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The fraud, it was said, was detected by one of his shoes being cast up from
the crater. Whatever the manner of his end, the Etna story may probably be
taken as an ill-natured joke of some sceptic wit; and it is certain that no
such story was believed by his fellow-citizens, who rendered in after years
divine honours to his name.
Like Xenophanes,
Parmenides, and other
Graeco-Italian[1] philosophers, he expounded his views in verse; but he reached a poetic
excellence unattained by any predecessor. Aristotle characterises his gift
as Homeric, and himself as a master of style, employing freely metaphors and
other poetic forms. Lucretius also speaks of him in terms of high admiration
(De Nat. Rer. i. 716 sqq.):
“Foremost among them is Empedocles of Agrigentum, child of the island with
the triple capes, a land wondrous deemed in many wise, and worthy to be
viewed of all men. Rich it is in all manner of good things, and strong in
the might of its men, yet naught within its borders men deem more divine or
more wondrous or more dear than her illustrious son. Nay, the songs which
issued from his godlike breast are eloquent yet, and expound his findings
wondrous well, so that hardly is he thought to have been of mortal clay.”
Elpenor's note
:
[1]
Careless remark. Xenophanes, Parmenides ‘and
other Graeco-Italian’ philosophers spoke Greek as their mother
tongue, and belong to the general context of Greek history and
civilization. Even if the author uses the epithets in pure
geographical sense, still he is wrong, since these men were living
in Greek colonies; it is not without reason that Sicily was named
‘Great Greece’, Μεγάλη
Ἑλλάς, and other scholars speak about “Greek West” or “Western Greece”.
A History of Greek Philosophy /
THE ATOMISTS /
EMPEDOCLES
