Once, when
Mnesistratus
accused him of denying that Ptolemy was a king, he said to him, "That Ptolemy was a man with such and such qualities, and a king.
Diogenes Laertius
Therefore, the whole world is perishable.
And again, if anything admits of a change for the worse it is perishable; therefore, the world is perishable, for it can he dried up, and it can be covered with water.
[142] Now the world was created when its substance was changed from fire to moisture, by the action of the air; and then its denser parts coagulated, and so the earth was made, and the thinner portions were evaporated and became air; and this being rarefied more and more, produced fire. And then, by the combination of all these elements, were produced plants and animals, and other kinds of things. Now Zenon speaks of the creation, and of the destruction of the world, in his treatise on the Universe; and so do Chrysippus, in the first book of his Physics, and Poseidonius, in the first book of his treatise on the World, and Cleanthes, and Antipater, in the tenth book of his treatise on the World. But Panaetius asserts that the world is imperishable. Again, that the world is an animal, and that it is endowed with reason, and life, and intellect, is affirmed by Chrysippus, in the first volume of his treatise on Providence, and by Apollodorus in his Natural Philosophy, and by Poseidonius; [143] and that it is an animal in this sense, as being an essence endowed with life, and with sensation. For that which is an animal, is better than that which is not an animal. But nothing is better than the world; therefore the world is an animal. And it is endued with life, as is plain from the fact of our own soul being as it were a fragment broken off from it. But Boethus denies that the world is an animal. Again, that the world is one, is affirmed by Zenon, in his treatise on the Universe, and by Chrysippus, and by Apollodorus, in his Natural Philosophy, and by Poseidonius, in the first book of his Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And by the term, the universe, according to Apollodorus, is understood both the world itself, and also the whole of the world itself, and of the exterior vacuum taken together. The world, then, is finite, and the vacuum infinite.
[144] {71} Of the stars, those which are fixed are only moved in connection with the movements of the entire heaven; but the planets move according to their own peculiar and separate motions. And the sun takes an oblique path through the circle of the zodiac, and in the same manner also does the moon, which is of a winding form. And the sun is pure fire, as Poseidonius asserts in the seventh book of his treatise on the Heavenly Bodies, and it is larger than the earth, as the same author informs us, in the sixteenth book of his Disclosures on Natural Philosophy. Also it is spherical, as he says in another place, being made on the same principle as the world is. Therefore it is fire, because it performs all the functions of fire. And it is larger than the earth, as is proved by the fact of the whole earth being illuminated by it, and also the whole heaven. Also the fact of the earth throwing a conical shadow, proves that the sun is greater than it, and the sun is seen in every part, because of its magnitude. [145] But the moon is of a more earthy nature than the sun, inasmuch as it is nearer the earth. Moreover, they say that all these fiery bodies, and all the other stars, receive nutriment; the sun from the vast sea, being a sort of intellectual appendage; and the moon from the fresh waters, being mingled with the air, and also near the earth, as Poseidonius explains it in the sixth book of his Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And all the other stars derive their nourishment from the earth. They also consider that the stars are of a spherical figure, and that the earth is immovable. And that the moon has not a light of her own, but that she borrows it from the sun. And that the sun is eclipsed, when the moon runs in front of it on the side towards us, as Zenon describes in his work on the Universe; [146] for when it comes across it in its passage, it conceals it, and again it reveals it; and this is a phenomenon easily seen in a basin of water. And the moon is eclipsed when it comes below the shadow of the earth, on which account this never happens, except at the time of the full moon; and although it is diametrically opposite to the sun every month, still it is not eclipsed every month, because when its motions are obliquely towards the sun, it does not find itself in the same place as the sun, being either a little more to the north, or a little more to the south. When therefore it is found in the same place with the sun, and with the other intermediate objects, then it takes as it were the diameter of the sun, and is eclipsed. And its place is along the line which runs between the Crab and the Scorpion, and the Ram and the Bull, as Poseidonius tells us.
[147] {72} They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the world and of all that is in the world; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were, the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything, which is called by different names, according to its powers; for they call him Dia as being the person (di hon) everything is, and Zeus, inasmuch as he is the cause of life, (tou Z? in), or because he pervades life. And Athene, with reference to the extension of his dominant power over the aether (eis aithera). And Hera, on account of his extension through the air (eis aera). And Hephaistos, on account of his pervading fire, which is the chief instrument of art; and Poseidon, as pervading moisture, and Demeter, as pervading the earth (G? ). And in the same way, regarding some other of his peculiar attributes, they have given him other names.
[148] The substance of God is asserted by Zenon to be the universal world, and the heaven; and Chrysippus agrees with this doctrine, in his eleventh book on the Gods; and so also does Poseidonius, in the first book of his treatise on the same subject. Antipater, in the seventh book of his treatise on the World, says that his substance is like air. And Boethus, in his treatise on Nature, calls the substance of God the sphere of the fixed stars.
{73} And his nature they define to be, that which keeps the world together, and sometimes that which produces the things upon the earth. And nature is a habit which derives its movements from itself, perfecting and holding together all that arises out of it, according to the principles of production, in certain definite periods, and doing the same as the things from which it is separated. [149] And it has for its object, suitableness and pleasure, as is plain from its having created man. {74} But Chrysippus, in his treatise on Fate, and Poseidonius, in the second book of his work on Fate, and Zenon, and Boethus, in the first book of his treatise on Fate, say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate, (heimarmen? ), is a connected (eiromen? ) cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
{75} They also say that divination has a universal existence, since Providence has; and they define it as an act on account of certain results, as Zenon and Chrysippus, in the second book of his treatise on Divination, and Athenodorus and Poseidonius, in the twelfth book of his discourses on Natural Philosophy, and in the fifth book of his treatise on Divination, all agree in saying; for Panaetius denies that it has any certain foundation. [150] {76} And they say that the substance of all existing things is Primary Matter, as Chrysippus asserts in the first book of his Physics; and Zenon says the same. Now matter is that from which anything whatever is produced. And it is called by a twofold appellation, essence and matter; the one as relating to all things taken together, and the other to things in particular and separate. The one which relates to all things taken together, never becomes either greater or less; but the one relating to things in particular, does become greater or less, as the case may be. {77} Body is, according to them, a substance and finite; as Antipater says, in the second book of his treatise on Substance; and Apollodorus, in his Natural Philosophy, agrees with him. It is also subject to change, as we learn from the same author; for if it were immutable, then the things which have been produced out of it would not have been produced; on which account he also says that it is infinitely divisible; but Chrysippus denies that it is infinite; for that nothing is infinite, which is divisible at all. [151] {78} He admits, however, that it is infinitely divisible, and that its concretions take place over the whole of it, as he explains in the third book of his Physics, and not according to any individuality or juxtaposition; for a little wine when thrown into the sea, will keep its distinctness for a brief period, but after that, will be lost.
{79} They also say that there are some daemones, who have a sympathy with mankind, being surveyors of all human affairs; and that there are heroes, which are the souls of virtuous men, which have left their bodies. {80} Of the things which take place in the air, they say that winter is the effect of the air above the earth being cooled, on account of the retirement of the sun to a greater distance than before; that spring is a good temperature of the air, according to the sun's approach towards us; [152] that summer is the effect of the air above the earth being warmed by the approach of the sun towards the north; that autumn is caused by the retreat of the sun from us to those places from which they flow.
{81} And the cause of the production of the winds is the sun, which evaporates the clouds. Moreover, the rainbow is the reflection of the sun's rays from the moist clouds, or, as Poseidonius explains it in his Meteorology, a manifestation of a section of the sun or moon, in a cloud suffused with dew; being hollow and continuous to the sight; so that it is reflected as in a mirror, under the appearance of a circle. And that comets, and bearded stars, and meteors, are fires which have an existence when the density of the air is borne upwards to the regions of the aether. [153] That a ray of light is a kindling of sudden fire, borne through the air with great rapidity, and displaying an appearance of length; that rain proceeds from the clouds, being a transformation of them into water, whenever the moisture which is caught up from the earth or from the sea, by the sun, is not able to be otherwise disposed of; for when it is solidified, it is then called hoar frost. And hail is a cloud congealed, and subsequently dispersed by the wind. Snow is moisture from a congealed cloud, as Poseidonius tells us in the eighth book of his discourse on Natural Philosophy. Lightning is a kindling of the clouds from their being rubbed together, or else broken asunder by the wind, as Zenon tells us in his treatise on the Universe; and thunder is the noise made by them on the occasion of their being rubbed together or broken asunder; [154] and the thunderbolt is a sudden kindling which falls with great violence on the earth, from the clouds being rubbed together or broken asunder, or, as others say, it is a conversion of fiery air violently brought down to the earth. A typhoon is a vast thunderbolt, violent and full of wind, or a smoky breath of a cloud broken asunder. A pr? st? s is a cloud rent by fire, with wind. [Earthquakes occur when wind rushes] into the hollows of the earth, or when the wind is pent up in the earth, as Poseidonius says in his eighth book; and that some of them are shakings, others rendings, others emissions of fire, and others, instances of violent fermentation. [155] {82} They also think that the general arrangement of the world is in this fashion; that the earth is in the middle, occupying the place of the centre; next to which comes the water, of a spherical form; and having the same centre as the earth; so that the earth is in the water; and next to the water comes the air, which has also a spherical form. {83} And that there are five circles in the heaven of which the first is the arctic circle, which is always visible; the second is the tropical summer circle; the third is the equinoctial circle; the fourth, the winter tropical circle; and the fifth the antarctic, which is not visible. And they are called parallel, because they do not incline to one another; they are drawn however around the same centre. But the zodiac is oblique, cutting the parallel circles. There are also five zones on the earth; [156] the first is the northern one, placed under the arctic circle, uninhabitable by reason of the cold; the second is temperate; the third is uninhabitable because of the heat, and is called the torrid zone; the fourth is a temperate zone, on the other side of the torrid zone; the fifth is the southern zone, being also uninhabitable by reason of the cold.
{84} Another of their doctrines is that nature is an artificial fire tending by a regular road to production, which is a fiery kind of breath proceeding according to art. Also, that the soul is sensible, and that it is a spirit which is born with us; consequently it is a body and continues to exist after death; that nevertheless it is perishable. But that the soul of the universe is imperishable, and that the souls which exist in animals are only parts of that of the universe. [157] But Zenon the Citiaean, and Antipater in his treatise concerning the Soul, and Poseidonius also, all say that the soul is a spirit; for that by it we have our breath, and by it we are moved. Cleanthes, accordingly, asserts that all souls continue to exist till they are burnt up; but Chrysippus says that it is only the souls of the wise that endure. And they further teach that there are eight parts of the soul; the five senses, and the generative faculties, and voice, and reason. And we see because of a body of luminous air which extends from the organ of sight to the object in a conical form, as it is asserted by Chrysippus, in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, and also by Apollodorus. And the apex of this cone is close to the eye, and its base is formed by the object which is seen; so that that which is seen is as it were reported to the eye by this continuous cone of air extended towards it like a staff. [158] In the same way, we hear because the air between the speaker and the hearer is struck in a spherical manner; and is then agitated in waves, resembling the circular eddies which one sees in a cistern when a stone is dropped into it.
