ABSTRACT
In his sixth-century BC heroic poem, Parmenides dramatically portrays the passion in this rejection of physical and natural existence. Parmenides frames his quest for logical truth in a romantic setting of maiden guides, eerie sounds, ethereal locked doors, and gaping chasms that open to engulf and delight. The choice of poetry to describe a search for logical truth has often been seen by philosophers as unfortunate. It is hard to excuse Parmenides’ choice of verse as a medium for his philosophy. The chariot draws near to the threshold which Parmenides must cross, the barrier he must penetrate, a forbidding set of double doors. Parmenides has found an object of love eternally faithful, beyond birth or death, held tightly in the embrace of logical necessity. When, from the standpoint of logic, Parmenides indicts the mingling of the sexes, he expresses attitudes toward women characteristic of Greek thought.
