CHAPTER VEMPEDOKLES OF AKRAGAS

Pluralism.

97. The belief that all things are one was common to the philosophers we have hitherto studied; but now Parmenides has shown that, if this one thing reallyis, we must give up the idea that it can take different forms. The senses, which present to us a world of change and multiplicity, are deceitful. From this there was no escape; the time was still to come when men would seek the unity of the world in something which, from its very nature, the senses could never perceive.

We find, accordingly, that from the time of Parmenides to that of Plato, all thinkers in whose hands philosophy made real progress abandoned the monistic hypothesis. Those who still held by it adopted a critical attitude, and confined themselves to a defence of the theory of Parmenides against the new views. Others taught the doctrine of Herakleitos in an exaggerated form; some continued to expound the systems of the early Milesians. This, of course, showed want of insight; but even those thinkers who saw that Parmenides could not be left unanswered, were by no means equal to their predecessors in power and thoroughness. The corporealist hypothesis hadproved itself unable to bear the weight of a monistic structure; but a thorough-going pluralism such as the atomic theory might have some value, if not as a final explanation of the world, yet at least as an intelligible view of a part of it. Any pluralism, on the other hand, which, like that of Empedokles and Anaxagoras, stops short of the atoms, will achieve no permanent result, however many may be the brilliantaperçuswhich it embodies. It will remain an attempt to reconcile two things that cannot be reconciled, and may always, therefore, be developed into contradictions and paradoxes.

Date of Empedokles.

98. Empedokles was a citizen of Akragas in Sicily, and his father’s name, according to the best accounts, was Meton.[501]His grandfather, also called Empedokles, had won a victory in the horse-race at Olympia in Ol. LXXI. (496-95B.C.),[502]and Apollodoros fixed thefloruitof Empedokles himself in Ol. LXXXIV. 1 (444-43B.C.). This is the date of the foundation of Thourioi; and it appears from the quotation in Diogenes that the almost contemporary biographer, Glaukos of Rhegion,[503]said Empedokles visited thenew city shortly after its foundation. But we are in no way bound to believe that he was just forty years old at the time of the event in his life which can most easily be dated. That is the assumption made by Apollodoros; but there are reasons for thinking that his date is too late by some eight or ten years.[504]It is, indeed, most likely that Empedokles did not go to Thourioi till after his banishment from Akragas, and he may well have been more than forty years old when that happened. All, therefore, we can be said to know of his date is, that his grandfather was still alive in 496B.C.; that he himself was active at Akragas after 472, the date of Theron’s death; and that he died later than 444.

Even these indications are enough to show that he must have been a boy in the reign of Theron, the tyrant who co-operated with Gelon of Syracuse in the repulse of the Carthaginians from Himera. His son and successor, Thrasydaios, was a man of another stamp. Before his accession to the throne of Akragas, he had ruled in his father’s name at Himera, and completely estranged the affections of its inhabitants. Theron died in 472B.C., and Thrasydaios at once displayed all the vices and follies usual in the second holder of a usurped dominion. After a disastrous war with Hieron of Syracuse, he was driven out; and Akragas enjoyed a free government till itfell before the Carthaginians more than half a century later.[505]

Empedokles as a politician.

99. In the political events of the next few years, Empedokles certainly played an important part; but our information on the subject is of a very curious kind. The Sicilian historian Timaios told one or two stories about him, which are obviously genuine traditions picked up about a hundred and fifty years afterwards; but, like all popular traditions, they are a little confused. The picturesque incidents are remembered, but the essential parts of the story are dropped. Still, we may be thankful that the “collector of old wives’ tales,”[506]as sneering critics called him, has enabled us to measure the historical importance of Empedokles for ourselves by showing us how he was pictured by the great-grandchildren of his contemporaries.

We read, then,[507]that once he was invited to sup with one of the “rulers.” Tradition delights in such vague titles. “Supper was well advanced, but no wine was brought in. The rest of the company said nothing, but Empedokles was righteously indignant, and insisted on wine being served. The host, however, said he was waiting for the serjeant of the Council. When that official arrived, he was appointed ruler of the feast. The host, of course, appointed him. Thereupon he began to give hints of an incipient tyranny. He ordered the company either to drink or have the wine poured over their heads. At the time, Empedokles said nothing; but next day he led bothof them before the court, and had them condemned and put to death—both the man who asked him to supper, and the ruler of the feast.[508]This was the beginning of his political career.” The next tale is that Empedokles prevented the Council from granting his friend Akron a piece of land for a family sepulchre on the ground of his eminence in medicine, and supported his objection by a punning epigram.[509]Lastly, he broke up the assembly of the Thousand—perhaps some oligarchical association or club.[510]It may have been for this that he was offered the kingship, which Aristotle tells us he refused.[511]At any rate, we see that Empedokles was the great democratic leader at Akragas in those days, though we have no clear knowledge of what he did.

Empedokles as a religious teacher.

100. But there is another side to his public character which Timaios found it hard to reconcile with his political views. He claimed to be a god, and to receive the homage of his fellow-citizens in that capacity. The truth is, Empedokles was not a mere statesman; he had a good deal of the “medicine-man” about him. According to Satyros,[512]Gorgias affirmed that he hadbeen present when his master was performing sorceries. We can see what this means from the fragments of thePurifications. Empedokles was a preacher of the new religion which sought to secure release from the “wheel of birth” by purity and abstinence; but it is not quite certain to which form of it he adhered. On the one hand, Orphicism seems to have been strong at Akragas in the days of Theron, and there are even some verbal coincidences between the poems of Empedokles and the Orphicising Odes which Pindar addressed to that prince.[513]There are also some points of similarity between theRhapsodic Theogony, as we know it from Damaskios, and certain fragments of Empedokles, though the importance of these has been exaggerated.[514]On the other hand, there is no reason to doubt the statement of Ammonios that fr.134refers to Apollo;[515]and, if that is so, it would point to his having been an adherent of the Ionic form of the mystic doctrine, as we have seen (§ 39) that Pythagoras was. Further, Timaios already knew the story that he had been expelled from the Pythagorean Order for “stealing discourses,”[516]and it is probable on the whole that fr.129refers to Pythagoras.[517]It would be very hazardous to dogmatise on this subject; but it seems most likely that Empedokles had been influenced by Orphic ideas in his youth, and that, in later life, he preached a form of Pythagoreanism whichwas not considered orthodox by the heads of the Society. In any case, it seems far more probable that his political and scientific activity belong to the same period of his life, and that he only became a wandering prophet after his banishment, than that his scientific work belonged to his later days when he was a solitary exile.[518]