Sleep, they say, is produced by a relaxation of the aesthetic energies with reference to the dominant part of the soul. And the causes of the passions they explain to be the motions and conversions which take place in connection with this spirit or soul.
{85} Seed, they define as a thing of a nature capable of producing other things of the same nature as the thing from which it has been separated. And the seed of man, which man emits, is, together with moisture, mixed up with the parts of the soul by that kind of mixture which corresponds to the capacity of the parents. [159] And Chrysippus says, in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, that it is a spirit according to substance; as is manifest from the seeds which are planted in the earth; and which, if they are old, do not germinate, because all their virtue has evaporated. And Sphaerus says, that seed proceeds from the entire body, and that that is how it is that it produces all the parts of the body.
They also say that the seed of the female is unproductive; for, as Sphaerus says, it is devoid of tone, and small in quantity, and watery. {86} They also say that that is the dominant part of the soul which is its most excellent part; in which the imaginations and the desires are formed, and whence reason proceeds. And this place is in the heart. [160] These then are the doctrines on the subject of natural philosophy entertained by them, which it seems sufficient for us to detail, having regard to the due proportions of this book.
[160] The following are the points in which some of [the Stoics] disagreed with the rest.
LIFE OF ARISTON.
{1} Ariston the Bald, a native of Chios, surnamed the Siren, said, that the chief good was to live in perfect indifference to all those things which are of an intermediate character between virtue and vice; making not the slightest difference between them, but regarding them all on a footing of equality. For that the wise man resembles a good actor; who, whether he is filling the part of Agamemnon or Thersites, will perform them both equally well. {2} And he discarded altogether the topic of physics, and of logic, saying that the one was above us, and that the other had nothing to do with us; and that the only branch of philosophy with which we had any real concern was ethics. [161] {3} He also said that dialectic reasonings were like cobwebs; which, although they seem to be put together on principles of art, are utterly useless.
{4} And he did not introduce many virtues into his scheme, as Zenon did; nor one virtue under a great many names, as the Megaric philosophers did; but defined virtue as consisting in behaving in a certain manner with reference to a certain thing. {5} And as he philosophized in this manner, and carried on his discussions in the Cynosarges, he got so much influence as to be called a founder of a sect. Accordingly, Miltiades and Diphilus were called Aristoneans. {6} He was a man of very persuasive eloquence, and one who could adapt himself well to the humours of a multitude. On which account Timon says of him:
And one who, from Ariston's wily race,
Traced his descent.
[162] Diocles, the Magnesian, tells us that Ariston having fallen in with Polemon, passed over to his school, at a time when Zenon was lying ill with a long sickness. The Stoic doctrine to which he was most attached, was the one that the wise man is never guided by opinions. But Persaeus argued against this, and caused one of two twin brothers to place a deposit in his hands, and then caused the other to reclaim it; and thus he convicted him, as he was in doubt on this point, and therefore forced to act on opinion. He was a great enemy of Arcesilaus. And once, seeing a bull of a monstrous appearance, having a womb, he said, "Alas! here is an argument for Arcesilaus against the evidence of his senses. " [163] On another occasion, when a philosopher of the Academy said that he did not comprehend anything, he said to him, "Do not you even see the man who is sitting next to you? " And as he said that he did not, he said:
Who then has blinded you, who's been so harsh,
As thus to rob you of your beaming eyes?
{7} The following works are attributed to him.
Two books of Exhortatory Discourses;
Dialogues on the Doctrines of Zenon;
six books of Conversations;
seven books of Discussions on Wisdom;
Conversations on Love;
Commentaries on Vain Glory;
twenty-five books of Reminiscences;
three books of Memorabilia;
eleven books of Apophthegms;
a volume against the Orators;
a volume against the Rescripts of Alexinus;
three treatises against the Dialecticians;
four books of Letters to Cleanthes.
But Panaetius and Sosicrates say, that his only genuine writings are his letters; and that all the rest are the works of Ariston the Peripatetic.
[164] {8} It is said that he, being bald, got a stroke of the sun, and so died. And we have written a jesting epigram on him in choliambic verse, as follows:
Why, O Ariston, being old and bald,
Did you allow the sun to roast your crown?
Thus, in an unbecoming search for warmth,
Against your will, you've found out chilly Hell.
{9} There was also another man of the name of Ariston; a native of Iulis, one of the Peripatetic school. And another who was an Athenian musician. A fourth who was a tragic poet. A fifth, a native of Halae, who wrote a treatise on the Oratorical Art. A sixth was a peripatetic Philosopher of Alexandria.
LIFE OF HERILLUS
[165] {1} Herillus, a native of Carthage, said that the chief good was knowledge; that is to say, the always conducting one's self in such a way as to refer everything to the principle of living according to knowledge, and not been misled by ignorance. He also said that knowledge was a habit not departing from reason in the reception of perceptions.
On one occasion, he said that there was no such thing as a chief good, but that circumstances and events changed it, just as the same piece of brass might become a statue either of Alexander or of Socrates. And that besides the chief good or end (telos), there was a subordinate end (hypotelis) different from it. And that those who were not wise aimed at the latter; but that only the wise man directed his views to the former. And all the things between virtue and vice he pronounced indifferent. {2} His books contain but few lines, but they are full of power, and contain arguments in opposition to Zenon. [166] {3} It is said, that when he was a boy, many people were attached to him; and as Zenon wished to drive them away, he persuaded him to have his head shaved, which disgusted them all. {4} His books are as follows.
One on Exercise;
one on the Passions;
one on Opinion;
the Lawgiver;
the Skilful Midwife;
the Contradictory Teacher;
the Preparer;
the Director;
Hermes;
Medeia;
a book of Dialogues;
a book of Ethical Propositions.
LIFE OF DIONYSIUS
{1} Dionysius, the Deserter (Metathemenos), as he was called, asserted that pleasure was the chief good, from the circumstance of his being afflicted with a complaint in his eyes. For, as he suffered severely, he could not pronounce pain a thing indifferent.
{2} He was the son of Theophantus, and a native of Heracleia. {3} He was a pupil, as we are told by Diocles, first of all of Heracleides, his fellow citizen; after that of Alexinus, and Menedemus; and last of all of Zenon. [167] And at first, as he was very devoted to learning, he tried his hand at all kinds of poetry. Afterwards, he attached himself to Aratus, whom he took for his model. Having left Zenon, he turned to the Cyrenaics, and became a frequenter of brothels, and in other respects indulged in luxury without disguise. {3} When he had lived near eighty years, he died of starvation. {5} The following books are attributed to him.
Two books on Apathy;
two on Exercise;
four on Pleasure;
one on Riches, and Favours, and Revenge;
one on the Use of Men ;
one on Good Fortune;
one on Ancient Kings;
one on Things which are Praised;
one on Barbarian Customs.
These now are the chief men who differed from the Stoics. But the man who succeeded Zenon in his school was Cleanthes, whom we must now speak of.
LIFE OF CLEANTHES
[168] {1} Cleanthes was a native of Assos, and the son of Phanias. He was originally a boxer, as we learn from Antisthenes, in his Successions. And he came to Athens, having but four drachmas, as some people say, and attaching himself to Zenon, he devoted himself to Philosophy in a most noble manner; and he adhered to the same doctrines as his master. {2} He was especially eminent for his industry, so that as he was a very poor man, he was forced to undertake mercenary employments, and he used to draw water in the gardens by night, and by day he used to exercise himself in philosophical discussions; on which account he was called Phreantles [from phrear, a well, and antle? , to draw water]. They also say that he was on one occasion brought before a court of justice, to be compelled to give an account what his sources of income were from which he maintained himself in such good condition: and that then he was acquitted, having produced as his witness the gardener in whose garden he drew the water; and a woman who was a meal-seller, in whose establishment he used to prepare the meal. [169] And the judges of the Areopagus admired him, and voted that ten minae should be given to him; but Zenon forbade him to accept them. They also say that Antigonus presented him three thousand drachmas. And once, when he was conducting some you men to some spectacle, it happened that the wind blew away his cloak, and it was then seen that he had nothing on under it; on which he was greatly applauded by the Athenians according to the account given by Demetrius the Magnesian, in his essay on People of the same Name. And he was greatly admired by them on account of this circumstance. They also say that Antigonus, who was a pupil of his, once asked him why he drew water; and that he made answer, "Do I do nothing beyond drawing water? Do I not also dig, and do I not water the land, and do all sorts of things for the sake of philosophy ? For Zenon used to accustom him to this, and used to require him to bring him an obol by way of tribute. [170] And once he brought one of the pieces of money which he had collected in this way, into the middle of a company of his acquaintances, and said, "Cleanthes could maintain even another Cleanthes if he were to choose; but others who have plenty of means to support themselves, seek for necessaries from others; although they only study philosophy in a very lazy manner. " And, in reference to these habits of his, Cleanthes was called a second Heracles.
{3} He was then very industrious; but he was not well endowed by nature, and was very slow in his intellect. On which account Timon says of him {in parody of Homer, Il_3'196}:
What stately ram thus measures o'er the ground,
And master of the flock surveys them round?
What citizen of Assos, dull and cold,
Fond of long words, a mouth-piece, but not bold.
And when he was ridiculed by his fellow pupils, he used to bear it patiently.
{4} He did not even object to the name when he was called an ass; but only said that he was the only animal able to bear the burdens which Zenon put upon him. [171] And once, when he was reproached as a coward, he said, "That is the reason why I make but few mistakes. " He used to say, in justification of his preference of his own way of life to that of the rich, "That while they were playing at ball, he was earning money by digging hard and barren ground. " And he very often used to blame himself. And once, Ariston heard him doing so, and said, "Who is it that you are reproaching ? " and he replied, "An old man who has grey hair, but no brains. " When some one once said to him, that Arcesilaus did not do what he ought, "Desist," he replied, "and do not blame him; for if he destroys duty as far as his words go, at all events he establishes it by his actions. " Arcesilaus once said to him, " I never listen to flatterers. " " Yes," rejoined Cleanthes, "I flatter you, when I say that though you say one thing, you do another. " [172] When some one once asked him what lesson he ought to inculcate on his son, he replied, "The warning of Electra" {Euripides, Orest_140}:
Silence, silence, gently step.
When a Lacedaemonian once said in his hearing, that labour was a good thing, he was delighted, and addressed him {in parody of Homer, Od_4'611}:
Oh, early worth, a soul so wise and young
Proclaims that you from noble blood are sprung.
