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August 13, 2007 · No Comment · Previous · Next  

Diogenes Laërtius on the Philosopher in Exile

[Image]
A Latin copy of the Sixth Book of Diogenes Laërtius, from which the quote is taken, published in Venice by Nicholas Jenson in 1476

And it happened that someone came to speak with reproach about the fact that he had been exiled. But Diogenes replied abruptly, saying: “No, you dense fellow, that is how I came to be a philosopher.” And when someone reminded him that it was his own people of Sinope who had sentenced him to exile, he responded: “As I sentenced them, to tedious domesticity.”

Diogenes Laërtius, The Life of Diogenes of Sinope pt 49 in the Loeb Library edition of the Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers in Ten Books, vol. 2, p. 51 (ca. 230 CE)

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