I should be far enough from imagining, he replied, that I knew the cause
of any of them, by heaven I should; for I cannot satisfy myself that,
when one is added to one, the one to which the addition is made becomes
two, or that the two units added together make two by reason of the
addition. I cannot understand how, when separated from the other, each
of them was one and not two, and now, when they are brought together,
the mere juxtaposition or meeting of them should be the cause of their
becoming two: neither can I understand how the division of one is the
way to make two; for then a different cause would produce the same
effect,--as in the former instance the addition and juxtaposition of one
to one was the cause of two, in this the separation and subtraction of
one from the other would be the cause. Nor am I any longer satisfied
that I understand the reason why one or anything else is either
generated or destroyed or is at all, but I have in my mind some confused
notion of a new method, and can never admit the other.
Then I heard some one reading, as he said, from a book of Anaxagoras,
that mind was the disposer and cause of all, and I was delighted at this
notion, which appeared quite admirable, and I said to myself: If mind
is the disposer, mind will dispose all for the best, and put each
particular in the best place; and I argued that if any one desired to
find out the cause of the generation or destruction or existence of
anything, he must find out what state of being or doing or suffering was
best for that thing, and therefore a man had only to consider the best
for himself and others, and then he would also know the worse, since the
same science comprehended both. And I rejoiced to think that I had found
in Anaxagoras a teacher of the causes of existence such as I desired,
and I imagined that he would tell me first whether the earth is flat or
round; and whichever was true, he would proceed to explain the cause and
the necessity of this being so, and then he would teach me the nature of
the best and show that this was best; and if he said that the earth was
in the centre, he would further explain that this position was the best,
and I should be satisfied with the explanation given, and not want any
other sort of cause. And I thought that I would then go on and ask him
about the sun and moon and stars, and that he would explain to me their
comparative swiftness, and their returnings and various states, active
and passive, and how all of them were for the best. For I could not
imagine that when he spoke of mind as the disposer of them, he would
give any other account of their being as they are, except that this was
best; and I thought that when he had explained to me in detail the cause
of each and the cause of all, he would go on to explain to me what was
best for each and what was good for all. These hopes I would not have
sold for a large sum of money, and I seized the books and read them as