Works

The few extant notices of his philosophical opinions would not be a sufficient ground for any great reputation, if it were not for the testimony of ancient authors to his merit. He seems to have taken the lead during his lifetime in the disputes constantly recurring between his own school and the Academy, although he is said to have felt himself so unequal in argument to his contemporary Carnceades, in public disputation, that he confined himself to writing; whence he was called καλαμοβόας. (Plut. Mor. p. 514d.; Euseb. de Praep. Evang. 14.8.) He taught belief in God as " a Being blessed, incorruptible, and of goodwill to men," and blamed those who ascribed to the gods "generation and corruption," which is said to have been the doctrine of Chrysippus. (Plut. de Stoic. Rep. p. 192.) Besides this treatise " on the gods," he also wrote two books on Divination, a common topic among the Stoics, in which he proved the truth of the science from the foreknowledge and benevolence of the Deity, explained dreams to be supernatural intimations of the future, and collected stories of divination attributed to Socrates. (Cic. de Divin. 1.3, 20, 39, 54.) He is said to have believed that Fate was a god, though it is not clear what was implied in this expression (Stob. de Fato, 16); and it appears from Athenaeus that he wrote a treatise entitled . (viii. p. 346.) Of his labours in moral philosophy nothing remains but a few scattered notices, just sufficient to shew that the science had begun to decline; the questions which are treated being points of detail, and such as had more to do with the application of moral precepts than with the principles themselves: such as they were, however, he took higher ground in solving them than his master Diogenes. (Cic. de Off. 3.12, 13, 23.)

Further Information

Compare Varro, de Ling. Lat. 6.1. p. 184, Fragm. p. 289, ed. Bip.