The works of many early Greekphilosophers, orators, and poets (630-400 BCE) exist only as small fragments or analectsliterally,the crumbs that fall to the floor. Theynevertheless give us a glimpse of events in one of the most important eras inEuropean thought, as attempts were made to understand whether some sort of unitycould underlie the observed changing physical world. And as concepts for thisunity evolved, rules governing the events that transformed it also became thesubject of speculation. Some attempts were also made to extend these rules toindividual human and social behavior. However, such attempts were rarelyconvincing and turned attention to more direct consideration of psychology andethics. There was a blossoming of humanistic studies, and at this point, therecord of Greek speculation became much better preserved.
Early speculation on an underlying unity focused on changes such as theevaporation and condensation of water and the conversion of solids into smoke byfire. Developments in geometry and astronomy indicated rules that governedterrestrial calculations such as the height of a building or the year of aneclipse. Later, various logical arguments were used as a means of affirming ordenying an underlying unity. At the end the period, the atomic theory provided ameans of resolving how change could occur through recombination of unchanging,everlasting, particles that formed the substrate of the world. But by this time,studies of the art of rhetoric and drama were becoming much more popular thanphysical theory.
The extracts that follow have been selected for their relevance to human affairsrather than to physical theory. Very often the fragments are from reports ofother writers.
Solon (Circa630-560 BCE) was a poet and one of a group of philosophers called the SevenSages. The best-known sayings attributed to them are "Know thyself"and "Nothing too much". In Athens, Solon founded Athenian democracyand carried out economic and political reforms that mitigated the evils ofpoverty. He also instituted a humane legal code that replaced the previousDraconian laws.
1 No mortal is blest with happiness; wretched are all human souls on whom the sunlooks down.
2 Distribution of Wealth: For many unworthy men are rich, while good men are poor;but we will not barter with them our worth for their wealth, since the onestands ever unshaken, whereas riches pass now into one mans hands, now intoanothers.
3 The Ages of Man: A child in his infancy grows his first set of teeth and losesthem within seven years. For so long he counts as only a child.
When God has brought to accomplishment the next seven-year period, one showsupon his body the signs of maturing youth.
In the third period he is still getting his growth, while on his chin the beardcomes, to show he is turning from youth to a man.
The fourth seven years are the time when every man reaches his highest point ofphysical strength where men look for prowess achieved.
In the fifth period the time is ripe for a young man to think of marriage andchildren, a family to be raised.
The mind of a man comes to full maturity in the sixth period, but he cannot nowdo as much, nor does he wish that he could.
In the seventh period of seven years and in the eighth also for fourteen yearsin all, his speech is best in his life. He can still do much in his ninthperiod, but there is a weakening seen in his ability both to think and to speak.
But if he completes ten ages of seven years each, full measure, death, when itcomes, can no longer be said to come too soon.
Thales (Circa624-546 BCE), born in Miletus, was another of the seven wise men of Greece.He is said to have brought geometry and astronomy to Greece, and to havepredicted the solar eclipse of 585 BCE. He is noteworthy for his rejection ofmythology as an explanation of the origination of the universe.
4 Plato states that Thales the Milesian declared the first principle of things tobe water.
5 Eudemus relates in theAstronomy that Thales discovered the eclipse ofthe sun and the variable period of its solstices.
6 Aristotle and Hippeas say that Thales gave a share of soul even to inanimateobjects, using lodestone and amber as indications.
Anaximander (circa611-547 BCE), born in Miletus, proposed that the universe originated with theseparation of opposites from a primordial material, referred to as the"non-limited". He considered that phenomena such as heat cold wereheld in balance in the way that justice operates to balance different humaninterests. He is said to have discovered the angle between the ecliptic and thecelestial equator and to have introduced the sundial to Greece.
7 The non-limited is the original material of existing things. Furthermore, thesource from which existing things derive their existence is also that to whichthey return at their destruction, according to necessity; for they give justiceand make reparation to one another for their injustice, according to thearrangement of time.
8 Animals came into being through vapors raised by the sun. Man, however, cameinto being from another animal, namely the fish, for at first he is like a fish.
