Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Aristo of Chios, the bald, nicknamed the Siren, declared the end to be living in a state of indifference toward the things intermediate between virtue and vice, leaving no distinction whatsoever among them, but maintaining an equal attitude toward all; for the wise man is like a good actor who, whether he assumes the mask of Thersites or Agamemnon, will perform each role appropriately. He also abolished both the physical and logical branches of philosophy, saying that the former is beyond us, the latter is nothing to us, and only the ethical branch concerns us.

​He also said that dialectical arguments are like spiderwebs, which, though appearing to display some craft, are useless. Nor did he introduce many virtues, as did Zeno, nor one called by many names, as did the Megarians, but rather held virtue to exist in accordance with a certain relation to something. Philosophizing in this manner and debating in the Cynosarges, he gained sufficient influence to be called the founder of a sect. Accordingly, Miltiades and Diphilus were called Aristonians. Moreover, he possessed a persuasive manner and was made for the crowd; hence Timon says of him: "And one who traces his lineage from flattering Aristo."

​According to Diocles of Magnesia, he went over to Polemo when Zeno fell into a long illness. He adhered above all to the Stoic doctrine that the wise man holds no mere opinions. In opposition to this, Persaeus caused one of two twin brothers to place a deposit with him, and then the other to reclaim it; and thus, finding him at a loss, refuted him. He also directed his attacks against Arcesilaus; when he once beheld a monstrous bull possessing a womb, he said: "Alas, Arcesilaus has been granted an argument against clear evidence."

​And to an Academic who claimed that he perceived nothing, he said: "Do you not even see the man sitting near you?" When the man denied it, he said: "Who has blinded you? Who has stolen the beams of your lamp?" The following books of his are in circulation: Exhortations, two books. On the Doctrines of Zeno. Dialogues. Lectures, six books. Discussions on Wisdom, seven books. Discussions on Love. Notes on Vainglory. Notes, twenty-five books. Memoirs, three books. Apophthegms, eleven books. Against the Rhetoricians. Against the Objections of Alexinus. Against the Dialecticians, three books. Letters to Cleanthes, four books. However, Panaetius and Sosicrates state that only the letters are his, and that the other works belong to Aristo the Peripatetic.

​The story goes that being bald, he was scorched by the sun and died in this manner. We jested at him in the following manner in scazons: "Why, Aristo, being old and bald, did you surrender your crown to the sun to bake? Therefore, seeking more warmth than was fitting, you found, against your wish, truly cold Hades." There was also another Aristo, a Peripatetic from Iulis; a third was an Athenian musician; a fourth a tragic poet; a fifth from Halae who wrote handbooks of rhetoric; and a sixth an Alexandrian Peripatetic.