Fragments
Fragments 1–10
Ancient Greek
1 τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦδ’ ἐόντος ἀεὶ ἀξύνετοι γίνονται ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρόσθεν ἢ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον· γινομένων γὰρ πάντων κατὰ τὸν λόγον τόνδε ἀπείροισιν ἐοίκασι, πειρώμενοι καὶ ἐπέων καὶ ἔργων τοιούτων, ὁκοίων ἐγὼ διηγεῦμαι διαιρέων ἕκαστον κατὰ φύσιν καὶ φράζων ὅκως ἔχει. τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους λανθάνει ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ποιοῦσιν, ὅκωσπερ ὁκόσα εὕδοντες ἐπιλανθάνονται.
2 διὸ δεῖ ἕπεσθαι τῶι ⟨ξυνῶι, τουτέστι τῶι⟩ κοινῶι· ξυνὸς γὰρ ὁ κοινός. τοῦ λόγου δ’ ἐόντος ξυνοῦ ζώουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχοντες φρόνησιν.
3 (περὶ μεγέθους ἡλίου) εὖρος ποδὸς ἀνθρωπείου.
4 (H. dixit quod) si felicitas esset in delectationibus corporis, boves felices diceremus, cum inveniant orobum ad comedendum.
5 καθαίρονται δ’ ἄλλως αἵματι μιαινόμενοι οἷον εἴ τις εἰς πηλὸν ἐμβὰς πηλῶι ἀπονίζοιτο. μαίνεσθαι δ’ ἂν δοκοίη, εἴ τις αὐτὸν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιφράσαιτο οὕτω ποιέοντα. καὶ τοῖς ἀγάλμασι δὲ τουτέοισιν εὔχονται, ὁκοῖον εἴ τις δόμοισι λεσχηνεύοιτο, οὔ τι γινώσκων θεοὺς οὐδ’ ἥρωας οἵτινές εἰσι.
6 (ὁ ἥλιος οὐ μόνον, καθάπερ ὁ Ἡ. φησι,) νέος ἐφ’ ἡμέρηι (ἐστίν, ἀλλ’ ἀεὶ νέος συνεχῶς).
7 εἰ πάντα τὰ ὄντα καπνὸς γένοιτο, ῥῖνες ἂν διαγνοῖεν.
8 τὸ ἀντίξουν συμφέρον καὶ ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν καὶ πάντα κατ’ ἔριν γίνεσθαι.
9 ὄνους σύρματ’ ἂν ἑλέσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ χρυσόν.
10 συνάψιες ὅλα καὶ οὐχ ὅλα, συμφερόμενον διαφερόμενον, συνᾶιδον διᾶιδον, καὶ ἐκ πάντων ἓν καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντα.
English
1 Though this Logos is forever, people remain without understanding, both before they hear it and when they have first heard it. For all things come to pass according to this Logos, yet they seem without experience, though they experience such words and deeds as I unfold, distinguishing each according to its nature and showing how it is. The rest of humanity is unaware of what it does awake, just as it forgets what it does asleep.
2 So we must follow the common, that is, what is shared; for what is shared is common. Yet though the Logos is common, the many live as if they had a private understanding.
3 (On the sun’s size:) the width of a human foot.
4 (Heraclitus said that) if happiness lay in bodily pleasures, we would call oxen happy when they found bitter vetch to eat.
5 They cleanse themselves in vain by staining themselves with blood, as if someone who had stepped in mud washed himself with mud. Anyone who saw him doing this would think him mad. And they pray to these statues as if one were chatting with houses, knowing nothing of who the gods and heroes are.
6 (The sun is not only, as Heraclitus says,) new each day (but always new, continually).
7 If all that exists became smoke, noses would tell one thing from another.
8 What opposes unites; from differences comes the most beautiful harmony; all things come to pass through strife.
9 Donkeys would choose sweepings over gold.
10 Joinings: wholes and not wholes, converging diverging, in tune out of tune; from all things one, and from one all things.
Fragments 11–20
11 πᾶν γὰρ ἑρπετὸν πληγῆι νέμεται.
12 ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμβαίνουσιν ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ· καὶ ψυχαὶ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ὑγρῶν ἀναθυμιῶνται.
13 (δεῖ γὰρ τὸν χαρίεντα μήτε ῥυπᾶν μήτε αὐχμεῖν μήτε) βορβόρωι χαίρειν.
14 νυκτιπόλοις, μάγοις, βάκχοις, λήναις, μύσταις· (τούτοις ἀπειλεῖ τὰ μετὰ θάνατον, τούτοις μαντεύεται τὸ πῦρ·) τὰ γὰρ νομιζόμενα κατ’ ἀνθρώπους μυστήρια ἀνιερωστὶ μυεῦνται.
