The lives, opinions, and remarkable sayings of the most famous ancient philosophers. The first volume written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius ; made English by several hands ...

The LIFE of ANAXAGORAS.

ANaxagoras, a Clozomenian, the Son of Hegesibulus, or Eubulus, was a diligent Disciple of Anaximenes.

He was the first who attributed to Mat∣ter Sense and Reason; thus beginning his great Work, which is both delightful, and loftily compos'd, All things at the be∣ginning

sprung together; then came the World's Intelligence, and shap'd and em∣bellish'd every individual Species; where∣as it was call'd the Great Intelligence. Of which thus Timon in his Silli.

For thus fam'd Anaxagoras profoundly taught, That the vast Mind like some great Hero fought Rebellious Chaos, that disdain'd controul; And then it was, that the Worlds mighty Soul Millions of ranging formless Bodies fix'd; Rammass'd, Compacted, here conjoyn'd, there mix'd; Ʋntil at length the vanquish'd Mass gave o're, And all agreed, that was confus'd before.

This Person was not only eminent for his Birth and Riches, but for the Gran∣deur of his aspiring Mind. For he sur∣render'd his Patrimony to his Relations; at what time being by them tax'd for neglecting his Estate; What then, said he, are not you sufficiently able to take care of it? Soon after he left 'em all, and retir'd him∣self to the Contemplation of Nature, not minding publick or private Affairs. In∣somuch that to one who thus accosted him; What! then takest thou no care of thy

Country? Yes, said he, no Man more, poin∣ting to the Heav'ns.

He is said to have been twenty years of Age when Xerxes invaded Greece, and to have liv'd seventy two. But Apollodorus in his Chronicle, affirms him to have flou∣rish'd in his prime in the Seventieth Olym∣piad, and that in the first year of the Se-Seventy eighth Olympiad he ended his days.

He began to divulge his Philosophical Exercises at Athens, under Callias, in the twentieth year of his Age, as Demetrius Phalereus reports, in his Compendium of the Athenian Rulers: Where, they say, he continu'd thirty years.

He affirm'd the Sun to be a massy Plate of Red-hot Iron, bigger than the Pelopon∣nesus. Which some assert to have been the Opinion of Tantalus before him. He held that the Moon was full of Habitati∣ons, Mountains and Vallies; and that the Principles of all things were endu'd with similitude of Parts. For that as the dust and filings of Gold might be embody'd into a Mass; so was the Universe com∣pos'd of little Bodies consisting of similar Particles. That heavy Bodies possess'd the lowermost place, as the Earth; Light things the uppermost, as Fire; and the Middlemost he assign'd to Air and Wa∣ter.

That the Sea lay below the Earth, which was broad; the moisture being ex∣haled by the Sun. That the motions of the Stars were at first disorderly and con∣fus'd, as it were over the Top of the Earth, or the Pole which always appears: but that afterwards, the change of Incli∣nation happen'd: That the Milky-way was only the Reflexion of the Sun, where none of the Stars could cast their Light. That Comets were only the Meeting to∣gether, or Conjunctions of all the Planets sending forth flames of Fire, which danc'd to and fro according to the Motion of the Air. That the Rarifying the Air by the Sun was the occasion of Winds. That Thunder was a compression of the Clouds; Light'ning a brushing of the Clouds one against another. That an Earthquake was the return of the Air from the Sub∣terraneal Parts. That all Living Crea∣tures sprung at first from a mixture of Moist, Hot and Earthy; and then begat each other. That Males were generated in the right, Females in the left side of the Womb.

