Book 7
1.30
Here too is another by Zenodotus the Stoic, a pupil of DiogenesAnth. Pal. vii. 117.: Thou madest self-sufficiency thy rule, Eschewing haughty wealth, O godlike Zeno, With aspect grave and hoary brow serene. A manly doctrine thine: and by thy prudence With much toil thou didst found a great new school, Chaste parent of unfearing liberty. And if thy native country was Phoenicia, What need to slight thee? came not Cadmus thence, Who gave to Greece her books and art of writing? And Athenaeus the epigrammatist speaks of all the Stoics in common as followsAnth. Pal. ix. 496.: O ye who’ve learnt the doctrines of the Porch And have committed to your books divine The best of human learning, teaching men That the mind’s virtue is the only good ! She only it is who keeps the lives of men And cities,—safer than high gates and walls. But those who place their happiness in pleasure Are led by the least worthy of the Muses.
1.31
We have ourselves mentioned the manner of Zeno’s death in the Pammetros (a collection of poems in various metres): The story goes that Zeno of Citium after enduring many hardships by reason of old age was set free, some say by ceasing to take food; others say that once when he had tripped he beat with his hand upon the earth and cried, I come of my own accord; why then call me?Anth. Pal. vii. 118. For there are some who hold this to have been the manner of his death.
1.31
So much then concerning his death.
