Fragments 121–126
Original Ancient Greek
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About this section
Fragments 121–126 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 13 of 13 in the work, which is kept in the Greek tradition.
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