which is Less and so of the rest And thus he divided the first Genus's of things according to Aristotle There were also besides our famous Plato several others of the same name One that was a Philosopher likewise and born at Rhodes the Disciple of Panatius as Seleucus the Grammarian records in his Treatise of Philosophy another that was a Peripatetic and the Disciple of Aristotle And one more the Son of Praxiphanes a Comic Poet that wrote after the Ancient manner of freedom without respect of Persons in imitation of Aristophanes The End of the Third Book Diogenes Laertius Containing the Lives Opinions and Apothegms Of the most Famous PHILOSOPHERS The Fourth Book Translated from the Greek by J. Philips Gent. The LIFE of SPEVSIPPVS THUS have we to the utmost of our power made a true and faithful Collection of whatever has occur'd to our Enquiry concerning the Life of Plato To him succeeded Speusippus an Athenian the Son of Eurymedon and Potone the Sister of Plato born in the Village of Myrchinusium He govern'd Plato's School for eight years together beginning from the hundred and eighth Olympiad He plac'd the Statues of the Graces also in the School which was erected by Plato in the Academy He likewise persever'd in the same Opinions with Plato but differed in his Manners For he was hasty and addicted to pleasure Therefore it is reported of him that in his Passion he threw a little whelp into a Well and that to indulge his pleasure he made a Journey into Macedonia to be present at the Nuptials of Cassander He is also said to have been a hearer of Plato's she Disciples Lasthenia the Prophetess and Axiothea the Phliasian Whence it happen'd that Dionysius thus derides him And we may learn Philosophy from thy Female Arcadian Disciple And in another place Plato taught for nothing all that came to his house but thou exactest pay and scrap'st as well from the unwilling as the willing He was the first according to Diodorus in his first Book of Commentaries who first sought out for what was common in all Arts and Sciences and as far as could be done joyn'd 'em together and made 'em agree one with another He likewise first divulg'd those things called Mysteries by Isocrates as Caenous affirms And was the first that invented the way of making Wicker Baskets and such like hollow Utensils compos'd of Twigs At length finding his Body consum'd by a Palsey he sent for Xenocrates desiring him to come and succeed him in his School While he was in this condition it is reported that being carry'd in a little Chariot to the Academy he met Diogenes whom after he had saluted with the usual complement of I am glad to see you well The other reply'd But I won't wish you well that can endure a life so miserable At last wasted with old age such was his despair and discontent that of his own accord he put an end to his irkâ—om Life However Plutarch in his Life of Lysander and Sylla reports that he was all over-run with Lice for he was of an infirm and loose Constitution according to the Report of Timotheus in his Book of Lives To a rich Man that lov'd a deform'd Woman he is said to have given this rebuke What need hast thou of such a Dowdy as this For I 'le procure thee a far handsomer for ten Talents He left behind him a great number of Commentaries and several Dialogues among which is that of Aristippus the Cyrenaean Of Riches one Of Pleasure one Of Justice one Of Philosophy one Of Friendship one Of the Gods one The Philosopher one To Cephalus one Cleinomachus or Lysias one The Citizen one Of the Soul one To Gryllus one Aristippus one The Probation of Arts one Dialogues by way of Commentary one Ten Dialogues relating to things alike in business Divisions and Propositions relating to things alike Concerning the Kinds and Forms of Examples To Amartyrus The Eucomium of Plato Epistles to Die Dionysius and Philip Concerning the making of Laws Mathematicus Mandryboulus Lysias Definitions The Order of Commentaries Of Verses an infinite number To all which Simonides adds some Histories wherein he has set down the Lives of Bion and Dio. And Phavorinus reports in his Second Book of Commentaries how that Aristotle bought all his Books for three Talents There was also another Speusippus a Physician Herophilius of Alexandria The LIFE of XENOCRATES XEnocrates the Son of Agathenor a Chalcedonian from his very youth was a great admirer and hearer of Plato nor would he leave him when he travelled into Sicily He was naturally dull and blockish insomuch that Plato was wont to say when he compar'd him with Aristotle That the one wanted a Spur and the other a Bridle And at other times To what a Horse what an Ass do I joyn As to other things Xenocrates was very grave in his gate and sowre-look'd insomuch that Plato would several times cry out to him Xenocrates go and sacrifice to the Graces He liv'd in the Academy for the most part But if at any time he went into the City the Rabble of loose and Harlotry People would still gather about him to molest and affront him as he passed along Phryne also the famous Curtezan having a mind to try her temptations upon him to that purpose pretended to be pursu'd and flying to his little house for shelter was by him let in meerly in compassion After that perceiving there was but one little Bed she desir'd him to let her have part of it which he readily granted But after she made use of all her allurementâ— she was forc'd to return as she came telling those that asked her how she had sped that she hâ—d lain with a Statue not with a Man. Some there are who report that certain of his Scholars put Lais to Bed to him but that he was so chast that he would suffer himself to be cut and burnt about the Privities to prevent venereal Insurrections He was faithful of his word even to admiration so that the Athenians gave him alone that liberty of delivering hiâ— testimony unsworn which was not allow'd to any other of what degree oâ— quality soever He was also a person of great Frugality so that when Alexander gave him a large sum of Money he only accepted of three thousand Atticks and return'd the rest with these words That he had need of more who had more to maintain And as for another Sum sent him by Antipater he would not so much as touch it as Myronianus witnesses in his Similes Another time being presented with a Crown of Gold by some of Dionysius's Favourites for bearing up briskly at a Drinking Match when he was gone out of doors he laid it before the Statue of Mercury where he was wont only to deposit Garlands of Flowers before It is also reported of him that being sent with others on an Embassy to Philip when all the rest suffering themselves to be mollify'd by the
them were Servants to them For that fear was the Property of 〈…〉 Servant but wild Beasts kept men in â—…ear He had in him a very strange â—aâ—ulty of persuasion insomuch that he would take whom he would with his Conversation It is related how one Oâ—esicritus an Aeginese having two Sons sent the younger of them by name Androsthenes unto Athens who when he had heard Diogenes Discourse tarried there with him And that thereupon he sent his elder Son also being the before named Philiscus and that Philiscus also was detained there And yet in the third place the Father himself went and was also joyned in Philosophy with his Children So great â— Charm there was in the Discourses of Diogenes There heard him also Phoâ—… Sirnamed the Good and Stilpon of Megâ—… and many other Persons of great Quality He is said to have died at aboâ—â— ninety years of Age But there are different accounts of his Death For sâ—… say that upon eating a raw Pourâ—â—â—trel he was taken with the Griping of the Guts and so died But others say he 〈…〉 in his Breath until he died of which number is Kerkidas the Megapolitan or Crâ—… as others call him saying in his Meliâ—… bicks thus That Sinopese is no more what he was Feeding abroad with Staff and folded Pâ—… He clapt his Lips to 's Teeth and bit his Breâ—… And flew to Jove So now Diogenes Thou art Joves Son indeed and Heavens Dâ—… Others say that as he went to share a Pourcontrel among the Dogs they bit him by the Ligament of his Leg whereof he dyed But his familiar followers as Antisthenes relates in his Successions were of the opinion that he dyed by holding in his Breath For he then passed his time in the Craneon which is a place for publick Exercises before Corinth where his Disciples according to their Custom coming unto him found him closely wrapt up in his Mantle and not believing him to be asleep for he was not of a sleepy nor drowsie Temper they opened his Mantle and found him expired And they believed he had done this from a great desire he had now to steal privately out of the World. Whereupon they say there arose a strong Contest among his Followers who should have the burying of him Yea that it went so high as to come to blows But that at last their Parents and Governours coming in he was by them interred by the Gate that leads to the Isthmus They also set a Pillar upon his Grave and upon that a Dog of Parian Marble And afterwards his Citizens honoured him with Statues of Copper and wrote upon them thus Copper decays with time but thy Renown Diogenes no age shall e're take down For thou alone hast taught us not to need By thinking that we do'nt And hast us freed From eares and shew'd the casy way to Life There is also this of my own upon him in the Prokeleusmatick Measure Diogenes what made thee take thy flight To th' Netherlands It was a mad Dogs bite But some others say that as he was dying he gave a great Charge to those about him to cast him out unburyed that every Beast might have part of him Or else to throw him into a Ditch and cover him with a little dust But others that he desired to be flung into the River Ilissus that he might benefit his Brethren there Demetrius in his Treatise of Name-sakes saith that Alexander dyed at Babylon and Diogenes at Corinth upon the very same day He was an Old man in the Hundred and Fourteenth Olympiad And there go about these Books of his His Dialogues His Kephalion His Fishes His Jay His Leopard His Commons of Athens His Republick His Art of Morality His Treatise of Riches His Love Discourse His Theodore His Hypsias His Aristarchus His Treatise of Death His Letters His seven Tragedies viz. His Semele His Thyestes His Hercules His Achilles His Medea His Chrysippus His Oedipus But Sosicrates in the First Book of his Successions and Satyrus in the Fourth of his Lives say there is nothing of Diogenes's extant And Satyrus adds further that those trifling Tragedies were written by Philiscus of Aegina Diogenes's Follower But Sotion in his seventh Book saith that these following were the only things Diogenes ever wrote Of Vertue Of Good A Discourse of Love The Beggar Tolmaeus The Leopard Casander Kephalion Philiscus Aristarchus Sisyphus Ganymedes His sayings His Letters There have been in all five Diogeneses The First was Diogenes of Apollonia the Naturalist His Book began thus Now I am to begin my whole Discourse I think it my Duty to render the beginning of it indisputable The Second was he of Sicyon who wrote of the Affairs of Peloponnesus The Third was this Diogenes The Fourth was a Stoick born at Selencia but named the Babylonian by reason of the Vicinity The Fifth of Tarsus who wrote about Questions in Poetry which he attempts to resolve But the Philosopher Diogenes Athenodorus saith in the eighth Book of his Walks to have always appeared with a Shining Countenance by reason he used to anoint himself often The LIFE of MONIMVS MONIMVS was born at Syracuse he was a Disciple of Diogenes and a Servant of a certain Banker of Corinth as Sosicrates relates Xeniades who had bought Diogenes coming very often to see him and telling him of his rare Perfections as well in Conversation as Behaviour brought Monimus at last to be passionately in Love with the Man. For he presently began to feign himself Mad and flung about the Change Money and all the Silver that was on the Board Insomuch that his Master was glad to part with him Upon which he presently betook himself to Diogenes He also often followed Crates the Cynick and kept much Company with such kind of Men which help'd to confirm his Master in his Opinion that he was Mad. And he afterwards became a Man of good account insomuch that Menander the famous Comoedian made mention of his Name for in one of his Drama's called Hippocomus he spoke thus O Philo Monimus was very wise Although of small esteem few such can prize Not Master of one Scrip for he had three A rich Philosopher indeed yet he Vtter'd no Sentence grave like a deep fellow Like KNOW THY SELF which Vulgar sages bellow But was above such toys For he said that Concoited thoughts begot conceited Chat. This Man was of a Genius so ponderous that he slighted Praise and wholly made after Truth He composed certain Ludiorous Tracts in which he privately couched very serious things He wrote also two Treatises of the Inclinations and one Perswasive The LIFE of ONESCRITVS SOme say that he was of Aegina But Demetrius of Magnesia saith he was an Astypelaecan He also was one of Diogenes's Prime Disciples And he seemed to have something in him that made him very much to resemble Xenophon For Xenophon followed Cyrus into the Wars and he Alexander Xenophon wrote the
