(11) ὅλως δὲ δεῖ εὐανάγνωστον εἶναι τὸ γεγραμμένον καὶ (12) εὔφραστον·
ἔστιν δὲ τὸ αὐτό· ὅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ σύνδεσμοι (13) οὐκ ἔχουσιν, οὐδ’ ἃ μὴ ῥᾴδιον διαστίξαι, ὥσπερ τὰ Ἡρα(14)κλείτου.
τὰ γὰρ Ἡρακλείτου διαστίξαι ἔργον διὰ τὸ ἄδηλον (15) εἶναι ποτέρῳ πρόσκειται, τῷ ὕστερον ἢ τῷ πρότερον,
οἷον (16) ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ αὐτῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος· φησὶ γὰρ “τοῦ λόγου (17) τοῦδ’ ἐόντος ἀεὶ ἀξύνετοι ἄνθρωποι γίγνονται”·
ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ (18) ἀεί, πρὸς ποτέρῳ <δεῖ> διαστίξαι.
ἔτι τόδε ποιεῖ σολοικίζειν, (19) τὸ μὴ ἀποδιδόναι, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιζευγνύῃς ὃ ἀμφοῖν ἁρμόττει,
(20) οἷον [ἢ] ψόφῳ καὶ χρώματι τὸ μὲν ἰδὼν οὐ κοινόν, τὸ δ’ (21) αἰσθόμενος κοινόν·
ἀσαφῆ δὲ ἂν μὴ προθεὶς εἴπῃς, μέλ(22)λων πολλὰ μεταξὺ ἐμβάλλειν,
οἷον “ἔμελλον γὰρ διαλεχθεὶς (23) ἐκείνῳ τάδε καὶ τάδε καὶ ὧδε πορεύεσθαι”, ἀλλὰ μὴ “ἔμελλον (24) γὰρ διαλεχθεὶς πορεύεσθαι, εἶτα τάδε καὶ τάδε καὶ ὧδε (25) ἐγένετο”.
’Having come, they struck me (oi d elthontes etupton me).’
It is a general rule that a written composition should be easy to read and therefore easy to deliver.
This cannot be so where there are many connecting words or clauses, or where punctuation is hard, as in the writings of Heracleitus.
To punctuate Heracleitus is no easy task, because we often cannot tell whether a particular word belongs to what precedes or what follows it.
Thus, at the outset of his treatise he says, ‘Though this truth is always men understand it not’,
where it is not clear with which of the two clauses the word ‘always’ should be joined by the punctuation.
Further, the following fact leads to solecism, viz. that the sentence does not work out properly if you annex to two terms a third which does not suit them both.
Thus either ‘sound’ or ‘colour’ will fail to work out properly with some verbs: ‘perceive’ will apply to both, ‘see’ will not.
Obscurity is also caused if, when you intend to insert a number of details, you do not first make your meaning clear;