Vitae philosophorum
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.
He also attended the lectures of the geometer Hipponicus, at whom he pointed a jest as one who was in all besides a listless, yawning sluggard but yet proficient in his subject. Geometry, he said, must have flown into his mouth while it was agape. When this man’s mind gave way, Arcesilaus took him to his house and nursed him until he was completely restored. He took over the school on the death of Crates, a certain Socratides having retired in his favour. According to some, one result of his suspending judgement on all matters was that he never so much as wrote a book.[*](If this be so, the study of the poet Ion ( § 31) must have remained unpublished.) Others relate that he was caught revising some works of Crantor, which according to some he published, according to others he burnt. He would seem to have held Plato in admiration, and he possessed a copy of his works.
Some represent him as emulous of Pyrrho as well. He was devoted to dialectic and adopted the methods
Plato the head of him, Pyrrho the tail, midway Diodorus.[*](A parody of Homer, Il. vi. 181: a chimaera has a lion’s front, a dragon’s tail, and the body of a goat.)And Timon speaks of him thus[*](Cf. Hom. Od. v. 346.):
Having the lead of Menedemus at his heart, he will run either to that mass of flesh, Pyrrho, or to Diodorus.And a little farther on he introduces him as saying:
I shall swim to Pyrrho and to crooked Diodorus.
He was highly axiomatic and concise, and in his discourse fond of distinguishing the meaning of terms. He was satirical enough, and outspoken.
This is why Timon speaks of him again as follows:
And mixing sound sense with wily cavils.[*](Or possibly with Wachsmuth: mixing jest in wily fashion (αἱμυλίως) with abuse.)Hence, when a young man talked more boldly than was becoming, Arcesilaus exclaimed, Will no one beat him at a game of knuckle-bone? Again, when some one of immodest life denied that one thing seemed to him greater than another, he rejoined, Then six inches and ten inches are all the same to you? There was a certain Hemon, a Chian, who, though ugly, fancied himself to be handsome, and always went about in fine clothes. He having propounded as his opinion that the wise man will never fall in love, Arcesilaus replied, What, not with one so handsome as you and so handsomely dressed? And when one of loose life, to imply that Arcesilaus was arrogant, addressed him thus[*](Nauck, T.G.F.2, Adesp. 282.):
Queen, may I speak, or must I silence keep?his reply was[*](Nauck, T.G.F.2, Adesp. 283: cf. Wilam. Antiq. v. Kar. p. 74.):
Woman, why talk so harshly, not as thou art wont?When some talkative person of no family caused him considerable trouble, he cited the line[*](Nauck, T.G.F.2, Eur. 976.):
Right ill to live with are the sons of slaves.Of another who talked much nonsense he said that he could not have had even a nurse to scold him. And some persons he would not so much as answer. To a money-lending student, upon his confessing ignorance of something or other, Arcesilaus replied with two lines from the Oenomaus of Sophocles[*](Nauck, T.G.F.2, Soph. 436.):
Be sure the hen-bird knows not from what quarter the wind blows until she looks for a new brood in the nest.[*](Men pay little heed to obvious facts except when their own interests are concerned. So A. C. Pearson, ad loc., Soph. Fragments, 477 (vol. ii. p. 130), who takes διέξοδοι in the more specific sense: passage of the winds (through her body), the reference being to the old fable of the wind-egg (Aristoph. Aves, 695, Aristot. Hist. An. vi. 2, 560 a 6). To the usurer τόκος would suggest interest on loans.)
A certain dialectic, a follower of Alexinus, was unable to repeat properly some argument of his teacher, whereupon Arcesilaus reminded him of the story of Philoxenus and the brickmakers. He found them singing some of his melodies out of tune; so he retaliated by trampling on the bricks they were making, saying, If you spoil my work, I’ll spoil yours. He was, moreover, genuinely annoyed with any who took up their studies too late. By some natural impulse he was betrayed into using such phrases as I assert, and So-and-so (mentioning the name) will not assent to this.[*](The use of these phrases was inconsistent with the suspension of judgement professed by Arcesilaus.) And this trait
Very fertile in invention, he could meet objection acutely or bring the course of discussion back to the point at issue, and fit it to every occasion. In persuasiveness he had no equal, and this all the more drew pupils to the school, although they were in terror of his pungent wit. But they willingly put up with that; for his goodness was extraordinary, and he inspired his pupils with hopes. He showed the greatest generosity in private life, being ever ready to confer benefits, yet most modestly anxious to conceal the favour. For instance, he once called upon Ctesibius when he was ill and, seeing in what straits he was, quietly put a purse under his pillow. He, when he found it, said, This is the joke of Arcesilaus. Moreover, on another occasion, he sent him 1000 drachmas.
