OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS

The First Philosophers

The Presocratics and Sophists

Translated with commentary by

ROBIN WATERFIELD

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

Heraclitus ofEphesus

37

Fl (DK 2281; KRS 194; W I; M I; K I) But of this principle which

holds forever people prove ignor'ant, not only before they hear it, but
also once they have heard it.* For although everything happens in
accordance with this principle, they resemble those with no familia.rity with it, even after they have become familiar with the kinds of
accounts and events I discuss as I distinguish each thing according to
its nature and explain its constitution. But the general run of people
are as unaware of their actions while awake as they are of what they
do while asleep.* (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors 7.132
Bury)
F2 (DK 22878;

KRS

205;

61;

90;

55) Unlike divine nature,

The Presocratics
human nature lacks sound judgements.
6.12.13-14 Koetschau)

(Origen, Against Celsus

F3 (OK 22841; KRS 227; W 120; M 85; K 54) The one wise thing is to
know, in sound judgement, how everything is guided in every
case. t (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.1.7-8
Long)
.
F4 (OK 22832; KRS 228; W 119; M 84; K 108) The one and only wise
thing is and is not willing to be called by the name of Zeus.
(Clement, Miscellanies 5. I 15. I ,Stahlin/Friichtel)
F5 (OK 22834; W 55; M 2; K 2) In their ignorance after having
listened they behave like the deaf. The saying 'Though present they
are absent' testifies to their case. (Clement, Miscellanies 5.115.3
Stahlin/Friichtel)
Tl (OK 22889; W 15; M 24; K 6) Heraclitus says that the universe
for those who are awake is single and common, while in sleep each
person turns. aside into a private universe.* (Ps.-Plutarch, On
Superstition 166c5-8 Babbit)
F6 (OK 2282; KRS 195; W 2; M 23; K3) And so one ought to follow
what is common. t Although the principle is common, the majority of
people live as though they had private understanding. (Sextus
Empiricus, Against the Professors 7.133.4-7 Bury)
F7 (OK 228104; W 91; M 101; K 59) What intelligence or insight
do they have? They trust the people's bards and take for their teacher
the mob, not realizing that 'Most men are bad, few good.'*
(Proclus, Commentary on Plato's 'First A/cibiades' 256.2-5 Segonds)
T2 (OK 22842; W 93; M 30; K 21) He said that Homer deserved to
be expelled from the competition and thrashed, and Archilochus as
well.* (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.1.8-10
Long)
F8 (OK 22872; W 64; M 4; K5) They tend away from that with which
they are in the most continuous contact. t (Marcus Aurelius, To
Himself 4.46.5-6 Haines)
F9 (OK 22818; KRS 210; W 19; M II; K 7) If you do not expect
the unexpected, you will not find it, since it is trackless and unexplored. (Clement, Miscellanies 2.17.4.4-5 Stahlin/Friichtel)

Heraclitus ofEphesus

39

FlO (OK 22850; KRS 196; W 118; M 26; K 36) It is wise for those
who listen not to me but to the principle to agree in principle that
everything is one. (Hippolytus, Refutation ofAll Heresies 9.9.1.3-4
Marcovich)
Fll (OK 228108; W 7; M 83; K '27) I have heard a lot of people
speak, but not one has reached the point of realizing that the wise is
different from everything else. Gohn of Stobi, Anthology 3.1.174
Wachsmuth/Hense)
Fl2 (OK 228114; KRS 250; W 81; M 23; K 30) Those who spea.k
with intelligence must stand firm by that which is common to all,* as
a state stands by the law, and even more firmly. For all human laws
are in the keeping of the one divine law; for the one divine law has
as much power as it wishes, is an unfailing defence for all laws,
and prevails over all laws. Gohn of Stobi, Anthology 3.1.179
Wachsmuth/Hense)
F13 (OK 22888; KRS 202; W 113; M 41; K 43) It makes no diffeJ:. ence which is present: living and dead, sleeping and waking, young
and old. For these changed around are those and those changed
around are again these. (Ps.-Plutarch, Letter ofConsolation to Apollonius 106e3-6 Babbit)
F14 (OK 22860; KRS 200; W 108; M 33; K 103) Road: up and down,
it's still the same road.* (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresi,~s
9 10.4.6 Marcovich)
Fl5 (OK 22861; KRS 199; W 101; M 35; K 70) Sea: water most pure
and most tainted, drinkable and wholesome for fish, but undrinkable
and poisonous for people. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresi,~s
9.10.5.3-4 Marcovich)
Fl6 (OK 228110, I II; KRS 201; W 52, 99; M 44, 71; K 67) It is
not better for men to get everything they want. Disease makt:s
health pleasant and good, as hunger does being full, and weariness rest. Gohn of Stobi, Anthology 3.1.176, 177 Wachsmuth/
Hense)
Fl7 (OK 2289; W 102; M 37; K 71) Donkeys would prefer refuse
to gold. (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics I 176a7 Bywater)

