1.1. Anaximander, the son of Praxiades, was a native of Miletus. He laid down as his principle and element that which is unlimited without defining it as air or water or anything else. He held that the parts undergo change, but the whole is unchangeable; that the earth, which is of spherical shape, lies in the midst, occupying the place of a centre; that the moon, shining with borrowed light, derives its illumination from the sun; further, that the sun is as large as the earth and consists of the purest fire. He was the first inventor of the gnomon and set it up for a sundial in Lacedaemon, as is stated by Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History, in order to mark the solstices and the equinoxes; he also constructed clocks to tell the time.
1.1. Ἀναξίμανδρος Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος. οὗτος ἔφασκεν ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖον τὸ ἄπειρον, οὐ διορίζων ἀέρα ἢ ὕδωρ ἢ ἄλλο τι. καὶ τὰ μὲν μέρη μεταβάλλειν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἀμετάβλητον εἶναι. μέσην τε τὴν γῆν κεῖσθαι, κέντρου τάξιν ἐπέχουσαν οὖσαν σφαιροειδῆ· τήν τε σελήνην ψευδοφαῆ, καὶ ἀπὸ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον οὐκ ἐλάττονα τῆς γῆς, καὶ καθαρώτατον πῦρ. Εὗρεν δὲ καὶ γνώμονα πρῶτος καὶ ἔστησεν ἐπὶ τῶν σκιοθήρων ἐν Λακεδαίμονι, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, τροπάς τε καὶ ἰσημερίας σημαίνοντα, καὶ ὡροσκοπεῖα κατεσκεύασε.
1.2. He was the first to draw on a map the outline of land and sea, and he constructed a globe as well. His exposition of his doctrines took the form of a summary which no doubt came into the hands, among others, of Apollodorus of Athens. He says in his Chronology that in the second year of the 58th Olympiad Anaximander was sixty-four, and that he died not long afterwards. Thus he flourished almost at the same time as Polycrates the tyrant of Samos. There is a story that the boys laughed at his singing, and that, when he heard of it, he rejoined, “Then to please the boys I must improve my singing.” There is another Anaximander, also of Miletus, a historian who wrote in the Ionic dialect.
1.2. καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης περίμετρον πρῶτος ἔγραψεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφαῖραν κατεσκεύασε. Τῶν δὲ ἀρεσκόντων αὐτῷ πεποίηται κεφαλαιώδη τὴν ἔκθεσιν, ᾗ που περιέτυχεν καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος· ὃς καί φησιν αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτει τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος ἐτῶν εἶναι ἑξήκοντα τεττάρων καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον τελευτῆσαι, ἀκμάσαντά πη μάλιστα κατὰ Πολυκράτην τὸν Σάμου τύραννον. τούτου φασὶν ᾅδοντος καταγελάσαι τὰ παιδάρια, τὸν δὲ μαθόντα φάναι, βέλτιον οὖν ἡμῖν ᾀστέον διὰ τὰ παιδάρια. Γέγονε δὲ καὶ ἄλλος Ἀναξίμανδρος ἱστορικός, καὶ αὐτὸς Μιλήσιος τῇ Ἰάδι γεγραφώς.
2.3. Anaximenes, the son of Eurystratus, a native of Miletus, was a pupil of Anaximander. According to some, he was also a pupil of Parmenides. He took for his first principle air or that which is unlimited. He held that the stars move round the earth but do not go under it. He writes simply and unaffectedly in the Ionic dialect. According to Apollodorus he was contemporary with the taking of Sardis and died in the 63rd Olympiad. There have been two other men named Anaximenes, both of Lampsacus, the one a rhetorician who wrote on the achievements of Alexander, the other, the nephew of the rhetorician, who was a historian. Anaximenes the philosopher wrote the following letters:
2.3. Ἀναξιμένης Εὐρυστράτου Μιλήσιος ἤκουσεν Ἀναξιμάνδρου. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ Παρμενίδου φασὶν ἀκοῦσαι αὐτόν. οὗτος ἀρχὴν ἀέρα εἶπε καὶ τὸ ἄπειρον. κινεῖσθαι δὲ τὰ ἄστρα οὐχ ὑπὸ γῆν, ἀλλὰ περὶ γῆν. κέχρηταί τε λέξει Ἰάδι ἁπλῇ καὶ ἀπερίττῳ. Καὶ γεγένηται μέν, καθά φησιν Ἀπολλόδωρος, περὶ τὴν Σάρδεων ἅλωσιν, ἐτελεύτησε δὲ τῇ ἑξηκοστῇ τρίτῃ Ὀλυμπιάδι. Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι δύο Λαμψακηνοί, ῥήτωρ καὶ ἱστορικός, ὃς ἀδελφῆς υἱὸς ἦν τοῦ ῥήτορος τοῦ τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου πράξεις γεγραφότος. Οὗτος δὴ ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ ἐπέστειλεν ὧδε Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ “Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου ἐπὶ γήρως οὐκ εὐπότμως οἴχεται·
2.4. Anaximenes to Pythagoras “Thales, the son of Examyas, has met an unkind fate in his old age. He went out from the court of his house at night, as was his custom, with his maidservant to view the stars, and, forgetting where he was, as he gazed, he got to the edge of a steep slope and fell over. In such wise have the Milesians lost their astronomer. Let us who were his pupils cherish his memory, and let it be cherished by our children and pupils; and let us not cease to entertain one another with his words. Let all our discourse begin with a reference to Thales.” And again:
2.4. εὐφρόνης, ὥσπερ ἐώθει, ἅμα τῇ ἀμφιπόλῳ προϊὼν ἐκ τοῦ αὐλίου τὰ ἄστρα ἐθηεῖτο· καί—οὐ γὰρ ἐς μνήμην ἔθετο—θηεύμενος ἐς τὸ κρημνῶδες ἐκβὰς καταπίπτει. Μιλησίοισι μέν νυν ὁ αἰθερολόγος ἐν τοιῷδε κεῖται τέλει. ἡμέες δὲ οἱ λεσχηνευταὶ αὐτοί τε μεμνώμεθα τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἵ τε ἡμέων παῖδές τε καὶ λεσχηνευταί, ἐπιδεξιοίμεθα δʼ ἔτι τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις. ἀρχὴ μέντοι παντὸς τοῦ λόγου Θαλῇ ἀνακείσθω. Καὶ πάλιν·
2.5. Anaximenes to Pythagoras “You were better advised than the rest of us when you left Samos for Croton, where you live in peace. For the sons of Aeaces work incessant mischief, and Miletus is never without tyrants. The king of the Medes is another terror to us, not indeed so long as we are willing to pay tribute; but the Ionians are on the point of going to war with the Medes to secure their common freedom, and once we are at war we have no more hope of safety. How then can Anaximenes any longer think of studying the heavens when threatened with destruction or slavery? Meanwhile you find favour with the people of Croton and with the other Greeks in Italy; and pupils come to you even from Sicily.”
2.5. Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ “Εὐβουλότατος ἦς ἡμέων, μεταναστὰς ἐκ Σάμου ἐς Κρότωνα, ἐνθάδε εἰρηνέεις. οἱ δὲ Αἰακέος παῖδες ἄλαστα κακὰ ἔρδουσι καὶ Μιλησίους οὐκ ἐπιλείπουσι αἰσυμνῆται. δεινὸς δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ Μήδων βασιλεύς, οὐκ ἤν γε ἐθέλωμεν δασμοφορέειν· ἀλλὰ μέλλουσι δὴ ἀμφὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίης ἁπάντων Ἴωνες Μήδοις κατίστασθαι ἐς πόλεμον· καταστᾶσι δὲ οὐκέτι ἐλπὶς ἡμῖν σωτηρίης. κῶς ἂν οὖν Ἀναξιμένης ἐν θυμῷ ἔτι ἔχοι αἰθερολογέειν, ἐν δείματι ἐὼν ὀλέθρου ἢ δουλοσύνης; σὺ δὲ εἶ καταθύμιος μὲν Κροτωνιήτῃσι, καταθύμιος δὲ καὶ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι Ἰταλιώτῃσι· φοιτέουσι δέ τοι λεσχηνευταὶ καὶ ἐκ Σικελίης.
