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 Although this account (the Logos) holds forever, people do not understand it, either before hearing it or when they first hear it. Everything happens according to the Logos, but they seem inexperienced even as they experience words and actions like those I explain, examining each thing according to its nature and saying how it is. Other people are unaware of what they do when awake, just as they forget what they do when asleep.
2 So we must follow what is common, that is, what is shared. For what is shared is common. Although the Logos is common, most people live as if they had an understanding of their own.
3 (On the sun’s size:) the width of a human foot.
4 (Heraclitus said that) if happiness were found in bodily pleasures, we would call cattle happy when they find bitter vetch to eat.
5 They try to purify themselves in vain by staining themselves with blood. It is as if someone stepped into mud and tried to wash himself clean with mud. Anyone who noticed him doing this would think he was mad. And they pray to these statues, as if someone were chatting with houses, without knowing at all who the gods or heroes are.
6 (The sun is not only, as Heraclitus says,) new each day (but is always and continuously new).
7 If everything that exists became smoke, noses could tell things apart.
8 What opposes also unites. The finest harmony comes from things that differ, and everything comes about through conflict.
9 Donkeys would choose sweepings rather than gold.
10 Connections: whole and not whole, coming together and pulling apart, in tune and 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 crawling creature is driven by a blow.
12 Different waters keep flowing over those who step into the same rivers. Souls too rise as vapor from what is wet.
13 (For a refined person must not be dirty or grimy or) delight in mud.
14 Night wanderers, magicians, male worshippers of Dionysus, female worshippers of Dionysus, initiates. (He threatens these people with what comes after death; he foretells fire for them.) For people are initiated in an unholy way into the mysteries they customarily practice.
15 If they were not holding their procession for Dionysus and singing a hymn to genitals, what they did would be utterly shameless. But Hades is the same as Dionysus, for whom they go mad and perform their rites.
16 How could anyone hide from what never sets?
17 Most people do not understand the things they encounter. Even after learning about them, they do not know them, though they think they do.
18 Unless you expect the unexpected, you will not find it. It cannot be searched out, and there is no path to it.
19 They do not know how to listen or how to speak.
20 Once born, they want to live and meet their deaths—or rather, to rest. They leave children behind to meet death in turn.
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 Everything we see when awake is death; everything we see when asleep is sleep.
22 For people looking for gold dig up a lot of earth and find little.
23 They would not know the name of Justice if these things did not exist.
24 Gods and people honor those killed in battle.
25 For greater deaths win greater shares.
26 A person lights a light for himself at night, dead, [his sight extinguished], yet alive. In sleep he touches the dead, his sight extinguished; awake, he touches the sleeping.
27 After death, people face things they do not expect or imagine.
28 For the most respected person knows and guards what seems true. Yet Justice will catch those who make up lies and those who testify to them.
29 For the best choose one thing over everything else: everlasting fame among mortals. But most people stuff themselves like cattle.
30 No god or human made this world-order, the same for all. It always was, is, and will be ever-living fire, lighting up in measured amounts and going out in measured amounts.
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 changes: first sea; of sea, half earth and half fiery whirlwind. (For he means that fire is changed by the Logos and god that govern everything, passing through air into moisture, which is like the seed of the world-order and which he calls) sea. (From this, earth and sky and everything they contain come into being in turn. How it is taken back again and set on fire he makes clear in these words:) Sea spreads out and is measured in the same proportion as before it became earth.
32 The wise, the one and only, both refuses and accepts the name of Zeus.
33 Law also means obeying the will of one.
34 People who hear without understanding are like the deaf. The saying describes them: “Present, yet absent.”
35 For those who love wisdom must investigate a great many things.
36 For souls, becoming water is death. For water, becoming earth is death. But water comes from earth, and soul comes from water.
37 Pigs bathe in mud, barnyard birds in dust or ashes.
38 (Thales seems, to some people, to have been) the first to study the stars (… Heraclitus and Democritus also bear witness for him).