Again, by introducing Archias the Arcadian to Eumenes, he caused him to be advanced to great dignity. And, as he was very liberal, caring very little for money, so he was the first to attend performances where seats were paid for, and he was above all eager to go to those of Archecrates and Callicrates, for which the fee was a gold piece. And he helped many people and collected subscriptions for them. Some one once borrowed his silver plate in order to entertain friends and never brought it back, but Arcesilaus did not ask him for it and pretended it had not been borrowed. Another version of the story is that he lent it on purpose, and, when it was returned, made the borrower a present of it because he was poor. He had property in Pitane from which his brother Pylades sent him supplies. Furthermore, Eumenes,
And whereas many persons courted Antigonus and went to meet him whenever he came to Athens, Arcesilaus remained at home, not wishing to thrust himself upon his acquaintance. He was on the best of terms with Hierocles, the commandant in Munichia and Piraeus, and at every festival would go down to see him. And though Hierocles joined in urging him to pay his respects to Antigonus, he was not prevailed upon, but, after going as far as the gates, turned back. And after the battle at sea,[*](The reference may be to one of the naval victories gained by Antigonus over the Egyptian fleet towards the end of his reign, at Cos and again at Andros. See W. W. Tarn, Antigonus Gonatas, pp. 378, 461-6.) when many went to Antigonus or wrote him flattering letters, he held his peace. However, on behalf of his native city, he did go to Demetrias as envoy to Antigonus, but failed in his mission. He spent his time wholly in the Academy, shunning politics.
Once indeed, when at Athens, he stopped too long in the Piraeus, discussing themes, out of friendship for Hierocles, and for this he was censured by certain persons.[*](It has been suggested that the sense would be improved if Ἀθήνησι were transposed to come between τὸν and πολιτισμὸν, adding καὶ πρὸς τὰς θέσεις λέγων after πολιτισμὸν ἐκτοπίζων instead of after Πειραιεῖ. This account seems in some respects to confirm the impression conveyed by the sentence a little higher up, beginning πολλῶν δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀντίγονον . . . ἑκάστοτε.) He was very lavish, in short another Aristippus, and he was fond of dining well, but only with those who shared his tastes. He lived openly with Theodete and Phila, the Elean courtesans, and to those who censured him he quoted the maxims of Aristippus. He was also fond of boys and very susceptible. Hence he was accused by Ariston of
He is said to have been particularly enamoured of Demetrius who sailed to Cyrene, and of Cleochares of Myrlea; of him the story is told that, when a band of revellers came to the door, he told them that for his part he was willing to admit them but that Cleochares would not let him. This same youth had amongst his admirers Demochares the son of Laches, and Pythocles the son of Bugelus, and once when Arcesilaus had caught them, with great forbearance he ordered them off. For all this he was assailed and ridiculed by the critics abovementioned, as a friend of the mob who courted popularity. The most virulent attacks were made upon him in the circle of Hieronymus the Peripatetic,[*](οἱ περὶ Ἱερώνυμον τὸν Περιπατητικόν is said by Stephanus to be a marginal gloss. The reading of the mss. is παρὰ Ἱερωνύμῳ τῷ Π.) whenever he collected his friends to keep the birthday of Halcyoneus, son of Antigonus, an occasion for which Antigonus used to send large sums of money to be spent in merrymaking.
There he had always shunned discussion over the wine; and when Aridices, proposing a certain question, requested him to speak upon it, he replied, The peculiar province of philosophy is just this, to know that there is a time for all things. As to the charge brought against him that he was the friend of the mob, Timon, among many other things, has the following[*](Cf. infra, v. 59.):
So saying, he plunged into the surrounding crowd. And they were amazed at him, like chaffinches about an owl, pointing him out as vain, because he was a flatterer of the mob. And why, insignificant thing that you are, do you puff yourself out like a simpleton?[*](Frag. 34 D. Cf. the rhythm, Hom. Il. i. 326 and iv. 482.)
And yet for all that he was modest enough to
Another pleasant story told of him is this. Some one had inquired why it was that pupils from all the other schools went over to Epicurus, but converts were never made from the Epicureans: Because men may become eunuchs, but a eunuch never becomes a man, was his answer.
