Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.29 — Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.29
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
The Athenians buried him in the Ceramicus and honoured him in the decrees already cited above, adding their testimony of his goodness. Here is the epitaph composed for him by Antipater of Sidon: Here lies great Zeno, dear to Citium, who scaled high Olympus, though he piled not Pelion on Ossa, nor toiled at the labours of Heracles, but this was the path he found out to the stars—the way of temperance alone.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.29 (on Zeno), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.29
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 Athenians buried Zeno in Athens, and a poem on his tomb praises him for reaching the heights not through heroic feats but through temperance alone. A praise poem with one idea: self-restraint is the path to excellence.
Older wording
- “epitaph”
- — words inscribed on a tomb
- “Pelion on Ossa”
- — mountains the giants of Greek myth piled up to reach heaven
- “temperance”
- — self-control and moderation
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Self-discipline and habit
- Death and mortality
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