1.125. Furthermore, the wise man does all things well, just as we say that Ismenias plays all airs on the flute well. Also everything belongs to the wise. For the law, they say, has conferred upon them a perfect right to all things. It is true that certain things are said to belong to the bad, just as what has been dishonestly acquired may be said, in one sense, to belong to the state, in another sense to those who are enjoying it. They hold that the virtues involve one another, and that the possessor of one is the possessor of all, inasmuch as they have common principles, as Chrysippus says in the first book of his work On Virtues, Apollodorus in his Physics according to the Early School, and Hecato in the third book of his treatise On Virtues.
1.125. Πάντα τʼ εὖ ποιεῖν τὸν σοφόν, ὡς καὶ πάντα φαμὲν τὰ αὐλήματα εὖ αὐλεῖν τὸν Ἰσμηνίαν. καὶ τῶν σοφῶν δὲ πάντα εἶναι· δεδωκέναι γὰρ αὐτοῖς παντελῆ ἐξουσίαν τὸν νόμον. τῶν δὲ φαύλων εἶναί τινα λέγεται, ὃν τρόπον καὶ τῶν ἀδίκων, ἄλλως μὲν τῆς πόλεως, ἄλλως δὲ τῶν χρωμένων φαμέν. Τὰς δʼ ἀρετὰς λέγουσιν ἀντακολουθεῖν ἀλλήλαις καὶ τὸν μίαν ἔχοντα πάσας ἔχειν· εἶναι γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰ θεωρήματα κοινά, καθάπερ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ ἀρετῶν φησιν, Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχαίαν, Ἑκάτων δὲ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ Περὶ ἀρετῶν.
1.126. For if a man be possessed of virtue, he is at once able to discover and to put into practice what he ought to do. Now such rules of conduct comprise rules for choosing, enduring, staying, and distributing; so that if a man does some things by intelligent choice, some things with fortitude, some things by way of just distribution, and some steadily, he is at once wise, courageous, just, and temperate. And each of the virtues has a particular subject with which it deals, as, for instance, courage is concerned with things that must be endured, practical wisdom with acts to be done, acts from which one must abstain, and those which fall under neither head. Similarly each of the other virtues is concerned with its own proper sphere. To wisdom are subordinate good counsel and understanding; to temperance, good discipline and orderliness; to justice, equality and fair-mindedness; to courage, constancy and vigour.
1.126. τὸν γὰρ ἐνάρετον θεωρητικόν τʼ εἶναι καὶ πρακτικὸν τῶν ποιητέων. τὰ δὲ ποιητέα καὶ αἱρετέα ἐστὶ καὶ ὑπομενητέα καὶ ἐμμενητέα καὶ ἀπονεμητέα, ὥστʼ εἰ τὰ μὲν αἱρετικῶς ποιεῖ, τὰ δʼ ὑπομενητικῶς, τὰ δʼ ἀπονεμητικῶς, τὰ δʼ ἐμμενητικῶς, φρόνιμός τʼ ἐστὶ καὶ ἀνδρεῖος καὶ δίκαιος καὶ σώφρων. κεφαλαιοῦσθαί θʼ ἑκάστην τῶν ἀρετῶν περί τι ἴδιον κεφάλαιον, οἷον τὴν ἀνδρείαν περὶ τὰ ὑπομενητέα, τὴν φρόνησιν περὶ τὰ ποιητέα καὶ μὴ καὶ οὐδέτερα· ὁμοίως τε καὶ τὰς ἄλλας περὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τρέπεσθαι. ἕπονται δὲ τῇ μὲν φρονήσει εὐβουλία καὶ σύνεσις, τῇ δὲ σωφροσύνῃ εὐταξία καὶ κοσμιότης, τῇ δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ ἰσότης καὶ εὐγνωμοσύνη, τῇ δὲ ἀνδρείᾳ ἀπαραλλαξία καὶ εὐτονία.
1.127. It is a tenet of theirs that between virtue and vice there is nothing intermediate, whereas according to the Peripatetics there is, namely, the state of moral improvement. For, say the Stoics, just as a stick must be either straight or crooked, so a man must be either just or unjust. Nor again are there degrees of justice and injustice; and the same rule applies to the other virtues. Further, while Chrysippus holds that virtue can be lost, Cleanthes maintains that it cannot. According to the former it may be lost in consequence of drunkenness or melancholy; the latter takes it to be inalienable owing to the certainty of our mental apprehension. And virtue in itself they hold to be worthy of choice for its own sake. At all events we are ashamed of bad conduct as if we knew that nothing is really good but the morally beautiful. Moreover, they hold that it is in itself sufficient to ensure well-being: thus Zeno, and Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Virtues, and Hecato in the second book of his treatise On Goods:
1.127. Ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτοῖς μηδὲν μεταξὺ εἶναι ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας, τῶν Περιπατητικῶν μεταξὺ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας εἶναι λεγόντων τὴν προκοπήν· ὡς γὰρ δεῖν φασιν ἢ ὀρθὸν εἶναι ξύλον ἢ στρεβλόν, οὕτως ἢ δίκαιον ἢ ἄδικον, οὔτε δὲ δικαιότερον οὔτʼ ἀδικώτερον, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὁμοίως. καὶ μὴν τὴν ἀρετὴν Χρύσιππος μὲν ἀποβλητήν, Κλεάνθης δὲ ἀναπόβλητον· ὁ μὲν ἀποβλητὴν διὰ μέθην καὶ μελαγχολίαν, ὁ δʼ ἀναπόβλητον διὰ βεβαίους καταλήψεις· καὶ αὐτὴν διʼ 〈αὑτὴν〉 αἱρετὴν εἶναι. αἰσχυνόμεθα γοῦν ἐφʼ οἷς κακῶς πράττομεν, ὡς ἂν μόνον τὸ καλὸν εἰδότες ἀγαθόν. αὐτάρκη τʼ εἶναι αὐτὴν πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν, καθά φησι Ζήνων καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ ἀρετῶν καὶ Ἑκάτων ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Περὶ ἀγαθῶν.
1.128. “For if magnanimity by itself alone can raise us far above everything, and if magnanimity is but a part of virtue, then too virtue as a whole will be sufficient in itself for well-being —despising all things that seem troublesome.” Panaetius, however, and Posidonius deny that virtue is self-sufficing: on the contrary, health is necessary, and some means of living and strength. Another tenet of theirs is the perpetual exercise of virtue, as held by Cleanthes and his followers. For virtue can never be lost, and the good man is always exercising his mind, which is perfect. Again, they say that justice, as well as law and right reason, exists by nature and not by convention: so Chrysippus in his work On the Morally Beautiful.
1.128. εἰ γάρ, φησίν, αὐτάρκης ἐστὶν ἡ μεγαλοψυχία πρὸς τὸ πάντων ὑπεράνω ποιεῖν, ἔστι δὲ μέρος τῆς ἀρετῆς, αὐτάρκης ἔσται καὶ ἡ ἀρετὴ πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν καταφρονοῦσα καὶ τῶν δοκούντων ὀχληρῶν. ὁ μέντοι Παναίτιος καὶ Ποσειδώνιος οὐκ αὐτάρκη λέγουσι τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀλλὰ χρείαν εἶναί φασι καὶ ὑγιείας καὶ χορηγίας καὶ ἰσχύος. Ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ διὰ παντὸς χρῆσθαι τῇ ἀρετῇ, ὡς οἱ περὶ Κλεάνθην φασίν· ἀναπόβλητος γάρ ἐστι καὶ πάντοτε τῇ ψυχῇ χρῆται οὔσῃ τελείᾳ ὁ σπουδαῖος. φύσει τε τὸ δίκαιον εἶναι καὶ μὴ θέσει, ὡς καὶ τὸν νόμον καὶ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον, καθά φησι Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ Περὶ τοῦ καλοῦ.
1.129. Neither do they think that the divergence of opinion between philosophers is any reason for abandoning the study of philosophy, since at that rate we should have to give up life altogether: so Posidonius in his Exhortations. Chrysippus allows that the ordinary Greek education is serviceable. It is their doctrine that there can be no question of right as between man and the lower animals, because of their unlikeness. Thus Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Justice, and Posidonius in the first book of his De officio. Further, they say that the wise man will feel affection for the youths who by their countenance show a natural endowment for virtue. So Zeno in his Republic, Chrysippus in book i. of his work On Modes of Life, and Apollodorus in his Ethics.
1.129. δοκεῖ δʼ αὐτοῖς μηδὲ διὰ τὴν διαφωνίαν ἀφίστασθαι φιλοσοφίας, ἐπεὶ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ προλείψειν ὅλον τὸν βίον, ὡς καὶ Ποσειδώνιός φησιν ἐν τοῖς Προτρεπτικοῖς. εὐχρηστεῖν δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐγκύκλια μαθήματά φησιν ὁ Χρύσιππος. Ἔτι ἀρέσκει αὐτοῖς μηδὲν εἶναι ἡμῖν δίκαιον πρὸς τὰ ἄλλα ζῷα, διὰ τὴν ἀνομοιότητα, καθά φησι Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ καθήκοντος. καὶ ἐρασθήσεσθαι δὲ τὸν σοφὸν τῶν νέων τῶν ἐμφαινόντων διὰ τοῦ εἴδους τὴν πρὸς ἀρετὴν εὐφυΐαν, ὥς φησι Ζήνων ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ βίων καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῇ Ἠθικῇ.
