[299]. Aet. ii. 1, 2 (Dox., p. 327); Diog. ix. 19 (R. P. 103 c). It is true, of course, that this passage of Diogenes comes from the biographical compendium (Dox. p. 168); but, for all that, it is a serious matter to deny the Theophrastean origin of a statement found in Aetios, Hippolytos, and Diogenes.
[300]. Arist. Met. Α, 5. 986 b 23 (R. P. 101), οὐδὲν διεσαφήνισεν.
[301]. This is given as an inference by Simpl. Phys. p. 23, 18 (R. P. 108 b), διὰ τὸ πανταχόθεν ὅμοιον. It does not merely come from M.X.G. (R. P. 108), πάντῃ δ’ ὅμοιον ὄντα σφαιροειδῆ εἶναι. Hippolytos has it too (Ref. i. 14; R. P. 102 a), so it goes back to Theophrastos. Timon of Phleious understood Xenophanes in the same way; for he makes him call the One ἴσον ἁπάντῃ (fr. 60, Diels = 40 Wachsm.; R. P. 102 a).
[302]. Arist. de Caelo, Β, 13. 294 a 21 (R. P. 103 b).
[303]. I take δαψιλός as an attribute and ἀπείρονα as predicate to both subjects.
[304]. Il. viii. 13-16, 478-481, especially the words οὐδ’ εἴ κε τὰ νείατα πείραθ’ ἵκηαι | γαίης καὶ πόντοιο κ.τ.λ. Iliad viii. must have seemed a particularly bad book to Xenophanes.
[305]. In Bekker’s edition this treatise bears the title Περὶ Ξενοφάνους, περὶ Ζήνωνος, περὶ Γοργίου, but the best MS. gives as the titles of its three sections: (1) Περὶ Ζήνωνος, (2) Περὶ Ξενοφάνους, (3) Περὶ Γοργίου. The first section, however, plainly refers to Melissos, so the whole treatise is now entitled De Melisso, Xenophane, Gorgia (M.X.G.). It has been edited by Apelt in the Teubner Series, and more recently by Diels (Abh. der k. Preuss. Akad. 1900), who has also given the section dealing with Xenophanes in P. Ph. Fr. pp. 24-29 (Vors. pp. 36 sqq.). He has now withdrawn the view maintained in Dox. p. 108 that the work belongs to the third century B.C., and holds that it was a Peripatetico eclectico (i.e. sceptica, platonica, stoica admiscente) circa Christi natalem conscriptum. If that is so, there is no reason to doubt, as I formerly did, that the second section is really meant to deal with Xenophanes. The writer would have no first-hand knowledge of his poems, and the order in which the philosophers are discussed is that of the passage in the Metaphysics which suggested the whole thing. It is possible that a section on Parmenides preceded what we now have.
[306]. Met. Α, 5. 986 b 21 (R. P. 101), πρῶτος τούτων ἑνίσας. The verb ἑνίζειν occurs nowhere else, but is plainly formed on the analogy of μηδίζειν, φιλιππίζειν, and the like. It is not likely that it means “to unify.” Aristotle could easily have said ἑνώσας if he had meant that.
[307]. Tht. 181 a 6, τοῦ ὅλου στασιῶται. The noun στασιῶτης has no other meaning than “partisan.” There is no verb στασιοῦν “to make stationary,” and such a formation would be against all analogy. The derivation στασιώτας ... ἀπὸ τῆς στάσεως appears first in Sext. Math. x. 46, from which passage we may infer that Aristotle used the word, not that he gave the derivation.
[308]. Soph. 242 d 5 (R. P. 101 b). If the passage implies that Xenophanes settled at Elea, it equally implies this of his predecessors. But Elea was not founded till Xenophanes was in the prime of life.