15 εἰ μὴ γὰρ Διονύσωι πομπὴν ἐποιεῦντο καὶ ὕμνεον ᾆσμα αἰδοίοισιν, ἀναιδέστατα εἴργαστ’ ἄν· ὡυτὸς δὲ Ἀίδης καὶ Διόνυσος, ὅτεωι μαίνονται καὶ ληναΐζουσιν.
16 τὸ μὴ δῦνόν ποτε πῶς ἄν τις λάθοι;
17 οὐ γὰρ φρονέουσι τοιαῦτα πολλοί, ὁκόσοι ἐγκυρεῦσιν, οὐδὲ μαθόντες γινώσκουσιν, ἑωυτοῖσι δὲ δοκέουσι.
18 ἐὰν μὴ ἔλπηται, ἀνέλπιστον οὐκ ἐξευρήσει, ἀνεξερεύνητον ἐὸν καὶ ἄπορον.
19 ἀκοῦσαι οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι οὐδ’ εἰπεῖν.
20 γενόμενοι ζώειν ἐθέλουσι μόρους τ’ ἔχειν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀναπαύεσθαι, καὶ παῖδας καταλείπουσι μόρους γενέσθαι.
11 For every creature is driven to pasture by a blow.
12 Over those who step into the same rivers flow different and ever different waters; souls, too, rise as vapor from what is wet.
13 (For a refined person must neither be dirty nor unkempt nor) delight in mire.
14 Night-wanderers, magi, Bacchants, Bacchic women, initiates: (these he threatens with what comes after death; for these he foretells fire;) for the mysteries sanctioned among people are celebrated without holiness.
15 If they did not hold the procession for Dionysus and sing the hymn to the genitals, their deed would be most shameless; but Hades and Dionysus are the same, for whom they rave and hold their Bacchic rites.
16 How can anyone hide from what never sets?
17 For the many do not understand the things they meet; even after learning them, they do not know them, though they think they do.
18 Without expectation you will not find the unexpected: it cannot be searched out, and no path leads to it.
19 They know neither how to listen nor how to speak.
20 Once born, they wish to live and meet their doom—or rather, to rest—and leave children behind for dooms to be born.
Fragments 21–30
21 θάνατός ἐστιν ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ὁρέομεν, ὁκόσα δὲ εὕδοντες ὕπνος.
22 χρυσὸν γὰρ οἱ διζήμενοι γῆν πολλὴν ὀρύσσουσι καὶ εὑρίσκουσιν ὀλίγον.
23 Δίκης ὄνομα οὐκ ἂν ἤιδεσαν, εἰ ταῦτα μὴ ἦν.
24 ἀρηιφάτους θεοὶ τιμῶσι καὶ ἄνθρωποι.
25 μόροι γὰρ μέζονες μέζονας μοίρας λαγχάνουσι.
26 ἄνθρωπος ἐν εὐφρόνηι φάος ἅπτεται ἑαυτῶι ἀποθανών, [ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις], ζῶν δέ· ἅπτεται τεθνεῶτος εὕδων, ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις, ἐγρηγορὼς ἅπτεται εὕδοντος.
27 ἀνθρώπους μένει ἀποθανόντας ἅσσα οὐκ ἔλπονται οὐδὲ δοκέουσιν.
28 δοκέοντα γὰρ ὁ δοκιμώτατος γινώσκει, φυλάσσει· καὶ μέντοι καὶ Δίκη καταλήψεται ψευδῶν τέκτονας καὶ μάρτυρας.
29 αἱρεῦνται γὰρ ἓν ἀντὶ ἁπάντων οἱ ἄριστοι, κλέος ἀέναον θνητῶν, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ κεκόρηνται ὅκωσπερ κτήνεα.
30 κόσμον τόνδε, τὸν αὐτὸν ἁπάντων, οὔτε τις θεῶν οὔτε ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ’ ἦν ἀεὶ καὶ ἔστιν καὶ ἔσται πῦρ ἀείζωον, ἁπτόμενον μέτρα καὶ ἀποσβεννύμενον μέτρα.
21 All we see awake is death; all we see asleep is sleep.
22 For those who seek gold dig much earth and find little.
23 They would not know Justice’s name if these things did not exist.
24 Gods and humans honor those slain in war.
25 For greater deaths win greater shares.
26 A man at night kindles a light for himself, dead, [his sight extinguished], yet living; asleep, his sight extinguished, he touches the dead; awake, he touches the sleeper.
27 What waits for people after death is what they neither expect nor imagine.
28 For the most esteemed knows and guards what seems true; yet Justice will seize the makers and witnesses of lies.
29 For the best choose one thing over all: undying renown among mortals. The many are stuffed like cattle.
30 This world-order, the same for all, no god or human made. It always was and is and will be: ever-living fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures.
