In summer he used to roll in hot And I am
Dingenes
the Cynic.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
c.
151.
Diogenes, who is called chus Theus, in B.
c.
142.
(Athen.
V.
p.
211.
)
a great Stoic (magnus et uraris Stoicus, Cic. de Off. 14. Of Sicyox, is mentioned by Diogenes Laër-
iii. 12), seenis io hare closely followed the views tius (vi. 81) as the author of a work on Pelopon-
of his master, Chrysippus, especially on subjects of nesus.
dialectics, in which Diogenes is even said to have 15. Of Smyrna, an Eleatic philosopher, who
instructed Carneades. (Cic. Acad. ii. 30, de Orat. a disciple of Metrodorus and Protagoras.
ii. 38. ) He was the author of several works, (Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 301. )
of which, however, little more than the titles is 16. Of Tarsus, an Epicurean philosopher, who
known. 1. AlaneKTIKD) TÉXun. (Diog. Laërt. vii. is described by Strabo (xiv. p. 675) as a peison
51. ) 2. On Divination. (Cic. de Dirin. i. 3, ii. 43. ) clever in composing extempore tragedies. He was
3. On the goddess Athena, whose birth he, like the author of several works, which, however, are
Chrysippus, explained by physiological principles. lost. Among them are mentioned : 1. ’ETÍNEKTO:
(Cic. de Nui. Deur. i. 15. ) 4. Tepi Toù vñs yoxñs xolai, which was probably a collection of essays
of MuovikoŮ. (Galen. ) 5. Nepè quvñs (Diog. Laërt. or dissertations on philosophical subjects. (Diog.
vii. 55), which seems to have treated on the philo- Laëri. x. 26, with Menage's note. ) 2. An abridge-
sophy of language. 6. Thepl evreveias, or on aris- ment of the Ethics of Epicurus (@FITour) TWv 'Euro-
tocracy of birth, in several books. (Athen, iv, p. Koupov abikuv Sntnuátur), of which Diogenes
168. ) 7. Tepl vouwv, likewise in several books, Laërtius (x. 118) quotes the 12th book. 3. Tepl
the first of which is quoted in Athenaeus (xii. p. TOINTIKWV (ntnuátwv, that is, on poetical problems,
5:26; comp. Cic. de Leg. iii. 5, where Dio is a false which he endeavoured to solve, and which seem to
reading for Diogenes). There are several passages have had especial reference to the Homeric poems.
in Cicero from which we may infer that Diogenes (Diog. Laërt. vi. 81. ) Further particulars are not
wrote on other subjects also, such as on Duty, on known about him, though Gassendi (al: Vit. Epicur.
the Highest Good, and the like, but the titles of ii. 6) represents him as a disciple oi Demetrius the
those works are unknown. (Cic. de Ofi: iii. 12, 13, Laconian.
23, de Fin. iii. 10, 15; comp. C. F. Thiery, Dis- There are several more literary persons of the
sortutio de Diogene Bubylonio, Lovanii, 1830, p. name of Diogenes, concerning whom nothing is
17. &c. , and Pars poster. p. 30, dic. )
known. A list of them is given by Thiery, l. c.
4. The Cesic philosophier. See below.
p. 97, &c.
(LS. )
was
:
## p. 1021 (#1041) ##########################################
DIOGENES.
10:21
DIOGENES.
DIOGENES' APOLLONIA'TES (Aloyévns ó plainest food, and sometimes on raw meat (comp.
ATOM Awriátns), an eminent natural philosopher, Julian, Orat. vi. ), slept in porticoes or in the streei,
who lived in the fifth century B. C. He was a
and finally, according to the common story, took
native of Apollonia in Crete, his father's name was 1p his residence in a tub belonging in the Mictroum,
Apollothemis, a nd he was a pupil of Anaximenes. or temple of the Mother of the Gods. The truth
Nothing is known of the events of his life, except of this latter tale has, however, been reasonably
that he was once at Athens, and there got into disputed. The chief direct authorities for it are
trouble from some unknown cause, which is con- Seneca (Ep. 99), Lucian (Quomodo ('unscr. Hiit.
jectured to have been the supposition that his philo- ii. p. 36+), Diogenes Laërtins (vi. 23), and the
sophical opinions were dangerous to the religion of incidental allusion to it in Juvenal (xiv. 308, &c. ),
the state. (Diog. Laërt. ix. $ 57. ) He wrote a who says, alerunder testa tulit in illa magnum
work in the lonic dialect, entitled nep. Dúoews, habitutorem, and Dolia nudi non ardent Cumiei.
