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device by which he laid the winds that ruined the harvests of Agrigentum, and of the almost miraculous restoration to life of a woman who had long lain in a See also:

DEATH

death-like See also:

TRANCE (through the French, from Lat. transitus, from transire, to cross, pass over)

trance. Legends stranger still told of his disappearance from among men. Empedocles, according to one See also:

story, was one midnight, after a feast held in his honour, called away in a See also:

BLAZE (A.-S. blaese, a torch)

blaze of glory to the gods; according to another, he had only thrown himself into the See also:

CRATER

crater of See also:

Etna, in the See also:

hope that men, finding no traces of his end, would suppose him translated to See also:

HEAVEN (0. Eng. hefen, heofon, heofone; this word appears in O.S. hevan; the High. Ger. word appears in Ger. Himmel, Dutch hemel; there does not seem to be any connexion between the two words, and the ultimate derivation of the word is unknown; the sugges

heaven. But his hopes were cheated by the See also:

VOLCANO

volcano, which See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast forth his brazen sandals and betrayed his See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret (Diog. Laert. viii. 67). The See also:

PEOPLE

people of Agrigentum have never ceased to honour his name, and even in See also:

MODERN

modern times he has been celebrated by followers of Mazzini as the democrat of antiquity par excellence. As his See also:

HISTORY

history is uncertain, so his doctrines are hard to put together. He does not belong to any one definite school. While, on one See also:

hand, he combines much that had been suggested by Parmenides, See also:

Pythagoras and the Ionic See also:

SCHOOLS

schools, he has germs of truth that See also:

PLATO

Plato and Aristotle afterwards See also:

DEVELOPED

developed; he is at once a See also:

FIRM

firm believer in Orphic mysteries, and a scientific thinker, precursor of the See also:

PHYSICAL

physical scientists.

There are, according to Empedocles, four ultimate elements, four primal divinities, of which are made all structures in the See also:

WORLD

world--See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire, See also:

air, See also:

WATER

water, See also:

earth. These four elements are eternally brought into See also:

union, and eternally parted from each other, by two divine beings or See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers, love and hatred—an attractive and a repulsive force which the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

eye can see working amongst men, but which really pervade the whole world. According to the different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable matters are combined with each other is the difference of, the organic structure produced; e.g. flesh and See also:

BLOOD

blood are made of equal (in See also:

WEIGHT

weight but not in See also:

VOLUME

volume) parts of all four elements, whereas bones are one-See also:

HALF

half fire, one-See also:

FOURTH

fourth earth, and one-fourth water. It is in the See also:

AGGREGATION (from the Lat. ad, to, gregare, to collect together)

aggregation and segregation of elements thus arising that Empedocles, like the atomists, finds the real See also:

PROCESS

process which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or decrease. Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element with element. Empedocles apparently regarded love (cNMe ls) and discord (veIKOS) as alternately holding the See also:

EMPIRE

empire over things,—neither, however, being ever quite absent. As the best and original See also:

state, he seems to have conceived a See also:

period when love was pre-dominant, and all the elements formed one See also:

GREAT

great See also:

SPHERE (Gr. vclsa?pa, a ball or globe)

sphere or globe. Since that period discord had gained more sway; and the actual world was full of contrasts and oppositions, due to the combined See also:

ACTION

action of both principles. His theory attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and See also:

sea, of See also:

sun and See also:

moon, of See also:

ATMOSPHERE (Gr. fir µ6r, vapour; orkaipa, a sphere)

atmosphere. But the most interesting and most matured See also:

PART

part of his views dealt with the first origin of See also:

PLANTS

plants and animals, and with the See also:

PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

physiology of man. As the elements (his deities) entered into combinations, there appeared See also:

QUAINT (O. Fr. cointe, from Lat. cognitus, known, probably influenced by association with Lat. corn plus, neat)

quaint results—heads without necks, arms without shoulders. Then as these fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human bodies, bodies of oxen with men's heads, and figures of See also:

double See also:

SEX (Lat. sexes; possibly connected with secure, to cut)

sex.

