Full Idea
Earth, air, fire and water, viewed as elements, are, by tradition, the leading candidates for being the things that persist through change.
Gist of Idea
Traditionally, the four elements are just what persists through change
Source
Verity Harte (Plato on Parts and Wholes [2002], 4.4)
Book Reference
Harte,Verity: 'Plato on Parts and Wholes' [OUP 2002], p.252
A Reaction
Physics still offers us things that persist through change, as conservation laws.