The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
wrote tragedies, and that he himself had subsequently met with them; and
Satyrus, in his Lives, states that he was a physician, and also a most
excellent orator. And accordingly, that Gorgias, of Leontini, was his
pupil, a man of the greatest eminence as a rhetorician, and one who left
behind him a treatise containing a complete system of the art; and who,
as we are told by Apollodorus, in his Chronicles, lived to the age of a
hundred and nine years.
IV. Satyrus tells us that he used to say that he had been present when
Empedocles was practising magic; and that he professes this science, and
many others too in his poems when he says:—
And all the drugs which can relieve disease,
Or soften the approach of age, shall be
Revealed to your inquiries; I do know them,
And I to you alone will them disclose.
You shall restrain the fierce unbridled winds,
Which, rushing o’er the earth, bow down the corn,
And crush the farmer’s hopes. And when you will,
You shall recall them back to sweep the land:
Then you shall learn to dry the rainy clouds,
And bid warm summer cheer the heart of men.
Again, at your behest, the drought shall yield
To wholesome show’rs: when you give the word
Hell shall restore its dead.
V. And Timæus, in his eighteenth book, says, that this man was held in
great esteem on many accounts; for that once, when the etesian gales
were blowing violently, so as to injure the crops, he ordered some asses
to be flayed, and some bladders to be made of their hides, and these he
placed on the hills and high places to catch the wind. And so, when the
wind ceased, he was called wind-forbidder (κωλυσανέμας). And Heraclides,
in his treatise on Diseases, says that he dictated to Pausanias the
statement which he made about the dead woman. Now Pausanias, as both
Aristippus and Satyrus agree, was much attached to him; and he dedicated
to him the works which he wrote on Natural Philosophy, in the following
terms:—
Hear, O Pausanias, son of wise Anchites.
He also wrote an epigram upon him:—
Gela, his native land, does boast the birth
Of wise Anchites’ son, that great physician,
So fitly named Pausanias,[115] from his skill;
A genuine son of Æsculapius,
Who has stopped many men whom fell disease
Marked for its own, from treading those dark paths
Which lead to Proserpine’s infernal realms.
VI. The case of the dead woman above mentioned, Heraclides says, was
something of this sort; that he kept her corpse for thirty days dead,
and yet free from corruption; on which account he has called himself a
physician and a prophet, taking it also from these verses:—
Friends who the mighty citadel inhabit,
Which crowns the golden waves of Acragas
Votaries of noble actions, Hail to ye;
I, an immortal God, no longer mortal,
Now live among you well revered by all,
As is my due, crowned with holy fillets
And rosy garlands. And whene’er I come
To wealthy cities, then from men and women
Due honours meets me; and crowds follow me,
Seeking the way which leads to gainful glory.
Some ask for oracles, and some entreat,
For remedies against all kinds of sickness.
VII. And he says that Agrigentum was a very large city, since it had
eight hundred thousand inhabitants; on which account Empedocles, seeing
the people immersed in luxury, said, “The men of Agrigentum devote
themselves wholly to luxury as if they were to die to-morrow, but they
furnish their houses as if they were to live for ever.”
VIII. It is said that Cleomenes, the rhapsodist, sung this very poem,
called the Purifications, at Olympia; at least this is the account given
by Phavorinus, in his Commentaries.
IX. And Aristotle says, that he was a most liberal man, and far removed
from anything like a domineering spirit; since he constantly refused
the sovereign power when it was offered to him, as Xanthus assures us
in his account of him, showing plainly that he preferred a simple style
of living. And Timæus tells the same story, giving at the same time the
reason why he was so very popular. For he says that when on one occasion,
he was invited to a banquet by one of the magistrates, the wine was
carried about, but the supper was not served up. And as every one else
kept silence, he, disapproving of what he saw, bade the servants bring in
the supper; but the person who had invited him said that he was waiting
for the secretary of the council. And when he came he was appointed
master of the feast, at the instigation of the giver of it, and then he
gave a plain intimation of his tyrannical inclinations, for he ordered
all the guests to drink, and those who did not drink were to have the
wine poured over their heads. Empedocles said nothing at the moment,
but the next day he summoned them before the court, and procured the
execution of both the entertainer and the master of the feast.
And this was the beginning of his political career. And at another
time, when Acron, the physician, asked of the council a place where he
might erect a monument to his father, on account of his eminence as a
physician, Empedocles came forward and opposed any such grant, adducing
many arguments on the ground of equality, and also putting the following
question:—“And what elegy shall we inscribe upon it? Shall we say:—
“Ἄκρον ἰητρὸν Ἄκρων’ Ἀκραγαντῖνον πατρὸς ἄκρου
κρύπτει κρημνὸς ἄκρος πατρίδος ἀκροτάτης.”[116]
But some give the second line thus:—
Ἀκροτάτης κορυφῆς τύμβος ἄκρος κατέχει.
And others assert that it is the composition of Simonides.
