The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

concerning the history of Greek philosophy, and is the foundation of nearly all modern treatises on that subject; some of the most important of these are little more than translations or expansions of his work. It is valuable for containing a rich collection of anecdotes illustrating the life and manners of the Greeks, but he has not always been careful in his selection. In some parts, there is a confusion in his statements that makes them scarcely intelligible. These faults have led some critics to consider the work, as it now exists, merely a mutilated abridgment of the original. Burlæus, who in the thirteenth century wrote a Treatise on the Lives and Manners of the Philosophers, quotes many anecdotes and sayings that seem to be derived from Diogenes but are not to be found in our present text. From this, Schneider concludes that Burlæus had a very different and far more complete copy than has come down to us.

The text used in the following translation is chiefly that of Huebner, as published at Leipsic, A.D. 1828.