Pyrrho 287
Democritus and after him, Homer, marvelling at the latter and saying
continually, "As is the generation of leaves, so is that of man. "^9 And he
also marvelled at Homer because he compared men to wasps, fleas, and
birds, quoting these words: "Ah, my friend, you die too; why do you
weep so? Patroclus has fallen, a better man than you."^10 and all such
passages pertaining to human insecurity, vanity, and puerility.
- Posidonius also relates a similar story about him. One time his
[Pyrrho's] fellow passengers on a ship were frightened by a storm. He,
however, was calm and serene and, pointing to a little pig on the ship
who was eating away, said that the wise man ought to repose in just such
a state of freedom from disturbance. Only Numenius says that he has
dogmas. He had notable pupils, one of whom, Eurylochus, is said to
have failed him in that once he got so angry at his cook that he seized
the cooking-spit with the meat still on it and chased him into the market. - And in Elis he [Eurylochus] was once so pressured by his pupils'
arguments, that he stripped off his cloak and swam across the Alpheus .... - Some say that Homer was the founder of this [i.e., the Pyrrhonian]
system, since regarding the same matters he more than anyone pronounces
differently at different times, and never definitively dogmatizes about
the pronouncement. The sayings of the Seven Wise Men are also said
to be sceptical such as "nothing in excess" and "a pledge is a curse"
meaning that for someone who makes a pledge definitely and confidently,
a curse follows. Even Archilochus and Euripides were held to be sceptics,
for the former says, u "The soul of man, Glaucus, son of Leptines, is
like a day sent by Zeus." And Euripides [addressing Zeus],^12
Why do they say that wretched mortals think?
For we depend on you and do just
What you happen to wish.- Furthermore, according to them, Xenophanes, Zeno of Elea, and
Democritus are found to be sceptics. For of that group Xenophanes
says,^13 "clear truth no man knows nor will ever know;" as for Zeno, he
eliminates motion, saying/^4 "that which is moved is neither moved in
the place it is nor in the place it is not;" as for Democritus, he throws - Iliad. 6.146.
- Iliad 21.106-7.
- Fr. 131 West.
- Suppliants 735-737.
- Diels-Kranz B 34.1-2.
- B 4.