Heraclitus: Fragments

Alan D. Booth is an associate professor of Classics at Brock University
in St. Catharines.

This study aims to make Heraclitus’s philosophic thought (in the
original Greek and newly translated with commentary) accessible to
students. It is the nature of the evidence, however, that makes this a
daunting task.

In about 500 B.C. a book was circulating, which Heraclitus (who was
dubbed “the Dark”) had allegedly composed in an obscure-enough
language to assure transmission of his ideas to only an enlightened few.
It is clear that the ancients had difficulty understanding this book,
which has not survived.

Some modern scholars suppose the book to have been a collection of
Heraclitus’s sayings, compiled after his death by his followers and
hence a somewhat disjointed exposition of his ideas. Our knowledge of
its content comes from citations by various ancient writers who may not
always faithfully represent the original. (For example, Stoic authors
read Stoic doctrines into Heraclitus, while early Christians found in
him both Christian tenets and heresies. Even Plato’s well-known
statements about Heraclitus’s theory of universal flux are probably
inaccurate.) It is on about 140 such (arguably) colored fragments, none
more than a few lines in length, that Robinson must base his
reconstruction of Heraclitus’s thought. Nearly every point has been
subjected to copious discussion by modern scholars, but Robinson’s
mastery of the material, ancient and modern, has allowed him to distil
the most authoritative views into a succinct and readable commentary.

Robinson adds a 10-page summary of Heraclitus’s beliefs, qualified of
course as “tentative,” which presents as much as can be honestly
conjectured. He also provides the reader with translations of ancient
references to Heraclitus’s life and work, with a biographical
directory to the ancient sources that offer these testimonia and
fragments, and with a bibliographic guide to modern research on
Heraclitus. In short, the appearance in paperback of this work (first
published in 1987) will indeed be welcomed by its intended public.