Note 602 — Chapter V · EMPEDOKLES OF AKRAGAS

This accounts for Aristotle’s statement, which he makes once positively (Met. Β, 1. 996 a 7) and once very doubtfully (Met. Γ, 4. 1001 a 12), that Love was the substratum of the One in just the same sense as the Fire of Herakleitos, the Air of Anaximenes, or the Water of Thales. He thinks that all the elements become merged in Love, and so lose their identity. In this case, it is in Love he recognises his own “matter.”