1 Ἡράκλειτος Βλόσωνος ἤ, ὥς τινες, Ἡράκωντος Ἐφέσιος. οὗτος ἤκμαζε μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην καὶ ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. μεγαλόφρων δὲ γέγονε παρ’ ὁντιναοῦν καὶ ὑπερόπτης, ὡς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ συγγράμματος αὐτοῦ δῆλον ἐν ᾧ φησι, “πολυμαθίη νόον οὐ διδάσκει· Ἡσίοδον γὰρ ἂν ἐδίδαξε καὶ Πυθαγόρην, αὖτίς τε Ξενοφάνεά τε καὶ Ἑκαταῖον.” εἶναι γὰρ “ἓν τὸ σοφόν, ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην, ὁτέη ἐκυβέρνησε πάντα διὰ πάντων.” τόν τε Ὅμηρον ἔφασκεν ἄξιον ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων ἐκβάλλεσθαι καὶ ῥαπίζεσθαι, καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον ὁμοίως.
1. Heraclitus, son of Bloson or, according to some, of Heracon, was a native of Ephesus. He flourished in the 69th Olympiad. He was lofty-minded beyond all other men, and over-weening, as is clear from his book in which he says: “Much learning does not teach understanding; else would it have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, or, again, Xenophanes and Hecataeus.” For “this one thing is wisdom, to understand thought, as that which guides all the world everywhere.” And he used to say that “Homer deserved to be chased out of the lists and beaten with rods, and Archilochus likewise.”
2 Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ “ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύναι μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν”, καὶ “μάχεσθαι χρὴ τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου [ὑπὲρ τοῦ γινομένου] ὅκως ὑπὲρ τείχεος.” καθάπτεται δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν ἑταῖρον ἐκβαλεῖν Ἑρμόδωρον ἐν οἷς φησιν, “ἄξιον Ἐφεσίοις ἡβηδὸν ἀπάγξασθαι πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς ἀνήβοις τὴν πόλιν καταλιπεῖν, οἵτινες Ἑρμόδωρον <ἄνδρα> ἑωυτῶν ὀνήιστον ἐξέβαλον λέγοντες, Ἡμέων μηδὲ εἷς ὀνήιστος ἔστω· εἰ δέ τις τοιοῦτος, ἄλλῃ τε καὶ μετ’ ἄλλων.” ἀξιούμενος δὲ καὶ νόμους θεῖναι πρὸς αὐτῶν ὑπερεῖδε διὰ τὸ ἤδη
2. Again he would say: “There is more need to extinguish insolence than an outbreak of fire,” and “The people must fight for the law as for city-walls.” He attacks the Ephesians, too, for banishing his friend Hermodorus: he says: “The Ephesians would do well to end their lives, every grown man of them, and leave the city to beardless boys, for that they have driven out Hermodorus, the worthiest man among them, saying, ‘We will have none who is worthiest among us; or if there be any such, let him go elsewhere and consort with others.’” And when he was requested by them to make laws, he scorned the request because the state was already in the grip of a bad constitution.
3 κεκρατῆσθαι τῇ πονηρᾷ πολιτείᾳ τὴν πόλιν. ἀναχωρήσας δ’ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος μετὰ τῶν παίδων ἠστραγάλιζε· περιστάντων δ’ αὐτὸν τῶν Ἐφεσίων, “τί, ὦ κάκιστοι, θαυμάζετε;”, εἶπεν· “ἢ οὐ κρεῖττον τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἢ μεθ’ ὑμῶν πολιτεύεσθαι;”
Καὶ τέλος μισανθρωπήσας καὶ ἐκπατήσας ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι διῃτᾶτο, πόας σιτούμενος καὶ βοτάνας. καὶ μέντοι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περιτραπεὶς εἰς ὕδερον κατῆλθεν εἰς ἄστυ καὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν αἰνιγματωδῶς ἐπυνθάνετο εἰ δύναιντο ἐξ ἐπομβρίας αὐχμὸν ποιῆσαι· τῶν δὲ μὴ συνιέντων, αὑτὸν εἰς βούστασιν κατορύξας τῇ τῶν βολίτων ἀλέᾳ ἤλπισεν ἐξατμισθήσεσθαι. οὐδὲν δ’ ἀνύων οὐδ’ οὕτως, ἐτελεύτα βιοὺς ἔτη ἑξήκοντα.
3. He would retire to the temple of Artemis and play at knuckle-bones with the boys; and when the Ephesians stood round him and looked on, “Why, you rascals,” he said, “are you astonished? Is it not better to do this than to take part in your civil life?”
Finally, he became a hater of his kind and wandered on the mountains, and there he continued to live, making his diet of grass and herbs. However, when this gave him dropsy, he made his way back to the city and put this riddle to the physicians, whether they were competent to create a drought after heavy rain. They could make nothing of this, whereupon he buried himself in a cowshed, expecting that the noxious damp humour would be drawn out of him by the warmth of the manure. But, as even this was of no avail, he died at the age of sixty.
4 Καὶ ἔστιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμῶν οὕτως ἔχον·
πολλάκις Ἡράκλειτον ἐθαύμασα, πῶς ποτε τὸ ζῆν
ὧδε διαντλήσας δύσμορος εἶτ’ ἔθανεν·
σῶμα γὰρ ἀρδεύσασα κακὴ νόσος ὕδατι φέγγος
ἔσβεσεν ἐν βλεφάροις καὶ σκότον ἠγάγετο.
Ἕρμιππος δέ φησι λέγειν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἰατροῖς εἴ τις δύναται ἔντερα κεινώσας ὑγρὸν ἐξερᾶσαι· ἀπειπόντων δέ, θεῖναι αὑτὸν εἰς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ κελεύειν τοὺς παῖδας βολίτοις καταπλάττειν· οὕτω δὴ κατατεινόμενον δευτεραῖον τελευτῆσαι καὶ θαφθῆναι ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ. Νεάνθης δ’ ὁ Κυζικηνός φησι μὴ δυνηθέντα αὐτὸν ἀποσπάσαι τὰ βόλιτα μεῖναι καὶ διὰ τὴν μεταβολὴν ἀγνοηθέντα κυνόβρωτον γενέσθαι.
4. There is a piece of my own about him as follows:
Often have I wondered how it came about that Heraclitus endured to live in this miserable fashion and then to die. For a fell disease flooded his body with water, quenched the light in his eyes and brought on darkness.
Hermippus, too, says that he asked the doctors whether anyone could by emptying the intestines draw off the moisture; and when they said it was impossible, he put himself in the sun and bade his servants plaster him over with cow-dung. Being thus stretched and prone, he died the next day and was buried in the market-place. Neanthes of Cyzicus states that, being unable to tear off the dung, he remained as he was and, being unrecognizable when so transformed, he was devoured by dogs.
5 Γέγονε δὲ θαυμάσιος ἐκ παίδων, ὅτε καὶ νέος ὢν ἔφασκε μηδὲν εἰδέναι, τέλειος μέντοι γενόμενος πάντα ἐγνωκέναι· ἤκουσέ τ’ οὐδενός, ἀλλ’ αὑτὸν ἔφη διζήσασθαι καὶ μαθεῖν πάντα παρ’ ἑαυτοῦ. Σωτίων δέ φησιν εἰρηκέναι τινὰς Ξενοφάνους αὐτὸν ἀκηκοέναι· λέγειν τε Ἀρίστωνα ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἡρακλείτου καὶ τὸν ὕδερον αὐτὸν θεραπευθῆναι, ἀποθανεῖν δ’ ἄλλῃ νόσῳ. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ Ἱππόβοτός φησι.
Τὸ δὲ φερόμενον αὐτοῦ βιβλίον ἐστὶ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ συνέχοντος Περὶ φύσεως, διῄρηται δ’ εἰς τρεῖς λόγους, εἴς τε τὸν περὶ τοῦ
5. He was exceptional from his boyhood; for when a youth he used to say that he knew nothing, although when he was grown up he claimed that he knew everything. He was nobody’s pupil, but he declared that he “inquired of himself,” and learned everything from himself. Some, however, had said that he had been a pupil of Xenophanes, as we learn from Sotion, who also tells us that Ariston in his book On Heraclitus declares that he was cured of the dropsy and died of another disease. And Hippobotus has the same story.
As to the work which passes as his, it is a continuous treatise On Nature , but is divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology.
6 παντὸς καὶ πολιτικὸν καὶ θεολογικόν. ἀνέθηκε δ’ αὐτὸ εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν, ὡς μέν τινες, ἐπιτηδεύσας ἀσαφέστερον γράψαι, ὅπως οἱ δυνάμενοι <μόνοι> προσίοιεν αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ ἐκ τοῦ δημώδους εὐκαταφρόνητον ᾖ. τοῦτον δὲ καὶ ὁ Τίμων ὑπογράφει λέγων,
τοῖς δ’ ἔνι κοκκυστής, ὀχλολοίδορος Ἡράκλειτος,
αἰνικτὴς ἀνόρουσε.
Θεόφραστος δέ φησιν ὑπὸ μελαγχολίας τὰ μὲν ἡμιτελῆ, τὰ δ’ ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἔχοντα γράψαι. σημεῖον δ’ αὐτοῦ τῆς μεγαλοφροσύνης Ἀντισθένης φησὶν ἐν Διαδοχαῖς· ἐκχωρῆσαι γὰρ τἀδελφῷ τῆς βασιλείας. τοσαύτην δὲ δόξαν ἔσχε τὸ σύγγραμμα ὡς καὶ αἱρετιστὰς ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τοὺς κληθέντας Ἡρακλειτείους.
6. This book he deposited in the temple of Artemis and, according to some, he deliberately made it the more obscure in order that none but adepts should approach it, and lest familiarity should breed contempt. Of our philosopher Timon gives a sketch in these words:
In their midst uprose shrill, cuckoo-like, a mob-reviler, riddling Heraclitus.
Theophrastus puts it down to melancholy that some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley. As a proof of his magnanimity Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers cites the fact that he renounced his claim to the kingship in favour of his brother. So great fame did his book win that a sect was founded and called the Heracliteans, after him.
7 Ἐδόκει δ’ αὐτῷ καθολικῶς μὲν τάδε· ἐκ πυρὸς τὰ πάντα συνεστάναι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλύεσθαι· πάντα δὲ γίνεσθαι καθ’ εἱμαρμένην καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐναντιοδρομίας ἡρμόσθαι τὰ ὄντα· καὶ πάντα ψυχῶν εἶναι καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. εἴρηκε δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ συνισταμένων πάντων παθῶν, ὅτι τε ὁ ἥλιός ἐστι τὸ μέγεθος οἷος φαίνεται. λέγεται δὲ καὶ “ψυχῆς πείρατα ἰὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο, πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν· οὕτω βαθὺν λόγον ἔχει.” τήν τ’ οἴησιν ἱερὰν νόσον ἔλεγε καὶ τὴν ὅρασιν ψεύδεσθαι. λαμπρῶς τε ἐνίοτε ἐν τῷ συγγράμματι καὶ σαφῶς ἐκβάλλει, ὥστε καὶ τὸν νωθέστατον ῥᾳδίως γνῶναι καὶ δίαρμα ψυχῆς λαβεῖν· ἥ τε βραχύτης καὶ τὸ βάρος τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀσύγκριτον.
7. Here is a general summary of his doctrines. All things are composed of fire, and into fire they are again resolved; further, all things come about by destiny, and existent things are brought into harmony by the clash of opposing currents; again, all things are filled with souls and divinities. He has also given an account of all the orderly happenings in the universe, and declares the sun to be no larger than it appears. Another of his sayings is: “Of soul thou shalt never find boundaries, not if thou trackest it on every path; so deep is its cause.” Self-conceit he used to call a falling sickness (epilepsy) and eyesight a lying sense. Sometimes, however, his utterances are clear and distinct, so that even the dullest can easily understand and derive therefrom elevation of soul. For brevity and weightiness his exposition is incomparable.
8 Καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ μέρους δὲ αὐτῷ ὧδε ἔχει τῶν δογμάτων· πῦρ εἶναι στοιχεῖον καὶ πυρὸς ἀμοιβὴν τὰ πάντα, ἀραιώσει καὶ πυκνώσει γινόμενα. σαφῶς δ’ οὐδὲν ἐκτίθεται. γίνεσθαί τε πάντα κατ’ ἐναντιότητα καὶ ῥεῖν τὰ ὅλα ποταμοῦ δίκην, πεπεράνθαι τε τὸ πᾶν καὶ ἕνα εἶναι κόσμον· γεννᾶσθαί τε αὐτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ πάλιν ἐκπυροῦσθαι κατά τινας περιόδους ἐναλλὰξ τὸν σύμπαντα αἰῶνα· τοῦτο δὲ γίνεσθαι καθ’ εἱμαρμένην. τῶν δὲ ἐναντίων τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἄγον καλεῖσθαι πόλεμον καὶ ἔριν, τὸ δ’ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν ὁμολογίαν καὶ εἰρήνην, καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν ὁδὸν ἄνω κάτω, τόν τε κόσμον γίνεσθαι κατ’ αὐτήν.
8. Coming now to his particular tenets, we may state them as follows: fire is the element, all things are exchange for fire and come into being by rarefaction and condensation; but of this he gives no clear explanation. All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things flows like a stream. Further, all that is is limited and forms one world. And it is alternately born from fire and again resolved into fire in fixed cycles to all eternity, and this is determined by destiny. Of the opposites that which tends to birth or creation is called war and strife, and that which tends to destruction by fire is called concord and peace. Change he called a pathway up and down, and this determines the birth of the world.