1.130. Their definition of love is an effort toward friendliness due to visible beauty appearing, its sole end being friendship, not bodily enjoyment. At all events, they allege that Thrasonides, although he had his mistress in his power, abstained from her because she hated him. By which it is shown, they think, that love depends upon regard, as Chrysippus says in his treatise Of Love, and is not sent by the gods. And beauty they describe as the bloom or flower of virtue. Of the three kinds of life, the contemplative, the practical, and the rational, they declare that we ought to choose the last, for that a rational being is expressly produced by nature for contemplation and for action. They tell us that the wise man will for reasonable cause make his own exit from life, on his country’s behalf or for the sake of his friends, or if he suffer intolerable pain, mutilation, or incurable disease.
1.130. Εἶναι δὲ τὸν ἔρωτα ἐπιβολὴν φιλοποιίας διὰ κάλλος ἐμφαινόμενον· καὶ μὴ εἶναι συνουσίας, ἀλλὰ φιλίας. τὸν γοῦν Θρασωνίδην καίπερ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ ἔχοντα τὴν ἐρωμένην, διὰ τὸ μισεῖσθαι ἀπέχεσθαι αὐτῆς. εἶναι οὖν τὸν ἔρωτα φιλίας, ὡς καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ Περὶ ἔρωτός φησι· καὶ μὴ εἶναι θεόπεμπτον αὐτόν. εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὴν ὥραν ἄνθος ἀρετῆς. Βίων δὲ τριῶν ὄντων, θεωρητικοῦ καὶ πρακτικοῦ καὶ λογικοῦ, τὸν τρίτον φασὶν αἱρετέον· γεγονέναι γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπίτηδες τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον πρὸς θεωρίαν καὶ πρᾶξιν. εὐλόγως τέ φασιν ἐξάξειν ἑαυτὸν τοῦ βίου τὸν σοφόν, καὶ ὑπὲρ πατρίδος καὶ ὑπὲρ φίλων, κἂν ἐν σκληροτέρᾳ γένηται ἀλγηδόνι ἢ πηρώσεσιν ἢ νόσοις ἀνιάτοις.
1.131. It is also their doctrine that amongst the wise there should be a community of wives with free choice of partners, as Zeno says in his Republic and Chrysippus in his treatise On Government [and not only they, but also Diogenes the Cynic and Plato]. Under such circumstances we shall feel paternal affection for all the children alike, and there will be an end of the jealousies arising from adultery. The best form of government they hold to be a mixture of democracy, kingship, and aristocracy (or the rule of the best). Such, then, are the statements they make in their ethical doctrines, with much more besides, together with their proper proofs: let this, however, suffice for a statement of them in a summary and elementary form.
1.131. Ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς γυναῖκας δεῖν παρὰ τοῖς σοφοῖς, ὥστε τὸν ἐντυχόντα τῇ ἐντυχούσῃ χρῆσθαι, καθά φησι Ζήνων ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ Περὶ πολιτείας, [ἀλλʼ ἔτι Διογένης ὁ κυνικὸς καὶ Πλάτων]. πάντας τε παῖδας ἐπίσης στέρξομεν πατέρων τρόπον καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ ζηλοτυπία περιαιρεθήσεται. πολιτείαν δʼ ἀρίστην τὴν μικτὴν ἔκ τε δημοκρατίας καὶ βασιλείας καὶ ἀριστοκρατίας. Καὶ ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἠθικοῖς δόγμασι τοιαῦτα λέγουσι καὶ τούτων πλείω μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων ἀποδείξεων· ταῦτα δʼ ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίοις ἡμῖν λελέχθω καὶ στοιχειωδῶς.
1.132. Their physical doctrine they divide into sections (1) about bodies; (2) about principles; (3) about elements; (4) about the gods; (5) about bounding surfaces and space whether filled or empty. This is a division into species; but the generic division is into three parts, dealing with (i.) the universe; (ii.) the elements; (iii.) the subject of causation. The part dealing with the universe admits, they say, of division into two: for with one aspect of it the mathematicians also are concerned, in so far as they treat questions relating to the fixed stars and the planets, e.g. whether the sun is or is not just so large as it appears to be, and the same about the moon, the question of their revolutions, and other inquiries of the same sort. But there is another aspect or field of cosmological inquiry, which belongs to the physicists alone:
1.132. Τὸν δὲ φυσικὸν λόγον διαιροῦσιν εἴς τε τὸν περὶ σωμάτων τόπον καὶ περὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ στοιχείων καὶ θεῶν καὶ περάτων καὶ τόπου καὶ κενοῦ. καὶ οὕτω μὲν εἰδικῶς, γενικῶς δʼ εἰς τρεῖς τόπους, τόν τε περὶ κόσμου καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν στοιχείων καὶ τρίτον τὸν αἰτιολογικόν. Τὸν δὲ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου διαιρεῖσθαί φασιν εἰς δύο μέρη. μιᾷ γὰρ σκέψει ἐπικοινωνεῖν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν μαθημάτων, καθʼ ἣν ζητοῦσι περί τε τῶν ἀπλανῶν καὶ τῶν πλανωμένων, οἷον εἰ ὁ ἥλιός ἐστι τηλικοῦτος ἡλίκος φαίνεται, καὶ ὁμοίως εἰ ἡ σελήνη, καὶ περὶ δινήσεως καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων τούτοις ζητημάτων.
1.133. this includes such questions as what the substance of the universe is, whether the sun and the stars are made up of form and matter, whether the world has had a beginning in time or not, whether it is animate or inanimate, whether it is destructible or indestructible, whether it is governed by providence, and all the rest. The part concerned with causation, again, is itself subdivided into two. And in one of its aspects medical inquiries have a share in it, in so far as it involves investigation of the ruling principle of the soul and the phenomena of soul, seeds, and the like. Whereas the other part is claimed by the mathematicians also, e.g. how vision is to be explained, what causes the image on the mirror, what is the origin of clouds, thunder, rainbows, halos, comets, and the like.
1.133. ἑτέραν δʼ αὐτοῦ σκέψιν εἶναι ἥτις μόνοις τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἐπιβάλλει, καθʼ ἣν ζητεῖται ἥ τʼ οὐσία αὐτοῦ [καὶ εἰ ὁ ἥλιος καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες ἐξ ὕλης καὶ εἴδους] καὶ εἰ γενητὸς ἢ ἀγένητος καὶ εἰ ἔμψυχος ἢ ἄψυχος καὶ εἰ φθαρτὸς ἢ ἄφθαρτος καὶ εἰ προνοίᾳ διοικεῖται καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν. τόν τʼ αἰτιολογικὸν εἶναι καὶ αὐτὸν διμερῆ. μιᾷ δʼ αὐτοῦ ἐπισκέψει ἐπικοινωνεῖν τὴν τῶν ἰατρῶν ζήτησιν, καθʼ ἣν ζητοῦσι περί τε τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν ψυχῇ γινομένων καὶ περὶ σπερμάτων καὶ τῶν τούτοις ὁμοίων· τοῦ δʼ ἑτέρου καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν μαθημάτων ἀντιποιεῖσθαι, οἷον πῶς ὁρῶμεν, τίς ἡ αἰτία τῆς κατοπτρικῆς φαντασίας, ὅπως νέφη συνίσταται, βρονταὶ καὶ ἴριδες καὶ ἅλως καὶ κομῆται καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια.
1.134. They hold that there are two principles in the universe, the active principle and the passive. The passive principle, then, is a substance without quality, i.e. matter, whereas the active is the reason inherent in this substance, that is God. For he is everlasting and is the artificer of each several thing throughout the whole extent of matter. This doctrine is laid down by Zeno of Citium in his treatise On Existence, Cleanthes in his work On Atoms, Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics towards the end, Archedemus in his treatise On Elements, and Posidonius in the second book of his Physical Exposition. There is a difference, according to them, between principles and elements; the former being without generation or destruction, whereas the elements are destroyed when all things are resolved into fire. Moreover, the principles are incorporeal and destitute of form, while the elements have been endowed with form.
1.134. Δοκεῖ δʼ αὐτοῖς ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων δύο, τὸ ποιοῦν καὶ τὸ πάσχον. τὸ μὲν οὖν πάσχον εἶναι τὴν ἄποιον οὐσίαν τὴν ὕλην, τὸ δὲ ποιοῦν τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ λόγον τὸν θεόν· τοῦτον γὰρ ἀΐδιον ὄντα διὰ πάσης αὐτῆς δημιουργεῖν ἕκαστα. τίθησι δὲ τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο Ζήνων μὲν ὁ Κιτιεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ οὐσίας, Κλεάνθης δʼ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν ἀτόμων, Χρύσιππος δʼ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Φυσικῶν πρὸς τῷ τέλει, Ἀρχέδημος δʼ ἐν τῷ Περὶ στοιχείων καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου. διαφέρειν δέ φασιν ἀρχὰς καὶ στοιχεῖα· τὰς μὲν γὰρ εἶναι ἀγενήτους 〈καὶ〉 ἀφθάρτους, τὰ δὲ στοιχεῖα κατὰ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν φθείρεσθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσωμάτους εἶναι τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ ἀμόρφους, τὰ δὲ μεμορφῶσθαι.
