[2]
[1] Diog. IX. 11, 102.
[2] _Hyp._ I. 4, 24.
Sextus tells us that "Certain Tropes, ten in number, for
producing the state of [Greek: epoche] have been handed down
from the older Sceptics."[1] He refers to them in another work
as the "Tropes of Aenesidemus."[2] There is no evidence that the
substance of these Tropes was changed after the time of
Aenesidemus, although many of the illustrations given by Sextus
must have been of a later date, added during the two centuries
that elapsed between the time of Aenesidemus and Sextus. In
giving these Tropes Sextus does not claim to offer a systematic
methodical classification, and closes his list of them, in their
original concise form, with the remark, "We make this order
ourselves."[3] The order is given differently by Diogenes, and
also by Favorinus.[4] The Trope which Sextus gives as the tenth
is the fifth given by Diogenes, the seventh by Sextus is the
eighth given by Diogenes, the fifth by Sextus, the seventh by
Diogenes, the tenth by Diogenes, the eighth by Sextus. Diogenes
says that the one he gives as the ninth Favorinus calls the
eighth, and Sextus and Aenesidemus the tenth. This statement
does not correspond with the list of the Tropes which Sextus
gives, proving that Diogenes took some other text than that of
Sextus as his authority.[5] The difference in the order of the
Tropes shows, also, that the order was not considered a matter
of great importance. There is a marked contrast in the spirit of
the two presentations of the Tropes given by Sextus and
Diogenes.
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