DIOGENES LAERTIUS LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY R. D. HICKS, M.A. YELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMDRIDGR IN TWO VOLUMES I CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD ‘MOMLIXCONTENTS OF VOLUME I Paerace. - / ee ee Page INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . ix BwuocRaPHY. 5 ee we XKXEK ‘TsstIMoNIA - . . . . . » xlvi BOOK I— PHOLOQUE s+ + we le Tues 5 ee ee Soton ime a » 46 Canow see eB Prrracus, wee ee Bus . . . . + . . . 84 Cops» we ee 90 PERIANDER. 7 96 Anacuansis. 5s 5 104 Myson .,. « e + 110 Erimenpes.V ) MUCUS Puerecvoes 5 ww ee 180 BOOK II— Anaxmanper Ye. 6 ee 180 ANAXIMENES We) eee 182 Anaxagoras J. 5 + + we 184 ArcHEaus. =» + es AM Socrates. 0. oe 148 Xenornon . . . . . . » 176CONTENTS Phan Agscuines . . . . . + 6 188 Anstippus. see ee 10H Puazpo . ) +s + + 882 Evenipes See 88M Srupo. ee 40 Certo. 2 ee et Simon . . . . . . soe in PREFACE Giaveow st tt ase A new translation of this author, though long over- Ceses. tee ee 856 due, may yet appear premature at the present Miwuceuus ' "1d 236 anoment when new editions of the text are promised, However, a most valuable portion of the work, the BOOK Ill— Epistles of Epicurus, has appeared in a new recension 5 Puro. ee ee te 86 and the text of the biographies is hardly likely to undergo radical reconstruction. There is substantial BOOK Iv— agreement that the mss. are late; that the scribe Srsusprus. 5 eet 8TH of the best, the Borbonicus, did not know Greek ; Nenocearss- 5 ss “01980 that the mistakes which all share most likely came Poumo . . . + + + « 892 from their common archetype. To reconstruct the Crates 5 ne s+ + 898 text of an author from such sources would have Crantor . 7 7 . . . . 400 been in any case difficult; the difficulty is in- ARCESILAUS « 7 | . . < ~ 404 creased by the misfortune that the Editio Princeps Bion . : rer) was printed, not from the Borbonicus or Parisiensis, Lacypes . 5 . 5 a » 484 but from a worthless interpolated later ms. CARNEADES . . 7 7 . . 486 The efforts of early editors to remove the grossest Curomacnus 5 wet ww 448 blunders lasted more than a century and resulted in the edition of Marcus Meibomius, which has the BOOK V— commentary of Aegidius Menagius. After the pub- Arsrome. ee eee AM lication of this edition our author fell into neglect Tamorunastus . . 0; ee + ABR until the nineteenth century brought faller study Strato. ee ee ew 508: of better mss., initiated by Cobet and carried on Lycoo. . 4 Sen 518 especially by Usener for Book X. If anyone hold. Demeraus, . 5 + eee 586 that the present is too early a time for a translator Heracuives . : 7 i . 538 who has not first revised the text of the author, I vi viiAIOTENOTS, AAEPTIOYT BION KAI TNOMON TON EN SIAOZOBIAT BYAOKI- MHZANTON TON EIZ AEKA TO TPATON UPOOIMION 1 Ta ris didoaogios épyor énol pac amd BapBd- puv dpear. yeyerfobas yap man’ yey Tiépoas Mayous, rapa d¢ BaBvduviors 7 *Agouplos XaA- Mitos, eal Tupvoaopioras rap, “lvbots, mapd. Te Baiouss Mal TaAdrais robs xadousévous Aputbas Kat SeuwoBéous, Kad gnaw *Apiororékns & Moyuch xal Swriav &y 7 elxoorg spit THis Naboxis, Doivued re yeveoba Maxor, kai Opawea Zéyodéw, wat AiBuy “Ardavra; Rivimrios pee yep, Neidov yeyéoba. noida “Hdaiorov, dy 4 s rods po" sontaras feptas evar kal mpodriras. dd 2 ‘rovrov oT easdpov rev Maxedéva eray clvat wupedBas Ce rapa wat, gxraxwoxdua sxraxéous éfror7 Toa Tée ols iNav wer endediias yevécbae rhe: Pi eaboynnorra. rpcis, aekiimys 88 dxraxoolas rpidxovra. bio. = The alteration of the numeral from 98 to 18 is su sported by what little we know of ‘Sotion’s work : see Introduction, Po xxiv, It was from @ similar source that Clement of DIOGENES LAERTIUS LIVES AND OPINIONS 01 F PHILOSOPHERS IN TEN BOOKS BOOK I ProLoaue anh ‘are a who say that the study of philo- se al ke eee mg hs lean ! ave had thei i, ihe Babylonians or Assyrians their Chatdoeane ae the Indians. their Gymanosophists; and ‘among the to Holy Ones, for which they che ge auth Bris Hg Pl SLs eter ssion of Philosopher: say that Mochus weit Beak Thracian, and Atlas. Libyan en we may believe the Egypti the son of the Nile, and wi him ulerophy bepees priests and prophets, being its chief exponents, phere Dred eon, yeat pete. Aleeander solar and 882 lunar eclipses Tere Soeured 878 Alexandria must have taken what we find in Strom. i, 11 concerning Chaldaean: . and other barbarian hilosovhers, Magians, Gymnosophists, 38DIOGENES LAERTIUS “And Bi av Myon, dy apbas Zepudoreyy 73s pony, “Epuddupos wey & TAarawe: 6 Liar nan fret es, plas ogy & d ida: BdvBos dé 5 IE Sa hy tat Nid don, kai per’ adrév yeyoverar modous Twas Ailyote ward. baBoye, “Oordves eat "Aorpau- Visour nal Tappvas. wal Watéras, wéxpt 7% ‘Vay Tlepody in? "ANeEdvSpov ceranienoe, el Pavoven 8° adrods 7a Tay “EMG vww Karop * adguray de By ah Bre ye donotia, eN2 al fyos évOpus Be, BapBdpors, mpoadmroyrcs. 