1.135. Body is defined by Apollodorus in his Physics as that which is extended in three dimensions, length, breadth, and depth. This is also called solid body. But surface is the extremity of a solid body, or that which has length and breadth only without depth. That surface exists not only in our thought but also in reality is maintained by Posidonius in the third book of his Celestial Phenomena. A line is the extremity of a surface or length without breadth, or that which has length alone. A point is the extremity of a line, the smallest possible mark or dot. God is one and the same with Reason, Fate, and Zeus; he is also called by many other names.
1.135. Σῶμα δʼ ἐστίν, ὥς φησιν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ, τὸ τριχῆ διαστατόν, εἰς μῆκος, εἰς πλάτος, εἰς βάθος· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ στερεὸν σῶμα καλεῖται. ἐπιφάνεια δʼ ἐστὶ σώματος πέρας ἢ τὸ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος μόνον ἔχον, βάθος δʼ οὔ· ταύτην δὲ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ μετεώρων καὶ κατʼ ἐπίνοιαν καὶ καθʼ ὑπόστασιν ἀπολείπει. γραμμὴ δʼ ἐστὶν ἐπιφανείας πέρας ἢ μῆκος ἀπλατὲς ἢ τὸ μῆκος μόνον ἔχον. στιγμὴ δʼ ἐστὶ γραμμῆς πέρας, ἥτις ἐστὶ σημεῖον ἐλάχιστον. Ἕν τʼ εἶναι θεὸν καὶ νοῦν καὶ εἱμαρμένην καὶ Δία· πολλάς τʼ ἑτέρας ὀνομασίας προσονομάζεσθαι.
1.136. In the beginning he was by himself; he transformed the whole of substance through air into water, and just as in animal generation the seed has a moist vehicle, so in cosmic moisture God, who is the seminal reason of the universe, remains behind in the moisture as such an agent, adapting matter to himself with a view to the next stage of creation. Thereupon he created first of all the four elements, fire, water, air, earth. They are discussed by Zeno in his treatise On the Whole, by Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics, and by Archedemus in a work On Elements. An element is defined as that from which particular things first come to be at their birth and into which they are finally resolved.
1.136. κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν οὖν καθʼ αὑτὸν ὄντα τρέπειν τὴν πᾶσαν οὐσίαν διʼ ἀέρος εἰς ὕδωρ· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ γονῇ τὸ σπέρμα περιέχεται, οὕτω καὶ τοῦτον σπερματικὸν λόγον ὄντα τοῦ κόσμου, τοιόνδʼ ὑπολείπεσθαι ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ, εὐεργὸν αὑτῷ ποιοῦντα τὴν ὕλην πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἑξῆς γένεσιν· εἶτʼ ἀπογεννᾶν πρῶτον τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, πῦρ, ὕδωρ, ἀέρα, γῆν. λέγει δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν Ζήνων τʼ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τοῦ ὅλου καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Φυσικῶν καὶ Ἀρχέδημος ἔν τινι Περὶ στοιχείων. ἔστι δὲ στοιχεῖον ἐξ οὗ πρώτου γίνεται τὰ γινόμενα καὶ εἰς ὃ ἔσχατον ἀναλύεται.
1.137. The four elements together constitute unqualified substance or matter. Fire is the hot element, water the moist, air the cold, earth the dry. Not but what the quality of dryness is also found in the air. Fire has the uppermost place; it is also called aether, and in it the sphere of the fixed stars is first created; then comes the sphere of the planets, next to that the air, then the water, and lowest of all the earth, which is at the centre of all things. The term universe or cosmos is used by them in three senses: (1) of God himself, the individual being whose quality is derived from the whole of substance; he is indestructible and ingenerable, being the artificer of this orderly arrangement, who at stated periods of time absorbs into himself the whole of substance and again creates it from himself.
1.137. τὰ δὴ τέτταρα στοιχεῖα εἶναι ὁμοῦ τὴν ἄποιον οὐσίαν τὴν ὕλην· εἶναι δὲ τὸ μὲν πῦρ τὸ θερμόν, τὸ δʼ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑγρόν, τόν τʼ ἀέρα τὸ ψυχρὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν τὸ ξηρόν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔτι ἐν τῷ ἀέρι εἶναι τὸ αὐτὸ μέρος. ἀνωτάτω μὲν οὖν εἶναι τὸ πῦρ, ὃ δὴ αἰθέρα καλεῖσθαι, ἐν ᾧ πρώτην τὴν τῶν ἀπλανῶν σφαῖραν γεννᾶσθαι, εἶτα τὴν τῶν πλανωμένων· μεθʼ ἣν τὸν ἀέρα, εἶτα τὸ ὕδωρ, ὑποστάθμην δὲ πάντων τὴν γῆν, μέσην ἁπάντων οὖσαν. Λέγουσι δὲ κόσμον τριχῶς· αὐτόν τε τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἐκ τῆς ἁπάσης οὐσίας ἰδίως ποιόν, ὃς δὴ ἄφθαρτός ἐστι καὶ ἀγένητος, δημιουργὸς ὢν τῆς διακοσμήσεως, κατὰ χρόνων ποιὰς περιόδους ἀναλίσκων εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὴν ἅπασαν οὐσίαν καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ γεννῶν.
1.138. (2) Again, they give the name of cosmos to the orderly arrangement of the heavenly bodies in itself as such; and (3) in the third place to that whole of which these two are parts. Again, the cosmos is defined as the individual being qualifying the whole of substance, or, in the words of Posidonius in his elementary treatise on Celestial Phenomena, a system made up of heaven and earth and the natures in them, or, again, as a system constituted by gods and men and all things created for their sake. By heaven is meant the extreme circumference or ring in which the deity has his seat. The world, in their view, is ordered by reason and providence: so says Chrysippus in the fifth book of his treatise On Providence and Posidonius in his work On the Gods, book iii.—inasmuch as reason pervades every part of it, just as does the soul in us. Only there is a difference of degree; in some parts there is more of it, in others less.
1.138. καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν διακόσμησιν τῶν ἀστέρων κόσμον εἶναι λέγουσι· καὶ τρίτον τὸ συνεστηκὸς ἐξ ἀμφοῖν. καὶ ἔστι κόσμος ὁ ἰδίως ποιὸς τῆς τῶν ὅλων οὐσίας ἤ, ὥς φησι Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῇ Μετεωρολογικῇ στοιχειώσει, σύστημα ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις φύσεων ἢ σύστημα ἐκ θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν ἕνεκα τούτων γεγονότων. οὐρανὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἐσχάτη περιφέρεια ἐν ᾗ πᾶν ἵδρυται τὸ θεῖον. Τὸν δὴ κόσμον διοικεῖσθαι κατὰ νοῦν καὶ πρόνοιαν, καθά φησι Χρύσιππός τʼ ἐν τῷ πέμπτῳ Περὶ προνοίας καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ Περὶ θεῶν, εἰς ἅπαν αὐτοῦ μέρος διήκοντος τοῦ νοῦ, καθάπερ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς· ἀλλʼ ἤδη διʼ ὧν μὲν μᾶλλον, διʼ ὧν δὲ ἧττον.
1.139. For through some parts it passes as a “hold” or containing force, as is the case with our bones and sinews; while through others it passes as intelligence, as in the ruling part of the soul. Thus, then, the whole world is a living being, endowed with soul and reason, and having aether for its ruling principle: so says Antipater of Tyre in the eighth book of his treatise On the Cosmos. Chrysippus in the first book of his work On Providence and Posidonius in his book On the Gods say that the heaven, but Cleanthes that the sun, is the ruling power of the world. Chrysippus, however, in the course of the same work gives a somewhat different account, namely, that it is the purer part of the aether; the same which they declare to be preeminently God and always to have, as it were in sensible fashion, pervaded all that is in the air, all animals and plants, and also the earth itself, as a principle of cohesion.
1.139. διʼ ὧν μὲν γὰρ ὡς ἕξις κεχώρηκεν, ὡς διὰ τῶν ὀστῶν καὶ τῶν νεύρων· διʼ ὧν δὲ ὡς νοῦς, ὡς διὰ τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ. οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸν ὅλον κόσμον ζῷον ὄντα καὶ ἔμψυχον καὶ λογικόν, ἔχειν ἡγεμονικὸν μὲν τὸν αἰθέρα, καθά φησιν Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Τύριος ἐν τῷ ὀγδόῳ Περὶ κόσμου. Χρύσιππος δʼ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ προνοίας καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ Περὶ θεῶν τὸν οὐρανόν φασι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τοῦ κόσμου, Κλεάνθης δὲ τὸν ἥλιον. ὁ μέντοι Χρύσιππος διαφορώτερον πάλιν τὸ καθαρώτερον τοῦ αἰθέρος ἐν ταὐτῷ, ὃ καὶ πρῶτον θεὸν λέγουσιν αἰσθητικῶς ὥσπερ κεχωρηκέναι διὰ τῶν ἐν ἀέρι καὶ διὰ τῶν ζῴων ἁπάντων καὶ φυτῶν· διὰ δὲ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς καθʼ ἕξιν.
1.140. The world, they say, is one and finite, having a spherical shape, such a shape being the most suitable for motion, as Posidonius says in the fifth book of his Physical Discourse and the disciples of Antipater in their works on the Cosmos. Outside of the world is diffused the infinite void, which is incorporeal. By incorporeal is meant that which, though capable of being occupied by body, is not so occupied. The world has no empty space within it, but forms one united whole. This is a necessary result of the sympathy and tension which binds together things in heaven and earth. Chrysippus discusses the void in his work On Void and in the first book of his Physical Sciences; so too Apollophanes in his Physics, Apollodorus, and Posidonius in his Physical Discourse, book ii. But these, it is added [i.e. sympathy and tension], are likewise bodies.
1.140. Ἕνα τὸν κόσμον εἶναι καὶ τοῦτον πεπερασμένον, σχῆμʼ ἔχοντα σφαιροειδές· πρὸς γὰρ τὴν κίνησιν ἁρμοδιώτατον τὸ τοιοῦτον, καθά φησι Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ πέμπτῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου καὶ οἱ περὶ Ἀντίπατρον ἐν τοῖς περὶ κόσμου. ἔξωθεν δʼ αὐτοῦ περικεχυμένον εἶναι τὸ κενὸν ἄπειρον, ὅπερ ἀσώματον εἶναι· ἀσώματον δὲ τὸ οἷόν τε κατέχεσθαι ὑπὸ σωμάτων οὐ κατεχόμενον· ἐν δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ μηδὲν εἶναι κενόν, ἀλλʼ ἡνῶσθαι αὐτόν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἀναγκάζειν τὴν τῶν οὐρανίων πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια σύμπνοιαν καὶ συντονίαν. φησὶ δὲ περὶ τοῦ κενοῦ Χρύσιππος μὲν ἐν τῷ Περὶ κενοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Φυσικῶν τεχνῶν καὶ Ἀπολλοφάνης ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν δευτέρῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου. εἶναι δὲ καὶ ταῦτα [ἀ]σώματα ὁμοίως.
1.141. Time too is incorporeal, being the measure of the world’s motion. And time past and time future are infinite, but time present is finite. They hold that the world must come to an end, inasmuch as it had a beginning, on the analogy of those things which are understood by the senses. And that of which the parts are perishable is perishable as a whole. Now the parts of the world are perishable, seeing that they are transformed one into the other. Therefore the world itself is doomed to perish. Moreover, anything is destructible if it admits of deterioration; therefore the world is so, for it is first evaporated and again dissolved into water.
1.141. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸν χρόνον ἀσώματον, διάστημα ὄντα τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κινήσεως. τούτου δὲ τὸν μὲν παρῳχηκότα καὶ τὸν μέλλοντα ἀπείρους, τὸν δʼ ἐνεστῶτα πεπερασμένον. ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ φθαρτὸν εἶναι τὸν κόσμον, ἅτε γενητὸν τῷ λόγῳ τῶν διʼ αἰσθήσεως νοουμένων, οὗ τε τὰ μέρη φθαρτά ἐστι, καὶ τὸ ὅλον· τὰ δὲ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου φθαρτά· εἰς ἄλληλα γὰρ μεταβάλλει· φθαρτὸς ἄρα ὁ κόσμος. καὶ εἴ τι ἐπιδεκτικόν ἐστι τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον μεταβολῆς, φθαρτόν ἐστι· καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἄρα· ἐξαυχμοῦται γὰρ καὶ ἐξυδατοῦται.
1.142. The world, they hold, comes into being when its substance has first been converted from fire through air into moisture and then the coarser part of the moisture has condensed as earth, while that whose particles are fine has been turned into air, and this process of rarefaction goes on increasing till it generates fire. Thereupon out of these elements animals and plants and all other natural kinds are formed by their mixture. The generation and the destruction of the world are discussed by Zeno in his treatise On the Whole, by Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics, by Posidonius in the first book of his work On the Cosmos, by Cleanthes, and by Antipater in his tenth book On the Cosmos. Panaetius, however, maintained that the world is indestructible. The doctrine that the world is a living being, rational, animate and intelligent, is laid down by Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Providence, by Apollodorus in his Physics, and by Posidonius.
1.142. Γίνεσθαι δὲ τὸν κόσμον ὅταν ἐκ πυρὸς ἡ οὐσία τραπῇ διʼ ἀέρος εἰς ὑγρότητα, εἶτα τὸ παχυμερὲς αὐτοῦ συστὰν ἀποτελεσθῇ γῆ, τὸ δὲ λεπτομερὲς ἐξαερωθῇ, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐπὶ πλέον λεπτυνθὲν πῦρ ἀπογεννήσῃ. εἶτα κατὰ μίξιν ἐκ τούτων φυτά τε καὶ ζῷα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα γένη. περὶ δὴ οὖν τῆς γενέσεως καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς τοῦ κόσμου φησὶ Ζήνων μὲν ἐν τῷ Περὶ ὅλου, Χρύσιππος δʼ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Φυσικῶν καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ κόσμου καὶ Κλεάνθης καὶ Ἀντίπατρος ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ Περὶ κόσμου. Παναίτιος δʼ ἄφθαρτον ἀπεφήνατο τὸν κόσμον. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ζῷον ὁ κόσμος καὶ λογικὸν καὶ ἔμψυχον καὶ νοερὸν καὶ Χρύσιππός φησιν ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ προνοίας καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος [φησὶν] ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ καὶ Ποσειδώνιος·
1.143. It is a living thing in the sense of an animate substance endowed with sensation; for animal is better than non-animal, and nothing is better than the world, ergo the world is a living being. And it is endowed with soul, as is clear from our several souls being each a fragment of it. Boëthus, however, denies that the world is a living thing. The unity of the world is maintained by Zeno in his treatise On the Whole, by Chrysippus, by Apollodorus in his Physics, and by Posidonius in the first book of his Physical Discourse. By the totality of things, the All, is meant, according to Apollodorus, (1) the world, and in another sense (2) the system composed of the world and the void outside it. The world then is finite, the void infinite.
1.143. ζῷον μὲν οὕτως ὄντα, οὐσίαν ἔμψυχον αἰσθητικήν. τὸ γὰρ ζῷον τοῦ μὴ ζῴου κρεῖττον· οὐδὲν δὲ τοῦ κόσμου κρεῖττον· ζῷον ἄρʼ ὁ κόσμος. ἔμψυχον δέ, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας ψυχῆς ἐκεῖθεν οὔσης ἀποσπάσματος. Βόηθος δέ φησιν οὐκ εἶναι ζῷον τὸν κόσμον. ὅτι θʼ εἷς ἐστι Ζήνων φησὶν ἐν τῷ Περὶ τοῦ ὅλου καὶ Χρύσιππος καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν πρώτῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου. τὸ δὲ πᾶν λέγεται, ὥς φησιν Ἀπολλόδωρος, ὅ τε κόσμος καὶ καθʼ ἕτερον τρόπον τὸ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ ἔξωθεν κενοῦ σύστημα. ὁ μὲν οὖν κόσμος πεπερασμένος ἐστί, τὸ δὲ κενὸν ἄπειρον.
1.144. Of the stars some are fixed, and are carried round with the whole heaven; others, the wandering stars or planets, have their special motions. The sun travels in an oblique path through the zodiac. Similarly the moon travels in a spiral path. The sun is pure fire: so Posidonius in the seventh book of his Celestial Phenomena. And it is larger than the earth, as the same author says in the sixth book of his Physical Discourse. Moreover it is spherical in shape like the world itself according to this same author and his school. That it is fire is proved by its producing all the effects of fire; that it is larger than the earth by the fact that all the earth is illuminated by it; nay more, the heaven beside. The fact too that the earth casts a conical shadow proves that the sun is greater than it. And it is because of its great size that it is seen from every part of the earth.
1.144. Τῶν δʼ ἄστρων τὰ μὲν ἀπλανῆ συμπεριφέρεσθαι τῷ ὅλῳ οὐρανῷ, τὰ δὲ πλανώμενα κατʼ ἰδίας κινεῖσθαι κινήσεις. τὸν δʼ ἥλιον λοξὴν τὴν πορείαν ποιεῖσθαι διὰ τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κύκλου· ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν σελήνην ἑλικοειδῆ. εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον εἰλικρινὲς πῦρ, καθά φησι Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ Περὶ μετεώρων· καὶ μείζονα τῆς γῆς, ὡς ὁ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου· ἀλλὰ καὶ σφαιροειδῆ, ὡς οἱ περὶ αὐτὸν τοῦτόν φασιν, ἀναλόγως τῷ κόσμῳ. πῦρ μὲν οὖν εἶναι, ὅτι τὰ πυρὸς πάντα ποιεῖ· μείζω δὲ τῆς γῆς τῷ πᾶσαν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ φωτίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν. καὶ τὸ τὴν γῆν δὲ κωνοειδῆ σκιὰν ἀποτελεῖν τὸ μείζονα εἶναι σημαίνει· πάντοθεν δὲ βλέπεσθαι διὰ τὸ μέγεθος.
