---
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: 29 of 34
url: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/29/
cite: "Diogenes Laertius, tr. R. D. Hicks, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers · Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων, section 29. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/29/"
---

# 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.

## 29. Book IX · chapters 7–11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/29/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/diogenes-laertius-lives/29/#p-N

[¶0] 7.39. The same authority states that, when he returned from his travels, he was reduced to a humble mode of life because he had exhausted his means; and, because of his poverty, he was supported by his brother Damasus. But his reputation rose owing to his having foretold certain future events; and after that the public deemed him worthy of the honour paid to a god. There was a law, says Antisthenes, that no one who had squandered his patrimony should be buried in his native city. Democritus, understanding this, and fearing lest he should be at the mercy of any envious or unscrupulous prosecutors, read aloud to the people his treatise, the Great Diacosmos, the best of all his works; and then he was rewarded with 500 talents; and, more than that, with bronze statues as well; and when he died, he received a public funeral after a lifetime of more than a century.

> Greek: 7.39. ἐλθόντα δή φησιν αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀποδημίας ταπεινότατα διάγειν, ἅτε πᾶσαν τὴν οὐσίαν καταναλωκότα· τρέφεσθαί τε διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν ἀπὸ τἀδελφοῦ Δαμάσου. ὡς δὲ προειπών τινα τῶν μελλόντων εὐδοκίμησε, λοιπὸν ἐνθέου δόξης παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις ἠξιώθη. νόμου δʼ ὄντος τὸν ἀναλώσαντα τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν μὴ ἀξιοῦσθαι ταφῆς ἐν τῇ πατρίδι, φησὶν ὁ Ἀντισθένης συνέντα, μὴ ὑπεύθυνος γενηθείη πρός τινων φθονούντων καὶ συκοφαντούντων, ἀναγνῶναι αὐτοῖς τὸν Μέγαν διάκοσμον, ὃς ἁπάντων αὐτοῦ τῶν συγγραμμάτων προέχει· καὶ πεντακοσίοις ταλάντοις τιμηθῆναι· μὴ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ χαλκαῖς εἰκόσι· καὶ τελευτήσαντʼ αὐτὸν δημοσίᾳ ταφῆναι, βιώσαντα ὑπὲρ τὰ ἑκατὸν ἔτη.

[¶1] 7.40. Demetrius, however, says that it was not Democritus himself but his relatives who read the Great Diacosmos, and that the sum awarded was 100 talents only; with this account Hippobotus agrees. Aristoxenus in his Historical Notes affirms that Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he could collect, but that Amyclas and Clinias the Pythagoreans prevented him, saying that there was no advantage in doing so, for already the books were widely circulated. And there is clear evidence for this in the fact that Plato, who mentions almost all the early philosophers, never once alludes to Democritus, not even where it would be necessary to controvert him, obviously because he knew that he would have to match himself against the prince of philosophers, for whom, to be sure, Timon has this meed of praise: “Such is the wise Democritus, the guardian of discourse, keen-witted disputant, among the best I ever read.”

> Greek: 7.40. ὁ δὲ Δημήτριος τοὺς συγγενέας αὐτοῦ φησιν ἀναγνῶναι τὸν Μέγαν διάκοσμον, ὃν μόνον ἑκατὸν ταλάντων τιμηθῆναι. ταὐτὰ δὲ καὶ Ἱππόβοτός φησιν. Ἀριστόξενος δʼ ἐν τοῖς Ἱστορικοῖς ὑπομνήμασί φησι Πλάτωνα θελῆσαι συμφλέξαι τὰ Δημοκρίτου συγγράμματα, ὁπόσα ἐδυνήθη συναγαγεῖν, Ἀμύκλαν δὲ καὶ Κλεινίαν τοὺς Πυθαγορικοὺς κωλῦσαι αὐτόν, ὡς οὐδὲν ὄφελος· παρὰ πολλοῖς γὰρ εἶναι ἤδη τὰ βιβλία. καὶ δῆλον δέ· πάντων γὰρ σχεδὸν τῶν ἀρχαίων μεμνημένος ὁ Πλάτων οὐδαμοῦ Δημοκρίτου διαμνημονεύει, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἔνθʼ ἀντειπεῖν τι αὐτῷ δέοι, δῆλον 〈ὅτι〉 εἰδὼς ὡς πρὸς τὸν ἄριστον αὐτῷ τῶν φιλοσόφων 〈ὁ ἀγὼν〉 ἔσοιτο· ὅν γε καὶ Τίμων τοῦτον ἐπαινέσας τὸν τρόπον ἔχει·
οἷον Δημόκριτόν τε περίφρονα, ποιμένα μύθων,
ἀμφίνοον λεσχῆνα μετὰ πρώτοισιν ἀνέγνων.

[¶2] 7.41. As regards chronology, he was, as he says himself in the Lesser Diacosmos, a young man when Anaxagoras was old, being forty years his junior. He says that the Lesser Diacosmos was compiled 730 years after the capture of Troy. According to Apollodorus in his Chronology he would thus have been born in the 80th Olympiad, but according to Thrasylus in his pamphlet entitled Prolegomena to the Reading of the works of Democritus, in the third year of the 77th Olympiad, which makes him, adds Thrasylus, one year older than Socrates. He would then be a contemporary of Archelaus, the pupil of Anaxagoras, and of the school of Oenopides; indeed he mentions Oenopides.

> Greek: 7.41. Γέγονε δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις, ὡς αὐτός φησιν ἐν τῷ Μικρῷ διακόσμῳ, νέος κατὰ πρεσβύτην Ἀναξαγόραν, ἔτεσιν αὐτοῦ νεώτερος τετταράκοντα. συντετάχθαι δέ φησι τὸν Μικρὸν διάκοσμον ἔτεσιν ὕστερον τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως τριάκοντα καὶ ἑπτακοσίοις. γεγόνοι δʼ ἄν, ὡς μὲν Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν Χρονικοῖς, κατὰ τὴν ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα· ὡς δὲ Θρασύλος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ Τὰ πρὸ τῆς ἀναγνώσεως τῶν Δημοκρίτου βιβλίων, κατὰ τὸ τρίτον ἔτος τῆς ἑβδόμης καὶ ἑβδομηκοστῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος, ἐνιαυτῷ, φησί, πρεσβύτερος ὢν Σωκράτους. εἴη ἂν οὖν κατʼ Ἀρχέλαον τὸν Ἀναξαγόρου μαθητὴν καὶ τοὺς περὶ Οἰνοπίδην· καὶ γὰρ τούτου μέμνηται.

[¶3] 7.42. Again, he alludes to the doctrine of the One held by Parmenides and Zeno, they being evidently the persons most talked about in his day; he also mentions Protagoras of Abdera, who, it is admitted, was a contemporary of Socrates. Athenodorus in the eighth book of his Walks relates that, when Hippocrates came to see him, he ordered milk to be brought, and, having inspected it, pronounced it to be the milk of a black she-goat which had produced her first kid; which made Hippocrates marvel at the accuracy of his observation. Moreover, Hippocrates being accompanied by a maidservant, on the first day Democritus greeted her with “Good morning, maiden,” but the next day with “Good morning, woman,” As a matter of fact the girl had been seduced in the night.

> Greek: 7.42. μέμνηται δὲ καὶ τῆς περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς δόξης τῶν περὶ Παρμενίδην καὶ Ζήνωνα, ὡς κατʼ αὐτὸν μάλιστα διαβεβοημένων, καὶ Πρωταγόρου τοῦ Ἀβδηρίτου, ὃς ὁμολογεῖται κατὰ Σωκράτην γεγονέναι. Φησὶ δʼ Ἀθηνόδωρος ἐν ὀγδόῃ Περιπάτων, ἐλθόντος Ἱπποκράτους πρὸς αὐτόν, κελεῦσαι κομισθῆναι γάλα· καὶ θεασάμενον τὸ γάλα εἰπεῖν εἶναι αἰγὸς πρωτοτόκου καὶ μελαίνης· ὅθεν τὴν ἀκρίβειαν αὐτοῦ θαυμάσαι τὸν Ἱπποκράτην. ἀλλὰ καὶ κόρης ἀκολουθούσης τῷ Ἱπποκράτει, τῇ μὲν πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀσπάσασθαι οὕτω χαῖρε κόρη, τῇ δʼ ἐχομένῃ χαῖρε γύναι· καὶ ἦν ἡ κόρη τῆς νυκτὸς διεφθαρμένη.

[¶4] 7.43. Of the death of Democritus the account given by Hermippus is as follows. When he was now very old and near his end, his sister was vexed that he seemed likely to die during the festival of Thesmophoria and she would be prevented from paying the fitting worship to the goddess. He bade her be of good cheer and ordered hot loaves to be brought to him every day. By applying these to his nostrils he contrived to outlive the festival; and as soon as the three festival days were passed he let his life go from him without pain, having then, according to Hipparchus, attained his one hundred and ninth year. In my Pammetros I have a piece on him as follows: “Pray who was so wise, who wrought so vast a work as the omniscient Democritus achieved? When Death was near, for three days he kept him in his house and regaled him with the steam of hot loaves.” Such was the life of our philosopher.