9 Πυκνούμενον γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐξυγραίνεσθαι συνιστάμενόν τε γίνεσθαι ὕδωρ, πηγνύμενον δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς γῆν τρέπεσθαι· καὶ ταύτην ὁδὸν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω εἶναι. πάλιν τε αὖ τὴν γῆν χεῖσθαι, ἐξ ἧς τὸ ὕδωρ γίνεσθαι, ἐκ δὲ τούτου τὰ λοιπά, σχεδὸν πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν ἀνάγων τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης· αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω ὁδός. γίνεσθαι δ’ ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀπό τε γῆς καὶ θαλάττης, ἃς μὲν λαμπρὰς καὶ καθαράς, ἃς δὲ σκοτεινάς. αὔξεσθαι δὲ τὸ μὲν πῦρ ὑπὸ τῶν λαμπρῶν, τὸ δὲ ὑγρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἑτέρων. τὸ δὲ περιέχον ὁποῖόν ἐστιν οὐ δηλοῖ· εἶναι μέντοι ἐν αὐτῷ σκάφας ἐπεστραμμένας κατὰ κοῖλον πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἐν αἷς ἀθροιζομένας τὰς λαμπρὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀποτελεῖν φλόγας, ἃς εἶναι τὰ ἄστρα.
9. For fire by contracting turns into moisture, and this condensing turns into water; water again when congealed turns into earth. This process he calls the downward path. Then again earth is liquefied, and thus gives rise to water, and from water the rest of the series is derived. He reduces nearly everything to exhalation from the sea. This process is the upward path. Exhalations arise from earth as well as from sea; those from sea are bright and pure, those from earth dark. Fire is fed by the bright exhalations, the moist element by the others. He does not make clear the nature of the surrounding element. He says, however, that there are in it bowls with their concavities turned towards us, in which the bright exhalations collect and produce flames. These are the stars.
10 λαμπροτάτην δὲ εἶναι τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου φλόγα καὶ θερμοτάτην. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα ἄστρα πλεῖον ἀπέχειν ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἧττον λάμπειν καὶ θάλπειν, τὴν δὲ σελήνην προσγειοτέραν οὖσαν μὴ διὰ τοῦ καθαροῦ φέρεσθαι τόπου. τὸν μέντοι ἥλιον ἐν διαυγεῖ καὶ ἀμιγεῖ κινεῖσθαι καὶ σύμμετρον ἀφ’ ἡμῶν ἔχειν διάστημα· τοιγάρτοι μᾶλλον θερμαίνειν τε καὶ φωτίζειν. ἐκλείπειν τε ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, ἄνω στρεφομένων τῶν σκαφῶν· τούς τε κατὰ μῆνα τῆς σελήνης σχηματισμοὺς γίνεσθαι στρεφομένης ἐν αὐτῇ κατὰ μικρὸν τῆς σκάφης. ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα γίνεσθαι καὶ μῆνας καὶ ὥρας ἐτείους καὶ ἐνιαυτοὺς ὑετούς τε καὶ πνεύματα καὶ τὰ τούτοις
10. The flame of the sun is the brightest and the hottest; the other stars are further from the earth and for that reason give it less light and heat. The moon, which is nearer to the earth, traverses a region which is not pure. The sun, however, moves in a clear and untroubled region, and keeps a proportionate distance from us. That is why it gives us more heat and light. Eclipses of the sun and moon occur when the bowls are turned upwards; the monthly phases of the moon are due to the bowl turning round in its place little by little. Day and night, months, seasons and years, rains and winds and other similar phenomena are accounted for by the various exhalations.
11 ὅμοια κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους ἀναθυμιάσεις. τὴν μὲν γὰρ λαμπρὰν ἀναθυμίασιν φλογωθεῖσαν ἐν τῷ κύκλῳ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡμέραν ποιεῖν, τὴν δὲ ἐναντίαν ἐπικρατήσασαν νύκτα ἀποτελεῖν· καὶ ἐκ μὲν τοῦ λαμπροῦ τὸ θερμὸν αὐξόμενον θέρος ποιεῖν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ σκοτεινοῦ τὸ ὑγρὸν πλεονάζον χειμῶνα ἀπεργάζεσθαι. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων αἰτιολογεῖ. περὶ δὲ τῆς γῆς οὐδὲν ἀποφαίνεται ποία τίς ἐστιν, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν σκαφῶν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ δοκοῦντα.
Τὰ δὲ περὶ Σωκράτους καὶ ὅσα ἐντυχὼν τῷ συγγράμματι εἴποι, κομίσαντος Εὐριπίδου καθά φησιν Ἀρίστων,
11. Thus the bright exhalation, set aflame in the hollow orb of the sun, produces day, the opposite exhalation when it has got the mastery causes night; the increase of warmth due to the bright exhalation produces summer, whereas the preponderance of moisture due to the dark exhalation brings about winter. His explanations of other phenomena are in harmony with this. He gives no account of the nature of the earth, nor even of the bowls. These, then, were his opinions.
The story told by Ariston of Socrates, and his remarks when he came upon the book of Heraclitus, which Euripides brought him, I have mentioned in my Life of Socrates.
12 ἐν τῷ περὶ Σωκράτους εἰρήκαμεν. Σέλευκος μέντοι φησὶν ὁ γραμματικὸς Κρότωνά τινα ἱστορεῖν ἐν τῷ Κατακολυμβητῇ Κράτητά τινα πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κομίσαι τὸ βιβλίον· ὃν καὶ εἰπεῖν Δηλίου τινὸς δεῖσθαι κολυμβητοῦ, ὃς οὐκ ἀποπνιγήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ. ἐπιγράφουσι δ’ αὐτῷ οἱ μὲν Μούσας, οἱ δὲ Περὶ φύσεως, Διόδοτος δὲ
ἀκριβὲς οἰάκισμα πρὸς στάθμην βίου,
ἄλλοι Γνώμον’ ἠθῶν, τρόπου κόσμον ἕνα τῶν ξυμπάντων. φασὶ δ’ αὐτὸν ἐρωτηθέντα διὰ τί σιωπᾷ, φάναι “ἵν’ ὑμεῖς λαλῆτε.” ἐπόθησε δ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ Δαρεῖος μετασχεῖν καὶ ἔγραψεν ὧδε πρὸς αὐτόν·
12. However, Seleucus the grammarian says that a certain Croton relates in his book called The Diver that the said work of Heraclitus was first brought into Greece by one Crates, who further said it required a Delian diver not to be drowned in it. The title given to it by some is The Muses , by others Concerning Nature ; but Diodotus calls it
A helm unerring for the rule of life;
others “a guide of conduct, the keel of the whole world, for one and all alike.” We are told that, when asked why he kept silence, he replied, “Why, to let you chatter.” Darius, too, was eager to make his acquaintance, and wrote to him as follows:
13 “Βασιλεὺς Δαρεῖος πατρὸς Ὑστάσπεω Ἡράκλειτον Ἐφέσιον σοφὸν ἄνδρα προσαγορεύει χαίρειν.
“Καταβέβλησαι λόγον Περὶ φύσεως δυσνόητόν τε καὶ δυσεξήγητον. ἔν τισι μὲν οὖν ἑρμηνευόμενος κατὰ λέξιν σὴν δοκεῖ δύναμίν τινα περιέχειν θεωρίας κόσμου τε τοῦ σύμπαντος καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτῳ γινομένων, ἅπερ ἐστὶν ἐν θειοτάτῃ κείμενα κινήσει· τῶν δὲ πλείστων ἐποχὴν ἔχοντα, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον μετεσχηκότας συγγραμμάτων διαπορεῖσθαι τῆς ὀρθῆς δοκούσης γεγράφθαι παρὰ σοὶ ἐξηγήσεως. βασιλεὺς οὖν Δαρεῖος Ὑστάσπου βούλεται τῆς σῆς ἀκροάσεως μετασχεῖν καὶ παιδείας Ἑλληνικῆς.
13. “King Darius, son of Hystaspes, to Heraclitus the wise man of Ephesus, greeting.
“You are the author of a treatise On Nature is hard to understand and hard to interpret. In certain parts, if it be interpreted word for word, it seems to contain a power of speculation on the whole universe and all that goes on within it, which depends upon motion most divine; but for the most part judgement is suspended, so that even those who are the most conversant with literature are at a loss to know what is the right interpretation of your work. Accordingly King Darius, son of Hystaspes, wishes to enjoy your instruction and Greek culture. Come then with all speed to see me at my palace.
14 ἔρχου δὴ συντόμως πρὸς ἐμὴν ὄψιν καὶ βασίλειον οἶκον. Ἕλληνες γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀνεπισήμαντοι σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν ὄντες παρορῶσι τὰ καλῶς ὑπ’ αὐτῶν ἐνδεικνύμενα πρὸς σπουδαίαν ἀκοὴν καὶ μάθησιν. παρ’ ἐμοὶ δ’ ὑπάρχει σοι πᾶσα μὲν προεδρία, καθ’ ἡμέραν δὲ καλὴ καὶ σπουδαία προσαγόρευσις καὶ βίος εὐδόκιμος σαῖς παραινέσεσιν.”
“Ἡράκλειτος Ἐφέσιος βασιλέι Δαρείῳ πατρὸς Ὑστάσπεω χαίρειν.
“Ὁκόσοι τυγχάνουσιν ὄντες ἐπιχθόνιοι τῆς μὲν ἀληθηίης καὶ δικαιοπραγμοσύνης ἀπέχονται, ἀπληστίῃ δὲ καὶ δοξοκοπίῃ προσέχουσι κακῆς ἕνεκα ἀνοίης. ἐγὼ δ’ ἀμνηστίην ἔχων πάσης πονηρίης καὶ κόρον φεύγων παντὸς οἰκειούμενον φθόνῳ καὶ διὰ τὸ περιίστασθαι ὑπερηφανίην οὐκ ἂν ἀφικοίμην εἰς Περσῶν χώρην, ὀλίγοις ἀρκεόμενος κατ’ ἐμὴν γνώμην.”
Τοιοῦτος μὲν ἁνὴρ καὶ πρὸς βασιλέα.
14. For the Greeks as a rule are not prone to mark their wise men; nay, they neglect their excellent precepts which make for good hearing and learning. But at my court there is secured for you every privilege and daily conversation of a good and worthy kind, and a life in keeping with your counsels.”
“Heraclitus of Ephesus to King Darius, son of Hystaspes, greeting.
“All men upon earth hold aloof from truth and justice, while, by reason of wicked folly, they devote themselves to avarice and thirst for popularity. But I, being forgetful of all wickedness, shunning the general satiety which is closely joined with envy, and because I have a horror of splcndour, could not come to Persia, being content with little, when that little is to my mind.”
So independent was he even when dealing with a king.
15 Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις καὶ Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸν ὑπερφρονῆσαι, δόξαν ἔχοντα παμπλείστην, καταφρονούμενόν τε ὑπὸ τῶν Ἐφεσίων μᾶλλον τὰ οἰκεῖα. μέμνηται αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ Φαληρεὺς Δημήτριος ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ. πλεῖστοί τέ εἰσιν ὅσοι ἐξήγηνται αὐτοῦ τὸ σύγγραμμα· καὶ γὰρ Ἀντισθένης καὶ Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς Κλεάνθης τε [ὁ ποντικὸς] καὶ Σφαῖρος ὁ Στωικός, πρὸς δὲ Παυσανίας ὁ κληθεὶς Ἡρακλειτιστής, Νικομήδης τε καὶ Διονύσιος· τῶν δὲ γραμματικῶν Διόδοτος, ὃς οὔ φησι περὶ φύσεως εἶναι τὸ σύγγραμμα ἀλλὰ περὶ πολιτείας, τὰ δὲ περὶ φύσεως ἐν παραδείγματος εἴδει κεῖσθαι.
15. Demetrius, in his book on Men of the Same Name , says that he despised even the Athenians, although held by them in the highest estimation; and, notwithstanding that the Ephesians thought little of him, he preferred his own home the more. Demetrius of Phalerum, too, mentions him in his Defence of Socrates ; and the commentators on his work are very numerous, including as they do Antishenes and Heraclides of Pontus, Cleanthes and Sphaerus the Stoic, and again Pausanias who was called the imitator of Heraclitus, Nicomedes, Dionysius, and, among the grammarians, Diodotus. The latter affirms that it is not a treatise upon nature, but upon government, the physical part serving merely for illustration.
16 Ἱερώνυμος δέ φησι καὶ Σκυθῖνον τὸν τῶν ἰάμβων ποιητὴν ἐπιβαλέσθαι τὸν ἐκείνου λόγον διὰ μέτρου ἐκβάλλειν. πολλά τ’ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιγράμματα φέρεται, ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ τόδε·
Ἡράκλειτος ἐγώ· τί μ’ ἄνω κάτω ἕλκετ’ ἄμουσοι;
οὐχ ὑμῖν ἐπόνουν, τοῖς δ’ ἔμ’ ἐπισταμένοις.
εἷς ἐμοὶ ἄνθρωπος τρισμύριοι, οἱ δ’ ἀνάριθμοι
οὐδείς. ταῦτ’ αὐδῶ καὶ παρὰ Φερσεφόνῃ.
καὶ ἄλλο τοιόνδε·
μὴ ταχὺς Ἡρακλείτου ἐπ’ ὀμφαλὸν εἴλεε βίβλον
τοὐφεσίου· μάλα τοι δύσβατος ἀτραπιτός.
ὄρφνη καὶ σκότος ἐστὶν ἀλάμπετον· ἢν δέ σε μύστης
εἰσαγάγῃ, φανεροῦ λαμπρότερ’ ἠελίου.
16. Hieronymus tells us that Scythinus, the satirical poet, undertook to put the discourse of Heraclitus into verse. He is the subject of many epigrams, and amongst them of this one:
Heraclitus am I. Why do ye drag me up and down, ye illiterate? It was not for you I toiled, but for such as understand me. One man in my sight is a match for thirty thousand, but the countless hosts do not make a single one. This I proclaim, yea in the halls of Persephone.
