Vitae philosophorum

Metrocles of Maroneia was the brother of Hipparchia. He had been formerly a pupil of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, and had been so far corrupted by weakness that, when he made a breach of good manners in the course of rehearsing a speech, it drove him to despair, and he shut himself up at home, intending to starve himself to death. On learning this Crates came to visit him as he had been asked to do, and after advisedly making a meal of lupins, he tried to persuade him by argument as well that he had committed no crime, for a prodigy would have happened if he had not taken the natural means of relieving

Hecato in the first book of his Anecdotes tells us he burned his compositions with the words[*](Nauck, T.G.F.2, Adesp. 285.):

Phantoms are these of dreams o’ the world below.

Come hither, Hephaestus, Thetis now needeth thee.

He died of old age, having choked himself.

His disciples were Theombrotus and Cleomenes: Theombrotus had for his pupil Demetrius of Alexandria, while Cleomenes instructed Timarchus of Alexandria and Echecles of Ephesus. Not but what Echecles also heard Theombrotus, whose lectures were attended by Menedemus, of whom we shall speak presently. Menippus of Sinope also became renowned amongst them.

Hipparchia too, sister of Metrocles, was captured by their doctrines. Both of them were born at Maroneia.

She fell in love with the discourses and the life of Crates, and would not pay attention to any of her

The girl chose and, adopting the same dress, went about with her husband and lived with him in public and went out to dinners with him. Accordingly she appeared at the banquet given by Lysimachus, and there put down Theodorus, known as the atheist, by means of the following sophism. Any action which would not be called wrong if done by Theodorus, would not be called wrong if done by Hipparchia. Now Theodorus does no wrong when he strikes himself: therefore neither does Hipparchia do wrong when she strikes Theodorus. He had no reply wherewith to meet the argument, but tried to strip her of her cloak. But Hipparchia showed no sign of alarm or of the perturbation natural in a woman.

And when he said to her:

Is this she
1. Who quitting woof and warp and comb and loom?[*](Eur. Bacch. 1236.)

There is current a work of Crates entitled Epistles,

Not one tower hath my country nor one roof,
1. But wide as the whole earth its citadel
2. And home prepared for us to dwell therein.

He died in old age, and was buried in Boeotia.

Menippus,[*](Menippus ille, nobilis quidem canis, Varro apud Nonium 333. Cf. Lucian, Icaromenippus 15, Bis Accusatus 33. Varro’s Saturae Menippeae, a mixture of prose and verse, were an imitation of the style of Menippus, although their subject matter was original and genuinely Roman.) also a Cynic, was by descent a Phoenician—a slave, as Achaïcus in his treatise on Ethics says. Diocles further informs us that his master was a citizen of Pontus and was named Baton. But as avarice made him very resolute in begging, he succeeded in becoming a Theban.

There is no seriousness[*](Strabo, however (xvi. p. 759), speaks of him as σπουδογέλοιος.) in him; but his books overflow with laughter, much the same as those of his contemporary Meleager.[*](For a fragment from his Banquet see Athenaeus 502 c.)

Hermippus says that he lent out money by the day and got a nickname from doing so. For he used to make loans on bottomry and take security, thus accumulating a large fortune.

At last, however, he fell a victim to a plot, was robbed of all, and in despair ended his days by hanging himself. I have composed a trifle upon him[*](Anth. Plan. v. 41.):

1. May be, you know Menippus,
2. Phoenician by birth, but a Cretan hound:
3. A money-lender by the day—so he was called—
4. At Thebes when once on a time his house was broken into
5. And he lost his all, not understanding what it is to be a Cynic,
6. He hanged himself.

Some authorities question the genuineness of the books attributed to him, alleging them to be by Dionysius and Zopyrus of Colophon, who, writing them for a joke, made them over to Menippus as a person able to dispose of them advantageously.

There have been six men named Menippus: the first the man who wrote a History of the Lydians and abridged Xanthus; the second my present subject; the third a sophist of Stratonicea, a Carian by descent[*](Cf.Cic.Brut.91, § 315 post a me tota Asia peragrata est, [fuique]cum summis quidem oratoribus, quibus-cum exercebar ipsis lubentibus; quorum erat princeps Menippus Stratonicensis meo iudicio tota Asia illis temporibus disertissimus, and Strabo xvi. 660.); the fourth a sculptor; the fifth and sixth painters, both mentioned by Apollodorus.

However, the writings of Menippus the Cynic are thirteen in number:

Besides other works.

Menedemus was a pupil of Colotes of Lampsacus. According to Hippobotus he had attained such a