The Presocratics

FI8 (OK 22813b; M 36; K 72a) Pigs prefer filth to clean water.
(Clement, Miscellanies 1.2.2.3-4 Stiihlin/Friichtel)
FI9 (OK 22879; W 105; M 92; K 57) A man is thought as foolish by a
supernatural being as a child is by a man. (Origen, Against Celsus
6.12.14-15 Koetschau)
F20 (OK 228126; W 22; M 42; K 49) Cool things become warm, warm
things cool down, moist things dry out, parched things become
damp.t Oohn Tzetzes, Notes on Homer's 'Iliad' i26.17-19
Hermann)
F21 (OK 22851; KRS 209; W 117; M 27; K 78) They are ignorant of
how while tending away it agrees with itself-a back-turning
harmony, like a bow or a lyre. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All
Heresies 9.9.2.2-4 Marcovich)
F22 (OK 22880; KRS 211; W 26; M 28; K 82) It is necessary to
realize that war is common, and strife is justice, and that everything
happens in accordance with strife and necessity. * (Origen, Against
Celsus 6.42.21-3 Koetschau)
F23 (OK 22853; KRS 212; W 25; M 29; K 83) War is father of all
and king of all. Some he reveals as gods, others as men; some he
makes slaves, others free. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies
9.9+4-7 Marcovich)
F24 (OK 22854; KRS 207; W 116; M 9; K 80) Harmony: non-apparent
is better than apparent. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies
9.9.5.3 Marcovich)
F25 (OK 228123; KRS 208; W 17; M 8; K 10) The true nature of a
thing tends to hide itself (Themistius, Speeches 5.69b3 Dindorf)
F26 (OK 22893; KRS 244; W 18; M 14; K 33) The lord whose oracle is
in Delphi neither speaks nor suppresses, but indicates. (Plutarch,
On the Failure of the Oracles at Delphi These Days to Use Verse
404dl2-el Babbit)
F27 (OK 228107; KRS 198; W 13; M 13; K 16) Eyes and ears are bad
witnesses for men if they have souls which cannot understand their
language. (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors 7.126.8--<)
Bury)

