Part 37

All numbers, then, taken by classes are fours (for number is undefined in reference to class), of which is composed the perfect number, the decad. For the series, one two three and four, becomes ten, if its own name is kept in its essence by each of the numbers. Pythagoras said that this sacred tetraktys is ‘the spring having the roots of ever-flowing nature’ in itself, and from this numbers have their first principle. For the eleven and the twelve and the rest derive from the ten the first principle of their being. The four parts of the decad, this perfect number, are called number, monad, power, and cube. And the interweavings and minglings of these in the origin of growth are what naturally completes nascent number; for when a power is multiplied upon itself, it is the power of a power; and when a power is multiplied on a cube, it is the power of a cube; and when a cube is multiplied on a cube, the cube of a cube; thus all numbers, from which arises the genesis of what arises, are seven:—number, monad, power, cube, power of a power, power of a cube, cube of a cube.

He said that the soul is immortal, and that it changes from one body to another; so he was wont to say that he himself had been born before the Trojan war as Aethalides, and at the time of the Trojan war as Euphorbos, and after that as Hermotimos of Samos, then as Pyrrhos of Delos, fifth as Pythagoras. And Diodoros of Eretria and Aristoxenos the musician say that Pythagoras had come into Zaratas of Chaldaea; and he set forth that in his view there were from the beginning two causes of things, father and mother; and the father is light and the mother darkness; and the parts of light are warm, dry, light, swift; and of darkness are cold, moist, heavy, slow; and of these all the universe is composed, of male and female. And he says that the universe exists in accordance with musical harmony, so the sun also makes an harmonious period. And concerning the things that arise from the earth and the universe they say that Zaratas spoke as follows: There are two divinities, one of the heavens and the other of the earth; the one of the earth produces things from the earth, and it is water; and the divinity of the heavens is fire with a portion of air, warm, and cold; wherefore he says that none of these things will destroy or even pollute the soul, for these are the essence of all things. And it is said that Zaratas forbade men to eat beans because he said that at the beginning and composition of all things when the earth was still a whole, the bean arose. And he says that the proof of this is that if one chews a bean to a pulp and exposes it to the sun for a certain time (for the sun will affect it quickly), it gives out the odour of human seed. And he says that there is another and clearer proof: if when a bean is in flower we were to take the bean and its flower, and putting it into a pitcher moisten it and then bury it in the earth, and after a few days dig it up again, we should see in the first place that it had the form of a womb, and examining it closely we should find the head of a child growing with it.

He perished in a conflagration with his disciples in Kroton in Italy. And it was the custom when one became a disciple for him to burn his property and to leave his money under a seal with Pythagoras, and he remained in silence sometimes three years, sometimes five years, and studied. And immediately on being released from this he mingled with the others and continued a disciple and made his home with them; otherwise he took his money and was sent off. The esoteric class were called Pythagoreans, and the others Pythagoristae. And those of the disciples who escaped the conflagration were Lysis and Archippos and Zalmoxis the slave of Pythagoras, who is said to have taught the Pythagorean philosophy to the Druids among the Celts. It is said that Pythagoras learned numbers and measures from the Egyptians; astonished at the wisdom of the priests, which was deserving of belief and full of fancies and difficult to buy, he imitated it and himself also taught his disciples to be silent, and obliged the student to remain quietly in rooms underneath the earth.

Epiph. Pro. i.; Dox. 587. Pythagoras laid down the doctrine of the monad and of foreknowledge and the interdict on sacrificing to the gods then believed on, and he bade men not to partake of beings that had life, and to refrain from wine. And he drew a line between the things from the moon upwards, calling these immortal, and those below, which he called mortal; and he taught the transmigration of souls from bodies into bodies even as far as animals and beasts. And he used to teach his followers to observe silence for a period of five years. Finally he named himself a god.

Epiph. Haer. iii. 8; Dox. 390. Pythagoras the Samian, son of Mnesarchos, said that the monad is god, and that nothing has been brought into being apart from this. He was wont to say that wise men ought not to sacrifice animals to the gods, nor yet to eat what had life, or beans, nor to drink wine. And he was wont to say that all things from the moon downward were subject to change, while from the moon upward they were not. And he said that the soul goes at death into other animals. And he bade his disciples to keep silence for a period of five years, and finally he named himself a god.

