Greek Texts & Translations

When some one inquired of him what lesson he ought to give his son, Cleanthes in reply quoted words from the Electra :

Silence, silence, light be thy step. ^note

A Lacedaemonian having declared that toil was a good thing, he was overjoyed and said,

Thou art of gentle blood, dear child. ^note

Dicit autem Hecato in Sententiis eum, cum adulescens quidam formosus dixisset, Si pulsans ventrem ventrizat, pulsans coxas coxizat, dixisse, Tibi habeas, adulescens, coxizationes : nempe vocabula quae conveniunt analogia non semper etiam significatione conveniunt. Once in conversation with a youth he put the question, "Do you see ?" and when the youth nodded assent, he went on, "Why, then, don't I see that you see ?"

He was present in the theatre when the poet Sositheus uttered the verse -

Driven by Cleanthes' folly like dumb herds, ^note

and he remained unmoved in the same attitude. At which the audience were so astonished that they applauded him and drove Sositheus off the stage. Afterwards when the poet apologized for the insult, he accepted the apology, saying that, when Dionysus and Heracles were ridiculed by the poets without getting angry, it would be absurd for him to be annoyed at casual abuse. He used to say that the Peripatetics were in the same case as lyres which, although they give forth sweet sounds, never hear themselves. It is said that when he laid it down as Zeno's opinion that a man's character could be known from his looks, certain witty young men brought before him a rake with hands horny from toil in the country and requested him to state what the man's character was. Cleanthes was perplexed and ordered the man to go away ; but when, as he was making off, he sneezed, "I have it," cried Cleanthes, "he is effeminate." 7.5.174 To the solitary man who talked to himself he remarked, "You are not talking to a bad man." When some one twitted him on his old age, his reply was, "I too am ready to depart ; but when again I consider that I am in all points in good health and that I can still write and read, I am content to wait." We are told that he wrote down Zeno's lectures on oyster-shells and the blade-bones of oxen through lack of money to buy paper. Such was he ; and yet, although Zeno had many other eminent disciples, he was able to succeed him in the headship of the school.

He has left some very fine writings, which are as follows :

Of Time.

Of Zeno's Natural Philosophy, two books.

Interpretations of Heraclitus, four books.

De Sensu.

Of Art.

A Reply to Democritus.

A Reply to Aristarchus.

A Reply to Herillus.

Of Impulse, two books.

Antiquities.

Of the Gods.

Of Giants.

Of Marriage.

On Homer.

Of Duty, three books.

Of Good Counsel.

Of Gratitude.

An Exhortation.

Of the Virtues.

Of Natural Ability.

Of Gorgippus.

Of Envy.

Of Love.

Of Freedom.

The Art of Love.

Of Honour.

Of Fame.

The Statesman.

Of Deliberation.

Of Laws.

Of Litigation.

Of Education.

Of Logic, three books.

Of the End.

Of Beauty.

Of Conduct.

Of Knowledge.

Of Kingship.

Of Friendship.

On the Banquet.

On the Thesis that Virtue is the same in Man and in Woman.

On the Wise Man turning Sophist.

Of Usages.

Lectures, two books.

Of Pleasure.

On Properties.

On Insoluble Problems.

Of Dialectic.

Of Moods or Tropes.

Of Predicates.

This, then, is the list of his works.

His end was as follows. He had severe inflammation of the gums, and by the advice of his doctors he abstained from food for two whole days. As it happened, this treatment succeeded, so that the doctors were for allowing him to resume his usual diet. To this, however, he would not consent, but declaring that he had already got too far on the road, he went on fasting the rest of his days until his death at the same age as Zeno according to some authorities, having spent nineteen years as Zeno's pupil.

My lighter verse ^note on him 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'd drawn such load of water while alive.