Empedocles (c. 460 BC) as quoted by Sir Thomas Little Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics, Vol. 1, p.65, citing Diog. L. viii. 54 and Porph. V. Pyth. 30 (Fr. 129 in Vorsokratiker i3, p. 272. 15-20).
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But there was among them a man of prodigious knowledge who acquired the profoundest wealth of understanding and was the greatest master of skilled arts of every kind; for, whenever he willed with his whole heart, he could with ease discern each and every truth in his ten—nay, twenty—men's lives.
— Empedocles on Pythagoras
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "But there was among them a man of prodigious knowledge who acquired the profoundest wealth of understanding and was the greatest master of skilled arts of every kind; for, whenever he willed with his whole heart, he could with ease discern each and every truth in his ten—nay, twenty—men's lives." in the context of "Empedocles (c. 460 BC) as quoted by Sir Thomas Little Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics, Vol. 1, p.65, citing Diog. L. viii. 54 and Porph. V. Pyth. 30 (Fr. 129 in Vorsokratiker i3, p. 272. 15-20)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Pythagoras" (Quotes about Pythagoras)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Empedocles
Empedocles (c. 490 BC – c. 430 BC) was a poet, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek colony of Agrigentum in Sicily. Two of his philosophical verse texts, On Nature and Purifications, survived antiquity in fragmentary form; these fragments comprise the only works considered to be of genuine Empedoclean authorship.Leonard, William E. (1908). The Fragments of Empedocles. The Open Court Publishing Company. p. 3.
About Empedocles
Empedocles (c. 490 BC – c. 430 BC) was a poet, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from the Greek colony of Agrigentum in Sicily. Two of his philosophical verse texts, On Nature and Purifications, survived antiquity in fragmentary form; these fragments comprise the only works considered to be of genuine Empedoclean authorship.Leonard, William E. (1908). The Fragments of Empedocles. The Open Court Publishing Company. p. 3.
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