* On Nature," which consisted of at least two Besides these, Aristophanes (Equit. 789), speaks
books, and in which he appears to have treated of of the Athenian poor as living, during the stress of
physical science in the largest sense of the words. the Peloponnesian war, in cellars, tubs (7718ákvais),
of this work only a few short fragments remain, and similar dwellings. To these arguments is op-
prescrved by Aristotle, Diogenes Laërtius, and posed the fact, thai Plutarch, Arrian, Cicero, avd
Simplicius. The longest of these is that which is Valerius Maximus, though they speak of Diogenes
inserted by Aristotle in the third book of his lisa basking in the sun, do not allude at all to the
tory of Animals, and which contains an interesting tub; but more particularly that Epictetus (ap).
description of the origin and distribution of the Arriun. iii. 24), in giving a long and careful account
veins. The following is the account of his philoso- of his mode of life, says nothing about it. The
phical opinions given by Diogenes Laërtius :-“ lle great combatants on this subject in modern times
maintained that air was the primal element of all are, against the tub, Heumann ( Ac. Philosoph, vol.
things; that there was an infinite number of ii. p. 58), and for it, Hase, whose dissertation de
worlds, and an infinite void ; that air, densified Doliari Hubitatione Diogenis Cynici, was published
and rarified, produced the different members of the by his rival. (Paecil. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 586. ) The
universe ; that nothing was produced from nothing, story of the tub goes on to say that the Athenians
or was reduced to nothing ; that the earth was voted the repair of this earthenware habitation
round, supported in the middle, and had received when it was broken by a mischievous urchin.
its shape from the whirling round of the warm Lucian, in telling this anecdote, appeals to certain
vapours, and its concretion and hardening from spurious epistles, falsely attributed to Diogenes.
cold. " The last paragraph, which is extremely ob- In spite of his strange eccentricities, Diogenes ap-
scure in the original, has been translated according pears to have been much respected at Athens, and
to Panzerbeiter's explanation, not as being entirely to have been privileged to rebuke anything of
satisfactory, but as being the best that has hitherto which he disapproved with the utmost possible
been proposed. Diogenes also imputed to air an licence of expression. He seems to have ridiculed
intellectual energy, though without recognizing any and despised all intellectual pursuits which did
distinction between mind and matter. The frag- not directly and obviously tend 10 some immediate
ments of Diogenes have been collected and pub- practical good. He abused literary men for rend-
lished, with those of Anaxagoras, by Schorn, Bonn, ing about the evils of Ulysses, and neglecting their
1829, 8vo; and alone by Panzerbeiter, Lips. 1830, own; musicians for stringing the lyre harmoniously
Evo, with a copious dissertation on his pliilosophy. while they left their minds discordant; men of
Further information concerning him may be found science for troubling themselves about the moon
in llarles's edition of Fabricii, Biblioth. Grueca, vol. and stars, while they neglected what lay immedi-
. ; Bayle's Dict. Hist. et Crit. ; Schleiermacher, in ately before them ; orators for learning to say
the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for 1815; and what was right, but not to practise it. Various
in the different Histories of Philosophy. Some notices sarcastic sayings of the same kind are handed
of his date by Mr. Clinton are given in an article down as his, generally shewing that unwise con-
“On the Early Ionic Philosophers,” in the first vo- tempt for the common opinions and pursuits of
lume of the Philological Muscum. (W. A. G. ] men, which is so unlikely to reform them.
DIO'GENES (Aloyévns), a Cynic of Sinope in The removal of Diogenes from Athens was the
Pontus, born about B. C. 412. His father was a result of a voyage to Aegina, in the course of
banker named Icesias or Icetas, who was convicted which the ship was taken by pirates, and Diogenes
of some swindling transaction, in consequence of carried to Crete to be sold as a slave. Here when
which Diogenes quitted Sinope and went to Athens. he was asked what business he understood, he
His youth is said to have been spent in dissolute answered “How to command men," and he begged
extravagance; but at Athens his attention was to be sold to some one who needed a ruler. Such
arrested by the character of Antisthenes, who at a purchaser was found in the person of Xeniades
first drove him away, as he did all others who of Corinth, over whom he acquired such unbounded
offered themselves as his pupils. (ANTISTHENES. ) influence, that he soon received from him his free-
Diogenes, however, could not be prevented from dom, was entrusted with the care of his children,
attending him even by blows, but told him that and passed his old age in his house. During his
he would find no stick hard enough to keep him residence among them his celebrated interview
away. Antisthenes at last relented, and his pupil with Alexander the Great is said to have taken
soon plunged into the most frantic excesses of place. The conversation between them is reported
austerity and moroseness, and into practices not to have begun by the king's saying, “ I am Alex-
unlike those of the modern Trappisis, or Indian ander the Great," to which the philosopher replied,
gymnosophists.
In summer he used to roll in hot And I am Dingenes the Cynic. ” Alexander
sind, and in winter to embrace statues covered then asked whether he could oblige him in any
he wore coarse clothing, lived on the way, and received no answer except “ Yes, you
with snow;
## p. 1022 (#1042) ##########################################
10:22
DIOGENES.
