Diogenes
Could not find Diogene in Logeion dictionaries.
Diogene Proper-name noun masculine ablative singular of Diogenes
- Apolloniates, a celebrated Ionian philosopher, pupil of Anaximenes, Cic. N. D. 1, 12, 29.—
- II The well-known Cynic philosopher of Sinope, Cic. Tusc. 1, 43, 104; id. N. D. 3, 34; id. Mur. 36 et saep.—
- III A Stoic, teacher of Carneades and Laelius, Cic. Div. 1, 3, 6; id. Fin. 2, 8; id. Tusc. 4, 3; id. de Sen. 7, 23 et saep.—
- IV A friend of M. Caelius Rufus, Cic. Fam. 2, 12, 2; id. Cael. ib. 8, 8, 10.
- 1. beroemd cynisch filosoof uit Sinope (404—323 v. Chr.);
- 2. stoïsch filosoof, leerling v. Chrysippus en leraar v. Carneades.
Diogenes cognomen erat, quia barba bifurcis.
Quasi (Διογένης), historical.
1. An Acarnanian. When Popillius in B. C. 170 went as ambassador to the Aetolians, and several statesmen were of opinion that Roman garrisons should be stationed in Acarnania, Diogenes opposed their advice, and succeeded in inducing Popillius not to send any soldiers into Acarnania. (Plb. 28.5.)
2. A son of Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, who fell in the battle of Chaeroneia, which his father lost against Sulla. (Appian, App. Mith. 49.)
3. A Carthaginian, who succeeded Hasdrubal in the command of a place called Nepheris, in Africa, where he was attacked by Scipio Africanus the Younger, who however left Laelius to continue the attack, while he himself marched against Carthage. However, Scipio soon returned, and after a siege of twenty-two days, the place was taken : 70,000 persons are said to have been killed on that spot, and this victory of Scipio was the first great step towards the taking of Carthage, which had been supplied with provisions from Nepheris. The capture of the place, moreover, broke the courage of the Africans, who still espoused the cause of Carthage. (Appian, App. Pun. 126.)
4. A person sent by Orofernes, together with Timotheus, as ambassador to Rome in B. C. 161, to carry to Rome a golden crown, and to renew the friendship and alliance with the Romans. The principal object of the ambassadors, however, was to support the accusation which was brought against Ariarathes; and Diogenes and his coadjutor, Miltiades, succeeded in their plan, and lies and calumnies gained the victory, as there was no one to undertake the defence of Ariarathes. (Plb. 32.20.)
5. Praefect of Susiana in the reign of Antiochus the Great. During the rebellion of Molo he defended the arx of Susa while the city itself was taken by the rebel. Molo ceased pushing his conquest further, and leaving a besieging corps behind him, he returned to Seleuceia. When the insurrection was at length put down by Antiochus, Diogenes obtained the command of the military forces stationed in Media. In B. C. 210, when Antiochus pursued Arsaces II. into Hyrcania, Diogenes was appointed commander of the vanguard, and distinguished himself during the march. (Plb. 5.46, 48, 54, 10.29, 30.) [L.S]
(Διογένης), literary.
1. Works A Greek Romance
With the praenomen Antonius, the author of a Greek romance, whom some critics have placed soon after the time of Alexander, while others, and with more probability, have placed him in the second or third century after Christ. His age was unknown even to Photius, who has preserved (Cod. 166) an outline of his romance. It consisted of twenty-four books, was written in the form of a dialogue about travels, and bore the title of Τὰ ὑπὲρ Θούλην ά̀πιστα. (Comp. Porphyr. Vit. Pythag. 10.) It is highly praised by Photius for the clearness and gracefulness of its descriptions. Editions
The epitome preserved by Photius is printed also in the " Corpus Eroticorum Graecorum," vol. i. edited by Passow.
2. Of Apollonia. See below.
3. Surnamed the Babylonian, a Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Seleuceia in Babylonia, from which he derived his surname in order to distinguish him from other philosophers of the name of Diogenes. He was educated at Athens under the auspices of Chrysippus, and succeeded Zeno of Tarsus as the head of the Stoic school at Athens. The most memorable event of his life is the part he took in the embassy which the Athenians sent to Rome in B. C. 155, and which consisted of the three philosophers, Diogenes, Cameades, and Critolaus. These three philosophers, during their stay at Rome, delivered their epideictic speeches at first in numerous private assemblies, and afterwards also in the senate. Diogenes pleased his audience chiefly by his sober and temperate mode of speaking. (Gel. 7.14; Cic. Ac. 2.45; comp. Carneades and Critolaus.) According to Lucian (Macrob. 20), Diogenes died at the age of 88; and as, in Cicero's Cato Major (7), Diogenes is spoken of as deceased, he must have died previous to B. C. 151. Diogenes, who is called a great Stoic (magnus et gravis Stoicus, Cic. de Off. 3.12), seems to have closely followed the views of his master, Chrysippus, especially on subjects of dialectics, in which Diogenes is even said to have instructed Carneades. (Cic. Ac. 2.30, de Orat. 2.38.) Works
He was the author of several works, of which, however, little more than the titles is known. 1. Διαλεκτικὴ τέχνη
(D. L. 7.51.) 2. On Divination.
