Editing Heraclitus (section)

==''On Nature''==
[[File:Miniaturk 009.jpg|thumb|A modern reconstruction of the Ephesian [[Temple of Artemis]], located in modern Istanbul. According to Diogenes Laertius, Heraclitus deposited his book in the temple.]]
Heraclitus is said to have produced a single work on [[papyrus]],{{efn|name=DiogLae}} which has not survived{{West|1971|p=111}}; however, over 100 fragments of this work survive in quotations by other authors.{{NoteTag|Some classicists and professors of ancient philosophy have disputed which of these fragments can truly be attributed to Heraclitus.{{sfn|McCabe|2015}}{{sfn|Kahn|1979|p=168}}}} The title is unknown,{{sfn|Burnet|1892|p=133}} but many later writers refer to this work, and works by other pre-Socratics, as ''On Nature''.{{sfn|KirkRaven|1957|pages=183–184}}{{efn|name=DiogLae}} According to Diogenes Laërtius, Heraclitus deposited the book in the [[Temple of Artemis|Artemision]] as a dedication.{{efn|name=DiogLae}} It was available at least until the 2nd century CE, when [[Plutarch]] and [[Clement of Alexandria|Clement]] quote directly from it, if not later.{{sfn|Kahn|1979|p=5}} Yet by the 6th-century, [[Simplicius of Cilicia]], who mentions Heraclitus 32 times in his [[Commentaries on Aristotle]], never quotes from him, implying that Heraclitus's work was so rare that it was apparently unavailable even to the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonist]] philosophers at the Platonic Academy in Athens.{{sfn|Mansfield|1999|p=39}}

The opening lines are quoted by [[Sextus Empiricus]]:

{{blockquote|Of the ''logos'' being forever do men prove to be uncomprehending, both before they hear and once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this ''logos'' they are like the unexperienced experiencing words and deeds such as I explain when I distinguish each thing according to its nature and declare how it is. Other men are unaware of what they do when they are awake just as they are forgetful of what they do when they are asleep.{{efn|{{harvnb|Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Mathematicians'' |loc=B1}}}} }}

=== Structure ===
Scholar [[Martin Litchfield West]] claims that while the existing fragments do not give much of an idea of the overall structure,{{sfn|West|1971|pp=113–117}} the beginning of the discourse can probably be determined.{{NoteTag|West suggests that the beginning may be tentatively ordered as follows:{{sfn|West|1971|pp=113–117}} B1; B114; B2; B89; B30; B31; B90; B60.}} 

Diogenes Laërtius wrote that the book was divided into three parts: the [[universe]], [[politics]], and [[theology]],{{efn|name=DiogLae}} but, classicists have challenged that division. Classicist [[John Burnet (classicist)|John Burnet]] has argued that "it is not to be supposed that this division is due to [Heraclitus] himself; all we can infer is that the work fell naturally into these parts when the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] commentators took their editions of it in hand".{{sfn|Burnet|1892|p=132}} The Stoics divided their own philosophy into three parts: ethics, logic, and physics.<ref>see Laertius, 7.33</ref> The Stoic [[Cleanthes]] further divided philosophy into [[dialectic]]s, [[rhetoric]], [[ethics]], politics, [[physics]], and theology, and [[Philology|philologist]] [[Karl Deichgräber]] has argued the last three are the same as the alleged division of Heraclitus.<ref name="kyon">[https://books.google.com/books?id=JL-cyJ6zdJwC&pg=PA51 The Cynics] by. Robert Brach Branham p. 51</ref> The philosopher Paul Schuster has argued the division came from the ''[[Pinakes]]''.{{sfn|Finkelberg|2017|p= 31}}{{sfn|Schuster|1873|pp=55–56}}

=== Style ===
[[Image:Sibyl Domenichino.jpg|thumb|upright| Heraclitus's writing style has been compared to a [[sibyl]], as depicted here by Domenichino.]]

