The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

by Diogenes Laertius, Pamela Mensch (Translator), James Miller (Editor)

Audiobook duration: 28 hours 33 minutes

Everyone wants to live a meaningful life. Long before our own day of self-help books offering twelve-step programs and other guides to attain happiness, the philosophers of ancient Greece explored the riddle of what makes a life worth living, producing a wide variety of ideas and examples to follow. This rich tradition was recast by Diogenes Laertius into an anthology, a miscellany of maxims and anecdotes, that generations of Western readers have consulted for edification as well as entertainment ever since the Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, first compiled in the third century AD, came to prominence in Renaissance Italy. To this day, it remains a crucial source for much of what we know about the origins and practice of philosophy in ancient Greece, covering a longer period of time and a larger number of figures—from Pythagoras and Socrates to Aristotle and Epicurus—than any other ancient source.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient, Ancient History

29 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 250

About the author

Diogenes Laertius (Greek: Διογένης Λαέρτιος, lived c. 3rd century CE) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is a principal source for the history of Greek philosophy.

Reviews

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's all very well to listen to Diogenes Laertius being quoted in modern lectures on ancient Greek philosophy, but nothing is like getting a taste of the original (although in translation): this giant hodgepodge concocted in the 3rd century AD is a cornucopia of curious, bewildering, intriguing, scandalous anecdotes from the life of Greek philosophers, mixed with their aphorisms, reports of their philosophical views, copies of their actual correspondence (rarely genuine), lists of their works, lists of other famous personalities with similar names ("there have been X men named Y", where 2<=X<=20 ), and, last but not least, generously sprinkled with epigrams (or rather epitaphs) of questionable poetical merit, usually composed by Diogenes Laertius himself.



Image credit: By Internet Archive Book Images - https://www.flickr.com/photos/interne... book page: https://archive.org/stream/grootescho..., No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...


I rather dreaded diving into Lives -- the audiobook version of this new English translation is 28 hours, so even with the help of an audio it seemed a rather daunting undertaking. Besides, the reader's manner is quite monotonous and anything but engaging. But well, it wasn't that bad after all. My thoughts might have wandered away here and there amidst the lists of similarly named personalities or philosophical treaties, but not for long.

I was impressed by the shear size of the philosophical crowd populating the pages of Lives -- about 80 philosophers, some of whom get many pages and some just few lines. And what a motley crowd it was! Some of whom I've never heard before proved to be fascinating characters. For example, Anacharsis the Scythian arrived to Athens in search of philosophical wisdom, greatly impressed the locals, and eventually departed to his homeland where he was killed by his own brother for his Greek ways (what a plot for a novel!); Epimenides slept 57 years; Perimander was a full-time tyrant; and so on and so forth.

Another aspect that fascinated me is how many of their explanations of natural phenomena are correct from the point of view of modern science. Of course, none of them got everything right, and for every correct explanation there always existed competing incorrect theories, but nevertheless, I think it's amazing and even inspiring that sometime somewhere in ancient Greece somebody could suggest that a sound is transmitted through the air like a wave, similar to how waves are created in water when you throw a stone into it.

By the way, unlike flat-earthers, none of the ancient Greek philosophers went out of their way to disprove the Earth being a sphere.

Ancient Greek atomists explained the natural phenomena quite through the concept of atoms as indivisible and indestructible building blocks of the universe, coining the word atom along the way. This is widely known. But then in Lives there is also a frequent mention of unlimited number of worlds, some of which are similar to ours and some different. I think atomists and Epicureans would have appreciated the modern concept of multiverse.

Furthermore, there is an unlimited number of worlds, some of them like ours, others unlike. For the atoms, being unlimited in number, as has just been shown, travel to the most distant points. For atoms of this description, out of which a world might arise, or from which it might be composed, have not been used up either on one world or on a limited number of worlds, whether resembling ours or not. Hence, nothing stands in the way of an unlimited number of worlds.

And my favorite piece of wisdom:

There are other ways to account for this phenomenon without resorting to myth.

That signs indicating weather to be expected appear to be associated with animal behavior is mere coincidence; for the animals offer no necessary reason that stormy weather should occur; and no divine being sits observing the comings and goings of these animals and then fulfills their signs. For such folly would not afflict the ordinary being, however little enlightened, let alone one who had attained perfect happiness.   

Bear all these things in mind, Pythocles. For then you will keep far away from myth and will be able to comprehend related matters. Apply yourself especially to the study of first causes and infinity and related subjects, and again to the study of criteria and the feelings and our reasons for reflecting on these things. For to study these subjects together will easily enable you to grasp the causes of the particular phenomena; but those who have not felt the keenest devotion to these subjects will not have understood them well, nor will they have attained the end for which they should be studied.

There were also some interesting mentions of women: a few female students of philosophy, especially Eparchia, and numerous quotes from Pamphilia, a female Greek historian from the 1st century AD.

This edition of the Lives is the recent English translation. Two quotes on the nature and historical significance of Lives from a well-written and informative preface:

Despite some rough parts and missing passages, we behold a meticulously codified panorama of the ancient philosophers. Through the eyes of Diogenes, we watch them as a group living lives of sometimes extraordinary oddity while ardently advancing sometimes incredible, occasionally cogent, often contradictory views that (to borrow a phrase from Borges) “constantly threaten to transmogrify into others, so that they affirm all things, deny all things, and confound and confuse all things”—as if this parade of pagan philosophers could only testify to the existence of “some mad and hallucinating deity.”

Unlike the corpus of Plato, which was carefully preserved by his school, or the treatises of Aristotle, which came to be widely read, studied, and copied in antiquity, it’s as if the manuscript had been preserved by a quirk of fate, just like the wall paintings in Pompeii (or the papyrus rolls of the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus in nearby Herculaneum).

The last third of this edition of Lives is actually an appendix consisting of essays which are related to the different aspects of the book, some more technical than others, but all very interesting:

Diogenes Laertius: From Inspiration to Annoyance (and Back)
Raphael’s Eminent Philosophers: The School of Athens and the Classic Work Almost No One Read Diogenes’ Epigrams
Corporeal Humor in Diogenes Laertius
Philosophers and Politics in Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius and Philosophical Lives in Antiquity
“A la Recherche du Texte Perdu”: The Manuscript Tradition of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laertius in Byzantium
Diogenes Laertius in Latin
Diogenes Laertius and the Pre‐Socratics
Plato’s Doctrines in Diogenes Laertius
Cynicism: Ancient and Modern
Zeno of Citium: Cynic Founder of the Stoic Tradition
Skeptics in Diogenes Laertius
Epicurus in Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius and Nietzsche

What a kaleidoscope of topics. And what a rich desert served after the original text.

It has been suggested by some of Diogenes Laertius's modern critics and lesser fans that he wrote Lives specifically to incorporate his verses about famous men which didn't exactly turn out to be a bestseller when previously published on their own (in his work entitled Epigrammata). Who knows. Here's a typical sampling of the aforementioned deathly poetry:

According to Heraclides, Menedemus died at the age of eighty-four. My own verses about him run as follows:
I heard of your fate, Menedemus, how of your own free will  
You died by eating nothing for seven days.
An act worthy of an Eretrian, but unworthy of a man;  
For the guide who led you on was your own faintheartedness.


Image credit: Unknown source, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After a while, the pattern and style of Lives becomes contagious. And then this happens.

So much about Lives of Eminent Philosophers. There have been five men named Diogenes and then centuries later there was also a man named Diogenes Laertius. And my own verses about him run as follows:

I heard of your fate, Diogenes Laertius, how of your own free will
You undertook to write the Lives of the Eminent Philosopers,
An act worthy of an Epicurean, but unworthy of a Cynic,
For the guide who led you on was your own stubborn desire
To leave no philosopher worth of mention
Without your epigram about his death.
Alas, nobody knows what was your final fate --
If you perished from vermin, lice, gout or
If you were bitten by a rabid dog, or a poisonous snake,
Or struck by lightning, tortured to death by a tyrant,
(And if so, if you bit off your tongue, spitting it out
At your tormentor, or if you begged him for mercy),
Or if you died a quiet and peaceful death
At the ripe age of hundred and nine
As Democritus might have had, if we are to believe
One of his many deaths reported by your mighty efforts.
Nobody knows. Still, we're quite sure you died at the end,
But, against all odds, your Lives survived to this day.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diogenes Laertius
This otherwise unknown Roman author is thought to have lived at the beginning of the third century during the reign of Sextius.
His work on:
“Life and Doctrines of Eminent Philosophers”
Spanned over three centuries, from Thales (640BC-545BC) to Epicurus (342BC-270BC), the most important historical personalities, some of them well known, but others more obscure to me.
It is presented as a mixture of a short, humorous biography, with many personal habits and behaviors, and a well-elaborated description of their philosophical beliefs and writings.
Diogenes Laertius must have collected his information from hundreds of Ancient Greek sources and refers to a great number of quotations.
For me this was a very pleasant reading, giving an idea of how everyday life then, but more importantly an idea of the vast amount of thinking and writing on how many subjects and into how many dead ends have been necessary to lead up to our knowledge of today in many fields of science and philosophy.
A ‘must read’ for anybody interested in Ancient Greece and Philosophy.

