314 Dr DONALDSON, ON PLATO'S COSMICAL SYSTEM 



how far Plato was likely to have become acquainted with both, and what traces there are in 

 the narrative before us of the speculations of the lono-Persian mytho-philosophy, we shall 

 come, I think, to the conclusion that in this case at least there was a foundation on fact for 

 the tradition which Clement has reported to us. 



That Plato had become acquainted with the doctrines of Heracleitus from his earliest 

 days is as well known as any fact in the history of philosophy (Aristot. Metaph. i. 6) ; there 

 is a distinct tradition that he had been in Caria (Plutarch, De Deem. Socr. p. 579 b), and it has 

 been conjectured from a passage in the Thecetetus (p. 179 e) that a desire to study the 

 Heracleitean philosophy at Ephesus, its birth-place and metropolis, had induced Plato to 

 travel to that city. Now it was surmised long ago by Schleiermacher ( Werke, Philosophie, 

 II. p. 145) and Creuzer (^Symbolik, ii. p. 601 sq.) that the philosophy of Heracleitus was to a 

 certain extent Zoroastrian; and this has been completely demonstrated quite lately by Gladisch 

 {Herakleitos und Zoroaster, Leipsig, 1859). At the time when Heracleitus lived Ephesus was 

 a Persian city, and Dareius, the devoted champion of Ormuzd, had made it one of the western 

 seats of his own peculiar religion. Artemis, who was worshipped there, was a Persian fire- 

 goddess, not unconnected with astronomical references, as appears from the representation of 

 the Zodiac with which her neck was adorned. The sacred fire burned upon her altar, and her 

 priests bore the Persian name of M.e'yajiv'Cpi. That the Persians recognised their own worship 

 at Ephesus appears from the fact that, when they destroyed other temples in the Greek cities, 

 they treated the temple of Artemis with the utmost reverence. The connexion of Heracleitus 

 himself with this Persian worship is shown by the story (Diog. Laert. ix. 6) that he offered up 

 his book as a dedication in the temple of Artemis. And that the coincidences, which we can 

 now discover, between his philosophy and that of Zoroaster, must have been fully recognised 

 in his own time, that, in fact, he was regarded at the court of Susa as the great Zoroastrian 

 preacher of the distant west, is indicated by the statement (Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 14, p. 354, 

 Potter) that Dareius sent him an invitation to the Persian capital, which he declined. 

 Although the correspondence in Diogenes Laertius (ix. 12 sq.) is probably a forgery, it 

 confirms the general impression that Heracleitus was regarded from the earliest times as a 

 disciple of Zoroaster. In a passage of Plutarch {adv. Golot. 14, p. 556, Wyttenb.) mention is 

 made of a book called Zoroaster, by Heracleitus; but the context shows that Plutarch is 

 speaking of writei-s subsequent to Plato, and it is clear that we ought to read 'WpaKXeilov 

 instead of 'UpaKXe'iTou (Bemays, Rhein. Mus. 1848, p. 93). Still the corruption itself seems 

 to show that there was a book by Heracleitus entitled "Lwpoaarpri^ to "jrepi rwv ev ttooi/, the 

 other title quoted, namely, to irepl rwv (pvaiKw's diropovixevwv, being the work of Heracleides, 

 in which Plato's theories were controverted. If this was the case " the Zoroaster, concerning 

 those in Hades," would be a probable title for the Ephesian tale, which was the original form 

 of Plato's cosmical apologue. 



Be that as it may, we find enough in the fragments of Heracleitus to show that his 

 peculiar views were in accordance with the most characteristic details in the myth before us. 

 According to Plato the universe is held together by a straight column of light — that is, as 

 the commentators cited by Suidas (p. 3529 d, Gaisford) give it — " a sort of cylinder of 

 jetherial fire around the axis" (pt ^ KyXiv^pov Tiva -n-vpo^ a'lBepiov irepl tov a^ova ouTa), 