Hecaton tells us in his Apophthegms, that once when a young man said, "If a man who beats his stomach gastrizei, then a man who slaps his thigh m? rizei", he replied, "Do you stick to your diam? rizei, but analogous words do not always indicate analogous facts. " Once when he was conversing with a youth, he asked him if he felt; and as he said that he did, "Why is it then," said Cleanthes, "that I do not feel that you feel? " [173] When Sositheus, the poet, said in the theatre where he was present, "Men whom the folly of Cleanthes urges -" he continued in the same attitude; at which the hearers were surprised, and applauded him, but drove Sositheus away. And when Sositheus expressed his sorrow for having abused him in this manner, he answered him gently, saying that it would be a preposterous thing for Dionysus and Heracles to bear being ridiculed by the poets without any expression of anger, and for him to be indignant at any chance attack. He used also to say, that the Peripatetics were in the same condition as lyres, which though they utter sweet notes, do not hear themselves. And it is said, that when he asserted that, on the principles of Zenon, one could judge of a man's character by his looks, some witty young men brought him a profligate fellow, having a hardy look from continual exercise in the fields, and requested him to tell them his moral character; and he, having hesitated a little, bade the man depart; and, as he departed, the man sneezed. "I have the fellow now," said Cleanthes, "he is a debauchee. " [174] He said once to a man who was conversing with him by himself, "You are not talking to a bad man. " And when some one reproached him with his old age, he rejoined, "I too wish to depart, but when I perceive myself to be in good health in every respect, and to be able to recite and read, I am content to remain. " They say too, that he used to write down all that he heard from Zenon on oyster shells, and on the shoulder-blades of oxen, from want of money to buy paper with. {5} And though he was of this character, and in such circumstances, he became so eminent, that, though Zenon had many other disciples of high reputation, he succeeded him as the president of his School.
And he left behind him some excellent books, which are these.
One on Time;
two on Zenon's System of Natural Philosophy;
four books of the Explanations of Heracleitus;
one on Sensation;
one on Art;
one addressed to Democritus;
one to Aristarchus;
one to Herillus;
two on Desire;
[175] one entitled Archaeology;
one on the Gods;
one on the Giants;
one on Marriage;
one on Poets;
three on Duty;
one on Good Counsel;
one on Favour;
one called Exhortatory;
one on Virtues;
one on Natural Ability;
one on Gorgippus;
one on Enviousness;
one on Love;
one on Freedom;
one called the Art of Love;
one on Honour;
one on Glory;
The Statesman;
one on Counsel;
one on Laws;
one on Deciding as a Judge;
one on the Way of Life;
three on Reason;
one on the Chief Good;
one on the Beautiful;
one on Actions;
one on Knowledge;
one on Kingly Power;
one on Friendship;
one on Banquets;
one on the Principle that Virtue is the same in Man and Woman;
one on the Wise Man Employing Sophisms;
one on Apophthegms;
two books of Conversations;
one on Pleasure;
one on Properties;
one on Doubtful Things;
one on Dialectics;
one on Modes;
one on Categorems.
{6} These are his writings. [176] And he died in the following manner. His gums swelled very much; and, at the command of his physicians, he abstained from food for two days. And he got so well that his physicians allowed him to return to all his former habits; but he refused, and saying that he had now already gone part of the way, he abstained from food for the future, and so died; being, as some report, eighty years old, and having been a pupil of Zenon nineteen years. And we have written a playful epigram on him also, which runs thus:
I praise Cleanthes, but praise Hades more;
Who could not bear to see him grown so old,
So gave him rest at last among the dead,
Who had drawn such loads of water while alive.
LIFE OF SPHAERUS
[177] {1} Sphaerus, a native of the Bosporus, was, as we have said before, a pupil of Cleanthes after the death of Zenon.
{2} And when he made a considerable advance in philosophy he went to Alexandria, to the court of Ptolemy Philopator. And once, when there was a discussion concerning the question whether a wise man would allow himself to be guided by opinion, and when Sphaerus affirmed that he would not, the king, wishing to refute him, ordered some pomegranates of wax to be set before him; and when Sphaerus was deceived by them, the king shouted that he had given his assent to a false perception. But Sphaerus answered very neatly, that he had not given his assent to the fact that they were pomegranates, but to the fact that it was probable that they might be pomegranates. And that a perception which could be comprehended differed from one that was only probable.
Once, when Mnesistratus accused him of denying that Ptolemy was a king, he said to him, "That Ptolemy was a man with such and such qualities, and a king. "
[178] {3} He wrote the following books.
Two on the World;
one on the Elements of Seed;
one on Fortune;
one on the Smallest Things;
one on Atoms and Phantoms;
one on the Senses;
five Conversations about Heracleitus;
one on Ethical Arrangement;
one on Duty;
one on Appetite;
two on the Passions;
one on Kingly Power;
on the Lacedaemonian Constitution;
three on Lycurgus and Socrates;
one on Law;
one on Divination;
one volume of Dialogues on Love;
one on the Eretrian Philosophers;
one on Things Similar;
one on Terms;
one on Habits;
three on Contradictions;
one on Reason;
one on Riches;
one on Glory;
one on Death;
two on the Art of Dialectics;
one on Categorems;
one on Ambiguity;
and a volume of Letters.
LIFE OF CHRYSIPPUS
[179] {1} Chrysippus was the son of Apollonius, and a native of either Soli or Tarsus, as Alexander tells us in his Successions; and he was a pupil of Cleanthes. Previously he used to practise running as a public runner; then he became a pupil of Zenon or of Cleanthes, as Diocles and the generality of authors say, and while he was still living he abandoned him, and became a very eminent philosopher.
{2} He was a man of great natural ability, and of great acuteness in every way, so that in many points he dissented from Zenon, and also from Cleanthes, to whom he often used to say that he only wanted to be instructed in the dogmas of the school, and that he would discover the demonstrations for himself. But whenever he opposed him with any vehemence, he always repented, so that he used frequently to say [in parody of Euripides, Orest_540]:
In most respects I am a happy man,
Excepting where Cleanthes is concerned;
For in that matter I am far from fortunate.
[180] And he had such a high reputation as a dialectician, that most people thought that if there were such a science as dialectics among the Gods; it would be in no respect different from that of Chrysippus. But though he was so eminently able in matter, he was not perfect in style. {3} He was industrious beyond all other men; as is plain from his writings; for he wrote more than seven hundred and five books. And he often wrote several books on the same subject, wishing to put down everything that occurred to him; and constantly correcting his previous assertions, and using a great abundance of testimonies. So that, as in one of his writings he had quoted very nearly the whole of the Medeia of Euripides, and some one had his book in his hands; this latter, when he was asked what he had got there, made answer, "The Medeia of Chrysippus. " [181] And Apollodorus the Athenian, in his Collection of Dogmas, wishing to assert that what Epicurus had written out of his own head, and without any quotations to support his arguments, was a great deal more than all the books of Chrysippus, speaks thus (I give his exact words). "For if any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty. " These are the words of Apollodorus; but the old woman, who lived with him, as Diocles reports, used to say that he wrote five hundred lines every day. And Hecaton says, that he first applied himself to philosophy, when his patrimony had been confiscated, and seized for the royal treasury.
[182] {4} He was slight in person, as is plain from his statue which is in the Cerameicus, which is nearly hidden by the equestrian statue near it; in reference to which circumstance, Carneades called him Cryxippus. [From krupt? , to hide, and hippos, a horse. ] He was once reproached by some one for not attending the lectures of Ariston, who was drawing a great crowd after him at the time; and he replied, "If I had attended to the multitude I should not have been a philosopher. " And once, when he saw a dialectician pressing hard on Cleanthes, and proposing sophistical fallacies to him, he said, "Cease to drag that old man from more important business, and propose these questions to us who are young. " At another time, when some one wishing to ask him something privately, was addressing him quietly, but when he saw a multitude approaching began to speak more energetically he said to him [Euripides, Orest_253]:
Alas, my brother! now your eye is troubled;
You were quite sane just now; and yet how quickly
Have you succumbed to frenzy.
[183] {5} And at drinking parties he used to behave quietly, moving his legs about however, so that a female slave once said, "It is only the legs of Chrysippus that are drunk. " And he had so high an opinion of himself, that once, when a man asked him, "To whom shall I entrust my son? " he said "To me, for if I thought that there was any one better than myself, I would have gone to him to teach me philosophy. " In reference to which anecdote they report that people used to say of him [Homer, Od_10'495]:
He has indeed a clear and subtle head,
The rest are forms of empty aether made.
And also:
For if Chrysippus had not lived and taught,
The Stoic school would surely have been naught.
{6} But at last, when Arcesilaus and Lacydes, as Sotion records in his eighth book, came to the Academy, he joined them in the study of philosophy;[184] from which circumstance he got the habit of arguing for and against a custom, and discussed magnitudes and quantities, following the system of the Academics.
{7} Hermippus relates, that one day, when he was teaching in the Odeium, he was invited to a sacrifice by his pupils; and, that drinking some sweet unmixed wine, he was seized with giddiness, and departed this life five days afterwards, when he had lived seventy-three years; dying in the hundred and forty-third Olympiad [208-205 B. C. ], as Apollodorus says in his Chronicles. And we have written an epigram on him:
Chrysippus drank with open month some wine
Then became giddy, and so quickly died.
Too little thought he of the Porch's weal,
Or of his country's, or of his own dear life;
And so descended to the realms of Hell.
[185] But some people say that he died of a fit of immoderate laughter. For that seeing his ass eating figs, he told his old woman to give the ass some unmixed wine to drink afterwards, and then laughed so violently that he died.
{8} He appears to have been a man of exceeding arrogance. Accordingly, though he wrote such numbers of books, he never dedicated one of them to any sovereign. And he was contented with one single old woman, as Demetrius tells us, in his People of the same Name. And when Ptolemy wrote to Cleanthes, begging him either to come to him himself or to send him some one, Sphaerus went to him, but Chrysippus slighted the invitation.
{9} However, he sent for the sons of his sister, Aristocreon and Philocrates, and educated them; and he was the first person who ventured to hold a school in the open air in the Lyceium, as the before-mentioned Demetrius relates.
{10} [186] There was also another Chrysippus, a native of Cnidus, a doctor from whom Erasistratus testifies that he received great benefit. And another also who was a son of his, and the physician of Ptolemy; who, having had a false accusation brought against him, was apprehended and punished by being scourged. There was also a fourth who was a pupil of Erasistratus; and a fifth was an author of a work called Georgics.
{11} Now this philosopher used to delight in proposing questions of this sort. The person who reveals the mysteries to the uninitiated commits a sin; the hierophant reveals them to the uninitiated ; therefore the hierophant commits sin? Another was, that which is not in the city, is also not in the house; but a well is not in the city, therefore, there is not a well in the house. Another was, there is a certain head; that head you have not got; there is then a head that you have not got; therefore, you have not got a head. [187] Again, if a man is in Megara, he is not in Athens; but there is a man in Megara, therefore, there is not a man in Athens. Again, if you say anything, what you say comes out of your mouth; but you say "a wagon," therefore a wagon comes out of your mouth. Another was, if you have not lost a thing, you have it; but you have not lost horns; therefore, you have horns. Though some attribute this sophism to Eubulides.
