Fragments 11–20
Original Ancient Greek
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About this section
Fragments 11–20 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 2 of 13 in the work, which is kept in the Greek tradition.
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