Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 10.1.9

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[9] But these people are stark mad. For our philosopher has abundance of witnesses to attest his unsurpassed goodwill to all men—his native land, which honoured him with statues in bronze; his friends, so many in number that they could hardly be counted by whole cities, and indeed all who knew him, held fast as they were by the siren-charms of his doctrine, save Metrodorus¹ of Stratonicea, who

went over to Carneades, being perhaps burdened by his master’s excessive goodness; the School itself which, while nearly all the others have died out, continues for ever without interruption through numberless reigns of one scholarch after another²;

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

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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.) — 10.1.9 focus

[9] Μεμήνασι δʼ οὗτοι. τῷ γὰρ ἀνδρὶ μάρτυρες ἱκανοὶ τῆς ἀνυπερβλήτου πρὸς πάντας εὐγνωμοσύνης ἥ τε πατρὶς χαλκαῖς εἰκόσι τιμήσασα οἵ τε φίλοι τοσοῦτοι τὸ πλῆθος ὡς μηδʼ ἂν πόλεσιν ὅλαις μετρεῖσθαι δύνασθαι· οἵ τε γνώριμοι πάντες ταῖς δογματικαῖς αὐτοῦ σειρῆσι προσκατασχεθέντες, πλὴν Μητροδώρου τοῦ Στρατονικέως πρὸς Καρνεάδην ἀποχωρήσαντος, τάχα βαρυνθέντος ταῖς ἀνυπερβλήτοις αὐτοῦ χρηστότησιν· ἥ τε διαδοχή, πασῶν σχεδὸν ἐκλιπουσῶν τῶν ἄλλων, ἐσαεὶ διαμένουσα καὶ νηρίθμους ἀρχὰς ἀπολύουσα ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης τῶν γνωρίμων·

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. This man (not to be confounded with the more famous Metrodorus of Lampsacus, cf.§ 22) must belong to the second century b.c., if he was a contemporary of Carneades ( c. 215-130 b.c.).

2. So Aristocles; cf. Euseb. Praep. Ev. xiv. 21. 1, and Numenius, ib. xiv. 5. 3. The indications of time are so vague that this defence of Epicurus might be ascribed to D. L. himself. If, however, we compare the list of calum-niators of Epicurus cited in §§ 3, 4, we see that none of them is later than the Augustan age. To the same date belongs a passage in the article of Suidas on Epicurus— καὶ διέμεινεν ἡ αὐτοῦ σχόλη ἕως Καίσαρος τοῦ πρώτου ἔτη σκζ’, ἐν οἶς διάδοχ οι αὐτῆς ἐγένον το ιδ’. As Usener has shown ( Epicurea, 373), the interval of 227 years is reckoned from 270 to 44 b.c.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 10.1.9

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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