Editing Diogenes Laertius

{{Short description|3rd-century Roman biographer of Greek philosophers}}
{{Other people|Diogenes}}{{Infobox person
| name               = Diogenes Laërtius
| image              = Diogenes Laertius.jpg
| caption            = 1688 engraving of Diogenes Laërtius
| native_name        = Διογένης Λαέρτιος
| native_name_lang   = Ancient Greek
| birth_date         = 180 CE
| birth_place        = [[Ancient Greece]]
| death_date         = 240 CE
}}
'''Diogenes Laërtius''' ({{IPAc-en|d|aɪ|ˌ|ɒ|dʒ|ᵻ|n|iː|z|_|l|eɪ|ˈ|ɜːr|ʃ|i|ə|s}} {{respell|dy|OJ|in|eez|_|lay|UR|shee|əs}};<ref>"Diogenes Laërtius", ''[[The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia]]'', 2013</ref> {{langx|grc|Διογένης Λαέρτιος}}, {{transliteration|grc|Laertios}}; {{floruit|3rd century CE}}) was a biographer of the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[philosopher]]s. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of [[ancient Greek philosophy]]. His reputation is controversial among scholars because he often repeats information from his sources without critically evaluating it. In many cases, he  focuses on insignificant details of his subjects' lives while ignoring important details of their philosophical teachings and he sometimes fails to distinguish between earlier and later teachings of specific philosophical schools.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} However, unlike many other ancient secondary sources, Diogenes Laërtius tends to report philosophical teachings without trying to reinterpret or expand on them, and so his accounts are often closer to the primary sources. Due to the loss of so many of the primary sources on which Diogenes relied, his work has become the foremost surviving source on the history of Greek philosophy.

==Life==
Laërtius must have lived after [[Sextus Empiricus]] (c. 200), whom he mentions, and before [[Sopater of Apamea]] (c. 300), who quotes him. Hence he is assumed to have flourished in the first half of the 3rd century, during the reign of [[Alexander Severus]] (222–235) and his successors.{{sfn|White|2020|p=12}}<ref name="eb1911">{{harvnb|Chisholm1911|p=282}}.</ref>

The precise form of his name is uncertain. The ancient manuscripts invariably refer to a "Laertius Diogenes", and this form of the name is repeated by Sopater<ref>Sopater, ap. [[Photius]], ''Biblioth.'' 161</ref> and the [[Suda]].<ref>Suda, ''Tetralogia''</ref> The modern form "Diogenes Laertius" is much rarer, used by Stephanus of Byzantium,<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Druidai''</ref> and in a [[lemma (psycholinguistics)|lemma]] to the [[Greek Anthology]].<ref>Lemma to ''Anthologia Palatina'', vii. 95</ref> He is also referred to as "Laertes"<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''on Iliad'', M. 153</ref> or simply "Diogenes".<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Enetoi''</ref>

The origin of the name "Laertius" is also uncertain. Stephanus of Byzantium refers to him as "Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς" (''Diogenes ho Laertieus''),<ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Cholleidai''</ref> implying that he was the native of some town, perhaps the Laerte in [[Caria]] (or another Laerte in [[Cilicia]]). Another suggestion is that one of his ancestors had for a patron a member of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] family of the [[Laërtii]].{{sfn|Smith|1870|p=1028}} The prevailing modern theory is that "Laertius" is a nickname (derived from the [[Homer]]ic epithet ''Diogenes Laertiade'', used in addressing [[Odysseus]]) used to distinguish him from the many other people called Diogenes in the ancient world.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xvi}}

His home town is unknown (at best uncertain, even according to a hypothesis that ''Laertius'' refers to his origin). He refers to "himself" as the member of several different schools, but this is because he uncritically copies from his sources. It is by no means certain that he adhered to any school, and he is usually more attentive to biographical details.{{sfn|Long|1972|pp=xvii–xviii}}

In the ''Lives,'' Diogenes frequently includes [[epigrams]] from a collection that he had written of them he had written on famous men.<ref name="eb1911"/>

==''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers''==
[[Image:Dionysiou Monastery Codex 90.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dionysiou monastery]], codex 90, a 13th-century manuscript containing selections from [[Herodotus]], [[Plutarch]] and (shown here) Diogenes Laertius]]
The work by which he is known, ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' ({{langx|grc|Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων}}; {{langx|la|Vitae Philosophorum}}), was written in Greek and professes to give an account of the lives and opinions of the Greek philosophers.

