Fragments

Contents — 124 sections

1. Fragment 1 (DK B50)
2. Fragment 2 (DK B1)
3. Fragment 3 (DK B34)
4. Fragment 4
5. Fragment 5 (DK B17)
6. Fragment 6 (DK B127)
7. Fragment 7
8. Fragment 8
9. Fragment 9 (DK B122)
10. Fragment 10 (DK B124)
11. Fragment 11
12. Fragment 12 (DK B92)
13. Fragment 13 (DK B55)
14. Fragment 14
15. Fragment 15
16. Fragment 16 (DK B40)
17. Fragment 17
18. Fragment 18 (DK B108)
19. Fragment 19 (DK B41)
20. Fragment 20
21. Fragment 21 (DK B30)
22. Fragment 22
23. Fragment 23
24. Fragment 24 (DK B65)
25. Fragment 25 (DK B16)
26. Fragment 26 (DK B66)
27. Fragment 27
28. Fragment 28 (DK B64)
29. Fragment 29 (DK B94)
30. Fragment 30 (DK B120)
31. Fragment 31
32. Fragment 32 (DK B6)
33. Fragment 33
34. Fragment 34 (DK B99)
35. Fragment 35
36. Fragment 36 (DK B67)
37. Fragment 37 (DK B7)
38. Fragment 38 (DK B98)
39. Fragment 39 (DK B126)
40. Fragment 40 (DK B91)
41. Fragments 41-42
42. Fragment 43
43. Fragment 44 (DK B53)
44. Fragment 45
45. Fragment 46 (DK B8)
46. Fragment 47 (DK B54)
47. Fragment 48 (DK B47)
48. Fragment 49 (DK B35)
49. Fragment 50 (DK B59)
50. Fragment 51 (DK B9)
51. Fragment 52 (DK B61)
52. Fragments 53-54
53. Fragment 55
54. Fragment 57
55. Fragment 58 (DK B58)
56. Fragment 59 (DK B10)
57. Fragment 60
58. Fragment 61 (DK B102)
59. Fragment 62 (DK B79)
60. Fragment 63
61. Fragment 64
62. Fragment 66
63. Fragment 67 (DK B62)
64. Fragment 68 (DK B36)
65. Fragment 69
66. Fragment 70
67. Fragment 71 (DK B45)
68. Fragment 72
69. Fragment 73 (DK B117)
70. Fragment 74 (DK B119)
71. Fragment 77
72. Fragment 78 (DK B87)
73. Fragment 79
74. Fragment 80
75. Fragment 81 (DK B49)
76. Fragment 82 (DK B84)
77. Fragment 83
78. Fragment 84 (DK B125)
79. Fragment 85 (DK B96)
80. Fragment 86 (DK B12)
81. Fragment 90 (DK B75)
82. Fragment 91
83. Fragment 92
84. Fragment 93
85. Fragment 94 (DK B73)
86. Fragment 95 (DK B89)
87. Fragment 96 (DK B78)
88. Fragment 97
89. Fragment 100 (DK B44)
90. Fragment 101
91. Fragment 102
92. Fragment 103 (DK B43)
93. Fragment 104
94. Fragment 105
95. Fragment 106 (DK B116)
96. Fragment 107 (DK B112)
97. Fragment 108 (DK B95)
98. Fragment 109 (DK B109)
99. Fragment 110 (DK B33)
100. Fragment 111
101. Fragment 112
102. Fragment 113
103. Fragment 114 (DK B121)
104. Fragment 115
105. Fragment 116 (DK B86)
106. Fragment 117
107. Fragment 118
108. Fragment 119 (DK B42)
109. Fragment 120 (DK B5)
110. Fragment 121
111. Fragment 122 (DK B26)
112. Fragment 123 (DK B63)
113. Fragment 124
114. Fragment 125 (DK B14)
115. Fragment 127
116. Fragment 129 (DK B68)
117. Fragment 130
118. Fragment 131
119. Fragment 132
120. Fragment 133
121. Fragment 134
122. Fragment 135 (DK B134)
123. Fragment 136
124. Fragment 137 (DK B135)

Fragment 1 (DK B50) Cite

Not on my authority, but on that of truth, it is wise for you to accept the fact that all things are one.

Hippolytos quotes this with Fragment 45, to show that Herakleitos taught the underlying unity of all things. On the word λόγος (meaning both discourse and the truth the discourse contains), v. Zeller, i. 630, n. 1.

Source: π. διαίτης 1, 19, π. τροφῆς 9. Philo, Leg. all. i. 3, p. 44; Plut. de EI 8, p. 388 C.

Fragment 2 (DK B1) Cite

This truth, though it always exists, men do not understand, as well before they hear it as when they hear it for the first time. For although all things happen in accordance with this truth, men seem unskilled indeed when they make trial of words and matters such as I am setting forth, in my effort to discriminate each thing according to its nature, and to tell what its state is. But other men fail to notice what they do when awake, in the same manner that they forget what they do when asleep.

Hippolytos quotes this passage with reference to a universal all-pervading reason.

Source: Sext. Emp. adv. math. vii. 132; (except last clause) Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9. In part: Arist. Rhet. iii. 5, 1407 b 14; Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 716 (= Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 680); Amelius in Euseb. P. E. xi. 19, p. 540. (and elsewhere). Cf. Philo, Quis rer. div. haer. 43, p. 505; Joh. Sic. in Walz, Rhett. Gr. vi. p. 95.

Fragment 3 (DK B34) Cite

Those who hear without the power to understand are like deaf men; the proverb holds true of them—‘Present, they are absent.’

Quoted by Clement in illustration of Ev. Luc. xiv. 35.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 718 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 681); Theod. Ther. i. 13, 49: ἀπιέναι MS. Clem.

Fragment 4 Cite

Eyes and ears are bad witnesses for men, since their souls lack understanding.

Sextus Emp. interprets this as meaning ‘rude souls trust the irrational senses.’ Cf. Zeller, i. 716, n. 5.

Source: Sext. Emp. adv. math. viii. 126; Stob. Flor. iv. 56; cf. Diog. Laer. ix. 7.

Fragment 5 (DK B17) Cite

Most men do not understand such things as they are wont to meet with; nor by learning do they come to know them, though they think they do.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 2, p. 432; cf. M. Antoninus, iv. 46.

