The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
not simple; two on the Copulative Propositions, addressed to Athenades;
three on Positive Propositions, addressed to Aristagoras; one on Definite
Propositions, addressed to Athenodorus; one on Privative Propositions,
addressed to Thearus; three on the Best Propositions, addressed to Dion;
four on the Differences between Indefinite Propositions; two on those
Propositions which are enunciated with a reference to time; two on
Perfect Propositions.
The second set contains, one essay on a Disjunctive True Propositions,
addressed to Gorgippides; four on a Conjunctive True Proposition, also
addressed to Gorgippides; one called, the Sect, addressed to Gorgippides;
one on the argument of Consequents; one on questions touched upon in the
three preceding treatises, and now re-examined, this also is addressed
to Gorgippides; one on what is Possible, addressed to Clitus; one on the
treatise of Philo, on Signification; one on what it is that Falsehood
consists in.
The third set contains, two treatises on Imperative Propositions; two
on Interrogation; four on Examination; an epitome of the subject of
Interrogation and Examination; four treatises on Answer; an abridgment on
Answer; two essays on Investigation.
The fourth set contains ten books on Categorems, addressed to Metrodorus;
one treatise on what is Direct and Indirect, addressed to Philarchus; one
on Conjunctions, addressed to Apollonides; four on Categorems, addressed
to Pasylus.
The fifth set contains, one treatise on the Five Cases; one on Things
defined according to the Subject; two on Enunciation, addressed to
Stesagoras; two on Appellative Nouns.
The next class of his writings refers to rules of Logic, with reference
to words, and speech which consists of words.
The first set of these contains, six treatises on Singular and Plural
Enunciations; five on Words, addressed to Sosigenes and Alexander; four
on the Inequality of Words, addressed to Dion; three on the Sorites
which refer to Words; one on Solecisms in the Use of Words, addressed to
Dionysius; one entitled Discourses, contrary to Customs; one entitled
Diction, and addressed to Dionysius.
The second set contains, five treatises on the Elements of Speech and of
Phrases; four on the Arrangement of Phrases; three on the Arrangement,
and on the Elements of Phrases, addressed to Philip; one on the Elements
of Discourse, addressed to Nicias; one on Correlatives.
The third set contains, two treatises against those who do not admit
Division; four on Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Apollos; one,
Ambiguity in Modes; two on the Ambiguous Use of Figures, in Conjunctive
Propositions; two on the essay on Ambiguous Expressions, by Panthoides;
five on the Introduction to the Ambiguous Expressions; one, being an
abridgment of the Ambiguous Expressions, addressed to Epicrates; and a
collection of instances to serve as an Introduction to the Ambiguous
Expressions, in two books.
The next class is on the subject of that part of logic which is
conversant about reasonings and modes.
The first set of works in this class, contains, the Art of Reasoning
and of Modes, in five books, addressed to Dioscorides; a treatise on
Reasoning, in three books; one on the Structure of Modes, addressed to
Stesagoras, in five books; a comparison of the Elements of Modes; a
treatise on Reciprocal and Conjunctive Reasonings; an essay to Agathon,
called also an essay on Problems, which follow one another; a treatise,
proving that Syllogistic Propositions suppose one or more other terms;
one on Conclusions, addressed to Aristagoras; one essay, proving that
the same reasoning can affect several figures; one against those who
deny that the same reasoning can be expressed by syllogism, and without
syllogism, in two books; three treatises against those who attack the
resolution of Syllogisms; one on the treatise on Modes, by Philo,
addressed to Timostratus; two treatises on Logic, in one volume,
addressed to Timocrates and Philomathes; one volume of questions on
Reasonings and Modes.
The second set contains, one book of Conclusive Reasonings, addressed
to Zeno; one on Primary Syllogisms, which are not demonstrative; one on
the resolution of Syllogisms; one, in two books, on Captious Reasonings,
addressed to Pasylus; one book of Considerations on Syllogisms; one book
of Introductory Syllogisms, addressed to Zeno; three of Introductory
Modes, addressed also to Zeno; five of False Figures of Syllogism; one
of a Syllogistic Method, for the resolution of arguments, which are not
demonstrative; one of Researches into the Modes, addressed to Zeno and
Philomathes (but this appears to be an erroneous title).
The third set contains, one essay on Incidental Reasonings, addressed to
Athenades (this again is an incorrect title); three books of Incidental
Discourses on the Medium (another incorrect title); one essay on the
Disjunctive Reasons of Aminias.
The fourth set contains, a treatise on Hypothesis, in three books,
addressed to Meleager; a book of hypothetical reasonings on the Laws,
addressed also to Meleager; two books of hypothetical reasoning to serve
as an Introduction; two books of hypothetical reasonings on Theorems; a
treatise in two books, being a resolution of the Hypothetical Reasonings
of Hedylus; an essay, in three books, being a resolution of the
Hypothetical Reasonings of Alexander (this is an incorrect title); two
books of Expositions, addressed to Leodamas.
The fifth set contains, an introduction to Fallacy, addressed to
Aristocreon; an introduction to False Reasonings; a treatise in six
books, on Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon.
