Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 9.1.17

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[17] Five men have borne the name of Heraclitus: (1) our philosopher; (2) a lyric poet, who wrote a hymn of praise to the twelve gods; (3) an elegiac poet of Halicarnassus, on whom Callimachus wrote the following epitaph¹:

They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead,

They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed.

I wept as I remembered how often you and I

Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,

A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,

Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;

For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take;²

(4) a Lesbian who wrote a history of Macedonia; (5) a jester who adopted this profession after having been a musician.

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.) — 9.1.17 focus

[17] Γεγόνασι δʼ Ἡράκλειτοι πέντε· πρῶτος αὐτὸς οὗτος· δεύτερος ποιητὴς λυρικός, οὗ ἐστι τῶν δώδεκα θεῶν ἐγκώμιον· τρίτος ἐλεγείας ποιητὴς Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, εἰς ὃν Καλλίμαχος πεποὶηκεν οὕτως·

εἶπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον, ἐς δʼ ἐμὲ δάκρυ

ἤγαγεν, ἐμνήσθην δʼ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι

ἥλιον ἐν λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που,

ξεῖνʼ Ἁλικαρνασσεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή,

αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων

ἁρπάκτης Ἀΐδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ.

τέταρτος Λέσβιος, ἱστορίαν γεγραφὼς Μακεδονικήν· πέμπτος σπουδογέλοιος, ἀπὸ κιθαρῳδίας μεταβεβηκὼς εἰς 〈τόδε〉 τὸ εἶδος.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. Anth. Pal. vii. 80.

2. From Cory’s Ionica, p. 7. In bare prose: One told me of thy death, Heraclitus, and moved me to tears, when I remembered how often we two watched the sun go down upon our talk. But though thou, I ween, my Halicarnassian friend, art dust long, long ago, yet do thy Nightingales live on, and Death, that insatiate ravisher, shall lay no hand on them. Perhaps Nightingales was the title of a work. Laertius deserves our gratitude for inserting this little poem, especially on so slight a pretext.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 9.1.17

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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