Fragment 6 (DK B127) Cite

They know not how to listen, nor how to speak.

Clement compares this with Eccles. vi. 35.

Source: fol. 90 r) gives first thirteen words (Byw. 130). Cf. Apollonius, Ep. 27. Byw. 126, the last sentence, from Origen, c. Cels. i. 5, p. 6 (quoting Celsus); and in part vii. 62, p. 384, Clem. Al. Prot. 4, p. 44. The whole passage, lacking the last eight words, is published by Neumann, Hermes xv. 1880, p. 605 (cf. also xvi. 159), from fol. 83 a of a MS. entitled Χρησμοὶ θεῶν (containing also works ascribed to Justin Martyr) formerly in the Strassburg library. This same MS. gives the following fragment, the last clauses of which Neumann joins to the passage as given in the text: δαιμόνων ἀγάλμασιν εὔχονται οὐκ ἀκούουσιν, ὥσπερ ἀκούοιεν, οὐκ ἀποδιδοῦσιν, ὥσπερ οὐκ ἀπαιτοῖεν. 130a. Given by Neumann from the Strassburg MS. just referred to. The saying is attributed to Xenophanes by Aristotle, Rhet. 23; 1400 b 5 and Plutarch, v. infra, p. 78.

Fragment 7 Cite

If you do not hope, you will not find that which is not hoped for; since it is difficult to discover and impossible to attain.

Clement compares this with Isaias vii. 9. With Gomperz’s punctuation: ‘Unless you expect the unexpected, you will not find truth; for, &c.’

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 4, p. 437; Theod. Ther. i. p. 15, 51.

Fragment 8 Cite

Seekers for gold dig much earth, and find little gold.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 2, p. 565; Theod. Ther. i. p. 15, 52.

Fragment 9 (DK B122) Cite

Controversy.

Source: Suidas, under ἀμφισβατεῖν and ἀγχιβατεῖν.

Fragment 10 (DK B124) Cite

Nature loves to hide.

‘So we worship the creator of nature, because the knowledge of him is difficult.’

Source: Themist. Or. v. p. 69 (xii. p. 159). Cf. Philo, Qu. in gen. iv. 1 p. 237, de profug. 32, p. 573, de somn. i. 2, p. 621, de spec. legg. 8, p. 344; Julian, Or. vii. p. 216 C.

Fragment 11 Cite

The Lord [whose is the oracle] at Delphi neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign.

Source: Plut. de pyth. orac. 21, p. 404 E; Stob. Flor. v. 72, lxxxi. 17; Iambl. de myst. iii. 15. Cf. Lucian, vit. auct. 14.

Fragment 12 (DK B92) Cite

And the Sibyl with raving mouth, uttering words solemn, unadorned, and unsweetened, reaches with her voice a thousand years because of the god in her.

Quoted by Plutarch to show that allurements of sense are out of place in the holy responses of the god. Both this fragment and the preceding seem originally to have referred to the nature of Herakleitos’s teaching; it is obscure, and yet divine.

Source: p. 416 A; M. Antonin. ix. 3.

Fragment 13 (DK B55) Cite

What can be seen, heard, and learned, this I prize.

Hippolytos contrasts this with Fr. 47, and in this connection the translation of Schuster, ‘Am I to prize these (invisible) things above what can be seen, heard, learned?’ seems the more natural.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9.

Fragment 14 Cite

(For this is characteristic of the present age, when, inasmuch as all lands and seas may be crossed by man, it would no longer be fitting to depend on the witness of poets and mythographers, as our ancestors generally did), ‘bringing forth untrustworthy witnesses to confirm disputed points,’ in the words of Herakleitos.

Source: Polyb. iv. 40.

Fragment 15 Cite

Eyes are more exact witnesses than ears.

Cf. Bernays, Rhein. Mus. ix. 261 sqq.

Source: Polyb. xii. 27; cf. Hdt. i.

Fragment 16 (DK B40) Cite

Much learning does not teach one to have understanding; else it would have taught Hesiod, and Pythagoras, and again Xenophanes, and Hekataios.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 1. First part: Aul. Gell. N. A. praef. 12; Clem. Al. Strom. i. 19, p. 373: Athen. xiii. p. 610 B: Julian, Or. vi. p. 187 D; Proklos in Tim. 31 F.

Fragment 17 Cite

Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos, prosecuted investigations more than any other man, and [selecting these treatises] he made a wisdom of his own—much learning and bad art.

Source: Diog. Laer. viii. 6. Cf. Clem. Al. Strom. i. 21, p. 396.

Fragment 18 (DK B108) Cite

No one of all whose discourses I have heard has arrived at this result: the recognition that wisdom is apart from all other things.

V. Teichmüller, i. 109 ff. on the idea of katharsis in Herakleitos.

Source: p. 392 C (Eus. P. E. xi. 11, p. 528) and de prim. frig. 10, p. 949 A, gives simply πυρὸς θάνατος ἀέρος γένεσις.

Fragment 19 (DK B41) Cite

Wisdom is one thing: [to understand the intelligence by which all things are steered through all things]; it is willing and it is unwilling to be called by the name Zeus.

The first two clauses follow Fr. 16 in Diog. Laer.; the idea in parenthesis often appears in Stoic writers.

Source: Laer. Diog. ix. 1; Plut. de Is. 77, p. 382 C. Cf. Kleanthes, H. Z. 36; Pseudo-Linos, 13, Mul. Byw. 65; Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 718 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 681); Cf. Bernays, Rhein. Mus. ix. 256. The fragments are combined by Gomperz, l. c.

Fragment 20 Cite

This order, the same for all things, no one of gods or men has made, but it always was, and is, and ever shall be, an ever-living fire, kindling according to fixed measure, and extinguished according to fixed measure.

Zeller, i. 645 n. 1, discusses the various interpretations, and prefers to translate the first phrase ‘This world, the same for all,’ i.e. including gods and men.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 711 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 676). First clause: Plut. de anim. procr. 5, p. 1014 A. Last clause: Sim. in Arist. de coelo, p. 132, Kars.; Olympiod. in Plat. Phaed. p. 201, Finc. Bywater traces the thought through writers of Stoical school.

Fragment 21 (DK B30) Cite

The transformations of fire are, first of all, sea; and of the sea one half is earth, and the other half is lightning flash.

