The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
[49] This was a temple of the Muses which he had built for a school.
[50] So as to make it appear connected with γλυκὺς, sweet.
[51] στάμνος, means an earthenware jar for wine.
[52] The foregoing account hardly does justice to Demetrius, who was a
man of real ability, and of a very different class to the generality
of those whom the ancients dignified with the title of philosophers.
He was called Phalereus, to distinguish him from his contemporary
Demetrius Poliorcetes. His administration of the affairs of Athens was
so successful, that Cicero gives him the praise of having re-established
the sinking and almost prostrate power of the republic. (Cic. de Rep. ii.
1.) As an orator, he is spoken of by the same great authority with the
highest admiration. Cicero calls him “a subtle disputer, not vehement,
but very sweet, as a pupil of Theophrastus might be expected to be.”
(de Off. i. 3.) In another place he praises him as possessed of great
learning, and as one who “rather delighted than inflamed the Athenians.”
(de Clav. Orat. § 37.) And says, “that he was the first person who
endeavoured to soften eloquence, and who made it tender and gentle;
preferring to appear sweet, as indeed he was, rather than vehement.”
(Ibid. § 38.) In another place he says, “Demetrius Phalereus the most
polished of all those orators” (he has been mentioning Demosthenes,
Hyperides, Lycurgus, Æschines, and Dinarchus) “in my opinion.” (de
Orat. ii. 23.) And he praises him for not confining his learning to the
schools, but for bringing it into daily use, and employing it as one
of his ordinary weapons. (de Leg. iii. 14.) And asks who can be found
besides him who excelled in both ways, so as to be pre-eminent at the
same time as a scholar, and a governor of a state. (Ibid.) He mentions
his death in the oration for Rabirius Postumus, § 9. He appears to have
died about B.C. 282.
[53] From πομπὴ, a procession.
[54] There is a play on the similarity of the two sounds, κοινὴ, common,
and ποίνη, punishment.
[55] The Greek is, ἐς κόρακας, which was a proverb for utter destruction.
[56] The passage is not free from difficulty; but the thing which misled
Diogenes appears to have been that νόμισμα, the word here used, meant
both “a coin, or coinage,” and “a custom.”
[57] This line is from Euripides, Medea, 411.
[58] The saperda was the coracinus (a kind of fish) when salted.
[59] This is probably an allusion to a prosecution instituted by
Demosthenes against Midias, which was afterwards compromised by Midias
paying Demosthenes thirty minæ, or three thousand drachmæ. See Dem. Or.
cont. Midias.
[60] This is a pun upon the similarity of Athlias’s name to the Greek
adjective ἄθλιος, which signifies miserable.
[61] The ἱερομνήμονες were the sacred secretaries or recorders sent by
each Amphictyonic state to the council along with their πυλαγόρας, (the
actual deputy or minister). _L. & S._ Gr. & Eng. Lex., _in voc._
[62] There is a pun here. Χείρων is the word used for worse. Chiron was
also the most celebrated of the Centaurs, the tutor of Achilles.
[63] There is a pun intended here; as Diogenes proposed Didymus a fate
somewhat similar to that of the beaver.
Cupiens evadere damno
Testiculorum.
[64] This is taken from Homer, Il. κ. 387. Pope’s Version, 455.
[65] This is also from Homer, Il. θ. 95. Pope’s Version, 120.
[66] This is a parody on Homer, Il. ξ. 95, where the line ends οἷ’
ἀγορεύεις—“if such is your language,” which Diogenes here changes to οἷ’
ἀγοράζεις, if you buy such things.
[67] This is a line of the Phœnissæ of Euripides, v. 40.
[68] The pun here is on the similarity of the noun ἐλάαν, an olive, to
the verb ἐλαᾶν, to drive; the words μάστιξεν δ’ ἐλαᾶν are of frequent
occurrence in Homer.
[69] This line occurs, Hom. Il. ε. 83.
[70] The Samothracian Gods were Gods of the sea, and it was customary for
those who had been saved from shipwreck to make them an offering of some
part of what they had saved; and of their hair, if they had saved nothing
but their lives.
