From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordB32 states that a joint binds two.
- In EmpedoclesThe edition supplies the context of the work transmitted under Aristotle’s name, On Indivisible Lines.
- In this editionThe source is a work attributed to Aristotle, marked by square brackets in the edition.
- A place to readThe short quoted wording says that the joint binds two.
Meaning
B32 states that a joint binds two. The joint is defined by a relation between parts: it makes a connection possible precisely where two items are distinguishable. The short expression has an anatomical sense but is preserved in an argument about divisibility.
Use in the book
The edition supplies the context of the work transmitted under Aristotle’s name, On Indivisible Lines. There the joint is discussed as a kind of difference or division-point between parts, and the Empedoclean wording is brought in to show its fastening function. That duality is the expression’s interest: a joint marks a distinction and enables a unity.
The same pattern is central to the poem’s account of organisms. A flourishing body has limbs united through Love; the isolated members of early generation display the problem of parts without their usual connections. B32 does not reproduce either larger argument, but it provides a compact image for their structural issue.
The fitting language of bone and Aphrodite’s affectionate rivets offers further comparisons. The joint, glue, and rivet are not synonymous objects. Each makes a particular relation visible: articulation between two parts, cohesive fitting of material, or fastening that holds an arrangement together. Attending to their difference helps avoid turning every joining image into a vague invocation of harmony.
Places to read
- B 32The short quoted wording says that the joint binds two.
- B 32 (editorial discussion)The local note explains the later divisibility argument in which the words are preserved.
- B 20.1–5Body-forming limbs meet into one through Love.
- B 96Bone is fitted by Harmonia’s gluings.
Translation in this edition
The source is a work attributed to Aristotle, marked by square brackets in the edition. The later author’s use of the quotation is not necessarily its original Empedoclean setting.