SVF I.269
Stoic: Zeno of Citium · Ancient source: Diogenes Laërtius, Vitae philosophorum, Book VII — 7.131 (with 7.33) · Source language: Ancient Greek · Source status: Testimonium
Original — Ancient Greek
ἀρέσκει δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς γυναῖκας δεῖν παρὰ τοῖς σοφοῖς, ὥστε τὸν ἐντυχόντα τῇ ἐντυχούσῃ χρῆσθαι, καθά φησι Ζήνων ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ. — ib. 7.33: κοινάς τε τὰς γυναῖκας δογματίζειν, ὁμοίως Πλάτωνι, ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ.
StoicOs Translation
It is also their doctrine that among the sages wives should be held in common, so that any man may be with any woman, as Zeno says in the Republic. — ibid. 7.33: and that in the Republic he teaches the community of wives, like Plato.
Context
Diogenes reports the most notorious teaching of Zeno's Republic twice: once doctrinally, with the book named, and once in the hostile Cassius-catalogue with the Platonic parallel.
Text verified against von Arnim, SVF I (1903), no. 269, p. 62 (OCR of the scanned edition). Von Arnim joins two Diogenes passages: the doctrinal report at 7.131 (“as Zeno says in the Republic”) and the catalogue notice at 7.33 comparing Plato.
What the source actually tells us
Doubly attested with explicit book citation (“as Zeno says in the Republic”); the restriction “among the sages” is part of the report and essential to its sense.
Philosophical meaning
In the city of the wise, exclusive possession dissolves — of property, coinage (SVF I.268) and finally of the family. Where all the good are friends (SVF I.223), all children are raised as everyone's own and jealousy loses its object. A thought-experiment in radical community, not a policy for the unwise.
Scholarly uncertainty
Both reports come through scandal-hunting channels; Zeno's own argument and its scope are lost, and later Stoics were embarrassed by the book. That the doctrine stood in the Republic is nevertheless as certain as anything about it.
Go deeper
- Read SVF I.270 — the sage will marry and have children
- Read SVF I.223 — all the good are friends
- Read the Vita — Zeno's writings and the notorious Republic
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.