The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
certain foundation.
LXXVI. And they say that the substance of all existing things is Primary
Matter, as Chrysippus asserts in the first book of his Physics; and
Zeno says the same. Now matter is that from which anything whatever is
produced. And it is called by a twofold appellation, essence and matter;
the one as relating to all things taken together, and the other to things
in particular and separate. The one which relates to all things taken
together, never becomes either greater or less; but the one relating to
things in particular, does become greater or less, as the case may be.
LXXVII. Body is, according to them, a substance and finite; as Antipater
says, in the second book of his treatise on Substance; and Apollodorus,
in his Natural Philosophy, agrees with him. It is also subject to change,
as we learn from the same author; for if it were immutable, then the
things which have been produced out of it would not have been produced;
on which account he also says that it is infinitely divisible: but
Chrysippus denies that it is infinite; for that nothing is infinite,
which is divisible at all.
LXXVIII. He admits, however, that it is infinitely divisible, and that
its concretions take place over the whole of it, as he explains in the
third book of his Physics, and not according to any circumference or
juxtaposition; for a little wine when thrown into the sea, will keep its
distinctness for a brief period, but after that, will be lost.
LXXIX. They also say that there are some Dæmones, who have a sympathy
with mankind, being surveyors of all human affairs; and that there are
heroes, which are the souls of virtuous men, which have left their bodies.
LXXX. Of the things which take place in the air, they say that winter is
the effect of the air above the earth being cooled, on account of the
retirement of the sun to a greater distance than before; that spring is
a good temperature of the air, according to the sun’s approach towards
us; that summer is the effect of the air above the earth being warmed by
the approach of the sun towards the north; that autumn is caused by the
retreat of the sun from us … to those places from which they flow.[92]
LXXXI. And the cause of the production of the winds is the sun, which
evaporates the clouds. Moreover, the rainbow is the reflexion of the
sun’s rays from the moist clouds, or, as Posidonius explains it in his
Meteorology, a manifestation of a section of the sun or moon, in a cloud
suffused with dew; being hollow and continuous to the sight; so that it
is reflected as in a mirror, under the appearance of a circle. And that
comets, and bearded stars, and meteors, are fires which have an existence
when the density of the air is borne upwards to the regions of the æther.
That a ray of light is a kindling of sudden fire, borne through the air
with great rapidity, and displaying an appearance of length; that rain
proceeds from the clouds, being a transformation of them into water,
whenever the moisture which is caught up from the earth or from the sea,
by the sun, is not able to be otherwise disposed of; for when it is
solidified, it is then called hoar frost. And hail is a cloud congealed,
and subsequently dispersed by the wind. Snow is moisture from a congealed
cloud, as Posidonius tells us in the eighth book of his discourse on
Natural Philosophy. Lightning is a kindling of the clouds from their
being rubbed together, or else broken asunder by the wind, as Zeno tells
us in his treatise on the Universe; and thunder is the noise made by them
on the occasion of their being rubbed together or broken asunder; and
the thunderbolt is a sudden kindling which falls with great violence on
the earth, from the clouds being rubbed together or broken asunder, or,
as others say, it is a conversion of fiery air violently brought down to
the earth. A typhon is a vast thunderbolt, violent and full of wind, or
a smoky breath of a cloud broken asunder. A πρηστὴς is a cloud rent by
fire, with wind,[93] … into the hollows of the earth, or when the wind
is pent up in the earth, as Posidonius says in his eighth book; and that
some of them are shakings, others rendings, others emissions of fire, and
others, instances of violent fermentation.
LXXXII. They also think that the general arrangement of the world is in
this fashion; that the earth is in the middle, occupying the place of the
centre; next to which comes the water, of a spherical form; and having
the same centre as the earth; so that the earth is in the water; and next
to the water comes the air, which has also a spherical form.
LXXXIII. And that there are five circles in the heaven; of which the
first is the arctic circle, which is always visible; the second is the
tropical summer circle; the third is the equinoctial circle; the fourth,
the winter tropical circle; and the fifth the antarctic, which is not
visible. And they are called parallel, because they do not incline to one
another; they are drawn however around the same centre. But the zodiac
is oblique, cutting the parallel circles. There are also five zones on
the earth; the first is the northern one, placed under the arctic circle,
uninhabitable by reason of the cold; the second is temperate; the third
is uninhabitable because of the heat, and is called the torrid zone; the
fourth is a temperate zone, on the other side of the torrid zone; the
fifth is the southern zone, being also uninhabitable by reason of the
cold.[94]
LXXXIV. Another of their doctrines is that nature is an artificial fire
tending by a regular road to production, which is a fiery kind of breath
proceeding according to art. Also, that the soul is sensible, and that
it is a spirit which is born with us; consequently it is a body and
continues to exist after death; that nevertheless it is perishable. But
that the soul of the universe is imperishable, and that the souls which
exist in animals are only parts of that of the universe. But Zeno, the
Cittiæan, and Antipater, in their treatise concerning the Soul, and
Posidonius also, all say that the soul is a warm spirit; for that by
it we have our breath, and by it we are moved. Cleanthes, accordingly,
asserts that all souls continue to exist till they are burnt up; but
Chrysippus says that it is only the souls of the wise that endure. And
they further teach that there are eight parts of the soul; the five
senses, and the generative faculties, and voice, and reason. And we see
because of a body of luminous air which extends from the organ of sight
to the object in a conical form, as it is asserted by Chrysippus, in the
second book of his Natural Philosophy, and also by Apollodorus. And the
apex of this cone is close to the eye, and its base is formed by the
object which is seen; so that that which is seen is as it were reported
to the eye by this continuous cone of air extended towards it like a
staff. In the same way, we hear because the air between the speaker and
the hearer is struck in a spherical manner; and is then agitated in
waves, resembling the circular eddies which one sees in a cistern when a
stone is dropped into it.
