From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordὌγκοι are masses or bulks; the inflected form ὄγκων occurs in Aëtius’ claim that the elements are assembled from smaller units.
- In this workAt A43 Aëtius pairs Empedocles with Xenocrates in the claim that the elements are compounded from smaller masses that are least parts.
- In this editionTranslate the noun without importing “atoms.”
- A place to readAttributes smaller constitutive masses to Empedocles and Xenocrates together.
Meaning
Ὄγκοι are masses or bulks; the inflected form ὄγκων occurs in Aëtius’ claim that the elements are assembled from smaller units. Μόρια means parts or portions and appears in related descriptions. Neither noun alone means “atom.”
Use in the book
At A43 Aëtius pairs Empedocles with Xenocrates in the claim that the elements are compounded from smaller masses that are least parts. The significant additional assertion is not simply that bodies contain small portions, but that the four elements themselves are composites. Aristotle’s wall argument, by contrast, concerns small elemental parts in flesh and other mixtures; it does not necessarily locate a more fundamental material below the roots.
This distinction guards against a common conflation. A mixed body can be described in terms of minute portions without its constituents being atomically indivisible; equally, a report about “least masses” can be an interpretation imposed by a later classificatory scheme. The source supplies no size, shape or indivisibility definition for these onkoi. Their importance is as a doxographic claim about explanatory depth, not as a forerunner of a specified modern particle model.
Places to read
- A 43 (testimony)Aëtius I 17,3. Attributes smaller constitutive masses to Empedocles and Xenocrates together.
- A 43 (polemical)Aristotle, De gen. et corr. B 7. Describes preserved elements arranged in small portions, a less far-reaching claim than sub-elemental masses.
Translation in this edition
Translate the noun without importing “atoms.” The accompanying “least” language is the part that introduces a limiting claim, and even that claim is reported rather than directly quoted from Empedocles.