We hear of a number of marvels performed by Empedokles, which are for the most part nothing but inferences from his writings. Timaios told how he weakened the force of the etesian winds by hanging bags of asses’ skins on the trees to catch them. He had certainly said, in his exaggerated way, that the knowledge of science as taught by him would enable his disciples to control the winds (fr.111); and this, along with the fabled windbags of Aiolos, is enough to account for the tale.[519]We are also told how he brought back to life a woman who had been breathless and pulseless for thirty days. The verse where he asserts that his teaching will enable Pausanias to bring the dead back from Hades (fr.111) shows how this story may have arisen.[520]Again, we hear that he sweetened the pestilent marsh between Selinous and the sea by diverting the rivers Hypsas and Selinos into it. We know from coins that this purificationof the marshes actually took place, but we may doubt whether it was attributed to Empedokles till a later time.[521]

Rhetoric and medicine.

101. Aristotle said that Empedokles was the inventor of Rhetoric;[522]and Galen made him the founder of the Italian school of Medicine, which he puts on a level with those of Kos and Knidos.[523]Both these statements must be considered in connexion with his political and scientific activity. It seems to be certain that Gorgias was his disciple in physics and medicine, and some of the peculiarities which marked his style are to be found in the poems of Empedokles.[524]It is not to be supposed, of course, that Empedokles wrote a formal treatise on Rhetoric; but it is in every way probable, and in accordance with his character, that the speeches, of which he must have made many, were marked by that euphuism which Gorgias introduced to Athens at a later date, and which gave rise to the idea of an artistic prose. The influence of Empedokles on the development of medicine was, however, far more important, as it affected not only medicine itself, but through it, the whole tendency of scientific and philosophical thinking. It has been said that Empedokles had no successors,[525]and the remark istrue if we confine ourselves strictly to philosophy. On the other hand, the medical school which he founded was still living in the days of Plato, and it had considerable influence on him, and still more on Aristotle.[526]Its fundamental doctrine was the identification of the four elements with the hot and the cold, the moist and the dry. It also held that we breathe through all the pores of the body, and that the act of respiration is closely connected with the motion of the blood. The heart, not the brain, was regarded as the organ of consciousness.[527]A more external characteristic of the medicine taught by the followers of Empedokles is that they still clung to ideas of a magical nature. A protest against this by a member of the Koan school has been preserved. He refers to them as “magicians and purifiers and charlatans and quacks, who profess to be very religious.”[528]Though there is some truth in this, it hardly does justice to the great advances in physiology that were due to the Sicilian school.

Relation to predecessors.

102. In the biography of Empedokles, we hear very little of his theory of nature. The only hints we get are some statements about his teachers. Alkidamas, who had good opportunities of knowing, made him afellow-student of Zeno under Parmenides. That is both possible and likely. Theophrastos too made him a follower and imitator of Parmenides. But the further statement that he had “heard” Pythagoras cannot be right. Probably Alkidamas said “Pythagoreans.”[529]

Some writers hold that certain parts of the system of Empedokles, in particular the theory of pores and effluvia (§ 118), which do not seem to follow very naturally from his own principles, were due to the influence of Leukippos.[530]This, however, is not necessarily the case. We know that Alkmaion (§ 96) spoke of “pores” in connexion with sensation, and it may equally well be from him that Empedokles got the theory. It may be added that this is more in accordance with the history of certain other physiological views which are common to Alkmaion and the later Ionian philosophers. We can generally see that those reached Ionia through the medical school which Empedokles founded.[531]

Death.

103. We are told that Empedokles leapt into the crater of Etna that he might be deemed a god. This appears to be a malicious version[532]of a tale set on foot by his adherents that he had been snatched up to heaven in the night.[533]Both stories would easily getaccepted; for there was no local tradition. Empedokles did not die in Sicily, but in the Peloponnese, or, perhaps, at Thourioi. He had gone to Olympia to have his religious poem recited to the Hellenes; his enemies were able to prevent his return, and he was seen in Sicily no more.[534]

Writings.

104. Empedokles was the second philosopher to expound his system in verse, if we leave the satirist Xenophanes out of account. He was also the last among the Greeks; for the forged Pythagorean poems may be neglected.[535]Lucretius imitates Empedokles in this, just as Empedokles imitated Parmenides. Of course, the poetical imagery creates a difficulty for the interpreter; but it would be wrong to make too much of it. It cannot be said that it is harder to extract the philosophical kernel from the verses of Empedokles than from the prose of Herakleitos.

There is some divergence of opinion as to the poetical merit of Empedokles. The panegyric of Lucretius is well known.[536]Aristotle says in one place that Empedokles and Homer have nothing in common but the metre; in another, that Empedokles was “most Homeric.”[537]To my mind, there can be no question that he was a genuine poet, far more so than Parmenides. No one doubts nowadays that Lucretius was one, and Empedokles really resembles him very closely.

The remains.

