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Library Zeno of Citium

Letter to King Antigonus — Zeno of Citium

Traditional attribution

Letter to King Antigonus

Ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἀντίγονον

Busto de Zenón de Citio (colección Farnese, Nápoles)
byZeno of Citium

A short reply to the invitation of the king of Macedon: Zeno praises his love of learning, distinguishes true education from that which corrupts morals, excuses himself on account of his age—he says he is eighty—and sends him his pupils Persaeus and Philonides, not inferior to him in mind and stronger in body. Authentic or not, it expresses well the Stoic attitude to power.

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Editions and translations · 4

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Authorship note

Attributed. Diogenes Laertius (VII 7–9) copies Antigonus Gonatas' invitation and Zeno's reply from Apollonius of Tyre, a first-century BCE biographer; most specialists regard them as later compositions, though the invitation itself is plausible.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book VII

    Wikisource (trad. de R. D. Hicks, Loeb, 1925), 1925

    Translation: R. D. Hicks

    Dominio público (Hicks murió en 1929).

  • Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume II: Books 6–10 (Loeb Classical Library 185) — Zeno of Citium

    Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume II: Books 6–10 (Loeb Classical Library 185)

    Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library), 1925

    Translation: R. D. Hicks

    ISBN 9780674992047

    El libro VII contiene la vida de Zenón y la doxografía estoica.

Español

  • Los diez libros de Diógenes Laercio…, tomo II

    Imprenta Real (ed. digital en Internet Archive), 1792

    Translation: José Ortiz y Sanz

    Dominio público; incluye el libro VII.

  • Vidas y opiniones de los filósofos ilustres — Zeno of Citium

    Vidas y opiniones de los filósofos ilustres

    Alianza Editorial, 2013

    Translation: Carlos García Gual

    ISBN 9788420676975

    Traducción completa de Diógenes Laercio.

Other works by Zeno of Citium

Sources

  • Diógenes Laercio. Vidas y opiniones de los filósofos ilustres, libro VII, 1–160 (Zenón y la doctrina estoica), s. III d. C. Trad. inglesa de R. D. Hicks, Loeb Classical Library 185, 1925 (Wikisource en inglés); texto griego en Wikisource griega; trad. de C. D. Yonge, Bohn, 1853 (Project Gutenberg n.º 57342).

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