This wide chasm seems as little capable of being bridged by the help of the atoms of Democritus, as by the watery element of thales or the fiery element of Heraclitus.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
To thales the world was full of daemons.
"Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius"
Samuel Dill
Aristotle informs us that thales held "water" to be "the material cause of all things."
"The Approach to Philosophy"
Ralph Barton Perry