SVF I.235
Stoic: Zeno of Citium · Ancient source: Proclus, Commentary on Hesiod, Works and Days 291 (perhaps from Plutarch), with Diogenes Laërtius VII 25–26 — ad Hes. Op. 291 · Source language: Ancient Greek · Source status: Direct quotation, Testimonium
Original — Ancient Greek
Ζήνων ὁ Στωικὸς ἐνήλλαττε τοὺς στίχους λέγων· “κεῖνος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται· ἐσθλὸς δ᾽ αὖ κἀκεῖνος ὃς αὐτῷ πάντα νοήσῃ”, τῇ εὐπειθείᾳ τὰ πρωτεῖα διδούς, τῇ φρονήσει δὲ τὰ δευτερεῖα. — Diogenes Laërtius VII 25–26: κρείττονα γὰρ εἶναι τὸν ἀκοῦσαι καλῶς δυνάμενον τὸ λεγόμενον καὶ χρῆσθαι αὐτῷ τοῦ δι᾽ αὑτοῦ τὸ πᾶν συννοήσαντος.
StoicOs Translation
Zeno the Stoic transposed the verses, saying: “That man is altogether best who obeys one who speaks well; good again is that man too who himself thinks everything through” — giving first prize to readiness to listen (eupeitheia), second to sagacity. — Diogenes Laërtius: for the man able to hear well what is said and to make use of it is superior to the one who thinks the whole matter through by himself.
Context
Hesiod had ranked the man who thinks everything out for himself first, and the one who obeys good advice second (Works and Days 293–295). Zeno, commenting as a teacher, deliberately swapped the verses — a small act of philological daring remembered by Proclus, Diogenes and Themistius alike.
Text verified against von Arnim, SVF I (1903), no. 235, p. 56 (OCR of the scanned edition). Von Arnim notes the Proclus scholion may derive from Plutarch (“fortasse ex Plutarcho”) and appends Diogenes Laërtius VII 25–26 and two Themistius passages, all independently attesting the transposition of Hesiod's verses (Works and Days 293–295).
What the source actually tells us
The transposed verses are quoted verbatim, and three independent traditions (Proclus/Plutarch, Diogenes, Themistius) agree on the act and its point: eupeitheia — the capacity to hear good speech and use it — outranks self-sufficient cleverness. The reasoning sentence in Diogenes may preserve Zeno's own justification.
Philosophical meaning
A philosophy of teachability. The rarest excellence, Zeno says against Hesiod, is not inventing everything oneself but recognizing truth when it is spoken and acting on it — for the mere understander only understands, while the good listener adds the deed. From the man who came to Athens as a stranger and made himself the pupil of Crates, Stilpo and Polemo, the inversion is also autobiography.
Scholarly uncertainty
The transposed verses themselves are as well attested as anything in the Zeno tradition; the surrounding prose, however, is each reporter's own, and Proclus' scholion may be secondhand from Plutarch, as von Arnim notes. Which of Zeno's works contained the transposition is unknown.
Go deeper
- Read SVF I.234 — Zeno's dream test of progress
- Read SVF I.75 — the fist and the open palm
- Read the Vita — Zeno as pupil of his teachers
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.