DIOGENES.
can stand out of the sunshine. ” Considering, how de Les. Ilcsych. p. 59, &c. 6), &c. ) supposes that his
pver, that this must have happened soon after real name was Diogeninnus, and that he was the
Alexander's accession, and before his Persian ex- same as the Dingenians of Cyzic us, who is meus
pedition, he could not have called himself ilu Giroula tioned by Suidas. This suppositi on is founded on
which title was not conferred on him till he had a passige of Tzetzes, (Chil. iii. 61,,) in which Dio-
gained his Eastern victories, after which he never genes Laërtius is mentioned under i he name of Din-
returned to Greece. These considerations, with genianus. (Vossius, de llist. Gro. cc. p. 263, ed.
others, are sufficient to banish this anecdote, 10- Westermann. ) We have no information whatever
pother with that of the tub, from the domain of respecting his life, his studies, or his age. Plus
History; and, considering what rich materials so tarch, Sexins Empiricus and Saturninus are the
peculiar a person as Diogenes must have afforded latest writers he quotes, and he accordingly seems
for amusing stories, we need not wonder if a few to have lived towards the close of the second cen-
have come down to us of somewhat doubtful genu- tury after Christ
Others, however, as-sim to him
ineness. We are told, however, that Alexander a still later date, and place him in the time of Alex-
admired Diogenes so much that he said, “ If I were ander Severus and his successors, or even as late
not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes. " as the time of Constantine. His work consists of
(Plut. Aler. c. 14. ) Some say, that after Djo- ten books (116000o. Bloc, in Phot. Bill. Cod. cxxi;
genes became a resident at Corinth, he still spent | φιλόσοφος ιστόρια in Steph. Byz. , συφιστων βίοι
every winter at Athens, and he is also accused in Eustath) and is called in MSS. by the long title
of various Scandalous offences, but of these there | of περί βίαν, δογμάτων και αποφθεγμάτων των
is no proof; and the whole bearing of tradition év 11ocopia ejookiuNdávrwv. According to some
about him shew's that, though a strange fanatic, allusions which occur in it, he wrote it for a
he was a man of great excellence of life, and pro- lady of rank (iii. 47, x. 29), who ocenpied herself
bably of real kindness, since Xeniades compared with philosophy, especially with the study of Plato.
his arrival to the entrance of a good genius into According to some this lady was Arrin, the philoso-
his house.
phical friend of Galen (Theriac. ad Pison, 3), and
With regard to the philosophy of Diogenes there according to others Julia Domna, the wife of the
is little to say, as he was utterly without any sci- Emperor Severus. (Menage, l. c. ac. Prooem. p. 1;
entific object whatever. His sistem, if it deserve Th. Reinesius, Var. Lect. ii. 12. ) The dedication,
the name,
was purely practical, and consisted however and the prooemium are lost, so that no-
merely in teaching men to dispense with the sim- thing can be said with certainty.
plest and most necessary wants (Diog. Laërt. vi. The plan of the work is as follows: He begins
70); and his whole style of teaching was a kind with an introduction concerning the origin and the
of caricature upon that of Socrates, whom he imi- earliest history of philosophy, in which he refutes
tated in imparting instruction to persons whom he the opinion of those who did not seek for the first
casually met, and with a still more supreme con- beginnings of philosophy in Greece itself, but among
tempt for time, place, and circumstances. Hence the barbarians. He then divides the philosophy of
he was sometimes called "the mad Socrates. ” He the Greeks into the Jonic—which commences with
did not commit his opinions to writing, and there. Anaximander and ends with Cleitomachus, Chrysip-
fore those aitributed to him cannot be certainly pus, and Theophrastus and the Italian, which was
relied on.
The most peculiar, if correctly stated, founded by Pythagoras, and ends with Epicurus.
was, that all minds are air, exactly alike, and com- He reckons the Sceratic school, with its various ra-
posed of similar particles, but that in the irrational | mifications, as a part of the Ionic philosophy, of
animals and in idiots, they are hindered from pro- which he treats in the first seven books. The
perly developing themselves by the arrangement Eleatics, with Heracleitus and the Sceptics, are in-
and various humours of their bodies. (Plut. Plac. cluded in the Italian philosophy, which occupies
Phil. v. 20. ) This resembles the Ionic doctrine, the eighth and ninth books. Epicurus and his phi-
and has been referred by Brucker (Hist. Crit. Phil. losophy, lastly, are treated of in the tenth book with
ii. 2. 1. & 21) to Diogenes of Apollonia. The particular minuteness, which has led some writers to
statement in Suidas, that Diogenes was once called the belief that Diogenes himself was an Epicurean.
