The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
shall sell the rest. And I give Carion to Demotimus, and Donax to Neleus.
I order Eubius to be sold, and I request Hipparchus to give Callinus
three thousand drachmas. And if I had not seen the great service that
Hipparchus has been to me in former times, and the embarrassed state of
his affairs at present, I should have associated Melantes and Pancreon
with him in these gifts. But as I see that it would not be easy for them
to arrange to manage the property together, I have thought it likely to
be more advantageous for them to receive a fixed sum from Hipparchus.
Therefore, let Hipparchus pay to Melantes and to Pancreon a talent
a-piece; and let him also pay to my executors the money necessary for
the expenses which I have here set down in my will, as it shall require
to be expended. And when he has done this, then I will that he shall be
discharged of all debts due from him to me or to my estate. And if any
profit shall accrue to him in Chalcis, from property belonging to me,
it shall be all his own. My executors, for all the duties provided for
in this will, shall be Hipparchus, Neleus, Strato, Callinus, Demotimus,
Callisthenes, and Ctesarchus. And this my will is copied out, and all
the copies are sealed with the seal-ring of me, Theophrastus; one copy
is in the hands of Hegesias the son of Hipparchus; the witnesses thereto
are Callippus of Pallene, Philomelus of Euonymus, Lysander of Hybas, and
Philion of Alopece. Another copy is deposited with Olympiodorus, and the
witnesses are the same. A third copy is under the care of Adimantus, and
it was conveyed to him by Androsthenes, his son. The witnesses to that
copy are Arimnestus the son of Cleobulus, Lysistratus of Thasos, the
son of Phidon; Strato of Lampsacus, the son of Arcesilaus; Thesippus of
Cerami, the son of Thesippus; Dioscorides of the banks of the Cephisus,
the son of Dionysius.—This was his will.
XV. Some writers have stated that Erasistratus, the physician, was a
pupil of his; and it is very likely.
LIFE OF STRATO.
I. Theophrastus was succeeded in the presidency of his school by Strato
of Lampsacus, the son of Arcesilaus, of whom he had made mention in his
will.
II. He was a man of great eminence, surnamed the Natural Philosopher,
from his surpassing all men in the diligence with which he applied
himself to the investigation of matters of that nature.
III. He was also the preceptor of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and received from
him, as it is said, eighty talents; and he began to preside over the
school, as Apollodorus tells us in his Chronicles, in the hundred and
twenty-third olympiad, and continued in that post for eighteen years.
IV. There are extant three books of his on Kingly Power; three on
Justice; three on the Gods; three on Beginnings; and one on each of the
subjects of Happiness, Philosophy, Manly Courage, the Vacuum, Heaven,
Spirit, Human Nature, the Generation of Animals, Mixtures, Sleep, Dreams,
Sight, Perception, Pleasure, Colours, Diseases, Judgments, Powers,
Metallic Works, Hunger, and Dimness of Sight, Lightness and Heaviness,
Enthusiasm, Pain, Nourishment and Growth, Animals whose Existence is
Doubted, Fabulous Animals, Causes, a Solution of Doubts, a preface to
Topics; there are, also, treatises on Contingencies, on the Definition,
on the More and Less, on Injustice, on Former and Later, on the Prior
Genus, on Property, on the Future. There are, also, two books called the
Examination of Inventions; the Genuineness of the Commentaries attributed
to him, is doubted. There is a volume of Epistles, which begins thus:
“Strato wishes Arsinoe prosperity.”
V. They say that he became so thin and weak, that he died without
its being perceived. And there is an epigram of ours upon him in the
following terms:—
The man was thin, believe me, from the use
Of frequent unguents; Strato was his name,
A citizen of Lampsacus; he struggled long
With fell disease, and died at last unnoticed.
VI. There were eight people of the name of Strato. The first was a pupil
of Isocrates; the second was the man of whom we have been speaking; the
third was a physician, a pupil of Erasistratus, or, as some assert, a
foster-child of his; the fourth was an historian, who wrote a history of
the Achievements of Philip and Perses in their wars against the Romans.…
The sixth was an epigrammatic poet; the seventh was an ancient physician,
as Aristotle tells us; the eighth was a Peripatetic philosopher, who
lived in Alexandria.
VII. But the will, too, of this natural philosopher is extant, and it
is couched in the following language:—“If anything happens to me, I
make this disposition of my property. I leave all my property in my
house to Lampyrion and Arcesilaus; and with the money which I have at
Athens, in the first place, let my executors provide for my funeral and
for all other customary expenses; without doing anything extravagant,
or, on the other hand, anything mean. And the following shall be my
executors, according to this my will: Olympichus, Aristides, Mnesigenes,
Hippocrates, Epicrates, Gorgylus, Diocles, Lycon, and Athanes. And my
school I leave to Lycon, since of the others some are too old, and others
too busy. And the rest will do well, if they ratify this arrangement
of mine. I also bequeath to him all my books, except such as we have
written ourselves; and all my furniture in the dining-room, and the
couches, and the drinking cups. And let my executors give Epicrates five
hundred drachmas, and one of my slaves, according to the choice made by
Arcesilaus. And first of all, let Lampyrion and Arcesilaus cancel the
engagements which Daippus has entered into for Iræus. And let him be
acquitted of all obligation to Lampyrion or the heirs of Lampyrion; and
let him also be discharged from any bond or note of hand he may have
given. And let my executors give him five hundred drachmas of silver,
and one of my slaves, whichever Arcesilaus may approve, in order that,
as he has done me great service, and co-operated with me in many things,
he may have a competency, and be enabled to live decently. And I give
their freedom to Diophantus, and Diocles, and Abus. Simias I give to
Arcesilaus. I also give his freedom to Dromo. And when Arcesilaus
arrives, let Iræus calculate with Olympichus and Epicrates, and the rest
of my executors, the amount that has been expended on my funeral and on
other customary expenses. And let the money that remains, be paid over
to Arcesilaus by Olympichus, who shall give him no trouble, as to the
time or manner of payment. And Arcesilaus shall discharge the engagements
which Strato has entered into with Olympichus and Aminias, which are
preserved in writing in the care of Philocrates, the son of Tisamenus.