Although it is at best an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, its value, as giving us an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages, led [[Michel de Montaigne|Montaigne]] to write that he wished that instead of one Laërtius there had been a dozen.<ref>Montaigne, ''Essays'' II.10 [http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm "Of Books"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214161140/http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm |date=2009-02-14 }}.</ref> On the other hand, modern scholars have advised that we treat Diogenes' testimonia with care, especially when he fails to cite his sources: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy".{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xix}}

===Organization of the work===
Diogenes divides his subjects into two "schools" which he describes as the [[Ionian School (philosophy)|Ionian/Ionic]] and the Italian/Italic; the division is somewhat dubious and appears to be drawn from the lost [[doxography]] of [[Sotion]]. The biographies of the "Ionian school" begin with [[Anaximander]] and end with [[Clitomachus (philosopher)|Clitomachus]], [[Theophrastus]] and [[Chrysippus]]; the "Italian" begins with [[Pythagoras]] and ends with [[Epicurus]].  The [[Socrates#Legacy|Socratic school]], with its various branches, is classed with the Ionic; while the [[Eleatics]] and [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonists]] are treated under the Italian. He also includes his own poetic verse about the philosophers he discusses.

The following list shows the organization of philosophers discussed in the work:{{sfn|White|2020|pp=482-484}}
{|border="0" style="margin:1em auto; border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#FFFFFF"
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|'''Books 1–7: Ionian Philosophy'''
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 1: The [[Seven Sages of Greece|Seven Sages]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Thales]], [[Solon]], [[Chilon of Sparta|Chilon]], [[Pittacus of Mytilene|Pittacus]], [[Bias of Priene|Bias]], [[Cleobulus]], [[Periander]], [[Anacharsis]], [[Myson of Chenae|Myson]], [[Epimenides]], [[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 2: Ionians, Socrates, Socratics ([[Cyrenaics]], [[Megarians]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Anaximander]], [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]], [[Anaxagoras]], [[Archelaus (philosopher)|Archelaus]], [[Socrates]], [[Xenophon]], [[Aeschines of Sphettus|Aeschines]], [[Aristippus]], [[Hegesias of Cyrene|Hegesias]], [[Anniceris]], [[Theodorus the Atheist|Theodorus]], [[Phaedo of Elis|Phaedo]], [[Euclid of Megara|Euclides]], [[Eubulides]], [[Alexinus]], [[Euphantus]], [[Diodorus Cronus]], [[Stilpo]], [[Crito of Alopece|Crito]], [[Simon the Shoemaker|Simon]], [[Glaucon]], [[Simmias of Thebes|Simmias]], [[Cebes]], [[Menedemus|Menedemus of Eretria]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 3: Plato
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Plato]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 4: The [[Platonic Academy|Academics]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Speusippus]], [[Xenocrates]], [[Polemon (scholarch)|Polemo]], [[Crates of Athens]], [[Crantor]], [[Arcesilaus]], [[Bion of Borysthenes|Bion]], [[Lacydes of Cyrene|Lacydes]], [[Carneades]], [[Clitomachus (philosopher)|Clitomachus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 5: The [[Peripatetics]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Aristotle]], [[Theophrastus]], [[Strato of Lampsacus|Strato]], [[Lyco of Troas|Lyco]], [[Demetrius Phalereus|Demetrius]], [[Heraclides Ponticus|Heraclides]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 6: The [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Antisthenes]],{{efn|name=dubious}} [[Diogenes of Sinope]], [[Monimus]], [[Onesicritus]], [[Crates of Thebes]], [[Metrocles]], [[Hipparchia of Maroneia|Hipparchia]], [[Menippus]], [[Menedemus the Cynic|Menedemus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 7: The [[Stoics]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Zeno of Citium]], [[Persaeus]], [[Aristo of Chios|Aristo]], [[Herillus]], [[Dionysius the Renegade|Dionysius]], [[Cleanthes]], [[Sphaerus]], [[Chrysippus]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|'''Books 8–10: "Italian" Philosophy'''
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 8: [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagoreans]]
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Pythagoras]], [[Theano (philosopher)|Theano]], [[Empedocles]],{{efn|name=dubious}} [[Epicharmus of Kos|Epicharmus]],{{efn|name=dubious}} [[Archytas]], [[Alcmaeon of Croton|Alcmaeon]],{{efn|name=dubious}} [[Hippasus]], [[Philolaus]], [[Eudoxus of Cnidus|Eudoxus]]{{efn|name=dubious}}
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 9: Unaffiliated, Eleatics, Atomists, Pyrrho and Pyrrhonians
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Heraclitus]], [[Xenophanes]], [[Parmenides]], [[Melissus of Samos|Melissus]], [[Zeno of Elea]], [[Leucippus]], [[Democritus]], [[Protagoras]], [[Diogenes of Apollonia]], [[Anaxarchus]], [[Pyrrho]], [[Timon of Phlius|Timon]]
|-
|bgcolor="#CCCCCC"|Book 10: Epicurus and the Epicureans
|-
|bgcolor="#EFEFEF"|[[Epicurus]], [[Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger)|Metrodorus]] and [[Hermarchus]]
|}

