occupied with his own felicity and immortality, would not employ himself with the concerns of men; for certainly miserable is the being which, like a laborer or artificer, is molested by the troubles and cares which the forming and governing of this world must give him. Add to this, that the God whom these men profess was either not at all existing previous to this present world (when bodies were either reposed or in a disordered motion), or that then God did either sleep, or else was in a perpetual watchfulness, or that he did neither of these. Now neither the first nor the second can be entertained, because they suppose God to be eternal; if God from eternity was in a continual sleep, he was in an eternal death,—and what is death but an eternal sleep?—but no sleep can affect a Deity, for the immortality of God and alliance to death are vastly different. But if God was in a continual vigilance, either there was something wanting to make him happy, or else his beatitude was perfectly complete; but according to neither of these can God be said to be blessed; not according to the first, for if there be any deficiency there is no perfect bliss; not according to the second, for, if there be nothing wanting to the felicity of God, it must be a useless enterprise for him to busy himself in human affairs. And how can it be supposed that God administers by his own providence human concerns, when to vain and trifling persons prosperous things happen, to great and high adverse? Agamemnon was both “A virtuous prince, for warlike acts renowned,” and by an adulterer and adulteress was vanquished and perfidiously slain. Hercules, after he had freed the life of man from many things that were pernicious to it, perished by the witchcraft and poison of Deianira. Thales said that the intelligence of the world was God. Anaximander concluded that the stars were heavenly Deities. Democritus said that God, being a globe of fire, is intelligence and the soul of the world. Pythagoras says that, of his principles, unity is God; and the perfect good, which is indeed the nature of a unity, is mind itself; but the binary number, which is infinite, is a devil, and in its own nature evil,—about which the multitude of material beings, and this world which is the object of our eyes, are conversant. Socrates and Plato agree that God is that which is one, hath its original from its own self, is of a singular subsistence, is one only being perfectly good; all these various names signifying goodness do all centre in mind; hence God is to be understood as that mind and intellect, which is a separate idea, that is to say, pure and unmixed of all matter, and not twisted with any thing obnoxious to passions. Aristotle’s sentiment is, that God hath his residence in superior regions, and hath placed his throne in the sphere of the universe, and is a separate idea; which sphere is an ethereal body, which is by him styled the fifth essence or quintessence. For there is a division of the universe into spheres, which are contiguous by their nature but appear to reason to be separated; and he concludes that each of the spheres is an animal, composed of a body and soul; the body of them is ethereal, moved orbicularly, the soul is the rational form, which is unmoved, and yet is the cause that the sphere is actually in motion. The Stoics affirm that God is a thing more common and obvious, and is a mechanic fire which every way spreads itself to produce the world; it contains in itself all seminal virtues, and by this means all things by a fatal necessity were produced. This spirit, passing through the whole world, received various names from the mutations in the matter through which it ran in its journey. God therefore is the world, the stars, the earth, and (highest of all) the supreme mind in the heavens. In the judgment of Epicurus all the Gods are anthropomorphites, or have the shape of men; but they are perceptible only by reason, for their nature admits of no other manner of being apprehended, their parts being so small and fine that they give no corporeal representations. The same Epicurus asserts that there are four other natural beings which are immortal: of this sort are atoms, the vacuum, the infinite, and the similar parts; and these last are called Homoeomeries and likewise elements.