Cleon, is probably a false reading for Kúwv. He Considering the loss of all the numerous and com-
died at the age of nearly ninety, B. C. 323, in the prehensive works of the ancients, in which the his-
same year that Epicurus came to Athens to circu- tory of philosophers and of philosophy was treated of
late opinions the exact opposite to lis. It was either as a whole or in separate portions, and a
also the year of Alexander's death, and as Plu- great number of which Diogenes himself had before
tarch tells us (Sympos. riii. 717), both died on the him, the compilation of Diogenes is of incalculable
same day. If so, this was probably the 6th of value to us as a source of information concerning the
Thargelion. (Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. ; Ritter, Gesch. history of Greek philosophy. About forty writers
der Philosophie, vii, 1, 4. ) [G. E. L. C. ) on the lives and doctrines of the Greek philoso-
DIO'GENES LAE'RTIUS(Aloyévtis o naéptios phers are mentioned in his work, and in all two
or saeptieus, sometimes also aéptios Aloyévns), hundred and eleven authors are cited whose works
the author of a sort of history of philosophy, which he made use of. His work has for a long time
alone has brought his name down to posterity: been the foundation of most modern histories
The surname, Laërtius, was derived according to of ancient philosophy ; and the works of Brucker
some from the Roman family which bore the cog. and Stanler, as far as the early history of philo-
nomen Laërtius, and one of the members of which sophy is concerned, are little more than transla-
is supposed to have been the patron of an ancestor tions, and sometimes amplifications, of Diogenes
of Diogenes. But it is more probable that he re- Laërtius. The work of Diogenes contains a
ceived it from the town of Laërte in Cilicia, which rich store of living features, which serve to illus-
seems to have been his native place. (Fabric. Bibl. trate the private life of the Greeks, and a con-
Graec. V. p. 564, note). A modern critic (Ranke, siderable number of fragments of works which are
## p. 1023 (#1043) ##########################################
DIOGENES.
1023
DIOGENES.
commentators.
lost. Montaigne (Essais, ii. 10) therefore justly I lowed the editions of Th. Aldobrandinus (Rome,
wished, that we had a dozen Laërtiuscs, or that his 1594, fol. ), corrected by a collation of new MSS. ,
work were more complete and better arranged. One and of J. Pearson with a new Latin translation
must indeed confess, that he made bad use of the (London, 1664, fol. ), which contains the valuable
enormous quantity of materials which he had at his commentary of Menage, and the notes of the earlier
command in writing his work, and that he was un-
All these editions were surpassed
equal to the task of writing a history of Greek phi- in some respects by that of Meibom (Amsterd.
losophy. llis work is in reality nothing but a com- 1692, 2 vols. 4to. ), but the text is here treated care-
pilation of the most heterogeneous, and often die lessly, and altered by conjectures. This edition was
rectly contradictory, accounts, put together without badly reprinted in the editions of Longolius (1739
plan, criticism, or connexion. Even some early and 1759), in which only the preface of Longolius
scholars, such as H. Stephens, considered these bio- is of value. The best modern edition is that of
graphies of the philosophers to be anything but H. G. Hübner, Leipzig, 2 vols. 8vo. 1828 -—
worthy of the philosophers. His object evidently | 1831. The text is here greatly improved, and
was to furnish a book which was to amuse its read accompanied by short critical notes. In 183],
ers by piquant anecdotes, for he had no conception the commentaries of Menage, Casaubon, and
of the value and dignity of philosophy, or of the others, were printed in 2 vols. 8vo. uniformly with
greatness of the men whose lives he described. The Hübner's edition. (Comp. P. Gassendi, Animadv.
traces of carelessness and mistakes are very nume- in r lilrum Diog. Laërt. , Lugdun. 1649, 3 vols.
rous ; much in the work is confused, and there is fol. 3rd edition, Lugdun. 1675; I. Bossius, Com-
much also that is quite absurd ; and as far as phi-mentationes Laërtianae, Rome, 1788, 410. ; S. Bat-
losophy itself is concerned, Diogenes very frequently tier, Obserrat, in Ding. Laërt. in the Mus. Helret.
did not know what he was talking about, when he xv. p. 32, &c. ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. v. p. 564. )
abridged the theories of the philosophers.
Diogenes seems to have taken the lists of the
The love of scandal and anecdotes, which had writings of his philosophers from Hermippus and
arisen from petty views of men and things, at a Alexandrian authors. (Suhr, Aristot. ii. p. 68 ;
time when all political freedom was gone, and Brandis, in the Rhein. Mus. i. 3, p. 249 ; Tren-
among a people which had become demoralized, delenburg, ad Aristot. de Anim. p. 123. ) Besides
bad crept into literature also, and such compila- the work on Greek philosophers, Diogenes Laër-
tions as those of Phlegon, Ptolemaeus Chennus, tius also composed other works, to which he him-
Athenaeus, Aelian, and Diogenes Laërtius display self (ii. 65) refers with the words ws èv annois
this taste of a decaying literature. All the defects cipónauer. The epigrams, many of which are in-
of such a period, however, are so glaring in the terspersed in his biographies, and with reference
work of Diogenes, that in order to rescue the com- to which Tzetzes (Chil. iii. 61) calls him an epi-
mon sense of the writer, critics have had recourse grammatic poet, were collected in a separate work,
to the hypothesis, that the present work is a muti- and divided into several books. (Diog. Laërt. i.
lated abridgment of the original production of 39, 63, where the first book is quoted. ) It bore
Diogenes. (J. G. Schneider in F. A. Wolf's Lit. the title of Tráulletpos, but, unfortunately, these
Anal. iii. p. 227. ). Gualterus Burlacus, who lived poetical attempts, so far as they are extant, shew
at the close of the 13th century, wrote a work the same deficiencies as the history of philosophy,
“ De Vita et Moribus Philosophorum,” in which he and the vanity with which he quotes them, does
principally used Diogenes.