Sleep, they say, is produced by a relaxation of the æsthetic energies
with reference to the dominant part of the soul. And the causes of the
passions they explain to be the motions and conversions which take place
in connection with this spirit or soul.
LXXXV. Seed, they define as a thing of a nature capable of producing
other things of the same nature as the thing from which it has been
separated. And the seed of man, which man emits, is, together with
moisture, mixed up with the parts of the soul by that kind of mixture
which corresponds to the capacity of the parents. And Chrysippus says,
in the second book of his Natural Philosophy, that it is a spirit
according to substance; as is manifest from the seeds which are planted
in the earth; and which, if they are old, do not germinate, because all
their virtue has evaporated. And Sphærus says, that seed proceeds from
the entire body, and that that is how it is that it produces all the
parts of the body.
They also say that the seed of the female is unproductive; for, as
Sphærus says, it is devoid of tone, and small in quantity, and watery.
LXXXVI. They also say that that is the dominant part of the soul which is
its most excellent part; in which the imaginations and the desires are
formed, and whence reason proceeds. And this place is in the heart.
These then are the doctrines on the subject of natural philosophy
entertained by them, which it seems sufficient for us to detail, having
regard to the due proportions of this book. And the following are the
points in which some of them disagreed with the rest.
LIFE OF ARISTON.
I. Ariston the Bald, a native of Chios, surnamed the Siren, said, that
the chief good was to live in perfect indifference to all those things
which are of an intermediate character between virtue and vice; making
not the slightest difference between them, but regarding them all on a
footing of equality. For that the wise man resembles a good actor; who,
whether he is filling the part of Agamemnon or Thersites, will perform
them both equally well.
II. And he discarded altogether the topic of physics, and of logic,
saying that the one was above us, and that the other had nothing to do
with us; and that the only branch of philosophy with which we had any
real concern was ethics.
III. He also said that dialectic reasonings were like cobwebs; which,
although they seem to be put together on principles of art, are utterly
useless.
IV. And he did not introduce many virtues into his scheme, as Zeno did;
nor one virtue under a great many names, as the Megaric philosophers did;
but defined virtue as consisting in behaving in a certain manner with
reference to a certain thing.
V. And as he philosophized in this manner, and carried on his discussions
in the Cynosarges, he got so much influence as to be called a founder of
a sect. Accordingly, Miltiades, and Diphilus were called Aristoneans.
VI. He was a man of very persuasive eloquence, and one who could adapt
himself well to the humours of a multitude. On which account Timon says
of him:—
And one who, from Ariston’s wily race,
Traced his descent.
Diocles, the Magnesian, tells us that Ariston having fallen in with
Polemo, passed over to his school, at a time when Zeno was lying ill
with a long sickness. The Stoic doctrine to which he was most attached,
was the one that the wise man is never guided by opinions. But Persæus
argued against this, and caused one of two twin brothers to place a
deposit in his hands, and then caused the other to reclaim it; and thus
he convicted him, as he was in doubt on this point, and therefore forced
to act on opinion. He was a great enemy of Arcesilaus. And once, seeing
a bull of a monstrous conformation, having a womb, he said, “Alas! here
is an argument for Arcesilaus against the evidence of his senses.” On
another occasion, when a philosopher of the Academy said that he did not
comprehend anything, he said to him, “Do not you even see the man who is
sitting next to you?” And as he said that he did not, he said:—
Who then has blinded you, who’s been so harsh,
As thus to rob you of your beaming eyes?
VII. The following works are attributed to him. Two books of Exhortatory
Discourses; Dialogues on the Doctrines of Zeno; six books of
Conversations; seven books of Discussions on Wisdom; Conversations on
Love; Commentaries on Vain Glory; twenty-five books of Reminiscences;
three books of Memorabilia; eleven books of Apophthegms; a volume
against the Orators; a volume against the Rescripts of Alexinus; three
treatises against the Dialecticians; four books of Letters to Cleanthes.