The Longman Standard History of Ancient Philosophy

The Longman Standard History of
Ancient Philosophy
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CoNTENTS • vii
Fragments 54
Study Questions 61
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Atomism 62
THE SOPHISTS 62
Prologue 62
63
Biographical History 63
Philosophical Overview 63
Fragments 64
Study Questions 65
GORGIAS 65
Fragments 66
Study Questions 69
Philosophical Bridges: The Sophist Influence 69
Philosophical Bridges: The Early Ancient Influence 70
Bibliography 71
II: PLATO
<¢)PROLOGUE 72
PLATO 73
Euthyphro 75
Study Questions 86
Apology 86
Study Questions 103
Crito 103
Study Questions 112
Protagoras: Selections 112
Study Questions 116
Gorgias: abridged 117
Study Questions 138
Meno 139
Study Questions 158
Phaedo: Selections 159
Study Questions 173
viii <'> CoNTENTS
Symposium:Selections 173
Study Questions 188
Republic: Books I-X Abridged 188
Study Questions 240
Phaedrus: Selections 241
Study Questions 248
Parmenides:Selections 249
Study Questions 255
Theaetetus:Selections 255
Study Questions 262
Timaeus: Selections 262
Study Questions 265
Letter VII: Selections 266
Study Questions 269
Philosophical Bridges: The Platonic Influence 270
Bibliography 271
III: ARISTOTLE 273

{)PROLOGUE 273
ARISTOTLE 273
Categories: Chapters 1-5 276
Study Questions 280
On Interpretation: Chapters4 and 9 281
Study Questions 284
Prior Analytics: Book I, Chapters 1 and 4
Study Questions 289
Posterior Analytics: Book I, Chapters 1-2; and Book II, Chapter 19 289
Study Questions 298
Physics: Selectionsfrom Books I-III and VIII 299
Study Questions 319
Metaphysics:Selectionsfrom Books I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and XII 320
Study Questions 347
On the Soul: Selectionsfrom Books II and III 348
Study Questions 358
NicomacheanEthics: Selectionsfrom Books I-III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X 358
Study Questions 411
Politics: Books I, II, III, and VII 412
Study Questions 432
CoNTENTS • ix
Poetics: Chapters 1 4, 9, 13, and 14 432

Study Questions 437
Philosophical Bridges: The Aristotelian Influence 437
Bibliography 439
IV: HELLENISTIC OPHY

OPROLOGUE 441
EPICUREANISM 442
Prologue 442
EPICURUS 442
Letter to Herodotus 443
Study Questions 452
Letter to Menoeceus 452
Study Questions 455
Principal Doctrines 455
Study Questions 458
LUCRETIUS 458
On the Nature of Things: Selections 459
Study Questions 468
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Epicureanism 468
STOICISM 468
Prologue 468
ZENO OF CITIUM 469

Zeno: Fragments 470
Study Questions 475
EPICTETUS 476
Encheiridion (The Manual): Complete 476
Study Questions 486
x CoNTENTS
MARCUS AURELIUS 486

The Meditations: Book IV 487
Study Questions 492
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Stoicism 493
SKEPTICISM 493
Prologue
SEXTUS EMPIRICUS 494

Outlines of Pyrrhonism 494
Study Questions 503
Philosophical Bridges: The Influence of Skepticism 504
Philosophical Bridges: The Ancient Influence 504
Bibliography 505
Sources 507
PREFACE
Philosophymay not be the professionbut it is the oldestdiscipline, the sourceof our

views about reality, knowledge,and morality. To understandthe revolutionary nature of
the evolution of philosophyis to understandourselvesand our world anew. Inspiredby the
intellectualintimacy that philosophyaffords, the mind is broadenedand refreshed.In that
sensephilosophy is always anything but old: awashwith new possibilities of inquiry and
understanding,the illuminating questionsof philosophyliberateus from the blinding obvi~
ousnessof acceptedanswers, blinders of our individual and collective biases.
Though philosophersbuild upon the work of their they continually
revise and often overthrowthe views of their predecessors-sometimes, eventhoseof their
own teachers.One of the most famousexamplesis the sequence Socratesto Plato to
Aristotle. And yet throughout the evolution of thought that philosophy heralds much
remains the same: the call to wonder, to dispute, to question, to liberate, to ponder, to
inquire, to understandeverythingone can about the whole of our being-reality, knowl~
and morality-without becomingourselvesclosedoff. To behold the whole without
being conqueredby the wholenessof the vision, that is the sum and substanceof the west~
ern intellectualtradition madepossibleby philosophy.
To seenew wisdom in old and old wisdom in the new is to be not just learnedbut
wise. And to not just toleratesuchexpansiveopennessbut to love it now then is what
it meansto be a philosopher,then and now. This book may not make you a philosopher.
But it will provide you with you needto becomeone. A claim and, there~
a big book: with 44 of the greatestworks by 20 of the most importantwesternphiloso~
from ancienttimes, this volume assemblesinto one book someof most profound
edifying ideas in the history of thought. In addition to 14 major dia~
of Plato and 10 of Aristotle's groundbreaking works, this volume contains a full
seu;:ctJlon of the Pre~Socratic philosophersand the Hellenistic and Roman schools of
thought.
Suitable for a one~semester introduction to ancient philosophy, history of philoso~
phy, history of ideas,or westernintellectual history, this book is a covert assemblywith a
covert purpose, to bring philosophy to you but even more importantly: to bring you to
philosophy.
We havestructuredthe book to this possible.The volume as a whole is divided
into four standarddivisions: "Section I, Early Ancient Greek Philosophy," "Section II,
""Section III, Aristotle," and IV, Hellenistic and RomanPhilosophy."Each
Sectionopenswith a "Prologue", a contextfor specific philosophers,suchas "Pro~
to Plato," or to key schoolsof thought, such as "Prologue to Stoicism." These are
ae~ngr1ed to let you in on what hascomebefore,so that you don't enterthe conversationin
xi
Xll PREFACE
the middle. Individual "Biographical Histories" give details about the life and
times of philosopher,such as "Aristotle: A Biographical History." The purposeis to
show you that philosophersare neither divine demigods nor depersonalizedthinking
machinesbut individual human beings with a penchantfor grappling with the perennial
big questions.The purposeof the "PhilosophicalOverviews" to each philosopheris two~
fold: first, to show how that philosopher'sthinking about reality, knowledgeand morality
integrate into a coherentview; to integrate each particular philosopherinto a
broaderphilosophicalcontext. Each reading selectioncomeswith its own concise intro~
duction designedto quickenyour entry into the issuesand prepareyou for what is to come.
The selectionsthemselveshave been for their profundity and edited to high~
light the central importance,while leaving in the all~important methods,processes,and
developmentof views expressed Where translationsare involved, we
eachcase the most lucid. The "Study Questions"at the end of eachcnapt:er,
as "Study Questionsfor Pre~Socratic Philosophy," comprehensionquestionsas well
as discussionquestions; are for you, to test yourself, to seehow well you have
understoodwhat you have read. "The PhilosophicalBridges" at the end of each chapter,
suchas "The Platonic Influence," summarizesthe influence of eachthinker on later gener~
ations in order that you can appreciatethe threadsconnectingdifferent periods and see
how philosophy'sperennialquestionslead to ever more views.
thanks to each of the following reviewers, whose commentsabout one or
more of the volumes in the "Longman Standard of Philosophy" serieshelped to
enrtan1:::eeachbook.
Michael L. Anderson, Universityof Maryland
Marina P. Banchetti~Robino, Florida Atlantic University
David Pacific University
;:,tt~PllLen Braude,University of Maryland Baltimore County
Cynthia K. Brown, Catholic University of America
RichardJ. Burke, OaklandUniversity
Marina Bykova, North CarolinaStateUniversity
Jeffrey ChristopherNewport University
JamesP. Cooney,MontgomeryCounty CommunityCollege
Elmer H. Duncan,Baylor University
ChristianEarly, EasternMennoniteUniversity
EmmaL. Easteppe,Boise StateUniversity
JamesE. Falcouner,Brigham Young University
Chris L. Firestone,Trinity InternationalUniversity
Merigala Gabriel, GeorgiaSouthernUniversity
Bruce Hauptli, Florida InternationalUniversity
Larry Hauser,Alma College
David J. Hilditch, WebsterUniversity
Mary Beth Ingham,Loyola MarymountUniversity
Betty Kiehl, PalomarCollege
John H. Kulten, Jr., University of Missouri
Nelson P. Lande,University of Massachusetts
DorotheaLotter, Wake ForestUniversity
CharlesS. MacKenzie,ReformedTheologicalSeminary
PREFACE • xiii
ThomasJ. Martin, University of North CarolinaCharlotte

