8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 1/14
Department of the Classics Harvard University
Democritus and the CynicsAuthor(s): Zeph StewartSource: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 63 (1958), pp. 179-191Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/310854 .
Accessed: 28/09/2014 03:03
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Department of the Classics, Harvard University is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Harvard Studies in Classical Philology.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 2/14
DEMOCRITUS
AND
THE
CYNICS
BY
ZEPH
STEWART
IT
is
nothing
less
than
a
reflection
of
his
own
character
and
person-
ality
that Werner
Jaeger
has devoted most
of his
scholarly
attention
to
writers
who have
seen
the universe
in
its
various
aspects
as
moving
in an
ordered
way
toward
a
goal
of
perfection.
He has
even
retrieved
for a kind of teleology medical works previouslyconsidered in another
aspect.
But
for this
very
reason
his
illuminating
account
in the second
and
third
volumes of Paideia
of
an
early
stage
in
the
long
dispute
between
'philosophy'
and
'rhetoric'
scarcely
touches
upon
a
rift
within
the ranks
of
the
philosophers
themselves,
a
division which
was
in
some
respects
to
prove
more critical
han the
later
distinctions
of
the
'schools'.
Streams
of
thought
which were to
contribute to
anti-teleological
systems
-
Antisthenes'
criticisms,
Cynic,
Cyrenaic,
and
Sceptic
views
of
Socrates,
the
minor Socratic
schools
-
remain outside his
theme.
And it is
not
a
coincidence
that
he
all
but
passed
over that
major
figure
of an earlier
generation,
Democritus,
whose
system
is
the
com-
plete
antithesis,
in
the
history
of
knowledge,
to
Plato's
philosophy .1
The
ethical
fragments
of
Democritus have
been
an
embarrassment
f
riches.2
Long
and
heated
discussion of
the
authenticity
of the
Fv&tcrat
A
,LoKpcdrovs
(B
35-xi5)
and of
the
fragments
n
Stobaeus
(B
I69-297)
reached
an
uneasy
peace
in
Diels'
inconclusive dictum
on
the former
group
and
in
Schmid's cautious
general
optimism.3
But
in
the
fray
a
closely
related
question
has
remained
almost
untouched
-
why
such an
extraordinary
number of short
ethical
fragments
of
Democritus
were
ready at hand for inclusion in Stobaeus' collection, and why indeed
these same
and
many
other
statements
attributed to
him
are to be
found in
such
profusion
in
other
gnomologies.4
It is
easy
to see how
his
physical
and
epistemological
ragments
were
preserved
n
large part
by
the
interest
which
Aristotle
and
his
school
took
in
reporting
and
refuting
them,5
but
neither
Plato
(who
does
not
mention
Democritus)
nor
Aristotle
shows
any
knowledge
of his
ethics.
Of the
later
schools
the
Stoics
not
only
had
to
some
degree
adopted
Heraclitus
from
among
the
earlier
thinkers,
but
also would
have
found
little
place
in
their
official system for Democritus' valuation of pleasure; the Epicureans
were
notoriously
conservative
n
following
the
lead
and
quoting
only
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 3/14
the
words of
their
founder,
who
had
rejected
his
dependence
on
Demo-
critus
and
specifically
attacked him
-
indeed
it
is
hardly
here
that
we
should look for the preservationof fragments praising rTOvol;rom
Sextus
Empiricus'
silence it
seems
equally
clear
that Democritus'
ethical
fragments
had not
been
preserved
n
official
Scepticism,although
it
might
be assumed
that
in
his
time
the
collections which
were to
find
their
way
into
Stobaeus
were
in
use,
and
he
(or
his
source)
seems
in
fact to
employ
an
anthology
of
poetry.6
It
is
true,
on the
other
hand,
that
Epicureans
and
Sceptics,
though
opposed
to
each
other,
were
connected
with
Democritus
both
by
a
student-teacher uccession7
and
by
a tenet
which
divided them from
Academy,
Lyceum
and
Stoa
-
denial of
a
teleologicalprinciple in the universe.
Philippson's
easy
assumption
that
a
student
of
Democritus
excerpted
quotations
from
his
writings
is
hardly
a
help
here,8
for
the
real
problem
is to
account for
the
ensuing gap
of some
700 years
until
Stobaeus.
A
'
school of
Democritus',
if
it ever existed
at
Abdera,
was
short-lived,
and
the
continued
preservation
of
his assembled
works
was
apparently
due
only
to
the
librarian-philologists
t
Alexandria
and elsewhere.9
Not
only
does the
presence
of
the
fragments
in
gnomologies
suggest
a
separate
text
tradition,
but
the existence
of
differently
abbreviated
orms
of
the
same statement
-
most striking
in
B 84,
B
244,
B
264
-
shows
that
these
fragments
were
actually
in use
in the
intervening
period.
In
his
justly
prized
work on the
history
of Greek
florilegia
Elter
found
the
ultimate
origin
of the
later
collections in
the
works
of
Chrysippus.'0
Though
his
general
view has
won universal
acceptance,
perhaps
nsuffi-
cient
emphasis
has been
given
to some
important
reservations
and
conditions. 1
First,
only
selections
in
verse
can
surely
be
derived
from
Chrysippus,
not
those
in
prose,
and
second,
Chrysippus
used
his
quotations
from
the
poets
for
a
special
purpose,
to
'illustrate'
the
truth of his
own statements.12
It
was not
from
him
that
would
come collectionsof
gnomic
sayings
or of
gnomic
poetry
for instruction
itself,
as
a
kind
of treasure
house
of
guides
to
right
thinking
and
right
action.
13
Whose
purpose
then would
it have served
in
the Hellenistic
period
to
preserve
a
collection
of
Democritus'
ethical
writings
or
of selections
from
them
so
carefully
that
they
proliferated
n
the collections
of the
Empire?
Suggestion
for an
answer
to this
question
comes
from
an
unexpected
quarter.
The
Cynic
Demetrius,
a
notable
figure
at
Romein
the
first
century,
the first
representative
of
his
school
in
some
three
hundredyears knownwell enoughto us to seem a distinct personality,
was
quoted
often
by
his friend
Seneca,
but
nowhere
at
such
length
as
i8o
Zeph
Stewart
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 4/14
Democritus nd
the
Cynics
18
near
the
beginning
of
the seventh
book
of
the De
Beneficiis.