Pythagoras (circa580-500 BCE), was born in Samos, Ionia, moving to Italy inabout 532 BCE to establish an academy at Croton devoted to religious and philosophical studies, which continued after his death. Hisphilosophy involved simplicity of possessions, abstinence, self-examination, andmysticism. None of his writings survive and it is difficult to determine whoamong the Pythagoreans provided specific advances to their thought.
9 The heavens are a universe and the earth, round.
10 Fire is at the center and earth is one of the stars, and moving in a circleabout the center it produces night and day.
11 Wise men ought not to sacrifice animals to gods, nor eat what has life, orbeans, nor drink wine.
12 Reciprocity is absolutely just, because the just is defined as that which isreciprocal to another.
13 Because many qualities of numbers are seen in bodies perceived by the senses,objects can be regarded as numbersnot as separate numbers, but as derivednumbers; because the qualities of numbers exist in the musical scale, in theheavens, and in many other things.
14 Number is the first principle, a thing which is undefined, incomprehensible,having in itself all numbers which could reach infinity in amount. And the firstprinciple of numbers is in substance the first monad, which is a male monad,begetting as a father all other numbers. Secondly the dyad is a female number,and the same is called by the arithmeticians "even".
Xenophanes (circa560-478 BCE) was born in Colophon, Ionia, lived in Sicily for a time, andsettled in Elea in southern Italy. He is regarded by many as the founder of theEleatic school of philosophy. Fragments of his poetry show contempt formythology and ridicule of the notion of transmigration of souls.
15 Both Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods things that are shameful and areproach among mankind: theft, adultery, and mutual deception.
16 But if oxen (and horses) and lions had hands or could draw with hands and createworks of art like those made by men, horses would draw pictures of gods likehorses, and oxen of gods like oxen, and they would draw their bodies inaccordance with the form that each species itself possesses.
17 Ethiopians have gods with snub noses and black hair. Thracians have gods withgray eyes and red hair.
18 For now the floor is clean, the hands of all and the cups are clean; one puts onthe woven garlands, another-passes around the fragrant ointment in a vase; themixing bowl stands full of good cheer, and more wine, mild and of delicatebouquet, is at hand in jars, which says it will never fail. In the midstfrankincense sends forth its sacred fragrance, and there is water, cold, andsweet, and pure; the yellow loaves are near at hand, and the table of honor isloaded with cheese and rich honey. . . then it is no unfitting thing to drink asmuch as will not prevent your walking home without a slave, if you are not veryold.
19 And one ought to praise that man who, when he has drunk, unfolds noblethings as his memory and his toil for virtue suggest; but there is nothingpraiseworthy in discussing battles of Titans or of Giants or Centaurs, fictionsof former ages, nor in plotting violent revolutions.
20 All things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth.
21 The phenomena of the heavens come from the warmth of the sun as the principlecause. For when moisture is drawn up from the sea, the sweet water separated byreason of its lightness becomes mist and passes into clouds, and falls as rainwhen compressed, and the winds scatter it. . . The sea is the source of water.
22 Once the earth was mingled with the sea, but in the course of time it becamefreed from moisture. The proofs are such as these: that shells are found in themidst of the land and among the mountains, that in the quarries of Syracuse theimprints of a fish and of seals have been found, and in Paros the imprint of ananchovy at some depth in the stone, and in Melite shallow impressions of allsorts of sea products. These imprints were made when everything long ago wascovered with mud, and then the imprint dried in the mud. Further, all men willbe destroyed when the earth sinks into the sea and becomes mud, and that therace will begin anew from the beginning; and this transformation takes place forall worlds.
Heraclitus(circa540-480 BCE),born in Ephesus in Anaolia, considered fire the basicmaterial of the universe but extended the notion of fire to the smoke that risesfrom it and thence to the atmosphere as a whole. In turn the atmosphere returnedwater to the ocean. So water and fire were connected. He noted that oppositesdefined each other. He was said by Diogenese Laertes to have written histhoughts in an obscure style so that competent men alone would understand him,thus preventing his exposure to ridicule by the common people.
