Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, R. D. Hicks (Translator), 9.5.27

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[27] Demetrius in his work on Men of the Same Name says that he bit off, not the ear, but the nose. According to Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers, after informing against the tyrant’s friends, he was asked by the tyrant whether there was anyone else in the plot; whereupon he replied, Yes, you, the curse of the city!; and to the bystanders he said, I marvel at your cowardice, that, for fear of any of those things which I am now enduring, you should be the tyrant’s slaves. And at last he bit off his tongue and spat it at him; and his fellow-citizens were so worked upon that they forthwith stoned the tyrant to death.¹ In this version of the story most authors nearly agree, but Hermippus says he was cast into a mortar and beaten to death.

Vitae philosophorum. Diogenes Laertius. R. D. Hicks (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1925.

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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.) — 9.5.27 focus

[27] Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις τὸν μυκτῆρα αὐτὸν ἀποτραγεῖν. Ἀντισθένης δὲ ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς φησι μετὰ τὸ μηνῦσαι τοὺς φίλους ἐρωτηθῆναι πρὸς τοῦ τυράννου εἴ τις ἄλλος εἴη· τὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν, σὺ ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἀλιτήριος. πρός τε τοὺς παρεστῶτας φάναι· θαυμάζω ὑμῶν τὴν δειλίαν, εἰ τούτων ἕνεκεν ὧν νῦν ἐγὼ ὑπομένω, δουλεύετε τῷ τυράννῳ· καὶ τέλος ἀποτραγόντα τὴν γλῶτταν προσπτύσαι αὐτῷ· τοὺς δὲ πολίτας παρορμηθέντας αὐτίκα τὸν τύραννον καταλεῦσαι. ταὐτὰ δὲ σχεδὸν οἱ πλείους λαλοῦσιν. Ἕρμιππος δέ φησιν εἰς ὅλμον αὐτὸν βληθῆναι καὶ κατακοπῆναι.

Notes on the current edition

Lives of Eminent Philosophers

1. The heroic death of Zeno and his defiance of the tyrant furnished a theme for various writers; cf. Plutarch, Adv. Col. p. 1126 d; De garrulitate, p. 505 d; De Stoicorum repugn. p. 1051 c, where he is ranked with Socrates, Pythagoras and Antiphon. Cf. also Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. 57, citing Eratosthenes.

Diogenes Laertius Vitae philosophorum 9.5.27

R. D. Hicks (Translator)

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