Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek philosophy. His reputation is controversial among scholars because he often repeats information from his sources without critically evaluating it. He also frequently focuses on trivial or insignificant details of his subjects' lives while ignoring important details of their philosophical teachings and he sometimes fails to distinguish between earlier and later teachings of specific philosophical schools. However, unlike many other ancient secondary sources, Diogenes Laërtius generally reports philosophical teachings without attempting to reinterpret or expand on them, which means his accounts are often closer to the primary sources. Due to the loss of so many of the primary sources on which Diogenes relied, his work has become the foremost surviving source on the history of Greek philosophy.

Life

Laërtius must have lived after

Sextus Empiricus Sextus Empiricus ( grc-gre, Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός, ; ) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and bec ...

(c. 200), whom he mentions, and before Stephanus of Byzantium and

Sopater of Apamea Sopater of Apamea ( grc-gre, Σώπατρος ὁ Ἀπαμεύς; died before 337 AD), was a distinguished sophist and Neoplatonist philosopher. Biography Sopater was a disciple of Iamblichus, after whose death (c. 325 AD), he went to Constantin ...

(c. 500), who quote him. His work makes no mention of

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some i ...

, even though it is addressed to a woman who was "an enthusiastic Platonist". Hence he is assumed to have flourished in the first half of the 3rd century, during the reign of

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...

(222–235) and his successors.. The precise form of his name is uncertain. The ancient manuscripts invariably refer to a "Laertius Diogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater and the Suda. The modern form "Diogenes Laertius" is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium, and in a lemma to the Greek Anthology. He is also referred to as "Laertes" or simply "Diogenes". The origin of the name "Laertius" is also uncertain. Stephanus of Byzantium refers to him as "Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς" (''Diogenes ho Laertieus''), implying that he was the native of some town, perhaps the Laerte in

Caria Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...

(or another Laerte in

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...

). Another suggestion is that one of his ancestors had for a patron a member of the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family of the Laërtii. The prevailing modern theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

ic epithet ''Diogenes Laertiade'', used in addressing Odysseus) used to distinguish him from the many other people called Diogenes in the ancient world. His home town is unknown (at best uncertain, even according to a hypothesis that ''Laertius'' refers to his origin). A disputed passage in his writings has been used to suggest that it was

Nicaea Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...

in Bithynia.. Specifically, Diogenes refers to "our Apollonides of Nicaea". This has been conjectured to mean either "my fellow-citizen" or "a Sceptic like myself". It has been suggested that Diogenes was an

Epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by Ep ...

or a

Pyrrhonist Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek skeptic philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism. Life ...

. He passionately defends Epicurus in Book 10, which is of high quality and contains three long letters attributed to Epicurus explaining Epicurean doctrines. He is impartial to all schools, in the manner of the Pyrrhonists, and he carries the succession of Pyrrhonism further than that of the other schools. At one point, he even seems to refer to the Pyrrhonists as "our school." On the other hand, most of these points can be explained by the way he uncritically copies from his sources. It is by no means certain that he adhered to any school, and he is usually more attentive to biographical details. In addition to the ''Lives,'' Diogenes refers to another work that he had written in verse on famous men, in various metres, which he called ''Epigrammata'' or '' Pammetros'' (Πάμμετρος).

''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers''

The work by which he is known, ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' ( grc-gre, Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων; la, Vitae Philosophorum), was written in Greek and professes to give an account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers. Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages, led Montaigne to write that he wished that instead of one Laërtius there had been a dozen. On the other hand, modern scholars have advised that we treat Diogenes' testimonia with care, especially when he fails to cite his sources: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy".

Organization of the work

Diogenes divides his subjects into two "schools" which he describes as the Ionian/Ionic and the Italian/Italic; the division is somewhat dubious and appears to be drawn from the lost

doxography Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term ...

Sotion Sotion of Alexandria ( grc-gre, Σωτίων, ''gen''.: Σωτίωνος; fl. c. 200 – 170 BC) was a Greek doxographer and biographer, and an important source for Diogenes Laërtius. None of his works survive; they are known only indirectly ...