But afterwards Empedocles abolished the assembly of a thousand, and
established a council in which the magistrates were to hold office for
three years, on such a footing that it should consist not only of rich
men, but of those who were favourers of the interests of the people.
Timæus, however, in his first and second book (for he often mentions
him), says that he appeared to entertain opinions adverse to a republic.
And, as far as his poetry goes, any one may see that he was arrogant and
self-satisfied. Accordingly, he says:—
Hail to ye,
I, an immortal God, no longer mortal,
Now live among you:
And so on.
But when he went to the olympic games he was considered a worthy object
of general attention; so that there was no mention made of any one else
in comparison of Empedocles.
X. Afterwards, indeed, when Agrigentum was settled, the descendants
of his enemies opposed his return; on which account he retired to
Peloponnesus, where he died. And Timon has not let even Empedocles
escape, but satirises him in this style, saying:—
And then Empedocles, the honeyed speaker
Of soft forensic speeches; he did take
As many offices as he was able,
Creating magistrates who wanted helpers.
But there are two accounts of the manner of his death.
XI. For Heraclides, relating the story about the dead woman, how
Empedocles got great glory from sending away a dead woman restored to
life, says that he celebrated a sacrifice in the field of Pisianax, and
that some of his friends were invited, among whom was Pausanias. And
then, after the banquet, they lay down, some going a little way off, and
some lying under the trees close by in the field, and some wherever they
happened to choose. But Empedocles himself remained in the place where he
had been sitting. But when day broke, and they arose, he alone was not
found. And when he was sought for, and the servants were examined and
said that they did not know, one of them said, that at midnight he had
heard a loud voice calling Empedocles; and that then he himself rose up
and saw a great light from heaven, but nothing else. And as they were all
amazed at what had taken place, Pausanias descended and sent some people
to look for him; but afterwards he was commanded not to busy himself
about the matter, as he was informed that what had happened was deserving
of thankfulness, and that they behoved to sacrifice to Empedocles as to
one who had become a God.
Hermippus says also, that a woman of the name of Panthea, a native of
Agrigentum, who had been given over by the physicians, was cured by him,
and that it was on this account that he celebrated a sacrifice; and that
the guests invited were about eighty in number. But Hippobotus says that
he rose up and went away as if he were going to mount Ætna; and that when
he arrived at the crater of fire he leaped in, and disappeared, wishing
to establish a belief that he had become a God. But afterwards the truth
was detected by one of his slippers having been dropped. For he used to
wear slippers with brazen soles. Pausanias, however, contradicts this
statement.[117]
But Diodorus, of Ephesus, writing about Anaximander, says that Empedocles
imitated him; indulging in a tragic sort of pride, and wearing
magnificent apparel. And when a pestilence attacked the people of
Selinus, by reason of the bad smells arising from the adjacent river, so
that the men died and the women bore dead children, Empedocles contrived
a plan, and brought into the same channel two other rivers at his own
expense; and so, by mixing their waters with that of the other river, he
sweetened the stream. And as the pestilence was removed in this way, when
the people of Selinus were on one occasion holding a festival on the bank
of the river, Empedocles appeared among them; and they rising up, offered
him adoration, and prayed to him as to a God. And he, wishing to confirm
this idea which they had adopted of him, leaped into the fire.
But Timæus contradicts all these stories; saying expressly, that he
departed into Peloponnesus, and never returned at all, on which account
the manner of his death is uncertain. And he especially denies the
tale of Heraclides in his fourth book; for he says that Pisianax was
a Syracusan, and had no field in the district of Agrigentum; but that
Pausanias erected a monument in honour of his friend, since such a
report had got about concerning him; and, as he was a rich man, made it
a statue and little chapel, as one might erect to a God. “How then,”
adds Timæus, “could he have leaped into a crater, of which, though they
were in the neighbourhood, he had never made any mention? He died then
in Peloponnesus; and there is nothing extraordinary in there being no
tomb of his to be seen; for there are many other men who have no tomb
visible.” These are the words of Timæus; and he adds further, “But
Heraclides is altogether a man fond of strange stories, and one who would
assert that a man had fallen from the moon.”
Hippobotus says, that there was a clothed statue of Empedocles which
lay formerly in Agrigentum, but which was afterwards placed in front of
the Senate House of the Romans divested of its clothing, as the Romans
had carried it off and erected it there. And there are traces of some
inscriptions or reliefs still discernible on it.
Neanthes of Cyzicus, who also wrote about the Pythagoreans, says, that
when Meton was dead, the seeds of tyrannical power began to appear; and
that then Empedocles persuaded the Agrigentines to desist from their
factious disputes, and to establish political equality. And besides, as
there were many of the female citizens destitute of dowry, he portioned
them out of his own private fortune. And relying on these actions of
his, he assumed a purple robe and wore a golden circlet on his hand, as
Phavorinus relates in the first book of his Commentaries. He also wore
slippers with brazen soles, and a Delphian garland. His hair was let
grow very long, and he had boys to follow him; and he himself always
preserved a solemn countenance, and a uniformly grave deportment. And