Part IX.

EMPEDOCLES.
45 ‘
upon him j for he refufed a Kingdom whicli was offered him, (as Xsntbus faith in his Hook con¬ cerning him) preferring a moderate condition. Ttmaus relates the fame, adding the reafon of his being Democratically affedled ; for being in¬ vited bv one of the Governours, and the com¬ pany falling to drink, he commanded, thatSup- per fhouid be brought in. He who had invited him, faid, That he ftaid for the chief Magi- ftrate. As foonas he came, he was madeSym- pofiarch. Mailer of the Feaft, for fo it was or¬ dered by him who invited them. He began to diTcover a tyrannical kind of humour, comman¬ ding, either that he fhouid drink, or that it fhouid be poufed on his head. Empedocles for the prefent held his peace. But the next day citing them to the Court, he condemned them both to death, the Inviter, and tlieSympofiarch. Of fo great authority was he in the Common¬ wealth.
Again, when the Phyfician petition’d for a place, to build a Monument for his Father, Empedocles flood up and oppofed it, and difcour- fed very largely of Parity ; and withal asked, what Epitaph ihould be infcribedon the Tomb ? This ;
’'Ak^V Ut^v aK^ay dsL^yty-nyov
9
playing upon his name Aero. Others recite the fecond Verfe thus: _
’AX-£5>7M7V5 TVp^Q- ^
This, fome aferibe to Simonides.
Afterwards Empedocles diflblved the Council of a thoufand Senators, and conflituted it Tri¬ ennial ; fo that it confifled, not only of the rich, but of the ordinary fort.
But in hisftrfland fecond Books, (for
he often mentions him) faith, that he feems to be of an opirfion contrary to the Democracy ; fometimes proud and felf- conceited in his Poe¬ try, as when he faith,
A deathle^ god am J, mortal no more.
CHAP. IV.
Wondefs related of him.
He was fo excellent, not only in Natural Phi- lofophy, but in Medicine alfo , that by his skill in both thefe, he performed many admi¬ rable things.
a iMrt. (a) Ttmaus relates, that the Etefian winds blowing very flrongly, infomuch that they de-
• ftroy’d the fruits ; he gave order, that many Af- fes (hould be dead, and bottles made of their skins, and placed on the tops of the hills to re¬ ceive the blafts ; by which means the winds gave over : and upon him was conferred the attribute of Colufanemos y or Alexanemos j The chafer away of the winds.
Not unlike to this is that which Plutarch re¬ ports of him, that by flopping up a cleft in a Mountain, out of which there came an un- wholfome Southern blaft to the Plains, it is con-
1 ceived, that he drove away the Plague out of 1 that Country.
The fame cure he wrought a.mong the Seli» nmcians, by a different means 5 for they being, iiDirodorus theEphefian faith, infefled by a plague, caufed by the noifomnefs of the River, where¬ of the men died, neither could the Women be, without much difficulty, delivered ; Empedocles contrived, and at his own charge convey’d two other Rivers that ran near, into this Channel ; by which mixtion, the waterbecame fweet, and the plague ceafed.
{d) Another time, . a young man drawing a ijamb. fword upon Anchiizts liis Hofl, ( for that he had vit. Pph.^ in publick judgment condemned his father to death ) and being about to have killed him, Ew- pedccles prevented it, and immediately changing his Tune, and Tinging out of Homer,
Nepenthe calming anger, eajing grief.
freed Anchitm his Hofl from death, and the young man from the crime of murder; who from thenceforward became one of hisdifciples, eminent amongft them.
{e) Hermippus faith , thathQ caved Pantbea, a tLatrt. woman of Agrigen^um, given over by all the Phyficians.
But the moft memorable cure was that which he performed upon a woman that had Iain feven days dead, as Pliny terms it ; but as Galen more exadly out eff Heraclides, deferibes it, bjeathlejS, and 'Without pulfe, differing in nothing from a dead body, faving that fhe had a little warmth about the middle parts of her body. The Book of Heraclides was intituled. The breathlefs woman. And it was a controverfie amongfl the Phyficians that were pre¬ fent, whether fhe were dead or alive, ( g ) Hera- g Lasrt'. elides adds, that Empedocles acepuainted Paufanias with the 7vhole bufinef, and that the breathlef wo¬ man could preferve her felf thirty days, without breathing or eating. Whence he terms Empedocles both a Phyfician and a Prophet, confirmed everi by his own verfes. ^ ^
Friends, who in fpaciom Agrigentum dwell,
Bufied in noble high defigns, farewell.
A deathlef god I am, mortal no more ;
Honour'd by all, with Garlands cover d o* *re :
Which, foon as e'xo I come to any Town, '
Both men and women pay to me renown.
Thoufands of men enquire the way to wealth.
Some would divine, others reflore to health.
Some there were who aferibe thefe to Goetick,
Magich Satyrus in his Lives relates, that Gorgias the Leontine, who had been difciple to Empedo¬ cles, ufed to fay, that he himfelf had been prefent with him, when he pra Empedocles, makes a profeffion thereof iij his Poems, when he faith ;
Medicines to firengthen age, and cure difeafe,
Fhou fhalt be taught, for 1 am skill’d in thefe ;
The wrath of reftlef winds thou fhalt affwage.
Which blafl the corn in their pernicious rage.
And when thou caJl’fi, they fhall come back again.
Rain thou fhalt change to drought, and drought to rain^
By whofe kind motjture trees may fprout and thrive.
And make the dead quit Pluto, and revive.
EMPEDOCLES.