---
title: "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων"
author: "Diogenes Laertius"
translator: "R. D. Hicks"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 28 of 34
url: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/28/
cite: "Diogenes Laertius, tr. R. D. Hicks, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων, section 28. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/28/"
---

# Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων

*Diogenes Laertius, tr. R. D. Hicks*

Lives, sayings and doctrines of the Greek philosophers, from Thales to Epicurus.

> Greek: ed. R. D. Hicks, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0004.tlg001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: R. D. Hicks, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0004.tlg001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 28. Book IX · chapters 1–7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/28/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/28/#p-N

[¶0] 1.1. Heraclitus, son of Bloson or, according to some, of Heracon, was a native of Ephesus. He flourished in the 69th Olympiad. He was lofty-minded beyond all other men, and over-weening, as is clear from his book in which he says: “Much learning does not teach understanding; else would it have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, or, again, Xenophanes and Hecataeus.” For “this one thing is wisdom, to understand thought, as that which guides all the world everywhere.” And he used to say that “Homer deserved to be chased out of the lists and beaten with rods, and Archilochus likewise.”

> Greek: 1.1. Ἡράκλειτος Βλόσωνος ἤ, ὥς τινες, Ἡράκωντος Ἐφέσιος. οὗτος ἤκμαζε μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην καὶ ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. μεγαλόφρ ων δὲ γέγονε παρʼ ὁντιναοῦ καὶ ὑπερόπτης, ὡς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ συγγράμματος αὐτοῦ δῆλον, ἐν ᾧ φησι, πολυμαθίη νόον οὐ διδάσκει· Ἡσίοδον γὰρ ἂν ἐδίδαξε καὶ Πυθαγόρην, αὖτίς τε Ξενοφάνεά τε καὶ Ἑκαταῖον. εἶναι γὰρͅ ἓν τὸ σοφόν, ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην, ὁτέη ἐκυβέρνησε πάντα διὰ πάντων. τόν τε Ὅμηρον ἔφασκεν ἄξιον ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων ἐκβάλλεσθαι καὶ ῥαπίζεσθαι, καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον ὁμοίως.

[¶1] 1.2. Again he would say: “There is more need to extinguish insolence than an outbreak of fire,” and “The people must fight for the law as for citywalls.” He attacks the Ephesians, too, for banishing his friend Hermodorus: he says: “The Ephesians would do well to end their lives, every grown man of them, and leave the city to beardless boys, for that they have driven out Hermodorus, the worthiest man among them, saying, ‘We will have none who is worthiest among us; or if there be any such, let him go elsewhere and consort with others.’” And when he was requested by them to make laws, he scorned the request because the state was already in the grip of a bad constitution.

> Greek: 1.2. Ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύναι μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊὴν καὶ μάχεσθαι χρὴ τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ὅκωσπερ τείχεος. καθάπτεται δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν ἑταῖρον ἐκβαλεῖν Ἑρμόδωρον, ἐν οἷς φησιν, ἄξιον Ἐφεσίοις ἡβηδὸν ἀποθανεῖν πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς ἀνήβοις τὴν πόλιν καταλιπεῖν, οἵτινες Ἑρμόδωρον ἄνδρα ἑωυτῶν ὀνήιστον ἐξέβαλον λέγοντες, Ἡμέων μηδὲ εἷς ὀνήιστος ἔστω· εἰ δέ τις τοιοῦτος, ἄλλῃ τε καὶ μετʼ ἄλλων. ἀξιούμενος δὲ καὶ νόμους θεῖναι πρὸς αὐτῶν ὑπερεῖδε διὰ τὸ ἤδη κεκρατῆσθαι τῇ πονηρᾷ πολιτείᾳ τὴν πόλιν.

[¶2] 1.3. He would retire to the temple of Artemis and play at knuckle-bones with the boys; and when the Ephesians stood round him and looked on, “Why, you rascals,” he said, “are you astonished? Is it not better to do this than to take part in your civil life?” Finally, he became a hater of his kind and wandered on the mountains, and there he continued to live, making his diet of grass and herbs. However, when this gave him dropsy, he made his way back to the city and put this riddle to the physicians, whether they were competent to create a drought after heavy rain. They could make nothing of this, whereupon he buried himself in a cowshed, expecting that the noxious damp humour would be drawn out of him by the warmth of the manure. But, as even this was of no avail, he died at the age of sixty.

> Greek: 1.3. ἀναχωρήσας δʼ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος μετὰ τῶν παίδων ἠστραγάλιζε· περιστάντων δʼ αὐτὸν τῶν Ἐφεσίων, τί, ὦ κάκιστοι, θαυμάζετε; εἶπεν· ἢ οὐ κρεῖττον τοῦτο ποιεῖν ἢ μεθʼ ὑμῶν πολιτεύεσθαι; Καὶ τέλος μισανθρωπήσας καὶ ἐκπατήσας ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι διητᾶτο, πόας σιτούμενος καὶ βοτάνας. καὶ μέντοι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περιτραπεὶς εἰς ὕδερον κατῆλθεν εἰς ἄστυ καὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν αἰνιγματωδῶς ἐπυνθάνετο εἰ δύναιντʼ ἐξ ἐπομβρίας αὐχμὸν ποιῆσαι· τῶν δὲ μὴ συνιέντων, αὑτὸν εἰς βουστάσιον κατορύξας τῇ τῶν βολίτων ἀλέᾳ ἤλπισεν ἐξατμισθήσεσθαι. οὐδὲν δʼ ἀνύων οὐδʼ οὕτως, ἐτελεύτα βιοὺς ἔτη ἑξήκοντα.

[¶3] 1.4. There is a piece of my own about him as follows: “Often have I wondered how it came about that Heraclitus endured to live in this miserable fashion and then to die. For a fell disease flooded his body with water, quenched the light in his eyes and brought on darkness.” Hermippus, too, says that he asked the doctors whether anyone could by emptying the intestines draw off the moisture; and when they said it was impossible, he put himself in the sun and bade his servants plaster him over with cow-dung. Being thus stretched and prone, he died the next day and was buried in the market-place. Neanthes of Cyzicus states that, being unable to tear off the dung, he remained as he was and, being unrecognizable when so transformed, he was devoured by dogs.

> Greek: 1.4. Καὶ ἔστιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμῶν οὕτως ἔχον·
πολλάκις Ἡράκλειτον ἐθαύμασα, πῶς ποτε τὸ ζῆν
ὧδε διαντλήσας δύσμορος εἶτʼ ἔθανεν·
σῶμα γὰρ ἀρδεύσασα κακὴ νόσος ὕδατι φέγγος
ἔσβεσεν ἐν βλεφάροις καὶ σκότον ἠγάγετο. Ἕρμιππος δέ φησι λέγειν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἰατροῖς εἴ τις δύναται 〈τὰ〉 ἔντερα κεινώσας τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐξερᾶσαι· ἀπειπόντων δέ, θεῖναι αὑτὸν εἰς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ κελεύειν τοὺς παῖδας βολίτοις καταπλάττειν· οὕτω δὴ κατατεινόμενον δευτεραῖον τελευτῆσαι καὶ θαφθῆναι ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ. Νεάνθης δʼ ὁ Κυζικηνός φησι μὴ δυνηθέντʼ αὐτὸν ἀποσπάσαι τὰ βόλιτα μεῖναι καὶ διὰ τὴν μεταβολὴν ἀγνοηθέντα κυνόβρωτον γενέσθαι.

[¶4] 1.5. He was exceptional from his boyhood; for when a youth he used to say that he knew nothing, although when he was grown up he claimed that he knew everything. He was nobody’s pupil, but he declared that he “inquired of himself,” and learned everything from himself. Some, however, had said that he had been a pupil of Xenophanes, as we learn from Sotion, who also tells us that Ariston in his book On Heraclitus declares that he was cured of the dropsy and died of another disease. And Hippobotus has the same story. As to the work which passes as his, it is a continuous treatise On Nature, but is divided into three discourses, one on the universe, another on politics, and a third on theology.

> Greek: 1.5. Γέγονε δὲ θαυμάσιος ἐκ παίδων, ὅτε καὶ νέος ὢν ἔφασκε μηδὲν εἰδέναι, τέλειος μέντοι γενόμενος πάντʼ ἐγνωκέναι. ἤκουσέ τʼ οὐδενός, ἀλλʼ αὑτὸν ἔφη διζήσασθαι καὶ μαθεῖν πάντα παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ. Σωτίων δέ φησιν εἰρηκέναι τινὰς Ξενοφάνους αὐτὸν ἀκηκοέναι· λέγειν τε Ἀρίστωνα ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἡρακλείτου καὶ τὸν ὕδερον αὐτὸν θεραπευθῆναι, ἀποθανεῖν δʼ ἄλλῃ νόσῳ. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ Ἱππόβοτός φησι. Τὸ δὲ φερόμενον αὐτοῦ βιβλίον ἐστὶ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ συνέχοντος Περὶ φύσεως, διῄρηται δʼ εἰς τρεῖς λόγους, εἴς τε τὸν περὶ τοῦ παντὸς καὶ πολιτικὸν καὶ θεολογικόν.

