time, are illusions." 1 Whether one agrees with this opinion of 

 Burnet or not, it is quite evident that Parmenides had before him 

 a very definite problem and that, in trying to solve it, he empha- 

 sized the unity of things. He looked upon Nature and saw it in 

 continuous change; that which to-day is, tomorrow is not. The 

 influence of sun and wind and rain the very hills and mountains 

 seem unable to withstand. Everywhere, change seems to reign 

 supreme. Heracleitus, the lone and solitary Ephesian, had been 

 content to recognize this flux of all things and to find in it the key 

 to the world, but Parmenides seemed to feel such a conclusion 

 quite unsatisfactory. There must be something that abides. 

 That which is, TO 6v, that, certainly, escapes this flux and change; 

 that which is fleeting, in relation to the permanent and abiding he 

 calls w bv. 



Such was the attempt, which Parmenides made to understand 

 the world. With those who were less consistent than he, he had 

 little patience. With breathless energy he struck at the popular 

 view of the world, and against men like Heracleitus, who taught 

 that change is the constitution of all things, he hurled his fiery 

 invectives. For Parmenides, the choice was between change and 

 rest, the many and the one and, having faced the dilemma, he 

 fearlessly and with unfaltering courage took his stand upon the 

 one. 



The assumption of the illusoriness of the world about us is 

 however one with which man has never been satisfied, and, in 

 the development of Greek philosophy. Parmenides and the Eleatic 

 school were to be followed by Empedocles. Though there are 

 many inconsistencies in the written records of this man, yet it is 

 quite evident that he shared little of the suspicion which Parmenides 

 held for the world of sense. Empedocles, despite his charlatan 

 spirit and pompous manner, succeeded in making no small con- 

 tribution to the history of physiology, chemistry and physics; 

 but the point with which we are here interested is the fact that he, 

 too, shows unmistakable traces of religious mysticism. Empe- 

 docles devoted a whole poem, called the book of " Purifications ", 

 to describing the means whereby the imprisoned soul might regain 

 its heavenly home. He appeared, as Gomperz has said, "at one 



1 Op. Cit. P. 208. 



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