HEIDEL. — Ilepl <{>v(r«os. 87 



The intimate connexion of physical philosophy with theogony and 

 cosmogony has thus been emphasized because it appears fundamental 

 to any intelligent inquiry into the meaning and nature of the former ; 

 yet no one would deny that there is a distinction to be drawn between 

 these cognate forms of speculation on the origin and operations of the 

 world. The important point to determine is just wherein the essential 

 difference consists. 



In Plato there is a clear distinction drawn between jjlv6o<; and Ao'yos ; 

 with him ixv6o\oyia is associated with 7701770-19, and, when contrasted 

 with Ao'yo9 or laropia, denotes that which is fictitious as opposed to 

 sober truth. Herein Plato reflects the spirit of the sixth and fifth cen- 

 turies, b. c, which brought science to the birth. Of that period Xeno- 

 phanes is an interesting representative. We have seen that he com- 

 bined the various interests of la-ropia, and he naturally found himself 

 in hostility to Homer 33 and all for which Homer stood. Homer stood 

 for epic poetry, and epic poetry stood for /jlv8os. To the mind of Xeno- 

 phanes the myths of Titans, Giants, and Centaurs are TrXda-fxara twv 

 Trporipuiv . . . rolcr oihlv xp^o-tw eVecm. Indeed, what could such fic- 

 tions profit an age that was busily engaged in sweeping the mists from 

 the crest of Olympus to let in the dry light of reason ? Hecataeus, an- 

 other child of the sixth century and a Aoyoypa0os or devotee of la-ropia, 

 in the introductory sentence of his Genealogies, says : 34 "I write the 

 following as it seems to me in truth ; for the tales (Adyoi) of the Greeks 

 are many and, as I think, absurd." He employs the term Ao'yoi where 

 a later writer would probably have said fxvOoi • for he refers to Greek 

 mythical genealogies. Yet Ao'yos had even in his day come to mean 

 prose 35 as opposed to epic composition, and Hecataeus proposed to use 

 the new vehicle of artistic expression in the service of sober truth or 

 lo-Topta. 36 It is noteworthy that he criticises the stories of "the 



the gods in prayer and enforcing the fulfilment of the request b} r giving the genealogy 

 (or as Herodotus, I. 132 says, the Oeoyovir)) of the divinities. This is in turn con- 

 nected with the magical procedure, which consists in " assigning the cause " and 

 telling how that which, e. g., produced the wound (say, iron) originated, thus con- 

 trolling the cause and effecting a cure. On this see Stewart, The Myths of Plato, 

 p. 10 foil., who calls this the " aetiological myth." 



33 See Diels, Parmenides Lehrgedicht, p. 10. 



34 Fr. 332, Midler. 



35 What the substitution of prose for verse meant to philosophical thought can be 

 best appreciated, perhaps, in connexion with Parmenides and Empedocles. Par- 

 menides tried to write verse like a philosopher, and was ridiculed as a shabby poet ; 

 Empedocles tried to write philosophy like a poet, and is regarded as a fifth-rate 

 thinker for his pains. 



36 For laroplr) see Stein on Hdt. I. 1 ; for \6yoj, ibid., I. 21. For the whole 

 matter, see Bury, Ancient Greek Historians, p. 16. 



