xxiii. 295, D) further relates that he had already occupied himself

with philosophy at home, and repaired to Athens to study it more fully—a view which seems most likely, because the least sensational.

[7] The dates in Zeno’s life are very uncertain. He is said to have been thirty when he first came to Athens (Diog. 2). Persæus, however (Ibid. 28), his pupil and countryman, says twenty-two. These statements are of little use, since the date of his coming to Athens is unknown. If it is true that after reading with Crates he was for ten years a pupil of Xenocrates, who died 314 B.C. (Timocrates in Diog. 2), he must have come to Athens not later than 328 B.C. But this fact may be doubted. For his whole line of thought resembles that of Crates and Stilpo. How then can he have been for ten years a pupil in the Academy, and in addition have enjoyed Polemo’s teaching? Altogether he is said to have frequented the schools of different philosophers for twenty years before opening his own (Diog. 4). According to Apollon. in Diog. 28, he presided over his own school for fifty-eight years, which is hardly reconcileable with the above data, even if he attained the age of ninety-eight (Diog. 28; Lucian, Macrob. 19). According to Persæus (Diog. 28), he only attained the age of seventy-two (Clinton, Fast. Hell. II. 368 capriciously suggests 92), and was altogether only fifty years in Athens. On the other hand, in his own letter to Antigonus (Diog. 9), he distinctly calls himself an octogenarian, but the genuineness of this letter, borrowed by Diogenes from Apollonius the Tyrian about 50 B.C., may perhaps be doubted. The year of Zeno’s death is likewise unknown. His relations to Antigonus Gonatas prove at least that he was not dead before the beginning of his reign in 278 B.C., and probably not till long afterwards. It would appear from the calculation of his age, that his death did not take place till 260 B.C. He may, then, have lived circa 350 to 260 B.C.; but these dates are quite uncertain.

[8] Diog. vii. 2; vi. 105.

[9] Diog. 3: ἐντεῦθεν ἤκουσε τοῦ Κράτητος, ἄλλως μὲν εὔτονος πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν, αἰδήμων δὲ ὡς πρὸς τὴν κυνικὴν ἀναισχυντίαν.

[10] Conf., besides what immediately follows, Diog. 25 and 15: ἦν δὲ ζητητικὸς καὶ περὶ πάντων ἀκριβολογούμενος.

[11] Diog. vii. 2; 4; 16; 20; 24; ii. 114; 120. Numen. in Eus. Pr. Ev. xiv. 5, 9; 6, 6. Polemo is called his teacher by Cic. Fin. iv. 16, 45; Acad. i. 9, 35. Strabo, xiii. 1. 67, p. 614. On Xenocrates compare p. 37, 1. How ready he was to learn from others is proved by the saying in Diog. 25; Plut. Fragm. in Hesiod. ix. T. V. 511. W.

[12] Diog. 5, according to whom he gave instruction walking to and fro, like Aristotle, but never to more than two or three at a time (Diog. 14). It is not probable that he gave any formal lectures.

[13] Which, however, must be judged by the standard of that time and of Greek customs. Conf. Diog. 13; and the quotations in Athen. xiii. 607, e; 563, e, from Antigonus of Carystus.

[14] See Musonius in Stob. Serm. 17, 43. His outward circumstances also appear to have been very simple. According to one account (Diog. 13), he brought to Athens the fabulous sum of 1000 talents, and put it out to interest. Themist. Or. xxi., p. 252, says that he forgave a debtor his debt. He is said to have paid a logician 200 drachmas, instead of the 100 which he asked for (Diog. 25). Nor is there any mention of a Cynical life or of poverty. But, according to Diog. 5, Plut. and Sen., he had lost his property almost entirely. According to Sen. Consol. ad Helv. 12, 5 (contradicted by Diog. 23), he owned no slave. Had he been well to do, he would hardly have accepted the presents of Antigonus. That Zeno was unmarried appears from Diog. 13.

[15] Conf. Diog. 13; 16; 24; 26; Athen. in the passage quoted p. 36, 2; Suid.; Clem. Strom. 413, A. It is mentioned as a peculiarity of Zeno, that he avoided all noise and popular display (Diog. 14); that, though generally grave, he relaxed over his wine, and that too much; that he could not tolerate many words, and was very fond of epigrams. See Diog. 16; 20; 24; Athen. l.c. Stob. Serm. 34; 10; 36; 19; 23. He is said to have carried his parsimoniousness too far. In this respect he was a thorough Phœnician (Diog. 16). The presents of Antigonus he never sought, and broke with an acquaintance who asked for his interest with the king. Still he did not despise them, without abating from his dignity. The loss of his property he bore with the greatest composure (Diog. 3; Plut. and Sen.).

[16] Antigonus (conf. Athen. xiii. 603, e; Arrian, Diss. Epict. ii. 13, 14; Simpl. in Epict. Enchir. 283, c; Æl. V. H. ix. 26) was fond of his society, attended his lectures, and wished to have him at court—but Zeno declined the offer, sending two of his pupils instead. The Athenians, to whom, according to Ælian’s untrustworthy account V. H.