§1.3#2εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαία τις αὕτη καὶ παλαιὰ τετύχηκεν οὖσα περὶ τῆς φύσεως ἡ δόξα, τάχʼ ἂν ἄδηλον εἴη, Θαλῆς μέντοι λέγεται οὕτως ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας (Ἵππωνα γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀξιώσειε θεῖναι μετὰ τούτων διὰ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτοῦ τῆς διανοίας)·
Whether this opinion about nature happens to be something ancient and of old time, would perhaps be unclear; Thales, however, is said to have declared himself in this way about the first cause (for one would not think Hippon worthy to be placed with these, because of the cheapness of his intellect).
Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα καὶ Διογένης πρότερον ὕδατος καὶ μάλιστʼ ἀρχὴν τιθέασι τῶν ἁπλῶν σωμάτων, Ἵππασος δὲ πῦρ ὁ Μεταποντῖνος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ τὰ τέτταρα, πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις γῆν προστιθεὶς τέταρτον (ταῦτα γὰρ ἀεὶ διαμένειν καὶ οὐ γίγνεσθαι ἀλλʼ ἢ πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι, συγκρινόμενα καὶ διακρινόμενα εἰς ἕν τε καὶ ἐξ ἑνός)·
But Anaximenes and Diogenes make air prior to water and the chief principle of simple bodies; Hippasus of Metapontum and Heraclitus of Ephesus make it fire; and Empedocles the four elements, adding earth as a fourth to those mentioned (for these, he says, always remain and do not come to be except in quantity and paucity, being combined into one and separated out of one).
Ἀναξαγόρας δὲ ὁ Κλαζομένιος τῇ μὲν ἡλικίᾳ πρότερος ὢν τούτου τοῖς δʼ ἔργοις ὕστερος ἀπείρους εἶναί φησι τὰς ἀρχάς· σχεδὸν γὰρ ἅπαντα τὰ ὁμοιομερῆ καθάπερ ὕδωρ ἢ πῦρ οὕτω γίγνεσθαι καὶ ἀπόλλυσθαί φησι, συγκρίσει καὶ διακρίσει μόνον, ἄλλως δʼ οὔτε γίγνεσθαι οὔτʼ ἀπόλλυσθαι ἀλλὰ διαμένειν ἀΐδια. —ἐκ μὲν οὖν τούτων μόνην τις αἰτίαν νομίσειεν ἂν τὴν ἐν ὕλης εἴδει λεγομένην· προϊόντων δʼ οὕτως, αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα ὡδοποίησεν αὐτοῖς καὶ συνηνάγκασε ζητεῖν·
But Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, who was prior to him in age but posterior in his works, says that the principles are infinite; for he says that almost all homoeomerous things, just like water or fire, come to be and perish in this way, by combination and separation only, but otherwise they neither come to be nor perish, but remain eternal. — From these thinkers, then, one might suppose that the only cause is that spoken of in the form of matter; but as they proceeded in this way, the reality itself opened the way for them and forced them to investigate.
εἰ γὰρ ὅτι μάλιστα πᾶσα γένεσις καὶ φθορὰ ἔκ τινος ἑνὸς ἢ καὶ πλειόνων ἐστίν, διὰ τί τοῦτο συμβαίνει καὶ τί τὸ αἴτιον;
For even if it is ever so true that all generation and destruction are from some one or more than one, why does this happen and what is the cause?
οὐ γὰρ δὴ τό γε ὑποκείμενον αὐτὸ ποιεῖ μεταβάλλειν ἑαυτό· λέγω δʼ οἷον οὔτε τὸ ξύλον οὔτε ὁ χαλκὸς αἴτιος τοῦ μεταβάλλειν ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ ποιεῖ τὸ μὲν ξύλον κλίνην ὁ δὲ χαλκὸς ἀνδριάντα, ἀλλʼ ἕτερόν τι τῆς μεταβολῆς αἴτιον.
For surely the substratum itself does not make itself change; I mean, for instance, that neither wood nor bronze is the cause of either of them changing, nor does wood make a bed or bronze a statue, but something else is the cause of the change.
τὸ δὲ τοῦτο ζητεῖν ἐστὶ τὸ τὴν ἑτέραν ἀρχὴν ζητεῖν, ὡς ἂν ἡμεῖς φαίημεν, ὅθεν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κινήσεως.
And to seek this is to seek the other principle, as we would say, that from which is the beginning of motion.
