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23

IV.

HERAKLEITOS.

ACCORDING to Apollodoros, Herakleitos son of Blyson flourished in the sixty-ninth Olympiad (504–501 B.C.). An attempt to fix the date from his reference to the expul sion from Ephesos of his friend Hermodoros (Frag. 114) has resulted in a somewhat later date, though it is by no means impossible that Hermodoros was expelled during Persian rule in the city. Beyond the fact that Herakleitos lived in Ephesos we know nothing of his life; of the many stories related about him most can be proved false, and there is no reason for crediting the remainder His philosophic position is clear, however, since he refers to Pythagoras and Xenophanes (Fr. 16-17), and Parmenides (Vss. 46 sqq.) seems to refer to him. His book is said to have been divided into three parts:(1) Concerning the All; (2) Political; (3) Theological Even in antiquity he was surnamed the 'dark' or the 'obscure.'

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Literature: Schleiermacher, Op. Phil. ii. 1–146; Bernays, Ges. Abhandl. i.; Lassalle, Die Philosophie Herakleitos des dunklen, Berl. 1858; P. Schuster, Heraklit von Ephesos,' in Act. soc. phil. Lips. 1873, 111; Teichmüller, Neue Studien zur Gesch. d. Begriffe, Gotha 1876-1878; Bywater, Heracl. Eph. Reliquiae, Oxford 1877; Gomperz, 'Zu Herakl. Lehre,' Sitz. d. Wien. Ak. 1886, p. 977 ff.; Patin, Herakl. Einheitslehre, Leipzig 1886, 'Quellenstudien zu Heraklit,' in Festschrift f. L. Urlichs, 1880, Herakleitische Beispiele, Progr. Neuburg, 1892-1893; E. Pfleiderer, Die Philosophie des Heraklits im Lichte der Mysterienidee, Berlin 1886; also Rhein. Mus. xlii. 153 ff.; JBB. f. protest. Theol. xiv. 177 ff.; E. Wambier, Studia Heraclitea, Diss. Berlin 1891.

(α) FRAGMENTS OF HERAKLEITOS.

1. οὐκ ἐμεῦ ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούσαντας ὁμολογέειν σοφόν ἐστι, ἓν πάντα εἶναι.

2. τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦδ ̓ ἐόντος αἰεὶ ἀξύνετοι γίνονται ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρόσθεν ἢ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον. γινομένων γὰρ πάντων κατὰ τὸν λόγον τόνδε ἀπείροισι ἐοίκασι πειρώμενοι καὶ ἐπέων καὶ ἔργων τοιουτέων ὁκοίων ἐγὼ διηγεῦμαι, διαιρέων ἕκαστον κατὰ φύσιν καὶ φράζων ὅκως ἔχει. τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους λανθάνει ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ποιέουσι, ὅκωσπερ ὁκόσα εὕδοντες ἐπιλανθάνονται.

3. ἀξύνετοι ἀκούσαντες κωφοῖσι ἐοίκασι· φάτις αὐτοῖσι μαρτυρέει παρεόντας ἀπεῖναι.

4. κακοὶ μάρτυρες ἀνθρώποισι ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ὦτα, βαρβάρους ψυχὰς ἐχόντων.

5. οὐ φρονέουσι τοιαῦτα πολλοὶ ὁκόσοισι ἐγκυρέουσι οὐδὲ μαθόντες γινώσκουσι, ἑωυτοῖσι δὲ δοκέουσι.

6. ἀκοῦσαι οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι οὐδ ̓ εἰπεῖν.

Sources and Critical Notes.

1. Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9 (cf. Philo, Leg. all. iii. 3, p. 88).

λόγου Bernays, δόγματος MS., Bgk. : εἶναι Miller, εἰδέναι MS., Bern. Bgk.

2. Sext. Emp. adv. math. vii. 132; (except last clause) Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9. In part: Arist. Rhet. iii. 5, 1407 b 14; Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 716 (=Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 680); Amelius in Euseb. P. E. xi. 19, p. 540, (and elsewhere). Cf. Philo, Quis rer. div. haer. 43, p. 505; Joh. Sic. in Walz, Rhett. Gr. vi. p. 95.

τοῦ δέοντος vulg. except Sext. Εmp. : ξετοὶ (for ἀξύνετοι) MS. Hipp. : ἀπείροισι Bern., ἄπειροι εἰσὶν Hipp., ἄπειροι Sext. Emp.

3. Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 718 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 681); Theod. Ther. i. 13, 49: ἀπιέναι MS. Clem.

4. Sext. Emp. adv. math. viii. 126; Stob. Flor. iv. 56; cf. Diog. Laer. ix. 7.

5. Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 2, p. 432; cf. M. Antoninus, iv. 46.

ὁκόσοις Gataker, ὁκόσοι vulg.: ἐγκυρέουσι Schuster, ἐγκυρσεύουσιν vulg.

6. Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 5, p. 442.

TRANSLATION.

1. Not on my authority, but on that of truth, it is wise for you to accept the fact that all things are one. Hippolytos quotes this with Fragment 45, to show that Herakleitos taught the underlying unity of all things. On the word λóyos (meaning both discourse and the truth the discourse contains), v. Zeller, i. 630, n. 1.