1.145. The moon, however, is of a more earthy composition, since it is nearer to the earth. These fiery bodies and the stars generally derive their nutriment, the sun from the wide ocean, being a fiery kindling, though intelligent; the moon from fresh waters, with an admixture of air, close to the earth as it is: thus Posidonius in the sixth book of his Physics; the other heavenly bodies being nourished from the earth. They hold that the stars are spherical in shape and that the earth too is so and is at rest; and that the moon does not shine by her own light, but by the borrowed light of the sun when he shines upon her. An eclipse of the sun takes place when the moon passes in front of it on the side towards us, as shown by Zeno with a diagram in his treatise On the Whole.
1.145. Γεωδεστέραν δὲ τὴν σελήνην, ἅτε καὶ προσγειοτέραν οὖσαν. τρέφεσθαι δὲ τὰ ἔμπυρα ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἄστρα, τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἐκ τῆς μεγάλης θαλάττης νοερὸν ὄντα ἄναμμα· τὴν δὲ σελήνην ἐκ ποτίμων ὑδάτων, ἀερομιγῆ τυγχάνουσαν καὶ πρόσγειον οὖσαν, ὡς ὁ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. δοκεῖ δʼ αὐτοῖς σφαιροειδῆ εἶναι καὶ τὰ ἄστρα καὶ τὴν γῆν ἀκίνητον οὖσαν. τὴν δὲ σελήνην οὐκ ἴδιον ἔχειν φῶς, ἀλλὰ παρʼ ἡλίου λαμβάνειν ἐπιλαμπομένην. Ἐκλείπειν δὲ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἐπιπροσθούσης αὐτῷ σελήνης κατὰ τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς μέρος, ὡς Ζήνων ἀναγράφει ἐν τῷ Περὶ τοῦ ὅλου.
1.146. For the moon is seen approaching at conjunctions and occulting it and then again receding from it. This can best be observed when they are mirrored in a basin of water. The moon is eclipsed when she falls into the earth’s shadow: for which reason it is only at the full moon that an eclipse happens [and not always then], although she is in opposition to the sun every month; because the moon moves in an oblique orbit, diverging in latitude relatively to the orbit of the sun, and she accordingly goes farther to the north or to the south. When, however, the moon’s motion in latitude has brought her into the sun’s path through the zodiac, and she thus comes diametrically opposite to the sun, there is an eclipse. Now the moon is in latitude right on the zodiac, when she is in the constellations of Cancer, Scorpio, Aries and Taurus: so Posidonius and his followers tell us.
1.146. φαίνεται γὰρ ὑπερχομένη ἐν ταῖς συνόδοις καὶ ἀποκρύπτουσα αὐτὸν καὶ πάλιν παραλλάττουσα· γνωρίζεται δὲ τοῦτο διὰ λεκάνης ὕδωρ ἐχούσης. τὴν δὲ σελήνην ἐμπίπτουσαν εἰς τὸ τῆς γῆς σκίασμα· ὅθεν καὶ ταῖς πανσελήνοις ἐκλείπειν μόναις, καίπερ κατὰ διάμετρον ἱσταμένην κατὰ μῆνα τῷ ἡλίῳ, ὅτι κατὰ λοξοῦ ὡς πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον κινουμένη παραλλάττει τῷ πλάτει, ἢ βορειοτέρα ἢ νοτιωτέρα γινομένη. ὅταν μέντοι τὸ πλάτος αὐτῆς κατὰ τὸν ἡλιακὸν καὶ τὸν διὰ μέσων γένηται, εἶτα διαμετρήσῃ τὸν ἥλιον, τότʼ ἐκλείπει· γίνεται δὲ τὸ πλάτος αὐτῆς κατὰ τὸν διὰ μέσων ἐν χηλαῖς καὶ σκορπίῳ καὶ κριῷ καὶ ταύρῳ, ὡς οἱ περὶ τὸν Ποσειδώνιον.
1.147. The deity, say they, is a living being, immortal, rational, perfect or intelligent in happiness, admitting nothing evil [into him], taking providential care of the world and all that therein is, but he is not of human shape. He is, however, the artificer of the universe and, as it were, the father of all, both in general and in that particular part of him which is all-pervading, and which is called many names according to its various powers. They give the name Dia (Δία) because all things are due to (διά) him; Zeus (Ζῆνα) in so far as he is the cause of life (ζῆν) or pervades all life; the name Athena is given, because the ruling part of the divinity extends to the aether; the name Hera marks its extension to the air; he is called Hephaestus since it spreads to the creative fire; Poseidon, since it stretches to the sea; Demeter, since it reaches to the earth. Similarly men have given the deity his other titles, fastening, as best they can, on some one or other of his peculiar attributes.
1.147. Θεὸν δʼ εἶναι ζῷον ἀθάνατον, λογικόν, τέλειον ἢ νοερὸν ἐν εὐδαιμονίᾳ, κακοῦ παντὸς ἀνεπίδεκτον, προνοητικὸν κόσμου τε καὶ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ· μὴ εἶναι μέντοι ἀνθρωπόμορφον. εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων καὶ ὥσπερ πατέρα πάντων κοινῶς τε καὶ τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ τὸ διῆκον διὰ πάντων, ὃ πολλαῖς προσηγορίαις προσονομάζεσθαι κατὰ τὰς δυνάμεις. Δία μὲν γάρ φασι διʼ ὃν τὰ πάντα, Ζῆνα δὲ καλοῦσι παρʼ ὅσον τοῦ ζῆν αἴτιός ἐστιν ἢ διὰ τοῦ ζῆν κεχώρηκεν, Ἀθηνᾶν δὲ κατὰ τὴν εἰς αἰθέρα διάτασιν τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ αὐτοῦ, Ἥραν δὲ κατὰ τὴν εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ Ἥφαιστον κατὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ τεχνικὸν πῦρ, καὶ Ποσειδῶνα κατὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ ὑγρόν, καὶ Δήμητραν κατὰ τὴν εἰς γῆν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰς ἄλλας προσηγορίας ἐχόμενοί τινος οἰκειότητος ἀπέδοσαν.
1.148. The substance of God is declared by Zeno to be the whole world and the heaven, as well as by Chrysippus in his first book Of the Gods, and by Posidonius in his first book with the same title. Again, Antipater in the seventh book of his work On the Cosmos says that the substance of God is akin to air, while Boëthus in his work On Nature speaks of the sphere of the fixed stars as the substance of God. Now the term Nature is used by them to mean sometimes that which holds the world together, sometimes that which causes terrestrial things to spring up. Nature is defined as a force moving of itself, producing and preserving in being its offspring in accordance with seminal principles within definite periods, and effecting results homogeneous with their sources.
1.148. Οὐσίαν δὲ θεοῦ Ζήνων μέν φησι τὸν ὅλον κόσμον καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ θεῶν καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν πρώτῳ Περὶ θεῶν. καὶ Ἀντίπατρος ἐν ἑβδόμῳ Περὶ κόσμου ἀεροειδῆ φησιν αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν· Βόηθος δὲ ἐν τῇ Περὶ φύσεως οὐσίαν θεοῦ τὴν τῶν ἀπλανῶν σφαῖραν. φύσιν δὲ ποτὲ μὲν ἀποφαίνονται τὴν συνέχουσαν τὸν κόσμον, ποτὲ δὲ τὴν φύουσαν τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς. ἔστι δὲ φύσις ἕξις ἐξ αὑτῆς κινουμένη κατὰ σπερματικοὺς λόγους ἀποτελοῦσά τε καὶ συνέχουσα τὰ ἐξ αὑτῆς ἐν ὡρισμένοις χρόνοις καὶ τοιαῦτα δρῶσα ἀφʼ οἵων ἀπεκρίθη.
1.149. Nature, they hold, aims both at utility and at pleasure, as is clear from the analogy of human craftsmanship. That all things happen by fate or destiny is maintained by Chrysippus in his treatise De fato, by Posidonius in his De fato, book ii., by Zeno and by Boëthus in his De fato, book i. Fate is defined as an endless chain of causation, whereby things are, or as the reason or formula by which the world goes on. What is more, they say that divination in all its forms is a real and substantial fact, if there is really Providence. And they prove it to be actually a science on the evidence of certain results: so Zeno, Chrysippus in the second book of his De divinatione, Athenodorus, and Posidonius in the second book of his Physical Discourse and the fifth book of his De divinatione. But Panaetius denies that divination has any real existence.
1.149. ταύτην δὲ καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος στοχάζεσθαι καὶ ἡδονῆς, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργίας. καθʼ εἱμαρμένην δέ φασι τὰ πάντα γίγνεσθαι Χρύσιππος ἐν τοῖς Περὶ εἱμαρμένης καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν δευτέρῳ Περὶ εἱμαρμένης καὶ Ζήνων, Βόηθος δʼ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ εἱμαρμένης. ἔστι δʼ εἱμαρμένη αἰτία τῶν ὄντων εἰρομένη ἢ λόγος καθʼ ὃν ὁ κόσμος διεξάγεται. καὶ μὴν καὶ μαντικὴν ὑφεστάναι πᾶσάν φασιν, εἰ καὶ πρόνοιαν εἶναι· καὶ αὐτὴν καὶ τέχνην ἀποφαίνουσι διά τινας ἐκβάσεις, ὥς φησι Ζήνων τε καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Περὶ μαντικῆς καὶ Ἀθηνόδωρος καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου καὶ ἐν τῷ πέμπτῳ Περὶ μαντικῆς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Παναίτιος ἀνυπόστατον αὐτήν φησιν.
