--- title: Empedocles Volume II Lexicon subtitle: A Reading Companion to the Testimonia and Reception author: [] lang: en-GB date: October 2026 --- # Contents {#contents} [Introduction](#introduction) · [Lexicon](#lexicon) · [Original forms and English aliases](#lexical-index) · [Passage index](#passage-index) · [Thematic index](#thematic-index) - [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) - [Acragas](#entry-acragas) - [Acron](#entry-acron) - [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) - [Air](#entry-air) - [Aither](#entry-aither) - [All](#entry-all) - [Alteration](#entry-alteration) - [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) - [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) - [Alternation](#entry-alternation) - [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) - [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) - [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) - [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) - [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite) - [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) - [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) - [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) - [Appetite](#entry-appetite) - [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) - [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) - [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) - [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness) - [Art](#entry-art) - [Articulation](#entry-articulation) - [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) - [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) - [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) - [Bell](#entry-bell) - [Beloved](#entry-beloved) - [Black](#entry-black) - [Blood](#entry-blood) - [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) - [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) - [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) - [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) - [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) - [Bone](#entry-bone) - [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) - [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) - [Breathing](#entry-breathing) - [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) - [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) - [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) - [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) - [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia) - [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) - [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) - [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) - [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) - [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) - [Chance](#entry-chance) - [Cold](#entry-cold) - [Colour](#entry-colour) - [Combination](#entry-combination) - [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) - [Compaction](#entry-compaction) - [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) - [Contact](#entry-contact) - [Cooling](#entry-cooling) - [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower) - [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) - [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) - [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) - [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) - [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) - [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) - [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) - [Cycle](#entry-cycle) - [Daimones](#entry-daimones) - [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) - [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) - [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) - [Death](#entry-death) - [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) - [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) - [Destruction](#entry-destruction) - [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) - [Digestion](#entry-digestion) - [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) - [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) - [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) - [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) - [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) - [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) - [Dowries](#entry-dowries) - [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) - [Earth](#entry-earth) - [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) - [Effluence](#entry-effluence) - [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) - [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) - [Elements](#entry-elements) - [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) - [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation) - [Embryo](#entry-embryo) - [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) - [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) - [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) - [Epigram](#entry-epigram) - [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) - [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) - [Etna](#entry-etna) - [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) - [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) - [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) - [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) - [Faculty](#entry-faculty) - [Fate](#entry-fate) - [Fire](#entry-fire) - [First breath](#entry-first-breath) - [First plants](#entry-first-plants) - [Fitting](#entry-fitting) - [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) - [Flavour](#entry-flavour) - [Flesh](#entry-flesh) - [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) - [Form](#entry-form) - [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) - [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) - [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) - [Fruit](#entry-fruit) - [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) - [Generation](#entry-generation) - [Gestation](#entry-gestation) - [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) - [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) - [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) - [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) - [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) - [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) - [Growth](#entry-growth) - [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) - [Hearing](#entry-hearing) - [Heart](#entry-heart) - [Heat](#entry-heat) - [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) - [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) - [Hera](#entry-hera) - [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness) - [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity) - [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) - [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) - [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) - [Images](#entry-images) - [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) - [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) - [Infertility](#entry-infertility) - [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) - [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) - [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) - [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) - [Instrument](#entry-instrument) - [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) - [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) - [Iron](#entry-iron) - [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) - [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) - [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) - [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) - [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) - [Lantern](#entry-lantern) - [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) - [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) - [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) - [Lightning](#entry-lightning) - [Likeness](#entry-likeness) - [Liver](#entry-liver) - [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) - [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) - [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) - [Love](#entry-love) - [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) - [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) - [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) - [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) - [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) - [Luxury](#entry-luxury) - [Madness](#entry-madness) - [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) - [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) - [Masses](#entry-masses) - [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) - [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) - [Matter](#entry-matter) - [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) - [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) - [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy) - [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) - [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) - [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) - [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) - [Mind](#entry-mind) - [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) - [Mirror](#entry-mirror) - [Misy](#entry-misy) - [Mixture](#entry-mixture) - [Monad](#entry-monad) - [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) - [Moon](#entry-moon) - [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) - [Motion](#entry-motion) - [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) - [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) - [Mules](#entry-mules) - [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) - [Nails](#entry-nails) - [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) - [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) - [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) - [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) - [Nature](#entry-nature) - [Navel](#entry-navel) - [Necessity](#entry-necessity) - [Nestis](#entry-nestis) - [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) - [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) - [Odour](#entry-odour) - [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) - [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) - [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) - [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) - [Opposites](#entry-opposites) - [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) - [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) - [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) - [Pain](#entry-pain) - [Panthea](#entry-panthea) - [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) - [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) - [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) - [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) - [Perception](#entry-perception) - [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) - [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) - [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) - [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) - [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) - [Planets](#entry-planets) - [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) - [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) - [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) - [Plants](#entry-plants) - [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) - [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) - [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) - [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) - [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) - [Pores](#entry-pores) - [Power](#entry-power) - [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) - [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) - [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) - [Principle](#entry-principle) - [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) - [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) - [Purifications](#entry-purifications) - [Purifier](#entry-purifier) - [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) - [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) - [Quality](#entry-quality) - [Quantity](#entry-quantity) - [Quickness](#entry-quickness) - [Ratio](#entry-ratio) - [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) - [Rays](#entry-rays) - [Red](#entry-red) - [Reflection](#entry-reflection) - [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) - [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) - [Rest](#entry-rest) - [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) - [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) - [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) - [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) - [Roots](#entry-roots) - [Rotation](#entry-rotation) - [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) - [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) - [Rust](#entry-rust) - [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) - [Sea](#entry-sea) - [Seasons](#entry-seasons) - [Seed](#entry-seed) - [Selinus](#entry-selinus) - [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) - [Separation](#entry-separation) - [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) - [Shoots](#entry-shoots) - [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) - [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) - [Sight](#entry-sight) - [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness) - [Sinew](#entry-sinew) - [Sleep](#entry-sleep) - [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) - [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) - [Smell](#entry-smell) - [Soil](#entry-soil) - [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) - [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) - [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) - [Soul](#entry-soul) - [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) - [Sound](#entry-sound) - [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) - [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) - [Stammering](#entry-stammering) - [Stars](#entry-stars) - [Stone](#entry-stone) - [Strife](#entry-strife) - [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) - [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) - [Sun](#entry-sun) - [Sweat](#entry-sweat) - [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) - [Taste](#entry-taste) - [Tears](#entry-tears) - [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) - [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) - [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) - [Thought](#entry-thought) - [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) - [Thunder](#entry-thunder) - [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) - [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) - [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) - [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) - [Touch](#entry-touch) - [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) - [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) - [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) - [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) - [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) - [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) - [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) - [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) - [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) - [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) - [Vanity](#entry-vanity) - [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) - [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) - [Void](#entry-void) - [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) - [Wasting](#entry-wasting) - [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) - [Water](#entry-water) - [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) - [White](#entry-white) - [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) - [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) - [Winds](#entry-winds) - [Wine](#entry-wine) - [Womb](#entry-womb) - [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) - [Yellow](#entry-yellow) - [Zeno](#entry-zeno) - [Zeus](#entry-zeus) # Introduction {#introduction} ## A lexicon of witnesses This lexicon is a reading companion to *Empedocles of Acragas Volume II The Testimonia*, the supplied edition presenting Greek and Latin attributed to Hermann Diels together with a new English translation and notes. Its 359 articles explain the significant words, technical expressions, images, persons, practices and interpretive distinctions encountered in that volume. It follows the same five-part article structure as the companion to Volume I, while changing the central question: here the reader must ask not only what a word means, but whose word it is. The source is a collection of evidence about Empedocles. A sentence in Aristotle, an epitomized doxographical notice, a story in Diogenes Laertius, and a line of Milton have different purposes and cannot simply be added together into a single doctrine. Several passages do quote Empedoclean verse, notwithstanding the supplied edition's sweeping statement that nothing in the book is Empedocles' own words. The articles distinguish those embedded quotations from the testimony surrounding them. Neither every ancient report nor every modern explanation is silently treated as a fragment. The primary scope is the whole supplied volume: the Life and associated notices at A 1–25; principles, cosmology and the cycle at A 26–56; light, weather, plants, animals and bodies at A 57–85; perception and thought at A 86–98; and both reception appendices. A 69a is an additional numbered notice. A 1 and A 86 are divided into the edition's smaller section groups. The work's introduction, sectional summaries and apparatus are also examined, but their modern interpretations remain marked as editorial material. References to B fragments arise where this volume itself mentions or quotes them; they do not turn this book into a second edition of Volume I. ## How an article works **The word** gives the headword's sense and, where supported by the source, its original-language forms. The English heading is a finding aid. It need not be the editor's preferred translation or a technical expression coined by Empedocles. Greek forms are given with readable transliterations; inflected forms may be retained when that is what the witness actually prints. Latin and, in the reception appendix, Italian are included where relevant. English terms in the later English poems require no reconstructed Greek equivalent. **In this work** explains how the term functions in the cited evidence. An argument against Empedocles is described as an argument, not silently converted into the doctrine it seeks to refute. A biographical anecdote is a report or legend, even where its narrative is vivid. A modern literary transformation is reception, not evidence for the philosopher's life. **The places** supplies annotated references. Each citation names the volume's stable A number or appendix location, its witness, and the relevant pages in the source PDF. A citation's label indicates its evidentiary layer: quotation, testimony, polemical argument, biography, legend, reception or apparatus. These labels describe the use being made of the passage; a long source unit may contain more than one layer. The annotation explains what the passage contributes rather than merely listing it. **In this edition** identifies a translation choice, textual qualification or interpretive problem specific to that article. This section is especially important where the apparatus records a supplement, emendation, rearrangement or uncertain attribution. It also separates the supplied edition's confident narrative from what its printed evidence establishes. **See also** gives linked routes to related articles. These are relations of contrast as well as agreement. Love and Strife, for example, may lead to an account of mixture, but that does not mean every witness uses those terms in the same way. Supplementary notes are real footnotes in Word and the PDF, and linked notes in the EPUB and Markdown. ## Reference conventions A references retain the supplied volume's Diels–Kranz numbering. They are not chronological positions in Empedocles' original compositions. Grouped labels such as A 8–A 10 or A 1 §§ 53–55 reproduce the edition's headings; the witness name and annotation identify the particular notice within them. The book's Greek or Latin and its English commonly occupy facing pages, and some dossiers continue over several openings. Source PDF pages are the visible page numbers of the attached 243-page PDF, counting its title page as page 1. They are not pages in an external Diels edition. The passage index gathers the articles under those source units, retaining their evidentiary labels. The original-forms index includes Greek expressions, transliterations, Latin and Italian forms, and English aliases. The thematic index provides overlapping routes through the material. Its categories are aids made for this lexicon, not ancient divisions attributed to Empedocles. The contents and indexes in the paginated formats also give the lexicon's own article-opening pages; these differ from the source pages printed in citations. Internal links lead to articles in all four formats. ## Reading across the witnesses Aristotle frequently redescribes earlier thinkers through his own distinctions between matter, form, moving cause and explanation. His objections are valuable evidence for his reading of Empedocles, but the terminology of the objection is not automatically Empedocles' terminology. The same caution applies when Theophrastus distinguishes a faculty from an instrument or asks whether a cause is intrinsic or incidental. Those distinctions structure the later critical argument. Aëtius notices in this volume are compact doxographical reports transmitted through a reconstructed tradition. Their brevity can suppress the argument that once connected the conclusions. Where a notice agrees with another witness, agreement does not itself prove independent attestation. Simplicius, Hippolytus, Plutarch and the medical writers likewise have their own philosophical, religious or professional purposes. The lexicon names those purposes only where the supplied evidence supports them; it does not rank all witnesses by a single formula. Biography requires a related discipline. Diogenes Laertius preserves competing genealogies, chronological calculations, philosophical affiliations and deaths. The alternatives remain alternatives. A story's inclusion does not prove that Diogenes accepted it, and an ancient criticism of a legend does not establish every fact of a competing narrative. Political equality, spectacular dress, medicine and ritual can be studied as distinct features of the testimony without turning their combination into an unqualified portrait. The appendices show later authors transforming the inherited material. Lucretius joins praise to criticism; Dante places the philosopher within a Christian poem and evokes a doctrine of cosmic Love; Milton and Arnold give different meanings to the crater story. None of these literary choices verifies the leap into Etna. Their language belongs to their respective works. ## Textual cautions that change interpretation The articles preserve several disagreements that the supplied commentary sometimes smooths out. The divine names in A 33 receive incompatible elemental mappings. The proposed symmetry of the cosmic cycle requires interpretation: the printed Simplicius passage at A 52 expressly names a cosmos of Strife and the Sphairos, while the edition's explanatory note goes further in its language of two cosmoi. A 51's accounts of the heavenly substance are not identical. Repetition is not unanimity. Other problems arise between the original-language text and its presentation. At A 32 the supplied English reverses the direction of dissolution expressed by the supplemented Greek clause concerning the Sphairos. At A 1 § 61 the reading rendered as absence of pulse is an emendation beside alternatives concerning decay or food. At A 78 the recipes for tissues incorporate substantial textual reconstruction, including repair by reference to the verse on bone. They must not be counted as wholly independent, untouched numerical confirmation of that verse. The articles on the Sphairos, the breathless woman, bone and ratio explain these issues at their own locations. The biology also preserves real tensions. At A 70 the reports do not uniformly attribute sensation to plants. The habitat account at A 72 and the explanation of fiery aquatic creatures at A 73 use different explanatory relations. Rather than inventing a lost solution, the lexicon makes the competing statements visible. The same principle governs the extensive objections in A 86: an objection may reveal an explanatory gap without proving that the original poem contained no response. This is a comprehensive interpretive lexicon, not a token-by-token grammatical concordance. Articles are separated when a term has a distinctive sense, image, argument or evidentiary problem. Function words, incidental repetitions and every name in a passing list do not require independent articles. Conversely, minor but consequential details are not hidden inside broad headings merely to keep the book short. The aim is to make the volume searchable at the level where its evidence actually changes meaning. # Lexicon {#lexicon} ## Abstinence from living things {#entry-abstinence-from-living-things} *ἐμψύχων ἀπεχόμενος (empsychōn apechomenos); Πυθαγορικὸς (Pythagorikos)* **The word.** Empsychos literally describes what has soul or life; apechomenos means abstaining. The expression in Athenaeus marks avoidance of living creatures as the explanation for a substituted ox offering. **In this work.** Athenaeus ties the practice to Empedocles’ Pythagorean identity and says he molded an ox of costly aromatics for festival distribution. The immediate context is ritual killing and a replacement offering. It supports an animal-abstention tradition, but does not specify a complete diet, the handling of every animal product, or all permitted ritual acts. The Life’s separate wind story orders asses to be flayed, a detail that complicates attempts to harmonize the entire biography under a single rigorously applied ethical code. That tension may reflect divergent narrative purposes rather than the historical author’s inconsistency. Diogenes’ doctrinal summary that the soul puts on animal and plant forms gives a related background, but the bloodless-sacrifice notice does not itself explain abstention by a full argument about transmigration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 11–A 12 (biography).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters; source PDF pp. 58–59. Makes Pythagorean abstinence the explicit reason for the aromatic ox. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 26–27. Supplies the contrasting report of flaying asses. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Reports successive animal and plant embodiments as separate doctrinal evidence. **In this edition.** “Vegetarianism” is a useful modern lookup label but broader dietary rules are not detailed here. The edition’s phrase “all killing was murder” is an interpretive summary, not the exact content of this brief Athenaeus notice. **See also.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration). ## Acragas {#entry-acragas} *Ἀκραγαντῖνος (Akragantinos); Ἀκράγαντα (Akraganta); Acragantinus* **The word.** The ethnic adjective means “of Acragas,” the Sicilian city from which Empedocles is repeatedly identified. The Latin Acragantinus preserves the same civic designation. It is a statement of origin and public belonging, not the name of a philosophical school. **In this work.** Acragas supplies the social setting of the Life: a distinguished horse-rearing family, magistrates and council, wealthy citizens, political opponents, and public ceremonies. Diogenes appeals to the opening of the Purifications as evidence that Empedocles himself claimed this civic identity. That appeal is stronger than treating every anecdote set in the city as autobiographical evidence. The attributed remark that its citizens enjoy luxury as though dying tomorrow but build as though immortal turns the city into an ethical example. Other reports make it the beneficiary of wind-control, dowries, and political intervention. The city is therefore both a location and the audience before whom the philosopher’s wealth, benevolence, authority, and alleged divinity are staged. Lucretius expands this civic label into a celebration of Sicily whose greatest marvel is the Acragantine thinker. Accounts of blocked return show, however, that civic celebrity need not mean permanent political security. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 54; source PDF pp. 18–21. Uses the opening of the Purifications to support Acragantine origin. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 63; source PDF pp. 28–29. Gives the luxury-and-building saying and a population figure. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Names the thinker Acragantinus before praising his island. **In this edition.** The Greek population expression printed at VIII 63, μυριάδες … ὀγδοήκοντα, means eighty myriads, or 800,000, whereas the translation gives “eighty thousand.” Neither is accepted here as a historical census. Nor does the civic setting verify an anecdote’s historical occurrence. **See also.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Luxury](#entry-luxury); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape). ## Acron {#entry-acron} *Ἄκρωνος (Akrōnos); Ἄκρων (Akrōn); Acrone Agragantino* **The word.** Acron is the physician’s name; the Life exploits its similarity to Greek words for a summit or highest point. The repeated “topmost” language in the epigram turns an eminent doctor’s name into a joke about pre-eminence. **In this work.** In Diogenes, Acron seeks a civic plot for a family monument on the basis of medical distinction. Empedocles blocks the request through an argument about equality and a mocking couplet whose authorship is itself disputed. The separate medical dossier complicates any simple picture of personal hostility. Pliny says Acron was commended by Empedocles’ authority, while the Suda connects both men with teaching at Athens and records medical writings in Doric. Plutarch reports Acron’s reputation for directing fires beside the sick during the Athenian plague. These notices can coexist as different traditions of competition, endorsement, and civic status; they need not be harmonized into a single personal relationship. Acron’s inclusion is especially useful because it gives medical accomplishment a political setting: expertise could be invoked to request honor, and equality could be invoked to refuse it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 65; source PDF pp. 30–33. Connects the monument dispute, equality, and the punning couplet. - **A 3 (testimony).** Pliny, Natural History; The Suda, under “Acron”; source PDF pp. 50–51. Presents medical authority and a catalogue of writings. - **A 3 (testimony).** Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris; source PDF pp. 50–51. Reports the treatment-by-fire reputation during plague. **In this edition.** The Greek πατρώιου μνήματος can evoke an ancestral or paternal memorial; the English fixes it as a monument to his father. The edition’s equation of noting winds with membership in a Pneumatist school is not established by the quoted Suda notice. **See also.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air). ## Aidoneus {#entry-aidoneus} *Ἀιδωνέα (Aidōnea); Ἀιδωνεὺς (Aidōneus); Ἀϊδωνέα (Aidōnea)* **The word.** Aidoneus is the divine name used in the root explanations, with orthographical variation in Diogenes’ summary. The witnesses connect it with what is unseen or unilluminated. These connections are ancient interpretative arguments; they should not be promoted without qualification into a demonstrated historical etymology or an explanation expressly given by Empedocles. **In this work.** Aëtius identifies Aidoneus with earth, reversing the mapping found in the Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes, where the name denotes air. The two elaborated air-identifications are themselves distinct. The Homeric Allegories says air has no light of its own and is illuminated by sun, moon and stars. Hippolytus argues instead from air’s transparency: one sees all things through it while not seeing air itself. Lack of intrinsic luminosity and invisibility are related explanatory moves, not the same physical claim. The entry therefore cannot present “the unseen one = air” as the settled key to B6. It can show why that key was persuasive to certain ancient readers and why the alternative earth identification remains part of the transmitted dossier. The disagreement affects Hera at the same time: switching one identification switches the other, so each article must be read with its partner. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Assigns Aidoneus to earth. - **A 33 (testimony).** Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Assigns Aidoneus to air because air receives light from other celestial sources. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Explains Aidoneus as air through the invisibility of the medium through which other things are seen. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 76; source PDF pp. 46–47. Agrees with the air identification without reproducing either explanatory argument. **In this edition.** The different spellings are transmitted forms in this edition. Its endorsement of Hippolytus’ argument is a modern judgment, not additional evidence that the argument belonged to the poem. **See also.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Air](#entry-air); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots). ## Air {#entry-air} *ἀέρα (aera); ἀήρ (aēr); ἀερῶδες (aerōdes)* **The word.** Ἀήρ names air; the neuter ἀερῶδες denotes the airy component or air-like material. English “air” can conceal variation in the dossier, where aither also appears in a fourfold list and where air is sometimes a separated product of water. **In this work.** The root enumerations at A28 and A33 include air. Its divine name is disputed: Aëtius assigns Hera to it, while the Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes identify it with Aidoneus. The explanations are correspondingly different. The Homeric Allegories stresses that air has no light of its own; Hippolytus stresses that air itself remains unseen although other things are seen through it. These are arguments supplied by the interpreters, not preserved explanations from B6. Air plays a complicated role in world-formation. Ps.-Plutarch says it is poured round in a circle before fire moves outward; Aëtius’ sequence in A49 instead has air exhaled from water after aither, fire and earth separate. A51 describes the solid heaven as compacted air, while a scholion substitutes water. Such descriptions show why the lexicon keeps Air and Aither separate without assuming their relation is uniform across witnesses. In the pore debates at A87, air also serves as a possible finer body filling passages that are not empty. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Preserves competing divine assignments and two explanations of the Aidoneus identification. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Places exhaled air after the release of water, distinguishing it in this sequence from aither. - **A 51 (testimony).** Aëtius II 11,2; source PDF pp. 118–119. Calls the heaven air compacted by fire in a crystalline manner. - **A 87 (testimony).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Gives air as an example of finer matter filling pores. **In this edition.** The variation between air and aither must remain visible. “Frozen air” is a transmitted cosmological description, not an identification with modern liquefied or solid atmospheric gases. **See also.** [Aither](#entry-aither); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air). ## Aither {#entry-aither} *αἰθέρα (aithera); αἰθέρος (aitheros); aether* **The word.** The Greek forms and Latin aether designate the aither of these reports. The transliteration preserves a distinction obscured if every occurrence is rendered “air,” but does not assign the word a single technical definition across authors. It is not the modern luminiferous ether. **In this work.** Ps.-Plutarch’s introductory enumeration in A30 gives fire, water, aither and earth, where other enumerations use air. The subsequent account nevertheless speaks of air as well. At A33 both Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories gloss Zeus through heat and aither, connecting aither with the fiery divine name rather than simply assigning it to the root elsewhere called air. Aëtius’ cosmogonic sequence at A49 separates aither first, fire second, then earth; water comes from compressed earth and air is exhaled from water. Heaven is made from aither in that report. Philo’s transmitted account also begins with aether’s separation but has air and fire ascend together and describes aether revolving around the central earth. The common priority of separation is useful evidence; it does not erase differences in what the ensuing materials do. A reader reconstructing a single cosmology should therefore distinguish at least three questions: what a witness calls the fourth root, what a divine-name gloss equates with Zeus, and what material is separated first in a cosmogony. The same English label cannot answer all three.[^note-aither] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Uses aither in the fourfold enumeration but air in the ensuing cosmological narrative. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Includes aither in the gloss of Zeus. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; Philo, De providentia II 60; source PDF pp. 114–115. Both accounts begin with separation of aither; their subsequent spatial accounts are not identical. **In this edition.** Philo survives here through Latin translated from Armenian, itself representing lost Greek. Its Latin vocabulary cannot independently establish Empedocles’ exact Greek usage; the parenthetic Greek in this edition is explanatory. **See also.** [Air](#entry-air); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Zeus](#entry-zeus); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven). ## All {#entry-all} *τὸ πᾶν (to pan); τοῦ παντὸς (tou pantos); πάντα (panta)* **The word.** Τὸ πᾶν is the All or whole; πάντα is “all things.” The singular and plural can focus respectively on totality and its constituents. Their referent has to be established in context rather than translated automatically as the presently ordered astronomical world. **In this work.** Plato at A29 calls the All alternately one and friendly or many and at war with itself. Aristotle at A37 describes the All as separated into the elements and brought together under Love. These uses concern the comprehensive changing arrangement, not only one familiar celestial region. A47 makes the distinction between All and cosmos explicit: the one cosmos is only a small part of the All, with the remainder described as inert matter. That striking claim is a lone doxographic report here and lacks support in a printed fragment. It should not govern every other occurrence of “All” as if the spatial distinction had already been established. At A33 the All undergoes partial changes without the whole dissolving, an assertion compatible with enduring constituents but still transmitted in later explanatory vocabulary. The entry therefore guards against two shortcuts: treating the All as identical with every particular world-order, and treating A47’s larger material totality as a securely reconstructible container surrounding that world. The evidence preserves both conceptual distinctions and uncertainties. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 29 (testimony).** Plato, Sophist 242c-d; source PDF pp. 86–87. Makes the All the subject of alternating unity and plurality. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Describes partial changes without dissolution of the whole. - **A 47 (testimony).** Aëtius I 5,2 (D. 291); source PDF pp. 110–111. Distinguishes the single cosmos from a larger All containing an inert remainder. **In this edition.** Translations “All,” “whole” and “universe” can make the same Greek expression sound like different entities. Conversely, translating both κόσμος and τὸ πᾶν as “universe” would erase A47’s explicit distinction. **See also.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter). ## Alteration {#entry-alteration} *ἀλλοίωσιν (alloiōsin); ἀλλοιώσεως (alloiōseōs); ἀμετάβλητα (ametablēta)* **The word.** Ἀλλοίωσις is alteration, especially qualitative change in the argumentative contrast printed here. Ἀμετάβλητα means unchangeable. The terms are later explanatory vocabulary, applied to the claim that enduring constituents form and dissolve compounds without becoming different ultimate kinds. **In this work.** Philoponus’ A41 opens by saying that Empedocles contradicts appearances through denying evident alteration. He then alleges a contradiction internal to the system: roots declared unchangeable nevertheless lose their proper character in the Sphairos. The two charges should be distinguished. One appeals to ordinary perceptible change; the other asks whether a reported unified state is compatible with the system’s own rules. Aëtius at A44 groups Empedocles with Anaxagoras and atomist thinkers who explain generation through aggregation rather than qualitative alteration. This broad classification cannot establish that all grouped thinkers had the same account of qualities or of composition. Nor does it mean that Empedocles denied the manifest differences among flesh, bone, water and fire. The issue is how such differences arise while ultimate constituents remain what they are. Galen’s A34 similarly begins from unchangeable elements and illustrates their mixing by pulverized minerals. This provides a model of preserved ingredients, but the chosen substances and the precise simile belong to Galen. The entry therefore keeps the invariant-root thesis distinct from each critic’s proposed consequence. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. Contrasts manifest alteration with invariant roots and alleged loss of qualities in the Sphairos. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Classifies generation as quantitative aggregation rather than qualitative alteration. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Describes compounds made by mixing unchangeable elements. **In this edition.** The edition flags alteration as Peripatetic vocabulary. Its contextual reference to B8 is not a full verse quotation in this section and should not be cited as one. **See also.** [Quality](#entry-quality); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Alteration in cognition {#entry-alteration-in-cognition} *ἐν ἀλλοιώσει (en alloiōsei); ἀλλοιοῦται (alloioutai)* **The word.** Alloiōsis is alteration, a becoming otherwise in some respect. The verb says that something is altered. Theophrastus uses this language in a challenge to thinking by likeness; it belongs to his analytical framing. **In this work.** The question is how thought can occur both in alteration and through the like, since like is not altered by like. If a cognitive event requires a change in the recipient, the mere presence or encounter of matching constituents seems insufficient to explain the event's occurrence. This differs from the earlier spatial problem of how a pore's occupant moves aside: here the critic asks about the very kind of change involved in thinking. The passage does not set out an independently elaborated Empedoclean theory of mental alteration, nor prove that Empedocles accepted the critic's premise about what like can do to like. It is best read as an internal or dialectical test of the report's commitments. Keeping alteration as a separate headword prevents it from being lost under the much broader physical themes of mixture and motion. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Asks how thought can be both alteration and an effect of like on like. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 14; source PDF pp. 200–201. Provides the related but distinct demand for an account of change when perception begins. **In this edition.** The translation's “both in an alteration and by the like” preserves the question's two conditions. Neither should be rewritten into a verbatim Empedoclean assertion beyond what the witness reports and infers. **See also.** [Thought](#entry-thought); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Fitting](#entry-fitting). ## Alternating visual passages {#entry-alternating-visual-passages} *τοὺς δὲ πόρους ἐναλλὰξ κεῖσθαι (tous de porous enallax keisthai)* **The word.** Enallax means alternately or in alternation. Here it describes the arrangement of fire-passages and water-passages in sight. The phrase is spatial in this passage, not the temporal alternation of cosmic powers. **In this work.** Theophrastus attributes white recognition to the passages of fire and black recognition to those of water. Each object fits its corresponding channels. The report therefore connects a physical layout to a division of sensible objects, rather than merely saying that fire and water are both present in the eye. This arrangement is central to two subsequent criticisms. Excess fire can spread over water-passages, and excess water can overtake fire; the critic asks where obstructing occupants withdraw when perception resumes. More decisively, grey and other mixed colours are assigned neither their own passages nor passages common to fire and water. Theophrastus does not deny that such colours are seen; he argues that the stated channel division fails to account for them. Nothing in the excerpt specifies a microscopic anatomical structure identifiable with a modern visual tissue. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. States the alternation and division between white- and black-recognizing passages. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 14; source PDF pp. 200–201. Questions the displacement of material obstructing passages. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Finds no assigned channel for mixed colours. **In this edition.** The Greek speaks of passages “of” fire and water. Rendering these simply as modern receptors would conceal the physical vocabulary and overdetermine the mechanism. **See also.** [Pores](#entry-pores); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [White](#entry-white); [Black](#entry-black); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight). ## Alternation {#entry-alternation} *ἐν μέρει (en merei); παρὰ μέρος (para meros); ἐναλλὰξ (enallax); ἀντεπικράτειαν (antepikrateian)* **The word.** The expressions mean by turns, alternately, and counter-prevailing or reciprocal predominance. They describe a changing distribution of rule between the powers. They do not themselves specify equal duration, absolute exclusion of one power, or a calendar of the whole process. **In this work.** Plato’s A29 makes turn-taking the feature that distinguishes the gentler Sicilian Muse from the more strenuous Ionian one: the All does not remain one-and-many in the same way always, but is friendly and unified at one time, hostile and multiple at another. Aristotle’s A38 similarly links prevailing and motion by turns, with rest in the intervening time, but he phrases the statement as an inference. Aëtius at A52 speaks of the cosmos perishing according to the counter-prevailing of Love and Strife. Simplicius elaborates by assigning gathering and the production of Sphairos to Love, renewed separation and world-formation to Strife. These reports establish alternation as more than an ornamental opposition of names. Yet the specific sense of “between,” the degree of each power’s predominance, and the number of cosmogonies remain matters of interpretation. The word is thus a precision tool: alternation is better supported than every symmetrical diagram that might be drawn from it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 29 (testimony).** Plato, Sophist 242c-d; source PDF pp. 86–87. Characterizes the Sicilian position by the All’s unity and plurality at different turns. - **A 38 (polemical).** Aristotle, Physics Θ 1, 252a7; source PDF pp. 100–101. Infers successive predominance and motion with intervening rest. - **A 52 (testimony).** Aëtius II 4,8; Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Connects reciprocal predominance with the perishing and renewal of worlds. **In this edition.** No numerical duration is supplied by these passages. “By turns” does not alone establish equal periods or completely symmetrical cosmic histories. **See also.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Rest](#entry-rest). ## Ambiguity {#entry-ambiguity} *ἀμφίβολα (amphibola); φενακίζει (phenakizei); τὸ κύκλωι πολὺ ὄν (to kyklōi poly on)* **The word.** Amphibola are ambiguous expressions; phenakizei means deceives or cheats. The phrase about what is extensive “in a circuit” describes roundabout verbal elaboration. These are Aristotle’s evaluative terms for a rhetorical effect. **In this work.** Aristotle uses Empedocles as an example of poetic language that can carry listeners along without making its meaning clear. The comparison is with people who assent to soothsayers’ ambiguous statements: apparent recognition may be supplied by the hearer rather than secured by precise explanation. This is a criticism of how verbal performance produces assent, distinct from the Meteorology’s complaint that metaphor fails to identify nature adequately. The two arguments converge on a demand for clarity but should not be reduced to a claim that the poetry is simply unintelligible or artistically unsuccessful. Conversely, the edition’s positive reinterpretation as a complaint about power does not cancel Aristotle’s accusation of deception. The passage exposes the vulnerability of authoritative, elevated discourse to a critic who wants its meaning to be accountable. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Rhetoric; source PDF pp. 76–79. Compares prolonged poetic speech with ambiguous divination and compliant listeners. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 76–79. Provides the adjacent but different objection that metaphor is insufficient for physical knowledge. **In this edition.** “A long circuit of words” is the edition’s explanatory translation rather than a quoted technical genre-name. The charge concerns an effect attributed by Aristotle, not an admission by Empedocles that he intended to mislead. **See also.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart). ## Anaxagoras {#entry-anaxagoras} *Ἀναξαγόρας (Anaxagoras); τοῖς δ' ἔργοις ὕστερος (tois d’ ergois hysteros)* **The word.** The phrase translated “later in his work” contrasts achievement or activity with age. It does not by itself specify whether Anaxagoras began teaching later, wrote later, or was doctrinally more advanced. **In this work.** Aristotle’s brief comparison makes Anaxagoras older in years than Empedocles but later in his work, immediately before reporting unlimited principles. This is a chronological hinge with an interpretive ambiguity, rather than a securely dated publication notice. Diogenes’ Alcidamas report also names Anaxagoras among Empedocles’ subsequent teachers, pairing natural philosophy with a separate model of personal dignity. Read together, the passages need not form a coherent succession: Aristotle supplies a relative comparison, while the biography constructs a lineage. Simplicius places Empedocles not long after Anaxagoras, another broad relation that is less precise than an exact sequence of books or schools. The lexicon should therefore keep the chronological and doctrinal senses open rather than treating the older man’s “later” work as settled evidence that he borrowed from Empedocles. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 6 (testimony).** Aristotle, Metaphysics; source PDF pp. 54–55. Contrasts priority in age with lateness in works. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 56, reporting Alcidamas, Physics; source PDF pp. 22–25. Includes Anaxagoras in a disputed account of further instruction. - **A 7 (testimony).** Simplicius, On the Physics; source PDF pp. 54–55. Offers broad relative placement rather than exact dates. **In this edition.** Bonitz’s apparatus note explicitly leaves open activity-date and doctrinal maturity; the translation must retain that uncertainty rather than turning a relative comparison into a precise publication chronology. **See also.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher). ## Anchitos {#entry-anchitos} *Ἄγχιτον (Anchiton); ξενοδόχον (xenodochon)* **The word.** Xenodochos is a host who receives a guest. Iamblichus explicitly calls Anchitos Empedocles’ host; the apparatus relates the name to Pausanias’ father in the opening dedication of On Nature. **In this work.** The musical anecdote makes Anchitos a public judge who condemned a young man’s father to death. The youth consequently attacks him as a murderer, until Empedocles intervenes with the lyre. The named host gives the story a concrete social setting, but also creates the textual difficulty noticed by Diels. The dedication names Pausanias as son of Anchitos; if the saved youth is Pausanias, a name or role has been transferred. Diels accordingly proposes that the youth is Pausanias and the host’s name is mistaken. That is an attempt to reconcile two traditions, not a fact plainly stated by Iamblichus. The lexicon must leave the surface narrative legible before offering its proposed repair. Otherwise an editorial conjecture becomes an apparently certain account of how philosopher and pupil first met. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 15 (legend).** Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 62–63. Names Anchitos as host, judge, and target of revenge. - **A 15 (apparatus).** Edition’s apparatus, referring to the dedication in fragment B 1; source PDF pp. 62–63. Proposes a name-transfer and identifies the youth with Pausanias. **In this edition.** The edition’s confident reconstructed meeting should be marked as Diels’ inference. It depends on an external fragment invoked in this volume, rather than an explicit name for the youth in the displayed Greek. **See also.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Animal kinds {#entry-animal-kinds} *τὰ γένη (ta genē); τὰς ποιὰς κράσεις (tas poias kraseis); ἰσόμοιρα τῆι κράσει (isomoira tēi krasei)* **The word.** Genē are kinds or groups, not necessarily biological species in a modern technical sense. Poiai kraseis are mixtures of particular qualities or sorts. Isomoira describes an equal share or balance in mixture. **In this work.** Aëtius says that animal kinds differ through their particular mixtures. Some have an impulse more at home in water, some with more fire fly into air, heavier kinds move to earth, and balanced kinds are said in the translation to accord with every region. This connects bodily composition with habitat and movement. The last claim is particularly insecure because the transmitted closing words are corrupt and the rendering follows Diels' reconstruction. A73 then gives a different relation between composition and environment: the most fiery animals live in water to escape excessive internal heat. The first passage can be read in terms of affinity or predominant constituent, the second in terms of compensation. Neither should be silently rewritten to match the other. The discrepancy may reflect different contexts, kinds, or transmission, but the surviving excerpts do not settle which. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Differentiates animal groups and their environments according to characteristic mixtures. - **A 73 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Respiration; Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 158–159. Attribute aquatic life to the need of excessively fiery animals for moisture. **In this edition.** Diels reconstructs the final habitat clause from corrupt text. Calling the account a settled ecological classification or modern adaptation theory would conceal both that textual problem and its tension with A73. **See also.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment). ## Aphrodite {#entry-aphrodite} *Ἀφροδίτης (Aphroditēs)* **The word.** The genitive divine name appears in Plato’s phrase “under Aphrodite.” Its grammatical function presents Aphrodite as the agency or governing presence under which the All is one and friendly. The passage does not itself give a formal definition equating every occurrence of Aphrodite with a single technical term. **In this work.** In the Sophist’s comparison of Ionian and Sicilian Muses, the gentler Muses relax the claim that the All is always one and many at once. They instead let it be one and friendly under Aphrodite at one time, and many and at war with itself through Strife at another. The edition identifies the Sicilian allusion with Empedocles, whom Plato does not name here. Aphrodite thus carries the unifying side of a contrast that other witnesses express through Love. The divine name matters because Plato’s characterization is not a mechanically neutral summary: the account is framed as a tale told to children and arranged through the contrast between more strenuous and gentler Muses. The passage is early evidence for a by-turns reading of Empedoclean unity and plurality, but it is neither a verse quotation nor a proof that the later six-principle classification was already the poet’s own scheme. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 29 (testimony).** Plato, Sophist 242c-d; source PDF pp. 86–87. Places the unified, friendly All under Aphrodite in the unnamed Sicilian Muse’s by-turns account. **In this edition.** Plato names neither Empedocles nor Heraclitus in this excerpt. Their identification is a well-signaled interpretation of the allusion, not wording to be inserted into the Greek quotation. **See also.** [Love](#entry-love); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse). ## Apophthegm {#entry-apophthegm} *ἐρωτηθείς (erōtētheis); ἔφη (ephē); σοφὸν (sophon)* **The word.** The question-and-answer markers “being asked” and “he said” frame compact attributed sayings. The heading apophthegm is a genre description of such memorable replies, rather than a Greek noun occurring in the displayed notices. **In this work.** The Paris Gnomology gives two replies under Empedocles’ name. One links sensitivity to blame with the capacity to enjoy praise. The other tells a man unable to find anyone wise that recognition of wisdom requires being wise oneself. Their concise dramatic framing makes them readily detachable from historical circumstance. That portability is a reason for source caution: the apparatus identifies a better-attested version of the wisdom saying under Xenophanes in Diogenes Laertius IX 20. The sayings are therefore valuable as reception of a philosophical persona, but weak as verbatim records of Empedocles’ conversation. The second also raises an epistemic problem different from the physical accounts of perception: how can someone lacking a quality reliably identify it in another? The passage offers a pointed reply, not a worked-out criterion or a theory of expertise. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 20 (reception).** Paris Gnomology; source PDF pp. 70–71. Preserves two brief question-and-answer sayings under Empedocles’ name. - **A 20 (apparatus).** Edition’s apparatus, citing Diogenes Laertius IX 20; source PDF pp. 70–71. Identifies a competing Xenophanean attribution for the wisdom reply. **In this edition.** Neither the Greek sayings nor their context establishes authentic Empedoclean wording. The lexicon uses actual words from the displayed text rather than inventing an unattested Greek heading for the genre. **See also.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium). ## Apotheosis {#entry-apotheosis} *φῶς οὐράνιον (phōs ouranion); λαμπάδων φέγγος (lampadōn phengos); φωνῆς ὑπερμεγέθους (phōnēs hypermegethous)* **The word.** The expressions name heavenly light, the gleam of torches, and an immense voice. “Apotheosis” is the analytical designation for the story’s interpretation of disappearance as becoming divine; the noun itself is not used in the displayed passage. **In this work.** Heraclides’ narrative begins with a sacrificial feast after the healing story. In the morning Empedocles alone is missing. A servant reports a nocturnal voice calling his name and a heavenly blaze, while the others initially investigate. Pausanias then stops the search and interprets the event as worthy of prayer and sacrifice. The account does not narrate an observed bodily ascent: disappearance and reported signs are followed by a participant’s religious inference. That structure differentiates it from Hippobotus’ crater story, which supplies a hidden mortal action and a material clue. Timaeus challenges Heraclides’ setting and asks why no monument or shrine was made if the deification account was believed. Keeping these stages separate prevents a story of ambiguous absence from becoming a straightforward eyewitness record of apotheosis. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67–68, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Gives the feast, absence, servant’s report, search, and interpretation in sequence. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Challenges the setting and absence of a memorial associated with the story. **In this edition.** The edition describes the story as the earliest and most careful, but its narrative restraint does not authenticate it. Pausanias is a character within the transmitted account, not an independently preserved confirming witness. **See also.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Etna](#entry-etna). ## Apparent sun {#entry-apparent-sun} *φαινόμενον (phainomenon); ἀνταύγειαν (antaugeian); κρυσταλλοειδῆ (krystalloeidē)* **The word.** Φαινόμενον is what appears or is seen; ἀνταύγεια is reflected radiance. In the two-sun notice, the apparent sun is distinguished from the original fiery source, while crystal-like language enters the description of the reflective arrangement. **In this work.** Aëtius at A56 places the apparent sun in the hemisphere filled with air mixed with heat. It arises by reflection involving the rounded earth and a crystalline sun and is carried around with the motion of the fiery one. The concluding summary makes the sun a reflection of the fire about earth. A further notice says that the sun according to reflection is equal to earth. These descriptions give a real contrast between source and appearance but do not yield an unambiguous optical model. The apparent sun should not simply be called an illusion: the witness treats it as a physical reflection with a place, movement and size relation. At the same time, the relation of the several reflecting or crystalline items is unclear in the transmitted account. Ps.-Plutarch’s A30 statement that the sun is not fire by nature but reflected fire offers a related account. Diogenes’ A1 §77 instead calls the sun a great mass of fire. The lexicon preserves that difference rather than declaring all reports verbatim descriptions of the same two-level theory. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 56 (testimony).** Aëtius II 20,13 and II 21,2; source PDF pp. 124–125. Describes the reflected visible sun and adds its equality in size to earth. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Distinguishes the sun’s nature from the fire whose reflection it is. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Calls the sun a great mass of fire, a formulation not automatically identical with the reflected-sun account. **In this edition.** Diels identifies συντεμόντα in A56 as an old gloss and marks the solar report unclear. A fluent English translation cannot remove those transmission and interpretation limits. **See also.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Sun](#entry-sun). ## Appetite {#entry-appetite} *τὴν ὄρεξιν (tēn orexin); ὀρέξεις (orexeis)* **The word.** Orexis means appetite, desire, or a reaching toward something. The singular and plural in A95 concern an animal's wanting in relation to bodily deficiency. The word should not automatically be given the full technical meaning it bears in later ethical psychology. **In this work.** Aëtius first groups Parmenides and Empedocles under the claim that appetite arises from lack of nourishment. He then attributes to Empedocles an account in which the deficient thing desires its like and pleasure accompanies replenishment. A second notice specifies deficiencies of the elements composing each animal. The progression from nourishment to constituent elements matters. Appetite is not merely named as an abstract wish; its object is related to the animal's composition and what is missing from it. Yet the notices say appetite arises according to or from deficiency; they do not explicitly argue that wanting and shortage are numerically identical. The edition's phrase “the wanting is the shortage” is consequently stronger than the compressed report. Nor do these sentences enumerate every appetite or rule out every non-nutritive form of desire. They preserve one reported physical explanatory scheme, not a complete psychology of motivation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 230–231. Relates appetite to lack of nourishment and desire for the like. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 230–231. Relates appetites to deficiencies of the constitutive elements. **In this edition.** Keep the shared attribution to Parmenides and Empedocles in the opening clause distinct from the following Empedocles-only formulations. Compression in a compilation should not be mistaken for a continuous original passage. **See also.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness). ## Appetitive deficiency {#entry-appetitive-deficiency} *ἐλλείψει τροφῆς (elleipsei trophēs); τὰς ἐλλείψεις (tas elleipseis); τῶι ἐλλείποντι (tōi elleiponti)* **The word.** Elleipsis is lack or deficiency; the participle means what is lacking or deficient. In A95 the relevant shortage concerns nourishment and the elemental constituents making up an animal. **In this work.** The two doxographic notices describe appetite through what a body needs restored. The first speaks of lack of food or nourishment, then says that desire for the like belongs to the deficient thing. The second describes a plurality of appetites corresponding to deficiencies in an animal's composing elements. The reported mechanism thereby makes differences of constitution relevant to differences of desire. Deficiency is paired with replenishment, and pleasure is explained in relation to that restoration. It should not be flattened into the general concept of privation used in other ancient systems or treated as a measured biochemical deficit. Similar language of what an eye lacks appears in the visual account, but the appetitive passage concerns motivation and pleasure rather than visual acuity. The comparison reveals a recurrent explanatory pattern without proving that all its applications have identical details. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius, first and second notices; source PDF pp. 230–231. Makes shortage of nourishment or constituent elements the condition of appetite. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Provides a comparison in which external conditions fill an eye’s deficiency. **In this edition.** The headword is qualified as appetitive to distinguish this particular use from deficiencies elsewhere in the physiology. The notices establish causal association, not the strict identity of lack and desire asserted by the modern commentary. **See also.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend). ## Aquatic animals {#entry-aquatic-animals} *ἔνυδρα (enydra); τὰ θερμότατα (ta thermotata); ὑπέρπυρα (hyperpyra)* **The word.** Enydra means water-dwelling. Thermotata is the superlative “hottest,” and hyperpyra means excessively fiery. These predicates explain why a creature's environment need not simply repeat the dominant material character inside it. **In this work.** Aristotle reports and criticizes Empedocles' claim that the hottest animals, possessing most fire, live in water because they flee excessive natural heat. Theophrastus similarly says that over-fiery creatures are led towards the moist. The explanation turns on relief or compensation: a habitat supplies what moderates a body's own excess. It is not the same as the mixture-based habitat account at A72, where animals with a greater fiery share fly into air. This tension deserves preservation rather than immediate harmonization. The witnesses may be addressing different comparisons, but that remains a possibility, not a fact supplied by the excerpts. Aelian's A66 notice that fish draw nourishment from sweet water within the sea concerns nutrition rather than thermal habitat selection and should likewise remain distinct. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 73 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Respiration; source PDF pp. 158–159. Rejects the explanation of water-dwelling by the animals' excessive internal fire. - **A 73 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 158–159. Repeats the movement of over-fiery animals toward moisture. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Preserves a differently organized assignment of habitats by mixture. **In this edition.** The edition generalizes this into a universal principle of seeking the missing constituent. The notices directly support flight from excessive heat and attraction to moisture; they do not themselves state a complete law for all animal habitats. **See also.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea). ## Archetypal sun {#entry-archetypal-sun} *ἀρχέτυπον (archetypon); πυρίνου (pyrinou)* **The word.** Ἀρχέτυπον means archetypal or original pattern. In A56 it qualifies one of the two suns reported by Aëtius. The word belongs to the doxographic explanation and should not be taken as evidence for a Platonic intelligible solar Form in Empedocles. **In this work.** The archetypal sun is described as fire filling one hemisphere of the cosmos and stationed opposite its own reflection. The other sun is apparent, a reflection in the hemisphere filled with air mixed with heat, carried around with the fiery one’s motion. The distinction separates a fiery source from a visible luminous manifestation. The account is difficult at precisely the point where it relates the rounded earth, reflection and a crystalline sun. Diels’ apparatus acknowledges the obscurity. A30 offers the simpler statement that the sun is not fire by nature but a reflection of fire like a reflection from water. Those notices support the importance of reflected light without fully determining a consistent optical geometry. The lexicon therefore retains “archetypal” as the witness’s organizing word, not as proof that Empedocles posited two ordinary stellar bodies. It also avoids identifying the original hemisphere with a particular contemporary astronomical object. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 56 (testimony).** Aëtius II 20,13 (D. 350); source PDF pp. 124–125. Describes the original fiery sun filling a hemisphere and distinguished from its apparent reflection. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Gives the related, simpler characterization of the sun as reflected fire. **In this edition.** The account is expressly marked unclear in Diels’ apparatus. The source’s archetype-language is doxographic, and the geometry should not be repaired with an invented diagram presented as established doctrine. **See also.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Aristotle {#entry-aristotle-witness} **The word.** Aristotle is both a witness to Empedocles and an author arguing for his own explanations. Terms such as matter, form, cause, nature and principle often belong to the structure of that later argument. Their occurrence in an account of Empedocles does not by itself show that Empedocles used them with Aristotle’s distinctions. **In this work.** The collection makes this double role unusually visible. Aristotle can credit an insight into the ratio of a mixture while asking questions that threaten the account’s extension to soul and different tissues. He can discuss Love and Strife as causes while criticizing the consistency of their assigned functions. His judgment that Empedocles and Homer share metre does not simply classify a physical doctrine; it intervenes in a theory of poetry. These are different contexts, and the lexicon does not flatten them into a single verdict that Aristotle either understood or distorted everything. A useful reading asks what he quotes, what he paraphrases, and what premise his objection needs. Where the source gathers several Aristotelian passages beneath one A number, the work named above each passage remains important: a criticism in a discussion of soul need not answer exactly the same question as a passage about animal parts or generation.[^note-aristotle-witness] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 22–A 23 (polemical).** Aristotle, Poetics; source PDF pp. 74–75. Separates natural inquiry from Homeric poetry despite their shared metre. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 104–105. Reports an omitted formation under Love and compares the present cosmos with its former condition, passages central to rival readings of the cycle. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals and On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Recognizes the explanatory role of ratio while testing its relation to soul and tissue differences. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 224–225. Uses the lantern comparison in a question about why an eye made of fire would not see in darkness. **In this edition.** The introduction’s superlatives about the best or most treacherous witness are editorial judgments. The safer procedure is passage-specific. Works explicitly marked Pseudo-Aristotle in the supplied edition must not be cited as secure works of Aristotle. **See also.** [Matter](#entry-matter); [Form](#entry-form); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness). ## Art {#entry-art} *τέχνηι (technēi); τέχνην (technēn)* **The word.** Τέχνη is art or craft, including skilled production. In Plato’s A48 it is a proposed mode of making that the unnamed naturalists deny to the origin of the primary bodies and the world. The word is broader than modern fine art. **In this work.** The Laws passage first says that fire, water, earth and air exist by nature and chance, not art. It then explains how the later celestial and living bodies allegedly arise without mind, god or art through the interaction of opposed material powers. Art thus stands beside intelligence as an alternative explanatory source, not merely as ornament added to an already completed world. The passage’s attribution is limited. Plato names no thinker, and Diels treats it as evidence about followers of Empedocles. It cannot establish that Empedocles himself rejected every craftsman-like description or every divine activity. Indeed, other passages in this same volume give the roots divine names and call them gods. The correct use of the headword is to illuminate Plato’s polemical contrast and the kind of material explanation it targets, while leaving open how accurately that contrast captures Empedocles’ own poetic practice. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Makes absence of art part of an anonymous account of world-formation by nature and chance. **In this edition.** The translation “art” can sound aesthetic; “craft” better conveys the productive contrast in this particular argument. Neither is an exact Empedoclean doctrinal slogan here. **See also.** [Nature](#entry-nature); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause). ## Articulation {#entry-articulation} *διαρθρώσεως (diarthrōseōs); διακρίσεως (diakriseōs); διαμορφοῦται (diamorphoutai)* **The word.** Diarthrōsis is articulation or differentiation into distinct parts; diakrisis is separation or discrimination; diamorphoutai means is shaped or formed. The terms are related but should not be forced into one modern developmental milestone. **In this work.** Aëtius says human articulation begins on the thirty-sixth day and completion in the parts occurs from the forty-ninth. Oribasius, drawing on Athenaeus, places the first visibly distinguished whole body at four nine-day periods, or at the latest about forty days after adding four, then says Empedocles agrees about complete differentiation. He further attributes faster formation to males than females and to the right side than the left. The apparent agreement is the medical writer's claim; the surviving figures do not line up transparently with Aëtius' onset-versus-completion distinction. One should preserve thirty-six, forty, and forty-nine rather than convert them into a single consistent schedule. The attribution demonstrates that Empedocles could be invoked in later medical discussions of development, not that the cited timetable is accurate or that the observers used modern dating methods.[^note-articulation] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 83 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 182–183. Gives day thirty-six for the start of articulation and day forty-nine for completion of parts. - **A 83 (testimony).** Oribasius, from Athenaeus; source PDF pp. 182–183. Gives thirty-six or forty days for visible differentiation, claims agreement, and adds sex and laterality differences. **In this edition.** The edition says the numbers are multiples of seven but immediately has to exempt thirty-six; forty is also present. A universal heptadic scheme is not established by these reports. Usener's proposed change of a preposition can also affect how the Aëtian endpoint is expressed. **See also.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left); [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Heart](#entry-heart). ## Assembly of the Thousand {#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand} *τὸ τῶν χιλίων ἄθροισμα (to tōn chiliōn athroisma); κατέλυσε (katelyse)* **The word.** Athroisma is an assembly, gathering, or body; “of the Thousand” gives its numerical designation. Katelyse means dissolved or overthrew. The phrase itself does not set out the body’s formal constitutional powers. **In this work.** Diogenes says Empedocles dissolved the Thousand after it had existed for three years. The narrative immediately infers that he was not only rich but also aligned with the people. That inference supports reading the body as associated with elite power in the tradition. Calling it an oligarchy is therefore intelligible, but goes beyond the bare noun athroisma. The passage neither names its members nor explains its selection, offices, laws, or exact relation to other political episodes in the Life. It should not be merged automatically with the dinner-party prosecution or the later anti-faction appeal. Its distinctive evidential contribution is the attribution of institutional disruption to Empedocles, placed within a favorable account of popular politics. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 66; source PDF pp. 30–33. Reports dissolution after three years and draws a popular-political inference. **In this edition.** The apparatus records a numerical variant, χιλιάδων, and a variant verb for dissolution. The edition’s convenient label “oligarchy” is a constitutional interpretation, not the word used in the displayed Greek. **See also.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny). ## Asses’ hides {#entry-asses-hides} *ὄνους ἐκδαρῆναι (onous ekdarēnai); ἀσκοὺς (askous); δορὰς ὄνων (doras onōn)* **The word.** The Life’s wording orders asses to be flayed and askoi, skin bags, to be made. The Suda uses the simpler phrase “asses’ hides.” A skin bag is a manufactured container; translating both accounts merely as a wall obscures their different material images. **In this work.** In Timaeus’ account transmitted by Diogenes, the hides are fashioned into bags and stretched about elevated places to catch or check the wind. In the Suda the hides surround Acragas and repel an incoming wind. The material is consequential because it differs from Plutarch’s blocked mountain clefts, and because the Life elsewhere celebrates an animal-shaped offering that avoids animal slaughter. The juxtaposition warns against constructing an entirely seamless ethical biography from the collected anecdotes. It does not prove that Empedocles approved or disapproved every use of animal products, since the stories may derive from different agendas and sources. Nor does the wording tell us how the bags were hung, joined, or orientated. A modern windbreak reconstruction remains a hypothesis, while the original vocabulary retains a suggestive mixture of practical material and wind-containment imagery. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 26–27. Specifies flaying, bags, and deployment around hills and headlands. - **A 2 (legend).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Simplifies the material to hides encircling the city. **In this edition.** The translation “hides” should not erase askous, which is explicit in the earlier reported account. The edition’s interpretation as engineering is not independent evidence that this exact apparatus existed. **See also.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things). ## Austere composition {#entry-austere-composition} *ἁρμονίας (harmonias); αὐστηρᾶς (austēras); ζηλωταὶ (zēlōtai)* **The word.** Ἁρμονία here is an arrangement or mode of verbal composition, not automatically the cosmic harmony of a physical theory. Αὐστηρά qualifies it as austere. Ζηλωταί are admirers, adherents or practitioners of that mode. **In this work.** Dionysius of Halicarnassus at A26 lists prominent practitioners of the austere arrangement across genres. In epic he selects Antimachus of Colophon and Empedocles the natural philosopher; in lyric, Pindar; in tragedy, Aeschylus. The notice is a judgment about verbal craft and literary company rather than a report of doctrine. The pairing with Antimachus is significant for reception because Empedocles is not merely being compared with Homer on the ground of shared metre. Dionysius recognizes a distinctive compositional manner that crosses genre boundaries. Yet the excerpt does not provide a detailed definition of austerity or analyze a particular line, so an entry should not invent acoustic or syntactic criteria absent from the passage. The term also shows why lexical context matters: a word associated elsewhere with fitting or joining can here designate the arrangement of language. Its presence cannot be used to prove that Dionysius endorsed an Empedoclean cosmology of harmony. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 26 (reception).** Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De compositione verborum 22; source PDF pp. 82–83. Ranks Empedocles and Antimachus as outstanding epic practitioners of the austere compositional mode. **In this edition.** The bracketed “austere” specification is supplied in the excerpt’s Greek framing. The passage is literary reception, despite its placement at the beginning of the doctrinal tranche. **See also.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse); [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher). ## Bell {#entry-bell} *κώδωνα (kōdōna); κώδωνος (kōdōnos)* **The word.** Kōdōn is a bell. Here it compares an auditory structure with something suspended or internally sounding when struck. The comparison should not be confused with a trumpet or used as a precise modern anatomical identification. **In this work.** Theophrastus describes the auditory apparatus as a bell for incoming sounds; Aëtius adds the concrete picture of a cartilaginous part hanging and swinging inside the ear. These reports make the analogy a mechanism of impact and resonance, not merely decorative language. Its explanatory limits form the point of §21. Theophrastus grants an inner bell-like sound and asks how that sound is heard. Making the bell internal does not by itself distinguish its sound from any other sound requiring a hearer. This criticism preserves a useful division between producing a stimulus and accounting for sensation. The shorter Aëtius notice transmits the image without the objection; that difference in presentation does not demonstrate a direct line of borrowing from one surviving text to the other. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Uses the bell comparison in the positive hearing report. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Turns the comparison into a question about hearing the internal sound. - **A 93 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Describes an internal structure swinging and being struck like a bell. **In this edition.** The phrase τῶν ἴσων ἤχων in §9 is marked unintelligible in the apparatus, which offers conjectures. The smooth English “sounds that come in” therefore represents an interpretive repair rather than a secure phrase. **See also.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh). ## Beloved {#entry-beloved} *ἐρώμενος (erōmenos); παιδικά (paidika)* **The word.** Erōmenos means beloved, conventionally marking the beloved partner in an erotic relationship. Paidika can likewise designate someone’s beloved. Neither word should be silently translated into the merely instructional “student.” **In this work.** Diogenes reports, on the authority of Aristippus and Satyrus, that Pausanias was Empedocles’ beloved, then identifies him as the addressee of On Nature. The notice brings an intellectual dedication and personal attachment together, without supplying the relationship’s duration, ages, or further circumstances. The Suda, citing Porphyry, assigns Empedocles himself the beloved role in relation to Parmenides. That separate claim belongs to a different and late teacher tradition; it does not corroborate the Pausanias report. These notices show that ancient biographies could describe philosophical transmission through intimate relationships as well as public teaching. They should be recorded without inventing a modern identity category, treating erotic attachment as discrediting, or flattening the relationships into a uniform institutional genealogy. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Aristippus and Satyrus; source PDF pp. 26–27. Calls Pausanias the beloved and addressee. - **A 2 (biography).** The Suda, reporting Porphyry, History of Philosophers; source PDF pp. 48–49. Calls Empedocles the beloved of Parmenides. **In this edition.** The translation “beloved” preserves the relationship language while avoiding claims about conduct not contained in the passage. The biographical reports remain attributed testimony rather than verified personal records. **See also.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Black {#entry-black} *μέλαν (melan); τὰ μέλανα (ta melana)* **The word.** Melas means black or dark. The neuter singular designates black as a colour; the plural may designate dark objects, and in the eye-colour testimony it describes eyes. Those uses should not be merged without attending to their referents. **In this work.** Theophrastus connects black with water at A69a and with water-passages in his report of vision. Recognition is thus explained by the same affinity and fit assigned to white and fire. Aëtius retains black in a four-colour list which includes red and yellow as well. Theophrastus's criticism asks why, if likes strengthen likes, black should not be seen best by everybody at night. He instead appeals to the general effectiveness of daylight vision. This argument should be kept separate from Aristotle's report that dark eyes contain more water than fire and therefore see poorly at night. A black object and a dark eye occupy different positions in the model: one is perceived, the other is the perceiving structure. Their shared colour-word does not make their causal roles identical. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 69a (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses; source PDF pp. 148–149. Assigns black to water. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Connects recognition of black objects with water-passages. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 18; source PDF pp. 204–205. Challenges the predicted nighttime advantage for black objects. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Reports the watery constitution of dark eyes. **In this edition.** A91 has textual variants ranging from “dark” to compounds referring to dark or large eyes. The printed reading supports the colour contrast, but the transmission should not be concealed. **See also.** [White](#entry-white); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Colour](#entry-colour). ## Blood {#entry-blood} *αἷμά (haima); τοῦ αἵματος (tou haimatos); ὕλη αἱματικὴ (hylē haimatikē)* **The word.** Haima is blood; haimatikē qualifies material as bloody or blood-like. The term has several physiological roles across the witnesses. Those roles should not be reduced to a single securely attributed statement that blood is the soul. **In this work.** A74 makes blood's approach to and retreat from the surface drive the entry and expulsion of air. A78 derives sweat and tears from blood melting, thinning, and dispersing; Plutarch offers the related comparison of a tear pressed out from disturbed blood like whey from milk. A85 locates the heat whose moderate cooling yields sleep, and complete cooling death, in the blood. A79's Soranus describes blood-like and breath-like material conveyed through umbilical vessels before attributing their implantation into the liver specifically to Empedocles. That introductory physiology must not all be transferred to him automatically. A76 also presents blood as one candidate for that with which we think, but the Platonic speech does not name Empedocles. Thought in blood receives a fuller independent dossier in A86 and deserves its own entry. Together these uses make blood a central medium of life, movement, and bodily products. They do not describe modern circulation, specify blood chemistry, or demonstrate that all witnesses share one exact material recipe. The ratio doctrine concerns differentiated mixtures; it is not enough on its own to settle the identity of blood, mind, and soul. A4 adds Hippo's objection that seed is moist but is not blood, directed against unnamed thinkers who call soul blood. Diels identifies Empedocles as the target. The attribution is therefore mediated, and the argument should not turn thought in blood into a direct self-definition of soul.[^note-blood] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 160–161. Makes blood movement central to current respiration. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; Plutarch, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 168–171. Connect blood to the generation of sweat and tears. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Locates the relevant heat of sleep and death in blood. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Describes fetal nourishment before attributing liver insertion to Empedocles. - **A 76 (reception).** Plato, Phaedo; source PDF pp. 164–165. Lists blood among candidate media of thought without naming Empedocles. - **A 4 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 52–53. Reports Hippo's objection to unnamed thinkers who identify soul with blood; Diels identifies the target as Empedocles. **In this edition.** The A78 secretion clause is repaired from Galen in the edition. The A79 distinction between Soranus' setup and the specifically Empedoclean claim is equally important. These passages supply a physiological network, not a single untouched Empedoclean definition. At A4 the name Empedocles is supplied by identification of an unnamed target, not by Aristotle's sentence. **See also.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Tears](#entry-tears); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Death](#entry-death). ## Blood movement {#entry-blood-movement} *φερομένου τοῦ αἵματος (pheromenou tou haimatos); παλινδρομοῦντος (palindromountos); ἀραιώματα (araiōmata)* **The word.** The participles describe blood travelling and running back again. Araiōmata are thinned or rarefied spaces left by its movement, rather than a named modern anatomical structure. “Circulation” would risk importing a closed circuit that the report does not describe. **In this work.** In Aëtius' account of current breathing, blood advances toward the bodily surface and presses the airy material outward through the nostrils. Its return permits air to enter the spaces the blood has vacated or made thin. Reciprocal displacement is the explanatory relation: what happens to one material changes where another can go. The wording does not identify a pumping heart, map arteries and veins, or distinguish oxygenated from deoxygenated blood. It is especially important not to treat the verb for running back as an anticipation of modern circulation. The connection with the clepsydra provides a mechanical analogy, but the testimony only recalls the device and leaves its full operation unstated. The mechanism also belongs specifically to the “now prevailing” mode of respiration, distinct from the preceding account of innate heat after first breathing. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, present-breathing sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Connects outward and returning blood with expulsion and admission of air. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, concluding phrase; source PDF pp. 160–161. Recalls the clepsydra as an explanatory comparison. **In this edition.** The translation's phrase “as the blood gives way” can blur the sequence of approach, expulsion, and return. The secure point is reciprocity; the exact timing should not be sharpened beyond the repaired and compressed source. **See also.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock). ## Bloodless animals {#entry-bloodless-animals} *ἄναιμα (anaima); τῶν δὲ ἐναίμων (tōn de enaimōn); ἀναιμότατα (anaimotata)* **The word.** Anaimos means bloodless and enaimos blooded; anaimotata means least supplied with blood. These are the critic's bodily classifications. They must not be confused with modern distinctions among circulatory systems or with the absence of all internal fluids. **In this work.** Theophrastus considers thinking with blood especially problematic because many animals are bloodless. In blooded animals, moreover, the parts surrounding sensory apparatus are least bloody. These are separate objections: one tests whether blood can be universally necessary for animal cognition; the other tests whether its distribution fits the places where perception occurs. Their force depends on the broader comparison of thought and sensation made earlier in the report. Theophrastus is not offering a survey of animal intelligence or naming particular species here. Nor is he recording Empedocles' reply. Aëtius's later consequence that no animal is strictly irrational belongs to a different compressed argument from mind–soul identity. The two can be compared, but the latter does not settle the physiological challenge posed by the former. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Challenges cognition through blood by bloodless animals and relatively blood-poor sensory parts. - **A 96 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Provides a distinct argument concerning rationality in animals. **In this edition.** The printed ἐναίμων is Schneider's correction of manuscript ἀναίμων. That correction supports the contrast between bloodless animals and blooded animals’ sensory parts, and should be retained in discussing the argument. **See also.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Blood](#entry-blood). ## Bloodless sacrifice {#entry-bloodless-sacrifice} *βοῦν (boun); ἐκ μέλιτος καὶ ἀλφίτων (ek melitos kai alphitōn); ἐκ σμύρνης καὶ λιβανωτοῦ (ek smyrnēs kai libanōtou)* **The word.** Bous is an ox, here an ox-shaped manufactured offering. One version gives honey and barley-meal as its materials, the other myrrh and frankincense with costly aromatics. “Bloodless” is an analytical description of the substitution, not a quoted technical adjective in these notices. **In this work.** Favorinus’ account, transmitted by Diogenes, says Empedocles sacrificed the honey-and-meal ox to sacred envoys. Athenaeus attaches an aromatic ox to an Olympic equestrian victory and explicitly explains it by Pythagorean abstinence from living things. These stories preserve the social form of an offering and distribution while replacing the slaughtered animal with a crafted likeness. Their interest lies in negotiating ethical restraint within a public ritual setting. The different materials should not be combined into one recipe: one produces an edible confection, the other an aromatic construction, at least as the text describes them. The Olympic context also carries the family-homonym problem, since the victory may have been transferred from another Empedocles. Variation may indicate a circulating narrative, but does not establish its original date or prove that either version records an observed event.[^note-bloodless-sacrifice] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 53, reporting Favorinus, Memoirs; source PDF pp. 18–21. Specifies honey, barley-meal, and sacred envoys. - **A 11–A 12 (biography).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters; source PDF pp. 58–59. Specifies aromatics, festival distribution, and abstinence as the rationale. **In this edition.** The edition says the discrepancy proves or suggests antiquity of the underlying story; it is better treated as evidence of variation. Athenaeus’ equestrian attribution is explicitly questioned in the apparatus. **See also.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Purifications](#entry-purifications). ## Bodily disorder {#entry-bodily-disorder} *ex corporis causa sive iniquitate* **The word.** The phrase means from a bodily cause or disorder, with iniquitas literally suggesting an unequal or adverse condition. The edition renders it “disorder.” It does not specify a quantitative imbalance or name the particular bodily components affected. **In this work.** Caelius Aurelianus uses this phrase to characterize the source of the mental derangement which his medical account will address. The contrast is with a condition arising from purgation of soul. A causal bodily account is therefore explicit, but its mechanism is not. It may be tempting to fill the gap using Theophrastus's much fuller discussion of blood-mixtures and cognitive differences. That comparison is possible as a historical question, yet the A98 sentence never mentions blood, four roots, temperature, or proportions. Those details should not be presented as Caelius's explanation. Equally, “disorder” should not be translated into a modern neurochemical imbalance. The narrow evidence is a reported distinction based on the source of the condition, preserved by a medical writer who selects the bodily-caused kind as his subject. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Attributes the medically discussed derangement to a bodily cause or disorder. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Offers a distinct earlier account of cognitive differences through bodily blending, useful only for cautious comparison. **In this edition.** Sive can introduce an alternative or restatement; the short excerpt does not resolve whether “cause” and “disorder” name two different classes. The English should not construct a more elaborate taxonomy than the Latin provides. **See also.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Madness](#entry-madness); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul). ## Boiling heat {#entry-boiling-heat} *ζέσιν (zesin); θερμότητος (thermotētos); ψυχρότητος (psychrotētos)* **The word.** Ζέσις denotes boiling or seething heat. The forms for heat and cold also occur in Aëtius’ surrounding analysis. These are qualities or activities invoked in an interpretation of the roots; they are not an additional list of Empedoclean root-names. **In this work.** Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories gloss Zeus by ζέσις and aither. The English version renders the first occurrence as “fire and aither” but the parallel as “boiling heat and the aither.” A lexicon must preserve the difference between the material fire and the heat-language actually used in the Greek. The gloss can associate Zeus with the activity of the fiery constituent without proving that Empedocles reduced that constituent to a quality. Aëtius’ excerpt continues with heat and cold and with proportion and blending, while the Homeric Allegories speaks of dryness and wetness. Both are later accounts that explain the system through contraries. The ellipses make their full relation to the preceding divine explanations uncertain. They should not be used to smuggle the complete Aristotelian theory of paired qualities into the poem. What is secure locally is that the interpreters move from named roots to opposed sensible qualities when describing how the All is wrought. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Uses ζέσις in the Zeus gloss, then heat and cold in a compressed account of proportion and blending. - **A 33 (testimony).** Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Preserves boiling heat and aither, then invokes dry and wet as opposites. **In this edition.** The English “fire” in Aëtius is smoother and less lexically exact than the printed ζέσιν. The discontinuous excerpt should not be filled out into an unprinted theory of four primary qualities. **See also.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Bone {#entry-bone} *ὀστᾶ (osta); ὀστοῦν (ostoun); λόγον τῆς μίξεως αὐτῶν (logon tēs mixeōs autōn)* **The word.** Ostoun is bone, with osta its plural. In Aristotle's decisive formulation, the relevant explanatory term is logos of the mixture: an account or proportion specifying the constituents' relation. The passage shifts attention from which materials are present to what makes their combination this bodily substance. **In this work.** Aëtius assigns bone a numerical composition involving water, earth, and fire, with four portions of fire and two-part language for water and earth. The edition's English wording can obscure how the non-fiery allotment is distributed. Its apparatus is therefore indispensable: the word for two is emended and the entire clause is reconstructed by Diels using B96. This is not independent, intact prose confirmation of a verse recipe. The article should preserve the printed allocation and its uncertainty rather than silently normalize it into a modern compositional formula. Aristotle's On the Parts of Animals provides the more secure conceptual claim. Empedocles, he says, is led by truth to make a thing's being and nature its ratio: bone is not one element, several elements, or simply all of them, but their ratio of mixture. The concession occurs inside Aristotle's argument for nature as a principle more fundamental than matter, so it interprets the predecessor through Aristotelian explanatory priorities. On the Soul then makes the differing ratios of bone and flesh a problem for identifying soul with ratio. Pseudo-Aristotle's On Breath adds a different objection: a common ratio would seem unable to distinguish horse, lion, and human. These arguments show how a material recipe could bear on identity, life, and species difference. They do not prove that Empedocles accepted Aristotle's developed distinction between formal and material cause. Nor does the presence of a ratio alone decide whether constituents fuse or remain juxtaposed. A43's brick-wall criticism remains a distinct question about the manner of combination.[^note-bone] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Gives the numerically specified but heavily reconstructed bone recipe. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals; source PDF pp. 168–171. Credits Empedocles with treating bone's being and nature as its ratio of mixture. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Uses the difference between bone and flesh ratios in an objection to soul as ratio. - **A 78 (polemical).** Pseudo-Aristotle, On Breath; source PDF pp. 168–171. Objects that a common ratio would leave horse, lion, and human indistinguishable. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Separately questions whether Empedoclean mixture is only juxtaposition. **In this edition.** The edition's introductory slogan “bone is a number” captures the importance of proportion but narrows logos and risks erasing the constituents and their manner of combination. B96 is relevant through the A78 apparatus; it cannot count as another independently preserved witness within this volume. **See also.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement). ## Borrowed light {#entry-borrowed-light} *ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι (hypo tou hēliou phōtizesthai)* **The word.** Phōtizesthai means to be illuminated. With “by the sun,” the passive construction identifies the source of the moon's light. “Borrowed light” is an English organizing phrase, not a separately preserved Empedoclean metaphor in this testimony. **In this work.** Aëtius credits Thales with first saying that the moon is illuminated by the sun, then groups Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Empedocles as holding the same. The report provides a clear attribution but almost no mechanism. It does not specify reflection from a smooth surface, diffuse scattering, transmission, or a theory of lunar phases. Those details must not be inferred simply because a modern account of moonlight would include them. The grouping also has a historiographical purpose: it constructs a line of predecessors and followers around a proposition. It is therefore evidence for how the doxographic tradition classified Empedocles as well as for the proposition itself. The adjacent physical reports about the moon's congealed matter and disc-like form show that agreement on the solar source of light need not imply agreement with every modern lunar model. The Ps.-Plutarch summary at A30 also assigns the moon light from the sun. At A55 Achilles introduces an Empedoclean verse incipit, but his surrounding account that the moon is a fragment broken from the sun is a further interpretive claim. Borrowing light does not by itself entail sharing that physical origin.[^note-borrowed-light] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 60 (testimony).** Aëtius, final notice; source PDF pp. 132–133. Attributes solar illumination of the moon to Empedocles within a list beginning with Thales. - **A 59 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. Gives the related but distinct role of the moon as the body intervening in a solar eclipse. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Says the moon obtains its light from the sun within a larger cosmogonic summary. - **A 55 (quotation).** Achilles, In Aratum 16 p. 43,2 Maass; source PDF pp. 122–123. Introduces the B45 verse incipit, which the edition expands in translation as light not its own. **In this edition.** The attribution of priority to Thales belongs to Aëtius' historical list. It is not a independently demonstrated chronology supplied by this edition, and the word “reflection” would be more specific than the printed clause. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc); [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse). ## Botanical roots {#entry-botanical-roots} *ῥίζας (rhizas); κάτω μὲν συρριζουμένοις (katō men syrrizoumenois)* **The word.** Rhizai here are the literal roots of plants. They should be distinguished from the famous “roots” naming the fundamental constituents of the cosmos. The shared botanical word can make the connection suggestive, but these testimonies concern a plant's downward growth. **In this work.** Theophrastus says that Empedocles assigns earth to roots and aether to shoots, separating their generative contributions. Aristotle criticizes the associated explanation that plants take root downward because earth naturally moves in that direction, while their upward growth follows fire. Both witnesses press the need to explain the unity of growth rather than distributing it between divergent material tendencies. Their agreement supports an attributed contrast between root and shoot growth. It does not settle whether “aether” and “fire” are interchangeable in this precise botanical account or whether the witnesses have translated it into their own frameworks. Aëtius' description of the plant as part of the earth, like an embryo within a womb, adds an organic analogy that should not be discarded merely because the critics emphasize opposed motion. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Objects to assigning earth to roots and aether to shoots. - **A 70 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 150–153. Criticizes downward rooting through the natural movement of earth. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Calls growing plants parts of earth by comparison with embryos and womb. **In this edition.** The natural-motion terminology comes through Aristotle. It cannot by itself establish that Empedocles endorsed Aristotle's developed doctrine of natural places. “Botanical” in the title prevents confusion with the cosmological Roots article. **See also.** [Roots](#entry-roots); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Earth](#entry-earth). ## Breathing {#entry-breathing} *ἀναπνοὴν (anapnoēn); τὴν δὲ νῦν κατέχουσαν (tēn de nyn katechousan)* **The word.** Anapnoē can name breathing as a whole. The notice also distinguishes ekpnoē, breathing out, and eispnoē, breathing in. Its phrase for the breathing “now prevailing” contrasts a current mechanism with an account of the first living thing's initial breath. **In this work.** Aëtius presents respiration through reciprocal movements of moist, fiery, airy, and bloody constituents. In the account of first breathing, moisture withdraws from newborn creatures and external airy material enters opened vessels. Thereafter innate heat moving outward expels the airy constituent, while its inward retreat permits re-entry. In the account of breathing now, blood moves toward the surface and presses air out through the nostrils; as blood returns, air enters the spaces it has left. This gives the body a displacement mechanism in which one material's withdrawal is another's opportunity to enter. It is not a description of pulmonary gas exchange. Nor does it require us to declare the nostrils unimportant: the report explicitly names them as the outward route. Aëtian compression and repairs to inward/outward wording make the exact sequence less certain than the polished translation may imply. The final reminder of a clepsydra indicates an explanatory comparison; the complete experiment or simile is not reproduced in this testimony. Its cross-reference to B100 points beyond the present excerpt. The relation between primordial heat-driven breathing and current blood-driven breathing is an important internal distinction, not an inconsistency to be eliminated automatically.[^note-breathing] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 160–161. Distinguishes first respiration from the breathing now prevailing, describes reciprocal displacement, and recalls the clepsydra. - **A 74 (apparatus).** Bernadakis and Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 160–161. Record repairs and deletions affecting the direction and subjects of the movements. **In this edition.** The inward reading entos replaces manuscript ektos at a crucial point. The edition's description of the nostrils as incidental, and its claim that B100 is the unique ancient controlled demonstration in verse, are commentary rather than conclusions established by this notice. **See also.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock). ## Breathing and smell {#entry-breathing-and-smell} *τῆι ἀναπνοῆι (tēi anapnoēi); τοῦ ἄσθματος (tou asthmatos); ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς (tais anapnoais)* **The word.** Anapnoē is breathing; asthma in this sentence is breath or breathing, not necessarily the modern disease called asthma. The relevant words describe air movement as the proposed route or cause of olfactory sensation. **In this work.** Theophrastus's exposition makes smell depend on breathing and correlates its sharpness with vigorous respiratory movement. Aëtius more concretely says odour enters together with breaths from the lung. His catarrh example indicates that altered or heavy breathing may impede rather than improve the sense. Theophrastus's objections separate necessary conditions from causes. If some animals smell without breathing, respiration cannot be a universal explanation; if a damaged or closed sense does not perceive, more inhaled air is not sufficient. Sleep, exertion, and difficult breathing further challenge a simple proportionality between air drawn and acuity. At §22 he consequently allows that breathing is involved incidentally while denying, tentatively, that it is the intrinsic cause. The argument does not deny every association between nasal airflow and smell; it tests a stronger claim about what makes smelling occur. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Connects olfactory acuity to the movement of breath. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Tests the proposed correlation using animals and bodily conditions. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22; source PDF pp. 210–211. Distinguishes incidental association from intrinsic cause. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Reports smell entering with lung-breaths. **In this edition.** The quoted ending “thus … of odours” at §22 is abbreviated in the printed text. Do not reconstruct the missing verse from the paraphrase or treat the modern word “asthma” as the required translation. **See also.** [Smell](#entry-smell); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Breathless woman {#entry-breathless-woman} *ἄπνουν (apnoun); ἄσφυκτον (asphykton); ἄσηπτον (asēpton); ἄσιτον (asiton)* **The word.** Apnous means without breath. The printed asphyktos means without pulse, but the apparatus records asēptos, without decay, in the manuscripts and asitos, without food, in the Suda. These are materially different conditions, not stylistic variants of one diagnosis. **In this work.** Heraclides’ narrative first appears as a case about which Empedocles instructed Pausanias. The next section specifies that the body was maintained in its extraordinary condition for thirty days and connects the event to the titles physician and seer. In the disappearance story the woman is described more strongly as a corpse returned alive, illustrating an escalation from absence of an observable function to resurrection. Hermippus’ separate account names a woman Panthea whom other doctors had abandoned; the close placement invites association but does not explicitly prove that all versions concern the same person. The lexicon must therefore resist a modern clinical reconstruction that merges these reports and treats them as case notes. The textual alternatives are especially decisive: suspended breathing with absence of decay tells a different story from suspended breathing with absent pulse. Neither is verified medical evidence, and the duration belongs to the extraordinary narrative itself. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Heraclides, On Diseases; source PDF pp. 26–27. Presents the breathless woman as material taught to Pausanias. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 61, with apparatus; source PDF pp. 28–29. Gives the thirty-day duration and the disputed bodily condition. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Recasts the episode as returning a dead woman alive. **In this edition.** “Without pulse” is Mercurialis’ emendation, not the manuscript reading printed in the apparatus. The edition’s confident language of suspended respiration or clinical treatment must therefore be qualified; this text cannot diagnose the woman’s condition. **See also.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Breathing](#entry-breathing). ## Brick wall {#entry-brick-wall} *πλίνθων καὶ λίθων τοῖχος (plinthōn kai lithōn toichos)* **The word.** The image is a wall made of bricks and stones. Its force lies in recognizable constituents persisting within an assembled whole. The comparison belongs to Aristotle’s prose criticism and must not be listed among Empedocles’ own poetic similes. **In this work.** At A43 Aristotle asks what kind of mixture is possible for thinkers who reason as Empedocles does. His answer is composition like a wall: the constituents survive while minute parts are placed beside one another, and flesh must be constituted on that model. The analogy shifts the debate from whether roots persist to whether their persistence allows what Aristotle would recognize as genuine mixture. The modern notes oppose this to the fixed ratio of bone. That is an important comparison but not a knockdown answer. A wall can have a definite proportion of materials and a structured arrangement; numerical specification alone does not tell us whether its constituents are thoroughly blended. The interpretative issue is the status of the resulting whole and its characteristic properties. The wall image therefore has a double value. It is evidence for Aristotle’s reconstruction of the theory, and evidence for the rhetorical means by which a rival account was made to look inadequate. It is not an experiment reported by Empedocles or a neutral miniature of his system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Introduces the wall as the consequence of preserving roots in side-by-side small parts. - **Introduction (apparatus).** Modern editor, “Bone is a ratio”; source PDF pp. 2–10. Uses the ratio account to reject the wall comparison; the claim that a wall has no ratio is not logically decisive. **In this edition.** Retain the polemical ownership of the analogy. A78’s ratio evidence can complicate the comparison without erasing A43 from the history of interpretation. **See also.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders). ## Bronze footwear {#entry-bronze-footwear} *ἐμβάτας χαλκᾶς (embatas chalkas); κρηπίδων (krēpidōn); σανδαλίου (sandaliou); ὑποδήμασι χαλκοῖς (hypodēmasi chalkois)* **The word.** The witnesses use several footwear terms: embatai, krēpides, sandal, and the generic hypodēmata. Bronze is the stable material motif. Rendering every occurrence “sandal” smooths over lexical variation, though the narrative role is often the same. **In this work.** The fuller costume account and Aelian’s brief notice make bronze footwear part of Empedocles’ striking appearance. Hippobotus’ crater story then converts one item into an incriminating trace: the fire casts it out after the body vanishes. The Suda repeats the exposed-sandal motif as settled narrative, whereas Strabo treats it as a story generated by the volcano’s spectacle. The detail’s material vividness makes it persuasive within a tale but does not make it independent archaeological evidence. No surviving shoe is presented or authenticated in the dossier. The narrative also turns a badge of distinction against its wearer: the unusual costume that helps create divine reputation supplies the clue that defeats concealment. That reversal explains the motif’s literary effectiveness without establishing its factual occurrence. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73; source PDF pp. 42–45. Lists bronze boots within the public costume. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hippobotus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Makes the ejected footwear expose the attempted disappearance. - **A 16 (reception).** Strabo, Geography; source PDF pp. 64–65. Places the trace outside the crater while framing the account as storytelling. - **A 18 (biography).** Aelian, Historical Miscellany; source PDF pp. 66–67. Gives the concise purple-and-bronze costume notice. - **A 2 (legend).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Uses the sandal term and repeats the account of the fire casting the footwear out. **In this edition.** The edition treats agreement on footwear as firm corroboration, but dependence among the traditions is unresolved. The lexical diversity and changed narrative functions should be preserved rather than combined into a single material description. **See also.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation). ## Cadmia {#entry-cadmia} *καδμίαν (kadmian)* **The word.** Καδμίαν names the ingredient rendered cadmia. Retaining the ancient name is preferable to substituting the modern metal cadmium: the lexical resemblance does not establish identity, and the source provides no modern compositional analysis. **In this work.** Cadmia is the third member of Galen’s A34 list of substances to be finely ground and mixed. Within the analogy it has exactly the status of a distinct starting material whose presence is not lost merely because the resulting powder cannot be separated ingredient by ingredient in ordinary handling. The passage offers no individual description of cadmia’s color, production or therapeutic use. Its significance is therefore relational rather than encyclopedic: one among several materials that make the distinction between preserved constituent and mixed whole concrete for Galen’s readers. To add a detailed mineral history would exceed the evidence being indexed. The separate entry gives the reader a reliable route from the unfamiliar term to the larger Mixture discussion, while guarding against a false modern equivalence and against attribution of Galen’s technical example to Empedocles himself. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Names cadmia in the four-ingredient powder comparison for the mixing of unchangeable constituents. **In this edition.** The passage does not identify cadmia with cadmium metal or provide its chemical composition. The ingredient is part of Galen’s analogy, not an Empedoclean root. **See also.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Misy](#entry-misy). ## Capping air {#entry-capping-air} *τὸν ἐπιπωματίζοντα (ton epipōmatizonta); ἐπιπωματίζοντα τοὺς τοῦ σιδήρου πόρους (epipōmatizonta tous tou sidērou porous)* **The word.** Epipōmatizein is to cap or cover as with a lid. The participle describes air lying over the iron's pores and holding back its effluences. The lid is a comparison embodied in a verb, not a separately manufactured structure inside the metal. **In this work.** The magnetic explanation depends on removal of this obstruction. Effluences from the stone push away and move the capping air; the cleared pores then permit a massed outflow from iron, which follows that outflow toward the stone. The air therefore provides the proposed switch between the iron's initial state and its subsequent movement. Alexander challenges the selectivity of the switch. Why can only the stone's emissions move this air? The theory uses common physical processes of displacement and fitting, yet requires a distinctive interaction at this step. Without explaining that distinction, it has named the event needed for magnetic movement rather than fully explained why the event occurs specifically here. The entry preserves a small but decisive mechanical term which would disappear if the entire notice were summarized only as effluence plus pores. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Makes the stone’s emissions displace air that caps iron’s passages. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Asks why only emissions from the stone can remove this obstruction. **In this edition.** The phrase “like a lid” renders the force of the Greek verb. It should not become a literal plate, membrane, valve, or other anatomical-style apparatus unsupported by the text. **See also.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence). ## Cartilage {#entry-cartilage} *τῶι χονδρώδει (tōi chondrōdei); χόνδρῳ (chondrōi)* **The word.** Chondrōdes means cartilaginous; the substantive phrase names a cartilaginous part. Chondros, “cartilage,” is the variant cited from Stobaeus. The text gives a material description without an anatomically precise name. **In this work.** Aëtius says hearing occurs when breath impacts this part, which hangs within the ear, swinging and being struck like a bell. Its material and suspended condition make it capable of the reported motion. The notice thus offers more physical specification than the bare bell comparison, although it remains a single compressed sentence. Theophrastus's “sprout of flesh” and beating of air against solid parts are important parallels. They should not be made into certain references to an eardrum, ossicle, or another particular modern structure. The supplied witnesses are not explicit enough for that identification, and their different descriptions may reflect different stages of reporting. What can be safely retained is the reported role of an internal, struck, mobile bodily part in the explanation of hearing. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 93 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Describes impact on the cartilaginous part suspended within the ear. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Offers the related fleshy-sprout and internal-resonance account. **In this edition.** The printed χονδρώδει and Stobaeus's χόνδρῳ differ grammatically but retain the cartilaginous description. The witness, not Empedocles in a preserved verse, supplies this anatomical wording. **See also.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Bell](#entry-bell); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh); [Sound](#entry-sound). ## Catarrh {#entry-catarrh} *τῶν ῥευματιζομένων (tōn rheumatizomenōn); κατὰ τραχύτητα (kata trachytēta)* **The word.** The participle rheumatizomenōn describes people affected by a flowing discharge or catarrh. Trachytēs is roughness. In this notice they designate a bodily condition used as evidence about diminished smell, without supplying a modern diagnosis. **In this work.** Aëtius reports that odour enters with breaths from the lung, but when breathing becomes heavy one fails to perceive through roughness, as happens in those with catarrh. The example is significant because it places a qualification on any simple equation of stronger breathing with stronger smell. The condition of the passage or sense must matter as well as the movement of air. Theophrastus's objections at §21 independently emphasize that inhaling abundantly does not help an unhealthy or unopened sense. The two passages can be compared as evidence that impairment was central to ancient argument about olfaction. Yet their precise explanations should not be harmonized into a complete anatomy of obstruction. The catarrh notice does not tell us exactly what structure is roughened or which physiological event causes the loss. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Uses catarrh and heavy breathing to illustrate failure to perceive odour. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Emphasizes the condition of the sensory apparatus rather than inhaled quantity alone. **In this edition.** The apparatus prints κατά from the pseudo-Plutarch branch against Stobaeus's καὶ τήν. The causal translation “by reason of roughness” therefore depends on the adopted reading. **See also.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Celestial tilt {#entry-celestial-tilt} *ἐπικλιθῆναι τὰς ἄρκτους (epiklithēnai tas arktous); τὰ μὲν βόρεια (ta men boreia); τὰ δὲ νότια (ta de notia)* **The word.** The verb epiklithēnai means to have been inclined or tilted. The arktoi are literally the Bears, the northern constellations; the apparatus interprets the expression as the celestial north pole. Boreia and notia designate the northern and southern regions in the reported displacement. **In this work.** Aëtius assigns the heavens an acquired inclination: the air yields to the sun's onrush, the Bears tilt, the north rises, and the south sinks, with the whole cosmos implicated. The notice makes the present configuration the outcome of interaction among physical constituents, rather than supplying a geometrical description alone. Yet it does not identify an angle, a rotational axis in modern terms, or the date of the event. Its vocabulary of rising and sinking also presupposes a standpoint that the compressed report does not explain. The accompanying notice about the sun's turning introduces an enclosing sphere and tropic circles, but it gives a different causal description. Reading both together is useful; combining them into a fully reconstructed seasonal mechanism goes beyond what either surviving sentence specifies. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. The sun's onrush makes the air yield and produces the inclination of north, south, and cosmos. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 130–131. The sun's return is attributed to the enclosing sphere and tropic circles. **In this edition.** The editorial description of the seasons as the residue of an accident adds the categories accident and design to a report that uses neither. Likewise, the apparatus' identification of the Bears with the pole is explanatory, not a second ancient assertion. **See also.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Seasons](#entry-seasons); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day). ## Ceremonial dress {#entry-ceremonial-dress} *πορφύραν (porphyran); ἁλουργεῖ (halourgei); σεμνὴν ἀναλαβὼν ἐσθῆτα (semnēn analabōn esthēta); σχήματος (schēmatos)* **The word.** Porphyra and halourgēs indicate purple clothing or dye-colored fabric; semnē esthēs is solemn or dignified dress. Schēma can mean outward bearing or appearance. The ensemble communicates status, but its precise ceremonial office is not named. **In this work.** The Life combines purple, a golden band, bronze boots, Delphic wreath, long hair, attendants, and unvarying gravity. It describes the ensemble as fitting a quasi-royal distinction recognized by the citizens. Diodorus’ account instead calls the effect tragic pomp, while the Suda and Philostratus read the appearance as an effort to be regarded as divine. Aelian gives only the concise purple-and-bronze notice. These are overlapping descriptions with different evaluations, not several demonstrably independent eyewitness portraits. Their agreement supports a stable later iconography of Empedocles, but the common-source problem remains. The costume also interacts with his reported rejection of kingship and popular politics: visible exceptional status need not be identical with holding office. The lexicon therefore treats dress as a medium through which witnesses interpret authority rather than as a securely reconstructed uniform. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73, reporting Neanthes and Favorinus; source PDF pp. 42–45. Supplies the fullest ensemble and civic interpretation. - **A 18 (biography).** Aelian, Historical Miscellany; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius; source PDF pp. 66–67. Preserves purple clothing and differently interprets its divine ambition. - **A 2 (legend).