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Neither have the prophets after this one, who shone forth after countless periods of years, dared to utter with their voice any discordant word either among themselves or in relation to what was believed by Moses and the 14.3.4 God-beloved men of old. But not even our own school of teaching, originating from some such place and through divine power filling at once all of Greece and the barbarian world, has included anything discordant with what came before, unless one might say that not only in the dogmas of theology, but also in the manner of life, it hands down the same discipline as the God-beloved Hebrews before 14.3.5 Moses. And so our teachings, being of this kind, testified with one mind and one voice by the first, the middle, and the last, are sealed with the certainty of true piety and philosophy by all votes, and fill the whole inhabited world, growing young and flourishing daily, as if just now having reached their first bloom; and neither the ordinances of laws nor the plots of enemies nor the often-sharpened swords of foes have shown themselves to have a power superior to the virtue of the doctrines we have adopted. 14.3.6 But what strength did the tenets of Greek philosophy, wavering on slight grounds, ever display? Let us now consider, bringing into the midst first of all and setting them in the contest those called the physicists; how they who are said to have flourished before Plato fell into strife with one another, it is possible to learn from Plato himself, who indeed refutes the dispute of those around Protagoras, Heraclitus, and Empedocles against Parmenides and those around him. 14.3.7 For Protagoras, who was a companion of Democritus, acquired the reputation of an atheist; at any rate he is said to have used the following introduction in his treatise *On the Gods*: "Concerning the gods, I do not know either that they exist or that they do not exist, or what they are like in form." And Democritus said the principles of all things are the void and the full; calling the full 'being' and 'solid', and the void 'not-being'. Wherefore he also says "being exists no more than not-being" and that 14.3.8 "from eternity the things that are move continuously and swiftly in the void." And Heraclitus said the principle of all things is fire, from which all things come to be and into which they are resolved. For all things are an exchange, and a time is appointed for the resolution of all 14.3.9 things into fire and for their generation from it. These, then, said that all things are in motion. But Parmenides, being an Eleatic by birth, held the dogma that the universe is one, and that it is uncreated and motionless and spherical in shape. And Melissus became a companion of Parmenides, holding the same opinions as Parmenides. Hear, then, what Plato relates concerning these men in the *Theaetetus*:

14.4.1 4. HOW PLATO DISPARAGED THOSE BEFORE HIM "From difference and motion and mingling with one another come all the things which we say *are*, not addressing them correctly. For nothing ever is, but is always becoming. And on this point all the eminent wise men, except Parmenides, are in agreement, Protagoras and Heraclitus and Empedocles, and of the poets the masters of either kind of poetry, Epicharmus of comedy, and of tragedy Homer, who, when he said: 'Oceanus, origin of gods, and mother Tethys,' has said that all things are the offspring of flux and motion. Or does he not seem to say this? 14.4.2 To me he does. Who then could any longer dispute with so great an army and its general Homer and not become ridiculous?" Then, proceeding in his argument, he adds, saying: 14.4.3 "We must, therefore, approach nearer, as the argument on behalf of Protagoras commanded, and examine by tapping this 'being in flux,' whether it sounds sound or rotten. A battle about it, at any rate, has arisen that is not trivial nor among a few. Far from being trivial, but in Ionia it is even spreading very widely. For the companions of Heraclitus

