Book 2
3.6
Anaxagoras, the son of Hegesibulus or Eubulus, was a native of Clazomenae. He was a pupil of Anaximenes, and was the first who set mind above matter, for at the beginning of his treatise, which is composed in attractive and dignified language, he says, All things were together; then came Mind and set them in order. This earned for Anaxagoras himself the nickname of Nous or Mind, and Timon in his Silli says of himFr. 24 d.: Then, I ween, there is Anaxagoras, a doughty champion, whom they call Mind, because forsooth his was the mind which suddenly woke up and fitted closely together all that had formerly been in a medley of confusion.
3.6
He was eminent for wealth and noble birth, and furthermore for magnanimity, in that he gave up his patrimony to his relations.
3.7
For, when they accused him of neglecting it, he replied, Why then do you not look after it? And at last he went into retirement and engaged in physical investigation without troubling himself about public affairs. When some one inquired, Have you no concern in your native land? Gently, he replied, I am greatly concerned with my fatherland, and pointed to the sky.
