The Poem of Empedocles: A text and translation with a commentary

by Empedocles, Brad Inwood (Editor)

The Poem of Empedocles is a completely new edition of the fragments of Empedocles, which presents the Greek text and a new verse translation on facing pages. Also included are the testimonia from Diels-Kranz (for the first time translated into English), and a very full selection of frangment contexts, much of it material which has never before been translated into any modern language. The fragments are presented in their original contexts, which makes possible a fresh reading of the full evidence for Empedocles' thought. In this edition Brad Inwood argues for a new view of the character of Empedocles' philosophical work. In the introduction he makes a sustained case for there being only one poem originally, rather than two as has usually been thought, and explores the philosophical implications of this thesis at length. He offers new interpretations of Empedocles' metaphysics, epistemology, religious philosophy, andcosmology, and relates the work of Empedocles to Aristotle's critique.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Poetry, Ancient, Literature, Fiction

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 435

About the author

"Empedocles (c. 490 – c. 430 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements. These physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life. Influenced by the Pythagoreans, he supported the doctrine of reincarnation. Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than in the case of any other Presocratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.

Empedocles is considered the last Greek philosopher to write in verse and the surviving fragments of his teaching are from two poems, Purifications and On Nature."

-- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jeremy Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't help but admire excellent work. This translation of Empedocles is precisely that. Brad Inwood has gathered together the extant text of this presocratic philosopher in a volume that is bound to remain the authoritative version for quite some time. What makes it so authoritative? Good organization, thorough treatment, and excessive care. On the first point, Inwood has organized the text to include Empedocles' fragments assembled together, in the contexts they inhabit in the text of early commentators (such as Aristotle and Simplicius), as well as a section of testimonia. Inwood has also taken care to examine nearly all the leading translations and commentaries available, no matter in what language they appear, and has taken care to consider them in his own treatment. He avoids taking speculative leaps in his translation (and interpretation), and thus we are given an excellent basis upon which to make our own speculations. His introduction is also thematically varied, balanced, and just thoughtful enough to provide a reasoned entry into this ancient philosophy. Altogether, this is a fabulous piece of work, and while Inwood leaves quite a bit of latitude for people to disagree with him, I think this in itself is a mark of just how good his efforts have turned out to be.

The poem and philosophy itself? Fascinating. I can't help but feel like I've been waiting most of my life to discover Empedocles. At least I can be happy that I can now live the rest of my life familiar with his ideas.

Best quote: "Wretches, utter wretches, keep your hands off beans!" That's ancient philosophy gold, right there.

[Caroline Loftus · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Love
Clinging Love”

[The Esoteric Jungle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Suda records Empedocles was a student of Pythagoras’ son Telauges and that this great poet was born in Akragas and flourished in the 77th Olympiad (778 BC minus 77 4yr olympiad periods [308yrs later] would bring his date then to well into the 500’s BC for his birth).

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fragments of philosophical poetry. A speculative cyclical cosmology based on elements (earth, fire, water, air) and forces (attraction, repulsion).

[Patricia Pagina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overzichtelijk, duidelijk en prettig lezend. Weinig was ik bekend met Empedokles en zijn elementenleer, en ook al zijn de bewaarde fragmenten incompleet, toch weet Ferwerda de Oud-Griekse teksten goed te verhelderen. De teksten zelf zijn wat je zou verwachten van de Presocraten: mythologische en dichterlijke verhandelingen die het onderscheid tussen wetenschap en religie, tussen proza en poezie of tussen geschiedenis en mythologie niet maakten. Deze protowetenschappers ontwikkelden veelal een overkoepelend centraal idee, waaruit hun gehele begrip van de wereld uit voortvloeit, op alle vlakken.

Voor Empedokles was dat de vier elementen leer: Aarde, Lucht, Water en Vuur geregeerd door de samenballende kracht Liefde en de scheidende macht Haat. Hij extrapoleert de zelf-gestelde regels en effecten tot het ontstaan van de wereld, de eigenschappen van de ziel, het werken van de zintuigen etc. Hieruit concludeert hij onder meer dat de ziel een verbannen goddelijke daimon is die boete doet door een serie aan reincarnaties te ondergaan. De ziel is dus onsterfelijk en elke levend wezen is gelijk en gelijkwaardig in essentie: Empedokles pleit dan ook voor vegetarisme. Ook beredeneert hij enigzins juist de theorie dat om objecten waar te kunnen nemen er 'afschilferingen' vrij komen en de porien van ons lichaam binnentreden (geurmoleculen; lichtstralen).

Mooi is de toevoegingen van het effect van Empedokles' leer op andere schrijvers en filosofen. Vooral zijn (vrij gedramatiseerde) vermeende einde waarbij hij in de Etna springt om zo een einde aan zijn leven te maken, is een bron van inspiratie geweest bij verschillende dichters en schrijvers.

Al met al positief verrast.

Klassieken
Originele tekst vorm 4/5
Originele tekst inhoud 3/5
Vertaling en commentaar 5/5

[Audimaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read the translation, not the full book.

[Otto Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird flex maar oke

[James Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empedocles has much to say that later thinkers ought to have read more closely - he recognised that there is no creation merely a constant reorganisation of elements into new forms over a millennium before Aquinas built a Cosmological Argument on the causal principles of creation; Potentially his model of the daemon in all things hints towards the property dualist panpsychism of Chalmers. His model of metempsychosis is perhaps unlikely to convince though it bares comparison with various religious doctrines.

The translation in Inwood is helpful as is the Waterfield in the Oxford World Classics (which is cheaper, but lacks the parallel Greek, if that is wanted).