Pre-Socratics

Parmenides of Elea

It is not certain what year Parmenides was actually born, some Greek chronicles date his birth 540 BC, while Plato places it 515 BC. Parmenides was a student of Xenophanes, who is perhaps best described as proclaiming god to be all things, neither finite nor infinite, yet eternal and ungenerated.

Parmenides of noble birth was the son of Pyres and was born in Elea, southern Italy. It is said that the laws of his country which he installed were so good that every year the citizens would make their officials swear to abide by Parmenides laws.

Only one short work of Parmenides survived antiquity, a short poem entitled, 'The way of truth' and 'The way of opinion'. It may be said from the outset that the work is a little confusing, yet perhaps this is because some bits are missing and what we have may have been altered during its many years of transition.

It is my belief that the mystery is part of the charm of this poem. My advise is, read it over a few times, gradually it becomes more lucid.

The Way Of Truth and The Way Of Opinion

(extract taken from: Barnes J, 1987. Early Greek Philosophy. Penguin Books, Penguin Publishing Group.)

The mares that carry me as far as my heart may aspire were my escorts:

they had guided me and set me on the celebrated road of the god which carries the man of knowledge ...
There was I being carried; for there the wise mares were carrying me, straining at the chariot, and maidens were leading the way.

The axle in the axle box roared from it's socket as it blazed - for it was driven on by two whirling wheels on either side - while the maidens, daughters of the sun, hastened to escort it, having left the house of Night for the light and push back with their hands the veils from their heads.

Here are the gates of the paths of Night and Day, and a lintel and a stone threshold enclose them.

They themselves, high in the air, are filled by great doors, and all-avenging Justice holds their alternate keys.

Her the maidens appeased with soft words, skilfully persuaded her to push back for them the bolted bar swiftly from the gates.

They flew back and made a yawning gap between the doors, swinging in turn in their sockets the bronze pivots, fitted with pegs and pins.

And through them the maidens held the chariot and mares straight on the highway.

And the goddess graciously recieved me, taking my right hand in hers; and she spoke thus and addressed me:

'Young man, companion to the immortal charioteers with the mares who carry you as you come to my house, I greet you. For no evil fate was sending you to travel this road (for indeed it is far from the tread of men) but Right and Justice.

You must learn all things, both the unwavering heart of persausive truth and the opinions of mortals in which there is no true trust.' "

[28 B 1.1 - 30] (Sextus Empiricus, Against the Mathematicians VII 111)

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