INTRODUCTION xlv 



Seneca probably possessed fuller details of the investi- 

 gations and speculations of these early workers than we 

 now do. The existing materials are contained in Pro- 

 fessor Diels' Die Fragments der Vorsokratiker, with which 

 his other great work, the Doxographi Graeci, should be 

 compared. 1 



The chief work of Aristotle upon which Seneca drew 

 was the Meteor ologica. The extent to which its subject 

 coincided with that of the Q.N. may be inferred from a 

 glance at its contents. The Meteorologica is divided into 

 four Books, arranged thus : 



I. Scope and relations of Meteorology. The four 

 elementary bodies earth, water, fire, air and their rela- 

 tions. Celestial fires. Shooting stars. Comets. The 

 Milky Way. Clouds. Fog. Dew. Hoar-frost. Rain. 

 Snow. Hail. Wind. Formation of rivers. Change in 

 land through action of rivers : effects on movements of 

 races. 



II. The sea and its salinity. Theory of the winds, 

 their varieties, positions, etc. Earthquakes and their 

 explanation. Lightning and thunder. 



III. Lightning, thunder, and similar phenomena. Halo 

 and rainbow. Mock sun and cognate appearances. Ex- 

 halation and its influence. 



IV. Theory of the elements ( = ingredients or first 

 principles) ; two active hot and cold, two passive dry 

 and moist. Their effect on bodies. Cohesion, Lique- 

 faction, Solidification, Coagulation, Fusion, Solubility, and 

 other properties. Homogeneous and non-homogeneous 

 bodies. Effects of temperature. Place of this work in 

 author's scheme. 



Another work that goes under Aristotle's name, but is 

 now generally considered spurious, is the De Mundo (the 

 Universe}, which in part repeats the subjects of the latter 

 part of the Meteorology. Seneca may also have drawn 

 on the De Coelo (the Heavens], whose subject covers 

 portions of the Q.N. He refers more than a dozen of 

 times to Aristotle by name, but it was not customary to 



1 These are, of course, only for the classical scholar. 