[Unknown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very sorry that we have not a dozen Laertiuses, and also that he was not more expansive or more thoroughly informed. For I am equally eager to know the fortunes and lives of these great teachers of the world, no less carefully than their doctrines and ideas.—Montaigne, Book II, Essay X: Of Books

I for one prefer reading Diogenes Laertius, in [him] there lives at least the spirit of the ancient philosophers . . . The only critique of a philosophy that is possible and that proves anything, namely trying to see whether one can live in accordance with it, has never been taught at universities; all that has ever been taught is a critique of words by means of other words. —Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator
__________
Equally uncertain is the reason for the text's survival: if Diogenes Laertius had readers in his own lifetime, we don't know who they were. The manuscript may well have been published only posthumously, prepared by a scribe forced to work with unfinished material. No one knows how many copies were initially made. Unlike the corpus of Plato, which was carefully preserved by his school, or the treatises of Aristotle, which came to be widely read, studied, and copied in antiquity, it's as if the manuscript had been preserved by a quirk of fate, just like the wall paintings in Pompeii. —James Miller, Introduction
__________
Let me now put the finishing touch, as one might say, to my entire work and to the life of this philosopher by presenting his Chief Maxims, thereby bringing the whole work to a close and offering as its conclusion the beginning of happiness . . . —Book 10, Epicurus

__________
Diogenes organized his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers into ten books. The first five cover what he terms the 'Ionian School', which begins with Thales and terminates (in his work) with Chrysippus. The final five cover what he terms the 'Italian School', which begins with Pythagoras and terminates with Epicurus.

• Book One covers the seven sages, who comprise different individuals depending on whom you ask
• Book Two covers some pre-socratics, Socrates, and some following Socratics
• Book Three is solely devoted to Plato
• Book Four covers the Academics
• Book Five covers Aristotle and the Peripatetics
• Book Six covers the Cynics
• Book Seven covers the Stoics down to Chrysippus, but is sadly incomplete
• Book Eight covers the Pythagoreans
• Book Nine covers more Pre-Socratics whom Diogenes terms the 'Scattered Philosophers'
• Book Ten is solely devoted to Epicurus

In all, he covers 82 philosophers.

The lives, which vary greatly in length with some only a few sentences and others comprising entire books, follow a loose format and can include: the philosopher's family history, how they turned to philosophy, their teachers and successors, any inventions, their common sayings, their philosophical beliefs, anecdotes, aspects of their physical appearance and character, epigrams about them composed both by others and by Diogenes himself, a list of their works (be prepared to lament what we have lost), extracts of their works and letters, descriptions of their death, a copy of their will, and a list of other people by the same name.

Doxography, portions devoted to descriptions of the beliefs and core tenets of philosophical schools, are common in Diogenes' work, but the Lives includes two very important doxographical sections: the first is a very lengthy description of the doctrines of the Stoics, which can be found at the end of the life of Zeno, and the second is the inclusion of 3 letters of Epicurus, which are extant entirely thanks to Diogenes' inclusion of them.

As stated by Nietzsche above, Diogenes is not concerned with an analysis of the philosophical beliefs of various schools, but he instead breathes life into these old names which we now use as a byword for philosophical beliefs and schools, forgetting that they were once inseparable from fleshly bodies which walked, talked, ate, slept, laughed, and loved; forgetting that they were just like you or me. In reading Diogenes, you remember this fact, and will probably, for this reason, find yourself feeling much like Montaigne did.

For these reasons, if what you're seeking is critical analysis of ancient philosophies, look elsewhere, but if you want an excellent starting point to learning about ancient philosophies, a nice philosophical companion to Plutarch's biographies, or just a little humanity, look no further.
_____
Epigrams feature prominently in Diogenes' work:

The Lives contains fifty-two epigrams by Diogenes on forty-six philosophers and twenty-nine epigrams by other poets, both named and anonymous, on twenty-three philosophers.

and the ones which he includes of his own creation, usually concerning the Philosopher's death, come from his Pammetros, a collection of epigrams about various Philosophers. The first one he includes, about Thales, runs as follows:

One day as Thales watched the games,
You snatched the sage from the stadium.
I commend you, Zeus, Lord of the Sun, for drawing him toward you;
For he could no longer see the stars from earth.

As is clear, these epigrams do not contain an especially high level of poetical artistry, but are more simple and plain. Personally, I found Diogenes' inclusion of them somewhat amusing, but in academic circles, it seems they attract rather harsh levels of scorn:

The extant poems are so wretched as fully to justify van Gutshmid's thanks to Apollo and the Muses for allowing the collection as a whole to vanish. —Herbert S. Long

perhaps the worse verses ever published. —W. R. Paton

The real reason Diogenes had written his book, Nietzsche suggested, was to provide an artificial framework that would justify republishing the wretched epigrams he had written about the deaths of the philosophers. Nietzsche further speculated that these had been a total failure with the public when they had first appeared as part of a collection of his miscellaneous poems and that he was anxious to find a pretext for republishing them. —Glenn W. Most

Nietzsche seems to have taken this scorn over the top; but in her included essay, Kathryn Gutzwiller offers the following:

Diogenes' own epigrams, when extracted in order from the prose accounts in his Lives, do at times show thematic continuity or other linking devices that are typical of carefully arranged epigram collections, such as Meleager's Garland.

_____
This volume is packed with excellent information for the general reader, and has been very thoughtfully put together. Not only does it contain your standard introduction, footnotes (excellent, by the way), and index, but also includes a helpful map, a concise yet thorough Guide to Further Reading, and an extensive Glossary of Ancient Sources.

But the two main features which really set this volume apart are:

1. The large number of artwork, both ancient and modern, embedded within the text (for this reason, the work is printed entirely on photopaper). This makes the work much more immersive, and really helps bring the ancient world to life.

2. 16 commissioned Essays comprising 77 pp. of small, double-pane text. This is something I wish more (all?) books would include. As James Miller points out in his introduction, not every reader will be interested in every essay, but I read almost all of them, and they really give you a taste of the current literature, influence of the text, as well as various issues that come with an ancient work, such as the piecing together of various manuscripts, and resolving associated inaccuracies and errors.

Highly recommended.
__________
Thales
"How could we live the best and most honest lives?" "By refraining from doing that which we censure in others."

Pittacus
In response to the Phocaean's saying that we must search for a good man, he said, "If you seek too hard, you will not find him.”

Bias
He was once on a voyage with impious men. When a storm overtook the ship and even they called upon the gods, he said, "Be silent, lest they notice you aboard this ship.”

Periander
Some say that, wishing to keep his burial place unknown, he devised the following stratagem. He ordered two young men, to whom he had showed a certain road, to go there at night, kill the man they met, and bury him. Then he instructed four others to go in pursuit of the first men, and to kill and bury them; and again, he sent out a larger number to pursue the four. And thus he himself was slain when he encountered the first pair.

His maxim is: Do nothing for money.

Anacharsis
He said he found it astonishing that among the Greeks the skilled compete, but the amateurs judge.

Epimenides
Sent one day by his father to the country to find a sheep, he stepped out of the road at midday and fell asleep in a cave for fifty-seven years . . . Shortly after returning home he died . . . having lived 157 years; but according to the Cretans, 299 years.

It is also said . . . that he claimed to have come back to life many times.

Anaxagoras
And at last he retired and devoted himself to the study of nature, without troubling himself about the city's affairs. And when someone inquired, "Do you care nothing for your native land?" he replied, "Hush! I am greatly concerned for my native land," and pointed to the sky.

Socrates
To the worthless multitude, he said it was as if someone who rejects a single four-drachma piece as valueless should accept as valuable a heap of such coins . . .

Xenophon
It is said that he also made famous the works of Thucydides, which had remained unknown until then . . .

For the sweetness of his style he was called the Attic Muse; hence he and Plato were jealous of each other

Aristippus
One day, when Dionysius told him to pick one of three courtesans, Aristippus took them all, saying, "It did Paris no good to prefer one to the others." But when he had brought them as far as his porch, he let them depart, so extreme were his preferences and his disdain.

He said it was better to be a beggar than to be uneducated; for the former is in need of money, the latter of humanity.

To someone who plumed himself on his vast knowledge, he said, "Just as people who eat and exercise most are not healthier than those who eat and exercise only as much as they need, likewise it is those who read with an eye not to quantity but to usefulness who are virtuous."

To a speechwriter who, after arguing on his behalf and winning the case, asked him, "What good did Socrates do you?" he replied, "Just this: that the speeches you made in my defence are true.”

