ABSTRACT
Anaxagoras' book was available at the bouquineries in the Athenian agora (Plato, Apology 26E = 59 A 35). Some infer that it was ‘read and understood without much difficulty’; 1 if that is so, times have changed: of all the Presocratics Anaxagoras is the most difficult. Thanks to Simplicius, we possess substantial portions of the first part of Anaxagoras' work Concerning Nature; 2 and there is a rich doxography. But Anaxagoras' views are of considerable complexity, his arguments subtle in conception; and his thought is often (or so I at least find) of a peculiarly elusive character.
