From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA testimonium is evidence supplied by another author about a thinker, a work or a doctrine.
- In this workThe distinction from a fragment helps only if it is applied inside passages as well as between books.
- In this editionThe source’s claim that nothing in this book is Empedocles’ own words is too absolute: embedded quotations occur.
- A place to readExplains the distinction between a quotation and a report by comparing versions of the sea’s origin.
Meaning
A testimonium is evidence supplied by another author about a thinker, a work or a doctrine. The label identifies a relation of testimony, not a guarantee of accuracy or a single literary genre. In this volume it includes biography, philosophical argument, medical report, doxographical summary and stories about extraordinary deeds.
Use in the book
The distinction from a fragment helps only if it is applied inside passages as well as between books. Aristotle may quote a phrase and then criticize its explanatory force; Diogenes may quote verses while reporting someone else’s story. Those quoted words and the surrounding interpretation are not interchangeable. A number such as A 252 gathers more than one witness and more than one use of language. It is therefore a location in an edited dossier rather than a single statement for which an undifferentiated ancient author can be held responsible. The same caution applies to the Life: Diogenes names earlier authorities, reproduces disagreements, and sometimes includes criticism of the very story he transmits. The lexicon’s witness names and evidentiary labels keep these differences visible without pretending that every passage can be assigned to an entirely pure category.
Places to read
- Introduction (apparatus)Modern introduction, What a testimonium is. Explains the distinction between a quotation and a report by comparing versions of the sea’s origin.
- A 24–A 25 (polemical)2Aristotle, Meteorology, among the literary testimonia. A reported phrase about the sea becomes the object of an objection to metaphor as explanation.
- A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography)Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus. An edited biographical account can preserve criticism of a legend alongside the legend itself.
Translation in this edition
The source’s claim that nothing in this book is Empedocles’ own words is too absolute: embedded quotations occur. The distinction must be maintained at the level of the quoted phrase and its framing argument.