Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.125 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.125
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Furthermore, the wise man does all things well, just as we say that Ismenias plays all airs on the flute well. Also everything belongs to the wise. For the law, they say, has conferred upon them a perfect right to all things. It is true that certain things are said to belong to the bad, just as what has been dishonestly acquired may be said, in one sense, to belong to the state, in another sense to those who are enjoying it. They hold that the virtues involve one another, and that the possessor of one is the possessor of all, inasmuch as they have common principles, as Chrysippus says in the first book of his work On Virtues, Apollodorus in his Physics according to the Early School, and Hecato in the third book of his treatise On Virtues.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.125 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.125
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 wise do everything well, as a master flautist plays every tune well, and all things belong to them in the sense that law gives them full rights. The virtues are linked, so having one means having all, since they share common principles.
Older wording
- “airs”
- — tunes or melodies
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
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