DIOGENES LAERTIUS THE LIVES OPINIONS AND REMARKABLE SAYINGS Of the Most Famous Ancient Philosophers Written in GREEK by DIOGENES LAERTIUS Made English by Several Hands The First Volume LONDON Printed for Edward Brewster at the Crane in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1688. The LIFE of DIOGENES LAERTIUS SInce our Author Diogenes Laertius has so highly oblig'd Posterity by the Pains which he has taken in collecting the Lives of the most Famous Phylosophers without which Assistance we could never have attain'd the Knowledg of so many remarkable Discourses and Means to understand their Learning my Opinion is that it is but reasonable to do him the same Justice to publish whatever we have found as well in Ancient as in Modern Authors in reference to his own Life Nevertheless because there are but very few who have made mention of him we must be forc'd to do as they do who not daring to stare impudently in the Face of any Lady for that they never had the opportunity of Access to speak to her are constrain'd to fix their Eyes upon her Hands in like manner shall I ground my Discourse for the greater Confirmation of the Reasons which I bring upon his Book of Lives from which we shall endeavour to collect his own as we do the Cause from the Effect not being able to compass more ample Testimonies of his Qualities by reason of the great Distance between the Age he liv'd in and our Times and the Negligence of those who have writ the Lives of Remarkable Persons without making mention of His. In the first place then to remove all Disputes concerning the Time wherein he flourish'd most certain it is that it could not be but very few Years that he preceded the more Modern Philosophers of whom he makes mention in certain Places of his Lives that is to say Simon Apollonides who liv'd in the Reign of the Emperor Tiberius Plutarch and Sextus Empiricus who liv'd in the Time of Marcus Antoninus Nevertheless 't is very probable that he might survive a long time after them seeing that Eunapius the Sardian who liv'd under the Reign of Julian the Emperor makes no mention of him in the Catalogue of Authors who have collected the History of the Ancient Philosophers which makes me question Whether the same Accident did not befal Eunapius Diogenes as befel Sotion Porphyrius the Elder whereof wrote the Lives of the Philosophers who liv'd nearest to his Time and the Younger the Lives of such as were most remote from the Age wherein he liv'd So that there is no Faith to be giv'n to Suidas who asserts that our Historian liv'd both before and after the Death of Augustus As for the Place of his Birth I am not of their Opinion who will have it to be a Village of Cilicia call'd Laertes grounding their Opinion upon his Additional Sirname for their Conjecture is fallacious in regard there is no reason to think but that it ought to be either his Proper Name or given him by reason of some Accident without deriving it from the Place of his Nativity nay though they might have some reason to derive his Name from the Place of his Birth yet there will another doubt arise whether there might not be some other Village in Greece that bore the same Name to prevent his being a Cilician for had they but read with Consideration the Life of Timon the Phliasian they might there observe by his own Testimony that he was of Nice in Macedonia of the same Country with Timon Apolloniates as is manifestly apparent by that Expression of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Countryman which Words cannot be understood in any other Sence as the Learned Reader may judge by the Greek Text in the same Place for there is no Credit to be giv'n to the Latin Version If it be a thing possible to judge of the Manners of a Person by his Physiognomy and of the Cause by the Effect what should hinder us to make a shrewd Conjecture of the Manners of Diogenes in regard that Books much more manifestly discover the Inclinations of those that wrote them then Words and Words more clearly then the Countenance It is impossible to understand the Discourse of a Man by his Face unless he speaks nor whether he can play on the Lute or no unless you hear him touch the Strings But we may apparently discover his Manners in his Works as we may his Face in a Mirror in regard that by his faithful setting down in Writing what Men have done and said we find that he never approves their Vicious Acts but on the other side censures them by some Explication or other As when he tells us that Bion entertain'd his Friends with lewd Discourse which he had learn'd in the School of Prophane Theodorus Or by some Epigram of his own making as when in the same place he laughs at the Folly of Bion who had all along liv'd an impious Life yet dy'd at length in the height of Superstition In the next place we may observe his Humanity or rather true Morality in other places while he overthrows the Impostures of Backbiters and Slanderers and makes it his Business to defend the Virtue of others as we maysee in the Life of Epicurus His Justice is also remarkable in this that he never dissembles what is truly good nor the Errors of any Person which is observable in the Life of Zeno the Cittean and Chrysippus and in this That in all his Writings he is never observ'd to be a rigid Affecter or Favourer of any Sect. Moreover he shews himself so much an Abhorrer of all manner of Venereal Excess that he never lets any Person escape unbranded who was guilty of that Vice yet in Terms so modest as not to offend the Reader as we may observe in the Life of Crates and several others As to the Sects then in Being it is more easie for us to tell of which he was not then to make him a Follower of any one for that he shews himself a Neuter in all his Writings Nevertheless if we may speak by Conjecture our own Sentiments we have some Reason to believe him a Follower of Potamon of Alexandria who after all the rest and a little before his Time set up a Sect of those that were call'd Choosers or Eclectics and bore the Title also of Lovers of Truth because they made Choice out of every Sect of that which they thought was best to stick to Which was the Reason that Clement Potamon's Countryman says in one Place We ought neither to be Zenonians nor Platonics nor Epicureans nor Aristotelics but rather Eclectics chusing out of every Sect that is most Noble and nearest approaching to the Truth His Learning appears by his Writings For if we observe his Style we shall find it concise and full of Efficacy his Words well chosen and his Discourse eloquent Yet is he not altogether exempt from blame as to the Disposal
let us begin with the Ionick Philosophy of which we have already declar'd Thales the Instructor of Anaximander to be the first Founder The End of the First Book Diogenes Laertius Containing the Lives Opinions and Apophthegms Of the most Famous PHILOSOPHERS The Second Book Translated from the Greek by Sam. White M. D. The LIFE of ANAXIMANDER ANaximander a Milesian was the Son of Praxiades He held that the Beginning and Principle of all things was the Vast Immensity however no way bounding the Air the Water or any other Thing That the parts were subject to Alteration but that the whole was immutable that the Earth lay in the middle as it were claiming the place of a Center being of a Spherical Figure That the Light of the Moon was a false Light as being borrowed from the Sun which was at least equal to the Earth and the most pure sort of Fire He was the first inventer of the Gnomen which he fixed in the Dials of Lacedaemon which were then no other than places proper for the observation of the Shadows which the Sun cast whereby as Phavorinus records in his Universal History he mark'd out the Tropics and Equinoxes and erected Horoscopes He was also the first who undertook to delineate the Perimeter or Circuit of the Earth and Sea and to frame a Sphere that ' embody'd both those Elements Which done he set down in writing a short Exposition of such things as occur'd most plainly to his Apprehension In the second year of the fifty eighth Olympiad he had attained to the sixty fourth year of his Age as Apollodorus the Athenian declares in his Chronicle and dy'd not long after but he flourish'd in his prime during the Reign of Polycrates Tyrant of Samos It is reported That one time among the rest as he was singing certain Boys laugh'd at him which when he understood Therefore said he it behoves us to sing so much the better because of the Boys There was also another Anaximander a Milesian likewise who was an Historian and wrote in the Ionic Dialect The LIFE of ANAXIMENES ANaximenes a Milesian also was the Son of Eurystratus and a Hearer of Anaximander and as some say of Parmenides likewise He affirm'd the Air and the Infinite Immensity to be the beginning of All things and that the Stars did not move above the Earth but round about it He wrote in the Ionic Dialect affecting a plain and concise Style He was born in the sixty third Olympiad as Apollodorus testifies and dy'd about the time that Sardis was taken There were also two others of the same name born in Lampsacus the one an Orator the other an Historian and Nephew to the Rhetorician who wrote the History of Alexander's fam'd Atchievements There are likewise extant two Epistles of Anaximenes the Philosopher to Pythagoras of which the first â—uns thus Anaximenes to Pythagoras THales himself in the progress of his Studies from the flower of his Youth to his Old Age was not altogether free from misfortune For as it was his custom going forth one night with his Maid Servant to behold the Stars in the midst of his serious Contemplation forgetting the situation of the place while he went forward gazing up to the Skies he fell down a steep Precipice This was the end say the Milesians of that famous Astrologer But we among the rest of his Scholars forget not the Man nor our Children who are his Disciples likewise But we embrace his Doctrine and ascribe the beginning of all our Learning to Thales His second Epistle was this that follows Anaximenes to Pythagoras CErtainly thou did'st consult our Advantage more than our selves in returning from Samos to Crotona where thou livest in Peace For the Sons of Aeacus are offensive to others and for the Milesians they are in subjection to their Tyrants And the King of the Medes threatens us severely too unless we will submit our Necks to the Yoke of Servitude But as yet the Ionians seem readily resolv'd to fight with the Medes both for their own and the Liberty of their Neighbours But the Enemy so surrounds and over-powers us at present that we have little hopes to preserve it How then is it possible for Anaximenes to mind his Contemplation of the Skies living as he does in continual dread of Perdition or Slavery But thou enjoyest a perfect Tranquillity honour'd by the Crotonaeans and other Italians and crowded with Disciples out of Sicily The LIFE of ANAXAGORAS ANaxagoras a Clozomenian the Son of Hegesibulus or Eubulus was a diligent Disciple of Anaximenes He was the first who attributed to Matter Sense and Reason thus beginning his great Work which is both delightful and loftily compos'd All things at the beginning sprung together then came the World's Intelligence and shap'd and embellish'd every individual Species whereas it was call'd the Great Intelligence Of which thus Timon in his Silli For thus fam'd Anaxagoras profoundly taught That the vast Mind like some great Hero fought Rebellious Chaos that disdain'd controul And then it was that the Worlds mighty Soul Millions of ranging formless Bodies fix'd Rammass'd Compacted here conjoyn'd there mix'd Vntil at length the vanquish'd Mass gave o're And all agreed that was confus'd before This Person was not only eminent for his Birth and Riches but for the Grandeur of his aspiring Mind For he surrender'd his Patrimony to his Relations at what time being by them tax'd for neglecting his Estate What then said he are not you sufficiently able to take care of it Soon after he left 'em all and retir'd himself to the Contemplation of Nature not minding publick or private Affairs Insomuch that to one who thus accosted him What! then takest thou no care of thy Country Yes said he no Man more pointing to the Heav'ns He is said to have been twenty years of Age when Xerxes invaded Greece and to have liv'd seventy two But Apollodorus in his Chronicle affirms him to have flourish'd in his prime in the Seventieth Olympiad and that in the first year of the Se-Seventy eighth Olympiad he ended his days He began to divulge his Philosophical Exercises at Athens under Callias in the twentieth year of his Age as Demetrius Phalereus reports in his Compendium of the Athenian Rulers Where they say he continu'd thirty years He affirm'd the Sun to be a massy Plate of Red-hot Iron bigger than the Peloponnesus Which some assert to have been the Opinion of Tantalus before him He held that the Moon was full of Habitations Mountains and Vallies and that the Principles of all things were endu'd with similitude of Parts For that as the dust and filings of Gold might be embody'd into a Mass so was the Universe compos'd of little Bodies consisting of similar Particles That heavy Bodies possess'd the lowermost place as the Earth Light things the uppermost as Fire and the Middlemost he assign'd to Air and Water That the Sea lay below the Earth which was broad the moisture being
