From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe phrases mean “from both in equal shares” and “the blend from equals.”
- In this workTheophrastus ends the positive optical account by calling the equal blend the best and best-mixed eye.
- In this editionThe final participle in §8 is Stephanus's correction.
- A place to readCalls the eye composed equally of both constituents the best.
Meaning
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.
Use in the book
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.
Places to read
- A 86 §§ 7–8 (testimony)2Theophrastus, On the Senses 8. Calls the eye composed equally of both constituents the best.
- A 86 §§ 18–19 (polemical)Theophrastus, On the Senses 19. Argues that alternating increase may undermine the alleged advantage of equality.
Translation 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.