1 See fr. 7 (=18 Karst.), af. Diog. viii. 36 (R. P. 88).
2 Diog. ix. 18 (R. P. 97). We know that Xenophanes referred to the prediction of an eclipse by Thales (Chap. I. p. 41, n. 1). We shall see that his own view of the sun was hardly consistent with the possibility of such
a prediction, so it may have been in connexion with this that he opposed him.
Science and Religion 125
played a part in the anecdotical romance of Hieron’s
court which amused the Greeks of the fourth century
much as that of Croesus and the Séven Wise Men
amused those of the fifth’ As Hieron reigned
from 478 to 467 B.c., that would make it impossible
to date the birth of Xenophanes much earlier than 570
B.C., even if we suppose him to have lived till the
age of a hundred. On the other hand, both Sextus
and Clement say that Apollodoros gave Ol. XL. (620-
616 B.C.) as the date of his birth, and the former adds
that his days were prolonged till the time of Dareios
and Cyrus? Again, Diogenes, whose information
on such matters mostly comes from Apollodoros,
says that he flourished in Ol. LX. (540-537 B.c.), and
Diels holds that Apollodoros really said so* How-
ever that may be, it is evident that the date 540 B.C.
is based on the assumption that he went to Elea in
the year of its foundation, and is, therefore, a mere
combination.*
1 Timaios af. Clem. Strom. i. p. 533 (Ε. P. 95). There is only one anecdote which actually represents Xenophanes in conversation with Hieron (Plut. Reg. apophth. 175 6), but it is natural to understand Arist. Met. T, 5. 1010 a 4 45 an allusion to a remark made by Epicharmos to him. Aristotle has more than one anecdote about Xenophanes, and it seems most likely that he derived them from the romance of which Xenophon’s Heron is an echo.
2 Clem., Joc. cit.; Sext. Math. i. 257. The mention of Cyrus is confirmed by Hipp. Ref. i. 94. Diels thinks that Dareios was mentioned first for metrical reasons ; but no one has satisfactorily explained why Cyrus should be mentioned at all, unless the early date was intended. On the whole subject, see Jacoby, pp. 204 sqq., who is certainly wrong in supposing that ἄχρι τῶν Δαρείου καὶ Κύρου χρόνων can mean “during the times of Dareios and Cyrus.”
> Rh. Mus. xxxi. p. 22. He assumes an early corruption of N into M. As Apollodoros gave the Athenian archon, and not the Olympiad, we might with more probability suppose a confusion due to two archons having the same name.
4 As Elea was founded by the Phokaians six years after they left Phokaia (Herod. i. 164 sqq.) its date is just 540-39 B.c. Cf. the way in which Apollodoros dated Empedokles by the era of Thourioi (§ 98).
126 Early Greek Philosophy
What we do know for certain is that Xenophanes
had led a wandering life from the age of twenty-five,
and that he was still alive and making poetry at the
age of ninety-two. He says himself (fr. 8 = 24 Karst.;
R. P. 97) :-—
There are by this time threescore years and seven that
have tossed my careworn soul! up and down the land of
Hellas ; and there were then five-and-twenty years from my
birth, if I can say aught truly about these matters.
It is tempting to suppose that in this passage
Xenophanes was referring to the conquest of Ionia by
Harpagos, and that he is, in fact, answering the ques-
tion asked in another poem ? (fr..22 =17 Karst.; R. P.
This is the sort of thing we should say by the fireside in
the winter-time, as we lie on soft couches after a good
meal, drinking sweet wine and crunching chickpeas: “Οἵ
what country are you, and how old are you, good sir? And
how old were you when the Mede appeared ?”
We cannot, however, be sure of this, and we must
-be content with what is, after all, for our purpose the
main fact, namely, that he refers to Pythagoras in the
past tense, and is in turn so referred to by Herakleitos.®
Theophrastos said that Xenophanes had “heard”
Anaximander,’ and we shall see that he was certainly
acquainted with the Ionian cosmology. When driven
1 Bergk (Litteraturgesch. ii. p. 418, n. 23) took φροντίς here to mean the literary work of Xenophanes, but it is surely an anachronism to suppose that at this date it could be used like the Latin cura.
2 It was certainly another poem; for it is in hexameters while the preceding fragment is in elegiacs.
3 Xenophanes, fr. 7 (above, p. 124, ἢ. 1); Herakleitos, frs. 16, 17 (below, p. 147).
4 Diog, ix. 21 (R. P. 96).
a ———— a Ἔ,η
Science and Religion 127
from his native city, he lived in Sicily, chiefly, we are told, at Zankle and Katana.’ Like Archilochos before him, he unburdened his soul in elegies and satires, which he recited at the banquets where, we may suppose, the refugees tried to keep up the usages of good Ionian society. The statement that he was a rhapsode has no foundation at all?’ The singer of elegies was no professional like the rhapsode, but the social equal of his listeners. In his ninety-second year he was still, we have seen, leading a wandering life, which is hardly consistent with the statement that he settled at Elea and founded a school there, especially if we are to think of him as spending his last days at Hieron’s court. It is quite probable that he visited Elea, and it is just possible that he wrote a poem of two thousand hexa- meters on the foundation of that city, which was naturally a subject of interest to all the Ionic émigrés.’ But it is very remarkable that no ancient writer ex- pressly says that he ever was at Elea, and the only thing besides the doubtful poem referred to which connects him with it is a single anecdote of Aristotle’s as to the answer he gave the Eleates when they asked whether they should sacrifice to Leukothea and lament her or not. “If you think her a goddess,” he said, “do not
1 Diog. ix. 18 (R. P. 96). The use of the old name Zankle, instead of the later Messene, points to an early source for this statement—probably the elegies of Xenophanes himself.