Herm. I. G. P. 16; Dox. 655. Others then from the ancient tribe, Pythagoras and his fellow-tribesmen, revered and taciturn, transmitted other dogmas to me as mysteries, and this is the great and unspeakable ipse-dixit: the monad is the first principle of all things. From its forms and from numbers the elements arose. And he declared that the number and form and measure of each of these is somehow as follows:—Fire is composed of twenty-four right-angled triangles, surrounded by four equilaterals. And each equilateral consists of six right-angled triangles, whence they compare it to the pyramid. Air is composed of forty-eight triangles, surrounded by eight equilaterals. And it is compared to the octahedron, which is surrounded by eight equilateral triangles, each of which is separated into six right-angled triangles so as to become forty-eight in all. And water is composed of one hundred and twenty triangles, surrounded by twenty equilaterals, and it is compared to the icosahedron, which is composed of one hundred and twenty equilateral triangles. And aether is composed of twelve equilateral pentagons, and is like a dodecahedron. And earth is composed of forty-eight triangles, and is surrounded by six equilateral pentagons, and it is like a cube. For the cube is surrounded by six tetragons, each of which is separated into eight triangles, so that they become in all forty-eight.

EMPEDOKLES.

Empedokles, son of Meton, grandson of an Empedokles who was a victor at Olympia, made his home at Akragas in Sicily. He was born about 494 B.C., and lived to the age of sixty. The only sure date in his life is his visit to Thourioi soon after its foundation (444). Various stories are told of his political activity, which may be genuine traditions; these illustrate a democratic tendency. At the same time he claimed almost the homage due to a god, and many miracles are attributed to him. His writings in some parts are said to imitate Orphic verses, and apparently his religious activity was in line with this sect. His death occurred away from Sicily—probably in the Peloponnesos.

Literature:—Sturz, Emped. vita et phil. carm. rell. Lips. 1805; Karsten, Emped. carm. rell. Amst. 1838; Bergk, Kleine Schriften, Berl. 1839; Panzerbieter, Beitr. z. Kritik u. Erkl. d. Emped. Meining. 1844; Stein, Emped. Frag. Bonn 1852; Schneidewin, Philol. xv.; H. Diels; Hermes xv. pp. 161-179; Gorgias und Empedocles, Acad. Berol. 1884; Unger, Philol. Suppl. 1883, pp. 511-550; O. Kern, Archiv f. d. Gesch. d. Philos. i. 498 ff.; Knatz, ‘Empedoclea’ in Schedae Phil. H. Usener oblatae, Bonn 1891; A. Platt, Journal of Philology, xxiv. p. 246; Bidez, Archiv, ix. 190; Gomperz, Hermes, xxxi. p. 469.

NOTE.—I print Stein’s numbers at the left of the Greek text, Karsten’s numbers at the right.

FRAGMENTS OF EMPEDOKLES.

ΠΕΡΙ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ.

Παυσανία, σὺ δὲ κλῦθι, δαΐφρονος Ἀγχίτου υἱέ. 54

στεινωποὶ μὲν γὰρ παλάμαι κατὰ γυῖα κέχυνται· 32 πολλὰ δὲ δειλ’ ἔμπαια, τά τ’ ἀμβλύνουσι μερίμνας. παῦρον δὲ ζωῆς ἀβίου μέρος ἀθρήσαντες 5 ὠκύμοροι καπνοῖο δίκην ἀρθέντες ἀπέπταν, 35 αὐτὸ μόνον πεισθέντες, ὅτῳ προσέκυρσεν ἕκαστος πάντοσ’ ἐλαυνόμενος, τὸ δ’ ὅλον μὰψ εὔχεται εὑρεῖν· οὕτως οὔτ’ ἐπιδερκτὰ τάδ’ ἀνδράσιν οὐδ’ ἐπακουστὰ οὔτε νόῳ περιληπτά. σὺ δ’ οὖν, ἐπεὶ ὧδ’ ἐλιάσθης, 10 πεύσεαι οὐ πλέον ἠὲ βροτείη μῆτις ὄπωπεν. 40 ἀλλὰ, θεοὶ, τῶν μὲν μανίην ἀποτρέψατε γλώσσης, ἐκ δ’ ὁσίων στομάτων καθαρὴν ὀχετεύσατε πηγήν. καὶ σέ, πολυμνήστη λευκώλενε παρθένε Μοῦσα, ἄντομαι, ὧν θέμις ἐστὶν ἐφημερίοισιν ἀκούειν, 15 πέμπε παρ’ εὐσεβίης, ἐλάουσ’ εὐήνιον ἅρμα· 45 μηδὲ μέ γ’ εὐδόξοιο βιήσεται ἄνθεα τιμῆς πρὸς θνητῶν ἀνελέσθαι, ἐφ’ ᾧ θ’ ὁσίης πλέον εἰπεῖν θάρσεϊ καὶ τότε δὴ σοφίης ἐπ’ ἄκροισι θοάζειν. ἀλλ’ ἄγ’ ἄθρει πάσῃ παλάμῃ πῆ δῆλον ἕκαστον, 20 μήτε τιν’ ὄψιν ἔχων πίστει πλέον ἢ κατ’ ἀκουὴν 50 μήτ’ ἀκοὴν ἐρίδουπον ὑπὲρ τρανώματα γλώσσης, μήτε τι τῶν ἄλλων, ὁπόσων πόρος ἐστὶ νοῆσαι, γυίων πίστιν ἔρυκε, νόει δ’ ᾗ δῆλον ἕκαστον.

