The Fragments of Parmenides
tr. Cherubin © 2005
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Fragments 1-19 are numbered here according to the ordering
used for the "B" fragments in H. Diels, Die Fragment der Vorsokratiker, ed. W. Kranz, 6th ed. (Hildesheim: Weidmann, 1951). Hence Fragment 1 = DK B1, etc.
Fragment 1
1 The mares that carry me as
far as my (their?) spirit might reach
2 Were conducting [me]; when
leading (carrying) me they put me onto a many-voiced road
3 Of a goddess (daimōn), who
through all cities bears the man of understanding.
4 On this I was carried, for
on this the much-indicating mares were carrying me
5 Pulling the chariot at full
stretch, and maidens led the way.
6 The axle in the wheel-boxes
was sending forth the sound of a surinx (panpipe), itself
7 Burning, for it was being
pressed down by its two turned
8-9 Wheels at both ends, as the Sun-maidens
(Hēliades) hastened to convey me, leaving behind the houses of Night,
10 Into [the] light, having pushed the
veils from their heads with their hands.
11 There are the gates of the paths of
Night and Day
12 And a lintel and a threshold of stone
hold them together at both sides (top and bottom),
13 Themselves being filled by vast doors;
14 Of these many-penaltied Dikē
(Justice) holds the keys of exchange (alternation).
15 Her indeed the maidens
blandishing with gentle words
16-17 Persuaded cleverly to push the bolted bar
swiftly from the gates for them; and they of the doors,
17-19 Spreading, made a yawning gap, turning the
much-bronzed posts in their sockets in turn
20 Closely fixed to them with pegs and nails. Right away straight through
the gates
21 Along the carriage-road the maidens guided the chariot and mares.
22-23 And the goddess (thea) received me willingly, and took my right hand in
hers, and spoke to me and addressed me thus:
24 "Young man in the company of immortal charioteers
25 And mares which carry you, arriving at our house,
26 Welcome, since in no way a bad fate (moira) has sent you forth to go
27 On this road - for truly it is far from the beaten path of humans -,
28 But rather Themis (Right) and Dikē (Justice). You must hearken
to (learn) everything,
29 Both the unshaking heart of well-rounded (persuasive?) Alētheiē (Truth)
30 And the opinions of mortals, in which there is no true assurance.
31 But nevertheless you shall learn these things also, how the things that
are believed (OR: the things that seem)
32 Must really be altogether [going] throughout all things (OR: Must
really be accepted to be continually (continuously) pervading
everything).
Fragment 2
1 Come now, I will speak, and do you carry this speech away with you once
heard,
2 Just which are the only roads of inquiry (seeking) to conceive [of]
(OR: for thinking; noēsai):
3 The one, how it is and how it is not not to be (OR: how it
is not possible for it not to be),
4 Is the path of Peithō (Persuasion) - for Alētheiē (Truth) attends
upon her;
5 The other, how it is not and how it is necessary [for it] not to
be,
6 This indeed I indicate to you to be an all-not-inquirable-into straight
track:
7 For neither would you know what is not (not-being) - for that is not
accomplished -
8 Nor would you indicate it.
Fragment 3
1 ...for the same thing is for conceiving (awareness;
noein) [of] and for being
(OR:...for the same thing is to conceive (be aware) [of]
and to be)
Fragment 4
1 Nevertheless gaze steadily with noos on what is absent and on
what is present;
(OR:...gaze on/ observe steadily what is absent to noos and on what is
present [to noos];)
2 For you will not sever what is (being) from holding to what is (being),
3 Neither by scattering it altogether in every way according to an order
(OR:...in every way throughout the universe)
4 Nor by bringing it together.
Fragment 5
1 ...It is the same (common) to me
2 From what place I should begin, for to that place I shall come back
again.
Fragment 6
1 It is fitting (OR: necessary) to say and noein eon (being; what
is) is; for it is (for this can be; for it is) for being (OR: to be),
(OR:It is necessary/fitting to say and noein that eon is; for...)
(OR:...; for to be is,)
2 By no means is it not. These things I bid you to indicate to yourself;
(OR:Nothing is not....)
3 For from this first road of inquiry I bar you,
4 But also from the road on which mortals understanding nothing
5-6 Wander two-headed, for helplessness in their own breasts drives their
wandering noos straight, and they are borne lurching along
7 Deaf and blind equally, dazed, a tribe without judgment,
8 By whom it is held that pelein (to be; to go on) and ouk einai (not to
be) are the same
9 And not the same, but the path of all is back-turning.
Fragment 7
1 For never is this to be forced, that things that are not (mē eonta) are,
2 But do keep (hold back) your thought from this road of inquiry:
3 Neither allow many-experienced (much-experienced) habit to force you
along this road,
4 To ply an aimless (heedless) eye and a roaring hearing (ear)
5 And tongue, but pick out (judge; distinguish; krinai) for yourself by
means of reason (an account; logos) a much-contesting refutation
6 Out of what I said.
Fragment 8
1 ...One account (story; muthos) of a road yet
2 Is left: how it is. On this signs are,
3 Very many, how it is [a] being (eon) unborn and indestructible,
(OR:...,how what is (being; eon) is unborn and indestructible,)
4 Whole, unique and unmoving and complete (or: without issue,
unaccompanied);
5 Neither was it ever nor will it be, since it is now all together
(common),
(OR:There is not was or will be, since...)