3.6. Anaxagoras, the son of Hegesibulus or Eubulus, was a native of Clazomenae. He was a pupil of Anaximenes, and was the first who set mind above matter, for at the beginning of his treatise, which is composed in attractive and dignified language, he says, “All things were together; then came Mind and set them in order.” This earned for Anaxagoras himself the nickname of Nous or Mind, and Timon in his Silli says of him: “Then, I ween, there is Anaxagoras, a doughty champion, whom they call Mind, because forsooth his was the mind which suddenly woke up and fitted closely together all that had formerly been in a medley of confusion.” He was eminent for wealth and noble birth, and furthermore for magnanimity, in that he gave up his patrimony to his relations.
3.6. Ἀναξαγόρας Ἡγησιβούλου ἢ Εὐβούλου Κλαζομένιος. οὗτος ἤκουσεν Ἀναξιμένους, καὶ πρῶτος τῇ ὕλῃ νοῦν ἐπέστησεν, ἀρξάμενος οὕτω τοῦ συγγράμματος, ὅ ἐστιν ἡδέως καὶ μεγαλοφρόνως ἡρμηνευμένον· πάντα χρήματα ἦν ὁμοῦ· εἶτα νοῦς ἐλθὼν αὐτὰ διεκόσμησε. παρὸ καὶ Νοῦς ἐπεκλήθη, καί φησι περὶ αὐτοῦ Τίμων ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις οὕτω·καί που Ἀναξαγόρην φάσʼ ἔμμεναι, ἄλκιμον ἥρωΝοῦν, ὅτι δὴ νόος αὐτῷ, ὃς ἐξαπίνης ἐπεγείραςπάντα συνεσφήκωσεν ὁμοῦ τεταραγμένα πρόσθεν. Οὗτος εὐγενείᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ διαφέρων ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεγαλοφροσύνῃ, ὅς γε τὰ πατρῷα παρεχώρησε τοῖς οἰκείοις.
3.7. For, when they accused him of neglecting it, he replied, “Why then do you not look after it?” And at last he went into retirement and engaged in physical investigation without troubling himself about public affairs. When some one inquired, “Have you no concern in your native land?” “Gently,” he replied, “I am greatly concerned with my fatherland,” and pointed to the sky. He is said to have been twenty years old at the invasion of Xerxes and to have lived seventy-two years. Apollodorus in his Chronology says that he was born in the 70th Olympiad, and died in the first year of the 88th Olympiad. He began to study philosophy at Athens in the archonship of Callias when he was twenty; Demetrius of Phalerum states this in his list of archons; and at Athens they say he remained for thirty years.
3.7. αἰτιαθεὶς γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀμελῶν, τί οὖν, ἔφη, οὐχ ὑμεῖς ἐπιμελεῖσθε; καὶ τέλος ἀπέστη καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν φυσικῶν θεωρίαν ἦν οὐ φροντίζων τῶν πολιτικῶν. ὅτε καὶ πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, οὐδέν σοι μέλει τῆς πατρίδος; εὐφήμει, ἔφη, ἐμοὶ γὰρ καὶ σφόδρα μέλει τῆς πατρίδος, δείξας τὸν οὐρανόν. Λέγεται δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ξέρξου διάβασιν εἴκοσιν ἐτῶν εἶναι, βεβιωκέναι δὲ ἑβδομήκοντα δύο. φησὶ δʼ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν τῇ ἑβδομηκοστῇ Ὀλυμπιάδι, τεθνηκέναι δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει τῆς ὀγδοηκοστῆς ὀγδόης. ἤρξατο δὲ φιλοσοφεῖν Ἀθήνησιν ἐπὶ Καλλίου, ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν ὤν, ὥς φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἀρχόντων ἀναγραφῇ, ἔνθα καί φασιν αὐτὸν ἐτῶν διατρῖψαι τριάκοντα.
3.8. He declared the sun to be a mass of red-hot metal and to be larger than the Peloponnesus, though others ascribe this view to Tantalus; he declared that there were dwellings on the moon, and moreover hills and ravines. He took as his principles the homoeomeries or homogeneous molecules; for just as gold consists of fine particles which are called gold-dust, so he held the whole universe to be compounded of minute bodies having parts homogeneous to themselves. His moving principle was Mind; of bodies, he said, some, like earth, were heavy, occupying the region below, others, light like fire, held the region above, while water and air were intermediate in position. For in this way over the earth, which is flat, the sea sinks down after the moisture has been evaporated by the sun.
3.8. Οὗτος ἔλεγε τὸν ἥλιον μύδρον εἶναι διάπυρον καὶ μείζω τῆς Πελοποννήσου· οἱ δέ φασι Τάνταλον· τὴν δὲ σελήνην οἰκήσεις ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λόφους καὶ φάραγγας. ἀρχὰς δὲ τὰς ὁμοιομερείας· καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ψηγμάτων λεγομένων τὸν χρυσὸν συνεστάναι, οὕτως ἐκ τῶν ὁμοιομερῶν μικρῶν σωμάτων τὸ πᾶν συγκεκρίσθαι. καὶ νοῦν μὲν ἀρχὴν κινήσεως· τῶν δὲ σωμάτων τὰ μὲν βαρέα τὸν κάτω τόπον, 〈ὡς τὴν γῆν〉, τὰ δὲ κοῦφα τὸν ἄνω ἐπισχεῖν, ὡς τὸ πῦρ· ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ ἀέρα τὸν μέσον. οὕτω γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πλατείας οὔσης τὴν θάλασσαν ὑποστῆναι, διατμισθέντων ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου τῶν ὑγρῶν.
3.9. In the beginning the stars moved in the sky as in a revolving dome, so that the celestial pole which is always visible was vertically overhead; but subsequently the pole took its inclined position. He held the Milky Way to be a reflection of the light of stars which are not shone upon by the sun; comets to be a conjunction of planets which emit flames; shooting-stars to be a sort of sparks thrown off by the air. He held that winds arise when the air is rarefied by the sun’s heat; that thunder is a clashing together of the clouds, lightning their violent friction; an earthquake a subsidence of air into the earth. Animals were produced from moisture, heat, and an earthy substance; later the species were propagated by generation from one another, males from the right side, females from the left.
3.9. τὰ δʼ ἄστρα κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν θολοειδῶς ἐνεχθῆναι, ὥστε κατὰ κορυφὴν τῆς γῆς τὸν ἀεὶ φαινόμενον εἶναι πόλον, ὕστερον δὲ τὴν ἔγκλισιν λαβεῖν. καὶ τὸν γαλαξίαν ἀνάκλασιν εἶναι φωτὸς 〈τῶν ὑπὸ〉 ἡλίου μὴ καταλαμπομένων 〈τῶν〉 ἄστρων. τοὺς δὲ κομήτας σύνοδον πλανητῶν φλόγας ἀφιέντων· τούς τε διᾴττοντας οἷον σπινθῆρας ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀποπάλλεσθαι. ἀνέμους γίγνεσθαι λεπτυνομένου τοῦ ἀέρος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου. βροντὰς σύγκρουσιν νεφῶν· ἀστραπὰς ἔκτριψιν νεφῶν· σεισμὸν ὑπονόστησιν ἀέρος εἰς γῆν. Ζῷα γίγνεσθαι ἐξ ὑγροῦ καὶ θερμοῦ καὶ γεώδους, ὕστερον δὲ ἐξ ἀλλήλων· καὶ ἄρρενα μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν δεξιῶν, θήλεα δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀριστερῶν.
3.10. There is a story that he predicted the fall of the meteoric stone at Aegospotami, which he said would fall from the sun. Hence Euripides, who was his pupil, in the Phathon calls the sun itself a “golden clod.” Furthermore, when he went to Olympia, he sat down wrapped in a sheep-skin cloak as if it were going to rain; and the rain came. When some one asked him if the hills at Lampsacus would ever become sea, he replied, “Yes, it only needs time.” Being asked to what end he had been born, he replied, “To study sun and moon and heavens.” To one who inquired, “You miss the society of the Athenians?” his reply was, “Not I, but they miss mine.” When he saw the tomb of Mausolus, he said, “A costly tomb is an image of an estate turned into stone.”
