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water. This man seems to have been the founder of philosophy, and from him the Ionian school was named; for there were very many successions. Having philosophized in Egypt, he came to Miletus as an old man. He says that all things are from water and all things are resolved into water. He conjectures this first from the fact that the seed of all animals is their beginning, a moist substance; thus it is likely that all things also have their beginning from moisture. Second: all plants are nourished by moisture and bear fruit, but deprived of it they wither. And third, that even fire itself, that of the sun and the stars, is nourished by the exhalations of the waters, and the cosmos itself. For this reason Homer also suggests this opinion about water: "Ocean, which is the origin of all." So much for Thales. 14.14.2 "Anaximander the Milesian says that the principle of existing things is the infinite; for from this all things come to be and into this all things are destroyed; for which reason infinite worlds are also generated and again destroyed into that from which they come to be. He says, therefore, that it is the boundless, so that nothing may be lacking for the generation that subsists. But he also errs in not saying what the infinite is, whether it is air or water or earth or some other bodies; he errs, therefore, in declaring the matter, but doing away with the efficient cause. For the infinite is nothing other than matter; but matter cannot be in act, unless the efficient cause is presupposed. 14.14.3 Anaximenes the Milesian declared air to be the principle of existing things; for from this all things come to be and into it they are again resolved. For example, the soul, he says, our soul is air; for it holds us together; and spirit and air encompass the whole cosmos; and air and spirit are spoken of synonymously. But he also errs in thinking that animals are composed of simple and uniform air and spirit. For it is impossible for matter to subsist as a single principle of existing things; but it is also necessary to posit the efficient cause. For example, silver is not sufficient for a cup to be made, unless there is the maker, that is, the silversmith; similarly also in the case of bronze and wood and the other matter. 14.14.4 Heraclitus and Hippasus of Metapontum [made] fire the principle of all things. For they say that all things come to be from fire and all things end in fire; and when this is extinguished, all things are brought into cosmic order. For first its densest part, contracting into itself, becomes earth; then the earth, being relaxed by the fire, naturally brings forth water, and this, being exhaled, becomes air. And again the cosmos and all bodies are consumed by fire in a conflagration. Fire, therefore, is the principle, because from it are all things, and the end, inasmuch as all things are resolved into it. 14.14.5 Democritus, whom Epicurus for the most part followed, [held as] the principles of existing things atomic bodies, perceptible by reason, partaking not of void, ungenerated, incorruptible, nor able to be broken, nor to receive a reshaping from their parts nor to be altered, but that they are perceptible by reason. These, however, move in the void and through the void; and that the void itself is infinite and the bodies are infinite. And that these three things are properties of the bodies: shapes, size, weight; but Democritus said size and shape, while Epicurus added to these a third, weight. For it is necessary, he says, for the bodies to be moved by the impact of weight, since otherwise they will not be moved. And the shapes of the atoms are comprehensible, not infinite; for they are neither hook-shaped nor trireme-shaped nor ring-shaped; for these shapes are fragile, but the atoms are impassible, unbreakable; and they have their own particular shapes, perceptible by reason. And it is called an atom not because it is the smallest, but because it cannot be cut, being impassible and partaking not of void; so that if he says atom, he means unbreakable, impassible, partaking not of void. That the atom exists is clear; for there are also elements and animals without void, and the monad. 14.14.6 Empedocles, son of Meton, of Acragas, a city of Sicily, [held] four elements, fire, air, water, earth, and two principles and

