The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy Read online

  Sens. Theophrastus, On the senses (De sensibus)

  Soph. Plato, Sophist

  Theog. Hesiod, Theogony

  Tht. Plato, Theaetetus

  VS Philostratus, Lives of the sophists (Vitae sophistarum)

  LIVES AND WRITINGS OF THE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

  ANAXAGORAS

  Born c. 500 B.C. at Clazomenae on the Ionian coast; author of a cosmology that rejects any ultimate elements and has Nous (mind) as its activating principle. Anaxagoras was the first philosopher to settle at Athens, where he spent some twenty years (under the patronage of Pericles) until his prosecution or persecution for impiety. He then left Athens probably for Lampsacus, and died c. 428 B.C. For a recent reconstruction of his career, see Mansfeld [395].

  Sources

  D.L. II.6-15; the Suda; Plato, Ap. 26d, Phaedrus 270a; Plutarch, Pericles 6, 16, 32; others in DK 59 A.

  Works

  A “single treatise” (D. L. I.16) known later as Physics and extending over two books. Sixteen passages from its “first book” (including the opening words “All things were together”) are quoted by Simplicius, and all but one passage appears in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, other writers preserve a few further lines. Other books attributed to him on squaring the circle, on scene painting and perspective, and on problems (DK 59 A38–40) were almost certainly spurious.

  ANAXIMANDER

  Born c. 610 B.C. in Miletus; the earliest thinker for whom a detailed cosmology is attested. Anaximander is credited with inventing the gnomon, with establishing the first Greek sundial at Sparta, with being the first to draw a map of the known world, and with constructing an astronomical model of the heavens. Died c. 546 B.C.

  Sources

  D. L. II.1-2; the Suda, others in DK 12 A.

  Works

  Anaximander was one of the first Greeks to compose a book in prose. In it, in addition to discussing cosmogony and cosmology, he speculated on the origins of human life. The Suda lists as his works: On nature, Description of the earth. The fixed stars, Sphere, and “a few more.” These specifications, though appropriate to his known studies, are probably anachronistic descriptions of an originally untitled treatise. For the one complete sentence that survives of this, see Algra in this volume, p. 56.

  ANAXIMENES

  Born in Miletus, younger contemporary of Anaximander, and continuator of Milesian cosmology; fl. c. 546-526 B.C.

  Sources

  D. L. II.3; the Suda; others in DK 13 A.

  Works

  Diogenes Laertius remarks that Anaximenes wrote in “a simple and economical style” (II.3). For examples of his vivid phraseology, see Most in this volume, p. 351.

  ANTIPHON

  Athenian sophist of the fifth century B.C., who distinguished between natural justice and legal/conventional justice; probably identical (as proposed in this volume, see Caizzi, p. 329 n.9) with Antiphon of Rhamnus, the Attic orator (c. 480–411 B.C.) who helped to plan the oligarchic revolution of 411 and was subsequently put to death.

  Sources

  (1) For Antiphon, under the identity “sophist”: Xenophon, Mem. 1.6.1-5, 10-15; others in DK 87 A; (2) For him under the identity “orator”: Thucydides VIII.68, Philostratus, VS I.15.

  Works

  For Antiphon (1): On truth (partially extant, see Caizzi in this volume, ch. 15), and the following lost works: On concord, Politicus, On the interpretation of dreams. There is also evidence of his interest in mathematics and astronomy, see DK 87 B13. From Antiphon (2) various speeches survive, including a set of Tetralogies, which are rhetorical exercises for the prosecution and defence of a model case (see Vegetti in this volume, p. 275).

  DEMOCRITUS

  Born c. 460 B.C. at Abdera in Thrace; follower of Leucippus, and the principal author of the atomistic theory. Democritus was certainly familiar with Eleatic philosophy and possibly acquainted with Anaxagoras. He travelled widely, probably to Egypt and perhaps as far as India, and was known in the Roman world as “the laughing philosopher.” Date of death unknown.

  Sources

  D.L. IX. 34-49 (includes a catalogue of writings); the Suda, others in DK 68 A.

