From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe wording describes swearing falsely while in error.
- In EmpedoclesB1152 places false swearing alongside the pollution of one's limbs through killing.
- In this editionThe supplied reference to Strife in line 4 is bracketed in Greek and translation.
- A place to readFalse swearing occurs in the statement of the offences governed by the decree.
Meaning
The wording describes swearing falsely while in error. “Perjury” is a useful lookup term, but its modern association with sworn testimony in a courtroom is narrower than the fragment. The offence concerns a violated sacred pledge or false swearing; no legal proceeding is narrated.
Use in the book
B1152 places false swearing alongside the pollution of one's limbs through killing. The decree accordingly treats truthful commitment and restraint from bloodshed as matters with consequences for a long-lived divine being. Language is not ethically secondary to action: a false oath can belong to the error that sends the offender through mortal lives.
The printed fourth line contains an editorial supplement naming Strife. That supplement is reflected in the English as “or, following Strife.” A discussion must therefore distinguish the secure presence of false swearing from the supplemented syntactical connection to Strife in that line. The closing confession of trust in Strife is separately present at the end of the fragment. Nothing in the passage establishes a procedure for absolution after a particular false oath.
Places to read
- B 115.3–42False swearing occurs in the statement of the offences governed by the decree.
- B 115.13–14The speaker confesses his reliance on raving Strife.
Translation in this edition
The supplied reference to Strife in line 4 is bracketed in Greek and translation. The entry does not erase that qualification or treat the precise conjunction of bloodshed and perjury as textually unproblematic.