Maximus of Tyre Quotes
Maximus of Tyre was a Greek Platonist philosopher of the Roman Empire who lectured at Athens, Rome, and elsewhere during the reign of Commodus. Forty-one of his short Dissertations or Dialexeis survive, treating in elegant rhetorical Greek a wide range of Platonic themes including the nature of the divine, the immortality of the soul, the use of the body, the tasks of philosophy, and the comparative merits of the active and contemplative lives. The quotes below are attributed to Maximus of Tyre, organized by topic.
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Maximus of Tyre on God
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Attributed to Maximus of Tyre:
“God is the soul of the world; the soul is a god in miniature.”
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Attributed to Maximus of Tyre:
“Beauty is the rumor of the divine in matter.”
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Attributed to Maximus of Tyre:
“Whatever name we use for the divine, we mean the same.”
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Attributed to Maximus of Tyre:
“Plato is the philosopher who befriends the divine in us.”
Maximus of Tyre on Knowledge
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“Ἐπιδειξαμένου γὰρ αὐτῷ τοῦ Μυρρινουσίου Φαίδρου λόγον ὑπὸ Λυσίου τοῦ Κεφάλου συγγεγραμμένον ἐρωτικόν, οὐκ ἔφη θαυμάζειν, πλῆρες τὸ στῆθος ἔχων ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον ἀλλοτρίων ναμάτων, ἤ που Σαπφοῦς τῆς καλῆς (οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων χαίρει διὰ τὴν ὥραν τῶν μελῶν, καίτοι μικρὰν οὖσαν καὶ μέλαιναν), ἢ Ἀνακρέοντος, φησίν, τοῦ σοφοῦ.”
For when the Myrrinusian Phædrus showed him [ Socrates ] an amatory oration, composed by Lysias the son of Cephalus, he says, that he is not struck with admiration, in consequence of having his breast full like a vessel, of foreign streams, derived from "the beautiful Sappho " (for thus he is pleased to call her, from the elegance of her verses, though she was short and of a dark complexion ) or " -
“For when the Myrrinusian Phædrus showed him [ Socrates ] an amatory oration, composed by Lysias the son of Cephalus, he says, that he is not struck with admiration, in consequence of having his breast full like a vessel, of foreign streams, derived from "the beautiful Sappho " (for thus he is pleased to call her, from the elegance of her verses, though she was short and of a dark complexion ) or "the wise Anacreon ".”
Ἐπιδειξαμένου γὰρ αὐτῷ τοῦ Μυρρινουσίου Φαίδρου λόγον ὑπὸ Λυσίου τοῦ Κεφάλου συγγεγραμμένον ἐρωτικόν, οὐκ ἔφη θαυμάζειν, πλῆρες τὸ στῆθος ἔχων ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον ἀλλοτρίων ναμάτων, ἤ που Σαπφοῦς τῆς καλῆς (οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων χαίρει διὰ τὴν ὥραν τῶν μελῶν, καίτοι μικρὰν οὖσαν καὶ μέλαιναν), ἢ Ἀνακρέοντος, φησίν, τοῦ σοφοῦ. -
“Dissertations , no. 8 (18), sec. 7 (ed. William H. Race, 1997; tr. Thomas Taylor, 1804). Compare: Swinburne , "On the Cliffs", Songs of the Springtides (1880). For the French " une petite brunette ", see Antoine Furetière (ed.) Dictionnaire universel , 2nd ed. (1701) vol. 1, s.v. Brunet”
Ἐπιδειξαμένου γὰρ αὐτῷ τοῦ Μυρρινουσίου Φαίδρου λόγον ὑπὸ Λυσίου τοῦ Κεφάλου συγγεγραμμένον ἐρωτικόν, οὐκ ἔφη θαυμάζειν, πλῆρες τὸ στῆθος ἔχων ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον ἀλλοτρίων ναμάτων, ἤ που Σαπφοῦς τῆς καλῆς (οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων χαίρει διὰ τὴν ὥραν τῶν μελῶν, καίτοι μικρὰν οὖσαν καὶ μέλαιναν), ἢ Ἀνακρέοντος, φησίν, τοῦ σοφοῦ.
Maximus of Tyre on Mind
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Attributed to Maximus of Tyre:
“Philosophy is the medicine of the soul, and lasts longer than the medicine of the body.”