105. We have more abundant remains of Empedokles than of any other early Greek philosopher. If we may trust our manuscripts of Diogenes and of Souidas, the librarians of Alexandria estimated thePoem on Natureand thePurificationstogether as 5000 verses, of which about 2000 belonged to the former work.[538]Diels gives about 350 verses and parts of verses from the cosmological poem, or not a fifth of the whole. It is important to remember that, even in this favourable instance, so much has been lost. Besides the two poems, the Alexandrian scholars possessed a prose work of 600 lines on medicine ascribed to Empedokles. The tragedies and other poems which were sometimes attributed to him seem really to belong to a younger writer of the same name, who is said by Souidas to have been his grandson.[539]

I give the remains as they are arranged by Diels:—

(1)And do thou give ear, Pausanias, son of Anchitos the wise!(2)For straitened are the powers that are spread over their bodily parts, and many are the woes that burst in on them andblunt the edge of their careful thoughts! They behold but a brief span of a life that is no life,[540]and, doomed to swift death, are borne up and fly off like smoke. Each is convinced of that alone which he had chanced upon as he is5hurried to and fro, and idly boasts he has found the whole. So hardly can these things be seen by the eyes or heard by the ears of men, so hardly grasped by their mind! Thou,[541]then, since thou hast found thy way hither, shalt learn no more than mortal mind hath power. R. P. 163.(3)... to keep within thy dumb heart.(4)But, O ye gods, turn aside from my tongue the madness of those men.[542]Hallow my lips and make a pure stream flow from them! And thee, much-wooed, white-armed Virgin Muse, do I beseech that I may hear what is lawful for the children of a day! Speed me on my way from the abode of5Holiness and drive my willing car! Thee shall no garlands of glory and honour at the hands of mortals constrain to lift them from the ground, on condition of speaking in thy pride beyond that which is lawful and right, and so to gain a seat upon the heights of wisdom.Go to now, consider with all thy powers in what way each thing is clear. Hold not thy sight in greater credit as10compared with thy hearing, nor value thy resounding ear above the clear instructions of thy tongue;[543]and do not withhold thy confidence in any of thy other bodily parts by which there is an opening for understanding,[544]but consider everything in the way it is clear. R. P. 163.(5)But it is ever the way of low minds to disbelieve their betters. Do thou learn as the sure testimonies of my Muse bid thee, dividing the argument in thy heart.[545](6)Hear first the four roots of all things: shining Zeus, life-bringing Hera, Aidoneus, and Nestis whose tear-drops are a well-spring to mortals. R. P. 164.[546](7)... uncreated.(8)And I shall tell thee another thing. There is no coming into being of aught that perishes, nor any end for it in baneful death; but only mingling and change of what has been mingled. Coming into being is but a name given to these by men. R. P. 165.(9)But, when the elements have been mingled in the fashion of a man and come to the light of day, or in the fashion of the race of wild beasts or plants or birds, then men say that these come into being; and when they are separated, they call that woeful death. They call it not aright; but I too follow5the custom, and call it so myself.(10)Avenging death.(11, 12)Fools!—for they have no far-reaching thoughts—who deem that what before was not comes into being, or thataught can perish and be utterly destroyed. For it cannot be that aught can arise from what in no way is, and it is impossible and unheard of that whatisshould perish; for it5will alwaysbe, wherever one may keep putting it. R. P. 165 a.(13)And in the All there is naught empty and naught too full.(14)In the All there is naught empty. Whence, then, could aught come to increase it?(15)A man who is wise in such matters would never surmise in his heart that as long as mortals live what they call their life, so long they are, and suffer good and ill; while before they were formed and after they have been dissolved they are just nothing at all. R. P. 165 a.(16)For of a truth they (Strife and Love) were aforetime and shall be; nor ever, methinks, will boundless time be emptied of that pair. R. P. 166 c.(17)I shall tell thee a twofold tale. At one time it grew to be one only out of many; at another, it divided up to be many instead of one. There is a double becoming of perishable things and a double passing away. The coming together of all things brings one generation into being and destroys it; the other grows up and is scattered as things become5divided. And these things never cease continually changing places, at one time all uniting in one through Love, at another each borne in different directions by the repulsion of Strife. Thus, as far as it is their nature to grow into one out of many, and to become many once more when the one is parted10asunder, so far they come into being and their life abides not. But, inasmuch as they never cease changing their places continually, so far they are ever immovable as they go round the circle of existence.But come, hearken to my words, for it is learning that increaseth wisdom. As I said before, when I declared the15heads of my discourse, I shall tell thee a twofold tale. At one time it grew together to be one only out of many, at another it parted asunder so as to be many instead of one;—Fire and Water and Earth and the mighty height of Air; dread Strife, too, apart from these, of equal weight to each, and Love among them, equal in length and breadth.20Her do thou contemplate with thy mind, nor sit with dazed eyes. It is she that is known as being implanted in the frame of mortals. It is she that makes them have thoughts of love and work the works of peace. They call her by the names of Joy and Aphrodite. Her has no mortal yet marked moving25round among them,[547]but do thou attend to the undeceitful ordering of my discourse.For all these are equal and alike in age, yet each has a different prerogative and its own peculiar nature. And nothing30comes into being besides these, nor do they pass away; for, if they had been passing away continually, they would not be now, and what could increase this All and whence could it come? How, too, could it perish, since no place is empty of these things? They are what they are; but, running through one another, they become now this, now that,[548]and like things35evermore. R. P. 166.(18)Love.(19)Clinging Love.(20)This (the contest of Love and Strife) is manifest in the mass of mortal limbs. At one time all the limbs that are the body’s portion are brought together by Love in blooming life’s high season; at another, severed by cruel Strife, they wander5each alone by the breakers of life’s sea. It is the same withplants and the fish that make their homes in the waters, with the beasts that have their lairs on the hills and the seabirds that sail on wings. R. P. 173 d.(21)Come now, look at the things that bear witness to my earlier discourse, if so be that there was any shortcoming as to their form in the earlier list. Behold the sun, everywhere bright and warm, and all the immortal things that are bathed in heat and bright radiance.