From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Zeno
Ζήνωνος (Zēnōnos); Ζήνωνι (Zēnōni)
A named teacher whose association with two paying pupils is offered by Socrates as a contrast with Pericles’ unproved educational success.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA named teacher whose association with two paying pupils is offered by Socrates as a contrast with Pericles’ unproved educational success.
- In Alcibiades ISocrates can name Pythodorus and Callias as men made wise and distinguished through Zeno’s company, and specifies that each paid him a hundred minae.
- In this editionThe edition identifies Zeno as Zeno of Elea in a note.
- A place to readTwo named pupils and their fees are adduced as evidence.
Meaning
A named teacher whose association with two paying pupils is offered by Socrates as a contrast with Pericles’ unproved educational success.
Use in the book
Socrates can name Pythodorus and Callias as men made wise and distinguished through Zeno’s company, and specifies that each paid him a hundred minae. The example is pointed because Alcibiades cannot produce a comparable pupil for Pericles from any social class or city. The fee adds the dimension of costly, deliberate training; it is not presented as the definition of wisdom or as proof that payment itself caused understanding. The dialogue gives no account of Zeno’s paradoxes and does not use them in the argument. The rhetorical endorsement belongs to Socrates’ comparison in this local exchange.
Places to read
- 119aTwo named pupils and their fees are adduced as evidence.
Translation in this edition
The edition identifies Zeno as Zeno of Elea in a note. “Wise and distinguished” renders the speaker’s description; it should not be expanded into a historical certification of everything the pupils believed.
Ζήνων
Attested: Ζήνωνος (zēnōnos; 119a); Ζήνωνι (zēnōni; 119a). Zeno, the teacher of two named paying pupils. Lexical identification: lemma: Ζήνων. See Zeno.
Source note
The supplied edition, note 32 on 119a, compares Parmenides 127b–c and contrasts the fee with Evenus’ five minae in Apology 20b. This entry uses the fee actually stated in Alcibiades I.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Zeno
Ζήνωνα (Zēnōna); Ἐξήγησιν τῶν Ἐμπεδοκλέους (Exēgēsin tōn Empedokleous)
The title Exēgēsis denotes exposition or explanation; its dependent phrase “of Empedocles” leaves the object elliptical.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe title Exēgēsis denotes exposition or explanation; its dependent phrase “of Empedocles” leaves the object elliptical.
- In this workAlcidamas’ biographical account places Zeno and Empedocles together under Parmenides before they take different paths.
- In this editionThe edition’s description of this as the first commentary on a philosophical poem in Europe is a conditional modern claim exceeding what the short catalogue proves.
- A place to readPairs the Parmenidean pupils and the inventors of two arts.
Meaning
The title Exēgēsis denotes exposition or explanation; its dependent phrase “of Empedocles” leaves the object elliptical. The edition translates it as an exposition of the poems. Zeno also serves as the named counterpart to Empedocles in the paired inventions of dialectic and rhetoric.
Use in the book
Alcidamas’ biographical account places Zeno and Empedocles together under Parmenides before they take different paths. Aristotle’s Sophist, reported in the Life, assigns dialectic to Zeno and rhetoric to Empedocles. The Suda repeats that pairing while listing an Exposition of the Poems of Empedocles among Zeno’s writings. If the catalogue attribution is reliable, it points to an early interpretive work on Empedocles; the title alone does not establish its scope, contents, or date. It is especially important not to treat repetition of the invention pair in a late lexicon as proof of an independent historical tradition. The notices reveal how ancient intellectual genealogy and bibliographical classification joined the two names, while leaving the lost exposition inaccessible.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 56–58 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 56–57, reporting Alcidamas and Aristotle. Pairs the Parmenidean pupils and the inventors of two arts.
- A 5 (testimony)The Suda, under “Zeno”. Lists the lost exposition and repeats the invention pair.
Translation in this edition
The edition’s description of this as the first commentary on a philosophical poem in Europe is a conditional modern claim exceeding what the short catalogue proves. Retain the attribution caveat and the elliptical Greek title.