{12} There are people who run Chrysippus down as having written a great deal that is very shameful and indecent. For in his treatise on the Ancient Natural Historians, he relates the story of Zeus and Hera very indecently, devoting six hundred lines to what no one could repeat without polluting his mouth. [188] For, as it is said, he composes this story, though he praises it as consisting of natural details, in a way more suitable to street walkers than to goddesses; and not at all resembling the ideas which have been adopted or cited by writers in paintings. For they were found neither in Polemon, nor in Hypsicrates, nor in Antigonus, but were inserted by himself. And in his treatise on the Republic, he allows people to marry their mothers, or their daughters, or their sons. And he repeats this doctrine in his treatise on those things which are not desirable for their own sake, in the very opening of it. And in the third book of his treatise on Justice, he devotes a thousand lines to bidding people devour even the dead. In the second book of his treatise on Life and Means of Support, where he is warning us to consider beforehand, how the wise man ought to provide himself with means, he says, [189] "And yet why need he provide himself with means? for if it is for the sake of living, living at all is a matter of indifference; if it is for the sake of pleasure, that is a matter of indifference too; if it is for the sake of virtue, that is of itself sufficient for happiness. But the methods of providing one's self with means are ridiculous; for instance, some derive them from a king; and then it will be necessary to humour him. Some from friendship; and then friendship will become a thing to be bought with a price. Some from wisdom; and then wisdom will become mercenary; and these are the accusations which he brings. "
But since he has written many books of high reputation, it has seemed good to me to give a catalogue of them, classifying them according to their subjects. They are the following:
Books on Logic;
Propositions;
Logical Questions;
a book of the Contemplations of the Philosopher;
six books of Dialectic Terms addressed to Metrodorus;
one on the Technical Terms used in Dialectics, addressed to Zenon;
[190] one called the Art of Dialectics, addressed to Aristagoras;
four books of Probable Conjunctive Reasons, addressed to Dioscurides.
The first set of treatises on the Logical Topics, which concern things, contains:
one essay on Propositions;
one on those Propositions which are not simple;
two on the Copulative Propositions, addressed to Athenades;
three on Positive Propositions, addressed to Aristagoras;
one on Definite Propositions, addressed to Athenodorus;
one on Privative Propositions, addressed to Thearus;
three on the Best Propositions, addressed to Dion;
four on the Differences between Indefinite Propositions;
two on those Propositions which are enunciated with a reference to time;
two on Perfect Propositions.
The second set contains:
one essay on a Disjunctive True Propositions, addressed to Gorgippides;
four on a Conjunctive True Proposition, also addressed to Gorgippides;
[191] one called, the Sect, addressed to Gorgippides;
one on the argument of Consequents;
one on questions touched upon in the three preceding treatises, and now re-examined, this also is addressed to Gorgippides;
one on what is Possible, addressed to Cleitus;
one on the treatise of Philon, on Signification;
one on what it is that Falsehood consists in.
The third set contains:
two treatises on Imperative Propositions;
two on Interrogation; four on Examination;
an epitome of the subject of Interrogation and Examination;
four treatises on Answer;
an abridgment on Answer;
two essays on Investigation.
The fourth set contains:
ten books on Categorems, addressed to Metrodorus;
one treatise on what is Direct and Indirect, addressed to Philarchus;
one on Conjunctions, addressed to Apollonides;
four on Categorems, addressed to Pasylus.
[192] The fifth set contains:
one treatise on the Five Cases;
one on Things defined according to the Subject;
two on Enunciation, addressed to Stesagoras;
two on Appellative Nouns.
The next class of his writings refers to rules of Logic, with reference to words, and speech which consists of words. The first set of these contains:
six treatises on Singular and Plural Enunciations;
five on Words, addressed to Sosigenes and Alexander;
four on the Inequality of Words, addressed to Dion;
three on the Sorites which refer to Words;
one on Solecisms in the Use of Words, addressed to Dionysius;
one entitled Discourses, contrary to Customs;
one entitled Diction, and addressed to Dionysius.
The second set contains:
five treatises on the Elements of Speech and of Phrases;
four on the Arrangement of Phrases;
[193] three on the Arrangement, and on the Elements of Phrases, addressed to Philippus;
one on the Elements of Discourse, addressed to Nicias;
one on Correlatives.
The third set contains:
two treatises against those who do not admit Division;
four on Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Apollas;
one, Ambiguity in Modes; two on the Ambiguous Use of Figures, in Conjunctive Propositions;
two on the essay on Ambiguous Expressions, by Panthoides;
five on the introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions;
one, being an abridgment of the Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Epicrates;
and a collection of instances to serve as an Introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions, in two books.
The next class is on the subject of that part of logic which is conversant about reasonings and modes. The first set of works in this class contains:
the Art of Reasoning and of Modes, in five books, addressed to Dioscurides;
[194] a treatise on Reasoning, in three books;
one on the Structure of Modes, addressed to Stesagoras, in five books;
a comparison of the Elements of Modes; a treatise on Reciprocal and Conjunctive Reasonings;
an essay to Agathon, called also an essay on Problems, which follow one another;
a treatise, proving that Syllogistic Propositions suppose one or more other terms;
one on Conclusions, addressed to Aristagoras;
one essay, proving that the same reasoning can affect several figures;
one against those who deny that the same reasoning can be expressed by syllogism, and without syllogism, in two books;
three treatises against those who attack the resolution of Syllogisms;
one on the treatise on Modes, by Philon, addressed to Timostratus;
two treatises on Logic, in one volume, addressed to Timocrates and Philomathes;
one volume of questions on Reasonings and Modes.
[195] The second set contains:
one book of Conclusive Reasonings, addressed to Zenon;
one on Primary Syllogisms, which are not demonstrative;
one on the resolution of Syllogisms;
one, in two books, on Captious Reasonings, addressed to Pasylus;
one book of Considerations on Syllogisms;
one book of Introductory Syllogisms, addressed to Zenon;
three of Introductory Modes, addressed also to Zenon;
five of False Figures of Syllogism;
one of a Syllogistic Method, for the resolution of arguments, which are not demonstrative;
one on Researches into the Modes, addressed to Zenon and Philomathes (but this appears not to be genuine).
The third set contains:
one essay on Incidental Reasonings, addressed to Athenades (this again is not genuine);
[196] three books of Incidental Discourses on the Medium (this also is not genuine);
one essay on the Disjunctive Reasons of Ameinias.
The fourth set contains:
a treatise on Hypothesis, in three books, addressed to Meleager;
a book of hypothetical reasonings on the Laws, addressed also to Meleager;
two books of hypothetical reasoning to serve as an Introduction;
two books of hypothetical reasonings on Theorems;
a treatise in two books, being a resolution of the Hypothetical Reasonings of Hedylus;
an essay, in three books, being a resolution of the Hypothetical Reasonings of Alexander (this is not genuine);
two books of Expositions, addressed to Leodamas.
The fifth set contains:
an introduction to Fallacy, addressed Aristocreon;
an introduction to False Reasonings;
a treatise in six books, on Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon.
The sixth set contains:
a treatise against those who believe Truth and Falsehood to be the same thing.
[197] One, in two books, against those who have recourse to division to resolve the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon;
a demonstrative essay, to prove that it is not proper to divide indefinite terms;
an essay, in three books, in answer to the objections against the non-division of Indefinite Terms, addressed to Pasylus;
a solution, according to the principles of the ancients, addressed to Dioscurides;
an essay on the Resolution of the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon, this is in three books;
a resolution of the Hypothetical Arguments of Hedylus, in one book, addressed to Aristocreon and Apollas.
The seventh set contains:
a treatise against those who contend that the premises on the Fallacy, are false;
a treatise on Negative Reasoning, addressed to Aristocreon, in two books;
one book of Negative Reasonings, addressed to Gymnasias;
two books of a treatise on Reasoning by Progression, addressed to Stesagoras;
two books of Reasonings by Interrogation, and on the Arrest [a method of encountering the sorites, by taking some particular point at which to stop the admissions required by the sorites], addressed to Onetor;
[198] an essay, in two books, on the Corrected Argument, addressed to Aristobulus;
another on the Non-apparent Argument, addressed to Athenades.
The eighth set contains:
an essay on the Outis ["Nobody"] Argument, in eight books, addressed to Menecrates;
a treatise, in two books, on Arguments composed of a finite term, and an indefinite term, addressed to Pasylus;
another essay on the Outis ["Nobody"] Argument, addressed to Epicrates.
The ninth set contains:
two volumes of Sophisms, addressed to Heracleides, and Pollis;
five volumes of Dialectic Arguments, which admit of no solution, addressed to Dioscurides;
an essay, in one book, against the Method of Arcesilaus, addressed to Sphaerus.
The tenth set contains:
a treatise in six books, against Custom, addressed to Metrodorus;
and another, in seven books, on Custom, addressed to Gorgippides.
There are, therefore, works on Logic, in the four grand classes which we have here enumerated, embracing various questions, without any connection with one another, to the number of thirty nine sets, amounting in the whole to three hundred and eleven treatises on Logic.
[199] The next division comprises those works which have for their object, the explanation of Moral Ideas. The first class of this division, contains:
an essay, giving a description of Reason, addressed to Theosphorus;
a book of Ethical questions;
three books of Principles, to serve as the foundation of Dogmas, addressed to Philomathes;
two books of definitions of Good-breeding, addressed to Metrodorus;
two books of definitions of the Bad, addressed to Metrodorus;
two books of definitions of Neutral Things, addressed also to Metrodorus;
seven books of definitions of Things, according to their genera, addressed to Metrodorus;
and two books of Definitions, according to other systems, addressed to Metrodorus.
The second set contains:
a treatise on Things Similar, in three books, addressed to Aristocles;
an essay on Definitions, in seven books, addressed to Metrodorus.
The third set contains:
a treatise, in seven books, on the Incorrect Objections made to Definitions, addressed to Laodamas;
[200] two books of Probable Arguments bearing on Definitions, addressed to Dioscurides;
two books on Species and Genus, addressed to Gorgippides;
one book on Divisions; two books on Contraries, addressed to Dionysius;
a book of Probable Arguments relating to Divisions, and Genera, and Species;
a book on Contraries.
The fourth set contains:
a treatise, in seven books, on Etymologies, addressed to Diocles;
another, in four books, on the same subject, addressed to the same person.
The fifth set contains:
a treatise in two books, on Proverbs, addressed to Zenodotus;
an essay on Poems, addressed to Philomathes;
an essay, on How one Ought to Listen to Poems, in two books;
an essay, in reply to Critics, addressed to Diodorus.
[201] The next division refers to Ethics, looked at in a general point of view, and to the different systems arising out of them, and to the Virtues. The first set contains:
an essay against Pictures, addressed to Timonax;
an essay on the Manner in which we express ourselves about, and form our Conceptions of, each separate thing;
two books of Thoughts, addressed to Laodamas;
an essay, in three books, on Conception, addressed to Pythonax;
an essay, that the Wise Man is not Guided by Opinion;
an essay, in five books, on Comprehension, and Knowledge, and Ignorance;
a treatise on Reason, in two books;
a treatise on the Employment of Reason, addressed to Leptines.
The second set contains:
a treatise, that the Ancient Philosophers approved of Logic, with Proofs to support the Arguments, in two books, addressed to Zenon;
[202] a treatise on Dialectics, in four books, addressed to Aristocreon;
an answer to the Objections urged against Dialectics, in three books;
an essay on Rhetoric, in four books, addressed, to Dioscurides.
The third set contains:
a treatise on Habit, in three books, addressed to Cleon;
a treatise on Art and Want of Art, in four books, addressed to Aristocreon;
a treatise, in four books, on the Difference between the Virtues, addressed to Diodorus;
a treatise, to show that all the Virtues are Equal;
a treatise on the Virtues, in two books, addressed to Pollis.
The next division refers to Ethics, as relating to Good and Evil. The first set contains:
a treatise in ten books, on the Honourable, and on Pleasure, addressed to Aristocreon;
a demonstration, that Pleasure is not the Chief Good of Man, in four books;
a demonstration that Pleasure is not a Good at all, in four books;
a treatise on what is said by . . .
