SVF II.277
- Stoic
- Chrysippus of Soli
- Ancient source
- Cicero, Academica priora (Lucullus) II 93 — Acad. pr. 2.93
- Source language
- Latin
- Source status
- Testimonium · Hostile witness
Original — Latin
Placet enim Chrysippo, cum gradatim interrogetur, verbi causa tria pauca sint anne multa, aliquanto prius quam ad multa perveniat quiescere, id est quod ab iis dicitur ἡσυχάζειν. “Per me vel stertas licet”, inquit Carneades, “non modo quiescas.”StoicOs Translation
For Chrysippus' view is that when one is questioned step by step — for instance whether three are few or many — one should come to rest some while before reaching 'many': that is what they call hēsychazein, keeping still. 'For all I care you may even snore,' says Carneades, 'not merely keep still.'
Context
Cicero's Academic speaker rehearses the sceptics' favourite weapon, the sorites or heap-argument, and Chrysippus' celebrated counter-strategy — with Carneades' mockery attached.
Source notes:Text verified against von Arnim, SVF II (1903), no. 277, p. 92 (OCR of the scanned edition; the OCR's section number “II 98” restored to the standard “II 93” of this passage). Von Arnim prints as parallels Sextus, PH 2.253 and M 7.416, where “those around Chrysippus” counsel halting and withholding assent as the sorites advances.
What the source actually tells us
Named ('Placet enim Chrysippo') and confirmed by Sextus twice: as vague predicates approach their blurred edge, the wise man halts and keeps still rather than assent. Reported by opponents, yet consistently across hostile witnesses — the strategy itself is secure.
Philosophical meaning
Against vagueness the great logician's remedy is disciplined silence: where the boundary cannot be known, stop assenting before you err. The sorites answer applies his whole epistemology — assent is in our power, and withholding it is sometimes its highest use.
Scholarly uncertainty
Latin report of a Greek doctrine, staged for sceptical effect; Carneades' joke shows the polemical frame. Whether Chrysippus prescribed halting always, or only where impressions differ too little (so Sextus), the witnesses do not agree exactly.
Go deeper
About this edition
StoicOs Ancient Library is a developing multilingual digital study edition of surviving early Stoic material. The Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta assembled by Hans von Arnim provides the traditional reference framework. StoicOs distinguishes carefully between fragments, testimonia, later reports and interpretation. StoicOs translations are prepared from the surviving ancient-language sources where available.