Herillus
165 Herillus of Chalcedon124 said that the goal is knowledge, that is, to live always so as to compare everything to a life lived with knowledge and not to be deceived by ignorance. He claimed that knowledge is a habit in the reception of presentations—a habit that cannot be dislodged by argument. Sometimes he would say that there was no single goal, but that goals shifted in light of changing circumstances and objects, just as the same bronze might become a statue either of Alexander or of Socrates. He distinguished between the ultimate goal and the subordinate goal; for even the unwise seek the latter, but only the wise seek the former. Entities that lie between virtue and vice he called the indifferents. His writings, though they consist of only a few lines, are full of vigor, and contain some refutations directed at Zeno.
166 It is said that as a boy Herillus attracted many lovers; and since Zeno wished to drive them away, he forced Herillus to shave his head, whereupon they turned elsewhere.
His books include:
On Training
On Passions
On Opinion
The Legislator
The Maieutic Argument
The Adversary
The Teacher
The Reviser
The Correcter
Hermes
Medea
Dialogues
Ethical Theses <…>
Dionysius
Dionysius the Turncoat declared, as a result of an eye disease, that pleasure was the goal;125 for his suffering was so severe that he was reluctant to say that pain was an indifferent.
He was the son of Theophantes and a native of Heraclea.126 He studied first, as Diocles says, with his fellow citizen Heraclides,127 then with Alexinus and Menedemus,128 and finally with Zeno.
167 At the start of his career, being fond of literature, he tried his hand at all sorts of poetry; later he took Aratus129 as his model and sought to imitate him. After leaving Zeno he went over to the Cyrenaics, took to frequenting brothels, and abandoned himself without disguise to all the other pleasant pursuits. At the age of eighty he ended his life by abstaining from food.
The following books are attributed to him:
On Apathy, two books
On Training, two books
On Pleasure, four books
On Wealth
On Wealth, Gratitude, and Revenge
How to Live among Men
On Prosperity
On Ancient Kings
On Praiseworthy Deeds
On Barbarian Customs
These three, then, held divergent views. But Zeno’s successor was Cleanthes, of whom we must speak.
Cleanthes
168,169 Cleanthes, son of Phanias, was a native of Assos.130 At first he was a boxer, as Antisthenes says in his Successions. He arrived in Athens with only four drachmas, as some say, and after meeting Zeno he pursued philosophy very creditably and remained faithful to the same doctrines. He was renowned for his diligence, and as he was extremely poor he was forced to work for wages. Thus by night he used to draw water in gardens, and by day he exercised himself in arguments. Hence he was nicknamed Phreantles (“the Water Boy”). They say that he was brought into court to give an account of how, being in such fine condition, he made his living. He was acquitted when he presented as his witnesses the gardener in whose garden he drew water and the barley seller for whom he cooked the grain.131 The Areopagites132 were satisfied and voted him a donation of ten minas,133 though Zeno would not let him accept it. We are also told that Antigonus134 gave him three thousand drachmas.
170 One day, as he was leading some young men to a festival, a gust of wind exposed his flank and he was seen to be wearing no tunic under his cloak.135 For this he was applauded by the Athenians, as Demetrius of Magnesia says in his Men of the Same Name. He was then admired also for this. They say that Antigonus, while attending one of his lectures, asked why he drew water. To this Cleanthes replied, “Do I only draw water? What, do I not dig? What, do I not water the garden and take every sort of job for the sake of philosophy?” For Zeno trained him in this way and exacted an obol from his wages.136 One day Zeno brought his followers a handful of coins and said, “Cleanthes could also support a second Cleanthes, if he liked, whereas those who have the means to support themselves look to others for their necessities, even though they have plenty of time for philosophy.” Hence Cleanthes was also called a second Heracles.137 He was hardworking, but not naturally gifted and unusually slow, which is why Timon speaks of him as follows:
Bronze figure of a seated philosopher, Roman copy of an early-third-century BC Hellenistic original.
Who is this, who like a ram ranges over the ranks of warriors?138
A masticator of words, the stone of Assos,139 a sluggish slab.
171 He bore the jeers of his fellow students and put up with being called an ass, saying that he alone was able to carry Zeno’s load. One day, when reproached with timidity, he said, “That is why I seldom make mistakes.” Preferring his own life to that of the wealthy, he said that while they were playing ball he was at work digging hard and barren ground. He would often scold himself, and when Ariston140 heard him doing this and asked, “Who are you scolding?” he laughed and said, “An old man with gray hair, but no wisdom.” When someone said that Arcesilaus141 did not act as he should, Cleanthes said, “Stop! Don’t blame him. For if in word he rejects duty, at least he acknowledges it in deed.” And when Arcesilaus said, “I don’t care for flatterers,” Cleanthes replied, “True. I flatter you by saying that you act otherwise than your words would indicate.”