> Greek: 7.43. Τελευτῆσαι δὲ τὸν Δημόκριτόν φησιν Ἕρμιππος τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον. ἤδη ὑπέργηρων ὄντα πρὸς τῷ καταστρέφειν εἶναι. τὴν οὖν ἀδελφὴν λυπεῖσθαι ὅτι ἐν τῇ τῶν θεσμοφόρων ἑορτῇ μέλλοι τεθνήξεσθαι καὶ τῇ θεῷ τὸ καθῆκον αὐτὴ οὐ ποιήσειν τὸν δὲ θαρρεῖν εἰπεῖν καὶ κελεῦσαι αὑτῷ προσφέρειν ἄρτους θερμοὺς ὁσημέραι. τούτους δὴ ταῖς ῥισὶ προσφέρων διεκράτησεν αὑτὸν τὴν ἑορτήν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρῆλθον αἱ ἡμέραι, τρεῖς δʼ ἦσαν, ἀλυπότατα τὸν βίον προήκατο, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἵππαρχος, ἐννέα πρὸς τοῖς ἑκατὸν ἔτη βιούς. Ἡμεῖς τʼ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Παμμέτρῳ τοῦτον ἐποιήσαμεν τὸν τρόπον·
καὶ τίς ἔφυ σοφὸς ὧδε, τίς ἔργον ἔρεξε τοσοῦτον
ὅσσον ὁ παντοδαὴς ἤνυσε Δημόκριτος;
ὃς Θάνατον παρεόντα τρίʼ ἤματα δώμασιν ἔσχεν
καὶ θερμοῖς ἄρτων ἄσθμασιν ἐξένισεν.
τοιοῦτος μὲν ὁ βίος τἀνδρός.

[¶5] 7.44. His opinions are these. The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist. The worlds are unlimited; they come into being and perish. Nothing can come into being from that which is not nor pass away into that which is not. Further, the atoms are unlimited in size and number, and they are borne along in the whole universe in a vortex, and therby generate all composite things—fire, water, air, earth; for even these are conglomerations of given atoms. And it is because of their solidity that these atoms are impassive and unalterable. The sun and the moon have been composed of such smooth and spherical masses [i.e. atoms], and so also the soul, which is identical with reason. We see by virtue of the impact of images upon our eyes.

> Greek: 7.44. Δοκεῖ δʼ αὐτῷ τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι· ἀπείρους τε εἶναι κόσμους καὶ γενητοὺς καὶ φθαρτούς. μηδέν τε ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεσθαι μηδὲ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν φθείρεσθαι. καὶ τὰς ἀτόμους δὲ ἀπείρους εἶναι κατὰ μέγεθος καὶ πλῆθος, φέρεσθαι δʼ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ δινουμένας, καὶ οὕτω πάντα τὰ συγκρίματα γεννᾶν, πῦρ, ὕδωρ, ἀέρα, γῆν· εἶναι γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα ἐξ ἀτόμων τινῶν συστήματα· ἅπερ εἶναι ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀναλλοίωτα διὰ τὴν στερρότητα. τόν τε ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην ἐκ τοιούτων λείων καὶ περιφερῶν ὄγκων συγκεκρίσθαι, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁμοίως· ἣν καὶ νοῦν ταὐτὸν εἶναι. ὁρᾶν δʼ ἡμᾶς κατʼ εἰδώλων ἐμπτώσεις.

[¶6] 7.45. All things happen by virtue of necessity, the vortex being the cause of the creation of all things, and this he calls necessity. The end of action is tranquillity, which is not identical with pleasure, as some by a false interpretation have understood, but a state in which the soul continues calm and strong, undisturbed by any fear or superstition or any other emotion. This he calls well-being and many other names. The qualities of things exist merely by convention; in nature there is nothing but atoms and void space. These, then, are his opinions. Of his works Thrasylus has made an ordered catalogue, arranging them in fours, as he also arranged Plato’s works.

> Greek: 7.45. Πάντα τε κατʼ ἀνάγκην γίνεσθαι, τῆς δίνης αἰτίας οὔσης τῆς γενέσεως πάντων, ἣν ἀνάγκην λέγει. τέλος δʼ εἶναι τὴν εὐθυμίαν, οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν οὖσαν τῇ ἡδονῇ, ὡς ἔνιοι παρακούσαντες ἐξεδέξαντο, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ἣν γαληνῶς καὶ εὐσταθῶς ἡ ψυχὴ διάγει, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ταραττομένη φόβου ἢ δεισιδαιμονίας ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς πάθους. καλεῖ δʼ αὐτὴν καὶ εὐεστὼ καὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις ὀνόμασι. ποιότητας δὲ νόμῳ εἶναι, φύσει δʼ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν αὐτῷ ἐδόκει. Τὰ δὲ βιβλία αὐτοῦ καὶ Θρασύλος ἀναγέγραφε κατὰ τάξιν οὕτως ὡσπερεὶ καὶ τὰ Πλάτωνος κατὰ τετραλογίαν.

[¶7] 7.46. The ethical works are the following:
I. Pythagoras.
Of the Disposition of the Wise Man.
Of those in Hades.
Tritogeneia (so called because three things, on which all mortal life depends, come from her).
II. Of Manly Excellence, or Of Virtue. Amalthea’s Horn (the Horn of Plenty).
Of Tranquillity.
Ethical Commentaries: the work on Wellbeing is not to be found.
So much for the ethical works. The physical works are these:
III. The Great Diacosmos (which the school of Theophrastus attribute to Leucippus).
The Lesser Diacosmos.
Description of the World.
On the Planets.
IV. Of Nature, one book.
Of the Nature of Man, or Of Flesh, a second book on Nature.
Of Reason.
Of the Senses (some editors combine these two under the title Of the Soul).
V. Of Flavours.
Of Colours.

> Greek: 7.46. Ἔστι δε ἤθικα μὲν τάδε·
Πυθαγόρης.
Περὶ τῆς τοῦ σοφοῦ διαθέσεως.
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου.
Τριτογένεια ʽτοῦτο δέ ἐστιν, ὅτι τρία γίνεται ἐξ αὐτῆς, ἃ πάντα ἀνθρώπινα συνέχεἰ.
Περὶ ἀνδραγαθίας ἢ περὶ ἀρετῆς.
Ἀμαλθείης κέρας.
Περὶ εὐθυμίης.
Ὑπομνημάτων ἠθικῶν· ἡ γὰρ Εὐεστὼ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν τὰ ἠθικα. Φυσικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Μέγας διάκοσμος (ὃν οἱ περὶ Θεόφραστον Λευκίππου φασὶν εἶναι).
Μικρὸς διάκοσμος.
Κοσμογραφίη.
Περὶ τῶν πλανήτων.
Περὶ φύσεως πρῶτον.
Περὶ ἀνθρώπου φύσιος (ἢ Περὶ σαρκό̓ς), δεύτερον.
Περὶ νοῦ.
Περὶ αἰσθησίων (ταῦτά τινες ὅμου γράφοντες Περὶ ψυχῆς ἐπιγράφουσι).
Περὶ χυμῶν.
Περὶ χροῶν.

[¶8] 7.47. Of the Different Shapes (of Atoms).
Of Changes of Shape.
VI. Confirmations (summaries of the aforesaid works).
On Images, or On Foreknowledge of the Future.
On Logic, or Criterion of Thought, three books.
Problems.
So much for the physical works. The following fall under no head:
Causes of Celestial Phenomena.
Causes of Phenomena in the Air.
Causes on the Earth’s Surface.
Causes concerned with Fire and Things in Fire.
Causes concerned with Sounds.
Causes concerned with Seeds, Plants and Fruits.
Causes concerned with Animals, three books.
Miscellaneous Causes.
Concerning the Magnet.
These works have not been arranged. The mathematical works are these:
VII. On a Difference in an Angle, or On Contact with the Circle or the Sphere.
On Geometry.
Geometrica.
Numbers.
VIII. On Irrational Lines and Solids, two books.
Extensions (Projections).

> Greek: 7.47. Περὶ τῶν διαφερόντων ῥυσμῶν.
Περὶ ἀμειψιρυσμιῶν.
Κρατυντήρια (ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐπικριτικὰ τῶν προειρημένων).
Περὶ εἰδώλων ἢ περὶ προνοίας.
Περὶ λογικῶν ἢ κανὼν α′ β′ γʼ.
Ἀπορημάτων.
ταῦτα καὶ περὶ φύσεως. Τὰ δὲ ἀσύντακτά ἐστι τάδε·
Αἰτίαι οὐράνιαι.
Αἰτίαι ἀέριοι.
Αἰτίαι ἐπίπεδοι.
Αἰτίαι περὶ πυρὸς καὶ τῶν ἐν πυρἱ.
Αἰτίαι περὶ φωνῶν.
Αἰτίαι περὶ σπερμάτων καὶ φυτὣν καὶ καρπῶν.
Αἰτίαι περὶ ζῴων α′ β′ γʼ.
Αἰτίαι σύμμικτοι.
Περὶ τῆς λίθου.
ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἀσύντακτα. Μαθηματικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Περὶ διαφορῆς γωνίης ἢ Περὶ ψαύσιος κύκλου καὶ σφαίρης.
Περὶ γεωμετρίης.
Γεωμετρικῶν.
Ἀριθμοί.
Περὶ ἀλόγων γραμμῶν καὶ ναστῶν α# β#.
Ἐκπετάσματα.

