2

I change my mind; Parmenides drove Anaxagoras from my opinion. But whenever I think I hold an unshakable doctrine, Anaximenes takes it up and cries out against me: "But I tell you, the all is air, and this, when it becomes dense and condensed, becomes water and earth, but when rarefied and diffused, aether and fire, and returning to its own nature, rarefied air. And if it is also condensed," he says, "it changes." And again, I adapt myself to this and love Anaximenes.

But Empedocles stands directly opposite, roaring and from Etna loudly

crying: "The principles of all things are Strife and Love, the one bringing together, the other separating; and their conflict makes all things." And I define them as both like and unlike, and infinite and having a limit, and eternal and coming into being. Well done, O Empedocles, I follow you even to the craters of the fire. But on the other side Protagoras stands pulling me back, asserting: "Man is the measure and judge of things, and things that fall under the senses are things, but those that do not fall under them are not in the forms of being." Being flattered by this argument from Protagoras, I am delighted, because he assigns all or the most part to man. But from another direction Thales nods the truth to me, defining water as the principle of the universe. And from the moist all things are constituted and into the moist they are dissolved, and the earth is borne upon water. Why, then, should I not be persuaded by Thales, the most ancient of the Ionians? But his fellow citizen Anaximander says that an older principle than the moist is eternal motion, and by this things are generated and destroyed. And so, then, let Anaximander be believed. And yet, is Archelaus not well-regarded, who declares the principles of the universe to be hot and cold? But again, with this the great-voiced Plato does not agree, saying the principles are God and matter and form. Now, indeed, I am persuaded. For how should I not believe the philosopher who crafted the chariot of Zeus? But behind him stands his student Aristotle, jealous of his master's chariot-making. He defines other principles: the active and the passive. And the active principle is the impassive aether, while the passive has four qualities: dryness, wetness, heat, coldness; for by the change of these into one another all things come to be and are destroyed. We have now grown weary, being tossed up and down by doctrines. Yet I will stand by Aristotle's opinion and let no other argument trouble me. But what, then, shall I do? For older men than these pull the strings of my soul. Pherecydes says the principles are Zeus and Chthonie and Chronos: Zeus is the aether, Chthonie the earth, and Chronos time; the aether is the active principle, the earth the passive, and time that in which things come to be. There is, then, a rivalry among the old men. For Leucippus, thinking all these things to be nonsense, says the principles are things infinite and ever-moving and smallest; and the finer parts, having moved upward, became fire and air, while the coarser parts, having settled below, became water and earth. How long am I to be taught so many things while learning nothing true? Unless perhaps Democritus will free me from my wandering by declaring the principles to be being and non-being, and being is the full, and non-being the void. And the full in the void by turning or rhythm makes all things. Perhaps I might be persuaded by the good Democritus and would wish to laugh with him, if Heraclitus did not persuade me otherwise, weeping and at the same time saying: "The principle of the universe is fire, and its two states are rarity and density, the one active, the other passive, the one combining, the other separating." It is enough for me, and I am already drunk with so many principles.

But from there too Epicurus exhorts me in no way to insult his fine doctrine of atoms and the void. For by their manifold and multiform combination all things come to be and are destroyed. I do not contradict you, O best of men

2

μεταβάλλομαι· ὁ Παρμενίδης τὸν Ἀναξαγόραν τῆς ἐμῆς γνώμης ἐξήλασεν. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἡγήσωμαι δόγμα ἔχειν ἀκίνητον, Ἀναξιμένης ὑπολαβὼν ἀντικέκραγεν· ἀλλ' ἐγώ σοί φημι· τὸ πᾶν ἐστιν ἀήρ, καὶ οὗτος πυκνούμενος καὶ συνιστάμενος ὕδωρ καὶ γῆ γίνεται, ἀραιούμενος δὲ καὶ διαχεόμενος αἰθὴρ καὶ πῦρ, εἰς δὲ τὴν αὑτοῦ φύσιν ἐπανιὼν ἀήρ ἵἀραιός, εἰ δὲ καὶ πυκνωθῇ, φησίν, ἐξαλλάσσεται. καὶ πάλιν αὖ τούτῳ μεθαρμόζομαι καὶ τὸν Ἀναξιμένην φιλῶ.

Ὁ δὲ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ἄντικρυς ἕστηκεν ἐμβριμώμενος καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Aἴτνης μέγα