Heraclitus ofEphesus

F28 (OK 22855; KRS 197; W II; M 5; K 14) The things I rate highly
are those which are accessible to sight, hearing, apprehension.
(Hippolytus, Refutation ofAll Heresies 9.9.5.6 Marcovich)
F29 (OK 2287; W 58; M 78; K 112) If everything were smoke, the
nostrils would tell things apart. (Aristotle, On the Senses 443a23--4
Bekker)
F30 (OK 228101; KRS 246; W 8; M 15; K 28) I searched for myseli:*
(Plutarch, Against Colotes I I 18q Einarson/de Lacy)
F31 (OK 228116; W 9; M 23e; K 29) Everyone has the potential fiJI'
self-knowledge and sound thinking. Gohn of Stobi, Anthology 3.5.6
Wachsmuth/Hense)
F32 (OK 22867; KRS 204; W 121; M 77; K 123) God: day/night,
winter/summer, war/peace, fullness/hunger. t He changes like fire t
which, when mixed with spices, is named according to the savour of
each. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 9.10.8.5--6
Marcovich)
F33 (OK 22812; KRS 214; M 40; K 50) On those who step into the
same rivers ever different waters are flowing. (Arius Didymus,
fl'. 39 Diels)
F34 (OK 22891; W 31; M 40; K 51) 'It is impossible to step twice
into the same river,' as Heraclitus says ... 'It scatters and regathers,
comes together and dissolves, approaches and departs.' (Plutarch,
On the E at Delphi 392bIO-C3 Babbit)
T3 (OK 22849a; W 110; M 40) Heraclitus the obscure says, 'We
step and do not step into the same rivers, we are and are not. '*
(Heraclitus Homericus, Homeric Questions 24.10-12 Oelmann)
T4 (OK 22A6; KRS 215) Heraclitus says somewhere that everything
gives way and nothing is stable, and in likening things to the flowing
of a river he says that one cannot step twice into the same rivt:r.
(Plato, Cratylus 402a8-lo Duke et al.)
F35 (OK 22821; W 16; M 49; K 89) Dying is all we see when asleep;
sleep is all we see when awake. t (Clement, Miscellanies 3.21.1.3--4
Stiihlin/Friichtel)
F36 (OK 22830;

KRS

217;

29;

51;

37) Order was not made by

The Presocratics

god or man. t It always was and is and shall be an ever-living fire,

flaring up in regular measures and dying down in regular measures. (Clement; Miscellanies 5.104.2 Stiihlin/Friichtel)
F37 (OK 22B31; KRS 218; w 32, 33; M 53; K 38, 39) The
turning-points of fire: first sea, and of sea half is earth, half
lightning. Sea drains oW and is measured into the same principle
as before it became earth. (Clement, Miscellanies 5.104.3 Stiihlinl
Friichtel)
F38 (OK 22B90; KRS 219; W 28; M 54; K 40) Everything is a compensation for fire t and fire is a compensation for everything, as goods are
for gold and gold for goods. (Plutarch, On the E at Delphi 388el-4
Babbit)
F39 (OK 22B64; KRS 220; W 35; M 79;' K 109) Thunderbolt steers
everything. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 9.10.7.4-5
Marcovich)
F40 (OK 22B66; W 72; M 82; K 121) Fire on its approach will judge
and condemn everything. (Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies
9.10.7.2-3 Marcovich)
, ,
F41 (OK 22B16; W 73; M 81; K 122) How can anyone be overlooked
by that which never sets? (Clement, The Pedagogue 2.99.5.5
Mondesertl Marrou)
T5 (OK 22AIO) All thinkers agree that the world had a beginning,
but some claim that, having come into existence, it is everlasting,
while others claim that it is just as destructible as any other natural
formation, and others (like Empedocles ofAcragas and Heraclitus of
Ephesus) that it alternates between sometimes being in the state we
find it now and sometimes being in a different state-that is, in the
process of being destroyed-and that this process continues nonstop. (Aristotle, On the Heavens 279bI2-17 Allan)
.
T6 (OK 22AIO) Nor can one of the elements-fire, for instance-be
infinite: for there is the general consideration, quite apart from any
of them being infinite, that it is impossible for the whole universe
(even ifit were finite) to be or to become just one of the elementsas Heraclitus says that at some time everything becomes fire. (Aristotle, Physics 204b3S-20Sa4 Ross)

