§ 13. The works of neo-Platonic writers frequently mention the earlier philosophers, but yield few fragments of value. Plotinos refers to ten fragments of Herakleitos. Four of these (80, 82, 83, 85) have the form of quotations, and in two instances the name of Herakleitos is mentioned; they are, however, very short, and give no clue to their source. Sometimes Plotinos plays on words that were evidently known as Herakleitean, e.g. Fr. (47?), 54, 69, 80; or again an Herakleitean idea is stated in his own words, Fr. 32, 83, 99, 130. The manner in which these quotations and allusions are made shows that the phrases were very familiar, either in earlier writers or possibly in some collection of sayings. Line 81 b of Parmenides is quoted with no name; line 40 b is quoted with the author’s name, and is followed by an account of the context which shows that it was drawn from a passage of some length. From Empedokles we find only two phrases, taken from lines 381 and 382, that are worked into the text of Plotinos. Porphyry quotes from Herakleitos only familiar phrases, and these in the briefest form (74 ap. _de antr. nym._ xi. and 72 ap. _de antr. nym._ x.). The phrases were so familiar that it was only necessary to suggest the idea (e.g. 56 ap. _de antr. nym._ xxix.) without mentioning the name of the philosopher. Parmenides is not so well known; Greeks and Egyptians, we read, say that he mentioned the two gates in his _Physika_ (_de antr. nym._ xxiii.). Only the καθάρματα of Empedokles is quoted, but here Porphyry knows the subjects treated in the work (_de abst._ II. xxi.), and sometimes the full context of the passage he quotes (e.g. _de antr. nym._ viii.). In the case of lines 415-420 we are not sure that Porphyry was right in applying the verses to Parmenides; still, the quotations would seem to be taken directly from the καθάρματα and copied with fair accuracy.