[549]Behold the rain, everywhere dark5and cold; and from the earth issue forth things close-pressed and solid. When they are in strife all these are different in form and separated; but they come together in love, and are desired by one another.For out of these have sprung all things that were and are and shall be—trees and men and women, beasts and birds10and the fishes that dwell in the waters, yea, and the gods that live long lives and are exalted in honour. R. P. 166 i.For these things are what they are; but, running through one another, they take different shapes—so much does mixture change them. R. P. 166 g.(22)For all of these—sun, earth, sky, and sea—are at one with all their parts that are cast far and wide from them in mortal things. And even so all things that are more adapted for mixture are like to one another and united in love by Aphrodite. Those things, again, that differ most in origin,5mixture and the forms imprinted on each, are most hostile, being altogether unaccustomed to unite and very sorry by the bidding of Strife, since it hath wrought their birth.(23)Just as when painters are elaborating temple-offerings, men whom wisdom hath well taught their art,—they, when they have taken pigments of many colours with their hands, mixthem in due proportion, more of some and less of others, and from them produce shapes like unto all things, making trees5and men and women, beasts and birds and fishes that dwell in the waters, yea, and gods, that live long lives, and are exalted in honour,—so let not the error prevail over thy mind,[550]that there is any other source of all the perishable creatures that appear in countless numbers. Know this for sure, for thou10hast heard the tale from a goddess.[551](24)Stepping from summit to summit, not to travel only one path to the end....(25)What is right may well be said even twice.(26)For they prevail in turn as the circle comes round, and pass into one another, and grow great in their appointed turn. R. P. 166 c.They are what they are; but, running through one another, they become men and the tribes of beasts. At one time they are all brought together into one order by Love; at another,5they are carried each in different directions by the repulsion of Strife, till they grow once more into one and are wholly subdued. Thus in so far as they are wont to grow into one out of many, and again divided become more than one, so far they come into being, and their life is not lasting; but in10so far as they never cease changing continually, so far are they evermore, immovable in the circle.(27)There are distinguished neither the swift limbs of the sun, no, nor the shaggy earth in its might, nor the sea,—so fast was the god bound in the close covering of Harmony,spherical and round, rejoicing in his circular solitude.[552]R. P. 167.(27a)There is no discord and no unseemly strife in his limbs.(28)But he was equal on every side and quite without end, spherical and round, rejoicing in his circular solitude.(29)Two branches do not spring from his back, he has no feet, no swift knees, no fruitful parts; but he was spherical and equal on every side.(30, 31)But, when Strife was grown great in the limbs of the god and sprang forth to claim his prerogatives, in the fulness of the alternate time set for them by the mighty oath, ... for all the limbs of the god in turn quaked. R. P. 167.(32)The joint binds two things.(33)Even as when fig juice rivets and binds white milk....(34)Cementing[553]meal with water....(35, 36)But now I shall retrace my steps over the paths of song that I have travelled before, drawing from my saying a new saying. When Strife was fallen to the lowest depth of the vortex, and Love had reached to the centre of the whirl, in it doall things come together so as to be one only; not all at once,5but coming together at their will each from different quarters; and, as they mingled, countless tribes of mortal creatures were scattered abroad. Yet many things remained unmixed, alternating with the things that were being mixed, namely, all that Strife not fallen yet retained; for it had not yet altogether retired10perfectly from them to the outermost boundaries of the circle. Some of it still remained within, and some had passed out from the limbs of the All. But in proportion as it kept rushing out, a soft, immortal stream of blameless Love kept running in, and straightway those things became mortal which had been immortal before, those things were mixed that had been15unmixed, each changing its path. And, as they mingled, countless tribes of mortal creatures were scattered abroad endowed with all manner of forms, a wonder to behold. R. P. 169.(37)Earth increases its own mass, and Air swells the bulk of Air.(38)Come, I shall now tell thee first of all the beginning of the sun,[554]and the sources from which have sprung all the things we now behold, the earth and the billowy sea, the damp vapour and the Titan air that binds his circle fast round all things. R. P. 170 a.(39)If the depths of the earth and the vast air were infinite, a foolish saying which has been vainly dropped from the lips of many mortals, though they have seen but a little of the All....[555]R. P. 103 b.(40)The sharp-darting sun and the gentle moon.(41)But (the sunlight) is gathered together and circles round the mighty heavens.(42)And she cuts off his rays as he goes above her, and casts a shadow on as much of the earth as is the breadth of the pale-faced moon.[556](43)Even so the sunbeam, having struck the broad and mighty circle of the moon, returns at once, running so as to reach the sky.(44)It flashes back to Olympos with untroubled countenance. R. P. 170 c.(45, 46)There circles round the earth a round borrowed light, as the nave of the wheel circles round the furthest (goal).(47)For she gazes at the sacred circle of the lordly sun opposite.(48)It is the earth that makes night by coming before the lights.(49)... of solitary, blind-eyed night.(50)And Iris bringeth wind or mighty rain from the sea.(51)(Fire) swiftly rushing upwards....(52)And many fires burn beneath the earth. R. P. 171 a.(53)For so as it ran, it met them at that time, though often otherwise. R. P. 171 a.(54)But the air sank down upon the earth with its long roots. R. P. 171 a.(55)Sea the sweat of the earth. R. P. 170 b.(56)Salt was solidified by the impact of the sun’s beams.(57)On it (the earth) many heads sprung up without necks and arms wandered bare and bereft of shoulders. Eyes strayed up and down in want of foreheads. R. P. 173 a.(58)Solitary limbs wandered seeking for union.(59)But, as divinity was mingled still further with divinity, these things joined together as each might chance, and many other things besides them continually arose.(60)Shambling creatures with countless hands.(61)Many creatures with faces and breasts looking in different directions were born; some, offspring of oxen with faces of men, while others, again, arose as offspring of men with the heads of oxen, and creatures in whom the nature of womenand men was mingled, furnished with sterile[557]parts.5R. P. 173 b.(62)Come now, hear how the Fire as it was separated caused the night-born shoots of men and tearful women to arise; for my tale is not off the point nor uninformed. Whole-natured forms first arose from the earth, having a portion both of water and fire.[558]These did the fire, desirous of5reaching its like, send up, showing as yet neither the charming form of women’s limbs, nor yet the voice and parts that are proper to men. R. P. 173 c.(63)... But the substance of (the child’s) limbs is divided between them, part of it in men’s and part in women’s (body).