a great Stoic (magnus et uraris Stoicus, Cic. de Off. 14. Of Sicyox, is mentioned by Diogenes Laër-
iii. 12), seenis io hare closely followed the views tius (vi. 81) as the author of a work on Pelopon-
of his master, Chrysippus, especially on subjects of nesus.
dialectics, in which Diogenes is even said to have 15. Of Smyrna, an Eleatic philosopher, who
instructed Carneades. (Cic. Acad. ii. 30, de Orat. a disciple of Metrodorus and Protagoras.
ii. 38. ) He was the author of several works, (Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 301. )
of which, however, little more than the titles is 16. Of Tarsus, an Epicurean philosopher, who
known. 1. AlaneKTIKD) TÉXun. (Diog. Laërt. vii. is described by Strabo (xiv. p. 675) as a peison
51. ) 2. On Divination. (Cic. de Dirin. i. 3, ii. 43. ) clever in composing extempore tragedies. He was
3. On the goddess Athena, whose birth he, like the author of several works, which, however, are
Chrysippus, explained by physiological principles. lost. Among them are mentioned : 1. ’ETÍNEKTO:
(Cic. de Nui. Deur. i. 15. ) 4. Tepi Toù vñs yoxñs xolai, which was probably a collection of essays
of MuovikoŮ. (Galen. ) 5. Nepè quvñs (Diog. Laërt. or dissertations on philosophical subjects. (Diog.
vii. 55), which seems to have treated on the philo- Laëri. x. 26, with Menage's note. ) 2. An abridge-
sophy of language. 6. Thepl evreveias, or on aris- ment of the Ethics of Epicurus (@FITour) TWv 'Euro-
tocracy of birth, in several books. (Athen, iv, p. Koupov abikuv Sntnuátur), of which Diogenes
168. ) 7. Tepl vouwv, likewise in several books, Laërtius (x. 118) quotes the 12th book. 3. Tepl
the first of which is quoted in Athenaeus (xii. p. TOINTIKWV (ntnuátwv, that is, on poetical problems,
5:26; comp. Cic. de Leg. iii. 5, where Dio is a false which he endeavoured to solve, and which seem to
reading for Diogenes). There are several passages have had especial reference to the Homeric poems.
in Cicero from which we may infer that Diogenes (Diog. Laërt. vi. 81. ) Further particulars are not
wrote on other subjects also, such as on Duty, on known about him, though Gassendi (al: Vit. Epicur.
the Highest Good, and the like, but the titles of ii. 6) represents him as a disciple oi Demetrius the
those works are unknown. (Cic. de Ofi: iii. 12, 13, Laconian.
23, de Fin. iii. 10, 15; comp. C. F. Thiery, Dis- There are several more literary persons of the
sortutio de Diogene Bubylonio, Lovanii, 1830, p. name of Diogenes, concerning whom nothing is
17. &c. , and Pars poster. p. 30, dic. )
known. A list of them is given by Thiery, l. c.
4. The Cesic philosophier. See below.
p. 97, &c.
(LS. )
was
:
## p. 1021 (#1041) ##########################################
DIOGENES.
10:21
DIOGENES.
DIOGENES' APOLLONIA'TES (Aloyévns ó plainest food, and sometimes on raw meat (comp.
ATOM Awriátns), an eminent natural philosopher, Julian, Orat. vi. ), slept in porticoes or in the streei,
who lived in the fifth century B. C. He was a
and finally, according to the common story, took
native of Apollonia in Crete, his father's name was 1p his residence in a tub belonging in the Mictroum,
Apollothemis, a nd he was a pupil of Anaximenes. or temple of the Mother of the Gods. The truth
Nothing is known of the events of his life, except of this latter tale has, however, been reasonably
that he was once at Athens, and there got into disputed. The chief direct authorities for it are
trouble from some unknown cause, which is con- Seneca (Ep. 99), Lucian (Quomodo ('unscr. Hiit.
jectured to have been the supposition that his philo- ii. p. 36+), Diogenes Laërtins (vi. 23), and the
sophical opinions were dangerous to the religion of incidental allusion to it in Juvenal (xiv. 308, &c. ),
the state. (Diog. Laërt. ix. $ 57. ) He wrote a who says, alerunder testa tulit in illa magnum
work in the lonic dialect, entitled nep. Dúoews, habitutorem, and Dolia nudi non ardent Cumiei.