[142] Now the world was created when its substance was changed from fire to moisture, by the action of the air; and then its denser parts coagulated, and so the earth was made, and the thinner portions were evaporated and became air; and this being rarefied more and more, produced fire. And then, by the combination of all these elements, were produced plants and animals, and other kinds of things. Now Zenon speaks of the creation, and of the destruction of the world, in his treatise on the Universe; and so do Chrysippus, in the first book of his Physics, and Poseidonius, in the first book of his treatise on the World, and Cleanthes, and Antipater, in the tenth book of his treatise on the World. But Panaetius asserts that the world is imperishable. Again, that the world is an animal, and that it is endowed with reason, and life, and intellect, is affirmed by Chrysippus, in the first volume of his treatise on Providence, and by Apollodorus in his Natural Philosophy, and by Poseidonius; [143] and that it is an animal in this sense, as being an essence endowed with life, and with sensation. For that which is an animal, is better than that which is not an animal. But nothing is better than the world; therefore the world is an animal. And it is endued with life, as is plain from the fact of our own soul being as it were a fragment broken off from it. But Boethus denies that the world is an animal. Again, that the world is one, is affirmed by Zenon, in his treatise on the Universe, and by Chrysippus, and by Apollodorus, in his Natural Philosophy, and by Poseidonius, in the first book of his Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And by the term, the universe, according to Apollodorus, is understood both the world itself, and also the whole of the world itself, and of the exterior vacuum taken together. The world, then, is finite, and the vacuum infinite.
[144] {71} Of the stars, those which are fixed are only moved in connection with the movements of the entire heaven; but the planets move according to their own peculiar and separate motions. And the sun takes an oblique path through the circle of the zodiac, and in the same manner also does the moon, which is of a winding form. And the sun is pure fire, as Poseidonius asserts in the seventh book of his treatise on the Heavenly Bodies, and it is larger than the earth, as the same author informs us, in the sixteenth book of his Disclosures on Natural Philosophy. Also it is spherical, as he says in another place, being made on the same principle as the world is. Therefore it is fire, because it performs all the functions of fire. And it is larger than the earth, as is proved by the fact of the whole earth being illuminated by it, and also the whole heaven. Also the fact of the earth throwing a conical shadow, proves that the sun is greater than it, and the sun is seen in every part, because of its magnitude. [145] But the moon is of a more earthy nature than the sun, inasmuch as it is nearer the earth. Moreover, they say that all these fiery bodies, and all the other stars, receive nutriment; the sun from the vast sea, being a sort of intellectual appendage; and the moon from the fresh waters, being mingled with the air, and also near the earth, as Poseidonius explains it in the sixth book of his Discourses on Natural Philosophy. And all the other stars derive their nourishment from the earth. They also consider that the stars are of a spherical figure, and that the earth is immovable. And that the moon has not a light of her own, but that she borrows it from the sun. And that the sun is eclipsed, when the moon runs in front of it on the side towards us, as Zenon describes in his work on the Universe; [146] for when it comes across it in its passage, it conceals it, and again it reveals it; and this is a phenomenon easily seen in a basin of water. And the moon is eclipsed when it comes below the shadow of the earth, on which account this never happens, except at the time of the full moon; and although it is diametrically opposite to the sun every month, still it is not eclipsed every month, because when its motions are obliquely towards the sun, it does not find itself in the same place as the sun, being either a little more to the north, or a little more to the south. When therefore it is found in the same place with the sun, and with the other intermediate objects, then it takes as it were the diameter of the sun, and is eclipsed. And its place is along the line which runs between the Crab and the Scorpion, and the Ram and the Bull, as Poseidonius tells us.
[147] {72} They also say that God is an animal immortal, rational, perfect, and intellectual in his happiness, unsusceptible of any kind of evil, having a foreknowledge of the world and of all that is in the world; however, that he has not the figure of a man; and that he is the creator of the universe, and as it were, the Father of all things in common, and that a portion of him pervades everything, which is called by different names, according to its powers; for they call him Dia as being the person (di hon) everything is, and Zeus, inasmuch as he is the cause of life, (tou Z? in), or because he pervades life. And Athene, with reference to the extension of his dominant power over the aether (eis aithera). And Hera, on account of his extension through the air (eis aera). And Hephaistos, on account of his pervading fire, which is the chief instrument of art; and Poseidon, as pervading moisture, and Demeter, as pervading the earth (G? ). And in the same way, regarding some other of his peculiar attributes, they have given him other names.
[148] The substance of God is asserted by Zenon to be the universal world, and the heaven; and Chrysippus agrees with this doctrine, in his eleventh book on the Gods; and so also does Poseidonius, in the first book of his treatise on the same subject. Antipater, in the seventh book of his treatise on the World, says that his substance is like air. And Boethus, in his treatise on Nature, calls the substance of God the sphere of the fixed stars.
{73} And his nature they define to be, that which keeps the world together, and sometimes that which produces the things upon the earth. And nature is a habit which derives its movements from itself, perfecting and holding together all that arises out of it, according to the principles of production, in certain definite periods, and doing the same as the things from which it is separated. [149] And it has for its object, suitableness and pleasure, as is plain from its having created man. {74} But Chrysippus, in his treatise on Fate, and Poseidonius, in the second book of his work on Fate, and Zenon, and Boethus, in the first book of his treatise on Fate, say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate, (heimarmen? ), is a connected (eiromen? ) cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
{75} They also say that divination has a universal existence, since Providence has; and they define it as an act on account of certain results, as Zenon and Chrysippus, in the second book of his treatise on Divination, and Athenodorus and Poseidonius, in the twelfth book of his discourses on Natural Philosophy, and in the fifth book of his treatise on Divination, all agree in saying; for Panaetius denies that it has any certain foundation. [150] {76} And they say that the substance of all existing things is Primary Matter, as Chrysippus asserts in the first book of his Physics; and Zenon says the same. Now matter is that from which anything whatever is produced. And it is called by a twofold appellation, essence and matter; the one as relating to all things taken together, and the other to things in particular and separate. The one which relates to all things taken together, never becomes either greater or less; but the one relating to things in particular, does become greater or less, as the case may be. {77} Body is, according to them, a substance and finite; as Antipater says, in the second book of his treatise on Substance; and Apollodorus, in his Natural Philosophy, agrees with him. It is also subject to change, as we learn from the same author; for if it were immutable, then the things which have been produced out of it would not have been produced; on which account he also says that it is infinitely divisible; but Chrysippus denies that it is infinite; for that nothing is infinite, which is divisible at all. [151] {78} He admits, however, that it is infinitely divisible, and that its concretions take place over the whole of it, as he explains in the third book of his Physics, and not according to any individuality or juxtaposition; for a little wine when thrown into the sea, will keep its distinctness for a brief period, but after that, will be lost.
{79} They also say that there are some daemones, who have a sympathy with mankind, being surveyors of all human affairs; and that there are heroes, which are the souls of virtuous men, which have left their bodies. {80} Of the things which take place in the air, they say that winter is the effect of the air above the earth being cooled, on account of the retirement of the sun to a greater distance than before; that spring is a good temperature of the air, according to the sun's approach towards us; [152] that summer is the effect of the air above the earth being warmed by the approach of the sun towards the north; that autumn is caused by the retreat of the sun from us to those places from which they flow.
{81} And the cause of the production of the winds is the sun, which evaporates the clouds. Moreover, the rainbow is the reflection of the sun's rays from the moist clouds, or, as Poseidonius explains it in his Meteorology, a manifestation of a section of the sun or moon, in a cloud suffused with dew; being hollow and continuous to the sight; so that it is reflected as in a mirror, under the appearance of a circle. And that comets, and bearded stars, and meteors, are fires which have an existence when the density of the air is borne upwards to the regions of the aether. [153] That a ray of light is a kindling of sudden fire, borne through the air with great rapidity, and displaying an appearance of length; that rain proceeds from the clouds, being a transformation of them into water, whenever the moisture which is caught up from the earth or from the sea, by the sun, is not able to be otherwise disposed of; for when it is solidified, it is then called hoar frost. And hail is a cloud congealed, and subsequently dispersed by the wind. Snow is moisture from a congealed cloud, as Poseidonius tells us in the eighth book of his discourse on Natural Philosophy. Lightning is a kindling of the clouds from their being rubbed together, or else broken asunder by the wind, as Zenon tells us in his treatise on the Universe; and thunder is the noise made by them on the occasion of their being rubbed together or broken asunder; [154] and the thunderbolt is a sudden kindling which falls with great violence on the earth, from the clouds being rubbed together or broken asunder, or, as others say, it is a conversion of fiery air violently brought down to the earth. A typhoon is a vast thunderbolt, violent and full of wind, or a smoky breath of a cloud broken asunder. A pr? st? s is a cloud rent by fire, with wind. [Earthquakes occur when wind rushes] into the hollows of the earth, or when the wind is pent up in the earth, as Poseidonius says in his eighth book; and that some of them are shakings, others rendings, others emissions of fire, and others, instances of violent fermentation. [155] {82} They also think that the general arrangement of the world is in this fashion; that the earth is in the middle, occupying the place of the centre; next to which comes the water, of a spherical form; and having the same centre as the earth; so that the earth is in the water; and next to the water comes the air, which has also a spherical form. {83} And that there are five circles in the heaven of which the first is the arctic circle, which is always visible; the second is the tropical summer circle; the third is the equinoctial circle; the fourth, the winter tropical circle; and the fifth the antarctic, which is not visible. And they are called parallel, because they do not incline to one another; they are drawn however around the same centre. But the zodiac is oblique, cutting the parallel circles. There are also five zones on the earth; [156] the first is the northern one, placed under the arctic circle, uninhabitable by reason of the cold; the second is temperate; the third is uninhabitable because of the heat, and is called the torrid zone; the fourth is a temperate zone, on the other side of the torrid zone; the fifth is the southern zone, being also uninhabitable by reason of the cold.
{84} Another of their doctrines is that nature is an artificial fire tending by a regular road to production, which is a fiery kind of breath proceeding according to art. Also, that the soul is sensible, and that it is a spirit which is born with us; consequently it is a body and continues to exist after death; that nevertheless it is perishable. But that the soul of the universe is imperishable, and that the souls which exist in animals are only parts of that of the universe. [157] But Zenon the Citiaean, and Antipater in his treatise concerning the Soul, and Poseidonius also, all say that the soul is a spirit; for that by it we have our breath, and by it we are moved. Cleanthes, accordingly, asserts that all souls continue to exist till they are burnt up; but Chrysippus says that it is only the souls of the wise that endure. And they further teach that there are eight parts of the soul; the five senses, and the generative faculties, and voice, and reason. And we see because of a body of luminous air which extends from the organ of sight to the object in a conical form, as it is asserted by Chrysippus, in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, and also by Apollodorus. And the apex of this cone is close to the eye, and its base is formed by the object which is seen; so that that which is seen is as it were reported to the eye by this continuous cone of air extended towards it like a staff. [158] In the same way, we hear because the air between the speaker and the hearer is struck in a spherical manner; and is then agitated in waves, resembling the circular eddies which one sees in a cistern when a stone is dropped into it.
