And in trying to state the causes of
generation and destruction, and in giving a physical account of all
things, they do away with the cause of movement. Further, they err
in not positing the substance, i.e. the essence, as the cause of
anything, and besides this in lightly calling any of the simple bodies
except earth the first principle, without inquiring how they are
produced out of one anothers-I mean fire, water, earth, and air. For
some things are produced out of each other by combination, others by
separation, and this makes the greatest difference to their priority
and posteriority. For (1) in a way the property of being most
elementary of all would seem to belong to the first thing from which
they are produced by combination, and this property would belong to
the most fine-grained and subtle of bodies. For this reason those
who make fire the principle would be most in agreement with this
argument. But each of the other thinkers agrees that the element of
corporeal things is of this sort. At least none of those who named one
element claimed that earth was the element, evidently because of the
coarseness of its grain. (Of the other three elements each has found
some judge on its side; for some maintain that fire, others that
water, others that air is the element. Yet why, after all, do they not
name earth also, as most men do? For people say all things are earth
Hesiod says earth was produced first of corporeal things; so primitive
and popular has the opinion been.
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