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CLASSICAL ESSAY |
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by Anaximenes
Anaximenes of Miletus, son of Eurystratos, who had been an associate of Anaximander, said, like him, that the underlying substance was one and infinite. He did not, however, say it was indeterminate, like Anaximander, but determinate; for he said it was Air. From it, he said, the things that are, and have been, and shall be, the gods and things divine, took their rise, while other things come from its offspring. "Just as," he said, "our soul, being air, holds us together, so do breath and air encompass the whole world." And the form of the air is as follows. Where it is most even, it is invisible to our sight; but cold and hear, moisture and motion, make it visible. It is always in motion; for, if it were not, it would not change so much as it does. It differs in different substances in virtue of its rarefaction and condensation. When it is dilated so as to be rarer, it becomes fire; while winds, on the other hand, are condensed Air. Cloud is formed from Air by "felting"; and this, still further condensed, becomes water. Water, condensed still more, turns to earth; and when condensed as much as it can be, to stones. He says that, as the air was "felted," the earth first came into being. It is very broad, and is accordingly supported by the air. In the same way, the sun and the moon and the other heavenly bodies, which are of a fiery nature, are supported by the air because of their breadth. The heavenly bodies were produced from the earth by moisture rising from it. When this is rarefied, fire comes into being, and the stars are composed of the fire thus raised aloft. There were also bodies of earthy substance in the region of the stars, revolving along with them. And he says that the heavenly bodies do not move under the earth, as others suppose, but round it, as a cap turns round our head. The sun is hidden from sight, not because it goes under the earth, but because it is concealed by the higher parts of the earth, and because its distance from us becomes greater. The stars give no heat because of the greatness of their distance. Winds are produced when condensed air rushes into rarefied; but when it is concentrated and thickened still more, clouds are generated; and, lastly, it turns to water.
Excerpted from Early Greek Philosophy, ed. and tr. by John Burnet (1930). |
The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, edited by A. A. Long
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