362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ing a large meteoric stone which fell near the Aegospotamos Kiver, on 

 the northern shore of the Hellespont. Who can tell what his thoughts 

 were then, as he perceived with his own eyes the material character of 

 this messenger from the heavenly bodies, the so-called gods ? 



The influence of the idea of the Nous on the political life of Athens 

 can not be estimated. Perikles was a political idealist, bent on making 

 the most of the intellectual ability of every iVthenian citizen, and the 

 close intimacy with a man like Anaxagoras probably accounts for much 

 of the fineness of his work and his freedom from the superstitions of 

 his age. The ruins of the Akropolis of Athens at the present time show 

 us something of what his idealism did for art. Anaxagoras taught that 

 the Nous exists in all things in a greater or less degree, and the art of 

 his age, the highest that the world has known, expresses to a degree 

 never before attained the psychical basis of beauty. 



Anaxagoras's service to philosophy was, however, the greatest, al- 

 though it has not been fully appreciated. For the first time the psy- 

 chical element entered into philosophic research. The Nous had to be 

 reckoned with, as well as matter so-called, and since then we have had 

 different grades of world theories, some of which attribute to the psy- 

 chical the whole of reality, like that of Plato, some the part, as with 

 Aristotle, and some none at all, as with the materialists. With Anax- 

 agoras was born the idea of spirit, yet in the vague and glimmering way 

 in which all ideas come into existence, and the gratitude of the world 

 for this idea has been given to Sokrates and Plato, who presented it in 

 its fulness. Anaxagoras, therefore, does not rank as great among 

 philosophers in popular opinion, because he was so soon overshadowed 

 by those who completed his conception of the spiritual. 



When Perikles's power began to wane and he could no longer protect 

 his friend and teacher, the vengeance of the multitude whose gods had 

 been attacked fell upon Anaxagoras. He was cast into prison, and 

 saved with difficulty by his pupil, and exiled to Lampsacus, on the 

 southern shore of the Hellespont. There he organized a school of 

 philosophy, and the Anaxagoreans are referred to occasionally by later 

 Greek philosophers, but the school was soon overshadowed by the results 

 of the age immediately succeeding. When Anaxagoras was ill and 

 likely to die, his friends in Lampsacus asked him what they could do 

 in his memory, and he replied that he would be pleased to have the 

 anniversary of his death kept as a holiday, and this custom was long 

 observed. The people of Lampsacus also honored Anaxagoras after 

 his death by erecting an altar to him, bearing on one side the word 

 ' Nous ' and on the other the word ' Truth.' 



The greatest tribute, however, to Anaxagoras was paid in the time 

 of imperial Eome, a tribute of which he was' not unworthy. An im- 

 perial Eoman coin was issued at Klazomenai, on the reverse of which 

 was the philosopher Anaxagoras with the globe in his hand. 



