Named for the Greek philosopher Empedocles (490–430 B.C.). Only some 400 lines remain of his poem On Nature, which considered that matter is composed of the four basic elements of fire, air, water and earth. Nothing comes into being or is destroyed, but things are merely transformed. Like Herakleitos {see planet  (5204)} he believed that two forces, love and hate, interact to bring together and to separate the four ingredients. Fewer than 100 verses are left of Purifications, another poem of Empedocles. (M 24919) _ _.