[¶5] 1.6. This book he deposited in the temple of Artemis and, according to some, he deliberately made it the more obscure in order that none but adepts should approach it, and lest familiarity should breed contempt. Of our philosopher Timon gives a sketch in these words: “In their midst uprose shrill, cuckoo-like, a mob-reviler, riddling Heraclitus.” Theophrastus puts it down to melancholy that some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley. As a proof of his magnanimity Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers cites the fact that he renounced his claim to the kingship in favour of his brother. So great fame did his book win that a sect was founded and called the Heracliteans, after him.

> Greek: 1.6. ἀνέθηκε δʼ αὐτὸ εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερόν, ὡς μέν τινες, ἐπιτηδεύσας ἀσαφέστερον γράψαι, ὅπως οἱ δυνάμενοι 〈μόνοι〉 προσίοιεν αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ ἐκ τοῦ δημώδους εὐκαταφρόνητον ᾖ. τοῦτον δὲ καὶ ὁ Τίμων ὑπογράφει λέγων, τοῖς δʼ ἔνι κοκκυστής, ὀχλολοίδορος Ἡράκλειτος, αἰνικτὴς ἀνόρουσε. Θεόφραστος δέ φησιν ὑπὸ μελαγχολίας τὰ μὲν ἡμιτελῆ, τὰ δʼ ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλως ἔχοντα γράψαι. σημεῖον δʼ αὐτοῦ τῆς μεγαλοφροσύνης Ἀντισθένης φησὶν ἐν Διαδοχαῖς· ἐκχωρῆσαι γὰρ τἀδελφῷ τῆς βασιλείας. τοσαύτην δὲ δόξαν ἔσχε τὸ σύγγραμμα ὡς καὶ αἱρετιστὰς ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τοὺς κληθέντας Ἡρακλειτείους.

[¶6] 1.7. Here is a general summary of his doctrines. All things are composed of fire, and into fire they are again resolved; further, all things come about by destiny, and existent things are brought into harmony by the clash of opposing currents; again, all things are filled with souls and divinities. He has also given an account of all the orderly happenings in the universe, and declares the sun to be no larger than it appears. Another of his sayings is: “Of soul thou shalt never find boundaries, not if thou trackest it on every path; so deep is its cause.” Self-conceit he used to call a falling sickness (epilepsy) and eyesight a lying sense. Sometimes, however, his utterances are clear and distinct, so that even the dullest can easily understand and derive therefrom elevation of soul. For brevity and weightiness his exposition is incomparable.

> Greek: 1.7. Ἐδόκει δʼ αὐτῷ καθολικῶς μὲν τάδε· ἐκ πυρὸς τὰ πάντα συνεστάναι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλύεσθαι· πάντα δὲ γίνεσθαι καθʼ εἱμαρμένην καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐναντιοδρομίας ἡρμόσθαι τὰ ὄντα· καὶ πάντα ψυχῶν εἶναι καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. εἴρηκε δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ συνισταμένων πάντων παθῶν, ὅτι τε ὁ ἥλιός ἐστι τὸ μέγεθος οἷος φαίνεται. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ψυχῆς πείρατα ἰὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο, πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν· οὕτω βαθὺν λόγον ἔχει. τήν τʼ οἴησιν ἱερὰν νόσον ἔλεγε καὶ τὴν ὅρασιν ψεύδεσθαι. λαμπρῶς τʼ ἐνίοτε ἐν τῷ συγγράμματι καὶ σαφῶς ἐκβάλλει, ὥστε καὶ τὸν νωθέστατον ῥᾳδίως γνῶναι καὶ δίαρμα ψυχῆς λαβεῖν· ἥ τε βραχύτης καὶ τὸ βάρος τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀσύγκριτον.

[¶7] 1.8. Coming now to his particular tenets, we may state them as follows: fire is the element, all things are exchange for fire and come into being by rarefaction and condensation; but of this he gives no clear explanation. All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things flows like a stream. Further, all that is is limited and forms one world. And it is alternately born from fire and again resolved into fire in fixed cycles to all eternity, and this is determined by destiny. Of the opposites that which tends to birth or creation is called war and strife, and that which tends to destruction by fire is called concord and peace. Change he called a pathway up and down, and this determines the birth of the world.

> Greek: 1.8. Καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ μέρους δὲ αὐτῷ ὧδʼ ἔχει τῶν δογμάτων· πῦρ εἶναι στοιχεῖον καὶ πυρὸς ἀμοιβὴν τὰ πάντα, ἀραιώσει καὶ πυκνώσει γινόμενα. σαφῶς δʼ οὐδὲν ἐκτίθεται. γίνεσθαί τε πάντα κατʼ ἐναντιότητα καὶ ῥεῖν τὰ ὅλα ποταμοῦ δίκην, πεπεράνθαι τε τὸ πᾶν καὶ ἕνα εἶναι κόσμον· γεννᾶσθαί τε αὐτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς καὶ πάλιν ἐκπυροῦσθαι κατά τινας περιόδους ἐναλλὰξ τὸν σύμπαντα αἰῶνα· τοῦτο δὲ γίνεσθαι καθʼ εἱμαρμένην. τῶν δὲ ἐναντίων τὸ μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἄγον καλεῖσθαι πόλεμον καὶ ἔριν, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν ὁμολογίαν καὶ εἰρήνην, καὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν ὁδὸν ἄνω κάτω, τόν τε κόσμον γίνεσθαι κατʼ αὐτήν.

[¶8] 1.9. For fire by contracting turns into moisture, and this condensing turns into water; water again when congealed turns into earth. This process he calls the downward path. Then again earth is liquefied, and thus gives rise to water, and from water the rest of the series is derived. He reduces nearly everything to exhalation from the sea. This process is the upward path. Exhalations arise from earth as well as from sea; those from sea are bright and pure, those from earth dark. Fire is fed by the bright exhalations, the moist element by the others. He does not make clear the nature of the surrounding element. He says, however, that there are in it bowls with their concavities turned towards us, in which the bright exhalations collect and produce flames. These are the stars.

> Greek: 1.9. Πυκνούμενον γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐξυγραίνεσθαι συνιστάμενόν τε γίνεσθαι ὕδωρ, πηγνύμενον δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς γῆν τρέπεσθαι· καὶ ταύτην ὁδὸν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω εἶναι. πάλιν τε αὖ τὴν γῆν χεῖσθαι, ἐξ ἧς τὸ ὕδωρ γίνεσθαι, ἐκ δὲ τούτου τὰ λοιπά, σχεδὸν πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν ἀνάγων τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάττης· αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω ὁδός. γίνεσθαι δʼ ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀπό τε γῆς καὶ θαλάττης, ἃς μὲν λαμπρὰς καὶ καθαράς, ἃς δὲ σκοτεινάς. αὔξεσθαι δὲ τὸ μὲν πῦρ ὑπὸ τῶν λαμπρῶν, τὸ δὲ ὑγρὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἑτέρων. τὸ δὲ περιέχον ὁποῖόν ἐστιν οὐ δηλοῖ· εἶναι μέντοι ἐν αὐτῷ σκάφας ἐπεστραμμένας κατὰ κοῖλον πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἐν αἷς ἀθροιζομένας τὰς λαμπρὰς ἀναθυμιάσεις ἀποτελεῖν φλόγας, ἃς εἶναι τὰ ἄστρα.

[¶9] 1.10. The flame of the sun is the brightest and the hottest; the other stars are further from the earth and for that reason give it less light and heat. The moon, which is nearer to the earth, traverses a region which is not pure. The sun, however, moves in a clear and untroubled region, and keeps a proportionate distance from us. That is why it gives us more heat and light. Eclipses of the sun and moon occur when the bowls are turned upwards; the monthly phases of the moon are due to the bowl turning round in its place little by little. Day and night, months, seasons and years, rains and winds and other similar phenomena are accounted for by the various exhalations.

> Greek: 1.10. λαμπροτάτην δὲ εἶναι τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου φλόγα καὶ θερμοτάτην. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα ἄστρα πλεῖον ἀπέχειν ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἧττον λάμπειν καὶ θάλπειν, τὴν δὲ σελήνην προσγειοτέραν οὖσαν μὴ διὰ τοῦ καθαροῦ φέρεσθαι τόπου. τὸν μέντοι ἥλιον ἐν διαυγεῖ καὶ ἀμιγεῖ κινεῖσθαι καὶ σύμμετρον ἀφʼ ἡμῶν ἔχειν διάστημα· τοιγάρτοι μᾶλλον θερμαίνειν τε καὶ φωτίζειν. ἐκλείπειν τε ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, ἄνω στρεφομένων τῶν σκαφῶν· τούς τε κατὰ μῆνα τῆς σελήνης σχηματισμοὺς γίνεσθαι στρεφομένης ἐν αὐτῇ κατὰ μικρὸν τῆς σκάφης. ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα γίνεσθαι καὶ μῆνας καὶ ὥρας ἐτείους καὶ ἐνιαυτοὺς ὑετούς τε καὶ πνεύματα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους ἀναθυμιάσεις.