Zeller, i. 647 n. 1, regards πρηστήρ as identical with κεραυνός of Fr. 28. Burnett, Early Greek Philosophy, p. 153 n. 53, suggests fiery stormcloud, Seneca’s igneus turbo.

Source: p. 497; Theodor. Ther. xi. p. 152, 25.

Fragment 22 Cite

All things are exchanged for fire, and fire for all things; as wares are exchanged for gold, and gold for wares.

Source: Plut. de EI 8, p. 388 E; cf. Philo, de incor. mun. 21, p. 508; Diog. Laer. ix. 8; Herakl. alleg. Hom. 43; Euseb. P. E. xiv. 3, p. 720 &c. Probably only the word ἀμείβομαι comes from Herakleitos; cf. the two forms of Fr. 31 in Plutarch.

Fragment 23 Cite

(The earth) is poured out as sea, and measures the same amount as existed before it became earth.

V. Lassalle, ii. 63; Heinze, Logos, p. 25; Schuster, p. 129; Zeller, i. 690 n. 1.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 712 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 676).

Fragment 24 (DK B65) Cite

Want and satiety.

Context: Fire is intelligent and the governing cause of all things. Herakleitos calls it want and satiety. In his opinion want is the process of arrangement, and satiety the process of conflagration.

Source: Philo, Leg. all. iii. 3, p. 88, de vict. 6, p. 242; Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. Cf. Plut. de EI 9, p. 389 C.

Fragment 25 (DK B16) Cite

Fire lives in the death of earth, and air lives in the death of fire; water lives in the death of air, and earth in that of water.

Not accepted by Zeller, i. 676, who regards it as a Stoic version of Fr. 68.

Source: Maxim. Tyr. xli. 4, p. 489. Cf. M. Antoninus, iv. 46. Plut. de EI

Fragment 26 (DK B66) Cite

Fire coming upon all things will test them, and lay hold of them.

Burnett suggests that the reference to a judgment (κρινέει) was inserted by Hippolytos to obtain the Christian idea of a judgment.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10.

Fragment 27 Cite

How could one escape the notice of that which never sets?

Cf. Schuster, p. 184; Zeller, i. 649 n. 2; Teichmüller, i. 184.

Source: Clem. Al. Paedag. ii. 10, p. 229. τις, τινα Schleierm., τι Gataker.

Fragment 28 (DK B64) Cite

The thunderbolt directs the course of all things.

Cf. Fr. 19.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. Cf. Klean. H. Z. 10. Philodem. de piet. p. 70, Gomp.

Fragment 29 (DK B94) Cite

The sun will not overstep his bounds; if he does, the Erinnyes, allies of justice, will find him out.

Source: Plut. de exil. 11, p. 604 A; de Iside 48, p. 370 D. Cf. Hipp. Ref. haer. vi. 26; Iambl. Prot. 21, p. 132.

Fragment 30 (DK B120) Cite

The limit of the evening and the morning is the Bear; and opposite the Bear is the boundary of bright Zeus.

Strabo regards this as a Homeric expression for the fact that the northern circle is the boundary of rising and setting. Zeus aithrios means the clear heavens.

Source: Strabo, i. 6, p. 3. Vulg. adds γὰρ after ἠοῦς.

Fragment 31 Cite

If there were no sun, it would be night.

Source: Plut. Ag. et ign. 7, p. 957 A. Cf. Plut. de fort. 3, p. 98; Clem. Al. Prot. 11, p. 87; Somn. Scip. 1, 20.

Fragment 32 (DK B6) Cite

The sun is new every day.

Source: Arist. Met. ii. 2, p. 355 a 9; Alexander Aph. in Met. l. l. 93 a; Olymp. in Met. l. l.; Prokl. in Tim. p. 334 B. Cf. Plotin. Enn. ii. 1, p. 97; Plato, Polit. vi. p. 498 B (and Schol.); Olymp. in Plat. Phaed. p. 201 Finc.

Fragment 33 Cite

(Herakleitos and Demokritos bear witness that Thales was an astronomer, and predicted eclipses, etc.)

Fragment 34 (DK B99) Cite

The seasons bring all things.

‘Time is not motion of a simple sort, but, so to speak, motion in an order which has measure and limits and periods. The sun, guardian of these, ... appoints and announces the seasons, which, according to Herakleitos, bring all things.’

Source: Plut. Quaes. Plat. viii. 4, p. 1007 E. Cf. Plut. de def. orac.

Fragment 35 Cite

Hesiod is the teacher of most men; they suppose that his knowledge was very extensive, when in fact he did not know night and day, for they are one.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. MSS. εὐφροσύνην, corr. Miller.

Fragment 36 (DK B67) Cite

God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, satiety and hunger; but he assumes different forms, just as when incense is mingled with incense; every one gives him the name he pleases.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10 (cf. v. 21).

Fragment 37 (DK B7) Cite

If all things should become smoke, then perception would be by the nostrils.

Arist. ‘Some think that odour is a smoky exhalation, ... and that every one is brought in contact with this in smelling. So Herakleitos says that if all things,’ etc. The reference is originally to the conflagration of the universe [ἐκπύρωσις].

Source: Arist. de sensu 5, p. 443 a 21.

Fragment 38 (DK B98) Cite

Souls smell in Hades.

Plutarch adds the reason: Because they retain a perception of what is fiery.

Source: Plut. de fac. in orbe lun. 28, p. 943 E. Patin, Einheitslehre, p. 23, points out that this so-called fragment is probably due to a misunderstanding of the passage in Aristotle (Fr. 37).

Fragment 39 (DK B126) Cite

Cool things become warm, the warm grows cool; the wet dries, the parched becomes wet.

Source: p. 768.

Fragment 40 (DK B91) Cite

It scatters and brings together; it approaches and departs.

This follows the next fragment, as illustrating change.

Source: Plut. de EI 18, p. 392 B. V. Pseudo-Herakl. Epist. vi.

Fragments 41-42 Cite

You could not step twice in the same rivers; for other and yet other waters are ever flowing on.

Source: Plut. Quaes. nat. 2, p. 912 A. First half: Plato, Krat. 402 A; Arist. Metaph. xiv. 5, p. 1010 a 13; Plut. de sera num. vind. 15, p. 559 C; de EI 18, p. 392 A; Simplic. in Arist. Phys. 17 p. 77, 32; Ibid. f. 308 v.; Arius Didymus in Euseb. P. E. xv. 20, p. 821. [Cf. Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. hyp. iii. 115.] ποταμοῖσι τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι ἐμβαίνουσιν ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.

