HEIDEL. — JJtpl Screws. 91 



Epicurus) and prejudice (Seio-iSai/Aoj/ia), 47 and endeavors to explain 

 natural phenomena on the basis of well considered facts and analo- 

 gies, 48 assuming the constancy of nature and the universal reign of 

 law. 49 Aristotle says that the early philosophers did not believe in 

 chance, 50 and we find objection raised even to the conception of spon- 

 taneity, 51 which is made relative to human ignorance. 



If one would catch the spirit of that age one must read the priceless 

 repository of fifth century thought contained in the Hippocratean cor- 

 pus and the fragments of the Sophists. So little remains to us of the 



47 Rohde, Psyche n. p. 90 draws attention to the conscious opposition of philos- 

 ophers to the magicians, etc. The same opposition developed among the philosophical 

 and practical physicians, whence they also have been traditionally denounced as a 

 godless crew. An interesting document in this regard is Hippocrates II. ieprjs vovaov, 

 quoted below, n. 133. See also II. irapdeviiov (S,468 Littre) : ry ' Apre/xiSt. at yvvaiKes 

 &XXa re iroXXd, dXXd Sq Kai to. 7rotAi(re\e<xrara tw t/xart'aw KaOtepovai twv yvva.LKei.wv, 

 KeXevbvTLcv tQjv p-avretov, ii;cnraTeu}/j.evai. II. ev<TxyfJ-offvi>r]s, 5 (9, 234, Littre) : The 

 author says one must carry philosophy into medicine, and vice versa. The difference 

 between the two disciplines is slight : among other things they have in common is 

 ddeiaidaipioviT] ; but medicine is not disposed to try to dethrone the gods — each in 

 its own sphere ! 



48 See Rohde, Psyche, II. 137. The pre-Socratic literature (including Hippo- 

 crates) is a remarkable repository of interesting observations and analogies, including 

 a few carefully considered experiments. 



49 See Rohde, Psyche, n. 138 ; Milhaud, Lecons sur les Origines do la Science 

 Grecque, p. 11 foil. Aristotle says Phys. 261 b 25 : (pvaLnbv yap to booties ^x eiv & 

 dirdaais. Hippocr. II. (pvcrios dvdpdirov, 5 (6, 42 Littre) in order to prove that some- 

 thing is Kara tpvcnv says : Kai tovto iroi-q<rei crot irdvra iraaav i]/j.€prjv Kai viJKra Kal 

 X^jxQvos ko.1 depeos, p.expi-s hv bvvarbs fi to irvevp.a eX/ceie is euivrbv Kai ttoXlv /xeduvai, 

 dvvarbs be eVrat eVr av tivos Tovriwv LTTeprjOfj tQv ^vyyeyovjTicv. Who could give a 

 better statement of the constancy of natural law applied to a given case ? II. Siatr-^s 

 I. 10 (6, 486 Littre') Trvp, birep irdvTcov iiriKpaTeeTai, bteirov aVavra Kara <pvcnv. Leu- 

 cippus (fr. 2 Diels) : ovbev XPV^ V-dT-qv yiveTai, dXXd irdvTa iic Xbyov re ko.1 vtt dvdyKrjS. 

 Hippocr. Id. dipuv, 22(1, 66 Kiihlewein) : yiverai be /cara <putnv e/cacrra. Epicurus 

 and Lucretius (1, 150) regard the dictum " nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus umquam " 

 as the cornerstone of a rational view of the world : Aristotle repeatedly affirms that it 

 was the common postulate of the early philosophers. Once (de Gen. et Corr. 317 b 29) 

 he hints that the intervention of the gods was to be thereby excluded : 6 fidXicTTa 

 <poj3ovp.evoi bieTeXecrav ol Trpuirot <piXoao<p7]<TavTes, r6 £k fi-qbevbs yiveaOai TrpovTrdpxovros. 



80 Arist., Phys. 196" 5-11. This means, of course, that the philosophers believed 

 their principles sufficient to account for things. When later writers charge the 

 Atomists, for example, with having recourse to chance, this is said from the point of 

 view of teleology : a purely physical cause was thought to be no cause at all. On the 

 practical side, chance is luck. The physicians thought they could dispense with it ; 

 see below, n. 152 and 153. 



51 Hippocr. II. rex^s, 6 (6, 10 Littre) t6 avrbp-aTov ov (paiveTai ovair]v e"x ov ovbep.ir\v, 

 dXX' t) ovvop.a fxovvov. Cp. II. Tpocprjs, 14 (9, 102 Littre) avTop-aroi /cat ovk aiVo/mroi, 

 ■f]/juv p.kv avrSpLaroi, ai'rt'77 5' ovk avrbpiaToi. In the popular sense to avTop-aTov is 

 allowed, II. vovjwv, A, 7 (6, 152 Littre), II. x v ^ v , 6° (5, 486 Little). 