Book VII is incomplete and breaks off during the life of [[Chrysippus]]. From a table of contents in one of the manuscripts (manuscript P), this book is known to have continued with [[Zeno of Tarsus]], [[Diogenes of Babylon|Diogenes]], [[Apollodorus of Seleucia|Apollodorus]], [[Boethus of Sidon (Stoic)|Boethus]], [[Mnesarchus of Athens|Mnesarchus]], [[Mnasagoras]], [[Nestor of Tarsus|Nestor]], [[Basilides (Stoic)|Basilides]], [[Dardanus of Athens|Dardanus]], [[Antipater of Tarsus|Antipater]], [[Heraclides of Tarsus|Heraclides]], [[Sosigenes (Stoic)|Sosigenes]], [[Panaetius]], [[Hecato of Rhodes|Hecato]], [[Posidonius]], [[Athenodoros Cordylion|Athenodorus]], another [[Athenodoros Cananites|Athenodorus]], [[Antipater of Tyre|Antipater]], [[Arius Didymus|Arius]], and [[Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]].

His chief authorities were [[Favorinus]] and [[Diocles of Magnesia]], but his work also draws (either directly or indirectly) on books by [[Antisthenes of Rhodes]], [[Alexander Polyhistor]], and [[Demetrius of Magnesia]], as well as works by [[Hippobotus]], [[Aristippus]], [[Panaetius]], [[Apollodorus of Athens]], [[Sosicrates]], [[Satyrus the Peripatetic|Satyrus]], [[Sotion]], [[Neanthes of Cyzicus|Neanthes]], [[Hermippus of Smyrna|Hermippus]], [[Antigonus of Carystus|Antigonus]], [[Heraclides Lembus|Heraclides]], [[Hieronymus of Rhodes|Hieronymus]], and [[Pamphile of Epidaurus|Pamphila]].<ref>[[Friedrich Nietzsche]], [https://archive.org/details/gesammeltewerke01nietuoft ''Gesammelte Werke''], 1920, p. 363.</ref>{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxi}}