[¶10] 1.11. Thus the bright exhalation, set aflame in the hollow orb of the sun, produces day, the opposite exhalation when it has got the mastery causes night; the increase of warmth due to the bright exhalation produces summer, whereas the preponderance of moisture due to the dark exhalation brings about winter. His explanations of other phenomena are in harmony with this. He gives no account of the nature of the earth, nor even of the bowls. These, then, were his opinions. The story told by Ariston of Socrates, and his remarks when he came upon the book of Heraclitus, which Euripides brought him, I have mentioned in my Life of Socrates.

> Greek: 1.11. τὴν μὲν γὰρ λαμπρὰν ἀναθυμίασιν φλογωθεῖσαν ἐν τῷ κύκλῳ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡμέραν ποιεῖν, τὴν δὲ ἐναντίαν ἐπικρατήσασαν νύκτʼ ἀποτελεῖν· καὶ ἐκ μὲν τοῦ λαμπροῦ τὸ θερμὸν αὐξόμενον θέρος ποιεῖν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ σκοτεινοῦ τὸ ὑγρὸν πλεονάζον χειμῶνα ἀπεργάζεσθαι. ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων αἰτιολογεῖ. περὶ δὲ τῆς γῆς οὐδὲν ἀποφαίνεται ποία τίς ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν σκαφῶν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ δοκοῦντα. Τὰ δὲ περὶ Σωκράτους καὶ ὅσα ἐντυχὼν τῷ συγγράμματι εἴποι, κομίσαντος Εὐριπίδου, καθά φησιν Ἀρίστων, ἐν τῷ περὶ Σωκράτους εἰρήκαμεν.

[¶11] 1.12. However, Seleucus the grammarian says that a certain Croton relates in his book called The Diver that the said work of Heraclitus was first brought into Greece by one Crates, who further said it required a Delian diver not to be drowned in it. The title given to it by some is The Muses, by others Concerning Nature; but Diodotus calls it “A helm unerring for the rule of life;” others “a guide of conduct, the keel of the whole world, for one and all alike.” We are told that, when asked why he kept silence, he replied, “Why, to let you chatter.” Darius, too, was eager to make his acquaintance, and wrote to him as follows:

> Greek: 1.12. Σέλευκος μέντοι φησὶν ὁ γραμματικὸς Κρότωνά τινα ἱστορεῖν ἐν τῷ Κατακολυμβητῇ Κράτητά τινα πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κομίσαι τὸ βιβλίον· 〈ὃν〉 καὶ εἰπεῖν Δηλίου τινὸς δεῖσθαι κολυμβητοῦ, ὃς οὐκ ἀποπνιγήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ. ἐπιγράφουσι δʼ αὐτῷ οἱ μὲν Μούσας, οἱ δὲ Περὶ φύσεως, Διόδοτος δὲ ἀκριβὲς οἰάκισμα πρὸς σταθμὴν βίου, ἄλλοι γνώμονʼ ἠθῶν, 〈τοῦ θʼ ὅλου〉 κόσμου τρόπιν ἑνός τε ξυμπάντων τε. φασὶ δʼ αὐτὸν ἐρωτηθέντα διὰ τί σιωπᾷ, φάναι ἵνʼ ὑμεῖς λαλῆτε. ἐπόθησε δʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ Δαρεῖος μετασχεῖν καὶ ἔγραψεν ὧδε πρὸς αὐτόν·

[¶12] 1.13. “King Darius, son of Hystaspes, to Heraclitus the wise man of Ephesus, greeting.” “You are the author of a treatise On Nature which is hard to understand and hard to interpret. In certain parts, if it be interpreted word for word, it seems to contain a power of speculation on the whole universe and all that goes on within it, which depends upon motion most divine; but for the most part judgement is suspended, so that even those who are the most conversant with literature are at a loss to know what is the right interpretation of your work. Accordingly King Darius, son of Hystaspes, wishes to enjoy your instruction and Greek culture. Come then with all speed to see me at my palace.”

> Greek: 1.13. “Βασιλεὺς Δαρεῖος πατρὸς Υστάσπεω Ἡράκλειτον Ἐφέσιον σοφὸν ἄνδρα προσαγορεύει χαίρειν. “Καταβέβλησαι λόγον Περὶ φύσεως δυσνόητόν τε καὶ δυσεξήγητον. ἔν τισι μὲν οὖν ἑρμηνευόμενος κατὰ λέξιν σὴν δοκεῖ δύναμίν τινα περιέχειν θεωρίας κόσμου τε τοῦ σύμπαντος καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτῳ γινομένων, ἅπερ ἐστὶν ἐν θειοτάτῃ κείμενα κινήσει· τῶν δὲ πλείστων ἐποχὴν ἔχοντα, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον μετεσχηκότας συγγραμμάτων διαπορεῖσθαι τῆς ὀρθῆς δοκούσης γεγράφθαι παρὰ σοὶ ἐξηγήσεως. βασιλεὺς οὖν Δαρεῖος Ὑστάσπου βούλεται τῆς σῆς ἀκροάσεως μετασχεῖν καὶ παιδείας Ἑλληνικῆς. ἔρχου δὴ συντόμως πρὸς ἐμὴν ὄψιν καὶ βασίλειον οἶκον.

[¶13] 1.14. “For the Greeks as a rule are not prone to mark their wise men; nay, they neglect their excellent precepts which make for good hearing and learning. But at my court there is secured for you every privilege and daily conversation of a good and worthy kind, and a life in keeping with your counsels.” “Heraclitus of Ephesus to King Darius, son of Hystaspes, greeting.” “All men upon earth hold aloof from truth and justice, while, by reason of wicked folly, they devote themselves to avarice and thirst for popularity. But I, being forgetful of all wickedness, shunning the general satiety which is closely joined with envy, and because I have a horror of splendour, could not come to Persia, being content with little, when that little is to my mind.” So independent was he even when dealing with a king.

> Greek: 1.14. Ἕλληνες γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ἀνεπισήμαντοι σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν ὄντες παρορῶσι τὰ καλῶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐνδεικνύμενα πρὸς σπουδαίαν ἀκοὴν καὶ μάθησιν. παρʼ ἐμοὶ δʼ ὑπάρχει σοι πᾶσα μὲν προεδρία, καθʼ ἡμέραν δὲ καλὴ καὶ σπουδαία προσαγόρευσις καὶ βίος εὐδόκιμος σαῖς παραινέσεσιν. “Ἡράκλειτος Ἐφέσιος βασιλέϊ Δαρείῳ πατρὸς Ὑστάσπεω χαίρειν. “Ὁκόσοι τυγχάνουσιν ὄντες ἐπιχθόνιοι τῆς μὲν ἀληθηίης καὶ δικαιοπραγμοσύνης ἀπέχονται, ἀπληστίῃ δὲ καὶ δοξοκοπίῃ προσέχουσι κακῆς ἕνεκα ἀνοίης. ἐγὼ δʼ ἀμνηστίην ἔχων πάσης πονηρίης καὶ κόρον φεύγων παντὸς οἰκειούμενον φθόνῳ καὶ διὰ τὸ περιίστασθαι ὑπερηφανίην οὐκ ἂν ἀφικοίμην εἰς Περσῶν χώρην, ὀλίγοις ἀρκεόμενος κατʼ ἐμὴν γνώμην. Τοιοῦτος μὲν ἁνὴρ καὶ πρὸς βασιλέα.

[¶14] 1.15. Demetrius, in his book on Men of the Same Name, says that he despised even the Athenians, although held by them in the highest estimation; and, notwithstanding that the Ephesians thought little of him, he preferred his own home the more. Demetrius of Phalerum, too, mentions him in his Defence of Socrates; and the commentators on his work are very numerous, including as they do Antishenes and Heraclides of Pontus, Cleanthes and Sphaerus the Stoic, and again Pausanias who was called the imitator of Heraclitus, Nicomedes, Dionysius, and, among the grammarians, Diodotus. The latter affirms that it is not a treatise upon nature, but upon government, the physical part serving merely for illustration.

> Greek: 1.15. Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις καὶ Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸν ὑπερφρονῆσαι, δόξαν ἔχοντα παμπλείστην, καταφρονούμενόν τε ὑπὸ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ἑλέσθαι μᾶλλον τὰ οἰκεῖα. μέμνηται αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ Φαληρεὺς Δημήτριος ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ. πλεῖστοί τέ εἰσιν ὅσοι ἐξήγηνται αὐτοῦ τὸ σύγγραμμα· καὶ γὰρ Ἀντισθένης καὶ Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς Κλεάνθης τε καὶ Σφαῖρος ὁ Στωικός, πρὸς δὲ Παυσανίας ὁ κληθεὶς Ἡρακλειτιστής, Νικομήδης τε καὶ Διονύσιος· τῶν δὲ γραμματικῶν Διόδοτος, ὃς οὔ φησι περὶ φύσεως εἶναι τὸ σύγγραμμα, ἀλλὰ περὶ πολιτείας, τὸ δὲ περὶ φύσεως ἐν παραδείγματος εἴδει κεῖσθαι.

