“The four roots are always the same, though they mix in endless proportions.”
— EmpedoclesCommonly cited paraphrase of the four-root doctrine, reported in Simplicius and Aristotle; not verbatim
Commentary
This paraphrase states the constancy principle at the heart of Empedocles' physics: the four roots never change in themselves, and all variety arises from their changing proportions in mixtures. The principle allowed him to preserve the Eleatic conviction that what is cannot cease to be while still explaining the diversity of observed things. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield present the constancy of the roots as the premise on which the entire cosmic cycle depends, since mixture and separation require stable constituents. Daniel Graham argues that the doctrine anticipates later conceptions of chemical combination, in which substances keep their identity within compounds, though the analogy should not be pressed too far. Aristotle, in his treatment of the elements, adopts the four-element scheme while criticising the forces that Empedocles uses to explain mixing, a criticism that shaped the later reception of the theory. Richard Wright's edition shows how the poem varies its language for the roots and their combinations. The sentence is a paraphrase of a doctrine rather than a verified line, and it should be labelled accordingly, with the primary testimonia checked before quotation.
Commentary
This paraphrase states the constancy principle at the heart of Empedocles' physics: the four roots never change in themselves, and all variety arises from their changing proportions in mixtures. The principle allowed him to preserve the Eleatic conviction that what is cannot cease to be while still explaining the diversity of observed things. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield present the constancy of the roots as the premise on which the entire cosmic cycle depends, since mixture and separation require stable constituents. Daniel Graham argues that the doctrine anticipates later conceptions of chemical combination, in which substances keep their identity within compounds, though the analogy should not be pressed too far. Aristotle, in his treatment of the elements, adopts the four-element scheme while criticising the forces that Empedocles uses to explain mixing, a criticism that shaped the later reception of the theory. Richard Wright's edition shows how the poem varies its language for the roots and their combinations. The sentence is a paraphrase of a doctrine rather than a verified line, and it should be labelled accordingly, with the primary testimonia checked before quotation.