EMPEDOCLES
OF ACRAGAS
EMPEDOCLES of Acragas was in his prime about 450 BC
He wrote two poems in hexameter verses: On Nature, addressed to his pupil
Pausanias, and Katharmoi
(Purifications), addressed to his fellow-citizens of Acragas.
NATURE
On Nature.
1. Pausanias, but you must listen, son of wise
Anchites !
2. For limited are the means of grasping (i.e. the organs of sense perception)
which are scattered throughout
their limbs, and many are the
miseries that press in and blunt the thoughts. And having looked at (only) a small part of existence during their lives, doomed to perish swiftly like smoke
they are carried aloft and wafted
away, believing only that upon which as individuals they chance to hit as they wander in all directions; but every man preens himself on having found the
Whole: so little are these things to
be seen by men or to be heard, or to be comprehended by the mind I But
you, since you have come here into
retirement, shall learn - not more
than mortal intellect can attain.
3. But, ye gods, avert from my tongue the madness of those men, and guide
forth from my reverent lips a pure stream! I beseech thee also, much-wooed
white-armed maiden Muse, convey (to me) such knowledge
as divine law allows us creatures of a day to hear, driving the well-harnessed
car from (the realm of) Piety II
Nor shall the flowers
of honour paid to fame by mortals force you
at least to accept them on condition that you rashly
say more than is holy - and
are thereupon enthroned on the heights
of wisdom!
But come, observe with every means, to see by which way each thing is clear, and do not hold any (precept of) sight higher in credibility than (those) according to hearing, nor (set) the
loud-sounding hearing above the evidence of
the tongue (taste); nor refuse credence at all to any of the other
limbs where there exists a path for
perception, but use whatever way of
perception makes each thing clear.
4. But it is of great concern to the lower
orders to mistrust the powerful; however, as the trustworthy evidence of my Muse
commands, grasp (these things), when my reasoned argument has been sifted in your innermost
heart.
5. To protect it within your silent bosom.
6. Hear, first, the
four roots of things: bright Zeus, and life-bearing Hem, and Aidoneus, and Nestis
who causes a mortal spring of moisture to flow with her tears.
7. (The Elements): uncreated.
8. And I shall tell
you another thing: there is no creation of substance in any one of mortal existences,
nor any end in execrable
death, but only mixing and exchange of what has been mixed; and the name
'substance' (Phusis, 'nature') is
applied to them by mankind.
9. But men, when
these (the Elements) have been mixed
in the
form of a man and come into the light, or in the form of a species of wild animals, or plants, or
birds, then say that this has 'come into
being'; and when they separate, this men call sad fate (death). The terms that Right demands they do not use; but through custom I myself also apply these names.
10. Death the Avenger.
11. Fools
I --for they have no long-sighted thoughts, since they imagine that what previously did not exist
comes into being, or that a thing dies and is utterly destroyed.
12. From what in go
wise exists, it is impossible for anything to come into being; and for Being to perish
completely is incapable of fulfilment and unthinkable; for it will always be
there,
wherever anyone may place it on any occasion.
13. Nor is there any part of the Whole that is empty or overfull.
14. No part of the Whole is empty; so whence could thing additional come?
15. A wise man would
not conjecture such things in his heart namely, that so
long as they are alive (which they call Life) they exist, and experience bad and
good fortune; but before mortals
were combined (out of the Elements) and they were dissolved, they are nothing at all.
16. (Love and Hate) : As they were formerly, so also they be, and never, I think, shall infinite Time be emptied
of
these two.
17. I shall tell of a double (process): at one time it lucre so as to be a single One out of Many ; at
another time a it grew apart so as to be
Many out of One. There is a
double creation of mortals and a
double decline: the union of all things
causes the birth and destruction of
the one (race of mortals)
the other is reared as the elements
grow apart, then flies asunder. And these (elements) never cease their continuous exchange, sometimes uniting under the influence Love, so that all become One, at other times main each moving apart through the hostile force of Hate. Thus in so far as they have the power to grow into One
out of Many, and again when the One grows
apart and Many are formed, in this sense they come into being and have no stable life; but
in so far
as they never cease their continuous exchange, in this sense t hey remain
always unmoved (unaltered) as they
follow the cyclic process.