3.10. Φασὶ δʼ αὐτὸν προειπεῖν τὴν περὶ Αἰγὸς ποταμοὺς γενομένην τοῦ λίθου πτῶσιν, ὃν εἶπεν ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου πεσεῖσθαι. ὅθεν καὶ Εὐριπίδην, μαθητὴν ὄντα αὐτοῦ, χρυσέαν βῶλον εἰπεῖν τὸν ἥλιον ἐν τῷ Φαέθοντι. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Ὀλυμπίαν ἐλθόντα ἐν δερματίνῳ καθίσαι, ὡς μέλλοντος ὕσειν· καὶ γενέσθαι. πρός τε τὸν εἰπόντα, εἰ τὰ ἐν Λαμψάκῳ ὄρη ἔσται ποτὲ θάλαττα, φασὶν εἰπεῖν, ἐάν γε ὁ χρόνος μὴ ἐπιλίπῃ. ἐρωτηθείς ποτε εἰς τί γεγέννηται, εἰς θεωρίαν, ἔφη, ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ οὐρανοῦ. πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, ἐστερήθης Ἀθηναίων, οὐ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνοι ἐμοῦ. ἰδὼν τὸν Μαυσώλου τάφον ἔφη, τάφος πολυτελὴς λελιθωμένης ἐστὶν οὐσίας εἴδωλον.
3.11. To one who complained that he was dying in a foreign land, his answer was, “The descent to Hades is much the same from whatever place we start.” Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says Anaxagoras was the first to maintain that Homer in his poems treats of virtue and justice, and that this thesis was defended at greater length by his friend Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who was the first to busy himself with Homer’s physical doctrine. Anaxagoras was also the first to publish a book with diagrams. Silenus in the first book of his History gives the archonship of Demylus as the date when the meteoric stone fell, and says that Anaxagoras declared the whole firmament to be made of stones; that the rapidity of rotation caused it to cohere; and that if this were relaxed it would fall.
3.11. πρὸς τὸν δυσφοροῦντα ὅτι ἐπὶ ξένης τελευτᾷ, πανταχόθεν, ἔφη, ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ εἰς ᾅδου κατάβασις. Δοκεῖ δὲ πρῶτος, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, τὴν Ὁμήρου ποίησιν ἀποφήνασθαι εἶναι περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ δικαιοσύνης· ἐπὶ πλεῖον δὲ προστῆναι τοῦ λόγου Μητρόδωρον τὸν Λαμψακηνόν, γνώριμον ὄντα αὐτοῦ, ὃν καὶ πρῶτον σπουδάσαι τοῦ ποιητοῦ περὶ τὴν φυσικὴν πραγματείαν. πρῶτος δὲ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ βιβλίον ἐξέδωκε συγγραφῆς. φησὶ δὲ Σιληνὸς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Δημύλου λίθον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖν·
3.12. Of the trial of Anaxagoras different accounts are given. Sotion in his Succession of the Philosophers says that he was indicted by Cleon on a charge of impiety, because he declared the sun to be a mass of red-hot metal; that his pupil Pericles defended him, and he was fined five talents and banished. Satyrus in his Lives says that the prosecutor was Thucydides, the opponent of Pericles, and the charge one of treasonable correspondence with Persia as well as of impiety; and that sentence of death was passed on Anaxagoras by default.
3.12. τὸν δὲ Ἀναξαγόραν εἰπεῖν ὡς ὅλος ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐκ λίθων συγκέοιτο· τῇ σφοδρᾷ δὲ περιδινήσει συνεστάναι καὶ ἀνεθέντα κατενεχθήσεσθαι. Περὶ δὲ τῆς δίκης αὐτοῦ διάφορα λέγεται. Σωτίων μὲν γάρ φησιν ἐν τῇ Διαδοχῇ τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑπὸ Κλέωνος αὐτὸν ἀσεβείας κριθῆναι, διότι τὸν ἥλιον μύδρον ἔλεγε διάπυρον· ἀπολογησαμένου δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ Περικλέους τοῦ μαθητοῦ, πέντε ταλάντοις ζημιωθῆναι καὶ φυγαδευθῆναι. Σάτυρος δʼ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις ὑπὸ Θουκυδίδου φησὶν εἰσαχθῆναι τὴν δίκην, ἀντιπολιτευομένου τῷ Περικλεῖ· καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀσεβείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ μηδισμοῦ· καὶ ἀπόντα καταδικασθῆναι θανάτῳ.
3.13. When news was brought him that he was condemned and his sons were dead, his comment on the sentence was, “Long ago nature condemned both my judges and myself to death”; and on his sons, “I knew that my children were born to die.” Some, however, tell this story of Solon, and others of Xenophon. That he buried his sons with his own hands is asserted by Demetrius of Phalerum in his work On Old Age. Hermippus in his Lives says that he was confined in the prison pending his execution; that Pericles came forward and asked the people whether they had any fault to find with him in his own public career; to which they replied that they had not. “Well,” he continued, “I am a pupil of Anaxagoras; do not then be carried away by slanders and put him to death. Let me prevail upon you to release him.” So he was released; but he could not brook the indignity he had suffered and committed suicide.
3.13. ὅτε καὶ ἀμφοτέρων αὐτῷ προσαγγελέντων, τῆς τε καταδίκης καὶ τῆς τῶν παίδων τελευτῆς, εἰπεῖν περὶ μὲν τῆς καταδίκης, ὅτι ἄρα κἀκείνων κἀμοῦ πάλαι ἡ φύσις κατεψηφίσατο, περὶ δὲ τῶν παίδων, ὅτι ᾔδειν αὐτοὺς θνητοὺς γεννήσας. οἱ δʼ εἰς Σόλωνα τοῦτʼ ἀναφέρουσιν, ἄλλοι εἰς Ξενοφῶντα. τοῦτον δὲ καὶ θάψαι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶν αὐτοὺς Δημήτριός φησιν ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῷ Περὶ γήρως. Ἕρμιππος δʼ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις φησὶν ὅτι καθείρχθη ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τεθνηξόμενος. Περικλῆς δὲ παρελθὼν εἶπεν εἴ τι ἔχουσιν ἐγκαλεῖν αὑτῷ κατὰ τὸν βίον· οὐδὲν δὲ εἰπόντων, καὶ μὴν ἐγώ, ἔφη, τούτου μαθητής εἰμι· μὴ οὖν διαβολαῖς ἐπαρθέντες ἀποκτείνητε τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλʼ ἐμοὶ πεισθέντες ἄφετε. καὶ ἀφείθη· οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν δὲ τὴν ὕβριν ἑαυτὸν ἐξήγαγεν.
3.14. Hieronymus in the second book of his Scattered Notes states that Pericles brought him into court so weak and wasted from illness that he owed his acquittal not so much to the merits of his case as to the sympathy of the judges. So much then on the subject of his trial. He was supposed to have borne Democritus a grudge because he had failed to get into communication with him. At length he retired to Lampsacus and there died. And when the magistrates of the city asked if there was anything he would like done for him, he replied that he would like them to grant an annual holiday to the boys in the month in which he died; and the custom is kept up to this day.
3.14. Ἱερώνυμος δʼ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Τῶν σποράδην ὑπομνημάτων φησὶν ὅτι ὁ Περικλῆς παρήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ δικαστήριον, διερρυηκότα καὶ λεπτὸν ὑπὸ νόσου, ὥστε ἐλέῳ μᾶλλον ἢ κρίσει ἀφεθῆναι. καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τῆς δίκης αὐτοῦ τοσαῦτα. Ἔδοξε δέ πως καὶ Δημοκρίτῳ ἀπεχθῶς ἐσχηκέναι ἀποτυχὼν τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν κοινολογίας. καὶ τέλος ἀποχωρήσας εἰς Λάμψακον αὐτόθι κατέστρεψεν. ὅτε καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων τῆς πόλεως ἀξιούντων τί βούλεται αὐτῷ γενέσθαι, φάναι, τοὺς παῖδας ἐν ᾧ ἂν ἀποθάνῃ μηνὶ κατʼ ἔτος παίζειν συγχωρεῖν. καὶ φυλάττεται τὸ ἔθος καὶ νῦν.
3.15. So, when he died, the people of Lampsacus gave him honourable burial and placed over his grave the following inscription:Here Anaxagoras, who in his questOf truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest. I also have written an epigram upon him:The sun’s a molten mass,Quoth Anaxagoras;This is his crime, his life must pay the price.Pericles from that fateRescued his friend too late;His spirit crushed, by his own hand he dies. There have been three other men who bore the name of Anaxagoras [of whom no other writer gives a complete list]. The first was a rhetorician of the school of Isocrates; the second a sculptor, mentioned by Antigonus; the third a grammarian, pupil of Zenodotus.