2. This truth, though it always exists, men do not understand, as well before they hear it as when they hear it for the first time. For although all things happen in accordance with this truth, men seem unskilled indeed when they make trial of words and matters such as I am setting forth, in my effort to discriminate each thing according to its nature, and to tell what its state is. But other men fail to notice what they do when awake, in the same manner that they forget what they do when asleep.

Hippolytos quotes this passage with reference to a universal all-pervading reason.

3. Those who hear without the power to understand are like deaf men; the proverb holds true of them - Present, they are absent.'

Quoted by Clement in illustration of Ev. Luc. xiv. 35. 4. Eyes and ears are bad witnesses for men, since their souls lack understanding.

Sextus Emp. interprets this as meaning 'rude souls

trust the irrational senses.' Cf. Zeller, i. 716, n. 5.

5. Most men do not understand such things as they are wont to meet with; nor by learning do they come to know them, though they think they do.

6. They know not how to listen, nor how to speak. Clement compares this with Eccles. vi. 35.

7. ἐὰν μὴ ἔλπηαι, ἀνέλπιστον οὐκ ἐξευρήσει, ἀνεξε ρεύνητον ἐὸν καὶ ἄπορον.

8. χρυσὸν οἱ διζήμενοι γῆν πολλὴν ὀρύσσουσι καὶ εὑρίσκουσι ὀλίγον.

θ. ἀγχιβασίην.

10. φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ.

11. ὁ ἄναξ [οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ] ἐν Δελφοῖς οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει, ἀλλὰ σημαίνει.

12. σίβυλλα δὲ μαινομένῳ στόματι ἀγέλαστα καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ ἀμύριστα φθεγγομένη χιλίων ἐτέων ἐξικνέεται τῇ φωνῇ διὰ τὸν θεὸν.

13. ὅσων ὄψις ἀκοὴ μάθησις, ταῦτα ἐγὼ προτιμέω. 14. ἀπίστους ἀμφισβητουμένων παρεχόμενοι βεβαιωτάς.

15. ὀφθαλμοὶ τῶν ὤτων ἀκριβέστεροι μάρτυρες.

7. Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 4, p. 437; Theod. Ther. i. p. 15, 51.

ἔλπησθε Steph., ἔλπηαι Byw. Schus.: ἐξευρήσετε Steph., ἐξευphoeus Schus. On punctuation v. Gomperz, Archiv f. d. G. d. Phil. i. 100.

8. Clem. Αl. Strom. iv. 2, p. 565 ; Theod. Ther. i. p. 15, 52.

9. Suidas, under ἀμφισβατεῖν and ἀγχιβατεῖν.

10. Themist. Or. v. p. 69 (xii. p. 159). Cf. Philo, Qu. in gen. iv. 1 p. 237, de profug. 32, p. 573, de somn. i. 2, p. 621, de spec. legg. 8, p. 344; Julian, Or. vii. p. 216 c.

11. Plut. de pyth. orac. 21, p. 404 E; Stob. Flor. v. 72, lxxxi. 17 ; Iambl. de myst. iii. 15. Cf. Lucian, vit. auct. 14.

τὸ μαντείον appears only in Plutarch, and should probably be omitted.

12. Plut. de pyth. or. 6, p. 397 a. Cf. Clem. Al. Strom. i. 15, p. 358; Iambl. de myst. iii. 8; Pseudo-Herakl. Epist. viii.

13. Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9.

MS. ὅσον, corr. Miller.

14. Polyb. iv. 40.

15. Polyb. xii. 27 ; cf. Hdt. i.

7. If you do not hope, you will not find that which is not hoped for; since it is difficult to discover and impossible to attain.

Clement compares this with Isaias vii. 9. With Gomperz's punctuation: Unless you expect the unexpected, you will not find truth; for, &c.'

8. Seekers for gold dig much earth, and find little gold.

9. Controversy.

10. Nature loves to hide.

'So we worship the creator of nature, because the knowledge of him is difficult.'

11. The Lord [whose is the oracle] at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign.

12. And the Sibyl with raving mouth, uttering words solemn, unadorned, and unsweetened, reaches with her voice a thousand years because of the god in her.

Quoted by Plutarch to show that allurements of sense are out of place in the holy responses of the god. Both this fragment and the preceding seem originally to have referred to the nature of Herakleitos's teaching; it is obscure, and yet divine.

13. What can be seen, heard, and learned, this I prize.

Hippolytos contrasts this with Fr. 47, and in this connection the translation of Schuster, Am I to prize these (invisible) things above what can be seen, heard, learned?' seems the more natural.

14. (For this is characteristic of the present age, when, inasmuch as all lands and seas may be crossed by man, it would no longer be fitting to depend on the witness of poets and mythographers, as our ancestors generally did), ‘bringing forth untrustworthy witnesses to confirm disputed points,' in the words of Herakleitos.

15. Eyes are more exact witnesses than ears.

Cf. Bernays, Rhein. Mus. ix. 261 sqq.

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