From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAstrapē is lightning, lampsis a flash or shining, and the initial mechanism is a falling of light into a cloud.
- In this workAristotle states that Empedocles identifies fire within clouds with solar rays caught and held there.
- In this editionAëtius' sbesis, “quenching,” is marked obscure; Diels proposes schisis, “splitting.”
- A place to readIdentifies the fire in clouds with intercepted solar rays.
Meaning
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.
Use in the book
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.
Places to read
- A 63 (testimony)Aristotle, Meteorology. Identifies the fire in clouds with intercepted solar rays.
- A 63 (testimony)Aëtius. Derives lightning's flash, thunder's crash, and the thunderbolt from light entering a cloud.
Translation 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.