39 In Priene lived Bias, son of Teutamas. He had a greater reputation than the others.
40 Learning many things does not teach understanding. If it did, it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, and also Xenophanes and Hecataeus.
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 intelligence that steers everything through everything.
42 Homer (he said) deserved to be thrown out of the contests and beaten with a rod, and Archilochus deserved the same.
43 We must put out arrogance more urgently than a raging fire.
44 The people must fight for their law as they would for their city wall.
45 You could not find the soul’s limits on your travels, even if you traveled every road. Its Logos is so deep.
46 Conceit (he said) is a sacred disease, and sight deceives.
47 Let us not guess at random about the greatest matters.
48 The bow’s name also means “life,” but its work is death.
49 One person is worth ten thousand to me, if he is the best.
49a We step and do not step into the same rivers. We are and are not.
50 When you have listened 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 something at odds with itself agrees with itself. It is a harmony that turns back on itself, like that of the bow and the lyre.
52 A lifetime is a child at play, moving pieces on a board. The kingship belongs to a child.
53 War is the father of all and the king of all. It has shown some to be gods and others humans; it has made some slaves and others free.
54 Hidden harmony is stronger than visible harmony.
55 I prefer things that can be seen, heard, and learned.
56 People are deceived (he says) in their knowledge of visible things, just as Homer was, the wisest of all the Greeks. Children killing lice tricked him by saying: “What we saw and caught, we leave behind. What we neither saw nor caught, we carry with us.”
57 Hesiod is the teacher of most people. They are sure he knows the most, yet he did not understand day and night. For they are one.
58 Good and evil [are one]. Doctors, at any rate, (Heraclitus says,) cut and burn all over, cruelly torturing the sick. They demand payment from the sick, though they deserve none, since they produce the same things (good things and diseases).
59 In a cloth-cleaner’s workshop, the straight and crooked path (the tool called a screw in the workshop turns in a straight and crooked path, since it moves both upward and in a circle at once) is one (he says) and the same.
60 The path up and the path down are 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 The sea is the purest and most polluted water. For fish it is drinkable and keeps them alive; for people it is undrinkable and deadly.
62 Immortals are mortal, mortals immortal: they live the others’ death and are dead in the others’ life.
63 And they rise before the one who is there and become watchful guards of the living and the dead.
64 The Thunderbolt steers everything.
65 (He calls it) need and fullness.
66 For when fire comes (he says), it will judge and seize everything.
67 God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, fullness and hunger (all the opposites—this is the meaning). But he changes like fire: when it is mixed with incense, it gets its name from the pleasant scent of each kind.
67a Just as a spider (he says) standing in the middle of its web feels at once when a fly breaks one of its threads, and quickly runs there as if distressed that the thread is no longer whole, so a person’s soul, when some part of the body is injured, rushes there as if unable to bear the 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, since they would cure terrible ills and make souls safe from the misfortunes of life).
69 (So I distinguish two kinds of sacrifice. One kind is that) of completely purified people, such as might occur only rarely in the case of one person (as Heraclitus says) or a few easily counted people.
70 (How much better, then, that Heraclitus regarded as) children’s playthings (the opinions people hold).
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 (We must also remember) the person who forgets where the road leads.
72 The Logos (which governs everything) is what they are always in closest contact with, yet they are at odds with it. And the things they meet every day seem strange to them.
73 We must not act and speak like people asleep. (For even then we think we are acting and speaking.)
74 (We must not act like) children of their parents (that is, simply following what has been handed down to us).
75 (I think Heraclitus means that people who are asleep are) workers (that is what he says) and fellow workers in what happens in the world-order.
76 Fire lives the death of earth, and air lives the death of fire. Water lives the death of air, and earth the death of water.