Fragments 31–40
31 πυρὸς τροπαὶ πρῶτον θάλασσα, θαλάσσης δὲ τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ γῆ, τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ πρηστήρ. (δυνάμει γὰρ λέγει ὅτι τὸ πῦρ ὑπὸ τοῦ διοικοῦντος λόγου καὶ θεοῦ τὰ σύμπαντα δι’ ἀέρος τρέπεται εἰς ὑγρὸν τὸ ὡς σπέρμα τῆς διακοσμήσεως, ὃ καλεῖ) θάλασσαν, (ἐκ δὲ τούτου αὖθις γίνεται γῆ καὶ οὐρανὸς καὶ τὰ ἐμπεριεχόμενα. ὅπως δὲ πάλιν ἀναλαμβάνεται καὶ ἐκπυροῦται, σαφῶς διὰ τούτων δηλοῖ·) θάλασσα διαχέεται καὶ μετρέεται εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον, ὁκοῖος πρόσθεν ἦν ἢ γενέσθαι γῆ.
32 ἓν τὸ σοφὸν μοῦνον λέγεσθαι οὐκ ἐθέλει καὶ ἐθέλει Ζηνὸς ὄνομα.
33 νόμος καὶ βουλῆι πείθεσθαι ἑνός.
34 ἀξύνετοι ἀκούσαντες κωφοῖσιν ἐοίκασι· φάτις αὐτοῖσιν μαρτυρεῖ παρεόντας ἀπεῖναι.
35 χρὴ γὰρ εὖ μάλα πολλῶν ἵστορας φιλοσόφους ἄνδρας εἶναι.
36 ψυχῆισιν θάνατος ὕδωρ γενέσθαι, ὕδατι δὲ θάνατος γῆν γενέσθαι, ἐκ γῆς δὲ ὕδωρ γίνεται, ἐξ ὕδατος δὲ ψυχή.
37 sues caeno, cohortales aves pulvere vel cinere lavari.
38 (Θαλῆς δοκεῖ κατά τινας) πρῶτος ἀστρολογῆσαι (… μαρτυρεῖ δ’ αὐτῶι καὶ Ἡ. καὶ Δημόκριτος).
39 ἐν Πριήνηι Βίας ἐγένετο ὁ Τευτάμεω, οὗ πλείων λόγος ἢ τῶν ἄλλων.
40 πολυμαθίη νόον ἔχειν οὐ διδάσκει· Ἡσίοδον γὰρ ἂν ἐδίδαξε καὶ Πυθαγόρην αὖτίς τε Ξενοφάνεά τε καὶ Ἑκαταῖον.
31 Fire’s turnings: first sea; of sea, half earth, half fiery storm. (For in effect he says that fire, under the Logos and god governing all things, turns through air into moisture, the seed, as it were, of the ordering of the world, which he calls) sea, (and from this, earth and heaven and all they contain come into being again. How it is taken up again and kindled into fire he makes clear in these words:) Sea pours out and is measured by the same measure as before it became earth.
32 The wise, one alone, is unwilling and willing to bear the name of Zeus.
33 It is law, too, to obey the counsel of one.
34 Hearing without understanding, they are like the deaf; the saying bears witness to them: present, they are absent.
35 For lovers of wisdom must indeed be inquirers into very many things.
36 For souls it is death to become water; for water, death to become earth. From earth comes water, from water soul.
37 Pigs bathe in mud, barnyard birds in dust or ash.
38 (Thales is thought by some to have been) the first to study the stars (… Heraclitus and Democritus also bear him witness).
39 In Priene lived Bias, son of Teutamas, held in higher account than the rest.
40 Much learning does not teach understanding. Otherwise it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, and Xenophanes and Hecataeus too.
Fragments 41–50
41 εἶναι γὰρ ἓν τὸ σοφόν, ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην, ὁτέη ἐκυβέρνησε πάντα διὰ πάντων.
42 τόν τε Ὅμηρον (ἔφασκεν) ἄξιον ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων ἐκβάλλεσθαι καὶ ῥαπίζεσθαι καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον ὁμοίως.
43 ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύναι μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν.
44 μάχεσθαι χρὴ τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ὅκωσπερ τείχεος.
45 ψυχῆς πείρατα ἰὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο, πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν· οὕτω βαθὺν λόγον ἔχει.
46 τήν τε οἴησιν ἱερὰν νόσον (ἔλεγε) καὶ τὴν ὅρασιν ψεύδεσθαι.
47 μὴ εἰκῆ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων συμβαλλώμεθα.
48 τῶι οὖν τόξωι ὄνομα βίος, ἔργον δὲ θάνατος.
