ἱστορίαι Historiai
D.L. 7.7-9 Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume II (Books VI-X), Diogenes Laertius; served verbatim
" King Antigonus toZeno the philosopher, greeting. "While in fortune and fame I deem myself your superior, in reason and education I own myself inferior, as well as in the perfect happiness which you have attained. Wherefore I have decided to a<k you to pay me a visit, being persuaded that you will not refuse the request. By all means, then, do your best to hold conference with me, understanding clearly that you will not be the instructor of myself alone but of all the Macedonians taken together. For it is obvious that whoever instructs the ruler of Macedonia and guides him in the paths of virtue will also be training his subjects to be good men. As is the ruler, such for the most part it may be expected that his subjects will become." And Zeno's reply is as follows : " Zeno to King Antigonus, greeting. " I welcome your love of learning in so far as you cleave to that true education which tends to advantage and not to that popular counterfeit of it which serves only to corrupt morals. But if anyone has yearned for philosophy, turning away from much-vaunted pleasure which renders effeminate the souls of some of the young, it is evident that not by nature only, but also by the bent of his will he is inclined to nobility of character. But if a noble nature be aided by moderate exercise and further receive ungrudging instruction, it easily comes to acquire virtue in perfection. But I am constrained by bodily weakne^. due to old age, for I am eighty years old ; and for that reason I am unable to join you. But I send you certain companions of my studies whose mental powers arc not inferior to mine, while their

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

← D.L. 7.5-6 contents D.L. 7.9-11 →

Filed here — the addresses this episode attests; counted by the house’s first pass
Antigonus — a candidate entry Zeno — a candidate entry

Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume II (Books VI-X), Diogenes Laertius — translated by R. D. Hicks, 1925
Apparatus shelf — Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, vol. II (R. D. Hicks translation, Loeb L185) · 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 from the scan itself; only the English rectos are served, Hicks's translation)