52 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



mist, or matter vaguely defined. Out of this we have a series 

 of births until we come to Heaven and Earth and the race of 

 the gods. 



3. Poet and philosopher alike vaguely identify matter and force. 

 In the case of the poet, this, perhaps, goes without saying. It is to 

 be expected that writing before the time of philosophic reflection 

 began, he should have explained the creation of the world in terms 

 of the gods. The Chaos of Hesiod is not merely space filled with 

 matter undefined, but is a god who brings to birth out of himself. 

 The great parents, Heaven and Earth, moreover, are themselves gods 

 by more than mere personification. The poet's interpretation of the 

 world we may call animistic. The great forces that are at work in 

 nature, the apparent living activity of the world, are most easily 

 explained in his mind as the manifestations of divine power. 



This animism of the pf^et finds its analogue in the hylozoism 

 of the philosopher. Thales, for instance, seems to have held, to 

 translate quite literally the words of Aristotle, that "All things are 

 filled with gods." The mysterious power of the magnet he explained 

 as due to the presence of a spirit in it.^ 



The philosopher's first principle or fundamental substance is 

 itself instinct with life, and develops the world of individual things 

 out of itself by its own inherent power. Anaximander speaks of his 

 aireipov or indeterminate matter, as a Divinity which "embraces all 

 things and pilots all things."^ 



elungen bis zu dieser letzten Gestalt des schonen voUeudeten 

 Kosmos gediehen ist, deren endliche Spitze und Yollendung 

 eben Zeus und die von ihm regierte Welt der Gotter und der 

 !Natur ist. 



Aristotle, de Anima I 5. 411'' 7. Kal iv rw oXw 8e Ttve^ avrrjv (ttjv 

 y^rvxriv) iie^l)(6al, (f)acnv, 69ev 'iaa)<; koI %a\r)^ ayrjdrj Travra irXi^pr] 

 decov elvai. cf. de Anima I 2. dUS** 19. €oik€ Si kuI @a\^9 e| wv 

 aTTOfivrj/xovevovcn klvtjtikov ti rr)v '>^v')(r}v viroXa^elv, etirep rov 

 \i6ov e<^T] ■xfrv'X^rjv e^ety, on rov (rt8r)pov KLvel. 



'Aristotle, Phys. ill 4. 203^ 7. avrr] roiv aWcov elvai 8ok€i koI 

 '7r€pi€')(eiv airavra Kal iravra KV^epvav, * * ^ 

 €lvai TO delov. cf. Simpl. Phys. 465, 13D. 