3.15. τελευτήσαντα δὴ αὐτὸν ἔθαψαν ἐντίμως οἱ Λαμψακηνοὶ καὶ ἐπέγραψαν·ἐνθάδε, πλεῖστον ἀληθείας ἐπὶ τέρμα περήσαςοὐρανίου κόσμου, κεῖται Ἀναξαγόρας. Ἔστι καὶ ἡμῶν εἰς αὐτόν·ἠέλιον πυρόεντα μύδρον ποτὲ φάσκεν ὑπάρχειν,καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θανεῖν μέλλεν Ἀναξαγόρας·ἀλλʼ ὁ φίλος Περικλῆς μὲν ἐρύσατο τοῦτον, ὁ δʼ αὑτὸνἐξάγαγεν βιότου μαλθακίῃ σοφίης. Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι τρεῖς Ἀναξαγόραι, ὧν [ἐν οὐδενὶ πάντα, ἀλλʼ] ὁ μὲν ἦν ῥήτωρ Ἰσοκράτειος· ὁ δʼ ἀνδριαντοποιός, οὗ μέμνηται Ἀντίγονος· ἄλλος γραμματικὸς Ζηνοδότειος.
4.16. Archelaus, the son of Apollodorus, or as some say of Midon, was a citizen of Athens or of Miletus; he was a pupil of Anaxagoras, who first brought natural philosophy from Ionia to Athens. Archelaus was the teacher of Socrates. He was called the physicist inasmuch as with him natural philosophy came to an end, as soon as Socrates had introduced ethics. It would seem that Archelaus himself also treated of ethics, for he has discussed laws and goodness and justice; Socrates took the subject from him and, having improved it to the utmost, was regarded as its inventor. Archelaus laid down that there were two causes of growth or becoming, heat and cold; that living things were produced from slime; and that what is just and what is base depends not upon nature but upon convention.
4.16. Ἀρχέλαος Ἀθηναῖος ἢ Μιλήσιος, πατρὸς Ἀπολλοδώρου, ὡς δέ τινες, Μίδωνος, μαθητὴς Ἀναξαγόρου, διδάσκαλος Σωκράτους. οὗτος πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς Ἰωνίας τὴν φυσικὴν φιλοσοφίαν μετήγαγεν Ἀθήναζε, καὶ ἐκλήθη φυσικός, παρὸ καὶ ἔληξεν ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ φυσικὴ φιλοσοφία, Σωκράτους τὴν ἠθικὴν εἰσαγαγόντος. ἔοικεν δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἅψασθαι τῆς ἠθικῆς. καὶ γὰρ περὶ νόμων πεφιλοσόφηκε καὶ καλῶν καὶ δικαίων· παρʼ οὗ λαβὼν Σωκράτης τῷ αὐξῆσαι εἰς τὸ 〈ἄκρον〉 εὑρεῖν ὑπελήφθη. ἔλεγε δὲ δύο αἰτίας εἶναι γενέσεως, θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν. καὶ τὰ ζῷα ἀπὸ τῆς ἰλύος γεννηθῆναι· καὶ τὸ δίκαιον εἶναι καὶ τὸ αἰσχρὸν οὐ φύσει, ἀλλὰ νόμῳ.
4.17. His theory is to this effect. Water is melted by heat and produces on the one hand earth in so far as by the action of fire it sinks and coheres, while on the other hand it generates air in so far as it overflows on all sides. Hence the earth is confined by the air, and the air by the circumambient fire. Living things, he holds, are generated from the earth when it is heated and throws off slime of the consistency of milk to serve as a sort of nourishment, and in this same way the earth produced man. He was the first who explained the production of sound as being the concussion of the air, and the formation of the sea in hollow places as due to its filtering through the earth. He declared the sun to be the largest of the heavenly bodies and the universe to be unlimited. There have been three other men who bore the name of Archelaus: the topographer who described the countries traversed by Alexander; the author of a treatise on Natural Curiosities; and lastly a rhetorician who wrote a handbook on his art.
4.17. Ὁ δὲ λόγος αὐτῷ οὕτως ἔχει. τηκόμενόν φησι τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ, καθὸ μὲν εἰς τὸ 〈κάτω διὰ τὸ〉 πυρῶδες συνίσταται, ποιεῖν γῆν· καθὸ δὲ περιρρεῖ, ἀέρα γεννᾶν. ὅθεν ἡ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος, ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς περιφορᾶς κρατεῖται. γεννᾶσθαι δέ φησι τὰ ζῷα ἐκ θερμῆς τῆς γῆς καὶ ἰλὺν παραπλησίαν γάλακτι οἷον τροφὴν ἀνιείσης· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ποιῆσαι. πρῶτος δὲ εἶπε φωνῆς γένεσιν τὴν τοῦ ἀέρος πλῆξιν. τὴν δὲ θάλατταν ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις διὰ τῆς γῆς ἠθουμένην συνεστάναι. μέγιστον τῶν ἄστρων τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἄπειρον. Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι τρεῖς Ἀρχέλαοι· ὁ χωρογράφος τῆς ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου πατηθείσης γῆς, ὁ τὰ Ἰδιοφυῆ ποιήσας, ἄλλος τεχνογράφος ῥήτωρ.
5.18. Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and of Phaenarete, a midwife, as we read in the Theaetetus of Plato; he was a citizen of Athens and belonged to the deme Alopece. It was thought that he helped Euripides to make his plays; hence Mnesimachus writes: “This new play of Euripides is The Phrygians; and Socrates provides the wood for frying.” And again he calls Euripides “an engine riveted by Socrates.” And Callias in The Captives:A. Pray why so solemn, why this lofty air?B. I’ve every right; I’m helped by Socrates.Aristophanes in The Clouds:’Tis he composes for EuripidesThose clever plays, much sound and little sense.
5.18. Σωκράτης Σωφρονίσκου μὲν ἦν υἱὸς λιθουργοῦ καὶ Φαιναρέτης μαίας, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ φησίν, Ἀθηναῖος, τῶν δήμων Ἀλωπεκῆθεν. ἐδόκει δὲ συμποιεῖν Εὐριπίδῃ· ὅθεν Μνησίμαχος οὕτω φησί,Φρύγες ἐστὶ καινὸν δρᾶμα τοῦτʼ Εὐριπίδου,...ᾧ καὶ Σωκράτηςτὰ φρύγανʼ ὑποτίθησι.καὶ πάλιν, Εὐριπίδας σωκρατογόμφους. καὶ Καλλίας Πεδήταις·Α. Τί δὴ σὺ σεμνὴ καὶ φρονεῖς οὕτω μέγα;Β. Ἔξεστι γάρ μοι· Σωκράτης γὰρ αἴτιος. Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις·Εὐριπίδῃ δʼ ὁ τὰς τραγῳδίας ποιῶντὰς περιλαλούσας οὗτός ἐστι, τὰς σοφάς.
5.19. According to some authors he was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and also of Damon, as Alexander states in his Successions of Philosophers. When Anaxagoras was condemned, he became a pupil of Archelaus the physicist; Aristoxenus asserts that Archelaus was very fond of him. Duris makes him out to have been a slave and to have been employed on stonework, and the draped figures of the Graces on the Acropolis have by some been attributed to him. Hence the passage in Timon’s Silli: “From these diverged the sculptor, a prater about laws, the enchanter of Greece, inventor of subtle arguments, the sneerer who mocked at fine speeches, half-Attic in his mock humility.” He was formidable in public speaking, according to Idomeneus; moreover, as Xenophon tells us, the Thirty forbade him to teach the art of words.
5.19. Ἀκούσας δὲ Ἀναξαγόρου κατά τινας, ἀλλὰ καὶ Δάμωνος, ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν Διαδοχαῖς, μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου καταδίκην διήκουσεν Ἀρχελάου τοῦ φυσικοῦ· οὗ καὶ παιδικὰ γενέσθαι φησὶν Ἀριστόξενος. Δοῦρις δὲ καὶ δουλεῦσαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἐργάσασθαι λίθους· εἶναί τε αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐν ἀκροπόλει Χάριτας ἔνιοί φασιν, ἐνδεδυμένας οὔσας. ὅθεν καὶ Τίμωνα ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις εἰπεῖν·ἐκ δʼ ἄρα τῶν ἀπέκλινεν ὁ λαξόος, ἐννομολέσχης,Ἑλλήνων ἐπαοιδός, ἀκριβολόγους ἀποφήνας,μυκτὴρ ῥητορόμυκτος, ὑπαττικὸς εἰρωνευτής.ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ῥητορικοῖς δεινός, ὥς φησι καὶ Ἰδομενεύς· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τριάκοντα αὐτὸν ἐκώλυσαν τέχνας διδάσκειν λόγων, ὥς φησι Ξενοφῶν.