But come, listen to my discourse! For be assured, learning will increase your understanding. As I said
before, revealing the aims of my discourse, I shall tell you of a double
process. At one time it increased so as to be a single One out of Many at another time it grew apart so as to be Many out
of One - Fire and Water and Earth and the boundless height of Air, and also execrable Hate apart from these, of equal
weigh all directions, and Love in
their midst, their equal in length and
breadth.
72. How also tall
trees and fish of the sea .. .
73. And as at that
time Cypris, when she had drenched earth with rain water, busying herself
in preparation of the forms, gave them to swift Fire to strengthen them ...
74. (Aphrodite): bringing the
tuneless tribe of prolific fish.
75. Of (the animals), those that are
of dense composition on the outside and rare within, having received this
flabbiness under the hands of Cypris ...
76. This is (found) in the hard-backed shells of the sea-dwellers, especially the sea-snails and the
stone-skinned turtles. There you will see earth dwelling on the surface of the
flesh.
77, 78. (Trees) retentive of their leaves and
retentive of their fruit, flourish with abundance
of fruit all the year round, in accordance
with the Air (i.e. Vapour, Moisture, in their composition).
79. Thus eggs are
borne, first by the tall olive trees ...
8o. ...Which is the reason why pomegranates
are late-ripening and apples remain juicy for so long(?).,
81.
Wine is the water from the bark, after it
has fermented in the wood.
82. Hair, and leaves, and the close feathers
of birds, and the scales that grow on stout limbs, are the same thing.
83. But hedgehogs have sharp-shooting
hairs that bristle on their backs.
84. As when a man, thinking to make an
excursion through a stormy night, prepares a
lantern, a flame of burning fire, fitting
lantern-plates to keep out every sort of winds, and these plates disperse the breath of the blowing winds;
but the light leaps out through
them, in so far as it is finer, and shines across the
threshold with unwearying beams: so at that time did the aboriginal Fire, confined
in membranes and in fine tissues, hide itself' in the round pupils; and these (tissues) were pierced throughout with marvellous
passages. They kept out the deep reservoir of water surrounding the pupil,
but let
the Fire through (from within) outwards, since
it was so much finer.
85. But the benevolent flame (of the eye) happened to
obtain only a slight admixture of Earth.
86. ... Out of which (Elements) divine Aphrodite built tireless eyes.
87. Aphrodite, having
fastened them (eyes) together with clamps of affection ...
8 8. One vision is
produced by both (eyes).
89. Realising that from
all created things there are effluences ...
9o. Thus sweet seized on sweet, bitter rushed towards bitter, sour moved
towards sour, and hot settled upon hot.
9I. (Water
is) more able to agree with wine, but unwilling (to mix) with ofil.
92. (The sterility of
mules is
due to the quality of their seed: both the male and female seed are soft substances which when mixed produce
a hard substance, as when) brass is mixed with tin.
93. The berry of the grey elder mingles with
the linen.
94. And the black
colour in the bottom of a river arises from the shadow, and the same thing is seen in
deep caves.
95. When first they (the eyes)
grew
together in the hands of Cypris ... (explanation of why some creatures see better
by day, others by night)
96. But the Earth obligingly
in its broad vessels received two parts out of the eight of shining Nestis, four of Hephaestus. And these became the white bones fitted together by the cementing of Harmony, divinely originated.
97. The spine (acquired its
present form by being broken when the animal turned its neck).
98. The Earth, having been finally moored in the harbours of Love, joined
with these in about equal proportions: with Hephaestus, with moisture, and with
all-shining Aether, either a little more (of
Earth) or a little less to their more. And from these came
blood and the forms of other flesh.
99. (The ear
is a kind of) bell. (It is) a fleshy shoot.