Sleep, they say, is produced by a relaxation of the aesthetic energies with reference to the dominant part of the soul. And the causes of the passions they explain to be the motions and conversions which take place in connection with this spirit or soul.
{85} Seed, they define as a thing of a nature capable of producing other things of the same nature as the thing from which it has been separated. And the seed of man, which man emits, is, together with moisture, mixed up with the parts of the soul by that kind of mixture which corresponds to the capacity of the parents. [159] And Chrysippus says, in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, that it is a spirit according to substance; as is manifest from the seeds which are planted in the earth; and which, if they are old, do not germinate, because all their virtue has evaporated. And Sphaerus says, that seed proceeds from the entire body, and that that is how it is that it produces all the parts of the body.
They also say that the seed of the female is unproductive; for, as Sphaerus says, it is devoid of tone, and small in quantity, and watery. {86} They also say that that is the dominant part of the soul which is its most excellent part; in which the imaginations and the desires are formed, and whence reason proceeds. And this place is in the heart. [160] These then are the doctrines on the subject of natural philosophy entertained by them, which it seems sufficient for us to detail, having regard to the due proportions of this book.
[160] The following are the points in which some of [the Stoics] disagreed with the rest.
LIFE OF ARISTON.
{1} Ariston the Bald, a native of Chios, surnamed the Siren, said, that the chief good was to live in perfect indifference to all those things which are of an intermediate character between virtue and vice; making not the slightest difference between them, but regarding them all on a footing of equality. For that the wise man resembles a good actor; who, whether he is filling the part of Agamemnon or Thersites, will perform them both equally well. {2} And he discarded altogether the topic of physics, and of logic, saying that the one was above us, and that the other had nothing to do with us; and that the only branch of philosophy with which we had any real concern was ethics. [161] {3} He also said that dialectic reasonings were like cobwebs; which, although they seem to be put together on principles of art, are utterly useless.
{4} And he did not introduce many virtues into his scheme, as Zenon did; nor one virtue under a great many names, as the Megaric philosophers did; but defined virtue as consisting in behaving in a certain manner with reference to a certain thing. {5} And as he philosophized in this manner, and carried on his discussions in the Cynosarges, he got so much influence as to be called a founder of a sect. Accordingly, Miltiades and Diphilus were called Aristoneans. {6} He was a man of very persuasive eloquence, and one who could adapt himself well to the humours of a multitude. On which account Timon says of him:
And one who, from Ariston's wily race,
Traced his descent.
[162] Diocles, the Magnesian, tells us that Ariston having fallen in with Polemon, passed over to his school, at a time when Zenon was lying ill with a long sickness. The Stoic doctrine to which he was most attached, was the one that the wise man is never guided by opinions. But Persaeus argued against this, and caused one of two twin brothers to place a deposit in his hands, and then caused the other to reclaim it; and thus he convicted him, as he was in doubt on this point, and therefore forced to act on opinion. He was a great enemy of Arcesilaus. And once, seeing a bull of a monstrous appearance, having a womb, he said, "Alas! here is an argument for Arcesilaus against the evidence of his senses. " [163] On another occasion, when a philosopher of the Academy said that he did not comprehend anything, he said to him, "Do not you even see the man who is sitting next to you? " And as he said that he did not, he said:
Who then has blinded you, who's been so harsh,
As thus to rob you of your beaming eyes?
{7} The following works are attributed to him.
Two books of Exhortatory Discourses;
Dialogues on the Doctrines of Zenon;
six books of Conversations;
seven books of Discussions on Wisdom;
Conversations on Love;
Commentaries on Vain Glory;
twenty-five books of Reminiscences;
three books of Memorabilia;
eleven books of Apophthegms;
a volume against the Orators;
a volume against the Rescripts of Alexinus;
three treatises against the Dialecticians;
four books of Letters to Cleanthes.
But Panaetius and Sosicrates say, that his only genuine writings are his letters; and that all the rest are the works of Ariston the Peripatetic.
[164] {8} It is said that he, being bald, got a stroke of the sun, and so died. And we have written a jesting epigram on him in choliambic verse, as follows:
Why, O Ariston, being old and bald,
Did you allow the sun to roast your crown?
Thus, in an unbecoming search for warmth,
Against your will, you've found out chilly Hell.
{9} There was also another man of the name of Ariston; a native of Iulis, one of the Peripatetic school. And another who was an Athenian musician. A fourth who was a tragic poet. A fifth, a native of Halae, who wrote a treatise on the Oratorical Art. A sixth was a peripatetic Philosopher of Alexandria.
LIFE OF HERILLUS
[165] {1} Herillus, a native of Carthage, said that the chief good was knowledge; that is to say, the always conducting one's self in such a way as to refer everything to the principle of living according to knowledge, and not been misled by ignorance. He also said that knowledge was a habit not departing from reason in the reception of perceptions.
On one occasion, he said that there was no such thing as a chief good, but that circumstances and events changed it, just as the same piece of brass might become a statue either of Alexander or of Socrates. And that besides the chief good or end (telos), there was a subordinate end (hypotelis) different from it. And that those who were not wise aimed at the latter; but that only the wise man directed his views to the former. And all the things between virtue and vice he pronounced indifferent. {2} His books contain but few lines, but they are full of power, and contain arguments in opposition to Zenon. [166] {3} It is said, that when he was a boy, many people were attached to him; and as Zenon wished to drive them away, he persuaded him to have his head shaved, which disgusted them all. {4} His books are as follows.
One on Exercise;
one on the Passions;
one on Opinion;
the Lawgiver;
the Skilful Midwife;
the Contradictory Teacher;
the Preparer;
the Director;
Hermes;
Medeia;
a book of Dialogues;
a book of Ethical Propositions.
LIFE OF DIONYSIUS
{1} Dionysius, the Deserter (Metathemenos), as he was called, asserted that pleasure was the chief good, from the circumstance of his being afflicted with a complaint in his eyes. For, as he suffered severely, he could not pronounce pain a thing indifferent.
{2} He was the son of Theophantus, and a native of Heracleia. {3} He was a pupil, as we are told by Diocles, first of all of Heracleides, his fellow citizen; after that of Alexinus, and Menedemus; and last of all of Zenon. [167] And at first, as he was very devoted to learning, he tried his hand at all kinds of poetry. Afterwards, he attached himself to Aratus, whom he took for his model. Having left Zenon, he turned to the Cyrenaics, and became a frequenter of brothels, and in other respects indulged in luxury without disguise. {3} When he had lived near eighty years, he died of starvation. {5} The following books are attributed to him.
Two books on Apathy;
two on Exercise;
four on Pleasure;
one on Riches, and Favours, and Revenge;
one on the Use of Men ;
one on Good Fortune;
one on Ancient Kings;
one on Things which are Praised;
one on Barbarian Customs.
These now are the chief men who differed from the Stoics. But the man who succeeded Zenon in his school was Cleanthes, whom we must now speak of.
LIFE OF CLEANTHES
[168] {1} Cleanthes was a native of Assos, and the son of Phanias. He was originally a boxer, as we learn from Antisthenes, in his Successions. And he came to Athens, having but four drachmas, as some people say, and attaching himself to Zenon, he devoted himself to Philosophy in a most noble manner; and he adhered to the same doctrines as his master. {2} He was especially eminent for his industry, so that as he was a very poor man, he was forced to undertake mercenary employments, and he used to draw water in the gardens by night, and by day he used to exercise himself in philosophical discussions; on which account he was called Phreantles [from phrear, a well, and antle? , to draw water]. They also say that he was on one occasion brought before a court of justice, to be compelled to give an account what his sources of income were from which he maintained himself in such good condition: and that then he was acquitted, having produced as his witness the gardener in whose garden he drew the water; and a woman who was a meal-seller, in whose establishment he used to prepare the meal. [169] And the judges of the Areopagus admired him, and voted that ten minae should be given to him; but Zenon forbade him to accept them. They also say that Antigonus presented him three thousand drachmas. And once, when he was conducting some you men to some spectacle, it happened that the wind blew away his cloak, and it was then seen that he had nothing on under it; on which he was greatly applauded by the Athenians according to the account given by Demetrius the Magnesian, in his essay on People of the same Name. And he was greatly admired by them on account of this circumstance. They also say that Antigonus, who was a pupil of his, once asked him why he drew water; and that he made answer, "Do I do nothing beyond drawing water? Do I not also dig, and do I not water the land, and do all sorts of things for the sake of philosophy ? For Zenon used to accustom him to this, and used to require him to bring him an obol by way of tribute. [170] And once he brought one of the pieces of money which he had collected in this way, into the middle of a company of his acquaintances, and said, "Cleanthes could maintain even another Cleanthes if he were to choose; but others who have plenty of means to support themselves, seek for necessaries from others; although they only study philosophy in a very lazy manner. " And, in reference to these habits of his, Cleanthes was called a second Heracles.
{3} He was then very industrious; but he was not well endowed by nature, and was very slow in his intellect. On which account Timon says of him {in parody of Homer, Il_3'196}:
What stately ram thus measures o'er the ground,
And master of the flock surveys them round?
What citizen of Assos, dull and cold,
Fond of long words, a mouth-piece, but not bold.
And when he was ridiculed by his fellow pupils, he used to bear it patiently.
{4} He did not even object to the name when he was called an ass; but only said that he was the only animal able to bear the burdens which Zenon put upon him. [171] And once, when he was reproached as a coward, he said, "That is the reason why I make but few mistakes. " He used to say, in justification of his preference of his own way of life to that of the rich, "That while they were playing at ball, he was earning money by digging hard and barren ground. " And he very often used to blame himself. And once, Ariston heard him doing so, and said, "Who is it that you are reproaching ? " and he replied, "An old man who has grey hair, but no brains. " When some one once said to him, that Arcesilaus did not do what he ought, "Desist," he replied, "and do not blame him; for if he destroys duty as far as his words go, at all events he establishes it by his actions. " Arcesilaus once said to him, " I never listen to flatterers. " " Yes," rejoined Cleanthes, "I flatter you, when I say that though you say one thing, you do another. " [172] When some one once asked him what lesson he ought to inculcate on his son, he replied, "The warning of Electra" {Euripides, Orest_140}:
Silence, silence, gently step.
When a Lacedaemonian once said in his hearing, that labour was a good thing, he was delighted, and addressed him {in parody of Homer, Od_4'611}:
Oh, early worth, a soul so wise and young
Proclaims that you from noble blood are sprung.
Hecaton tells us in his Apophthegms, that once when a young man said, "If a man who beats his stomach gastrizei, then a man who slaps his thigh m? rizei", he replied, "Do you stick to your diam? rizei, but analogous words do not always indicate analogous facts. " Once when he was conversing with a youth, he asked him if he felt; and as he said that he did, "Why is it then," said Cleanthes, "that I do not feel that you feel? " [173] When Sositheus, the poet, said in the theatre where he was present, "Men whom the folly of Cleanthes urges -" he continued in the same attitude; at which the hearers were surprised, and applauded him, but drove Sositheus away. And when Sositheus expressed his sorrow for having abused him in this manner, he answered him gently, saying that it would be a preposterous thing for Dionysus and Heracles to bear being ridiculed by the poets without any expression of anger, and for him to be indignant at any chance attack. He used also to say, that the Peripatetics were in the same condition as lyres, which though they utter sweet notes, do not hear themselves. And it is said, that when he asserted that, on the principles of Zenon, one could judge of a man's character by his looks, some witty young men brought him a profligate fellow, having a hardy look from continual exercise in the fields, and requested him to tell them his moral character; and he, having hesitated a little, bade the man depart; and, as he departed, the man sneezed. "I have the fellow now," said Cleanthes, "he is a debauchee. " [174] He said once to a man who was conversing with him by himself, "You are not talking to a bad man. " And when some one reproached him with his old age, he rejoined, "I too wish to depart, but when I perceive myself to be in good health in every respect, and to be able to recite and read, I am content to remain. " They say too, that he used to write down all that he heard from Zenon on oyster shells, and on the shoulder-blades of oxen, from want of money to buy paper with. {5} And though he was of this character, and in such circumstances, he became so eminent, that, though Zenon had many other disciples of high reputation, he succeeded him as the president of his School.