But most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they arose; only in those rare cases where the several parts were found adapted to each other, and casual member fitted into casual member, did the complex structures thus formed last. Thusfrom spontaneous aggregations of casual aggregates, which suited each other as if this had been intended, did the organic universe originally See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring. Soon various influences reduced the creatures of double sex to a male and a See also:

FEMALE

female, and the world was replenished with organic life. It is impossible not to see in this thecry a crude anticipation of the " survival of the fittest "theory of modern evolutionists. As man, See also:

animal and plant are composed of the same elements in different proportions, there is an identity of nature in them all. They all have sense and understanding; in man, however, and especially in the blood at his See also:

heart, mind has its See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar seat. But mind is always dependent upon the See also:

BODY

body, and varies with its changing constitution. Hence the precepts of morality are with Empedocles largely dietetic. Knowledge is explained by the principle that the several elements in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves. We know only in so far as we have within us a nature cognate to the See also:

OBJECT

object of knowledge. Like is known by like. The whole body is full of pores, and hence respiration takes See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place over the whole See also:

FRAME

frame.

But in the See also:

ORGANS

organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive the effluxes which are continually rising from bodies around us; and in this way See also:

PERCEPTION (from Lat. percipere, to perceive)

perception is somewhat obscurely explained. The theory, however unsatisfactory as an explanation, has one great merit, that it recognizes between the eye, for instance, and the object seen an intermediate something. Certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constitutes See also:

VISION (from Lat. videre, to see), or SIGHT

vision. This See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea contains within it the germ of the modern idea of the subjectivity of sense-given data; perception is not merely a passive reflection of See also:

EXTERNAL

external See also:

OBJECTS

objects. It is not easy to harmonize these quasi-scientific theories with the theory of transmigration of souls which Empedocles seems to expound. Probably the See also:

DOCTRINE

doctrine that the divinity (6aL swv) passes from element to element, nowhere finding a See also:

home, is a mystical way of teaching the continued identity of the principles which are at the bottom of every phase of development from inorganic nature to man. At the See also:

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top of the See also:

scale are the prophet and the physician, those who have best learned the secret of life; they are next to the divine. One See also:

law, an identity of elements, pervades all nature; existence is one from end to end; the plant and the animal are links in a See also:

CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain where man is a See also:

LINK

link too; and even the distinction between male and female is transcended. The beasts are kindred with man ; he who eats their flesh is not much better than a cannibal. Looking at the opposition between these and the ordinary opinions, we are not surprised that Empedocles notes the See also:

LIMITATION, STATUTES OF

limitation and narrowness of human perceptions. We see, he says, but a part, and See also:

FANCY (a shortened form, dating from the 15th century, of " fantasy," which is derived through the O. Fr. fantasie, modern fantaisie. from the Latinized form of the Gr. cbavraoia, Oavrai'ecv, Oat Pais, to show)

fancy that we have grasped the whole. But the senses cannot See also:

lead to truth; thought and reflection must look at the thing on every See also:

side.

It is the business of a philosopher, while he See also:

LAYS

lays See also:

BARE

bare the fundamental difference of elements, to display the identity that subsists between what seem unconnected parts of the universe. See Diog. Laert. viii. 51-77; Sext. Empiric. Adv. math. vii. 123; See also:

SIMPLICIUS

Simplicius, Phys. f. 24, f. 76. For See also:

TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text See also:

Simon See also:

KARSTEN, KARL JOHANN BERNHARD (1782-1853)

Karsten, " Empedoclis Agrigenti carminum reliquiae," in Reliq. Phil. See also:

vet. (See also:

Amsterdam, 1838) ; F.

W. A. Mullach, Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum, vol. i.; H. See also:

Stein, Empedoclis Agrigenti fragmenta (See also:

BONN

Bonn, 1882); H. See also:

Ritter and L. See also:

Preller, Historia philosophiae (4th ed., See also:

GOTHA

Gotha, 1869), See also:

CHAP

chap. iii. ad fin. ; A. See also:

FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS (1792–1864)

Fairbanks, The First Philosophers of See also:

GREECE

Greece (1898). See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

Verse See also:

TRANSLATION

translation, W. E. Leonard (1908). For See also:

criticism E.

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