Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.3 — Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.3
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno
Crates passed by in the nick of time, so the bookseller pointed to him and said, “Follow yonder man.” From that day he became Crates’s pupil, showing in other respects a strong bent for philosophy, though with too much native modesty to assimilate Cynic shamelessness. Hence Crates, desirous of curing this defect in him, gave him a potful of lentil-soup to carry through the Ceramicus; and when he saw that he was ashamed and tried to keep it out of sight, with a blow of his staff he broke the pot. As Zeno took to flight with the lentil-soup flowing down his legs, “Why run away, my little Phoenician?” quoth Crates, “nothing terrible has befallen you.”
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.3 (on Zeno), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.3
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 notesZeno was too shy and too worried about looking foolish, so his teacher had him carry a pot of lentil soup through a busy public square and then smashed it, sending soup down his legs as he fled. The point is that embarrassment is mostly in your head, and facing a small humiliation on purpose shows that nothing terrible has actually happened.
Older wording
- “Cynic”
- — a follower of a school that rejected social conventions and lived very simply
- “Ceramicus”
- — a district of Athens, the potters' quarter
Themes and situations
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Courage
- Self-discipline and habit
- Emotions and the passions
- Nerves before a big moment
- Fear of failure
- Being criticised or insulted
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