οἱ μὲν οὖν πάμπαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἁψάμενοι τῆς μεθόδου τῆς τοιαύτης καὶ ἓν φάσκοντες εἶναι τὸ ὑποκείμενον οὐθὲν ἐδυσχέραναν ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλʼ ἔνιοί γε τῶν ἓν λεγόντων, ὥσπερ ἡττηθέντες ὑπὸ ταύτης τῆς ζητήσεως, τὸ ἓν ἀκίνητόν φασιν εἶναι καὶ τὴν φύσιν ὅλην οὐ μόνον κατὰ γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν (τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαῖόν τε καὶ πάντες ὡμολόγησαν) ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην μεταβολὴν πᾶσαν· καὶ τοῦτο αὐτῶν ἴδιόν ἐστιν.
Now those who completely from the beginning touched upon this kind of method and declared that the substratum is one, brought no trouble upon themselves; but some of those who say it is one, as if defeated by this inquiry, say that the one is motionless, and the whole of nature too, not only in respect of generation and destruction (for this is ancient and all agreed on it), but also in respect of all other change; and this is peculiar to them.
τῶν μὲν οὖν ἓν φασκόντων εἶναι τὸ πᾶν οὐθενὶ συνέβη τὴν τοιαύτην συνιδεῖν αἰτίαν πλὴν εἰ ἄρα Παρμενίδῃ, καὶ τούτῳ κατὰ τοσοῦτον ὅσον οὐ μόνον ἓν ἀλλὰ καὶ δύο πως τίθησιν αἰτίας εἶναι·
Of those, then, who say that the universe is one, it befell none to perceive such a cause, unless indeed Parmenides did, and he only so far as he posits not only one but also in a way two causes.
τοῖς δὲ δὴ πλείω ποιοῦσι μᾶλλον ἐνδέχεται λέγειν, οἷον τοῖς θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν ἢ πῦρ καὶ γῆν· χρῶνται γὰρ ὡς κινητικὴν ἔχοντι τῷ πυρὶ τὴν φύσιν, ὕδατι δὲ καὶ γῇ καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις τοὐναντίον. —μετὰ δὲ τούτους καὶ τὰς τοιαύτας ἀρχάς, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῶν οὐσῶν γεννῆσαι τὴν τῶν ὄντων φύσιν, πάλιν ὑπʼ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν, ἀναγκαζόμενοι τὴν ἐχομένην ἐζήτησαν ἀρχήν.
But for those who make them more than one, it is more possible to speak of it, such as those who make them hot and cold, or fire and earth; for they use fire as having a moving nature, and water and earth and such things as the opposite. — After these thinkers and such principles, since they were not sufficient to generate the nature of existing things, being again compelled by the truth itself, as we said, they sought the next principle.
τοῦ γὰρ εὖ καὶ καλῶς τὰ μὲν ἔχειν τὰ δὲ γίγνεσθαι τῶν ὄντων ἴσως οὔτε πῦρ οὔτε γῆν οὔτʼ ἄλλο τῶν τοιούτων οὐθὲν οὔτʼ εἰκὸς αἴτιον εἶναι οὔτʼ ἐκείνους οἰηθῆναι· οὐδʼ αὖ τῷ αὐτομάτῳ καὶ τύχῃ τοσοῦτον ἐπιτρέψαι πρᾶγμα καλῶς εἶχεν.
For of the fact that some of existing things are well and beautifully, and others come to be so, it is not likely that either fire or earth or any other such thing is the cause, nor is it likely that they thought so; nor again was it well to entrust so great a matter to spontaneity and chance.
νοῦν δή τις εἰπὼν ἐνεῖναι, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις, καὶ ἐν τῇ φύσει τὸν αἴτιον τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῆς τάξεως πάσης οἷον νήφων ἐφάνη παρʼ εἰκῇ λέγοντας τοὺς πρότερον.
He who said that intellect was present, just as in animals, also in nature as the cause of the world and of all order, appeared like a sober man in contrast with the random talk of his predecessors.
φανερῶς μὲν οὖν Ἀναξαγόραν ἴσμεν ἁψάμενον τούτων τῶν λόγων, αἰτίαν δʼ ἔχει πρότερον Ἑρμότιμος ὁ Κλαζομένιος εἰπεῖν.
We know clearly, then, that Anaxagoras touched upon these views, but Hermotimus of Clazomenae is credited with having stated them earlier.
οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἅμα τοῦ καλῶς τὴν αἰτίαν ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων ἔθεσαν, καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ὅθεν ἡ κίνησις ὑπάρχει τοῖς οὖσιν·
Those, then, who held this view posited at the same time the cause of the beautiful as a principle of existing things, and also such a cause from which motion belongs to existing things.