When someone reproached him for living with a courtesan, he said, "Is there any difference between taking a house in which many once lived and taking one in which no one has lived?" When the man said, "No," he asked, "Or between sailing in a ship in which countless people once sailed or in one in which nobody has?" "None." "Then it makes no difference," he said, "whether the woman you live with has lived with many or with nobody.”

He disparaged the general run of men who, when purchasing pots, strike them to test their soundness, but judge haphazardly when adopting a way of life.

One must form habits, taking into account the bad predispositions that have been cultivated in us over the years.

Stilpo
It was then that Demetrius requested a list of his lost property, and Stilpo said that nothing that truly belonged to him had been lost; for no one had taken away his education, and he retained his reason and his knowledge.

Menedemus
One day when he heard someone say that the greatest good was to obtain everything one desired, Menedemus said, "It's much better to desire what you need.”

Plato
Socrates is said to have dreamt that he had a newborn swan in his lap, and that the bird suddenly sprouted feathers and flew up with a sweet cry. And the next day Plato was introduced to him, and Socrates realized that the young man was the bird of the dream.

It is said that Zeno of Elea was the first to write dialogues. But Aristotle, in the first book of his work On Poets, declare that Alexamenus of Styra was the first. It seems to me, however, that Plato, who perfected the form, ought in fairness to be awarded the prize for its discovery as well as for its elaboration.

Just as long ago in tragedy the chorus was at first the only actor, and later Thespis devised a single actor in order to let the chorus catch its breath, and Aeschylus a second, and Sophocles a third, and thus tragedy was perfected, so too with philosophy. For at first its discourse concerned one subject only, namely physics, then Socrates added ethics, and Plato dialectics, and so brought philosophy to its perfection.

Xenocrates
One day when a little sparrow, pursued by a hawk, took refuge in his cloak, Xenocrates stroked it and let it go, saying that one seeking sanctuary must not be betrayed.

He was the least puffed up of men; he would often, in the course of a day, withdraw into himself, and it is said that he used to assign an entire hour to silence.

Polemon
He used to call Homer the Sophocles of epic, and Sophocles the Homer of tragedy.

Arcesilaus
He appreciated Homer beyond all poets and would always read a passage from him before going to sleep. And in the morning, whenever he wanted to read him, he would say he was going off to visit his beloved.

When someone asked him who suffers the greatest anxiety, he said, "He who wishes to attain the greatest happiness.”

Aristotle
Lyco is also reported to have said that Aristotle bathed in a tub of warm oil and sold the oil.

Reproached one day because he gave alms to a good-for-nothing, he said, "It was the man that I pitied, not his conduct.”

When someone asked him why we spend so much time with the beautiful, he replied, "That's a blind man's question.”

Theophrastus
They say that when asked by his students if he had any parting words for them, he said, "Just this, that many of the pleasures life boasts are illusory . . . Life's vanity exceeds its utility . . .”

Demetrius
He used to say that though the eyebrows are only a small part of the face, they have the power to darken the whole of life.

Antisthenes
When an acquaintance complained to him that he had lost his notes, Antisthenes replied, "You should have inscribed them on your mind instead of on paper."

Reproached one day for associating with worthless men, he said, "Doctors associate with patients without falling into a fever themselves."

When asked what advantage he enjoyed from philosophy, he said, "To be able to live in company with oneself.”

Diogenes
When someone brought him to a sumptuous house and warned him not to spit, he cleared his throat and spat in the man's face, saying he couldn't find a worse place to leave his spittle.

Good men he called images of the gods, and love the occupation of the idle.

"I did so at a time when I was the sort of man that you are now; but the sort I am now, you will never be."

To someone who claimed to be inept at philosophy, he said, "Then why do you live, if it's not your concern to live well?”

Crates
He used to say that we should study philosophy to the point where we discern that our generals are mere donkey drivers.

Metrocles
Formerly a student of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, he had been so corrupted that on one occasion, when he farted in the course of rehearsing a speech, he was deeply mortified and shut himself up at home, intending to starve himself to death . . . Crates . . . sought to persuade Metrocles by argument that he had done nothing wrong, since something terrible might have happened had he not expelled the air naturally. At last, breaking wind himself, he heartened Metrocles, who was consoled by the similarity of their behaviour. From then on, he was Crates' student and became proficient in philosophy.

Zeno of Citium
Hecaton, and Apollonius of Tyre . . . say that when he consulted an oracle about what he should do to live the best life, the god replied that he should have intercourse with the dead. Grasping the oracle's meaning, he read the words of the ancients.

Dionysius
Dionysius the Turncoat declared, as a result of an eye disease, that pleasure was the goal; for his suffering was so severe that he was reluctant to say that pain was indifferent . . . After leaving Zeno he went over to the Cyrenaics, took to frequenting brothels, and abandoned himself without disguise to ask the other pleasant pursuits.

Chrysippus
When reproached by someone for not joining the multitude who attended Ariston's lectures, he said, "If I had cared about the multitude, I would not have studied philosophy."

When reproached by someone for not joining the multitude who attended Ariston's lectures, he said, "If I had cared about the multitude, I would not have studied philosophy."

There are writers who run Chrysippus down on the grounds that he wrote much that is obscene and unspeakable. For in his work On Ancient Natural Philosophers he gives an obscene version of the story of Hera and Zeus, with details near line 600 that no one could repeat author soiling his lips . . . And in his work On the Republic he says that one can have intercourse with one's mother, one's daughters, and one's sons. He says the same thing right at the beginning of his work On Things Not Worth Choosing for Their Own Sake. And in the third book of his work On Justice, near line 1000, he condones the eating of corpses.

Heraclitus
He was exceptionally haughty and disdainful, as is clear from his book, in which he says, "Much learning does not teach understanding; otherwise it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, or, in turn, Xenophanes and Hecataeus."

He used to say that Homer should be thrown out of the public contests and beaten with a stick, and Archilochus likewise.

He was extraordinary from boyhood. When young, he used to say that he knew nothing; as an adult, that he knew everything. He became no one's student, and said that he has searched himself, and from himself had learned everything.

Anaxarchus
Because of his impassivity and contentment in life, Anaxarchus was called Eudaimonicus ("Sir Happy”).

Pyrrho
Once when a dog attacked him and he was scared away, he said to someone who criticized him that it was difficult entirely to strip away human nature.

He also enjoyed Homer's likening men to wasps, flies, and birds; and he used to quote the verses

So, friend, you too must die: why then lament thus?
Patroklos too is dead, a far better man than you are. (Iliad, 21.106-107)

and all the passages that draw attention to the waywardness, vain pursuits, and childish folly of man.

Timon
They say that when Aratus asked him how he could obtain a sound text of Homer he said, "By reading the ancient copies, and not the corrected copies we have today.”

Epicurus
He differs from the Cyrenaics about pleasure.

Epicurus was extraordinarily prolific, surpassing everyone in the number of his works. For there are roughly three hundred rolls, and they do not include any quotations from other authors, but contain only his own words.

As he was dying, he wrote Idomeneus the following letter:

Passing a delightful day, which will also be the last of my life, I write you this note. Dysentery and an inability to urinate have occasioned the worst possible sufferings. But a counterweight to all this is the joy in my heart when I remember our conversations.

[Momčilo Žunić]

Svojedobno sam Diogena Laertija po prvi put konsultovao zarad interpretacije "Pazarnog dana u Užicu", pesme u čijem podtekstu leži jedan drugi svakako poslovičniji Diogen, onaj iz Sinope. Možda time tumačenje nije bilo produbljenije - očekivao sam u neznanju ako ništa drugo, a onda koliko-toliko detaljniju razradu filozofije kiničke škole - ali sam u daljem nasumičnom prelistavanju iz knjige izašao bogatiji za po koju doskočicu, apoftegmu ili anegdotu. Doduše, fusnotica, ni Vindelband mi nije odviše pomogao, a do Dilsa niti sam žurio, niti sam u tom trenutku i mogao da dođem... I, hvala na pitanju, na ispitu sam - "Tumačenje pesme" - bez obzira na sve, izvanredno prošao. Ovde već glumim Laertija. Kraj fusnote.

Koliko god se s Laertijem sporili oko hijerarhije i prevashodstva filozofa - o tome je već po koju proturio Vuk Vučković u svom prikazu - ili približavanja i izlaganja filozofskih stajališta, ovaj je, doksografišući (prepisujući tuđe misli) i kompilirajući iz tuđih saznanja (sipajući vodu u more), ispisao izuzetno zabavno štivo, i to osobito u pogledu biografskih datih. Postoje, uostalom, razlozi zašto nam je baš ova starogrčka knjiga pretekla - dodajmo ovde i njene povremene nejasnoće i repetitivne manjkavosti - a ne neke druge doksografske i nenužno doksografske. Stoga Diogenovi "Životi i mišljenja" na osobeni način jesu "kenotafi", katalozi nesačuvanih knjiga, budući da pri dancetu svakog od predstavljenih mislilaca, stoji opsežan popis njihovih (uglavnom više nepostojećih ili je prava reč nenaližljivih) dela. I ne samo to, nego i za njih namenjen Laertijev epigram, pohvalan ili odiozan - po mom sudu, ne i odviše inventivan, niti plauzibilan - kako mu se već ushte ili kako misli, ali mu je očito bilo važno da u sve ufura i sopstveno pesništvo i da se samouzdigne. Fusnotica: Pitam se, pitam, nije li Kolja Mićević ovde "ispekao zanat", dobivši pritom paradigmatično odobrenje za unos svojih komentara u vlastitom prepevu Danteovog "Pakla"? Kraj fusnote.