5.20. And Aristophanes attacks him in his plays for making the worse appear the better reason. For Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says Socrates and his pupil Aeschines were the first to teach rhetoric; and this is confirmed by Idomeneus in his work on the Socratic circle. Again, he was the first who discoursed on the conduct of life, and the first philosopher who was tried and put to death. Aristoxenus, the son of Spintharus, says of him that he made money; he would at all events invest sums, collect the interest accruing, and then, when this was expended, put out the principal again. Demetrius of Byzantium relates that Crito removed him from his workshop and educated him, being struck by his beauty of soul;
5.20. καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης αὐτὸν κωμῳδεῖ ὡς τὸν ἥττω λόγον κρείττω ποιοῦντα. καὶ γὰρ πρῶτος, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, μετὰ τοῦ μαθητοῦ Αἰσχίνου ῥητορεύειν ἐδίδαξε· λέγει δὲ τοῦτο καὶ Ἰδομενεὺς ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν Σωκρατικῶν. καὶ πρῶτος περὶ βίου διελέχθη καὶ πρῶτος φιλοσόφων καταδικασθεὶς ἐτελεύτα. φησὶ δʼ αὐτὸν Ἀριστόξενος ὁ Σπινθάρου καὶ χρηματίσασθαι· τιθέντα γοῦν τὸ βαλλόμενον κέρμα ἀθροίζειν· εἶτʼ ἀναλώσαντα πάλιν τιθέναι. Κρίτωνα δʼ ἀναστῆσαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐργαστηρίου καὶ παιδεῦσαι τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν χάριτος ἐρασθέντα Δημήτριός φησιν ὁ Βυζάντιος.
5.21. that he discussed moral questions in the workshops and the market-place, being convinced that the study of nature is no concern of ours; and that he claimed that his inquiries embraced “Whatso’er is good or evil in an house;” that frequently, owing to his vehemence in argument, men set upon him with their fists or tore his hair out; and that for the most part he was despised and laughed at, yet bore all this ill-usage patiently. So much so that, when he had been kicked, and some one expressed surprise at his taking it so quietly, Socrates rejoined, “Should I have taken the law of a donkey, supposing that he had kicked me?” Thus far Demetrius.
5.21. γνόντα δὲ τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν μηδὲν εἶναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς, τὰ ἠθικὰ φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπί τε τῶν ἐργαστηρίων καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ· κἀκεῖνα δὲ φάσκειν ζητεῖν, ὅττι τοι ἐν μεγάροισι κακόν τʼ ἀγαθόν τε τέτυκται. πολλάκις δὲ βιαιότερον ἐν ταῖς ζητήσεσι διαλεγόμενον κονδυλίζεσθαι καὶ παρατίλλεσθαι, τὸ πλέον τε γελᾶσθαι καταφρονούμενον· καὶ πάντα ταῦτα φέρειν ἀνεξικάκως. ὅθεν καὶ λακτισθέντα, ἐπειδὴ ἠνέσχετο, τινὸς θαυμάσαντος, εἰπεῖν, εἰ δέ με ὄνος ἐλάκτισε, δίκην ἂν αὐτῷ ἐλάγχανον; καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Δημήτριος.
5.22. Unlike most philosophers, he had no need to travel, except when required to go on an expedition. The rest of his life he stayed at home and engaged all the more keenly in argument with anyone who would converse with him, his aim being not to alter his opinion but to get at the truth. They relate that Euripides gave him the treatise of Heraclitus and asked his opinion upon it, and that his reply was, “The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it.” He took care to exercise his body and kept in good condition. At all events he served on the expedition to Amphipolis; and when in the battle of Delium Xenophon had fallen from his horse, he stepped in and saved his life.
5.22. Ἀποδημίας δὲ οὐκ ἐδεήθη, καθάπερ οἱ πλείους, πλὴν εἰ μὴ στρατεύεσθαι ἔδει. τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν αὐτόθι μένων φιλονεικότερον συνεζήτει τοῖς προσδιαλεγομένοις, οὐχ ὥστε ἀφελέσθαι τὴν δόξαν αὐτούς, ἀλλʼ ὥστε τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐκμαθεῖν πειρᾶσθαι. φασὶ δʼ Εὐριπίδην αὐτῷ δόντα τὸ Ἡρακλείτου σύγγραμμα ἐρέσθαι, τί δοκεῖ; τὸν δὲ φάναι, ἃ μὲν συνῆκα, γενναῖα· οἶμαι δὲ καὶ ἃ μὴ συνῆκα· πλὴν Δηλίου γέ τινος δεῖται κολυμβητοῦ. Ἐπεμελεῖτο δὲ καὶ σωμασκίας, καὶ ἦν εὐέκτης. ἐστρατεύσατο γοῦν εἰς Ἀμφίπολιν καὶ Ξενοφῶντα ἀφʼ ἵππου πεσόντα ἐν τῇ κατὰ Δήλιον μάχῃ διέσωσεν ὑπολαβών·
5.23. For in the general flight of the Athenians he personally retired at his ease, quietly turning round from time to time and ready to defend himself in case he were attacked. Again, he served at Potidaea, whither he had gone by sea, as land communications were interrupted by the war; and while there he is said to have remained a whole night without changing his position, and to have won the prize of valour. But he resigned it to Alcibiades, for whom he cherished the tenderest affection, according to Aristippus in the fourth book of his treatise On the Luxury of the Ancients. Ion of Chios relates that in his youth he visited Samos in the company of Archelaus; and Aristotle that he went to Delphi; he went also to the Isthmus, according to Favorinus in the first book of his Memorabilia.
5.23. ὅτε καὶ πάντων φευγόντων Ἀθηναίων αὐτὸς ἠρέμα ἀνεχώρει, παρεπιστρεφόμενος ἡσυχῆ καὶ τηρῶν ἀμύνασθαι εἴ τίς οἱ ἐπέλθοι. ἐστρατεύσατο δὲ καὶ εἰς Ποτίδαιαν διὰ θαλάττης· πεζῇ γὰρ οὐκ ἐνῆν τοῦ πολέμου κωλύοντος. ὅτε καὶ μεῖναι διὰ νυκτὸς ὅλης ἐφʼ ἑνὸς σχήματος αὐτόν φασι, καὶ ἀριστεύσαντα αὐτόθι παραχωρῆσαι Ἀλκιβιάδῃ τοῦ ἀριστείου· οὗ καὶ ἐρασθῆναί φησιν αὐτὸν Ἀρίστιππος ἐν τετάρτῳ Περὶ παλαιᾶς τρυφῆς. Ἴων δὲ ὁ Χῖος καὶ νέον ὄντα εἰς Σάμον σὺν Ἀρχελάῳ ἀποδημῆσαι· καὶ Πυθώδε ἐλθεῖν Ἀριστοτέλης φησίν· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς Ἰσθμόν, ὡς Φαβωρῖνος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἀπομνημονευμάτων.
5.24. His strength of will and attachment to the democracy are evident from his refusal to yield to Critias and his colleagues when they ordered him to bring the wealthy Leon of Salamis before them for execution, and further from the fact that he alone voted for the acquittal of the ten generals; and again from the facts that when he had the opportunity to escape from the prison he declined to do so, and that he rebuked his friends for weeping over his fate, and addressed to them his most memorable discourses in the prison. He was a man of great independence and dignity of character. Pamphila in the seventh book of her Commentaries tells how Alcibiades once offered him a large site on which to build a house; but he replied, “Suppose, then, I wanted shoes and you offered me a whole hide to make a pair with, would it not be ridiculous in me to take it?”
5.24. Ἦν δὲ καὶ ἰσχυρογνώμων καὶ δημοκρατικός, ὡς δῆλον ἔκ τε τοῦ μὴ εἶξαι τοῖς περὶ Κριτίαν, κελεύουσι Λέοντα τὸν Σαλαμίνιον, ἄνδρα πλούσιον, ἀγαγεῖν πρὸς αὐτούς, ὥστε ἀπολέσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ μόνος ἀποψηφίσασθαι τῶν δέκα στρατηγῶν. καὶ ἐνὸν αὐτῷ ἀποδρᾶναι τῆς εἱρκτῆς μὴ ἐθελῆσαι· τοῖς τε κλαίουσιν αὐτὸν ἐπιπλῆξαι καὶ τοὺς καλλίστους λόγους ἐκείνους δεδεμένον διαθέσθαι. Αὐτάρκης τε ἦν καὶ σεμνός. καί ποτε Ἀλκιβιάδου, καθά φησι Παμφίλη ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ τῶν Ὑπομνημάτων, διδόντος αὐτῷ χώραν μεγάλην, ἵνα ἐνοικοδομήσηται οἰκίαν, φάναι, καὶ εἰ ὑποδημάτων ἔδει, καὶ βύρσαν μοι ἐδίδους, ἵνʼ ἐμαυτῷ ὑποδήματα ποιησαίμην, καταγέλαστος ἂν ἦν λαβών.