49 εἷς ἐμοὶ μύριοι, ἐὰν ἄριστος ἦι.
49a ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν.
50 οὐκ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούσαντας ὁμολογεῖν σοφόν ἐστιν ἓν πάντα εἶναι.
41 For the wise is one thing: to know the thought that has steered all things through all.
42 Homer (he said) deserves to be driven from the contests and beaten, and Archilochus likewise.
43 Arrogance must be quenched more urgently than a blaze.
44 The people must fight for the law as for the city wall.
45 You would not find the soul’s limits in your travels, though you walked every road: so deep is its account.
46 Presumption is a sacred disease (he said), and sight lies.
47 Let us not guess at random about the greatest things.
48 The bow’s name is life; its work is death.
49 One is ten thousand to me, if he is the best.
49a Into the same rivers we step and do not step; we are and are not.
50 For those who listen not to me but to the Logos, it is wise to agree that all things are one.
Fragments 51–60
51 οὐ ξυνιᾶσιν ὅκως διαφερόμενον ἑωυτῶι ὁμολογέει· παλίντροπος ἁρμονίη ὅκωσπερ τόξου καὶ λύρης.
52 αἰὼν παῖς ἐστι παίζων, πεσσεύων· παιδὸς ἡ βασιληίη.
53 Πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους.
54 ἁρμονίη ἀφανὴς φανερῆς κρείττων.
55 ὅσων ὄψις ἀκοὴ μάθησις, ταῦτα ἐγὼ προτιμέω.
56 ἐξηπάτηνται, (φησίν,) οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν φανερῶν παραπλησίως Ὁμήρωι, ὃς ἐγένετο τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφώτερος πάντων. ἐκεῖνόν τε γὰρ παῖδες φθεῖρας κατακτείνοντες ἐξηπάτησαν εἰπόντες· ὅσα εἴδομεν καὶ ἐλάβομεν, ταῦτα ἀπολείπομεν, ὅσα δὲ οὔτε εἴδομεν οὔτ’ ἐλάβομεν, ταῦτα φέρομεν.
57 διδάσκαλος δὲ πλείστων Ἡσίοδος· τοῦτον ἐπίστανται πλεῖστα εἰδέναι, ὅστις ἡμέρην καὶ εὐφρόνην οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν· ἔστι γὰρ ἕν.
58 καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ κακόν [ἕν ἐστιν]. οἱ γοῦν ἰατροί, (φησὶν ὁ Ἡ.,) τέμνοντες, καίοντες πάντη, βασανίζοντες κακῶς τοὺς ἀρρωστοῦντας, ἐπαιτέονται μηδὲν ἄξιοι μισθὸν λαμβάνειν παρὰ τῶν ἀρρωστούντων, ταὐτὰ ἐργαζόμενοι, (τὰ ἀγαθὰ καὶ τὰς νόσους).
59 γναφείωι ὁδὸς εὐθεῖα καὶ σκολιὴ (ἡ τοῦ ὀργάνου τοῦ καλουμένου κοχλίου ἐν τῶι γναφείωι περιστροφὴ εὐθεῖα καὶ σκολιή· ἄνω γὰρ ὁμοῦ καὶ κύκλωι περιέρχεται) μία ἐστί, (φησί,) καὶ ἡ αὐτή.
60 ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή.
51 They do not understand how what pulls apart agrees with itself: a harmony turning back, like that of bow and lyre.
52 Time is a child at play, moving pieces on a board; the kingship is a child’s.
53 War is father of all and king of all: some he has shown as gods, others as humans; some he has made slaves, others free.
54 Unseen harmony is stronger than seen.
55 What sight, hearing, and learning reveal—this I prize.
56 People are deceived (he says) in their knowledge of what lies in plain sight, much as Homer was, who was wiser than all the Greeks. For boys killing lice deceived him when they said: “What we saw and caught, we leave behind; what we neither saw nor caught, we carry.”
57 Teacher to most is Hesiod. They are certain he knows the most—he who did not know day and night: they are one.
58 Both good and evil [are one]. Doctors, for instance (Heraclitus says), cut, burn, torture the sick cruelly in every way, and demand a fee from the sick, though they deserve none, producing the same things (benefits and diseases).
59 In the fuller’s shop the straight and crooked path (the turning of the instrument called the screw in the fuller’s shop is straight and crooked, for it moves at once upward and around) is one (he says) and the same.
60 The road up and down is one and the same.
Fragments 61–70
61 θάλασσα ὕδωρ καθαρώτατον καὶ μιαρώτατον, ἰχθύσι μὲν πότιμον καὶ σωτήριον, ἀνθρώποις δὲ ἄποτον καὶ ὀλέθριον.
