Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Again, when Acron the physician asked the council for a site for the erection of an ancestral monument on account of his pre-eminence among physicians, Empedocles came forward and prevented it, discoursing on equality among other matters and posing a question of this sort: "What elegiac couplet shall we inscribe? Or this one? 'The topmost physician Acron, of Acragas, son of Acros, a topmost cliff of his topmost fatherland conceals.'" Some, however, recite the second verse thus: "A topmost tomb holds him down on the topmost peak." Some say that this epigram is by Simonides.

​Afterwards Empedocles also dissolved the assembly of the Thousand that had been established for three years, so that he not only belonged to the wealthy class, but also to those of democratic sentiment. At any rate, Timaeus in his eleventh and twelfth books—for he mentions him often—says that he appeared to have held views contrary to his political conduct; and in places one could see him arrogant and self-loving in his poetry; at any rate he says: "Hail; I go about among you as an immortal god, no longer mortal," and what follows. During the time he stayed at Olympia, he was deemed worthy of even greater attention, so that in conversations no other person was mentioned as much as Empedocles.

​Later, however, when Acragas was being resettled, the descendants of his enemies opposed his return; wherefore he retired to the Peloponnese and died. Nor did Timon pass over this man either, but attacks him thus, saying: "And Empedocles, a bawler of marketplace words; as much strength as he had, so much did he divide, who arranged principles that stood in need of other principles." Concerning his death there is a diverse account. For Heraclides, having recounted the matter of the breathless woman, how Empedocles gained renown by sending back the dead woman alive, says that he was performing a sacrifice near the estate of Peisianax. Some of his friends had been invited together, among whom was Pausanias.

​Then, after the feast, the others parted and went to rest, some under the trees since the field was adjacent, and others wherever they wished, while he himself remained in the spot where he had reclined. When they arose at daybreak, he alone was not found. While he was being searched for and the servants were being interrogated and saying they did not know, one person said that in the middle of the night he heard an exceedingly loud voice calling Empedocles, and then rising up saw a heavenly light and the gleam of torches, but nothing else. When they were astounded at what had happened, Pausanias went down and sent some men to search. Later, however, he forbade them to meddle, asserting that things worthy of prayer had occurred, and that they ought to sacrifice to him as having become a god.

​Hermippus says that he cured a certain Acragantine woman named Pantheia who had been given up by the physicians, and for this reason performed the sacrifice; and that those invited were around eighty. Hippobotus says that he arose and traveled toward Etna, and then, having reached the craters of the fire, leapt in and vanished, wishing to confirm the rumor concerning himself that he had become a god; but later he was discovered, one of his sandals having been cast back up; for he was accustomed to wear bronze sandals. Pausanias, however, spoke against this.

​Diodorus of Ephesus, writing about Anaximander, says that Empedocles emulated him, cultivating a tragic haughtiness and assuming solemn attire. When a plague fell upon the Selinuntines on account of the foul odors from the adjacent river, so that they themselves perished and their women suffered difficult labor, Empedocles devised a plan and brought in two of the nearby rivers at his own expense; and by mixing them he sweetened the streams. When the plague ceased in this way, and the Selinuntines were once feasting by the river, Empedocles appeared; and they, rising up, prostrated themselves and prayed as if to a god. Wishing, therefore, to confirm this conception, he leapt into the fire.