[71] Eurytion was another of the Centaurs, who was killed by Hercules.
[72] This is a pun on the similarity of the sound, Tegea, to τέγος, a
brothel.
[73] The Greek is ἔρανον αἰτούμενος πρὸς τὸν ἐρανάρχην ἔφη,—ἔρανος was
not only a subscription or contribution for the support of the poor, but
also a club or society of subscribers to a common fund for any purpose,
social, commercial, or charitable, or especially political.… On the
various ἔρανοι, v. Böckh, P. E. i. 328. Att. Process. p. 540, s. 99. _L.
& S. in voc._ ἔρανος.
[74] Hom. Il. Γ. 65.
[75] There is a pun here; κόρη means both “a girl” and “the pupil of the
eye.” And φθείρω, “to destroy,” is also especially used for “to seduce.”
[76] This is a parody on Homer. Il. 591. Pope’s Version, 760.
[77] Hom. Il. Σ. 395. Pope’s version, 460.
[78] This line is from the Bacchæ of Euripides, v. 1228.
[79] From this last paragraph it is inferred by some critics, that
originally the preceding memoirs of Crates, Metrocles, and Hipparchia
formed only one chapter or book.
[80] This a parody on two lines in the Antiope of Euripides:
Γνώμῃ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς εὖ μὲν οἰκοῦνται πόλεις,
Εὖ δ’ οἶκος εἴς τ’ αὖ πόλεμον ἰσχύει μέγα.
Which may be translated:—
Wisdom it is which regulates both cities,
And private citizens, and makes their lot
Secure and happy; nor is her influence
Of less account in war.
[81] A sort of guitar or violin.
[82] The Greek is, ἐν τῷ θερίζοντι λόγῳ, a species of argument so called,
because he who used it mowed or knocked down his adversaries.—Aldob.
[83] The Greek in the text is:—
Κεῖνος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται,
Ἐσθλὸς δ’ αὖ κἀκεῖνος ὃς αὐτὸς πάντα νοήσῃ.
The lines in Hesiod are:—
Κεῖνος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς αὐτὸς πάντα νοήσῃ
Ἐσθλὸς δ’ αὖ κἀκεῖνος ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται.—Op. E. Di. 293.
That man is best, whose unassisted wit
Perceives at once what in each case is fit.
And next to him, he surely is most wise,
Who willingly submits to good advice.
[84] Huerner thinks (as indeed is evident) that something is lost here;
and proposes to read the sentence thus:—Τῶν δὲ κατηγορημάτων τὰ μέν ἐστι
συμβάματα ὡς τὸ πλεῖν, οἷον Σωκράτης πλεῖ, τὰ δὲ παρασυμβάματα ὡς τὸ
διὰ πέτρας πλεῖν. With reference to which passage, Liddell and Scott,
Gr. Eng. Lex. _voc._ σύμβαμα, thus speak: “σύμβαμα … as a philosophical
term of the Stoics = κατηγόρημα, a complete predicament such as is an
intransitive verb: _e.g._ Σωκράτης περιπατεῖ; while an imperfect verb was
regarded as an incomplete predicament; _e.g._ Σωκράτει μέλει, and called
παρασύμβαμα, or παρακατηγόρημα.”
[85] This line is from the Inachus of Sophocles (one of his lost plays).
[86] Homer, Iliad II. 484.
[87] This line is from the Citharista of Menander.
[88] It would appear that there is a considerable hiatus here; for
the instance following is a sorites, and not a specimen of the veiled
argument. And there is no instance given of the concealed, or of the
horned one. Still, the mere fact of the text being unintelligible,
is far from proving that we have not got it as Diogenes wrote it; as
though in the language of the writer in Smith’s Biographical Dictionary,
vol. i. pp. 1022, 1023, “the work contains a rich store of living
features, which serve to illustrate the private life of the Greeks,” it
is equally clear that the author “was unequal to writing a history of
Greek philosophy. His work in reality is nothing but a compilation of
the most heterogeneous and often contradictory accounts.… The traces
of carelessness and mistakes are very numerous; much in the work is
confused, and there is also much that is quite absurd. And as far
as philosophy itself is concerned, Diogenes very frequently did not
know what he was talking about when he abridged the theories of the
philosophers.”