Dionysius of whom he makes mention in his Anterastae and he perform'd his Wrestling Exercises under Aristo of Argos by whom for his lovely Shape and Proportion he was called Plato whereas before he had been nam'd Aristocles from the name of his Grandfather as Alexander relates in his Successions Though â—thers will have him to be so call'd from his broad manner of Pronunciation or else from the breadth of his fore-head according to Neanthes Others report him to have been a great Wrestler at the Isthmian Games among whom was Dicaearchus in his Book of Lives also that he was addicted to Painting and Poetry and that first he wrote Dithyrambies afterwards Odes and Tragedies His voice was but shrill and somewhat effeminate as Timotheus the Athenian relates of him in his Book of Lives It is reported that Socrates should dream that a Cygnet newly hatch'd came and sate down upon his knees and that the wings of the Bird growing out of a sudden she flew away sweetly singing in her flight The next day Plato being brought to him by his Father he cry'd out This is the Bird which I dreamt of He began to divulge his Philosophy first in the Academy then in the Garden adjoyning to Colonus as Alexander relates from the Testimony of Heraclitus Then resolving a contest in Tragedy before the Dionysian Theatre after he had heard Socrates he threw his Poems in the fire crying out Hast Vulcan hithâ—â— Plato wants thy aid And from that time forward being then twenty years of age he became a Hearer of Socrates After whose decease he stuck to Cratylus the Disciple of Heraclitus and Hermogenes who maintain'd the Philosophy of Parmenides When he arriv'd at eight and twenty years of age according to Hermodorus together with some other Socratics he betook himself to Megara where he admir'd and follow'd Euclid from whence he departed for Cyrene to hear Theodorus the Mathematician and from thence he travell'd into Italy to the Pythagoreans Philolaus and Eurytus Thence into Aegypt where he associated with the Priests and Prophets whither it is also reported that Enripides accompany'd him and falling sick was by the Priests cured with a Salt-water Medicine which occasion'd that verse of his The briny Ocean scoures away All the Distempers that on Mortals prey Moreover with Homer he affirm'd that all the Egyptians were Physicians Plato had also design'd to have visited the Magi but the Wars breaking forth in Asia forc'd him to desist from his purpose Returning therefore to Athens he continu'd in the Academy This was a pleasant place in the Suburbs shaded with Trees and so call'd from a certain Hero whose name was Academus of whom Eupolis makes mention in his Astrateuti In those delightful shades the sweet abode Of Academus now a Semi-God And Timon also speaking of Plato thus writes But above all was Plato still allow'd To be the Captain of the Charming Croud Upon his Lips the Charms of Eloquence In Clusters hung sweet words and sublime Sence More tunefâ—l notes ne'er chirp'd the Grass-hoppers In Hecademian Groves to list'ning Ears For in those Groves was Plato wont to sing Out-charming all the Music of the Spring For formerly the same place was call'd Hecademia with an Epsilon That our Philosopher was a friend to Isocrates appears also from hence for that Polyxenus has committed to writing a certain discourse concerning the Poets that happen'd while Isocrates continu'd with Plato at his Country-House And Aristoxenus farther asserts that he was three times a Souldier once in the Expedition to Tanagra a second time in the War with Corinth and lastly at the Delian Conflict when he won the Victory He made a mixture of the Opinions of the Heraclitans the Pythagoreans and the Socratics and as to those things which appertain'd to the sense he held with Heraclitus where the understanding was concern'd he adher'd to Pythagoras but in Ethics and Politics he follow'd Socrates Some there are and among the rest Satyrus who affirm that he sent into Sicily to Dio a hundred Minas to purchase of Philolaus three Pythagorical Books for his own use For he was then full of money having receiv'd from Dionysius above fourscore Talents as Onetor testifies in his Treatise entitl'd Whether a Wise Man should be Rich. For many other things he was also beholding to Epicharmus the Comedian most of whose Writings he transcrib'd as Alcimus assures us in his Books that he wrote to Amyntas which are four in number In the first of which he runs on in these words It is apparent says he that Plato took many things out of Epicharmus As for Example Sensible says Plato is that which never continues permanent either in Quality or Quantity but is also perpetually flowing and lyable to the inconstancy of Change. As if we should substract Number out of those things which are neither equal nor such nor subjected to Quantity or Quality And these are such things of which there is a continual Generation but never any Substance Intelligible is that which neither encreases or diminishes And this is the nature of things Sempiternal as being always alike and ever the same That the Soul did apprehend some things by the Help of the Body as it happen'd in Seeing and Hearing but that for the understanding of other things she needed no assistance of Corporeal Organs as being endu'd with a sufficient Penetration of her self Which is the reason that Plato from Epicharmus affirms That they who have a desire to collect the Beginnings and Principles of the Whole must first make a distribution of the several Ideas by themselves as Likeness Vnity Multitude Magnitude Rest and Motion In the next place he ought to consider Honest Good and Just every one by themselves Thirdly It behoves him to compare the Ideas one with another and observe which have the truest Agreement and Correspondence one with another as Knowledge Magnitude and Dominion â— As likewise whether those things which are existing in our selves in regard that we partake of their Qualities are Homonymous to those other things For example just things are those that partake of Justice honest that partake of Honesty Now every Species is Eternal and the understanding in reference to these things is void of all Perturbation And therefore the Ideas subsist in Nature like so many Exemplars But as for those other things which are like to these they subsist according to their nearest resemblance to the other And therefore Epicharmus discourses of Good and of Ideas in this manner Can playing on the Flute be said to be any thing Most surely Why then playing upon the Flute is a Man. Not so neither Go too then Dost not thou think a player upon a Flute to be a Man Most certainly And does not the same Argument hold concerning Good This is Good that is the Thing which he who studies by it self shall become Good. For as he that pipes is call'd a Piper he that dances a Dancer so whoever he be that
learns any other Art or Mystery is not call'd the Art it self but the Artificer that professes it Plato in his Treatise of Ideas thus reasons If there be such a thing as Memory the Ideas have their Being in the several Entities in regard the memory relates to something that is sedate and permanent For how adds he could living Creatures be preserv'd had they not annex'd to themselves their several Ideas or if they were not endu'd with the Natural Intelligence Now they carry in their memories their Similitude and the nourishment whatever it be which is proper to every one Which shews that the Contemplation of Similitude is inherent to all Creatures by Natural Instinct By which means they understand themselves to be of the same kind Moreover Epicharmus asserts That wisdom does not predominate altogether in one kind but that all living Creatures have a certain Sence and Notion of themselves And thus if we first observe the Hen she does not bring forth live Chick'ns but first she lays the Eggs then sits and enlivens her young ones with her natural Heat Now this is a sort of Wisdom which only nature infuses and teaches Therefore it is no wonder that all Creatures associate with their Like and think their Productions fairest For a Dogg is to a Dog most beautiful the Cow to the Cow the Ass to the Ass and Swineherd together as admiring their own kind above all others These and several other Passages of this nature are recited by Alcimus in his four Books to shew how much Plato was indebted to Epicharmus Now that Epicharmus was not ignorant of Plato's ingenuity may be conjectur'd from hence that he does as it were prophesie that he would be his Emulator in these words I am of opinion says he nay more I am well confirm'd such will be the remembrance of my Words and Sentences that some one person or other will entertain 'em in this rude dress and attiring 'em in more pompous Colours will himself insuperable become a Victor over many others Moreover there is good reason to believe that Plato was the first who brought the writings of Sophron the Mimic into Athens and fram'd his own Gestures and Postures from thence for that the Books were found under his Pillow He made three Voyages into Sicily the first only to see the Island and the Rarities that made it famous when Dionisius the Tyrant and Son of Hermocrates compell'd him to a Conference At what time when he discours'd concerning Tyranny and alledg'd That what was profitable to him alone made little or nothing for his advantage unless he excell'd in vertue the Tyrant growing angry Thou talk'st said he like an old doating Fool To whom Plato And thou like a Tyrant Which so enrag'd the Potentate that he was about to have put him to Death but altering his resolution at the Intercession of Dio and Aristomenes he gave him to Polis then Ambassador from the Lacedaemonians to sell him for a Slave who carry'd him to Aegina and there sold him At what time Charmander the Son of Charmandrides prosecuted him for his Life having indicted him upon a Statute in force among the Islanders That the first Athenian that landed in the Island should dye without mercy But upon the saying of some body though by way of a jeer that he was a Philosopher he was dismiss'd Others affirm that he was brought into Court where being observ'd not to speak a word in his own defence but stand as one couragiously resolv'd to suffer whatever happen'd they determin'd not to kill him but to sell him as a Captive taken in War. When by good fortune Aniceris the Cyrenean being then in the City redeem'd him for twenty as others say thirty Minas and sent him back to Athens among his Friends who immedintely remitted the Money back to Aniceris But he refus'd to take it saying withal That they were not the only persons that were worthy to take care of Plato Others say that Dio sent the money to Aniceris which he refus'd to make any other use of than for the purchace of a little Garden for himself in the Academy As for Polis he was overthrown by Chabrias and afterwards drown'd in the River Helice at what time a certain Daemon appear'd to him and told him he suffer'd those misfortunes for the Philosopher's sake as Phavorinus reports in his Commentaries Nor could Dionysius be at rest but understanding what had befallen him he wrote to Plato desiring him not to reproach him with what