6 One, continuous; for what parentage (birth) will you seek out for it?
7-8 How and whence grown? Nor will I allow you to say nor yet to conceive
(think, take it, etc.; noein) that it was out of what is not (out of
not being; ek mē eontos); for it is neither sayable (phaton) nor
perceptible to noos (conceivable; noēton)
9 That (How) it (what is; eon) is = it is not. And what necessity
would have started it (this; min) going
(OR:[That] it (eon) is how (in the manner of) it is not.
And...)
(OR:That (How) it (eon) is is not. And...)
10 Later or sooner, beginning from nothing, to spring up?
11 Thus it is necessary either to be entirely (wholly), or not [to be].
12 Nor will strength of assurance ever allow, out of what is not (out of
not being; ek mē eontos)
13 Something to come to be beside it; on account of (for the sake of) this
neither coming to be
14 Nor perishing does Dikē (Justice) allow by loosening the shackles,
15 But she holds; and in this is the distinction regarding these:
16 It is or it is not; for it has in fact been decided, just as is
necessary,
17 To permit that the latter road is unconceived [-of] (anoēton) and
unnamed (nameless) - for not a true (genuine; real)
18 Road is it, and to permit that the former is to be and to be genuine
(true).
(OR:...to grant the former to be thus: to be genuine (true).)
19 How could what is (being; to eon) perish? How could it come to be
(be born)?
20 For if it came to be, it is (was) not, nor if it is ever about to come
to be.
21 In this way coming to be has been extinguished and destruction is not
heard of.
22 Neither is it divisible, since it is all alike (like);
(OR:..., since all is alike (like);)
23 Nor is it in any way more in any one place, which would keep it from
holding itself together;
24 Nor is it in any way less; but all is full of what is (being; eontos).
25 Therefore all is continuous; for what is (being; eon) comes near to
what is (being; eonti).
(OR:Therefore it is all continuous; for...)
26 But unmoving in limits of mighty bonds
27 It is without beginning and without cease, since coming to be and
destruction
28 Wandered very far off, and (but) true assurance pushed them away.
29 Remaining the same and in the same place (way), it lies by (according
to) itself
30 And thus it stands fast on the spot, for mighty Anankē (Necessity)
31 Holds it in bonds of limit, which shuts it in all around (on both
sides).
32 Wherefore (Since) it is not right (lawful, meet; themis) for what is
(being; to eon) to be incomplete:
(OR:Wherefore (Since) it is right (etc.; themis) for what is (to eon)
to be not incomplete:)
33 For it is not lacking; if it were, it would lack everything.
34 The same thing is for conceiving (thinking, awareness, etc; noein) [of]
and is wherefore (for the sake of which) there is that which is
conceived (thought, etc.; noēma) [of]
(OR:...and is wherefore (for the sake of which) there is conceiving
(thought, awareness, etc.; noēma)
(OR:...and is wherefore (for the sake of which) it (i.e., eon) is [a]
noēma)
35 For not without that which is (being; tou eontos), on which what is
expressed depends
36 Will you find conceiving (awareness, etc.; noein). For
nothing either is or will be
37 Besides that which is (being; tou eontos), since Moira (Fate, Portion)
bound it
38 To be whole and unmoving; with respect to this everything has been
named (specified; reading onomastai )
(OR:...with respect to this it has been named (reading onomastai) all
things)
(OR:...with respect to this everything will be a name (reading onoma
estai))
39 As many as (As much as) mortals having laid down trusting to be true
40 To come to be (Coming to be) and to be destroyed (being destroyed), to
be and not to be,
41 And to change place and to exchange bright surface colors.
42 But since a limit is outermost, it (i.e., what is) is completed
(perfected),
43 From every side like the bulk of a well-rounded sphere,
44-45 In all ways equally balanced from the middle, for it is necessary that
it be neither something greater nor something smaller in one way or
another (in this or that);
46 Nor does what is (being; eon) not exist, which would prevent it from
attaining
47-48 To the same thing; nor is what is (being; eon) such that it could be
more than (of) what is (being; eon) in some way (place) and less in
another, since it is all (since all is) inviolate.
49 For from all sides (in all ways) equal to itself, it proves to be
uniformly within limits.
