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THE  FRAGMEN'  S 


EMPEDOCLES 


WILLIAM  E.  LEONARD.  PH  D. 


.JH. 

THE  FRAGMENTS  OF 
EMPEDOCLES 


TRANSLATED  INTO  ENGLISH  VERSE 
BY 

WILLIAM  ELLERY  LEONARD,    PH.  D. 

ENGLISH  DEPARTMENT,   UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN 


CHICAGO 
THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

LONDON  AGENTS 

KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1908 


. 


-  E 


Empedocles . . . 
Whom  that  three-cornered  isle  of  all  the  lands 

Bore  on  her  coasts which,  though  for  much  she  seem 

The  mighty  and  the  wondrous  isle,.. .  hath  ne'er 
Possessed  within  her  aught  of  more  renown, 
Nor  aught  more  holy,  wonderful,  and  dear 
Than  this  true  man.    Nay,  ever  so  far  and  pure 
The  lofty  music  of  his  breast  divine 
Lifts  up  its  voice  and  tells  of  glories  found 
That  scarce  he  seems  of  human  stock  create. 

Lucretius,  I.  716  ff. 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

THE  OPEN   COURT   PUBLISHING  CO. 
1908 


DEDICATION. 
(To  W.  R.  N.) 

In  my  last  winter  by  Atlantic  seas, 

How  often,  when  the  long  day's  task  was  through, 

I  found,  in  nights  of  friendliness  with  you, 

The  quiet  corner  of  the  scholar's  ease; 

While  you  explored  the  Orphic  liturgies, 

Or  old  Pythagoras'  mystic  One  and  Two, 

Or  heartened  me  with  Plato's  larger  view, 

Or  the  world-epic  of  Empedocles: 

It  cost  you  little;  but  such  things  as  these, 
When  man  goes  inland,  following  his  star- 
When  man  goes  inland  where  the  strangers  are — 
Build  him  a  house  of  goodly  memories : 
So  take  this  book  in  token,  and  rejoice 
That  I  am  richer  having  heard  your  voice. 

W.  E.  L. 
MADISON.  Wis.,  Dec.  1906. 


PREFACE. 

THIS  translation  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of  my 
friend,  Dr.  W.  R.  Newbold,  Professor  of  Greek  Phi 
losophy  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  hope  of 
interesting  here  and  there  a  student  of  thought  or  a  lover 
of  poetry.  The  introduction  and  notes  are  intended  merely 
to  illustrate  the  text:  they  touch  only  incidentally  on  the 
doxographical  material  and  give  thus  by  no  means  a  com 
plete  account  of  all  it  is  possible  to  know  about  Empedocles's 
philosophy.  My  indebtedness  to  the  critics  is  frequently 
attested  in  the  references;  but  I  have  in  all  points  tried  to 
exercise  an  independent  judgment.  Most  citations  from 
works  not  accessible  in  English  are  given  in  translation. 

It  is  a  genuine  pleasure  to  acknowledge  my  special  obli 
gations  to  Professor  Newbold  and  to  Professor  E.  B.  Mc- 
Gilvary  of  the  philosophical  department  at  Wisconsin  for 
their  kindness  in  reading  the  manuscript  and  adding  several 
valuable  suggestions.  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  J.  R.  Blackman 
of  the  department  of  physiology  at  the  University  of  Wis 
consin  for  medical  references. 

WILLIAM  ELLERY  LEONARD. 
MADISON,  Wis.,  May  14,  1907. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

PREFACE v 

EMPEDOCLES  :  THE  MAN,  THE  PHILOSOPHER,  THE  POET. 

Life i 

Personality 2 

Works 3 

History  of  the  Text 3 

Translations 4 

The  Ideas  of  Empedocles 4 

The  Poetry  of  Empedocles 9 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 13 

Ow  NATURE. 

To  his  Friend IS 

Limitations  of  Knowledge 15 

The    Elements 17 

Ex  Nihilo  Nihil 19 

The  Plenum 19 

Our  Elements   Immortal 20 

Love  and  Hate.,  the  Everlasting 20 

The  Cosmic  Process 20 

Love  and  Hate  in  the  Organic  World 23 

From  the  Elements  is  All  We  See 24 

Similia   Similibus 25 

An  Analogy 26 

The  Speculative  Thinker 27 

An    Aphorism 27 

The  Law  of  the  Elements 28 

The  Sphere 29 

Physical  Analogies 30 

The  Conquest  of  Love 31 

Similia  Similibus 32 

The  World  as  It  Now  Is 33 

Earth  and  Air  not  Illimitable 33 


viii  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

PACE 

Sun  and  Moon 33 

The  Darkling  Night 35 

Wind  and  Rain 35 

Fire 35 

The   Volcano 35 

Air 35 

Things  Passing  Strange 36 

Strange  Creatures  of  Olden  Times 36 

The  Process  of  Human  Generation  To-day 38 

On  Animals  and  Plants 39 

Our  Eyes 42 

Similia    Similibu-s 44 

The  Black  River  Bottoms 44 

Eyes 45 

Bones 45 

Blood   and   Flesh 45 

The  Far 46 

The  Rushing  Blood  and  the  Clepsydra 46 

Scent 48 

On  the   Psychic  Life 49 

Dominion 51 

THE  PURIFICATIONS. 

The  Healer  and  Prophet 53 

Expiation  and   Metempsychosis 54 

This  Earth  of  Ours 5» 

This   Sky-Roofed   World 56 

This  Vale  of  Tears & 

The  Changing  Forms 51^ 

The  Golden  Age 5'^ 

The  Sage 59 

Those  Days 60 

The  Divine 60 

Animal  Sacrifice 62 

Taboos 63 

Sin 63 

The  Progression  of  Rebirth 64 

Last  Echoes  of  a  Song  Half  Lost 65 

NOTES.  .  67 


EMPEDOCLES:    THE  MAN,  THE  PHILOS 
OPHER,  THE  POET. 


LIFE. 


THE  philosopher  Empedocles,  according  to  the 
common  tradition  of  antiquity,  was  born  at 
Agrigentum  in  Sicily,  and  flourished  just  before 
the  Peloponnesian  war,  the  contemporary  of  the 
great  Athenians  about  Pericles.  He  might  have 
heard  the  Prometheus  in  the  theatre  of  Dionysus 
and  have  talked  with  Euripides  in  the  Agora;  or 
have  seen  with  Phidias  the  bright  Pallas  Athene  on 
the  Acropolis ;  or  have  listened  in  the  groves  beyond 
the  city  while  Anaxagoras  unfolded  to  him  those 
half-spiritual  guesses  at  the  nature  of  the  universe, 
so  different  from  his  own.  He  might:  but  the  de 
tails  of  his  life  are  all  too  imperfectly  recorded.  The 
brief  references  in  other  philosophers  and  the  vita 
of  Diogenes  Laertius  contain  much  that  is  contra 
dictory  or  legendary.  Though  apparently  of  a 
wealthy  and  conservative  family,  he  took  the  lead 
among  his  fellow  citizens  against  the  encroach 
ments  of  the  aristocracy;  but,  as  it  seems,  falling 
at  last  from  popular  favor,  he  left  Agrigentum 
and  died  in  the  Peloponnesus — his  famous  leap  into 
Mount  Aetna  being  as  mythical  as  his  reputed 


2  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

translation  after  a  sacrificial  meal ....  But  time 
restores  the  exiles:  Florence  at  last  set  the  image 
of  Dante  before  the  gates  of  Santa  Croce;  and 
now,  after  two  thousand  years,  the  hardy  demo 
crats  of  Agrigentum  begin  to  cherish  (so  I  have 
read)  the  honest  memory  of  Empedocles  with  that 
of  Mazzini  and  Garibaldi. 

PERSONALITY. 

The  personality  of  this  old  Mediterranean  Greek 
must  have  been  impressive.  He  was  not  only  the 
statesman  and  philosopher,  but  the  poet.  And  ego 
tistic,  melancholy,  eloquent1  soul  that  he  was,  he 
seems  to  have  considered  himself  above  all  as  the 
wonder-worker  and  the  hierophant,  in  purple  vest 
and  golden  girdle, 

"Crowned  both  with  fillets  and  with  flowering  wreaths;" 

and  he  tells  us  of  his  triumphal  passage  through  the 
Sicilian  cities,  how  throngs  of  his  men  and  women 
accompanied  him  along  the  road,  how  from  house 
and  alley  thousands  of  the  fearful  and  the  sick 
crowded  upon  him  and  besought  oracles  or  healing 
words.  And  stories  have  come  down  to  us  of  his 
wonderful  deeds,  as  the  waking  of  a  woman  from  a 
long  trance  and  the  quite  plausible  cure  of  a  mad 
man  by  music.  Some  traces  of  this  imposing  figure, 
with  elements  frankly  drawn  from  legends  not  here 
mentioned  appear  in  Arnold's  poem. 

1  From  Empedocles,  indeed,  according  to  Aristotle,  the  study  of 
rhetoric  got  its  first  impulse.  Cf.  Diels's  Gorgias  und  Empedocles  in 
Sitzungsbcrichtc  d.  K.  P.  Akademic  d.  Wissenschaften,  1884. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 


WORKS. 

Of  the  many  works,  imputed  to  Empedocles  by 
antiquity,  presumably  only  two  are  genuine,  the 
poems  On  Nature  and  the  Purifications;  and  of 
these  we  possess  but  the  fragments  preserved  in  the 
citations  of  philosopher  and  doxographer  from  Ar 
istotle  to  Simplicius,  which,  though  but  a  small  part 
of  the  whole,  are  much  more  numerous  and  com 
prehensive  than  those  of  either  Xenophanes  or  Par- 
menides.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  when  the 
poems  were  lost:  they  were  read  doubtless  by  Lu 
cretius  and  Cicero,  possibly  as  late  as  the  sixth 
century  by  Simplicius,  who  at  least  quotes  from  the 
On  Nature  at  length.2 

HISTORY  OF  THE  TEXT. 

The  fragments  were  imperfectly  collected  late  in 
the  Renaissance,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  deter 
mine,  first  by  the  great  German  Xylander,  who 
translated  them  into  Latin.  Stephanus  published 
his  Empedoclis  Fragmenta  at  Paris  in  1573.  But 
not  till  the  nineteenth  century  did  they  get  the  at 
tention  they  deserve,  in  the  editions  of  Sturz  ( 1805) 
Karsten  ( 1838) ,  Stein  ( 1852) , and  Mullach  ( 1860), 
which  show,  however,  confusing  diversities  in  the 
readings  as  well  as  in  the  general  arrangement. 
Each  except  Stein's  is  accompanied  by  Latin  trans- 

The  writings  of  Democritus  are  conjectured  to  have  been  lost 
between  the  third  and  fifth  centuries. 


4  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

lation3  and  notes.  But  our  best  text  is  unquestion 
ably  that  of  Hermann  Diels  of  Berlin,  first  pub 
lished  in  1901  in  his  Poctarnm  Philosophorum 
Fragmeuta,  and  subsequently  (1906),  with  a  few 
slight  changes  and  additions,  in  his  Fraemente  dcr 

o  o  o 

Vorsokratiker. 

TRANSLATIONS. 

As  said  above,  there  are  several  translations  into 
Latin ;  all  that  I  have  seen  being"  in  prose,  and  some 
rather  loose  for  the  work  of  distinguished  scholars. 
The  late  P.  Tannery  gives  a  literal  French  trans 
lation  in  his  work  on  Hellenic  Science,  Diels  in  his 
Fragmcntc  one  in  German,  Hodrero  in  his  //  Prin- 
cipio  one  in  Italian,  and  Burnet  and  Fairbanks  in 
their  works  on  early  Greek  philosophy  literal  Eng 
lish  translations,  of  which  the  former's  is  the  better. 
There  is  one  in  German  hexameters  from  the  ear 
lier  decades  of  the  last  century;  and  a  few  brief 
selections  in  the  English  hexameters  of  \Y.  C.  Law- 
ton  may  be  found  in  \Yarner's  Library  of  the 
ll'orld's  Best  Literature.  The  works  of  Frere  and 
of  Symonds  contain  specimen  renderings,  the  form 
er's  in  verse,  the  kilter's  in  prose.  Probably  Diels 
does  most  justice  to  the  meaning  of  Empedocles; 
none  assuredly  does  any  kind  of  justice  to  his  poetry. 

THE  IDEAS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

We  can  reconstruct  something  of  Empedocles's 
system  out  of  the  fragments  themselves  and  out  of 

8 1  have  not  seen  the  original  of  Sturz's  edition ;  but  I  gather 
from  references  in  my  reading  that  it  contains  a  translation. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  5 

the  allusions  in  the  ancients;  yet  our  knowledge  is 
by  no  means  precise,  and  even  from  the  earliest 
times  has  there  been  diversity  of  interpretation. 
Various  problems  are  discussed,  as  they  come  up, 
in  the  Notes,  but  a  brief  survey  of  what  seems  to  be 
his  thought  as  a  whole,  even  at  the  risk  of  some 
repetition,  may  help  the  general  reader  to  get  his 
bearings. 

The  philosophy  of  the  On  Nature  may  be  con 
sidered  as  a  union  of  the  Eleatic  doctrine  of  Being 
with  that  of  the  Heraclitic  Becoming,  albeit  the 
Sicilian  is  more  the  natural  scientist  than  the  dia 
lectician,  more  the  Spencer  than  the  Hegel  of  his 
times.  With  Parmenides  he  denies  that  the  aught 
can  come  from  or  return  to  the  naught ;  with  Hera- 
clitus  he  affirms  the  principle  of  development.  There 
is  no  real  creation  or  annihilation  in  this  universal 
round  of  things ;  but  an  eternal  mixing  and  unmix 
ing,  due  to  two  eternal  powers,  Love  and  Hate,  of 
one  world-stuff  in  its  sum  unalterable  and  eternal. 
There  is  something  in  the  conception  suggestive  of 
the  chemistry  of  later  times.  To  the  water  of 
Thales,  the  air  of  Anaximenes,  and  the  fire  of 
Heraclitus  he  adds  earth,  and  declares  them  as  all 
alike  primeval,  the  promise  and  the  potency  of  the 
universe, 

"The  fourfold  root  of  all  things." 

These  are  the  celebrated  "four  elements"  of  later 
philosophy  and  magic.  In  the  beginning,  if  we 
may  so  speak  of  a  vision  which  seems  to  transcend 


6  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

time,  these  four,  held  together  by  the  uniting  bond 
of  Love,  rested,  each  separated  and  unmixed,  beside 
one  another  in  the  shape  of  a  perfect  sphere,  which 
by  the  entrance  of  Hate  was  gradually  broken  up 
to  develop  at  last  into  the  world  and  the  individual 
things, 

"Knit  in  all  forms  and  wonderful  to  see." 

But  the  complete  mastery  of  Hate,  means  the  com 
plete  dissipation  and  destruction  of  things  as  such, 
until  Love,  winning  the  upper  hand,  begins  to  unite 
and  form  another  world  of  life  and  beauty,  which 
ends  in  the  still  and  lifeless  sphere  of  old,  again 

"exultant  in  surrounding  solitude." 

Whereupon,  in  the  same  way,  new  \vorld-periods 
arise,  and  in  continual  interchange  follow  one  an 
other  forever,  like  the  secular  axms  of  the  nebular 
hypothesis  of  to-day. 

Moreover,  Empedocles  tells  us  of  a  mysterious 
vortex,  the  origin  of  which  he  may  have  explained 
in  some  lost  portion  of  his  poem,  a  whirling  mass, 
like  the  nebula  in  Orion  or  the  original  of  our  solar 
system,  that  seems  to  be  the  first  stage  in  the  world- 
process  after  the  motionless  harmony  of  the  sphere. 
Out  of  this  came  the  elements  one  by  one:  first,  air, 
which,  condensing  or  thickening,  encompassed  the 
rest  in  the  form  of  a  globe  or,  as  some  maintain,  of 
an  egg;  then  fire,  which  took  the  upper  space,  and 
crowded  air  beneath  her.  And  thus  arose  two 
hemispheres,  together  forming  the  hollow  vault  of 
the  terrestrial  heaven  above  and  below  us,  the 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  7 

bright  entirely  of  fire,  the  dark  of  air,  sprinkled 
with  the  patches  of  fire  we  call  stars.  And,  because 
in  unstable  equilibrium,  or  because  bearing  still 
something  of  the  swift  motion  of  the  vortex,  or  be 
cause  of  fire's  intrinsic  push  and  pressure — for  Em- 
pedocles's  physics  are  here  particularly  obscure — 
this  vault  begins  to  revolve :  and  behold  the  morn 
ing  and  the  evening  of  the  first  day;  for  this  revo 
lution  of  the  vault  is,  he  tells  us,  the  cause  of  day 
and  night. 

Out  of  the  other  elements  came  the  earth,  prob 
ably  something  warm  and  slimy,  without  form  and 
void.  It  too  was  involved  in  the  whirl  of  things; 
and  the  same  force  which  expels  the  water  from  a 
sponge,  when  swung  round  and  round  in  a  boy's 
hand,  worked  within  her,  and  the  moist  spurted 
forth  and  its  evaporation  filled  the  under  spaces  of 
air,  and  the  dry  land  appeared.  And  the  everlast 
ing  Law  made  two  great  lights,  for  signs  and  sea 
sons,  and  for  days  and  years,  the  greater  light  to 
rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night; 
and  it  made  the  stars  also. 

The  development  of  organic  life,  in  which  the 
interest  of  Empedocles  chiefly  centers,  took  place, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  period  of  the  conflict  of  Love 
and  Hate,  through  the  unceasing  mixing  and  sepa 
ration  of  the  four  elements.  Furthermore,  the 
quantitative  differences  of  the  combinations  pro 
duced  qualitative  differences  of  sensible  properties. 
First  the  plants,  conceived  as  endowed  with  feeling, 
sprang  up,  germinations  out  of  earth.  Then  ani- 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

mals  arose  piecemeal — he  tells  us  in  one  passage- 
heads,  arms,  eyes,  roaming  ghastly  through  space, 
the  chance  unions  of  which  resulted  in  grotesque 
shapes  until  joined  in  fit  number  and  proportion, 
they  developed  into  the  organisms  we  see  about  us. 
Tn  another  passage  we  hear  how  first  rose  mere 
lumps  of  earth 

"with  rude  impress," 

but  he  is  probably  speaking  of  two  separate  periods 
of  creation.  Empedocles  was  a  crude  evolutionist.4 

His  theory  of  the  attraction  of  like  for  like,  so 
suggestive  of  the  chemical  affinities  of  modern  sci 
ence;  his  theory  of  perception,  the  earliest  recog 
nition,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Alcmaon  of 
Croton,  of  the  subjective  element  in  man's  experi 
ence  with  the  outer  world;  and  his  affirmation  of 
the  consciousness  of  matter,  in  company  with  so 
many  later  materialists,  even  down  to  Haeckel,  who 
puts  the  soul  in  the  atom,  are,  perhaps,  for  our  pur 
poses  sufficiently  explained  in  the  notes. 

Behind  all  the  absurdities  of  the  system  of  Em 
pedocles,  we  recognize  the  keen  observation,  in 
sight,  and  generalizing  power  of  a  profound  mind, 
which,  in  our  day  with  our  resources  of  knowledge, 
would  have  been  in  the  forefront  of  the  world's  seek 
ers  after  that  Reality  which  even  the  last  and  the 
greatest  seek  with  a  success  too  humble  to  warrant 
much  smiling  at  those  gone  before. 

4  Some  portions  of  the  above  paragraphs  are  translated  and  con 
densed  from  Zeller.  some  others  from  Vorlander,  Geschichte  der 
Philosophic,  I.  Band,  Leipsic,  1903. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  9 

THE  POETRY  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Empedocles  and  his  forerunner  Parmenides  were 
the  only  Greek  philosophers  who  wrote  down  their 
systems  in  verse;  for  Heraclitus  had  written  in 
crabbed  prose,  and  Xenophanes  was  more  poet- 
satirist  than  poet-philosopher.  Lucretius,  the  poet 
ical  disciple  of  Empedocles  (though  not  in  the  same 
degree  that  he  was  the  philosophic  disciple  of  Epi 
curus),  is  in  this  their  only  successor.  Contempo 
rary  reflective  satire  and  the  metrical  forms  of  the 
Orphics  may,  as  Burnet  conjectures,  have  sug 
gested  the  innovation;  but  both  Parmenides  and 
Empedocles  were  poets  by  nature,  and  I  see  no  rea 
son  why  they  should  not  naturally  and  spontane 
ously  have  chosen  the  poet's  splendid  privilege  of 
verse  for  their  thought. 

The  Ionic  dialect  of  Empedocles's  hexameters, 
and  occasionally  even  his  phrase,  is  Homeric;  but 
in  mood  and  manner,  as  sometimes  in  philosophic 
terminology,  he  recalls  the  Eleatic.  Parmenides 
had  written : 

"And  thou  shalt  know  the  Source  etherial, 
And  all  the  starry  signs  along  the  sky, 
And  the  resplendent  works  of  that  clear  lamp 
Of  glowing  sun,  and  whence  they  all  arose. 
Likewise  of  wandering  works  of  round-eyed  moon 
Shalt  thou  yet  learn  and  of  her  source ;  and  then 
Shalt  thou  know  too  the  heavens  that  close  us  round — 
Both  whence  they  sprang  and  how  Fate  leading  them 

Bound  fast  to  keep  the  limits  of  the  stars 

How  earth  and  sun  and  moon  and  common  sky, 

The  Milky  Way,  Olympos  outermost, 

And  burning  might  of  stars  made  haste  to  be."8 

8  Parmenides,  fr.  10,  n,  Diels,  FV. 


10  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

And  it  is  as  if  he  were  addressing  the  Agrigen- 
tine  and  bequeathing  him  his  spiritual  heritage; 
and  we  might  add  thereto  those  verses  of  another 
poet  of  more  familiar  times : 

"And  thou  shalt  write  a  song  like  mine,  and  yet 
Much  more  than  mine,  as  thou  art  more  than  I." 

For,  although  Empedocles  has  left  us  no  pas 
sage  of  the  gorgeous  imagination  of  Parmenides's 
proem,0  the  1777701  rat  />te  <j>epovo-Lv,  his  fragments  as 
a  whole  seem  much  more  worth  while. 