he had done To whom Plato return'd for answer That he had not so much leisure as to think of Dionysius His second Voyage was to the younger Dionysius of whom he requested a parcel of Land and a certain number of People to live under such a Common-wealth as he should Erect Which though Dionysius promis'd him he never was so good as his word More than that as some say he had like to have run the hazard of his life for tampering with Dio and Theotas to recover the former liberty of the Island at what time Archytas the Pythagorean in an Epistle to Dionysius clearing him of that suspicion sav'd him from the danger so that he was sent back to Athens The purport of which Epistle was this Archytas to Dionysius ALl of us here who are Plato's friends have sent to thee Lamiscus and Photidas desiring thee to restore his Person to us for the sake of that Ancient friendship that is between us Suffer him therefore to return for thou wilt do well to call to mind how earnestly thou didst invite him to thy Court which was the reason that we importun'd him to take the Voyage upon thy promise that he should have free liberty to come and go Remember therefore how much thou didst desire his coming and the high esteem thou then hadst of him If there have been any Errour or Mistake committed shew thy humanity and restore him to us untouch'd So shalt thou do justly and gratifie thy Friends The third Voyage he made was to reconcile Dionysius to Dio. But not prevailing he return'd home again where he refus'd to meddle with publick business though a great States-man as his writings declare Of which the main reason was because he found the People had been long accustom'd to Laws and Constitutions that did not correspond with his frame of Government Pamphile also relates that the Arcadians and Thebans built a large City which when they had finish'd they sent for Plato to be their Lawgiver and to prescribe 'em a Form of a Common-wealth but then understanding that they hated Equality he refus'd to go It is reported that he follow'd Chabrias the General when he fled from Condemnation at what time all the rest of his fellow Citizens declin'd his adversity And when Cobryas the Sycophant upbraided him as he accompany'd the General up into the Castle telling him That he should not be so forward to help others but do well to mind the t'other of Socrates's
half-penies Item Euclid the Stone-Cutter owes me three Minas Item I give Diana her Freedom Item I leave behind me Servants Tycho Bicta Apollonius and Dionysius Item Houshold-stuff and Vessels of which Demetrius has an Inventory I owe not a farthing to any Body His Executors were Sosthenes Speusippus Demetrius Higias Eurymedon Callimachus and Thrasippus This was the Copy of his Will. His Monument was adorn'd with several Epigrams and Encomiums of which this was the first If Modesty and Justice ever shin'd Conspicuously bright in mortal mind Here lies the Man Divine Aristocles Of all Men He if wisdom e'er could raise To Fame Immortal most deserves that Fame Which Malice ne'er could reach nor Envy blame Another thus Entomb'd in Earth here Plato's Body lyes Whose happy Soul Immortal Bliss enjoys Him honour'd all good Men no less desir'd In distant Regions than at home admir'd And well might he deserve most high applause That liv'd so truly up to Nature's Laws And this other of somewhat a later date Say Queen of Birds when soaring starry height Whose Tomb it was o're which thou took'st thy flight Or didst thou soar so high to take a view What blest Immortals in their Mansions do I was the Soul of Plato once below But now to answer your Inquiry know The Soul of Plato to Olympus flies Whose Body here in native Athens lies To which we shall add another of our own Had not Apollo to the Grecians kind To Plato's Wit his God-like Art resign'd Where had we found a cure for Human Souls For as Asclepius by his skill controuls The various pains invading humane kind 'T is only Plato who can heal the Mind Together with this upon his Death Phoebus on Mortal's happiness intent To Mortals Plato and Asclepius sent The one in health our Bodies to assure The other our diseased minds to cure At last upon the confines of his life Designing the brisk pleasures of a Wife To Jove's own consecrated ground he came And City rear'd of old to Phoebus Name Where to his Master he his Art resign'd But left his Physic of the Soul behind His Disciples and Followers were Speusippus the Athenian Xenocrates the Chalcedonian Aristotle the Stagarite Philip of Opus Hestiaeus the Printhian Dio of Syracuse Amyclus the Heracleote Erastus and Coriscus both Skepsians Timolaus of Cyzicum Enaeon of Lampsacus Pytho and Heraclides both of Aenea Callippus the Athenian Demetrius of Amphipolis Heraclides of Pontus and several others Together with these he had also two Female Disciples Lesthenia of Mantinea and Axiothea a Phthiasian which latter as Dicearchus relates always went in Man's Apparel Theophrastus also is said to have been one of his Hearers together with Hyperides the Rhetorician Chamaeleon adds Lycurgus and Polemo Lycurgus Sabinus also in his fourth Book of the subject of Meditation affirms Menesistratus the Thasian to have been another of his Admirers which is very probable Now then being well assur'd of thy great affection for Plato not undeservedly bestow'd and with what a zealous enquiry thou seek'st to make a compleat Collection of all the Opinions of this famous Philosopher I thought it expedient to set 'em down according to the nature of the Discoutses the order of the Dialogues and the method of Exposition as it were reduc'd under several Heads and Chapters to the end there may be nothing omitted materially conducing to the story of his Life Otherwise knowing to whom I write to be more curious and particular than is requisite would be only according to the Proverb To carry an Owl to Athens Now therefore Zeno of Elea is reported to have been the first Composer of Dialogues Though Aristotle in his first Book of the Poets asserts Alexamenus the Styrean or according to Phavorinus the Teian to have been the first that wrote in that manner However in my judgmentâ— Plato was the first who polish'd that way of writing and brought it to perfection So that not only the adorning part but the invention it self may be justly attributed to him A Dialogue then is a discourse by way of Question and Answer upon the subjects either of Politics or Philosophy consisting of decent and apt expressions of the Persons introduc'd and a Methodical Composition of the whole Logic is the Art of Ratiocination by which we refute or confirm by Questions and Answers between the persons that dispute Now then there are two sorts of Platonic Ratiocination the one for Instruction the other for Enquiry The first of which is again divided into Speculative and Practical and the Speculative into Physical or Natural and Logical and the Practical into Ethical and Political Of inquisitive Ratiocination there are also two sorts the one Gymnastic which consists in Exercise the other Agonistic which consists in Contest and Dispute Gymnastic is also twofold Maieutic which nurses and fosters the first Rudiments of Science the other when it begins to feel its own strength and is call'd Peirastic as attempting upon the score of its own ability Agonistic also is distinguish'd into Demonstrative and Perswasive True it is there are others who make a quite different division of Plato's Dialogues for some they call Dramatic others Diegematic and others Mixt. But that distinction is more proper for a Stage than a Philosophers School More particularly therefore there are some of Plato's Dialogues that treat of Physics as Timaeus others of Logic as Politicus Cratylus Parmenides and the Sophist Others of Morality as the Apology Crito Phaedo Phaedias the Symposium Menexenus Clitophon his Epistles Philelebus Hipparchus and Anterastae others of Politics as his Commonwealth his Laws Minos Epinomis and his Atlanticus Of the Rudiments of Learning The two Alcibiades's Theages Lysis Laches Of the first Attempts to Practise Euthyphron Menon Ion Charmides Thetaetus Of Demonstration Protagoras of Perswasion Ethydemus the two Hippiae and Gorgias Now because there is a very hot Contention among Writers while some affirm Plato to be the Author of new Opinions others deny it let us a little consider how it stands A Dogmatist is properly said to be such a Person who starts a new Opinion as he is said to be a Legislator that introduces new Laws Now the Dogma is said to indifferently either the thing about which the Opinion is raised or the Opinion it self The thing about which the Opinion is raised is called the Proposition But the opinion is called the Supposition Plato therefore whatever he apprehends to be true those things he expounds and refutes what he believes to be false Concerning his own Sentiments he discourses under the Persons of Socrates Timaeus His Athenian Guest and the Stranger of Elea. Which Strangers were not as some Conjecture Plato and Parmenides but fictitious and anonymous Persons When he quotes the words of Socrates and Timaus then he Dogmatizes or asserts some new Opinion of his own When he refutes those things which he believes to be false he introduces Thrasymachus Callicles Polus Gorgias Protagoras Hippias
and sixteenth Olympiad Antigonus Carysthius in his Lives reports That his Father was one of the chief Men of the City and one that bred up Horses for the Chariot And that Polemo fled from the severe Sentence of Justice being prosecuted by his Wife for his addiction to Male-Venery In the first years that he fell to his studies he acquir'd such a constancy of Habit and Aspect that it became unalterable neither did he ever change his voice Which were the reasons that Crantor so highly admir'd him Hence it was that being bit in the Heel by a mad Dog he never so much as chang'd colour And that at another time a great uproar happening in the City and understanding what was the matter he stood undaunted like one that had been unconcern'd nor could the Theatre at any time move him to Joy Anger or Compassion So that when Nicostratus surnam'd Clytemnestra told a lamentable story to him and Crates that which mov'd the latter nothing affected him who all the while persever'd in an equal temper as though he had not heard him And indeed he was altogether just such another as Melanthius the Painter describes in his Treatise of Painting For he says that there is a certain Pride and Moroseness that ought to accompany a Man's Actions as well as his Manner And it was the saying of Polemo that iâ— behov'd Men to exercise themselves iâ— Things and not in Logical Speculations which is but labouring and as it were drinking up some little pleasing Science whereby they become admir'd for the subtilty of some particular questions but shew themselves most opposite in their affections And therefore as he was civiâ— and affable so was he no less resolutely constant and he avoided that which Aristophanes writes concerning Euripides when he gives him the Nick-names of Oxotes and Stilpho who no doubt were two cross-grain'd stingy vinegar-condition'd fellows well known at that time For he never sate when he return'd his Answers to the Questions that were propounded to him but always walking Polemo therefore for his extraordinary generosity was highly honour'd in his City Nor did he wander out of the way neither but remain'd in the Garden where his Pupils making up little sheds lodg'd near the Musaeum and the Cloister Indeed Polemo seems in every thing to emulate Xenocrates and to have had a great love for him as Aristippus witnesses in his fourth Book of the Ancient Delights For which reason he always took an occasion to talk of his Innocency and Sincerity and had appropriated to himself his resolution and gravity affecting as it were a kind of Dorick Government of himself He was a great admirer of Sophocles especially in those places where some surly Mastiff according to the Taunts of the Comedian seem'd to have assisted him in the composition of his Verses and where according to the relation of Phrynicus he did not towre in lofty swelling Language but flow'd in a smooth and placid Style And therefore he was wont to call Homer Epic Sophocles and Sophocles Tragic Homer He dy'd well stricken in years of â— Consumption leaving not a few Writingâ— and Commentaries behind him Upon whom we made the following Lines Know'st thou not Passenger already no. Then sickness here has hid fam'd Polemo For my part I believe ye Sir for why Diseases never spare Philosophy 'T is true but this I 'le tell ye for your comfort Though