Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.142 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.142
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
The world, they hold, comes into being when its substance has first been converted from fire through air into moisture and then the coarser part of the moisture has condensed as earth, while that whose particles are fine has been turned into air, and this process of rarefaction goes on increasing till it generates fire. Thereupon out of these elements animals and plants and all other natural kinds are formed by their mixture. The generation and the destruction of the world are discussed by Zeno in his treatise On the Whole, by Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics, by Posidonius in the first book of his work On the Cosmos, by Cleanthes, and by Antipater in his tenth book On the Cosmos. Panaetius, however, maintained that the world is indestructible. The doctrine that the world is a living being, rational, animate and intelligent, is laid down by Chrysippus in the first book of his treatise On Providence, by Apollodorus in his Physics, and by Posidonius.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.142 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.142
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 notesThe world forms when fire turns into air, then moisture, with the coarse part settling as earth and the fine part thinning into air and fire again. Animals and plants arise from mixtures of these elements. Thinkers disagreed on whether the world is destructible, and the world is held to be a living, rational being.
Older wording
- “rarefaction”
- — thinning out of matter
- “condensed”
- — became denser and more compact
- “animate”
- — alive, possessing a soul
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Change and impermanence
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.