(Cic. de Divin. 1.3, 2.43.) 3. On the goddess Athena
On the goddess Athena, whose birth he, like Chrysippus, explained by physiological principles. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1.15.) 4. Περὶ τοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡγημονικοῦ
(Galen.) 5. Περὶ φωνῆς
(D. L. 7.55), which seems to have treated on the philosophy of language. 6. Περὶ εὐγενείας, or on aristocracy of birth
In several books. (Athen. 4.168.) 7. Περὶ νομων
likewise in several books, the first of which is quoted in Athenaeus (xii. p. 526; comp. Cic. de Leg. 3.5, where Dio is a false reading for Diogenes). Other Works
There are several passages in Cicero from which we may infer that Diogenes wrote on other subjects also, such as on Duty, on the Highest Good, and the like, but the titles of those works are unknown. Further Information
Cic. de Off. 3.12, 13, 23, de Fin. 3.10, 15; comp. C. F. Thiery, Dissertatio de Diogene Babylonio, Lovanii, 1830, p. 17, &c., and Pars poster. p. 30, &c.
4. The Cynic philosopher. See below.
There were two other Cynic philosophers of this name, one in the reign of Vespasian (D. C. 46.15), and the other in the reign of Julian, who praises him in one of his Epistles (35, p.410)
5. Of Cyzicus. [Diogenianus.]
6. The author of a work on Persia, of which the first book is quoted by Clemens of Alexandria. (Protrept. p. 19.) It is uncertain whether he is the same as the Diogenes who is mentioned by Parthenius (Erot. 6) as the author of a work on Pallene.
7. Laertius. See below.
8. Oenomaus. See below.
9. A Phoenician, a Peripatetic philosopher, who lived in the time of Simplicius. (Suid. s. v. πρέσβεις.) Whether he is the same as Diogenes of Abila in Phoenicia, whom Suidas and Stephanus Byzantius (s. v. Ἄβιλα) call a distinguished sophist, cannot be ascertained.
10. A Phrygian, is described as an atheist, but is otherwise unknown. (Aelian, Ael. VH 2.31 ; comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Od. 3.381.)
11. Of Ptolemais in Egypt, a Stoic philosopher, who made ethics the basis of his philosophy. (D. L. 7.41.)
12. Of Rhodes, a Greek grammarian, who used to hold disputations at Rhodes every seventh day. Tiberius once wanted to hear him; but as it was not the usual day for disputing, the grammarian bade him come again on the seventh day. Afterwards Diogenes came to Rome, and when he asked permission to pay his homage, the emperor did not admit him, but requested him to come again after the lapse of seven years. (Suet. Tib. 32.)
13. Of Seleuceia, an Epicurean philosopher, who has frequently been confounded with Diogenes the Babylonian, who was likewise a native of Seleuceia. He lived at the court of Syria, and on terms of intimacy with king Alexander, the supposititious son of Antiochus Epiphanes. But he was put to death soon after the accession of Antiochus Theus, in B. C. 142. (Athen. 5.211.)
14. Of Sicyon, is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (6.81) as the author of a work on Peloponnesus.
15. Of Smyrna, an Eleatic philosopher, who was a disciple of Metrodorus and Protagoras. (Clem. Al. Strom. i. p. 301.)
16. Of Tarsus, an Epicurean philosopher, who is described by Strabo (xiv. p.675) as a person clever in composing extenpore tragedies. He was the author of several works, which, however, are lost. Among them are mentioned : 1. Ἐπίλεκτοι σχολαί, which was probably a collection of essays or dissertations on philosophical subjects. (D. L. 10.26, with Menage's note.) 2. An abridgement of the Ethics of Epicurus (ἐπιτομὴ τῶν Ἐπικούρου ἠθικῶν ζητημάτων), of which Diogenes Laertius (10.118) quotes the 12th book. 3. Περὶ ποιητικῶν ζητημάτων, that is, on poetical problems, which he endeavoured to solve, and which seem to have had especial reference to the Homeric poems. (D. L. 6.81.) Further particulars are not known about him, though Gassendi (de Vit. Epicur. 2.6) represents him as a disciple of Demetrius the Laconian.