(64)And upon him came desire reminding him through sight.(65)... And it was poured out in the pure parts; and when it met with cold women arose from it.(66)The divided meadows ofAphroditeAphrodite.(67)For in its warmer part the womb brings forth males, and that is why men are dark and more manly and shaggy.(68)On the tenth day of the eighth month the white putrefaction arises.[559](69)Double bearing.[560](70)Sheepskin.[561](71)But if thy assurance of these things was in any way deficient as to how, out of Water and Earth and Air and Fire mingled together, arose the forms and colours of all those mortal things that have been fitted together by Aphrodite, and so are now come into being....5(72)How tall trees and the fishes in the sea....(73)And even as at that time Kypris, preparing warmth,[562]after she had moistened the Earth in water, gave it to swift fire to harden it.... R. P. 171.(74)Leading the songless tribe of fertile fish.(75)All of those which are dense within and rare without, having received a moisture of this kind at the hands of Kypris....(76)This thou mayest see in the heavy-backed shell-fish that dwell in the sea, in sea-snails and the stony-skinned turtles. In them thou mayest see that the earthy part dwells on the uppermost surface.(77-78)It is the air that makes evergreen trees flourish with abundance of fruit the whole year round.(79)And so first of all tall olive trees bear eggs....(80)Wherefore pomegranates are late-born and apples succulent.(81)Wine is the water from the bark, putrefied in the wood.(82)Hair and leaves, and thick feathers of birds, and the scales that grow on mighty limbs, are the same thing.(83)But the hair of hedgehogs is sharp-pointed and bristles on their backs.(84)And even as when a man thinking to sally forth through a stormy night, gets him ready a lantern, a flame of blazing fire, fastening to it horn plates to keep out all manner of winds, and they scatter the blast of the winds that blow, but the light leaping out through them, shines across the threshold5with unfailing beams, as much of it as is finer;[563]even so did she (Love) then entrap the elemental fire, the round pupil, confined within membranes and delicate tissues, which are pierced through and through with wondrous passages. They keep out the deep water that surrounds the pupil, but they10let through the fire, as much of it as is finer. R. P. 177 b.(85)But the gentle flame (of the eye) has but a scanty portion of earth.(86)Out of these divine Aphrodite fashioned unwearying eyes.(87)Aphrodite fitting these together with rivets of love.(88)One vision is produced by both the eyes.(89)Know that effluences flow from all things that have come into being. R. P. 166 h.(90)So sweet lays hold of sweet, and bitter rushes to bitter; acid comes to acid, and warm couples with warm.(91)Water fits better into wine, but it will not (mingle) with oil. R. P. 166 h.(92)Brass mixed with tin.(93)The berry of the blue elder is mingled with scarlet.(94)And the black colour at the bottom of a river arises from the shadow. The same is seen in hollow caves.(95)Since they (the eyes) first grew together in the hands of Kypris.(96)The kindly earth received in its broad funnels two parts of gleaming Nestis out of the eight, and four of Hephaistos. So arose white bones divinely fitted together by the cement of proportion. R. P. 175.(97)The spine (was broken).(98)And the earth, anchoring in the perfect harbours of Aphrodite, meets with these in nearly equal proportions,with Hephaistos and Water and gleaming Air—either a little more of it, or less of them and more of it. From these did blood arise and the manifold forms of flesh. R. P. 175 c.(99)The bell ... the fleshy sprout (of the ear).[564](100)Thus[565]do all things draw breath and breathe it out again. All have bloodless tubes of flesh extended over the surface of their bodies; and at the mouths of these the outermost surface of the skin is perforated all over with pores closely packed together, so as to keep in the blood while a free5passage is cut for the air to pass through. Then, when the thin blood recedes from these, the bubbling air rushes in with an impetuous surge; and when the blood runs back it is breathed out again. Just as when a girl, playing with a water-clock of shining brass, puts the orifice of the pipe upon10her comely hand, and dips the water-clock into the yielding mass of silvery water,—the stream does not then flow into the vessel, but the bulk of the air inside, pressing upon the close-packed perforations, keeps it out till she uncovers the compressed stream; but then air escapes and an equal volume15of water runs in,—just in the same way, when water occupies the depths of the brazen vessel and the opening and passage is stopped up by the human hand, the air outside, striving to get in, holds the water back at the gates of the ill-sounding neck, pressing upon its surface, till she lets go with her hand.20Then, on the contrary, just in the opposite way to whathappened before, the wind rushes in and an equal volume of water runs out to make room.[566]Even so, when the thin blood that surges through the limbs rushes backwards to the interior, straightway the stream of air comes in with a rushing swell;25but when the blood returns the air breathes out again in equal quantity.(101)(The dog) with its nostrils tracking out the fragments of the beast’s limbs, and the breath from their feet that they leave in the soft grass.[567](102)Thus all things have their share of breath and smell.(103, 104)Thus have all things thought by fortune’s will.... And inasmuch as the rarest things came together in their fall.(105)(The heart), dwelling in the sea of blood that runs in opposite directions, where chiefly is what men call thought; for the blood round the heart is the thought of men. R. P. 178 a.(106)For the wisdom of men grows according to what is before them. R. P. 177.(107)For out of these are all things formed and fitted together,and by these do men think and feel pleasure and pain. R. P. 178.(108)And just so far as they grow to be different, so far do different thoughts ever present themselves to their minds (in dreams).[568]R. P. 177 a.(109)For it is with earth that we see Earth, and Water with water; by air we see bright Air, by fire destroying Fire. By love do we see Love, and Hate by grievous hate. R. P. 176.(110)For if, supported on thy steadfast mind, thou wilt contemplate these things with good intent and faultless care, then shalt thou have all these things in abundance throughout thy life, and thou shalt gain many others from them. For these things grow of themselves into thy heart, where is each5man’s true nature. But if thou strivest after things of another kind, as is the way with men, ten thousand woes await thee to blunt thy careful thoughts. Soon will these things desert thee when the time comes round; for they long to return once more to their own kind; for know that all things have10wisdom and a share of thought.(111)And thou shalt learn all the drugs that are a defence against ills and old age; since for thee alone will I accomplish all this. Thou shalt arrest the violence of the weariless winds that arise and sweep the earth; and again, when thou so desirest, thou shalt bring back their blasts with a rush. Thou5shalt cause for men a seasonable drought after the dark rains, and again thou shalt change the summer drought for streams that feed the trees as they pour down from the sky. Thou shalt bring back from Hades the life of a dead man.