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Connects costume directly with the desire for divine reputation. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70, reporting Diodorus of Ephesus on Anaximander; source PDF pp. 38–39. Describes solemn dress and tragic pomp in the account of emulation of Anaximander. **In this edition.** The edition asserts four independent witnesses and a certain historical costume. Independence is not demonstrated by the dossier, and the golden object itself changes location between accounts. Similarity of motifs should not be counted as four separate confirmations. **See also.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Chance {#entry-chance} *τύχηι (tychēi); κατὰ τύχην (kata tychēn); τετυχηκέναι (tetychēkenai)* **The word.** Τύχη is chance or fortune; the expressions denote happening by chance. The verbal form in A30 belongs to the explanation of how a concentration of fire initiated motion. A contingent occurrence should not automatically be generalized into a metaphysical claim that every event lacks cause. **In this work.** Plato’s Laws passage at A48 repeats that the four bodies and their products exist by nature and chance, without mind, god or art. Their powers carry them into suitable encounters, with opposite qualities blending as chance and necessity combine. The account is hostile, embedded in an argument against impious naturalism. Plato names no thinker; Diels places it under followers of Empedocles. It is therefore evidence for a position associated with the school or interpreted through its materials, not an unqualified quotation of Empedocles’ own cosmology. Ps.-Plutarch’s A30 connects the beginning of motion with the accidental gathering or weighting of fire. The English translation deemphasizes the contingency conveyed by τετυχηκέναι, and the Greek is disordered and incomplete. This more local mechanism cannot simply prove the complete chance-cosmogony presented in the Laws. The source’s own references to B103 and B104 indicate where the broader question would need to be pursued, but the verses are not printed here. This article consequently records the reach and limits of the testimony rather than assigning Empedocles an unrestricted doctrine of randomness. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Presents an unnamed naturalist explanation by chance and nature; Diels associates it with followers of Empedocles. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Links initial motion with a chance concentration of fire in a damaged, reordered account. **In this edition.** A48 should not be used as Empedocles’ first-person denial of gods, particularly beside the divine roots of A32 and A40. “Chance” also does not mean a modern probability model. **See also.** [Nature](#entry-nature); [Art](#entry-art); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Motion](#entry-motion). ## Cold {#entry-cold} *ψυχρὰν (psychran); ψυχρότητος (psychrotētos); frigus* **The word.** Psychros means cold; psychrotēs is coldness; frigus is the corresponding Latin noun. These words can qualify a place or bodily material, or name the condition contrasted with heat. Coldness is not presented in this dossier as an additional independent root. **In this work.** Cold has different roles in the physiological testimonia. Aristotle attributes female development to entry into a cold womb, while Censorinus organizes likeness and sex through the relative warmth and coldness of the parents' seeds. A78 explains nails through sinews chilled where they meet air. A85 distinguishes a moderate cooling that produces sleep from complete cooling producing death. These are specific causal attributions, not interchangeable propositions about all cold bodies. The lunar account of air congealed by fire also warns against equating every ancient setting or solidification with simple cooling. Hot and cold are opposed in explanatory language, but the material processes assigned to them are not a modern phase diagram. The reproductive claims should especially remain historical reports rather than statements of biological fact. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 174–179. Attributes sex differentiation to heat and coldness of the womb. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Presents a different thermal scheme involving parental seeds. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Explains nails through sinews chilled on encountering air. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Relates sleep and death to degrees of cooling. **In this edition.** The explanatory opposition is transmitted through several authors, not through a single Empedoclean definition. Censorinus' frigus is itself an editorial correction of a corrupt Latin reading, as the apparatus records. **See also.** [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Nails](#entry-nails); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air). ## Colour {#entry-colour} *χρώματα (chrōmata); χρόα (chroa); χρῶμα (chrōma)* **The word.** Chrōma and chroa name colour or coloured appearance. The words belong here to several witnesses, whose definitions and classifications are not identical. A colour's association with an element must also be distinguished from the process by which a perceiver recognizes it. **In this work.** Theophrastus's short notice at A69a assigns white to fire and black to water. His longer report explains their recognition by corresponding visual passages, with colour brought toward sight by effluence. Plato's Meno stages a definition in which colour is an effluence of bodies commensurate with sight and perceptible. The dramatic setting matters: Socrates offers an answer in Gorgias's manner for Meno, rather than quoting an Empedoclean poem. Aëtius gives a related fitting definition, but adds four colours equal in number to the elements: white, black, red, and yellow. The notice does not explicitly distribute the last two over earth and air. Theophrastus's objection about grey and mixed colours reveals another limitation: the two reported types of passage leave intermediate appearances unexplained. These notices need not be forced into either total agreement or a demonstrable contradiction. A short list of elemental colours and a criticism of an optical mechanism answer different questions, but the surviving evidence does not establish how they were integrated. The safest account preserves the plurality of witnesses and resists replacing it with a modern spectrum or a fully reconstructed pigment theory.[^note-colour] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 69a (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses; source PDF pp. 148–149. Assigns white to fire and black to water. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Makes effluence carry colours to sight. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Challenges the perception of grey and other mixed colours. - **A 92 (reception).** Plato, Meno; source PDF pp. 226–227. Defines colour within a staged Empedoclean-style account. - **A 92 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 226–227. Lists four colours, equal in number to the elements. **In this edition.** In Plato's definition σωμάτων, “of bodies,” is Diels's reading following Alexander; the manuscript alternatives include “of shapes.” This is consequential for the definition and should remain visible. **See also.** [White](#entry-white); [Black](#entry-black); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Red](#entry-red); [Yellow](#entry-yellow); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible). ## Combination {#entry-combination} *σύγκρισιν (synkrisin); συγκρίνεται (synkrinetai); συγκρίσεις (synkriseis)* **The word.** Σύγκρισις is a coming or putting together. The verb and noun denote the assembly through which the witnesses explain what ordinary language calls generation. Combination does not itself specify whether the result is a fully blended compound or a juxtaposition of preserved minute parts. **In this work.** The standard pairing makes Love combine and Strife separate, as in A28 and Diogenes’ summary. Aristotle’s A37 reassigns combination to Strife at another level: when unlike roots are separated, each kind gathers into a homogeneous mass. Combination therefore has an object and a scale. Roots joining one another and portions of one root joining their like are not the same event, although the same Greek verb can describe both. A44 places combination alongside separation as the two processes that replace strict generation and destruction in its collective classification. A43 asks what such composition amounts to if the constituents persist unchanged. Aristotle’s wall image answers polemically: small parts remain side by side. Galen’s A34 offers another illustration of tightly mixed ingredients. A lexicon should not decide the resulting controversy merely by choosing “combination” over “mixture” in English. The repeated word is consequently both an explanatory resource and a source of critical ambiguity: it names a genuine reordering without telling the reader, on its own, whether the constituents retain their independent qualitative effects. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Associates combination with Love and with changes in quantity among persistent elements. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Shows that Strife also combines like portions while separating unlike kinds. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Substitutes combination and separation for generation and destruction properly so called. **In this edition.** Synkrisis is the witnesses’ technical description. Its occurrence does not establish a modern process of chemical reaction or molecular bonding. **See also.** [Separation](#entry-separation); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Generation](#entry-generation). ## Commensurability {#entry-commensurability} *συμμετρία (symmetria); σύμμετρος (symmetros); ἀσυμμέτρους (asymmetrous); ἔλαιον (elaion); ὕδωρ (hydōr)* **The word.** Symmetria denotes suitability of measure or correspondence of dimensions. Here “commensurability” normally concerns the relation between passages and entering material. It need not mean mathematical commensurability in the strict sense of two magnitudes having a common unit. **In this work.** Theophrastus treats commensurability as the physical condition common to mixture, growth, and sensation. He expressly illustrates the reported account with oil and water, which do not mix, in contrast with other liquids that do. His objection is that passage correspondence also operates in such lifeless materials: what then distinguishes their mixing from perception and growth, if the same condition explains all three? His later argument is stronger: when a theory explains sensory exclusivity by mismatched passage sizes, commensurability seems sufficient and elemental likeness becomes idle. Plato's definition of colour adds both “commensurate with sight” and “perceptible.” Those are two predicates in the definition; the final word should not disappear into the first. Alexander similarly reports correspondences between magnetic passages and iron effluences, then asks why such correspondence does not make other bodies move together. Across these witnesses the important issue is explanatory discrimination: what makes an appropriate dimensional relation specifically visual, cognitive, or magnetic? The term should also be distinguished from the equal or balanced blend of blood and from ratios constituting tissues. They can all be rendered with words such as proportion, but the relevant relations differ. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 12; source PDF pp. 198–199. Uses oil and water’s reported failure to mix, unlike other liquids, in challenging the distinction between mixture and perception through passage correspondence. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Says commensurability alone seems sufficient on the reported theory. - **A 92 (reception).** Plato, Meno; source PDF pp. 226–227. Defines colour as an effluence commensurate with sight and perceptible. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions; source PDF pp. 218–221. Tests why matching passages produce attraction only in the magnetic case. **In this edition.** “Out of proportion” in §§14–15 translates forms from the same word family but may describe either a disordered blend or mismatched passages. The object of the relation must be supplied from context. The named oil–water contrast belongs to the ancient reported explanation, not a claim that pore correspondence is the modern explanation of immiscibility. **See also.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible). ## Compaction {#entry-compaction} *πιληθῆναι (pilēthēnai); πιληθεῖσα (pilētheisa); πίλημα (pilēma); συμπαγέντος (sympagentos)* **The word.** The πιλεῖν-family evokes pressing or felting together; πίλημα is a felted or compacted mass. Συμπαγέντος describes being compacted or solidified together. These terms mark material concentration, and need not all designate one process with the precision of modern phase-transition language. **In this work.** A49 says the terrestrial things are compacted from the remaining materials after the principal separations. Philo’s Latin account includes a Greek explanatory participle for the earth compacted by necessity and settled centrally. A51 then applies related imagery to heaven: Aëtius has air compacted by fire in a crystalline manner, while the scholion on Basil has a water-compacted heaven likened to crystalline felting. The imagery matters because it preserves the sense of constituents crowded into a coherent structure rather than created from nothing. But it cannot erase disagreements about which material is compacted. The air of Aëtius and water of the Basil scholion are genuinely different reports, even if both evoke crystalline solidity. Nor should “condensation” be read as a confirmed account of modern gases turning into liquids or solids. The ancient vocabulary draws on familiar processes of pressing, freezing and making coherent masses; the lexicon records those analogies and their attribution. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; Philo, De providentia II 60; source PDF pp. 114–115. Describes terrestrial materials and central earth as compacted after separation. - **A 51 (testimony).** Aëtius II 11,2; Scholia on Basil; source PDF pp. 118–119. Applies compaction and felting imagery to heaven, with differing air and water materials. **In this edition.** The Greek participle in the Philo notice is an explanatory addition to the Latin transmission. Diels records πίλημα against ἐπείλημα in the heaven material; preserve the textile image without claiming an Empedoclean quotation. **See also.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Rotation](#entry-rotation). ## Conflagration {#entry-conflagration} *ἐκπύρωσιν (ekpyrōsin); εἰς πῦρ ἀναλυθήσεσθαι (eis pyr analythēsesthai)* **The word.** Ἐκπύρωσις is burning out or conflagration, here explicitly the Stoic expectation to which Hippolytus compares the account he attributes to Empedocles. The phrase about being resolved into fire occurs immediately before the comparison. **In this work.** At A31 Hippolytus says everything is composed from fire and will be dissolved into fire; he then says the Stoics very nearly agree, expecting conflagration. This is a particularly clear case of interpretation through a later school’s doctrine. It does not establish that Empedocles used the word ekpyrosis or held the Stoic cycle in its own terms. The report is also in tension with the persistence of four roots at A28. Rather than treating the two as parts of a settled single account, the reader should recognize Hippolytus’ assimilation and retain the conflict. Fire may have an important cosmological role without becoming the one substance into which earth, water and air cease to exist. The entry additionally catches a translation omission. The printed English includes the comparison with Stoic opinion but does not render the Greek’s final reference to their expecting conflagration. That omission can make the assimilative vocabulary less visible than it is in the source. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 31 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3 (D. 558), §1; source PDF pp. 90–91. Attributes return to fire, then explicitly compares Stoics awaiting conflagration. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Provides the contrasting four-root persistence account that limits use of the fire-only report. **In this edition.** The English omits the explicit expectation-of-conflagration phrase present in the Greek. The term’s local owner is the Stoic comparison, not an Empedoclean quotation. **See also.** [Monad](#entry-monad); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Cycle](#entry-cycle). ## Contact {#entry-contact} *τῆι ἁφῆι (tēi haphēi); ἅπτοιτο (haptoito); ἅψαιτο (hapsaito)* **The word.** Haphē means touch or contact. At §15 it names the physical touching invoked by an explanation of perception, rather than only the special sense called touch. The verb forms describe the possible contact of smaller and larger bodies. **In this work.** Theophrastus extracts two conditions from the report: likeness and contact. Fitting matters, he suggests, because it brings the entrant into contact with what receives it. But if those are the real conditions, perfect fit is not necessary: a smaller like body touching a larger one should already produce sensation. The objection depends on separating a channel's being filled from some part of its surface being touched. This sharpens the earlier statement that some small things travel through without touching. Mere transit is therefore insufficient in the reported sensory mechanism. The criticism does not demonstrate that Empedocles explicitly listed two conditions in these words; Theophrastus says that this is what his account assigns knowledge to. It is an analytical reconstruction, whose value is precisely its articulation of what the fit model requires. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Contrasts entering without contact with entering in a perceptually effective way. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Argues that mere contact of like bodies ought to suffice even without fitting. **In this edition.** The English word “touch” can conceal the shift between a mode of physical interaction and one member of the sensory repertoire. The same Greek family supports both, but their functions in the argument differ. **See also.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Touch](#entry-touch); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge). ## Cooling {#entry-cooling} *καταψύξει (katapsyxei); κατὰ ψύξιν (kata psyxin); περιψυχθέντων (peripsychthentōn)* **The word.** Katapsyxis and psyxis denote cooling; the apparatus gives both formulations for the sleep notice. Peripsychesthai describes the chilling of sinew where it encounters air. The process is an alteration of a body's thermal condition, not simply the static quality cold. **In this work.** Cooling produces different outcomes according to context and degree. In A78, contact with air chills sinew and produces nails. In A85, moderate cooling of blood's heat gives sleep and complete cooling gives death. The comparison shows that cooling can participate in formation as well as in the diminution of activity. It is therefore misleading to assign it one universal destructive role. The second A85 notice uses a different vocabulary, the separation of fiery material, which may help interpret cooling but should not replace it without argument. The reports do not quantify thermal change or provide a common scale linking the formation of nails to the transition between waking and sleeping. They offer local material explanations whose shared process-word deserves comparison without forced systematization. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Derives nails from sinew chilled at its contact with air. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Distinguishes sleep and death through moderate and complete cooling of heat in blood. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Offers separation of the fiery as a related but differently expressed explanation. **In this edition.** The variant cooling phrases and corrected adjective for complete cooling mark the dependence on editorial choices. No modern clinical threshold or treatment follows from these historical theories. **See also.** [Cold](#entry-cold); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Nails](#entry-nails); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Death](#entry-death). ## Copper-flower {#entry-copper-flower} *χαλκῖτιν (chalkitin)* **The word.** Χαλκῖτιν is the printed inflected form, rendered “copper-flower” by this edition. The Greek name associates the ingredient with copper terminology, but the excerpt does not specify a preparation method or establish an exact modern mineral species. **In this work.** In Galen’s A34 illustration, this is one of four substances ground into a fine powder before mixing. Its lexical identity matters because it is a named ingredient, not simply a generic bit of copper metal. The comparison concerns how distinct initial materials can form an intimately mingled preparation while remaining unchangeable as ingredients in the illustrative model. The source does not say that Empedocles selected this material, knew a particular metallurgical recipe, or used the copper-flower image in verse. Galen supplies the illustration in a medical commentary. That authorship is especially important for readers tracing practical technical vocabulary into philosophy: the technical analogy is evidence for reception and explanation, not automatically for the poet’s own workshop experience. Keeping chalcitis as an alternative lookup label preserves access to the Greek term while avoiding excessive confidence in the English rendering’s apparent chemical specificity. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Lists χαλκῖτις among four pulverized ingredients in an analogy for mixed but persistent constituents. **In this edition.** “Copper-flower” is the edition’s choice, not an analysis supplied by Galen in this excerpt. A modern identification would require separate mineralogical evidence not present here. **See also.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Misy](#entry-misy). ## Cosmic boundary {#entry-cosmic-boundary} *περιγραφὴν (perigraphēn); πέρατος (peratos); περίδρομον (peridromon)* **The word.** Περιγραφή is an outline or circumscription; πέρας is a limit; περίδρομος is a circuit or course around. The words define a boundary through a moving celestial path rather than by naming a separate enclosing substance. **In this work.** Aëtius at A50 says that the circuit of the sun is the outline of the cosmos’s limit. The statement belongs beside the egg-like world and the greater breadth than height, but the excerpt does not explain exactly how the solar path maps onto the whole three-dimensional boundary. It is therefore safer to preserve the reported relation than to infer a complete geometric construction. The “sun” itself is differently described elsewhere: A56 distinguishes an archetypal fiery source from the apparent reflected sun. A50 does not identify which terminology is presupposed or explain the optical complications. Importing that two-sun account into the boundary sentence would require an argument, especially since A56 is acknowledged to be obscure. The entry’s value is to identify a specific spatial function assigned to a celestial circuit. It neither proves that the cosmos exhausts the All nor resolves the place of inert matter reported at A47. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 50 (testimony).** Aëtius II 1,4; source PDF pp. 116–117. Makes the solar circuit the outline of the world’s limit. - **A 47 (testimony).** Aëtius I 5,2 (D. 291); source PDF pp. 110–111. Offers a separate distinction between the limited cosmos and the larger All. **In this edition.** An “outline” is not automatically a solid shell. The crystalline heaven is a related but distinct report, and the source does not explicitly equate all three descriptions. **See also.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [All](#entry-all); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun). ## Cosmic right and left {#entry-cosmic-right-and-left} *δεξιὰ (dexia); ἀριστερὰ (aristera); θερινὸν τροπικόν (therinon tropikon); χειμερινόν (cheimerinon)* **The word.** The right-hand and left-hand sides of the cosmos are defined in relation to the summer and winter tropics. Τροπικός identifies the turning region of the sun’s course; the paired adjectives specify summer and winter. **In this work.** Aëtius’ short A50 notice assigns the right side to the summer tropic and the left side to the winter tropic. This is a directional or orientation scheme, not a detailed explanation of why the world possesses a right and a left. Its context among shape and boundary reports makes it part of the doxographic description of the cosmic arrangement. The sentence should not be translated mechanically into modern map directions without the missing viewpoint and orientation conventions. Nor does the organic resonance of right and left establish that Empedocles explicitly regarded the world as an animal. The report gives the paired designations and their solar reference points; the interpretative rationale remains unstated. Keeping this as a small independent headword preserves a substantive detail easily lost in a broad cosmology article while avoiding an unsupported reconstruction of the entire celestial coordinate system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 50 (testimony).** Aëtius II 10,2; source PDF pp. 116–117. Assigns cosmic right to the summer tropic and left to the winter tropic. **In this edition.** The pronoun “its” is clarified editorially as the cosmos in the Greek brackets. The excerpt does not itself give a terrestrial observer’s orientation or authorize a simple north/south substitution. **See also.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary); [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos). ## Cosmogony under Love {#entry-cosmogony-under-love} *τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Φιλότητος (tēn epi tēs Philotētos); ἐπὶ τῆς Φιλίας (epi tēs Philias)* **The word.** The phrases refer to generation or a world “under Love.” They name the phase or governing power under which the account is placed, not a separately quoted title of an Empedoclean episode. **In this work.** A42 contains the dossier’s sharpest internal tension. In De caelo Aristotle says that Empedocles omits generation under Love, because a heaven could not be constructed through the proposed joining of separated elements. In De generatione et corruptione he says the cosmos now under Strife is in a condition like the one formerly under Love. The first is a criticism of explanatory adequacy; the second is an attributed comparison between phases. Neither should be erased to simplify the reconstruction. Simplicius at A52 provides recurrent gathering and separation, explicitly naming the cosmos of Strife and the Sphairos produced by Love. The modern note treats this as a symmetrical account naming two cosmoi, but the printed words do not actually name a cosmos of Love. They may support an argument about symmetry when read with other evidence, but the argument remains necessary. This headword therefore marks a problem rather than a settled additional world. A one-cosmogony reconstruction must explain the former world under Love; a two-cosmogony reconstruction must explain the alleged omission. The volume preserves the competing constraints without furnishing an uncontested solution. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; source PDF pp. 104–105. States that Empedocles passes over generation under Love because the proposed construction would not work. - **A 42 (testimony).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 104–105. Reports a former world under Love resembling the present world under Strife. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Describes Love making the Sphairos from the cosmos of Strife, without explicitly naming a second cosmos of Love. **In this edition.** The first Aristotle translation is compressed, but its assertion of omission is clear. The modern editorial phrase “names two cosmoi” should not be quoted as the content of Simplicius’ printed excerpt. **See also.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis). ## Cosmos {#entry-cosmos} *κόσμον (kosmon); κόσμος (kosmos); τοῦ κόσμου (tou kosmou)* **The word.** Κόσμος here denotes a world or ordered cosmic arrangement. Its historical association with order helps explain its force, but it must not be treated as automatically equivalent to the whole of being, the Sphairos, or every use of “heaven.” **In this work.** Aëtius at A32 calls the mixture of elements the cosmos. At A47 he says there is one cosmos, yet only a small portion of the All, with an inert remainder outside it. That is a distinctive report, not a spatial framework independently guaranteed by the surviving fragments. A50 assigns the world an egg-like shape and a limit outlined by the sun’s circuit. These are further doxographic claims about the differentiated world, which should not be conflated with the spherical Sphairos. The cosmos is also temporary in the cycle reports. A52 describes it as perishing under the counter-prevailing powers; Simplicius names a cosmos of Strife that Love destroys while producing the Sphairos, then renewed separation makes a world like the present one. Aristotle at A42 reports both the omission of a Love-cosmogony and a former world under Love comparable with the current world under Strife. The term thus names an arrangement whose history and extent are contested. It is not enough to say that Empedocles has “one universe”: the sources separately ask how many ordered worlds there are, what remains outside one world, how it forms, and whether comparable worlds recur in both directions of the cycle. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Calls the mixture of the elements the cosmos. - **A 47 (testimony).** Aëtius I 5,2 (D. 291); source PDF pp. 110–111. Distinguishes one cosmos from the larger All. - **A 50 (testimony).** Aëtius II 31,4 and II 1,4; source PDF pp. 116–117. Assigns shape and boundary to the differentiated world. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Treats a cosmos as generated and destroyed within recurrent change. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 104–105. Discusses the cosmos as composed of separated elements and compares its present state under Strife with a former state under Love. **In this edition.** Do not let “cosmos,” “All,” “heaven” and “Sphairos” become interchangeable in translation. A52’s modern note overstates the explicit evidence for a named cosmos of Love. **See also.** [All](#entry-all); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter); [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love). ## Craftsmanship {#entry-craftsmanship} *τεχνίτας (technitas); τοῦ δημιουργεῖν (tou dēmiourgein); ἐν ταῖς χερσί (en tais chersi)* **The word.** Technitēs is a craftsman or skilled practitioner; dēmiourgein means to make or practise a craft. The hands are the bodily site in the example. The passage does not limit the activity to one specific art or manufactured object. **In this work.** The report explains a good craftsman's aptitude by a middle or balanced blend in the hands. This illustrates a general proposal that an advantageous local constitution yields excellence in the corresponding activity. It should be distinguished from claims elsewhere about cosmic formation by art or the absence of intelligent design. Theophrastus challenges the causal interpretation. Hands occupy the role of an instrument; a skill is not adequately explained simply by assigning its cause to the hands or their blood mixture. His alternative reference to form and intelligence belongs to his philosophical criticism. It does not establish that Empedocles denied learning, nor that the surviving source supplies a full account of acquired versus innate skill. The entry preserves the narrower issue actually argued: how bodily conditions relate to skilful performance. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Connects manual craftsmanship with a favourable blend in the hands. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Denies that hands as instruments suffice to explain the skill exercised through them. **In this edition.** The word “craft” here belongs to a human capacity in the perception dossier. It should not be conflated with all occurrences of technē in cosmological or biographical witnesses. **See also.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Instrument](#entry-instrument). ## Crossing of Xerxes {#entry-crossing-of-xerxes} *Ξέρξου διάβασιν (Xerxou diabasin); τὰ δὲ Περσικὰ (ta de Persika); ἀτελείωτα (ateleiōta)* **The word.** Diabasis is a crossing or passage; here the phrase names Xerxes’ crossing as a poetic subject. Persika means Persian matters or the Persian poem, while ateleiōta marks its unfinished condition. **In this work.** The Life attributes to Empedocles a poem on Xerxes’ crossing alongside a prelude to Apollo. The report of destruction distinguishes accident from judgment: the prelude was burned unintentionally, but the Persian work deliberately because it was incomplete. This anecdote broadens the transmitted image of Empedocles beyond doctrinal poetry, while simultaneously explaining why the broader corpus was unavailable. Its usefulness is bibliographical and biographical, not evidential for the lost poem’s exact argument, political standpoint, or length. The subject alone does not authorize assigning Empedocles a definite interpretation of the Persian invasion. The conflicting identification of the relative as sister or daughter also marks the story’s instability. It should be preserved as a report of an attributed work, not treated as a known manuscript-destruction event witnessed at first hand. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57, reporting Aristotle, On Poets, and Hieronymus; source PDF pp. 22–25. Names the Persian poem and distinguishes its intentional destruction from the accidental burning of the prelude. **In this edition.** The translation’s title “Crossing of Xerxes” is a useful rendering of the descriptive Greek. The excerpt does not prove a fixed authorial title or identify which surviving ancient source supplied every detail of the burning story. **See also.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Crystalline heaven {#entry-crystalline-heaven} *κρυσταλλοειδῶς (krystalloeidōs); κρυσταλλώδη (krystallōdē); κρυσταλλῶδες πίλημα (krystallōdes pilēma); στερέμνιον (steremnion)* **The word.** The crystal-related forms describe a crystalline or crystal-like condition; στερέμνιον marks solidity. In the ancient vocabulary printed here, crystal and freezing imagery are closely connected. “Crystalline” does not identify a modern mineral composition for the celestial structure. **In this work.** Aëtius at A51 calls heaven solid, made of air compacted by fire in a crystalline manner. Achilles says it is crystalline and gathered from what is frozen. The scholion on Basil instead calls it water-compacted and likens it to crystalline felting. Lactantius cites Empedocles’ frozen air skeptically beside other possible heavenly materials, such as bronze or glass. The modern note labels the four reports as agreeing and independent. Their convergence is narrower: several preserve a tradition of solid or frozen heaven, but the air/water difference is real and source independence is not established by this file. Even the tone varies, from doxographic assertion to Lactantius’ refusal to assent. A54 places the fixed stars bound to the crystal, while planets are released or free. That makes the heavenly material part of a distinction between celestial motions, not merely a metaphor of brilliance. Diogenes’ summary at A1 §77 also describes heaven as crystal-like, giving a further occurrence of the association without settling its physical interpretation. The appropriate reconstruction is consequently modest: crystalline solidity was attached to Empedocles in several ancient accounts, but the exact material and mechanism must be tracked witness by witness.[^note-crystalline-heaven] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 51 (testimony).** Aëtius II 11,2; Achilles, Isagoge 5; source PDF pp. 118–119. Describes solid, crystalline heaven through compacted air or frozen material. - **A 51 (testimony).** Scholia on Basil; source PDF pp. 118–119. Specifies water-compacted heaven and crystalline felting, differing from the air accounts. - **A 51 (polemical).** Lactantius, De opificio dei; source PDF pp. 118–119. Cites frozen air as a claim he need not immediately accept. - **A 54 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,11 (D. 342); source PDF pp. 122–123. Makes the crystal the support to which fixed stars are bound. **In this edition.** The note’s “four reports, in agreement” conceals the water/air difference, and its assertion of independence exceeds the evidence presented. Diels also records variation in the felting expression. **See also.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Planets](#entry-planets); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres). ## Cycle {#entry-cycle} *περίοδον (periodon); διαδοχήν (diadochēn); ἐναλλὰξ (enallax)* **The word.** Περίοδος is a going-round or recurrent circuit; διαδοχή is succession; ἐναλλάξ means alternately. These words support recurrence at different levels, but none supplies on its own an exact timetable, equal phase lengths, or a fully symmetrical pair of world-formations. **In this work.** Aristotle at A46 provides a particularly clear contrast: Empedocles makes the separations recur periodically, while Anaxagoras has a once-only process. Plato’s earlier-style characterization at A29 emphasizes being one and many by turns, although it names neither thinker. Simplicius at A52 describes the same world coming to be and perishing repeatedly, and calls the succession everlasting. Together the notices strongly support recurrent change as a central reading of the system. The architecture of that recurrence is less settled. A38’s intervening rest is cautiously attributed by Aristotle as what Empedocles would seem to say. A42 contains both Aristotle’s statement that a cosmogony under Love was omitted and his report that the world was formerly under Love as it now is under Strife. Simplicius in A52 names a cosmos of Strife, its dissolution into the Sphairos under Love, and a present-kind cosmos produced when Strife separates the elements. The modern editor calls this an explicit account of two cosmoi, one of Love and one of Strife, but the printed excerpt does not expressly name the former. Nor does chronological order pass without challenge. Simplicius’ later passage in the same A-number suggests that philosophers may narrate generation from simple constituents for teaching, as though those constituents had existed earlier in time. That is an interpretative proposal, distinct from the straightforward recurrent narrative. The lexicon therefore uses “cycle” for the well-attested recurrence without deciding every contested transition. A complete reconstruction must distinguish the persistence of roots, destruction of arrangements, dominance of powers, presence or absence of rest, and possibility of comparable worlds on both directions of change. Calling the cycle symmetrical cannot substitute for those arguments.[^note-cycle] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 46 (testimony).** Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20; source PDF pp. 110–111. Explicitly contrasts Empedocles’ periodic separation with Anaxagoras’ once-only event. - **A 38 (polemical).** Aristotle, Physics Θ 1, 252a7; source PDF pp. 100–101. Hypothetically attributes necessary alternation and intervening rest. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 104–105. Preserves the tension between omitted generation under Love and a former world under Love. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18 and 305,21; source PDF pp. 120–121. First reports recurring world-formation, then offers a separate expository reading of temporal language. **In this edition.** A52’s editorial claim that the excerpt explicitly names two cosmoi overstates what is printed. Its reference to the B17 quotation concerns the surrounding transmission; the quoted verses themselves are not reproduced in the excerpt. **See also.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Rest](#entry-rest); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Destruction](#entry-destruction). ## Daimones {#entry-daimones} *δαιμόνων (daimonōn); διοικοῦντες (dioikountes)* **The word.** Δαίμονες are divine or daemonic beings; the printed genitive is δαιμόνων. The accompanying participle describes governing or administering affairs. “Demons” with its later exclusively malign sense would prejudge the character of these beings. **In this work.** Hippolytus at A31 opens by saying that Empedocles spoke much about the nature of numerous daimones who go about managing affairs on earth. He then turns to Love and Strife, the monad’s intelligible fire, and passage into different bodies. The arrangement puts daemonic and physical topics within one reported account. That juxtaposition is useful against an overly rigid assumption that all religious matter must have been unrelated to the physics. It does not, however, prove the exact number, titles or organization of Empedocles’ poems. Hippolytus’ own assimilating language is conspicuous: monad and conflagration are introduced through later frameworks, and the Stoics are explicitly compared. The notice does not identify every daimon with a human soul or state that the collective governors are identical with the autobiographical self of the abbreviated B117 quotation. Those connections may belong to larger interpretations, but the local report gives their juxtaposition rather than a complete taxonomy. The headword keeps the beings and their reported office visible without forcing them into later demonology or psychology. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 31 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3 (D. 558), §1; source PDF pp. 90–91. Introduces numerous daimones governing earthly affairs before the summary of physical principles and transmigration. **In this edition.** Hippolytus’ organization of his notice is an interpretative frame. It cannot by itself settle the one-poem/two-poem debate or guarantee the purity of his doctrinal vocabulary. **See also.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Monad](#entry-monad); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness). ## Dark eyes {#entry-dark-eyes} *τὰ δὲ μέλανα (ta de melana); μελανόμματα (melanommata)* **The word.** The printed phrase means “the dark ones,” understood as eyes. Melanommata, “dark-eyed,” is a manuscript variant cited in the apparatus. These forms describe an eye type in a report about its elemental composition. **In this work.** Aristotle attributes to Empedocles the claim that dark eyes possess more water than fire. They therefore see less sharply at night through deficient fire, in contrast with fiery grey eyes deficient in water during daytime. The colour distinction functions as a sign within the proposed physiology, not as a general judgment about the character or intelligence of persons with such eyes. The passage is openly critical. Aristotle says this is not well said if visual substance is water in all eyes. His preferred uniform account is not a concession made by Empedocles. Comparison with Theophrastus shows a shared explanatory pattern involving excess, deficiency, and external conditions, but the precise relationship between the two reports cannot be established merely from their agreement in outline. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Reports watery dark eyes and their alleged nighttime deficiency. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Describes excess water overtaking visual fire at night. **In this edition.** The apparatus gives μέλανα in Z, μελανόμματα in PS, and μεγαλόμματα in Y. The last means large-eyed and shows why the printed colour classification should be cited with its textual basis. **See also.** [Black](#entry-black); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight). ## Day and night {#entry-day-and-night} *νύκτα (nykta); ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα (hēmeran kai nykta)* **The word.** The ordinary words for day and night acquire a cosmological role when the witnesses explain them through material regions or speak of their separation. The expressions concern differentiated conditions in a formed world, not the alternating dominance of Love and Strife themselves. **In this work.** Ps.-Plutarch at A30 describes two hemispheres carried round the earth. One is wholly fiery; the other is air mixed with a little fire, and this latter hemisphere is identified with night. The explicit assignment is to night. It is natural to compare the fiery half with day, but the printed sentence does not separately state that equation in the same words. The physical account accordingly links night with a revolving mixed region rather than merely naming absence of sunlight. Aëtius’ plant notice at A70 places the first trees before the sun was spread round and before day and night were separated. Here the distinction marks a stage in the world’s differentiation and a relative sequence for the emergence of living things. The expression about the sun’s spreading is uncertain in the apparatus; the notice does not supply a modern calendar or an exact duration before ordinary days began. These two reports can be compared as accounts of how the familiar alternation belongs to a formed cosmos. They should not be conflated with the longer cosmic cycle, or assembled into a precise chronology beyond what each witness states. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Identifies the mixed air-and-fire hemisphere with night in an account of two revolving hemispheres. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius, plant notice; source PDF pp. 150–153. Places the first trees before the sun’s spreading and the separation of day and night. **In this edition.** A30’s Greek is disordered and A70’s solar-spreading phrase is textually uncertain. Neither report warrants identifying a cosmic day with a complete Love–Strife cycle. **See also.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Sun](#entry-sun); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Cycle](#entry-cycle). ## Day vision {#entry-day-vision} *ἐν ἡμέραι (en hēmerai); μεθ' ἡμέραν (meth’ hēmeran)* **The word.** These expressions mean by day or in daytime. They occur in a comparative explanation of visual acuity, not as the name of a formally independent faculty. The comparison is with night vision and with different internal balances of fire and water. **In this work.** According to Theophrastus's report, animals with less fire see better by day because external light compensates for their deficiency. More fire is not always better: excessive inner fire is increased by daylight and encroaches on water-passages, producing dim vision. Aristotle's parallel report identifies grey eyes as fiery and consequently poor in daytime for want of water. Theophrastus contests the mechanism rather than merely denying variation among animals. If greater fire destroys lesser fire, deficient eyes should see less by day; if likeness increases likeness, everyone should see white better by day. He also appeals to the general superiority of daytime vision, apart from a few animals. That empirical generalization belongs to the critic's argument and should not be presented as an established biological law. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Explains daytime acuity through external compensation for deficient internal fire. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 18; source PDF pp. 204–205. Challenges the predicted effects of sunlight on visual fire. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Reports and rejects the explanation of weak daytime vision in grey eyes. **In this edition.** The account in §8 contains several supplements; A91 gives a related but not word-for-word identical formulation. They should be compared rather than silently fused. **See also.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight). ## Death {#entry-death} *θάνατον (thanaton); διαχωρισμῶι (diachōrismōi); κοινὸν εἶναι τὸν θάνατον σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς (koinon einai ton thanaton sōmatos kai psychēs)* **The word.** Thanatos is death. Diachōrismos means separation or parting. In the second notice, death is said to be common to body and soul in the specified respect. The limiting phrase matters: the reporter connects the conclusion to the compound's dissolution. **In this work.** A85 offers two explanations. One makes death complete cooling of the heat in blood, contrasted with the moderate cooling of sleep. The other derives it from separation of the constituents out of which the human compound was constituted, and draws a consequence for body and soul together. The printed fourfold list depends substantially on Diels' supplement: airy, watery, and earthy are added after the fiery. The surviving wording thus cannot be treated as a fully intact recitation of the four roots. It also does not define soul as ratio. The edition supplies that connection from Aristotle's discussions at A78, where the identification is a question or conditional target of criticism. Combining those passages into a universal statement that Empedocles held the soul necessarily annihilated at death would go beyond the evidence. Conversely, the religious accounts of a wandering daimon do not make the physiological testimony disappear. A lexicon should expose the interpretive problem: later reporters can describe bodily dissolution and a shared death of body and soul, while other strands of the tradition describe continued personal or daimonic existence. The precise relation among soul, daimon, mixture, and bodily life is not settled here.[^note-death] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Defines death by complete cooling of blood's heat. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Explains death through separation and infers a shared fate of body and soul in that respect. - **A 85 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 184–185. Supplies the airy, watery, and earthy constituents in the separation clause. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Raises, rather than unconditionally endorses, the identity of soul and mixture ratio. **In this edition.** Cooling, constituent separation, and annihilation are not synonyms. The notice supports the first two as attributed explanations and a doxographic consequence for soul; it does not resolve the whole relation between physical doctrine and transmigration. **See also.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Ratio](#entry-ratio). ## Death traditions {#entry-death-traditions} *τελευτῆσαι (teleutēsai); μηρὸν κλάσαι (mēron klasai); βρόχον (brochon); εἰς θάλατταν (eis thalattan)* **The word.** Teleutaō means to end one’s life or die; the remaining expressions identify a broken thigh, a noose, and the sea in different narratives. Their coexistence is evidence of divergent traditions, not a sequence of episodes in a single death. **In this work.** Diogenes compiles disappearance after a feast, the crater leap, death following a wagon accident and broken thigh, a hanging told in Homeric language, and a fatal slip into the sea through old age. He also preserves ages of sixty, seventy-seven, and one hundred and nine, and a tomb report at Megara. The literary and evidential forms vary: Heraclides supplies a dramatic disappearance, Hippobotus a revealing object, Demetrius of Troezen a Homeric recasting, and the doubtful Telauges letter another ending. Aristotle’s age of sixty is one ancient claim among these, though used by Apollodorus for chronological criticism. The collection should not be reduced either to a favored sensational story or to an unqualified statement that all alternatives are equally credible. Their attribution, source character, and compatibility with other evidence differ. Timaeus’ insistence on an obscure end after departure is particularly valuable as an ancient challenge, but it does not fill the gaps with independently known circumstances. The dossier is strongest as evidence for the difficulty of knowing how Empedocles died and for the narrative expectations attached to an exceptional philosopher. The differences in presentation are as significant as the differences in outcome. The feast story withholds an observed death and asks how absence should be interpreted. The crater story supplies both hidden intention and a clue that exposes it. The wagon story gives an ordinary sequence of injury, illness, and death despite the philosopher’s extraordinary reputation. The Homeric account recasts an ending through borrowed poetic language. The sea story is assigned to a letter whose trustworthiness had already been questioned. To list the five without their literary vehicles would imply a uniform body of evidence that the Life does not actually provide. The ages cannot be used as harmless decorative details either. Sixty supports Apollodorus’ rejection of an implausibly late military involvement; seventy-seven accompanies the accident narrative; the much larger figure belongs to a competing longevity tradition. Selecting an age therefore changes the chronological reconstruction. The grandfather’s namesake victory further creates a mechanism by which facts can move across generations. No continuous life can be produced simply by retaining every attractive detail and discarding only the most spectacular ending. Later literature has different purposes. Horace’s joke depends on the right of the eccentric poet to refuse rescue, Milton’s passage classifies an ambition as foolish, and Arnold uses the inherited scene for a modern dramatic crisis. Their vividness explains why one ending became especially durable, but their repetition adds no independent observation. A scholarly lexicon should distinguish the historical question, what happened, from the reception question, what kinds of ending later writers found fitting. The dossier is richly informative about the second even where it remains inconclusive about the first. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67–68, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Presents disappearance after a sacrificial gathering. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hippobotus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Supplies the crater ending. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 73–74, citing Aristotle, Demetrius of Troezen, and the Telauges letter; source PDF pp. 42–45. Collects accident, hanging, sea-death, ages, and a tomb. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Offers withdrawal and uncertainty against the miraculous endings. - **A 16 (reception).** Horace, The Art of Poetry; source PDF pp. 64–65. Reuses the death as a literary exemplum rather than resolving the ancient evidence. - **Appendix II Milton (reception).** John Milton, Paradise Lost III 469–473; source PDF p. 243. Transforms the inherited ending into a moral example of folly. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Adapts the crater ending to a modern dramatic crisis. - **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 51–52, reporting Apollodorus; source PDF pp. 16–17. Distinguishes the homonymous grandfather and uses the reported age at death to reject the late Syracuse military chronology. **In this edition.** The apparatus corrects the name Demetrius where manuscripts have Democritus. The source’s literary noose account must not be treated as a clinical or eyewitness description. The Telauges letter was already deemed untrustworthy earlier in the Life. **See also.** [Etna](#entry-etna); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation). ## Delphic wreath {#entry-delphic-wreath} *στέμμα Δελφικόν (stemma Delphikon); στέμματα Δελφικὰ (stemmata Delphika)* **The word.** The adjective Delphikos associates the wreath or garlands with Delphi. The Greek does not specify the plant material in these biographical notices; “laurel” is explicit instead in Lucretius’ later comparison with the Pythia. **In this work.** The Life gives a singular Delphic wreath as part of the costume, while the Suda places plural Delphic garlands in Empedocles’ hands. The designation adds a recognizable sacred association to clothing otherwise interpreted as royal or divine. It does not by itself establish priesthood, an office at Delphi, or a particular initiation. The Latin reception supplies a related but distinct image: Lucretius compares philosophical pronouncements from the heart with answers given by the Pythia from Apollo’s tripod and laurel. That comparison concerns epistemic authority, not the historical provenance of Empedocles’ costume. The shared Delphic field is therefore useful for understanding reception, provided material biography and poetic analogy remain separate. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73; source PDF pp. 42–45. Lists a singular Delphic wreath. - **A 2 (biography).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Moves plural Delphic garlands into the hands. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Uses Apollo’s tripod and laurel in a comparison with philosophical discovery. **In this edition.** The plant species and a formal religious office should not be supplied from the adjective alone. The singular/plural and worn/held variations should remain visible in any account of the costume. **See also.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo). ## Destruction {#entry-destruction} *φθορὰς (phthoras); φθείρεσθαι (phtheiresthai); φθαρτὰ (phtharta); ἄφθαρτα (aphtharta)* **The word.** Φθορά is perishing or destruction; φθαρτός and ἄφθαρτος distinguish perishable and imperishable. Here the object matters: a world-order can perish while its constituents continue. “Destruction” need not mean the absolute disappearance of all being. **In this work.** A44 says that Empedocles’ account substitutes separation for destruction strictly understood. Aristotle at A52 states the complementary point sharply: all things are perishable except the elements. The persistence of the four is thus consistent, in the reports, with the loss of a compound’s particular organization. Aëtius attributes the cosmos’s destruction to the counter-prevailing of Love and Strife. Simplicius specifies Love drawing everything into one and destroying the cosmos of Strife while making the Sphairos. This blocks a simplistic assignment of destruction exclusively to Strife. Love can undo the differentiated world even as it unifies its constituents. The A32 English sentence about the Sphairos being resolved into the elements must not be used as independent support for a destruction sequence: its supplemented Greek has the reverse direction, all these resolving into the Sphairos. The cycle’s general evidence remains substantial, but its particular transitions must be reconstructed from correctly distinguished passages. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Replaces destruction properly so called with separation of constituents. - **A 52 (testimony).** Aëtius II 4,8; Aristotle, Metaphysics B 4; source PDF pp. 120–121. Reports cosmic destruction under alternating powers and exempts only elements from perishability. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Makes Love destroy the cosmos of Strife in the process of producing the Sphairos. **In this edition.** The distinction between constituent and compound is essential. The English mistranslation at A32 reverses a transition and should not be harmonized away without notice. **See also.** [Generation](#entry-generation); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Love](#entry-love); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Dialectic {#entry-dialectic} *διαλεκτικήν (dialektikēn); διαλεκτικῆς (dialektikēs)* **The word.** Dialektikē names the argumentative art paired with rhetoric in these testimonia. The passages report its origin; they do not offer a definition of its methods or attribute a dialectical handbook to Empedocles. **In this work.** Aristotle’s Sophist, as quoted through Diogenes, assigns the invention of dialectic to Zeno and that of rhetoric to Empedocles. The symmetry sets two arts within a shared intellectual generation without making them identical. The Suda’s Zeno entry repeats the pairing beside an exposition of Empedocles. A scholium on Iamblichus instead makes both arts originate with Pythagoras, then derives the rhetoricians through Empedocles. This is a useful example of how an origin story is adjusted to a school’s preferred ancestry. The claim about dialectic should therefore be used to illuminate Empedocles’ rhetorical reputation and his placement beside Zeno, not to credit Empedocles with an otherwise unattested invention of dialectic. The difference between inventor, transmitter, and ultimate ancestor remains important even within these short reports. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57, reporting Aristotle, Sophist; source PDF pp. 22–25. Pairs Zeno’s dialectic with Empedocles’ rhetoric. - **A 5 (testimony).** The Suda, under “Zeno”; source PDF pp. 52–53. Repeats the paired origin claim. - **A 19 (testimony).** Scholiast on Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 68–69. Reassigns ultimate priority to Pythagoras. **In this edition.** The excerpt’s Greek gives the name of the art but not a technical definition. Importing a later Aristotelian textbook definition would overstate the local evidence. **See also.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Digestion {#entry-digestion} *τὰς πέψεις τῆς τροφῆς (tas pepseis tēs trophēs); σήψει (sēpsei)* **The word.** Pepseis are processes of digestion or maturation of food. The explanatory term sēpsis means putrefaction. The passage is a medical classification of how several thinkers account for digestion, not a preserved Empedoclean anatomical description. **In this work.** Pseudo-Galen asks how Hippocrates, Erasistratus, Empedocles, and Asclepiades explain food's digestion, then assigns putrefaction to Empedocles. The brevity is both useful and limiting. It gives a distinct causal label but no sequence of organs, fluids, temperature changes, or transformations. The meaning cannot be supplied simply from the everyday modern association of putrefaction with unsafe food or disease: in the historical classification it serves as an explanatory process. A77's neighbouring Aëtian report concerns nourishment and growth, which are not thereby identical with digestion. The text can therefore support a distinction between processing food, incorporating fitting material, and increasing bodily size, even though it does not spell out a unified physiology connecting all three. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 77 (testimony).** Pseudo-Galen, Medical Definitions; source PDF pp. 166–167. Classifies Empedocles' explanation of digestion as putrefaction. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Gives separate explanations for nourishment, growth, and decline. **In this edition.** The witness is Pseudo-Galen, not securely Galen himself. The present-tense handbook classification preserves an attribution without showing that its single technical term reproduces Empedocles' own wording. **See also.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions). ## Dim sight {#entry-dim-sight} *ἀμβλυωπεῖν (amblyōpein); ἀμαυροῦσθαι (amaurousthai)* **The word.** Amblyōpein means to see dimly; amaurousthai means to become dimmed or obscured. Here the terms designate impaired vision arising within a proposed elemental mechanism, not a diagnosis equivalent to a present-day ophthalmic category. **In this work.** In Theophrastus's exposition dim sight follows excess as well as deficiency. Excess fire, further increased by daylight, spreads over and occupies water-passages; excessive water produces the converse obstruction at night. Opposites provide a cure by separating away what interferes. The model treats an organ's internal relation of constituents as decisive for its performance. Theophrastus then uses the account against itself. If an unlike body can fit and block a passage, physical fit cannot alone guarantee perception. When perception does occur, the theory must explain both the displaced material's destination and the relevant change. The question turns an ordinary visual impairment into a test of the distinction between occupancy and perception. It is the critic's dilemma, not a recovered Empedoclean concession that there must be void. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Makes excess fire or water produce dim vision through obstruction. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 14; source PDF pp. 200–201. Uses blocked passages to challenge the relation between fitting and perceiving. **In this edition.** The translation “spreads over” and “takes possession” preserves a mechanical image. It does not warrant identifying a particular disease, fluid, or modern visual defect. **See also.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Void](#entry-void); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision). ## Disjoined limbs {#entry-disjoined-limbs} *ἀσυμφυέσι δὲ τοῖς μορίοις διεζευγμένας (asymphyesi de tois moriois diezeugmenas); membra singula; ex terra quasi praegnate* **The word.** Moria and the Latin membra are parts or limbs. Asymphyesi describes them as not grown together, while diezeugmenas emphasizes separation. Censorinus' earth is quasi praegnans, as though pregnant: a productive comparison, not a literal anatomical identification. **In this work.** The first generations in Aëtius are incomplete because their parts have not grown together. This is more specific than simply saying that the earliest organisms were imperfect: the report begins with bodily components in a state of separation. Censorinus gives the image spatial vividness, describing individual limbs emerging here and there from earth before joining into the matter of a solid human being. Neither excerpt here lists the particular free-standing organs familiar from the verse tradition. The edition's links to B57 and B58 can orient a reader, but those poems are not additional quotations within this Volume II passage. The lexical emphasis on joining also makes the transition to the next stage clear without deciding how the cosmic powers operated at every step. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Describes the earliest generations as incomplete and disjointed, with parts not grown together. - **A 72 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 156–159. Reports single limbs emerging from earth as if from a pregnant body and subsequently combining. **In this edition.** Censorinus is a corroborating report of the motif, but its independence and direct access to the poem are not demonstrated by the excerpt. The testimony does not name a modern developmental stage or mechanism of mutation. **See also.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Divine breast {#entry-divine-breast} *divini pectoris; carmina; praeclara reperta; vix humana* **The word.** Pectus is breast or heart as a seat of inward capacity; divini qualifies it as divine. Carmina are songs or poems, and praeclara reperta are splendid discoveries. The phrase combines poetic production and intellectual discovery in a single image. **In this work.** Lucretius says the songs from Empedocles’ divine breast proclaim his brilliant findings so powerfully that he seems scarcely born of human stock. This is the culminating praise after the Sicilian landscape. It does not affirm the biographical claim that Empedocles physically became an immortal god, nor is it a testimony about the anatomical location of thought in blood. The elevated language honors poetic and intellectual achievement while preparing for disagreement. The appendix continues the comparison through a shrine within the heart whose responses are more rationally certain than the Pythia’s, then announces failure over first principles. The movement shows that reverence for an earlier poet need not imply acceptance of his physical system. The lexical imagery belongs to Lucretius’ rhetorical economy and should not be appropriated as Empedocles’ own account of inspiration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Ends the praise with divine inward capacity, poems, discoveries, and almost nonhuman birth. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Extends sacred inward imagery while introducing doctrinal failure. **In this edition.** The edition’s statement that no Greek source is equally warm is a comparative editorial judgment, not a fact established by the selection. The near-divinity language is encomium, and must remain distinct from the literalized death legends. **See also.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles). ## Divine roots {#entry-divine-roots} *θεοὺς (theous); θεοὶ (theoi)* **The word.** The forms are the accusative plural “gods” in Aëtius and the nominative plural in Aristotle. They make a stronger assertion than the use of divine names as convenient labels: the constituents themselves are represented as divine. The prose forms are those of the witnesses, even when their reports may preserve an Empedoclean commitment. **In this work.** Aëtius says explicitly that Empedocles calls the elements gods. Aristotle’s compressed objection in A40 similarly adds that the elements “too are gods” after arguing that they are prior by nature to “the god,” understood in the edition as the Sphairos. The resulting plurality matters. The unified divine state does not straightforwardly replace a previously non-divine stock of materials; the report makes what composes it divine as well. This offers a useful control on readings of Plato’s anonymous naturalists in A48. Their primary bodies are described as entirely soulless and their cosmogenesis as proceeding without god. That polemical construction cannot simply be laid over the divine constituents reported by Aëtius and Aristotle. Conversely, calling roots gods is not sufficient evidence for a modern personalist or pantheist theology. The testimonia establish a vocabulary of divinity, but they do not supply a systematic account of agency, personhood, or worship for every root. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Explicitly reports that the elements are gods alongside the mixture, cosmos and Sphairos. - **A 40 (polemical).** Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione B 6, 333b20; source PDF pp. 102–103. Acknowledges the divinity of the elements while arguing for their natural priority to the god. **In this edition.** A32 is heavily compressed and supplemented; A40 is an argumentative aside. Their convergence supports taking the divine predication seriously, but does not settle the disputed individual name-to-root mappings at A33. **See also.** [Roots](#entry-roots); [Zeus](#entry-zeus); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Divine status {#entry-divine-status} *γεγονότι θεῶι (gegonoti theōi); καθαπερεὶ θεῶι (kathaperei theōi); ὡς περὶ θεοῦ (hōs peri theou); deus immortalis haberi* **The word.** The Greek phrases distinguish being treated “as a god,” being spoken of as one who has become a god, and securing an opinion “as about a god.” Horace’s Latin means wishing to be regarded as an immortal god. These are not identical assertions of an actual change of nature. **In this work.** The Life repeatedly connects extraordinary accomplishment with divine recognition. Heraclides’ Pausanias tells the searchers to sacrifice to the disappeared Empedocles; the people of Selinus pray to their benefactor as to a god; Hippobotus makes the crater leap an attempt to confirm that reputation. The Suda then presents costume and disappearance as deliberate self-promotion. Timaeus’ criticism of the poetic voice as boastful supplies a different perspective, contrasting divine self-presentation with civic moderation. None of these reports should be collapsed into an uncontested belief that the historical Empedocles claimed personal omnipotence or arranged a fraud. The testimonia preserve interpretations of poetic speech, civic honor, healing, and disappearance. Latin reception further transforms the register: Lucretius praises a divine breast and almost nonhuman excellence without affirming the physical death legend, while Horace makes the desire for immortality the point of a literary joke. The lexical distinction between being divine, being honored as divine, and wishing to be thought divine is central to understanding these changes. Agency matters within each scene. The people of Selinus rise and pray after a benefaction; this is an account of communal response. Pausanias directs sacrifice after a disappearance; this is an interpretation proposed by a named companion within a literary narrative. The Suda attributes a desire for divine opinion to Empedocles himself; this is a narrator’s statement of motive. Horace repeats that motive within satire. Treating all four as one direct self-claim would conflate worship, interpretation, intention, and comic retelling. The associated material signs are no less variable. A wreath and solemn dress may be read as honorable distinction, royal semblance, or theatrical pretension. The bronze footwear can support the public image in one passage and undermine a disappearance in another. A memorial or shrine, meanwhile, is something Timaeus expects but says the story lacks. Objects do not carry a single fixed meaning independent of the narrator who places them. The dossier’s religious vocabulary is thus inseparable from its changing narrative arrangements. The category also remains different from a doctrine about the gods named as roots. Identifying Zeus, Hera, Aidoneus, or Nestis with physical constituents is an interpretive question about cosmological language. Calling an exceptional human divine is a question about the relation between accomplishment, self-presentation, and honor. Neither automatically explains the other. The same caution applies to Lucretius’ praise: a divine breast and discoveries beyond ordinary human excellence can be poetic valuation without affirming an immortal body. The strongest lexical reading preserves these distinctions rather than using “divine” as a shortcut linking every religious passage into one settled theological system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 68, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Makes Pausanias advocate sacrifice after the disappearance. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hippobotus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Attributes the fire-leap to a wish to confirm divine reputation. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–71; source PDF pp. 40–41. Reports Selinuntine prayer and worship as to a god. - **A 16 (reception).** Horace, The Art of Poetry; source PDF pp. 64–65. Turns the wish to be thought immortal into a satirical exemplum. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Uses elevated divine language in praise of poetic discovery. - **A 2 (legend).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Attributes the public costume to a wish to secure an opinion of himself as a god. **In this edition.** The snippets of Empedoclean verse in the Life are abbreviated; their biographical interpretation belongs to the witnesses. The edition’s reconciliation of divine self-presentation with political equality is a hypothesis, not an ancient explanation supplied by Timaeus. **See also.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Purifications](#entry-purifications). ## Divisibility {#entry-divisibility} *ἀδιαίρετα (adiaireta); ἐλάχιστα (elachista)* **The word.** Ἀδιαίρετα means indivisible; ἐλάχιστα means least or smallest. The concepts differ: a smallest part may be asserted in a report without an explicit argument for indivisibility, while a critic may infer indivisible bodies from another premise. The heading covers the contested limit of division. **In this work.** Philoponus at A87 argues that passages cannot run continuously through the entire body, since all body would then be passage and void. He concludes that there must be solid indivisible portions touching one another and empty intervals between them. This is what he thinks Empedocles must say, not a preserved statement in which Empedocles calls his own constituents indivisible. Aëtius at A43 supplies a different claim: smallest fragments and masses precede or compose the four elements. The two notices can be compared, but they do not amount to a secure atomic doctrine when combined. Elsewhere in A87 Philoponus explicitly distinguishes occupied passages from void, and the edition notes that no quoted fragment confirms the sub-elemental particle hierarchy. The Lucretius appendix’s modern note summarizes an opposite critical tradition, that Empedocles allowed no limit to division. The relevant ancient lines are not printed in the appendix. Their evidential status within this particular edition is therefore a report by the editor about the following refutation, not directly inspectable ancient wording. The disagreement is worth retaining rather than choosing one side as a settled physical commitment.[^note-divisibility] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Infers indivisible solids as a required consequence of the pore account. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 13,1 and I 17,3; source PDF pp. 106–107. Attributes least fragments and masses below the four elements without a full divisibility argument. - **Appendix I Lucretius (apparatus).** Modern editor, commentary after On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Summarizes an unprinted accusation that the elements admit unrestricted division. **In this edition.** Neither “small” nor “least” should automatically be translated “atom.” The apparent conflict in the dossier partly reflects differences between reported doctrine, critical inference and editorial summary. **See also.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Masses](#entry-masses); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Void](#entry-void). ## Dowries {#entry-dowries} *ἀπροίκους (aproikous); προικίσαι (proikisai); πολιτίδων (politidōn)* **The word.** Aproikos means without a dowry; proikizō means to provide one. Politides identifies women belonging to the civic community. The words name a specific form of material assistance, not a general redistribution of property. **In this work.** Neanthes’ reported account says Empedocles used his wealth to provide dowries for many women of the city who lacked them. The benefaction is placed beside efforts to end faction and practice equality. It shows one way the biography reconciles elite resources with popular-minded civic conduct: wealth becomes useful through voluntary expenditure. The narrative then passes to conspicuous costume and a quasi-royal badge acknowledged by citizens, linking generosity to public distinction. The passage does not disclose the women’s names, the sums involved, or the arrangements under which the gifts were made. It would therefore overreach to infer a detailed marriage policy or a comprehensive program for women’s civic rights. What is attested is a remembered image of targeted benefaction and its role in explaining public honor. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73, reporting Neanthes and Favorinus; source PDF pp. 42–45. Connects provision of dowries, existing wealth, and the subsequent account of public costume. **In this edition.** The translation’s “this was why” renders a narrative connection to dress that remains puzzling. It should not be expanded into a documented civic decree authorizing the costume. **See also.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion). ## Doxography and Aëtius {#entry-doxography-aetius} **The word.** Doxography records opinions, commonly arranging them under questions such as what the principles are, how the heavens formed, or how a sense works. An epitome is a compressed account. In the supplied volume, the heading Aëtius identifies notices belonging to a reconstructed transmission rather than an extant authorial manuscript that can be read as a continuous original. **In this work.** The introduction describes Diels’s comparison of material transmitted under Plutarch’s name and in Stobaeus. This account explains why an apparently direct statement beginning with Empedocles’ name can in fact stand at the end of several stages of selection and compression. Such notices are valuable: they preserve technical distinctions, recipes and explanations otherwise represented only incompletely here. Their compactness can also leave unclear what was a conclusion, what its argument was, and whose vocabulary expresses it. Aëtius’ mapping of the divine names, for example, is one mapping among the volume’s alternatives. His lunar-distance notice contains disagreement between branches of transmission. The tissue recipes at A 78 include editorial repairs. None of these problems makes the entire collection useless, but each prevents a bare heading from functioning as a warrant of unmediated access. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Introduction (apparatus).** Modern introduction, The chain; source PDF pp. 2–10. Presents the reconstruction and its relation to a history of compressed philosophical opinions. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Preserves one elemental mapping, not a consensus among all witnesses. - **A 61 (testimony).** Aëtius, notice on lunar distance; source PDF pp. 134–135. Divergent transmitted numerical relations expose the limits of a compressed notice. - **A 78 (apparatus).** Aëtius, tissue recipes and modern apparatus; source PDF pp. 168–171. The printed recipes include emendations and reconstruction, which qualify claims of independent confirmation. **In this edition.** The source’s simplified chain is an editorial account of transmission. This lexicon uses it to identify mediation without treating every stage, dependency or relationship of independence as proved anew by the material printed here. **See also.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain); [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement). ## Earth {#entry-earth} *γῆν (gēn); γῆ (gē); γαῖαν (gaian)* **The word.** The forms name earth both as a basic constituent and as the central terrestrial body. Γαῖαν is the poetic-looking form printed in Ps.-Plutarch’s root enumeration; γῆ and its inflections are common in the witnesses’ prose. The same English “earth” therefore has to be read locally. **In this work.** Aristotle at A28 presents Empedocles as adding earth as the fourth member to previously discussed materials. This is part of Aristotle’s historical arrangement of predecessors, not a narrative of Empedocles discovering a previously unknown substance. Its divine identification remains unsettled: Aëtius makes earth Aidoneus, while the Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes make it life-bearing Hera. Hippolytus explains the latter through earth’s production of sustaining fruits. In A49 earth is separated after aither and fire, compressed so strongly by rotation that water gushes forth, and centrally gathered in Philo’s version. A35, however, denies permanently fixed places for the elements and explicitly allows earth to be carried aloft. A central earth in a given world-order must thus be distinguished from an absolutely fixed natural place assigned to all earth. Finally, the world’s egg-like shape in A50 concerns the cosmos rather than proving an egg-shaped terrestrial body. These distinctions prevent the root, the planet-like central mass and the spatial extent of the heavens from merging. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 3; source PDF pp. 84–85. Situates earth as the fourth constituent in Aristotle’s account of earlier thinkers. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Contrasts Hera-earth with Aidoneus-earth identifications. - **A 35 (testimony).** Achilles, Isagoge 4; source PDF pp. 96–97. Uses earth carried aloft as an example against fixed elemental places. - **A 49 (testimony).** Philo, De providentia II 60; source PDF pp. 114–115. Describes a centrally gathered and compacted earth. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Uses the form γαῖαν in the fourfold enumeration, distinguishing that local wording from γῆ in other reports. **In this edition.** A root’s persistence does not mean that every mass called earth has an unchanging location or composition. The source’s reports on the terrestrial mass need not establish all details of Empedocles’ own spatial vocabulary. **See also.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos). ## Earth’s stability {#entry-earths-stability} *τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φορὰν (tēn tou ouranou phoran); τὸ ἐν τοῖς κυάθοις ὕδωρ (to en tois kyathois hydōr)* **The word.** Phora is travel or locomotion; kyathoi are ladles or small vessels. Aristotle's report connects the heaven's circular movement with the familiar retention of water in a vessel that is swung around. **In this work.** Aristotle places Empedocles among thinkers who generate a heaven and explain the earth's gathering at the centre. The further problem is why the earth remains there. Unlike those who appeal to its breadth and size, Empedocles is said to invoke the heaven's rapid circular motion, which prevents the earth's movement as a rotating ladle retains water even when the water would otherwise fall. The passage supplies an intelligible mechanical analogy and distinguishes the origin of a central position from its continued maintenance. It does not give a quantitative dynamical law. Furthermore, Aristotle narrates the analogy within his own conceptual vocabulary, including the claim that water is naturally carried downward. Whether every part of that exposition derives directly from Empedocles cannot be determined from the excerpt alone. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 67 (testimony).** Aristotle, On the Heavens; source PDF pp. 142–143. Reports rotation as the cause of terrestrial stability and develops the rotating-ladle analogy; apparatus cites 295a22. **In this edition.** The edition firmly calls the analogy Empedocles' own and identifies the phenomenon as centrifugal. The attribution to his explanation is supported; the exact authorship of the elaboration and a modern mechanical interpretation should remain qualified. **See also.** [Earth](#entry-earth); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock). ## Effluence {#entry-effluence} *ἀπορροήν (aporrhoēn); ἀπορροάς (aporrhoas); ἀπόρροιαι (aporrhoiai); τὰ ῥεύματα (ta rheumata)* **The word.** The aporrhoē/aporrhoia family names an outflow or effluence. Rheumata are streams. These words indicate material movement from bodies in the witnesses' explanations; “emanation” should not import a later metaphysical doctrine of immaterial procession. **In this work.** Effluence carries colours toward sight in Theophrastus's account and supports the definition of colour in Plato's Meno. Aëtius invokes streams gathering at a mirror, and Alexander invokes outflows from both magnet and iron. This breadth is philosophically important: the proposed explanation uses a common physical resource across sensation and apparently remote interaction. Theophrastus nevertheless distinguishes the relative plausibility of its applications. He can make some sense of outflow in several senses, but asks how it represents roughness and smoothness to touch and taste. He further says fire alone appears to flow off among the elements. That last remark is the critic's assessment, not evidence that Empedocles denied effluences from all nonfiery things. The fragrant-plant objection assumes that effluence also explains wasting: stronger odour should then entail faster destruction, whereas long-lived aromatic plants appear to provide counterexamples. A cosmic objection follows. Under Love, where things are combining rather than flowing off, perception would diminish or disappear. Again this is a conditional consequence drawn by Theophrastus, not a quoted prohibition of all cognition during Love's dominance. Alexander subjects magnetism to a comparable explanatory test: if two bodies emit, why should only one follow its outflow, and why do other matching bodies not attract? The term thus joins disparate testimonies while exposing their argumentative differences. The reports should not be flattened into one fully reconstructed corpuscular theory with details no witness states. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Says that effluence brings colours to sight. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Questions touch, taste, decay, fragrant plants, and perception under Love. - **A 88 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 216–217. Makes streams and their compaction part of mirror reflection. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions; source PDF pp. 218–221. Describes reciprocal emissions in the magnetic mechanism. - **A 92 (reception).** Plato, Meno; source PDF pp. 226–227. Presents effluences and fitting passages as premises of an Empedoclean-style definition. **In this edition.** The witnesses use different formations and levels of detail. Aëtius's preference for an image reading at A90 is an interpretation of the effluence evidence, not proof that every effluence is a miniature image. **See also.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Images](#entry-images); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love). ## Egg-shaped cosmos {#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos} *ὠιῶι παραπλησίως (ōiōi paraplēsiōs); πλάτος (platos); ὕψους (hypsous)* **The word.** The comparison is literally to an egg: the cosmos lies in a manner resembling one. The surrounding words contrast breadth with height. The report offers an analogy of shape rather than a full geometrical specification. **In this work.** Aëtius at A50 says the heaven extends farther sideways than the distance upward from earth, explaining this by the egg-like disposition of the cosmos. The text thus gives a relative dimension as well as an image. It does not state all axes or provide enough information for an exact modern ellipsoid diagram. The notice is especially important beside the spherical Sphairos. The two descriptions need not refer to one object in one condition: the Sphairos belongs to the account of complete unification under Love, whereas the egg comparison concerns a differentiated world with earth and heaven. Yet that possible distinction should not be presented as a proven solution to every difficulty in the geometry. No fragment quoted here describes the egg-shaped cosmos. The neighboring statement that the sun’s circuit outlines the cosmic boundary supplies another spatial claim, not an automatic blueprint connecting each dimension. The lexicon keeps the comparison concrete while declining to invent the missing geometry. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 50 (testimony).** Aëtius II 31,4 and II 1,4; source PDF pp. 116–117. Explains the world’s greater lateral extent by comparison with an egg, then gives the solar circuit as its limit. **In this edition.** The image concerns the cosmos, not an egg-shaped earth or a creation myth in which the world hatches. Those further meanings are not present in this testimony. **See also.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Elemental release {#entry-elemental-release} **The word.** “Elements” is Arnold’s English address to the powers of the natural world; “sea of fire” intensifies the crater’s image. These expressions reuse the philosopher’s association with nature without reproducing a technical enumeration or ratio of the four roots. **In this work.** Arnold’s final speech addresses the elements, claims a momentary freedom from a numbing cloud, and turns toward vapor and fire before the stage direction ends the scene. The fictional speaker’s desire not to die wholly belongs to a dramatic rendering of inward crisis. It should not be read as surviving Empedoclean testimony about the soul, a proof that the historical philosopher sought this death, or an endorsed account of death as salvation. The interpretation differs from Hippobotus and Milton: the motive is no longer securing divine reputation but the speaker’s attempt to escape renewed despondency. The physical language supplies an imaginative medium for that crisis, not a consistent reconstruction of the root theory. The appendix’s editorial account of publication and withdrawal further belongs to the modern poem’s history, not to the ancient corpus.[^note-elemental-release] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Prints the address to the elements, temporary relief, fiery imagery, and concluding stage direction. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hippobotus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Gives the contrasting motive of confirming divine reputation. **In this edition.** The edition’s claim that Arnold could not keep the physics is an interpretation of the adaptation. The lexical caution is narrower: the English “elements” here does not specify the Greek roots or establish their doctrinal function. **See also.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Vanity](#entry-vanity); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Soul](#entry-soul). ## Elements {#entry-elements} *στοιχεῖα (stoicheia); σωματικὰ στοιχεῖα (sōmatika stoicheia)* **The word.** Στοιχεῖα is the plural word rendered “elements.” In this dossier it belongs to explanatory prose: Aristotle, Theophrastus as mediated by Simplicius, and the doxographers use it to classify the four primary bodily constituents. The additional adjective σωματικά marks them as corporeal in contrast with principles introduced as movers. **In this work.** The classification is indispensable for following the witnesses but should not replace the distinction between their language and the quoted poetry. At A28 Simplicius sets four bodily elements beside Love and Strife, called principles “properly” so, and arrives at six principles. At A37 Aristotle treats the four as matter while crediting Empedocles with dividing the moving cause into opposites. Thus one term participates in two arrangements: it distinguishes constituents from movers, and it assigns those constituents a place in Aristotelian causal analysis. Even the number four does not pass unchallenged. Aristotle argues at A36–37 that Empedocles effectively opposes fire to the other three taken together. That is an assessment of explanatory practice, not evidence that Empedocles explicitly recanted the fourfold enumeration. Aëtius goes in another direction at A43, positing smaller “elements of the elements.” Such notices cannot simply be combined into a secure hierarchy running from atoms to roots to compounds. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Names four corporeal elements and distinguishes them from the moving principles. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Interprets the four as matter, while arguing that their actual use reduces them to two. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 13,1 and I 17,3; source PDF pp. 106–107. Extends element-language to hypothetical constituents below the four. **In this edition.** The edition expressly warns that στοιχεῖα is not Empedocles’ poetic designation. Its “first to discover the four elements” narrative should therefore be understood as ancient classification and reception, not an unmediated self-description. **See also.** [Roots](#entry-roots); [Matter](#entry-matter); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Eloquence {#entry-eloquence} *ῥήτορας ἀγαθούς (rhētoras agathous); τοῦ εὖ λέγειν (tou eu legein); ἐν τῆι γλώττηι (en tēi glōttēi)* **The word.** The expressions mean good speakers, speaking well, and in the tongue. They concern an aptitude for successful speech, not a surviving classification of rhetorical genres or a claim about the invention of rhetoric. **In this work.** Theophrastus's physiological report explains eloquence by a balanced blend in the relevant bodily part, the tongue. It places verbal excellence alongside manual craftsmanship as an example of local aptitude. The point is not merely that speech uses an organ: the distribution of elements in that organ is asked to explain why one person is particularly good at the activity. The objection at §24 grants the tongue an instrumental role while rejecting its promotion into the sufficient cause of speaking well. The critic suggests form rather than blood-blend as the more appropriate cause and describes the latter as without intelligence. This controversy should be kept distinct from the biographical tradition that associates Empedocles with rhetoric. The former is a physiological explanation of a capacity; the latter concerns intellectual reputation and succession. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Uses good speakers as an example of excellence linked to a local blend. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Distinguishes the tongue’s instrumental role from the cause of speaking well. **In this edition.** “Good” qualifies performance in the example and is not a moral endorsement of an orator. “Eloquence” is a convenient English headword for the source's less specialized “speaking well.” **See also.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric). ## Embedded quotation {#entry-embedded-quotation} **The word.** An embedded quotation is wording cited within a later author’s account. Its evidentiary value differs from a paraphrase even when both stand beneath the same A number. A citation may be abbreviated, adapted, or transmitted with textual problems; quotation does not remove the need to inspect its frame. **In this work.** The Life presents poetry as evidence for extraordinary powers, philosophical affiliation and self-presentation. That is evidence both for the verses being circulated and for a later use of them. In the doctrinal collection, Aëtius introduces an abbreviated quotation of the root verse and supplies an interpretation; the interpretation is not thereby part of the quoted verse. Similarly, Achilles introduces an abbreviated lunar-light verse within an astronomical report; the cited wording and his claim that the moon is a fragment of the sun are not identical evidence. An article can accordingly use the wording of a quotation to explain an image while treating a witness’s inference as a separate claim. The volume’s modern references back to B fragments sometimes identify a parallel text or a text used in reconstruction. Such references are helpful, but they should not make a repaired report look like a second independent verbatim witness. Where a witness prints only the beginning and end of a verse, separated by an ellipsis, that abbreviated incipit is not a complete quotation. Its missing words must not be silently restored from memory. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 59, reporting Satyrus and Gorgias; source PDF pp. 26–27. Poetic promises are brought into a biographical story about extraordinary powers. - **A 33 (quotation).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. An abbreviated quotation of B 6 precedes the witness’s interpretation of the divine names; the intervening verse is not printed in full. - **A 55 (quotation).** Achilles, In Aratum 16 p. 43,2 Maass; source PDF pp. 122–123. The incipit and ending of B 45 are cited within a report about the moon; a quotation does not establish every astronomical claim attached to it. **In this edition.** The source’s broad separation of Volume I as poetry and Volume II as report is a practical arrangement, not a clean separation of every sentence by evidentiary type. A quotation’s extent and the witness’s commentary must be read together. **See also.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement). ## Embryo {#entry-embryo} *ἔμβρυα (embrya); βρέφη (brephē); τῶν ἐμβρύων (tōn embryōn)* **The word.** Embrya are developing offspring; brephē can denote unborn or very young children according to context. The vocabulary crosses boundaries that modern clinical terminology marks more strictly, so one English developmental label will not fit every passage. **In this work.** The embryo appears in several explanatory relations. A70 compares a growing plant's dependence on earth with embryos as parts of the womb. A79 describes nourishment conveyed through umbilical vessels and assigns their implantation into the liver to Empedocles. A83 supplies times for articulation and completion of bodily parts, while A84 gives the heart developmental priority. These claims concern relation to the maternal setting, material supply, differentiation, and organ order respectively. They do not combine automatically into an observed day-by-day embryology. The numerical reports differ, and the anatomical setting includes Soranus' own explanatory framework. A75's seven- and ten-month gestational terms and primordial-day theory add another time-scale, not a ready solution to those differences. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses the embryo–womb relation as a model for plant–earth dependence. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Discusses nutritive vessels and assigns liver insertion to Empedocles. - **A 83 (testimony).** Aëtius; Oribasius, from Athenaeus; source PDF pp. 182–183. Give different accounts of the timing of differentiation. - **A 84 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 184–185. Attributes first formation to the heart. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, maternal-imagination notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Uses brephē for offspring alleged to receive their form from the woman's imagination at conception. **In this edition.** The edition's modern anatomical evaluations should be kept separate from what each ancient witness actually attributes. “Embryo,” “fetus,” and “infant” in translation do not establish modern developmental cut-offs. **See also.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Womb](#entry-womb). ## Emendation and supplement {#entry-emendation-supplement} **The word.** An emendation changes a transmitted reading; a supplement supplies wording judged lost. In this edition angle brackets indicate supplied material, while the apparatus names alternative readings and editorial interventions. These are parts of the evidence a reader must use, not decoration beneath an otherwise untouched text. **In this work.** Some interventions affect only a local construction. Others determine the meaning most likely to attract a lexicon reader. The breathless woman’s reported condition at A 1 § 61 changes according to whether the reading concerns pulse, decay or food. At A 32 a supplemented phrase governs the direction in which the roots and Sphairos are related, while the English translation introduces a further reversal. At A 78 the apparatus records extensive repair of numerical tissue recipes. If a bone formula is reconstructed with reference to B 96, its agreement with that verse is not wholly independent confirmation. The purpose of noting these facts is not to imply that every conjecture is wrong. It is to distinguish the printed editor’s reasoned reconstruction from a reading reported as unproblematic manuscript testimony. When the interpretation depends on the intervention, the article says so at the point of use.[^note-emendation-supplement] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (apparatus).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 61 and modern apparatus; source PDF pp. 28–29. Records readings that alter the medical characterization of the woman’s condition. - **A 32 (apparatus).** Aëtius and modern apparatus; source PDF pp. 92–93. A supplied Sphairos clause is essential to the sense and must also be checked against the English direction of dissolution. - **A 78 (apparatus).** Aëtius and modern apparatus; source PDF pp. 168–171. Repairs to flesh, sinew and bone recipes qualify their numerical evidentiary status. **In this edition.** The apparatus is selective and belongs to the supplied edition. This lexicon reports its interventions without claiming to have collated manuscripts or reconstructed a complete critical history. **See also.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium). ## Empedoclea {#entry-empedoclea} *Empedoclea; virum; hominem* **The word.** Empedoclea is the Latin title or designation of Sallustius’ Empedoclean poem in Cicero’s letter. The contrasting nouns vir and homo, printed in the accusatives virum and hominem, allow a joke about manliness or heroic endurance and humanity. They do not name two technical kinds of reader. **In this work.** Cicero at A27 first agrees with Quintus’ judgment that Lucretius’ poems contain flashes of genius and much artistry. He then says that Quintus will count as a vir if he gets through Sallustius’ Empedoclea, but scarcely as a homo. The translation chooses “hero” and “human” to keep the distinction legible in English. This is evidence for a Latin literary work after Empedocles and for Cicero’s response to it. It is not a description of the difficulty or quality of Empedocles’ own Greek poem, and the joke should not be transferred to the original author. Nor does the short passage permit reconstruction of Sallustius’ contents or relationship to Lucretius beyond their juxtaposition in the letter. The headword preserves an otherwise easily misplaced reception item: the name Empedocles can generate a title and a literary target whose textual history is distinct from the surviving Greek testimonia. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 27 (reception).** Cicero, Ad Quintum fratrem II 9,3; source PDF pp. 82–83. Contrasts praise of Lucretius with a joke about the endurance required to read Sallustius’ Empedoclea. **In this edition.** The English cannot reproduce the virum/hominem play exactly. “Hero” is a translation strategy for Cicero’s joke, not a claim that the Latin text calls Quintus a mythological hero. **See also.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Empiric medicine {#entry-empiric-medicine} *ab experimentis; empiricen; factio* **The word.** Pliny explains empiricen through experimenta, experiences or trials. Factio means a faction, party, or school in this context. The notice gives a Latin historical classification rather than an Empedoclean technical term. **In this work.** Pliny says that an Empiric school named for experience began in Sicily, with Acron of Acragas commended by Empedocles’ authority. The formulation establishes a claimed foundation narrative and a relationship of endorsement. It does not say that Empedocles authored an Empiric manifesto or rejected physical explanation on behalf of an organized sect. Indeed, the broader collection contains medical and philosophical witnesses with quite different agendas. The value of the notice is that a later encyclopedist could place Empedocles near the ancestry of experience-based medicine. Its chronological and institutional construction must remain Pliny’s claim, rather than be converted into an uncontested history of the Empiric school. Acron’s practical plague reputation belongs in the comparison, but a reported intervention with fire is not sufficient to reconstruct a complete methodological program. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 3 (testimony).** Pliny, Natural History; source PDF pp. 50–51. Names the Empiric party and associates its Sicilian beginning with Acron and Empedocles. - **A 3 (testimony).** Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris; source PDF pp. 50–51. Supplies a separate report of Acron’s treatment-by-fire reputation. **In this edition.** The apparatus records a manuscript difference in the verb introducing the school’s name. More importantly, empiricen is a later school-label here, not proof of the exact self-description of fifth-century physicians. **See also.** [Acron](#entry-acron); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher). ## Epigram {#entry-epigram} *ἐπίγραμμα (epigramma); ἐλεγεῖον (elegeion); τωθαστικὸν ἐπίγραμμα (tōthastikon epigramma)* **The word.** Epigramma designates a short inscriptive or commemorative composition, but can also carry mockery. Elegeion is rendered an elegiac couplet in the Acron episode; tōthastikon explicitly marks a derisive epigram in the Suda’s medical notice. **In this work.** The Life introduces an epigram upon Pausanias before returning to the breathless woman. Its actual text is represented only by beginning and ending cues, so the notice establishes attribution and subject more securely than recoverable content. The Acron anecdote instead asks what elegiac verse would be placed on the proposed family monument, then supplies an abbreviated, punning response built around “topmost” language and Acron’s name. A variant second line and an alternative attribution to Simonides follow. The Suda calls the Acron composition mocking. The genre thus spans honor and ridicule within the same biographical dossier. Neither attributed epigram can simply be treated as undisputed autobiography: one is drastically abbreviated here, the other has an explicit rival author. Their significance includes the public power of compact verse to grant distinction or puncture a claim to it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 61; source PDF pp. 28–29. Names an epigram upon Pausanias but abbreviates its wording. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 65; source PDF pp. 30–33. Connects the proposed inscription with equality, punning verse, a variant, and rival authorship. - **A 3 (testimony).** The Suda, under “Acron”; source PDF pp. 50–51. Explicitly describes the Acron poem as mocking. **In this edition.** The abbreviated citations refer to fuller fragments elsewhere in the edition, but the present entry does not silently reconstruct those poems. The Simonides attribution and variant line are part of the evidence, not editorial inconveniences to suppress. **See also.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon). ## Equal visual blend {#entry-equal-visual-blend} *ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἴσων (ex amphoin isōn); ἡ κρᾶσις ἐξ ἴσων (hē krasis ex isōn)* **The word.** The phrases mean “from both in equal shares” and “the blend from equals.” In the visual context the paired constituents are fire and its watery opposite. This equality is not a statement that all four roots occur in equal proportions in every organ. **In this work.** Theophrastus ends the positive optical account by calling the equal blend the best and best-mixed eye. That evaluation belongs to a model in which excess of either constituent obstructs the other's passages, and external conditions can supply or aggravate an internal deficiency. Equal mixture therefore provides an optimum within the reported mechanism. The refutation asks whether it can remain an optimum. If day and night alternately increase the two constituents, then even an initially balanced eye should experience an excess; if excess blocks the other component, all eyes may end up in a similar condition. This does not show that Empedocles explicitly abandoned the equal blend. It reveals the critic's demand for a dynamic account of how a favourable composition survives interaction with its environment. The issue differs from the balanced blood mixtures explaining mental acuity, although both reports value a middle or proportionate condition. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Calls the eye composed equally of both constituents the best. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Argues that alternating increase may undermine the alleged advantage of equality. **In this edition.** The final participle in §8 is Stephanus's correction. Keep the visual two-component statement separate from the fuller four-element language of the account of blood. **See also.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability). ## Etesian winds {#entry-etesian-winds} *ἐτησίων (etēsiōn); τοὺς καρποὺς (tous karpous)* **The word.** Etēsioi are the annually recurring or seasonal winds named in the report; karpoi are the crops or fruits harmed by them. The seasonal designation is a specific feature of the Timaeus version, not a generic synonym for every wind in the dossier. **In this work.** Diogenes reports that violent Etesian winds were ruining crops when Empedocles ordered hides fashioned into bags and stretched around hills and headlands. Their cessation explains the epithet Wind-stopper. The threatened resource is agricultural production, whereas Plutarch emphasizes a heavy and unhealthy south wind, plague, and barrenness. The distinction matters for interpretation: a seasonal weather event damaging produce and a persistently unhealthy airflow are not the same environmental claim. One may compare the accounts as variants of a protective reputation without treating them as technical descriptions of a single installation. The source provides no meteorological measurements or exact topography from which the efficacy of the proposed intervention could be assessed. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 26–27. Names the Etesian winds and destruction of crops. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, On Being a Busybody; Against Colotes; source PDF pp. 60–61. Supplies the contrasting south-wind versions. **In this edition.** The edition’s rationalizing interpretation as an ordinary windbreak is possible at the level of story structure, but the source’s seasonal wind and bag imagery should not be replaced with an undocumented engineering specification. **See also.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft). ## Etna {#entry-etna} *Αἴτνην (Aitnēn); κρατῆρας (kratēras); Aetnam; Aetnaea* **The word.** Aitnē and Latin Aetna name the volcano; kratēres are its craters. The volcanic place becomes a narrative mechanism for disappearance, supposed deification, and later literary judgments. It is not a technical term for Empedocles’ elemental fire. **In this work.** Hippobotus’ reported story makes Empedocles enter Etna’s fire to confirm his divine reputation, only for a bronze sandal to expose the act. Timaeus disputes the death complex, while Strabo treats the mountain’s spectacle as a generator of such tales. Horace needs only the familiar exemplum: a poet seeking immortal status jumps coolly into a burning volcano. The contrast between ardentem and frigidus sharpens his satire, but supplies no historical corroboration. Lucretius uses Etna quite differently, as one of Sicily’s marvels surpassed by Empedocles’ genius, without telling the leap story in the printed praise. Milton and Arnold subsequently transform the crater into, respectively, a sign of vanity and a dramatic site of desired release. The same physical location therefore supports incompatible narratives of intellectual greatness, deception, folly, and inward crisis. The lexicon treats these as reception layers rather than developments of one verified death. The literal and figurative uses of fire must likewise be separated. In the Life’s death legend, a volcano can conceal a body while an ejected object defeats that concealment. In Lucretius, the mountain threatens renewed eruption and supplies an impressive setting for praise. In Milton, the flames belong to a moral example already classified as foolish. In Arnold, fire and vapor answer an inward dramatic condition. These uses share an image but not a physical explanation, a biographical warrant, or an ethical conclusion. Strabo’s notice is a useful intermediate case. He does not offer a recovered administrative record of a death; he explains why a spectacular location invites storytelling and repeats the story with that reservation. The survival of the footwear motif in such a context therefore cannot be counted as a geographer independently confirming Hippobotus. His contribution is a reflection on narrative plausibility and the imaginative effects of place. Timaeus’ objection about the poems’ silence also needs a precise scope. The argument as transmitted asks how the leap belongs to a man who never mentioned the nearby craters. That is a challenge to the received story, not an assertion that knowledge of fire obliges every author to describe every local volcano. Its force depends on assumptions about what the lost poetry would be expected to contain. Since the corpus itself is fragmentary for the modern reader, the lexicon should preserve Timaeus’ ancient reading claim without pretending to repeat his access to the complete texts. Etna remains central to the afterlife of the name while remaining uncertain as the historical place of death. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hippobotus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Gives the fire-leap and revealing sandal. - **A 16 (reception).** Strabo, Geography; Horace, The Art of Poetry; source PDF pp. 64–65. Offers geographical skepticism and literary satire. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Makes the volcano a foil for the island’s greater human marvel. - **Appendix II Milton (reception).** John Milton, Paradise Lost III 469–473; source PDF p. 243. Uses the leap as evidence of folly. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Stages the crater as the endpoint of a modern dramatic crisis. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Disputes the crater account and invokes the poems’ silence. **In this edition.** Timaeus’ objections substantially challenge the tradition but do not create positive evidence for every alternative death. The edition’s “demolished” or “disproved” can overstate what a hostile source, itself mediated by Diogenes, establishes. **See also.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape); [Vanity](#entry-vanity); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release). ## Evergreen plants {#entry-evergreen-plants} *παραμένειν (paramenein); δάφνης (daphnēs); ἐλαίας (elaias); φοίνικος (phoinikos)* **The word.** Paramenein means to remain or persist; in context the leaves remain. Daphnē, elaia, and phoinix are the bay, olive, and palm used as examples. “Evergreen” is a useful English category for the reported behaviour, not a technical Greek headword supplied in the notice. **In this work.** The retention of leaves is explained through a larger supply of moisture. Aëtius contrasts these plants with those whose insufficient fluid is dried out in summer, and names three recognizable examples. The significance of the list lies in its connection of a persistent outward character with a material condition inside the plant. The account does not say that the three species have identical mixtures in every respect, or that abundant water is their only defining property. Nor should one infer an empirical measurement of their water content. This is a causal proposal reported through a handbook. Its precision is at the level of comparative abundance and persistence; it offers no theory of leaf longevity, replacement, or dormancy. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Names bay, olive, and palm as plants whose greater moisture enables leaves to remain. **In this edition.** The plant names are examples within one explanatory claim, not three separately developed Empedoclean species accounts. Translating phoinix as palm is secured by the botanical context rather than by the word's other possible meanings. **See also.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment). ## Exhalation {#entry-exhalation} *θυμιαθῆναι (thymiathēnai); ἀναθυμιαθῆναι (anathymiathēnai)* **The word.** The printed verb describes being exhaled or sent off as vapour; the prefixed form occurs in the apparatus as a reading associated with Galen and Reiske. The root of the image is a rising or smoking-off process, not modern atmospheric chemistry. **In this work.** In Aëtius’ A49 sequence, water gushes from earth compressed by rotation, and air is then exhaled from the water. This is a compact account of material differentiation. Because the dossier elsewhere makes the roots eternal and unchangeable, the notice raises a question: does it describe release of material already present in a mixture, or a reporter’s compressed account that sounds like transmutation? The passage does not spell out the answer. The lexicon therefore records the sequence without silently converting it into one root becoming another. It also preserves the distinction between air and aither in the same notice: aither separates first and supplies heaven, while the air here appears later from water. That contrast may be important for understanding the witness’s vocabulary, even if it cannot establish a stable terminology across all testimonia. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Places the exhalation of air after water’s emergence from compressed earth. - **A 49 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus reporting Galen and Reiske; source PDF pp. 114–115. Records ἀναθυμιαθῆναι as a variant for the printed verb. **In this edition.** Do not replace the transmitted sequence with a modern evaporation explanation. The report’s relation to the invariant-root thesis remains an interpretative problem. **See also.** [Air](#entry-air); [Aither](#entry-aither); [Water](#entry-water); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Rotation](#entry-rotation). ## Exile and the Peloponnese {#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese} *καθόδωι (kathodōi); εἰς Πελοπόννησον (eis Peloponnēson); οὐκ ἐπανῆλθεν (ouk epanēlthen)* **The word.** Kathodos is return, often with political force in a context of exclusion. The phrase “to the Peloponnese” gives a destination, while “did not return” marks the limit of the account. These words do not specify one city or an exact date of death. **In this work.** The Life says descendants of Empedocles’ enemies resisted his return when Acragas was being resettled, so he withdrew to the Peloponnese and died there. Timaeus later offers a similar withdrawal as the reason the end remained unknown: Empedocles left and never came back. The two notices support an alternative to the Sicilian disappearance legends, but they still leave the final locality and circumstances undetermined. The political exclusion also complicates the image of universal civic admiration supplied by other anecdotes. Popular-minded benefaction and lasting enemies coexist in the tradition. “Exile” is an appropriate lookup term for the blocked return, but the passage does not preserve a decree of banishment or establish the legal status of every departure. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67; source PDF pp. 34–37. Connects barred return, enemies’ descendants, and departure for the Peloponnese. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Uses permanent withdrawal to explain the obscurity of the death. **In this edition.** The edition calls Timaeus’ unknown end the real answer. More precisely, it is a source-critical alternative within the dossier. The text should not be made to supply a definite Peloponnesian city or burial place. **See also.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation). ## Expository hypothesis {#entry-expository-hypothesis} *ἐξ ὑποθέσεως (ex hypotheseōs); διδασκαλίας χάριν (didaskalias charin)* **The word.** The first phrase means on a hypothesis or supposition; the second, supplied as Diels’ explanatory gloss in the apparatus, means for the sake of teaching. The terminology concerns how a cosmological account is presented, not necessarily an event within the cosmos. **In this work.** Simplicius at A52 suggests that Plato, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and other natural philosophers hand down generation of composites from simples in this explanatory manner, as though the constituents had existed earlier in time. This shifts the question from what happened first to what must be introduced first for understanding. The statement is separate from Simplicius’ preceding recurrent account in which the cosmos repeatedly comes to be and perishes. It should not be read as another direct report of Empedocles’ professed intentions. It is a later interpretative strategy capable of reducing the pressure of a literal temporal narrative. The edition calls it the ancestor of every later non-literal reading of the cycle. That sweeping genealogy is not established by the excerpt. What the text securely demonstrates is the presence of a pedagogical or hypothetical reading in Simplicius’ discussion. Whether that reading is historically correct about the poem remains open. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 52 (polemical).** Simplicius, De caelo 305,21; source PDF pp. 120–121. Suggests that generation from simples may be narrated by hypothesis rather than because the ingredients literally pre-existed in time. - **A 52 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus to Simplicius 305,21; source PDF pp. 120–121. Explains the hypothetical manner with the gloss “for the sake of teaching.” **In this edition.** Keep the interpretative level visible: Simplicius is proposing a way to read cosmological exposition, not quoting Empedocles’ own methodological preface. **See also.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love). ## Faculty {#entry-faculty} *τὰς ἄλλας δυνάμεις (tas allas dynameis); τὰς δυνάμεις (tas dynameis)* **The word.** Dynamis is a power, capacity, or faculty. In this context the plural names abilities exemplified by speaking and craftsmanship. It is witness vocabulary and should not be assumed to carry all the distinctions of Aristotle's broader theory of potentiality. **In this work.** Theophrastus extends the local-blend account beyond its named examples by saying the other faculties follow the same pattern. That sentence matters: the physiological theory is represented as generalizing from bodily constitution to differentiated capacities, rather than merely producing a single undifferentiated mental state. His last objection asks how these capacities arise in each part through the blending of blood. The tongue and hands, he argues, are instruments; form would be a better causal explanation than a blend without intelligence. The dispute therefore distinguishes capacity, bodily condition, instrument, and cause. It also qualifies the modern commentary's declaration that Empedocles makes thought “not a faculty” but a fluid state. Whatever interpretive thesis one prefers, the testimony itself speaks of faculties and asks how their existence is explained. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Generalizes the local-blend account to other faculties. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Questions whether blood-blending in parts explains their capacities. **In this edition.** “Faculty” is a translation of the reporter's general capacity-word. Avoid making it either a disembodied entity or a modern modular cognitive architecture absent from the passage. **See also.** [Thought](#entry-thought); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship). ## Fate {#entry-fate} *εἱμαρμένην (heimarmenēn)* **The word.** The participial noun rendered “fate” appears in Plutarch’s description of what “most people” call necessity. Its presence does not establish that Empedocles used this word. The notice explicitly distinguishes ordinary naming from the names attributed to Empedocles. **In this work.** Plutarch identifies necessity, commonly called fate, with Love and Strife together in Empedocles. The relation is not that Fate is an additional third power placed beside Love and Strife. Rather, the paired powers are offered as an alternative naming or analysis of the necessity that others call fate. Aëtius, printed immediately alongside, describes necessity as a cause using the principles and elements. This gives a different impression of causal hierarchy. The two statements may have originated in different interpretative projects, and their compressed wording is inadequate for a definitive reconciliation. Retaining Fate as its own small article helps prevent the familiar English word from obscuring that attribution structure: it is Plutarch’s comparative vocabulary, not a separately quoted Empedoclean goddess or an independently established law of predestination. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 45 (testimony).** Plutarch, De animae procreatione; source PDF pp. 108–109. Uses fate as the common name for necessity before attributing the Love-and-Strife designation to Empedocles. - **A 45 (testimony).** Aëtius I 26,1; source PDF pp. 108–109. Provides a contrasting account in which necessity uses principles and elements. **In this edition.** The source supplies no fuller context or section number for Plutarch. Do not enlarge the one clause into a complete Stoic or Platonic theory of fate. **See also.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife). ## Fire {#entry-fire} *πῦρ (pyr); πυρός (pyros); πυρώδους (pyrōdous)* **The word.** Πῦρ is fire; πυρώδης, represented here by the inflected πυρώδους, means fiery or fire-like. The distinction is worth retaining when a witness describes the material of stars or a hemisphere as “the fiery,” rather than simply repeating the name of a root. **In this work.** Fire is an enduring constituent in A28 and is consistently associated with Zeus in the divine-name explanations, although Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories broaden the gloss toward boiling heat and aither. Aristotle makes its explanatory prominence a ground of criticism: at A36–37 he claims that Empedocles actually uses only two opposing kinds, fire and the other three together. This reduction is Aristotle’s reading, not a second list supplied by the poet. Cosmogonic reports give fire several different roles. In A30 it runs outward and upward beneath the surrounding solid, occupies one hemisphere, and initiates motion through an uneven accumulation. At A49 it separates after aither; at A53 the stars arise from fiery material squeezed out of air. A56 distinguishes a primordial fiery sun or hemisphere from the visible reflected sun. These reports collectively make fire central to celestial formation, but their divergent spatial and optical descriptions should not be forced into a fully determined model. Hippolytus’ further claim that all things come from and return to fire at A31 belongs to an overt assimilation to Stoic conflagration. It should not override the persistence of all four roots. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Lists fire among four eternal bodily elements. - **A 36 (polemical).** Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione B 3, 330b19; source PDF pp. 96–97. Makes fire one pole opposed to the other three collectively. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Gives fire both a place in the hemispheres and a role in initiating motion. - **A 53 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,2 (D. 341); source PDF pp. 122–123. Derives the stars from fiery material expelled from air. **In this edition.** Fire as root, boiling heat as a divine-name gloss, and “fiery stuff” in celestial reports are related but not automatically interchangeable. No modern account of energy or stellar combustion is implied. **See also.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus); [Aither](#entry-aither); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Stars](#entry-stars); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration). ## First breath {#entry-first-breath} *τὴν πρώτην ἀναπνοὴν τοῦ πρώτου ζώιου (tēn prōtēn anapnoēn tou prōtou zōiou); ὑγρασίας ἀποχώρησιν (hygrasias apochōrēsin)* **The word.