The sixth set contains, a treatise against those who believe Truth and
Falsehood to be the same thing. One, in two books, against those who have
recourse to division to resolve the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon; a
demonstrative essay, to prove that it is not proper to divide indefinite
terms; an essay, in three books, in answer to the objections against
the non-division of Indefinite Terms, addressed to Pasylus; a solution,
according to the principles of the ancients, addressed to Dioscorides; an
essay on the Resolution of the Fallacy, addressed to Aristocreon, this is
in three books; a resolution of the Hypothetical Arguments of Hedylus,
in one book, addressed to Aristocreon and Apollos.
The seventh set contains, a treatise against those who contend that
the premisses on the Fallacy, are false; a treatise on Negative
Reasoning, addressed to Aristocreon, in two books; one book of Negative
Reasonings, addressed to Gymnasias; two books of a treatise on Reasoning
by Progression, addressed to Stesagoras; two books of Reasonings by
Interrogation, and on the Arrest,[105] addressed to Onetor; an essay, in
two books, on the Corrected Argument, addressed to Aristobulus; another
on the Non-apparent Argument, addressed to Athenades.
The eighth set contains, an essay on the Argument Outis, in eight books,
addressed to Menecrates; a treatise, in two books, on Arguments composed
of a finite term, and an indefinite term, addressed to Pasylus; another
essay on the Argument Outis, addressed to Epicrates.
The ninth set contains, two volumes of Sophisms, addressed to Heraclides,
and Pollis; five volumes of Dialectic Arguments, which admit of no
solution, addressed to Dioscorides; an essay, in one book, against the
Method of Arcesilaus, addressed to Sphærus.
The tenth set contains, a treatise in six books, against Custom,
addressed to Metrodorus; and another, in seven books, on Custom,
addressed to Gorgippides.
There are, therefore, works on Logic, in the four grand classes which we
have here enumerated, embracing various questions, without any connection
with one another, to the number of thirty nine sets, amounting in the
whole to three hundred and eleven treatises on Logic.
The next division comprises those works which have for their object, the
explanation of Moral Ideas.
The first class of this division, contains an essay, giving a description
of Reason, addressed to Theosphorus; a book of Ethical questions; three
books of Principles, to serve as the foundation of Dogmas, addressed
to Philomathes; two books of definitions of Good-breeding, addressed
to Metrodorus; two books of definitions of the Bad, addressed to
Metrodorus; two books of definitions of Neutral Things, addressed also
to Metrodorus; seven books of definitions of Things, according to their
genera, addressed to Metrodorus; and two books of Definitions, according
to other systems, addressed to Metrodorus.
The second set contains, a treatise on Things Similar, in three books,
addressed to Aristocles; an essay on Definitions, in seven books,
addressed to Metrodorus.
The third set contains, a treatise, in seven books, on the Incorrect
Objections made to Definitions, addressed to Laodamas; two books of
Probable Arguments bearing on Definitions, addressed to Dioscorides;
two books on Species and Genus, addressed to Gorgippides; one book on
Divisions; two books on Contraries, addressed to Dionysius; a book of
Probable Arguments relating to Divisions, and Genera, and Species; a book
on Contraries.
The fourth set contains, a treatise, in seven books, on Etymologies,
addressed to Diocles; another, in four books, on the same subject,
addressed to the same person.
The fifth set contains, a treatise in two books, on Proverbs, addressed
to Zenodotus; an essay on Poems, addressed to Philomathes; an essay, on
How one Ought to Listen to Poems, in two books; an essay, in reply to
Critics, addressed to Diodorus.
The next division refers to Ethics, looked at in a general point of view,
and to the different systems arising out of them, and to the Virtues.
The first set contains, an essay against Pictures, addressed to Timonax;
an essay on the Manner in which we express ourselves about, and form our
Conceptions of, each separate thing; two books of Thoughts, addressed to
Laodamas; an essay, in three books, on Conception, addressed to Pythonax;
an essay, that the Wise Man is not Guided by Opinion; an essay, in five
books, on Comprehension, and Knowledge, and Ignorance; a treatise on
Reason, in two books; a treatise on the Employment of Reason, addressed
to Leptines.
The second set contains, a treatise, that the Ancient Philosophers
approved of Logic, with Proofs to support the Arguments, in two books,
addressed to Zeno; a treatise on Dialectics, in four books, addressed
to Aristocreon; an answer to the Objections urged against Dialectics,
in three books; an essay on Rhetoric, in four books, addressed to
Dioscorides.
The third set contains, a treatise on Habit, in three books, addressed
to Cleon; a treatise on Art and Want of Art, in four books, addressed to
Aristocreon; a treatise, in four books, on the Difference between the
Virtues, addressed to Diodorus; a treatise, to show that all the Virtues
are Equal; a treatise on the Virtues, in two books, addressed to Pollis.
The next division refers to Ethics, as relating to Good and Evil.
The first set contains, a treatise in ten books, on the Honourable, and
on Pleasure, addressed to Aristocreon; a demonstration, that Pleasure is
not the Chief Good of Man, in four books; a demonstration that Pleasure
is not a Good at all, in four books; a treatise on what is said by …[106]
BOOK VIII.
LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS.
I. Since we have now gone through the Ionian philosophy, which was
derived from Thales, and the lives of the several illustrious men who
were the chief ornaments of that school; we will now proceed to treat
of the Italian School, which was founded by Pythagoras, the son of
Mnesarchus, a seal engraver, as he is recorded to have been by Hermippus;
a native of Samos, or as Aristoxenus asserts, a Tyrrhenian, and a