Artfully False Duals in Empedocles' Painters Simile (fr. 23 DK) and the Hexameter Tradition

In Empedocles' painters simile of fr. 23 DK, the painters are modified by three dual participles, formerly taken by most scholars to be false duals (for plural) like the analogous dual participle in fr. 137 DK. Many recent scholars, however, have agreed that they are true duals indicating two painters, and have allegorized those two painters as representing Love and Strife in some manner, or a demiurgic Love's two hands. Against that new consensus, this article collects evidence for false dual forms as a poetic license of the hexameter tradition from Homer onward. It is argued that Empedocles' duals are a fruit of that same tradition; that the painters are not a twosome, but an indefinite plurality; and, finally, that they are not an allegorical representation of Love, although the duals of frr. 23 and 137 do seem to highlight a shared connection with fr. 128 DK and Empedocles' golden age of Aphrodite.

Automated summary

This article presents evidence for false dual forms as a poetic license in the hexameter tradition, arguing against the belief that Empedocles' painters represent Love and Strife. Instead, it suggests that the painters are an indefinite plurality, challenging the new consensus. The duals in fr. 23 and 137 do seem to connect with Empedocles' golden age of Aphrodite.