He  was  true  poet.  There  is  first  the  grandeur 
of  his  conception.  Its  untruth  for  the  intellect  of 
to-day  should  not  blind  us  to  its  truth  and  power 
for  the  imagination,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and 
perhaps  forever.  The  Ptolemaic  astronomy  of  Par 
adise  Lost  is  as  real  to  the  student  of  Milton  as  the 
Copernican  to  the  student  of  Laplace,  and  an  essen 
tial  element  in  the  poem.  The  nine  circles  of  the 
subterranean  Abyss  lose  none  of  their  impressive- 
ness  for  us  because  we  know  more  of  geology  than 
the  author  of  the  Inferno.  The  imagination  can 
glory  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  towering  over  the 
wrecks  of  time,  long  after  the  intellect  has  settled 
with  the  dogmas  of  orthodoxy.  And  an  idea  may 
be  imposing  even  for  the  intellect  where  the  intel 
lect  repudiates  its  validity.  A  stupendous  error 
like  the  Hegelian  logic  of  history,  even  the  pseudo- 
science  of  Goethe's  vertebral  theory  of  the  skull, 
that  yet  suggests  the  great  principle  of  morpholog- 

8  Diels,  PV.  Arnold  has  borrowed  from  it  one  of  the  best  lines 
of  Empedocles  on  Aetna : 

"Ye  sun-born  Virgins !  on  the  road  of  truth." — 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  1 1 

ical  and  functional  metamorphosis,  argues  greater 
things  for  the  mind  of  man  than  any  truth,  however 
ingeniously  discovered,  in  the  world  of  petty  facts. 
And  the  response  of  the  soul  is  a  poetic  response, 
the  thrill  and  the  enthusiasm  before  the  large  idea. 
Our  poet's  conception  is  impressive  to  imagination 
and  to  intellect :  we  stand  with  him  amid  the  awful 
silence  of  the  primeval  Sphere  that  yet  exults  in 
surrounding  solitude;  but  out  of  the  darkness  and 
the  abyss  there  comes  a  sound :  one  by  one  do  quake 
the  limbs  of  God;  the  powers  of  life  and  death  are 
at  work;  Love  and  Hate  contend  in  the  bosom  of 
nature  as  in  the  bosom  of  man ;  we  sweep  on  in  fire 
and  rain  and  down  the 

"awful  heights  of  Air;" 

amid  the  monstrous  shapes,  the  arms,  the  heads,  the 
glaring  eyes,  in  space,  and  at  last  we  are  in  the 
habitable  world,  this  shaggy  earth,  this  sky-roofed 
cave  of  the  fruitful  vine  and  olive,  of  the  multi 
tudinous  tribes  of  hairy  beasts,  and  of  men  and 
women, — all  wonderful  to  see;  for  Empedocles  is 
strikingly  concrete.  But  the  aeons  of  change  never 
end ;  and  the  revolution,  as  we  have  seen,  comes  full 
circle  forever. 

There  is  too  the  large  poet's  feeling  for  the  color, 
the  movement,  the  mystery,  the  life  of  the  world 
about  us :  for  the  wide  glow  of  blue  heaven,  for  the 
rain  streaming  down  on  the  mountain  trees,  for  the 
wind-storm  riding  in  from  ocean,  for 

"Night,  the  lonely,  with  her  sightless  eyes," 


12  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

for  the  lion  couched  on  the  mountain  side,  the  diver- 
bird  skimming-  the  waves  with  its  wings,  and 

"The  songless  shoals  of  spawning  fish" 

that  are 

"nourished  in  deep  waters" 

and  led,  it  may  be,  by  Aphrodite. 

There  is  the  poet's  relation  to  his  kind,  the  sym 
pathy  with 

"men  and  women,  the  pitied  and  bewailed," 

who  after  their  little  share  of  life  with  briefest 
fates 

"Like  smoke  are  lifted  up  and  flit  away;" 

the  interest  and  the  joy  in  the  activities  of  man: 
how  now  one  lights  his  lantern  and  sallies  forth  in 
the  wintry  night ;  how  now  another  mixes  his  paints 
in  the  sunlight  for  a  variegated  picture  of  trees 
and  birds  which  is  to  adorn  the  temple;  how  now 
a  little  girl,  down  by  the  brook, 

"Plays  with  a  waterclock  of  gleaming  bronze." 

There  is  the  poet's  instinct  for  the  effective 
phrase,  which  suggests  so  much,  because  it  tells  so 
little;  an  austere  simplicity,  which  relates  the  author 
by  achievement  to  that  best  period  of  Greek  art  to 
which  he  belonged  by  birth;  and  a  roll  of  rhythm 
as  impassioned  and  sonorous  as  wras  ever  heard  on 
Italian  soil,  though  that  soil  was  the  birth-place  of 
Lucretius.  .  .But  I  am  the  translator,  not  the  critic, 
of  the  poet. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


BODRERO  in  his  //  Principio  fondamentale  del  sistema  di  Empedode1 
(Rome,  1904;  cited  as  "Bodrero")  gives  a  valuable  bibliog 
raphy,  almost  exhaustive  for  the  study  of  our  philosopher, 
save  for  the  surprising  omission  of  the  work  of  Burnet.  Bo 
drero  is  presumably  known  and  accessible  to  the  special  stu 
dent;  for  the  general  reader  the  following  will,  perhaps,  be 
found  sufficient : 

BLAKE  WELL.  Source  Book  in  Greek  Philosophy,  New  York,  1907. 
(Contains  partial  prose  translation,  but  came  to  hand  after 
the  present  volume  was  in  press.) 

BURNET,  Early  Greek  Philosophy,  London,  1892.  (Keen  and  inde 
pendent.  Cited  as  "Burnet."). 

FAIRBANKS,  The  First  Philosophers  of  Greece,  New  York,  1898. 
(Contains  translations  of  the  doxographers  on  Emped'ocles.) 

GOMPERZ,  Greek  Thinkers,  vol.  I.,  trans,  by  Laurie  Magnus,  New 
York,  1901.  (Beautifully  written,  inspiring;  but  somewhat 
fanciful.  Cited  as  "Gomperz.") 

SY.MONDS,  Studies  of  the  Greek  Poets,  vol.  I,  chap.  VII.,  London, 
1893.  (Good  critical  appreciation,  with  some  prose  transla 
tions.) 

TANNERY,  Pour  I'histoire  de  la  science  hellene,  Paris,  1887.  (Keen 
and  independent.  Cited  as  "Tannery.") 

WINDELBAND,  Plistory  of  Ancient  Philosophy,  trans,  by  H.  E.  Cush- 
man,  New  York,  1899. 

'This  book  seems  to  me  as  remarkable  for  its  scholarship  and 
acumen  as  for  the  speciousness  of  its  views.  I  wrote  to  Professor 
Diels  about  it,  who  answered,  however,  that  he  had  not  as  yet  found 
time  to  examine  it. 


14  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

ZELLER,  Die  Philosophie  dcr  Griechcn,  I.  Teil,  fiinfte  Auflage,  Leip- 
sic,  1892.  (Cited  as  "Zeller.") 

And  the  above  mentioned  texts  of 

DIELS,  Poetarum  Philosophorum  Fragmenta,  Berlin,  1901.  (Contains 
the  comments  of  the  doxographers  in  the  Greek,  and  a  few, 
but  very  useful,  original  notes  in  Latin.  Cited  as  "Diels, 
PPR") 

Fragmcnte  der  Vorsokratiker,  zweite  Auflage,  erster  Band, 
Berlin,  1906.  (Contains  German  translation.  Cited  as  "Diels, 
FV.") 


ON  NATURE. 

To  His  Friend. 
I. 

Haver  cu>  117,  cru  Se  /cXv$t,  Sat'^poz'os  'Ay^trov  vie. 


Hear  thou,  Pausanias,  son  of  wise  Anchitus! 

Limitations  of  Knowledge. 

2. 

CTTeivcoiroi  fjiev  yap  TraXdfJLai  Kara  yvla  /ce 
TroXXa,  Se  SeiX'  ejaTrata,  ra  T'  a/ 
Travpov  Se  ^w^5  tStou  yaepo?  d 

O)KVfJLOpOl  KCLTTVOIO  St/CT^V  a 

avro  IJLOVOV  Tretcr^eVre?  ,  ora;t  Trpoa-eKvptrev  eKacrro? 

'  e'Xavi'd/xevot,  TO  S'  oXoz>  [TTCI?]  ev^erat  evpelv 

V     >      )          ^  \  /O>      '       O         >  >  ^'       »  ' 

ovr  eiTioepKra  rao   avopacriv  ovo   e?raKovcrra 

V  /  \  /  NO'1?  »          N      *O>      >\        / 

ovre  z^oa>t  TreptX^Trra.     crv  o   ovz^,  CTTCI  coo   eXtac 
Trevcreat  ou  TT\eov  rje  (Bporeir)  ja^rt?  opwpev. 


For  narrow  through  their  members  scattered  ways 
Of  knowing  lie.    And  many  a  vile  surprise 
Blunts  soul  and  keen  desire.    And  having  viewed 
Their  little  share  of  life,  with  briefest  fates, 
Like  smoke  they  are  lifted  up  and  flit  away, 
Believing  only  what  each  chances  on, 


1  6  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Hither  and  thither  driven;  yet  they  boast 
The  larger  vision  of  the  whole  and  all. 
But  thuswise  never  shall  these  things  be  seen, 
Never  be  heard  by  men,  nor  seized  by  mind  ; 
And  thou,  since  hither  now  withdrawn  apart, 
Shalt  learn  —  no  more  than  mortal  ken  may  span. 

3- 
crreydcrcu  <^>pevo9  eXXoTro?  eicrai. 


Shelter  these  teachings  in  thine  own  mute  breast. 

4 

dXXa  Oeol  TOJI/  yxei/  (JLavfyv  a.Trorpe^ia.T€.  yXa 
€K  S'  ocrifov  o-TOfJLO.Toji>  KaOaprjv  o^erevorare 
/cat  ere',  TroXv^vrjcrTrj  XevKwXei'e  Trap9ev€.  Movcra, 
aWo/xat,  &v  dejjLis  eVrti^  e^i^/Aeptottrti/  aKoueti/, 
7T€/i7T€  Trap'  Ever  6^8117  5  eXcioucr'  evtjvLOv  ap/Jia. 
ere  y   cuSd^oto  ^Str^crerat  (Lvdea. 


alt 


Bdpcrti  KOI  rore  817  <ro<j>vr)s  eV  d/cpotcrt 

dXX'  dy'  ddpei  TrdcrrjL  TraXdjai^t,  TT^I  S^Xoi/  e/cacrrot', 

TL  oi//t^  e^wi/  Tricrret  irXeov  ^  Kar' 
OLKQ-TIV  epiSovTTOV  vvrep  rpavatfjiara 
rt  rail/  dXXwv,  OTrdcr^t  vrdpo?  ecrrl 
TricrTiv  epvK€y  voei  6*  171  SiJXov  e/cacrroi>. 


But  turn  their  madness,  Gods  !  from  tongue  of  mine, 
And  drain  through  holy  lips  the  well-spring  clear  ! 
And  many-wooed,  O  white-armed  Maiden-Muse, 
Thee  I  approach  :  O  drive  and  send  to  me 
Meek  Piety's  well-reined  chariot  of  song, 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  1  7 

So  far  as  lawful  is  for  men  to  hear, 
Whose  lives  are  but  a  day.    Nor  shall  desire 
To  pluck  the  flowers  of  fame  and  wide  report 
Among-  mankind  impel  thee  on  to  dare 
Speech  beyond  holy  bound  and  seat  profane 
Upon  those  topmost  pinnacles  of  Truth. 
But  come,  by  every  way  of  knowing  see 
How  each  thing  is  revealed.    Nor,  having  sight, 
Trust  sight  no  more  than  hearing  will  bear  out, 
Trust  echoing  ear  but  after  tasting  tongue  ; 
Nor  check  the  proof  of  all  thy  members  aught  : 
Note  by  all  ways  each  thing  as  'tis  revealed. 

5- 

dXXo,  /ca/cot?  p,€v  Kapra  /le'Xei  Kparlovcriv  amcrTcu/. 
a>?  Se  Trap*  Tj/Aerep^s  /ce'Xerai  mcrTa^aTa  Moucr^s, 
yva)0L  $Laa'O"r)0€VTO<5  evl  erTrXay^votcrt  Xoyoio. 


Yea,  but  the  base  distrust  the  High  and  Strong; 
Yet  know  the  pledges  that  our  Muse  will  urge, 
When  once  her  words  be  sifted  through  thy  soul. 

The  Elements. 
6. 

rccrcrapa  yap  travrtov  /5i£w/Aara  Trpwrov 
Zevs  apy^s  "Hpy  T€  <£epecr/3(,o5  178'  ' 

#',  17  Sa/c/3voi5  reyyet  Kpovvaif^a  (3p6reiov. 


And  first  the  fourfold  root  of  all  things  hear  ! 
White  gleaming  Zeus,  life-bringing  Here,  Dis, 
And  Nestis  whose  tears  bedew  mortality. 


1  8  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

7- 


The  uncreated  elements. 

Birth  and  Death. 

8. 

aXXo  oe  rot  e'pe'ar  ^vcrt?  ouSer'o?  CCTTLV 
OvrjTuv,  ovSe  rt?  ovXo/jLevov  6a.va.Toio  reXeur??, 
aXXa  H,QVOV  /JLL£L<;  re  StaXXa^ig  re  piyevTaiv 
ecru,  Averts  8'  eVl  rot?  o^o/xa^erat  a.v9  puTroicnv  . 

More  will  I  tell  thee  too  :  there  is  no  birth 
Of  all  things  mortal,  nor  end  in  ruinous  death; 
But  mingling  only  and  interchange  of  mixed 
There  is,  and  birth  is  but  its  name  with  men. 

9. 

01  o    ore  fj,ev  Kara,  c^wra  yuiyeVr'  et<?  aWep'  l 
r)  /cara  9rjpuv  dypoT€pa)i>  -yeVo?  ^  Kara,  Od^ 
-^e  /car    otw^ai^,  Tore  /LteV  ro  [Xe'yovcrt]  yeve 
evre  8'  dTroKpLvOvcn,  ra  8'  au  8ucrSat/>to^a 
17  ^e/x,ts  [ou]  Ka\€ovcn.  ,  ^o/xwt  8'  eVu^/xi  Kal  avro?. 


But  when  in  man,  wild  beast,  or  bird,  or  bush, 
These  elements  commingle  and  arrive 
The  realms  of  light,  the  thoughtless  deem  it  "birth"  ; 
When  they  dispart,  'tis  "doom  of  death;"  and  though 
Not  this  the  Law,  I  too  assent  to  use. 

10. 

Qa.va.Tov  ,  .  .  aXoirrjv. 

Avenging  Death. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Ex  nihilo  nihil. 
ii. 

VTfJTTLOL-    OV  yap  O~(f)LV  SoXt^O^pOVe'?  el(Ti 

ot  ST)  yiyvecrOai  Trctpo?  OVK  eov  eX7rt£ovo"ti> 
rj  TL  KaraOvrjKTKeiv  re  /cat  e^oXXvcr^at  aTra 


Fools  !  for  their  thoughts  are  briefly  brooded  o'er. 
Who  trust  that  what  is  not  can  e'er  become, 
Or  aught  that  is  can  wholly  die  away. 


12. 

etf  re  yap  ovSa/x'  e'ojro?  a^ij^avov  ecrrt 

/cat  T'  eoi^  e^aTToXecrdai  avijvvcrTov  Kat  O.TTVO'TOV 


' 


atet  -ya/3  Tt  y   ecrrat,  077171  KC  rt?  atez> 

From  what-is-not  what-is  can  ne'er  become; 
So  that  what-is  should  e'er  be  all  destroyed, 
No  force  could  compass  and  no  ear  hath  heard 
For  there  'twill  be  forever  where  'tis  set. 


The  Plenum. 

13- 
ov8e  rt  TOV  iravTos  Keveov  ueXet  ovSe  irepia'O'ov. 

The  All  hath  neither  Void  nor  Overflow. 

14. 
rov  Trai'Tos  8'  ovSev  Keveov  trodev  ovv  TL  K   eTre 


But  with  the  All  there  is  no  Void,  so  whence 
Could  aught  of  more  come  nigh? 


2O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Our  Elements  Immortal. 

15- 
OVK  av  avrjp  rotaura  o-oc^os  (frpecrl  /lai/revo-airo, 


w?  o<f)pa  IJLCV  re  /3iwcri,  TO  877  fiiorov  /caXeovcri, 
r6(j)pa  fjiev  ovv  etcriV,  /cat  cr<£ti>  Trapa  SetXa  /cat  eV#Xa, 
fipoTol  /cat  [eVet]  \vdev,  ovSej/  ap'  €tcrt»/. 


No  wise  man  dreams  such  folly  in  his  heart, 
That  only  whilst  we  live  what  men  call  life 
We  have  our  being  and  take  our  good  and  ill, 
And  ere  as  mortals  we  compacted  he, 
And  when  as  mortals  we  he  loosed  apart, 
We  are  as  nothing. 

Love  and  Hate,  the  Everlasting. 

16. 

rji  yap  /cat  Trapo?  ecr/cc,  /cat  ecro-erai,  ovSe  TTOT',  ot<u, 
v  /cei/eaxrerat  ao~7rero9  ata)^. 


For  even  as  Love  and  Hate  were  strong  of  yore, 
They  shall  have  their  hereafter;  nor  I  think 
Shall  endless  Age  he  emptied  of  these  Twain. 

The  Cosmic  Process. 

17- 

otTiX    epe'or  rore  yu,eV  yap  ev  yv^TJOr)  ^QVOV  eu'ai 
IK  TiXeo^aj^,  rore  8'  av  Ste^u  TrXe'o^'  e^  eVos  eii/at. 
8ot^  8e  6vr}Tuv  yeWcrts,  80117  8'  a77-oXeti/;ts- 
Trjv  jaei/  yap  TTavrajv  o~woSo?  rt/cret  T'  oXe'/cet  re, 
17  8e  TraXtv  $ia(f)vofji€i>a)v  0pe(f)0€la-a  SteTmy. 
/cat  ravr   aXXao"crovra  Sta/iTrepeg  ovSa/xa  XTyyet, 
aXXore  /otet'  ^tXdr^rt  (rvvep^o^e^  ets  eV  avra^ra, 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  21 


aXXore  o   av  St^'  e/cacrra  (jtopevfieva  Net/ceo? 

TJI  jLteV  ev  e'/c  TT\e6v(i)v  fjLefjLadrjKG  <£vecr#at] 

ta<£vVro9  0/09  TrXe'oi/  eVreXe'0oucrt, 
yiyvovrai  re  /cat  ou  cr^tcrtv  e/A7reSos  cu<ui> 
oe  otaXXacrcrovra  StajaTrepe?  ovSajua  X^yet, 

8*  atei/  eacnv  aKwrjroL  Kara  /cu/cXo^. 
dXX'  aye  ^vda)v  K\v0i-  fjidOrj  yap  rot  <j)peva<5  av^ 
ce>?  yap  /cat  7rptz>  eetTra  Tri(j)avo'Ka)v  Treipara  fJLv6o) 
oiVX'  cpeoj"  Tore  /xei'  yap  eV  rjv^TJOr)  povov  eivai 

€K  TT\€.OV(i)V,  TOTE  8'  ttU  8t€(^)V  TT\4ov'  €^  C^O5  ell/at 

Trv/3  /cat  u8r-;p  /cat  yata  /cat  ^epo?  airXerov  vi//o9, 
Net/co?  T'  ovXojJLevov  8t^a  TW^  ,  arakavrov  aTrdvr 
/cat  ^tXor^s  ez/  rotcrti/,  ten?  /x^/cds  re  TrXaro?  re- 
av  j'owt  Sep/cev,  ^178'  o/t/xacrtv  i^cro  re^Trw?- 
/cat  Ovrjrola-L  ^o^t^erat  e/x^fro?  apOpois, 
re  <£t'Xa  (frpoveovcri  /cat  ap0fjiLa  cpya  reXovcrt, 
oo'vvriv  /caXeo^re?  ITT^VV^OV  778*  ' 
ov  rt?  /xera  rolcriv  eXtcrcro^Ltev^v  SeSa^/ce 
os  dvTJp-  crv  8'  a/cove  Xoyov  OToXoj/  ov/c  a 
ravra  yap  Tcra  TC  Travra  /cat  ijXt/ca  ycvvav  eacrt, 
Tt/x^?  8'  aXXr/s  aXXo  /ae8et,  Trapa  8*  ^^os  e/cacrra>t 
eV  Se  /u,epet  /cpareovcrt  7rept7rXo/a,eVoto 
/cat  Trpo?  rot?  ovr'  ap  re  rt  ytVerat  ovr 
etre  yap  tfyOelpovro  Sta/ATrepe?,  ov/cer*  ai/  r)<rav 
rovro  8'  eTrav^ifcrete  TO  Traz/  rt  /ce  Kat  TroOev  €\66v; 
TTTJI  Se  /ce  KT^aTToXotro,  eVet  rai^S'  ovSeV  cpTjfioi/; 
dXX*  avra  ecrrti/  ravra,  8t*  dXXi^Xwv  Se  Oeovra. 
yiyverai  aXXore  aXXa  /cat  ^ve/ceg  ateV  o/zota. 

I  will  report  a  twofold  truth.    Now  grows 
The  One  from  Many  into  being,  now 


22  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Even  from  the  One  disparting  come  the  Many. 
Twofold  the  birth,  twofold  the  death  of  things : 
For,  now,  the  meeting  of  the  Many  brings 
To  birth  and  death ;  and,  now,  whatever  grew 
From  out  their  sundering,  flies  apart  and  dies. 
And  this  long  interchange  shall  never  end. 
Whiles  into  One  do  all  through  Love  unite; 
Whiles  too  the  same  are  rent  through  hate  of  Strife. 
And  in  so  far  as  is  the  One  still  wont 
To  grow  from  Many,  and  the  Many,  again, 
Spring  from  primeval  scattering  of  the  One, 
So  far  have  they  a  birth  and  mortal  date ; 
And  in  so  far  as  the  long  interchange 
Ends  not,  so  far  forever  established  gods 
Around  the  circle  of  the  world  they  move. 
But  come !    but  hear  my  words !     For  knowledge 

gained 

Makes  strong  thy  soul.    For  as  before  I  spake, 
Naming  the  utter  goal  of  these  my  words, 
I  will  report  a  twofold  truth.    Now  grows 
The  One  from  Many  into  being,  now 
Even  from  the  One  disparting  come  the  Many, — 
Fire,  Water,  Earth  and  awful  heights  of  Air; 
And  shut  from  them  apart,  the  deadly  Strife 
In  equipoise,  and  Love  within  their  midst 
In  all  her  being  in  length  and  breadth  the  same. 
Behold  her  now  with  mind,  and  sit  not  there 
With  eyes  astonished,  for  'tis  she  inborn 
Abides  established  in  the  limbs  of  men. 
Through  her  they  cherish  thoughts  of  love,  through 

her 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  23 

Perfect  the  works  of  concord,  calling  her 
By  name  Delight  or  Aphrodite  clear. 
She  speeds  revolving  in  the  elements, 
But  this  no  mortal  man  hath  ever  learned  _ 
Hear  thou  the  undelusive  course  of  proof: 
Behold  those  elements  own  equal  strength 
And  equal  origin;  each  rules  its  task; 
And  unto  each  its  primal  mode;  and  each 
Prevailing  conquers  with  revolving  time. 
And  more  than  these  there  is  no  birth  nor  end  ; 
For  were  they  wasted  ever  and  evermore, 
They  were  no  longer,  and  the  great  All  were  then 
How  to  be  plenished  and  from  what  far  coast  ? 
And  how,  besides,  might  they  to  ruin  come, 
Since  nothing  lives  that  empty  is  of  them  ?  — 
No,  these  are  all,  and,  as  they  course  along 
Through  one  another,  now  this,  now  that  is  born— 
And  so  forever  down  Eternity. 

18. 
<&iXirj. 

Love. 

19. 


Firm-clasping  Lovingness. 

Love  and  Hate  in  the  Organic  World. 


