Fragments 101–110
Original Ancient Greek
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.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation of all 130 genuine fragments in Hermann Diels’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (4th ed., 1922), made directly from the Ionic Greek and Latin and checked against the printed page. Words of the ancient authors who quote Heraclitus stand in round parentheses.
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.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same 130 fragments. Words of the ancient authors who quote Heraclitus stand in round parentheses.
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.
About this section
Fragments 101–110 is part of Fragments by Heraclitus. This page sets the Ancient Greek original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 11 of 13 in the work, which is kept in the Greek tradition.
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