Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.111 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.111
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
They hold the emotions to be judgements, as is stated by Chrysippus in his treatise On the Passions: avarice being a supposition that money is a good, while the case is similar with drunkenness and profligacy and all the other emotions. And grief or pain they hold to be an irrational mental contraction. Its species are pity, envy, jealousy, rivalry, heaviness, annoyance, distress, anguish, distraction. Pity is grief felt at undeserved suffering; envy, grief at others’ prosperity; jealousy, grief at the possession by another of that which one desires for oneself; rivalry, pain at the possession by another of what one has oneself.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.111 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.111
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEmotions are judgements rather than blind feelings. Greed, for instance, is simply the belief that money is a good. Grief is a mental contraction with many forms, including pity, envy (pain at others' success), jealousy (pain that someone else has what you want) and rivalry.
Older wording
- “avarice”
- — greed for money
- “profligacy”
- — reckless, wasteful spending
- “supposition”
- — an assumption or belief
Themes and situations
- Emotions and the passions
- Judgements and impressions
- Envy and comparison
- Desire and craving
- Envy and comparison
- Money, status and wanting more
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