Chapter 12
SECTION 12 OF LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, VOLUME 1 All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Sonia LIVES OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, VOLUME 1
By Diogenes Lercius Translated by Robert Drew Hicks Book 1, Chapter 6 CLEOBURUS Circa 600 BC
Cleobulus, the son of Eogorus, was born at Lindus, but according to Duris he was a carrion. Some say that he traced his descent back to Heracles, that he was distinguished for strength and beauty, and was acquainted with Egyptian philosophy. He had a daughter, Cleobulene, who composed riddles in hexameters. She is mentioned by Cretinus, who gives one of his plays her name in the plural form, Cleobulini.
He is also said to have rebuilt the temple of Athena, which was founded by Daneus. He was the author of songs and riddles, making some three thousand lines in all. The inscription on the tomb of Midas is said by some to be his. I am a maiden of bronze, and I rest upon Midas' tomb. So long as water shall flow, and tall trees grow, and the sun shall rise and shine, and the bright moon and rivers shall run, and the sea wash the shore, here, abiding on his tear-sprinkled tomb, I shall tell the passers-by, Midas is buried here.
The evidence they adduce is a poem of Simonides, in which he says, Who, if he trusts his wits, will praise Cleobulus, the dweller at Lindus, for opposing the strength of a column to ever-flowing rivers, the flowers of spring, the flame of the sun, and the golden moon and the eddies of the sea? But all things fall short of the might of the gods.
Even mortal hands break marble in pieces. This is a fool's devising. The inscription cannot be by Homer, because he lived, they say, long before Midas. The following riddle of Cleobulus is preserved in Pamphylas' collection. One sire there is, he has twelve sons, and each of these has twice thirty daughters different
in feature. Some of the daughters are white, the others again are black. They are immortal, and yet they all die. And the answer is the year. Of his songs, the most popular are
It is want of taste that reigns most widely among mortals and multitude of words, but due season will serve. Set your mind on something good. Do not become thoughtless or rude. He said that we ought to give our daughters to their husbands,
maidens in years, but women in wisdom. Thus signifying that girls need to be educated as well as boys. Further, that we should render a service to a friend to bind him closer to us, and to an enemy, in order to make a friend of him. For we have to guard against the censure of friends and the intrigues of enemies.
When anyone leaves his house, let him first inquire what he means to do, and on his return let him ask himself what he has affected. Moreover, he advised men to practice bodily exercise, to be listeners rather than talkers, to choose instruction rather than ignorance to refrain from ill-omened words to be friendly to virtue hostile to vice to shun injustice to counsel the state for the best not to be overcome by pleasure to do nothing by violence to educate their children to put an end to enmity avoid being affectionate to your wife or quarrelling with her in the presence of strangers for the one savours of folly the other of madness
never correct a servant over your wine for you will be thought to be the worse for wine mate with one of your own rank for if you take a wife who is superior to you her kinsfolk will become your masters when men are being bantered do not laugh at their expense or you will incur their hatred do not be arrogant in prosperity if you fall into poverty do not humble yourself know how to bear the changes of fortune with nobility he died at the ripe age of seventy and the inscription over him is here the wise rhodian cleobulus sleeps and o'er his ashes see proud lindus weeps his epithem was moderation is best and he wrote to solon the following letter cleobulus to solon you have many friends and a home wherever you go but the most suitable for solon will say i be lindus which is governed by a democracy
the island lies on the high seas and one who lives here has nothing to fear from pisistratus and friends from all parts will come to visit you end of section twelve