Fragment 43 Cite

Herakleitos blamed Homer for saying: Would that strife might perish from among gods and men! For then, said he, all things would pass away.

Aristotle assigns a different reason: For there could be no harmony without sharps and flats, nor living beings without male and female, which are contraries.

Source: Simpl. in Arist. Cat. p. 104 Δ ed. Basil. (Scholl. in Arist. 88 b 28); Schol. Ven. ad Il. xviii. 107, and Eustath. p. 1133, 56. Cf. Arist. Eth. Eud. vii. 1, p. 1235 a 26; Plutarch de Isid. 48, 370 D; Numen. in Chalcid. on Tim. 295.

Fragment 44 (DK B53) Cite

War is father of all and king of all; and some he made gods and some men, some slaves and some free.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9. First part: Plut. de Iside 48, p. 370 D; Prok on Tim. 54 A (cf. 24. B); Lucian, quomodo hist. consc. 2; Icar. 8.

Fragment 45 Cite

Men do not understand how that which draws apart agrees with itself; harmony lies in the bending back, as for instance of the bow and of the lyre.

V. Bernays, Rhein. Mus. vii. p. 94. Reading παλίντονος from fragment 56, we obtain the meaning ‘opposite tension’ more distinctly.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9. Cf. Plato, Symp. 187 A, Soph. 242 D; Plut. de anim. procr. 27, p. 1026 B.

Fragment 46 (DK B8) Cite

Opposition unites. From what draws apart results the most beautiful harmony. All things take place by strife.

Quoted by Aristotle as an illustration of the search for a deeper principle, more in accordance with nature.

Source: Arist. Eth. Nic. viii. 2, p. 1155 b 14. Cf. Theophr. Metaph. 15; Arist. Eth. Eud. vii. 1; 1235 a 13. These are rather summary phrases than quotations.

Fragment 47 (DK B54) Cite

Hidden harmony is better than manifest.

Source: Plut. de anim. procr. 27, p. 1026 C; Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9-10.

Fragment 48 (DK B47) Cite

Let us not make rash conjectures about the greatest things.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 73.

Fragment 49 (DK B35) Cite

Men who desire wisdom must be learners of very many things.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 733.

Fragment 50 (DK B59) Cite

For woolcarders the straight and the crooked path is one and the same.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. MSS. γραφέων, corr. Duncker. The MSS. reading may be a participle introducing the quotation, and wrongly included in the excerpt, as Tannery suggests (Science hellèn. pp. 198 ff.).

Fragment 51 (DK B9) Cite

Asses would rather have refuse than gold.

Source: Arist. Eth. Nic. x. 5, p. 1176 a 6. Cf. Albertus M. de veget. vi. 401 (p. 545 Mey.) R. P. 40 B: ‘Boves ... felices ... cum inveniant orobum ad comendum.’ Bywater, Journal Philol. 1880, p. 230.

Fragment 52 (DK B61) Cite

The sea is the purest and the foulest water; it is drinkable and healthful for fishes; but for men it is unfit to drink and hurtful.

Quoted by Hippolytos as an example of Herakleitos’ identification of opposites.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. Cf. Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. hyp. i. 55.

Fragments 53-54 Cite

Swine like to wash in the mire; barnyard fowls in the dust.

Source: Columella, de R. R. viii. 4. Cf. Galen, Protrept. 13, p. 5 ed. Bas.; Athen. v. 178 F. Cf. Clem. Al. Protrept. 10, p. 75; Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. hyp. i. 55; Plotin. Enn. i. 6, p. 55.

Fragment 55 Cite

Every beast is tended by blows.

Cf. Zeller, i. p. 724: ‘Every creature feeds on earth.’

Source: Arist. de mundo 6, p. 401 a 8 (Apuleius, de mundo 36; Stob. Ecl. i. 2, p. 86). From Cod. Flor. of Apuleius Goldbacher obtains the following (Zeit. f. d. Oester. Gymn. 1876, p. 496): Ζεὺς ἅπαντα εὐεργετεῖ ὁμῶς ὡς ἄν τινα μέρη σώματος αὑτοῦ.

Fragment 57 Cite

Good and bad are the same.

Source: Arist. Top. viii. 5, p. 159 b 30; Phys. i. 2, p. 185 b 20; Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10; Simpl. in Phys. 11 v. 50, 11; 18 v. 82, 23.

Fragment 58 (DK B58) Cite

(Good and bad are one; at any rate, as Herakleitos says) physicians, who cut and burn and in every way torment the sick, complain that they do not receive any adequate recompense from them.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. Cf. Xen. Mem. i. 2, 54; Plato, Gorg. 521 E, Polit. 293 B; Simpl. in Epict. 13, p. 83 D, and 27 p. 178 A.

Fragment 59 (DK B10) Cite

Thou shouldst unite things whole and things not whole, that which tends to unite and that which tends to separate, the harmonious and the discordant; from all things arises the one, and from the one all things.

Source: Arist. de mundo 5, p. 396 b 12 (Apuleius, de mundo 20; Stob. Ecl. i. 34, p. 690).

Fragment 60 Cite

They would not have known the name of justice, were it not for these things.

According to the context in Clement ‘these things’ refers to injustice.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 3, p. 568. Cf. Pseudo-Herakl. Epist. vii.

Fragment 61 (DK B102) Cite

(God, ordering things as they ought to be, perfects all things in the harmony of the whole, as Herakleitos says that) for god all things are fair and good and just, but men suppose that some are unjust and others just.

Cf. Hippocr. de Diaeta (Bernays, Herakl. 22; RP 37 c) Accordingly the arrangements (laws) which men have made are never constant, either when they are right, or when they are not right; but the arrangements the gods have made are always right, both those which are right and those which are not right; so great is the difference between them.

Source: Schol. B in Il. iv. 4, p. 120 Bk. Cf. Hippokr. de diaeta i. 11 RP. 37 C; Bernays, Herakl. 22. Probably a Stoic deduction from Herakleitos, and therefore to be omitted here.

Fragment 62 (DK B79) Cite

Men should know that war is general and that justice is strife; all things arise and [pass away] through strife.

