Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Arcesilaus was the son of Seuthes (or Scythes, as Apollodorus says in the third book of the Chronicles), and came from Pitane in Aeolis. He was the founder of the Middle Academy, being the first to suspend judgment on account of the contrariety of arguments. He was also the first to argue on both sides of a question, and the first to modify the method of discourse handed down by Plato, making it more eristic by means of question and answer. He attached himself to Crantor in the following manner. He had four brothers, of whom two were by the same father and two by the same mother; and of those by the same mother Pylades was the elder, while of those by the same father Moireas was the elder, and this Moireas was his guardian.

​At first, before departing for Athens, he studied under his fellow citizen Autolycus the mathematician, with whom he also travelled abroad to Sardis; next he studied under Xanthus of Athens, the musician; and after him he heard Theophrastus. He then migrated to the Academy to study under Crantor. For his aforementioned brother Moireas was trying to direct him toward rhetoric; but Arcesilaus was in love with philosophy, and Crantor, having fallen in love with him, inquired of him by reciting these lines from Euripides’ Andromeda: “Maiden, if I should save you, will you show me gratitude?” And Arcesilaus replied with what follows: “Take me, stranger, whether you wish me as a servant or as a wife.”

​From that time on they lived together; so that they say even Theophrastus, feeling aggrieved, remarked what a talented and quick-witted young man had departed from his school. For in his discussions he was most weighty, and having become sufficiently fond of letters, he also took up poetry. An epigram of his addressed to Attalus is preserved, running thus: “Pergamum is renowned not only for arms, but also for steeds, as is often proclaimed throughout sacred Pisa. And if it is lawful for a mortal to speak the mind sent from Zeus, she will hereafter be far more sung in song.” And there is also an epigram addressed to Menodorus, the beloved of Eugamus, one of his fellow students:

“Far away is Phrygia, and far away holy Thyateira, O Menodorus, and Cadanada, your homeland. Yet the roads to the unspeakable Acheron are equal, as the saying of men goes, measured from every quarter. And Eugamus erected for you this conspicuous monument, to whom you were the dearest of many humble servants.” He admired Homer above all, from whom he would unfailingly read something before going to sleep, and also in the morning he would say that he was going off to his beloved whenever he wished to read him. Pindar too he declared to be admirable for filling out the voice and furnishing a copiousness of nouns and verbs. In his youth he also used to imitate the style of Ion.

​He also studied under Hipponicus the geometer, whom he mocked as being in other respects sluggish and constantly yawning, but accomplished in his craft, saying that geometry had flown into his mouth while he was gaping. When this man lost his wits, Arcesilaus took him into his own home and cared for him until he restored him to health. Upon the death of Crates, he took over the headship of the school, after a certain Socratides had yielded the place to him. Some say that on account of his suspending judgment on all matters he did not write even a single book; others, however, say that he was caught revising certain writings of Crantor, which some say he published, while others say he burned them. He seemed indeed to admire Plato, and he possessed his books.

​Yet according to some he also emulated Pyrrho, and clung to dialectic, and dabbled in the Eretrian arguments; whence Ariston used to say of him: “Plato in front, Pyrrho behind, Diodorus in the middle.” And Timon speaks of him in this way: “For holding the lead of Menedemus beneath his breast, he will run with his whole carcase either to Pyrrho or to Diodorus.” And after an interval he makes him say: “I will swim to Pyrrho and to crooked Diodorus.” He was also a man of great dignity, collected, and distinctive in articulating words in speech, as well as a sharp critic and an outspoken speaker;

​wherefore Timon again writes concerning him thus: “and blending his mind with enticing reproaches.” Hence, to a youth who was arguing rather rashly, he said, “Will someone not take this fellow with a knuckle-bone?” And to one who had the reputation of submitting to passive sodomy, when that man brought the objection against him that one thing does not seem to be greater than another, he asked whether a thing of ten fingers did not seem greater than one of six. And when a certain Hemon of Chios, who was unsightly yet supposed himself to be handsome and always walked about in delicate cloaks, asserted that in his view the wise man will not fall in love, Arcesilaus asked, “Not even if someone is as handsome as you, nor even if he wears such fine garments?” And when this same man, being a catamite, spoke against Arcesilaus as being an overbearing person—