FOREWORD
This book is a complete translation of the fragments of the Pre-Socratic philosophers given in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Fifth Edition (B-sections).
Comments on readings and interpretation have been confined to footnotes, and are restricted to the minimum; for further discussion, the reader is referred to my Companion to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers, to which this book is ancillary.
The fragments have been translated in full except for the longer extracts from Gorgias, which are fully summarised. Summaries of contexts, and words inserted in explanation or for the sake of clarity, are given in italic type, in order to show the exact words of the writer when these are preserved. When no quotations survive, this has been stated for the sake of completeness, and an account derived from summaries in other ancient writers will be found in the Companion.
K. F.