. The biographies of the "Ionian school" begin with Anaximander and end with Clitomachus,

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...

and Chrysippus; the "Italian" begins with

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politi ...

and ends with Epicurus. The Socratic school, with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the

Eleatics The Eleatics were a group of pre-Socratic philosophers in the 5th century BC centered around the ancient Italian Greek colony of Elea ( grc, Ἐλέα), located in present-day Campania in southern Italy. The primary philosophers who are assoc ...

and

Pyrrhonists Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek Philosophical skepticism, skeptic philosopher and found ...

are treated under the Italic. He also includes his own poetic verse, albeit pedestrian, about the philosophers he discusses. The work contains incidental remarks on many other philosophers, and there are useful accounts concerning Hegesias,

Anniceris Anniceris ( grc-gre, Ἀννίκερις; fl. 300 BC) was a Cyrenaic philosopher. He argued that pleasure is achieved through individual acts of gratification which are sought for the pleasure that they produce, but he also laid great emphasis on t ...

, and Theodorus (

Cyrenaics The Cyrenaics or Kyrenaics ( grc, Κυρηναϊκοί, Kyrēnaïkoí), were a sensual hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BCE, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are be ...

);

Persaeus Persaeus ( el, Περσαῖος; 307/6–243 BC) of Citium, son of Demetrius, was a Greek Stoic philosopher, and a friend and favourite student of Zeno of Citium. Life He lived in the same house as Zeno. Later writers wrote that Persaeus had be ...

(Stoic); and Metrodorus and

Hermarchus Hermarchus or Hermarch ( el, Ἕρμαρχoς, ''Hermarkhos''; c. 325-c. 250 BC), sometimes incorrectly written Hermachus ( el, Ἕρμαχoς, Hermakhos), was an Epicurean philosopher. He was the disciple and successor of Epicurus as head of the ...

(Epicureans). Book VII is incomplete and breaks off during the life of Chrysippus. From a table of contents in one of the manuscripts (manuscript P), this book is known to have continued with Zeno of Tarsus,

Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

, Apollodorus, Boethus, Mnesarchus,

Mnasagoras Mnasagoras ( el, Μνασαγόρας; fl. 2nd century BC) was an ancient Greek stoic philosopher. He was probably from Alexandria Troas. Almost nothing is known about the life of Mnasagoras. He was either the disciple of Antipater of Tarsos or ...

, Nestor, Basilides, Dardanus, Antipater, Heraclides, Sosigenes,

Panaetius Panaetius (; grc-gre, Παναίτιος, Panaítios; – ) of Rhodes was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic do ...

, Hecato,

Posidonius Posidonius (; grc-gre, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher nativ ...

, Athenodorus, another Athenodorus, Antipater, Arius, and Cornutus. The whole of Book X is devoted to Epicurus, and contains three long letters written by Epicurus, which explain Epicurean doctrines. His chief authorities were Favorinus and

Diocles of Magnesia Diocles of Magnesia ( el, Διοκλῆς ὁ Μάγνης) was an ancient Greek writer from Magnesia ad Sipylum, who probably lived in the 2nd or 1st century BC. The claim that he is the Diocles to whom Meleager of Gadara dedicated his anthology i ...

, but his work also draws (either directly or indirectly) on books by Antisthenes of Rhodes,

Alexander Polyhistor Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Πολυΐστωρ; flourished in the first half of the 1st century BC; also called Alexander of Miletus) was a Greek scholar who was enslaved by the Romans during the Mithri ...

, and

Demetrius of Magnesia Demetrius of Magnesia ( grc-gre, Δημήτριος; 1st century BC) was a Greek grammarian and biographer, and a contemporary of Cicero and Atticus. He had, in Cicero's recollection, sent Atticus a work of his on concord, ( el, Περὶ ὁμο� ...

, as well as works by

Hippobotus Hippobotus (; grc, Ἱππόβοτος; 200 BC) was a Greek historian of philosophers and philosophical schools. His writings are frequently quoted by Diogenes Laërtius. He wrote ''On the Sects'' ( el, Περὶ Αἱρέσεων) and a ''Regis ...

, Aristippus,

Apollodorus of Athens Apollodorus of Athens ( el, Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, ''Apollodoros ho Athenaios''; c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar, historian, and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, P ...

Sosicrates Sosicrates of Rhodes ( el, Σωσικράτης ὁ Ῥόδιος; ''floruit'' ''c.'' 180 BC) was a Greek historical writer. He was born on the island Rhodes and is noted, chiefly, for his frequent mention by Diogenes Laërtius in his ''Lives and O ...

, Satyrus,

, Neanthes,

Hermippus Hermippus ( grc-gre, Ἕρμιππος; fl. 5th century BC) was the one-eyed Athenian writer of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the Peloponnesian War. Life He was the son of Lysis, and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was younger t ...

, Antigonus, Heraclides,

Hieronymus Hieronymus, in English pronounced or , is the Latin form of the Ancient Greek name (Hierṓnymos), meaning "with a sacred name". It corresponds to the English given name Jerome. Variants * Albanian: Jeronimi * Arabic: جيروم (Jerome) * Basq ...

