The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23
vi.

ophy and poesy to analysis Of conscious
ness and the cosmic process.
vi.
From this point the progress Of Greek
rationalism was continuous, despite some
local reactions, till the Roman Conquest,
Miletoe long figuring as a principal source
Of scepticism. Anaximandros, pupil and
companion Of Thales, was, like him, an as
tronomer, geographer and physicist. We
find him seeking for q first principle 0or
which he invented the name); affirming an
infinite material cause, without beginning
and in~destructible, together with an infinite
number OF worlds, ~and-agaln showing
the Chaldean impulse specializing curl
ously on the descent OF mar from some
thing aquatic, as well as on the form n
motion Of the earth Figured by him a. a
CYLINDER, the nature and motions OF the
solar system, and thunder n lightning.
1t may be doubtful whether, as affirmed by
Eudemus, he taught the doctrine Of the
earth's motion. put the derivation Of this
doctrine from the B~abylonian schools OF
astronomy is q probable that, in our au-
thor's judgment. IL may have been accepted
in Miletos in the first half OF the sixth
century B. G.
II Is after some two generations OF per-
sistsnt qu~estioners OF nature have passed
away mat we encounter In Herakleitos Of
Ephesus, who nourished about 500 B. c.. a
positive and ~unsparing criticism Of the
prevailing beliefs. Though doubt attaches
to some Of his sayings. and sven to his date,
there can b small question hat he was
m~ordantly free thinking. though a man Of
-1.- Ia.onnk aNr khinLnH aunnn0 tha
Ionians left a deeper impression than he Of
massive force and piercing intensity; above
all the other gnomic u~tterances Of his age
his have the ring Of character and h edge
OF personality. The gossiping Diogenes.
after setting out by calling him the most
arrogant Of men. comedies that the brevity
| and weight Of his expressions are not to be
matched" He has stern sa yings about
bringing forth untrustworthy witnesses to
confirm disputed points" and about eyes
and ears being bad witnesses for men whoee
souls lack understanding What can be
seen. heard and learned, this l prize Ia one
Of his declarations; and he is credited with
| condemning book learning. as having failed
TO give wisdom TO Hesiod. Pythagoras and
others. From his cryptic u~ttarances It
| may be gathered that he, like Thales. was a
pantheist and from his insistence on the
immanence Of strife In all things. as from
other sayings Of his. that he was OF the
Stole mood. "IC was doubtless in resent
ment Of IMMORAL religion that he said Homer
and Archilochoe deserved fiogging and that
he was severe on the phallic worship Of
Dionysos, on tho absurdity of prayer to
images and on popular pietism in general"
His saying. Character Is a mans demon,
or guardian angel. seems to be the definite
assertion Of rationallsm in affairs. rs against
the creed Of special pro~videnoes.
While free thought, however, was travel
ling 30 much faster in Ionia han In the
Greek motherland, 1t was travelling faster
still in the colonies planted ron Ionia in
Italy and Thraoe. To the city Of Flea
founded on the western Italian coast by
Phokaians, seeking a new home after the
Persian conquest, came Xenophanes Of
Colophon, like wise seeking freedom. His
Ionic pantheism expressed itself in an attack
on anthropomorphic religion. nc less direct
and much more ratiocinative than that OF
any Hebrew prophet upon idolatry. Nor
tails, he wrote, suppose that the gods are
born, and wear mans clothing, and have
voice and body. But II cattle or lions
had hands, 30 as to paint there with and
make works Of art as men do, they would
paint their gods and give them bodies
hks their own-horses like horses, cattle
like cattle" On Homer and Hesiod. the
myth singers, his assault was ne less reso-
Lutte. They attribute to the gods all things
that With mon are Of i'll lame and blame;
they recount Of them countless nefarious
~things-theits, adulteries and deception Of
each other When the Cleans, some what
shaken by such criticisms, asked him
whether they should sacrifice or merely
sing a dirge to Leukothea, the child bereft
sea goddess, he babe them not to sing a
dirge II they thought her divine, and not
to sacrifice II she were human. Beside
this ringing radiCallsm, not yet out Of date,
the physics and philosophy Of the Eleatic
free thinker are less noticeable, the physics
being weak, though the philosophy was not
unsubtle nor u~noriginal; but II Is interesting
to find him reasoning from fossil marks
that what is Rowland was once sea covered,
and had been left mud; Gnd that the moon
was probably Inhabited With all this
aIertness Of speculation, however, Keno