There are several more literary persons of the name of Diogenes, concerning whom nothing is known. A list of them is given by Thiery, l. e. p. 97, &c. [L.S]
(Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης), an eminent natural philosopher, who lived in the fifth century B. C. He was a native of Apollonia in Crete, his father's name was Apollothemis, and he was a pupil of Anaximenes. Nothing is known of the events of his life, except that he was once at Athens, and there got into trouble from some unknown cause, which is conjectured to have been the supposition that his philosophical opinions were dangerous to the religion of the state. (D. L. 9.57.) Works Περὶ Φύσεως (On Nature)
Diogenes wrote a work in the Ionic dialect, entitled Περὶ Φύσεως, On Nature, which consisted of at least two hooks, and in which he appears to have treated of physical science in the largest sense of the words. Of this work only a few short fragments remain, preserved by Aristotle, Diogenes Laertius, and Simplicius. The longest of these is that which is inserted by Aristotle in the third book of his History of Animals, and which contains an interesting description of the origin and distribution of the veins. The following is the account of his philosophical opinions given by Diogenes Lartius :--" He maintained that air was the primal element of all things; that there was an infinite number of worlds, and an infinite void; that air, densified and rarified, produced the different members of the universe; that nothing was produced from nothing, or was reduced to nothing; that the earth was round, supported in the middle, and had received its shape from the whirling round of the warm vapours, and its concretion and hardening from cold." The last paragraph, which is extremely obscure in the original, has been translated according to Panzerbeiter's explanation, not as being entirely satisfactory, but as being the best that has hitherto been proposed. Diogenes also imputed to air an intellectual energy, though without recognizing any distinction between mind and matter. Editions
The fragments of Diogenes have been collected and published, with those of Anaxagoras, by Schorn, Bonn, 1829, 8vo; and alone by Panzerbeiter, Lips. 1830, 8vo, with a copious dissertation on his philosophy. Further Information
Further information concerning him may be found in Harles's edition of Fabricii, Biblioth. Graeca, vol. ii.; Bayle's Dict. Hist. et Crit. ; Schleiermacher, in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for 1815; and in the different Histories of Philosophy. Some notices of his date by Mr. Clinton are given in an article " On the Early Ionic Philosophers," in the first volume of the Philological Museum. [W.A.G]
(Διογένης), a Cynic of Sinope in Pontus, born about B. C. 412. His father was a banker named Icesias or Icetas, who was convicted of some swindling transaction, in consequence of which Diogenes quitted Sinope and went to Athens. His youth is said to have been spent in dissolute extravagance; but at Athens his attention was arrested by the character of Antisthenes, who at first drove him away, as he did all others who offered themselves as his pupils. [Antisthenes.] Diogenes, however, could not be prevented from attending him even by blows, but told him that he would find no stick hard enough to keep him away. Antisthenes at last relented, and his pupil soon plunged into the most frantic excesses of austerity and moroseness, and into practices not unlike those of the modern Trappists, or Indian gymnosophists. In summer he used to roll in hot sand, and in winter to embrace statues covered with snow; he wore coarse clothing, lived on the plainest food, and sometimes on raw meat (comp. Julian, Orat. vi.), slept in porticoes or in the street, and finally, according to the common story, took up his residence in a tub belonging to the Metroum, or temple of the Mother of the Gods. The truth of this latter tale has, however, been reasonably disputed. The chief direct authorities for it are Seneca (Ep. 99), Lucian (Quomodo Conscr. Hist. ii. p. 364), Diogenes Laertius (6.23), and the incidental allusion to it in Juvenal (14.308, &c.), who says, Alexander testa vidit in ilia magnum habitatorem, and Dolia nudi non ardent Cynici. Besides these, Aristophanes (Aristoph. Kn. 789), speaks of the Athenian poor as living, during the stress of the Peloponnesian war, in cellars, tubs (πιθάκναις), and similar dwellings. To these arguments is opposed the fact, that Plutarch, Arrian, Cicero, and Valerius Maximus, though they speak of Diogenes basking in the sun, do not allude at all to the tub; but more particularly that Epictetus (apud Arrian. 3.24), in giving a long and careful account of his mode of life, says nothing about it. The great combatants on this subject in modern times are, against the tub, Heumann (Act. Philosoph. vol. ii. p. 58), and for it, Hase, whose dissertation de Doliari Habitatione Diogenis Cynici, was published by his rival. (Paecil. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 586.) The story of the tub goes on to say that the Athenians voted the repair of this earthenware habitation when it was broken by a mischievous urchin. Lucian, in telling this anecdote, appeals to certain spurious epistles, falsely attributed to Diogenes. In spite of his strange eccentricities, Diogenes appears to have been much respected at Athens, and to have been privileged to rebuke anything of which he disapproved with the utmost possible licence of expression. He seems to have ridiculed and despised all intellectual pursuits which did not directly and obviously tend to some immediate practical good. He abused literary men for reading about the evils of Ulysses, and neglecting their own; musicians for stringing the lyre harmoniously while they left their minds discordant; men of science for troubling themselves about the moon and stars, while they neglected what lay immediately before them; orators for learning to say what was right, but not to practise it. Various sarcastic sayings of the same kind are handed down as his, generally shewing that unwise contempt for the common opinions and pursuits of men, which is so unlikely to reform them.
