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Chapter 137 of 208

VII. THE ELEATIC SCHOOL: ZENO.

Zeno of Elea, son of Teleutagoras, was born early in the fifth century B.C. He was the pupil of Parmenides, and his relations with him were so intimate that Plato calls him Parmenides’s son (Soph. 241 D). Strabo (vi. 1, 1) applies to him as well as to his master the name Pythagorean, and gives him the credit of advancing the cause of law and order in Elea. Several writers say that he taught in Athens for a while. There are numerous accounts of his capture as party to a conspiracy; these accounts differ widely from each other, and the only point of agreement between them has reference to his determination in shielding his fellow conspirators. We find reference to one book which he wrote in prose (Plato, Parm. 127 C), each section of which showed the absurdity of some element in the popular belief.

Literature: Lohse, Halis 1794; Gerling, de Zenonis Paralogismis, Marburg 1825; Wellmann, Zenos Beweise, G.-Pr. Frkf. a. O. 1870; Raab, d. Zenonische Beweise, Schweinf. 1880; Schneider, Philol. xxxv. 1876; Tannery, Rev. Philos. Oct. 1885; Dunan, Les arguments de Zénon, Paris 1884; Brochard, Les arguments de Zénon, Paris 1888; Frontera, Étude sur les arguments de Zénon, Paris 1891.

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VII. THE ELEATIC SCHOOL: ZENO. · Testimonies of his contemporaries (Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Ion of Chios, Herodotus) — Pythagoras · The Conscious Library