I THALES TO LUCRETIUS 11 



But these have special value as keys to his 

 philosophy : 



* You cannot step twice into the same rivers ; for 

 fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.' 



' Homer was wrong in saying : " Would that strife 

 might perish from among gods and men ! " He did 

 not see that he was praying for the destruction of 

 the universe ; for, if his prayer were heard, all 

 things would pass away.' 



Flux or movement, says Heraclitus, is the all- 

 pervading law of things, and in the opposition of 

 forces, by which things are kept going, there is 

 underlying harmony. Still on the quest after the 

 primary substance whose manifestations are so 

 various, he found it in FIRE, since ' the quantity of 

 it in a flame burning steadily appears to remain the 

 same ; the flame seems to be what we call a " thing." 

 And yet the substance of it is continually changing. 

 It is always passing away in smoke, and its place is 

 always being taken by fresh matter from the fuel 

 that feeds it. & This is just what we want. If we 

 regard the world as an " ever-living fire," " this 

 order, which is the same in all things, and which no 

 one of gods or men has made," we can understand 

 how fire is always becoming all things, while all things 

 are always returning to it.' And as is the world, 

 so is man, made up, both soul and body, of the 

 fire, the water, and the earth. We are and are not 

 the same for two consecutive moments ; * the fire in 

 us is perpetually becoming water, and the water 

 earth, but as the opposite process goes on simul- 

 taneously we appear to remain the same/ 



As speculation advanced, it became more and 



