Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 2.3.11

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[11] To one who complained that he was dying in a foreign land, his answer was, The descent to Hades is much the same from whatever place we start.

Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says Anaxagoras was the first to maintain that Homer in his poems treats of virtue and justice, and that this thesis was defended at greater length by his friend Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who was the first to busy himself with Homer’s physical doctrine. Anaxagoras was also the first to publish a book with diagrams.¹ Silenus² in the first book of his History gives the archonship of Demylus³ as the date when the meteoric stone fell,

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.)

Editions (1)

Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων Perseus (Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.) — 2.3.11 focus

[11] πρὸς τὸν δυσφοροῦντα ὅτι ἐπὶ ξένης τελευτᾷ, πανταχόθεν, ἔφη, ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ εἰς ᾅδου κατάβασις.

Δοκεῖ δὲ πρῶτος, καθά φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Παντοδαπῇ ἱστορίᾳ, τὴν Ὁμήρου ποίησιν ἀποφήνασθαι εἶναι περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ δικαιοσύνης· ἐπὶ πλεῖον δὲ προστῆναι τοῦ λόγου Μητρόδωρον τὸν Λαμψακηνόν, γνώριμον ὄντα αὐτοῦ, ὃν καὶ πρῶτον σπουδάσαι τοῦ ποιητοῦ περὶ τὴν φυσικὴν πραγματείαν. πρῶτος δὲ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ βιβλίον ἐξέδωκε συγγραφῆς. φησὶ δὲ Σιληνὸς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Δημύλου¹ λίθον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖν·

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. From Plutarch’s Life of Nicias, c. 23, and Clement of Alexandria ( Strom. i. 78, p. 364 P.), διὰ γραφῆς (for which Diels conjectures ‹μετὰ› διαγραφῆς) ἐκδοῦναι βιβλίον ἱστοροῦσιν, the inference seems to be that Anaxagoras was credited with diagrams as well as text, διδασκαλία καὶ γραφή. Laertius, if the text is sound, is much too vague; and some translate was the first to bring out a book written by himself.

2. Silenus of Calatia, who served in the Hannibalic war, wrote a History quoted by Cicero, Livy and Pliny; also a work on Sicily, F.H.G. iii. 100.

3. We know no archon Demylus. Various dates are suggested by critics; the years of (1) Demotion, archon 470, (2) Lysistratus, 467, (3) Diphilus, 442 b.c. The letters -μυλου may not be part of the archon’s name but a distinct word, calling the meteor a millstone, i.e. in size.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 2.3.11

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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