Lessico
Cebete di Tebe
In greco Kébës. Filosofo pitagorico vissuto al tempo di
Socrate
, di cui era amico. È uno dei personaggi del Fedone di Platone, che rappresenta l'unica
fonte su di lui. Gli sono stati attribuiti tre dialoghi, dei quali l'unico
pervenuto, la Tavola, è certamente spurio perché vi si citano le
Leggi di Platone e vi si
nominano i filosofi peripatetici. Si discute pure dell'appartenenza della
Tavola a un altro Cebete, di Cizico, vissuto ai tempi di Marco Aurelio
(186-217).
Cebes of Thebes
Cebes of Thebes, a disciple of Socrates and Philolaus, and a lover of Simmias of Thebes. He is one of the speakers in the Phaedo of Plato, in which he is represented as an earnest seeker after virtue and truth, keen in argument and cautious in decision. Three dialogues, the Hebdome, the Phrynichus and the Pinax or Tabula, are attributed to him by the Suda and Diogenes Laërtius. The two former are lost, and most scholars deny the authenticity of the Tabula on the ground of material and verbal anachronisms. They attribute it either to Cebes of Cyzicus or to an anonymous author, of the 1st century AD, who assumed the character of Cebes of Thebes. The work professes to be an interpretation of an allegorical picture in the temple of Cronus at Athens or Thebes. The author develops the Platonic theory of pre-existence, and shows that true education consists not in mere erudition, but rather in the formation of character. Parallels are often drawn between this work and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
Cebes of Cyzicus
Cebes of Cyzicus, mentioned in Athenaeus (iv. 156 D), seems to have been a Cynic or Stoic, who lived during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Some would attribute to him the Tabula Cebetis, but as that work was well known in the time of Lucian, it is probably to be placed earlier. It is quite possible that Cebes of Cyzicus is a purely fictional character.
The Tabula has been widely translated both into European languages and into Arabic (the latter version published with the Greek text and Latin translation by Claudius Salmasius in 1640). It is usually printed together with Epictetus. Separate editions by CS Jerram (with introduction and notes, 1878), K Praechter (1893), and many others. See Zeller's History of Greek Philosophy; F Klopfer, De Cebetis Tabula (1818-1822); C Prachter, Cebetis Tabula quanam aetate conscripta esse videatur (1885). An English translation and commentary by John T. Fitzgerald and L. Michael White was published in 1983.
Cébès de Thèbes
Cébès, philosophe de Thèbes, disciple de Socrate Il semble avoir été disciple, avec son compatriote Simmias, du pythagoricien Philolaos de Crotone avant de devenir celui de Socrate, il participe à la tentative d’évasion, toujours avec Simmias, que Socrate refusera. Il est un des interlocuteurs du Phédon de Platon. Il est aussi cité dans le Criton de Platon, et dans Les mémorables de Xénophon. Cébès avait composé plusieurs traités: un seul nous est parvenu sous son nom; il est intitulé Pínax ou Tableau: l'auteur se suppose placé devant un tableau qui représente toutes les scènes de la vie humaine et il en donne la description. On attribue généralement cet écrit à un philosophe stoïcien du temps de Marc-Aurèle. Le Tableau de Cébès se trouve d'ordinaire à la suite d'Epictète.
