Concept
Heraclitus (commentator)
Overview
Heraclitus (Greek: Ἡράκλειτος; fl. 1st century AD) was a grammarian and rhetorician, who wrote a Greek commentary on Homer which is still extant.
Little is known about Heraclitus. It is generally accepted that he lived sometime around the 1st century AD. His one surviving work has variously been called Homeric Problems, Homeric Questions, or Homeric Allegories.
In his work, Heraclitus defended Homer against those who denounced him for his immoral portrayals of the gods. Heraclitus based his defense of Homer on allegorical interpretation. He gives interpretations of major episodes from the Iliad and the Odyssey, particularly those that received the greatest criticism, such as the battles between the gods and the love affair between Aphrodite and Ares.
Many of his allegories are physical, claiming that the poems represent elemental forces; or ethical, that they contain edifying concealed messages. An important example of physical allegory is Heraclitus' interpretation of the love affair between Aphrodite and Ares. He argues that Aphrodite and Ares represent Love and Strife, the forces responsible for the mixture and separation of the elements in Empedocles' philosophy, which were "united together after their ancient rivalry (philoneikia) in one accord". Because "everything was joined together (harmosthenai) tranquilly and harmoniously", Heraclitus argues, "[it] was reasonable for all the gods to laugh and rejoice together at this because their individual inclinations were not at variance over immoral acts, but were enjoying peaceful accord". He also interprets the affair as an allegory for the art of metalworking. His work contains a good deal of philosophical knowledge, especially Stoicism.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Heraclitus (commentator) is discussed.
Hyp. III. 24, § 230) we further read: “Heraclitus says that both life and death are united in our life as in our death; for if we live, our souls are dead and buried in us, but if we die, our souls arise and live.” We may, in fact, say of Heraclitus what Socrates said: “What remains to us of Heraclitus is excellent, and we must conjecture of what is lost, that it was as excellent.” Or if we wish to consider fate so…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
names the idea; a chapter is titled for it; states what it is; opens on it
For water in descending is transformed into earth, in ascending into fire: or as Heraclitus appears to have expressed himself more exactly: from the sea ascend only the pure vapours which serve as food to the divine fire of the stars, from the earth only the dark, foggy ones, from which the Moist derives its nourishment. The pure vapours are the transitional stage in the passing of sea into fire, the impure the…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Early Greek Philosophy & Other Essays Collected Works, Volume Two
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
And just at that time those two books of Philo which were yesterday mentioned by Catulus had been brought to Alexandria, and had for the first time come under the notice of Antiochus; and he, though naturally a man of the mildest disposition, (nor indeed was it possible for any one to be more peaceable than he was,) was nevertheless a little provoked. I was surprised, for I had never seen him so before: but he…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by
states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
_Aut ita mobiles_, etc.: this strongly reminds one of the _Theaetetus_, esp. 160 D sq. For _constans_ cf. εστηκος, which so often occurs there and in the _Sophistes_. _Ne idem_: Manut. for MSS. _eidem_. In the _Theaetetus_, Heraclitus' theory of flux is carried to such an extent as to destroy the self-identity of things; even the word εμε is stated to be an absurdity, since it implies a permanent subject, whereas…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Academica
names the idea
In this system of functional co-ordinates nothing escapes the accounting on 'Change;[91] all things are in continuous flux, only the nodes of the rhythm remaining constant. It is not surprising therefore that Heraclitus has been the subject of so much speculation and comment in modern times; for the functional character of all distinctions in his system marks the affinity of his doctrines for those of modern…
John Dewey, Studies in Logical Theory
commentary markers; states what it is; names the idea; opens on it
Philosophers who discussed Heraclitus (commentator)
Related ideas
Place in the tradition
Part of Heraclitus.