[89] The third point of view is wanting; and those that are given appear
to be ill selected. The French translator, following the hint of Huebner,
gives the following passage from Sextus Empiricus (a physician of the
Sceptic school, about B.C. 250), in his work against the Philosophers,
which he says may serve to rectify and complete the statement of
Diogenes Laërtius. “Good is said in one sense of that which produces
the useful, or from which the useful results; that is, the good _par
excellence_, virtue. For virtue is as it were the source from which all
utility naturally flows. In another sense it is said of that which is
accidentally the cause of utility; under this point of view we call good
not only virtue, but also those actions which are conformable to virtue,
for they are accidentally useful. In the third and last place, we call
good everything that possibly can be useful, comprehending under this
definition virtue, virtuous actions, friends, good men, the Gods, &c.,
&c.”
[90] Hom. Il. I. 81. Pope’s Version, l. 105.
[91] It is hardly necessary to remark that Ἀθηνᾶ is the name of Minerva,
not of Jupiter; Ἥρα, of Juno; Ἥφαιστος, of Vulcan; Ποσειδῶν, of Neptune,
and Δημήτηρ, of Ceres. Ἥφαιστος is properly derived from φαίνω, to
shine; Ποσειδῶν has some affinity with πόω, to drink. Δημήτηρ is only a
dialectic variation of Τῆ μητὴρ.
[92] There is a hiatus in the text here. Casaubon supplies the meaning by
a reference to Plutarch’s Treatise on the opinions of the Philosophers,
iii. 7, “that the winds are a flowing of the air, and that they have
various names with reference to the countries from which they flow.”
[93] Something is evidently wanting here; probably some mention of an
earthquake.
[94] This is similar to Virgil’s description.
Quinque tenent cœlum zonæ, quarum una corusco
Semper Sole rubens, et torrida semper ab igni:
Quam circum extremæ dextrà lævàque trahuntur.
Cœruleâ glacie concretæ atque imbribus atris.
Has inter mediamque duæ mortalibus ægris
Munere concessæ Divûm, et via secta per ambas,
Obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo.—GEORG. I. 233.
There is no part of Dryden’s translation superior to that of this passage.
Five girdles bind the skies; the torrid zone
Glows with the passing and repassing sun;
Far on the right and left, th’ extremes of heaven,
To frosts, and snows, and bitter blasts are given;
Betwixt the midst. And there the Gods assigned
Four habitable seats for human kind,
And, cross their limits cut a sloping way,
Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway. l. 322.
[95] “Ὑποτελὶς, a name given by Herillus in Diogenes Laërtius to a man’s
natural talents, &c., which ought all to be subordinate to the attainment
of the chief good.”—L. & S. _in voc._
[96] From φρέαρ, a well, and ἀντλέω to draw water.
[97] The Greek used is ἀποφορὰ; which was a term especially applied to
the money which slaves let out to hire paid to their master.
[98] This is a parody on Hom. Il. iii. 196. Pope’s version, i. 260. The
word ὅλμος means the mouth piece of a flute.
[99] Taken from the Orestes of Euripides, i. 140.
[100] This is parodied from Hom. Od. iv. 611. Pope’s version, l. 831.
[101] This is referring to the Stoic doctrine ridiculed by Horace:
Si dives qui sapiens est,
Et sutor bonus, et solus formosus, et est Rex
Cur optas quod habes?—Hor. Sat. i. 130.
Which may be translated:—
If every man is rich who’s wise,
A cobbler too beyond all price;
A handsome man, and eke a king;
Why thus your vows at random fling?
[102] From κρύπτω, to hide, and ἵππος, a horse.
[103] These lines are from the Erestes of Euripides, v. 247.
[104] This is a quotation from Homer, Od. x. 495. Pope’s Version, 586.
The Greek here is, οἷος πέπνυται. The line in Homer stands: