A few lines of Parmenides we know only from Proklos. Verses 29-30 had been given by Diogenes and Clement, but some of the verses 33-40 are new. In these instances, as is usually the case with the quotations in Proklos, the text of the quotations is in a condition almost hopeless. Indeed, at p. 160 D a line and a half of Parmenides are filled out with half a line from Empedokles under the name of the former writer. From Empedokles only single lines (once two lines together) are given, and they aid but little in the reconstruction of the text. Proklos, like Plutarch, is very careful to cite the name of his authorities; but the text of the quotations is so carelessly reproduced that they are of little value. § 14. The commentators on Aristotle early began to illustrate his statements about earlier thinkers by passages copied from their works. Alexander of Aphrodisias and Joh. Philoponos seldom add fragments not contained in the works of Aristotle himself; but Simplicius copies long extracts, so that, except for Herakleitos, his commentaries are the most important source for our knowledge of the writings of the pre-Sokratic philosophers. There can be no doubt that most of these quotations—at least in his commentary on the _Physics_ of Aristotle—were drawn from the original works. The most careful scrutiny of the passages from Zeno, Melissos, and Anaxagoras fails to reveal any reason for questioning their character as genuine quotations, except in the case of some of the fragments of Melissos. Pabst (and independently Burnet) has shown that the so-called Fragments 1-5 of Melissos, though given in the form of quotations, are in reality an epitome covering more briefly the same ground that is covered by the following fragments, and adding almost nothing to our knowledge of Melissos. It is wholly unlikely that Simplicius made this epitome himself, for that would be at variance with his ordinary method of work, and with his custom later in dealing with Melissos. So we are driven to assume either that he drew them from some epitome of Melissos to which he had access, or, what seems to me more probable, that he copied them from an earlier commentator, whose habit it was to condense his quotations rather than to copy them at full length. If now we examine the quotations in Simplicius’ commentary on the _de caelo_ (Melissos Fr. 17 and numerous lines from Parmenides and Empedokles), it is noticeable that a considerable number of them occur also in the scholia to Aristotle. It is possible that as they appear in our scholia they all come from Simplicius. One long quotation (Melissos Fr. 17) is, however, taken by Eusebios from Aristokles, a much earlier commentator on Aristotle. This fact of course confirms the belief that earlier commentators on Aristotle accessible to Simplicius already contained quotations from the philosophers in question;[120] and the presence in our scholia of so many fragments quoted by Simplicius on