D. A. Masolo, University of Louisville
LeemonB. McHenry, California StateUniversity, Northridge
JohnT. Meadors,MississippiCollege
Glenn Melancon,Southeastern OklahomaStateUniversity
Mark Michael, Austin PeayStateUniversity
ThomasOsborne,University of Nevada,Las Vegas
Walter Ott, EastTennessee StateUniversity
Anna ChristinaRibeiro, University of Maryland
StefanieRocknak,Hartwick College
GeorgeRudebusch,NorthernArizona University
Ari Santas,ValdostaStateUniversity
CandiceShelby,University of Colorado,Denver
Daniel Silber, Florida SouthernCollege
Allan Silverman,Ohio StateUniversity
JamesK. Swindler, Illinois StateUniversity
David B. Twetten,MarquetteUniversity
ThomasUpton, GannonUniversity
Barry F. Vaughan,MesaCommunityCollege
Daniel R. White, Florida Atlantic University
David M. Wisdo, ColumbusStateUniversity
Evelyn WortsmanDeluty, NassauCommunityCollege
We would like to thank the following people for their help. Brandon West of the
Collegeof Woosterfor his sterling work as a studentresearchassistant.Amy Ericksonand
Patrice Reederof the College of Wooster for their unfailing secretarialhelp. Professors
Martin Gunderson,Ron Hustwit, Henry Kreuzman,Adrian Moore, ElizabethSchiltz, and
Philip Turetzsky for useful comments.Everyone at Longman for their very profes,
sional work, especially Priscilla McGeehan,who has supportedthe project with tireless
energyand enthusiasm.Our wives, Wendy and Helena,for their help and understanding.
Finally, we would like to dedicatethis volume to our children: Julia, Sophia, Dylan, and
Andre Kolak; and to Andrew, Frances,Verena,Susana,and RobertThomson.
This pageintentionally left blank
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
About 2,600 yearsago, somethingremarkableoccurred.Original thinkers appearedalmost

simultaneouslyaround globe. It was as if thinking had beendiscoveredindependently
in different parts of the world. In China, there were Lao Tzu (604-510 B.C.) and Confu#
cious (557-479 B.C.); in India, Gotma Buddha (563-483 B.C.) and Mahavira Jain
(540-468B.C.); and in Zoroaster(628-551 The most fertile land for growing
thinkers was Greece. Anaximander, Pythagoras,and Parmenidesall flourished
within one century. BetweenThales (624-545 B.C.) and Socrates(470-399B.C.), is
only about 150 years. during this short span, we can see many of the great of
westernphilosophyin embryonicform.
Ancient philosophy contains nearly all the major elementsof western thought.
Becauseof its simplicity, it is often more beautiful and edifying than later philosophical
work, which tends to cluttered with qualifications and which contains ideological
debates,such as those surroundingChristian doctrine. The ancient Greek philosophers
pioneeredmanyof the greatideasof humanity,and by studyingthesethinkerswe may hope
to regainthe original freshness,and clarity of insights.
The intellectual culture of ancient Greecewas optimistic and bold. In general, it
lackedthe cynicism and self#doubtthat sometimesplagueour age.The early Greeksin par#
ticular had an extraordinaryconfidencethat they could understandthe world in all its
aspectsthrough the applicationof their own intellectual capacities.They discoveredthat
we learn some of nature'ssecretsjust by reasoning and systematicallybasedon
empirical observation. is probablyhumanity'sgreatestdiscovery.It was an exl:retnellV
powerful, invigorating, liberating breakthrough ancient Greeks.Probably for
thesereasons,ancientGreecegavebirth to threeof the greatestminds of all time: '""' ..,,t-"""
Plato, and Aristotle.
When reading ancient Greeks, it is important to rememberthat we take for
granteda vast and complex backgroundof accumulatedknowledgeand conceptsthat
ancientphilosophersdid not have. For example,we know that the moon is smaller than
the sun, we assumethat all animalsand plantsare classifiedinto species,and we know how
to explain the existence In the ancientworld, this complex web of background
knowledgeand concepts yet to be discoveredand formulated.For the Greeks, pre#
senteditself as a challenge; was a whole world to understandand explore.
A Brief Story
Any story is a simplification of what occurs.It is necessarilyselective.Furthermore,schol#
ars often disputehow the views of thesethinkers should understood.Nevertheless,
1
2 1> GENERAL INTRODUCTION
developmentof ancient philosophy is an interestingstory that can be divided into four

parts,which correspondto the sectionsof this first volume.
The Early Ancient Greek Philosophers

From about 580 B.C., in the easternprovincesof the Greek empire, the first pre~Socratic
thinkers (Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes) tried to explain systematically the
natureof the universeby identifying the basicstuff out of which all things are made,and by
specifyingthe fundamentalprinciples that order nature.Around 500 B.C., with the work of
Heraclitusand Pythagoras,this philosophybecamemore metaphysicallyoriented.
Around 450 B.C., Parmenidesthreateneddramatically this whole enterprise. He
denied the very possibility of scienceor natural philosophy. He and Zeno arguedfor the
claim that the universeis an undivided whole in which changeand plurality are impossi~
ble. In other words, they arguedthat naturalphilosophywas no more than a descriptionof
illusion. The problem was that their argumentsappearedsound. Although later natural
philosophers,suchas Empedoclesand Democritus,tried to ward off this threatand brought
progressto naturalphilosophy,the challengewas not met decisively.
In about420 B.C., a new and evenmore skepticalapproachemerged:Sophism.Partly
in reaction to the diversity of earlier metaphysicaltheories,the Sophiststaught a form of
relativism that spurnedmetaphysicsand challengedthe religious and moral views of the
time. In general terms, the Sophistsargued that there were no metaphysicaland ethical
truths to be learned.Instead,they taught their pupils to debatepersuasively.
Socratesand Plato
In about420 B.C.,. Socratesbeganto argueagainstSophism.He took issuewith its skeptical
and relativist view of ethics. In order to refute such relativism decisively, Plato arguedfor
the existenceof universalForms.TheseForms,or Ideas,are abstractobjectsthat define the
essenceof terms, such as 'justice' and 'goodness,'and their existenceis requiredto explain
knowledge and language.In his many dialogues,Plato expoundsthe implications of the
theory of Forms for many areasof knowledge,such as epistemology,education,theology,
ethics, art, and politics.
Plato also rejected the pre~Socratic tradition of natural philosophy, arguing that
purely mechanicalexplanationsnever provide the reasonswhy things happen.The rejec~
tion of mechanismalso indicatesthe needfor the Forms. In other words, Plato saw the two
optionsof pre~ Socraticthought, that is, the physical mechanismof the Ionians and the rel~
ativism of the Sophists, as a false dichotomy. This points to the existenceof universal
Forms. It seemedthat the deadlockof pre~Socratic philosophyhad beenresolved.
Aristotle
However, does the refutation of Sophismand mechanismreally require the existenceof
universalForms?Aristotle arguedthat it doesnot. He claimedthat the denial of relativism
doesnot require Platonicabsolutism.Aristotle had a greatinterestin the naturalworld and
the classificationof species.He also classifiedusesof misleadingphilosophicalterms, such
as 'to be' and 'cause,'and this led him to concludethat things can be said to exist in differ~
ent ways, which he calls categories.In particular, the categoryof 'substance'indicateswhat
exists primarily, and other kinds of existencesuch as that of qualities or the Forms are
derivative. In otherwords, Plato was mistakento treat the Formsas if they were substances.
Furthermore,Aristotle aspectsof substance:
the Form is its essence,and the matter is what it is composedof. This allowed Aristotle to
transcendboth Plato and the pre~Socratics, who respectivelyand mistakenly treat form
GENERAL INTRODUCTION <$> 3
and matteras if they were independentsubstances.Aristotle thoughtthat universalsexist,

but that their existenceis derivative or parasitic on natural substances.The forms are
immanentin the naturalworld.
Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy

The period of brilliance in Greekphilosophydid not end with Aristotle, eventhough the
golden age of the city~states faded away. About 20 yearsafter the deathof Aristotle, there
emerged three important new schools of philosophy: Epicureanism, Stoicism, and
Pyrrhoneanskepticism.As the Greeceof small city#statesdeclinedand Rome becamethe
central Europeanpower, thesenew systemsgained strength,especiallyStoicism. Around
170 A.D., the Stoic RomanemperorMarcus Aurelius gave grantsto the four philosophical
schoolsof Athens: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, Epicurus' Garden, and the Stoa
of the Stoics. By this time, however, the philosophicaloriginality of ancientGreecehad
been lost. Rome was already under the threat of invasion, and philosophy was about to
decline.The revival of philosophyin the medievalperiod is the themeof Volume II of this
collection.
Some Historical Background