[¶15] 1.16. Hieronymus tells us that Scythinus, the satirical poet, undertook to put the discourse of Heraclitus into verse. He is the subject of many epigrams, and amongst them of this one: “Heraclitus am I. Why do ye drag me up and down, ye illiterate? It was not for you I toiled, but for such as understand me. One man in my sight is a match for thirty thousand, but the countless hosts do not make a single one. This I proclaim, yea in the halls of Persephone.” Another runs as follows: “Do not be in too great a hurry to get to the end of Heraclitus the Ephesian’s book: the path is hard to travel. Gloom is there and darkness devoid of light. But if an initiate be your guide, the path shines brighter than sunlight.”

> Greek: 1.16. Ἱερώνυμος δέ φησι καὶ Σκυθῖνον τὸν τῶν ἰάμβων ποιητὴν ἐπιβαλέσθαι τὸν ἐκείνου λόγον διὰ μέτρου ἐκβάλλειν. πολλά τʼ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιγράμματα φέρεται, ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ τόδε·
Ἡράκλειτος ἐγώ· τί μʼ ἄνω κάτω ἕλκετʼ ἄμουσοι;
οὐχ ὑμῖν ἐπόνουν, τοῖς δʼ ἔμʼ ἐπισταμένοις.
εἷς ἐμοὶ ἄνθρωπος τρισμύριοι, οἱ δʼ ἀνάριθμοι
οὐδείς. ταῦτʼ αὐδῶ καὶ παρὰ Φερσεφόνῃ.
καὶ ἄλλο τοιόνδε·
μὴ ταχὺς Ἡρακλείτου ἐπʼ ὀμφαλὸν εἴλεε βίβλον
τοὐφεσίου· μάλα τοι δύσβατος ἀτραπιτός.
ὀρφνὴ καὶ σκότος ἐστὶν ἀλάμπετον· ἢν δέ σε μύστης
εἰσαγάγῃ, φανεροῦ λαμπρότερʼ ἠελίου.

[¶16] 1.17. Five men have borne the name of Heraclitus: (1) our philosopher; (2) a lyric poet, who wrote a hymn of praise to the twelve gods; (3) an elegiac poet of Halicarnassus, on whom Callimachus wrote the following epitaph:
They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.
And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take;
(4) a Lesbian who wrote a history of Macedonia; (5) a jester who adopted this profession after having been a musician.

> Greek: 1.17. Γεγόνασι δʼ Ἡράκλειτοι πέντε· πρῶτος αὐτὸς οὗτος· δεύτερος ποιητὴς λυρικός, οὗ ἐστι τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν ἐγκώμιον· τρίτος ἐλεγείας ποιητὴς Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, εἰς ὃν Καλλίμαχος πεποὶηκεν οὕτως·
εἶπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον, ἐς δʼ ἐμὲ δάκρυ
ἤγαγεν, ἐμνήσθην δʼ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι
ἥλιον ἐν λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που,
ξεῖνʼ Ἁλικαρνασσεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή,
αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων
ἁρπάκτης Ἀΐδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ.
τέταρτος Λέσβιος, ἱστορίαν γεγραφὼς Μακεδονικήν· πέμπτος σπουδογέλοιος, ἀπὸ κιθαρῳδίας μεταβεβηκὼς εἰς 〈τόδε〉 τὸ εἶδος.

[¶17] 2.18. Xenophanes, a native of Colophon, the son of Dexius, or, according to Apollodorus, of Orthomenes, is praised by Timon, whose words at all events are: “Xenophanes, not over-proud, perverter of Homer, castigator.” He was banished from his native city and lived at Zancle in Sicily [and having joined the colony planted at Elea taught there]. He also lived in Catana. According to some he was no man’s pupil, according to others he was a pupil of Boton of Athens, or, as some say, of Archelaus. Sotion makes him a contemporary of Anaximander. His writings are in epic metre, as well as elegiacs and iambics attacking Hesiod and Homer and denouncing what they said about the gods. Furthermore he used to recite his own poems. It is stated that he opposed the views of Thales and Pythagoras, and attacked Epimenides also. He lived to a very great age, as his own words somewhere testify:

> Greek: 2.18. Ξενοφάνης Δεξίου ἤ, ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρος, Ὀρθομένους Κολοφώνιος ἐπαινεῖται πρὸς τοῦ Τίμωνος· φησὶ γοῦν, Ξεινοφάνην θʼ ὑπάτυφον, Ὁμηραπάτην ἐπικόπτην. οὗτος ἐκπεσὼν τῆς πατρίδος ἐν Ζάγκλῃ τῆς Σικελίας * * * διέτριβε δὲ καὶ ἐν Κατάνῃ. διήκουσε δὲ κατʼ ἐνίους μὲν οὐδενός, κατʼ ἐνίους δὲ Βότωνος Ἀθηναίου ἤ, ὥς τινες, Ἀρχελάου. καί, ὡς Σωτίων φησί, κατʼ Ἀναξίμανδρον ἦν. γέγραφε δὲ καὶ ἐν ἔπεσι καὶ ἐλεγείας καὶ ἰάμβους καθʼ Ἡσιόδου καὶ Ὁμήρου, ἐπικόπτων αὐτῶν τὰ περὶ θεῶν εἰρημένα. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρραψῴδει τὰ ἑαυτοῦ. ἀντιδοξάσαι τε λέγεται Θαλῇ καὶ Πυθαγόρᾳ, καθάψασθαι δὲ καὶ Ἐπιμενίδου. μακροβιώτατός τε γέγονεν, ὥς που καὶ αὐτός φησιν·

[¶18] 2.19. “Seven and sixty are now the years that have been tossing my cares up and down the land of Greece; and there were then twenty and five years more from my birth up, if I know how to speak truly about these things.” He holds that there are four elements of existent things, and worlds unlimited in number but not overlapping [in time]. Clouds are formed when the vapour from the sun is carried upwards and lifts them into the surrounding air. The substance of God is spherical, in no way resembling man. He is all eye and all ear, but does not breathe; he is the totality of mind and thought, and is eternal. Xenophanes was the first to declare that everything which comes into being is doomed to perish, and that the soul is breath.

> Greek: 2.19. ἤδη δʼ ἑπτά τʼ ἔασι καὶ ἑξήκοντʼ ἐνιαυτοὶ
βληστρίζοντες ἐμὴν φροντίδʼ ἀνʼ Ἑλλάδα γῆν·
ἐκ γενετῆς δὲ τότʼ ἦσαν ἐείκοσι πέντε τε πρὸς τοῖς,
εἴπερ ἐγὼ περὶ τῶνδʼ οἶδα λέγειν ἐτύμως. Φησὶ δὲ τέτταρα εἶναι τῶν ὄντων στοιχεῖα, κόσμους δʼ ἀπείρους, οὐ παραλλακτοὺς δέ. τὰ νέφη συνίστασθαι τῆς ἀφʼ ἡλίου ἀτμίδος ἀναφερομένης καὶ αἰρούσης αὐτὰ εἰς τὸ περιέχον. οὐσίαν θεοῦ σφαιροειδῆ, μηδὲν ὅμοιον ἔχουσαν ἀνθρώπῳ· ὅλον δὲ ὁρᾶν καὶ ὅλον ἀκούειν, μὴ μέντοι ἀναπνεῖν· σύμπαντά τε εἶναι νοῦν καὶ φρόνησιν καὶ ἀΐδιον. πρῶτός τε ἀπεφήνατο ὅτι πᾶν τὸ γινόμενον φθαρτόν ἐστι καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ πνεῦμα.

[¶19] 2.20. He also said that the mass of things falls short of thought; and again that our encounters with tyrants should be as few, or else as pleasant, as possible. When Empedocles remarked to him that it is impossible to find a wise man, “Naturally,” he replied, “for it takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.” Sotion says that he was the first to maintain that all things are incognizable, but Sotion is in error. One of his poems is The Founding of Colophon, and another The Settlement of a Colony at Elea in Italy, making 2000 lines in all. He flourished about the 60th Olympiad. That he buried his sons with his own hands like Anaxagoras is stated by Demetrius of Phalerum in his work On Old Age and by Panaetius the Stoic in his book Of Cheerfulness. He is believed to have been sold into slavery by [... and to have been set free by] the Pythagoreans Parmeniscus and Orestades: so Favorinus in the first book of his Memorabilia. There was also another Xenophanes, of Lesbos, an iambic poet. Such were the “sporadic” philosophers.

