From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Isolated limbs
μουνομελῆ (mounomelē); γυῖα (gyia); κόρσαι ἀναύχενες (korsai anauchenes); βραχίονες (brachiones)
The phrase μουνομελῆ τὰ γυῖα describes limbs or bodily parts that are still “single-membered”: they have not yet become members of a larger articulated creature.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe phrase μουνομελῆ τὰ γυῖα describes limbs or bodily parts that are still “single-membered”: they have not yet become members of a larger articulated creature.
- In EmpedoclesThe strangeness of the passage rests on a reversal of ordinary part–whole relations.
- In this editionB57 says heads without necks, not headless necks.
- A place to readThe three examples are heads without necks, arms without shoulders, and eyes without foreheads.
Meaning
The phrase μουνομελῆ τὰ γυῖα describes limbs or bodily parts that are still “single-membered”: they have not yet become members of a larger articulated creature. B57 specifies neckless heads, naked arms deprived of shoulders, and solitary eyes lacking foreheads.
Use in the book
The strangeness of the passage rests on a reversal of ordinary part–whole relations. An eye is usually identified through the head in which it functions; here the eye exists first and wanders in need of its customary setting. The parts are not inert items in a workshop. They sprout and roam. The language of deprivation makes their separateness especially forceful: the arm is “widowed” of its shoulder, while the eye is poor in or wanting a forehead. These are bodily deficiencies expressed through human social and economic experience.
B58 confirms that the separate condition is a phase: the parts are “still” single-membered. B59 then allows a connection with their falling together as encounters occur, although the fragment boundaries do not preserve an uninterrupted account. The reader can securely infer the importance of assemblage without supplying a detailed chronology of which organs arise first or how long they remain apart.
The passage is also a useful counterpoint to B20, where the limbs of a flourishing body unite through Love and separate through Quarrels. The two scenes share a vocabulary of bodily association and wandering separation. They need not describe the same event: an early formation of organisms and the dissolution of an existing body remain distinguishable uses of the pattern.
Places to read
- B 57The three examples are heads without necks, arms without shoulders, and eyes without foreheads.
- B 58The words “still single-membered” characterize the condition of the wandering parts.
- B 59The encounter-and-assembly scene follows in the editorial sequence.
- B 20.1–5Living bodily unity and separated wandering parts appear as effects of Love and Quarrels.
Translation in this edition
B57 says heads without necks, not headless necks. “Limbs” is convenient but can sound too narrow in English, since the passage includes eyes and heads as well as arms. The headword accordingly covers bodily members more broadly.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Disjoined limbs
ἀσυμφυέσι δὲ τοῖς μορίοις διεζευγμένας (asymphyesi de tois moriois diezeugmenas); membra singula; ex terra quasi praegnate
Moria and the Latin membra are parts or limbs.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMoria and the Latin membra are parts or limbs.
- In this workThe first generations in Aëtius are incomplete because their parts have not grown together.
- In this editionCensorinus is a corroborating report of the motif, but its independence and direct access to the poem are not demonstrated by the excerpt.
- A place to readDescribes the earliest generations as incomplete and disjointed, with parts not grown together.
Meaning
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.
Use in the book
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.
Places to read
- A 72 (testimony)2Aëtius. Describes the earliest generations as incomplete and disjointed, with parts not grown together.
- A 72 (testimony)2Censorinus, On the Birthday. Reports single limbs emerging from earth as if from a pregnant body and subsequently combining.
Translation 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.