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

wise Demetrius.
The serpent beamed not light from out his eyes,
But dark and lurid hell.

But Heraclides, in his Epitome of the Successions of Sotion, says that Ptolemy wished to transmit the kingdom to Philadelphus, and that Demetrius dissuaded him from doing so by the argument: “If you give it to another, you will not have it yourself.” And when Menander, the comic poet, had an information laid against him at Athens (for this is a statement which I have heard), he was very nearly convicted for no other reason but that he was a friend of Demetrius. He was, however, successfully defended by Telesphorus, the son-in-law of Demetrius.

In the multitude of his writings and the number of lines which they amount to, he exceeded nearly all the Peripatetics of his day, being a man of great learning and experience on every subject. And some of his writings are historical, some political, some on poets, some rhetorical, some also are speeches delivered in public assemblies or on embassies; there are also collections of Aesop’s Fables, and many other books. There are five volumes on the Legislation of Athens; two on Citizens of Athens; two on the Management of the People; two on Political Science; one on Laws; two on Rhetoric; two on Military Affairs; two on the Iliad; four on the Odyssey; one called the Ptolemy; one on Love; the Phaedondas, one; the Maedon, one; the Cleon, one; the Socrates, one; the Artaxerxes, one; the Homeric, one; the Aristides, one; the Aristomachus, one; the Exhortatory, one; one on the Constitution; one on his Ten Years’ Government; one on the Ionians; one on Ambassadors; one on Good Faith; one on Gratitude; one on Futurity; one on Greatness of Soul; one on Marriage; one on Opinion; one on Peace; one on Laws; one on Studies; one on Opportunity; the Dionysius, one; the Chalcidean, one; the Maxims of the Athenians, one; on Antiphanes, one; a Historic Preface, one; one Volume of Letters; one called An Assembly on Oath; one on Old Age; one on Justice; one volume of Aesop’s Fables; one of Apothegms. His style is philosophical, combined with the energy and impressiveness of an orator.

When he was told that the Athenians had thrown down his statues, he said: “But they have not thrown down my virtues, on account of which they erected them.” He used to say that the eyebrows were not an insignificant part of a man, for that they were able to overshadow the whole life. Another of his sayings was that it was not Plutus alone who was blind, but Fortune also, who acted as his guide. Another, that reason had as much influence on government as steel had in war. On one occasion, when he saw a debauched young man, he said: “There is a square Mercury with a long robe, a belly, and a beard.” It was a favorite saying of his that in the case of men elated with pride one ought to cut something off their height, and leave them their spirit. Another of his apothegms was that at home young men ought to show respect to their parents, and in the streets to everyone whom they met, and in solitary places to themselves. Another, that friends ought to come to others in good fortune only when invited, but to those in distress of their own accord.

These are the chief sayings attributed to him.

There were twenty persons of the name of Demetrius, of sufficient consideration to be entitled to mention: First, a Chalcedonian, an orator, older than Thrasymachus; the second, this person of whom we are speaking; the third was a Byzantine, a Peripatetic philosopher; the fourth was a man surnamed Graphicus, a very eloquent lecturer and also a painter; the fifth was a native of Aspendus, a disciple of Apollonius, of Soli; the sixth was a native of Calatia, who wrote twenty books about Asia and Europe; the seventh was a Byzantine who wrote an account of the crossing of the Gauls from Europe into Asia in thirteen books, and the History of Antiochus and Ptolemy and their Administration of the Affairs of Africa in eight more; the eighth was a Sophist who lived in Alexandria and who wrote a treatise on Rhetorical Art; the ninth was a native of Adramyttium, a grammarian, who was nicknamed Ixion in allusion to some crime he had committed against Juno; the tenth was a Cyrenean, a grammarian, who was surnamed Stamnus,51 a very distinguished man; the eleventh was a Scepsian, a rich man of noble birth and of great eminence for learning. He it was who advanced the fortunes of Metrodorus his fellow citizen; the twelfth was a grammarian of Erythrae, who was made a citizen of Lemnos; the thirteenth was a Bithynian, a son of Diphilus the Stoic and a disciple of Panaetius of Rhodes; the fourteenth was an orator of Smyrna. All of these were prose writers.

The following were poets: The first a poet of the Old Comedy. The second an Epic poet, who has left nothing behind him that has come down to us, except these lines which he wrote against some envious people:

They disregard a man while still alive,
Whom, when he’s dead, they honor; cities proud,
And powerful nations, have with contest fierce,
Fought o’er a tomb and unsubstantial shade

The third was a native of Tarsus, a writer of Satires. The fourth was a composer of Iambics, a bitter man. The fifth was a statuary, who is mentioned by Polemo. The sixth was a native of Erythrae, a man who wrote on various subjects and who composed volumes of histories and relations.52

Heraclides

Heraclides was the son of Euthyphron, and was born at Heraclea, in Pontus; he was also a wealthy man.

After he came to Athens, he was at first a disciple of Speusippus, but he also attended the schools