20. 


TOVTO  fj,ev  av  pporeuv  ^ueXeW  a/DtSet/ceroi/  OJKOV 
aXXore  ^«/  OtXor^rt  a-vvep^o^ev   eis  ev  diravra 


24  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 


ra  <ra>/u,a  XeXoy^€,  filov 
dXXore  8'  avre  Ka/ojicrt  StaT/xi 
irXa^erat  at/Si^'  eKacrra  Treplpp^yfJiivL  /3ioio. 
cus  8'  avrco?  OdfjLvoicri  Kal  iyOvcriv  v8po/xeXa^pois 
Orjpcri, 


The  world-wide  warfare  of  the  eternal  Two 
Well  in  the  mass  of  human  limbs  is  shown: 
Whiles  into  one  do  they  through  Love  unite, 
And  mortal  members  take  the  body's  form, 
And  life  doth  flower  at  the  prime;  and  whiles, 
Again  dissevered  by  the  Hates  perverse, 
They  wander  far  and  wide  and  up  and  down 
The  surf-swept  beaches  and  drear  shores  of  life. 
So  too  with  thicket,  tree,  and  gleaming  fish 
Housed  in  the  crystal  walls  of  waters  wide; 
And  so  with  beasts  that  couch  on  mountain  slopes, 
And  water-fowls  that  skim  the  long  blue  sea. 

From  the  Elements  is  All  We  See. 

21. 

aXX*  dye,  rwvS'  odpuv  Trporepuv  eTTLp-aprvpa  Se'p/cev, 

Ct  Tt   Kal   €V  TTpOTCpOLfTi  XlTTO^uXoi/  €1T\€TO 

rje\Lov  fjitv  Oepp-ov  opav  KCU  \ap.7rpov  arrai 
apPpora  8'  over'  tSet  re  Kal  dpyeri  Several  av 
6fji/3poi>  8'  eV  Tracrt  Svo</>oei>Tct  re  piya\eov  re- 
€K  8*  0,1779  irpopeovcn  0€\vp.va  re  Kai  crrepeanra. 
€v  8e  Kdrojt  $id(jLop<j>a  Kal  di/8t^a  irdvra 
a-vv  8*  e)3i7  eV  <I>tXoTT7Tt  Kal  aXX^Xotcrt  Tro 
IK  TOVTOJV  yap  TrdvO'  ocra  T*  r/v  ocra  T  «rrt  Kat  carcu, 
d  T'  e'/8Xdo-n7(r€  /cat  dt/epes  i)8e 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 


T   o(Dvo   re  Ka 
/cat  re  #eol  SoXt^atwves 
avra  ya/3  eoTiz>  raura,  Si*  dXX^Xwv  8e 
yiyverau,  aXXotaiTra-  TOCTOV  8ta 


But  come,  and  to  my  words  foresaid  look  well, 

If  their  wide  witness  anywhere  forgot 

Aught  that  behooves  the  elemental  forms: 

Behold  the  Sun,  the  warm,  the  bright-diffused; 

Behold  the  eternal  Stars,  forever  steeped 

In  liquid  heat  and  glowing  radiance;  see 

Also  the  Rain,  obscure  and  cold  and  dark, 

And  how  from  Earth  streams  forth  the  Green  and 

Firm. 

And  all  through  Wrath  are  split  to  shapes  diverse  ; 
And  each  through  Love  draws  near  and  yearns  for 

each. 

For  from  these  elements  hath  budded  all 
That  was  or  is  or  evermore  shall  be— 
All  trees,  and  men  and  women,  beasts  and  birds, 
And  fishes  nourished  in  deep  waters,  aye, 
The  long-lived  gods,  in  honors  excellent. 
For  these  are  all,  and,  as  they  course  along 
Through  one  another,  they  take  new  faces  all, 
By  varied  mingling  and  enduring  change. 


Similia  Similibus. 

22. 

(lev  yap  raura  eavratv  Travra 
re  -^da>v  re  /cat  ovpavbs  ^8e 
ocrcra  <J>LV  iv  dv^rolaiv  a 


26  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

o)<?  §'  aurojg  ocra  Kpacriv  IrrapKea  /xaXXo^  Icteric  , 


g  ecrrepKTcu  6yu,oio>$eW  ' 
a  \_o    a]  TrXetcrro^  0,77'  d\\ij\a>i>  Ste^ovcrt 
y€.vvt}i  re  KpTJcret,  re  KCU  etSecrt^  eK/a,a/crotcrt, 
TTO.VTTIL  (Tvyyivf.crOa.L  drjOea  Kal  /xaXa  \vypd 
NetVeo?  eWea'i^icriz',  ort  cr^)icrt  yevvav  eopyev. 


For  amber  Sun  and  Earth  and  Heaven  and  Sea 

Is  friendly  with  its  every  part  that  springs, 

Far  driven  and  scattered,  in  the  mortal  world  ; 

So  too  those  things  that  are  most  apt  to  mix 

Are  like,  and  love  by  Aphrodite's  best. 

But  hostile  chiefly  are  those  things  which  most 

From  one  another  differ,  both  in  birth, 

And  in  their  mixing  and  their  molded  forms  — 

Unwont  to  mingle,  miserable  and  lone, 

After  the  counsels  of  their  father,  Hate. 

An  Analogy. 

23- 

a)?  o    o-rrorav  -ypa^e'e?  oLva.0-rjfjLa.Ta  7TOLKL\\a)cnv 
dvepts  d/jL(^l  76^77?  VTTO  [J.-IJTLOS  ev  SeSacore, 
oir   eVet  ovv  fjid  pi^aicr  i  TroXv^poa  (jxip/jiaKa  yepcriv, 
dp/jLovLYii  fjiti^avre  ra  /xei^  vrXew,  aXXa  8'  e'Xacrcra;, 
e/c  Tail/  etSea  TTOLCTIV  aXty/cta  Tropavvovcn, 
SeVSpea  re  Kri^ovre  /cat  avepa? 
Orfpa.^  7   oiwvovs  re  KCU 
KCLL  re  6eov<;  SoXt^ataj^a? 

cr   aTraTrj  (frpeva  KaivvTco  ahXodev 
,  ocrcra  ye  S^Xa  yeyaKaariv  a<T7rera, 
aXXa  To/aw?  ravr'  tcr^t,  ^eov  irdpa  pvOov  a/ 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  2/ 

And  even  as  artists — men  who  know  their  craft 
Through  wits  of  cunning — paint  with  streak  and 

hue 

Bright  temple-tablets,  and  will  seize  in  hand 
The  oozy  poisons  pied  and  red  and  gold 
(Mixing  harmonious,  now  more,  now  less), 
From  which  they  fashion  forms  innumerable, 
And  like  to  all  things,  peopling  a  fresh  world 
With  trees,  and  men  and  women,  beasts  and  birds, 
And  fishes  nourished  in  deep  waters,  aye, 
And  long-lived  gods  in  honors  excellent : 
Just  so  (and  let  no  guile  deceive  thy  breast), 
Even  so  the  spring  of  mortal  things,  leastwise 
Of  all  the  host  born  visible  to  man. 
O  guard  this  knowledge  well,  for  thou  hast  heard 
In  this  my  song  the  Goddess  and  her  tale. 


The  Speculative  Thinker. 

24. 

.  .  .  Kopv(j>as  ere/acts  ereprjicri 
lLv9a>v  /AT)  reXeetv  drpaTrov  JJLLCLV.  .  . 

To  join  together  diverse  peaks  of  thought, 
And  not  complete  one  road  that  has  no  turn. 


An  Aphorism. 

25- 
.  .  .  Kai  ot?  yap,  o  Set,  KaXov  ecrrtv  i 


What  must  be  said,  may  well  be  said  twice  o'er. 


28  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

The  Laiv  of  the  Elements. 

26. 

eV  Se  jjiepeL  Kpareova-i  TreptTrXo/xevoto  /cv/cXoto, 
/cat  <f)0ivei  ei<;  a\\r)\a  /cat  au^erat  eV 
avra  yap  ecmv  ravra,  Si'  dXX^'Xajv  8e 
yivovTai  avOpajnoi,  re  /cat  dXXaiv  tOveai  Qr\pu>v 
aXXore  jaei/  ^1X0717x1  o-vvep^o^ev   et?  el-a 
aXXore  8'  av  St^'  e/cacrra  tfropovfjitva  Nei/ceo? 

^  (rvfJi^vvTa  TO  TTOLV  v-rrevcpOe 
171  /zev  e^  e/c  TrXedi/wt'  p,ejJid9r)Ke 
-)j8e  TraXtv  Stac^wro?  ei^os  vrXeW  e/creXe^oucrt, 
r^t  /xei^  ylyvovrai  re  /cat  ou  crc^tcrti/  e)x7re8o5 
i^t  Se  ra8'  aXXacrcroi^ra  Siaju,7repe<?  ouSayaa  X^yet, 
Tavrrji  8'  atev  eacnv  d/ctV^rot  /caret  /cv/cXo^. 

In  turn  they  conquer  as  the  cycles  roll, 
And  wane  the  one  to  other  still,  and  wax 
The  one  to  other  in  turn  by  olden  Fate ; 
For  these  are  all,  and,  as  they  course  along 
Through  one  another,  they  become  both  men 
And  multitudinous  tribes  of  hairy  beasts ; 
Whiles  in  fair  order  through  Love  united  all, 
Whiles  rent  asunder  by  the  hate  of  Strife, 
Till  they,  when  grown  into  the  One  and  All 
Once  more,  once  more  go  under  and  succumb. 
And  in  so  far  as  is  the  One  still  wont 
To  grow  from  the  Many,  and  the  Many,  again, 
Spring  from  primeval  scattering  of  the  One, 
So  far  have  they  a  birth  and  mortal  date. 
And  in  so  far  as  this  long  interchange 
Ends  not,  so  far  forever  established  gods 
Around  the  circle  of  the  world  they  move. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  29 

The  Sphere. 

27- 

ev#'  ovr*  'HeXioio  SietSercu  <y/ce'a  yvta 
ovSe  [j,€v  ovS'  aii7<5  \dcriov  /xeVos  ovoe 

TTVKLVWL  Kpvcfxoi  ecrr^pt/crat 


There  views  one  not  the  swift  limbs  of  the  Sun, 
Nor  there  the  strength  of  shaggy  Earth,  nor  Sea; 
But  in  the  strong  recess  of  Harmony, 
Established  firm  abides  the  rounded  Sphere, 
Exultant  in  surrounding  solitude. 


ov  crrctcrt?  ovSe  re  S^pis  d^cucrijuo?  ez> 

Nor  faction  nor  fight  unseemly  in  its  limbs 

28. 
dXX*  o  ye  TrdvToOev  Icros  [eTp]  /<ctt  TrdfATrav 


The  Sphere  on  every  side  the  boundless  same, 
Exultant  in  surrounding  solitude. 


29. 

ov  yap  0,770  varroio  Svo  /cXctSot  dtcro~ovTat, 
ou  TroSe?,  ou  ^oa  yowa,  ov  ja^Sea 
dXXa  cr(f>alpo<s  €Y)V  KOL 


For  from  its  back  there  swing  no  branching  arms, 
It  hath  no  feet  nor  knees  alert,  nor  form 


3O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Of  life-producing  member, — on  all  sides 
A  sphere  it  was,  and  like  unto  itself. 

30. 

avrap  eVet  /xe'ya  Net/cos  eVt/x^teXeeo'o'tv  et 
e?  rt/xa?  T  dvopovcre  reXctoyaevoto  ^poVoio, 
09  <r$iv  a'/xot/3ato5  TrXare'og  Trap'  eX^'Xarat  opKov . 

Yet  after  mighty  Strife  had  waxen  great 
Within  the  members  of  the  Sphere,  and  rose 
To  her  own  honors,  as  the  times  arrived 
Which  unto  each  in  turn,  to  Strife,  to  Love, 
Should  come  by  amplest  oath  and  old  decree.  . 

3'. 
TrdVra  yap  e^etr^?  TreXe^at^ero  yvla  Oeolo. 


For  one  by  one  did  quake  the  limbs  of  God. 

Physical  Analogies. 

32. 
8uo>  Seei  ap9pov. 

The  joint  binds  two. 

33. 
tu?  8    or   OTTO?  yaXct  XevKov  lyo  fji^aicrev  /cat  eS^cre 


But  as  when  rennet  of  the  fig-tree  juice 
Curdles  the  white  milk,  and  will  bind  it  fast.  . 


34- 


Cementing  meal  with  water  .  .  . 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  3! 

The  Conquest  of  Love. 

35- 

avrap  e'yo)  TraXivopcro?  eXevcrojuat  e<?  iropov 
rov  Trporepov  /careXe^a,  \6yov  Xdyov  e 
eVei  Net/cog  /xe>  eWpraTov  tAcero 
eV  Se  yae'cr^i  $1X0x175  crrpoc^aXiyyc  ye 
e^  r^t  Sr)  raSe  Trdvra  crvvep^erai  ev  [JLOVOV  etvat, 
OVK:  a^>ap,  dXXa  Oe\r)[JLa  crwicrra/Aei''  aXkoOev  aXXa 
rw^  Se  re  /xicryo/AO'toZ'  x6*-7"'  tOvta  pvpia 
TroXXa  S'  a/xet/^r'  ecrri^Ke  Kepaio^evoicnv 
ocrcr'  ert  Net/co?  epvKe  ju-erapcrto^-  ov  yap  a 
TOJZ>  Traz/  l^eo-rj]Kev  eV  ecr^ara  rep/xara  /cu 
dXXa  ra  fteV  r'  eVe/xtp-^e,  /xeXewv  ra  Se  r'  e 
oacrov  8'  atei^  vTreKrrpoOeoi,  rocrov  altv  eVi^ 


ati//a  Se  OV^T*  etfrvovro,  ra  Trpt^  pdOov  aOdvar   et 
^copa  re  ra  Trptv,  a/cp^ra  [Kpr/rd,  ?]  StaXXct^a^ra 


OJV  Se  re  ^icryo^vo^v  X6*-7"'  £@vea  pvpLa 
dp^pdra,  dav^a.  tSe 


But  hurrying  back,  I  now  will  make  return 
To  paths  of  festal  song,  laid  down  before, 
Draining  each  flowing  thought  from  flowing 

thought. 

When  down  the  Vortex  to  the  last  abyss 
Had  foundered  Hate,  and  Lovingness  had  reached 
The  eddying  center  of  the  Mass,  behold 
Around  her  into  Oneness  gathered  all. 
Yet  not  a-sudden,  but  only  as  willingly 
Each  from  its  several  region  joined  with  each; 


32  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

And  from  their  mingling  thence  are  poured  abroad 
The  multitudinous  tribes  of  mortal  things. 
Yet  much  unmixed  among  the  mixed  remained, 
As  much  as  Hate  still  held  in  scales  aloft. 
For  not  all  blameless  did  Hate  yield  and  stand 
Out  yonder  on  the  circle's  utmost  bounds; 
But  partwise  yet  within  he  stayed,  partwise 
Was  he  already  from  the  members  gone. 
And  ever  the  more  skulked  away  and  fled, 
Then  ever  the  more,  and  nearer,  inward  pressed 
The  gentle  minded,  the  divine  Desire 
Of  blameless  Lovingness.    Thence  grew  apace 
Those  mortal  Things,  erstwhile  long  wont  to  be 
Immortal,  and  the  erstwhile  pure  and  sheer 
Were  mixed,  exchanging  highways  of  new  life, 
And  from  their  mingling  thence  are  poured  abroad 
The  multitudinous  tribes  of  mortal  things, 
Knit  in  all  forms  and  wonderful  to  see. 

36. 
WV  Se  crvvepxofJiewv  e£  ecr^arov  tcrraro  Net/co?. 


And  as  they  came  together,  Hate  began 
To  take  his  stand  far  on  the  outer  verge. 

Similia  similibus. 

37- 
av£ei  Se  -^Oatv  JJLZV  (T^irepov  Se/xa?,  aWepa  8' 


And  Earth  through  Earth  her  figure  magnifies, 
And  Air  through  Air. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  33 

The  World  as  It  Now  Is. 

38. 

.  .  .  et  8'  aye  rot  Xe^w  TrpwO'  T^Xt/ca  r  apxyv, 
eg  uv  8f)\'  tyivovro  ra  vvv  eVopw/xev  avra^ra, 
yata  re  /cat  Tro^rog  TroXvKVfjLaiv  778'  uypo5  d^p 
^o'  aWrjp  crfyiyyaiv  Trepl  KVK\OV 


Come!  I  will  name  the  like-primeval  Four, 
Whence  rose  to  sight  all  things  we  now  behold  — 
Earth,  many-billowed  Sea,  and  the  moist  Air, 
And  Aether,  the  Titan,  who  binds  the  globe  about. 

Earth  and  Air  Not  Illimitable. 

39- 

€L7rep  aTreipova  yfjs  re  ftdOr]  /cat  8ai//t\o? 
a)<j  Sta  TroXXw^  877  yXwcrcr^?  prjOevra  jaarata)? 
e/c/ce^vrat  (rrojaarwt',  okiyov  TOV  Travros 


If  Earth's  black  deeps  were  endless,  and  o'er-full 
Were  the  white  Ether,  as  forsooth  some  tongues 
Have  idly  prated  in  the  babbling  mouths 
Of  those  who  little  of  the  All  have  seen.  .  . 

Sun  and  Moon. 

40. 
17X105  6£u/3eXr}5  778'  tXctetpa  creX^Vfi. 

Keen-darting  Helios  and  Selene  mild. 

41- 
aXX    o  jaez^  aXtcr$ets  /xeyav  ovpavov  cl 


But  the  sun's  fires,  together  gathered,  move 
Attendant  round  the  mighty  space  of  heaven, 


34  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

42. 

>  /  cj  \      t       j      / 

o.TrecTTeycicrez'  oe  oc  ctt>y<X5j 

*         >     *         V  /)/  /}  5  /;  P.  \  / 

ear   av  1171  Kauvrrepuev^  a77ecr/c^t(pa)cre  oe  yai^s 
TOfTcrov  ocrov  T   evpos  yXavKcomoos  eVXero  ^^^s. 

And  the  sun's  beams 
The  moon,  in  passing  under,  covers  o'er, 
And  darkens  a  bleak  tract  of  earth  as  large 
As  is  the  breadth  of  her,  the  silver-eyed. 

43- 
a)?  avyr)  Tityacra  creXrjvaLrjs  KVK\OV  evpvv .  .  . 

As  sunbeam  striking  on  the  moon's  broad  disk. 

44- 
avTavyel  77/305    OXvfjLTrov  a.Tap/3~r)ToicrL  7T/3oo"cu77Ot5. 

Toward  Olympos  back  he  darts  his  beams, 
With  fearless  face. 

45- 
KVK\OTep€$  TTepl  yaiav  eXtcrcrerat  aXXdrptov  ^015. 

Round  earth  revolves  a  disk  of  alien  light. 

46. 
ct/3/iaTO5  o>5  Trept  X^01'7?  tXiVcrercu  rj  re  Trap    aKprjv . 

Even  as  revolves  a  chariot's  nave,  which  round 
The  outmost. .  . 

47- 
aOpel  JJLCV  yap  avaKros  ivavriov  ayta  KVK\OV. 

For  toward  the  sacred  circle  of  her  lord 
She  gazes  face  to  face. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  35 

48. 
VVKTOL  Se  ycua  Tidycrw  v^tcrra^evoto  (£ae<T£Ti. 

But  earth  makes  night  for  beams  of  sinking  sun. 

The  Darkling  Night. 
49. 


Of  night,  the  lonely,  with  her  sightless  eyes. 


Wind  and  Rain. 

50. 
1/315  o    IK  TreXayou?  ave^iov  (frepei  r) 


Iris  from  sea  brings  wind  or  mighty  rain. 

Fire. 

Si- 
Ka/37raXt)u,a>?  S'  dvoiraiov  .  .  . 

And  fire  sprang  upward  with  a  rending  speed. 

The  Volcano. 

52. 
TToXXo,  8'  evepOe  ovSeo?  Trvpa  Kaierai. 


And  many  a  fire  there  burns  beneath  the  ground. 

Air. 

53- 
OVT&)  yap  crvveKvpcre  decav  Tore,  vroXXa/a  8' 

For  sometimes  so  upon  its  course  it  met, 
And  ofttimes  otherwise. 


36  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Things  Passing  Strange. 

54- 
aWijp  [8'  av]  paKprjicri  Kara  ^96va  Svero  yoi£cug. 

In  Earth  sank  Ether  with  deep-stretching  roots. 

55. 


Earth's  sweat,  the  sea. 

56. 
aX?  iirdyri  pLTrrjicriv  eoKT/xez/os  iJeXtoto. 


The  salt  grew  solid,  smit  by  beams  of  sun. 


Strange  Creatures  of  Olden  Times. 


57- 


TroXXat  [lev  KopcraL 

l  8'  eVXa'£ovTO  fipa^iovts  cwtSe? 
r   ola  eVXavaro  Tre^revo^ra 


There  budded  many  a  head  without  a  neck, 
And  arms  were  roaming,  shoulderless  and  bare, 
And  eyes  that  wanted  foreheads  drifted  by. 

58. 
[.  .  .  fJiOvvofjieXr)  ert  ra  yvta  .  .  .  OVTOL  eVXai^aTO  .  .  .  J 


In  isolation  wandered  every  limb, 
Hither  and  thither  seeing  union  meet. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  37 

59- 

avrap  CTret  /caret  ^t^ov  e/u'cryero  Saiftovt  Sai//,&«>, 
Tavrd  re  cjv/u,7ri7rTeo"Koz>,  077171  crvveKvp(rev  eKacrra, 
aXXa  re  7T/50?  rots  TroXXd  8117  verf  e^eyivovro. 


But  now  as  God  with  God  was  mingled  more, 
These  members  fell  together  where  they  met, 
And  many  a  birth  besides  was  then  begot 
In  a  long  line  of  ever  varied  life. 

60. 
eiXiVoS'  oL 


Creatures  of  countless  hands  and  trailing  feet. 

61. 

TToXXct  fjiev  djji(f)nrp6crct)7ra  KCU  dfjufricrTepva  <f)veo-0ai, 
/Bovyevrj  dvSpotrpuipa,  ret  8'  e/xvraXtv  e^avareXXet^ 
dv$pcxj)vrj  fiovKpava,  ^e^eiy^iva  rrji  pev  avr'  dvopwv 
rrji  Se  ywat/co^)U^  ,  cr/ctepots  rjcrKyneva  yvtot?. 


Many  were  born  with  twofold  brow  and  breast, 
Some  with  the  face  of  man  on  bovine  stock, 
Some  with  man's  form  beneath  a  bovine  head, 
Mixed  shapes  of  being  with  shadowed  secret  parts, 
Sometimes  like  men,   and  sometimes  woman- 
growths. 