172 When someone asked him what advice he should give to his son, he quoted the “watchword of Electra”:
Silence, silence, light be your step.142
When a Spartan said that labor was a good thing, Cleanthes was delighted and said,
You are of good blood, dear boy.143
Hecaton, in his Anecdotes, says that when a handsome youth said, “If someone who pokes at one’s belly ‘bellies’ (gastrizei), then someone who pokes at one’s thigh ‘thighs’ (merizei),”144 Cleanthes replied, “Do as you like with your thighs, lad, but similar words do not necessarily signify the same things.” Conversing one day with a young man, he asked, “Do you see?” And when the man nodded, Cleanthes said, “Then why don’t I see that you see?”
Marble statue of Heracles seated on a rock. Imperial Roman adaptation of a Greek statue of the late fourth or early third century BC.
173 Present at the theater when the poet Sositheus145 uttered the line:
Like herds of cows, driven by Cleanthes’ folly,
he remained impassive. Marveling at this, the audience applauded him and drove Sositheus from the stage. Afterward, when the poet apologized for the insult, Cleanthes accepted the apology, saying that it would be absurd, considering that Dionysus and Heracles are ridiculed by the poets146 without getting angry, if he took offense at a casual slur. He used to say that it was the same with the Peripatetics as with lyres: both emit beautiful sounds but never hear themselves.
174 It is said that when he declared it to be Zeno’s view that a man’s character could be grasped from his looks, certain witty lads brought him a catamite who had been roughened by labor in the country and asked Cleanthes to describe the youth’s character. Cleanthes was stumped and told the man to go away. But when, as he was leaving, the man sneezed, Cleanthes said, “I’ve got it! He’s effeminate.”147 To the solitary man who was talking to himself, he said, “You’re not talking to a bad man.” When someone teased him about his age, he said, “I too would like to be gone; but when I consider that I’m healthy in every respect and can still write and read, I’m prepared to stay where I am.” They say that he wrote down Zeno’s lectures on shards of pottery and the shoulder blades of bulls,148 since he had no money to buy papyrus. Such being his character he was able, though Zeno had many other worthy disciples, to succeed him as head of the school.
175 He left excellent books, which include:
On Zeno’s Natural Philosophy, two books
Interpretations of Heraclitus, four books
On Sensation
On Art
Against Democritus
Against Aristarchus
Against Herillus
On Impulse, two books
Antiquities
On Gods
On Giants
On Marriage
On the Poet
On Duty, three books
On Good Counsel
On Gratitude
Exhortation
On Virtues
On Natural Ability
On Gorgippus
On Jealousy
On Love
On Freedom
The Art of Love
On Honor
On Fame
The Statesman
On Deliberation
On Laws
On Passing Judgment
On Education
On Reason, three books
On the End
On Beautiful Things
On Actions
On Knowledge
On Kingship
On Friendship
On the Symposium
On the Idea That Virtue Is the Same in Man and Woman
On the Wise Man Who Practices Sophistry
On Maxims
Talks, two books
On Pleasure
On Personal Traits
On Difficult Problems
On Dialectic
On Modes
On Predicates
These are his books.
176 He died under the following circumstances. When his gums became swollen, he followed the advice of his doctors and abstained from food for two days. His condition improved so much that the doctors permitted him to resume his usual diet. But he declined to do so. Declaring that he had already gone too far down the road, he continued to fast for his remaining time and died, according to some, at the same age as Zeno. He had studied with Zeno for nineteen years.
