第2章

Somethinkthateventheancientswholivedlongbeforethe

presentgeneration，andfirstframedaccountsofthegods，hada

similarviewofnature；fortheymadeOceanandTethystheparents

ofcreation，anddescribedtheoathofthegodsasbeingbywater，

towhichtheygivethenameofStyx；forwhatisoldestismost

honourable，andthemosthonourablethingisthatbywhichoneswears。

Itmayperhapsbeuncertainwhetherthisopinionaboutnatureis

primitiveandancient，butThalesatanyrateissaidtohavedeclared

himselfthusaboutthefirstcause。Hipponoonewouldthinkfitto

includeamongthesethinkers，becauseofthepaltrinessofhis

thought。

AnaximenesandDiogenesmakeairpriortowater，andthemost

primaryofthesimplebodies，whileHippasusofMetapontiumand

HeraclitusofEphesussaythisoffire，andEmpedoclessaysitof

thefourelements(addingafourth-earth-tothosewhichhavebeen

named)；forthese，hesays，alwaysremainanddonotcometobe，

exceptthattheycometobemoreorfewer，beingaggregatedintoone

andsegregatedoutofone。

AnaxagorasofClazomenae，who，thougholderthanEmpedocles，was

laterinhisphilosophicalactivity，saystheprinciplesare

infiniteinnumber；forhesaysalmostallthethingsthataremadeof

partslikethemselves，inthemannerofwaterorfire，aregenerated

anddestroyedinthisway，onlybyaggregationandsegregation，and

arenotinanyothersensegeneratedordestroyed，butremain

eternally。

Fromthesefactsonemightthinkthattheonlycauseisthe

so-calledmaterialcause；butasmenthusadvanced，theveryfacts

openedthewayforthemandjoinedinforcingthemtoinvestigate

thesubject。Howevertrueitmaybethatallgenerationand

destructionproceedfromsomeoneor(forthatmatter)frommore

elements，whydoesthishappenandwhatisthecause？Foratleastthe

substratumitselfdoesnotmakeitselfchange；e。g。neitherthewood

northebronzecausesthechangeofeitherofthem，nordoesthe

woodmanufactureabedandthebronzeastatue，butsomethingelse

isthecauseofthechange。Andtoseekthisistoseekthesecond

cause，asweshouldsay，-thatfromwhichcomesthebeginningofthe

movement。Nowthosewhoattheverybeginningsetthemselvestothis

kindofinquiry，andsaidthesubstratumwasone，werenotatall

dissatisfiedwiththemselves；butsomeatleastofthosewho

maintainittobeone-asthoughdefeatedbythissearchforthesecond

cause-saytheoneandnatureasawholeisunchangeablenotonlyin

respectofgenerationanddestruction(forthisisaprimitivebelief，

andallagreedinit)，butalsoofallotherchange；andthisview

ispeculiartothem。Ofthosewhosaidtheuniversewasone，thennone

succeededindiscoveringacauseofthissort，exceptperhaps

Parmenides，andheonlyinasmuchashesupposesthatthereisnotonly

onebutalsoinsomesensetwocauses。Butforthosewhomakemore

elementsitismorepossibletostatethesecondcause，e。g。forthose

whomakehotandcold，orfireandearth，theelements；fortheytreat

fireashavinganaturewhichfitsittomovethings，andwaterand

earthandsuchthingstheytreatinthecontraryway。

Whenthesemenandtheprinciplesofthiskindhadhadtheir

day，asthelatterwerefoundinadequatetogeneratethenatureof

thingsmenwereagainforcedbythetruthitself，aswesaid，to

inquireintothenextkindofcause。Foritisnotlikelyeither

thatfireorearthoranysuchelementshouldbethereasonwhythings

manifestgoodnessand，beautybothintheirbeingandintheir

comingtobe，orthatthosethinkersshouldhavesupposeditwas；

noragaincoulditberighttoentrustsogreatamatterto

spontaneityandchance。Whenonemansaid，then，thatreasonwas

present-asinanimals，sothroughoutnature-asthecauseoforder

andofallarrangement，heseemedlikeasobermanincontrastwith

therandomtalkofhispredecessors。WeknowthatAnaxagorascertainly

adoptedtheseviews，butHermotimusofClazomenaeiscreditedwith

