Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laërtius (
Life
Laërtius must have lived after
The precise form of his name is uncertain. The ancient manuscripts invariably refer to a "Laertius Diogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater[4] and the Suda.[5] The modern form "Diogenes Laertius" is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium,[6] and in a lemma to the Greek Anthology.[7] He is also referred to as "Laertes"[8] or simply "Diogenes".[9]
The origin of the name "Laertius" is also uncertain. Stephanus of Byzantium refers to him as "Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς" (Diogenes ho Laertieus),[10] implying that he was the native of some town, perhaps the Laerte in Caria (or another Laerte in Cilicia). Another suggestion is that one of his ancestors had for a patron a member of the Roman family of the Laërtii.[11] The prevailing modern theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the Homeric epithet Diogenes Laertiade, used in addressing Odysseus) used to distinguish him from the many other people called Diogenes in the ancient world.[12]
His home town is unknown (at best uncertain, even according to a hypothesis that Laertius refers to his origin). A disputed passage in his writings has been used to suggest that it was Nicaea in Bithynia.[13][14]
It has been suggested that Diogenes was an
In addition to the Lives, Diogenes refers to another work that he had written in verse on famous men, in various metres, which he called Epigrammata or Pammetros (Πάμμετρος).[3]
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
The work by which he is known, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (
Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages, led Montaigne to write that he wished that instead of one Laërtius there had been a dozen.[18] On the other hand, modern scholars have advised that we treat Diogenes' testimonia with care, especially when he fails to cite his sources: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy".[19]
Organization of the work
Diogenes divides his subjects into two "schools" which he describes as the
The work contains incidental remarks on many other philosophers, and there are useful accounts concerning
. The whole of Book X is devoted to Epicurus, and contains three long letters written by Epicurus, which explain Epicurean doctrines.His chief authorities were Favorinus and Diocles of Magnesia, but his work also draws (either directly or indirectly) on books by Antisthenes of Rhodes, Alexander Polyhistor, and Demetrius of Magnesia, as well as works by Hippobotus, Aristippus, Panaetius, Apollodorus of Athens, Sosicrates, Satyrus, Sotion, Neanthes, Hermippus, Antigonus, Heraclides, Hieronymus, and Pamphila.[23][24]
Oldest extant manuscripts
There are many extant
There seem to have been some early Latin translations, but they no longer survive. A 10th-century work entitled Tractatus de dictis philosophorum shows some knowledge of Diogenes.[30] Henry Aristippus, in the 12th century, is known to have translated at least some of the work into Latin, and in the 14th century an unknown author made use of a Latin translation for his De vita et moribus philosophorum[30] (attributed erroneously to Walter Burley).
Printed editions
The first printed editions were Latin translations. The first, Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt (Romae: Giorgo Lauer, 1472), printed the translation of
The first
English translations
Thomas Stanley's 1656 History of Philosophy adapts the format and content of Laertius' work into English, but Stanley compiled his book from a number of classical biographies of philosophers.
Legacy and assessment
Diogenes Laërtius's work has had a complicated reception in modern times.
Nonetheless, modern scholars treat Diogenes's testimonia with caution, especially when he fails to cite his sources. Herbert S. Long warns: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy."[19] Robert M. Strozier offers a somewhat more positive assessment of Diogenes Laertius's reliability, noting that many other ancient writers attempt to reinterpret and expand on the philosophical teachings they describe, something which Diogenes Laërtius rarely does.[47] Strozier concludes, "Diogenes Laertius is, when he does not conflate hundreds of years of distinctions, reliable simply because he is a less competent thinker than those on whom he writes, is less liable to re-formulate statements and arguments, and especially in the case of Epicurus, less liable to interfere with the texts he quotes. He does, however, simplify."[47]
Despite his importance to the history of western philosophy and the controversy surrounding him, according to Gian Mario Cao, Diogenes Laërtius has still not received adequate philological attention.[43] Both modern critical editions of his book, by H. S. Long (1964) and by M. Marcovich (1999) have received extensive criticism from scholars.[43]
He is criticized primarily for being overly concerned with superficial details of the philosophers' lives and lacking the intellectual capacity to explore their actual philosophical works with any penetration. However, according to statements of the 14th-century monk Walter Burley in his De vita et moribus philosophorum, the text of Diogenes seems to have been much fuller than that which we now possess.
Reliability
Although Diogenes had a will to objectivity and fact-checking, Diogenes's works are today seen as generally unreliable from a historical perspective.