** The phrase explicitly names the first breath of the first living thing. Apochōrēsis is a withdrawal or departure; here it is moisture that withdraws. The formulation places an initiating event before the repeated movement of respiration. **In this work.** The initial entry of air is explained through a prior withdrawal of moisture from newborn creatures. External airy material enters the space thereby vacated through vessels opened to it. The singular first living thing and the plural newborn creatures coexist in the summary, so it is unwise to turn the notice into a narrowly specified birth scene. The distinction from “breathing now” also suggests a cosmogonic or primordial context, not merely the first breath of every modern infant. After this initial displacement, innate heat drives an alternating outward and inward movement. The report therefore differentiates the occasion that starts breathing from the mechanism that continues it. It does not explain where the departing moisture goes or whether every relevant bodily passage opens simultaneously. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, opening sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Describes the first breath through moisture withdrawing and external air entering opened vessels. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, later sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Contrasts this first-breath account with present breathing through movements of blood. **In this edition.** “Space so left empty” translates a local evacuation in the narrated process. It should not alone establish an independently existing void, especially in a tradition that elsewhere denies void. **See also.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Void](#entry-void); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations). ## First plants {#entry-first-plants} *πρῶτα τὰ δένδρα τῶν ζώιων (prōta ta dendra tōn zōiōn); πρὶν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα διακριθῆναι (prin hēmeran kai nykta diakrithēnai)* **The word.** Dendra are trees; prōta gives them priority among living things. The second phrase places their emergence before day and night were distinguished. The priority concerns a narrated order of formation, not a dated geological period. **In this work.** Aëtius says that trees first sprang from earth before the sun had been spread round and before day and night separated. The sun's “spreading round” is an obscure expression, as the apparatus acknowledges. It should therefore not become an unqualified statement that plants existed before any sun existed. The notice associates plant growth with the heat within earth, providing a possible local source of growth in this early setting without explicitly describing illumination or photosynthesis. Nicolaus similarly puts plant generation in a world not yet complete and animal generation after its completion. That parallel supports a broad ordering but does not prove a shared exact chronology, especially given the mediated text and possible shifts in the meaning of living things versus animals. A72's four generations also includes both animals and plants in its opening stage; it does not straightforwardly turn A70 into a single linear evolutionary timetable.[^note-first-plants] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Places the first trees before the sun's spreading round and the separation of day and night. - **A 70 (testimony).** Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Places plant generation in an incomplete world before animal generation. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Includes plants in the initially disjointed generations of living things. **In this edition.** The editorial sentence that plants are “older than the sun” suppresses the ambiguity of periaplōthēnai. Reiske's alternative reading, reported in the apparatus, is itself conjectural. **See also.** [Plants](#entry-plants); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Sun](#entry-sun). ## Fitting {#entry-fitting} *ἐναρμόττειν (enarmottein); ἁρμόττειν (harmottein); ἐναρμόζειν (enarmozein)* **The word.** These verbs signify fitting or fitting into. In the perception testimony their complements are passages; the terms describe a relation between what arrives and what can receive it. The occurrence of the related verbal family does not by itself import musical harmony or a mathematical ratio. **In this work.** In Theophrastus's exposition fit has a sharply delimited sensory task. A thing too small may pass straight through without contact; a thing too large cannot enter. Only an appropriate entrant produces the relevant perception. Plato's Meno presents the same alternatives in a dialogue about defining colour. The account is thus more specific than a general claim that bodies influence one another. But fit and resemblance are not automatically the same condition. Theophrastus presses this at §§14–15: non-kindred material may occupy and obstruct a passage, while a smaller like might make contact without filling it. He consequently asks what additional work likeness does. His objections help separate accommodation to a channel, contact with its sides, and elemental affinity. Alexander's magnetic report applies fitting to effluences from iron and passages in the stone. The recurrence supports the breadth of the reported mechanism, but is also the basis of Alexander's question why other fitting bodies do not attract one another. Fitting is a shared explanatory resource whose specificity the witnesses test, rather than an all-purpose explanation they endorse. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Makes fitting into each sense’s passages the general condition of perception. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Separates fitting from mere contact and likeness. - **A 92 (reception).** Plato, Meno; source PDF pp. 226–227. Stages fit, excessive smallness, and excessive size as premises of a definition of colour. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions; source PDF pp. 218–221. Applies fitting to iron effluences and passages in the Heraclean stone. **In this edition.** The different printed spellings belong to different witnesses. Preserve them as attested forms, without using the prose vocabulary to reconstruct the wording of a lost Empedoclean verse. **See also.** [Pores](#entry-pores); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism). ## Fixed stars {#entry-fixed-stars} *ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας (aplaneis asteras); συνδεδέσθαι (syndedesthai); κρυστάλλωι (krystallōi)* **The word.** Ἀπλανεῖς means unwandering or fixed, qualifying the stars in contrast to the planets. The perfect infinitive of binding describes their attachment to the crystal. “Fixed” refers to that celestial distinction, not to absolute absence of every kind of cosmic motion. **In this work.** Aëtius at A54 places the fixed stars bound fast to the crystal while leaving the planets free. The crystalline heaven of A51 supplies the natural local comparison, but A54 does not independently restate its material, method of formation or geometry. The binding language specifies a structural difference between the two classes of lights. This notice should also remain distinct from A53’s account of stars as fiery stuff squeezed from air. A material explanation and an attachment explanation answer different questions. Their combination may help reconstruct a celestial model, yet the printed lines do not explain exactly how expelled fire becomes fixed to the crystalline structure. The entry preserves an otherwise easily overlooked cosmological distinction without importing modern orbital mechanics or identifying each ancient light with a modern astronomical category beyond the contrast explicitly stated. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 54 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,11 (D. 342); source PDF pp. 122–123. Distinguishes the fixed stars by their binding to the crystal. - **A 51 (testimony).** Aëtius II 11,2; source PDF pp. 118–119. Supplies the adjacent account of a crystalline, solid heaven relevant to the support named in A54. **In this edition.** The word “fixed” must be read against the planets, not as a denial that the whole heavenly arrangement is carried around. **See also.** [Planets](#entry-planets); [Stars](#entry-stars); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Rotation](#entry-rotation). ## Flavour {#entry-flavour} *τῶν χυμῶν (tōn chymōn); χυλῶν (chylōn); ἄχυμος (achymos)* **The word.** Chymos and chylos are related terms for juice or flavour; this dossier uses forms from both families. Achymos means without flavour. The variation should be preserved rather than silently standardized into one alleged Empedoclean headword. **In this work.** Aristotle introduces water's apparent lack of flavour, then presents an alternative he attributes to Empedocles: water contains kinds of flavour that escape perception through their smallness. The claim distinguishes what is present from what a perceiver can detect. The excerpt breaks off before the competing explanation is given, so its argumentative setting remains partial. Theophrastus's sensory-neutrality objection gives flavour a different role. A taste-organ already carrying flavours is less able to judge new ones, just as an ear ringing internally hears less well. This challenges an unqualified interpretation of like judging like; it does not establish a doctrine that every flavour must be expelled before any tasting is possible. Both passages show why the sensible object and the activity of sensing it require distinct entries. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 228–229. Contrasts apparently flavourless water with flavours imperceptible through smallness. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Treats flavours already present in tasting as an obstacle to discrimination. **In this edition.** The Greek at §19 prints χυλῶν; A94 prints χυμῶν. These are attested witness forms, not evidence that Empedocles himself maintained a technical distinction between two flavour substances. **See also.** [Taste](#entry-taste); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Flesh {#entry-flesh} *σάρκας (sarkas); σὰρξ (sarx); τῶν ἴσων τῆι κράσει τεττάρων στοιχείων (tōn isōn tēi krasei tettarōn stoicheiōn)* **The word.** Sarx is flesh. The Aëtian phrase gives the four elements as equal in their blending, a compositional explanation rather than a description of flesh's visible texture. The term “elements” belongs to the later testimony's vocabulary. **In this work.** A78 contrasts flesh with sinew, nails, and bone through their manner of composition. Flesh is generated from an equal blending of all four constituents, whereas the other tissues receive different recipes or transformations. Aristotle makes this difference argumentative: if the soul is identified with the ratio of mixture, the distinct ratios of flesh and bone would yield multiple souls distributed through a body. That is a challenge to a proposed identity, not an unqualified assertion that Empedocles explicitly defined every tissue's soul. A43 supplies another issue, where Aristotle treats flesh as the outcome of juxtaposed, preserved elemental parts and questions whether this amounts to true mixing. Numerical equality in A78 does not by itself refute that criticism, since a juxtaposition can also have a determinate proportion. The questions of ratio and mode of combination must be kept separate. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Assigns flesh equal shares of the four constituents in mixture. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Uses the different ratios of flesh and bone to challenge the soul-as-ratio proposal. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Makes flesh an example in the criticism of mixture as small-scale juxtaposition. **In this edition.** The crucial isōn, “equal,” is Wyttenbach's correction of the manuscript esō. Equal composition is the reading adopted by the edition, not an untouched numerical datum independently preserved in its source. **See also.** [Bone](#entry-bone); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition). ## Following effluence {#entry-following-effluence} *τὸν σίδηρον ἕπεσθαι (ton sidēron hepesthai); σὺν ταῖς ἀπορροίαις (syn tais aporrhoiais); ἀθρόαι ἀπορροίαι (athroai aporrhoiai)* **The word.** Hepesthai means to follow; athroai describes the emissions as gathered or occurring in a mass. The phrase identifies the distinctive step by which a source body is said to move with material emitted from it. **In this work.** After the stone's emissions clear the capping air, Alexander's report makes iron follow its own outflow. The matching passages in the stone explain the direction assigned to that outflow and the iron accompanying it. The explanation is therefore more than an account of material exchange between bodies: it needs a link between emission and translation of the whole source. Alexander repeatedly tests that link. If the source follows what it emits, the stone should also follow its emissions; iron might move toward other things without the stone; and other pairs of bodies with matching effluences and pores should attract. These questions reveal why “following” is a substantive mechanical commitment rather than an innocuous narrative verb. The excerpt does not supply the force law or bodily coupling that would answer them. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Makes iron accompany its emissions after obstruction is removed. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Tests whether following emission predicts unwanted motions and attractions. **In this edition.** The participial sequence in the report is compressed, but its distinction between emitted material and the following iron should be preserved. No modern concept of recoil, field, or momentum is stated. **See also.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability). ## Form {#entry-form} *εἴδη (eidē); εἶδος (eidos); ἰδιότητα (idiotēta)* **The word.** Εἶδος and its plural can designate form, kind or characteristic appearance, depending on context. In this dossier the plural applied to Love and Strife and the singular describing a root’s own character do different work. Ἰδιότης, represented by ἰδιότητα, marks the distinctive property allegedly lost in the Sphairos. **In this work.** Aëtius at A32 calls Love and Strife the “forms” of the One, alongside the four elements as matter. This is a later analytical arrangement; it does not establish a poetic opposition between hyle and eidos. Philoponus at A41 uses form in an objection to the supposed qualityless Sphairos: each element, he says, casts off its own form, so that fire’s distinctive character no longer survives. Here “form” means what makes an element recognizably or essentially the kind it is, rather than one of the two moving powers. The different uses matter for the interpretation of unchanging roots. If root-identity requires an invariant qualitative form, the alleged disappearance of qualities is a problem. If Philoponus has overinterpreted the unity of the Sphairos, his conclusion need not be accepted. The testimony supplies the criticism but does not independently establish its premise through a quoted verse. Form therefore remains a word of interpretative pressure rather than a transparent name for an Empedoclean component. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Calls Love and Strife forms in a matter-and-form analysis of the One. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. Argues that the elements lose their own forms and properties in a qualityless Sphairos. **In this edition.** The same English translation masks different uses of εἶδος. Neither occurrence should be merged without argument with the ratio of bone or with a later theory of the soul as form. **See also.** [Matter](#entry-matter); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Ratio](#entry-ratio). ## Four generations {#entry-four-generations} *τὰς πρώτας γενέσεις (tas prōtas geneseis); τὰς δὲ δευτέρας (tas de deuteras); τὰς δὲ τρίτας (tas de tritas); τὰς δὲ τετάρτας (tas de tetartas)* **The word.** Geneseis are generations, origins, or processes of coming-to-be. Aëtius orders them as first, second, third, and fourth. The numerical arrangement is the report's explicit organizing device; it does not itself establish a continuous chronology through an entire cosmic cycle. **In this work.** A72 begins with incomplete, disjointed parts of animals and plants; it next describes forms arising as those parts join; the third generations are whole-natured; the fourth come through one another rather than directly from materials such as earth and water. The account thus distinguishes bodily assembly, whole-bodied emergence, and reproduction. Its place within an Empedoclean cosmic cycle remains a further interpretive problem. A list of successive kinds of generation need not be a single uninterrupted developmental story occurring once in one direction. Censorinus describes separate limbs issuing from a pregnant earth and joining into a human compound of fire and moisture. Varro compresses earthborn humanity into a garden-herb comparison. These Latin testimonies confirm circulation of the motif, but neither reproduces all four stages. Censorinus' praise of the poem is not sufficient evidence of independent direct consultation. The much-disputed later clauses about animal habitats add mixture-based differentiation, while A73 supplies a different account of fiery animals seeking moisture. A careful reading preserves both the ordered list and these limits on its reconstruction.[^note-four-generations] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Sets out four numbered kinds of generation and then differences among animal kinds. - **A 72 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 156–159. Describes earth producing limbs which combine into a human compound. - **A 72 (reception).** Varro, Eumenides; source PDF pp. 156–159. Compares earthborn men to a garden herb. **In this edition.** The edition calls the sequence strictly evolutionary and independently confirmed by a reader of the poem. Those claims outrun the excerpts. Several closing clauses are corrupt or conjecturally repaired; no modern evolutionary mechanism is established. **See also.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Cycle](#entry-cycle). ## Fresh water in the sea {#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea} *γλυκὺ ἐν τῆι θαλάττηι ὕδωρ (glyky en tēi thalattēi hydōr); τρόφιμον δὲ τῶν ἰχθύων (trophimon de tōn ichthyōn)* **The word.** Glyky hydōr is sweet, hence fresh, water. Trophimon describes it as nourishing for fish. The contrast is with salt or briny water, not with a modern chemical identification of a dissolved nutrient. **In this work.** Aelian first discusses Aristotle, Democritus, and Theophrastus, then says that Empedocles too held that a sweet water is present in the sea, although not apparent to everyone, and that fish are nourished by it. He adds that Empedocles gave a natural cause for its sweetening within brine. This last statement is valuable testimony to the perceived availability of an explanation, but the explanation itself is not reproduced. The surrounding wax-vessel test is explicitly assigned to Aristotle: a thin empty wax container is immersed and later retrieved full of drinkable water. It must not become an Empedoclean experiment by proximity. Nor does the passage distinguish clearly between fresh water located alongside seawater and a process of sweetening it; both expressions occur in the report's discussion. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aelian, On the Nature of Animals; source PDF pp. 138–141. Attributes hidden sweet water nourishing fish and a natural explanation to Empedocles. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aelian, On the Nature of Animals, preceding discussion; source PDF pp. 138–141. Credits the wax-vessel demonstration to Aristotle, a necessary attribution boundary. **In this edition.** The edition rightly warns against transferring the experiment. Aelian's invitation to learn the cause elsewhere does not prove direct consultation of a complete Empedoclean poem or preserve the content of that cause. **See also.** [Sea](#entry-sea); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Water](#entry-water). ## Frozen air {#entry-frozen-air} *aerem glaciatum; παγετώδους (pagetōdous); ἀέρα συνεστραμμένον (aera synestrammenon); πεπηγότα ὑπὸ πυρός (pepēgota hypo pyros); πάγον ἀέρος χαλαζώδη (pagon aeros chalazōdē)* **The word.** The Latin phrase means frozen air. The Greek expressions describe frozen material, compacted air and a hail-like freezing of air. “Frozen” can convey consolidation or congealing in these reports; it should not impose modern phase behaviour of atmospheric gases. **In this work.** Lactantius at A51 skeptically attributes frozen air to Empedocles’ heaven. Aëtius’ companion account makes the heaven air compacted by fire in a crystalline way, while Achilles refers more generally to the frozen. The scholion on Basil specifies water instead, a difference that the edition’s claim of complete agreement should not conceal. The moon receives related descriptions. Ps.-Plutarch at A30 says air cut off by fire congeals like hail. Aëtius at A60 calls lunar matter compacted, cloud-like air congealed by fire and therefore mixed; Plutarch records objections to a hail-like freezing of air enclosed by a sphere of fire. The combination of fire and freezing may strike a modern reader as paradoxical, but the ancient descriptions associate fire with consolidation of other material rather than providing a modern thermodynamic recipe. A69’s account of lithification through heat offers a contextual parallel: the loss of moisture can leave solid matter. It is not proof that the moon and rocks are made by an identical mechanism. No numerical proportions or comprehensive physical process are supplied for lunar air.[^note-frozen-air] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 51 (testimony).** Lactantius, De opificio dei; Aëtius II 11,2; source PDF pp. 118–119. Preserves frozen or fire-compacted air as the material of heaven, with Lactantius expressing skepticism. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Explains lunar formation by air cut off by fire and congealed like hail. - **A 60 (testimony).** Aëtius; Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon; source PDF pp. 132–133. Describes compacted lunar air and the hail-like air-body criticized by Plutarch. - **A 69 (testimony).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 146–147. Provides a separate example of heat associated with consolidation through loss of moisture. **In this edition.** Heaven and moon are different objects, even when described through related freezing imagery. The accounts do not identify lunar matter with modern ice, and repeated reports need not be independent. **See also.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Moon](#entry-moon); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire). ## Fruit {#entry-fruit} *καρποὺς (karpous); περιττώματα (perittōmata)* **The word.** Karpoi are fruits; perittōmata are surpluses, remainders, or excess products. In this notice the latter word characterizes what plants produce from water and fire. It need not carry the modern everyday implication of useless waste. **In this work.** Aëtius says that fruits are the surplus of water and fire within plants. This places fruit formation within the economy of material intake and growth: constituents present in a plant yield a further product. The notice does not specify proportions, a ripening sequence, or a distinction between edible flesh and seed. It therefore cannot be treated as a complete account of plant reproduction, although it stands beside the statement that plants contain male and female principles. The term surplus is also conceptually useful for comparison with A72, where condensed nourishment participates in the advent of sexual generation. That is a comparison between reported explanatory patterns, not proof that the two passages use an identical physiological mechanism. Fruit remains its own material outcome in the botanical notice. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Defines fruits as surpluses of the water and fire in plants. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Associates one route to generation through one another with condensed nourishment, a qualified comparison. **In this edition.** The edition translates perittōmata straightforwardly as “surplus.” “Excrement,” “seed,” and modern reproductive tissue would each narrow or redirect the term beyond this report. **See also.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Water](#entry-water); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Genealogy and homonymy {#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy} *Μέτωνος (Metōnos); Ἐξαινέτου (Exainetou); Ἀρχινόμου (Archinomou); ὁμώνυμος (homōnymos)* **The word.** Homōnymos means “bearing the same name.” Here it is the essential distinction between Empedocles the philosopher and his grandfather. The competing patronymics are inflected forms meaning “of Meton,” “of Exaenetus,” and “of Archinomus.” **In this work.** Diogenes begins with a genealogy supported by several named authorities: Empedocles, son of Meton, son of Empedocles. His next group preserves Satyrus’ different father and son named Exaenetus, and a letter attributed to Telauges that names Archinomus as father. He does not erase the discrepancies. Homonymy is not incidental: an Olympic victory of an Empedocles can easily be attached to the wrong generation. Apollodorus uses the grandfather’s identity to resist chronological constructions that make the philosopher implausibly old. The Suda later compresses the alternative fathers into a list, demonstrating how a connected argument becomes catalogue information. These notices establish a disputed biographical tradition, not three equally verified families. The brother Callicratides is named in the Favorinus notice and repeated in the Suda; that repetition also needs to be considered within compilation and transmission, rather than counted automatically as independent corroboration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 51–52; source PDF pp. 16–17. Gives the Meton genealogy and distinguishes the Olympic victor as the homonymous grandfather. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 53; source PDF pp. 18–21. Preserves Exaenetus, Archinomus, and Callicratides in different source reports. - **A 2 (biography).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Lists three possible fathers without resolving them. **In this edition.** The editorial prose repeatedly says “four” fathers, but the named alternatives in these passages are three: Meton, Exaenetus, and Archinomus. The numerical claim should not be reproduced as though the text supplied a fourth name. **See also.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Generation {#entry-generation} *γένεσιν (genesin); γενέσεις (geneseis); γίγνεσθαι (gignesthai)* **The word.** Γένεσις is coming-to-be or generation; the verbs express becoming. Its force differs when applied to everlasting roots, to temporary compounds, or to the formation of a cosmos. Denying strict generation of constituents does not eliminate every permissible use of generation-language. **In this work.** Aristotle at A28 says that the four persist and do not come to be except through changes in the quantities combined and separated. Aëtius at A44 makes the distinction explicit: these thinkers have combination and separation, but not generation and destruction “properly so called.” Their ordinary becoming is quantitative aggregation, not transformation of ultimate ingredients into other kinds. Cosmogonic witnesses nevertheless speak readily of heaven, stars and worlds coming into being. That is not automatically an inconsistency; such bodies can arise as arrangements of enduring materials. Aristotle’s criticism at A42 concerns which arrangement can generate a heaven and whether Empedocles omitted generation under Love. Simplicius’ later A52 then suggests that accounts of generation from simple constituents may be expository rather than chronologically literal. The reader must therefore distinguish three questions: whether roots originate, whether compounds form, and whether a narrative order of cosmic formation states an actual temporal succession. The same broad English “creation” would blur all three and might introduce an unprinted agent creating from nothing. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 3; source PDF pp. 84–85. Denies coming-to-be of the four except in the qualified sense of altered aggregation. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Distinguishes combination from generation properly so called. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; source PDF pp. 104–105. Questions the construction of a cosmos under Love. - **A 52 (polemical).** Simplicius, De caelo 305,21; source PDF pp. 120–121. Offers an expository rather than temporal interpretation of generation accounts. **In this edition.** Do not translate all generation as creation out of nothing. A44 is a collective doxographic classification; it preserves a distinction but does not make all named systems identical. **See also.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis). ## Gestation {#entry-gestation} *ἡ δεκάμηνος (hē dekamēnos); ἡ ἑπτάμηνος (hē heptamēnos); septimo mense* **The word.** Dekamēnos and heptamēnos express ten-month and seven-month periods. Censorinus' septimo mense means in the seventh month. The months belong to ancient accounts of pregnancy and should not be silently converted into a modern clinical dating convention. **In this work.** A75 links the viability of ten-month and seven-month children to earlier cosmic days. When humans first arose from earth, the sun supposedly travelled so slowly that a day equalled a present ten-month term; later it equalled seven months. The concluding assertion about growth in a single day is textually difficult. A83 separately includes Empedocles among many who allowed birth in the seventh month. That corroborates the circulation of a seven-month birth claim, but not the complete cosmic-day explanation. Neither notice is advice about contemporary neonatal viability. The ancient categories and corrupted wording do not supply modern gestational ages, survival probabilities, or care standards. As historical testimony, the important feature is that a reproductive time-scale is explained by reference to an earlier cosmic time-scale.[^note-gestation] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 75 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 162–163. Relates ten-month and seven-month children to earlier lengths of the day. - **A 83 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 182–183. Includes Empedocles in a list of those accepting seventh-month birth. **In this edition.** A75's final words depend on Diels' correction and deletion, with a different conjecture by Casaubon also recorded. The testimony's calendar units and wording should remain historical rather than being harmonized into exact modern weeks. **See also.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations). ## Golden band {#entry-golden-band} *στρόφιον (strophion); στέμμα (stemma); χρυσοῦν (chrysoun)* **The word.** Strophion is a band or strip used in dress; the edition renders it a girdle in the Life. Stemma is a wreath or garland. Their material and placement vary across the notices, so “golden girdle” should not become the only lexical form of the tradition. **In this work.** Diogenes describes Empedocles as putting on a golden strophion beside purple dress and bronze boots. The Suda instead places a golden wreath on his head and Delphic garlands in his hands. Philostratus gives a deeply purple band about his hair. These details are not all the same object under interchangeable names. They show a repertoire of conspicuous signs adapted by different narrators to civic dignity, solemn performance, or an ambition for godlike status. The entry keeps material, object, and location separate instead of assembling every item into a single lavish portrait that no one source gives. The variation is especially relevant to the edition’s claims that the costume is uniformly and independently attested. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73; source PDF pp. 42–45. Gives the golden band within the civic costume account. - **A 2 (biography).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Places a golden wreath on the head and Delphic garlands in the hands. - **A 18 (biography).** Philostratus, Life of Apollonius; source PDF pp. 66–67. Describes a purple hair-band rather than a golden girdle. **In this edition.** The Life’s strophion is translated as a girdle, whereas related notices use bands or wreaths with different materials and locations. Object identification remains uncertain without importing iconographic evidence not printed in the volume. **See also.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Good and evil {#entry-good-and-evil} *τὸ κακὸν καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν (to kakon kai to agathon); τῶν ἀγαθῶν (tōn agathōn); τῶν κακῶν (tōn kakōn)* **The word.** The vocabulary covers good and bad or evil, with evaluative distinctions such as fair and mean in the surrounding passage. Aristotle moves from goods and evils found in nature to their proposed causes, and then asks whether those causes may themselves be called good and evil. **In this work.** At A39 Aristotle explains the introduction of two opposed powers through the presence of disorder and ugliness alongside order and beauty. He then says that, if one follows Empedocles’ meaning rather than his “stammering” expression, Love will emerge as the cause of good things and Strife as the cause of bad things. Only through a further conditional step does he suggest that Empedocles made good and evil themselves principles. The argument’s structure matters. This is not a preserved confession of moral dualism by Empedocles. It is Aristotle’s reconstruction of what a predecessor was reaching toward in causal explanation. The claim is also not a simple summary of all physical functions: A52 makes Love destroy the differentiated cosmos, while Strife makes a world of the present kind. Different levels of description may support different valuations, and the dossier does not settle them with one slogan. The lexicon retains the moral vocabulary because it shaped later interpretation, while identifying the person who supplies the mapping and the qualifications under which he supplies it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Reconstructs Love as cause of goods and Strife as cause of evils, then conditionally identifies good and evil as principles. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Shows why moral labels cannot simply substitute for the physical roles of destroying and producing a cosmos. **In this edition.** The closing clause about the evil cause is bracketed and absent from one branch of the tradition, though Alexander had it. The interpretative qualifications remain important whichever textual choice is made. **See also.** [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Stammering](#entry-stammering); [Principle](#entry-principle). ## Gorgias {#entry-gorgias} *Γοργίαν (Gorgian); Λεοντῖνον (Leontinon); discipulus* **The word.** Leontinon is the ethnic designation “of Leontini”; discipulus is the Latin word for pupil. Gorgias is the pivotal named link between the Empedoclean philosopher-poet and the later rhetorical tradition. **In this work.** Satyrus’ report presents Empedocles as both physician and excellent orator, then adduces Gorgias as his pupil and as a major practitioner who left a technical work. A following report credits Gorgias with claiming eyewitness presence at Empedocles’ sorcery. Thus pupilage carries two kinds of authority: the genealogy of an art and purported personal testimony to extraordinary acts. Quintilian repeats the pupil relation with the qualification “as it is handed down,” situating it after Corax and Tisias in Sicilian rhetoric. A scholium on Iamblichus expands the pupil list to Tisias and Polus and traces the whole art through Empedocles to Pythagoras. The growth of the genealogy matters: an attribution that is relatively modest in one witness becomes a comprehensive pedigree in another. These texts justify studying the connection seriously, but not treating every reported teacher-student relation as equally secure. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 58, reporting Satyrus, Lives; source PDF pp. 22–25. Uses Gorgias’ reported pupilage to support Empedocles’ rhetorical eminence. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 59, reporting Satyrus; source PDF pp. 26–27. Attributes eyewitness testimony about sorcery to Gorgias. - **A 19 (testimony).** Quintilian, The Orator’s Education; Scholiast on Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 68–69. Places the pupil relation within differently extended genealogies. **In this edition.** Gorgias’ words are not preserved here as a direct, independently extant statement. They reach the reader through Satyrus and Diogenes; the edition’s certainty about what he learned should not erase that mediation. **See also.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Governing part {#entry-governing-part} *τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν (to hēgemonikon); ἐν τῆι τοῦ αἵματος συστάσει (en tēi tou haimatos systasei); τὴν καρδίαν (tēn kardian); ἐν τῆι κοιλίαι τῆς καρδίας (en tēi koiliai tēs kardias)* **The word.** Hēgemonikon means the governing or ruling part. It is explicitly present in pseudo-Plutarch’s A30 report but only supplied contextually in the edition’s abbreviated A97 answer. Systasis denotes composition or constitution, making blood’s bodily condition, not merely its location, relevant. **In this work.** Pseudo-Plutarch explicitly places the governing part neither in the head nor in the breast but in blood. He connects a greater distribution of it in a particular bodily part with superior ability in that part. The account is a doxographic restatement using later governing-part vocabulary, not an Empedoclean verse. Aëtius’s A97 answer is briefer: it is in the composition of blood. Theodoret supplies a grouped cardiac report, with alternatives in the heart’s cavity or in blood, without specifying which option is uniquely Empedocles’ own. A cavity is a place; a blood-composition is a bodily condition. Treating all these formulations simply as “the heart is the seat of the soul” erases that difference. Theophrastus’s account of local cognitive aptitude supplies comparison, but cannot remove the ambiguity of the late grouped testimony. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Explicitly locates the governing part in blood and relates its local distribution to superior ability. - **A 97 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Locates the governing part, supplied from context, in blood composition. - **A 97 (testimony).** Theodoret, Cure of the Greek Maladies; source PDF pp. 232–233. Groups cardiac localization with alternative placement in cavity or blood. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Provides the explanatory connection between blood-blending and thought. **In this edition.** The edition identifies hēgemonikon as the doxographer’s later, Stoic framing. A30’s Greek is displaced in its cosmogonic sequence, but the cognitive clauses are printed together. At A97 the governing-part noun is supplied from context rather than present in Aëtius’s abbreviated Greek. **See also.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude). ## Grey and mixed colours {#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours} *φαιὸν (phaion); χρώματα τὰ μεικτὰ (chrōmata ta meikta); τῶν ἁπλῶν (tōn haplōn)* **The word.** Phaion denotes a grey or dusky colour; meikta means mixed, opposed here to simple colours. This vocabulary concerns perceived appearances. It is distinct from glauka, the grey or light-coloured eyes discussed by Aristotle. **In this work.** Theophrastus grants, for the sake of argument, that a sight made of fire and its opposite could recognize white and black by likes. He then asks how it recognizes grey and other mixed colours. The account gives them neither fire-passages nor water-passages nor common passages made from both. Yet their perception is no less evident than that of the simple colours. The argument does not preserve an independent Empedoclean classification of every intermediate hue. It identifies an apparent gap in the reported sensory mechanism and names grey as a decisive counterexample. Nor does Aëtius's separate list of four colours automatically answer it: naming red and yellow does not explain how a mixed colour enters or is recognized by the specified channels. The article therefore records a problem of explanatory coverage rather than inventing missing receptors or blend proportions. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Makes grey and mixed colours the counterexample to the reported two-channel account. - **A 92 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 226–227. Provides a four-colour list without supplying the missing mixed-colour mechanism. **In this edition.** The commentary's claim that mixed colours “match nothing” is a reconstruction of Theophrastus's objection. The surviving text says the account assigns no appropriate passages; it does not prove every possible Empedoclean explanation impossible. **See also.** [Colour](#entry-colour); [White](#entry-white); [Black](#entry-black); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages). ## Grey eyes {#entry-grey-eyes} *γλαυκὰ (glauka); τὰ γλαυκά (ta glauka); πυρώδη (pyrōdē)* **The word.** Glaukos describes a light, gleaming, or grey appearance; in A91 the neuter plural refers to eyes, and the edition translates “grey eyes.” It is not the same word as phaion, the intermediate grey colour in Theophrastus's objection. **In this work.** Aristotle reports that Empedocles calls grey eyes fiery. Their relative lack of water is made the reason they fail to see sharply by day. The parallel dark eyes are said to contain more water than fire and to fail at night through lack of fire. Thus visible eye-colour is tied to an internal elemental constitution and a difference of acuity. Aristotle does not merely repeat the explanation: he rejects it on the ground that sight should be understood as watery in all cases. His own premise belongs to the polemic. Theophrastus's broader account of day and night vision offers useful comparison, but it does not name these eye-colour classes in the corresponding paragraph. The report should not be upgraded into measured empirical correlations or a current account of iris pigmentation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Reports grey eyes as fiery and poor at daytime acuity, then rejects the interpretation. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Provides the related account of fiery excess and daytime dimming without naming grey eyes. **In this edition.** Keep glauka distinct from phaion in the index, even though both are translated with English “grey.” The original terms prevent a false equation of eye type and intermediate object colour. **See also.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light). ## Growth {#entry-growth} *αὔξεσθαι (auxesthai); διὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ θερμοῦ (dia tēn parousian tou thermou)* **The word.** Auxesthai means to grow or increase. Parousia is presence; the explanation makes the presence of heat responsible for growth. The term is distinguished locally from being nourished and from wasting away. **In this work.** A77 assigns separate conditions to maintenance and enlargement: akin material settles in to nourish a creature, while heat enables it to grow. The absence of both produces diminution and wasting. In plants, A70 gives heat within earth a lifting role and relates downward and upward growth to constituent tendencies, an explanation criticized by Aristotle and Theophrastus for failing to account adequately for the living whole. These notices show that growth is both quantitative increase and organized extension into different bodily parts. The surprising A77 comparison of current humans with infants beside the first humans does not settle whether size, strength, maturity, or some other difference is intended. It therefore cannot establish the edition's further claim that the cosmos itself remains in mid-growth. An analogy about human generations is not automatically a universal developmental law. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Makes growth dependent on the presence of heat and contrasts present people with primordial people as infants. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; Aristotle, On the Soul; Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Offer and criticize accounts of the direction and causes of plant growth. **In this edition.** The edition's interpretation of present humanity as immature rather than diminished is possible but not forced by the infant comparison. The report gives the comparison without explaining its precise scale. **See also.** [Heat](#entry-heat); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Wasting](#entry-wasting); [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Shoots](#entry-shoots). ## Hair as counterexample {#entry-hair-as-counterexample} *θρὶξ (thrix); ἐξ ἁπάντων (ex hapantōn)* **The word.** Thrix is hair. The phrase “from all” refers in context to all the elements composing it. Theophrastus introduces hair as a bodily counterexample to a proposed explanation of perception, not as an independently detailed tissue recipe. **In this work.** The critic says bone and hair would perceive because they too consist of all the elements. The point is not that they are blood, but that the general elemental condition invoked for cognition appears insufficiently specific. If possession of the constituents which recognize their counterparts is enough, an apparently nonperceiving bodily product meets that condition as well. The example therefore complements rather than repeats the bloodless-animal objection. Bloodlessness challenges the privileged material medium; hair challenges the adequacy of elemental composition as such. It would be misleading to say Empedocles expressly taught that each hair thinks. The statement is Theophrastus's inferred consequence, used to demand a distinction among tissues, cognitive organs, and thinking animals. A broader account of the bodily parts may help contextualize it, but the printed paragraph supplies no response that resolves the difficulty. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Pairs hair with bone in an inferred consequence of the elemental account of perception. **In this edition.** The edition's prose says there would be “nothing to stop a hair from thinking.” The ancient sentence specifically says bone and hair would perceive; the extension to thinking follows the surrounding argument rather than that clause's verb alone. **See also.** [Bone](#entry-bone); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Perception](#entry-perception). ## Hearing {#entry-hearing} *τὴν ἀκοὴν (tēn akoēn); ἀκούομεν (akouomen)* **The word.** Akoē can name hearing or the auditory apparatus. In Theophrastus's account it is described by the bell analogy and the expression “sprout of flesh.” Translating every occurrence as either “ear” or “hearing” would erase the fluid movement between organ and operation. **In this work.** The report makes hearing arise from internal sounds. Voice sets air moving; that air rings within, and movement beats air against solid parts, producing sound. Aëtius's shorter notice describes breath striking a suspended cartilaginous part inside the ear, which swings like a bell. Both accounts explain an internal event occasioned by something outside, although their anatomical descriptions are not identical. Theophrastus's criticism isolates what remains unexplained: if we hear external things by the internal bell, by what do we hear the bell itself? The objection is not simply that no sound occurs. It asks why causing an internal sound amounts to perception rather than merely relocating the object to be heard. This is a distinction between an account of the physical stimulus and an account of its being perceived. It should not be expanded into a doctrine of a little listener inside the ear, which the witness does not propose. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Reports hearing as internal resonance produced by moving air. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Asks what hears the internally sounding bell. - **A 93 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Describes impact on a suspended cartilaginous structure. **In this edition.** The internal/external wording in §9 is textually corrected: Karsten prints ἔσωθεν where manuscripts have ἔξωθεν. The later objection supports the adopted internal-sound reading, but the correction deserves notice. **See also.** [Sound](#entry-sound); [Bell](#entry-bell); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Heart {#entry-heart} *cor; τὴν καρδίαν (tēn kardian)* **The word.** Cor is Latin for heart; kardia is its Greek counterpart. Censorinus speaks of the organ growing before all others and holding human life together. The phrasing makes functional importance the reason for temporal priority. **In this work.** Censorinus attributes to Empedocles the judgment that the heart develops first because it chiefly sustains a person's life, adding that Aristotle followed him. This is a report of agreement, not a quoted Aristotelian acknowledgment in the present passage. It does not explain the observations or embryological mechanism behind the developmental claim. A79 supplies a useful contrast: Soranus assigns liver implantation of umbilical vessels to Empedocles and heart implantation to Phaedrus. These need not conflict, because a first-forming organ and a destination for particular vessels are different questions. Nor does the priority of the heart necessarily place all thought there: other testimonia give blood a cognitive role, and the present sentence does not identify the organ as the sole seat of soul.[^note-heart] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 84 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 184–185. Attributes first growth and vital primacy of the heart to Empedocles and says Aristotle followed him. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Contrasts Empedocles' liver insertion of umbilical vessels with Phaedrus' heart insertion. **In this edition.** The edition treats this as a rare secure case of Aristotle following Empedocles. The explicit evidence here is Censorinus' attribution of that relation; it should retain his mediating role. **See also.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Soul](#entry-soul). ## Heat {#entry-heat} *τοῦ θερμοῦ (tou thermou); θερμότητος (thermotētos); calor* **The word.** To thermon is the hot or heat; thermotēs is hotness. The Latin calor appears in Censorinus' reproductive account. Heat is related to fire across these notices, but the witnesses also use it as a quality, condition, or causal factor rather than always as a simple synonym for the fiery root. **In this work.** Heat operates at several explanatory levels. Underground fires heat water in A68, while heat promotes moisture-loss and stone formation in A69. Terrestrial heat supports plant growth in A70; internal heat drives a phase of breathing in A74 and enables growth in A77. In A73, excessive heat explains why fiery animals seek water, making moderation rather than maximization important. Reproductive accounts at A81 assign sex and likeness variously to womb temperature and to the relative heat of parental seeds. A85 connects the loss of blood's heat with sleep and death. These relations should not be standardized into a single quantitative law. They involve heating, retaining heat, cooling, and compensating for excess, with different witnesses and objects. The physiology also exposes why an ancient “more heat means more life” summary would be inadequate: too much heat may drive a creature toward a contrary environment, while proportion and location can matter as much as mere presence. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 68 (testimony).** Seneca, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 144–145. Uses buried fires to explain water acquiring heat. - **A 73 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Respiration; Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 158–159. Report excessive internal heat as the reason for seeking moisture. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 160–161. Makes innate heat a moving cause in respiration. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Names heat as the condition of growth. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Preserve distinct thermal accounts of sex and likeness. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 184–185. Connects cooling of blood's heat to sleep and death. **In this edition.** Modern temperature, energy, and combustion are different analytical concepts. The testimonies do not consistently distinguish their ancient counterparts, and the entry should not supply that precision retrospectively. **See also.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Cooling](#entry-cooling). ## Heating devices {#entry-heating-devices} *dracones; miliaria; fistulas; aere tenui* **The word.** Seneca names dracones, translated coiled heaters, and miliaria, water-boilers. Fistulae are pipes; the accusative fistulas occurs in his description of their construction from thin bronze, aere tenui. These are technical Latin words for the apparatus through which he makes an earlier physical explanation intelligible. **In this work.** In explaining Empedocles’ account of hot springs, Seneca turns to appliances that “we are in the habit of making.” Pipes of thin bronze are arranged on a descending circuit so that water passes repeatedly around the same fire and travels far enough to become hot: cold water enters and hot water emerges. The comparison gives a visible, constructed counterpart to water flowing underground above concealed fires. Its explanatory contribution is more specific than a general observation that fire warms water; the path keeps the moving water exposed to a heat source for sufficient distance. Yet the apparatus and the first-person claim about habitual manufacture belong to Seneca. They are not evidence that Empedocles invented, described, or used these Roman devices. Nor does the excerpt specify enough dimensions or construction details to identify a unique surviving design. The testimony preserves an attribution about natural heating and a later author’s technological illustration of it, which should be indexed together without confusing their authorship. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 68 (testimony).** Seneca, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 144–145. Explains water heated over subterranean fires through contemporary coiled heaters, boilers, and thin bronze pipes; the appliances are Seneca’s illustration. **In this edition.** The forms belong to the Latin witness, not an Empedoclean vocabulary. The apparatus records alternatives to the participle describing how the pipes are laid around: circumlatas or circumductas for circumdatas. Those variants leave a circuit-like arrangement intelligible without establishing an exact engineering plan. **See also.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock); [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability). ## Hemispheres {#entry-hemispheres} *ἡμισφαίρια (hēmisphairia); ἡμισφαιρίων (hēmisphairiōn)* **The word.** The word denotes half-spheres. In these reports it describes complementary cosmic regions or masses carried round the earth. It should not be confused with modern terrestrial northern and southern hemispheres. **In this work.** Ps.-Plutarch at A30 describes two hemispheres moving around earth, one wholly fiery and the other composed of air with a little fire; the mixed one is identified with night. A51’s Aëtius notice describes the solid heaven as containing the fiery and airy in each of the hemispheres, a formulation that should be preserved rather than silently simplified into the earlier division. The two-sun account at A56 again depends on hemispheres: an archetypal fire fills one, while the apparent reflection occupies the other, filled with air mixed with heat. The relation between the hemispheric fire, earth’s reflection and the crystalline sun is obscure even in the edition’s apparatus. The repeated geometry gives a family resemblance among the reports but not an unambiguous single diagram. The headword allows the reader to trace that shared structure while noticing differences in what each half contains and how light or night is explained. It does not claim that every witness offers independent confirmation of one fully reconstructed model. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Describes a fiery hemisphere and an air-with-fire hemisphere, associating the latter with night. - **A 51 (testimony).** Aëtius II 11,2; source PDF pp. 118–119. Places fiery and airy contents in relation to each hemisphere of a solid heaven. - **A 56 (testimony).** Aëtius II 20,13 (D. 350); source PDF pp. 124–125. Uses the hemispheres to distinguish archetypal fire from the visible solar reflection. **In this edition.** A30’s Greek is incomplete and reordered in English. Agreement in the word “hemisphere” does not remove the textual and conceptual difficulties of the solar reflection account. **See also.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night). ## Hera {#entry-hera} *Ἥρην (Hērēn); Ἥρη (Hērē); φερέσβιος (pheresbios)* **The word.** The name is accompanied by the life-bearing epithet φερέσβιος. The epithet supplies a clue for ancient interpreters, but its presence does not by itself identify which root Hera names. The grammatical form φερέσβιον accompanies the accusative name elsewhere in the same dossier. **In this work.** Aëtius assigns Hera to air. The Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes assign her to earth. Hippolytus explicitly motivates the latter interpretation: earth bears the fruits by which living creatures are sustained. The surviving notice consequently gives both an identification and its supporting explanation, while the Aëtius excerpt does not explain its contrary choice in comparable detail. These witnesses establish an ancient disagreement rather than a modern uncertainty imposed on a previously unanimous text. Nevertheless, the edition’s numerical “three to one” should not be treated as a critical verdict. Doxographic notices can share sources, and this file does not establish that all four interpretations are independent. Nor does the seemingly attractive connection between life-bearing and earth prove that the epithet could have had no other application. Hera is therefore a particularly clear case for separating the poetic name, the semantic possibilities of its epithet, and the allegorical map imposed by a reporter. An entry or index that labels Hera simply “air” or simply “earth” would hide the most important fact preserved about the name in this volume.[^note-hera] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Assigns life-bearing Hera to air. - **A 33 (testimony).** Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Assigns Hera to earth; Hippolytus explains this through the production of sustaining fruits. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 76; source PDF pp. 46–47. Supplies a further Hera–earth interpretation alongside an abbreviated B6 quotation. - **A 22–A 23 (reception).** Menander Rhetor; source PDF pp. 74–75. Gives Hera-as-air in a generic explanation of natural hymns associated with Parmenides and Empedocles; this is not necessarily a direct key to B6. **In this edition.** Keep both identifications in view. The witnesses’ relative number and the edition’s assessment of the better argument do not establish which mapping Empedocles intended. **See also.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Air](#entry-air); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots). ## Hippolytus {#entry-hippolytus-witness} **The word.** Hippolytus is the named witness whose refutation places accounts of Greek philosophy within a religious polemic. His explanations may quote earlier poetry and yet redescribe its meaning through concerns of his own work. **In this work.** A 31 illustrates why an extended report cannot be read as a neutral doctrinal inventory. It connects powers, divine language and the fortunes of souls or daimones within an account designed for a refutation. The reader must identify the degree of mediation rather than either accepting or discarding the whole passage. At A 33 Hippolytus offers reasons for a particular mapping of the names in the root verse. His argument for Aidoneus through the invisibility of air is an ancient interpretation worth explaining in its own right. It does not become Empedocles’ explicit definition merely because its wordplay is persuasive. Nor does agreement between this mapping and other notices establish independent witnesses by counting their names. The lexicon keeps the inherited poetic names, the witness’s mapping and the explanatory argument in distinct view. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 31 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3 (D. 558); source PDF pp. 90–91. Presents a sustained account in the setting of a later religious refutation. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Argues for a mapping of the divine root names and supplies an explanation of invisible air. **In this edition.** The edition praises Hippolytus’ argument and contrasts its mapping with modern handbook choices. That preference remains the editor’s assessment. The supplied collection supports the existence of incompatible ancient keys, not a settled identification established by a majority vote. **See also.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation). ## Homogeneity {#entry-homogeneity} *ὁμοιομερῆ (homoiomerē); ὁμοιομερείας (homoiomereias)* **The word.** The adjective means like-parted or uniform in parts. In A43 it characterizes the smallest fragments assigned to Empedocles; in A46 it belongs to Aristotle’s comparison involving Anaxagoras. It should not be used as an undifferentiated label for all Presocratic matter. **In this work.** The Aëtius report makes the least fragments before the four elements ὁμοιομερῆ. This suggests uniformity at the level of their own parts or kind, but the passage does not supply a full account of how such fragments compose the four. Aristotle’s A46 contrasts a theory with indefinitely many uniform constituents and opposites against Empedocles’ limited set of so-called elements. The comparison is important because homogeneity-language can appear in a discussion of Empedocles without every occurrence describing his own basic inventory. The “uniform” Sphairos is another matter again. A32 uses μονοειδές, single in form, for that cosmic state. It would be misleading to infer from the English overlap that least fragments and the Sphairos instantiate exactly the same property. This headword preserves the technical distinction between likeness of parts, a limited or unlimited inventory of constituents, and the undifferentiated appearance or form of a whole. A70 gives a further functional use: different plants draw like-parted stuffs differently from nourishing soil, helping account for differences of flavor. That is a statement about selective uptake in a compound environment, not necessarily a claim that the plant feeds on the hypothetical smallest fragments of A43. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 13,1; source PDF pp. 106–107. Describes the hypothetical smallest fragments as uniform throughout. - **A 46 (testimony).** Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20; source PDF pp. 110–111. Uses the term in a comparison that distinguishes Anaxagoras’ many constituents from Empedocles’ elements. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius, plant notice; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses like-parted stuffs for what different plants selectively draw from their nourishing soil. **In this edition.** The compressed pronouns at A46 must be read through the comparison: not everything predicated of “the one” thinker belongs to Empedocles. “Homoeomeries” should not be introduced as a named Empedoclean doctrine here. **See also.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Horse-rearing {#entry-horse-rearing} *ἱπποτροφηκότος (hippotrophēkotos); κέλητι (kelēti); ἵπποις (hippois)* **The word.** The participle hippotrophēkotos denotes having kept or reared horses. Kelēti refers here to the single racehorse, distinguishing a particular victory from the more general “with horses” in Athenaeus. **In this work.** The horse-rearing grandfather is one of the Life’s signs of family distinction. Diogenes’ initial authorities place the Olympic victory in that grandfather’s generation; Satyrus supplies a different family scheme and pairs equestrian success with a son’s athletic victory. Athenaeus subsequently makes Empedocles himself the victorious competitor and attaches the aromatic ox offering to that occasion. The same festive setting thus carries both a status claim and an ethical exemplum. It would be misleading to turn this evidence into an uncomplicated sporting biography of the philosopher. What is relatively stable within the tradition is the representation of substantial family resources, which helps explain the plausibility, within later narratives, of dowries and civic benefactions. Whether every particular victory belongs to the same household member is precisely what the sources dispute. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 51–52; source PDF pp. 16–17. Associates horse-rearing and a single-horse victory with the grandfather. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 53, reporting Satyrus and Heraclides; source PDF pp. 18–21. Provides a competing distribution of equestrian and athletic victories. - **A 11–A 12 (biography).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters; source PDF pp. 58–59. Transfers equestrian victory into the occasion of the bloodless ox. **In this edition.** The apparatus itself warns that Athenaeus may have transferred the grandfather’s or son’s victory to Empedocles. The different Greek horse expressions should not be standardized into a single securely identified race. **See also.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Dowries](#entry-dowries). ## Hot springs {#entry-hot-springs} *aquam calescere; aquis transcursus; τὰ θερμὰ τῶν ὑδάτων (ta therma tōn hydatōn)* **The word.** Aquam calescere means that water becomes hot; aquis transcursus names the waters' passage. The Greek phrase refers to hot waters. Heat is explained as acquired during transit rather than as an intrinsic, unexplained property of a particular spring. **In this work.** Seneca attributes heated underground water to concealed fires lying beneath the ground through which it travels. He illustrates the explanation with Roman coiled heaters and boilers: thin bronze pipes lead water on a sloping circuit around a fire, providing enough travel for it to enter cold and emerge hot. This is a notably concrete account of heating through an extended path. The domestic apparatus belongs to Seneca's exposition, not automatically to Empedocles' technology or examples. Pseudo-Aristotle's Problems also associates Empedocles with hot waters while considering how heat and moisture-loss produce stone. The passages thus connect underground fire with both thermal water and consolidated material, without proving that they preserve one continuous geological theory. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 68 (testimony).** Seneca, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 144–145. Explains hot water through its passage above buried fires and adds a Roman heating-device analogy. - **A 69 (testimony).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 146–147. Includes hot waters with rocks and stones in a heat-based explanation. **In this edition.** The edition stresses duration of contact. Seneca's illustration supports sufficient path length for heating, but a quantitative relation between residence time and temperature is not stated. His Latin must not be cited as Empedocles' original wording. **See also.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Water](#entry-water); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices). ## Ignorance {#entry-ignorance} *ἀγνοίας (agnoias); ἀγνοεῖν (agnoein)* **The word.** Agnoia is ignorance or not knowing; agnoein means to be ignorant or fail to recognize. The term is not simply sensory absence and is not identical to the separate descriptions of slow or ineffective mental performance. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports a symmetrical account: thinking occurs by likes, ignorance by unlikes. He presents this immediately before comparing thought with perception. Ignorance therefore has a place in the physical explanation, rather than being left as a mere gap in an otherwise successful act of knowing. His later objection uses this symmetry against the theory. Pain too is attributed to opposites or unlikes; if shared physical causes are enough to identify mental states, ignorance must always be accompanied by pain, just as thought must bring pleasure. The claim is a consequence the critic draws, not an empirical assertion he reports Empedocles making. It is especially important not to read agnoia as moral wickedness or as the whole condition of a transmigrating soul merely because other parts of the corpus discuss purification. The present passage concerns a cognitive contrast within the perception dossier. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Explicitly contrasts ignorance through unlikes with thought through likes. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Infers an unwanted correlation of ignorance with pain. **In this edition.** The English “ignorance” can suggest absence of acquired information. The report instead associates it with unlike constituents or encounters, without spelling out a theory of learning, false belief, or memory. **See also.** [Thought](#entry-thought); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge). ## Images {#entry-images} *τῶν εἰδώλων (tōn eidōlōn)* **The word.** Eidōla are images or likenesses. Here the word belongs to a doxographic contrast with rays. It should not automatically be given every technical feature of image theories associated with other ancient schools. **In this work.** Aëtius judges that Empedocles gives more support to perception by images than to perception by rays because he accepts effluences. That inference connects incoming material from objects with a recognized category of ancient optical explanation. It does not say that every effluence preserves an object's full outline, carries a miniature visible scene, or travels through empty space. The distinction is especially important beside A88's mirror account. That report describes outflows gathering and being compacted at a reflecting surface, but does not call them eidōla. A reader may compare the two notices, yet should not fill the mirror mechanism with unmentioned image-theoretical machinery. The lexical entry records what the doxographer calls the interpretation and why he prefers it, while leaving the physical structure of the proposed image underdetermined. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 90 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 222–223. Prefers an image interpretation because Empedocles accepts effluences. - **A 88 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 216–217. Offers a material account of reflection without using the term eidōla. **In this edition.** The source-critical task is to distinguish an interpretation of Empedocles from an exact quotation of his terminology. A90 supplies the former; the edition prints no accompanying Empedoclean verse containing eidōla. **See also.** [Rays](#entry-rays); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Colour](#entry-colour). ## Imperceptible smallness {#entry-imperceptible-smallness} *ἀναίσθητα διὰ μικρότητα (anaisthēta dia mikrotēta); ἀοράτους μὲν διὰ μικρότητα (aoratous men dia mikrotēta)* **The word.** Mikrotēs is smallness. The two phrases say, respectively, imperceptible through smallness and invisible through smallness. They concern limits of detection and should not be read as assertions of indivisibility. **In this work.** Aristotle's taste passage attributes to Empedocles flavours present in water but too small to be perceived. Smallness explains why presence need not produce a sensible effect. The report does not supply a lower size limit, a numerical threshold, or a claim that these constituents are atoms. The pore-theory discussion at A87 gives a related but differently attributed example: passages in transparent bodies are invisible because small, though dense and ordered. That initial statement concerns a group of theorists before Empedocles is named. The comparison shows the explanatory usefulness of unobservable structure, but should not make both details equally secure personal doctrines. Most importantly, “not seen” and “not there” are not treated as equivalent; the witness's report allows physical constituents or structures beneath ordinary sensory discrimination. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 228–229. Explicitly attributes imperceptibly small flavours in water to Empedocles. - **A 87 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Describes pores invisible through smallness in a broader report of pore theorists. **In this edition.** “Microscopic” is only a modern lookup label. The source gives no microscope, measurement method, or commitment to atomism, and A87's separate dispute about indivisible bodies must not be imported here. **See also.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility). ## Inert matter {#entry-inert-matter} *ἀργὴν ὕλην (argēn hylēn)* **The word.** The phrase means idle or inactive matter. The adjective should not be translated as a modern law of inertia: it characterizes the remainder outside the cosmos in one doxographic notice. “Matter” itself is a later analytical term. **In this work.** Aëtius at A47 states that the cosmos is one but is only a small part of the All; what remains is inert matter. If accepted as a genuine account, this would substantially affect the spatial picture of the cycle, because the ordered world would not occupy all available being. The notice does not explain the remainder’s location, structure or relation to Love and Strife. The edition properly warns that no surviving fragment supports the claim. That does not license silently deleting it from the dossier, but it does prevent making it the default background for every other cosmological passage. It would be particularly unsafe to imagine a modern infinite space filled with inert substrate, since neither infinity nor a detailed geometry is stated here. The entry records the distinction the report actually makes: a limited ordered arrangement against a larger totality, expressed through the witness’s matter-language. Its evidentiary isolation is part of its meaning for this volume. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 47 (testimony).** Aëtius I 5,2 (D. 291); source PDF pp. 110–111. Calls the remainder beyond the single, limited cosmos inert matter. **In this edition.** The phrase is not attested as Empedocles’ own vocabulary in this file. The report’s potential importance is a reason for caution, not a reason to treat its spatial model as established. **See also.** [Matter](#entry-matter); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [All](#entry-all). ## Infertility {#entry-infertility} *ἄγονόν (agonon); παρὰ τὴν συγγένειαν συνδυαζομένων (para tēn syngeneian syndyazomenōn); μήτε τοῦ σπέρματος εὐθυβολοῦντος (mēte tou spermatos euthybolountos)* **The word.** Agonos means unproductive or infertile. The mating phrase refers to coupling outside kinship or kind; euthybolein is to strike straight at a target. Reproductive failure is thus discussed both as a property of a kind and as a failure of a material to reach or be received by an organ. **In this work.** The mule dossier preserves a methodological dispute as well as a proposed cause. Aristotle objects that the explanations associated with Empedocles and Democritus are too general: they are offered alike for animals mating outside their own kind. His criticism asks whether one causal account fits the full range of cases. Aëtius' anatomical notice narrows the failure to seed's route and reception in an alleged abnormal womb. These descriptions cannot be assumed to have identical scope. The fact that the doxographic account is specific to mules does not tell us exactly how Aristotle's broader argument was formulated in the omitted continuation. Infertility here is therefore a useful entry for the relationship between an explanatory generalization and a particular reproductive case, not a complete survey of Empedoclean medicine. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 82 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 180–181. Challenges the general application of one explanation to cross-kind matings. - **A 82 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 180–181. Places failure in the seed's inability to enter or be received by the mule's womb. **In this edition.** The printed reports are not safe reproductive advice. “Outside kind” is an ancient classificatory phrase and cannot be equated automatically with a modern genetic definition of species boundaries. **See also.** [Mules](#entry-mules); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Womb](#entry-womb); [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds). ## Inhalation {#entry-inhalation} *εἰσπνοήν (eispnoēn); ἀντεπείσοδον (antepeisodon); τοῦ ἀέρος ἀντεπεισιόντος (tou aeros antepeisiontos)* **The word.** Eispnoē is inward breathing. Antepeisodos emphasizes an entry in return or counter-entry, matching the account's alternation of air and an internal material. The vocabulary describes a reciprocal sequence rather than an isolated act of taking air. **In this work.** Aëtius twice explains inhalation through something inside the body giving way. In the earlier sequence, innate heat retreats inward and allows airy material its counter-entry. In the account of current breathing, returning blood leaves spaces into which air enters. These formulations are related but not simply identical: the moving internal agent changes between the descriptions. Both make inhalation dependent on displacement, not on a separately described voluntary act or the expansion of named lungs. The first entry of air after moisture withdraws is also distinguished from repeated inhalation. A lexical account therefore needs three moments: initial admission, recurrent intake linked to heat, and recurrent intake linked to blood. The summary does not settle their exact historical or physiological integration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, innate-heat sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Explains inhalation by heat withdrawing inward and permitting air's counter-entry. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, current-breathing sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Explains inhalation by blood returning and air entering the thinned spaces. **In this edition.** The important inward reading depends on an emendation of a transmitted outward term. A precise modern mechanical reconstruction should not ignore that repair, although the alternation of inward and outward breathing is clear in the report as edited. **See also.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [First breath](#entry-first-breath); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement). ## Innate heat {#entry-innate-heat} *τοῦ ἐμφύτου θερμοῦ (tou emphytou thermou); ὁρμῆι (hormēi)* **The word.** Emphytos means implanted, inborn, or innate; to thermon is the hot or heat. Hormē is an impulse or onrush. The phrase names an internal thermal agency in the reported mechanism of breathing, without defining a separate substance called life. **In this work.** After the first entry of air, Aëtius attributes exhalation to the outward rush of innate heat, which presses the airy constituent away. Its inward retreat allows air to re-enter. Heat is thus given a moving and displacing role, rather than simply a static temperature. The later account of current breathing assigns the reciprocal movement to blood, but the summary does not explicitly identify the two agencies or explain how one succeeds the other. At A77 heat is also necessary for growth, and A85 links sleep and death with cooling of the heat in blood. These passages make internal warmth recurrently important to life processes. Their combination should still preserve the different relations: heat causes growth, is associated with moving breath, and is located in blood in the cooling account. None of them alone equates all life, soul, and fire. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 160–161. Gives innate heat an outward and inward movement governing air displacement. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Attributes growth to the presence of heat. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Distinguishes sleep and death by degrees of cooling of blood's heat. **In this edition.** “Vital heat” is a useful lookup label but can imply a later medical doctrine more systematic than the excerpt. The specific Empedoclean attribution is the mechanism reported here. **See also.** [Heat](#entry-heat); [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Sleep](#entry-sleep). ## Inner light {#entry-inner-light} *τὸ ἐντὸς φῶς (to entos phōs); τοῦ ἐκτός (tou ektos); τὸ οἰκεῖον πῦρ (to oikeion pyr)* **The word.** The phrase “inner light” names the light within a seeing animal, contrasted with light outside it. “Its own fire” in §18 is Theophrastus's expression in his proposed alternative explanation. Light and fire are closely associated in this dossier without becoming interchangeable in every sentence. **In this work.** The reported explanation of daytime acuity says that outside light brings deficient inner light up to level. But too much fire is harmful: increased by daylight it spreads across water-passages and blocks their operation. An eye's ability is consequently not a simple function of the amount of fire it contains. The critic contests both versions of the relation. If greater fire destroys lesser fire, daylight should damage precisely those eyes it is said to assist. If instead like increases like, the consequences for seeing white and black ought to be general, rather than restricted to the reported kinds of eye. Theophrastus later allows that exceptional night-seeing animals may have an effective fire of their own. That is his explanatory suggestion within the refutation, not necessarily a further piece of Empedoclean doctrine. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Describes compensation and excess produced by external light. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 18; source PDF pp. 204–205. Tests rival consequences of greater and lesser fire and offers his own account of exceptional animals. **In this edition.** “Brought level” renders ἐπανισοῦσθαι, while several surrounding clauses are editorially supplied. The compensation story should be stated as the printed report, not a wholly secure recovery of every original clause. **See also.** [Sight](#entry-sight); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend). ## Inquiry into nature {#entry-inquiry-into-nature} *περὶ φύσεως ἱστορίαν (peri physeōs historian); φιλοσοφίην (philosophiēn); περὶ φύσιος (peri physios)* **The word.** Historia means inquiry or investigation, not necessarily a written history. Peri physeōs names inquiry about nature. The Hippocratic text uses Ionic forms such as physios and philosophiē, reminders that the surviving language belongs to its author and polemical setting. **In this work.** In On Ancient Medicine the author attacks physicians and sophists who say medical knowledge requires first knowing what a human being is, how humans originated, and from what they were compounded. Empedocles is named as an exemplar of this movement into philosophy. The author reverses its proposed direction of explanation: clear knowledge of nature is to be gained from medicine, rather than practical medicine being founded on a speculative origin story. This is not a rejection of all investigation into nature. Plato's Phaedo offers a distinct retrospective scene, where Socrates recalls youthful fascination with the causes of coming-to-be, perishing, and being, then lists candidate physical explanations. Empedocles is not named there; the attribution of particular alternatives to him is editorial and traditional. Together the passages reveal arguments about what kind of knowledge bodily explanation requires, without proving that Empedocles himself articulated the precise methodological programme his critics attack.[^note-inquiry-into-nature] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 71 (polemical).** Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine; source PDF pp. 154–155. Names Empedocles in a critique of making cosmogonic knowledge foundational for medicine. - **A 76 (reception).** Plato, Phaedo; source PDF pp. 164–165. Dramatizes Socrates' former fascination with natural causes without naming Empedocles. **In this edition.** The title “Hippocrates” identifies the transmitted corpus attribution, not secure personal authorship. Claims that A71 is certainly the earliest surviving criticism or that its date falls within Empedocles' lifetime require qualification beyond these excerpts. **See also.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause). ## Instrument {#entry-instrument} *ὀργάνου τάξιν (organou taxin); τῆι μορφῆι τὴν αἰτίαν (tēi morphēi tēn aitian); χωρὶς διανοίας (chōris dianoias)* **The word.** Organon is an instrument or tool; the phrase means holding the rank or position of an instrument. Morphē is form, and dianoia intelligence or thinking. These terms articulate Theophrastus's objection to a blood-blend explanation of skilled capacities. **In this work.** The tongue permits speaking and the hands permit making, but Theophrastus denies that their local mixture thereby supplies the cause of speaking or making well. Calling them instruments differentiates what an intelligent activity uses from what fully explains that activity. He proposes assigning the cause to form rather than a blend of blood, which he calls without intelligence. This is a directed comparison, not a claim that an instrument can have no causal role whatsoever. The edition's caption “an instrument, not a cause” risks overstating the point. The Greek critic says one would do better to assign the cause to form: he is contesting explanatory priority and adequacy. Nor does the passage provide enough detail to decide exactly which sense of “form” or which account of intelligent agency he means in every case. The lexicon should retain those words as the later witness's analytical alternative, without making them Empedoclean categories or a fully expounded doctrine in this excerpt.[^note-instrument] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Distinguishes organs’ instrumental role from the cause of skilled performance and prefers form to blood-blend. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Supplies the local-blend theory which the objection targets. **In this edition.** The linking words οὖσαν ἢ are supplied by Diels. The final argument remains clear, but a rigid modern opposition between “mere material” and “real cause” would flatten both the qualified wording and its later philosophical vocabulary. **See also.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Form](#entry-form); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship). ## Intelligence and perceptual accuracy {#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy} *φρονιμωτάτους (phronimōtatous); ἀκριβεστάτους (akribestatous); ἀφρονεστάτους (aphronestatous)* **The word.** The superlatives mean most intelligent, most exact, and most senseless. Theophrastus uses them to describe graded differences in cognitive and sensory performance, not different human species or fixed moral worth. **In this work.** The best-performing persons are said to have equal or nearly equal elements, neither far apart nor excessively small or large. Those nearest this condition perform correspondingly well; the opposite condition produces the least intelligence. The report is consequently graded rather than a simple all-or-nothing division between thinkers and nonthinkers. The link between intelligence and accuracy of sensation belongs to the broader account in which thought is identical with or close to perception. Yet the following examples of local skill complicate any claim that every ability improves uniformly: a favourable blend in one part may support eloquence or craftsmanship specifically. These distinctions should remain visible rather than being gathered under an anachronistic numerical measure of intelligence. Theophrastus eventually challenges the physical sufficiency of the explanation, so his detailed exposition is evidence of an attributed account, not his endorsement. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Connects gradations of intellectual and sensory excellence with balance, spacing, and size. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Questions whether local blood-blending adequately causes skilled capacities. **In this edition.** “Nearly equal” and the proximity of others to the optimum matter. The report does not state a fixed recipe or numerical proportion, and the edition's comparison with later temperament theory should remain a historical suggestion rather than an established genealogy. **See also.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness); [Quickness](#entry-quickness); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude). ## Intrinsic and incidental cause {#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause} *καθ' αὑτὸ (kath’ hauto); κατὰ συμβεβηκός (kata symbebēkos); αἴτιον (aition)* **The word.** Kath' hauto means in itself or intrinsically; kata symbebēkos means incidentally or by concomitance. The contrast belongs to Theophrastus's analysis of causation. It is not evidence that Empedocles used this later technical distinction. **In this work.** The issue is whether breathing itself causes smelling. Some animals smell without breathing, and some humans who draw much air smell poorly. These countercases lead Theophrastus to suggest that respiration accompanies smell incidentally rather than constituting its intrinsic cause. His wording is tentative: “presumably,” as the edition translates the qualification. This distinction refines the preceding demand for a cause common to all relevant cases. A frequent association may be real without being universally explanatory; increasing one associated process may also fail to increase the effect. The point is therefore not a blanket denial of breathing's involvement, but a challenge to the level at which it explains. Nearby insistence that odour must itself be present similarly prevents mere lightness from serving as a complete account. The article records witness vocabulary central to the criticism rather than assimilating it to the earlier poet's own conceptual scheme. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Requires a cause common to smelling animals and tests sufficiency of abundant inhalation. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22; source PDF pp. 210–211. Explicitly distinguishes intrinsic from incidental causation in the case of breathing. **In this edition.** The source's spelling uses an ordinary apostrophe in καθ' αὑτό. Modern typography may replace it, but the form should be indexed without pretending that incidental causation is an Empedoclean quotation. **See also.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Instrument](#entry-instrument). ## Iron {#entry-iron} *τὸν σίδηρον (ton sidēron); τοῦ σιδήρου (tou sidērou)* **The word.** Sidēros is iron. In the magnetic testimony it is the body drawn toward the stone and the source of effluences whose passage is initially impeded by air. The name denotes the ancient material without specifying its purity or modern metallurgical composition. **In this work.** Alexander reports that air caps the iron's passages until the stone's outflows push it away. Iron then follows its own outgoing effluences toward the stone's commensurate passages. The account assigns motion to the material body, not only to emissions traveling between stationary objects. That relation between whole body and outflow is exactly what the critic questions. If emitted material can carry its source after it, why does iron not sometimes move without a stone when its emissions occur in a mass? And why does the stone not similarly follow its own emissions? Iron is thus more than the example of an attracted object: its allegedly passive dependence on stone is tested against a mechanism which seems to allow more general motion. The excerpt provides no account of other metals, iron's internal composition, or magnetic saturation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Describes blocked iron-passages, subsequent emission, and motion toward the stone. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Asks why iron’s own outflow does not move it independently of the stone. **In this edition.** The printed Greek's first criticism has a direction-of-motion difficulty noted in the Magnetism entry. The clearly stated positive sequence should be distinguished from the problematic wording of that objection. **See also.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence); [Capping air](#entry-capping-air). ## Juxtaposition {#entry-juxtaposition} *παρακειμένων (parakeimenōn); παρ' ἄλληλα (par' allēla); ψαυόντων (psauontōn)* **The word.** The expressions mean lying alongside and touching. They describe spatial relations between preserved small parts, in contrast with the thorough blending denied in Galen’s A43. The source’s apostrophe in Aristotle is printed παρ' ἄλληλα; the lexical point is adjacency, not a new named material. **In this work.** Aristotle’s wall comparison argues that Empedoclean mixture can amount only to composition: elements survive in minute portions next to one another. Galen makes a related claim in prose, explicitly saying that the constituents are not blended through one another but juxtaposed and touching. Both descriptions belong to later accounts of what the invariant-root thesis entails. This is stronger than simply saying that the roots persist. A theory might preserve constituents yet propose an organized or proportionate compound with properties not reducible to a visible heap. The testimonia do not let the reader resolve that possibility by decree. Nor does the presence of ratio in the bone account automatically disprove spatial adjacency. The exact explanatory relation between arrangement, ratio and resulting body remains what is contested. Aëtius’ smallest fragments, printed in the same A-number, extend the account to alleged sub-elemental constituents. Juxtaposition of small portions does not by itself demonstrate such ultimate indivisible pieces. The lexicon keeps the wall argument and the further particle report separate. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Infers side-by-side small parts from the continued preservation of the elements. - **A 43 (testimony).** Galen, In Hipp. De nat. hom.; source PDF pp. 106–107. Describes small portions as lying alongside and touching, explicitly contrasting this with blending. **In this edition.** This is the language of Aristotle and Galen about Empedocles, not an embedded Empedoclean quotation. The inference from preserved roots to mere stacking is precisely a matter under dispute. **See also.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Ratio](#entry-ratio). ## Kingship refused {#entry-kingship-refused} *βασιλείαν (basileian); παρηιτήσατο (parēitēsato); πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀλλότριον (pasēs archēs allotrion)* **The word.** Basileia means kingship, while the verb denotes declining or refusing. The broader phrase calls Empedocles a stranger to all office or rule. A reported refusal is distinct from a claim that he had no influence in public affairs. **In this work.** Diogenes attributes to Aristotle the portrayal of Empedocles as free and alien to office, adducing his refusal of offered kingship and also citing Xanthus’ account. Simplicity is given as the motive. The rest of the Life nevertheless makes him a forceful civic actor, arguing in council, prosecuting officials, dissolving the Thousand, and persuading the people. The distinction is therefore between holding supreme office and exercising public authority, not between politics and withdrawal. The subsequent description of costume as a badge resembling royalty creates another useful tension: someone who rejects kingship may still be represented through royal signs. That tension belongs to the sources’ construction of exceptional status and should not be solved by assuming a known constitutional offer or an established ceremonial office. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 63, reporting Aristotle and Xanthus; source PDF pp. 28–29. Gives the refusal and the interpretation of plain living. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73; source PDF pp. 42–45. Describes costume as a kind of royal badge approved by citizens. **In this edition.** The excerpt does not explain who offered kingship, by what procedure, or with what powers. “Refused a crown” is a vivid shorthand but the Greek names kingship, not an actual coronation object. **See also.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Kinship and alienness {#entry-kinship-and-alienness} *τὰ συγγενῆ (ta syngenē); ἐξ οἰκείου (ex oikeiou); ἠλλοτριῶσθαι (ēllotriōsthai); ἀνοικείου (anoikeiou); τὰ σύμφυτα (ta symphyta)* **The word.** Syngenēs means kindred, oikeios one's own or congenial, and anoikeios alien or uncongenial. Symphyta denotes things grown together. These expressions extend the vocabulary of likeness while introducing relations of belonging and bodily association. **In this work.** Aëtius describes pleasure as arising from what is proper to an animal through blends of akin and like things. Differing composition and elemental blending make things alien to one another and explain pain. The metaphors of kinship and belonging thus have a physical role; they need not describe social relations or conscious hostility between particles. Theophrastus tests the tactile version by pointing to things naturally grown together. If maximal kinship produces maximal pleasure and perception, their permanent association ought to give them these experiences most of all. The counterexample distinguishes constitutive togetherness from a perceptual encounter. It also warns against simply equating “kindred,” “like in size,” “like in element,” and “fitting.” The witness's criticism asks which relation actually does explanatory work. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 16; source PDF pp. 202–203. Uses things grown together as a counterexample to tactile pleasure from kinship. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 230–231. Opposes congenial and kindred blending to alien elemental composition. **In this edition.** The verb ἠλλοτριῶσθαι in A95 is an editorial correction, and the final ἀνοικείου lies in a supplied clause. The edition's coherent kinship/alienness opposition partly rests on these textual decisions. **See also.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Contact](#entry-contact). ## Knowledge {#entry-knowledge} *τὴν γνῶσιν (tēn gnōsin); γνωρίζομεν (gnōrizomen); γνωρίζειν (gnōrizein)* **The word.** Gnōsis means knowing or knowledge; gnōrizein is to recognize or know. In these passages the vocabulary includes sensory recognition, especially of colour, rather than necessarily denoting a separate higher faculty or systematic science. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that by each constituent we know its counterpart, using this formulation to explain the relationship between elemental composition and thought. In the account of sight, corresponding fire- and water-passages recognize white and black. The same lexical family therefore traverses what modern readers may separate into sensation and cognition. The criticism at §15 says Empedocles assigns knowledge to likeness and contact, then argues that commensurability may be doing the real work. At §17 knowledge by the like becomes the premise for the mixed-colour objection. These are not independent proof that the poet himself defined all knowledge as sensation; they are Theophrastus's way of testing the report. Keeping “knowledge” visible alongside “perception” helps readers see the witness's conceptual movement rather than silently imposing either identity or a rigid division. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Uses recognition language for white and black. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Reports knowing each thing through a corresponding constituent. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Analyzes knowledge into likeness and contact. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Uses knowledge by likeness in the challenge about mixed colours. **In this edition.** The repeated English “know” translates a witness's expository vocabulary. The abbreviated verse citation in §10 supplies context but does not make the whole surrounding paragraph an Empedoclean quotation. **See also.** [Perception](#entry-perception); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours). ## Lampoon {#entry-lampoon} *ἀγοραίων ληκητὴς ἐπέων (agoraiōn lēkētēs epeōn); ἀρχὰς ἐπιδευέας ἄλλων (archas epideueas allōn)* **The word.** Timon’s insult calls Empedocles a bawler of market-place verses. His final phrase describes principles that need other principles. The register mixes abuse of verbal style with a compact philosophical objection. **In this work.** The quoted hexameters attack both inflated expression and explanatory incompleteness. The image of cramming in as many words as strength allows reduces elevated poetic authority to noisy excess. The last line is more specific: a system whose supposed first principles need something further has not made them fully first. The edition explains this as the four roots requiring Love and Strife to move them; that is a plausible local interpretation rather than a detailed argument developed in Timon’s short quotation. The passage should not be dismissed as merely comic, but neither should its compressed objection be expanded into a full independent reconstruction of Empedoclean causality. Its main importance is the preservation of hostile poetic reception beside the Life’s admiring and miraculous traditions. The biographer allows the famous poet to be heard through an opponent’s verse as well as his own abbreviated quotations. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (quotation).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67, quoting Timon; source PDF pp. 34–37. Preserves the satirical verses and the objection about principles needing others. **In this edition.** The editorial note calls Timon a “contemporary” hostile voice; that characterization should not be repeated as established by the passage. The apparatus also records a textual adjustment in the line about packing words together. **See also.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife). ## Lantern {#entry-lantern} *λαμπτῆρσι (lamptērsi); λαμπτῆρος (lamptēros)* **The word.** Lamptēr names a lamp or lantern. In this dossier it provides an analogy for light passing out through a surrounding structure. The analogy is physical and selective: it does not say that every operation of a lamp is reproduced by an eye. **In this work.** Theophrastus compares the fine fire within sight, passing through its surrounding constituents, with light in lanterns. Aristotle restates an outgoing-light interpretation: if vision occurs by light leaving as it does from a lantern, why cannot sight see in darkness? His question targets the explanatory adequacy of that interpretation. The comparison needs to be read beside the account of external light and the balance of fire and water. Those qualifications prevent an automatic inference from “eye like lantern” to “the eye illuminates any dark object by itself.” Yet they do not establish that Empedocles answered Aristotle's precise objection in a preserved exchange. The sources provide reports and criticisms from which a qualified reconstruction can be made. The full poetic lantern description belongs to the companion fragments; this volume gives prose use and argumentative reception. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Compares the passage of fine internal fire with lantern light. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 224–225. Uses the outgoing lantern-light account to pose the darkness objection. **In this edition.** The edition links the analogy to B84, but that cross-volume reference is not another printed quotation at these locations. Its commentary should not convert Aristotle's challenge into a historically documented reply-and-counterreply. **See also.** [Sight](#entry-sight); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision). ## Leaf shedding {#entry-leaf-shedding} *φυλλορροεῖν (phyllorrhoein); ἐξικμαζομένου αὐτοῦ τῶι θέρει (exikmazomenou autou tōi therei)* **The word.** Phyllorrhoein means to shed leaves. The participial phrase describes moisture being dried out in summer. The word singles out an observable plant behaviour and attaches it to a difference in available fluid. **In this work.** Aëtius explains loss of leaves by an insufficient store of moisture: when that moisture is dried out in summer, the plant sheds its foliage. Plants with more retain it. The contrast is quantitative and physiological, rather than a taxonomy based on leaf shape or species ancestry. It should be read in the geographical and seasonal terms actually reported. A familiar modern expectation of autumn leaf fall must not silently replace the testimony's summer drying. Nor does the passage identify the water store's location or explain how its loss detaches a leaf. Its explanatory scope is the contrast between retention and shedding under the pressure of drying. The adjoining discussion of plants taking suitable materials from soil makes nutrition relevant, but no complete balance of uptake and loss is supplied. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Attributes leaf shedding to too little moisture being dried out during summer. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius, following clause; source PDF pp. 150–153. Contrasts plants with more moisture that retain leaves, illustrated by bay, olive, and palm. **In this edition.** The report does not map exactly onto a modern temperate deciduous–evergreen distinction. Its examples and summer timing should be kept visible rather than normalized into a universal botanical rule. **See also.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Water](#entry-water). ## Life-bearing {#entry-life-bearing} *φερέσβιον (pheresbion); φερέσβιος (pheresbios)* **The word.** The compound epithet is translated “life-bearing” or “bringer of life.” Its two visible components associate bearing with life or livelihood. In the source it modifies Hera, not an anonymous productive force, and the witness’s explanation connects that bearing with sustenance. **In this work.** At A33 Aëtius applies the epithet while identifying Hera with air. The Homeric Allegories preserves the same epithet but identifies Hera with earth. Hippolytus makes the interpretative link explicit by calling earth the bearer of fruits that support life. The stable epithet thus accompanies an unstable material identification, an important reminder that the meaning of an epithet can constrain interpretation without uniquely determining it. The word deserves separate notice because its explanatory function would otherwise disappear inside the Hera entry. It converts a divine designation into a possible account of the root’s contribution to living bodies: the root is interpreted through what it provides. But only Hippolytus’ explanation is printed in developed form, and the dossier does not report the poet’s own reasoning. One cannot settle the dispute merely by repeating the intuitive connection between fruitful earth and life-bearing. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Retains the epithet across the conflicting air and earth identifications. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Develops the earth interpretation through the fruits that sustain life. **In this edition.** The translation varies between “life-bearing” and “bringer of life.” Neither English form licenses a separate fifth principle or a claim about biological reproduction absent from the notice. **See also.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Air](#entry-air); [Nestis](#entry-nestis). ## Light in transit {#entry-light-in-transit} *φῶς (phōs); φερομένου τοῦ φωτὸς (pheromenou tou phōtos); διὰ τὴν ταχύτητα (dia tēn tachytēta)* **The word.** Phōs means light; the participle pheromenou presents it as being carried or travelling. The issue is not simply whether the sun illuminates something, but whether illumination involves a motion that successively occupies intervening places. Speed, tachytēs, names Philoponus' explanation of why such a motion would escape observation. **In this work.** Aristotle twice attributes a temporal ordering to Empedocles: sunlight first reaches the intervening region and subsequently reaches sight or the earth. In On the Soul he rejects the suggestion that this travel can pass unnoticed across an enormous distance, while conceding that unnoticed transit across a short interval might be possible. The distinction matters: the testimony records an argument about the detectability of transit, not a measurement of its duration or a numerical estimate of light's speed. Philoponus gives a more explicit material account: light is a body streaming from an illuminating body, and its movement is imperceptible because it is rapid. That formulation makes emission, corporeality, and speed parts of one explanatory sequence. Since it comes from a much later commentator, its added precision cannot simply be retrojected into Empedocles' own wording. The notices securely support successive arrival as an attributed doctrine; their relationship does not establish three independent witnesses or an ancient equivalent of a modern optical theory. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 57 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 128–129. Rejects unnoticed transit between earth and the surrounding region; the apparatus gives 418b20. - **A 57 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 128–129. Reports sunlight reaching the intervening region before sight or earth; the apparatus gives 446a26. - **A 57 (testimony).** Philoponus, On Aristotle's On the Soul; source PDF pp. 128–129. Explains the unnoticed movement of corporeal light through its speed. **In this edition.** The edition calls this the earliest recorded finite-speed doctrine. Its text supports the attribution, but not an exhaustive historical priority claim. The variant ton metaxy for to metaxy could alter the reference of the intervening term; the apparatus even suggests the visible sun. The interpretation should not suppress that uncertainty. **See also.** [Sun](#entry-sun); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light). ## Lightning {#entry-lightning} *ἀστραπήν (astrapēn); ἔμπτωσιν φωτὸς εἰς νέφος (emptōsin phōtos eis nephos); λάμψιν (lampsin)* **The word.** Astrapē is lightning, lampsis a flash or shining, and the initial mechanism is a falling of light into a cloud. The report distinguishes that visible flash from its accompanying crash and from the thunderbolt's force. **In this work.** Aristotle states that Empedocles identifies fire within clouds with solar rays caught and held there. Aëtius gives a longer sequence: light enters a cloud, displaces the resisting air, and produces phenomena associated with quenching or shattering, flashing, and force. The two testimonies support a solar source for the cloud's fire, rather than fire simply originating within the cloud without antecedent material. Their agreement is not a warrant to attribute every detail of Aëtius' compressed sequence to Aristotle's shorter report. Nor should “light” and “fire” be converted into modern electricity. The account is an attempt to connect meteorological events with the motion and confinement of familiar physical constituents. It treats the different manifestations of a storm together while retaining names for their visible, audible, and forceful aspects. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 63 (testimony).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 136–137. Identifies the fire in clouds with intercepted solar rays. - **A 63 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 136–137. Derives lightning's flash, thunder's crash, and the thunderbolt from light entering a cloud. **In this edition.** Aëtius' sbesis, “quenching,” is marked obscure; Diels proposes schisis, “splitting.” The source therefore does not support an entirely secure sequence of air being extinguished and shattered. The edition's fluent translation should be read with its apparatus. **See also.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder); [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt); [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Sun](#entry-sun). ## Likeness {#entry-likeness} *τῶι ὁμοίωι (tōi homoiōi); ὁμοιότητα (homoiotēta); τοῖς ὁμοίοις (tois homoiois)* **The word.** The adjective homoios means like or similar; homoiotēs names likeness. The dative formula “by the like” marks an explanatory relation, not merely resemblance visible to an observer. The chapter distinguishes this relation, at least analytically, from fitting and from dimensional commensurability. **In this work.** Theophrastus's opening classification makes likeness the organizing principle of Empedoclean perception. Fire-related passages recognize white and water-related passages black; thought too is produced by likes, whereas ignorance is associated with unlikes. Pleasure is also assigned to likeness in both parts and blend. Thus the same family of words connects perception, cognition, and affect without requiring that these have already been proved identical. The criticisms expose several meanings of “like” which should not be silently merged. At §13 complete likeness would leave no reason why one body must enter passages that the other cannot fill. At §15 the operational work seems to fall to commensurability rather than likeness. At §19 an ear already containing sound is less, not more, effective at hearing. That example treats sameness of sensible quality, whereas the exposition may concern elemental constitution or affinity. Theophrastus explicitly demands a distinction; his objection does not establish that no distinction was possible. Finally, at §23 likeness appears incompatible with alteration because, in the critic's formulation, like does not alter like. The dossier therefore supplies an inquiry into how resemblance can be explanatory, not one transparently uniform formula. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 1–2 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 1; source PDF pp. 188–189. Classifies Empedocles, Parmenides, and Plato under likeness. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Extends like-by-like to thinking, in contrast with ignorance. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Argues that fit makes likeness explanatorily redundant. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Challenges an undefined appeal to likeness in hearing, smell, and taste. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Questions the compatibility of cognition by likeness with alteration. **In this edition.** The edition invokes the verse “by earth we see earth” in its note to §§14–15, but the verse itself is not printed there. It should remain contextual rather than be presented as another quotation in this volume. **See also.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition). ## Liver {#entry-liver} *τὸ ἧπαρ (to hēpar); ἐμφύεσθαι (emphyesthai)* **The word.** Hēpar is the liver. Emphyesthai means to grow into, be implanted in, or become attached within. The verb concerns the destination of the vessels under discussion, rather than a general claim that every vital function resides in the liver. **In this work.** Soranus says that Empedocles thinks the umbilical vessels are implanted into the liver, while Phaedrus places them in the heart. This is the specifically named Empedoclean proposition in a passage otherwise introduced through Soranus' medical description of fetal nourishment. The difference in destinations is anatomically consequential, but the report does not show how Empedocles inferred it or whether he had observed a particular dissection. It also does not contradict the distinct testimony that the heart forms first: a claim about vessel insertion and a claim about developmental priority answer different questions. The liver entry should therefore remain narrow enough to preserve the attribution's actual scope. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Attributes implantation of the umbilical vessels into the liver to Empedocles and contrasts Phaedrus' heart destination. - **A 84 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 184–185. Gives the separate claim that the heart develops before other parts. **In this edition.** The edition calls the liver claim nearly right. That modern evaluation is not required to understand its historical role, and it does not verify the four-vessel count in the surrounding description as Empedoclean. **See also.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Heart](#entry-heart). ## Living and lifeless {#entry-living-and-lifeless} *τὰ ἔμψυχα (ta empsycha); τῶν ἀψύχων (tōn apsychōn); πάντα τε αἰσθήσεται (panta te aisthēsetai)* **The word.** Empsychos means ensouled or animate, apsychos without soul or lifeless. Theophrastus uses the contrast to ask what distinguishes perceivers from bodies that merely mix or grow. “Panperception” is a modern index label for the consequence he draws, not a source term. **In this work.** At §12 the critic notes that fitting passages exist in lifeless bodies too. The same commensurability explains the mixing of liquids and, he says, growth. Unless an additional difference is supplied, everything would perceive and mixture, perception, and growth would become the same. This is a conditional challenge. It does not directly report that Empedocles asserted every stone feels, nor does it prove that no further qualification could have been supplied. The next paragraph deepens the problem within living animals: why does inner fire perceive rather than outer fire, if both likeness and fit are reciprocal? At §23 a parallel argument extends the alleged consequence to thinking. These distinctions make the question more precise than a modern label such as materialism or panpsychism: the witness asks what physically marks an event as perception and what fixes the direction from object to subject. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 12; source PDF pp. 198–199. Frames the animate/inanimate difference and infers universal perception absent an added distinction. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 13; source PDF pp. 198–199. Asks why inner fire is the perceiver rather than matching outer fire. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Extends the issue to universal participation in thinking. **In this edition.** The conditional ἐὰν μὴ προσθῆι τινα διαφοράν, “unless he adds some difference,” limits the critic's conclusion. Omitting it turns an objection into a stronger doctrinal attribution than the text warrants. **See also.** [Perception](#entry-perception); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability). ## Local aptitude {#entry-local-aptitude} *καθ' ἕν τι μόριον (kath’ hen ti morion); ἡ μέση κρᾶσίς (hē mesē krasis)* **The word.** The phrase means “in some one part”; mesē krasis is a middle or balanced blend. The report locates an advantageous constitution in a particular bodily part, contrasting this with a general account of the most intelligent persons. **In this work.** Theophrastus says that those who possess the balanced blend in one part are wise or skilled in that part. He explains good speakers and good craftsmen by favourable mixtures in tongue and hands, extending the pattern to other faculties. The account therefore accommodates specialized excellence, not merely uniform degrees of general intelligence. At §24 he attacks the move from a local mixture to the cause of an ability. A tongue and hands are instruments through which speaking and making are exercised; their local blood-blend alone does not establish why the exercise is intelligent or skilful. This dispute makes “local” a causal question as well as a spatial description. The report must not be modernized into a map of brain localization: the named sites are bodily organs associated with performances, and the critic's concern is the difference between enabling apparatus and explanatory cause. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Associates a balanced blend in a part with special skill in that part. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Challenges the attribution of faculties to local blood-blending. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Offers a later parallel relating superior local ability to the distribution of the governing part in blood. **In this edition.** The Greek pairs speakers and craftsmen with hands and tongue in a way the translation resolves by sense. Do not infer an otherwise unattested doctrine that speakers’ skill is in their hands merely from a mechanically parallel ordering. **See also.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood). ## Lodestone {#entry-lodestone} *τῆς Ἡρακλείας λίθου (tēs Hērakleias lithou); τὴν λίθον (tēn lithon)* **The word.** Hērakleia lithos is the Heraclean stone, conventionally understood here as lodestone because of the stated attraction of iron. The excerpt supplies no etymological explanation of the name or geographical provenance for a particular specimen. **In this work.** The stone plays two roles in Alexander's report: it emits material which clears air from iron's passages, and it receives the iron's effluences in passages fitted to them. It is therefore both an initiating body and a suitable receiver. These distinct functions help explain why the account cannot be reduced merely to “iron fits the stone.” They also structure the criticism. Alexander asks why the stone does not follow its own emissions, and why its effluences alone have the ability to shift the obstructing air. The questions seek the stone's distinctive explanatory property within a mechanism largely shared with other bodies. No separate occult faculty is stated in the report, but neither does the witness explicitly say Empedocles formulated a polemic against all sympathetic explanations. The lexical entry should describe the stated physical roles without enlarging the historical claim. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Names the Heraclean stone and its emitting and receiving functions. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Asks what makes the stone’s emissions and motion exceptional. **In this edition.** “Lodestone” identifies the object through the attraction described. The text does not supply a mineralogical formula, magnetic polarity, or the source of the name Heraclean. **See also.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Pores](#entry-pores). ## Love {#entry-love} *Φιλίαν (Philian); Φιλία (Philia); Φιλότητος (Philotētos); Φιλότητα (Philotēta)* **The word.** The witnesses most often use Φιλία, friendship or love. Aristotle’s A42 also preserves inflections of Φιλότης. The English “Love” brings these forms together for reference, but their variation should remain visible. The name denotes a cosmological power in the reports, not simply a private human affection; Plato’s Aphrodite-language adds a divine register without supplying a neutral technical synonym. **In this work.** Simplicius’ Theophrastean report at A28 assigns Love the combining function and Strife the separating function. Aëtius calls the former unifying, and Diogenes repeats the same pairing. That elementary opposition is indispensable, but it is not the whole evidence. Aristotle’s A37 argues that Love also separates: as heterogeneous roots come together into one mixture, portions have to leave the homogeneous masses of their own kind. His objection turns on the scale at which joining and separation are described. The reader need not assume either that this refutes Empedocles or that Aristotle’s difficulty has no force. Love’s relation to world-formation is equally disputed. Aristotle says in one passage of A42 that Empedocles passes over generation under Love, but in the other reports a cosmos formerly under Love comparable to the present one under Strife. Simplicius in A52 describes Love destroying the cosmos of Strife and producing the Sphairos. The modern note calls this an explicit symmetrical two-cosmos account, but the printed passage does not actually name a “cosmos of Love.” A responsible entry keeps the difference between the text and the reconstruction. Nor should Love be equated without qualification with moral goodness. Aristotle at A39 proposes such a reading as the intelligible intention behind Empedocles’ supposed “stammering.” This is an interpretation offered with conditional qualifications. Love’s unifying action can also destroy a world of articulated individuals, as A52 states directly. That does not make Love evil; it shows that physical function, moral evaluation and the interests of particular compounds are different questions. Finally, A28 itself records the difficulty of calling Love both an active principle and something ranked alongside the four. The six-principle classification is useful to the reporter, yet it should not erase the issue of what kind of being this power is. The dossier gives no single, unproblematic equivalent in the vocabulary of modern forces. Aristotle at A78 asks whether Love causes any mixture or specifically one that accords with a ratio, and whether Love is the ratio or something distinct. These are questions, not answers that identify Love with proportion. They make the relation between the moving power and the determinate structure of a compound another unresolved part of the account.[^note-love] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Presents Love as a moving and combining principle, then reports the problem of its standing alongside the four. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Argues that Love separates homogeneous portions while joining unlike constituents. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Constructs Love as the cause of goods through an explicitly interpretative argument. - **A 42 (polemical).** Aristotle, De caelo Γ 2; De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 104–105. Preserves both the alleged omission of a Love-cosmogony and a report about a former world under Love. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Describes Love gathering all into one, destroying the cosmos of Strife and making the Sphairos. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Infers that Love’s combination should diminish or eliminate effluence and therefore perception. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Asks whether Love causes any mixture or proportionate mixture, and whether Love is itself the ratio or something different. **In this edition.** Do not normalize all occurrences to an invented Greek citation Φιλότης when the source prints Φιλία or an inflected form. The symmetry of the full cycle remains an interpretative question, not a consequence of translating Love consistently. **See also.** [Strife](#entry-strife); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil). ## Love and chaos {#entry-love-and-chaos} *sentisse amor; più volte; in caos converso* **The word.** Amor means love; in caos converso means turned into chaos. Più volte, more than once, gives the transformation a recurrent character. These are Dante’s Italian terms within a dramatic recollection, not translations quoted from an extant Empedoclean line. **In this work.** In the selected passage the speaker recalls a tremendous shaking and says he thought the universe felt Love, through which some believe the world has repeatedly become chaos. The doctrine is attributed indefinitely rather than by naming Empedocles. The edition identifies the allusion with a cosmic unification under Love and connects it to the Sphairos. That is a meaningful reception connection, but “chaos” brings its own evaluative and poetic associations and should not simply replace the Greek spherical unity in a lexicon definition. The larger Christian setting supplied by the commentary also transforms the doctrine: a pre-Christian physical explanation becomes a comparison within the geography and history of Hell. It is more precise to call this a mediated adaptation of an Empedoclean idea than to say the passage transmits the original system intact.[^note-love-and-chaos] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix II Dante XII (reception).** Dante, Inferno XII 40–43; source PDF p. 242. Presents shaking, felt Love, and repeated conversion of the world into chaos as an attributed belief. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 76; source PDF pp. 46–47. Supplies the distinct ancient summary of combination through Love and separation through Strife. **In this edition.** The commentary’s assertion that Dante could only have encountered the doctrine in Aristotle is stronger than the excerpt proves. The cited lines do not name a source, and their first-person voice belongs to a character’s speech rather than an unqualified authorial profession of belief. **See also.** [Love](#entry-love); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo). ## Lucretius {#entry-lucretius-witness} *Lucretii* **The word.** Lucretius is the Latin poet whose praise of Empedocles at A 21 is completed by the critical turn printed in Appendix I. The genitive Lucretii appears in Cicero’s discussion of his poems at A 27. His poetic images and Latin renderings belong to this reception, not to a recovered Greek text of Empedocles. **In this work.** The two locations of Lucretius’ own verse should be read together. At A 21 the four constituents appear as fire, earth, breath and rain; the description then moves through the Sicilian landscape to a claim that its greatest marvel is the man himself. Etna and Charybdis provide the scale of comparison, while the divine breast and extraordinary songs intensify the praise. The appendix does not withdraw that praise when it announces failure over first principles. Instead, its language of an oracle from the heart makes intellectual authority and doctrinal criticism coexist. This is not a neutral summary of Empedocles and not a blanket endorsement of his physics. It is a later poet’s presentation of a predecessor as remarkable even where an explanation goes wrong. A 27 adds another level of reception: Cicero evaluates Lucretius and jokes about the difficulty of Sallustius’ Empedoclea. The works must remain distinct. Neither the title of the latter nor its comparison with Lucretius establishes that it preserves a Latin translation of Empedocles’ surviving poems. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Moves from the four constituents through the Sicilian landscape to the praise of Empedocles’ divine breast and songs. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Combines the heart-oracle comparison with the claim that the admired thinkers fell over the first principles of things. - **A 27 (reception).** Cicero, Ad Quintum fratrem II 9,3; source PDF pp. 82–83. Names Lucretius’ poems separately from Sallustius’ Empedoclea and gives a literary judgment rather than Empedoclean doctrine. **In this edition.** The source’s claims about the warmth, historical reach and uniqueness of this praise are editorial assessments. The printed passages support a specific conjunction of admiration and criticism; they do not by themselves establish a readership statistic, a direct line of influence on every later reader, or a comparative ranking of all ancient witnesses. **See also.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles); [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Lunar disc {#entry-lunar-disc} *δισκοειδῆ (diskoeidē); φακοειδές (phakoeides); τὸ ὑποκείμενον (to hypokeimenon)* **The word.** Diskoeidēs means disc-shaped; phakoeidēs means lentil-shaped. Plutarch contrasts an apparent shape with to hypokeimenon, the underlying thing. These are his analytical terms for explaining an attributed view, not demonstrably Empedocles' own distinction. **In this work.** The isolated Aëtian predicate says only that the moon is disc-shaped. Plutarch's Roman Questions gives the assertion more substance: the shape visible when the moon is at the half is described as lentil-like and disc-like rather than spherical, and Empedocles is said to hold that the underlying body has that shape too. The testimony therefore resists treating the disc as merely a conventional description of a circular appearance. Even so, it does not yield a technical reconstruction of lunar thickness or orientation. “Lentil-like” itself allows a thicker body than the flat disc modern readers may imagine. The report belongs beside, but does not follow from, the statement that lunar light is solar: borrowed illumination and bodily shape are logically separable claims. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 60 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 132–133. Preserves the bare predicate “disc-shaped.” - **A 60 (testimony).** Plutarch, Roman Questions; source PDF pp. 132–133. Distinguishes the moon's appearance from its underlying body while attributing the same shape to both. **In this edition.** The editorial gloss that the moon simply “is the shape it looks” usefully highlights the ontological claim but simplifies Plutarch's wording about the half-moon. Preserve both shape comparisons rather than replacing them with a modern geometrical model. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse). ## Lunar distance {#entry-lunar-distance} *διπλάσιον ἀπέχειν (diplasion apechein)* **The word.** Diplasion means double or twice as much; apechein means to be distant. A numerical comparison requires both the same quantity and securely identified terms. Here the quantity survives more firmly than the ordering of sun, moon, and earth. **In this work.** The ps.-Plutarch branch says that the moon is twice as far from the sun as from the earth. The Stobaeus branch instead says that it is twice as far from the earth as from the sun. These are incompatible assignments of the longer interval, not equivalent formulations of one ratio. Diels proposes that the intended statement was that the sun is twice as far from the earth as the moon is. That is a third formulation and an editorial reconstruction, not a reading independently reported by either branch. The example is particularly important for a lexicon of testimony: a precise numeral can create an appearance of secure knowledge even when the objects it relates are unstable. No absolute distance, observational procedure, or argument for the ratio is given. The appropriate doctrinal conclusion is therefore qualified attribution of a two-to-one distance relation, with its surviving versions explicitly separated. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 61 (testimony).** Aëtius, ps.-Plutarch branch; source PDF pp. 134–135. Makes the moon–sun interval twice the moon–earth interval. - **A 61 (testimony).** Aëtius, Stobaeus branch; source PDF pp. 134–135. Reverses which of those two intervals is twice the other. - **A 61 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 134–135. Proposes instead a two-to-one relation between the solar and lunar distances from earth. **In this edition.** The edition correctly foregrounds disagreement. Its suggested original cannot be printed as Empedocles' established astronomical measurement or silently substituted for both transmitted reports. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse). ## Lunar fragment {#entry-lunar-fragment} *ἀπόσπασμα (apospasma); ἀπόφασμα (apophasma); κυκλοτερὲς (kykloteres)* **The word.** Ἀπόσπασμα is something pulled or broken off, a detached fragment. Diels records ἀπόφασμα as a variant. The fragment-image belongs to Achilles’ explanatory prose; κυκλοτερές belongs to the abbreviated verse citation about lunar light. **In this work.** Achilles at A55 surveys different orderings of sun, moon and Kronos, then says that the more common opinion puts the moon first because it is a fragment of the sun. He adduces Empedocles with an abbreviated B45 citation, translated as a light not its own circling the earth. The citation supports borrowed or dependent lunar light more directly than it establishes a material piece physically torn from the sun. The argumentative transition is therefore important. The witness links his fragment account to a verse, but the wording printed does not compel that interpretation. Other reports describe the moon as air cut off by fire and congealed like hail, or as cloud-like compacted air. Those different material accounts cannot be reconciled merely by treating the fragment image as a literal quotation from Empedocles. The headword records both the later interpretation and the narrower evidence of the embedded verse, preserving an instructive example of how quotation and explanatory frame can diverge.[^note-lunar-fragment] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 55 (testimony).** Achilles, In Aratum 16 p. 43,2 Maass; source PDF pp. 122–123. Connects a common lunar-fragment opinion with an Empedoclean citation, without proving that every preceding celestial order is his. - **A 55 (quotation).** Empedocles B45, abbreviated within Achilles, In Aratum 16; source PDF pp. 122–123. The printed verse citation concerns light not the moon’s own circling the earth; it does not explicitly state a physical detachment from the sun. - **A 55 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 122–123. Records ἀπόφασμα as a variant for ἀπόσπασμα. **In this edition.** Distinguish Achilles’ physical interpretation from the verse’s borrowed-light wording. The Greek verse is abbreviated here even though the English gives a fuller rendering. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation). ## Luxury {#entry-luxury} *τρυφῶσι (tryphōsi); οἰκίας (oikias); λιτότητα (litotēta)* **The word.** Tryphaō denotes living luxuriously or indulging oneself; oikiai are houses. Litotēs is plainness or simplicity, used nearby to explain the refusal of kingship. The contrast concerns modes of life and expectations of time. **In this work.** The attributed saying about Acragas joins two incompatible practical attitudes: its citizens enjoy themselves as though dying tomorrow and build as though they will live forever. The force is not an abstract denial of architecture or pleasure, but a criticism of unexamined assumptions about mortality. The same section praises Empedocles’ preference for simplicity when offered kingship, while the wider biography describes inherited wealth, expensive civic gifts, and splendid dress. These motifs should not be forced into either a consistent ascetic life or a simple charge of hypocrisy. Different anecdotes use wealth for different moral purposes: ostentation can be criticized, generosity praised, and office refused. The saying’s pointed balance makes it memorable, but does not make its attribution independently secure. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 63; source PDF pp. 28–29. Preserves the luxury-and-houses saying and the explanation of royal refusal through plainness. **In this edition.** The commentary says the saying is very likely authentic, but the excerpt does not provide a direct contemporary source for the words. The population number in the same paragraph also has a Greek-English discrepancy and should not authenticate the setting. **See also.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Dowries](#entry-dowries); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress). ## Madness {#entry-madness} *μανίαν (manian); alium; magnam faciat anxietatem* **The word.** Mania is the Greek word embedded in Caelius Aurelianus's Latin account. The passage distinguishes one kind from another through repeated alium; the English supplies “kind of madness” from context. The name is attached to the condition producing great distress, not automatically to every form of exceptional mental experience. **In this work.** Caelius reports that those following Empedocles distinguish a condition arising from purgation of the soul and another from derangement of mind due to a bodily cause or disorder. He explicitly turns to discuss the latter. The excerpt therefore offers a medical writer's selection from a reported school distinction, not a verbatim surviving statement by Empedocles. The twofold division is important because it resists treating every disturbed mental condition as one homogeneous bodily disease. But it does not tell us the practices, symptoms, duration, or value assigned to the purgative kind. Nor does it explicitly say that this first kind is harmless, desirable, or wholly non-bodily. The edition's sharper contrast between disease and nondisease goes beyond the brief Latin. The article records an ancient distinction without applying the labels to modern diagnoses or deriving medical advice from it.[^note-madness] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Reports two kinds among followers of Empedocles and identifies the bodily-caused kind as his topic. **In this edition.** The attribution is Empedoclem sequentes, “those following Empedocles.” The notice must not be promoted into a direct quotation or the securely documented organization of a formal medical school. **See also.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Pain](#entry-pain). ## Magnetism {#entry-magnetism} *ἕλκει τὸν σίδηρον (helkei ton sidēron); τὸν σίδηρον φέρεσθαι (ton sidēron pheresthai)* **The word.** The phrases mean that the stone draws iron and that iron is carried or moves. “Magnetism” is the modern organizing headword; the witness asks concretely why the Heraclean stone attracts iron rather than naming a general field theory. **In this work.** Alexander of Aphrodisias reports an explanation using emissions from both stone and iron. The stone's effluences displace the air capping the iron's pores. Once that obstruction is removed, iron's effluences flow out together, and the iron follows them toward the stone. Its movement is further explained by the correspondence between those effluences and the stone's passages: they are commensurate and fit. The criticism tests four links rather than merely rejecting attraction as mysterious. First, reciprocal emission seems insufficient to privilege the motion of iron rather than stone. Second, iron's own massed outflow should sometimes move it even without the stone. Third, the account does not explain why only the stone's effluences can remove the obstructing air. Fourth, if many bodies possess pores commensurate with others' emissions, why do they not exhibit the same attraction? The final appeal to an abbreviated “water …” quotation brings the broader fit theory into the challenge. This account shows a sustained effort, as reported, to explain an unusual interaction through mechanisms shared with mixture and perception. It does not establish that Empedocles denied every idea of sympathy, nor that his explanation already possessed later scientific concepts. Alexander's objections identify insufficiencies and symmetry problems within the report; they should not be celebrated through unverified claims about what remained unanswered for two thousand years.[^note-magnetism] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 89 (testimony).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, first excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Reports reciprocal effluences, removal of capping air, and iron following its emission into matching stone passages. - **A 89 (polemical).** Alexander of Aphrodisias, Questions, second excerpt; source PDF pp. 218–221. Challenges asymmetry, independent movement, selective air removal, and the absence of comparable attraction elsewhere. **In this edition.** The first objection has awkward printed Greek: κινείται δὲ πρὸς τὸν σίδηρον does not straightforwardly match the English assignment of iron’s movement toward stone. The paragraph supports the high-level asymmetry challenge, but the isolated clause should not be quoted as textually transparent. **See also.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability). ## Male and female {#entry-male-and-female} *ἄρρενα (arrena); θήλεα (thēlea); θερμότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι (thermotēti kai psychrotēti); mares; feminas* **The word.** Arrēn and thēlys designate male and female; the printed plural forms occur in accounts of generation. The Latin mares and feminae belong to Censorinus' parallel dossier. Heat and coldness are proposed causal differentiators, not modern definitions of sex. **In this work.** A81 preserves several mechanisms that should remain distinct. Aristotle twice assigns Empedocles a womb-temperature explanation: male offspring develop in a hot womb, female in a cold one, with menstrual flow responsible for the local conditions. He objects that this treats a major anatomical difference too simply. Aëtius gives a related thermal geography for the first earthborn sexes: males arise preferentially east and south, females north. Censorinus instead groups Empedocles with Anaxagoras in assigning male generation to seed from right-hand parts and female generation to left-hand parts, then gives a complicated scheme of relative parental heat and resemblance. His twins notice adds different temperatures of occupied locations. These reports may share thermal and spatial oppositions, but they do not amount to one transparently consistent system. The apparatus even doubts whether the twins passage derives from Empedocles himself. A70's plant-sex account is another distinct use: plants contain male and female principles through proportionate mixture. That does not permit a direct transfer of the human womb explanation to plants. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals, two notices; source PDF pp. 174–179. Attributes sex differentiation to womb temperature and criticizes the account. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Extends the thermal distinction to the geographical origin of earthborn males and females. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Gives right/left and parental-temperature accounts, plus a doubtful notice about twins. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Attribute a mixed male and female constitution to plants. **In this edition.** The dossier records historical theories, not accurate advice for influencing a child's sex. Agreement in the broad opposition of heat and cold does not justify erasing the different causal sites: womb, parental seed, geographical region, and local embryonic position. **See also.** [Womb](#entry-womb); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left); [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex). ## Masses {#entry-masses} *ὄγκων (onkōn); μόρια (moria)* **The word.** Ὄγκοι are masses or bulks; the inflected form ὄγκων occurs in Aëtius’ claim that the elements are assembled from smaller units. Μόρια means parts or portions and appears in related descriptions. Neither noun alone means “atom.” **In this work.** At A43 Aëtius pairs Empedocles with Xenocrates in the claim that the elements are compounded from smaller masses that are least parts. The significant additional assertion is not simply that bodies contain small portions, but that the four elements themselves are composites. Aristotle’s wall argument, by contrast, concerns small elemental parts in flesh and other mixtures; it does not necessarily locate a more fundamental material below the roots. This distinction guards against a common conflation. A mixed body can be described in terms of minute portions without its constituents being atomically indivisible; equally, a report about “least masses” can be an interpretation imposed by a later classificatory scheme. The source supplies no size, shape or indivisibility definition for these onkoi. Their importance is as a doxographic claim about explanatory depth, not as a forerunner of a specified modern particle model. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 17,3; source PDF pp. 106–107. Attributes smaller constitutive masses to Empedocles and Xenocrates together. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Describes preserved elements arranged in small portions, a less far-reaching claim than sub-elemental masses. **In this edition.** Translate the noun without importing “atoms.” The accompanying “least” language is the part that introduces a limiting claim, and even that claim is reported rather than directly quoted from Empedocles. **See also.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility). ## Master of the feast {#entry-master-of-the-feast} *συμποσίαρχος (symposiarchos); τῆς βουλῆς ὑπηρέτην (tēs boulēs hypēretēn); δικαστήριον (dikastērion)* **The word.** Symposiarchos means the person directing a drinking party. In this story he is also a servant or attendant of the council. Dikastērion is the court into which the dispute is subsequently taken. **In this work.** The dinner host delays wine until the council servant arrives and appoints him master of the feast. His order that guests either drink or have wine poured over their heads becomes, in Timaeus’ account, an incipient tyranny. Empedocles initially remains quiet, then brings both host and feast-master before a court and secures their condemnation and death. The narrative’s movement from a social ritual to a political prosecution is its distinctive feature. The authority to regulate convivial conduct becomes a sign of a broader threat when exercised coercively. This does not mean every symposium office was tyrannical, or that the anecdote supplies a reliable account of Acragantine criminal law. Rather, the story interprets a familiar social hierarchy as a test of civic character and makes Empedocles’ vigilance the beginning of his public career. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 64, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Supplies the entire dinner, office, command, and prosecution sequence. **In this edition.** The story’s explanation that the host “plainly” appointed the official belongs to the narrative’s inferential framing. The account gives no indictment text or legal procedure beyond the brief court-and-condemnation statement. **See also.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches). ## Maternal imagination {#entry-maternal-imagination} *φαντασίαι τῆς γυναικὸς (phantasiai tēs gynaikos); κατὰ τὴν σύλληψιν (kata tēn syllēpsin); ἀνδριάντων καὶ εἰκόνων (andriantōn kai eikonōn)* **The word.** Phantasia can mean appearance, presentation, or imagination; the edition chooses imagination. Syllēpsis is conception in this context. Andriantes and eikones are statues and images whose perceived forms furnish the alleged model for offspring. **In this work.** Aëtius attributes to Empedocles the claim that infants are shaped by a woman's imagination at conception, illustrating it with women who desire statues or painted figures and bear children resembling them. This is the historical maternal-impression theory, not a valid explanation of congenital features or heredity. Its place in the dossier is nevertheless revealing: it offers a route from perception and desire to bodily form, and answers why a child might resemble someone other than its parents. The notice does not explain the material pathway connecting an image to seed or embryo, and its anecdotes are reported assertions rather than observed evidence. It should not be harmonized automatically with the predominance and thermal accounts of likeness. A doxographic collection may preserve alternative explanations side by side without establishing that Empedocles integrated them into one coherent physiology. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, notice on resemblance to non-parents; source PDF pp. 174–179. Attributes infant form to maternal phantasia at conception and adduces statues and paintings. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, preceding likeness notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Gives the distinct explanation by predominance of generative seeds. **In this edition.** The edition's statement about the theory's seventeenth-century survival is a reception claim beyond the quoted ancient evidence. The attribution here is a late report, and the ancient theory should not be used to assign responsibility to pregnant people for a child's features. **See also.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Embryo](#entry-embryo). ## Matter {#entry-matter} *ὕλην (hylēn); ὕλης (hylēs); ὕλη (hylē)* **The word.** Ὕλη is the witness’s word rendered “matter.” In these testimonia it classifies what a thing is composed from, or denotes material that has not acquired the organization of a cosmos. Its occurrence is not evidence that Empedocles himself used this Aristotelian category. **In this work.** Aristotle at A37 says that the four so-called elements were first stated “as in the form of matter.” This places Empedocles inside Aristotle’s history of the recognition of causes: the four supply one explanatory role, while Love and Strife supply motion. Aëtius at A32 similarly calls the four the matter of the One or Necessity and Love and Strife its forms. The latter formulation is compressed and should not be used to repair every ambiguity in Aristotle’s causal account. A47 gives matter a different qualification: beyond the one cosmos lies what the report calls inert matter. This is not simply another description of a root within a compound; it marks a purported remainder of the All outside the ordered world. The edition notes that no surviving fragment supports that spatial picture. The distinction between these uses prevents an apparently uniform English term from creating an unwarranted ontology: constituents as matter, matter of the One, and an inert extracosmic remainder are not one securely attested Empedoclean doctrine. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Assigns the four the explanatory role of matter in a critical history of causes. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Calls the four matter and the two powers forms in a compressed doxographic scheme. - **A 47 (testimony).** Aëtius I 5,2 (D. 291); source PDF pp. 110–111. Describes the remainder outside the cosmos as inert matter. **In this edition.** Both the vocabulary and its classificatory force belong to the reporters. Do not translate it backward into a claim that Empedocles explicitly distinguished modern matter from energy or mind. **See also.** [Form](#entry-form); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter); [All](#entry-all). ## Medical traditions {#entry-medical-traditions} *Ἀσκληπιαδῶν (Asklēpiadōn); οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἰατροί (hoi ek tēs Italias iatroi); ἑταῖροι (hetairoi)* **The word.** Asklēpiadai is the group designation rendered Asclepiads. The “physicians from Italy” and their hetairoi, associates, are Galen’s contrasting collective. These labels organize medical lineages and competition; they need not designate schools with identical institutional structures. **In this work.** Galen describes rivalry between Cos and Cnidus after the Rhodian branch had disappeared, then adds Philistion, Empedocles, Pausanias, and their associates as Italian competitors. He calls the competition the good strife praised by Hesiod, making rivalry productive rather than destructive. This is important evidence for a medical reception of Empedocles and his named companion, but it does not by itself prove a formally constituted Empedoclean school with fixed curriculum or continuous organization. The Life’s report that Empedocles was a physician, and its medical case narratives, are compatible with Galen’s placement, though each has its own source character. The term “Italian” in this taxonomy should likewise not be forced into a modern national distinction that excludes a Sicilian figure. Galen’s intellectual geography groups traditions for his own history of medical achievement.[^note-medical-traditions] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 3 (testimony).** Galen, On the Method of Healing; source PDF pp. 50–51. Places Empedocles and Pausanias within a competitive account of medical traditions. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 58, reporting Satyrus, Lives; source PDF pp. 22–25. Calls Empedocles a physician as well as an orator. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Heraclides, On Diseases; source PDF pp. 26–27. Presents medical instruction directed to Pausanias. **In this edition.** The edition calls this a recognized medical school with pupils. Galen’s excerpt explicitly gives physicians and associates, a valuable but narrower claim. Its “good strife” is Hesiodic characterization, not a statement identifying medical rivalry with Empedocles’ cosmic Strife. **See also.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Strife](#entry-strife). ## Medical writings {#entry-medical-writings} *Ἰατρικὸς λόγος (Iatrikos logos); Ἰατρικὰ καταλογάδην (Iatrika katalogadēn)* **The word.** Iatrikos logos means a medical discourse or account. The Suda’s iatrika katalogadēn designates medical writings in prose, in explicit contrast to verse. The lexical difference exposes a disagreement about literary form, not merely two interchangeable English titles. **In this work.** Diogenes closes the Life by allotting six hundred verses to a Medical Discourse, after counting On Nature and Purifications together. The Suda instead lists Medical Writings in prose after its two-book poem. The apparatus identifies them as the same work, but the witnesses as printed do not establish that identification; a changed description, confusion of works, or different bibliographical tradition remain possible. Both notices matter because they classify medicine as part of the Empedoclean corpus. Neither proves that the work circulated under the exact title used today, nor permits recovery of its contents from the various physiological testimonia. Galen’s pairing of Empedocles and Pausanias in Italian medicine supports a medical reception independently of the disputed format of a medical book. The lexicon therefore keeps the bibliographical discrepancy visible rather than using it to manufacture a complete three-work canon. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Attributes six hundred verses to a Medical Discourse. - **A 2 (testimony).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Lists medical material as prose. - **A 3 (testimony).** Galen, On the Method of Healing; source PDF pp. 50–51. Places Empedocles and Pausanias within Italian medical competition. **In this edition.** The equation of the two medical titles is supplied by the apparatus. Verse and prose are materially different claims, and should remain so in a catalogue or discussion of authorship. **See also.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer). ## Melancholy {#entry-melancholy} **The word.** “Melancholics” is the supplied English context for a Greek clause that merely lists Empedocles, Plato, Socrates, and other distinguished people. No Greek word for melancholy occurs in the displayed extract itself, so none is manufactured as a source form here. **In this work.** The Pseudo-Aristotelian Problems supplies a later classification of outstanding thinkers within an inquiry into temperament. Empedocles heads the selected list, making him an example in a general problem rather than the subject of a case history. The notice is important for reception of exceptional intellectual ability as connected with bodily or emotional disposition. It does not diagnose the historical individual, identify symptoms, or explain the circumstances of his death. The edition’s account of a Renaissance afterlife through Ficino gives broader reception context, but that development is not demonstrated by the one quoted clause. The final Arnold excerpt likewise portrays despondency and recovery in a fictional dramatic voice; it should not be retroactively treated as confirmation of the ancient classification. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 17 (reception).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 66–67. Lists Empedocles among the distinguished figures in the supplied melancholic context. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Uses despondency and clearing clouds in a much later dramatic characterization. **In this edition.** The work is explicitly identified as Pseudo-Aristotelian. Both authorship and the editorially supplied bracketed context matter; the excerpt is not Aristotle’s direct medical assessment of Empedocles. **See also.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release). ## Menstruation {#entry-menstruation} *καθαίρονται (kathairontai); ἐλαττουμένου τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς σελήνης (elattoumenou tou phōtos tēs selēnēs); τῶν καταμηνίων (tōn katamēniōn)* **The word.** Kathairontai literally means they are cleansed or purged, used here for menstruation. Katamēnia names the monthly discharge in Aristotle's reproductive report. The vocabulary is physiological and should not automatically be transferred to moral or ritual purification. **In this work.** Soranus records and refutes a claim that menstruation follows a common lunar timing: women are not all purged at the same point, and he observes both earlier and later days, and both waxing and waning phases. Empedocles is associated with waning moonlight, alongside a related claim assigned to Diocles. The criticism preserves the attribution while rejecting its universality. A81 gives menstrual flow another role: in Aristotle's account of Empedocles, the heat or coldness of the womb depends on whether the flow is warmer or colder and older or fresher, with consequences for the sex of the developing offspring. This is a distinct causal hypothesis from lunar synchrony. They should not be fused into a complete chain in which a lunar phase reliably determines a child's sex. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 80 (polemical).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 172–173. Rejects universal lunar synchronization and specifically associates Empedocles with waning moonlight. - **A 81 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 174–179. Reports menstrual flow as the cause of the womb's thermal condition. **In this edition.** Soranus' corrective contrast is strengthened by Kalbfleisch's supplements in the printed Greek. The historical reproductive theories are not medical guidance, and neither notice establishes a modern causal relation between lunar phase and menstrual timing. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Womb](#entry-womb); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold). ## Mental cloud {#entry-mental-cloud} **The word.** The cloud and mists are English metaphors for numbing distress and its feared return. “I breathe free” joins mental relief to bodily sensation, while vapor outside the speaker echoes vaporous obstruction within. **In this work.** In Arnold’s excerpt, the numbing cloud lifts, the speaker briefly feels freedom, and the approach of renewed despondency gives urgency to his address to the fiery landscape. The imagery therefore moves between inner experience and visible atmosphere. It should not be medicalized into a diagnosis of the historical Empedocles or treated as an illustration of his ancient theory of respiration. The ancient breathless-woman story and the later melancholic classification are distinct reception materials, not corroborating symptoms. The poem’s compression of relief, fear, and elemental imagery explains how a philosopher associated with physical explanation can become a vehicle for modern psychological drama. The lexicon retains that literary function while separating a fictional voice’s claims from the author’s advice or from historical fact. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Uses lifting cloud, free breathing, returning mists, and volcanic vapor to connect inward and outward states. - **A 17 (reception).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 66–67. Provides the separate ancient context of a melancholic classification, without supporting a modern diagnosis. **In this edition.** The source gives a poetic image rather than a clinical term. Its resemblance to atmospheric or respiratory language elsewhere in the volume does not establish doctrinal continuity across the intervening reception history. **See also.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Breathing](#entry-breathing). ## Mental derangement {#entry-mental-derangement} *alienatione mentis* **The word.** Alienatio mentis denotes a departure from ordinary mental functioning or derangement of mind. “Alienation” here is a Latin medical expression, not the modern social or philosophical concept of estrangement, and not a precise present-day psychiatric diagnosis. **In this work.** The phrase describes the second kind distinguished by those following Empedocles in Caelius Aurelianus's report. It arises from a bodily cause or disorder, and it is the condition the medical author says he is about to discuss. When it produces great distress, the Greek name mania is applied. This wording separates the affected domain, mind, from the assigned bodily source. It need not imply that mind is an immaterial substance external to the body; the sentence supplies no such theory. Nor does it establish that Empedocles personally gave the same classification in these words. The report is later and explicitly mediated through followers. Its interest lies in a causal distinction among disturbed conditions, alongside the other kind associated with purgation of soul. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Names mental derangement from bodily causes as the second and medically selected condition. **In this edition.** The Latin contrast uses animi for the purgative phrase and mentis for derangement. Their coexistence should be preserved, without inferring that they translate two systematically distinct Empedoclean Greek faculties. **See also.** [Madness](#entry-madness); [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul). ## Metaphor {#entry-metaphor} *μεταφορητικός (metaphorētikos); μεταφορὰ (metaphora); ἱδρῶτα τῆς γῆς (hidrōta tēs gēs)* **The word.** Metaphora is transfer of expression, here rendered metaphor; metaphorētikos characterizes a writer as disposed to use it. “Sweat of the earth” is the exemplary transferred description by which the sea is made intelligible through a bodily process. **In this work.** The Life transmits Aristotle’s favorable assessment of Empedocles’ metaphorical skill together with his Homeric diction and other poetic accomplishments. In the Meteorology Aristotle turns the same resource into a methodological objection: saying that the sea is the earth’s sweat may suffice for poetry but not for knowledge of its nature. The dispute is not simply between colorful and plain language. It concerns what further explanation must accompany an image if the image is to identify a causal process. The physiological analogy can suggest pressure and exudation, yet Aristotle denies that the phrase alone yields adequate understanding. The literary praise and physical criticism therefore need not contradict one another. They assess different functions of expression. Reading the hostile testimony carefully preserves both the memorable Empedoclean formulation and the later witness’s standards of explanation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57, reporting Aristotle, On Poets; source PDF pp. 22–25. Praises metaphorical diction among the writer’s poetic accomplishments. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 76–79. Criticizes the sea-as-sweat formula as insufficient physical explanation. **In this edition.** The apparatus records metaphorētikos against metaphorikos and states that Aristotle himself used the latter. The lexicon gives the form actually printed. Aristotle’s citation is evidence for the phrase, while his verdict belongs to his own explanatory program. **See also.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity). ## Mind {#entry-mind} *νοῦν (noun); διανοίας (dianoias); mentis* **The word.** Nous is mind or intellect; dianoia denotes thinking or intelligence, while Latin mens likewise names mind. These forms occur in different witnesses and should not be combined into an alleged threefold Empedoclean taxonomy. **In this work.** Aëtius groups Empedocles with Parmenides and Democritus in identifying mind and soul. He then draws the consequence that no animal would be irrational in the strict sense. The notice is concise and comparative: it does not explain whether “same” concerns substance, capacity, or the rejection of a separate intellectual principle. Theophrastus's account of thinking uses the phronēsis family more extensively, while his last objection says a blood-blend is without dianoia. The latter judgment belongs to his criticism, not to Empedocles' own definition of unintelligent matter. Caelius Aurelianus uses mentis when describing mental derangement from a bodily cause among Empedocles' followers. That medical Latin adds a later context rather than a direct translation supplied by the poet. A lexicon can bring these witnesses into conversation while preserving their differences of vocabulary, genre, and attribution. Their juxtaposition supports inquiry into embodied thought; it does not establish that every ancient mind-word in the volume names precisely the same technical entity. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 96 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Groups three thinkers under the identity of mind and soul. - **A 86 § 24 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 24; source PDF pp. 212–213. Calls the blood-blend without intelligence while challenging its explanatory sufficiency. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Describes derangement of mind attributed to bodily causes by followers of Empedocles. **In this edition.** The translation “mind” in A96 should not make the doxographer's nous an unmediated Empedoclean word. The notice reports a position in later conceptual terms without quoting a verse. **See also.** [Soul](#entry-soul); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Instrument](#entry-instrument). ## Mineral powders {#entry-mineral-powders} *ἰὸν (ion); χαλκῖτιν (chalkitin); καδμίαν (kadmian); μίσυ (misy); χνοώδη (chnoōdē)* **The word.** The edition renders the four mineral names as rust, copper-flower, cadmia and misy; χνοώδη describes a fine, powdery condition. These traditional mineral or medicinal names should not be assigned exact modern chemical formulas without evidence beyond the passage. **In this work.** Galen illustrates Empedocles’ unchangeable elements by asking the reader to imagine grinding the named materials very finely and mingling them until none can be handled or taken apart separately from the others. The analogy distinguishes persistence of ingredients from their ready perceptual or practical separability. It does not state that a new fifth ingredient has replaced the four. The image is Galen’s, as the edition explicitly notes. It differs from Aristotle’s brick wall in the scale and intimacy of the pieces, while retaining distinguishable original ingredients at the explanatory level. The statement that one cannot separate them should not be exaggerated into a claim of absolute metaphysical inseparability; the passage gives an illustration of a mixed preparation, not a proof about every possible operation. The edition also compares Empedocles’ painters at B23, but that verse is not printed here. The safe local result is that later medical explanation has recast an elemental theory through a familiar practice of pulverization and preparation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Supplies the mineral-grinding comparison for composite bodies made from unchangeable constituents. **In this edition.** “Copper-flower” is this edition’s rendering of χαλκῖτις; historical mineral nomenclature is not chemically exact. The simile must be credited to Galen, and the B23 comparison remains an editorial cross-reference. **See also.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Misy](#entry-misy). ## Mirror {#entry-mirror} *τοῦ κατόπτρου (tou katoptrou); τῆς ἐπιφανείας (tēs epiphaneias)* **The word.** Katoptron is a mirror; epiphaneia is its surface. The notice identifies a reflecting object and a place where effluences collect, without specifying the mirror's material. In particular, “mirror” is not evidence that the reflecting surface was glass. **In this work.** Aëtius reports that outflows come together at the mirror's surface and are compacted by fiery material emitted from the mirror. The latter also carries along the air in front, into which the streams travel. Reflection is thus explained through emissions, surface gathering, compaction, and movement of surrounding air. The sentence is highly compressed. It gives a material sequence but does not explicitly provide a geometry of incidence and reflection, a viewer's position, or a full account of how the compacted result becomes visible. Aristotle's reference to an eye seeing itself as in reflection at A91 occurs in a different argument about visual fire. The two passages should not be welded into a detailed optical apparatus they do not describe. The present entry concerns the physical location and operation assigned to the mirror in Aëtius's notice. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 88 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 216–217. Describes surface accumulation and fiery compaction of effluences. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 224–225. Uses reflection in an argument distinct from Aëtius’s mirror mechanism. **In this edition.** The edition's explanatory prose speaks of “glass” and a “film.” Neither material nor that technical description appears explicitly in the ancient sentence; both should be recognized as interpretive additions. **See also.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Images](#entry-images); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium). ## Misy {#entry-misy} *μίσυ (misy)* **The word.** Μίσυ is the ancient mineral or medicinal-material name retained in the translation as misy. The excerpt gives the name without defining the substance, so an exact modern identification should not be fabricated from the list alone. **In this work.** Misy closes Galen’s four-item A34 example. Rust, copper-flower, cadmia and misy are ground very finely and mixed so that no one ingredient can be handled separately from the others. The example illustrates how composite bodies might arise from persistent, unchangeable constituents. The rhetorical value of an unfamiliar named substance differs from that of a generic word like “powder.” Galen gives a concrete preparation involving recognizable ingredients for his intended readers. For the reader of this edition, however, the name’s opacity is part of the source-critical situation: the philosophical role of the example can be understood without pretending to know its exact chemistry. Nothing in the sentence assigns misy to a particular root or implies that Empedocles offered this list. Its evidentiary owner is Galen, whose illustration translates an elemental theory into the language of material preparation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Names misy as the final ingredient in the pulverized mixture illustrating enduring constituents. **In this edition.** Preserve the untranslated material name unless additional historical evidence is introduced. The local source does not support a modern chemical formula or a medicinal recommendation. **See also.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia). ## Mixture {#entry-mixture} *κράσεως (kraseōs); μεῖγμα (meigma); μῖγμα (migma); ἀναμεμειγμένων (anamemeigmenōn)* **The word.** The dossier has several words for blending, mixing and the resulting mixture. Κρᾶσις is represented by inflected forms; μεῖγμα and μῖγμα name what has been mixed. The lexical plurality does not itself prove that every author uses a common technical distinction between “true mixture” and mere composition. **In this work.** Mixture is the central means of explaining diversity from persistent roots. A28 makes change a matter of more and fewer constituents combined or separated; A33 speaks of proportion and blending; Galen at A34 describes composite bodies formed from four unchangeable elements. These formulations establish the importance of arrangement without supplying a single uncontested account of how ingredients remain in a compound. Aristotle’s A43 turns that uncertainty into a criticism. If the elements retain their identity, he argues, their mixture will be a composition like a wall made of bricks and stones, small parts lying alongside one another. Galen’s parallel notice explicitly denies thorough blending and speaks of juxtaposed, touching portions. His other illustration in A34 describes pulverized mineral ingredients mixed so closely that one cannot take one apart without the others. These statements illuminate different aspects of preserved ingredients and practical inseparability; they need not be treated as laboratory descriptions of one exact process. The edition attempts to refute the wall comparison by appealing to bone’s fixed ratio at A78. Ratio is indeed important, but it does not logically prove that an arrangement is not juxtaposed: a wall too can be built to numerical proportions. The dispute concerns what mixture and form contribute beyond an inventory of pieces, not whether either side can count. The ratio evidence must therefore be considered alongside the criticisms rather than invoked as a summary dismissal. A87 adds a further explanatory condition: things mix when their pores are commensurate. That links mixture to the mechanisms used in perception, but it does not by itself settle whether the pores contain void or finer material. The mixed state at the cosmic extreme raises another issue again, since uniformity in the Sphairos may or may not preserve the roots’ distinctive qualities.[^note-mixture] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Models composite bodies through intimately mingled but unchangeable mineral ingredients. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; Galen, In Hipp. De nat. hom.; source PDF pp. 106–107. Presents mixture as small preserved parts juxtaposed and touching, with Aristotle’s wall analogy. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Couples proportion with blending in the formation of the All. - **A 87 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Attributes mixing to commensurate pores in addition to their role in acting and being acted upon. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Uses μῖγμα for the mixture of elements called the cosmos. **In this edition.** The edition’s assertion that a wall “has no ratio” is an overstatement, not a decisive textual argument. The source preserves a real interpretative dispute, and the various Greek mixing words should not be assigned rigid modern senses without evidence. **See also.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Monad {#entry-monad} *μονάδος (monados); νοερὸν πῦρ (noeron pyr)* **The word.** Μονάς is a unit or monad; the phrase printed here is the monad’s νοερὸν πῦρ. The edition translates the adjective as “intelligible.” Its intellectual or thinking resonance should be distinguished from a simple physical description of ordinary flame. **In this work.** Hippolytus’ A31 says that the intelligible fire of the monad is god, and that everything is constituted from fire and will be resolved into it. He follows this with a comparison to Stoic expectation of conflagration. The combination places the report in an assimilating philosophical frame, not in the unmediated language of an Empedoclean verse. The passage should not be used to replace the four persistent roots with a single fiery substance. Other testimonia insist on the endurance of all four; the very same notice begins with Love and Strife as principles. The monad-language also should not be simply identified with the One or Sphairos in A32. Such comparison is possible, but the reports do not supply an explicit equation, and A32’s unity is itself textually supplemented and philosophically compressed. The headword thus records a notable transformation of Empedocles in later reception: a root-and-powers account is recast through the terminology of unity, intellect and divine fire. The transformation is evidence about the witness’s interpretation, not a secure additional line of Empedoclean doctrine.[^note-monad] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 31 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3 (D. 558), §1; source PDF pp. 90–91. Calls the monad’s intelligible fire god and moves directly to an all-from-fire account and Stoic comparison. **In this edition.** The edition itself identifies the phrase as later Pythagorean-Platonist vocabulary. The translation “intelligible” should not make an exact technical distinction from “intellectual” that the short excerpt does not explain. **See also.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness). ## Monstrous births {#entry-monstrous-births} *τέρατα (terata); πλεονασμὸν σπέρματος (pleonasmon spermatos); ἔλλειψιν (elleipsin); ταραχὴν (tarachēn)* **The word.** Terata is the ancient label conventionally translated monsters or monstrous births. The entry uses it as a historical category for unusual bodily formation, not as a label for people today. Pleonasmos, elleipsis, and tarachē denote excess, deficiency, and disturbance. **In this work.** Aëtius attributes unusual births to five possibilities: too much seed, too little, disturbed movement, division into too many parts, or a turning aside. The list is noteworthy for explanatory plurality. It does not reduce every malformed body to a single excess or to divine punishment, and it treats quantity, motion, division, and direction as materially significant. The doxographer then praises Empedocles for anticipating nearly all accounts of causes. That evaluative sentence belongs to the reporter, not to the philosopher's own claim of priority, and it should not be endorsed as a modern history of embryology. The list also does not establish a diagnosis for any particular anomaly or show which observation supported each proposed cause. It remains a compressed ancient aetiological classification. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, notice on terata; source PDF pp. 174–179. Lists five material or kinetic causes of unusual births and adds a retrospective commendation. - **A 81 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 174–179. Records variants affecting disturbance and the final word for causal accounts. **In this edition.** The text reads tarachē, disturbance, rather than the alternative archē in other manuscripts. The praise about virtually all explanations is part of the doxographic framing; the historical causes should not be used as medical explanations or blame assigned to parents. **See also.** [Seed](#entry-seed); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms). ## Moon {#entry-moon} *σελήνην (selēnēn); σελήνης (selēnēs)* **The word.** Selēnē is the moon. In this group of testimonia it names a physical body, a recipient and obstruction of light, a term in distance comparisons, and a boundary in a moralized cosmic geography. These functions must be distinguished before they are assembled into a single lunar doctrine. **In this work.** A60 collects reports that the moon consists of compacted, cloud-like air congealed by fire, that its body is disc-shaped, and that its light comes from the sun. Plutarch's argumentative contexts make clear that some of these claims concern the underlying body rather than appearance alone. A59 gives the moon a role in solar eclipse, while A61 preserves conflicting numerical relations between moon, sun, and earth. None of those notices repairs the others' textual difficulties. Hippolytus adds a different kind of claim at A62: evils extend from the terrestrial region as far as the moon but no farther, because the upper region is purer. Soranus at A80 attributes a relation between the waning moon and menstruation, then refutes its generality. The breadth of this evidence makes the moon a useful point of contact between astronomy, physiology, and religious interpretation. It does not establish that all the witnesses drew on one systematic passage, or that the later sublunary distinction can be mapped without residue onto Empedocles' poems. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 60 (testimony).** Aëtius; Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon and Roman Questions; source PDF pp. 132–133. Collect matter, shape, and borrowed illumination. - **A 61 (testimony).** Aëtius, ps.-Plutarch and Stobaeus branches; source PDF pp. 134–135. Preserve incompatible lunar distance ratios. - **A 62 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies; source PDF pp. 134–135. Makes the moon the limit reached by terrestrial evils. - **A 80 (polemical).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 172–173. Rejects a universal association of menstruation with waning moonlight. **In this edition.** The section assembles witnesses of different dates and purposes. Its editorial confidence that lunar geography joins the physical and purificatory poems is an interpretation, not a directly quoted identification by Empedocles. **See also.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation). ## Mortal spring {#entry-mortal-spring} *κρούνωμα βρότειον (krounōma broteion)* **The word.** The phrase joins a spring or flowing source with the adjective “mortal.” The translation “mortal spring” preserves the water-image without replacing it outright by the physiological referent supplied by the commentators. **In this work.** Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories connect the phrase with Nestis and interpret it as seed and water. This is not simply a second, independent definition of the water root: it is a reading of a figurative designation associated with the divine invocation. The linking of water and seed suggests the interpreters’ interest in generation or nourishment, but the abbreviated quotation and ellipses prevent reconstruction of a complete argument from the phrase alone. The neighboring explanation by Hippolytus emphasizes water as the vehicle of food rather than directly repeating the seed gloss. The dossier therefore permits related but distinct ways of making the water-name intelligible. It does not require that seed be chemically identical with water, nor that the phrase always name one anatomical fluid. Keeping the figurative phrase as its own headword protects what the English translation preserves: a source or outflow imaged through mortal life, subsequently clarified by a prose witness. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Associates Nestis and the mortal spring with seed and water. - **A 33 (testimony).** Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Repeats the seed-and-water gloss while differing from Aëtius on other root names. **In this edition.** The phrase is present in the witnesses’ explanatory prose, while the B6 citation itself is abbreviated. Do not restore an entire verse or decide its syntax beyond what this file prints. **See also.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Water](#entry-water); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots). ## Motion {#entry-motion} *κινήσεως (kinēseōs); κινούμενα (kinoumena); κινεῖν (kinein)* **The word.** Κίνησις is motion or change; the related forms indicate being moved and causing motion. In this range it includes the action of the powers and the cosmic circulation of materials. It should not be reduced to one modern mechanical variable. **In this work.** A28 distinguishes four bodily constituents from the principles by which they are moved. A37 credits the opposed sources of motion but questions their consistency. A38 concerns the larger rhythm in which the powers prevail and cause motion by turns, with possible rest between. The local origin of cosmic rotation receives a more particular account at A30: an accumulation or weighting of fire gives the beginning of motion. A49 describes a rotation forceful enough to compress earth and expel water. These are reports of material mechanisms inside cosmogony, and they do not independently explain how every such mechanism is related to Love and Strife. The reflowed A30 Greek is also disordered, making a precise continuous narrative especially hazardous. The denial of void raises a further question about motion through a filled world. A87’s pore discussion offers finer bodies occupying passages, while a contrary critical inference makes the passages empty. The volume records the problem without furnishing a modern mechanical resolution. Motion is therefore a connecting headword across cosmic agency, material rearrangement and the critical issue of available passage. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Explains the two powers through their role in moving the four elements. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Connects initial cosmic motion with an uneven gathering of fire. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Uses rotation as the physical cause of terrestrial compression. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Exposes competing interpretations of passages as empty or occupied by finer matter. - **A 38 (polemical).** Aristotle, Physics Θ 1, 252a7; source PDF pp. 100–101. Uses κινεῖν for the powers causing motion in turns, within a cautiously framed reconstruction. **In this edition.** The beginning of one described cosmic motion need not be an absolute beginning of motion before an everlasting cycle. The reports do not settle that issue merely by using “beginning.” **See also.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Rest](#entry-rest); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Void](#entry-void). ## Mountain cleft {#entry-mountain-cleft} *διασφάγα (diasphaga); ἐμφράξας (emphraxas); ἀποτειχίσας (apoteichisas); νότον (noton)* **The word.** Diasphax designates a cleft or opening; emphraxas means blocking it and apoteichisas walling it off. Notos is the south wind. Together the terms give Plutarch’s version a concrete topographical and constructive form. **In this work.** In On Being a Busybody, Empedocles blocks a mountain opening through which a heavy, unhealthy south wind descends upon the plains, and is credited with excluding plague. Against Colotes makes the protective act part of a larger civic portrait: he exposes leading citizens’ abuses and removes barrenness and plague by walling off openings. The two settings matter. A practical intervention can serve a moral example in one work and a defense of philosophical civic benefit in another. The construction is more specific than Clement’s assertion that the wind was stopped, but specificity alone does not verify historicity. The testimonia neither identify a surviving wall nor supply dimensions or a complete location. They preserve an explanatory narrative in which changing airflow changes communal health. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, On Being a Busybody; source PDF pp. 60–61. Connects a blocked mountain cleft with exclusion of plague. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, Against Colotes; source PDF pp. 60–61. Joins walling-off to public liberation and removal of agricultural and medical harm. **In this edition.** Against Colotes includes an editorially supplied phrase for setting the city free. This should not be quoted as uncontested manuscript wording. Its wind account is a distinct version, not a proven original underlying all the others. **See also.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds). ## Moving cause {#entry-moving-cause} *τῆς κινήσεως ἀρχὴν (tēs kinēseōs archēn); αἰτίοις (aitiois); κινεῖται (kineitai)* **The word.** The phrase is a “source” or “principle of motion”; the related causal forms occur in Aristotle’s assessment of Empedocles. “Efficient cause” is a useful later classificatory label, but the printed phrase itself should be kept distinct from a fully elaborated Aristotelian technical definition. **In this work.** Simplicius’ A28 differentiates the four bodies from Love and Strife by saying that the latter are what move the former. Aristotle at A37 credits Empedocles with making the moving source different and contrary rather than one. The credit is immediately qualified: Empedocles allegedly fails to use his causes sufficiently or consistently, because each power can seem to perform the other’s operation. The objection exposes two explanatory levels. Separating different roots gathers like portions together; combining unlike roots requires portions to leave their homogeneous masses. Aristotle treats this as a problem for assigning a univocal task to each cause. The edition argues that the twofold effect may instead be central to the cycle. Neither interpretation should be silently adopted as the witness’s plain report. A30 offers another kind of causal explanation when the onset of motion is associated with the massing of fire. Such a mechanism need not replace the powers everywhere, but neither should it be supplied with an unprinted account of exactly how Strife operates through fire. The testimonia preserve several explanatory idioms without resolving their coordination. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Defines the two powers through their moving relation to the bodily elements. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Credits the division of the moving source, then charges its use with inconsistency. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Associates the beginning of cosmic motion with an accumulation of fire. **In this edition.** The source’s causal prose is later than the poem. “Cause,” “principle,” physical mechanism and divine power should not be flattened into a single modern category of force. **See also.** [Principle](#entry-principle); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Matter](#entry-matter). ## Mules {#entry-mules} *τῶν ἡμιόνων (tōn hēmionōn); αἱ ἡμίονοι (hai hēmionoi); στεῖραι (steirai)* **The word.** Hēmionoi are mules; steirai means barren or sterile. The animal is the concrete case around which the witnesses debate explanations of reproductive failure after mating across kinds. **In this work.** Aristotle says that the whole mule kind is infertile and criticizes Empedocles and Democritus for applying one explanation alike to all cross-kind matings. He calls Empedocles' account unclear. The excerpt then breaks off with “and so on,” so it does not reproduce the specific mechanism in full. Aëtius supplies an anatomical explanation: a small, low, narrow womb attached in the wrong direction cannot receive the seed. The edition's discussion instead connects Empedocles with B92's analogy of tin and copper making a harder compound, applying such hardening to mule seed. That comparison belongs to cross-volume editorial context, not the printed Aristotle clause here. The resulting discrepancy is important: anatomy and material mixture are different explanations, and it is not certain from this dossier how one replaced, complemented, or distorted the other. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 82 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 180–181. Criticizes a general explanation of cross-kind infertility but abbreviates the specific Empedoclean argument. - **A 82 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 180–181. Explains barrenness through the shape, size, and position of the womb. - **A 82 (apparatus).** Modern commentary and apparatus; source PDF pp. 180–181. Refer to B92's tin–copper comparison for a different mixture-based explanation. **In this edition.** The source's universal claim about mules is reported historically, not presented as a carefully qualified modern zoological statement. The omitted Aristotle continuation must not be reconstructed as though it were printed in this volume. **See also.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Womb](#entry-womb); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds). ## Musical therapy {#entry-musical-therapy} *μεθαρμοσάμενος (metharmosamenos); πεπαντικόν τι μέλος (pepantikon ti melos); κατασταλτικὸν (katastaltikon); τὴν λύραν (tēn lyran)* **The word.** Metharmosamenos means changing the tuning or arrangement; melos is melody. The adjectives describe a soothing or settling effect. “Therapy” is a convenient analytical heading for the anecdote’s intervention in violent emotion, not a professional diagnosis given by the witness. **In this work.** Iamblichus tells how Empedocles retunes his lyre when a furious youth rushes to kill Anchitos, the host who had condemned the youth’s father. The altered melody prevents both a death and an act of murder. Homer’s phrase about forgetting grief and anger is inserted to characterize its effect, giving the intervention poetic authority as well as a Pythagorean moral setting. The account makes emotional regulation a demonstrable benefit of philosophical expertise. It does not provide a musical mode, intervals, or a repeatable clinical protocol. The young man’s subsequent distinction among Empedocles’ companions turns rescue into an origin-story of discipleship. Diels identifies the youth with Pausanias by proposing a confusion around Anchitos’ name, but that identification remains editorial rather than explicit narrative fact. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 15 (legend).** Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 62–63. Describes the retuned lyre, interrupted attack, and transformed companionship. - **A 15 (apparatus).** Edition’s apparatus, identifying Homer, Odyssey IV 221, and proposing Pausanias; source PDF pp. 62–63. Separates the Homeric quotation and editorial reconstruction from the displayed anecdote. **In this edition.** The story’s claims about musical efficacy should not be translated into evidence for a modern treatment. The phrase about forgetting all ills belongs to Homer as quoted by Iamblichus, not to an Empedoclean pharmacological fragment. **See also.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer). ## Nails {#entry-nails} *ὄνυχας (onychas); τῶν νεύρων (tōn neurōn); περιψυχθέντων (peripsychthentōn)* **The word.** Onyches are nails or claws; the notice refers to animals generally. Peripsychthentōn describes the sinews as cooled or chilled around the relevant point. This is a process word attached to a material change. **In this work.** Aëtius derives nails from sinews chilled where they meet the air. The explanation differs from a new independent list of elemental proportions: it begins with an already compounded bodily material and alters it through contact and cooling. That distinction is important for understanding how far a mixture theory can extend. An organ or tissue need not always be described directly from the four constituents; it may be explained through an intermediate product. The report nevertheless does not supply a layer-by-layer anatomy, the mechanism of continued nail growth, or a distinction between human nails and animal claws. It is a short causal attribution, not evidence that ancient sinew corresponds exactly to any modern structure from which a nail might form. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Makes nails arise from sinews chilled at their meeting with air. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius, preceding clause; source PDF pp. 168–171. Gives the mixed composition of the sinew that functions as the initial material. **In this edition.** The English “nails” should retain the broader animal context. Since the adjoining sinew formula is textually repaired, the apparent continuity of a perfectly preserved recipe-to-process explanation is partly an editorial presentation. **See also.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Air](#entry-air). ## Natural hymn {#entry-natural-hymn} *φυσικοὶ (physikoi); ὕμνοι φυσιολογικοί (hymnoi physiologikoi); ἐξηγοῦνται (exēgountai)* **The word.** The adjective “natural” modifies hymns that expound a deity’s nature through the physical world. Physiologikoi means concerned with an account of nature; exēgountai means expound or explain. The genre classification is Menander’s, not a surviving Empedoclean title. **In this work.** Menander places Parmenides and Empedocles beside Orphic compositions as examples of natural hymns. He illustrates the procedure by treating Apollo as the sun, Hera as air, and Zeus as the hot, then contrasts extended exposition with Plato’s concise reminders. This testimony shows that physical explanation and religious address could be read as a recognizable literary combination. It should not, however, become a universal key to Empedocles’ divine names. Menander supplies generic illustrations, while the separate testimonia on the roots preserve incompatible identifications. Nor does his classification prove that every Empedoclean poem was a hymn in the same sense. It is a later rhetorical account of how theological language can carry physical interpretation, and offers an alternative to criticism that excludes instructional verse from poetry altogether.[^note-natural-hymn] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 22–A 23 (reception).** Menander Rhetor; source PDF pp. 74–75. Defines the natural-hymn type and lists divine identifications as examples. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57; source PDF pp. 22–25. Names an attributed prelude to Apollo, relevant but not demonstrably identical with Menander’s example. **In this edition.** The edition treats the genre as an ordinary solution to the root-names and equates the Apollo reference with the burned prelude. Both are interpretations. The Greek does not resolve the Hera/Aidoneus dispute or authenticate the lost hymn’s contents. **See also.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Roots](#entry-roots). ## Natural philosopher {#entry-natural-philosopher} *φυσιολόγον (physiologon); φυσικὸς (physikos); physicus* **The word.** Physiologos denotes one who gives an account of nature; physikos and Latin physicus identify a natural philosopher. These are witness classifications and need not reproduce Empedocles’ own self-description. **In this work.** Aristotle’s Poetics contrasts Homer the poet with Empedocles the natural philosopher, holding metre to be their only common feature. The label marks subject and activity rather than a verdict that the verse is badly made. In Plutarch’s wind story, “natural philosopher” introduces a practical intervention in the environment; in Pliny it supports Acron’s authority. Cicero exploits the distinction between professional identities while still calling Empedocles’ poem excellent. The Suda can call him both a natural philosopher and an epic poet, whereas Lactantius presents the classification as a genuine puzzle. The lexical range therefore matters: a designation that excludes poetry in one critical argument can coexist with poetry in a catalogue and with medicine in a biographical tradition. The testimonia record ongoing classification, not one agreed ancient job description. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 22–A 23 (polemical).** Aristotle, Poetics; source PDF pp. 74–75. Uses natural philosopher as the preferable classification to poet. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, On Being a Busybody; source PDF pp. 60–61. Introduces the wind-blocking figure as a natural philosopher. - **A 24–A 25 (reception).** Lactantius, Divine Institutes; Cicero, On the Orator; source PDF pp. 76–79. Shows different ways to negotiate the philosopher-poet boundary. - **A 2 (testimony).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Allows natural philosopher and epic poet to stand together. **In this edition.** “Physicist” would misleadingly suggest a modern scientific profession. The argument in the Poetics concerns the category of poetic production, and should not erase other witnesses’ positive judgments of the verse. **See also.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn). ## Natural place {#entry-natural-place} *τόπους (topous); ὡρισμένους τόπους (hōrismenous topous); ἀντιπαραχωρεῖν (antiparachōrein)* **The word.** Τόποι are places; ὡρισμένοι τόποι are determined or bounded places. The verb in Achilles describes giving way in turn to one another. “Natural place” is a useful comparative heading, but the excerpt itself is primarily a denial of permanent assigned locations. **In this work.** Aëtius says the elements’ places are neither permanently fixed nor determined, because all take one another’s places. Achilles illustrates the point through earth moving aloft and fire occupying a lower position. The account describes more than the ordinary sorting of heavy below light: it allows the constituents to exchange positions. This matters when reading the cosmic formation reports. A central mass of earth at A49 or an outer fiery hemisphere at A30 is a location within a particular arrangement, not necessarily an eternal rule prescribing where every portion of that root must always be. The testimonia need not contradict one another simply because they describe a sorted world and also deny unchangeable elemental stations. The word nevertheless belongs to the reporters’ explanatory prose. Their comparison with fixed places may reflect later cosmological debates. The passage should not be turned into a complete doctrine of homogeneous space, absolute mobility, or the absence of all directional tendencies; none of those larger conclusions is stated.[^note-natural-place] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 35 (testimony).** Aëtius II 7,6; source PDF pp. 96–97. Denies permanently fixed places and makes elements take one another’s positions. - **A 35 (testimony).** Achilles, Isagoge 4; source PDF pp. 96–97. Illustrates exchange of positions by earth aloft and fire lower down. - **A 70 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 150–153. Attributes downward growth of roots to earth’s natural downward travel and upward growth to fire, complicating a blanket denial of directional tendencies. **In this edition.** The edition notes that Aëtius’ chapter concerns cosmic order. That arrangement does not invalidate the elemental content, but it reminds the reader that a doxographic heading can frame how a report is read. **See also.** [Earth](#entry-earth); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Rotation](#entry-rotation). ## Natural priority {#entry-natural-priority} *φύσει πρότερα (physei protera)* **The word.** The phrase means prior by nature. Here it is an explanatory or compositional ordering: the constituents are prior to the god composed from them. It does not on its own say that those constituents existed at an earlier absolute date. **In this work.** Aristotle at A40 says that the elements, naturally prior to “the god,” are separated by Love rather than Strife, and adds that the elements themselves are gods. The edition identifies the god as the Sphairos. Aristotle’s compressed sentence simultaneously presses the causality of separation and the relation of divine constituents to the divine whole. Natural priority is consequently a more specific concept than simple temporal precedence. A reconstruction that pictured the roots existing for a while and only later becoming divine would miss the last clause: they too are gods. Equally, their priority does not establish that the Sphairos is an unreal abstraction or less divine. The passage gives the critic’s dependency argument, not a complete hierarchy of theological worth. The distinction also helps with Simplicius’ A52 suggestion that cosmological sequences may be presented for teaching as though ingredients pre-existed in time. An explanatory order and a temporal history need not be identical, although Simplicius’ proposal does not itself decide Empedocles’ intention. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 40 (polemical).** Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione B 6, 333b20; source PDF pp. 102–103. Makes the divine constituents naturally prior to the god in the course of challenging the roles of Love and Strife. - **A 52 (polemical).** Simplicius, De caelo 305,21; source PDF pp. 120–121. Provides the relevant distinction between expository ordering and literal prior existence in time. **In this edition.** “The god” is identified as the Sphairos by interpretation of the context. The two words do not provide a separately named deity, and “prior” must not be silently converted into “earlier in time.” **See also.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis). ## Nature {#entry-nature} *φύσει (physei); φύσιν (physin); φύσιος (physios); φύσις (physis)* **The word.** Φύσις can denote nature, constitution or the way something is; φύσει means by nature. The range cannot be compressed into a single modern opposition between the natural and supernatural. Its local contrast in Plato’s A48 is with art, mind and divine agency. **In this work.** The anonymous naturalists in A48 are said to derive fire, water, earth and air by nature and chance, and to explain the subsequent world without art or mind. In that argument nature names an immanent material process opposed to intelligent construction. The testimony concerns a hostile characterization of unnamed thinkers, editorially associated with Empedoclean followers. Other passages use the same word less programmatically. Galen at A34 speaks of the nature of composite bodies resulting from mingled roots. Aristotle at A40 describes the elements as prior “by nature” to the god: that is an explanatory or compositional priority, not necessarily an earlier moment in time. Ps.-Plutarch at A30 says the sun is not fire “by nature” but a reflection, distinguishing its constitution from its luminous appearance. The entry therefore keeps constitution, explanatory priority and an anti-teleological cosmological slogan separate. Treating them as one settled doctrine of Nature would conceal differences among authors and among the questions they ask. The word also marks a dispute about method and identity. In A71 the Hippocratic author rejects the demand that a physician must begin from what a human originally is and how humans were compounded; clear knowledge of nature, he argues, should come from medicine. In A78 Aristotle gives nature explanatory priority over matter and credits Empedocles’ account of bone with identifying its being and nature as a ratio of mixture. The former concerns the route to knowledge of nature, the latter what makes a particular body the thing it is. Neither is reducible to the Laws’ slogan of nature opposed to art. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Opposes generation by nature and chance to production by art or mind. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Uses nature for the constitution of composite bodies. - **A 40 (polemical).** Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione B 6, 333b20; source PDF pp. 102–103. Makes the roots naturally prior to the god. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Contrasts the sun’s constitution with the fire whose reflection it is. - **A 71 (polemical).** Hippocrates, On Ancient Medicine; source PDF pp. 154–155. Makes the study of human nature a methodological dispute and argues that clear knowledge of nature derives from medicine. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals; source PDF pp. 168–171. Gives nature priority over matter and credits the identification of bone’s nature and being with a ratio of mixture. **In this edition.** The English word’s familiarity can erase these differences. A40’s natural priority should not be made into an absolute chronology for the roots and the Sphairos. **See also.** [Chance](#entry-chance); [Art](#entry-art); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions). ## Navel {#entry-navel} *τοῖς ἐμβρύοις (tois embryois); συγκέκριται (synkekritai)* **The word.** The Greek excerpt begins with a verb meaning is compounded; its subject, the navel, is supplied in brackets by the translation. Embrya are embryos or developing offspring. A lexicon should not manufacture a Greek word for navel absent from this quoted passage. **In this work.** Soranus describes the umbilical structure as composed of four vessels, two venous and two arterial, carrying blood-like and breath-like material for fetal nourishment. Only then does he attribute a specific claim to Empedocles: these vessels are implanted into the liver. Phaedrus instead places their destination in the heart. The distinction between Soranus' descriptive setup and the named disagreement is central. The passage securely makes Empedocles a participant in an account of fetal connection and nourishment, but it does not explicitly ascribe every preceding vessel count and classification to him. The navel's significance here is relational, connecting a developing body to a nutritive source and an internal organ. No detailed maternal anatomy or complete developmental mechanism is provided. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Introduces the umbilical vessels and their nutritive function, then attributes liver insertion to Empedocles. **In this edition.** The English subject “[The navel]” is contextual supplementation. The edition's praise of the account as nearly correct should not be used to erase the difference between Soranus' own anatomy and the proposition assigned to Empedocles. **See also.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment). ## Necessity {#entry-necessity} *ἀνάγκην (anankēn); ἀνάγκης (anankēs); ἐξ ἀνάγκης (ex anankēs); Ἀνάγκη (Anankē)* **The word.** Ἀνάγκη ranges here from necessity as an explanatory condition to a personified or quasi-personified power. The capitalized form occurs in the edition’s discussion of B115. A phrase such as ἐξ ἀνάγκης, “by necessity,” should not automatically be read as naming that personification. **In this work.** A45 juxtaposes two irreducible reports. Aëtius calls necessity’s essence a cause that uses the principles and elements; Plutarch says that what most people call fate Empedocles calls Love and Strife together. The first formulation suggests a controlling causal relation to the principles, the second an identification with the two powers. The source does not show how to reconcile them. Aristotle’s cautious A38 adds a different use: Empedocles “would seem to say” that Love and Strife necessarily prevail and move by turns, resting between. Here necessity grounds the regularity of alternation in a hypothetical reconstruction. In Plato’s anonymous polemic at A48, necessity appears in the blending of opposites alongside chance. It does not follow that necessity and chance are a contradiction for the position Plato describes: chance conjunctions can still have constrained material consequences. But that account is not securely Empedocles’ own. The edition’s appeal to the decree of Necessity in B115 helps formulate the comparison but cannot settle it; this volume does not print the full decree at A45. The lexicon therefore distinguishes the divine name, the causal noun and the adverbial claim of regularity.[^note-necessity] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 45 (testimony).** Aëtius I 26,1; Plutarch, De animae procreatione; source PDF pp. 108–109. Contrasts necessity as a cause using principles with necessity identified as Love and Strife together. - **A 38 (polemical).** Aristotle, Physics Θ 1, 252a7; source PDF pp. 100–101. Infers necessary alternation and intervening rest rather than directly quoting a doctrine. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Combines chance encounters and necessary blending in an unnamed naturalist position. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Identifies the One with necessity in the compressed matter-and-forms scheme. **In this edition.** The modern suggestion that B115 favors Aëtius is an interpretative judgment. It must not turn a contextual cross-reference into a decisive testimony that Plutarch is wrong. **See also.** [Fate](#entry-fate); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Chance](#entry-chance). ## Nestis {#entry-nestis} *Νῆστιν (Nēstin); Νῆστις (Nēstis); νῆστις (nēstis)* **The word.** Νῆστις is the divine name; νῆστις is also printed in the edition’s discussion of fasting. Hippolytus connects the name with the inability of water alone to sustain nourishment. This is an attested ancient explanation, whose attribution to Empedocles remains uncertain. **In this work.** Nestis is water in Aëtius, the Homeric Allegories, Hippolytus and Diogenes. Unlike the rival assignments of Hera and Aidoneus, that identification is stable within the present collection. Yet the associated interpretation is not uniform in detail. Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories join Nestis with the “mortal spring,” glossing this through seed and water. Hippolytus devotes a longer explanation to water’s role as a vehicle of nourishment: abundant water does not prevent animals from starving, so the bearer of nourishment is itself insufficient to feed them. That argument gives the divine name a paradoxical point. Water enables the passage of food while remaining, in the name’s interpretative association, hungry. It does not follow that the report offers a general definition of the root as a nutritional fluid, or that all occurrences of seed and water can be interchanged. The lexical distinction between a divine name and a physiological gloss remains necessary. Because the quotation of B6 is abbreviated, the surrounding prose carries much of this volume’s explanation. The article consequently records the ancient reader’s reasoning without silently assigning that reasoning to the poet.[^note-nestis] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Links Nestis and the mortal spring with seed and water. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Explains the water-name through fasting and water’s inability to nourish alone. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 76; source PDF pp. 46–47. Gives the simple Nestis–water mapping. **In this edition.** Diels brackets αἴτιον in Hippolytus’ nourishment clause as a gloss; Kranz deletes it. The exact formulation of causal status is therefore less secure than the surrounding vehicle-of-nourishment argument. **See also.** [Water](#entry-water); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots). ## Night vision {#entry-night-vision} *νύκτωρ (nyktōr); τῆς νυκτός (tēs nyktos)* **The word.** Nyktōr means by night. The dossier uses it for conditions under which animals and different sorts of eyes see more or less keenly. It does not itself name a special anatomical apparatus. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that some eyes profit at night from the filling up of what they lack, while eyes with excessive water suffer because their fire is overtaken. Read against the daytime account, the two cases depend on balancing opposed constituents. Aristotle presents a more compact version: dark eyes contain more water and see poorly at night through deficiency of fire. The critic's own discussion must be separated from this report. Theophrastus says most animals see all objects better by day, allowing exceptions whose own fire may be strong at night; he compares certain animals' conspicuous nighttime appearance. That tentative alternative is not further testimony that Empedocles ascribed luminescence to every night-seeing animal. Nor does the darkness objection against outgoing visual light by itself dispose of all the more complex distinctions reported in the chapter. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Explains nocturnal advantage and disadvantage through elemental compensation and obstruction. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 18; source PDF pp. 204–205. Makes exceptional night-seeing animals a qualified countercase in the critique. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Attributes dark eyes’ poor night vision to lack of fire, while rejecting the theory. **In this edition.** The printed description of what separates off excess fire includes “air,” which Diels interprets as air including water. That editorial explanation should not be silently inserted as an uncontested ancient formulation. **See also.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend). ## Nourishment {#entry-nourishment} *τοῦ οἰκείου (tou oikeiou); ὑπόστασιν (hypostasin); τὸ πρόσφορον (to prosphoron)* **The word.** Oikeion means what belongs to a thing or is akin to it; prosphoron means suitable or serviceable. Hypostasis here is settling in or establishment. It does not bear the specialized theological meanings acquired in later contexts. **In this work.** Aëtius explains nourishment by the settling in of what is akin, growth by the presence of heat, and wasting by failure of both. This distinguishes nutrition from enlargement rather than treating them as synonyms. The account can be compared with plant uptake at A70, where plants draw suitable water and differentiated materials from nourishing ground. Aelian's A66 report identifies fresh water within the sea as nourishing fish, again making the character of the received material important. These examples support a pattern of bodily maintenance through fitting material, but not a complete modern theory of assimilation. The key word oikeion is itself uncertain: Diels suggests that the reading might be “moist” instead. If that conjecture were accepted, the explicit emphasis would shift from kinship or suitability to a particular material quality. Both the general interpretive appeal and the textual vulnerability of the affinity principle deserve attention.[^note-nourishment] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Distinguishes nourishment through the settling of the akin from growth through heat. - **A 70 (testimony).** Plutarch, Table Talk; Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Describe plant uptake of suitable water and materials from soil. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aelian, On the Nature of Animals; source PDF pp. 138–141. Attributes fish nourishment to sweet water within the sea. **In this edition.** The apparatus proposes hygrou, “moist,” for oikeiou. The printed translation retains affinity, but a lexicon should not build an unqualified universal doctrine on this disputed word alone. **See also.** [Growth](#entry-growth); [Wasting](#entry-wasting); [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea). ## Odour {#entry-odour} *ὀσμὴν (osmēn); τὰς ὀσμὰς (tas osmas); ὀσμωδέστατα (osmōdestata)* **The word.** Osmē means odour; osmōdes describes what has a smell, and its superlative here means most fragrant or most odorous. Odour is the object or transmitted feature of olfaction, not the faculty of smelling itself. **In this work.** Theophrastus's report associates abundant odour with outflow from fine and light bodies. His criticism asks whether this relation predicts the wrong rate of bodily wasting: if odour is effluence and effluence explains loss, the strongest-smelling things should perish quickest. Aromatic plants and other durable odorous things serve as counterexamples in his argument. A separate objection insists that lightness is not enough; the body must also have odour present. Air and fire, though light, produce no olfactory sensation in his example. The distinction matters because it prevents a mechanical feature such as mobility or smallness from silently becoming the sensible quality it is supposed to transmit. These claims belong to Theophrastus's testing of the theory and should not be projected back as refinements which Empedocles explicitly accepted. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Reports greater odour emitted from fine and light bodies. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Contrasts durable fragrant things with the predicted wasting from effluence. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22; source PDF pp. 210–211. Insists that odour itself must be present, not merely lightness. **In this edition.** “Fragrant” in the plant objection is an English choice within a family meaning strongly odorous. The argument does not provide chemical identification or experimental measurements of the named quality. **See also.** [Smell](#entry-smell); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness). ## Olfactory lightness {#entry-olfactory-lightness} *τῶν λεπτῶν (tōn leptōn); τῶν κούφων (tōn kouphōn); κουφότατα (kouphotata)* **The word.** Leptos means fine or thin; kouphos means light. The paired descriptions concern bodies from which odour is said to flow. They do not by themselves identify a modern particle size, mass, or volatility. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that the greatest amount of odour flows from fine and light things. The two qualities suggest readiness for the movement presupposed by effluence, but the text does not explicitly derive one quality from the other. They should therefore not be collapsed into a single modern property. At §22 the critic isolates lightness for attack: air and fire are lightest yet produce no perception of odour. Something must also have odour in it. The argument distinguishes a body's physical aptitude for movement from the sensible character supposedly carried by that movement. It does not prove that Empedocles regarded every fine or light body as fragrant, since the exact universal formulation is mediated by the critic. The entry concerns that local inferential dispute, leaving general accounts of light and heavy bodies to the physical lexicon. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Associates abundant odour with fine and light bodies. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22; source PDF pp. 210–211. Uses odourless air and fire to challenge lightness as sufficient. **In this edition.** “Light” here is an adjective of bodies, not phōs, visual light. Keeping the Greek forms visible prevents an especially easy confusion between two unrelated English uses. **See also.** [Odour](#entry-odour); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause). ## Olympiad {#entry-olympiad} *ὀλυμπιάδα (olympiada); ἤκμαζε (ēkmaze); floruit* **The word.** Olympiad is the festival-cycle unit used in the chronological notices; ēkmaze and Latin floruit indicate a period of prominence or flourishing, not a birth date. Dates of victories, a thinker’s prime, and ages at death belong to different chronological categories. **In this work.** Apollodorus’ argument, transmitted by Diogenes, combines an Olympic victory attributed to the grandfather with reports that the philosopher died at sixty. It rejects an account placing Empedocles among the Syracusans fighting the Athenians because the chronology would make him dead or exceedingly old. Elsewhere the Life locates his prime in the eighty-fourth Olympiad, while the Suda gives the seventy-ninth. The Eusebius notices and Gellius add other chronological associations. These are not mutually reinforcing fixed dates; they expose divergent systems of synchronism and biography. The useful lesson is to distinguish what a witness explicitly dates from the modern reconstruction derived from it. The edition’s approximate birth around 492 BCE is an inference promoted in its commentary, not a date quoted from Empedocles or stated in the surviving Apollodorus report. The disagreement about ages at death further limits the precision available. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 51–52, reporting Eratosthenes and Apollodorus; source PDF pp. 16–17. Distinguishes the grandfather’s victory and challenges the Syracuse chronology. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 73–74; source PDF pp. 42–45. Preserves a floruit and incompatible ages at death. - **A 8–A 10 (testimony).** Eusebius, Chronicle; Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights; source PDF pp. 56–57. Supplies chronological notices rather than a continuous life. **In this edition.** The displayed “8–A 10” locator retains the edition’s combined heading. Its editorial conversions and confident claims of an unshaken chronology must be separated from the sparse notices; the evidence supports chronological constraints more readily than an exact birthday. **See also.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse). ## On Nature {#entry-on-nature} *Περὶ φύσεως (Peri physeōs); Περὶ φύσεως τῶν ὄντων (Peri physeōs tōn ontōn)* **The word.** Peri physeōs means “On Nature”; the Suda’s expanded form means “On the Nature of Existing Things.” A transmitted title classifies subject matter, but its exact form need not have been fixed by the author in the way a modern book title is. **In this work.** The Life names On Nature as the work addressed to Pausanias and gives an abbreviated quotation of its opening. It later counts this work together with the Purifications as five thousand verses. The Suda instead describes two books On the Nature of Things containing about two thousand lines. These notices concern different bibliographical groupings, so their totals cannot simply be averaged. The testimonia distinguish titles and identify an addressee; they do not settle the modern dispute whether all surviving poetry came from one composition, two separate works, or a more complicated arrangement. The teacher traditions connect the work’s epic form to Parmenides or Xenophanes, while the rhapsodic and rhetorical material warns against imagining philosophical verse as exclusively private written exposition. What survives in this volume is evidence about the work’s classification, extent, and reception, not the complete poem itself. The notices also distinguish the work from the roles a later reader may assign its author. A dedication to Pausanias is evidence about a named address within the transmitted poem; it is not evidence that the work had only one reader. Likewise, a prose biography’s summary of roots, heavenly bodies, and successive embodiments does not reproduce the poem’s order. Diogenes places doctrinal summary beside the book-count, but the arrangement is his own closing survey of a Life. The lexicon therefore does not derive a table of contents from the sequence of topics in VIII 76–77. The relation between literary medium and intellectual subject is explicit elsewhere in the same dossier. Theophrastus’ reported comparison with Parmenides says that an account of nature was brought out in epic verse. Aristotle’s Poetics then uses the natural-philosophical subject to distinguish Empedocles from Homer despite shared metre. These are valuable witnesses to how the work was read, but neither cancels the other notices of Homeric diction, metaphor, or poetic accomplishment. A title describing nature does not settle the critical category “poetry.” The limits of the bibliographical evidence have practical consequences. A reconstruction should distinguish a transmitted title, an estimated extent, a reported book division, an attributed addressee, and surviving quotation. Those are five kinds of information, not interchangeable guarantees of one original codex or one authorially authorized edition. The Suda’s expanded title may identify the same physical poem, but the present dossier does not establish why its wording differs. Keeping the uncertainty explicit allows the title to remain useful as a navigation label without pretending that the lost work’s boundaries have been recovered.[^note-on-nature] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60; source PDF pp. 26–27. Names Pausanias as addressee and cites the opening in abbreviated form. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Gives a combined verse count for On Nature and Purifications. - **A 2 (testimony).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Supplies an expanded title, two-book arrangement, and a smaller count. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 55, reporting Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 18–21. Compares the presentation of an account of nature in epic verse with Parmenides. - **A 22–A 23 (polemical).** Aristotle, Poetics; source PDF pp. 74–75. Distinguishes the natural-philosophical writer from Homer despite shared metre. **In this edition.** At VIII 77 the editorial prose says Diels would halve five thousand, whereas the apparatus proposes “three thousand in all.” Neither modern restatement should be silently accepted as a secure ancient count. The Suda’s two thousand belongs to its own bibliographical notice. **See also.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## One and many {#entry-one-and-many} *πολλά τε καὶ ἕν (polla te kai hen); ἓν καὶ πολλά (hen kai polla); τὸ ἕν (to hen)* **The word.** The paired expressions mean “many and one” or “one and many.” They describe a problem of unity and plurality, not the opposition of numerical one to an arbitrary headcount of ordinary things. “The One” in A32 is a doxographic characterization with further theological and physical predicates. **In this work.** Plato’s A29 contrasts two manners of combining unity and plurality. The more strenuous Muses make their conjunction perpetual; the gentler Sicilian Muses make the All alternately one and friendly or many and hostile to itself. The edition identifies the latter with Empedocles. Plato is characterizing unnamed positions, and his contrast should not be mistaken for a literal poetic quotation. Aristotle’s A46 groups Empedocles with thinkers who separate contraries out of one mixture. The important distinction from Anaxagoras is recurrence: Empedocles’ process is periodic rather than once-only. A32 then describes the One as spherical, eternal and unmoved, and associates it with necessity. But the opening description is supplied from Stobaeus, and the passage’s translation has a consequential problem in its account of resolution into the Sphairos. The unity/plurality issue thus operates at several levels: unity of mixed constituents, the unity of the All at a phase of the cycle, and the One as a divine or necessary state. No single passage licenses replacing all these with an abstract monism in which the four cease to have explanatory standing.[^note-one-and-many] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 29 (testimony).** Plato, Sophist 242c-d; source PDF pp. 86–87. Contrasts perpetual unity-and-plurality with an alternating account attributed by interpretation to the Sicilian Muse. - **A 46 (testimony).** Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20; source PDF pp. 110–111. Groups Empedocles with one-and-many thinkers but distinguishes periodic separation. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Assigns spherical, eternal and unmoved predicates to the One in a supplemented opening. **In this edition.** The supplemented wording of A32 and the interpretative allusion of A29 have different evidentiary statuses. “One” is not automatically a synonym for the visible cosmos at every phase. **See also.** [All](#entry-all); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Opposites {#entry-opposites} *ἐναντίων (enantiōn); ἐναντιότητας (enantiotētas); ξηρότητός τε καὶ ὑγρότητος (xērotētos te kai hygrotētos)* **The word.** The forms denote opposites or contrarieties. Dryness and wetness, heat and cold, and softness and hardness are examples in the witnesses. The term can describe opposed powers, opposed qualities, or materials classified by such qualities; these are not automatically one identical scheme. **In this work.** The Homeric Allegories at A33 explains the nature of the four through opposites, naming dry and wet, while Aëtius’ nearby excerpt mentions heat and cold. Aristotle at A46 speaks of contraries separated out of the one in comparing Empedocles with other thinkers. Plato’s A48 supplies a fuller catalogue of hot/cold, dry/moist and soft/hard in an anonymous naturalist cosmogony. These passages show how later interpreters could make a root-theory intelligible through opposed qualities. They do not give a complete Empedoclean table assigning two defining qualities to each root. Nor does the juxtaposition of Love and Strife as opposite moving sources establish that every material contrary has a direct moral equivalent. The technical importance of the word lies in the kind of explanation it makes possible: bodies and worlds can arise as unlike conditions meet, fit or separate. Attribution remains decisive, since the most elaborate chance-and-necessity account is Plato’s polemical representation of unnamed thinkers rather than Empedocles speaking. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Interprets the roots through opposed sensible qualities. - **A 46 (testimony).** Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20; source PDF pp. 110–111. Places separation of contraries within a comparison of one-and-many theories. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Describes chance fitting and blending of several pairs of opposites. **In this edition.** Do not complete the excerpt’s lists by importing a later canonical quality-table. The ellipses and the differing authors make such completion especially unsafe. **See also.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Chance](#entry-chance). ## Opposition in perception {#entry-opposition-in-perception} *τῶι ἐναντίωι (tōi enantiōi); τοῖς ἐναντίοις (tois enantiois); τοῖς ἀνομοίοις (tois anomoiois)* **The word.** Enantios means opposite or contrary; anomoios means unlike. Although the dossier often places these expressions on the same side of a contrast with likeness, they are not lexical equivalents. “The opposite” may also stand for the water opposed to fire in an optical description. **In this work.** The opening classification associates perception by opposition with Anaxagoras and Heraclitus, rather than Empedocles. Yet opposition remains active within the account assigned to Empedocles: pain results from opposites, ignorance from unlikes, and a contrary restores an eye whose elemental balance is disturbed. An explanatory appeal to opposition is therefore not confined to membership in Theophrastus's initial school division. At §19 Theophrastus suggests that senses judge by opposites because they should approach their objects unaffected. This is his counterproposal, qualified by “rather, one might say,” not a further Empedoclean doctrine. At §23 he uses the parallel association of unlike with ignorance and pain to charge the system with an unwanted identification. The objection depends on treating shared causation as insufficiently differentiated; readers should not turn it into Empedocles' explicit statement that ignorance is painful. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 1–2 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 1; source PDF pp. 188–189. Assigns perception by the opposite to rival thinkers. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Says that the contrary is the cure for each imbalance of the eye. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Tentatively opposes sensory neutrality to like-by-like. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Connects the accounts of ignorance and pain through unlikes. **In this edition.** English “opposite” sometimes translates a relational contrast and sometimes names an elemental counterpart. In §8 the text is also supplemented, so apparent systematic neatness exceeds the unproblematic manuscript evidence. **See also.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend). ## Oracle of the heart {#entry-oracle-of-the-heart} *ex adyto tamquam cordis; responsa; certa ratione; Pythia; tripodi; lauroque* **The word.** Adytum is an inner or restricted shrine; responsa are answers, especially apt for oracular replies. Tamquam, “as though,” explicitly marks the analogy. Certa ratione introduces the contrasting authority of secure reasoning within this sacred vocabulary. **In this work.** Lucretius grants that Empedocles and the earlier thinkers made many admirable discoveries and delivered answers as though from an inner sanctuary of the heart. Those answers are called holier and more securely reasoned than the Pythia’s utterances from Apollo’s tripod and laurel. The image therefore transfers oracular prestige to philosophical discovery while subjecting it to a different standard. It does not report Empedocles’ participation in a Delphic institution, nor identify the heart metaphor with a physiological doctrine. The next lines insist that these great thinkers nevertheless failed at the first principles of things. The praise is qualified without being simply canceled. In the wider dossier, Aristotle compares ambiguous poetic speech unfavorably to divination; Lucretius reuses the religious field to praise rational achievement. The opposed uses reveal how a shared image can express different judgments about philosophical authority.[^note-oracle-of-the-heart] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Compares inward philosophical answers with the Pythia’s and immediately qualifies them through failure of principles. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Rhetoric; source PDF pp. 76–79. Provides the contrasting use of divination as an analogy for misleading assent. **In this edition.** The simile marker tamquam should not disappear from interpretation. The edition calls the method right and the answer wrong; Lucretius’ wording supports qualified admiration, but that concise formula is modern synthesis. **See also.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles). ## Order and disorder {#entry-order-and-disorder} *τάξις (taxis); ἀταξία (ataxia); τὸ καλὸν (to kalon); τὸ αἰσχρόν (to aischron)* **The word.** Τάξις is order or arrangement and ἀταξία its absence or disruption. Aristotle pairs them with beauty and ugliness or the fair and the shameful. The pairing shows that his account moves between arrangement and evaluation, rather than treating every term as a purely geometrical property. **In this work.** Aristotle’s A39 begins from an observation he presents as motivating a second principle: nature contains not only order and beauty but their opposites, allegedly with bad things more numerous than good. He then introduces Love and Strife as the respective causes. This explanatory narrative is Aristotle’s account of why an earlier thinker adopted two causes; it is not a historical anecdote in which Empedocles tells a listener his reasoning. The passage is especially useful for distinguishing cosmos-language from moralized order. A cosmos may be an ordered world produced during Strife’s dominance in Simplicius’ A52, even though Aristotle’s A39 aligns Strife with disorder. The two texts do not become consistent merely by translating cosmos as order; they speak from different interpretative perspectives. The entry therefore records a causal vocabulary of opposed conditions and values while resisting an automatic equation of every instance of orderly structure with Love alone. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Uses the presence of disorder and ugliness in nature to motivate the two-cause reconstruction. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Describes a cosmos of Strife, complicating a one-to-one moral equation of order with Love. **In this edition.** The claim that evils outnumber goods is part of Aristotle’s argumentative setting. It is not a quantified observation or a securely quoted Empedoclean doctrine. **See also.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife). ## Pain {#entry-pain} *λύπην (lypēn); λυπεῖσθαι (lypeisthai); ἀλγηδόνας (algēdonas); ὀχλήσεις (ochlēseis)* **The word.** Lypē is pain or distress, algēdōn pain, and ochlēsis disturbance or discomfort. The dossier's variation belongs to different witnesses and formulations. It should not be taken as a securely attested Empedoclean taxonomy of mental versus bodily suffering. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports pain from opposites, in contrast with pleasure from likes. Aëtius explains the opposition through composition: differing assemblies and elemental blends are alien to one another, and alien material produces distresses and pains. This account links felt discomfort to incompatibility between bodily constituents. The criticism hinges on painful perception. If perceiving works by likeness yet may itself hurt, pain cannot simply be excluded from encounters with the like. Theophrastus cites Anaxagoras's stronger claim that every perception involves pain, but that rival position is not Empedocles' doctrine or necessarily the critic's own unqualified conclusion. At §23 the supposed link between unlikeness and both ignorance and pain becomes a further unwanted consequence. These argumentative uses preserve a distinction between actual discomfort, the proposed physical conditions causing it, and an opponent's attempt to show that those conditions are insufficiently discriminating. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Assigns pain to opposites. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Uses painful perception and an Anaxagorean contrast to challenge the account. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Argues that ignorance would always have to be painful. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 230–231. Reports pain and disturbance from alien composition and blending. **In this edition.** The last words of A95’s second notice, “pains out of what is alien,” are supplied by Diels. They support the edition's restored contrast but should not be cited as unqualified manuscript wording. **See also.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Madness](#entry-madness). ## Panthea {#entry-panthea} *Πάνθειάν (Pantheian); ἀπηλπισμένην (apēlpismenēn); θεραπεῦσαι (therapeusai)* **The word.** Panthea is the personal name supplied by Hermippus. Apēlpismenēn describes someone for whom hope has been abandoned, here by physicians; therapeusai means to treat or cure. The vocabulary stages success after others have despaired. **In this work.** Hermippus says Empedocles cured a woman of Acragas called Panthea and held a sacrifice because of it, with about eighty invitees. The report thus gives the healing a named patient and a celebratory social occasion. It comes beside Heraclides’ breathless-woman narrative and the rival death stories, so it can function as an alternative explanation of the same narrative setting. But neither the name nor the details of abandonment establish that Panthea is securely identical with the woman allegedly preserved thirty days. The social consequence is clearer within the story than the medical mechanism: a cure produces gratitude, a feast, and a setting in which disappearance and divine status can be narrated. Panthea’s role should be retained without turning her into a modern documented patient or adding symptoms absent from Hermippus’ report. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 69, reporting Hermippus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Names Panthea and makes her cure the reason for the sacrificial gathering. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Provides the adjacent but differently framed breathless-woman narrative. **In this edition.** “Cured” follows the supplied translation; the excerpt gives no treatment and no independent verification of recovery. Identification with the unnamed woman is a hypothesis prompted by arrangement, not an explicit statement of identity. **See also.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer). ## Parental likeness {#entry-parental-likeness} *ὁμοιότητας (homoiotētas); ἀνομοιότητας (anomoiotētas); ἐπικράτειαν (epikrateian); similitudine liberorum* **The word.** Homoiotēs is likeness, anomoiotēs unlikeness, and epikrateia predominance. Censorinus' phrase concerns resemblance of children. “Heredity” is a convenient modern lookup term, but the reports discuss likeness without a modern genetic concept. **In this work.** Aëtius asks how resemblances to parents and ancestors arise, and assigns them to predominance of generative seeds. Unlikeness is explained by the evaporation of heat in the seed. The heading includes ancestors, but the compressed answer does not explain distinct routes for immediate parental and more remote resemblance. Censorinus presents a different and more elaborate thermal table: equal parental heat produces a male like the father, equal cold a female like the mother; hotter paternal seed with colder maternal seed produces a boy resembling the mother, while the reverse produces a girl resembling the father. The combinations separate sex from visible resemblance instead of assuming they always follow the same parent. Their exact causal mechanics remain unspecified. Nor does epikrateia mean modern genetic dominance: it names an ancient predominance of generative material or its contribution. The neighbouring imagination theory offers yet another explanation of resemblance to someone other than the parents and should not be made to validate the thermal scheme.[^note-parental-likeness] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, notice on likeness to parents and ancestors; source PDF pp. 174–179. Explains resemblance by predominance of generative seeds and unlikeness by loss of seed heat. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday, parental-temperature notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Gives four thermal combinations producing different pairings of sex and resemblance. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, maternal-imagination notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Provides a separate account of resemblance to non-parents. **In this edition.** The reporters preserve different theories or different compressions, not a verified common inheritance model. Censorinus' text contains corrections in this passage, and no genetic terminology should be silently imported into “predominance.” **See also.** [Seed](#entry-seed); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold). ## Parmenides {#entry-parmenides} *Παρμενίδου (Parmenidou); ζηλωτὴν (zēlōtēn); μιμητὴν (mimētēn)* **The word.** The genitive names Parmenides as a proposed teacher or model. Zēlōtēs is an emulator or admirer; mimētēs an imitator. These relational terms do not all assert the same historical contact as the verbs for hearing a teacher. **In this work.** Theophrastus, as reported by Diogenes, makes Empedocles an emulator of Parmenides and an imitator of his poems, explicitly because both presented an account of nature in epic verse. Alcidamas instead supplies a classroom scene in which Empedocles and Zeno hear Parmenides together before separating. The Suda adds an erotic relationship on Porphyry’s authority. Simplicius describes emulation and association but also stronger Pythagorean affiliation. These notices move between demonstrable literary comparison and biographical lineage. The safest use of the testimony is to preserve that distinction: similar verse form supports an ancient comparison even if direct pupilage remains uncertain. The debate over whether the exceptional wise man mentioned in the abbreviated quotation at VIII 54 is Pythagoras or Parmenides shows that even identifying a revered predecessor within Empedocles’ poetry was already contested. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 54–55, reporting Timaeus and Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 18–21. Distinguishes the disputed poetic identification and explicit formal imitation. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 56, reporting Alcidamas; source PDF pp. 22–25. Pairs Zeno and Empedocles as hearers of Parmenides. - **A 2 (biography).** The Suda, reporting Porphyry, History of Philosophers; source PDF pp. 48–49. Adds pupilage and beloved status. **In this edition.** Translation into the single English word “pupil” can conceal different claims: admiration, formal imitation, association, and personal instruction. The apparatus to A 7 also limits confidence about the exact extent of Theophrastus’ wording. **See also.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Zeno](#entry-zeno); [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Pausanias {#entry-pausanias} *Παυσανίαι (Pausaniai); Παυσανίας (Pausanias); Παυσανίην (Pausaniēn)* **The word.** Pausanias is the named addressee, companion, and medical associate who links several otherwise distinct parts of the tradition. The forms here are the source’s inflected forms of his personal name, not different people. **In this work.** Diogenes identifies him as the recipient of On Nature and reports that Empedocles instructed him about the breathless woman. The same notice, through Aristippus and Satyrus, calls him Empedocles’ beloved. Galen includes Pausanias beside Empedocles and Philistion among Italian physicians. These different functions should be retained rather than reduced to an undifferentiated “pupil.” In Heraclides’ disappearance narrative, Pausanias first organizes a search and then tells the company to sacrifice to the missing man as a god. His denial of the crater story likewise comes through the literary tradition, not an independently preserved affidavit. Timaeus invokes the absence of a memorial that a wealthy friend could have erected as an objection to the deification story. Finally, the musical anecdote’s unidentified young man is identified as Pausanias by Diels on the basis of Anchitos’ name. That reconstruction may explain a confused narrative, but is not explicit in Iamblichus’ displayed wording. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60; source PDF pp. 26–27. Connects dedication, medical instruction, and beloved status. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 61; source PDF pp. 28–29. Introduces the epigram upon Pausanias and prints its abbreviated opening Παυσανίην. - **A 3 (testimony).** Galen, On the Method of Healing; source PDF pp. 50–51. Names Pausanias among Italian medical figures. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 68, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Gives him an active role in the search and proposed divine honors. - **A 15 (apparatus).** Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, with the edition’s apparatus; source PDF pp. 62–63. The proposed identification of the youth as Pausanias is editorial. **In this edition.** The statement “Pausanias denied this story” at VIII 69 is mediated by Heraclides’ dialogue, as the apparatus warns. It should not be presented as surviving independent eyewitness testimony or a direct confirmation that he witnessed the historical death. **See also.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis). ## Perceptible {#entry-perceptible} *τὸ αἰσθητόν (to aisthēton); αἰσθητός (aisthētos); ἀναίσθητα (anaisthēta)* **The word.** Aisthētos means accessible to perception; as a substantive it designates the perceptible object. Its privative form in the taste testimony means imperceptible, not an assertion that the object lacks consciousness. **In this work.** Theophrastus measures pore widths against “the perceptible,” keeping the object of perception distinct from the channel through which it is encountered. Plato's Meno then makes perceptibility an explicit part of its definition of colour, alongside effluence and commensurability with sight. The definition is not simply “whatever fits”: it includes an experiential condition, although the dialogue does not here explain its relation to physical fit. Aristotle's taste report provides the complementary case. Kinds of flavour may be present in water yet imperceptible because of smallness. The sensible and the presently sensed are therefore not interchangeable categories. The excerpt licenses a distinction between presence and detectability; it does not supply a modern threshold theory or guarantee that every imperceptible ingredient later becomes perceptible by the same process. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Makes the perceptible object the standard relative to which passages are too large or too small. - **A 92 (reception).** Plato, Meno; source PDF pp. 226–227. Includes perceptibility in the definition of colour. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 228–229. Attributes to Empedocles flavours imperceptible through smallness. **In this edition.** The adjective in Plato is part of a staged Gorgian answer attributed broadly to an Empedoclean manner of explanation. It is not a verbatim definition recovered from the poem. **See also.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Flavour](#entry-flavour). ## Perception {#entry-perception} *αἴσθησις (aisthēsis); αἰσθάνεσθαι (aisthanesthai)* **The word.** Aisthēsis is perceiving or sensation; the corresponding verb means to perceive. In this dossier the word ranges between the occurrence of perception, a particular sense, and the functioning of a sensory capacity. It is primarily the vocabulary of the witnesses' exposition and criticism, rather than a securely quoted Empedoclean technical definition. **In this work.** Theophrastus begins by arranging theories of perception around likeness and opposition, then credits Empedocles with extending likeness to the individual senses. His positive account adds a mechanical requirement: something must fit the passages of the relevant sense. Perception therefore needs to be read at two explanatory levels, elemental affinity and the geometry of access. Sight, hearing, and smell receive different descriptions, while taste and touch receive no separate mechanism in his account. The objections are indispensable to understanding the limits of that exposition. Theophrastus asks why the same fit should not make lifeless things perceive, why inner fire is the perceiver rather than outer fire, and how perception begins if passages are always occupied. These are consequences he draws, not admissions attributed to Empedocles. Later he argues that a single mechanism cannot adequately distinguish perceiving, thinking, pleasure, pain, and ignorance. He also insists that reproducing a sound inside the ear does not yet explain hearing it. A lexicon must accordingly preserve distinctions that the polemic alleges have collapsed. Perception is not simply identical with mixture in an unqualified Empedoclean statement; that identification is a reductio at §12. Nor does the report of near-identity between thought and sensation settle every use of knowing in the chapter. The dossier presents a reconstruction under sustained critical pressure, not a neutral textbook of an intact system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 1–2 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 1; source PDF pp. 188–189. Places Empedocles among thinkers who explain perception by the like. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Explains perception through fitting and sense-specific passage widths. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 12; source PDF pp. 198–199. Infers that mixture, growth, and perception become indistinguishable without an added difference. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Charges the account with collapsing cognitive and affective states. **In this edition.** The English translation alternates “perception,” “sense,” and “perceiving” according to context. The introduction's praise of Theophrastus must not erase the difference between his report (§§7–11) and objections (§§12–24). **See also.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless). ## Perception under Love {#entry-perception-under-love} *ἐπὶ τῆς Φιλίας (epi tēs Philias); μὴ ἀπορρεῖν (mē aporrhein)* **The word.** The phrase means under Love or during Love's ascendancy; the infinitive means not to flow off. In this passage these words introduce a condition under which Theophrastus thinks the effluence account predicts diminished or absent sensation. **In this work.** The critic argues that perception should cease or decrease under Love because things are then being combined rather than flowing off. The objection links two explanatory levels: a local mechanism of sensation needs emissions, while the proposed cosmic condition promotes aggregation. If the two descriptions are applied without further distinction, their consequences seem incompatible. The qualification “or less” is important. The sentence is not simply an unequivocal report that Empedocles forbade every kind of sensation in a specified cosmic phase. It is a consequence Theophrastus derives, and its force depends on how thoroughly combining excludes outgoing material. The excerpt does not settle whether that condition applies to a complete union, to every stage of Love's growth, or to all possible cognitive operations. Those questions should remain open rather than being resolved by importing a detailed reconstruction of the cosmic cycle. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Infers no perception, or less of it, under Love because combination displaces effluence. **In this edition.** The edition connects the objection directly with the Sphere and says nothing moves or flows there. The printed ancient sentence here says “under Love” and should not silently acquire every detail of that editorial reconstruction. **See also.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Love](#entry-love); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Combination](#entry-combination). ## Phantom-like forms {#entry-phantom-like-forms} *εἰδωλοφανεῖς (eidōlophaneis); συμφυομένων τῶν μερῶν (symphyomenōn tōn merōn)* **The word.** Eidōlophaneis means image-like, apparition-like, or phantom-like in appearance. The accompanying phrase describes parts growing together. The unusual adjective qualifies the second generations in Aëtius, not an independently described class of immaterial spirits. **In this work.** After the initial separation of bodily parts, Aëtius places a stage in which the parts join and the resulting generations are phantom-like. The word suggests something recognizable in appearance yet not straightforwardly a complete ordinary living kind. It does not by itself enumerate monstrous combinations or explain their survival and failure. Those familiar reconstructions must be distinguished from what this particular report actually preserves. The contrast with the third, whole-natured generations gives the term its immediate force: a phase of assembly precedes a different kind of bodily completeness. But the distinction between the second and third remains compressed, and no description of a transition mechanism occurs here. Treating the adjective as a precise biological classification would overstate the source. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Qualifies the second generations, in which parts grow together, as eidōlophaneis. - **A 72 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 156–159. Gives a shorter joining-of-limbs account without this adjective or the fourfold division. **In this edition.