with a generous and Hospitable Person THE LIFE of BIAS BIAS of Priene was the Son of Teutamus and by Satyrus preferred before all the rest of the seven Wiseman Doris will not allow him to be born at Priene but says he was a Stranger But several affirm him to have been very Rich and Phanodicus tells us That he redeem'd the Messenian Virgins being taken Captive bred 'em at home as his own Daughters and then sent 'em back to their Parents with every one a Portion in mony Soon after the Golden Tripos being found as we have already declar'd with this Inscription To the Wisest Satyrus relates how that the Messenian Virgins but others and among the rest Phanodicus that their Parents came into the Assembly and declaring what he had done pronounced him the Wisest Man. Whereupon the Tripos was sent to Bias who beholding it declar'd Apollo to be wiser than himself and so refus'd it Others report that he Consecrated it to Theban Hercules for that either he was there born or else because Priene was a Colony of the Thebans which Phanodicus also testifies It is reported when Priene his native Country was besieged by Alyattes that Bias fatted two Mules for the nonce and drave 'em into the Enemies Camp. Which Alyattes seeing began to be amaz'd to see the pamper'd Beasts so plump and smooth However before he rais'd his Siege he resolv'd to send some person under the pretence of certain Propositions to spy the condition of the City But Bias well aware of the King's design having caus'd several heaps of Sand to be cover'd with Wheat led the Messenger about to satisfie his Curiosity Which being reported to the King he presently made a Peace with the Prieneans Soon after when the King sent for Bias to come to him Bid him said he go eat Onions and that would make him weep He is reported to have been a most notable pleader of Causes but that still he us'd the force of his Eloquence on the right side Which Demodocus intimated when he said that an Orator was to imitate the Prienaean manner of Pleading And Hipponax when he gave this applause to any one That he pleaded better than Bias of Priene His death happen'd after this manner He had in his old Age pleaded a Cause for a friend of his After he had done being tired with declaming he rested his Head in the Bosom of his Sister's Son. In the mean time his Adversary having pleaded against him the Judges gave Sentence for his Client But then so soon as the Court rose he was found dead in the Bosom of his Nephew The City however made a sumptuous Funeral for him and caus'd this Anagram to be inscrib'd upon his Monument This Marble by the fam'd Priene rear'd Iona's Glory covers here interr'd To which we may add another of our own For Bias this whom in a gentle Dream Hermes convey'd to the Elysian stream Yet not till Age upon his Hair had snow'd When spent with pleading in the sultry Crowd His friend's just Cause he went aside to rest His drooping Head against his Nephew's Breast Whence in a Trance expiring his last Breath He fell asleep into the Arms of Death He wrote concerning the Affairs of Iona more especially by what means it might preserve it self in a happy and flourishing condition to the number of two Thousand Verses in Heroic Measure The choicest of his Sentences were these To be complaisant and familiar among the People where we live as being that which begat both love and respect Whereas a haughty demeanour prov'd many times the occasion of much mischief That to be stout was the gift of Nature to advise what was profitable to a Man's Country was the gift of a Prudent Mind but that Wealth was to many the benignity of Fortune He accounted him unfortunate that could not brook misfortune and said it was a disease of the Soul to love and desire impossibilities and to be unmindful of other Mens miseries Being ask'd what was difficult He answer'd Generously to brook an alteration for the worse Going a Voyage once with certain irreligious Persons who in the height of a raging Tempest loudly invok'd the Gods Peace said he lest they come to understand that you are here Being ask'd by an irreligious person what irreligion was To a second question why he made no answer He reply'd Because thou askest me that which nothing concerns thee To the question what was pleasing to Men He answer'd Hope He said it was more easie to determine differences between Enemies than Friends For that of two Friends the one would prove an Enemy but of two Enemies the other would become a Friend To the question What was most