Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 2.5.18

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[18] Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and of Phaenarete, a midwife, as we read in the Theaetetus of Plato; he was a citizen of Athens and belonged to the deme Alopece. It was thought that he helped Euripides to make his plays; hence Mnesimachus¹ writes:

This new play of Euripides is The Phrygians; and Socrates provides the wood for frying.²

And again he calls Euripides an engine riveted by Socrates. And Callias in The Captives³:

A.

Pray why so solemn, why this lofty air?

B.

I’ve every right; I’m helped by Socrates.

Aristophanes⁴ in The Clouds:

’Tis he composes for Euripides

Those clever plays, much sound and little sense.

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.) — 2.5.18 focus

[18] Σωκράτης Σωφρονίσκου μὲν ἦν υἱὸς λιθουργοῦ καὶ Φαιναρέτης μαίας, ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Θεαιτήτῳ φησίν, Ἀθηναῖος, τῶν δήμων Ἀλωπεκῆθεν. ἐδόκει δὲ συμποιεῖν Εὐριπίδῃ· ὅθεν Μνησίμαχος οὕτω φησί,

Φρύγες ἐστὶ καινὸν δρᾶμα τοῦτʼ Εὐριπίδου,

...ᾧ καὶ Σωκράτης

τὰ φρύγανʼ ὑποτίθησι.

καὶ πάλιν, Εὐριπίδας σωκρατογόμφους. καὶ Καλλίας Πεδήταις·

Α.

Τί δὴ σὺ σεμνὴ καὶ φρονεῖς οὕτω μέγα;

Β.

Ἔξεστι γάρ μοι· Σωκράτης γὰρ αἴτιος.

Ἀριστοφάνης Νεφέλαις·

Εὐριπίδῃ δʼ ὁ τὰς τραγῳδίας ποιῶν

τὰς περιλαλούσας οὗτός ἐστι, τὰς σοφάς.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. So Cobet for vulgate Mnesilochus, retained by Meineke, C.G.F. ii. 371.

2. There is a pun in Φρύγες and φρύγανα (= firewood).

3. Meineke, C.G.F. ii. 739.

4. A mistake for Teleclides: see Meineke, Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ii. p. 371 sq. Dindorf conjectured that τὰς σωκρατογόμφους belongs to the same passage of Teleclides’ Clouds and might well follow σοφάς.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 2.5.18

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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