Another runs as follows:
Do not be in too great a hurry to get to the end of Heraclitus the Ephesian’s book: the path is hard to travel. Gloom is there and darkness devoid of light. But if an initiate be your guide, the path shines brighter than sunlight.
17 Γεγόνασι δ’ Ἡράκλειτοι πέντε· πρῶτος αὐτὸς οὗτος· δεύτερος ποιητὴς λυρικός, οὗ ἐστι Τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν ἐγκώμιον· τρίτος ἐλεγείας ποιητὴς Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, εἰς ὃν Καλλίμαχος πεποίηκεν οὕτως·
εἶπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον, ἐς δέ με δάκρυ
ἤγαγεν, ἐμνήσθην δ’ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι
ἥλιον ἐν λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που,
ξεῖν’ Ἁλικαρνασσεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή,
αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων
ἁρπάκτης Ἀΐδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ.
τέταρτος Λέσβιος, ἱστορίαν γεγραφὼς Μακεδονικήν· πέμπτος σπουδογέλοιος, ἀπὸ κιθαρῳδίας μεταβεβηκὼς εἰς τὸ εἶδος.
Ξενοφάνης
17. Five men have borne the name of Heraclitus: (1) our philosopher; (2) a lyric poet, who wrote a hymn of praise to the twelve gods; (3) an elegiac poet of Halicarnassus, on whom Callimachus wrote the following epitaph:
They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.
And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take;
(4) a Lesbian who wrote a history of Macedonia; (5) a jester who adopted this profession after having been a musician.
18 Ξενοφάνης Δεξίου ἤ, ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρος, Ὀρθομένους Κολοφώνιος ἐπαινεῖται πρὸς τοῦ Τίμωνος· φησὶ γοῦν,
Ξεινοφάνη θ’ ὑπάτυφον, Ὁμηραπάτην ἐπικόπτην.
οὗτος ἐκπεσὼν τῆς πατρίδος ἐν Ζάγκλῃ τῆς Σικελίας διέτριβε δὲ καὶ ἐν Κατάνῃ. διήκουσε δὲ κατ’ ἐνίους μὲν οὐδενός, κατ’ ἐνίους δὲ Βότωνος Ἀθηναίου ἤ, ὥς τινες, Ἀρχελάου. καί, ὡς Σωτίων φησί, κατ’ Ἀναξίμανδρον ἦν. γέγραφε δὲ ἐν ἔπεσι καὶ ἐλεγείας καὶ ἰάμβους καθ’ Ἡσιόδου καὶ Ὁμήρου, ἐπικόπτων αὐτῶν τὰ περὶ θεῶν εἰρημένα. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρραψῴδει τὰ ἑαυτοῦ. ἀντιδοξάσαι τε λέγεται Θαλῇ καὶ Πυθαγόρᾳ, καθάψασθαι δὲ καὶ Ἐπιμενίδου. μακροβιώτατός τε γέγονεν, ὥς που καὶ αὐτός φησιν·
18. Xenophanes, a native of Colophon, the son of Dexius, or, according to Apollodorus, of Orthomenes, is praised by Timon, whose words at all events are:
Xenophanes, not over-proud, perverter of Homer, castigator.
He was banished from his native city and lived at Zancle in Sicily [and having joined the colony planted at Elea taught there]. He also lived in Catana. According to some he was no man’s pupil, according to others he was a pupil of Boton of Athens, or, as some say, of Archelaus. Sotion makes him a contemporary of Anaximander. His writings are in epic metre, as well as elegiacs and iambics attacking Hesiod and Homer and denouncing what they said about the gods. Furthermore he used to recite his own poems. It is stated that he opposed the views of Thales and Pythagoras, and attacked Epimenides also. He lived to a very great age, as his own words somewhere testify:
19 ἤδη δ’ ἑπτά τ’ ἔασι καὶ ἑξήκοντ’ ἐνιαυτοὶ
βληστρίζοντες ἐμὴν φροντίδ’ ἀν’ Ἑλλάδα γῆν·
ἐκ γενετῆς δὲ τότ’ ἦσαν ἐείκοσι πέντε τε πρὸς τοῖς,
εἴπερ ἐγὼ περὶ τῶνδ’ οἶδα λέγειν ἐτύμως.
Φησὶ δὲ τέτταρα εἶναι τῶν ὄντων στοιχεῖα, κόσμους δ’ ἀπείρους, οὐ παραλλακτοὺς δέ. τὰ νέφη συνίστασθαι τῆς ἀφ’ ἡλίου ἀτμίδος ἀναφερομένης καὶ αἰρούσης αὐτὰ εἰς τὸ περιέχον. οὐσίαν θεοῦ σφαιροειδῆ, μηδὲν ὅμοιον ἔχουσαν ἀνθρώπῳ· ὅλον δὲ ὁρᾶν καὶ ὅλον ἀκούειν, μὴ μέντοι ἀναπνεῖν· σύμπαντά τε εἶναι νοῦν καὶ φρόνησιν καὶ ἀΐδιον. πρῶτός τε ἀπεφήνατο ὅτι πᾶν τὸ γινόμενον φθαρτόν ἐστι καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πνεῦμα.
19. Seven and sixty are now the years that have been tossing my cares up and down the land of Greece; and there were then twenty and five years more from my birth up, if I know how to speak truly about these things.
He holds that there are four elements of existent things, and worlds unlimited in number but not overlapping [in time]. Clouds are formed when the vapour from the sun is carried upwards and lifts them into the surrounding air. The substance of God is spherical, in no way resembling man. He is all eye and all ear, but does not breathe; he is the totality of mind and thought, and is eternal. Xenophanes was the first to declare that everything which comes into being is doomed to perish, and that the soul is breath.
20 Ἔφη δὲ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἥσσω νοῦ εἶναι. καὶ τοῖς τυράννοις ἐντυγχάνειν ἢ ὡς ἥκιστα ἢ ὡς ἥδιστα. Ἐμπεδοκλέους δὲ εἰπόντος αὐτῷ ὅτι ἀνεύρετός ἐστιν ὁ σοφός, “εἰκότως,” ἔφη· “σοφὸν γὰρ εἶναι δεῖ τὸν ἐπιγνωσόμενον τὸν σοφόν.” φησὶ δὲ Σωτίων πρῶτον αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν ἀκατάληπτα εἶναι τὰ πάντα, πλανώμενος.
Ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ Κολοφῶνος κτίσιν καὶ τὸν εἰς Ἐλέαν τῆς Ἰταλίας ἀποικισμὸν ἔπη δισχίλια. καὶ ἤκμαζε κατὰ τὴν ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. φησὶ δὲ Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ γήρως καὶ Παναίτιος ὁ Στωικὸς ἐν τῷ Περὶ εὐθυμίας ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ θάψαι τοὺς υἱεῖς αὐτόν, καθάπερ καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν. δοκεῖ δὲ πεπρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ * * <καὶ λελύσθαι ὑπὸ> τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν Παρμενίσκου καὶ Ὀρεστάδου, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Ἀπομνημονευμάτων πρώτῳ. γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ξενοφάνης Λέσβιος ποιητὴς ἰάμβων.
Καὶ οὗτοι μὲν οἱ σποράδην.
Παρμενίδης
20. He also said that the mass of things falls short of thought; and again that our encounters with tyrants should be as few, or else as pleasant, as possible. When Empedocles remarked to him that it is impossible to find a wise man, “Naturally,” he replied, “for it takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.” Sotion says that he was the first to maintain that all things are incognizable, but Sotion is in error.
One of his poems is The Founding of Colophon , and another The Settlement of a Colony at Elea in Italy , making 2000 lines in all. He flourished about the 60th Olympiad. That he buried his sons with his own hands like Anaxagoras is stated by Demetrius of Phalerum in his work On Old Age and by Panaetius the Stoic in his book Of Cheerfulness . He is believed to have been sold into slavery by [... and to have been set free by] the Pythagoreans Parmeniscus and Orestades: so Favorinus in the first book of his Memorabilia . There was also another Xenophanes, of Lesbos, an iambic poet.
Such were the “sporadic” philosophers.
21 Ξενοφάνους δὲ διήκουσε Παρμενίδης Πύρητος Ἐλεάτης -τοῦτον Θεόφραστος ἐν τῇ Ἐπιτομῇ Ἀναξιμάνδρου φησὶν ἀκοῦσαι-. ὅμως δ’ οὖν ἀκούσας καὶ Ξενοφάνους οὐκ ἠκολούθησεν αὐτῷ. ἐκοινώνησε δὲ καὶ Ἀμεινίᾳ Διοχαίτα τῷ Πυθαγορικῷ, ὡς ἔφη Σωτίων, ἀνδρὶ πένητι μέν, καλῷ δὲ καὶ ἀγαθῷ. ᾧ καὶ μᾶλλον ἠκολούθησε καὶ ἀποθανόντος ἡρῷον ἱδρύσατο γένους τε ὑπάρχων λαμπροῦ καὶ πλούτου, καὶ ὑπ’ Ἀμεινίου ἀλλ’ οὐχ ὑπὸ Ξενοφάνους εἰς ἡσυχίαν προετράπη.
Πρῶτος δ’ οὗτος τὴν γῆν ἀπέφαινε σφαιροειδῆ καὶ ἐν μέσῳ κεῖσθαι. δύο τε εἶναι στοιχεῖα, πῦρ καὶ γῆν, καὶ τὸ μὲν δημιουρ-
21. Parmenides, a native of Elea, son of Pyres, was a pupil of Xenophanes (Theophrastus in his Epitome makes him a pupil of Anaximander). Parmenides, however, though he was instructed by Xenophanes, was no follower of his. According to Sotion he also associated with Ameinias the Pythagorean, who was the son of Diochaetas and a worthy gentleman though poor. This Ameinias he was more inclined to follow, and on his death he built a shrine to him, being himself of illustrious birth and possessed of great wealth; moreover it was Ameinias and not Xenophanes who led him to adopt the peaceful life of a student.
He was the first to declare that the earth is spherical and is situated in the centre of the universe. He held that there were two elements, fire and earth, and that the former discharged the function of a craftsman, the latter of his material.
22 γοῦ τάξιν ἔχειν, τὴν δ’ ὕλης. γένεσίν τ’ ἀνθρώπων ἐξ ἡλίου πρῶτον γενέσθαι· αὐτὸν δὲ ὑπάρχειν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν, ἐξ ὧν τὰ πάντα συνεστάναι. καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸν νοῦν ταὐτὸν εἶναι, καθὰ μέμνηται καὶ Θεόφραστος ἐν τοῖς Φυσικοῖς, πάντων σχεδὸν ἐκτιθέμενος τὰ δόγματα. δισσήν τε ἔφη τὴν φιλοσοφίαν, τὴν μὲν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, τὴν δὲ κατὰ δόξαν. διὸ καὶ φησί που·
χρεὼ δέ σε πάντα πυθέσθαι
ἠμὲν Ἀληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ,
ἠδὲ βροτῶν δόξας, ταῖς οὐκ ἔνι πίστις ἀληθής.
Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ ποιημάτων φιλοσοφεῖ, καθάπερ Ἡσίοδός τε καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. κριτήριον δὲ τὸν λόγον εἶπε· τάς τε αἰσθήσεις μὴ ἀκριβεῖς ὑπάρχειν. φησὶ γοῦν·
μηδέ σ’ ἔθος πολύπερον ὁδὸν κατὰ τήνδε βιάσθω
νωμᾶν ἄσκοπον ὄμμα καὶ ἠχήεσσαν ἀκουὴν
καὶ γλῶσσαν, κρῖναι δὲ λόγῳ πολύδηριν ἔλεγχον.
22. The generation of man proceeded from the sun as first cause; heat and cold, of which all things consist, surpass the sun itself. Again he held that soul and mind are one and the same, as Theophrastus mentions in his Physics , where he is setting forth the tenets of almost all the schools. He divided his philosophy into two parts dealing the one with truth, the other with opinion. Hence he somewhere says:
Thou must needs learn all things, as well the unshakeable heart of well-rounded truth as the opinions of mortals in which there is no sure trust.
Our philosopher too commits his doctrines to verse just as did Hesiod, Xenophanes and Empedocles. He made reason the standard and pronounced sensations to be inexact. At all events his words are:
And let not long-practised wont force thee to tread this path, to be governed by an aimless eye, an echoing ear and a tongue, but do thou with understanding bring the much-contested issue to decision.
23 διὸ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ φησιν ὁ Τίμων·
Παρμενίδου τε βίην μεγαλόφρονος οὐ πολύδοξον,
ὅς ῥ’ ἀπὸ φαντασίας ἀπάτης ἀνενείκατο νώσεις.
εἰς τοῦτον καὶ Πλάτων τὸν διάλογον γέγραφε, “Παρμενίδην” ἐπιγράψας “ἢ Περὶ ἰδεῶν.”
Ἤκμαζε δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην καὶ ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. καὶ δοκεῖ πρῶτος πεφωρακέναι τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι Ἕσπερον καὶ Φωσφόρον, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν πέμπτῳ Ἀπομνημονευμάτων· οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόραν· Καλλίμαχος δέ φησι μὴ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸ ποίημα. λέγεται δὲ καὶ νόμους θεῖναι τοῖς πολίταις, ὥς φησι Σπεύσιππος ἐν τῷ Περὶ φιλοσόφων. καὶ πρῶτος ἐρωτῆσαι τὸν Ἀχιλλέα λόγον, ὡς Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ.
Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος Παρμενίδης, ῥήτωρ τεχνογράφος.
Μέλισσος
23. Hence Timon says of him:
And the strength of high-souled Parmenides, of no diverse opinions, who introduced thought instead of imagination’s deceit.
