242 HEIDEL. * 



astronomy and cosmology so established itself that even the best 

 writers spoke of 'spheres' where really 'circles' more accurately 

 described the facts. ^ Hence it would be pressing too far a current 

 expression to object to Sphere as a possible sub-title of the treatise 

 On Nature. Of the Tour of the Earth we need for the movement to 

 remark only that it is included in the list and refers beyond c^uestion 

 to a geographical treatise, or in any case to a portion of ? work, attrib- 

 uted to Anaximander, supposed to contain matters germane to 

 geography. Whether other evidence of the existence of such a work 

 in antiquity can be discovered elsewhere, we shall have presently to 

 inquire. 



Now this bibliographical index has been lightly, perhaps too lightly, 

 set aside as valueless by modern scholars. Generally this is done with- 

 out even a word of explanation; where anything is said, it is apt to 

 be suggested that there is a mistake or that the titles were read out 

 of references to the map and the celestial globe attributed to Anaxi- 

 mander.^ As has been already stated, no exception is taken to the 

 datura regarding the title On Nature, though it is now agreed to 

 have been of later origin. To Zeller, apparently, it was the multi- 

 plicity of titles that occasioned surprise and doubt. Why it should 

 do so, he did not indicate; but one may surmise that he had in mind 

 the probability that Anaximander was the first prose writer and 

 assumed that all beginnings are modest. We may later recur to the 

 question whether Anaximander may with great probability be re- 

 garded as +he originator of Greek prose; meanwhile it may suffice 

 to say that this is not so certain as to justify a priori deductions from 

 the hypothesis. To add to the difficulty, apparently, Suidas, after 



8 Tills has led to grave misunderstandings, from Aristotle to our own day, 

 even among the most critical historians of Greek thought. 



9 For Zeller, see above, u. 7. Diels {V^ I. 14, 23 note) suggests that the titles 

 were concocted from such statements as that of Diogenes Laertius (ibid. 1.9) 

 Kal yr}s Kal daXaaa-rjs ireplixerpov irpuiros eypaipev, dXXd Kal crcjialpav KareffKevacre, and 

 from the fact that Anaximander first distinguished the 'sphere' (!) of the fixed 

 stars. The use of KareffKevaae in regard to the 'sphere' shows that Suidas did 

 not merely mistake the statement of Diogenes regarding the stars, as does the 

 duplication Ilepi twv airXavchv Kal 'Ecpalpav. It is true that a confusion might 

 have arisen in regard to gypai/'e . . . Tijs irepLodov, for it is conceded that 7775 

 irepiodos might mean a 'map,' and ypacj>€i.v with it might mean 'draw' as well 

 as 'write'; but the entire Ust of Suidas is so patently bibhographical, and 

 there is so little except d priori considerations to be urged against it, that one 

 cannot take these suggestions seriously. Of Uepl Tciv awXapcoi' and 'Z<i>aipa we 

 have already said that on such a view the duplication is difficult to explain; 

 even more so is Kal aWa nva, which is hardly due to Suidas or his immediate 

 source (Hesychius?), implying as it does the existence of other titles, as indeed 

 we hear of one more from another source. 