===Textual tradition===
==== Manuscripts ====
There are many extant [[manuscript]]s of the ''Lives'', although none of them are especially old, and they all lack the end of Book VII.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxv}} The three most useful manuscripts are known as B, P, and F. Manuscript B (''Codex Borbonicus'') dates from the 12th century, and is in the [[National Library of Naples]].{{efn|The statement by Robert Hicks (1925) that "the scribe obviously knew no Greek",{{sfn|Hicks|1925|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }} was later rejected by Herbert Long. The more recent opinion of Tiziano Dorandi, however, is that the scribe had "little knowledge of Greek ... and limited himself to reproducing it in a mechanical way exactly as he managed to decipher it". A few years later an "anonymous corrector" with good knowledge of Greek rectified "many errors or readings that, rightly or wrongly, he considered erroneous" {{harv|Dorandi|2013|p=21}}.}} Manuscript P (''Paris'') is dated to the 11th/12th century, and is in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]].{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p=2}} Manuscript F (''Florence'') is dated to the 13th century, and is in the [[Laurentian Library]].{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p=3}} The titles for the individual biographies used in modern editions are absent from these earliest manuscripts, however they can be found inserted into the blank spaces and margins of manuscript P by a later hand.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|p=52}}

There seem to have been some early [[Latin]] translations, but they no longer survive. A 10th-century work entitled ''Tractatus de dictis philosophorum'' shows some knowledge of Diogenes.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxvi}} [[Henry Aristippus]], in the 12th century, is known to have translated at least some of the work into Latin, and in the 14th century an unknown author made use of a Latin translation for his ''[[De vita et moribus philosophorum]]''{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxvi}} (attributed erroneously to [[Walter Burley]]).

====Printed editions====
[[Image:Laertii Diogenis De Vitis Dogmatis et Apophthegmatis Eorum Qui in Philosophia Claruerunt.jpg|right|thumb|Title page of an edition in Greek and Latin, 1594]]
[[File:Vitae et sententiae philosophorum.tif|thumb|1611 Italian edition]]

The first printed editions were Latin translations. The first, ''Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt'' (Romae: Giorgo Lauer, 1472), printed the translation of [[Ambrogio Traversari]] (whose manuscript presentation copy to [[Cosimo de' Medici]] was dated February 8, 1433{{sfn|de la Mare|1992|p={{page needed|date=March 2016}} }}) and was edited by Elio Francesco Marchese.{{sfn|Tolomio|1993|pp=154, ff}} The [[Greek language|Greek]] text of the lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus appeared in the third volume of the [[Aldine Press|Aldine]] Aristotle in 1497. The [[editio princeps|first edition]] of the whole Greek text was that published by [[Hieronymus Froben]] in 1533.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxiv}} The Greek/Latin edition of 1692 by [[Marcus Meibomius]] divided each of the ten books into paragraphs of equal length, and progressively numbered them, providing the system still in use today.{{sfn|Dorandi|2013|pp=11&ndash;12}}

The first [[Textual criticism|critical edition]] of the entire text, by H.S. Long in the [[Oxford Classical Texts]], was not produced until 1964;{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xxv}} this edition was superseded by [[Miroslav Marcovich]]'s [[Teubner]] edition, published between 1999 and 2002. A new edition, by [[Tiziano Dorandi]], was published by [[Cambridge University Press]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-philosophy/diogenes-laertius-lives-eminent-philosophers |title=Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers| publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date= 14 March 2014}}</ref>

====English translations====
Thomas Stanley's 1656 ''History of Philosophy'' adapts the format and content of Laertius's work into English, but Stanley compiled his book from a number of classical biographies of philosophers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stanley |first1=Thomas |title=The History of Philosophy |date=1656 |publisher=J. Mosely and T. Dring |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUArteSohcMC}}</ref> The first complete English translation was a late 17th-century translation by ten different persons.<ref>{{harvnb|Fetherstone ''et al''|1688|loc=Volume 1}}, Volume 2 (published 1696).</ref> A better translation was made by [[Charles Duke Yonge]] (1853),{{sfn|Yonge|1853}} but although this was more literal, it still contained many inaccuracies.{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xiii}} The next translation was by [[Robert Drew Hicks]] (1925) for the [[Loeb Classical Library]],{{sfn|Hicks|1925}} although it is slightly [[bowdlerize]]d. A new translation by [[Pamela Mensch]] was published by [[Oxford University Press]] in 2018.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers - Diogenes Laertius|
date=14 May 2018|
publisher=Oxford University Press|
isbn=978-0-19-086217-6|
access-date=22 May 2018|
url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/lives-of-the-eminent-philosophers-9780190862176}}</ref> Another by [[Stephen White (translator)|Stephen White]] was published by [[Cambridge University Press]] in 2020.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers - An edited translation|date=2020|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-88335-1}}</ref>

