Plato has Socrates paraphrase the 'first thesis of the first argument' of Zeno's work as follows: 'If being is many, it must be both like and unlike, and this is impossible, for neither can the like be unlike, nor the unlike like.' Īccording to Proclus in his Commentary on Plato's Parmenides, Zeno produced 'not less than forty arguments revealing contradictions', but only nine are now known. Plato also has Zeno say that this work 'meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides', was written in Zeno's youth, stolen, and published without his consent. Plato says that Zeno's writings were 'brought to Athens for the first time on the occasion of' the visit of Zeno and Parmenides. The main sources on the nature of Zeno's arguments on motion, in fact, come from the writings of Aristotle and Simplicius of Cilicia. Works Īlthough many ancient writers refer to the writings of Zeno, none of his works survive intact. After failing, he had 'with his own teeth bit off his tongue, he spit it in the tyrant’s face'. According to Plutarch, Zeno attempted to kill the tyrant Demylus. Valerius Maximus recounts a conspiracy against the tyrant Phalaris, but this would be impossible as Phalaris had died before Zeno was even born. According to Laërtius, Heraclides Lembus, within his Satyrus, these events occurred against Diomedon instead of Nearchus. Zeno may have also interacted with other tyrants. Īccording to the 10th-century Suda, while 'Zeno was being interrogated by him, he took his own tongue between his teeth, gnawed it off, and spat it upon the tyrant', and 'afterward he was thrown into a mortar and crushed and beaten to a pulp'. He 'did not let go until he lost his life and the tyrant lost that part of his body.' Within Men of the Same Name, Demetrius said that the nose was bitten off instead. When Nearchus leaned in to listen to the secret, Zeno bit his ear.

According to Valerius Maximus, when he was tortured to reveal the name of his colleagues in conspiracy, Zeno refused to reveal their names, although he said that he did have a secret that would be advantageous for Nearchus to hear. Eventually, Zeno was arrested and tortured. Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Zeno, the Eleatic Īccording to Diogenes Laërtius, Zeno conspired to overthrow Nearchus the tyrant. Other perhaps less reliable details of Zeno's life are given by Diogenes Laërtius in his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, where it is reported that he was the son of Teleutagoras, but the adopted son of Parmenides, was 'skilled to argue both sides of any question, the universal critic', and that he was arrested and perhaps killed at the hands of a tyrant of Elea.įrom the harsh bonds of shameful slavery,īut you were disappointed for the tyrant Plato says that Zeno was 'tall and fair to look upon' and was 'in the days of his youth … reported to have been beloved by Parmenides'. Assuming an age for Socrates of around 20 and taking the date of Socrates' birth as 469 BC gives an approximate date of birth for Zeno of 490 BC.

In the dialogue of Parmenides, Plato describes a visit to Athens by Zeno and Parmenides, at a time when Parmenides is 'about 65', Zeno is 'nearly 40', and Socrates is 'a very young man'. Although written nearly a century after Zeno's death, the primary source of biographical information about Zeno is Plato's Parmenides and he is also mentioned in Aristotle's Physics. Little is known for certain about Zeno's life.

Cenon de elea