| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 7.5.175 | Diog. Laert. 7.7.179 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 7.7.185 |
Amongst those who after the death of Zeno became pupils of Cleanthes was Sphaerus of Bosporus, as already mentioned. note After making considerable progress in his studies, he went to Alexandria to the court of King Ptolemy Philopator. note One day when a discussion had arisen on the question whether the wise man could stoop to hold opinion, noteand Sphaerus had maintained that this was impossible, the king, wishing to refute him, ordered some waxen pomegranates to be put on the table. Sphaerus was taken in and the king cried out, "You have given your assent to a presentation which is false." But Sphaerus was ready with a neat answer. "I assented not to the proposition that they are pomegranates, but to another, that there are good grounds for thinking them to be pomegranates. Certainty of presentation and reasonable probability are two totally different things." Mnesistratus having accused him of denying that Ptolemy was a king, his reply was, "Being of such quality as he is, Ptolemy is indeed a king."
7.6.178The books that he wrote were as follows :
Of the Cosmos, two books.
Of Elements.
Of Seed.
Of Fortune. Of Minimal Parts.
Against Atoms and Images.
Of Organs of Sense.
A Course of Five Lectures on Heraclitus.
On the Right Arrangement of Ethical Doctrine.
Of Duty.
Of Impulse.
Of the Passions, two books.
Of Kingship.
Of the Spartan Constitution.
Of Lycurgus and Socrates, three books.
Of Law.
On Divination.
Dialogues on Love.
Of the School of Eretria.
Of Similars.
Of Terms.
Of Habit.
Of Contradictions, three books.
Of Discourse.
Of Wealth.
Of Fame.
Of Death.
Handbook of Dialectic, two books.
Of Predicates.
Of Ambiguous Terms.
Letters.
Chrysippus, the son of Apollonius, came either from Soli or from Tarsus, as Alexander relates in his Successions. He was a pupil of Cleanthes. Before this he used to practise as a long-distance runner ; but afterwards he came to hear Zeno, or, as Diocles and most people say, Cleanthes ; and then, while Cleanthes was still living, withdrew from his school and attained exceptional eminence as a philosopher. He had good natural parts and showed the greatest acuteness in every branch of the subject ; so much so that he differed on most points from Zeno, and from Cleanthes as well, to whom he often used to say that all he wanted was to be told what the doctrines were ; he would find out the proofs for himself. Nevertheless, whenever he had contended against Cleanthes, he would afterwards feel remorse, so that he constantly came out with the lines note :
Blest in all else am I, save only where
I touch Cleanthes : there I am ill-fortuned.
7.7.180So renowned was he for dialectic that most people thought, if the gods took to dialectic, they would adopt no other system than that of Chrysippus. He had abundance of matter, but in style he was not successful. In industry he surpassed every one, as the list of his writings shows ; for there are more than 705 of them. He increased their number by arguing repeatedly on the same subject, setting down anything that occurred to him, making many corrections and citing numerous authorities. So much so that in one of his treatises he copied out nearly the whole of Euripides' Medea, and some one who had taken up the volume, being asked what he was reading, replied, "The Medea of Chrysippus."
7.7.181Apollodorus of Athens in his Collection of Doctrines, wishing to show that what Epicurus wrote with force and originality unaided by quotations was far greater in amount than the books of Chrysippus, says, to quote his exact words, "If one were to strip the books of Chrysippus of all extraneous quotations, his pages would be left bare." So much for Apollodorus. Of Chrysippus the old woman who sat beside him used to say, according to Diocles, that he wrote 500 lines a day. Hecato says that he came to the study of philosophy, because the property which he had inherited from his father had been confiscated to the king's treasury.
7.7.182In person he was insignificant, as is shown by the statue in the Ceramicus, which is almost hidden by an equestrian statue hard by ; and this is why Carneades called him Crypsippus or Horse-hidden. Once when somebody reproached him for not going with the multitude to hear Ariston, he rejoined, "If I had followed the multitude, I should not have studied philosophy." When some dialectician got up and attacked Cleanthes, proposing sophistical fallacies to him, Chrysippus called to him, "Cease to distract your elder from matters of importance ; propound such quibbles to us juniors." Again, when somebody who had a question to ask was steadily conversing with him in private, and then upon seeing a crowd approaching began to be more contentious, he said :
Ah! brother mine, thine eye is growing wild :
To madness fast thou'rt changing, sane but now. note
| Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (XML Header) [word count] [lemma count] [Diog. Laert.]. | ||
| <<Diog. Laert. 7.5.175 | Diog. Laert. 7.7.179 (Greek) | >>Diog. Laert. 7.7.185 |
