Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

THE PROLOGUE

...having lived The OCR "ζαιῶν" is likely a fragment of "βιοῦν" (to live), referring to the lifespan of the previously mentioned poet. for many years. Myth says that he [Orpheus] was destroyed by women; but the inscription at Dium in Macedonia says he was struck by lightning, reading as follows:

Here the Muses buried the Thracian Orpheus of the golden lyre,
Whom Zeus, ruling on high, slew with a smoking bolt.

Those who claim that philosophy began among the Barbarians also set forth the particular style it took among each people. They say that the Gymnosophists Gymnosophists: literally "naked wise men," a term Greeks used for Indian ascetics and yogis and the Druids Druids: the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic societies expressed their philosophy in riddles. They taught men to honor the gods, to do no evil, and to practice courage. Clitarchus A historian who accompanied Alexander the Great. says in his twelfth book that the Gymnosophists even despise death.

The Chaldeans Ancient astronomers and astrologers of Babylon. occupy themselves with astronomy and prediction. The Magi Magi: the priestly caste of ancient Persia (modern Iran), followers of Zoroaster spend their time in the service of the gods, performing sacrifices and prayers, believing that they alone are heard by the divine. They make pronouncements about the substance and origin of the gods, whom they believe to be fire, earth, and water. They condemn the use of images, especially those made by people who claim the gods are male and female.

They discourse on justice and consider it unholy to burn the dead in fire In Zoroastrianism, fire is a sacred element that must not be polluted by dead flesh.; yet they think it lawful to consort with one’s mother or daughter, as Sotion says in his twenty-third book. They also practice divination and prediction, claiming that the gods appear to them in person. Furthermore, they say the air is full of phantom-shapes phantom-shapes: "eidola," or subtle images that flow from objects, which enter the eyes of those with keen sight through a kind of vaporous emission.

They forbid personal ornaments and the wearing of gold. Their clothing is white, their bed is the ground, and their food consists of vegetables, cheese, and coarse bread. Their staff is a reed, with which they pierce the cheese—so they say—to lift it and eat. As for sorcerous magic original: "goetike," referring to "low" magic or trickery as opposed to the "high" religious rites of the Magi., they were not even acquainted with it, according to Aristotle in his work On Magic and Dinon in the fifth book of his History. Dinon also says that the name Zoroaster, when translated, means "star-worshipper" original: "astrothuten." This is an ancient folk etymology; modern scholars derive the name from Old Persian meaning "possessor of yellow camels.". He says...