> Greek: 7. ἔνιοι τῶν φιλοσόφων, καθάπερ Διαγόρας ὁ Μήλιος καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ Κυρηναῖος καὶ Εὐήμερος ὁ Τεγεάτης, καθόλου φασὶ μὴ εἶναι θεούς· τὸν δʼ Εὐήμερον καὶ Καλλίμαχος ὁ Κυρηναῖος αἰνίττεται ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις γράφων
εἰς τὸ πρὸ τείχευς ἱερὸν ἁλέες δεῦτε,
οὗ τὸν πάλαι χάγκεον ὁ πλάσας Ζᾶνα
γέρων ἀλαζὼν ἄδικα βιβλία ψήχει
ταῦτʼ ἔστι τὰ περὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι θεούς. καὶ Εὐριπίδης δʼ ὁ τραγῳδοποιὸς ἀποκαλύψασθαι μὲν οὐκ ἠθέλησε, δεδοικὼς τὸν Ἄρειον πάγον· ἐνέφηνε δὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τὸν γὰρ Σίσυφον εἰσήγαγε προστάτην ταύτης τῆς δόξης καὶ συνηγόρησεν αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ τῇ γνώμῃ ἦν γάρ χρόνος φησὶν
ὅτʼ ἦν ἄτακτος ἀνθρώπων βίος
καὶ θηριώδης ἰσχύος θʼ ὑπηρέτης·
ἔπειτα φησὶ τὴν ἀνομίαν λυθῆναι νόμων εἰσαγωγῇ· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ὁ νόμος τὰ φανερὰ τῶν ἀδικημάτων εἴργειν ἐδύνατο κρύφα δʼ ἠδίκουν πολλοί, τότε τις σοφὸς ἀνὴρ ἐπέστησεν, ὡς δεῖ ψευδεῖ λόγῳ τυφλῶσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ πεῖσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους
ὡς ἔστι δαίμων ἀφθίτῳ θάλλων βίῳ,
ὃς ταῦτʼ ἀκούει καὶ βλέπει φρονεῖ τʼ ἄγαν.
ἀναιρείσθω γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ποιητικὸς λῆρος σὺν Καλλιμάχῳ τῷ λέγοντι
εἰ θεὸν οἶσθα,
ἴσθʼ ὅτι καὶ ῥέξαι δαίμονι πᾶν δυνατόν
οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς δύναται πᾶν ποιεῖν· ἐπεί τοί γε, εἰ θεὸς ἔστι, ποιείτω τὴν χιόνα μέλαιναν τὸ δὲ πῦρ ψυχρὸν τὸ δὲ καθήμενον ὀρθὸν καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον. καὶ γὰρ Πλάτων ὁ μεγαλόφωνος εἰπών ὁ θεὸς ἔπλασε τὸν κόσμον πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὑπόδειγμα ὄζει λήρου βεκκεσελήνου, κατά γε τοὺς τῆς ἀρχαίας κωμῳδίας ποιητάς πῶς γὰρ αὑτῷ ἀτενίζων ἔπλασεν; ἢ πῶς σφαιροειδῆ τὸν θεόν, ὄντα ταπεινότερον ἀνθρώπου; ὁ δʼ Ἀναξαγόρας φησὶν ὡς εἱστήκει κατʼ ἀρχὰς τὰ σώματα, νοῦς δʼ αὐτὰ διεκόσμησε θεοῦ καὶ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν ὅλων ἐποίησεν. ὁ δὲ Πλάτων οὐχ ἑστηκότα ὑπέθετο τὰ πρῶτα σώματα ἀτάκτως δὲ κινούμενα διὸ καὶ ὁ θεός, φησίν, ἐπιστήσας ὡς τάξις ἀταξίας ἐστὶ βελτίων, διεκόσμησε ταῦτα. κοινῶς οὖν ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἀμφότεροι, ὅτι τὸν θεὸν ἐποίησαν ἐπιστρεφόμενον τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἢ καὶ τούτου χάριν τὸν κόσμον κατασκευάζοντα τὸ γὰρ μακάριον καὶ ἄφθαρτον ζῷον συμπεπληρωμένον τε πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ κακοῦ παντὸς ἄδεκτον, ὅλον ὂν περὶ τὴν συνοχὴν τῆς ἰδίας εὐδαιμονίας τε καὶ ἀφθαρσίας, ἀνεπιστρεφές ἐστι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων· κακοδαίμων δʼ ἂν εἴη, ἐργάτου δίκην καὶ τέκτονος ἀχθοφορῶν καὶ μεριμνῶν εἰς τὴν τοῦ κόσμου κατασκευήν. καὶ πάλιν ὁ θεὸς ὃν λέγουσιν ἤτοι τὸν ἔμπροσθεν αἰῶνα οὐκ ἦν, ὅτʼ ἦν ἀκίνητα τὰ σώματα, ἢ ἀτάκτως ἐκινεῖτο ἢ ἐκοιμᾶτο ἢ ἐγρηγόρει ἢ οὐδέτερον τούτων. καὶ οὔτε τὸ πρῶτον ἔστι δἐξασθαι, ὁ γὰρ θεὸς αἰώνιος· οὔτε τὸ δεύτερον, εἰ γὰρ ἐκοιμᾶτο ἐξ αἰῶνος ὁ θεός, ἐτεθνήκει αἰώνιος γὰρ ὕπνος ὁ θάνατός ἐστιν· ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ δεκτικὸς ὕπνου θεός, τὸ γὰρ ἀθάνατον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ ἐγγὺς θανάτου πολὺ κεχώρισται. εἰ δʼ ἦν ὁ θεὸς ἐγρηγορώς, ἤτοι ἐνέλειπεν εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν ἢ ἐπεπλήρωτο ἐν μακαριότητι· καὶ οὔτε κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον μακάριός ἐστιν ὁ θεός, τὸ γὰρ ἐλλεῖπον εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν οὐ μακάριον· οὔτε κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον, μηδὲν γὰρ ἐλλείπων κεναῖς ἔμελλεν ἐπιχειρεῖν πράξεσι. πῶς δέ, εἴπερ ὁ θεὸς ἔστι καὶ τῇ τούτου φροντίδι τὰ κατʼ ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομεῖται, τὸ μὲν κίβδηλον εὐτυχεῖ τὸ δʼ ἀστεῖον τἀναντία πάσχει; Ἀγαμέμνων τε γάρ ἀμφότερον βασιλεὺς τʼ ἀγαθὸς κρατερὸς τʼ αἰχμητής. ὑπὸ μοιχοῦ καὶ μοιχάδος ἡττηθεὶς ἐδολοφονήθη καὶ ὁ τούτου δὲ συγγενὴς Ἡρακλῆς πολλὰ τῶν ἐπιλυμαινομένων τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον καθάρας ὑπὸ Δηιανείρας φαρμακευθεὶς ἐδολοφονήθη. Θαλῆς νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου θεόν. Ἀναξίμανδρος τοὺς ἀπείρους οὐρανοὺς θεούς. Δημόκριτος νοῦν τὸν θεὸν ἑν πυρὶ σφαιροειδεῖ. Διογένης καὶ Κλεάνθης καὶ Οἰνοπίδης τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν. Πυθαγόρας τῶν ἀρχῶν τὴν μὲν μονάδα θεὸν καὶ τἀγαθόν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ ἑνὸς φύσις, αὐτὸς ὁ νοῦς· τὴν δʼ ἀόριστον δυάδα δαίμονα καὶ τὸ κακόν, περὶ ἥν ἐστι τὸ ὑλικὸν πλῆθος, ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὁ ὁρατὸς κόσμος. Σωκράτης καὶ Πλάτων τὸ ἕν, τὸ μονοφυὲς καὶ αὐτοφυὲς τὸ μοναδικόν, τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν πάντα δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν ὀνομάτων εἰς τὸν νοῦν σπεύδει νοῦς οὖν ὁ θεός, χωριστὸν εἶδος, τουτέστι τὸ ἀμιγὲς πάσης ὕλης καὶ μηδενὶ παθητῷ συμπεπλεγμένον. Ἀριστοτέλης τὸν μὲν ἀνωτάτω θεὸν εἶδος χω ριστὸν ἐπιβεβηκότα τῇ σφαίρᾳ τοῦ παντός, ἣτις ἐστὶν αἰθέριον σῶμα, τὸ πέμπτον ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ καλούμενον διῃρημένου δὲ τούτου κατὰ σφαίρας, τῇ μὲν φύσει συναφεῖς τῷ λόγῳ δὲ κεχωρισμένας, ἑκάστην οἴεται τῶν σφαιρῶν ζῷον εἶναι σύνθετον ἐκ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς, ὧν τὸ μὲν σῶμά ἐστιν αἰθέριον κινούμενον κυκλοφορικῶς, ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ λόγος ἀκίνητος αἴτιος τῆς κινήσεως κατʼ ἐνέργειαν. οἱ Στωικοὶ νοερὸν θεὸν ἀποφαίνονται πῦρ τεχνικὸν ὁδῷ βαδίζον ἐπὶ γένεσιν κόσμου ἐμπεριειληφὸς πάντας τοὺς σπερματικοὺς λόγους, καθʼ οὓς ἕκαστα καθʼ εἱμαρμένην γίνεται· καὶ πνεῦμα μὲν διῆκον διʼ ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου, τὰς δὲ προσηγορίας μεταλαμβάνον διὰ τὰς τῆς ὕλης, διʼ ἧς κεχώρηκε, παραλλάξεις· θεὸν δʼ καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας καὶ τὴν γῆν· τὸν δʼ ἀνωτάτω πάντων νοῦν ἐν αἰθέρι. Ἐπίκουρος ἀνθρωποειδεῖς μὲν πάντας τοὺς θεούς, λόγῳ δὲ πάντας τούτους θεωρητοὺς διὰ τὴν λεπτομέρειαν τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων φύσεως· ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἄλλως τέσσαρας φύσεις κατὰ γένος ἀφθάρτους τάσδε, τὰ ἄτομα τὸ κενὸν τὸ ἄπειρον τὰς ὁμοιότητας· αὗται δὲ λέγονται ὁμοιομέρειαι καὶ στοιχεῖα.

