EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS IN ITALY 



dates make Empedocles strictly contemporary with 

 Anaxagoras, a fact which we shall do well to bear in 

 mind when we come to consider the latter' s philosophy 

 in the succeeding chapter. Like Pythagoras, Emped- 

 ocles is an imposing figure. Indeed, there is much 

 of similarity between the personalities, as between the 

 doctrines, of the two men. Empedocles, like Pythag- 

 oras, was a physician ; like him also he was the founder 

 of a cult. As statesman, prophet, physicist, physi- 

 cian, reformer, and poet he showed a versatility that, 

 coupled with profundity, marks the highest genius. 

 In point of versatility we shall perhaps hardly find 

 his equal at a later day unless, indeed, an exception 

 be made of Eratosthenes. The myths that have 

 grown about the name of Empedocles show that he 

 was a remarkable personality. He is said to have been 

 an awe - inspiring figure, clothing himself in Oriental 

 splendor and moving among mankind as a superior 

 being. Tradition has it that he threw himself into the 

 crater of a volcano that his otherwise unexplained 

 disappearance might lead his disciples to believe that 

 he had been miraculously translated; but tradition 

 goes on to say that one of the brazen slippers of the 

 philosopher was thrown up by the volcano, thus re- 

 vealing his subterfuge. Another tradition of far more 

 credible aspect asserts that Empedocles retreated 

 from Italy, returning to the home of his fathers in 

 Peloponnesus to die there obscurely. It seems odd 

 that the facts regarding the death of so great a man, 

 at so comparatively late a period, should be obscure; 

 but this, perhaps, is in keeping with the personality 

 of the man himself. His disciples would hesitate 



