Lives of the sophists

EUNAPIUS' LIVES OF PHILOSOPHERS AND SOPHISTS Xenophon the philosopher, a man who alone of all philosophers adorned philosophy in both words and deeds (for his words are in his writings and he writes of moral virtue, and in his deeds he was most excellent, but he also begot generals 1.1.2 by his examples; for indeed Alexander the Great would not have become great, if not for Xenophon) says that we ought to record even the minor works of serious men. But my account directs this writing not to the minor works of serious men, but to their major works. For if the plaything of virtue is worthy of account, then what is seriously pursued 1.1.3 would certainly be treated impiously if passed over in silence. And this account will discourse for those who wish to read it, neither with certainty about all (for it was not possible to collect all things with precision), nor distinguishing from one another the best philosophers and orators, 1.1.4 but setting down for each his pursuit. And as to whether the one written about in this account was excellent in the highest degree, the one writing these things leaves it for the one who wishes to judge these matters from the underlying evidence to decide 1.1.5 (for so he wishes). And he has carefully read the memoirs, through which, if he errs from the truth, he might refer the error to others, like a good student who has chanced upon bad teachers, or else he may have the truth of his accounts and his guides worthy of admiration, and his own work at least might be pure and blameless, having followed 1.1.6 what he ought to follow. And since there were few or almost none who wrote about these things, that one may say only this, neither will what was written by those before escape the notice of readers, nor what has come down by hearsay to the present time, but to both will be given what is fitting, so that nothing of what has been written is disturbed, and what comes from hearsay, being shaken and changed by time, is fixed and established by writing for a more stable and lasting state. The philosophical history and the lives of the philosophical men Porphyry and Sotion collected. But Porphyry (as it so happened) ended with Plato and 2.1.2 his times; while Sotion appears to have come down even further, although Porphyry was the younger. But since the intervening stream of philosophical men and sophists has been left unrecorded, with respect to the greatness and variety of its excellence, Philostratus of Lemnos has gracefully sketched the lives of the best <sophists> in passing, but no one has accurately written about the philosophers; 2.1.3 among whom were Ammonius of Egypt, who was the teacher of the most divine Plutarch, and Plutarch himself, the grace and lyre of all philosophy, and Euphrates of Egypt, and Dio of Bithynia whom they called Chrysostom, and Apollonius of Tyana, no longer a philosopher; 2.1.4 but he was something between gods and man. For having emulated the Pythagorean philosophy, he displayed in it much that was more divine and active. But Philostratus of Lemnos accomplished the work concerning this man, entitling the books *The Life of Apollonius*, 2.1.5 when he ought to have called it *The Sojourn of a God among Men*. And Carneades lived in these times, and was not obscure among the Cynics, if indeed one should take any account of Cynicism, among whom were Musonius, and Demetrius and Menippus, and some others besides; but these were the more distinguished. 2.1.6 But it was not possible to find clear and accurate lives of these men, since no one had written a biography, as far as we know; but their writings were and are sufficient lives for them, filled with so much learning and theory both for moral virtue and as much as distinguished and looked up to 2.1.7 the nature of existing things, the ignorance of those who are able