[¶1] 8. HAVING treated of the essence of the deities in a just order, it follows that we discourse of daemons and heroes. Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics do conclude that daemons are essences which are endowed with souls; that the heroes are the souls separated from their bodies, some are good, some are bad; the good are those whose souls are good, the evil those whose souls are wicked. All this is rejected by Epicurus.

> Greek: 8. παρακειμένως δὲ τῷ περὶ θεῶν λόγῳ τὸν περὶ δαιμόνων καὶ ἡρώων ἱστορητέον. Θαλῆς Πυθαγόρας Πλάτων οἱ Στωικοὶ δαίμονας ὑπάρχειν οὐσίας ψυχικάς· εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἥρωας τὰς κεχωρισμένας ψυχὰς τῶν σωμάτων, καὶ ἀγαθοὺς μὲν τὰς ἀγαθὰς κακοὺς δὲ τὰς φαύλας. Ἐπίκουρος δʼ οὐδὲν τούτων ἐγκρίνει.

[¶2] 9. MATTER is that first being which is substrate for generation, corruption, and all other alterations. The disciples of Thales and Pythagoras, with the Stoics, are of opinion that matter is changeable, mutable, convertible, and sliding through all things. The followers of Democritus aver that the vacuum, the atom, and the incorporeal substance are the first beings, and not obnoxious to passions. Aristotle and Plato affirm that matter is of that species which is corporeal, void of any form, species, figure, and quality, but apt to receive all forms, that she may be the nurse, the mother, and origin of all other beings. But they that do say that water, earth, air, and fire are matter do likewise say that matter cannot be without form, but conclude it is a body; but they that say that individual particles and atoms are matter do say that matter is without form.

