The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
when the speaker urges that no injury ought to be offered to ambassadors,
in order that Greece may not get an evil reputation; and supports his
argument by instances. So that good counsel has reference, firstly to
what is past, secondly to what is present, and thirdly to the future.
LXXII. Voice is divided into two parts, one of which is animated, and the
other inanimate. That is animated, which proceeds from living animals,
while sounds and echoes are inanimate. Again, animated voice may be
divided into that which can be indicated by letters, and that which
cannot; that which can be so indicated being the voice of men, and that
which cannot being the voice of animals; so that one kind of voice is
animated, the other inanimate.
LXXIII. Of existing things, some are divisible and some indivisible.
Again, those which are divisible, consist either of similar or of
dissimilar parts. Those which are indivisible are such as have no
separate parts, and are not formed by any combination, such as unity,
a point, or a sound. But those are divisible which are formed by some
combination; as, for instance, syllables, and symphonies, and animals,
and water, and gold. These too consist of similar parts, which are made
up of particles resembling one another, and of which the whole does
not differ from any part, except in number. As for instance, water and
gold, and everything which is fusible, and so on. And these consist of
dissimilar parts, which are made up of various things not resembling one
another; as for instance, a house, and things of that sort; so that of
existing things, some are divisible and others indivisible. And of those
which are divisible, some consist of similar and others of dissimilar
parts.
LXXIV. Again, of existing things, some are spoken of as having an
independent, and some only a relative existence. Those which are spoken
of as having an independent existence, are those which require nothing
else to be added to them, when we are explaining their nature; as man, a
horse, and the other animals; for these have no need of any additional
explanation. But those things are said to have a relative existence which
do require some additional explanation. As for instance, that which is
greater than something else, or less, or swifter, or more beautiful,
and so on. For that which is greater, is greater than something which
is less; and that which is swifter, is swifter than something else. So
that, of existing things, some are spoken of as independently, and other
relatively. And thus he divided them at first, according to Aristotle.
LXXV. There was also another man of the name of Plato, a philosopher of
Rhodes, a disciple of Panætius, as Seleucus, the grammarian says in the
first book of his treatise on Philosophy; and another was a Peripatetic,
a pupil of Aristotle; and there was a third, a pupil of Praxiphanes; and
there was besides all these, the poet of the Old Comedy.
BOOK IV.
LIFE OF SPEUSIPPUS.
I. The long account which I have given of Plato was compiled to the best
of my power, and in it I collected with great zeal and industry all that
was reported of the man.
II. And he was succeeded by Speusippus, the son of Eurymedon, and a
citizen of Athens, of the Myrrhinusian burgh, and he was the son of
Plato’s sister Potone.
III. He presided over his school for eight years, beginning to do so in
the hundred and eighth olympiad. And he set up images of the Graces in
the temple of the Muses, which had been built in the Academy by Plato.
IV. And he always adhered to the doctrines which had been adopted by
Plato, though he was not of the same disposition as he. For he was a
passionate man, and a slave to pleasure. Accordingly, they say that
he once in a rage threw a puppy into a well; and that for the sake of
amusement, he went all the way to Macedonia to the marriage of Cassander.
V. The female pupils of Plato, Lasthenea of Mantinea, and Axiothea
of Phlius, are said to have become disciples of Speusippus also. And
Dionysius, writing to him in a petulant manner, says, “And one may learn
philosophy too from your female disciple from Arcadia; moreover, Plato
used to take his pupils without exacting any fee from them; but you
collect tribute from yours, whether willing or unwilling.”
VI. He was the first man, as Diodorus relates in the first book of his
Commentaries, who investigated in his school what was common to the
several sciences; and who endeavoured, as far as possible, to maintain
their connection with each other. He was also the first who published
those things which Isocrates called secrets, as Cæneus tells us. And the
first too who found out how to make light baskets of bundles of twigs.
VII. But he became afflicted with paralysis, and sent to Xenocrates
inviting him to come to him, and to become his successor in his school.
VIII. And they say that once, when he was being borne in a carriage into
the Academy, he met Diogenes, and said, “Hail;” and Diogenes replied, “I
will not say hail to you, who, though in such a state as you are, endure
to live.”
IX. And at last in despair he put an end to his life, being a man of a
great age. And we have written this epigram on him:—
Had I not known Speusippus thus had died,
No one would have persuaded me that he
Was e’er akin to Plato; who would never
Have died desponding for so slight a grief.
But Plutarch, in his Life of Lysander, and again in his Life of Sylla,
says that he was kept in a state of constant inflammation by lice. For
he was of a weak habit of body, as Timotheus relates in his treatise on
Lives.
X. Speusippus said to a rich man who was in love with an ugly woman,
“What do you want with her? I will find you a much prettier woman for ten
talents.”
