THE HELLENIC PERIOD 27 



that thunder and lightning are caused by the wind. 

 When it is imprisoned in a dense cloud and escapes 

 with violence, the disruption of the cloud produces the 

 noise, and the rent appears luminous in contrast with 

 the darkness of the cloud " (Aetius : Diels, Dox, 367, 

 22). However this may be, Anaximander held that 

 there were three distinct regions in which the rings 

 were placed : the rings of the fixed stars formed the 

 nearest region, beyond was the ring of the moon, and, 

 further still, that of the sun. 1 



Teichmuller and Tannery admit this conception as a 

 whole, but for them the eternal movement which 

 animates the ctzsioov is not an irregular disturbance, 

 it is the movement of the diurnal rotation. 2 It is 

 this movement, which, in the midst of primitive matter, 

 creates the opposing forces, places in the centre of the 

 universe the heavier elements, namely, the earth and 

 water, then disposes around the earth the lighter 

 elements, an envelope of air, and an envelope, lighter 

 still, of fire. Finally, it is the centrifugal force, created 

 by the movement of rotation, which causes the sphere of 

 fire to burst and to divide into rings. The question 

 of the innumerable worlds, of which Anaximander 

 admits the existence, likewise gives rise to a divergence 

 of interpretation which is explicable for the same 

 reasons. The adherents to a qualitative ojisloov, 

 limited in space and subject to a perpetual movement 

 of rotation, think that by " innumerable worlds " we 

 must understand that the actual world will be dis- 

 integrated and destroyed by the same cause (diurnal 

 rotation) which has created it. Thus a state of chaos 

 will be produced, from which will arise a new world, 

 and so on. If, on the contrary, we believe aneioov to 



1 The respective distances of the rings were fixed by sacred 

 numbers, and not by observation. — 22 a Robin, Pense'e 

 grecque, p. 49. 



2 25 Tannery, Science hellene, p. 88. 