23 One cannot step twice into the same river.
24 A mans character is his destiny.
25 When you have listened, not to me but to the ordering principle of the universe[thelogos, Greek "reason"], it is wise to agree that allthings are one
26 This ordered universe, which is the same for all, was not created by any one ofthe gods or by mankind, but it was always, and is now, and shall be, ever-living fire,kindled in measure and quenched in measure.
27 To those who are awake, there is one ordered, shared universe; whereas in sleepeach man turns away to a world of his own. . .we should not speak and act as ifwe were asleep.
28 Therefore one must follow the universal law, namely, that which is common toall. But although the law is universal, the majority live as if they had anunderstanding peculiar to themselves.
29 Not understanding, although they have heard, they are like the deaf. The proverbbears witness to them: "Present yet absent".
30 Many do not consider their experiences, nor do they recognize the things theylearn, but they think they do.
31 You will not uncover the unexpected unless you are expecting it, for finding itis hard and difficult.
32 Gold prospectors dig up much earth to find little gold
33 All of the men whose ideas I have listened to fail to recognize that wisdom isdifferent from all other things . . .It is a single thing. It is understandingthe mind through which all things are guided by all things.
34 Let us not speculate at random about important things. Men who love wisdom mustinvestigate very many things.
35 One day is equal to any other day
36 That which is in opposition is in concert, and from things that differ comes themost beautiful harmony. They do not understand how that which differs withitself is in agreement: harmony consists of opposing tensions, like that of thebow and lyre.
37 Seawater combines the purest and the foulest. For fish it is drinkable andlife-preserving; for men it is undrinkable and deadly.
38 Things would not get better if mens desires were satisfied. Disease makeshealth pleasant and good. Hunger does this for eating ones fill. Andweariness makes rest welcome.
39 A drunken man, having a wet soul, is led by a young boy, stumbling and notknowing where he goes . . A dry soul is wisest and best.
40 Hiding ignorance is to be preferred; but it is difficult to do so while relaxingand over wine.
41 All adult Ephesians would do well to strangle themselves and leave their city tothe young, because they threw out Hermodorusthe best among themdeclaring"Let no one amongst us be the best; if there is any such person, let themgo away to other people."
42 People should fight for their laws as they do their walls.
43 Insolence should be doused faster than a fire.
Alcmaeon (activein the Sixth Century), born at Croton in southern Italy, may have been the firstto dissect human bodies to seek greater understanding of man. He is said to haveconcluded that the brain was the organ digesting the information from the sensesand that health depended on the balance of opposite components of the body, suchas dryness and humidity.
44 Man differsfrom the other [creatures] in that he alone understands; the others perceive,but do not understand.
Parmenides (Bornabout 515 BCE in Elea) argued that attempting to explain change bytransmutations of individual substances such as fire or water must fail becausemost things are not fire or water. Instead, he suggested a universal substance,called "it is", (or, in later philosophy, "being") which was essential to existence.Absence of it is automatically meant non-existence. From this standpoint, hedenied the existence of change, motion, generation and destruction, particularlyspontaneous existence or annihilation.
His pupil, Zeno, is famous for his logical paradoxes displaying thenon-existence of motion.
45 You shall inquire into everything: both the motionless heart of well-roundedtruth, and also the opinions of mortals, in which there is no true reliability.But nevertheless you will learn these things alsohow one should go throughall the things-that-seem, without exception, and test them.
46 One should both say and think that it is; for to be is possible, and nothingnessis not possible. This I command you to consider; for from the latter way ofsearch first of all I debar you. But next I debar you from that way along whichmortals wander knowing nothing, in two minds; for perplexity in their bosomssteers their intelligence astray, and they are carried along as deaf as they areblind, amazed, uncritical hordes, by whom "it is" and "it is not" are regarded asthe same and not the same, and in everything there is a way of opposing stress.