  Works

  More than sixty titles are attested in D.L. IX. 46-48, mostly arranged under the following headings (classification attributed to Thrasyllus, librarian at Alexandria early 1st century A.D.): ethical, physical, mathematical, musical (including poetry), and technical. A representative sample of titles: On good humour, On the planets, On colours, Causes concerning sounds, On irrational lines and solids, On poetry, and On painting. No book survives. Most of the attested fragments are ethical maxims, preserved in the anthology of Stobaeus, who records some 130 under Democritus’ name. A further 86 short aphorisms are listed in two MSS of Stobaeus as The golden sayings of Democrates the philosopher. Transmission of these is independent of Stobaeus himself (see DK vol. 2, 154), and it has been widely assumed that Democrates is really Democritus. Plato never mentions him by name. Our best source for his atomism is Aristotle.

  DIOGENES

  Born at the Milesian colony Apollonia on the Black Sea, c. 460 B.C., Diogenes spent time at Athens, where he was mocked by Aristophanes in his comedy Clouds for making divine air the world’s first and only principle. Diogenes is important both for his return to a single principle, and also for treating it as intelligent and purposeful, probably under the influence of Anaxagoras’ Nous. His researches included human physiology and cognition. Date of death unknown.

  Sources

  D. L. IX. 57; Theophrastus, Sens. 39–45; and others in DK 64 A.

  Works

  A treatise On nature, of which some ten fragments survive, most of them cited by Simplicius from his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics.

  EMPEDOCLES

  Born c. 492 B.C. at Acragas, Sicily, into a prominent family; pioneered the immensely influential theory of four primary elements – earth, air, fire, water; probably associated with local Pythagoreans, whose religious and ethical doctrines, together with the arguments of Parmenides, decisively influenced him. Empedocles supported the transition from tyranny to democracy at Acragas. He soon became a legendary figure, credited with wonder-working and with ending his life by leaping into the crater of Etna. The anecdotal tradition must be partly based upon the more bizarre statements he makes about himself in his poetry (see Most in this volume, p. 355), but he clearly was a charismatic figure, and the tradition of his being a physician and an accomplished orator may be genuine. His verses were translated into Latin, and served as a model for Lucretius’ great didactic poem, De rerum natura. Empedocles died c. 432 B.C.

  Sources

  DK 31 B112-14; D.L. VIII.51-77; the Suda; Aristotle, Metaph. 1.3 984a11; others in DK 31A.

  Works

  Empedocles composed didactic poetry in hexameters, said to run to 5,000 lines (D.L. VIII.77) and to be divided between a work On nature and another entitled Purifications (Katharmoi). Most of the surviving verses (roughly 1,000 lines) are generally assigned to the first of these, but some scholars (see Osborne [364] and Inwood [357]) think that he wrote only one poem known by both titles. This issue may be clarified by the recent find of a papyrus containing previously unknown lines (see Martin and Primavesi [380]). Empedocles is also said to have written a short poem on medicine, an Expedition of Xerxes, epigrams, and tragedies.

  GORGIAS

  Born c. 480 B.C. at Leontini in Sicily and widely reputed to have become a centenarian; a celebrated sophist, especially as teacher of rhetoric. Gorgias visited Athens in 427 as an ambassador. His literary style, favouring symmetrically balanced and often rhyming phrases, was exceptionally innovative and influential.

  Sources

  Gorgias is the named subject of a major dialogue by Plato. Other sources: Philostratus, VS I.1, I.9.1–6; the Suda; Diodorus Siculus XII.53.1–5; others in DK 82 A.

  Works

  Two speeches survive in their entirety – the Encomium of Helen and the Defence of Palamedes – as well as a fra
gment of his Funeral speech. Summaries of his philosophical treatise On not being are preserved in the pseudo-Aristotelian On Melissus, Xenophanes, Gorgias and by Sextus Empiricus M. 7.65ff. (= B3).

  HERACLITUS

  His birth at Ephesus is generally dated to about 540 B.C., making him a generation older than Parmenides. Though this is probably correct, it is far from certain. More than one scholar (see Hölscher [153]161) has made them contemporaries, seeing Heraclitus responding to Parmenides rather than the other way round, as is generally supposed. His notoriously obscure philosophy was popularly summed up in the formulation: “All things flow.” Most of the biographical information about his misanthropic character and arrogance has been derived from his own statements. However, the tradition that he surrendered his right to hereditary kingship to his brother (D.L. IX.6) is credible. He probably died in the period 480–470 B.C.