(1)

And do thou give ear, Pausanias, son of Anchitos the wise!

(2)

For straitened are the powers that are spread over their bodily parts, and many are the woes that burst in on them andblunt the edge of their careful thoughts! They behold but a brief span of a life that is no life,[540]and, doomed to swift death, are borne up and fly off like smoke. Each is convinced of that alone which he had chanced upon as he is5hurried to and fro, and idly boasts he has found the whole. So hardly can these things be seen by the eyes or heard by the ears of men, so hardly grasped by their mind! Thou,[541]then, since thou hast found thy way hither, shalt learn no more than mortal mind hath power. R. P. 163.

(3)

... to keep within thy dumb heart.

(4)

But, O ye gods, turn aside from my tongue the madness of those men.[542]Hallow my lips and make a pure stream flow from them! And thee, much-wooed, white-armed Virgin Muse, do I beseech that I may hear what is lawful for the children of a day! Speed me on my way from the abode of5Holiness and drive my willing car! Thee shall no garlands of glory and honour at the hands of mortals constrain to lift them from the ground, on condition of speaking in thy pride beyond that which is lawful and right, and so to gain a seat upon the heights of wisdom.

Go to now, consider with all thy powers in what way each thing is clear. Hold not thy sight in greater credit as10compared with thy hearing, nor value thy resounding ear above the clear instructions of thy tongue;[543]and do not withhold thy confidence in any of thy other bodily parts by which there is an opening for understanding,[544]but consider everything in the way it is clear. R. P. 163.

(5)

But it is ever the way of low minds to disbelieve their betters. Do thou learn as the sure testimonies of my Muse bid thee, dividing the argument in thy heart.[545]

(6)

Hear first the four roots of all things: shining Zeus, life-bringing Hera, Aidoneus, and Nestis whose tear-drops are a well-spring to mortals. R. P. 164.[546]

(7)

... uncreated.

(8)

And I shall tell thee another thing. There is no coming into being of aught that perishes, nor any end for it in baneful death; but only mingling and change of what has been mingled. Coming into being is but a name given to these by men. R. P. 165.

(9)

But, when the elements have been mingled in the fashion of a man and come to the light of day, or in the fashion of the race of wild beasts or plants or birds, then men say that these come into being; and when they are separated, they call that woeful death. They call it not aright; but I too follow5the custom, and call it so myself.

(10)

Avenging death.

(11, 12)

Fools!—for they have no far-reaching thoughts—who deem that what before was not comes into being, or thataught can perish and be utterly destroyed. For it cannot be that aught can arise from what in no way is, and it is impossible and unheard of that whatisshould perish; for it5will alwaysbe, wherever one may keep putting it. R. P. 165 a.

(13)

And in the All there is naught empty and naught too full.

(14)

In the All there is naught empty. Whence, then, could aught come to increase it?

(15)

A man who is wise in such matters would never surmise in his heart that as long as mortals live what they call their life, so long they are, and suffer good and ill; while before they were formed and after they have been dissolved they are just nothing at all. R. P. 165 a.

(16)

For of a truth they (Strife and Love) were aforetime and shall be; nor ever, methinks, will boundless time be emptied of that pair. R. P. 166 c.

(17)

I shall tell thee a twofold tale. At one time it grew to be one only out of many; at another, it divided up to be many instead of one. There is a double becoming of perishable things and a double passing away. The coming together of all things brings one generation into being and destroys it; the other grows up and is scattered as things become5divided. And these things never cease continually changing places, at one time all uniting in one through Love, at another each borne in different directions by the repulsion of Strife. Thus, as far as it is their nature to grow into one out of many, and to become many once more when the one is parted10asunder, so far they come into being and their life abides not. But, inasmuch as they never cease changing their places continually, so far they are ever immovable as they go round the circle of existence.

But come, hearken to my words, for it is learning that increaseth wisdom. As I said before, when I declared the15heads of my discourse, I shall tell thee a twofold tale. At one time it grew together to be one only out of many, at another it parted asunder so as to be many instead of one;—Fire and Water and Earth and the mighty height of Air; dread Strife, too, apart from these, of equal weight to each, and Love among them, equal in length and breadth.20Her do thou contemplate with thy mind, nor sit with dazed eyes. It is she that is known as being implanted in the frame of mortals. It is she that makes them have thoughts of love and work the works of peace. They call her by the names of Joy and Aphrodite. Her has no mortal yet marked moving25round among them,[547]but do thou attend to the undeceitful ordering of my discourse.

For all these are equal and alike in age, yet each has a different prerogative and its own peculiar nature. And nothing30comes into being besides these, nor do they pass away; for, if they had been passing away continually, they would not be now, and what could increase this All and whence could it come? How, too, could it perish, since no place is empty of these things? They are what they are; but, running through one another, they become now this, now that,[548]and like things35evermore. R. P. 166.

(18)

Love.

(19)

Clinging Love.

(20)

This (the contest of Love and Strife) is manifest in the mass of mortal limbs. At one time all the limbs that are the body’s portion are brought together by Love in blooming life’s high season; at another, severed by cruel Strife, they wander5each alone by the breakers of life’s sea. It is the same withplants and the fish that make their homes in the waters, with the beasts that have their lairs on the hills and the seabirds that sail on wings. R. P. 173 d.

(21)

Come now, look at the things that bear witness to my earlier discourse, if so be that there was any shortcoming as to their form in the earlier list. Behold the sun, everywhere bright and warm, and all the immortal things that are bathed in heat and bright radiance.[549]Behold the rain, everywhere dark5and cold; and from the earth issue forth things close-pressed and solid. When they are in strife all these are different in form and separated; but they come together in love, and are desired by one another.

For out of these have sprung all things that were and are and shall be—trees and men and women, beasts and birds10and the fishes that dwell in the waters, yea, and the gods that live long lives and are exalted in honour. R. P. 166 i.

For these things are what they are; but, running through one another, they take different shapes—so much does mixture change them. R. P. 166 g.

(22)

For all of these—sun, earth, sky, and sea—are at one with all their parts that are cast far and wide from them in mortal things. And even so all things that are more adapted for mixture are like to one another and united in love by Aphrodite. Those things, again, that differ most in origin,5mixture and the forms imprinted on each, are most hostile, being altogether unaccustomed to unite and very sorry by the bidding of Strife, since it hath wrought their birth.