100. The way
everything breathes in and out is as follows: all
(creatures)
have tubes of flesh, empty of
blood, which extend over the surface of the body; and at the mouths of
these tubes the outermost surface of the skin is perforated with frequent pores, so as to keep in the blood while a free
way is cut for the passage of the air. Thus, when the thin blood flows
back from here, the air, bubbling, rushes in
in a mighty wave; and when the blood
leaps up (to the surface), there
is an expiration of air. As when a girl, playing with a water-catchers
of shining brass - when, having placed the
mouth of the pipe on her well-shaped hand
she dips the vessel into the yielding substance of silvery water, still
the volume of air pressing from inside on the many holes keeps out the water,
lentil she uncovers the condensed stream (of air). Then at once when the air flows out, the water flows in in an
equal quantity. Similarly, when water occupies the depths of the brazen vessel,
and the opening or passage is stopped by the
human flesh (hand), and the air outside, striving to
get in, checks the water, by controlling the surface at the entrance of the noisy strainer' until she lets go
with her hand: then again, in
exactly the opposite way from what happened before,
as the air rushes in, the water flows out in equal volume. Similarly when the thin blood, rushing through the
limbs, flows back into the interior,
straightway a stream of air flows in
with a rush; and when the blood flows up again, again there is a breathing-out
in equal volume.
101. . . Tracking down with its nostrils
the portions of animal limb, all those (portions) that, when living, they left
behind from their feet on the tender grass.
102. Thus all (creatures) have a share of breathing and smell.
103. Thus all (creatures) have intelligence, by the will of Fortune.
104. And in so far as the
rarest things came together in their
fall .. .
105. (The heart) nourished in the
seas of blood which courses in two opposite directions : this
is the place where is found for the
most part what men call Thought; for the blood round the heart is Thought in mankind.
106. The intelligence of Man grows towards the material that is present.
107. For from these (Elements) are all things fitted and fixed together, and by means of these do men
think, and feel pleasure and sorrow.
108. In so far as
their natures have changed (during the day), so does it befall men to think changed
thoughts (in their dreams).
109.
We see Earth by means of Earth, Water
by means of Water, divine Air by means
of Air, and destructive Fire by means
of Fire; Affection by means of Affection, Hate by means of baneful Hate.
109a. (Reflections are emanations on to the
mirror from the objects mirrored).
110. If you press them (these truths?) deep into your firm mind and contemplate them with good will and a studious care
that is pure, these things will all assuredly remain with you throughout your life; and you will obtain many
other things from them; for these
things of themselves cause each (element) to increase in the character, according to the way of each man's nature. But if you intend to grasp
after different things such as dwell
among men in countless numbers and blunt
their thoughts, miserable (trifles), certainly these things will quickly desert you in the course of time,
longing to return to their own
original kind. For all things, be assured, have intelligence and a portion of Thought.
111.. You shall learn all the drugs that exist as a
defence against illness and old age; for you
alone will I accomplish all this.
You shall check the force of the unwearying winds which rush upon the earth with their blasts and lay waste
the cultivated fields. And again, if
you wish, you shall conduct the breezes
back again. You shall create a seasonable dryness after the dark rain for mankind, and again you
shall create after summer drought the
streams that nourish the trees and [which will flow in the sky]. And you
shall bring out of Hades a dead man
restored to strength.
KATHARMOI
(PURIFICATIONS)
112. Friends,
who dwell in the great town on the city's heights, looking down on yellow Acragas, you who are occupied
with good deeds, who are harbours (of refuge)
treating foreigners with respect, and who are unacquainted
with wickedness : greeting! I go about among you as an immortal god,
no longer a mortal, held in honour by all, as I seem (to them
to deserve), crowned with fillets and flowing garlands. When I come to them in their flourishing towns, to men
and women, I am honoured; and they
follow me in thousands, to inquire where is the path of advantage, some
desiring oracles, while others ask to hear
a word of healing for their manifold diseases, since they have long been pierced with cruel pains.
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113. But why do I lay
stress on these things, as if I were achieving
something great in that I surpass mortal men who are liable to many forms of destruction?
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64.DIOGENES OF APOLLONIA
DIOGENES of APOLLONIA (probably on the
1. In
starting any thesis, it seems to me, one should put forward as one’s point of departure something
incontrovertible; the expression
should be simple and dignified.
2. It seems to me, to sum up the whole matter, that existing things
are created by the alteration of the same thing and are the same thing. This is
very obvious. For if t things now existing in this universe-earth and water and air and fire and
all the other things which are seen to exist this world: if any one of these
were different in its own (essential) nature, and were
not the same thing which was transformed in many ways and changed, in no way
could things mix with one another, nor could there be any profit damage which
accrued from one thing to another, nor could any plant grow out of the earth,
nor any animal or any other thing come into being, unless it were so compounded as
to the
same. But all these things come into being in differ' forms at different
times by changes of the same (substance), and they return to the same.