62 ἀθάνατοι θνητοί, θνητοὶ ἀθάνατοι, ζῶντες τὸν ἐκείνων θάνατον, τὸν δὲ ἐκείνων βίον τεθνεῶτες.
63 ἔνθα δ’ ἐόντι ἐπανίστασθαι καὶ φύλακας γίνεσθαι ἐγερτὶ ζώντων καὶ νεκρῶν.
64 τὰ δὲ πάντα οἰακίζει Κεραυνός.
65 (καλεῖ δὲ αὐτὸ) χρησμοσύνην καὶ κόρον.
66 πάντα γάρ, (φησί,) τὸ πῦρ ἐπελθὸν κρινεῖ καὶ καταλήψεται.
67 ὁ θεὸς ἡμέρη εὐφρόνη, χειμὼν θέρος, πόλεμος εἰρήνη, κόρος λιμός (τἀναντία ἅπαντα· οὗτος ὁ νοῦς), ἀλλοιοῦται δὲ ὅκωσπερ ⟨πῦρ⟩, ὁπόταν συμμιγῆι θυώμασιν, ὀνομάζεται καθ’ ἡδονὴν ἑκάστου.
67a sic⟨ut⟩ aranea, (ait,) stans in medio telae sentit, quam cito musca aliquem filum suum corrumpit itaque illuc celeriter currit quasi de fili perfectione dolens, sic hominis anima aliqua parte corporis laesa illuc festine meat quasi impatiens laesionis corporis, cui firme et proportionaliter iuncta est.
68 (καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰκότως αὐτὰ) ἄκεα (Ἡ. προσεῖπεν ὡς ἐξακεσόμενα τὰ δεινὰ καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἐξάντεις ἀπεργαζόμενα τῶν ἐν τῆι γενέσει συμφορῶν).
69 (θυσιῶν τοίνυν τίθημι διττὰ εἴδη· τὰ μὲν) τῶν ἀποκεκαθαρμένων παντάπασιν ἀνθρώπων, οἷα ἐφ’ ἑνὸς ἄν ποτε γένοιτο σπανίως, (ὥς φησιν Ἡ.,) ἢ τινων ὀλίγων εὐαριθμήτων ἀνδρῶν.
70 (πόσωι δὴ οὖν βέλτιον Ἡ.) παίδων ἀθύρματα (νενόμικεν εἶναι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα δοξάσματα).
61 Sea: water purest and foulest, drinkable and life-preserving for fish, undrinkable and deadly for humans.
62 Immortals mortal, mortals immortal: living the others’ death, dead in the others’ life.
63 They rise before the one who is there and become wakeful guardians of the living and the dead.
64 Thunderbolt steers all things.
65 (He calls it) want and fullness.
66 For all things (he says) will be judged and seized by fire when it comes.
67 God is day night, winter summer, war peace, fullness hunger (all opposites: this is the meaning); he changes as fire does when mixed with incense, taking a name from the savor of each.
67a Just as a spider (he says), standing in the middle of its web, feels it as soon as a fly breaks one of its threads and swiftly runs there, as though grieving for the thread’s wholeness, so the human soul, when any part of the body is hurt, hurries there, as though unable to bear injury to the body, to which it is firmly joined in due proportion.
68 (And for this reason they were rightly called) remedies (by Heraclitus, as things that would cure terrors and raise souls above the misfortunes of coming into being).
69 (I distinguish, then, two kinds of sacrifices: those) of people utterly purified, such as might occur in one person only rarely (as Heraclitus says), or in a few men who can easily be counted.
70 (How much better, then, that Heraclitus took for) children’s playthings (the opinions of human beings).
Fragments 71–80
71 (μεμνῆσθαι δὲ καὶ) τοῦ ἐπιλανθανομένου ἧι ἡ ὁδὸς ἄγει.
72 ὧι μάλιστα διηνεκῶς ὁμιλοῦσι λόγωι (τῶι τὰ ὅλα διοικοῦντι), τούτωι διαφέρονται, καὶ οἷς καθ’ ἡμέραν ἐγκυροῦσι, ταῦτα αὐτοῖς ξένα φαίνεται.
73 οὐ δεῖ ὥσπερ καθεύδοντας ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν· (καὶ γὰρ καὶ τότε δοκοῦμεν ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν.)
74 (οὐ δεῖ ⟨ὡς⟩) παῖδας τοκεώνων, (τοῦτ’ ἔστι κατὰ ψιλόν· καθότι παρειλήφαμεν.)
75 (τοὺς καθεύδοντας οἶμαι ὁ Ἡ.) ἐργάτας (εἶναι λέγει) καὶ συνεργοὺς τῶν ἐν τῶι κόσμωι γινομένων.