1.150. The primary matter they make the substratum of all things: so Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics, and Zeno. By matter is meant that out of which anything whatsoever is produced. Both substance and matter are terms used in a twofold sense according as they signify (1) universal or (2) particular substance or matter. The former neither increases nor diminishes, while the matter of particular things both increases and diminishes. Body according to them is substance which is finite: so Antipater in his second book On Substance, and Apollodorus in his Physics. Matter can also be acted upon, as the same author says, for if it were immutable, the things which are produced would never have been produced out of it. Hence the further doctrine that matter is divisible ad infinitum. Chrysippus says that the division is not ad infinitum, but itself infinite; for there is nothing infinitely small to which the division can extend. But nevertheless the division goes on without ceasing.
1.150. Οὐσίαν δέ φασι τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων τὴν πρώτην ὕλην, ὡς καὶ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Φυσικῶν καὶ Ζήνων. ὕλη δέ ἐστιν ἐξ ἧς ὁτιδηποτοῦν γίνεται. καλεῖται δὲ διχῶς, οὐσία τε καὶ ὕλη, ἥ τε τῶν πάντων καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους. ἡ μὲν οὖν τῶν ὅλων οὔτε πλείων οὔτʼ ἐλάττων γίνεται, ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους καὶ πλείων καὶ ἐλάττων. σῶμα δέ ἐστι κατʼ αὐτοὺς ἡ οὐσία καὶ πεπερασμένη, καθά φησιν Ἀντίπατρος ἐν δευτέρῳ Περὶ οὐσίας καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῇ Φυσικῇ. καὶ παθητὴ δέ ἐστιν, ὡς ὁ αὐτός φησιν· εἰ γὰρ ἦν ἄτρεπτος, οὐκ ἂν τὰ γινόμενα ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐγίνετο· ἔνθεν κἀκεῖνʼ ὡς ἥ τε τομὴ εἰς ἄπειρόν ἐστιν. (ἣν ἄπειρον 〈οὐκ εἰς ἄπειρόν〉 φησιν ὁ Χρύσιππος· οὐ γάρ ἐστί τι ἄπειρον, εἰς ὃ γίνεται ἡ τομή. ἀλλʼ ἀκατάληκτός ἐστι.)
1.151. Hence, again, their explanation of the mixture of two substances is, according to Chrysippus in the third book of his Physics, that they permeate each other through and through, and that the particles of the one do not merely surround those of the other or lie beside them. Thus, if a little drop of wine be thrown into the sea, it will be equally diffused over the whole sea for a while and then will be blended with it. Also they hold that there are daemons (δαίμονες) who are in sympathy with mankind and watch over human affairs. They believe too in heroes, that is, the souls of the righteous that have survived their bodies. Of the changes which go on in the air, they describe winter as the cooling of the air above the earth due to the sun’s departure to a distance from the earth;
1.151. Καὶ τὰς κράσεις δὲ διόλου γίνεσθαι, καθά φησιν ὁ Χρύσιππος ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Φυσικῶν, καὶ μὴ κατὰ περιγραφὴν καὶ παράθεσιν· καὶ γὰρ εἰς πέλαγος ὀλίγος οἶνος βληθεὶς ἐπὶ ποσὸν ἀντιπαρεκταθήσεται, εἶτα συμφθαρήσεται. Φασὶ δʼ εἶναι καί τινας δαίμονας ἀνθρώπων συμπάθειαν ἔχοντας, ἐπόπτας τῶν ἀνθρωπείων πραγμάτων· καὶ ἥρωας τὰς ὑπολελειμμένας τῶν σπουδαίων ψυχάς. Τῶν δʼ ἐν ἀέρι γινομένων χειμῶνα μὲν εἶναί φασι τὸν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἀέρα κατεψυγμένον διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου πρόσω ἄφοδον, ἔαρ δὲ τὴν εὐκρασίαν τοῦ ἀέρος κατὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς πορείαν, θέρος δὲ τὸν ὑπὲρ γῆς ἀέρα καταθαλπόμενον τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου πρὸς ἄρκτον πορείᾳ, μετόπωρον δὲ τῇ παλινδρομίᾳ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀφʼ ἡμῶν γίνεσθαι.
1.152. spring as the right temperature of the air consequent upon his approach to us; summer as the heating of the air above the earth when he travels to the north; while autumn they attribute to the receding of the sun from us. As for the winds, they are streams of air, differently named according to the localities from which they blow. And the cause of their production is the sun through the evaporation of the clouds. The rainbow is explained as the reflection of the sun’s rays from watery clouds or, as Posidonius says in his Meteorology, an image of a segment of the sun or moon in a cloud suffused with dew, which is hollow and visible without intermission, the image showing itself as if in a mirror in the form of a circular arch. Comets, bearded stars, and meteors are fires which arise when dense air is carried up to the region of aether.
1.152. 〈τοὺς δʼ ἀνέμους ἀέρος εἶναι ῥύσεις· παραλλαττούσας δὲ τὰς ἐπωνυμίας γίνεσθαι〉 παρὰ τοὺς τόπους ἀφʼ ὧν ῥέουσι. τῆς δὲ γενέσεως αὐτῶν αἴτιον γίνεσθαι τὸν ἥλιον ἐξατμίζοντα τὰ νέφη. ἶριν δʼ εἶναι αὐγὰς ἀφʼ ὑγρῶν νεφῶν ἀνακεκλασμένας ἤ, ὡς Ποσειδώνιός φησιν ἐν τῇ Μετεωρολογικῇ, ἔμφασιν ἡλίου τμήματος ἢ σελήνης ἐν νέφει δεδροσισμένῳ, κοίλῳ καὶ συνεχεῖ πρὸς φαντασίαν, ὡς ἐν κατόπτρῳ φανταζομένην κατὰ κύκλου περιφέρειαν. κομήτας τε καὶ πωγωνίας καὶ λαμπαδίας πυρὰ εἶναι ὑφεστῶτα πάχους ἀέρος εἰς τὸν αἰθερώδη τόπον ἀνενεχθέντος.
1.153. A shooting star is the sudden kindling of a mass of fire in rapid motion through the air, which leaves a trail behind it presenting an appearance of length. Rain is the transformation of cloud into water, when moisture drawn up by the sun from land or sea has been only partially evaporated. If this is cooled down, it is called hoar-frost. Hail is frozen cloud, crumbled by a wind; while snow is moist matter from a cloud which has congealed: so Posidonius in the eighth book of his Physical Discourse. Lightning is a kindling of clouds from being rubbed together or being rent by wind, as Zeno says in his treatise On the Whole; thunder the noise these clouds make when they rub against each other or burst.
1.153. σέλας δὲ πυρὸς ἀθρόου ἔξαψιν ἐν ἀέρι φερομένου ταχέως καὶ φαντασίαν μήκους ἐμφαίνοντος. ὑετὸν δʼ ἐκ νέφους μεταβολὴν εἰς ὕδωρ, ἐπειδὰν ἢ ἐκ γῆς ἢ ἐκ θαλάττης ἀνενεχθεῖσα ὑγρασία ὑφʼ ἡλίου μὴ τυγχάνῃ κατεργασίας· καταψυχθὲν δὲ τοῦτο πάχνην καλεῖσθαι. χάλαζαν δὲ νέφος πεπηγός, ὑπὸ πνεύματος διαθρυφθέν· χιόνα δʼ ὑγρὸν ἐκ νέφους πεπηγότος, ὡς Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ ὀγδόῳ τοῦ Φυσικοῦ λόγου· ἀστραπὴν δʼ ἔξαψιν νεφῶν παρατριβομένων ἢ ῥηγνυμένων ὑπὸ πνεύματος, ὡς Ζήνων ἐν τῷ Περὶ τοῦ ὅλου· βροντὴν δὲ τὸν τούτων ψόφον ἐκ παρατρίψεως ἢ ῥήξεως·
1.154. Thunderbolt is the term used when the fire is violently kindled and hurled to the ground with great force as the clouds grind against each other or are torn by the wind. Others say that it is a compression of fiery air descending with great force. A typhoon is a great and violent thunderstorm whirlwind-like, or a whirlwind of smoke from a cloud that has burst. A “prester” is a cloud rent all round by the force of fire and wind. Earthquakes, say they, happen when the wind finds its way into, or is imprisoned in, the hollow parts of the earth: so Posidonius in his eighth book; and some of them are tremblings, others openings of the earth, others again lateral displacements, and yet others vertical displacements.