Source: Orig. cont. Cels. vi. 42, p. 312. Cf. Plut. de soll. anim. 7, p. 964; Laer. Diog. ix. 8.

Fragment 63 Cite

For they are absolutely destined....

Source: Stob. Ecl. i. 6, p. 178. Vulg. εἱμαρμένη, A εἱμαρμένα.

Fragment 64 Cite

All the things we see when awake are death, and all the things we see when asleep are sleep.

For various interpretations, v. Teichmüller, i. 97 sq.; Zeller, i. 715; Patin, Einheitslehre, 19.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iii. 3, p. 520. Cf. Strom. v. 14, p. 712; Philo, de Joseph. 22, p. 59.

Fragment 66 Cite

The name of the bow is life, but its work is death.

A similar play on words is found in Fr. 101.

Source: Schol. in Il. i. 49; Cramer, A. P. iii. p. 122; Etym. Mag. under βίος; Tzetz. Ex. in Il. p. 101; Eust. in Il. i. 49, p. 41. Cf. Hippokr. de diaeta 21 οὔνομα τρόφη, ἔργον δὲ οὐχί.

Fragment 67 (DK B62) Cite

Gods are mortals, men are immortals, each living in the others’ death and dying in the others’ life.

Cf. Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. iii. 230, R. P. 38.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10; Herakl. Alleg. Hom. 24, p. 51; Maxim. Tyr. x. 4, p. 107, xli. 4, p. 489; Lucian, Vit. auct. 14; Porph. de ant. nymph. 10; Clem. Al. Paed. iii. 1, p. 251; Philo, Leg. alleg. i. 33, p. 65, and Qu. in Gen. iv. 152, p. 360. Human and divine nature identical: Dio Cass. Frr. i.-xxxv. Ch. 30, i. 40 Dind.; Stob. Ecl. i.

Fragment 68 (DK B36) Cite

For to souls it is death to become water, and for water it is death to become earth; but water is formed from earth, and from water, soul.

Clement quotes this as borrowed from Orpheus; and Hippolytos also found it in the poets.

Source: Philo, de incorr. mundi 21, p. 509; Aristides Quint. ii. p. 106 Meib.; Clem. Al. Strom. vi. 2, p. 746; Hipp. Ref. haer. v. 16; Julian, Or. v. p. 165 D; Prokl. in Tim. p. 36 C; Olympiod. in Plat. Gorg. p. 357 Jahn; idem, p. 542.

Fragment 69 Cite

Upward, downward, the way is one and the same.

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 10. Cf. Plato, Phileb. 43 A; Kleomed. π. μετεώρων i. p. 75 Bak.; Maximus Tyr. xli. 4, p. 489; Tertull. adv. Marc. ii. 28; Diog. Laer. ix. 8; Plotin. Enn. iv. 8, p. 468; Iambl. Stob. Ecl. i. 41; Hippokr. π. τροφῆς 45; Philo, de incorr. mun. 21, p. 508; and de somn. i. 24, p. 644; and de vit. Moys. i. 6, p. 85; Muson. Stob. Flor. cviii. 60; M. Antonin. vi. 17.

Fragment 70 Cite

Beginning and end are common (to both ways).

Source: Porphyr. Schol. B. Il. xiv. 200, p. 392 Bek. Cf. Hippokr. π. τόπων

Fragment 71 (DK B45) Cite

The limits of the soul you could not discover, though traversing every path.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 7; Tertull. de anima 2. Cf. Hipp. Ref. haer. v. 7.

Fragment 72 Cite

It is a delight to souls to become wet.

Source: Numen. Porphyr. de antro nymph. 10.

Fragment 73 (DK B117) Cite

Whenever a man gets drunk, he is led about by a beardless boy, stumbling, not knowing whither he goes, for his soul is wet.

Source: Stob. Flor. v. 120. Cf. M. Antonin. iv. 46.

Fragment 74 (DK B119) Cite

The dry soul is wisest and best.

Byw. 75. A dry beam is the wisest and best soul; Fr. 76. Where the earth is dry, the soul is wisest and best. If Fr. 74 is the genuine form, the corruptions are very early. We cannot, however, regard all three forms as genuine, and it is at least doubtful whether Fr. 75 expresses a Herakleitean idea. Zeller and others add to Fr. 74 the rest of the phrase in Plutarch, ‘flashing through the body as lightning through the cloud.’

Source: Plutarch, Rom. 28; Aristid. Quint. ii. p. 106; Porphyr. de antro nymph. 11; Synesius, de insomn. p. 140 A Petav.; Stob. Flor. v. 120; Glykas, Ann. i. p. 74 B; Eustath. Il. xxiii. 261, p. 1299, 17.

Fragment 77 Cite

Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 22, p. 628.

Fragment 78 (DK B87) Cite

Life and death, and waking and sleeping, and youth and old age, are the same; for the latter change and are the former, and the former change back to the latter.

Source: Plut. Consol. ad Apoll. 10, p. 106 E; and de EI 18, p. 392 D. (Bernays, Rhein. Mus. vii. p. 100, thinks that more of the contents of these passages is drawn from Herakleitean sources.) Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 22, p. 628; Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. iii. 230; Tzetz. Chil. ii. 722.

Fragment 79 Cite

Lifetime is a child playing draughts; the kingdom is a child’s.

Clement understood αἰών to be Zeus; Hippolytos made it equivalent to αἰώνιος, the eternal (king).

Source: Hipp. Ref. haer. ix. 9. Cf. Clem. Al. Paed. i. 5, p. 111; Iambl. Stob. Ecl. ii. 1, p. 12; Prokl. in Tim. 101 F; Plato, Legg. i. 644 D, x. 903 D; Philo, de vit. Moys. i. 6, p. 85; Plut. de EI 21, p. 393 E; Lucian, vit. auct. 14.

Fragment 80 Cite

I inquired of myself.

The translation follows the sense in Diogenes; in Plutarch it is parallel with the Delphic oracle, ‘I have sought to know myself.’

Source: Plut. adv. Colot. 20, p. 1118 C; Dio Chrys. Or. 55, p. 282; Tatian, Or. ad Graec.; Diog. Laer. ix. 5; Plotin. Enn. iv. 8, p. 468; Julian, Or. vi. p. 185 A; Prokl. on Tim. 106 E; Suidas s. v. ποστοῦμος. Cf. Clem. Al. Strom. ii. 1, p. 429; Plotin. Enn. v. 9, p. 559; Hesychius ἐδίζησα.

