Vitae philosophorum

Diogenes Laertius

Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.

Crito was a citizen of Athens. He was most affectionate in his disposition towards Socrates, and took such care of him that none of his wants were left unsupplied. Further, his sons Critobulus, Hermogenes, Epigenes and Ctesippus were pupils of Socrates. Crito too wrote seventeen dialogues which are extant in a single volume under the titles:

That men are not made good by instruction.

Concerning superfluity.

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What is expedient, or The Statesman.

Of Beauty.

On Doing Ill.

On Tidiness.

On Law.

Of that which is Divine.

On Arts.

Of Society.

Of Wisdom.

Protagoras, or The Statesman.

On Letters.

Of Poetry.

Of Learning.

On Knowing, or On Science.

What is Knowledge.

Simon was a citizen of Athens and a cobbler. When Socrates came to his workshop and began to converse, he used to make notes of all that he could remember. And this is why people apply the term leathern to his dialogues. These dialogues are thirty-three in number, extant in a single volume:

Of the Gods.

Of the Good.

On the Beautiful.

What is the Beautiful.

On the Just: two dialogues.

Of Virtue, that it cannot be taught.

Of Courage: three dialogues.

On Law.

On Guiding the People.

Of Honour.

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Of Poetry.

On Good Eating.

On Love.

On Philosophy.

On Knowledge.

On Music.

On Poetry.

What is the Beautiful

On Teaching.

On the Art of Conversation

Of Judging.

Of Being.

Of Number.

On Diligence.

On Efficiency.

On Greed.

On Pretentiousness.

On the Beautiful

Others are:

On Deliberation.

On Reason, or On Expediency.

On Doing Ill.

He was the first, so we are told, who introduced the Socratic dialogues as a form of conversation. When Pericles promised to support him and urged him to come to him, his reply was, I will not part with my free speech for money.

There was another Simon, who wrote treatises On Rhetoric; another, a physician, in the time of Seleucus Nicanor; and a third who was a sculptor.

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Glaucon was a citizen of Athens. Nine dialogues of his are extant in a single volume:

Phidylus.

Euripides.

Amyntichus.

Euthias.

Lysithides.

Aristophanes.

Cephalus.

Anaxiphemus.

Menexenus.

There are also extant thirty-two others, which are considered spurious.

Simmias was a citizen of Thebes. Twenty-three dialogues of his are extant in a single volume:

On Wisdom.

On Reasoning.

On Music.

On Verses.

Of Courage.

On Philosophy.

Of Truth.

On Letters.

On Teaching.

On Art.

On Government.

Of that which is becoming.

Of that which is to be chosen and avoided.

On Friendship.

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On Knowledge.

Of the Soul.

On a Good Life.

Of that which is possible.

On Money.

On Life.

What is the beautiful.

On Diligence.

On Love.

Cebes was a citizen of Thebes. Three dialogues of his are extant:

The Tablet.

The Seventh Day.

Phrynichus.

Menedemus belonged to Phaedo’s school; he was the son of Clisthenes, a member of the clan called the Theopropidae, of good family, though a builder and a poor man; others say that he was a scenepainter and that Menedemus learnt both trades. Hence, when he had proposed a decree, a certain Alexinius attacked him, declaring that the philosopher was not a proper person to design either a scene or a decree. When Menedemus was dispatched by the Eretrians to Megara on garrison duty, he paid a visit to Plato at the Academy and was so captivated that he abandoned the service of arms.