56 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



So much for the mythical notions embodied for the most part in 

 the poets. The philosopher's view is naturally more sane and sober, 

 less fantastical and crude. But the old duahsm of Darkness and 

 Light persists in a more abstract form. Darkness and light now be- 

 come qualities of the two opposite elements, which together 

 work out the "scheme of the world." With the one element are 

 conventionally associated the qualities cold, dark, dense, moist, 

 heavy; with the other, the qualities hot, bright, rare, dry, light. 

 These opposites with which the philosophers start are virtually 

 the first parents of the poets. Darkness and Light or Night 

 and Day. 



The general notion of the philosophers was that the cold, 

 dark, dense, moist, heavy element swung to the center and formed 

 the earth with its waters and atmosphere, while the warm, dry, 

 bright, rare, light element flew to the outermost regions of space 

 and formed the bright transparent aether and the fiery bodies of 

 heaven. 



In Anaximander we have the opposites — hot and cold. The 

 cold element forms the earth and its atmosphere. The hot, 

 at first a hollow sphere of fire, surrounds the earth and its 

 atmosphere as " the bark surrounds a tree," This outer crust 

 of fire is then broken up and forms the sun, moon and 

 stars. * 



Parmenides furnishes a still better illustration. He starts with 

 two opposite elements, which he variously names ethereal, flaming 

 fire, light and fleet, ^ and dark night, a dense and heavy body;^ 



' Diels' Dox. 579, 13, quoted by Ritter and Preller, Historia Philoso- 

 phiae Graecae, p. 17. <l>77o-t Se to e/c rov aiSiov jovifjiov Oepfxov re 

 Kol i^yp^/aoO Kara t^v yeveaiv rovSe rov Koa/xov aTroKpidrjvai Kai 

 TLva eK TOVTOV <^Xo709 (r(f>alpav 7repicf)vr]vac tco irepl Trjv yrjv aepi o)? 

 TO) SevSpw (fiXoibv. r)(rTivo<; cnroppayeLcrT}^ Kal et? Ttva<; airoKXeicr- 

 deicrri's KVK\ov<i VTTOaTrjvaL tov rfXiov Kal ttjv aekrjvrjv kuc tov<{ 

 aarepa^. 



^(f)\oyo<; atdepiov irvp * * /xej iXa(f)p6v, 1 116. 



^ vvKT aSai], ttvkivov SefjLa^ €fi^pid€<i re, 1 119. 



