Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Theopompus praises him alone out of all the Socratics, and says that he was clever and able by harmonious conversation to win over anyone whatsoever. This is evident both from his writings and from Xenophon's Symposium. He is also thought to have initiated the most manly Stoic sect; whence the epigrammatist Athenaeus also speaks of them thus: "O you who are learned in Stoic lore, O you who set down in sacred leaves the most excellent dogmas, that virtue of the soul alone is good; for this alone has preserved both the life of men and cities. As for the bodily indulgence of pleasure, an end dear to other men, one of the daughters of Memory brought it to pass."

​This man also led the way to the dispassion (apatheia) of Diogenes, the continence (enkrateia) of Crates, and the endurance (karteria) of Zeno, having himself laid down the foundations for the commonwealth. Xenophon says that he was most delightful in conversation, but most self-controlled in all other matters. Ten volumes of his writings are preserved. The first contains: On Style, or On Characters; Ajax, or The Speech of Ajax; Odysseus, or On Odysseus; The Defense of Orestes, or On the Speech-Writers; Isographe, or Lysias and Isocrates; Against the "Witnessless" of Isocrates. The second volume contains:

​On the Nature of Animals; On the Begetting of Children, or On Marriage, an erotic dialogue; On the Sophists, a physiognomic work; On Justice and Courage, a protreptic work in three books; On Theognis, books four and five. The third volume contains: On the Good; On Courage; On Law, or On the Constitution; On Law, or On the Noble and the Just; On Freedom and Slavery; On Trust; On the Guardian, or On Obedience; On Victory, an economic work. The fourth volume contains: Cyrus; Heracles the Greater, or On Strength. The fifth volume contains: Cyrus, or On Kingship; Aspasia. The sixth volume contains: Truth; On Discussion, a disputatious work; Sathon, or On Contradiction, books 1, 2, 3; On Dialect.

​The seventh volume contains: On Education, or On Names, books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; On the Use of Names, an eristic work; On Question and Answer; On Opinion and Knowledge, books 1, 2, 3, 4; On Dying; On Life and Death; On Those in Hades; On Nature, books 1, 2; Inquiry concerning Nature, book 2; Opinions, or An Eristic Work; Problems concerning Learning. The eighth volume contains: On Music; On Interpreters; On Homer; On Injustice and Impiety; On Calchas; On the Spy; On Pleasure. The ninth volume contains: On the Odyssey; On the Staff; Athena, or On Telemachus; On Helen and Penelope; On Proteus; Cyclops, or On Odysseus;

​On the Use of Wine, or On Drunkenness, or On the Cyclops; On Circe; On Amphiaraus; On Odysseus and Penelope, and On the Dog. The tenth volume contains: Heracles, or Midas; Heracles, or On Prudence, or On Strength; Cyrus, or The Beloved; Cyrus, or The Spies; Menexenus, or On Ruling; Alcibiades; Archelaus, or On Kingship. And these are the works he composed. Timon, censuring him on account of their quantity, calls him a "universal babbler." He died of an illness; at which time Diogenes, entering to visit him, said, "Is there any need of a friend?" And once Diogenes went in to him carrying a dagger. When Antisthenes said, "Who could release me from these pains?" Diogenes, showing the dagger, said, "This." And Antisthenes replied, "From the pains, I said, not from life."

​For he seemed somehow to bear the illness rather weakly out of love of life. And our verse upon him runs thus: "In life you were a dog, Antisthenes, so naturally formed as to bite the heart with words, not with teeth; but you died of consumption—perhaps someone will say. What of that? In any case one must have a guide to Hades." There were also three other men named Antisthenes: a Heraclitean, another an Ephesian, and a certain historian from Rhodes. Now, since we have traversed the successors of Aristippus and Phaedo, let us bring in the Cynics and Stoics derived from Antisthenes. And let it be as follows.