[¶9] 7.48. The Great Year, or Astronomy, Calendar.
Contention of the Water-clock [and the Heaven].
IX. Description of the Heaven.
Geography.
Description of the Pole.
Description of Rays of Light.
These are the mathematical works. The literary and musical works are these:
X. On Rhythms and Harmony.
On Poetry.
On Beauty of Verses.
On Euphonious and Cacophonous Letters.
XI. Concerning Homer, or On Correct Epic Diction, and On Glosses.
Of Song.
On Words.
A Vocabulary.
So much for the works on literature and music. The works on the arts are these:
XII. Prognostication.
Of Diet, or Diaetetics.
Medical Regimen.
Causes concerned with Things Seasonable and Unseasonable.
XIII. Of Agriculture, or Concerning Land Measurements.
Of Painting.
Treatise on Tactics, and
On Fighting in Armour.
So much for these works.

> Greek: 7.48. Μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς ἢ Ἀστρονομίη, παράπηγμα.
Ἅμιλλα κλεψύδρας 〈καὶ οὐρανοῦ〉.
Οὐρανογραφίη.
Γεωγραφίη.
Πολογραφίη.
Ἀκτινογραφίη.
τοσαῦτα καὶ τὰ μαθηματικά. Μουσικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Περὶ ῥυθμῶν καὶ ἁρμονίης.
Περὶ ποιήσιος.
Περὶ καλλοσύνης ἐπέων.
Περὶ εὐφώνων καὶ δυσφ〈·〉νων γραμμάτων.
Περὶ Ὁμήρου ἢ ὀρθοεπείης καὶ γλωσσέων.
Περὶ ἀοιδῆς.
Περὶ ῥημάτων.
Ὀνομαστικῶν.
τοσαῦτα καὶ τὰ μουσικά. Τεχνικὰ δὲ τάδε·
Πρόγνωσις.
Περὶ διαίτης ἢ διαιτητικόν.
[Ἢ] Ἰητρικὴ γνώμη.
Αἰτίαι περὶ ἀκαιριῶν καὶ ἐπικαιριῶν.
Περὶ γεωργίης ἢ Γεωμετρικόν.
Περὶ ζωγραφίης.
Τακτικὸν καὶ
Ὁπλομαχικόν.
τοσαῦτα καὶ τάδε.

[¶10] 7.49. Some include as separate items in the list the following works taken from his notes:
Of the Sacred Writings in Babylon.
Of those in Meroë.
A Voyage round the Ocean.
Of [the Right Use of] History.
A Chaldaean Treatise.
A Phrygian Treatise.
Concerning Fever and those whose Malady makes them Cough.
Legal Causes and Effects.
Problems wrought by Hand. The other works which some attribute to Democritus are either compilations from his writings or admittedly not genuine. So much for the books that he wrote and their number. The name of Democritus has been borne by six persons: (1) our philosopher; (2) a contemporary of his, a musician of Chios; (3) a sculptor, mentioned by Antigonus; (4) an author who wrote on the temple at Ephesus and the state of Samothrace; (5) an epigrammatist whose style is lucid and ornate; (6) a native of Pergamum who made his mark by rhetorical speeches.

> Greek: 7.49. Τάττουσι δέ τινες κατʼ ἰδίαν ἐκ τῶν Ὑπομνημάτων καὶ ταῦτα·
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἱερῶν γραμμάτων.
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Μερόῃ.
Ὠκεανοῦ περίπλους.
Περὶ ἱστορίης.
Χαλδαϊκὸς λόγος.
Φρύγιος λόγος.
Περὶ πυρετοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ νόσου βησσόντων.
Νομικὰ αἴτια.
Χειρόκμητα [ἢ] προβλήματα. Τὰ δʼ ἄλλα ὅσα τινὲς ἀναφέρουσιν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ διεσκεύασται, τὰ δʼ ὁμολογουμένως ἐστὶν ἀλλότρια. ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τῶν βιβλίων αὐτοῦ καὶ τοσαῦτα. Γεγόνασι δὲ Δημόκριτοι ἕξ· πρῶτος αὐτὸς οὗτος, δεύτερος Χῖος μουσικὸς κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον, τρίτος ἀνδριαντοποιὸς οὗ μέμνηται Ἀντίγονος, τέταρτος περὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ γεγραφὼς καὶ τῆς πόλεως Σαμοθρᾴκης, πέμπτος ποιητὴς ἐπιγραμμάτων σαφὴς καὶ ἀνθηρός, ἕκτος Περγαμηνὸς ἀπὸ ῥητορικῶν λόγων 〈εὐδοκιμήσασ〉.

[¶11] 8.50. Protagoras, son of Artemon or, according to Apollodorus and Dinon in the fifth book of his History of Persia, of Maeandrius, was born at Abdera (so says Heraclides of Pontus in his treatise On Laws, and also that he made laws for Thurii) or, according to Eupolis in his Flatterers, at Teos; for the latter says: “Inside we’ve got Protagoras of Teos.” He and Prodicus of Ceos gave public readings for which fees were charged, and Plato in the Protagoras calls Prodicus deep-voiced. Protagoras studied under Democritus. The latter was nicknamed “Wisdom,” according to Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History.

> Greek: 8.50. Πρωταγόρας Ἀρτέμωνος ἤ, ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρος καὶ Δείνων ἐν Περσικῷ εʼ, Μαιανδρίου Ἀβδηρίτης, καθά φησιν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τοῖς Περὶ νόμων, ὃς καὶ Θουρίοις νόμους γράψαι φησὶν αὐτόν· ὡς δʼ Εὔπολις ἐν Κόλαξιν, Τήιος· φησὶ γάρ, Ἔνδοθι μέν ἐστι Πρωταγόρας ὁ Τήιος. οὗτος καὶ Πρόδικος ὁ Κεῖος λόγους ἀναγινώσκοντες ἠρανίζοντο· καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ Πρωταγόρᾳ φησὶ βαρύφωνον εἶναι τὸν Πρόδικον. διήκουσε δʼ ὁ Πρωταγόρας Δημοκρίτου. ἐκαλεῖτό τε Σοφία, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ.

[¶12] 8.51. Protagoras was the first to maintain that there are two sides to every question, opposed to each other, and he even argued in this fashion, being the first to do so. Furthermore he began a work thus: “Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.” He used to say that soul was nothing apart from the senses, as we learn from Plato in the Theaetetus, and that everything is true. In another work he began thus: “As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many are the obstacles that impede knowledge, both the obscurity of the question and the shortness of human life.”

> Greek: 8.51. Καὶ πρῶτος ἔφη δύο λόγους εἶναι περὶ παντὸς πράγματος ἀντικειμένους ἀλλήλοις· οἷς καὶ συνηρώτα, πρῶτος τοῦτο πράξας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἤρξατό που τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἄνθρωπος, τῶν μὲν ὄντων ὡς ἔστιν, τῶν δὲ οὐκ ὄντων ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν. ἔλεγέ τε μηδὲν εἶναι ψυχὴν παρὰ τὰς αἰσθήσεις, καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησὶν ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ, καὶ πάντʼ εἶναι ἀληθῆ. καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ τοῦτον ἤρξατο τὸν τρόπον· περὶ μὲν θεῶν οὐκ ἔχω εἰδέναι οὔθʼ ὡς εἰσίν, οὔθʼ ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν· πολλὰ γὰρ τὰ κωλύοντα εἰδέναι, ἥ τʼ ἀδηλότης καὶ βραχὺς ὢν ὁ βίος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

[¶13] 8.52. For this introduction to his book the Athenians expelled him; and they burnt his works in the market-place, after sending round a herald to collect them from all who had copies in their possession. He was the first to exact a fee of a hundred minae and the first to distinguish the tenses of verbs, to emphasize the importance of seizing the right moment, to institute contests in debating, and to teach rival pleaders the tricks of their trade. Furthermore, in his dialectic he neglected the meaning in favour of verbal quibbling, and he was the father of the whole tribe of eristical disputants now so much in evidence; insomuch that Timon too speaks of him as
Protagoras, all mankind’s epitome,
Cunning, I trow, to war with words.

> Greek: 8.52. διὰ ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ συγγράμματος ἐξεβλήθη πρὸς Ἀθηναίων· καὶ τὰ βιβλίʼ αὐτοῦ κατέκαυσαν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, ὑπὸ κήρυκι ἀναλεξάμενοι παρʼ ἑκάστου τῶν κεκτημένων. Οὗτος πρῶτος μισθὸν εἰσεπράξατο μνᾶς ἑκατόν· καὶ πρῶτος μέρη χρόνου διώρισε καὶ καιροῦ δύναμιν ἐξέθετο καὶ λόγωνἀγῶνας ἐποιήσατο καὶ σοφίσματα τοῖς πραγματολογοῦσι προσήγαγε· καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ἀφεὶς πρὸς τοὔνομα διελέχθη καὶ τὸ νῦν ἐπιπόλαιον γένος τῶν ἐριστικῶν ἐγέννησεν· ἵνα καὶ Τίμων φησὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ, Πρωταγόρης τʼ ἐπίμεικτος ἐριζέμεναι εὖ εἰδώς.