delightful for a Man to do He answer'd To be always gaining He advis'd Men so to measure their lives as they that were to live either a long or a short time and so to love as if we were to hate His Admonitions were Slowly to undertake an intended design but to persist in what a Man has once resolv'd upon Not to let the Tongue run before the Wit as being a sign of madness To love Prudence To discourse of the Gods as they are Not to praise an unworthy person for the sake of his wealth To receive perswading not constraining Whatever good we do to ascribe it to the Gods To take wisdom for our provision in our Journey from Youth to Old Age as being the most certain and durable of all other Possessions Hipponax also makes mention of Bias and the morose Heraclitus gives him the highest Applause in these words Bias the Son of Teutamus was born at Priene much more esteem'd than all the rest And the Prienaeans consecrated a Temple to him by the name of Tentameion THE LIFE of CLEOBULUS CLeobulus the Lindian was the Son of Evagoras but as Doris relates a Carian And some there are who derive his descent from Hercules but that he excell'd the Hero in strength and beauty That he learn'd his Philosophy in Egypt and that he had a Daughter Cleobuline who compos'd several Enigmaes in Hexameter Verse Of whom also Cratinus makes mention in a Poem of the same name writing in the Plural Number Farther it is reported That he repair'd the Temple of Minerva at Athens built by Danaus He also compos'd several Songs and obscure Problems to the number of three thousand Verses And some affirm that he made the following Epigram upon Midas I am that Brazen Virgin fixed here To Midas Tomb that never hence must stir Who till the liquid waters cease to flow And the tall Trees in Woods forbear to grow Till Phoebus once forget his course to run And the pale Moon for sake her Mate the Sun Till springs of Rivers stopt their Streams no more Into the dry'd up Sea shall headlong pour Must here remain by a perpetual Doom To tell that Midas lies beneath this Tomb. This they confirm by the Testimony of Simonides where he cries out What Man
let us begin with the Ionick Philosophy of which we have already declar'd Thales the Instructor of Anaximander to be the first Founder The End of the First Book Diogenes Laertius Containing the Lives Opinions and Apophthegms Of the most Famous PHILOSOPHERS The Second Book Translated from the Greek by Sam. White M. D. The LIFE of ANAXIMANDER ANaximander a Milesian was the Son of Praxiades He held that the Beginning and Principle of all things was the Vast Immensity however no way bounding the Air the Water or any other Thing That the parts were subject to Alteration but that the whole was immutable that the Earth lay in the middle as it were claiming the place of a Center being of a Spherical Figure That the Light of the Moon was a false Light as being borrowed from the Sun which was at least equal to the Earth and the most pure sort of Fire He was the first inventer of the Gnomen which he fixed in the Dials of Lacedaemon which were then no other than places proper for the observation of the Shadows which the Sun cast whereby as Phavorinus records in his Universal History he mark'd out the Tropics and Equinoxes and erected Horoscopes He was also the first who undertook to delineate the Perimeter or Circuit of the Earth and Sea and to frame a Sphere that ' embody'd both those Elements Which done he set down in writing a short Exposition of such things as occur'd most plainly to his Apprehension In the second year of the fifty eighth Olympiad he had attained to the sixty fourth year of his Age as Apollodorus the Athenian declares in his Chronicle and dy'd not long after but he flourish'd in his prime during the Reign of Polycrates Tyrant of Samos It is reported That one time among the rest as he was singing certain Boys laugh'd at him which when he understood Therefore said he it behoves us to sing so much the better because of the Boys There was also another Anaximander a Milesian likewise who was an Historian and wrote in the Ionic Dialect The LIFE of ANAXIMENES ANaximenes a Milesian also was the Son of Eurystratus and a Hearer of Anaximander and as some say of Parmenides likewise He affirm'd the Air and the Infinite Immensity to be the beginning of All things and that the Stars did not move above the Earth but round about it He wrote in the Ionic Dialect affecting a plain and concise Style He was born in the sixty third Olympiad as Apollodorus