Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 3.1.24

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[24] and that, on this occasion, as he was going up to the Acropolis along with Chabrias, Crobylus the informer met him and said, What, are you come to speak for the defence? Don’t you know that the hemlock of Socrates awaits you? To this Plato replied, As I faced dangers when serving in the cause of my country, so I will face them now in the cause of duty for a friend.

He was the first to introduce argument by means of question and answer, says Favorinus in the eighth book of his Miscellaneous History; he was the first to explain to Leodamas of Thasos the method of solving problems by analysis¹; and the first who in philosophical discussion employed the terms antipodes, element, dialectic, quality, oblong number, and, among boundaries, the plane superficies; also divine providence.

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.) — 3.1.24 focus

[24] ὅτε καὶ ἀνιόντι αὐτῷ εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν σὺν τῷ Χαβρίᾳ Κρωβύλος ὁ συκοφάντης ἀπαντήσας φησίν· ἄλλῳ συναγορεύσων ἥκεις, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι καὶ σὲ τὸ Σωκράτους κώνειον ἀναμένει; τὸν δὲ φάναι· καὶ ὅτε ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἐστρατευόμην, ὑπέμενον τοὺς κινδύνους, καὶ νῦν ὑπὲρ τοῦ καθήκοντος διὰ φίλον ὑπομενῶ.

Οὗτος πρῶτος ἐν ἐρωτήσει λόγον παρήνεγκεν, ὥς φησι Φαβωρῖνος ἐν ὀγδόῃ Παντοδαπῆς ἱστορίας. καὶ πρῶτος τὸν κατὰ τὴν ἀνάλυσιν τῆς ζητήσεως τρόπον εἰσηγήσατο Λεωδάμαντι τῷ Θασίῳ. καὶ πρῶτος ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ ἀντίποδας ὠνόμασε καὶ στοιχεῖον καὶ διαλεκτικὴν καὶ ποιότητα¹ καὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τὸν προμήκη καὶ τῶν περάτων τὴν ἐπίπεδον ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ θεοῦ πρόνοιαν.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. The same statement that Plato made over to Leodamas the analytical method occurs in Proclus, On Eucl. i. p. 211, 19-23 ed. Friedlein. See T. L. Heath, Euclid, vol. i. p. 36, also p. 134 note 1, and p. 137; vol. iii. p. 246.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 3.1.24

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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