There
(7.1.3)
he
urges
the
ready
possession14
of
a
few
precepts
of
knowledge
rather than much, but comparativelyuseless, learning.As examplesof
the latter
he
mentions such
questions
of natural
phenomena
as
one
finds in
Aetius'
Placita
or in
Seneca's own
Naturales
Quaestiones.
His
rejection
of this kind
of
study
ends,
however,
with
a
striking phrase
borrowed
(without
indication
of
author)
from
Democritus,
and
the
subsequent
paragraphs
are so
full
of Democritean
material that
the
complete passage
is
worth
transcribing
with
some
comparisons:
De
Beneficiis
7.1.5:
Non
multum
tibi
nocebit
transisse
quae
nec
licet
scirenecprodest.Inuoluta ueritas n alto latet.
B
II7 (from
Diogenes Laertius) e-rej
8
ov8ev
8L?v'
v
PvOco
yap
1
d.XrOteca.
Cicero,
Ac.Pr.
2.1o.32
naturam
accusa,
quae
in
profundo
ueritatem,
ut ait
Democritus,
penitus
abstruserit;
cf.
Ac.Post.
1.12.44;
Isidore,
Etym.
8.6.12 cuius
sectator
fuit
Demo-
critus,
qui
dixit
tamquam
n
puteo
alto,
ita
utfundus
nullus
sit,
ita
in
occulto acere
ueritatem.)
(6)
Nec de
malignitate
naturae
queri
possumus,l5
uia
nullius
rei
difficilis
inuentio
est
nisi cuius hic
unus
inuentae
ructus
est
inuenisse;
quidquid
os
melioresbeatosqueacturumest, aut in apertoaut in proximoposuit. (7)
Si animus
ortuita
contempsit,
i se
supra
metus sustulit
nec
auida
spe
infinita
conplectitur,
B
176 (from
Stobaeus)
rvr
X7
UyoCoSc8wpos,
AA'
E'cfatoso,
tvaos'
8?
avTapK77s'
SLO7TEp
VLKc2 TD
77jaOVL
KQxL
1EfaLou
TO
tJ.?LOV
TvS
EArios.
.
B
3
(ibid.)..
.cOTr
K
r-'7
.Jrs
Evrr7`laA,oTvL
Os
K't;
S
TOr
7TrAEeo
V7rrn77yEoJLEvq1
7r
SOKE
L,
KaTrarLOeaaCL
KaOZL
jL
TrAe
TrpoacrTTreraQaL
rcV
$vvarcZv.
..
B
2IO
(ibid.)
rpare[Cav
rroAureAEa
Lkv
TVX77
rTaPpaC-rLO7aLv,
v7rapKeaC
8
acwpoP V'.
B
70
(from
Fvc4car
Ar/cLoKpaTO
vs)
TraXLOS,
OVjK
avSpoS
7TO
&ME'TPWS 7TLG'VPEiV.
sed
didicit a
se
petere
diuitias;
B
284
(from
Stobaeus)
7-v
/L7
rroAA6cv
E'rt8Ov,Ler,
T
oAl'yac
To
7roAAac
oeL'
aorLtKpaap oppetL
7revlr77Y
oaOeve'a
7rAoLvro
TO&eEC.
si
deorum
hominumque
ormidinem
eiecit
et
scit non
multum
esse ab
homine
timendum,
a
deo
nihil;
B
I75
(from
Stobaeus)
ol
8e
Oleo
Troatcr.
dvOpLCroLco'a.L
ovato
T7aya0a
7rvraTa
Kal
7raAaL
Kct
vvV.
7r\A7v
Koaa
KaLKa
Kalt
fXagcepda
KCa
avcuVWAe'a,
TrSe
8'
O<T-rE>
7rcAcaL
0rTe vy Oeo;
avdpWiroLac
Swpovvrat
. . .
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 5/14
I82
Zeph
Stewart
si
contemptor
mnium
quibus
orqzetur
uita dum
ornatur
co
perductus
est
ut illi
liqueat
mortem
nullius
mali materiam
sse,
multorum
inem;
B
297
(from
Stobaeus)
Evtot Ovr7-js
qva'Ecws
idXAvatcvVK
dElOrES
avGpw7ro,
cTrvvEL7CTT?
e
7 ev TW
t
fic
KaKo7Trpayoyoavtr7J
ov
7rS 9C07o-S
Xp OY'
v
CopavCiZL- KCl
<o'otS
raAawLopeouvat,
ofeuS,ea
7repl
rTOU
L7era 7-7V
reAevr7v
1uOoTrraarreoves
xpdvov.
si
animumuirtuti
consecrauit
B
55
(from
rvctalc
Af7-qoKpadroU
)
;pyOC
Katl
tprttas
apECTrPs,
v
Aoyous,
7AhoUv XPELtv.
B
62
(ibid.)
ayaGoov
oV
-r0
L
ad8Kelv,
&AAMc&
pq7&
EEAhfew.
et quacumqueocatilla planumputat;
B
x74
(from
Stobaeus)
o
/cEv
ev8vtLOs
Els
Epye` Erremepofevos
&tKaLa
KCal
Y6fVOJLL
KaL
V7Tap
KaL
OVap
XCaLPEL
fE
Kal
EppwuraL
KaL
avaKr^77T7
EOTLV.
si
sociale
animal et
in commune
genitus
mundum
ut
unam omnium domum
spectat
B
293
(from
Stobaeus)
oraTv778ovv
EXovEv
art
rwv
rVAag
fv)L9Spcra
ov
VvLatL LEY
WS
s
r
7j5s
TVX7S'
KOLVa'
7TaLV,
czSEopEoto
0
olK770l7S
Xapas.
et conscientiam suam dis
aperuit
semperque tamquam
in
publico
uiuit se
magis
ueritus
quam
alios:
B
244
(from Stobaeus)
(cavAov,
KaV
fLOvos
77s,
/L77-r
Ae`
s-
p7^r'
epyda
7'
ta8e
?
TrroAi
tL&Xiov
-rTv
aAXXv
areav-Tv
alaXvveaYcrat.
