From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSimplicius is a later commentator whose testimony in this volume sometimes preserves or discusses poetic material within a philosophical exposition.
- In this workFor the cosmic cycle, the distinction is crucial.
- In this editionThe source’s introduction and its A 52 note are themselves part of the interpretive problem.
- A place to readTransmits a six-principles analysis distinguishing the four corporeal elements from Love and Strife as movers.
Meaning
Simplicius is a later commentator whose testimony in this volume sometimes preserves or discusses poetic material within a philosophical exposition. A commentator’s ability to transmit early wording does not make every part of the accompanying interpretation equally early.
Use in the book
For the cosmic cycle, the distinction is crucial. The supplied volume brings Simplicius into a dispute over what happens under the predominance of Love and Strife. The printed passage at A 52 describes a cosmos of Strife, the Sphairos and the kind of cosmos under discussion. The modern note reads this as clear testimony to two symmetrical world formations. That may be an interpretation to consider, but it is stronger than simply repeating the nouns that occur in the printed passage. The lexicon therefore identifies both the commentator’s wording and the modern inference. At A 28 Simplicius transmits an analysis associated with Theophrastus, distinguishing four corporeal elements from two moving principles. This mediated relation should not be counted as two independent testimonies merely because two authors are named. A critical article must leave room for shared textual inheritance, interpretive expansion and differences between what is quoted and what is explained.
Places to read
- A 28 (testimony)Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus. Transmits a six-principles analysis distinguishing the four corporeal elements from Love and Strife as movers.
- A 52 (testimony)Simplicius, De caelo 293,18 and 305,21. The wording concerning the cosmos of Strife and the Sphairos must be separated from the modern note’s symmetrical formulation.
- Introduction (apparatus)Modern introduction, The roots and the powers and How to read this volume. Frames Simplicius as an important later transmitter and advances an interpretation of the cycle.
Translation in this edition
The source’s introduction and its A 52 note are themselves part of the interpretive problem. Their formulation should not be quoted as though it were Simplicius’ own unambiguous statement.