Editions and translations
- Diogenis Laertii Vitae philosophorum edidit ISBN 9783598713163; vol. 2: Excerpta Byzantina; v. 3: Indices by Hans Gärtner.
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers, edited by Tiziano Dorandi, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013 (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, vol. 50, new radically improved critical edition).
- Laërtius, Diogenes (1688). The lives, opinions, and remarkable sayings of the most famous ancient philosophers. The first volume written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius; made English by several hands. Vol. 1. Translated by Fetherstone, T.; White, Sam.; Smith, E.; Philips, J.; Kippax, R.; Baxter, William; M., R. (2 volumes ed.). London: Edward Brewster.
- Laërtius, Diogenes (1853). Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Yonge, Charles Duke. London: G.H. Bohn.
- Translation by R.D. Hicks:
- . Lives of the Eminent Philosophers(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. 1925.
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Vol. I. ISBN 978-0-674-99203-0.
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Vol. II. Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library. 1925. ISBN 978-0-674-99204-7.
- .
- Translations based on the critical edition by Tiziano Dorandi:
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Pamela Mensch. Oxford University Press. 2018. ISBN 978-0-19-086217-6.
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Stephen White. Cambridge University Press. 2020. ISBN 978-0-521-88335-1.
- Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Pamela Mensch. Oxford University Press. 2018.
See also
Notes
- ^ The statement by Robert Hicks (1925) that "the scribe obviously knew no Greek",[26] was later rejected by Herbert Long. The more recent opinion of Tiziano Dorandi, however, is that the scribe had "little knowledge of Greek ... and limited himself to reproducing it in a mechanical way exactly as he managed to decipher it". A few years later an "anonymous corrector" with good knowledge of Greek rectified "many errors or readings that, rightly or wrongly, he considered erroneous" (Dorandi 2013, p. 21).
- The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013
- ^ Laërtius 1925a, § 47.
- ^ a b Chisholm1911, p. 282.
- Photius, Biblioth. 161
- ^ Suda, Tetralogia
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Druidai
- ^ Lemma to Anthologia Palatina, vii. 95
- ^ Eustathius, on Iliad, M. 153
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Enetoi
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Cholleidai
- ^ Smith 1870, p. 1028.
- ^ Long 1972, p. xvi.
- ^ a b Laërtius 1925b, § 109. Specifically, Diogenes refers to "our Apollonides of Nicaea". This has been conjectured to mean either "my fellow-citizen" or "a Sceptic like myself".
- ^ Craig 1998, p. 86.
- ^ Laërtius 1925c, § 3–12.
- ^ Laërtius 1925c, § 34–135.
- ^ Long 1972, pp. xvii–xviii.
- ^ Montaigne, Essays II.10 "Of Books" Archived 2009-02-14 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Long 1972, p. xix.
- ^ Laërtius 1925b, § 93–104.
- ^ Laërtius 1925c, § 36.
- ^ Laërtius 1925d, § 22–26.
- ^ Friedrich Nietzsche, Gesammelte Werke, 1920, p. 363.
- ^ Long 1972, p. xxi.
- ^ a b Long 1972, p. xxv.
- ^ Hicks 1925, p. [page needed].
- ^ Dorandi 2013, p. 2.
- ^ Dorandi 2013, p. 3.
- ^ Dorandi 2013, p. 52.
- ^ a b Long 1972, p. xxvi.
- ^ de la Mare 1992, p. [page needed].
- ^ Tolomio 1993, pp. 154, ff.
- ^ Long 1972, p. xxiv.
- ^ Dorandi 2013, pp. 11–12.
- ^ "Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ Stanley, Thomas (1656). The History of Philosophy. London: J. Mosely and T. Dring.
- ^ Fetherstone et al 1688, Volume 1, Volume 2 (published 1696).
- ^ Yonge 1853.
- ^ Long 1972, p. xiii.
- ^ Laërtius 1925.
- ISBN 978-0-19-086217-6. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-521-88335-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cao 2010, p. 271.
- ^ a b Cao 2010, pp. 271–272.
- ^ Montaigne, Essays II.10 "Of Books" Archived February 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Jaeger 1947, p. 330 n.2.
- ^ a b Strozier 1985, p. 15.
- ISBN 978-94-015-0354-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-88-288-0303-4.
- ^ S2CID 252810587.
- ^ ISSN 2586-9876.
