In these passages of Aristotle, the "breath" is also spoken of as the void or empty. This is a confusion we have already met with in Anaximenes, and it need not surprise us to find it here.[1] We find also clear traces of the other confusion, that of air and vapour. It seems certain, in fact, that Pythagoras identified the Limit with fire, and the Boundless with darkness. We are told by Aristotle that Hippasos made Fire the first principle,[2] and we shall see that Parmenides, in discussing the opinions of his contemporaries, attributes to them the view that there were two primary "forms," Fire and Night.[3] We also find that Light and Darkness appear in the Pythagorean table of opposites under the heads of the Limit and the Unlimited respectively.[4] The identification of breath with darkness here implied is a strong proof of the primitive character of the doctrine; for in the sixth century darkness was supposed to be a sort of vapour, while in the fifth its true nature was known. Plato, with his usual historical tact, makes the Pythagorean Timaios describe mist and darkness as condensed air.[5] We must think, then, of a "field" of darkness or breath marked out by luminous units, an imagination the starry heavens would naturally suggest. It is even probable that we should ascribe to Pythagoras the Milesian view of a plurality of worlds, though it would not have been natural for him to speak of an infinite number. We know, at least, that Petron, one of the early Pythagoreans, said there were just a hundred and eighty-three worlds arranged in a triangles.[6]
- ↑ Cf. Arist. Phys. Δ, 6. 213 a 27, οἱ δ' ἄνθρωποι . . . φασὶν ἐν ᾧ ὅλως μηδέν ἐστι, τοῦτ' εἶναι κενόν, διὸ τὸ πλῆρες ἀέρος κενὸν εἶναι ; De part. an. B, 10. 656 b 15, τὸ γὰρ κενὸν καλούμενον ἀέρος πλῆρές ἐστι; De an. B, 10. 419 b 34, δοκεῖ γὰρ εἶναι κενὸν ὁ ἀήρ.
- ↑ Arist. Met. A, 3. 984 a 7 (R. P. 56 c).
- ↑ See Chap. IV. § 91.
- ↑ Arist. Met. A, 5. 986 a 25 (R. P. 66).
- ↑ Plato, Tim. 58 d 2.
- ↑ This is quoted by Plutarch, De def. orac. 422 b, d, from Phanias of Eresos, who gave it on the authority of Hippys of Rhegion. If we may follow Wilamowitz (Hermes, xix. p. 444) in supposing that this really means Hippasos of Metapontion (and it was in Rhegion that the Pythagoreans took refuge), this is a very valuable piece of evidence.
