[4] Adv. Math. VII. 349.
[5] Compare Zeller Op. cit. III. p. 33.
[6] Hyp. I. 210-212.
[7] Adv. Math. VIII. 8; X. 215.
The conjecture that he was first a Heraclitan Stoic, and later a Sceptic, which might be possible, does not offer any explanation of Sextus' statement, that he regarded Scepticism as a path to the philosophy of Heraclitus. Nor would it be logical to think that after establishing the Sceptical School in renewed influence and power, he reverted to the Heraclitan theories as they were modified by the Stoics. These same theories were the cause of his separation from the Academy, for his chief accusation against the Academy was that it was adopting the dogmatism of the Stoics.[1] The matter is complicated by the fact that Tertullian also attributes to Aenesidemus anthropological and physical teachings that agree with the Stoical Heraclitan doctrines. It is not strange that in view of these contradictory assertions in regard to the same man, some have suggested the possibility that they referred to two different men of the same name, a supposition, however, that no one has been able to authoritatively vindicate.
Let us consider briefly some of the explanations which have been attempted of the apparent heresy of Aenesidemus towards the Sceptical School. We will begin with the most ingenious, that of Pappenheim.[2]
Pappenheim claims that Sextus was not referring to Aenesidemus himself in these statements which he joins with his name. In the most important of these, the one quoted from the Hypotyposes,[3] which represents Aenesidemus as claiming that Scepticism is the path to the philosophy of Heraclitus, the expression used is οἱ περὶ τὸν Αἰνησίδημον, and in many of the other places where Sextus refers to the dogmatic statements of Aenesidemus, the expression is either οἱ περὶ τὸν Αἰνησίδημον, or Αἰνησίδημος καθ᾽ Ἡράκλειτον, while when Sextus quotes Aenesidemus to sustain Scepticism, he uses his name alone.
[1] Compare Zeller Op. cit. III. p. 16.
[2] Die angebliche Heraclitismus des Skeptikers Ainesidemos, Berlin 1889.
[3] Hyp. I. 210-212.