Ancient Greecewas not a single country but rathera collection of small city#states,spread
throughoutthe Aegean,which shareda languageand a culture. An importantpart of this
common heritagewas the mythology that Homer expressedin the Iliad and Odysseyin
around 700 B.C. Another aspectof this sharedculture was athletics; the Olympic Games,
first held in 776 B.C., were also festivals in which peoplefrom all over the region partici#
pated.As its wealth increased,Greekcivilization developedits distinctive drama,architec#
ture, andotherart forms, as well as the first scientific philosophy.As it spreadeastward,this
civilization cameinto conflict with the greatand growing PersianEmpire.
In 491 B.C., a Greek force of about 20,000 soldiers won the historic battle of
Marathonagainstthe Persianarmy of possiblymore than 100,000.Then, in 480, after years
of preparation,the Persianking Xerxessenta hugearmy and navy againstGreece.Remark#
ably, becauseAthens and Spartaworked togetherand becauseof their superiororganiza#
tion, the Greekswere able to resist this onslaughtwith an especiallydecisiveseabattle at
Salamis.Theseeventsmark an important turning point in Europeanhistory, after which
victorious Athens enjoyeda golden age of greatness.Becauseof its newfoundwealth, sta#
bility, and self~confidence, Athens attainednew intellectualand cultural heights.Pericles,
who held political office from 467 to 428 B.C., led this process:he institutedmany reforms
that made Athens a democracyas well as an economicand cultural center. During this
golden period, the arts flourished. In 447, Pericles initiated the construction of the
Parthenon.This was the period of the great tragic plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles,and
Euripides, and later the comediesof Aristophanes.This was also the time of the great
philosophers such as Parmenides, Zeno, Democritus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the
Sophists,and Socrates.In PericleanGreece,Herodotusand Thucydidesproducedtheir
major historical works, and Hippocrateswrote his systematicmedical texts.
However,under the leadershipof Sparta,the other Greekcity~states, suchas Megara
and Corinth, challengedAthens' military and economic supremacy.This initiated the
PeloponnesianWar (431-404B.C.), which Spartaeventuallywon. The ensuingwar led to
the crowding of Athens' population into the city walls, and a devastatingplagueresulted.
Pericleswas blamed,convicted,and removedfrom office. That sameyear, in 429, he died.
The turning point in the war was the Sicilian Expeditionof 415-413.Under the leadership
4 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
of Alcibiades, Athens to capture the rich of Syracuseon Sicily, which was a

colony Corinth, Athens' great commercialrival. In this debacle,Athens lost half of its
military power. This loss a conflict betweenaristocracyand democracyin
Athens, and, in 411, various oligarchic councils replacedthe democraticassembly.There~
after, Athenslost its fleet and its citizens starvationduring a blockade.
Athens' defeat in 404 marks the beginningof the end of the age of classical
Greece.Therewas no stablepeaceunderSpartancontrol. In 387, Sparta a pactwith
the Persiansthat gave Spartathe protectionof the Persiansbut cededall the cltles
in Asia to Persiancontrol. This led to discontentamong Greek city~states and Thebes
won a famous againstSparta,which allowed Athens to supremacyof the
region by around360 B.C. However, even though it was home to Plato and Aristotle and
despite its economicprosperity, Athens did not repeat the artistic and cultural achieve~
mentsof its Pericleanpast.
SECT;! ON
> EARLY ANCIENT

GREEK PHILOSOPHY
(),___P_R_O_L_O_G_U_E
The early ancient Greek, or pre~Socratic, philosopherswere interestedprimarily in the
study of nature.They tried to systematicallydescribeand explain naturalphenomena.This
makesthemboth the first philosophersandscientists.Of course,no suchdistinctionexisted
2,500 years ago. The early ancientsdid not separatequestionsthat are best answeredcon~
ceptuallythroughreasoningand thosethat are bestaddressedempirically through observa~
tion. Their philosophy was basedon the assumptionthat nature is orderly and can be
classified, explained, and understoodsystematically.They tried to make senseof nature
without ad hoc appealsto the whims of the gods.The pre~Socratics assumedthat natureis
organizedaccordingto certainprinciples.Their main aim was to discoverthoseprinciples.
This aim requiredthe pre~Socratics to invent or form conceptsthat are now usually
takenfor granted.For ex mple, they usedthe word 'cosmos'to standfor the universeas an
orderly whole. They employedthe word 'nature' (or phusis, from which we have derived
'physics') to standfor things that grow, as opposedto artifacts,which are made.The aim of
explainingnaturalphenomenaalso requiresthe conceptof naturalessences. Natural things
havecertainfundamentalpropertiesor an essence,in terms of which their other properties
can be explained.The pre~Socratic enterprisealso employsthe notion of systematicexpla~
nation: the idea of explainingas much as possible,assumingas little as possible.
Thesefirst thinkers tried to advanceargumentsin favor of their positions. For this
reason,they deserveto be called the first philosophers,who discoveredthat careful reason~
ing can yield knowledgeof nature. Such a discoverycan belong only to those who distin~
guish reasoningfrom speculation. The idea of giving argumentsfor one'sclaims was novel.
In this respect,we might contrastthe pre~Socratic philosopherswith the mythical storiesof
Hesiod'sTheogony.Hesiod'spoem, which was probably written in the eighth centuryB.C.,
charts the genealogyof the gods, starting with Chaos,Gaea(Earth), and Eros (Love). Its
mythology becamea generallyacceptedpart of Greekculture. The poem personifiesnatu~
ral forces and objects, and tries to explain the origin of somenatural phenomena,such as
5
6 "'> SECTION ONE I EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
day and night, the mountains,the sea,and people.For example,it describeshow the mat~
ing of Earth and her son, Uranus,the Heavens,producedthe first race, the Titans.
Furthermore,the idea that claims about the nature of the universe and morality
should be supportedby some argument or reasoningdestroys the assumptionthat they
should be acceptedbecausethey are advancedby an authority. Argumentsare revolution~
ary, becausethey allow for more freedom of thought than acceptancebasedon authority.
0
The Development of Early Ancient Greek Philosophy
Early ancientGreekphilosophyfirst unfolds as a story of the conflict betweenvariousvisions
concerningthe basicprinciplesof nature.Philosophywas born in what is today Turkey. The
first three philosophers,Thales (624-545 B.C.), Anaximander,and Anaximenes,lived in
the coastaltown of Miletus, which was in the Greekprovinceof Ionia. To identify the basic
principlesaroundwhich the natureis organized,they studiedmany varied naturalphenom~
ena,from planetsto plants.
In the secondphaseof pre~Socratic thought, Ionian philosophybecamemore meta~
physical. Pythagoras(570-497 B.C.) taught that the soul is immortal and that it transmi~
grateseven into the bodiesof animals. He formed a school to teachpeoplehow to live in
accordancewith his semimysticalviews. Around 500 B.C., Heraclituswrote a seriesof caus~
tic and mystical aphorismsthat expressan intriguing metaphysicsbasedon changeand the
duality of opposites.
In the third phase,Parmenidesand his followers arguedforcefully that the very idea
of a scienceof naturewas an error. Thesethinkersfrom Elea, the Eleatics,arguedthat there
could not be a plurality of things. Parmenideswrote a poem arguing for the existenceof a
single, indivisible, changelessthing. Zeno supportedthis position with many arguments,
including his famous so~called paradoxes.The works of Parmenidesand Zeno constitutea
fundamentalobjection to pre~Socratic naturalisticthought.
The fourth phaseconsistsin variousresponsesto Parmenidesand in attemptsto con~
tinue with the Milesian or Ionian tradition of naturalphilosophy.The main authorsof this
period are Empedocles,Anaxagoras,and Democritus. For example, Empedoclesagreed
with Parmenidesthat nothing can come into or go out of existence,but he arguedthat the
eternal stuff of the universe, the four elements(earth, air, fire, and water), could change
and intermingle. Democritusarguedfor the existenceof indivisible atoms.
In the fifth phase,the Sophistsembracedrelativism and skepticism,and rejectedthe
project of discoveringtruths about nature,substitutingfor it the aim of teachingthe art of
persuasion.In so doing, they set philosophy a fundamentalchallenge: 'Are there truths
that can be discoveredby reasoning?'The replies of Socratesand Plato to this question
constituteSectionII of this volume.
The Texts
The original works of the pre~Socratic philosophershave beenlost. Our knowledgeof their
thought is basedentirely on later reports, quotations,and commentaries.This meansthat
the reliability of thesesourcesis questionableand often disputed.
The GreekphilosopherAristotle (384-322B.C.) discussedthe views of many of the
pre~Socratic thinkers, and so his writi ngs are an important source of information, even
though his interpretationsmay reflect his own reading of the developmentof thought.
Aristotle's pupil, Theophrastus(371-287 B.C.), wrote a work called On the Senses,which
THE MILESIANS ~ Thales(approx. 624-545B.C.) ·'"> 7
discussesthe views of several pre,Socraticphilosophers.Plutarch (45-120 A.D.) wrote

