Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.90 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.90
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Virtue, in the first place, is in one sense the perfection of anything in general, say of a statue; again, it may be non-intellectual, like health, or intellectual, like prudence. For Hecato says in his first book On the Virtues that some are scientific and based upon theory, namely, those which have a structure of theoretical principles, such as prudence and justice; others are non-intellectual, those that are regarded as co-extensive and parallel with the former, like health and strength. For health is found to attend upon and be co-extensive with the intellectual virtue of temperance, just as strength is a result of the building of an arch.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.90 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.90
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 notesDefines virtue as the perfection of a thing and distinguishes intellectual virtues such as prudence and justice from non-intellectual ones such as health and strength, which go alongside them, like health goes with temperance. Technical classification, not advice.
Older wording
- “co-extensive”
- — going hand in hand, covering the same ground
- “prudence”
- — practical wisdom, good judgement
- “non-intellectual”
- — not requiring reasoning, as with health
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
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