From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe phrase means under Love or during Love's ascendancy; the infinitive means not to flow off.
- In this workThe critic argues that perception should cease or decrease under Love because things are then being combined rather than flowing off.
- In this editionThe edition connects the objection directly with the Sphere and says nothing moves or flows there.
- A place to readInfers no perception, or less of it, under Love because combination displaces effluence.
Meaning
The phrase means under Love or during Love's ascendancy; the infinitive means not to flow off. In this passage these words introduce a condition under which Theophrastus thinks the effluence account predicts diminished or absent sensation.
Use in the book
The critic argues that perception should cease or decrease under Love because things are then being combined rather than flowing off. The objection links two explanatory levels: a local mechanism of sensation needs emissions, while the proposed cosmic condition promotes aggregation. If the two descriptions are applied without further distinction, their consequences seem incompatible.
The qualification “or less” is important. The sentence is not simply an unequivocal report that Empedocles forbade every kind of sensation in a specified cosmic phase. It is a consequence Theophrastus derives, and its force depends on how thoroughly combining excludes outgoing material. The excerpt does not settle whether that condition applies to a complete union, to every stage of Love's growth, or to all possible cognitive operations. Those questions should remain open rather than being resolved by importing a detailed reconstruction of the cosmic cycle.
Places to read
- A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical)2Theophrastus, On the Senses 20. Infers no perception, or less of it, under Love because combination displaces effluence.
Translation in this edition
The edition connects the objection directly with the Sphere and says nothing moves or flows there. The printed ancient sentence here says “under Love” and should not silently acquire every detail of that editorial reconstruction.