This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
View text chunked by:
[6]
“She, having come
（fem.） and having conversed
（fem.） with me, went away.” The
fifth rule consists in observing number, according as many, few, or one are
referred to: “They, having come （pl.）,
began to beat （pl.） me.”
Generally speaking, that which is written should be easy to read or easy to
utter, which is the same thing. Now, this is not the case when there is a number
of connecting particles, or when the punctuation is hard, as in the writings of
Heraclitus.1 For it is hard, since
it is uncertain to which word another belongs, whether to that which follows or
that which precedes; for instance, at the beginning of his composition he says:
“Of this reason which exists2 always men are
ignorant,” where it is uncertain whether “always”
should go with “which exists” or with “are
ignorant.”
1 Heraclitus of Ephesus （c. 535-475）. His chief work was on Nature. From the harshness of his language and the carelessness of his style he was called ὁ σκοτεινός （the obscure）. According to him, fire was the origin of all things; all things become fire, and then fire becomes all other things. All things are in a constant state of flux; all is the same and yet not the same. Knowledge is founded upon sensual perception, but only the gods possess knowledge in perfection.
2 Or, “although this reason exists for ever men are born . . . without understanding” （Welldon）.
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.