The Lives and Opinions of Eminent PhilosophersDiogenes Laertius
Philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laertius
Philosophers, Ancient -- Biography; Philosophy, Ancient
LXIV. They say also, that the wise man is free from perturbations,
because he has no strong propensities. But that this freedom from
propensities also exists in the bad man, being, however, then quite
another thing, inasmuch as it proceeds in him only from the hardness and
unimpressibility of his nature. They also pronounce the wise man free
from vanity, since he regards with equal eye what is glorious and what is
inglorious. At the same time, they admit that there is another character
devoid of vanity, who, however, is only reckoned one of the rash men,
being in fact the bad man. They also say that all the virtuous men are
austere, because they do never speak with reference to pleasure, nor do
they listen to what is said by others with reference to pleasure. At the
same time, they call another man austere too, using the term in nearly
the same sense as they do when they speak of austere wine, which is used
in compounding medicines, but not for drinking.
They also pronounce the wise to be honest-hearted men, anxiously
attending to those matters which may make them better, by means of some
principle which conceals what is bad, and brings to light what is good.
Nor is there any hypocrisy about them; for they cut off all pretence in
their voice and appearance. They also keep aloof from business; for they
guard carefully against doing any thing contrary to their duty. They
drink wine, but they do not get drunk; and they never yield to frenzy.
Occasionally, extraordinary imaginations may obtain a momentary power
over them, owing to some melancholy or trifling, arising not according to
the principle of what is desirable, but contrary to nature. Nor, again,
will the wise man feel grief; because grief is an irrational contraction
of the soul, as Apollodorus defines it in his Ethics.
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