47 There is only one other description of the way remaining, that what is is.Tothis way there are very many sign-posts: that being has no coming-into-being andno destruction, for it is whole of limb, without motion, and without end. And itnever was, nor will be, because it is now, a whole all together, one,continuous; for what creation of it will you look for? Where could it havesprungfrom, and how? Nor shall I allow you to speak or think of it as springing fromnot-being; for it is neither expressible nor thinkable that what-is-not is.Also, what necessity impelled it, if it did spring from nothing, to be producedlater or earlier?
Thus it must be absolutely, or not at all. Nor will the force of credibilityever admit that anything should come into being, beside being itself, out ofnot-being. . . . The decision on these matters depends on the following: it is,or it is not.It is therefore decidedas is inevitableignore the oneway as unthinkable and inexpressible (for it is no true way) and take the otheras the way of being and reality. How could being perish? How could it comebeing? If it came into being, it is not; and so too if it is about-to-be at somefuture time. Thus coming-into-being is quenched, and also destruction into theunseen.
Epicharmus (circa530-440 BCE), born at Syracuse, was a Greek dramatist credited with staging theearliest Greek comedies. Interspersed with the comedy were many philosophicalmaxims that led to a later reputation as a philosopher. In many of the plays thegods were satirized.
48 A mortal should think mortal thoughts, not immortal thoughts.
49 The best thing a man can have, in my view, is health.
50 The hand washes the hand: give something and you may get something.
51 Then what is the nature of men? Blown up bladders!
Empedocles (circa494-434 BCE), born in Acragas, Sicily, proposed that all things were composed ofearth, water, air and fire. Some mixtures of these everlasting elements are morestable than others because of the way they fit together. Forces that mix andseparate the elements are affinity and antipathy, or love and hate. He suggestedthat animals and humans evolved from earlier more primitive forms.
52 But come, examine by every means each thing how it is clear, neither puttinggreater faith in anything seen than in what is heard, nor in a thundering soundmore than in the clear assertions of the tongue, nor keep from trusting any ofthe other members in which there lies means of knowledge, but know each thing inthe way in which it is clear.
53 All these [elements] are equal and of the same age in their creation; but eachpresides over its own office, and each has its own character, and they prevailin turn in the course of time. And besides these, nothing else comes into being,nor does anything cease. For if they had been perishing continuously, they wouldbe no more; and what could increase the whole? And when could it have come? Inwhat direction could it perish, since nothing is empty of these things? No, butthese things alone exist, and running through one another they become differentthings at different times, and are ever continuously the same.
54 And a second thing I will tell you: There is no origination of anything that ismortal, nor yet any end in baneful death; but only mixture and separation ofwhat is mixed, but men call this "origination."
55 Fools! for they have no far-reaching studious thoughts who think that what wasnot before comes into being or that anything dies and perishes utterly.
56 A man of wise mind could not divine such things as these, that so long as menlive what indeed they call life, so long they exist and share what is evil andwhat is excellent, but before they are formed and after they are dissolved, theyare really nothing at all.
Anaxagoras (circa500-425 BCE), born at Clazomenae, Anatolia, established himself as a philosopherat Athens. He was tried on a charge of impiety for asserting that the sun was anincandescent rock and the moon was made of earth. He believed change came aboutby mixture and separation, but of an infinity of imperishable seeds or germs. Hepostulated the nous ("reason" or "mind") as forming theuniverse, first by mixing, then by the activity of living things.
57 The Greeks have an incorrect belief on coming into being and passing away. Nothing comes into being or passes away, but it is mixed together or separatedfrom existing things. Thus they would be correct if they called the coming intobeing mixing, and passing away separation-off.
58 All things were together, infinite both in number and in smallness; for thesmall was also infinite. And when they were all together, nothing was clear anddistinct because of their smallness; for air and ether comprehended all things,both being infinite; for these are present in everything, and are greatest bothas to number and as to greatness.
59 In all things there is a portion of everything except mind [nous]; and there arethings in which there is mind also.
60 These things then I have said concerning the separation, that not only among uswould the separation take place, but elsewhere too. But before these wereseparated, when all things were together, not even was any color clear anddistinct; for the mixture of all things prevented it, the mixture of moist anddry, of the warm and the cold, and of the bright and the dark (since much earthwas present), and of germs infinite in number, in no way like each other; fornone of the other things at all resembles the one the other. Since these thingsare so, we must suppose that all things are in the entire mass.
