From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordKaka are evils or bad things; katharōteros is purer.
- In this workHippolytus attributes to Empedocles a terrestrial region filled with evils that extend to the moon but no farther, because all the region above it is purer.
- In this editionThe edition calls this the clearest join between the two poems' geographies.
- A place to readLocates the reach of terrestrial evils at the moon and contrasts a purer region above.
Meaning
Kaka are evils or bad things; katharōteros is purer. The spatial phrase extends these evils as far as the moon. “Sublunary” is a convenient later classificatory label for the region described, not a Greek noun supplied by this excerpt.
Use in the book
Hippolytus attributes to Empedocles a terrestrial region filled with evils that extend to the moon but no farther, because all the region above it is purer. He also associates Heraclitus with the same position. This is a morally differentiated cosmic geography, not merely a statement about lunar altitude. The notice may consequently bear on the relation between physical cosmology and accounts of exile or purification. It does not, however, quote the Purifications, mention an exiled daimon in this sentence, or explicitly identify a boundary crossed by migrating souls. Those connections are interpretive possibilities. The Christian refutational setting also matters: Hippolytus is classifying earlier doctrines for his own larger argument, and shared phrasing need not guarantee an untouched fragment of Empedocles' poem.
Places to read
- A 62 (testimony)Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies. Locates the reach of terrestrial evils at the moon and contrasts a purer region above.
- A 85 (testimony)Aëtius, second notice. Provides a contrasting physiological inference about the shared death of body and soul.
Translation in this edition
The edition calls this the clearest join between the two poems' geographies. The surviving report supports a possible connection, but its identification with the world of exile is supplied by the editorial commentary.