[¶14] 8.53. He too first introduced the method of discussion which is called Socratic. Again, as we learn from Plato in the Euthydemus, he was the first to use in discussion the argument of Antisthenes which strives to prove that contradiction is impossible, and the first to point out how to attack and refute any proposition laid down: so Artemidorus the dialectician in his treatise In Reply to Chrysippus. He too invented the shoulder-pad on which porters carry their burdens, so we are told by Aristotle in his treatise On Education; for he himself had been a porter, says Epicurus somewhere. This was how he was taken up by Democritus, who saw how skilfully his bundles of wood were tied. He was the first to mark off the parts of discourse into four, namely, wish, question, answer, command;

> Greek: 8.53. οὗτος καὶ τὸ Σωκρατικὸν εἶδος τῶν λόγων πρῶτος ἐκίνησε. καὶ τὸν Ἀντισθένους λόγον τὸν πειρώμενον ἀποδεικνύειν ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀντιλέγειν, οὗτος πρῶτος διείλεκται, καθά φησι Πλάτων ἐν Εὐθυδήμῳ. καὶ πρῶτος κατέδειξε τὰς πρὸς τὰς θέσεις ἐπιχειρήσεις, ὥς φησιν Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ διαλεκτικὸς ἐν τῷ Πρὸς Χρύσιππον. καὶ πρῶτος τὴν καλουμένην τύλην, ἐφʼ ἧς τὰ φορτία βαστάζουσιν, εὗρεν, ὥς φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῷ Περὶ παιδείας· φορμοφόρος γὰρ ἦν, ὡς καὶ Ἐπίκουρός πού φησι. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἤρθη πρὸς Δημοκρίτου ξύλα δεδεκὼς ὀφθείς. διεῖλέ τε τὸν λόγον πρῶτος εἰς τέτταρα, εὐχωλήν, ἐρώτησιν, ἀπόκρισιν, ἐντολήν·

[¶15] 8.54. others divide into seven parts, narration, question, answer, command, rehearsal, wish, summoning; these he called the basic forms of speech. Alcidamas made discourse fourfold, affirmation, negation, question, address. The first of his books he read in public was that On the Gods, the introduction to which we quoted above; he read it at Athens in Euripides’ house, or, as some say, in Megaclides’; others again make the place the Lyceum and the reader his disciple Archagoras, Theodotus’s son, who gave him the benefit of his voice. His accuser was Pythodorus, son of Polyzelus, one of the four hundred; Aristotle, however, says it was Euathlus.

> Greek: 8.54. (οἱ 〈·〉ὲ εἰς ἑπτά, διήγησιν, ἐρώτησιν, ἀπόκρισιν, ἐντολήν, ἀπαγγελίαν, εὐχωλήν, κλῆσιν), οὓς καὶ πυθμένας εἶπε λόγων. Ἀλκιδάμας δὲ τέτταρας λόγους φησί, φάσιν, ἀπόφασιν, ἐρώτησιν, προσαγόρευσιν. Πρῶτον δὲ τῶν λόγων ἑαυτοῦ ἀνέγνω τὸν Περὶ θεῶν, οὗ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἄνω παρεθέμεθα· ἀνέγνω δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἐν τῇ Εὐριπίδου οἰκίᾳ ἤ, ὥς τινες, ἐν τῇ Μεγακλείδου· ἄλλοι ἐν Λυκείῳ, μαθητοῦ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῷ χρήσαντος Ἀρχαγόρου τοῦ Θεοδότου. κατηγόρησε δʼ αὐτοῦ Πυθόδωρος Πολυζήλου, εἷς τῶν τετρακοσίων· Ἀριστοτέλης δʼ Εὔαθλόν φησιν.

[¶16] 8.55. The works of his which survive are these:
* * The Art of Controversy.
Of Wrestling.
On Mathematics.
Of the State.
Of Ambition.
Of Virtues.
Of the Ancient Order of Things.
On the Dwellers in Hades.
Of the Misdeeds of Mankind.
A Book of Precepts.
Of Forensic Speech for a Fee, two books of opposing arguments.
This is the list of his works. Moreover there is a dialogue which Plato wrote upon him. Philochorus says that, when he was on a voyage to Sicily, his ship went down, and that Euripides hints at this in his Ixion.

> Greek: 8.55. Ἔστι δὲ τὰ σωζόμενα αὐτοῦ βιβλία τάδε·
* * Τέχνη ἐριστικῶν.
Περὶ πάλης.
Περὶ τῶν μαθημάτων.
Περὶ πολιτείας.
Περὶ φιλοτιμίας.
Περὶ ἀρετῶν.
Περὶ τῆς ἐν ἀρχῇ καταστάσεως.
Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἅιδου.
Περὶ τῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρασσομένων.
Προστακτικός.
Δίκη ὑπὲρ μισθοῦ, Ἀντιλογιῶν α′ β′.
καὶ ταῦτα μὲν αὐτῷ τὰ βιβλία. γέγραφε δὲ καὶ Πλάτων εἰς αὐτὸν διάλογον. Φησὶ δὲ Φιλόχορος, πλέοντος αὐτοῦ ἐς Σικελίαν, τὴν ναῦν καταποντωθῆναι· καὶ τοῦτο αἰνίττεσθαι Εὐριπίδην ἐν τῷ Ἰξίονι. ἔνιοι κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τελευτῆσαι αὐτόν, βιώσαντα ἔτη πρὸς τὰ ἐνενήκοντα·

[¶17] 8.56. According to some his death occurred, when he was on a journey, at nearly ninety years of age, though Apollodorus makes his age seventy, assigns forty years for his career as a sophist, and puts his floruit in the 84th Olympiad. There is an epigram of my own on him as follows:
Protagoras, I hear it told of thee
Thou died’st in eld when Athens thou didst flee;
Cecrops’ town chose to banish thee; but though
Thou ’scap’dst Athene, not so Hell below. The story is told that once, when he asked Euathlus his disciple for his fee, the latter replied, “But I have not won a case yet.” “Nay,” said Protagoras, “if I win this case against you I must have the fee, for winning it; if you win, I must have it, because you win it.” There was another Protagoras, an astronomer, for whom Euphorion wrote a dirge; and a third who was a Stoic philosopher.

> Greek: 8.56. Ἀπολλόδωρος δέ φησιν ἑβδομήκοντα, σοφιστεῦσαι δὲ τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἀκμάζειν κατὰ τὴν τετάρτην καὶ ὀγδοηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα. Ἔστι καὶ εἰς τοῦτον ἡμῶν οὕτως ἔχον·
καὶ σεῦ, Πρωταγόρη, φάτιν ἔκλυον, ὡς ἄρʼ Ἀθηνέων
ἔκ ποτʼ ἰὼν καθʼ ὁδὸν πρέσβυς ἐὼν ἔθανες·
εἵλετο γάρ σε φυγεῖν Κέκροπος πόλις· ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που
Παλλάδος ἄστυ φύγες, Πλουτέα δʼ οὐκ ἔφυγες. Λέγεται δέ ποτʼ αὐτὸν ἀπαιτοῦντα τὸν μισθὸν Εὔαθλον τὸν μαθητήν, ἐκείνου εἰπόντος, ἀλλʼ οὐδέπω νίκην νενίκηκα, εἰπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ μὲν ἂν νικήσω, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐνίκησα, λαβεῖν με δεῖ· ἐὰν δὲ σύ, ὅτι σύ. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Πρωταγόρας ἀστρολόγος, εἰς ὃν καὶ Εὐφορίων ἐπικήδειον ἔγραψε· καὶ τρίτος Στωικὸς φιλόσοφος.

[¶18] 9.57. Diogenes of Apollonia, son of Apollothemis, was a natural philosopher and a most famous man. Antisthenes calls him a pupil of Anaximenes; but he lived in Anaxagoras’s time. This man, so great was his unpopularity at Athens, almost lost his life, as Demetrius of Phalerum states in his Defence of Socrates. The doctrines of Diogenes were as follows. Air is the universal element. There are worlds unlimited in number, and unlimited empty space. Air by condensation and rarefaction generates the worlds. Nothing comes into being from what is not or passes away into what is not. The earth is spherical, firmly supported in the centre, having its construction determined by the revolution which comes from heat and by the congealment caused by cold. The words with which his treatise begins are these: “At the beginning of every discourse I consider that one ought to make the starting-point unmistakably clear and the exposition simple and dignified.”

> Greek: 9.57. Διογένης Ἀπολλοθέμιδος Ἀπολλωνιάτης, ἀνὴρ φυσικὸς καὶ ἄγαν ἐλλόγιμος. ἤκουσε δέ, φησὶν Ἀντισθένης, Ἀναξιμένους. ἦν δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις κατʼ Ἀναξαγόραν. τοῦτόν φησιν ὁ Φαληρεὺς Δημήτριος ἐν τῇ Σωκράτους ἀπολογίᾳ διὰ μέγαν φθόνον μικροῦ κινδυνεῦσαι Ἀθήνησιν. Ἐδόκει δὲ αὐτῷ τάδε· στοιχεῖον εἶναι τὸν ἀέρα, κόσμους ἀπείρους καὶ κενὸν ἄπειρον· τόν τε ἀέρα πυκνούμενον καὶ ἀραιούμενον γεννητικὸν εἶναι τῶν κόσμων· οὐδὲν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεσθαι οὐδʼ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν φθείρεσθαι· τὴν γῆν στρογγύλην, ἠρεισμένην ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, τὴν σύστασιν εἰληφυῖαν κατὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θερμοῦ περιφορὰν καὶ πῆξιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ. Ἀρχὴ δὲ αὐτῷ τοῦ συγγράμματος ἥδε· λόγου παντὸς ἀρχόμενον δοκεῖ μοι χρεὼν εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀναμφισβήτητον παρέχεσθαι, τὴν δʼ ἑρμηνείαν ἁπλῆν καὶ σεμνήν.