  Sources

  DL IX. 1-17; the Suda, Strabo XIV 632-3, 642; others in DK 22A.

  Works

  More than 100 short apothegms are quoted, particularly by writers of the Christian era. Some of these are inauthentic, and the exact Heraclitean content of others is often difficult to determine. Under the authority of Stoics, whose philosophy he strongly influenced, Heraclitus acquired the status of sage in later antiquity, and numerous imitations of his cryptic statements were composed (see Mondolfo and Tarán [235]). From Aristotle onward, (Rhetoric III.5 1407b13) reference is made to Heraclitus “writings” or “book,” which he is said to have deposited in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus (D.L. IX.5 ). There is no reason to think (as has been suggested by Kirk [233]) that he was a purely oral composer, but the form of his writings appears to have been deliberately epigrammatic, cryptic, and without the connectives of normal prose.

  HIPPIAS

  Born in the first half of the 5th century B.C., at Elis in the Peloponnese, Hippias, the most versatile of all the sophists, was renowned for his mnemonic ability. He was a “universal man,” who did original research in mathematics, astronomy, grammar, music, and history and composed in various poetic forms. He was also the earliest figure to have collected and classified the opinions of earlier writers, thus pioneering the doxographical tradition (see Mansfeld in this volume, p. 26). Died probably in the early years of the 4th century B.C.

  Sources

  Hippias is the named subject of two Platonic dialogues, neither of which gives an adequate idea of his significance. He also figures in Plato’s Protagoras. See also Philostratus, VS I.11.1-8; Xenophon, Mem. IV.4; and others in DK 86 A.

  Works

  Virtually nothing of Hippias’ writings survives, and even the few surviving titles do scant justice to his polymathic investigations.

  LEUCIPPUS

  Born in the first half of the 5th century B.C., at Miletus or Abdera, Leucippus was “the first to posit atoms as principles” (D.L. IX.30). No details of his life are known for certain, but it is assumed that he wrote later than Parmenides and probably later than Zeno, whose pupil he is alleged to have been. Date of death unknown.

  Sources

  D.L. IX.30-33 and others in DK 67 A.

  Works

  The great world-system (a treatise cited in the Democritean catalogue) was attributed to Leucippus by Theophrastus (D.L. IX.45). Another work On mind is cited as the source of his one surviving quotation (DK 67 B2), for which see Taylor in this volume, p. 185.

  MELISSUS

  Born in the early 5th century B.C. at Samos; a supporter and elaborator in prose of Parmenides’ philosophical poem. Statesman and admiral of Samos, he defeated the Athenians in a naval battle between 441–40 B.C. Date of death unknown.

  Sources

  D.L. IX.24; the Suda; Plutarch, Pericles 26-28, Themistocles 2.

  Works

  A book entitled, according to Simplicius (DK 30 A4), On nature or on what is. Eight passages are quoted by Simplicius, all but one in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics. Further evidence about Melissus is provided in the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise On Melissus, Xenophanes, Gorgias (DK 30 A5).

  PARMENIDES

  Born c. 515 B.C. at Elea in southern Italy; the originator of Eleatic philosophy, which contrasts the truths deducible about reality, including its oneness, with the deceptive multiplicity and changeability of appearances. A wealthy man of noble birth, Parmenides possibly had some association in his youth with Xenophanes and certainly with Ameinias, a Pythagorean whom he honoured by building a shrine to him. Parmenides is said to have acted as legislator for Elea (Speusippus, fr. 1) and to have visited Athens when he was about sixty-five years old (Plato, Parm. 127b) – but Plato’s chronology is suspect: see Mansfeld [32]64–68). Died c. 449–440 B.C.

  Sources

  D.L. IX.21–23; the Suda; Plato, Parm. 127a-c; others in Coxon [270].

  Works

  Hexameter poem of which 154 lines survive, the longest continuous section through a single quotation by Simplicius in his commentary on Aristotle’s Physics (144.26). The work had three parts: a poem of 32 lines (all but the last two quoted by Sextus Empiricus, M. VII.111ff.); the Way of Truth (72 lines survive, perhaps nine-tenths of the original); and the Way of Seeming (44 complete lines attested, 6 in a Latin version by Caelius Aurelianus). On the argumentative relation of these parts to one another, see Sedley in this volume, pp. 123–25. Whole poem entitled On nature in later antiquity.