, and Pamphila.

Oldest extant manuscripts

There are many extant

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s of the ''Lives'', although none of them are especially old, and they all descend from a common ancestor, because they all lack the end of Book VII. The three most useful manuscripts are known as B, P, and F. Manuscript B (''Codex Borbonicus'') dates from the 12th century, and is in the National Library of Naples. Manuscript P (''Paris'') is dated to the 11th/12th century, and is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Manuscript F (''Florence'') is dated to the 13th century, and is in the Laurentian Library. The titles for the individual biographies used in modern editions are absent from these earliest manuscripts, however they can be found inserted into the blank spaces and margins of manuscript P by a later hand. There seem to have been some early

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translations, but they no longer survive. A 10th-century work entitled ''Tractatus de dictis philosophorum'' shows some knowledge of Diogenes.

Henry Aristippus Henry Aristippus of Calabria (born in Santa Severina in 1105–10; died in Palermo in 1162), sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was a religious scholar and the archdeacon of Catania (from c. 1155) and later chief ''familiaris'' of ...

, in the 12th century, is known to have translated at least some of the work into Latin, and in the 14th century an unknown author made use of a Latin translation for his ''

De vita et moribus philosophorum ''De vita et moribus philosophorum'' ('Lives and Manners of the Philosophers')Lutz, 247. is an anonymous Latin biographical dictionary of 132 ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and other luminaries from Thales of Miletus in the 6th century BC to ...

'' (attributed erroneously to

Walter Burley Walter Burley (or Burleigh; 1275 – 1344/45) was an English scholastic philosopher and logician with at least 50 works attributed to him. He studied under Thomas WiltonHarjeet Singh Gill, ''Signification in language and culture'', Indian Inst ...

Printed editions

The first printed editions were Latin translations. The first, ''Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt'' (Romae: Giorgo Lauer, 1472), printed the translation of Ambrogio Traversari (whose manuscript presentation copy to Cosimo de' Medici was dated February 8, 1433) and was edited by Elio Francesco Marchese. The

text of the lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus appeared in the third volume of the Aldine Aristotle in 1497. The first edition of the whole Greek text was that published by Hieronymus Froben in 1533. The Greek/Latin edition of 1692 by

Marcus Meibomius Marcus Meibomius (c. 1630, Tönningen – 1710/1711, Utrecht) was a DanishOr possibly German, from Holstein. scholar. He is best known as a historian of music, as an antiquarian, and as the first librarian at the Denmark's Royal Library. He was ...

divided each of the ten books into paragraphs of equal length, and progressively numbered them, providing the system still in use today. The first

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of the entire text, by H.S. Long in the

Oxford Classical Texts Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's ''Odyssey'' and Virgil's ''Aeneid'', ...

, was not produced until 1964; this edition was superseded by

Miroslav Marcovich Miroslav Marcovich (March 18, 1919 – June 14, 2001) was a Serbian-American philologist and university professor. Early life Marcovich was born in Belgrade, Serbia. He studied at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy graduating i ...

Teubner The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collection published of ancient (and some medieval) ...

edition, published between 1999 and 2002. A new edition, by

Tiziano Dorandi Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian ( Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, ne ...

, was published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

in 2013.

English translations

Thomas Stanley's 1656 ''History of Philosophy'' adapts the format and content of Laertius' work into English, but Stanley compiled his book from a number of classical biographies of philosophers. The first complete English translation was a late 17th-century translation by ten different persons. A better translation was made by Charles Duke Yonge (1853), but although this was more literal, it still contained many inaccuracies. The next translation was by

Robert Drew Hicks Robert Drew Hicks (29 June 1850 – 8 March 1929) was a classical scholar, and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. The son of William Hicks, head clerk in the post office at Bristol,Alumni Cantabrigienses part II, vol. III, John Venn, 1944, p ...

(1925) for the Loeb Classical Library, although it is slightly

bowdlerize Expurgation, also known as bowdlerization, is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media. The term ''bowdlerization'' is a pejorative term for the practi ...

d. A new translation by

Pamela Mensch Pamela may refer to: *''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740 *Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname * Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela" * MSC ''Pamela'', ...

was published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2018.

Legacy and assessment

CdM, presunto autoritratto di leon battista alberti, white ground

Henricus Aristippus Henry Aristippus of Calabria (born in Santa Severina in 1105–10; died in Palermo in 1162), sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was a religious scholar and the archdeacon of Catania (from c. 1155) and later chief '' familiaris'' ...

