The Lives and Opinions of Eminent PhilosophersDiogenes Laertius
Philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Diogenes Laertius
Philosophers, Ancient -- Biography; Philosophy, Ancient
V. Among the different people who succeeded Eubulides, was Alexinus of
Elis, a man very fond of argument, on which account he was nicknamed
Ἐλέγξινος.[27] He had an especial quarrel with Zeno; and Hermippus
relates of him that he went from Elis to Olympia, and studied philosophy
there; and that when his pupils asked him why he lived there, he said
that he wished to establish a school which should be called the Olympic
school; but that his pupils being in distress, through want of means of
support, and finding the situation unhealthy for them, left him; and that
after that Alexinus lived by himself, with only one servant. And after
that, when swimming in the Alpheus, he was pricked by a reed, and the
injury proved fatal, and he died. And we have written an epigram on him
which runs thus:—
Then the report, alas! was true,
That an unhappy man,
While swimming tore his foot against a nail
For the illustrious sage,
Good Alexinus, swimming in the Alpheus,
Died from a hostile reed.
And he wrote not only against Zeno, but he composed other works also,
especially one against Ephorus the historian.
VI. One of the school of Eubulides was Euphantus of Olynthus, who wrote
a history of the events of his own time; he also composed several
tragedies, for which he got great distinction at the festivals. And he
was the preceptor of Antigonus, the king to whom he dedicated a treatise
on Monarchy, which had an exceedingly high reputation. And at last he
died of old age.
VII. There are also other pupils of Eubulides, among whom is Apollonius
Cronus, who was the preceptor of Diodorus of Iasos, the son of Aminias;
and he too was surnamed Cronus, and is thus mentioned by Callimachus in
his epigrams:—
Momus himself did carve upon the walls,
Cronus is wise.
And he was a dialectician, and, as some believe, he was the first
person who invented the Concealed argument, and the Horned one. When
he was staying at the court of Ptolemy Soter, he had several dialectic
questions put to him by Stilpo; and as he was not able to solve them at
the moment, he was reproached by the king with many hard words, and among
other things, he was nicknamed Cronus, out of derision. So he left the
banquet, and wrote an essay on the question of Stilpo, and then died of
despondency. And we have written the following epigram on him:—
O Diodorus Cronus, what sad fate
Buried you in despair?
So that you hastened to the shades below,
Perplexed by Stilpo’s quibbles—
You would deserve your name of Cronus[28] better,
If C and r were gone.
VIII. One of the successors of Euclides was Icthyas, the son of Metellus,
a man of great eminence, to whom Diogenes the Cynic addressed a dialogue.
And Clinomachus of Thurii, who was the first person who ever wrote about
axioms and categorems, and things of that kind. And Stilpo the Megarian,
a most illustrious philosopher, whom we must now speak of.
LIFE OF STILPO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account