Heraclitus's style has been compared to a [[Sibyl]],{{sfn|Stokes|1961|p=477}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1qXOcPy-dYC&pg=PA100|title=The Muse at Play: Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry|first1=Jan|last1=Kwapisz|first2=David|last2=Petrain|first3=Mikolaj|last3=Szymanski|year=2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-027061-7}}</ref><ref name="Nietzsche">Nietzsche, Friedrich. ''Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks''. United States: Skyhorse Publishing. p. 64</ref> who "with raving lips uttering things mirthless, unbedizened, and unperfumed, reaches over a thousand years with her voice, thanks to the god in her".{{efn|{{harvnb|Plutarch, ''On the Pythian Oracle''|loc=B92}}}}{{NoteTag|This is the earliest reference to the Sibyl in extant literature.{{sfn|Kahn|1979|p=125}}}} 

Heraclitus also seemed to pattern his style after [[oracle]]s.{{sfn|Finkelberg|2017|p=36}} Heraclitus wrote "nature loves to hide"{{efn|{{harvnb|B123}}}} and "a hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one".{{efn|{{harvnb|Hippolytus|loc=B54}}}} He also wrote "The lord whose [[Pythia|oracle]] is in [[Delphi]] neither speaks nor conceals, but gives a sign."<ref>The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece. (2007). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 183</ref>{{efn|name=PythianO|{{harvnb|Plutarch, ''On the Pythian Oracle''|loc=B93}}}}  Heraclitus is the earliest known literary reference for the [[Delphic maxims|Delphic maxim]] to [[know thyself]].<ref name="robb">{{cite journal |last=Robb |first=Kevin |date=July 1986 |title='Psyche' and 'Logos' in the Fragments of Heraclitus: The Origins of the Concept of Soul |journal=The Monist |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=315–351 |doi=10.5840/monist198669320 |jstor=27902979}}</ref>{{efn|{{harvnb|Stobaeus|loc=B116}}}}

Kahn characterized the main features of Heraclitus's writing as "linguistic density", meaning that single words and phrases have multiple meanings, and "resonance", meaning that expressions evoke one another.{{sfn|Kahn|1979|p=89}} Heraclitus used [[List of narrative techniques|literary devices]] like [[alliteration]] and [[chiasmus]].{{sfn|Graham|2019|loc=§2}}

==== The Obscure ====
[[Aristotle]] quotes part of the opening line of Heraclitus's work in the ''[[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]]'' to outline the difficulty in punctuating Heraclitus without ambiguity; he debated whether "forever" applied to "being" or to "prove".{{sfn|Graham|2019|loc=§2}}{{efn|{{harvnb| A4}}}} Aristotle's successor at the [[Lyceum (classical)|lyceum]] [[Theophrastus]] says about Heraclitus that "some parts of his work [are] half-finished, while other parts [made] a strange medley".{{efn|name=DiogLae}} Theophrastus thought an inability to finish the work showed Heraclitus was melancholic.{{efn|name=DiogLae}}

Diogenes Laërtius relays the story that the playwright [[Euripides]] gave [[Socrates]] a copy of Heraclitus's work and asked for his opinion. Socrates replied: "The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a [[Delos|Delian]] [[Underwater diving|diver]] to get to the bottom of it."<ref>Laërtius 2.5</ref>

Also according to Diogenes Laërtius, Timon of Phlius called Heraclitus "the Riddler" ({{lang|grc|αἰνικτής}}; {{transliteration|grc|ainiktēs}}).{{NoteTag|A likely reference to an alleged similarity to Pythagorean riddles.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8YiHqT6CWnUC&pg=PA193 Heresiography in Context] by Jaap Mansfeld p. 193</ref>}} Timon said Heraclitus wrote his book "rather unclearly" ({{lang|grc|ασαφεστερον}}; {{transliteration|grc|asaphesteron}}); according to Timon, this was intended to allow only the "capable" to attempt it.{{efn|name=DiogLae}} 

By the time of the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise ''[[On the Universe|De Mundo]]'', this epithet became in Greek "The Dark" ({{lang|grc|ὁ Σκοτεινός}}; {{transliteration|grc|ho Skoteinós}}).<ref>''De Mundo'', 396b</ref> In [[Latin]] this became "The Obscure". According to [[Cicero|Cicero,]] Heraclitus had spoken ''nimis obscurē'' ("too obscurely") concerning nature and had done so deliberately in order to be misunderstood.<ref>Cicero, ''De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum'', Chapter 2, Section 15.</ref>{{sfn|Wheelwright|1959|p=116}} According to [[Plotinus]], it was "probably with the idea that it is for us to seek within ourselves, as he sought for himself and found".<ref>Plotinus, Enneads, IV, 8th Tractate</ref>{{efn|name=B101}}