76 ζῆι πῦρ τὸν γῆς θάνατον καὶ ἀὴρ ζῆι τὸν πυρὸς θάνατον, ὕδωρ ζῆι τὸν ἀέρος θάνατον, γῆ τὸν ὕδατος.
77 ψυχῆισι (φάναι) τέρψιν ἢ θάνατον ὑγρῆισι γενέσθαι.
78 ἦθος γὰρ ἀνθρώπειον μὲν οὐκ ἔχει γνώμας, θεῖον δὲ ἔχει.
79 ἀνὴρ νήπιος ἤκουσε πρὸς δαίμονος ὅκωσπερ παῖς πρὸς ἀνδρός.
80 εἰδέναι δὲ χρὴ τὸν πόλεμον ἐόντα ξυνόν, καὶ δίκην ἔριν, καὶ γινόμενα πάντα κατ’ ἔριν καὶ †χρεώμενα.
71 (Remember also) the man who forgets where the road leads.
72 With the Logos, their closest, constant companion (which governs the whole), they are at odds; what they meet every day seems foreign to them.
73 We must not act and speak as though asleep. (For even then we seem to act and speak.)
74 (We must not act like) children of their parents (that is, put simply: as we have been taught).
75 (Heraclitus, I think, calls those who sleep) workers (he says they are) and fellow workers in what comes to pass in the world-order.
76 Fire lives earth’s death, and air lives fire’s death; water lives air’s death, earth water’s.
77 For souls (he said), becoming wet is pleasure or death.
78 For human character has no insight; divine character does.
79 A man is called a child by a divinity, just as a child is by a man.
80 We must know that war is common, that Justice is strife, and that all things come to pass through strife and necessity.
Fragments 81–90
81 (ἡ δὲ τῶν ῥητόρων εἰσαγωγὴ πάντα τὰ θεωρήματα πρὸς τοῦτ’ ἔχει τείνοντα καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἡράκλειτον) κοπίδων ἐστὶν ἀρχηγός.
82 πιθήκων ὁ κάλλιστος αἰσχρὸς ἀνθρώπων γένει συμβάλλειν.
83 ἀνθρώπων ὁ σοφώτατος πρὸς θεὸν πίθηκος φανεῖται καὶ σοφίαι καὶ κάλλει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσιν.
84 μεταβάλλον ἀναπαύεται (καὶ) κάματός ἐστι τοῖς αὐτοῖς μοχθεῖν καὶ ἄρχεσθαι.
85 θυμῶι μάχεσθαι χαλεπόν· ὅ τι γὰρ ἂν θέληι, ψυχῆς ὠνεῖται.
86 ἀπιστίηι διαφυγγάνει μὴ γιγνώσκεσθαι.
87 βλὰξ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ παντὶ λόγωι ἐπτοῆσθαι φιλεῖ.
88 ταὐτό τ’ ἔνι ζῶν καὶ τεθνηκὸς καὶ τὸ ἐγρηγορὸς καὶ τὸ καθεῦδον καὶ νέον καὶ γηραιόν· τάδε γὰρ μεταπεσόντα ἐκεῖνά ἐστι κἀκεῖνα πάλιν μεταπεσόντα ταῦτα.
89 τοῖς ἐγρηγορόσιν ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν κόσμον εἶναι, (τῶν δὲ κοιμωμένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἴδιον ἀποστρέφεσθαι).
90 πυρός τε ἀνταμοιβὴ τὰ πάντα καὶ πῦρ ἁπάντων ὅκωσπερ χρυσοῦ χρήματα καὶ χρημάτων χρυσός.
81 (The rhetoricians’ introductory teaching aims all its principles at this and, in Heraclitus’ words,) is the ringleader of swindlers.
82 The most beautiful ape is ugly beside the human race.
83 The wisest human will seem an ape beside a god, in wisdom, beauty, and all else.
84 It rests in change (and) it is weariness to toil for the same people and be ruled by them.
85 Passion is hard to fight: whatever it wants, it buys with the soul.
86 Through disbelief it escapes being known.
87 A fool takes fright at every word.
88 The same: living and dead, waking and sleeping, young and old. These, changed, are those; those, changed again, are these.
89 For the waking there is one common world-order (but each sleeper turns aside into a private one).
90 All things are given in exchange for fire, and fire for all things, as goods for gold and gold for goods.
Fragments 91–100
91 ποταμῶι γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμβῆναι δὶς τῶι αὐτῶι (οὐδὲ θνητῆς οὐσίας δὶς ἅψασθαι κατὰ ἕξιν ⟨τῆς αὐτῆς⟩· ἀλλ’ ὀξύτητι καὶ τάχει μεταβολῆς) σκίδνησι καὶ πάλιν συνάγει (μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ πάλιν οὐδ’ ὕστερον, ἀλλ’ ἅμα συνίσταται καὶ ἀπολείπει) καὶ πρόσεισι καὶ ἄπεισι.
