Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/220

Rh Of the intercourse which subsisted between Pericles and Anaxagoras, Plutarch speaks in the following terms: "The philosopher with whom Pericles was most intimately acquainted, who gave him that force and sublimity of sentiment superior to all the arts of the demagogues, who, in short, formed him to that admirable dignity of manners, was Anaxagoras, the Clazomenian. This was he whom the people of those times called , or intelligence, either in admiration of his great understanding and knowledge of the works of nature, or because he was the first who clearly proved that the universe owed its formation neither to chance nor necessity, but to a pure and unmixed mind, who separated the homogeneous parts from the other with which they were confounded. Charmed with the company of this philosopher, and instructed by him in the sublimest sciences, Pericles acquired not only an elevation of sentiment and a loftiness and purity of style, far removed from the low expressions of the vulgar, but likewise a gravity of countenance, which never relaxed into laughter, a firm and even tone of voice, an easy deportment, and a decency of dress, which no vehemence of speaking ever put into disorder. . . . These were not the only advantages which Pericles gained by conversing with Anaxagoras. From him he learnt to overcome those terrors which the various phenomena of the heavens raise in those who know not their causes, and who entertain a tormenting fear of the gods by reason of their ignorance. Nor is there any