Vitae philosophorum

Diogenes Laertius

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

But, since I saw that it

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was not easy for them to share the management with him, and I thought it more advantageous for them to receive a fixed sum from Hipparchus, let Hipparchus pay Melantes and Pancreon one talent each and let Hipparchus provide funds for the executors to defray the expenses set down in the will, as each disbursement falls due. And when Hipparchus shall have carried out all these injunctions, he shall be released in full from his liabilities to me. And any advance that he has made in Chalcis in my name belongs to him alone. Let Hipparchus, Neleus, Strato, Callinus, Demotimus, Callisthenes and Ctesarchus be executors to carry out the terms of the will.

One copy of the will, sealed with the signet-ring of Theophrastus, is deposited with Hegesias, the son of Hipparchus, the witnesses being Callippus of Pallene, Philomelus of Euonymaea, Lysander of Hyba, and Philo of Alopece. Olympiodorus has another copy, the witnesses being the same. The third copy was received by Adeimantus, the bearer being Androsthenes junior; and the witnesses are Arimnestus the son of Cleobulus, Lysistratus the son of Pheidon of Thasos, Strato the son of Arcesilaus of Lampsacus, Thesippus the son of Thesippus of Cerameis, and Dioscurides the son of Dionysius of Epicephisia.

Such is the tenor of his will.

There are some who say that Erasistratus the physician was also a pupil of his, and it is not improbable.

His successor in the school was Strato, the son of

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Arcesilaus, a native of Lampsacus, whom he mentioned in his will; a distinguished man who is generally known as the physicist, because more than anyone else he devoted himself to the most careful study of nature. Moreover, he taught Ptolemy Philadelphus and received, it is said, 80 talents from him. According to Apollodorus in his Chronology he became head of the school in the 123rd Olympiad,[*](288-284 b.c.) and continued to preside over it for eighteen years.

There are extant of his works:

Of Kingship, three books.

Of Justice, three books.

Of the Good, three books.

Of the Gods, three books.

On First Principles, three books.

On Various Modes of Life.

Of Happiness.

On the Philosopher-King.

Of Courage.

On the Void.

On the Heaven.

On the Wind.

Of Human Nature.

On the Breeding of Animals.

Of Mixture.

Of Sleep.

Of Dreams.

Of Vision.

Of Sensation.

Of Pleasure.

On Colours.

Of Diseases.

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Of the Crises in Diseases.

On Faculties.

On Mining Machinery.

Of Starvation and Dizziness.

On the Attributes Light and Heavy.

Of Enthusiasm or Ecstasy.

On Time.

On Growth and Nutrition.

On Animals the existence of which is questioned.

On Animals in Folk-lore or Fable.

Of Causes.

Solutions of Difficulties.

Introduction to Topics.

Of Accident.

Of Definition.

On difference of Degree.

Of Injustice.

Of the logically Prior and Posterior.

Of the Genus of the Prior.

Of the Property or Essential Attribute.

Of the Future.

Examinations of Discoveries, in two books.

Lecture-notes, the genuineness of which is doubted.

Letters beginning Strato to Arsinoë greeting.

Strato is said to have grown so thin that he felt nothing when his end came. And I have written some lines upon him as follows[*](Anth. Pal. vii. 111.):

A thin, spare man in body, take my word for it, owing to his use of unguents,[*](Or if you attend to me, I am content, according to the alternative reading.) was this Strato, I at least affirm, to
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whom Lampsacus gave birth. For ever wrestling with diseases, he died unawares or ever he felt the hand of death.