[¶19] 10.58. Anaxarchus, a native of Abdera, studied under Diogenes of Smyrna, and the latter under Metrodorus of Chios, who used to declare that he knew nothing, not even the fact that he knew nothing; while Metrodorus was a pupil of Nessas of Chios, though some say that he was taught by Democritus. Now Anaxarchus accompanied Alexander and flourished in the 110th Olympiad. He made an enemy of Nicocreon, tyrant of Cyprus. Once at a banquet, when asked by Alexander how he liked the feast, he is said to have answered, “Everything, O king, is magnificent; there is only one thing lacking, that the head of some satrap should be served up at table.”

> Greek: 10.58. Ἀνάξαρχος Ἀβδηρίτης. οὗτος ἤκουσε Διογένους τοῦ Σμυρναίου· ὁ δὲ Μητροδώρου τοῦ Χίου, ὃς ἔλεγε μηδʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτʼ εἰδέναι ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδε. Μητρόδωρον δὲ Νεσσᾶ τοῦ Χίου, οἱ δὲ Δημοκρίτου φασὶν ἀκοῦσαι. ὁ δʼ οὖν Ἀνάξαρχος καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ συνῆν καὶ ἤκμαζε κατὰ τὴν δεκάτην καὶ ἑκατοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ εἶχεν ἐχθρὸν Νικοκρέοντα τὸν Κύπρου τύραννον· καί ποτʼ ἐν συμποσίῳ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐρωτήσαντος αὐτὸν τί ἄρα δοκεῖ τὸ δεῖπνον, εἰπεῖν φασιν, ὦ βασιλεῦ, πάντα πολυτελῶς· ἔδει δὲ λοιπὸν κεφαλὴν σατράπου τινὸς παρατεθεῖσθαι·

[¶20] 10.59. This was a hit at Nicocreon, who never forgot it, and when after the king’s death Anaxarchus was forced against his will to land in Cyprus, he seized him and, putting him in a mortar, ordered him to be pounded to death with iron pestles. But he, making light of the punishment, made that well-known speech, “Pound, pound the pouch containing Anaxarchus; ye pound not Anaxarchus.” And when Nicocreon commanded his tongue to be cut out, they say he bit it off and spat it at him. This is what I have written upon him: “Pound, Nicocreon, as hard as you like: it is but a pouch. Pound on; Anaxarchus’s self long since is housed with Zeus. And after she has drawn you upon her carding-combs a little while, Persephone will utter words like these: “Out upon thee, villainous miller!””

> Greek: 10.59. ἀπορρίπτων πρὸς τὸν Νικοκρέοντα. ὁ δὲ μνησικακήσας μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὅτε πλέων ἀκουσίως προσηνέχθη τῇ Κύπρῳ ὁ Ἀνάξαρχος, συλλαβὼν αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς ὅλμον βαλὼν ἐκέλευσε τύπτεσθαι σιδηροῖς ὑπέροις. τὸν δʼ οὐ φροντίσαντα τῆς τιμωρίας εἰπεῖν ἐκεῖνο δὴ τὸ περιφερόμενον, πτίσσε τὸν Ἀναξάρχου θύλακον, Ἀνάξαρχον δὲ οὐ πτίσσεις. κελεύσαντος δὲ τοῦ Νικοκρέοντος καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν αὐτοῦ ἐκτμηθῆναι, λόγος ἀποτραγόντα προσπτύσαι αὐτῷ. καὶ ἔστιν ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτὸν οὕτως 〈ἔχον〉·
πτίσσετε, Νικοκρέων, ἔτι καὶ μάλα· θύλακός ἐστι·
πτίσσετʼ· Ἀνάξαρχος δʼ ἐν Διός ἐστι πάλαι.
καί σε διαστείλασα γνάφοις ὀλίγον τάδε λέξει
ῥήματα Φερσεφόνη, ἔρρε μυλωθρὲ κακέ.

[¶21] 10.60. For his fortitude and contentment in life he was called the Happy Man. He had, too, the capacity of bringing anyone to reason in the easiest possible way. At all events he succeeded in diverting Alexander when he had begun to think himself a god; for, seeing blood running from a wound he had sustained, he pointed to him with his finger and said, “See, there is blood and not ” ““Ichor which courses in the veins of the blessed gods.” ” Plutarch reports this as spoken by Alexander to his friends. Moreover, on another occasion, when Anaxarchus was drinking Alexander’s health, he held up his goblet and said: “One of the gods shall fall by the stroke of mortal man.”

> Greek: 10.60. Οὗτος διὰ τὴν ἀπάθειαν καὶ εὐκολίαν τοῦ βίου Εὐδαιμονικὸς ἐκαλεῖτο· καὶ ἦν ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου δυνατὸς σωφρονίζειν. τὸν γοῦν Ἀλέξανδρον οἰόμενον εἶναι θεὸν ἐπέστρεψεν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔκ τινος πληγῆς εἶδεν αὐτῷ καταρρέον αἷμα, δείξας τῇ χειρὶ πρὸς αὐτόν φησι, τουτὶ μὲν αἷμα καὶ οὐκ ἰχὼρ οἷός πέρ τε ῥέει μακάρεσσι θεοῖσι. Πλούταρχος δʼ αὐτὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τοῦτο λέξαι πρὸς τοὺς φίλους φησίν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοτε προπίνοντα αὐτῷ τὸν Ἀνάξαρχον δεῖξαι τὴν κύλικα καὶ εἰπεῖν βεβλήσεταί τις θεῶν βροτησίᾳ χερί.

[¶22] 11.61. Pyrrho of Elis was the son of Pleistarchus, as Diocles relates. According to Apollodorus in his Chronology, he was first a painter; then he studied under Stilpo’s son Bryson: thus Alexander in his Successions of Philosophers. Afterwards he joined Anaxarchus, whom he accompanied on his travels everywhere so that he even forgathered with the Indian Gymnosophists and with the Magi. This led him to adopt a most noble philosophy, to quote Ascanius of Abdera, taking the form of agnosticism and suspension of judgement. He denied that anything was honourable or dishonourable, just or unjust. And so, universally, he held that there is nothing really existent, but custom and convention govern human action; for no single thing is in itself any more this than that.

> Greek: 11.61. Πύρρων Ἠλεῖος Πλειστάρχου μὲν ἦν υἱός, καθὰ καὶ Διοκλῆς ἱστορεῖ· ὥς φησι δʼ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν Χρονικοῖς, πρότερον ἦν ζωγράφος, καὶ ἤκουσε Βρύσωνος τοῦ Στίλπωνος, ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν Διαδοχαῖς, εἶτʼ Ἀναξάρχου, ξυνακολουθῶν πανταχοῦ, ὡς καὶ τοῖς Γυμνοσοφισταῖς ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ συμμίξαι καὶ τοῖς Μάγοις. ὅθεν γενναιότατα δοκεῖ φιλοσοφῆσαι, τὸ τῆς ἀκαταληψίας καὶ ἐποχῆς εἶδος εἰσαγαγών, ὡς Ἀσκάνιος ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης φησίν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔφασκεν οὔτε καλὸν οὔτʼ αἰσχρὸν οὔτε δίκαιον οὔτʼ ἄδικον· καὶ ὁμοίως ἐπὶ πάντων μηδὲν εἶναι τῇ ἀλῃθείᾳ, νόμῳ δὲ καὶ ἔθει πάντα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πράττειν· οὐ γὰρ μᾶλλον τόδε ἢ τόδε εἶναι ἕκαστον.

[¶23] 11.62. He led a life consistent with this doctrine, going out of his way for nothing, taking no precaution, but facing all risks as they came, whether carts, precipices, dogs or what not, and, generally, leaving nothing to the arbitrament of the senses; but he was kept out of harm’s way by his friends who, as Antigonus of Carystus tells us, used to follow close after him. But Aenesidemus says that it was only his philosophy that was based upon suspension of judgement, and that he did not lack foresight in his everyday acts. He lived to be nearly ninety. This is what Antigonus of Carystus says of Pyrrho in his book upon him. At first he was a poor and unknown painter, and there are still some indifferent torch-racers of his in the gymnasium at Elis.