B
264
(ibid.)
t,f8Ev
ret aMov
rTOv
avOpw7rovs
caleSaOaCL
wvroi
Lr7Se
rt
fLCAOV
edepydcTea'Oat
KCaKOY,
l
LeAAcMEL
7&8ES
Elst(cELtv
ol
TrraTvr
vOpw7ro
.
. .
subductus ille
tempestatibus
in solido
ac
sereno
stetit
A I (from D.L. 9.45) TeAo S ElvaLriv evuJLuav, oav crirvvva'cv'
-7r
0Sov-,
WS
EXVLOL
7TOCPaKOvOCavT7-S
Ee?S0ECvrTO,
aAAC KaCtO
v
yCA-7v&C
KCLt
vtCTarawu
77
XVX7
tayec,
V)To
fL77SevoS
apaZTTOLEvT
of3ovu
etr8aLoSaxovLacS
'
&XAov
rtVOS
7rcOovs.
consummauitque
scientiam
utilem
ac
necessariam.
Reliqua
oblectamenta
otii
sunt;
licet
enim
iam
in
rutum
retracto
animo ad
haec
quoque
excurrere
cultum,
non
robur,
ingeniis
adferentia.
For
this
distinction
of
necessary'
and 'otiose'
knowledge
there
is
a
parallel
in
B
144
(from
Philodemus,
De
Musica)
.
tovactK7jv
<f7catoveW-repcav
Etvat KCa
T7jY'
lrl/av 7TroStSoaL
XAoywvpr
7TOKpLYat
-racvacyKaclov,
jcAAa
EK
7roV
7TrepLtevTOs
17j7
yeveaCatL.
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 6/14
Democritus and the
Cynics
There
follow
a
few lines
in
which
Demetrius endorses
emphatically
the
'single
rule'
of
good
and evil
probably
derived
from
Ariston
of
Chios.'1
Then he continues:
(7.2.2)
..
.
miserrimosque
mortalium
iudicet,
in
quantiscumque
opibzus
refulgebunt,
uentri ac libidini deditos
quorumque
animus inerti
otio
torpet.
Dicat
sibi
ipse:
'
Voluptas
fragilis
est,
breuis,fastidio
obiecta,
quo
auidius
hausta
est
citius
in
contrarium
recidens,
B
235
(from
Stobaeus)
oaor
&ro(
ycao-poSs
rasg
8ov&s
7TroLeovTra
WTEpfEgXn7KOrES
TOEV
KCCLpOV
E'm
fpcwaoav
7
rroaeatLv
7j
a'CpoStaIloL-
atv, rolat
7Traaiv
at
eY
tOv
oval
SpaXXeaL
Kal&'
o
oyov
ylvovrat,
OKOcOV
v
Xpovov
ea'OEoawv
71
rtvuIrvaL,
cSC
3s Av7racL rohcAAa.
rovro
uLEV
yap TO7E
vtLVLerV
aEl rw,CV aVrT3v
Tr(CpecTL
Kal
OKOTAV yevrT
OKOlwV
ETLtvULEO`vTL,
St3a
traco(S
TE
77
-8ov
TCrapolXTcai,
Kall
o0VEv
Yv
VrOlaiL
Xpr]o7r6v
Ecarv
7AAM'
rTepS flpaXEoa,
KaL
aVOtg
TrcV
avTrjV 8EL.
cuius
subinde
necesse
est
aut
paeniteat
aut
pudeat,
in
qua
nihil
est
magnifi-
cum
aut
quod
naturam
hominis dis
proximi
deceat,
B
37
(from
FvcLcAa
Alj77OKpaprovU
O
ra
vxS
ayaOa&
actpeoJLEvoS
ra
&eorepa
alpe`erai'
o $ ra
arKveoo Ta
&vOp77'Cc
a.
rc
ELOTEpcZcXpEETcXL
5 Ta
07C77VE0S Ta
6PW77c
a
7
res
humilis,
membrorum
urpium
aut
uilium
ministerio
ueniens,
exitufoeda.
(3) Illa est uoluptas et homine et uiro digna non inplere corpusnec saginare
nec
cupiditates
inritare
quzarum
utissima est
quies,
sed
perturbatione
carere
et ea
quam
hominum inter
se
rixantium
ambitus
concutit et
ea
quae
in-
tolerabilis ex alto
uenit,
ubi de dis
famae
creditum
est
uitiisque
illos
nostris
aestimauimus.'
A i
(from
D.L.
9.45),
as
quoted
above.
(4)
Hanc
uoliptatem
aequalem,
intrepidam,
B
4 (from
Clement,
Stromates)
rv'rrTv
yap
Er7 V7rrT
ArJ77LOKpirov
cOac.fl'
v
AyeaOcrL.
cf. B
2
5,2
6.
numquam
sensuram
sui taedium
percipit
hic
quem
deformamus
cum
maxime,
ut
ita
dicam,
diuini
iuris
atque
humani
peritus.
B
285
(from
Stobaeus)
yLtv(jcjKE
Xpejv
avpworrTlrv
iorTqv
ca4cavp7rv
TE
EovcrLa
KaC;
oA\yoXpovtov
7ro0AAarLv
Tr
K77pac
avpUL7TrEupEY7vK
KaL
aCj77XLavi7atv
.
.
.
Hic
praesentibus
gaudet,
ex
futuro
non
pendet;
nihil enim
firmi
habet
qui
in
incerta
propensus
est.
MIagnis itaque
curis
exemptus
et
distorquentibus
mentem
nihil
sperat
aut
cupit
nec se
mittit in dubium
suo contentus.
B 191 (from Stobaeus) . . .
E7t
roL Suvvarol ov've1 EXELv
T77v
yVWI.L77V
KaL
TO'S
7rCapeoVcrv
apKeEaEOaL
.
.
.
OKWS
v
T'
a
7TXrpeov'Tr
7+C.P.
I83
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 7/14
aoLKat,
V7TPXOVTxa
EycCAa
C
77AcoWra
CaIV77ri
.
.
KCXt
IL77KETt
XTrAELOVWV 7TLUvtLEovTLVt%alvr KCLKOTTCLXOEV
a'
?VXij
...