92 Σίβυλλα δὲ μαινομένωι στόματι (καθ’ Ἡράκλειτον) ἀγέλαστα καὶ ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ ἀμύριστα φθεγγομένη (χιλίων ἐτῶν ἐξικνεῖται τῆι φωνῆι) διὰ τὸν θεόν.
93 ὁ ἄναξ, οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει ἀλλὰ σημαίνει.
94 ἥλιος γὰρ οὐχ ὑπερβήσεται μέτρα· εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐρινύες μιν Δίκης ἐπίκουροι ἐξευρήσουσιν.
95 ἀμαθίην γὰρ ἄμεινον κρύπτειν, (ἔργον δὲ ἐν ἀνέσει καὶ παρ’ οἶνον).
96 νέκυες γὰρ κοπρίων ἐκβλητότεροι.
97 κύνες γὰρ καταβαΰζουσιν ὧν ἂν μὴ γινώσκωσι.
98 αἱ ψυχαὶ ὀσμῶνται καθ’ Ἅιδην.
99 εἰ μὴ ἥλιος ἦν, ἕνεκα τῶν ἄλλων ἄστρων εὐφρόνη ἂν ἦν.
100 (ὁ ἥλιος ἐπιστάτης ὢν καὶ σκοπὸς ὁρίζειν καὶ βραβεύειν καὶ ἀναδεικνύναι καὶ ἀναφαίνειν μεταβολὰς καὶ) ὥρας αἳ πάντα φέρουσι.
91 For one cannot step twice into the same river (nor touch mortal substance twice in the same state; rather, through the sharpness and speed of change) it scatters and gathers again (or rather, not again or afterward: it forms and falls away at once), and comes and goes.
92 The Sibyl, with a raving mouth (according to Heraclitus), uttering words without laughter, adornment, or perfume (reaches across a thousand years with her voice) through the god.
93 The lord whose oracle is at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign.
94 For the sun will not overstep its measures; otherwise the Furies, Justice’s helpers, will track it down.
95 For it is better to hide ignorance (but that is hard in leisure and over wine).
96 For corpses are fitter to be thrown out than dung.
97 For dogs bark at whatever they do not know.
98 Souls have a sense of smell in Hades.
99 If there were no sun, there would be night, despite the other stars.
100 (The sun, as overseer and watchman, marks out, judges, displays, and brings to light the changes and) seasons that bring all things.
Fragments 101–110
101 ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν.
101a ὀφθαλμοὶ γὰρ τῶν ὤτων ἀκριβέστεροι μάρτυρες.
102 τῶι μὲν θεῶι καλὰ πάντα καὶ ἀγαθὰ καὶ δίκαια, ἄνθρωποι δὲ ἃ μὲν ἄδικα ὑπειλήφασιν ἃ δὲ δίκαια.
103 ξυνὸν γὰρ ἀρχὴ καὶ πέρας ἐπὶ κύκλου περιφερείας.
104 τίς γὰρ αὐτῶν νόος ἢ φρήν; δήμων ἀοιδοῖσι πείθονται καὶ διδασκάλωι χρείωνται ὁμίλωι οὐκ εἰδότες ὅτι ‘οἱ πολλοὶ κακοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἀγαθοί’
105 (Ἡ. ἐντεῦθεν) ἀστρολόγον (φησὶ τὸν Ὅμηρον).
106 unus dies par omni est.
107 κακοὶ μάρτυρες ἀνθρώποισιν ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ὦτα βαρβάρους ψυχὰς ἐχόντων.
108 ὁκόσων λόγους ἤκουσα, οὐδεὶς ἀφικνεῖται ἐς τοῦτο, ὥστε γινώσκειν ὅτι σοφόν ἐστι πάντων κεχωρισμένον.
109 κρύπτειν ἀμαθίην κρέσσον ἢ ἐς τὸ μέσον φέρειν.
110 ἀνθρώποις γίνεσθαι ὁκόσα θέλουσιν οὐκ ἄμεινον.
101 I went in search of myself.
101a For eyes are more exact witnesses than ears.
102 To the god, all things are beautiful and good and just; humans have taken some for unjust, others for just.
103 For on a circle’s circumference, beginning and end share a common point.
104 What mind or understanding do they have? They trust the people’s singers and take the crowd for their teacher, not knowing that “the many are bad, the few good.”
105 (From this line Heraclitus calls) an astronomer (Homer).