62. 

vvv  8'  ay',  07TW9  aVS/awv  re  TroXu/cXavrwv  re 
evvv^ovs  opTrrjKOLS  avTjya'ye.  Kpivo^evov  Trv/3, 
ra>^8e  /cXv'-  ov  yap  pvOos  avrocr/coTro?  ovS'  d 
ov\o<f)vels  fjiev  irpwra  TVTTOL  ^dovo? 

uSaro?  re  /cat  tSeos  alorav 


38  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 


irvp  av€7T€iJL7re  6eXov  77/369  ofjiolov  i/cecr^cu, 
ovre  ri  7TU)  /LteXeajv  epaTov  Seyaa?  e/x^aiVo^ra? 
ovr   IvoTrrjv  oiov  T   CTrt^ajptov  az/Spacri  yvtov. 

But  come!  now  hear  how  'twas  the  sundered  Fire 
Led  into  life  the  germs,  erst  whelmed  in  night, 
Of  men  and  women,  the  pitied  and  bewailed; 
For  'tis  a  tale  that  sees  and  knows  its  mark. 
First  rose  mere  lumps  of  earth  with  rude  impress, 
That  had  their  shares  of  Water  and  of  Warm. 
These  then  by  Fire  (in  upward  zeal  to  reach 
Its  kindred  Fire  in  heaven)  were  shot  aloft, 
Albeit  not  yet  had  they  revealed  a  form 
Of  lovely  limbs,  nor  yet  a  human  cry, 
Nor  secret  member,  common  to  the  male. 

The  Process  of  Human  Generation  To-day. 

63- 
aXXa  SiecTTraoTcu  /xeXeaji/  Averts-  17  p,€v  eV  a*>8po?  .  .  . 

But  separate  is  the  birth  of  human  limbs; 
For  'tis  in  part  in  man's.  .  . 

64. 
ran  5    eVt  KO.I  ITo^o?  elcrt  St'  OI/H.OS  a.fjLfjLijj.vrjio'KCDv. 

Love-longing  comes,  reminding  him  who  sees. 

6s- 

cv  0   IxyOr]  Ka0apOL(n-  TO,  p^v  re\i9ovcri 
i//v^eo?  dvTiaVa.i'Ta,  [TO,  8'  e]u,7raXt^  dppeva 

Into  clean  wombs  the  seeds  are  poured,  and  when 
Therein  they  meet  with  Cold,  the  birth  is  girls; 
And  boys,  when  contrariwise  they  meet  with  Warm. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  39 

66. 
fet?]  cr^tcrrov?  Xetjuwz/a?  .  .  .  'A^poStr^?. 

Into  the  cloven  meads  of  Aphrodite. 

67. 

iv  'yap  OepfJiOTepoii  TO/CGI?  appevos  eVXero  yacrrifp' 
/cat  ^aeXaves  Sta  rouro  /cat  dz/SpcoSeoTepot  aVSpes 
/cat 


For  bellies  with  the  warmer  wombs  become 
Mothers  of  boys,  and  therefore  men  are  dark, 
More  stalwart  and  more  shaggy. 


ev  oySooVov  Se/cdV^t  TTVOV  eTrXero 

On  the  tenth  day,  in  month  the  eighth,  the  blood 
Becomes  white  pus. 

69. 


Twice  bearing. 


70. 


Sheepskin. 

On  Animals  and  Plants. 

71. 

et  oe  rt  crot  Trept  rwi'Se  XtTro^vXo?  eTrXero  TrtcrTt?, 
770)5  vSaros  yatr;?  re  /cat  at^epo?  -^eXiov  re 
Kipva^vaiv  etSi7  re  yevoia.ro  ^pota  re  0vr)Ta>v 
TOCTCT',  ocra  i/vi^  yeyaacrt  crvvap^ocrOivr 


40  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

And  if  belief  lack  pith,  and  thou  still  doubt 
How  from  the  mingling  of  the  elements, 
The  Earth  and  Water,  the  Ether  and  the  Sun, 
So  many  forms  and  hues  of  mortal  things 
Could  thus  have  being,  as  have  come  to  be, 
Each  framed  and  knit  by  Aphrodite's  power. .  . 


72- 

7TW5  KCU  devdpea  aa/cpa  KCU 


As  the  tall  trees  and  fish  in  briny  floods. 

73- 

o>5  Se  Tore  -^Oova  Kuvrpi?,  eVet  T'  e'S  l-r\vtv  ev 
tSea  TTOLTrvvovcra  BOWL  Trvpl  8ai/ce  KpaTvvai  .  .  . 

As  Kypris,  after  watering  Earth  with  Rain, 
Zealous  to  heat  her,  then  did  give  Earth  o'er 
To  speed  of  Fire  that  then  she  might  grow  firm. 

74- 
(frv\ov  dfMOVCTo^  ayoucra  TroXvcnrepeaiV  Kaf^acrrjvtav. 

Leading  the  songless  shoals  of  spawning  fish. 

75- 

TWV  8'    O(T    €(7(1)  fJieV  TTVKvd,   TO.   S'    €KTO0l  ^Oi 

KuvrptSo?  eV  TraXa/x^to-t  vrXaS^?  rotrJcrSe  TV^OVTO,  . 


Of  beasts,  inside  compact  with  outsides  loose, 
Which,  in  the  palms  of  Aphrodite  shaped, 
Got  this  their  sponginess. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  4! 

76. 

TOVTO  pep  eV  /coy^atcrt  OaXacrcrovo^v 
val  {JLTjv  KrjpvKwv  re  \(,6oppiv<DV 
€V0'  oi//ei 


'Tis  thus  with  conchs  upon  the  heavy  chines 
Of  ocean-dwellers,  aye,  of  shell-fish  wreathed, 
Or  stony-hided  turtles,  where  thou  mark'st 
The  earthen  crust  outside  the  softer  parts. 

77-78. 

[Sez/Spea  8']  e'//,7reSo<£vXXa  /cat  e'^vreSo/capTra  reOrjX 
Kaprrwv  d^^o^aytcrt  /car'  rjtpa  irdvT   eviavrov. 

Trees  bore  perennial  fruit,  perennial  fronds, 
Laden  with  fruit  the  whole  revolving  year, 
Since  fed  forever  by  a  fruitful  air. 

79- 
OVTCD  8'  ojtoro/cet  fjLCLKpd  Se^Spea  irpwrov  eXatas. 

Thus  first  tall  olives  lay  their  yellow  eggs. 

80. 
ovveKtv  tyfyovoi  re  criSat  /cat  V7rep<f)\oia  fjLrjXa. 

Wherefore  pomegranates  slow  in  ripening  be, 
And  apples  grow  so  plentiful  in  juice. 

Si. 
owo?  o,7To  <J)\OLOV  TTcXerat  cranev  iv  £V\Q)L  vSa)p. 

Wine  is  but  water  fermented  in  the  wood, 
And  issues  from  the  rind. 


42  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

82. 

raura  rpt^e?  /cai  c^uXXa  /cat  oioivoiv  Trrepd  TTVKVO. 
Kal  XeTuSes  yiyvQvra.1  eVl  crTifiapolcn 


From  the  same  stuff  on  sturdy  limbs  grow  hair, 
Leaves,  scales  of  fish,  and  bird's  thick-feathered 
plumes. 

83- 
avToip 


Stiff  hairs,  keen-piercing,  bristle  on  the  chines 
Of  hedge-hogs. 

Our  Eyes. 

84. 

o»?  8'  ore  TI<>  TrpooSov  voewv  ajTrXtcrcraro 
^Lfjiepi,r)i>  Sta  vv/cra,  Trvpo?  cre\a<; 
cfy/a?,  TTavTOLW  avi^v  Xa/x  Trrepa 
01  T   ave^aiv  JJLCV  TT^eu/xa  Siacr/aSi'acriz'  de 
<^>a>5  S'  eifw  Sta^poHcrKov,  ocroi'  Tavacorepot' 
Xa^iTrecr/cei/  /card  ^817X6^  dretpecrt^  d/crtVecreny 
019  Se  ror'  eV  /x^Vty^iv  iepy^vov  ZryvyLOV  Trvp 
\67TTrj  LCTLV  [r']  oOovriKTi  Xo^a'^ero  /cv/cXo7ra 
[at]  ^odvr](.cri  Siavra  Terpifaro  6ecrir€cri.r)La-ii> 
at  8'  vSaro?  /xet'  ySeV^os  aTrecrreyoi/  d/ 
8'  eifcu  Sttecr/cot',  ocroi>  Ta^aa/repo^ 


As  when  a  man,  about  to  sally  forth, 
Prepares  a  light  and  kindles  him  a  blaze 
Of  flaming  fire  against  the  wintry  night, 
In  horny  lantern  shielding  from  all  winds; 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  43 

Though  it  protect  from  breath  of  blowing  winds, 
Its  beam  darts  outward,  as  more  fine  and  thin, 
And  with  untiring  rays  lights  up  the  sky: 
Just  so  the  Fire  primeval  once  lay  hid 
In  the  round  pupil  of  the  eye,  enclosed 
In  films  and  gauzy  veils,  which  through  and  through 
Were  pierced  with  pores  divinely  fashioned, 
And  thus  kept  off  the  watery  deeps  around, 
Whilst  Fire  burst  outward,  as  more  fine  and  thin. 

85- 
r  Se  (>\o 


The  gentle  flame  of  eye  did  chance  to  get 
Only  a  little  of  the  earthen  part. 

86. 

J/-TV  >      V  >  »  /          O-O     >    «       /  O>  / 

e£  w  ofJifJiaT   eTrygev  aretpea  01     AypooLTr). 

From  which  by  Aphrodite,  the  divine, 
The  untiring  eyes  were  formed. 

87. 
yoja<£oi5  acrKfjcracra  Karacrropyot?  'A^poStrrj. 

Thus  Aphrodite  wrought  with  bolts  of  love. 


yyverai 
One  vision  of  two  eyes  is  born. 


44  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Similia  similibus. 


"  ,  ort  TrdvTtov  elcrlv  drroppocu,  ocrcr'  eyeVovro 


Knowing  that  all  things  have  their  emanations. 


90. 


015  yXv/cv  fji^v  yXu/cu  /aapTrre,   TTLKpov  8'   eVt  irutpov 


opovcrev, 
o^v  8'  eV  o^u  e/3i7,  Saepov  8'  eVo^etro  Sa^pait. 

Thus  Sweet  seized  Sweet,  Bitter  on  Bitter  flew, 
Sour  sprung  for  Sour,  and  upon  Hot  rode  Hot. 

91. 

olvtoi  .  .  .  fJLa\\ov  IvdpBiJiiov,  avTap  e'Xcuou 
OVK  eWXet. 

Water  to  wine  more  nearly  is  allied, 
But  will  not  mix  with  oil. 

92. 
TO>I  KOLTTLTeptoi  jjieL^Oei'Ta  TOV  ^aX/coi/  .  .  . 

As  when  one  mixes  with  the  copper  tin. 

93- 
/3vcrcraH  8e  yXavKrjs  KOKKOS  Kara/xto-yerai  aKTrjs. 

With  flax  is  mixed  the  silvery  elder's  seed. 

The  Black  River  Bottoms. 
94. 

et  niger  in  /undo  fluvii  color  exstat  ab  umbra, 
atque  cavernosis  itidem  spectatur  in  antris. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  45 

And  the  black  color  of  the  river's  deeps 

Comes  all  from  shade;  and  one  may  see  the  same 

In  hollow  caves. 

Eyes. 

95- 
KvTrpiSo?  eV  TTaXoi^KTiv  ore  £V{JL  Trpoir*  l<j)vovro, 

As,  in  the  palms  of  Kypris  shaped,  they  first 
Began  to  grow  together  .  .  . 

Bones. 

96. 

rj  Se  -^dcov  tTrfypos  ev  evo-repvoiS  ^octvotcrt 
TO)  Svo  T<i)v  6/cro)  fiepecav  ^ci^e  N^crnSo?  atyX^s, 
recrcrapa  8'  'H^aicrroto-   ra  8'  ocrrea  Xev/ca  yevovro 


Kind  Earth  for  her  broad-breasted  melting-pots, 
Of  the  eight  parts  got  two  of  Lucid  Nestis, 
And  of  Hephsestos  four.  Thence  came  white  bones, 
Divinely  joined  by  glue  of  Harmony. 


97- 


The  back-bone. 

Blood  and  Flesh. 
98. 

?)  Se  XOaiv  rovroicriv  10*17  crvveKvpcre  jact\to"ra, 
T'  o/x/3pa>t  re  /cat  aWepi 
opjatcr^eicra  reXetots  ev 


46  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 


ctr  6\iyov  uti^atv  etre  TrXeoi'ecrcru'  eXcu 
IK  TOJV  aljjid  re  yeVro  Kal  aXXi??  etSea 

And  after  Earth  within  the  perfect  ports 
Of  Aphrodite  anchored  lay,  she  met 
Almost  in  equal  parts  Hephsestos  red, 
And  Rain  and  Ether,  the  all-splendorous 
(Although  the  parts  of  Earth  were  sometimes  less, 
Sometimes  a  little  more  than  theirs).    From  these 
There  came  our  blood  and  all  the  shapes  of  flesh. 

The  Ear. 

99- 
KeoSajy.      ddpKivo*;  o£o5. 

A  bell  ...  a  fleshy  twig. 

The  Rushing  Blood  and  the  Clepsydra. 

100. 

a>0€  8   dvaTrvtl  TTOLVTO.  KOI  CKnvel-   TTCLCTL 
crapKwv  crvptyye?  nvfjiarov  Kara  crw/ia 
Kai  crfyiv  eVt  orofitots  TrvKtvat?  rerpr^vrai 

ecr^ara  repOpa  StayaTrepe?,  ware  <$>6vov  pep 
,  aWepi  8'  einropfyv  8to8ot<rt  rer/x^cr^at. 
ev06v  erret^*  orrorav  i*.ev  aTraf^t  repev  af/xa, 
awrjp  7ra(j)Xd^a)v  KaratcrcreTai  otS/xart  /xapywt, 
ewe  8   dva0pa>L<TKr)i,  ird\iv  e'/cTri^e'et,  axTTrep  orav  Trat? 
K\ei/;v8/3T7t  Trat^tcrt  SieiTrere'o?  ^a 
evre  /xet'  avXoi)  nopOfjiov  eV  euetSet 
ets  vSaro?  ^SaTrr^tcrt  repev  Se'/xa? 
ovS'  er'  e'?  ayyocrS'  6fji/3po<;  eVe'p^erat,  dXXa  ttii/  elpyei 


fa 


»  \ 


aepo?  oy/co?  ecrojc/e  Trecrw^  evrt 

aTrocTTey acr^t  TTVKLVOV  poov    avrdp  eVetra 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  47 

e'XXetVo^ro?  etrcp^erat  alcn^ov  vSaj/3. 

*       o>       *  r'/p    ^C1  \       v  /          rt  *   o  \        " 

cos  o   avTcos,  of  uocop  /xez/  e^ryt  Kara  pevuea  ^aA/cov 
TropBfJiov  xcocr#eVro9  yS/aoreau  XP0^  V^t  Tropoto, 
aWrjp  8'  €KTos  ecra)  XeXt^jiteVo?  6p,/3pov  epv/cet 
a.jj.(j>l  TrvXa?  tcr^/xoio  Sucr^^eog,  a/cpa  Kparvvaiv, 
etcrd/ce  XaP^  ju-e^f   rare  S'  av  TraXtv,  efjiirakiv  T)  irpiv, 


015  S'  avroj?  repev  at/aa  /cXaSacrcro/x-evo^  8ta 
OTTTTore  /xet»  iraXivopcrov  aTrat^ete  /xv^d^Se, 
aWepos  €v0v$  pevfjia  Karep^erat  otS/u,art 
eure  8'  dvaOpuiO'Krji)  TrdXiv  IKTTV€€.L  Icrov  oirLcrcra). 


And  thus  does  all  breathe  in  and  out.     In  all, 

Over  the  body's  surface,   bloodless  tubes 

Of  flesh  are  stretched,  and,  at  their  outlets,  rifts 

Innumerable  along  the  outmost  rind 

Are  bored;  and  so  the  blood  remains  within; 

For  air,  however,  is  cut  a  passage  free. 

And  when  from  here  the  thin  blood  backward 

streams, 

The  air  comes  rushing  in  with  roaring  swell; 
But  when  again  it  forward  leaps,  the  air 
In  turn  breathes  out;  as  when  a  little  girl 
Plays  with  a  water-clock  of  gleaming  bronze: 
As  long  as  ever  the  opening  of  the  pipe 
Is  by  her  pretty  fingers  stopped  and  closed, 
And  thuswise  plunged  within  the  yielding  mass 
Of  silvery  water,  can  the  Wet  no  more 
Get  in  the  vessel;  but  the  air's  own  weight, 
That  falls  inside  against  the  countless  holes, 
Keeps  it  in  check,  until  the  child  at  last 


\ 


48  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Uncovers  and  sets  free  the  thickened  air, 
When  of  a  truth  the  water's  destined  bulk 
Gets  in,  as  air  gives  way.     Even  so  it  is, 
When  in  the  belly  of  the  brazen  clock 
The  water  lies,  and  the  girl's  finger  tip 
Shuts  pipe  and  tube:  the  air,  that  from  without 
Comes  pressing  inward,  holds  the  water  back 
About  the  gateways  of  the  gurgling  neck, 
As  the  child  keeps  possession  of  the  top, 
Until  her  hand  will  loosen,  when  amain— 
Quite  contrariwise  to  way  and  wise  before— 
Pours  out  and  under  the  water's  destined  bulk, 
As  air  drops  down  and  in.     Even  so  it  is 
With  the  thin  blood  that  through  our  members 

drives: 

When  hurrying  back  it  streams  to  inward,  then 
Amain  a  flow  of  air  comes  rushing  on; 
But  when  again  it  forward  leaps,  the  air 
In  turn  breathes  out  along  the  selfsame  way. 


Scent. 
101. 

/zeXeo)i>  p-vKTTJpcriv  e 
ocrcr'  a.7re'Xei7re  TroSwv  aTraX^t,  Trepl  7701171 


Sniffing  with  nostrils  mites  from  wild  beasts'  limbs, 
Left  by  their  feet  along  the  tender  grass.  .  .  . 


102. 


eSSe  f^ev  ovv  Trvoir}s  re  XeXoy^acrt  TTOLVTO.  /cat 

And  thus  got  all  things  share  of  breath  and  smells. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  49 

On  the  Psychic  Life. 

103. 
/xei>  ovv  10x17x1  Tu^Ty?  TrecfjpovrjKev 


Thus  all  things  think  their  though  by  will  of  Chance. 

104. 
KCU  K.aff  ocrov  fjL€v  cipaioxaxa  £vv€Kvpcre  TrecroVxa. 


And  in  so  far  the  lightest  at  their  fall 
Do  strike  together .... 

105. 

aijaaxo?  iv  7reA.dye<ro"t  xe^pajLt/xeVi^  avTiOopovTO*;, 
rrji  xe  z^ory/xa  p-dXtcrxa  KLK\TJCTK€TOLL  dj 
alua  yap  dv^pwTroc?  7rept/«xpSto^  ecrxt 

'  /        I  I  II 


In  the  blood-streams,  back-leaping  unto  it, 
The  heart  is  nourished,  where  prevails  the  power 
That  men  call  thought;  for  lo  the  blood  that  stirs 
About  the  heart  is  man's  controlling  thought. 

1  06. 
Trpo?  Trapeov  yap  //,>?xi5  de^exat  a.v6p<t>TTOL<Tiv. 


For  unto  men  their  thrift  of  reason  grows, 
According  to  the  body's  thrift  and  state. 

107. 

e/c  TOVTCDV  [yap]  TrdVxa  7rem7yacrii>  apjjLOcrOevTa. 
KO.I  xovxoig  <j>pov€ov(rt  /cat  iJSoiV  ^S*  dvtwvxat. 


For  as  of  these  commingled  all  things  are, 
Even  so  through  these  men  think,  rejoice,  or  grieve. 


5O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

108. 

ocra'ov  [8']  aXXotoi  /tere^v^,  rocrov  dp  cr<j)LO'iv  aiet 
/cat  TO  (frpovelv  dXXoia  rraptcrTaTai  .  .  . 

As  far  as  mortals  change  by  day,  so  far 
By  night  their  thinking  changes  .  .  . 


109. 

fiev  yap  yalav  oTrajTrajaev,  vSart  8'  vScop, 
8'  aWepa  8to^,  drap  rrvpl  Trvp  dtSi^Xov, 
8e  (TTopyfji,  vft/co?  Se  re  veiKei,  \vypa)L. 


For  'tis  through  Earth  that  Earth  we  do  behold, 
Through  Ether,  divine  Ether  luminous, 
Through  Water,  Water,  through  Fire,  devouring 

Fire, 
And  Love  through  Love,  and  Hate  through  doleful 

Hate. 

no. 
et  -yap  K.iv  cr<§>   dStv^irrtv  VTTO  TrpaTri&ecra-Lv  e'peura? 


ravrd  re  crot  ^aXa  Trdi/ra  8t'  ataivo? 


ctXXa  re  TrdXX'  aTro  raJj^S'  eKTifcreaf    avra  yap  au£e 

ravr'  €t5  77$os  (LKO-CTTOV,  077171  ^ucrt?  ICTTIV  e/cacrrajt. 

ci  8e  o~v  y'  dXXotwv  eVope'^eat,  ota  Kar'  a^Spa? 

/zvpta  SetXa  Tre'Xovrat  a  r   d/M/3Xwouo~i 

•^  o~'  a<f>ap  e/cXeiv|/ovo~t  TreptTrXo/u-eVot 

cr<j)cjv  auraiv  TroOeovra  (^>t\f]v  evrl  yevvav 

Trdi/ra  yap  tcr^t  (^pdz/^crtv  exeti^  *a!  vatpaTos  al&av. 


For  if  reliant  on  a  spirit  firm, 
With  inclination  and  endeavor  pure, 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  51 

Thou  wilt  behold  them,  all  these  things  shall  be 
Forever  thine,  for  service,  and  besides 
Thereof  full  many  another  shalt  thou  gain; 
For  of  themselves  into  that  core  they  grow 
Of  each  man's  nature,  where  his  essence  lies. 
But  if  for  others  thou  wilt  look  and  reach  — 
Such  empty  treasures,  myriad  and  vile, 
As  men  be  after,  which  forevermore 
Blunt  soul  and  keen  desire  —  O  then  shall  these 
Most  swiftly  leave  thee  as  the  seasons  roll; 
For  all  their  yearning  is  a  quick  return 
Unto  their  own  primeval  stock.     For  know: 
All  things  have  fixed  intent  and  share  of  thought. 

Dominion. 
III. 

(j>dpfjLaKa  8'  ocr<ra  yeyacri  KaK&v  KO.I  yifpao?  a\Kap 
Trevcr^i,  eVel  JJLOVVCOL  crol  e'ya>  Kpavea)  raSe  Trdvra. 
Travcrets  8'  d/ca/u,arajv  ave^wv  fj,evo<;  ol  r   eVt  yalav 


TTVoia&i  Karaivvovcriv  apovpas' 
f)i>  eOeXrjLcrBaj  TraXivrtra  irvevfjiaTa  CTra 
0T](r€L<;  8'  l£  ofjifipoio  K€\a.ivov  Kaipiov  av^fjiov 
,  0-rjcreLS  Se  /cat  e'£  av^oto  Bepeiov 

vSped^peTrra,  ra  r   aWepi  vairforovrai^ 

<>>   '/>•  '  i  '^  i  /i      '  '         *   ^    ' 

o    eg   AtOao  /caracpc/tjae^ou  /zet'o?  avopos. 


