Tiziano Dorandi offers three papers: the first, ‘“A la Recherche du Texte Perdu”: The Manuscript Tradition of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers ’, outlines the messy and complicated history of textual transmission, which has bequeathed us an unreliable and corrupt text the second, ‘Diogenes Laertius in Byzantium’, examines the earliest references to Diogenes Laertius the third, ‘Diogenes Laertius in Latin’, focuses on his growing popularity and his exposure to a wider audience in the fifteenth century when the first Latin translation appeared. In ‘Philosophers and Politics in Diogenes Laertius’, Malcolm Schofield explores what Diogenes has to say on political activities of philosophers, and, in ‘Diogenes Laertius and Philosophical Lives in Antiquity’, Giuseppe Cambiano discusses Diogenes’ interest in the fit, or lack thereof, between philosophers’ lives and the ethical doctrines they profess. In particular, he highlights how Diogenes often returns to the theme of the fragility of the human body to poke fun at the philosophers, especially when addressing their deaths and erotic lives (often somewhat at odds with their lofty thought). In another literary essay, ‘Corporeal Humor in Diogenes Laertius’, James Romm explores Diogenes’ use of irony and humour. In ‘Diogenes’ Epigrams’, Kathryn Gutzwiller offers a literary evaluation of Diogenes’ striking quotation of his own epigrams throughout the Lives, and succeeds in showing them to be much more sophisticated than they appear at first. Rowland considers Diogenes’ influence in high artistic circles. In ‘Raphael’s Eminent Philosophers: The School of Athens and the Classic Work Almost No One Read’, Ingrid D. In ‘Diogenes Laertius: From Inspiration to Annoyance (and Back)’, Anthony Grafton examines the history of the critical reception of Diogenes Laertius, and in particular the development of philological methodology in response to the challenges posed by his text. They cover the influence of Diogenes Laertius on the arts and philology during the Renaissance, his style and literary art, political and ethical elements in the Lives, the manuscript tradition, his treatment of the history of philosophy, and his influence on Nietzsche and German classical scholarship in the nineteenth century. In addition to the splendid English translation, the book contains sixteen papers that act as a sort of Companion to Diogenes Laertius, orientating the reader with some of the most important scholarly issues pertaining to the Lives. It is, however, as a result an especially hefty tome – this is a book to be read on a solid surface. This all adds a wonderful extra visual dimension to the already kaleidoscopic text of Diogenes Laertius. There are particularly fascinating examples of artistic representations of Greek philosophers in the Indian, Arabic, and Japanese traditions. These include paintings, sculptures, coins, illuminated manuscripts, photography, all linked to what we are reading in Diogenes. There are 556 full-colour images, gathered from antiquity to the present day. It is beautifully produced – glossy paper, high quality printing, with a treasure trove of stuff far beyond a translation of an ancient author. ![]() It must be said that, as a physical object, the hardcover is a very impressive book indeed. The translation will serve as an excellent resource for scholars referring to Diogenes Laertius for the very important material he preserves concerning the history of Greek philosophy, and its high literary merits make it enjoyable for those who want simply to be entertained reading Diogenes’ quirky and idiosyncratic account of the lives of the Greek philosophers. ![]() The copious notes, helpfully placed beneath the translation on each page, are superb at giving required information on names, dates, places, technical terms, and so forth in a crisp and accurate manner. Given the number of vagaries, jokes, technicalities, and such that proliferate in the Greek, this is a most impressive achievement. The English translation by Pamela Mensch is lively, fresh, engaging, and eminently readable. In the present volume, Dorandi’s text is translated into English for the first time. Owing to the sterling work of Tiziano Dorandi, we now possess a superior Greek text of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives (Cambridge, 2013). Hicks largely used the 1850 text in the Didot series, while making amendments as he saw fit. Even for specialists, the Greek text is difficult, with problems in the manuscripts and many sequences that make little sense. For many of us, access to Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers has been predominantly through the 1925 translation by R.
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