Heraclitus B49 · B49

Preserved by later writers as Heraclitus's aristocratic creed: one man is worth ten thousand to me, if he be the best. <em>Heîs</em> against <em>myrioi</em> — the single excellent man set against the countless crowd.

This is the sentiment of B29 stated as a personal reckoning: 'the best choose one thing, everlasting fame, above all else; but the many are glutted like cattle.' Heraclitus, of the old royal house of Ephesus, held the crowd in open contempt, and here makes it a matter of counting — <em>myrioi</em> means both 'ten thousand' and simply 'countless,' so the one <em>aristos</em> outweighs not a fixed number but the numberless. The word <em>aristos</em>, 'best,' is the root of 'aristocracy,' rule by the best; Heraclitus gives it its bluntest form. Worth is not democratic and does not add up: one is more than the many when the one is right.

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