Fragment 81 (DK B49) Cite

In the same rivers we step and we do not step; we are and we are not.

Cf. Fr. 41.

Source: Herakl. Alleg. Hom. 24; Seneca, Epist. 58. Cf. Epicharm. Fr. B 40 Lorenz.

Fragment 82 (DK B84) Cite

It is weariness to toil at the same things, and to be subject to them.

Source: These passages do not yield any definite fragment of Herakleitos.

Fragment 83 Cite

Changing it finds rest.

Source: Plotin. Enn. iv. 8, p. 468 and p. 473; Iambl. Stob. Ecl. i. 41, p. 906 and p. 894; Aeneas G. Theophrast. p. 9 and p. 11.

Fragment 84 (DK B125) Cite

Even a potion separates into its ingredients when it is not stirred.

Source: Theophrast. π. ἰλίγγων 9, p. 138 Wim.; Alexand. Aphr. Probl. p. 11 Usen. Cf. M. Antonin. iv. 27.

Fragment 85 (DK B96) Cite

Corpses are more fit to be thrown away than dung.

Source: Strabo, xvi. 26, p. 784; Plutarch, Qu. conv. iv. 4, p. 669 A; Pollux, Onom. v. 163; Origen, c. Cels. v. 14, p. 247 (quoting Celsus, v. 24, p. 253); Julian, Or. vii. p. 226 C. Cf. Philo, de profug. ii. p. 555; Plotin. Enn. v. 1, p. 483; Schol. V. ad Il. xxiv. 54 (= Eustath. ad Il. p. 1338, 47); Epictet. Diss. ii. 4, 5.

Fragment 86 (DK B12) Cite

Being born they wish to live and to meet death, [or rather to find rest,] and they leave behind children to die.

87. Thirty years make a generation, according to Herakleitos. 88. Not without reason does Herakleitos call a month a generation. 89. A man may become a grandfather in thirty years.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iii. 3, p. 516. Mullach assigns the bracketed words to Clement.

Fragment 90 (DK B75) Cite

The sleeping are workmen (and fellow-workers) in what happens in the world.

Source: M. Antonin. vi. 42. Pfleiderer rejects καὶ συνεργοὺς.

Fragment 91 Cite

Understanding is common to all. It is necessary for those who speak with intelligence to hold fast to the common element of all, as a city holds fast to law, and much more strongly. For all human laws are nourished by one which is divine, and it has power so much as it will; and it suffices for all things and more than suffices.

Source: Stob. Flor. iii. 84. Cf. Kleanth. H. Zeus 24; Hippokr. π. τροφῆς 15; Plut. de Isid. 45, p. 369 A; Plotin. Enn. vi. 5, p. 668; Empedokles, v. 231 Stn.

Fragment 92 Cite

And though reason is common, most people live as though they had an understanding peculiar to themselves.

Source: Sext. Emp. Math. vii. 133, where the quotation is apparently longer. Burnett, 140, n. 35, acutely suggests φρονέειν for λόγου.

Fragment 93 Cite

With what they most constantly associate, with this they are at variance.

Source: M. Antonin. iv. 46.

Fragment 94 (DK B73) Cite

It is not meet to act and speak like men asleep.

Cf. Fr. 2 and 90.

Source: M. Antonin. iv. 46.

Fragment 95 (DK B89) Cite

They that are awake have one world in common, but of the sleeping each turns aside into a world of his own.

Source: Plut. de superst. 3, p. 166 C. Cf. Hippolyt. Ref. haer. vi. 26; Iambl. Protrept. 21, p. 132 Arcer. The form is Plutarch’s.

Fragment 96 (DK B78) Cite

For human nature has not wisdom, but divine nature has.

Source: Origen, c. Cels. vi. 12, p. 291.

Fragment 97 Cite

Man is called a baby by god, even as a child is by man.

The translation is Burnett’s, following the suggestion of Petersen in Hermes xiv. 1879, p. 304. Fr. 98. And does not Herakleitos, whom you bring forward, say this very thing, that the wisest of men will appear as an ape before God, both in wisdom and in beauty and in all other respects? Fr. 99. You are ignorant, sir, of that fine saying of Herakleitos, that the most beautiful of apes is ugly in comparison with beings of another kind, and the most beautiful of earthen pots is ugly in comparison with maidenkind, as Hippias the wise man says.

Source: Origen, c. Cels. vi. 12, p. 291. Cf. M. Antonin. iv. 46 Bern.

Fragment 100 (DK B44) Cite

The people ought to fight for their law as for a wall.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 2.

Fragment 101 Cite

Greater deaths gain greater portions.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 7, p. 586; Theodor. Ther. viii. p. 117, 33. Cf. Hipp. Ref. haer. 8. Theodor. reads μόνοι.

Fragment 102 Cite

Gods and men honour those slain in battle.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 4, p. 571; Theodor. Ther. viii. p. 117, 33.

Fragment 103 (DK B43) Cite

Wantonness must be quenched more than a conflagration.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 2. M Cobet σβεννύναι, L σβεννύην.

Fragment 104 Cite

It is not good for men to have whatever they want. Disease makes health sweet and good; hunger, satiety; toil, rest.

Source: Stob. Flor. iii. 83, 4. Cf. εὐαρέστησις, Clem. Al. Strom. ii.

Fragment 105 Cite

It is hard to contend with passion; for whatever it desires to get it buys at the cost of soul.

106. It is the part of all men to know themselves and to be temperate. 107. To be temperate is the greatest virtue; and it is wisdom to speak the truth and to act according to nature with understanding.

Source: Arist. Eth. Nic. ii. 2, p. 1105 a 8; and Eth. Eud. ii. 7, p. 1223 b 22; and Pol. v. 11, p. 1315 a 29; Plut. de cohib. ira 9, p. 457 D; and Erot. 11, p. 755 D; Iambl. Protrep. p. 140 Arc.; and Coriol. 22.

Fragment 106 (DK B116) Cite

Stob. Flor. v. 119. Neither this nor the following fragment can be regarded as genuine.

Fragment 107 (DK B112) Cite

Stob. Flor. iii. 84.

Fragment 108 (DK B95) Cite

It is better to conceal stupidity, but it is an effort in time of relaxation and over the wine.