(23)

Just as when painters are elaborating temple-offerings, men whom wisdom hath well taught their art,—they, when they have taken pigments of many colours with their hands, mixthem in due proportion, more of some and less of others, and from them produce shapes like unto all things, making trees5and men and women, beasts and birds and fishes that dwell in the waters, yea, and gods, that live long lives, and are exalted in honour,—so let not the error prevail over thy mind,[550]that there is any other source of all the perishable creatures that appear in countless numbers. Know this for sure, for thou10hast heard the tale from a goddess.[551]

(24)

Stepping from summit to summit, not to travel only one path to the end....

(25)

What is right may well be said even twice.

(26)

For they prevail in turn as the circle comes round, and pass into one another, and grow great in their appointed turn. R. P. 166 c.

They are what they are; but, running through one another, they become men and the tribes of beasts. At one time they are all brought together into one order by Love; at another,5they are carried each in different directions by the repulsion of Strife, till they grow once more into one and are wholly subdued. Thus in so far as they are wont to grow into one out of many, and again divided become more than one, so far they come into being, and their life is not lasting; but in10so far as they never cease changing continually, so far are they evermore, immovable in the circle.

(27)

There are distinguished neither the swift limbs of the sun, no, nor the shaggy earth in its might, nor the sea,—so fast was the god bound in the close covering of Harmony,spherical and round, rejoicing in his circular solitude.[552]R. P. 167.

(27a)

There is no discord and no unseemly strife in his limbs.

(28)

But he was equal on every side and quite without end, spherical and round, rejoicing in his circular solitude.

(29)

Two branches do not spring from his back, he has no feet, no swift knees, no fruitful parts; but he was spherical and equal on every side.

(30, 31)

But, when Strife was grown great in the limbs of the god and sprang forth to claim his prerogatives, in the fulness of the alternate time set for them by the mighty oath, ... for all the limbs of the god in turn quaked. R. P. 167.

(32)

The joint binds two things.

(33)

Even as when fig juice rivets and binds white milk....

(34)

Cementing[553]meal with water....

(35, 36)

But now I shall retrace my steps over the paths of song that I have travelled before, drawing from my saying a new saying. When Strife was fallen to the lowest depth of the vortex, and Love had reached to the centre of the whirl, in it doall things come together so as to be one only; not all at once,5but coming together at their will each from different quarters; and, as they mingled, countless tribes of mortal creatures were scattered abroad. Yet many things remained unmixed, alternating with the things that were being mixed, namely, all that Strife not fallen yet retained; for it had not yet altogether retired10perfectly from them to the outermost boundaries of the circle. Some of it still remained within, and some had passed out from the limbs of the All. But in proportion as it kept rushing out, a soft, immortal stream of blameless Love kept running in, and straightway those things became mortal which had been immortal before, those things were mixed that had been15unmixed, each changing its path. And, as they mingled, countless tribes of mortal creatures were scattered abroad endowed with all manner of forms, a wonder to behold. R. P. 169.

(37)

Earth increases its own mass, and Air swells the bulk of Air.

(38)

Come, I shall now tell thee first of all the beginning of the sun,[554]and the sources from which have sprung all the things we now behold, the earth and the billowy sea, the damp vapour and the Titan air that binds his circle fast round all things. R. P. 170 a.

(39)

If the depths of the earth and the vast air were infinite, a foolish saying which has been vainly dropped from the lips of many mortals, though they have seen but a little of the All....[555]R. P. 103 b.

(40)

The sharp-darting sun and the gentle moon.

(41)

But (the sunlight) is gathered together and circles round the mighty heavens.

(42)

And she cuts off his rays as he goes above her, and casts a shadow on as much of the earth as is the breadth of the pale-faced moon.[556]

(43)

Even so the sunbeam, having struck the broad and mighty circle of the moon, returns at once, running so as to reach the sky.

(44)

It flashes back to Olympos with untroubled countenance. R. P. 170 c.

(45, 46)

There circles round the earth a round borrowed light, as the nave of the wheel circles round the furthest (goal).

(47)

For she gazes at the sacred circle of the lordly sun opposite.

(48)

It is the earth that makes night by coming before the lights.

(49)

... of solitary, blind-eyed night.

(50)

And Iris bringeth wind or mighty rain from the sea.

(51)

(Fire) swiftly rushing upwards....

(52)

And many fires burn beneath the earth. R. P. 171 a.

(53)

For so as it ran, it met them at that time, though often otherwise. R. P. 171 a.

(54)

But the air sank down upon the earth with its long roots. R. P. 171 a.

(55)

Sea the sweat of the earth. R. P. 170 b.

(56)

Salt was solidified by the impact of the sun’s beams.

(57)

On it (the earth) many heads sprung up without necks and arms wandered bare and bereft of shoulders. Eyes strayed up and down in want of foreheads. R. P. 173 a.

(58)

Solitary limbs wandered seeking for union.

(59)

But, as divinity was mingled still further with divinity, these things joined together as each might chance, and many other things besides them continually arose.

(60)

Shambling creatures with countless hands.

(61)

Many creatures with faces and breasts looking in different directions were born; some, offspring of oxen with faces of men, while others, again, arose as offspring of men with the heads of oxen, and creatures in whom the nature of womenand men was mingled, furnished with sterile[557]parts.5R. P. 173 b.

(62)

Come now, hear how the Fire as it was separated caused the night-born shoots of men and tearful women to arise; for my tale is not off the point nor uninformed. Whole-natured forms first arose from the earth, having a portion both of water and fire.[558]These did the fire, desirous of5reaching its like, send up, showing as yet neither the charming form of women’s limbs, nor yet the voice and parts that are proper to men. R. P. 173 c.

(63)

... But the substance of (the child’s) limbs is divided between them, part of it in men’s and part in women’s (body).

(64)

And upon him came desire reminding him through sight.

(65)

... And it was poured out in the pure parts; and when it met with cold women arose from it.

(66)

The divided meadows ofAphroditeAphrodite.

(67)

For in its warmer part the womb brings forth males, and that is why men are dark and more manly and shaggy.

(68)

On the tenth day of the eighth month the white putrefaction arises.[559]

(69)

Double bearing.[560]

(70)

Sheepskin.[561]

(71)

But if thy assurance of these things was in any way deficient as to how, out of Water and Earth and Air and Fire mingled together, arose the forms and colours of all those mortal things that have been fitted together by Aphrodite, and so are now come into being....5

(72)

How tall trees and the fishes in the sea....