> Greek: 2.20. Ἔφη δὲ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἥσσω νοῦ εἶναι. καὶ τοῖς τυράννοις ἐντυγχάνειν ἢ ὡς ἥκιστα ἢ ὡς ἥδιστα. Ἐμπεδοκλέους δὲ εἰπόντος αὐτῷ ὅτι ἀνεύρετός ἐστιν ὁ σοφός, εἰκότως, ἔφη· σοφὸν γὰρ εἶναι δεῖ τὸν ἐπιγνωσόμενον τὸν σοφόν. φησὶ δὲ Σωτίων πρῶτον αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν ἀκατάληπτʼ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, πλανώμενος. Ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ Κολοφῶνος κτίσιν καὶ τὸν εἰς Ἐλέαν τῆς Ἰταλίας ἀποικισμὸν ἔπη δισχίλια. καὶ ἤκμαζε κατὰ τὴν ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. φησὶ δὲ Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ γήρως καὶ Παναίτιος ὁ Στωικὸς ἐν τῷ Περὶ εὐθυμίας ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ θάψαι τοὺς υἱεῖς αὐτόν, καθάπερ καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν. δοκεῖ δὲ πεπρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ * * 〈καὶ λελύσθαι ὑπὸ〉 τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν Παρμενίσκου καὶ Ὀρεστάδου, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Ἀπομνημονευμάτων πρώτῳ. γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ξενοφάνης Λέσβιος ποιητὴς ἰάμβων. Καὶ οὗτοι μὲν οἱ σποράδην.

[¶20] 3.21. Parmenides, a native of Elea, son of Pyres, was a pupil of Xenophanes (Theophrastus in his Epitome makes him a pupil of Anaximander). Parmenides, however, though he was instructed by Xenophanes, was no follower of his. According to Sotion he also associated with Ameinias the Pythagorean, who was the son of Diochaetas and a worthy gentleman though poor. This Ameinias he was more inclined to follow, and on his death he built a shrine to him, being himself of illustrious birth and possessed of great wealth; moreover it was Ameinias and not Xenophanes who led him to adopt the peaceful life of a student. He was the first to declare that the earth is spherical and is situated in the centre of the universe. He held that there were two elements, fire and earth, and that the former discharged the function of a craftsman, the latter of his material.

> Greek: 3.21. Ξενοφάνους δὲ διήκουσε Παρμενίδης Πύρητος Ἐλεάτης (τοῦτον Θεόφραστος ἐν τῇ Ἐπιτομῇ Ἀναξιμάνδρου φησὶν ἀκοῦσαι). ὅμως δʼ οὖν ἀκούσας καὶ Ξενοφάνους οὐκ ἠκολούθησεν αὐτῷ. ἐκοινώνησε δὲ καὶ Ἀμεινίᾳ Διοχαίτα τῷ Πυθαγορικῷ, ὡς ἔφη Σωτίων, ἀνδρὶ πένητι μέν, καλῷ δὲ καὶ ἀγαθῷ. ᾧ καὶ μᾶλλον ἠκολούθησε καὶ ἀποθανόντος ἡρῷον ἱδρύσατο γένους τε ὑπάρχων λαμπροῦ καὶ πλούτου, καὶ ὑπʼ Ἀμεινίου ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὑπὸ Ξενοφάνους εἰς ἡσυχίαν προετράπη. Πρῶτος δʼ οὗτος τὴν γῆν ἀπέφαινε σφαιροειδῆ καὶ ἐν μέσῳ κεῖσθαι. δύο τε εἶναι στοιχεῖα, πῦρ καὶ γῆν, καὶ τὸ μὲν δημιουργοῦ τάξιν ἔχειν, τὴν δʼ ὕλης.

[¶21] 3.22. The generation of man proceeded from the sun as first cause; heat and cold, of which all things consist, surpass the sun itself. Again he held that soul and mind are one and the same, as Theophrastus mentions in his Physics, where he is setting forth the tenets of almost all the schools. He divided his philosophy into two parts dealing the one with truth, the other with opinion. Hence he somewhere says: “Thou must needs learn all things, as well the unshakeable heart of well-rounded truth as the opinions of mortals in which there is no sure trust.” Our philosopher too commits his doctrines to verse just as did Hesiod, Xenophanes and Empedocles. He made reason the standard and pronounced sensations to be inexact. At all events his words are: “And let not long-practised wont force thee to tread this path, to be governed by an aimless eye, an echoing ear and a tongue, but do thou with understanding bring the muchcontested issue to decision.”

> Greek: 3.22. γένεσίν τʼ ἀνθρώπων ἐξ ἡλίου πρῶτον γενέσθαι· αὐτὸν δὲ ὑπερέχειν τὸ θερμὸν καὶ τὸ ψυχρόν, ἐξ ὧν τὰ πάντα συνεστάναι. καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸν νοῦν ταὐτὸν εἶναι, καθὰ μέμνηται καὶ Θεόφραστος ἐν τοῖς Φυσικοῖς, πάντων σχεδὸν ἐκτιθέμενος τὰ δόγματα. δισσήν τε ἔφη τὴν φιλοσοφίαν, τὴν μὲν κατʼ ἀλήθειαν, τὴν δὲ κατὰ δόξαν. διὸ καί φησί που·
χρεὼ δέ σε πάντα πυθέσθαι
ἠμὲν Ἀληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ,
ἠδὲ βροτῶν δόξας, ταῖς οὐκ ἔνι πίστις ἀληθής. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ ποιημάτων φιλοσοφεῖ, καθάπερ Ἡσίοδός τε καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. κριτήριον δὲ τὸν λόγον εἶπε· τάς τε αἰσθήσεις μὴ ἀκριβεῖς ὑπάρχειν. φησὶ γοῦν·
μηδέ σʼ ἔθος πολύπειρον ὁδὸν κατὰ τήνδε βιάσθω
νωμᾶν ἄσκοπον ὄμμα καὶ ἠχήεσσαν ἀκουὴν
καὶ γλῶσσαν, κρῖναι δὲ λόγῳ πολύδηριν ἔλεγχον.

[¶22] 3.23. Hence Timon says of him: “And the strength of high-souled Parmenides, of no diverse opinions, who introduced thought instead of imagination’s deceit.” It was about him that Plato wrote a dialogue with the title Parmenides or Concerning Ideas. He flourished in the 69th Olympiad. He is believed to have been the first to detect the identity of Hesperus, the evening-star, and Phosphorus, the morning-star; so Favorinus in the fifth book of his Memorabilia; but others attribute this to Pythagoras, whereas Callimachus holds that the poem in question was not the work of Pythagoras. Parmenides is said to have served his native city as a legislator: so we learn from Speusippus in his book On Philosophers. Also to have been the first to use the argument known as “Achilles [and the tortoise]”: so Favorinus tells us in his Miscellaneous History. There was also another Parmenides, a rhetorician who wrote a treatise on his art.

> Greek: 3.23. διὸ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ φησιν ὁ Τίμων·
Παρμενίδου τε βίην μεγαλόφρονος οὐ πολύδοξον,
ὅς ῥʼ ἀπὸ φαντασίας ἀπάτης ἀνενείκατο νώσεις.
εἰς τοῦτον καὶ Πλάτων τὸν διάλογον γέγραφε, Παρμενίδην ἐπιγράψας ἢ Περὶ ἰδεῶν. Ἤκμαζε δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην καὶ ἑξηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. καὶ δοκεῖ πρῶτος πεφωρακέναι τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι Ἕσπερον καὶ Φωσφόρον, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν πέμπτῳ Ἀπομνημονευμάτων· οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόραν· Καλλίμαχος δέ φησι μὴ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τὸ ποίημα. λέγεται δὲ καὶ νόμους θεῖναι τοῖς πολίταις, ὥς φησι Σπεύσιππος ἐν τῷ Περὶ φιλοσόφων. καὶ πρῶτος ἐρωτῆσαι τὸν Ἀχιλλέα λόγον, ὡς Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἕτερος Παρμενίδης, ῥήτωρ τεχνογράφος.

[¶23] 4.24. Melissus, the son of Ithaegenes, was a native of Samos. He was a pupil of Parmenides. Moreover he came into relations with Heraclitus, on which occasion the latter was introduced by him to the Ephesians, who did not know him, as Democritus was to the citizens of Abdera by Hippocrates. He took part also in politics and won the approval of his countrymen, and for this reason he was elected admiral and won more admiration than ever through his own merit. In his view the universe was unlimited, unchangeable and immovable, and was one, uniform and full of matter. There was no real, but only apparent, motion. Moreover he said that we ought not to make any statements about the gods, for it was impossible to have knowledge of them. According to Apollodorus, he flourished in the 84th Olympiad.

