This fragment is interesting because of the great antiquity of the
corruptions which it has suffered. According to Stephanus, who is
followed by Bywater and Diels, we should read: Αὔη ψυχὴ σοφωτάτη καὶ
ἀρίστη, ξηρή (or rather ξηρά—the Ionic form would only appear when the
word got into the text) being a mere gloss upon the somewhat unusual
αὔη. When once ξηρή got into the text, αὔη became αὐγή, and we get the
sentence: “the dry light is the wisest soul,” whence the _siccum
lumen_ of Bacon. Now this reading is certainly as old as Plutarch,
who, in his Life of Romulus (c. 28), takes αὐγή to mean lightning, as
it sometimes does, and supposes the idea to be that the wise soul
bursts through the prison of the body like dry lightning (whatever
that may be) through a cloud. I do not think that Clement’s making the
same mistake proves anything at all (Zeller, p. 705, n. 3; Eng. trans.
i. p. 80, n. 2), except that he had read his Plutarch. Lastly, it is
worth noticing that, though Plutarch must have written αὐγή, the MSS.
vary between αὕτη and αὐτή. The next stage is the corruption of the
corrupt αὐγή into οὗ γῆ. This yields the sentiment that “where the
earth is dry, the soul is wisest,” and is as old as Philo (see Mr.
Bywater’s notes).
Footnote 357:
I understand μεταπεσόντα here as meaning “moved” from one γραμμή or
division of the draught-board to another.
Footnote 358:
Sext. _Math._ vii. 133, διὸ δεῖ ἕπεσθαι τῷ ξυνῷ. It seems to me that
these words must belong to Herakleitos, though Bywater omits them. On
the other hand, the words τοῦ λόγου δὲ ὄντος ξυνοῦ (so, not δ’ ἐόντος,
the best MSS.) seem clearly to belong to the Stoic interpreter whom
Sextus is following, and who was anxious to connect this fragment with
fr. 2 (ὀλίγα προσδιελθὼν ἐπιφέρει) in order to get the doctrine of the
κοινὸς λόγος. The whole context in Sextus should be read.
Footnote 359:
The words λόγῳ τῳ τὰ ὅλα διοικοῦντι, which Diels prints as part of
this fragment, seem to me to belong to Marcus Aurelius and not to
Herakleitos.
Footnote 360:
Adopting Heitz’s κακὸν for καὶ with Diels.
Footnote 361:
The word θυμός has its Homeric sense. The gratification of desire
implies the exchange of dry soul-fire (fr. 74) for moisture (fr. 72).
Aristotle understood θυμός here as anger (_Eth. Nic._ Β 2, 1105 a 8).
Footnote 362:
This seems to be a clear reference to the “three lives.” See Chap. II.
§ 45, p. 108.
Footnote 363:
Reading δοκέοντα with Schleiermacher (or δοκέοντ’ ὧν with Diels). I
have omitted φυλάσσειν, as I do not know what it means, and none of
the conjectures commends itself.
Footnote 364:
On the meaning of δαίμων here, see my edition of Aristotle’s _Ethics_,
pp. 1 sq. As Professor Gildersleeve puts it, the δαίμων is the
individual form of τύχη, as κήρ is of θάνατος.
Footnote 365:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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