Empedocles

There are forces in nature called Love and Hate. The force of Love causes elements to be attracted to each other and to be built up into some particular form or person, and the force of Hate causes the decomposition of things.

At one time through love all things come together into one, at another time through strife s hatred, they are borne each of them apart.

Iris from sea brings wind or mighty rain.

The force that unites the elements to become all things is Love, also called Aphrodite; Love brings together dissimilar elements into a unity, to become a composite thing. Love is the same force that human beings find at work in themselves whenever they feel joy, love and peace. Strife, on the other hand, is the force responsible for the dissolution of the one back into its many, the four elements of which it was composed.

For before this I was born once a boy, and a maiden, and a plant, and a bird, and a darting fish in the sea.