φάρμακα δ’ ὅσσα γεγᾶσι κακῶν καὶ γήραος ἄλκαρ 25 πεύσῃ, ἐπεὶ μούνῳ σοὶ ἐγὼ κρανέω τάδε πάντα. 425 παύσεις δ’ ἀκαμάτων ἀνέμων μένος οἵ τ’ ἐπὶ γαῖαν ὀρνύμενοι πνοιαῖσι καταφθινύθουσιν ἀρούρας· καὶ πάλιν, εὖτ’ ἐθέλῃσθα, παλίσσυτα πνεύματ’ ἐπάξεις·

Θήσεις δ’ ἐξ ὄμβροιο κελαινοῦ καίριον αὐχμὸν 30 ἀνθρώποις, θήσεις δὲ καὶ ἐξ αὐχμοῖο θερείου 430 ῥεύματα δενδρεόθρεπτα κατ’ αἰθέρος ἀΐσσοντα· ἄξεις δ’ ἐξ Ἀίδαο καταφθιμένου μένος ἀνδρός.

τέσσαρα τῶν πάντων ῥιζώματα πρῶτον ἄκουε· 55 Ζεὺς ἀργὴς Ἥρη τε φερέσβιος ἠδ’ Ἀιδωνεὺς 35 Νῆστίς θ’ ἣ δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα βρότειον. ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω· φύσις οὐδενός ἐστιν ἁπάντων θνητῶν, οὐδέ τις οὐλομένου θανάτοιο τελευτή, ἀλλὰ μόνον μεῖξίς τε διάλλαξίς τε μιγέντων ἐστὶ, φύσις δ’ ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνομάζεται ἀνθρώποισιν. 80

40 οἱ δ’ ὅτε κεν κατὰ φῶτα μιγὲν φῶς αἰθέρι <ἵκῃ> ἢ κατὰ θηρῶν ἀγροτέρων γένος ἢ κατὰ θάμνων ἠὲ κατ’ οἰωνῶν, τότε μὲν τὰ λέγουσι γενέσθαι· εὖτε δ’ ἀποκριθέωσι, τὰ δ’ αὖ δυσδαίμονα πότμον, 345 ἣ θέμις ἐστί, καλοῦσι, νόμῳ δ’ ἐπίφημι καὶ αὐτός.

45 νήπιοι· οὐ γάρ σφιν δολιχόφρονές εἰσι μέριμναι, οἳ δὴ γίγνεσθαι πάρος οὐκ ἐὸν ἐλπίζουσιν ἤ τι καταθνῄσκειν τε καὶ ἐξόλλυσθαι ἁπάντῃ. ἔκ τε γὰρ οὐδάμ’ ἐόντος ἀμήχανόν ἐστι γενέσθαι, 81 καί τ’ ἐὸν ἐξαπολέσθαι ἀνήνυστον καὶ ἄπυστον· 50 αἰεὶ γὰρ στήσονται ὅπη κέ τις αἰὲν ἐρείδῃ.

οὐκ ἂν ἀνὴρ τοιαῦτα σοφὸς φρεσὶ μαντεύσαιτο, 350 ὡς ὄφρα μέν τε βιοῦσι, τὸ δὴ βίοτον καλέουσι, τόφρα μὲν οὖν εἰσὶν καί σφιν πάρα δειλὰ καὶ ἐσθλά, πρὶν δὲ πάγεν τε βροτοὶ καὶ ἐπεὶ λύθεν, οὐδὲν ἄρ’ εἰσίν.