==Legacy and assessment==
[[File:CdM, presunto autoritratto di leon battista alberti, white ground.jpg|thumb|The [[Italian Renaissance]] scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect [[Leon Battista Alberti]] (1404–1472) modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's ''Life of Thales''.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}}]]

[[Henricus Aristippus]], the archdeacon of [[Catania]], produced a Latin translation of Diogenes Laërtius's book in southern Italy in the late 1150s, which has since been lost or destroyed.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} [[Geremia da Montagnone]] used this translation as a source for his ''Compedium moralium notabilium'' ({{Circa|1310}}) and an anonymous Italian author used it as a source for work entitled ''Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum'' (written {{circa}} 1317–1320), which reached international popularity in the [[Late Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} The monk [[Ambrose Traversari|Ambrogio Traversari]] (1386–1439) produced another Latin translation in [[Florence]] between 1424 and 1433, for which far better records have survived.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} The [[Italian Renaissance]] scholar, painter, philosopher, and architect [[Leon Battista Alberti]] (1404–1472) borrowed from Traversari's translation of the ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' in Book 2 of his ''Libri della famiglia''{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} and modeled his own autobiography on Diogenes Laërtius's ''Life of Thales''.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}}

Diogenes Laërtius's work has had a complicated reception in modern times.{{sfn|Cao|2010|pages=271–272}} The value of his ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' as an insight into the private lives of the Greek sages led the [[French Renaissance]] philosopher [[Michel de Montaigne]] (1533–1592) to exclaim that he wished that, instead of one Laërtius, there had been a dozen.<ref>Montaigne, ''Essays'' II.10 [http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm "Of Books"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214161140/http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/montaigne/2x.htm |date=February 14, 2009 }}.</ref> [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] (1770–1831) criticized Diogenes Laërtius for his lack of philosophical talent and categorized his work as nothing more than a compilation of previous writers' opinions.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} Nonetheless, he admitted that Diogenes Laërtius's compilation was an important one given the information that it contained.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} [[Hermann Usener]] (1834–1905) deplored Diogenes Laërtius as a "complete ass" (''asinus germanus'') in his ''[[Epicurea]]'' (1887).{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} [[Werner Jaeger]] (1888–1961) damned him as "that great ignoramus".{{sfn|Jaeger|1947|p=330 n.2}} In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, scholars have managed to partially redeem Diogenes Laertius's reputation as a writer by reading his book in a Hellenistic literary context.{{sfn|Cao|2010|pages=271–272}}

Nonetheless, modern scholars treat Diogenes's testimonia with caution, especially when he fails to cite his sources. Herbert S. Long warns: "Diogenes has acquired an importance out of all proportion to his merits because the loss of many primary sources and of the earlier secondary compilations has accidentally left him the chief continuous source for the history of Greek philosophy."{{sfn|Long|1972|p=xix}} [[Robert M. Strozier]] offers a somewhat more positive assessment of Diogenes Laertius's reliability, noting that many other ancient writers attempt to reinterpret and expand on the philosophical teachings they describe, something which Diogenes Laërtius rarely does.{{sfn|Strozier|1985|page=15}} Strozier concludes, "Diogenes Laertius is, when he does not conflate hundreds of years of distinctions, reliable simply because he is a less competent thinker than those on whom he writes, is less liable to re-formulate statements and arguments, and especially in the case of Epicurus, less liable to interfere with the texts he quotes. He does, however, simplify."{{sfn|Strozier|1985|page=15}}

