Vitae philosophorum

Diogenes Laertius

Diogenes Laertius. Hicks, R. D., editor. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1925.

Crates, son of Ascondas, was a Theban. He too was amongst the Cynic’s famous pupils. Hippobotus, however, alleges that he was a pupil not of Diogenes, but of Bryson[*](Not the same as Bryson of Heracleia, whom we know from the Platonic Epistles, from Aristotle, and from Athenaeus (xi. p. 508). He may, however, have been the disciple of Pythagoras mentioned by Iamblichus (Vita Pyth. c. 23).) the Achaean. The following playful lines are attributed to him[*](Anth. Plan. v. 13.):

    There is a city Pera in the midst of wine-dark vapour,
  1. Fair, fruitful, passing squalid, owning nought,
  2. Into which sails nor fool nor parasite
  3. Nor glutton, slave of sensual appetite,
  4. But thyme it bears, garlic, and figs and loaves,
  5. For which things’ sake men fight not each with other,
  6. Nor stand to arms for money or for fame.