1.154. κεραυνὸν δʼ ἔξαψιν σφοδρὰν μετὰ πολλῆς βίας πίπτουσαν ἐπὶ γῆς, νεφῶν παρατριβομένων ἢ ῥηγνυμένων ὑπὸ πνεύματος. οἱ δὲ συστροφὴν πυρώδους ἀέρος βιαίως καταφερομένην. τυφῶνα δὲ κεραυνὸν πολύν, βίαιον καὶ πνευματώδη ἢ πνεῦμα καπνῶδες ἐρρωγότος νέφους· πρηστῆρα 〈δὲ〈 νέφος περισχισθὲν πυρὶ μετὰ πνεύματος. 〈σεισμοὺς δὲ γίνεσθαι ῥυέντος πνεύματοσ〈 εἰς τὰ κοιλώματα τῆς γῆς ἢ καθειρχθέντος [πνεύματος] ἐν τῇ γῇ, καθά φησι Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ· εἶναι δʼ αὐτῶν τοὺς μὲν σεισματίας, τοὺς δὲ χασματίας, τοὺς δὲ κλιματίας, τοὺς δὲ βρασματίας.
1.155. They maintain that the parts of the world are arranged thus. The earth is in the middle answering to a centre; next comes the water, which is shaped like a sphere all round it, concentric with the earth, so that the earth is in water. After the water comes a spherical layer of air. There are five celestial circles: first, the arctic circle, which is always visible; second, the summer tropic; third, the circle of the equinox; fourth, the winter tropic; and fifth, the antarctic, which is invisible to us. They are called parallel, because they do not incline towards one another; yet they are described round the same centre. The zodiac is an oblique circle, as it crosses the parallel circles.
1.155. Ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ τὴν διακόσμησιν ὧδε ἔχειν· μέσην τὴν γῆν κέντρου λόγον ἐπέχουσαν, μεθʼ ἣν τὸ ὕδωρ σφαιροειδές, ἔχον τὸ αὐτὸ κέντρον τῇ γῇ, ὥστε τὴν γῆν ἐν ὕδατι εἶναι· μετὰ τὸ ὕδωρ δʼ ἀέρα ἐσφαιρωμένον. κύκλους δʼ εἶναι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ πέντε, ὧν πρῶτον ἀρκτικὸν ἀεὶ φαινόμενον, δεύτερον τροπικὸν θερινόν, τρίτον ἰσημερινόν, τέταρτον χειμερινὸν τροπικόν, πέμπτον ἀνταρκτικὸν ἀφανῆ. λέγονται δὲ παράλληλοι καθότι οὐ συννεύουσιν εἰς ἀλλήλους· γράφονται μέντοι περὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κέντρον. ὁ δὲ ζωδιακὸς λοξός ἐστιν, ὡς ἐπιὼν τοὺς παραλλήλους.
1.156. And there are five terrestrial zones: first, the northern zone which is beyond the arctic circle, uninhabitable because of the cold; second, a temperate zone; a third, uninhabitable because of great heats, called the torrid zone; fourth, a counter-temperate zone; fifth, the southern zone, uninhabitable because of its cold. Nature in their view is an artistically working fire, going on its way to create; which is equivalent to a fiery, creative, or fashioning breath. And the soul is a nature capable of perception. And they regard it as the breath of life, congenital with us; from which they infer first that it is a body and secondly that it survives death. Yet it is perishable, though the soul of the universe, of which the individual souls of animals are parts, is indestructible.
1.156. ζῶναί τʼ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς εἰσι πέντε· πρώτη βόρειος [καὶ] ὑπὲρ τὸν ἀρκτικὸν κύκλον, ἀοίκητος διὰ ψῦχος· δευτέρα εὔκρατος· τρίτη ἀοίκητος ὑπὸ καυμάτων, ἡ διακεκαυμένη καλουμένη· τετάρτη ἡ ἀντεύκρατος· πέμπτη νότιος, ἀοίκητος διὰ ψῦχος. Δοκεῖ δʼ αὐτοῖς τὴν μὲν φύσιν εἶναι πῦρ τεχνικόν, ὁδῷ βαδίζον εἰς γένεσιν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ πνεῦμα πυροειδὲς καὶ τεχνοειδές· τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αἰσθητικὴν 〈φύσιν〉. ταύτην δʼ εἶναι τὸ συμφυὲς ἡμῖν πνεῦμα· διὸ καὶ σῶμα εἶναι καὶ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἐπιμένειν· φθαρτὴν δʼ ὑπάρχειν, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὅλων ἄφθαρτον, ἧς μέρη εἶναι τὰς ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις.
1.157. Zeno of Citium and Antipater, in their treatises De anima, and Posidonius define the soul as a warm breath; for by this we become animate and this enables us to move. Cleanthes indeed holds that all souls continue to exist until the general conflagration; but Chrysippus says that only the souls of the wise do so. They count eight parts of the soul: the five senses, the generative power in us, our power of speech, and that of reasoning. They hold that we see when the light between the visual organ and the object stretches in the form of a cone: so Chrysippus in the second book of his Physics and Apollodorus. The apex of the cone in the air is at the eye, the base at the object seen. Thus the thing seen is reported to us by the medium of the air stretching out towards it, as if by a stick.
1.157. Ζήνων δʼ ὁ Κιτιεὺς καὶ Ἀντίπατρος ἐν τοῖς Περὶ ψυχῆς καὶ Ποσειδώνιος πνεῦμα ἔνθερμον εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν· τούτῳ γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἶναι ἔμπνους καὶ ὑπὸ τούτου κινεῖσθαι. Κλεάνθης μὲν οὖν πάσας ἐπιδιαμένειν μέχρι τῆς ἐκπυρώσεως, Χρύσιππος δὲ τὰς τῶν σοφῶν μόνον. Μέρη δὲ ψυχῆς λέγουσιν ὀκτώ, τὰς πέντʼ αἰσθήσεις καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἡμῖν σπερματικοὺς λόγους καὶ τὸ φωνητικὸν καὶ τὸ λογιστικόν. ὁρᾶν δὲ τοῦ μεταξὺ τῆς ὁράσεως καὶ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου φωτὸς ἐντεινομένου κωνοειδῶς, καθά φησι Χρύσιππος ἐν δευτέρῳ τῶν Φυσικῶν καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος. γίνεσθαι μέντοι τὸ κωνοειδὲς τοῦ ἀέρος πρὸς τῇ ὄψει, τὴν δὲ βάσιν πρὸς τῷ ὁρωμένῳ· ὡς διὰ βακτηρίας οὖν τοῦ ταθέντος ἀέρος τὸ βλεπόμενον ἀναγγέλλεσθαι.
1.158. We hear when the air between the sonant body and the organ of hearing suffers concussion, a vibration which spreads spherically and then forms waves and strikes upon the ears, just as the water in a reservoir forms wavy circles when a stone is thrown into it. Sleep is caused, they say, by the slackening of the tension in our senses, which affects the ruling part of the soul. They consider that the passions are caused by the variations of the vital breath. Semen is by them defined as that which is capable of generating offspring like the parent. And the human semen which is emitted by a human parent in a moist vehicle is mingled with parts of the soul, blended in the same ratio in which they are present in the parent.
1.158. Ἀκούειν δὲ τοῦ μεταξὺ τοῦ τε φωνοῦντος καὶ τοῦ ἀκούοντος ἀέρος πληττομένου σφαιροειδῶς, εἶτα κυματουμένου καὶ ταῖς ἀκοαῖς προσπίπτοντος, ὡς κυματοῦται τὸ ἐν τῇ δεξαμενῇ ὕδωρ κατὰ κύκλους ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐμβληθέντος λίθου. τὸν δὲ ὕπνον γίνεσθαι ἐκλυομένου τοῦ αἰσθητικοῦ τόνου περὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικόν. αἰτίας δὲ τῶν παθῶν ἀπολείπουσι τὰς περὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τροπάς. Σπέρμα δὲ λέγουσιν εἶναι τὸ οἷόν τε γεννᾶν τοιαῦτʼ ἀφʼ οἵου καὶ αὐτὸ ἀπεκρίθη· ἀνθρώπου δὲ σπέρμα, ὃ μεθίησιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος μεθʼ ὑγροῦ, συγκιρνᾶσθαι τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς μέρεσι κατὰ μιγμὸν τοῦ τῶν προγόνων λόγου.
1.159. Chrysippus in the second book of his Physics declares it to be in substance identical with vital breath or spirit. This, he thinks, can be seen from the seeds cast into the earth, which, if kept till they are old, do not germinate, plainly because their fertility has evaporated. Sphaerus and his followers also maintain that semen derives its origin from the whole of the body; at all events every part of the body can be reproduced from it. That of the female is according to them sterile, being, as Sphaerus says, without tension, scanty, and watery. By ruling part of the soul is meant that which is most truly soul proper, in which arise presentations and impulses and from which issues rational speech. And it has its seat in the heart.
1.159. εἶναι δʼ αὐτὸ Χρύσιππός φησιν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Φυσικῶν πνεῦμα κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν καταβαλλομένων σπερμάτων, ἃ παλαιωθέντα οὐκέτι φύεται, ὡς δῆλον διαπεπνευκυίας αὐτοῖς τῆς δυνάμεως. καὶ ἀφʼ ὅλων δὲ τῶν σωμάτων αὐτό φασι καταφέρεσθαι οἱ περὶ τὸν Σφαῖρον· πάντων γοῦν γεννητικὸν εἶναι τῶν τοῦ σώματος μερῶν. τὸ δὲ τῆς θηλείας ἄγονον ἀποφαίνονται· ἄτονόν τε γὰρ εἶναι καὶ ὀλίγον καὶ ὑδατῶδες, ὡς ὁ Σφαῖρός φησιν. ἡγεμονικὸν δʼ εἶναι τὸ κυριώτατον τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐν ᾧ αἱ φαντασίαι καὶ αἱ ὁρμαὶ γίνονται καὶ ὅθεν ὁ λόγος ἀναπέμπεται· ὅπερ εἶναι ἐν καρδίᾳ.
