The Theology of Heraclitus: a Presocratic Pantheism

as single'th!ngs' be1ov, pp.57-8. )Moreove!, by saying thatthey are theo6, n. is crealitingthis essential unity !rlth respect, lastlngness, analporrer. In fact, the I,ordlng of fr.67 nust have packeal awallop to Greek eals. As dlscussed above, !b!g! coulil not .help but be an enotionally charged word fu11 of re11gloussigniflcaDce, In addltion to thls the four se!s of opposlteaare ones that affect hunan life deeply and lnexorably. Thesaylng seens ca!efu11y cotstructed to !Jg&g the hearer lnvhat 1s beirlS said. H. could have said that god nas updown,black-white, snoothe-rough. Thls 1s equally true, nodoubt, bul lt is flat and detached ln conparison to theactual words of ft.67, Heraclltusr prose artlstry has nadeit tslportant to his listeners !ha! divinlty is in !he wor1d,The emotional and rellglous inpact of the flrst sentenceof B67 trright lead a Iess sophlsticated hearer to interpretEhe worils as a 1ltany of. rlew gods ln the mode of llestod.3lIt should rlot be thouBht that H. was above uslng personlflcatlonsand references to !he nanes of !he tradltlonal god6.As nilf be dlscussed ln our examlnatioD of fr.15, H. sho!'svery f er,r signs that the tradltlonal nalres of the popular god631t., f..., Hesioil nentions nost of lhe elght'!hggl':Henere (Th.,124), Nux (.!!g!. ), Eris (= poleros? Th.,225), Eirene (902), Llnos (227).Absen! ale Plenty, Winter, and Sunner (but cf. the Horai in l{om.llym.Ill,194 ; Eg. 75).This less sophistlcated llsteier night lrelI 6)'[rpa!hize I'lth Strepsiadesljl Arlstophanes' !]9g!9 when he nisinterpre!6 Socrates' nater.l-allstlcathei$! enbodj.ed in rhe words "whlrlwind [6i\,oel , no! Zeus" noves theclouds. Strepsiades then supposes that Socrates has set up the god Dinosinstead of Zeus as the nighty.sky god (1'v.379-82).