The removal of Diogenes from Athens was the result of a voyage to Aegina, in the course of which the ship was taken by pirates, and Diogenes carried to Crete to be sold as a slave. Here when he was asked what business he understood, he answered " How to command men," and he begged to be sold to some one who needed a ruler. Such a purchaser was found in the person of Xeniades of Corinth, over whom he acquired such unbounded influence, that he soon received from him his freedom, was entrusted with the care of his children, and passed his old age in his house. During his residence among them his celebrated interview with Alexander the Great is said to have taken place. The conversation between them is reported to have begun by the king's saying, " I am Alexander the Great," to which the philosopher replied, " And I am Diogenes the Cynic." Alexander then asked whether he could oblige him in any way, and received no answer except " Yes, you can stand out of the sunshine." Considering, however, that this must have happened soon after Alexander's accession, and before his Persian expedition, he could not have called himself the Great, which title was not conferred on him till he had gained his Eastern victories, after which he never returned to Greece. These considerations, with others, are sufficient to banish this anecdote, together with that of the tub, from the domain of history; and, considering what rich materials so peculiar a person as Diogenes must have afforded for amusing stories, we need not wonder if a few have come down to us of somewhat doubtful genuineness. We are told, however, that Alexander admired Diogenes so much that he said, " If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes." (Plut. Alex. 100.14.) Some say, that after Diogenes became a resident at Corinth, he still spent every winter at Athens, and he is also accused of various scandalous offences, but of these there is no proof; and the whole bearing of tradition about him shews that, though a strange fanatic, he was a man of great excellence of life, and probably of real kindness, since Xeniades compared his arrival to the entrance of a good genius into his house.
With regard to the philosophy of Diogenes there is little to say, as he was utterly without any scientific object whatever. His system, if it deserve the name, was purely practical, and consisted merely in teaching men to dispense with the simplest and most necessary wants (D. L. 6.70); and his whole style of teaching was a kind of caricature upon that of Socrates, whom he imitated in imparting instruction to persons whom he casually met, and with a still more supreme contempt for time, place, and circumstances. Hence he was sometimes called " the mad Socrates." He did not commit his opinions to writing, and therefore those attributed to him cannot be certainly relied on. The most peculiar, if correctly stated, was, that all minds are air, exactly alike, and composed of similar particles, but that in the irrational animals and in idiots, they are hindered from properly developing themselves by the arrangement and various humours of their bodies. (Plut. Plac. Phil. 5.20.) This resembles the Ionic doctrine, and has been referred by Brucker Hist. Crit. Phil. 2.2. 1.21) to Diogenes of Apollonia. The statement in Suidas, that Diogenes was once called Cleon, is probably a false reading for Κύων. He died at the age of nearly ninety, B. C. 323, in the same year that Epicurus came to Athens to circulate opinions the exact opposite to his. It was also the year of Alexander's death, and as Plutarch tells us (Sympos. 8.717), both died on the same day. If so, this was probably the 6th of Thargelion. Further Information
Clinton, F. H. vol. ii.; Ritter, Gesch. der Philosophie, 7.1, 4. [G.E.L.C]
(Διογένης ὁ Λαέρτιος or Λαερτιεύς, sometimes also Λαέρτιος Διογένης), the author of a sort of history of philosophy, which alone has brought his name down to posterity. The surname, Laertius, was derived according to some from the Roman family which bore the cognomen Laertius, and one of the members of which is supposed to have been the patron of an ancestor of Diogenes. But it is more probable that he received it from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, which seems to have been his native place. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. v. p. 564, note). A modern critic (Ranke, de Lex. Hesych. p. 59, &c., 61, &c.) supposes that his real name was Diogenianus, and that he was the same as the Diogenianus of Cyzicus, who is mentioned by Suidas. This supposition is founded on a passage of Tzetzes, (Chil. 3.61,) in which Diogenes Laertius is mentioned under the name of Diogenianus. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 263, ed. Westermann.) We have no information whatever respecting his life, his studies, or his age. Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus and Saturninus are the latest writers he quotes, and he accordingly seems to have lived towards the close of the second century after Christ Others, however, assign to him a still later date, and place him in the time of Alexander Severus and his successors, or even as late as the time of Constantine. Works Lives of the Philosophers
Diogenes Laertius' work consists of ten books (φιλόσοφοι βίοι, in Phot. Bibl. Cod. cxxi ; φιλόσοφος ἱστόρια in Steph. Byz., σοφιστῶν βίοι in Eustath) and is called in MSS. by the long title of περὶ βίων, δογμάτων καὶ ἀποφθεγμάτων τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφία εὐδοκιμησάντων. According to some allusions which occur in it, he wrote it for a lady of rank (3.47, x, 29), who occupied herself with philosophy, especially with the study of Plato. According to some this lady was Arria, the philosophical friend of Galen (Theriac. ad Pison. 3), and according to others Julia Domna, the wife of the Emperor Severus. (Menage, l.c. ad Prooem. p. 1 ; Th. Reinesius, Var. Lect. 2.12.) The dedication, however and the prooemium are lost, so that nothing can be said with certainty.
