io PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION PART 



' There never was nor will be a man who has 

 clear certainty as to what I say about the gods and 

 about all things ; for even .if he does chance to say 

 what is right, yet he himself does not know that it 

 is so. But all are free to guess.' 



' Mortals think that the gods are born as they 

 are, and have senses, and a voice and body like their 

 own. So the Ethiopians make their gods black and 

 snub-nosed ; the Thracians give theirs red hair and 

 blue eyes.' 



'There is one god, the greatest among gods and 

 men, unlike mortals both in mind and body.' Had 

 such heresies been spoken in Athens where the effects 

 of the religious revival of the sixth century were 

 still unspent, the ' secular arm ' of the archons would 

 probably have made short work of Xenophanes. But 

 in Elea, or in whatever other colony he may have 

 lived, ' the gods were left to take care of themselves.' 



Greater than the philosophers yet named is 

 Heraclitus of Ephesus, nicknamed 'the dark,' from 

 the obscurity of his style. His original writings 

 have shared the fate of most documents of antiquity, 

 and, like many of these, exist only in fragments 

 preserved in the works of other authors. Many of 

 his aphorisms are indeed dark sayings ; but those 

 that yield their meaning are full of truth and 

 suggestiveness. As for example 



' The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.' 



* You will not find out the boundaries of soul by 

 travelling in any direction.' 



' Man is kindled and put out like a light in the 

 night-time.' 



' Man's character is his fate.' 