61 Conditions being thus, one must believe that there are many things of all sortsin all composite products, and the seeds of all things, which contain all kindsof shapes and colors and pleasant savors. And men too were fitted together [onother worlds], and all other creatures which have life. And the men possessedboth inhabited cities and artificial works just like ourselves, and they had sunand moon and the rest, just as we have, and the earth produced for them many anddiverse things, of which they collected the most useful, and now use them fortheir dwellings. This I say concerning separation, that it must have taken placenot only with us, but elsewhere.
62 It is the sun that endows the moon with its brilliance.
63 The moon is eclipsed when the earth goes in front of it . . . and the sun iseclipsed when the new moon goes in front of it.
Protagoras (circa480-410 BCE), born in Abdera, Thrace, spent most of his life in Athens as aSophist, teaching rhetoric, grammar, and the appreciation of poetry. Hishumanist philosophy centered on the subjective nature of human perception andjudgment of the world. He argued that people will often view things in verydifferent ways and so one should expect there to be two sides to every question.As an extension of this, he introduced the idea of the Socratic dialogue.
64 Of all things the measure is Man: of all things that are, that they are; and ofthe things that are not, that they are not.
65 About the gods, I am not able to know whether they exist or do not exist, norwhat they are like in form; for the factors preventing knowledge are many: theobscurity of the subject, and the shortness of human life.
66 When his sons, who were fine young men, died within eight days, he [Pericles]bore it without mourning. For he held on to his serenity, from which every dayhe derived great benefit in happiness, freedom from suffering, and honor in thepeoples eyesfor all who saw him bearing his griefs valiantly thought him great-souled and brave and superior to themselves, well knowing their ownhelplessness in such a calamity.
67 Art without practice, and practice without art, are nothing.
68 Education does not take root in the soul unless one goes deep.
Thrasymachus(fifth century BCE), born in Chalcedon, became a teacher of rhetoric. As nothingof his writings remain, his ideas come to us through other writers. The twoextracts below are from Philosophus Hermias and from Plato.
69 Gods do not see human matters, for they would not overlook the greatest of allhuman goods, justice. For we see that men do not make use of it.
70 And now I will not have you say that justice is duty or advantage or profit orgain or interest, for this sort of nonsense will not do for me; I must haveclearness and accuracy .... I proclaim that justice is nothing else than theinterest of the stronger .... Forms of government differ; there are tyrannies,and there are democracies, and there are aristocracies. . . And the governmentis the ruling power in each state. . . And the different forms of governmentmake laws democratical, aristocratical, tyrannical, with a view to their severalinterests; and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests, arethe justice which they deliver to their subjects, and him who transgresses themthey punish as a breaker of the law, and unjust. And that is what I mean when Isay that in all states there is the same principle of justice, which is theinterest of the government; and as the government must be supposed to havepower, the only reasonable conclusion is, that everywhere there is one principleof justice, which is the interest of the stronger.
Diogenes (circa420-325 BCE), born in Apollonia, which might have been in Crete or Phyrygia(Turkey). He spent some time in Athens, where his apparent eccentricity wastolerated. He honored practical good and the simple life, with coarse clothing,simple foods, and no permanent home. He was critical of social conventions,often flouting them, and of literature and oratory that did not improve thehuman condition.
71 In starting any thesis, it seems to me, one should put forward as ones pointof departure something incontrovertible; the expression should be simple anddignified.
72 It seems to me, to sum up the whole matter, that all existing things are createdby the alteration of the same thing, and are the same thing. This is veryobvious. For if the things now existing in this universeearth and water andair and fire and all the other things which are seen to exist in this world: ifany one of these were different in its own [essential]nature, and werenot the same thing which was transformed in many ways and changed, in no waycould things mix with one another, nor could there be any profit or damage whichaccrued from one thing to another, nor could any plant grow out of the earth,nor any animal or any other thing come into being, unless it were so compoundedas to be the same. But all these things come into being in different forms atdifferent times by changes of the same thing,and they return to thesame.