The plan of the work is as follows : He begins with an introduction concerning the origin and the earliest history of philosophy, in which he refutes the opinion of those who did not seek for the first beginnings of philosophy in Greece itself, but among the barbarians. He then divides the philosophy of the Greeks into the Ionic--which commences with Anaximander and ends with Cleitomachus, Chrysippus, and Theophrastus--and the Italian, which was founded by Pythagoras, and ends with Epicurus. He reckons the Socratic school, with its various ramifications, as a part of the Ionic philosophy, of which he treats in the first seven books. The Eleatics, with Heracleitus and the Sceptics, are included in the Italian philosophy, which occupies the eighth and ninth books. Epicurus and his philosophy, lastly, are treated of in the tenth book with particular minuteness, which has led some writers to the belief that Diogenes himself was an Epicurean.
Considering the loss of all the numerous and comprehensive works of the ancients, in which the history of philosophers and of philosophy was treated of either as a whole or in separate portions, and a greatnumber of which Diogenes himself had before him, the compilation of Diogenes is of incalculable value to us as a source of information concerning the history of Greek philosophy. About forty writers on the lives and doctrines of the Greek philosophers are mentioned in his work, and in all two hundred and eleven authors are cited whose works he made use of. His work has for a long time been the foundation of most modern histories of ancient philosophy; and the works of Brucker and Stanley, as far as the early history of philosophy is concerned, are little more than translations, and sometimes amplifications, of Diogenes Laertius. The work of Diogenes contains a rich store of living features, which serve to illustrate the private life of the Greeks, and a considerable number of fragments of works which are lost. Montaigne (Essais, 2.10) therefore justly wished, that we had a dozen Laertiuses, or that his work were more complete and better arranged. One must indeed confess, that he made bad use of the enormous quantity of materials which he had at his command in writing his work, and that he was unequal to the task of writing a history of Greek philosophy. His work is in reality nothing but a compilation of the most heterogeneous, and often directly contradictory, accounts, put together without plan, criticism, or connexion. Even some early scholars, such as H. Stephens, considered these biographies of the philosophers to be anything but worthy of the philosophers. His object evidently was to furnish a book which was to amuse its readers by piquant anecdotes, for he had no conception of the value and dignity of philosophy, or of the greatness of the men whose lives he described. The traces of carelessness and mistakes are very numerous ; much in the work is confused, and there is much also that is quite absurd; and as far as philosophy itself is concerned, Diogenes very frequently did not know what he was talking about, when he abridged the theories of the philosophers.
The love of scandal and anecdotes, which had arisen from petty views of men and things, at a time when all political freedom was gone, and among a people which had become demoralized, had crept into literature also, and such compilations as those of Phlegon, Ptolemaeus Chennus, Athenaeus, Aelian, and Diogenes Laertius display this taste of a decaying literature. All the defects of such a period, however, are so glaring in the work of Diogenes, that in order to rescue the common sense of the writer, critics have had recourse to the hypothesis, that the present work is a mutilated abridgment of the original production of Diogenes. (J. G. Schneider in F. A. Wolf's Lit. Anal. iii. p. 227.) Gualterus Burlaeus, who lived at the close of the 13th century, wrote a work De Vita et Moribus Philosophorum, in which he principally used Diogenes. Now Burlaeus makes many statements, and quotes sayings of the philosophers, which seem to be derived from no other source than Diogenes, and yet are not to be found in our present text. Burlaeus, moreover, gives us several valuable various readings, a better order and plan, and several accounts which in his work are minute and complete, but which are abridged in Diogenes in a manner which renders them unintelligible. From these circumstances Schneider infers, that Burlaeus had a more complete copy of Diogenes. But the hope of discovering a more complete MS. has not been realized as yet. Editions Latin Paraphrase
The work of Diogenes became first known in western Europe through a Latin translation made by Ambrosius, a pupil of Chrysoloras, which, however, is rather a free paraphrase than a translation. It was printed after Ambrosius's death. (Rome, before A. D. 1475; reprinted Venice, 1475 ; Brixen, 1485; Venice, 1493; and Antwerp, 1566.) Greek Editions
Of the Gieek text only some portions were then printed in the editions of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Plato, and Xenophon. The first complete edition is that of Basel, 1533, 4to., ap. Frobenium. It was followed by that of H. Stephens, with notes, which, however, extend only to the ninth book, Paris, 1570, and of Isaac Casaubon, with notes, 1594. Stephens's edition, with the addition of Hesychius Milesius, de Vita Illustr. Philos. appeared again at Colon. Allobrog. 1515. Then followed the editions of Th. Aldobrandinus (Rome, 1594, fol.), corrected by a collation of new MSS., and of J. Pearson with a new Latin translation (London, 1664, fol.), which contains the valuable commentary of Menage, and the notes of the earlier commentators.
All these editions were surpassed in some respects by that of Meibom (Amsterd. 1692, 2 vols.4to.), but the text is here treated carelessly, and altered by conjectures. This edition was badly reprinted in the editions of Longolius (1739 and 1759), in which only the preface of Longolius is of value.
The best modern edition is that of H. G. Hübner, Leipzig, 2 vols. 8vo. 1828-1831. The text is here greatly improved, and accompanied by short critical notes. In 1831, the commentaries of Menage, Casaubon, and others, were printed in 2 vols. 8vo. uniformly with Hübner's edition. (Comp. P. Gassendi, Animadv. in x librum Diog. Laert., Lugdun. 1649, 3 vols. fol. 3rd edition, Lugdun. 1675; I. Bossius, Commentationes Laertianae, Rome, 1788, 4to.; S. Battier, Observat. in Diog. Laert. in the Mus. Helvet. xv. p. 32, &c.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. v. p. 564.) Sources for the lists of the writings of the philosophers
Diogenes seems to have taken the lists of the writings of his philosophers from Hermippus and Alexandrian authors. (Stahr, Aristot. ii. p. 68 ; Brandis, in the Rhein. Mus. 1.3, p. 249; Trendelenburg, ad Aristot. de Anim. p. 123.) Besides the work on Greek philosophers, Diogenes Laertius also composed other works, to which he himself (2.65) refers with the words ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις εἰρήκαμεν. Epigrams
The epigrams, many of which are interspersed in his biographies, and with reference to which Tzetzes (Chil. 3.61) calls him an epigrammatic poet, were collected in a separate work, and divided into several books. (D. L. 1.39, 63, where the first book is quoted.) It bore the title ἡ πάμμετρος, but, unfortunately, these poetical attempts, so far as they are extant, shew the same deficiencies as the history of philosophy, and the vanity with which he quotes them, does not give us a favourable notion of his taste. (G. H. Klippel, de Diogenis Laertii Vita, Scriptis atque Auctoritate, Göttingen, 1831, 4to.) [A.S]
a tragic poet, who is said to have begun to exhibit at Athens in B. C. 404. Of his tragedies only a few titles remain, namely, Θυέστης, Ἀχιλλεύς, Ἑλένη, Ἡρακλῆς, Μήδεια, Οίδίπους, Χρύσιππος, Σεμέλη; and it is remarkable that all of these, except the last, are ascribed by Diogenes Laertius to Diogenes the Cynic. (6.80, or 73.) Others ascribe them to Philiscus of Aegina, a friend of Diogenes the Cynic (Menagius, ad Diog. Laert. l.c.), and others to Pasiphaon. Melanthius in Plutarch (de Aud. Poet. 4, p. 41d.) complains of the obscurity of a certain Diogenes. Aelian (Ael. VH 3.30, N. A. 6.1) mentions a tragic poet Diogenes, who seems, however, to be a different person from either Diogenes the Cynic or Diogenes Oenomaüs. (Suid. s.v. Ath. xiv. p. 636a.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. ii. p. 295.) [P.S]
(Διογένης), a Greek Physician who must have lived in or before the first century after Christ, as he is quoted by Celsus. (De Medic. 5.19, 27, pp. 90, 104.) Some of his medical formulae are preserved by Celsus (l.c.), Galen (de Compos. Medicam. sec. Locos, 3.3, vol. xii. p. 686 ; 9.7, vol. xiii. p. 313), and Aetius (1.3. 109, p. 135). He is probably not the same person with any of the other individuals of this name. [W.A.G]
artists.