> Greek: 11.62. Ἀκόλουθος δʼ ἦν καὶ τῷ βίῳ, μηδὲν ἐκτρεπόμενος μηδὲ φυλαττόμενος, ἅπαντα ὑφιστάμενος, ἁμάξας, εἰ τύχοι, καὶ κρημνοὺς καὶ κύνας καὶ ὅλως μηδὲν ταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ἐπιτρέπων. σώζεσθαι μέντοι, καθά φασιν οἱ περὶ τὸν Καρύστιον Ἀντίγονον, ὑπὸ τῶν γνωρίμων παρακολουθούντων. Αἰνεσίδημος δέ φησι φιλοσοφεῖν μὲν αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἐποχῆς λόγον, μὴ μέντοι γʼ ἀπροοράτως ἕκαστα πράττειν. ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἔτη κατεβίω. Ἀντίγονος δέ φησιν ὁ Καρύστιος ἐν τῷ Περὶ Πύρρωνος τάδε περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἄδοξός τʼ ἦν καὶ πένης καὶ ζωγράφος. σώζεσθαί τʼ αὐτοῦ ἐν Ἤλιδι ἐν τῷ γυμνασίῳ λαμπαδιστὰς μετρίως ἔχοντας.

[¶24] 11.63. He would withdraw from the world and live in solitude, rarely showing himself to his relatives; this he did because he had heard an Indian reproach Anaxarchus, telling him that he would never be able to teach others what is good while he himself danced attendance on kings in their courts. He would maintain the same composure at all times, so that, even if you left him when he was in the middle of a speech, he would finish what he had to say with no audience but himself, although in his youth he had been hasty. Often, our informant adds, he would leave his home and, telling no one, would go roaming about with whomsoever he chanced to meet. And once, when Anaxarchus fell into a slough, he passed by without giving him any help, and, while others blamed him, Anaxarchus himself praised his indifference and sang-froid.

> Greek: 11.63. ἐκπατεῖν τʼ αὐτὸν καὶ ἐρημάζειν, σπανίως ποτʼ ἐπιφαινόμενον τοῖς οἴκοι. τοῦτο δὲ ποιεῖν ἀκούσαντα Ἰνδοῦ τινος ὀνειδίζοντος Ἀναξάρχῳ ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἕτερόν τινα διδάξαι οὗτος ἀγαθόν, αὐτὸς αὐλὰς βασιλικὰς θεραπεύων. ἀεί τʼ εἶναι ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καταστήματι, ὥστʼ εἰ καί τις αὐτὸν καταλίποι μεταξὺ λέγοντα, αὑτῷ διαπεραίνειν τὸν λόγον, καίτοι κεκινημένον τε 〈* * *〉 ὄντα ἐν νεότητι. πολλάκις, φησί, καὶ ἀπεδήμει, μηδενὶ προειπών, καὶ συνερρέμβετο οἷστισιν ἤθελεν. καί ποτʼ Ἀναξάρχου εἰς τέλμα ἐμπεσόντος, παρῆλθεν οὐ βοηθήσας· τινῶν δὲ αἰτιωμένων, αὐτὸς Ἀνάξαρχος ἐπῄνει τὸ ἀδιάφορον καὶ ἄστοργον αὐτοῦ.

[¶25] 11.64. On being discovered once talking to himself, he answered, when asked the reason, that he was training to be good. In debate he was looked down upon by no one, for he could both discourse at length and also sustain a cross-examination, so that even Nausiphanes when a young man was captivated by him: at all events he used to say that we should follow Pyrrho in disposition but himself in doctrine; and he would often remark that Epicurus, greatly admiring Pyrrho’s way of life, regularly asked him for information about Pyrrho; and that he was so respected by his native city that they made him high priest, and on his account they voted that all philosophers should be exempt from taxation. Moreover, there were many who emulated his abstention from affairs, so that Timon in his Pytho and in his Silli says:

> Greek: 11.64. Καταληφθεὶς δέ ποτε καὶ αὑτῷ λαλῶν καὶ ἐρωτηθεὶς τὴν αἰτίαν ἔφη μελετᾶν χρηστὸς εἶναι. ἔν τε ταῖς ζητήσεσιν ὑπʼ οὐδενὸς κατεφρονεῖτο διὰ τὸ 〈καὶ δι〉εξοδικῶς λέγειν καὶ πρὸς ἐρώτησιν· ὅθεν καὶ Ναυσιφάνην ἤδη νεανίσκον ὄντα θηραθῆναι. ἔφασκε γοῦν γίνεσθαι δεῖν τῆς μὲν διαθέσεως τῆς Πυρρωνείου, τῶν δὲ λόγων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ. ἔλεγέ τε πολλάκις καὶ Ἐπίκουρον θαυμάζοντα τὴν Πύρρωνος ἀναστροφὴν συνεχὲς αὐτοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι περὶ αὐτοῦ. οὕτω δʼ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῆς πατρίδος τιμηθῆναι ὥστε καὶ ἀρχιερέα καταστῆσαι αὐτὸν καὶ διʼ ἐκεῖνον πᾶσι τοῖς φιλοσόφοις ἀτέλειαν ψηφίσασθαι. Καὶ δὴ καὶ ζηλωτὰς εἶχε πολλοὺς τῆς ἀπραγμοσύνης· ὅθεν καὶ ὁ Τίμων περὶ αὐτοῦ φησιν οὕτως ἐν τῷ Πύθωνι * * * καὶ ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις·

[¶26] 11.65. O Pyrrho, O aged Pyrrho, whence and how
Found’st thou escape from servitude to sophists,
Their dreams and vanities; how didst thou loose
The bonds of trickery and specious craft?
Nor reck’st thou to inquire such things as these,
What breezes circle Hellas, to what end,
And from what quarter each may chance to blow.
And again in the Conceits:
This, Pyrrho, this my heart is fain to know,
Whence peace of mind to thee doth freely flow,
Why among men thou like a god dost show? Athens honoured him with her citizenship, says Diocles, for having slain the Thracian Cotys.

> Greek: 11.65. Ὦ γέρον, ὦ Πύρρων, πῶς ἢ πόθεν ἔκδυσιν εὗρες
λατρείης δοξῶν [τε] κενεοφροσύνης τε σοφιστῶν,
καὶ πάσης ἀπάτης πειθοῦς τʼ ἀπελύσαο δεσμά;
οὐδʼ ἔμελέν σοι ταῦτα μεταλλῆσαι, τίνες αὖραι
Ἑλλάδʼ ἔχουσι, πόθεν τε καὶ εἰς ὅ, τι κύρει ἕκαστα.
καὶ πάλιν ἐν τοῖς Ἰνδαλμοῖς·
τοῦτό μοι, ὦ Πύρρων, ἱμείρεται ἦτορ ἀκοῦσαι,
πῶς ποτʼ ἀνὴρ ἔτʼ ἄγεις ῥᾷστα μεθʼ ἡσυχίης
μοῦνος ἐν ἀνθρώποισι θεοῦ τρόπον ἡγεμονεύων. Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ πολιτείᾳ αὐτὸν ἐτίμησαν, καθά φησι Διοκλῆς, ἐπὶ τῷ Κότυν τὸν Θρᾷκα διαχρήσασθαι.

[¶27] 11.66. He lived in fraternal piety with his sister, a midwife, so says Eratosthenes in his essay On Wealth and Poverty, now and then even taking things for sale to market, poultry perchance or pigs, and he would dust the things in the house, quite indifferent as to what he did. They say he showed his indifference by washing a porker. Once he got enraged in his sister’s cause (her name was Philista), and he told the man who blamed him that it was not over a weak woman that one should display indifference. When a cur rushed at him and terrified him, he answered his critic that it was not easy entirely to strip oneself of human weakness; but one should strive with all one’s might against facts, by deeds if possible, and if not, in word.

> Greek: 11.66. εὐσεβῶς δὲ καὶ τῇ ἀδελφῇ συνεβίω μαίᾳ οὔσῃ, καθά φησιν Ἐρατοσθένης ἐν τῷ Περὶ πλούτου καὶ πενίας, ὅτε καὶ αὐτὸς φέρων εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπίπρασκεν ὀρνίθια, εἰ τύχοι, καὶ χοιρίδια, καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας ἐκάθαιρεν ἀδιαφόρως. λέγεται δὲ καὶ δέλφακα λούειν αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἀδιαφορίας. καὶ χολήσας τι ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀδελφῆς, Φιλίστα δʼ ἐκαλεῖτο, πρὸς τὸν ἐπιλαβόμενον εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐκ ἐν γυναίῳ ἡ ἐπίδειξις τῆς ἀδιαφορίας. καὶ κυνός ποτʼ ἐπενεχθέντος διασοβηθέντα εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν αἰτιασάμενον, ὡς χαλεπὸν εἴη ὁλοσχερῶς ἐκδῦναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· διαγωνίζεσθαι δʼ ὡς οἷόν τε πρῶτον μὲν τοῖς ἔργοις πρὸς τὰ πράγματα, εἰ δὲ μή, τῷ γε λόγῳ.

[¶28] 11.67. They say that, when septic salves and surgical and caustic remedies were applied to a wound he had sustained, he did not so much as frown. Timon also portrays his disposition in the full account which he gives of him to Pytho. Philo of Athens, a friend of his, used to say that he was most fond of Democritus, and then of Homer, admiring him and continually repeating the line “As leaves on trees, such is the life of man.” He also admired Homer because he likened men to wasps, flies, and birds, and would quote these verses as well:
Ay, friend, die thou; why thus thy fate deplore?
Patroclus too, thy better, is no more,
and all the passages which dwell on the unstable purpose, vain pursuits, and childish folly of man.

