not obvious why he should mention Herakleitos at all ; and Herakleides was one of the chief sources for the biography of Empedokles.
1 See Diels, ‘‘ Empedokles und Gorgias,” 2 (Bert. Sitzd., 1884). Theo- phrastos said that Empedokles was born “ not long after Anaxagoras” (Dox. Ρ. 477, 17); and Alkidamas made him the fellow-pupil of Zeno under Par- menides, and the teacher of Gorgias (see below, p. 231, ἢ. 5). Now Gorgias was a little older than Antiphon (ὁ. Ol. LXX.), so it is clear we must go back αὐ /east to 490 B.C. for the birth of Empedokles.
Empedokles
as a politician.
230 Early Greek Philosophy
fell before the Carthaginians more than half a century later.’
99. In the political events of the next few years,
Empedokles certainly played an important part; but
our information on the subject is of a very curious
kind. The Sicilian historian Timaios told one or
two stories about him, which are obviously genuine
traditions picked up about a hundred and fifty years
afterwards ; but, like all popular traditions, they are
a little confused. The picturesque incidents are
remembered, but the essential parts of the story
are dropped. Still, we may be thankful that the
“collector of old wives’ tales,” ἢ
as sneering critics
called him, has enabled us to measure the historical
importance of Empedokles for ourselves by showing
us how he was pictured by the great- iy, Spe
of his contemporaries.
We read, then,® that once he was invited to sup
with one of the “rulers.” Tradition delights in such
vague titles. “Supper was well advanced, but no
wine was brought in. The rest of the company said
nothing, but Empedokles was righteously indignant, and
insisted on wine being served. The host, however,
said he was waiting for the serjeant of the Council.
When that official arrived, he was appointed ruler of
the feast. The host, of course, appointed him.
Thereupon he began to give hints of an incipient
tyranny. He ordered the company either to drink or
have the wine poured over their heads. At the time,
Empedokles said nothing; but next day he led both
1 Ἐς, Meyer, Gesch. des Alterth. ii. p. 508.
2 He is called γραοσυλλέκτρια in Souidas, s.v. The view taken in the text as to the value of his evidence is that of Holm.
3 Timaios ap. Diog. viii. 64 (7. 4.G.i. p. 214, fr. 88 a).
Empedokles of Akragas 231
of them before the court, and had them condemned
and put to death—both the man who asked him to
supper and the ruler of the feast.' This was the
beginning of his political career.” The next tale is
that Empedokles prevented the Council from granting
his friend Akron a piece of land for a family sepulchre
on the ground of his eminence in medicine, and
supported his objection by a punning epigram.?
Lastly, he broke up the assembly of the Thousand—
perhaps some oligarchical association or club.’ It
may have been for this that he was offered the king-
ship, which Aristotle tells us he refused* At any
rate, we see that Empedokles was the great democratic
leader at Akragas in those days, though we have no
clear knowledge of what he did.
100. But there is another side to his public char-
acter which Timaios found it hard to reconcile with his
political views. He claimed to be a god, and to
receive the homage of his fellow-citizens in that capacity.
The truth is, Empedokles was not a mere statesman ;
he had a good deal of the “ medicine-man” about him.
According to Satyros,> Gorgias affirmed that he had
1 In the first edition, I suggested the analogy of accusations for incivisme. Bidez says (p. 127), ‘‘J’imagine qu’un Jacobin aurait mieux jugé Vhistoire” (than Karsten and Holm); “sous la Terreur, on était suspect pour de moindres vétilles.”
2 Diog. viii. 65. The epigram runs thus:
ἄκρον ἰητρὸν ᾿Ακρων᾽ ᾿Ακραγαντῖνον πατρὸς “Axpov
κρύπτει κρημνὸς ἄκρος πατρίδος ἀκροτάτης.
On Akron, see M. Wellmann, of. cz¢. p. 235, n.I.
8 Diog. viii. 66, ὕστερον δ᾽ ὁ ᾿Εμπεδοκλῆς καὶ τὸ τῶν χιλέων ἄθροισμα κατέλυσε συνεστὼς ἐπὶ ἔτη τρία. The word ἄθροισμα hardly suggests a legal council, and συνίστασθαι suggests a conspiracy.
4 Diog. viii. 63. Aristotle probably mentioned this in his Sophést. Cf. Diog. viii. 57.
5 Diog. viii. 59 (R. P. 162). Satyros probably followed Alkidamas. Diels suggests (Amp. u. Gorg. p. 358) that the φυσικός of Alkidamas was
Empedokles
as a religious
teacher.
232 Early Greek Philosophy
been present when his master was performing sorceries.
We can see what this means from the fragments of
the Purifications. Empedokles was a preacher of the
new religion which sought to secure release from the
“wheel of birth” by purity and abstinence; but it is
not quite certain to which form of it he adhered. On
the one hand, Orphicism seems to have been strong at
Akragas in the days of Theron, and there are even
some verbal coincidences between the poems of
Empedokles and the Orphicising Odes which Pindar
addressed to that prince." There are also some points
of similarity between the Rhapsodic Theogony, as we
know it from Damaskios, and certain fragments of
Empedokles, though the importance of these has been
exaggerated.” On the other hand, there is no reason
to doubt the statement of Ammonios that fr. 134
refers to Apollo;* and, if that is so, it would point
to his having been an adherent of the Ionic form of
the mystic doctrine, as we have seen (§ 39) that
Pythagoras was. Further, Timaios already knew the
story that he had been expelled from the Pythagorean
Order for “stealing discourses,” * and it is probable on
the whole that fr. 129 refers to Pythagoras.’ It would
be very hazardous to dogmatise on this subject; but
it seems most likely that Empedokles had been
influenced by Orphic ideas in his youth, and that, in
later life, he preached a form of Pythagoreanism which
a dialogue in which Gorgias was the chief speaker. In that case, the statement would have little historical value.
1 See Bidez, p. 115, n. 1.
2 O. Kern, ‘‘ Empedokles und die Orphiker” (Arch. i. pp. 489 sqq.). For the Rhapsodic Theogony, see Introd. p. 9, n. 4.
3 See below, note 27 Joc.
* Diog. viii. 54 (R. P. 162).
5 See below, note zz Joc.
Empedokles of Akragas 233
was not considered orthodox by the heads of the
Society. In any case, it seems far more probable that
his political and scientific activity belong to the same
period of his life, and that he only became a wandering
prophet after his banishment, than that his scientific
work belonged to his later days when he was a solitary
exile."
We hear of a number of marvels performed by
Empedokles, which are for the most part nothing but
inferences from his writings. Timaios told how he
weakened the force of the etesian winds by hanging
bags of asses’ skins on the trees to catch them. He
had certainly said, in his exaggerated way, that the
knowledge of science as taught by him would enable
his disciples to control the winds (fr. 111); and this,
along with the fabled windbags of Aiolos, is enough
to account for the tale.” We are also told how he
brought back to life a woman who had been breathless
and pulseless for thirty days. The verse where he
asserts that his teaching will enable Pausanias to bring
the dead back from Hades (fr. 111) shows how this
story may have arisen.» Again, we hear that he
sweetened the pestilent marsh between Selinous and
the sea by diverting the rivers Hypsas and Selinos
into it. We know from coins that this purification
? The latter view is that of Bidez (pp. 161 544.) ; but Diels has shown {Berl.. Sitzb., 1898, pp. 406 sqq.) that the former is psychologically more probable.
? I follow the wilder form of the story given by Diog. viii. 60, and not the rationalised version of Plutarch (adv. Col. 1126 Ὁ). The epithets ἀλεξανέμας and κωλυσανέμας were perhaps bestowed by some sillographer in mockery ; cf. dveuoxoirns.
3 The Περὶ νόσων of Herakleides, from which it is derived, seems to have been a sort of medico-philosophical romance. The words are (Diog. viii. 60): Ἡρακλείδης τε !év'7@-Ilept νόσων φησὶ καὶ] Παυσανίᾳ ὑφηγήσασθαι αὐτὸν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἄπνουν. It was a case of hysterical suffocation.
Rhetoric and
medicine.
234 Early Greek Philosophy
of the marshes actually took place, but we may doubt
whether it was attributed to Empedokles till a later
time.'
101. Aristotle said that Empedokles was the
? and Galen made him the founder
of the Italian school of Medicine, which he puts on a
level with those of Kos and Knidos.? Both these
statements must be considered in connexion with his
political and scientific activity. It seems to be certain
that Gorgias was his disciple in physics and medicine,
inventor of Rhetoric ;
and some of the peculiarities which marked his style
are to be found in the poems of Empedokles.* It is
not to be supposed, of course, that Empedokles wrote
a formal treatise on Rhetoric ; but it is in every way
probable, and in accordance with his character, that
the speeches, of which he must have made many, were
marked by that euphuism which Gorgias introduced
to Athens at a later date, and which gave rise to the
idea of an artistic prose. The influence of Empedokles
on the development of medicine was, however, far
more important, as it affected not only medicine itself,
but through it, the whole tendency of scientific and
philosophical thinking. It has been said _ that
Empedokles had no successors,’ and the remark is
1 For these coins see Head, Historia Numorum, pp. 147 sqq-
2 Diog. viii. 57 (R. P. 162 g).
3 Galen, x. 5, ἤριζον δ᾽ αὐτοῖς (the schools of Kos:and Knidos) .. . καὶ οἱ ἐκ τῆς ᾿Ιταλίας ἰατροί, Φιλιστίων τε͵ καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ Παυσανίας καὶ οἱ τούτων ἑταῖροι x.7.. Philistion was the contemporary and friend of Plato ; Pausanias is the disciple to whom Empedokles addressed his poem.
4 See Diels, ‘‘Empedokles und Gorgias” (Berl. Sitzb., 1884, pp. 343 sqq.). The oldest authority for saying that Gorgias was a disciple of Empedokles is Satyros af. Diog. viii. 58 (R. P. 162); but he seems to have derived his information from Alkidamas, who was the disciple of Gorgias himself. In Plato’s Meno (76 ς 4-8) the Empedoklean theory
of effluvia and pores is ascribed to Gorgias. “ἢ Diels (Berl, Sitzb., 1884, p. 343).
Empedokles of Akragas 235
true if we confine ourselves strictly to philosophy.
On the other hand, the medical school which he
founded was still living in the days of Plato, and it
had considerable influence on him, and still more on
Aristotle." Its fundamental doctrine was the identifica-
tion of the four elements with the hot and the cold”
the moist and the dry. It also held that we breathe
through all the pores of the body, and that the act of
respiration is closely connected with the motion of the
blood. The heart, not the brain, was regarded as the
organ of consciousness.” A more external character-
istic of the medicine taught by the followers of
Empedokles is that they still clung to ideas of a
magical nature. A protest against this by a member
of the Koan school'has been preserved. He refers to
them as “magicians and purifiers and charlatans and |
quacks, who profess to be very religious.”* Though
there is some truth in this, it hardly does justice to
the great advances in physiology that were due to the )
Sicilian school.
102. In the biography of Empedokles, we hear prs. to
very little of his theory of nature. The only hints we eae
get are some statements about histeachers. Alkidamas,
who had good opportunities of knowing, made him a
1 See M. Wellmann, Fragmentsammlung der griechischen Artste, vol. | i. (Berlin, 1901). According to Wellmann, both Plato (in the Zémaeus) | and Diokles of Karystos depend upon Philistion. It is impossible to understand the history of philosophy from this point onwards without keeping the history of medicine constantly in view. |
2 For the four elements, cf. Anon. Lond. xx. 25 (Menon’s /a/rika), Φιλιστίων δ᾽ οἴεται ἐκ 5’ ἰδεῶν συνεστάναι ἡμᾶς, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἐκ 5’ στοιχείων " πυρός, ἀέρος, ὕδατος, γῆς. εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἑκάστου δυνάμεις, τοῦ μὲν πυρὸς τὸ θερμόν, τοῦ δὲ ἀέρος τὸ ψυχρόν, τοῦ δὲ ὕδατος τὸ ὑγρόν, τῆς δὲ γῆς τὸ ξηρόν. For the theory of respiration, see Wellmann, pp. 82 544. ; and for the heart as the seat of consciousness, 7. pp. 15 sqq-
8 Hippokr. Περὶ ἱερῆς νόσου, c 1, μάγοι Te καὶ καθάρται καὶ ἀγύρται καὶ ΝΣ ἀλαζόνες. The whole passage should be read. Cf. Wellmann, p. 29 ἢ. |
\Death.
236 Early Greek Philosophy
fellow-student of Zeno under Parmenides. That is
both possible and likely. Theophrastos too made him
a follower and imitator of Parmenides. But the further
statement that he had “heard” Pythagoras cannot be
right. Probably Alkidamas said “ Pythagoreans.” *
Some writers hold that certain parts of the system
of Empedokles, in particular the theory of pores and
effluvia (§ 118), which do not seem to follow very
naturally from his own principles, were due to the
influence of Leukippos.” This, however, is not neces-
sarily the case. We know that Alkmaion (§ 96) spoke
of “pores” in connexion with sensation, and it may
equally well be from him that Empedokles got the
theory. It may be added that this is more in
accordance with the history of certain other physio-
logical views which are common to Alkmaion and
the later Ionian philosophers. We can generally see
that those reached Ionia through the medical school
which Empedokles founded.’
103. We are told that Empedokles leapt into the
crater of Etna that he might be deemed a god. This
appears to be a malicious version * of a tale set on foot
by his adherents that he had been snatched up to
heaven in the night.’ Both stories would easily get