> Greek: 4.24. Μέλισσος Ἰθαιγένους Σάμιος. οὗτος ἤκουσε Παρμενίδου· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς λόγους ἦλθεν Ἡρακλείτῳ· ὅτε καὶ συνέστησεν αὐτὸν τοῖς Ἐφεσίοις ἀγνοοῦσι, καθάπερ Ἱπποκράτης Δημόκριτον Ἀβδηρίταις. γέγονε δὲ καὶ πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀποδοχῆς παρὰ τοῖς πολίταις ἠξιωμένος· ὅθεν ναύαρχος αἱρεθεὶς ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον ἐθαυμάσθη διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρετήν. Ἐδόκει δʼ αὐτῷ τὸ πᾶν ἄπειρον εἶναι καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ ἓν ὅμοιον ἑαυτῷ καὶ πλῆρες· κίνησίν τε μὴ εἶναι, δοκεῖν δʼ εἶναι. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ θεῶν ἔλεγε μὴ δεῖν ἀποφαίνεσθαι· μὴ γὰρ εἶναι γνῶσιν αὐτῶν. Φησὶ δʼ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἠκμακέναι αὐτὸν κατὰ τὴν τετάρτην καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα.

[¶24] 5.25. Zeno was a citizen of Elea. Apollodorus in his Chronology says that he was the son of Teleutagoras by birth, but of Parmenides by adoption, while Parmenides was the son of Pyres. Of Zeno and Melissus Timon speaks thus:
Great Zeno’s strength which, never known to fail,
On each side urged, on each side could prevail.
In marshalling arguments Melissus too,
More skilled than many a one, and matched by few. Zeno, then, was all through a pupil of Parmenides and his bosom friend. He was tall in stature, as Plato says in his Parmenides. The same philosopher [mentions him] in his Sophist, [and Phaedrus,] and calls him the Eleatic Palamedes. Aristotle says that Zeno was the inventor of dialectic, as Empedocles was of rhetoric.

> Greek: 5.25. Ζήνων Ἐλεάτης. τοῦτον Ἀπολλόδωρός φησιν εἶναι ἐν Χρονικοῖς [Πύρητος τὸν δὲ Παρμενίδην] φύσει μὲν Τελευταγόρου, θέσει δὲ Παρμενίδου 〈τὸν δὲ Παρμενίδην Πύρητος 〉. περὶ τούτου καὶ Μελίσσου Τίμων φησὶ ταῦτα·
ἀμφοτερογλώσσου τε μέγα σθένος οὐκ ἀλαπαδνὸν
Ζήνωνος πάντων ἐπιλήπτορος, ἠδὲ Μέλισσον,
πολλῶν φαντασμῶν ἐπάνω, παύρων γε μὲν ἥσσω. Ὁ δὴ Ζήνων διακήκοε Παρμενίδου καὶ γέγονεν αὐτοῦ παιδικά. καὶ εὐμήκης ἦν, καθά φησι Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Παρμενίδῃ, ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Σοφιστῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ 〈αὐτοῦ μέμνηται〉 καὶ Ἐλεατικὸν Παλαμήδην αὐτὸν καλεῖ. φησὶ δʼ Ἀριστοτέλης εὑρετὴν αὐτὸν γενέσθαι διαλεκτικῆς, ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλέα ῥητορικῆς.

[¶25] 5.26. He was a truly noble character both as philosopher and as politician; at all events, his extant books are brimful of intellect. Again, he plotted to overthrow Nearchus the tyrant (or, according to others, Diomedon) but was arrested: so Heraclides in his epitome of Satyrus. On that occasion he was crossexamined as to his accomplices and about the arms which he was conveying to Lipara; he denounced all the tyrant’s own friends, wishing to make him destitute of supporters. Then, saying that he had something to tell him about certain people in his private ear, he laid hold of it with his teeth and did not let go until stabbed to death, meeting the same fate as Aristogiton the tyrannicide.

> Greek: 5.26. Γέγονε δὲ ἀνὴρ γενναιότατος καὶ ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ καὶ ἐν πολιτείᾳ· φέρεται γοῦν αὐτοῦ βιβλία πολλῆς συνέσεως γέμοντα. καθελεῖν δὲ θελήσας Νέαρχον τὸν τύραννον—οἱ δὲ Διομέδοντα—συνελήφθη, καθά φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ἐν τῇ Σατύρου ἐπιτομῇ. ὅτε καὶ ἐξεταζόμενος τοὺς συνειδότας καὶ περὶ τῶν ὅπλων ὧν ἦγεν εἰς Λιπάραν, πάντας ἐμήνυσεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς φίλους, βουλόμενος αὐτὸν ἔρημον καταστῆσαι· εἶτα περί τινων εἰπεῖν ἔχειν τινα 〈ἔφη〉 αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸ οὖς καὶ δακὼν οὐκ ἀνῆκεν ἕως ἀπεκεντήθη, ταὐτὸν Ἀριστογείτονι τῷ τυραννοκτόνῳ παθών.

[¶26] 5.27. Demetrius in his work on Men of the Same Name says that he bit off, not the ear, but the nose. According to Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers, after informing against the tyrant’s friends, he was asked by the tyrant whether there was anyone else in the plot; whereupon he replied, “Yes, you, the curse of the city!”; and to the bystanders he said, “I marvel at your cowardice, that, for fear of any of those things which I am now enduring, you should be the tyrant’s slaves.” And at last he bit off his tongue and spat it at him; and his fellow-citizens were so worked upon that they forthwith stoned the tyrant to death. In this version of the story most authors nearly agree, but Hermippus says he was cast into a mortar and beaten to death.

> Greek: 5.27. Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις τὸν μυκτῆρα αὐτὸν ἀποτραγεῖν. Ἀντισθένης δὲ ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς φησι μετὰ τὸ μηνῦσαι τοὺς φίλους ἐρωτηθῆναι πρὸς τοῦ τυράννου εἴ τις ἄλλος εἴη· τὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν, σὺ ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἀλιτήριος. πρός τε τοὺς παρεστῶτας φάναι· θαυμάζω ὑμῶν τὴν δειλίαν, εἰ τούτων ἕνεκεν ὧν νῦν ἐγὼ ὑπομένω, δουλεύετε τῷ τυράννῳ· καὶ τέλος ἀποτραγόντα τὴν γλῶτταν προσπτύσαι αὐτῷ· τοὺς δὲ πολίτας παρορμηθέντας αὐτίκα τὸν τύραννον καταλεῦσαι. ταὐτὰ δὲ σχεδὸν οἱ πλείους λαλοῦσιν. Ἕρμιππος δέ φησιν εἰς ὅλμον αὐτὸν βληθῆναι καὶ κατακοπῆναι.

[¶27] 5.28. Of him also I have written as follows: “You wished, Zeno, and noble was your wish, to slay the tyrant and set Elea free from bondage. But you were crushed; for, as all know, the tyrant caught you and beat you in a mortar. But what is this that I say? It was your body that he beat, and not you.” In all other respects Zeno was a gallant man; and in particular he despised the great no less than Heraclitus. For example, his native place, the Phocaean colony, once known as Hyele and afterwards as Elea, a city of moderate size, skilled in nothing but to rear brave men, he preferred before all the splendour of Athens, hardly paying the Athenians a visit, but living all his life at home.

> Greek: 5.28. Καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς εἴπομεν οὕτως·
ἤθελες, ὦ Ζήνων, καλὸν ἤθελες ἄνδρα τύραννον
κτείνας ἐκλῦσαι δουλοσύνης Ἐλέαν.
ἀλλʼ ἐδάμης· δὴ γάρ δε λαβὼν ὁ τύραννος ἐν ὅλμῳ
κόψε. τί τοῦτο λέγω; σῶμα γάρ, οὐχὶ δὲ σέ. Γέγονε δὲ τά τε ἄλλα ἀγαθὸς ὁ Ζήνων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπεροπτικὸς τῶν μειζόνων κατʼ ἴσον Ἡρακλείτῳ· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος τὴν πρότερον μὲν Ὑέλην, ὕστερον δʼ Ἐλέαν, Φωκαέων οὖσαν ἀποικίαν, αὑτοῦ δὲ πατρίδα, πόλιν εὐτελῆ καὶ μόνον ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς τρέφειν ἐπισταμένην ἠγάπησε μᾶλλον τῆς Ἀθηναίων μεγαλαυχίας, οὐκ ἐπιδημήσας πώμαλα πρὸς αὐτούς, ἀλλʼ αὐτόθι καταβιούς.

[¶28] 5.29. He was the first to propound the argument of the “Achilles,” which Favorinus attributes to Parmenides, and many other arguments. His views are as follows. There are worlds, but there is no empty space. The substance of all things came from hot and cold, and dry and moist, which change into one another. The generation of man proceeds from earth, and the soul is formed by a union of all the foregoing, so blended that no one element predominates. We are told that once when he was reviled he lost his temper, and, in reply to some one who blamed him for this, he said, “If when I am abused I pretend that I am not, then neither shall I be aware of it if I am praised.” The fact that there were eight men of the name of Zeno we have already mentioned under Zeno of Citium. Our philosopher flourished in the 79th Olympiad.