5.25. Often when he looked at the multitude of wares exposed for sale, he would say to himself, “How many things I can do without!” And he would continually recite the lines:The purple robe and silver’s shineMore fits an actor’s need than mine. He showed his contempt for Archelaus of Macedon and Scopas of Cranon and Eurylochus of Larissa by refusing to accept their presents or to go to their court. He was so orderly in his way of life that on several occasions when pestilence broke out in Athens he was the only man who escaped infection.
5.25. πολλάκις δʼ ἀφορῶν εἰς τὰ πλήθη τῶν πιπρασκομένων ἔλεγε πρὸς αὑτόν, πόσων ἐγὼ χρείαν οὐκ ἔχω. καὶ συνεχὲς ἐκεῖνα ἀνεφθέγγετο τὰ ἰαμβεῖα·τὰ δʼ ἀργυρώματʼ ἐστὶν ἥ τε πορφύραεἰς τοὺς τραγῳδοὺς χρήσιμʼ, οὐκ εἰς τὸν βίον.ὑπερεφρόνησε δὲ καὶ Ἀρχελάου τοῦ Μακεδόνος καὶ Σκόπα τοῦ Κρανωνίου καὶ Εὐρυλόχου τοῦ Λαρισσαίου, μήτε χρήματα προσέμενος παρʼ αὐτῶν, μήτε παρʼ αὐτοὺς ἀπελθών. εὔτακτός τε ἦν τὴν δίαιταν οὕτως, ὥστε πολλάκις Ἀθήνησι λοιμῶν γενομένων μόνος οὐκ ἐνόσησε.
5.26. Aristotle says that he married two wives: his first wife was Xanthippe, by whom he had a son, Lamprocles; his second wife was Myrto, the daughter of Aristides the Just, whom he took without a dowry. By her he had Sophroniscus and Menexenus. Others make Myrto his first wife; while some writers, including Satyrus and Hieronymus of Rhodes, affirm that they were both his wives at the same time. For they say that the Athenians were short of men and, wishing to increase the population, passed a decree permitting a citizen to marry one Athenian woman and have children by another; and that Socrates accordingly did so.
5.26. Φησὶ δʼ Ἀριστοτέλης δύο γυναῖκας αὐτὸν ἀγαγέσθαι· προτέραν μὲν Ξανθίππην, ἐξ ἧς αὐτῷ γενέσθαι Λαμπροκλέα· δευτέραν δὲ Μυρτώ, τὴν Ἀριστείδου τοῦ δικαίου θυγατέρα, ἣν καὶ ἄπροικον λαβεῖν, ἐξ ἧς γενέσθαι Σωφρονίσκον καὶ Μενέξενον. οἱ δὲ προτέραν γῆμαι τὴν Μυρτώ φασιν· ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ ἀμφοτέρας σχεῖν ὁμοῦ, ὧν ἐστι Σάτυρός τε καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Ῥόδιος. φασὶ γὰρ βουληθέντας Ἀθηναίους διὰ τὸ λειπανδρεῖν συναυξῆσαι τὸ πλῆθος, ψηφίσασθαι γαμεῖν μὲν ἀστὴν μίαν, παιδοποιεῖσθαι δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρας· ὅθεν τοῦτο ποιῆσαι καὶ Σωκράτην.
5.27. He could afford to despise those who scoffed at him. He prided himself on his plain living, and never asked a fee from anyone. He used to say that he most enjoyed the food which was least in need of condiment, and the drink which made him feel the least hankering for some other drink; and that he was nearest to the gods in that he had the fewest wants. This may be seen from the Comic poets, who in the act of ridiculing him give him high praise. Thus Aristophanes: “O man that justly desirest great wisdom, how blessed will be thy life amongst Athenians and Greeks, retentive of memory and thinker that thou art, with endurance of toil for thy character; never art thou weary whether standing or walking, never numb with cold, never hungry for breakfast; from wine and from gross feeding and all other frivolities thou dost turn away.”
5.27. Ἦν δʼ ἱκανὸς καὶ τῶν σκωπτόντων [αὐτὸν] ὑπερορᾶν. καὶ ἐσεμνύνετο ἐπὶ τῇ εὐτελείᾳ, μισθόν τε οὐδένα εἰσεπράξατο. καὶ ἔλεγεν ἥδιστα ἐσθίων ἥκιστα ὄψου προσδεῖσθαι· καὶ ἥδιστα πίνων ἥκιστα τὸ μὴ παρὸν ποτὸν ἀναμένειν· καὶ ἐλαχίστων δεόμενος ἔγγιστα εἶναι θεῶν. τοῦτο δʼ ἐνέσται καὶ παρὰ τῶν κωμῳδοποιῶν λαβεῖν, οἳ λανθάνουσιν ἑαυτοὺς διʼ ὧν σκώπτουσιν ἐπαινοῦντες αὐτόν. Ἀριστοφάνης μὲν οὕτως·ὦ τῆς μεγάλης ἐπιθυμήσας σοφίας ἄνθρωπε δικαίως,ὡς εὐδαίμων παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι διάξεις.εἶ γὰρ μνήμων καὶ φροντιστής, καὶ τὸ ταλαίπωρον ἔνεστινἐν τῇ γνώμῃ, κοὔτε τι κάμνεις οὔθʼ ἑστὼς οὔτε βαδίζων,οὔτε ῥιγῶν ἄχθει λίαν, οὔτʼ ἀρίστων ἐπιθυμεῖς, οἴνου τʼ ἀπέχει κἀδηφαγίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνοήτων.
5.28. Ameipsias too, when he puts him on the stage wearing a cloak, says:A. You come to join us, Socrates, worthiest of a small band and emptiest by far! You are a robust fellow. Where can we get you a proper coat?B. Your sorry plight is an insult to the cobblers.A. And yet, hungry as he is, this man has never stooped to flatter.This disdainful, lofty spirit of his is also noticed by Aristophanes when he says: “Because you stalk along the streets, rolling your eyes, and endure, barefoot, many a hardship, and gaze up at us [the clouds].” And yet at times he would even put on fine clothes to suit the occasion, as in Plato’s Symposium, where he is on his way to Agathon’s house.
5.28. Ἀμειψίας δʼ ἐν τρίβωνι παράγων αὐτὸν φησὶν οὕτως·Σώκρατες ἀνδρῶν βέλτιστʼ ὀλίγων, πολλῷ δὲ ματαιόταθʼ, ἥκειςκαὶ σὺ πρὸς ἡμᾶς. καρτερικός γʼ εἶ. πόθεν ἄν σοι χλαῖνα γένοιτο;Β. τουτὶ τὸ κακὸν κατʼ ἐπήρειαν τῶν σκυτοτόμων γεγένηται.Α. οὗτος μέντοι πεινῶν οὕτως οὐπώποτʼ ἔτλη κολακεῦσαι.τοῦτο δʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὑπεροπτικὸν καὶ μεγαλόφρον ἐμφαίνει καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης λέγων οὕτως,ὅτι βρενθύει τʼ ἐν ταῖσιν ὁδοῖς, καὶ τὠφθαλμὼ παραβάλλεις,κἀνυπόδητος κακὰ πόλλʼ ἀνέχει, κἀν ἡμῖν σεμνοπροσωπεῖς.καίτοι ἐνίοτε πρὸς τοὺς καιροὺς ἁρμοττόμενος καὶ λαμπρὰ ἠμπίσχετο· καθάπερ ἐν τῷ Πλάτωνος συμποσίῳ παρʼ Ἀγάθωνα βαδίζων.
5.29. He showed equal ability in both directions, in persuading and dissuading men; thus, after conversing with Theaetetus about knowledge, he sent him away, as Plato says, fired with a divine impulse; but when Euthyphro had indicted his father for manslaughter, Socrates, after some conversation with him upon piety, diverted him from his purpose. Lysis, again, he turned, by exhortation, into a most virtuous character. For he had the skill to draw his arguments from facts. And when his son Lamprocles was violently angry with his mother, Socrates made him feel ashamed of himself, as I believe Xenophon has told us. When Plato’s brother Glaucon was desirous of entering upon politics, Socrates dissuaded him, as Xenophon relates, because of his want of experience; but on the contrary he encouraged Charmides to take up politics because he had a gift that way.
