Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.113 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.113
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
panic is fear with pressure exercised by sound; mental agony is fear felt when some issue is still in suspense. Desire or craving is irrational appetency, and under it are ranged the following states: want, hatred, contentiousness, anger, love, wrath, resentment. Want, then, is a craving when it is baulked and, as it were, cut off from its object, but kept at full stretch and attracted towards it in vain. Hatred is a growing and lasting desire or craving that it should go ill with somebody. Contentiousness is a craving or desire connected with partisanship; anger a craving or desire to punish one who is thought to have done you an undeserved injury. The passion of love is a craving from which good men are free; for it is an effort to win affection due to the visible presence of beauty.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.113 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.113
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 notesPanic and mental agony are defined as kinds of fear. Craving covers want, hatred, quarrelsomeness, anger, passionate love, wrath and resentment. Anger is defined as a craving to punish someone you believe has wronged you undeservedly, and hatred as a lasting wish that someone fare badly.
Older wording
- “appetency”
- — a strong desire or craving
- “baulked”
- — frustrated, blocked from getting what you want
- “contentiousness”
- — love of quarrelling or taking sides
Themes and situations
- Desire and craving
- Anger
- Emotions and the passions
- Being angry with someone
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