1. A painter of some note, who lived in the time of Demetrius Poliorcetes. (Plin. Nat. 35.11, s. 40.42.)
2. Of Athens, a sculptor, who decorated the Pantheon of Agrippa with some Caryatids, which were greatly admired, and with statues in the pediment, which were no less admirable, but which were not so well seen, on account of their position. It is very difficult to determine in what position the Caryatids stood. Pliny says, " in columnis" (Plin. Nat. 36.5, s. 4.11.) [P.S]
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…de A. Rupilio quo erat usus Oppianicus medico Stratonem quendam, quasi ut idem faceret quod habitus in emendo Diogene fecerat. de hoc Stratone et de Ascla quodam servo suo quaesituram esse dixit. praeterea servum illum Nicostratum quem…
Cicero, pro Cluentio
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…in maximam fraudem incurrere Plus etiam est quam viam non monstrare ; nam est scientem in errorem alterum inducere. Diogenes contra Num te emere coegit, qui ne hortatus quidem est Ille, quod non placebat, proscripsit, tu…
M. Tullius Cicero, De Officiis
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…habitus emeret a Cleophanto, quo facilius aut comprehenderetur res eius indicio aut falsa esse cognosceretur. ne multa, Diogenes emitur, venenum diebus paucis comparatur ; multi viri boni cum ex occulto intervenissent, pecunia obsignata quae ob eam…
Cicero, pro Cluentio
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…pauca sint quae natura desideret, aut a disputandi subtilitate orationem ad exempla traducimus. hic Socrates commemoratur, hic Diogenes, hic Caecilianum illud saepe est etiam sub palliolo sordido sapientia. cum enim paupertatis una eademque sit vis ,…
M. Tullius Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes
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…homini acutissimo. Antipatro omnia patefacienda, ut ne quid om nino, quod venditor norit, emptor ignoret, Diogeni venditorem, quatenus iure civili constitutum sit, dicere vitia oportere, cetera sine insidiis agere et, quoniam vendat…
M. Tullius Cicero, De Officiis
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…Silanus Iuppiter Karthago Lacedaemonii C. Laelius Sapiens consul a. . voluptatem secernens abono suavitatem neglegebt. adolescens audivit Diogenem BabyloniumStoicum sq. auditor etfamiliaris fuit Panaetii sq. . cf. . Latina lingua comparata cumGraeca sqq. sqq…
M. Tullius Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
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…esse quicquam sempiternum, nonne deum omnino ita tollit, ut nullam opinionem eius reliquam faciat Quid aer, quo Diogenes Apolloniates utitur deo, quem sensum habere potest aut quam formam dei Iam de Platonis inconstantia longum est dicere ,…
M. Tullius Cicero, de Natura Deorum
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…ille, homo eruditissimus ac Stoicus, stravit pelliculis haedinis lectulos Punicanos et exposuit vasa Samia, quasi vero esset Diogenes Cynicus mortuus et non divini hominis Africani mors honestaretur ; quem cum supremo eius die maximus laudaret, gratias egit…
Cicero, pro Murena
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…, Antipater negat, cui potius assentior. Qui vinum fugiens vendat sciens, debeatne dicere. Non necesse putat Diogenes, Antipater viri boni existimat. Haec sunt quasi controversa iura Stoicorum. In mancipio vendendo dicendane vitia, non…
M. Tullius Cicero, De Officiis
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…vitae, casus cuiusque eventusque fingi. O delirationem incredibilem non enim omnis error stultitia dicenda est. quibus etiam Diogenes Stoicus concedit aliquid, ut praedicere possint dumtaxat, quali quisque natura et ad quam quisque maxime rem aptus futurus…
M. Tullius Cicero, De Divinatione
(Διογένης). (1) A celebrated Cynic philosopher of Sinopé. His father, Icesias, a banker, was convicted of debasing the public coin, and was obliged to leave the country; or, according to another account, his father and himself were charged with this offence, and the former was thrown into prison, while the son escaped and went to Athens. Here he attached himself, as a disciple, to Antisthenes, who was at the head of the Cynics. Antisthenes at first refused to admit him into his house and even struck him with a stick. Diogenes calmly bore the rebuke and said, “Strike me, Antisthenes, but you will never find a stick sufficiently hard to remove me from your presence, while you speak anything worth hearing.” The philosopher was so much pleased with this reply that he at once admitted him among his scholars. Diogenes fully adopted the principles and character of his master. Renouncing every other object of ambition, he determined to distinguish himself by his contempt of riches and honours and by his invectives against luxury. He wore a coarse cloak, carried a wallet and a staff, made the porticoes and other public places his habitation, and depended upon casual contributions for his daily bread. A friend whom he had desired to procure him a cell not executing his order so soon as was expected, he took up his abode in a πίθος, or large vessel, in the Metroum. It is probable, however, that this was only a temporary expression of indignation and contempt, and that he did not make it the settled place of his residence. This famous “tub” is indeed celebrated by Juvenal; it is also ridiculed by Lucian and mentioned by Seneca. But no notice is taken of so singular a circumstance by other ancient writers who have mentioned this philosopher. It cannot be doubted, however, that Diogenes practised the most hardy self-control and the most rigid abstinence—exposing himself to the utmost extremes of heat and cold and living upon the simplest diet, casually supplied by the hand of charity. In his old