Kitap 9
1.5
As to the work which passes as his, it is a continuous treatise On Nature, but is divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology.
1.6
This book he deposited in the temple of Artemis and, according to some, he deliberately made it the more obscure in order that none but adepts should approach it, and lest familiarity should breed contempt. Of our philosopher TimonFr. 43 D. gives a sketch in these wordsCf. Il. i. 247, 248.: In their midst uprose shrill, cuckoo-like, a mob-reviler, riddling Heraclitus.
1.6
Theophrastus puts it down to melancholy that some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley. As a proof of his magnanimity Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers cites the fact that he renounced his claim to the kingship in favour of his brother. So great fame did his book win that a sect was founded and called the Heracliteans, after him.
1.7
Here is a general summary of his doctrines. All things are composed of fire, and into fire they are again resolved; further, all things come about by destiny, and existent things are brought into harmony by the clash of opposing currents; again, all things are filled with souls and divinities. He has also given an account of all the orderly happenings in the universe, and declares the sun to be no larger than it appears. Another of his sayings is: Of soul thou shalt never find boundaries, not if thou trackest it on every path; so deep is its cause.Fr. 45 D., 71 B. Self-conceit he used to call a falling sickness (epilepsy) and eyesight a lying sense.Fr. 46 D., 132 B. Sometimes, however, his utterances are clear and distinct, so that even the dullest can easily understand and derive therefrom elevation of soul. For brevity and weightiness his exposition is incomparable.