And with respect to my monument, let them do whatever seems good to
Arcesilaus, and Olympichus, and Lycon.”
This is his will, which is still extant, as Aristo, the Chian, has
collected and published it.
VIII. And this Strato was a man, as has been shown above, of deservedly
great popularity; having devoted himself to the study of every kind
of philosophy, and especially of that branch of it called natural
philosophy, which is one of the most ancient and important branches of
the whole.
LIFE OF LYCON.
I. He was succeeded by Lycon, a native of the Troas, the son of Astyanax,
a man of great eloquence, and of especial ability in the education of
youth. For he used to say that it was fit for boys to be harnessed with
modesty and rivalry, as much as for horses to be equipped with a spur
and a bridle. And his eloquence and energy in speaking is apparent, from
this instance. For he speaks of a virgin who was poor in the following
manner:—“A damsel, who, for want of a dowry, goes beyond the seasonable
age, is a heavy burden to her father;” on which account they say that
Antigonus said with reference to him, that the sweetness and beauty of an
apple could not be transferred to anything else, but that one might see,
in the case of this man, all these excellencies, in as great perfection
as on a tree; and he said this, because he was a surpassingly sweet
speaker. On which account, some people prefixed a Γ to his name.[50]
But as a writer, he was very unequal to his reputation. And he used to
jest in a careless way, upon those who repented that they had not learnt
when they had the opportunity, and who now wished that they had done so,
saying, said that they were accusing themselves, showing by a prayer
which could not possibly be accomplished, their misplaced repentance for
their idleness. He used also to say, that those who deliberated without
coming to a right conclusion, erred in their calculations, like men who
investigate a correct nature by an incorrect standard, or who look at a
face in disturbed water, or a distorted mirror. Another of his sayings
was, that many men go in pursuit of the crown to be won in the forum, but
few or none seek to attain the one to be gained at the Olympic games.
II. And as he in many instances gave much advice to the Athenians, he was
of exceedingly great service to them.
III. He was also a person of great neatness in his dress, wearing
garments of an unsurpassable delicacy, as we are told by Hermippus.
He was at the same time exceedingly devoted to the exercises of the
Gymnasium, and a man who was always in excellent condition as to his
body, displaying every quality of an athlete (though Antigonus of
Carystus, pretends that he was bruised about the ears and dirty); and in
his own country he is said to have wrestled and played at ball at the
Iliæan games.
IV. And he was exceedingly beloved by Eumenes and Attalus, who made him
great presents; and Antigonus also tried to seduce him to his court,
but was disappointed. And he was so great an enemy to Hieronymus the
Peripatetic, that he was the only person who would not go to see him on
the anniversary festival which he used to celebrate, and which we have
mentioned in our life of Arcesilaus.
V. And he presided over his school forty-four years, as Strato had left
it to him in his will, in the hundred and twenty-seventh olympiad.
VI. He was also a pupil of Panthoides, the dialectician.
VII. He died when he was seventy-four years of age, having been a great
sufferer with the gout, and there is an epigram of ours upon him:—
Nor shall wise Lycon be forgotten, who
Died of the gout, and much I wonder at it.
For he who ne’er before could walk alone,
Went the long road to hell in a single night.
VIII. There were several people of the name of Lycon. The first was a
Pythagorean; the second was this man of whom we are speaking; the third
was an epic poet; the fourth was an epigrammatic poet.
IX. I have fallen in with the following will of this philosopher. “I make
the following disposition of my property; if I am unable to withstand
this disease:—All the property in my house I leave to my brothers
Astyanax and Lycon; and I think that they ought to pay all that I owe
at Athens, and that I may have borrowed from any one, and also all the
expenses that may be incurred for my funeral, and for other customary
solemnities. And all that I have in the city, or in Ægina, I give to
Lycon because he bears the same name that I do, and because he has spent
the greater part of his life with me, showing me the greatest affection,
as it was fitting that he should do, since he was in the place of a son
to me. And I leave my garden walk to those of my friends who like to
use it; to Bulon, and Callinus, and Ariston, and Amphion, and Lycon,
and Python, and Aristomachus, and Heracleus, and Lycomedes, and Lycon
my nephew. And I desire that they will elect as president him whom they
think most likely to remain attached to the pursuit of philosophy, and