From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordXenophanous names Xenophanes as the alternative model in Hermippus’ account; epopoiia here means epic composition or manner.
- In this workHermippus explicitly contradicts the Parmenidean affiliation: Empedocles admired Xenophanes, spent time with him, imitated his epic manner, and encountered the Pythagoreans afterwards.
- In this editionThe source’s assertion of association should be reported as Hermippus’ claim.
- A place to readSubstitutes Xenophanes for Parmenides as personal and poetic model.
Meaning
Xenophanous names Xenophanes as the alternative model in Hermippus’ account; epopoiia here means epic composition or manner. The claim concerns a predecessor’s poetic practice as well as personal contact.
Use in the book
Hermippus explicitly contradicts the Parmenidean affiliation: Empedocles admired Xenophanes, spent time with him, imitated his epic manner, and encountered the Pythagoreans afterwards. This is one branch of the competing teacher traditions, not an extra stage to be inserted uncritically into a single educational itinerary. Xenophanes also appears in the apparatus to the second apophthegm at A 20. Diels notes that a more accurate form of the saying about recognizing wisdom belongs to Xenophanes in Diogenes’ ninth book. The two appearances illustrate different kinds of attribution problem. One concerns a life’s intellectual genealogy; the other the migration of portable sayings among famous names. Neither supports importing a larger account of Xenophanes’ doctrines into the Empedoclean evidence printed here.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 56, reporting Hermippus. Substitutes Xenophanes for Parmenides as personal and poetic model.
- A 20 (apparatus)Paris Gnomology, with the edition’s apparatus citing Diogenes Laertius IX 20. Flags the rival Xenophanean attribution of the wisdom saying.
Translation in this edition
The source’s assertion of association should be reported as Hermippus’ claim. The edition supplies no independent chronological verification of the meeting.