firmed, he then demanded whether the
measure was not in some determinate ratio to the single grain; as this
could not be denied, he was able to conclude, either, then, the bushel
of corn makes no noise on falling, or else the very smallest portion of
a grain does the same."

[Sidenote: and by Melissus of Samos.]

To the names already given as belonging to the Eleatic school may be
added that of Melissus of Samos, who also founded his argument on the
nature of Being, deducing its unity, unchangeability, and
indivisibility. He denied, like the rest of his school, all change and
motion, regarding them as mere illusions of the senses. From the
indivisibility of being he inferred its incorporeality, and therefore
denied all bodily existence.

[Sidenote: Biography of Empedocles.]

The list of Eleatic philosophers is doubtfully closed by the name of
Empedocles of Agrigentum, who in legend almost rivals Pythagoras. In the
East he learned medicine and magic, the art of working miracles, of
producing rain and wind. He decked himself in priestly garments, a
golden girdle, and a crown, proclaiming himself to be a god. It is said
by some that he never died, but ascended to the skies in the midst of a
supernatural glory. By some it is related that he leaped into the crater
of Etna, that, the manner of his death being unknown, he might still
continue to pass for a god--an expectation disappointed by an eruption
which cast out one of his brazen sandals.

[Sidenote: He mingles mysticism with philosophy.]

Agreeably to the school to which he belonged, he relied on Reason and
distrusted the Senses. From his fragments it has been inferred that he
was sceptical of the guidance of the former as well as of the latter,
founding his distrust on the imperfection the soul has contracted, and
for which it has been condemned to existence in this world, and even to
transmigration from body to body. Adopting the Eleatic doctrine that
like can be only known by like, fire by fire, love by love, the
recognition of the divine by man is sufficient proof that the Divine
exists. His primary elements were four--Earth, Air, Fire, and Water; to
these he added two principles, Love and Hate. The four elements he
regarded as four gods, or divine eternal forces, since out of them all
things are made. Love he regards as the creative power, the destroyer or
modifier being Hate. It is obvious, therefore, that in him the strictly
philosophical system of Xenopha