B
231
(ibid.) EvYVWFcoWv
6
FLj Ah7TurrofvoS
E(' otcrLv OvKK
EXEL,
&AAo&
Xacrpwv
?'
otaLv
'XEL.
295
(ibid.)
...
TO
TAEov
ov
ayacov
ToV
tLdAAo-
vroT
ETr
KCL
$-jAoV
Kpeacov.
Then come
(2.5-3.1)
the
inevitable
examples
(in
chronological
dis-
order)
of
Alexander
and
of
the
Persian
kings
-
he who
in the
midst of
his
possessions
was
poor
because
he
wanted
more
and
those
whose
desires could never
be
satisfied
by
fulfillment.
Two
representative
phrases
will
suffice:
(2.6)
Tantum illi deest
quantum
cupit.
B
224
(from
Stobaeus)
77
Tro
rrAeovos
E'rOvIU
rO
T7rapEov
adrohvat
rT
AIa7TWrTE
Kvvl
lKEh77
yLVOvq.
B
283
(ibid.)
-rEVi7TrXAoUro
ovdo0rcca
EvSEIJ7Sv
KCaX
KOpOV'
OVrE OVV
rrAXovcrOS
<Od>
EvSeO'w
OUTr
7TVfE?
6
Lt47
1V&5V.
(3.I) Quidquid
cupiditati contingit
penitus
hauritur
et conditur,
nec
interest
quantum
eo
quod
inexplebile
est
congeras.
B
219
(from
Stobaeus)
yp.Tldrowv
op?t,,
,v
~,
Opt77-TraL
KcpcO,
7revr?7s
E
raXrs
roAAov
XcA7TrroaTEp7'
tLe0OVs
7yap
opEELS
E
LeVovasc
EVELatCSrotLEaCv.
This
striking
series
of
parallels
(admittedly
of
quite
varied
cogency)
proves
one
thing
and
suggests
another.
As
a
purely
historical
link
it
demonstrates
for
the
first time that
the
sayings
attributed
to
Demo-
critus
were
part
of
the common store
from
which
a
first
century Cynic
might
draw his
'useful
maxims',
but
more
importantly
it
suggests
that
it
was
among
the
Cynics
and their
allies that his
fragments
were
pre-
served
during
the
period
-
and
probably
deformed
for more
con-
venient
use.
7
Although the most recent survey of Democritus and his influence
does
not mention
the
Cynics,18
it
is
easy
to see
both
general
and
specific
resemblances,
and there is
indeed
clear
evidence
pointing
to
their
interest in him. The
most
important
parallel
of
attitude
is
the
rejection
of a
general
teleological
principle,
a
rejection
which
provided
common
ground
for
Cynics,
Sceptics,
Cyrenaics
and
Epicureans
with
Demo-
critus
against
Plato,
Aristotle,
the Stoics
and certain
earlier
philoso-
phers.
Those
who
approach
Greek Stoics
and
Cynics
through
works
of
the
Roman
period
-
a
weakness
of
some
English
writers
-
often
miss,
in the syncretistic language of Seneca, Demetrius, Epictetus, and Marcus
Aurelius,
the
real
antagonism
between
orthodox
representatives
of
the
i84 Zeph
Stewart
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 8/14
Democritus
nd the
Cynics
two
schools.19
Cynic
attacks on
logical
studies,
on
established
religion,
on all varieties
of
divination
are
assaults
on
important
Stoic interests.20
Cercidas'contempt for explanationsof Zeus's obvious malignity, his
proposal
of
a
new triad of
divinities
-
17tcLcv,
MrcraSWS,
eFEraL
-
and
his
attack on
individual
contemporary
Stoics
are
all
of one
piece.21
It
is not
hard
to
imagine
a
Cynic
ridiculing
the
Stoic
favorite,
Heraclitus,
and
comparing
him
with
a
figure
more
congenial
in
his
outlook
to him-
self
-
a
possibility
to
which
we
shall return.
On
the
other
hand it
has
been
observed
that the earliest
Sceptics,
of the
time
of
Pyrrho
and
Timon of
Phlius,
are
not
easily
distinguished
from
Cynics.22
Before
becoming
really
a
'school',
scientific and
methodical,
Scepticism
repre-
sented rather an attitude toward existence which would have been no
more
shocked
by
the atheism of
the
Cyrenaic
Theodorus
than
would
the
Cynics
or
Epicureans.
That Democritus was in fact
known
in
this
milieu where one
might expect
some of his views to
be
congenial
appears
well
attested. His works were said
to
be the favorite
reading
of
Pyrrho
along
with those of
Homer,23
and it
was
surely
ethical,
not
physical,
writings
which
Timon had
in
mind
when
he called him
AEaXciva.24
Of
more
specific Cynic
interest
is
Democritus'
valuation
of
rrovos
and
cav-rpKEca
-
both
Cynic bywords
-
and
of
a&aGuca,
his concern
with
rTv;,
his
use
of animals as examples,25 his mention of Aesop,26 and
especially
his
repeated
contrasts
between
wise
men and
fools.27
Judging
from
the
existing
fragments,
one can
well
imagine
that
passages
from
his
works were
among
those which
Diogenes
of
Sinope
was
said
to
have
had
his
pupils
memorize from
poets
and
prose
writers ,28
and
that
useful
quotations
from
him were
among
the
XpeZat
of Metrocles
and
in
the
other collections
being
formed at
the
time.29
The active
Cynic
interest
in
this
earliest
stage
of
prose
gnomologies might explain
the
popularity
of
Democritus in the later
and
derivative
collections.
One
difficulty
deserves
special
notice.
The
valuation of
pleasure
in
several
fragments
seems to fit no more
easily
into the
Cynic
outlook
than it
would
into Stoicism.
On
this
point,
it
would
appear,
the two
groups
held
a
common
front,
in
particular
against
the
Epicureans.
Now
for
the first
generation
such a
view
is
probably
correct,
but
by
the
middle
of
the
3rd century
n.c.
the
work
of
Bion
of
Borysthcnes,
on
ground
prepared by
the
arrov8atoyE'Aoov
of
Crates and
Monimus,
had created
a
hedonistic
Cynicism
to
which the
remarks of
Democritus
on
pleasure
would have
been
quite
acceptable.