testifies and dy'd about the time that Sardis was taken There were also two others of the same name born in Lampsacus the one an Orator the other an Historian and Nephew to the Rhetorician who wrote the History of Alexander's fam'd Atchievements There are likewise extant two Epistles of Anaximenes the Philosopher to Pythagoras of which the first â—uns thus Anaximenes to Pythagoras THales himself in the progress of his Studies from the flower of his Youth to his Old Age was not altogether free from misfortune For as it was his custom going forth one night with his Maid Servant to behold the Stars in the midst of his serious Contemplation forgetting the situation of the place while he went forward gazing up to the Skies he fell down a steep Precipice This was the end say the Milesians of that famous Astrologer But we among the rest of his Scholars forget not the Man nor our Children who are his Disciples likewise But we embrace his Doctrine and ascribe the beginning of all our Learning to Thales His second Epistle was this that follows Anaximenes to Pythagoras CErtainly thou did'st consult our Advantage more than our selves in returning from Samos to Crotona where thou livest in Peace For the Sons of Aeacus are offensive to others and for the Milesians they are in subjection to their Tyrants And the King of the Medes threatens us severely too unless we will submit our Necks to the Yoke of Servitude But as yet the Ionians seem readily resolv'd to fight with the Medes both for their own and the Liberty of their Neighbours But the Enemy so surrounds and over-powers us at present that we have little hopes to preserve it How then is it possible for Anaximenes to mind his Contemplation of the Skies living as he does in continual dread of Perdition or Slavery But thou enjoyest a perfect Tranquillity honour'd by the Crotonaeans and other Italians and crowded with Disciples out of Sicily The LIFE of ANAXAGORAS ANaxagoras a Clozomenian the Son of Hegesibulus or Eubulus was a diligent Disciple of Anaximenes He was the first who attributed to Matter Sense and Reason thus beginning his great Work which is both delightful and loftily compos'd All things at the beginning sprung together then came the World's Intelligence and shap'd and embellish'd every individual Species whereas it was call'd the Great Intelligence Of which thus Timon in his Silli For thus fam'd Anaxagoras profoundly taught That the vast Mind like some great Hero fought Rebellious Chaos that disdain'd controul And then it was that the Worlds mighty Soul Millions of ranging formless Bodies fix'd Rammass'd Compacted here conjoyn'd there mix'd Vntil at length the vanquish'd Mass gave o're And all agreed that was confus'd before This Person was not only eminent for his Birth and Riches but for the Grandeur of his aspiring Mind For he surrender'd his Patrimony to his Relations at what time being by them tax'd for neglecting his Estate What then said he are not you sufficiently able to take care of it Soon after he left 'em all and retir'd himself to the Contemplation of Nature not minding publick or private Affairs Insomuch that to one who thus accosted him What! then takest thou no care of thy Country Yes said he no Man more pointing to the Heav'ns He is said to have been twenty years of Age when Xerxes invaded Greece and to have liv'd seventy two But Apollodorus in his Chronicle affirms him to have flourish'd in his prime in the Seventieth Olympiad and that in the first year of the Se-Seventy eighth Olympiad he ended his days He began to divulge his Philosophical Exercises at Athens under Callias in the twentieth year of his Age as Demetrius Phalereus reports in his Compendium of the Athenian Rulers Where they say he continu'd thirty years He affirm'd the Sun to be a massy Plate of Red-hot Iron bigger than the Peloponnesus Which some assert to have been the Opinion of Tantalus before him He held that the Moon was full of Habitations Mountains and Vallies and that the Principles of all things were endu'd with similitude of Parts For that as the dust and filings of Gold might be embody'd into a Mass so was the Universe compos'd of little Bodies consisting of similar Particles That heavy Bodies possess'd the lowermost place as the Earth Light things the uppermost as Fire and the Middlemost he assign'd to Air and Water That the Sea lay below the Earth which was broad the moisture being
