A NOTE ON THIS EDITION

The Greek text is that of Hermann Diels (Poetarum philosophorum fragmenta, 1901; Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 1903), reproduced as transmitted, with his iota adscripts, his editorial supplements in angle brackets, and his daggers. Diels died in 1922 and his text is in the public domain.

The English translation is new, made directly from the Greek printed opposite, and is line-for-line: each English line answers the Greek line that faces it.

Beneath each fragment on the Greek page stands the ancient author who preserves it. The numbering is that of Diels-Kranz, chapter 31 B, by which Empedocles is universally cited.

The Strasbourg and Cairo papyri, the reconstructions built upon them, and the testimonia (the A-fragments) are not printed here. The reasons are given in the Introduction, section VII.