, the archdeacon of Catania, produced a Latin translation of Diogenes Laertius's book in southern Italy in the late 1150s, which has since been lost or destroyed.

Geremia da Montagnone Geremia da Montagnone or Hieremias Paduanus (died 1320/1321) was a judge and author active in Padua at the beginning of the 14th century. Little is known about his life and career, but he was apparently involved with the "proto-humanist H ...

used this translation as a source for his ''Compedium moralium notabilium'' (circa 1310) and an anonymous Italian author used it as a source for work entitled ''Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum'' (written 1317–1320), which reached international popularity in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

. The monk Ambrogio Traversari (1386–1439) produced another Latin translation in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

between 1424 and 1433, for which far better records have survived. The

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...

(1404–1472) borrowed from Traversari's translation of the ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' in Book 2 of his ''Libri della famiglia'' and modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's ''Life of Thales''. Diogenes Laërtius's work has had a complicated reception in modern times. The value of his ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' as an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages led the

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) to exclaim that he wished that, instead of one Laërtius, there had been a dozen.Montaigne, ''Essays'' II.1
"Of Books"
.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

(1770–1831) criticized Diogenes Laërtius for his lack of philosophical talent and categorized his work as nothing more than a compilation of previous writers' opinions. Nonetheless, he admitted that Diogenes Laërtius's compilation was an important one given the information that it contained.

Hermann Usener Hermann Karl Usener (23 October 1834 – 21 October 1905) was a German scholar in the fields of philology and comparative religion. Life Hermann Usener was born at Weilburg and educated at its Gymnasium. From 1853 he studied at Heidelberg, ...

(1834–1905) deplored Diogenes Laërtius as a "complete ass" (''asinus germanus'') in his ''

Epicurea Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by ...

'' (1887).

Werner Jaeger Werner Wilhelm Jaeger (30 July 1888 – 19 October 1961) was a German-American classicist. Life Werner Wilhelm Jaeger was born in Lobberich, Rhenish Prussia in the German Empire. He attended school in Lobberich and at the Gymnasium Thomaeum i ...

(1888–1961) damned him as "that great ignoramus". In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, scholars have managed to partially redeem Diogenes Laertius's reputation as a writer by reading his book in a Hellenistic literary context. Nonetheless, modern scholars treat Diogenes's testimonia with caution, especially when he fails to cite his sources. Herbert S. Long warns: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy."

Robert M. Strozier Robert Manning Strozier (; 1906 – 1960) was president of Florida State University between 1957 and 1960. The main library on the Tallahassee campus of Florida State University bears his name. Strozier was born July 20, 1906, in McRae, Georgia ...

offers a somewhat more positive assessment of Diogenes Laertius's reliability, noting that many other ancient writers attempt to reinterpret and expand on the philosophical teachings they describe, something which Diogenes Laërtius rarely does. Strozier concludes, "Diogenes Laertius is, when he does not conflate hundreds of years of distinctions, reliable simply because he is a less competent thinker than those on whom he writes, is less liable to re-formulate statements and arguments, and especially in the case of Epicurus, less liable to interfere with the texts he quotes. He does, however, simplify." Despite his importance to the history of western philosophy and the controversy surrounding him, according to Gian Mario Cao, Diogenes Laërtius has still not received adequate

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as t ...

attention. Both modern critical editions of his book, by H. S. Long (1964) and by M. Marcovich (1999) have received extensive criticism from scholars. He is criticized primarily for being overly concerned with superficial details of the philosophers' lives and lacking the intellectual capacity to explore their actual philosophical works with any penetration. However, according to statements of the 14th-century monk

in his ''De vita et moribus philosophorum'', the text of Diogenes seems to have been much fuller than that which we now possess.

Editions and translations

* ''Diogenis Laertii Vitae philosophorum'' edidit

, Stuttgart-Lipsia, Teubner, 1999–2002. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, vol. 1: Books I–X ; vol. 2: Excerpta Byzantina; v. 3: Indices by Hans Gärtner. * ''Lives of Eminent Philosophers'', edited by Tiziano Dorandi, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013 (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, vol. 50, new radically improved critical edition). * * * Translation by R.D. Hicks: ** ** ** * Translations based on the critical edition by Tiziano Dorandi: ** **

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Works by Diogenes Laertius at Perseus Digital Library
* * * *

at the Tertullian Project

* ttp://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.0251.1 Libro de la vita de philosophi et delle loro elegantissime sentencie.Venice, Joannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 20 May 1489. From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Digitized Manuscript of Diogenes Laertius' Vitae Philosophorum (Arundel MS 531)
at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

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