3. Such a distribution would not
have been possible without Intelligence, (namely) that all things should have their measure:winter and summer
and night and day and rains and winds and periods of fine weather; other things also, if one will
study them closely, will be found to have
the best possible arrangement.
4.
Further,
in addition to these, there are also the following important
indications: men and all other animals live by means of Air, which
they breathe in, and this for them is both Soul (Life) and Intelligence, as had
been clearly demonstrated in this treatise; and if this is taken from (them) Intelligence also leaves them.
5. And it seems to
me that that which has Intelligence is that which is called Air by mankind; and
further, that by this, all creatures are guided, and that it rules everything;
for this in itself seems to me to be God and to reach everywhere and to arrange everything
and to be in everything. And there is nothing which has no share of it; but the
share of each thing is
not the same as that of any other, but on the contrary there are many forms both of the Air itself and of
Intelligence; for it is manifold in
form: hotter and colder and dryer and wetter and more stationary or having a
swifter motion; and there are many
other differences inherent in it and infinite (forms) of savour and colour. Also in all animals
the Soul is the same thing, (namely)
Air, warmer than that outside in
which we are, but much colder than
that nearer the sun. This degree of warmth is not the same in any of the
animals (and indeed, it is not the same
among different human beings), but it differs, not greatly, but so as to be similar. But in fact, no one thing among
things subject to change can possibly be exactly like any other thing, without becoming the same thing. Since therefore change is manifold, animals also are
manifold and many, and not like one
another either in form or in way of life or in intelligence, because of the large number of (the results of ) changes. Nevertheless, all things live,
see and hear by the same thing (Air), and all have the rest of Intelligence also from the
same.
6.
The blood-vessels in man are as follows:
there are two main blood-vessels;
these extend from the abdomen along the spinal column, one to the right, one to the left, going (down) to each of the legs correspondingly, and up to the
head past the collar-bone through the
throat. From these, blood-vessels extend throughout the whole body: from
the right-hand one to the right side, from
the left-hand one to the left side; the two biggest to the heart along the spine, and others a little higher through the chest below the armpit to each
of the corresponding arms. And the
one is called splenetic (after the
spleen), the other (after the liver) hepatic. The extreme
end of each of them divides one
branch going to the thumb, the other to the
wrist, and from these go fine and many-branched veins to the rest of the
hand and the fingers. (Two) other
finer blood-vessels lead from the original (main) blood vessels
on the right to the liver, and on the left to the spleen and the kidneys. Those extending to the legs divide at the point of
attachment (to the body) and extend
throughout the thigh; the largest of them goes behind the thigh and is thick
where it emerges; a second goes inside
the thigh and is a little less thick. Then they travel past the knee to
the shin and the foot, as in the hands; and they descend into the ankle and
thence to the toes.
From the chief blood-vessels, many fine
veins divide off also to the abdomen and the sides. Those which extend to the
head through the throat come into view as large blood-vessels in the neck; and from each of these, at its
extremity, many divide off to the head, those
on the right going to the left, those on the left going to the right; and they each end at the ear.
There is another
blood-vessel on each side of the neck parallel to the large one, a little
smaller than the latter; into this the majority of those from the head itself unite.
These extend through the throat inside, and from each of them (blood-vessels) travel below the shoulder-blade and to
the arms. And beside the splenetic and hepatic blood-vessels others .a little smaller
appear: these are opened when there
is any pain under the skin, but if
the pain is in the abdomen, the hepatic and splenetic vessel, are bled. The are others also leading from these below the breasts. There are
other fine ones again which lead
from each (of the main vessels)through
the spinal marrow to
the testicles in men, and in women to the womb. (The main blood-vessels, which come from the abdomen, are broader, and then become finer, until they change
over from right to
left and from
left to right). These are called after
the semen. The thickest blood is
swallowed up by the fleshy parts; but
if any is left over after passing through these parts, it becomes fine
and warm and foamlike.