* On Nature," which consisted of at least two Besides these, Aristophanes (Equit. 789), speaks
books, and in which he appears to have treated of of the Athenian poor as living, during the stress of
physical science in the largest sense of the words. the Peloponnesian war, in cellars, tubs (7718ákvais),
of this work only a few short fragments remain, and similar dwellings. To these arguments is op-
prescrved by Aristotle, Diogenes Laërtius, and posed the fact, thai Plutarch, Arrian, Cicero, avd
Simplicius. The longest of these is that which is Valerius Maximus, though they speak of Diogenes
inserted by Aristotle in the third book of his lisa basking in the sun, do not allude at all to the
tory of Animals, and which contains an interesting tub; but more particularly that Epictetus (ap).
description of the origin and distribution of the Arriun. iii. 24), in giving a long and careful account
veins. The following is the account of his philoso- of his mode of life, says nothing about it. The
phical opinions given by Diogenes Laërtius :-“ lle great combatants on this subject in modern times
maintained that air was the primal element of all are, against the tub, Heumann ( Ac. Philosoph, vol.
things; that there was an infinite number of ii. p. 58), and for it, Hase, whose dissertation de
worlds, and an infinite void ; that air, densified Doliari Hubitatione Diogenis Cynici, was published
and rarified, produced the different members of the by his rival. (Paecil. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 586. ) The
universe ; that nothing was produced from nothing, story of the tub goes on to say that the Athenians
or was reduced to nothing ; that the earth was voted the repair of this earthenware habitation
round, supported in the middle, and had received when it was broken by a mischievous urchin.
its shape from the whirling round of the warm Lucian, in telling this anecdote, appeals to certain
vapours, and its concretion and hardening from spurious epistles, falsely attributed to Diogenes.
cold. " The last paragraph, which is extremely ob- In spite of his strange eccentricities, Diogenes ap-
scure in the original, has been translated according pears to have been much respected at Athens, and
to Panzerbeiter's explanation, not as being entirely to have been privileged to rebuke anything of
satisfactory, but as being the best that has hitherto which he disapproved with the utmost possible
been proposed. Diogenes also imputed to air an licence of expression. He seems to have ridiculed
intellectual energy, though without recognizing any and despised all intellectual pursuits which did
distinction between mind and matter. The frag- not directly and obviously tend 10 some immediate
ments of Diogenes have been collected and pub- practical good. He abused literary men for rend-
lished, with those of Anaxagoras, by Schorn, Bonn, ing about the evils of Ulysses, and neglecting their
1829, 8vo; and alone by Panzerbeiter, Lips. 1830, own; musicians for stringing the lyre harmoniously
Evo, with a copious dissertation on his pliilosophy. while they left their minds discordant; men of
Further information concerning him may be found science for troubling themselves about the moon
in llarles's edition of Fabricii, Biblioth. Grueca, vol. and stars, while they neglected what lay immedi-
. ; Bayle's Dict. Hist. et Crit. ; Schleiermacher, in ately before them ; orators for learning to say
the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for 1815; and what was right, but not to practise it. Various
in the different Histories of Philosophy. Some notices sarcastic sayings of the same kind are handed
of his date by Mr. Clinton are given in an article down as his, generally shewing that unwise con-
“On the Early Ionic Philosophers,” in the first vo- tempt for the common opinions and pursuits of
lume of the Philological Muscum. (W. A. G. ] men, which is so unlikely to reform them.
DIO'GENES (Aloyévns), a Cynic of Sinope in The removal of Diogenes from Athens was the
Pontus, born about B. C. 412. His father was a result of a voyage to Aegina, in the course of
banker named Icesias or Icetas, who was convicted which the ship was taken by pirates, and Diogenes
of some swindling transaction, in consequence of carried to Crete to be sold as a slave. Here when
which Diogenes quitted Sinope and went to Athens. he was asked what business he understood, he
His youth is said to have been spent in dissolute answered “How to command men," and he begged
extravagance; but at Athens his attention was to be sold to some one who needed a ruler. Such
arrested by the character of Antisthenes, who at a purchaser was found in the person of Xeniades
first drove him away, as he did all others who of Corinth, over whom he acquired such unbounded
offered themselves as his pupils. (ANTISTHENES. ) influence, that he soon received from him his free-
Diogenes, however, could not be prevented from dom, was entrusted with the care of his children,
attending him even by blows, but told him that and passed his old age in his house. During his
he would find no stick hard enough to keep him residence among them his celebrated interview
away. Antisthenes at last relented, and his pupil with Alexander the Great is said to have taken
soon plunged into the most frantic excesses of place. The conversation between them is reported
austerity and moroseness, and into practices not to have begun by the king's saying, “ I am Alex-
unlike those of the modern Trappisis, or Indian ander the Great," to which the philosopher replied,
gymnosophists.
In summer he used to roll in hot And I am Dingenes the Cynic. ” Alexander
sind, and in winter to embrace statues covered then asked whether he could oblige him in any
he wore coarse clothing, lived on the way, and received no answer except “ Yes, you
with snow;
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10:22
DIOGENES.
