HEIDEL. — Ilepl <{>vio-€WS. 113 



growth of interest in the microcosm </>u'o-is as the mental constitution 

 (III. B, 2) assumed considerable importance. Now <£ro-is (like its great 

 rival, vo/aos) bpt&i ; and every delimitation implies a positive claim as 

 well as a restrictive limitation. Thus (puo-i? positively regarded (III. 

 B, 2 a), is as (native) endowment, talent, instinct, power, etc., opposed 

 to (acquired) virtue, art, experience, wisdom ; 129 negatively con- 

 ceived (III. B, 2 b), <£v'o-is marks the bounds set by nature to every 

 creature, beyond which it may not pass. 130 



III. 

 A glance at the survey just given of the uses of <£i'o-is will satisfy 

 anyone that the conception of Nature in the pre-Socratic period was 

 developed to a point at which little remained to be added. Certainly 

 little was added in the course of subsequent Greek thought. Already 

 our conclusion as to the connotation of ^iW when used as a compre- 

 hensive term has been stated ; but it is desirable that this conclusion 

 be confirmed by a consideration of the questions raised by those who 

 wrote Hep! <£ixrews. Many a word having a wide range of meanings in 

 the course of its development receives at different times an emphasis 



129 Examples of native endowment, talent, or power, are exceedingly common ; cp. 

 Protagoras, fr. 3 ; Epicharmus, fr. 40 ; Critias, fr. 9 ; Democritus, fr. 21, 33, 176, 

 183, 242, etc. Of <pvai.s = instinct we have an instance in Democritus, fr. 278. In 

 Democritus, fr. 267 <pv<ns means 'birthright.' 



130 " r fhe metes and hounds of providence" furnish a favorite theme to singers 

 and sages of all ages and peoples. Cp. for example, Psalm 104. Greek mythology 

 found a text in the extravagance of the elemental water and fire respectively in the 

 flood and in the conflagration of the world due to the escapade of Phaethon. Anaxi- 

 mander and Heraclitus called in the cosmic 51kt] to curb such transgression. 

 Xenophanes also recognized this principle in the periodicity of cosmic processes. 

 With later philosophers it was a common theme. Democritus, fr. 3, couples 5iVa//is 

 and (pvais ;. cp. also Archytas, fr. 1, and Herodotus, 8, 83. In Herodotus, 7, 16 a, 

 it is said that the winds do not suffer the sea <pvai rr) ewvrijs xp° L<J ^ aL ^ which is 

 explained afterwards by reference to vfipis. On this see my review of Hirzel, Themis, 

 Dike, und Verwcmdtcs, in A. J. P., xxix, p. 216 foil. In Thucydides, 2, 35, 2 

 virep t\)v (pvaiv is set definitely in relation to <pdbvo$, which opens up the kindred 

 subject of the jealousy of the gods visited upon all who transgress their proper p,irpa, 

 as we find it developed in the tragedians and Herodotus. In fact all things have 

 their limitations, even God, according to the Greeks. There is an interesting pass- 

 age in Hippocrates, IT. rixvys, 8 (6, 12 Littre), where, after rebuking unreasonable 

 critics of the art of medicine, the author says : el yap tis t) tcx" 7 !", & & f^V T ^X V7 I^ 

 r) <pv<TLV, es a fxr] (pvais TrecpvKev, atitdxreit dvvaadai, ayvoel ayvoiav appofovaav pLaviy 

 fiaWov fj apaOiy. wv yap eariv ypj.v roiai re tCov (pvaiwv renal re tCov Tex^ewv opyavoi.s 

 eiriKpaTeetv, tovtewv eurlv yplv dypiovpyots eluai, aXkwv 8e o\!'K eariv. As limitation 

 and definition are the basis of intelligence and the guaranty of sanity, the Greeks had 

 an antipathy to all extravagance. This appears most clearly in their aversion to the 

 aweipov in all forms. 



VOL. XLV. — 8 



