s and
dogmas, which lead, he says, to the philosophy of Heraclitus. In
strange contradiction to his assertion of the impossibility of
all knowledge, he advocates a theory that the original substance
is air,[1] which is most certainly a dogma, although indeed a
deviation from the teachings of Heraclitus, of which Sextus
seemed unconscious, as he says, [Greek: to te on kata ton
Herakleiton aer estin, hos physin ho Ainesidemos]. Aenesidemus
dogmatised also regarding number and time and unity of the
original world-stuff.[2] He seems to have dogmatised further
about motion,[3] and about the soul.[4]

If Sextus' language is taken according to its apparent meaning,
we find ourselves here in the presence of a system of beliefs
which would be naturally held by a follower of the
Stoic-Heraclitan physics,[5] and absolutely inexplicable from
the standpoint of a man who advocated so radical a Scepticism as
Aenesidemus. Sextus in the passage that we first quoted,[6]
expresses great indignation against the idea that Scepticism
could form the path to the philosophy of Heraclitus, but he does
not express surprise or indignation against Aenesidemus
personally, or offer any explanation of the apparent
contradiction; and while his writings abound in references to
him as a respected leader of the Sceptical School, he sometimes
seems to include him with the Dogmatics, mentioning him with the
[Greek: dogmatikon philosophon].[7] In fact, the task of
presenting any consistent history of the development of thought
through which Aenesidemus passed is such a puzzling one, that
Brochard brilliantly remarks that possibly the best attitude to
take towards it would be to follow the advice of Aenesidemus
himself, and suspend one's judgment altogether regarding it. Is
it possible to suppose that so sharp and subtle a thinker as
Aenesidemus held at the same time such opposing opinions?

[1] _Adv. Math._ X. 233.

[2] _Adv. Math._ IX. 337; X. 216.

[3] _Adv. Math._ X. 38.

[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
influe