U čemu je onda čar? S jedne strane, u apoftegmama, koje su, čini se, današnja menzura kafansko-ulične snalažljivosti i preveslavanja, a s druge, u zamecima golicavih priča, stupcima za antičke trač-rubrike. Tako možete videti tko je bio nestašni (bezobrazni) profesor, ko je s kim opštio, ko je koga kome preoteo, ko je koga usinio radi naslade, ko je znao da pusti vetar tokom predavanja, ko se lep kô lutka ošišao da ga ne progone udvarači, i proče, i proče. Fusnotica: Pa se ti posle iščuđavaj nad Satirikonom! Kraj fusnote. A, preko svega, zbog toga leluja utisak da je Laertije ponaosob svakome od njih bio savremenik, što je u biti bilo nemogućno...

P. S. Pošto u svom istraživanju Diogen neće propustiti da izlista i sve ostale njemu znate selebriti imenjake filozofa o kome piše, tako sam eto i ja pohodeći Vilharov prevod pomišljao kako ni on nije jedini dr (zamalo pa) Alban - Albin/Alban, potejto/potato - koga znam.(Š)to je, jelte, moj život!

[sologdin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just lovely. Even though it is not obvious that Diogenes understood or even read the persons under discussion, a recitation of their ideas is less important to his project than the biographical examinations, which are full of fascinating detail (which, of course, we are cautioned might be fictional). Great set pieces on Socrates, Plato, Aristippus, Diogenes, Epicurus, Zeno--but many writers are considered. Much humor and pathos. Totally worth the time required.

[Erick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of our knowledge of the Pre-Socratics and other Greek philosophers, comes from Diogenes Laertius. While there may be some criticisms that can be provided about this work, it's weaknesses are far outweighed by it's strengths as a primary source.
Obviously, many biographical details of the philosophers here treated are anecdotal and probably not historically accurate in every case, but that doesn't really detract from the work. I think Laertius did a fairly good job at presenting the teachings of the philosophers treated. One can simply look at the philosophers whose works are still extant in order to show that he was faithful in summarizing them. He certainly humanizes them to a great extent; e.g. Diogenes the Cynic comes off as a bit of an arrogant blowhard; Aristippus the Cyrenaic seems to be more of a comedian (in the modern sense) than a philosopher; and Epicurus comes off as bit of a cult leader. Laertius does seem to be interested in particular philosophers more than in others. He spends an ample space on philosophers such as Plato, Diogenes and Epicurus. This may indicate his personal interest in these philosophers, or possibly their acknowledged influence.
This is really an excellent early survey of Greek philosophy and thus essential reading for those interested in the subject of philosophy in general and Greek philosophy in particular.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diogenes Laertius
This otherwise unknown Roman author is thought to have lived at the beginning of the third century during the reign of Sextius.
His work on:
“Life and Doctrines of Eminent Philosophers”
Spanning over three centuries, from Thales (640BC-545BC) to Epicurus (342BC-270BC), and the most important historical philosophers, some of them well known, but others more obscure to me.
It is presented as a mixture of a short, humorous biography, with many personal habits, reputations and behaviours, and a well-elaborated description of their philosophical beliefs, lectures, and writings.
Diogenes Laertius must have compiled his information from hundreds of Ancient Greek sources and cites a great number of quotations.
For me, this was an enjoyable reading, giving an idea of their everyday life, but more importantly, an idea of the vast amount of thinking and writing on how many subjects and into how many dead ends have been necessary to lead up to our knowledge of today in many fields of science and philosophy.
A ‘must read’ for anybody interested in Ancient Greece and Philosophy.

[باقر هاشمی · Rating 5 out of 5]

به نظر، قدیمی ترین کتاب فلسفه ی موجوده، که از حوادث روزگار مصون مونده و به دستمون رسیده. خوندنش از ضروریاته.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

New review:
I think the approach to this book should be different. I think this book should be seen as an adjuvant to the writings of the philosophers. For example take the Cyrenaic School or the Cynic or the Peripatetic ones. I think one should have to dive in, read some books written by the most prolific figures of these schools and then as a helpful side-book, read the writings of Laertius.

Just reading the presentation of each philosopher doesn't make sense and makes one (me) hate this book. But I have to admit it is a great collection and the first put together of those names.


These are the thoughts of a naive reader of philosophy:
The atmosphere of this book is becoming unbearable. I cannot read about another philosopher anymore. People who somehow had enough money to do nothing but to "think" and utter "funny word games" while their slaves and women whipped their asses.

This is the feeling I get while reading this book. I am going to read more about ancient Greece and the works of some of these philosophers and maybe my opinions will change.

Writing style - horrible. Those Laertius-"epigrames" are just some word games that could only amuse some mentally challenged persons. We are being introduced to tones of characters who represent nothing. Names names names, dates and places that are so briefly presented that are kept in mind only for a second. Some sort of antic wikipedia actually. And then there are the actual sayings of the philosophers - the whole book is basically: what witty commentary did this or that said in response to different questions.

Probably this work is helpful if you are studying some specific situation from the ancient Greece (as it was for Foucault who studies their conception on sex/sexuality) and read it specifically for research purpose.

Of course, not to neglect the work and research that probably was needed in writing this book. Stars for that.

Happy to read your commentaries aimed to change my views on this book.

[Islomjon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are not totally familiar with philosophy or it is hard for you to understand it, then you should read the "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers" for its simplicity and ancient humor. I will never regret reading this book. Although I am not a specialist philosopher, I regard "Lives of Eminent Philosophers" as a crucial in terms of historical and philosophical facts.

It is obvious that Diogenes Laërtius collected enormous number of previous works of historians as well as studied doctrines of philosophers that he had written about. Furthermore, he could create an outstanding work that many current scholars use to reference Greek philosophers. Diogenes Laërtius could flash the feeling of the ancient times by describing everyday problems and people who were surrounded by philosophers such as kings, friends and public. Diogenes also created a logical and coherence narration of philosophers categorizing them in ten books according to the time they lived and members of a particular schools. He did not focused on delivering their teachings and complicating it by understanding their views, rather he maintained a gritty tone of the book with interesting facts.

In his book, he mentioned various schools that Greek philosophers held and gave some basic ideas relating to their important teachings. The structure of the book is well-understood: it is divided into ten books, each book contains a philosopher of era or school; in turn, each philosopher section describes name, origin, life span, major books, sayings and teachings, students, (sometimes) last will, cause of death and letters of some philosopher. It is also worth to note that he heavily focused on schools of Plato, Aristotle, cynics, Pythagoreans and Epicurus. You may also derive some bona fide aphorisms that author had included.

Personally, the most interesting point of book is peculiar humor, especially, when Diogenes tells some anecdotes, tales and fables about philosophers. It is impossible to resist and you inevitably smile or laugh; sometimes you may wonder how Greeks was so funny and worried about strange and unnecessary things. In addition, I liked stories of Aristippus and Diogenes the Cynic. We are just left to assume that all that Diogenes Laërtius had written about it true.

After reading this book I have come to the following conclusions:
1) Ancient Egyptians had heavily effected to the development of the early Western Philosophy. To reference Diogenes Laërtius, most of the famous philosophers visited Egypt several times and afterwards they started to develop their schools. He also mentions that Greek philosophers addressed to Egyptian priests, scientists and magicians to decipher secrets of the world.
2) Most of the ancient philosophers criticized their contemporaries teachings.
3) Athens was famous for its philosophers.
4) It was easy to earn money just because you were a philosopher. Remembering Aristippus to whom people paid for being himself.
5) There are a lot philosophers and so much are their teachings.

[Noah Goats · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I love about Lives of the Eminent Philosophers is the sense it gives of the intense intellectual ferment that was such an important part of ancient Greek culture. These were people who had escaped (at least partially) from superstition and dared to think for themselves, to use reason instead of myths to understand their world. They took this new freedom and ran wild with it. The philosophers profiled by Diogenes came up with all kinds of ideas. Some of these ideas were, quite frankly, kind of nuts, but others had an impact that we can still feel today. These eminent philosophers were also an interesting group of individuals, original thinkers with all kinds of odd quirks. In most of the biographies Diogenes includes a list of the philosopher's works, and the thought that almost all of these have been lost forever bums me out deeply.

