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。