Despite his importance to the history of western philosophy and the controversy surrounding him, according to Gian Mario Cao, Diogenes Laërtius has still not received adequate [[Philology|philological]] attention.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}} Both modern critical editions of his book, by H. S. Long (1964) and by M. Marcovich (1999) have received extensive criticism from scholars.{{sfn|Cao|2010|page=271}}

He is criticized primarily for being overly concerned with superficial details of the philosophers' lives and lacking the intellectual capacity to explore their actual philosophical works with any penetration. However, according to statements of the 14th-century monk [[Walter Burley]] in his ''De vita et moribus philosophorum'', the text of Diogenes seems to have been much fuller than that which we now possess.

=== Reliability ===
Although Diogenes had a will to objectivity and fact-checking, Diogenes's works are today seen as generally unreliable from a historical perspective.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crowe |first=Michael Bertram |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-015-0913-8 |title=The Changing Profile of the Natural Law |date=1977 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-015-0354-9 |location=Dordrecht, Netherlands |pages=50 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-94-015-0913-8}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Leão |first=Delfim |date=2019 |title=Can we trust Diogenes Laertius? The Book I of the Lives of Eminent Philosophers as source for the poems and the laws of Solon |url=https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/handle/10316/86809 |journal=Dike. Essays on Greek Law in Honor of Alberto Maffi |publisher=Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre |pages=227–242 |isbn=978-88-288-0303-4}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Gregor |first=Brian |date=2022 |title=Diogenes Laertius, "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers" |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/pir/2022-v42-n1-pir06898/1088001ar/ |journal=Philosophy in Review |language=en |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=23–25 |doi=10.7202/1088001ar |s2cid=252810587 |issn=1206-5269|doi-access=free }}</ref> He is neither consistent nor reliable in some of his reports and some of the details he cites contain obvious errors.<ref name=":0" /> Some of them were probably introduced by [[copyist]]s in the transmission of the text from antiquity, but some errors are undoubtedly due to Diogenes himself.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Swift |first=Paul |date=2007 |title=The History and Mystery of Diogenes Laertius |url=http://www.assumptionjournal.au.edu/index.php/PrajnaVihara/article/view/1234 |journal=Prajñā Vihāra: Journal of Philosophy and Religion |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=38–49 |issn=2586-9876}}</ref> The reliability of Diogenes' sources have also been questioned, since he uses [[comic poets]] as sources.<ref name=":2" /> Professor Brian Gregor suggests that readers will benefit from modern scholarly assistance while reading Diogenes' biographies, since they are "notoriously unreliable".<ref name=":1" /> Some scholars (e.g. Delfim Leão) state that Diogenes' unreliability is not entirely his responsibility and blame his sources instead.<ref name=":0" />

== Editions and translations ==
* ''Diogenis Laertii Vitae philosophorum'' edidit [[Miroslav Marcovich]], Stuttgart-Lipsia, Teubner, 1999–2002. Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, vol. 1: Books I–X {{ISBN|9783598713163}}; vol. 2: Excerpta Byzantina; v. 3: Indices by Hans Gärtner.
* ''Lives of Eminent Philosophers'', edited by Tiziano Dorandi, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013 (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, vol. 50, new radically improved critical edition).
* {{cite book |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |year=1688 |translator-last=Fetherstone |translator-first=T. |translator2-last=White |translator2-first=Sam. |translator3-last=Smith |translator3-first=E. |translator4-last=Philips |translator4-first=J. |translator5-last=Kippax |translator5-first=R. |translator6-last=Baxter |translator6-first=William |translator7-last=M. |translator7-first=R. |title=The lives, opinions, and remarkable sayings of the most famous ancient philosophers. The first volume written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius; made English by several hands |edition=2 volumes |volume=1 |location=London |publisher=Edward Brewster |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36037.0001.001?view=toc |ref={{harvid |Fetherstone et al |1688}} }}
*{{cite book |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |translator-last=Yonge |translator-first=Charles Duke |year=1853 |title=Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers |location=London |publisher=G.H. Bohn |url=https://archive.org/details/livesandopinions00dioguoft |ref={{harvid |Yonge |1853}} }}
* Translation by [[Robert Drew Hicks|R.D. Hicks]]:
** {{Cite Lives of the Eminent Philosophers|chapter=Index |edition=Two volume |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |short=x}}
** {{cite book |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |volume=I |year=1925 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]], Loeb Classical Library |isbn=978-0-674-99203-0}}
** {{cite book |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |volume=II |year=1925 |publisher=Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library |isbn=978-0-674-99204-7}}
* Translations based on the critical edition by Tiziano Dorandi:
** {{cite book |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |year=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |translator= Pamela Mensch|isbn=978-0-19-086217-6}}
** {{cite book |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |year=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |last1=White |first1=Stephen |isbn=978-0-521-88335-1}}

