but because it is covered by some of the higher parts of the earth, and because of its greater distance from us. The stars do not give forth heat because they are so far away. Winds are produced when the air that has been attenuated is set in motion; and when it comes together and is yet farther condensed, clouds are produced, and so it changes into water. And hail is formed when the water descending from the clouds is frozen; and snow, when these being yet more filled with moisture become frozen;[25] and lightning, when clouds are separated by violence of the winds; for when they are separated, the flash is bright and like fire.[26] And a rainbow is produced when the sun’s rays fall on compressed air;[27] and earthquakes are produced when the earth is changed yet more by heating and cooling.[28] Such are the opinions of Anaximenes. And he flourished about the first year of the fifty-eighth Olympiad. Plut. _Strom._ 3; _Dox._ 579. Anaximenes says that air is the first principle of all things, and that it is infinite in quantity but is defined by its qualities; and all things are generated by a certain condensation or rarefaction of it. Motion also exists from eternity. And by compression of the air the earth was formed, and it is very broad; accordingly he says that this rests on air; and the sun and the moon and the rest of the stars were formed from earth. He declared that the sun is earth because of its swift motion, and it has the proper amount of heat. Cic. _de Nat. Deor._ i. 10; _Dox._ 531. Afterwards Anaximenes said that air is god,[29] [and that it arose] and that it is boundless and infinite and always in motion; just as though air without any form could be god, when it is very necessary that god should be not only of some form, but of the most beautiful form; or as though everything which comes into being were not thereby subject to death. Aet. i. 3; _Dox._ 278. Anaximenes of Miletos, son of Eurystratos, declared that air is the first principle of things, for from this all things arise and into this they are all resolved again. As our soul which is air, he says, holds us together, so wind [i.e. breath, πνεῦμα] and air encompass the whole world. He uses these words ‘air’ and ‘wind’ synonymously. He is mistaken in thinking that animals are composed of simple homogeneous air and wind; for it is impossible that one first principle should constitute the substance of things, but an active cause is also necessary; just as silver alone is not enough to become coin, but there is need of an active cause, _i.e._ a coin-maker; [so there is need of copper and wood and other substances].