At last, being near his end, he left all his property to his brother Pylades, because, unknown to Moereas, he had taken him to Chios and thence brought him to Athens. In all his life he never married nor had any children. He made three wills: the first he left at Eretria in the charge of Amphicritus, the second at Athens in the charge of certain friends, while the third he dispatched to his home to Thaumasias, one of his relatives, with the request that he would keep it safe. To this man he also wrote as follows:
Arcesilaus to Thaumasias greeting.
I have given Diogenes my will to be conveyed to you. For, owing to my frequent illnesses and the weak state of my body, I decided to make a will, in order that, if anything untoward should happen, you, who have been so devotedly attached to me, should not suffer by my decease. You are the most deserving of all those in this place to be entrusted with the will, on the score both of age and of relationship to me. Remember then that I have reposed the most absolute confidence in you, and strive to
He died, according to Hermippus, through drinking too freely of unmixed wine which affected his reason; he was already seventy-five and regarded by the Athenians with unparalleled good-will.
I have written upon him as follows[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 104.):
Why, pray, Arcesilaus, didst thou quaff so unsparingly unmixed wine as to go out of thy mind? I pity thee not so much for thy death as because thou didst insult the Muses by immoderate potations.
Three other men have borne the name of Arcesilaus: a poet of the Old Comedy, another poet who wrote elegies, and a sculptor besides, on whom Simonides composed this epigram[*](Anth. Plan. iii. 9.):
This is a statue of Artemis and its cost two hundred Parian drachmas, which bear a goat for their device. It was made by Arcesilaus, the worthy son of Aristodicus, well practised in the arts of Athena.
According to Apollodorus in his Chronology, the philosopher described in the foregoing flourished about the 120th Olympiad.[*](300-296 b.c.)
Bion was by birth a citizen of Borysthenes [Olbia]; who his parents were, and what his circumstances before he took to philosophy, he himself told
Who among men, and whence, are you? What is your city and your parents?[*](Hom. Od. x. 325.)he, knowing that he had already been maligned to the king, replied, My father was a freedman, who wiped his nose on his sleeve—meaning that he was a dealer in salt fish—a native of Borysthenes, with no face to show, but only the writing on his face, a token of his master’s severity. My mother was such as a man like my father would marry, from a brothel. Afterwards my father, who had cheated the revenue in some way, was sold with all his family. And I, then a not ungraceful youngster, was bought by a certain rhetorician, who on his death left me all he had.
And I burnt his books, scraped everything together, came to Athens and turned philosopher.
This is the stock and this the blood from which I boast to have sprung.[*](Hom. Il. vi. 211.)Such is my story. It is high time, then, that Persaeus and Philonides left off recounting it. Judge me by myself.
In truth Bion was in other respects a shifty character, a subtle sophist, and one who had given the enemies of philosophy many an occasion to blaspheme, while in certain respects he was even pompous and able to indulge in arrogance. He left very many memoirs, and also sayings of useful application. For example, when he was reproached for not paying court to a youth, his excuse was, You can’t get hold of a soft cheese with a hook.
Being once asked who suffers most from anxiety, he
He used repeatedly to say that to grant favours to another was preferable to enjoying the favours of others. For the latter means ruin to both body and soul. He even abused Socrates, declaring that, if he felt desire for Alcibiades and abstained, he was a fool; if he did not, his conduct was in no way remarkable. The road to Hades, he used to say, was easy to travel; at any rate men passed away with their eyes shut. He said in censure of Alcibiades that in his boyhood he drew away the husbands from their wives, and as a young man the wives from their husbands. When the Athenians were absorbed in the practice of rhetoric, he taught philosophy at Rhodes. To some one who found fault with him for this he replied, How can I sell barley when what I brought to market is wheat?
He used to say that those in Hades would be more severely punished if the vessels in which they drew water were whole instead of being pierced with
Prudence, he said, excels the other virtues as much as sight excels the other senses. He used to say that we ought not to heap reproaches on old age, seeing that, as he said, we all hope to reach it. To a slanderer who showed a grave face his words were, I don’t know whether you have met with ill luck, or your neighbour with good. He used to say that low birth made a bad partner for free speech, for—
It cows a man, however bold his heart.[*](Eur. Hipp. 424.)We ought, he remarked, to watch our friends and see what manner of men they are, in order that we may not be thought to associate with the bad or to decline the friendship of the good.
Bion at the outset used to deprecate the Academic doctrines,[*](i.e. he had his doubts. Reiske, however, by his conjecture προῄρητο gives the statement a totally different turn, viz. that Bion had at the outset preferred the Academy.) even at the time when he was a pupil of Crates. Then he adopted the Cynic discipline, donning cloak and wallet.