was connected with the revolution at Miletos in 450-49 B.C.[1] In any case, Theophrastos says distinctly that he had been a member of the school of Parmenides, and his words suggest that the founder of that school was then still at its head.[2] He may quite well have been so, if we accept Plato's chronology.[3] Theophrastos also appears to have said that Leukippos "heard" Zeno, which is very credible. We shall see, at any rate, that the influence of Zeno on his thinking is unmistakable.[4]
The relations of Leukippos to Empedokles and Anaxagoras are more difficult to determine. It has become part of the case for the historical reality of Leukippos to say that there are traces of atomism in the systems of these men; but the case is strong enough without that assumption. The chief argument for the view that Leukippos influenced Empedokles is that drawn from the doctrine of "pores"; but we have seen that this originated with Alkmaion, and it is therefore more probable that Leukippos derived it from Empedokles.[5] Nor is it at all probable that Anaxagoras knew anything of the theory of Leukippos. It is true that he denied the existence of the void; but it does not follow that any one had already maintained that doctrine in the atomist sense. The early Pythagoreans had spoken of a void too, though they had confused it with atmospheric air; and the experiments of Anaxagoras with the klepsydra and the inflated skins would only have had any point if they were directed against the Pythagorean theory.[6] If he had really
- ↑ Cf. [Xen.] Ἀθ. πολ.. 3, 11. The date is fixed by C.I.A. i. 22 a.
- ↑ Theophr. ap. Simpl. Phys. p. 28, 4 (R. P, 185). Note the difference of case in κοινωνήσας Παρμενίδῃ τῆς φιλοσοφίας and κοινωνήσας τῆς Ἀναξιμένους φιλοσοφίας, which is the phrase used by Theophrastos of Anaxagoras (p. 253, n. 2). The dative seems to imply a personal relationship. It is quite inadmissible to render "was familiar with the doctrine of Parmenides," as is done in Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, vol. i. p. 345.
- ↑ See § 84.
- ↑ Cf. Diog. ix. 30, οὗτος ἤκουσε Ζήνωνος (R. P. 185 b); and Hipp. Ref. i. 12, 1, Λεύκιππος . . . Ζήνωνος ἑταῖρος.
- ↑ See above, Chap. V. p. 194, n. 3.
- ↑ See above, Chap. V1. § 131; and Chap. VII. § 145.