77 For souls (he said), it is pleasure or death to become wet.
78 For human character has no understanding, but divine character does.
79 A man is called childish by a divinity, just as a child is by a man.
80 We must know that war is common, that Justice is conflict, and that everything happens through conflict 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 orators’ introductory teaching aims all its lessons at this and, according to Heraclitus,) is the ringleader of cheats.
82 The most beautiful ape is ugly compared with the human race.
83 The wisest human will seem like an ape compared with a god, in wisdom, beauty, and everything else.
84 It rests by changing (and) it is exhausting to work for the same people and be ruled by them.
85 It is hard to fight passion. It buys whatever it wants at the price of the soul.
86 It escapes recognition because of disbelief.
87 A stupid person tends to get worked up over every report.
88 The same thing is alive and dead, awake and asleep, young and old. For these change into those, and those change back into these.
89 Those who are awake have one common world-order (but each person asleep turns away into a private one).
90 All things are exchanged for fire, and fire for all things, just as goods are exchanged 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 you cannot step into the same river twice (or touch mortal substance twice in the same state; instead, because change is so swift and sudden) it scatters and gathers again (or rather, not again or later, but it comes together and falls away at the same time) and comes near and goes away.
92 The Sibyl, with her raving mouth (according to Heraclitus), utters words without laughter, decoration, or perfume (and reaches across a thousand years with her voice) because of the god.
93 The lord whose oracle is at Delphi neither tells nor hides, but gives a sign.
94 For the sun will not go beyond its measures. If it does, the Furies, the helpers of Justice, will find it.
95 For it is better to hide ignorance (but that is hard when relaxing and drinking wine).
96 For corpses are more fit to be thrown out than dung.
97 For dogs bark at anyone they do not know.
98 Souls sense smells in Hades.
99 If there were no sun, it would be night, despite the other stars.
100 (The sun, as overseer and lookout, defines, regulates, reveals, 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 searched for myself.
101a For eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.
102 To God, all things are beautiful, good, and just. But people have judged some things unjust and others just.
103 For the beginning and end are one common point on a circle’s edge.
104 What understanding or sense do they have? They trust the people’s singers and take the crowd as their teacher, not knowing that “most people are bad, and few are good.”
105 (Heraclitus uses this line to call) an astronomer (Homer).
106 One day is equal to any other.
107 Eyes and ears are poor witnesses for people whose souls speak a foreign language.
108 Not one of those whose accounts I have heard has reached the point of knowing that the wise is separate from everything.
109 It is better to hide ignorance than to put it on display.
110 People are not better off getting everything they want.
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 Illness makes health pleasant; evil makes good pleasant; hunger makes fullness pleasant; exhaustion makes rest pleasant.
112 Thinking well is the greatest virtue. Wisdom is telling the truth and acting according to nature, with understanding.
113 Thinking is common to everyone.
114 Those who speak with understanding must rely firmly on what is common to all, as a city relies on its law, and much more firmly than that. For all human laws are fed by one divine law. It rules as far as it wishes, is enough for all, and has more to spare.
115 The soul has a Logos that grows on its own.
116 All people can know themselves and think well.
117 When a man gets drunk, a boy who has not reached puberty leads him. He stumbles without knowing where he is going. His soul is wet.
118 A dry gleam is the wisest and best soul.
119 A person’s character is their guiding spirit.
120 The limits of dawn and evening are the Bear and, opposite the Bear, the boundary of Zeus’s clear sky.
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 All adult Ephesians deserve to hang themselves and leave the city to the children. They expelled Hermodorus, the most useful man among them, saying: “Let none of us be the most useful. If anyone is, let him be so somewhere else and among other people.”
122 Coming close.
123 Nature (according to Heraclitus) likes to hide.
124 The most beautiful world-order (Heraclitus says) is (like) sweepings scattered at random.
125 Even the mixed drink separates if it is not stirred.
125a May your wealth never run out (he said), Ephesians, so that you may be exposed as wrongdoers.
126 Cold things warm up, what is warm cools down, what is wet dries out, and what is dry grows damp.