Thales the Milesian doth affirm that water is the principle from whence all things in the universe spring. This person appears to be the first of philosophers; from him the Ionic sect1 took its denomination2, for there are many families and successions amongst philosophers. After he had professed3 philosophy in Egypt, when he was very old, he returned to Miletus. He pronounced, that all things had their original from water, and into water all things are resolved. His first ground was, that whatsoever4 was the prolific5 seed of all animals was a principle, and that is moist; so that it is probable that all things receive their original from humidity. His second reason was, that all plants are nourished and fructified6 by that thing which is moist, of which being deprived they wither7 away. Thirdly, that that fire of which the sun and stars are made is nourished by watery8 exhalations — yea, and the world itself; which moved Homer to sing that the generation of it was from water:—
The ocean is
Of all things the kind genesis.
(Iliad, xiv. 246.)
Anaximander, who himself was a Milesian, assigns the principle of all things to the Infinite, from whence all things flow, and into the same are corrupted9; hence it is that infinite worlds are framed, and those dissolve again into that whence they have their origin. And thus he farther proceeds, For what other reason is there of an Infinite but this, that there may be nothing deficient10 as to the generation or subsistence of what is in Nature? There is his error, that he doth not acquaint us what this Infinite is, whether it be air, or water, or earth, or any other such like body. Besides he is mistaken, in that, giving us the material cause, he is silent as to the efficient cause of beings; for this thing which he makes his Infinite can be nothing but matter; but operation cannot come about in the sphere of matter, except an efficient cause be annexed11. Anaximenes his fellow-citizen pronounceth, that air is the principle of all beings; from it all receive their original, and into it all return. He affirms that our soul is nothing but air; it is that which constitutes and preserves; the whole world is invested with spirit and air. For spirit and air are synonymous. This person is in this deficient, in that he concludes that of pure air, which is a simple body and is made of one only form, all animals are composed. It is not possible to think that a single principle should be the matter of all things, from whence they receive their subsistence; besides this there must be an operating cause. Silver (for example) is not of itself sufficient to frame a drinking cup; an operator also is required, which is the silversmith. The like may be applied12 to vessels13 made of wood, brass14, or any other material.
Anaxagoras the Clazomenian asserted Homoeomeries (or parts similar or homogeneous) to be the original cause of all beings; it seemed to him impossible that anything could arise of nothing or be dissolved into nothing. Let us therefore instance in nourishment15, which appears simple and uniform, such as bread which we owe to Ceres and water which we drink. Of this very nutriment, our hair, our veins16, our arteries17, nerves, bones, and all our other parts are nourished. These things thus being performed, it must be granted that the nourishment which is received by us contains all those things by which these of us are produced. In it there are those particles which are producers of blood, bones, nerves, and all other parts; these particles (he thought) reason discovers for us. For it is not necessary that we should reduce all things under the objects of sense; for bread and water are fitted to the senses, yet in them there are those particles latent which are discoverable only by reason. It being therefore plain that there are particles in the nourishment similar to what is produced by it, he terms these homogeneous parts, averring18 that they are the principles of beings. Matter is according to him these similar parts, and the efficient cause is a Mind, which orders all things that have an existence. Thus he begins his discourse19: “All things were confused one among another; but Mind divided and brought them to order.” In this he is to be commended, that he yokes20 together matter and an intellectual agent.
Archelaus the son of Apollodorus, the Athenian, pronounceth, that the principles of all things have their origin from an infinite air rarefied or condensed. Air rarefied is fire, condensed is water.
These philosophers, the followers21 of Thales, succeeding one another, made up that sect which takes to itself the denomination of the Ionic.
Pythagoras the Samian, the son of Mnesarchus, from another origin deduces the principles of all things; it was he who first called philosophy by its name. He thought the first principles to be numbers, and those symmetries in them which he styles harmonies; and the composition of both he terms elements, called geometrical. Again, he places unity22 and the indefinite binary23 number amongst the principles. One of these principles ends in an efficient and forming cause, which is Mind, and that is God; the other to the passive and material part, and that is the visible world. Moreover, the nature of number (he saith) consists in the ten; for all people, whether Grecians or barbarians24, reckon from one to ten, and thence return to one again. Farther he avers25 the virtue26 of ten consists in the quaternion; the reason whereof is this — if any person start from one, and add numbers so as to take in the quaternary, he shall complete the number ten; if he passes the four, he shall go beyond the ten; for one, two, three, and four being added up together make ten. The nature of numbers, therefore, if we regard the units, abideth in the ten; but if we regard its power, in the four. Therefore the Pythagoreans say that their most sacred oath is by that god who delivered to them the quaternary.
By th’ founder27 of the sacred number four,
Eternal Nature’s font and source, they swore.
