I. 2.

d Plutarch.
C I-I A P. IV.
lloio he lived at Miletus.
Is 2.1 Miletus (as Heraclitus affirms):'* ' was retired and private-, fome report he Married and had a Son named Cibifius, but, the truer Opinion is of thofe who lay he lived unmarried, andm.adehis Sifters Spn
Plutarch cdWs Cybiftbus) his Heir. He P ^ 7°‘'‘
off his Mother when the firft moved him to Marry, by telling her it . was not yet time -, 2nd Sypmofuc. 3^. when. he was more in years, being again io\i~ stob. 'iScrm. 66. cited ty her, he anfwered, nor is it now time, meaning, it was then too late. Being demanded why he took not fome courle to have iffue, he anlwered, piroTSKvUv, which is the fame in, pronouncing with Pt dpro/rsKyiay, and may be ta- ien either becaufe he loved Children, oi did not love them, as * Cafauhon conjeflures -, but per- e in Luatium, laps his meaning may better be gathered out of another anfwer of his to the lame queftion,, that he did not mean to draw voluntary cares f upon his life, and difturb the quiet thereof or from this Story related by g Plutarch. g vita solon.
Solon coming to Miletus to vifit him, told him that he wondred he wholly negletled Marriage and Iffue. Thales at that time anfwered. nothing., but fome few days after Suborned a Stranger to pre¬ tend that became within ten days from Athens ;
Solon demandedjsohat news from thence -, nothing {anfwered the other as he was inftruSed). but. the burial of a young man attended by the whole City, being as was faid Son of the moft eminent Per] on of the City, who at the fame time was abroad in Travel. Unhappy Man ( cries So\on)what. was his name? 1 heard it, anfwered the other, but have forgot, only I remember he was very famous for Wfdom and-Juftice. Solon’s fear encreafmg upon every anfwer, he at laft ashed him, if the Fat hers name were not Solon ? which the Other affirming, pe beat his own Head, and did other ahiions accom¬
panied with fpeeches proper to fuel? as are tranf-. ported with grief i whereuponTh^les fmiling,and interrupting him thefe things, Solon, faid he, deterr dme from Alarriage, which thus diforder even thee a moft conftant p erf on, but -be not trou¬ bled at this news, it is counterfeit.
. In this privacy of life he was folicited and lent unto by many Princes, whofe invitations and amities, (PA//- Wp '■ faith) herefuledj VTuQ^hSeppSup. by many eminent Perfons. . * conviv.
i He is faid to have cohabited Ibme time with (a Man of excellent Wit and Judg¬ ment) who was King, (of according to the.Greek Word) Tyrant of Aiiletus, though his Reign 1^ Anjl pol. $. continued but eleven months ; ‘ about the time ultim. ' thafthe Milefians entred into a League with A- ^ i* lyates the fecond, then King of Lydia.
CHAP. V.
c Cyril.
The Attribute ^/Wile conferred on him.
TH E attribute of Wife, as a PTutarch and ^
' S'Ant Augujline t oblerves, wasconleird...,;^.;-;^,/^^^!,,;^ upon the reft in refpeff of their moral Rules add s. 2. Praffice, but upon Thales particularly lor his B 2 Ipeculative
4
i L-crt.
c f^acitat. FUnim. f.tg, S4S.
ii Laert:
e Valer. , Mixm. 4. I. f Laert. g Val. Mux.
b Inert.
iVal. Max.
THALES,
Part, J.
ipecularive Learning. It was tirit beitowed on Tha/es^ at what time 'Damofias was, Archon, un¬ der whom ( according to b Demetrius Fhalureus) all the jcvcnwere called^'drQ. The fecond Da‘ tnafias was Archon in the third year of the 49th Olympiad, which c Salmafuis knew not, when to make the words of Laertius agree with the firrt DafttaJtoJi^ he mifinterpreted Eufebius and Clemens Ahexandrinus.^ and Subverted all other accounts of the Birth and Death of where¬
as this fortunately complies with the times of all the leven.
The firfl: was Lhales., juftly preferred before the reft inrefpeO; of his great Learning, which he owed not to any Mafter. The time when this Honour was conferred on him, falls upon the’ fif¬ ty ninth year of his age.
The fecond, Fittacus.^ of Mitylene.^ who flou- riflted in the forty fecond Olympiad, .and died in the third year of the fifty fecond.
The third, Bias., of Friene., contemporary with Fittacus., living under Alyattes and Crcefus.
The fourth, Solon., who was Archon at Athens the third year of the forty lixth Olympiad. He died Olymp. 55.
The fifth, Cleobulus of Lindus, coetanedus with Solon.
The fixth. My fori of ChenL
The Seventh, Chilon of Lacedambn, who was Eyhorus., Olymp. $6.
The Credit andGlory of thefe Seven., was much encrcffed (faith Flutarch) by a Tripod fent round from one to another .Joy a mutual,noble, and mode ft concejjion : the occafon related thus., by Laertius and Valerius Maximus.
d Some young Men ^ Ionia having bought a Draught of the Milefian Eijhermen,when the Net was draxKm up, there was found in it a Tripodf e a Golden Delphick Table of great weight.] / Hereupon atnfe a difpute, thofe affirming they had Bargain’d only for the Fillip the*others,that they bought the Draught at a venture : by rea- fon of the ftrangenefs of the cafe, and the value of the Tripod; it was delivered to the City Ma- letus. ] h The Milefians fent to the Oracle at Delphi about it., and received this anfwer :
Com’ft thou Milefian to confult my Shrine ^
The Tripod to the Wifeft I affign.
Hereupon the Milefians, by agreement., pre~ fented it to Thales, he fent it to Bias, Bias to Pit- tacus, he to another, till it pafsd through all the feven,coming at lafl toS(Aor\,who affirming God to be the xoifeji, fent it back to Delphi, [ i giving him at once the Title and reward of greateft Wifdom.]
But Callimachus in his lambicks, ( continueth Laertius) relates it othervoife-, / W Bathycles Arcadian a Cup, with order that it fhould be given to the wifefl, whereupon it was prefented to Thales, and pafs'^d about in courfe till it came to him again, who then dedicated it to Apollo Di- dymatus, wi^ thefe Verfes, according to Calli¬ machus :
Thales to him that Rules th’ Ionian State
This twice obtained prize doth confecrate.
In Frofe thus, Thales the Milefian, Son of Lxamius, to Delphian Apollo 'oj the Grecians
ojjers this twice received Frize of eminence. He that carried the Cup from one to another, was Thyrion, Son to Bathycles,] whither allhde thefe Verfes of k Fhanix Colophonius.
Thales, whofe Birth his Country blefl,
Efteemed of all Men the befl.
Was of the Golden Cup pojjeji.
Eudoxius of Gnidus, iZ/?^Euanthesi^MiIetus, report that a Friend of Croefus having receiv'd from him a Golden Cup to he given to the wifefl of the Grecians, delivered it to Thales, and that at lafl it came to Solon, who fending to /he Pythian Oracle to know who was the w fefl, was anfwer ed Myfon ; whomFudoydus fubflitutes forClQohn- lus, Plato for Periander, the Oracle concerning My fon was this :
OHaan Myfon I declare Wifer than thole that wifeft are.
He that was fent upon the enquiry was Ana- charfis. Datdacus the Hatonift, ^/WClearchus af¬ firm, that the Cup was fent by Croefus /ePittacus, and fo carried about. Andron in Tripode, (which leems to have been a difcourle wholly upon this fubjeS:, and is likewife cited by Clemens A- lexandrmus, to prove that Thales and the other fix flouriftied about the fiftieth Olympiad) that the Argives propofed this Tripod as a Frize to the wifefl of the Greeks, and that it was adjud¬ ged to Ariftodemus Spartan, who rejigned it to Chilon *, Ariftodemus is mentioned by Alchatus.
This Speech we to Ariflodemus owe.
Money’s the Man, none’s Poor and Honeft too.
There are who report that a Ship richly laden, 1
fent by Periander to Thrafibulus Tyrant of Myle- tus, was cafl away in the Com Sea,and the Tripod taken up by feme Fifhermen. Phanodius affirms it was lofl in the Athenian Sea, and afterwards brought to the City, and upon confultation voted to be fent to Bias. Others fay this Tripod was made by Vulcan, gave it to Pelops as his Wives Por¬ tion-, from him it came tdHiot\Ams,,and afterwards being taken away with Helena by Paris was by the Lacedemonian [Hellen] thrown into the Sea,cal- ling to mind [ / an Oracle ] that it would provein / pi^t. lit. time to come the ground oj many Contentions. Afsol. ter this fome Lebedians fifhing thereabouts drew it up, and quarrelling with the Fifhermen about it, it was brought to Coos, but the Controverfie not decided, the bufinefs was told to thofe ^Miletus, which is the chief City of that Country-, they fent a Meffenger to demand it, and finding themf elves flighted, made War upon the Coans ; in which ma¬ ny being flain on both Jides, the Oracle declared that the Tripod fhould be given to the wifefl, whereupon both Parties with joynt confent pre¬ fented it to Thales [^m the Coans being willing m Plut. vit. to grant that to a private Perfon, for which they.-^®^* before contefted with all the Milefians^ who De¬ dicated it to Apollo Didymaeus '; the e ffeQ of the Oracle to the Coans was this :
This Conteftation fhall continue till The Golden Tripod’s into th’ Ocean caft
By Vulcan, you prefent to one whole skill.
Extends to things to come, prefent and paft.
To
Part. I.
THALES.
n Vit. Sol.
To the Milejtans.^
Comeft thou Mtlefian to confult my Shrine j as before. Thus Laertius, n Plutarch adds, that Thales faif Bms was^ wifer than himfelf iLhere- upon it pjjs^ti to him.^ from hint to another .jas laifcr'.^ fo pajjing in a circle from one to another.yit came at laji: to Thales the fecond time. Ymally it was fent from Miletus to Thebes, and dedicated to Ifmeni- an Apollo. Theophraftus faith it was ftrft fent to Bias at Priene, then by Bias to Thales at Mile¬ tus, yi' pajjing through alj it came again to Bias j and finally was fent to Delphi. This is mo(l ge¬ nerally reporieffaving infiead of a Tripoffome fay it was a Cup fent from Crcefus *, others.^ that it was left there by Bathycles.
Thus was the Priority of Thales confirmed by the Oracle, for which reafon he is by Cicero and Strabo {tiled Prince of the Wife Men., to whom the reft yielded the Preheminence.
CHAP. V L
Of his Philofophy.
• Afui La- Sant. ^ de
PhL
T Hales ('faith Laertius) is by many affirmed to be the firji that made difquifitions upon Na¬ ture. ^ Cicero (who taught the Greek Philolb- jiatHra Dear. I phers firft to fpeak Latin,) acknowledges Thales fLib. 14. to be the firft Author thereof. {Strabo faith, that
tbU^ I.T Grecians made enquiry into natural
i Paranefi Caufes and the Mathematicks. a Plutarch calls adGrat. him Incenter of Philofophy', Juftin Martyr, b The moft ancient of Philofophers c Tertullian,