5.29. Ἱκανὸς δʼ ἀμφότερα ἦν, καὶ προτρέψαι καὶ ἀποτρέψαι. ὥσπερ τὸν Θεαίτητον περὶ ἐπιστήμης διαλεχθεὶς ἔνθεον ἀπέπεμψε, καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησίν. Εὐθύφρονα δὲ τῷ πατρὶ γραψάμενον ξενοκτονίας δίκην περὶ ὁσίου τινὰ διαλεχθεὶς ἀπήγαγε. καὶ τὸν Λύσιν δὲ ἠθικώτατον ἐποίησε προτρέψας. ἦν γὰρ ἱκανὸς ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων τοὺς λόγους εὑρίσκειν. ἐνέτρεψε δὲ καὶ Λαμπροκλέα τὸν υἱὸν τῇ μητρὶ ἀγριαινόμενον, ὥς που καὶ Ξενοφῶν εἴρηκε. καὶ Γλαύκωνα μὲν τὸν Πλάτωνος ἀδελφὸν θέλοντα πολιτεύεσθαι ἀπέστησε διὰ τὸ ἀπείρως ἔχειν, ὥς φησι Ξενοφῶν· Χαρμίδην δὲ τοὐναντίον ἔχοντα οἰκείως ἐπέστησεν.
5.30. He roused Iphicrates the general to a martial spirit by showing him how the fighting cocks of Midias the barber flapped their wings in defiance of those of Callias. Glauconides demanded that he should be acquired for the state as if he were some pheasant or peacock. He used to say it was strange that, if you asked a man how many sheep he had, he could easily tell you the precise number; whereas he could not name his friends or say how many he had, so slight was the value he set upon them. Seeing Euclides keenly interested in eristic arguments, he said to him: “You will be able to get on with sophists, Euclides, but with men not at all.” For he thought there was no use in this sort of hair-splitting, as Plato shows us in the Euthydemus.
5.30. Ἐπῆρε δὲ καὶ εἰς φρόνημα Ἰφικράτην τὸν στρατηγόν, δείξας αὐτῷ τοῦ κουρέως Μειδίου ἀλεκτρυόνας ἀντίον τῶν Καλλίου πτερυξαμένους. καὶ αὐτὸν Γλαυκωνίδης ἠξίου τῇ πόλει περιποιεῖν καθάπερ φασιανὸν ὄρνιν ἢ ταώ. Ἔλεγε δὲ ὡς θαυμαστὸν πρόβατα μὲν ἕκαστον εἰπεῖν ἂν ῥᾳδίως ὅσα ἔχει, φίλους δʼ οὐκ ἂν ὀνομάσαι ὁπόσους κέκτηται· οὕτως ὀλιγώρως ἔχειν περὶ αὐτούς. ὁρῶν δʼ Εὐκλείδην ἐσπουδακότα περὶ τοὺς ἐριστικοὺς λόγους, ὦ Εὐκλείδη, ἔφη, σοφισταῖς μὲν δυνήσῃ χρῆσθαι, ἀνθρώποις δὲ οὐδαμῶς. ἄχρηστον γὰρ ᾤετο εἶναι τὴν περὶ ταῦτα γλισχρολογίαν, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Εὐθυδήμῳ φησί.
5.31. Again, when Charmides offered him some slaves in order that he might derive an income from them, he declined the offer; and according to some he scorned the beauty of Alcibiades. He would extol leisure as the best of possessions, according to Xenophon in the Symposium. There is, he said, only one good, that is, knowledge, and only one evil, that is, ignorance; wealth and good birth bring their possessor no dignity, but on the contrary evil. At all events, when some one told him that Antisthenes’ mother was a Thracian, he replied, “Nay, did you expect a man so noble to have been born of two Athenian parents?” He made Crito ransom Phaedo who, having been taken prisoner in the war, was kept in degrading slavery, and so won him for philosophy.
5.31. Χαρμίδου τε οἰκέτας αὐτῷ διδόντος, ἵνʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν προσοδεύοιτο, οὐχ εἵλετο· καὶ τὸ κάλλος ὑπερεῖδεν Ἀλκιβιάδου κατά τινας. καὶ ἐπῄνει σχολὴν ὡς κάλλιστον κτημάτων, καθὰ καὶ Ξενοφῶν ἐν Συμποσίῳ φησίν. ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ ἓν μόνον ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἓν μόνον κακόν, τὴν ἀμαθίαν· πλοῦτον δὲ καὶ εὐγένειαν οὐδὲν σεμνὸν ἔχειν· πᾶν δὲ τοὐναντίον κακόν. εἰπόντος γοῦν τινος αὐτῷ ὡς εἴη Ἀντισθένης μητρὸς Θρᾴττης, σὺ δʼ ᾤου, ἔφη, οὕτως ἂν γενναῖον ἐκ δυοῖν Ἀθηναίων γενέσθαι; Φαίδωνα δὲ διʼ αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐπʼ οἰκήματος καθήμενον προσέταξε Κρίτωνι λυτρώσασθαι, καὶ φιλόσοφον ἀπειργάσατο.
5.32. Moreover, in his old age he learnt to play the lyre, declaring that he saw no absurdity in learning a new accomplishment. As Xenophon relates in the Symposium, it was his regular habit to dance, thinking that such exercise helped to keep the body in good condition. He used to say that his supernatural sign warned him beforehand of the future; that to make a good start was no trifling advantage, but a trifle turned the scale; and that he knew nothing except just the fact of his ignorance. He said that, when people paid a high price for fruit which had ripened early, they must despair of seeing the fruit ripen at the proper season. And, being once asked in what consisted the virtue of a young man, he said, “In doing nothing to excess.” He held that geometry should be studied to the point at which a man is able to measure the land which he acquires or parts with.
5.32. Ἀλλὰ καὶ λυρίζειν ἐμάνθανεν ἤδη γηραιός, μηδὲν λέγων ἄτοπον εἶναι ἅ τις μὴ οἶδεν ἐκμανθάνειν. ἔτι τε ὠρχεῖτο συνεχές, τῇ τοῦ σώματος εὐεξίᾳ λυσιτελεῖν ἡγούμενος τὴν τοιαύτην γυμνασίαν, ὡς καὶ Ξενοφῶν ἐν Συμποσίῳ φησίν. ἔλεγε δὲ καὶ προσημαίνειν τὸ δαιμόνιον τὰ μέλλοντα αὐτῷ· τό τε εὖ [ἄρχεσθαι] μικρὸν μὲν μὴ εἶναι, παρὰ μικρὸν δέ· καὶ εἰδέναι μὲν μηδὲν πλὴν αὐτὸ τοῦτο [εἰδέναι]. τούς τε τὰ πρώϊμα πολλοῦ ἐωνημένους ἀπογινώσκειν ἔλεγεν εἰς τὰς ὥρας ἐλθεῖν. καί ποτε ἐρωτηθείς, τίς ἀρετὴ νέου, τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν, εἶπεν. ἔφασκέ τε δεῖν γεωμετρεῖν μέχρι ἄν τις μέτρῳ δύνηται γῆν παραλαβεῖν καὶ παραδοῦναι.
5.33. On hearing the line of Euripides’ play Auge where the poet says of virtue: “’Tis best to let her roam at will,” he got up and left the theatre. For he said it was absurd to make a hue and cry about a slave who could not be found, and to allow virtue to perish in this way. Some one asked him whether he should marry or not, and received the reply, “Whichever you do you will repent it.” He used to express his astonishment that the sculptors of marble statues should take pains to make the block of marble into a perfect likeness of a man, and should take no pains about themselves lest they should turn out mere blocks, not men. He recommended to the young the constant use of the mirror, to the end that handsome men might acquire a corresponding behaviour, and ugly men conceal their defects by education.
5.33. Εὐριπίδου δʼ ἐν τῇ Αὔγῃ εἰπόντος περὶ ἀρετῆς, κράτιστον εἰκῆ ταῦτʼ ἐᾶν ἀφειμένα, ἀναστὰς ἐξῆλθε, φήσας γελοῖον εἶναι ἀνδράποδον μὲν μὴ εὑρισκόμενον ἀξιοῦν ζητεῖν, ἀρετὴν δʼ οὕτως ἐᾶν ἀπολωλέναι. ἐρωτηθεὶς πότερον γῆμαι ἢ μή, ἔφη, ὃ ἂν αὐτῶν ποιήσῃς, μεταγνώσῃ. ἐλεγέ τε θαυμάζειν τῶν τὰς λιθίνας εἰκόνας κατασκευαζομένων τοῦ μὲν λίθου προνοεῖν ὅπως ὁμοιότατος ἔσται, αὑτῶν δʼ ἀμελεῖν, ὡς μὴ ὁμοίους τῷ λίθῳ φαίνεσθαι. ἠξίου δὲ καὶ τοὺς νέους συνεχὲς κατοπτρίζεσθαι, ἵνʼ εἰ μὲν καλοὶ εἶεν, ἄξιοι γίγνοιντο· εἰ δʼ αἰσχροί, παιδείᾳ τὴν δυσείδειαν ἐπικαλύπτοιεν.