> Greek: 9. ὕλη ἐστὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον πρῶτον γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις μεταβολαῖς. οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ τρεπτὴν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν καὶ μεταβλητὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν ὅλην διʼ ὅλης τὴν ὕλην. οἱ ἀπὸ Δημοκρίτου ἀπαθῆ τὰ πρῶτα, τὴν ἄτομον καὶ τὸ κενὸν καὶ τὸ ἀσώματον. Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Πλάτων τὴν ὕλην σωματοειδῆ ἄμορφον ἀνείδεον ἀσχημάτιστον ἄποιον μὲν ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ φύσει, δεξαμενὴν δὲ τῶν εἰδῶν οἷον τιθήνην καὶ ἐκμαγεῖον καὶ μητέρα γενέσθαι. οἱ δʼ ὕδωρ λέγοντες ἢ γῆν ἢ πῦρ ἢ ἀέρα τὴν ὕλην οὐκέτι ἄμορφον αὐτὴν λέγουσιν ἀλλὰ σῶμα· οἱ δὲ τὰ ἀμερῆ καὶ τὰς ἀτόμους ἄμορφον.

[¶3] 10. AN idea is a being incorporeal, which has no subsistence by itself, but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter, and becomes the cause of its manifestation. Socrates and Plato conjecture that these ideas are essences separate from matter, having their existence in the understanding and fancy of the Deity, that is, of mind. Aristotle objected not to forms and ideas; but he doth not believe them separated from matter, or patterns of what God has made. Those Stoics, that are of the school of Zeno, profess that ideas are nothing else but the conceptions of our own mind.

> Greek: 10. ἰδέα ἐστὶν οὐσία ἀσώματος, αὐτὴ μὲν μὴ ὑφεστῶσα καθʼ αὑτήν, εἰκονίζουσα δὲ τὰς ἀμόρφους; ὔλας καὶ αἰτία γινομένη τῆς τούτων δείξεως. Σωκράτης καὶ Πλάτων χωριστὰς τῆς ὕλης οὐσίας τὰς ἰδέας ὑπολαμβάνει, ἐν τοῖς νοήμασι καὶ ταῖς· φαντασίαις τοῦ θεοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ νοῦ, ὑφεστώσας. Ἀριστοτέλης δʼ εἴδη μὲν ἀπέλιπε καὶ ἰδέας, οὐ μὴν κεχωρισμένας τῆς ὕλης, ὃ ἐξ ὧν γεγονὸς τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. οἱ ἀπὸ Ζήνωνος Στωικοὶ ἐννοήματα ἡμέτερα τὰς ἰδέας ἔφασαν.

[¶4] 11. A CAUSE is that by which any thing is produced, or by which any thing is effected. Plato gives this triple division of causes,—the material, the efficient, and the final cause; the principal cause he judges to be the efficient, which is the mind and intellect. Pythagoras and Aristotle judge the first causes are incorporeal beings, but those that are causes by accident or participation become corporeal substances; by this means the world is corporeal. The Stoics grant that all causes are corporeal, inasmuch as they are breath.

> Greek: 11. αἴτιόν ἐστι διʼ ὃ τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα ἢ διʼ ὃ συμβαίνει τι. Πλάτων τριχῶς τὸ αἴτιον· φησὶ γὰρ ὑφʼ οὗ ἐξ. οὗ πρὸς ὅ· κυριώτερον δʼ ἡγεῖται τὸ ὑφʼ οὗ· τοῦτο δʼ ἦν τὸ ποιοῦν, ὅ ἐστι νοῦς. Πυθαγόρας καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης τὰ μὲν πρῶτα αἴτια ἀσώματα, τὰ δὲ κατὰ μετοχὴν ἢ κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς τῆς σωματικῆς ὑποστάσεως· ὥστʼ εἶναι τὸν κόσμον σῶμα. οἱ Στωικοὶ πάντα τὰ αἴτια σωματικά· πνεύματα γάρ.

[¶5] 12. A BODY is that being which hath these three dimensions, breadth, depth, and length;—or a bulk which makes a sensible resistance;—or whatsoever of its own nature possesseth a place. Plato saith that it is neither heavy nor light in its own nature, when it exists in its own place; but being in the place where another should be, then it has an inclination by which it tends to gravity or levity. Aristotle saith that, if we simply consider things in their own nature, the earth only is to be judged heavy, and fire light; but air and water are sometimes heavy and sometimes light. The Stoics think that of the four elements two are light, fire and air; two ponderous, earth and water; that which is naturally light doth by its own nature, not by any inclination, recede from its own centre; but that which is heavy doth by its own nature tend to its centre; for the centre is not a heavy thing of itself. Epicurus thinks that bodies are not to be limited; but the first bodies, which are simple bodies, and all those composed of them, all acknowledge gravity; that all atoms are moved, some perpendicularly, some obliquely; some are carried aloft either by direct impulse or with vibrations.