It is reported that he foretold the fall of the Stone, near the River of Aegos, call'd Aegos-Potamos, which he said would fall from the Sun. Whence Euripides, who was his Disciple, in his fable of Phaeton,

calls the Sun a Golden Mass, or Clod of Gold. Coming to Olympia, he sate himself down, covered with a Leathern Hide, as if it had been going to rain; and being asked, whether he thought the Sea would ever overflow the Mountains of Lampsacus? Yes; said he, un∣less it want time. To the question, to what purpose he was Born? He replied▪ To contemplate the Sun, the Moon, and the Heavens. To one that told him, he had lost the Athenians. Not so, said he; but they me. Beholding Mausolus's Tomb, Asump∣tuous Monument, said he, is a great Estate Metamorphosed into Stone. To one who griev'd that he should dye in a foreign Country, The Descent, said he, to the In∣fernal Shades is every where alike. He was the first, as Phavorinus relates in his Uni∣versal History, who affirmed that Homer's Poem was composed of Vertue and Ju∣stice. To which Opinion of his Metrodo∣rus of Lampsacus, his intimate Friend, is said to have contributed very much, who was the first that essayed to write of Na∣tural things in Poetry. However Anaxa∣goras was the first who ever published any Treatise written upon that Subject.

Silenus also farther reports, in his first Book of History, that a Stone fell from Heaven in the time that Dimylus Ruled;

at what time Anaxagoras aver'd, that the whole Heaven was Composed of Stones; only that the Swiftness of the Circumrota∣tion fixed 'em in their Places, which other∣wise would suddenly loosen and fall down.

But as to his being called in Question, there are various Reports. For Sotion in his Succession of the Philosophers, asserts that he was accused of Irreligion by Cleo, because he held the Sun to be a Red-hot Mass of Iron: for which, when Pericles his Scholar defended him, he was fin'd fifty Talents, and exiled his Country.

Satyrus also in his Lives, reports that he was accused by Thucydides, who always opposed Pericles, not only of Impiety, but Treason; and in his absence was Condemned to Death. At what time when he received the News, both of the Sentence pronounced against him, and the Death of his Sons; as to his Condem∣nation, he answered, That it was no more than what Nature had long before decreed, that both he and they should Dye. As to the Death of his Sons, he replied, That he well knew▪ he had not begotten 'em to be Immortal. Yet some there are, who attribute these Sayings to Salon, others to Zenophon. How∣ever Demetrius Pha••areus records in his Treatise of old Age, that he buried his Sons with his own Hands. On the other

side Hermippus relates, that he was impri∣soned, in order to his Execution. But then Pericles coming into the Assembly, asked the Rulers, whether they could accuse him of anything that reached his Life? who returning no answer; Why then said he, I am his Disciple, and therefore beware how ye destroy a Man impeached only by Malice and Calumny, but ra∣ther take my Advice, and let him go. Which was accordingly done. However he took the affront so hainously, that he would not stay in the City.

In opposition to this, Jerome in his se∣cond Book of Commentaries, asserts, That Pericles caused him to be brought into Court, tottering every Step he went, as being spent with Age and long Sickness; and that he was acquitted rather through the Compassion of the Judges, than that he was found innocent of what was laid to his Charge. So strangely do Authors vary in their Reports concerning his Con∣demnation.

He was also thought to have born De∣mocritus a grudge, for refusing him a Con∣ference which he desired. At length re∣tiring to Lampsacus, he there ended his days. And being asked by the Magistrates of the City whether he had any particular Command to lay upon 'em, he desired

that the Boys might have Liberty to Play, every Year during the Month wherein he died, which Custom is observed to this Day. He was honourably interred by the Lampsacenses, who caused this Epigram to be engraved upon his Monument.

Here he, who th' utmost bounds of Earth and Skies, For Truth and Knowledg rang'd, entombed lies.

To which we shall add this other of our own.

For saying that the Sun was but a Mass Of Iron Red-hot, doom'd Anaxagoras To Death great Pericles sav'd; which danger past, Another Error was his End at last.

There are also three more of the same Name. The first an Orator and Scholar of Isocrates. The Second a Statuary, of whom Antigonus makes mention; and the third a Grammarian, the Disciple of Ze∣nodorus.