The Life of Archelaus

I. Archelaus was a citizen of either Athens or Miletus, and his father’s name was Apollodorus; but, as some say, Mydon. He was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and the master of Socrates.

I. Archelaus was a citizen of either Athens or Miletus. His father’s name was Apollodorus, but some say it was Mydon. Archelaus studied under Anaxagoras and taught Socrates.

II. He was the first person who imported the study of natural philosophy from Ionia to Athens, and he was called the Natural Philosopher, because natural philosophy terminated with him, as Socrates introduced ethical philosophy. And it seems probable that Archelaus too meddled in some degree with moral philosophy; for in his philosophical speculations he discussed laws and what was honourable and just. And Socrates borrowed from him; and because he enlarged his principles, he was thought to be the inventor of them.

II. He was the first to bring the study of natural philosophy from Ionia to Athens. He was called the Natural Philosopher because natural philosophy ended with him, as Socrates introduced ethical philosophy. Yet Archelaus also seems likely to have explored moral philosophy to some extent. In his philosophical studies, he discussed laws and what was honorable and just. Socrates borrowed from him and expanded his principles. Because of this, Socrates was thought to have invented them.

III. He used to say that there were two primary causes of generation, heat and cold; and that all animals were generated out of mud: and that what are accounted just and disgraceful are not so by nature, but only by law. And his reasoning proceeds in this way. He says, that water being melted by heat, when it is submitted to the action of fire, by which it is solidified, becomes earth; and when it is liquefied, becomes air. And, therefore, the earth is surrounded by air and influenced by it, and so is the air by the revolutions of fire. And he says that animals are generated out of hot earth, which sends up a thick mud something like milk for their food. So too he says that it produced men.

III. He used to say that heat and cold were the two main causes of generation, and that all animals came from mud. He also said that things considered just or disgraceful are not so by nature, but only by law. His reasoning was as follows. Water, melted by heat and then exposed to fire, becomes earth when the fire solidifies it. When the water is liquefied, it becomes air. The earth is therefore surrounded and affected by air, just as the air is affected by the revolutions of fire. He said that animals come from hot earth, which sends up a thick mud like milk to feed them. He said that the earth also produced humans in this way.

And he was the first person who said that sound is produced by the percussion of the air; and that the sea is filtered in the hollows of the earth in its passage, and so is condensed; and that the sun is the greatest of the stars, and that the universe is boundless.

He was the first to say that sound is produced by air striking against something. He also said that seawater is filtered as it passes through hollows in the earth, and is thus condensed. He said that the sun is the largest of the stars and that the universe is boundless.

IV. But there were three other people of the name of Archelaus: one, a geographer, who described the countries traversed by Alexander; the second, a man who wrote a poem on objects which have two natures; and the third, an orator, who wrote a book containing the precepts of his art.

IV. But three other people were named Archelaus. One was a geographer who described the countries Alexander traveled through. The second wrote a poem about objects with two natures. The third was an orator who wrote a book on the principles of his art.