Archytas (circa428-348 BCE), born in Tarentum, was active in state affairs and several times anarmy commander. He was also a mathematician, developing a mechanics based ongeometry and identifying the harmonic progression as distinct from thearithmetic and geometric progressions. He was an experimenter who steered hisinvestigations by his theories of proportion, acoustics and music.
73 In subjects of which one has no knowledge, one must obtain knowledge either bylearning from someone else, or by discovering it for oneself. That which islearnt, therefore, comes from another and by outside help; that which isdiscovered comes by one's own efforts and independently. To discover withoutseeking is difficult and rare, but if one seeks, it is frequent and easy; if,however, one does not know how to seek, discovery is impossible.
Anaxarchus ( fl.Circa 340 BCE), born in Abdera, followed the philosophy of Democritus. Heaccompanied Alexander on his campaigns in Asia, debunking his claim to be a godby pointing to Alexanders wounded finger pointing out it was the blood of amortal.
74 Much learning can help much, but also can greatly harm him who has it. It helpsthe clever man, but harms him who readily utters every word in any company. Onemust know the measure of the right time, for this is the boundary of wisdom.Those who recite a saying outside the right time, even if their saying is wise,are reproached with folly, because they do not mix intelligence with wisdom.
Antiphon (circa470-410 BCE), born in Athens, wrote speeches for defendants in court. Hisgreatest speech was in defense of his own life for his part in an attempt tooverthrow Athenian democracy. He was executed for treason. A number his speechessurvive, being retained by sophist teachers of rhetoric as models.
75 The whole of life is wonderfully open to complaint, my friend; it has nothingremarkable, great or noble, but all is petty, feeble, brief-lasting, and mingledwith sorrows.
76 The first thing, I believe, for mankind is education. For whenever anyone doesthe beginning of anything correctly, it is likely that the end also will beright. As one sows, so can one expect to reap. And if in a young body one sows anoble education, this lives and flourishes through the whole of his life, andneither rain nor drought destroys it.
77 There are some who do not live the present life, but prepare with greatdiligence as if they were going to live another life, not the present one.Meanwhile time, being neglected, deserts them.
78 There is a story that a man seeing another man earning much money begged him tolend him a sum at interest. The other refused; and being of a mistrustfulnature, unwilling to help anyone, he carried it off and hid it somewhere.Another man, observing him, filched it. Later, the man who had hidden itreturning, could not find it; and being very grieved at the disasterespeciallythat he had not lent to the man who had asked him, because then it would havebeen safe and would have earned incrementhe went to see the man who had askedfor a loan, and bewailed his misfortune, saying that he had done wrong and wassorry not to have granted his request but to have refused it, as his money wascompletely lost. The other man told him to hide a stone in the same place, andthink of his money as his and not lost: 'For even when you had it you completelyfailed to use it; so that now too you can think you have lost nothing.' For whena person has not used and will not use anything, it makes no difference to himeither whether he has it or not. . .
79 Whoever, when going against his neighbor with the mention of harming him, isafraid lest by failing to achieve his wishes he may get what he does not wish,is wiser. For his fear earns hesitation, and his hesitation means an interval inwhich often his mind is deflected from his purpose. There can be no reversal ofa thing that has happened: it is possible only for that is in the future not tohappen. Whoever thinks he will ill treat his neighbors and not suffer himself isunwise. Hopes are not altogether a good thing; such hopes have flung down manyinto intolerable disaster, and what they thought to inflict on their neighbors,they have suffered themselves for all to see. Prudence in another man can bejudged correctly by no one more than he who fortifies his soul against immediatepleasures and can conquer himself. But whoever wishes to gratify his soulimmediately, wishes the worse instead of the better.
Ancilla to thePre-Socratic Philosophers, by Kathleen Freeman, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1948.
The PresocraticPhilosophers by G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven, Cambridge University Press,1962.
Selections fromEarly Greek Philosophyby Milton C. Nahm. Prentice Hall, Inc. EnglewoodCliffs, New Jersey, 1964.
