58 THE GKEEK SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY. 



of the Greeks," he' says, " who wish to be considered great philos 

 ophers ('EXXrjvwv rnes frtHfypoi /3ouXo'fxsvoi ysvs'tf^ai tfop/Tjv), have pro- 

 pounded three ways of accounting for these floods. Two of them," 

 he adds, " I do not think worthy of record, except just so far as to 

 mention them." But as these are some of the earliest Greek essays 

 in physical philosophy, it will be worth while, even at this day, to 

 preserve the brief notice he has given of them, and his own reasonings 

 upon the same subject. 



" One of these opinions holds that the Etesian winds [which blew 

 from the north] are the cause of these floods, by preventing the Nile 

 from flowing into the sea." Against this the historian reasons very 

 simply and sensibly. " Very often when the Etesian winds do not 

 blow, the Nile is flooded nevertheless. And moreover, if the Etesian 

 winds were the cause, all other rivers, which have their course oppo- 

 site to these winds, ought to undergo the same changes as the Nile ; 

 which the rivers of Syria and Libya so circumstanced do not." 



"The next opinion is still more unscientific (dvs#iflVi]fjt,ovg0Wp)), 

 and is, in truth, marvellous for its folly. This holds that the ocean 

 flows all round the earth, and that the Nile comes out of the ocean, 

 and by that means produces its effects." " Now," says the historian, 

 " the man who talks about this ocean-river, goes into the region of 

 fable, where it is not easy to demonstrate that he is wrong. I know 

 of no such river. But I suppose that Homer and some of the earlier 

 poets invented this fiction and introduced it into their poetry." 



He then proceeds to a third account, which to a modern reasoner 

 would appear not at all unphilosophical in itself, but which he, never- 

 theless, rejects in a manner no less decided than the others. " The 

 third opinion, though much the most plausible, is still more wrong 

 than the others ; for it asserts an impossibility, namely, that the Nile 

 proceeds from the melting of the snow. Now the Nile flows out of 

 Libya, and through Ethiopia, which are very hot countries, and thus 

 comes into Egypt, which is a colder region. How then can it pro- 

 ceed from snow ?" He then offers several other reasons " to show," as 

 he says, " to any one capable of reasoning on such subjects (avfyj 

 ys Xoy/^so^ai <rooJ<rwv 7rs'p oi'w <rs eWi), that the assertion cannot be 

 true. The winds which blow from the southern regions are hot ; the 

 inhabitants are black; the swallows and kites (ixrivoi) stay in the 

 country the whole year ; the cranes fly the colds of Scythia, and seek 

 their warm winter-quarters there ; which would not be if it snowed 

 ever so little." He adds another reason, founded apparently upor 



