The first nine probably date from the 3rd century BC, they are usually included among the Cynic epistles, and reflect how the Cynic philosophers viewed him as prefiguring many of their ideas ; the tenth letter is quoted by Diogenes Laertius, it is addressed to Croesus, the proverbially rich king of Lydia, it too is fictitious:

:" He marvelled that among the Greeks, those who were skillful in a thing vie in competition ; those who have no skill, judge " — Diogenes Laertius, of Anacharsis.

v. 32 ; Diogenes Laertius i. 101-5 ; Athenaeus, iv.

According to Diogenes Laertius and Plutarch he fled to Lampsacus due to a backlash against his pupil Pericles.

Diogenes Laertius reports the story that he was prosecuted by Cleon for impiety, but Plutarch says that Pericles sent his former tutor, Anaxagoras, to Lampsacus for his own safety after the Athenians began to blame him for the Peloponnesian war.

According to Diogenes Laertius, in response to Alexander's claim to have been the son of Zeus-Ammon, Anaxarchus pointed to his bleeding wound and remarked, " See the blood of a mortal, not ichor, such as flows from the veins of the immortal gods.

" Diogenes Laertius also says that Nicocreon, the tyrant of Cyprus, commanded him to be pounded to death in a mortar, and that he endured this torture with fortitude and Cicero relates the same story.

The only surviving complete works by Epicurus are three letters, which are to be found in book X of Diogenes Laertius ' Lives of Eminent Philosophers, and two groups of quotes: the Principal Doctrines, reported as well in Diogenes ' book X, and the Vatican Sayings, preserved in a manuscript from the Vatican Library.

Epicurus ' cheerful demeanor, as he continued to work despite dying from a painful stone blockage of his urinary tract lasting a fortnight, according to his successor Hermarchus and reported by his biographer Diogenes Laertius, further enhanced his status among his followers.

( Diogenes Laertius quoting Cleanthes ; quoted also by Seneca, Epistle 107.

Diogenes Laertius states that Xenophon was sometimes known as the " Attic Muse " for the sweetness of his diction ; very few poets wrote in the Attic dialect.

Diogenes Laertius, a fourth source for information about Zeno and his teachings, citing Favorinus, says that Zeno's teacher Parmenides was the first to introduce the Achilles and the Tortoise Argument.

By the 16th century, the works of Diogenes Laertius were being printed in Europe.

Epicurus ' philosophy of the physical world is found in his Letter to Herodotus: Diogenes Laertius 10. 34-83.

The subject of this type evidently refers to a story related by Diogenes Laertius that the Selinuntines were afflicted with a pestilence from the marshy character of the lands adjoining the neighboring river, but that this was cured by works of drainage, suggested by Empedocles.

In comparison, Socrates accepted no fee, instead professed a self-effacing posture, which he exemplified by Socratic questioning ( i. e. the Socratic method, although Diogenes Laertius wrote that Protagoras — a sophist — invented the " Socratic " method ).

According to Diogenes Laertius, he had a brother named Dropidas and was an ancestor ( six generations removed ) of Plato.

The passage in which the above occurs has been described as " elaborately ironical ", making it unclear which of its aspects may be taken seriously, although Diogenes Laertius later confirms that there were indeed seven such individuals who were held in high esteem for their wisdom well before Plato's time.

Diogenes Laertius further states that Dicaearchus gave ten possible names, Hippobotus suggested twelve names, and Hermippus enumerated seventeen possible sages from which different people made different selections of seven.

Unlike with Aristotle, we have no complete works by the Megarians or the early Stoics, and have to rely mostly on accounts ( sometimes hostile ) by later sources, including prominently Diogenes Laertius, Sextus Empiricus, Galen, Aulus Gellius, Alexander of Aphrodisias and Cicero.

Diogenes Laertius, after quoting a famous epigram by Cleobulus ( one of ancient Greece's ' seven sages ') in which a maiden sculptured on a tomb is imagined to proclaim her eternal vigilance, quotes Simonides commenting on it in a poem of his own: Stone is broken even by mortal hands.

The biographical notices, the author avers, are condensed from the Onomatologion or Pinax of Hesychius of Miletus ; other sources were the excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the chronicle of Georgius Monachus, the biographies of Diogenes Laertius and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus.

Diogenes Laertius (;, Diogenēs Laertios ; fl.

His dates of birth and death are based on a life span of 60 years, the age at which Diogenes says he died, with the floruit in the middle.

Diogenes says that he abdicated the kingship ( basileia ) in favor of his brother and Strabo confirms that there was a ruling family in Ephesus descended from the Ionian founder, Androclus, which still kept the title and could sit in the chief seat at the games, as well as a few other privileges.

Diogenes says that Heraclitus used to play knucklebones with the youths in the temple of Artemis and when asked to start making laws he refused saying that the constitution ( politeia ) was ponêra, which can mean either that it was fundamentally wrong or that he considered it toilsome.

With regard to education, Diogenes says that Heraclitus was " wondrous " ( thaumasios, which, as Plato explains in the Theaetetus and elsewhere, is the beginning of philosophy ) from childhood.

Diogenes relates that Sotion said he was a " hearer " of Xenophanes, which contradicts Heraclitus ' statement ( so says Diogenes ) that he had taught himself by questioning himself.

" Theophrastus says ( in Diogenes ) "... some parts of his work are half-finished, while other parts make a strange medley.

" Diogenes says: " the book acquired such fame that it produced partisans of his philosophy who were called Heracliteans.

He moved to Athens where tradition says he became a pupil of Diogenes of Sinope ; the precise relationship between Crates and Diogenes is uncertain, but there is one apparent reference to Crates referring to himself as " a fellow-citizen of Diogenes, who defied all the plots of envy.

Diogenes Laërtius says that his works filled ten volumes, but of these, only fragments remain.

Diogenes Laertius, quoting from Apollodorus of Athens, says that Pyrrho was at first a painter, and that pictures by him were exhibited in the gymnasium at Elis.

Diogenes Laërtius says that, like his successor Lacydes, he died of excessive drinking, but the testimony of others ( e. g. Cleanthes ) and his own precepts discredit the story, and he is known to have been much respected by the Athenians.

Diogenes Laërtius says that he left behind Commentaries, which consisted of 30, 000 lines ; but of these only fragments have been preserved.

Diogenes Laërtius says that he declined to identify the Good with the Useful, and that he denied the value of the negative proposition on the ground that affirmation alone can express truth.

Diogenes says that he left no writings, and the Eretrian school disappeared after a short and unobtrusive existence.

Diogenes Laërtius says the following works were written by Menippus:

Diogenes Laërtius, on the authority of Sotion and Panaetius, gives a long list of books whose authorship is ascribed to Aristippus, though he also says that Sosicrates of Rhodes states that he wrote nothing.

Diogenes Laërtius, on the authority of Sotion and Panaetius, provides a long list of books said to have been written by Aristippus, though he also says that Sosicrates stated that he wrote nothing.

Diogenes Laërtius divides the physiologoi into two groups, Ionian and Italiote, led by Anaximander and Pythagoras, respectively.

The philosopher Pythagoras claimed to be a reincarnation of Euphorbus, according to Heraclides of Pontus ( as reported by Diogenes Laertius ).

As far as the report of the Astraios in which he reflects also what he had heard of a woman named Philotis about Pythagoras and his teachings, which is possibly what is being reported, citing Diogenes of Porphyry about the life of Pythagoras.