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οὔθ' οἱ μετὰ τόνδε προφῆται, μυρίαις ὅσαις ὕστερον ἐτῶν περιόδοις ἐκλάμψαντες, διάφωνόν τι ῥῆμα πρός τε σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἢ πρὸς τὰ Μωσεῖ καὶ τοῖς 14.3.4 πάλαι θεοφιλέσι νομισθέντα προέσθαι τῇ φωνῇ τετολμήκασιν. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς διδασκάλιον, κεῖθέν ποθεν ὁρμώμενον καὶ δι' ἐνθέου δυνάμεως ὁμοῦ πᾶσαν Ἑλλάδα τε καὶ τὴν βάρβαρον ἐμπλῆσαν, διάφωνόν τι τοῖς πρόσθεν ἐμπεριείληφεν, εἰ μή τις φαίη ὅτι μὴ μόνον τοῖς δόγμασι τῆς θεολογίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ τοῦ βίου τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγωγὴν τοῖς πρὸ 14.3.5 Μωσέως θεοφιλέσιν Ἑβραίοις παραδίδωσι. καὶ τὰ μὲν ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα μιᾷ τε διανοίᾳ μιᾷ τε φωνῇ ὑπὸ τῶν πρώτων καὶ τῶν μέσων καὶ τῶν ὑστάτων μεμαρτυρημένα τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλοσοφίας τὸ βέβαιον ἁπάσαις ψήφοις ἐπισφραγίζεται πληροῖ τε τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην, ὁσημέραι νεάζοντα καὶ ἀνθοῦντα, ὡς ἄρτι πρώτην ἀκμὴν καταβεβλημένα· καὶ οὔτε νόμων διατάξεις οὔτ' ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλαὶ οὔτε πολεμίων πολλάκις ἀκονηθέντα ξίφη κρείττονα τῆς ὧν μετήλθομεν λόγων ἀρετῆς τὴν 14.3.6 δύναμιν ἐπιδέδεικται. τὰ δὲ τῆς Ἑλλήνων φιλοσοφίας ἐπὶ βραχέσι σαλεύσαντα τίνα ποτὲ τὴν ἰσχὺν ἐπεδείξατο, νυνὶ θεασώμεθα, πρώτους ἁπάντων εἰς μέσον ἀγαγόντες καὶ εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα καθιέντες τοὺς φυσικοὺς ἐπικληθέντας· οἳ δὴ πρόσθεν ἢ Πλάτωνα διαλάμψαι λεγόμενοι ὅπως πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐστασίασαν παρ' αὐτοῦ μαθεῖν ἔστι τοῦ Πλάτωνος· ὃς δὴ τῶν ἀμφὶ Πρωταγόραν Ἡράκλειτόν τε καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα τὴν πρὸς Παρμενίδην καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐ14.3.7 τὸν διαμάχην ἐξελέγχει. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ∆ημοκρίτου γεγονὼς ἑταῖρος, ὁ Πρωταγόρας, ἄθεον ἐκτήσατο δόξαν· λέγεται γοῦν τοιᾷδε κεχρῆσθαι εἰσβολῇ ἐν τῷ Περὶ θεῶν συγγράμματι· «Περὶ μὲν θεῶν οὐκ οἶδα οὔθ' ὡς εἰσὶν οὔθ' ὡς οὐκ εἰσὶν οὔθ' ὁποῖοί τινες ἰδέαν.» ὁ δὲ ∆ημόκριτος ἀρχὰς τῶν ὅλων ἔφη εἶναι τὸ κενὸν καὶ τὸ πλῆρες· τὸ πλῆρες ὂν λέγων καὶ στερεόν, τὸ δὲ κενὸν μὴ ὄν. διὸ καί φησι «μηδὲν μᾶλλον τὸ ὂν τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἶναι» ὅτι τε 14.3.8 «ἐξ ἀϊδίου τὰ ὄντα ἐν τῷ κενῷ συνεχῶς καὶ ὀξέως κινεῖται.» ὁ δὲ Ἡράκλειτος ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων ἔφη εἶναι τὸ πῦρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα γίνεται καὶ εἰς ὃ ἀναλύεται. ἀμοιβὴν γὰρ εἶναι τὰ πάντα χρόνον τε ὡρίσθαι τῆς τῶν 14.3.9 πάντων εἰς τὸ πῦρ ἀναλύσεως καὶ τῆς ἐκ τούτου γενέσεως. οἵδε μὲν οὖν πάντα κινεῖσθαι ἔφασαν. ὁ δὲ Παρμενίδης, τὸ γένος Ἐλεάτης ὤν, ἓν μὲν εἶναι τὸ πᾶν, ἀγένητον δὲ καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ κατὰ σχῆμα σφαιροειδὲς ὑπάρχειν ἐδογμάτιζε. Παρμενίδου δὲ Μέλισσος ἑταῖρος γέγονε, τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ Παρμενίδῃ δοξάζων. τούτων δὴ οὖν πέρι ὁποῖα ὁ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Θεαιτήτῳ διέξεισιν ἄκουε·

14.4.1 δʹ. ΟΠΩΣ Ο ΠΛΑΤΩΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΡΟ ΑΥΤΟΥ ∆ΙΑΒΕΒΛΗΚΕΝ «Ἐκ δὲ διαφορᾶς τε καὶ κινήσεως καὶ κράσεως πρὸς ἄλληλα γίνεται πάντα ἃ δή φαμεν εἶναι, οὐκ ὀρθῶς προσαγορεύοντες. ἔστι μὲν γὰρ οὐδέποτ' οὐδέν, ἀεὶ δὲ γίνεται. καὶ περὶ τούτου πάντες ἐξαίσιοι σοφοὶ πλὴν Παρμενίδου συμφέρεσθον, Πρωταγόρας τε καὶ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν οἱ ἄκροι τῆς ποιήσεως ἑκατέρας, κωμῳδίας μὲν Ἐπίχαρμος, τραγῳδίας δὲ Ὅμηρος, ὃς εἰπών· Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν, πάντα εἴρηκεν ἔγγονα ῥοῆς τε καὶ κινήσεως. ἢ οὐ δοκεῖ τοῦτο λέγειν; 14.4.2 Ἔμοιγε. Τίς οὖν ἂν ἔτι πρός γε τοσοῦτον στρατόπεδον καὶ στρατηγὸν Ὅμηρον δύναιτο ἀμφισβητήσας μὴ καταγέλαστος γενέσθαι;» Εἶθ' ἑξῆς προϊὼν τῷ λόγῳ ἐπιφέρει λέγων· 14.4.3 «Προσιτέον οὖν ἐγγυτέρω, ὡς ὁ ὑπὲρ Πρωταγόρου λόγος ἐπέταττε, καὶ σκεπτέον τὴν φερομένην ταύτην οὐσίαν διακρούοντα, εἴτε ὑγιὲς εἴτε σαθρὸν φθέγγεται. μάχη δ' οὖν περὶ αὐτῆς οὐ φαύλη οὐδ' ὀλίγοις γέγονε. Πολλοῦ καὶ δεῖ φαύλη εἶναι, ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τὴν Ἰωνίαν καὶ ἐπιδίδωσι πάμπολυ. οἱ γὰρ τοῦ Ἡρακλείτου ἑταῖροι