It was about him that Plato wrote a dialogue with the title Parmenides or Concerning Ideas .
He flourished in the 69th Olympiad. He is believed to have been the first to detect the identity of Hesperus, the evening-star, and Phosphorus, the morning-star; so Favorinus in the fifth book of his Memorabilia ; but others attribute this to Pythagoras, whereas Callimachus holds that the poem in question was not the work of Pythagoras. Parmenides is said to have served his native city as a legislator: so we learn from Speusippus in his book On Philosophers . Also to have been the first to use the argument known as “Achilles [and the tortoise]”: so Favorinus tells us in his Miscellaneous History .
There was also another Parmenides, a rhetorician who wrote a treatise on his art.
24 Μέλισσος Ἰθαιγένους Σάμιος. οὗτος ἤκουσε Παρμενίδου· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς λόγους ἦλθεν Ἡρακλείτῳ· ὅτε καὶ συνέστησεν αὐτὸν τοῖς Ἐφεσίοις ἀγνοοῦσι, καθάπερ Ἱπποκράτης Δημόκριτον Ἀβδηρίταις. γέγονε δὲ καὶ πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀποδοχῆς παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις ἠξιωμένος· ὅθεν ναύαρχος αἱρεθεὶς ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον ἐθαυμάσθη διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρετήν.
Ἐδόκει δ’ αὐτῷ τὸ πᾶν ἄπειρον εἶναι καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ ἓν ὅμοιον ἑαυτῷ καὶ πλῆρες· κίνησίν τε μὴ εἶναι, δοκεῖν δ’ εἶναι. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ θεῶν ἔλεγε μὴ δεῖν ἀποφαίνεσθαι· μὴ γὰρ εἶναι γνῶσιν αὐτῶν.
Φησὶ δ’ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἠκμακέναι αὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν τετάρτην καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα.
Ζήνων Ἐλεάτης
24. Melissus, the son of Ithaegenes, was a native of Samos. He was a pupil of Parmenides. Moreover he came into relations with Heraclitus, on which occasion the latter was introduced by him to the Ephesians, who did not know him, as Democritus was to the citizens of Abdera by Hippocrates. He took part also in politics and won the approval of his countrymen, and for this reason he was elected admiral and won more admiration than ever through his own merit.
In his view the universe was unlimited, unchangeable and immovable, and was one, uniform and full of matter. There was no real, but only apparent, motion. Moreover he said that we ought not to make any statements about the gods, for it was impossible to have knowledge of them.
According to Apollodorus, he flourished in the 84th Olympiad.
25 Ζήνων Ἐλεάτης. τοῦτον Ἀπολλόδωρός φησιν εἶναι ἐν Χρονικοῖς [Πύρητος τὸν δὲ Παρμενίδην] φύσει μὲν Τελευταγόρου, θέσει δὲ Παρμενίδου <τὸν δὲ Παρμενίδην Πύρητος>. περὶ τούτου καὶ Μελίσσου Τίμων φησὶ ταῦτα·
ἀμφοτερογλώσσου τε μέγα σθένος οὐκ ἀλαπαδνὸν
Ζήνωνος πάντων ἐπιλήπτορος, ἠδὲ Μέλισσον,
πολλῶν φαντασμῶν ἐπάνω, παύρων γε μὲν ἥσσω.
Ὁ δὴ Ζήνων διακήκοε Παρμενίδου καὶ γέγονεν αὐτοῦ παιδικά. καὶ εὐμήκης ἦν, καθά φησι Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Παρμενίδῃ, ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Σοφιστῇ <καὶ ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ αὐτοῦ μέμνηται> καὶ Ἐλεατικὸν Παλαμήδην αὐτὸν καλεῖ. φησὶ δ’ Ἀριστοτέλης εὑρετὴν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι διαλεκτικῆς, ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλέα ῥητορικῆς.
25. Zeno was a citizen of Elea. Apollodorus in his Chronology says that he was the son of Teleutagoras by birth, but of Parmenides by adoption, while Parmenides was the son of Pyres. Of Zeno and Melissus, Timon speaks thus:
Great Zeno’s strength which, never known to fail,
On each side urged, on each side could prevail.
In marshalling arguments Melissus too,
More skilled than many a one, and matched by few.
Zeno, then, was all through a pupil of Parmenides and his bosom friend. He was tall in stature, as Plato says in his Parmenides . The same philosopher [mentions him] in his Sophist , and Phaedrus , and calls him the Eleatic Palamedes. Aristotle says that Zeno was the inventor of dialectic, as Empedocles was of rhetoric.
26 Γέγονε δὲ ἀνὴρ γενναιότατος καὶ ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ ἐν πολιτείᾳ· φέρεται γοῦν αὐτοῦ βιβλία πολλῆς συνέσεως γέμοντα. καθελεῖν δὲ θελήσας Νέαρχον τὸν τύραννον-οἱ δὲ Διομέδοντα-συνελήφθη, καθά φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ἐν τῇ Σατύρου ἐπιτομῇ. ὅτε καὶ ἐξεταζόμενος τοὺς συνειδότας καὶ περὶ τῶν ὅπλων ὧν ἦγεν εἰς Λιπάραν, πάντας ἐμήνυσεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς φίλους, βουλόμενος αὐτὸν ἔρημον καταστῆσαι· εἶτα περί τινων εἰπεῖν ἔχειν τινα <ἔφη> αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ οὖς καὶ δακὼν οὐκ ἀνῆκεν ἕως ἀπεκεντήθη, ταὐτὸν Ἀριστογείτονι τῷ τυραννοκτόνῳ παθών.
26. He was a truly noble character both as philosopher and as politician; at all events, his extant books are brimful of intellect. Again, he plotted to overthrow Nearchus the tyrant (or, according to others, Diomedon) but was arrested: so Heraclides in his epitome of Satyrus. On that occasion he was cross-examined as to his accomplices and about the arms which he was conveying to Lipara; he denounced all the tyrant’s own friends, wishing to make him destitute of supporters. Then, saying that he had something to tell him about certain people in his private ear, he laid hold of it with his teeth and did not let go until stabbed to death, meeting the same fate as Aristogiton the tyrannicide.
27 Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις τὸν μυκτῆρα αὐτὸν ἀποτραγεῖν. Ἀντισθένης δὲ ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς φησι μετὰ τὸ μηνῦσαι τοὺς φίλους ἐρωτηθῆναι πρὸς τοῦ τυράννου εἴ τις ἄλλος εἴη· τὸν δ’ εἰπεῖν, “σὺ ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἀλιτήριος.” πρός τε τοὺς παρεστῶτας φάναι· “θαυμάζω ὑμῶν τὴν δειλίαν, εἰ τούτων ἕνεκεν ὧν νῦν ἐγὼ ὑπομένω, δουλεύετε τῷ τυράννῳ·” καὶ τέλος ἀποτραγόντα τὴν γλῶτταν προσπτύσαι αὐτῷ· τοὺς δὲ πολίτας παρορμηθέντας αὐτίκα τὸν τύραννον καταλεῦσαι. ταὐτὰ δὲ σχεδὸν οἱ πλείους λαλοῦσιν. Ἕρμιππος δέ φησιν εἰς ὅλμον αὐτὸν βληθῆναι καὶ κατακοπῆναι.
27. Demetrius in his work on Men of the Same Name says that he bit off, not the ear, but the nose. According to Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers , after informing against the tyrant’s friends, he was asked by the tyrant whether there was anyone else in the plot; whereupon he replied, “Yes, you, the curse of the city!?; and to the bystanders he said, “I marvel at your cowardice, that, for fear of any of those things which I am now enduring, you should be the tyrant’s slaves.” And at last he bit off his tongue and spat it at him; and his fellow-citizens were so worked upon that they forthwith stoned the tyrant to death. In this version of the story most authors nearly agree, but Hermippus says he was cast into a mortar and beaten to death.
28 Καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς εἴπομεν οὕτως.
ἤθελες, ὦ Ζήνων, καλὸν ἤθελες ἄνδρα τύραννον
κτείνας ἐκλῦσαι δουλοσύνης Ἐλέαν.
ἀλλ’ ἐδάμης· δὴ γάρ σε λαβὼν ὁ τύραννος ἐν ὅλμῳ
κόψε. τί τοῦτο λέγω; σῶμα γάρ, οὐχὶ δὲ σέ.
Γέγονε δὲ τά τε ἄλλα ἀγαθὸς ὁ Ζήνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπεροπτικὸς τῶν μειζόνων κατ’ ἴσον Ἡρακλείτῳ· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος τὴν πρότερον μὲν Ὑέλην, ὕστερον δ’ Ἐλέαν, Φωκαέων οὖσαν ἀποικίαν, αὑτοῦ δὲ πατρίδα, πόλιν εὐτελῆ καὶ μόνον ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς τρέφειν ἐπισταμένην ἠγάπησε μᾶλλον τῆς Ἀθηναίων μεγαλαυχίας, οὐκ ἐπιδημήσας πώμαλα πρὸς αὐτούς, ἀλλ’ αὐτόθι καταβιούς.
28. Of him also I have written as follows:
You wished, Zeno, and noble was your wish, to slay the tyrant and set Elea free from bondage. But you were crushed; for, as all know, the tyrant caught you and beat you in a mortar. But what is this that I say? It was your body that he beat, and not you.
In all other respects Zeno was a gallant man; and in particular he despised the great no less than Heraclitus. For example, his native place, the Phocaean colony, once known as Hyele and afterwards as Elea, a city of moderate size, skilled in nothing but to rear brave men, he preferred before all the splendour of Athens, hardly paying the Athenians a visit, but living all his life at home.
29 Οὗτος καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα πρῶτος λόγον ἠρώτησε-Φαβωρῖνος δέ φησι Παρμενίδην-καὶ ἄλλους συχνούς. ἀρέσκει δ’ αὐτῷ τάδε· κόσμους εἶναι κενόν τε μὴ εἶναι· γεγενῆσθαι δὲ τὴν τῶν πάντων φύσιν ἐκ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ, λαμβανόντων αὐτῶν εἰς ἄλληλα τὴν μεταβολήν· γένεσίν τε ἀνθρώπων ἐκ γῆς εἶναι καὶ ψυχὴν κρᾶμα ὑπάρχειν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων κατὰ μηδενὸς τούτων ἐπικράτησιν.
Τοῦτόν φασι λοιδορούμενον ἀγανακτῆσαι· αἰτιασαμένου δέ τινος, φάναι· “ἐὰν μὴ λοιδορούμενος προσποιῶμαι, οὐδ’ ἐπαινούμενος αἰσθήσομαι.”
Ὅτι δὲ γεγόνασι Ζήνωνες ὀκτὼ ἐν τῷ Κιτιεῖ διειλέγμεθα. ἤκμαζε δ’ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην <καὶ ἑβδομηκοστὴν> Ὀλυμπιάδα.
Λεύκιππος
29. He was the first to propound the argument of the “Achilles,” which Favorinus attributes to Parmenides, and many other arguments. His views are as follows. There are worlds, but there is no empty space. The substance of all things came from hot and cold, and dry and moist, which change into one another. The generation of man proceeds from earth, and the soul is formed by a union of all the foregoing, so blended that no one element predominates.
We are told that once when he was reviled he lost his temper, and, in reply to some one who blamed him for this, he said, “If when I am abused I pretend that I am not, then neither shall I be aware of it if I am praised.”
The fact that there were eight men of the name of Zeno we have already mentioned under Zeno of Citium. Our philosopher flourished in the 79th Olympiad.
30 Λεύκιππος Ἐλεάτης, ὡς δέ τινες, Ἀβδηρίτης, κατ’ ἐνίους δὲ Μιλήσιος. οὗτος ἤκουσε Ζήνωνος. ἤρεσκε δ’ αὐτῷ ἄπειρα εἶναι τὰ πάντα καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλειν, τό τε πᾶν εἶναι κενὸν καὶ πλῆρες [σωμάτων]. τούς τε κόσμους γίνεσθαι σωμάτων εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐμπιπτόντων καὶ ἀλλήλοις περιπλεκομένων· ἔκ τε τῆς κινήσεως κατὰ τὴν αὔξησιν αὐτῶν γίνεσθαι τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων φύσιν. φέρεσθαι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἐν μείζονι κύκλῳ περὶ τὴν σελήνην· τὴν γῆν ὀχεῖσθαι περὶ τὸ μέσον δινουμένην· σχῆμά τ’ αὐτῆς τυμπανῶδες εἶναι. πρῶτός τ’ ἀτόμους ἀρχὰς ὑπεστήσατο. <καὶ> κεφαλαιωδῶς μὲν ταῦτα. ἐπὶ μέρους δ’ ὧδε ἔχει·
30. Leucippus was born at Elea, but some say at Abdera and others at Miletus. He was a pupil of Zeno. His views were these. The sum of things is unlimited, and they all change into one another. The All includes the empty as well as the full. The worlds are formed when atoms fall into the void and are entangled with one another; and from their motion as they increase in bulk arises the substance of the stars. The sun revolves in a larger circle round the moon. The earth rides steadily, being whirled about the centre; its shape is like that of a drum. Leucippus was the first to set up atoms as first principles. Such is a general summary of his views; on particular points they are as follows.
