This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. The single instance of a superscript is given as ‘Z^5’. In the original text, footnote references were numbered, beginning with ‘1’ on each page. They have been renumbered consecutively for uniqueness and have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are referenced. References to notes in the index and elsewhere have been changed to reflect the revised numbers. Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY BY JOHN BURNET, M.A., LL.D. PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNITED COLLEGE OF ST. SALVATOR AND ST. LEONARD, ST. ANDREWS Περὶ μὲν τῶν ὄντων τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐσκόπουν, τὰ δ’ ὄντα ὑπέλαβον εἶναι τὰ αἰσθητὰ μόνον.—ARISTOTLE. _SECOND EDITION_ LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1908 _First Edition published April 1892._ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION It has been no easy task to revise this volume in such a way as to make it more worthy of the favour with which it has been received. Most of it has had to be rewritten in the light of certain discoveries made since the publication of the first edition, above all, that of the extracts from Menon’s Ἰατρικά, which have furnished, as I believe, a clue to the history of Pythagoreanism. I trust that all other obligations are duly acknowledged in the proper place. It did not seem worth while to eliminate all traces of a certain youthful assurance which marked the first edition. I should not write now as I wrote at the age of twenty-five; but I still feel that the main contentions of the book were sound, so I have not tried to amend the style. The references to Zeller and “Ritter and Preller” are adapted throughout to the latest editions. The Aristotelian commentators are referred to by the pages and verses of the Berlin Academy edition, and Stobaeus by those of Wachsmuth. J. B. ST. ANDREWS, 1908. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION No apology is needed for the appearance of a work dealing with Early Greek Philosophy. The want of one has long been felt; for there are few branches of philology in which more progress has been made in the last twenty years, and the results of that progress have not yet been made accessible to the English reader. My original intention was simply to report these results; but I soon found that I was obliged to dissent from some of them, and it seemed best to say so distinctly. Very likely I am wrong in most of these cases, but my mistakes may be of use in calling attention to unobserved points. In any case, I hope no one will think I have been wanting in the respect due to the great authority of Zeller, who was the first to recall the history of philosophy from the extravagances into which it had wandered earlier in the century. I am glad to find that all my divergences from his account have only led me a little further in the path that he struck out. I am very sensible of the imperfect execution of some parts of this work; but the subject has become so large, and the number of authorities whose testimony must be weighed is so great, that it is not easy for any one writer to be equally at home in all parts of the field. I have consulted the student’s convenience by...