> Greek: 12. σῶμά ἐστι τὸ τριχῇ διαστατόν, πλάτει βάθει μήκει ἢ ὄγκος· ἀντίτυπος ὅσον ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ· ἢ τὸ κατέχον τόπον. Πλάτων μήτε βαρὺ εἶναι μήτε κοῦφον τῇ φύσει ἔν γε τῷ οἰκείῳ τόπῳ ὑπάρχον ἐν δέ γε τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ γενόμενον τότε νεῦσιν ἴσχειν· ἐκ δὲ τῆς νεύσεως ῥοπὴν ἤτοι πρὸς βαρύτητα ἢ κουφότητα. Ἀριστοτέλης βαρύτατον μὲν εἶναι τὴν γῆν ἁπλῶς, κουφότατον δὲ τὸ πῦρ· ἀέρα δὲ καὶ ὕδωρ ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλως. οἱ Στωικοὶ δύο μὲν ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων κοῦφα, πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα· δύο δὲ βαρέα, ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν· κοῦφον γὰρ ὑπάρχει φύσει, ὃ νεύει ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου μέσου· βαρὺ δὲ τὸ εἰς μέσον· βαρὺ δʼ οὐκ ἔστι τὸ μέσον. Ἐπίκουρος δʼ ἀπερίληπτα εἶναι τὰ σώματα καὶ τὰ πρῶτα δʼ ἁπλᾶ, τὰ δʼ ἐξ ἐκείνων συγκρίματα πάντα βάρος ἔχειν· κινεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ ἄτομα ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ στάθμην ποτὲ δὲ κατὰ παρέγκλισιν, τὰ δʼ ἄνω κινούμενα κατὰ πληγήν, κατὰ παλμόν.

[¶6] 13. EMPEDOCLES, precedent to the four elements, introduceth the most minute bodies which resemble elements; but they did exist before the elements, having similar parts and orbicular. Heraclitus brings in the smallest fragments, and those indivisible.

> Greek: 13. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς πρὸ τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων θραύσματα ἐλάχιστα, οἱονεὶ στοιχεῖα πρὶν στοιχείων, ὁμοιομερῆ, ὅ ἐστι στρογγύλα. Ἡράκλειτος ψηγμάτιά τινα ἐλάχιστα καὶ ἀμερῆ εἰσάγει.

[¶7] 14. A FIGURE is the exterior appearance, the circumscription, and the boundary of a body. The Pythagoreans say that the bodies of the four elements are spherical, fire being in the supremest place only excepted, whose figure is conical.

> Greek: 14. σχῆμά ἐστιν ἐπιφάνεια καὶ περιγραφὴ καὶ πέρας σώματος. οἱ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου σφαιρικὰ τὰ σχήματα τῶν τεττάρων στοιχείων, μόνον δὲ τὸ ἀνώτατον πῦρ κωνοειδές.

[¶8] 15. COLOR is the visible quality of a body. The Pythagoreans called color the outward appearance of a body. Empedocles, that which is consentaneous to the passages of the eye. Plato, that they are fires emitted from bodies, which have parts harmonious for the sight. Zeno the Stoic, that colors are the first figurations of matter. The Pythagoreans, that colors are of four sorts, white and black, red and pale; and they derive the variety of colors from the diversity of the elements, and that seen in animals also from the variety of food and the air in which they live and are bred.

> Greek: 15. χρῶμά ἐστι ποιότης σώματος ὁρατή. οἱ Πυθαγορικοὶ χροιὰν ἐκάλουν τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ σώματος. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὸ τοῖς πόροις τῆς ὄψεως ἐναρμόττον. Πλάτων. φλόγα ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων σύμμετρα μόρια ἔχουσαν πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν. Ζήνων ὁ Στωικὸς τὰ χρώματα πρώτους εἶναι σχηματισμοὺς τῆς ὕλης. οἱ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου τὰ γένη τῶν χρωμάτων λευκόν τε καὶ μέλαν, ἐρυθρόν, ὠχρόν· τὰς δὲ διαφορὰς τῶν χρωμάτων παρὰ τὰς ποιὰς μίξεις τῶν στοιχείων τὰς δὲ τῶν ζῴων καὶ παρὰ τὰς ποικιλίας τῶν τροφῶν καὶ τῶν ἀέρων·

[¶9] 16. THE disciples of Thales and Pythagoras grant that all bodies are passible and divisible unto infinity. Others hold that atoms and indivisible parts are there fixed, and admit not of a division into infinity. Aristotle, that all bodies are potentially but not actually divisible into infinity.

> Greek: 16. οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου παθητὰ τὰ σώματα καὶ τμητὰ εἰς ἄπειρον. οἱ τὰς ἀτόμους περὶ τὰ ἀμερῆ ἵστασθαι καὶ μὴ εἰς ἄπειρον εἶναι τὴν τομήν. Ἀριστοτέλης δυνάμει μὲν εἰς ἄπειρον ἐντελεχείᾳ δ’ οὐδαμῶς.

[¶10] 17. THE ancient philosophers held that the mixture of elements proceeded from the alteration of qualities; but the disciples of Anaxagoras and Democritus say it is done by apposition. Empedocles composes the elements of still smaller bulks, those which are the most minute and may be termed the elements of elements. Plato assigns three bodies (but he will not allow these to be elements, nor properly so called), air, fire, and water, which are mutable into one another; but the earth is mutable into none of these.

> Greek: 17. οἱ μὲν ἀρχαῖοι τὰς τῶν στοιχείων μίξεις κατʼ ἀλλοίωσιν. οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Δημόκριτον κατὰ παράθεσιν. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δʼ ἐκ μικροτέρων ὄγκων τὰ στοιχεῖα συγκρίνει, ἅπερ ἐστὶν ἐλάχιστα καὶ οἱονεὶ στοιχεῖα στοιχείων. Πλάτων τὰ μὲν τρία σώματα ʽοὐ γὰρ θέλει κυρίως αὐτὰ εἶναι στοιχεῖα ἢ προσονομάζεινʼ τρεπτὰ εἰς ἄλληλα, πῦρ ἀέρα ὕδωρ· τὴν δὲ γῆν εἴς τι τούτων ἀμετάβλητον.