1.160. Such is the summary of their Physics which I have deemed adequate, my aim being to preserve a due proportion in my work. But the points on which certain of the Stoics differed from the rest are the following.
1.160. Ταῦτα μὲν καὶ τὰ φυσικὰ τὸ ὅσον ἡμῖν ἀποχρώντως ἔχειν δοκεῖ, στοχαζομένοις τῆς συμμετρίας τοῦ συγγράμματος. ἃ δέ τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν διηνέχθησαν, ἔστι τάδε.
2.160. Ariston the Bald, of Chios, who was also called the Siren, declared the end of action to be a life of perfect indifference to everything which is neither virtue nor vice; recognizing no distinction whatever in things indifferent, but treating them all alike. The wise man he compared to a good actor, who, if called upon to take the part of a Thersites or of an Agamemnon, will impersonate them both becomingly. He wished to discard both Logic and Physics, saying that Physics was beyond our reach and Logic did not concern us: all that did concern us was Ethics.
2.160. Ἀρίστων ὁ Χῖος ὁ Φάλανθος, ἐπικαλούμενος Σειρήν, τέλος ἔφησεν εἶναι τὸ ἀδιαφόρως ἔχοντα ζῆν πρὸς τὰ μεταξὺ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας μηδʼ ἡντινοῦν ἐν αὐτοῖς παραλλαγὴν ἀπολείποντα, ἀλλʼ ἐπίσης ἐπὶ πάντων ἔχοντα· εἶναι γὰρ ὅμοιον τὸν σοφὸν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑποκριτῇ, ὃς ἄν τε Θερσίτου ἄν τε Ἀγαμέμνονος πρόσωπον ἀναλάβῃ, ἑκάτερον ὑποκρινεῖται προσηκόντως. τόν τε φυσικὸν τόπον καὶ τὸν λογικὸν ἀνῄρει, λέγων τὸν μὲν εἶναι ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, τὸν δʼ οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, μόνον δὲ τὸν ἠθικὸν εἶναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς.
2.161. Dialectical reasonings, he said, are like spiders’ webs, which, though they seem to display some artistic workmanship, are yet of no use. He would not admit a plurality of virtues with Zeno, nor again with the Megarians one single virtue called by many names; but he treated virtue in accordance with the category of relative modes. Teaching this sort of philosophy, and lecturing in the Cynosarges, he acquired such influence as to be called the founder of a sect. At any rate Miltiades and Diphilus were denominated Aristoneans. He was a plausible speaker and suited the taste of the general public. Hence Timon’s verse about him: “One who from wily Ariston’s line boasts his descent.”
2.161. Ἐοικέναι δὲ τοὺς διαλεκτικοὺς λόγους τοῖς ἀραχνίοις, ἃ καίτοι δοκοῦντα τεχνικόν τι ἐμφαίνειν, ἄχρηστά ἐστιν. ἀρετάς τʼ οὔτε πολλὰς εἰσῆγεν, ὡς ὁ Ζήνων, οὔτε μίαν πολλοῖς ὀνόμασι καλουμένην, ὡς οἱ Μεγαρικοί, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πρός τί πως ἔχειν. οὕτω δὲ φιλοσοφῶν καὶ ἐν Κυνοσάργει διαλεγόμενος ἴσχυσεν αἱρετιστὴς ἀκοῦσαι. Μιλτιάδης οὖν καὶ Δίφιλος Ἀριστώνειοι προσηγορεύοντο. ἦν δέ τις πειστικὸς καὶ ὄχλῳ πεποιημένος· ὅθεν ὁ Τίμων φησὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ, καί τις Ἀρίστωνος γενεὴν ἀπὸ αἱμύλου ἕλκων.
2.162. After meeting Polemo, says Diocles of Magnesia, while Zeno was suffering from a protracted illness, he recanted his views. The Stoic doctrine to which he attached most importance was the wise man’s refusal to hold mere opinions. And against this doctrine Persaeus was contending when he induced one of a pair of twins to deposit a certain sum with Ariston and afterwards got the other to reclaim it. Ariston being thus reduced to perplexity was refuted. He was at variance with Arcesilaus; and one day when he saw an abortion in the shape of a bull with a uterus, he said, “Alas, here Arcesilaus has had given into his hand an argument against the evidence of the senses.”
2.162. Παραβαλὼν δὲ Πολέμωνι, φησὶ Διοκλῆς ὁ Μάγνης, μετέθετο, Ζήνωνος ἀρρωστίᾳ μακρᾷ περιπεσόντος. μάλιστα δὲ προσεῖχε Στωικῷ δόγματι τῷ τὸν σοφὸν ἀδόξαστον εἶναι. πρὸς ὃ Περσαῖος ἐναντιούμενος διδύμων ἀδελφῶν τὸν ἕτερον ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ παρακαταθήκην δοῦναι, ἔπειτα τὸν ἕτερον ἀπολαβεῖν· καὶ οὕτως ἀπορούμενον διήλεγξεν. ἀπετείνετο δὲ πρὸς Ἀρκεσίλαον· ὅτε θεασάμενος ταῦρον τερατώδη μήτραν ἔχοντα, οἴμοι, ἔφη, δέδοται Ἀρκεσιλάῳ ἐπιχείρημα κατὰ τῆς ἐναργείας.
2.163. When some Academic alleged that he had no certainty of anything, Ariston said, “Do you not even see your neighbour sitting by you?” and when the other answered “No,” he rejoined, “Who can have blinded you? who robbed you of luminous eyesight?” The books attributed to him are as follows:Exhortations, two books.Of Zeno’s Doctrines.Dialogues.Lectures, six books.Dissertations on Philosophy, seven books.Dissertations on Love.Commonplaces on Vainglory.Notebooks, twenty-five volumes.Memorabilia, three books.Anecdotes, eleven books.Against the Rhetoricians.An Answer to the Counter-pleas of Alexinus.Against the Dialecticians, three books.Letters to Cleanthes, four books. Panaetius and Sosicrates consider the Letters to be alone genuine; all the other works named they attribute to Ariston the Peripatetic.
2.163. Πρὸς δὲ τὸν φάμενον Ἀκαδημαϊκὸν οὐδὲν καταλαμβάνειν, ἆρʼ οὐδὲ τὸν πλησίον σου καθήμενον ὁρᾷς; εἶπεν· ἀρνησαμένου δέ, τίς δέ σʼ ἐτύφλωσεν (ἔφη), τίς ἀφείλετο λαμπάδος αὐγάς; Βιβλία δʼ αὐτοῦ φέρεται τάδε·Προτρεπτικῶν β′.Περὶ τῶν Ζήνωνος δογμάτων.Διάλογοι.Σχολῶν ς′.Περὶ σοφίας διατριβῶν ζ′.Ἐρωτικαὶ διατριβαί.Ὑπομνήματα ὑπὲρ κενοδοξίας.Ὑπομνημάτων κε′.Ἀπομνημονευμάτων γ′.Χρειῶν ια′.Πρὸς τοὺς ῥήτορας.Πρὸς τὰς Ἀλεξίνου ἀντιγραφάς.Πρὸς τοὺς διαλεκτικοὺς γ′.Πρὸς Κλεάνθην, Ἐπιστολῶν δ′. Παναίτιος δὲ καὶ Σωσικράτης μόνας αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐπιστολάς φασι, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τοῦ περιπατητικοῦ Ἀρίστωνος.
2.164. The story goes that being bald he had a sunstroke and so came to his end. I have composed a trifling poem upon him in limping iambics as follows: “Wherefore, Ariston, when old and bald did you let the sun roast your forehead? Thus seeking warmth more than was reasonable, you lit unwillingly upon the chill reality of Death.” There was also another Ariston, a native of Iulis; a third, a musician of Athens; a fourth, a tragic poet; a fifth, of Halae, author of treatises on rhetoric; a sixth, a Peripatetic philosopher of Alexandria.
2.164. Τοῦτον λόγος φαλακρὸν ὄντα ἐγκαυθῆναι ὑπὸ ἡλίου καὶ ὧδε τελευτῆσαι. προσεπαίξαμεν δʼ αὐτῷ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον τῷ ἰάμβῳ τῷ χωλῷ·τί δὴ γέρων ὢν καὶ φάλανθος, ὦ ʼρίστων,τὸ βρέγμʼ ἔδωκας ἡλίῳ κατοπτῆσαι;τοιγὰρ τὸ θερμὸν πλεῖον ἢ δέοι ζητῶντὸν ψυχρὸν ὄντως εὗρες οὐ θέλων ᾍδην. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ἀρίστων Ἰουλιήτης περιπατητικός, ὁ δέ τις μουσικὸς Ἀθηναῖος, τέταρτος ποιητὴς τραγῳδίας, πέμπτος Ἁλαιεὺς τέχνας γεγραφὼς ῥητορικάς, ἕκτος Ἀλεξανδρεὺς περιπατητικός.