Just
as
contradictory
traits in
the two
pictures
of
Diogenes
-
the
'tough'
and
the
hedonistic
-
fell
into
an
easy union,30 so would praise of
-rrovos
and of 7Sovi in a collection of
maxims. Indeed this
is
the
very
period
in
which
the
formation
of
a
I85
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 9/14
'Cynic'
Democritus
and
special
interest
in
his
writings
would
most
naturally
all.
One
hesitates
to
mention
particular
names
in
such
un-
certainground, but the literature of later Cynicism and its relatives
(such
as Roman
satire,
parts
of
Cicero,
Seneca,
Lucian,
and Dio
of
Prusa),
where Democritus sometimes
re-appears,
reflects the
interpre-
tations
and
forms
developed
under the
influence
of
Ariston of
Chios,
the
cynicizing
Stoic,
of
Bion,
and
of
Menippus
of
Gadara.3'
Ariston
broke
at
last with official Stoicism
and
gathered
his followers
separately.
He
might
well
have
adopted
for
his
own
purposes
an earlier
writer
distinct from Heraclitus.
It should be remembered
that
Demetrius,
in
the
passage
rom
Seneca,
supported
Ariston's doctrine
of
the
'single
rule' in close connection with Democritean material. Menippus,
further,
was
a
pupil
of
Metrocles,
the
composer
of
XpEZat,
hile
Bion
himself
left
behind
writings
of
a&robOey,cara
XpELtAr77
7rpayxacrtcrv
7TE-
PLEXovrc
D.L.
4.47).
Certainly
in these
circles the
ethical
fragments
of
Democritus
as
we
possess
them
would
seem
quite
at
home,
while
interest in him would
easily
have
taken
the form
which
is
reflected
in
parts
of
his
legend.
Two
parts
of
the
legend
are of
special
interest
for
their
Cynic
coloring
or context
-
the
story
of his
laughter
and the
report
that
he
visited the nakedwise men of India. The
earliest
datable
reference
o
Democritus'
special
concern
with
laughter
is in
Cicero's
De
Oratore
(2.58.235),
but
neither
he
nor
Horace,
who
gives
more
details
(Epist.
2.1.194-200),
mentions the
pendant
figure
of the
weeping
Heraclitus.
The
two
appear
together
first
in
a
fragment
from Seneca's
teacher,
Sotion
(Stobaeus 3.20.53,
p.
550
H.),
then in
Seneca,
Juvenal,
Lucian,
and
often. For Democritus
by
himself
the most
extensive
development
of
the
story
is found
in the
spurious
Letters
of
Hippocrates,
in
which
a
kind
of
epistolary
novel
brings
the
physician
to
Abdera
to
cure
the
laughingphilosopher,
whom he
declares
more
sane
than
other
men.32
Not
only
were these letters
composed
at
just
the
period
when renewed
interest in
Cynicism
led to the
production
of
faked
epistles
of
early
Cynics,
but
they
themselves
show
unmistakable
Cynic
traits.33
It is
not
a
coincidence that
Democritus
is their
hero,
just
as it is
not
a coinci-
dence that
his
laughter
is recalled
in writers
especially
influenced
by
Cynic
literary
forms.
It
is
Lucian
who
relates
the
laughter
and
the
weeping
to the
philosophic
systems
of
the two
men
(Vit.
Auct.
13)
and
in
such
a
way
as to
emphasize
the Stoic
affinities
of
Heraclitus.
In
comparisons
of
the
two,
it
should
be
noticed,
Democritus
is
usually
preferred.Laughterat the foolishnessof the world is in itself a charac-
teristicallyCynic
and
Sceptic
trait,34
while
the list
of
writers in
whom
I86
Zeph
Stewart
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 10/14
Democritus nd
the
Cynics
the
story
appears
suggests
that
someone
within
the
general
circle
of
Menippus
created
the
'Cynic'
Democritus
and
contrasted
him
with
the 'Stoic' Heraclitus.35 The most revealing point, however, is that
Diogenes
Laertius,
usually
a
chief
purveyor
of such
tales and
traits,
appears
not
to know
the
story
of the
laughter.
Nor
does
he
quote
ethical
fragments
found
in
the
gnomologies.
This
ignorance,
which
he shares
with
Sextus
Empiricus,
shows
in
itself
that
the
fragments
and
the
laughter
were
part
of
a
separate
tradition.36
Diogenes
Laertius
does,
just
barely,
preserve
one
interesting Cynic
feature
in his
account of Democritus.
After
quoting
the
authority
of
Demetrius
(of
Magnesia)
and
Antisthenes
(of
Rhodes)
for
travels
to
Egypt, Persia and the Red Sea, he continues (9.35): roZv
rE Ftv,voco-
rtw-ras
Oaa&'t
TLV
s
a(Turlat,
avrov0v
E'v
IvlcaI
Ka
ELS
Altortiw
e'AOEiv.
It
is
not hard to
guess
who
-nvies
must be.
From the
time
when
Onesicritus,
a
pupil
of
Diogenes
of
Sinope,
first described the
naked wise
men
of
India in
Cynic
terms
they
and
the Brachmans
were
almost
exclusively
associated
with
this
sect.37
Travels
in
Egypt
or
Persia
were
a
common-
place
in
accounts of
the
early
philosophers,
but
only
in
the case
of
Democritus do
we find
reports
of contact
with the
Indian
Gymno-
sophists.38
This
review
of
the
evidence for Cynic activity in the preservation of
Democritus' fame and
fragments
is
not intended
as
an
attack on
the
authenticity
of the
fragments.
It
is
rather a
more detailed
and
better
defined
warning
for the
exercise of
a
caution
which others have
already
felt
on
other
grounds.