papersand treatisesabouthistory, biography,literature,and philosophythat containquota,
tions from the pre,Socratics.In the third century A.D., Laertius wrote a work
called the Lives of the Philosophers,which has survived and which is a valuable sourceof
information about the pre,Socratics,even though some of its stories are probably false.
Another very importantsourceof many of the original texts is Simplicius' commentaryon
Aristotle's Physics,written in 530 A.D.
The fragmentsof the pre,Socraticphilosophers,which were scatteredin many later
writings, were collectedby HermannDiels and Walther Kranz the end of the nine,
teenthcentury. His work, Fragmenteder Vorsokratiker, was translatedinto English by Kath,
leen Freemanand publishedas Ancilla to the PresocraticPhilosophers.The B numberscited
after eachfragment refer to this text. However, there are later and bettertranslationsfrom
the original Greek, which we have usedin this collection. Also, the Ancilla not con,
tain the commentaries later ancientthinkers,which are sometimes usefuL
There are considerableand unavoidableproblems when translating these ancient
texts. First, abstracttermssuchas 'logos' significantly different sensesin different con,
texts. can mean'reason,''rational principle,' 'causallaw,' or 'organizingidea' in dif,
ferent texts. Second,none of our English equivalentterms may capturewell nuances
and ambiguities that the original Greek word may have had for an ancient reader. For
example, 'logos' has a connotationof the divine or godly that none of earlier men,
tioned English words have.Third, additionally, all words comewith a history of usage,and
manyof our philosophicalterms a Christianancestry.For this reason,it is not
exactly correct to translatethe term 'psuche'with the English 'soul,' or 'arete' with
'virtue.' For thesereasons, should be careful in attributing contemporarymeanings
to the texts.
THE MI IANS
PROLOGUE
Our threephilosopherscomefrom the town of Miletus, a city in the Greekprovinceof
Ionia, locatedon what is now the westerncoastofTurkey. Sometimes,thesephilosophers
are also called the Ionians. Miletus was a wealthy seaport,a focal point for commercial
activity, and partly becauseof this, therewas leisure time that permittedthought,
discussion,and art. Miletus becamea cultural center.
APPROX. 624-545 B.C.)

Biographical History
We do not know much about the life of Thales,and nothing of his work remains,if indeed
he wrote, exceptfragmentsreportedby later writers, suchas Aristotle and Herodotus,the
fifth centuryA.D. historian. he was namedas one of the sevensagesof the early
ancientGreeks,and he was known not only as a philosopherand scientist,but also as a
political advisor.He the Ionians to establisha single council locatedat the centerof
the province.During the PersianWar, when the army of Croesuscould not crossthe River
Halys, Thalesorderedthe digging of a channeland dam that divertedthe river so that it
8 <> SECTION ONE I EARLY ANciENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
was fordable. He was also an astronomerwho predictedan eclipseof 585 B.C., as

well as discoveringsomeof the first theoremsof geometry(such as that in every isosceles
triangle, the anglesat the baseare equal). Reportedlyhe oncefell in a ditch when looking
at the stars.The womanhe was with exclaimed,"Do you think, Thales,that you will learn
what is in the heavens,when you cannotseewhat is in front of your feet?" In contrast,it is
claimed that he wantedto show that it is easyfor a philosopherto becomerich: he foresaw
a good early olive crop, and hired all the olive presses,which he rentedout at greatprofit.
Philosophical Overview
Thalesis famousfor claiming that all things are madeof water. Although this may sound
like a ludicrous statementto us today, neverthelessit is importantbecauseThalesconjec~
tured about the natureof the substance~stuff out of which everything is made. He intra~
duced the idea of the fundamentalcompositionof the world, and thereby launchedone
of humanity'sgreatdebates.In so doing, he saw that proposingthe idea of onefundamental
substance~ kind would be the simplestway to explain all naturalphenomena.The claim that
there existssuchstuff is potentially the most powerful and most economicalway to system~
atically explain nature.Moreover, as far as historical sourcesallow us to tell, it seemsthat
Thalesadvancedan argumentfor his position. He claimed that water is essentialto life.
Thales is also well known for claiming that all things have a soul. His argumentfor
this claim is that magnetscan move iron and that anything that is capableof initiating
movementis therebyanimate.By definition, anything that is animatehas a soul. The
Greekword psuche(soul) comesfrom the word empsuchos,which means'animate.'When
reflecting on this thesis,we shouldnot impose the Christianconceptionof the soul as a
consciousspiritual substanceon Thales.His idea is more that all things are to somedegree
animateand that, therefore,there is no strict dividing line betweenwhat is alive and
what is not.
FRAGMENTS
Thales
As the selectionshows,the most importantfragmentsconcerningthe philosophyof

Thalescome from Aristotle, who lived some 250 years later. The wording of the first frag~
ment, which is from Aristotle's Metaphysics,revealshow Aristotle reviews the thoughtsof
the early pre~Socratics in order to draw lessonsfor his own philosophy.
1. are and from which they first come into being and
Most of the first philosophersthought that principles into which they are finally destroyed, its substance
in the form of matter were the only principles of all remaining and its properties changing.... There
things. For they say that the elementand first princi~ must be somenature-eitherone or more than one-
ple of the things that exist is that from which they all from which the other things come into being, it being
Thales,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987). Copyright©

JonathanBarnes,1987. Reproducedby permissionof PenguinBooks Ltd.
THE MILESIANS t> Thales I Fragmentst> 9
preserved.But as to the numberand form of this sort duces motion, inasmuchas he said that the magnet
of principle, they do not all agree. Thales, the hasa soul becauseit movesiron.
founderof this kind of philosophy,saysthat it is water (ibid 405a19-21)
(that is why he declares that the earth rests on
water). He perhapscame to acquire this belief from 5.
seeing that the nourishmentof everything is moist Aristotle and Hippias say that he ascribedsouls to
and that heat itself comesfrom this and lives by this lifeless things too, taking the magnetand amberas his
(for that from which anythingcomesinto being is its evidence.
first principle)-he came to his belief both for this (DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 33-40)
reason and becausethe seedsof everything have a
moist nature, and water is the natural principle of
6.
moist things.
The following aphorisms are ascribed to him. Of
(Aristotle, Metaphysics983b6-ll, 17-27)
existing things, god is the oldest-forhe is ungener~
ated. The world is the most beautiful-for it is god's
2.
creation.Spaceis the greatest-forit includesevery~
Somesay that [the earth] rests on water. This in
thing. Mind is the swiftest-for it runs throughevery~
is the oldestview that hasbeentransmittedto us, and
thing. Necessity is the strongest-for it controls
they say that it was advancedby Thales of Miletus
everything.Time is the wisest-forit discoversevery~
who thought that the earth rests becauseit can float
thing. He said that death is no different from life.
like a log or somethingelse of that sort (for none of
'Then why don't you die?' someone asked him.
these things can rest on air, but they can rest on
'Becauseit makes no difference,' he replied. When
water)-as though the same must not hold of the
someoneaskedhim which camefirst, day or night, he
water supportingthe earthas holds of the earth itself.
answered,'Night camefirst-by a day.'Whensomeone
(Aristotle, On the Heavens294a28-34)
askedhim whethera man can escapethe notice of the
godsif he doeswrong, he replied: 'Not evenif he thinks
3.
of doing wrong.' An adultereraskedhim if he should
He supposedthat water was the first principle of all
swearthat he had not committedadultery: he replied,
things, and that the world has a soul and is full of
'Perjury is no worse than adultery.'When askedwhat
spirits. They say he discovered seasonsof the year
is difficult, he said, 'To know yourself'; what is easy,
and divided it into three hundredand sixty~five days.
'To give advice to someoneelse'; what most pleasant,
DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 22-28,33-40
'Success';what divine, 'What has neither beginning
nor end'. Whenaskedwhat was the strangestthing he
4.
had seen,he said: 'An old tyrant'. How can we bear
Somesay that <soul> is mixed in the whole universe.
misfortunemost easily?-Ifwe seeour enemiesfaring
Perhapsthat is why Thales thought that everything
worse. How can we live best and most justly?-If we
was full of gods.
do not ourselvesdo the things we blame others for
(Aristotle, On the Soul411a7-8)
doing. Who is happy?-Onewho has a healthybody,
Thales, judging by what they report, seemsto a well,stockedsoul, and an educablenature.
havebelievedthat the soul was somethingwhich pro~ DiogenesLaertius,Lives of the Philosophers,I 22-28,33-40
STUDY QUESTIONS: THALES, FRAGMENTS

1. What doesThalesmeanby claiming that everythingis madeof water?
2. What doesThalesmeanby 'first principle'?
3. What is Thales'view of the soul?
4. Why is Thalesconsideredto be a philosopher?
10 SECTION ONE I EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
ANAXIMANDER (610-540 B.c.)