And  thou  shalt  master  every  drug  that  e'er 
Was  made  defense  'gainst  sickness  and  old  age  — 
For  thee  alone  all  this  I  will  fulfil  — 
And  thou  shalt  calm  the  might  of  tireless  winds, 
That  burst  on  earth  and  ruin  seedlands;  aye, 


52  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

And  if  thou  wilt,  shalt  thou  arouse  the  blasts, 
And  watch  them  take  their  vengeance,  wild  and 
shrill, 

For  that  before  thou  cowcdst  them.     Thou  shalt 

change 

Black  rain  to  drought,  at  seasons  good  for  men, 
And  the  long  drought  of  summer  shalt  thou  change 
To  torrents,  nourishing  the  mountain  trees, 
As  down  they  stream  from  ether.     And  thou  shalt 
From  Hades  beckon  the  might  of  perished  men. 


THE  PURIFICATIONS. 

The  Healer  and  Prophet. 

112. 
at  <j>i\oL)  ot  /teya  acrrv  Kara  £avQov  ' 

'er'  av*  a/cpa  TroXeo?,  dyaOvv  jueA.eSi'^toz'es  epycw, 

>^  ^      \       '  '  v 

cuootot  A^teife?  Ka/cor^ro?  aTretpot, 

'-   eya)  8'  V/AU>  ^€05  a/x/3poro9,  ov/cert 

/xera  Tracrt  rert/xeVog,  wcrTrep  eot/ca, 
rat-tat?  re  TreptcrreTrro?  crre'^ecrtV  re  ^ 
roicriv  a/jC  [evr'J  at'  LKotfJiaL  e?  acrrea 

>^^  <••'  /T5"  e    o>     v     >     v 

^oe  yvz/atgt,  crept^o/xaf    ot  o    a/x    errovrai 
e^epeovre?,  oTT-^t  -Trpo?  Ke/oSos  a 
ot  jaev  fjLavTocrvvewv  Ke^p^^Ltevot,  ot  8'  eTTt 

TvOoVTO  K\V€.LV  evr)K€(L  {3d£iV 

^  ^aXeTrotcrt  TTCTrap/AeVot  [clju,^)t 

Ye  friends,  who  in  the  mighty  city  dwell 
Along  the  yellow  Acragas  hard  by 
The  Acropolis,  ye  stewards  of  good  works, 
The  stranger's  refuge  venerable  and  kind, 
All  hail,  O  friends!     But  unto  ye  I  walk 
As  god  immortal  now,  no  more  as  man, 
On  all  sides  honored  fittingly  and  well, 
Crowned  both  with  fillets  and  with  flowering 

wreaths. 
When  with  my  throngs  of  men  and  women  I  come 


54  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

To  thriving  cities,  I  am  sought  by  prayers, 
And  thousands  follow  me  that  they  may  ask 
The  path  to  weal  and  vantage,  craving  some 
For  oracles,  whilst  others  seek  to  hear 
A  healing  word  'gainst  many  a  foul  disease 
That  all  too  long  hath  pierced  with  grievous  pains. 

"3- 

dXXa  rt  TourS*  eTTi/cei//,'  eucret  jieya  '^p'rjf^d  n 
el 


Yet  why  urge  more,  as  if  forsooth  I  wrought 

Some  big  affair  —  do  I  not  far  excel 

The  mortals  round  me,  doomed  to  many  deaths! 

114. 

a>  <£i'Xot,  oTSa  fJLtv  OVVCK   a\7)0eCrj  irdpa  //<v#oi9, 

^      >    >    t/-      /  '\      sj    *         \  '     r  "n  ' 

ov?  eya)  e^epeoj-   jjia\a  o   apyaAe^  L^J  -ye  rerv/crat 

KOL  Sucr^Xo?  CTTI  (frpeva  TTWTTtos 


O  friends,  I  know  indeed  in  these  the  words 
Which  I  will  speak  that  very  truth  abides; 
But  greatly  troublous  unto  men  alway 
Hath  been  the  emulous  struggle  of  Belief 
To  reach  their  bosoms. 

Expiation  and  Metempsychosis. 

"5- 

ea-Tiv  'Aixxy/ojg  ^p^/xa,  0€u>v  ijj-rjfacrfjLa  7raXeuoi>, 
diStov,  TrXareecrfrt  KaTe«r^>/3T7ytcr/u,eVov  o/3/cot?- 
cure  Tt?  d/xTrXa/cuyKn  <f>6va)L  ^>tXa  yvta 
[Net/cet  ^']  os  K€  ttriopKov  djaapr^cra? 

otre  n-aKpaiaivos  XeXa^acrt  /3toto, 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  55 


upas  CXTTO  jJLaKopcov 
(f>vofjL€vov<;  TravTola  Sid  ^povou  eiSea 
dpyaXeas  /3ioroio  /xeraXXacro'ovTa 
aWepiov  fji€v  ydp  crfye  /aevos  7rovroi/8e 
Trot'To?  8'  eg  ^oz'O?  ovSag  aTreVrvcre  ,  yata  8'  e?  avya? 
T^eXtof  (fraedovTos,  6  8'  aWepos  e/A/3aXe  SiVcu?- 
aXXog  8'  e^-  aXXou  Several,  crrvyeovcrc  Se  Tra 


/cat  eya> 
Net/cet  xat^oaeVwt  TTICTWO?. 


There  is  a  word  of  Fate,  an  old  decree 
And  everlasting  of  the  gods,  made  fast 
With  amplest  oaths,  that  whosoe'er  of  those 
Far  spirits,  with  their  lot  of  age-long  life, 
Do  foul  their  limbs  with  slaughter  in  offense, 
Or  swear  forsworn,  as  failing  of  their  pledge, 
Shall  wander  thrice  ten  thousand  weary  years 
Far  from  the  Blessed,  and  be  born  through  time 
In  various  shapes  of  mortal  kind,  which  change 
Ever  and  ever  troublous  paths  of  life: 
For  now  Air  hunts  them  onward  to  the  Sea; 
Now  the  wild  Sea  disgorges  them  on  Land; 
Now  Earth  will  spue  toward  beams  of  radiant  Sun  ; 
Whence  he  will  toss  them  back  to  whirling  Air  — 
Each  gets  from  other  what  they  all  abhor. 
And  in  that  brood  I  too  am  numbered  now, 
A  fugitive  and  vagabond  from  heaven, 
As  one  obedient  unto  raving  Strife. 

116. 
OTvyeet  SvcrrXi^TO^  'AvdyKyv. 

Charis  abhors  intolerable  Fate. 


56  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMJEDOCLES. 

117. 


* 


yap  TTOT   eya>  yef/ATji/  Koups  re  KO/DT}  re 
s  re  /cat  e^aXos  eXXoTros  t 


For  I  was  once  already  boy  and  girl, 
Thicket  and  bird,  and  mute  fish  in  the  waves. 

This  Earth  of  Ours. 

118. 
K\avcrd  re  KCU  KUKVCTCL  tSan/  ao-vvrfOea  ywpov. 

I  wept  and  wailed,  beholding  the  strange  place. 


re  KOI  ocro-ov  JLTKCOS  6\3ov 


1  19. 

e'£  01775  n/ 

w8e  [Trecrwv  Kara  yatav]  dvacrrpe'^o/jLat,  /xera  9vr]To1s. 

From  what  large  honor  and  what  height  of  bliss 
Am  I  here  fallen  to  move  with  mortal  kind! 

This  Sky-Roofed  World. 

1  20. 

r)\v0ofj,ev  roS'  v-n   avrpov  vTrdcrreyov  .  .  . 
And  then  we  came  unto  a  roofed  cave. 

This  I  'ale  of  Tears. 

121. 

arepnea  ywpov, 
evBa  3>6vo<;  re  KOTO?  re  KCU  aXXcov  eOvea  Krjpvv 

T€  I/o<TOt  Ka''  °")?x//te?  epya  re  pevcrra 
av  Xa/jiaW  Kara  CTKOTO?  7)Xao-/covo-ti/. 

A  joyless  land, 

Where  Slaughter  and  Grudge,  and  troops  of  Dooms 
besides, 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  57 

Where  shriveled  Diseases  and  obscene  Decays, 
And  Labors,  burdened  with  the  water-jars, 
Do  wander  down  the  dismal  meads  of  Bane. 

122. 

evO*  rjaav  "KOovivi  re  /cat  'HXtoTn? 

A?5pt9  &  aijaardecrora  /cat  'Apjjiovi 

KaXXtcrrw  r   Alcr^prf  re,  Oowcra  re  AT^^ai^  re, 

rjs  T   epotcrcra  /teXay/coupog  r'  'Acra<£eta. 


There  was  Earth-mother, 
There  the  far-peering  Virgin  of  the  Sun, 
And  bloody  Quarrel  and  grave-eyed  Harmony, 
And  there  was  Fair  and  Foul  and  Speed  and  Late, 
Black-haired  Confusion  and  sweet  maiden  Sure. 

123. 

<&u(ra>  re  QQipevri  re,  /cat  Ev^any  /cat  ^Eyepcrt?, 
Kti'w  r     AcrrejLt^)^?  re,  7roXvo"re/(£ai>o5  re  Meytorw 
/cat  <&ovr    ^CJTTT   re  /cat 


Growth  and  Decay,  and  Sleep  and  Roused-from- 

sleep, 

Action  and  Rest,  and  Glory  many-crowned, 
And  Filth,  and  Silence  and  prevailing  Voice. 

124. 

o>  TroTrot,  o>  SeiXoz/  6vr}Twv  yeVo?,  o> 
Toio)v  e/c  r'  epiScjv  e/c  re  o~Tova^a>v 

O  mortal  kind!     O  ye  poor  sons  of  grief! 
From  such  contentions  and  such  sighings  sprung! 


58  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

The  Changing  Forms. 

125- 

>         \          \       <f     ~       i    //)  v      v£  >    '        'n 

e/c  jaez/  yap  4WWI/  ertfet  veKpa  etde    a/xeipajv. 

For  from  the  living  he  the  dead  did  make, 
Their  forms  exchanging  .  .  . 

126. 
(TapKutv  aXXoy^cort  Trepicrre'XXoucra,  yiruvL. 

All  things  doth  Nature  change,  enwrapping  souls 
In  unfamiliar  tunics  of  the  flesh. 

127. 

€v  Oijpecro'L  Xe'ovre?  opetXe^ee? 
yiyvovrai,  Scu^ai  8'  eVt  SeVSpecrt^ 

The  worthiest  dwellings  for  the  souls  of  men, 
When  'tis  their  lot  to  live  in  forms  of  brutes, 
Are  tawny  lions,  those  great  beasts  that  sleep 
Couched  on  the  black  earth  up  the  mountain  side; 
TUit,  when  in  forms  of  beautiful  plumed  trees 
They  live,  the  bays  are  worthiest  for  souls. 

The  Golden  Age. 
128. 


ovSe  Zeu<j  /So.o'iXevs  ovSe  Kpoi/o?  ov8e 
dXXa  Kv7rpt9  /SacrtXeta. 

ot  y*  evcre^e'ecrcrtv  dyaXyLtacrt^  iXacr/covro 
re  ^ojtot(Tt  [JLVpOLCTL  T€  SatSaXedo/xot? 

T     OLKpTJTOV  6v(TLCLL<;   XlftoiVOV  T6 

re  (TTroi/Sa?     eXiTaiv     lTrrovres  e?  o38a? 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  59 

Tavpo)v  S'  aKp-qTOKTi  (f)6vois  ov  Severe  /8eo/u,og, 


ctXXd  jLvcros  TOUT'  ecrKev  eV  av#w7roicri 


a7roppaL<TavTa<;  eve&pevai  ije'a  yuta. 

Nor  unto  them 

Was  any  Ares  god,  nor  Kydoimos, 
Nor  Zeus,  the  king  of  gods,  nor  Kronos,  nor 
Poseidon  then,  but  only  Kypris  queen.  .  . 
Whom  they  with  holy  gifts  were  wont  to  appease, 
With  painted  images  of  living  things, 
With  costly  unguents  of  rich  fragrancy, 
With  gentle  sacrifice  of  taintless  myrrh, 
With  redolent  fumes  of  frankincense,  of  old 
Pouring  libations  out  upon  the  ground 
Of  yellow  honey;  not  then  with  unmixed  blood 
Of  many  bulls  was  ever  an  altar  stained; 
But  among  men  'twas  sacrilege  most  vile 
To  reave  of  life  and  eat  the  goodly  limbs. 

The  Sage. 

129. 

fy  Se'  rt?  eV  Keivoicriv  avyp  Treptwcrta  etSw?, 
65  ST)  fjLTJKio-Tov  7rpa,7uSwz>  eVnfcraTO  TT\OVTOV 

re  /AaXtfrra  CTCK^WV  eTrnjpavos  epyw 
yap  irdo"r]icriv  ope^curo  7rpa,7TtSe<Tcriv, 
pel   o  ye  rwv  ovrwv  Trdvrwv  Xevcrcrecr/cet'  e 
/cat  re  SeV  avOMTrcav  /cat  r 


Was  one  among  them  there,  a  supreme  man 
Of  vastest  knowledge,  gainer  of  large  wealth 
Of  understanding,  and  chief  master  wise 
Of  diverse  works  of  skill  and  wisdom  all; 


60  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

For  whensoe'er  he  sought  with  scope  and  reach 
Of  understanding,  then  'twas  his  to  view 
Readily  each  and  every  thing  that  e'er 
In  ten  or  twenty  human  ages  throve. 

Those  Days. 

130. 

ycrav  8e  /m'Xa  TrdWa  /cat  dvOpatTroicri  irp  ocrrjvrj, 
T   otajz/ot  re     xXoocrvvr  re 


All  things  were  tame,  and  gentle  toward  men, 
All  beasts  and  birds,  and  friendship's  flame  blew 
fair. 

The  Divine. 

131- 

ei  yap  €(j)rjfj.epLO)v  eW/ceV  rtvog,  a^i/3pore  Movcra, 
r)p,€Tepa<;  /LteXeVa?  [fj.e\€  rot]   Sta  (^povn'So?  eX^etv, 
vvv  avre  TraptVracro,  KaXXtoTreta, 
jaa/capaji/  ayaOov  \6yov  €[JL(f)aLvovTL. 

For  since,  O  Muse  undying,  thou  couldst  deign 
To  give  for  these  our  paltry  human  cares 
A  gateway  to  thy  soul,  O  now  much  more, 
Kalliope  of  the  beautiful  dear  voice, 
Be  near  me  now  beseeching!  —  whilst  I  speak 
Excelling  thoughts  about  the  blessed  gods. 

132. 

0X^8109,  6?  OeLcov  TrpaTTL^cov  eKTijcraro  7rXovroi>, 
OeiXo?  S',  <Si  cTKoroecrcra  dewv  Trept,  8o£a  fj,€fj,'f)\€v. 

O  well  with  him  who  hath  secured  his  wealth 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  6l 

Of  thoughts  divine,  O  wretched  he  whose  care 
Is  shadowy  speculation  on  the  gods! 

133- 
OVK  CCTTIV  7reXdcra,o-#ai  ev  6(j>0a 

f)  X€Pa^L  ^•/^cu',  rjnrep  re 


We  may  not  bring  It  near  us  with  our  eyes, 
We  may  not  grasp  It  with  our  human  hands, 
With  neither  hands  nor  eyes,  those  highways  twain 
Whereby  Belief  drops  into  minds  of  men. 

134- 

ouSe  yap  di/Spo/ie-^i  Ke(j>a\rjL  Kara  ywa  Ke'/cacrrat, 
ov  fjLev  airal  varroio  Suo  /cXaSot  dtcrcrovrat, 
ov  TroSe?,  ov  6oa  yovva,  ov  /xi^Sea 

a  <f>pr)v  iepr)  /cat  d^ecr^aros  e-TrXero 

L  Kocrpov  anavTa  Kara^crcrovcra  dorjicnv. 


For  'tis  adorned  with  never  a  manlike  head, 

For  from  Its  back  there  swing  no  branching  arms, 

It  hath  no  feet  nor  knees  alert,  nor  form 

Of  tufted  secret  member;  but  It  lives, 

One  holy  mind,  ineffable,  alone, 

And  with  swift  thoughts  darts  through  the  universe. 

135- 

aXXa  TO  [lev  TrdvTfDv  VQ^LI[LQV  Sid  r*  evpv/x 
aWepos  T^e/ce'cos  rerarat  Sid  T   aTrXerou  avyfjs 


But  the  wide  law  of  all  extends  throughout 
Broad-ruling  ether  and  the  vast  white  sky. 


62  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Animal  Sacrifice. 

136. 

ov  Travo'co'Oe  (frovoLO  8vo"T7^e'o9;   OVK  ecropare 
SaTTTO^res  d/c^Sei^tcrt  vooio; 


Will  ye  not  cease  from  this  great  din  of  slaughter  ? 
Will  ye  not  see,  unthinking  as  ye  are, 
How  ye  rend  one  another  unbeknown? 

137- 

fjLOpfjyrjf  8*  aXXa^avTa,  Trar^p  (^i\ov  vlov 
cr^>a£et  eVeu^o/xez^o?  /xe'ya  i^^Vto?-    ot  S' 
Xtcrcroyae^ot  ^uo^ra<?,  6  8'  au  vrfKovcrTo*; 
<r^>a£a<?  cV  ^ydpoicri  KUKRIS  a.\eyvvaro  Satra. 
OJ9  8'  aura»5  Trare'p'  vto<? 
a.TTOppa.i(TavTe 


The  father  liftcth  for  the  stroke  of  death 

His  own  dear  son  within  a  changed  form, 

And  slits  his  throat  for  sacrifice  with  prayers— 

A  blinded  fool!     Hut  the  poor  victims  press, 

Imploring  their  destroyers.     Yet  not  one 

Hut  still  is  deaf  to  piteous  moan  and  wail. 

Each  slits  the  throat  and  in  his  halls  prepares 

A  horrible  repast.     Thus  too  the  son 

Seizes  the  father,  children  the  mother  seize, 

And  reave  of  life  and  eath  their  own  dear  flesh. 

138. 

~^a\K(jJL  0,770  \I)V^TIV  apvcras 

Drawing  the  soul  as  water  with  the  bronze. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  63 


139- 

on  ov  7rpo<T0ev  /ae  StwXecre  t^Xee? 
lv  cr^erXt'  epya  /3opa?  TTC/H  ^etXecrt 


Ah  woe  is  me!  that  never  a  pitiless  day 
Destroyed  me  long  ago,  ere  yet  my  lips 
Did  meditate  this  feeding's  monstrous  crime! 


Taboos. 
140. 

airo 


Withhold  your  hands  from  leaves  of  Phoebus'  tree  ! 


141. 
oetXot,  Traz/SetXot,  KvdfjLcov  ano  ^ 

Ye  wretched,  O  ye  altogether  wretched, 
Your  hands  from  beans  withhold! 

Sin. 
142. 

TOV  o   ovr   ap  re  Aios  reyeot  So/xot  atyto^oto 
av  ovSe  [atv^§  'E]K[aT]i7?  reyos 


Neither  roofed  halls  of  aegis-holding  Zeus 
Delight  it,  nor  dire  Hecate's  venging  house. 

143- 

>         *  /  /     >   i-  >   ~i    >  '          \« 

Kpyvaav  0,770  Trej/re  ra/AOvr    \_tvj  aretpet  vaX/ccut .  .  . 

Scooping  from  fountains  five  with  lasting  bronze. 


64  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

144. 
j/^orevcrat  KOXOTTJTOS. 

O  fast  from  evil-doing. 

145- 

roiydproi  xaXeTr^ioni'  dXvovres  KaKorrja-iv 
OVTTOTC  oetXatwv  d^la^v  \a)<f>TJcr€Te  dvpov. 


Since  wildered  by  your  evil-doings  huge, 
Ne'er  shall  ye  free  your  life  from  heavy  pains. 


The  Progression  of  Rebirth. 
146. 

€ts  Se  re'Xo?  /xdVret9  re  /cat  v/xi/oTroXoi  Kat  1177/301 
/cat  Trpo/Ltot  a.v6p(i)Troia'Lv  eVt^^o^totcrt  Tre'Xoirat. 
evuev  avafiXaarovcri  6to\  rt/x^tcrt 


And  seers  at  last,  and  singers  of  high  hymns, 
Physicians  sage,  and  chiefs  o'er  earth-born  men 
Shall  they  become,  whence  germinate  the  gods, 
The  excellent  in  honors. 

147. 

a#aj>dYots  aXXotortv  o/zeortoi  avTorpdVe^oi, 
ewie?  avSpeicw  d^ecov,  aTro/cX^pot,  dretpet?. 


At  hearth  and  feast  companioned  with  the  immor 

tals, 
From  human  pains  and  wasting  eld  immune. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  65 

Last  Echoes  of  a  Song  Half  Lost. 
148. 


ova. 

Man-enfolding  Earth. 
149. 


The  cloud-collecting. 
150. 


The  blood-full  liver. 
151- 


Life-giving. 
152. 


Evening,  the  day's  old  age. 

153- 
fiav/3(t>. 

The  belly. 

1533. 


ev  €7rra  e 

In  seven  times  seven  days. 


NOTES. 

ON   NATURE. 

Fr.  I.  Pausanias  is  the  friend  to  whom  Empedocles  addresses  himself 
throughout  the  poem  On  Nature.  Matthew  Arnold  has  made 
him  a  character  in  Empedocles  on  Aetna. 

Fr.  2.  Narrow  ways:  these  are  the  pores  (Tropoi)  into  which  pass  the 
emanations  (diroppoai)  from  things  (cf.  fr.  89)  ;  whence  man's 
portion  —  such  as  it  is  —  of  perception  and  knowledge  (cf.  the 
simulacra  of  Lucr.  IV).  "Ways"  (ira\a/j.a.i)  are  literally  "de 
vices";  but  the  notion  of  small  passages  is  suggested  by 
ffreivuiroi  ;  cf.  fr.  4. 

Their  little  share  of  life  :  a  note  of  sadness  struck  more  than 
once  by  Empedocles,  and  one  of  the  few  elements  in  common 
with  the  personage  in  Arnold's  poem.     Cf.  the  comments  on 
life  and  man  in  the  Gnomic  writers. 
Like  smoke:  cf. 

"Ergo  dissolui  quoque  convenit  omnem  animai 
naturam,  ceu  fumus,  in  altas  aeris  auras." 

Lucr.,  Ill,  455-6. 

Than  mortal  ken   may  span:   more  literally,   "than  mortal 
skill  may  have  power  to  move" 


Fr.  3.    Addressed  to  Pausanias;  so  elsewhere. 

Fr.  4.     Their  madness  :  this  evidently  refers  to  the  over-bold  specu 
lations  of  Parmenides  and  other  philosophers. 

Meek  Piety's  :  lit.,  "from  [the  realm  of]  Piety." 

By  every  way  of  knowing  :  by  every  passage,  or  device 
(VaXd^Tj)  ;  cf.  fr.  2.  Empedocles,  unlike  Parmenides,  affirms 
the  relative  trustworthiness  of  the  senses. 