10s eee” Ue empaios, yéyore Moveatos, rapa Bi Onfifots iv. eal ray we EipSiaws 8c oar 8¢ Ocoyoriay Kat Y re elle ei ain rk nda yrs a Perairiy avarteadas. orev relevrjcat Spot, kal aird emeyeypaptar réBe 78 eAeyetov Hyun A 3 sia i spddmov pido» vidv Eyet 7S Dadypuxdy 0 Bhs ee vcvon soe, Smo wpe TEM. amd 88 r08 narpés 100 Movoaiov kal EijodniBau eee ey Abrraicl | lh D3: sha RSE Kilor alba cbvas “Epyod ead Movons Odgniese morjoat 2. Koopoyortay, iow, Kal cetera opetay, wat Loy wal xaprcn yerdaes. oe ek ray morperay Be: fo word rou xpivos obros, & @ dua wiv én- epic. Shey aBav *Avagayspas mdvra Hm xpipara + I. 2-4. PROLOGUE The date of the Magians, beginning with Zoroaster the Persian, was 5000 years before the fall of Troy, as given by Hermodorus the Platonist in his work on mathematics ; but Xanthus the Lydian reckons 6000 years from Zoroaster to the expedition of Xerxes, and after that event he places a long line of Magians in succession, bearing the names of Ostanas, Astrampsychos, Gobryas, and Pazatas, down to the conquest of Persia by Alexander. These authors forget that the achievements which they attribute to the barbarians belong to the Greeks, with whom not merely philosophy but the human race itself began. For instance, Musaeus is claimed by Athens, Linus by Thebes. It is said that the former, the son of Eumolpus, was the first to compose a genealogy of the gods and to construct a sphere, and that he maintained that all things proceed from unity and are resolved again into unity. He died at Phalerum, and this is his epitaph®: Musaeus, to his sire Eumolpus dear, In Phalerean soll les buried here's and the Enmnolpldse at Athens get their name from the father of Musaeus, Linus again was (so it is said) the son of Hermes and the Muse Urania, He composed a poem de- scribing the creation of the world, the courses of the sun and moon, and the growth of animals and plants. His poem begins with the line : ‘Time was when all things grew up at once; and this idea was borrowed by Anaxagoras when he © Anth, Pal, vii. 615. 5————=—<————rlt—‘ie™ DIOGENES LAERTIUS span uot, vod 88 edOérra abr Buaxoa}ioat, veyenioat Soon erga 27 Knpolg rogevblrra Sr Te ape, kal abra emiyeypsqoar sat Atvov Onfatov eSéGaro yoia, Gavérra, Pe tone Creer cian toredévov. ag ooopta, fs xat 1 Se piv a6 (EXMipor Apke $s i real ie ee ao ay BapBapov anorparas "pr nypiay. se sycow BubdvTes exetvors Tapdyov7t » ee Sona ee guddoogor EVO" ugh “Oper Oo rey bya Bay et Tek ea te yopesoarra,rovaira xp Gudéoopo” Kacy te oda, * riva Set mpooayopele 1 Hi oe tes ray Bos aetBobraa rots Qesks mpOo. 2 eer fmanius ind tua, aniperin faba mosucoa nos Sovis Spy TOTO see xpe sbos ts yovuxcy doneodan dr Booher, MaxeBovias énlypoua, Ofvar airdv, A€yov oUTws* aoe fi lpny 7A ?Opbéa Motaas Eayar, Opsfica reer nen Zels gonserr Bede. kepavva~ dy kravev $0 ‘ a 3 Lou éptar gido- «OF 88 fdoxovres dnd BapBdnn Spier Cert” copay kab roy, mpdme” TE Tumvooogiords Kat riBerras Kal ase TOS ee arrows _dudo- Apetbes abynarodes aropberyondors ge cognac Beads wal pv warty psy ee Qigeta doxelv. Tods yoo Tupvooy se} de Anth, Pal. vii, 616, + Srey aaa Apelt. I. 4-6. PROLOGUE declared that all things were originally together until Mind came and set them in order. Linus died in Kuboea, slain by the arrow of Apollo, and this is his epitaph #: Here Theban Linus, whom Urania bore, ‘The fair-crowned Muse, sleeps on a foreign shore, ‘And thus it was from the Greeks that philosophy took its rise : its very name refuses to be translated into foreign speech. But those who attribute its invention to barbarians bring forward Orpheus the Thracian, calling him a philosopher of whose antiquity there can be no doubt. Now, considering the sort of things he said about the gods, I hardly know whether he ought to be called a philosopher ; for what are we to make of one who does not scruple to charge the gods with all human suffering, and even the foul crimes wrought by the tongue amongst a few of mankind? The story goes that he met his death at the hands of women ; but according to the epitaph at Dium in Macedonia he was slain by a thunderbolt; it runs as follows? : Here have the Muses laid their minstrel true, The Thracian Orpheus whom Jove's thunder slew. But the advocates of the theory that philosophy took its rise among the barbarians go on to explain the different forms it assumed in different countries. As to the Gymnosophists and Druids we are told that they uttered their philosophy in riddles, bidding men to reverence the gods, to abstain from wrong- doing, and to practise courage. That the Gymno- 4 Anth. Pal. vii. 616. * Anth. Plan, ii. 99, 7