his dry Bones ly here his Soul is run for 't And whither think'st thou To the starry Spheres Let Death and Sickness now go shake their Ears The LIFE of CRATES CRATES the Son of Antigenes of the Thriasian Tribe was both a Hearer and Lover of Polemo and succeeded him in his School and profited in such a manner mutually together so that living they not only followed the same studies but to their very last gasps they liv'd alike one to another and being dead were buried in the same Tomb. Whence Antagoras made the following lines upon both Stranger who e're thou art that passest by Within this Tomb a noble pair doth lye The Holy Crates and Great Polemo From whose sweet Lips such Sacred Love did flow Whose Lives in Wisdom so serenely bright Shon forth to give succeeding Ages light Both equal in their praise both equal friends Both liv'd alike and both had equal ends Hence it was that Arcesilaus when he left Theophrastus to associate with them is reported to have said that they were either certain Deities or the remainders of the Golden Age. For they were neither of 'em lovers of Popularity nor did they covet vulgar Applause but rather it might be said of them as Dionysiodoruâ— the Musitian was wont to boast of himself That never any of his Composition were to be heard at your public Meetingâ— like those of Ismenius Antigonus reports that he was wont often to Sup at Crantor's House Aroesilaus and they two being all three inseparable Cronies Farther he adds that Arcesilaus and Crantor liv'd together and that Polemo liv'd with Crates and Lysiclides another of their Country-men Crates being particularly belov'd by Polemo and Arcesilaus having a peculiar friendship for Crantor As for Crates when he dy'd as Apollodorus relates in his third Book of Chronicles he left several Books behind him some Philosophical some concerning Comedy also several popular Orations and some in relation to Embassies He had also several Disciples of great note Of which number was Arcesilaus of whom more hereafter together with Bio and Borysthenites and lastly Theodorus the Author of the Theodoric Sect. Of whom next after Arcesilaus There were in all ten that carry'd the name of Crates The first a writer of Ancient Comedy The second a Trallian Rhetorician of the family of Isocrates The third an Engineer that serv'd under Alexander in his Wars The fourth a Cynic The fifth a Peripatetic The sixth an Academic of whom already The seventh a Grammarian The eighth a Geometâ—â—cian The ninth an Epigrammatist The tenth of Tarsus an Academic Philosopher also The LIFE of CRANTOR CRANTOR of the City of Soli being in great honour among his own Citizens went to Athens and there became a hearer of Xenocrates and a follow Student with Polemo He left behind him Verses amounting to thirty thousand of which there are some who ascribe a good number to Arcesilaus It is reported that being asked wherefore he was so strangely addicted to Polemo he should answer because he never heard any Man speak more acutely nor more gravely Finding himself not well he retir'd to the Asclepianum and there resided for his health At what time there flock'd to him Disciples from all parts believing that sickness was not the cause of his retirement but that he did it out of a resolution to set up a School there Among the rest came Arcesilaus desirous to be by him recommended to Polemo though no man more his friend than Crantor himself Which request he was so far from taking ill that when he recovered he
became Polemo's Hearer himself which won him great honour and applause It is reported that he left all his Estate to Arcesilaus to the value of twelve Talents And being by him requested to tell him where he intended to be inter'd he answered Within the kind recesses of the Earth There let me lye whence all things have their Birth He is said to have written Poems and to have laid 'em seal'd up in the Temple of Minerva Of whom the Poet Theaetetes thus writes Grateful to Men but yet much more The Muses sweet delight Such Crantor was whom we deplore Snatch'd from the World before his hairs grw whte Gently O Earth the Bard embrace Within thy tender Arms And from the common harms By Worms and Pick-axes increasâ— Defend his quiet rest This Crantor among all the Poets most admir'd Homer and Euripides saying that it was a work of great labour to observe propriety and at the same time to write Tragically and with a true sense of commiseration and fellow-feeling of the sufferings he describes and he vould often repeat that Verse in Bellerophoâ— Ay me But why Ay me Fo we no more Endure than mortals have endur'd before It is also reported that Antagoras the Poet would have the following Verses upon Love to have been made by Crantor Assist me Thoughts and Mind those heighths to soar Meet for the heav'nly Race all Men adore Then mighty Love will I in praise of thee â—â—gin of all the Immortal Progeny The first whom ancient Erebus begot O Night brought forth in Regions far remoâ—e Beneath the Sea's Foundations dark and vast Tree Son of Venus without blemish chast Or whether of the Earth or of the Winds The wondrous Off-spring since so many kinds Ofinterwâ—v'n Good and ill each hour Oblige weak Mortals to confess thy power This double power of thine would I display And teach the World thy Scepter to obey He had a shrewd faculty at giving shrewd and proper Epithetes and Characters both to Men and things Thus he was wont to say that it behoved a Tragedian to have a strong Voice which he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be smoothed with a Plainer but full of Bark that is to say rugged and uneven and of a certain Poet that his Verses were full of Prickles and of Thee-phrastus that his Tenents were written upon Oysters Among all his Works his Treatise of Mourning is most admir'd And though the time of his death be uncertain yet this is sure that he dy'd of a Dropsie before Crates and Polemo which gave occasion to these Lines of ours Ah Crantor there 's no mortal sickness-proof But thee the worst distemper carry'd off For tho' no water touch'd thy outward skin Alas Thy Bowels lay all drown'd within In thy own Styx thy Soul to Pluto floats As th' hadst design'd to cozen Charon's Boats. But that we can't believe conjecturing rather Thou thought'st to lay thy Low-lands under water Meaning thereby to hinder Death's approaches But death no colours fears so Buenas Noches The LIFE of ARCESILAVS ARcesilaus was the Son of Seuthus or Scythus as Apollodorus relates in his third Book of Chronicles a Pytanean of Eolia This was he who first set up the Middle Academy restraining negations through contrariety of words He was the first that disputed pro and con The first also that renewed Plato's manner of discourse which Plato introduc'd and render'd it more Argumentative by way of Question and Answer He came acquainted with Crantor after this manner He was the fourth and youngest of all his Brothers of which two were by the Father's and two by the Mother's side Of these the eldest by the Father's side was called Pylades and the eldest by the Mother's side Moereas who was also his Guardian First of all he heard Autolycus the Mathematician and his fellow Citizen before he went to Athens with whom he also travell'd to Sardis After that he was a Scholar under Xanthus an Athenian Musician and there he became Theophrastus's Scholar And lastly he betook himself to the Academy under Crantor For Moereas his Brother advis'd him to learn Rhetoric but he had a greater kindness for Philosophy Crantor therefore having an amorous Affection for him courted him with the following Verse out of Euripides's Andromeda O Virgin if I save thee thou wilt thank me To which he presently repartee'd Take me for which thou likest best Thy Handmaid or thy Wife And so from that time forward they both liv'd together Thereupon Theophrastus being disgusted is reported to have giâ—ded him with this expression How ingenious and tractable a Lad he went from School Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or easie to be manag'd seems to be tak'n in an ill sence For he was at that time not only a grave and discreet Speaker and a great lover of Learning but much addicted to Poetry In so much that it is said he wrote the following Epigrams the first to Attalus Not only potent once in Arms Did Pergamus advance her Head She boasted too with equal Pride Her warlike Steeds on flowry Pissa bred But yet if Mortals may pronounce The high Decrees of ruling Fate Succeeding Ages shall behold Her ancient Fame renew'd and far more great The second was upon Menodorus a lover of Eudamus one of his fellow Students Though Phrygia distant lyes in space And Thyatim as remote a place Nor Menodorus if survay'd Less far thy native Cadenade Yet to the dark Infernal Court The way is plain the journey short Where by experience thou canst tell The best conveniencies of Hell Where soon or late all Motals go And center in the shades below Yet Eudamus with curious Art From a large Purse but larger Heart A Marble Monument does give And spite of Fate still makes thee live Poor tho' thou wert as all Men know And most adore the gaudy show His friendship from such dross refin'd Valu'd the Treasures of thy mind Above all the Poets he chiefly admir'd Homer of whose works when going to his rest he always read some few pages And when he rose in the morning being asked when he would go to his beloved youth his answer was when the Lad was ready to read Of Pindar he was wont to say That he fill'd the mouth with a noble sound and afforded a plentiful varity of names and words When he was a young man he affected the Ionic Dialect He was also a Hearer of Hipponicus the Geometrician whom he was wont to joque upon as being in other things dull and heavy but skilful in his Art saying That Geometry flew into his mouth when he gap'd He also kept him for some time at home being mad and took a continual care of him till he recover'd his senses When Crates dy'd he succeeded him in his School by the consent of one Socratides who would by no means contest the superiority with him He is not known ever to have wrote any Treatise or Discourse himself as being a severe
concerning the Soul one of Sleeping and Waking one of Labours one of old Age one of Thoughts four of the Sight one of things that change their Colour one of Tears entituled Callisthenes two of hearing one of the Diversity of the volces of Animals of the same sort one of Odours two of Torment one of Folly one of the Palsiâ— one of the Epilepsie one of the Vertigo and dazling of the Sight one of the fainting of the Heart one of Suffocation one of Sweat one of the Pestilence Mathematics A Book of Numbers one of Indivisible Lines one of Measures one of Harmony three of Music another of Music one of Great and Small one of Images one of Twi-lights and Meridionals one of Seasons one of â—â—thmetical Histories according to Augmentation four of Geometrical Histories â—â—â— Astrological Histories one of Democritus's Astrology Discourse A Book of the Art of Rhetoric one of Precepts for the Art of Rhetoric seven sorts of the Art of Rhetoric one of the Art of Poetry one of Soloâ—cisins one of a Word one of proper Orations of judicial Orations one of Proposition and Narration one of the Exemplar one of the Collection of Words one of Proverbs one of Sentences one of Favour one of Provocation to Laughter one of Beauty of Praise of Injuries of Flattery of Tumult of Comedy one of History six Books of the History of things spoken of God of the Praises of the Gods three of Lives one of Solemnities one of Confabulations a Collection of Diogenes's Propositions one of Calumny two of things invented Of Reason One how many ways a a Man may understand one of true and false three of false two of terms one of differences one of Signs five containing a Collection of Problems one of the Judgment upon Syllogisms one of the solution of Syllogisms one of Enthymemes two of Epicheremes Eighteen Epicheremes one of Affirmation and Negation one of Occasions or Contradictions an Epitome of Definitions two of Divisions one of Causes an Epitome of Analytics three of the first Analytics seven of the latter a Preamble of Topics two of the deducation of Places one of the Speculation of things that belong to contentious Discourse two of Sophisms one of Solutions one of simple doubts three of Controversies three Questions Twenty four other Questions one of the Collections of Metrodorus one of Zenocratic Questions Of Manners Of divine Felicity another of human Felicity of Voluntary of the Passions of Vertue of the differences of the Vertues one of Pleasure as well as