Page:Early Greek philosophy by John Burnet, 3rd edition, 1920.djvu/306

292 had failed to give any clear account of the relation between these more or less fanciful analogies and their geometrical construction of the universe.

147. We seem to see further that what distinguished the Pythagoreanism of this period from its earlier form was that it sought to adapt itself to the new theory of "elements." This is what makes it necessary to take up the consideration of the system once more in connexion with the pluralists. When the Pythagoreans returned to Southern Italy, they would find views prevalent there which demanded a partial reconstruction of their own system. We do not know that Empedokles founded a philosophical society, but there can be no doubt of his influence on the medical school of these regions; and we also know now that Philolaos played a part in the history of medicine. This gives us the clue to what formerly seemed obscure. The tradition is that the Pythagoreans explained the elements as built up of geometrical figures, a theory we can study for ourselves in the more developed form it attained in Plato's Timaeus. If they were to retain their position as the leaders of medical study in Italy, they were bound to account for the elements.