> Greek: 5.29. Οὗτος καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα πρῶτος λόγον ἠρώτησε [Φαβωρῖνος δέ φησι Παρμενίδην] καὶ ἄλλους συχνούς. ἀρέσκει δʼ αὐτῷ τάδε· κόσμους εἶναι κενόν τε μὴ εἶναι· γεγενῆσθαι δὲ τὴν τῶν πάντων φύσιν ἐκ θερμοῦ καὶ ψυχροῦ καὶ ξηροῦ καὶ ὑγροῦ, λαμβανόντων αὐτῶν εἰς ἄλληλα τὴν μεταβολήν· γένεσίν τε ἀνθρώπων ἐκ γῆς εἶναι καὶ ψυχὴν κρᾶμα ὑπάρχειν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων κατὰ μηδενὸς τούτων ἐπικράτησιν. Τοῦτόν φασι λοιδορούμενον ἀγανακτῆσαι· αἰτιασαμένου δέ τινος, φάναι ἐὰν μὴ λοιδορούμενος προσποιῶμαι, οὐδʼ ἐπαινούμενος αἰσθήσομαι. Ὅτι δὲ γεγόνασι Ζήνωνες ὀκτὼ ἐν τῷ Κιτιεῖ διειλέγμεθα. ἤκμαζε δʼ οὗτος κατὰ τὴν ἐνάτην 〈καὶ ἑβδομηκοστὴν〉 Ὀλυμπιάδα.

[¶29] 6.30. Leucippus was born at Elea, but some say at Abdera and others at Miletus. He was a pupil of Zeno. His views were these. The sum of things is unlimited, and they all change into one another. The All includes the empty as well as the full. The worlds are formed when atoms fall into the void and are entangled with one another; and from their motion as they increase in bulk arises the substance of the stars. The sun revolves in a larger circle round the moon. The earth rides steadily, being whirled about the centre; its shape is like that of a drum. Leucippus was the first to set up atoms as first principles. Such is a general summary of his views; on particular points they are as follows.

> Greek: 6.30. Λεύκιππος Ἐλεάτης, ὡς δέ τινες, Ἀβδηρίτης, κατʼ ἐνίους δὲ Μιλήσιος. οὗτος ἤκουσε Ζήνωνος. ἤρεσκε δʼ αὐτῷ ἄπειρα εἶναι τὰ πάντα καὶ εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλειν, τό τε πᾶν εἶναι κενὸν καὶ πλῆρες [σωμάτων]. τούς τε κόσμους γίνεσθαι σωμάτων εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἐμπιπτόντων καὶ ἀλλήλοις περιπλεκομένων· ἔκ τε τῆς κινήσεως κατὰ τὴν αὔξησιν αὐτῶν γίνεσθαι τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων φύσιν. φέρεσθαι δὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἐν μείζονι κύκλῳ περὶ τὴν σελήνην· τὴν γῆν ὀχεῖσθαι περὶ τὸ μέσον δινουμένην· σχῆμά τʼ αὐτῆς τυμπανῶδες εἶναι. πρῶτός τε ἀτόμους ἀρχὰς ὑπεστήσατο. 〈καὶ〉 κεφαλαιωδῶς μὲν ταῦτα· ἐπὶ μέρους δʼ ὧδε ἔχει.

[¶30] 6.31. He declares the All to be unlimited, as already stated; but of the All part is full and part empty, and these he calls elements. Out of them arise the worlds unlimited in number and into them they are dissolved. This is how the worlds are formed. In a given section many atoms of all manner of shapes are carried from the unlimited into the vast empty space. These collect together and form a single vortex, in which they jostle against each other and, circling round in every possible way, separate off, by like atoms joining like. And, the atoms being so numerous that they can no longer revolve in equilibrium, the light ones pass into the empty space outside, as if they were being winnowed; the remainder keep together and, becoming entangled, go on their circuit together, and form a primary spherical system.

> Greek: 6.31. Τὸ μὲν πᾶν ἄπειρόν φησιν, ὡς προείρηται· τούτου δὲ τὸ μὲν πλῆρες εἶναι, τὸ δὲ κενόν, 〈ἃ〉 καὶ στοιχεῖά φησι. κόσμους τε ἐκ τούτων ἀπείρους εἶναι καὶ διαλύεσθαι εἰς ταῦτα. γίνεσθαι δὲ τοὺς κόσμους οὕτω· φέρεσθαι κατʼ ἀποτομὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀπείρου πολλὰ σώματα παντοῖα τοῖς σχήμασιν εἰς μέγα κενόν, ἅπερ ἀθροισθέντα δίνην ἀπεργάζεσθαι μίαν, καθʼ ἣν προσκρούοντα 〈ἀλλήλοισ〉 καὶ παντοδαπῶς κυκλούμενα διακρίνεσθαι χωρὶς τὰ ὅμοια πρὸς τὰ ὅμοια. ἰσορρόπων δὲ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος μηκέτι δυναμένων περιφέρεσθαι, τὰ μὲν λεπτὰ χωρεῖν εἰς τὸ ἔξω κενόν, ὥσπερ διαττώμενα· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ συμμένειν καὶ περιπλεκόμενα συγκατατρέχειν ἀλλήλοις καὶ ποιεῖν πρῶτόν τι σύστημα σφαιροειδές.

[¶31] 6.32. This parts off like a shell, enclosing within it atoms of all kinds; and, as these are whirled round by virtue of the resistance of the centre, the enclosing shell becomes thinner, the adjacent atoms continually combining when they touch the vortex. In this way the earth is formed by portions brought to the centre coalescing. And again, even the outer shell grows larger by the influx of atoms from outside, and, as it is carried round in the vortex, adds to itself whatever atoms it touches. And of these some portions are locked together and form a mass, at first damp and miry, but, when they have dried and revolve with the universal vortex, they afterwards take fire and form the substance of the stars.

> Greek: 6.32. τοῦτο δʼ οἷον ὑμένα ἀφίστασθαι, περιέχοντʼ ἐν ἑαυτῷ παντοῖα σώματα· ὧν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μέσου ἀντέρεισιν περιδινουμένων λεπτὸν γενέσθαι τὸν πέριξ ὑμένα, συρρεόντων ἀεὶ τῶν συνεχῶν κατʼ ἐπίψαυσιν τῆς δίνης. καὶ οὕτω γενέσθαι τὴν γῆν, συμμενόντων τῶν ἐνεχθέντων ἐπὶ τὸ μέσον. αὐτόν τε πάλιν τὸν περιέχοντα οἷον ὑμένα αὔξεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἐπέκκρισιν τῶν ἔξωθεν σωμάτων· δίνῃ τε φερόμενον αὐτὸν ὧν ἂν ἐπιψαύοῃ, ταῦτα ἐπικτᾶσθαι. τούτων δέ τινα συμπλεκόμενα ποιεῖν σύστημα, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κάθυγρον καὶ πηλῶδες, ξηρανθέντα καὶ περιφερόμενα σὺν τῇ τοῦ ὅλου δίνῃ, εἶτʼ ἐκπυρωθέντα τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων ἀποτελέσαι φύσιν.

[¶32] 6.33. The orbit of the sun is the outermost, that of the moon nearest to the earth; the orbits of the other heavenly bodies lie between these two. All the stars are set on fire by the speed of their motion; the burning of the sun is also helped by the stars; the moon is only slightly kindled. The sun and the moon are eclipsed [when..., but the obliquity of the zodiacal circle is due ] to the inclination of the earth to the south; the regions of the north are always shrouded in mist, and are extremely cold and frozen. Eclipses of the sun are rare; eclipses of the moon constantly occur, and this because their orbits are unequal. As the world is born, so, too, it grows, decays and perishes, in virtue of some necessity, the nature of which he does [not] specify.

> Greek: 6.33. Εἶναι δὲ τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου κύκλον ἐξώτατον, τὸν δὲ τῆς σελήνης προσγειότατον, τῶν ἄλλων μεταξὺ τούτων. καὶ πάντα μὲν τὰ ἄστρα πυροῦσθαι διὰ τὸ τάχος τῆς φορᾶς, τὸν δʼ ἥλιον 〈καὶ〉 ὑπὸ τῶν ἀστέρων ἐκπυροῦσθαι· τὴν δὲ σελήνην τοῦ πυρὸς ὀλίγον μεταλαμβάνειν. ἐκλείπειν δʼ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην 〈* * τὴν δὲ λόξωσιν τοῦ Ζῳδιακοῦ γενέσθαι〉 τῷ κεκλίσθαι τὴν γῆν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν· τὰ δὲ πρὸς ἄρκτῳ ἀεί τε νίφεσθαι καὶ κατάψυχρα εἶναι καὶ πήγνυσθαι. καὶ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον ἐκλείπειν σπανίως, τὴν δὲ σελήνην συνεχές, διὰ τὸ ἀνίσους εἶναι τοὺς κύκλους αὐτῶν. εἶναί τε ὥσπερ γενέσεις κόσμου, οὕτω καὶ αὐξήσεις καὶ φθίσεις καὶ φθοράς, κατά τινα ἀνάγκην, ἣν ὁποία ἐστὶν 〈οὐ〉 διασαφεῖ.