Aristotle of Choice of Counsel of Wise Men of Faith reposed without cunning three of Friendship one entituled Amatorious another of Love two of Liberallity one of Pleasure Men take in Lying of Dissimulation of Moral Figures of Moral Schools Of Otconomics Of Piety of the means to instruct Children of Vertue of Discipline of Frugality of what it is to give of Experience three Books of Epistles more Epistles to Astycreon Phâ—â—ias and Nicanor Of Commonwealths Two Abstracts of Plaâ—â—'s Common-wealth of the Condition of a good Republic three Books of Civil things four of Civil Customs two of Government four of Politics for the time three of Legislators An Epitome of the Laws in ten Books one of Laws twenty four of Laws disposed according to Order and Alphabet one of unjust Laws one of an Oath one to shew how Cities may be peopl'd Of Kingdoms One of a Kingdom two more of a Kingdom one of the Education of a King one of Tyranny one of Kingdom to Cassander one of Riches All these Books and Treatises were composed by Theophrastus I also met with his Will in these words My will shall be well and duly performed â—â— I hope if when I come to dye it be no otherwise executed than I have enjoyned it by this my Testament First I give to Melanthus and Pancreon the Sons of Leo all my Moveables that belong to â—ly House For what Hipparchus obliged me withal I would have it expended upon the Reparations of the School and for adorning the Theatre much beâ—… it be possible than it was before and â—et the Statue of Aristotle be set up in the Oratory of the said School with all the sacred Jewels that were there before I would have also rebuilt the Portico adjoyning to the same School in the same condition it was before or better if possible and that the Map of the World be set up aâ— the lower End and that an Altar be â— rected not far from it the same in formâ—… the other whether for Decency or Perfection Moreover my Will is That the Statue of Nicomachus be finished aâ—… gave order to Praxiteles but as for the Expences of setting it up let him defray that charge himself and let it be set up where my Executors shall think moâ—… Convenient whom I have for that purpose named in my Will. Thus much in reference to the Oratory and its sacred Jewels Moreover I bequeath to my friends who are specially nominated in this my Will and to those that will spend their time with them in Learning and Philosophy my Garden Walk and Hâ—â—ses adjoyning upon condition however that none of them shall claim any particular property therein nor go about to alienate 'em from their proper use but that they shall be enjoyed in Common by 'em all as a sacred place where they may similiarily visit one another and discourse together like good friends And these are they to whom I bequeath this Common Possession viz. Hipparchus Nelâ—â—â— Callio Demoticus Demaratus Calliâ—thâ—ues Melantus Panâ—reoâ— and Niâ—â—ppus to whom I add Aristotle the Son of Midias and Pythias who if he please to addict himself to Philosophy may enjoy equal Privileges with the rest I recommend him to his most ancient Friends to take care that he be instructed in Philosophy For my part I desire to be buried in any part of the Garden where they shall think most convenient charging them not to be at any superfluous Expence either upon my Funeral or upon my Tomb. Which being done my Will is That Pompylus who lives in the House take care of every thing as he did before To which purpose I recommend him to all that shall enjoy the forementioned Privileges and that it be as much to his profit as may be Moreover it is my Will as I have formerly testified to Melantus and Pancreon That there be an Assignation of two thousand Drachma's to Pompylus and Threptes my free'd Bondmen who have served me faithfully and That this Assignation be made upon Hipparchus besides those other Emoluments which they have received at my hands and that the said Assignation be made over to them firmly in their own Names Moreover I give them Sotomales and a Servant Maid As for my Boys it is my Will that Molo Cymo and Parmeno be forthwith set at Liberty As for Manes and Callias I will not have them enfranchized till they have laboured four years longer in the Garden so that there
Redemption and order him a Legacy of four Mina's beside I give Micros his Freedom and recommend him to Lyco to instruct him for six Years I also give Chares his Freedom and order him his Being with Lyco two Mina's in Silver and all the rest of my Books except those which I never yet made publick which I recommend to Callinus to publish Moreover let Syrus my free'd Man have four Mina's and Menodora for his Servant-Maid and if he owe me any more I freely discharge him I give also five Mina's to Hilaras a sâ—â—ag Carpet two Pillows a figur'd Coverlet and a Bed such a one as she shall make choice of I also enfranchise the Mother of Micros Noemo Dio Theâ— Euphrano and Hermyas As for Agatho I do not think it fit that he have his Freedom these two Years And as for my Litter-Carriers Ophelio and Possidonius let them stay four Years longer before they be set at Liberty Moreover my Will is That Demetrius Crito and Syrus have each of them a Bed and one of my old Suits such as Lyco shall think most Convenient As for the place of my Burial let Lyco consider whether he will bury me here or in my House for I am assur'd that he knows what is decent and comely as well as my self And thus let him execute the Contents of my Will and all the rest is his own The witnesses to this Will were Callinus the Hermionean Aristo of Chios and Euphronius the Peanian He shewed himself in all his Actions that appertained either to Learning or the Study of Human Things so wise that his Prudence did not only extend it self to what was before his Eyes but also to provide so well by his Will for all his Affairs that he deserves to be a Pattern for every one to imitate The LIFE of DEMETRIVS DEMETRIVS the Son of Phâ—nostratus was a Native of Phalera and Hearer of Theophrastus But being a great pleader of Causes at Atheni he got into that Credit by means of his Parts that he was called to the Government of the City where he continued in the first rank of Dignity for ten whole Years during which time there were erected three Hundred and sixty Statues in his Honour the most part of which were on Horseback or drawn by Chariots with two Horses a-breast and all finished in ten Months He began to be engag'd in publick Business as Demetrius the Magnesian testifies in his Equivocals at what time Harpalus came to Athens flying the sight of Alexander He discharged the Trust reposed in him to a wonder and held it a long time to the great advantage of his Fellow-Citizens For tho' at the beginning of his Government he was not overmuch advanced in Honour and Wealth however he left his City much wâ—â—lthier in Revenue and adorned with sumptuous Buildings He was descended as Phavorinus reports from one of the most noble Families in the City that is to say from that of the Canons and as the same Author asserts in the second of his Commentaries he had a she Friend whose name was Lamia that was at his Service but that he had suffered under Cleo that which was neither for his Honour nor Modesty Moreover Didymus recounts that a certain Curtezan called him Charito-Bleâ—â—arus that is to say Charmer of Ladies and that another called him Lampetes as a great boaster of his Abilities to please Women 'T is reported that he fell blind at Alexandria but that Serapis restor'd him his Sight in praise of whom he wrote several Hymns such as they sing now at this time However being in so much Credit among the Athenians he could not avoid the assaults of Envy to which all Men in high Degree are obnoxious So that after he had escaped the Snares of some of his Maligners he was at length in his absence condemned to Death Nevertheless as Providence had ordered it they could not seize his Person and therefore like Madmen exercised their Rage upon his Statues some of which they threw in the Dirt sold others and buried several in the Sea besides a great number that were broken and spoil'd except one that was overlooked in the Castle This the Athenians did by the Command of King Demetrius as Phavorinus testifies in his various History Nor was this all for us the same Phavorinus relates they accused him of Irreligion in the Administration of the Government Moreover Hermippus relates that he withdrew himself after Cassander was put to Death and sheltered himself with Ptolemy Soter for fear of Antigonus and that after he had continued there a long time he advised the King among other things to declare his Children by his Wife â—â—rydice his Successors but the King rejecting his Counsel bequeath'd his Diadem to a Son that he had by Berenice which was the Reason that after his Fathers Death he kept Demetrius close in the Province where he spent the remainder of his days in a miserable Condition He dyed as it were in his Sleep being bit in the hand by an Asp as he lay slumbring and was buried in the Province of Busiritis near Diospolis and we made him the following Epigram As wise Demetrius slumbring lay An Aspiâ— to his Hand made way The Venom flew and thus by â—apping One little Vein Death caught him napping As for the Counsel which he gave the King in his Epitome of the successions of Sotion it diverted Ptolemy from his design of leaving the Kingdom to Philadelphus upon this account for said he If thou giv'st it the other thou wilt never enjoy it thy self However it were this is certain that Mâ—nandâ—r the Comic Poet was accused at Atheus upon this particular Point so that he narrowly escaped his being Condemned to Death for no other Reason but because he had been Demetrius's Friend But Telesphorus Son in Law to Demetrius made it his Business to clear him of that Imputation He exceeded in number of Books and Verses all the Peripatetics of his Age. Which Works of his were part Poetry part History partly of Government and partly concerning Rhetoric To which we may add his Speeches and Orations as well at the Council-Table as when employed in foreign Embassies To give ye then a Catalogue of his Writings They were these Five Books of Laws two of the Citizens of Athens one of Laws two of Rhetoric two of military Discipline two of the Iliads four of the Odysses one of a Republic one of an Employment for ten Years one of the Ionians one of Embassies one of Fidelity one of Favour one of Fortune one of Magnificence one of Laws one of Marriage one of Obstacles one of Peace one of Studies one of time one of Antiphanes one of Time Topics one one of Sentences Several others entituled Medon Cleon Socrates Erotics Phaedonides Ptolemy Artaxerxes Aristomachus Homerics Aristides Exhortatorius Dionysius the Chalcidian the incursion of the Athenians the Proem of History the sworn Harangue Right His Epistles making one Book his Stile is