I'd previously read part of an earlier English language version of this book, and Pamela Mensch's translation is a big improvement. Diogenes can be difficult to understand because he assumes we know things that the most moderns readers don't and also because he simply isn't as clear as he could be sometimes. The footnotes in this edition are a huge help in overcoming these possible sources of confusion. Also, this book is beautiful, filled with images of ancient art and representations of these philosophers over the centuries. I couldn't bring myself to lay down $50 for the big hardback edition, but the compact paperback is also very nice, and affordable.

If you want to learn about Greek philosophy, this is not the place to start. I'd read a modern survey first and get a grounding in the subject matter. Diogenes has a style that is messy and haphazard and he has a reputation for not being careful about the accuracy of his writing. Still, if this is the kind of thing that you're into, it's well worth reading. I loved it.

[Christopher McCaffery · Rating 3 out of 5]

philosophy is more about the friends we composed verses in jest about along the way

[Anne Marie Georgescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

blablabla required reading and all that, but hey, few people mention how deliciously funny this is at times! For me, it was the best and the funniest introduction to philosophy.

Aveam 18 ani când cu îngrijorare profundă a aflat taică-miu c-aș avea gărgăuni filosofici în cap. Așa că mi-a trântit în brațe tomul lui Laertios și o antologie filosofică din 1943. Am început cu Laertios, la care tot revin periodic, pentru că nu e doar informativ, e și distractiv. Foarte bună (și) pentru diletanți, printre care mă număr.

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gossipy fun.

[Metin Dirim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bir gün bir çeşmede suyu avuçlarıyla içen bir çocuğa rastlayan Diogenes bir an durduktan sonra şaşkınlıkla, “Diogenes”, der, “aldın mı boyunun ölçüsünü?” Bereketsiz heybesindeki ahşap kupayı çıkarıp muzafferane bir gülümsemeyle uzağa fırlatır. Mutludur, çünkü bir yükten daha kurtulmuştur.

Diogenes laertios - Ünlü filozofların yaşamı

[Bekan Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tal vez no sea un libro genial pero es un libro totalmente necesario

[Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het laatste boek rekent af met de andere wijsgerige tradities en poneert de beste natuurkundige (atoom)theorie die dusver bestaat.
X Epicurus, 87-89 (p.444):
"Want ons bestaan heeft geen behoefte meer aan onredelijkheid en aan ongefundeerde meningen maar aan een ongestoord leven. Alles nu vindt zonder schokken voortgang als alles verklaard wordt aan de hand van meerdere oplossingen die met de verschijnselen overeenkomen, wanneer we op passende wijze daarvoor plausibele verklaringen aanvaarden. Maar wanneer men het ene aanvaardt maar het andere verwerpt dat evenzeer met de verschijnselen overeenkomt, dan is het duidelijk dat we de natuurwetenschap in de steek laten en helemaal vervallen tot de mythe."
Tegen de sceptici dat de wijze niet overal het antwoord op schuldig te blijven zal en tegen de stoa dat niet alle fouten gelijk zijn. (p456) Tegen de cyrenaïci dat genot ook in een staat van rust (na de bevrediging) kan zijn en zielenonrust erger is dan lichamelijke pijn omdat die zich niet tot het heden beperkt maar ook het verleden en de toekomst omvat. (p462)
"We moeten daarbij nog bedenken dat wij 'onlichamelijk' in de meest gangbare betekenis gebruiken voor iets wat op zichzelf gedacht kan worden. Nu kan men zich alleen het lege als een onlichamelijk zelfstandig iets denken. Maar het lege kan niet iets doen of iets ondergaan, het verschaf alleen aan de lichamen de mogelijkheid om zich erdoor te bewegen. Dus zij die zeggen dat de ziel onlichamelijk is, bazelen maar wat." (p436)

[Benji · Rating 5 out of 5]

We simply find ourselves - as if trapped in a metaphysical maze - coming back century after century, though in a spiral of increasing sophistication and complexity, to the same half dozen basic answers worked out by the ancient Greek philosophers.





Btw listening to Maribou State's Kingdoms In Colour.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult book. In various places you wish Diogenes had written more about the particular philosopher's views and teachings, but in others you wish he had offered more of the intriguing details of their lives and quips. In any event, the book is a masterpiece and the fact it's survived mostly intact since antiquity is a miracle and we're all better for it.

[James Dempsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely illustrations vignettes and vases!

[Michael Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

By Diogenes Laertius

A compendium of life stories, pithy sayings from “philosophers”. Also included photographs of paintings and ancient artifacts and modern scholarly articles that discusses the minutiae of the books from tracing its linage to diagnosing Diogenes Laertius’s own philosophy.
• Chilon: Do no speak ill of your neighbors; watch your tongue at a drinking party.
• Pittacus: The mark of sagacious men, before difficulties arise, to provide against their arising; and that of courageous men, once difficulties have arisen, to deal with them well. Practice piety. Love temperance. Revere truth, fidelity, experience, tact, fellowship, and diligence.
• Plato divided things (according to Aristotle) thus: there are 3 kinds of friendship (natural, social, hospitable); 5 form of government (democratic, aristocratic, oligarchic, monarchic, and tyrannical)…
• Aristotle was the most faithful of Plato’s students. He left Academy while Plato was still alive; hence Plato is said to have remarked, “Aristotle kicked me away just as colts kicked away mother”. He walked up and down while lecturing, hence he was called a peripatetic.
• Antisthenes: It was better to fall in with crows (korakes) than with flatters (kolakas); for you are devoured by the former when dead, but by the latter while alive. When asked about what to do to be good and noble, he replied: “you should learn from the knowledgeable that the faults you posses can be avoided”.
• Diogenes: after seeing a boy drinking with his hands, he threw away the cup he kept in his knapsack, saying “a child has outdone me in frugality”. When lying in the sun, he was visited by Alexander who said to him “ask whatever you desire”, to which Diogenes replied, “Stand out of my light”. When someone said to him “Though you know nothing, you philosophize”, he replied “Even if I do pretend to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy”.
• Zeno of Citium. The Athenians held Zeno in such high regard that they deposited with him the keys of the city walls and honored him with a golden crown and a bronze statue.
• Epicurus. Diogenes included a letter of his to Herodotus that nicely summarized his main philosophy. (P. 507) Epicurus also postulates that atoms possess equal velocity whenever they travel through the void without meeting resistance. Neither will the heavy atom travel faster than the small and light in the absence of resistance. Some of his chief maxims: It is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently, honorably, and justly; nor can one live prudently, horribly, and justly without living pleasantly. No pleasure is intrinsically bad; but the means of producing certain pleasure may entail annoyance many times greater than the pleasures themselves.

Many articles went in great detail about the book itself or on related topics.
• In discussing Raphael’s “school of Athens”, the author points out that by presenting ancient philosophy as a group of competitive schools, Diogenes Laertius portrayed a world of learning that had much in common with 16th century Rome. In effect, therefore, the struggles among Platonist, Stoic, Cynic, Pythagorean, and Epicurean in antiquity mirrored the struggles of Edigio’s time. Edigio is appointed vicar-general by the pope and took a prominent role in shaping the intellectual climate of Julian Rome. And the “School of Athens” responds precisely to Edigio’s effort to find harmony among the competing scholars. Even the doctrine of holy trinity is reflected triads like the three Graces, the three Fates, triplets and triangles that pervade the composition. Since there is no way to maintain a patter of relative age for philosophers spanning many centuries, Raphael concentrated on consistency within smaller groups. He also has a bunch of “double portraits” e.g., when his friend Bramante posing as Euclid. We also know now that portraying Ptolemy the astronomer as a king is wrong (different Ptolemys). Raphael and Bramante sneaked into the Sistine chapel before the public. Raphael was awe-inspired and decided to put Michelangelo in the fresco with his famous dog skin boots.
• Schofield pointed out in one article that Diogenes Laertius came to reflect on the early (so-called) sages as being neither wise nor lovers of wisdom just men who were canny and involved in legislative activity.
• In another article, Zeno’s story is corrected. Zeno consulted an oracle about what he should do and the reply is that he should have intercourse with the dead. Grasping the oracle’s meaning, he read the works of ancients. When he was a boy, Zeno has many books about Socrate brought home by his father from Athens. After his shipwreck, on reaching Athens, he heard the 2nd book of Xenophon read out loud. He asked where such men can be found. Crates happened to walk by then. Bookseller told him “follow him”. But such stories are probably the result of a Hellenistic liking for romantic stories rather than genuine history. DL’s biography, therefore, is an amalgam of fact, hearsay, and fantasy.
• An article by J. Allen articulates that DL himself might be an Epicurean as his description of Epicurean view at length in his own words is unique in the book. There are also other signs of approval.
• About Nietzsche: Nietzsche decided, after studying DL’s work for a long time, that instead of being an authority on Ancient Greek philosophy, DL is a liar, a thief, and a fool. He argued that almost all information found in DL’s work was derived from a single intermediate source. And that he fell half asleep when excerpting. And that he was so lazy that he stayed with one source as long as possible. Etc., etc. Today, the general agreement is that Nietzsche was wrong. About Nietzsche himself: he was not only a brilliant writer but a voracious reader. Much of what he wrote arose out of his reaction to those he read. The writing clearly bear the traces of his reading. The result of DL’s reading remain undirected, crudely laid out whereas for Nietzsche, everything is rethought, reformulated by an unrelenting process of scriptural metabolism into a style that scholars immediately identify as Nietzsche’s.

[Pixbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

LIVES AND RANKINGS OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS:

SS Tier (my beloved):
Diogenes of Sinope

S Tier (perfect):
Empedocles, Zeno of Elea, Pyrrho, Epicurus

A Tier (great):
Socrates, Zeno of Citium, Pythagoras, Protagoras

B Tier (good):
Plato, Aristotle, Crates of Thebes, Hipparchia, Heraclitus

C Tier (mid):
Thales, Epimenides, Anaximander, Aristippus, Arcesilaus, Antisthenes, Xenophanes

D Tier (bad):
Solon, Bias, Periander, Polemo, Bion, Theophrastus, Demetrius, Heraclides, Monimus, Metrocles, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Melissus, Leucippus, Democritus, Anaxarchus, Timon

E Tier (boring):
Pittacus, Cleobulus, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Xenophon, Stilpo, Menedemus of Eretria, Speusippus, Xenocrates, Crates of Athens, Carneades, Lyco, Onesicritus, Menippus, Dionysius the Renegade, Archytas, Eudoxus

F Tier (pointless):
Chilon, Anacharsis, Myson, Pherecydes, Anaximenes, Aeschines, Phaedo, Euclides, Crito, Simon, Glaucon, Simmias, Cebes, Crantor, Lacydes, Clitomachus, Strato, Menedemus of Lampsacus, Aristo, Herillus, Sphaerus, Epicharmus, Alcmaeon, Hippasus, Philolaus, Parmenides, Diogenes of Apollonia

[margarida · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5 stars]

now this was fun. i was intimidated and scared of being bored to death reading this one, but it turned out to be funny. the whole book is basically obiter dictum of philosophers and it was interesting to know what people had to say about them because we don't get (if we do at all) direct contact with these people but with people that knew them/interacted with them/ wrote about them. i actually enjoyed this one a lot.

read:
life of socrates
life of aristotle
life of diogenes

[Mehmet Ali KIZILASLAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muazzam bir kitap, şu ana kadar okumamış olmam yazık. Bundan sonra antik dönem filozoflar hakkında bir şeyler çalışacağım zaman ilk uğradığım kitaplardan biri olacak. Hem filozoflar hakkında temel bilgileri veriyor hem düşüncelerini ve eserlerini özetliyor hem de aralara magazinsel bilgiler sıkıştırıyor.

[Zurion Hollowed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta regular redactado, le falta alguna nota de explicación, sobran muchos datos irrelevantes. Pero si quieres saber un poco de historia, como eran y vivían desde los platónicos hasta los estoicos y además enterarte de algunas anécdotas de Diógenes sobre todo, es un camino necesario.

[Lucas Gibson · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

Kindof boring, but kindof sexy.

[Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect.


(1) “As Plutarch explained at the outset of his life of Alexander, “It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and the most glorious deeds do not always reveal the working of virtue or vice. Frequently, a small thing—a phrase or flash of wit—gives more insight into a man’s character than battles where tens of thousands die, or vast arrays of troops, or sieges of cities. Accordingly, just as painters derive their likenesses from a subject’s face and the expression of his eyes, where character shows itself, and attach little importance to other parts of the body, so must I be allowed to give more attention to the manifestations of a man’s soul, and thereby mold an image of his life, leaving it to others to describe the epic conflicts.”

(2) “But these authors fail to notice that they attribute to the barbarians the accomplishments of the Greeks, with whom not only philosophy but the human race itself began.”

(3) “For my part, I do not know whether one should call a person who spoke as he did about the gods a philosopher. And what should we call a man who did not hesitate to attribute to the gods all human experience, including the obscene deeds committed rarely by certain men with the organ of speech?”

Thales

(6) “The most ancient of beings: god, for he is uncreated.
The most beautiful thing: the universe, for it is god’s creation.
The largest thing: space, for it contains all things.
The quickest thing: mind, for it runs through everything.
The strongest thing: necessity, for it masters everything.
The wisest thing: time, for it discovers everything.”

(7) “He said that there was no difference between life and death. “Why, then,” someone asked, “do you not die?” “Because,” he replied, “it makes no difference.” To the man who asked which was older, night or day, he said, “Night is older, by one day.”

(10) “The tomb is small, but the man’s renown soars to the skies;
 Behold the grave of Thales, the most thoughtful of mortals.”

Chilon

(13) “Give a pledge, suffer the consequences.”

Pittacus

(14) “Sosicrates says that after he had cut off a small portion for himself he declared that the half was more than the whole. And when Croesus offered him presents of money he declined them, saying that he had twice as much as he wanted.”

(16) “Know the right moment.”

Periander

(19) “Practice is everything.”

Anacharsis

(20) “He said he found it astonishing that among the Greeks the skilled compete, but the amateurs judge.”

(21) “When asked which are the safest vessels, he said, “Those in dry dock.”

Myson

(22) “His curiosity aroused, Anacharsis went to the village in summer and found Myson fitting a plow handle to a plow and said, “But Myson, it is not the season for a plow.” “Which is just the time,” Myson replied, “to repair it.”

(23) “He used to say that we should not investigate facts based on arguments, but should investigate arguments based on facts. For the facts were not arranged to account for the arguments, but the arguments to account for the facts.”

Pherecydes

(24) “Thus it would be true to say:
If anyone is truly wise,
He is useful both while he lives
And when he is no more.”

Anaxagoras

(25) “When someone asked him whether the mountains at Lampsacus would ever become a sea, he is said to have replied, “Yes, if time doesn’t come to an end.”

Socrates

(27) “And he bore all these things so patiently that once when he had been kicked, and someone expressed surprise that he stood for it, Socrates replied, “If a donkey had kicked me, should I have taken it to court?”

(28) “He prided himself on the simplicity of his life, and never took a fee. He used to say that he most enjoyed the food that least needed a condiment, and the drink that made him least in want of another. He said that the man whose needs are fewest is nearest to the gods.”

(29) “He used to say that it was strange that any man could easily tell you how many sheep he had, but could not name all the friends he had made, so little did they mean to him.”

(30) “Late in life he learned to play the lyre, saying there was nothing strange in studying what one does not know.”

(31) “He said that well-being was no little thing, but was attained little by little. And he said that he knew nothing except the fact that he knew nothing. He used to say that when people pay high prices for early fruit, they must give up hope of its ripening in season. When someone once asked him, “What is the virtue of a young man?” he replied, “Nothing in excess.” He said that a man should study geometry only to the point where he is able to measure the land he either acquires or cedes.”

(32) “He used to say he found it surprising that sculptors take the trouble to turn a block of marble into a perfect likeness of the subject, but take no trouble about themselves, lest they turn out to resemble marble blocks.”

(33) “Whichever you do you will regret it.”

(34) “When he was about to drink the hemlock, and Apollodorus offered him a beautiful cloak to die in, Socrates asked, “Then is my own cloak good enough to live in but not to die in?”
Aristippus

(36) “When asked one day what advantage philosophers enjoyed, he said, “If all the laws are repealed, we will live just as we do now.”

(39) “When Aristippus was asked what subjects talented boys should study, he said, “Those that will be useful to them when they’ve become men.”

(40) “When he had made some money by teaching, Socrates asked him, “Where did you get so much?” to which Aristippus replied, “Where you got so little.”

Menedemus

(41) “At any rate, one day when a young man was speaking too boldly, Menedemus said nothing; but he picked up a twig and traced on the ground the figure of a young man being penetrated, and continued until everyone saw it, at which point the young man understood the insult and departed.”

Arcesilaus

(42) “To someone who asked why pupils from all the other schools leave them to join the Epicureans, but no one ever leaves the Epicureans, he said, “Because men may become eunuchs, but no eunuch ever becomes a man.”

Bion

(43) “When someone once asked him who suffers the greatest anxiety, he said, “He who wishes to attain the greatest happiness.” When asked by someone whether he should marry—for this remark is also attributed to him—he said, “If your wife is ugly, you’ll have to bear her; if beautiful, you’ll have to share her.” He used to say that old age was the harbor of all evils; at any rate, all of them take refuge there.”

(44) “Wisdom, he said, surpasses the other virtues as much as sight surpasses the other senses. He used to declare that we should not disparage old age, since we all hope to reach it. To a slanderer who was scowling he said, “I can’t tell whether something bad has happened to you, or something good to someone else.”

Aristotle

(45) “When asked what people gain by telling lies, he replied, “That when they tell the truth they are not believed.” Reproached one day because he gave alms to a good-for-nothing, he said, “It was the man that I pitied, not his conduct.” He was constantly saying to his friends and students, whenever and wherever he happened to be lecturing, that the eyes receive light from the surrounding air, while the soul receives it from mathematics. He declared often and vehemently that the Athenians had discovered wheat and laws; and that they made use of the wheat, but not the laws.”

