Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 10.1.34

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[34] Opinion they also call conception or assumption, and declare it to be true and false¹; for it is true if it is subsequently confirmed or if it is not contradicted by evidence, and false if it is not subsequently confirmed or is contradicted by evidence. Hence the introduction of the phrase, that which awaits confirmation, e.g. to wait and

get close to the tower and then learn what it looks like at close quarters.²

They affirm that there are two states of feeling, pleasure and pain, which arise in every animate being, and that the one is favourable and the other hostile to that being, and by their means choice and avoidance are determined³; and that there are two kinds of inquiry, the one concerned with things, the other with nothing but words.⁴So much, then, for his division⁵ and criterion in their main outline.

But we must return to the letter.⁶

Epicurus to Herodotus, greeting.

Vitae philosophorum. Diogenes Laertius. R. D. Hicks (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1925.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access.

Current edition Perseus

Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.)

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Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Perseus (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.) — 10.1.34 focus

[34] τὴν δὲ δόξαν καὶ ὑπόληψιν λέγουσιν, ἀληθῆ τέ φασι καὶ ψευδῆ· ἂν μὲν γὰρ ἐπιμαρτυρῆται ἢ μὴ ἀντιμαρτυρῆται, ἀληθῆ εἶναι· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἐπιμαρτυρῆται ἢ ἀντιμαρτυρῆται, ψευδῆ τυγχάνειν. ὅθεν 〈τὸ〉 προσμένον εἰσήχθη· οἷον τὸ προσμεῖναι καὶ ἐγγὺς γενέσθαι τῷ πύργῳ καὶ μαθεῖν ὁποῖος ἐγγὺς φαίνεται.

Πάθη δὲ λέγουσιν εἶναι δύο, ἡδονὴν καὶ ἀλγηδόνα, ἱστάμενα περὶ πᾶν ζῷον, καὶ τὴν μὲν οἰκεῖον, τὴν δὲ ἀλλότριον· διʼ ὧν κρίνεσθαι τὰς αἱρέσεις καὶ φυγάς. τῶν τε ζητήσεων εἶναι τὰς μὲν περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων, τὰς δὲ περὶ ψιλὴν τὴν φωνήν. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ περὶ τῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τοῦ κριτηρίου στοιχειωδῶς.

Ἀνιτέον δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐπιστολήν.

“Ἐπίκουρος Ἡροδότῳ χαίρειν.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. See § 124, where a true πρόληψις is opposed to a false ὑπόληψις. In Aristotle ὑπόληψις is often a synonym of δόξα· cf. Bonitz, Index Ar., s.v.

2. See §§ 50, 147. The tower which seems round at a distance and square when we get up to it was the typical example in the school of that process of testing beliefs by observation which is here prescribed. Cf. Lucr. iv. 353 sqq., 501 sqq.; Sext. Emp. Adv. math. vii. 208.

3. i.e. pleasure and pain are the criteria by which we choose and avoid.

4. Cf. inf.§ 37.

5. Division of philosophy is probably meant.

6. The letter to Herodotus is the second and most valuable instalment of Epicurean doctrine. The manuscript seems to have been entrusted to a scribe to copy, just as it was: scholia and marginal notes, even where they interrupt the thread of the argument, have been faithfully reproduced. See §§ 39, 40, 43, 44, 50, 66, 71, 73, 74, 75.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 10.1.34

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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