| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 6.5.86 | Diog. Laert. 6.5.93 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 6.7.98 |
When Demetrius of Phalerum sent him loaves of bread and some wine, he reproached him, saying, "Oh that the springs yielded bread as well as water!" It is clear, then, that he was a water-drinker. When the police-inspectors found fault with him for wearing muslin, his answer was, "I'll show you that Theophrastus also wears muslin." This they would not believe : so he led them to a barber's shop and showed them Theophrastus being shaved. At Thebes he was flogged by the master of the gymnasium - another version being that it was by Euthycrates and at Corinth ; and being dragged by the heels, he called out, as if it did not affect him note :
Seized by the foot and dragged o'er heaven's high threshold :
6.5.91Diocles, however, says that it was by Menedemus of Eretria that he was thus dragged. For he being handsome and being thought to be intimate with Asclepiades the Phliasian, Crates slapped him on the side with a brutal taunt; whereupon Menedemus, full of indignation, dragged him along, and he declaimed as above.
Zeno of Citium in his Anecdotes relates that in a fit of heedlessness he sewed a sheepskin to his cloak. He was ugly to look at, and when performing his gymnastic exercises used to be laughed at. He was accustomed to say, raising his hands, "Take heart, Crates, for it is for the good of your eyes and of the rest of your body.
6.5.92 You will see these men, who are laughing at you, tortured before long by disease, counting you happy, and reproaching themselves for their sluggishness." He used to say that we should study philosophy to the point of seeing in generals nothing but donkey-drivers. Those who live with flatterers he declared to be as defenceless as calves in the midst of wolves ; for neither these nor those have any to protect them, but only such as plot against them. Perceiving that he was dying, he would chant over himself this charm, "You are going, dear hunchback, you are off to the house of Hades, - bent crooked by old age." For his years had bowed him down. 6.5.93When Alexander inquired whether he would like his native city to be rebuilt, his answer was, "Why should it be ? Perhaps another Alexander will destroy it again." Ignominy and Poverty he declared to be his country, which Fortune could never take captive. He was, he said, a fellow-citizen of Diogenes, who defied all the plots of envy. Menander alludes to him in the Twin Sisters in the following lines :
Wearing a cloak you'll go about with me,
As once with Cynic Crates went his wife :
His daughter too, as he himself declared,
He gave in marriage for a month on trial.
We come now to his pupils.
Metrocles of Maroneia was the brother of Hipparchia. He had been formerly a pupil of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, and had been so far corrupted by weakness that, when he made a breach of good manners in the course of rehearsing a speech, it drove him to despair, and he shut himself up at home, intending to starve himself to death. On learning this Crates came to visit him as he had been asked to do, and after advisedly making a meal of lupins, he tried to persuade him by argument as well that he had committed no crime, for a prodigy would have happened if he had not taken the natural means of relieving himself. At last by reproducing the action he succeeded in lifting him from his dejection, using for his consolation the likeness of the occurrences. From that time forward Metrocles was his pupil, and became proficient in philosophy.
6.6.95Hecato in the first book of his Anecdotes tells us he burned his compositions with the words note :
Phantoms are these of dreams o' the world below.
Others say that when he set fire to his notes of Theophrastus's lectures, he added the line :
Come hither, Hephaestus, Thetis now needeth
thee.
He divided things into such as are procurable for money, like a house, and such as can be procured by time and trouble, like education. Wealth, he said, is harmful, unless we put it to a worthy use.
He died of old age, having choked himself.
His disciples were Theombrotus and Cleomenes : Theombrotus had for his pupil Demetrius of Alexandria, while Cleomenes instructed Timarchus of Alexandria and Echecles of Ephesus. Not but what Echecles also heard Theombrotus, whose lectures were attended by Menedemus, of whom we shall speak presently. Menippus of Sinope also became renowned amongst them.
| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 6.5.86 | Diog. Laert. 6.5.93 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 6.7.98 |