** “Phantom-like” is a translation of a descriptive compound, not proof that these creatures are unreal or bodiless. The edition's phrase “seemings rather than animals” is an interpretive expansion. **See also.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births). ## Philosophers of Limbo {#entry-philosophers-of-limbo} *Empedoclès; più presso gli stanno; che il mondo a caso pone* **The word.** Empedoclès is the Italian name-form. “Stand nearer to him” describes ordering around the central philosophical authority identified in the editorial context as Aristotle. The phrase about making the world by chance belongs grammatically to Democritus, not Empedocles. **In this work.** Dante’s list places Empedocles with Diogenes, Anaxagoras, Thales, Heraclitus, and Zeno among the philosophers. The selected lines do not recount the crater story, describe the four roots, or give a judgment on his death. Their function is classificatory: the name occupies a recognized place in an inherited philosophical company. The appendix’s commentary supplies the larger Limbo setting and notes medieval commentators’ gloss that he wrote on nature and first principles. That gloss is evidence about later recognition of subject matter, not proof that Dante or the commentators possessed an intact Empedoclean poem. The entry matters because this reception mode differs from the more memorable volcanic legend: Empedocles can survive as a canonical thinker even when no distinctive anecdote is attached to his name.[^note-philosophers-of-limbo] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix II Dante IV (reception).** Dante, Inferno IV 135–138; source PDF p. 242. Lists Empedocles among philosophers; the chance-world clause explicitly qualifies Democritus. **In this edition.** The edition’s broad introduction to the appendix overstates the dominance of the crater among the printed examples. Neither this passage nor the separate Dante passage narrates the leap. Aristotle and the noble castle belong to the contextual note beyond the four quoted lines. **See also.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Physician and seer {#entry-physician-and-seer} *ἰητρὸν καὶ μάντιν (iētron kai mantin); ἰατρὸς (iatros)* **The word.** Iētros or iatros is physician; mantis is seer or diviner. The paired terms join healing with knowledge or authority beyond ordinary observation. Their conjunction does not itself decide whether a particular episode is medical treatment, religious performance, or legend. **In this work.** Heraclides, as reported by Diogenes, calls Empedocles physician and seer after recounting preservation of a woman apparently without breath and pulse. The biographer says the designation is also drawn from Empedocles’ verses, but prints only an abbreviated citation. The report thus joins a case narrative to poetic self-representation. Satyrus’ simpler physician-and-orator pairing and Galen’s medical grouping show that later authors could frame the same figure differently according to their purpose. The double designation is historically important precisely because the witnesses did not impose a modern separation of professional medicine and religious authority. It is not, however, evidence that the alleged thirty-day condition was physiologically possible or that a clinical diagnosis can be recovered. The Life’s movement from treatment to sacrifice and divine honors demonstrates how healing stories could support claims about exceptional status. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 61, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 28–29. Explains the double designation by a healing narrative and abbreviated verse citation. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 58, reporting Satyrus; source PDF pp. 22–25. Provides the different pairing of physician and orator. - **A 3 (testimony).** Galen, On the Method of Healing; source PDF pp. 50–51. Places Empedocles within medical rather than wonder-working history. **In this edition.** The crucial condition “without pulse” depends on an emendation, so the designation should not be explained by a securely observed clinical fact. The printed quotation from Empedocles is abbreviated and cannot supply its own complete context here. **See also.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Plague and foul air {#entry-plague-and-foul-air} *λοιμοῦ (loimou); δυσωδίας (dysōdias); νοσώδη (nosōdē); ἀγονίας (agonias)* **The word.** Loimos denotes plague or epidemic affliction without identifying a modern pathogen. Dysōdia is foul smell; nosōdēs means unhealthy or disease-bearing. Agonia in Clement’s notice concerns failure of reproduction, while other versions refer to crop failure or difficult childbearing. **In this work.** At Selinus the adjacent river’s foul emissions are said to cause death and obstetrical harm, and mixing its flow with other rivers removes the problem. In the wind dossier the causal medium is moving air: Plutarch calls the south wind heavy and unhealthy, while Clement adds barrenness among women. These are related environmental explanations but not identical diagnoses. The stories make collective health depend on surrounding water, terrain, and airflow, enabling the philosopher to act as civic benefactor. They do not establish germ theory, identify a specific disease, or prove that a particular engineering measure caused an observed decline in mortality. Acron’s separate treatment-by-fire report belongs to the same broad concern with managing conditions around the sick, but should not be merged with Empedocles’ interventions. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70; source PDF pp. 38–39. Attributes Selinus’ epidemic and reproductive harm to river malodor. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, On Being a Busybody; Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies; source PDF pp. 60–61. Makes unhealthy wind a cause of communal illness or barrenness. - **A 3 (testimony).** Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris; source PDF pp. 50–51. Reports Acron’s fires beside plague patients as a separate medical tradition. **In this edition.** The translation “miscarrying” at Selinus interprets δυστοκεῖν, whose range includes difficult childbirth. The lexicon retains the broader obstetrical sense rather than using it to diagnose one specific outcome. **See also.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper). ## Planets {#entry-planets} *πλανήτας (planētas); ἀνεῖσθαι (aneisthai)* **The word.** Πλανῆται are wanderers, here the planets contrasted with fixed stars. Ἀνεῖσθαι means to be released or left free. The phrase characterizes their relation to a surrounding structure, not freedom from every physical cause. **In this work.** Aëtius at A54 says that fixed stars are bound to the crystal but planets go free. This is a minimal yet substantive distinction between kinds of celestial motion or attachment. It presupposes the crystalline setting associated with the heaven in A51 without providing a detailed account of paths, speeds or causes. The report should not be expanded into a fully specified planetary system. It does not list the planets, assign distances, or explain why their wandering occurs. Achilles’ A55 mentions Kronos in an account of competing celestial orders, but that passage surveys opinions before attaching an Empedoclean verse to a lunar claim. The generic ordering there cannot automatically be made Empedocles’ own. The entry consequently retains the precise content of the notice: release from the binding that fixes the other stars. Anything more elaborate requires evidence that the excerpt does not furnish. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 54 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,11 (D. 342); source PDF pp. 122–123. Contrasts planets left free with fixed stars bound to the crystal. **In this edition.** Translate the physical contrast without importing modern concepts of independent orbits. The surrounding cosmological reports are too compressed to settle the exact mechanism of planetary freedom. **See also.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Stars](#entry-stars); [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment). ## Plant juices {#entry-plant-juices} *χυμῶν (chymōn); ὁμοιομερείας (homoiomereias)* **The word.** Chymoi can denote juices or flavours; this passage concerns their differences. Homoiomereiai, rendered “like-parted stuffs,” is the doxographic expression for the materials plants draw from their nourishment. It should not automatically be treated as Empedocles' own technical vocabulary. **In this work.** Aëtius explains differences among plant flavours through variations in the manifold earth and through different modes of uptake by plants. The account gives both the source material and the plant's drawing activity a role, though the ensuing example stresses the soil's decisive contribution to good wine. This should not be flattened into a claim that all flavour differences originate in the plant alone or in an undifferentiated ground. The term translated “like-parted” is especially delicate because it belongs to a wider ancient classificatory vocabulary associated with discussions of material composition. Its presence in a doxographical sentence does not replace Empedocles' four constituents with an indefinitely large set of independent ingredients. The report lacks enough detail to settle precisely how soil composition, affinity, and selective uptake interact. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Connects flavour differences with varied earth and differential drawing of like-parted materials. - **A 70 (testimony).** Plutarch, Table Talk; source PDF pp. 150–153. Describes plants drawing suitable water from their surroundings without sensation. **In this edition.** The apparatus supplies words meaning “through” and “earth” in the sentence on variation. The fluid/flavour range of chymos is likewise contextual; the English title should not conceal the translated passage's explicit concern with taste. **See also.** [Soil](#entry-soil); [Wine](#entry-wine); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Taste](#entry-taste). ## Plant sensation {#entry-plant-sensation} *ἀναισθήτως (anaisthētōs); sentire; desiderio; intellectum intellegentiamque* **The word.** Anaisthētōs means without sensation or imperceptibly, with the edition choosing the former in context. The Latin sentire means to perceive or feel; desiderio means by desire. These forms belong to different witnesses whose claims must not be amalgamated. **In this work.** Plutarch says that plants preserve what suits them by drawing water from their surroundings without sensation. Nicolaus' On Plants, in the Latin version transmitted through intermediary languages, attributes desire, sensation, pain, pleasure, intellect, and understanding to Anaxagoras, Empedocles under the name Abrucalis, and in one clause Democritus. At minimum, these reports stand in tension. Aëtius' statement that plants contain male and female principles does not resolve it, because sex and perception are different predicates. It is possible that differing uses of sensation or differing source traditions underlie the discrepancy, but the excerpt does not let us choose confidently. The safest account is therefore a dossier of attributed positions: an insensible uptake in Plutarch and a richly sentient plant in the mediated Nicolaus tradition. The conflict is evidence about transmission as well as plant philosophy. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Plutarch, Table Talk; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses anaisthētōs in describing plants drawing the suitable water. - **A 70 (testimony).** Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Attributes desire, feeling, pain, pleasure, and understanding in a mediated and grouped account. **In this edition.** The edition says that the two ends of transmission agree and that plant sensation is exactly what Aëtius says. The printed Aëtian notice does not actually assert sensation, and Plutarch's phrase resists the proposed harmony. **See also.** [Plants](#entry-plants); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain). ## Plant sex {#entry-plant-sex} *τὸν τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ τοῦ θήλεος περιέχειν λόγον (ton tou arrenos kai tou thēleos periechein logon); sexum in his permixtum* **The word.** The Greek says that plants contain the logos of male and female; the edition translates logos as “principle.” Nicolaus' Latin says that sex is mingled in them. These expressions mark a dual reproductive constitution without defining modern botanical sexual organs. **In this work.** Aëtius makes the inclusion of male and female depend on proportionate mixture. Plant reproduction thus belongs with the broader attribution of bodily properties to balanced constituents. The use of logos is important but not automatically identical with Aristotle's account of bone as a numerical ratio at A78: here it may mean principle, determining account, or constitutive relation. Nicolaus also attributes mingled sex to Empedocles and asks whether plants exhibit female sex, male sex, or a mixed kind. This mediated discussion reinforces the topic but does not establish that every plant was held to be individually hermaphroditic in a precise modern sense. Nor does the doctrine of mixed plant sex prove plant sensation; the reports differ on that separate question. Keeping reproduction and perception apart avoids the edition's tendency to make agreement about one validate agreement about all. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Connects the inclusion of male and female with the proportion of plant mixture. - **A 70 (testimony).** Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Reports mingled sex and discusses male, female, and mixed kinds in plants. **In this edition.** Logos is rendered “principle” here and “ratio” elsewhere. A lexical article should preserve that contextual difference rather than standardize every occurrence to a single technical meaning. **See also.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation). ## Plants {#entry-plants} *φυτοῖς (phytois); φυτῶν (phytōn); plantae* **The word.** Phyta names growing things or plants in the botanical contexts collected here. Aëtius begins with trees as the earliest zōia, living things, so “animals” is too restrictive for that opening use of the category. The Latin plantae belongs to the multiply translated treatise attributed to Nicolaus of Damascus. **In this work.** A70 presents plants as a major test of how a living body arises from physical constituents. Aëtius describes their priority, mixture, growth, fruit, leaves, flavours, and uptake from soil. The plant's composition includes the principle of both male and female, while its growth is compared to an embryo's relation to the womb. Theophrastus and Aristotle object that assigning roots and shoots to opposed elemental tendencies fails to explain a single growing organism. Plutarch describes plants as drawing suitable water without sensation. Nicolaus' mediated text attributes desire, sensation, pleasure, pain, and understanding to them. Those last testimonies do not say the same thing: the conflict over sensation is real and must not disappear beneath the modern editorial claim that all witnesses agree. The botanical collection consequently supports both continuity between plants and other living things and disputes about the character of that continuity. It cannot be reduced to either a modern mechanical plant or a securely reconstructed conscious plant. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Collects plant origins, mixed sex, growth, fruit, leaves, flavours, and nutrition. - **A 70 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 150–153. Criticize the partition of plant growth between elemental constituents. - **A 70 (testimony).** Plutarch, Table Talk; Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Give divergent claims about sensation and plant nourishment. **In this edition.** Nicolaus' form “Abrucalis” comes through a long translation chain and is itself not uniquely attached to Empedocles throughout that broader tradition. The edition's assurances of exact agreement are stronger than the printed evidence. **See also.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain). ## Pleasure {#entry-pleasure} *ἡδονὴν (hēdonēn); τὰς ἡδονὰς (tas hēdonas); ἥδεσθαι (hēdesthai)* **The word.** Hēdonē is pleasure; hēdesthai means to take pleasure. The vocabulary names an affective response whose relation to perception is central to the witnesses' arguments. It does not inherently designate a moral good or a philosophical aim. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports pleasure from things like the perceiver in parts and blend. Aëtius develops the account through deficiency and replenishment: what lacks something desires its like, and pleasure accompanies the fitting restoration. A second notice makes congenial and kindred blends the source of pleasure, contrasting alien material with distress and pain. Theophrastus objects that perception and pleasure are not coextensive. We can be pained in perceiving; moreover, if likeness and close affinity suffice, things naturally grown together ought to enjoy themselves and perceive most intensely. His formulation that pleasure and pain are perceptions or accompanied by perception is part of the critical argument, not an unambiguous quotation of Empedocles' own definition. The late cognitive objection again connects the mechanisms: if knowledge arises from likes and ignorance from unlikes, while pleasure and pain divide similarly, thought should always be pleasant and ignorance painful. This is a consequence the critic rejects. The entry must therefore distinguish the positive account of congenial replenishment from the polemical allegation that one physical mechanism collapses all experiential differences. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Reports pleasure from likes in parts and blend. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 16; source PDF pp. 202–203. Tests the association through perception and things naturally grown together. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Argues that the shared mechanisms would force thought always to accompany pleasure. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius, first and second notices; source PDF pp. 230–231. Connects pleasure with likeness, replenishment, and congenial blending. **In this edition.** A95 contains supplements and corrections, including an inserted ἐκ and supplied words in the final pain clause. Its unusually tidy parallel structure is partly editorially restored. **See also.** [Pain](#entry-pain); [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Thought](#entry-thought). ## Poet and metre {#entry-poet-and-metre} *ποιητὴν (poiētēn); τὸ μέτρον (to metron); μέτρωι (metrōi); egregium poema* **The word.** Poiētēs is poet; metron is metre or measured verse. The local controversy asks whether metrical form suffices to make a writer a poet. The Latin egregium poema, “excellent poem,” supplies a strikingly positive judgment within a different classificatory argument. **In this work.** Aristotle’s Poetics says Homer and Empedocles share only metre, so the latter should be called a natural philosopher rather than a poet. The scholia on Dionysius Thrax repeat the distinction and extend it to astronomical writers and metrical oracles, insisting on additional poetic characteristics without specifying them fully in the excerpt. Against this restrictive tradition, Diogenes transmits Aristotle’s praise of Empedocles as Homeric, skilled in diction and metaphor, while Menander recognizes a natural-hymn genre capable of accommodating his work. Lactantius hesitates between poet and philosopher; Cicero’s analogy about professional expertise casually acknowledges an excellent poem. These are not all votes for or against the same proposition. One passage defines an art, another praises style, another classifies hymns, and another challenges an inference from one practitioner to an entire profession. Their tension makes the entry a guide to the questions witnesses are asking, rather than an attempt to settle whether Empedocles is “really” a poet. Cicero’s example is especially easy to misread when detached from its analogy. He compares the proposed identification of natural philosophy and poetry with claiming that legal expertise includes ball-playing or draughts because Publius Mucius excelled at them. The point is that one person’s excellence in two activities does not collapse their categories. The excellent poem is conceded rather than denied. Using this passage as a simple vote that Empedocles was not a poet loses the argument’s logical structure. Lactantius likewise does not give the same verdict as the Poetics. His hesitation arises because Empedocles writes about nature in verse, as Lucretius and Varro do in Latin. The comparison recognizes an intelligible cross-language category of doctrinal verse even while the labels remain unsettled. Menander’s natural hymns provide another way of accommodating the mixture: a composition can expound physical nature through praise or interpretation of gods. That generic solution does not require defining all poetry by its subject alone. The testimonia consequently preserve at least four axes that a modern classification might accidentally merge: metre, manner of expression, subject matter, and recognized genre. Diogenes’ Aristotle praises manner; the Poetics argument distinguishes activity despite metre; Menander identifies a hymn type; Cicero separates professional categories without denying the poem’s quality. The word “poet” changes argumentative work across those axes. A granular lexicon should therefore retain the individual terms for metre, hymn, rhetoric, and metaphor beside this broader controversy. Their separation allows the reader to understand the ancient disagreement rather than inherit a tally of favorable and unfavorable verdicts. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 22–A 23 (polemical).** Aristotle, Poetics; source PDF pp. 74–75. Separates metrical form from the category of poetry. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Scholiast on Dionysius Thrax; source PDF pp. 76–79. Extends the metre-is-insufficient argument to other didactic and oracular writers. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57, reporting Aristotle, On Poets; source PDF pp. 22–25. Reports praise of Homeric diction and poetic resources. - **A 24–A 25 (reception).** Lactantius, Divine Institutes; Cicero, On the Orator; source PDF pp. 76–79. Preserves uncertainty and positive appraisal in distinct arguments. - **A 22–A 23 (reception).** Menander Rhetor; source PDF pp. 74–75. Offers natural hymns as an alternative generic classification of philosophical verse. **In this edition.** The edition’s summary that five of six witnesses deny Empedocles is a poet oversimplifies passages that acknowledge poetic excellence or distinguish poetic expression from scientific explanation. “Nothing in common except metre” is a polemical classification, not neutral description of every stylistic feature. **See also.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode). ## Political equality {#entry-political-equality} *ἰσότητος (isotētos); ἰσότητα δὲ πολιτικὴν (isotēta de politikēn)* **The word.** Isotēs is equality; the qualified phrase specifies equality in civic or political life. The testimonia apply it to honors and faction, not to a fully preserved constitutional theory or an assertion that every social distinction disappeared. **In this work.** In the Acron anecdote Empedocles opposes a request for a family monument by speaking about equality. Medical eminence is therefore denied an automatic claim to exceptional civic privilege. Neanthes’ account gives the principle a broader setting: after Meton’s death and the beginnings of tyranny, Empedocles urges the Acragantines to end faction and practice political equality. These are related representations of an aristocratically wealthy figure siding against unequal power. They do not amount to the text of an Empedoclean democratic program. Timaeus’ contrast between moderate civic conduct and self-exalting poetry also cautions against assuming that equality in political honors and exceptional religious status were automatically understood as consistent. The edition offers a reconciliation through the philosopher’s supposed escape from rebirth; that is a modern interpretation rather than the explanation supplied by the ancient witnesses. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 65, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Uses equality against Acron’s requested memorial privilege. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73, reporting Neanthes; source PDF pp. 42–45. Connects political equality with ending faction after Meton’s death. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (polemical).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 66, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Contrasts civic moderation with poetic self-presentation. **In this edition.** “Levelling” is the edition’s interpretive shorthand, not the only possible content of isotēs. The reports do not specify franchise, institutional offices, citizenship qualifications, or an equal distribution of wealth. **See also.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Political speeches {#entry-political-speeches} *πολιτικούς (politikous); πολιτείας (politeias)* **The word.** Politikous is an adjectival accusative with its noun left understood; the translation supplies “political speeches.” Politeia in the civic anecdotes denotes political life or conduct, a distinct sense from a work-title. **In this work.** The brief catalogue at VIII 58 attributes political speeches alongside tragedies. No title, text, audience, or occasion is given. It is therefore a narrow but significant bibliographical claim, especially beside the reports that Empedocles was an excellent orator and the first mover of rhetoric. The civic narratives present situations in which speech is decisive: prosecuting the dinner-party officials, arguing against Acron’s monument, and persuading the community to political equality. Those anecdotes do not identify themselves as extracts from the attributed political writings. Linking them can clarify the public image of Empedocles, but cannot recover the speeches or verify their authorship. Timaeus’ contrast between political conduct and poetic self-praise also depends on keeping action and literary persona distinguishable. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 58; source PDF pp. 22–25. Briefly lists political compositions beside tragedies. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 64–66, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Presents courtroom and civic argument, then contrasts conduct with poetry. **In this edition.** Because politikous lacks an explicit noun in the displayed Greek, “speeches” is an interpretive completion. The entry retains the edition’s translation while avoiding a claim that an independently titled collection is attested. **See also.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy). ## Popular politics {#entry-popular-politics} *δημοτικὸν (dēmotikon); τὰ δημοτικὰ φρονούντων (ta dēmotika phronountōn); τῶν πλουσίων (tōn plousiōn)* **The word.** Dēmotikos here characterizes someone as on the people’s side; the longer phrase describes people with popular political sympathies. It is less specific than a surviving statement of constitutional allegiance or membership in a modern political party. **In this work.** Timaeus’ dinner narrative is introduced as an explanation of why Empedocles was dēmotikos. The dissolution of the Thousand then prompts the explicit observation that he was both wealthy and popular-minded. That juxtaposition is the key semantic point: social resources and political alignment are not treated as identical. His reported gifts of dowries and public expenditure on rivers add a benefactor’s role, but benefaction alone should not be equated with democracy. Nor does the Life’s favorable political image erase the coercion in the dinner story, which ends with execution of two officials. The dossier constructs a protector of communal equality against elite abuse while preserving actions that demand critical rather than celebratory reading. The lexical evidence supports an ancient perception of popular sympathies, not a fully documented institutional career. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 64 and 66, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Explicitly characterizes popular sympathies and combines them with wealth. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73, reporting Neanthes; source PDF pp. 42–45. Adds the anti-faction and dowry narratives. **In this edition.** The English “democrat” can be useful if marked as a broad ancient political characterization. It should not imply a known platform or import modern electoral institutions into these anecdotes. **See also.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Dowries](#entry-dowries); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused). ## Pores {#entry-pores} *πόρους (porous); πόροι (poroi); κοῖλα (koila); λεπτομερεστέρου (leptomeresterou)* **The word.** Πόροι are passages or ways through; κοῖλα means hollows. The reports use the terms for structures through which one body acts on another or perception occurs. A passage is not, simply by the meaning of the word, an empty vacuum. **In this work.** Aristotle at A87 explains a general pore account of acting and being acted upon, including sight, hearing and other perceptions. Transparent materials have passages too small to see, close-packed and aligned. He then explicitly associates Empedocles with mixing when the pores of ingredients are commensurate. This links the material theory of mixture to sensory fitting without making every sentence in the introductory collective account a uniquely Empedoclean claim. The critical difficulty is whether passages are empty. Philoponus first argues that a body cannot be continuous passage throughout, since it would then be entirely void. He concludes that touching solid indivisible parts must be separated by empty spaces, which he calls Empedocles’ pores. Yet other passages attributed to Philoponus insist that pore-theorists did not posit empty passages: they filled them with finer material, such as air, and thus differed from void-theorists. The first is an inference about what the theory must imply, the second a distinction of stated commitments. Theophrastus at A86 §§12–13 had already pressed a related dilemma. Empty pores contradict the denial of void, while full pores threaten constant perception if fitting like material is sufficient. The continuation asks where unlike material filling a passage withdraws when perception occurs. These are criticisms, not a report that Empedocles explicitly accepted either horn. Pseudo-Philoponus finally describes passages and solid parts in sublunary bodies, using hollows and close-packed parts. This is a different attributed commentator, not simply the same author resolving his earlier statements. The dossier shows how the pore model could be reconstructed, criticized and defended in different ways; it does not authorize silently converting it into atomism.[^note-pores] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 87 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Links pores to perception, transparency and, explicitly for Empedocles, commensurate mixing. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. First infers void and indivisible solids, but other excerpts distinguish pores filled with finer bodies from void. - **A 87 (testimony).** Pseudo-Philoponus, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 214–217. Calls passages hollows and solid parts close-packed in sublunary bodies. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 13; source PDF pp. 198–199. Presents the empty-or-full dilemma against the sensory account. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 14; source PDF pp. 200–201. Asks where material already filling the passages goes when perception occurs. **In this edition.** The final A87 notice is Pseudo-Philoponus, not Philoponus proper. Its reference to On Coming-to-be and Passing-away points to the Aristotelian discussion; it must not be turned into the title of a lost Empedoclean book. **See also.** [Void](#entry-void); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium). ## Power {#entry-power} *δυνάμεις (dynameis); ἑνωτική (henōtikē); διαιρετικόν (diairetikon)* **The word.** Δυνάμεις are powers or capacities. Aëtius qualifies the pair as original or principal powers and distinguishes the unifying from the dividing. The term describes causal efficacy in the cosmos, not the individual sensory or intellectual faculties discussed elsewhere in the volume. **In this work.** At A33 Aëtius lists four elements and two original powers, Love and Strife. The one unifies and the other divides. This is a compact analytical account of how persistent materials can participate in change: the inventory of constituents does not itself suffice without a description of their moving relations. The distinction resembles Simplicius’ A28 account of Love and Strife as principles by which the elements are moved. Yet both witnesses organize the material in later prose categories. One should not turn “power” into an exact quotation from Empedocles, or assume the modern distinction between force and matter resolves the ancient problem. Simplicius himself reports difficulty because the powers can be given active status and also ranked alongside the roots. Aristotle at A37 adds the problem that each apparent operation entails its opposite at another level: uniting unlike roots separates like portions, and dividing unlike roots combines like portions. Thus a “unifying power” needs its object specified. The vocabulary establishes a causal role but does not eliminate the interpretative question of how consistently that role operates across the cycle. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Names Love and Strife as two original powers, identifying their unifying and dividing functions. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Provides the corresponding distinction between moved bodily elements and moving principles. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Challenges a simple one-operation account of each power through the reciprocal effects of combination and separation. **In this edition.** Keep this cosmological use separate from bodily faculty-language. Shared dynamis vocabulary across witnesses does not demonstrate that a sense faculty and Love or Strife are the same kind of entity. **See also.** [Principle](#entry-principle); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Faculty](#entry-faculty). ## Praise and blame {#entry-praise-and-blame} *ἐπαινούμενος (epainoumenos); κακῶς ἀκούων (kakōs akouōn); ἡσθήσομαι (hēsthēsomai); λυπηθήσομαι (lypēthēsomai)* **The word.** The participles mean being praised and hearing ill spoken of oneself. The future verbs contrast taking pleasure and feeling distress. The saying turns on the reciprocity of emotional responses to favorable and unfavorable judgments. **In this work.** Asked why he resents criticism, the attributed Empedocles answers that otherwise he would not enjoy praise. The force lies in treating both responses as expressions of one receptivity to public valuation. It is not a recommendation to seek every compliment or retaliate against every insult, and it does not prove that the historical Empedocles was unusually thin-skinned. In the wider Life, reputation repeatedly matters: civic honors, divine claims, and Timaeus’ accusation of self-love all involve how the figure is seen. Those parallels explain why the saying fits the received persona, but fitness is not authenticity. The gnomological form can attach a plausible ethical observation to a famous name without preserving an original occasion. The passage is best used as a compact reception text about the costs of caring for reputation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 20 (reception).** Paris Gnomology; source PDF pp. 70–71. Makes pleasure at praise and pain at blame mutually dependent. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (polemical).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 66, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Provides a distinct critical judgment of boastfulness and self-love. **In this edition.** The edition praises the saying as a genuine argument, but soundness or psychological plausibility does not authenticate its attribution. No date or interlocutor is supplied. **See also.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality). ## Prelude to Apollo {#entry-prelude-to-apollo} *προοίμιον εἰς Ἀπόλλωνα (prooimion eis Apollōna); τὸ μὲν προοίμιον (to men prooimion)* **The word.** Prooimion is a prelude or opening composition; eis Apollōna identifies its divine addressee. The term need not mean that the surviving physical poem began with this lost piece. **In this work.** The Life lists the Apollo prelude among additional poems associated with Empedocles’ poetic skill. It reports that a female relative burned it accidentally, while deliberately burning the unfinished Persian poem. The relative’s identity varies between sister and daughter, with Hieronymus attached to the latter account. This is a concrete narrative of loss, but no lines of the prelude are quoted in the passage. Menander’s description of natural-philosophical hymns gives Apollo as an example of a deity explained as a natural power. The edition identifies his reference with the burned prelude; that is a possibility, not a demonstrated transmission path. A generic example of hymn interpretation is not sufficient evidence that Menander read this particular poem, much less that a complete text survived its reported burning. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57, reporting Aristotle, On Poets, and Hieronymus; source PDF pp. 22–25. Names the prelude and the story of accidental destruction. - **A 22–A 23 (reception).** Menander Rhetor; source PDF pp. 74–75. Classifies natural hymns through interpretations of Apollo and other gods. **In this edition.** The apparatus to A 22–23 asserts identity with the burned hymn more firmly than the excerpts warrant. The lexicon distinguishes the attributed work from Menander’s genre example. **See also.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Primordial day {#entry-primordial-day} *τὸ βραδυπορεῖν τὸν ἥλιον (to bradyporein ton hēlion); ἐν μιᾶι ἡμέραι (en miai hēmerai)* **The word.** Bradyporein means to travel slowly. The phrase assigns that slowness to the sun, and the duration of a day follows from it. “In one day” is the time within which the difficult concluding sentence situates an infant's growth. **In this work.** Aëtius reports a world whose earliest human generation occurred under a day as long as ten current months, followed by a stage when a day matched seven months. The explanation makes cosmic movement historically variable and connects that change to reproductive timing. It should not be read as a measurement of ancient terrestrial rotation: the stated agent is the slowly travelling sun. Nor does it prove that the whole cosmos was steadily improving or that every biological time-scale changed in the same way. The earthborn setting ties the account to zoogony, but the report does not align the two long-day stages with each of A72's four generations. Its secure conceptual interest is a relation between changing cosmic motion and remembered or inherited bodily duration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 75 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 162–163. Explains long early days by the sun's slow travel and associates two lengths with birth terms. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Separately places the first trees before the distinction of day and night. **In this edition.** The closing sentence is probably damaged. The edition's attractive metaphor of viable terms as fossils of earlier days is interpretive; the printed report does not explain a mechanism of inherited temporal memory. **See also.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Sun](#entry-sun); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt). ## Principle {#entry-principle} *ἀρχάς (archas); ἀρχὰς (archas); ἀρχικὰς δυνάμεις (archikas dynameis)* **The word.** Ἀρχή can mark a beginning or an explanatory principle. The plural is applied in different ways in the reports: Aëtius speaks of two original powers, while Simplicius counts six principles by including the four bodily constituents. The term is therefore a classification to be examined, not an automatically fixed six-item Empedoclean formula. **In this work.** At A28 Simplicius calls Love and Strife the principles “properly” so called because they move the elements. He nevertheless concludes that the principles number six. This double use both distinguishes mover from material and brings them under a common explanatory heading. His following criticism reports difficulty in assigning Love and Strife active power in one place and equal standing with the four in another. Aristotle’s A37 emphasizes a different achievement: Empedocles divides the source of motion into opposed causes. A39 then considers good and evil as principles, but only by reconstructing what Empedocles’ meaning ought to have been. Hippolytus at A31 adds an assimilative account of the universe’s principle beside the monad’s fire. These passages show that “principle” is a privileged site of later system-building. A reader should ask in each case what is being made primary: a constituent, a mover, an ethical explanation or an original cosmic condition. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Distinguishes the two proper moving principles while arriving at six principles overall. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Describes Love and Strife as two original powers, one unifying and the other dividing. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Considers whether good and evil may properly be called Empedoclean principles. **In this edition.** The edition correctly warns that no quoted fragment here counts six principles. Retain the explanatory usefulness of the classification without presenting it as an explicit line of the poem. **See also.** [Roots](#entry-roots); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Monad](#entry-monad). ## Pseudonymous witnesses {#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses} **The word.** A pseudonymous or dubiously attributed work circulates under a name whose authorship is not accepted or is explicitly qualified. The prefix Pseudo in the supplied edition is an attribution warning. It does not mean that the reported doctrine is necessarily invented, nor does it license citation as the securely named author. **In this work.** The volume contains school compilations and later accounts whose headings preserve this distinction. A collection of problems printed under Aristotle’s name, a treatise on breath, and a report under Galen’s name do not all acquire the same date, intellectual setting or authority merely because those names appear in their transmission. Their lexical evidence remains useful when its immediate context is identified. The difficulty is especially visible in a long grouped dossier: a nearby authentic Aristotelian passage may be followed by a Pseudo-Aristotelian one, and the change of heading changes the source of the claim. The lexicon therefore retains the qualified witness names rather than assimilating everything in the dossier to its most famous author. A title cited inside a commentary must also be distinguished from the title of Empedocles’ own work; the reference to On Coming-to-be and Passing-away in A 87 belongs to the commentator’s Aristotelian context. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 69 (testimony).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 146–147. The physical questions belong to the qualified attribution printed by this edition. - **A 77 (testimony).** Pseudo-Galen, Medical Definitions; source PDF pp. 166–167. The report on bodily processes is not silently reassigned to a securely authored work of Galen. - **A 78 (polemical).** Pseudo-Aristotle, On Breath; source PDF pp. 168–171. A challenge involving mixture ratios and different animals is distinct from the authentic Aristotelian passages gathered nearby. - **A 87 (testimony).** Pseudo-Philoponus, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 214–217. The commentary context and its reference to an Aristotelian work must not create a new Empedoclean book title. **In this edition.** The qualifications here follow the supplied headings and apparatus. They are not an independent authentication of the works, and the absence of a Pseudo prefix elsewhere is not proof of secure authorship. **See also.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Breathing](#entry-breathing). ## Purification of soul {#entry-purification-of-soul} *ex animi purgamento; purgamento* **The word.** Purgamentum belongs to the Latin family of cleansing or purgation. In this sentence ex animi purgamento is rendered “from a purification of the soul.” The exact conceptual relation between a purge, what is purged, and a purifying experience is not explained by the excerpt. **In this work.** Caelius Aurelianus attributes to followers of Empedocles a distinction between this purgative condition and mental derangement arising from a bodily cause or disorder. The writer then selects the bodily kind for his medical treatment. That selection makes the other kind visible without developing its mechanism or status. The phrase may reasonably be compared with wider Empedoclean purification traditions, but the comparison has limits. The sentence neither prints the Greek title Katharmoi nor names a poem, a medical treatise, a ritual procedure, or a doctrine of transmigration. Purgamentum is not automatically an explicit Latin citation of a book title. The volume's note claiming that the testimony names the Purifications and medical writings in one sentence therefore misdescribes the printed evidence. What is actually attested is a reported distinction involving soul-purgation among later followers. Preserving that narrower result makes the testimony more, not less, useful by keeping its remarkable content apart from an unsupported bibliographic conclusion. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Reports a kind of condition arising ex animi purgamento among followers of Empedocles. **In this edition.** The translation “purification of the soul” is interpretive Latin-to-English wording, not proof that the lost source used katharmos. No original Greek form should be reconstructed here merely from the title of the companion poem. **See also.** [Madness](#entry-madness); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration). ## Purifications {#entry-purifications} *Καθαρμῶν (Katharmōn); Καθαρμοὶ (Katharmoi); Καθαρμοὺς (Katharmous)* **The word.** Katharmoi is the plural title translated “Purifications.” Its lexical connection is to purification, but the title alone does not specify the complete rites, arguments, or arrangement of the lost work. In the Life it functions as a recognizable poetic title. **In this work.** Diogenes invokes its opening to confirm the author’s Acragantine identity and cites the self-presentation that Timaeus finds boastful beside his reported civic moderation. The work was therefore read both as religious speech and as evidence about a public persona. The recitation notice is a further, distinct kind of evidence: Cleomenes the rhapsode reportedly performed the Purifications at Olympia. That account makes the work available to a public festival audience, rather than a text necessarily confined to initiates. Diogenes’ combined count with On Nature demonstrates a transmitted distinction between titles, but does not decide the physical arrangement or original separateness of all material now attributed to them. The medical notice at A 98 concerns followers of Empedocles and a purification of the soul; it is relevant to the range of purificatory language, but should not be promoted into a direct citation of this title. The plural title and the public voice pull interpretation in different directions that need not be exclusive. “Purifications” can suggest actions or conditions concerned with religious fitness, while a professional rhapsode’s performance suggests communicable verse with an audience beyond a narrowly defined ritual setting. The testimony does not tell us whether the recital included practical prescriptions, narrative, exhortation, self-presentation, or all of these. Its first-person address should therefore not be equated automatically with a transcript of an actual arrival in Acragas. A performance by Cleomenes would itself demonstrate that the speaking “I” could be voiced by someone other than the historical author. Timaeus’ use of the poem is a separate interpretive operation. He compares its grand self-presentation with political moderation and finds a mismatch. That judgment makes poetry a source for character, but the inference from literary voice to personality is precisely what a modern reader should inspect. The edition proposes that religious liberation and indifference to rank might explain the apparent contradiction. This is a possible philosophical reconciliation, not a report of Empedocles explaining his own political behavior. The closing doctrinal summary in Diogenes says the soul assumes animal and plant forms and gives an abbreviated quotation as support. That material helps orient a reader toward the religious questions associated with the corpus, but it still does not assign every relevant fragment to this title. Similarly, Caelius Aurelianus’ later reference to followers and purification of the soul may show that purificatory language remained relevant to medical classification. It does not name the poem or establish that his account is a direct exegesis of it. The title’s importance is thus secure within ancient reception even when the precise work-boundaries and later lines of influence remain open. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 54; source PDF pp. 18–21. Identifies the opening of the Purifications as civic self-identification. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (polemical).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 66, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Uses the divine self-presentation to contrast poetry and politics. - **A 11–A 12 (testimony).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, reporting Dicaearchus, Olympic Discourse; source PDF pp. 58–59. Reports public recitation by Cleomenes. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Counts its verses jointly with On Nature. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Gives the adjacent summary of successive animal and plant embodiments. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Uses soul-purification language about followers of Empedocles without naming the poem. **In this edition.** The abbreviated quotations printed in the Life do not reproduce the complete openings or self-divinizing passage. The commentary’s connection between Latin purgamentum at A 98 and this title is interpretive, not an explicit ancient bibliographical cross-reference. **See also.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul). ## Purifier {#entry-purifier} *καθαρτὴς (kathartēs); Ἐπιμενίδην (Epimenidēn)* **The word.** Kathartēs is a purifier, an agent noun related to purification. Nicomachus assigns this epithet to Epimenides of Crete, not to Empedocles. Its presence near the Empedoclean wind-title is comparative evidence and must not be reassigned to the principal subject of the collection. **In this work.** Nicomachus groups Empedocles, Epimenides, and Abaris as people who shared extraordinary powers associated with Pythagoras. He takes their poems and characteristic epithets as indications of what they accomplished: Empedocles averts winds, Epimenides purifies, and Abaris walks on air. The purifier therefore helps define the category into which this witness places Empedocles, even though it names another person’s characteristic activity. The comparison may suggest a shared field of religious expertise, but it gives no specific purification rite performed by Empedocles and does not demonstrate that the title Purifications derives from Epimenides. Its value is taxonomic: a later author groups different forms of exceptional action under one inherited source of power. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 13–A 14 (legend).** Nicomachus, on the wonders of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 60–61. Assigns the purifier epithet to Epimenides within the trio that includes Empedocles and Abaris. **In this edition.** The Greek word is genuinely present but belongs to Epimenides. This distinction is important in a lexicon whose headwords may otherwise make every term appear to be an Empedoclean self-designation. **See also.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Putrefaction {#entry-putrefaction} *σήψει (sēpsei); σηπεδόνα (sēpedona)* **The word.** Sēpsis and sēpedōn name putrefaction or decay. The two grammatical forms occur in different contexts: a medical answer about digestion and a Platonic question about the generation of living things. Shared vocabulary does not make their attribution equally direct. **In this work.** Pseudo-Galen explicitly assigns digestion by putrefaction to Empedocles. In the Phaedo, Socrates recalls asking whether living creatures are nourished into being when the hot and cold undergo a kind of putrefaction, as some people said. Plato names no author of that view. The edition identifies it with Empedocles by comparison with other evidence, including B68. This distinction is essential: one passage reports a named digestion theory, while the other dramatizes a question in a retrospective account of natural inquiry. It is possible to use them together as evidence for the range of ancient physiological processes called putrefaction, but not to make Plato deliver a direct Empedoclean quotation. Nor does either excerpt specify microbial action or the modern biochemical processes associated with decay. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 77 (testimony).** Pseudo-Galen, Medical Definitions; source PDF pp. 166–167. Explicitly names Empedocles as explaining digestion through sēpsis. - **A 76 (reception).** Plato, Phaedo; source PDF pp. 164–165. Presents an unnamed view of the hot and cold undergoing putrefaction before living things arise. - **A 76 (apparatus).** Diels and modern editorial commentary; source PDF pp. 164–165. Connect the unnamed position with Empedocles and B68. **In this edition.** Sprengel's conjecture substitutes “moist” for “cold” in the Platonic question. The printed passage retains cold; neither version should be treated as an independently quoted Empedoclean formula. **See also.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Generation](#entry-generation). ## Pythagoreans {#entry-pythagoreans} *Πυθαγορικοὶ (Pythagorikoi); Πυθαγορείων (Pythagoreiōn); Πυθαγορικὸς (Pythagorikos)* **The word.** These forms name the Pythagoreans or characterize someone as Pythagorean. In the testimonia the label can imply a teaching lineage, a communal discipline, an ethical practice, or inherited extraordinary powers. Those uses should not be collapsed into formal membership in one documented institution. **In this work.** The Life offers incompatible accounts of direct instruction by Pythagoras, contact with his followers, and mediation through Telauges, Hippasus, or Brotinus. Neanthes explicitly distrusts the circulating letter attributed to Telauges. Simplicius’ notice emphasizes proximity to the Pythagoreans, but the apparatus questions whether that clause belongs to the Theophrastean source. Other witnesses make the affiliation do explanatory work: Athenaeus derives abstention from living creatures from Empedocles’ Pythagorean identity; Nicomachus places wind-aversion among powers shared by Pythagoras’ successors; Iamblichus casts musical restraint as a model of ethical discipline. The scholium on rhetoric extends a teaching genealogy back to Pythagoras. These are different forms of appropriation. They testify strongly to an enduring Pythagorean reading of Empedocles, while leaving the details of instruction and institutional connection uncertain. The stories of unauthorized publication also show that the tradition imagined a tension between restricted discourse and poetry accessible to a wider public. Three transmission problems recur in the educational accounts. First, a direct relationship with Pythagoras is not equivalent to association with people called Pythagoreans. Second, a letter bearing Telauges’ name is a document attributed to a member of the lineage, not automatically an authentic contemporary letter. Third, the verbs for hearing, meeting, emulating, and imitating indicate different relations. Diogenes preserves those distinctions even when later summaries compress them into pupilage. A lexicon reader should therefore ask not only who supposedly taught Empedocles, but what kind of connection each witness’s word actually asserts. The school-label also has different argumentative functions outside the teacher lists. In Athenaeus it explains a ritual substitution that maintains festival participation without sacrificing a living ox. In Nicomachus it unifies several extraordinary epithets despite the different deeds they name. In the musical story the ethical transformation of a violent youth exemplifies the power of disciplined performance. The scholium on rhetoric, by contrast, makes the designation a bridge in a genealogy of intellectual arts. None of these functions requires that the source possessed a membership register or a continuous institutional history. They reveal a flexible classificatory tradition through which Empedocles’ ethics, powers, teaching, and reputation could be made intelligible. The poetry-publication conflict belongs within that flexibility. One report treats access to discourse as conditional and revocable; another says teachings were shared until publication changed the rules. The disagreement is itself evidence that later writers used Empedocles to think about who could possess, disclose, and perform philosophical knowledge. It cannot simply be converted into an established rule that all Pythagorean learning was always secret.[^note-pythagoreans] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 54–55; source PDF pp. 18–21. Compiles disputed teachers, publication stories, and criticism of the Telauges letter. - **A 7 (testimony).** Simplicius, On the Physics; source PDF pp. 54–55. Calls him especially close to the Pythagoreans, with an attribution caution in the apparatus. - **A 11–A 12 (biography).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters; source PDF pp. 58–59. Connects Pythagorean identity with abstinence. - **A 13–A 14 (legend).** Nicomachus, on the wonders of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 60–61. Groups extraordinary powers under a Pythagorean lineage. - **A 15 (legend).** Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 62–63. Presents music-mediated restraint as ethical transformation. - **A 19 (testimony).** Scholiast on Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 68–69. Uses Pythagorean identity to extend the genealogy of rhetoric. **In this edition.** The edition sometimes supplies a tidy formula, Parmenides for argument and Pythagoras for life. That synthesis is interpretive; no quoted witness establishes such an exclusive division of influence. **See also.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses); [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides). ## Quality {#entry-quality} *ἄποιον (apoion); ποιὸν (poion); ἰδιότητα (idiotēta)* **The word.** Ἄποιον means without quality; τὸ ποιόν is the qualitative aspect; ἰδιότης names a distinctive property. These are the explanatory and critical terms of the later witnesses. They must not be quoted as Empedocles’ own philosophical vocabulary. **In this work.** Philoponus at A41 alleges that the Sphairos produced under Love is qualityless: neither fire’s property nor any other root’s proper character remains. He uses the claim to argue against the system’s consistency. If unchangeable roots lose what distinguishes them, their invariance seems no longer secure. The testimony is important precisely because this is a difficulty raised by a critic, not an uncontested description furnished by a fragment. A44 contrasts qualitative alteration with quantitative aggregation. In that collective doxographic classification, Empedocles and other compound-building thinkers allow apparent generation and destruction through assembly and separation rather than qualitative transformation of their ultimate constituents. Taken together, the two passages expose the disputed boundary between new qualities of compounds and changes in the constituents themselves. They do not settle it by declaring every perceptible difference unreal. A32’s description of the Sphairos as uniform is weaker than Philoponus’ explicit qualitylessness. A reader should not use the former as automatic corroboration of the latter, particularly when the roots’ continued identity is the very point under dispute. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. Makes qualitylessness of the Sphairos the premise of an inconsistency argument. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Distinguishes qualitative alteration from quantitative aggregation in a collective classification. **In this edition.** The word ἄποιον is Philoponus’ description. It does not establish that Empedocles expressly denied every property to the Sphairos or that uniformity necessarily meant qualitative extinction. **See also.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Form](#entry-form); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Quantity](#entry-quantity). ## Quantity {#entry-quantity} *πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι (plēthei kai oligotēti); ποσὸν (poson); συναθροισμοῦ (synathroismou)* **The word.** The phrase πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι means by more and fewer, or by abundance and paucity. Τὸ ποσόν is the quantitative aspect contrasted with quality; συναθροισμός is gathering or aggregation. These expressions describe changing composition without requiring new ultimate constituents. **In this work.** Aristotle and the Theophrastean report at A28 agree that the enduring four change in respect of more and fewer through combination and separation. This is not yet a complete doctrine that every substance is exhaustively defined by a numerical recipe. It marks the level at which the roots can vary while remaining eternal. Aëtius at A44 makes the contrast explicit by classifying generation as quantitative aggregation rather than qualitative alteration. The passage groups several different thinkers and must not be read as proof that all their accounts of quantity are identical. A33 adds proportion and blending, which introduces relations among quantities rather than mere accumulation. The ratio accounts elsewhere in the volume can elaborate that possibility, but cannot be read backward into every occurrence of “more” and “fewer.” The headword helps preserve three related but distinct claims: varying amounts of constituents, assembling bodies from fine material, and determining a compound through a proportion. The reports support comparison among them without erasing their differences. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 3; Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Explains changes among enduring roots through more and fewer in combination and separation. - **A 44 (testimony).** Aëtius I 24,2 (D. 320); source PDF pp. 108–109. Contrasts quantitative aggregation with qualitative alteration. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; source PDF pp. 92–95. Connects the formation of the All with proportion and blending. **In this edition.** “More and fewer” need not mean an ancient atomic count. The notices do not give an exact unit, and the sub-elemental particle reports remain separately contested. **See also.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments). ## Quickness {#entry-quickness} *ὀξεῖς (oxeis); ὀξύτητα (oxytēta); πυκνὰ (pykna); τεθραυσμένα (tethrausmena)* **The word.** Oxys means sharp or quick, and oxytēs sharpness or speed. Here the context is rapid behaviour and the movement of blood. Pykna and tethrausmena describe dense and broken-up constituents in the reported physical explanation. **In this work.** Theophrastus says people whose elements are densely arranged and broken into small pieces move quickly and take on many things, but complete few because of the rapid movement of their blood. The resulting portrait is not a simple equation between speed and intelligence. The best cognitive mixture requires an appropriate mean in spacing and size, whereas this case explains a kind of ineffective rapidity. The detail is important for distinguishing intellectual capacity from temperament-like performance. A person may be quick without bringing undertakings to completion, just as another may work slowly and laboriously. But the testimony does not name a modern attention disorder or establish a measurable physiological syndrome. Its explanatory terms remain elemental arrangement, blood movement, and observed patterns of activity as mediated by Theophrastus. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Connects dense small constituents, rapid blood movement, and many unfinished undertakings. **In this edition.** The apparatus reads πολλοῖς by Wimmer against manuscript πολλά. The printed construction supports “setting their hand to many things,” but its detailed wording should not be treated as unproblematic transmitted verse. **See also.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude). ## Ratio {#entry-ratio} *λόγον (logon); λόγον τῆς μίξεως (logon tēs mixeōs); λόγωι τινί (logōi tini); κατὰ τὸν λόγον (kata ton logon); ἁρμονία (harmonia)* **The word.** Logos has a broad range including account, statement, relation, and proportion. In A78 the context of differing tissue compositions makes “ratio” or “proportion” particularly appropriate. The term's explanatory force is relational: merely naming materials does not yet say why they make bone rather than flesh. It must not be translated uniformly as a mathematical number in every occurrence, especially when A70 speaks of the logos of male and female within plants. **In this work.** Aristotle's On the Parts of Animals says that Empedocles, led by the truth, sometimes reaches an account in which a thing's being and nature are its logos. Bone is the example: it is not any one constituent, two, three, or all merely listed, but the proportion of their mixture. This is substantial recognition of an explanatory achievement, yet it is recognition within Aristotle's own argument that nature is a principle more fundamental than matter. It does not establish that Empedocles formulated Aristotle's theory of form. The tissue recipes in Aëtius give the claim concrete scope: flesh, sinew, and bone are differentiated by their composition, with nails and secretions additionally explained by processes acting on prior materials. Their numerical details are textually repaired, so they cannot all be treated as independent exact confirmations. In On the Soul, Aristotle explores the cost of turning such proportions into a definition of soul. Flesh and bone do not share one ratio; if ratio is soul, a creature would possess many souls distributed through its parts. He then asks whether soul is the ratio or something present in limbs, whether Love causes any mixture or the mixture in accord with ratio, and whether Love is itself that ratio or something besides it. These are questions and conditional consequences. Reporting them as Empedocles' settled doctrine that soul, Love, and ratio are identical would turn an objection into a confession. Pseudo-Aristotle's On Breath presents a further problem about how common compositional proportions distinguish kinds of animal. Ratio also does not settle the separate dispute about fusion. At A43 Aristotle compares preserved small constituents to a wall of bricks and stones. A determinate wall can have proportions too. Thus the introduction's assertion that a brick wall has no ratio is logically insufficient to dissolve the criticism. What remains to be established is whether the organized relation among constituents explains a genuine new compound, mere juxtaposition, or some account not adequately captured by Aristotle's alternatives. The evidence makes proportion central; it does not eliminate every interpretive difficulty. The same conditional argument explicitly calls the ratio of mixture harmonia, harmony or attunement, and soul. Aristotle is testing the consequences of that identification; the clause does not independently establish an unqualified Empedoclean equation. This bodily harmony is also distinct in context from the literary arrangement discussed by Dionysius at A26.[^note-ratio] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals; source PDF pp. 168–171. Recognizes bone's ratio of mixture as more explanatory than a mere inventory of constituents. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul, first passage; source PDF pp. 168–171. Argues that different tissue ratios would multiply souls if soul were ratio. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul, second passage; source PDF pp. 168–171. Asks how ratio, soul, and Love relate and whether Love causes chance or proportionate mixture. - **A 78 (polemical).** Pseudo-Aristotle, On Breath; source PDF pp. 168–171. Questions how the same mixture ratio could differentiate animal kinds. - **A 43 (polemical).** Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7; source PDF pp. 106–107. Raises the logically distinct issue of juxtaposition rather than genuine mixture. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses logos for the male and female principle present in proportionately mixed plants. - **A 61 (testimony).** Aëtius, ps.-Plutarch and Stobaeus branches; source PDF pp. 134–135. The contradictory terms in a two-to-one distance comparison illustrate how a ratio depends on its relata. - **A 26 (reception).** Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De compositione verborum 22; source PDF pp. 82–83. Uses harmony in a literary context, distinct from Aristotle’s conditional discussion of bodily mixture at A78. **In this edition.** The ratios in the Aëtian recipes and Aristotle's interpretation are different kinds of evidence. The first is often reconstructed wording; the second is a critical conceptual appropriation. The edition's “number” slogan and anti-brick-wall argument should be recognized as modern interpretations rather than ancient conclusions. **See also.** [Bone](#entry-bone); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Love](#entry-love); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition). ## Rational animals {#entry-rational-animals} *ζῶιον ἄλογον (zōion alogon); κυρίως (kyriōs); οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη (ouden an eiē)* **The word.** Alogos means without logos, hence irrational or lacking reason in this setting; kyriōs qualifies the claim as “strictly” or “in the proper sense.” The phrase occurs in a consequence introduced conditionally by the doxographer. **In this work.** After reporting that Parmenides, Empedocles, and Democritus identify mind and soul, Aëtius says no animal would be strictly irrational on their view. The inferential wording is decisive. It is not an extant Empedoclean declaration that every animal reasons in the same way or at the same level as a human. The qualification also permits a distinction between possessing cognition at all and exercising the particular capacities discussed in the perception dossier. Theophrastus's differences of intelligence and local aptitude would make little sense if the whole tradition simply erased every difference of ability. Conversely, his bloodless-animal objection assumes that a cognitive explanation must account for a broad range of animals. These passages illuminate the scope of the problem without proving a single fully articulated theory of comparative intelligence or an explicit ethical conclusion about treatment of animals. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 96 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Draws the qualified no-irrational-animal consequence from mind–soul identity. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Presents graded and specialized differences of cognitive performance. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Invokes bloodless animals as a difficulty for blood-centred thinking. **In this edition.** The edition says Empedocles “would not have resisted” the conclusion. That statement speculates about assent; the source supports attributing the inference to Aëtius, not a recovered response by Empedocles. **See also.** [Mind](#entry-mind); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy). ## Rays {#entry-rays} *τῶν ἀκτίνων (tōn aktinōn)* **The word.** Aktines are rays. Aëtius uses the word to label one interpretation of how seeing occurs. It is the doxographer's classificatory language; the notice does not quote Empedocles using the term. **In this work.** A90 says Empedocles provides grounds both for seeing by rays and for seeing by images. The ray reading naturally stands beside the reported fire inside the eye and Aristotle's description of light going out as from a lantern. But Aëtius's statement is an admission about interpretations supported by the source, not a complete account of a ray's route or structure. The same notice favours the image reading because Empedocles accepts effluences. That preference does not erase the outgoing-light evidence, and neither does it prove that the original poem explicitly combined two developed optical theories. The responsible use of “rays” therefore marks a reception category and a possible direction of physical interaction while leaving the synthesis open. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 90 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 222–223. Lists the ray interpretation alongside the image interpretation, preferring the latter. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 224–225. Describes and challenges the idea of light going out from the eye. **In this edition.** The edition's commentary calls a simultaneous two-way theory “the honest reading.” That is a proposed reconstruction; the ancient notice itself says that both interpretations find support. **See also.** [Images](#entry-images); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Sight](#entry-sight). ## Red {#entry-red} *ἐρυθρὸν (erythron)* **The word.** Erythron is the neuter of the adjective for red. It occurs here as one member of Aëtius's fourfold colour enumeration, rather than as a separately developed physiological or symbolic term. **In this work.** Aëtius names white, black, red, and yellow and says they are equal in number to the elements. That numerical correspondence is the full explicit connection supplied in this notice. The source does not assign red to a particular root, give a proportion producing it, or explain its corresponding visual passage. Red is nevertheless worth retaining as its own lookup term because its presence marks a genuine difference between the doxographic list and Theophrastus's two explicitly associated colours, white and black. It should not be absorbed silently into “mixed colours,” since this notice does not say that red is mixed. Conversely, its inclusion cannot by itself repair the gap which Theophrastus finds in the recognition of grey and other mixed colours. What survives is a taxonomic item with limited explanatory context. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 92 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 226–227. Names red third in the four-colour list, equal in number to the elements. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Supplies a contrasting problem about colours beyond white and black, without naming red. **In this edition.** Do not supply an earth–red or other root–colour equation from the order of the list. The printed sentence states equality of number, not an itemized pairing. **See also.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow); [Colour](#entry-colour); [White](#entry-white); [Black](#entry-black); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours). ## Reflection {#entry-reflection} *ἀντανάκλασις (antanaklasis); ἀνταύγεια (antaugeia); ἀνάκλασιν (anaklasin)* **The word.** The words describe reflection or reflected radiance, with different emphasis on the turning-back process and the shining appearance. They belong to the witnesses’ optical language. Their occurrence does not by itself identify a modern law of reflection or a single specified reflective surface. **In this work.** Ps.-Plutarch at A30 says the sun is not fire in nature but a reflection of fire like that arising from water. The water comparison makes the optical process intelligible while leaving its cosmic surface unspecified in that sentence. Aëtius at A56 gives a more complicated account involving a fiery hemisphere, an apparent sun, the rounded earth and a crystalline sun. The final summary again calls the sun a reflection of the fire around earth. The notices are related but cannot be fully harmonized from the excerpt alone. A56’s apparatus explicitly acknowledges obscurity. Nor should the moon’s borrowed light in A55 or A60 be assumed to operate through exactly the same geometry: dependence on another source is a broader claim than the detailed two-sun account. Reflection also connects cosmic description to the perception cluster’s mirror discussion. That connection is lexical and thematic; it does not make every optical testimony evidence for the same propagation mechanism. The user of the lexicon should move between those entries while retaining the different objects and explanatory contexts. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Uses reflection from water as a comparison for the sun’s relation to fire. - **A 56 (testimony).** Aëtius II 20,13 (D. 350); source PDF pp. 124–125. Develops the more obscure account distinguishing fiery source and reflected visible sun. **In this edition.** The edition’s references to B44 and B47 establish only contextual compatibility, not full verse confirmation of the two-sun doctrine. No such verses are printed in A56. **See also.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment); [Mirror](#entry-mirror). ## Replenishment {#entry-replenishment} *τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν (tēn anaplērōsin); ἐπαναπληροῦσθαι (epanaplērousthai)* **The word.** Anaplērōsis is filling up or replenishment. The related verb in the optical account describes what is lacking being filled up. Both forms indicate restoration relative to a deficit, without by themselves defining the optimum amount or the process's final cause. **In this work.** Aëtius connects pleasure to what is lacking in relation to its replenishment. The deficient thing desires its like; pleasure thus concerns a relation between the recipient's constitution and the incoming material, rather than likeness considered in isolation. The passage helps explain why an animal would be moved toward what is congenial to it. The visual account offers a useful parallel: external conditions make good an internal lack in certain eyes. Yet replenishment is not universally beneficial without limit, because the same report says excess can block the contrary passages. The contrast suggests why the amount and condition of reception matter. The source does not, however, explicitly formulate a single general theory combining visual compensation and appetite. That connection remains a comparison between testimonies and should be labelled as such. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 95 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 230–231. Connects pleasure and desire for the like to replenishment of deficiency. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Uses a related verb for filling what an eye lacks. **In this edition.** The prepositional construction “toward its replenishment” is part of the compressed doxographic sentence. It need not be expanded into an Aristotelian final-cause explanation or an ethical doctrine of pleasure. **See also.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light). ## Respiratory exhalation {#entry-respiratory-exhalation} *ἐκπνοήν (ekpnoēn); ἀναθλίβοντος (anathlibontos); διὰ τῶν ῥινῶν (dia tōn rhinōn)* **The word.** Ekpnoē is breathing out. The pressure verb describes expelling or squeezing away the airy constituent. Dia tōn rhinōn explicitly gives the nostrils as a route in the account of current breathing. **In this work.** Exhalation results from an outward-moving internal agent. In the first recurring mechanism that agent is innate heat; in the present mechanism it is blood advancing toward the surface. The report therefore portrays breathing out as material displacement. Naming the nostrils matters, even though a broader reading of Empedoclean respiration may also involve bodily passages. This local testimony cannot be made to say that the nose is irrelevant. Nor should “airy stuff” be equated with modern exhaled gas composition. The ancient question being answered is how entry and exit occur, not what chemical exchange sustains metabolism. Distinguishing respiratory exhalation from the cosmological or meteorological release of vapour also avoids conflating different Greek expressions translated with the same English word. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, first recurring sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Calls the airy material's expulsion by innate heat exhalation. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, current-breathing sequence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Describes blood pressing air outward through the nostrils. **In this edition.** This article is restricted to ekpnoē. It should not absorb every instance of “exhalation” elsewhere in ancient physics. The edited sequence contains repairs, so the pressure mechanism is more secure than an exact timing diagram. **See also.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation). ## Rest {#entry-rest} *ἠρεμεῖν (ēremein); ἀκίνητον (akinēton); μεταξὺ χρόνον (metaxy chronon)* **The word.** Ἠρεμεῖν is to be at rest; ἀκίνητον is unmoved. The “time between” phrase belongs to Aristotle’s account of alternating powers. A report of rest between changes should be distinguished from a predicate of immobility assigned to the One. **In this work.** Aristotle at A38 cautiously says that Empedocles would seem to hold that Love and Strife prevail and move by necessity in turns and rest during the intervening time. The qualification is central: this is Aristotle’s reconstruction of what the theory would require, not a citation from the poem. The passage supplies evidence for pauses but leaves their exact place and length unclear. A32 calls the One spherical, eternal and unmoved in an opening clause supplied from Stobaeus. That could be compared with the rest problem, but the textual and conceptual contexts differ. The supplemented static characterization cannot simply be inserted as a precise episode between every motion in A38. A52’s ever-recurring succession adds a further scale on which the whole process is everlasting even if particular states are not changing. The dossier therefore supports distinguishing the motionlessness of a condition, the possible rest of the movers, and the recurrence of the entire process. It does not provide an uncontested schedule that coordinates all three. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 38 (polemical).** Aristotle, Physics Θ 1, 252a7; source PDF pp. 100–101. Offers intervening rest as what Empedocles would seem compelled to say. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303), opening supplied from Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–93. Describes the One as unmoved in text restored by the editor. **In this edition.** Keep Aristotle’s hedge and A32’s supplement visible. Neither passage licenses an exact duration or a confident assertion that every phase boundary contains an identical rest. **See also.** [Motion](#entry-motion); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Rhapsode {#entry-rhapsode} *ῥαψωιδός (rhapsōidos); ῥαψωιδῆσαι (rhapsōidēsai); ἐραψώιδησεν (erapsōidēsen)* **The word.** A rhapsode is a performer of verse; the related verbs mean to recite in that capacity. In these notices Cleomenes is the named performer and the Purifications the named work. The terminology establishes a performance setting without describing melody, gestures, or the extent of the recital. **In this work.** Diogenes and Athenaeus preserve a tradition that the Purifications were recited at Olympia. Athenaeus identifies Dicaearchus’ Olympic Discourse as his source; Diogenes also names Favorinus. The report gives the poem a public festival life, which is important beside the Pythagorean tale that Empedocles disclosed restricted teachings through poetry. Public performance and alleged secrecy are not mutually exclusive facts about one securely reconstructed event, but competing emphases in the reception of the same author. The existence of a professional reciter also separates the poem’s speaking voice from the historical author’s physical presence: a first-person declaration could be performed by another person. The passage does not say that all the Purifications were recited in one sitting, or that Empedocles attended the performance. Its significance lies in the reported circulation of his words through a recognizable poetic institution. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 61–63 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 63, reporting Favorinus, Memoirs; source PDF pp. 28–29. Names Cleomenes and Olympia in the recital tradition. - **A 11–A 12 (testimony).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, reporting Dicaearchus, Olympic Discourse; source PDF pp. 58–59. Preserves the same performance with a different named intermediary. **In this edition.** Multiple transmitting witnesses do not establish independent knowledge of the original event. The edition’s claim that the whole Greek world could hear it is an interpretation of Olympia’s public setting, not a quoted audience count. **See also.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Rhetoric {#entry-rhetoric} *ῥητορικὴν (rhētorikēn); ῥήτωρ (rhētōr); rhetoricen* **The word.** Rhētorikē is the art of public or persuasive speech; rhētōr names its practitioner. The witnesses variously call Empedocles its discoverer or the first person to “set it moving.” These expressions mark intellectual priority without necessarily crediting him with a surviving handbook. **In this work.** Diogenes attributes the strong invention claim to Aristotle’s Sophist and pairs it with Zeno’s invention of dialectic. Sextus’ report of Aristotle is less absolute in wording: Empedocles first stirred rhetoric into motion. Quintilian qualifies the priority by excluding legendary predecessors and distinguishes this initial movement from the earliest writers of arts, Corax and Tisias. Gorgias’ pupilage supplies continuity between an originating figure and a documented rhetorical tradition. The Aristotle passage printed from Sophistical Refutations does not itself name Empedocles; it describes cumulative improvement through a succession including Tisias and Thrasymachus. The edition links that passage to the other reports, but the linkage is an interpretive reconstruction. The Life’s political speeches and civic confrontations provide a setting in which oratorical authority could be imagined, while its poetic judgments show that persuasive force was not restricted to prose speech. Aristotle’s complaint about listeners nodding at obscure verse is itself evidence for an ancient perception of powerful verbal performance. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 57–58, reporting Aristotle, Sophist, and Satyrus; source PDF pp. 22–25. Gives invention and exemplary-practitioner claims. - **A 19 (testimony).** Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors; Quintilian, The Orator’s Education; source PDF pp. 68–69. Preserves differently qualified accounts of rhetorical beginnings. - **A 19 (testimony).** Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations; source PDF pp. 68–69. Describes successive improvement without naming Empedocles in the excerpt. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Rhetoric; source PDF pp. 76–79. Criticizes the persuasive effect of extended ambiguous poetic speech. **In this edition.** “First to set rhetoric in motion,” “discoverer,” and “earliest handbook writer” are not interchangeable claims. The edition’s heading that all four witnesses repeat one Aristotelian claim risks flattening these differences. **See also.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches). ## Right and left {#entry-right-and-left} *ex dextris partibus; e laevis; τὰ ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς (ta en tois dexiois); τῶν ἐν τοῖς εὐωνύμοις (tōn en tois euōnymois)* **The word.** The Latin phrases mean from the right-hand and left-hand parts. Dexioi are right-side parts or positions; euōnymoi, literally favourably named, conventionally denotes the left. The testimony does not use these spatial contrasts as a modern map of reproductive anatomy. **In this work.** Censorinus groups Anaxagoras and Empedocles in saying that seed poured from right-hand parts produces males and from left-hand parts females. He does not identify those parts more precisely in the excerpt. Oribasius, reporting Athenaeus, attributes to Empedocles the view that male embryos form faster than female, and parts on the right faster than those on the left. These are different laterality claims: one concerns the origin of generative material and sex, the other the timing of differentiation. They should not be conflated with the twins notice's hot and cold locations or with Aristotle's hot and cold womb as if a complete right-hot-male chain were explicitly preserved. A81's geographical east/south versus north division of primordial sexes is likewise a separate spatial analogy. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Attributes male and female generation to seed from right-hand and left-hand parts. - **A 83 (testimony).** Oribasius, from Athenaeus; source PDF pp. 182–183. Attributes faster differentiation to males and to right-side parts. **In this edition.** The unspecified “parts” are not named testes, ovaries, or compartments in the printed text. Expanding them into a precise anatomical claim would exceed the witness. **See also.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets). ## River diversion {#entry-river-diversion} *ποταμοὺς (potamous); ἰδίαις δαπάναις (idiais dapanais); καταμίξαντα (katamixanta); γλυκῆναι (glykēnai)* **The word.** The vocabulary joins rivers, expenditure from one’s own resources, mixing, and making sweet. “Sweetening” describes the reported improvement of the flow and need not specify removal of salt or a chemically defined treatment. **In this work.** The Selinus story says Empedocles conceived a plan to introduce two neighboring rivers into the harmful water and paid for it himself. Its explanatory sequence is explicit: foul water-related conditions cause illness; altered mixing improves the streams; the epidemic ceases. That concreteness distinguishes it from a bare assertion of supernatural healing, but does not independently prove the project or its mechanism. The personal expenditure also serves a biographical purpose. Like the dowries, it presents wealth redirected toward communal benefit, helping explain the public honors that follow. The river operation should not be read as a direct demonstration of the four-root doctrine simply because both use the language of mixture. This is a civic narrative, not a quotation of a physical treatise or a technical plan. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70; source PDF pp. 38–39. Specifies the two rivers, private expense, and improvement through mixing. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–71; source PDF pp. 40–41. Supplies the resulting festival gratitude and divine honors. **In this edition.** The passage does not name the rivers or describe construction details. The edition’s “public engineering” characterization is reasonable as a description of the story, but cannot supply missing archaeological verification. **See also.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Dowries](#entry-dowries); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status). ## Roots {#entry-roots} *ῥιζώματα (rhizōmata)* **The word.** The plural means “roots”: the image names enduring sources from which other things grow or are constituted. The edition supplies ῥιζώματα in its note on A28 when distinguishing Empedocles’ poetic designation from the witnesses’ στοιχεῖα, “elements.” The root metaphor need not imply that the four are botanical objects, nor does its organic resonance settle whether the physics and the religious language belong to separate enterprises. **In this work.** The four are fire, air, water and earth in the principal reports. Aristotle says that they persist and change only in the quantities combined into one or separated out of one; Simplicius, transmitting Theophrastus, likewise calls them eternal. These statements concern the persistence of constituents, not the permanence of the familiar bodies made from them. Their significance becomes clearer when contrasted with A52, where Aristotle exempts the elements, but nothing else, from perishability. The divine nomenclature is integral to the evidence. The excerpt of B6 introduced at A33 is followed by rival explanations of Zeus, Hera, Aidoneus and Nestis. Agreement that four roots are named does not entail agreement about every name: the Hera/Aidoneus assignments are reversed in different reports. Nor is “four roots plus two forces” a neutral quotation of a six-item Empedoclean list. Simplicius’ total of six principles classifies the four corporeal constituents and the two movers in a later explanatory scheme. The strongest difficulty concerns what happens in the Sphairos. Philoponus alleges that the roots lose their qualities there; Aristotle’s analysis of mixture instead stresses that they remain preserved. These are competing interpretative pressures, not a continuous descriptive account. The lexicon therefore uses “root” for the enduring constituent without deciding in advance whether its identity means visible qualitative distinctness, separate particles, or something else in the perfectly unified state.[^note-roots] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 3; Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Both reports make the four enduring constituents; the editorial note supplies the explicit lexical contrast between roots and elements. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. The notices interpret the divine names attached to the four, but disagree over Hera and Aidoneus. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. The alleged qualitylessness of the Sphairos puts the permanence of the roots under critical pressure. **In this edition.** The source prints B6 in abbreviated form; its full wording must not be reconstructed as if quoted here. “Elements” in the translations often represents a witness’s terminology rather than Empedocles’ own. Root-language also does not establish modern chemical elements. **See also.** [Elements](#entry-elements); [Love](#entry-love); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos). ## Rotation {#entry-rotation} *περιφορᾶς (periphoras); ῥύμηι (rhymēi); δίνη (dinē)* **The word.** Περιφορά is carrying round or revolution; ῥύμη here is its force or rush. The edition identifies the process with δίνη, a vortex, in its commentary. The distinction matters because δίνη is not the actual word in the printed Aëtius quotation at A49. **In this work.** Aëtius describes earth being squeezed exceedingly tightly by the force of rotation, so that water gushes out; subsequent exhalation produces air. Philo’s parallel account places compacted earth in the middle while lighter aether turns around it without ceasing. The reports agree on a moving cosmic arrangement, but their particular sequences and mechanisms are not identical. Rotation is therefore explanatory, not merely scenic. It supplies the pressure that sorts or releases material, linking large-scale movement to the differentiation of the world. Nevertheless, a modern centrifugal or gravitational reconstruction would go beyond what the testimony specifies. The Greek says that earth is strongly compressed by the rotational rush; it does not give equations or a complete force analysis. A30 also describes two hemispheres carried around the earth and motion beginning through a massing of fire. Those details are relevant parallels, but the passage’s damaged and displaced Greek cautions against welding them into an exact continuous mechanism with A49. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Makes rotational force squeeze water from earth. - **A 49 (testimony).** Philo, De providentia II 60; source PDF pp. 114–115. Describes lighter aether revolving around centrally gathered earth. - **A 49 (apparatus).** Modern editor, commentary on the cosmogonic sequence; source PDF pp. 114–115. Identifies the rotation with the vortex word δίνη as a contextual connection to Empedoclean language. **In this edition.** The vortex form occurs in the editorial discussion here. Philo’s Latin is mediated through Armenian and cannot establish exact original Greek motion vocabulary. **See also.** [Motion](#entry-motion); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres). ## Rough and smooth {#entry-rough-and-smooth} *τὸ τραχὺ (to trachy); τὸ λεῖον (to leion)* **The word.** Trachy is rough; leion is smooth. Their neuter forms denote tactile qualities or things characterized by them. The pair is introduced as a test case in Theophrastus's argument, not as an exhaustive list of tactile opposites attributed to Empedocles. **In this work.** At §20 the critic asks how rough and smooth can be judged by effluence or by fitting into pores. The force of the question is that a general transmission mechanism still needs to explain why the transmitted item yields this particular tactile difference. Showing that something arrives or fits is not yet an account of roughness or smoothness being discerned. This is a more specific objection than the earlier statement that touch lacks a separately described mechanism. It identifies qualities for which the model's explanatory application is obscure. The roughness in Aëtius's catarrh notice is lexically related but plays a different role: there it impedes smell rather than being the object to be perceived. The two uses should be connected without conflating a tactile property with a respiratory condition. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Uses rough and smooth to test the adequacy of effluence and fit. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Uses related roughness vocabulary in an account of impaired smell, not tactile recognition. **In this edition.** The passage is a question posed by Theophrastus. It does not preserve Empedocles' answer, so reconstructing emitted “roughness particles” or surface-shape detectors would go beyond the supplied evidence. **See also.** [Touch](#entry-touch); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh). ## Ruin of first principles {#entry-ruin-of-first-principles} *principiis; ruinas; magni; magno cecidere ibi casu* **The word.** Principia are beginnings or first principles. Ruinae and the phrase about falling in a great collapse turn failure in foundational explanation into an architectural or bodily image of ruin. The repeated forms of magnus preserve the thinkers’ greatness even in their failure. **In this work.** After celebrating philosophical discoveries and comparing them favorably with oracular responses, Lucretius says the earlier thinkers came to ruin at the principles of things. The judgment is sharply located: excellence in many discoveries does not secure the foundations of a physical account. Empedocles remains the greatest within the compared group, but not exempt from the criticism. The edition summarizes the ensuing Epicurean objections concerning void, the character of the elements, and divisibility; those arguments are not printed in full in this appendix excerpt. The entry therefore distinguishes the explicit verdict from the editorial outline of what follows. The image of collapse also connects usefully with Timon’s complaint that Empedocles’ principles require others, though the two criticisms have different authors and should not be treated as one shared technical argument. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Closes qualified praise with failure at the foundations. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (quotation).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67, quoting Timon; source PDF pp. 34–37. Provides a separate complaint about principles needing further principles. **In this edition.** The appendix prints manuscript hic under Munro’s text and notes that many editors prefer hi. That difference affects how the singular opening and following plural group are construed; it does not remove the explicit inclusion of Empedocles in the criticism. **See also.** [Principle](#entry-principle); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon); [Void](#entry-void); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility). ## Rust {#entry-rust} *ἰὸν (ion)* **The word.** Ἰόν is the inflected mineral term translated “rust” in this passage. The word’s broader historical range should not be used to import a particular modern oxide or corrosion formula absent from the source. **In this work.** Galen at A34 lists rust with copper-flower, cadmia and misy as materials that might be finely ground and mixed. Their role is illustrative: he compares such a preparation with the formation of composite bodies from four unchangeable elements. Rust is not a fifth root and is not being assigned as the terrestrial equivalent of one particular divine name. The fine grinding is essential to the comparison. It gives a mixture whose ingredients remain the explanatory starting points while no ingredient can readily be taken apart from the others. The rust example is therefore about persistence and practical inseparability, rather than an account of the substance’s own production. An independent lookup entry is useful because the familiar English translation can tempt a reader to imagine an exact modern material. In this source the secure identification is the ancient ingredient as named by Galen and translated by the edition; the mineral’s full chemistry is outside the testimony. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 34 (testimony).** Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K; source PDF pp. 96–97. Names rust as the first ingredient of the pulverized-mineral mixture illustrating preserved constituents. **In this edition.** The mineral list and illustration belong to Galen. The passage supplies no elemental allocation or chemical formula for ἰός. **See also.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Misy](#entry-misy); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Sacred envoys {#entry-sacred-envoys} *θεωροῖς (theōrois); πανήγυριν (panēgyrin); Ὀλυμπίασι (Olympiasi)* **The word.** Theōroi are sacred envoys or festival delegates in this context. Panēgyris is a public festival gathering, and Olympiasi means at Olympia. These words locate ritual and poetry within shared civic and inter-civic occasions. **In this work.** The honey-ox notice directs the offering to sacred envoys, while Athenaeus’ aromatic version distributes the shaped ox to people attending the festival. The distinction matters: a designated group and the wider gathering are not identical recipients. Olympia also appears in the report of Cleomenes’ recital of the Purifications. Together the notices show the tradition placing Empedoclean ethical practice and poetry in publicly recognizable festival settings. They do not demonstrate that the offering and recitation occurred at the same festival or in the author’s presence. The Olympic association likewise cannot settle which member of the family won the horse-race. The terminology is useful because it reveals channels of audience and reputation without requiring a reconstructed single event. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 53, reporting Favorinus; source PDF pp. 18–21. Names sacred envoys as recipients of the honey ox. - **A 11–A 12 (biography).** Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters; source PDF pp. 58–59. Gives festival distribution and, in a separate notice, the Olympia recital. **In this edition.** Theōroi should not be weakened into generic spectators when the translation identifies sacred envoys. Conversely, the broader festival audience in Athenaeus should not be restricted to a named delegation absent from his wording. **See also.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing). ## Sea {#entry-sea} *mari; θάλατταν (thalattan); ἅλμηι (halmēi)* **The word.** Thalassa names the sea, while halmē emphasizes its brine or salinity. The Latin mari belongs to the mediated Philo text. In these notices the sea is an explained product and a differentiated environment, rather than an unexamined mass of primordial water. **In this work.** A66 preserves three distinct accounts. The Philo passage describes congealing at an outer edge and terrestrial moisture compressed by contending winds into low places. Aëtius calls the sea the earth's sweat under solar burning and increasing compression. Aelian attributes to Empedocles the view that sweet water exists within the sea and nourishes fish, adding that a natural explanation could be found in his work. These reports share an interest in material processes but should not be fused into a single continuous cosmogony. Philo's wording survives through substantial linguistic mediation and a disputed sentence about muddy water. Aëtius' compressed metaphor gives an origin without a complete sequence. Aelian's fresh-water discussion concerns the composition and nutritive use of an existing sea; the wax-vessel demonstration he recounts belongs to Aristotle, not Empedocles. The collection is consequently richer when its different explanatory questions remain visible.[^note-sea] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 66 (testimony).** Philo, On Providence; source PDF pp. 138–141. Supplies a mediated account of moisture, congealing, winds, and compression. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 138–141. Names the sea the sweat of earth heated and compressed. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aelian, On the Nature of Animals; source PDF pp. 138–141. Attributes nourishing sweet water in the sea to Empedocles while assigning the experiment to Aristotle. **In this edition.** The Philo text is a Latin rendering of an Armenian version; the apparatus proposes changes that can alter whether the product is water or earth. It cannot be treated as preserved Greek verse or a secure recipe for the sea's generation. **See also.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea); [Water](#entry-water); [Winds](#entry-winds). ## Seasons {#entry-seasons} *χειμῶνα (cheimōna); θερείαν (thereian); τῆι πυκνώσει (tēi pyknōsei)* **The word.** Cheimōn is winter; thereia is the summer season in the printed form. Pyknōsis is condensation or thickening. The notice connects seasonal alternation with the relative predominance of air and fire and with upward or downward compulsion. **In this work.** Aëtius groups Empedocles with the Stoics: winter occurs when air predominates and something is forced upward through condensation; summer when fire predominates and something is forced downward. The missing or unclear subject is decisive. Diels identifies it as the sun, reconstructing a reference that he thinks was clear in a fuller original. Without that restoration, the compressed sentence can seem to make the air itself move upward and fire downward. The attribution must therefore be presented with its syntactic uncertainty intact. A58's solar turning and celestial tilt provide related astronomical notices, but they do not demonstrate how this air–fire account was coordinated with them. The doxographic pairing establishes that the compiler found a common proposition, not that Empedocles anticipated Stoic cosmology as a system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 65 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 138–139. Groups Empedocles and the Stoics in an air–fire account of winter and summer. - **A 65 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 138–139. Proposes the sun as the unexpressed subject of the relevant movement. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. Provides separate notices on the tilt of the heavens and the sun's turning. **In this edition.** The translation follows the surviving compression and should not settle a subject that the apparatus calls missing. “Winter” and “summer” are not evidence that this notice separately described spring and autumn. **See also.** [Sun](#entry-sun); [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold). ## Seed {#entry-seed} *σπέρματος (spermatos); τῶν σπερματικῶν γόνων (tōn spermatikōn gonōn); parentum seminibus* **The word.** Sperma is seed, extended to generative material; the Latin semina has the same broad reproductive use. Parentum seminibus explicitly refers to seeds of the parents in Censorinus' account. None of these expressions maps exactly onto modern sperm cells, ova, genes, or chromosomes. **In this work.** Seed is the material through which A81 explains multiple births, abnormal formation, likeness, and some differences of sex. Aëtius lists excess, deficiency, disturbed movement, excessive division, and deviation as causes of unusual births. Twins and triplets are assigned to excess and splitting. Resemblance follows the predominance of generative seeds, while dissimilarity is associated with heat evaporating from seed. Censorinus provides a more elaborate scheme in which the thermal relation of the parents' seeds affects both sex and resemblance, but it differs from Aristotle's womb-centred explanation. The language of two parental contributions is consequently important historical evidence without being an anticipation of Mendelian inheritance. Seed is also a moving and spatially directed material: the mule notice imagines it failing to strike or enter an obstructive womb. At A72, condensed nourishment and excitement of seminal motion accompany the fourth kind of generation. These testimonies collectively give reproductive material quantity, condition, movement, and relation causal roles, although no single excerpt organizes all four into a complete system.[^note-seed] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 174–179. Uses seed quantity, division, motion, predominance, and loss of heat to explain reproductive outcomes. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Describes relative heat in both parents' seeds and its alleged consequences. - **A 82 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 180–181. Gives seed a directed route into the womb that is allegedly blocked in mules. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Associates generation through one another with nourishment and seminal excitation. **In this edition.** Spermatikoi gonoi is translated generative seeds, but the compressed phrase does not specify modern units of heredity. The various mechanisms belong to witnesses of unequal reliability; the Censorinus twins passage is explicitly doubted in the apparatus. **See also.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Womb](#entry-womb). ## Selinus {#entry-selinus} *Σελινουντίοις (Selinountiois); Σελινουντίων (Selinountiōn)* **The word.** These forms designate the people of Selinus, the civic community for whom Empedocles allegedly altered a harmful river. The local population, rather than an abstract landscape, is the beneficiary and later the source of divine honors. **In this work.** The Life explains an epidemic and reproductive harm at Selinus by foul emissions from the adjacent river. Empedocles reportedly brings in two neighboring streams at his own expense and improves the water through mixing. A subsequent scene makes the inhabitants rise from a riverside feast and pray to him as to a god. The narrative therefore moves from environmental benefaction to religious recognition, and then, in one version, to the leap into fire meant to confirm divinity. Timaeus challenges the death complex and says Empedocles went to the Peloponnese. The civic engineering report should not simply be declared verified because it sounds practical, nor should its association with a death legend automatically make every element worthless. Its precise evidential status is a report embedded within a composite biography. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70; source PDF pp. 38–39. Places disease and river intervention at Selinus. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–71; source PDF pp. 40–41. Turns civic gratitude into worship and a motive for the fire-leap story. **In this edition.** The commentary’s appeal to river-god coin imagery does not by itself independently verify Empedocles’ intervention. Iconography compatible with river cult is not equivalent to a dated documentary record of the project. **See also.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Etna](#entry-etna). ## Sense-specific discrimination {#entry-sense-specific-discrimination} *τὰ ἀλλήλων κρίνειν (ta allēlōn krinein); τὸ αἰσθητόν (to aisthēton)* **The word.** Krinein is to distinguish or judge; here the phrase concerns a sense's capacity to judge objects belonging to another sense. “Sense-specific discrimination” is an English organizing headword, not an ancient compound supplied by the source. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that senses cannot judge each other's objects because their passages are too wide or too narrow for the alien perceptible. This explains specificity through the relation of receiver and entrant, rather than by positing an additional judgment exercised after reception. Too-small material passes without touching; too-large material cannot get in. At §15 this explanation becomes evidence against likeness as an independent principle. The report has specified differences of size, Theophrastus says, without further specifying whether the effluent is like or unlike. Thus sensory exclusivity and the general likeness thesis may pull in different directions. At §19 he asks more concretely how sound, smell, and flavour could be judged by a like quality already present in their respective organs. The entry concerns the distribution of sensory powers and their objects, not a theory of intellectual discrimination in general. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Explains why each sense cannot judge the objects of the others. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 15; source PDF pp. 200–201. Uses the size-based explanation to question the role of likeness. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Asks what judging by likeness would mean for the nonvisual senses. **In this edition.** “Judge” should not be read as conscious inference added to sensation. It renders a witness's verb for sensory discrimination within a physical account. **See also.** [Perception](#entry-perception); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Separation {#entry-separation} *διάκρισιν (diakrisin); διακρίνει (diakrinei); ἐκκρίνεσθαι (ekkrinesthai); διακριθῆναι (diakrithēnai)* **The word.** The διά-forms denote dividing or separating; ἐκκρίνεσθαι emphasizes being separated out. The dossier uses both general partition and emergence from a mixture. English “separation” is a convenient heading, but the direction indicated by a particular verb should not be lost. **In this work.** At A28 separation is the characteristic work of Strife, paired with Love’s combination. Aristotle at A37 and A40 argues that Love also separates, because portions of each root must leave their like in order to join unlike roots. The apparent reversal is thus an argument about the object of separation rather than evidence for a careless exchange of the two divine names. A46 places Empedocles among thinkers who separate contraries out of an original one or mixture, and distinguishes his recurring sequence from Anaxagoras’ once-only process. A49 offers a particular cosmogonic order: aither, then fire, then earth, followed by water squeezed from earth and air exhaled from water. A53 calls the origin of stellar fire the “first separation.” The ordinal “first” belongs to that particular world-formation report; it does not, by itself, establish an absolute first event before an eternal cycle. Separative language helps explain why the roots can persist while familiar bodies change. Yet it leaves open whether a particular testimony describes spatial sorting, release from a mixture, or the critic’s reconstruction of what the system requires. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Attributes separation of like portions to Love as part of a charge of causal inconsistency. - **A 46 (testimony).** Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20; source PDF pp. 110–111. Describes periodic separation out of mixture. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Provides an ordered sequence of separations in world-formation. - **A 53 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,2 (D. 341); source PDF pp. 122–123. Locates the expulsion of stellar fire at the first separation. **In this edition.** Do not silently convert every “separation out” into transmutation of one root into another. The reports’ invariant constituents make that inference especially consequential. **See also.** [Combination](#entry-combination); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Love](#entry-love); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Stars](#entry-stars). ## Sexual generation {#entry-sexual-generation} *δι' ἀλλήλων ἤδη (di’ allēlōn ēdē); σπερματικοῦ κινήματος (spermatikou kinēmatos); τῆς εὐμορφίας τῶν γυναικῶν (tēs eumorphias tōn gynaikōn)* **The word.** Di’ allēlōn means through one another; the phrase contrasts generation by living beings with generation directly from material constituents. Spermatikon kinēma is a seminal movement or excitation. Eumorphia denotes beauty or good form in the reported stimulus. **In this work.** The fourth generations in A72 no longer arise directly from earth and water but through one another. The notice adds condensed nourishment in some cases and the beauty of women exciting seminal movement in others. These brief explanations join nutrition and attraction to reproduction, but the relation between the cases is not fully specified. The words should not be forced into a complete account of sperm formation or a universal psychology of mating. Nor does the contrast prove that the preceding stages all belonged to a single uninterrupted historical development. It establishes a conceptual distinction between earthborn generation and ongoing reproduction. The much more detailed accounts of seed, womb temperature, likeness, and multiple births at A81 concern this latter setting and preserve additional, sometimes conflicting, doxographical elaborations. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Contrasts the fourth generations through one another with earlier origins from earth and water. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; Aëtius; Censorinus, On the Birthday; source PDF pp. 174–179. Supply differing explanations of sex, likeness, and birth within reproductive generation. **In this edition.** The words translated as the earlier “like stuffs” are textually suspect, and the apparatus lists several conjectures. The firm contrast is between direct material emergence and generation through others, not an exact preserved taxonomy of prior stuffs. **See also.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Appetite](#entry-appetite). ## Shoots {#entry-shoots} *βλαστοὺς (blastous); ἄνω δὲ διὰ τὸ πῦρ (anō de dia to pyr)* **The word.** Blastoi are shoots or sprouts. Theophrastus assigns aether to these upper growing parts in his account of Empedocles, while Aristotle explains the upward direction through fire. The organ-name is ordinary botanical vocabulary in a polemical exposition. **In this work.** The shoot is not merely the opposite end of a tree in these notices; it is where the difficulty of coordinated growth becomes visible. Theophrastus objects to a division that makes earth generate roots and aether generate shoots, insisting instead on one matter and one generating cause. Aristotle similarly criticizes explaining upward plant growth through fire's natural direction. The objection is to treating material tendencies as sufficient explanation of a living whole. It should not be reported as Empedocles' own confession that a plant lacks unity. Aëtius' broader account invokes heat within the earth as the cause lifting plants upward and proportionate mixture as the condition of their sexual completeness. Those details leave room for a more complex account than either isolated criticism reproduces, while not resolving the critics' challenge. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Causes of Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses shoots as the aether-associated member of the divided generative explanation. - **A 70 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 150–153. Attributes upward plant growth to fire in the explanation he rejects. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Reports growth through terrestrial heat and a proportionate mixture. **In this edition.** The title does not identify the botanical shoot with the “sprout of flesh” used for the ear elsewhere. The same family of growth imagery need not name the same structure or explanation. **See also.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Sicilian landscape {#entry-sicilian-landscape} *triquetris; Charybdis; Aetnaea; murmura flammarum; rebus opima bonis* **The word.** Triquetris describes the island’s three-cornered shores. Charybdis and Etna supply the threatening sea and volcanic marvels, while rebus opima bonis calls the land rich in good things. Lucretius’ vocabulary combines geographic praise with forces capable of violent movement. **In this work.** The praise of Empedocles begins by locating him within Sicily’s coast, surrounding sea, narrow separation from Italy, whirlpool, and volcanic fire. The landscape first commands wonder in its own right, then is surpassed by the philosopher: the island has produced nothing more glorious, holy, marvelous, or dear. This is an encomiastic comparison, not a neutral itinerary or a physical account attributed to Empedocles. Etna’s threatening eruptions are part of the island’s power; the printed passage does not say that Empedocles died there. That omission matters because later reception so readily makes the volcano his defining biographical fact. Lucretius instead uses natural spectacle to magnify the achievement of a poet of nature whose doctrines he will challenge. Geography becomes an argument about intellectual stature. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 21 (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things; source PDF pp. 72–73. Builds the Sicilian landscape before declaring Empedocles its greatest marvel. - **Appendix I Lucretius (reception).** Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Continues from praise into criticism without withdrawing the predecessor’s greatness. **In this edition.** The translation’s vivid “wrath,” “throat,” and “vomit” correspond to personifying language in the Latin. They describe Lucretius’ representation of the volcano, not a quotation from Empedocles’ cosmology. **See also.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles). ## Sicilian Muse {#entry-sicilian-muse} *Σικελαί (Sikelai); Μοῦσαι (Mousai); μαλακώτεραι (malakōterai); συντονώτεραι (syntonōterai)* **The word.** Plato’s plural Muses are figurative voices of philosophical traditions. The Sicilian ones are gentler or softer; the more strenuous ones supply the contrasting account. These are characterizations within a dialogue, not named divine principles in Empedocles’ own system. **In this work.** In A29 Plato contrasts Ionian and later Sicilian Muses who combine the one and many. The strenuous voice says differing is always brought together; the gentler voice relaxes that perpetual conjunction and makes the All one and friendly under Aphrodite at one time, many and hostile through Strife at another. The edition identifies the Sicilian allusion with Empedocles and the Ionian with Heraclitus, neither of whom is named in the excerpt. The figurative framing performs critical work. It presents cosmological accounts as stories told to children and describes their doctrinal divergence through differences of tension or softness. “Gentler” does not mean intellectually inferior by a neutral measure, nor does it report Empedocles’ personal temperament. It points locally to the relaxation from perpetual coexistence to alternation. This is therefore an early interpretative portrait of the cycle as well as a literary image. Keeping it separate from the technical Cycle entry makes the speaker and rhetorical frame visible. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 29 (reception).** Plato, Sophist 242c-d; source PDF pp. 86–87. Uses the contrast of strenuous and gentler Muses to characterize perpetual versus alternating one-and-many accounts. **In this edition.** The identification of the unnamed voices is interpretative. Plato’s words are not to be printed as a direct fragment of Empedocles merely because his position is recognizable. **See also.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [Cycle](#entry-cycle). ## Sight {#entry-sight} *τὴν ὄψιν (tēn opsin); ἡ ὄψις (hē opsis); ὁρᾶν (horan)* **The word.** Opsis can signify sight, the power of seeing, or the visual apparatus; it should not always be forced into the modern distinction between eye and faculty. Horan is the ordinary verb to see. The testimony's shifting uses matter because the composition of “sight” is described in bodily terms. **In this work.** Theophrastus provides an inner fire surrounded by other materials through which fine fire passes, likened to light in a lantern. Alternating fiery and watery passages recognize white and black, while effluences carry colour toward sight. Different mixtures and placements of fire account for differences between day and night vision; the best visual blend has equal shares of the two relevant constituents. The dossier does not simply choose between an outgoing and an incoming process. Aëtius says Empedocles gives grounds for both ray and image interpretations, while favouring images because of effluences. Aristotle criticizes the outgoing-light account by asking why an eye does not see in darkness, and separately rejects the proposed explanation of grey and dark eyes. These are distinct witnesses with distinct questions; their reports cannot automatically be joined into one unambiguous meeting-of-rays theory. Theophrastus's objections are also internal: intermediate colours lack designated passages; external fire might destroy rather than assist deficient inner fire; and an equal blend seems liable to the same obstruction as an unequal one. This rich dossier makes sight the best-described sense here, but leaves the precise relation among outgoing fire, incoming colour, and elemental recognition disputed. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Describes the composition and channels of sight. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 8; source PDF pp. 190–193. Explains variable visual acuity and proposes an equal blend as best. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 17; source PDF pp. 202–203. Challenges the recognition of mixed colours. - **A 90 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 222–223. Acknowledges both ray and image interpretations. - **A 91 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 224–225. Criticizes emitted visual light and explanations of eye-colour differences. **In this edition.** The surrounding water in §7 is a Diels supplement. The introductory claim that the witnesses establish a single hybrid theory is stronger than A90's admission of competing interpretations. **See also.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Images](#entry-images). ## Simplicius {#entry-simplicius-witness} **The word.** 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. **In this work.** 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. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. 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; source PDF pp. 120–121. 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; source PDF pp. 2–10. Frames Simplicius as an important later transmitter and advances an interpretation of the cycle. **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. **See also.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation). ## Sinew {#entry-sinew} *νεῦρα (neura); ὕδατι διπλασίονι (hydati diplasioni)* **The word.** Neura is conventionally rendered sinews or tendons in this anatomical context. Translating it as modern nerves would imply a specialized function not established by the notice. The water is described as double, but the compressed recipe requires attention to the comparison intended. **In this work.** Aëtius says that sinew arises from fire and earth mixed with twice as much water. A common reading treats fire and earth as single portions and water as two, but the sentence does not explicitly enumerate every unit in that way. It is therefore preferable to preserve the relative statement before presenting a normalized ratio. Sinew also serves as the starting material for nails: at the point where it encounters air and is chilled, nail is generated. The connection offers a process-based explanation of a tissue difference alongside the arithmetic differentiation of flesh and bone. It does not prove a modern anatomical continuity between tendon and nail, and it gives no microscopic structure. The testimony's interest lies in deriving recognizable bodily materials from a restricted inventory through proportion and subsequent alteration. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Gives a fire–earth–water composition for sinew and makes chilled sinew the source of nails. - **A 78 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 168–171. Records repairs to “and earth with water” and Bernadakis' double-water reading. **In this edition.** The recipe depends on readings taken from Galen and other evidence, plus an emendation for “double.” It is not secure enough to function as an independent exact chemical formula or as unmediated Empedoclean wording. **See also.** [Nails](#entry-nails); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Cold](#entry-cold). ## Sleep {#entry-sleep} *ὕπνον (hypnon); καταψύξει (katapsyxei); συμμέτρωι (symmetrōi)* **The word.** Hypnos is sleep; katapsyxis is cooling. Symmetros means proportionate, fitting, or moderate in the relevant phrase. The qualification distinguishes a limited physiological change from a complete one, rather than supplying an exact temperature threshold. **In this work.