- Source
- Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.8-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0004.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.5.83
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-09-29
A biographical account of Alcmaeon of Croton, summarizing his work in medicine and natural philosophy, quoting the opening of his treatise, and outlining his doctrines on the heavens and the immortality of the soul.
Ἀλκμαίων Κροτωνιάτης. καὶ οὗτος Πυθαγόρου διήκουσε· καὶ τὰ πλεῖστά γε ἰατρικὰ λέγει, ὅμως δὲ καὶ φυσιολογεῖ ἐνίοτε λέγων δύο τὰ πολλά ἐστι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων1. δοκεῖ δὲ πρῶτος φυσικὸν λόγον συγγεγραφέναι, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, καὶ τὴν σελήνην καθόλου 〈τε τὰ ὑπὲρ〉 ταύτην ἔχειν ἀΐδιον φύσιν. Ἦν δὲ Πειρίθου υἱός, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐναρχόμενος τοῦ συγγράμματός φησιν· Ἀλκμαίων Κροτωνιήτης τάδε ἔλεξε Πειρίθου υἱὸς Βροτίνῳ καὶ Λέοντι καὶ Βαθύλλω· ‘περὶ τῶν ἀφανέων, περὶ τῶν θνητῶν σαφήνειαν μὲν θεοὶ ἔχοντι, ὡς δʼ ἀνθρώποις τεκμαίρεσθαιʼ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἔφη δὲ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀθάνατον, καὶ κινεῖσθαι αὐτὴν συνεχὲς ὡς τὸν ἥλιον.
Alcmaeon of Croton. He too was a pupil of Pythagoras; and for the most part he speaks of medical matters, yet he also occasionally treats of natural philosophy, saying: “Most human things are twofold.” He is considered to have been the first to compose a treatise on nature, as Favorinus says in his *Miscellaneous History*, and to hold that the moon, and in general the things above it, have an eternal nature. He was the son of Peirithous, as he himself says at the beginning of his treatise: “Alcmaeon of Croton, son of Peirithous, spoke these words to Brotinos, Leon, and Bathyllus: ‘Concerning things unseen, concerning mortal things, the gods have clear knowledge, but for men [there is only] to judge by tokens,’” and so forth. He also said that the soul is immortal, and that it moves continuously like the sun.
- 8.5.83δύο τὰ πολλά ἐστι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων
A standard construction where the neuter plural subject τὰ πολλά ('most of human affairs') takes a singular verb ἐστι. δύο functions as the predicate nominative, expressing the doctrine that most human matters exist in pairs of opposites.
- 8.5.83ὡς δʼ ἀνθρώποις τεκμαίρεσθαι
An idiomatic absolute/limiting infinitive construction with ὡς and the dative ἀνθρώποις, meaning 'as far as it is possible for men to judge by tokens' or 'for men [it is only] to infer'. It contrasts (via μὲν...δέ) with the preceding clause σαφήνειαν μὲν θεοὶ ἔχοντι, setting human conjectural inference against divine clear knowledge.