180. Olympiad They report likewise that his Servant Pompylus was a very great Philosopher as Myronius Amastrius relates in the first of his a like Historical Chapters Theophrastus was a Man of great Judgment and who as Pamphilus writes in the thirteenth Book of his Commentaries delighted very much in Comedies and was the Person that instructed and Moulded Menander Moreover he was a Person that would do Kindnesses voluntarily and was very affable to all Men. Cas-sander held him in High Esteem and Ptolomy also sent him several Presents He was so extreamly Popular and so greatly â—everenced by the Athenians that one Agnonides who accused him of Irreligion had much ado to escape th Punishment of the same Crime for which he had accused Theophrastus His Auditors â—looked to him from all parts to the number of above two thousand In a Letter written to Phanias the Peripatetic among other things touching the Decree made against Philosophers he thus discourses I am so far says he from calling together great Assemblies of the People that I seldom appear in any Company For by such a Retirement I have the advantage to review and correct my Writings This was part of his Epistle to Phanias wherein he calls him Scholar Nevertheless notwithstanding all his endowments he made no Opposition to the Decree but withdrew for some time as did all the rest of the Philosophers For Sophocles the Son of Amphiclides had made a Law by which it was enacted and commanded that none of the Philosophers should intrude themselves to preside in Schools without the consent of the People and Senate and that whoever it were that disobey'd this Decree should be punished with Death But it pleased God that Philo prefixed a day to answer to certain Treacheries by him committed but then the Philosophers returned the Athenians having â— brogated that Law the Philosophers were restored to their Employments and Theâ—phrastus presided as he did before in his School He was called before Tyrtamus but Aristotle taking notice of the subâ—imity of his Language and Discourses changed his Name and called him Theophrastus He also had a great Esteem for Nicomachus the Son of Aristotle and shewed him a more particular friendship then it was usual for a Master to do as Aristippus reports in his fourth Book of the Delights of the Ancients It is reported how that Aristotle should say the same thing of Callisthenes and Theophrastus as Plato had uttered concerning him and Xenocrates as we have mention'd in another place for of one he said that apprehended he made all things plain through the nimbleness and quickness of his gentile Wit but that the other was slow and heavy and so thick-scull'd and dull that the one required a Bridle and the other Spurrs T is said that he took possession of Aristotle's Garden so soon as he was retired to Chalcis by the Assistance of Demetrius Phalereus who furnished him with Money He was wont to say that 't was better to trust a Horse without a Bridle than to one irregular and improperly disposed To a certain person that at a great feast listened to others but spoke not a word himself If thou art ignorant said he thou dost well but if thou art learned 't is thy Folly makes thee silent He was always wâ—nt to have this saying in his Mouth That there was nothing cost so dear as the waste of Time. He was very old when hee dy'd as having lived four score and five years after he had retired a while from his former Exercises Which produced this Epigram of ours upon him Thâ—â— vainly talk that cry unbend your Bow Lâ—â—st by continual stress it slacker grow For Theophrastus here his Bow unbent His Labour quitted and to Orcus went. His Scholars beholding him ready to â—â—pire upon his Death-bed asked him as tâ—â— reported what commands he had to lay upon 'em before he departed this Life To whom he returned this answer I have nothing said he more to say but only that this Life deceives us for that it flatters us with many pleasing Dreams under the pâ—â—tâ—â—ce of Glory but when 〈◊〉 thâ—â—â— to live Death comes and snatches us away So that there is nothing more vain thâ—n the loâ— of Honour My Dear friends live happiâ—â— and â—ear my words in mind and either forget the saying for the labour iâ— greâ—◠〈◊〉 stâ—â—fastly apply 〈◊〉 minds to it for gâ—â—â—â— is the Glory that â—ttâ—â—ds it Hâ—â—evâ—â— will not have undertake to advise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the two â—o Elect but consider among 〈◊〉 solves what â—e have to do And with these words in his mouth he expirâ—d 〈◊〉 was honourably attended at his Fuâ—â—ral by all the Athenians