5.34. He had invited some rich men and, when Xanthippe said she felt ashamed of the dinner, “Never mind,” said he, “for if they are reasonable they will put up with it, and if they are good for nothing, we shall not trouble ourselves about them.” He would say that the rest of the world lived to eat, while he himself ate to live. Of the mass of men who do not count he said it was as if some one should object to a single tetradrachm as counterfeit and at the same time let a whole heap made up of just such pieces pass as genuine. Aeschines said to him, “I am a poor man and have nothing else to give, but I offer you myself,” and Socrates answered, “Nay, do you not see that you are offering me the greatest gift of all?” To one who complained that he was overlooked when the Thirty rose to power, he said, “You are not sorry for that, are you?”
5.34. Καλέσας ἐπὶ δεῖπνον πλουσίους, καὶ τῆς Ξανθίππης αἰδουμένης ἔφη, θάρρει· εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶεν μέτριοι, συμπεριενεχθεῖεν ἄν· εἰ δὲ φαῦλοι, ἡμῖν αὐτῶν οὐδὲν μελήσει. ἔλεγέ τε τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ζῆν ἵνʼ ἐσθίοιεν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἐσθίειν ἵνα ζῴη. πρὸς τὸ οὐκ ἀξιόλογον πλῆθος ἔφασκεν ὅμοιον εἴ τις τετράδραχμον ἓν ἀποδοκιμάζων τὸν ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων σωρὸν ὡς δόκιμον ἀποδέχοιτο. Αἰσχίνου δὲ εἰπόντος, πένης εἰμὶ καὶ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν ἔχω, δίδωμι δέ σοι ἐμαυτόν, ἆρʼ οὖν, εἶπεν, οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ τὰ μέγιστά μοι διδούς; τὸν ἀποδυσπετοῦντα ἐπὶ τῷ παρορᾶσθαι, ὁπότε ἐπανέστησαν οἱ τριάκοντα, ἆρα, ἔφη, μήτι σοι μεταμέλει;
5.35. To one who said, “You are condemned by the Athenians to die,” he made answer, “So are they, by nature.” But some ascribe this to Anaxagoras. When his wife said, “You suffer unjustly,” he retorted, “Why, would you have me suffer justly?” He had a dream that some one said to him: “On the third day thou shalt come to the fertile fields of Phthia;” and he told Aeschines, “On the third day I shall die.” When he was about to drink the hemlock, Apollodorus offered him a beautiful garment to die in: “What,” said he, “is my own good enough to live in but not to die in?” When he was told that So-and-so spoke ill of him, he replied, “True, for he has never learnt to speak well.”
5.35. πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, θάνατόν σου κατέγνωσαν Ἀθηναῖοι, κἀκείνων, εἶπεν, ἡ φύσις. οἱ δὲ τοῦτʼ Ἀναξαγόρου φασί. τῆς γυναικὸς εἰπούσης, ἀδίκως ἀποθνήσκεις, σὺ δέ, ἔφη, δικαίως ἐβούλου; ὄναρ δόξας τινὰ αὐτῷ λέγειν, ἤματί κεν τριτάτῳ Φθίην ἐρίβωλον ἵκοιο, πρὸς Αἰσχίνην ἔφη, εἰς τρίτην ἀποθανοῦμαι. μέλλοντί τε αὐτῷ τὸ κώνειον πίεσθαι Ἀπολλόδωρος ἱμάτιον ἐδίδου καλόν, ἵνʼ ἐκείνῳ ἐναποθάνοι· καὶ ὅς, τί δέ, ἔφη, τὸ ἐμὸν ἱμάτιον ἐμβιῶναι μὲν ἐπιτήδειον, ἐναποθανεῖν δὲ οὐχί; πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, κακῶς ὁ δεῖνά σε λέγει, καλῶς γάρ, ἔφη, λέγειν οὐκ ἔμαθε.
5.36. When Antisthenes turned his cloak so that the tear in it came into view, “I see,” said he, “your vanity through your cloak.” To one who said, “Don’t you find so-and-so very offensive?” his reply was, “No, for it takes two to make a quarrel.” We ought not to object, he used to say, to be subjects for the Comic poets, for if they satirize our faults they will do us good, and if not they do not touch us. When Xanthippe first scolded him and then drenched him with water, his rejoinder was, “Did I not say that Xanthippe’s thunder would end in rain?” When Alcibiades declared that the scolding of Xanthippe was intolerable, “Nay, I have got used to it,” said he, “as to the continued rattle of a windlass. And you do not mind the cackle of geese.”
5.36. στρέψαντος δὲ Ἀντισθένους τὸ διερρωγὸς τοῦ τρίβωνος εἰς τοὐμφανές, ὁρῶ σου, ἔφη, διὰ τοῦ τρίβωνος τὴν κενοδοξίαν. πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα, οὐ σοὶ λοιδορεῖται ὁ δεῖνα; οὐχί, ἔφη· ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐ πρόσεστι ταῦτα. ἔλεγε δὲ τοῖς κωμικοῖς δεῖν ἐπίτηδες ἑαυτὸν διδόναι· εἰ μὲν γάρ τι τῶν προσόντων λέξειαν, διορθώσονται· εἰ δʼ οὔ, οὐδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς. πρὸς Ξανθίππην πρότερον μὲν λοιδοροῦσαν, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ περιχέασαν αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἔλεγον, εἶπεν, ὅτι Ξανθίππη βροντῶσα καὶ ὕδωρ ποιήσει; πρὸς Ἀλκιβιάδην εἰπόντα ὡς οὐκ ἀνεκτὴ ἡ Ξανθίππη λοιδοροῦσα, ἀλλʼ ἔγωγʼ, ἔφη, συνείθισμαι, καθαπερεὶ καὶ τροχιλίας ἀκούων συνεχές.
5.37. “No,” replied Alcibiades, “but they furnish me with eggs and goslings.” “And Xanthippe,” said Socrates, “is the mother of my children.” When she tore his coat off his back in the market-place and his acquaintances advised him to hit back, “Yes, by Zeus,” said he, “in order that while we are sparring each of you may join in with ‘Go it, Socrates!’ ‘Well done, Xanthippe!’” He said he lived with a shrew, as horsemen are fond of spirited horses, “but just as, when they have mastered these, they can easily cope with the rest, so I in the society of Xanthippe shall learn to adapt myself to the rest of the world.” These and the like were his words and deeds, to which the Pythian priestess bore testimony when she gave Chaerephon the famous response: “Of all men living Socrates most wise.”
5.37. καὶ σὺ μέν, εἶπε, χηνῶν βοώντων ἀνέχῃ. τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος, ἀλλά μοι ᾠὰ καὶ νεοττοὺς τίκτουσι, κἀμοί, φησί, Ξανθίππη παιδία γεννᾷ. ποτὲ αὐτῆς ἐν ἀγορᾷ καὶ θοἰμάτιον περιελομένης συνεβούλευον οἱ γνώριμοι χερσὶν ἀμύνασθαι, νὴ Δίʼ, εἶπεν, ἵνʼ ἡμῶν πυκτευόντων ἕκαστος ὑμῶν λέγῃ, εὖ Σώκρατες, εὖ Ξανθίππη. ἔλεγε συνεῖναι τραχείᾳ γυναικὶ καθάπερ οἱ ἱππικοὶ θυμοειδέσιν ἵπποις. ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐκεῖνοι, φησί, τούτων κρατήσαντες ῥᾳδίως τῶν ἄλλων περιγίνονται, οὕτω κἀγὼ Ξανθίππῃ χρώμενος τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις συμπεριενεχθήσομαι. Ταῦτα δὴ καὶ τοιαῦτα λέγων καὶ πράττων πρὸς τῆς Πυθίας ἐμαρτυρήθη, Χαιρεφῶντι ἀνελούσης ἐκεῖνο δὴ τὸ περιφερόμενον, ἀνδρῶν ἁπάντων Σωκράτης σοφώτατος.