to him as one that had skill to put them into Order There were in all six Menippi The first was he that wrote of the Lydian Affairs and made an Abridgment of Xanthus The Second was this Cynick The third was a Stratonicean Sophist and a Carian by Nation The fourth a Statuary The Fifth and the Sixth were Painters Apollodorus makes mention of both these And the Books of the Cynick are in all Thirteen viz. His Evocation of Ghosts his Wills his Letters which he embellished with the Names and Persons of the Gods against the Naturallists against the Mathematicians against the Literators Against the Birth-days of Epicurus and the Twentieth Days celebrated by his Followers and so the rest in order The LIFE of MENEDEMVS MENEDEMUS was the Scholar of * Colotes of Lampsacos This Man as we are told by Hippobotus arrived to that degree of Extravagancy as to take upon him the habit of a Fury and to go up and down saying He was come from the nether World to spy out Peoples Sins that so at his return down he might acquaint the Daemons there with them And this was the kind of Garb he wore A dark-coloured Gown down to his Feet and girt about him with a Purple Girdle an Arcadian Bonnet on his Head having the twelve signs of the Zodiack interwoven in it Tragick Buskins on his Feet a huge long Beard and an ashen Stick in his Hand And these are the Lives of each of the Cynick Philosophers to which we will subjoin what they hold in common among them For we esteem this as a Sect in Philosophy and not as some think it as only an affected way of Living Their Opinion therefore is that Logicks and Physicks should be laid aside in which they agree with Aristo of Chios and that we ought to addict our selves wholly to Morals And what some ascribe to Socrates that Diocles attributes to Diogenes saying he was wont to say we should make it our Enquiry VVhat 's good or bad within our proper Doors They decline also the * ordinary Course of Arts. Therefore Antisthenes was used to say sober Persons should never learn Letters for fear they should be perverted by other Mens Reasonings They also take away Geometry Musick and all such kind of things Diogenes therefore said once to one that shewed him a new Sun-dial Ay it is a fine thing and very useful to prevent one from loosing ones Dinner To one that made Ostentation to him of his Skill in Musick he said Counsells of Men rule Towns and Houses too Which playing on the Fiddle will not do They likewise hold That a Life agreeable to Vertue is a Man's last Good as Antisthenes tells us in his Hercules in which they exactly agree with the Stoicks For there is a kind of Affinity betwixt these two Sects which hath made some to define Cynicism to be a short Cut unto Vertue And Zeno the Cittiean lived like them They are moreover for a very mean way of Living and for using only a necessary Diet and wearing nothing but old thredbare Mantles and contemn Wealth Honour and Parentage And therefore some live altogether upon Herbs and cold Water and use such places for Shelter as they next meet with and live in Tubs as did Diogenes who would often say It was the Property of the Gods to need nothing and of such as were like the Gods to make use of but few things They believe also that Vertue may be acquired as Antisthenes writes in his Hercules And that a wise Man should never be rejected And that he merits Love. And that he will never do amiss And that he is a Friend to his Like And that he commits nothing to Fortune But the things in the midst betwixt Vertue and Vice they term Indifferents in the same manner with Aristo of Chios And these are the Cynicks we will next pass to the Stoicks who began in Zeno who was Disciple to Crates Diogenes Laertius Containing the Lives Opinions and Sayings Of the most Eminent PHILOSOPHERS The Seventh Book Translated from the Greek by R. M. The LIFE of ZENO ZENO the Son of Mnaseas or Demeas a Cittiean was born in a City of the Greeks in the Island of Cyprus inhabited by the Phoenicians He was wry-neck'd with his Head leaning more to one Shoulder than the other as Timotheus the Athenian relates in his Lives of the Philosophers And Apollonius the Tyrian reports him to have been very lean and slender of Body very tall and of a swarthy Complexion For which Reason there were some that Nick-nam'd him The Aegyptian Sprigg or Vine-Branch as Chrysippus testifies in his first Book of Proverbs Moreover his Thighs were always swollen to excess his Joints ill compacted and weak Therefore as Perseus writes in his Symposiacs he declin'd all Invitations to plentiful Feasts feeding most heartily upon Figs either green or dry'd in the Sun. He was a â—â—earer of Crates as already has been said Afterwards he adher'd to Stilpo and Xenocrates for Ten Years together as Timocrates asserts in his Dio. At what time he also very much frequented Polemo's School Hecaton likewise and Apollonius the Tyrian report that upon his consulting the Oracle What Course was fittest for a Man to take that intended to regulate and govern his Life after the best manner The Deity return'd for Answer That he should keep Consortship with the Dead Upon which he fell to reading the Writings of the Ancients As for Crates he met with him by this Accident Being bound for Greece in a Vessel from Phoenicia which he had laden with Purple he was cast away not far from the Piraeum Thereupon in a deep Melancholy for his Loss he came to Athens at that time Thirty years of Age he sate himself down in a Book-Seller's Shop When after he had read a while in the Second Book of Xenophon's Commentaries pleas'd with the Subject he enquir'd where any such Men dwelt The Words were no sooner out of his Mouth but Crates accidentally passing by the Book-seller pointing to him bid him follow that man. And so from that time forward he became a Hearer of Crates whose Philosophy as being that for which he had a great Reverence he readily and quickly learnt but his Modesty would never permit him to affect the impudent Behaviour of Cynic Moroseness Crates therefore having a mind to cure him of that same Bashfulness gave him a Pot of Lentil-Potage to carry through the Street call'd Keramicum but perceiving him to be asham'd that he hid his Pot under his Garment with a Slap of his Cane he brake the Pipkin so that the Liquid Potage ran down Zeno's Heels of a Colour somewhat ignominious Upon which Zeno nimbly mending his Pace Crates cry'd out Hey You Merchant of Eâ—lskins whither away so fast The Mischance will never spoil thy Marriage Thus for some time he was a Hearer of Crates at what time having written his Common-wealth several jok'd upon him and
all other things and the Mind whose Duty it is to pronounce utters forth in Words what it suffers from the Fancy However Fancy and Fantasm differ for Fantasm is the Opinion of the Mind as it happens when we dream But Fancy is the Impression of a certain Form in the Mind that is a Mutation as Chrysippus calls it in his Treatise of the Soul. Nevertheless the Form is not imprinted like the Impression of a Seal For it is impossible that several Figures should be stamp'd upon one and the same Superficies For the Fancy receives its Notion from that which exists according as it is as being imprinted and stamp'd upon it not from that which has no Existence which cannot be done Now of Fancies as they say some are sensible others not sensible if they be apprehended by the Sence or Sences Insensible such Things as are comprehended in the Mind as incorporeal Things and such as are apprehended by Reason Moreover Sensible Fancies operate upon Things existent by Approbation and Consent Moreover there are the Evidences of Fancies if they work upon Things existent Again Fancies are some Rational others Irrational Rational those of Rational Creatures Irrational those of Creatures destitute of Reason If Rational they are said to be Thoughts and Cogitations But for Irrational no Name has yet been found Some Fancies are Artificial others not For an Artist fancies a Statue one way an Ignorant Person another way Sense according â—â— the Stoics is a Spirit proceeding from the Principality of the Mind and insinâ—ating it self into the Sences and it is call'd The Apprehension by their means and the Architecture of the Sences which is the reason that some are bad and the Operation or Energy of the Sences But Apprehension say they proceeds from the Sence of Black or White Rough or Smooth But those things which are collected by Demonstration proceed from Reason as that there are Gods and that they take care of Humane Affairs For of things that are understood some things are understood by Accident some by Similitude others by Proportion some by Transmutation others by Composition and others by Contrariety By Accident sensible things are apprehended by Similitude as Socrates by his Picture by Proportion as Tityus and the Cyclops by their Bulk or a Pigmy by his Smalness And the Center of the Earth is distinguish'd by Proportion from the Center of the lesser Orbs. By change of Situation as Eyes in the Breast By Composition we understand a Hippo-Centaur and by Contrariety Life from Death Naturally we understand Justice and Goodness and by Privation Lameness These are the Sentiments of the Stoics concerning Fancy Sence and Intelligence They hold the Apprehensive Faney to be the Judge of Truth that is to say of Truth that proceeds from that which is existent according to the Opinions of Chrysippus in his Twelfth Book of Physics Antipater and Apollodorus For Boethus numbers up several other Judges of it as the Mind the Sence the Appetite and Knowledge But Chrysippus dissenting from him in his First Book of Reason makes Sence and Anticipation to be the Judges of it affirming Anticipation to be a Knowledge by Nature of Vniversals Though some others of the more ancient Stoics allot that Excellency to right Reason As for Spaculative Logic most do hold That it ought to be referr'd to the Place of the Voice Now the Voice is the Percussion of the Air and is properly subjected to the Sense of Hearing according to Diogenes the Babylonian in his Treatise of the Voice The Voice of a Beast is a violent Verberation of the Air but the Voice of Man is articulate and proceeds from the Mind as Diogenes asserts and comes to perfection at Thirteen Years of Age as Archedemus in his Ninth Book of the Voice Diogenes Antipater and Chrysippus in his Third Book of Natural Things affirm Now whatever acts is a Body But the Voice acts when the Voice of the Speaker strikes the Ear of the Hearer A Word is a Voice consisting of Letters as for Example Day Speech is a significant Voice proceeding from the Understanding as It is Day A Dialect is the various Pronunciation of a different Province in the Greek Language as in the Attic Dialect Thalatta in the Ionic Hemere The Elements of Words are the Four and Twenty Letters In the Letter is to be included the Element the Character and the Name as in α Alpha. Of the Elements there are seven Vocal or Vowels as α ε η ι ο Ï… ω. Alpha Epsilon Eta Iota O-micron Vpsilon O-mega and six Mutes β γ δ κ Ï€ Ï„. Beta Gamma Delta Kappa Pi Tau Now there is a Difference between Voice and Word For Voice is no more then a Sound but a Word is articulate Then a Word differs from a Sentence for a Sentence is always significant a Word frequently without any Signification as Blitri A Speech also and Pronunciation differ for Sounds are pronounc'd but things are pronounc'd which also may be read Of Speech there are five Parts as Diogenes and Chrysippus assert Name Appellation Word Conjunction and Article to which Antipater adds the Medium Appellation according to Diogenes is that Part of Speech which shews the common Quality as a Man a Horse The Name is that Part of Speech which denotes the proper Quality as Diogenes Socrates A Word demonstrates the separate Predicate as Diogenes Or as others say a Principle of Speech without a Case signifying the Act of any Person as I write I speak A Conjunction is a Part of Speech without a Case binding together the Parts of Sentences An Article is a Part of Speech declin'd distinguishing the Genus's of Names as He of This of That They These Those The Excellencies of Speech are Five Graeoism Perspicuity Conciseness Decorum and Composure Graecism is a true Pronunciation according to Art and not according to vulgar Custom Perspicuity is a manner of Utterance familiarly expressing the Meaning of the Person Conciseness is a Speech comprehending only what is necessary for the Explanation of the Matter Decorum is the Choice of Words proper for the Subject Composure is the avoiding of Improprieties Barbarism is the Use of Words contrary to the Custom of the flourishing Greek Soloecism is a Speech incongruously utter'd A Poem is a Speech consisting of Number and Measure more lofty then Prose as the vast Earth and Air sublime Poetry is a significant Poem comprehending the Imitation of Things both Humane and Divine A Definition is a Speech aptly expressed by way of Explication according to Antipater in his Book of Definitions by Chrysippus call'd Apodosis Description is a Speech introducing Matter by way of I igurative Demonstration or a Definition more barely expressing the force of the Definition A Genus is the Conception of several inseparable Thoughts as when we say a Living Creature for that this comprehends all Creatures in particular A Thought is the Fantasm of the Mind neither any Entity or Quality