55 ἀλλὰ κακοῖς μὲν κάρτα πέλει κρατέουσιν ἀπιστεῖν. 84 ὡς δὲ παρ’ ἡμετέρης κέλεται πιστώματα Μούσης, γνῶθι, διατμηθέντος ἐνὶ σπλάγχνοισι λόγοιο.

κορυφὰς ἑτέρας ἑτέρῃσι προσάπτων 447 μύθων, μήτε τελεῖν ἀτραπὸν μίαν· 60 δὶς γὰρ καὶ τρὶς δεῖ ὅ τι δὴ καλόν ἐστιν ἐνίσπειν. 446 [πείρατα μύθων] 87 δίπλ’ ἐρέω· τοτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἓν ηὐξήθη μόνον εἶναι ἐκ πλεόνων, τοτὲ δ’ αὖ διέφυ πλέον’ ἐξ ἑνὸς εἶναι. δοιὴ δὲ θνητῶν γένεσις, δοιὴ δ’ ἀπόλειψις. 90 τὴν μὲν γὰρ πάντων σύνοδος τίκτει τ’ ὀλέκει τε, 65 ἡ δὲ πάλιν διαφυομένων θρεφθεῖσα διέπτη. καὶ ταῦτ’ ἀλλάσσοντα διαμπερὲς οὐδαμὰ λήγει, ἄλλοτε μὲν Φιλότητι συνερχόμεν’ εἰς ἓν ἅπαντα, ἄλλοτε δ’ αὖ δίχ’ ἕκαστα φορεύμενα Νείκεος ἔχθει, 95 118 εἰς ὅ κεν ἓν συμφύντα τὸ πᾶν ὑπένερθε γένηται. 144 οὕτως ᾗ μὲν ἓν ἐκ πλεόνων μεμάθηκε φύεσθαι 70 ἠδὲ πάλιν διαφύντος ἑνὸς πλέον’ ἐκτελέθουσι, τῇ μὲν γίγνονταί τε καὶ οὔ σφισιν ἔμπεδος αἰών· ᾗ δὲ τάδ’ ἀλλάσσοντα διαμπερὲς οὐδαμὰ λήγει, ταύτῃ αἰὲν ἔασιν ἀκινητὸν κατὰ κύκλον. 100 ἀλλ’ ἄγε, μύθων κλῦθι, μάθη γάρ τοι φρένας αὔξει. 75 ὡς γὰρ καὶ πρὶν ἔειπα πιφαύσκων πείρατα μύθων, δίπλ’ ἐρέω· τοτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἓν ηὐξήθη μόνον εἶναι ἐκ πλεόνων, τοτὲ δ’ αὖ διέφυ πλέον’ ἐξ ἑνὸς εἶναι, πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα καὶ αἰθέρος ἄπλετον ὕψος· 105 Νεῖκός τ’ οὐλόμενον δίχα τῶν, ἀτάλαντον ἑκάστῳ, 80 καὶ Φιλότης ἐν τοῖσιν ἴση μῆκός τε πλάτος τε. τὴν σὺ νόῳ δέρκευ μηδ’ ὄμμασιν ἧσο τεθηπώς, ἥτις καὶ θνητοῖσι νομίζεται ἔμφυτος ἄρθροις, τῇ τε φίλα φρονέουσι καὶ ἄρθμια ἔργα τελεῦσι, 110 γηθοσύνην καλέοντες ἐπώνυμον ἠδ’ Ἀφροδίτην· 85 τὴν οὔτις †μετ’ ὄσοισιν ἑλισσομένην δεδάηκε θνητὸς ἀνήρ. σὺ δ’ ἄκουε λόγου στόλον οὐκ ἀπατηλόν. ταῦτα γὰρ ἶσά τε πάντα καὶ ἡλίκα γένναν ἔασι, τιμῆς δ’ ἄλλης ἄλλο μέδει, πάρα δ’ ἦθος ἑκάστῳ. 115 οὐδὲν γὰρ πρὸς τοῖς ἐπιγίγνεται οὐδ’ ἀπολήγει. 90 εἴτε γὰρ ἐφθείροντο διαμπερὲς, οὐκέτ’ ἂν ἦσαν. οὐδέ τι τοῦ παντὸς κενεὸν πέλει οὐδὲ περισσόν. τοῦτο δ’ ἐπαυξήσειε τὸ πᾶν τί κε καὶ πόθεν ἐλθόν; 120 πῆ δέ κε καὶ ἀπολοίατ’ ἐπεὶ τῶνδ’ οὐδὲν ἔρημον; 112 ἐν δὲ μέρει κρατέουσι περιπλομένοιο κύκλοιο 113 καὶ φθίνει εἰς ἄλληλα καὶ αὔξεται ἐν μέρει αἴσης. 138 94 ἀλλ’ αὔτ’ ἔστιν ταῦτα· δι’ ἀλλήλων δὲ θέοντα 122 95 γίνεται ἄλλοθεν ἄλλα καὶ ἠνεκὲς αἰὲν ὁμοῖα.

