SVF I.73
- Stoic
- Zeno of Citium
- Ancient source
- Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato's Gorgias — in Gorg. pp. 53–54 (Jahn)
- Source language
- Ancient Greek
- Source status
- Testimonium
Original — Ancient Greek
Ζήνων δέ φησιν ὅτι τέχνη ἐστὶ σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων πρός τι τέλος εὔχρηστον τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ.StoicOs Translation
Zeno says that an art (technē) is a system of grasps exercised together toward some end useful among the things of life.
Context
Olympiodorus, a Neoplatonist commenting on Plato's Gorgias in the 6th century CE, cites Zeno's definition of technē by name. The formula echoes through antiquity — Lucian's banqueter quotes it as something “heard from some wise man”, Sextus and the grammarians repeat it as the standard Stoic definition of an art.
Source notes:Greek text verified against H. von Arnim, SVF I (1903), no. 73, p. 21 (scanned page). The same formula is multiply attested: Lucian, De parasito 4 (“heard from some wise man”); Scholia to Aristophanes, Nub. 317; Sextus Empiricus, M 2.10; Scholia to Dionysius Thrax; plus Latin parallels (Quintilian 2.17,41; Cicero ap. Diomedem; Acad. pr. 2.22; fin. 3.18; ND 2.148) printed by von Arnim in small type. These witnesses may partly share one school tradition.
What the source actually tells us
An attributed definition, multiply attested in nearly identical wording across independentiy motivated contexts — commentary, satire, scepticism, grammar. The verbal stability of the formula makes it one of the best-secured pieces of Zeno's terminology, though no witness names the book it came from. Note the contrast with the similar definition “technē is a road-making disposition” (SVF I.72), whose attribution von Arnim himself doubts — that record is withheld.
Philosophical meaning
An art, for Zeno, is built from the same material as knowledge: grasps — reliable cognitions — trained together until they work as one system aimed at something life actually needs. Craftsmanship, medicine, navigation, even the art of living itself: all are organised, exercised knowledge in the service of a useful end.
Scholarly uncertainty
The witnesses are late (2nd–6th century CE) and may echo one another or a common handbook tradition rather than Zeno's book directly; minor variants exist (“exercised together” συγγεγυμνασμένων vs. ἐγγεγυμνασμένων in some scholia).
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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.