expressingthemearlier。Thosewhothoughtthusstatedthatthereisa

principleofthingswhichisatthesametimethecauseofbeauty，and

thatsortofcausefromwhichthingsacquiremovement。

OnemightsuspectthatHesiodwasthefirsttolookforsucha

thing-orsomeoneelsewhoputloveordesireamongexistingthingsas

aprinciple，asParmenides，too，does；forhe，inconstructingthe

genesisoftheuniverse，says:-

LovefirstofalltheGodssheplanned。

AndHesiodsays:-

Firstofallthingswaschaosmade，andthen

Broad-breastedearth……

Andlove，’midallthegodspre-eminent，

whichimpliesthatamongexistingthingstheremustbefromthe

firstacausewhichwillmovethingsandbringthemtogether。How

thesethinkersshouldbearrangedwithregardtopriorityofdiscovery

letusbeallowedtodecidelater；butsincethecontrariesofthe

variousformsofgoodwerealsoperceivedtobepresentin

nature-notonlyorderandthebeautiful，butalsodisorderandthe

ugly，andbadthingsingreaternumberthangood，andignoblethings

thanbeautiful-thereforeanotherthinkerintroducedfriendshipand

strife，eachofthetwothecauseofoneofthesetwosetsof

qualities。ForifweweretofollowouttheviewofEmpedocles，and

interpretitaccordingtoitsmeaningandnottoitslisping

expression，weshouldfindthatfriendshipisthecauseofgood

things，andstrifeofbad。Therefore，ifwesaidthatEmpedoclesin

asensebothmentions，andisthefirsttomention，thebadandthe

goodasprinciples，weshouldperhapsberight，sincethecauseofall

goodsisthegooditself。

Thesethinkers，aswesay，evidentlygrasped，andtothis

extent，twoofthecauseswhichwedistinguishedinourworkon

nature-thematterandthesourceofthemovement-vaguely，however，and

withnoclearness，butasuntrainedmenbehaveinfights；forthey

goroundtheiropponentsandoftenstrikefineblows，buttheydo

notfightonscientificprinciples，andsotoothesethinkersdonot

seemtoknowwhattheysay；foritisevidentthat，asarule，they

makenouseoftheircausesexcepttoasmallextent。ForAnaxagoras

usesreasonasadeusexmachinaforthemakingoftheworld，andwhen

heisatalosstotellfromwhatcausesomethingnecessarilyis，then

hedragsreasonin，butinallothercasesascribeseventstoanything

ratherthantoreason。AndEmpedocles，thoughheusesthecausesto

agreaterextentthanthis，neitherdoessosufficientlynorattains

consistencyintheiruse。Atleast，inmanycaseshemakeslove

segregatethings，andstrifeaggregatethem。Forwhenevertheuniverse

isdissolvedintoitselementsbystrife，fireisaggregatedintoone，

andsoiseachoftheotherelements；butwheneveragainunderthe

influenceoflovetheycometogetherintoone，thepartsmustagainbe

segregatedoutofeachelement。

Empedocles，then，incontrastwithhisprecessors，wasthefirst

tointroducethedividingofthiscause，notpositingonesourceof

movement，butdifferentandcontrarysources。Again，hewasthe

firsttospeakoffourmaterialelements；yethedoesnotusefour，

buttreatsthemastwoonly；hetreatsfirebyitself，andits

opposite-earth，air，andwater-asonekindofthing。Wemaylearnthis

bystudyofhisverses。

Thisphilosopherthen，aswesay，hasspokenoftheprinciples

inthisway，andmadethemofthisnumber。Leucippusandhisassociate

Democritussaythatthefullandtheemptyaretheelements，calling

theonebeingandtheothernon-being-thefullandsolidbeing

being，theemptynon-being(whencetheysaybeingnomoreisthan

non-being，becausethesolidnomoreisthantheempty)；andtheymake

thesethematerialcausesofthings。Andasthosewhomakethe

underlyingsubstanceonegenerateallotherthingsbyits

modifications，supposingtherareandthedensetobethesourcesof

themodifications，inthesamewaythesephilosopherssaythe

differencesintheelementsarethecausesofallotherqualities。

Thesedifferences，theysay，arethree-shapeandorderandposition。