who followed him 〈◊〉 his Grave â—â—avâ—â—inâ—â— reports That whâ—â— he was very old he was wont to 〈◊〉 â—â—ry'd about in a Litter and after hiâ— Hermippus testifies the same thing acknowledging that he had taken his Infâ—â—mation out of the History of Arcesâ—â—â—â— the â—ytanâ—â—â— He left behind to Posterity several â—â—numents of his sublime Wit of which I think it but requisite to give the Readers Catalogue to the end that there by it 〈◊〉 be known how great a Philosopher 〈◊〉 was First several Treatisâ—â— under the naâ—â— of the Persons to whom they are dedicated A Book to Anaxagoras anâ—â—her to the same one to Anaximenes one to Archelâ—us one to those that belonged to the Aâ—ademy entituled Acicarâ—us one to Eâ—pedocles one enâ—itâ—led Eviades one of Democritus one entituled Megacles another entituled Megarica An Epitome of Aristotles Works one Book of Commentaries one of Natural Moral and Civil Problems and of Love Seven of Aristotles Commentaries or Theophrastics Of Nature Three Books of the Gods one of Enthusiasm an Epitome of Natural Things A tract against Naturallists one Book of Nature three more of Nature two Abridgments of natural things eighteen more of Natural things seventeen of various Opinions concerning Natural things one of Natural Problems three of Motion two more of Motion three of Water one of a River in Sicily two of Meteors two of Fire one of Heaven one of Nitre and Alum two of things that putrifie one of Stones one of Metals one of things that melt and coagulate one of the Sea one of Winds two of things in dry places two of Sublime things one of Hot and Gold one of Generation ten of the History of Plants eight of the causes of them five of Humours one of Melancholy one of Honey eighteen first Propositions concerning Wine one of Drunkenness one of Spirits one of Hair another of Juices Flesh and Leather one of things the sight of which is unexpected one of things which are subject to wounds and bitings seven of Animals and other six of Animals one of Men one of Animals that are thought to participate of Reason One of the Prudence and Manners or Inclinations of Animals one of Animals that dig themselves Holes and Dens one of fortuitoâ—â— Animals 1182 Verses comprehending all sorts of Fruits and Animals A question
Chrysippus Poâ—sidonius and Antipaâ—er affirm it to be the Air. Boethus assâ—rts the Globe of the Fix'd Sâ—ars to be the Divine Nature Nature they sometimes define to bâ— that which comprehends and embraces the World sometimes that which causâ—s the Products of the Earth to groâ— and flourish Nature therefore is a Habit deriving motion from it self according to the Sâ—ermatic Rationalities terminating and putting an end to those things that flow from her at certain prefix'd times and performing what she was ordain'd for and it is apparent that she aims at profitable Pleasure by the Structure of Man. On the other side Zeno Chrysippus Posidonius and Boethus in their Treatises of Fate assert all things to have been created by Fate Now Fate is a Series of things link'd together or else thâ—t Reason by which the World is administer'd They also allow all manner of Divination to be substantial or else Providence Which was the Opinion of Zeno Chrysippus Athenodorus and Posidonius But Panaetius will not yield it to be a Substance for that the Prima Mâ—tâ—ria or first Matter was the Substance of all things as Cleanthes and Zeno both acknowledge Now Matter is that of which any thing consists and it is call'd sometimes Matter sometimes Substance or the Caâ—se of all things both general and particular but the Substance of the Whole neither increases nor diminishes A Body they say is a terminated Substance as Apollodorus and Antipater define it It is also Passive for if it were immutable those things which are could not be form'd out of it Hence the Division of it extends to Infinity Which Chrysippus denies for that there is nothing Infinite which can be divided The Mixtures also are made quite through the whole and not with Limitation or by Apposition of Parts for a small Quantity of Wine being thrown into the Sea will resist for a time but soon mingle and lose its Nature They also affirm That there are Daemons or Spirits which have the Guardianship of Humane Affairs and that the Souls of Wise men being departed from the Bodies become Hero's As to those things that derive their Original from the Air they say That Winter is the congealing of the Air by reason of the Sun's remoteness the Spring a more moderate