The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius (best free ebook reader txt) 📕

Ἀρχύτα, ψαλληγενὲς, ὀλβιότυφε
Τῆς ὑπάτης ἔριδος πάντων ἐμπειρότατ᾿ ἀνδρῶν.

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From λύω, solvo, to relax or weaken the limbs. ↩

From περιπατέω, “to walk about.” ↩

Iliad 18, 95. ↩

This very spirited version I owe to the kindness of my brother, the Rev. J. E. Yonge, of Eton College. ↩

“ἐντελέχεια, the actuality of a thing, as opposed to simple capability or potentiality (δύναμις); a philosophic word invented by Aristotle.⁠—⁠ ⁠… quite distinct from ἐνδελέχεια, though Cicero (Tusculan Disputations i, 10,) confounded them.” —⁠Liddle and Scott in voc. ↩

From θεῖος “divine,” and φράσις “diction.” ↩

This was a temple of the Muses which he had built for a school. ↩

So as to make it appear connected with γλυκὺς, sweet. ↩

στάμνος, means an earthenware jar for wine. ↩

The foregoing account hardly does justice to Demetrius, who was a man of real ability, and of a very different class to the generality of those whom the ancients dignified with the title of philosophers. He was called Phalereus, to distinguish him from his contemporary Demetrius Poliorcetes. His administration of the affairs of Athens was so successful, that Cicero gives him the praise of having reestablished the sinking and almost prostrate power of the republic. (Cicero, De Republica ii, 1.) As an orator, he is spoken of by the same great authority with the highest admiration. Cicero calls him “a subtle disputer, not vehement, but very sweet, as a pupil of Theophrastus might be expected to be.” (De Officiis i, 3.) In another place he praises him as possessed of great learning, and as one who “rather delighted than inflamed the Athenians.” (De Clav. Orat. §37.) And says, “that he was the first person who endeavored to soften eloquence, and who made it tender and gentle; preferring to appear sweet, as indeed he was, rather than vehement” (§38). In another place he says, “Demetrius Phalereus the most polished of all those orators” (he has been mentioning Demosthenes, Hyperides, Lycurgus, Aeschines, and Dinarchus) “in my opinion.” (De Oratore ii, 23.) And he praises him for not confining his learning to the schools, but for bringing it into daily use, and employing it as one of his ordinary weapons. (De Legibus iii, 14.) And asks who can be found besides him who excelled in both ways, so as to be preeminent at the same time as a scholar, and a governor of a state. (same source) He mentions his death in the oration for Rabirius Postumus, §9. He appears to have died about BC 282. ↩

From πομπὴ, a procession. ↩

There is a play on the similarity of the two sounds, κοινὴ, common, and ποίνη, punishment. ↩

The Greek is ἐς κόρακας, which was a proverb for utter destruction. ↩

The passage is not free from difficulty; but the thing which misled Diogenes appears to have been that νόμισμα, the word here used, meant both “a coin, or coinage,” and “a custom.” ↩

This line is from Euripides, Medea, 411. ↩

The saperda was the coracinus (a kind of fish) when salted. ↩

This is probably an allusion to a prosecution instituted by Demosthenes against Midias, which was afterwards compromised by Midias paying Demosthenes thirty minae, or three thousand drachmae. See Demosthenes Contra Midias. ↩

This is a pun upon the similarity of Athlias’s name to the Greek adjective ἄθλιος, which signifies miserable. ↩

The ἱερομνήμονες were the sacred secretaries or recorders sent by each Amphictyonic state to the council along with their πυλαγόρας, (the actual deputy or minister). —⁠Liddle and Scott, Greek and English Lexicon, in voc. ↩

There is a pun here. Χείρων is the word used for worse. Chiron was also the most celebrated of the Centaurs, the tutor of Achilles. ↩

There is a pun intended here; as Diogenes proposed Didymus a fate somewhat similar to that of the beaver.

Cupiens evadere damno
Testiculorum.

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This is taken from Homer, Iliad κ, 387. Pope’s Version, 455. ↩

This is also from Homer, Iliad θ, 95. Pope’s Version, 120. ↩

This is a parody on Homer, Iliad ξ, 95, where the line ends οἷ᾿ ἀγορεύεις⁠—“if such is your language,” which Diogenes here changes to οἷ᾿ ἀγοράζεις, if you buy such things. ↩

This is a line of the Phoenissae of Euripides, v 40. ↩

The pun here is on the similarity of the noun ἐλάαν, an olive, to the verb ἐλαᾶν, to drive; the words μάστιξεν δ᾿ ἐλαᾶν are of frequent occurrence in Homer. ↩

This line occurs, Homer, Iliad ε, 83. ↩

The Samothracian Gods were Gods of the sea, and it was customary for those who had been saved from shipwreck to make them an offering of some part of what they had saved; and of their hair, if they had saved nothing but their lives. ↩

Eurytion was another of the Centaurs, who was killed by Hercules. ↩

This is a pun on the similarity of the sound, Tegea, to τέγος, a brothel.