Person Again What is not in the City is neither at home in the House but there is ne'r a Well in the City therefore not in the House Again There is a certain Thing call'd a Head but thou hast not that Thing therefore thou hast ne'r a Head. In like manner He that is at Megara is not at Athens but there is a Man at Megara therefore there is no Man at Athens In like manner What a man speaks passes through his Mouth but he speaks Cart therefore a Cart passes through his Mouth Lastly What thou didst never lose that thou hast thou never didst lose Horns therefore thou hast Horns Moreover there are not wanting some that foully bespatter Chrysippus and tax him for having written many things obscenely For that in his History of the Ancient Naturalists he feigns many scurrilous things of Juno and Jupiter reciting in six hundred Verses those things which no other then a foul-mouth'd Person would have utter'd fitter for a Brothel-House then to be spoken of the Gods though he applauds it for a Natural Allegory For which Reason it was left out by those that collected the Catalogues of Books in those Times for that neither Polemo nor Hypsicrates nor Antigonus make any mention of it That in his Common-wealth he allows a Community between Mothers Daughters and Sons And that he vents the same Paradoxes in his Treatise of those Things which are to be preferr'd for their own sakes That in his Book of the Law he allows and exhorts People to eat their Dead In his Second Book of Livelihood and Trade endeavouring to find out a way how a Wise Man might deal in the World and to what end he might be admitted to seek after Gain If for the sake of a Livelihood says he Life is an indifferent thing If for Pleasure's sake that is also an indifferent thing If for Virtue 's sake that alone is sufficient to render Life happy Besides the ways of gaining are very ridiculous for if a Man be supply'd by his Prince he must creep and cringe for it if he accept from his Friend his own Friendship is bought if he gain by his Wisdom that also becomes Mercenary And these are the Extravagancies which they lay to his Charge Now then to give a Catalogue of his Works which are highly esteem'd among others we find 'em number'd up in this Order Logical Topics Logical Questions Philosophical Questions Philosophical Considerations Logical Terminations Six Books to Metrodorus of Logical Names his Art of Logic against Zeno. To Aristagorus of conjoyn'd Probabilities to Dioscorides The first Syntaxis Of Logical Moods relating to Things of Enunciates of Compound Enunciates of Connex'd Propositions to Athenades of Negations to Aristagoras of Predicables to Athenodorus of Things according to Privation to Thearus of the Best Enunciates to Dio of the Difference of Indefinites of Things spoken according to Time in Two Books of Perfect Enunciates in Two Books of Truth disjoyn'd to Gorgippides of Truth conjoyn'd to the same Person in Four Books of Consequences of the Number Three of Possibles to Clitus in Four Books of Significations to Philo one Book What Things are false in one Book The Second Syntax of Precepts Two Books of Interrogations in Two Books of Answers in Four Books An Epitome of Answers in one Book of Questions again Two Books of Answers in One Book The Third Syntax Of the Predicaments to Metrodorus in Ten Books of Right and Crooked Lines to Philanthus of Conjunctions to Apollodorus of the Predicaments to Pasylus in Four Books The Fourth Syntax Of the Five Cases in one Book of Enunciates defin'd according to the Subject in one Book of Appellatives of Explanation to Stesagoras in Two Books A Logical Argument concerning Words and Speech which consists of Words The First Syntaxis Of single and compound Enunciates in Six Books of Expressions to Sosigenes and Alexander in Five Books of the Inequality of Words to Dio in Four Books of some Questions of Soloecisms one Book Soloecizing Orations to Dionysius of Orations contrary to Custom Readings to Dionysius The Second Syntax Of the Elements of Speech five Books Of the Order of Words in those things which are spoken Of the Order and Elements of those things that are spoken to Philip in Three Books Of the Elements to Nicias one Book of what may be said in reference to other things The Third Syntax Against those that never divide of Ambiguities one Book of the Connexion of Tropic Amphibology An Answer to Panthoedus concerning Ambiguities of Introduction to Ambiguities in Five Books An Epitome of Ambiguities to Epicrates Additions to the Introduction of Ambiguities Logical Places for Orations and Tropes The First Syntax The Art of weaving Orations and Tropes to Dioscorides of Orations three Books Of the Stability of the Moods in two Books to Stesagoras A Comparison between Tropical Enunciates in one Book Of reciprocal and conjoyn'd Orations in one Book to Agatho of consequent Problems in one Book of Conclusions to Aristagoras in one Book That the same Oration may consist of several Moods An Answer to them that aver the same Oration may be Syllogistical and not Syllogistical An Answer to the Objections against Sillogistical Solutions An Answer to Philo Of Tropes to Timostratus Logic conjoyn'd to Timocrates and Philomathes Of Orationsand Tropicks one Book The Second Syntax Of concluding Orations to Zeno in one Book of primary Sillogisins wanting Demonstration to Zeno one Book of the Solution of Sillogisms one Book of Fallacious Orations to Pasylus Of the Speculations of Syllogisms Of Introductory Sillogisms in Answer to Zeno in three Books Of the false Figures of Sillogisms Sillogistical Orations by way of Analysis in such as wanted Demonstration that is Tropical Questions to Zeno Philomathes The Third Syntax Of incident Orations to Athenades In Answer to the Conjunctives of Amenius The Fourth Syntax Of Hypotheses to Meleager Hypothetical Orations relating to Introduction Hypothetical Speculations falsly superscrib'd to Alexander Of Expositions to Leodamus The Fifth Syntax Of Introduction to Palshood of Fallacy to Aristocreon In answer to those who believe True and False to be the same thing In answer to those that analize a false Oration by way of Division to Aristocreon Two Demonstrations that Infinities cannot be divided An Answer to the Objections to the Divisions of Infinite of the Solution of false Oration to Aristocreon A Solution of Hedyllus Hypotheses's to Aristocreon and Apellas The Seventh Syntax In answer to those that affirm a false Oration has false Assertions of Negation to Aristocreon Negative Orations to Gymnasius of pitiful Oratory to Stesagoras of Orations against Suppositions and of Quiescents of Involv'd to Aristobulus of Latent to Athenades The Eighth Syntax Of Profitable to Menacrates of Orations consisting of Infinite and Finite to Pasylus of the Argument call'd Outis to Epicrates The Ninth Syntax Of Sophisms to Heraclides and Pollis of ambiguous Logical Orations in five Books to Dioscorides In answer
And beware that none of his friends do light upon thee by the way lest mischief befall thee Some there are by the report of Demetrius who affirm that he receiv'd his Food from the Nymphs which he preserv'd in the Hoof of an Ox of which he took a little at Times never needing Evacuation but that he was never seen to Eat Timaeus also makes mention of him in his Second Book Others there are who say that the Cretans offer'd Sacrifices to him as a God for they aver him to have been most skillful in Divination And therefore observing the Munictrian Port among the Athenians he told 'em that if they knew what Calamities that place would bring upon their City they would tear it up with their Teeth He is said to be the first who call'd himself Aeacus and foretold the Lacedaemonians the Bondage which they should endure under the Arcadians often pretending that he rose from death to life Theopompus also relates That when he was laying the Foundations of a Temple to the Nymphs a voice was heard from Heaven Not to the Nymphs but to Jove himself He likewise foretold the Cretans the issue of the War between the Lacedaemonians and Arcadians in which War being deserted by the Orchomenians they fell into the power of their Enemies There are not wanting some who affirm That he waxed old in so many days as he slept years which Theopompus also testifies And Murianus asserts That he was by the Cretans call'd Curetes The Lacedaemonians preserv'd his Body within their City being advis'd so to do by a certain Oracle as Sosibius the Lacedaemonian reports There were two more of the same name besides the one a writer of Genealogies and the second one that writ the History of Rhodes in the Doric Dialect THE LIFE of PHERECYDES THE Syrian Pherecydes was the Son of Badys as Alexander in his Successions reports and a Hearer of Pittacus He was the first as Theopompus testifies that wrote among the Greeks concerning Nature and the Gods more than that he is famous for many wonderful things for as he was walking near the Sea-shoar upon the Sand seeing a Ship under Sail right afore the Wind he foretold that the Vessel would sink in a short time which soon after happen'd in his sight Another time after he had drank a draught of Water drawn out of a Well he foretold an Earthquake within three days which fell out as he said Travelling thro' Messana to Olympia he advis'd his Friend and Host Perilaus to depart from thence with all his Family which he neglecting to do Messana was soon after taken by the Enemy He was wont to tell the Lacedemonians that neither Gold or Silver were to be valu'd or admir'd And the same night that Hercules commanded the Kings to obey Pherecydes the Deity gave him notice of it in a Dream However some there are do ascribe these things to Pythagoras But Hermippus hath this further of Pherecydes that in the War between the Magnesians and Ephesians he being desirous that the Ephesians should have the better demanded of one that travel'd upon the Road of what place he was who answering of Ephesus Then draw me said he by the Legs and lay me in the Territory of the Magnesians and bid thy fellow Citizens after they have obtain'd the Victory take care to bury me in that place adding withal that he was Pherecydes which when the Passenger had related to his Neighbours they were in great hopes of victory The next day they overthrew the Magnesians and being Victors found Pherecydes dead whom they not only honourably interr'd but held in great veneration afterwards Some say that going to Delphos from Corycium he threw himself from the top of a Mountain But Aristoxenus writing of Pythagoras and his familiar Acquaintance affirms that he dy'd of a sickness and was buried by Pythagoras Some say that he ended his days of the Lowsie Disease and that when Pythagoras coming to visit him ask'd him how he felt himself he answer'd thrusting his finger through the door my skin will tell thee Whence the Expression was ever afterwards taken by the Philosophers in a bad sence Andro the Ephesian asserts that there were two of the same name both Syrians One an Astrologer the other a Theologist whom Pythagoras admir'd On the other side Eratosthenes denies that there was any more than one Syrian but that the other was an Athenian and a writer of Genealogies Moreover there is yet extant a little Treatise written by Pherecydes the Syrian concerning the first Principle of all things which begins thus Jupiter and Time are the same and the Earth was always Upon his Tomb as Doris testifies this Epigram was inscrib'd In me all Wisdom ends if there be more And that Pythagoras enjoys this store Tell him the Truth that Pherecydes speaks It springs again in him among the Greeks Ion the Chiote writes also thus concerning him How sweetly lives his incorrupted Soul Who all the Vertues did himself controul Credit the wise Pythagoras who had seen The Customs and the Manners of most Men. To which we may add that which follows being one of our own in Pherecratian Measure The Learned Pherecyde Whom Syria boasts her own So Fame reports it dy'd By Vermin over-run To the Ephesians kind His Body to Magnesian Land He willingly resign'd The Pledge of Glory gain'd By Victory next day 'T was th' Oracles Command Which he that only knew Resolved to obey And thus to friendship true He dy'd to save his friends So sure it is that where The Wise Men have their Ends They no less useful dye Than when they living were This happen'd about the fifty ninth Olympiad leaving behind this Letter to Thales Pherecydes to Thales MAyest thou dy well when thy fatal day approaches I was taken desperately ill when I receiv'd thy Letters I was cover'd over with Vermin and a Quotidian Ague shook my Bones besides However I left it in charge with some of my Servants that so soon as they had interr'd me they should convey the enclosed to thee Which if thou do'st approve shew it to the rest of the Wise Men if not conceal it for my part I cannot say it pleased me very much I cannot commend it for infallibility for I neither promis'd it neither do I profess to know the Truth of all things Something perhaps of the Theology thou may'st make use of the rest must be consider'd For I rather chose to propose obscurely than to determine But my Distemper every day increasing I am unwilling to lose either any of my Physicians or any of my Friends And to those that ask me how I do I shew my finger through the Door to let 'em see my condition and bid 'em all be sure to come next day to Pherecydes's Funeral And these are they who were call'd the Wise Men to the number of which there are some who add Pisistratus the Tyrant Now we come to the Philosophers and therefore first