Sources. — I. — Hippolytus, Ref. haer. ix. 9. Context : — Heraclitus says that all things are one, divided undivided, created uncreated, mortal immortal, reason eternity, father son, God justice. " It is wise for those who hear, not me, but the universal Reason, to con- fess that all things are one.*' And since all do not comprehend this or acknowledge it, he reproves them somewhat as follows: "They do not understand how that which separates unites with itself ; it is a harmony of oppositions like that of the bow and of the lyre'* (=frag. 45).
Compare Philo, Leg. alleg. iii. 3, p. 88. Context, see frag. 24.
II. — Hippolytus, Ref. haer. ix. 9. Context: — And that Reason always exists, being all and permeating all, he (Heraclitus) says in this manner : " To this universal,'* etc.
Aristotle, Rhet. iii. 5, p. 1407, b. 14. Context: — For it is very hard to punctuate Heraclitus' writings on account of its not being clear whether the words refer to those which precede or to those which follow. For instance, in the beginning of his work, where he says, "To Reason existing always men make themselves insensible." For here it is ambiguous to what "always" refers.
Sextus Empir. adv. Math. vii. 132. — Clement of Alex. Stromata, V. 14, p. 716. — Amelius from Euseb. Praep. Evang. xi. 19, p. 540. — Compare Philo, Quis. rer. div. haer. 43, p. 505. — Compare loannes Sicel. in Walz. Rhett. Gr. vi. p. 95.
1 The small figures in the translation refer to the critical notes, pp. 116 IE.
On Nature. 85
they do when awake as they are forgetful of what they do when asleep.^'
III. — Those who hear and do not understand are
like the deaf. Of them the proverb says : ^^ Present,
they are absent."
IV. — Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to men having rude souls.
V. — The majority of people have no understanding
of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when
instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them,
although to themselves they seem to have.
VI. — They understand neither how to hear nor how to speak.
III. — Clement of Alex. Strom, v. 14, p. 718. Context : — And if you wish to trace out that saying, " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,'* you will find it expressed by the Ephesian in this manner, "Those who hear," etc.
Theodoretus, Therap. i. p. 13, 49.
IV.— Sextus Emp. adv. Math. vii. 126. Context :— He (Heraclitus) casts discredit upon sense perception in the saying, ** Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to men having rude souls.'* Which is equivalent to saying that it is the part of rude souls to trust to the irrational senses.
Stobaeus Floril. iv. 56.
Compare Diogenes Laert. ix. 7.
V. — Clement of Alex. Strom, ii. 2, p. 432.
M. Antoninus iv. 46. Context : — ^Be ever mindful of the Heraclitic saying that the death of earth is to become water, and the death of water is to become air, and of air, fire (see frag. 25). And remember also him who is forgetful whither the way leads (comp. frag. 73) ; and that men quarrel with that with which they are in most con- tinual association (i= frag. 93), namely, the Reason which governs all. And those things with which they meet daily seem to them strange ; and that we ought not to act and speak as though we were asleep (= frag. 94), for even then we seem to act and speak.
VI. — Clement of Alex. Strom, ii. 5, p. 442. Context : — Heraclitus, scolding some as unbelievers, says : " They understand neither how to hear nor to speak," prompted, I suppose, by Solomon, " If thou lovest to hear, thou shalt understand ; and if thou inclinest thine ear, thou shalt be wise.'*
86 HERACLITUS.
VII. — If you do* not hope, you will not win that
which is not hoped for, since it is unattainable and
inaccessible.
VIII. — Gold-seekers dig over much earth and find little gold.
IX. — Debate.
X. — Nature loves to conceal herself.
XI. — The God whose oracle is at Delphi neither speaks plainly nor conceals, but indicates by signs.
XII. — But the Sibyl with raging mouth uttering
things solemn, rude and unadorned, reaches with her
voice over a thousand years, because of the God.
VII. — Clement of Alex. Strom, ii. 4, p. 437. Context : — Therefore, that which was spoken by the prophet is shown to be wholly true, " Unless ye believe, neither shall ye understand.'* Paraphrasing this saying, Heraclitus of Ephesus said, " If you do not hope," etc.
Theodoretus, Therap. i. p. 15, 51.
VIII. — Clement of Alex. Strom, iv. 2, p. 565.
Theodoretus, Therap. i. p. 15, 52.
X. — Themistius, Or. v. p. 69 (=r xii. p. 159). Context : — Nature according to Heraclitus, loves to conceal herself ; and before nature the creator of nature, whom therefore we especially worship and adore because the knowledge of him is difficult.
Philo, Qu. in Gen. iv. 1, p. 237, Aucher.: Arbor est secundum Heraclitum natura nostra, quae se obducere atque abscondere amat.
Compare idem de Profug. 32, p. 573 ; de Somn. i. 2, p. 621 ; de Spec. legg. 8, p. 344.
XI. — Plutarch, de Pyth. orac. 21, p. 404. Context : — And I think you know the saying of Heraclitus that ** The God," etc.
lamblichus, de Myst. iii. 15.
Idem from Stobaeus Floril. Ixxxi. 17.
Anon, from Stobaeus Floril. v. 72.
Compare Lucianus, Vit. auct. 14.
XII. — Plutarch, de Pyth. orac. 6, p. 397. Context; — But the Sibyl, with raging mouth, according to Heraclitus, uttering things solemn, rude and unadorned, reaches with her voice over a
On Nature. 87
XIII. — Whatever concerns seeing, hearing, and learning, I particularly honor."
XIV. — Polybius iv. 40. Especially at the present
time, when all places are accessible either by land or by
water, we should not accept poets and mythologists as
witnesses of things that are unknown, since for the
most part they furnish us with unreliable testimony
about disputed things, according to Heraclitus.
XV. — The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.*
thousand years, because of the God. And Pindar says that Cadmus heard from the God a kind of music neither pleasant nor soft nor melodious. For great holiness permits not the allurements of pleasures.
Clement of Alex. Strom, i. 15, p. 358.
lamblichus, de Myst. iii. 8.
See also pseudo-Heraclitus, Epist. yiii.
XIII. — Hippolytus, Ref. haer. ix. 9, 10. Context: — And that the hidden, the unseen and unknown to men is [better], he (Hera- clitus) says in these words, " A hidden harmony is better than a visible ' ' (= frag. 47). He thus praises and admires the unknown and unseen more than the known. And that that which is discoverable and visible to men is [better], he says in these words, "Whatever concerns seeing, hearing, and learning, I particularly honor," that is, the visible above the invisible. From such expressions it is easy to understand him. In the knowledge of the visible, he says, men allow themselves to be deceived as Homer was, who yet was wiser than all the Greeks ; for some boys killing lice deceived him saying, ** What we see and catch we leave behind ; what we neither see nor catch we take with us " (frag. 1, Schuster). Thus Heraclitus honors in equal degree the seen and the unseen, as if the seen and unseen were confessedly one. For what does he say ? "A hidden harmony is better than a visible," and, " Whatever concerns seeing, hearing, and learning, I particularly honor," having before particularly honored the invisible.
XV. — Polybius xii. 27. Context : — There are two organs given to us by nature, sight and hearing, sight being considerably the more truthful, according to Heraclitus, **For the eyes- are more exact witnesses than the ears."
Compare Herodotus i. 8.
88 HBRACLITUS.
XVI. — Much learning does not teach one to have
understanding, else it would have taught Hesiod and
Pythagoras, and again Xenophanes and Hecataeus.
XVII. — Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, practised
investigation most of all men, and having chosen out
these treatises, he made a wisdom of his own — much
learning and bad art.
XVIII. — Of all whose words I have heard, no one attains to this, to know that wisdom is apart from all.^
XIX. — There is one wisdom, to understand the intel-
ligent will by which all things are governed through
all.«
XX. — This world, the same for all, neither any of
XVI. — Diogenes Laert. ix. 1. Context: — He (Heraclitus) was proud and disdainful above all men, as indeed is clear from his work, in which he says, " Much learning does not teach," etc.