==Notes==
{{efn|name=dubious|This school affilitation is considered incorrect by modern scholarship}}{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{citation|last=Cao|first=Gian Mario|date=2010|chapter=Diogenes Laertius|title=The Classical Tradition|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&q=Diogenes+Laertius|editor1-last=Grafton|editor1-first=Anthony|editor1-link=Anthony Grafton|editor2-last=Most|editor2-first=Glenn W.|editor2-link=Glenn W. Most|editor3-last=Settis|editor3-first=Salvatore|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England|isbn=978-0-674-03572-0|pages=271–272}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Dorandi |editor1-first=Tiziano |publication-date=2013 |title=Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers |chapter=Introduction |year=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521886819 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Diogenes Laertius (c. AD 300–50) |editor-last=Craig |editor-first=Edward |editor-link=Edward Craig (philosopher)|encyclopedia=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |volume=4 |year=1998 |page=86}}
* {{cite book |contributor-first=Herbert S. |contributor-last=Long |contribution=Introduction |page=xvi |year=1972 |edition=reprint |first=Diogenes |last=Laërtius |title=Lives of Eminent Philosophers |volume=1 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library}}
*{{cite book |contributor-last=Hicks |contributor-first=Robert Drew |year=1925 |contribution=Introduction |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers |translator-last=Hicks |translator-first=Robert Drew |translator-link=Robert Drew Hicks |edition=reprint |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |contribution-url=http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/diogenes_laertius.htm }}{{clarify|reason=Did Long or Hicks write the Introduction?|date=February 2022}}
* {{cite DGRBM|title=Diogenes Laertius |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1028.html}}
<!--*{{cite book |contributor-last=Long |contributor-first=Herbert S. |year=1972 |orig-year=1925 |contribution=Introduction |last=Laërtius |first=Diogenes |title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers |translator-last=Hicks |translator-first=Robert Drew |translator-link=Robert Drew Hicks |edition=reprint |publisher=Loeb Classical Library }}-->
* {{cite book |last=de la Mare |first=Albinia Catherine |author-link=A. C. de la Mare|year=1992 |chapter=Cosimo and his Books |editor-first=F. |editor-last=Ames-Lewis |title=Cosimo 'il Vecchio' de' Medici, 1389–1464 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press}}
* {{citation|last=Strozier|first=Robert M.|author-link=Robert M. Strozier|date=1985|title=Epicurus and Hellenistic Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbvWAAAAMAAJ|location=Lanham, Maryland and London, England|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=978-0-8191-4405-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Jaeger |first=Werner |author-link=Werner Jaeger |translator-last=Highet|translator-first=Gilbert|title=Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture |volume=III |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=1947|url=https://archive.org/details/paideiaidealsofg0003jaeg/page/330/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolomio |first=Ilario |year=1993 |chapter=Editions of Diogenes Laertius in the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries |editor-first=G. |editor-last=Santinello  |display-editors=etal|title=Models of the History of Philosophy |volume=1 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Kluwer |pages=154, ff }}

==Further reading==
*[[Jonathan Barnes|Barnes, Jonathan]]. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius IX 61–116: The Philosophy of Pyrrhonism." In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 4241–4301. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
* Barnes, Jonathan. 1986. "Nietzsche and Diogenes Laertius." ''Nietzsche-Studien'' 15:16–40.
* Dorandi, Tiziano. 2009. ''Laertiana: Capitoli sulla tradizione manoscritta e sulla storia del testo delle Vite dei filosofi di Diogene Laerzio.'' Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter.
* Eshleman, Kendra Joy. 2007. "Affection and Affiliation: Social Networks and Conversion to Philosophy." ''The Classical Journal'' 103.2: 129–140.
* Grau, Sergi. 2010. "How to Kill a Philosopher: The Narrating of Ancient Greek Philosophers' Deaths in Relation to the Living. ''Ancient Philosophy'' 30.2: 347-381
* Hägg, Tomas. 2012. ''The Art of Biography in Antiquity.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
* Kindstrand, Jan Frederik. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius and the Chreia Tradition." ''Elenchos'' 7:217–234.
* Long, Anthony A. 2006. "Diogenes Laertius, Life of Arcesilaus." In ''From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy.'' Edited by Anthony A. Long, 96–114. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
* [[Jaap Mansfeld|Mansfeld, Jaap]]. 1986. "Diogenes Laertius on Stoic Philosophy." ''Elenchos'' 7: 295–382.
* Mejer, Jørgen. 1978. ''Diogenes Laertius and his Hellenistic Background.'' Wiesbaden: Steiner.
* Mejer, Jørgen. 1992. "Diogenes Laertius and the Transmission of Greek Philosophy." In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3556–3602. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
* Morgan, Teresa J. 2013. "Encyclopaedias of Virtue?: Collections of Sayings and Stories About Wise Men in Greek." In ''Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance.'' Edited by  Jason König and Greg Woolf, 108–128. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
* Sassi, Maria Michela. 2011. Ionian Philosophy and Italic Philosophy: From Diogenes Laertius to Diels. In ''The Presocratics from the Latin Middle Ages to Hermann Diels.'' Edited by Oliver Primavesi and Katharina Luchner, 19–44. Stuttgart: Steiner.
* Sollenberger, Michael. 1992. The Lives of the Peripatetics: An Analysis of the Content and Structure of Diogenes Laertius’s “Vitae philosophorum” Book 5. In ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.'' Vol. 2: 36.5–6. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 3793–3879. Berlin: W. de Gruyter.
* Vogt, Katja Maria, ed. 2015. ''Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius.'' Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck.
* Warren, James. 2007. "Diogenes Laertius, Biographer of Philosophy." In Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire. Edited by Jason König and Tim Whitmars, 133–149. Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press.

'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Diogenes Laërtius|volume=8|page=282}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikisource|Lives of the Eminent Philosophers|Lives of the Eminent Philosophers}}
{{wikisourcelang|el|Βίοι φιλοσόφων|Βίοι φιλοσόφων}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Diogenes Laërtius}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Diogenes Laërtius
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Diogenes&redirect=true Works by Diogenes Laertius at Perseus Digital Library]
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/diogenes-laertius}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=49326}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Diogenes Laërtius |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=10543}}
* [http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/dl/dl.html Ancient Greek text of Diogenes's ''Lives'']
* [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/diogenes_laertius.htm Article on the Manuscript versions] at the Tertullian Project
* [https://www.ontology.co/biblio/diogenes-laertius-biblio.htm A bibliography of the ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'']
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.0251.1 Libro de la vita de philosophi et delle loro elegantissime sentencie.] Venice, Joannes Rubeus Vercellensis, 20 May 1489. From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division] at the [[Library of Congress]]
* [http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Arundel_MS_531 Digitized Manuscript of Diogenes Laertius's Vitae Philosophorum] (BL [[Arundel MS]] 531) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411232522/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Arundel_MS_531 |date=2022-04-11 }} at the [[British Library]] website

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[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:3rd-century Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek biographers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Compilers of works of quotations]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman biographers]]
[[Category:Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology]]