A BOOK OF THE MOMENT

PHILOSOPHERS IN SHIRTSLEEVES

[COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE

New York Times.] "Diogenes Laertius" Lives of Eminent Philosophers. With an English Translation by R. D. Hicks, M.A. The Loeb Classical Library. (London : Heinemann ; New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Two volumes. 10s. 6d. per volume.) DIOGENES LAERTIUS the author of the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, has almost always been regarded, and

in a sense, justly, with contempt—regarded, that is, as not only a "Grub Street hack," but a hack of a late and decadent period. The author, "whom we agree to call Laertius," as Mr. Hicks says 'in the introduction to his translation, per- formed his task in the true Grub Street spirit. Like one of the contemporaries of Pope or Dr. Johnson, he manufactured lives of the ancient philosophers out of every procurable scrap of ancient gossip dealing with his subjects. He borrows, he copies, he makes excerpts and citations, and he weaves them, or rather jumbles them, together and produces a fine philo- sophic "hash " or "resurrection pie."

But, though all this arraignment of Diogenes Laertius is a

true bill, his book remains of deep and lasting interest. Laer- tius, though he had all the faults of the Byzantine litterateur,

had nevertheless a keen eye for a good story. Though the muddy mixture of ignorance and carelessness, which was characteristic of him, spoiled many of the stories, he gives us a wonderful picture of the Greek philosophers in their shirt- sleeves. His 'work may be called "coffee-house babble " ; but coffee-house babble can be very interesting, and has the effect of humanizing those with whom it is concerned. Anec- dotes about Plato and Aristotle, Pythagoras, Zeno and Socrates, even when a good deal of the point is worn off, cannot but be attractive. Even the stories which have little or no foundation in fact are worthy of record, since they show us particular facets of ancient opinion. Further, the miscel- laneous stuff of all kinds collected by Laertius, as, for example,

the lists of the writings of the Philosophers, proves what a tremendous part the lovers of wisdom filled in Greek life. They were as common in the Grecian cities as ecclesiastics in the Middle Ages, and were as much the subjects of popular gossip. It is true that Diogenes Laertius stood a long way off from the men he wrote about ; hut, nevertheless, he was in the philosophic continuum. There was no break in the cultural

conditions which produced Phythagoras and those which gave the world the works of Seneca or of Marcus Aurelius. That, indeed, is one of the most amazing things about these Lives. The interval between his own times and the pre- Socratic philosophers, of whom Diogenes Laertius has a good deal to say, though his details are fuller in regard to the Golden Age of Athens, is close on a thousand years. Trans- lated into modern terms, that means that our author was in the position in which a man writing nowadays would be in dealing with the days of Alfred or the Venerable Bede. To note the things that he records of people who were a thousand years before him makes one realize how the world of learning

went back in the Dark Ages.

Scholars and critics find very great difficulty in placing Laertius--in deciding, that is, whether he belonged to the Sceptics, or the Stoics, or the Epicureans. But that matters little. To quote Mr. Hicks's introduction once more, the essential fact about Laertius was that he was a Dryasdust, "vain and credulous, of multifarious reading, amazing industry, and insatiable curiosity." In a word, he had exactly the qualities which make a compiler good literary company. "To countless good stories he has added decrees, epitaphs, epistles ; among other documents the last will and testament of no less than six philosophers."

To this last quotation I cannot forbear to add the comment, that the wills are not only delightful reading, but exceedingly curious. A lawyer of to-day might use them as a proof of the wisdom and _good sense of our system of testamentary deposi- tion. Except that they do not have the statutory witnesses' clause at the end, they would be accepted by our Courts.

