In the fragments of Melissus we find the earliest metaphysical treatment of pain in the Western philosophical tradition. Famous for his one-entity ontology, Melissus argues that “what is” does not suffer pain or grief (B7.4–6). The scholarly literature on this passage has focused on two questions: (1) What is the argumentative structure of the passage? (2) Who, if anyone, might Melissus be responding to? I will focus on question (1). First, I will provide an account of the argumentative strategy of the passage by viewing it in the wider context of B7 as a whole. I will then note how this strategy, as well as certain features of Melissus’ diction, suggest an initial account of the structure of the passage, according to which it contains three independent arguments. This structure will be confirmed as we delve into the details of the arguments themselves. One of these arguments will prove the most difficult to interpret, and I will suggest two plausible interpretations of this argument, as well as two possible roles for the puzzling claim in 7.4 which invokes the notion of an “equal power” (isēn dunamin). Finally, we will see that one of the two readings of this claim has the accidental virtue of suggesting a response to question (2) above. / text

In my first chapter, I investigate how, according to Hesiod in his Works and Days, one achieves prosperity and well-being, namely by not provoking Zeus who “punishes those whose actions harm justice.” I suggest that the moral and practical elements of Hesiod’s teachings may be conceived of in similar terms of maintaining a disposition whereby one is content to possess resources proportionate to one’s level of activity and needs. In the second chapter, I examine how the conceptions of limit and proportion elucidated in my first chapter feature in medical texts. I investigate Alcmaeon’s description of health and disease in terms of a political distribution of power. A body, according to Alcmaeon, is healthy when its qualities are equally proportioned (isonomia) and one does not dominate (monarchia) the whole mixture (krasis). Alcmaeon describes health as the proportionate blending of qualities which formulates the definition of health as the equality of shares of powers and anticipates Hippocratic humorism. Hippocratic humorism, like the traditional, magicoreligious model of health, conceives of health similarly to Alcmaeon, in terms of a proper proportion and balance. In my third chapter, I investigate Plato’s conception of the soul and of justice. I explicate Plato’s conception of the soul as discussed in his Republic, Phaedrus, and Laws, and suggest that a similar view of the soul and of justice, as a proper proportion of internal constituents, persists. I then apply this view of justice as the proper proportion of parts to the polis and argue that disproportion within a polis leads to stasis – a disease of a political body. In conclusion, I argue that Greek medical, ethical, and political thought share a conceptual framework and are predicated on notions of balance, proportion, and equilibrium. Prosperity, bodily health, justice of the soul, and justice of the city are conceived of in similar terms of a proper proportion. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / Greek medical authors are obviously interested in the nature of health and disease, but the repeated mention of health and disease in epic poetry, philosophy, and political thought is more surprising. Hesiod writes that Zeus punishes the entire city of an unjust man with plague because he harms Justice. Plato refers to injustice as a disease of the soul, and justice as a soul in good health. Euripides, in his Herakles, writes that Thebes itself was sick with stasis. These authors indicate that the Greek conception of health was conceived of in broad terms which were applied to other spheres, such as ethics and politics. But what are these terms? What is the basic conceptual framework that underlies Greek medical, ethical, and political thought that allowed authors to apply similar metaphors of health and disease to these different spheres? In this thesis, I suggest that underlying Greek medical, ethical, and political thought is the same conceptual framework of proportion, balance, and equilibrium.