XI. He left behind him a great number of commentaries, and many
dialogues; among which was one on Aristippus; one on Riches; one on
Pleasure; one on Justice; one on Philosophy; one on Friendship; one
on the Gods; one called the Philosopher; one addressed to Cephalus;
one called Cephalus; one called Clinomachus, or Lysias; one called
the Citizen; one on the Soul; one addressed to Gryllus; one called
Aristippus; one called the Test of Art. There were also Commentaries by
way of dialogues; one on Art; and ten about those things which are alike
in their treatment. There are also books of divisions and arguments
directed to similar things; Essays on the Genera and Species of Examples;
an Essay addressed to Amartyrus; a Panegyric on Plato; Letters to Dion,
and Dionysius, and Philip; an Essay on Legislation. There is also, the
Mathematician; the Mandrobulus; the Lysias; Definitions; and a series of
Commentaries. There are in all, forty-three thousand four hundred and
seventy-five lines.
Simonides dedicated to him the Histories, in which he had related the
actions of Dion and Bion. And in the second book of his Commentaries,
Phavorinus states that Aristotle purchased his books for three talents.
XII. There was also another person of the name of Speusippus, a physician
of the school of Herophilus,[34] a native of Alexandria.
LIFE OF XENOCRATES.
I. Xenocrates was the son of Agathenor, and a native of Chalcedon. From
his early youth he was a pupil of Plato, and also accompanied him in his
voyages to Sicily.
II. He was by nature of a lazy disposition, so that they say that Plato
said once, when comparing him to Aristotle,—“The one requires the spur,
and the other the bridle.” And on another occasion, he said, “What a
horse and what an ass am I dressing opposite to one another!”
III. In other respects Xenocrates was always of a solemn and grave
character, so that Plato was continually saying to him,—“Xenocrates,
sacrifice to the Graces.” And he spent the greater part of his time in
the Academy, and whenever he was about to go into the city, they say
all the turbulent and quarrelsome rabble in the city used to make way
for him to pass by. And once, Phryne the courtesan wished to try him
and pretending that she was pursued by some people, she fled and took
refuge in his house; and he admitted her indeed, because of what was
due to humanity; and as there was but one bed in the room, he, at her
entreaty, allowed her to share it with him; but at last, in spite of
all her entreaties, she got up and went away, without having been able
to succeed in her purpose; and told those who asked her, that she had
quitted a statue and not a man. But some say that the real story is, that
his pupils put Lais into his bed, and that he was so continent, that he
submitted to some severe operations of excision and cautery.
IV. And he was a very trustworthy man; so that, though it was not lawful
for men to give evidence except on oath, the Athenians made an exception
in his favour alone.
V. He was also a man of the most contented disposition; accordingly
they say that when Alexander sent him a large sum of money, he took
three thousand Attic drachmas, and sent back the rest, saying, that
Alexander wanted most, as he had the greatest number of mouths to feed.
And when some was sent him by Antipater, he would not accept any of it,
as Myronianus tells us in his Similitudes. And once, when he gained a
golden crown, in a contest as to who could drink most, which was offered
in the yearly festival of the Choes by Dionysius, he went out and placed
the crown at the feet of the statue of Mercury, which was at the gate,
where he was also accustomed to deposit his garlands of flowers. It is
said also, that he was once sent with some colleagues as an ambassador to
Philip; and that they were won over by gifts, and went to his banquets
and conversed with Philip; but that he would do none of these things,
nor could Philip propitiate him by these means; on which account, when
the other ambassadors arrived in Athens, they said that Xenocrates had
gone with them to no purpose; and the people were ready to punish him;
but when they had learnt from him that they had now more need than ever
to look to the welfare of their city, for that Philip had already bribed
all their counsellors, but that he had been unable to win him over by any
means, then they say that the people honoured him with redoubled honour.
They add also, that Philip said afterwards, that Xenocrates was the only
one of those who had come to him who was incorruptible. And when he went
as ambassador to Antipater on the subject of the Athenian captives at the
time of the Samian war, and was invited by him to a banquet, he addressed
him in the following lines:—
I answer, Goddess human, is thy breast
By justice sway’d, by tender pity prest?
Ill fits it me, whose friends are sunk to beasts,
To quaff thy bowls, or riot in thy feasts:
Me would’st thou please, for them thy cares employ,
And them to me restore, and me to joy?[35]
And Antipater, admiring the appropriateness of the quotation, immediately
released them.
VI. On one occasion, when a sparrow was pursued by a hawk, and flew into
his bosom, he caressed it, and let it go again, saying that we ought
not to betray a suppliant. And being ridiculed by Bion, he said that he
would not answer him, for that tragedy, when ridiculed by comedy, did
not condescend to make a reply. To one who had never learnt music, or
geometry, or astronomy, but who wished to become his disciple, he said,
“Be gone, for you have not yet the handles of philosophy.” But some say
that he said, “Be gone, for I do not card wool here.” And when Dionysius
said to Plato that some one would cut off his head, he, being present,
showed his own, and said, “Not before they have cut off mine.”
VII. They say too that once, when Antipater had come to Athens and
saluted him, he would not make him any reply before he had finished