[¶33] 7.34. Democritus was the son of Hegesistratus, though some say of Athenocritus, and others again of Damasippus. He was a native of Abdera or, according to some, of Miletus. He was a pupil of certain Magians and Chaldaeans. For when King Xerxes was entertained by the father of Democritus he left men in charge, as, in fact, is stated by Herodotus; and from these men, while still a boy, he learned theology and astronomy. Afterwards he met Leucippus and, according to some, Anaxagoras, being forty years younger than the latter. But Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History tells us that Democritus, speaking of Anaxagoras, declared that his views on the sun and the moon were not original but of great antiquity, and that he had simply stolen them.

> Greek: 7.34. Δημόκριτος Ἡγησιστράτου, οἱ δὲ Ἀθηνοκρίτου, τινὲς Δαμασίππου Ἀβδηρίτης ἤ, ὡς ἔνιοι, Μιλήσιος. οὗτος μάγων τινῶν διήκουσε καὶ Χαλδαίων, Ξέρξου τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιστάτας καταλιπόντος, ἡνίκα ἐξενίσθη παρʼ αὐτῷ, καθά φησι καὶ Ἡρόδοτος· παρʼ ὧν τά τε περὶ θεολογίας καὶ ἀστρολογίας ἔμαθεν ἔτι παῖς ὤν. ὕστερον δὲ Λευκίππῳ παρέβαλε καὶ Ἀναξαγόρᾳ κατά τινας, ἔτεσιν ὢν αὐτοῦ νεώτερος τετταράκοντα. Φαβωρῖνος δέ φησιν ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ λέγειν Δημόκριτον περὶ Ἀναξαγόρου ὡς οὐκ εἴησαν αὐτοῦ αἱ δόξαι αἵ τε περὶ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, ἀλλὰ ἀρχαῖαι, τὸν δʼ ὑφῃρῆσθαι.

[¶34] 7.35. Democritus also pulled to pieces the views of Anaxagoras on cosmogony and on mind, having a spite against him, because Anbaxagoras did not take to him. If this be so, how could he have been his pupil, as some suggest? According to Demetrius in his book on Men of the Same Name and Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers, he travelled into Egypt to learn geometry from the priests, and he also went into Persia to visit the Chaldaeans as well as to the Red Sea. Some say that he associated with the Gymnosophists in India and went to Aethiopia. Also that, being the third son, he divided the family property. Most authorities will have it that he chose the smaller portion, which was in money, because he had need of this to pay the cost of travel; besides, his brothers were crafty enough to foresee that this would be his choice.

> Greek: 7.35. διασύρειν τε αὐτοῦ τὰ περὶ τῆς διακοσμήσεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦ, ἐχθρῶς ἔχοντα πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι δὴ μὴ προσήκατο αὐτόν. πῶς οὖν κατά τινας ἀκήκοεν αὐτοῦ; Φησὶ δὲ Δημήτριος ἐν Ὁμωνύμοις καὶ Ἀντισθένης ἐν Διαδοχαῖς ἀποδημῆσαι αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς Αἴγυπτον πρὸς τοὺς ἱερέας γεωμετρίαν μαθησόμενον καὶ πρὸς Χαλδαίους εἰς τὴν Περσίδα καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν γενέσθαι. τοῖς τε Γυμνοσοφισταῖς φασί τινες συμμῖξαι αὐτὸν ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ καὶ εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν ἐλθεῖν. τρίτον τε ὄντα ἀδελφὸν νείμασθαι τὴν οὐσίαν· καὶ οἱ μὲν πλείους φασὶ τὴν ἐλάττω μοῖραν ἑλέσθαι τὴν ἐν ἀργυρίῳ, χρείαν ἔχοντα 〈διὰ τὸ〉 ἀποδημῆσαι τούτου κἀκείνων δολίως ὑποπτευσάντων.

[¶35] 7.36. Demetrius estimates his share at over 100 talents, the whole of which he spent. His industry, says the same author, was so great that he cut off a little room in the garden round the house and shut himself up there. One day his father brought an ox to sacrifice and tied it there, and he was not aware of it for a considerable time, until his father roused him to attend the sacrifice and told him about the ox. Demetrius goes on: “It would seem that he also went to Athens and was not anxious to be recognized, because he despised fame, and that while he knew of Socrates, he was not known to Socrates, his words being, ‘I came to Athens and no one knew me.’”

> Greek: 7.36. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος ὑπὲρ ἑκατὸν τάλαντά φησιν εἶναι αὐτῷ τὸ μέρος, ἃ πάντα καταναλῶσαι. λέγει δʼ ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἦν φιλόπονος ὥστε τοῦ περικήπου δωμάτιόν τι ἀποτεμόμενος κατάκλειστος ἦν· καί ποτε τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ πρὸς θυσίαν βοῦν ἀγαγόντος καὶ αὐτόθι προσδήσαντος, ἱκανὸν χρόνον μὴ γνῶναι, ἕως αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνος διαναστήσας προφάσει τῆς θυσίας καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν βοῦν διηγήσατο. δοκεῖ δέ, φησί, καὶ Ἀθήναζε ἐλθεῖν καὶ μὴ σπουδάσαι γνωσθῆναι, δόξης καταφρονῶν. καὶ εἰδέναι μὲν Σωκράτη, ἀγνοεῖσθαι δὲ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ· ἦλθον γάρ, φησίν, εἰς Ἀθήνας καὶ οὔτις με ἔγνωκεν.

[¶36] 7.37. “If the Rivals be the work of Plato,” says Thrasylus, “Democritus will be the unnamed character, different from Oenopides and Anaxagoras, who makes his appearance when conversation is going on with Socrates about philosophy, and to whom Socrates says that the philosopher is like the all-round athlete. And truly Democritus was versed in every department of philosophy, for he had trained himself both in physics and in ethics, nay more, in mathematics and the routine subjects of education, and he was quite an expert in the arts.” From him we have the saying, “Speech is the shadow of action.” Demetrius of Phalerum in his Defence of Socrates affirms that he did not even visit Athens. This is to make the larger claim, namely, that he thought that great city beneath his notice, because he did not care to win fame from a place, but preferred himself to make a place famous.

> Greek: 7.37. Εἴπερ οἱ Ἀντερασταὶ Πλάτωνός εἰσι, φησὶ Θρασύλος, οὗτος ἂν εἴη ὁ παραγενόμενος ἀνώνυμος, τῶν περὶ Οἰνοπίδην καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν ἕτερος, ἐν τῇ πρὸς Σωκράτην ὁμιλίᾳ διαλεγόμενος περὶ φιλοσοφίας, ᾧ, φησίν, ὡς πεντάθλῳ ἔοικεν ὁ φιλόσοφος, καὶ ἦν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ πένταθλος· τὰ γὰρ φυσικὰ καὶ τὰ ἠθικὰ 〈ἤσκητο〉, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μαθηματικὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐγκυκλίους λόγους καὶ περὶ τεχνῶν πᾶσαν εἶχεν ἐμπειρίαν. τούτου ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ λόγος ἔργου σκιή. Δημήτριος δὲ ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ μηδὲ ἐλθεῖν φησιν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἀθήνας. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ μεῖζον, εἴγε τοσαύτης πόλεως ὑπερεφρόνησεν, οὐκ ἐκ τόπου δόξαν λαβεῖν βουλόμενος, ἀλλὰ τόπῳ δόξαν περιθεῖναι προελόμενος.

[¶37] 7.38. His character can also be seen from his writings. “He would seem,” says Thrasylus, “to have been an admirer of the Pythagoreans. Moreover, he mentions Pythagoras himself, praising him in a work of his own entitled Pythagoras. He seems to have taken all his ideas from him and, if chronology did not stand in the way, he might have been thought his pupil.” Glaucus of Rhegium certainly says that he was taught by one of the Pythagoreans, and Glaucus was his contemporary. Apollodorus of Cyzicus, again, will have it that he lived with Philolaus. He would train himself, says Antisthenes, by a variety of means to test his sense-impressions by going at times into solitude and frequenting tombs.

> Greek: 7.38. Δῆλον δὲ κἀκ τῶν συγγραμμάτων οἷος ἦν. δοκεῖ δέ, φησὶν ὁ Θρασύλος, ζηλωτὴς γεγονέναι τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ Πυθαγόρου μέμνηται, θαυμάζων αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ὁμωνύμῳ συγγράμματι. πάντα δὲ δοκεῖν παρὰ τούτου λαβεῖν καὶ αὐτοῦ δʼ ἂν ἀκηκοέναι, εἰ μὴ τὰ τῶν χρόνων ἐμάχετο. πάντως μέντοι τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν τινος ἀκοῦσαί φησιν αὐτὸν Γλαῦκος ὁ Ῥηγῖνος, κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς χρόνους αὐτῷ γεγονώς. φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Κυζικηνὸς Φιλολάῳ αὐτὸν συγγεγονέναι. Ἤσκει δέ, φησὶν ὁ Ἀντισθένης, καὶ ποικίλως δοκιμάζειν τὰς φαντασίας, ἐρημάζων ἐνίοτε καὶ τοῖς τάφοις ἐνδιατρίβων.