Trust  sight  no  more  than  hearing,  etc.  :  here  E.  may  imply 
a  distinction  between  the  understanding  and  sense  perception  ; 


68  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

or  he  may  consider,  with  the  sensationalists  of  modern  psy 
chology,  one  sense  as  acting  as  a  check  on  another,  without 
realizing  that  there  must  still  be  something  over  and  above 
them  which  weighs  and  decides.  His  theory  of  knowledge 
was  apparently  little  developed.  Aristotle  (De  an.,  Ill,  3,  4273. 
21-29)  says  that  E.  drew  no  distinction  between  voelv  or  <ppoveiv 
and  alcrOdveffOai. 

Note  by  all  ways :  "ways"  here  translates  iropos,  'road,'  'pore.' 

The  Roman  critic  (Hor.,  DC  arte  poetlca,  134  ff.)  warns  the 
poet  against  a  beginning  that  promises  bigger  things  than  the 
work  bears  out,  and  he  might  have  chided  Empedocles  with 
the  contrary  fault ;  for  the  reverent  attitude,  reflected  in  this 
fragment,  soon  gives  way  to  dogmatism  and  grandiloquence, 
as  the  old  philosopher's  soul  thrills  to  his  large  thought  and 
the  roll  of  his  splendid  verse.  Later  writers  on  the  Unknow 
able  and  the  limitations  of  human  knowledge  have  not  always 
been  more  consistent. 

Fr.  5.  The  High  and  Strong:  "either  philosophers  or  doctrines  or 
the  gods  Love  and  Strife."  Diels,  PPF. 

Sifted  through  thy  soul:  an  illustration  of  the  dependence  of 
a  poetic  value  on  an  emendation;  if,  instead  of  StaffffTjOevros 
(FV),  we  read  8ia.Tfj.rj6ei>Tos  (PPF),  the  translation  might  run: 

"Deep  in  thine  inward  parts  dividing  thought," 
a  very  different,  and  to  me  less  effective  figure. 

Fr.  6.  The  four-fold  root:  the  four  elements,  but  there  is  some  dis 
agreement  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  symbols  that  follow. 
Nestis  is  presumably  a  Sicilian  water  divinity,  identified  by 
van  ten  Brink  and  Heyne  with  Proserpina,  and  the  context 
shows  that  she  symbolizes  water.  Zeller  (p.  759)  makes  Zeus 
fire,  Here  air,  and  Aidoneus  (Dis)  earth;  Burnet  (p.  243) 
and  Bodrero  (p.  78).  following  Knatz,  make  Zeus  air,  Here 
earth,  and  Aidoneus  fire.  I  am  not  persuaded  that  any  peculiar 
theory  is  implied  in  this  mythology,  as  Bodrero  attempts  to 
prove  (cf.  also  Gomperz,  p.  245)  ;  at  the  most  E.  is  hinting  at 
the  elements  as  eternal  (the  "established  gods"  of  fr.  17)  and 
primary — "the  four-fold  root  of  all  things."  Moreover,  E. 
was  poet  no  less  than  philosopher. 

Earlier  philosophy  had  recognized  the  materials  which  E. 
calls  the  four  elements,  though  it  had  never  made  them  Grund- 
stoffc.  Cf.  also  the  "flowing"  (like  water),  the  "mistiform" 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  69 

(like  air)  and  the  dry  mist  (like  fire)  of  Heraclitus;  and  the 
contrasted  warm  and  cold  which  Anaximander  conceived  as 
differentiated  from  the  &Treipoi>.  (The  five-fold  division  of  Phi- 
lolaos  was  probably  derived  from  E.)  E.  was  the  first  ab 
solute  pluralist ;  preceding  thinkers,  Thales,  Pythagoras,  Hera 
clitus,  Parmenides,  etc.,  had  made  ultimate  reality  a  material 
One.  Not  until  Plato  have  we  an  approach  to  an  idealistic 
monism  (cf.  Burnet,  p.  207-8). 

Fr.  7.  Elements  (oroi^eta),  supplied  here  and  elsewhere,  is  nowhere 
preserved  to  us  by  E.,  and  was  apparently  first  used  in  philos 
ophy  by  Plato.  Cf.  Zeller,  p.  759. 

Fr.  8.  End  in  ruinous  death:  this  is  not  here  enlarged  upon  as  is 
the  idea  of  birth;  it  is,  however,  but  the  other  aspect  of  the 
latter:  the  interchange  of  the  mixed  implies  a  scattering  as 
well,  the  dissolution  of  the  old  to  form  the  new;  at  least  I 
take  if.  so.  Cf.  fr.  17. 

Fr.  9.    In  msn,  etc. :  properly,  "in  the  case  of  man." 

I  too  assent  to  use :  how  many  philosophers  have  felt  them 
selves  balked  in  the  perfect  expression  of  their  thought  by 
having  in  their  vocabulary  to  "assent  to  use." 

Fr.  10.  Avenging  Death :  evidently  used  in  a  connection  similar  to 
"doom  of  death"  in  fr.  9  (cf.  Plut.  quoted  by  Diels,  PPF). 
"ut  'A6-rjva  d\oiris  Lycoph.  935  est  sceleris  vindex,  sic  Mors 
peccatorum  ultrix."  Diels,  PPF. 

Fr.  H-I2.  The  doctrine  (and  in  part  the  words)  of  Parmenides, 
afterwards  developed  with  such  energy  and  imagination  and 
observation  of  the  processes  of  the  sensible  universe  in  Book 
I  of  the  De  Natura  Rerum. 

For  there  'tucill  lie,  etc. :  perhaps  a  more  literal  rendering 
would  make  the  meaning  more  obvious  to  some  readers :  "For 
every  time  will  it  [i.  e.,  any  given  object]  be  right  there,  where 
any  one  every  time  puts  it." 

Fr.  13-14.  E.  held  with  Parmenides  that  the  world  is  a  Plenum,  in 
capable  either  of  excess  or  of  deficiency. 

Fr.  15.  "But  that  there  is  here  any  affirmation  of  the  immortality  of 
the  psychic  life  (Siebeck,  Gesch.  d.  Psychol.,  I,  53,  267)  I  do 
not  believe.  Pporol  denotes  with  E.  not  only  men  but  all  per- 


7O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

ishable  beings,  and  these  are  eternal  only  in  so  far  as  their 
elements  are  eternal."    Zeller,  p.  756. 

Dicls,  however,  renders  (FV)  Pporol  "wir  Sterbliche";  in 
deed,  as  "men"  is  evidently  the  understood  subject  of  KaXeovet 
('call'),  it  must  also  be  the  subject  of  /Stwfft  ('live'),  and  it  is 
but  natural  to  construe  fipoTol  below  in  the  same  sense.  But 
there  is  still  presumably  no  reference  to  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  Thought  and  feeling  with  E.  are  part  of  the  physical 
system ;  and  "our  being"  is  but  a  physical  being,  to  which, 
however,  as  to  every  thing,  the  thought  of  fr.  ir  must  apply. 
"Compacted"  and  "loosed  apart"  refer  to  the  mingling  and 
the  scattering  of  the  body's  constituent  elements. 

Fr.  16.  Lore  and  Hate :  under  varying  names,  "Lovingness" 
and  "Strife,"  "Aphrodite"  and  "Wrath,"  etc.,  conceived  by  E. 
as  the  dynamic  powers  of  the  universe.  Many  details  of  the 
conception  are  still  in  dispute  (cf.  Zeller,  p.  771;  Tannery,  p. 
306).  Efforts  to  relate  them  genetically  to  the  Isis  and  Typhon 
of  the  Egyptian,  or  to  the  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman  of  the  Persian 
seem  to  me  unsuccessful ;  one  is  rather  reminded  of  the  "War" 
and  "Harmonia"  of  Heraclitus. 

Fr.  17.  The  longest,  the  most  significant,  and  the  most  difficult  of 
the  fragments;  preserved  by  Simplicius.  "The  One"  is  the 
Sphere;  "the  Many,"  as  we  see  from  line  18  (of  the  Greek 
text),  are  the  four  elements. 

Two-fold  the  birth,  two-fold  the  death  of  tilings:  a  dark 
saying;  I  paraphrase  a  Latin  note  of  Diels,  PPF: 

"The  wheel  of  nature  runs  a  double  course,  one  from  the 
complete  separation  of  the  four  elements  to  the  union  of  the 
Sphere,  the  other  from  the  Sphere  to  the  separation  of  the 
elements.  In  either  course  exist  the  certainties  of  creation 
and  dissolution :  for,  as  the  elements  come  together,  their 
meeting  (ffvvoSos)  brings  things  to  birth,  but  when  the  tend 
ency  to  mingle  has  finally  increased  so  far  as  to  form  the 
Sphere  again,  the  same  meeting  is  found  at  last  to  be  no  less 
the  source  of  their  destruction  (thus  ffvvoSos  ri'/cret  r'  <5Xe'/cei  re)  ; 
again,  as  the  elements  begin  to  separate  from  the  Sphere  (Sia- 
<f>vonti>uv) ,  things  are  born  into  an  orderly  arrangement  of 
their  elements,  until,  with  the  increased  tendency  toward  sepa 
ration,  everything  at  last  flies  apart  (Sieirrij)  and  perishes." 
Cf.  fr.  26. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  7! 

It  must  be  noted  that,  when  Love  is  supreme,  we  have  the 
harmony  of  the  Sphere ;  when  Hate  is  supreme,  a  complete 
dissipation.  In  neither  state  is  anything  like  our  world  pos 
sible  :  we  must  be  in  either  one  or  the  other  intermediate 
period,  where  the  elements  are  making  headway  (i)  away 
from  the  Sphere  toward  dissipation,  or  (2)  from  dissipation 
toward  the  Sphere.  Cf.  Burnet  (p.  248  ff.),  who  believes  we 
are  in  the  former  period. 

Anaximander  (but  cf.  Burnet,  p.  64)  and  Heraclitus  and  the 
Pythagoreans  seem  also  to  have  taught  a  succession  of  worlds 
born  and  destroyed;  and  a  similar  thought  is  implicit  in  the 
nebular  hypothesis  of  modern  astronomy. 

So  far  have  they  a  birth,  etc. :  "they"  refers,  I  believe,  to 
the  four  elements :  mortal,  if  viewed  as  parts  of  the  perishable 
things  of  our  world;  immortal  and  unshaken  as  gods  (cf.  the 
mythological  names  of  fr.  6),  if  viewed  as  the  primeval  sources 
of  all  things  and  as  subject  to  the  law  of  the  four  cosmic 
periods — eternal  interchange  and  revolution  round  "the  circle 
of  the  world." 

And  shut  from  them  apart,  etc. :  both  Strife  and  Love  are 
apparently  conceived  as  material,  not  simply  as  dynamic  prin 
ciples.  The  early  philosophers  were  a  long  way  from  the  in- 
corporealities  and  abstractions  of  modern  science  (cf.  Burnet, 
p.  246)  ;  and  even  the  Pythagorean  numbers  were  by  no  means 
sharply  distinguished  from  their  concrete  expression  in  geo 
metrical  forms  and  material  things,  and  even  the  "Nous"  of 
Anaxagoras  was  mindstuff  in  space.  Thus  Strife  is  in  equi 
poise,  i.e.,  everywhere  of  the  same  weight  (aTaXavrov  s'entend 
de  1'equilibre  des  poids.  Tannery,  p.  305),  and  at  this  moment 
somewhere  outside  the  Sphere ;  while  Love,  equal  in  length 
and  breadth,  is  situated  inside,  and 

"speeds  revolving  in  the  elements." 

Tannery  (p.  306)  regards  them  as  "media  endowed  with 
special  properties  and  able  to  displace  each  other,  media  in 
the  bosom  of  which  are  plunged  the  corporeal  molecules,  but 
which  are  still  conceived  to  be  as  material  as  the  imponderable 
ether  of  the  modern  physicists,"  i.  e.,  almost  as  diffused 
gases;  but  it  is  very  doubtful  if  Empedocles  had  such  a  defi 
nite  thought  in  mind. 

'Tis  she  inborn,  etc. :  whatever  the  difficulties  in  thinking 
out  the  thought  with  consistency  of  detail,  there  is  a  freshness 


72  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMFEDOCLES. 

and  a  grandeur  in  this  identification  of  a  cosmic  principle,  or 
material,  with  a  passion,  or  a  faculty,  in  the  life  of  man.  E. 
makes  a  similar  identification  of  Hate  (cf.  fr.  109).  Schopen 
hauer's  identification  of  the  dynamic  principle  of  all  nature 
with  "will"  offers  a  modern  analogy.  Nor  should  we  overlook 
the  prior  significance  in  the  very  choice  of  the  names,  drawn 
from  the  passions  of  men  to  stand  for  activities  as  funda 
mental  and  wide  as  the  universe. 

I  think,  by  the  way,  that  E.'s  language  here  makes  it  possible 
to  interpret  love  ("thoughts  of  love,"  etc.)  as  more  than  the 
physiological  passion  of  sex  for  sex,  with  which  it  is  usually 
identified  by  the  commentators. 

Behold  these  elements  own  equal  strength,  etc.:  E.  conceives 
the  elements  as  each  alike  in  quantity  and  strength,  each  alike 
primeval ;  but  each,  with  its  peculiar  function  and  appearance 
(cf.  E's  specific  descriptive  adjectives  used  in  naming  the  ele 
ments),  qualitatively  distinct  from  the  others.  Cf.  Zeller,  p. 
762.  But  what  he  means  by  affirming  that 

"each 
Prevailing  conquers  with  revolving  time" 

is  not,  to  me  at  least,  perfectly  clear.  He  speaks  nowhere  of 
an  age  of  Air,  or  Earth,  or  Water;  and  the  peculiar  agencies 
he  imputes  to  fire  (see  infra)  are  apparently  at  all  times  at 
work,  without  ever  ending  in  fire's  dominating  all,  as  in  the 
common  interpretation  of  the  system  of  Heraclitus.  Possibly 
he  refers  to  the  temporal  sequence  in  the  separation  of  the 
elements  from  the  Sphere  (for  which  see  Zeller,  p.  787),  or 
simply  to  the  fact  that  now  this,  now  that  created  object  in 
natura  rerum  has  more  of  this  or  more  of  that  element  in  its 
composition.  Cf.  fr.  26.  In  Chinese  philosophy  "The  elements 
are  supposed  to  conquer  one  another  according  to  a  definite 
law.  We  are  told  that  wood  conquers  earth,  earth  conquers 
water,  water  conquers  fire,  fire  conquers  metal,  and  metal  con 
quers  wood."  Paul  Carus,  Chinese  Thought,  1907,  p.  47.  But 
there  is  nothing  in  E.'s  thought  that  seems  to  correspond. 

Through  one  another :  an  allusion  to  the  theory  of  the  pores, 
the  precursor  of  Atomism.  Cf.  Zeller,  p.  767. 

Fr.  18.  The  translator  has  made  no  effort  to  be  consistent  in  render 
ing  <J>i\li)  and  4>i\6ri)s  into  English  by  different  words.  There 
is  evidently  no  vital  difference  of  meaning  in  the  Greek  as 
used  by  E.  Cf.  Pint.,  quoted  by  Diels,  PPF. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  73 

Fr.  19.    With  reference  here  to  water. 

Fr.  20.  Line  i  has  been  supplied  by  the  translator.  Cf.  with  this 
fragment  fr.  57-62. 

Fr.  21.  But  come,  etc. :  i.  e.,  'observe  if  what  I  have  already  said 
does  not  give  a  sufficiently  clear  description  of  the  form,  or 
physical  characteristics  of  the  elements'— "si  quid  materiae 
etiam  in  priore  numeratione  elementorum  relictum  erat  formae 
explicandae."  Diels,  PPF. 

The  Sun :  see  note  on  fr.  41. 

The  eternal  Stars :  E.  conceived  the  fixed  stars  as  fastened  to 
the  vault  (of  the  dark  hemisphere),  the  planets  as  free,  and 
both  as  formed  of  fire  separated  from  the  air. 

The  sun  and  the  stars  apparently  correspond  to  the  fiery 
element,  rain  to  the  watery,  and  earth  to  the  earthy,  con 
sidered  here  as  visible  parts  of  the  present  universe  no  less 
than  as  the  sources  thereof.  Air  seems  to  be  unrepresented, 
unless  it  be  suggested  by  "glowing  radiance."  I  am  inclined 
to  take  the  phrase  merely  as  a  bit  of  poetry— it  is  the  radiance 
of  the  night,  hardly  the  bright  heaven,  the  aery  expanse  of 
day.  But  were  it  so  interpreted,  one  might  well  note  that  E. 
regularly  uses  alffjp  ('sky')  and  once  ovpavos  ('heaven')  for 
air,  and  might  compare  Lucretius' 

"Unde  aether  sidera  pascit"  (Bk.  I,  231), 
and  Virgil's 

"Polus  dum  sidera  pascit"  (Bk.  I,  608)— 

phrases  which,  however,  are  not,  as  I  understand  them,  based 
on  an  astronomy  like  that  of  Empedocles. 

The  green :  the  Greek  is  0&vpva,  'the  beginnings  of  things,' 
the  'semina  rerum' of  Lucretius  (Liddell  &  Scott),  here  possibly 
with  some  suggestion  of  the  growth  of  the  vegetable  world 
(hence  the  translation  "green").  There  is  assuredly  no  ref 
erence  to  the  primeval  "lumps  with  rude  impress"  of  fr.  62, 
for  E.  is  here  speaking  of  things  as  they  are. 

The  long-lived  gods:  the  gods  in  the  On  Nature  of  Em 
pedocles  are  part  of  the  perishable  world,  formed,  like  tree  or 
fish,  out  of  the  elements ;  hence,  though  "in  honors  excellent," 
they  are  not  immortal. 


74  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  22.    Heaven  :  air;  cf.  note  to  fr.  21. 

For  amber  Sun,  etc.:  the  mutual  attraction  of  the  like  and 
the  repulsion  of  the  unlike  are  here  referred  respectively  to 
the  action  of  Love  and  Hate;  but  elsewhere  in  his  system  Em- 
pedocles  leaves  us  much  in  the  dark  on  the  matter.  Cf.  Gom- 
perz,  p.  237.  Tannery,  p.  308.  Also  Burnet,  p.  247. 

Things  that  are  most  apt  to  mix:  where  the  emanations  of 
the  one  are  peculiarly  well  fitted  to  the  pores  of  the  other.  Cf. 
Burnet,  247  fr. 

Fr.  23.  mixing  harmonious,  etc.:  Gomperz  (p.  233)  sees  a  reference  in 
this  fragment  to  the  four  primary  colors,  as  analogous  to  the 
four  elements.  The  simile  were  then  doubly  striking. 

The  goddess:  lit.,  'divinity'  (0eoO),  undoubtedly  the  Muse, 
mentioned  several  times  by  E.  (cf.  fr.  4,  5,  131);  important 
as  a  hint  that  the  author  is  poet  as  well  as  philosopher,  and 
may  use  language  not  always  literally  in  accord  with  his  sys 
tem. 

Fr.  25.  One  may  regret  that  Empedocles  has  not  left  us  more  such 
pithy  sayings. 

Cf. 

"A  reasonable  reason, 
If  good,  is  none  the  worse  for  repetition." 

Byron,  Don  Juan,  XV,  51. 

Fr.  26.  In  turn  they  conquer:  "they"  means  the  elements;  cf.  note 
on  fr.  17. 

olden  Fate:  fate  is  mentioned  several  times  by  E.,  and  can 
only  mean,  I  think,  the  universal  law  of  being. 

Whiles  in  fair  order:  Gr.  eh  eva  riff/iov;  it  refers  to  that 
orderly  arrangement  of  the  elements  which  results,  as  the  uni 
fying  process  goes  on,  in  the  dead  harmony  of  the  Sphere. 

Whiles  rent  asunder:  this  refers  to  the  process  which  ends 
in  the  complete  dissipation  of  the  elements  and  the  destruction 
of  all  things. 

Till  they,  when  grown.  ..  .succumb:  i.e.,  as  I  understand  it, 
till,  after  having  completed  the  process  of  coming  together 
again  which  ends  in  the  Sphere,  they  again  begin  the  process 
of  separating  which  ends  in  dissipation.  Cf.  fr.  17;  and  Zeller 
(p.  778),  who  might  question  this  interpretation. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  75 

"Go  under  and  succumb"  is  in  the  Greek  virevepOe  yevrjTai,  a 
phrase  found  in  Theognis  (1.  843)  : 

"  'AXX'  bworav  KaOvirepdev  ewi>  virevepOe  yevrjTai 
TOVTOLKIS  OLKad'   i,uet>  Travffd/j.ei'Oi  iroffios  " 

where  the  event  is,  however,  hardly  of  the  same  cosmic  im 
portance. 

Fr.  27.  There:  in  the  Sphere,  where  one  could  distinguish  none  of 
the  elements  and  none  of  the  forms  of  things.  One  notes  that 
the  passage  makes  no  mention  of  air,  and  wonders  if  a  line 
may  have  been  lost.  The  Sphere  corresponds  somewhat  to 
the  "Being"  of  Parmenides,  which  was  spherical  and  im 
movable;  but  the  four  elements,  though  in  this  sphere  visibly 
indistinguishable,  must  still  maintain  their  respective  qual 
ities.  For  various  ancient  interpretations  of  the  nature  of  the 
Sphere,  cf.  Burnet,  p.  250  ff. 

In  the  close  recess  of  Harmony:  "in  Concordiae  latebris 
fixus  tenetur."  Diels,  PPF.  A  poetic  figure  for  the  idea  that 
the  Sphere  is  completely  under  the  reign  of  Love.  Possibly 
"the  close  recess"  is  but  the  "surrounding  solitude"  below,  and 
is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  taken  any  more  literally  than  the  refer 
ence  to  the  Sphere  as  "exultant."  If  examined  narrowly, 
however,  difficulties  must  be  admitted.  The  figure  may  be 
Pythagorean.  Harmony,  then,  were  the  personified  "fitting," 
"adaptation,"  and  would  refer  to  the  closely  fitted  parts  of  the 
universe,  when  brought  together  by  Love.  HVKIVOS  ('close- 
fitted,'  'compact')  were  itself  perfectly  appropriate;  but  Kpvcj>os, 
as  a  noun  (meaning,  as  it  seems  to  here,  'a  hidden  place') 
would  confuse  the  thought,  for  the  figure,  if  Pythagorean, 
requires  us  to  conceive  "Harmony"  as  pervading  the  Sphere, 
not  as  hiding  it  somewhere  in  space.  Moreover,  one  would 
expect  to  find  Kpifas  applied  to  the  Sphere  rather  than  to  the 
recess.  Prof.  Newbold  in  a  letter  suggests  Kpvu  for  Kpixpu,  i.  e., 
'in  Harmonia's  close-binding  frost,'  as  "better  than  the  MS 
reading,  though  not  altogether  satisfactory." 

Bodrero  assumes  (p.  135)  that  Harmony  "is  not  Love  alone, 
but  the  union  of  Love  and  Hate,  their  equilibrium";  but  his 
whole  interpretation  of  Empedocles  is  very  far  from  that  of 
all  other  scholars,  and  is  usually,  as  here,  of  little  service  to 
the  point  of  view  adopted  in  these  pages. 

The  rounded  Sphere :  This  primeval  Sphere  must  never  be 
confounded  with  E.'s  present  spherical  universe,  composed,  as 


76  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

we  learn  from  the  doxographers,  of  a  revolving  bright  hemi 
sphere  of  day  and  a  dark  hemisphere  of  night.  Cf.  note  to 
f  r.  48. 

Exultant  in  surrounding  solitude:  quoted  with  literary  tact, 
though  in  a  corrupt  form,  by  Marcus  Aurelius  (XII,  3)  :  "If 
thou  wilt  separate,  I  say,  from  this  ruling  faculty  the  things 
which  arc  attached  to  it  by  the  impressions  of  sense,  and  the 
things  of  time  to  come  and  of  time  that  is  past,  and  wilt  make 
thyself  like  Empedocles'  Sphere,  'All  round,  and  in  its  joyous 
rest  reposing.' " 

Fr.  29.  Cf.  fr.  134,  where  expressions,  in  part  identical,  are  used 
apparently  of  the  Divine;  and  note  that  below  in  fr.  31  the 
Sphere  is  called  God. 

Nor  form  of  life-producing  member:  a  touch  possible  only 
to  a  free  and  an  austere  imagination :  Empedocles  gazes  upon 
man,  the  naked  and  the  swift,  and  seizes  at  once  on  that  which 
most  identifies  his  manhood. 

Fr.  30.  Yet  after  mighty  Strife:  it  will  be  remembered  that  Strife 
breaks  up  and  separates  the  elements  in  the  Sphere. 

Amplest  oath  :  Gr.  TrXare'os  6p/cou,  lit.  'broad  oath.'    Cf.  fr.  115. 

Fr.  31.  God:  the  Sphere.  "This  mixture  of  all  materials  is  divine 
only  in  the  sense  in  which  antiquity  in  general  sees  in  the 
world  itself  the  totality  of  divine  beings  and  powers."  Zeller, 
p.  813;  cf.  p.  814. 

Fr.  32.  "quod  e  coniecttira  scrips!  artus  hingit  bina  eleganter  ex- 
pressit  Martianus  Rota  sive  ingenio  sive  meliore  libro  fretus : 
articulis  constat  semper  iunctura  duobus."  Diels,  PPF. 

Fr.  33.  Dicls  (PPF)  cites  Homer,  E,QO2,  and  says  "e  Plut.  patet 
Concordiae  processum  illustrari"— it  illustrates  the  process  of 
Love. 

Fr.  34.    i.  e.,  like  a  baker,  according  to  Karsten  and  Burnet. 

Fr.  35.  When  down  the  Vortex :  the  origin  of  the  vortex  is  not  ex 
plained  in  any  existing  fragment  of  Empedocles.  Tannery 
thinks  (p.  312)  "the  vortex  is  due  to  a  disturbance  of  equi 
librium the  final  resultant  of  the  disordered  movements 

which  Hate  occasions  in  the  Sphere."     And  again   (p.  314)  : 
"Hate.... is  the  principle  of  division  and  movement;  in  con- 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  77 

sequence  of  its  very  mobility  it  works  its  way  naturally  into 
the  interior  of  the  motionless  Sphere,  produces  an  agitation 
and  then  a  movement  of  revolution.  Thereupon  Hate  is 
thrown  off  to  the  circumference  where  the  movement  is  most 
rapid,  and  is  finally  excluded  altogether."  But  cf.  Zeller,  p. 
784,  787.  This  chaos,  or  vortex,  caused,  according  to  Tannery 
by  Hate,  has  suggested  to  some  the  "x^Ma"  of  Hesiod  and 
the  "rudes  indigestaque  moles"  of  Ovid;  it  was,  however,  an 
accepted  tenet  of  the  older  schools  (cf.  The  Siv-rj  in  Anaximenes 
and  Anaximander,  W.  A.  Heidel,  Class.  Philology,  I,  3.,  July 
1906). 

The  ec'dying  centre  of  the  mass:  "the  mass"  is  not  in  the 
Greek;  but  is  to  be  understood  rather  than  "the  Sphere"— 
which  has  properly  ceased  to  be  in  becoming  a  vortex. 

Oneness:  not  to  be  identified  with  the  Sphere,  but  with  the 
"fair  order"  of  fr.  26,  as  seems  clear  from  the  lines  that  fol 
low,  "and  from  their  mingling,"  etc. 

Only  as  willingly:  possibly  a  reference  to  the  attraction  of 
like  for  like.  Cf.  note  to  fr.  22. 

Not  all  blameless :  i.  e.,  Hate  retreated  under  protest,  differ 
ing  from  "blameless  Lovingness"  in  not  willingly  submitting  to 
the  "old  decree"  (see  Diels,  PPF,  and  fr.  30)  ;  although  this 
seems,  if  anything  more  than  a  poetic  touch,  to  involve  the 
inconsistency  of  a  free  will  over  against  the  fundamental  ne 
cessity.  Such  cruxes  recall  the  inconsistencies  even  in  the 
more  developed  materialism  of  modern  times,  which  assumes 
the  possibility  of  sense  experience  and  of  distinguishing  truth 
and  error,  right  and  wrong.  Cf.  fr.  116. 

The  circle's  utmost  bounds :  the  circumference  of  the  vortex, 
not  the  Sphere. 

The  members:  the  elements. 

Those  mortal  things :  the  elements  as  constituents  of  physical 
objects  in  the  perishable  world,  contrasted  with  the  elements 
as  eternal  sources  of  creation.  Cf.  fr.  17  and  26.  "Dagli 
elementi  eterni  si  formano  esseri  viventi  e  peribili."  Bodrero, 
p.  130.  The  two  states  are  again  contrasted  in 

"The  erstwhile  pure  and  sheer 
Were  mixed," 
below. 

Fr.  36.    They :  The  elements.    Cf.  preceding  fragment. 


7»  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  37.  "cetera  elementa  duo  commemorata  fuisse  veri  simile  (cf. 
Lucr.  II  1114  sq.),  at  versus  recuperari  nequit."  Diels,  PPF. 
Cf.  fr.  109  on  sense  perception. 

Fr.  38.  If  the  brief  examples  of  "all  things  we  now  behold"  are  to 
correspond  to  the  four  elements,  one  finds  nothing  representa 
tive  of  fire,  unless  ether  be  here  used,  as  by  Anaxagoras,  for 
fire,  with  reference  to  the  fiery  sky  (cf.  note  to  fr.  135)  and 
to  the  etymology  of  the  word  itself  (from  atOeiv,  'light  up,' 
'blaze') — a  sense,  indeed,  appropriate  to  the  appellative  "Titan." 
Rut  this  were  quite  a  different  sense  than  is  usual  in  E.,  with 
whom  ether  regularly  stands  for  the  element  air.  This,  how 
ever,  involves  us  in  another  difficulty:  "moist  air"  (vypbs  drip) 
has  been  already  mentioned:  but  with  Zeller  we  may  interpret 
it  as  the  lower,  thicker,  misty  air  (so  a-yp  in  Homer),  as  op 
posed  to  the  upper  air,  the  pure  ether,  "without,  however, 
assuming  any  elemental  difference,"  p.  786.  "Moist  air"  is 
rendered  "feuchten  Luftkreis"  by  Diels  (FV),  and  "damp 
mist"  by  Rurnet.  T  may  add  that  Rurnet  is  evidently  wrong 
in  affirming  that  drjp  never  refers  to  air  in  E. :  it  is  used  inter 
changeably  with  aiGr/p  ('air')  in  fr.  100  (q.  v.)  Cf.  Stickney, 
notes  to  Cicero's  DC  Xat.  Dconun,  T,  44. 

"With  Ether,  the  Titan  who  binds  the  globe  about :" 
cf. 

"Rread,  kingdoms,  stars,  and  sky  that  holds  them  all." 

Emerson,  Days. 

Fr.  39.  The  white  Ether:  "white"  is  not  in  the  Greek,  but  is  in 
keeping  with  E.'s  "Ether,  the  all  splendorous,"  the  "awful 
heights  of  Air,"  the  vaulted  sky  of  his  imagination. 

As  forsooth  some  tongues,  etc. :  a  gruffncss  reminding  of 
Ileraclitus,  and  of  Emerson's  line: 

"The  brave  Empedocles  defying  fools." 

Fr.  41.  E.  seems  to  have  conceived  the  sun  as  "a  luminous  image  of 
the  earth,  when  the  latter  was  lighted  up  by  the  fire  of  the 
day  fi.  e.,  the  bright  hemisphere]  and  reflected  upon  the  crys 
tal  vault  of  heaven."  Tannery,  p.  317.  Rut  cf.  Rurnet,  p.  254,  and 
Zellcr,  p.  789,  for  slight  differences  of  interpretation.  How 
the  sun,  a  mere  reflection,  was  borne  along  its  track  in  the  re 
volving  sky  we  are  left  to  guess. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  79 

Fr.  42.  An  anticipation  of  the  modern  scientific  explanation  of  solar 
eclipses. 

The  silver-eyed:  y^avKuinSos  wvw,  for  the  much  discussed 
yXavKuiris  see  the  Homeric  dictionaries.  It  refers  properly 
not  to  color  but  to  "brightness  and  flashing  splendor,"  used 
especially  of  Athene,  of  whom  the  Iliad  (A,  200)  says,  "Seivu 
5e  oi  oaae  (paavOev  ."  Cf.  Schol.  on  Apoll.  Rhod.  I.  1280  (quoted 
by  Merrill  and  Riddell,  Odys.  A,  44)  :  "diayXatiffffovffut  dvrl  rov 
(pwrl^ovai  rf  diaXdfjLTrovaij  '66et>  /cat  •}]  'AOrfva.  y\a.vKuiris}  /cat  y\rii>7]  TJ 
Kop-rj  rov  6<p6oL\fj.ov>  irapa  rt>  y\av<Tffeiv  '6  ecrri  \d/j.Treii>.  /cat  ~Evpnri- 
dys  eirl  rijs  creATjj'Tjs  expijiraTO  7\ai>/Cw7rt's  re  arpefperai  /JL-TIVIJ."  But 
it  is  doubtful  if  E.,  who  speaks  of  "Selene  mild,"  intended 
here  anything  stronger  than  "with  eye  of  silvery  sheen." 

y\avKos  is  used  of  the  willow,  the  olive,  and  E.  himself  uses 
it  (fr.  93)  of  the  elder.  Diels'  "blauaugigen"  seems  to  me  in 
adequate. 

Fr.  43.  E.  knew  the  source  of  the  moon's  light  (cf.  fr.  45,  47)  ;  but 
the  moon  itself  he  held  to  be  a  disk  of  frozen  air,  and  one-half 
as  far  from  the  earth  as  the  sun  ("E.  StTrXdo-ioj'  aTrexetj/  (ri>v 
ijXtoi')  diro  rijs  yijs  rfirep  TTJV  ffeX^vijv."  Plac.  II,  31). 


Fr.  44.  He  darts  his  beams:  with  Diels  I  take  the  subject  to  be  'the 
sun'  and  not  'the  earth'  (Burnet)  ;  and  "Olympos"  is  then  the 
bright  heaven,  Tannery's  "feu  du  jour"  (see  note  to  fr.  41). 
E.  explained  the  light  of  the  heavenly  bodies  through  his  doc 
trine  of  emanations,  and,  accordingly  maintained  —  a  correct 
conclusion  from  incorrect  premises  —  that  the  sun's  light  re 
quires  a  certain  time  to  reach  earth.  Cf.  Zeller,  p.  790. 

Fr.  46.  Which  round  the  outmost:  probably  'goal  is  turning,'  or 
something  of  the  sort,  followed  here.  The  form  of  the  clause 
shows  that  it  served  as  a  simile. 

Fr.  47.    Pier  lord:  the  sun,  see  note  on  fr.  43. 

Fr.  48.  E.  conceived  our  earth  as  surrounded  by  a  hollow  globe 
composed  of  two  hemispheres,  a  lighter  of  fire,  a  darker  of 
air,  whose  revolution  produces  day  and  night.  Cf.  Zeller, 
p.  786  ff.  This  line  means  only  that  earth  shuts  off  the  light 
of  the  fiery  hemisphere  that  sinks  below  the  horizon,  bearing 
with  it  its  sun  (see  fr.  41). 


8O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

FT.  50.  For  authenticity  cf.  Diels,  PPF.  I  am  uncertain  what  scien 
tific  meaning  this  line  had  for  Empedocles ;  but  for  the  modern 
reader  it  is  at  least  charming  poetry.  Burnet  (p.  256)  says: 
"Wind  was  explained  from  the  opposite  motions  of  the  fiery 
and  airy  hemispheres.  Rain  was  caused  by  the  compression 
of  the  Air,  which  forced  any  water  there  might  be  in  it  out 
of  its  pores  in  the  form  of  drops." 

Fr.  51.  And  upward,  etc.:  of  fire,  which,  in  E.'s  thought,  had  an 
upward,  as  air  a  downward  (see  fr.  54)  tendency,  innate 
powers  apparently  not  elsewhere  explained.  The  peculiar 
functions  attributed  by  E.  to  fire  led  Aristotle  (De  gen.  et  corr., 
B  3.  33ob  19)  to  separate  it  from  the  other  elements  of  the 
system,  an  interpretation  developed  with  much  ingenuity  by 
Bodrero  (Chap.  II.). 

Fr.  52.  Doubtless  an  allusion  to  volcanic  phenomena,  as  common  in 
Sicily. 

Fr.  53.    "It"  refers  to  air.    "Met,"  i.e.,  with  the  other  elements. 
Fr.  54.     Sec  note  to  fr.  51. 

Fr.  55.  "The  earth.... was  at  first  mixed  with  water,  but  the  in 
creasing  compression  caused  by  the  velocity  of  the  world's 
revolution  [the  Vortex  of  fr.  35]  made  the  water  gush  forth." 
Burnet,  p.  256.  The  phrase  is  not,  then,  as  criticized  by  Aris 
totle,  mere  poetic  metaphor. 

Fr.  56.  With  E.  fire  has  a  crystallizing,  condensing  function.  Cf. 
fr.  73- 

Fr.  57-6r.  These  fragments  contain  the  rude  germ  of  the  theory  of 
natural  selection  and  the  origin  of  species  (but  cf.  Zeller,  p. 
795)  ;  they  seem  to  refer  to  a  process  of  animal  genesis  during 
the  period  when  Love  is  increasing  in  power  (i.e.,  the  fourth 
period;  see  fr.  17)  ;  fr.  62,  on  the  other  hand  to  another  process 
when  Hate  is  increasing  (i.  e.,  in  the  period  of  the  present 
world).  Cf.  Burnet,  p.  261. 

Cod  with  god :  Gr.  Salmon  balnuv,  \.  e.,  Love  and  Hate. 

There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  the  conjecture,  sometimes 
advanced,  that  E.  is  here  influenced  by  the  monsters  of  Baby 
lonian  legend  and  art.  The  Greek  imagination  was  long  fa- 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  8l 

miliar  with  centaurs,  satyrs,  chimasras,  cyclops,  hermaphro 
dites  and  other  "mixed  shapes  of  being."  The  library  of 
Johns  Hopkins  has  recently  (1906)  been  enriched,  so  a  med 
ical  colleague  informs  me,  by  a  collection  (originally  from 
Marburg),  containing  some  936  old  volumes  on  monsters, 
which  the  curious  reader  may  consult  at  his  leisure  for  further 
parallels. 

Fr.  62.    See  notes  to  fr.  57-61. 

The  sundered  fire :  Gr.  Kpiv&nevov  irvp,  lit.  'self-sundering* 
— the  fire  which  "burns  beneath  the  ground"  and  has  the 
"upward  zeal."  Though  E.  is  speaking  here  of  mankind, 

"Of  men  and  women,  the  pitied  and  bewailed," 

he  probably  considers  the  process  as  typical  for  the  whole 
animal  kingdom. 

Warm:  warm  and  cold  seem  to  have  been  important  con 
ditions  in  E.'s  system,  the  former  favoring  growth,  the  latter 
inducing  decay,  old  age,  sleep,  death,  in  the  last  instance  per 
haps  serving  as  the  occasion  for  the  separation  of  the  elements 
by  Hate.  The  general  idea  is  probably  as  old  as  speculation. 

Fr.  63.  For  'tis  in  part  in  man's :  i.  e.,  in  part  in  the  male  semen. 
E.  explained  conception  as  a  union  of  male  and  female  semen, 
each  furnishing  parts  for  the  formation  of  offspring.  Cf. 

"Aegre  admiscetur  muliebri  semine  semen." 

Lucr.,  IV,  1239. 

In  so  far  as  this  ancient  belief  recognizes  that  both  sexes 
furnish  the  germs  of  the  offspring,  it  is  an  anticipation  of 
modern  embryology. 

Fr.  64.    An  alternative  reading,  a  little  freer : 

"Love-longing  comes  upon  him,  waking  well 
Old  memories,  as  he  gazes." 

Fr.  65.  This  is,  perhaps,  as  rational  as  most  modern  theories.  "At 
present  we  are  almost  absolutely  ignorant  concerning  the 
causation  of  sex,  though  certain  observers  are  inclined  to 
suppose  that  the  determining  factor  must  be  sought  for  in  the 
ovum."  Williams,  Obstetrics  (1904),  p.  143. 


82  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  66.     Cloven  meads:  surely  the  labia  majora. 

Fr.  68.  While  pus:  Gr.  TO  TriW,  not  6  7""os  ('colostrum'),  if  my 
available  lexical  information  be  correct,  though  the  latter  is 
probably  meant  (Burnet).  The  comparison  seems  to  he — 
however  grotesque — between  mother's  milk  (properly  colos 
trum)  in  the  breast  enlarging  during  pregnancy,  and  the 
matter  of  a  suppurating  boil — the  teat  of  the  former  corre 
sponding  to  the  "head"  of  the  latter.  Colostrum  is,  however, 
present  in  the  breast  after  the  first  few  months. 

Fr.  69.  Tii'ice-bearing :  i.  e.,  bearing  offspring  in  the  seventh  and 
tenth  month. 

Fr.  70.  Sheepskin :  used  of  the  membrane  conceived  as  covering 
the  "embryo"  (fa'tus?).  E.  could  only  have  been  familiar 
with  the  membranes  which  follow  the  birth  of  the  young. 

Fr.  71.     Sun  :  this  is  of  course  here  a  symbol  for  the  element  fire. 

Fr.  73.     Kypris:  Aphrodite,  Love. 

To  speed  of  fire  that  she  might  groiv  firm:  fire  has  a  con 
densing  property.     Cf.  fr.  56. 

Fr.  74.     The  subject  may  be  Aphrodite. 

Fr.  75-76.  Here  the  hones,  the  earthen  part  (in  modern  science,  the 
lime)  within  some  animals  are  related,  quite  in  the  spirit  of 
our  own  physiology,  to  the  shells  on  the  outside  of  others. 
The  turtle's  shell,  consisting  chiefly  of  keratin,  is,  however, 
morphologically  connected,  like  horn,  finger-nails,  etc.,  with 
the  skin.  Aristotle  (Pneumat.  4843  38)  says  that  E.  explained 
fingernails  as  produced  from  sinew  by  hardening. 

Fr.  77-78.  Trees  were  supposed  by  E.  to  derive  their  nourishment 
through  their  pores  from  the  air,  more  or  less  vitalizing  ac 
cording  to  the  mixture — again  a  suggestion  of  modern  science. 

Fr.  79.  In  thus  assimilating  the  seeds  of  the  olive  tree  to  the  eggs 
laid  by  birds,  E.  was  probably  guided  by  similarity  no  less  of 
function  than  of  form. 

Fr.  80.  Wherefore:  Can  any  one  tell  me?  Prof.  McGilvary  happily 
suggests  it  is  "because  the  pomegranate  has  a  very  hard 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  83 

thick  skin,  not  admitting  air  as  readily  as  the  thin  skin  of  an 
apple.     See  fr.  77-78." 

Fr.  82.  A  doctrine  of  comparative  morphology  that  has  reminded 
many  critics  of  the  poet-scientist  Goethe. 

Fr.  84.  Of  horny  lantern  :  the  ancients  had  lanterns  made  of  trans 
lucent  horn,  and  '"horny,"  though  not  in  the  text,  must  be 
understood  here. 

"Emp.  conceives  the  eye  as  a  sort  of  lantern.  The  apple 
of  the  eye  contains  fire  and  water  enclosed  in  films,  the  pores 
of  which,  alternately  arranged  for  each  element,  give  to  the 
emanations  of  each  a  free  passage.  Fire  serves  for  perceiving  the 
bright,  water  for  the  dark.  When  the  emanations  of  visible 
things  reach  the  outside  of  the  eye,  there  pass  through  the 
pores  from  within  it  emanations  of  its  fire  and  water,  and 
from  the  joint  meeting  arises  vision."  Zeller,  p.  801. 

"It  was  an  attempt,  however  inadequate,  to  explain  percep 
tion  by  intermediate  processes.  It  was  an  attempt,  moreover, 
which  admitted,  however  reluctantly,  the  subjective  factor, 
thus  completing  one  stage  of  the  journey  whose  ultimate  goal 
is  to  recognize  that  our  sense-perceptions  are  anything  rather 
than  the  mere  reflections  of  exterior  objective  qualities  of 
things."  Gomperz,  p.  235.  Cf.  Burnet,  p.  267. 

Fr.  86.     From  which  :  i.  e.,  from  these  elements. 

Fr.  87.  Bolts  of  love:  a  metaphor  for  the  uniting  power  of  Aphro 
dite.  Cf.  fr.  96. 

Fr.  88.     Interesting  as  an  early  lesson  in  a  sound  theory  of  optics. 
Fr.  89.     Cf.  note  on  fr.  2. 


Fr.  90.  Sour  sprung  for  Sour:  "went  for"  (e^)  would  be  a  more 
effective  rendering,  but  for  the  slangy  connotations. 

Fr.  92.  Diels  (FV),  following  Aristotle,  who  has  preserved  us  the 
fragment,  makes  the  connection  sufficiently  clear  :  "Die  Samcn- 
mischung  bei  der  Erscugung  von  Mauleseln  bringt,  da  swei 
iveiche  Stoffe  zusammenkommen,  cine  harte  Verbindung  zu- 
standc.  Demi  nur  Hohles  and  Dichtes  passt  zu  einandcr. 
Dort  aber  geht  es,  wie  wenn  man  Zinn  und  Kupfer  mischt." 


84  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  93.    Silvery :  See  note  to  fr.  42. 

Fr.  94.  Preserved  only  in  Latin  (Plut.  Quaest.  not.,  39).  Diels 
(PPF)  has  thus  turned  it  into  Greek: 

"/cai  Tre'Xet  ei>  fievOti  TTOTO./JLOV  /ue'Xav  e/c  ffKioevros 
Kal  cnrri\atu5ea(Tiv  6/uuis  fvoparai  fi>  avrpois.'' 

Fr.  95.  They:  i.  e.,  the  eyes.  The  thought  is  thus  completed  by  Diels 
(FV),  following  Simplicius:  "crgab  sich  auch  dcr  Unterschicd, 
dass  cinige  bei  Tag,  anderc  bci  Nacht  heller  schcn." 

Fr.  96.  Thus  hones  are  formed  of  2  parts  earth,  2  parts  water,  and 
4  parts  fire. 

Broad-breasted  melting  pots:  "ben  construtti  vasi,"  as  Bod- 
rero  translates  it. 

Glue  of  Harmony :  cf.  "bolts  of  love." 

Fr.  97.  Thus  completed  by  Diels  (FV),  following  Aristotle:  "hat 
ihre  Form  dahcr,  dass  sie  bei  dcr  Entstchung  dcr  Tiere  durch 
cine  zufalligc  IVcndung  zcrbrach." 

Fr.  98.  She  met:  Gr.  ffwlKvpye,  a  word,  among  others,  which  sug 
gests  in  Empeclocles'  system,  an  implicit  doctrine  of  chance. 
Cf.  fr.  102,  103.  Cf.  Bodrero,  p.  107  ff. 

Ether,  the  all-splcndorous :  an  illustration  of  how  E.  will 
sometimes  emphasize  a  term,  used  symbolically  to  denote  an 
clement  as  one  of  the  four-fold  roots  of  all  things,  by  an 
epithet  suggestive  of  that  element  as  it  appears  in  the  world 
about  us. 

Diels  (PPF)  paraphrases:  "Tellus  ad  sanguinem  efficiendum 
fere  pares  partes  ignis,  aquae,  aeris  arcessit,  sed  fieri  potest  ut 
paulo  plus  terrae  aut  minus,  ut  quae  pluribus  elementis  una 
occurrat,  admisceatur." 

Fr.  99.  A  fleshy  sprout :  E.'s  picturesque  definition  of  the  outer  ear. 
The  inner  ear  he  likens  to  a  bell  which  sounds  as  the  air 
strikes  upon  it — again  an  anticipation  of  modern  science. 

Fr.  100.  This  fragment  (cf.  fr.  105)  shows  some  knowledge  of  the 
motions  of  the  blood,  though  far  enough  from  the  discovery 
of  Harvey.  Cf.  Harvey's  own  work  On  the  Motion  of  the 
Heart  and  Blood  in  Animals  (1628)  for  the  anterior  views. 
As  a  theory  of  respiration,  it  is  as  grotesque  as  it  is  ingenious. 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  8^ 

•j 

The  comparison  with  the  clepsydra,  though  in  form  of  a 
Homeric  simile,  rests,  as  Burnet  points 
out,  upon  scientific  experiment,  and  is 
doubly  significant  for  its  sound  physics. 
The  following  diagram  and  analysis 
from  Burnet  (p.  2.30)  will,  perhaps,  make 
the  allusion  clear : 

"The  water  escaped  drop  by  drop 
through  a  single  orifice  at  a.  The  top  b 
was  not  altogether  open,  but  was  per 
forated  so  that  the  air  might  exert  its 
pressure  on  the  water  inside.  The  in 
strument  was  filled  by  plunging  it  in 
water  upside  down,  and  stopping  the 
orifice  at  a  with  the  finger  before  taking 
it  out  again." 

Theviater's  destined  Inilk  :  i.  e.,  a  cor 
responding  mass  of  water. 

Fr.  101.     All  that  is  left  of  E.'s  theory  of  scent.    The  mites  are  the 
emanations. 


Fr.  102.    Got:  lit.,  "chanced  on"  (\e\6yxo-ffi).    Cf.  note  on  fr.  98. 

Fr.  103.  Chance :  cf.  note  on  fr.  98.  Here,  as  in  some  passages 
elsewhere,  E.  seems  to  be  a  hylozoist.  Cf.  Zeller,  p.  802 ;  but 
E.  nowhere  credits  the  elements  as  such,  with  consciousness, 
unless  fr.  109  be  so  interpreted  (but  cf.  Gomperz,  p.  245). 

Fr.  104.    The  lightest :  supply  "bodies." 

Fr.  105.    In  the  blood  streams:  cf.  note  to  fr.  100. 

The  blood  that  stirs,  etc. :  the  verse  was  often  alluded  to  by 
the  ancients  (cf.  Diels,  PPF),  and  Tertullian  seems  himself 
to  have  turned  it  into  Latin  in  his  De  Anima  (chap.  16)  : 

"namque  homini  sanguis  circumcordialis  et  sensus." 

But  E.  did  not  mean  here,  I  think,  to  exclude  some  power  of 
thought  from  other  parts  of  the  body;  he  says  "where  prevails 
the  power,"  i.  e.,  where  it  chiefly  (fj-aXiffra)  exists.  Cf.  Zeller, 
p.  803. 


86  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  106.    Cf. 

"Praeterea  gigni  pariter  cum  corpore  et  una 
crescere  sentimus  pariterque  senescere  mentem." 

Lucr.,  Ill,  445-6. 

"Empedoclcs  hat  nicht  die  Seele  aus  den  Elementen  zusam- 
mengesetzt,  sondern  er  hat  das,  was  \vir  Seelenthatigkeit  nen- 
ncn,  aus  der  elementarischen  Zusammensetzung  des  Korpers 
erkliirt.  cine  vom  Korpcr  verscliiedene  Seele  kehnt  seine  Phy- 
sik  nicht" — i.  e.,  a  soul  as  distinct  from  the  composition  of  the 
elements  in  the  body  is  nowhere  found  in  the  On  Nature. 
Zeller,  p.  8o_>. 

Fr.  107.     These :  the  elements.     Cf.  note  on  fr.  106. 

Fr.  1 08.  "Ry  day"  and  "by  night"  have  been  supplied  here  from 
references  in  Simpl.  and  Philop.,  quoted  by  Diels,  PPF. 

Fr.  109.  Through  Earth,  etc. :  "we  think  each  element  with  the  cor 
responding  element  in  our  body"  (Zeller,  p.  802),  and  the 
same  holds  true  of  Love  and  Hate  (cf.  note  on  fr.  17). 

Cf.  PlotiriUS  :  Oi5  yo-p  ai>  TTUTTOTC  tlSev  6ff>0a\fj.bs  ri\iov  r)\ioe<.5i]s  fiy 
T^yei/Tj/xeVos.  Cf.  also  Goethe  : 

"War"  nicht  das  Auge  sonnenhaft, 
Die  Sonne  konnt'  es  nie  erblicken  ; 
Lag'  nicht  in  tins  des  Gottes  eig'ne  Kraft, 
Wie  konnt'  tins  Gottliches  entzucken?" 

Man  is  the  microcosm. 

Fr.  no.  All  these  things:  perhaps  the  good  thoughts  of  the  master's 
doctrine;  E.  is  here,  as  elsewhere,  addressing  Pausanias. 

For  of  themselves. ..  .they  grow,  etc.:  sound  psychology,  if 
my  interpretation  just  above  be  correct,  and  capable  of  serving 
as  the  basis  for  a  chapter  in  the  philosophy  of  living,  on  the 
practical  bearings  upon  character  of  right  and  wrong  thinking. 

All  things  have  fixed  intent:  i.e.,  consciousness. 

Fr.  in.  Drugs:  Gr.  (pap/j.ana ;  possibly  "charms"  is  better,  as  sug 
gested  to  me  by  a  friend.  Galen  makes  E.  the  founder  of  the 
Italian  school  of  medicine.  Cf.  Burnet,  p.  215. 

The  dominion  over  human  ills,  sickness,  windstorms,  drought 
and  death,  here  promised  to  Pausanias,  was  early  imputed  to 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  87 

Empedocles  himself  (cf.  Introduction},  perhaps,  chiefly  by  vir 
tue  of  these  lines. 

The  might  of  perished  men :  Gr.  KarafiOi/jievov  jteVoj  dvSpos, 
"Spirits  of  the  dead"  seems  hardly  permissible  with  /tteVos 
(though  the  word  is  sometimes  used  of  the  spirit,  the  courage 
of  man),  and  would  render  still  more  crass  the  contradiction 
with  what  E.  has  elsewhere  told  us  in  the  On  Nature  of  the 
psychic  life.  One  would  conjecture  that  the  fragment  belongs 
to  the  Purifications,  but  for  the  fact  that  it  is  addressed  to 
Pausanias,  and  not,  as  the  latter,  to  the  citizens  of  Acragas. 


THE  PURIFICATIONS. 

The  inconsistency  of  the  religious  tenets  of  this  poem  with  the 
philosophic  system  of  the  On  Nature  is,  like  the  relation  between  the 
two  parts  of  Parmenides'  poem,  a  commonplace  in  the  history  of 
Greek  thought;  and,  though  attempts  at  a  reconciliation  have  been 
made,  conservatively  by  Burnet  (p.  271),  radically  by  Bodrero  (pas 
sim),  our  materials  seem  too  scanty  for  anything  more  than  in 
genious  speculation.  The  work  evidently  owes  much  to  Orphic  and 
Pythagorean  tradition;  but  there  seems  no  reason  for  doubting  its 
genuineness. 

Fr.  112.  The  yellow  Acragas:  The  river  beside  the  walls  of  Agri- 
gentum. 

As  god  immortal  now.  an  Orphic  line  runs: 

"Happy  and  blessed,  shalt  thou  be  a  god  and  no  longer 
a  mortal." 

Cf.  Harrison,  Prolog,  to  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  p.  589. 

Crowned  both  with  fillets  and  with  flowering  wreaths:  Em 
pedocles'  passage  about  the  Sicilian  cities  reminds  one  of  the 
peasant-prophet  who  went  about  the  populous  towns  of  Gali 
lee,  followed  by  the  multitudes  seeking  a  sign  or  a  healing 
word;  but  the  simplicity  of  the  Jew  is  more  impressive  than 
the  display  of  the  Greek. 

Fr.  113.  I.  e.,  "Why  should  I  boast  of  my  miracles  and  my  following, 
who  am  a  god  and  so  much  above  mankind?"  E.,  if  an 
Orphic  (cf.  Burnet,  p.  213,  and  his  references),  has  here 


88  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

little  of  even  "the  somewhat  elaborate  and  self-conscious  hu 
mility"  of  his  sect. 

Fr.  115.    With  amplest  oaths:  cf.  fr.  30. 

Those  far  spirits:  Gr.  Salftoves;  Burnet  (p.  269)  identifies 
these  with  "the  long-lived  gods"  of  the  On  Nature. 

With  slaughter:  i.  e.,  bloodshed  of  animals,  no  less  than  of 
fellowmen ;  it  probably  refers  also  to  the  eating  of  flesh.  Cf. 
fr.  136. 

In  offense:  in  sin,  sinfully. 

Thrice  ten  thousand.  ..  .years:  Gr.  rpiy  pvplai  wpat,  by  some 
interpreted  as  10,000  years.  Cf.  Zeller,  p.  780. 

Be  born  through  time,  etc. :  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis 
in  E.  is  probably  Pythagorean  in  origin,  though  apparently 
not  entirely  Pythagorean  in  form:  "Non  e  spccializzata  solo  a 
certi  determinati  esseri,  ma  riguarda  tutti  gli  esseri  organic! 
e  giunge  sino  agli  Dei,"  according  to  Bodrero  (p.  146). 

For  now  Air  hunts  them,  etc. :  Here  we  have  mention  of  the 
familiar  four  elements,  and  below  of  Hate,  but  the  realm  of 
the  Blessed  and  the  curse  pronounced  upon  the  spirits  seem  in 
compatible  with  the  On  Nature.  Moreover,  something  is 
needed  after  all  for  metemphychosis  besides  "the  reappearance 
of  the  same  corporeal  elements  in  definite  combinations" 
(Burnet,  p.  271),  though  perhaps  Empedocles  deemed  that 
sufficient.  Cf.  the  Buddhistic  doctrine  of  reincarnation  and 
retribution.  Cf.  also  Gomperz,  p.  249  ff. 

Fr.  116.  Charts:  Aphrodite.  In  the  On  Nature  (fr.  35)  E.  refers 
to  the  unwillingness  also  of  Hate  to  submit  to  the  law  of  ne 
cessity. 

Fr.  117.  Possibly  as  a  punishment  for  having  tasted  flesh:  "Empe- 
docle  ci  fa  sapere  che  il  suo  spirito  era  gia  pervenuto  alia  sede 
dei  beati,  ma  che  cedendo  alia  tentazione  accosto  impuri  cibi 
agli  labbri  fcf.  fr.  139],  e  torno  ad  essere  arbusto,  pesce,  uccello, 
fanciullo  e  giovinetta."  Bodrero,  p.  147. 

"So  long  as  man  [in  the  Orphic  belief]  has  not  severed 
completely  his  brotherhood  with  plants  and  animals,  not  real 
ized  the  distinctive  marks  and  attributes  of  his  humanity,  he 
will  say  with  Empedocles: 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  89 

'Once  on  a  time  a  youth  was  I,  and  I  was  a  maiden, 
A  bush,  a  bird,  and  a  fish  with  scales  that  gleam  in  the 


ocean. 


Harrison,  Proleg.  to  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  p.  59x1. 

Fr.  118.  This  must  refer  to  Empcdocles'  feelings,  as  he  entered, 
after  banishment  from  heaven,  upon  his  earthly  career  (cf.  fr 
119).  Cf. 

''In fans.  . .  . 

vagituque  locum  lugubri  complet,  ut  aequmst 
cui  tantum  in  vita  restet  traneire  malorum." 

Lucr..  V.  226. 
For  other  parallels  see  Munro  and  Guissani,  notes  to  loc.  cit. 

Fr.  119.    Cf.  note  to  fr.  118. 

Fr.  T2i.  A  joyless  land:  with  fr.  122  and  123  this  refers,  as  1  under 
stand  it,  to  our  mundane  world  itself. 

And  Labors  burthened  with  the  water-jars:  this  is  a  para 
phrase  of  the  puzzling  fyya  'pei'crrd,  which,  it  has  been  sug 
gested  to  me  by  Prof.  Newbold,  "can  hardly  be  anything  other 
than  the  fruitless  toil  of  the  water-carriers,  representing,  if 
the  scene  be  earth,  life's  disappointments  and  the  vanity  of  all 
human  pursuits."  If  this  interpretation  be  correct,  the  figure 
is  evidently  taken  from  the  conception  of  the  Orphic  Hell, 
which,  if  the  literary  tradition  be  reliable,  was  situated  upon 
earth  (for  water-carriers  in  Hell,  cf.  Harrison,  Proleg.  to 
Study  of  Greek  Religion,  Chap.  XI,  p.  614  ff.)  ;  but  that  E.  is 
depicting  scenes  from  the  Orphic  Hell  itself  may  be  ques 
tioned  from  what  is  preserved  to  us  of  the  context :  he  seems 
throughout  these  adjacent  fragments  to  be  dwelling  on  the 
earthly  abiding  place  unto  which  he  and  others  must  descend 
from  the  realm  of  the  blessed. 

But  Diels  (PPF)  :  "nee  sunt  humanae  res  nuxac  (Karsten) 
nee  vero  foedum  morbi  genus  (Stein),  sed  agri  inundationibus 
vexati"  According  to  this,  it  might  run  in  English : 

"And  slimy  floods  of  wasting  waters  rise 
And  wander,"  etc. 
Cf. 

"Lightning  and  Inundation  vexed  the  plains." 

Shelle>,  Prometheus  Unbound.  I,  169. 


()O  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

Fr.  122.  There:  i.e.,  in  the  joyless  land,"  the  "roofed  cave,"  thi- 
earth. 

Virgin  of  the  Sun:  the  moon(?). 

The    personages    that    follow    are    feminine.       P..    evidently 
imitates  the  catalogue  of   Xymphs  in    11.   -   39: 

"  Hv6'  dp'  irjv  rXai''\7j  re.  OdXeid  Tf  Ki'/xooo/cij  re".  .  .  ./vT\. 

Fr.  125.  Thi-  refer-,  perhaps,  to  the  passage  from  the  life  of  the 
hlcssc-d  to  the  (relative)  death  on  this  earth,  where  -ouls  are 
wrapped 

"in  unfamiliar  tunic-   of  the   tle-h"    (  f r.    126.), 
and  have  a  hap!e>-  e\i-tcncc. 

Fr.   120.     This  refer.-  to  metempsychosis. 

Fr.  127.  The  •tsortliiest  dwellings:  for  those  who  have  proceeded  in 
their  purification  ;  expanded  from  the  context  where  the  orig 
inal  pa--ai;e  is  found  (in  Ael.  nut.  an.,  XII,  /..  ([noted  by  Diels. 
I'I'F)  :  "\tyti  df  Kai  'R.  rr)i>  dpi<JTr)V  flvat  ^troiKijaiv  TT]V  rot' 
'u'f)puTroi\  el  fj.ii/  es  fcDtoj'  17  X^i^ij  avrbv  fj.eTayu.~yoi,  Xe'oi'ra  yivtff- 
Hai  •  el  8t  ts  <!>\-rov,  5a0i'7jr."  }-..  conceived  the  plants  ;us  having 
-onls,  a  fancy  not  confined  to  antiquity. 

Fr.  128.  A  Golden  Age  aeem^  incompatible  with  the  biology  of  the 
On  A'alitie,  hut  cf.  linrnet  (p.  2/1),  who  thinks  it  to  be  re 
ferred  to  the  time  when  Hate  was  just  beginning  to  separate 
the  elements. 

Kydoii>n>s :  personification  of  uproar,  as  in  battle. 

Unini.red  bhod :   the  figure  is   from  unmixed  wine,   which, 
as  -uch,  i-  thick  and  dark. 

Fr.  129.  "Similitcr  mentis  infinitam  vim  (philosophi  scilicet  non  vat  is') 
Parmenides  ]iraedicat  fr.  2  Xercrcre  5'  6/j.ws  a-n-fovra.  voui  Trapeovra 
fiffiaius  KT\.  unde  apparet  cur  nonmilli  Parmenidem  hie  re-pici 
arl)itrati  .sum.  nee  duhium  cur  Pythagorae  qnater  rcdivivi 
mentio  ["a  reference  to  Pythagoras,  four  times  returned  to 
life"!  facta  sit."  Diels,  PPF.  But  Burnet  (p.  236),  conjec 
turing  that  E.  is  still  speaking  of  the  Golden  Age,  thinks  the 
"supreme  man"  is  Orpheus. 

In    ten   or   twenty   human   ages:    cf.    paraphrase   of   Diels 
(PPF)  :  "ubi  summa  vi  mentem  intenderat,  facile  singula  quae- 


THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES.  9 1 

cumque  sive  decem  sive  viginti  hominum  saeculis  fiebant  per- 
spicere  solebat." 

Fr.  132.  Bodrero  in  his  attempt  to  interpret  harmoniously  all  the 
thoughts  of  Empedocles  explains  this  passage  with  reference 
to  what  has  gone  before  in  the  On  Nature  as  follows :  "Felice 
colui  die  ha  una  cosi  perfetta  composizione  di  elementi  da 
poter  comprendere  la  natura.  degli  Dei:  misero  chi  per  la 
poverta  delle  proprie  risorse,  segue  le  credence  superstiziose 
e  comuni"  (p.  159). 

Fr.  134.  Cf.  fr.  29  and  note.  Burnet  thinks  that  E.  is  here  too 
speaking  of  the  Sphere ;  but  the  last  lines  seem  out  of  place 
in  such  a  connection,  even  though  we  recall  that  E.  has  vaguely 
named  the  Sphere  "God"  (fr.  31). 

Fr.  135.  Broad-ruling  Ether,  etc. :  "den  weithin  herrschenden  Feuer- 
aether  und  den  unermesslichen  Himmelsglanz."  Diels,  FV. 
Cf.  note  to  fr.  38. 

Din  of  slaughter:  killing  of  animals.  Cf.  fr.  137  and  115. 
The  reader  need  hardly  be  reminded  of  the  Orphic  interdict 
against  eating  animal  food. 

Fr.  138.  "As  our  philosopher  placed  life  and  soul  in  the  blood  [cf. 
fr.  105],  it  was  not  unnatural  for  him  to  speak  of  'drawing  the 
soul.'  "  Diels,  PPF.  The  passage  seems  to  refer  either  to 
the  draining  or  scooping  up  into  a  bronze  vessel  of  the  blood 
of  slaughtered  animals,  or  to  cutting  their  throats  with  a 
sacrificial  knife  of  bronze. 

Fr.  139.    Cf.  note  on  fr.  117. 

Fr.  140.     For  the  probable  reason  of  this  injunction  cf.  fr.  127. 

Fr.  141.  A  familiar  Pythagorean  commandment,  on  the  meaning  of 
which  scholars  have  offered  a  variety  of  suggestions.  Bodrero 
(p  .149)  and  others  connect  it  with  the  doctrine  of  metem 
psychosis  (cf.  fr.  139,  127)  ;  Burnet  (p.  104)  well  compares  it 
(and  kindred  Pythagorean  rules)  to  the  bizarre  taboos  of 
savages.  Possibly  there  was  some  fancied  association,  based 
on  shape,  with  the  egg  (as  E.  likened  olives  to  eggs  in  fr.  79), 
which,  as  may  be  gathered  from  Plutarch,  was  held  by  Orphics 
and  Pythagoreans  to  be  taboo,  perhaps  as  being  the  principle 


92  THE  FRAGMENTS  OF  EMPEDOCLES. 

of  life  Ccf.  Harrison.  Prole?.,  to  Study  of  Greek  Religion,  p 
628). 

Fr.  142.  "etiam  sensus  incertus.  utrum  Tovis  et  Hecate*  regna  (cf. 
fr.  135.  2?)  opponantur  an  quattuor  elementa.  unde  exclusus 
sit  scelestus  (cf.  fr.  115.  g)."  Dicls.  PPF. 

Fr.  143.  Scooping  :  Gr.  rap.ovr\  'cutting.'  i.  e..  water  for  purposes  of 
ceremonial  lustration (?).  for  which  bronze  vessels  were  regu 
larly  employed. 

Fr.  144.  George  Herbert  use*  the  same  figure  somewhere  in  his 
poems. 

Fr.  145.  /•:•//  doings :  presumably  such  "sin"  as  referred  to  above 
which  doom  souls  to 

"be  born  through  time 

In  various  shapes  of  mortal  kind  which  change 
Ever  and  ever  paths  of  troublous  life."    Fr.  115 

Fr.  i  \fi-~.  The  la.^t  word-  left  us  of  the  :'.ll  too  few  on  the  trans 
migration  of  the  soul. 

Fr.  148.  Thi-  does  not  refer  to  "mother  earth."  hut  to  the  human 
body,  "ro  rji  i/'i'W  TrepiHttufvoi-  ffw^a"  (Plut.  Onti.-st.  Conviv. 
V  8.  2.  p.  683  E  [fast  fr.  Sol.  quoted  by  Dicls.  PPF) 

[•>.   i.\().     Of  air. 

Fr.   157.     Of  Aphrodite. 

Fr.   152.     Preserved  in  Aristotle's  Poetics.  21.  quoted  by  DieK  PPF 

Fr.  153.  dr.  fiarfiu,  a  very  rare  word  :  "ffijualvci  8t  /ecu  KocXlnc  w*  Trap' 
'Efnrf5oK\ei"  Hesych..  quoted  by  Diels.  PPF. 

Fr.  I53a.  Dicls  (FV)  translates  the  doxographer :  "/;/  sieben  mal 
sieben  Tagen  uird  dcr  Embryo  (seiner  Gliedcrung  nach} 
durchgebildet." 


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