Of this number the soul of man is composed; for mind, knowledge, opinion, and sense are the four that complete the soul, from which all sciences, all arts, all rational faculties28 derive29 themselves. For what our mind perceives, it perceives after the manner of a thing that is one, the soul itself being a unity; as for instance, a multitude of persons are not the object of our sense nor are comprehended by us, for they are infinite; our understanding gives the general concept of A MAN, in which all individuals agree. The number of individuals is infinite; the generic30 or specific nature of all being is a unit, or to be apprehended31 as one only thing; from this one conception we give the genuine measures of all existence, and therefore we affirm that a certain class of beings are rational and discoursive. But when we come to give the nature of a horse, it is that animal which neighs; and this being common to all horses, it is manifest that the understanding, which hath such like conceptions, is in its nature unity. It follows that the number called the infinite binary must be science; in every demonstration32 or belief belonging to science, and in every syllogism33, we draw that conclusion which is in dispute from those propositions which are by all granted, by which means another proposition is obtained from the premises34. The comprehension of these we call knowledge; for which reason science is the binary number. But opinion is the ternary; for that rationally follows from comprehension. The objects of opinion are many things, and the ternary number denotes a multitude, as “Thrice happy Grecians”; for which reason Pythagoras admits the ternary. This sect of philosophers is called the Italic, by reason Pythagoras started his school in Italy; his hatred35 of the tyranny of Polycrates enforced him to abandon his native country Samos. Heraclitus and Hippasus of Metapontum suppose that fire gives the origination to all beings, that they all flow from fire, and in fire they all conclude; for of fire when first quenched36 the world was constituted. The first part of the world, being most condensed and contracted within itself, made the earth; but part of that earth being loosened and made thin by fire, water was produced; afterwards this water being exhaled37 and rarefied into vapors38 became air; after all this the world itself, and all other corporeal39 beings, shall be dissolved by fire in the universal conflagration40. By them therefore it appears that fire is what gives beginning to all things, and is that in which all things receive their period.
Epicurus the son of Neocles, the Athenian, his philosophical41 sentiments being the same with those of Democritus, affirms that the principles of all being are bodies which are only perceptible by reason; they admit not of a vacuity42, nor of any original, but being of a self-existence are eternal and incorruptible; they are not liable to any diminution43, they are indestructible, nor is it possible for them to receive any transformation44 of parts, or admit of any alterations45; of these reason is only the discoverer; they are in a perpetual motion in vacuity, and by means of the empty space; for the vacuum itself is infinite, and the bodies that move in it are infinite. Those bodies acknowledge these three accidents, figure, magnitude, and gravity. Democritus acknowledged but two, magnitude and figure. Epicurus added the third, to wit, gravity; for he pronounced that it is necessary that bodies receive their motion from that impression which springs from gravity, otherwise they could not be moved. The figures of atoms cannot be incomprehensible, but they are not infinite. These figures are neither hooked nor trident-shaped nor ring-shaped, such figures as these being exposed to collision; but the atoms are impassible, impenetrable; they have indeed figures of their own, which are conceived only by reason. It is called an atom, by reason not of its smallness but of its indivisibility; in it no vacuity, no passible affection is to be found. And that there is an atom is perfectly46 clear; for there are elements which have a perpetual duration, and there are animals which admit of a vacuity, and there is a unity.
Empedocles the Agrigentine, the son of Meton, affirms that there are four elements, fire, air, earth, and water, and two powers which bear the greatest command in nature, concord47 and discord48, of which one is the union, the other the division of beings. Thus he sings,
Hear first the four roots of all created things:—
Bright shining Jove, Juno that beareth life,
Pluto49 beneath the earth, and Nestis who
Doth with her tears water the human fount.
By Jupiter he understands fire and ether, by Juno that gives life he means the air, by Pluto the earth, by Nestis and the spring of all mortals (as it were) seed and water.
Socrates the son of Sophroniscus, and Plato son of Ariston, both natives of Athens, entertain the same opinion concerning the universe; for they suppose three principles, God, matter, and the idea. God is the universal understanding; matter is that which is the first substratum, accommodated for the generation and corruption50 of beings; the idea is an incorporeal51 essence, existing in the cogitations and apprehensions52 of God; for God is the soul and mind of the world.
Aristotle the son of Nichomachus, the Stagirite, constitutes three principles; Entelecheia (which is the same with form), matter, and privation. He acknowledges four elements, and adds a certain fifth body, which is ethereal and not obnoxious53 to mutation54.
Zeno son of Mnaseas, the native of Citium, avers these to be principles, God and matter, the first of which is the efficient cause, the other the passible and receptive. Four more elements he likewise confesses.
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1
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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denomination
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| n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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6
fructified
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| v.结果实( fructify的过去式和过去分词 )；使结果实，使多产，使土地肥沃 | |
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7
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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8
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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9
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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10
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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13
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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17
arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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18
averring
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| v.断言( aver的现在分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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19
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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20
yokes
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| 轭( yoke的名词复数 )； 奴役； 轭形扁担； 上衣抵肩 | |
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21
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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23
binary
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| adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星 | |
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24
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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25
avers
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| v.断言( aver的第三人称单数 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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26
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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28
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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29
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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generic
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| adj.一般的，普通的，共有的 | |
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31
apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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32
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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33
syllogism
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| n.演绎法，三段论法 | |
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34
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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35
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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36
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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37
exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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38
vapors
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| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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39
corporeal
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| adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的 | |
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40
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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41
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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42
vacuity
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| n.(想象力等)贫乏，无聊，空白 | |
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43
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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44
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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45
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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46
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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47
concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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48
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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49
Pluto
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| n.冥王星 | |
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50
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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51
incorporeal
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| adj.非物质的，精神的 | |
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52
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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53
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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54
mutation
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| n.变化，变异，转变 | |
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