[866] οὐρανίαν δι᾽ αἰθέρα τεκνωθέντες called into a life that permeates the heavenly ether （the highest heaven）: the metaphor of τεκνωθέντες being qualified by its meaning in this particular application to νόμοι, viz. that they are revealed as operative; which allows the poet to indicate the sphere throughout which they operate by δι᾽ αἰθέρα, instead of the verbally appropriate ἐν αἰθέρι: much as if he had said δι᾽ αἰθέρα ἐνεργοὶ ἀναφανέντες. So, again, when he calls Olympus, not Zeus, their πατήρ, the metaphor is halffused with the direct notion of “source.” Cp. Aristot. Rh. 1.13.2 quoted on 865, which continues （illustrating τὸ φύσει δίκαιον）: καὶ ὡς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς λέγει περὶ τοῦ μὴ κτείνειν τὸ ἔμψυχον: τοῦτο γὰρ οὐ τισὶ μὲν δίκαιον τισὶ δ᾽ οὐ δίκαιον, Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πάντων νόμιμον διά τ᾽ εὐρυμέδοντος ι αἰθέρος ἠνεκέως τέταται διά τ᾽ ἀπλέτου αὖ γῆς （so Scaliger rightly amended αὐγῆς: Emped. 438）: where the special reference of Empedocles is to a principle of life common to gods, men, and irrational animals （“πνεῦμα τὸ διὰ παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου διῆκον ψυχῆς τρόπον,” Sext. Emp. Adv. Math. 9.127: cp. Cope ad loc.）.
αἰθέρα Hom. Il. 16.364 “ὡς δ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἀπ᾽ Οὐλύμπου νέφος ἔρχεται οὐρανὸν εἴσω ι αἰθέρος ἐκ δίης”: where, Olympus being the mountain, the οὐρανός is above the αἰθήρ, since ἐξ αἰθέρος could not = e)c ai)/qpas, after clear weather: and so Hom. Il. 2.458 “δι᾽ αἰθέρος οὐρανὸν ἵκει”: Hom. Il. 19.351 “οὐρανοῦ ἐκκατέπαλτο δι᾽ αἰθέρος”: cp. Soph. Ant. 420. Here οὐρανίαν αἰθέρα =the highest heaven.This text is part of:
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