Source: Plut. qu. conv. iii. proœm. p. 644 F; and de audien. 12, p. 43 D; and virt. doc. posse 2, p. 439 D; Stob. Flor. xviii. 32.

Fragment 109 (DK B109) Cite

It is better to conceal ignorance than to put it forth into the midst.

Source: Stob. Flor. iii. 82 κρύπτειν ἀμαθίην κρέσσον ἢ ἐς τὸ μέσον φέρειν. A variation of 108.

Fragment 110 (DK B33) Cite

It is law to obey the counsel of one.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 14, p. 718 (Euseb. P. E. xiii. 13, p. 681).

Fragment 111 Cite

For what sense or understanding have they? They follow the bards and employ the crowd as their teacher, not knowing that many are bad and few good. For the very best choose one thing before all others, immortal glory among mortals, while the masses eat their fill like cattle.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 9, p. 682; and iv. 7, p. 586; Prokl. on Alkib. p. 255 Creuz, ii. 525 Cous. Clement omits first clause; Proklos ends with ἀγαθοί.

Fragment 112 Cite

In Priene was born Bias son of Teutamas, who is of more account than the rest.

Diogenes adds the apothegm ‘most men are bad.’

Source: Diog. Laer. i. 88.

Fragment 113 Cite

To me one man is ten thousand if he be the best.

Source: Galen, π. διαγνώσεως σφυγμῶν I. I. iii. p. 53 ed. Bas.; Symmachus, Epist. ix. 115 (105 Paris 1604); Theod. Prod. in Lazerii Misc. i. p. 20; and Tetrastich. in Basil. i. (fol. κ 2 vers. ed. Bas.); Diog. Laer. ix. 16; Cicero, ad Att. xvi. 11; Cf. Seneca, Ep. 7.

Fragment 114 (DK B121) Cite

The Ephesians deserve to be hanged, every one that is a man grown, and the youth to abandon the city, for they cast out Hermodoros the best man among them, saying:—Let no one among us be best, and if one be best, let him be so elsewhere and among others.

Source: Strabo, xiv. 25, p. 642; Cicero, Tusc. v. 105; Muson., Stob. Flor. xl. 9; Laer. Diog. ix. 2; Iambl. de vita Pyth. 30, p. 154 Arc. Cf. Lucian vit. auct. 14.

Fragment 115 Cite

Dogs also bark at those they do not know.

Source: Plut. An seni sit ger. resp. vii. p. 787.

Fragment 116 (DK B86) Cite

As the result of incredulity (divine things) miss being known.

Either because men are incredulous, or the things incredible. Cf. Zeller, Phil. Gr. i.⁴ 574 A 2. Gomperz combined this with fragment 10.

Source: Plut. Coriol. 38; Clem. Al. Strom. v. 13, p. 699. Clem. ἀπιστίη.

Fragment 117 Cite

The fool is wont to be in a flutter at every word.

Source: Plutarch, de audiendo 7, p. 41 A; de aud. poet., p. 28 D.

Fragment 118 Cite

The most esteemed of those in estimation knows how to be on his guard; yet truly justice shall overtake forgers of lies and witnesses to them.

If the reference is to Homer, read πλάσσειν, ‘knows how to create myths.’

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. v. 1, p. 649. Bergk φλυάσσειν, Bernays Bywater πλάσσειν.

Fragment 119 (DK B42) Cite

(He used to say that) Homer deserved to be cast out of the lists and flogged, and Archilochos likewise.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 1. Schleiermacher attributes to H. on the basis of Schol. Ven. A. on Iliad xviii. 251 Eustath. 1142, 5; Bywater suggests Herakleides and compares Eust. p. 705, 60, and Achilles Tat. Isag. p. 124 B Petav.

Fragment 120 (DK B5) Cite

One day is equal to every other.

Fragment 121 Cite

Character is a man’s guardian divinity.

Source: Plutarch, Qu. Plat. i. 2, 999 E; Alex. Aphrod. de fato 6, p. 16 (de anima ii. 48, p. 150); Stob. Flor. civ. 23. Cf. Pseudo-Herakl. Ep. 9.

Fragment 122 (DK B26) Cite

There awaits men at death what they do not expect or think.

Source: Clem. Al. Strom. iv. 22, p. 630; Protrept. 2, p. 18 (Euseb. P. E. ii. 3, p. 66); Theodoret. Ther. viii. p. 118, 1. Cf. Themist. (Plut.) in Stob. Flor. cxx. 28.

Fragment 123 (DK B63) Cite

Then [it is necessary] that God raise them up, and that they become guardians of the living and the dead.

Or adopting Sauppe’s conjectures in full ‘that he become a watchful guardian....’

Source: Hippolyt. Ref. haer. ix. 10; the fragment is quoted to show that Herakleitos believes in the resurrection of the flesh, and recognises that god is the cause of this resurrection. Cf. Clem. Al. Strom. v. 1, p. 649.

Fragment 124 Cite

Night-walkers, wizards, bacchanals, revellers, sharers in the mysteries.

Source: Clem. Al. Protrept. 2, p. 18 (Euseb. P. E. ii. 3, p. 66).

Fragment 125 (DK B14) Cite

For what are esteemed mysteries among men they celebrate in an unholy way.

Source: Clem. Al. Protrept. 2. p. 19 (Euseb. P. E. ii. p. 67). Bywater compares Arnobius adv. nat. v. 29.

Fragment 127 Cite

For if it were not to Dionysos that they made the procession and sang the song with phallic symbols, their deeds would indeed be most shameful; but Hades and Dionysos are the same, to whomever they go mad and share the revel.

128. I distinguish two kinds of sacrifices; those of men altogether purified, which would occur rarely, as Herakleitos says, in the case of a single individual, or of some very few men easily counted; secondly, those that are material and corporeal and composite through change, such as are in harmony with those who are still restrained by the body.

Source: Clem. Al. Protrept. 2, p. 30. MSS. ἐποιοῦντο, corr. Lobeck: MSS. εἴργασται, corr. Schleierm. Clem. Al. ὅτεῳ, Plutarch, de Isid. 28, p. 362 A ὅτε οὖν ... ληραίνουσιν.

Fragment 129 (DK B68) Cite

(Herakleitos fittingly called religious rites) cures (for the soul).