βοῶν· ἀρχαὶ τῶν πάντων ἔχθρα καὶ φιλία, ἡ μὲν συνάγουσα ἡ δὲ διακρίνουσα· καὶ τὸ νεῖκος αὐτῶν ποιεῖ τὰ πάντα. ὁρίζομαι δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ ὅμοια καὶ ἀνόμοια, καὶ ἄπειρα καὶ πέρας ἔχοντα, καὶ ἀίδια καὶ γινόμενα. Eὖ γε ὦ Ἐμπεδόκλεις, ἕπομαί σοι καὶ μέχρι τῶν κρατήρων τοῦ πυρός. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ θάτερα Πρωταγόρας ἑστηκὼς ἀνθέλκει με φάσκων· ὅρος καὶ κρίσις τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑποπίπτοντα ταῖς αἰσθήσεσινἔστιν πράγματα, τὰ δὲ μὴ ὑποπίπτοντα οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς εἴδεσι τῆς οὐσίας. τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ κολακευόμενος ὑπὸ Πρωταγόρου τέρπομαι, ὅτι τὸ πᾶν ἢ τὸ πλεῖστον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ νέμει. Ἀλλαχόθεν δέ μοι Θαλῆς τὴν ἀλήθειαν νεύει ὁριζόμενος ὕδωρ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχήν. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὰ πάντα συνίσταται καὶ εἰς ὑγρὸν ἀναλύεται, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐπὶ ὕδατος ὀχεῖται. διὰ τί τοίνυν μὴ πεισθῶ Θαλῇ τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν Ἰώνων; ἀλλ' ὁ πολίτης αὐτοῦ Ἀναξίμανδρος τοῦ ὑγροῦ πρεσβυτέραν ἀρχὴν εἶναι λέγει τὴν ἀίδιον κίνησιν καὶ ταύτῃ τὰ μὲν γεννᾶσθαι, τὰ δὲ φθείρεσθαι. καὶ δὴ τοίνυν πιστὸς Ἀναξίμανδρος ἔστω. Καὶ μὴν οὐκ εὐδοκιμεῖ Ἀρχέλαος ἀποφαινόμενος τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὰς θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν; ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτῳ πάλιν ὁ μεγαλόφωνος Πλάτων οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ λέγων ἀρχὰς εἶναι θεὸν καὶ ὕλην καὶ παράδειγμα. νῦν μὲν καὶ δὴ πέπεισμαι. πῶς γὰρ οὐ μέλλω πιστεύειν φιλοσόφῳ τῷ τὸ ∆ιὸς ἅρμα πεποιηκότι; κατόπιν δὲ αὐτοῦ μαθητὴς Ἀριστοτέλης ἕστηκε ζηλοτυπῶν τὸν διδάσκαλον τῆς ἁρματοποιίας. οὗτος ἀρχὰς ἄλλας ὁρίζεται τὸ ποιεῖν καὶ τὸ πάσχειν. καὶ τὸ μὲν ποιοῦν ἀπαθὲς εἶναι τὸν αἰθέρα, τὸ δὲ πάσχον ἔχειν ποιότητας τέσσαρας, ξηρότητα ὑγρότητα θερμότητα ψυχρότητα· τῇ γὰρ τούτων εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῇ πάντα γίνεται καὶ φθείρεται. Κεκμήκαμεν ἤδη μεταβαλλόμενοι ἄνω καὶ κάτω τοῖς δόγμασι. πλὴν ἐπί γε τῆς Ἀριστοτέλους γνώμης στήσομαι καὶ μηκέτι μοι μηδὲ εἷς λόγος ὀχλείτω. ἀλλὰ τί δῆτα πάθοιμ' ἄν; νευροσπαστοῦσι γάρ μου τὴν ψυχὴν ἀρχαιότεροι τούτων γέροντες. Φερεκύδης μὲν ἀρχὰς εἶναι λέγων Ζῆνα καὶ Χθονίην καὶ Κρόνον· Ζῆνα μὲν τὸν αἰθέρα, Χθονίην δὲ τὴν γῆν, Κρόνον δὲ τὸν χρόνον· ὁ μὲν αἰθὴρ τὸ ποιοῦν, ἡ δὲ γῆ τὸ πάσχον, ὁ δὲ χρόνος ἐν ᾧ τὰ γινόμενα. ζηλοτυπία τοίνυν τῶν γερόντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους. ταῦτα γάρ τοι πάντα ὁ Λεύκιππος λῆρον ἡγούμενος ἀρχὰς εἶναί φησι τὰ ἄπειρα καὶ ἀεικίνητα καὶ ἐλάχιστα· καὶ τὰ μὲν λεπτομερῆ ἄνω χωρήσαντα πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα γενέσθαι, τὰ δὲ παχυμερῆ κάτω ὑποστάντα ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν. Μέχρι ποῦ τὰ τοσαῦτα διδάσκομαι μηδὲν ἀληθὲς μανθάνων; πλὴν εἰ μή τί γε ∆ημόκριτος ἀπαλλάξει με τῆς πλάνης ἀποφαινόμενος ἀρχὰς τὸ ὂν καὶ τὸ μὴ ὄν, καὶ τὸ μὲν ὂν πλῆρες, τὸ δὲ μὴ ὂν κενόν. τὸ δὲ πλῆρες ἐν τῷ κενῷ τροπῇ ἢ·υθμῷ ποιεῖ τὰ πάντα· ἴσως ἂν πεισθείην τῷ καλῷ ∆ημοκρίτῳ καὶ βουλοίμην ἂν σὺν αὐτῷ γελᾶν, εἰ μὴ μεταπείθοι με Ἡράκλειτος κλαίων ὁμοῦ καὶ λέγων· ἀρχὴ τῶν ὅλων τὸ πῦρ, δύο δὲ αὐτοῦ πάθη ἀραιότης καὶ πυκνότης, ἡ μὲν ποιοῦσα ἡ δὲ πάσχουσα, ἡ μὲν συγκρίνουσα ἡ δὲ διακρίνουσα. ἱκανῶς ἔχει μοι καὶ ἤδη μεθύω ταῖς τοσαύταις ἀρχαῖς.

Ἀλλά με παρακαλεῖ κἀκεῖθεν Ἐπίκουρος μηδαμῶς ὑβρίσαι τὸ καλὸν αὐτοῦ δόγμα τῶν ἀτόμων καὶ τοῦ κενοῦ. τῇ γὰρ τούτων συμπλοκῇ πολυτρόπῳ καὶ πολυσχηματίστῳ τὰ πάντα γίνεται καὶ φθείρεται. οὐκ ἀντιλέγω σοι βέλτιστε ἀνδρῶν