Empedocles

Flourished about the 84th Olympiad.

It is generally supposed that Empedocles was a disciple of Pythagoras. He was born at Agrigenturn, in Sicily, in which countiy his family were held in the highest consideration. He was eminently skilled in medicine, and was moreover an excellent orator. He applied himself particalaiiy to poetry, and to every thing connected with religion. The Agri^ntines paid him extraordinary respect, and looked upon him as a man far superior to the rest of the human race. LucreUus, after relating the wonders that were to be seen un Sicily, says, that the inhabitants themselves declared, that the chief glory of their island was its being the birth-place of so great a man as Kmpedodes, whose poems were to be regarded as orades. Nor was this veneration any way misplaced. Several events conspired in his life to make him the admiration of -every one. He has been suspected by some of having practised magic. It is related by Satirus, that Gorgias of Lecontium, one of the most distinguished disciples of Empedocles, frequently said, that he had on many occasions aided that philosopher in the practice of the art; and it appears that Empedocles himself meant to insinuate that he was in possession of some secrets of this uuture, when he says to Gorgias in his verses, that he wished to teach him, and him alone, the secret knowledge which might enable him to cure all sorts of maladies, to restore youth to the aged, to raise winds, tocalm tempests, to produce rain and heat, and even to animate the dead and bring back the souls of the departed from the other world.

The Etesian, or periodical winds, blowing one day with so much fury as to threaten destruction to the fruits of the earth, £mpedocles gave orders that a number of asses should be flayed. He then caused bottles to be made of their skms, and placed them on the summits of the mount^us and the highest hiUs; and the effect of this was, as it is ssdd, that the winds immediately became calm, and all nature seemed restored to tranquillity.

Empedodes was much attached to the doctrine of Pythagoras, hb master; and as the Pythagoreans held all sanguinary sacrifices in abomination, he, when he wished to sacrifice, prepared honey and flour y in the form of an ox, and offered it up to the Gods.

Agrigentum was a city of considerable note iu the time of Empedocles. 'Vhe number of its inhabitants was computed to be eight hundred thousand, and it was styled by way of distinction, '' llie Great City.'* In it luxury and dissipation had arrived almost at the acm^: Empedocles, in speaking of the people, used to say, that they were as impatient in pursuit of pleasure as if they were going to die the next day, and built themselves palaces as i^uperb as if they were going to inhabit them, for ever. He was faithful to the trust nposed in htm by the pub* lie. He was offered the soverdgnty of Agrigentum several times, but he never would accept it; inva* riably preferring the tranquillity of a private condi* tioo, to the splendour of public life and the anxieties of business. He was a zealous advocate for liberty, and for a popular form of government. He went one day to a feast, to which he was invited. When the time ai-rived which had been appointed for sitting down to table, Empedocles, seeisg nothing pre* pared, and that nobody compUdned of any want of punctuality, was offended, and desired that the repast might be immediately served up. His host begged him to have patience for a little irhile, because he expected the principal member of the senate as one of his guests. This magistrate at length made his appearance, and the master of the house, and all the rest of the company, immediately ceded to him the highest place, and made him the ruler of the feast. This personage could not refrain from giving proofs of his tyrannical spirit and capricious humour. He commanded that all the guests should drink their wine pure, and that a fiill glass should be thrown in the face of any one who should refuse to take it in that manner. Empedocles took no notice of this at the time; but the next day he assembled the people, and boldly accused both him who had given the entertsunment, and him who had conducted himself at it so imperiously; pointing out to them that such behaviour was only a prelude to conduct the most tyrannical, inasmuch as it was in itself a violation of the laws and an attack upon public liberty. In consequence of this repreaentation the parties were iminediateiy condemned and put to death.

Empedocles had sufficient inflaenoe in the State to be able to procure the dissolving of the council of a thousand; and as he leaned greatly to the side of the people, he caused it to be ordained that for the future the magistrates should be changed every three years, in order that every member of the commonwealth might be enabled to discharge the civil offices in his turn. Aero, the physician, petitioned the senate for a place in which to erect a monument to the memory of his father, who had excelled in his profession, and was accounted one of the mmt able physicians of his time. Nevertheless Empedocles arose in the midst of the assemU^, and persuaded the people to negative the request; because it appeared to him inimical to that equaHty which he wished to see rigidly observed, as he considered it to be the basis of public liberty that no man should raise himself above his fellow-citizens.

The city of Selinus had for a length of time been afflicted with the plague. All ranks of people Ian guished under its effects, and labour came prematurely upon women. Empedocles was certain that the sole cause of the disonier originated in the corruption of the river Selinus, by which the city was supplied with water. At his own expense he turned the cottiiie of the small streams into that river, which remedied the evil, and the disorder attendant on it immediately ceased. The people of Selinus made great rejoicings on the occasion, and Empe ■ dodes making his appearance among them, they o assembled round hiuiy sacrificed to htm, and paid him divine honours, by which he found himself sensibly gratified. Empedocles acknowledged as first principles the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire. He maintained, also, that there exbts between these elements a principle of attraction by which they are united, and a principle of repulsion by which they are separated; that the elements themselves are in a constant state of vicissitude, but that nothing can perish; that the present order of things has existed from eternity, and will for ever continue the same: the suu he held to be a large mass of fire, the moon to be flat, and in the. form of a quoit; and the sky composed of a substance resembling crystal. Respecting the soul, he supposed it to pass into all descriptions of bodies indifferently, and declared that he remembered himself beuig a little girl, afterwards a fish, and then a bird, and he even remembered having been a plant. The accounts given of the death of this philosopher vary very much. The more commonly received opinion, however, is, that 'being extremely desirous of passing for a god, and seeing many disposed to consider him as sudi, he resolved to sustain the character to the last. Accordingly, when he found the infirmities of age coming upon him, he determined to end his days by something that should carry with it the appearance of a supernatural event. Having effected a cure of a woman of Agiigentum, named Pantea, who had been given up by her physicians, and who was seemingly at the point of death, he prepared a solemn sacrifice, to which he invited more than eighty persons. As soon as the festival was over, and those who had attended it had retired to repose themselves beneath the surrounding trees, and other retired spots, Empedocles, in order to |nve the idea of his miraculous disappearance, ascended, without informing any one of his design, to the top of Mount ifitna, and precipitated himself thence into the flames. Hence Horace, alluding to the manner of his death, says,

Detts immortalU haberi Dum cupit £mpedocle», ardentemfrigidtu JEtnam IngUuit,

He> thirsting to be rank'd amongst the gods, Sousht a dread way to find their bright abodes. And into baming SXoa coolly le^'d.

Empedocles was always serious in his demean-our. He wore his hair long, and a crown of laurel on, his head. He never walked in the streets without being attended by a crowd of persons: he impressed all whom he met with sentiments of reverence, and passers-by thought themselves hap • py in meeting him on the road. He wore brazen sandals on his feet, and after he had precipitated himself into the burning crater of iEtna, one of these sandals was thrown up by the violence of the flames, and thus discovered the deception he had practised. Hence poor Empedocles, for want of a little more foresight, lost his reputation as a god, and only obtained that of an impostor.

Among other good qualities which this philosopher possessed, veas that of disinterestedness. He was likewise a good citizen. After the death of his father, Meto, some one attempted to usurp the sovereign power of Agrigentum: Empedocles promptly assembled the people, quelled the seditioiiy aud prevented the matter from gainings ground. His love of equality he manifested mdubitably, by sharing all be possessed with those who had less than himself. The Agrigentines nused a statue to his memory, and preserved his memory in extraordinary reverence. He was advanced in years at the time of his death; but the exact period at which it took place is not known.