(73)

And even as at that time Kypris, preparing warmth,[562]after she had moistened the Earth in water, gave it to swift fire to harden it.... R. P. 171.

(74)

Leading the songless tribe of fertile fish.

(75)

All of those which are dense within and rare without, having received a moisture of this kind at the hands of Kypris....

(76)

This thou mayest see in the heavy-backed shell-fish that dwell in the sea, in sea-snails and the stony-skinned turtles. In them thou mayest see that the earthy part dwells on the uppermost surface.

(77-78)

It is the air that makes evergreen trees flourish with abundance of fruit the whole year round.

(79)

And so first of all tall olive trees bear eggs....

(80)

Wherefore pomegranates are late-born and apples succulent.

(81)

Wine is the water from the bark, putrefied in the wood.

(82)

Hair and leaves, and thick feathers of birds, and the scales that grow on mighty limbs, are the same thing.

(83)

But the hair of hedgehogs is sharp-pointed and bristles on their backs.

(84)

And even as when a man thinking to sally forth through a stormy night, gets him ready a lantern, a flame of blazing fire, fastening to it horn plates to keep out all manner of winds, and they scatter the blast of the winds that blow, but the light leaping out through them, shines across the threshold5with unfailing beams, as much of it as is finer;[563]even so did she (Love) then entrap the elemental fire, the round pupil, confined within membranes and delicate tissues, which are pierced through and through with wondrous passages. They keep out the deep water that surrounds the pupil, but they10let through the fire, as much of it as is finer. R. P. 177 b.

(85)

But the gentle flame (of the eye) has but a scanty portion of earth.

(86)

Out of these divine Aphrodite fashioned unwearying eyes.

(87)

Aphrodite fitting these together with rivets of love.

(88)

One vision is produced by both the eyes.

(89)

Know that effluences flow from all things that have come into being. R. P. 166 h.

(90)

So sweet lays hold of sweet, and bitter rushes to bitter; acid comes to acid, and warm couples with warm.

(91)

Water fits better into wine, but it will not (mingle) with oil. R. P. 166 h.

(92)

Brass mixed with tin.

(93)

The berry of the blue elder is mingled with scarlet.

(94)

And the black colour at the bottom of a river arises from the shadow. The same is seen in hollow caves.

(95)

Since they (the eyes) first grew together in the hands of Kypris.

(96)

The kindly earth received in its broad funnels two parts of gleaming Nestis out of the eight, and four of Hephaistos. So arose white bones divinely fitted together by the cement of proportion. R. P. 175.

(97)

The spine (was broken).

(98)

And the earth, anchoring in the perfect harbours of Aphrodite, meets with these in nearly equal proportions,with Hephaistos and Water and gleaming Air—either a little more of it, or less of them and more of it. From these did blood arise and the manifold forms of flesh. R. P. 175 c.

(99)

The bell ... the fleshy sprout (of the ear).[564]

(100)

Thus[565]do all things draw breath and breathe it out again. All have bloodless tubes of flesh extended over the surface of their bodies; and at the mouths of these the outermost surface of the skin is perforated all over with pores closely packed together, so as to keep in the blood while a free5passage is cut for the air to pass through. Then, when the thin blood recedes from these, the bubbling air rushes in with an impetuous surge; and when the blood runs back it is breathed out again. Just as when a girl, playing with a water-clock of shining brass, puts the orifice of the pipe upon10her comely hand, and dips the water-clock into the yielding mass of silvery water,—the stream does not then flow into the vessel, but the bulk of the air inside, pressing upon the close-packed perforations, keeps it out till she uncovers the compressed stream; but then air escapes and an equal volume15of water runs in,—just in the same way, when water occupies the depths of the brazen vessel and the opening and passage is stopped up by the human hand, the air outside, striving to get in, holds the water back at the gates of the ill-sounding neck, pressing upon its surface, till she lets go with her hand.20Then, on the contrary, just in the opposite way to whathappened before, the wind rushes in and an equal volume of water runs out to make room.[566]Even so, when the thin blood that surges through the limbs rushes backwards to the interior, straightway the stream of air comes in with a rushing swell;25but when the blood returns the air breathes out again in equal quantity.

(101)

(The dog) with its nostrils tracking out the fragments of the beast’s limbs, and the breath from their feet that they leave in the soft grass.[567]

(102)

Thus all things have their share of breath and smell.

(103, 104)

Thus have all things thought by fortune’s will.... And inasmuch as the rarest things came together in their fall.

(105)

(The heart), dwelling in the sea of blood that runs in opposite directions, where chiefly is what men call thought; for the blood round the heart is the thought of men. R. P. 178 a.

(106)

For the wisdom of men grows according to what is before them. R. P. 177.

(107)

For out of these are all things formed and fitted together,and by these do men think and feel pleasure and pain. R. P. 178.

(108)

And just so far as they grow to be different, so far do different thoughts ever present themselves to their minds (in dreams).[568]R. P. 177 a.

(109)

For it is with earth that we see Earth, and Water with water; by air we see bright Air, by fire destroying Fire. By love do we see Love, and Hate by grievous hate. R. P. 176.

(110)

For if, supported on thy steadfast mind, thou wilt contemplate these things with good intent and faultless care, then shalt thou have all these things in abundance throughout thy life, and thou shalt gain many others from them. For these things grow of themselves into thy heart, where is each5man’s true nature. But if thou strivest after things of another kind, as is the way with men, ten thousand woes await thee to blunt thy careful thoughts. Soon will these things desert thee when the time comes round; for they long to return once more to their own kind; for know that all things have10wisdom and a share of thought.

(111)

And thou shalt learn all the drugs that are a defence against ills and old age; since for thee alone will I accomplish all this. Thou shalt arrest the violence of the weariless winds that arise and sweep the earth; and again, when thou so desirest, thou shalt bring back their blasts with a rush. Thou5shalt cause for men a seasonable drought after the dark rains, and again thou shalt change the summer drought for streams that feed the trees as they pour down from the sky. Thou shalt bring back from Hades the life of a dead man.

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