Anaximanderwas reportedlya studentof Thales.He wrote an ambitious,wide~ranging
work called On Nature, which includeda cosmology;a natural history of the a
descriptionof many kinds of naturalphenomena,suchas rain and wind; an accountof the
developmentof animals;and a including a famousmap of the world. Unfortu~
nately, only a few sentencesof this work have survived.
Anaximanderclaimedthat the fundamentalconstituentof the universeis sotnermng
nite or without limits. This is usually takento meansomethingspatially infinite, .......-.,Lu.cu,
and without determinatequalities,or somethinginfinitely old and and without defi~
nite properties.Anaximanderprobablyheld these basedon similar to that
outlined below.
If the basic constituentof natureis somethingindefinite, as Anaximanderargues,
then it cannotbe any of the four traditional elements:earth, water, air, and fire. Since
theseelementscan changeinto one another,they cannotbe basic. Furthermore,Anaxi~
manderalso that the four elementshave opposingqualities; for example,air is cold
and fire is hot. If any one of theseelementswere unlimited, then it would have destroyed
the others.Sincenoneof the elementshave beendestroyed,we may concludethat the
basic constituentof the universeis not one of theseelements.
1. The basic substance~stuff
mustbe infinitely old.
2. If the basic substance~stuff
were one of the elements,then it would have destroyedthe other ele~
mentsin an infinite amount
3. elementscan be observedto exist.
4. Therefore,the basic substance~stuff is not one of the elements.

Anaximanderis also famousfor his ingeniousexplanationof the fact that the earth
hangsin empty spacewithout physicalsupportand yet doesnot move. He arguedthat if
the earth is midway betweenall other things, then there can be no reasonfor it to move
one way ratherthan another.Consequently,if the earth is the centerof the universe,then
it must stay where it is. To give an idea of the rangeof his interests,we have also included
passagesthat show Anaximander'saccountof the origin of
FRAGMENTS
Anaximander
The first selectionoutlines the basicpoints of Anaximander'sphilosophy.In the second

selection,which is from Aristotle's Physics,we find Anaximander'sargumentfor the need
of an infinite first: principle:
1. Everythingmusteither comefrom principle or sucha principle.
THE MrLESIANS ·• Anaximander I Fragments'w 11
2. The unlimitedcannotbe derivedfrom a principle, for thenit would be limited by that principle.
3. Therefore,the unlimiteditself mustbe a principle from which other things are derived.
As the third selection(also from Aristotle) indicates,Anaximanderprobablyalso argued
that the primordial substance,stuff
of the universeis infinite in agebecausechangeis per,
petual,and all changeis the alterationof somepreexistingsubstance.
The fourth fragment,which is quotedfrom Simplicius, is probablyvery closeto
Anaximander'soriginal text, in which caseit is the earliestsurviving pieceof written
westernphilosophy.It gives an argumentbasedon the premisethat the basicstuff of the
universemust underlieall changes.Sinceall of the so,calledelements(earth,water, air,
and fire) can changeone into the other, none of them canbe the basicsubstanceof the
universe.
1. The basic substance,stuff
underliesall change,and, therefore,it cannotchangeinto somethingelse.
2. The elementsdo changeinto the others.
3. Therefore,the basic substance,

stuffof the universe not one of the elements.
1. 3.
He said that a certain infinite nature is first principle [A]gain, becausegenerationand destructionwill give
of the things that exist. From it comethe heavensand out unless there is something infinite from which
the worlds in them. It is eternal and ageless,and it what comesinto being is subtracted.
containsall the worlds. He speaksof time, sincegener, (Aristotle, Physics203b6-ll, 13-30)
ation andexistenceand destructionare determinate.
Anaximandersaid that the infinite is principle 4.
and elementof the things that exist, being the first to Of those who hold that the first principle is one,
call it by the nameof principle. In addition,thereis an moving, and infinite, Anaximander,son of Praxiades,
eternalmotion in which the heavenscomeinto being. a Milesian, who was a successorand pupil of Thales,
Hippolytus, Refutationof All HeresiesI vi 1-7 said that the infinite is principle and elementof the
things that exist. He was the first to introduce this
2. word 'principle'. He says that it is neither water nor
It is with reasonthat they all make [the infinite] a any other of the so,calledelementsbut some differ,
principle; for it can neither exist to no purposenor ent infinite nature, from which all the heavensand
have any power exceptthat of a principle. For every, the worlds in them come into being. And the things
thing is either a principle or derivedfrom a principle. from which existing things come into being are also
But the infinite has no principle-for then it would the things into which they are destroyed,in accor,
havea limit. Again, it is ungeneratedand indestructi, dance with what must be. For they give justice and
ble and so is a principle. For what comesinto being reparation to one anotherfor their injustice in accordance
must have an end, and there is an end to every with the arrangementof time [12 B 1] (he speaksof
destruction.Hence, as I say, it has no principle but them in this way in somewhatpoetical words). It is
itself is thought to be a principle for everything else clear that he observedthe change of the four ele,
and to govern everything.... And it is also the ments into one another and was unwilling to make
divine; for it is deathlessand unperishing,as Anaxi, any one of them the underlyingstuff but ratherchose
manderand most of the naturalscientistssay. something else apart from them. He accounts for
(Aristotle, Physics203b6-ll) coming into being not by the (\lteration of the
Anaximander,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987).

Copyright©JonathanBarnes,1987. Reproducedby permissionof PenguinBooks Ltd.
12 { ~ SECTION ONE I EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
elementbut by the separatingoff of the opposites by But it cannotmove in oppositedirectionsat the same
the eternalmotion. time. So it necessarilyrestswhere it is.
(Simplicius,Commentaryon the Physics24.13-25) (Aristotle, On the Heavens295bll-16)
5. 8.
Anaximander, an associateof Thales, says that the Anaximandersays that the first animalswere born in
infinite is the universal causeof the generationand
moisture, surroundedby prickly barks. As they grew
destruction of the universe. From it, he says, the
older they emergedon to drier parts, the bark burst,
heavenswere separatedoff and in general all the
and for a short time they lived a different kind of life.
worlds, infinite in number. He assertedthat destruc- ([Plutarch], On the Scientific Beliefs of the Philosophers908D)
tion and, much earlier, generationoccur from time
immemorial, all the samethings being renewed.
(Plutarch,Miscellaniesfragment179.2,in Eusebius, 9.
Preparationfor the Gospel, I vii 16) Animals come into being <from moisture> evapo-
rated by the sun. Humans originally resembled
6. anothertype of animal, namelyfish.
The earth is aloft, not supportedby anythingbut rest- (Hippolytus, Refutationof All Heresies I vi 1-7)
ing where it is becauseof its equal distance from
everything. 10.
(Hippolytus, Refutationof All Heresies Ivi 1-7) Further, he says that originally humans were born
from animals of a different kind, becausethe other
7. animalscan soon look after themselveswhile humans
Somesay that [the earth] rests where it is becauseof alone require a long period of nursing; that is why if
the similarity (so, among the ancients, Anaximan- they had been like this originally they would not
der). For there is no reason why what is situated in have survived.
the middle and is similarly relatedto the edgesshould ([Plutarch],Mi cellanies fragment 179.2,in Eusebius,
move upwards rather than downwards or sideways. Preparationfor the GospelI vii 16)
STUDY QUESTIONS:ANAXIMANDER, FRAGMENTS

1. What is the first principle, accordingto Anaximander?
2. What is Anaximander'sargumentfor claiming that the first principle must be infinite?
3. What preventsgenerationand destructionfrom 'giving out'?
4. What are Anaximander'stwo argumentsfor thinking that the first principle cannotbe
one of the four elements?
5. According to Anaximander,why doesthe earthfloat in space?
6. How doesAnaximanderaccountfor animalscoming into being?
7. What would Anaximandersay about the principle of the conservationof energy?
0 ~ ------------------------ ~ ~
AN AXIMENES (58 5 ~=5 - ~§ - . ~ . : 5 ~~~:~ .
Anaximenesmay have beena studentof Anaximander.Apart from the fact that he was
Milesian, very little else is known abouthis life.
THE MILESIANS • Anaximenes I Fragments 13
Like his two predecessors from Miletus, Anaximenesproposedthat there is a single
substance~stuff out of which everythingis made.Anaximenesthoughtthat Anaximander's
views were not explicit enoughin two crucial ways. First, Anaximenesclaimedthat the
elementalsubstance~stuff is unlimited air. In otherwords, he substitutedhis teacher'sinde~
terminatesubstancefor somethingdeterminateand gaseous.Second,Anaximeneswas
more explicit than his predecessors concerningthe processesthroughwhich ordinary
things are generatedfrom the one materialprinciple; theseare condensationand rarefac~
tion. Throughcompression,air thickensand progressivelybecomesclouds,water, and
earth.Throughexpansion,air becomesthinner and turns into fire. This view implies that
the different propertiesof the things we observe(suchas liquids and solids) are due to dif~
ferencesin their relative density.
FRAGMENTS
Anaximenes
The first selectiondescribesthe processesof condensationand compressionby which all

naturalobjectsare formed out of invisible air, and how in this processhot and cold come
into being. This first point is reinforcedin the fourth fragment,and the last point (regard~
ing hot andcold) is reinforcedin the third one.
The secondfragmentis importantin part becauseof the claim that the soul is air
and becauseof the parallel that it draws betweenair andbreath.Anaximenesthoughtthat
air was the basicstuff of naturebecauseit is the constituentof the souL
1. when it is more condensedit is water, when still fur~

Anaximenes,son of Eurystratus,was also Milesian. ther condensedit is earth, and when it is as denseas
He said that the first principle is infinite air, from possibleit is stones.Thus the most importantfactors
which what is coming into being and what has come in coming into being are opposites-hotand cold.
into being and what will exist and godsand divinities (Hippolytus, Refutationof All HeresiesI vii 1-9)
come into being, while everything else comes into
being from its offspring. The form of the air is this: 2.
when it is most uniform it is invisible, but it is made Anaximenes,son of Eurystratus,a Milesian, asserted
apparentby the hot and the cold and the moist and that air is the first principle of the things that exist; for
the moving. It is always in motion; for the things that everything comesinto being from air and is resolved
changewould not changeif it were not in motion. again into it. For example,our souls, he says,beingair,
For as it is condensedand rarefied it appearsdifferent: hold us together, and breath and air contain the whole
when it dissolves into a more rarefied condition it world ('air' and 'breath'are usedsynonymously).[B 2]
becomesfire; and winds, again,are condensedair, and ([Plutarch],On the ScientificBeliefs
cloud is produced from air by compression.Again, of the Philosophers876 A B)
Anaximander,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987).

