Empedocles Redivivus: Poetry and Analogy in Lucretius

Introduction 11
is without them? No, these are the only real things, but as they run
through each other they become different objects at different times, yet
they are throughout forever the same.”
As Gale remarks, while the unusual verb adaugescit, meaning “coming into
being in addition” (2.296), corresponds to Empedocles’ ἐπιγίγνεται (B17.30),
yet Lucretius also refers to intervallis (2.295), criticizing Empedocles’ denial
of the existence of void. 45
It has also been argued that by his reference to Empedocles’ reperta,
Lucretius may refer to Empedocles’ endlessly recurring cosmic cycle of unification
and separation, the alternation in power between the cosmic principles
of Love and Strife. 46 Trépanier aptly summarizes the version of Empedocles’
reconstructed cosmic cycle that I embrace: 47
“Between two opposed, a-cosmic phases, characterized by the complete
domination over the elements of Love and Strife, there come into being
two separate worlds, containing mortal creatures, wherein the two forces vie
for control over the elements. Under the full sway of Love, all the elements
are harmoniously fused together into ‘One,’ also described by Empedocles
as the Sphairos (fragments 27–9). Strife meanwhile, having retreated outside
the elements(?), then reasserts itself by destroying this unity (fragments
30–1), thereby creating ‘Many’ and continues to assert itself until it has
separated the four elements into pure or homogeneous bodies. This is the
reign of Strife. Then once more it is Love’s turn to take the initiative (fragment
35), reintroducing mixture into the cosmos, and blending the elements
in ever increasing amounts until it has reconstituted the Sphairos.
Having come full circle, the process begins anew, and so on ad infinitum.”
Although a thorough discussion of the much vexed question of Empedocles’
cycle is out of the scope of this study, 48 attention should be drawn here to
Graham’s important observation regarding Empedocles’ style. According
to Graham, when Empedocles discusses the recurrence of the cycle, he systematically
repeats a specific AB motif, which corresponds to the dipoles of
unification and separation, the one and the many, Love and Strife, while
he makes variations in his phrasing and sentence structure; in this way,
Empedocles employs a “mimetic structure” in order to reflect the image of
the world he describes. 49
As far as Lucretius is concerned, his poem is beyond any doubt permeated
by images of the eternal cycle of growth and decay. In the first instance,
Lucretius’ evocation of Aphrodite, who reigns over creation in the proem, is