DIOGENES.
can stand out of the sunshine. ” Considering, how de Les. Ilcsych. p. 59, &c. 6), &c. ) supposes that his
pver, that this must have happened soon after real name was Diogeninnus, and that he was the
Alexander's accession, and before his Persian ex- same as the Dingenians of Cyzic us, who is meus
pedition, he could not have called himself ilu Giroula tioned by Suidas. This suppositi on is founded on
which title was not conferred on him till he had a passige of Tzetzes, (Chil. iii. 61,,) in which Dio-
gained his Eastern victories, after which he never genes Laërtius is mentioned under i he name of Din-
returned to Greece. These considerations, with genianus. (Vossius, de llist. Gro. cc. p. 263, ed.
others, are sufficient to banish this anecdote, 10- Westermann. ) We have no information whatever
pother with that of the tub, from the domain of respecting his life, his studies, or his age. Plus
History; and, considering what rich materials so tarch, Sexins Empiricus and Saturninus are the
peculiar a person as Diogenes must have afforded latest writers he quotes, and he accordingly seems
for amusing stories, we need not wonder if a few to have lived towards the close of the second cen-
have come down to us of somewhat doubtful genu- tury after Christ
Others, however, as-sim to him
ineness. We are told, however, that Alexander a still later date, and place him in the time of Alex-
admired Diogenes so much that he said, “ If I were ander Severus and his successors, or even as late
not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes. " as the time of Constantine. His work consists of
(Plut. Aler. c. 14. ) Some say, that after Djo- ten books (116000o. Bloc, in Phot. Bill. Cod. cxxi;
genes became a resident at Corinth, he still spent | φιλόσοφος ιστόρια in Steph. Byz. , συφιστων βίοι
every winter at Athens, and he is also accused in Eustath) and is called in MSS. by the long title
of various Scandalous offences, but of these there | of περί βίαν, δογμάτων και αποφθεγμάτων των
is no proof; and the whole bearing of tradition év 11ocopia ejookiuNdávrwv. According to some
about him shew's that, though a strange fanatic, allusions which occur in it, he wrote it for a
he was a man of great excellence of life, and pro- lady of rank (iii. 47, x. 29), who ocenpied herself
bably of real kindness, since Xeniades compared with philosophy, especially with the study of Plato.
his arrival to the entrance of a good genius into According to some this lady was Arrin, the philoso-
his house.
phical friend of Galen (Theriac. ad Pison, 3), and
With regard to the philosophy of Diogenes there according to others Julia Domna, the wife of the
is little to say, as he was utterly without any sci- Emperor Severus. (Menage, l. c. ac. Prooem. p. 1;
entific object whatever. His sistem, if it deserve Th. Reinesius, Var. Lect. ii. 12. ) The dedication,
the name,
was purely practical, and consisted however and the prooemium are lost, so that no-
merely in teaching men to dispense with the sim- thing can be said with certainty.
plest and most necessary wants (Diog. Laërt. vi. The plan of the work is as follows: He begins
70); and his whole style of teaching was a kind with an introduction concerning the origin and the
of caricature upon that of Socrates, whom he imi- earliest history of philosophy, in which he refutes
tated in imparting instruction to persons whom he the opinion of those who did not seek for the first
casually met, and with a still more supreme con- beginnings of philosophy in Greece itself, but among
tempt for time, place, and circumstances. Hence the barbarians. He then divides the philosophy of
he was sometimes called "the mad Socrates. ” He the Greeks into the Jonic—which commences with
did not commit his opinions to writing, and there. Anaximander and ends with Cleitomachus, Chrysip-
fore those aitributed to him cannot be certainly pus, and Theophrastus and the Italian, which was
relied on.
The most peculiar, if correctly stated, founded by Pythagoras, and ends with Epicurus.
was, that all minds are air, exactly alike, and com- He reckons the Sceratic school, with its various ra-
posed of similar particles, but that in the irrational | mifications, as a part of the Ionic philosophy, of
animals and in idiots, they are hindered from pro- which he treats in the first seven books. The
perly developing themselves by the arrangement Eleatics, with Heracleitus and the Sceptics, are in-
and various humours of their bodies. (Plut. Plac. cluded in the Italian philosophy, which occupies
Phil. v. 20. ) This resembles the Ionic doctrine, the eighth and ninth books. Epicurus and his phi-
and has been referred by Brucker (Hist. Crit. Phil. losophy, lastly, are treated of in the tenth book with
ii. 2. 1. & 21) to Diogenes of Apollonia. The particular minuteness, which has led some writers to
statement in Suidas, that Diogenes was once called the belief that Diogenes himself was an Epicurean.