Copyright©JonathanBarnes,1987.Reproducedby permissionof PenguinBooks Ltd.
3.. 4.
Or should we, as old Anaximenesthought, treat the Winds are generatedwhen the air is condensedand
hot and the cold not as substancesbut rather as com~ driven along. As it collects together and is further
mon properties of matter which supervene upon thickened, clouds are generatedand in this way it
changes?For he says that matter which is concen~ changesinto water. Hail comesaboutwhen the water
tratedand condensedis cold, while that which is rare falling from the clouds solidifies, and snow when
and slack (that is the word he uses)is hot. [13 B 1] thesesamethings solidify in a more watery form.
(Plutarch,The Primary Cold 947F) (Hippolytus, Refutation HeresiesI vii 1-9)
STUDY QUESTIONS: ANAXIMENES, FRAGMENTS

1. What is the jtlrst principle, accordingto Anaximenes?
2. According to Anaximenes,what is the form of air?
3. Why doesAnaximenesrefuseto treat hot and cold as substances?
4. According to Anaximenes,how does air change into stones?What is the
process?
5. According to Anaximenes,what is the soul?
6. Are the Milesians scientists? How should one distinguish between science and
philosophy?
7. Which of the Milesianshas the most plausibleview? Why is this?
Philosophical Bridges: The Milesian Influence

The Milesians introducedthe fundamentalconceptof the substance~kind or ~stuff out of
which everything is composed,as well as the claim that all natural phenomenashould be
explainedin terms of alterationsto that substance.They were the first to take a systematic
and unified approachto the explanationof naturalphenomena.Much of later ancientphi~
losophy,suchas the influential atomismofDemocritusand Epicurus,continuedin this same
tradition. Much of the rest of ancientthought,suchas Plato'stheory of Forms, con~
sideredin part as a reactionagainstthe 1v1ilesian~inspired tradition of naturalphilosophy.
The revolution in thought that occurredduring the sixteenthcentury, which gave
birth to modern science, was inspired directly by the rediscovery of ancient thinkers.
Toward the end of the medievalperiod and in the early Renaissance, ancientphilosophers
had considerableinfluence.The fact someof the ancientGreekshad arguedfor mate~
rialistic scientific theories,including atomism,was profoundly liberatingfor the early scien~
tists and scientific philosophers,suchas Galileo Galilei and FrancisBacon. In this way, the
Milesians were the forerunnersof sixteenth~ and seventeenth~century natural philosophy
and, hence,of contemporaryscience.For example,the contemporaryprinciple of the con,
servationof matter and energyhas its roots in Milesian tradition. You can seethe idea
passingon from Thalesand Anaximanderto the Epicureansand Stoics, and from them to
modemscientific thinkerssuchas ReneDescartesand Galileo. In The Critique of Pure Rea~
son ( 1781), ImmanuelKant arguesexplicitly for the Milesian claim that substancecannot
be createdor destroyedbecauseall changesmust be conceivedas alterationsto a single
underlyingsubstanceor stuff. His argumentof the First Analogy contendsthat this claim is
a preconditionof the unity of time and henceof all knowledge.
The Milesians were also the precursorsof scientific enquiry becauseof the broad
scopeof their interestin nature.They initiated a long tradition that examinedand tried to
THE IoNIANS Pythagoras(570-497B.C.) <> 15
explain a wide range of natural phenomena,from stars to mountainsand from plants to

animals, as well as the tides, the wind, and the rain, in a unified and systematicmanner.
This tradition continuedin the ancientperiod until On the Nature of Things by the great
Roman poet Lucretius (99-55 B.C.). However, we can also see Descartes'book The World
(1633) as a continuationof the sametradition becauseit seeksa unified accountof all nat,
ural material phenomena,such as fire, light, the movementsof the planets,the tides, and
humanphysiology.
' ' " ,,#,,,,, '"''"~'#'"~'

THE IONIANS
"'''"~"
PROLOGUE
Although the next two philosophersare consideredas Ionian in terms of their birth and
tradition, their thought is significantly different from that of the earlier Milesians. The
philosophiesof Pythagorasand Heraclitusgo beyondthe scientific philosophyof natureof
the Milesians becausethey both are also concernedwith and, to someextent,
with ethics.
PYTHAGORAs,,( 5 70-497 B,.,g,.,)

Pythagoraswas born on the island of Samosin the easternAegean,locatedbetweenMile,
tus and Athens. Around the ageof 30, he movedto Croton in southernItaly, where he
establisheda communityof followers. The communitygrew and acquiredpolitical impor,
tancein the region. As a consequence of this, after about 20 years,therewas an uprising
againstthe Pythagoreans.
Pythagoraswrote nothing, but his later followers wrote much, attributing to him
many views. It is from his followers that we have the picture of Pythagorasas a brilliant
mathematician,who inventedthe theoremthat, in any right,angledtriangle, the squareof
the hypotenuseis equal to the sum of the squareof the other two sides.He was portrayed
as applying his mathematicsto music and astronomyand, thereby,developinga metaphys,
ical systembasedon numbers.However, it is difficult to define exactly what Pythagoras
himself thoughtbecausethe later Pythagoreanschoolstend to attributeto the mastertheir
own teachings.By the fourth centuryA.D., Pythagoraswas consideredthe greatestof all
philosophers,eclipsingevenPlato and Aristotle becauseof his influenceon both of these
thinkers. As we shall see,Pythagorashad an especiallyimportant influenceon Plato.
After his death,his disciplessplit into two groups:the mathematikoiand the akousmatikoi.
The first group was interestedin the study of mathematics,music, and astronomy.The key
to their ideasis that the universeconsistsof a harmonythat shouldbe studiedmathemati,
cally. In this, they rejectedthe Ionian idea of trying to discoverthe basicstuff of the uni,
verse,replacingit with the study of form. In this study, the numericalratios between
soundsin the musicalscalesprovidedan analogyfor the harmoniousdevelopmentof the
whole universe.In otherwords, accordingto this group, we can understandthe universe
by knowing the numericalrelationsthat expressthe harmonicratios accordingto which

everythingchanges.
The secondPythagoreanSchool was called the akousmatikoi,and it followed
Pythagoras'religious teachingconcerningthe soul and the right way to live. They
regardedPythagorasas a spiritual masterwho taught about the existenceof the immortal
soul that may be reborn in animal form. This doctrine of transmigrationhas two impor~
tant implications. First, it implies that personalidentity is constitutedby the soul. A per~
son literally is his or her soul. Second,it laid down someguidelinesfor the moral way of
life or for a moral code. Pythagoras'doctrine of the soul meansthat we are not mortal
beingsbut rather immortal souls, and that we are not really at home in our bodies.It also
meansthat the animalsare our kin, and, for this reason,the Pythagoreansconsideredthe
eating of flesh as a form of cannibalism.Pythagorasprobablyconceivedof the world as
divided into good and and claimed that eachpersonmust struggleto be a good
moral agent.
FRAGMENTS
Pythagoras
The first four passagesquotedbelow are fragmentsfrom Philolaus,born in Croton around