31 Τὸ μὲν πᾶν ἄπειρόν φησιν, ὡς προείρηται· τούτου δὲ τὸ μὲν πλῆρες εἶναι, τὸ δὲ κενόν, <ἃ> καὶ στοιχεῖά φησι. κόσμους τε ἐκ τούτων ἀπείρους εἶναι καὶ διαλύεσθαι εἰς ταῦτα. γίνεσθαι δὲ τοὺς κόσμους οὕτω· φέρεσθαι κατὰ ἀποτομὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀπείρου πολλὰ σώματα παντοῖα τοῖς σχήμασιν εἰς μέγα κενόν, ἅπερ ἀθροισθέντα δίνην ἀπεργάζεσθαι μίαν, καθ’ ἣν προσκρούοντα <ἀλλήλοις> καὶ παντοδαπῶς κυκλούμενα διακρίνεσθαι χωρὶς τὰ ὅμοια πρὸς τὰ ὅμοια. ἰσορρόπων δὲ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος μηκέτι δυναμένων περιφέρεσθαι, τὰ μὲν λεπτὰ χωρεῖν εἰς τὸ ἔξω κενόν, ὥσπερ διαττώμενα· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ συμμένειν καὶ περιπλεκόμενα συγκατατρέχειν ἀλλήλοις καὶ ποιεῖν πρῶτόν τι σύστημα σφαιροει-
31. He declares the All to be unlimited, as already stated; but of the All part is full and part empty, and these he calls elements. Out of them arise the worlds unlimited in number and into them they are dissolved. This is how the worlds are formed. In a given section many atoms of all manner of shapes are carried from the unlimited into the vast empty space. These collect together and form a single vortex, in which they jostle against each other and, circling round in every possible way, separate off, by like atoms joining like. And, the atoms being so numerous that they can no longer revolve in equilibrium, the light ones pass into the empty space outside, as if they were being winnowed; the remainder keep together and, becoming entangled, go on their circuit together, and form a primary spherical system.
32 δές. τοῦτο δ’ οἷον ὑμένα ἀφίστασθαι, περιέχοντ’ ἐν ἑαυτῷ παντοῖα σώματα· ὧν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μέσου ἀντέρεισιν περιδινουμένων λεπτὸν γενέσθαι τὸν πέριξ ὑμένα, συρρεόντων ἀεὶ τῶν συνεχῶν κατ’ ἐπίψαυσιν τῆς δίνης. καὶ οὕτω γενέσθαι τὴν γῆν, συμμενόντων τῶν ἐνεχθέντων ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον. αὐτόν τε πάλιν τὸν περιέχοντα οἷον ὑμένα αὔξεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἐπέκκρισιν τῶν ἔξωθεν σωμάτων· δίνῃ τε φερόμενον αὐτὸν ὧν ἂν ἐπιψαύσῃ, ταῦτα ἐπικτᾶσθαι. τούτων δέ τινα συμπλεκόμενα ποιεῖν σύστημα, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κάθυγρον καὶ πηλῶδες, ξηρανθέντα καὶ περιφερόμενα σὺν τῇ τοῦ ὅλου δίνῃ, εἶτ’ ἐκπυρωθέντα τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων ἀποτελέσαι φύσιν.
32. This parts off like a shell, enclosing within it atoms of all kinds; and, as these are whirled round by virtue of the resistance of the centre, the enclosing shell becomes thinner, the adjacent atoms continually combining when they touch the vortex. In this way the earth is formed by portions brought to the centre coalescing. And again, even the outer shell grows larger by the influx of atoms from outside, and, as it is carried round in the vortex, adds to itself whatever atoms it touches. And of these some portions are locked together and form a mass, at first damp and miry, but, when they have dried and revolve with the universal vortex, they afterwards take fire and form the substance of the stars.
33 Εἶναι δὲ τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου κύκλον ἐξώτατον, τὸν δὲ τῆς σελήνης προσγειότατον, τῶν ἄλλων μεταξὺ τούτων ὄντων. καὶ πάντα μὲν τὰ ἄστρα πυροῦσθαι διὰ τὸ τάχος τῆς φορᾶς, τὸν δ’ ἥλιον καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων ἐκπυροῦσθαι· τὴν δὲ σελήνην τοῦ πυρὸς ὀλίγον μεταλαμβάνειν. ἐκλείπειν δ’ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην <* * τὴν δὲ λόξωσιν τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ γενέσθαι> τῷ κεκλίσθαι τὴν γῆν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν· τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἄρκτῳ ἀεί τε νίφεσθαι καὶ κατάψυχρα εἶναι καὶ πήγνυσθαι. καὶ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἐκλείπειν σπανίως, τὴν δὲ σελήνην συνεχῶς, διὰ τὸ ἀνίσους εἶναι τοὺς κύκλους αὐτῶν. εἶναί τε ὥσπερ γενέσεις κόσμου, οὕτω καὶ αὐξήσεις καὶ φθίσεις καὶ φθοράς, κατά τινα ἀνάγκην, ἣν ὁποία ἐστὶν <οὐ> διασαφεῖ.
Δημόκριτος
33. The orbit of the sun is the outermost, that of the moon nearest to the earth; the orbits of the other heavenly bodies lie between these two. All the stars are set on fire by the speed of their motion; the burning of the sun is also helped by the stars; the moon is only slightly kindled. The sun and the moon are eclipsed when ..., but the obliquity of the zodiacal circle is due to the inclination of the earth to the south; the regions of the north are always shrouded in mist, and are extremely cold and frozen. Eclipses of the sun are rare; eclipses of the moon constantly occur, and this because their orbits are unequal. As the world is born, so, too, it grows, decays and perishes, in virtue of some necessity, the nature of which he does specify.
34 Δημόκριτος Ἡγησιστράτου, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηνοκρίτου, τινὲς Δαμασίππου Ἀβδηρίτης ἤ, ὡς ἔνιοι, Μιλήσιος. οὗτος μάγων τινῶν διήκουσε καὶ Χαλδαίων, Ξέρξου τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιστάτας καταλιπόντος, ἡνίκα ἐξενίσθη παρ’ αὐτῷ, καθά φησι καὶ Ἡρόδοτος· παρ’ ὧν τά τε περὶ θεολογίας καὶ ἀστρολογίας ἔμαθεν ἔτι παῖς ὤν. ὕστερον δὲ Λευκίππῳ παρέβαλε καὶ Ἀναξαγόρᾳ κατά τινας, ἔτεσιν ὢν αὐτοῦ νεώτερος τετταράκοντα. Φαβωρῖνος δέ φησιν ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ λέγειν Δημόκριτον περὶ Ἀναξαγόρου ὡς οὐκ εἴησαν αὐτοῦ αἱ δόξαι αἵ τε περὶ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, ἀλλὰ ἀρχαῖαι, τὸν δ’
34. Democritus was the son of Hegesistratus, though some say of Athenocritus, and others again of Damasippus. He was a native of Abdera or, according to some, of Miletus. He was a pupil of certain Magians and Chaldaeans. For when King Xerxes was entertained by the father of Democritus he left men in charge, as, in fact, is stated by Herodotus; and from these men, while still a boy, he learned theology and astronomy. Afterwards he met Leucippus and, according to some, Anaxagoras, being forty years younger than the latter. But Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History tells us that Democritus, speaking of Anaxagoras, declared that his views on the sun and the moon were not original but of great antiquity, and that he had simply stolen them.
35 ὑφῃρῆσθαι. διασύρειν τε αὐτοῦ τὰ περὶ τῆς διακοσμήσεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦ, ἐχθρῶς ἔχοντα πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι δὴ μὴ προσήκατο αὐτόν. πῶς οὖν κατά τινας ἀκήκοεν αὐτοῦ;
Φησὶ δὲ Δημήτριος ἐν Ὁμωνύμοις καὶ Ἀντισθένης ἐν Διαδοχαῖς ἀποδημῆσαι αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς Αἴγυπτον πρὸς τοὺς ἱερέας γεωμετρίαν μαθησόμενον καὶ πρὸς Χαλδαίους εἰς τὴν Περσίδα καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν γενέσθαι. τοῖς τε γυμνοσοφισταῖς φασί τινες συμμῖξαι αὐτὸν ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ καὶ εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν ἐλθεῖν. τρίτον τε ὄντα ἀδελφὸν νείμασθαι τὴν οὐσίαν· καὶ οἱ μὲν πλείους φασὶ τὴν ἐλάττω μοῖραν ἑλέσθαι τὴν ἐν ἀργυρίῳ, χρείαν ἔχοντα ἀποδημῆσαι τοῦτο κἀκείνων δολίως
35. Democritus also pulled to pieces the views of Anaxagoras on cosmogony and on mind, having a spite against him, because Anaxagoras did not take to him. If this be so, how could he have been his pupil, as some suggest?
According to Demetrius in his book on Men of the Same Name and Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers , he travelled into Egypt to learn geometry from the priests, and he also went into Persia to visit the Chaldaeans as well as to the Red Sea. Some say that he associated with the Gymnosophists in India and went to Aethiopia. Also that, being the third son, he divided the family property. Most authorities will have it that he chose the smaller portion, which was in money, because he had need of this to pay the cost of travel; besides, his brothers were crafty enough to foresee that this would be his choice.
36 ὑποπτευσάντων. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ὑπὲρ ἑκατὸν τάλαντά φησιν εἶναι αὐτῷ τὸ μέρος, ἃ πάντα καταναλῶσαι. λέγει δ’ ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἦν φιλόπονος ὥστε τοῦ περικήπου δωμάτιόν τι ἀποτεμόμενος κατάκλειστος ἦν· καί ποτε τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸς θυσίαν βοῦν ἀγαγόντος καὶ αὐτόθι προσδήσαντος, ἱκανὸν χρόνον μὴ γνῶναι, ἕως αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνος διαναστήσας προφάσει τῆς θυσίας καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν βοῦν διηγήσατο. “δοκεῖ δέ,” φησί, “καὶ Ἀθήναζε ἐλθεῖν καὶ μὴ σπουδάσαι γνωσθῆναι, δόξης καταφρονῶν. καὶ εἰδέναι μὲν Σωκράτη, ἀγνοεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ· ‘ἦλθον γάρ,’ φησίν, ‘εἰς Ἀθήνας καὶ οὔτις με ἔγνωκεν.’”
36. Demetrius estimates his share at over 100 talents, the whole of which he spent. His industry, says the same author, was so great that he cut off a little room in the garden round the house and shut himself up there. One day his father brought an ox to sacrifice and tied it there, and he was not aware of it for a considerable time, until his father roused him to attend the sacrifice and told him about the ox. Demetrius goes on: “It would seem that he also went to Athens and was not anxious to be recognized, because he despised fame, and that while he knew of Socrates, he was not known to Socrates, his words being, ‘I came to Athens and no one knew me.’”
37 “Εἴπερ οἱ Ἀντερασταὶ Πλάτωνός εἰσι,” φησὶ Θράσυλλος, “οὗτος ἂν εἴη ὁ παραγενόμενος ἀνώνυμος, τῶν περὶ Οἰνοπίδην καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν ἕτερος, ἐν τῇ πρὸς Σωκράτην ὁμιλίᾳ διαλεγόμενος περὶ φιλοσοφίας, ᾧ, φησίν, ὡς πεντάθλῳ ἔοικεν ὁ φιλόσοφος. καὶ ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ πένταθλος· τὰ γὰρ φυσικὰ καὶ τὰ ἠθικὰ <ἤσκητο>, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μαθηματικὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐγκυκλίους λόγους καὶ περὶ τεχνῶν πᾶσαν εἶχεν ἐμπειρίαν.” τούτου ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ “λόγος ἔργου σκιή.” Δημήτριος δὲ ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ μηδὲ ἐλθεῖν φησιν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἀθήνας. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ μεῖζον, εἴγε τοσαύτης πόλεως ὑπερεφρόνησεν, οὐκ ἐκ τόπου δόξαν λαβεῖν βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τόπῳ δόξαν περιθεῖναι προελόμενος.
37. “If the Rivals be the work of Plato,” says Thrasylus, “Democritus will be the unnamed character, different from Oenopides and Anaxagoras, who makes his appearance when conversation is going on with Socrates about philosophy, and to whom Socrates says that the philosopher is like the all-round athlete. And truly Democritus was versed in every department of philosophy, for he had trained himself both in physics and in ethics, nay more, in mathematics and the routine subjects of education, and he was quite an expert in the arts.” From him we have the saying, “Speech is the shadow of action.” Demetrius of Phalerum in his Defence of Socrates affirms that he did not even visit Athens. This is to make the larger claim, namely, that he thought that great city beneath his notice, because he did not care to win fame from a place, but preferred himself to make a place famous.
38 Δῆλον δὲ κἀκ τῶν συγγραμμάτων οἷος ἦν. “δοκεῖ δέ,” φησὶν ὁ Θράσυλλος, “ζηλωτὴς γεγονέναι τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ Πυθαγόρου μέμνηται, θαυμάζων αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ὁμωνύμῳ συγγράμματι. πάντα δὲ δοκεῖν παρὰ τούτου λαβεῖν καὶ αὐτοῦ δ’ ἂν ἀκηκοέναι εἰ μὴ τὰ τῶν χρόνων ἐμάχετο.” πάντως μέντοι τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν τινος ἀκοῦσαί φησιν αὐτὸν Γλαῦκος ὁ Ῥηγῖνος, κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους αὐτῷ γεγονώς. φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Κυζικηνὸς Φιλολάῳ αὐτὸν συγγεγονέναι.
Ἤσκει δέ, φησὶν ὁ Ἀντισθένης, καὶ ποικίλως δοκιμάζειν τὰς φαντασίας, ἐρημάζων ἐνίοτε καὶ τοῖς τάφοις
38. His character can also be seen from his writings. “He would seem,” says Thrasylus, “to have been an admirer of the Pythagoreans. Moreover, he mentions Pythagoras himself, praising him in a work of his own entitled Pythagoras . He seems to have taken all his ideas from him and, if chronology did not stand in the way, he might have been thought his pupil.” Glaucus of Rhegium certainly says that he was taught by one of the Pythagoreans, and Glaucus was his contemporary. Apollodorus of Cyzicus, again, will have it that he lived with Philolaus.
He would train himself, says Antisthenes, by a variety of means to test his sense-impressions by going at times into solitude and frequenting tombs.
