Diogenes Laertius, Thales 39
“[Thales] the wise died while watching a sporting contest because of heat, thirst, weakness, and old age. This is inscribed on his tomb:
While Thales lies in this small tomb on the ground
The fame of his wisdom spans the sky without bound
And I can also add this epigram of my own from my Epigrams of Various Meters:
As wise Thales watched the athletic games
The sun came to the stadium to tack him away
That you took him Zeus I praise
For he could not see the stars from earth because of age.
Ὁ δ᾿ οὖν σοφὸς ἐτελεύτησεν ἀγῶνα θεώμενος γυμνικὸν ὑπό τε καύματος καὶ δίψους καὶ ἀσθενείας, ἤδη γηραιός. καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιγέγραπται τῷ μνήματι·
ἦ ὀλίγον τόδε σᾶμα—τὸ δὲ κλέος οὐρανόμακες
—τῶ πολυφροντίστω τοῦτο Θάλητος ὅρη.
ἔστι καὶ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἐπιγραμμάτων ἢ Παμμέτρῳ τόδε τὸ ἐπίγραμμα·
γυμνικὸν αὖ ποτ᾿ ἀγῶνα θεώμενον, ἠέλιε Ζεῦ,
τὸν σοφὸν ἄνδρα Θαλῆν ἥρπασας ἐκ σταδίου.
αἰνέω ὅττι μιν ἐγγὺς ἀπήγαγες· ἦ γὰρ ὁ πρέσβυς
οὐκέθ᾿ ὁρᾶν ἀπὸ γῆς ἀστέρας ἠδύνατο.
Irony strikes
Thales, Fr. 22
“Water is the beginning and the end of everything.”
[οὕτος ἔφη] ἀρχὴν τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι καὶ τέλος τὸ ὕδωρ
