: Early Greek philosophy by Burnet John - Philosophy Ancient

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s everything by the transformations of a single substance is bound to regard all differences as purely quantitative. The infinite substance of Anaximander, from which the opposites "in it" are "separated out," cannot, strictly speaking, be thought of as homogeneous, and the only way to save the unity of the primary substance is to say that all diversities are due to the presence of more or less of it in a given space. And when once this important step has been taken, it is no longer necessary to make the primary substance something "distinct from the elements," to use Aristotle's inaccurate but convenient phrase; it may just as well be one of them.

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It was natural for Anaximenes to fix upon Air in this sense as the primary substance; for, in the system of Anaximander, it occupied an intermediate place between the two fundamental opposites, the sphere of flame and the cold, moist mass within it . We know from Plutarch that he fancied air became warmer when rarefied, and colder when condensed. Of this he satisfied himself by a curious experimental proof. When we breathe with our mouths open, the air is warm; when we breathe with our lips closed, it is cold.

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Aet. i. 3, 4 .

Footnote 157:

The stars are fixed like nails in the crystalline vault of the heavens.--Aet. ii. 14, 3 .

Hail is produced when water freezes in falling; snow, when there is some air imprisoned in the water.--Aet. iii 4, 1 .

The earth was like a table in shape.--Aet. iii. 10, 3 .

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