Vitae sophistarum

ΕΥΝΑΠΙΟΥ ΒΙΟΙ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΣΟΦΙΣΤΩΝ Ξενοφῶν ὁ φιλόσοφος, ἀνὴρ μόνος ἐξ ἁπάντων φιλοσόφων ἐν λόγοις τε καὶ ἔργοις φιλοσοφίαν κοσμήσας (τὰ μὲν ἐς λόγους ἔστι τε ἐν γράμμασι καὶ ἠθικὴν ἀρετὴν γράφει, τὰ δὲ ἐν πράξεσί τε ἦν ἄριστος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐγέννα στρα1.1.2 τηγοὺς τοῖς ὑποδείγμασιν· ὁ γοῦν μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος οὐκ ἂν ἐγένετο μέγας, εἰ μὴ Ξενοφῶν) καὶ τὰ πάρεργά φησι δεῖν τῶν σπουδαίων ἀνδρῶν ἀναγράφειν. ἐμοὶ δὲ οὐκ εἰς τὰ πάρεργα τῶν σπουδαίων ὁ λόγος φέρει τὴν γραφήν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὰ ἔργα. εἰ γὰρ τὸ παίγνιον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἄξιον λόγου, ἀσε1.1.3 βοῖτο ἂν πάντως τὸ σπουδαζόμενον σιωπώμενον. διαλεχθήσεται δὲ ὁ λόγος τοῖς ἐντυγχάνειν βουλομένοις, οὔτε περὶ πάντων ἀσφαλῶς (οὐ γὰρ πάντα ἀκριβῶς ἦν ἀναλέγεσθαι), οὔτε ἀποκρίνων ἀλλήλων φιλοσόφους ἀρίστους καὶ ῥήτορας, 1.1.4 ἀλλὰ παρατιθεὶς ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα. τὸ δὲ ἄριστος ὅτι ἦν εἰς ἄκρον ὁ γραφόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, τῷ βουλομένῳ ταῦτα δικάζειν ἐκ τῶν ὑποκειμένων σημείων καταλιμπάνει 1.1.5 (βούλεται μὲν γάρ) ὁ ταῦτα γράφων. καὶ ὑπομνήμασιν ἀκριβῶς ἐντετύχηκεν, δι' ὧν, ἢ διαμαρτάνων τῆς ἀληθείας, ἐφ' ἑτέρους ἀναφέροι τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ὥσπερ ἀγαθός τις μαθητὴς κακῶν τετυχηκὼς διδασκάλων, ἢ κατηγοριῶν ἀλήθειαν ἔχοι καὶ τοὺς ἡγουμένους ἀξίους θαύματος, καὶ τό γε ἴδιον ἔργον αὐτοῦ καθαρὸν εἴη καὶ ἀμώμητον, ἀκο1.1.6 λουθήσαντος οἷς ἀκολουθεῖν προσῆκεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὀλίγοι τε ἢ παντελῶς ἐλάχιστοί τινες ἦσαν οἱ περὶ τούτων γράφοντες, ἵνα τοῦτο εἴπῃ τις μόνον, οὔτε τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν πρότερον γραφέντων λήσεται τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, οὔτε τὰ ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἐς τόνδε καθήκοντα τὸν χρόνον, ἀλλ' ἀμφοτέροις ἀποδοθήσεται τὸ πρέπον, τῶν μὲν γεγραμμένων κινηθῆναι μηδέν, τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀκοῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου κατασειόμενα καὶ μεταβάλλοντα διαπῆξαι καὶ στηρίξαι τῇ γραφῇ πρὸς τὸ στάσιμον καὶ μονιμώτερον. Τὴν φιλόσοφον ἱστορίαν καὶ τοὺς τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀνδρῶν βίους Πορφύριος καὶ Σωτίων ἀνελέξαντο. ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Πορφύριος (οὕτω συμβάν) εἰς Πλάτωνα ἐτελεύτα καὶ 2.1.2 τοὺς ἐκείνου χρόνους· Σωτίων δὲ καὶ καταβὰς φαίνεται, καίτοι γε ὁ Πορφύριος ἦν νεώτερος. τῆς δὲ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ φορᾶς φιλοσόφων τε ἀνδρῶν καὶ σοφιστῶν ἀδιηγήτου γενομένης κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ ποικίλον τῆς ἀρετῆς, Φιλόστρατος μὲν ὁ Λήμνιος τοὺς τῶν ἀρίστων <σοφιστῶν> ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς μετὰ χάριτος παρέπτυσε βίους, φιλοσόφων δὲ οὐδεὶς ἀκριβῶς 2.1.3 ἀνέγραψεν· ἐν οἷς Ἀμμώνιός τε ἦν ὁ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, Πλουτάρ χου τοῦ θειοτάτου γεγονὼς διδάσκαλος, Πλούταρχός τε αὐτός, ἡ φιλοσοφίας ἁπάσης ἀφροδίτη καὶ λύρα, Εὐφράτης τε ὁ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ∆ίων ὁ ἐκ Βιθυνίας ὃν ἐπεκάλουν Χρυσόστομον, Ἀπολλώνιός τε ὁ ἐκ Τυάνων, οὐκέτι φιλόσοφος· 2.1.4 ἀλλ' ἦν τι θεῶν τι καὶ ἀνθρώπου μέσον. τὴν γὰρ Πυθαγόρειον φιλοσοφίαν ζηλώσας, πολὺ τὸ θειότερον καὶ ἐνεργὸν κατ' αὐτὴν ἐπεδείξατο. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἐς τοῦτον ὁ Λήμνιος ἐπετέλεσε Φιλόστρατος, βίον ἐπιγράψας Ἀπολλωνίου τὰ 2.1.5 βιβλία, δέον Ἐπιδημίαν ἐς ἀνθρώπους θεοῦ καλεῖν. Καρνεάδης δὲ ἦν κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους, καὶ τῶν κατὰ κυνισμὸν οὐκ ἀφανής, εἴ τινα καὶ κυνισμοῦ χρὴ λόγον ποιεῖσθαι, παρ' οἷς ἦν Μουσώνιος, καὶ ∆ημήτριος καὶ Μένιππος, καὶ ἕτεροί γέ τινες πλείους· οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν ἐπιφανέστεροι. 2.1.6 τούτων δὲ σαφεῖς μὲν καὶ ἀκριβεῖς οὐκ ἦν ἀνευρεῖν τοὺς βίους, ἅτε μηδενὸς συγγεγραφότος, ὅσα γε ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι· ἱκανοὶ δὲ αὐτῶν ἦσάν τε καί εἰσι βίοι τὰ γράμματα, τοσαύτης ἀνάμεστα παιδείας καὶ θεωρίας ἔς τε ἠθικὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ ὅση πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὄντων διήρατο καὶ ἀνέβλεψε 2.1.7 φύσιν, τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν δυναμένων