Temper of the Air upon the Return of the Sun to our Hemispere Summer when the Air is heated by the approach of the Sun to the North and that the Fall of the Leaf is occasion'd by the Sun's Departure from us That the Winds are the Flowings and Inundations of the Air various in their Names according to the Climates from whence they come and of which the Sun is the Cause by exhaling the Clouds That the Rain-bow is the Reflexion of the Sun-Beams upon Watery Clouds Or as Possidonius defines it the Manifestation of some part or portion of the Sun or Moon in a dewle Cloud concave and shewing it self firm and contiguous to the apprehension of Sight as the Periphery of a Circle fancy'd in a Looking-Glass That Comets Bearded Comets and other Celestial Meteors are substantial Fires caus'd by the thicker Part of the Air drawn up into the Ethereal Region A Sun-Beam the kindling of a sudden Flame swistly darted through the Air and representing to the Sight the Figure of a long Line The Rain is the Alteration of a Cloud turn'd into Water when the Moisture exhal'd by the Sun either from the Earth or the Sea loses its first Operation and thickens into Ponderosity which being congeal'd is call'd Frost or Ice Hail is a more solid Cloud crumbl'd by the force of the Wind. Snow is the Moisture of a compacted Cloud according to Possidonius Lightning is the kindling of Clouds shatter'd and brok'n by the Wind as Zeno defines it Thunder is a Noise which proceeds from the rushing of the Clouds one against another A Thunder-Bolt is a vehement kindling and baking of a substantial Cloud which then comes poudring down upon the Earth the Clouds being once brok'n and shiver'd in pieces A Typho is the sâ—oaky Wind of a broken Cloud carry'd vehemently to the Earth A Prester or Fiery Whirlwind is a Cloud surrounded with Fire carry'd by the Wind into the Concavities of the Earth or else a Wind enclos'd in the Bowels of the Earth according to Posidonius Of which there are several sorts as Earth-quak's Yâ—â—nings of the Earth Burnings and Ebullitions Now having plac'd the Earth in the middle they make it the Center of the whole next to which is the Water which has a Center likewise with the Earth so that the Earth seems to be in the Water and above the Water is the Air in a Body resembling a Sphear That there are five Circles in the Heavens the Arctic which always appears the Summer Tropic the Equinoctial the Winter-Tropic and the Antarctic They are also call'd Parallels because they never meet one another The Zodiac is an oblique Circle because it touches the Parallels They also reckon five Zones the Frigid Zone beyond the Arctic Pole uninhabited through extremity of Cold the Temperate Zone the Torrid Zone the Southern Temperate Zone and the Southern Frigid Zone They further conceive Nature to be an artificial Fire tending her own way to Generation which is also a fiery and artificial Spirit That the Soul is sensible and is a Spirit bred within us therefore it is a Body and remains after Death but is liable however to Corruption But the Soul of the whole is incorruptible the Parts of which are Souls of Beasts Zeno and Antipater affirm the Soul to be a Hot Spirit as being that with which we breath and by which we are mov'd Cleanthes also asserts That all souls are so long durable till they lose their Heat But Chrysippus allows that Pre-eminency to none but the Souls of Wise men As to the Senses they affirm Sight to be the Interval between the Sight and the subjected Light conically extended according to Chrysippus But as Apollodorus defines it that Part of the Air which resembles a Conical Figure next the Sight of which the Basis is the Object next the Sight which is apparent to be seen when the Air is smitten with a Wand Hearing is the interval of Air between the Speaker and the Heurer smitten into Circles which upon that Agitation flows into the Ears like the Circles made by a Stone in a Cistern of Water That Sleep proceeds from the Relaxation of the sensible Faculty being put upon the stress in the Principality of the Soul. That the Passions are occasion'd by the Alterations of the Spirit The Seed is that which was appointed by Nature to generate the like to that by which it was begotten and that the Seed of Man mixes its Moisture with some Parts of the Soul thereby to communicate the Reason of the Parent to the Thing generated which Chrysippus affirms to be a Spiritual Substance as appears by the Seeds that are sown in the Earth which being too old never grow