Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
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Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
s. 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 Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empire ...
. 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 Ancient Greece, Greek Pyrrhonism, Pyrrhonist philosopher and Empiric school physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and ...
(c. 200), whom he mentions, and before
Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
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 Constantinop ...
(c. 500), who quote him. His work makes no mention of Neoplatonism, 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 (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 ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
. The modern form "Diogenes Laertius" is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium, and in a
lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), a ...
to the
Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...
. 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 (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 coas ...
). Another suggestion is that one of his ancestors had for a patron a member of the Roman family of the Laërtii. The prevailing modern theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the Homeric epithet ''Diogenes Laertiade'', used in addressing
Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...
) 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 in
Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...
.. 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 or a Pyrrhonist. He passionately defends
Epicurus Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced ...
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 Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
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 w ...
of Sotion. The biographies of the "Ionian school" begin with
Anaximander Anaximander (; grc-gre, Ἀναξίμανδρος ''Anaximandros''; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus,"Anaximander" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 403. a city of Ionia (in moder ...
and end with Clitomachus, Theophrastus and
Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; grc-gre, Χρύσιππος ὁ Σολεύς, ; ) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Clean ...
; the "Italian" begins with Pythagoras and ends with
Epicurus Epicurus (; grc-gre, Ἐπίκουρος ; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. He was born on the Greek island of Samos to Athenian parents. Influenced ...
. The Socratic school, with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the Eleatics 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, and Theodorus ( Cyrenaics);
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 bee ...
(Stoic); and Metrodorus and Hermarchus (Epicureans). Book VII is incomplete and breaks off during the life of
Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; grc-gre, Χρύσιππος ὁ Σολεύς, ; ) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Clean ...
. From a table of contents in one of the manuscripts (manuscript P), this book is known to have continued with
Zeno of Tarsus Zeno of Tarsus ( grc-gre, Ζήνων ὁ Ταρσεύς, ''Zenon ho Tarseus''; fl. 200 BC) was a Stoic philosopher and the son of Dioscorides. Biography Zeno was a pupil of Chrysippus, and when Chrysippus died c. 206 BC, he succeeded him to b ...
,
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 Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...
,
Boethus Boëthus ( el, Βόηθος) was a Greek sculptor of the Hellenistic age. His life dates cannot be accurately fixed, but he probably flourished in the 2nd century BCE. One source gives his birthplace as Chalcedon. He was noted for his representa ...
, 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 D ...
,
Nestor Nestor may refer to: * Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology Arts and entertainment * "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' * Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, L ...
,
Basilides Basilides (Greek: Βασιλείδης) was an early Christian Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt who taught from 117 to 138 AD, notes that to prove that the heretical sects were "later than the catholic Church," Clement of Alexandri ...
, Dardanus,
Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...
, Heraclides, Sosigenes, Panaetius, Hecato, Posidonius, Athenodorus, another Athenodorus,
Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...
,
Arius Arius (; grc-koi, Ἄρειος, ; 250 or 256 – 336) was a Cyrenaic presbyter, ascetic, and priest best known for the doctrine of Arianism. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead in Christianity, which emphasized God the Father's un ...
, 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 Favorinus (c. 80 – c. 160 AD) was a Roman sophist and academic skeptic philosopher who flourished during the reign of Hadrian and the Second Sophistic. Early life He was of Gaulish ancestry, born in Arelate (Arles). He received a refin ...
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 Antisthenes of Rhodes ( el, Ἀντισθένης ὁ Ῥόδιος) was an ancient Greek historian who lived 200 BCE. He took an active part in the political affairs of his country, and wrote a history of his own time, which, notwithstanding his ...
,
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 Mithrida ...
, 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,
Aristippus Aristippus of Cyrene, Libya, Cyrene (; grc, Ἀρίστιππος ὁ Κυρηναῖος; c. 435 – c. 356 BCE) was a Hedonism, hedonistic Ancient Greece, Greek philosopher and the founder of the Cyrenaics, Cyrenaic school of philosophy. He w ...
, Panaetius, Apollodorus of Athens, Sosicrates, Satyrus, Sotion, Neanthes, Hermippus,
Antigonus Antigonus or Antigonos ( grc, Ἀντίγονος), a Greek name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to: Rulers * Three Macedonian kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great: ** Antigon ...
, 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) * Basqu ...
, and Pamphila.