> Greek: 11.67. Φασὶ δὲ καὶ σηπτικῶν φαρμάκων καὶ τομῶν καὶ καύσεων ἐπί τινος ἕλκους αὐτῷ προσενεχθέντων, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὰς ὀφρῦς συναγαγεῖν. καὶ ὁ Τίμων δὲ διασαφεῖ τὴν διάθεσιν αὐτοῦ ἐν οἷς πρὸς Πύθωνα διέξεισιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ Φίλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, γνώριμος αὐτοῦ γεγονώς, ἔλεγεν ὡς ἐμέμνητο μάλιστα μὲν Δημοκρίτου, εἶτα δὲ καὶ Ὁμήρου, θαυμάζων αὐτὸν καὶ συνεχὲς λέγων, οἵη περ φύλλων γενεή, τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν· καὶ ὅτι σφηξὶ καὶ μυίαις καὶ ὀρνέοις εἴκαζε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. προφέρεσθαι δὲ καὶ τάδε·
ἀλλά, φίλος, θάνε καὶ σύ· τίη ὀλοφύρεαι οὕτως;
κάτθανε καὶ Πάτροκλος, ὅ περ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων·
καὶ ὅσα συντείνει εἰς τὸ ἀβέβαιον καὶ κενόσπουδον ἅμα καὶ παιδαριῶδες τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

[¶29] 11.68. Posidonius, too, relates of him a story of this sort. When his fellow-passengers on board a ship were all unnerved by a storm, he kept calm and confident, pointing to a little pig in the ship that went on eating, and telling them that such was the unperturbed state in which the wise man should keep himself. Numenius alone attributes to him positive tenets. He had pupils of repute, in particular one Eurylochus, who fell short of his professions; for they say that he was once so angry that he seized the spit with the meat on it and chased his cook right into the market-place.

> Greek: 11.68. Ποσειδώνιος δὲ καὶ τοιοῦτόν τι διέξεισι περὶ αὐτοῦ. τῶν γὰρ συμπλεόντων αὐτῷ ἐσκυθρωπακότων ὑπὸ χειμῶνος, αὐτὸς γαληνὸς ὢν ἀνέρρωσε τὴν ψυχήν, δείξας ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ χοιρίδιον ἐσθίον καὶ εἰπὼν ὡς χρὴ τὸν σοφὸν ἐν τοιαύτῃ καθεστάναι ἀταραξίᾳ. μόνος δὲ Νουμήνιος καὶ δογματίσαι φησὶν αὐτόν. τούτου πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ μαθηταὶ γεγόνασιν ἐλλόγιμοι, ὧν Εὐρύλοχος· οὗ φέρεται ἐλάσσωμα τόδε. φασὶ γὰρ ὡς οὕτω παρωξύνθη ποτὲ ὥστε τὸν ὀβελίσκον ἄρας μετὰ τῶν κρεῶν ἕως τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐδίωκε τὸν μάγειρον.

[¶30] 11.69. Once in Elis he was so hard pressed by his pupils’ questions that he stripped and swam across the Alpheus. Now he was, as Timon too says, most hostile to Sophists. Philo, again, who had a habit of very often talking to himself, is also referred to in the lines:
Yea, him that is far away from men, at leisure to himself,
Philo, who recks not of opinion or of wrangling. Besides these, Pyrrho’s pupils included Hecataeus of Abdera, Timon of Phlius, author of the Silli, of whom more anon, and also Nausiphanes of Teos, said by some to have been a teacher of Epicurus. All these were called Pyrrhoneans after the name of their master, but Aporetics, Sceptics, Ephectics, and even Zetetics, from their principles, if we may call them such— Zetetics or seekers because they were ever seeking truth, Sceptics or inquirers because they were always looking for a solution and never finding one, Ephectics or doubters because of the state of mind which followed their inquiry, I mean, suspense of judgement, and finally Aporetics or those in perplexity, for not only they but even the dogmatic philosophers themselves in their turn were often perplexed.

> Greek: 11.69. καὶ ἐν Ἤλιδι καταπονούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ζητούντων ἐν τοῖς λόγοις, ἀπορρίψας θοιμάτιον διενήξατο [πέραν] τὸν Ἀλφειόν. ἦν οὖν πολεμιώτατος τοῖς σοφισταῖς, ὡς καὶ Τίμων φησίν. Ὁ δὲ Φίλων τὰ πλεῖστα διελέγετο 〈ἑαυτῷ〈. ὅθεν καὶ περὶ τούτου φησὶν οὕτως·
ἢ τὸν ἀπʼ ἀνθρώπων αὐτόσχολον αὐτολαλητὴν
οὐκ ἐμπαζόμενον δόξης ἐρίδων τε Φίλωνα. Πρὸς τούτοις διήκουε τοῦ Πύρρωνος Ἑκαταῖός τε ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης καὶ Τίμων ὁ Φλιάσιος ὁ τοὺς Σίλλους πεποιηκώς, περὶ οὗ λέξομεν, ἔτι τε Ναυσιφάνης 〈ὁ〉 Τήιος, οὗ φασί τινες ἀκοῦσαι Ἐπίκουρον. οὗτοι πάντες Πυρρώνειοι μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ διδασκάλου, ἀπορητικοὶ δὲ καὶ σκεπτικοὶ καὶ ἔτι ἐφεκτικοὶ καὶ ζητητικοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ οἷον δόγματος προσηγορεύοντο.

[¶31] 11.70. Pyrrhoneans, of course, they were called from Pyrrho. Theodosius in his Sceptic Chapters denies that Scepticism should be called Pyrrhonism; for if the movement of the mind in either direction is unattainable by us, we shall never know for certain what Pyrrho really intended, and without knowing that, we cannot be called Pyrrhoneans. Besides this (he says), there is the fact that Pyrrho was not the founder of Scepticism; nor had he any positive tenet; but a Pyrrhonean is one who in manners and life resembles Pyrrho.

> Greek: 11.70. ζητητικοὶ μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντοτε ζητεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, σκεπτικοὶ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ σκέπτεσθαι ἀεὶ καὶ μηδέποτε εὑρίσκειν, ἐφεκτικοὶ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ μετὰ τὴν ζήτησιν πάθους· λέγω δὲ τὴν ἐποχήν· ἀπορητικοὶ δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τοὺς δογματικοὺς ἀπορεῖν καὶ αὐτούς. Πυρρώνειοι δὲ ἀπὸ Πύρρωνος. Θεοδόσιος δʼ ἐν τοῖς Σκεπτικοῖς κεφαλαίοις οὔ φησι δεῖν Πυρρώνειον καλεῖσθαι τὴν σκεπτικήν· εἰ γὰρ τὸ καθʼ ἕτερον κίνημα τῆς διανοίας ἄληπτόν ἐστιν, οὐκ εἰσόμεθα τὴν Πύρρωνος διάθεσιν· μὴ εἰδότες δὲ οὐδὲ Πυρρώνειοι καλοίμεθʼ ἄν. πρὸς τῷ μηδὲ πρῶτον εὑρηκέναι τὴν σκεπτικὴν Πύρρωνα μηδʼ ἔχειν τι δόγμα. λέγοιτο δʼ ἄν τις Πυρρώνειος ὁμότροπος.

[¶32] 11.71. Some call Homer the founder of this school, for to the same questions he more than anyone else is always giving different answers at different times, and is never definite or dogmatic about the answer. The maxims of the Seven Wise Men, too, they call sceptical; for instance, “Observe the Golden Mean,” and “A pledge is a curse at one’s elbow,” meaning that whoever plights his troth steadfastly and trustfully brings a curse on his own head. Sceptically minded, again, were Archilochus and Euripides, for Archilochus says:
Man’s soul, O Glaucus, son of Leptines,
Is but as one short day that Zeus sends down.
And Euripides:
Great God! how can they say poor mortal men
Have minds and think? Hang we not on thy will?
Do we not what it pleaseth thee to wish?

> Greek: 11.71. Ταύτης δὲ τῆς αἱρέσεως ἔνιοί φασιν Ὅμηρον 〈·〉, ἐπεὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πραγμάτων παρʼ ὁντινοῦν ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλως ἀποφαίνεται καὶ οὐδὲν ὁρικῶς δογματίζει περὶ τὴν ἀπόφασιν. ἔπειτα καὶ τὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν σκεπτικὰ εἶναι, οἷον τὸ Μηδὲν ἄγαν, καὶ Ἐγγύα, πάρα δʼ ἄτα· δηλοῦσθαι γὰρ τῷ βεβαίως καὶ πεπεισμένως διεγγυωμένῳ ἐπακολουθεῖν ἄτην. ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον καὶ Εὐριπίδην σκεπτικῶς ἔχειν, ἐν οἷς Ἀρχίλοχος μέν φησι·
τοῖος ἀνθρώποισι θυμός, Γλαῦκε Λεπτίνεω πάϊ,
γίγνεται θνητοῖς ὁκοίην Ζεὺς ἐπʼ ἡμέρην ἄγει.
Εὐριπίδης δέ· (ὡ̓͂ Ζεῦ,) τί δῆτα τοὺς ταλαιπώρους βροτοὺς φρονεῖν λέγουσι; σοῦ γὰρ ἐξηρτήμεθα δρῶμέν τε τοιάδʼ ἃ ʼν σὺ τυγχάνῃς θέλων.