39 ἐνδιατρίβων. ἐλθόντα δή φησιν αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀποδημίας ταπεινότατα διάγειν, ἅτε πᾶσαν τὴν οὐσίαν καταναλωκότα· τρέφεσθαί τε διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν ἀπὸ τἀδελφοῦ Δαμάσου. ὡς δὲ προειπών τινα τῶν μελλόντων εὐδοκίμησε, λοιπὸν ἐνθέου δόξης παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις ἠξιώθη. νόμου δ’ ὄντος τὸν ἀναλώσαντα τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν μὴ ἀξιοῦσθαι ταφῆς ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, φησὶν ὁ Ἀντισθένης συνέντα, μὴ ὑπεύθυνος γενηθείη πρός τινων φθονούντων καὶ συκοφαντούντων, ἀναγνῶναι αὐτοῖς τὸν Μέγαν διάκοσμον, ὃς ἁπάντων αὐτοῦ τῶν συγγραμμάτων προέχει· καὶ πεντακοσίοις ταλάντοις τιμηθῆναι· μὴ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ χαλκαῖς εἰκόσι· καὶ τελευτήσαντα αὐτὸν δημοσίᾳ ταφῆναι, βιώσαντα ὑπὲρ
39. The same authority states that, when he returned from his travels, he was reduced to a humble mode of life because he had exhausted his means; and, because of his poverty, he was supported by his brother Damasus. But his reputation rose owing to his having foretold certain future events; and after that the public deemed him worthy of the honour paid to a god. There was a law, says Antisthenes, that no one who had squandered his patrimony should be buried in his native city. Democritus, understanding this, and fearing lest he should be at the mercy of any envious or unscrupulous prosecutors, read aloud to the people his treatise, the Great Diacosmos , the best of all his works; and then he was rewarded with 500 talents; and, more than that, with bronze statues as well; and when he died, he received a public funeral after a lifetime of more than a century.
40 τὰ ἑκατὸν ἔτη. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος τοὺς συγγενέας αὐτοῦ φησιν ἀναγνῶναι τὸν Μέγαν διάκοσμον, ὃν μόνον ἑκατὸν ταλάντων τιμηθῆναι. ταὐτὰ δὲ καὶ Ἱππόβοτός φησιν.
Ἀριστόξενος δ’ ἐν τοῖς Ἱστορικοῖς ὑπομνήμασί φησι Πλάτωνα θελῆσαι συμφλέξαι τὰ Δημοκρίτου συγγράμματα, ὁπόσα ἐδυνήθη συναγαγεῖν, Ἀμύκλαν δὲ καὶ Κλεινίαν τοὺς Πυθαγορικοὺς κωλῦσαι αὐτόν, ὡς οὐδὲν ὄφελος· παρὰ πολλοῖς γὰρ εἶναι ἤδη τὰ βιβλία. καὶ δῆλον δέ· πάντων γὰρ σχεδὸν τῶν ἀρχαίων μεμνημένος ὁ Πλάτων οὐδαμοῦ Δημοκρίτου διαμνημονεύει, ἀλλ’ οὐδ’ ἔνθ’ <ἂν> ἀντειπεῖν τι αὐτῷ δέοι, δηλον<ότι> εἰδὼς ὡς πρὸς τὸν ἄριστον αὐτῷ τῶν φιλοσόφων <ὁ ἀγὼν> ἔσοιτο· ὅν γε καὶ Τίμων τοῦτον ἐπαινέσας τὸν τρόπον ἔχει·
οἷον Δημόκριτόν τε περίφρονα, ποιμένα μύθων,
ἀμφίνοον λεσχῆνα μετὰ πρώτοισιν ἀνέγνων.
40. Demetrius, however, says that it was not Democritus himself but his relatives who read the Great Diacosmos , and that the sum awarded was 100 talents only; with this account Hippobotus agrees.
Aristoxenus in his Historical Notes affirms that Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he could collect, but that Amyclas and Clinias the Pythagoreans prevented him, saying that there was no advantage in doing so, for already the books were widely circulated. And there is clear evidence for this in the fact that Plato, who mentions almost all the early philosophers, never once alludes to Democritus, not even where it would be necessary to controvert him, obviously because he knew that he would have to match himself against the prince of philosophers, for whom, to be sure, Timon has this meed of praise:
Such is the wise Democritus, the guardian of discourse, keen-witted disputant, among the best I ever read.
41 Γέγονε δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ἐν τῷ Μικρῷ διακόσμῳ, νέος κατὰ πρεσβύτην Ἀναξαγόραν, ἔτεσιν αὐτοῦ νεώτερος τετταράκοντα. συντετάχθαι δέ φησι τὸν Μικρὸν διάκοσμον ἔτεσιν ὕστερον τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως τριάκοντα καὶ ἑπτακοσίοις. γεγόνοι δ’ ἄν, ὡς μὲν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν Χρονικοῖς, κατὰ τὴν ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα· ὡς δὲ Θράσυλλος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ Τὰ πρὸ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τῶν Δημοκρίτου βιβλίων, κατὰ τὸ τρίτον ἔτος τῆς ἑβδόμης καὶ ἑβδομηκοστῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἐνιαυτῷ, φησί, πρεσβύτερος ὢν Σωκράτους. εἴη ἂν οὖν κατ’ Ἀρχέλαον τὸν Ἀναξαγόρου μαθητὴν καὶ τοὺς περὶ Οἰνοπίδην· καὶ γὰρ τούτου μέμνηται.
41. As regards chronology, he was, as he says himself in the Lesser Diacosmos , a young man when Anaxagoras was old, being forty years his junior. He says that the Lesser Diacosmos was compiled 730 years after the capture of Troy. According to Apollodorus in his Chronology he would thus have been born in the 80th Olympiad, but according to Thrasylus in his pamphlet entitled Prolegomena to the Reading of the works of Democritus , in the third year of the 77th Olympiad, which makes him, adds Thrasylus, one year older than Socrates. He would then be a contemporary of Archelaus, the pupil of Anaxagoras, and of the school of Oenopides; indeed he mentions Oenopides.
42 μέμνηται δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς δόξης τῶν περὶ Παρμενίδην καὶ Ζήνωνα, ὡς κατ’ αὐτὸν μάλιστα διαβεβοημένων, καὶ Πρωταγόρου τοῦ Ἀβδηρίτου, ὃς ὁμολογεῖται κατὰ Σωκράτην γεγονέναι.
Φησὶ δ’ Ἀθηνόδωρος ἐν ὀγδόῃ Περιπάτων, ἐλθόντος Ἱπποκράτους πρὸς αὐτόν, κελεῦσαι κομισθῆναι γάλα· καὶ θεασάμενον τὸ γάλα εἰπεῖν εἶναι αἰγὸς πρωτοτόκου καὶ μελαίνης· ὅθεν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν αὐτοῦ θαυμάσαι τὸν Ἱπποκράτην. ἀλλὰ καὶ κόρης ἀκολουθούσης τῷ Ἱπποκράτει, τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀσπάσασθαι οὕτω “χαῖρε κόρη,” τῇ δ’ ἐχομένῃ “χαῖρε γύναι”· καὶ ἦν ἡ κόρη τῆς νυκτὸς διεφθαρμένη.
42. Again, he alludes to the doctrine of the One held by Parmenides and Zeno, they being evidently the persons most talked about in his day; he also mentions Protagoras of Abdera, who, it is admitted, was a contemporary of Socrates.
Athenodorus in the eighth book of his Walks relates that, when Hippocrates came to see him, he ordered milk to be brought, and, having inspected it, pronounced it to be the milk of a black she-goat which had produced her first kid; which made Hippocrates marvel at the accuracy of his observation. Moreover, Hippocrates being accompanied by a maidservant, on the first day Democritus greeted her with “Good morning, maiden,” but the next day with “Good morning, woman,” As a matter of fact the girl had been seduced in the night.
43 Τελευτῆσαι δὲ τὸν Δημόκριτόν φησιν Ἕρμιππος τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. ἤδη ὑπέργηρων ὄντα πρὸς τῷ καταστρέφειν εἶναι. τὴν οὖν ἀδελφὴν λυπεῖσθαι ὅτι ἐν τῇ τῶν θεσμοφόρων ἑορτῇ μέλλοι τεθνήξεσθαι καὶ τῇ θεῷ τὸ καθῆκον αὐτὴ οὐ ποιήσειν· τὸν δὲ θαρρεῖν εἰπεῖν καὶ κελεῦσαι αὑτῷ προσφέρειν ἄρτους θερμοὺς ὁσημέραι. τούτους δὲ ταῖς ῥισὶ προσφέρων διεκράτησεν αὑτὸν τὴν ἑορτήν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρῆλθον αἱ ἡμέραι, τρεῖς δὴ ἦσαν, ἀλυπότατα τὸν βίον προήκατο, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἵππαρχος, ἐννέα πρὸς τοῖς ἑκατὸν ἔτη βιούς.
Ἡμεῖς τ’ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Παμμέτρῳ τοῦτον ἐποιήσαμεν τὸν τρόπον·
καὶ τίς ἔφυ σοφὸς ὧδε, τίς ἔργον ἔρεξε τοσοῦτον
ὅσσον ὁ παντοδαὴς ἤνυσε Δημόκριτος;
ὃς θάνατον παρεόντα τρί’ ἤματα δώμασιν ἔσχεν
καὶ θερμοῖς ἄρτων ἄσθμασιν ἐξένισεν.
τοιοῦτος μὲν ὁ βίος τἀνδρός.
43. Of the death of Democritus the account given by Hermippus is as follows. When he was now very old and near his end, his sister was vexed that he seemed likely to die during the festival of Thesmophoria and she would be prevented from paying the fitting worship to the goddess. He bade her be of good cheer and ordered hot loaves to be brought to him every day. By applying these to his nostrils he contrived to outlive the festival; and as soon as the three festival days were passed he let his life go from him without pain, having then, according to Hipparchus, attained his one hundred and ninth year.
In my Pammetros I have a piece on him as follows:
Pray who was so wise, who wrought so vast a work as the omniscient Democritus achieved? When Death was near, for three days he kept him in his house and regaled him with the steam of hot loaves.
Such was the life of our philosopher.
44 Δοκεῖ δ’ αὐτῷ τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι [δοξάζεσθαι]· ἀπείρους τε εἶναι κόσμους καὶ γενητοὺς καὶ φθαρτούς. μηδέν τε ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεσθαι μηδὲ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν φθείρεσθαι. καὶ τὰς ἀτόμους δὲ ἀπείρους εἶναι κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ πλῆθος, φέρεσθαι δ’ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ δινουμένας. καὶ οὕτω πάντα τὰ συγκρίματα γεννᾶν, πῦρ, ὕδωρ, ἀέρα, γῆν· εἶναι γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα ἐξ ἀτόμων τινῶν συστήματα· ἅπερ εἶναι ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀναλλοίωτα διὰ τὴν στερρότητα. τόν τε ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην ἐκ τοιούτων λείων καὶ περιφερῶν ὄγκων συγκεκρίσθαι, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁμοίως· ἣν καὶ νοῦν ταὐτὸν εἶναι. ὁρᾶν δ’ ἡμᾶς κατ’ εἰδώλων ἐμπτώσεις.
44. His opinions are these. The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist. The worlds are unlimited; they come into being and perish. Nothing can come into being from that which is not nor pass away into that which is not. Further, the atoms are unlimited in size and number, and they are borne along in the whole universe in a vortex, and therby generate all composite things – fire, water, air, earth; for even these are conglomerations of given atoms. And it is because of their solidity that these atoms are impassive and unalterable. The sun and the moon have been composed of such smooth and spherical masses [i.e. atoms], and so also the soul, which is identical with reason. We see by virtue of the impact of images upon our eyes.
45 Πάντα τε κατ’ ἀνάγκην γίνεσθαι, τῆς δίνης αἰτίας οὔσης τῆς γενέσεως πάντων, ἣν ἀνάγκην λέγει. τέλος δ’ εἶναι τὴν εὐθυμίαν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν οὖσαν τῇ ἡδονῇ, ὡς ἔνιοι παρακούσαντες ἐξεδέξαντο, ἀλλὰ καθ’ ἣν γαληνῶς καὶ εὐσταθῶς ἡ ψυχὴ διάγει, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ταραττομένη φόβου ἢ δεισιδαιμονίας ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς πάθους. καλεῖ δ’ αὐτὴν καὶ εὐεστὼ καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις ὀνόμασι. ποιότητας δὲ νόμῳ εἶναι· φύσει δ’ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν αὐτῷ ἐδόκει.
Τὰ δὲ βιβλία αὐτοῦ καὶ Θράσυλλος ἀναγέγραφε κατὰ τάξιν οὕτως ὡσπερεὶ καὶ τὰ Πλάτωνος κατὰ τετραλογίαν.
45. All things happen by virtue of necessity, the vortex being the cause of the creation of all things, and this he calls necessity. The end of action is tranquillity, which is not identical with pleasure, as some by a false interpretation have understood, but a state in which the soul continues calm and strong, undisturbed by any fear or superstition or any other emotion. This he calls well-being and many other names. The qualities of things exist merely by convention; in nature there is nothing but atoms and void space. These, then, are his opinions.
Of his works Thrasylus has made an ordered catalogue, arranging them in fours, as he also arranged Plato’s works.
46 Ἔστι δὲ ἠθικὰ μὲν τάδε·
Πυθαγόρης,
Περὶ τῆς τοῦ σοφοῦ διαθέσεως,
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου,
Τριτογένεια (τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὅτι τρία γίνεται ἐξ αὐτῆς, ἃ πάντα ἀνθρώπινα συνέχει),
Περὶ ἀνδραγαθίας ἢ περὶ ἀρετῆς,
Ἀμαλθείης κέρας,
Περὶ εὐθυμίης,
Ὑπομνημάτων ἠθικῶν· ἡ γὰρ Εὐεστὼ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ἠθικά.
Φυσικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Μέγας διάκοσμος (ὃν οἱ περὶ Θεόφραστον Λευκίππου φασὶν εἶναι),
Μικρὸς διάκοσμος,
Κοσμογραφίη,
Περὶ τῶν πλανήτων,
Περὶ φύσεως πρῶτον,
Περὶ ἀνθρώπου φύσιος (ἢ Περὶ σαρκός), δεύτερον,
Περὶ νοῦ,
Περὶ αἰσθησίων (ταῦτά τινες ὅμου γράφοντες Περὶ ψυχῆς ἐπιγράφουσι),
Περὶ χυμῶν,
Περὶ χροῶν,
46. The ethical works are the following:
I. Pythagoras.
Of the Disposition of the Wise Man.
Of those in Hades.
Tritogeneia (so called because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her).
II. Of Manly Excellence, or Of Virtue.
Amalthea’s Horn (the Horn of Plenty).
Of Tranquillity.
Ethical Commentaries: the work on Wellbeing is not to be found.
So much for the ethical works.
The physical works are these:
III. The Great Diacosmos (which the school of Theophrastus attribute to Leucippus).
The Lesser Diacosmos.
Description of the World.
On the Planets.
IV. Of Nature, one book.
Of the Nature of Man, or Of Flesh, a second book on Nature.
Of Reason.
Of the Senses (some editors combine these two under the title Of the Soul).
V. Of Flavours.
Of Colours.
47 Περὶ τῶν διαφερόντων ῥυσμῶν,
Περὶ ἀμειψιρυσμιῶν,
Κρατυντήρια (ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐπικριτικὰ τῶν προειρημένων),
Περὶ εἰδώλων ἢ περὶ προνοίας,
Περὶ λογικῶν κανὼν αʹ βʹ γʹ,
Ἀπορημάτων. ταῦτα καὶ περὶ φύσεως.
Τὰ δὲ ἀσύντακτά ἐστι τάδε·
Αἰτίαι οὐράνιαι,
Αἰτίαι ἀέριοι,
Αἰτίαι ἐπίπεδοι,
Αἰτίαι περὶ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν ἐν πυρί,
Αἰτίαι περὶ φωνῶν,
Αἰτίαι περὶ σπερμάτων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ καρπῶν,
Αἰτίαι περὶ ζῴων αʹ βʹ γʹ,
Αἰτίαι σύμμικτοι,
Περὶ τῆς λίθου. ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἀσύντακτα.
Μαθηματικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Περὶ διαφορῆς † γνώμης † ἢ Περὶ ψαύσιος κύκλου καὶ σφαίρης,
Περὶ γεωμετρίης,
Γεωμετρικῶν,
Ἀριθμοί,
Περὶ ἀλόγων γραμμῶν καὶ ναστῶν αʹ βʹ,
Ἐκπετάσματα,
47. Of the Different Shapes (of Atoms).
Of Changes of Shape.
VI. Confirmations (summaries of the aforesaid works).
On Images, or On Foreknowledge of the Future.
On Logic, or Criterion of Thought, three books.
Problems.
So much for the physical works.
The following fall under no head:
Causes of Celestial Phenomena.
Causes of Phenomena in the Air.
Causes on the Earth’s Surface.
Causes concerned with Fire and Things in Fire.
Causes concerned with Sounds.
Causes concerned with Seeds, Plants and Fruits.
Causes concerned with Animals, three books.
Miscellaneous Causes.
Concerning the Magnet.
These works have not been arranged.
The mathematical works are these:
VII. On a Difference in an Angle, or On Contact with the Circle or the Sphere.
On Geometry.
Geometrica.
Numbers.
VIII. On Irrational Lines and Solids, two books.
Extensions (Projections).
48 Μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς ἢ Ἀστρονομίη, παράπηγμα,
Ἅμιλλα κλεψύδρας <καὶ οὐρανοῦ>,
Οὐρανογραφίη,
Γεωγραφίη,
Πολογραφίη,
Ἀκτινογραφίη. τοσαῦτα καὶ τὰ μαθηματικά.
Μουσικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Περὶ ῥυθμῶν καὶ ἁρμονίης,
Περὶ ποιήσιος,
Περὶ καλλοσύνης ἐπέων,
Περὶ εὐφώνων καὶ δυσφώνων γραμμάτων,
Περὶ Ὁμήρου ἢ ὀρθοεπείης καὶ γλωσσέων,
Περὶ ἀοιδῆς,
Περὶ ῥημάτων,
Ὀνομαστικῶν. τοσαῦτα καὶ τὰ μουσικά.
Τεχνικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Πρόγνωσις,
Περὶ διαίτης ἢ διαιτητικόν,
[Ἢ] Ἰητρικὴ γνώμη,
Αἰτίαι περὶ ἀκαιριῶν καὶ ἐπικαιριῶν,
Περὶ γεωργίης ἢ Γεωμετρικόν,
Περὶ ζωγραφίης,
Τακτικὸν καὶ
Ὁπλομαχικόν. τοσαῦτα καὶ τάδε.
48. The Great Year, or Astronomy, Calendar.
Contention of the Water-clock [and the Heaven].
IX. Description of the Heaven.
Geography.
Description of the Pole.
Description of Rays of Light.
These are the mathematical works.
The literary and musical works are these:
X. On Rhythms and Harmony.
On Poetry.
On Beauty of Verses.
On Euphonious and Cacophonous Letters.
XI. Concerning Homer, or On Correct Epic Diction, and On Glosses.
Of Song.
On Words.
A Vocabulary.
So much for the works on literature and music.
The works on the arts are these:
XII. Prognostication.
Of Diet, or Diaetetics.
Medical Regimen.
Causes concerned with Things Seasonable and Unseasonable.
XIII. Of Agriculture, or Concerning Land Measurements.
Of Painting.
Treatise on Tactics, and
On Fighting in Armour.
So much for these works.
49 Τάττουσι δέ τινες κατ’ ἰδίαν ἐκ τῶν Ὑπομνημάτων καὶ ταῦτα·
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἱερῶν γραμμάτων,
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Μερόῃ,
Ὠκεανοῦ περίπλους,
Περὶ ἱστορίης,
Χαλδαϊκὸς λόγος,
Φρύγιος λόγος,
Περὶ πυρετοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ νόσου βησσόντων,
Νομικὰ αἴτια,
Χειρόκμητα [ἢ] προβλήματα.
Τὰ δ’ ἄλλα ὅσα τινὲς ἀναφέρουσιν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ διεσκεύασται, τὰ δ’ ὁμολογουμένως ἐστὶν ἀλλότρια. ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τῶν βιβλίων αὐτοῦ καὶ τοσαῦτα.
Γεγόνασι δὲ Δημόκριτοι ἕξ· πρῶτος αὐτὸς οὗτος, δεύτερος Χῖος μουσικὸς κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον, τρίτος ἀνδριαντοποιὸς οὗ μέμνηται Ἀντίγονος, τέταρτος περὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ γεγραφὼς καὶ τῆς πόλεως Σαμοθρᾴκης, πέμπτος ποιητὴς ἐπιγραμμάτων σαφὴς καὶ ἀνθηρός, ἕκτος Περγαμηνὸς ἀπὸ ῥητορικῶν λόγων <εὐδοκιμήσας>.
Πρωταγόρας
49. Some include as separate items in the list the following works taken from his notes:
Of the Sacred Writings in Babylon.
Of those in Mero.
A Voyage round the Ocean.
Of [the Right Use of] History.
A Chaldaean Treatise.
A Phrygian Treatise.
Concerning Fever and those whose Malady makes them Cough.
Legal Causes and Effects.
Problems wrought by Hand.
The other works which some attribute to Democritus are either compilations from his writings or admittedly not genuine. So much for the books that he wrote and their number.
The name of Democritus has been borne by six persons: (1) our philosopher; (2) a contemporary of his, a musician of Chios; (3) a sculptor, mentioned by Antigonus; (4) an author who wrote on the temple at Ephesus and the state of Samothrace; (5) an epigrammatist whose style is lucid and ornate; (6) a native of Pergamum who made his mark by rhetorical speeches.
50 Πρωταγόρας Ἀρτέμωνος ἤ, ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρος καὶ Δίνων ἐν Περσικῶν εʹ, Μαιανδρίου, Ἀβδηρίτης, καθά φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τοῖς Περὶ νόμων, ὃς καὶ Θουρίοις νόμους γράψαι φησὶν αὐτόν· ὡς δ’ Εὔπολις ἐν Κόλαξιν, Τήιος· φησὶ γάρ,
Ἔνδοθι μέν ἐστι Πρωταγόρας ὁ Τήιος.
οὗτος καὶ Πρόδικος ὁ Κεῖος λόγους ἀναγινώσκοντες ἠρανίζοντο· καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Πρωταγόρᾳ φησὶ βαρύφωνον εἶναι τὸν Πρόδικον. διήκουσε δ’ ὁ Πρωταγόρας Δημοκρίτου. ἐκαλεῖτό τε Σοφία, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ.
50. Protagoras, son of Artemon or, according to Apollodorus and Dinon in the fifth book of his History of Persia , of Maeandrius, was born at Abdera (so says Heraclides of Pontus in his treatise On Laws , and also that he made laws for Thurii) or, according to Eupolis in his Flatterers , at Teos; for the latter says:
Inside we’ve got Protagoras of Teos.
He and Prodicus of Ceos gave public readings for which fees were charged, and Plato in the Protagoras calls Prodicus deep-voiced. Protagoras studied under Democritus. The latter was nicknamed “Wisdom,” according to Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History .
51 Καὶ πρῶτος ἔφη δύο λόγους εἶναι περὶ παντὸς πράγματος ἀντικειμένους ἀλλήλοις· οἷς καὶ συνηρώτα, πρῶτος τοῦτο πράξας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἤρξατό που τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· “πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἄνθρωπος, τῶν μὲν ὄντων ὡς ἔστιν, τῶν δὲ οὐκ ὄντων ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν.” ἔλεγέ τε μηδὲν εἶναι ψυχὴν παρὰ τὰς αἰσθήσεις, καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησὶν ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ, καὶ πάντα εἶναι ἀληθῆ. καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ τοῦτον ἤρξατο τὸν τρόπον· “περὶ μὲν θεῶν οὐκ ἔχω εἰδέναι οὔθ’ ὡς εἰσίν, οὔθ’ ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν· πολλὰ γὰρ τὰ κωλύοντα
51. Protagoras was the first to maintain that there are two sides to every question, opposed to each other, and he even argued in this fashion, being the first to do so. Furthermore he began a work thus: “Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.” He used to say that soul was nothing apart from the senses, as we learn from Plato in the Theaetetus , and that everything is true. In another work he began thus: “As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many are the obstacles that impede knowledge, both the obscurity of the question and the shortness of human life.”
52 εἰδέναι, ἥ τ’ ἀδηλότης καὶ βραχὺς ὢν ὁ βίος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.” διὰ ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ συγγράμματος ἐξεβλήθη πρὸς Ἀθηναίων· καὶ τὰ βιβλία αὐτοῦ κατέκαυσαν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, ὑπὸ κήρυκι ἀναλεξάμενοι παρ’ ἑκάστου τῶν κεκτημένων.
Οὗτος πρῶτος μισθὸν εἰσεπράξατο μνᾶς ἑκατόν· καὶ πρῶτος μέρη χρόνου διώρισε καὶ καιροῦ δύναμιν ἐξέθετο καὶ λόγων ἀγῶνας ἐποιήσατο καὶ σοφίσματα τοῖς πραγματολογοῦσι προσήγαγε· καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ἀφεὶς πρὸς τοὔνομα διελέχθη καὶ τὸ νῦν ἐπιπόλαιον γένος τῶν ἐριστικῶν ἐγέννησεν· ἵνα καὶ Τίμων φησὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ,
Πρωταγόρης τ’ ἐπίμεικτος ἐριζέμεναι εὖ εἰδώς.
52. For this introduction to his book the Athenians expelled him; and they burnt his works in the market-place, after sending round a herald to collect them from all who had copies in their possession.
He was the first to exact a fee of a hundred minae and the first to distinguish the tenses of verbs, to emphasize the importance of seizing the right moment, to institute contests in debating, and to teach rival pleaders the tricks of their trade. Furthermore, in his dialectic he neglected the meaning in favour of verbal quibbling, and he was the father of the whole tribe of eristical disputants now so much in evidence; insomuch that Timon too speaks of him as
Protagoras, all mankind’s epitome,
Cunning, I trow, to war with words.
53 οὗτος καὶ τὸ Σωκρατικὸν εἶδος τῶν λόγων πρῶτος ἐκίνησε. καὶ τὸν Ἀντισθένους λόγον τὸν πειρώμενον ἀποδεικνύειν ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντιλέγειν οὗτος πρῶτος διείλεκται, καθά φησι Πλάτων ἐν Εὐθυδήμῳ. καὶ πρῶτος κατέδειξε τὰς πρὸς τὰς θέσεις ἐπιχειρήσεις, ὥς φησιν Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ διαλεκτικὸς ἐν τῷ Πρὸς Χρύσιππον. καὶ πρῶτος τὴν καλουμένην τύλην, ἐφ’ ἧς τὰ φορτία βαστάζουσιν, εὗρεν, ὥς φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῷ Περὶ παιδείας· φορμοφόρος γὰρ ἦν, ὡς καὶ Ἐπίκουρός πού φησι. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἤρθη πρὸς Δημοκρίτου ξύλα δεδεκὼς ὀφθείς. διεῖλέ τε τὸν λόγον πρῶτος εἰς τέτταρα· εὐχωλήν,
53. He too first introduced the method of discussion which is called Socratic. Again, as we learn from Plato in the Euthydemus , he was the first to use in discussion the argument of Antisthenes which strives to prove that contradiction is impossible, and the first to point out how to attack and refute any proposition laid down: so Artemidorus the dialectician in his treatise In Reply to Chrysippus . He too invented the shoulder-pad on which porters carry their burdens, so we are told by Aristotle in his treatise On Education ; for he himself had been a porter, says Epicurus somewhere. This was how he was taken up by Democritus, who saw how skilfully his bundles of wood were tied. He was the first to mark off the parts of discourse into four, namely, wish, question, answer, command;
54 ἐρώτησιν, ἀπόκρισιν, ἐντολήν (οἱ δὲ εἰς ἑπτά· διήγησιν, ἐρώτησιν, ἀπόκρισιν, ἐντολήν, ἀπαγγελίαν, εὐχωλήν, κλῆσιν), οὓς καὶ πυθμένας εἶπε λόγων. Ἀλκιδάμας (Orat. Att. ii. 155b) δὲ τέτταρας λόγους φησί· φάσιν, ἀπόφασιν, ἐρώτησιν, προσαγόρευσιν.
