Pagina 452 di 734

Yet the disputed points respecting it are not few: some men lay

down that it is a kind of resemblance, and that men who are like

one another are friends: whence come the common sayings, "Like

will to like," "Birds of a feather," and so on. Others, on the

contrary, say, that all such come under the maxim, "Two of a

trade never agree."[2]

Again, some men push their enquiries on these points higher and

reason physically: as Euripides, who says,

"The earth by drought consumed doth love the rain, And the great

heaven, overcharged with rain, Doth love to fall in showers upon

the earth."

Heraclitus, again, maintains, that "contrariety is expedient, and

that the best agreement arises from things differing, and that

all things come into being in the way of the principle of

antagonism."

Empedocles, among others, in direct opposition to these, affirms,

that "like aims at like."