Ancilla to Pre-Socratic Philosophers A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker.docVIP

Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers A complete translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker CONTENTS The chapters are numbered as in the Fifth Edition of Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. The numbers in brackets are those of the Fourth Edition. p. x FOREWORD This book is a complete translation of the fragments of the Pre-Socratic philosophers given in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Fifth Edition (B-sections). Comments on readings and interpretation have been confined to footnotes, and are restricted to the minimum; for further discussion, the reader is referred to my Companion to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers, to which this book is ancillary. The fragments have been translated in full except for the longer extracts from Gorgias, which are fully summarised. Summaries of contexts, and words inserted in explanation or for the sake of clarity, are given in italic type, in order to show the exact words of the writer when these are preserved. When no quotations survive, this has been stated for the sake of completeness, and an account derived from summaries in other ancient writers will be found in the Companion. p. 1 ANCILLA TO THE PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS 1. ORPHEUS Orpheus lived probably in Thrace, in pre-Homeric times. Aristotle believed that he never existed; but to other ancient writers he was a real person, though living in remote antiquity. Nothing is known of any ancient Orphic writings. It was believed that Orpheus taught, but left no writings, and that the epic poetry attributed to him was written in the sixth century by Onomacritus. The Orphic literature current in the time of the Neo-Platonists (third century A.D.) is now thought to be a collection of writings of different periods and varying outlook, dating from the sixth century B.C. to the beginning of the Christian era. A large number of titles survive.?1 There are also a number of gold plates from tombs, and a few papyrus fragments, which give Orphic instruction to the