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Everything moves onπάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει

Heraclitus of Ephesus, as Socrates reports him in Plato's Cratylus

Where you are

You are at Ephesus, on the coast of Asia Minor. Diogenes Laertius, who wrote the lives of the philosophers, says Heraclitus was a native of Ephesus, and “lofty-minded beyond all other men”.

In Plato's Cratylus, Socrates reports what Heraclitus says: everything moves and nothing stays. He likened the world to a flowing river, saying you could not step into the same river twice.

These are Socrates' words for Heraclitus' idea, as Plato wrote them. LSJ quotes this very line to show what χωρεῖ means: to be in motion or flux.

This lesson takes for granted the lessons before it. Not done yet: 1 Nothing in excess, 2 Know yourself.

Forgot how a letter is read? The whole alphabet
The linePlato, Cratylus 402a, in the reader

Sound out each word, letter by letter, then clicktap it to check yourself. These are the letters it uses: clicktap one to see how it sounds.

Extras, if you are curious: the places and people of this lesson

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μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆοςοὐλομένην, ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε

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— px
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1.8

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