Pythagoras. — Empedocles. 45 



have been attributed to this philosopher which he never enter- 

 tained, and just in consequence ot" taking in a hteral sense what 

 he said figuratively. In other respects, even through all these 

 singularities, a progress in science cannot fail to be discovered. 

 The Ionian school placed every thing in matter; the Italic school 

 sought it elsewhere, and thought it had found it in the power 

 of numbers. 



According to Pythagoras, the Universe was a harmonious 

 whole, and on this account the number of the planets was equal 

 to that of the notes of the gamut. In the centre of this har- 

 mony was the sun, the soul of the world, and the principle of 

 motion. The souls of men and of animals participated in the 

 nature of this celestial fire ; and also those of the gods, who were 

 themselves only animals of a superior order. 



This pantheism, which admits of beings of diiferent degrees, 

 became also a part of the system of Empedocles. This philo- 

 sopher, born at Agrigentum 442 years before Christ, was con- 

 temporary with Socrates. He wrote a poem on Nature, in six 

 books. He speaks in it of the four elements. He does not, like 

 the other Ionian philosophers, regard any of them in particular 

 as a principle. 



It is a confused mixture of all things ; it is their chaos, which, 

 according to him, is the pre-existent substance. 



Empedocles did not confine himself to speculations ; he wasjust 

 such an observer as Alcnieon had been. He established an ana- 

 logy between the eggs of animals and the seed of plants ; he 

 discovered the amnios ; and one would even suppose, from a 

 verse of his which has been preserved, that he had a knowledge 

 of the labyrinth of the ear. He applied his learning to the 

 good of the people in general ; he improved his country by 

 draining of the waters ; he purified the air by fires, and put a 

 stop, as is said, to an epidemic, by closing a hole in a rock, 

 whence unwholesome vapours were exhaled. 



These were nearly all the philosophers of the Italic School, 

 who engaged in the sciences. The Pythagoreans, by the form 

 of their associations, and the mystery which enveloped them, al- 

 most always inspired the people with inquietude. On this ac- 

 count the propagation of their doctrine was far from being ex- 



