IIEIDIiL. — OX FRAGMENTS OF THE PRE-SOCRATKS. OOO 



them in their verse. In other wortls, the woe pronounced upon tlie 

 poets is for orii;inatin<; and ])crp(>tuiitin<; false views, whether they 

 rehite to tlie j^otls, to the ck'sirahihty of banishing- chseord, or wiiat not. 

 But (pvXaaaeLv does bear this precise sense of "perpetuating," and we 

 may he justified in accepting it as referring to the TrapadoaLs of poetical 

 tradition. I think it probable that 6 5oKt/icbraros refers to Homer as 

 the coryphaeus of the group of false teachers of the nuiltitude whom 

 Ileraelitus is denouncing, and that the epithet signifies nothing more 

 tiian that he is held in the higiiest esteem, although fr. .57 would per- 

 haps rather suggest Hesiod. The suljject of doKeovrcou, then, is the 

 imcritical multitude, who live according to the tradition of the fathers 

 (fr. 74) and may be pardoned for what they do in ignorance, though 

 woe shall be unto those through whom offence cometh. Accordingly 

 I shoukl translate the fragment rather freely somewhat after this 

 manner: "Ay, hi them thini: as he who is most highly esteemed among 

 them contrives to report; but verily, judgment shall overtake those %oho 

 invent and attest falsehoods." It is hardly necessary to add that 

 Heraclitus was not threatening Homer with hell-fire, as Clement 

 would have us suppose. 



V^ 68, 11. Fr. 41, ev to aoc^bv, eTrlaTaadai. yvcofX7]v, orkr] hKV(ikpvr](Tt 

 iravTa 5td Travroov. 



Here I accept the text, but not the interpretation of Diels, who 

 renders the fragment thus: "In Einem besteht die Weisheit, die 

 Vernunft zu erkennen, als welche alles und jedes zu lenken weiss." 

 Nestle translates ■yv6:ixriv with "Geist"; and Burnet, with "thought." 

 In order to arrive at the thought of Heraclitus, it is needful first of all 

 to note how in a numlier of his fragments, which are concerned with 

 his conception of true wisdom, he surcharges with meaning the terms 

 for knowledge in contradistinction to sense-perception or opinion. 

 Fr. 17, 01' yap (ppoueovai rotaOra ttoXXoi, okoool [so Diels, V"*] kyKvptvaiv, 

 oi'Se jiadovres 'yivooaKovaiv, iiovrolai 5e boKkovai, " The majority of man- 

 kind [this, I think must be the meaning of ttoXXoi, whether or not with 

 Bergk we add ol], so far as they meet such problems, do not compre- 

 hend them e\en when instructed, though they think they do." Fr. 34, 

 "They that lack understancHng (d^uverot) hear, Initare like unto them 

 that are deaf." Fr. 35, "Men who are lovers of wisdom must have 

 acquired true knowledge of full many matters" (ei; /xdXa ttoXXcDv 

 iVropas eti'at). But Heraclitus is well aware that much instruction 

 (cp. nadovTts, fr. 17) does not impart understanding (fr. 40, -KoKvuadlr} 

 vbov tx^'f' OL' bibaoKH' 'Wa'iobov yap av kdiba^e Kal Ilvday6pr]u avris re 



