Marriage of Hipparchia, Crates' Works and Death — Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers §6.7.96-6.7.98 (Diogenes Laertius) | Greek text & English translation

Ἐθηράθη δὲ τοῖς λόγοις καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τοῦ Μητροκλέους Ἱππαρχία. Μαρωνεῖται δʼ ἦσαν ἀμφότεροι. Καὶ ἤρα τοῦ Κράτητος καὶ τῶν λόγων καὶ τοῦ βίου, οὐδενὸς τῶν μνηστευομένων ἐπιστρεφομένη, οὐ πλούτου, οὐκ εὐγενείας, οὐ κάλλους· ἀλλὰ πάντʼ ἦν Κράτης αὐτῇ. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἠπείλει τοῖς γονεῦσιν ἀναιρήσειν αὑτήν, εἰ μὴ τούτῳ δοθείη. Κράτης μὲν οὖν παρακαλούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων αὐτῆς ἀποτρέψαι τὴν παῖδα, πάντʼ ἐποίει, καὶ τέλος μὴ πείθων, ἀναστὰς καὶ ἀποθέμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σκευὴν ἀντικρὺ αὐτῆς ἔφη, ὁ μὲν νυμφίος οὗτος, ἡ δὲ κτῆσις αὕτη, πρὸς ταῦτα βουλεύου· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔσεσθαι κοινωνόν¹, εἰ μὴ καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων γενηθείη.

Hipparchia, the sister of Metrocles, was also captured by their teachings; for both were natives of Maroneia. She fell in love with Crates, his words, and his way of life, turning her attention to none of her suitors, neither to their wealth, nor to their high birth, nor to their beauty; rather, Crates was everything to her. Indeed, she even threatened her parents that she would kill herself if she were not given to him in marriage. Crates, therefore, having been implored by her parents to dissuade the maiden, tried everything; and at last, failing to persuade her, he stood up, stripped off his clothes in front of her, and said, "Here is the bridegroom, and this is his property: deliberate with these in mind!" For she could not be his companion unless she also adopted the very same pursuits.

Εἵλετο ἡ παῖς καὶ ταὐτὸν ἀναλαβοῦσα σχῆμα συμπεριῄει τἀνδρὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ συνεγίνετο καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ δεῖπνα ἀπῄει. ὅτε καὶ πρὸς Λυσίμαχον εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον ἦλθεν, ἔνθα Θεόδωρον τὸν ἐπίκλην Ἄθεον ἐπήλεγξε, σόφισμα προτείνασα τοιοῦτον· ὃ ποιῶν Θεόδωρος οὐκ ἂν ἀδικεῖν λέγοιτο, οὐδʼ Ἱππαρχία ποιοῦσα τοῦτο ἀδικεῖν λέγοιτʼ ἄν· Θεόδωρος δὲ τύπτων ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ἀδικεῖ, οὐδʼ ἄρα Ἱππαρχία Θεόδωρον τύπτουσα ἀδικεῖ. ὁ δὲ πρὸς μὲν τὸ λεχθὲν οὐδὲν ἀπήντησεν, ἀνέσυρε δʼ αὐτῆς θοιμάτιον· ἀλλʼ οὔτε κατεπλάγη Ἱππαρχία οὔτε διεταράχθη ὡς γυνή.

The girl chose him, and having adopted the same garb, she accompanied her husband everywhere, consorted with him in public, and went out with him to dinners. On one occasion she even went to a banquet given by Lysimachus, where she refuted Theodorus, who was surnamed the Atheist, by proposing the following sophism: "That which Theodorus would not be said to do wrong in doing, neither would Hipparchia be said to do wrong in doing. But Theodorus does no wrong in striking himself; therefore neither does Hipparchia do wrong in striking Theodorus." He made no answer to what was said, but pulled up her cloak; yet Hipparchia was neither dismayed nor perturbed like a woman.

ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰπόντος αὐτῇ, "αὕτη ʼστὶν ἡ τὰς παρʼ ἱστοῖς ἐκλιποῦσα κερκίδας;" ἐγώ, φησίν, εἰμί, Θεόδωρε· ἀλλὰ μὴ κακῶς σοι δοκῶ βεβουλεῦσθαι² περὶ αὑτῆς³, εἰ, τὸν χρόνον ὃν ἔμελλον ἱστοῖς προσαναλώσειν, τοῦτον εἰς παιδείαν κατεχρησάμην; καὶ ταῦτα μὲν καὶ ἄλλα μυρία τῆς φιλοσόφου. Φέρεται δὲ τοῦ Κράτητος βιβλίον Ἐπιστολαί, ἐν αἷς ἄριστα φιλοσοφεῖ, τὴν λέξιν ἔστιν ὅτε παραπλήσιος Πλάτωνι. γέγραφε καὶ τραγῳδίας ὑψηλότατον ἐχούσας φιλοσοφίας χαρακτῆρα, οἷόν ἐστι κἀκεῖνο· "οὐχ εἷς πάτρας μοι πύργος, οὐ μία στέγη, πάσης δὲ χέρσου καὶ πόλισμα καὶ δόμος ἕτοιμος ἡμῖν ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι πάρα." Ἐτελεύτησε δὲ γηραιὸς καὶ ἐτάφη ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ.

Indeed, when he also said to her: "Is this she that left her shuttles by the looms?" she replied, "It is I, Theodorus. But do you suppose that I have made a bad decision concerning myself, if I have used for my education the time that I was otherwise destined to spend at the looms?" These and countless other stories are told of this female philosopher. There is also extant a book of *Letters* by Crates, in which he philosophizes admirably, being in style at times quite close to Plato. He also wrote tragedies that possess a most elevated philosophical character, such as the following lines: "No single tower of a fatherland is mine, no single roof; but of every land, every citadel and home stands ready for us to dwell therein." He died at an advanced age and was buried in Boeotia.

Syntax notes3 items

6.7.96οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔσεσθαι κοινωνόν
Infinitive in indirect discourse, dependent on an implied verb of saying expressing Crates' stipulation. The subject accusative (αὐτήν) is omitted, and κοινωνόν serves as the predicate accusative. The subordinate conditional clause εἰ μὴ ... γενηθείη represents an original conditional with subjunctive (ἐὰν μὴ ... γένηται) transposed into the oblique optative in past sequence.
6.7.98μὴ κακῶς σοι δοκῶ βεβουλεῦσθαι
The particle μή introduces a direct question expecting a negative answer ("Do you really think that I have...? Surely not"), construed here with the present indicative δοκῶ. Alternatively, δοκῶ could grammatically be taken as a deliberative subjunctive, but the indicative expressing a sharp rhetorical counter-question is the most coherent reading.
6.7.98περὶ αὑτῆς
The third-person reflexive pronoun (αὑτῆς = ἑαυτῆς) is used instead of the first-person reflexive (ἐμαυτῆς). The substitution of the third-person reflexive pronoun for the first or second person is a widespread syntactic feature of post-classical and colloquial Greek prose, despite the first-person subject (ἐγώ / δοκῶ).

Model: gemini-3.8-flashurn:cts:greekLit:tlg0004.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:6.7.96-6.7.98