From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordNēmertēs means unerring or unfailing.
- In EmpedoclesIn B122/123 lovely Truth-Unerring stands opposite dark-haired Obscurity.
- In this edition“Truth” in the English compound is interpretive expansion of the adjective-name.
- A place to readLovely Truth-Unerring is paired with dark-haired Obscurity.
Meaning
Nēmertēs means unerring or unfailing. In the catalogue it is a feminine personification qualified as lovely. The translation “Truth-Unerring” makes explicit the epistemic sense it hears in the name; no separate noun for truth accompanies the Greek name.
Use in the book
In B122/123 lovely Truth-Unerring stands opposite dark-haired Obscurity. The pair makes an intelligible contrast between assured disclosure and what remains unclear. Yet the fragment does not assign Truth-Unerring a speech, identify her with the Muse, or equate her with the poem's speaker. Her loveliness is part of the scene's personifying detail.
This entry should also be distinguished from a general article on truth or conviction. B114's claim that truth belongs to the speaker's words and B32's advice to examine what is clear can illuminate the poem's epistemic interests, but neither says that the named figure Nēmertēs is responsible for those operations. The secure evidence is the deliberate naming and characterization of a figure in a paired catalogue. The lost context restricts any stronger theological conclusion.
Places to read
- B 122/123.4Lovely Truth-Unerring is paired with dark-haired Obscurity.
Translation in this edition
“Truth” in the English compound is interpretive expansion of the adjective-name. It should not be cited as proof that the Greek word alētheia occurs in this line.