Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
The Greek and Latin of Hermann Diels · New English translation and notes.
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Ancient Greek and Latin Page · Branch 53 of 126
Principles, Cosmos and Cycle · A 32
Ancient Greek and Latin
p. 96Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303
⟨Ἐμπεδοκλῆς σφαιροειδὲς καὶ ἀίδιον καὶ ἀκίνητον τὸ ἕν⟩ καὶ τὸ μὲν ἓν τὴν ἀνάγκην, ὕλην δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ τέτταρα στοιχεῖα, εἴδη δὲ τὸ Νεῖκος καὶ τὴν Φιλίαν. λέγει δὲ καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα θεοὺς καὶ τὸ μῖγμα τούτων τὸν κόσμον καὶ πρὸς τ⟨ούτοις τὸν Σφαῖρον, εἰς ὃν πάντα ταῦτ⟩' ἀναλυθήσεται, τὸ μονοειδές. καὶ θείας μὲν οἴεται τὰς ψυχάς, θείους δὲ καὶ τοὺς μετέχοντας αὐτῶν καθαροὺς καθαρῶς.
Aëtius I 3,20
Ἐ. Μέτωνος Ἀκραγαντῖνος τέτταρα μὲν λέγει στοιχεῖα, πῦρ ἀέρα ὕδωρ γῆν, δύο δὲ ἀρχικὰς δυνάμεις, Φιλίαν τε καὶ Νεῖκος, ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστιν ἑνωτική, τὸ δὲ διαιρετικόν. φησὶ δὲ οὕτως· "τέσσαρα ... βρότειον" [B 6]. Δία μὲν γὰρ λέγει τὴν ζέσιν καὶ τὸν αἰθέρα, Ἥρην δὲ φερέσβιον τὸν ἀέρα, τὴν δὲ γῆν τὸν Ἀιδωνέα· Νῆστιν δὲ καὶ κρούνωμα βρότειον οἱονεὶ τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ. ... καὶ θερμότητος καὶ ψυχρότητος, ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα ἀναλογίας καὶ κράσεως ἐναπεργαζομένης τὸ πᾶν καὶ μεταβολὰς μὲν μερικὰς ὑπομενούσης, τοῦ δὲ παντὸς λύσιν μὴ ἐπιδεχομένης. λέγει γὰρ οὕτως· "ἄλλοτε ... ἔχθει" [B 17, 7.8].
Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus
Ἐ. Δία μὲν λέγει τὴν ζέσιν ⟨καὶ⟩ τὸν αἰθέρα, Ἥρην δὲ φερέσβιον τὴν γῆν, ἀέρα δὲ τὸν Ἀιδωνέα, ἐπειδὴ φῶς οἰκεῖον οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων καταλάμπεται, Νῆστιν δὲ καὶ κρούνωμα βρότειον τὸ σπέρμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ. ἐκ τεσσάρων οὖν στοιχείων τὸ πᾶν, τῆς τούτων φύσεως ἐξ ἐναντίων συνεστώσης, ξηρότητός τε καὶ ὑγρότητος ...
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II: Principles, Cosmos and Cycle
p. 97The One as spherical, eternal, unmoved; the elements as gods; the Sphairos.
Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303
⟨Empedocles holds that the One is spherical and eternal and unmoved⟩, and that the One is Necessity, its matter being the four elements and its forms Strife and Love. He calls the elements gods, and the mixture of them the cosmos; and into these the uniform Sphairos will be resolved. He holds souls to be divine, and divine also those pure men who share in them purely.
Report (doxographic, compressed).
The opening clause stands in angle brackets in Diels: it is supplied from Stobaeus and is not in the Aëtius text as transmitted. — "matter" and "forms" are Aristotelian categories laid over Empedocles; he has neither word.
the opening clause is supplied from Stobaeus and stands in angle brackets in Diels; τ⟨ούτοις … ταῦτ⟩' is likewise supplied (Usener).
A third identification of the four divine names, with reasons given.
Aëtius I 3,20
Empedocles son of Meton, of Acragas, says there are four elements — fire, air, water, earth — and two original powers, Love and Strife, of which the one unites and the other divides. He speaks thus: "Hear first the four roots of all things ..." [B6]. For by Zeus he means fire and aither; by life-bearing Hera, the air; by Aidoneus, the earth; and by Nestis and the mortal spring, seed and water. ... and of heat and cold; and by the proportion and blending of these with one another the All is wrought, undergoing partial changes while admitting no dissolution of the whole. For he speaks thus: ‘at one time … in hatred’ [B 17,7-8].
Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus
By Zeus he means the boiling heat and the aither; by life-bearing Hera, the earth; by Aidoneus, the air, since it has no light of its own but is lit by sun and moon and stars; and by Nestis and the mortal spring, seed and water. Out of four elements, then, is the All, their nature composed of opposites, of dryness and wetness ...
Socrates
Reading Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II · Principles, Cosmos and Cycle · A 32
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Empedocles survives not only through his poems but through the ancient writers who described his life, doctrines, medicine, cosmology, and extraordinary reputation. Volume II gathers the testimonia: ninety-nine numbered reports drawn from fifty-two authors across nine centuries. The English introduction appears full width; each Greek or Latin testimony then faces its new English translation.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek and Latin reading text follows Hermann Diels’s third edition of Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1912), retaining the supplied edition’s Diels-Kranz numbering and editorial signs. These witnesses must be read as a chain of transmission: many preserve valuable evidence, while others summarize, dispute, reshape, or repeat earlier accounts.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared the new English translation, introduction, notes, and reception appendices for this volume. The translation keeps each witness distinct and preserves its technical vocabulary, argumentative posture, and relationship to the surviving poetry in Volume I.
Rights
The ancient source works and Hermann Diels’s 1912 Greek and Latin edition are in the public domain. The 2026 English translation, introduction, notes, and editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.