266 HEIDEL. 



Though Anaximander and Hecataeus of course used Ionic forms, the 

 distinctive differences from the Attic have almost entirely vanished 

 in the course of transmission. 



11. 



Our survey of the tradition regarding Anaximander's book shows 

 that it touched on matters not germane to a philosophical treatise, 

 properly so called. This fact raises a variety of questions which are 

 of importance in relation to the history of Greek philosophy; for 

 though Thales is commonly regarded as the originator of this kind of 

 inquiry, we know so little of his scientific work that it is only with 

 his successor Anaximander that we begin with a certain assurance to 

 discern the character and direction of thought cultivated at Miletus, 

 the city which bred the new interests destined to have an illustrious 

 career in the western world. 



Were it profitable to express a feeling of regret, perhaps the great- 

 est loss to history might be said to be that which virtually blotted 

 out the story of this ancient city of Miletus, the pride of Ionia. Even 

 the excavations conducted there in recent years have produced almost 

 nothing: one gratefully excepts the headless statue erected by appre- 

 ciative contemporaries to Anaximander, showing that they valued 

 him even in his lifetime. What we need to remember is that Miletus 

 even in his day had passed the zenith of its power: it is always in the 

 afternoon or evening of a civilization that man turns to reflection on 

 the world, its origin and its destiny.^^ Of the earlier period, in which 

 Miletus ran its feverish course of unexampled activity, there are no 

 written records extant: like the good mother she was, she lived on 

 in her almost countless children, the colonies she had planted. Among 

 the last of these was Apollonia, which Anaximander served as founder. 



Thales seems to have lived to an advanced age and to have died 

 about the same time as Anaximander. There is every indication 



that Simplicius added the reference to the poetic style. See Strabo 1.2,6 C. 18. 

 In reaUty Anaximander may quite possibly have derived his form of.expression 

 and the suggestion of the cosmic process in question from a curious practice 

 observed in his home, which Strabo reports (12.8,19 C580): (jiaal 8e Kal SUas 

 elvai T(3 Maiavdpo}, juera^epoj'ri. ra-; x'^P^^i orav wepiKpovadSiaiv ol ajKcoves, oKovtos 

 5e TCLs ^rjnias e/c tcov Tropdfj.tKcoi' SiaXveadai TeXdv. 



65 It is well to recall that Theophrastus, the first formal historian of phil- 

 osophy, was not of the opinion that it really began with Thales. Simphcius 

 (F^ 1.12,34) says, QaXfjs 8k -irpGiros irapadkdoTai. ttju Trepl <t)V(reo:s IffTOpiav rois 

 "EWrjcTLv eK4>rjvai, iroXK&v p,ev Kai aXXwj' Trpoyeyovorccv, cbs Kal tui [probably we 

 should read avTui] Qeo4>paaT(f donel, avros 5e ttoXu duveynuu eKeivoji' cos a.iroKph\pai 

 TrdvTas tovs irpo avrov. 