2 Diog. ix. 18 (R. P. 97) says αὐτὸς ἐρραψῴδει τὰ ἑαυτοῦ, which is a very different thing. Nothing is said anywhere of his reciting Homer, and the word ῥαψῳδεῖν is used quite loosely for ‘‘to recite.”” Gomperz’s imaginative picture(Greek Thinkers, vol. i. p. 155) has no further support than this single word. Nor is there any trace of Homeric influence in the fragments. They are in the usual elegiac style.
3 The statement is justly suspected by Hiller (RA. Aus. xxxiii. p. 529) to come from Lobon of Argos, who provided the Seven Wise Men,
Epimenides, etc., with stichometric notices, all duly recorded in Diogenes. Even if true, however, it proves nothing.
Poems.
128 Early Greek Philosophy
lament her ; if not, do not sacrifice to her.” That is
absolutely all, and it is only an apophthegm.’ It
is strange there should be no more if Xenophanes
had really found a home at last in the Phokaian
colony.
56. According to a notice preserved in Diogenes,
Xenophanes wrote in hexameters and also composed
elegies and iambics against Homer and Hesiod.2 No
good authority says anything about his having written
a philosophical poem.’ Simplicius tells us he had never
met with the verses about the earth stretching infinitely
downwards (fr. 28),* and this means that the Academy
possessed no copy of such a poem, which would be very
strange if it had ever existed. Simplicius was able to
find the complete works of much smaller men. Nor does
internal evidence lend any support to the view that he
wrote a philosophical poem. Diels refers about twenty-
eight lines to it, but they would all come in quite
as naturally in his attacks on Homer and Hesiod, as I
have endeavoured to show. It is also significant that a
considerable number of them are derived from com-
1 Arist. Rhez. B, 26. 1400 Ὁ καὶ (R. P. 98a). Anecdotes like this are really anonymous. Plutarch transfers the story to Egypt (P. Ph. Fr. p. 22, § 13), and others tell it of Herakleitos. It is hardly safe to build on such a foundation.
2 Diog. ix. 18 (R. P. 97). The word ἐπικόπτων is a reminiscence of Timon, fr. 60; Diels, Zewopdvns ὑπάτυφος ‘Ounpardrys ἐπικόπτης.
3 The oldest reference to a poem Περὶ φύσεως is in the Geneva scholium on 117. xxi. 196 (quoting fr. 30), and this goes back to Krates of Mallos. We must remember, however, that such titles are of later date than Xeno- phanes, and he had been given a place among philosophers long- before the time of Krates. All we can say, therefore, is that the Pergamene librarians gave the title Περὶ φύσεως to some poem of Xenophanes.
4 Simpl. de Caelo, p. 522, 7 (R. P. 97 Ὁ). It is true that two of our fragments (25 and 26) are preserved by Simplicius, but he got them from Alexander. Probably they were quoted by Theophrastos ; for it is plain that Alexander had no first-hand knowledge of Xenophanes either. If he had, he would not have been taken in by AZ.X.G. (See p. 138, n. 4.)
Science and Religion 129
mentators on Homer.’ It seems probable, then, that
Xenophanes expressed his theological and philosophical
views incidentally in his satires. That would be quite
in the manner of the time, as we can see from the
remains of Epicharmos.
The satires themselves are called Sz//oz by late writers,
and this name may go back to Xenophanes himself.
It is also possible, however, that it originates in the
fact that Timon of Phleious, the “ sillographer” (c. 259
B.C.), put much of his satire upon philosophers into the
mouth of Xenophanes. Only one iambic line has been
preserved, and that is immediately followed by a hexa-
meter (fr. 14=5 Karst.). This suggests that Xeno-
phanes inserted iambic lines among his hexameters in
the manner of the Margites, which would be a very
natural thing for him to do.”
57. I give all the fragments of any importance Thefragments. according to the text and arrangement of Diels.
Elegies
Now is the floor clean, and the hands and cups of all; one sets twisted garlands on our heads, another hands us fragrant Ointment on a salver. The mixing bowls stand ready, full of gladness, and there is more wine at hand that promises never to leave us in the lurch, soft and smelling of flowers in the jars. In the midst the frankincense sends up its holy smoke, and there is cold water, sweet and clean. Brown loaves are set before us and a lordly table laden with cheese and rich honey. The altar in the midst is clustered round with flowers ; song and revel fill the halls.
1 Three fragments (27, 31, 33) come from the Homeric Allegories, two
(30, 32) are from Homeric scholia.
2 Cf, Wilamowitz, Progr. Gryphiswald. 1880.
130 Early Greek Philosophy
But first it is meet that men should hymn the god with joyful song, with holy tales and pure words ; then after libation and prayer made that we may have strength to do right—for that is in truth the better way—no sin is it to drink as much as a man can take and get home without an attendant, so he be not stricken in years. And above all men is he to be praised who after drinking gives goodly proof of himself in the trial of skill, as memory and voice will serve him. Let him not sing of Titans and Giants—those fictions of the men of old— nor of turbulent civil broils in which is no good thing at all; but ever give heedful reverence to the gods.