470 B.C., who was the first Pythagoreanto set down the teachingin writing. The other
fragmentsare called the testimonies,which are later in origin. The religious aspectof
Pythagoras'following is emphasizedin selections5-11. In contrast,the selectionsnum~
bered12-17 emphasizethe Pythagoreanconception numberas the fundamentalhar~
mony of the universe.
1. 3.
(DK 44B14) The ancient theologians and prophets (DK 44B4; KRS 427) And everything which is known
testify to the fact that the soul has beenyoked to the has number, becauseotherwise it is impossible for
body as a punishmentof some kind and that it has anythingto be the object of thoughtor knowledge.
beenburied in the body as in tomb. (Philolaus[fr. 4 Diels/Kranz] in Johnof Stobi,
(Philolaus 14 Diels/Kranz] in Clement, 1.21.7b Wachsmuth/Hense)
Miscellanies2.203.11Stahlin/Friichtel)
4.
2. 44B6; KRS 429) On the subject of nature and
(DK 44Bl; KRS 424) Nature in the universe was har~ harmony, this is how things stand: the being of
monizedout of both things which are unlimited and things, qua eternal, and nature itself are accessible
things which limit; this applies to the universe as a only to divine and not human knowledge-except
whole and to all its components. that it is impossible for any of the things that
(Philolaus[fr. 1 Diels/Kranz] in DiogenesLaertius, and are known by us to have arisenwithout the prior
Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.85.13-14Long) existenceof the being of the things out of which the
Pythagoras,from The First Philosophers:The t'resocraH,cs translatedby Robin Waterfield. Copyright© 2000.
Reprintedby permissionof Oxford University Press.
THE IoNIANS "b PythagorasI Fragments,4> 17
universe is composed,namely limiters and unlimit~ served the same memories. Later he entered into
eds. Now, since thesesourcesexistedin all their dis~ Euphorbusand was wounded by Menelaus.Euphor~
similarity and incompatibility, it would have been bus used to say that he had formerly been born as
impossible for them to have been made into an Aethalides and had received the gift from Hermes,
orderly universeunlessharmonyhad beenpresentin and used to tell of the journeying of his soul and all
some form or other. Things that were similar and its migrations,recountall the plants and creaturesto
compatiblehad no needof harmony,but things that which it had belonged, and describe everything he
were dissimilar and incompatible and incommensu~ had experienced in Hades and the experiences
rate had to be connectedby this kind of harmony, if undergone by the rest of the souls there. When
they are to persistin an ordereduniverse. Euphorbusdied, his soul moved into Hermotimus,
(Philolaus[fr. 6 Diels/Kranz) in Johnof Stobi, who also wanted to prove the point, so he went to
Anthology1.21.7dWachsmuth/Heme) Branchidae, entered the sanctuary of Apollo, and
pointed out the shield which Menelaus had dedi~
5. cated there.... When Hermotimusdied, he became
(DK 14Al; KRS 261) The Egyptians were also the Pyrrhus,the fishermanfrom Delos, and again remem~
first to claim that the soul of a human being is bered everything, how he had formerly been
immortal, and that eachtime the body dies the soul Aethalides, then Euphorbus,then Hermotimus,and
entersanothercreaturejust as it is being born. They then Pyrrhus. And when Pyrrhus died, he became
also say that when the soul has made the round of Pythagorasand rememberedeverythingthat has just
every creatureon land, in the sea, and in the air, it beenmentioned.
oncemore clothesitself in the body of a humanbeing (Heraclidesof Pontus[fr. 89 Wehrli) in DiogenesLaertius,
just as it is being born, and that a complete cycle Lives of EminentPhilosophers8.4-5 Long)
takes three thousand years. This theory has been
adopted by certain Greeks too-somefrom a long 8.
time ago, somemore recently-whopresentedit as if (DK 58c3; KRS 275) In On the PythagoreansAristo~
it were their own. I know their names,but I will not tle explains the Pythagoreaninjunction to abstain
write them down. from beans as being due either to the fact that they
(Herodotus,Histories 2.123.2-3Hude) resemblethe genitalsin shape,or becausethey resem~
ble the gates of Hades (since it is the only plant
6. which has no joints), or becausethey ruin the consti~
(DK 58B39) They [Aristotle's predecessors]try only to tution, or becausethey resemblethe nature of the
describethe soul, but they fail to go into any kind of universe,or becausethey are oligarchic, in the sense
detail about the body which is to receivethe soul, as that they are used in the election magistratesby
if it were possible (as it is in the Pythagoreantales) lot. And the injunction not to pick up things that have
for just any old soul to be clothed in just any old fallen he explains as being an attempt to accustom
body. them not to eat in immoderatequantities,or due to
(Aristotle, On the Soul407b20-3Ross) the fact that it signals someone'sdeath.... The
injunction not to touch a white cock is due to the fact
7. that the creatureis sacredto the New Month and is a
(DK 14A8) Heraclidesof Pontussays that Pythagoras suppliant.... The injunction not to touch any sacred
usedto say abouthimself that he had oncebeenborn fish is due to the fact that the samefood shouldnot be
as Aethalides and was regardedas a son of Hermes. servedto gods and men, just as free men and slaves
Hermes told him that he could chooseanything he shouldhave different food too. The injunction not to
wantedexceptimmortality, and he askedto be able to breaka loaf is due to the fact that in olden daysfriends
retain, both alive and dead, the memory of things usedto meetover a single loaf.
that had happened.He thereforerememberedevery~ (Aristotle [fr. 195 Rose]in DiogenesLaertius,Lives of
thing during his lifetimes, and when deadhe still pre~ EminentPhilosophers8.34.1-35.2Long)
18 ' 0 ~ SECTION ONE I EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
9. occasionto say that 'There is a resemblanceto num~

(KRS 434) Anticleides says that Pythagoras was ber in all things', and also on occasionto sweartheir
particularly interestedin the arithmetical aspectof most characteristicoath: 'No, by him who handed
geometry,and discoveredthe propertiesof the mono~ down to our companythe tetraktys, the fount which
chord. Nor did he neglect medicine either. Apol~ holds the roots ever~flowing nature.' By 'him who
lodorus the mathematician says that Pythagoras handed down' they mean Pythagoras,whom they
sacrificed a hecatombwhen he discoveredthat the regardedas divine, and by the 'tetraktys' they meana
squareon the hypotenuseof the right~angled triangle certainnumberwhich, being composedout of the first
is equal to the squareson the sideswhich encompass four numbers, producesthe most perfect number-
the right angle. that is, ten (for 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 10). This number
(Anticleides [fr. 1 Jacoby] in DiogenesLaertius,Lives of is the first tetraktysand it is called 'the fount of ever~
EminentPhilosophers8.11.10-12.5Long) flowing nature'becauseit is their view that the whole
universe is organized on harmonic principles, and
10. harmonyis a systemof threeconcords(the fourth, the
In his Introduction to Music Heraclides says that, fifth, and the octave), and the ratios of these three
accordingto Xenocrates,it was Pythagoraswho dis~ concordsare found in the four numbersI havealready
covered that the musical intervals also come about mentioned-thatis, in 1, 2, 3, and 4. For the fourth is
inevitably becauseof number, in the sensethat they constitutedby 4 : 3, the fifth by 3 : 2, and the octave
consistin a comparisonof one quantity with another, 2: 1.
and that he also looked into the question of what (SextusEmpiricus, the Professors7.94-6Bury)
makesthe intervals concordantor discordant,and in
generalwhat factors are responsiblefor harmonyand 13.
disharmony. (OK 58B4, B5; KRS 430) At the sametime [as Leucip~
(Xenocrates[fr. 9 Heinze] in Commentaryon pus and Democritus] and earlier than them were the
Ptolemy's'Harmonics' 30.1-6During) so~called Pythagoreans, who were interestedin math~
11. ematics. They were the first to make mathematics
(OK 14A4) Pythagorasof Samos visited Egypt and
prominent, and becausethis discipline constituted
studiedwith the Egyptians.He was the first to import their educationthey thought that its principles were
philosophy in generalinto Greece,and he was espe~ the principles of all things. Now, in the nature of
cially concerned,more conspicuouslythan anyone things, numbersare the primary mathematicalprinci~
else,with sacrifice and ritual purification in sanctuar~ ples; they also imagined that they could perceive in
ies, since he thought that even if, as a result of these numbersmany analoguesto things that are and that
come into being (more analoguesthan fire and earth
practices, no advantageaccrued to him from the
and water reveal)-such~and~such an attribute of
gods, they would at least gain him a particularly fine
numbers being justice, such~and~such an attribute
reputationamongmen. And this is exactly what hap~
beingsoul andmind, dueseasonanother,andso on for
pened.He becameso much more famous than any~
pretty well everything else; moreover, they saw that
one elsethat all the young menwantedto becomehis
the attributesandratiosof harmoniesdependon num~
disciples, while the older men preferred to see their
bers. Since, then, the whole natural world seemed
sons associatingwith him than looking after their
basically to be an analogueof numbers,and numbers
own affairs. And it is impossible to mistrust their
seemedto be the primary facet of the natural world,
opinion, becauseevennow thosewho claim to be his
they concludedthat the elementsof numbersare the
followers are more impressive in their silence than
elementsof all things, and that the whole universeis
thosewith the greatestreputationfor eloquence.
(!socrates,Busiris 28.5-29.9van Hook)
harmonyand number.They collectedtogetherall the
properties of numbers and harmonies which were
12. arguablyconformableto the attributesand partsof the
[the importanceof
(KRS 279) In order to indicate this universe,and to its organizationas a whole, and fitted
numberin things] the Pythagoreansare accustomedon them into place; and the existenceof any gaps only
THE IoNIANS • PythagorasI Fragments 19
made them long for the whole thing to form a con~ 15.
nectedsystem.Here is an exampleof what I mean:ten The Pythagoreans,as a result of observingthat many
was, to their way of thinking, a perfect number, and properties of numbers exist in perceptible bodies,
onewhich encompassed the natureof numbersin gen~ came up with the idea that existing things are num~
eral, and they said that therewere ten bodiesmoving bers,but not separatenumbers:they saidthat existing
throughthe heavens;but sincethereareonly nine vis~ things consistof numbers.Why? Becausethe proper~
ible heavenlybodies,they cameup with a tenth, the ties of numbers exist in musical harmony, in the
counter~earth .... heavens,and in many other cases.
They hold that the elementsof number are the (Aristotle, Metaphysics1090a20-5Ross)
evenand the odd, of which the even is unlimited and
the odd limited; one is formed from both even and 16.
odd, since it is both even and odd; numberis formed (DK 58B9; KRS 431) The Pythagoreansrecognize
from one and, as I have said, numbersconstitutethe only one kind of number, mathematicalnumber, but
whole universe.Othermembersof the sameschoolsay they say that it is not separate,but that perceptible
that there are ten principles, which they arrangein things are madeup of it. For they constructthe whole
co~ordinate pairs: limit and unlimited; odd and even; universeout of numbers-andnot numbersmadeup
unity andmultiplicity; right and left; male andfemale; of abstractunits, but they take their numerical units
still and moving; straightandbent; light anddarkness; to have spatial magnitude.But they apparentlyhave
good andbad; squareandoblong. no way to explain how the first spatially extended
(Aristotle, Metaphysics985b23-986a26Ross) unit was put together.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics1080bl6-21Ross)
14.
(DK 58A8) The Pythagoreansspokeof two causesin 17.
the sameway, but added,as an idiosyncraticfeature, (DK 44A23; KRS 451) There is another theory
that the limited and the unlimited and the one were about the soul that has come down to us, which
not separatenatures,on a par with fire or earth or many peoplefind the most plausible one around....
something,but the unlimited itself and the one itself They say that the soul is a kind of attunement(harm~
were taken to be the substanceof the things of which onia), on the grounds that attunementis a mixture
they are predicated.This is why they said that num~ and compoundof opposites,and the body is madeup
ber was the substanceof everything. of opposites.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics987al3-19Ross) (Aristotle, On the Soul407b27-32Ross)
STUDY QUESTIONS: PYTHAGORAS, FRAGMENTS