As generally happens with Grub Street literature, Laertius does not know how to begin his book. He babbles on in his• prologue about the origins of Philosophy in a manner that wearies and disgusts. You should hear him on the Egyptians. He is incredible on such a theme. In the first ten sentences we have such ineptitudes as the following. "Hephaestus lived 48,863 years before Alexander of Macedon, and in the inter -‘‘,4 there occurred 373 solar and 832 lunar eclipses." But Laertius soon tires of parading his erudition. He begins to get into his stride with Pythagoras, though strictly speaking his first " potted-philosopher " is Thales. Of him and his astronomy we are told very interesting things.

In the account of Thales, Laertius shows us what a very large amount of Shandyism he had in his mental equipment. He loved a paradox and an oddity quite as much as did the father or Tristram. For example, he tells us that When Thales was asked why he had no children of his own, he replied "because he loved children." How Mr • Shandy would have loved such

an answer and how oracularly, would he have recommended it to Uncle Toby and Yorriek, and Dr. Slop. Yorrick would have understood it, Slop would have suspected it, Uncle Toby would probably have asked what Mrs. Thales thought of it. • Thales was a great hand at the game of "plain questions • and crooked answers." Here are one or two examples :

"He held there was no difference between life and death. Why; then,' said one, 'do you not die ? " Because,' said he, 'there is

no difference.' To the question which is older, day or night; he: replied : 'Night is the older by one day.' Someone asked him! whether a man could hide an evil deed from the gods : 'No,' he' replied, 'nor yet an evil thought.' To the adulterer who inquired if he should deny the charge upon oath he replied that perjury was no worse than adultery. Being asked what is difficult, he replied,! 'To know oneself.' What is easy ? ' To give advice to another.' 'What is most pleasant ? " 'Success.' 'What is the divine ? ' That which has neither beginning nor end.' To the question what was the strangest thing he had ever seen, his answer was, 'An aged tyrant.' 'How can one best bear adversity ? " If he should see his enemies in worse plight.' 'How shall we lead the best and most righteous life ? " By refraining from doing what we blame in others.' 'What man is happy?' 'He who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind and a docile nature.'"

The remark about the tyrant is excellent and, though more eloquent and refined, seems allied to the American story of the South American President. After he had not been shot at for a whole fortnight, he remarked wistfully to a friend," It's the lack of interest in public affairs which is the curse of this country."

A book so chaotic as that of Laertius can only be reviewed chaotically, and therefore I shall make no sort of apology fot flying from Thales to Bias. Bias, it appears, anticipated Sir' Robert Walpole. We are told, "His apophthegm is : Most' men are bad." Sir Robert declared that there 'ought to be very few Prime Ministers because it was not good that many people should know how bad men are.

At times Laertius found a corner for philosophy. For example, he tells us how Anaxagoras was the first man to set mind above matter, and began his treatise, which, he adds airily, "is composed in attractive and dignified language," with the words, "All things were together ; then came Mind and set them in order." 'He seems, indeed, to have been one of those wonderful Greek guessers who, without any right to do so from observation or study, hit on scientific theories which are now rapidly entering the sphere of ascertained facts.'

"He took as his principles the homoeomeries or homogeneous molecules ; for just as gold consists of fine particles which are called gold-dust, so he held the whole universe to be compounded of minute

bodies having parts homogeneous to themselves.' . .

As the children would say, he is here getting "very hot" in the search for the hidden electron. Certainly Laertius must be considered "one up" here, for the passage shows that he had a truly inquiring mind. - Plato's will is given in full and is well worth comment. It begins with an excellent recital of his real estate, in which the boundaries are neatly set out The final clause is eloquent of Greek life.

' " Euclides the lapidary owes me three minae. I enfranchise Artemis. I leave four household servants, Tychon, Metes, Apollon- ides and Dionysius.- Household furniture, as set down in the inventory of which Demetrius has the duplicate. I owe no one. anything. My executors are Leosthenes, Speusippus, Demetrius; Hegias, Euryriaidon, Callimaehus and Thrasippus."

. In our day readers can reckon Diogenes Laertius as a kind of degenerate and Byzantine lioswell—a writer to 'dip into in those states of mind when nothing will serve but snappy: