|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
CLASSICAL ESSAY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
by Empedocles
But, O ye Gods, turn aside from my tongue the madness of those men. Hallow my lips and make a pure stream flow from them! And thee, much-wooed, white-armed Virgin Muse, do I beseech, that I may hear what is lawful for the children of a day! Speed me on my way from the abode of Holiness and drive my willing car! Constrain me not to win garlands of honor and glory at the hands of mortals on condition of speaking in my pride beyond that which is lawful and right, and only so to gain a seat upon the heights of wisdom. Go to now, consider with all thy powers in what way each thing is clear. Hold nothing that thou seest in greater credit than what thou hearest, nor value thy resounding ear above the clear instructions of thy tongue; and do not withhold thy confidence in any of thy other bodily parts by which there is an opening for understanding, but consider everything in the way it is clear. And thou shalt learn all the drugs that are a defense against ills and old age, since for thee alone shall I accomplish all this. Thou shalt arrest the violence of the weariless winds that arise and sweep the earth, laying waste the cornfields with their breath; and again, when thou so desirest, thou shalt bring their blasts back again with a rush. Thou shalt cause for men a seasonable drought after the dark rains, and again after the summer drought thou shalt produce the streams that feed the trees as they pour down from the sky. Thou shalt bring back from Hades the life of a dead man. And I shall tell thee another thing. There is no coming into being of aught that perishes, nor any end for it in baneful death; but only mingling and separation of what has been mingled. Coming into being is but a name given to these by men. But, when the elements have been mingled in the fashion of a man and come to the light of day, or in the fashion of the race of wild beasts or plants or birds, then men say that these come into being; and when they are separated, they call that, as is the custom, woeful death. I too follow the custom, and call it so myself. Fools! -- for they have no far-reaching thoughts -- who deem that what before was not comes into being, or that aught can perish and be utterly destroyed. For it cannot be that aught arise from what it no way is, and it is impossible and unheard of that what is should perish; for it will always be, wherever one may keep putting it. A man who is wise in such matters would never surmise in his heart that, so long as mortals live what men choose to call their life, they are, and suffer good and ill; while, before they were formed and after they have been dissolved they are, it seems, nothing at all. I shall tell thee a twofold tale. At one time things grew to be one only out of many; at another, that divided up to be many instead of one. There is a double becoming of perishable things and a double passing away. The coming together of all things brings one generation into being and destroys it; the other grows up and is scattered as things become divided. And these things never cease, continually changing places, at one time all uniting in one through Love, at another each borne in different directions by the repulsion of Strife. Thus, as far as it is their nature to grow into one out of many, and to become many once more when the one is parted asunder, so far they come into being and their life abides not. But, inasmuch as they never cease changing their places continually, so far they are immovable as they go round the circle of existence. Nor is any part of the whole empty. Whence, then, could aught come to increase it? Where, too, could these things perish, since no place is empty of them? They are what they are; but, running through one another, different things continually come into being from different sources, yet ever alike. Come now, look at the things that bear virtues. Behold the sun, everywhere bright and warm, and all the immortal things that are bathed in its heat and bright radiance. Behold the rain, everywhere dark and cold; and from the earth issue forth things close-pressed and solid. When they are in strife all these things are different in form, and separated; but they come together in love, and are desired one another. For out of these have sprung all things that were and are and shall be, -- trees and men and women, beasts and birds and the fishes that dwell in the waters, yea, and the gods that live long lives and are exalted in honor. For these things are what they are; but, running through one another, they take different shapes -- so much does mixture change them. For, of a truth, they (i.e. Love and Strife) were aforementioned and shall be; nor ever, methinks, will boundless time be emptied of that pair. And they prevail in turn as the circle comes round, and pass away before one another, and increase in their appointed turn. For all of them -- sun, earth, sky, and sea, -- fit in with all the parts of themselves, the friendly parts which are separated off in perishable things. In the same way, all those things that are more adapted for mixture, are united to one another in Love, made like by the power of Aphrodite. But they themselves (i.e. the elements) differ as far as possible in their origin and mixture and the forms imprinted on each, being altogether unaccustomed to come together, and very hostile, under the influence of Strife, since it has wrought their birth. Thus all things have thought by the will of fortune. . . . And, inasmuch as the rarest things come together in their fall. Fire is increased by Fire, Earth increases its own mass, and Air swells the bulk of Air. And the kindly earth in its well-wrought ovens received two parts of shining Nestis out of the eight, and four of Hephaistos; and they became white bones, divinely fitted together by the cements of Harmony. And the earth meets with these in nearly equal proportions, with Hephaistos and Water and shining Air, anchoring in the perfect haven of Kypris, -- either a little more of it, or less of it and more of them. From these did blood arise and the various forms of flesh. |
The
First
Philosophers:
|
||||
|
Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Book... Enrich Your Life With a Philosophy Magazine...
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
||
|
|
||
[Homepage] [Newsletter] [Search] [Support the Academy] [Link to Us] [Contact the Academy] [Citing Articles from Our Website] [Privacy Policy & Disclaimer]
Copyright 1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, & 2004 by The Radical Academy. All Rights Reserved.