Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​And all things happen by necessity, the vortex being the cause of the coming-to-be of all things, which he calls necessity. The end of life is tranquility, which is not the same as pleasure, as some have misunderstood and taken it to be, but that state according to which the soul lives calmly and steadily, troubled by no fear or superstition or any other passion. He calls it also well-being and by many other names. Qualities exist by convention, but by nature atoms and the void exist. These, then, were his doctrines. Thrasylus also drew up a catalogue of his books in order, arranged in tetralogies just like those of Plato.

​The ethical works are the following: Pythagoras. On the Disposition of the Wise Man. On the Things in Hades. Tritogeneia (so called because three things come from her, which hold together all human affairs). On Manliness, or On Virtue. The Horn of Amaltheia. On Tranquility. Ethical Notes (for the Well-Being is not extant). These, then, are the ethical works. The physical works are as follows: The Great World-System (which the circle of Theophrastus says belongs to Leucippus). The Small World-System. Cosmography. On the Planets. On Nature, Book I. On the Nature of Man (or On the Flesh), Book II. On the Mind. On the Senses (some combine these together and entitle them On the Soul). On Flavors. On Colors.

​On the Different Shapes. On Changes of Shape. Confirmations (which is a critical review of the aforementioned works). On Images, or On Providence. On Logic, or the Canon, Books I, II, III. Problems. These too are on nature. The unarranged works are the following: Celestial Causes. Atmospheric Causes. Terrestrial Causes. Causes Concerning Fire and Things in Fire. Causes Concerning Sounds. Causes Concerning Seeds, Plants, and Fruits. Causes Concerning Animals, Books I, II, III. Mixed Causes. On the Magnet. These too are the unarranged works. The mathematical works are as follows: On the Difference of an Angle, or On the Contact of a Circle and a Sphere. On Geometry. Geometrical Works. Numbers. On Irrational Lines and Solids, Books I and II. Projections.

​The Great Year, or Astronomy, Calendar. Contest of the Water-Clock and the Heavens. Description of the Heavens. Geography. Description of the Poles. Description of Rays. So many are the mathematical works. The musical works are as follows: On Rhythms and Harmony. On Poetry. On the Beauty of Verses. On Euphonious and Cacophonous Letters. On Homer, or On Correct Diction and Rare Words. On Song. On Verbs. On Nouns. So many are the musical works. The technical works are as follows: Prognosis. On Diet, or Regimen. Medical Opinion. Causes Concerning Inopportune and Opportune Times. On Agriculture, or Land-Surveying. On Painting. Tactics, and Fighting in Armor. So many are these.

​Some also arrange separately from the Notes the following works: On the Sacred Characters in Babylon. On the Things in Meroë. Circumnavigation of the Ocean. On History. Chaldaean Account. Phrygian Account. On Fever and Those Who Cough from Disease. Legal Causes. Handicrafts, or Problems. As for the other works that some assign to him, some are adaptations from his own writings, while others are admittedly spurious. Such and so many are the facts concerning his books. There have been six men named Democritus: the first was this philosopher himself; the second a musician of Chios, contemporary with him; the third a sculptor mentioned by Antigonus; the fourth the author of a work on the temple at Ephesus and on the city of Samothrace; the fifth an epigrammatic poet of clear and florid style; the sixth a native of Pergamum who gained distinction from rhetorical speeches.