Aulu^ Gellius, N. A. praef. 12.
Clement of Alex. Strom, i. 19, p. 373.
Athenaeus xiii. p. 610 B.
lulianus, Or. vi. p. 187 D.
Proclus in Tim. 31 F.
Serenus in Excerpt. Flor. loann. Damasc. ii. 116, p. 205, Meinek.
Compare pseudo-Democritus, fr. mor. 140 Mullach.
XVII. — Diogenes Laert. viii. 6. Context : — Some say, foolishly, that Pythagoras did not leave behind a single writing. But Hera- clitus, the physicist, in his croaking way says, "Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus," etc.
Compare Clement of Alex. Strom, i. 21, p. 396.
XVIII.— Stobaeus Floril. iii. 81.
XIX. — Diogenes Laert. ix. 1. Context : — See frag. 16.
Plutarch, de Iside 77, p. 382. Context : — Nature, who lives and sees, and has in herself the beginning of motion and a knowledge of the suitable and the foreign, in some way draws an emanation and a share from the intelligence by which the universe is governed, according to Heraclitus.
Compare Cleanthes H. in lov. 36.
Compare pseudo-Linus, 13 Mullach.
XX. — Clement of Alex. Strom, v. 14, p. 711. Context : — Heracli- tus of Ephesus is very plainly of this opinion, since he recognizes
On Nature. 89
the gods nor any man has made, but it always was,
and is, and shall be, an ever living fire, kindled in due
measure, and in due measure extinguished.'
XXI. — The transmutations of fire are, first, the sea ;
and of the sea, half is earth, and half the lightning
flash.8
XXII. — All things are exchanged for fire and fire for all things, just as wares for gold and gold for wares.
that there is an everlasting world on the one hand and on the other a perishable, that is, in its arrangement, knowing that in a certain manner the one is not different from the other. But that he knew an everlasting world eternally of a certain kind in its whole essence, he makes plain, saying in this manner, " This world the same for all,'' etc.
Plutarch, de Anim. jjrocreat. 5, p. 1014. Context : — This world, says Heraclitus, neither any god nor man has made ; as if fearing that having denied a divine creation, we should suppose the creator of the world to have been some man.
Simplicius in Aristot. de cael. p. 132, Karst.
Olympiodorus in Plat. Phaed. p. 201, Finckh.
Compare Cleanthes H., lov. 9.
Nicander, Alexiph. 174.
Epictetus from Stob. Floril. cviii. 60.
M. Antoninus vii. 9.
Just. Mart. Apol. p. 93 C.
Heraclitus, Alleg. Horn. 26.
XXI. — Clement of Alex. Strom, v. 14, p. 712. Context : — And that he (Heraclitus) taught that it was created and perishable is shown by the following, ** The transmutations," etc.
Compare Hippolytus, Ref . haer. vi. 17.
XXII.— Plutarch, de EI. 8, p. 388. Context :— For how that (scil. first cause) forming the world from itself, again perfects itself from the world, Heraclitus declares as follows, " All things are exchanged for fire and fire for all things,'* etc.
Compare Philo, Leg. alleg. iii. 3, p. 89. Context, see frag. 24.
Idem, de Incorr. mundi 21, p. 508. — Lucianus, Vit. auct. 14.
Diogenes Laert. ix. 8.
Heraclitus, Alleg. Hom. 43.
Plotinus, Enn. iv. 8, p. 468.— lamblichus from Stob. Eel. i. 41.
Eusebius, Praep. Evang. xiv. 3, p. 720.— Simplicius on Aristot. Phys. 6, a.
90 HERACLITUS.
XXIII. — The sea is poured out and measured to the same proportion as existed before it became earth.*
XXIV.— Cravmg and Satiety.^®
XXV. — Fire lives in the death of earth, air lives in
the death of fire, water lives in the death of air, and
earth in the death of water.^
XXVI. — Fire coming upon all things, will sift and seize them.