Fragments 71–80
Original Ancient Greek
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About this section
Fragments 71–80 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 8 of 13 in the work, which is kept in the Greek tradition.
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