1. From wheredoesharmonyin natureoriginate,accordingto Pythagoras?
2. What role do the limited andthe'unlimited'play in the Pythagoreannotion of numbers?
3. What reasonsdid the Pythagoreans give for the claim that numberwas the substanceof
everything?
4. How did Pythagorasdiscoverthe relationshipbetweennumbersand musical intervals?
5. When the Pythagoreanssay that the unlimited and the one are the substanceof things
( 14), what doesthis mean?
6. Explain the differencebetweenthe two Pythagoreanschools.
7. What is the natureof the soul, accordingto the Pythagoreans?
8. What sort of injunctions did the Pythagoreanslive by? Why did their communityhave
suchrules?
9. In what ways is Pythagoras'thoughtdifferent from that of the Milesians?Do thesediffer~
encestell us anythingaboutthe distinctionsbetweenscience,religion, and philosophy?
20 ~ SECTION ONE I EARLY ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY
10. Why did the Pythagoreansthink that ten was the perfectnumber?
11. Are numbersa featureof things in the way that hot and cold are?
Philosophical Bridges: The Pythagorean Influence

By the fourth centuryA.D., Pythagoraswas consideredto be a philosopherof at least equal
importanceas Plato and Aristotle. First, his idea that the universehas numericalstructure
and harmonyhad an enormousimpact on the later Plato and the neo~ Platonic thinkers of
the Roman Empire. Second,his mystical religious views concerningthe importanceand
natureof the oul also influencedPlato. Thesetwo strandsof Pythagoras'thinking also had
a longer~term impact.
1. The rediscoveryof Pythagoreanideas during the sixteenthcentury reignited the claim

that the universeis inherentlymathematicaland harmonious,and, consequently,was vital
to the birth of modern science.These ideas were seen as an illuminating and refreshing
antidote to the Scholasticismof the middle and later medieval periods. For example,
Copernicus(1473-1543)drew inspiration from this Pythagoreanand neo~Platonic tradi~
tion in formulating his bold hypothesis that the earth orbits the sun. The Ptolemic
hypothesisthat the sun and planetsorbit the earth had becomeincreasinglycomplex to
accommodatenew observations, and Copernicus sought an alternative explanation
becauseof his Pythagoreanconviction that nature had to be simple. JohannesKepler's
great astronomicalwork had the Pythagoreantitle The Harmony of the World (1619). Hav~
ing explainedthe orbits of the planetsin terms of three simple laws, Kepler comparedthe
speedof eachorbit to a musicalnote and likened their combinedeffect to the music of the
spheresin true Pythagoreantradition. Later, Galileo claimed that the universeis written in
the languageof mathematics.This general idea has support today among realists, who
claim that the universeis inherentlymathematical.
2. Pythagoraswas the first westernthinker to articulate clearly the idea of a soul distinct
from the body, which found full expressionin the works of Plato. Furthermore,like Plato
after him, Pythagorasstressed the moral importanceof the soul. ThesePythagoreanideas
becamepart of westernculture becauseof the later marriageof neo~Platonism and Chris~
tianity through the works ofPlotinus (205-270)and St. Augustine(354-430) (seethe sec~
tion below, 'PhilosophicalBridges: The Platonic Influence').
0 ~------------------------~ ~
HERACLITUS
Heraclituswas born in Ephesus,a town on the westerncoastof Ionia, betweenMiletus and
Colophon.Heraclituswas of noble birth, but he gaveup all of his political opportunitiesto
pursuephilosophy.He wrote his main philosophicalwork in about500 B.C. Of this, over
120 fragmentsremain.Thesesayingsare culled from other later writers, such as Sextus
Empiricus, who quote Heraclitus.This meansthat we do not know the order of the short
sayingsof Heraclitus,exceptfor the first two, which occurrednear the beginningof the
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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The Longman Standard History of

III: ARISTOTLE 273

Poetics: Chapters 1 4, 9, 13, and 14 432

IV: HELLENISTIC OPHY

ZENO OF CITIUM 469

MARCUS AURELIUS 486

SEXTUS EMPIRICUS 494

Philosophymay not be the professionbut it is the oldestdiscipline, the sourceof our

ThomasJ. Martin, University of North CarolinaCharlotte

About 2,600 yearsago, somethingremarkableoccurred.Original thinkers appearedalmost

developmentof ancient philosophy is an interestingstory that can be divided into four

The Early Ancient Greek Philosophers

and matteras if they were independentsubstances.Aristotle thoughtthat universalsexist,

Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy

Some Historical Background

of Alcibiades, Athens to capture the rich of Syracuseon Sicily, which was a

> EARLY ANCIENT

discussesthe views of several pre,Socraticphilosophers.Plutarch (45-120 A.D.) wrote

APPROX. 624-545 B.C.)

was fordable. He was also an astronomerwho predictedan eclipseof 585 B.C., as

As the selectionshows,the most importantfragmentsconcerningthe philosophyof

Thales,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987). Copyright©

STUDY QUESTIONS: THALES, FRAGMENTS

ANAXIMANDER (610-540 B.c.)

4. Therefore,the basic substance~stuff is not one of the elements.

The first selectionoutlines the basicpoints of Anaximander'sphilosophy.In the second

3. Therefore,the basic substance,

Anaximander,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987).

STUDY QUESTIONS:ANAXIMANDER, FRAGMENTS

The first selectiondescribesthe processesof condensationand compressionby which all

1. when it is more condensedit is water, when still fur~

Anaximander,from Early GreekPhilosophy,translatedby JonathanBarnes,(PenguinClassics,Harmondsworth,1987).

STUDY QUESTIONS: ANAXIMENES, FRAGMENTS

Philosophical Bridges: The Milesian Influence

explain a wide range of natural phenomena,from stars to mountainsand from plants to

' ' " ,,#,,,,, '"''"~'#'"~'

PYTHAGORAs,,( 5 70-497 B,.,g,.,)

by knowing the numericalrelationsthat expressthe harmonicratios accordingto which

The first four passagesquotedbelow are fragmentsfrom Philolaus,born in Croton around

9. occasionto say that 'There is a resemblanceto num~

STUDY QUESTIONS: PYTHAGORAS, FRAGMENTS

Philosophical Bridges: The Pythagorean Influence

1. The rediscoveryof Pythagoreanideas during the sixteenthcentury reignited the claim

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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