TheSeven Sages orSeven Wise Men was the title given to sevenphilosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7th–6th centuries BCE who were renowned for theirwisdom.
The list of the seven sages given inPlato'sProtagoras comprises:[1]
Diogenes Laërtius points out, however, that there was among his sources great disagreement over which figures should be counted among the seven.[3] Perhaps the two most common substitutions were to exchangePeriander of Corinth orAnacharsis the Scythian for Myson. On Diogenes' first list of seven, which he introduces with the words "These men are acknowledged wise",Periander appears instead ofMyson;[4] the same substitution appears inThe Masque of the Seven Sages byAusonius.[5] BothEphorus[3] andPlutarch (in hisBanquet of the Seven Sages) substituted Anacharsis for Myson. Elsewhere, Plutarch claims thatEpimenides the Phæstian "is counted the seventh wise man by those who would not admit Periander into the number".[6] Diogenes Laërtius further states thatDicaearchus gave ten possible names,[3]Hippobotus suggested twelve names,[7] andHermippus enumerated seventeen possible sages from which different people made different selections of seven.[7] Leslie Kurke contends that "Aesop was a popular contender for inclusion in the group"; an epigram of the 6th century CE poetAgathias (Palatine Anthology 16.332) refers to a statue of the Seven Sages, with Aesop standing before them.[8]
InPlato'sProtagoras,Socrates says:
There some, both at present and of old, who recognized thatSpartanizing is much more a love of wisdom than a love of physical exercise, knowing that the ability to utter such [brief and terse] remarks belongs to a perfectly educated man. Among these wereThales of Miletus, andPittacus of Mytilene, andBias of Priene, and our ownSolon, andCleobulus of Lindus, andMyson of Chenae, and the seventh of them was said to beChilon of Sparta. They all emulated and admired and were students of Spartan education, could tell their wisdom was of this sort by the brief but memorable remarks they each uttered when they met and jointly the first fruits of their wisdom to Apollo in his shrine atDelphi, writing what is on every man's lips:Know thyself, andNothing too much. Why do I say this? Because this was the manner of philosophy among the ancients, a kind oflaconic brevity.[1]
The section of theProtagoras in which this passage appears is "elaborately ironical", making it unclear which of its parts may be taken seriously.[9]
Diogenes Laërtius writes in his account of the life ofPyrrho, the founder ofPyrrhonism, that the Seven Sages of Greece were considered to be precursors of Pyrrho'sphilosophical skepticism because the Delphic Maxims were skeptical. "The maxims of the Seven Wise Men, too, they call skeptical; for instance, 'Observe the Golden Mean', and 'A pledge is a curse at one's elbow', meaning that whoever plights his troth steadfastly and trustfully brings a curse on his own head."[10]
The oldest[11] explicit mention on record of a standard list of seven sages is inPlato'sProtagoras, quoted above.
Diogenes Laërtius reported that there were seven individuals who were held in high esteem for their wisdom well before Plato's time. According toDemetrius Phalereus, it was during thearchonship of Damasias (582/81 BCE) that the seven first become known as "the wise men", Thales being the first so acknowledged.[12]
Later tradition ascribed to each sage a pithy saying of his own, but ancient as well as modern scholars have doubted the legitimacy of such ascriptions.[13] A compilation of 147 maxims, inscribed at Delphi, was preserved by the fifth century CE scholarStobaeus as "Sayings of the Seven Sages",[14] but "the actual authorship of the ... maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."[15]
In addition to being credited for pithy sayings, the wise men were also apparently famed for practical inventions; in Plato'sRepublic (600a), it is said that it "befits a wise man" to have "many inventions and useful devices in the crafts or sciences" attributed to him, citing Thales andAnacharsis theScythian as examples.
According to a number of moralistic stories, there was a golden tripod (or, in some versions of the story, a bowl or cup) which was to be given to the wisest. Allegedly, it passed in turn from one of the seven sages to another, beginning with Thales, until one of them (either Thales or Solon, depending on the story) finally dedicated it toApollo who was held to be wisest of all.[16]
According to Diogenes,Dicaearchus claimed that the seven "were neither wise men nor philosophers, but merely shrewd men, who had studied legislation."[17] And according to at least one modern scholar, the claim is correct: "With the exception of Thales, no one whose life is contained in [Diogenes'] Book I [i.e. none of the above] has any claim to be styled a philosopher."[18]
Laërtius, Diogenes."Book I: The Seven Sages" .Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 1:1. Translated byHicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.| International | |
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