![]() ![]() Mensch: in effect two – (i) an informative “Contents” page, listing the names of philosophers whose biographies are contained in each book (p.25–30) and (iii) the “Index locupletior” with long title from the Paris manuscript of Diogenes’ text (pp. v) (ii) a most useful synoptic “Outline of the Lives,” giving section spans for each biography or doctrinal discussion and its subordinate parts (pp. White: in effect three – (i) the publisher’s “Contents,” with the page-numbers and a one- or two-word description of the contents of each book (p.His notes also give more cross-references, and are more frequently technical, for example in furnishing alternative readings or glosses. White often puts multiple pieces of information in a single note, which explains their smaller quantity. White: index numbers included inline for all named sources when found in a collection (not, for example, Diocles of Magnesia).īoth give ample and useful assistance to the reader.Mensch: only bold names at the head of each biography.If a new biography or section begins on the left-hand page, however, one cannot tell what Book one is in (see, e.g., pp. This is especially helpful in Book 7 on Stoic doctrine and Book 10 on Epicurus and Epicurean thought. White: new biographies always begin on a new page, as do subheaded sections, for example “Plato: Life” (3.1–47), “Plato’s Writings” (3.47–66), and “Plato’s Doctrines” (3.67–167).Mensch: small-font marginal section numeration.White: sort of reproduces Dorandi’s marginal lineation, except that he counts continuously from the beginning of the Book, not of each biography as Dorandi does reproduces Dorandi’s inline bold section numeration.Mensch: no intentional departures (several disagreements resolved for the paperback), but following Dorandi’s quotation-marks more frequently.463–68), hence the “edited translation” of the book’s title. White: 128 departures (recorded on pp.As the deadline for really-belated holiday shopping fast approaches, I write this review with the detail-oriented comparison shopper in mind.īoth rely on Tiziano Dorandi’s 2013 Cambridge edition, Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Both are excellent, though like the Ionic and Italic philosophical lineages each has its distinguishing marks. When it came out with Cambridge this summer, of course, Pamela Mensch’s Oxford translation of Diogenes Laertius (2018 BMCR review CJ review) had already received an updated paperback “Compact Edition” (2020). As a matter of fact, one of Diogenes’ interests lies – as the title of his work indicates – in the person of any given philosopher.This translation of Diogenes Laertius by Stephen White has long been eagerly anticipated some years ago, for a class I was teaching, he shared four chapters with me – in exchange for a few dozen minor notes. It may also be that Diogenes Laertius was simply not interested in contemporary developments and more specifically that the Pythagoras of Neopythagoreanism, who is hardly more than a Platonizing-Aristotelianizing doctrinaire, was not especially attractive to him. Geographical marginality is probably not a good explanation, because Diogenes’ erudite work suggests – even if his actual sources are certainly fewer that those which are quoted – that he had access to a major library, perhaps that of Alexandria. Thus, the fact that his own presentation of Pythagoras does not appear to be indebted to Neopythagoreanism is certainly significant, even if what this is significant of is more difficult to assess. Neopythagoreanism, which goes back to the first century BC, must have still been vigorous during Diogenes’ lifetime. This approximate date helps us appreciate the chapter he devotes to Pythagoras at the beginning of Book 8 of his Lives (as I shall abbreviate the work known as Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers), for it allows us to relate Diogenes’ treatment of Pythagoras to two philosophical movements deeply indebted to Pythagoreanism, i.e. ![]() 190 AD) and his disciple Saturninus, and the most recent source he refers to is Favorinus of Arelate. negative internal evidence that he lived and worked at the beginning of the third century AD: the last philosophers he mentions are Sextus Empiricus (active c. One recent hypothesis is that his surname refers to his birthplace (the city of Laerte in Caria or Cilicia), but other interpreters prefer to think – on the basis of a controversial indication in his text – that he was born (and lived) in Nicaea in Bithynia it is also generally admitted on the basis of the scanty and mostly. Introduction We know very little about Diogenes Laertius as a person. ![]()
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