110 καὶ γὰρ καὶ πάρος ἦν τε καὶ ἔσσεται, οὐδέ ποτ’, οἴω, 111 τούτων ἀμφοτέρων κεινώσεται ἄσπετος αἰών.

96 ἀλλ’ ἄγε τῶνδ’ ὀάρων προτέρων ἐπιμάρτυρα δέρκευ, εἴ τι καὶ ἐν προτέροισι λιπόξυλον ἔπλετο μορφῇ. 125 ἠέλιον μὲν θερμὸν ὁρᾶν καὶ λαμπρὸν ἁπάντῃ, ἄμβροτα δ’ ὄσσα πέλει τε καὶ ἀργέτι δεύεται αὐγῇ, 100 ὄμβρον δ’ ἐν πᾶσι δνοφόεντά τε ῥιγαλέον τε, ἐκ δ’ αἴης προρέουσι θέλυμνά τε καὶ στερεωπά. ἐν δὲ Κότῳ διάμορφα καὶ ἄνδιχα πάντα πέλονται, 130 σὺν δ’ ἔβη ἐν Φιλότητι καὶ ἀλλήλοισι ποθεῖται. ἐκ τούτων γὰρ πάνθ’ ὅσα τ’ ἦν ὅσα τ’ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται, 105 δένδρεά τ’ ἐβλάστησε καὶ ἀνέρες ἠδὲ γυναῖκες θῆρές τ’ οἰωνοί τε καὶ ὑδατοθρέμμονες ἰχθῦς καί τε θεοὶ δολιχαίωνες τιμῇσι φέριστοι. 135 ὡς δ’ ὁπόταν γραφέες ἀναθήματα ποικίλλωσιν 120 ἀνέρες ἀμφὶ τέχνης ὑπὸ μήτιος εὖ δεδαῶτε 155 οἵ τ’ ἐπεὶ οὖν μάρψωσι πολύχροα φάρμακα χερσίν, ἁρμονίῃ μίξαντε τὰ μὲν πλέω, ἄλλα δ’ ἐλάσσω, 123 ἐκ τῶν εἴδεα πᾶσιν ἀλίγκια πορσύνουσι· 127 οὕτω μή σ’ ἁπάτη φρένα καινύτω ἄλλοθεν εἶναι 162 θνητῶν, ὅσσα γε δῆλα γεγᾶσιν ἀάσπετα, πηγήν. ἀλλὰ τορῶς ταῦτ’ ἴσθι θεοῦ πάρα μῦθον ἀκούσας....

130 εἰ δ’ ἄγε, νῦν τοι ἐγὼ λέξω πρῶθ’ ἡλίου ἀρχὴν, ἐξ ὧν δὴ ἐγένοντο τὰ νῦν ἐσορώμενα πάντα, γαῖά τε καὶ πόντος πολυκύμων ἠδ’ ὑγρὸς ἀὴρ Τιτὰν ἠδ’ αἰθὴρ σφίγγων περὶ κύκλον ἅπαντα. 185

135 ἔνθ’ οὔτ’ ἠελίοιο δεδίσκεται ἀγλαὸν εἶδος 72 οὐδὲ μὲν οὐδ’ αἴης λάσιον μένος οὐδὲ θάλασσα· οὕτως ἁρμονίης πυκινῷ κύτει ἐστήρικται 59 σφαῖρος κυκλοτερὴς μονίῃ περιηγέϊ γαίων. αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ μέγα Νεῖκος ἐνὶ μελέεσσιν ἐθρέφθη 66 140 ἐς τιμάς τ’ ἀνόρουσε τελειομένοιο χρόνοιο, ὅς σφιν ἀμοιβαῖος πλατέος παρελήλαται ὅρκου.

πάντα γὰρ ἑξείης πελεμίζετο γυῖα θεοῖο. 70

χωρὶς γὰρ βαρὺ πᾶν, χωρὶς κοῦφον. 71