106 One day is equal to every other.
107 Eyes and ears are poor witnesses for people with barbarian souls.
108 Of all those whose accounts I have heard, not one comes to this: to know that the wise is set apart from all.
109 Better to hide ignorance than bring it into the open.
110 It is not better for people to have all they wish.
Fragments 111–120
111 νοῦσος ὑγιείην ἐποίησεν ἡδύ, κακὸν ἀγαθόν, λιμὸς κόρον, κάματος ἀνάπαυσιν.
112 τὸ φρονεῖν ἀρετὴ μεγίστη, καὶ σοφίη ἀληθέα λέγειν καὶ ποιεῖν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπαΐοντας.
113 ξυνόν ἐστι πᾶσι τὸ φρονέειν.
114 ξὺν νόωι λέγοντας ἰσχυρίζεσθαι χρὴ τῶι ξυνῶι πάντων, ὅκωσπερ νόμωι πόλις, καὶ πολὺ ἰσχυροτέρως. τρέφονται γὰρ πάντες οἱ ἀνθρώπειοι νόμοι ὑπὸ ἑνὸς τοῦ θείου· κρατεῖ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ὁκόσον ἐθέλει καὶ ἐξαρκεῖ πᾶσι καὶ περιγίνεται.
115 ψυχῆς ἐστι λόγος ἑαυτὸν αὔξων.
116 ἀνθρώποισι πᾶσι μέτεστι γινώσκειν ἑωυτοὺς καὶ φρονεῖν.
117 ἀνὴρ ὁκόταν μεθυσθῆι, ἄγεται ὑπὸ παιδὸς ἀνήβου σφαλλόμενος, οὐκ ἐπαΐων ὅκηι βαίνει, ὑγρὴν τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχων.
118 αὐγὴ ξηρὴ ψυχὴ σοφωτάτη καὶ ἀρίστη.
119 ἦθος ἀνθρώπωι δαίμων.
120 ἠοῦς καὶ ἑσπέρας τέρματα ἡ ἄρκτος καὶ ἀντίον τῆς ἄρκτου οὖρος αἰθρίου Διός.
111 Sickness makes health sweet, evil good, hunger fullness, weariness rest.
112 Sound thought is the greatest excellence, and wisdom is to speak the truth and act according to nature, with understanding.
113 Thinking is common to all.
114 Those who speak with understanding must draw strength from what is common to all, as a city does from law, and far more strongly. For all human laws are nourished by the one divine law: it rules as far as it wishes, suffices for all, and has more to spare.
115 The soul has an account that enlarges itself.
116 All people have it in them to know themselves and think well.
117 When a man gets drunk, he is led by a boy not yet of age, stumbling, not knowing where he steps, his soul wet.
118 A dry radiance—the wisest and best soul.
119 A person’s character is their divinity.
120 The limits of dawn and evening are the Bear and, opposite the Bear, the boundary of bright-skied Zeus.
Fragments 121–126
121 ἄξιον Ἐφεσίοις ἡβηδὸν ἀπάγξασθαι πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς ἀνήβοις τὴν πόλιν καταλιπεῖν, οἵτινες Ἑρμόδωρον ἄνδρα ἑωυτῶν ὀνήιστον ἐξέβαλον φάντες· ἡμέων μηδὲ εἷς ὀνήιστος ἔστω, εἰ δὲ μή, ἄλλη τε καὶ μετ’ ἄλλων.
122 ἀγχιβασίην.
123 φύσις (δὲ καθ’ Ἡράκλειτον) κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ.
124 (ὥσπερ) σάρμα εἰκῆ κεχυμένον ὁ κάλλιστος, (φησὶν Ἡράκλειτος,) [ὁ] κόσμος.
125 καὶ ὁ κυκεὼν διίσταται ⟨μὴ⟩ κινούμενος.
125a μὴ ἐπιλίποι ὑμᾶς πλοῦτος, (ἔφη,) Ἐφέσιοι, ἵν’ ἐξελέγχοισθε πονηρευόμενοι.
126 τὰ ψυχρὰ θέρεται, θερμὸν ψύχεται, ὑγρὸν αὐαίνεται, καρφαλέον νοτίζεται.
121 The Ephesians deserve to hang themselves, every man of age, and leave the city to those not yet grown: they expelled Hermodorus, the most valuable man among them, saying, “Let no one among us be most valuable; if anyone is, let him be elsewhere and among others.”
122 Drawing near.
123 Nature (according to Heraclitus) loves to hide.
124 (Like) sweepings strewn at random is the most beautiful (Heraclitus says) world-order.
125 Even the mixed drink separates unless it is stirred.
125a May wealth never fail you (he said), Ephesians, so that your wrongdoing may be exposed.
126 Cold things grow warm; what is warm grows cold; what is wet dries; what is parched grows moist.