Chapter 18

CHAPTER V

HERACLEITUS

Heracleitus was born about 535 B.C., and is believed to
have lived to the age of sixty. This places his death at 475
B.C. He was thus subsequent to Xenophanes, contempo-
rary with Parmenides, and older than Zeno. In historical
order of time, therefore, he runs parallel to the Eleatics.
Heracleitus was a man of Ephesus in Asia Minor. He was
an aristocrat, descendant of a noble Ephesian family, and
occupied in Ephesus the nominal position of basileus, or
King. This, however, merely meant that he was the Chief
Priest of the local branch of the Eleusinian mysteries, and
this position he resigned in favour of his brother. He ap-
pears to have been a man of a somewhat aloof, solitary, and
scornful nature. He looked down, not only upon the com-
mon herd, but even upon the great men of his own race.
He mentions Xenophanes and Pythagoras in terms of oblo-
quy. Homer, he thinks, should be taken out and whipped.

Hesiod he considers to be the teacher of the common herd,

one with them, “a man,” he says, “who does not even know

day and night.” Upon the common herd of mortals he looks

down with infinite scorn. Some of his sayings remind us not

a little of Schopenhauer in their pungency and sharpness.

“Asses prefer straw to {73} gold.” “Dogs bark at everyone

they do not know.” Many of his sayings, however, are mem-

orable and trenchant epitomes of practical wisdom. “Man’s

character is his fate.” “Physicians who cut, burn, stab and

rack the sick, demand a fee for doing it, which they do not

deserve to get.” From his aloof and aristocratic standpoint

he launched forth denunciations against the democracy of

Ephesus.

Heracleitus embodied his philosophical thoughts in a prose

treatise, which was well-known at the time of Socrates, but

of which only fragments have come down to us. His style

soon became proverbial for its difficulty and obscurity, and

he gained the nickname of Heracleitus the “Dark,” or the