Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.95 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.95
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
So with evils: either they are vices, folly, cowardice, injustice, and the like; or things which partake of vice, including vicious acts and wicked persons as well as their accompaniments, despair, moroseness, and the like. Again, some goods are goods of the mind and others external, while some are neither mental nor external. The former include the virtues and virtuous acts; external goods are such as having a good country or a good friend, and the prosperity of such. Whereas to be good and happy oneself is of the class of goods neither mental nor external.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.95 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.95
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 notesEvils are vices such as folly, cowardice and injustice, and whatever shares in them, including despair and gloom. Goods are sorted into goods of the mind, such as virtue, external goods, such as a good friend or country, and being good and happy yourself. Doctrinal classification.
Older wording
- “moroseness”
- — sullen gloom
- “partake of vice”
- — share in vice
- “external goods”
- — good things outside the mind, such as friends and a good homeland
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Friendship
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