Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.97 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.97
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
The virtues (they say) are goods of the nature at once of ends and of means. On the one hand, in so far as they cause happiness they are means, and on the other hand, in so far as they make it complete, and so are themselves part of it, they are ends. Similarly of evils some are of the nature of ends and some of means, while others are at once both means and ends. Your enemy and the harm he does you are means; consternation, abasement, slavery, gloom, despair, excess of grief, and every vicious action are of the nature of ends. Vices are evils both as ends and as means, since in so far as they cause misery they are means, but in so far as they make it complete, so that they become part of it, they are ends.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.97 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.97
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 notesVirtues count as both means and ends: they cause happiness and also complete it. Evils work the same way, with an enemy and the harm done as means to misery, and consternation, gloom, despair, excess grief and vicious actions as part of misery itself. Doctrinal classification.
Older wording
- “consternation”
- — shock and dismay
- “abasement”
- — humiliation or loss of dignity
- “of the nature of ends”
- — valued or suffered for their own sake, as part of the final result
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Emotions and the passions
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