Πρῶτον δὲ τῶν λόγων ἑαυτοῦ ἀνέγνω τὸν Περὶ θεῶν, οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἄνω παρεθέμεθα· ἀνέγνω δ’ Ἀθήνησιν ἐν τῇ Εὐριπίδου οἰκίᾳ ἤ, ὥς τινες, ἐν τῇ Μεγακλείδου· ἄλλοι ἐν Λυκείῳ, μαθητοῦ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῷ χρήσαντος Ἀρχαγόρου τοῦ Θεοδότου. κατηγόρησε δ’ αὐτοῦ Πυθόδωρος Πολυζήλου, εἷς τῶν τετρακοσίων· Ἀριστοτέλης δ’ Εὔαθλόν φησιν.
54. others divide into seven parts, narration, question, answer, command, rehearsal, wish, summoning; these he called the basic forms of speech. Alcidamas made discourse fourfold, affirmation, negation, question, address.
The first of his books he read in public was that On the Gods , the introduction to which we quoted above; he read it at Athens in Euripides’ house, or, as some say, in Megaclides’; others again make the place the Lyceum and the reader his disciple Archagoras, Theodotus’s son, who gave him the benefit of his voice. His accuser was Pythodorus, son of Polyzelus, one of the four hundred; Aristotle, however, says it was Euathlus.
55 Ἔστι δὲ τὰ σωζόμενα αὐτοῦ βιβλία τάδε·
Τέχνη ἐριστικῶν,
Περὶ πάλης,
Περὶ τῶν μαθημάτων,
Περὶ πολιτείας,
Περὶ φιλοτιμίας,
Περὶ ἀρετῶν,
Περὶ τῆς ἐν ἀρχῇ καταστάσεως,
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου,
Περὶ τῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρασσομένων,
Προστακτικός,
Δίκη ὑπὲρ μισθοῦ,
Ἀντιλογιῶν αʹ βʹ.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν αὐτῷ τὰ βιβλία. γέγραφε δὲ καὶ Πλάτων εἰς αὐτὸν διάλογον.
Φησὶ δὲ Φιλόχορος, πλέοντος αὐτοῦ εἰς Σικελίαν, τὴν ναῦν καταποντωθῆναι· καὶ τοῦτο αἰνίττεσθαι Εὐριπίδην ἐν τῷ Ἰξίονι. ἔνιοι κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τελευτῆσαι
55. The works of his which survive are these:
The Art of Controversy.
Of Wrestling.
On Mathematics.
Of the State.
Of Ambition.
Of Virtues.
Of the Ancient Order of Things.
On the Dwellers in Hades.
Of the Misdeeds of Mankind.
A Book of Precepts.
Of Forensic Speech for a Fee, two books of opposing arguments.
This is the list of his works. Moreover there is a dialogue which Plato wrote upon him.
Philochorus says that, when he was on a voyage to Sicily, his ship went down, and that Euripides hints at this in his Ixion . According to some his death occurred, when he was on a journey, at nearly ninety years of age,
56 αὐτόν, βιώσαντα ἔτη πρὸς τὰ ἐνενήκοντα· Ἀπολλόδωρος δέ φησιν ἑβδομήκοντα, σοφιστεῦσαι δὲ τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἀκμάζειν κατὰ τὴν τετάρτην καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα.
Ἔστι καὶ εἰς τοῦτον ἡμῶν οὕτως ἔχον·
καὶ σεῦ, Πρωταγόρη, φάτιν ἔκλυον, ὡς ἄρ’ Ἀθηνέων
ἔκ ποτ’ ἰὼν καθ’ ὁδὸν πρέσβυς ἐὼν ἔθανες·
εἵλετο γάρ σε φυγεῖν Κέκροπος πόλις· ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που
Παλλάδος ἄστυ φύγες, Πλουτέα δ’ οὐκ ἔφυγες.
Λέγεται δέ ποτ’ αὐτὸν ἀπαιτοῦντα τὸν μισθὸν Εὔαθλον τὸν μαθητήν, ἐκείνου εἰπόντος, “ἀλλ’ οὐδέπω νίκην νενίκηκα,” εἰπεῖν, “ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ μὲν ἂν νικήσω, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐνίκησα, λαβεῖν με δεῖ· ἐὰν δὲ σύ, ὅτι σύ.”
Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Πρωταγόρας ἀστρολόγος, εἰς ὃν καὶ Εὐφορίων ἐπικήδειον ἔγραψε· καὶ τρίτος Στωικὸς φιλόσοφος.
Διογένης Ἀπολλωνιάτης
56. though Apollodorus makes his age seventy, assigns forty years for his career as a sophist, and puts his floruit in the 84th Olympiad.
There is an epigram of my own on him as follows:
Protagoras, I hear it told of thee
Thou died’st in eld when Athens thou didst flee;
Cecrops’ town chose to banish thee; but though
Thou ‘scap’dst Athene, not so Hell below.
The story is told that once, when he asked Euathlus his disciple for his fee, the latter replied, “But I have not won a case yet.” “Nay,” said Protagoras, “if I win this case against you I must have the fee, for winning it; if you win, I must have it, because you win it.”
There was another Protagoras, an astronomer, for whom Euphorion wrote a dirge; and a third who was a Stoic philosopher.
57 Διογένης Ἀπολλοθέμιδος Ἀπολλωνιάτης, ἀνὴρ φυσικὸς καὶ ἄγαν ἐλλόγιμος. ἤκουσε δέ, φησὶν Ἀντισθένης, Ἀναξιμένους. ἦν δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις κατ’ Ἀναξαγόραν. τοῦτόν φησιν ὁ Φαληρεὺς Δημήτριος ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ διὰ μέγαν φθόνον μικροῦ κινδυνεῦσαι Ἀθήνησιν.
Ἐδόκει δὲ αὐτῷ τάδε· στοιχεῖον εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα, κόσμους ἀπείρους καὶ κενὸν ἄπειρον· τόν τε ἀέρα πυκνούμενον καὶ ἀραιούμενον γεννητικὸν εἶναι τῶν κόσμων· οὐδὲν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεσθαι οὐδ’ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν φθείρεσθαι· τὴν γῆν στρογγύλην, ἠρεισμένην ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, τὴν σύστασιν εἰληφυῖαν κατὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θερμοῦ περιφορὰν καὶ πῆξιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ.
Ἀρχὴ δὲ αὐτῷ τοῦ συγγράμματος ἥδε· “λόγου παντὸς ἀρχόμενον δοκεῖ μοι χρεὼν εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀναμφισβήτητον παρέχεσθαι, τὴν δ’ ἑρμηνείαν ἁπλῆν καὶ σεμνήν.”
Ἀνάξαρχος
57. Diogenes of Apollonia, son of Apollothemis, was a natural philosopher and a most famous man. Antisthenes calls him a pupil of Anaximenes; but he lived in Anaxagoras’s time. This man, so great was his unpopularity at Athens, almost lost his life, as Demetrius of Phalerum states in his Defence of Socrates .
The doctrines of Diogenes were as follows. Air is the universal element. There are worlds unlimited in number, and unlimited empty space. Air by condensation and rarefaction generates the worlds. Nothing comes into being from what is not or passes away into what is not. The earth is spherical, firmly supported in the centre, having its construction determined by the revolution which comes from heat and by the congealment caused by cold.
The words with which his treatise begins are these: “At the beginning of every discourse I consider that one ought to make the starting-point unmistakably clear and the exposition simple and dignified.”
58 Ἀνάξαρχος Ἀβδηρίτης. οὗτος ἤκουσε Διογένους τοῦ Σμυρναίου· ὁ δὲ Μητροδώρου τοῦ Χίου, ὃς ἔλεγε μηδ’ αὐτὸ τοῦτ’ εἰδέναι ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδε. Μητρόδωρον δὲ Νεσσᾶ τοῦ Χίου, οἱ δὲ Δημοκρίτου φασὶν ἀκοῦσαι. ὁ δ’ οὖν Ἀνάξαρχος καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνῆν καὶ ἤκμαζε κατὰ τὴν δεκάτην καὶ ἑκατοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ εἶχεν ἐχθρὸν Νικοκρέοντα τὸν Κύπρου τύραννον· καί ποτ’ ἐν συμποσίῳ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐρωτήσαντος αὐτὸν τί ἄρα δοκεῖ τὸ δεῖπνον, εἰπεῖν φασιν, “ὦ βασιλεῦ, πάντα πολυτελῶς· ἔδει δὲ λοιπὸν κεφαλὴν σατράπου τινὸς παρατεθεῖσθαι·” ἀπορρίπτων
58. Anaxarchus, a native of Abdera, studied under Diogenes of Smyrna, and the latter under Metrodorus of Chios, who used to declare that he knew nothing, not even the fact that he knew nothing; while Metrodorus was a pupil of Nessas of Chios, though some say that he was taught by Democritus. Now Anaxarchus accompanied Alexander and flourished in the 110th Olympiad. He made an enemy of Nicocreon, tyrant of Cyprus. Once at a banquet, when asked by Alexander how he liked the feast, he is said to have answered, “Everything, O king, is magnificent; there is only one thing lacking, that the head of some satrap should be served up at table.” This was a hit at Nicocreon, who never forgot it,
59 πρὸς τὸν Νικοκρέοντα. ὁ δὲ μνησικακήσας μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὅτε πλέων ἀκουσίως προσηνέχθη τῇ Κύπρῳ ὁ Ἀνάξαρχος, συλλαβὼν αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς ὅλμον βαλὼν ἐκέλευσε τύπτεσθαι σιδηροῖς ὑπέροις. τὸν δ’ οὐ φροντίσαντα τῆς τιμωρίας εἰπεῖν ἐκεῖνο δὴ τὸ περιφερόμενον, “πτίσσε τὸν Ἀναξάρχου θύλακον, Ἀνάξαρχον δὲ οὐ πτίσσεις.” κελεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ Νικοκρέοντος καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν αὐτοῦ ἐκτμηθῆναι, λόγος ἀποτραγόντα προσπτύσαι αὐτῷ. καὶ ἔστιν ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτὸν οὕτως <ἔχον>·
πτίσσετε, Νικοκρέων, ἔτι καὶ μάλα· θύλακός ἐστι·
πτίσσετ’· Ἀνάξαρχος δ’ ἐν Διός ἐστι πάλαι.
καί σε διαστείλασα γνάφοις ὀλίγον τάδε λέξει
ῥήματα Φερσεφόνη, “ἔρρε μυλωθρὲ κακέ.”
59. and when after the king’s death Anaxarchus was forced against his will to land in Cyprus, he seized him and, putting him in a mortar, ordered him to be pounded to death with iron pestles. But he, making light of the punishment, made that well-known speech, “Pound, pound the pouch containing Anaxarchus; ye pound not Anaxarchus.” And when Nicocreon commanded his tongue to be cut out, they say he bit it off and spat it at him. This is what I have written upon him:
Pound, Nicocreon, as hard as you like: it is but a pouch. Pound on; Anaxarchus’s self long since is housed with Zeus. And after she has drawn you upon her carding-combs a little while, Persephone will utter words like these: “Out upon thee, villainous miller!”
60 Οὗτος διὰ τὴν ἀπάθειαν καὶ εὐκολίαν τοῦ βίου Εὐδαιμονικὸς ἐκαλεῖτο· καὶ ἦν ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου δυνατὸς σωφρονίζειν. τὸν γοῦν Ἀλέξανδρον οἰόμενον εἶναι θεὸν ἐπέστρεψεν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔκ τινος πληγῆς εἶδεν αὐτῷ καταρρέον αἷμα, δείξας τῇ χειρὶ πρὸς αὐτόν φησι, “τουτὶ μὲν αἷμα καὶ οὐκ
ἰχὼρ οἷός πέρ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσι.”
Πλούταρχος δ’ αὐτὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τοῦτο λέξαι πρὸς τοὺς φίλους φησίν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοτε προπίνοντα αὐτῷ τὸν Ἀνάξαρχον δεῖξαι τὴν κύλικα καὶ εἰπεῖν
βεβλήσεταί τις θεῶν βροτησίᾳ χερί.
Πύρρων
60. For his fortitude and contentment in life he was called the Happy Man. He had, too, the capacity of bringing anyone to reason in the easiest possible way. At all events he succeeded in diverting Alexander when he had begun to think himself a god; for, seeing blood running from a wound he had sustained, he pointed to him with his finger and said, “See, there is blood and not
Ichor which courses in the veins of the blessed gods.”
Plutarch reports this as spoken by Alexander to his friends. Moreover, on another occasion, when Anaxarchus was drinking Alexander’s health, he held up his goblet and said:
One of the gods shall fall by the stroke of mortal man.