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τὸ ὕδωρ. δοκεῖ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἄρξαι τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἡ Ἰωνικὴ αἵρεσις προσηγορεύθη· ἐγένοντο γὰρ πλεῖσται διαδοχαί. φιλοσοφήσας δὲ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πρεσβύτερος ἦλθεν εἰς Μίλητον. ἐξ ὕδατος δέ φησι πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι. στοχάζεται δὲ ἐκ τούτου πρώτου ὅτι πάντων ζῴων ἡ γονὴ ἀρχή ἐστιν, ὑγρὰ οὐσία· οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ὑγροῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν. δεύτερον· πάντα τὰ φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεταί τε καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ ξηραίνεται. τρίτον δέ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ἄστρων ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναθυμιάσεσι τρέφεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κόσμος. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ὅμηρος ταύτην τὴν γνώμην ὑποτίθεται περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος· Ὠκεανόν, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται.» ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Θαλῆς. 14.14.2 «Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιός φησι τῶν ὄντων τὴν ἀρχὴν εἶναι τὸ ἄπειρον· ἐκ γὰρ τούτου πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο πάντα φθείρεσθαι· διὸ καὶ γεννᾶσθαι ἀπείρους κόσμους καὶ πάλιν φθείρεσθαι εἰς τὸ ἐξ οὗ γίνεται. λέγει δ' οὖν, διότι τὸ ἀπέραντόν ἐστιν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐλλείπῃ καὶ ἡ γένεσις ἡ ὑφισταμένη. ἁμαρτάνει δὲ καὶ οὗτος μὴ λέγων τί ἐστι τὸ ἄπειρον, πότερον ἀήρ ἐστιν ἢ ὕδωρ ἢ γῆ ἢ ἄλλα τινὰ σώματα· ἁμαρτάνει οὖν τὴν μὲν ὕλην ἀποφαινόμενος, τὸ δὲ ποιοῦν αἴτιον ἀναιρῶν. τὸ γὰρ ἄπειρον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ ὕλη ἐστίν· οὐ δύναται δὲ ἡ ὕλη εἶναι ἐνεργείᾳ, ἐὰν μὴ τὸ ποιοῦν ὑπόθηται. 14.14.3 Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων τὸν ἀέρα ἀπεφήνατο· ἐκ γὰρ τούτου πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν πάλιν ἀναλύεσθαι. οἷον ἡ ψυχή, φησίν, ἡ ἡμετέρα ἀήρ ἐστι· συγκρατεῖ γὰρ ἡμᾶς· καὶ ὅλον δὲ τὸν κόσμον πνεῦμα καὶ ἀὴρ ἐμπεριέχει· λέγεται δὲ συνωνύμως ἀὴρ καὶ πνεῦμα. ἁμαρτάνει δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἐξ ἁπλοῦ καὶ μονοειδοῦς ἀέρος καὶ πνεύματος δοκῶν συνεστάναι τὰ ζῷα. ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἀρχὴν μίαν τὴν ὕλην τῶν ὄντων ὑποστῆναι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ποιοῦν αἴτιον χρὴ τιθέναι. οἷον ἄργυρος οὐκ ἀρκεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἔκπωμα γίνεσθαι, ἐὰν μὴ τὸ ποιοῦν ᾖ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁ ἀργυροκόπος· ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ χαλκοῦ καὶ ξύλων καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ὕλης. 14.14.4 Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων τὸ πῦρ. ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς γὰρ τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς πῦρ πάντα τελευτᾶν λέγουσι· τούτου δὲ κατασβεννυμένου κοσμοποιεῖσθαι τὰ πάντα. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὸ παχυμερέστατον αὐτοῦ εἰς αὑτὸ στελλόμενον γῆ γίγνεται· ἔπειτα ἀναχαλωμένην τὴν γῆν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς φύσει ὕδωρ ἀποτελεῖσθαι, ἀναθυμιώμενον δὲ ἀέρα γίνεσθαι. πάλιν δὲ τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ σώματα ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀναλοῦσθαι ἐκπυρώσει. ἀρχὴ οὖν τὸ πῦρ, ὅτι ἐκ τούτου τὰ πάντα, τέλος δὲ καθότι εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλύεται τὰ πάντα. 14.14.5 ∆ημόκριτος, ᾧ μετὰ πλεῖστον Ἐπίκουρος ἠκολούθησεν, ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων σώματα ἄτομα, λόγῳ δὲ θεωρητά, ἀμέτοχα κενοῦ, ἀγένητα, ἀδιάφθαρτα οὐδὲ θραυσθῆναι δυνάμενα, οὔτε διάπλασιον ἐκ τῶν μερῶν λαβεῖν οὔτε ἀλλοιωθῆναι, εἶναι δ' αὐτὰ λόγῳ θεωρητά. ταῦτα μέντοι κινεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ κενῷ καὶ διὰ τοῦ κενοῦ· εἶναι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ κενὸν ἄπειρον καὶ τὰ σώματα ἄπειρα. συμβεβηκέναι δὲ τοῖς σώμασι τρία ταῦτα, σχήματα, μέγεθος, βάρος· ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ∆ημόκριτος ἔλεγε μέγεθος καὶ σχῆμα, ὁ δὲ Ἐπίκουρος τούτοις καὶ τρίτον βάρος προσέθηκεν. ἀνάγκη γάρ, φησί, κινεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα τῇ τοῦ βάρους πληγῇ, ἐπεὶ οὐ κινηθήσεται. εἶναι δὲ τὰ σχήματα τῶν ἀτόμων περιληπτά, οὐκ ἄπειρα· μὴ γὰρ εἶναι μήτε ἀγκιστροειδεῖς μήτε τριηροειδεῖς μήτε κρικοειδεῖς· ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ σχήματά ἐστιν εὔθραυστα, αἱ δὲ ἄτομοι ἀπαθεῖς, ἄθραυστοι· ἴδια δὲ ἔχειν σχήματα λόγῳ θεωρητά. καὶ εἴρηται ἄτομος οὐχ ὅτι ἐστὶν ἐλαχίστη, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐ δύναται τμηθῆναι, ἀπαθὴς οὖσα καὶ ἀμέτοχος κενοῦ· ὥστε ἐὰν εἴπῃ ἄτομον, ἄθραυστον λέγει, ἀπαθῆ, ἀμέτοχον κενοῦ. ὅτι δὲ ἔστιν ἄτομος, σαφές· καὶ γὰρ ἔστι στοιχεῖα καὶ ζῷα ἄκενα, καὶ ἡ μονάς. 14.14.6 Ἐμπεδοκλῆς Μέτωνος, πόλις τῆς Σικελίας Ἀκραγαντῖνος, τέτταρα μὲν στοιχεῖα, πῦρ, ἀέρα, ὕδωρ, γῆν, δύο δὲ ἀρχὰς καὶ