| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 6.2.77 | Diog. Laert. 6.3.82 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 6.5.88 |
The following writings are attributed to him. Dialogues : Cephalion.
Ichthyas.
Jackdaw.
Pordalus.
The Athenian Demos.
Republic.
Art of Ethics.
On Wealth.
On Love.
Theodorus.
Hypsias.
Aristarchus.
On Death.
Letters.
Seven Tragedies :
Helen.
Thyestes.
Heracles.
Achilles.
Medea.
Chrysippus.
Oedipus.
Sosicrates in the first book of his Successions, and Satyrus in the fourth book of his Lives, allege that Diogenes left nothing in writing, and Satyrus adds that the sorry tragedies are by his friend Philiscus, the Aeginetan. Sotion in his seventh book declares that only the following are genuine works of Diogenes : On Virtue, On Good, On Love, A Mendicant, Tolmaeus, Pordalus, Casandrus, Cephalion, Philiscus, Aristarchus, Sisyphus, Ganymedes, Anecdotes, Letters.
There have been five men who were named Diogenes. The first, of Apollonia, a natural philosopher. The beginning of his treatise runs thus : "At the outset of every discourse, methinks, one should see to it that the basis laid down is unquestionable." The second - of Sicyon - who wrote an "Account of Peloponnesus." The third, our present subject. The fourth, a Stoic born at Seleucia, who is also called the Babylonian, because Seleucia is near Babylon. The fifth, of Tarsus, author of a work on poetical problems, which he attempts to solve.
Now the philosopher is said by Athenodorus in the eighth book of his Walks to have always had a sleek appearance owing to his use of unguents. note
Monimus of Syracuse was a pupil of Diogenes ; and, according to Sosicrates, he was in the service of a certain Corinthian banker, to whom Xeniades, the purchaser of Diogenes, made frequent visits, and by the account which he gave of his goodness in word and deed, excited in Monimus a passionate admiration of Diogenes. For he forthwith pretended to be mad and proceeded to fling away the small change and all the money on the banker's table, until at length his master dismissed him ; and he then straightway devoted himself to Diogenes. He often followed Crates the Cynic as well, and embraced the like pursuits ; whereupon his master, seeing him do this, was all the more persuaded that he was mad.
6.3.83He came to be a distinguished man ; so much so that he is even mentioned by the comic poet Menander. At any rate in one of his plays, The Groom, his words are : One Monimus there was, a wise man, Philo,
But not so very famous.
a. He, you mean,
Who carried the scrip ?
b. Nay, not one scrip, but three.
Yet never a word, so help me Zeus, spake he
To match the saying, Know thyself, nor such
Famed watchwords. Far beyond all these he went,
Your dusty mendicant, pronouncing wholly vain
All man's supposings.
Monimus indeed showed himself a very grave moralist, so that he ever despised mere opinion and sought only truth.
He has left us, besides some trifles blended with covert earnestness, two books, On Impulses and an Exhortation to Philosophy.
Onesicritus some report to have been an Aeginetan, but Demetrius of Magnesia says that he was a native of Astypalaea. He too was one of the distinguished pupils of Diogenes. His career seems to have resembled that of Xenophon ; for Xenophon joined the expedition of Cyrus, Onesicritus that of Alexander ; and the former wrote the Cyropaedia, or Education of Cyrus, while the latter has described how Alexander was educated : the one a laudation of Cyrus, the other of Alexander. And in their diction they are not unlike : except that Onesicritus, as is to be expected in an imitator, falls short of his model.
Amongst other pupils of Diogenes were Menander, who was nicknamed Drymus or "Oakwood," a great admirer of Homer ; Hegesias of Sinope, nicknamed "Dog-collar" ; and Philiscus of Aegina mentioned above.
Crates, son of Ascondas, was a Theban. He too was amongst the Cynic's famous pupils. Hippobotus, however, alleges that he was a pupil not of Diogenes, but of Bryson note the Achaean. The following playful lines are attributed to him note :
There is a city Pera in the midst of wine-dark vapour,
Fair, fruitful, passing squalid, owning nought,
Into which sails nor fool nor parasite
Nor glutton, slave of sensual appetite,
But thyme it bears, garlic, and figs and loaves,
For which things' sake men fight not each with other,
Nor stand to arms for money or for fame.
There is also his widely circulated day-book, which runs as follows :
| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 6.2.77 | Diog. Laert. 6.3.82 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 6.5.88 |
