Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.150 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.150
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
The primary matter they make the substratum of all things: so Chrysippus in the first book of his Physics, and Zeno. By matter is meant that out of which anything whatsoever is produced. Both substance and matter are terms used in a twofold sense according as they signify (1) universal or (2) particular substance or matter. The former neither increases nor diminishes, while the matter of particular things both increases and diminishes. Body according to them is substance which is finite: so Antipater in his second book On Substance, and Apollodorus in his Physics. Matter can also be acted upon, as the same author says, for if it were immutable, the things which are produced would never have been produced out of it. Hence the further doctrine that matter is divisible ad infinitum. Chrysippus says that the division is not ad infinitum, but itself infinite; for there is nothing infinitely small to which the division can extend. But nevertheless the division goes on without ceasing.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.150 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.150
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 notesPrimary matter is the underlying stuff of everything, universal matter neither grows nor shrinks, but the matter in particular things does. Matter can be acted upon, so it can be endlessly divided, and one thinker argued it is infinite division without any smallest piece.
Older wording
- “substratum”
- — the underlying base of all things
- “immutable”
- — unchangeable
- “ad infinitum”
- — without end
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
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