And he left behind him some excellent books, which are these.
One on Time;
two on Zenon's System of Natural Philosophy;
four books of the Explanations of Heracleitus;
one on Sensation;
one on Art;
one addressed to Democritus;
one to Aristarchus;
one to Herillus;
two on Desire;
[175] one entitled Archaeology;
one on the Gods;
one on the Giants;
one on Marriage;
one on Poets;
three on Duty;
one on Good Counsel;
one on Favour;
one called Exhortatory;
one on Virtues;
one on Natural Ability;
one on Gorgippus;
one on Enviousness;
one on Love;
one on Freedom;
one called the Art of Love;
one on Honour;
one on Glory;
The Statesman;
one on Counsel;
one on Laws;
one on Deciding as a Judge;
one on the Way of Life;
three on Reason;
one on the Chief Good;
one on the Beautiful;
one on Actions;
one on Knowledge;
one on Kingly Power;
one on Friendship;
one on Banquets;
one on the Principle that Virtue is the same in Man and Woman;
one on the Wise Man Employing Sophisms;
one on Apophthegms;
two books of Conversations;
one on Pleasure;
one on Properties;
one on Doubtful Things;
one on Dialectics;
one on Modes;
one on Categorems.
{6} These are his writings. [176] And he died in the following manner. His gums swelled very much; and, at the command of his physicians, he abstained from food for two days. And he got so well that his physicians allowed him to return to all his former habits; but he refused, and saying that he had now already gone part of the way, he abstained from food for the future, and so died; being, as some report, eighty years old, and having been a pupil of Zenon nineteen years. And we have written a playful epigram on him also, which runs thus:
I praise Cleanthes, but praise Hades more;
Who could not bear to see him grown so old,
So gave him rest at last among the dead,
Who had drawn such loads of water while alive.
LIFE OF SPHAERUS
[177] {1} Sphaerus, a native of the Bosporus, was, as we have said before, a pupil of Cleanthes after the death of Zenon.
{2} And when he made a considerable advance in philosophy he went to Alexandria, to the court of Ptolemy Philopator. And once, when there was a discussion concerning the question whether a wise man would allow himself to be guided by opinion, and when Sphaerus affirmed that he would not, the king, wishing to refute him, ordered some pomegranates of wax to be set before him; and when Sphaerus was deceived by them, the king shouted that he had given his assent to a false perception. But Sphaerus answered very neatly, that he had not given his assent to the fact that they were pomegranates, but to the fact that it was probable that they might be pomegranates. And that a perception which could be comprehended differed from one that was only probable.
Once, when Mnesistratus accused him of denying that Ptolemy was a king, he said to him, "That Ptolemy was a man with such and such qualities, and a king. "
[178] {3} He wrote the following books.
Two on the World;
one on the Elements of Seed;
one on Fortune;
one on the Smallest Things;
one on Atoms and Phantoms;
one on the Senses;
five Conversations about Heracleitus;
one on Ethical Arrangement;
one on Duty;
one on Appetite;
two on the Passions;
one on Kingly Power;
on the Lacedaemonian Constitution;
three on Lycurgus and Socrates;
one on Law;
one on Divination;
one volume of Dialogues on Love;
one on the Eretrian Philosophers;
one on Things Similar;
one on Terms;
one on Habits;
three on Contradictions;
one on Reason;
one on Riches;
one on Glory;
one on Death;
two on the Art of Dialectics;
one on Categorems;
one on Ambiguity;
and a volume of Letters.
LIFE OF CHRYSIPPUS
[179] {1} Chrysippus was the son of Apollonius, and a native of either Soli or Tarsus, as Alexander tells us in his Successions; and he was a pupil of Cleanthes. Previously he used to practise running as a public runner; then he became a pupil of Zenon or of Cleanthes, as Diocles and the generality of authors say, and while he was still living he abandoned him, and became a very eminent philosopher.
{2} He was a man of great natural ability, and of great acuteness in every way, so that in many points he dissented from Zenon, and also from Cleanthes, to whom he often used to say that he only wanted to be instructed in the dogmas of the school, and that he would discover the demonstrations for himself. But whenever he opposed him with any vehemence, he always repented, so that he used frequently to say [in parody of Euripides, Orest_540]:
In most respects I am a happy man,
Excepting where Cleanthes is concerned;
For in that matter I am far from fortunate.
[180] And he had such a high reputation as a dialectician, that most people thought that if there were such a science as dialectics among the Gods; it would be in no respect different from that of Chrysippus. But though he was so eminently able in matter, he was not perfect in style. {3} He was industrious beyond all other men; as is plain from his writings; for he wrote more than seven hundred and five books. And he often wrote several books on the same subject, wishing to put down everything that occurred to him; and constantly correcting his previous assertions, and using a great abundance of testimonies. So that, as in one of his writings he had quoted very nearly the whole of the Medeia of Euripides, and some one had his book in his hands; this latter, when he was asked what he had got there, made answer, "The Medeia of Chrysippus. " [181] And Apollodorus the Athenian, in his Collection of Dogmas, wishing to assert that what Epicurus had written out of his own head, and without any quotations to support his arguments, was a great deal more than all the books of Chrysippus, speaks thus (I give his exact words). "For if any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty. " These are the words of Apollodorus; but the old woman, who lived with him, as Diocles reports, used to say that he wrote five hundred lines every day. And Hecaton says, that he first applied himself to philosophy, when his patrimony had been confiscated, and seized for the royal treasury.
[182] {4} He was slight in person, as is plain from his statue which is in the Cerameicus, which is nearly hidden by the equestrian statue near it; in reference to which circumstance, Carneades called him Cryxippus. [From krupt? , to hide, and hippos, a horse. ] He was once reproached by some one for not attending the lectures of Ariston, who was drawing a great crowd after him at the time; and he replied, "If I had attended to the multitude I should not have been a philosopher. " And once, when he saw a dialectician pressing hard on Cleanthes, and proposing sophistical fallacies to him, he said, "Cease to drag that old man from more important business, and propose these questions to us who are young. " At another time, when some one wishing to ask him something privately, was addressing him quietly, but when he saw a multitude approaching began to speak more energetically he said to him [Euripides, Orest_253]:
Alas, my brother! now your eye is troubled;
You were quite sane just now; and yet how quickly
Have you succumbed to frenzy.
[183] {5} And at drinking parties he used to behave quietly, moving his legs about however, so that a female slave once said, "It is only the legs of Chrysippus that are drunk. " And he had so high an opinion of himself, that once, when a man asked him, "To whom shall I entrust my son? " he said "To me, for if I thought that there was any one better than myself, I would have gone to him to teach me philosophy. " In reference to which anecdote they report that people used to say of him [Homer, Od_10'495]:
He has indeed a clear and subtle head,
The rest are forms of empty aether made.
And also:
For if Chrysippus had not lived and taught,
The Stoic school would surely have been naught.
{6} But at last, when Arcesilaus and Lacydes, as Sotion records in his eighth book, came to the Academy, he joined them in the study of philosophy;[184] from which circumstance he got the habit of arguing for and against a custom, and discussed magnitudes and quantities, following the system of the Academics.
{7} Hermippus relates, that one day, when he was teaching in the Odeium, he was invited to a sacrifice by his pupils; and, that drinking some sweet unmixed wine, he was seized with giddiness, and departed this life five days afterwards, when he had lived seventy-three years; dying in the hundred and forty-third Olympiad [208-205 B. C. ], as Apollodorus says in his Chronicles. And we have written an epigram on him:
Chrysippus drank with open month some wine
Then became giddy, and so quickly died.
Too little thought he of the Porch's weal,
Or of his country's, or of his own dear life;
And so descended to the realms of Hell.
[185] But some people say that he died of a fit of immoderate laughter. For that seeing his ass eating figs, he told his old woman to give the ass some unmixed wine to drink afterwards, and then laughed so violently that he died.
{8} He appears to have been a man of exceeding arrogance. Accordingly, though he wrote such numbers of books, he never dedicated one of them to any sovereign. And he was contented with one single old woman, as Demetrius tells us, in his People of the same Name. And when Ptolemy wrote to Cleanthes, begging him either to come to him himself or to send him some one, Sphaerus went to him, but Chrysippus slighted the invitation.
{9} However, he sent for the sons of his sister, Aristocreon and Philocrates, and educated them; and he was the first person who ventured to hold a school in the open air in the Lyceium, as the before-mentioned Demetrius relates.
{10} [186] There was also another Chrysippus, a native of Cnidus, a doctor from whom Erasistratus testifies that he received great benefit. And another also who was a son of his, and the physician of Ptolemy; who, having had a false accusation brought against him, was apprehended and punished by being scourged. There was also a fourth who was a pupil of Erasistratus; and a fifth was an author of a work called Georgics.
{11} Now this philosopher used to delight in proposing questions of this sort. The person who reveals the mysteries to the uninitiated commits a sin; the hierophant reveals them to the uninitiated ; therefore the hierophant commits sin? Another was, that which is not in the city, is also not in the house; but a well is not in the city, therefore, there is not a well in the house. Another was, there is a certain head; that head you have not got; there is then a head that you have not got; therefore, you have not got a head. [187] Again, if a man is in Megara, he is not in Athens; but there is a man in Megara, therefore, there is not a man in Athens. Again, if you say anything, what you say comes out of your mouth; but you say "a wagon," therefore a wagon comes out of your mouth. Another was, if you have not lost a thing, you have it; but you have not lost horns; therefore, you have horns. Though some attribute this sophism to Eubulides.
