His books contain but few lines, but they are full of power, and contain arguments in opposition to Zeno.
It is said that when he was a boy many people were attached to him; and as Zeno wished to drive them away, he persuaded him to have his head shaved, which disgusted them all.
His books are these: One on Exercise; one on the Passions; one on Opinion; the Lawgiver; the Skillful Midwife; the Contradictory Teacher; the Preparer; the Director; the Mercury; the Medea; a book of Dialogues; a book of Ethical Propositions.
Dionysius, the Deserter, as he was called, asserted that pleasure was the chief good, from the circumstance of his being afflicted with a complaint in his eyes. For, as he suffered severely, he could not pronounce pain a thing indifferent.
He was the son of Theophantus, and a native of Heraclea.
He was a pupil, as we are told by Diocles, first of all of Heraclides, his fellow citizen; after that of Alexinus, and Menedemus; and last of all of Zeno. And at first, as he was very devoted to learning, he tried his hand at all kinds of poetry. Afterwards, he attached himself to Aratus, whom he took for his model. Having left Zeno, he turned to the Cyrenaics, and became a frequenter of brothels, and in other respects indulged in luxury without disguise.
When he had lived near eighty years, he died of starvation.
The following books are attributed to him: Two books on Apathy; two on Exercise; four on Pleasure; one on Riches, and Favors, and Revenge; one on the Use of Men; one on Good Fortune; one on Ancient Kings; one on Things which are Praised; one on Barbarian Customs.
These now are the chief men who differed from the Stoics. But the man who succeeded Zeno in his school was Cleanthes, whom we must now speak of.
Cleanthes was a native of Assos, and the son of Phanias. He was originally a boxer, as we learn from Antisthenes in his Successions. And he came to Athens, having but four drachmas, as some people say, and attaching himself to Zeno, he devoted himself to Philosophy in a most noble manner; and he adhered to the same doctrines as his master.
He was especially eminent for his industry, so that as he was a very poor man, he was forced to undertake mercenary employments, and he used to draw water in the gardens by night, and by day he used to exercise himself in philosophical discussions; on which account he was called Phreantles. They also say that he was on one occasion brought before a court of justice, to be compelled to give an account what his sources of income were from which he maintained himself in such good condition; and that then he was acquitted, having produced as his witness the gardener in whose garden he drew the water; and a woman who was a mealseller, in whose establishment he used to prepare the meal. And the judges of the Areopagus admired him, and voted that ten minae should be given to him; but Zeno forbade him to accept them.
They also say that Antigonus presented him three thousand drachmas. And once, when he was conducting some young men to some spectacle, it happened that the wind blew away his cloak, and it was then seen that he had nothing on under it; on which he was greatly applauded by the Athenians, according to the account given by Demetrius the Magnesian, in his essay on People of the Same Name. And he was greatly admired by them on account of this circumstance.
They also say that Antigonus, who was a pupil of his, once asked him why he drew water, and that he made answer: “Do I do nothing beyond drawing water? Do I not also dig, and do I not water the land, and do all sorts of things for the sake of philosophy?” For Zeno used to accustom him to this, and used to require him to bring him an obol by way of tribute. And once he brought one of the pieces of money which he had collected in this way, into the middle of a company of his acquaintances, and said: “Cleanthes could maintain even another Cleanthes if he were to choose; but others who have plenty of means to support themselves, seek for necessaries from others; although they only study philosophy in a very lazy manner.” And, in reference to these habits of his, Cleanthes was called a second Heracles.
He was then very industrious; but he was not well endowed by nature, and was very slow in his intellect. On which account Timon says of him:
What stately ram thus measures o’er the ground, And master of the flock surveys them round? What citizen of Assos, dull and cold, Fond of long words, a mouthpiece, but not bold.
And when he was ridiculed by his fellow pupils, he used to bear it patiently.
He did not even object to the name when he was called an ass; but only said that he was the only animal able to bear the burdens which Zeno put upon him. And once, when he was reproached as a coward, he said: “That is the reason why I make but few mistakes.” He used to say, in justification of his preference of his own way of life to that of the rich: “That while they were playing at ball, he was earning money by digging hard and barren ground.” And he very often used to blame himself. And once Ariston heard him doing so and said: “Who is it that you are reproaching?” and he replied: “An old man who has grey hair, but no brains.”
When someone once said to him that Arcesilaus did not do what he ought: “Desist,” he replied, “and do not blame him; for, if he destroys duty as far as his words go, at all events he establishes it by his actions.” Arcesilaus once said to him: “I never listen to flatterers.”—“Yes,” rejoined Cleanthes, “I flatter you, when I say that though you say one thing, you do another.” When someone once asked him what lesson he ought to inculcate on his son, he replied: “The warning of Electra:”—
Silence, silence, gently step.
When a Lacedaemonian once said in his hearing that labor was a good thing, he was delighted, and addressed him:
Oh, early worth, a soul so wise and young Proclaims you from the sage Lycurgus sprung.
Hecaton tells us in his Apothegms that once when a young man said: “If a man who beats his stomach γαστρίζει then a man who slaps his thigh μηρίζει,” he replied, “Do you stick to your διαμηρίζει.” But analogous words do not always indicate analogous facts. Once when he was conversing with a youth, he asked him if he felt; and as he said that he did: “Why is it then,” said Cleanthes, “that I do not feel that you feel?”
When Sositheus, the poet, said in the theatre where he was present:
Men whom the folly of Cleanthes urges;
He continued in the same attitude, at which the hearers were surprised, and applauded him, but drove Sositheus away. And when he expressed his sorrow for having abused him in this manner, he answered him gently, saying: “That it would be a preposterous thing for Bacchus and Hercules to bear being ridiculed by the poets without any expression of anger, and for him to be indignant at any chance attack.” He used also to say: “That the Peripatetics were in the same condition as lyres, which though they utter sweet notes, do not hear themselves.” And it is said that when he asserted that, on the principles of Zeno, one could judge of a man’s character by his looks, some witty young men brought him a profligate fellow, having a hardy look from continual exercise in the fields, and requested him to tell them his moral character; and he, having hesitated a little, bade the man depart; and, as he departed, he sneezed: “I have the fellow now,” said Cleanthes, “he is a debauchee.”