** The first Aëtian notice explains sleep as moderate cooling of the heat in blood, with complete cooling causing death. The second describes sleep through separation of the fiery constituent and death through a more comprehensive separation of the compound. Cooling and separation are related possible descriptions, but they are not identical words or necessarily interchangeable mechanisms. The report does not explain how the fiery material returns on waking, where it goes during sleep, or why cooling remains within a recoverable range. Those gaps should not be filled with modern brain physiology or with an unsupported assertion that the soul literally leaves the body each night. What is explicit is a graded relation between the conditions of waking life, sleep, and death, together with a constituent-based account that a doxographer sets beside it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Makes sleep moderate cooling of blood's heat and death complete cooling. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Makes sleep separation of the fiery constituent and contrasts compound dissolution at death. **In this edition.** The first notice depends on variant readings for cooling and for “complete.” In the second, the full list of non-fiery constituents is supplied by Diels. The edition's assertion that both reports simply describe withdrawal of fire from blood is a synthesis beyond their exact wording. **See also.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Death](#entry-death); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Sluggishness {#entry-sluggishness} *νωθροὺς (nōthrous); ἐπιπόνους (epiponous); μανὰ καὶ ἀραιὰ (mana kai araia)* **The word.** Nōthros means sluggish or slow; epiponos means laborious or requiring effort. The paired material adjectives describe constituents as loose and rare. The witness associates a bodily arrangement with a style of cognitive activity. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that persons whose elements lie loosely and sparsely are sluggish and laborious. This is contrasted with the dense, finely broken arrangement that yields rapid movement and many unfinished undertakings. The pairing suggests that quickness is not simply superior to slowness: both are departures from the best-balanced and appropriately structured mixture described just before. The passage does not provide a clinical diagnosis, a permanent character test, or an account of how education alters these dispositions. Nor is “laborious” necessarily praise for conscientious perseverance; its force belongs to a contrast between bodily constitution and ease or difficulty of functioning. Preserving the two adjectives separately from the general intelligence entry makes the report's attention to tempo and effort visible without exaggerating it into a complete personality theory. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Associates loose and rare constituents with sluggish and laborious performance. **In this edition.** The modern commentary calls the passage the oldest European temperament theory and ancestor of later humoral accounts. Those priority and influence claims exceed the evidence in this excerpt and are not needed to explicate its vocabulary. **See also.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy). ## Smallest fragments {#entry-smallest-fragments} *θραύσματα ἐλάχιστα (thrausmata elachista); ἐλάχιστα (elachista); στοιχεῖα πρὸ τῶν στοιχείων (stoicheia pro tōn stoicheiōn)* **The word.** Θραύσματα are fragments or broken pieces; ἐλάχιστα means smallest or least. Aëtius’ phrase “elements before the elements” places such fragments explanatorily beneath the familiar four. Smallness is not, by itself, the same as indivisibility. **In this work.** The first Aëtius notice at A43 credits Empedocles with smallest uniform fragments before the four elements. The second, pairing him with Xenocrates, says the elements are composed of smaller masses that are least parts and effectively elements of elements. These statements go beyond Aristotle’s argument that mixed roots remain in small portions: they supply a further level of constitution for the roots themselves. No fragment quoted in this volume supports that lower level. The edition suggests contamination from atomist doctrine, but that remains a source-critical possibility rather than a demonstrated genealogy. One must not correct the notices into a secure atomic theory, nor dismiss them as certainly imported without argument. A87’s Philoponus reasons that a pore theory requires solid indivisible parts. That is explicitly a consequence he thinks Empedocles must accept; elsewhere he distinguishes filled pores from void. The smallest-fragment notices and the later indivisibility argument are related evidence about interpretation, not independent proof that Empedocles professed atomism. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 13,1 and I 17,3; source PDF pp. 106–107. Posits least fragments or masses beneath the four roots, beyond what the verse quoted here establishes. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Infers indivisible solids from the supposed requirements of a pore account. **In this edition.** Diels records the variant στοιχεῖα πρὶν στοιχείων in A43. Both formulations express a lower explanatory level; neither makes the report a direct Empedoclean quotation. **See also.** [Masses](#entry-masses); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Elements](#entry-elements). ## Smell {#entry-smell} *ὄσφρησιν (osphrēsin); ὀσφραίνεσθαι (osphrainesthai)* **The word.** Osphrēsis names the sense or act of smelling; osphrainesthai means to smell. These words concern the perceiver's activity and must be distinguished from osmē, the odour perceived or emitted. **In this work.** Theophrastus reports that smell occurs by breathing, and that those whose breathing moves most vigorously smell most keenly. Fine and light bodies emit the most odour. Aëtius offers a related association of lung-breathing with odour entering, citing diminished smell during catarrh. The latter adds a condition of impaired respiration rather than simply repeating the claim that more air always yields better smell. Theophrastus develops several separate objections. Some smelling animals do not breathe; abundant inhalation does not help an unhealthy or obstructed sense; people breathing heavily through distress, labour, or sleep do not thereby smell best. Breathing may accompany smell incidentally without being its intrinsic cause. Finally, lightness alone cannot explain odour because air and fire are very light yet do not produce olfactory sensation. Each objection addresses a different relation: universality, organ condition, quantity of air, causation, or the object's constitution. These should not be collapsed into a generic complaint that the account is incorrect. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Gives breathing, vigorous inhalation, and light bodies roles in smelling. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Challenges the universality and quantitative sufficiency of the respiratory explanation. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22; source PDF pp. 210–211. Separates incidental respiration from the intrinsic cause of smell. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Connects incoming smell with lung-breathing and its impairment in catarrh. **In this edition.** A94 does not erase Theophrastus's report of what he found lacking elsewhere. The witnesses can preserve differing selections and formulations; their notices should be compared without treating one as a complete repair of the other. **See also.** [Odour](#entry-odour); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause). ## Soil {#entry-soil} *τοῦ τρέφοντος ἐδάφους (tou trephontos edaphous); τῆς ⟨γῆς⟩ πολυμερείας (tēs gēs polymereias)* **The word.** Edaphos is ground or soil, here qualified as nourishing. Polymereia expresses manifold composition or multiplicity of parts. The explicit word for earth in the latter phrase is supplied in the edition's Greek text. **In this work.** Soil in A70 is both the source of plant nourishment and a material capable of significant internal variation. Plants draw constituents from it in different ways, and the differences of nourishing ground are said to make wine good. The report therefore resists treating earth solely as one uniform background beneath a plant. This does not contradict the status of earth as a fundamental constituent: cultivated ground can be discussed as a complex mixture without redefining the underlying root. The text does not supply a soil classification, measurements of moisture or heat, or instructions for cultivation. Its explanatory claim is that the quality of a product depends on the material from which its producer is nourished. This extends mixture theory into an ordinary agricultural comparison while leaving much of the practical mechanism unspecified. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Makes the variety of nourishing earth and selective uptake responsible for flavour differences. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius, wine comparison; source PDF pp. 150–153. Emphasizes differences in the soil that feeds vines as the cause of good wine. **In this edition.** The supplemented gēs must remain visible as editorial restoration. The ground of agriculture should not be equated without qualification with unmixed elemental earth, and the report does not establish a modern theory of terroir. **See also.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Wine](#entry-wine); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment). ## Solar eclipse {#entry-solar-eclipse} *σελήνης αὐτὸν ὑπερχομένης (selēnēs auton hyperchomenēs)* **The word.** The surviving clause says that the moon passes beneath “it,” the sun supplied by the heading and translation. Its genitive construction gives the circumstance responsible for the obscuration. Neither an independent Greek noun for eclipse nor an elaborate shadow terminology occurs in this particular notice. **In this work.** The one-line Aëtian testimony identifies the moon's interposition as the cause of a solar eclipse. It is important to distinguish the explanatory success of that broad relation from the rest of the lunar model. A body can obstruct solar light whether one imagines that body as spherical or disc-shaped; A60's disc theory therefore does not prevent the eclipse explanation. Conversely, the notice supplies no eclipse geometry, size estimates, orbital inclination, or account of why eclipses are intermittent. A61's contradictory distance reports cannot be used to fill those gaps confidently. A concise correct identification of the intervening body remains a concise report, rather than evidence for an entire correct astronomical system. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 59 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. Attributes solar obscuration to the moon passing beneath the sun. - **A 60 (testimony).** Aëtius and Plutarch; source PDF pp. 132–133. Supply the distinct, partly problematic accounts of the moon's body and illumination. **In this edition.** The edition's “Correct, and stated without qualification” concerns the causal core of the report. The English words identifying a solar eclipse are bracketed additions; the original excerpt is only a subordinate clause. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance). ## Solid parts {#entry-solid-parts} *στερεὰ (sterea); ναστά (nasta); πυκνά (pykna); ἁπτόμενα μόρια (haptomena moria)* **The word.** Στερεά are solids; ναστά are packed or compact parts; πυκνά means dense or close-packed. The touching-parts expression belongs to a critical account of the structure between passages. Solidity and indivisibility are linked by that argument, not simply equivalent by dictionary definition. **In this work.** Philoponus’ A87 inference requires some parts of a porous body to be solid and indivisible, because uninterrupted passages everywhere would make the entire body void. He then places empty intervals between touching portions. Other excerpts of the same commentary insist instead that pore-theorists fill passages with finer bodies, which separates their account from void theory. The final witness, Pseudo-Philoponus, reports a mixture of passages and solid parts in sublunary bodies such as water and oil, adding the designations hollows and close-packed. This is not an assertion that ordinary liquids are made of visible hard grains. It is a structural interpretation at a scale and level of explanation not specified quantitatively in the excerpt. The headword distinguishes the positive occupants of a body from its passages while preserving the dispute about what fills the passages themselves. It also prevents the later critic’s requirement of indivisibility from being treated as part of the bare meaning of compactness. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Derives solid indivisible touching parts from his objection to passages extending through all body. - **A 87 (testimony).** Pseudo-Philoponus, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 214–217. Reports passages and packed parts in water, oil and other sublunary bodies, with the labels hollows and close-packed. **In this edition.** Distinguish Philoponus from Pseudo-Philoponus. The final notice’s book-reference does not attribute an Aristotelian work to Empedocles. **See also.** [Pores](#entry-pores); [Void](#entry-void); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition). ## Sorcery {#entry-sorcery} *γοητεύοντι (goēteuonti); φάρμακα (pharmaka)* **The word.** Goēteuonti means practicing goēteia, rendered sorcery in the edition. Pharmaka can denote drugs or potent preparations, but its precise range here is constrained by an abbreviated poetic quotation. Neither word should automatically be assigned the modern distinction between legitimate pharmacology and fraudulent magic. **In this work.** Satyrus attributes to Gorgias the claim that he was present when Empedocles practiced sorcery. Diogenes follows it with the assertion that Empedocles promised this and other powers in his poems, giving only the opening and ending cues of the cited fragment. The juxtaposition gives a biographer a way to read poetic promises as biographical activities. That is not the same as independently verifying the activities. The neighboring stories of wind-control and the breathless woman develop the same extraordinary authority through particular episodes. Nicomachus later organizes such powers into a Pythagorean succession including Epimenides and Abaris. These notices show how the boundary between healing, religious expertise, and marvel-working was negotiated by later readers. They do not establish a specific recipe, ritual protocol, or observed violation of natural processes. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 59, reporting Satyrus and an attributed statement of Gorgias; source PDF pp. 26–27. Links alleged eyewitness presence to a poetic promise whose citation is abbreviated. - **A 13–A 14 (legend).** Nicomachus, on the wonders of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 60–61. Places Empedocles’ powers in a lineage of extraordinary practitioners. **In this edition.** The Greek φάρμακα appears only as a quotation cue in this passage. Elaborating a full pharmacological doctrine from that word would exceed the printed evidence. Gorgias’ statement is multiply mediated, not a surviving direct account. **See also.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Soul {#entry-soul} *ψυχήν (psychēn); ψυχῆς (psychēs); τὰς ψυχάς (tas psychas); animi* **The word.** Psychē is soul, the term commonly associated with life or an ensouled being; the Latin animi is the genitive of animus in A98. Neither term guarantees that every witness conceives the soul as an independently separable substance. **In this work.** A96 identifies soul and mind in a report grouping Empedocles with two other thinkers. Its consequence about animal rationality belongs to the doxographer's reasoning. Other passages complicate rather than automatically explain that equation. Aëtius at A85 says death is common to body and soul insofar as the compound's constituents separate. At A32 he calls souls divine and those sharing in them purely divine as well. Caelius Aurelianus records followers distinguishing soul-purgation from bodily caused mental disturbance. Aristotle's questions about soul as the ratio of mixture at A78 must be kept conditional. Different tissues have different ratios; if each ratio were soul, an animal would have many souls. The questions do not supply a settled Empedoclean definition accepted across all witnesses. A4 likewise attacks unnamed thinkers who identify soul with blood; the identification of Empedocles as target is editorial, even if strongly urged by the edition. The dossier thus preserves several ways of locating soul within bodily composition, cognition, divinity, and purification. It does not itself reconcile bodily death with transmigration, nor prove that one set of testimonies makes the other impossible. Those are interpretive problems requiring the differences in source and argumentative level to remain visible.[^note-soul] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 96 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Identifies mind and soul and draws a qualified consequence about animals. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. States that death is common to body and soul in the described respect. - **A 78 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 168–171. Tests rather than straightforwardly endorses soul as a mixture’s ratio. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28; source PDF pp. 92–93. Calls souls divine and associates purity with divine status. - **A 98 (testimony).** Caelius Aurelianus, On Chronic Diseases; source PDF pp. 234–235. Reports followers’ distinction involving purgation of the soul. - **A 4 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Soul; source PDF pp. 52–53. Reports Hippo’s objection to unnamed thinkers who identify soul with blood: seed is not blood. The identification of Empedocles as target is the edition’s. **In this edition.** The A85 account contains substantial elemental supplements. Neither it nor A96 says verbatim “soul is the ratio of a mixture”; that identification is an interpretive synthesis which the edition's commentary too readily treats as given. **See also.** [Mind](#entry-mind); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Death](#entry-death); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul). ## Soulless bodies {#entry-soulless-bodies} *ἀψύχων (apsychōn)* **The word.** Ἄψυχος means without soul or inanimate; the genitive plural here describes the primary bodies in Plato’s presentation of a naturalist account. It is a negative predicate within that argument, not a direct quotation of an Empedoclean definition of matter. **In this work.** A48 says that later bodies, including the earth, sun, moon and stars, arise through primary bodies that are wholly soulless. The phrase prepares the denial that mind, god or art directs world-formation. It helps explain why Plato can treat the account as a target in a discussion of impiety. That characterization should be compared cautiously with the divine elements reported in A32 and A40, and with other testimonia about cognition and soul. Divinity and soul are not simply identical predicates, but the dossier plainly resists reduction to the single slogan that Empedocles taught dead matter. Plato does not name Empedocles in this excerpt; the association is mediated through Diels’ placement among testimonia about followers. The headword is worth preserving because it records a decisive interpretative move: material constituents are defined negatively so that the resulting cosmos lacks intelligent production. What it does not record is an explicit Empedoclean denial of soul to every root. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 48 (polemical).** Plato, Laws X 889b; source PDF pp. 112–113. Describes the primary bodies of an unnamed naturalist account as entirely soulless. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Provides the contrasting report that the elements are gods, without making “divine” and “ensouled” synonyms. **In this edition.** Avoid using Plato’s hostile collective portrait to resolve all evidence about Empedoclean cognition or theology. The attribution and the negative predicate are both part of the critical framing. **See also.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Art](#entry-art); [Chance](#entry-chance). ## Sound {#entry-sound} *ψόφων (psophōn); ἦχον (ēchon); τῆς φωνῆς (tēs phōnēs)* **The word.** Psophos is sound or noise, ēchos a sounding or resonance, and phōnē voice or an emitted sound. The hearing report uses all three, allowing the initiating voice, movement of air, and internal resonance to be distinguished without assuming a fully technical terminology. **In this work.** Theophrastus says air moved by voice rings inside the auditory structure. The moving structure then beats air against solid parts and makes a sound. The sequence is mechanistic, but its verbs and nouns should not be translated into a modern account of acoustic pressure waves without qualification. The critic returns to sound twice. An ear already containing a ringing grows duller rather than better at judging sound, challenging a simple interpretation of like-by-like. And the internal sound itself still needs to be heard, so explaining how it is produced does not complete the theory of hearing. Sound therefore appears both as the proposed physical carrier and as the object whose perception remains at issue. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Distinguishes initiating voice, moving air, and internal sound. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Uses ringing in the ears as a counterexample to unqualified perception by like. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Separates making a sound within from explaining why it is heard. **In this edition.** The translation's different English words should not imply that Empedocles himself supplied a fixed three-level acoustic taxonomy. They preserve distinctions in Theophrastus's report. **See also.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Bell](#entry-bell); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [Contact](#entry-contact). ## Sphairos {#entry-sphairos} *Σφαῖρον (Sphairon); σφαιροειδὲς (sphairoeides)* **The word.** The named spherical state or being is represented by the inflected Σφαῖρον in the excerpts. Σφαιροειδές means sphere-like or spherical. Keeping the proper name Sphairos distinguishes this state from an ordinary geometrical sphere and from the reported egg-like cosmos. **In this work.** A32 associates the One with spherical shape, eternity and immobility, and calls the Sphairos uniform. This is compressed doxography with supplied text, not a complete quotation of the poem. The relation to the roots is crucial. A40 calls the elements prior by nature to “the god,” understood as the Sphairos, while also admitting that they too are gods. The priority is Aristotle’s compositional argument: what the god consists of is naturally prior to the composite. Philoponus at A41 presses a sharper problem. He claims that under Love the Sphairos becomes qualityless, so that fire and the other roots lose their proper character. If so, the roots’ alleged unchangeability appears compromised. But qualitylessness is the critic’s reported premise, not a statement found in the poetic quotation printed here. A32’s “uniform” need not by itself entail the loss of every constituent’s identity. The articles distinguish those claims rather than using one to prove the other. Simplicius at A52 describes Love gathering all things into one, destroying the cosmos of Strife and producing the Sphairos; Strife then separates the elements and produces a cosmos of the present kind. This locates the Sphairos in an account of recurring transformation. It also complicates a literal reading of every eternal or unmoved predicate in A32. The testimonia must be compared, not simply concatenated into an uninterrupted narrative. There is an important translation fault at A32. The supplemented Greek contains εἰς ὃν πάντα ταῦτ’ ἀναλυθήσεται: “into which all these will be resolved,” with the Sphairos as the destination. The English printed in the edition reverses the direction, saying “into these the uniform Sphairos will be resolved.” Because the Greek itself includes supplements, both the corrected direction and its textual qualification must be stated. One cannot base a cosmological phase on the English reversal.[^note-sphairos] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Describes the One and uniform Sphairos; the supplied Greek makes the Sphairos the destination of resolution, contrary to the printed English. - **A 40 (polemical).** Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione B 6, 333b20; source PDF pp. 102–103. Treats the elements as naturally prior to the god while calling them gods too. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. Attributes qualitylessness and loss of elemental properties to the Sphairos. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Places the formation of the Sphairos under Love between the destruction and renewed formation of a differentiated cosmos. **In this edition.** The initial spherical/eternal/unmoved clause at A32 is supplied from Stobaeus; the Sphairos clause is also partly supplied by Usener. The English reverses the direction of resolution. No corrected reading should conceal these supplements. **See also.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Love](#entry-love); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos). ## Sprout of flesh {#entry-sprout-of-flesh} *σάρκινον ὄζον (sarkinon ozon)* **The word.** The phrase means a fleshy sprout or shoot. Theophrastus expressly says Empedocles calls the auditory structure by this name, marking a stronger claim to retained poetic wording than the surrounding expository sentences. **In this work.** The phrase occurs within the account of a bell-like auditory apparatus. It gives a bodily, growing image to what the reporter then describes mechanically: motion beats air against solid parts and produces sound. Aëtius's description of a cartilaginous suspended part provides a related report, but the surviving texts do not prove that “sprout” is an exact name for the same anatomical structure in both. The source-critical value of this small expression is especially high. It is one of the places where the witness signals the poet's own naming rather than offering only a paraphrase. Yet even here the transmitted noun is not entirely beyond question. The editor records a suspicion that “mass” or “lump” might stand in place of “sprout.” A lexicon should preserve the printed phrase and its attribution while making the conjectural alternative visible. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (quotation).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Introduces the expression as Empedocles’ own designation. - **A 86 § 9 (apparatus).** Apparatus to Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Notes Diels’s suspicion of σάρκινον ὄγκον in place of the printed phrase. - **A 93 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 228–229. Provides a related but differently worded account of the internal auditory structure. **In this edition.** The edition identifies the phrase with B99 in the companion volume. Here its secure location is the explicit naming report in A86 §9; its textual uncertainty should travel with that citation. **See also.** [Bell](#entry-bell); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Hearing](#entry-hearing). ## Stammering {#entry-stammering} *ψελλίζεται (psellizetai)* **The word.** The verb evokes stammering or inarticulate utterance. Aristotle applies the figure to Empedocles’ manner of saying what the critic takes to be his underlying thought. It is an evaluative metaphor about philosophical articulation, not a report of a physical speech impairment. **In this work.** A39 asks the reader to follow the sense of Empedocles’ account rather than what he “stammers” in speaking. This creates room for Aristotle to supply a more explicit analysis: Love causes good, Strife causes evil, and perhaps good and evil are therefore principles. The metaphor is not incidental decoration; it authorizes a reconstruction in which the later philosopher understands the predecessor’s theory better than its own expression appears to do. The reader should consequently distinguish reported names and functions from the critic’s completion of their meaning. To reproduce the moral analysis as a simple Empedoclean quotation would repeat the very act of appropriation that the metaphor announces. The edition compares Aristotle’s treatment of other early thinkers, but no such parallel passage is printed here, so that comparison should remain contextual rather than an additional textual witness. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Uses the stammering metaphor to separate an alleged underlying intention from Empedocles’ expressed words. **In this edition.** “Stammering” translates a polemical figure. It must not become biographical evidence about Empedocles’ health, ability to speak, or performance of his verse. **See also.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause). ## Stars {#entry-stars} *ἄστρα (astra); πύρινα (pyrina); πρώτην διάκρισιν (prōtēn diakrisin)* **The word.** Ἄστρα are stars or celestial lights; πύρινα calls them fiery. The “first separation” phrase places their origin within the cosmogonic sequence described by the witness. It need not name the first event in all time. **In this work.** Aëtius at A53 says the stars are made from the fiery material that air contained within itself and squeezed out at the first separation. The compressed statement assigns them both a material and a mode of release. It is best read beside the broader sorting of aither, fire, earth, water and air at A49, while recognizing that the excerpt does not provide a complete integrated chronology. The distinct A54 notice divides fixed stars from planets according to their relation to the crystal: the former are bound, the latter free. It addresses support and motion rather than the production of their fiery material. The two statements can be connected, but one does not supply every missing detail of the other. The vocabulary is therefore ancient physical description, not a claim anticipating modern stellar composition or energy generation. The significance lies in extending the root-based account to lights in the heavens through expulsion from an enclosing material. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 53 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,2 (D. 341); source PDF pp. 122–123. Makes stars fiery material squeezed out of air at the first separation. - **A 54 (testimony).** Aëtius II 13,11 (D. 342); source PDF pp. 122–123. Adds the separate distinction between stars bound to crystal and planets left free. **In this edition.** The bracketed identification of the subject as stars is editorially supplied in the Greek. The testimony is a short prose report, without an embedded verse quotation. **See also.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Air](#entry-air); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Planets](#entry-planets). ## Stone {#entry-stone} *λίθοι (lithoi); πέτρας (petras); ἀπολιθοῦται (apolithoutai); δυνάμεων (dynameōn)* **The word.** Lithoi are stones and petrai rocks; apolithoutai means that something becomes stone. Dynameis are powers or capacities, the term used by Psellus for properties of stones whose causes earlier thinkers attempted to explain. **In this work.** Pseudo-Aristotle's Problems asks why hot waters form stone more readily than cold waters, answers through the loss of moisture under heat, and invokes Empedocles in connection with rocks, stones, and thermal waters. Plutarch instead reports that fire deep in the earth braces and supports exposed cliffs and rocks. The processes are distinct: formation by drying is not the same as continued support by underlying fire. Psellus adds only that Empedocles belonged among ancient authors who explained powers in stones, alongside Anaxagoras and Democritus. He gives no particular power or causal account here. This weak but real attribution should not be expanded into an Empedoclean mineral catalogue or magical lapidary. The group illustrates how a material term can gather physically related but textually uneven testimonia. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 69 (testimony).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 146–147. Connects stone formation with moisture-loss promoted by heat. - **A 69 (testimony).** Plutarch, On the Principle of Cold; source PDF pp. 146–147. Gives a separate explanation of the support of cliffs and rocks. - **A 69 (testimony).** Psellus, On Stones; source PDF pp. 146–147. Lists Empedocles among explainers of the powers of stones without detailing his theory. **In this edition.** The Problems is a work of the Aristotelian tradition, not secure personal testimony by Aristotle. The editorial summary “rock is water that has lost its moisture” overcompresses an account that speaks of moisture departing from a material without defining all rock simply as former water. **See also.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Mixture](#entry-mixture). ## Strife {#entry-strife} *Νεῖκος (Neikos); Νείκους (Neikous); ἔχθει (echthei)* **The word.** Νεῖκος denotes strife or contention. The related hatred-language ἔχθει appears in abbreviated verse citations, but should not be treated as proof that every word for enmity in a witness is an exact poetic synonym. Strife is paired with Love as a cosmological principle in the testimonia. **In this work.** The simplest reported function is separation: A28 and A33 distinguish the dividing power from Love’s combining one. Aristotle complicates that description at A37 by pointing out that separating the unlike elements also gathers each like element into one mass. On that scale Strife combines. The objection is about whether a cause has a single unambiguous operation, not about whether the poem contains the name Strife. Strife is also world-making in the cycle reports. Simplicius describes the separated elements forming a cosmos of the present kind, while Love gathers all into the Sphairos and destroys that cosmos. Aristotle’s second notice at A42 similarly calls the present world a world under Strife. Consequently a formula such as “Strife destroys, Love creates” is inadequate: the destruction of one arrangement can be the condition for the generation of another. Aristotle himself exempts only the elements from perishability at A52. A39’s ethical mapping must be handled separately. Aristotle proposes that Strife causes evils and is, in a sense, the evil principle. His reconstruction is introduced through claims about what Empedocles means rather than what he articulates. The passage does not establish a fully developed moral dualism in Empedocles’ own terminology. A45 introduces still another relation by identifying necessity with Love and Strife together in Plutarch, whereas Aëtius seems to give necessity a causality over the principles. What emerges securely is a power inseparable from the explanation of change and opposition. Its ontological standing, complete schedule of dominance, and ethical significance remain contested in the very evidence that preserves it. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Identifies Strife as the mover that separates the elements in alternating phases. - **A 37 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 985a21; source PDF pp. 98–99. Points out that Strife’s separation of unlike constituents simultaneously combines like ones. - **A 39 (polemical).** Aristotle, Metaphysics A 4, 984b32; source PDF pp. 100–101. Interprets Strife as cause of evil in a moralized causal reconstruction. - **A 52 (testimony).** Simplicius, De caelo 293,18; source PDF pp. 120–121. Names the cosmos of Strife and describes Strife producing a present-kind world after separation. - **A 33 (quotation).** Aëtius I 3,20, abbreviated citation of Empedocles B17.7–8; source PDF pp. 92–95. Preserves the ending ἔχθει, “in hatred,” within an abbreviated verse citation attached to the alternating powers. **In this edition.** “Strife” should retain its figurative and evaluative associations without letting those associations decide every causal or ethical question. The Greek name does not identify a modern physical force. **See also.** [Love](#entry-love); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Necessity](#entry-necessity). ## Sublunary evils {#entry-sublunary-evils} *κακῶν μεστὸν (kakōn meston); μέχρι μὲν σελήνης (mechri men selēnēs); καθαρωτέρου (katharōterou)* **The word.** Kaka are evils or bad things; katharōteros is purer. The spatial phrase extends these evils as far as the moon. “Sublunary” is a convenient later classificatory label for the region described, not a Greek noun supplied by this excerpt. **In this work.** Hippolytus attributes to Empedocles a terrestrial region filled with evils that extend to the moon but no farther, because all the region above it is purer. He also associates Heraclitus with the same position. This is a morally differentiated cosmic geography, not merely a statement about lunar altitude. The notice may consequently bear on the relation between physical cosmology and accounts of exile or purification. It does not, however, quote the Purifications, mention an exiled daimon in this sentence, or explicitly identify a boundary crossed by migrating souls. Those connections are interpretive possibilities. The Christian refutational setting also matters: Hippolytus is classifying earlier doctrines for his own larger argument, and shared phrasing need not guarantee an untouched fragment of Empedocles' poem. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 62 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies; source PDF pp. 134–135. Locates the reach of terrestrial evils at the moon and contrasts a purer region above. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 184–185. Provides a contrasting physiological inference about the shared death of body and soul. **In this edition.** The edition calls this the clearest join between the two poems' geographies. The surviving report supports a possible connection, but its identification with the world of exile is supplied by the editorial commentary. **See also.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Death](#entry-death). ## Subterranean fire {#entry-subterranean-fire} *ignibus; τοῦ πυρὸς (tou pyros); τοῦ ἐν βάθει τῆς γῆς (tou en bathei tēs gēs)* **The word.** The Latin ignibus refers to fires; Plutarch's Greek phrase locates fire in the depth of the earth. This is a placement of the fiery constituent within an existing terrestrial structure, not a new fifth substance. **In this work.** Seneca says the earth conceals fires in many places, and uses them to explain water heated along underground routes. Plutarch supplies a different function: cliffs, crags, and rocks stand and are supported because blazing fire beneath braces them. The two reports therefore assign subterranean fire both thermal and supporting effects. They should not be collapsed into a single mechanical model in which one confidently explains the other. Pseudo-Aristotle adds heat-driven drying and stone formation, again a distinct causal claim. Together these passages show why fire is important to the solid earth's physical history, although none maps a continuous subterranean layer or specifies its distribution. “Volcanism” may suggest a modern comparison but is not the explicit phenomenon under discussion in these excerpts. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 68 (testimony).** Seneca, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 144–145. Places concealed fires below routes followed by water. - **A 69 (testimony).** Plutarch, On the Principle of Cold; source PDF pp. 146–147. Attributes the support of visible rocks to blazing fire deep in the earth. - **A 69 (testimony).** Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems; source PDF pp. 146–147. Connects stone formation with the departure of moisture under heat. **In this edition.** The edition's synthesis of geology under one principle is broader than the surviving reports. Supporting rock, consolidating rock, and heating water are related uses of fire but not interchangeable processes. **See also.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices). ## Sun {#entry-sun} *ἥλιος (hēlios); ἡλίου (hēliou); ἥλιον (hēlion)* **The word.** Ἥλιος names the sun. Across this volume the ordinary celestial referent can be described as a fiery mass, a source of travelling light, or the apparent reflection of a more original fire. The familiar noun does not remove disagreements about the thing’s constitution. **In this work.** Diogenes’ A1 §77 calls the sun a great mass of fire larger than the moon. Ps.-Plutarch at A30 instead says it is not fire by nature but a reflection like that from water. Aëtius’ A56 elaborates a distinction between an archetypal fiery hemisphere and the apparent reflected sun, adding that the latter is equal to earth. The report is textually and conceptually obscure; it cannot automatically absorb every other solar statement as part of a settled two-sun model. The sun has several further explanatory roles. At A50 its circuit marks the world’s limit. At A57 sunlight reaches the intervening region before sight or earth, a claim Aristotle reports in criticism and Philoponus explains through rapid bodily efflux. A58 makes the sun’s onrush tilt the northern region and says its advance is constrained by the enclosing sphere and tropic circles. A59 gives lunar interposition as the occasion of a solar eclipse. These notices concern movement, light and obstruction as well as material constitution. An overview entry is therefore necessary, but it must remain a guide to differentiated evidence. Neither the physics of reflection nor the reports about apparent paths should be used to fabricate a complete modern-style solar theory whose parts are absent from the sources. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Describes a large fiery solar mass. - **A 30 (testimony).** Ps.-Plutarch, Stromateis, in Eusebius P.E. I 8,10; source PDF pp. 88–89. Contrasts the sun’s reflected constitution with fire itself. - **A 56 (testimony).** Aëtius II 20,13 and II 21,2; source PDF pp. 124–125. Distinguishes original and apparent suns and assigns the reflected one a size relation to earth. - **A 57 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 128–129. Attributes an intermediate stage to the arrival of sunlight. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. Explains solar turning and the tilt of the heavens through constraints and onrush. - **A 59 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 130–131. Associates solar eclipse with the moon passing beneath the sun. **In this edition.** The apparatus admits A56’s obscurity and notes a variant in A57’s “intermediate” expression. The solar notices should not be treated as equally secure parts of one unproblematic reconstruction. **See also.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse); [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles); [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary). ## Sweat {#entry-sweat} *ἱδρῶτα (hidrōta); τοῦ αἵματος τηκομένου (tou haimatos tēkomenou)* **The word.** Hidrōs means sweat. The genitive phrase makes blood undergoing melting or liquefaction the source of the product. “Melting” here belongs to the ancient report's model of material transformation, not a modern description of blood's physical state. **In this work.** Aëtius groups sweat and tears together as products of blood that is liquefied, thinned, and dispersed. This creates a physiological relation between an internal material and outward secretions. It supplies neither sweat glands nor a mechanism of thermoregulation, and it should not be presented as accurate modern anatomy. The term has a striking cosmological counterpart at A66, where the sea is earth's sweat under solar heating and compression. That parallel shows the reach of an explanatory image without proving literal identity between the two processes. Terrestrial sweat is not said to derive from blood, while bodily sweat is. Aristotle's criticism at A24–A25 further shows that naming the sea sweat could be judged poetically effective yet explanatorily insufficient. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Explains sweat and tears through melting, thinning, and dispersal of blood. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 138–141. Applies sweat-language to the sea as a product of heated, compressed earth. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 76–79. Criticizes the sea-as-sweat metaphor as inadequate to knowledge of nature. **In this edition.** The end of A78's secretion clause is supplied from Galen because the manuscripts are corrupt and mutilated. Its smoothly stated common mechanism should not disguise the reconstruction. **See also.** [Tears](#entry-tears); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Heat](#entry-heat). ## Sweat of the earth {#entry-sweat-of-the-earth} *ἱδρῶτα τῆς γῆς (hidrōta tēs gēs); ἐκκαιομένης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου (ekkaiomenēs hypo tou hēliou); πίλησιν (pilēsin)* **The word.** Hidrōs is sweat; pilēsis is pressing or compression. Aëtius' phrase transfers bodily exudation to the earth, with solar heating and pressure furnishing the physical conditions of the process. **In this work.** The sea is reported as the sweat of an earth burnt through by the sun under increasing compression. The metaphor is not merely decorative: it describes a liquid separated from a larger material body through heating and pressure. Its explanatory force depends on a familiar bodily event, but the report supplies no detailed identity between terrestrial and human sweating. At A78, human sweat is derived from blood melting, thinning, and dispersing; no terrestrial blood is posited in A66. Reading the two passages together reveals a recurring interest in fluid release without authorizing a literal organismic earth. The brief notice also leaves salinity unexplained. One cannot infer that the properties of bodily sweat account for every property of seawater simply from the shared name. Aristotle at A24–A25 explicitly associates the expression with Empedocles, but judges it insufficient for knowledge of nature: a successful poetic metaphor need not provide a clear physical explanation. His criticism makes the adequacy of the analogy itself part of the dossier. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 76–79. Identifies the sea-as-earth's-sweat phrase as Empedoclean and criticizes its explanatory adequacy as a metaphor. - **A 66 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 138–141. Calls the sea earth's sweat and gives solar burning and compression as its conditions. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Explains bodily sweat through blood undergoing liquefaction and dispersal. **In this edition.** The A66 comment that the phrase has the ring of verse is strengthened by Aristotle's explicit discussion of its poetic character at A24–A25. Neither passage, however, prints a complete metrical verse or marks Aëtius' whole sentence as a direct quotation. **See also.** [Sea](#entry-sea); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Compaction](#entry-compaction). ## Taste {#entry-taste} *γεύσεως (geuseōs); γεῦσις (geusis); ἐν γεύσει (en geusei)* **The word.** Geusis is tasting or taste. The dossier distinguishes it from chymos/chylos, the flavour or tasting quality, although the English “taste” can cover both act and object. That distinction is needed to follow the witness's objections. **In this work.** Theophrastus says Empedocles supplies no separate account of how or through what taste occurs, beyond the common rule of fitting passages. He later questions how effluence could account for taste and touch, and treats flavours already present in tasting as making the sense duller rather than strengthening it. Aristotle's A94 excerpt attributes to Empedocles the claim that kinds of flavour exist in water but are imperceptible through smallness. This is genuine further evidence about taste-objects, yet it is not by itself the missing account of an entire sensory mechanism. The opening proposition “taste is a kind of touch” is Aristotle's framing, not explicitly a doctrine assigned to Empedocles. The notices therefore supplement one another without cancelling Theophrastus's stated gap or warranting the transfer of every Aristotelian sentence to his predecessor. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Records no separate mechanism for taste beyond fitting. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. Uses pre-existing flavours as an impediment to clear tasting. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Questions the application of effluence to taste and touch. - **A 94 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 228–229. Attributes imperceptibly small kinds of flavour in water to Empedocles. **In this edition.** The edition says A94 “fills the gap” noted by Theophrastus. More cautiously, it adds a claim about the presence of flavours, without supplying all the causal detail the critic says is absent. **See also.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Touch](#entry-touch); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense). ## Tears {#entry-tears} *δάκρυον (dakryon); τοῦ αἵματος ταραχθέντος (tou haimatos tarachthentos); γάλακτος ὀρρὸν (galaktos orron)* **The word.** Dakryon is a tear. The Plutarch passage describes blood being disturbed and compares the separated product with orros, whey, from milk. The analogy concerns a material separation rather than an explanation of sadness. **In this work.** Aëtius places tears with sweat among products of blood melting, thinning, and dispersing. Plutarch gives an overlapping but differently expressed account: some, including Empedocles, say that a tear is knocked out of disturbed blood as whey is separated from milk. These reports support a derivation from blood and a separation model. They do not establish that liquefaction and agitation were two explicitly successive stages in Empedocles' own account. Nor do they explain the emotional, protective, or optical roles of tears. The dairy comparison is valuable because it makes an otherwise hidden transformation intelligible through an everyday visible one. Its purpose is causal analogy, not a claim that tears are chemically milk products or that modern plasma separation has been discovered.[^note-tears] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 78 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 168–171. Groups tears with sweat as products of transformed blood. - **A 78 (testimony).** Plutarch, Natural Questions; source PDF pp. 168–171. Attributes to Empedocles a whey-from-milk analogy for tears separated from disturbed blood. **In this edition.** Aëtius' clause is textually restored using Galen, while Plutarch is an additional report with different wording. Their overlap should not be converted into proof of two independently preserved identical mechanisms. **See also.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Sight](#entry-sight). ## Testimonium {#entry-testimonium} **The word.** A testimonium is evidence supplied by another author about a thinker, a work or a doctrine. The label identifies a relation of testimony, not a guarantee of accuracy or a single literary genre. In this volume it includes biography, philosophical argument, medical report, doxographical summary and stories about extraordinary deeds. **In this work.** The distinction from a fragment helps only if it is applied inside passages as well as between books. Aristotle may quote a phrase and then criticize its explanatory force; Diogenes may quote verses while reporting someone else’s story. Those quoted words and the surrounding interpretation are not interchangeable. A number such as A 25 gathers more than one witness and more than one use of language. It is therefore a location in an edited dossier rather than a single statement for which an undifferentiated ancient author can be held responsible. The same caution applies to the Life: Diogenes names earlier authorities, reproduces disagreements, and sometimes includes criticism of the very story he transmits. The lexicon’s witness names and evidentiary labels keep these differences visible without pretending that every passage can be assigned to an entirely pure category. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Introduction (apparatus).** Modern introduction, What a testimonium is; source PDF pp. 2–10. Explains the distinction between a quotation and a report by comparing versions of the sea’s origin. - **A 24–A 25 (polemical).** Aristotle, Meteorology, among the literary testimonia; source PDF pp. 76–79. A reported phrase about the sea becomes the object of an objection to metaphor as explanation. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. An edited biographical account can preserve criticism of a legend alongside the legend itself. **In this edition.** The source’s claim that nothing in this book is Empedocles’ own words is too absolute: embedded quotations occur. The distinction must be maintained at the level of the quoted phrase and its framing argument. **See also.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor). ## Theft of discourses {#entry-theft-of-discourses} *λογοκλοπίαι (logoklopiai); τῶν λόγων (tōn logōn); ἐδημοσίωσεν (edēmosiōsen); ἐποποιῶι (epopoiōi)* **The word.** Logoklopia is theft of discourse or argument; the compound marks an accusation rather than a neutral account of intellectual borrowing. Edēmosiōsen means made public. The prohibited recipient, epopoiōi, is an epic poet. **In this work.** Timaeus’ reported version says Empedocles was barred from sharing Pythagorean discourses after being convicted of stealing them, with Plato offered as a parallel. Neanthes describes a different causal sequence: the Pythagoreans shared their teachings until Empedocles publicized them through poetry, after which they forbade imparting them to an epic poet. The first version concerns an offender and a sanction; the second explains a community rule by a transformative act of publication. Neither is a surviving record of the rule itself. Their common interest is the boundary between a restricted teaching community and public poetic circulation. The repeated Plato parallel further suggests retrospective organization of famous philosophers into a story about access and exclusion. These passages are particularly useful for the reception of philosophical poetry as disclosure, but less secure as minutes of an actual Pythagorean disciplinary procedure. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 54, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 18–21. Uses the accusation of discourse-theft to explain exclusion. - **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 55, reporting Neanthes; source PDF pp. 18–21. Connects poetic publication with a prohibition on teaching epic poets. **In this edition.** “Stealing discourses” should not silently become plagiarism in the modern legal or academic sense. The sources do not specify ownership rules, textual copying, or the exact material allegedly disclosed. **See also.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Theophrastus {#entry-theophrastus-witness} **The word.** Theophrastus is the principal named witness in the long A 86 dossier on perception. His account alternates exposition with examination. The terminology of his questions about a faculty, an instrument, explanation or contradiction belongs to this critical inquiry and is not automatically the vocabulary of Empedocles’ poem. **In this work.** The chapter’s initial distinction between accounts that explain perception through likeness and accounts that explain it through opposition provides a comparative framework. The description of pores, visual arrangements and blood mixture must be read within that framework, but later objections do not simply repeat it. Theophrastus asks what the proposed mechanism explains, why only particular organs perceive, how a sense relates to pleasure, and whether the account can accommodate its own differences between people or conditions. These questions deserve separate lexical treatment because they identify distinct explanatory burdens. A single entry on perception would otherwise conceal most of the chapter’s work. His account also supplies unusually differentiated descriptions of intellectual disposition: slowness, quickness, precision and local aptitude are related to differences of bodily mixture without being identical categories. That structure is preserved here without treating it as a modern physiology or endorsing every objection as a final refutation. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 1–2 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 1–2; source PDF pp. 188–189. Places Empedocles within a comparative division of theories by likeness and opposition. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10–11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Develops the account of thought, blood mixture and differing aptitudes. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20–21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Examines what the proposed conditions of sensing can and cannot explain. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 22–23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Tests consequences for parts such as bone and hair, not merely the broad principle of likeness. **In this edition.** The edition calls the dossier an entire chapter, but its printed numbering jumps from §§ 1–2 to §§ 7–8 because it supplies the relevant Empedoclean selection within a wider work. The section labels, rather than a claim of uninterrupted numbering, govern citations. **See also.** [Perception](#entry-perception); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Bone](#entry-bone). ## Thought {#entry-thought} *φρονήσεως (phronēseōs); τὸ φρονεῖν (to phronein); τὴν φρόνησιν (tēn phronēsin)* **The word.** Phronein means to think or be minded; phronēsis is thought or intelligence here. Translating the noun as the later ethical “practical wisdom” would be misleading. Theophrastus is discussing cognitive operation and differences of mental ability in a physiological account. **In this work.** The positive report connects thinking with likes and ignorance with unlikes, adding that thought is either the same as perception or closely similar. The qualification is essential: the witness does not choose unambiguously between strict identity and resemblance. He then explains why blood is the chief medium of thinking, since the elements are especially well blended there. Differences in spacing, size, density, and local balance account for intelligence, slowness, impulsive quickness, and specialized skill. The objections test the account's range. If thought and perception have the same constituents, everything would share in thought; if thinking is alteration, like acting on like appears insufficient to produce it. Bloodless animals and relatively blood-poor sensory regions challenge blood's privileged role, while bone and hair challenge an account resting only on possession of all the elements. Finally, similar explanations of knowledge, ignorance, pleasure, and pain appear to predict unwanted correlations. These claims should be distinguished from Aëtius's identification of mind and soul and from the late school's two kinds of madness. They can inform a reconstruction of Empedoclean psychology, but the dossier does not give one continuous argument joining them. Nor does it print the often-discussed argument that a god lacking Strife cannot know Strife; that argument must not be smuggled into this volume's lexical evidence. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Relates thought to likeness and cautiously compares it with perception. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Explains differences of ability through bodily blending. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Raises universal-thinking, alteration, bloodlessness, and experiential-distinction objections. - **A 96 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 232–233. Offers a separate identification of mind and soul. **In this edition.** The commentary's claim that thought “is not a faculty but a state of a fluid” overstates the reported physiology. The witness explains thought through blood and also speaks explicitly of faculties; the lexical evidence should preserve both. **See also.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition). ## Thought in blood {#entry-thought-in-blood} *τῶι αἵματι μάλιστα φρονεῖν (tōi haimati malista phronein); τῆς τοῦ αἵματος φορᾶς (tēs tou haimatos phoras)* **The word.** The principal phrase means to think above all with blood. Malista, “especially” or “above all,” matters: the wording gives blood a privileged role without itself stating that no other bodily constituent can ever participate in thought. **In this work.** Theophrastus explains blood's cognitive importance through the especially complete blending of the elements in it. Equal or nearly equal mixture, appropriate spacing, and moderate size make a person intelligent and perceptually exact. Loose, rare arrangements make sluggish labouring minds; dense small constituents produce rapid movement, many undertakings, and few completions through the speed of the blood's motion. A locally balanced blend accounts for specialized skill in tongue or hands. The refutation raises different objections rather than a single anti-materialist rejection. Many animals are bloodless; sensory regions in blooded animals are relatively blood-poor; bone and hair also have the elemental composition used to explain cognition. At §24 the critic further denies that a blend alone explains the skill exercised through an organ. Aëtius's separate location of the governing part in the composition of blood is closely related, while Theodoret preserves alternatives involving heart cavity or blood. Plato's Phaedo supplies a contextual question about whether blood is what we think with, but does not name Empedocles in the passage. Its value is reception and intellectual setting, not an independently explicit attribution. The physiological reports warrant a substantial account of thinking with blood; they do not prove the complete identity of thought with one fluid state or authorize a modern neuroscientific translation.[^note-thought-in-blood] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 10; source PDF pp. 196–197. Explains the privileged cognitive role of blood by elemental blending. - **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 11; source PDF pp. 196–197. Links blood constitution and movement to intellectual differences. - **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 23; source PDF pp. 210–211. Challenges blood-centred cognition through bloodless animals and sensory anatomy. - **A 97 (testimony).** Aëtius; Theodoret, Cure of the Greek Maladies; source PDF pp. 232–233. Locates the governing part in blood composition or the cardiac region. - **A 76 (reception).** Plato, Phaedo; source PDF pp. 164–165. Asks whether blood is the medium of thinking without naming Empedocles. **In this edition.** The note links this dossier to B105's blood about the heart. A86 itself says blood, not “the blood about the heart” in its central causal sentence; retain that difference rather than silently importing the fuller fragment. **See also.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part). ## Thunder {#entry-thunder} *κτύπον (ktypon); σβέσιν (sbesin); θραῦσιν (thrausin)* **The word.** Ktypos is a crash or striking noise. Thrausis is breaking or shattering; sbesis normally denotes quenching or extinguishing. These verbal nouns describe the events from which Aëtius says the crash is produced. **In this work.** Thunder is the acoustic member of a combined account of storm phenomena. Solar light entering a cloud forces out the opposing air, and the reported quenching and shattering produce a crash. Lightning is the flash, while the thunderbolt is described through the force of lightning. This distinction prevents the terms from becoming interchangeable labels for one undifferentiated phenomenon. The report does not explain the delay between seeing a flash and hearing thunder, calculate acoustic speed, or specify a vibrating medium in anything like a later wave theory. Its causal interest lies in connecting a sudden sound with disruptive material motion inside a cloud. The unclear word for quenching is important because it leaves the exact physical action less determinate than the neatly coordinated translation might suggest. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 63 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 136–137. Assigns the crash to sbesis and thrausis in the event caused by light entering a cloud. - **A 63 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 136–137. Suggests “splitting” as a replacement for the obscure “quenching.” **In this edition.** “Quenching of that air” follows the edition's interpretation of the compressed pronouns. Since both the wording and causal attachment are difficult, the entry preserves the transmitted action and the conjecture instead of treating the proposed correction as certain. **See also.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt); [Hearing](#entry-hearing). ## Thunderbolt {#entry-thunderbolt} *κεραυνὸν (keraunon); τὸν τῆς ἀστραπῆς τόνον (ton tēs astrapēs tonon)* **The word.** Keraunos denotes the thunderbolt. Tonos can express tension, intensity, or force; the edition renders the relevant phrase as “the lightning's force.” The clause identifies a forceful manifestation rather than giving the bolt a separate material recipe. **In this work.** In Aëtius' compressed meteorology, light entering a cloud sets up a sequence involving displaced air, a crash, and a flash. The thunderbolt is distinguished from lightning by tonos. This may indicate the concentrated or forceful action of the same event, but the sentence does not explain how that force is directed, how it strikes the ground, or what differentiates destructive from harmless flashes. A lexicon should therefore retain the term's physical emphasis without turning it into a measurable modern quantity. The notice is also significant for the absence of a divine agent within this local explanation: the bolt is accounted for within cloud physics. That does not establish a general repudiation of divine language elsewhere in Empedocles. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 63 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 136–137. Defines the thunderbolt through the tonos of lightning in a single physical sequence. - **A 63 (testimony).** Aristotle, Meteorology; source PDF pp. 136–137. Provides the associated account of solar rays held in clouds. **In this edition.** The translation “force” is plausible but interpretive. Neither electrical voltage nor a modern theory of atmospheric discharge is conveyed by tonos. No verse quotation here establishes Empedocles' own preferred word for the relation. **See also.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Thunder](#entry-thunder); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Thurii and Syracuse {#entry-thurii-and-syracuse} *Θουρίους (Thourious); Συρακούσας (Syrakousas); Συρακόσιόν (Syrakosion)* **The word.** Thourious and Syrakousas are the inflected place-names Thurii and Syracuse; Syrakosion means Syracusan. The two cities enter the Life chiefly as tests of proposed movements and chronology. **In this work.** Apollodorus quotes Glaucus for a visit to Thurii when the city was newly founded. He then rejects the story that Empedocles fled home to Syracuse and fought with its people against the Athenians. The juxtaposition does not authorize a reconstructed itinerary joining both journeys: the first is reported, the second challenged. Syracuse returns in Timaeus’ attack on Heraclides’ disappearance story. Peisianax, the supposed host of the sacrificial gathering near Acragas, is said instead to be a Syracusan without an Acragantine estate. That is a geographical objection to a particular narrative location, not a universal proof that no encounter with Peisianax could have occurred. Place-names here function as checks on biography rather than ornamental scenery. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 52, reporting Apollodorus and Glaucus; source PDF pp. 16–17. Reports the Thurii visit and disputes the Syracuse war story. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Makes the host’s Syracusan identity an objection to the proposed estate at Acragas. **In this edition.** The text gives the relative expression “newly founded” for Thurii. A precise arrival year should not be supplied as if directly attested. Timaeus’ geographical rebuttal is itself mediated by Diogenes. **See also.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis). ## Timaeus’ refutation {#entry-timaeus-refutation} *ἀντίρρησιν (antirrhēsin); παραδοξολόγος (paradoxologos); ἄδηλον (adēlon)* **The word.** Antirrhēsis is contradiction or refutation; paradoxologos disparagingly characterizes a teller of marvels. Adēlos means unclear or unknown, the status Timaeus assigns the end of Empedocles after his departure. **In this work.** Timaeus’ objections, preserved by Diogenes, distinguish the location of the supposed sacrificial feast, expected memorial practice, and the poet’s silence about the volcanic craters. Peisianax is said to be Syracusan without an estate at Acragas; Pausanias should have commemorated a deified friend; and the poems allegedly never mention the nearby craters. Timaeus also attacks Heraclides’ broader appetite for wonders by recalling a story about a person falling from the moon. The dossier therefore preserves ancient source criticism, not merely modern skepticism applied to a credulous tradition. Yet its arguments have limits. A missing reference in the poems is an argument from silence, and a predicted memorial rests on assumptions about what a friend would do. The geographical correction can undermine a setting without proving every alternative death. The lexicon should value the precision of the critique while avoiding the edition’s repeated promotion of it into conclusive demonstration of a complete historical reconstruction.[^note-timaeus-refutation] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70–72, reporting Timaeus, Histories XIV; source PDF pp. 40–41. Preserves the explicit objections to Heraclides and the alternative of withdrawal. - **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 67–68, reporting Heraclides; source PDF pp. 34–37. Supplies the feast and disappearance narrative targeted by the critique. **In this edition.** The book number XIV is itself Diels’ correction of manuscript IV. The heading “the veiled statue” in this edition is not matched by a displayed veiled-statue narrative and should not be used as additional evidence. **See also.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese). ## Tomb and memorial {#entry-tomb-and-memorial} *τάφον (taphon); μνημεῖον (mnēmeion); ἀγαλμάτιόν (agalmation); σηκὸν (sēkon)* **The word.** Taphos is a tomb, mnēmeion a memorial, agalmation a small statue or image, and sēkos an enclosure or shrine. The distinctions matter because a place of burial and a cultic monument answer different claims about the missing philosopher. **In this work.** Timaeus argues that Pausanias, a wealthy friend, would have set up some memorial, statue, or divine shrine if the deification report had circulated as claimed. The argument is counterfactual: expected commemoration is absent, so the narrative is suspect. He separately observes that the lack of a visible tomb is not strange, since many other people also have none known. The later accident account nevertheless reports a tomb at Megara. These notices cannot be combined into a secure burial itinerary. They display different uses of monuments as evidence: a hypothetical shrine tests a claim of divinity, an absent grave does not prove miraculous disappearance, and a reported grave anchors an alternative mortal ending. The earlier Acron episode also shows that erecting a memorial was a matter of civic permission and status, not merely private remembrance. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 40–41. Uses missing cultic commemoration against deification while refusing an argument from a missing tomb. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 73–74; source PDF pp. 42–45. Reports a tomb at Megara with an alternative death account. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 65; source PDF pp. 30–33. Presents a separate civic dispute over Acron’s family memorial. **In this edition.** The spelling of the diminutive is retained from the source’s inflected form. The reported Megara is not geographically specified further in the excerpt; selecting one Megara would exceed the evidence. **See also.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality). ## Touch {#entry-touch} *ἁφῆς (haphēs); ἁφή (haphē)* **The word.** Haphē means touch. It can designate a bodily contact or the sense of touch; this entry concerns the latter. The dual use is significant because a contact-based mechanism does not automatically explain the distinctive sensory experience of touching. **In this work.** Theophrastus records no separate Empedoclean mechanism for touch beyond fitting. He does, however, report pleasure from like things in both parts and blend, then uses tactile pleasure as a test of affinity: if kindred things produce greatest pleasure by contact, things grown together should be most pleased and most perceptive. The rough-and-smooth objection asks how tactile qualities can be recognized through effluence or fitting into passages. It tests the transfer of a common physical explanation to a sense whose characteristic objects appear to require more than an emitted stream. Aristotle's statement that taste is a kind of touch is a useful piece of the dossier's later conceptual framing, but is not explicitly ascribed to Empedocles. The entry therefore keeps the general contact principle, the particular sensory modality, and affective responses to touching analytically separate. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 § 9 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 9; source PDF pp. 194–195. Reports the absence of a distinct account of touch. - **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 16; source PDF pp. 202–203. Tests tactile pleasure by the counterexample of things grown together. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Questions how effluence explains rough and smooth. - **A 94 (polemical).** Aristotle, On Sense and Sense-Objects; source PDF pp. 228–229. Introduces his taste discussion by calling taste a kind of touch. **In this edition.** The same noun serves “contact” in §15 and “touch” in §§9 and 20. Translation should distinguish the contextual function rather than creating two unrelated Greek terms. **See also.** [Contact](#entry-contact); [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth); [Taste](#entry-taste); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness). ## Tragedy {#entry-tragedy} *τραγωιδίας (tragōidias); τραγικὸν (tragikon)* **The word.** Tragōidiai are tragedies; tragikon means tragic or tragedy-like. The attributed dramatic works and the description of “tragic pomp” belong to different contexts and should not be confused as mutual evidence. **In this work.** Diogenes reports that Empedocles wrote tragedies, then immediately records a challenge: Heraclides the son of Sarapion assigns them to another man. Hieronymus claims to have encountered forty-three, while Neanthes says they were youthful works and that he had seen seven. The reports disagree about quantity, authorship, and the scope of what a witness knew. The difference between forty-three and seven is not automatically an outright contradiction, since seeing seven does not necessarily deny a larger collection; but neither report secures the corpus. Elsewhere Diodorus of Ephesus describes Empedocles as cultivating tragic pomp and solemn dress in imitation of Anaximander. That characterization concerns performance of identity, not evidence that tragedies were performed or authored by him. Taken together, the notices show how theatrical vocabulary could attach both to a disputed literary production and to a philosopher’s appearance. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 58, reporting Heraclides the son of Sarapion, Hieronymus, and Neanthes; source PDF pp. 22–25. Preserves disputed dramatic authorship and different reported counts. - **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 70, reporting Diodorus of Ephesus; source PDF pp. 38–39. Uses “tragic” to characterize public bearing. **In this edition.** The Life’s catalogue is not a secure bibliography of extant tragedies. The text’s sequence of indirect attributions also makes it unsafe to assign every claim without qualification to Aristotle. **See also.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre). ## Translation chain {#entry-translation-chain} **The word.** A translation chain is the succession of languages or textual stages through which a passage reaches the reader. Its consequences include altered names, shifted technical terms and the loss of a recoverable original expression. The term here describes a problem of mediation rather than a verdict that the final wording is worthless. **In this work.** The source’s most striking example is the Latin plant notice attributed to Nicolaus of Damascus at A 70. It names Empedocles as Abrucalis and reports claims about desire, sensation, pleasure, pain and mixed sex in plants. The modern introduction explains the route through Syriac and Arabic before Latin. That history cautions against inventing a Greek lexical equivalent for every Latin term printed here. It also cautions against assuming that a familiar English translation restores the exact wording of a lost Greek original. Comparison with the nearby Greek notices can support a shared topic or doctrine, but it can also expose differences: the volume does not speak with one voice about plant sensation. A 66 offers another mediated comparison through Philo’s account of the sea. These cases show why the language of the immediate witness must remain visible even where the ultimate attribution is Empedoclean. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants; source PDF pp. 150–153. The Latin report preserves the name Abrucalis and a cluster of plant capacities whose exact earlier wording is not printed. - **A 70 (testimony).** Plutarch, Table Talk; source PDF pp. 150–153. The statement about plants preserved without sensation qualifies the editor’s broad language of agreement. - **A 66 (testimony).** Philo, On Providence, in the supplied Latin version; source PDF pp. 138–141. A mediated description of the sea should be compared with, rather than treated as verbatim identical to, the sweat metaphor. - **Introduction (apparatus).** Modern introduction, The chain; source PDF pp. 2–10. Describes the successive linguistic mediation of the plant report. **In this edition.** The linguistic route is reported by the modern edition. A Latin word in this dossier is presented as the Latin witness’s wording; it is not silently back-translated into a purported Empedoclean Greek lemma. The A 70 apparatus further warns that the transmitted Arabic name has been applied elsewhere to other thinkers; Abrucalis is not a transparent, universally secure equivalent of Empedocles. **See also.** [Plants](#entry-plants); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius). ## Transmigration {#entry-transmigration} *μετενσωματώσει (metensōmatōsei); ψυχάς (psychas); μεταλλάττειν (metallattein)* **The word.** Μετενσωμάτωσις is passing into another body; Hippolytus uses its dative form to characterize a doctrine he says Empedocles strongly accepts. The language of souls changing into all living things is also the reporter’s, and must be distinguished from the first-person verse he adduces. **In this work.** A31 embeds an abbreviated B117 citation after the statement that Empedocles assents especially to passage into new bodies. Hippolytus then says all souls change into all living creatures and compares Pythagoras’ claim to have been Euphorbus, with recognition of a shield. The Pythagorean story functions as an explanatory parallel and pedagogical lineage in the witness; it is not an additional Empedoclean autobiographical fragment. Diogenes’ A1 §77 describes the soul putting on forms of animals and plants and likewise adduces B117. The common quotation provides a connection, but the surrounding ψυχή-language remains the prose authors’ formulation. The edition cautions that the transmigrating self is not called psyche in the Empedoclean wording at issue. The account belongs beside, but should not be harmonized automatically with, physiological testimonia about thought in blood and the soul’s relation to compounds. The dossier preserves different explanatory contexts. A lexicon can identify their tension without announcing that the physical reports either refute or prove the religious account. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 31 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3 (D. 558), §§2–3; source PDF pp. 90–91. Frames the abbreviated B117 citation as passage into new bodies and adds a Pythagorean comparison. - **A 31 (quotation).** Empedocles B117, abbreviated within Hippolytus, Refutatio I 3; source PDF pp. 90–91. Provides the first-person autobiographical citation underlying the reporter’s transmigration claim. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 77; source PDF pp. 46–47. Uses the soul’s putting on animal and plant forms as a frame for the same abbreviated quotation. **In this edition.** Do not print Hippolytus’ ψυχή or μετενσωμάτωσις as if supplied by the verse. The precise relationship between this self and physiological soul-language remains a larger interpretative question. **See also.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Purifications](#entry-purifications). ## Transparent medium {#entry-transparent-medium} *τῶν διαφανῶν (tōn diaphanōn); πόρους ἔχειν ἀοράτους (porous echein aoratous)* **The word.** Diaphanēs denotes what allows seeing through it. The plural substantive means transparent bodies. The account invokes invisible passages, whose invisibility is attributed to their smallness, rather than treating transparency as an absence of body. **In this work.** Aristotle reports that some thinkers explain seeing through air, water, and other transparent bodies by closely packed passages arranged in rows. Greater transparency corresponds to having more of them. The report then names Empedocles as one who applies a passage mechanism in certain cases, extending it to mixture when passages are commensurate. The syntax matters: the detailed transparency account is initially assigned to a group, not introduced as a direct quotation of Empedocles. It forms the context for Aristotle's placement of him within a pore-based explanatory family. The passage can therefore illuminate what such theories tried to explain, but its every detail should not become certain personal doctrine. It is also distinct from the eye's own structure: a medium through which an object is seen is not simply another sense-organ. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 87 (testimony).** Aristotle, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Describes invisible, ordered pores in transparent bodies before identifying Empedocles among pore theorists. **In this edition.** The heading supplies no precise ancient section number. Cite the work as printed and preserve the distinction between the general plural report and the explicit naming of Empedocles. **See also.** [Pores](#entry-pores); [Sight](#entry-sight); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Fitting](#entry-fitting). ## Tropic circles {#entry-tropic-circles} *τῶν τροπικῶν κύκλων (tōn tropikōn kyklōn); τῆς περιεχούσης αὐτὸν σφαίρας (tēs periechousēs auton sphairas)* **The word.** Tropikoi kykloi are turning circles, the celestial circles associated with the sun's seasonal limits. The surrounding sphaira is a sphere enclosing the sun. Here the terms occur in doxographic prose, not a surviving Empedoclean verse. **In this work.** Aëtius explains the sun's return by what prevents it from continuing indefinitely in a straight course: the enclosing sphere and the tropic circles. The sentence is unusually compressed, since its subject and the fact of turning are supplied in the translation. It presents a limit or obstruction, not an account of gravity or orbital mechanics. Nor does the report clarify whether the circles act as boundaries of the sphere, as separate constraints, or as geometrical descriptions of where a physical constraint is encountered. Its interest is nevertheless substantial: a recurring astronomical event is attributed to the arrangement of a bounded cosmos. The neighbouring report of a celestial tilt supplies a history of that arrangement but cannot resolve the precise relation between the two constraints.[^note-tropic-circles] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius, second notice; source PDF pp. 130–131. The enclosing sphere and tropic circles prevent indefinite rectilinear solar travel. - **A 58 (testimony).** Aëtius, first notice; source PDF pp. 130–131. Provides the adjacent physical account of the heavens' inclination. **In this edition.** The bracketed words “[the sun turns back]” are the translator's restoration of context. They should not be mistaken for additional Greek preserved in the notice. This enclosing sphere is not automatically identical with the perfectly unified Sphairos of the cosmic-cycle testimonia. **See also.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Seasons](#entry-seasons). ## Twins and triplets {#entry-twins-and-triplets} *δίδυμα καὶ τρίδυμα (didyma kai tridyma); περισχισμὸν τοῦ σπέρματος (perischismon tou spermatos); geminis* **The word.** Didyma and tridyma are twins and triplets; gemini is the Latin word for twins. Perischismos describes splitting or division of the seed. The terms concern plurality of offspring, but do not distinguish modern categories of twin development. **In this work.** Aëtius attributes twins and triplets to excess and splitting of seed. Censorinus offers a longer discussion beginning with Hippon's claim that more seed than enough for one offspring is divided into two. He says Empedocles seems to have thought almost the same, but immediately qualifies the comparison: Empedocles gives no cause for division, only says that it occurs. The subsequent scheme derives two male offspring from equally hot locations, two females from equally cold ones, and different sexes from unequal temperatures. The hedging and the difference over whether a cause was stated should not disappear when the notices are compared. In addition, Diels doubts that the Censorinus passage can derive from Empedocles himself. Aëtius supplies a straightforward attribution; Censorinus supplies a tentative comparison whose detailed extension is less secure. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (testimony).** Aëtius, notice on multiple births; source PDF pp. 174–179. Explains twins and triplets through excess and splitting of seed. - **A 81 (testimony).** Censorinus, On the Birthday, final notice; source PDF pp. 174–179. Compares Empedocles with Hippon, qualifies the account of division, and adds temperature-dependent sexes. - **A 81 (apparatus).** Diels, apparatus; source PDF pp. 174–179. Doubts the Empedoclean derivation of the twins passage. **In this edition.** “Excess and splitting” must not become a claim about identical versus fraternal twins. The source neither names that distinction nor supplies the requisite modern embryological mechanism. **See also.** [Seed](#entry-seed); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left). ## Tyranny {#entry-tyranny} *τυραννίδος ἀρχήν (tyrannidos archēn); στάσεων (staseōn); διαφοροῦντας τὰ κοινὰ (diaphorountas ta koina)* **The word.** Tyrannis is sole or tyrannical rule in the charged political vocabulary of the narratives; archē here marks its beginning. Staseis are civic factions or conflicts. The phrase about public things concerns misuse or dissipation of communal property. **In this work.** The Life twice detects tyranny in its beginnings. At the dinner, a feast-master’s coercive drinking command is presented as a miniature rehearsal of domination, and Empedocles prosecutes him and the host. After Meton’s death, Neanthes’ account makes faction a threat answered by civic equality. Plutarch adds conviction of leading citizens for outrage and misappropriation of public resources. These stories share a moral structure in which private arrogance or elite self-interest prefigures political oppression. They are not a continuous constitutional history, and their differing actions should not be combined into one securely dated overthrow. The dinner narrative’s executions are especially important: the source praises vigilance against tyranny through legal coercion, not merely persuasion. Reporting the event requires retaining both the claimed public benefit and the severity of the response. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 64, reporting Timaeus; source PDF pp. 30–33. Interprets symposium coercion as the start of tyranny and narrates prosecution and executions. - **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 72–73, reporting Neanthes; source PDF pp. 42–45. Connects Meton’s death, faction, and the danger of tyranny. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, Against Colotes; source PDF pp. 60–61. Connects elite abuses with civic liberation. **In this edition.** In Plutarch the phrase translated “set the city free” is supplied in angle brackets. The text’s anti-tyrannical narrative should not be turned into independently verified legal or political proceedings. **See also.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand). ## Umbilical vessels {#entry-umbilical-vessels} *ἀγγείων (angeiōn); φλεβωδῶν (phlebōdōn); ἀρτηριωδῶν (artēriōdōn); πνευματικὴ (pneumatikē)* **The word.** Angeia are vessels or receptacles. Phlebōdēs and artēriōdēs mean venous and arterial in character, while pneumatikē qualifies a conveyed material as breath-like. These are Soranus' medical terms in an exposition that includes an Empedoclean attribution. **In this work.** The A79 excerpt numbers the umbilical vessels as four, divided into two venous and two arterial, through which nutritive blood-like and breath-like material reaches embryos. It then identifies Empedocles' position as insertion into the liver and contrasts a heart-directed account attributed to Phaedrus. The count and classification belong grammatically to Soranus' introductory description. They may give the framework within which he understood the older theory, but the excerpt does not independently establish that Empedocles himself used precisely those categories. A74's opened vessels in first breathing provide a related word, yet their bodily location and role differ. One should not infer that every vessel in Empedoclean testimony is an umbilical vessel or a modern artery or vein. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 79 (testimony).** Soranus, Gynaecology; source PDF pp. 170–171. Describes four nutritive vessels and separately assigns their liver implantation to Empedocles. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 160–161. Uses vessel-language for the openings admitting air at the first breath. **In this edition.** Artēriōdōn is Schoene's correction of the manuscript artēriōn. The technical shape of the medical classification is therefore partly editorial, in addition to the uncertainty about how much of Soranus' setup belongs to the earlier thinker. **See also.** [Navel](#entry-navel); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Breathing](#entry-breathing). ## Unaffected sense {#entry-unaffected-sense} *ἀπαθῆ (apathē); κωφότεραι (kōphoterai)* **The word.** Apathēs means unaffected or not undergoing an affection; kōphoterai means duller or less acute. In §19 these terms belong to Theophrastus's requirements for successful sensing, not a definition openly quoted from Empedocles. **In this work.** Theophrastus says a sense must be brought to its object unaffected. Ringing in the ears, flavours already in tasting, and odour already in smelling make the respective senses duller, especially as they fill with what is like. These examples challenge a simple quality-for-quality reading of likeness: more of the same sensible property in an organ can impede rather than enable discrimination. The proposed neutrality is relative to the object to be perceived. It need not mean that the organ lacks all bodily constitution or every capacity for change. Theophrastus ends by allowing that some distinction might be drawn about these cases. That qualification is essential: he is exposing an underexplained appeal to likeness, not demonstrating that every interpretation of elemental affinity is refuted by sensory adaptation. The headword makes his counterprinciple retrievable while keeping its argumentative authorship clear. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 19; source PDF pp. 204–205. States the unaffected-sense requirement and adduces ringing, flavours, and odours. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 21; source PDF pp. 206–209. Adds health and openness of the organ as conditions not reducible to incoming air. **In this edition.** The commentary presents sensory neutrality as a principle governing all subsequent antiquity. That sweeping historical claim is unnecessary to the passage's interpretation and is not established by the dossier itself. **See also.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Odour](#entry-odour). ## Uniformity {#entry-uniformity} *μονοειδές (monoeides); ὁμοιομερῆ (homoiomerē)* **The word.** Μονοειδές means single in form or uniform and is applied to the Sphairos in A32. It must be distinguished from ὁμοιομερῆ, “uniform throughout” or like-parted, applied elsewhere to material constituents. The former describes a unified condition; the latter concerns the character of parts. **In this work.** The description of the Sphairos as uniform can suggest the absence of articulated differences at the level of the whole. It does not, by itself, state that the four roots are annihilated or transmuted. Philoponus’ A41 goes further, alleging that the Sphairos is without quality and that each root loses its proper form. Those stronger claims belong to a polemical interpretation and should not be smuggled into the shorter adjective at A32. The distinction is especially important because Aëtius also reports “uniform” smallest fragments at A43. Such fragments would preserve sameness at a minute material level, whereas the Sphairos concerns cosmic unification. Calling both homogeneous without explanation could create an unsupported theory connecting atom-like constituents to a perfectly uniform final substance. The source provides the vocabulary for comparing those possibilities, not the demonstration of their identity. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 32 (testimony).** Aëtius I 7,28 (D. 303); source PDF pp. 92–93. Applies μονοειδές to the Sphairos in a heavily supplemented passage. - **A 41 (polemical).** Philoponus, In De generatione et corruptione 19,3 Vitelli; source PDF pp. 102–103. Introduces the stronger allegation that the unified state lacks qualities. - **A 43 (testimony).** Aëtius I 13,1; source PDF pp. 106–107. Applies like-partedness to the smallest fragments, a different kind of uniformity. **In this edition.** “Uniform” and “without quality” are not interchangeable translations. The edition’s modern note treats them as closely related, but the ancient formulations should remain separate. **See also.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments). ## Vanity {#entry-vanity} **The word.** Milton’s “fondly” has the older evaluative sense foolishly. The phrase “to be deemed a god” makes reputation the motive. “Vanity” is the appendix’s contextual description of the destination occupied by these deluded figures, not an Empedoclean technical term. **In this work.** Paradise Lost names Empedocles among those whose ambitions lead to foolish acts, pairing his leap into Etna with Cleombrotus’ leap into the sea in pursuit of Plato’s Elysium. The pairing is literary classification by misdirected desire, not independent evidence about either event. Its wording resembles the Horatian exemplum that gives the desire for immortal reputation as Empedocles’ motive. The appendix identifies that route of reception, but the selected Milton lines alone cannot document every stage of borrowing. What is clear is the removal of the ancient dossier’s uncertainty: within this poetic judgment, the leap and motive serve as established material for satire. The contrast with Arnold is then interpretively useful. Arnold preserves the crater while replacing the ambition for reputation with a voice seeking release from distress. Neither later poem supplies evidence with which to settle the historical death. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **Appendix II Milton (reception).** John Milton, Paradise Lost III 469–473; source PDF p. 243. Pairs Empedocles and Cleombrotus as examples of foolishly directed aspiration. - **A 16 (reception).** Horace, The Art of Poetry; source PDF pp. 64–65. Supplies the ancient satirical motive of wishing to be thought immortal. - **Appendix II Arnold (reception).** Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna II 402–416; source PDF p. 243. Provides the later contrasting dramatic motive. **In this edition.** Reading “fondly” as affectionately would reverse the point. The Limbo of Vanity setting is supplied by the editorial contextual note, while the short printed passage gives the named examples and their motives. **See also.** [Etna](#entry-etna); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions). ## Vehicle of nourishment {#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment} *ὄχημα τροφῆς (ochēma trophēs); τρέφειν (trephein)* **The word.** Ὄχημα is a vehicle or carrier; τροφή is nourishment. The phrase distinguishes carrying food from being sufficient food oneself. It belongs to Hippolytus’ explanation of the divine water-name Nestis. **In this work.** At A33 Hippolytus says water alone serves as a vehicle of nourishment for nourished beings but cannot sustain them by itself. He argues that, if it could, living creatures would not starve while water remains abundant. The nutritional distinction supplies the wordplay connecting Nestis with fasting: the carrier of food is unable to feed sufficiently on its own. The account is more than a bare identification of a root. It uses a functional metaphor to explain why the divine name fits water. Its ownership remains uncertain: the notice does not tell us whether this is Empedocles’ explanation, a transmitted interpretation, or Hippolytus’ own reasoning. The edition explicitly leaves that question open. This headword preserves the functional distinction without endorsing it as a complete account of nutrition. It also prevents the seed-and-water gloss in the parallel Aëtius and Homeric Allegories notices from replacing Hippolytus’ more specific carrier argument. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Explains Nestis through water’s role as a carrier of nourishment that cannot itself adequately nourish. **In this edition.** The bracketed αἴτιον is treated as a gloss by Diels and deleted by Kranz. The carrier phrase remains the clearer basis of the explanation; it should not be converted into modern dietary guidance. **See also.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Water](#entry-water); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment). ## Visual compaction {#entry-visual-compaction} *πιλουμένας (piloumenas); πυρώδους (pyrōdous)* **The word.** Piloumenas means being pressed or compacted, with an association of close packing or felting. Pyrōdous describes the fiery material responsible. These are words in Aëtius's account of reflection, not a separate statement about the universal action of cosmic Love. **In this work.** The mirror notice distinguishes effluences gathering on a surface from their being compacted there. The second process is attributed to fiery material given off by the mirror, which also carries along the air ahead. A reflection is therefore not explained by arrival alone: an additional operation organizes or compresses what has arrived. This small verb is crucial because alternative readings would materially change the account. The surviving sentence does not state a numerical density, an exact thickness, or a completed film. “Felting” can help a reader hear the concreteness of the image, but should not be turned into an assertion that the effluence consists of literal fibres. Nor does the verb warrant identifying this process with the compaction of elements elsewhere in the cosmological testimonies. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 88 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 216–217. Makes the effluences compacted by fiery emission from the mirror. - **A 88 (apparatus).** Apparatus to Aëtius; source PDF pp. 216–217. Prints πιλουμένας from Stobaeus against the other branch’s τελειουμένας. **In this edition.** The apparatus explicitly prefers πιλουμένας to τελειουμένας. A translation such as “completed” would follow the rejected reading rather than the text adopted in this edition. **See also.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Compaction](#entry-compaction). ## Void {#entry-void} *κενόν (kenon); κενοὺς (kenous); κενά (kena)* **The word.** Κενόν is emptiness or void; the plural and adjectival forms describe empty passages or intervals. The technical issue here is absence of body, not mere visible openness or the ordinary hollowness of an object that may contain air. **In this work.** Theophrastus at A86 §13 explicitly says that Empedocles admits no void whatever, then uses that commitment against a pore theory of perception. If the passages are empty, the theory contradicts the denial; if full, the fitting of like material seems to make perception continuous. The next section adds the problem of displacement when unlike occupants have to leave. These formulations are adversarial tests of the account rather than Empedocles’ own acceptance of empty pores. At A87 Philoponus first reasons toward void between solid indivisible parts, but elsewhere says that pore-theorists filled passages with finer bodies such as air and thereby differed from void-theorists. The two roles must be separated: an alleged unavoidable consequence of a theory is not identical with what its proponent expressly maintains. The appendix’s modern commentary also summarizes Lucretius’ criticism that Empedocles denies void while requiring motion. Those subsequent refutation lines are not printed; only the preceding praise-and-fall passage is reproduced. They can therefore be cited here as the edition’s summary of reception, not as an ancient quotation available in this file. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 13; source PDF pp. 198–199. States the denial of void as a premise in an argument against empty perceptual passages. - **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 14; source PDF pp. 200–201. Extends the dilemma to the displacement of material from full pores. - **A 87 (polemical).** Philoponus, On Coming-to-be and Passing-away; source PDF pp. 214–217. Contrasts an inference to empty intervals with the reported use of finer material in occupied passages. - **Appendix I Lucretius (apparatus).** Modern editor, commentary after Lucretius, On the Nature of Things I 734–741; source PDF pp. 238–239. Summarizes an unprinted Epicurean objection linking denial of void with difficulty explaining motion. **In this edition.** The edition’s claim that atomism subsequently solved a first-ever theoretical dilemma is a modern historical narrative, not established by these passages. No such priority claim is needed to explain the actual objection. **See also.** [Pores](#entry-pores); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts). ## Walker on air {#entry-walker-on-air} *αἰθροβάτης (aithrobatēs); Ἄβαριν τὸν Ὑπερβόρειον (Abarin ton Hyperboreion)* **The word.** Aithrobatēs names a walker on air or the open sky; in this passage it is Abaris’ epithet. “The Hyperborean” is the identifying designation attached to him. Neither expression is presented as an Empedoclean technical account of the air. **In this work.** Nicomachus places Abaris beside Empedocles and Epimenides as recipients of extraordinary powers. The epithet functions as condensed evidence for the deed, just as Averter of Winds and Purifier do for the other two figures. This makes the notice a revealing reception frame: Empedocles is not being classified primarily by roots and causes, but by remarkable action within a Pythagorean succession. The presence of the air-walker changes how a reader hears the wind-averting title, even without an explicit statement that the mechanisms were alike. It does not prove a chronological development from engineering into magic, nor establish that Empedocles himself could or claimed to walk on air. The entry preserves a meaningful single-passage term while retaining its actual bearer. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 13–A 14 (legend).** Nicomachus, on the wonders of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 60–61. Gives Abaris the air-walking epithet in a comparison with Empedocles’ wind-aversion. **In this edition.** The source form is αἰθροβάτης, not a reconstructed adjective for Empedocles. The edition’s sequence from wall to air-walking is a proposed history of legendary elaboration, not a transmission chain demonstrated by these names. **See also.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans). ## Wasting {#entry-wasting} *μειοῦσθαι (meiousthai); φθίνειν (phthinein); τὴν ἔκλειψιν ἑκατέρων (tēn ekleipsin hekaterōn)* **The word.** Meiousthai is to become smaller; phthinein is to diminish, waste, or decline. Ekleipsis means failure or absence here, not an astronomical eclipse. “Of both” refers back to the two conditions just assigned to nourishment and growth. **In this work.** Aëtius places wasting in a three-part physiological account. Suitable or akin material nourishes, heat promotes growth, and failure of both diminishes the living thing. The two verbs for decline emphasize both reduction and deterioration without introducing a distinct disease entity. This is a general account of the loss of bodily maintenance, not a diagnosis of a modern wasting syndrome. It can be compared with A85's cooling account of sleep and death, but the mechanisms are not identical: A77 mentions both nourishment and heat, while A85 specifies degrees of cooling and, in another notice, separation of constituents. Equating every diminution with death would erase the reported gradations of bodily process. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 77 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 166–167. Makes diminution and wasting follow the failure of nutritive material and heat. - **A 85 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 184–185. Supplies related but distinct accounts of sleep and death through cooling or separation. **In this edition.** Because oikeion in the preceding nutrition clause is open to conjecture, the exact identity of one failed condition is also affected. The relation between the two failures is not specified as simultaneous, sequential, or independently sufficient. **See also.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Death](#entry-death); [Cooling](#entry-cooling). ## Wasting through effluence {#entry-wasting-through-effluence} *ἡ φθίσις (hē phthisis); κοινοτάτωι σημείωι (koinotatōi sēmeiōi)* **The word.** Phthisis is diminution or wasting away; sēmeion is a sign or piece of evidence. Here the terms concern the inferential relation between a body's loss and its alleged continual outflow, not a named medical disease. **In this work.** Theophrastus says Empedocles uses wasting through effluence as a particularly common sign. He then combines that explanatory commitment with the account of odours: if stronger odour means more outflow, the most fragrant things should be destroyed fastest. Long-lasting aromatic plants and other odorous bodies are offered as counterexamples. The structure is important. The witness does not merely deny effluences because they cannot be seen; he tests a claimed explanatory sign by its predicted consequences in another class of cases. The reported inference from wasting to emission is thus itself part of the lexicon of argument. The criticism does not require a modern claim about mass conservation or measured evaporation rates, and the botanical generalization should remain attributed to Theophrastus. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 20; source PDF pp. 206–209. Calls wasting a common sign used for effluence and argues against its olfactory consequences. **In this edition.** The edition's commentary endorses the botanical objection. The lexical article records the evidence and inference without presenting the critic's empirical generalization as independently verified modern fact. **See also.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Odour](#entry-odour); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause). ## Water {#entry-water} *ὕδωρ (hydōr); ὕδατος (hydatos)* **The word.** Ὕδωρ is water, one of the four enduring constituents in the principal lists. Its ordinary familiarity must not lead to an assumption that every reported watery product is a newly generated root or that the witnesses distinguish pure water from compounds in a modern chemical way. **In this work.** Unlike the disputed Hera/Aidoneus pairing, the association of Nestis with water is stable across A33 and Diogenes’ summary. Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories also connect the “mortal spring” with seed. Hippolytus develops a nutritional explanation: water carries nourishment but cannot itself nourish sufficiently, a claim he uses to explain Nestis through fasting. The interpretation is evidence of how the divine name was understood; it is not a quotation of Empedocles’ etymology. Water’s cosmogonic appearance in A49 presents another interpretative problem. Aëtius says that the force of rotation squeezes it from earth. Since the same dossier calls the roots unchangeable, this is most cautiously read as a report about release or separation, not proof that earth transmutes into water. The report does not itself spell out all the mechanics. At A30 reflection from water supplies the comparison for the visible sun, whereas the scholion at A51 speaks of heaven compacted from water rather than the air found in other witnesses. These different functions should not be collapsed into one doctrine of a watery heaven. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 28 (testimony).** Simplicius, Physics 25,21, from Theophrastus; source PDF pp. 84–85. Names water as an eternal element. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Identifies Nestis as water and interprets its role as a vehicle of nourishment. - **A 49 (testimony).** Aëtius II 6,3; source PDF pp. 114–115. Reports water gushing from earth under rotational compression. **In this edition.** The source’s physiological glosses are ancient explanations, not nutritional advice or a modern definition of water. The differing heaven materials at A51 must remain distinct reports. **See also.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Reflection](#entry-reflection). ## Water-clock {#entry-water-clock} *κλεψύδρας (klepsydras)* **The word.** Klepsydra is conventionally rendered water-clock, but the name can designate a water-handling device used to illustrate admission and retention of fluid. The Aëtian notice simply recalls “the case of the clepsydra,” without describing its construction. **In this work.** At the close of the account of respiration, Aëtius says that Empedocles recalls what happens with the clepsydra. The placement connects the device with reciprocal displacement of blood and air: the behaviour of accessible materials offers a comparison for processes within a living body. Yet the testimony does not itself narrate a demonstration, identify the operator, or specify the apertures. The edition directs the reader to B100 for the fuller poetic account. That contextual link is valuable, but the verse should not be treated as quoted in this A-number. The same distinction applies to claims of experimental priority. An analogy or demonstrative device can have explanatory force without this single sentence establishing the world's first controlled experiment.[^note-water-clock] **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 74 (testimony).** Aëtius, final sentence; source PDF pp. 160–161. Recalls the clepsydra immediately after explaining reciprocal movements of blood and air. - **A 74 (apparatus).** Modern editorial commentary; source PDF pp. 160–161. Links the brief reference to the longer verse passage B100. **In this edition.** “Water-clock” may suggest a time-measuring function more strongly than the physiological comparison requires. The local witness supplies a device-name and cross-reference, not enough details to build a unique apparatus. **See also.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability); [Void](#entry-void). ## White {#entry-white} *λευκὸν (leukon); τὰ λευκά (ta leuka)* **The word.** Leukos means white or bright. In this set of testimonies the neuter forms denote white as a colour and white things as visual objects. The source does not supply a modern quantitative measure of whiteness or luminosity. **In this work.** At A69a Theophrastus assigns white to fire, and at §7 he explains recognition of white through fire-passages. The paired relation to black and water gives this colour a specific place within the reported sensory structure. Aëtius also includes white among four colours equal in number to the elements, without explaining how that fourfold list relates to the twofold account. Theophrastus later makes white an argumentative test. If like increases like, everyone, whether rich or poor in inner light, should see white better by day. His criticism is directed at the reported mechanism of visual variation, not at the occurrence of whiteness itself. Likewise the grey objection depends on white being one simple endpoint whose fitting channel does not automatically explain intermediate colours. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 69a (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses; source PDF pp. 148–149. Associates white with fire. - **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 7; source PDF pp. 190–193. Assigns white objects to fire-passages. - **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical).** Theophrastus, On the Senses 18; source PDF pp. 204–205. Uses white objects to test the day-vision theory. - **A 92 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 226–227. Includes white in the four-colour list. **In this edition.** The editorial assertion that colour simply is the presence of a root is stronger than the brief wording “white belongs to fire.” Preserve the association without making it a complete ontological definition. **See also.** [Black](#entry-black); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision). ## Whole-natured creatures {#entry-whole-natured-creatures} *τῶν ὁλοφυῶν (tōn holophyōn)* **The word.** Holophyēs combines completeness or wholeness with growth or nature. The edition translates the genitive plural as “of the whole-natured kinds.” The compound marks a quality of the third generations without supplying a full anatomical description. **In this work.** Aëtius places whole-natured generations after joined phantom-like forms and before beings generated through one another. The term therefore participates in a contrast between modes of bodily formation. It need not mean that these are already ordinary sexually reproducing organisms, because the following stage specifically introduces generation through other living beings. Nevertheless, the single adjective does not expressly state that they are sexless, undifferentiated, or shaped like a particular kind of creature. Those features belong to broader reconstructions drawing on other evidence. Within this volume's notice, the most secure point is a kind of completeness different from the previously assembled forms. Its relation to the larger alternating cosmic processes cannot be settled from its position in the doxographer's sequence alone. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 72 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 156–159. Identifies the third generations only through the compact description tōn holophyōn. **In this edition.** The edition glosses these creatures as undifferentiated and without sex. That may draw on verse discussed elsewhere, but it is not fully contained in this quoted phrase. The cross-volume context must remain distinct from the local testimony. **See also.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Articulation](#entry-articulation). ## Wind-stopper {#entry-wind-stopper} *κωλυσανέμαν (kōlysaneman); κωλυσανέμας (kōlysanemas); ἀλεξανέμας (alexanemas)* **The word.** The compounds characterize one who checks or averts winds. The forms differ between witnesses: the Life and Clement favor the stopping compound, Nicomachus the averting compound. They are epithets in a biographical tradition rather than securely quoted self-designations. **In this work.** Timaeus’ reported version explains the name through asses’ hides stretched over hills and headlands during damaging Etesian winds. Plutarch instead describes closing mountain clefts against a heavy, disease-bearing south wind. Clement retains the harmful wind and epithet but not the construction; the Suda moves the hides around the city. Nicomachus needs no mechanical account at all: the epithet proves extraordinary powers shared with Pythagorean holy figures. These variations demonstrate different uses of a reputation, not a securely reconstructed chronological progression from engineering to miracle. Earlier source material may survive inside a later compiler, and a more practical narrative is not automatically older or more accurate. The common core is a remembered or imagined capacity to protect a community from atmospheric harm. Crop loss, epidemic illness, and reproductive difficulty vary with the account and should not be fused into a single observed event. The causal structures also differ. In the hide-bag version, the wind ceases after deployment and the nickname follows. In Plutarch, the clefts explain the route of a harmful airflow and blocking them accounts for protection of the plain. Clement reports the result with no material means. Nicomachus reads the epithet itself as a sign of power. Each version leaves a different evidential gap: temporal succession is not by itself proof of causation, a plausible construction is not proof of a particular historical project, and an epithet cannot independently verify the event it supposedly commemorates. The harms named in these stories are equally worth preserving. Ruined crops, unhealthy air, plague, and reproductive difficulty are different outcomes. Plutarch’s Against Colotes even couples atmospheric protection with prosecution of elite misconduct, making Empedocles useful to the city both politically and environmentally. The same figure can consequently appear as practical benefactor, physician, holy man, or marvel-worker according to the witness’s purpose. Those categories describe the reception frame rather than force a choice that one version must contain the complete historical explanation. The poetic background is also indirect. The Life associates these stories with a fragment promising powers over weather and death, but its actual citation is abbreviated. A promise in a poem can have inspired an anecdote, an anecdote can have shaped the reading of a poem, or both can reflect an already established reputation; the dossier does not choose among those pathways. The responsible lexical result is to document the two epithet forms and the explanations attached to them, while leaving the historical mechanism and direction of narrative development unresolved. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 60, reporting Timaeus, Histories XVIII; source PDF pp. 26–27. Explains the epithet through hide-bags and Etesian winds. - **A 13–A 14 (biography).** Plutarch, On Being a Busybody; Against Colotes; source PDF pp. 60–61. Gives mountain-blocking versions with an unhealthy south wind. - **A 13–A 14 (legend).** Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies; Nicomachus, on the wonders of Pythagoras; source PDF pp. 60–61. Preserves the harmful-wind tale and the wonder-working epithet in different forms. - **A 2 (legend).** The Suda; source PDF pp. 48–49. Places the hides around Acragas. **In this edition.** The edition’s claim that the simplest version is earliest and supplies the historical original is not established by the dossier. The Timaeus material has an earlier named source than the surviving Plutarch texts, even though Diogenes transmits it later. **See also.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery). ## Winds {#entry-winds} *λοξὴν κίνησιν (loxēn kinēsin); τὸ γεῶδες καὶ τὸ πυρῶδες (to geōdes kai to pyrōdes)* **The word.** Loxē kinēsis is oblique or slanting movement. The earthy and fiery are expressed as substantive adjectives, naming material characters or constituents rather than two separately named gods. The wind itself is supplied as the referent of the question in the translation. **In this work.** Olympiodorus rejects an explanation attributed to Empedocles: earthy and fiery constituents moving in contrary directions produce the winds' slantwise movement. The commentator substitutes circularly moving air. The contrast securely identifies what he thinks the earlier explanation was, but it gives little detail about the original account. It does not state a mathematical composition of vectors or identify the forces with Love and Strife. The broader idea that an observed direction can result from opposed tendencies is an intelligible reading, provided it is not mistaken for words actually preserved from Empedocles. Elsewhere winds compress terrestrial moisture in the report mediated through Philo, showing another attributed role for moving air, but that separate account cannot supply the missing mechanism of oblique motion. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 64 (polemical).** Olympiodorus, On Aristotle's Meteorology; source PDF pp. 136–137. Contrasts the Empedoclean explanation by contrary earthy and fiery movements with his preferred rotating air. - **A 66 (testimony).** Philo, On Providence; source PDF pp. 138–141. In the mediated sea account, rival winds compress moisture into low-lying places. **In this edition.** The edition correctly identifies the lateness of Olympiodorus. Its generalization about two forces governing the whole cosmos extends beyond this bare attribution, especially if read as an identification with the cosmic powers. **See also.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Seasons](#entry-seasons); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Fire](#entry-fire). ## Wine {#entry-wine} *τὸν οἶνον (ton oinon); τῶν ἀμπέλων (tōn ampelōn)* **The word.** Oinos is wine; ampeloi are vines. The adjective translated “good” concerns the wine's quality. The terms appear in a comparison designed to explain differences in plant flavours, rather than in instructions for winemaking. **In this work.** Aëtius says that differences among vines do not make wine good, but differences in the soil nourishing them do. Within the surrounding account, this example puts strong weight on the quality of source material. The wider sentence nevertheless also says that plants draw nourishing materials differently. One should preserve that tension rather than deriving an absolute rule that plant constitution never matters. Nor is there enough information to decide whether the example concerns vines of the same kind grown in different places, all kinds of vines, or a narrower lost comparison. As testimony, it shows agricultural experience being used to make a general material explanation intelligible. It does not supply experimental controls or a universal ancient law of wine quality. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses vines and the quality of wine to illustrate the contribution of nourishing soil. **In this edition.** Diels restores the wording for “good wine” from a corrupt transmitted phrase. The confident English comparison thus depends on a textual repair, though the contrast between vines and nourishing ground remains central to the reported argument. **See also.** [Soil](#entry-soil); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Plants](#entry-plants). ## Womb {#entry-womb} *μήτραι (mētrai); ὑστέραν (hysteran); τῆς μήτρας (tēs mētras)* **The word.** Mētra and hystera both designate the womb in these testimonies. Their different forms occur in reports of thermal conditions, fetal containment, and anatomical obstruction. The terminology belongs to the witnesses' prose and does not establish a systematic distinction between two organs. **In this work.** Aristotle places Empedocles among those who locate sex differentiation in the womb: what enters a hot womb becomes male, a cold one female, with the thermal condition attributed to menstrual flow. Aëtius gives the womb a different explanatory role in mule infertility, describing it as small, low, narrow, and attached the wrong way so that seed cannot enter or be received. Neither claim should be endorsed as modern reproductive biology. At A70 the womb also supplies a comparison for a plant's relation to earth: plants are parts of earth as embryos in the belly are parts of the womb. This metaphor makes containment and dependence explanatory but does not prove that Empedocles treated earth as possessing a literal reproductive organ. The three uses show why “womb” cannot be reduced to one causal function: it is an environment of development, an alleged obstacle to conception, and a model for earthborn growth. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 81 (polemical).** Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals; source PDF pp. 174–179. Reports sex differentiation through the womb's heat or coldness. - **A 82 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 180–181. Explains mule infertility through the womb's dimensions, attachment, and inability to receive seed. - **A 70 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 150–153. Uses embryos within a womb as an analogy for plants within earth. **In this edition.** Aristotle's criticism of a merely thermal difference between sexes is his argument against the attribution, not part of Empedocles' own explanation. The mule account also diverges from the mixture analogy discussed editorially from B92. **See also.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Mules](#entry-mules); [Plants](#entry-plants). ## Xenophanes {#entry-xenophanes} *Ξενοφάνους (Xenophanous); ἐποποιίαν (epopoiian)* **The word.** Xenophanous names Xenophanes as the alternative model in Hermippus’ account; epopoiia here means epic composition or manner. The claim concerns a predecessor’s poetic practice as well as personal contact. **In this work.** Hermippus explicitly contradicts the Parmenidean affiliation: Empedocles admired Xenophanes, spent time with him, imitated his epic manner, and encountered the Pythagoreans afterwards. This is one branch of the competing teacher traditions, not an extra stage to be inserted uncritically into a single educational itinerary. Xenophanes also appears in the apparatus to the second apophthegm at A 20. Diels notes that a more accurate form of the saying about recognizing wisdom belongs to Xenophanes in Diogenes’ ninth book. The two appearances illustrate different kinds of attribution problem. One concerns a life’s intellectual genealogy; the other the migration of portable sayings among famous names. Neither supports importing a larger account of Xenophanes’ doctrines into the Empedoclean evidence printed here. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 56, reporting Hermippus; source PDF pp. 22–25. Substitutes Xenophanes for Parmenides as personal and poetic model. - **A 20 (apparatus).** Paris Gnomology, with the edition’s apparatus citing Diogenes Laertius IX 20; source PDF pp. 70–71. Flags the rival Xenophanean attribution of the wisdom saying. **In this edition.** The source’s assertion of association should be reported as Hermippus’ claim. The edition supplies no independent chronological verification of the meeting. **See also.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Yellow {#entry-yellow} *ὠχρόν (ōchron)* **The word.** Ōchron is an adjective for a pale, yellowish, or ochre appearance; this edition renders it “yellow.” The lexical range should be acknowledged without replacing the edition's chosen English colour term with a modern colour specification. **In this work.** The word closes Aëtius's list of four colours, alongside white, black, and red. The number four is explicitly matched to the number of elements, but the sentence does not tell us which element corresponds to yellow or whether yellow is simple or compounded. Those absences are part of the evidence. Its separate place in the lexicon makes the notice retrievable without smoothing it into Theophrastus's more familiar white/fire and black/water pair. The two reports may preserve different levels of classification, but the supplied passages do not settle that possibility. The yellow entry is accordingly a record of a distinct attested term and a warning against completing a seductive four-by-four table which no witness here actually supplies. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 92 (testimony).** Aëtius; source PDF pp. 226–227. Lists yellow as the fourth colour and matches the number of colours to the elements. - **A 69a (testimony).** Theophrastus, On the Senses; source PDF pp. 148–149. Provides only the explicit white/fire and black/water associations for comparison. **In this edition.** “Yellow” is the translation used here, not evidence for the boundaries of a modern yellow category. The term's place in a list should not be made into a detailed doctrine of colour production. **See also.** [Red](#entry-red); [Colour](#entry-colour); [White](#entry-white); [Black](#entry-black). ## Zeno {#entry-zeno} *Ζήνωνα (Zēnōna); Ἐξήγησιν τῶν Ἐμπεδοκλέους (Exēgēsin tōn Empedokleous)* **The word.** The title Exēgēsis denotes exposition or explanation; its dependent phrase “of Empedocles” leaves the object elliptical. The edition translates it as an exposition of the poems. Zeno also serves as the named counterpart to Empedocles in the paired inventions of dialectic and rhetoric. **In this work.** Alcidamas’ biographical account places Zeno and Empedocles together under Parmenides before they take different paths. Aristotle’s Sophist, reported in the Life, assigns dialectic to Zeno and rhetoric to Empedocles. The Suda repeats that pairing while listing an Exposition of the Poems of Empedocles among Zeno’s writings. If the catalogue attribution is reliable, it points to an early interpretive work on Empedocles; the title alone does not establish its scope, contents, or date. It is especially important not to treat repetition of the invention pair in a late lexicon as proof of an independent historical tradition. The notices reveal how ancient intellectual genealogy and bibliographical classification joined the two names, while leaving the lost exposition inaccessible. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 56–57, reporting Alcidamas and Aristotle; source PDF pp. 22–25. Pairs the Parmenidean pupils and the inventors of two arts. - **A 5 (testimony).** The Suda, under “Zeno”; source PDF pp. 52–53. Lists the lost exposition and repeats the invention pair. **In this edition.** The edition’s description of this as the first commentary on a philosophical poem in Europe is a conditional modern claim exceeding what the short catalogue proves. Retain the attribution caveat and the elliptical Greek title. **See also.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature). ## Zeus {#entry-zeus} *Ζεύς (Zeus); Δία (Dia); Ζεὺς (Zeus)* **The word.** Ζεύς is the nominative divine name; Δία is its accusative form. The variation is grammatical, not evidence for two powers. In the testimonia Zeus is a name in the quoted or abbreviated root-verse and an object of subsequent allegorical explanation. **In this work.** The reports agree more closely on Zeus than on Hera and Aidoneus. Hippolytus states simply that Zeus is fire, as does Diogenes’ summary. Aëtius and the Homeric Allegories instead speak of ζέσις, boiling heat, together with aither. The English translation of Aëtius smooths this to “fire and aither,” while the parallel translation retains “boiling heat.” That lexical difference matters: a divine-name gloss can draw on a perceived quality or activity as well as on an enumerated material. The relative agreement supports giving Zeus a distinct entry, but it should not be inflated into a complete theological identification. A33 does not preserve an explanation by Empedocles of why Zeus bears this name, nor does it authorize treating every traditional action of Zeus as a coded statement about fire. The name’s significance in the fourfold invocation is also collective: it belongs beside Hera, Aidoneus and Nestis, whose contested mapping exposes the interpretative work done by the prose witnesses. **The places.** Selected annotated passages. - **A 33 (testimony).** Aëtius I 3,20; Homeric Allegories, in Stobaeus; source PDF pp. 92–95. Glosses Zeus by boiling heat and aither, using language more specific than the English “fire” alone. - **A 33 (testimony).** Hippolytus, Refutatio VII 29; source PDF pp. 92–95. Identifies Zeus directly with fire. - **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony).** Diogenes Laertius VIII 76; source PDF pp. 46–47. Pairs the abbreviated root quotation with the identification Zeus–fire. **In this edition.** B6 is abbreviated rather than printed in full at these places. Do not supplement the entry with unprinted epithets as though they occur in this volume’s ancient quotation. **See also.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Aither](#entry-aither); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat). # Original forms and English aliases {#lexical-index} Greek, Latin and Italian expressions, transliterations, and English lookup terms lead to the articles that explain them. Related labels sharing an article are not necessarily synonyms. **A testimony.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **ab experimentis.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **Abandoned patient.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **Abarin ton Hyperboreion.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **Abaris.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **Abrucalis.** [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) **Abstinence from living things.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **Abuse of power.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **accident.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **Accidental cause.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **Accuracy.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **achymos.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Acragantinus.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Acragas.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Acron.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Acron of Acragas.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Acrone Agragantino.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Acuity.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **Addressee.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **adēlon.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **adiaireta.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **Adyton.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **aēr.** [Air](#entry-air) **aer.** [Air](#entry-air) **aera.** [Air](#entry-air) **aera synestrammenon.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **aere tenui.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **aerem glaciatum.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **aerōdes.** [Air](#entry-air) **aether.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **Aëtius.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **Aetius.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **Aetna.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **Aetnaea.** [Etna](#entry-etna); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **Aetnam.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **agalmation.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Age at death.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **aggregation.** [Combination](#entry-combination); [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **agnoein.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **Agnoia.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **agnoias.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **agonias.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **agonon.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **agoraiōn lēkētēs epeōn.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **Agrigento.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Agrigentum.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Aidōnea.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Aidōneus.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Aidoneus.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Aidoneus air.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Aidoneus earth.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Air.** [Air](#entry-air) **Air and water as media.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **air from water.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **Air-lid.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **Air-walking.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **airy.** [Air](#entry-air) **aisthanesthai.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **aisthēsis.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **Aisthesis.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **Aistheton.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **aisthētos.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **Aither.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **aithera.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **aitheros.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **aithrobatēs.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **aitiois.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **aition.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **Aitnēn.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **Akin food.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **akinēton.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **Akoe.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **akouomen.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **Akraganta.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Akragantinos.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Akragas.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **akribestatous.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **Akrōn.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Akron.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Akrōnos.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Aktines.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **alexanemas.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **Algedon.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **algēdonas.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **Alien.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Alienatio.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) **Alienation of mind.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) **alienatione mentis.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) **alium.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **All.** [All](#entry-all) **Allegorical hymn.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **alloiōseōs.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **alloiōsin.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **alloiôsis.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **Alloiosis.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **alloioutai.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **Alogos.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **Alteration.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **Alteration in cognition.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **Alternating pores.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) **Alternating visual passages.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) **Alternation.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **amaurousthai.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **Ambiguity.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **amblyōpein.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **ametablēta.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **amphibola.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **anaima.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **anaimotata.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **anaisthēta.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **anaisthēta dia mikrotēta.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **anaisthētōs.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **anaklasin.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **anamemeigmenōn.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **Anankē.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **Ananke.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **anankēn.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **anankēs.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **Anaplerosis.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **Anapnoē.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **anapnoēn.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **anathlibontos.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **anathymiathēnai.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **Anaxagoras.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **Ancestral likeness.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **Anchiton.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Anchitos.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Anchitus.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **andriantōn kai eikonōn.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **aneisthai.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **angeiōn.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **angle brackets.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **Anima.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **Animal abstinence.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **Animal habitats.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **Animal kinds.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **Animal nails.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **Animal rationality.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **Animal skins.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **Animals without blood.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **Animate and inanimate.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **animi.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **anō de dia to pyr.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **anoikeiou.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **anomoiotētas.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **antanaklasis.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **antaugeia.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **antaugeian.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **antepeisodon.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **antepikrateian.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **antiparachōrein.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **antirrhēsin.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **aoratous men dia mikrotēta.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **apathē.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **Apathes.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **apēlpismenēn.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **Aphrodite.** [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite) **Aphrodite and Love.** [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite) **Aphroditēs.** [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite) **aphronestatous.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **aphtharta.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **aplaneis asteras.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **apnoun.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Apnous.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **apoion.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **apolithoutai.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Apollo prelude.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **apophasma.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **Apophthegm.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **aporrhoas.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **aporrhoēn.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **Aporrhoia.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **aporrhoiai.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **apospasma.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **apoteichisas.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **Apotheosis.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **apparatus.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **Apparent sun.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **Appetite.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **Appetitive deficiency.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **Approval.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **aproikous.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **apsychōn.** [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **aquam calescere.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **Aquatic animals.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **aquis transcursus.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **araiōmata.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **archai.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **archas.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **archas epideueas allōn.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **arche.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **Archetypal sun.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **archetypon.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **archikas dynameis.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **Archinomou.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Archinomus.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **argēn hylēn.** [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) **Argument from silence.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **aristera.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Aristotelian criticism.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness) **Aristotelian testimony.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness) **Aristotle.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness) **Aristotle’s circle.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **Arnold.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) **Arnold’s imagery.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **arrena.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Art.** [Art](#entry-art) **Arterial vessels.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **artēriōdōn.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **Articulation.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **Artisan.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **Ascent.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **Asclepiads.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **asēpton.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **asiton.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Asklēpiadōn.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **askous.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **asphykton.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Assembly of the Thousand.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **Asses’ hides.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **astra.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **Astrapē.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **astrapēn.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **Astronomical distances.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **asymmetrous.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **asymphyesi de tois moriois diezeugmenas.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **ataxia.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **ateleiōta.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **athroai aporrhoiai.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **atomic limit.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **Attraction of iron.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **Attunement.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **Audition.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **Auditory bell.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **austēras.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **Austere composition.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **austere harmony.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **austere style.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **Auxēsis.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **auxesthai.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **Averter of Winds.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **Balanced eye.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **Balanced local blend.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **Barley-meal.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Barrenness.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **basileian.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **Bay.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **Bearing.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Bears.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **beauty.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **Bell.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **Beloved.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **Best-blended eye.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **birth of compounds.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **Black.** [Black](#entry-black) **Black eyes.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **Blackness.** [Black](#entry-black) **Blastoi.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **blastous.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **blend.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **Blood.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **Blood as cognitive medium.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **Blood displacement.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **Blood movement.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **Blooded animals.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **Bloodless animals.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **Bloodless sacrifice.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Bloody material.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **Bodily death.** [Death](#entry-death) **Bodily disorder.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) **Bodily enlargement.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **Bodily imbalance.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) **Bodily sides.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **Bodily wasting.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **Body following its emission.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **Body parts.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **Boiling heat.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) **Bone.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **Bone proportion.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **Bone recipe.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **Borrowed light.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) **borrowed lunar light.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **Botanical male and female.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **Botanical roots.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **boun.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **breadth and height.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **Breathing.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **Breathing and smell.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **Breathing free.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **Breathing in.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **Breathing out.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **Breathless woman.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **brephē.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **Brick wall.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **bricks and stones.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **Brine.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **bringer of life.** [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **brochon.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Broken thigh.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Bronze boots.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Bronze footwear.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Bronze pipes.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Bronze sandal.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Burial.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Buried fires.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **by nature.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **by turns.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **Cadmia.** [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **calor.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **Capacity.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **Capping air.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **Cardiac cavity.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **carmina.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Cartilage.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **Cartilaginous part.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **Catarrh.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **Causal sufficiency.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **cause.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **celestial crystal.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **Celestial north pole.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **Celestial tilt.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **Censure.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **Central earth.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Ceremonial dress.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **certa ratione.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **chalcitis.** [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower) **chalkitin.** [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **chalkitis.** [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower) **Chance.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **chance-cosmogony.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **Change.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **Changing day length.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **channels.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **Chaos.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Charybdis.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **che il mondo a caso pone.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **cheimerinon.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **cheimōna.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **Chilioi.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **Chilling.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **chnoōdē.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **chondrōi.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **Chondros.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **chōris dianoias.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **chroa.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **chrōma.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **Chroma.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **chrōmata.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **chrōmata ta meikta.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Chronology.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **chrysoun.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **chylōn.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Chylos.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Chymoi.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **chymōn.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **Chymos.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Circuit of words.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **Circumlocution.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **Civic discourse.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **Civic equality.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **Claws.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **Cleomenes.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **Clepsydra.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **close-packed parts.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **Cnidus.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Cognition.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **Cognitive change.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **Coiled heaters.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Cold.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **Coldness.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **Color.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **Colour.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **Combination.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **coming-to-be.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **Commemoration.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Commemorative verse.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **Commensurability.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **Commensurate.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **Commentary.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **commentary tradition.** [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness) **compact portions.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **Compaction.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **Competing endings.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Composite forms.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **composition.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **compression.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **Compression of effluences.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **Conception and imagination.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **condensation.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **Conflagration.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **congealed air.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **Congenial.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Congenital anomalies.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **conjecture.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **constituents before composite.** [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **Contact.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **contraries.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **Contrary.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **Cool.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **Cooling.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **Copper-flower.** [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **cor.** [Heart](#entry-heart) **corporeal elements.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **corruption.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **Cos.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Cosmic boundary.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **Cosmic conditions of perception.** [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **cosmic cycle.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **cosmic day and night.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **cosmic egg.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **cosmic orientation.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **cosmic revolution.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **Cosmic right and left.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Cosmic rotation.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **Cosmogony under Love.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **Cosmos.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **Costume.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Council servant.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **Counter-entry of air.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **counter-prevailing.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **craft.** [Art](#entry-art) **Craftsmanship.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **Crags.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Crater.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **Criticism of marvels.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **Crop damage.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **Crossing of Xerxes.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **Crown.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **crystal heaven.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **Crystalline heaven.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **Cycle.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **daemons.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **Daimon.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **Daimones.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **daimonōn.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **dakryon.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **Dante.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **Dante’s Love.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **daphnēs.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **Dark-eyed.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **Dark eyes.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **Dating.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Day and night.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **day and night hemispheres.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **Day sight.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **Day vision.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **daylight.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **Daytime acuity.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **De rerum natura.** [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) **De sensibus.** [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) **Death.** [Death](#entry-death) **Death traditions.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Decay.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **Decay and emission.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **Deciduous plants.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **Decline.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **Deification.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Delphic garlands.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **Delphic oracle.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Delphic wreath.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **Democratic inclination.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **dēmotikon.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **Derangement.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) **desiderio.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Desire.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **destiny.** [Fate](#entry-fate) **Destruction.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **deus immortalis haberi.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Developing offspring.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **dexia.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Dexios.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **di’ allēlōn ēdē.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **Dia.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **dia tēn parousian tou thermou.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **dia tēn tachytēta.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **dia tōn rhinōn.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **diachōrismōi.** [Death](#entry-death) **diadochēn.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **diairetikon.** [Power](#entry-power) **diakrinei.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **diakriseōs.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **diakrisin.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **diakrisis.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **diakrithēnai.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **Dialectic.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **Dialectical invention.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **dialektikēn.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **dialektikēs.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **diamorphoutai.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **dianoias.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Diaphanes.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **diaphorountas ta koina.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **diarthrōseōs.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **Diarthrōsis.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **diasphaga.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **didaskalias charin.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **didyma kai tridyma.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **Digestion.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion) **dikastērion.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **Dim sight.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **Diminution.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **Dimming.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **dinē.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **dine.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **dioikountes.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **diplasion apechein.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **Disappearance.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **Disc-shaped moon.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **Disciple.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **discipulus.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **discord.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **Discoveries.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Discrimination.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **Disjoined limbs.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **diskoeidē.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **disorder.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **Dissolution of life.** [Death](#entry-death) **Distress.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **dividing power.** [Power](#entry-power) **Divine breast.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **divine elements.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **Divine exposition.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **Divine names.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **Divine roots.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **Divine status.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Diviner.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **divini pectoris.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Divisibility.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **Doctrinal failure.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **doras onōn.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **Double distance.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **Dowering.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **Dowries.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **doxographer.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **doxography.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **Doxography and Aëtius.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **dracones.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Drowning.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Drugs.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **dry and wet.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **dynameis.** [Power](#entry-power) **dynameōn.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Dynamis.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Power](#entry-power) **dysōdias.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **e laevis.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **Earth.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **Earth’s stability.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Earth’s sweat.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **Earth sweat.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **Earthborn limbs.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **earthly governing beings.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **ēchon.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **Echos.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **echthei.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **Eclipse.** [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **Edaphos.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **edēmosiōsen.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **efficient cause.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **Effluence.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **Egg-shaped cosmos.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **egregium poema.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **eidē.** [Form](#entry-form) **Eidola.** [Images](#entry-images) **eidōlophaneis.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **eidos.** [Form](#entry-form) **eis Peloponnēson.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **eis pyr analythēsesthai.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **eis thalattan.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **eispnoēn.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **ek melitos kai alphitōn.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **ek smyrnēs kai libanōtou.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **ekkaiomenēs hypo tou hēliou.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **ekkrinesthai.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **ekkrisis.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **ēkmaze.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Ekpnoē.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **ekpnoēn.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **ekpyrōsin.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **ekpyrosis.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **elachista.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **elaias.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **elaion.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **elattoumenou tou phōtos tēs selēnēs.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **elegeion.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **Elegiac couplet.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **Elemental deficiency.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **elemental places.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **Elemental release.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) **Elements.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **elements as gods.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **elements before elements.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Elements in reception.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) **elleipsei trophēs.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **elleipsin.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **ēllotriōsthai.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Eloquence.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **Emanation.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **embatas chalkas.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Embedded quotation.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation) **embrya.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **Embryo.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **Embryonic differentiation.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **Emendation and supplement.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **Emission theory.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **Emotional calming.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **Empedoclea.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) **Empedoclès.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **emphraxas.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **emphyesthai.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **Emphytos thermon.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **Empiric medicine.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **empiricen.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **Empirics.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **empsychōn apechomenos.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **emptōsin phōtos eis nephos.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **empty space.** [Void](#entry-void) **Emulation.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **en alloiōsei.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **en geusei.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **en hēmerai.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **en merei.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **en miai hēmerai.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **en tais chersi.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **en tēi glōttēi.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **en tēi koiliai tēs kardias.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **en tēi tou haimatos systasei.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **enallax.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **enantiōn.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **Enantion.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **enantiotētas.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **enarmottein.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **enarmozein.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **Enjoyment.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **Ensoulment.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **Environmental intervention.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **enydra.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **epainoumenos.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **epanaplērousthai.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **ephē.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **epi tēs Philias.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **Epic disclosure.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **Epicurean criticism.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **Epidemic.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **Epigram.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **epigramma.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **epiklithēnai tas arktous.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **epikrateian.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **Epimenidēn.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **Epimenides.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **epipōmatizonta tous tou sidērou porous.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **epiponous.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **epitome.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius) **epopoiian.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **epopoiōi.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **Equal visual blend.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **Equestrian victory.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **erapsōidēsen.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **ēremein.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **erōmenos.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **erōtētheis.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **Erotic pupilage.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **erythron.** [Red](#entry-red) **Etesian winds.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **etēsiōn.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **ether.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **Etna.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **Evergreen plants.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **Evidence from wasting.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **evil principle.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **Evils below the moon.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **ex adyto tamquam cordis.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **ex amphoin isōn.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **ex anankēs.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **ex animi purgamento.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **ex corporis causa sive iniquitate.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) **ex dextris partibus.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **ex hapantōn.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **ex hypotheseōs.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **ex oikeiou.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ex terra quasi praegnate.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **Exaenetus.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Exainetou.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Exēgēsin tōn Empedokleous.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **exēgountai.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **Exhalation.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **exikmazomenou autou tōi therei.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **Exile and the Peloponnese.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **Expelled air.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **Experience.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **Exposition.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **Expository hypothesis.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **Eye.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **factio.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **Faction.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **Faculty.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **Failure of generation.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **Family.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **fasting goddess.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **Fate.** [Fate](#entry-fate) **felting.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **Female.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **feminas.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Festival gathering.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Festival performance.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **Fetal nourishment.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **Fetal vessel insertion.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **Fetus.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **Fiery fish.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **fiery stuff.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **fiery sun.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **Figurative diction.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **Filling a lack.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **Fine odorous bodies.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **Finite speed of light.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **Fire.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **Fire and water passages.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) **Fire-leap.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **First breath.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **First organ.** [Heart](#entry-heart) **First plants.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **first separation.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **Fish nourishment.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **Fistulae.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **fistulas.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Fit.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **Fitting.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **fixed places.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **Fixed stars.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **Flavour.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Flavourless water.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **Flesh.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **Flesh mixture.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **Fleshy sprout.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **floruit.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Following effluence.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **Fondly.** [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **Food processing.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion) **for the sake of teaching.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **Force of lightning.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **Form.** [Form](#entry-form) **Formal cause in psychology.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **Formation of parts.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **forms.** [Form](#entry-form) **four elements.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **Four generations.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **four roots.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **Four stages of life.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **fragment within report.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation) **Fragrance.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **Frankincense.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **free planets.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **Fresh water in the sea.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **friendship.** [Love](#entry-love) **frigus.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **Frozen air.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **Fruit.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **gaia.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **gaian.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **galaktos orron.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **gē.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **ge.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **gegonoti theōi.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **geminis.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **gēn.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **Genealogy and homonymy.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Generation.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **Generation through one another.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **Generative seed.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **geneseis.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **genesin.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **genesis.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **Genius.** [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy) **gentler Muse.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Gestation.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **geuseōs.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **geusis.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **gignesthai.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **glauka.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **glykēnai.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **glyky en tēi thalattēi hydōr.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **Gnomology.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **gnōrizein.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **gnōrizomen.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **Gnosis.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **God among mortals.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **goēteuonti.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **Golden band.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **Golden girdle.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **Golden wreath.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **Good and evil.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **good principle.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **Good speaking.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **Gorgian.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **Gorgias.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **Gorgias of Leontini.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **Governing part.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **Gray.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Great fall.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **Grey.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Grey and mixed colours.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Grey eyes.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **Ground composition.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **Grown together.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Growth.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **Gustation.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **Hades.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **hai hēmionoi.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **hail-like moon.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **haima.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **Hair.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **Hair as counterexample.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **halmēi.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **halourgei.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Handbooks.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **haphē.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **Haphe.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **Haphe as contact.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **haphēs.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **hapsaito.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **haptoito.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **haptomena moria.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **harmonia.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **harmonias.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **Harmony.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **Harmony of mixture.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **harmottein.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **hatred.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **hē dekamēnos.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **hē heptamēnos.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **hē krasis ex isōn.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **hē mesē krasis.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **hē opsis.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **hē phthisis.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **Head-cold.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **Headband.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **Healer.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **Hearing.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **Heart.** [Heart](#entry-heart) **Heat.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **heat and cold.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) **Heated groundwater.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **Heating devices.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Heavenly light.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **hēdesthai.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **Hedone.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **hēdonēn.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **heimarmene.** [Fate](#entry-fate) **heimarmenēn.** [Fate](#entry-fate) **hēlion.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **hēlios.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **helios.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **hēliou.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **helkei ton sidēron.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **hēmeran kai nykta.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **Hēmionos.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **hēmisphairia.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **hēmisphairiōn.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **Hemispheres.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **hen kai polla.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **henōtikē.** [Power](#entry-power) **Hēpar.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **Hera.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Hera air.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Hera earth.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Heraclean stone.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **Heraclides.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **Herakleia lithos.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **Hērē.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Here.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Heredity.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **Hērēn.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **hēsthēsomai.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **hetairoi.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Hexameter.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **Hide-bags.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **Hidrōs.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **hidrōta.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **hidrōta tēs gēs.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **hippois.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **Hippolytan interpretation.** [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness) **Hippolytus.** [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness) **hippotrophēkotos.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **Historia.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **hoi ek tēs Italias iatroi.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **hollows.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **Holophyē.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **hominem.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) **Homogeneity.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity) **homoiomerē.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **homoiomere.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity) **homoiomereias.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **Homoiotes.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **homoiotēta.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **homoiotētas.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **homōnymos.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Honey.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Honey ox.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **horan.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **hōrismenous topous.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **hormēi.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **Horse-rearing.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **hōs peri theou.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Host.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Hot.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **hot and cold.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **Hot springs.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **Houses.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **Hybrid animals.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **hydati diplasioni.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **hydatos.** [Water](#entry-water) **hydōr.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Water](#entry-water) **hydor.** [Water](#entry-water) **hygrasias apochōrēsin.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **hylē.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **hyle.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **hylē haimatikē.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **hylēn.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **hylēs.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **Hymn to Apollo.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **hymnoi physiologikoi.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **Hyperborean.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **hyperpyra.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **hypnon.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **Hypnos.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **hypo tou hēliou phōtizesthai.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) **hypodēmasi chalkois.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **hypostasin.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **hypothetical generation.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **hypsous.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **Hystera.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **hysteran.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **Iatrika katalogadēn.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **Iatrikos logos.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **iatros.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **idiais dapanais.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **idiotēta.** [Form](#entry-form); [Quality](#entry-quality) **iētron kai mantin.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **ignibus.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **Ignorance.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **Images.** [Images](#entry-images) **Imitation.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Immiscibility.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **immobility.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **Immortal god.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Impaired smell.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **Imperceptible.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **Imperceptible smallness.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **imperishability.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **Impetuosity.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **in caos converso.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **inactive remainder.** [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) **inanimate primary bodies.** [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **inarticulate philosophy.** [Stammering](#entry-stammering) **Inborn heat.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **Increase.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **indivisibility.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **Inert matter.** [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) **Infant.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **Inferno IV.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **Inferno XII.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Infertility.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **infinite division.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **Inhalation.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **Iniquitas.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) **Initial respiration.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **Innate heat.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **Inner light.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **Inner shrine.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Inquiry into nature.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Insensible tissues.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **Inspired poetry.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Instrument.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **Intellect.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Intellectual excellence.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **intellectual fire.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **intellectum intellegentiamque.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Intelligence and perceptual accuracy.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **intelligent construction.** [Art](#entry-art) **intelligible fire.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **Intermediate colours.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Internal light.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **Interval.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **intervening rest.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **Intrinsic and incidental cause.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **Intromission.** [Images](#entry-images) **ion.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust) **Ionian and Sicilian Muses.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **ios.** [Rust](#entry-rust) **Iron.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **Irrational animal.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **isomoira tēi krasei.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **Isotēs.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **isotēta de politikēn.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **isotētos.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **Italian physicians.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **joining.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **Juices.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **Juxtaposition.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **kadmeia.** [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia) **kadmia.** [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia) **kadmian.** [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **kakōn meston.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **kakōs akouōn.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **Kardia.** [Heart](#entry-heart) **Karpos.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **karpous.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **kata psyxin.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **kata symbebēkos.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **kata tēn syllēpsin.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **kata ton logon.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **kata trachytēta.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **kata tychēn.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **katamixanta.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **katapsyxei.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **Katapsyxis.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **katastaltikon.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **katelyse.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **kath’ hauto.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **kath’ hen ti morion.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **kathairontai.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **kathaperei theōi.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Katharmoi.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Katharmōn.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Katharmous.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **katharōterou.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **kathartēs.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **kathodōi.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **katō men syrrizoumenois.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **Katoptron.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **kelēti.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **kena.** [Void](#entry-void) **kenon.** [Void](#entry-void) **kenous.** [Void](#entry-void) **keraunon.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **Keraunos.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **Kindred.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Kinds and mixtures.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **kinein.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **kineitai.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **kinēseōs.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **kinesis.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **Kingship refused.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **kinoumena.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **Kinship and alienness.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **Klepsydra.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **klepsydras.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **Knowing.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **Knowledge.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **Kodon.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **kōdōna.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **kōdōnos.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **koila.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **koinon einai ton thanaton sōmatos kai psychēs.** [Death](#entry-death) **koinotatōi sēmeiōi.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **kōlysaneman.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **kōlysanemas.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **Kolysanemas.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **kōphoterai.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **kosmon.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **kosmos.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **kouphotata.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **kraseōs.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **krasis.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **kratēras.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **krēpidōn.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Krínein.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **krounoma.** [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) **krounōma broteion.** [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) **krystallōdē.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **krystallōdes pilēma.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **krystalloeidē.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **krystalloeidōs.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **krystallōi.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **ktypon.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **Ktypos.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **kykloteres.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **kyriōs.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **Laborious temperament.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **Lack.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **Ladle.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Ladle analogy.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Lamp.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **lampadōn phengos.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **Lampoon.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **lampsin.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **lamptēros.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **lamptērsi.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **Lantern.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **Lantern analogy.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **Later in work.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **Laterality.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **Latin Empedoclean poem.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) **Laurel.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **lauroque.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Leaf fall.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **Leaf retention.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **Leaf shedding.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **least parts.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Lentil-shaped moon.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **Leontini.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **Leontinon.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **leptomeresterou.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **leukon.** [White](#entry-white) **Life-bearing.** [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **Light eyes.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **Light in transit.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **Light travel.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **Lightness and smell.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **Lightning.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **Like-by-like.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **Like cannot alter like.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **Like knows like.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **like-partedness.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity) **Likeness.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **Limbo of Vanity.** [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **limit of the cosmos.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **Lithification.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **lithoi.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Lithos.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **litotēta.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **Liver.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **Living and lifeless.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **Local aptitude.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **Lodestone.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **logōi tini.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **Logoklopia.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **logoklopiai.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **logon.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **logon tēs mixeōs.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **logon tēs mixeōs autōn.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **Logos.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **loimou.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **Long day.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **Loss of heat.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **Loss of substance.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **Love.** [Love](#entry-love) **Love and chaos.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Love-world.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **loxēn kinēsin.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **Lucretian reception.** [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) **Lucretii.** [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) **Lucretius.** [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) **Lunar body.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **Lunar boundary.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **Lunar disc.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **Lunar distance.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **Lunar fragment.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **Lunar interposition.** [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **lunar matter.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **Lunar menstrual timing.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **Luxury.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **Lype.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **lypeisthai.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **lypēn.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **lypēthēsomai.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **Lyre.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **Madness.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **Magic.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **magnam faciat anxietatem.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **Magnetic attraction.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **Magnetic blockage.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **Magnetic iron.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **Magnetic stone.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **Magnetism.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **magni.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **magno cecidere ibi casu.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **Making.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **malakōterai.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Male.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Male and female.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Malodor.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **mana kai araia.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **Mania.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **manian.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **Mantis.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **Manual skill.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **mares.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **mari.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **Market-place bawler.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **Massed outflow.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **Masses.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **Master of the feast.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **material cause.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **Material trace.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Maternal imagination.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **Maternal impressions.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **Matter.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **mē aporrhein.** [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **mechri men selēnēs.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **mediated translation.** [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) **Medical Discourse.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **Medical sect.** [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine) **Medical traditions.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Medical writings.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **Medicine.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Megara.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **meigma.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **meiousthai.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **melan.** [Black](#entry-black) **Melancholics.** [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy) **Melancholy.** [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy) **melanommata.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **Melody.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **membra singula.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **Mens.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Menses.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **Menstruation.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **Mental cloud.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **Mental derangement.** [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement) **Mental speed.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **mentis.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **mēron klasai.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **metallattein.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **Metaphor.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **metaphora.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **metaphorētikos.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **metaxy chronon.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **mēte tou spermatos euthybolountos.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **metensōmatōsei.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **metensomatosis.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **meth’ hēmeran.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **metharmosamenos.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **Meton.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Metōnos.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Mētra.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **mētrai.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **Metre.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **metrōi.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **Microscopic.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **migma.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **miliaria.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Milton.** [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **mimētēn.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Mind.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Mineral powders.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **mineral rust.** [Rust](#entry-rust) **mingling.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **Mirror.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **Mirror surface.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **Mists of despondency.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **misu.** [Misy](#entry-misy) **misy.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Misy](#entry-misy) **Mixed colours.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **Mixed sex in plants.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **Mixture.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **Mixture ratio.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **mnēmeion.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Mocking poem.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **Moderate cooling.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **Monad.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **monados.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **monoeides.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **Monstrous births.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **Monthly flow.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **Moon.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **moon broken from sun.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **Moon–sun distance.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **Moonlight.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) **moral dualism.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **more and fewer.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **moria.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **mortal fountain.** [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) **Mortal spring.** [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) **Motion.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **Mountain cleft.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **Mousai.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **moving.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **Moving cause.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **Mule sterility.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **Mules.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **Multiple births.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **murmura flammarum.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **Musical therapy.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **mutual displacement.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **Myrrh.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Nails.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **Namesakes.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **nasta.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **Natural hymn.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **Natural inquiry.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **Natural philosopher.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **Natural philosophy and medicine.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Natural place.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **Natural priority.** [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **Nature.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **Navel.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **necessary causation.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **Necessity.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **Neikos.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **Neikous.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **Nēstin.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **Nēstis.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **Nestis.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **Nestis water.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **neura.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **Nicolaus of Damascus.** [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) **Night.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **Night sight.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **Night vision.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **Noble spirits.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **Nocturnal vision.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **noeron pyr.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **Noise.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **Non-killing.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **non-temporal cosmogony.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **Noose.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **nosōdē.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **Not knowing.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **Not to die wholly.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) **nōthrous.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **noton.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **noun.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Nourishment.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **nourishment bearer.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **Nous.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **Numbing cloud.** [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **Nutrition.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **Nutritive earth.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **nykta.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **nyktōr.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **Oblique winds.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **Obliquity.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **Obscurity.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **Obstructing air.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **Ocean.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **ochēma trophēs.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **ochlēseis.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **Ochre.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **ōchron.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **Ochron.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **Odour.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **Office.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **oikias.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **Oil and water.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **Oinos.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **ōiōi paraplēsiōs.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **Olfaction.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **Olfactory lightness.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **Oligarchy.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **Olive.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **Olympia.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Olympiad.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **olympiada.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Olympiasi.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Olympic victor.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **On Nature.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **On the Nature of Things.** [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **On the Senses.** [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) **One and many.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **onkoi.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **onkōn.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **onous ekdarēnai.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **onychas.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **Onyx.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **Opposites.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **Opposition in perception.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **Opsis.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **Oracle of the heart.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Oracular persuasion.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **Oratorical ability.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **Oratory.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **order.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **Order and disorder.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **ordered world.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **orexeis.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **Orexis.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **Organ as instrument.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **organou taxin.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **original powers.** [Power](#entry-power); [Principle](#entry-principle) **original sun.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **Origins of animals.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **Osme.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **osmēn.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **osmōdestata.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **osphrainesthai.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **osphrēsin.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **Osphresis.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **osta.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **ostoun.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **ouden an eiē.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **ouk epanēlthen.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **Outflow.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **outline.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **ovoid world.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **oxeis.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **oxytēta.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **pagetōdous.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **pagon aeros chalazōdē.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **paidika.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **Pain.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **Painting.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Pale yellow.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **palindromountos.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **Palm.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **panēgyrin.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Panperception.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **panta.** [All](#entry-all) **panta te aisthēsetai.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **Panthea.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **Pantheia.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **Pantheian.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **par' allēla.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **para meros.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **para tēn syngeneian syndyazomenōn.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **Paradise of Fools.** [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **paradoxologos.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **parakeimenōn.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **paramenein.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **parēitēsato.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **Parental likeness.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **parentum seminibus.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **Parmenidean affiliation.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Parmenides.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Parmenidou.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **pasēs archēs allotrion.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **passages.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **passing into new bodies.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **Pausaniai.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Pausanias.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Pausanias’ father.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Pausanias son of Anchitos.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Pausaniēn.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Peisianax.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **Peloponnese.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **People’s side.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **pepantikon ti melos.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **pepēgota hypo pyros.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **Pepsis.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion) **Per se cause.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **peratos.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **Perceptible.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **Perception.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **Perception under Love.** [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **Peri physeōs.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **Peri physeos.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **peri physeōs historian.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Peri physeōs tōn ontōn.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **peri physios.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **peridromon.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **perigraphēn.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **periodon.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **periodos.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **periphoras.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **peripsychthentōn.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Nails](#entry-nails) **perischismon tou spermatos.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **perishing.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **perittōmata.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **Persian poem.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **Personal attachment.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **Perspiration.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **petras.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **phainomenon.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **phaion.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **phakoeides.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **phantasiai tēs gynaikos.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **Phantom-like forms.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **pharmaka.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **phenakizei.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **pheresbion.** [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **pheresbios.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **pheromenou tou haimatos.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **pheromenou tou phōtos.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **Philia.** [Love](#entry-love) **Philian.** [Love](#entry-love) **Philistion.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **Philosophers of Limbo.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **philosophiēn.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Philotes.** [Love](#entry-love) **Philotēta.** [Love](#entry-love) **Philotētos.** [Love](#entry-love) **phlebōdōn.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **phoinikos.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **phōnēs hypermegethous.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **phōs.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **phōs ouranion.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **phronēseōs.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **Phronesis.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **phronimōtatous.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **phtharta.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **phtheiresthai.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **phthinein.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **phthoras.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **phyllorrhoein.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **physei.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **physei protera.** [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **Physician and seer.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **Physics.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **physicus.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **physikoi.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **physikos.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **physin.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **Physiological hymn.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **physiologon.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **Physiologos.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **physios.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **physis.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **Phyta.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **phytois.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **phytōn.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **pilēma.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **pilēsin.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **pilētheisa.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **pilēthēnai.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **piloumenas.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **più presso gli stanno.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **più volte.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Plague and foul air.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **Plain living.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **planētas.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **Planets.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **Plant consciousness.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Plant desire.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Plant flavours.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **Plant juices.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **Plant pain and pleasure.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Plant priority.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **Plant roots.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **Plant sensation.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **Plant sex.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **Plant shoots.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **Plant surplus.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **plantae.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **Plants.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **platos.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **Pleasure.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **pleonasmon spermatos.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **plēthei kai oligotēti.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **plinthōn kai lithōn toichos.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **pneumatikē.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **Poet and metre.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **Poetic divinity.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Poetic explanation.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **Poetry.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **poiētēn.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **poion.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **politeias.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **Political equality.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **Political speeches.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **Political writings.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **politidōn.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **politikous.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **polla te kai hen.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **Popular politics.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **Pores.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **poroi.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **porous.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **porous echein aoratous.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **porphyran.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **portions.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **poson.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **Potable water.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **potamous.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **Power.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Power](#entry-power) **praeclara reperta.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Praise and blame.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **Pregnancy duration.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **Prelude to Apollo.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **Prime.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Primordial breathing.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **Primordial day.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **Primordial trees.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **prin hēmeran kai nykta diakrithēnai.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **principiis.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **Principle.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **Principles.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **prior by nature.** [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **Private benefaction.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **proikisai.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **Prooimion.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **prooimion eis Apollōna.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **proper character.** [Form](#entry-form) **property.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **Proportion.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **Proportional fit.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **Prose medicine.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **prōta ta dendra tōn zōiōn.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **prōtēn diakrisin.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **psauontōn.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **psellizetai.** [Stammering](#entry-stammering) **pseudepigrapha.** [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) **Pseudo-Aristotle.** [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) **Pseudo-Galen.** [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) **Pseudo-Philoponus.** [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) **Pseudonymous witnesses.** [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses) **psophōn.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **Psophos.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **psychas.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **Psyche.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **psychēn.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **psychēs.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **psychran.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **psychrotētos.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold) **Public disclosure.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **Public property.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **Public works.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **Publication.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **Pulse.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **pulverization.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **Pure upper region.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **purgamento.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **Purgamentum.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **Purification.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **Purification of soul.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **Purifications.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Purificatory poem.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Purifier.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **Purple.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Putrefaction.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **pykna.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **pyr.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **pyrina.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **pyrinou.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **pyrōdē.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **pyrōdous.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **pyros.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **Pythagoras.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythagorean tradition.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythagoreans.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythagoreiōn.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythagorikoi.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythagorikos.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Pythia.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **qualitative change.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **Quality.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **qualityless.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **quantitative change.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **Quantity.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **Quickness.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **quotation within testimony.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation) **Racehorse.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **Rapid thought.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **Ratio.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **Rational animals.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **Rational authority.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Rays.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **rebus opima bonis.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **Reciprocating blood.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **Recitation.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **Recognition.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **recurrence.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **Red.** [Red](#entry-red) **Redness.** [Red](#entry-red) **reflected light.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **reflected radiance.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **reflected sun.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **Reflection.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **Refutation of All Heresies.** [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness) **reincarnation.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **Relative chronology.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **Repeated world-collapse.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Replenishment.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **report.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **Reproduction.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **Reputation.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **Resemblance.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **resolution into fire.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **Resonance.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **Respiration.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **Respiratory exhalation.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **Respiratory olfaction.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **responsa.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **Rest.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **Restoration.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **Retuning.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **Return barred.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **Rhapsode.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **rhapsōidēsai.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **rhapsōidos.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **rhētōr.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **rhētoras agathous.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **Rhetoric.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **Rhetorical invention.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **rhetoricen.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **rhētorikēn.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **Rheum.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **Rhiza.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **rhizas.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **rhizōmata.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **rhizomata.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **rhymēi.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **Right and left.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **Ritual purifier.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **River diversion.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **River town.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Rocks.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Roots.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **Rotating ladle.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Rotation.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **Rotting.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **Rough and smooth.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **Roughness.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **Royal refusal.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **Ruin of first principles.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **ruinas.** [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **Ruling part.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **rust.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust) **Sacred envoys.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Sacred insignia.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **Sallustius.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) **sandaliou.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **sarkas.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **sarkinon ozon.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **Sarkinos ozos.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **sarx.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **Satirical verse.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **Sayings.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **sbesin.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **schēmatos.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Sea.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **Sea as sweat.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **Sea of fire.** [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release) **Seasonal change.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **Seasonal winds.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **Seasons.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **Seat of mind.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **Second generation.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **Secrecy.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **Seed.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **Seed splitting.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **Seeming forms.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **sēkon.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Selēnē.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **selēnēn.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **selēnēs.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **selēnēs auton hyperchomenēs.** [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **Self-presentation.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Selinountiois.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Selinountiōn.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Selinous.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Selinus.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Semen.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **Seminal motion.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **semnēn analabōn esthēta.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **Sensation.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **Sensation during Love.** [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **Sense-specific discrimination.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **Sensible object.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **Sensory neutrality.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **Sensory specificity.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **sentire.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **sentisse amor.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Separate limbs.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **Separation.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **separation out.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **sēpedona.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **sēpsei.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **Sēpsis.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **septimo mense.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **Seven-month child.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **Sex differentiation.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Sexual generation.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **sexum in his permixtum.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **Shoes.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **Shoots.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **Shortage.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **Shrine.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **Sicilian landscape.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **Sicilian Muse.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Sicily.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **side-by-side mixture.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **Sideros.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **Sight.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **Sikelai.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **similitudine liberorum.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **Simplician testimony.** [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness) **Simplicius.** [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness) **Sinew.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **Sinew mixture.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **single cosmogony.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **Slantwise motion.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **Sleep.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **Slow primordial sun.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **Slowness of thought.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **Sluggishness.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **small masses.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **Smallest fragments.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Smallness.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **Smell.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **Smell-object.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **Smoothness.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **soft and hard.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **soft Muse.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Soil.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **solar body.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **Solar eclipse.** [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **Solar fire in clouds.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **Solar illumination of moon.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) **Solar turning.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **Solemn appearance.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **solid heaven.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **Solid parts.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **solidified air.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **Somatic cause.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder) **sōmatika stoicheia.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **sophon.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **Sorcery.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **Soul.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **Soul-purgation.** [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul) **Soulless bodies.** [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **Sound.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **Source criticism.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **source of motion.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **South wind.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **Speaking well.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **Specialized ability.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **Species.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **Sperma.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **spermatikou kinēmatos.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **spermatos.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **sphairoeides.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Sphairon.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Sphairos.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Sphairos god.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Sphere.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Spice ox.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Sprout of flesh.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **stammer.** [Stammering](#entry-stammering) **Stammering.** [Stammering](#entry-stammering) **Stars.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **stars bound to crystal.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **staseōn.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **Statue.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **steirai.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **stellar fire.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **stemma.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **stemma Delphikon.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **stemmata Delphika.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **sterea.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **steremnion.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **Sterility.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **Stoic world-fire.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **stoicheia.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **stoicheia pro tōn stoicheiōn.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Stone.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **Storm crash.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **Streams.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **Strife.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **strophion.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **sub-elemental particles.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Sublunary evils.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **Substitute offering.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **Subterranean fire.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **successive dominance.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **Suffering.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **Suitable nourishment.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **Summer.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **summer tropic.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Sun.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **sun circuit.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **supplement.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **Suspended respiration.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Suspension of earth.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Sweat.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **Sweat of the earth.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **Sweet seawater.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **Sweetening.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **symmetria.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **symmetrōi.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **symmetros.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **sympagentos.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **symphyomenōn tōn merōn.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **Symposiarch.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **symposiarchos.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **Symposium.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **syn tais aporrhoiais.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **synathroismou.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **syndedesthai.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **synkekritai.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **synkrinetai.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **synkriseis.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **synkrisin.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **synkrisis.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **syntonōterai.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Syracusan.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **Syracuse.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **Syrakosion.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **Syrakousas.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **ta allēlōn krinein.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **ta de melana.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **ta de notia.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **ta de Persika.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **ta dēmotika phronountōn.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **ta empsycha.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **ta en tois dexiois.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **ta genē.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **ta glauka.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **ta leuka.** [White](#entry-white) **ta melana.** [Black](#entry-black) **ta men boreia.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **ta rheumata.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **ta symphyta.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ta syngenē.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ta therma tōn hydatōn.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **ta thermotata.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **Tactile sense.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **tais anapnoais.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **taphon.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **tarachēn.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **tas allas dynameis.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **tas de deuteras.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **tas de tetartas.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **tas de tritas.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **tas dynameis.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **tas elleipseis.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **tas hēdonas.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **tas osmas.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **tas pepseis tēs trophēs.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion) **tas poias kraseis.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **tas prōtas geneseis.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **tas psychas.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **Taste.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **Taste-object.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **taxis.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **Tear.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **Tears.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **techne.** [Art](#entry-art) **technēi.** [Art](#entry-art) **technēn.** [Art](#entry-art) **technitas.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **tēi anapnoēi.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **tēi haphēi.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **tēi morphēi tēn aitian.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **tēi pyknōsei.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **Telauges.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **teleutēsai.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **Temperament.** [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy) **tēn akoēn.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **tēn anaplērōsin.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **tēn de nyn katechousan.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **tēn ekleipsin hekaterōn.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **tēn epi tēs Philotētos.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **tēn gnōsin.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **tēn kardian.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Heart](#entry-heart) **tēn lithon.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **tēn lyran.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **Ten-month child.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **tēn opsin.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **tēn orexin.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **tēn phronēsin.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **tēn prōtēn anapnoēn tou prōtou zōiou.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **tēn tou ouranou phoran.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **Tendons.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **terata.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **tēs boulēs hypēretēn.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **tēs epiphaneias.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **tēs eumorphias tōn gynaikōn.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **tēs gēs polymereias.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **tēs Hērakleias lithou.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **tēs kinēseōs archēn.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **tēs mētras.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **tēs nyktos.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **tēs periechousēs auton sphairas.