I have made fun of him in these verses:
I praise Cleanthes, but praise Hades more,
Who could not bear, seeing him grown so old,
To deny him peace at last among the dead,
He who had bailed his life out for so long a time.149
Sphaerus
177 As we mentioned earlier,150 Sphaerus of Bosporus became Cleanthes’ student after Zeno’s death. When he had made considerable progress in his studies he went to Alexandria, to the court of Ptolemy Philopator.151 One day, during a discussion of whether the wise man would hold an opinion, Sphaerus said he would not. The king, who wished to refute him, ordered some waxen pomegranates to be put on the table. Sphaerus was fooled and the king shouted that he had assented to a false impression. To this Sphaerus made a clever reply, saying that what he had assented to was not that they were pomegranates, but that it was reasonable to assume that they were pomegranates, and that there was a difference between the direct apprehension and the probable one. When Mnesistratus152 accused him of denying that Ptolemy was a king <…>, he said, “Being such as he is, Ptolemy is indeed a king.”153
178 He wrote the following books:
On the Cosmos, two books
On Elements
On Fortune
On Minima
Against Atoms and Images
On the Sense Organs
On Heraclitus, five discourses
Treatises <…>
On the Order of Topics in Ethics
On Duty
On Impulse
On the Passions, two books
On Monarchy
On the Spartan Constitution
On Lycurgus and Socrates, three books
On Law
On Divination
Dialogues on Love
On the Eretrian Philosophers
On Similars
On Definitions
On Habit
On Contradictions, three books
On Reason
On Wealth
On Fame
On Death
Handbook of Dialectic, two books
On Predicates
On Ambiguous Terms
Letters
Chrysippus
179 Chrysippus, son of Apollonius, a native of Soli (or of Tarsus, as Alexander says in his Successions), was a student of Cleanthes. Previously he had trained as a long-distance runner, but afterward he attended the lectures of Zeno or Cleanthes, as Diocles and most people say. And then, while Cleanthes was still living, Chrysippus left his school and became an important figure in philosophy. He was a gifted man, and so clever in every branch that he differed on most points from Zeno, and from Cleanthes too, to whom he often said he needed only to know what the man’s doctrines were and he would discover the proofs himself. Nevertheless, whenever he contended against Cleanthes he regretted it, so that he frequently quoted the lines:
In all else I am blessed, except when it comes to
Cleanthes: there I am unfortunate.154
180 He became so renowned among the dialecticians that most people thought that if the gods had a dialectic, it would be none other than that of Chrysippus. Though he had abundant material for discussion, he did not develop a satisfactory style. His industry was unequaled, as is clear from his writings, which number more than 705. He increased their number by repeatedly treating the same doctrine, setting down everything that came to mind, making many corrections, and citing a great many authorities, with the result that in one of his books he copied out nearly the whole of Euripides’ Medea; and when someone holding the book was asked what he was reading, he replied, “Chrysippus’ Medea.”
181 Apollodorus of Athens, in his Collection of Doctrines, wishing to show that the works of Epicurus, who relied on his own resources and had no need to pad his writings with quotations, far exceeded in quantity the books of Chrysippus, says, to quote his exact words, “If one were to remove all extraneous citations from Chrysippus’ books, there would be nothing left but blank pages.” So says Apollodorus. Chrysippus’ old serving woman used to say, according to Diocles, that he wrote five hundred lines a day. Hecaton says that he turned to philosophy when the property he had inherited from his father was confiscated for the royal treasury.
182 His build was slight, as is shown by his statue in the Cerameicus,155 which is almost overshadowed by the equestrian statue nearby. Hence Carneades156 used to call him Crypsippus.157 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.” To a dialectician who assailed Cleanthes and presented him with captious arguments, he said, “Stop distracting your elder from more serious subjects, and propound such things to us youngsters.” Another time, when somebody who had a question was conversing with him calmly in private, but then, noticing a crowd approaching, began to be argumentative, he said:
Alas, my brother, your eye is growing wild;
To madness you change apace, though sensible just now.158
183 At drinking parties he was quiet, though unsteady on his legs, which prompted the slave woman to remark, “It’s only Chrysippus’ legs that get tipsy.” 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.” Hence this line is said to have been quoted in reference to him:
He alone has understanding: the rest are flitting shadows;159
Two views of a marble portrait head of the philosopher Chrysippus. Early Imperial Roman copy of a Greek statue of the late third century BC, probably by Euboulides.
and:
Had there been no Chrysippus, there would have been no Stoa.160
184 Finally, however, as Sotion says in his eighth book, he joined Arcesilaus and Lacydes161 and studied philosophy in the Academy. This explains why he argued both for a
nd against custom and habit, and used the method of the Academy when discussing magnitudes and numbers.
One day, as Hermippus says, when he was teaching in the Odeon,162 he was invited by his students to a sacrificial feast. There, after taking some sweet unmixed wine, he was seized with dizziness and left the world of men five days later at the age of seventy-three, in the 143rd Olympiad,163 as Apollodorus says in his Chronology.
My own playful verses about him run as follows:
Chrysippus grew dizzy after greedily
Quaffing a cup of Bacchus;164
He took no thought for the Stoa, nor his country, nor his own soul,
But departed for the house of Hades.
185 Some say, however, that he died as the result of a laughing fit. For when an ass had eaten his figs, he said to the old woman, “Now give the ass some unmixed wine to wash down the figs,” at which point he laughed so heartily that he died.
He seems to have been an arrogant man. At all events, though he wrote so much, he dedicated none of his books to any of the kings.165 He contented himself with one old woman,166 as Demetrius says in Men of the Same Name. When Ptolemy167 wrote to Cleanthes asking him to come himself or to send someone else, Sphaerus went, but Chrysippus declined the invitation. On the other hand, he sent for his sister’s sons, Aristocreon and Philocrates, and had them educated. As the above-mentioned Demetrius reports, Chrysippus was the first who ventured to deliver his lectures in the open air in the Lyceum.168
186 There was another Chrysippus, a doctor from Cnidus, to whom Erasistratus169 says he is deeply indebted; another, the son of the doctor, was Ptolemy’s doctor, who on a false charge was dragged about and punished with the lash; another was a student of Erasistratus; and another the author of a work On Agriculture.
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers Page 45