Philosophers cites the fact that he renounced his claim to the kingship in favour of his brother. So great fame did his book win that a sect was founded and called the Heracliteans, after him. Here is a general summary of his doctrines. All things are composed of fire, and into fire they are again resolved ; further, all things come about by destiny, and existent things are brought into harmony by the clash of opposing currents ; again, all things are filled with souls and divinities. He has also given an account of all the orderly happenings in the universe, and declares the sun to be no larger than it appears. Another of his sayings is : " Of soul thou shalt never find boundaries, not if thou trackest it on every path ; so deep is its cause." a Self-conceit he used to call a falling sickness (epilepsy) and eyesight a lying sense. b Sometimes, however, his utterances are clear and distinct, so that even the dullest can easily understand and derive therefrom elevation of soul. For brevity and weightiness his exposition is incomparable. Coming now to his particular tenets, we may state them as follows : fire is the element, all things are exchange for fire and come into being by rarefaction and condensation c ; but of this he gives no clear explanation. All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things flows like a stream. Further, all that is is limited and forms one world. And it is alternately born from fire and again resolved into fire in fixed cycles to all eternity, and this is determined by destiny. Of the opposites that which tends to birth or creation is called war and strife, and that which tends to destruction by fire is called concord and peace. d Change he called