  PHILOLAUS

  Born c. 470 B.C., in Croton (or Tarentum) in southern Italy; the earliest Pythagorean philosopher from whom any writings survive. In Plato’s Phaedo (63c) the Theban interlocutors Cebes and Simmias claim that Philolaus had spent time teaching in their city, so he was approximately contemporary with Socrates.

  Sources

  D.L. VIII.84-5, Plato Phaedo 61e; others in DK 44 A.

  Works

  A single book, of which some ten of the twenty-six attested fragments are probably genuine (DK 44 B1-6, 6a, 7, 13, 17). Much of the other material belongs to the tradition of pseudo-Pythagorean writings, composed in later antiquity (see Thesleff [199]).

  PRODICUS

  Born in the first half of the 5th century B.C. on the Cycladic island of Ceos; a sophist especially notable for his linguistic studies and also for his fictional “Choice of Heracles,” in which the hero is asked to choose between virtue and vice, represented as two contrasting women (Xenophon, Mem. II.1.21-34). Prodicus derived the origin of Greek divinities, and religion in general, from early peoples’ personification of things on which life depends, such as bread (Demeter) and wine (Dionysus); also credited, like Protagoras, with positing the impossibility of contradiction (see Kerferd [433] 89–90). Died probably in the early years of the 4th century B.C.

  Sources

  Xenophon (cited above); Plato, especially Prot. 337a-c, Euthydemus 277e; Philostratus, VS V.12; and others in DK 84 A.

  Works

  Seasons, a work of encomia (from which the excerpt on Heracles is drawn); a treatise On the nature of man; probably a work On the correctness of names, and other unattested writings.

  PROTAGORAS

  Born c. 485 B.C. at Abdera; probably the first Greek to call himself a sophist, and the one whose influential career epitomises this profession; most famous for his relativism and agnosticism. On visits to Athens, Protagoras became a close friend of Pericles and was invited to draft legislation for the new Athenian colony at Thurii in Sicily. The tradition that he stood trial at Athens and was condemned for impiety is almost certainly fiction. Died c. 415 B.C.

  Sources

  Protagoras is the named subject of a major dialogue by Plato, and he also figures importantly in Plato’s Theaetetus. Other sources: D.L. IX.50-56; Philostratus, VS I.10; Plato, Prot. passim; many others in DK 80 A.

  Works

  Diogenes Laertius gives a catalogue of Protagoras’ works (IX.55), some of which are probably spurious or subdivisions of single works. His authentic treatises included On truth, also called The down-throwers (which opened with, “Man is the measure of all things”; B1), S
peeches pro and contra (Antilogiai), and On the gods (which began, “Concerning the gods I can know neither that they exist, nor that they do not exist, nor what they are like in form”; B4). Approximately twelve brief fragments survive. For his contributions to literary criticism and linguistics, see D.L. IX.52-4; DK 80 A27-30.

  PYTHAGORAS

  Born c. 570 B.C. at Samos; migrated to Croton in southern Italy c. 530 where he is said to have “laid down a constitution for the Italian Greeks” (D.L. VIII.3) and established a sect distinguished by its ritual observances, dedication to “purity” of life, and some kind of communal living. Pythagoras was idealised as a “divine man” with wisdom gained from Egypt and further east and with supernatural powers, such as the ability to recall his previous incarnations. Subject of hagiographical biography by neo-Platonists. It is uncertain how far, if at all, he initiated the mathematical and musical studies with which Pythagoreanism came to be associated. Died c. 490 B.C.

  Sources

  See Huffman in this volume, p. 67.

  THALES

  Born c. 624 B.C. at Miletus; first “inquirer into nature” according to Aristotle (Metaph. I.3 984a2) and idealised elsewhere as one of the seven sages and as a paragon, like them, of political wisdom. Herodotus praised Thales for advising the Ionian states to unite in the face of the Persian threat (1.170). He is also characterised as the one sage to have gone beyond the practical (Plutarch, Solon 3.5), as in the anecdote that he fell into a ditch while gazing at the heavens, reported by Plato (Tht. 174a-b) in a context where he is presented as the paradigm philosopher. Thales is said to have predicted a solar eclipse (probably 585 B.C.) and is credited with expertise in engineering, geometry, and astronomy, possibly acquired from travel in Egypt. Died c. 546 B.C.