BION

BION

Borysthenes, 3rd century B.C.
BETWEEN FRIENDS EVERYTHING IS COMMON
BETWEEN FRIENDS EVERYTHING IS COMMON - BION

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Diogenes Laertius gives us details about his life. As the same Bion told King Antigonus, he came from the region that stretched along the river Borysthenes. His father was a free trachopolis (salted fish merchant) and was sold as a slave along with his entire family for violating customs regulations. The buyer was an orator, who took such a liking to Bion that he made him heir to his fortune.

After the death of his master, Bion sold the inheritance and settled in Athens. Originally a listener of the philosopher Crates, of the Platonic Academy, he joined the school of the Cynics and took the emblems of the Cynic philosopher, the tribone and pera. A little later he left the Cynics and became a listener of Theodorus Atheos, of the Cyrenaic school. But he left him too and became a listener of Theophrastus. According to Diogenes Laertius, Bion taught Philosophy for a time in Rhodes. But usually he passed through various cities giving lectures that were impressive.

He was never a systematic philosopher: he mocked Philosophy, Music and Geometry. He liked to satirize everything with his witticisms, and in this respect he is considered a precursor of Lucian. Combining the ideas he gained from studying the Cynics and the Cyrenaics, he presented a kind of Cynic-hedonistic philosophy. According to the doctrine of moral behavior that he taught, man should enjoy all kinds of pleasure, when the circumstances of life allow him, but also deal with the needs of life with diligence and austerity. Because he used a flowery and varied style, Eratosthenes said of him that he was the first to clothe Philosophy in a flowery dress. With Bion, a new philological genre was cultivated, the Dissertation, composition of rhetoric and dialogue, which he taught through indulgence.

Quotes


  1. THE MISER HAS NO PROPERTY, PROPERTY HAS HIM
  2. IF YOU MARRY UGLY YOU WILL HAVE PUNISHMENT, IF YOU MARRY BEAUTIFUL YOU WILL HAVE HER IN COMMON
  3. OLD AGE IS A PORT OF THE WICKED BECAUSE EVERYONE TAKES REFUGE THERE
  4. GOOD REPUTATION IS THE MOTHER OF THE AGES
  5. BEAUTY IS A FOREIGN GOOD
  6. WEALTH IS THE NERVE OF THINGS
  7. IT'S A GREAT MISFORTUNE NOT TO BE ABLE TO ENDURE MISFORTUNE
  8. IT IS BETTER TO DO GOOD TO OTHERS THAN TO WAIT FOR THEM TO DO YOU GOOD, BECAUSE THIS DAMAGES BOTH BODY AND SOUL
  9. THE ROAD TO HADES IS EASY BECAUSE WE CAN GO EVEN WITH EYES CLOSED
  10. ARROGANCE IS AN OBSTACLE TO PROSPERITY
  11. HE WHO SEEKS THE GREATEST PROSPERITY HAS THE GREATEST AGONY
  12. WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, WE'RE BRAVE, HOWEVER, PRUDENCE DEVELOPS IN OLD AGE
  13. PRUDENCE IS SO DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER VIRTUES AS SIGHT IS FROM THE OTHER SENSES
  14. WE SHOULD ALWAYS WATCH FRIENDS WHOEVER THEY ARE
  15. BETWEEN FRIENDS EVERYTHING IS COMMON