Source: Iamblich. de Myst. i. 11.

Fragment 130 Cite

They purify themselves by defiling themselves with blood, as if one who had stepped into the mud were to wash it off with mud. If any one of men should observe him doing so, he would think he was insane. And to these images they pray, just as if one were to converse with men’s houses, for they know not what gods and heroes are. 130a. If they are gods, why do ye lament them? And if ye lament them, no longer consider them gods.

The fragment in the critical notes reads: ‘To images of gods they pray, to those who do not hear, as though they might hear; to those who do not answer, as though they might not make request.’

Source: Greg. Naz. Or. xxv. (xxiii.) 15, p. 466, ed. Par. 1778 πηλῷ πηλὸν καθαιρόντων. Elias Cretensis on the Gregory passage (cod. Vat. Pii II.

Fragment 131 Cite

All things are full of souls and of divine spirits.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 7.

Fragment 132 Cite

He was wont to say that false opinion is a sacred disease, and that vision is deceitful.

Source: Diog. Laer. ix. 7. Cf. Floril. Monac. 195, p. 282.

Fragment 133 Cite

Each one who has come to be esteemed without due grounds, ought to hide his face.

Source: Apollonius, Ep. 18.

Fragment 134 Cite

False opinion of progress is the stoppage of progress.

Source: Floril. Monac. 199, p. 283. Cf. Philo, ap. Ioan. Dam. S. P. 693 E, fr. p. 652 Mang. Stob. Flor. iv. 88 credits it to Bion; Maxim. Conf. Serm. 34, p. 624 Combef.

Fragment 135 (DK B134) Cite

Their education is a second sun to those that have been educated.

Source: Floril. Monac. 200, p. 283.

Fragment 136 Cite

As food is timely in famine, so opportune favour heals the need of the soul.

Source: Maximus Conf. Serm. 8, p. 557.

Fragment 137 (DK B135) Cite

The same one was wont to say that the shortest way to glory was to become good. PASSAGES IN PLATO AND ARISTOTLE REFERRING TO HERAKLEITOS. Plato, Theaet. 160 D. Homer, and Herakleitos, and the whole company which say that all things are in motion and in a state of flux. Cf. 152 D H. Kratylos, 401 D. According to Herakleitos all things are in motion and nothing abides. Cf. 402 A, and frag. 41; also 412 D, 440 C. Plato also alludes to fragments 32, 45, 98-99. Aristotle: Topica i. 11, 104 f 21. All things are in motion, according to Herakleitos. Top. viii. 5; 155 f 30. Wherefore those that hold different opinions, as that good and bad are the same thing, as Herakleitos says, do not grant that the opposite cannot coexist with itself; not as though they did not think this to be the case, but because as followers of Herakleitos they are obliged to speak as they do. Phys. i. 2; 185 b 19. But still, if in the argument all things that exist are one, as a cloak or a himation, it turns out that they are stating the position of Herakleitos; for the same thing will apply to good and bad, and to good and not-good, so that good and not-good, and man and horse, will be the same; and they will not be arguing that all things are one, but that they are nothing, and that the same thing applies to such and to so much. Phys. iii. 5; 205 a 3. As Herakleitos says that all things sometime become fire. De coelo i. 10; 279 b 16. And others in their turn say that sometimes combination is taking place, and at other times destruction, and that this will always continue, as Empedokles of Agrigentum, and Herakleitos of Ephesos. De anima i. 2; 405 a 25. And Herakleitos also says that the first principle is soul, as it were a fiery exhalation, of which all other things consist; for it is the least corporeal and always in a state of flux, and the moving is known by the moving; and he agreed with most thinkers in holding that things are in motion. De part anim. i. 5; 645 a 17. And as Herakleitos is reported to have said to strangers who wanted to meet him, who stopped when they entered and saw him getting warm by an oven—for he bade them enter boldly, since, said he, gods are here—so should one enter upon the investigation of each of the animals without timidity, as there is in them all something natural and beautiful. Met. i. 3; 984 a 7. Hippasos of Metapontum and Herakleitos of Ephesos call fire the first cause. Cf. 996 a 9, 1001 a 15. Met. iii. 3; 1005 b 24. For it is impossible for any one to postulate that the same thing is and is not, as some think Herakleitos says. Met. iii. 5; 1010 a 13. V. Frag. 41-42, supra. Met. iii. 7; 1012 a 24. For the word of Herakleitos, that all things are and are not, seems to make all things true. Met. x. 5; 1062 a 32. For one might ask Herakleitos himself after this manner and speedily compel him to agree that it is never possible for opposite statements to be true about the same things. Cf. 1063 b 24. Met. xii. 4; 1078 b 12. For the doctrine of ideas is held by its supporters because they are convinced by Herakleitos’s words in regard to the truth, viz., that all things perceived by the senses are always in a state of flux; so that if there is to be a science and a knowledge of anything, it is necessary to assume the existence of other objects in nature besides those that are perceived by sense, for there can be no science of things in a state of flux. Eth. ii. 3; 1105 a 8. It is harder to fight against pleasure than against anger, as Herakleitos says. Eth. vii. 3; 1146 b 30. For some believe their opinions no less strongly than what they know by scientific procedure; and Herakleitos is an example of this. Eth. viii. 2; 1155 b 4. And Herakleitos says that opposition unites, and that the most beautiful harmony results from opposites, and that all things come into being through strife. Eth. x. 5; 1176 a 6. As Herakleitos says, an ass would prefer refuse to gold, for natural food is sweeter to asses than gold. PASSAGES REFERRING TO HERAKLEITOS IN THE ‘DOXOGRAPHISTS.’

138. Timaios wrote thus: So Pythagoras does not appear to have discovered the true art of words, nor yet the one accused by Herakleitos, but Herakleitos himself is the one who is the pretender.

Sext. Emp. adv. Math. vii. 129. According to Herakleitos we become intelligent when we get this divine reason by breathing it in, and in sleep we are forgetful, but on waking we gain our senses again. For in sleep since the pores of the senses are closed, the mind in us is separated from what is akin to it in what surrounds us, and its connection through pores is only preserved like a sort of root; and being cut off it loses its former power of memory; but when we wake it peeps out through the pores of sense as through little doors, and entering into connection with what surrounds us it regains the power of reason.

Source: Maximus Conf. Serm. 46, p. 646.