Heraclitus: C. 544 BC-484 BC

Heraclitus contracted a condition (edema, dropsy) that caused excessive water retention and also caused him to stumble around blindly seeking help. Dropsy is a condition whereby the failure of the body properly to drain lymphatic fluid causes swelling in the feet, and other parts of the body, including stomach and head. The ancient Stoics took Heraclitus’ account of fire to mean that the world constantly underwent cycles of conflagration. Continuous condensation and rarefaction of the fiery element meant that the cosmos would contract, explode and expand again and again over long periods of time. Just as the meaning of Heraclitus’ own words (logoi) this divine, hidden rational order is not obvious to most people, who believe in their own ‘private’ conceptions of things, without realizing that they exemplify the logos on a small scale and are part of the logos on the ‘macrocosmic’ scale.