age, sailing to Aegina, he was taken by pirates and carried to Crete, where he was exposed to sale in the public market. When the auctioneer asked him what he could do, he said, “I can govern men; therefore sell me to one who wants a master.” Xeniades, a wealthy Corinthian, happening at that instant to pass by, was struck with the singularity of his reply and purchased him. On their arrival at Corinth, Xeniades gave him his freedom and committed to him the education of his children and the direction of his domestic concerns. Diogenes executed this trust with so much judgment and fidelity that Xeniades used to say that the gods had sent a good genius to his house. During his residence at Corinth, the interview between him and Alexander is said to have taken place. Plutarch relates that Alexander, when at Corinth, receiving the congratulations of all ranks on being appointed to command the army of the Greeks against the Persians, missed Diogenes among the number, with whose character he was not unacquainted. Curious to see one who had given so signal an instance of his haughty independence of spirit, Alexander went in search of him and found him sitting in his tub in the sun. “I am Alexander the Great,” said the monarch. “And I am Diogenes the Cynic,” replied the philosopher. Alexander then requested that he would inform him what service he could render him. “Stand from between me and the sun,” said the Cynic. Alexander, struck with the reply, said to his friends, who were ridiculing the whimsical singularity of the philosopher, “If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes.” This story is too good to be omitted, but there are several circumstances which in some degree diminish its credibility. It supposes Diogenes to have lived in his tub at Corinth, whereas it is certain that he lived there in the house of Xeniades, and that, if he had ever dwelt in a tub, he left it behind him at Athens. Alexander, moreover, was at this time scarcely twenty years old, and could not call himself Alexander the Great, for he did not receive this title till his Persian and Indian expedition, after which he never returned to Greece; yet the whole transaction represents him as elated with the pride of conquest. Diogenes probably was visited by Alexander, when the latter held the general assembly of the Greeks at Corinth, and was received by him with rudeness and incivility, which may have given rise to the whole story. The philosopher at this time would have been about seventy years of age.
Various accounts are given concerning the manner and time of his death. It seems most probable that he died at Corinth, of mere decay, in the ninetieth year of his age and in the 114th Olympiad. A column of Parian marble, terminating in the figure of a dog, was raised over his tomb. His fellow-townsmen of Sinopé also erected brazen statues in memory of the philosopher. Diogenes left behind him no system of philosophy. After the example of his school, he was more attentive to practical than to theoretical wisdom. See Hermann, Zur Geschichte und Kritik des Diogenes (Heilbronn, 1860), and the article Cynici.
(2) A native of Apollonia in Crete, who was a pupil of Anaximenes and contemporary with Anaxagoras. Schleiermacher, however, affirms, from the internal evidence of the fragments of the two philosophers, that Diogenes preceded Anaxagoras. But Diogenes might have written before Anaxagoras and yet have been his junior, as we know was the case with Empedocles. Diogenes followed Anaximenes in making air the primal element of all things; but he carried his views further, and regarded the universe as issuing from an intelligent principle, by which it was at once vivified and ordered, a rational as well as sensitive soul, but still without recognizing any distinction between matter and mind. Diogenes wrote several books on Cosmology (Περὶ Φύσεως).
(3) Laertius, so called from his native city, Laerté in Cilicia. He wrote the lives of the philosophers (Φιλόσοφοι Βίοι), in ten books, which are still extant. The period when he lived is not exactly known, but it is supposed to have been during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. Diogenes is thought to have belonged to the Epicurean School. He divides all the Greek philosophers into two classes: those of the Ionic and those of the Italic school. He derives the first from Anaximander, the second from Pythagoras. After Socrates, he divides the Ionian philosophers into three branches: (a) Plato and the Academics, down to Clitomachus; (b) the Cynics, down to Chrysippus; (c) Aristotle and Theophrastus. The series of Italic philosophers consists, after Pythagoras, of the following: Telanges, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Leucippus, Democritus, and others down to Epicurus. The first seven books are devoted to the Ionic philosophers; the last three treat of the Italic school.
The work of Diogenes is a crude contribution towards the history of philosophy. It contains a brief account of the lives, doctrines, and sayings of most persons who have been called philosophers; and though the author is evidently a most unfit person for the task which he imposed upon himself, and has shown very little judgment and discrimination in the execution of it, yet the book is extremely useful as a collection of facts, which we could not have learned from any other quarter, and is entertaining as a sort of pot-pourri on the subject. The article on Epicurus is valuable, as containing some original letters of that philosopher, which comprise a fairly satisfactory epitome of the Epicurean doctrines and are very useful to the readers of Lucretius. The best editions of Diogenes are those of Hübner (Leipzig, 1828-31) and Cobet (Paris, 1850).
- his tomb: Paus. 2.2.4
- Paus. 10.20.3
- bribed by Aratus: Paus. 2.8.6