Having cured an old woman of Agrigentum na-
med Pantea, who had been given up by all the phy-
sicians and was seemingly on the point of deatfat
he prepared a solemn sacrifice, to which he invited

* This folie concluiion ia deriTed from the unwarranted aa«
■iimption, ex n^Uo nikU fa, " from nothing nothing can be pro-
duced.'* But, while we carefully mark the errors of the ancient^
let ut not deapise their attempts to acquire knowledge. ReTela*
tion discovers to us more worthy notions of the Deity ; but this
is occasion for gratitude, not for pride.
t The doctrine of Metempsycooeis, or the transmigration of
the soul, was held by Pythagoras, the master of Bmpedocles :
Pythagoras, it would seem from Cicero, had learned the immor-
tality of the soul from Pherecydes. {Tuac. Disput., lib. i., 18.)
The admissiop of the additional doctrine of transmigration seems
to have had a wonderful effect on the memory ; but every one
who has not received this doctrine will doubtless agree with
Cicero, that he can remember nothing of his existence before he
was bom.— Vid. Cie., Tnac Diaput,, i., 7.
SMPED0CLE8, 149

aboYtt eighty persons; and, to make all suppose
that he had vanished, when the festival was finished,
and every one had retired to repose under the
trees, or wherever convenience pointed out a re-
treat, Empedocles, without giving any hint of his
design, ascended to. the top of Mount ^tna and
threw himself into the midst of the flames. Hence
Horace, speaking of his death, says :

Deus immortalit haberi
Dwn aiqnt EmpedocUs, ardentemjrigidiui jEtnam
ItuUuU.*

Empedocles was always very grave, and wore
his hair long, with a crown of laurel on his head.