References
- Cao, Gian Mario (2010), "Diogenes Laertius", in ISBN 978-0-674-03572-0
- Dorandi, Tiziano, ed. (2013). "Introduction". Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521886819.
- Craig, Edward, ed. (1998). "Diogenes Laertius (c. AD 300–50)". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Vol. 4. p. 86.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 1:3. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:9. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:10. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 1:2. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 65–104.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:7. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 1–160.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:10. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 1–154.
- Long, Herbert S. (1972). Introduction. Lives of Eminent Philosophers. By Laërtius, Diogenes. Vol. 1 (reprint ed.). Loeb Classical Library. p. xvi.
- Hicks, Robert Drew (1925). Introduction. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. By Laërtius, Diogenes. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (reprint ed.). Loeb Classical Library.[clarification needed]
- Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Diogenes Laertius". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
- de la Mare, Albinia Catherine (1992). "Cosimo and his Books". In Ames-Lewis, F. (ed.). Cosimo 'il Vecchio' de' Medici, 1389–1464. Oxford.
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- Jaeger, Werner (1947). Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture. Vol. III. Translated by Highet, Gilbert. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Tolomio, Ilario (1993). "Editions of Diogenes Laertius in the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries". In Santinello, G.; et al. (eds.). Models of the History of Philosophy. Vol. 1. Dordrecht: Kluwer. pp. 154, ff.
Further reading
- Barnes, Jonathan. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius IX 61–116: The Philosophy of Pyrrhonism." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 4241–4301. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
- Barnes, Jonathan. 1986. "Nietzsche and Diogenes Laertius." Nietzsche-Studien 15:16–40.
- Dorandi, Tiziano. 2009. Laertiana: Capitoli sulla tradizione manoscritta e sulla storia del testo delle Vite dei filosofi di Diogene Laerzio. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter.
- Eshleman, Kendra Joy. 2007. "Affection and Affiliation: Social Networks and Conversion to Philosophy." The Classical Journal 103.2: 129–140.
- Grau, Sergi. 2010. "How to Kill a Philosopher: The Narrating of Ancient Greek Philosophers' Deaths in Relation to the Living. Ancient Philosophy 30.2: 347-381
- Hägg, Tomas. 2012. The Art of Biography in Antiquity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
- Kindstrand, Jan Frederik. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius and the Chreia Tradition." Elenchos 7:217–234.
- Long, Anthony A. 2006. "Diogenes Laertius, Life of Arcesilaus." In From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy. Edited by Anthony A. Long, 96–114. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
- Mansfeld, Jaap. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius on Stoic Philosophy." Elenchos 7: 295–382.
- Mejer, Jørgen. 1978. Diogenes Laertius and his Hellenistic Background. Wiesbaden: Steiner.
- Mejer, Jørgen. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius and the Transmission of Greek Philosophy." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3556–3602. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
- Morgan, Teresa J. 2013. "Encyclopaedias of Virtue?: Collections of Sayings and Stories About Wise Men in Greek." In Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Edited by Jason König and Greg Woolf, 108–128. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Sassi, Maria Michela. 2011. Ionian Philosophy and Italic Philosophy: From Diogenes Laertius to Diels. In The Presocratics from the Latin Middle Ages to Hermann Diels. Edited by Oliver Primavesi and Katharina Luchner, 19–44. Stuttgart: Steiner.
- Sollenberger, Michael. 1992. The Lives of the Peripatetics: An Analysis of the Content and Structure of Diogenes Laertius’ “Vitae philosophorum” Book 5. In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3793–3879. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
- Vogt, Katja Maria, ed. 2015. Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck.
- Warren, James. 2007. "Diogenes Laertius, Biographer of Philosophy." In Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire. Edited by Jason König and Tim Whitmars, 133–149. Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press.
Attribution:
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Diogenes Laërtius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 282. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Works by Diogenes Laertius at Perseus Digital Library
- Works by Diogenes Laertius in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
- Works by Diogenes Laertius at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Diogenes Laertius at Internet Archive
- Works by Diogenes Laertius at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Ancient Greek text of Diogenes's Lives
- Article on the Manuscript versions at the Tertullian Project
- A bibliography of the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
- Libro de la vita de philosophi et delle loro elegantissime sentencie. Venice, Joannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 20 May 1489. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
- Digitized Manuscript of Diogenes Laertius' Vitae Philosophorum (Arundel MS 531) Archived 2022-04-11 at the Wayback Machine at the British Library website