It means
that certain
emphases
should
be taken
into
account,
certain
types
of
intrusion
expected;
it
means
that
deforma-
tions toward
simplicity
should
be
assumed,
as well
as
changes
of
vocabulary;
it
may
help
to
explain
the
order
and
the
very
existence of
some
of
the
fragments.39
It
suggests, finally,
an
answer to
a
question
which has
been much
and
inconclusively
discussed
-
which work of
Democritus,
if
any,
among
those listed
by
Diogenes
Laertius
was
already
a
collection
of
maxims
similar
to that
now
preserved.40
Part
of
the
answer is
surely
that
such
a
collection
among
the
genuine
works
would
have
led to
quotation by
Sextus
Empiricus,
Diogenes
Laertius
and
others. At
the
very
end of
Ihis list
Diogencs says
(9.49):
ra&
8'
aca,
ooa,
Tvres
avOcCEpovaotv
Esl
av'rovV,
rC
fLev
EK
7riV
CjVrov
(LECKoaEta-rCL,
7r&
8'
ooyoyovuevwOg
rr
v
'XOdrpat.
At
an
earlier
point
in
his
account,
as we
have
seen,
rtves
referred
to
his
vague
knowledge
of
the
Cynic
tradition.
Here the
same
case would
hold
-
rwves
refers
to
the
Cynics
and their allies, and the first
group
of
writings (-r&
.ev
. .
.)
are the
fragments
which
we
know.41
187
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 11/14
There
is,
finally,
a
constructive
side to the
argument.
If the
frag-
ments
have been
selected
from
various
works,
put
through
a
Cynic
'sieve', and deformed in use, they will not represent in many cases the
style
and
organization
of
their
author.
Von
Arnim,
followed
by
Laue,
rejected
a
major group
of them
on
the
ground
that
such
flat and
obvious
statements
could
not
be
the work of one
of the
most
prized
thinkers
and
stylists
of
antiquity.42
From the
impression
given
by
their
present
state
a
common
feeling
has
arisen that Democritus must have
written his
ethics
in
a
loose
and
aphoristic
manner,
rather
like
Hesiod,
Theognis,
possibly
Heraclitus,
and
Isocrates
(?)
in
the Ad
Demonicum.43
In the
first
place
some
of the
longer
fragments
belie such
a
view.44
Secondly
it
must not be forgotten that he was writing at the time of the sophists, as
a
contemporary
of
Thucydides, Hippocrates
and
the
author
of
the
Respublica
Atheniensium.45
In
style
and
thought
resemblances
should
be
sought
first
with these
works
of his
own
time,
and our
eyes
not
blinded
by
the deformations
of
a
later
century.
Schmid observed
most
justly
that as
doxographical
works
were
at once
tomb
and storehouse
for
Democritus'
scientific
writings,
so
gnomologies
were for
the
ethical.46
The first
was
a
task
begun
by
the
Peripatetics,
the
second,
by
the
Cynics.
The
parallel
brings
its
warning.
One
should
proceed
with as
little
confidence
to
reconstruct
the
form
of
Democritus' works
from
the
gnomologies
as
the
poem
of
Parmenides
or of
Empedocles
from
the
doxographers.
NOTES
I.
Paideia
2.85.
With
somewhat
similar
emphasis
Praechter
contrasted
Antisthenes
with
Plato,
in
Ueberweg,
Geschichte
d.
Plzilosophiie
.12
167.
2.
Fragments
and testimonia
of Democritus
will be
quoted
according
to
the
division
and
numbering
of
the
fifth and
subsequent
editions
of
Diels-Kranz,
Fragmente d. Vorsokratiker = FVS. The following abbreviations will also
be
used in the
notes:
Schmid-Stahlin,
Geschichte
d.
Griechischen
Literatur
r.
Tell,
5.Band(Munich
1948)
=
Schmid;
Uebenveg-Praechter,
Grundriss
d.
Geschzichite
d.
Philosophie
I12
(Berlin
1926,
rpt.
as
I3th
ed.,
Graz
1953)
=
Ueberweg-
Praechter;
Diogenes
Laertius
=
D.L.
3.
Diels
in FVS
2.I54:
Die
inhaltliche
Priifung
der
Demokratessamm-
lung
gestattet
weder
alles
kritiklos
fir
echt
noch alles
fur
unecht
zu
halten.
Schmid
253:
Mit diesem
Vorbehalt
aber
darf
man
die
Echtheit
der
in
der
neuesten
Ausgabe
der
'Vorsokratiker'
dem
Demokritos
zugesprochenen
Spriche
fur
gesichert
halten.
4.
Some
examples
in FVS
2.222-223;
a
general
survey
of material
in
RE
Suppl.
6
cols.
85-87
(Horna);
specific
survey
in
Schmid
250,
esp.n.8.
5.
Schmid
244;
H.
Bonitz,
Index Aristotelicus s.vv.
AJ/oKpTro?,
AEfKLTrrTO.
6.
Adu.Math.I
(Adu.Gramm.)
279-292,
as
Elter
saw
(below,
n.io).
I88
Zepbh
Stewart
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 12/14
Democritus
nd
the
Cynics 189
7.
These'
successions',
though
of
very
doubtful
validity
for
the earlier
period,
provide
occasionally
useful evidence.
Clement
(Strom...64)
gives
the
teacher-
student
relation as Democritus-Metrodorus
of
Chios-Diogenes
of
Smyrna-
Anaxarchus
of
Abdera-Pyrrho-Nausiphanes.
D.L.
reproduces
parts
of
this
succession
(9.58,61,69).
He then
repeats,
sometimes on excellent
authority,
that
Nausiphanes
was
said
to be
the
teacher
of
Epicurus
(9.69;Io.I3,I4).
See also
P.
von
der
Miihll
in
Festgabe fir
A.
Kaegi
(Frauenfeld
1919)
172-178.
8.
R.
Philippson
in
Hermes
59 (I924), 409.
9.
Evidence
in Schmid
244-245.
10. A.
Elter,
De
Gnomologiorum
Graecorum
Historia
atque
Origine
(8
parts,
corollarium,
and
ramenta),
Bonn
Univ.
Progs. 1893-I897, esp.
parts
I-3.
11.
W.
Christ,
Plilologische
Studien
zu
Clemens
Alexandrinus
(Abh.
Bayer.
[Munich]
2I
[I9o0]),
480-481, pointed
out
somewhat
cautiously
that
Chrysip-
pus'
collection
contained
only poetry;
he
did
not
press
his
just
remarks
about
Elter's misinterpretation of Sextus Empiricus. P. Wendland's critique, in Byz.
Zeitschr.
2
(1893),
325-328,
concerned other
matters.
12.
Exactly expressed by
Sextus
Empiricus,
Adu.Math.
(Adu.Gramm.),
271.
I3.
A
type
discussed
in
RE
Suppl.
6
cols.
78-79,81 (Horna)
and
col.
88,
on
XPelat(v. Fritz).
14.
The
same
term
in
Epictetus:
see
Index
Verborum in H.
Schenkl's
editio
maior
(Leipzig
1916)
s.v.
*rpo'xerpos.
15.
It
may
be of
interest to note that
the
wording
and
thought
are
similar
in
the
passage
from
Cicero,
Ac.Pr.,
cited in
the text.
I6. Seneca
was
quite
aware of
Ariston's
position
on
this
question:
see
Ueberweg-Praechter
412.
I7. There has been little suggestion in modern writers of connection between
Democritus and the
Cynics.
He
appears
of
course
in
G. A.
Gerhard's storehouse
of
Cynic
and
related
miscellany,
Phoinix
von
Kolophon
(Leipzig
I909),
and
there
(174)
Heinze's
version is
called
the
Cynic
Democritus ,
though
Heinze
himself,
in
RhM
45
(1890),
504
n.
I,
did
not
use that
term,
merely observing
that the
laughter
of
Democritus
in
[Hippocrates],
Epist.
17
was
Cynic.
L. A.
Stella,
in
Sophia
10
(1942),
205-258,
has
shown
clearly
how
certain
aspects
of
Democritean
ethics
are
related to
Cynicism,
while
Democritus
looms
large
in
I.
Lana's
review of
Greek
ideas of
cosmopolitanism
up
to
the
Cynics,
in Riv.
di
Filol. ed
Istr.
Class.
29
(195I), I93-216
and
315-338,
esp.
210-215,
337-338.
I8.
Schmid
236-349,
esp.
328-347.
I9. Recognized by D. R. Dudley, A History of Cynicism (London 1937),
102-103.
Juvenal
expresses
the
view
characteristic
of
the Roman
period,
I3.
121-I22:
stoica
dogmata...
a
cynicis
tunica
distantia.
20.
See
RE
12
cols.
7-8,
I2-13
(Helm)
for
these
Cynic
attacks. Even
in the
later
period
a
figure
like
Oenomaus
of
Gadara
( a
scorner
of
all
things
human
and
divine , Julian
called
him,
Or.6,
p.257
Hert.,i99A
Span.)
kept
alive
the
fierce
opposition
to
Stoic
beliefs
which the
protests
and
bowdlerizing
of
Julian
(Orr.
6
and
7)
do not
hide.
2I.
Cercidas
(Powell),
frs.4.44-48; 8;
9.
It
seems
more than
a
coincidence
that
according
to
Pliny,
H.N.I.
14 (FVS
A
76)
Democritus believed
in
only
two
gods,
Poena and
Beneficium.
22.
Gerhard
(above,
n.
17), 243
and
nn.
6,7 (quoting
Wachsmuth and
Rohde);
Dudley
(above,
n.
19),
107-108;
L.
Robin,
Pyrrhon
et
le
Scepticisme Grec
(Paris
i944),
23-24,
34.
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 13/14
23.
D.L.9.67,
quoting
Philo
of Athens.
24.
Fr.
46
Diels
(FVS
A
I
[D.L.9.40]):
o[ov /7flLOKppdrvrT 7{p-pOV ca, 7roteIVa IvtCOsv,
&favoov
AheaXva
feral
rrpwrotacv
aveyvwv.
There
has been
a
general
acceptance
of
D.L.'s view
that
these
verses
are
complimentary.
Most
of
the
words related to
AcaX77t
found only
here)
are
uncomplimentary,
and one would
expect
here
a
sting,
in
keeping
with
this
kind
of
Homeric
parody:
a
brilliant,
learned
man,
but
he
talks
too
much .
25.
Gerhard
(above,
n.
I7), 23-30;
RE
I2
col. 20
(Helm);
Dudley
(above,
n.
I9),
32.
This
is
a
point
at which one is
especially
conscious
of how different
is
Democritus'
-
systematic
-
use
of
a
trait
from
that of
the
Cynics,
who
resemble
him
only
superficially.
See
below,
n.
44.
26.
Gerhard
(above,
n.
I7), 246-253.
It
may
have
been
characteristic
of
Democritus to quote Aesop. Not only is he the only early philosopher in whose
fragments
reference
to
Aesop
occurs
(B
224),
but also
his
name
is
tantalizingly
linked
with
Aesop's
twice
elsewhere:
Aristotle,
Meteor.
B
3.356b
(FVS
A
ioo)
criticizes
Democritus'
view
of the
origin
and eventual
fate
of the
sea,
illustrating
his
point
with
a
fable
of
Aesop;
Plutarch,
Animine
an
Corp.
Aff.
2
(5ooD-E)
(FVS
B
149)
quotes
a
fable
of
Aesop
and then
passes
at once
to
a
remark
of
Democritus
which
might
be
taken
as an
explanation
of the
tale.
In
both cases
it
seems
possible
that
Democritus
had
originally
used the
example
from
Aesop
himself.
27.
See
below,
n.
39.
28. D.L.
6.31.
Hicks,
in
the Loeb
Class.
Library
edition,
translates
avyypaCids
historians . Such a restriction is quite unnatural.
29.
See
RE
x5
cols.
1483-1484,
Suppl.
6
cols.
87-89 (v.
Fritz)
for
Metrocles
and
the
early
history
of
these
collections.
30.
K.
Praechter,
in Hermes
37
(1902),
283-286.
3I.
The
immense
modern
literature
on this
subject,
written
largely
at
the
end
of
the
last
century,
can be
found
in
part
in
Ueberweg-Praechter
I30
*-I33*.
Especially
useful
for the
orientation
of this
paper
is
R.
Heinze,
Ariston
v.
Chios bei
Plutarch
u.
Horaz ,
RhM
45
(1890),
497-523.
32.
[Hippocrates],
Epist.
Io-I7.
Others
are
supposed
to be to or from
Demo-
critus,
most
importantly
Epist.
23.
33.