[¶11] 18. ALL the natural philosophers from Thales to Plato rejected a vacuum. Empedocles says that there is nothing of a vacuity in nature, nor any thing superabundant. Leucippus, Democritus, Demetrius, Metrodorus, Epicurus, that the atoms are infinite in number; and that a vacuum is infinite in magnitude. The Stoics, that within the compass of the world there is no vacuum, but beyond it the vacuum is infinite. Aristotle, that the vacuum beyond the world is so great that the heaven has liberty to breathe into it, for the heaven is fiery.

> Greek: 18. οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω φυσικοὶ πάντες μέχρι Πλάτωνος τὸ κενὸν ἀπέγνωσαν. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς οὐδέ τι τοῦ παντὸς κενεὸν πέλει οὐδὲ περισσόν. Λεύκιππος Δημόκριτος; Δημήτριος Μητρόδωρος Ἐπίκουρος τὰ μὲν ἄτομα ἄπειρα τῷ πλήθει, τὸ δὲ κενὸν ἄπειρον τῷ μεγέθει. οἱ Στωικοὶ ἐντὸς μὲν τοῦ κόσμου οὐδὲν εἶναι κενὸν ἔξωθεν δʼ αὐτοῦ ἄπειρον. Ἀριστοτέλης τοσοῦτον εἶναι τὸ κενὸν ἐκτὸς τοῦ κόσμου, ὥστʼ ἀναπνεῖν τὸν οὐρανόν· εἶναι γὰρ αὐτὸν πύρινον.

[¶12] 19. PLATO, to define place, calls it that thing which in its own bosom receives forms and ideas; by which metaphor he signifies matter, being (as it were) a nurse or receptacle of beings. Aristotle, that it is the ultimate superficies of the circumambient body, contiguous to that which it doth encompass.

> Greek: 19. Πλάτων τόπον εἶναι τὸ μεταληπτικὸν τῶν εἰδῶν, ὅπερ εἴρηκε μεταφορικῶς τὴν ὕλην, καθάπερ τινὰ τιθήνην καὶ δεξαμενήν. Ἀριστοτέλης τὸ ἔσχατον τοῦ περιέχοντος συνάπτον τῷ περιεχομένῳ.

[¶13] 20. THE Stoics and Epicureans make a place, a vacuum, and a space to differ. A vacuum is that which is void of any thing that may be called a body; place is that which is possessed by a body; a space that which is partly filled with a body, as a cask with wine.

> Greek: 20. οἱ Στωικοὶ καὶ Ἐπίκουρος διαφέρειν κενὸν τόπον χώραν καὶ τὸ μὲν κενὸν εἶναι ἐρημίαν σώματος, τὸν δὲ τόπον τὸ ἐχόμενον ὑπὸ σώματος τὴν δὲ χώραν τὸ ἐκ μέρους ἐχόμενον, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ οἴνου πιθάκνης;.

[¶14] 21. IN the sense of Pythagoras, time is that sphere which encompasses the world. Plato says that it is a movable image of eternity, or the interval of the world’s motion. Eratosthenes, that it is the solar motion.

> Greek: 21. Πυθαγόρας τὸν χρόνον τὴν σφαῖραν τοῦ περιέχοντος εἶναι. Πλάτων αἰῶνος εἰκόνα κινητὴν ἢ διάστημα τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κινήσεως. Ἐρατοσθένης τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πορείαν.

[¶15] 22. PLATO says that the heavenly motion is time. Most of the Stoics affirm that motion itself is time. Most philosophers think that time had no beginning; Plato, that time had only an ideal beginning.

> Greek: 22. Πλάτων οὐσίαν χρόνου τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κίνησιν. οἱ πλείους τῶν Στωικῶν αὐτὴν τὴν κίνησιν. καὶ οἱ μὲν πλείους ἀγένητον τὸν χρόνον, Πλάτων δὲ γενητὸν κατʼ ἐπίνοιαν.

[¶16] 23. PLATO and Pythagoras say that motion is a change and alteration in matter. Aristotle, that it is the actual operation of that which may be moved. Democritus, that there is but one sort of motion, and it is that which is vibratory. Epicurus, that there are two species of motion, one perpendicular, and the other oblique. Herophilus, that one species of motion is obvious only to reason, the other to sense. Heraclitus utterly denies that there is any thing of quiet or repose in nature; for that is the state of the dead; one sort of motion is eternal, which he assigns to beings eternal, the other perishable, to those things which are perishable.

> Greek: 23. Πυθαγόρας Πλάτων κίνησίς ἐστι διαφορά τις ἢ ἑτερότης ἐν ὕλῃ. Ἀριστοτέλης, ἐντελέχεια κινητοῦ. Δημόκριτος, ἓν γένος τῆς κινήσεως τὸ κατὰ παλμόν. Ἐπίκουρος, δύο εἴδη τῆς κινήσεως, τὸ κατὰ στάθμην καὶ τὸ κατὰ παρέγκλισιν. Ἡρόφιλος κινήσεως τὴν μὲν λόγῳ θεωρητὴν τὴν δʼ αἰσθητήν. Ἡράκλειτος ἠρεμίαν μὲν καὶ στάσιν ἐκ τῶν ὅλων ἀνῄρει ἔστι γὰρ τοῦτο τῶν νεκρῶν· κίνησιν δʼ ἀίδιον μὲν τοῖς ἀιδίοις φθαρτὴν δὲ τοῖς φθαρτοῖς.

[¶17] 24. PARMENIDES, Melissus, and Zeno deny that there are any such things as generation and corruption, for they suppose that the universe is unmovable. Empedocles, Epicurus, and other philosophers that combine in this, that the world is framed of small corporeal particles meeting together, affirm that corruption and generation are not so properly to be accepted; but there are conjunctions and separations, which do not consist in any alteration according to their qualities, but are made according to quantity by coalition or disjunction. Pythagoras, and all those who take for granted that matter is subject to mutation, say that generation and corruption are to be accepted in their proper sense, and that they are accomplished by the alteration, mutation, and dissolution of elements.

> Greek: 24. Παρμενίδης Μέλισσος Ζήνων ἀνῄρουν γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν διὰ τὸ νομίζειν τὸ πᾶν ἀκίνητον. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ καὶ Ἐπίκουρος καὶ πάντες, ὅσοι κατὰ συναθροισμὸν τῶν λεπτομερῶν σωμάτων κοσμοποιοῦσι, συγκρίσεις μὲν καὶ διακρίσεις εἰσάγουσι, γενέσεις δὲ καὶ φθορὰς οὐ κυρίως· οὐ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ ποιὸν ἐξ ἀλλοιώσεως, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ποσὸν ἐκ συναθροισμοῦ ταύτας γίνεσθαι. Πυθαγόρας καὶ πάντες, ὅσοι παθητὴν τὴν ὕλην ὑποτίθενται, κυρίως γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν γίνεσθαι ἐκ γὰρ ἀλλοιώσεως στοιχείων καὶ τροπῆς καὶ ἀναλύσεως ταῦτα γίνεσθαι.

[¶18] 25. THALES says that necessity is omnipotent, and that it exerciseth an empire over every thing. Pythagoras, that the world is invested by necessity. Parmenides and Democritus, that there is nothing in the world but what is necessarily, and that this same necessity is otherwise called fate, justice, providence, and the architect of the world.

> Greek: 25. Θαλῆς· ἰσχυρότατον ἀνάγκη, κρατεῖ γὰρ τοῦ παντός. Πυθαγόρας ἀνάγκην ἔφη περικεῖσθαι τῷ κόσμῳ. Παρμενίδης καὶ Δημόκριτος πάντα κατʼ ἀνάγκην τὴν αὐτὴν δʼ εἶναι εἱμαρμένην καὶ δίκην καὶ πρόνοιαν καὶ κοσμοποιόν.

[¶19] 26. PLATO distinguisheth and refers some things to Providence, others to necessity. Empedocles makes the nature of necessity to be that cause which employs principles and elements. Democritus makes it to be a resistance, impulse, and force of matter. Plato sometimes says that necessity is matter; at other times, that it is the habitude or respect of the efficient cause towards matter.

> Greek: 26. Πλάτων τὰ μὲν εἰς πρόνοιαν ἀνάγει τὰ δʼ εἰς ἀνάγκην. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς οὐσίαν ἀνάγκης αἰτίαν χρηστικὴν τῶν ἀρχῶν καὶ τῶν στοιχείων. Δημόκριτος τὴν ἀντιτυπίαν καὶ φορὰν καὶ πληγὴν τῆς ὕλης· Πλάτων ὁτὲ μὲν τὴν ὕλην ὁτὲ δὲ τὴν τοῦ ποιοῦντος πρὸς τὴν ὕλην σχέσιν.

[¶20] 27. HERACLITUS, who attributes all things to fate, makes necessity to be the same thing with it. Plato admits of a necessity in the minds and the actions of men, but yet he introduceth a cause which flows from ourselves. The Stoics, in this agreeing with Plato, say that necessity is a cause invincible and violent; that fate is the ordered complication of causes, in which there is an intexture of those things which proceed from our own determination, so that some things are to be attributed to fate, others not.

> Greek: 27. Ἡράκλειτος πάντα καθʼ εἱμαρμένην, τὴν δʼ αὐτὴν ὑπάρχειν καὶ ἀνάγκην. Πλάτων ἐγκρίνει μὲν τὴν εἱμαρμένην ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ψυχῶν καὶ βίων, συνεισάγει δὲ καὶ τὴν παρʼ ἡμᾶς αἰτίαν. οἱ Στωικοὶ Πλάτωνι ἐμφερῶς, καὶ τὴν μὲν ἀνάγκην ἀνίκητόν φασιν αἰτίαν καὶ βιαστικήν, τὴν δʼ εἱμαρμένην συμπλοκὴν αἰτιῶν τεταγμένην, ἐν συμπλοκῇ καὶ τὸ παρʼ ἡμᾶς, ὥστε τὰ μὲν εἱμάρθαι τὰ δʼ ἀνειμάρθαι.

[¶21] 28. ACCORDING to Heraclitus, the essence of fate is a certain reason which penetrates the substance of all being; and this is an ethereal body, containing in itself that seminal faculty which gives an original to every being in the universe. Plato declares that it is the eternal reason and the eternal law of the nature of the universe. Chrysippus, that it is a spiritual faculty, which in due order doth manage and rule the universe. Again, in his book styled the Definitions, that fate is the reason of the world, or that it is that law whereby Providence rules and administers every thing that is in the world; or it is that reason by which all things past have been, all things present are, and all things future will be. The Stoics say that it is a chain of causes, that is, it is an order and connection of causes which cannot be resisted. Posidonius, that it is a being the third in degree from Jupiter; the first of beings is Jupiter, the second nature, and the third fate.

> Greek: 28. Ἡράκλειτος οὐσίαν εἱμαρμένης λόγον τὸν διὰ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ παντὸς διήκοντα· αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ αἰθέριον σῶμα, σπέρμα τῆς τοῦ παντὸς γενέσεως. Πλάτων λόγον ἀίδιον καὶ νόμον ἀίδιον τῆς τοῦ παντὸς φύσεως. Χρύσιππος δύναμιν πνευματικὴν τάξει τοῦ παντὸς διοικητικήν καὶ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς Ὅροις εἱμαρμένη ἐστὶν ὁ τοῦ κόσμου λόγος ἢ νόμος τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ προνοίᾳ διοικουμένων ἢ λόγος, καθʼ ὃν τὰ μὲν γεγονότα γέγονε τὰ δὲ γινόμενα γίνεται τὰ δὲ γενησόμενα γενήσεται. οἱ Στωικοὶ εἱρμὸν αἰτιῶν, τουτέστι τάξιν καὶ ἐπισύνδεσιν ἀπαράβατον. Ποσειδώνιος τρίτην ἀπὸ Διός· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸν Δία, δεύτερον δὲ τὴν φύσιν, τρίτον δὲ τὴν εἱμαρμένην.

[¶22] 29. PLATO says, that it is an accidental cause and a casual consequence in things which proceed from the election and counsel of men. Aristotle, that it is an accidental cause in those things which are done by an impulse to a certain end; and this cause is uncertain and unstable: there is a great deal of difference betwixt that which flows from chance and that which falls out by Fortune; for that which is fortuitous admits also of chance, and belongs to things practical; but what is by chance cannot be also by Fortune, for it belongs to things without action: Fortune, moreover, belongs to rational beings, but chance to rational and irrational beings alike, and even to inanimate things. Epicurus, that it is a cause not always consistent, but various as to persons, times, and manners. Anaxagoras and the Stoics, that it is that cause which human reason cannot comprehend; for there are some things which proceed from necessity, some things from Fate, some from choice and free-will, some from Fortune, some from chance.

> Greek: 29. Πλάτων αἰτίαν ἐν προαιρετικοῖς κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς καὶ παρακολούθημα. Ἀριστοτέλης αἰτίαν κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ὁρμὴν ἕνεκά τινος γινομένοις, ἄδηλον καὶ ἄστατον. διαφέρειν δὲ τῆς τύχης τὸ αὐτόματον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ τύχης καὶ ταὐτομάτου εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πρακτέοις πάντως τὸ δʼ αὐτόματον οὐκ ἀπὸ τύχης, ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἔξω πράξεως· καὶ τὴν μὲν τύχην τῶν λογικῶν, τὸ δʼ αὐτόματον καὶ τῶν λογικῶν καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων σωμάτων. Ἐπίκουρος ἄστατον αἰτίαν προσώποις χρόνοις τόποις. Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ ἄδηλον αἰτίαν ἀνθρωπίνῳ λογισμῷ· ἃ μὲν γὰρ εἶναι κατʼ ἀνάγκην, ἃ δὲ καθʼ εἱμαρμένην ἃ δὲ κατὰ προαίρεσιν, ἃ δὲ κατὰ τύχην, ἃ δὲ κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον.

[¶23] 30. EMPEDOCLES believes that Nature is nothing else but the mixture and separation of the elements; for thus he writes in the first book of his natural philosophy:
Nature gives neither life nor death,
Mutation makes us die or breathe.
The elements first are mixed, then all
Do separate: this mortals Nature call. Anaxagoras is of the same opinion, that Nature is coalition and separation, that is, generation and corruption. HAVING finished my dissertation concerning principles and elements and those things which chiefly appertain to them, I will turn my pen to discourse of those things which are produced by them, and will take my beginning from the world, which contains and encompasseth all beings.

> Greek: 30. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς φύσιν μηδενὸς εἶναι, μῖξιν δὲ τῶν στοιχείων καὶ διάστασιν. γράφει γὰρ οὕτως ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Φυσικῶν
ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω φύσις οὐδενός ἐστιν ἁπάντων
θνητῶν, οὐδέ τις οὐλομένου θανάτοιο τελευτή,
ἀλλὰ μόνον μῖξίς τε διάλλαξίς τε μιγέντων
ἐστί, φύσις δὲ βροτοῖς ὀνομάζεται ἀνθρώποισιν. Ἀναξαγόρας· ὁμοίως τὴν φύσιν σύγκρισιν καὶ διάκρισιν, τουτέστι γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν. τετελεκὼς τοίνυν τὸν περὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ στοιχείων καὶ τῶν συνεδρευόντων αὐτοῖς λόγον τρέψομαι πρὸς τὸν περὶ τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων, ἀπὸ τοῦ περιεκτικωτάτου πάντων ἐνστησάμενος.