THE HELLENIC PERIOD 39 



prove that the Pythagorean theses on discontinuity led 

 to consequences still more absurd than the affirmations 

 of Parmenides ? x This latter hypothesis would seem 

 to be more correct, for Plato says of Zeno concerning 

 the subject of his writing that " this is a kind of 

 reinforcement of the argument of Parmenides against 

 those who try to turn it into ridicule, for this reason, 

 that, if reality be one, this argument is entangled in a 

 mass of absurdities and contradictions. This writing 

 argues against those who uphold plurality and gives 

 them as much as and more than they have given ; the 

 aim is to show that their hypothesis of multiplicity will 

 be confused with still more absurdities than the 

 hypothesis of unity if elaborated with sufficient care " 

 [Parmenides 128 c). Whatever may have been the 

 aim pursued by Zeno, his reasonings have an inde- 

 pendent value, for they emphasize forcibly the difficulty 

 of explaining logically the relations of the one and the 

 multiple, the finite and the infinite, the mobile and the 

 immobile. 



Melissus (of Samos) appears to have been like Zeno 

 the disciple of Parmenides at almost the same epoch. 

 He affirmed in a more systematic manner than his 

 master the unity of Being, but his views on this subject 

 concern the history of philosophy more than that of 

 science. 



4. ATOMISTIC TENDENCIES 



Both the works and the personality of Empedocles 

 have always been a subject of discussion. The 

 Ancients considered him either an impostor or a genius 

 (Lucretius, I, 716). In modern times, Hegel treats him 

 with contempt, Nietzsche admires him, and Gomperz 

 sees in him a precursor of modern chemists. 

 Empedocles was probably born in 490 and died in 



1 20 Milhaud, Phi. geom, p. 132. — 25 Tannery, Science 

 hellene. — 8 Burnet, Aurore, p. 360. 



4 



