Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.18 — Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.18
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
To a lover of boys he remarked, “Just as schoolmasters lose their common-sense by spending all their time with boys, so it is with people like you.” He used to say that the very exact expressions used by those who avoided solecisms were like the coins struck by Alexander: they were beautiful in appearance and well-rounded like the coins, but none the better on that account. Words of the opposite kind he would compare to the Attic tetradrachms, which, though struck carelessly and inartistically, nevertheless outweighed the ornate phrases. When his pupil Ariston discoursed at length in an uninspired manner, sometimes in a headstrong and over - confident way. “Your father,” said he, “must have been drunk when he begat you.” Hence he would call him a chatterbox, being himself concise in speech.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.18 (on Zeno), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.18
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 notesOverly polished, grammatically perfect speech is like a handsome coin that is no better for its finish, while rough but weighty words are worth more. A long-winded pupil is rebuked in a rude joke. The point is to value substance over polish and to be brief.
Older wording
- “solecisms”
- — grammatical mistakes
- “tetradrachms”
- — silver coins worth four drachmas
- “begat”
- — fathered
Themes and situations
- Speech and silence
- Learning and progress
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