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **tēs phōnēs.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **tēs tou haimatos phoras.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **Testimonium.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **testimony.** [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **tethrausmena.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **tetychēkenai.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **textual emendation.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **Texture.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **Thalassa.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **thalattan.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **thanaton.** [Death](#entry-death) **Thanatos.** [Death](#entry-death) **the One.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **The Thousand.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **the whole.** [All](#entry-all) **Theft of discourses.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **thēlea.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **theoi.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **Theophrastean criticism.** [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) **Theophrastus.** [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) **Theoroi.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **theōrois.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **theous.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **therapeusai.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **thereian.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **therinon tropikon.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Thermal activity.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **Thermal compensation.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **Thermal opposition.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **Thermal waters.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **thermotēti kai psychrotēti.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **thermotētos.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Heat](#entry-heat) **Thinking.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **Thinking with blood.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **Third generation.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **Thirty days.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Thought.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **Thought in blood.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **Thourious.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **thrausin.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **thrausmata elachista.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **Three-cornered island.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **thrix.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **Thunder.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **Thunderbolt.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **Thurii.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **Thurii and Syracuse.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **thymiathēnai.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **Timaeus’ refutation.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **Timon.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **to aischron.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **to aisthēton.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **to bradyporein ton hēlion.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **to en tois kyathois hydōr.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **to entos phōs.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **to geōdes kai to pyrōdes.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **to hēgemonikon.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **to hen.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **to hēpar.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **to hypokeimenon.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **to kakon kai to agathon.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **to kalon.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **to kyklōi poly on.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **to leion.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **to men prooimion.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **to metron.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **to oikeion pyr.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **to pan.** [All](#entry-all) **to phronein.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **to prosphoron.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **to tōn chiliōn athroisma.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **to trachy.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **tōi chondrōdei.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **tōi elleiponti.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **tōi enantiōi.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **tōi haimati malista phronein.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **tōi homoiōi.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **toichos.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **tois anomoiois.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **tois d’ ergois hysteros.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **tois embryois.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **tois enantiois.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **tois homoiois.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **Tomb and memorial.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **tōn agathōn.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **tōn aktinōn.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **tōn ampelōn.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **tōn apsychōn.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **tōn chymōn.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **tōn de enaimōn.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **tōn diaphanōn.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **tōn eidōlōn.** [Images](#entry-images) **tōn embryōn.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **tōn en tois euōnymois.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **ton epipōmatizonta.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **tōn haplōn.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **tōn hēmionōn.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **tōn holophyōn.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **tōn isōn tēi krasei tettarōn stoicheiōn.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **tōn kakōn.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **tōn katamēniōn.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **tōn kouphōn.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **tōn leptōn.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **tōn logōn.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **tōn neurōn.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **ton oinon.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **tōn plousiōn.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **tōn rheumatizomenōn.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **ton sidēron.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **ton sidēron hepesthai.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **ton sidēron pheresthai.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **tōn spermatikōn gonōn.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **ton tēs astrapēs tonon.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **ton tou arrenos kai tou thēleos periechein logon.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **tōn tropikōn kyklōn.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **Tool.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **topous.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **tōthastikon epigramma.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **tou aeros antepeisiontos.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **tou asthmatos.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **tou dēmiourgein.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **tou ektos.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **tou emphytou thermou.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **tou en bathei tēs gēs.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **tou eu legein.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **tou haimatos.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **tou haimatos tarachthentos.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **tou haimatos tēkomenou.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **tou katoptrou.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **tou kosmou.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **tou oikeiou.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **tou pantos.** [All](#entry-all) **tou pyros.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **tou sidērou.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **tou thermou.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **tou trephontos edaphous.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **Touch.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **Touching.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **touching parts.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **tous de porous enallax keisthai.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) **tous karpous.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **Tragedies.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **Tragedy.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **Tragic pomp.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **tragikon.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **tragōidias.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **Translation chain.** [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) **Transmigration.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **Transparency.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **Transparent medium.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **Trees.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **trephein.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **Triplets.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **tripodi.** [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart) **triquetris.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **trophimon de tōn ichthyōn.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **Tropic circles.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **Tropics.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **Tryphē.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **tryphōsi.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **Turning circles.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **Twins.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **Twins and triplets.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **two cosmogonies.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **two hemispheres.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **Two kinds of madness.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **two suns.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **tyche.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **tychēi.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **tyrannidos archēn.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **Tyranny.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **ugliness.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **Umbilical connection.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **Umbilical vessels.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **Umbilicus.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **Unaffected sense.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **Unaltered organ.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **unchangeability.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **Underground fire.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **Undetectable constituents.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **Unfinished works.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **Unhealthy wind.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **uniform Sphairos.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **uniform throughout.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity) **Uniformity.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **unifying power.** [Power](#entry-power) **unity and god.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **unity and plurality.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **Universal sensation.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **universe.** [All](#entry-all) **Unjoined parts.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **Unlike.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **unmoved.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **unorganized matter.** [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) **Unusual births.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **unwandering stars.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **Upward growth.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **Uterus.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **vacuum.** [Void](#entry-void) **Vanity.** [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **vapour.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **Vegetable life.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **Vegetarianism.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **Vehicle of nourishment.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **Venous vessels.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **verse citation.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation) **Versification.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **Vessels.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **Vines.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **virum.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea) **visible sun.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **Vision.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **Visual compaction.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **Visual fire.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **Visual images.** [Images](#entry-images) **Visual obstruction.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **Visual rays.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **Vital centre.** [Heart](#entry-heart) **Vital heat.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **vix humana.** [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast) **Voice.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Sound](#entry-sound) **Void.** [Void](#entry-void) **Volcano.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **vortex.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **Walker on air.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **wall of bricks.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **Walling off.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **wandering stars.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **Wanting.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **Warmth.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **Wasting.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **Wasting through effluence.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **Water.** [Water](#entry-water) **water as food-carrier.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **Water-boilers.** [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices) **Water-clock.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **Water-device analogy.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **Water-dwellers.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **Water mixing.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **Wax vessel.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **Wealth and politics.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **Whey.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **Whey analogy.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **Whirlpool.** [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **White.** [White](#entry-white) **Whiteness.** [White](#entry-white) **Whole-grown beings.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **Whole-natured creatures.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **Wind-stopper.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **Windbreak.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **Winds.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **Wine.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **Wine quality.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **Winter.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **winter tropic.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **Wisdom recognition.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **Withdrawal.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **Without decay.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Without food.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Without pulse.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **without quality.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **without soul.** [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **Womb.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **Women citizens.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **Wonder-working.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **world.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **xenodochon.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Xenophanean emulation.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **Xenophanes.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **Xenophanous.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **xērotētos te kai hygrotētos.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **Xerxes.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **Xerxou diabasin.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **Yellow.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **zēlōtai.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **zēlōtēn.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Zeno.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **Zeno of Elea.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **Zeno’s art.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **Zēnōna.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **zesin.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) **zesis.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) **Zeus.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **Zeus fire.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **zōion alogon.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **Zoogony.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **Ἄβαριν τὸν Ὑπερβόρειον.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **ἀγαλμάτιόν.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **ἀγγείων.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **ἀγνοεῖν.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **ἀγνοίας.** [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance) **ἀγονίας.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **ἄγονόν.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **ἀγοραίων ληκητὴς ἐπέων.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **Ἄγχιτον.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **ἄδηλον.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **ἀδιαίρετα.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility) **ἀέρα.** [Air](#entry-air) **ἀέρα συνεστραμμένον.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **ἀερῶδες.** [Air](#entry-air) **ἀήρ.** [Air](#entry-air) **ἀθρόαι ἀπορροίαι.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **αἱ ἡμίονοι.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **Ἀιδωνέα.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Ἀϊδωνέα.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **Ἀιδωνεὺς.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus) **αἰθέρα.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **αἰθέρος.** [Aither](#entry-aither) **αἰθροβάτης.** [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) **αἷμά.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **αἰσθάνεσθαι.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **αἴσθησις.** [Perception](#entry-perception) **αἰσθητός.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **αἰτίοις.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **αἴτιον.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **Αἴτνην.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **ἀκίνητον.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **ἀκούομεν.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **Ἀκράγαντα.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **Ἀκραγαντῖνος.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas) **ἀκριβεστάτους.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **Ἄκρων.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **Ἄκρωνος.** [Acron](#entry-acron) **ἀλγηδόνας.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **ἀλεξανέμας.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **ἀλλοιοῦται.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **ἀλλοιώσεως.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **ἀλλοίωσιν.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **ἅλμηι.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **ἁλουργεῖ.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **ἀμαυροῦσθαι.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **ἀμβλυωπεῖν.** [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight) **ἀμετάβλητα.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration) **ἀμφίβολα.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **Ἀνάγκη.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **ἀνάγκην.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **ἀνάγκης.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **ἀναθλίβοντος.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **ἀναθυμιαθῆναι.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **ἄναιμα.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **ἀναιμότατα.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **ἀναίσθητα.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **ἀναίσθητα διὰ μικρότητα.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **ἀναισθήτως.** [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation) **ἀνάκλασιν.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **ἀναμεμειγμένων.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **Ἀναξαγόρας.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **ἀναπνοὴν.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **ἀνδριάντων καὶ εἰκόνων.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **ἀνεῖσθαι.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **ἀνοικείου.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ἀνομοιότητας.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **ἀντανάκλασις.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **ἀνταύγεια.** [Reflection](#entry-reflection) **ἀνταύγειαν.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **ἀντεπείσοδον.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **ἀντεπικράτειαν.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **ἀντιπαραχωρεῖν.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **ἀντίρρησιν.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **ἄνω δὲ διὰ τὸ πῦρ.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **ἀοράτους μὲν διὰ μικρότητα.** [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness) **ἀπαθῆ.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **ἀπηλπισμένην.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **ἄπνουν.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **ἄποιον.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **ἀπολιθοῦται.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **ἀπορροάς.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **ἀπορροήν.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **ἀπόρροιαι.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **ἀπόσπασμα.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **ἀποτειχίσας.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **ἀπόφασμα.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **ἀπροίκους.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **ἅπτοιτο.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **ἁπτόμενα μόρια.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **ἀραιώματα.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **ἀργὴν ὕλην.** [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter) **ἀριστερὰ.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **ἁρμονία.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **ἁρμονίας.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **ἁρμόττειν.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **ἄρρενα.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **ἀρτηριωδῶν.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **ἀρχάς.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **ἀρχὰς.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **ἀρχὰς ἐπιδευέας ἄλλων.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon) **ἀρχέτυπον.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **ἀρχικὰς δυνάμεις.** [Principle](#entry-principle) **Ἀρχινόμου.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **ἄσηπτον.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **ἄσιτον.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **Ἀσκληπιαδῶν.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **ἀσκοὺς.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **ἄστρα.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **ἀστραπήν.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **ἀσυμμέτρους.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **ἀσυμφυέσι δὲ τοῖς μορίοις διεζευγμένας.** [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs) **ἄσφυκτον.** [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman) **ἀταξία.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **ἀτελείωτα.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **αὔξεσθαι.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **αὐστηρᾶς.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **ἁφή.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **ἁφῆς.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **ἄφθαρτα.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **Ἀφροδίτης.** [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite) **ἀφρονεστάτους.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **ἄχυμος.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **ἅψαιτο.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **ἀψύχων.** [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **βασιλείαν.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **βλαστοὺς.** [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **βοῦν.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **βρέφη.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **βρόχον.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **γαῖαν.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **γάλακτος ὀρρὸν.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **γεγονότι θεῶι.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **γενέσεις.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **γένεσιν.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **γεύσεως.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **γεῦσις.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **γῆ.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **γῆν.** [Earth](#entry-earth) **γίγνεσθαι.** [Generation](#entry-generation) **γλαυκὰ.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **γλυκῆναι.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **γλυκὺ ἐν τῆι θαλάττηι ὕδωρ.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **γνωρίζειν.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **γνωρίζομεν.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **γοητεύοντι.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **Γοργίαν.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **δαιμόνων.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **δάκρυον.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **δάφνης.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **δεξιὰ.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **δημοτικὸν.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **δι' ἀλλήλων ἤδη.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **Δία.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **διὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ θερμοῦ.** [Growth](#entry-growth) **διὰ τὴν ταχύτητα.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **διὰ τῶν ῥινῶν.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **διαδοχήν.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **διαιρετικόν.** [Power](#entry-power) **διακριθῆναι.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **διακρίνει.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **διακρίσεως.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **διάκρισιν.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **διαλεκτικήν.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **διαλεκτικῆς.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic) **διαμορφοῦται.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **διανοίας.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **διαρθρώσεως.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation) **διασφάγα.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **διαφοροῦντας τὰ κοινὰ.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **διαχωρισμῶι.** [Death](#entry-death) **διδασκαλίας χάριν.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **δίδυμα καὶ τρίδυμα.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **δικαστήριον.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **δίνη.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **διοικοῦντες.** [Daimones](#entry-daimones) **διπλάσιον ἀπέχειν.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **δισκοειδῆ.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **δορὰς ὄνων.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **δυνάμεις.** [Power](#entry-power) **δυνάμεων.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **δυσωδίας.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **ἐδημοσίωσεν.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **εἴδη.** [Form](#entry-form) **εἶδος.** [Form](#entry-form) **εἰδωλοφανεῖς.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **εἱμαρμένην.** [Fate](#entry-fate) **εἰς θάλατταν.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **εἰς Πελοπόννησον.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **εἰς πῦρ ἀναλυθήσεσθαι.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **εἰσπνοήν.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **ἐκ μέλιτος καὶ ἀλφίτων.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **ἐκ σμύρνης καὶ λιβανωτοῦ.** [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice) **ἐκκαιομένης ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **ἐκκρίνεσθαι.** [Separation](#entry-separation) **ἐκπνοήν.** [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation) **ἐκπύρωσιν.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration) **ἐλαίας.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **ἔλαιον.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **ἐλαττουμένου τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς σελήνης.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **ἐλάχιστα.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **ἐλεγεῖον.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **ἕλκει τὸν σίδηρον.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **ἐλλείψει τροφῆς.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **ἔλλειψιν.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **ἐμβάτας χαλκᾶς.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **ἔμβρυα.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **ἔμπτωσιν φωτὸς εἰς νέφος.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **ἐμφράξας.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **ἐμφύεσθαι.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **ἐμψύχων ἀπεχόμενος.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things) **ἐν ἀλλοιώσει.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition) **ἐν γεύσει.** [Taste](#entry-taste) **ἐν ἡμέραι.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **ἓν καὶ πολλά.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **ἐν μέρει.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **ἐν μιᾶι ἡμέραι.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **ἐν ταῖς χερσί.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **ἐν τῆι γλώττηι.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **ἐν τῆι κοιλίαι τῆς καρδίας.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **ἐν τῆι τοῦ αἵματος συστάσει.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **ἐναλλὰξ.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **ἐναντιότητας.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **ἐναντίων.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **ἐναρμόζειν.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **ἐναρμόττειν.** [Fitting](#entry-fitting) **ἔνυδρα.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **ἑνωτική.** [Power](#entry-power) **ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἴσων.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **ἐξ ἀνάγκης.** [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **ἐξ ἁπάντων.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **ἐξ οἰκείου.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ἐξ ὑποθέσεως.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **Ἐξαινέτου.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **Ἐξήγησιν τῶν Ἐμπεδοκλέους.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **ἐξηγοῦνται.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **ἐξικμαζομένου αὐτοῦ τῶι θέρει.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **ἐπαινούμενος.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **ἐπαναπληροῦσθαι.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **ἐπὶ τῆς Φιλίας.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **ἐπίγραμμα.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **ἐπικλιθῆναι τὰς ἄρκτους.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **ἐπικράτειαν.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **Ἐπιμενίδην.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **ἐπιπόνους.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **ἐπιπωματίζοντα τοὺς τοῦ σιδήρου πόρους.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **ἐποποιίαν.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **ἐποποιῶι.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **ἐραψώιδησεν.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **ἐρυθρὸν.** [Red](#entry-red) **ἐρώμενος.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **ἐρωτηθείς.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **ἑταῖροι.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **ἐτησίων.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **ἔφη.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **ἔχθει.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **ζέσιν.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat) **Ζεύς.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **Ζεὺς.** [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **ζηλωταὶ.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition) **ζηλωτὴν.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **Ζήνωνα.** [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **ζῶιον ἄλογον.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **ἡ δεκάμηνος.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **ἡ ἑπτάμηνος.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation) **ἡ κρᾶσις ἐξ ἴσων.** [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend) **ἡ μέση κρᾶσίς.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **ἡ ὄψις.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **ἡ φθίσις.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **ἥδεσθαι.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **ἡδονὴν.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **ἤκμαζε.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **ἥλιον.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **ἥλιος.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **ἡλίου.** [Sun](#entry-sun) **ἠλλοτριῶσθαι.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **ἡμισφαίρια.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **ἡμισφαιρίων.** [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **ἠρεμεῖν.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **Ἥρη.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **Ἥρην.** [Hera](#entry-hera) **ἡσθήσομαι.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **ἦχον.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **θάλατταν.** [Sea](#entry-sea) **θάνατον.** [Death](#entry-death) **θεοὶ.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **θεοὺς.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots) **θεραπεῦσαι.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **θερείαν.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **θερινὸν τροπικόν.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **θερμότητι καὶ ψυχρότητι.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **θερμότητος.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Heat](#entry-heat) **θεωροῖς.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **θήλεα.** [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female) **Θουρίους.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **θραῦσιν.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **θραύσματα ἐλάχιστα.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **θρὶξ.** [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample) **θυμιαθῆναι.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation) **Ἰατρικὰ καταλογάδην.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **Ἰατρικὸς λόγος.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings) **ἰατρὸς.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **ἰδίαις δαπάναις.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **ἰδιότητα.** [Form](#entry-form); [Quality](#entry-quality) **ἱδρῶτα.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **ἱδρῶτα τῆς γῆς.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **ἰητρὸν καὶ μάντιν.** [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **ἰὸν.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Rust](#entry-rust) **ἵπποις.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **ἱπποτροφηκότος.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **ἰσόμοιρα τῆι κράσει.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **ἰσότητα δὲ πολιτικὴν.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **ἰσότητος.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality) **καδμίαν.** [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **καθ' αὑτὸ.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **καθ' ἕν τι μόριον.** [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude) **καθαίρονται.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **καθαπερεὶ θεῶι.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **Καθαρμοὶ.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Καθαρμοὺς.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **Καθαρμῶν.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **καθαρτὴς.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier) **καθαρωτέρου.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **καθόδωι.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **κακῶν μεστὸν.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **κακῶς ἀκούων.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **καρποὺς.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **κατὰ συμβεβηκός.** [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause) **κατὰ τὴν σύλληψιν.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **κατὰ τὸν λόγον.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **κατὰ τραχύτητα.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **κατὰ τύχην.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **κατὰ ψύξιν.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling) **καταμίξαντα.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **κατασταλτικὸν.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **καταψύξει.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **κατέλυσε.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **κάτω μὲν συρριζουμένοις.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **κέλητι.** [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing) **κενά.** [Void](#entry-void) **κενόν.** [Void](#entry-void) **κενοὺς.** [Void](#entry-void) **κεραυνὸν.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **κινεῖν.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **κινεῖται.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **κινήσεως.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **κινούμενα.** [Motion](#entry-motion) **κλεψύδρας.** [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **κοῖλα.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **κοινὸν εἶναι τὸν θάνατον σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς.** [Death](#entry-death) **κοινοτάτωι σημείωι.** [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **κόσμον.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **κόσμος.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **κουφότατα.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **κράσεως.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **κρατῆρας.** [Etna](#entry-etna) **κρηπίδων.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **κρούνωμα βρότειον.** [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring) **κρυσταλλοειδῆ.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **κρυσταλλοειδῶς.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **κρυσταλλῶδες πίλημα.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **κρυσταλλώδη.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **κρυστάλλωι.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **κτύπον.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **κυκλοτερὲς.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **κυρίως.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **κώδωνα.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **κώδωνος.** [Bell](#entry-bell) **κωλυσανέμαν.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **κωλυσανέμας.** [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **κωφότεραι.** [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense) **λαμπάδων φέγγος.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **λαμπτῆρος.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **λαμπτῆρσι.** [Lantern](#entry-lantern) **λάμψιν.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning) **Λεοντῖνον.** [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias) **λεπτομερεστέρου.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **λευκὸν.** [White](#entry-white) **λίθοι.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **λιτότητα.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **λογοκλοπίαι.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **λόγον.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **λόγον τῆς μίξεως.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **λόγον τῆς μίξεως αὐτῶν.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **λόγωι τινί.** [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **λοιμοῦ.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **λοξὴν κίνησιν.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **λυπεῖσθαι.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **λυπηθήσομαι.** [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **λύπην.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **μαλακώτεραι.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **μανὰ καὶ ἀραιὰ.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **μανίαν.** [Madness](#entry-madness) **μεθ' ἡμέραν.** [Day vision](#entry-day-vision) **μεθαρμοσάμενος.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **μεῖγμα.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **μειοῦσθαι.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **μέλαν.** [Black](#entry-black) **μελανόμματα.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **μεταλλάττειν.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **μεταξὺ χρόνον.** [Rest](#entry-rest) **μεταφορὰ.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **μεταφορητικός.** [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor) **μετενσωματώσει.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **μέτρωι.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **Μέτωνος.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **μέχρι μὲν σελήνης.** [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **μὴ ἀπορρεῖν.** [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love) **μηρὸν κλάσαι.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **μήτε τοῦ σπέρματος εὐθυβολοῦντος.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **μήτραι.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **μῖγμα.** [Mixture](#entry-mixture) **μιμητὴν.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **μίσυ.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Misy](#entry-misy) **μνημεῖον.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **μονάδος.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **μονοειδές.** [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **μόρια.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **Μοῦσαι.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **ναστά.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **Νεῖκος.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **Νείκους.** [Strife](#entry-strife) **νεῦρα.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **Νῆστιν.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **Νῆστις.** [Nestis](#entry-nestis) **νοερὸν πῦρ.** [Monad](#entry-monad) **νοσώδη.** [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **νότον.** [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft) **νοῦν.** [Mind](#entry-mind) **νύκτα.** [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night) **νύκτωρ.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **νωθροὺς.** [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness) **ξενοδόχον.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos) **Ξενοφάνους.** [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **Ξέρξου διάβασιν.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **ξηρότητός τε καὶ ὑγρότητος.** [Opposites](#entry-opposites) **ὄγκων.** [Masses](#entry-masses) **οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἰατροί.** [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions) **οἰκίας.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **ὀλυμπιάδα.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **Ὀλυμπίασι.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **ὁμοιομερείας.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **ὁμοιομερῆ.** [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **ὁμοιότητα.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **ὁμοιότητας.** [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness) **ὁμώνυμος.** [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy) **ὄνους ἐκδαρῆναι.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides) **ὄνυχας.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **ὀξεῖς.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **ὀξύτητα.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **ὁρᾶν.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **ὀργάνου τάξιν.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **ὀρέξεις.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **ὁρμῆι.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **ὀσμὴν.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **ὀσμωδέστατα.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **ὀστᾶ.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **ὀστοῦν.** [Bone](#entry-bone) **ὀσφραίνεσθαι.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **ὄσφρησιν.** [Smell](#entry-smell) **οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη.** [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals) **οὐκ ἐπανῆλθεν.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **ὄχημα τροφῆς.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **ὀχλήσεις.** [Pain](#entry-pain) **παγετώδους.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **πάγον ἀέρος χαλαζώδη.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **παιδικά.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved) **παλινδρομοῦντος.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **πανήγυριν.** [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **Πάνθειάν.** [Panthea](#entry-panthea) **πάντα.** [All](#entry-all) **πάντα τε αἰσθήσεται.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **παρ' ἄλληλα.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **παρὰ μέρος.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation) **παρὰ τὴν συγγένειαν συνδυαζομένων.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility) **παραδοξολόγος.** [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **παρακειμένων.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **παραμένειν.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **παρηιτήσατο.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **Παρμενίδου.** [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀλλότριον.** [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused) **Παυσανίαι.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Παυσανίας.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **Παυσανίην.** [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **πεπαντικόν τι μέλος.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **πεπηγότα ὑπὸ πυρός.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air) **πέρατος.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **Περὶ φύσεως.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **περὶ φύσεως ἱστορίαν.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Περὶ φύσεως τῶν ὄντων.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **περὶ φύσιος.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **περιγραφὴν.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **περίδρομον.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary) **περίοδον.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle) **περισχισμὸν τοῦ σπέρματος.** [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **περιττώματα.** [Fruit](#entry-fruit) **περιφορᾶς.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **περιψυχθέντων.** [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Nails](#entry-nails) **πέτρας.** [Stone](#entry-stone) **πιληθεῖσα.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **πιληθῆναι.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **πίλημα.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **πίλησιν.** [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth) **πιλουμένας.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **πλανήτας.** [Planets](#entry-planets) **πλάτος.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **πλεονασμὸν σπέρματος.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **πλήθει καὶ ὀλιγότητι.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **πλίνθων καὶ λίθων τοῖχος.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall) **πνευματικὴ.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **ποιητὴν.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **ποιὸν.** [Quality](#entry-quality) **πολιτείας.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **πολιτίδων.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **πολιτικούς.** [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches) **πολλά τε καὶ ἕν.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **πόροι.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **πόρους.** [Pores](#entry-pores) **πόρους ἔχειν ἀοράτους.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **πορφύραν.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **ποσὸν.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **ποταμοὺς.** [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion) **πρὶν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα διακριθῆναι.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **προικίσαι.** [Dowries](#entry-dowries) **προοίμιον εἰς Ἀπόλλωνα.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **πρῶτα τὰ δένδρα τῶν ζώιων.** [First plants](#entry-first-plants) **πρώτην διάκρισιν.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **Πυθαγορείων.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Πυθαγορικοὶ.** [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **Πυθαγορικὸς.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **πυκνὰ.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **πυκνά.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **πῦρ.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **πύρινα.** [Stars](#entry-stars) **πυρίνου.** [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun) **πυρός.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **πυρώδη.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **πυρώδους.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **ῥαψωιδῆσαι.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **ῥαψωιδός.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **ῥήτορας ἀγαθούς.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **ῥητορικὴν.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **ῥήτωρ.** [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **ῥίζας.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots) **ῥιζώματα.** [Roots](#entry-roots) **ῥύμηι.** [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **σανδαλίου.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **σάρκας.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **σάρκινον ὄζον.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **σὰρξ.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **σβέσιν.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **σελήνην.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **σελήνης.** [Moon](#entry-moon) **σελήνης αὐτὸν ὑπερχομένης.** [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **Σελινουντίοις.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **Σελινουντίων.** [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **σεμνὴν ἀναλαβὼν ἐσθῆτα.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **σηκὸν.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **σηπεδόνα.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **σήψει.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **Σικελαί.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **σοφὸν.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm) **σπερματικοῦ κινήματος.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **σπέρματος.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **στάσεων.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **στεῖραι.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **στέμμα.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **στέμμα Δελφικόν.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **στέμματα Δελφικὰ.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath) **στερεὰ.** [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts) **στερέμνιον.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **στοιχεῖα.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **στοιχεῖα πρὸ τῶν στοιχείων.** [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments) **στρόφιον.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **συγκέκριται.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **συγκρίνεται.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **συγκρίσεις.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **σύγκρισιν.** [Combination](#entry-combination) **συμμετρία.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **σύμμετρος.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability) **συμμέτρωι.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **συμπαγέντος.** [Compaction](#entry-compaction) **συμποσίαρχος.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **συμφυομένων τῶν μερῶν.** [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms) **σὺν ταῖς ἀπορροίαις.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **συναθροισμοῦ.** [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **συνδεδέσθαι.** [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars) **συντονώτεραι.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **Συρακόσιόν.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **Συρακούσας.** [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **σφαιροειδὲς.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **Σφαῖρον.** [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **σχήματος.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress) **σωματικὰ στοιχεῖα.** [Elements](#entry-elements) **τὰ ἀλλήλων κρίνειν.** [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **τὰ γένη.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **τὰ γλαυκά.** [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes) **τὰ δὲ μέλανα.** [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes) **τὰ δὲ νότια.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **τὰ δὲ Περσικὰ.** [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes) **τὰ δημοτικὰ φρονούντων.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **τὰ ἔμψυχα.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **τὰ ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **τὰ θερμὰ τῶν ὑδάτων.** [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs) **τὰ θερμότατα.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **τὰ λευκά.** [White](#entry-white) **τὰ μέλανα.** [Black](#entry-black) **τὰ μὲν βόρεια.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt) **τὰ ῥεύματα.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence) **τὰ συγγενῆ.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **τὰ σύμφυτα.** [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness) **ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **τάξις.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **ταραχὴν.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **τὰς ἄλλας δυνάμεις.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **τὰς δὲ δευτέρας.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **τὰς δὲ τετάρτας.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **τὰς δὲ τρίτας.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **τὰς δυνάμεις.** [Faculty](#entry-faculty) **τὰς ἐλλείψεις.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **τὰς ἡδονὰς.** [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure) **τὰς ὀσμὰς.** [Odour](#entry-odour) **τὰς πέψεις τῆς τροφῆς.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion) **τὰς ποιὰς κράσεις.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds) **τὰς πρώτας γενέσεις.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **τὰς ψυχάς.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **τάφον.** [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **τεθραυσμένα.** [Quickness](#entry-quickness) **τελευτῆσαι.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions) **τέρατα.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births) **τετυχηκέναι.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **τέχνηι.** [Art](#entry-art) **τέχνην.** [Art](#entry-art) **τεχνίτας.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **τῆι ἀναπνοῆι.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **τῆι ἁφῆι.** [Contact](#entry-contact) **τῆι μορφῆι τὴν αἰτίαν.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **τῆι πυκνώσει.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **τὴν ἀκοὴν.** [Hearing](#entry-hearing) **τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν.** [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **τὴν γνῶσιν.** [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge) **τὴν δὲ νῦν κατέχουσαν.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing) **τὴν ἔκλειψιν ἑκατέρων.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Φιλότητος.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **τὴν καρδίαν.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Heart](#entry-heart) **τὴν λίθον.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **τὴν λύραν.** [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy) **τὴν ὄρεξιν.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite) **τὴν ὄψιν.** [Sight](#entry-sight) **τὴν πρώτην ἀναπνοὴν τοῦ πρώτου ζώιου.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **τὴν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φορὰν.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **τὴν φρόνησιν.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **τῆς βουλῆς ὑπηρέτην.** [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast) **τῆς ⟨γῆς⟩ πολυμερείας.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **τῆς ἐπιφανείας.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **τῆς εὐμορφίας τῶν γυναικῶν.** [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation) **τῆς Ἡρακλείας λίθου.** [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone) **τῆς κινήσεως ἀρχὴν.** [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause) **τῆς μήτρας.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **τῆς νυκτός.** [Night vision](#entry-night-vision) **τῆς περιεχούσης αὐτὸν σφαίρας.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **τῆς τοῦ αἵματος φορᾶς.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **τῆς φωνῆς.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **τὸ αἰσθητόν.** [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination) **τὸ αἰσχρόν.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **τὸ βραδυπορεῖν τὸν ἥλιον.** [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **τὸ γεῶδες καὶ τὸ πυρῶδες.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **τὸ ἕν.** [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **τὸ ἐν τοῖς κυάθοις ὕδωρ.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **τὸ ἐντὸς φῶς.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part) **τὸ ἧπαρ.** [Liver](#entry-liver) **τὸ κακὸν καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **τὸ καλὸν.** [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder) **τὸ κύκλωι πολὺ ὄν.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **τὸ λεῖον.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **τὸ μὲν προοίμιον.** [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **τὸ μέτρον.** [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **τὸ οἰκεῖον πῦρ.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **τὸ πᾶν.** [All](#entry-all) **τὸ πρόσφορον.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **τὸ τραχὺ.** [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth) **τὸ τῶν χιλίων ἄθροισμα.** [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand) **τὸ ὑποκείμενον.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **τὸ φρονεῖν.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **τοῖς ἀνομοίοις.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **τοῖς δ' ἔργοις ὕστερος.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **τοῖς ἐμβρύοις.** [Navel](#entry-navel) **τοῖς ἐναντίοις.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **τοῖς ὁμοίοις.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **τὸν ἐπιπωματίζοντα.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air) **τὸν οἶνον.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **τὸν σίδηρον.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **τὸν σίδηρον ἕπεσθαι.** [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence) **τὸν σίδηρον φέρεσθαι.** [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **τὸν τῆς ἀστραπῆς τόνον.** [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **τὸν τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ τοῦ θήλεος περιέχειν λόγον.** [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex) **τόπους.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **τοῦ ἀέρος ἀντεπεισιόντος.** [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation) **τοῦ αἵματος.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **τοῦ αἵματος ταραχθέντος.** [Tears](#entry-tears) **τοῦ αἵματος τηκομένου.** [Sweat](#entry-sweat) **τοῦ ἄσθματος.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell) **τοῦ δημιουργεῖν.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship) **τοῦ ἐκτός.** [Inner light](#entry-inner-light) **τοῦ ἐμφύτου θερμοῦ.** [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat) **τοῦ ἐν βάθει τῆς γῆς.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **τοῦ εὖ λέγειν.** [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence) **τοῦ θερμοῦ.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **τοῦ κατόπτρου.** [Mirror](#entry-mirror) **τοῦ κόσμου.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos) **τοῦ οἰκείου.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **τοῦ παντὸς.** [All](#entry-all) **τοῦ πυρὸς.** [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **τοῦ σιδήρου.** [Iron](#entry-iron) **τοῦ τρέφοντος ἐδάφους.** [Soil](#entry-soil) **τοὺς δὲ πόρους ἐναλλὰξ κεῖσθαι.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages) **τοὺς καρποὺς.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds) **τραγικὸν.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **τραγωιδίας.** [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **τρέφειν.** [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment) **τρόφιμον δὲ τῶν ἰχθύων.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea) **τρυφῶσι.** [Luxury](#entry-luxury) **τυραννίδος ἀρχήν.** [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **τύχηι.** [Chance](#entry-chance) **τωθαστικὸν ἐπίγραμμα.** [Epigram](#entry-epigram) **τῶι αἵματι μάλιστα φρονεῖν.** [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **τῶι ἐλλείποντι.** [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency) **τῶι ἐναντίωι.** [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception) **τῶι ὁμοίωι.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness) **τῶι χονδρώδει.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **τῶν ἀγαθῶν.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **τῶν ἀκτίνων.** [Rays](#entry-rays) **τῶν ἀμπέλων.** [Wine](#entry-wine) **τῶν ἁπλῶν.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **τῶν ἀψύχων.** [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless) **τῶν δὲ ἐναίμων.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals) **τῶν διαφανῶν.** [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **τῶν εἰδώλων.** [Images](#entry-images) **τῶν ἐμβρύων.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo) **τῶν ἐν τοῖς εὐωνύμοις.** [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **τῶν ἡμιόνων.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **τῶν ἴσων τῆι κράσει τεττάρων στοιχείων.** [Flesh](#entry-flesh) **τῶν κακῶν.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil) **τῶν καταμηνίων.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation) **τῶν κούφων.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **τῶν λεπτῶν.** [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness) **τῶν λόγων.** [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **τῶν νεύρων.** [Nails](#entry-nails) **τῶν ὁλοφυῶν.** [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **τῶν πλουσίων.** [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics) **τῶν ῥευματιζομένων.** [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh) **τῶν σπερματικῶν γόνων.** [Seed](#entry-seed) **τῶν τροπικῶν κύκλων.** [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **τῶν χυμῶν.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **ὑγρασίας ἀποχώρησιν.** [First breath](#entry-first-breath) **ὕδατι διπλασίονι.** [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **ὕδατος.** [Water](#entry-water) **ὕδωρ.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Water](#entry-water) **ὕλη.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **ὕλη αἱματικὴ.** [Blood](#entry-blood) **ὕλην.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **ὕλης.** [Matter](#entry-matter) **ὕμνοι φυσιολογικοί.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **ὑπέρπυρα.** [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **ὕπνον.** [Sleep](#entry-sleep) **ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light) **ὑποδήμασι χαλκοῖς.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear) **ὑπόστασιν.** [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment) **ὑστέραν.** [Womb](#entry-womb) **ὕψους.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **φαινόμενον.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun) **φαιὸν.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **φακοειδές.** [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc) **φαντασίαι τῆς γυναικὸς.** [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination) **φάρμακα.** [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery) **φενακίζει.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity) **φερέσβιον.** [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **φερέσβιος.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing) **φερομένου τοῦ αἵματος.** [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement) **φερομένου τοῦ φωτὸς.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **φθαρτὰ.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **φθείρεσθαι.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **φθίνειν.** [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **φθορὰς.** [Destruction](#entry-destruction) **Φιλία.** [Love](#entry-love) **Φιλίαν.** [Love](#entry-love) **φιλοσοφίην.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature) **Φιλότητα.** [Love](#entry-love) **Φιλότητος.** [Love](#entry-love) **φλεβωδῶν.** [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **φοίνικος.** [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants) **φρονήσεως.** [Thought](#entry-thought) **φρονιμωτάτους.** [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy) **φυλλορροεῖν.** [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding) **φύσει.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **φύσει πρότερα.** [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **φυσικοὶ.** [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn) **φυσικὸς.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **φύσιν.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **φυσιολόγον.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher) **φύσιος.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **φύσις.** [Nature](#entry-nature) **φυτοῖς.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **φυτῶν.** [Plants](#entry-plants) **φωνῆς ὑπερμεγέθους.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **φῶς.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **φῶς οὐράνιον.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis) **χαλκῖτιν.** [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **χειμερινόν.** [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left) **χειμῶνα.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **χνοώδη.** [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders) **χόνδρῳ.** [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage) **χρόα.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **χρυσοῦν.** [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **χρῶμα.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **χρώματα.** [Colour](#entry-colour) **χρώματα τὰ μεικτὰ.** [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours) **χυλῶν.** [Flavour](#entry-flavour) **χυμῶν.** [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices) **χωρὶς διανοίας.** [Instrument](#entry-instrument) **ψαυόντων.** [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition) **ψελλίζεται.** [Stammering](#entry-stammering) **ψόφων.** [Sound](#entry-sound) **ψυχάς.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **ψυχήν.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **ψυχῆς.** [Soul](#entry-soul) **ψυχρὰν.** [Cold](#entry-cold) **ψυχρότητος.** [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Cold](#entry-cold) **ὠιῶι παραπλησίως.** [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **ὡρισμένους τόπους.** [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **ὡς περὶ θεοῦ.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status) **ὠχρόν.** [Yellow](#entry-yellow) # Passage index {#passage-index} A-numbers identify Diels–Kranz testimonia as presented in the supplied edition, not passages authored by Empedocles. Section ranges retain its grouped headings. Source PDF pages count its cover as page 1 and include original-language and English facing pages. Citations in the articles name the individual witness and distinguish testimony, polemic, biography, legend, quotation, reception and editorial apparatus. **Introduction (apparatus); source PDF pp. 2–10.** [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain) **A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography); source PDF pp. 16–17.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) **A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography); source PDF pp. 18–21.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys); [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses) **A 1 §§ 53–55 (testimony); source PDF pp. 18–21.** [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography); source PDF pp. 22–25.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras); [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes); [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **A 1 §§ 56–58 (testimony); source PDF pp. 22–25.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **A 1 §§ 59–60 (biography); source PDF pp. 26–27.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **A 1 §§ 61–63 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 28–29.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **A 1 §§ 61–63 (biography); source PDF pp. 28–29.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Luxury](#entry-luxury); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer) **A 1 §§ 61–63 (testimony); source PDF pp. 28–29.** [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography); source PDF pp. 30–33.** [Acron](#entry-acron); [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **A 1 §§ 64–66 (polemical); source PDF pp. 30–33.** [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame); [Purifications](#entry-purifications) **A 1 §§ 67–68 (biography); source PDF pp. 34–37.** [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese) **A 1 §§ 67–68 (legend); source PDF pp. 34–37.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation) **A 1 §§ 67–68 (quotation); source PDF pp. 34–37.** [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles) **A 1 §§ 69–70 (biography); source PDF pp. 38–39.** [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy) **A 1 §§ 69–70 (legend); source PDF pp. 38–39.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Etna](#entry-etna) **A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography); source PDF pp. 40–41.** [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial) **A 1 §§ 71–72 (legend); source PDF pp. 40–41.** [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Selinus](#entry-selinus) **A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography); source PDF pp. 42–45.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Dowries](#entry-dowries); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) **A 1 §§ 76–77 (testimony); source PDF pp. 46–47.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **A 2 (biography); source PDF pp. 48–49.** [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides) **A 2 (legend); source PDF pp. 48–49.** [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **A 2 (testimony); source PDF pp. 48–49.** [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature) **A 3 (testimony); source PDF pp. 50–51.** [Acron](#entry-acron); [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air) **A 4 (polemical); source PDF pp. 52–53.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Soul](#entry-soul) **A 5 (testimony); source PDF pp. 52–53.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Zeno](#entry-zeno) **A 6 (testimony); source PDF pp. 54–55.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras) **A 7 (testimony); source PDF pp. 54–55.** [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **A 8–A 10 (testimony); source PDF pp. 56–57.** [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad) **A 11–A 12 (biography); source PDF pp. 58–59.** [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys) **A 11–A 12 (testimony); source PDF pp. 58–59.** [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode) **A 13–A 14 (biography); source PDF pp. 60–61.** [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **A 13–A 14 (legend); source PDF pp. 60–61.** [Purifier](#entry-purifier); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) **A 15 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 62–63.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias) **A 15 (legend); source PDF pp. 62–63.** [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans) **A 16 (reception); source PDF pp. 64–65.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **A 17 (reception); source PDF pp. 66–67.** [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud) **A 18 (biography); source PDF pp. 66–67.** [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band) **A 19 (testimony); source PDF pp. 68–69.** [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric) **A 20 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 70–71.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) **A 20 (reception); source PDF pp. 70–71.** [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame) **A 21 (reception); source PDF pp. 72–73.** [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **A 22–A 23 (polemical); source PDF pp. 74–75.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **A 22–A 23 (reception); source PDF pp. 74–75.** [Hera](#entry-hera); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo) **A 24–A 25 (polemical); source PDF pp. 76–79.** [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium) **A 24–A 25 (reception); source PDF pp. 76–79.** [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre) **A 26 (reception); source PDF pp. 82–83.** [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition); [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **A 27 (reception); source PDF pp. 82–83.** [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness) **A 28 (testimony); source PDF pp. 84–85.** [Combination](#entry-combination); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Love](#entry-love); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Power](#entry-power); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Quantity](#entry-quantity); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Water](#entry-water) **A 29 (reception); source PDF pp. 86–87.** [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse) **A 29 (testimony); source PDF pp. 86–87.** [All](#entry-all); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many) **A 30 (testimony); source PDF pp. 88–89.** [Aither](#entry-aither); [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Sun](#entry-sun) **A 31 (quotation); source PDF pp. 90–91.** [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **A 31 (testimony); source PDF pp. 90–91.** [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness); [Monad](#entry-monad); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration) **A 32 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 92–93.** [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement) **A 32 (testimony); source PDF pp. 92–93.** [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Form](#entry-form); [Matter](#entry-matter); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Rest](#entry-rest); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **A 33 (quotation); source PDF pp. 92–95.** [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Strife](#entry-strife) **A 33 (testimony); source PDF pp. 92–95.** [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Air](#entry-air); [Aither](#entry-aither); [All](#entry-all); [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Power](#entry-power); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Quantity](#entry-quantity); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment); [Water](#entry-water); [Zeus](#entry-zeus) **A 34 (testimony); source PDF pp. 96–97.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Misy](#entry-misy); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Rust](#entry-rust) **A 35 (testimony); source PDF pp. 96–97.** [Earth](#entry-earth); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place) **A 36 (polemical); source PDF pp. 96–97.** [Fire](#entry-fire) **A 37 (polemical); source PDF pp. 98–99.** [Combination](#entry-combination); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Love](#entry-love); [Matter](#entry-matter); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Power](#entry-power); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Strife](#entry-strife) **A 38 (polemical); source PDF pp. 100–101.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Rest](#entry-rest) **A 39 (polemical); source PDF pp. 100–101.** [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Love](#entry-love); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Stammering](#entry-stammering); [Strife](#entry-strife) **A 40 (polemical); source PDF pp. 102–103.** [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos) **A 41 (polemical); source PDF pp. 102–103.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Form](#entry-form); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **A 42 (polemical); source PDF pp. 104–105.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Love](#entry-love) **A 42 (testimony); source PDF pp. 104–105.** [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love) **A 43 (polemical); source PDF pp. 106–107.** [Bone](#entry-bone); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Masses](#entry-masses); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **A 43 (testimony); source PDF pp. 106–107.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Masses](#entry-masses); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity) **A 44 (testimony); source PDF pp. 108–109.** [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Destruction](#entry-destruction); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Quantity](#entry-quantity) **A 45 (testimony); source PDF pp. 108–109.** [Fate](#entry-fate); [Necessity](#entry-necessity) **A 46 (testimony); source PDF pp. 110–111.** [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Separation](#entry-separation) **A 47 (testimony); source PDF pp. 110–111.** [All](#entry-all); [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter); [Matter](#entry-matter) **A 48 (polemical); source PDF pp. 112–113.** [Art](#entry-art); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies) **A 49 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 114–115.** [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Rotation](#entry-rotation) **A 49 (testimony); source PDF pp. 114–115.** [Air](#entry-air); [Aither](#entry-aither); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Water](#entry-water) **A 50 (testimony); source PDF pp. 116–117.** [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary); [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos) **A 51 (polemical); source PDF pp. 118–119.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven) **A 51 (testimony); source PDF pp. 118–119.** [Air](#entry-air); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres) **A 52 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 120–121.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis) **A 52 (polemical); source PDF pp. 120–121.** [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority) **A 52 (testimony); source PDF pp. 120–121.** [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Destruction](#entry-destruction); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Love](#entry-love); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Strife](#entry-strife) **A 53 (testimony); source PDF pp. 122–123.** [Fire](#entry-fire); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Stars](#entry-stars) **A 54 (testimony); source PDF pp. 122–123.** [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Planets](#entry-planets); [Stars](#entry-stars) **A 55 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 122–123.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **A 55 (quotation); source PDF pp. 122–123.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **A 55 (testimony); source PDF pp. 122–123.** [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment) **A 56 (testimony); source PDF pp. 124–125.** [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Sun](#entry-sun) **A 57 (polemical); source PDF pp. 128–129.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit) **A 57 (testimony); source PDF pp. 128–129.** [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Sun](#entry-sun) **A 58 (testimony); source PDF pp. 130–131.** [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Seasons](#entry-seasons); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) **A 59 (testimony); source PDF pp. 130–131.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse); [Sun](#entry-sun) **A 60 (testimony); source PDF pp. 132–133.** [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc); [Moon](#entry-moon); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse) **A 61 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 134–135.** [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance) **A 61 (testimony); source PDF pp. 134–135.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Moon](#entry-moon); [Ratio](#entry-ratio) **A 62 (testimony); source PDF pp. 134–135.** [Moon](#entry-moon); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils) **A 63 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 136–137.** [Thunder](#entry-thunder) **A 63 (testimony); source PDF pp. 136–137.** [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Thunder](#entry-thunder); [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt) **A 64 (polemical); source PDF pp. 136–137.** [Winds](#entry-winds) **A 65 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 138–139.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **A 65 (testimony); source PDF pp. 138–139.** [Seasons](#entry-seasons) **A 66 (testimony); source PDF pp. 138–141.** [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain); [Winds](#entry-winds) **A 67 (testimony); source PDF pp. 142–143.** [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability) **A 68 (testimony); source PDF pp. 144–145.** [Heat](#entry-heat); [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices); [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **A 69 (testimony); source PDF pp. 146–147.** [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire) **A 69a (testimony); source PDF pp. 148–149.** [Black](#entry-black); [Colour](#entry-colour); [White](#entry-white); [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **A 70 (polemical); source PDF pp. 150–153.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Shoots](#entry-shoots) **A 70 (testimony); source PDF pp. 150–153.** [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Fruit](#entry-fruit); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Soil](#entry-soil); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain); [Wine](#entry-wine); [Womb](#entry-womb) **A 71 (polemical); source PDF pp. 154–155.** [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Nature](#entry-nature) **A 72 (reception); source PDF pp. 156–159.** [Four generations](#entry-four-generations) **A 72 (testimony); source PDF pp. 156–159.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Fruit](#entry-fruit); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) **A 73 (polemical); source PDF pp. 158–159.** [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals) **A 73 (testimony); source PDF pp. 158–159.** [Heat](#entry-heat) **A 74 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 160–161.** [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **A 74 (testimony); source PDF pp. 160–161.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [First breath](#entry-first-breath); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) **A 75 (testimony); source PDF pp. 162–163.** [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day) **A 76 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 164–165.** [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction) **A 76 (reception); source PDF pp. 164–165.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **A 77 (testimony); source PDF pp. 166–167.** [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **A 78 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 168–171.** [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement); [Sinew](#entry-sinew) **A 78 (polemical); source PDF pp. 168–171.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Death](#entry-death); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Love](#entry-love); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Soul](#entry-soul) **A 78 (testimony); source PDF pp. 168–171.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Nails](#entry-nails); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Tears](#entry-tears) **A 79 (testimony); source PDF pp. 170–171.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels) **A 80 (polemical); source PDF pp. 172–173.** [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Moon](#entry-moon) **A 81 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 174–179.** [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **A 81 (polemical); source PDF pp. 174–179.** [Cold](#entry-cold); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Womb](#entry-womb) **A 81 (testimony); source PDF pp. 174–179.** [Cold](#entry-cold); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets) **A 82 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 180–181.** [Mules](#entry-mules) **A 82 (polemical); source PDF pp. 180–181.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Mules](#entry-mules) **A 82 (testimony); source PDF pp. 180–181.** [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Mules](#entry-mules); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Womb](#entry-womb) **A 83 (testimony); source PDF pp. 182–183.** [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left) **A 84 (testimony); source PDF pp. 184–185.** [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Liver](#entry-liver) **A 85 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 184–185.** [Death](#entry-death) **A 85 (testimony); source PDF pp. 184–185.** [Blood](#entry-blood); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Death](#entry-death); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils); [Wasting](#entry-wasting) **A 86 §§ 1–2 (testimony); source PDF pp. 188–189.** [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness) **A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony); source PDF pp. 190–193.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Black](#entry-black); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Sight](#entry-sight); [White](#entry-white) **A 86 § 9 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 194–195.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **A 86 § 9 (quotation); source PDF pp. 194–195.** [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **A 86 § 9 (testimony); source PDF pp. 194–195.** [Bell](#entry-bell); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Odour](#entry-odour); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Taste](#entry-taste); [Touch](#entry-touch) **A 86 §§ 10–11 (testimony); source PDF pp. 196–197.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Quickness](#entry-quickness); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **A 86 §§ 12–13 (polemical); source PDF pp. 198–199.** [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Void](#entry-void) **A 86 §§ 14–15 (polemical); source PDF pp. 200–201.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition); [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Void](#entry-void) **A 86 §§ 16–17 (polemical); source PDF pp. 202–203.** [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Red](#entry-red); [Sight](#entry-sight); [Touch](#entry-touch) **A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical); source PDF pp. 204–205.** [Black](#entry-black); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend); [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Taste](#entry-taste); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [White](#entry-white) **A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical); source PDF pp. 206–209.** [Bell](#entry-bell); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause); [Love](#entry-love); [Odour](#entry-odour); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love); [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Taste](#entry-taste); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Touch](#entry-touch); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence) **A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical); source PDF pp. 210–211.** [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Odour](#entry-odour); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **A 86 § 24 (polemical); source PDF pp. 212–213.** [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Mind](#entry-mind) **A 87 (polemical); source PDF pp. 214–217.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Void](#entry-void) **A 87 (testimony); source PDF pp. 214–217.** [Air](#entry-air); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium) **A 88 (apparatus); source PDF pp. 216–217.** [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **A 88 (testimony); source PDF pp. 216–217.** [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Images](#entry-images); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction) **A 89 (polemical); source PDF pp. 218–221.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **A 89 (testimony); source PDF pp. 218–221.** [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism) **A 90 (testimony); source PDF pp. 222–223.** [Images](#entry-images); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Sight](#entry-sight) **A 91 (polemical); source PDF pp. 224–225.** [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Black](#entry-black); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Sight](#entry-sight) **A 92 (reception); source PDF pp. 226–227.** [Colour](#entry-colour); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible) **A 92 (testimony); source PDF pp. 226–227.** [Colour](#entry-colour); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Red](#entry-red); [White](#entry-white); [Yellow](#entry-yellow) **A 93 (testimony); source PDF pp. 228–229.** [Bell](#entry-bell); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh) **A 94 (polemical); source PDF pp. 228–229.** [Touch](#entry-touch) **A 94 (testimony); source PDF pp. 228–229.** [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Taste](#entry-taste) **A 95 (testimony); source PDF pp. 230–231.** [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) **A 96 (testimony); source PDF pp. 232–233.** [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Thought](#entry-thought) **A 97 (testimony); source PDF pp. 232–233.** [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) **A 98 (testimony); source PDF pp. 234–235.** [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Madness](#entry-madness); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Soul](#entry-soul) **Appendix I Lucretius (apparatus); source PDF pp. 238–239.** [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Void](#entry-void) **Appendix I Lucretius (reception); source PDF pp. 238–239.** [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape) **Appendix II Dante IV (reception); source PDF pp. 242–242.** [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo) **Appendix II Dante XII (reception); source PDF pp. 242–242.** [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos) **Appendix II Milton (reception); source PDF pp. 243–243.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Vanity](#entry-vanity) **Appendix II Arnold (reception); source PDF pp. 243–243.** [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Vanity](#entry-vanity) # Thematic index {#thematic-index} These overlapping reading routes are interpretive aids, not divisions attributed to Empedocles. ## Affect and mental states [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment) ## Animal origins and habitats [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [First breath](#entry-first-breath); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Mules](#entry-mules); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) ## Biography and chronology [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras); [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Luxury](#entry-luxury); [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast); [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Olympiad](#entry-olympiad); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes); [Zeno](#entry-zeno) ## Breathing and bodily processes [Appetite](#entry-appetite); [Appetitive deficiency](#entry-appetitive-deficiency); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [First breath](#entry-first-breath); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea); [Fruit](#entry-fruit); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample); [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Nails](#entry-nails); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Replenishment](#entry-replenishment); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Soil](#entry-soil); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Tears](#entry-tears); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood); [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment); [Wasting](#entry-wasting); [Water](#entry-water); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock); [Wine](#entry-wine) ## Causes and explanation [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition); [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Art](#entry-art); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Capping air](#entry-capping-air); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Destruction](#entry-destruction); [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Fate](#entry-fate); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Following effluence](#entry-following-effluence); [Form](#entry-form); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Inhalation](#entry-inhalation); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Kinship and alienness](#entry-kinship-and-alienness); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Love](#entry-love); [Magnetism](#entry-magnetism); [Matter](#entry-matter); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place); [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Power](#entry-power); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Quantity](#entry-quantity); [Respiratory exhalation](#entry-respiratory-exhalation); [Rest](#entry-rest); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction); [Void](#entry-void); [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence); [Winds](#entry-winds) ## Cosmology and cycle [Air](#entry-air); [Aither](#entry-aither); [All](#entry-all); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Art](#entry-art); [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Cosmic boundary](#entry-cosmic-boundary); [Cosmic right and left](#entry-cosmic-right-and-left); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Cosmos](#entry-cosmos); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Cycle](#entry-cycle); [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night); [Destruction](#entry-destruction); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability); [Egg-shaped cosmos](#entry-egg-shaped-cosmos); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis); [Fire](#entry-fire); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Generation](#entry-generation); [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter); [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Love](#entry-love); [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos); [Lunar disc](#entry-lunar-disc); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Moon](#entry-moon); [Motion](#entry-motion); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place); [Nature](#entry-nature); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Primordial day](#entry-primordial-day); [Rest](#entry-rest); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left); [Rotation](#entry-rotation); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Seasons](#entry-seasons); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Stars](#entry-stars); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles); [Water](#entry-water) ## Death and legend [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Vanity](#entry-vanity); [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) ## Earth sea and weather [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Aquatic animals](#entry-aquatic-animals); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices); [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding); [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Seasons](#entry-seasons); [Soil](#entry-soil); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire); [Thunder](#entry-thunder); [Thunderbolt](#entry-thunderbolt); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper); [Winds](#entry-winds) ## Heavens and light [Apparent sun](#entry-apparent-sun); [Archetypal sun](#entry-archetypal-sun); [Borrowed light](#entry-borrowed-light); [Celestial tilt](#entry-celestial-tilt); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Day and night](#entry-day-and-night); [Fixed stars](#entry-fixed-stars); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Hemispheres](#entry-hemispheres); [Light in transit](#entry-light-in-transit); [Lightning](#entry-lightning); [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Moon](#entry-moon); [Planets](#entry-planets); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Solar eclipse](#entry-solar-eclipse); [Stars](#entry-stars); [Sun](#entry-sun); [Tropic circles](#entry-tropic-circles) ## Images and analogies [Bell](#entry-bell); [Earth’s stability](#entry-earths-stability); [Heating devices](#entry-heating-devices); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) ## Medicine and healing [Acron](#entry-acron); [Bodily disorder](#entry-bodily-disorder); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine); [Etesian winds](#entry-etesian-winds); [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Madness](#entry-madness); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Panthea](#entry-panthea); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Plague and foul air](#entry-plague-and-foul-air); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) ## Mixture and material constitution [All](#entry-all); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Animal kinds](#entry-animal-kinds); [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Compaction](#entry-compaction); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Crystalline heaven](#entry-crystalline-heaven); [Death](#entry-death); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend); [Exhalation](#entry-exhalation); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Form](#entry-form); [Frozen air](#entry-frozen-air); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Iron](#entry-iron); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Lodestone](#entry-lodestone); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Masses](#entry-masses); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Misy](#entry-misy); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Mules](#entry-mules); [Nails](#entry-nails); [One and many](#entry-one-and-many); [Opposites](#entry-opposites); [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Quantity](#entry-quantity); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Solid parts](#entry-solid-parts); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Stone](#entry-stone); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets); [Uniformity](#entry-uniformity); [Void](#entry-void) ## Organs and tissues [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Blood](#entry-blood); [Blood movement](#entry-blood-movement); [Bone](#entry-bone); [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Cold](#entry-cold); [Cooling](#entry-cooling); [Death](#entry-death); [Digestion](#entry-digestion); [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Flesh](#entry-flesh); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Heat](#entry-heat); [Innate heat](#entry-innate-heat); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Nails](#entry-nails); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Putrefaction](#entry-putrefaction); [Ratio](#entry-ratio); [Sinew](#entry-sinew); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Sweat](#entry-sweat); [Tears](#entry-tears); [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels); [Wasting](#entry-wasting); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures); [Womb](#entry-womb) ## People and places [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape); [Thurii and Syracuse](#entry-thurii-and-syracuse) ## Perception and senses [Alternating visual passages](#entry-alternating-visual-passages); [Bell](#entry-bell); [Black](#entry-black); [Breathing and smell](#entry-breathing-and-smell); [Cartilage](#entry-cartilage); [Catarrh](#entry-catarrh); [Colour](#entry-colour); [Commensurability](#entry-commensurability); [Contact](#entry-contact); [Dark eyes](#entry-dark-eyes); [Day vision](#entry-day-vision); [Dim sight](#entry-dim-sight); [Effluence](#entry-effluence); [Equal visual blend](#entry-equal-visual-blend); [Fitting](#entry-fitting); [Flavour](#entry-flavour); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Grey eyes](#entry-grey-eyes); [Hearing](#entry-hearing); [Images](#entry-images); [Imperceptible smallness](#entry-imperceptible-smallness); [Inner light](#entry-inner-light); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Lantern](#entry-lantern); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Mirror](#entry-mirror); [Night vision](#entry-night-vision); [Odour](#entry-odour); [Olfactory lightness](#entry-olfactory-lightness); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Pain](#entry-pain); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Pleasure](#entry-pleasure); [Pores](#entry-pores); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Red](#entry-red); [Reflection](#entry-reflection); [Rough and smooth](#entry-rough-and-smooth); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Sight](#entry-sight); [Smell](#entry-smell); [Sound](#entry-sound); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh); [Taste](#entry-taste); [Thunder](#entry-thunder); [Touch](#entry-touch); [Transparent medium](#entry-transparent-medium); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [Visual compaction](#entry-visual-compaction); [White](#entry-white); [Yellow](#entry-yellow) ## Philosophical criticism [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Alteration](#entry-alteration); [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition); [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity); [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Cosmogony under Love](#entry-cosmogony-under-love); [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Divisibility](#entry-divisibility); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Grey and mixed colours](#entry-grey-and-mixed-colours); [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample); [Homogeneity](#entry-homogeneity); [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Intrinsic and incidental cause](#entry-intrinsic-and-incidental-cause); [Juxtaposition](#entry-juxtaposition); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Luxury](#entry-luxury); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Mixture](#entry-mixture); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Perception under Love](#entry-perception-under-love); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame); [Quality](#entry-quality); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Unaffected sense](#entry-unaffected-sense); [Vanity](#entry-vanity); [Void](#entry-void); [Wasting through effluence](#entry-wasting-through-effluence); [Water-clock](#entry-water-clock) ## Plants [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants); [First plants](#entry-first-plants); [Fruit](#entry-fruit); [Growth](#entry-growth); [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding); [Nourishment](#entry-nourishment); [Plant juices](#entry-plant-juices); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Soil](#entry-soil); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain); [Wine](#entry-wine) ## Poetry and language [Ambiguity](#entry-ambiguity); [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing); [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Metaphor](#entry-metaphor); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Natural philosopher](#entry-natural-philosopher); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo); [Poet and metre](#entry-poet-and-metre); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape); [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse); [Sprout of flesh](#entry-sprout-of-flesh); [Stammering](#entry-stammering); [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy); [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes) ## Politics and society [Acragas](#entry-acragas); [Acron](#entry-acron); [Assembly of the Thousand](#entry-assembly-of-the-thousand); [Dowries](#entry-dowries); [Epigram](#entry-epigram); [Exile and the Peloponnese](#entry-exile-and-the-peloponnese); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Kingship refused](#entry-kingship-refused); [Luxury](#entry-luxury); [Master of the feast](#entry-master-of-the-feast); [Mountain cleft](#entry-mountain-cleft); [Political equality](#entry-political-equality); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Popular politics](#entry-popular-politics); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [River diversion](#entry-river-diversion); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys); [Tyranny](#entry-tyranny) ## Reception [Apophthegm](#entry-apophthegm); [Austere composition](#entry-austere-composition); [Bronze footwear](#entry-bronze-footwear); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Elemental release](#entry-elemental-release); [Empedoclea](#entry-empedoclea); [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine); [Etna](#entry-etna); [Images](#entry-images); [Inquiry into nature](#entry-inquiry-into-nature); [Love and chaos](#entry-love-and-chaos); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Melancholy](#entry-melancholy); [Mental cloud](#entry-mental-cloud); [Monad](#entry-monad); [Musical therapy](#entry-musical-therapy); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Philosophers of Limbo](#entry-philosophers-of-limbo); [Plant sensation](#entry-plant-sensation); [Praise and blame](#entry-praise-and-blame); [Purifier](#entry-purifier); [Rays](#entry-rays); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles); [Sicilian landscape](#entry-sicilian-landscape); [Stammering](#entry-stammering); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils); [Vanity](#entry-vanity); [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air) ## Reproduction and development [Articulation](#entry-articulation); [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Embryo](#entry-embryo); [Fruit](#entry-fruit); [Gestation](#entry-gestation); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Infertility](#entry-infertility); [Liver](#entry-liver); [Male and female](#entry-male-and-female); [Maternal imagination](#entry-maternal-imagination); [Menstruation](#entry-menstruation); [Monstrous births](#entry-monstrous-births); [Mules](#entry-mules); [Navel](#entry-navel); [Parental likeness](#entry-parental-likeness); [Plant sex](#entry-plant-sex); [Right and left](#entry-right-and-left); [Seed](#entry-seed); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Twins and triplets](#entry-twins-and-triplets); [Umbilical vessels](#entry-umbilical-vessels); [Womb](#entry-womb) ## Ritual and religion [Abstinence from living things](#entry-abstinence-from-living-things); [Apotheosis](#entry-apotheosis); [Asses’ hides](#entry-asses-hides); [Bloodless sacrifice](#entry-bloodless-sacrifice); [Ceremonial dress](#entry-ceremonial-dress); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Delphic wreath](#entry-delphic-wreath); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Divine status](#entry-divine-status); [Golden band](#entry-golden-band); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness); [Horse-rearing](#entry-horse-rearing); [Monad](#entry-monad); [Natural hymn](#entry-natural-hymn); [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority); [Necessity](#entry-necessity); [Oracle of the heart](#entry-oracle-of-the-heart); [Physician and seer](#entry-physician-and-seer); [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Purifier](#entry-purifier); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Rhapsode](#entry-rhapsode); [Sacred envoys](#entry-sacred-envoys); [Selinus](#entry-selinus); [Sorcery](#entry-sorcery); [Sphairos](#entry-sphairos); [Sublunary evils](#entry-sublunary-evils); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Walker on air](#entry-walker-on-air); [Wind-stopper](#entry-wind-stopper) ## Roots and divine names [Aidoneus](#entry-aidoneus); [Air](#entry-air); [Aither](#entry-aither); [Alternation](#entry-alternation); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [Boiling heat](#entry-boiling-heat); [Botanical roots](#entry-botanical-roots); [Combination](#entry-combination); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Divine roots](#entry-divine-roots); [Earth](#entry-earth); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Evergreen plants](#entry-evergreen-plants); [Fire](#entry-fire); [Fresh water in the sea](#entry-fresh-water-in-the-sea); [Hera](#entry-hera); [Hot springs](#entry-hot-springs); [Lampoon](#entry-lampoon); [Leaf shedding](#entry-leaf-shedding); [Life-bearing](#entry-life-bearing); [Love](#entry-love); [Mortal spring](#entry-mortal-spring); [Natural place](#entry-natural-place); [Nestis](#entry-nestis); [Power](#entry-power); [Roots](#entry-roots); [Ruin of first principles](#entry-ruin-of-first-principles); [Sea](#entry-sea); [Separation](#entry-separation); [Shoots](#entry-shoots); [Strife](#entry-strife); [Subterranean fire](#entry-subterranean-fire); [Sweat of the earth](#entry-sweat-of-the-earth); [Vehicle of nourishment](#entry-vehicle-of-nourishment); [Water](#entry-water); [Zeus](#entry-zeus) ## Soul and life [Breathing](#entry-breathing); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Death](#entry-death); [Disjoined limbs](#entry-disjoined-limbs); [Four generations](#entry-four-generations); [Heart](#entry-heart); [Living and lifeless](#entry-living-and-lifeless); [Madness](#entry-madness); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Phantom-like forms](#entry-phantom-like-forms); [Plants](#entry-plants); [Purification of soul](#entry-purification-of-soul); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Sexual generation](#entry-sexual-generation); [Sleep](#entry-sleep); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Wasting](#entry-wasting); [Whole-natured creatures](#entry-whole-natured-creatures) ## Thought and knowledge [Alteration in cognition](#entry-alteration-in-cognition); [Bloodless animals](#entry-bloodless-animals); [Craftsmanship](#entry-craftsmanship); [Divine breast](#entry-divine-breast); [Eloquence](#entry-eloquence); [Faculty](#entry-faculty); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Hair as counterexample](#entry-hair-as-counterexample); [Ignorance](#entry-ignorance); [Instrument](#entry-instrument); [Intelligence and perceptual accuracy](#entry-intelligence-and-perceptual-accuracy); [Knowledge](#entry-knowledge); [Likeness](#entry-likeness); [Local aptitude](#entry-local-aptitude); [Madness](#entry-madness); [Mental derangement](#entry-mental-derangement); [Mind](#entry-mind); [Opposition in perception](#entry-opposition-in-perception); [Perceptible](#entry-perceptible); [Perception](#entry-perception); [Quickness](#entry-quickness); [Rational animals](#entry-rational-animals); [Sense-specific discrimination](#entry-sense-specific-discrimination); [Sluggishness](#entry-sluggishness); [Soul](#entry-soul); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Thought](#entry-thought); [Thought in blood](#entry-thought-in-blood) ## Transmission and interpretation [Anaxagoras](#entry-anaxagoras); [Anchitos](#entry-anchitos); [Aphrodite](#entry-aphrodite); [Aristotle](#entry-aristotle-witness); [Art](#entry-art); [Beloved](#entry-beloved); [Breathless woman](#entry-breathless-woman); [Brick wall](#entry-brick-wall); [Cadmia](#entry-cadmia); [Chance](#entry-chance); [Conflagration](#entry-conflagration); [Copper-flower](#entry-copper-flower); [Crossing of Xerxes](#entry-crossing-of-xerxes); [Daimones](#entry-daimones); [Death traditions](#entry-death-traditions); [Dialectic](#entry-dialectic); [Doxography and Aëtius](#entry-doxography-aetius); [Elements](#entry-elements); [Embedded quotation](#entry-embedded-quotation); [Emendation and supplement](#entry-emendation-supplement); [Empiric medicine](#entry-empiric-medicine); [Expository hypothesis](#entry-expository-hypothesis); [Fate](#entry-fate); [Form](#entry-form); [Genealogy and homonymy](#entry-genealogy-and-homonymy); [Good and evil](#entry-good-and-evil); [Gorgias](#entry-gorgias); [Governing part](#entry-governing-part); [Hippolytus](#entry-hippolytus-witness); [Inert matter](#entry-inert-matter); [Lucretius](#entry-lucretius-witness); [Lunar distance](#entry-lunar-distance); [Lunar fragment](#entry-lunar-fragment); [Matter](#entry-matter); [Medical traditions](#entry-medical-traditions); [Medical writings](#entry-medical-writings); [Mineral powders](#entry-mineral-powders); [Misy](#entry-misy); [Monad](#entry-monad); [Moving cause](#entry-moving-cause); [Natural priority](#entry-natural-priority); [Nature](#entry-nature); [On Nature](#entry-on-nature); [Order and disorder](#entry-order-and-disorder); [Parmenides](#entry-parmenides); [Pausanias](#entry-pausanias); [Political speeches](#entry-political-speeches); [Prelude to Apollo](#entry-prelude-to-apollo); [Principle](#entry-principle); [Pseudonymous witnesses](#entry-pseudonymous-witnesses); [Purifications](#entry-purifications); [Purifier](#entry-purifier); [Pythagoreans](#entry-pythagoreans); [Rhetoric](#entry-rhetoric); [Rust](#entry-rust); [Sicilian Muse](#entry-sicilian-muse); [Simplicius](#entry-simplicius-witness); [Smallest fragments](#entry-smallest-fragments); [Soulless bodies](#entry-soulless-bodies); [Stammering](#entry-stammering); [Testimonium](#entry-testimonium); [Theft of discourses](#entry-theft-of-discourses); [Theophrastus](#entry-theophrastus-witness); [Timaeus’ refutation](#entry-timaeus-refutation); [Tomb and memorial](#entry-tomb-and-memorial); [Tragedy](#entry-tragedy); [Translation chain](#entry-translation-chain); [Transmigration](#entry-transmigration); [Xenophanes](#entry-xenophanes); [Zeno](#entry-zeno) [^note-aither]: The spellings aither and aether are transliteration choices in English and Latin transmission. Their visual difference does not by itself prove two different substances. [^note-aristotle-witness]: Attribution to Aristotle and attribution to an Aristotelian school compilation are different claims. A work circulating under a famous name can still preserve useful evidence, but its authorship should remain qualified. [^note-articulation]: Four nine-day periods and seven seven-day periods belong to different numerical decompositions. Their coexistence is evidence of heterogeneous chronological organization, not a reason to rewrite the transmitted numbers. [^note-blood]: The English “blood-like material” in A79 preserves the adjective without claiming the same technical classification as modern fetal blood or plasma. [^note-bloodless-sacrifice]: The two notices are about substituting the sacrificial object while maintaining a public giving practice. They do not preserve a general set of ritual instructions. [^note-bone]: The printed Greek places the blending “within earth.” This phrase identifies a setting or matrix in the report; it should not be counted automatically as an additional numerical share of earth. [^note-borrowed-light]: At A55 the printed Greek quotation is abbreviated to its opening and closing words, whereas the English gives a fuller rendering. The expanded translation should not be mistaken for a complete Greek quotation present on the page. [^note-breathing]: The terms “vessel” and “passage” need not correspond one-to-one to modern arteries, veins, airways, or capillaries. The notice does not provide such a map. [^note-colour]: The short injunction “understand what I am telling you” inside the Meno dialogue is attributed to Pindar by Socrates. It is not an embedded quotation of Empedocles, even though the surrounding physical account is introduced in his manner. [^note-crystalline-heaven]: The English “crystal” can suggest transparency or a mineral; the neighboring freezing language is essential to the ancient comparison. [^note-cycle]: Recurrence is a weaker and better-supported claim than a fully symmetrical double cosmogony. Keeping those propositions distinct allows the evidence for recurrence to stand without deciding every disputed phase. [^note-death]: The phrase “in this respect” restricts the inference to the explanation just given. It does not by itself establish that every sense of life or personal persistence has been excluded. [^note-divisibility]: The claim that a theory must accept a consequence can preserve a critic’s ingenuity more directly than the original thinker’s commitments. This is particularly important when the alleged consequence contradicts another reported denial. [^note-elemental-release]: The stage direction is a theatrical action within a nineteenth-century work. It has no evidential standing equivalent to the ancient reports, and those reports themselves remain disputed. [^note-emendation-supplement]: Textual uncertainty and interpretive uncertainty are related but distinct. Even an accepted reading may permit rival interpretations; conversely, a plausible interpretation does not establish a conjectural reading by itself. [^note-first-plants]: The category zōia in the opening sentence includes trees. Translating it as living things avoids making the sentence say that trees are the first animals in a narrower modern sense. [^note-four-generations]: Varro's one-line comparison with a garden herb attests a compact Roman reception of earthborn humanity, but contains no fourfold division. It cannot independently certify the complete numbered scheme. [^note-frozen-air]: The lunar and heavenly comparisons use familiar experiences of congealing, hail and crystal to describe unfamiliar celestial matter. Their explanatory force need not depend on exact identity with any terrestrial substance. [^note-gestation]: The phrase “ten months” should be retained as the ancient period reported here. Converting it to a fixed number of modern weeks without establishing the calendar convention would create false precision. [^note-heart]: Developmental priority, nutritive connection, and cognitive location are distinct claims. An organ can be first-forming in one testimony without being the destination of the umbilical vessels or the sole seat of thought. [^note-hera]: Menander’s generic Hera-as-air example complicates the edition’s numerical tally, but it should not be counted as a fourth direct interpretation of the root verse: its illustrative literary context differs. [^note-inquiry-into-nature]: The comparison in On Ancient Medicine that natural speculation belongs less to medicine than to painting is textually disputed: the apparatus records Ehlert's deletion of the painting phrase. The methodological reversal does not depend on accepting it. [^note-instrument]: The lexical connection between organ and instrument is visible in organon itself. The English “organ” can hide that connection by sounding exclusively anatomical. [^note-love]: The sensory criticism in A86 §20 adds an important scale: increasing combination under Love appears to impede the outgoing streams required by perception. This is Theophrastus’ inferred consequence rather than a quoted rule of the poem. [^note-love-and-chaos]: The Italian amor carries an Empedoclean allusion here, but it operates inside a Christian poem. That contextual reuse should remain visible instead of being treated as neutral doxography. [^note-lunar-fragment]: A witness may quote a verse correctly while drawing a stronger conclusion from it than its wording warrants. The citation’s authenticity and the interpretation’s adequacy are separate questions. [^note-madness]: The manuscript quam before adpellant is deleted by Diels. Its removal is part of the edition’s reconstruction of the final naming clause. [^note-magnetism]: The edition conjectures a lost Theophrastean source for Alexander’s report. That proposed ancestry is not explicitly named in the printed ancient excerpts and should not be counted as a second independent testimony. [^note-medical-traditions]: The physician Philistion is named in Galen’s comparative grouping, but the excerpt does not give dates or assert that every named Italian physician worked simultaneously. [^note-mixture]: Practical inseparability, preservation of ingredients and a compound’s new properties are different tests. The ancient analogies emphasize different tests, which helps explain why their conclusions can appear incompatible. [^note-monad]: The bare phrase does not establish a technical contrast between what thinks and what is an object of thought. The edition’s “intelligible” is one English rendering of the later witness’s intellectual vocabulary. [^note-natural-hymn]: The examples concern ways to compose or interpret hymns. Their generic character is one reason not to treat Apollo-as-sun or Hera-as-air here as direct quotations from Empedocles. [^note-natural-place]: Aristotle’s plant objection at A70 attributes natural downward motion to earth and upward motion to fire. This is a genuine tension with an unrestricted reading of A35, although fixed stations and directional tendencies are not identical propositions. [^note-necessity]: A32 adds a third formulation by identifying the One with necessity. It should not be silently reconciled with either of the two formulations at A45. [^note-nestis]: The name’s association with fasting is evidence of ancient interpretation, not proof of its original derivation. [^note-nourishment]: The noun hypostasis is interpreted here through the local language of material nourishment. Its much later theological associations are irrelevant to the reported physiological mechanism. [^note-on-nature]: A count attached jointly to two titles and a count attached to a two-book work have different denominators. A survival percentage cannot be calculated responsibly without first choosing which corpus each count describes. [^note-one-and-many]: A claim that a whole is one need not mean that it has only one material constituent. The unity of a mixture and the numerical inventory of its roots answer different questions. [^note-oracle-of-the-heart]: The Latin temple image is metaphorical even though the paragraph compares it with a named cultic office and its objects. Keeping the grammatical simile visible prevents a false biographical inference. [^note-parental-likeness]: The phrase “if the cold was equal” is the translation of an emended Latin wording, not a quantitatively specified zero-heat condition. [^note-philosophers-of-limbo]: The immediately preceding description of a world produced by chance is a frequent adjacency trap: the syntax attaches it to Democritus and should not be indexed as an Empedoclean doctrine. [^note-pores]: A channel can be occupied while permitting displacement or replacement; whether the ancient theory adequately explains that process is the critic’s question, not something decided by the English word “pore.” [^note-pythagoreans]: The letter attributed to Telauges appears as an authority in some reports and as an expressly untrustworthy document in another. Its mere citation is therefore not authentication. [^note-ratio]: A ratio requires relata: the relation cannot be identified independently of which constituents, quantities, or features are being compared. The corrupted lunar-distance ratios at A61 offer a separate illustration of that dependence. [^note-roots]: “Eternal” describes the constituents in the reports; it does not make every arrangement of them eternal. “Root” is itself figurative language; treating it as merely a primitive synonym for the later technical “element” can obscure the explanatory image even when the lists refer to the same four constituents. [^note-sea]: A cause for the presence of drinkable water in the sea and a cause for the sea's original formation are different explanatory questions, even when a doxographer places them under one heading. [^note-seed]: A reproductive seed may be spoken of as divisible without the account distinguishing division of one embryo from the production or fertilization of more than one egg. Modern twin categories cannot be read directly from the ancient nouns. [^note-soul]: The A4 Aristotle excerpt names Hippo but not Empedocles. Its position in this collection and Diels’s identification are evidence about editorial attribution, not an explicit name in the quoted ancient argument. [^note-sphairos]: An ordered world and the Sphairos need not have the same shape; the dossier does not identify them as a single simultaneously described object. [^note-tears]: The passage's word for disturbance need not mean an emotional disturbance. The printed explanation concerns what happens to blood, leaving any connection with affect unstated. [^note-thought-in-blood]: The “movement” of blood in §11 should not be translated as a demonstrated circulation in the modern anatomical sense; the witness describes speed and its behavioural consequences. [^note-timaeus-refutation]: Absence of evidence has different force in Timaeus’ two arguments: he expects a cult memorial after alleged deification but explicitly denies that an unknown grave is extraordinary. [^note-tropic-circles]: The expression for indefinite straight travel does not state that the sun ever actually escaped its bounded route. The cause is expressed through what prevents such continuation. [^note-water-clock]: A physical analogy can show that a proposed kind of displacement is intelligible without demonstrating that the body actually uses precisely that mechanism.