Oldest extant manuscripts

There are many extant manuscripts 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 The Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III ('' Victor Emmanuel III National Library'') is a national library of Italy. It occupies the eastern wing of the 18th-century Palazzo Reale in Naples, at 1 Piazza del Plebiscito, and has entrances f ...
. Manuscript P (''Paris'') is dated to the 11th/12th century, and is in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
. Manuscript F (''Florence'') is dated to the 13th century, and is in the
Laurentian Library The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or BML) is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze ...
. 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 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 Ambrogio Traversari, also referred to as Ambrose of Camaldoli (138620 October 1439), was an Italian monk and theologian who was a prime supporter of the papal cause in the 15th century. He is honored as a saint by the Camaldolese Order. Biography ...
(whose manuscript presentation copy to
Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...
was dated February 8, 1433) and was edited by Elio Francesco Marchese. The Greek text of the lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus appeared in the third volume of the Aldine Aristotle in 1497. The
first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
of the whole Greek text was that published by
Hieronymus Froben Hieronymus Froben (1501–1563) was a famous pioneering printer in Basel and the eldest son of Johann Froben. He was educated at the University of Basel and traveled widely in Europe. He, his father and his brother-in-law Nicolaus Episcopius we ...
in 1533. The Greek/Latin edition of 1692 by Marcus Meibomius 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 of the entire text, by H.S. Long in the Oxford Classical Texts, was not produced until 1964; this edition was superseded by Miroslav Marcovich's Teubner 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 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 Charles Duke Yonge (30 November 1812 – 30 November 1891) was an English historian, classicist and cricketer. He wrote numerous works of modern history, and translated several classical works. His younger brother was George Edward Yonge. Biogra ...
(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 The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...
, although it is slightly bowdlerized. 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 in 2018.


Legacy and assessment

Henricus Aristippus, the archdeacon of
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
, 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" literary c ...
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 monk
Ambrogio Traversari Ambrogio Traversari, also referred to as Ambrose of Camaldoli (138620 October 1439), was an Italian monk and theologian who was a prime supporter of the papal cause in the 15th century. He is honored as a saint by the Camaldolese Order. Biography ...
(1386–1439) produced another Latin translation in Florence between 1424 and 1433, for which far better records have survived. The Italian Renaissance scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect Leon Battista Alberti (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 philosopher
Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
(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 (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'' (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 in ...
(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 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 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
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 ...
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 Miroslav Marcovich, 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: ** **


See also

*
Mochus Mochus ( grc-gre, Μωχός), also known as Mochus of Sidon and Mochus the Phoenician, is listed by Diogenes Laërtius along with Zalmoxis the Thracian and Atlas of Mauretania, as a proto-philosopher. Athenaeus claimed that he authored a work o ...


Notes


References

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


Further reading

* Barnes, Jonathan. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius IX 61–116: The Philosophy of Pyrrhonism." In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 4241–4301. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. * Barnes, Jonathan. 1986. "Nietzsche and Diogenes Laertius." ''Nietzsche-Studien'' 15:16–40. * Dorandi, Tiziano. 2009. ''Laertiana: Capitoli sulla tradizione manoscritta e sulla storia del testo delle Vite dei filosofi di Diogene Laerzio.'' Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. * Eshleman, Kendra Joy. 2007. "Affection and Affiliation: Social Networks and Conversion to Philosophy." ''The Classical Journal'' 103.2: 129–140. * Grau, Sergi. 2010. "How to Kill a Philosopher: The Narrating of Ancient Greek Philosophers' Deaths in Relation to the Living. ''Ancient Philosophy'' 30.2: 347-381 * Hägg, Tomas. 2012. ''The Art of Biography in Antiquity.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press. * Kindstrand, Jan Frederik. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius and the Chreia Tradition." ''Elenchos'' 7:217–234. * Long, Anthony A. 2006. "Diogenes Laertius, Life of Arcesilaus." In ''From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy.'' Edited by Anthony A. Long, 96–114. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. * Mansfeld, Jaap. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius on Stoic Philosophy." ''Elenchos'' 7: 295–382. * Mejer, Jørgen. 1978. ''Diogenes Laertius and his Hellenistic Background.'' Wiesbaden: Steiner. * Mejer, Jørgen. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius and the Transmission of Greek Philosophy." In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3556–3602. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. * Morgan, Teresa J. 2013. "Encyclopaedias of Virtue?: Collections of Sayings and Stories About Wise Men in Greek." In ''Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance.'' Edited by Jason König and Greg Woolf, 108–128. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. * Sassi, Maria Michela. 2011. Ionian Philosophy and Italic Philosophy: From Diogenes Laertius to Diels. In ''The Presocratics from the Latin Middle Ages to Hermann Diels.'' Edited by Oliver Primavesi and Katharina Luchner, 19–44. Stuttgart: Steiner. * Sollenberger, Michael. 1992. The Lives of the Peripatetics: An Analysis of the Content and Structure of Diogenes Laertius’ “Vitae philosophorum” Book 5. In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3793–3879. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. * Vogt, Katja Maria, ed. 2015. ''Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius.'' Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck. * Warren, James. 2007. "Diogenes Laertius, Biographer of Philosophy." In Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire. Edited by Jason König and Tim Whitmars, 133–149. Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press. Attribution: *


External links


Works by Diogenes Laertius at Perseus Digital Library
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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
Digitized Manuscript of Diogenes Laertius' Vitae Philosophorum (Arundel MS 531)
at the British Library website {{Authority control 3rd-century Romans 3rd-century Greek people 3rd-century philosophers 3rd-century writers Ancient Greek biographers Ancient Greek writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Quotation collectors 3rd-century books Ancient Greek works Books about philosophers