Book 11
11
The words of Publius Nigidius, in which he says that there is a difference between lying and telling a falsehood.
11
THESE are the very words of Publius Nigidius, Fr. 49, Swoboda. a man of great eminence in the pursuit of the liberal arts, whom Marcus Cicero highly respected because of his talent and learning: There is a difference between telling a falsehood and lying. One who lies is not himself deceived, but tries to deceive another; he who tells a falsehood is himself deceived. He also adds this: One who lies deceives, so far as he is able; but one who tells a falsehood does not himself deceive, any more than he can help. He also had this on the same subject: A good man, says he, ought to take pains not to lie, a wise man, not to tell what is false; the former affects the man himself, the latter does not. With variety, by Heaven! and neatness has Nigidius distinguished so many opinions relating to the same thing, as if he were constantly saying something new.
12
That the philosopher Chrysippus says that every word is ambiguous and of doubtful meaning, while Diodorus, on the contrary, thinks that no word is ambiguous.