{12} There are people who run Chrysippus down as having written a great deal that is very shameful and indecent. For in his treatise on the Ancient Natural Historians, he relates the story of Zeus and Hera very indecently, devoting six hundred lines to what no one could repeat without polluting his mouth. [188] For, as it is said, he composes this story, though he praises it as consisting of natural details, in a way more suitable to street walkers than to goddesses; and not at all resembling the ideas which have been adopted or cited by writers in paintings. For they were found neither in Polemon, nor in Hypsicrates, nor in Antigonus, but were inserted by himself. And in his treatise on the Republic, he allows people to marry their mothers, or their daughters, or their sons. And he repeats this doctrine in his treatise on those things which are not desirable for their own sake, in the very opening of it. And in the third book of his treatise on Justice, he devotes a thousand lines to bidding people devour even the dead. In the second book of his treatise on Life and Means of Support, where he is warning us to consider beforehand, how the wise man ought to provide himself with means, he says, [189] "And yet why need he provide himself with means? for if it is for the sake of living, living at all is a matter of indifference; if it is for the sake of pleasure, that is a matter of indifference too; if it is for the sake of virtue, that is of itself sufficient for happiness. But the methods of providing one's self with means are ridiculous; for instance, some derive them from a king; and then it will be necessary to humour him. Some from friendship; and then friendship will become a thing to be bought with a price. Some from wisdom; and then wisdom will become mercenary; and these are the accusations which he brings. "
But since he has written many books of high reputation, it has seemed good to me to give a catalogue of them, classifying them according to their subjects. They are the following:
Books on Logic;
Propositions;
Logical Questions;
a book of the Contemplations of the Philosopher;
six books of Dialectic Terms addressed to Metrodorus;
one on the Technical Terms used in Dialectics, addressed to Zenon;
[190] one called the Art of Dialectics, addressed to Aristagoras;
four books of Probable Conjunctive Reasons, addressed to Dioscurides.
The first set of treatises on the Logical Topics, which concern things, contains:
one essay on Propositions;
one on those Propositions which are not simple;
two on the Copulative Propositions, addressed to Athenades;
three on Positive Propositions, addressed to Aristagoras;
one on Definite Propositions, addressed to Athenodorus;
one on Privative Propositions, addressed to Thearus;
three on the Best Propositions, addressed to Dion;
four on the Differences between Indefinite Propositions;
two on those Propositions which are enunciated with a reference to time;
two on Perfect Propositions.
The second set contains:
one essay on a Disjunctive True Propositions, addressed to Gorgippides;
four on a Conjunctive True Proposition, also addressed to Gorgippides;
[191] one called, the Sect, addressed to Gorgippides;
one on the argument of Consequents;
one on questions touched upon in the three preceding treatises, and now re-examined, this also is addressed to Gorgippides;
one on what is Possible, addressed to Cleitus;
one on the treatise of Philon, on Signification;
one on what it is that Falsehood consists in.
The third set contains:
two treatises on Imperative Propositions;
two on Interrogation; four on Examination;
an epitome of the subject of Interrogation and Examination;
four treatises on Answer;
an abridgment on Answer;
two essays on Investigation.
The fourth set contains:
ten books on Categorems, addressed to Metrodorus;
one treatise on what is Direct and Indirect, addressed to Philarchus;
one on Conjunctions, addressed to Apollonides;
four on Categorems, addressed to Pasylus.
[192] The fifth set contains:
one treatise on the Five Cases;
one on Things defined according to the Subject;
two on Enunciation, addressed to Stesagoras;
two on Appellative Nouns.
The next class of his writings refers to rules of Logic, with reference to words, and speech which consists of words. The first set of these contains:
six treatises on Singular and Plural Enunciations;
five on Words, addressed to Sosigenes and Alexander;
four on the Inequality of Words, addressed to Dion;
three on the Sorites which refer to Words;
one on Solecisms in the Use of Words, addressed to Dionysius;
one entitled Discourses, contrary to Customs;
one entitled Diction, and addressed to Dionysius.
The second set contains:
five treatises on the Elements of Speech and of Phrases;
four on the Arrangement of Phrases;
[193] three on the Arrangement, and on the Elements of Phrases, addressed to Philippus;
one on the Elements of Discourse, addressed to Nicias;
one on Correlatives.
The third set contains:
two treatises against those who do not admit Division;
four on Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Apollas;
one, Ambiguity in Modes; two on the Ambiguous Use of Figures, in Conjunctive Propositions;
two on the essay on Ambiguous Expressions, by Panthoides;
five on the introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions;
one, being an abridgment of the Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Epicrates;
and a collection of instances to serve as an Introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions, in two books.
The next class is on the subject of that part of logic which is conversant about reasonings and modes. The first set of works in this class contains:
the Art of Reasoning and of Modes, in five books, addressed to Dioscurides;
[194] a treatise on Reasoning, in three books;
one on the Structure of Modes, addressed to Stesagoras, in five books;
a comparison of the Elements of Modes; a treatise on Reciprocal and Conjunctive Reasonings;
an essay to Agathon, called also an essay on Problems, which follow one another;
a treatise, proving that Syllogistic Propositions suppose one or more other terms;
one on Conclusions, addressed to Aristagoras;
one essay, proving that the same reasoning can affect several figures;
one against those who deny that the same reasoning can be expressed by syllogism, and without syllogism, in two books;
three treatises against those who attack the resolution of Syllogisms;
one on the treatise on Modes, by Philon, addressed to Timostratus;
two treatises on Logic, in one volume, addressed to Timocrates and Philomathes;
one volume of questions on Reasonings and Modes.
[195] The second set contains:
one book of Conclusive Reasonings, addressed to Zenon;
one on Primary Syllogisms, which are not demonstrative;
one on the resolution of Syllogisms;
one, in two books, on Captious Reasonings, addressed to Pasylus;
one book of Considerations on Syllogisms;
one book of Introductory Syllogisms, addressed to Zenon;
three of Introductory Modes, addressed also to Zenon;
five of False Figures of Syllogism;
one of a Syllogistic Method, for the resolution of arguments, which are not demonstrative;
one on Researches into the Modes, addressed to Zenon and Philomathes (but this appears not to be genuine).
The third set contains:
one essay on Incidental Reasonings, addressed to Athenades (this again is not genuine);
[196] three books of Incidental Discourses on the Medium (this also is not genuine);
one essay on the Disjunctive Reasons of Ameinias.
The fourth set contains:
a treatise on Hypothesis, in three books, addressed to Meleager;
a book of hypothetical reasonings on the Laws, addressed also to Meleager;
two books of hypothetical reasoning to serve as an Introduction;
two books of hypothetical reasonings on Theorems;
a treatise in two books, being a resolution of the Hypothetical Reasonings of Hedylus;
an essay, in three books, being a resolution of the Hypothetical Reasonings of Alexander (this is not genuine);
two books of Expositions, addressed to Leodamas.
The fifth set contains:
an introduction to Fallacy, addressed Aristocreon;
an introduction to False Reasonings;
a treatise in six books, on Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon.
The sixth set contains:
a treatise against those who believe Truth and Falsehood to be the same thing.
[197] One, in two books, against those who have recourse to division to resolve the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon;
a demonstrative essay, to prove that it is not proper to divide indefinite terms;
an essay, in three books, in answer to the objections against the non-division of Indefinite Terms, addressed to Pasylus;
a solution, according to the principles of the ancients, addressed to Dioscurides;
an essay on the Resolution of the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon, this is in three books;
a resolution of the Hypothetical Arguments of Hedylus, in one book, addressed to Aristocreon and Apollas.
The seventh set contains:
a treatise against those who contend that the premises on the Fallacy, are false;
a treatise on Negative Reasoning, addressed to Aristocreon, in two books;
one book of Negative Reasonings, addressed to Gymnasias;
two books of a treatise on Reasoning by Progression, addressed to Stesagoras;
two books of Reasonings by Interrogation, and on the Arrest [a method of encountering the sorites, by taking some particular point at which to stop the admissions required by the sorites], addressed to Onetor;
[198] an essay, in two books, on the Corrected Argument, addressed to Aristobulus;
another on the Non-apparent Argument, addressed to Athenades.
The eighth set contains:
an essay on the Outis ["Nobody"] Argument, in eight books, addressed to Menecrates;
a treatise, in two books, on Arguments composed of a finite term, and an indefinite term, addressed to Pasylus;
another essay on the Outis ["Nobody"] Argument, addressed to Epicrates.
The ninth set contains:
two volumes of Sophisms, addressed to Heracleides, and Pollis;
five volumes of Dialectic Arguments, which admit of no solution, addressed to Dioscurides;
an essay, in one book, against the Method of Arcesilaus, addressed to Sphaerus.
The tenth set contains:
a treatise in six books, against Custom, addressed to Metrodorus;
and another, in seven books, on Custom, addressed to Gorgippides.
There are, therefore, works on Logic, in the four grand classes which we have here enumerated, embracing various questions, without any connection with one another, to the number of thirty nine sets, amounting in the whole to three hundred and eleven treatises on Logic.
[199] The next division comprises those works which have for their object, the explanation of Moral Ideas. The first class of this division, contains:
an essay, giving a description of Reason, addressed to Theosphorus;
a book of Ethical questions;
three books of Principles, to serve as the foundation of Dogmas, addressed to Philomathes;
two books of definitions of Good-breeding, addressed to Metrodorus;
two books of definitions of the Bad, addressed to Metrodorus;
two books of definitions of Neutral Things, addressed also to Metrodorus;
seven books of definitions of Things, according to their genera, addressed to Metrodorus;
and two books of Definitions, according to other systems, addressed to Metrodorus.
The second set contains:
a treatise on Things Similar, in three books, addressed to Aristocles;
an essay on Definitions, in seven books, addressed to Metrodorus.
The third set contains:
a treatise, in seven books, on the Incorrect Objections made to Definitions, addressed to Laodamas;
[200] two books of Probable Arguments bearing on Definitions, addressed to Dioscurides;
two books on Species and Genus, addressed to Gorgippides;
one book on Divisions; two books on Contraries, addressed to Dionysius;
a book of Probable Arguments relating to Divisions, and Genera, and Species;
a book on Contraries.
The fourth set contains:
a treatise, in seven books, on Etymologies, addressed to Diocles;
another, in four books, on the same subject, addressed to the same person.
The fifth set contains:
a treatise in two books, on Proverbs, addressed to Zenodotus;
an essay on Poems, addressed to Philomathes;
an essay, on How one Ought to Listen to Poems, in two books;
an essay, in reply to Critics, addressed to Diodorus.
[201] The next division refers to Ethics, looked at in a general point of view, and to the different systems arising out of them, and to the Virtues. The first set contains:
an essay against Pictures, addressed to Timonax;
an essay on the Manner in which we express ourselves about, and form our Conceptions of, each separate thing;
two books of Thoughts, addressed to Laodamas;
an essay, in three books, on Conception, addressed to Pythonax;
an essay, that the Wise Man is not Guided by Opinion;
an essay, in five books, on Comprehension, and Knowledge, and Ignorance;
a treatise on Reason, in two books;
a treatise on the Employment of Reason, addressed to Leptines.
The second set contains:
a treatise, that the Ancient Philosophers approved of Logic, with Proofs to support the Arguments, in two books, addressed to Zenon;
[202] a treatise on Dialectics, in four books, addressed to Aristocreon;
an answer to the Objections urged against Dialectics, in three books;
an essay on Rhetoric, in four books, addressed, to Dioscurides.
The third set contains:
a treatise on Habit, in three books, addressed to Cleon;
a treatise on Art and Want of Art, in four books, addressed to Aristocreon;
a treatise, in four books, on the Difference between the Virtues, addressed to Diodorus;
a treatise, to show that all the Virtues are Equal;
a treatise on the Virtues, in two books, addressed to Pollis.
The next division refers to Ethics, as relating to Good and Evil. The first set contains:
a treatise in ten books, on the Honourable, and on Pleasure, addressed to Aristocreon;
a demonstration, that Pleasure is not the Chief Good of Man, in four books;
a demonstration that Pleasure is not a Good at all, in four books;
a treatise on what is said by . . .
