Page:Early Greek philosophy by John Burnet, 3rd edition, 1920.djvu/329

 Rh pluralists, and then the criticism of Zeno. This, at any rate, seems to have been the view Aristotle took of the historical development.

159. The polemic of Zeno is clearly directed in the first instance against a certain view of the unit. Eudemos, in his Physics, quoted from him the saying that "if any one could tell him what the unit was, he would be able to say what things are." The commentary of Alexander on this, preserved by Simplicius, is quite satisfactory. "As Eudemos relates," he says, "Zeno the disciple of Parmenides tried to show that it was impossible that things could be a many, seeing that there was no unit in things, whereas 'many' means a number of units." Here we have a clear reference to the Pythagorean view that everything may be reduced to a sum of units, which is what Zeno denied.

160. The fragments of Zeno himself also show that this was his line of argument. I give them according to the arrangement of Diels.