(46) “He said of education that its roots are bitter, but its fruit sweet. When asked what ages quickly, he replied, “Gratitude.” When asked to define hope, he said, “It is a waking dream.”

(48) “When asked how the educated differ from the uneducated, he said, “as much as the living from the dead.” When asked to define a friend, he said, “One soul dwelling in two bodies.” Mankind, he used to say, was divided into those who were as thrifty as if they were going to live forever, and those who were as extravagant as if they were going to die any moment. When someone asked him why we spend so much time with the beautiful, he replied, “That’s a blind man’s question.”

Demetrius

(52) “When he heard that the Athenians had destroyed his statues, he said: “But not the virtue that caused them to be erected.” He used to say that though the eyebrows are only a small part of the face, they have the power to darken the whole of life. He said that not only was wealth blind, but also luck, its guide. Everything that iron achieves in war is achieved in politics by speech.”

Antisthenes

(53) “When he was being initiated into the Orphic mysteries, and the priest said that the initiates would partake of many good things in Hades, Antisthenes said, “Then why don’t you die?” When reproached because both of his parents were not freeborn, he said, “Nor were they both wrestlers; yet I am a wrestler.” When asked why he had so few pupils, he said, “Because I drive them away with a silver staff.”

(55) “When asked what was man’s greatest blessing, he said, “To die happy.” When an acquaintance complained to him that he had lost his notes, Antisthenes replied, “You should have inscribed them on your mind instead of on paper.” Just as iron is eaten away by rust, so, he said, are envious men consumed by their own disposition. Those who wished to be immortal must, he maintained, live piously and justly. He said that cities are doomed when they cannot distinguish good men from bad. Once when he was being praised by rogues, he said, “I’m worried I’ve done something wrong.”

Diogenes

(60) “On one occasion, when Antisthenes menaced him with a staff, Diogenes offered his head and said, “Strike, for you’ll not find wood hard enough to keep me away from you, as long as I think you have something to say.”

(64) “Menippus says in his Sale of Diogenes that when captured and put up for sale Diogenes was asked what he was good at. He replied, “Ruling over men,” and said to the herald, “Spread the word in case anyone wants to buy himself a master.”

(65) “When someone brought him to a sumptuous house and warned him not to spit, he cleared his throat and spat in the man’s face, saying he couldn’t find a worse place to leave his spittle.”

(71) “To someone who asked him at what hour one should take lunch, he said, “If you’re rich, whenever you like; if poor, whenever you can.”

(73) “When Lysias the apothecary asked if he believed in gods, Diogenes replied, “How could I not, when I see you are so much out of their favor?”

(77) “At a dinner some guests were throwing bones to him, as one would to a dog; accordingly, in the manner of a dog, he urinated on the guests as he was leaving.”

(78) “At a filthy bathhouse he said, “Where are people who have bathed here supposed to wash themselves?”

(79) “Whenever he met the lyre player who was invariably abandoned by his audience, he hailed him with the phrase, “Greetings, rooster!” And when asked why he did so, he said, “Because when you sing you make everyone get up.”

(80) “And when, in the same vein, someone remarked, “The Sinopeans sentenced you to exile,” he replied, “And I sentenced them to stay at home.”

(84) “Asked if he had a little girl or boy, he said, “No.” “So if you die, who will carry you out for burial?” “Whoever wants my house,” he replied.”

(87) “Asked why people offer money to beggars but not to philosophers, he said, “Because they assume they may someday be lame and blind, but never expect to take up philosophy.”

(90) “The man said, “ if you persuade me,” Diogenes replied, “If I could persuade you, I’d persuade you to hang yourself.”

(91) “Once when Alexander came to him and said, “I am Alexander, the Great King,” he replied, “And I am Diogenes, the Dog.” When asked what he had done to get nicknamed the Dog, he said, “I fawn on those who give me something, bark at those who don’t, and bite the wicked.”

(93) “Asked what he got out of philosophy, he said, “If nothing else, I’m prepared for whatever happens.” Asked where he came from, he replied, “I’m a citizen of the world.”

(94) “To someone who reproached him for going to unclean places, he said, “The sun, too, visits dung heaps without being defiled.”

(95) “When he was dining in a temple, some filthy loaves were brought in; flinging them out, he said that nothing unclean should enter a temple. To someone who said, “Though you know nothing, you philosophize,” he said, “Even if I do pretend to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy.” To someone who introduced his son and said the boy was talented and of strong character, he said, “Then what do you need me for?” He said that those who utter fine words but don’t act on them resembled a harp, since a harp can neither hear nor understand. He was entering a theater as everyone else was leaving it; when asked why he did so, he replied, “This has been my practice all my life.”

(98) “After watching a bad archer, he sat down next to the target, saying “so I won’t be hit.”

(99) “Asked what was the most beautiful thing in the world, he said, “Freedom of speech.”

Zeno

(100) “Hence he is reported to have said, “I had a good voyage when I was shipwrecked.”

(107) “Though his fortune was ,
He was by no means proud of his wealth; his ambition
Was no grander than that of a poor man.”

(109) “Reclining in silence at a drinking party, and asked the reason, he urged his critic to report to the king that there was someone present who knew how to keep silent.”

Chrysippus

(114) He was so sure of himself that when someone asked him, “To whom should I entrust my son?” he replied, “To me. For had I supposed there was anyone better than me, I myself would be studying with him.”

Pythagoras

(115) “Apollodorus the Arithmetician says that Pythagoras sacrificed a hecatomb when he discovered that in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the sides that formed the right angle.”

(116) “The following were his watchwords: “don’t stir fire with a knife,” “don’t step over the bar of a scale,” “don’t sit down on your bushel,” “don’t eat your heart,” “don’t help a man load; help him unload,” “always fold up your quilts,” “don’t wear a signet ring engraved with the image of a god,” “wipe away the imprint of a cooking pot in the ashes,” “don’t wipe yourself in a privy under the light of a torch,” “don’t urinate facing the sun,” “don’t walk the highways,” “don’t shake hands too readily,” “don’t keep swallows under your own roof,” “don’t raise birds with crooked talons,” “don’t urinate on or stand upon your nail and hair trimmings,” “turn the sharp edge of a knife away,” “when leaving on a journey, don’t turn back at the border.

Heraclitus

(118) “He also used to say, “One should extinguish pride more quickly than a fire,”

(121) “When Empedocles said to him that the wise man remained undiscovered, he replied, “As one might expect, since it takes one to find one.”

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius is one of those irreplaceable books: a mess, yes, but an important mess. Written sometime in the third century AD, it is our single most comprehensive surviving source for the lives, personalities, doctrines, and quirks of the ancient Greek philosophers. Without it, much of what we know about figures like Epicurus, Zeno, Pyrrho, and the Cynics would simply not exist. Four out of five stars: essential, entertaining, inconsistent, and probably unfinished.

The Work and Its Peculiarities

Several scholars in this edition note that Lives of the Eminent Philosophers may never have been completed in Diogenes Laertius' own lifetime. What we possess may be elaborate working notes (comprehensive, sometimes redundant, occasionally inconsistent) that were never subjected to a final revision. This makes the book unusual to read: you get repetition, sudden shifts in quality, and passages of startling insight sitting next to passages of apparent filler. If you know this going in, it stops being frustrating and starts being interesting in its own right.

The Ten Books

The work is organized into ten books, loosely following the division between philosophers Diogenes associates with the Ionian tradition and those he associates with the Italian:
Book I covers the Seven Sages: Thales, Solon, Chilon, Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, and Periander, along with Anacharsis and Myson, presenting these early figures as the foundations from which philosophy grew.
Book II follows the Socratic tradition: Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, and at its center Socrates himself, along with his students Xenophon, Aeschines, Aristippus, and others. The Socrates material is essential reading.
Book III is devoted entirely to Plato: his life, his letters, and a detailed account of his doctrines. One of the longer single-subject treatments in the book.
Book IV covers the Academy after Plato: Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, Crantor, Arcesilaus, Bion, Lacydes, Carneades, and Clitomachus.
Book V covers the Peripatetics: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strato, Lyco, Demetrius, and Heraclides. The Aristotle section is substantial.
Book VI covers the Cynics: Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope (the famous barrel-dweller, not our author), Monimus, Onesicritus, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia, Menippus, and Menedemus. Among the most entertaining sections in the book.
Book VII covers the Stoics: Zeno of Citium, Ariston, Herillus, Dionysius, Cleanthes, Sphaerus, and Chrysippus. It is among the most important surviving sources for early Stoic doctrine, and a work I have reviewed separately.
Book VIII covers the Pythagoreans: Pythagoras, Empedocles, Epicharmus, Archytas, Alcmaeon, Hippasus, Philolaus, and Eudoxus.
Book IX covers Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Melissus, Zeno of Elea, Leucippus, Democritus, Protagoras, Diogenes of Apollonia, Anaxarchus, Pyrrho, and Timon, including the Skeptics.
Book X is devoted entirely to Epicurus, including extensive quotations from his letters and a summary of his principal doctrines. One of the most valuable sections of the entire work.

