Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.131 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.131
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
It is also their doctrine that amongst the wise there should be a community of wives with free choice of partners, as Zeno says in his Republic and Chrysippus in his treatise On Government [and not only they, but also Diogenes the Cynic and Plato]. Under such circumstances we shall feel paternal affection for all the children alike, and there will be an end of the jealousies arising from adultery. The best form of government they hold to be a mixture of democracy, kingship, and aristocracy (or the rule of the best). Such, then, are the statements they make in their ethical doctrines, with much more besides, together with their proper proofs: let this, however, suffice for a statement of them in a summary and elementary form.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.131 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.131
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 notesSome early Stoics proposed that wise people share partners and love all children as their own, ending jealousy over adultery, an idea now dated and demeaning to women. The best government is a mixture of democracy, monarchy and rule by the best, and the ethics summary closes here.
Older wording
- “aristocracy”
- — rule by the best-qualified
- “community of wives”
- — a proposal that partners be shared rather than owned
- “paternal affection”
- — fatherly love
Themes and situations
- Community and our duty to others
- Leadership and power
- Family and love
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