Melissus

, a philosopher of Samos, of the Eleatic sect, who flourished about the year 444 B. C. was a disciple of Parmenides, to whose doctrines he closely adhered. He was likewise a man of political wisdom and courage, which gave him great influence among his countrymen, and inspired them with a high veneration for his talents and virtues. Being appointed by them to the command of a fleet, he obtained a great naval victory over the Athenians. As a philosopher, he maintained that the principle of all things is one and immutable, or that whatever exists is one being that this one being includes all things, and is infinite, without beginning or end that there is neither vacuum nor motion in the universe, nor any such thing as production or decay, that the changes which it seems to suffer, are only illusions of our senses, and mere appearances; and that we ought not to lay down any thing positively concerning the gods, since our knowledge of them js so uncertain. Dr. Cudworth, in his *' Intellectual System," has opposed these opinions. ²