From clouds come sweeping snow and hail,1 And in general, it would seem that Thales was the only wise man of the time who carried his speculations beyond the realm of the practical; the rest2 got the name of wisdom from their excellence as statesmen.
And thunder follows on the lightning's flash.
By winds the sea is lashed to storm, but if it be
Unvexed, it is of all things most amenable.
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1 Fragment 9. 1-2; and Fragment 12 (Bergk).
2 The names usually given in the list of the Seven Wise Men are: Bias of Priene, Chilon of Sparta, Cleobulus of Lindus, Periander of Corinth, Pittacus of Mytilene, Solon of Athens, and Thales of Miletus. See Plut. Sol. 12.4.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. with an English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1.
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