Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.153 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.153
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
A shooting star is the sudden kindling of a mass of fire in rapid motion through the air, which leaves a trail behind it presenting an appearance of length. Rain is the transformation of cloud into water, when moisture drawn up by the sun from land or sea has been only partially evaporated. If this is cooled down, it is called hoar-frost. Hail is frozen cloud, crumbled by a wind; while snow is moist matter from a cloud which has congealed: so Posidonius in the eighth book of his Physical Discourse. Lightning is a kindling of clouds from being rubbed together or being rent by wind, as Zeno says in his treatise On the Whole; thunder the noise these clouds make when they rub against each other or burst.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.153 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.153
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 notesAncient accounts of weather: shooting stars are sudden fire, rain is cloud turned to water, frost is cooled moisture, hail is crumbled frozen cloud, snow is congealed cloud-moisture, and lightning and thunder come from clouds rubbing together or splitting.
Older wording
- “hoar-frost”
- — white frost that forms on cold surfaces
- “congealed”
- — turned solid or thick
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
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