Fortheysaytherealisdifferentiatedonlyby’rhythmand

’inter-contact’and’turning’；andoftheserhythmisshape，

inter-contactisorder，andturningisposition；forAdiffersfrom

Ninshape，ANfromNAinorder，MfromWinposition。Thequestionof

movement-whenceorhowitistobelongtothings-thesethinkers，

liketheothers，lazilyneglected。

Regardingthetwocauses，then，aswesay，theinquiryseemsto

havebeenpushedthusfarbytheearlyphilosophers。

Contemporaneouslywiththesephilosophersandbeforethem，the

so-calledPythagoreans，whowerethefirsttotakeupmathematics，not

onlyadvancedthisstudy，butalsohavingbeenbroughtupinitthey

thoughtitsprinciplesweretheprinciplesofallthings。Sinceof

theseprinciplesnumbersarebynaturethefirst，andinnumbers

theyseemedtoseemanyresemblancestothethingsthatexistandcome

intobeing-morethaninfireandearthandwater(suchandsucha

modificationofnumbersbeingjustice，anotherbeingsouland

reason，anotherbeingopportunity-andsimilarlyalmostallother

thingsbeingnumericallyexpressible)；since，again，theysawthatthe

modificationsandtheratiosofthemusicalscaleswereexpressiblein

numbers；-since，then，allotherthingsseemedintheirwholenatureto

bemodelledonnumbers，andnumbersseemedtobethefirstthingsin

thewholeofnature，theysupposedtheelementsofnumberstobethe

elementsofallthings，andthewholeheaventobeamusicalscaleand

anumber。Andallthepropertiesofnumbersandscaleswhichthey

couldshowtoagreewiththeattributesandpartsandthewhole

arrangementoftheheavens，theycollectedandfittedintotheir

scheme；andiftherewasagapanywhere，theyreadilymadeadditions

soastomaketheirwholetheorycoherent。E。g。asthenumber10is

thoughttobeperfectandtocomprisethewholenatureofnumbers，

theysaythatthebodieswhichmovethroughtheheavensareten，but

asthevisiblebodiesareonlynine，tomeetthistheyinventa

tenth——the’counter-earth’。Wehavediscussedthesemattersmore

exactlyelsewhere。

Buttheobjectofourreviewisthatwemaylearnfromthese

philosophersalsowhattheysupposetobetheprinciplesandhowthese

fallunderthecauseswehavenamed。Evidently，then，thesethinkers

alsoconsiderthatnumberistheprinciplebothasmatterforthings

andasformingboththeirmodificationsandtheirpermanentstates，

andholdthattheelementsofnumberaretheevenandtheodd，and

thatofthesethelatterislimited，andtheformerunlimited；and

thattheOneproceedsfrombothofthese(foritisbothevenand

odd)，andnumberfromtheOne；andthatthewholeheaven，ashas

beensaid，isnumbers。

Othermembersofthissameschoolsaytherearetenprinciples，

whichtheyarrangeintwocolumnsofcognates-limitandunlimited，odd

andeven，oneandplurality，rightandleft，maleandfemale，

restingandmoving，straightandcurved，lightanddarkness，good

andbad，squareandoblong。InthiswayAlcmaeonofCrotonseems

alsotohaveconceivedthematter，andeitherhegotthisviewfrom

themortheygotitfromhim；forheexpressedhimselfsimilarlyto

them。Forhesaysmosthumanaffairsgoinpairs，meaningnotdefinite

contrarietiessuchasthePythagoreansspeakof，butanychance

contrarieties，e。g。whiteandblack，sweetandbitter，goodandbad，

greatandsmall。Hethrewoutindefinitesuggestionsabouttheother

contrarieties，butthePythagoreansdeclaredbothhowmanyandwhich

theircontrarictiesare。

Fromboththeseschools，then，wecanlearnthismuch，thatthe

contrariesaretheprinciplesofthings；andhowmanytheseprinciples

areandwhichtheyare，wecanlearnfromoneofthetwoschools。

Buthowtheseprinciplescanbebroughttogetherunderthecauseswe

havenamedhasnotbeenclearlyandarticulatelystatedbythem；

theyseem，however，torangetheelementsundertheheadofmatter；

foroutoftheseasimmanentpartstheysaysubstanceiscomposed

andmoulded。