And I said, “What was your half-brother's name? I don't remember. He was only a boy when I came here from Clazomenae before and that is now a long time ago. His father's name, I believe, was Pyrilampes.”“Yes,” said he.“And what is his own name?”“Antiphon. Why do you ask?”“These gentlemen,” I said, “are fellow-citizens of mine, who are very fond of philosophy. They have heard that this Antiphon had a good deal to do with a friend of Zeno's named Pythodorus, that Pythodorus often repeated to
which Socrates, Zeno, and Parmenides once had together, and that he remembers it.”“That is true,” said he.“Well,” I said, “we should like to hear it.”“There is no difficulty about that,” said he “for when he was a youth he studied it with great care though now he devotes most of his time to horses, like his grandfather Antiphon. If that is what you want, let us go to him. He has just gone home from here, and he lives c
that Zeno and Parmenides once came to the Great Panathenaea; that Parmenides was already quite elderly, about sixty-five years old, very white-haired, and of handsome and noble countenance; Zeno was at that time about forty years of age; he was tall and good-looking, and there was a story that Parmenides had been in love with him.
He said that they lodged with Pythodorus outside of the wall, in Cerameicus, and that Socrates and many others with him went there because they wanted to hear Zeno's writings, which had been brought to Athens for the first time by them. Socrates was then very young. So Zeno himself read aloud to them, and Parmenides was not in the house.
Pythodorus said the reading of the treatises was nearly finished when he came in himself with Parmenides and Aristoteles (the one who was afterwards one of the thirty), so they heard only a little that remained of the written works. He himself, however, had heard Zeno read them before.Socrates listened to the end, and then asked that the first thesis of the first treatise be read again. When this had been done, he said:
And yet I feel very much like the horse in the poem of IbycusIbycus fragm. Bergk.—an old race-horse who was entered for a chariot race and was trembling with fear of what was before him, because he knew it by experience. Ibycus says he is compelled to fall in love against his will in his old age, and compares himself to the horse. So I am filled with terror when I remember through what a fearful ocean of words I must swim, old man that I am. However, I will do it, for I must be obliging, especially since we are, as Zeno says, alone
Well, how shall we begin? What shall be our first hypothesis? Or, since you are determined that I must engage in a laborious pastime, shall I begin with myself, taking my own hypothesis and discussing the consequences of the supposition that the one exists or that it does not exist?”“By all means,” said Zeno.“Who then,” said he, “to answer my questions? Shall we say the youngest? He would be least likely to be over-curious and most likely to say what he thinks and moreover his replies would give me a chanc
th, or causes a man to
Sink in his knees and shift from foot to foot.—Iliad, xiii. 281.
For this reason when Zeno was going to meet Antigonus,In Diogenes Laertius (Zeno, vii.) there is a letter from Antigonus
to Zeno and Zeno's answer. Simplicius (note on the Encheiridion. c. 51)
supposes this Antigonus to be the King of Syria; buZeno and Zeno's answer. Simplicius (note on the Encheiridion. c. 51)
supposes this Antigonus to be the King of Syria; but Upton remarks
that it is Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia.
he was not anxious, for Antigonus had no power over any
of the things which Zeno admired; and Zeno did not care
for those things over which Antigonus had power. But
Antigonus was anxious when he was going to meet Zeno,
for he wished to please Zeno; but this was a thiZeno's answer. Simplicius (note on the Encheiridion. c. 51)
supposes this Antigonus to be the King of Syria; but Upton remarks
that it is Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia.
he was not anxious, for Antigonus had no power over any
of the things which Zeno admired; and Zeno did not care
for those things over which Antigonus had power. But
Antigonus was anxious when he was going to meet Zeno,
for he wished to please Zeno; but this was a thing
external (out of his power). But Zeno did not want to
please Antigonus; for no man who is skilled in any art
wishes to please one who has no such skill.
Should I try to please you? Why? I suppose, you
know the measure by which one man is estimated by
another. Have you taken pains to learn what is a good
man and what is a bad ma
d ache. Then do I sit and utter to
you little thoughts and exclamations that you may praise
me and go away, one with his shoulder in the same condition in which he entered, another with his head still
aching, and a third with his fistula or his abscess just as
they were? Is it for this then that young men shall quit
home, and leave their parents and their friends and kin-
smen and property, that they may say to you, Wonderful!
when you are uttering your exclamations. Did Socrates
do this, or Zeno, or Cleanthes?
What then? is there not the hortatory style? Who
denies it? as there is the style of refutation, and the
didactic style. Who then ever reckoned a fourth style
with these, the style of display? What is the hortatory
style? To be able to show both to one person and to
many the struggle in which they are engaged, and that
they think more about any thing than about what they
really wish. For they wish the things which lead to happiness, but they look for them in the wrong place. In
ing in war or acting as a
judge? Then do you tell me that you wish, as a plant,
to be fixed to the same places and to be rooted?—Yes,
for it is pleasant.—Who says that it is not? but a soup is
pleasant, and a handsome woman is pleasant. What else
do those say who make pleasure their end? Do you not
see of what men you have uttered the language? that it
is the language of Epicureans and catamites? Next while
you are doing what they do and holding their opinions,
do you speak to us the words of Zeno and of Socrates?
Will you not throw away as far as you can the things
belonging to others with which you decorate yourself,
though they do not fit you at all? For what else do they
desire than to sleep without hindrance and free from compulsion, and when they have risen to yawn at their leisure,
and to wash the face, then write and read what they choose,
and then talk about some trifling matter being praised by
their friends whatever they may say, then to go forth for
a walk, and having walke