Heraclitus ofEphesus

4-3

T7 (Die 2286; KRS 225; w 36; M 58; K 48a) The sun, according to
Heraclitus, is new each day.* (Aristotle, On Celestial Phenomer.!a
355a13-14 Bekker)
F42 (OK 2283; w 37; M 57; K 47) The sun is as broad as a human
foot. (Aetius, Opinions 2.21.4 Diels)
F43 (OK 22894; KRS 226; W 122; M 52; K 44) The sun will not
overstep its measures, or else the Furies, the allies ofJustice, will find
it out.* (Plutarch, On Exile 604alQ-12 de Lacy/Einarson)
T8 (OK 22AI; KRS 224; M 61) As it is condensed, fire becomc~
moist, and then as it is further compressed it becomes water, and as
water solidifies it turns into earth; this is the 'road downward'. Then
again earth dissolves and gives rise to water, which is the source for
everything else, since he attributes almost everything to the process
of exhalation from the sea; this is the 'road upward'. Exhalations take
place from the earth as well as from the sea; some exhalations are
bright and clean, while others are dark. Fire is fed by the bright ones,
moisture by the others. He does not give a clear description of the
periphery, but there are bowls in it, with their hollow side turne:d
towards us. In these bowls the bright exhalations gather and produc:e
flames, which are the heavenly bodies.* The brightest and hottest of
these flames is that of the sun. The rest of the heavenly bodies are
further away from the earth, and so are less bright and emit less heat.
Closer to the earth is the moon, which travels through a region
which is impure, but the sun moves t in a translucent and untainted
region. The sun maintains a proportionate distance from us, which
is why it gives us more heat and light. Solar and lunar eclipses occur
when the bowls are turned upwards; the monthly phases of the
moon occur as its bowl gradually turns in on it. Day and night,
months, annually recurring seasons, and years, rain and wind and so
on, all depend on the various exhalations. For instance, when the
bright exhalation is ignited in the circle of the sun it causes daylight,
but when the opposite kind of exhalation is dominant the result is
night; and summer is the result of an increase in warmth arising
from the brightness, winter of an increase in moisture arising from
the darkness. He has nothing to say about the nature of the earth,
nor about the bowls either. (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminei'lt
Philosophers 9.C)-1 1 Long)

44

The Presocratics

F44 (OK 22836; KRS 229; w 49; M 66; K 102) Death for souls is the
birth of water, death for water is the birth of earth, and earth is
the source of water, and water is the source of soul. (Clement,
Miscellanies 6.17.2 Stahlin/Friichtel)
F45 (OK 228117; KRS 231; W 48; M 69; K 106) When a man is
drunk he is guided, stumbling and ignorant of his route, by an immature child, because he has a moist soul. Oohn of Stobi, Anthology
3.S.7 Wachsmuth/Hense)
F46 (OK 2288S; KRS 240; W SI; M 70; K lOS) The reason it is hard to
fight against passion is that it buys what it wants at the expense of
the soul. (Plutarch, Lift ofCoriolanus 22.2.S--6 Perrin)
F47 (OK 228118; KRS 230; W 46; M 68; K 109) A dry soul, a beam of
light, is wisest and best. t Oohn of Stobi, Anthology 3.S.8
Wachsmuth/Hense)
F48 (OK 22845; KRS 232; W 42; M 67; K 3S) You will not be able
to discover the limits of soul on your journey, even if you walk every
path; so deep is the principle it contains.* (Diogenes Laertius, Lives
ofEminent Philosophers 9.7.6--8 Long)
F49 (OK 22826; KRS 233; W 6S; M 48; K 90) During the night a
man kindles a light for himself Just as when dead-but-alive, with
sight extingUished, he contacts death, so when asleep-but-awake,
with sight extinguished, he contacts sleep.*t (Clement, Miscellanies
4.141.2 Stahlin/Friichtel)
T9 (OK 22A16; KRS 234; M 116) According to Heraclitus, we become
intelligent by drawing in this divine reason, and although we become
forgetful when asleep, we regain our intelligence as soon as we
wake up. For since when we are asleep the sensory channels are
closed, mind-in-us is separated from its natural union with what
surrounds us (the only lifeline, so to speak, which is preserved being
connection by means of respiration), and so, being separated, it loses
the power of memory that it formerly possessed. But when we wake
up, our mind again peeps out through the sensory channels, as if
they were windows, makes contact with what surrounds us, and
is endowed with the power of reason. Just as cinders which are
brought close to a fire undergo an alteration and start to glow, but
are extinguished when they are separated, so the fraction of what

