Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 6.2.63

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[63] On being asked what he had gained from philosophy, he replied, This at least, if nothing else—to be prepared for every fortune. Asked where he came from, he said, I am a citizen of the world.¹ Certain parents were sacrificing to the gods, that a son might be born to them. But, said he, do you not sacrifice to ensure what manner of man he shall turn out to be? When asked for a subscription towards a club, he said to the president:

Despoil the rest; off Hector keep thy hands.²

The mistresses of kings he designated queens; for, said he, they make the kings do their bidding. When the Athenians gave Alexander the title of Dionysus, he said, Me too you might make Sarapis.³ Some one having reproached him for going into dirty places, his reply was that the sun too visits cesspools without being defiled.

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.)

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.) — 6.2.63 focus

[63] ἐρωτηθεὶς τί αὐτῷ περιγέγονεν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας, ἔφη, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο, τὸ γοῦν πρὸς πᾶσαν τύχην παρεσκευάσθαι. ἐρωτηθεὶς πόθεν εἴη, κοσμοπολίτης, ἔφη. θυόντων τινῶν τοῖς θεοῖς ἐπὶ τῷ υἱὸν γενέσθαι, ἔφη, περὶ δὲ τοῦ ποδαπὸς ἐκβῇ οὐ θύετε; ἔρανόν ποτʼ ἀπαιτούμενος πρὸς τὸν ἐρανάρχην ἔφη,

τοὺς ἄλλους ἐράνιζʼ, ἀπὸ δʼ Ἕκτορος ἴσχεο χεῖρας.

Τὰς ἑταίρας ἔφη βασιλέων εἶναι βασιλίσσας· πράττειν γὰρ ὅ τι ἂν δόξῃ αὐταῖς. ψηφισαμένων Ἀθηναίων Ἀλέξανδρον Διόνυσον, κἀμέ, ἔφη, Σάραπιν ποιήσατε. πρὸς τὸν ὀνειδίζοντα ὅτι εἰς τόπους ἀκαθάρτους εἰσίοι, καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος, ἔφη, εἰς τοὺς ἀποπάτους, ἀλλʼ οὐ μιαίνεται.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. If this answer is authentic, it apparently shows that the famous term cosmopolitan originated with Diogenes.

2. There is no such line in our mss. of Homer; it is unknown to the Scholiasts and to Eustathius. Joshua Barnes, in his edition of the Iliad, introduced it as xvi. 82a. Pope rendered it, about 1718, as follows ( Il. xvi. 86):

Rage uncontrolled through all the hostile crew,

But touch not Hector, Hector is my due.

In Clarke’s edition of 1740 it is expelled from the text and relegated to a footnote. J. H. Voss, however, making a German translation of the Iliad, probably between 1781 and 1793, still regarded it as Homeric, but found a fresh place for it, after xvi. 90.

3. Sarapis was represented, like Pluto, as seated with an animal by his side having the head of a dog, lion, or wolf combined (according to Baumeister) in a three-headed Cerberus.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 6.2.63

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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