Dates
near
the
beginning
of
the
Christian
era:
I. F.
Marcks,
Symbola
Critica ad Epistolographos Graecos (Bonn I883), 9ff.; W. Capelle, De Cynicorum
Epistulis (G6ttingen
i896);
FVS
2.225-226.
For
Cynicism
in
[Hippocrates],
Epist.
17
see
R.
Heinze,
De
Horatio
Bionis Imitatore
(Bonn
1889),
15
n.
I,
and
in
RhM
45
(I890), 504
n.
i;
H.
Diels,
in
Hermes
53
(I918),
85.
34.
See
R.
Heinze,
as
cited
in
previous
note; Dudley
(above,
n.
19)
74;
D.L.
9.I15
(Timon).
35.
C.
E.
Lutz,
Democritus
and
Heraclitus ,
CJ
49
(i954),
309-3I4
rightly
but
hesitantly
saw
that
the
story
possibly passed
through
the
hands
of the
Cynic-Stoic
philosophers
(3
),
but she
gave
undue
weight
to
the
tentative
suggestion
of G.
L.
Hendrickson,
in CP 22
(1927),
53
n.
i,
that
the
whole
development
started
from
the
word
erOvpIb.
36.
The
comparative
purity
of the scientific tradition
in these two
authors,
who came a
century
or two after the
composition
of the
pseudo-Hippocratic
letters,
is
an
ironic
commentary
on
Diels'
gloomy
claim,
in Hermes
53
(I918),
Zeph
Stewart
90o
This content downloaded from 200.16.5.202 on Sun, 28 Sep 2014 03:03:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Democritus and the Cynics.pdf
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/democritus-and-the-cynicspdf 14/14
Democritus nd the
Cynics
87,
Der Democritus ridens
dieses Romans hat
in der Tat die wirkliche
Gestalt
des
Abderiten
auf mehr
als anderthalb
Jahrtausende
verdunkelt .
37.
For
discussion of
Cynic
traits
attributed
to
the
Gymnosophists
see
U.
Wilcken,
in
SBBerlin
1923,
I73-I74.
For the
continuing
interest
of the
Cynics
in
them
see Index
in
Dudley (above,
n.
I9)
s.v.
Indian
'philosophers',
adding
175
n.
3.
38.
The
stories
of Anaxarchus and
Pyrrho (D.L
9.61,63)
are different
in
that
they
are not
anachronistic. The
two
were
already
in the
tradition of which
the
report
about
Democritus was
designed
to
make him
a
part.
It
should
be
particularly
noted
that
the additional
statement about
a
visit to
Ethiopia
is
further
evidence
for
the same
tendency.
In
Philostratus,
Vit
Apoll.,
the
naked
wise men of
Ethiopia
appear,
just
like the
Indians,
as
Cynics.
Literature
on this
point
in
Ueberweg-Praechter
64*.
39.
The
attempt
of
P.
Friedlander,
in
Hermes
48
(I913),
603-616,
to show
that groups of fragments may have been lifted almost in their present state from
the
original
work
has
rightly
met
with little favor.
The
avox7/ovre-scrics
(B
I97-206),
for
instance,
which he
analyzed,
is
much more
easily
explained
as
part
of
the well
known
Cynic
division of
the
world
into
wise
men
and fools
or
madmen
(RE
12
col.
9
[Helm];
D.L.
6.7I).
A
Cynic
collection
would
naturally
contain
a
number of
brief
characterizations
of
'the wise man' and
'the
fool'.
Sometimes
they
would
appear
consecutively
in one
section,
as
here.
40.
'Aata.Aecas
Kpcar
(F.
Lortzing,
Ueber die
Ethischen
Fragmente
Demokrits
[Berlin
1873] 7),
Tplroye'veta
(P.
Friedlander
[previous
note]
616).
4x.
Regarding
D.L.'s
list
I
come
therefore
to
the
same conclusion
first stated
by
R.
Philippson
(above,
n.
8),
409.
42. J. v. Amim, in Gott.Gelehrt.Anz. I894, 887; H. Laue, De Democrati
Fragmentis
Ethicis
(G6ttingen
1921).
Cicero
(Orator
20.67)
compares
him
in
style
with
Plato;
Dionysius
Hal.
(De
Comp.
Verb.
24),
with
Plato and
Aristotle
(FVS
A
34);
Plutarch's
high opinion
in
Quaest.
Conu.
5.7.6.
(683A).
43.
P.
Friedlander
(above,
n.
39)
603-616;
J. Bumet,
Greek
Philosophy:
Thales
to Plato
(London
19I4),
2oi;
Schmid
324-325,
though
with usual
hedging,
328;
W.
Jaeger,
Paideia
I2.295
(by
implication).
44.
One
point
needs
clarification. Not
all the
fragments
in
Stobaeus
and
the
other
gnomologies
were
preserved,
and
therefore
subjected
to
sifting
and altera-
tion,
in
the
same
way.
Some of
the
political
ones
(e.g.
B
266),
and
some
of the
longer
ones
(e.g.
B
I91),
seem
pretty
surely
to have come to
Stobaeus
through
another
and
better
protected excerpting tradition. After examining the other
fragments
and
testimonies
one
can
return to
the shorter
ones with
some under-
standing
of the
relation of
ideas
(e.g.
in
the use of
imitation
of
animals
in
cultural
history)
and
so
can
discount
recognizable
alterations
of
emphasis.
For
example,
E. A.
Havelock,
The Liberal
Temper
in
Greek
Politics
(New
Haven
1957),
125-I54,
uses
fairly
'reliable'
fragments
and
with a
sense of
the
pitfalls
(p.
413).
45.
Quite
apart
from
certain
similarities
of
style
and
outlook it
is an intcr-
esting
probability
that
Democritus,
Thucydides,
and
Hippocrates
all
did
at
least
part
of their work
in
the
vicinity
of
Abdera.
Thucydides
is said to
have
spent
part
of
his
twenty-year
exile
at
Scapte
Hyle,
near
Amphipolis (references
in
Schmid
7
nn.
I
,
13;
14
nn.
2,
3),
while
the
constitutions and
cases
reported
in
Hippocrates,
Epidem.
i
and
3
are
largely
of
Thasos and
Abdera.
46. Schmid
249.
7*
I9I