Heraclitus ofEphesus
surrounds us which is in exile in our bodies becomes more or less
irrational in a state of separation, but in a state of union, which is
achieved through the numerous sensory channels, it is restored to a
condition of similarity to the whole. (Sextus Empiricus, Against the
Professors 7.129-130 Bury)
TI0 (OK 22B136; KRS 237; M 96) From Heraclitus: Souls slain in
war are more pure than those which die through illness. * (Bodleian
scholiast on Epictetus, Schenkl p. 71)
F50 (OK 22B29; KRS 251; W 85; M 95; K 97) The best choose one
thing instead of everything, everlasting fame among mortals; but the
masses stuff themselves like cattle. (Clement, Miscellanies
5.59.5.1-2 Stiihlin/Friichtel)
F51 (OK 22B25; KRS 235; W 70; M 97; K 96) The better the death,
the better the portion. * (Clement, Miscellanies 4.49.3 Stiihlinl
Friichtel)
F52 (OK 22B27; W 67; M 74; K 84) What awaits men after death
cannot be anticipated or imagined. (Clement, Miscellanies
4 14433-4 Stiihlin/Friichtel)
F53 (OK 22B44; KRS 249; W 82; M 103; K 65) The people must
fight in defence of the law as they would for their city wall. (Diogenes Laertius, Lives ofEminent Philosophers 9.2.2-3 Long)
F54 (OK 22B33; W 83; M 104; K 66) It is also law to follow the plan of
the one. (Clement, Miscellanies 5.115.2 Stiihlin/Friichtel)
F55 (OK 22B49; W 84; M 98; K 63) One man is worth ten thousand,
as far as I am concerned, if he is outstanding. (Theodorus
Prodromus, Letters 1240al-2 Migne)
F56 (OK 22B121; W 95; M 105; K 64) For banishing Hermodorus,
who was the best man among them, the Ephesians deserve to be
hanged, every last one of them, and to leave the city to boys. They
said, 'Let no single one of us be best, or else let him be so elsewhere,
among others.' (Strabo, Geography 14.25.3-6 Meineke)
F57 (OK 22B125a; W 96; M 106) May your wealth never fail you,
men of Ephesus, so that your baseness may be exposed! Oohn
Tzetzes, Notes on Aristophanes' 'Wealth' 90a, Positano et al. p. 31)

The Presocratics
F58 (OK 22843; KRS 248; w 88; M 102; K 104) It is more important to
quench insolence than a conflagration. (Diogenes Laertius, Lives
ofEminent Philosophers 9.2.1-2 Long)
F59 (OK 22811; W 41; M 80; K 76) It takes a blow to drive any animal
to pasture. (Ps.-Aristotle, On the World 401aIO-1 1 Bekker)
F60 (OK 228119; KRS 247; W 69; M 94; K 114) Man's character is his
guardian spirit. Oohn of Stobi, Anthology 4.40.23 Wachsmuth/
Hense)
F61 (me 2285; KRS 241; W 75, 78; M 86; K 117) They vainlyt purify
themselves with blood when they are defiled with it, whiCh is like
someone who has stepped into mud using mud to wash himself.
Anyone who observed a person doing this would think him mad.
And in their ignorance of the true nature of gods and heroes they
pray to these statues, which is like someone chatting to a
house.* (Theosophia Tubigensis 68 Erbse)
F62 (OK 22814; KRS 242; W 76; M 87; K 115) They are initiated in an
unholy manner into the mystery-rites followed by men. (Clement,
Protrepticus 22.2.4-5 Montdesert)
F63 (OK 22815; KRS 243; W 77; M 50; K 116) If the procession
they perform, and the hymn they chant in honour of the phallus,
were not undertaken for Dionysus, there would be nothing more
disgraceful. But in fact Dionysus, for whom they rave and celebrate
the Lenaea, is the same as Hades.* (Clement, Protrepticus 34.5.2-5
Montdesert)
F64 (OK 22896; W 60; M 76; K 88) Corpses should be disposed of
more readily than dung. (Strabo, Geography 16.26.26-7 Meineke)

Tll

(OK 22892; KRS 245; W 79; M 75; K 34) According to Heraclitus,

the Sibyl, with raving mouth, utters things without humour, without adornment, without perfume, and yet, thanks to the god, she
reaches down a thousand years with her voice.* (Plutarch, On the
Failure of the Oracles at Delphi These Days to Use Verse 397a8-11
Babbit)

