iple of things, but God was that mind which formed all things out
of water;[410] as also that still more remarkable saying of Thales,
recorded by Diogenes Laertius; "God is the most ancient of all things,
for he had no birth; the world is the most beautiful of all things, for
it is the workmanship of God."[411] We are aware that some historians of
philosophy reject the statement of Cicero, because, say they, "it does
violence to the chronology of speculation."[412] Following Hegel, they
assert that Thales could have no conception of God as Intelligence,
since that is a conception of a more advanced philosophy. Such an
opinion may be naturally expected from the philosopher who places God,
not at the commencement, but at the _end_ of things, God becoming
conscious and intelligent in humanity. If, then, Hegel teaches that God
himself has had a progressive development, it is no wonder he should
assert that the idea of God has also had an historic development, the
_last_ term of which is an _intelligent God_. But he who believes that
the idea of God as the infinite and the perfect is native to the human
mind, and that God stands at the beginning of the entire system of
things, will feel there is a strong _a priori_ ground for the belief
that Thales recognized the existence of an _intelligent God who
fashioned the universe_.

[Footnote 405: Cudworth's "Intellectual System," vol. i. p. 71.]

[Footnote 406: Aristotle, "De Anima," i. 2, 17.]

[Footnote 407: Id., ib., i. 2, 17.]

[Footnote 408: Diogenes Laertius, "Lives of the Philosophers," p. 18
(Bohn's ed.).]

[Footnote 409: Aristotle, "De Anima," i. 17.]

[Footnote 410: "De Natura Deor.," bk. i. ch. x.]

[Footnote 411: "Lives," etc., p. 19.]

[Footnote 412: Lewes's "Hist. Philos.," p. 4.]

_Anaximenes of Miletus_ (B.C. 529-480) we place next to Thales in the
consecutive history of thought. It has been usual to rank Anaximander
next to the founder of the Ionian School. The entire complexion of his
system is, however, unlike that of a pupil of Thales. And we think a
careful consideration of his views will justify our placing him at the
head of the Mechanical or Atomic division of the Ionian school.
Anaximenes is the historical successor of Thales; he was unquestionably
a vitalist. He took up the speculation where Thales had left it, and he
carried it a step forward in its development.[413]

Pursuing the same method as Thales, he was not, however, satisfied with
the