HISTORY Ol' PHILOSOPHY. 477 



pliy abandoned the Ionian colonies of Greece. The tyranny 

 of the Satraps expelled it from these fair countries to seek a refuge 

 among' the free nations of Europe. 



The doctrine on the nature of a first cause propagated by Anaxa- 

 goras had this object in view ; the setting the sublime idea of a di- 

 vinity in the true light with respect to its relations with the laws of 

 the universe. It is distinguished by two essential characters. 



First, The system of emanations and those of pantheism derived 

 from it ; nay, even the opinion of the earlier Ionian philosophers as- 

 sociated the idea of elementary matter with the first cause of pro- 

 duction, and conceived the world itself to be an animated whole to 

 which the Divinity stood in the relation of a soul, the producer being 

 as it were identified with the produced. 



Anaxagoras was the first who distinctly separated these notions 

 from their mutual confusion. In his eyes the universe was perfectly 

 distinct from the cause of its production ; this cause had nothing in 

 common with other beings ; its nature was exclusively its own ; it 

 was one as it was eternal ; it acted on the world as the workman on 

 the^materials supplied him. Thus the first cause, which had hitherto 

 been considered to consist essentially in " power," was now distin- 

 guished by the attribute of " intelligence." 



Secondly, Up to this time the truth the most splendid, the most 

 precious to humanity, had not been developed by an explicit demon- 

 stration. The multitude believed it from the instinct of nature and 

 religion ; the few who thought profoundly felt that the chain of ef- 

 fects must return to some first active cause in which there existed vo- 

 lition and thought, but they had not reduced this opinion to a metho- 

 dical system or a harmony with the general laws of nature. Anax- 

 agoras was the first who expressly announced the connexion of the 

 phenomenon of nature ; their intimate union ; that they formed part 

 of a great whole, governed by a supreme law, and that this unity 

 consists in an intelligence omnipotent, omniscient, and uncontrollable. 

 It is remarkable that no such demonstration as this was possible 

 until the ideas of magic, genii, and all supernatural agents were ba- 

 nished from the creeds of wise men. But the history of the human 

 intellect is replete with examples of the obstacles thrown in the way 

 of healthy notions of religion by the trammels of superstition. 



When Anaxagoras proclaimed this great revelation of reason, he 

 was accused of impiety, prosecuted, and thrown into prison, and flight 

 alone saved him from the -vengeance of the priesthood and the blind 

 fury of the rabble. His crime was the having said the stars were 

 not gods, and astrology a fable. 



As the day-star at its first rising is confounded with the mists of 

 the horizon, so imperfect were the earlier views on the subject of a 

 first cause. As the day-star in its progress becomes the isolated 

 monarch of the heavens, so was the idea of a first cause exalted in the 

 doctrines of Anaxagoras. 



We must not, however, suppose this great man to have been ex- 

 empt from errors. But a short view of the opinions attributed to him 

 will better enable us to appreciate the march of his intellect. 



Devoted by inclination to the study of physical science, he brought 

 to it a spirit of observation which made him suspect the truth of many 



