ἱστορίαι Historiai
D.L. 3.79-81 Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume I (Books I-V), Diogenes Laertius; served verbatim
whatever is praiseworthy and rational and useful and proper and becoming. And all these are bound up with that which is consistent and in accord with nature. He also discoursed on the propriety of names, and indeed he was the first to frame a science for rightly asking and answering questions, having employed it himself to excess. And in the dialogues he conceived righteousness to be the law of God because it is stronger to incite men to do righteous acts, that malefactors may not be punished after death also. Hence to some he appeared too fond of myths. These narratives he intermingles with his works in order to deter men from wickedness, by reminding them how little they know of what awaits them ¢ after death. Such, then, are the doctrines he approved. He used also to divide things, according to Aristotle, in the following manner.® Goods are in the mind or in the body, or external. For example, justice, prudence, courage, temperance and such like are in the mind ; beauty, a good constitution, health and strength in the body ; while friends, the welfare of one’s country and riches are amongst external things. Thus there are three kinds of goods: goods of the mind, goods of the body and external goods. There are three species of friendship : one species is natural, another social, and another hospitable. By natural friendship we mean the affection which parents have for their offspring and kinsmen for each other. And other animals besides man have inherited this form.

The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.

← D.L. 3.76-79 contents D.L. 3.81-83 →

Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume I (Books I-V), Diogenes Laertius — translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925
Apparatus shelf — Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, vol. I (R. D. Hicks translation, Loeb L184) · R. D. Hicks, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann / New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, MCMXXV (1925)
license: public-domain (US: published 1925, pre-1930 — the MCMXXV title page verified by the 2026-07-08 acquisition lane, pin in ops/sources/MANIFEST.md; only the English rectos are served, Hicks's translation)