50 At this point I cease my trustworthy speech and thought to you
51-52 About (On both sides of) truth. From this point onward learn by hearing
from me in addition the opinions of mortals, a deceptive order;
(OR:...From this point onward learn mortal opinions by hearing in
addition from me a deceptive order;)
53 For two judgments (opinions, marks) they laid down to name (specify)
appearances (forms),
54 One of which it is necessary not [to name? to lay down?] - in respect
to this they have wandered (are misled) -
55 They distinguished (picked out; ekrinanto) for themselves opposites in
respect to form and laid down signs for themselves
56 Separate from one another; here on the one hand [they laid down the
sign] ethereal (high-up) flaming fire,
57 Being mild (A mild thing), extremely light in weight, the same as
itself in every way,
58 And not the same as the other [one]. But that (the latter) one in
conformity with itself
59 Oppositely [is? they laid down the sign?] obscure (unlearnable) night,
a solid and weighty form.
60 I tell you about this whole fitting arrangement
61 In order that at no time may any opinion of mortals overtake (surpass)
you.
Fragment 9
1 But since in fact all things have been named light and night
2 And these each according to their own powers have been given as names
to these things and to those,
3 All is full of light and invisible night together
4 Both equally, since nothing has a share in neither one (OR: since
neither has a share of nothing).
Fragment 10
1-3 You will know the celestial nature and all the constellations in the
sky and the destructive (unseen?) deeds of the clear bright sun's torch
and whence it came into being,
4 And you will learn the wandering (revolving) deeds of the round-eyed
moon
5 And its nature, and also you will know whence the sky holding
(embracing) on both sides (all around)
6 Came to be, and how Anankē (Necessity) leading it bound it
7 To hold in bonds of stars.
Fragment 11
1 ...how earth and sun and moon
2 And common aether and the Milky Way and furthest (eschatos, line 3)
Olympus
3 And the hot force of stars were set in motion
4 To come to be.
Fragment 12
1 For the narrower [rings] are filled with unmixed fire,
2 The ones next to these are of night, and a portion of flame is
discharged;
3 In the middle of these is the divinity (daimōn) who steers everything;
4 For she rules over the painful birth and mixing (mingling) of all,
5 Sending female to male to join together (in sexual intercourse) and
then in turn contrariwise
6 Male to female.
Fragment 13
1 First of all the gods she devised Erōs (Love).
Fragment 14
1 A night-shining borrowed light wandering around the earth
Fragment 15
1 Always looking around for the rays of the sun
Fragment 15a
1 ...rooted in water
Fragment 16
1 For as on each occasion a blending (mingling) holds of much-wandering
limbs,
2-3 So noos is present to humans; for the nature (form) of limbs is the
same thing that thinks (apprehends; phroneei) in humans
(OR:...is the same thing that is thought (apprehended) in (of, for)
humans)
4 Both for all together and individually; for the full is conceived
(thought; noēma) [of].
(OR:...is what is conceived (thought) [of].)
Fragment 17
1 Boys to the right, girls to the left
Fragment 18
When woman and man [together] mix the seeds of Venus (Love), the power
which forms [ bodies] (OR:the power which is formed) out of the
different blood, if it maintains proper proportion, produces
well-formed (well-constituted) bodies. For if the powers, when the
seeds are [being] mixed, fight and do not constitute (make) a unity in
the body in which the mixture has taken place, then they will terribly
(cruelly) torment the nascent (growing) sex with double seed.
Fragment 19
1 In this way for you these things arose according to opinion and now are
2 And from this point onwards will be completed after they have grown up;
3 Humans having laid down a distinguishing name for each.
“Cornford's Fragment”
1 Such, unmoving is (comes to be; telethei) that for which as a whole
the name is 'to be'
Fragment 1, line 3:
The manuscripts here are all corrupt (i.e., they must be the results of
miscopying since they present a series of letters that do not form a
sequence of correctly-spelled words). The most common way to make sense
of them gives the sequence of words I have translated above. Recently
N.-L. Cordero has argued that the letters could yield a different
sequence of words, so that this line would read something like (my
translation): Of a goddess, who bears there, in relation to everything,
the man of understanding. See N.-L. Cordero, By Being, It Is (Parmenides Publishing, 2005) and Les Deux chemins de Parménide, 2d ed. (Vrin/Ousia, 1997).
Fragment 1, line 29: The manuscripts differ here. Some offer eupeitheos, well-persuasive; others have eukukleos, well-rounded.
Fragment 2, line 3: The Greek here is very difficult. The Greek phrase is hōs estin. Hōs means 'how' or possibly 'that,' and estin
is the third-person singular form of the verb 'to be.' Like some modern
languages such as Spanish, Greek often omits the noun or pronoun
preceding a verb if the subject of the verb is clear from the context.
Thus hōs estin
would mean how/that [something] is. But because we do not have the
whole text of Parmenides' poem, we do not have an absolutely clear
indication of what the subject of the verb (the "something") is. Given
the goddess's remarks about eon ("being" or "what is") in Fragments 6 through 8, many scholars suggest that the subject of the verb estin in Fragment 2 line 3 is eon. This would match well with the description of what must be said and conceived concerning eon
on the road of inquiry that is discussed in the first 49 lines of
Fragment 8. Other commentators have suggested that in fact there is no
subject for the verb, and that the line should be read as indicating
that one road of inquiry is to conceive that "is," i.e. to take
seriously the meaning and implications of saying that anything "is."