interpretation of the world". 1 The mathematical investigations 

 of this school will be later considered. These latter were also very 

 important, but Pythagoreanism cannot be adequately understood 

 unless the influence upon it of religious mysticism be fully recog- 

 nized. 



This influence is likewise to be seen in a marked degree upon 

 Xenophanes, born c. 569 B.C., and Parmenides, supposedly his 

 pupil, who were the outstanding members of the so-called Eleatic 

 school. The first named was a wandering rhapsodist, who laboured 

 hard to show the logical fallacy of polytheism. With his theo- 

 logical views he held, no doubt, philosophical conceptions much 

 similar to those of his younger contemporary, Parmenides. Par- 

 menides was the author of an allegorical poem, entitled rapt 

 4>u0-eoos. This poem is divided into two parts, the first of which 

 treats of Truth and Knowledge, the second of Appearance and 

 Opinion. The form in which his teaching is couched reminds one 

 forcibly of the mystical legends of an earlier date. He represents 

 himself as being brought to the Goddess of Wisdom in a fast- 

 travelling chariot, the steeds of which are driven by the daughters 

 of the Sun. There, at the seat of the Goddess, he learns the way 

 of truth and sees the folly of the undiscerning crowds, "deaf and 

 dumb and blind and stupid" in their opinions. Not only is the 

 mystical element apparent in the form of Parmenides' writings 

 but also in their content. He is concerned to emphasize that 

 what is, is, and that it is impossible for it not to be. Yet, he 

 nowhere tells us clearly just what the connotation of "it" is. 

 He tells us that it "is uncreated and indestructible; for it is com- 

 plete, immovable and without end. Nor was it ever, nor will it 

 be; for now it is all at once a continuous one". 2 Plato tells us that 

 Parmenides held that "all things were one and that the one remains 

 at rest in itself having no place in which to move". 3 On the 

 supposition that Parmenides was endeavouring, mainly, to deny 

 the existence of empty space his teaching has been summarized 

 by Burnet, in the following words: "What is, is a finite, spherical, 

 motionless, corporeal plenum, and there is nothing beyond it. 

 The appearances of multiplicity and motion, empty space and 



1 Cornford, From Religion to Philosophy, P. 205. 

 * Diels Ecln., Fr. 8. Cf. Burnet Op. Cit. P. 199. 

 3 Theaetetus 180 e 3. 



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