Cleon, is probably a false reading for Kúwv. He Considering the loss of all the numerous and com-
died at the age of nearly ninety, B. C. 323, in the prehensive works of the ancients, in which the his-
same year that Epicurus came to Athens to circu- tory of philosophers and of philosophy was treated of
late opinions the exact opposite to lis. It was either as a whole or in separate portions, and a
also the year of Alexander's death, and as Plu- great number of which Diogenes himself had before
tarch tells us (Sympos. riii. 717), both died on the him, the compilation of Diogenes is of incalculable
same day. If so, this was probably the 6th of value to us as a source of information concerning the
Thargelion. (Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. ; Ritter, Gesch. history of Greek philosophy. About forty writers
der Philosophie, vii, 1, 4. ) [G. E. L. C. ) on the lives and doctrines of the Greek philoso-
DIO'GENES LAE'RTIUS(Aloyévtis o naéptios phers are mentioned in his work, and in all two
or saeptieus, sometimes also aéptios Aloyévns), hundred and eleven authors are cited whose works
the author of a sort of history of philosophy, which he made use of. His work has for a long time
alone has brought his name down to posterity: been the foundation of most modern histories
The surname, Laërtius, was derived according to of ancient philosophy ; and the works of Brucker
some from the Roman family which bore the cog. and Stanler, as far as the early history of philo-
nomen Laërtius, and one of the members of which sophy is concerned, are little more than transla-
is supposed to have been the patron of an ancestor tions, and sometimes amplifications, of Diogenes
of Diogenes. But it is more probable that he re- Laërtius. The work of Diogenes contains a
ceived it from the town of Laërte in Cilicia, which rich store of living features, which serve to illus-
seems to have been his native place. (Fabric. Bibl. trate the private life of the Greeks, and a con-
Graec. V. p. 564, note). A modern critic (Ranke, siderable number of fragments of works which are
## p. 1023 (#1043) ##########################################
DIOGENES.
1023
DIOGENES.
commentators.
lost. Montaigne (Essais, ii. 10) therefore justly I lowed the editions of Th. Aldobrandinus (Rome,
wished, that we had a dozen Laërtiuscs, or that his 1594, fol. ), corrected by a collation of new MSS. ,
work were more complete and better arranged. One and of J. Pearson with a new Latin translation
must indeed confess, that he made bad use of the (London, 1664, fol. ), which contains the valuable
enormous quantity of materials which he had at his commentary of Menage, and the notes of the earlier
command in writing his work, and that he was un-
All these editions were surpassed
equal to the task of writing a history of Greek phi- in some respects by that of Meibom (Amsterd.
losophy. llis work is in reality nothing but a com- 1692, 2 vols. 4to. ), but the text is here treated care-
pilation of the most heterogeneous, and often die lessly, and altered by conjectures. This edition was
rectly contradictory, accounts, put together without badly reprinted in the editions of Longolius (1739
plan, criticism, or connexion. Even some early and 1759), in which only the preface of Longolius
scholars, such as H. Stephens, considered these bio- is of value. The best modern edition is that of
graphies of the philosophers to be anything but H. G. Hübner, Leipzig, 2 vols. 8vo. 1828 -—
worthy of the philosophers. His object evidently | 1831. The text is here greatly improved, and
was to furnish a book which was to amuse its read accompanied by short critical notes. In 183],
ers by piquant anecdotes, for he had no conception the commentaries of Menage, Casaubon, and
of the value and dignity of philosophy, or of the others, were printed in 2 vols. 8vo. uniformly with
greatness of the men whose lives he described. The Hübner's edition. (Comp. P. Gassendi, Animadv.
traces of carelessness and mistakes are very nume- in r lilrum Diog. Laërt. , Lugdun. 1649, 3 vols.
rous ; much in the work is confused, and there is fol. 3rd edition, Lugdun. 1675; I. Bossius, Com-
much also that is quite absurd ; and as far as phi-mentationes Laërtianae, Rome, 1788, 410. ; S. Bat-
losophy itself is concerned, Diogenes very frequently tier, Obserrat, in Ding. Laërt. in the Mus. Helret.
did not know what he was talking about, when he xv. p. 32, &c. ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. v. p. 564. )
abridged the theories of the philosophers.
Diogenes seems to have taken the lists of the
The love of scandal and anecdotes, which had writings of his philosophers from Hermippus and
arisen from petty views of men and things, at a Alexandrian authors. (Suhr, Aristot. ii. p. 68 ;
time when all political freedom was gone, and Brandis, in the Rhein. Mus. i. 3, p. 249 ; Tren-
among a people which had become demoralized, delenburg, ad Aristot. de Anim. p. 123. ) Besides
bad crept into literature also, and such compila- the work on Greek philosophers, Diogenes Laër-
tions as those of Phlegon, Ptolemaeus Chennus, tius also composed other works, to which he him-
Athenaeus, Aelian, and Diogenes Laërtius display self (ii. 65) refers with the words ws èv annois
this taste of a decaying literature. All the defects cipónauer. The epigrams, many of which are in-
of such a period, however, are so glaring in the terspersed in his biographies, and with reference
work of Diogenes, that in order to rescue the com- to which Tzetzes (Chil. iii. 61) calls him an epi-
mon sense of the writer, critics have had recourse grammatic poet, were collected in a separate work,
to the hypothesis, that the present work is a muti- and divided into several books. (Diog. Laërt. i.
lated abridgment of the original production of 39, 63, where the first book is quoted. ) It bore
Diogenes. (J. G. Schneider in F. A. Wolf's Lit. the title of Tráulletpos, but, unfortunately, these
Anal. iii. p. 227. ). Gualterus Burlacus, who lived poetical attempts, so far as they are extant, shew
at the close of the 13th century, wrote a work the same deficiencies as the history of philosophy,
“ De Vita et Moribus Philosophorum,” in which he and the vanity with which he quotes them, does
principally used Diogenes.