[¶33] 11.72. Furthermore, they find Xenophanes, Zeno of Elea, and Democritus to be sceptics: Xenophanes because he says, “Clear truth hath no man seen nor e’er shall know;” and Zeno because he would destroy motion, saying, “A moving body moves neither where it is nor where it is not”; Democritus because he rejects qualities, saying, “Opinion says hot or cold, but the reality is atoms and empty space,” and again, “Of a truth we know nothing, for truth is in a well.” Plato, too, leaves the truth to gods and sons of gods, and seeks after the probable explanation. Euripides says:

> Greek: 11.72. Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης καὶ Δημόκριτος κατʼ αὐτοὺς σκεπτικοὶ τυγχάνουσιν· ἐν οἷς Ξενοφάνης μέν φησι, καὶ τὸ μὲν οὖν σαφὲς οὔτις ἀνὴρ ἴδεν οὐδέ τις ἔσται εἰδώς. Ζήνων δὲ τὴν κίνησιν ἀναιρεῖ λέγων, τὸ κινούμενον οὔτʼ ἐν ᾧ ἐστι τόπῳ κινεῖται οὔτʼ ἐν ᾧ μὴ ἔστι· Δημόκριτος δὲ τὰς ποιότητας ἐκβάλλων, ἵνα φησί, νόμῳ ψυχρόν, νόμῳ θερμόν, ἐτεῇ δὲ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν· καὶ πάλιν, ἐτεῇ δὲ οὐδὲν ἴδμεν· ἐν βυθῷ γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια. καὶ Πλάτωνα τὸ μὲν ἀληθὲς θεοῖς τε καὶ θεῶν παισὶν ἐκχωρεῖν, τὸν δʼ εἰκότα λόγον ζητεῖν. καὶ Εὐριπίδην λέγειν·

[¶34] 11.73. Who knoweth if to die be but to live,
And that called life by mortals be but death?
So too Empedocles:
So to these mortal may not list nor look
Nor yet conceive them in his mind;
and before that: “Each believes naught but his experience.” And even Heraclitus: “Let us not conjecture on deepest questions what is likely.” Then again Hippocrates showed himself two-sided and but human. And before them all Homer: “Pliant is the tongue of mortals; numberless the tales within it;” and “Ample is of words the pasture, hither thither widely ranging;” and “And the saying which thou sayest, back it cometh later on thee,” here he is speaking of the equal value of contradictory sayings.

> Greek: 11.73. τίς δʼ οἶδεν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μέν ἐστι κατθανεῖν,
τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν νομίζεται βροτοῖς;
ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα·
οὕτως οὔτʼ ἐπιδερκτὰ τάδʼ ἀνδράσιν οὔτʼ ἐπακουστὰ
οὔτε νόῳ περιληπτά·
καὶ ἐπάνω, αὐτὸ μόνον πεισθέντες ὅτῳ προσέκυρσεν ἕκαστος· ἔτι μὴν Ἡράκλειτον, μὴ εἰκῆ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων συμβαλλώμεθα· καὶ Ἱπποκράτην [ἔπειτα] ἐνδοιαστῶς καὶ ἀνθρωπίνως ἀποφαίνεσθαι· καὶ πρὶν Ὅμηρον, στρεπτὴ δὲ γλῶσσʼ ἐστὶ βροτῶν, πολέες δʼ ἔνι μῦθοι· καὶ ἐπέων δὲ πολὺς νομὸς ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα· καὶ ὁπποῖόν κʼ εἴπῃσθα ἔπος, τοῖόν κʼ ἐπακούσαις· τὴν ἰσοσθένειαν λέγων καὶ ἀντίθεσιν τῶν λόγων.

[¶35] 11.74. The Sceptics, then, were constantly engaged in overthrowing the dogmas of all schools, but enuntiated none themselves; and though they would go so far as to bring forward and expound the dogmas of the others, they themselves laid down nothing definitely, not even the laying down of nothing. So much so that they even refuted their laying down of nothing, saying, for instance, “We determine nothing,” since otherwise they would have been betrayed into determining; but we put forward, say they, all the theories for the purpose of indicating our unprecipitate attitude, precisely as we might have done if we had actually assented to them. Thus by the expression “We determine nothing” is indicated their state of even balance; which is similarly indicated by the other expressions, “Not more (one thing than another),” “Every saying has its corresponding opposite,” and the like.

> Greek: 11.74. Διετέλουν δὴ οἱ σκεπτικοὶ τὰ τῶν αἱρέσεων δόγματα πάντʼ ἀνατρέποντες, αὐτοὶ δʼ οὐδὲν ἀπεφαίνοντο δογματικῶς, ἕως δὲ τοῦ προφέρεσθαι τὰ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ διηγεῖσθαι μηδὲν ὁρίζοντες, μηδʼ αὐτὸ τοῦτο. ὥστε καὶ τὸ μὴ ὁρίζειν ἀνῄρουν, λέγοντες οἷον Οὐδὲν ὁρίζομεν, ἐπεὶ ὥριζον ἄν· προφερόμεθα δέ, φασί, τὰς ἀποφάσεις εἰς μήνυσιν τῆς ἀπροπτωσίας, ὡς, εἰ καὶ νεύσαντας, τοῦτο ἐνεδέχετο δηλῶσαι· διὰ τῆς οὖν Οὐδὲν ὁρίζομεν φωνῆς τὸ τῆς ἀρρεψίας πάθος δηλοῦται· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ διὰ τῆς Οὐδὲν μᾶλλον καὶ τῆς Παντὶ λόγῳ λόγος ἀντίκειται καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων.

[¶36] 11.75. But “Not more (one thing than another)” can also be taken positively, indicating that two things are alike; for example, “The pirate is no more wicked than the liar.” But the Sceptics meant it not positively but negatively, as when, in refuting an argument, one says, “Neither had more existence, Scylla or the Chimaera.” And “More so” itself is sometimes comparative, as when we say that “Honey is more sweet than grapes”; sometimes both positive and negative, as when we say, “Virtue profits more than it harms,” for in this phrase we indicate that virtue profits and does not harm.

> Greek: 11.75. λέγεται δὲ τὸ Οὐδὲν μᾶλλον καὶ θετικῶς, ὡς ὁμοίων τινῶν ὄντων· οἷον, Οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ὁ πειρατῃς κακός ἐστιν ἢ ὁ ψεύστης. ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν σκεπτικῶν οὐ θετικῶς ἀλλʼ ἀναιρετικῶς λέγεται, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνασκευάζοντος καὶ λέγοντος, Οὐ μᾶλλον ἡ Σκύλλα γέγονεν ἢ ἡ Χίμαιρα. αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ Μᾶλλον ποτὲ μὲν συγκριτικῶς ἐκφέρεται, ὡς ὅταν φῶμεν μᾶλλον τὸ μέλι γλυκὺ ἢ τὴν σταφίδα· ποτὲ δὲ θετικῶς καὶ ἀναιρετικῶς, ὡς ὅταν φῶμεν, Μᾶλλον ἡ ἀρετὴ ὠφελεῖ ἢ βλάπτει· σημαίνομεν γὰρ ὅτι ἡ ἀρετὴ ὠφελεῖ, βλάπτει δʼ οὔ.

[¶37] 11.76. But the Sceptics even refute the statement “Not more (one thing than another).” For, as forethought is no more existent than non-existent, so “Not more (one thing than another)” is no more existent than not. Thus, as Timon says in the Pytho, the statement means just absence of all determination and withholding of assent. The other statement, “Every saying, etc.,” equally compels suspension of judgement; when facts disagree, but the contradictory statements have exactly the same weight, ignorance of the truth is the necessary consequence. But even this statement has its corresponding antithesis, so that after destroying others it turns round and destroys itself, like a purge which drives the substance out and then in its turn is itself eliminated and destroyed.

> Greek: 11.76. ἀναιροῦσι δʼ οἱ σκεπτικοὶ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν Οὐδὲν μᾶλλον φωνήν· ὡς γὰρ οὐ μᾶλλόν ἐστι πρόνοια ἢ οὐκ ἔστιν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ Οὐδὲν μᾶλλον οὐ μᾶλλόν ἐστιν ἢ οὐκ ἔστι. σημαίνει οὖν ἡ φωνή, καθά φησι καὶ Τίμων ἐν τῷ Πύθωνι, τὸ μηδὲν ὁρίζειν, ἀλλʼ ἀπροσθετεῖν. ἡ δὲ Παντὶ λόγῳ φωνὴ καὶ αὐτὴ συνάγει τὴν ἐποχήν· τῶν μὲν γὰρ πραγμάτων διαφωνούντων, τῶν δὲ λόγων ἰσοσθενούντων ἀγνωσία τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπακολουθεῖ· καὶ αὐτῷ δὲ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ λόγος ἀντίκειται, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τὸ ἀνελεῖν τοὺς ἄλλους ὑφʼ ἑαυτοῦ περιτραπεὶς ἀπόλλυται, κατʼ ἴσον τοῖς καθαρτικοῖς, ἃ τὴν ὕλην προεκκρίναντα καὶ αὐτὰ ὑπεκκρίνεται καὶ ἐξαπόλλυται.