A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

7. An Epicurean philosopher, a native of Sidon. He was a contemporary of Cicero, who heard him when at Athens. He was sometimes termed Coryphaeus Epicureorum (Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1.21, 33, 34). He seems to have been noted for the disrespectful terms in which he spoke of other philosophers. For instance, he called Socrates the Attic buffoon. (Cic. de Nat. D. 1.34.) He was a disciple of Apollodorus (D. L. 10.25), and is described by Diogenes Laertius as a clear-headed thinker and perspicuous expounder of his views. Cicero bestows upon him similar commendation (distincte, graviter, ornate disputabat, de Nat. Deor. 1.21). Zenon held that happiness consisted in the enjoyment of present pleasures, accompanied by a confident expectation of enjoying them throughout the whole or the greater part of life. (Tusc. 3.17.) Poseidonius wrote a separate treatise in confutation of his views. (Proclus ad I. Euclid. iii.)