He made extraordinary acquirements in medi-
cine, was a good orator, and applied hinoself to
everything connected with religion and tbe worship
of the gods. The Agrigentines paid him uncom-
mon veneration, and considered lum as a man fiir
exalted above the rest of the human race. Lu-
cretius, after giving an account of the wonders be
bad seen in Sicily, says, that ^ the inhabitants of
that country considered, that of all the circum-
stances which reflected glory on their island, the
most honourable was, that it had given birth to so
great a man as Empedocles, whose poems they re-
garded as oracles."

Nor was this veneration without reason : several
incidents in his life have contributed to procure him
universal admiration. Some have suspected him
of using magic. Satirus relates that Gorgias of
Leontium, one of the most distinguished of that
philosopher's disciples, frequently said that he had
on several occasions aided him in the practice of that
art ; and it appears that Empedocles himself wished
to hint in his verses that he had some knowledge
of that sort, when he says to Gorgias that he would
*each him alone tbe secrets necessary to be under.
B1CPSD0CLB8. 145

Stood in order 4o cure diseases of every kind^ to
^ve youth to tlie aged, to raise wind, to calm ten^
pestSy to produce rain, to cause heat, and, in fine,
to restore the dead to life, and bring back the souls
of the departed from the other wond.
