Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 8.2.63

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[63] Timaeus explains that he called Agrigentum great, inasmuch as it had 800,000 inhabitants.¹ Hence Empedocles, he continues, speaking of their luxury, said, The Agrigentines live delicately as if tomorrow they would die, but they build their houses well as if they thought they would live for ever.

It is said that Cleomenes the rhapsode recited this very poem, the Purifications, at Olympia²: so Favorinus in his Memorabilia. Aristotle too declares him to have been a champion of freedom and averse to rule of every kind, seeing that, as Xanthus relates in his account of him, he declined the kingship when it was offered to him, obviously because he preferred a frugal life.

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.) — 8.2.63 focus

[63] Μέγαν δὲ τὸν Ἀκράγαντα εἰπεῖν φησιν¹ ἐπεὶ μυριάδες αὐτὸν κατῴκουν ὀγδοήκοντα· ὅθεν τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα εἰπεῖν, τρυφώντων αὐτῶν, Ἀκραγαντῖνοι τρυφῶσι μὲν ὡς αὔριον ἀποθανούμενοι, οἰκίας δὲ κατασκευάζονται ὡς πάντα τὸν χρόνον βιωσόμενοι.

Αὐτοὺς δὲ τούτους τοὺς Καθαρμοὺς [ἐν] Ὀλυμπίασι ῥαψῳδῆσαι λέγεται Κλεομένη τὸν ῥαψῳδόν, ὡς καὶ Φαβωρῖνος ἐν Ἀπομνημονεύμασι. φησὶ δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης ἐλεύθερον γεγονέναι καὶ πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀλλότριον, εἴ γε τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῷ διδομένην παρῃτήσατο, καθάπερ Ξάνθος ἐν τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγει, τὴν λιτότητα δηλονότι πλέον ἀγαπήσας.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. According to the vulgate, an unknown writer Potamilla is the authority cited by Diogenes. Diels, however ( Frag der Vorsokr. ii. 3 p. 196), prefers the reading of two mss. ποταμὸν ἄλλα (sc. ὑπομνήματα or ἀντίγραφα λέγει), regarding this as derived from a marginal note which was afterwards put in the text. In the Palatine ms. the gloss is ποταμὸν ἄλλοι. Apelt, however, suggests ποτ’ ἀμέλει, not as a scholium, but as part of the text.

2. Cf. Athenaeus xiv. 620 d, whence it appears that the ultimate authority is Dicaearchus; ἐν τῷ Ὀλυμπικῷ, F.H.G. ii. p. 249, fr. 47. Here again a citation from Favorinus seems to disturb the context.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 8.2.63

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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