On Epicurus

I find Epicurean philosophy deeply appealing, and Book X is one of the book's great rewards. Diogenes makes clear that Epicurus was misrepresented and attacked even in his own lifetime: accused of gluttony, plagiarism, and debauchery. None of it was accurate. The actual Epicurean program is one of disciplined simplicity: reduce desires to what is natural and necessary, cultivate friendship above all pleasures, achieve tranquility (ataraxia) by understanding that death is nothing to us and the gods take no interest in human affairs. It is an ascetic philosophy of modest pleasures, not a license for indulgence.

The word "epicurean" in contemporary usage (suggesting a connoisseur of fine food and luxury) is about as far from Epicurus' actual philosophy as it is possible to get. As Diogenes documents, Epicurus wrote to a friend: "Send me a pot of cheese, so that whenever I like I may have a feast." That is the man. The misrepresentation has simply never stopped.

Philosophy as a Way of Life

My favorite scholarly essay in this volume is Giuseppe Cambiano's "Diogenes Laertius and Philosophical Lives in Antiquity." Cambiano opens with an observation worth quoting in full:

"In the ancient world, philosophy was conceived of and practiced not only as a specific intellectual activity, characterized by a set of doctrines, but first and foremost as a particular way of life different from and considered superior to the kinds of lives lived by most other men."

This is the key to understanding why Diogenes Laertius wrote what he wrote — and why it matters. In ancient Greece, you could identify a philosopher by the way he lived. The Stoic walked a certain way. The Cynic owned almost nothing, slept in public, and said whatever he thought to whoever was listening, including kings. The Epicurean lived in a garden with friends and ate bread and water. These were not academic positions. They were lives.

Contemporary academic philosophy has largely abandoned this. The philosopher today is a specialist who produces papers redefining commonly used words in ways that mystify rather than illuminate. I think of certain figures who have turned the definition of concepts like "truth" and "racism" into branding exercises. Diogenes' philosophers would not have recognized this as philosophy at all; or rather, they would have asked the obvious question: and how does he live?

The Essays

This edition, published by Oxford University Press and edited by James Miller with a translation by Pamela Mensch, includes sixteen scholarly essays that substantially enhance the text. I read all of them except the three Tiziano Dorandi essays on manuscript tradition, which address philological and transmission questions of limited interest to a general reader. The remaining essays I found genuinely valuable:

Anthony Grafton's essay traces the critical reception of Diogenes Laertius from the Renaissance forward: how philologists learned to work with (and around) a text that is messy by its very nature.
James Romm's essay on corporeal humor examines Diogenes' recurring comic interest in the fragility of the human body: philosophers dying absurd deaths, suffering embarrassing ailments, being undone by their own physical limitations. It is funnier than it sounds.

Malcolm Schofield's essay on philosophers and politics examines what Diogenes reveals about how ancient philosophers navigated (and often avoided) political life.

Giuseppe Cambiano's essay, as noted above, is the most important in the volume. A clear, persuasive account of what philosophy meant as a practice rather than a profession in the ancient world.
R. Bracht Branham on Cynicism traces the ancient Cynics into modernity: how their tradition of radical critique survived, mutated, and still resonates.

A. A. Long on Zeno of Citium examines Diogenes' account of Stoicism's founder with characteristic precision. Long is among the finest scholars of Hellenistic philosophy writing today.
James Allen's two essays on the Skeptics and on Epicurus provide essential critical guidance for handling Diogenes' evidence: which schools to trust him on, where he simplifies, and what the best readings of key passages are.

Glenn W. Most's essay on Diogenes Laertius and Nietzsche is the surprise of the collection. Most examines how nineteenth-century German classical scholarship — the Quellenforschung tradition, the search for sources — grappled with Diogenes, and how Nietzsche himself engaged with the text. Given that I have been thinking about Nietzsche's criticism of Christian ethics and George Eliot recently, I found this essay particularly timely.

A Final Note

This book is not for everyone, and it is not meant to be. It is a primary source for the history of ancient philosophy, and it reads like one: uneven, dense in places, wildly entertaining in others. If you have any serious interest in Stoicism, Epicureanism, Cynicism, or the history of philosophy more broadly, it is indispensable. If you are looking for a polished narrative of Greek thought, start somewhere else and come back to this.

The Mensch translation is clean and readable. Miller's editorial apparatus is excellent. The essays are, with the exception of the Dorandi philological studies, uniformly worth your time.

[Image: Book Cover]

Citations:
Laertius, D. (2018). Lives of the eminent philosophers [audiobook] (P. Mensch, Trans.; J. Miller, Ed.). Tantor Audio. https://www.audible.com/pd/Lives-of-t... (Original work c. 3rd century AD)

Title: Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
Author(s): Diogenes Laertius (c. 3rd century AD), Pamela Mensch (Translator), James Miller (Editor)
Year: circa 3rd century AD
Genre: Nonfiction — History of Philosophy, Biography
Page count: 704 pages
Date(s) read: 9/16/26–9/21/26
Book 187 in 2026

[Jeroen Berndsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een geleerd werk over de bekendste Griekse filosofen. Het leest niet constant prettig, maar is enorm interessant als je de filosofie een warm hart toedraagt. Laat je niet misleiden door de titel, dit is beslist geen toegankelijke inleiding! Vaak staan dingen zomaar na elkaar... Toch echt de moeite waard, al is het boek volgens mij nu uitverkocht en moeilijk verkrijgbaar. Hieronder media recensies:[return][return]Het klassieke overzicht van de Griekse filosofie, een onmisbare bron voor de kennis van de Griekse cultuur en de bijzondere positie van de filosofie daarin.[return][return]'Voor de kennis van de Griekse filosofie is dit boek een waardevolle bron omdat het een van de weinige werken in zijn soort is die ons zijn overgeleverd. Het is in de eerste plaats een bonte verzameling anekdoten, brieven, testamenten, uitreksels, citaten en epigrammen, waaronder vele van de schrijver zelf. Al lezende leert men veel over de Griekse cultuur en over de bijzondere positie die filosofen daarin innamen.' - Trouw[return][return]Van Diogenes Laërtius weten we bijna niets. Het gebrek aan biografische gegevens is des te opmerkelijker omdat hijzelf 82 biografieën heeft geschreven, waarin hij een hang naar volledigheid toont die zeer humoristisch blijkt uit te pakken. Hij schreef alles op wat hij wist en bracht nauwelijks enige differentiatie aan in zijn mededelingen. Hij is een voorbeeld van de encyclopedische autodidact, die altijd uitmunt door ijver en door gebrek aan kieskeurigheid en scepsis. Zijn levenswerk bevat in tien boeken de levens van tachtig wijsgeren, van de Zeven Wijzen tot Epicurus.[return]Omdat de bronnen waaruit Diogenes Laërtius putte voor het merendeel verloren zijn gegaan, is zijn compilatiewerk over de leer en het leven van alle hem bekende Griekse filosofen van grote waarde. Bovendien is het werk, mede door de vele anekdoten, gemakkelijk en plezierig leesbaar.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different edition: "Loeb Classical Library," v. 1, Books 1-5, tr. R.D. Hicks (HUP, 1972 [1925]). Read in small pieces in bed, at night, into sleep.

My interest in this has existed since the late '60s when I was working on Swift's A TALE OF A TUB, but it was tangential and just stuck in my mind. I was interested in mining for its nuggets; v. 1 contains longer entries on Plato and Aristotle, but also follows philosophers of the Academy and the Peripatetics.

Nuggets? Not so many as to make this worthwhile from a philosophical standpoint though I wish some prof had made reference to this work and noted its authentic historical value. Diogenes seems to have collected his subjects' wills, giving a sense of their lives.

Nuggets? Aristippus and his followers opinions regarding pleasure and pain (pp 217 ff.); "obstetric dialogue" (p. 329) and other forms; of Arcesilaus, a first to a) suspend judgment, b) argue both sides of a question, c) "meddle with the system handed down by Plato and, by means of question and answer, to make it more closely resemble eristic," i.e., aiming at winning the argument rather than achieving truth; Bion: "He called old age the harbour of all ills; at least they all take refuge there" (p. 427); Diogenes L. on Lacydes who died of drink, described Bacchus as "the Loosener" (p. 437), regarding limbs, a sobriquet I might associate with the bowels--perhaps Diogenes was merely being discreet.

There hints here for means for a philosophical neophyte to approach Plato and Aristotle's ideas (as well as others) that might have proved helpful; I can remember my first semester of college in a confrontation with Aristotle's PHYSICS, somebody's idea of a bad joke, I still think. Oh, well, perhaps I'll return to it, older and less impatient/stupid/self-indulgent.