M. Adomenas, 'Heraclitus on Religion', Phronesis, 44 (1999), 87-113.

R. Bolton, 'Nature and Human Good in Heraclitus', in [24],49-57.

Heraclitus ofEphesus

4-7

c. J. Emlyn-Jones, 'Heraclitus and the Identity of Opposites', Phronesis,

21 (1976),89-114.
A. Finkelberg, 'On Cosmogony and Ecpyrosis in Heraclitus', American
Journal ofPhilology, 119 (1998), 195-222.
H. Frankel, 'Heraclitus on God and the Phenomenal World', Transactions
oIthe American Philological Association, 69 (1938), 230-44.
- - 'A Thought Pattern in Heraclitus', American Journal of Philology,
59 (193 8), 309-37.
D. Gallop, 'The Riddles of Heraclitus', in [24], 123-35.
D. W. Graham, 'Heraclitus' Criticism of Ionian Philosophy', Oxfi.rd
Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 15 (1997), I-50.
U. Holscher, 'Paradox, Simile, and Gnomic Utterance in Heraclitus', in
[30], 229-38.
J. Hospers (ed.), Heraclitus, special issue of The Monist 74.4 (1991) (esp.
the essays by T. M. Robinson, E. Hussey, P. K. Curd, and J. M. E.
Moravcsik).
E. Hussey, 'Epistemology and Meaning in Heraclitus'; in M. Schofidd
and M. Nussbaum (eds.), Language and Logos (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1982), 33-59.
C. H. Kahn, 'A New Look at Heraclitus', American Philosophi,;al
Quarterly, I (1964), 189-203.
- - The Art and Thought of Heraclitus (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1979).
- - 'Philosophy and the Written Word: Some Thoughts on Heraclitus
and the Early Uses of Prose', in [31],110-24.
G. S. Kirk, Heraclitus: The Cosmic Fragments (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1954).
J. H. Lesher, 'Heraclitus' Epistemological Vocabulary', Hermes, I I I
(1983), 155-70.
M. M. Mackenzie, 'Heraclitus and the Art of Paradox', OxfOrd Studies in
Ancient Philosophy, 6 (1988), 1-37;
J. Mansfeld, 'Heraclitus on the Psychology and Physiology of Sleep and
on Rivers', Mnemosyne, 20 (1967), 1-29.
M. Marcovich, Heraclitus (Merida: Los Andes University Press, 1967).
- - 'Heraclitus: Some Characteristics', Illinois Classical Studies, 7
(1982), 171-88.
J. M. E. Moravcsik, 'Heraclitean Concepts and Explanations', in [31],
134-5 2 .
- - 'Heraclitus at the Crossroads of Presocratic Thought', in [2.4-],
256--69
A. P. D. Mourelatos, 'Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Naive Metaphysics
of Things', in [28], 16-48.

The Presocratics

M. Nussbaum, ''I'uxil in Heraclitus', Phronesis, 17 (1972), 1-16, 153-70.

R. A. Prier, 'Symbol and Structure in Heraclitus', Apeiron, 7.2 (1973),
23-37
C. D. C. Reeve, ''EK7tUPo)O"\~ and the Priority of Fire in Heraclitus',
Phronesis, 27 (1982), 299-305.
T. M. Robinson, 'Heraclitus on Soul', The Monist, 69 (1986), 305-14.
- - Heraclitus: Fragments (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987).
M. Schofield, 'Heraclitus' Theory of Soul and Its Antecedents', in
S. Everson (ed.), Companions to Ancient Thought, vol. ii: Psychology
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 13-34.
D. Sider, 'Heraclitus in the Derveni Papyrus', in [44], 129-48.
G. Vlastos, 'On Heraclitus', in [33],127-50 (first pub. American Journal of
Philology, 76 (1955.
P. Wheelwright, Heraclitus (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959).
D. Wiggins, 'Heraclitus' Conceptions of Flux, Fire and Material Persistence', in M. Schofield and M. Nussbaum (eds.), Language and Logos
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 1-32.
J. Wilcox, 'On the Distinction between Thought and Perception in
Heraclitus', Apeiron, 26 (1993),1-18.